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diff --git a/41411-0.txt b/41411-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a232920 --- /dev/null +++ b/41411-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14469 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41411 *** + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + No. XVII.--OCTOBER, 1851.--Vol. III. + + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. + +BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. + + +III. FIRST CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. + +The discomfiture of the insurgent sections at Paris, and the energy, +tact, and humanity which Napoleon displayed in the subsequent government +of the tumultuous city, caused his name to be as familiar as a household +word in all parts of the metropolis. His slight and slender figure, so +feminine and graceful in its proportions; his hand, so small and white +and soft that any lady might covet it; his features, so mild and +youthful in their expression, and all these combined in strange alliance +with energies as indomitable, and a will as imperious as were ever +enshrined in mortal form, invested the young general with a mysterious +and almost supernatural fascination. + +Famine was rioting in the streets of Paris. All industry was at an end. +The poor, unemployed, were perishing. The rich were gathering the wrecks +of their estates, and flying from France. There was no law but such as +was proclaimed by the thunders of Napoleon's batteries. The National +Guard he immediately reorganized, and soon efficient order was +established. Napoleon was incessantly occupied in visiting all parts of +the city, and words of kindness and sympathy with suffering he combined +with the strong and inexorable arm of military rule. More than a hundred +families, says the Duchess of Abrantes, were saved from perishing by his +personal exertions. He himself climbed to the garrets of penury, and +penetrated the cellars of want and woe, and, with a moistened eye, gazed +upon the scenes of fearful wretchedness with which Paris was filled. He +caused wood and bread to be distributed to the poor, and totally +regardless of ease or self-indulgence, did every thing in his power to +alleviate suffering. + +One day when alighting from his carriage to dine at Madame Permon's, he +was addressed by a woman who held a dead infant in her arms. Grief and +hunger had dried up the fountain of life in her bosom, and her unweaned +child had perished of starvation. Her husband was dead, and five +children were mourning for food at home. "If I can not obtain relief," +said the famished mother, "I must take my remaining five children and +drown myself with them." Napoleon questioned her very minutely, +ascertained her place of residence, and giving her some money to meet +her immediate wants, entered the house and sat down with the guests at +the brilliant entertainment. He was, however, so deeply impressed with +the scene of wretchedness which he had just witnessed, that he could not +obliterate it from his mind, and all were struck with his absent manner +and the sadness of his countenance. Immediately after dinner he took +measures to ascertain the truth of the statements which the poor woman +had made to him, and finding all her assertions verified, he took the +family immediately under his protection. He obtained employment for the +girls in needlework among his friends, and the family ever expressed the +most profound gratitude for their preserver. It was by the unceasing +exhibition of such traits of character that Napoleon entwined around him +the hearts of the French people. + +There was, at this time in Paris, a lady, who was rendered quite +prominent in society, by her social attractions, her personal +loveliness, and her elevated rank. She was a widow, twenty-eight years +of age. Her husband, the Viscount Beauharnais, had recently perished +upon the scaffold, an illustrious victim of revolutionary fury. +Josephine Tascher Beauharnais, who subsequently became the +world-renowned bride of Napoleon, was born on the island of Martinice in +the West Indies. When almost a child she was married to the Viscount +Beauharnais, who had visited the island on business and was captivated +by the loveliness of the fair young Creole. Upon entering Paris she was +immediately introduced to all the splendors of the court of +Maria-Antoinette. The revolutionary storm soon burst upon her dwelling +with merciless fury. She experienced the most afflictive reverses of +friendlessness, bereavement, imprisonment, and penury. The storm had, +however, passed over her, and she was left a widow, with two children, +Eugene and Hortense. From the wreck of her fortune she had saved an +ample competence, and was surrounded by influential and admiring +friends. + +Napoleon, in obedience to the orders of the Convention, to prevent the +possibility of another outbreak of lawless violence, had proceeded to +the disarming of the populace of Paris. In the performance of this duty +the sword of M. Beauharnais was taken. A few days afterward Eugene, a +very intelligent and graceful child, twelve years of age, obtained +access to Napoleon, and with most engaging artlessness and depth of +emotion, implored that the sword of his father might be restored to him. +Napoleon had no heart to deny such a request. He sent for the sword, and +speaking with kind words of commendation, presented it with his own +hand to Eugene. The grateful boy burst into tears and, unable to +articulate a word, pressed the sword to his bosom, bowed in silence and +retired. Napoleon was much interested in this exhibition of filial love, +and his thoughts were immediately directed to the mother who had formed +the character of such a child. Josephine, whose whole soul was absorbed +in love for her children, was so grateful, for the kindness with which +the distinguished young general had treated her fatherless Eugene, that +she called, in her carriage, the next day, to express to him a mother's +thanks. She was dressed in deep mourning. Her peculiarly musical voice +was tremulous with emotion. The fervor and the delicacy of her maternal +love, and the perfect grace of manner and of language, with which she +discharged her mission, excited the admiration of Napoleon. He soon +called upon her. The acquaintance rapidly ripened into an unusually +strong and ardent affection. + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON AND EUGENE.] + +Josephine was two years older than Napoleon. But her form and features +had resisted the encroachments of time, and her cheerfulness and +vivacity invested her with all the charms of early youth. Barras, now +one of the five Directors, who had been established in power by the guns +of Napoleon, was a very ardent friend of Josephine. He warmly advocated +the contemplated connection, deeming it mutually advantageous. Napoleon +would greatly increase his influence by an alliance with one occupying +so high a position in society and surrounded by friends so influential. +And Barras clearly foresaw that the energetic young general possessed +genius which would insure distinction. Josephine thus speaks, in a +letter to a friend, of her feelings in view of the proposed marriage. + +"I am urged to marry again. My friends counsel the measure, my aunt +almost lays her injunctions to the same effect, and my children entreat +my compliance. You have met General Bonaparte at my house. He it is who +would supply a father's place to the orphans of Alexander Beauharnais, +and a husband to his widow. I admire the general's courage, the extent +of his information, for on all subjects he talks equally well, and the +quickness of his judgment, which enables him to seize the thoughts of +others almost before they are expressed. But I confess that I shrink +from the despotism he seems desirous of exercising over all who approach +him. His searching glance has something singular and inexplicable, which +imposes even upon our Directors; judge if it may not intimidate a woman. + +"Barras gives assurance that if I marry the general, he will secure his +appointment to the command of the army of Italy. Yesterday, Bonaparte +speaking of this favor, said to me, 'Think they then, that _I_ have need +of _their_ protection to arrive at power? Egregious mistake! They will +all be but too happy, one day, should I condescend to grant them mine.' + +"What think you of this self-confidence? Is it not a proof of excess of +vanity? A general of brigade protect the heads of government! That truly +is an event highly probable! I know not how it is, but sometimes this +waywardness gains upon me to such a degree, that almost I believe +possible whatever this singular man may take into his head to attempt. +And with his imagination, who can calculate what he will not undertake." + +Though the passion with which Josephine had inspired Napoleon, was +ardent and impetuous in the highest degree, it interfered not in the +least with his plans of towering ambition. During the day he was +vigorously employed in his professional duties and in persevering study. +But each evening found him at the mansion of Josephine, where he met, +and dazzled by his commanding genius and his brilliant conversational +powers, the most distinguished and the most influential men of the +metropolis. In these social entertainments, Josephine testified that +Napoleon possessed unlimited powers of fascination, whenever he saw fit +to employ them. His acquaintance and his influence was thus extended +among those who would be most available in the furtherance of his plans. +On the 6th of March, 1796, Napoleon and Josephine were married, Napoleon +being then twenty-five years of age. It was a union of very sincere +affection on both sides. It can not be doubted that next to ambition, +Josephine was to Napoleon the dearest object of his admiration and +homage. Marriage had then ceased to be regarded in infidel France as a +religious rite. It was a mere partnership which any persons could form +or dissolve at pleasure. The revolutionary tribunals had closed the +churches, banished the clergy, and dethroned God. The parties, +contemplating marriage, simply recorded their intention in the state +register of Paris, with two or three friends to sign the record as +witnesses. By this simple ceremony Napoleon was united to Josephine. But +neither of the parties approved of this mercantile aspect of a +transaction so sacred. They were both, in natural disposition serious, +thoughtful, and prone to look to the guidance of a power higher than +that of man. Surrounded by infidelity, and by that vice with which +public infidelity is invariably accompanied, they both instinctively +reverenced all that is grand and imposing in the revelations of +Christianity. + +"Man, launched into life," said Napoleon, "asks himself, whence do I +come? What am I? Whither do I go? Mysterious questions which draw him +toward religion; our hearts crave the support and guidance of religious +faith. We believe in the existence of God because every thing around us +proclaims his being. The greatest minds have cherished this +conviction--Bossuet, Newton, Leibnitz. The heart craves faith as the +body food; and, without doubt, we believe most frequently without +exercising our reason. Faith wavers as soon as we begin to argue. But +even then our hearts say, 'Perhaps I shall again believe instinctively. +God grant it. For we feel that this belief in a protecting deity must be +a great happiness; an immense consolation in adversity, and a powerful +safeguard when tempted to immorality. + +"The virtuous man never doubts of the existence of God, for if his +reason does not suffice to comprehend it, the instinct of his soul +adopts the belief. Every intimate feeling of the soul is in sympathy +with the sentiments of religion." + +These are profound thoughts and it is strange that they should have +sprung up in the mind of one educated in the midst of the violence, and +the clangor, and the crime of battle, and accustomed to hear from the +lips of all around him, every religious sentiment ridiculed as the +superstition of the most weak and credulous. + +When at St. Helena, Napoleon, one evening, called for the New Testament, +and read to his friends the address of Jesus to his disciples upon the +mountain. He expressed himself as having been ever struck with the +highest admiration in view of the purity, the sublimity, and the beauty +of the morality which it contained. Napoleon seldom spoke lightly even +of the corruptions of the church. But he always declared his most +exalted appreciation of the religion of Jesus Christ. + +When Napoleon was crowned Emperor he was privately married again by +Cardinal Fesch, in accordance with the forms of the church which the +Emperor had re-established. "Josephine," said Napoleon, "was truly a +most lovely woman; refined, affable, and charming. She was the goddess +of the toilet. All the fashions originated with her. Every thing she put +on appeared elegant. She was so kind, so humane--she was the most +graceful lady and the best woman in France. I never saw her act +inelegantly during the whole time we lived together. She possessed a +perfect knowledge of the different shades of my character, and evinced +the most exquisite tact in turning this knowledge to the best account. +For example, she never solicited any favor for Eugene, or thanked me for +any that I conferred upon him. She never showed any additional +complaisance or assiduity when he was receiving from me the greatest +honors. Her grand aim was to assume that all this was _my_ affair--that +Eugene was _our_ son, not hers. Doubtless she entertained the idea that +I would adopt Eugene as my successor." + +Again, he said, of Josephine, "we lived together like honest citizens in +our mutual relations, and always retired together till 1805, a period in +which political events obliged me to change my habits, and to add the +labors of the night to those of the day. This regularity is the best +guarantee for a good establishment. It ensures the respectability of the +wife, the dependence of the husband, and maintains intimacy of feelings +and good morals. If this is not the case, the smallest circumstances +make people forget each other. A son by Josephine would have rendered me +happy, and would have secured the reign of my dynasty. The French would +have loved him very much better than they could love the son of Maria +Louisa; and I never would have put my foot on that abyss covered with +flowers, which was my ruin. Let no one after this rely upon the wisdom +of human combinations. Let no one venture to pronounce, before its +close, upon the happiness or misery of life. My Josephine had the +instinct of the future when she became terrified at her own sterility. +She knew well that a marriage is only real when there is an offspring; +and in proportion as fortune smiled her anxiety increased. I was the +object of her deepest attachment. If I went into my carriage at midnight +for a long journey, there, to my surprise, I found her, seated before +me, and awaiting my arrival. If I attempted to dissuade her from +accompanying me, she had so many good and affectionate reasons to urge, +that it was almost always necessary to yield. In a word she always +proved to me a happy and affectionate wife, and I have preserved the +tenderest recollections of her. + +"Political motives induced me to divorce Josephine, whom I most tenderly +loved. She, poor woman, fortunately for herself, died in time to prevent +her from witnessing the last of my misfortunes. After her forcible +separation from me, she avowed, in most feeling terms, her ardent desire +to share with me, my exile and extolled, with many tears, both myself +and my conduct to her. The English have represented me as a monster of +cruelty. Is this the result of the conduct of a merciless, unfeeling +tyrant? A man is known by his treatment of his wife, of his family, and +of those under him." + +Just before his marriage, Napoleon received the appointment, to him most +gratifying, of Commander-in-chief of the army of Italy. His predecessor +had been displaced in consequence of excessive intemperance. Napoleon +was but twenty-five years of age when placed in this responsible post. +"You are rather young," said one of the Directors, "to assume +responsibilities so weighty, and to take the command over veteran +generals." "In one year," Napoleon replied, "I shall be either old or +dead." "We can place you in the command of men alone," said Carnot, "for +the troops are destitute of every thing, and we can furnish you with no +money to provide supplies." "Give me only men enough," Napoleon replied, +"and I ask for nothing more. I will be answerable for the result." + +A few days after Napoleon's marriage, he left his bride in Paris, and +set out for Nice, the head-quarters of the army of Italy. He passed +through Marseilles, that he might pay a short visit to his mother, whose +love he ever cherished with the utmost tenderness, and on the 27th of +March arrived at the cold and cheerless camps, where the dejected troops +of France were enduring every hardship. They were surrounded by numerous +foes, who had driven them from the fertile plains of Italy into the +barren and dreary fastnesses of the Alps. The Austrian armies, quartered +in opulent cities, or encamped upon sunny and vine-clad hill-sides, were +living in the enjoyment of security and abundance, while the troops of +the distracted and impoverished republic were literally freezing and +starving. But here let us pause for a moment to consider the cause of +the war, and the motives which animated the contending armies. + +France, in the exercise of a right which few in America will question, +had, in imitation of the United States, and incited by their example, +renounced the monarchical form of government, and established a +republic. For centuries uncounted, voluptuous kings and licentious +nobles had trampled the oppressed millions into the dust. But now these +millions had risen in their majesty, and driving the king from his +throne and the nobles from their wide domains, had taken their own +interests into their own hands. They were inexperienced and +unenlightened in the science of government, and they made many and +lamentable mistakes. They were terrified in view of the powerful +combination of all the monarchs and nobles of Europe to overwhelm them +with invading armies, and in their paroxysms of fear, when destruction +seemed to be coming like an avalanche upon them, they perpetrated many +deeds of atrocious cruelty. They simply claimed the right of +self-government, and when assailed, fell upon their assailants with +blind and merciless fury. + +The kings of Europe contemplated this portentous change with +inexpressible alarm. In consternation they witnessed the uprising of the +masses in France, and saw one of their brother monarchs dragged from his +palace and beheaded upon the guillotine. The successful establishment of +the French Republic would very probably have driven every King in Europe +from his throne. England was agitated through all her countries. From +the mud cabins of Ireland, from the dark and miry mines, from the +thronged streets of the city, and the crowded workshops all over the +kingdom, there was a clamorous cry ascending for liberty and equality. +The spirit of democracy, radiating from its soul in Paris, was assailing +every throne in Europe. There was no alternative for these monarchs but +to crush this new power, or to perish before it. There can be no +monarchist whose sympathies will not beat high with the allied kings in +the fearful conflict which ensued. There can be no republican who will +not pray, "God speed the Eagles of France." Both parties believed that +they were fighting in self-defense. The kings were attacked by +_principles_ triumphant in France, which were undermining their thrones. +The French were attacked by bayonets and batteries--by combined armies +invading their territories, bombarding their cities, and endeavoring by +force of arms, to compel a proud nation of thirty millions of +inhabitants to reinstate, at foreign dictation, the rejected Bourbons +upon the throne. The allies called upon all the loyalists scattered over +France to grasp their arms, to rally beneath the banner of friends +coming to their rescue, and to imbrue their country in the blood of a +civil war. The French, in trumpet tones, summoned the _people_ of all +lands to hail the tri-colored flag, as the harbinger of their +deliverance from the servitude of ages. From every city in Europe which +Napoleon approached, with his conquering armies, the loyalists fled, +while the republicans welcomed him with an adulation amounting almost to +religious homage. And the troops of the allies were welcomed, in every +city of France which they entered, with tears of gratitude from the eyes +of those who longed for the restoration of the monarchy. It was a +conflict between the spirit of republicanism on the one side, and of +monarchical and ecclesiastical domination upon the other. + +England, with her invincible fleet, was hovering around the coasts of +the republic, assailing every exposed point, landing troops upon the +French territory, and arming and inspiriting the loyalists to civil war. +Austria had marched an army of nearly two hundred thousand men upon the +banks of the Rhine, to attack France upon the north. She had called into +requisition all her Italian possessions, and in alliance with the +British navy, and the armies of the king of Sardinia, and the fanatic +legions of Naples and Sicily had gathered eighty thousand men upon the +Alpine frontier. This host was under the command of experienced +generals, and was abundantly provided with all the munitions of war. +These were the invading foes whom Napoleon was to encounter in fields of +blood. It was purely a war of self-defense on the part of the French +people. They were contending against the bullets and the bayonets of the +armies of monarchical Europe, assailing them at every point. The allied +kings felt that they also were engaged in a war of self-defense--that +they were struggling against _principles_ which threatened to undermine +their thrones. Strange as the declaration to some may appear, it is +extremely difficult for a candid and an impartial man severely to +censure either side. It is not strange, contemplating frail human nature +as it is, that the monarchs of Europe, born to a kingly inheritance, +should have made every exertion to retain their thrones, and to secure +their kingdoms from the invasion of republican principles. It is not +strange that republicanized France, having burst the chains of an +intolerable despotism, should have resolved to brave all the horrors of +the most desperate war rather than surrender the right of choosing its +own form of government. The United States were protected from a similar +onset, on the part of allied Europe, only by the wide barrier of the +ocean. And had the combined armies of monarchical Europe crossed that +barrier, and invaded our shores, to compel us to replace George III. +upon his American throne, we should have blest the Napoleon, emerging +from our midst, who, contending for the liberties of his country, had +driven them back into the sea. + +When Napoleon arrived at Nice he found that he had but thirty thousand +men with whom to repel the eighty thousand of the allies. The government +was impoverished, and had no means to pay the troops. The soldiers were +dejected, emaciate, and ragged. The cavalry horses had died upon the +bleak and frozen summits of the mountains, and the army was almost +entirely destitute of artillery. The young commander-in-chief, +immediately upon his arrival, summoned his generals before him. Many of +them were veteran soldiers, and they were not a little chagrined in +seeing a youth, whom they regarded almost as a beardless boy, placed +over them in command. But in the very first hour in which he met them, +his superiority was recognized; and he gained a complete and an +unquestioned ascendency over all. Berthier, Massena, Augereau, +Serrurier, and Lannes were there, men who had already attained renown, +and who were capable of appreciating genius. "This is the leader," said +one, as he left this first council, "who will surely guide us to fame +and fortune." + +The French were on the cold crests of the mountains. The allies were +encamped in the warm and fertile valleys which opened into the Italian +plains. The untiring energy of the youthful general, his imperial mind, +his unhesitating reliance upon his own mental resources, his perfect +acquaintance with the theatre of war, as the result of his previous +explorations, his gravity and reserve of manners, his spotless morality, +so extraordinary in the midst of all the dissipated scenes of the camp, +commanded the reverence of the dissolute and licentious, though brave +and talented generals who surrounded him. There was an indescribable +something in his manner which immediately inspired respect and awe, and +which kept all familiarity at a distance. + +Decres had known Napoleon well in Paris, and had been on terms of +perfect intimacy with him. He was at Toulon when he heard of Napoleon's +appointment to the command of the army of Italy. "When I learned," said +he, "that the new general was about to pass through the city, I +immediately proposed to introduce my comrades to him, and to turn my +acquaintance to the best account. I hastened to meet him full of +eagerness and joy. The door of the apartment was thrown open, and I was +upon the point of rushing to him with my wonted familiarity. But his +attitude, his look, the tone of his voice suddenly deterred me. There +was nothing haughty or offensive in his appearance or manner, but the +impression he produced was sufficient to prevent me from ever again +attempting to encroach upon the distance which separated us."[1] + +[1] Decres was afterward elevated by Napoleon to a dukedom, and +appointed Minister of the Marine. He was strongly attached to his +benefactor. At the time of Napoleon's downfall, he was sounded in a very +artful way as to his willingness to conspire against the Emperor. +Happening to visit a person of celebrity, the latter drew him aside to +the fire-place, and taking up a book, said, "I have just now been +reading something that struck me very forcibly. Montesquieu here +remarks, 'When the prince rises above the laws, when tyranny becomes +insupportable, the oppressed have no alternative but--'" "Enough," +exclaimed Decres, putting his hand before the mouth of the reader, "I +will hear no more. Close the book." The other coolly laid down the +volume, as though nothing particular had occurred, and began to talk on +a totally different subject. + +A similar ascendency, notwithstanding his feminine stature and the +extreme youthfulness of his appearance, he immediately gained over all +the soldiers and all the generals of the army. Every one who entered his +presence was awed by the indescribable influence of his imperial mind. +No one ventured to contend with him for the supremacy. He turned with +disgust from the licentiousness and dissipation which ever disgraces the +presence of an army, and with a sternness of morality which would have +done honor to any of the sages of antiquity, secured that respect which +virtue ever commands. There were many very beautiful and dissolute +females in Nice, opera singers and dancing girls, who, trafficking in +their charms, were living in great wealth and voluptuousness. They +exhausted all their arts of enticement to win the attention of the young +commander-in-chief. But their allurements were unavailing. Napoleon +proved a Samson whom no Delilah could seduce. And this was the more +extraordinary, since his natural temperament was glowing and impetuous +in the extreme, and he had no religious scruples to interfere with his +indulgences. "My extreme youth," said he, afterward, "when I took +command of the army of Italy, rendered it necessary that I should evince +great reserve of manners and the utmost severity of morals. This was +indispensable to enable me to sustain authority over men so greatly my +superiors in age and experience. I pursued a line of conduct in the +highest degree irreproachable and exemplary. In spotless morality I was +a Cato, and must have appeared such to all. I was a philosopher and a +sage. My supremacy could be retained only by proving myself a better man +than any other man in the army. Had I yielded to human weaknesses I +should have lost my power." + +He was temperate in the extreme, seldom allowing himself to take even a +glass of wine, and never did he countenance by his presence any scene of +bacchanalian revelry. For gaming, in all its branches, he manifested +then, and through the whole of his life, the strongest disapproval. He +ever refused to repose confidence in any one who was addicted to that +vice. One day at St. Helena, he was conversing with Las Casas, when some +remark which was made led Napoleon to inquire, "Were you a gamester?" +"Alas, sire!" Las Casas replied, "I must confess that I was, but only +occasionally." "I am very glad," Napoleon rejoined, "that I knew nothing +of it at the time. You would have been ruined in my esteem. A gamester +was sure to forfeit my confidence. The moment I heard that a man was +addicted to that vice I placed no more confidence in him." + +From what source did this young soldier imbibe these elevated +principles? Licentiousness, irreligion, gambling had been the trinity of +revolutionary France--the substitute which rampant infidelity had +adopted, for a benignant Father, a pleading Saviour, a sanctifying +Spirit. Napoleon was reared in the midst of these demoralizing +influences. And yet how unsullied does his character appear when +compared with that of his companions in the camp and on the throne! +Napoleon informs us that to his mother he was indebted for every pure +and noble sentiment which inspired his bosom. + +Letitia, the mother of Napoleon, was a woman of extraordinary +endowments. She had herself hardly passed the period of childhood, being +but nineteen years of age, when she heard the first wailing cry of +Napoleon, her second born, and pressed the helpless babe, with +thanksgiving and prayer, to her maternal bosom. She was a young mother +to train and educate such a child for his unknown but exalted destiny. +She encircled, in protecting arms, the nursing babe, as it fondled a +mother's bosom with those little hands, which, in after years, grasped +sceptres, and uphove thrones, and hewed down armies with resistless +sword. She taught those infant lips to lisp "papa"--"mamma"--those lips +at whose subsequent command all Europe was moved, and whose burning, +glowing, martial words fell like trumpet-tones upon the world, hurling +nation upon nation in the shock of war. She taught those feeble feet to +make their first trembling essays upon the carpet, rewarding the +successful endeavor with a mother's kiss and a mother's caress--those +feet which afterward strode over the sands of the desert, and waded +through the blood-stained snow-drifts of Russia, and tottered, in the +infirmities of sickness and death, on the misty, barren, storm-swept +crags of St. Helena. She instilled into the bosom of her son those +elevated principles of honor and self-respect, which, when surrounded by +every temptation earth could present, preserved him from the degraded +doom of the inebriate, of the voluptuary, and of the gamester, and which +made the court of Napoleon, when the most brilliant court this world has +ever known, also the most illustrious for the purity of its morals and +the decorum of its observances. The sincere, unaffected piety of Letitia +rose so high above the corruptions of a corrupt and profligate church, +that her distinguished son, notwithstanding the all but universal +infidelity of the times, was compelled to respect a religion which had +embellished a beloved mother's life. He was thus induced, in his day of +power, to bring back a wayward nation of thirty millions from cheerless, +brutalizing, comfortless unbelief, to all the consoling, ennobling, +purifying influences of Christianity. When at the command of Napoleon +the church bells began again to toll the hour of prayer, on every +hill-side, and through every valley in France, and the dawn of the +Sabbath again guided rejoicing thousands in the crowded city and in the +silent country to the temples of religion--when the young, in their +nuptials, and the aged in their death were blessed by the solemnities of +gospel ministrations, it was a mother's influence which inspired a +dutiful son to make the magic change, which thus, in an hour, +transformed France from a pagan to nominally a Christian land. It was +the calm, gentle, persuasive voice of Letitia which was embodied in the +consular decree. Honor to Letitia, the mother of Napoleon! + +The first interview between this almost beardless youth and the veteran +generals whom he was to command, must have presented a singular scene. +These scarred and war-worn chiefs, when they beheld the "stripling," +were utterly amazed at the folly of the Directory in sending such a +youth to command an army in circumstances so desperate. Rampon undertook +to give the young commander some advice. Napoleon, who demanded +obedience not advice, impatiently brushed him away, exclaiming, +"Gentlemen! the art of war is in its infancy. The time has passed in +which enemies are mutually to appoint the place of combat, advance hat +in hand and say, '_Gentlemen, will you have the goodness to fire_.' We +must cut the enemy in pieces, precipitate ourselves like a torrent upon +their battalions, and grind them to powder. Experienced generals conduct +the troops opposed to us! So much the better, so much the better. It is +not their experience which will avail them against me. Mark my words; +they will soon burn their books on tactics and know not what to do. Yes, +gentlemen! the first onset of the Italian army will give birth to a new +epoch in military affairs. As for us, we must hurl ourselves on the foe +like a thunderbolt, and smite like it. Disconcerted by our tactics, and +not daring to put them into execution, they will fly before us as the +shades of night before the uprising sun." + +The commanding and self-confident tone in which Napoleon uttered these +glowing sentences, silenced and confounded the generals. They felt that +they had indeed a master. "Well," said Augereau, as he left the council, +nodding very significantly to Massena, "we have a man here who will cut +out some work for government, I think." "It was necessary for me," +Napoleon afterward remarked, "to be a little austere, to prevent my +generals from slapping me upon the shoulder." + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON AND HIS GENERALS.] + +The objects which Napoleon had in view in this campaign were, first, to +compel the King of Sardinia to abandon the alliance with Austria; +secondly, to assail the Austrians with such vigor as to compel the +Emperor to call to his aid the troops upon the Rhine, and thus weaken +the powerful hosts then marching against the Republic; and, thirdly, to +humble the Pope, who was exerting all his spiritual power to aid the +Bourbons in fighting their way back to the throne of France. The Pope +had offered an unpardonable insult to the Republic. The French +embassador sent to Rome, had been attacked in the streets, and chased +home. The mob broke into his house and cruelly assassinated him, unarmed +and unresisting. The murderers remained unpunished, and no atonement had +been made for the atrocious crime. But how, with thirty thousand troops, +unpaid, dejected, famished, and unprovided with the munitions of war, +was mortal man to accomplish such results in the face of a foe eighty +thousand strong, living in abundance, and flushed with victory! + +Napoleon issued his first proclamation. It was read to every regiment in +the army, and rang, like trumpet-tones, upon the ears of the troops. +"Soldiers! you are hungry and naked; the government owes you much, and +can pay you nothing. Your patience, your courage, in the midst of these +rocks, are admirable, but they reflect no splendor upon your arms. I +come to lead you into the most fertile plains the sun beholds. Rich +provinces, opulent cities will soon be at your disposal. There you will +find abundant harvests, honor, and glory. Soldiers of Italy, will you +fail in courage?" It is not strange that such words, from their young +and fearless leader, should have inspired enthusiasm, and should have +caused the hearts of the desponding to leap high with hope and +confidence. The simple plan which Napoleon adopted, was to direct his +whole force against detached portions of the Austrian army, and thus by +gaining, at the point of attack, a superiority in numbers, to destroy +them by piecemeal. "War," said the young soldier, "is the science of +barbarians; and he who has the heaviest battalions will conquer." + +The whole army was instantly on the move. The generals, appreciating the +wisdom and the fearlessness of their indomitable leader, imbibed his +spirit and emulated his zeal. Napoleon was on horseback night and day. +He seemed to take no time to eat or to sleep. He visited the soldiers, +sympathized with them in their sufferings, and revealed to them his +plans. It was early in the spring. Bleak glaciers and snow-covered +ridges of the Alps were between Napoleon and the Austrians. Behind this +curtain he assembled his forces. Enormous sacrifices were required to +enable the soldiers to move from point to point with that celerity which +was essential in operations so hazardous. He made no allowance for any +impediments or obstacles. At a given hour the different divisions of the +army, by various roads, were to be at a designated point. To accomplish +this, every sacrifice was to be made of comfort and of life. If +necessary to the attainment of this end stragglers were to be left +behind, baggage abandoned, artillery even to be left in the ruts, and +the troops were to be, without fail, at the designated place at the +appointed hour. Through storms of rain and snow, over mountain and moor, +by night and by day, hungry, sleepless, wet, and cold, the enthusiastic +host pressed on. It seems incredible that the young Napoleon, so +instantaneously as it were, should have been enabled to infuse his +almost supernatural energy into the whole army. He had neither mules +with which to attempt the passage of the Alps, nor money to purchase the +necessary supplies. He therefore decided to turn the mountains, by +following down the chain along the shores of the Mediterranean, to a +point where the lofty ridges sink almost to a plain. + +The army of Beaulieu was divided into three corps. His centre, ten +thousand strong, was at the small village of Montenotte. The night of +the 11th of April was dark and tempestuous. Torrents of rain were +falling, and the miry roads were almost impassable. But through the long +hours of this stormy night, while the Austrians were reposing warmly in +their tents, Napoleon and his soldiers, drenched with rain, were toiling +through the muddy defiles of the mountains, wading the swollen streams, +and climbing the slippery cliffs. Just as the day began to dawn through +the broken clouds, the young general stood upon the heights in the rear +of Montenotte, and looked down upon the encamped host whom he was now +for the first time to encounter in decisive conflict. He had so +man[oe]uvred as completely to envelop his unsuspecting enemy. Allowing +his weary troops not an hour for repose, he fell upon the allied +Austrians and Sardinians like a whirlwind, attacking them, at the same +moment, in front, flank, and rear. The battle was long and bloody. The +details of these horrid scenes of carnage are sickening. The shout of +onset, the shriek of agony; the mutilated and the mangled forms of the +young and the noble, trampled beneath the iron hoofs of rushing +squadrons; the wounded crushed into the mire, with their bones ground to +powder as the wheels of ponderous artillery were dragged mercilessly +over them, and the wailing echo of widows and orphans in their distant +homes, render these battle-fields revolting to humanity. At length the +Austrians were broken and completely routed. They fled in dismay, +leaving three thousand dead and wounded upon the field, and their cannon +and colors in possession of the French. This was the first battle in +which Napoleon had the supreme command; the first victory in which the +honor redounded to himself. "My title of nobility," said he proudly to +the Emperor of Austria, "dates from the battle of Montenotte." The +Austrians fled in one direction to Dego, to meet reinforcements coming +to their aid and to protect Milan. The Sardinians retreated in another +direction to Millesimo, to cover their own capital of Turin. Thus the +two armies were separated as Napoleon desired. The indefatigable +general, allowing his exhausted and bleeding army but a few hours of +repose, and himself not one, resolved, while his troops were flushed +with victory, and the enemy were depressed by defeat and loss, to attack +both armies at once. The 13th and the 14th of April were passed in one +incessant conflict. The Austrians and Sardinians intrenching themselves +in strong fortresses and upon craggy hill-sides, and every hour +receiving reinforcements pressing on to their aid, cast showers of +stones and rolled heavy rocks upon their assailants, sweeping away whole +companies at a time. Napoleon was every where, sharing the toil, +incurring the danger, and inspiring his men with his own enthusiastic +ardor and courage. In both battles the French were entirely victorious. +At Dego, the Austrians were compelled to abandon their artillery and +baggage, and escape as they could over the mountains, leaving three +thousand prisoners in the hands of the conqueror. At Millesimo, fifteen +hundred Sardinians were compelled to surrender. Thus like a thunderbolt +Napoleon opened the campaign. In three days, three desperate battles had +been fought, and three decisive victories gained. Still Napoleon's +situation was perilous in the extreme. He was surrounded by forces +vastly superior to his own, crowding down upon him. The Austrians were +amazed at his audacity. They deemed it the paroxysm of a madman, who +throws himself single-handed into the midst of an armed host. His +destruction was sure, unless by almost supernatural rapidity of +marching, he could prevent the concentration of these forces and bring +superior numbers to attack and destroy the detached portions. A day of +inaction, an hour of hesitancy, might have been fatal. It was in the +battle at Dego that Napoleon was first particularly struck with the +gallantry of a young officer named Lannes. In nothing was the genius of +this extraordinary man more manifest, than in the almost intuitive +penetration with which he discovered character. Lannes became +subsequently Duke of Montebello and one of the marshals of the +Empire.[2] + +[2] "The education of Lannes had been much neglected but his mind rose +to the level of his courage. He became a giant. He adored me as his +protector, his superior being, his providence. In the impetuosity of his +temper he sometimes allowed hasty expressions against me to escape his +lips, but he would probably have broken the head of any one who had +joined him in his remarks. When he died he had been in fifty-four +pitched battles and three hundred combats of different kinds."--Napoleon. + +In the midst of these marches and counter-marches and these incessant +battles, there had been no opportunity to distribute regular rations +among the troops. The soldiers, destitute of every thing, began to +pillage. Napoleon, who was exceedingly anxious to win the good-will of +the people of Italy and to be welcomed by them as their deliverer from +proud oppressors, proceeded against the culprits with great severity, +and immediately re-established the most rigid discipline in the army. + +He had now advanced to the summit of Mt. Zemolo. From that eminence the +troops looked down upon the lovely plains of Italy, opening, like a +diorama beneath them. The poetic sensibilities of Napoleon were deeply +moved by the majestic spectacle. Orchards and vineyards, and fertile +fields and peaceful villages lay spread out, a scene of perfect +enchantment, in the extended valley. Majestic rivers, reflecting the +rays of the sun like ribbons of silver, meandered through meadow and +forest; encircling the verdant hill-sides, and bathing the streets of +opulent cities. In the distance stupendous mountains, hoary with eternal +ice and snow, bounded and seemed to embrace in protecting arms this land +of promise. Napoleon, sitting upon his horse, gazed for some time in +silent and delighted admiration upon the scene. "Hannibal," he +exclaimed, "forced the Alps; but we have turned them." + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON ON MOUNT ZEMOLO.] + +There was, however, not a moment to be lost in rest or reverie. From +every direction the Austrians and Sardinians were hurrying to their +appointed rendezvous, to combine and destroy this audacious band, which +had so suddenly and fatally plunged into their midst. The French troops +rushed down the declivities of the mountains and, crossing the Tanaro, +rejoiced with trembling as they found themselves in the sunny plains of +Italy. Dispatching Augereau to pursue the Austrian army, now effectually +separated from their allies, Napoleon, with indefatigable perseverance, +pursued the Sardinians in their flight toward Turin. He came up with +them on the 18th at Ceva, where they had intrenched themselves, eight +thousand strong. + +He immediately attacked them in their intrenchments, and during the +remainder of the day the sanguinary battle raged without any decisive +result. The flash and the roar of artillery and of musketry did not +cease, till the darkness rendered it impossible to distinguish friend +from foe. The French slept upon their arms, ready to resume the combat +in the earliest dawn of the morning. In the night the Sardinians fled, +and again took a strong position behind the deep and foaming torrent of +the Carsuglia. On the evening of the ensuing day, Napoleon again +overtook them. A single bridge crossed the rapid torrent. The Sardinians +were so strongly posted that it seemed impossible that they could be +dislodged. Large detachments were hastening to reinforce them. The +Austrians were accumulating in great strength in Napoleon's rear, and +notwithstanding all these brilliant victories the situation of the +French was perilous in the extreme. A council of war was held in the +night, and it was decided, regardless of the extreme exhaustion of the +troops, to make an assault upon the bridge as soon as the morning +should dawn. Before the first gray of the morning the French, in battle +array, were moving down upon the bridge, anticipating a desperate +struggle. But the Sardinians, in a panic, had again fled during the +night, and Napoleon, rejoicing at his good fortune, passed the bridge +unobstructed. The indefatigable victor pressed onward in the pursuit, +and before nightfall again overtook his fugitive foes, who had +intrenched themselves upon some almost inaccessible hills near Mondovi. +The French immediately advanced to the assault. The Sardinians fought +with desperation, but the genius of Napoleon triumphed, and again the +Sardinians fled, leaving two thousand men, eight cannon, and eleven +standards in the hands of the conqueror, and one thousand dead upon the +field. Napoleon pursued the fugitives to Cherasco, and took possession +of the place. He was now within twenty miles of Turin, the capital of +the kingdom of Sardinia. All was commotion in the metropolis. There were +thousands there, who had imbibed the revolutionary spirit, who were +ready to welcome Napoleon as their deliverer, and to implore him to aid +them in the establishment of a republic. The king and the nobles were in +perfect consternation. The English and Austrian ministers entreated the +king to adhere to the alliance, abandon his capital, and continue the +conflict. They assured him that the rash and youthful victor was rushing +into difficulties from which he could by no possibility extricate +himself. But he, trembling for his throne and his crown, believing it to +be impossible to resist so rapid a conqueror, and fearing that Napoleon, +irritated by a protracted conflict, would proclaim political liberty to +the people, and revolutionize the kingdom, determined to throw himself +into the arms of the French, and to appeal to the magnanimity of the +foe, whose rights he had so unpardonably assailed. By all human rules he +deserved the severest punishment. He had united with two powerful +nations, England and Austria, to chastise the French for preferring a +republic to a monarchy, and had sent an invading army to bombard the +cities of France and instigate the royalists to rise in civil war +against the established government of the country. + +It was with lively satisfaction that Napoleon received the advances of +the Sardinian King, for he was fully aware of the peril in which he was +placed. The allied armies were still far more numerous than his own. He +had neither heavy battering cannon, nor siege equipage to reduce Turin, +and the other important fortresses of the kingdom. He was far from home, +could expect no immediate reinforcements from France, and his little +army was literally in destitution and in rags. The allies, on the +contrary, were in the enjoyment of abundance. They could every day +augment their strength; and their resources were apparently +inexhaustible. "The king of Sardinia," says Napoleon, "had still a great +number of fortresses left; and in spite of the victories which had been +gained, the slightest check, one caprice of fortune, would have undone +every thing." Napoleon, however, with the commissioners who had been +sent to treat with him, assumed a very confident and imperious tone. He +demanded, as a preliminary to any armistice, that the important +fortresses of Coni, Tortona, and Alexandria, "the keys of the Alps," +should be surrendered to him. The commissioners hesitated to comply with +these requisitions, which would place Sardinia entirely at his mercy, +and proposed some modifications. "Your ideas are absurd," exclaimed +Napoleon, sternly; "it is for me to state conditions. Listen to the laws +which I impose upon you, in the name of the government of my country, +and obey, or to-morrow my batteries are erected, and Turin is in +flames." The commissioners were overawed, and a treaty was immediately +concluded, by which the King of Sardinia abandoned the alliance, +surrendered the three fortresses, with all their artillery and military +stores, to Napoleon, sent an embassador to Paris to conclude a +definitive peace, left the victors in possession of all the places they +had already taken, disbanded the militia, and dispersed the regular +troops, and allowed the French free use of the military roads, to carry +on the war with Austria. Napoleon then issued to his soldiers the +following soul-stirring proclamation: + +"Soldiers! you have gained in fifteen days six victories, taken +one-and-twenty standards, fifty-five pieces of cannon, many strong +places, and have conquered the richest part of Piedmont. You have made +fifteen thousand prisoners, and killed or wounded ten thousand men. +Hitherto you have fought on sterile rocks, illustrious, indeed, by your +courage, but of no avail. Now you rival by your services the armies of +Holland and of the Rhine. You were utterly destitute; you have supplied +all your wants. You have gained battles without cannon; passed rivers +without bridges; made forced marches without shoes, bivouacked without +bread. The phalanxes of the Republic, the soldiers of liberty were alone +capable of such sacrifices. But, soldiers! you have accomplished nothing +while any thing remains to be done. Neither Turin nor Milan is in your +hands. I am told that there are some among you whose courage is failing, +who wish to return to the summits of the Alps and the Apennines. No! I +can not believe it. The conquerors of Montenotte, of Millesimo, of Dego, +of Mondovi burn to carry still further the glories of the French name. +But ere I lead you to conquest there is one condition you must promise +to fulfill: that is to protect the people whom you liberate and to +repress all acts of lawless violence. Without this you would not be the +deliverers, but the scourges of nations. Invested with the national +authority, strong in justice and law, I shall not hesitate to enforce +the requisitions of humanity and of honor. I will not suffer robbers to +sully your laurels. Pillagers shall be shot without mercy. + +"People of Italy! The French army advances to break your chains. The +French people are the friends of all nations. In them you may confide. +Your property, your religion, your customs shall be respected. We will +only make war as generous foes. Our sole quarrel is with the tyrants who +enslave you." + +A large majority of Napoleon's soldiers and officers severely condemned +any treaty of peace with a monarchical government, and were clamorous +for the dethronement of the king of Sardinia, and the establishment of a +Republic. The people thronged Napoleon with the entreaty that he would +lend them his countenance that they might revolutionize the kingdom. +They urged that, by the banishment of the king and the nobles, they +could establish a free government, which should be the natural and +efficient ally of Republican France. He had but to say the word and the +work was done. The temptation to utter that word must have been very +strong. It required no common political foresight to nerve Napoleon to +resist that temptation. But he had a great horror of anarchy. He had +seen enough of the working of Jacobin misrule in the blood-deluged +streets of Paris. He did not believe that the benighted peasants of +Italy possessed either the intelligence or the moral principle essential +to the support of a well-organized republic. Consequently, +notwithstanding the known wishes of the Directory, the demands of the +army, and the entreaties of the populace, with heroic firmness he +refused to allow the overthrow of the established government. He +diverted the attention of his soldiers from the subject, by plunging +them into still more arduous enterprises, and leading them to yet more +brilliant victories. + +Napoleon had no desire to see the reign of terror re-enacted in the +cities of Italy. He was in favor of reform, not of revolution. The kings +and the nobles had monopolized wealth and honor, and nearly all the most +precious privileges of life. The people were merely hewers of wood and +drawers of water. Napoleon wished to break down this monopoly and to +emancipate the masses from the servitude of ages. He would do this, +however, not by the sudden upheaving of thrones and the transfer of +power to unenlightened and inexperienced democracy, but by surrounding +the thrones with republican institutions, and conferring upon all people +a strong and well-organized government, with constitutional liberty. +Eloquently he says, "It would be a magnificent field for speculation to +estimate what would have been the destinies of France and of Europe, had +England satisfied herself with denouncing the murder of Louis XVI., +which would have been for the interests of public morality, and listened +to the councils of a philanthropic policy, by accepting revolutionized +France as an ally. Scaffolds would not then have been erected over the +whole country, and kings would not have trembled on their thrones; but +their states would all have passed, more or less, through a +revolutionary process, and the whole of Europe, without a convulsion, +would have become constitutional and free." + +The kingdom of Sardinia was composed of the provinces of Nice, Piedmont, +Savoy, and Montferrat. It contained three millions of inhabitants. The +king, by extraordinary efforts and by means of subsidies from England, +had raised an army of sixty thousand men, trained to service in long +continued wars. His numerous fortresses, well armed and amply +provisioned, situated at the defiles of all the mountains, placed his +frontier in a state which was regarded as impregnable. He was the +father-in-law of both of the brothers of Louis XVI.; which brothers +subsequently ascended the throne of France as Louis XVIII. and as +Charles X. He had welcomed them, in their flight from France to his +court in Turin; and had made his court a place of refuge for the +emigrant noblesse, where, in fancied security, they matured their plans +and accumulated their resources for the invasion of France, in +connection with the armies of the allies. And yet Napoleon, with thirty +thousand half-starved men, had, in one short fortnight, dispersed his +troops, driven the Austrians from the kingdom, penetrated to the very +heart of the state, and was threatening the bombardment of his capital. +The humiliated monarch, trembling for his crown, was compelled to sue +for peace at the feet of an unknown young man of twenty-five. His +chagrin was so great, in view of his own fallen fortunes and the +hopelessness of his sons-in-law ever attaining the throne of France, +that he died, a few days after signing the treaty of Cherasco, of a +broken heart. + +Napoleon immediately dispatched Murat, his first aid-de-camp, to Paris, +with a copy of the armistice, and with twenty-one standards taken from +the enemy. The sensation which was produced in France by this rapid +succession of astonishing victories was intense and universal. The +spirit of antique eloquence which imbued the proclamations of the young +conqueror; the modest language of his dispatches to the Directory; the +entire absence of boasting respecting his own merits, and the glowing +commendation of the enthusiastic bravery of his soldiers and of his +generals, excited profound admiration. _Bonaparte_ was a foreign, an +Italian name. Few in France had ever heard it, and it was not easily +pronounced. Every one inquired, Who is this young general, whose talents +thus suddenly, with such meteoric splendor, have blazed upon Europe? His +name and his fame were upon every lip, and the eyes of all Europe were +concentred upon him. Three times in the course of fifteen days, the +Council of Ancients and The Five Hundred had decreed that the army of +Italy deserved well of their country, and had appointed festivals to +victory in their honor. In very imposing ceremony Murat presented the +captured standards to the Directory. Several foreign embassadors were +present on the occasion. The Republic, thus triumphant, was invested +with new dignity, and elevated, by the victories of the young general, +to a position of respect and consideration which it had never attained +before. + +While these scenes were transpiring Napoleon did not forget the bride he +had left in Paris. Though for seven days and nights he had allowed +himself no quiet meal, no regular repose, and had not taken off either +his coat or his boots, he found time to send frequent and most +affectionate, though very short, notes to Josephine. Immediately after +the victory of Montenotte, while the thunders of the cannonade were +still ringing in his ears, he dispatched a courier to Josephine with the +following lines, written in such haste and under such circumstances as +to be scarcely legible. + + "My beloved Friend, + + "My first laurel is due to my country. My second shall be yours. + While pursuing the enemy I thought of France. When he was beaten I + thought of Josephine. Your son will send you a scarf surrendered to + him by Colonel Morback, whom he took prisoner with his own hand. + You see, Madame, that our Eugene is worthy of his father. Do not + deem me altogether undeserving of having succeeded to that brave + and unfortunate general, under whom I should have felt honored to + have learned to conquer. I embrace you. Bonaparte." + +This delicacy of attention Napoleon ever manifested toward Josephine, +even after their unhappy divorce, and until the hour of her death. + +Napoleon having, by an advantageous treaty with Sardinia, secured his +rear from assault, without a day's delay, commenced the pursuit of the +discomfited remains of the Austrian army. Under their +commander-in-chief, Beaulieu, they had retreated behind the Po, where +they strongly intrenched themselves, awaiting the reinforcements which +were hurrying to their aid. + +Upon leaving the kingdom of Sardinia Napoleon first entered the states +of Parma. The Duke of Parma, who had united with his more powerful +neighbors, in the alliance against France, reigned over a population of +but about five hundred thousand, and could furnish to the allies but +three thousand troops. He was of course powerless, and sent envoys to +solicit the clemency of the conqueror. Napoleon granted him an armistice +upon his paying five hundred thousand dollars in silver, sixteen hundred +artillery horses, and a large supply of corn and provisions. And here +commenced one of those characteristic acts of the young general which +have been greatly admired by some, and most severely censured by others. +Napoleon, a lover and connoisseur of the arts, conscious of the addition +they contribute to the splendor of an empire, and of the effect which +they produce upon the imagination of men, demanded twenty of the +choicest pictures in the galleries of the duke, to be sent to the Museum +at Paris. To save one of these works of art, the celebrated picture of +St. Jerome, the duke offered two hundred thousand dollars. Napoleon +declined the money, stating to the army, "the sum which he offers us +will soon be spent; but the possession of such a master-piece, at Paris, +will adorn that capital for ages, and give birth to similar exertions of +genius." No one objects, according to the laws of war, to the extortion +of the money, the horses, the corn, and the beef, but it is represented +by some as an unpardonable act of spoliation and rapacity to have taken +the pictures. If conquest confers the right to the seizure of any +species of property, it is difficult to conceive why works of art, which +are subject to barter and sale, should claim exemption. Indeed, there +seems to be a peculiar propriety in taking luxuries rather than +necessaries. The extortion of money only inflicted a tax upon the +_people_ who were the friends of Napoleon and of his cause. The +selection of the paintings and the statuary deprived not the people of +their food, but caused that very class in the community to feel the +evils of war, who had originated the conflict. It was making requisition +upon the palace and not upon the cottage. But war, with its extortion, +robbery, cruelty, and blood, involves all our ideas of morality in +confusion. Whatever may be the decision of posterity respecting the +propriety of including works of genius among the trophies of war, the +occurrence surely exhibits Napoleon as a man of refined and elevated +tastes. An ignoble spirit, moved by avarice, would have grasped the +money. Napoleon, regardless of personal indulgence, sought only the +glory of France. There is at least grandeur in the motive which inspired +the act. + +The Austrians were now reinforced to the amount of forty thousand men, +and had intrenched themselves upon the other side of the Po, having this +magnificent stream flowing between them and the French. It is one of the +most difficult operations in war to cross a river in the face of an +opposing army. It was difficult to conceive how Napoleon could effect +the enterprise. He, however, marched resolutely on toward Valenza, +making every demonstration of his intention to cross at that point, in +defiance of the foe, arrayed in vastly superior numbers to contest the +passage. The Austrians concentrated their strength to give him a warm +reception. Suddenly by night Napoleon turned down the river, and with +amazing celerity made a march of eighty miles in thirty-six hours, +seizing every boat upon the stream as he passed along. He had timed the +march of the several divisions of his army so precisely, that all of his +forces met at the appointed rendezvous within a few hours of each other. +Rapidly crossing the river in boats, he found himself and his army, +without the loss of a single man, in the plains of Lombardy. + +This beautiful and productive country had been conquered by the +Austrians, and was governed by an archduke. It contained one million two +hundred thousand inhabitants, and was one of the most fertile and rich +provinces in the world. Its inhabitants were much dissatisfied with +their foreign masters, and the great majority, longing for political +regeneration, were ready to welcome the armies of France. As soon as +Beaulieu, who was busily at work upon his fortifications at Valenza, +heard that Napoleon had thus out-generaled him, and had crossed the +river, he immediately collected all his forces and moved forward to meet +him. The advanced divisions of the hostile armies soon met at Fombio. +The Austrians stationed themselves in the steeples and at the windows +and upon the roofs of the houses, and commenced a destructive fire upon +the French, crowding into the streets. They hoped to arrest their +progress until the commander-in-chief could arrive with the main body of +the army. The French, however, rushed impetuously on with their +bayonets, and the Austrians were driven before them, leaving two +thousand prisoners in the hands of Napoleon, and the ground covered with +their dead. + +The French pursued closely upon the heels of the Austrians, from every +eminence plunging cannon balls into their retreating ranks, and +assailing them with the most destructive fire at every possible point of +attack. In the evening of the same day, the exhausted and bleeding +columns of the enemy arrived at Lodi, a small town upon the banks of the +Adda. Passing directly through the town they crossed the river, which +was about two hundred yards in width, by a narrow wooden bridge, about +thirty feet wide. They were there received by the main body of the army +of Beaulieu, which was strongly intrenched upon the opposite banks. The +whole French army rushed into the town, and sheltering themselves behind +the walls of the houses, from the incessant fire of the Austrian +batteries, awaited the commands of their youthful leader, whom they now +began to think invincible. + +Napoleon's belief in _destiny_ was so strong that he was an entire +stranger to bodily fear. He immediately sallied from the town and +reconnoitred the banks of the river, amidst a perfect shower of balls +and grape-shot. The prospect before him would have been to most persons +perfectly appalling. The Austrians, sixteen thousand strong, with twelve +thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, and thirty pieces of heavy +artillery were posted upon the opposite banks in battle array, with +their batteries so arranged as to command the whole length of the bridge +by a raking fire. Batteries stationed above and below also swept the +narrow passage by cross fires, while sharp-shooters, in bands of +thousands, were posted at every available point, to drive a perfect +storm of musket balls into the face of any who should approach the +structure. Beaulieu conceived his position so utterly impregnable that +he had not thought it necessary to destroy the bridge, as he easily +could have done. He desired nothing more earnestly than that the French +might attempt the passage, for he was confident that their discomfiture +would be both signal and awful. Napoleon immediately placed as many guns +as possible in opposition to the Austrian batteries, directing with his +own hands, in the midst of the hottest fire, some cannon in such a +manner as to prevent the Austrians from approaching to blow up the +arches. He then entered the town, assembled his general officers, and +informed them that he had resolved immediately to storm the bridge. The +bravest of them recoiled from the undertaking, and they unanimously +disapproved of the plan as impracticable. "It is impossible," said one, +"that any men can force their way across that narrow bridge, in the face +of such an annihilating storm of balls as must be encountered." "How! +impossible!" exclaimed Napoleon, "that word is not French." The +self-reliant mind of the young conqueror was seldom moved by the +opinions of others. Regardless of the disapproval of his generals, he +assembled six thousand picked troops, and addressing them in those +marked tones of martial eloquence most eminently at his command, so +effectually roused their pride and enthusiasm that they were clamorous +to be led to the assault. He unfolded to them fully the peril which +attended the enterprise, and animated them by reference to the +corresponding glory which would attend the achievement. He knew that +thousands must perish. But placing only a slight value upon his own +life, he regarded as little the lives of others, and deemed the object +to be gained worthy of the terrible price which was to be paid. There +probably was not another man in either of those armies who would have +ventured upon the responsibility of an enterprise apparently so +desperate. + +Secretly dispatching a large body of cavalry to cross the river at a +very difficult ford, about three miles above the town, which by some +inconceivable oversight the Austrians had neglected to protect, he +ordered them to come down the river and make the most desperate charge +upon the rear of the enemy. At the same time he formed his troops in a +line, under the shelter of one of the streets nearest the point of +attack. It was the evening of the 10th of May. The sun was just sinking +behind the Tyrolean hills, enveloping in soft twilight the scene of +rural peace and beauty and of man's depravity. Not a breath of air +rippled the smooth surface of the water, or agitated the bursting +foliage of the early spring. The moment that Napoleon perceived, by the +commotion among the Austrians, that the cavalry had effected the passage +of the river, he ordered the trumpets to sound the charge. The line +wheeled instantly into a dense and solid column, crowding the street +with its impenetrable mass. Emerging from the shelter, upon the full +run, while rending the air with their enthusiastic shouts, they rushed +upon the bridge. They were met by a murderous discharge of every missile +of destruction, sweeping the structure like a whirlwind. The whole head +of the column was immediately cut down like grass before the scythe, and +the progress of those in the rear was encumbered by piles of the dead. +Still the column passed on, heedless of the terrific storm of iron and +of lead, until it had forced its way into the middle of the bridge. Here +it hesitated, wavered, and was on the point of retreating before +volcanic bursts of fire too terrible for mortal man to endure, when +Napoleon, seizing a standard, and followed by Lannes, Massena, and +Berthier, plunged through the clouds of smoke which now enveloped the +bridge in almost midnight darkness, placed himself at the head of the +troops, and shouted, "Follow your General!" The bleeding, mangled +column, animated by this example, rushed with their bayonets upon the +Austrian gunners. At the same moment the French cavalry came dashing +upon the batteries in the rear, and the bridge was carried. The French +army now poured across the narrow passage like a torrent, and debouched +upon the plain. Still the battle raged with unmitigated fury. The +Austrians hurled themselves upon the French with the energy of despair. +But the troops of Napoleon, intoxicated with their amazing achievement, +set all danger at defiance, and seemed just as regardless of bullets and +of shells, as if they had been snow-balls in the hands of children. + +In the midst of the thunders of the terrific cannonade a particular +battery was producing dreadful havoc among the ranks of the French. +Repeated attempts had been made to storm it, but in vain. An officer +rode up to Napoleon in the midst of all the confusion and horror of the +battle, and represented to him the importance of making another effort +to silence the destructive battery. "Very well," said Napoleon, who was +fond of speaking, as well as acting the sublime, "let it be silenced +then." Turning to a body of dragoons near by, he exclaimed, "follow your +General." As gayly as if it were the pastime of a holiday, the dragoons +followed their leader in the impetuous charge, through showers of grape +shot dealing mutilation and death into their ranks. The Austrian gunners +were instantly sabred, and their guns turned upon the foe. + +Lannes was the first to cross the bridge and Napoleon the second. Lannes +in utter recklessness and desperation, spurred his maddened horse into +the very midst of the Austrian ranks and grasped a banner. At that +moment his horse fell dead beneath him, and half a dozen swords +glittered above his head. With Herculean strength and agility he +extricated himself from his fallen steed, leaped upon the horse of an +Austrian officer, behind the rider, plunged his sword through the body +of the officer, and hurled him from his saddle; taking his seat he +fought his way back to his followers, having slain in the mêlée six of +the Austrians with his own hand. This deed of demoniac energy was +performed under the eye of Napoleon, and he promoted Lannes upon the +spot. + +[Illustration: THE TERRIBLE PASSAGE OF THE BRIDGE OF LODI.] + +The Austrians now retreated, leaving two thousand prisoners and twenty +pieces of cannon in the hands of the victors, and two thousand five +hundred men and four hundred horses dead upon the plain. The French +probably lost, in dead and wounded, about the same number, though +Napoleon, in his report of the battle, acknowledged the loss of but four +hundred. The Austrians claimed that the French won the victory at the +expense of four thousand men. It was, of course, the policy of the +conqueror to have it understood that his troops were the executors not +the victims of slaughter. "As false as a bulletin," has become a +proverb. The necessity of uttering falsehood and practicing deception in +all their varied forms, is one of the smallest of the innumerable +immoralities attendant upon war. From time immemorial it has been +declared that the weapons of deception and of courage are equally +allowable to the soldier; "_an virtus, an dolos, quis ab hoste +requirat_." If an enemy can be deceived by a false bulletin, there are +few generals so conscientious as to reject the stratagem. Napoleon +certainly never hesitated to avail himself of any artifice to send +dismay into the hearts of his foes. Truthfulness is not one of the +virtues which thrives in a camp. + +"It was a strange sight," says a French veteran, who was present at +this battle, "to see Napoleon that day, on foot on the bridge, under an +_infernal_ fire, and mixed up with our tall grenadiers. He looked like a +little boy." "This beardless youth," said an Austrian general, +indignantly, "ought to have been beaten over and over again; for who +ever saw such tactics. The blockhead knows nothing of the rules of war. +To-day he is in our rear, to-morrow on our flank, and the next day again +in our front. Such gross violations of the established principles of war +are insufferable." + +When Napoleon was in exile at St. Helena, some one read an account of +the battle of Lodi, in which it was stated that Napoleon displayed great +courage in being the first to cross the bridge, and that Lannes passed +it after him. "Before me! before me!" exclaimed Napoleon, earnestly. +"Lannes passed first and I only followed him. It is necessary to correct +that error upon the spot." The correction was made in the margin. This +victory produced a very extraordinary effect upon the whole French army, +and inspired the soldiers with unbounded confidence in their young +leader. Some of the veterans of the army, immediately after the battle, +met together and jocosely promoted their General, who had so +distinguished himself by his bravery, and who was so juvenile in his +appearance, to the rank of corporal. When Napoleon next appeared upon +the field, he was greeted with enthusiastic shouts by the whole army, +"Long live our little Corporal!" Ever after this he was the perfect idol +of the troops, and never lost, even in the dignity of Consul and +Emperor, this honorary and affectionate nickname. "Neither the quelling +of the sections," said Napoleon, "nor the victory of Montenotte induced +me to think myself a superior character. It was not till after the +_terrible passage of the bridge of Lodi_, that the idea shot across my +mind that I might become a decisive actor in the political arena. Then +arose, for the first time, the spark of great ambition." + +Lombardy was now at the mercy of Napoleon, and the discomfited Austrians +fled into the Tyrol. The Archduke Ferdinand and his duchess, with tears +in their eyes, abandoned to the conqueror their beautiful capital of +Milan, and sought refuge with their retreating friends. + +As the carriages of the ducal pair, and those of their retinue passed +sadly through the streets of the metropolis, the people looked on in +silence, uttering not a word of sympathy or of insult. But the moment +they had departed, republican zeal burst forth unrestrained. The +tricolored cockade seemed suddenly to have fallen, as by magic, upon the +hats and the caps of the multitude, and the great mass of the people +prepared to greet the French Republicans with every demonstration of +joy. A placard was put upon the palace--"This house to let; for the keys +apply to the French Commissioner." + +On the fifteenth of May, just one month after the opening of the +campaign at Montenotte, Napoleon entered Milan in triumph. He was +welcomed by the great majority of the inhabitants as a deliverer. The +patriots, from all parts of Italy, crowded to the capital, sanguine in +the hope that Napoleon would secure their independence, and confer upon +them a Republican government, in friendly alliance with France. A +numerous militia was immediately organized, called the National Guard, +and dressed in three colors, green, red, and white, in honor of the +tri-colored flag. A triumphal arch was erected, in homage of the +conqueror. The whole population of the city marched out to bid him +welcome; flowers were scattered in his path; ladies thronged the windows +as he passed, and greeted him with smiles and fluttering handkerchiefs, +and with a shower of bouquets rained down at his feet. Amidst all the +pomp of martial music, and waving banners, the ringing of bells, the +thunders of saluting artillery, and the acclamations of an immense +concourse of spectators, Napoleon took possession of the palace from +whence the duke had fled. "If you desire liberty," said the victor to +the Milanese, "you must deserve it by assisting to emancipate Italy +forever from Austria." The wealthy and avaricious Duke of Modena, whose +states bordered upon those of Parma, dispatched envoys to sue for peace. +Napoleon granted him an armistice, upon the payment of two millions of +dollars, twenty of his choicest pictures, and an abundant supply of +horses and provisions. When in treaty with the Duke of Modena, the +Commissary of the French army came to Napoleon and said, "The brother of +the duke is here with eight hundred thousand dollars in gold, contained +in four chests. He comes, in the name of the duke, to beg you to accept +them. And I advise you to do so. The money belongs to you. Take it +without scruple. A proportionate diminution will be made in the duke's +contribution, and he will be very glad to have obtained a protector." "I +thank you," replied Napoleon, coolly. "I shall not, for that sum, place +myself in the power of the Duke of Modena." The whole contribution went +into the army-chest, Napoleon refusing to receive for himself a single +dollar. + +Napoleon now issued another of those spirit-stirring proclamations, +which roused such enthusiasm among his own troops, and which so +powerfully electrified the ardent imagination of the Italians. +"Soldiers! you have descended like a torrent from the Apennines. You +have overwhelmed every thing which opposed your progress. Piedmont is +delivered from the tyranny of Austria; Milan is in your hands, and the +Republican standards wave over the whole of Lombardy. The Dukes of Parma +and Modena owe their existence to your generosity. The army which +menaced you with so much pride, can no longer find a barrier to protect +itself against your arms. The Po, the Ticino, the Adda have not been +able to stop you a single day. These boasted bulwarks of Italy have +proved as nugatory as the Alps. Such a career of success has carried joy +into the bosom of your country. Fêtes in honor of your victories have +been ordered in all the communes of the Republic. There your parents, +your wives, your sisters, your lovers rejoice in your achievements, and +boast with pride that you belong to them. Yes, soldiers! you have indeed +done much, but much remains still to be done. Shall posterity say that +we knew how to conquer, but knew not how to improve victory? Shall we +find a Capua in Lombardy? We have forced marches to make, enemies to +subdue, laurels to gather, injuries to revenge. Let those who have +whetted the daggers of civil war in France, who have assassinated our +ministers, who have burned our ships at Toulon--let those tremble. The +hour of vengeance has struck. But let not the _people_ be alarmed. We +are the friends of the people every where; particularly of the Brutuses, +the Scipios, and the great men whom we have taken for our models. To +re-establish the Capitol; to replace the statues of the heroes who +rendered it illustrious; to rouse the Romans, stupefied by centuries of +slavery--such will be the fruit of our victories. They will form an +epoch with posterity. To you will pertain the immortal glory of changing +the face of the finest portion of Europe. The French people, free and +respected by the whole world, will give to Europe a glorious peace. You +will then return to your homes, and your fellow-citizens will say, +pointing to you, _He belonged to the army of Italy_." + +Such were the proclamations which Napoleon dashed off, with +inconceivable rapidity, in the midst of all the care, and peril, and +clangor of battle. Upon reading these glowing sentences over at St. +Helena, twenty years after they were written, he exclaimed, "And yet +they had the folly to say that I could not write." He has been +represented by some as illiterate, as unable to spell. On the contrary, +he was a ripe and an accomplished scholar. His intellectual powers and +his intellectual attainments were of the very highest order. His mind +had been trained by the severest discipline of intense and protracted +study. "Do you write orthographically?" said he one day to his +amanuensis at St. Helena. "A man occupied with public business can not +attend to orthography. His ideas must flow faster than his hand can +trace. He has only time to place his points. He must compress words into +letters, and phrases into words, and let the scribes make it out +afterward." Such was the velocity with which Napoleon wrote. His +handwriting was composed of the most unintelligible hieroglyphics. He +often could not decipher it himself. + +Lombardy is the garden of Italy. The whole of the extensive valley, from +the Alps to the Apennines, is cultivated to the highest degree, +presenting in its vineyards, its orchards, its waving fields of grain, +its flocks and herds, one of the most rich and attractive features earth +can exhibit. Milan, its beautiful capital, abounding in wealth and +luxury, contained a population of one hundred and twenty thousand souls. +Here Napoleon allowed his weary troops, exhausted by their unparalleled +exertions, to repose for six days. Napoleon himself was received by the +inhabitants with the most unbounded enthusiasm and joy. He was regarded +as the liberator of Italy--the youthful hero, who had come with almost +supernatural powers, to re-introduce to the country the reign of Roman +greatness and virtue. His glowing words, his splendid achievements, his +high-toned morals so pure and spotless, the grace and beauty of his +feminine figure, his prompt decisions, his imperial will, and the +antique cast of his thoughts, uttered in terse and graphic language, +which passed, in reiterated quotation, from lip to lip, diffused an +universal enchantment. From all parts of Italy the young and the +enthusiastic flocked to the metropolis of Lombardy. The language of +Italy was Napoleon's mother tongue. His name and his origin were +Italian, and they regarded him as a countryman. They crowded his +footsteps, and greeted him with incessant acclamations. He was a Cato, a +Scipio, a Hannibal. The ladies, in particular, lavished upon him +adulations without any bounds. + +But Napoleon was compelled to support his own army from the spoils of +the vanquished. He could not receive a dollar from the exhausted +treasury of the French Republic. "It is very difficult," said he, "to +rob a people of their substance, and at the same time to convince them +that you are their friend and benefactor." Still he succeeded in doing +both. With great reluctance he imposed upon the Milanese a contribution +of four millions of dollars, and selected twenty paintings from the +Ambrosian Gallery, to send to Paris as the trophies of his victory. It +was with extreme regret that he extorted the money, knowing that it must +check the enthusiasm with which the inhabitants were rallying around the +Republican standard. It was, however, indispensable for the furtherance +of his plans. It was his only refuge from defeat and from absolute +destruction. The Milanese patriots also felt that it was just that their +government should defray the expenses of a war which they had provoked; +that since Lombardy had allied itself with the powerful and wealthy +monarchies of Europe, to invade the infant Republic in its weakness and +its poverty, Napoleon was perfectly justifiable in feeding and clothing +his soldiers at the expense of the invaders whom he had repelled. The +money was paid, and the conqueror was still the idol of the people. + +His soldiers were now luxuriating in the abundance of bread, and meat, +and wine. They were, however, still in rags, wearing the same war-worn +and tattered garments with which they had descended from the frozen +summits of the Alps. With the resources thus obtained, Napoleon clothed +all his troops abundantly, filled the chests of the army, established +hospitals and large magazines, proudly sent a million of dollars to the +Directory in Paris, as an absent father would send funds to his helpless +family; forwarded two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Moreau, who, +with an impoverished army, upon the Rhine, was contending against +superior forces of the Austrians. He also established an energetic and +efficient municipal government in Milan, and made immediate +arrangements for the organization and thorough military discipline of +the militia in all parts of Lombardy. This was the work of five days, +and of five days succeeding a month of such toil of body and of mind as, +perhaps, no mortal ever endured before. Had it not been for a very +peculiar constitutional temperament, giving Napoleon the most +extraordinary control over his own mind, such Herculean labors could not +have been performed. "Different affairs are arranged in my head," said +he, "as in drawers. When I wish to interrupt one train of thought, I +close the drawer which contains that subject, and open to that which +contains another. They do not mix together, and do not fatigue me or +inconvenience me. I have never been kept awake by an involuntary +pre-occupation of the mind. If I wish repose, I shut up all the drawers +and I am asleep. I have always slept when I wanted rest, and almost at +will." After spending several successive days and nights without sleep, +in preparation for a decisive conflict, he has been known repeatedly to +fall asleep in the midst of the uproar and horror of the field of +battle, and when the balls of the enemy were sweeping the eminence upon +which he stood. "Nature has her rights," said he, "and will not be +defrauded with impunity. I feel more cool to receive the reports which +are brought to me, and to give fresh orders when awaking in this manner +from a transient slumber." + +While in Milan, one morning, just as he had mounted his horse, a dragoon +presented himself before him, bearing dispatches of great importance. +Napoleon read them upon the saddle; and, giving a verbal answer, told +the courier to take it back with all possible dispatch. "I have no +horse," the man replied, "the one I rode, in consequence of forced +speed, fell dead at the gate of your palace." "Take mine then," rejoined +Napoleon, instantly alighting. The man hesitated to mount the +magnificent charger of the general-in-chief. "You think him too fine an +animal," said Napoleon, "and too splendidly caparisoned. Never mind, +comrade, there is nothing too magnificent for a French soldier." +Incidents like this, perpetually occurring, were narrated, with all +conceivable embellishments, around the camp-fires, and they conferred +upon the young general a degree of popularity almost amounting to +adoration. + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON AND THE COURIER.] + +The lofty intellectual character of Napoleon was also developed at the +same time, in the midst of all the cares, perplexities, and perils of +these most terrible conflicts, in a letter publicly addressed to Oriani, +the celebrated mathematician. "Hitherto," he writes, "the learned in +Italy have not enjoyed the consideration to which they were entitled. +They lived secluded in their libraries, too happy if they could escape +the persecution of kings and priests. It is so no longer. Religious +inquisition and despotic power are at an end. Thought is free in Italy. +I invite the literary and the scientific to consult together and propose +to me their ideas on the subject of giving new life and vigor to the +fine arts and sciences. All who desire to visit France will be received +with distinction by the government. The citizens of France have more +pride in enrolling among their citizens a skillful mathematician, a +painter of reputation, a distinguished man in any class of letters, than +in adding to their territories a large and wealthy city." + +Napoleon having thus rapidly organized a government for Lombardy, and +having stationed troops in different places to establish tranquillity, +turned his attention again to the pursuit of the Austrians. But by this +time the Directory in Paris were thoroughly alarmed in view of the +astonishing influence and renown which Napoleon had attained. In one +short month he had filled Europe with his name. They determined to check +his career. Kellerman, a veteran general of great celebrity, they +consequently appointed his associate in command, to pursue the Austrians +with a part of the army, while Napoleon, with the other part, was to +march down upon the States of the Pope. This division would have insured +the destruction of the army. Napoleon promptly but respectfully tendered +his resignation, saying, "One bad general is better than two good ones. +War, like government, is mainly decided by tact." This decision brought +the Directory immediately to terms. The commander-in-chief of the Army +of Italy was now too powerful to be displaced, and the undivided command +was immediately restored to him. + +In the letter he wrote to the Directory at this time, and which must +have been written with the rapidity of thought, he observes, with great +force of language and strength of argument. "It is in the highest degree +impolitic to divide into two the army of Italy; and not less adverse to +place at its head two different generals. The expedition to the Papal +States is a very inconsiderable matter, and should be made by divisions +in echelon, ready at any moment to wheel about and face the Austrians. +To perform it with success both armies must be under one general. I have +hitherto conducted the campaign without consulting any one. The result +would have been very different if I had been obliged to reconcile my +views with those of another. If you impose upon me embarrassments of +various kinds; if I must refer all my steps to the commissaries of +government; if they are authorized to change my movements, to send away +my troops, expect no further success. If you weaken your resources by +dividing your forces, if you disturb in Italy the unity of military +thought, I say it with grief, you will lose the finest opportunity that +ever occurred of giving laws to that fine peninsula. In the present +posture of the affairs of the Republic it is indispensable that you +possess a general who enjoys your confidence. If I do not do so I shall +not complain. Every one has his own method of carrying on war. Kellerman +has more experience, and may do it better than I. Together we should do +nothing but mischief. Your decision on this matter is of more importance +than the fifteen thousand men the Emperor of Austria has sent to +Beaulieu." + +On the 22d of May Napoleon left Milan, in pursuit of the Austrians. +Beaulieu, in his retreat to the mountains of the Tyrol, had thrown +fifteen thousand men into the almost impregnable fortress of Mantua, to +arrest the progress of the conqueror. He knew that Napoleon could not +follow him leaving such a fortress in the possession of his enemies in +his rear. Austria was raising powerful reinforcements, and the defeated +general intended soon to return with overwhelming numbers, and crush his +foe. Napoleon had hardly advanced one day's march from Milan when a +formidable insurrection broke out. The priests, incited by the Pope, had +roused the peasants, who were very much under their influence, to rise +and exterminate the French. They appealed to all the motives of +fanaticism which the papal church has so effectually at its command, to +rouse their military ardor. They assured the ignorant peasants that +Austria was pouring down an overwhelming army upon the invader; that all +Italy was simultaneously rising in arms; that England, with her powerful +fleet, was landing troops innumerable upon the coasts of Sardinia; that +God, and all his angels, were looking down from the windows of Heaven to +admire the heroism of the faithful, in ridding the earth of the enemies +of the true religion, and that the destruction of Napoleon was sure. The +enthusiasm spread from hamlet to hamlet like a conflagration. The +friends of republicanism were, for the most part, in the cities. The +peasantry were generally strongly attached to the church, and looked up +with reverence to the nobles. The tocsin was sounded in every village. +In a day thirty thousand peasants, roused to frenzy, grasped their arms. +The danger was most imminent. + +Napoleon felt that not an hour was to be lost. He took with him twelve +hundred men and six pieces of cannon, and instantly turned upon his +track. He soon came up with eight hundred of the insurgents, who were +intrenching themselves in the small village of Banasco. There was no +parleying. There was no hesitancy. The ear was closed to all the appeals +of mercy. The veteran troops, inured to their work, rushed with bayonet +and sabre upon the unwarlike Italians, and, in a few moments, hewed the +peasants to pieces. The women and children fled in every direction, +carrying the tidings of the dreadful massacre. The torch was applied to +the town, and the dense volumes of smoke ascending into the serene and +cloudless skies, from this altar of vengeance, proclaimed, far and wide +over the plains of Italy, how dreadful a thing it was to incur the wrath +of the conqueror. + +Napoleon and his troops, their swords still dripping in blood, tarried +not, but moving on with the sweep of a whirlwind, came to the gates of +Pavia. This city had become the head-quarters of the insurgents. It +contained thirty thousand inhabitants. Napoleon had left there a +garrison of three hundred men. The insurgents, eight thousand strong, +had thrown themselves into the place, and, strengthened by all of the +monarchical party, prepared for a desperate resistance. Napoleon sent +the Archbishop of Milan, with a flag of truce, offering pardon to all +who would lay down their arms. "May the terrible example of Banasco," +said he, "open your eyes. Its fate shall be that of every town which +persists in revolt." "While Pavia has walls," the insurgents bravely +replied, "we will not surrender." Napoleon rejoined in the instantaneous +thunders of his artillery. He swept the ramparts with grape shot, while +the soldiers, with their hatchets, hewed down the gates. + +[Illustration: THE BURNING OF BANASCO.] + +They rushed like an inundation into the city. The peasants fought with +desperation from the windows and roofs of the houses, hurling down upon +the French every missile of destruction. The sanguinary conflict soon +terminated in favor of the disciplined valor of the assailants. The +wretched peasants were pursued into the plain and cut down without +mercy. The magistrates of the city were shot; the city itself given up +to pillage. "The order," said Napoleon to the inhabitants, "to lay the +city in ashes, was just leaving my lips, when the garrison of the castle +arrived, and hastened, with cries of joy, to embrace their deliverers. +Their names were called over and none found missing. If the blood of a +single Frenchman had been shed, my determination was to erect a column +on the ruins of Pavia, bearing this inscription, '_Here stood the city +of Pavia!_'" He was extremely indignant with the garrison for allowing +themselves to be made prisoners. "Cowards," he exclaimed, "I intrusted +you with a post essential to the safety of an army; and you have +abandoned it to a mob of wretched peasants, without offering the least +resistance." He delivered the captain over to a council of war, and he +was shot. + +This terrible example crushed the insurrection over the whole of +Lombardy. Such are the inevitable and essential horrors of war. Napoleon +had no love for cruelty. But he never hesitated to adopt any measures, +however decisive and sanguinary, which he deemed essential for the +accomplishment of his purposes. In such dreadful scenes he claimed to be +acting upon the same principle which influences the physician to cut, +with an unflinching hand, through nerves and tendons, for the humane +design of saving life. + +If war is right this was right. This bloody vengeance was necessary for +the salvation of Napoleon's army. He was about to pursue the Austrians +far away into the mountains of the Tyrol, and it was necessary to his +success that, by a terrible example, he should teach those whom he left +behind, that they could not rise upon him with impunity. War is +necessarily a system of cruelty and of blood. Napoleon was an energetic +warrior. He recoiled not from any severities which he deemed +indispensable to the success of his horrible mission. "A man of refined +sensibilities," says the Duke of Wellington, "has no right to meddle +with the profession of a soldier." "Pavia," said Napoleon, "is the only +place I ever gave up to pillage. I promised that the soldiers should +have it, at their mercy, for twenty-four hours. But after three hours I +could bear such scenes of outrage no longer, and put an end to them. +Policy and morality are equally opposed to the system. Nothing is so +certain to disorganize and completely ruin an army." + +It is wonderfully characteristic of this most extraordinary man, that in +the midst of these terrible scenes, and when encompassed by such perils +and pressed by such urgent haste, he could have found time and the +disposition to visit a literary institution. When the whole city of +Pavia was in consternation, he entered the celebrated university, +accompanied by his splendid military suite. With the utmost celerity he +moved from class to class, asking questions with such rapidity that the +professors could hardly find time or breath to answer him. "What class +is this?" he inquired, as he entered the first recitation room. "The +class of metaphysics," was the reply. Napoleon, who had but little +respect for the uncertain deductions of mental philosophy, exclaimed, +very emphatically, "Bah!" and took a pinch of snuff. Turning to one of +the pupils, he inquired, "What is the difference between sleep and +death?" The embarrassed pupil turned to the professor for assistance. +The professor plunged into a learned disquisition upon death. The +uncourteous examiner left him in the midst of his sentences, and +hastened to another room. "What class is this?" he said. "The +mathematical class," he was answered. It was his favorite science. His +eye sparkled with pleasure, and seizing a book from one of the pupils, +he hastily turned over the leaves and gave him a very difficult problem +to solve. He chanced to fall upon an excellent scholar, who did the work +very promptly and correctly. Napoleon glanced his eye over the work and +said, "You are wrong." The pupil insisted that he was right. Napoleon +took the slate and sat down to work the problem himself. In a moment he +saw his own error, and returning the slate to the pupil, with +ill-concealed chagrin, exclaimed, "Yes? yes! you are right." He then +proceeded to another room, when he met the celebrated Volta, "the Newton +of electricity." Napoleon was delighted to see the distinguished +philosopher, and ran and threw his arms around his neck, and begged him +immediately to draw out his class. The President of the University, in a +very eulogistic address to the young general, said, "Charles the Great +laid the foundations of this University. May Napoleon the Great give it +the completion of its glory." + +Having quelled the insurrection, in flames and blood, the only way in +which, by any possibility it could have been quelled, Napoleon turned +proudly again, with his little band, to encounter the whole power of the +Austrian empire, now effectually aroused to crush him. The dominions of +Venice contained three millions of souls. Its fleet ruled the Adriatic, +and it could command an army of fifty thousand men. The Venetians though +unfriendly to France preferred neutrality. Beaulieu had fled through +their territories, leaving a garrison at Mantua. Napoleon pursued them. +To the remonstrances of the Venetians he replied: "Venice has either +afforded refuge to the Austrians, in which case it is the enemy of +France, or it was unable to prevent the Austrians from invading its +territory, and is consequently too weak to claim the right of +neutrality." The government deliberated in much perplexity, whether to +throw themselves as allies into the arms of France or of Austria. They +at last decided, if possible, to continue neutral. They sent to Napoleon +twelve hundred thousand dollars, as a bribe or a present to secure his +friendship. He decisively rejected it. To some friends who urged the +perfect propriety of his receiving the money, he replied: + +"If my commissary should see me accept this money, who can tell to what +lengths he might go." The Venetian envoys retired from their mission +deeply impressed with the genius of Napoleon. They had expected to find +only a stern warrior. To their surprise they met a statesman, whose +profoundness of views, power of eloquence, extent of information, and +promptness of decision excited both their admiration and amazement. They +were venerable men, accustomed to consideration and power. Napoleon was +but twenty-five. Yet the veterans were entirely overawed by his +brilliant and commanding powers. "This extraordinary young man," they +wrote to the senate, "will one day exert great influence over his +country." + +No man ever had more wealth at his disposal than Napoleon, or was more +scrupulous as to the appropriation of any of it to himself. For two +years he maintained the army in Italy, calling upon the government for +no supplies whatever. He sent more than two millions of dollars to Paris +to relieve the Directory from its embarrassments. Without the slightest +difficulty he might have accumulated millions of dollars for his own +private fortune. His friends urged him to do so, assuring him that the +Directory, jealous of his fame and power, would try to crush rather than +to reward him. But he turned a deaf ear to all such suggestions, and +returned to Paris, from this most brilliant campaign, comparatively a +poor man. He had clothed the armies of France, and replenished the +impoverished treasury of the Republic, and filled the Museum of Paris +with paintings and statuary. But all was for France. He reserved neither +money, nor painting, nor statue for himself. "Every one," said he +afterward, "has his relative ideas. I have a taste for founding not for +possessing. My riches consist in glory and celebrity. The Simplon and +the Louvre were in the eyes of the people and of foreigners more my +property than any private domains could possibly have been." This was +surely a lofty and a noble ambition. + +Napoleon soon overtook the Austrians. He found a division of the army +strongly intrenched upon the banks of the Mincio, determined to arrest +his passage. Though the Austrians were some fifteen thousand strong, and +though they had partially demolished the bridge, the march of Napoleon +was retarded scarcely an hour. Napoleon was that day sick, suffering +from a violent headache. Having crossed the river and concerted all his +plans for the pursuit of the flying enemy, he went into an old castle, +by the river's side, to try the effect of a foot-bath. He had but a +small retinue with him, his troops being dispersed in pursuit of the +fugitives. He had but just placed his feet in the warm water when he +heard the loud clatter of horses' hoofs, as a squadron of Austrian +dragoons galloped into the court-yard. The sentinel at the door shouted, +"To arms! to arms! the Austrians!" Napoleon sprang from the bath, +hastily drew on one boot, and with the other in his hand, leaped from +the window, escaped through the back gate of the garden, mounted a horse +and galloped to Massena's division, who were cooking their dinner at a +little distance from the castle. The appearance of their +commander-in-chief among them in such a plight roused the soldiers from +their camp-kettles, and they rushed in pursuit of the Austrians, who, in +their turn, retreated. This personal risk induced Napoleon to establish +a body guard, to consist of five hundred veterans, of at least ten +years' service, who were ever to accompany him. This was the origin of +that Imperial Guard, which, in the subsequent wars of Napoleon, obtained +such a world-wide renown. + +Napoleon soon encamped before the almost impregnable fortress of Mantua. +About twenty thousand men composed its garrison. As it was impossible to +surmount such formidable defenses by assault, Napoleon was compelled to +have recourse to the more tedious operations of a siege. + +The Austrian government, dissatisfied with the generalship of Beaulieu, +withdrew him from the service and sent General Wurmser to assume the +command, with a reinforcement of sixty thousand men. Napoleon's army had +also been reinforced, so that he had about thirty thousand men with whom +to meet the eighty thousand which would compose the Austrian army when +united. It would require, however, at least a month before Wurmser could +arrive at the gates of Mantua. Napoleon resolved to improve the moments +of leisure in disarming his enemies in the south of Italy. + +The kingdom of Naples, situated at the southern extremity of the +peninsula, is the most powerful state in Italy. A Bourbon prince, +dissolute and effeminate, sat upon the throne. Its fleet had been +actively allied with the English in the attack upon Toulon. Her troops +were now associated with the Austrians in the warfare against France. +The king, seeing the Austrians, and his own troops united with them, +driven from every part of Italy except the fortress of Mantua, was +exceedingly alarmed, and sent to Napoleon imploring peace. Napoleon, not +being able to march an army into his territory to impose contributions, +and yet being very anxious to detach from the alliance the army of sixty +thousand men which Naples could bring into the field, granted an +armistice upon terms so easy as to provoke the displeasure of the +Directory. But Napoleon was fully aware of the impending peril, and +decided wisely. The Pope, now abandoned by Naples, was in perfect +consternation. He had anathematized republican France. He had preached a +crusade against her, and had allowed her embassador to be assassinated +in the streets of Rome. He was conscious that he deserved chastisement, +and he had learned that the young conqueror, in his chastisings, +inflicted very heavy blows. Napoleon, taking with him but six thousand +men, entered the States of the Pope. The provinces subject to the Pope's +temporal power contained a population of two and a half millions, most +of whom were in a state of disgraceful barbarism. He had an inefficient +army of four or five thousand men. His temporal power was nothing. It +was his spiritual power alone which rendered the Pope formidable. The +Pontiff immediately sent an embassador to Bologna, to implore the +clemency of the conqueror. Napoleon referred the Pope to the Directory +in Paris for the terms of a permanent peace, granting him however an +armistice, in consideration of which he exacted the surrender of Ancona, +Bologna, and Ferrara to a French garrison, the payment of four millions +of dollars in silver and gold, and the contribution of one hundred +paintings or statues and five hundred ancient manuscripts for the Museum +in Paris. The Pope, trembling in anticipation of the overthrow of his +temporal power, was delighted to escape upon such easy terms. The most +enlightened of the inhabitants of these degenerate and wretchedly +governed states welcomed the French with the utmost enthusiasm. They +hated the Holy See implacably, and entreated Napoleon to grant them +independence. But it was not Napoleon's object to revolutionize the +states of Italy, and though he could not but express his sympathy in +these aspirations for political freedom, he was unwilling to take any +decisive measures for the overthrow of the established government. He +was contending simply for peace. + +Tuscany had acknowledged the French Republic, and remained neutral in +this warfare. But England, regardless of the neutrality of this feeble +state, had made herself master of the port of Leghorn, protected by the +governor of that city, who was inimical to the French. The frigates of +England rode insultingly in the harbor, and treated the commerce of +France as that of an enemy. Napoleon crossed the Apennines, by forced +marches proceeded to Leghorn, and captured English goods to the amount +of nearly three millions of dollars, notwithstanding a great number of +English vessels escaped from the harbor but a few hours before the +entrance of the French. England was mistress of the sea, and she +respected no rights of private property upon her watery domain. Wherever +her fleets encountered a merchant ship of the enemy, it was taken as +fair plunder. Napoleon, who regarded the land as his domain, resolved +that he would retaliate by the capture of English property wherever his +army encountered it upon the Continent. It was robbery in both cases, +and in both cases equally unjustifiable. And yet such is, to a certain +degree, one of the criminal necessities of war. He seized the inimical +governor, and sent him in a post-chaise to the Grand Duke at Florence, +saying, "The governor of Leghorn has violated all the rights of +neutrality, by oppressing French commerce, and by affording an asylum to +the emigrants and to all the enemies of the Republic. Out of respect to +your authority I send the unfaithful servant to be punished at your +discretion." The neutral states were thus energetically taught that they +must respect their neutrality. He left a garrison at Leghorn, and then +proceeded to Florence, the capital of Tuscany, where the duke, brother +of the emperor of Austria, received him with the greatest cordiality, +and gave him a magnificent entertainment. He then returned to Mantua, +having been absent just twenty days, and in that time, with one +division of his army, having overawed all the states of southern Italy, +and secured their tranquillity during the tremendous struggles which he +had still to maintain against Austria. In these fearful and bloody +conflicts Napoleon was contending only to protect his country from those +invading armies, which were endeavoring to force upon France the +despotism of the Bourbons. He repeatedly made the declaration, that he +wished only for peace; and in every case, even when states, by the right +of conquest, were entirely in his power, he made peace, upon the most +lenient terms for them, simply upon condition that they should cease +their warfare against France. "Such a rapid succession of brilliant +victories," said Las Cases to Napoleon at St. Helena, "filling the world +with your fame, must have been a source of great delight to you." "By no +means," Napoleon replied. "They who think so know nothing of the peril +of our situation. The victory of to-day was instantly forgotten in +preparation for the battle which was to be fought on the morrow. The +aspect of danger was continually before me. I enjoyed not one moment of +repose." + +We must now leave Napoleon and his army, until our next Number, encamped +before the walls of Mantua. + + + + +LIMA AND THE LIMANIANS. + + +When Pizarro had completed the conquest of Peru, one of his first cares +was to select a site for the capital of his new empire. The situation of +Cuzco, far withdrawn in the depths of the Cordilleras, which admirably +adapted it for the metropolis under the centralizing system of the +Incas, rendered it unsuited for the capital of a commercial people, who +were to be bound to another nation by the strict ties of colonial +dependency. All the requisites of a central position, a good harbor, a +fertile soil, and a delightful climate were found combined in the valley +of Lurigancho, through which, emptying into the Bay of Callao, flowed +the river Rimac, affording abundant facilities for irrigation, and +producing exuberant fertility. Here, on the 6th day of January, 1535, +the festival of the Epiphany, the conqueror of the Incas resolved to +establish his capital city. He gave to it the name of _La Ciudad de los +Reyes_--"The City of the Kings," in honor of the "wise men from the +east," whom Catholic tradition has invested with regal dignity, who on +that day, more than fifteen centuries before, had followed the star till +it "stood over where the young child was." Twelve days afterward, the +Spaniards having been gathered to the valley, the work was solemnly +inaugurated by Pizarro laying with his own hand the foundation of the +cathedral, which was dedicated to _Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion_--"Our +Lady of the Assumption." The work of building was pushed on with an +energy characteristic of Pizarro. From an hundred miles around the +Indians were collected, and forced to build the hated city. The stern +soldiers of the conquest laid aside their armor, and assumed the +character of laborious artisans. The foundations of the public edifices +were laid with a solidity capable of defying the attacks of time; and +almost sufficient to resist the shocks of the earthquake, which at +length taught the successors of the first builders that security was +only to be attained by the use of slighter materials, and a more humble +and fragile mode of erection. + +In accordance with the old usage, which delighted to place a great city +at some distance from its seaport, the spot chosen by Pizarro for his +capital was about two leagues from the bay, whose waters were to be +whitened with the sails of its commerce. From this point the plain +descends westward to the sea-shore with a gentle slope. The city was +laid out in the form of a semicircle or triangle, of which the Rimac +formed the base. In order to secure as much shade as possible, the +direction of the streets, instead of coinciding with that of the points +of the compass, was made from northeast to southwest, so that both in +the morning and the afternoon the shade of the buildings should fall +upon the streets. Lying within twelve degrees of the equator, the +buildings could of course cast no shadow, at any season, from the +vertical noonday sun. These principal streets were crossed at right +angles by others, so that each group of houses formed a quadrangle, all +of nearly equal size. The general direction of the main streets nearly +coinciding with the slope of the plain and the course of the Rimac, +allowed the waters of the river to be conveyed through them in stone +conduits, furnishing irrigation to the gardens, abundant spaces for +which were left within the city. + +The growth of Lima (for the name given by Pizarro to the city was early +laid aside in favor of its present appellation, derived, by a change of +letters to which the Limanians are still much addicted, from the name of +the river upon which it stands) was as rapid as that of a tropical +plant. In half a century from its foundation it is said to have +contained 100,000 inhabitants; a rate of increase then unexampled in the +history of colonization, and offering a striking contrast to the slow +and almost imperceptible growth of the cities planted a century later +upon the Atlantic shores of North America, though outdone by the marvels +wrought in our own days upon the Pacific coasts. Is their speedy rise to +be followed by a like speedy decline? As the mother country declined, +the prosperity of Lima in like manner waned, though it is impossible, +among the contradictory statements made, to arrive at any certain +conclusion as to the population at different periods. But the large +number of ruinous and uninhabited buildings shows a decrease of +population. It is asserted upon competent authority that during the +first thirty years of the present century not a single new building was +erected within the walls; and it is doubtful if within the succeeding +twenty years, as many buildings have been added to the city. + +The distant view of Lima, as one approaches it from the sea is very +magnificent. Entering the harbor of Callao, upon the right lies the +bare and rugged island of San Lorenzo. In front are the noble but +dilapidated castles, and the white houses of Callao, presenting a gay +and somewhat grotesque appearance, with the flags of the foreign consuls +fluttering before their residences. In the rear stretches a broad plain, +sloping upward toward a crescent-shaped range of barren hills, which +inclose the fertile valley of the Lurigancho. At the foot of the +mountains, apparently, rise the countless spires and towers of Lima, +drawn up in relief against their dark sides. Still further in the +distance are seen the giant ranges of the Andes, whose snowy summits are +usually vailed by thick and sombre clouds. The harbor of Callao is +magnificent; and the landing, at a fine mole built of stone, and +surrounded by a substantial iron railing, is good. The town itself, +though displaying some commercial activity, is mean and insignificant. +Leaving Callao for Lima, we pass the little village of Buena Vista; then +half way to the city we come to a place called Magdalena, consisting of +a _pulperia_ or dram-shop, a convent, and a splendid church. Here in the +olden time the Spanish viceroys, at the expiration of their five years' +term of office, used to meet their successors, and deliver up their +authority to them. The convent has been suppressed, and the church is +deserted, but in front of it stands a ragged monk, with a tin dish in +his hand, soliciting alms from the passers-by. + +When within about half a league from Lima, we enter upon the fine road +called the _Alameda del Callao_. It is beautifully shaded with poplars +and willows, with a handsome promenade upon each side, furnished at +regular distances with stone seats, and bordered with the _quintas_, or +country houses of the wealthy Limanians, embowered in luxuriant gardens, +and surrounded with fruit-trees. By this broad avenue, we enter, through +an arched gateway, into the city of Lima. This _Alameda_ was opened in +1800, on the 6th of January, the anniversary of the foundation of the +city. It was laid out by a man who filled the post of viceroy of Peru, +under the title of Marques de Osorno. The history of this man is +somewhat singular. About the middle of the last century, a petty Irish +shopkeeper, bearing the somewhat incongruous name of Don Ambrosio +O'Higgins, occupied a little shop, which is still shown under the area +of the cathedral. Times went hard with Don Ambrosio; he failed in his +petty traffic, abandoned the little shop by the cathedral, bade farewell +to his old friend and brother tradesman, La Reguera, and wandered to +Chili. It was a time of Indian hostilities, and all other occupations +failing, there was at least a demand for men to be shot. Don Ambrosio +entered the army, showed himself brave and capable, gained promotion, +distinguished himself, discovered the Indian city of Osorno, and was +honored with the title of the Marques of Osorno. In 1786, he returned to +Lima in the capacity of Viceroy, where, as archbishop, he found none +other than his old friend, La Reguera. Trade had prospered with him; he +had returned to Spain, studied, embraced the clerical profession, and +was sent back to Lima as archbishop five years before O'Higgins came as +viceroy. + +The first impression which the traveler receives upon entering Lima, by +no means fulfills the anticipations he had been led to form from its +appearance at a distance. The entrance is by the periphery of the +semicircle, upon the side furthest from the Rimac. This quarter contains +only dilapidated squares and filthy houses. But as he advances toward +the _Plaza Mayor_, the appearance of the city becomes greatly improved. +The general aspect of the houses strikes an American as somewhat novel, +from the fact that a large proportion of them consist of but one story, +very few exceeding two. This mode of building is rendered necessary by +the frequency of earthquakes, which render buildings of a more imposing +architecture extremely insecure. The houses of two stories have usually +two doors in front, opening upon the street. One of these is the +_azaguan_, which constitutes the main entrance to the house; the other +leads to the _cochera_ or coach-house. The _azaguan_ opens into a +spacious _patio_ or court-yard. Directly opposite this entrance are two +large folding-doors, which open into the _sala_ or hall of the +dwelling-house, beyond which is the _cuadro_ or reception-room, +furnished as splendidly as the means of the occupant will allow. +Adjoining the cuadro are the various rooms appropriated to the use of +the family. The sala and cuadro are of the full height of the house, and +the flat roof of these two apartments forms a sort of terrace, called +the _azotea_, which is paved, surrounded with a railing, and covered +with an awning. The second story of the remainder of the building +contains rooms which open into a balcony projecting over the street. +This balcony is boarded up to the height of about three feet, the +remainder being composed of lattices or glazed windows, and forms the +favorite lounging place of the inhabitants, where they can watch the +passers-by in the streets. The peculiarity of the domestic architecture +of Lima, by which, with the exception of the balcony, the rooms open not +upon the street, but upon the court-yard, gives the city much the +appearance of an Oriental town. Where the houses are of but one story, +the almost entire absence of windows and openings gives the street a +mean and gloomy appearance, almost like continuous lines of dead walls. +But where the dwellings are of two stories, the long lines of balconies +and verandas gayly ornamented and trellised, projecting far over the +foot-pavements, present a gay and festive aspect. In some parts of the +city are houses of much greater height, and of a far more imposing +architecture. But they are to a great extent ruinous and dilapidated, +having been abandoned by their ancient occupants, for fear of being +overwhelmed in them by earthquakes. When tenanted at all, it is +principally by the poorer classes, who are willing to brave the +insecurity for the sake of the saving in the rents. The outer walls are +usually of _adobes_, or sun-dried brick, as far as the first floor. The +second story is usually composed of a wooden frame-work, upon both +sides of which canes are nailed, or fastened by leather thongs, and the +whole is then plastered over, and painted to imitate stone, the +deception being aided by the apparent massiveness of the construction. +The division walls are also made of canes plastered over. The roofs are +flat, composed of rafters, covered with mats or cane, with a layer of +clay spread above them, sufficient to exclude the rays of the sun and +the heavy dews. A single prolonged shower would be sufficient to +dissolve the whole city; but as it never rains there, these slight walls +and roofs are all that is required. Lima is justified in placing her +dependence in architecture upon a reed, rather than upon stone. The more +solid and massy the walls, the less protection do they afford against +the terrible earthquakes which are of periodical occurrence, and by +which more than once the city has been reduced to a heap of ruins; while +these light cane fabrics yield to the shock, and when it has passed +resume their places, with little apparent injury; and even if demolished +they do not occasion that fearful peril of life which results from the +overthrow of more stable fabrics. + +There are few places the inhabitants of which present so great a +diversity of complexion and physiognomy as in Lima. There is every +gradation and intermixture of race, from the fair Creoles of unmixed +European descent, who pride themselves upon the purity of their Spanish +blood, to the jet black negro of Congo, whose unmitigated ebony hue +bears testimony equally unequivocal to his pure African lineage. Between +these two extremes is an almost innumerable variety of mixed races, each +having its own peculiar designation, indicating the precise proportion +of European, Indian, and negro blood in their veins, each marked with +its own peculiar physical, intellectual, and moral characteristics; and +each finding its chief boast in the nearness of its relation to the +white race, and looking down with contempt upon those a shade darker +than its own. + +[Illustration: PERUVIAN CAVALIER.] + +In 1836, when the population of the city was a little more than 54,000, +it was composed of about the following proportion of the different +races: white _Creoles_, all of European, and mostly of Spanish descent, +20,000; _Negroes_, 10,000; of whom a little less than one half were +slaves; Indians, 5000; mixed races, 19,000; these are of every shade of +complexion, from the _Mestizo_, the child of a white father and an +Indian mother, whom only a keen and practiced eye can distinguish from a +White, and to whom no higher compliment can be paid than to inquire +whether he is not a Spaniard, to the _Zambo_ who can only show claim to +a portion of white blood, on the ground that to all the vices of the +negro race, he adds others peculiar to the Whites. + +The white Creoles are of slender figure, and of middling height, with +features strongly marked, fair complexion, and black hair. Like the +descendants of the Spanish race throughout all the Western World, they +have degenerated from the parent stock. The males have even in youth a +look of premature age; as though the powers of nature were exhausted, +and insufficient to develop a vigorous manhood. Indolence is their +predominant characteristic. They are utterly indisposed to any +continuous exertion, whether of body or of mind. If poverty compels them +to pursue an occupation for a livelihood, they select some petty +traffic, in which, if the gains are small, there is ample leisure to +gossip and smoke their perpetual cigars. Those who are able abandon +themselves to idleness, lounging about the streets or in the shops, at +the coffee-houses or the gaming-table. The education of the Creole of +Lima is very defective; the system of instruction pursued does little to +develop his powers, and his innate indolence presents an insuperable bar +to any efforts at self-cultivation. Riding is a universal custom, and +almost every person keeps one or more horses; these are trained by the +_chalanes_ or professional horse-breakers to perform feats of every +kind; one to which great value is attached, is to turn around upon the +hind legs rapidly, when in full gallop. Tschudi, a recent German +traveler, relates an instance which came under his own observation, +which shows the certainty and dexterity with which the feat is +performed. A friend of his rode full gallop up to the city wall, which +at the spot is about nine feet broad, leaped his horse upon it, and made +him describe a segment of a circle with his fore feet beyond the edge of +the wall, while standing balanced upon his hind feet. The feat was +performed a number of times in rapid succession. + +The riding costume of a Peruvian cavalier is extremely picturesque and +convenient. Its most striking feature is the _poncho_. This is a large +fringed shawl with an opening in the centre, through which the head of +the wearer passes; it then hangs gracefully over the shoulder, and falls +nearly to the knee, leaving the hands and arms less embarrassed than any +other species of cloak. These ponchos frequently display great +brilliancy and variety; the color is often a snowy white, sometimes it +is richly and fancifully embroidered; but the prevailing taste is for +broad stripes of brilliant colors, such as orange, scarlet, blue, green, +rose color, or combinations of all hues intermingled and diversified in +every conceivable manner. The spurs used by the Peruvians are of +enormous magnitude; old custom ordains that they should contain a pound +and a half of silver; the rowels sometimes stand out four or five inches +from the heel, with spikes of one or two inches in length, or even more. +A broad-brimmed sombrero of fine Guayaquil grass is usually worn by +equestrians. The trappings of the horses are often of a very costly +description. Head-gear, bridle, and crupper are sometimes seen formed of +finely-wrought silver rings linked into each other. The stirrups are +massy blocks of wood of a triangular shape, quaintly carved, and +ornamented with silver. The saddle is frequently adorned with rich +embroidery in gold, and the holster inlaid with the same precious +metal. + +A cigar is the almost unvarying accompaniment of a Peruvian of any +class. Basil Hall relates an odd expedient made use of to reconcile the +free-and-easy habit of smoking in public places, with the stately +requirements of Spanish etiquette of olden time, in the presence of the +representatives of royalty. In the days when Peru was a Spanish colony, +the vice-regal box at the theatre projected out somewhat into the pit, +in full view of the Commonalty of the City of the Kings. As soon as the +curtain fell between the acts of the piece, the viceroy was in the habit +of retiring from the front to the rear of the box. No sooner was his +back turned than, by a very convenient figure of thought, he was +considered to be constructively absent. Every man in the pit would then +draw forth his flint and steel (this was long before the days of +Lucifers and loco-focos), light his cigar, and "improve" the time by +puffing away at the fragrant weed. At the tinkling of the bell which +announced the rising of the curtain, the representative of royalty +returned to the front of the box, his constructive absence was ended, +and every smoker paused in mid-puff. + +Nothing indicates the decadence of a race more unerringly and decisively +than the progressive change which comes over its tastes in its modes of +amusement. Indolence and brutality go together. Displays of skill and +courage cease to afford excitement to the jaded sensibilities; the +stronger stimulus of suffering must be supplied. Thus as the Roman race +declined, the shows of the arena grew more and more brutal. Cock-fights +and bull-fights are the favorite amusements of the Limanians. A fondness +for the latter is characteristic of the Spanish race every where; but in +Peru the chief attraction is not the dexterity and courage of the +performers, but the agony of the victims. Bull-fights in Spain may +almost be characterized as humane exhibitions compared with those of +Lima. At one witnessed by Hall in 1821, the _matador_, who should have +given the death-stroke to an animal of extraordinary strength and +courage, missed the mortal spot, and merely buried his sword in the body +of the bull; in an instant he was tossed, apparently dead, into the air, +by the maddened beast, who turned upon a horseman, whom he dismounted, +goring the horse so that his bowels hung upon the ground. All this threw +the spectators into an agony of delight; which was still further +enhanced when the sinews of the bull, having been cut from behind by a +crescent-shaped instrument fixed to a long pole, the poor beast dragged +himself around the arena upon his mutilated stumps. But their ecstasy +amounted to frenzy when a man mounted upon the back of the bull and +spurred him around the arena with strokes of a dagger, until he fell +exhausted by loss of blood. + +Bull-fights are only an occasional luxury, but cock-fights are a daily +standing dish. The cock-pit (_coliseo de gallos_) is a very handsome +building; here cock-fights take place every day. The natural weapons of +the fowls are not sufficiently deadly to satisfy the Limanian +spectators; and in place of the spur of the right foot, which is cut +off, is put a sharp curved blade of steel or _gaff_. Whatever else may +be lacking, Lima can justly boast the finest amphitheatre in the world +for the purpose of cock-fighting. + +In Lima, as throughout the whole of Spanish America, the females are, +both intellectually and physically, far superior to the males. All +visitors at Lima speak in terms of warm admiration of the Limeñas, as +the most charming and graceful women of South America. In figure they +are usually slender, and somewhat above the middle height, with fair +complexions, destitute of color, large, dark brilliant eyes, and +abundant black hair. The charming Spanish epithet _hechicera_, by which +they are designated, belongs to them in the full extent of its +significance, not only on account of their rare personal beauty, but +also by reason of the captivating grace of their deportment, and the +natural amiability of their dispositions. + +The first thing which attracts one's regard in Lima, is the singular and +picturesque costume of the females. This costume, which resembles that +of the Moors, to whom it owes its origin, takes the name of the two +principal parts of which it is composed--it is called the _saya y +manto_. It is worn only in Lima, and there only in the day time, as a +walking-costume. The _saya_, as formerly worn, was a skirt or petticoat +made of an elastic black silk, plaited at the top and bottom in small +folds, and fitting so closely as to display the outlines of the figure, +and every motion of the limbs. It was made so narrow at the bottom that +the wearers were forced to take steps extremely short, which gave to +their gait a mincing character more striking than modest. This, which is +called the _saya ajustada_ is now rarely seen. As now worn it forms a +very graceful and elegant costume; the bottom plaits are taken out, so +as to cause the skirt to stand out from the figure, which is not +displayed. This is called the _saya desplegada_. It is always made of a +dark-colored material. The _manto_ is a thick vail of black silk, +joining the saya at the back of the waist. It is brought up over the +shoulders and head, and drawn over the face in such a manner as to +conceal the features entirely, with the exception of one eye, which is +visible through a small triangular space left open for the purpose. One +hand retains the folds of the manto in their places while the other +displays a richly embroidered handkerchief. Over the shoulders is thrown +a shawl, usually of embroidered China crape. The Limeñas, effectually +disguised in this national dress, to which they are enthusiastically +attached, go out every where unattended. Any one can address them, and +they violate no usage in accosting any one. The uniformity of the +costume, in materials, shape, and color, and the perfect concealment of +the features, makes identification impossible, so that the street +becomes a perpetual masquerade. The costume which owes its origin to +marital jealousy has in Lima become a most efficient aid to intrigue. + +[Illustration: LIMEÑA AT HOME.] + +The Limeña in the street, shrouded in the saya y manto, differs as +widely from the same Limeña at home, as the butterfly wrapped up in its +chrysalis does from the same insect with wings fully expanded. At home, +at the theatre, in the carriage, every where except when walking in the +streets, or in church, the Limeña appears dressed in the newest French +fashions. There is, however, one article of European costume which they +uniformly refuse to adopt, and that is the bonnet. With here and there +an exception, they obstinately reject any other head-dress than a light +vail and their own abundant tresses. An inordinate fondness for flowers +and perfumes is also a striking characteristic of a Limeña, whose +presence is almost invariably announced by a vase of flowers and a +flaçon of perfume, placed upon a table near which she reclines swinging +in a hammock during the sultry hours of the day, amusing herself, now +with examining a book of engravings, now with music, of which she is +passionately fond, perhaps with embroidery--and not unfrequently with a +cigar. + +[Illustration: CHOLITAS OR INDIAN WOMEN OF PERU.] + +If man or woman were only an animal being--and if she could always be +young and physically charming--this life of the Limeña might not seem so +undesirable. But with her a thing of beauty is not a joy forever. If her +reign is brilliant, it is brief. When her beauty fades she ceases to be +a coquette, and becomes a _beata_ or devotee. She renounces the vanities +of the world, attends mass several times a day, makes frequent +confessions, and takes up her abode during Lent in a house of penitence. +She selects a confessor to whom she unburdens her conscience, and sends +presents of sweetmeats and delicacies. At home she sinks into a cipher, +scarcely more regarded than a piece of worn-out furniture. If a +stranger, paying a visit to a young Limeña, respectfully rises to make a +place for an aged woman who enters the _cuadro_, nothing is more common +than for the daughter to say, with the utmost coolness, _No se incommoda +usted, es ma mamita_ "Don't incommode yourself, it's my mamma." Habit +becomes a second nature, and the Limeña accommodates herself to her lot +without a murmur. Such, with exceptions few and rare, is the lot of the +_hechiceras Limeñas_, so highly endowed by nature, and worthy of a +better fate. + +Besides these Limeñas of European origin there is another class, +descendants of the ancient Peruvians, who, though not beautiful like +their fair neighbors, present some remarkable characteristics. Their +complexion approaches the color of copper, with a pale tinge of gold. +Their whole aspect has in it something bizarre, but at the same time not +altogether unattractive. In dress they are fond of strange combinations. +A balloon-like garment of white muslin or gaudy calico; a Guayaquil hat +with high crown and immense brim, decorated with huge bows of ribbon +on the "company side" of the head; their abundant hair carefully divided +and pouring down their backs in sable cascades; and, foremost and above +all, a well-fitting stocking and shoe upon a foot unimpeachably small, +form their favorite costume. These _cholitas_ are admirable horsewomen, +usually riding astride, cavalier fashion, and wearing the formidable +Peruvian spur. + +[Illustration: COMING FROM MASS.] + +The saya y manto is always worn when going to church. There the absence +of seats obliges each female to kneel upon the flags, unless she be +provided with a servant to carry a piece of carpet upon which to kneel. +To look upon them reclining immovably against the walls or the base of a +column, the eyelids drooping upon the pale cheek, or the look fixed upon +the tracery of the roof overhead (for in church the manto is not +rigorously closed) one might imagine the Limeñas to be statues of +meditation. Only the sign of the cross rapidly traced over the forehead +shows them to belong to the breathing world. In the sanctuary no sound +disturbs the harmony of the sacred offices. The incense, the pious +hymns, the soft breathing of the organ, and in some of the churches, the +notes of numerous birds of song caged among the crystal lustres of the +candelabra, are mingled with the solemn chant of the monks. Service +over, and what a change! Life seems to reanimate those marble limbs; +those fixed looks become lively and sparkling; and noise and bustle take +the place of the former silence. As the fair Limeña leaves the cathedral +the black musicians fill the air with the sound of their drums and +clarinets, the lottery-men cry their tickets upon one side of the +entrance, and upon the other a fat ecclesiastic vends the effigy of the +saint who chances to be in fashion. The Limeña, restored to her proper +character, draws the shrouding manto over her features; makes gay and +lively answers to the insipid compliments paid her by the young men +lounging under the portico; and buys with one hand a lottery ticket, and +with the other a relic or an image which she hopes will make her number +a lucky one. + +The Indians in Lima number some 5000; they are active and industrious, +in moral qualities far surpassing the mixed races, and fully equaling +the whites, to whom, however, they are decidedly inferior in +intellectual powers. They look upon Europeans with the feelings always +entertained by a subjugated race toward their conquerors; a compound of +fear, dislike, and mistrust. In 1781, under the lead of some of the +descendants of the ancient Incas, an insurrection of the Indians took +place in Peru, which was marked by the utmost atrocities. They defeated +the whites in several engagements, burned a number of towns and +villages, and captured the city of Sorrato, in which the surrounding +inhabitants had taken refuge; of the prisoners who numbered 23,000, only +87 priests and monks were preserved alive. Their leaders were finally +betrayed into the power of the whites, and put to death. The Indians +then disbanded. The most rigorous measures of repression were thereupon +adopted. Their language, dress, music, and dances were strictly +forbidden, and every effort made to extinguish their national feelings. +When the war of Independence broke out, the Indians took part against +Spain, but with the secret design of reinstating the dynasty of their +ancestors, and raising to the throne one of the race of the Incas. In +many cases they directed their hostilities against the whites +indiscriminately, without distinction of parties. In one place they +vowed not to leave alive so much as a dog or a fowl who bore the hated +color, and even scraped the whitewash from the walls of their houses in +sign of utter detestation. Since the war of Independence they have made +great advances, especially in the military art, and have used every +means to secure as many fire-arms as possible. At as late a period as +1841, Tschudi, discovered by accident eighteen muskets hidden in the hut +of an Indian in Central Peru, and upon asking for what purpose they were +concealed was told that the time would come when they would be of use. +The same writer also mentions incidents showing that many of the Indians +are in possession of the secret of the existence of silver mines, far +richer than any which are now known; and that the secret is handed down +inviolably from father to son, until the time when their ancient dynasty +shall be restored. Years of oppression and wrong under Spanish rule, +only partially remedied since the Revolution, have wrought a great +change in the character of the Indians of Peru. A settled distrust and +melancholy have taken the place of the confiding and joyous disposition +of the race who welcomed their Spanish visitors. Their songs, their +dances, the whole tenor of their domestic life, wear a dark and sombre +shade. Even in dress their favorite color is dark blue, which is with +them the hue of mourning. These characteristics of the Indian race +throughout the country, appear, though more or less modified, in the +Indians in Lima. + +The negroes in Lima number not far from 10,000 of whom less than half +are slaves. The charter of Independence provides that no person in Peru +shall be born a slave, but this provision has been modified by law, so +as to allow a term of servitude varying from 25 to 50 years. Slaves +brought from any other country, become free the moment they touch the +soil of Peru. Hence if a master take his slave into Chili, the slave may +claim his freedom on his return. Runaways, however, are liable to be +reclaimed. The treatment of slaves in Lima is very gentle. A tribunal is +erected having the special duty to protect the slaves from +ill-treatment. A slave may claim his liberty upon paying his value; and +in case he and his master are unable to agree upon the sum, it is fixed +by the court; or he may sell himself to any other master who will pay +the determined price, in spite of any opposition on the part of the +owner. As the introduction of negroes from Africa has been for many +years prohibited, the great majority of the slaves are born in Peru. +These, though intellectually and physically superior to those born in +Africa, are held of less value; their superior intelligence rendering +them less docile, and more discontented with their condition. The free +negroes of Lima are represented as a plague and a pest to society. + +As a general rule the mixed races, which constitute about a third of the +population of Lima, inherit the vices without the virtues of the pure +races from which they sprung. Perhaps the sole exceptions to this are +the _Mestizos_, the offspring of a white father and an Indian mother. +They are of mild and gentle dispositions, but are also timid and +irresolute. There are few Mestizos in Lima; but in the interior they are +numerous. There they constitute the entire population of many villages, +and call themselves whites, keeping aloof from the Indians. The most +prominent characteristic of the Mulattos, the offspring of a white and a +negro, is their remarkable imitative talent, and their consequent +aptitude for mechanical pursuits; but they are extremely sensual and +animal in all their tastes and instincts. The _Zambos_, sprung from an +intermixture of the different castes of the colored race, and the +_Chinos_, the offspring of the colored and Indian races intermixed in +various degrees, are the most miserable and degraded of all the +half-castes in Lima. They commit the most inhuman barbarities with the +utmost indifference. Four-fifths of the prisoners in Lima are Zambos. +They are usually athletic and muscular, with sunken eyes, thick lips, +and noses much less depressed than that of the negro. The Chinos are +morally about on a level with the Zambos; but physically they are much +inferior. The mixed races of fairer complexion resemble the whites in +moral and intellectual qualities in about the same degree that they +approach them in color. + +The general condition of morals in Lima, especially among the colored +races, may be inferred from the following statement given by Tschudi. In +ten months of the year 1841, the number of births was 1682, of which +860, more than one half, were born out of wedlock. The number of dead +children exposed during the same time was 495, almost one third of the +whole number of births. Of the illegitimate children nearly two thirds, +and of those exposed a still larger proportion, were Mulattos. Though +there can be no positive evidence of the fact, there is every reason to +conjecture that the greater number of the children exposed, were +murdered by their mothers. During the same period the number of deaths +in the city was 2244, exceeding the births by 562. It has been found +that for a long series of years the deaths have exceeded the births by +about 550 a year. + +There is an old Spanish proverb which styles Lima the Paradise of women, +the Purgatory of men, and the Inferno of asses; but during the time of +the carnival all claims to be considered a Purgatory even, to say +nothing of Paradise, to man or woman, disappear. One of the favorite +amusements of the season is to besprinkle passers by, from the +balconies, with water, of which the purity is by no means above +suspicion. The colored population assume the license of rolling the +passers who do not choose to pay for exemption, in the street gutters, +which offer remarkable facilities for this pleasantry, as they are +ill-paved, and unswept, with a stream of water running through them. +These gutters are used by the lower classes of the Limanian señoras in a +manner peculiar to that city; they are accustomed to wash in them the +plates, glasses, and dishes from their dinner tables. Another favorite +amusement during the carnival is to suspend from the balconies a strong +bag filled with fragments of glass and pottery. This is attached to a +rope of such a length as to suffer it to fall within a few inches of the +heads of the passengers. This sack is drawn up into the balcony; and +when a person who has been selected as a victim passes underneath, it is +flung just over his head. The rope prevents it from falling upon him, +but the deafening crash which ensues within a few inches of his ears, is +nowise soothing to the nerves. This practice is regularly prohibited by +the police, but all attempts to suppress it have proved as unavailing as +the efforts to prevent the use of fire-crackers upon our own Fourth of +July. + +There is a public lottery drawn every week in the Plaza Mayor, directly +opposite the Cathedral, where a temporary platform is erected for the +purpose. A ticket costs an eighth of a dollar, and the highest prize is +1000 dollars. As the hour for drawing approaches, the square begins to +fill with a motley crowd of men, women, and children; armed soldiers, +shovel-hatted priests, barefoot monks, bright-eyed tapadas (so a Limeña +with her manto drawn over her face is called), spurred cavaliers, and +ragged negroes. The numbers are placed in the wheels, and drawn out by +boys belonging to the foundling hospital. To every ticket is attached a +motto, which is usually an invocation to some favorite saint to accord +good luck to that ticket; and when the fortunate one is ascertained this +motto is read aloud for the edification of the bystanders. The lottery +belongs to a society called the "Beneficencia," by whom it is farmed +out, and the profits appropriated to the support of hospitals and +charitable institutions. It is the usual practice of the Limanians to +purchase tickets regularly; the negroes in particular, as elsewhere, are +particularly addicted to trying their luck. Instances are not uncommon +in which slaves have purchased their freedom with prizes drawn in the +lottery of the "Beneficencia." In a small chapel belonging to the church +of St. Dominic, were formerly exhibited relics of St. Rose, the +patroness of Lima. Among them was a pair of dice, with which it was +gravely said that, when the fair saint was exhausted by prayer and +penance, the Saviour would appear and revive her drooping spirits with a +friendly game. Of late years these uncanonical relics are not exhibited, +but Stevenson, the author of a standard work on South America, relates +that they were shown to him in 1805, when he kissed them with as much +devotion as he would have manifested to any other pair. + +Every morning at a quarter to nine o'clock, when the Host is elevated in +the Cathedral, and in the evening at the hour of the Angelus, the great +bell of the Cathedral tolls three measured strokes, which are repeated +from all the many belfries of Lima. Every occupation is at once +suspended, every hat is reverentially raised; every lip moves, uttering +its whispered prayer. The evening prayer being ended, each one makes the +sign of the cross, and bids the person next him _buenas +noches_--"good-night." It is an act of courtesy to insist that one's +neighbor shall take the precedence in the salutation; and he, not to be +outdone in politeness, must waive the proffered honor. The courteous +contest--"You say it," and "No, sir, you say it," is sometimes not a +little amusing. + +Lima is surrounded by a wall, now in a state of extreme dilapidation, +and altogether unavailable for any purposes of defense. It is built of +adobes, and dates originally from 1685, though much of that now existing +is of more recent construction. A fine stone bridge crosses the Rimac, +uniting the city with the suburb of San Lazaro. It consists of six +circular arches rising thirty-six feet from the surface of the water. +The piers are of brick, resting upon stone foundations of great +solidity, of which no better proof is needed than that they survived the +earthquakes of 1687 and 1746, by which almost every edifice in Lima was +shattered. The entrance to the bridge is through a broad arch crossing +the street, used for carriages, with smaller arches on each side for +foot-passengers. This archway is surmounted with turrets and spires, and +presents an imposing appearance. In the parapets are semi-circular +recesses provided with stone seats which furnish a favorite resort in +summer evenings. The view from the bridge is of great beauty. Westward +the eye follows the silvery course of the Rimac, its left bank lined +with convents, and splendid mansions of the more wealthy Limanians. The +view closes with the broad Pacific. In the opposite direction the view +is bounded by the range of hills, beyond the avenues of the Alameda del +Acho; while beyond and above all, when the shrouding vail of clouds is +lifted, so as to permit the sight, are beheld the snowy summits of the +distant Cordilleras. The bridge was built in 1640, at an expense of +400,000 dollars, from designs by Villegas, an Augustin monk. + +The Cathedral is situated on the eastern side of the Plaza Mayor. The +foundation stone was laid by Pizarro himself on the 18th of January, +1534, twelve days after the choice of the site of the city. Ninety years +after, the edifice was completed, and was solemnly dedicated on the 19th +of October, 1625. It has a light, ornamented façade with large folding +doors in the centre, and smaller ones upon each side. From each of the +two corners rises an octagonal tower to the height of about two hundred +feet, exclusive of the base, which is forty feet. These towers were +thrown down by the great earthquake of 1746, by which almost the whole +city was laid in ruins. They were rebuilt in 1800. The interior is +singularly magnificent. The roof, which is beautifully paneled, rests +upon arches supported by a double row of square stone pillars. The grand +altar is adorned with seven Ionic columns, twelve feet in height, cased +with pure silver, an inch and a half thick, and is surmounted with a +massy crown of silver richly gilt. The tabernacle, seven feet high, is +of wrought gold, studded with precious stones. On high festival days +service is performed with a pomp and splendor not surpassed in any +temple in Christendom. Many of the churches are ornamented with a +profusion of silver even yet, though it is said that during the +revolution a ton and a half of silver was taken in a single year from +the ornaments of the churches, to supply the necessities of the state; +yet such was the abundance with which the precious metal had been +lavished, that this amount was hardly missed; a tale which would be +incredible if related of any city other than the one which at a certain +time paved with solid ingots of silver the streets through which a new +viceroy was to make his entrance. + +In the convent of San Francisco, is a small chapel containing an image +of the Virgin, called _del milagro_, "of the miracle." It is related +that during the great earthquake of 1630, this image, which then stood +over the porch of the church looking toward the street, turned +completely round, so as to face the high altar, and raised her hands in +the attitude of supplication, and then implored mercy for the city, and +thus saved it from utter destruction. A monk who conducted a recent +traveler over the convent, related to him this miracle, and very naïvely +expressed his wonder that the Madonna did not repeat her gracious +interposition at the time of the earthquake of 1746, when it was no less +needed. + +The Oratorio de San Felipe Neri, formerly the convent of San Pedro, was +the principal college of the Jesuits, who, at the time of their +expulsion, possessed immense wealth. In 1773 a secret order was +dispatched from the King of Spain, directing the viceroys to arrest all +the Jesuits in the South American provinces, in a single night, and ship +them to Spain. So secret was the order that the viceroy and those +officers whose assistance was to be employed, were supposed to be the +only ones who knew any thing of it. The viceregal council was summoned +at 10 o'clock on the appointed night, and the royal order read to them. +No one was allowed to leave the room, for fear that intelligence might +be communicated to the Jesuits. At midnight the officers were sent to +the convent to arrest the members of the order. The door was opened at +the first summons, and the officer was conducted to the great hall of +the convent, where all the brethren were assembled, each with a bag +containing a few requisites for the voyage. So in all the other convents +of the order. The same vessel which had conveyed the royal decree, had +brought instructions from the Superior of the Jesuits in Madrid, who had +gained intelligence of the secret, directed to the vicar-general at +Lima, commanding him to be in readiness when the arrest should be made. +The brethren were sent to Callao under a strong guard, and as soon as +possible were put on shipboard. But when the eager officials made search +for the immense wealth which was known to be in the treasury of the +order in San Pedro, the keys of which were laid out in readiness for +them in the apartment of the Superior, only a few thousand dollars were +discovered. The rest had vanished like a vision. And to this day it has +eluded the most vigilant search. An old negro, who was in the service of +the convent, testified that for several nights he and his +fellow-servants, with their eyes closely bandaged, were employed in +conveying bags of treasure to the convent vaults, attended by two of the +brethren of the order. He could give no clew to the place of +concealment, except that he thought there was a subterranean spring near +the spot. + +The palace of the Inquisition stands upon what was formerly called the +_Plaza de la Inquisicion_, now the Square of Independence (_Plazuela de +la Independencia_). Upon this same square were also situated the +University and the Hospital of _La Caridad;_ whence it was sometimes +styled the Square of the three Cardinal Virtues: the Inquisition +typifying Faith; the University, Hope, and the Hospital, Charity. Few +traces remain to denote the fearful uses to which the edifice of the +Inquisition was devoted. It is now used in part as a storehouse for +provisions, and in part as a prison. In the palmy days of Spanish +dominion, Lima was the ecclesiastical metropolis of the whole Pacific +coast of South America, and the Inquisition exercised its functions with +a rigor hardly exceeded by that of Spain. When the Cortes abolished this +tribunal in Spain and its dependencies, the building was thrown open to +the populace, who speedily ransacked the apartments, and destroyed the +implements of the Holy Office. Among those present was Stevenson, author +of a standard work on South America, who has given a detailed account of +the transaction. The customary array of racks, pillories, scourges, +gags, thumbscrews, and other instruments of torture was found. The +crucifix in the principal hall having been accidentally thrown down, it +was discovered that the head was movable, and so arranged that a man +concealed behind the curtains could cause it to move in token of assent +or dissent. How many a trembling victim, overawed, confounded, and +bewildered at seeing the movement of the lifeless head of the Redeemer, +has confessed whatever the officials demanded, almost believing himself +guilty of crimes he never committed. One article found was somewhat +ludicrous. In one room was a large quantity of printed cotton +handkerchiefs upon the centre of which was a pictorial representation of +Religion, bearing a cross in one hand and a chalice in the other. The +manufacturer had introduced these pious devices in the hope of +facilitating the sale of his wares. But the Holy Office discovered gross +impiety in the act of blowing the nose or spitting upon the symbol of +the true faith; and to guard against temptation to such a profanation, +had seized upon the whole consignment. + +On the north side of the Plaza Mayor stands an unsightly edifice, now +occupied by courts of justice and various government offices. This was +formerly the palace of the Viceroys of Peru. The principal apartment +bore the name of the Hall of the Viceroys. Here were arranged forty-four +panels, each destined to receive the full-length portrait of a viceroy, +as he entered upon his government, commencing with Pizarro. The last of +these panels had been filled by the portrait of Pezuela, who held the +office at the time when the insurrection broke out which severed Peru +from the Spanish dominion. There was no room in the hall for the +portrait of another viceroy. A similar coincidence is recorded in +Venetian history. The effigy of the Doge who was in office at the time +when the revolution took place which overthrew the Venetian oligarchy, +filled the last of the niches which had been constructed to receive the +effigies of the successive magistrates. + +This is not the palace erected by Pizarro for himself. That stood on the +opposite side of the square, and some remains of it are still shown in +an obscure lane called the Mat-sellers' Alley. Here, on Sunday, the 26th +of June, 1546, eleven and a half years from the time when the foundation +of the City of the Kings was laid, its founder was assassinated. Pizarro +had been warned that a plot was formed to assassinate him on his way to +mass; but he took no further precaution against it than to absent +himself from divine service that day. The conspirators then resolved to +murder him in his own house. As they were crossing the Plaza one of them +turned a little aside to avoid a pool of water. "What! afraid of wetting +your feet, when you are to wade up to your knees in blood!" exclaimed +the veteran Juan de Rada, the leader of the band. The dainty conspirator +was ordered to return to his quarters as not worthy of a share in the +enterprise. Pizarro was sitting with his friends after dinner, when the +assassins rushed into the palace, through the open gate. The guests made +their escape through the corridors, by climbing down into the gardens. +Among them was Velasquez the Judge, who had boasted that Pizarro could +receive no harm from traitors, while he "held in his hands the rod of +justice." As Velasquez climbed down in making his escape, he needed both +hands to aid his descent, and held his official wand in his mouth; thus +verifying his boast, to the letter, if not in spirit. For a moment the +assailants were held at bay by the attendants, but these were speedily +dispatched. Pizarro, who had vainly attempted to assume his defensive +armor, wrapping a cloak about his arm, sprang against the assassins, +sword in hand, with the cry, "What ho, traitors! have ye come to kill +me in mine own house?" Though more than three score years of age, he +defended himself with desperate vigor, and had slain two of the +assailants, when Rada, seizing one of his own comrades, flung him +against Pizarro, who instantly ran him through the body. But while his +weapon was thus entangled, Pizarro received a stab in the throat, and +fell, and the swords of several of his enemies were at once sheathed in +his body. He traced a cross with his finger in the blood upon the floor, +and was in the act of bending down his head to kiss the symbol of his +faith, when, with the name of "Jesu" upon his lips, he received a stroke +which put an end to his life. + +No place upon the globe enjoys a climate more equable than that of Lima. +Not only are there no sudden and violent alternations of temperature, +but the variations of the seasons are hardly known. Extremes of heat and +cold are never experienced. The temperature at noon, in the shade in an +open room, never rises above 80, and never falls below 60 degrees. The +rays of a vertical sun are intercepted by a thin canopy of mist, called +_garuas_, which for a considerable portion of the year hang over the +city, resembling in appearance the canopy of smoke above a large town. +The winds blow almost constantly from points between the southwest and +the southeast. When they come from the former quarter they are cooled by +passing over the immense expanse of the Pacific; when from the latter +they have swept the vast forests toward Brazil and the frozen ranges of +the Cordilleras. A northerly wind alone, which is of unfrequent +occurrence, produces an oppressive sensation of heat. During the year, +there are about 45 days when the sun is entirely unclouded, about 190 in +which it is visible during no part of the day, and the remainder are +usually cloudy in the morning, and clear in the afternoon. A shower of +rain is a thing altogether unknown, but during February and March, a few +large straggling drops occasionally fall about five o'clock in the +afternoon. The _garuas_ overhang the city almost without intermission +from April to October. During June, July, and August there will not +probably be a single unclouded day, and not more than three days in each +month in which the sun can be seen at all. The gray canopy begins to +lift in October, and gradually becomes thinner and thinner till April, +when it again begins to gather. But this equable climate, apparently so +desirable, is found to be productive of great physical lassitude, and to +be unfavorable to health. It has been already noticed that the number of +deaths constantly and greatly exceeds that of births. Among adults the +most fatal disease is dysentery; then comes fever, usually intermittent; +then consumption, inflammation of the lungs, and dropsy, the latter +usually the result of intermittent fever. + +Another fearful compensation for the mildness of the elements above the +surface of the earth, is found in the frequency of subterranean +disturbances. On an average, there are 45 shocks of earthquakes in the +course of a year. These usually occur in the months from October to +January, and again in May and June. But at intervals of from 40 to 60 +years, the valley of the Rimac experiences an earthquake of far more +desolating force, and by which Lima has several times been reduced to a +heap of rubbish. The most destructive of these, since the European +conquest were those of 1586, 1630, 1687, 1713, 1746, 1806--two in each +completed century; so that the experience of the past gives us every +reason to anticipate that many years will not elapse before Lima will +once more become a mass of ruins. + +The most destructive of this regular series of great earthquakes was +that of October 26, 1746. A little more than an hour before midnight, +the earth began to tremble, and in three minutes from the time of the +first shock, the city lay in ruins. Of more than 3000 houses, only 21 +escaped entire. The towers of the Cathedral were overthrown. The bridge +across the Rimac was almost the only public work which escaped, and of +that one arch, upon which stood an equestrian statue of Philip V., was +destroyed. But if Lima was sorely shattered, Callao was annihilated. The +sea receded suddenly from the shore, and as suddenly rolled back with +irresistible force, overwhelming the devoted city, with all its +inhabitants, 5000 in number. Of these, it is popularly related, that +only one escaped. A Spanish corvette which lay at anchor, was lifted +sheer over the walls of the fortress, and deposited a full mile inshore, +at a spot still designated by a cross erected to commemorate the fact. +All the other vessels in the harbor were sunk. The modern town of Callao +stands at the distance of two miles from the site of the old town, of +which not a vestige remains. It is popularly affirmed that in a clear +day the ruins of the old town may still be seen beneath the waves; but +travelers, whose imagination is not keener than their vision, have +vainly strained their sight to discover a trace of the lost city. + +No familiarity with earthquakes is sufficient to do away with their +terrors. The Limanian who has known them from childhood, no sooner feels +the first shock, than he rushes from his apartment, with the cry of +"_misericordia_" upon his trembling lips, no less than the foreigner who +has never before witnessed these convulsive throes of nature. The moment +a shock is felt the Cathedral bell begins to toll, all the belfries in +Lima take up the sound, and summon the affrighted population to their +devotions. A change has been wrought even in the form of church service, +by the ever-present apprehension of these convulsions: the word "famine" +being omitted and "earthquake" inserted among the evils from which +deliverance is implored. The very architecture of Lima--its houses of a +singly story--its plastered upper walls, its cane roofs, its towers and +steeples of stuccoed wicker work--is a perpetual prayer against an evil +which no human foresight can avoid, and no mortal power avert, and in +respect to which the utmost that man can do, is in some degree to +mitigate its consequences. + + + + +ALLY SOMERS.--A TALE OF THE COAST-GUARD. + + +When I joined the _Scorpion_ sloop of war, then (1810) on the West India +station, there were a father and son among the crew whose names, as +borne on the ship's books, were John Somers and John _Alice_ Somers. The +oddity in this country of giving a boy a female baptismal name had been +no doubt jestingly remarked upon by those who were aware of it, but with +the sailors the lad passed as _Ally_ Somers. The father was approaching +fifty, the son could not have been more than seventeen years of age. The +elder Somers, who had attained to the rating of a boatswain, was a +stern, hard, silent man, with a look as cold and clear as polished +steel, and a cast-iron mouth, indicative of inflexible, indomitable +firmness of will and resolution. The son, on the contrary, though +somewhat resembling his father in outline of feature, had a mild, +attractive, almost feminine aspect, and a slight graceful frame. I was +not long in discovering that, obdurate and self-engrossed as the man +appeared, the boy was really the idol-image in which his affections and +his hopes were centred. His eye constantly followed the motions of the +lad, and it appeared to be his unceasing aim and study to lighten the +duties he had to perform, and to shield him from the rough usage to +which youngsters in his position were generally subjected by the motley +crews of those days. One day a strong instance in proof of this +master-feeling occurred. Ally Somers some time previously, when on shore +with a party dispatched to obtain a supply of water, had, during the +temporary absence of the officer in command, been rather severely +rope's-ended by one of the seamen for some trifling misconduct, and a +few slight marks were left on the lad's back. The rage of the father, +when informed of the circumstance, was extreme, and it was with +difficulty that he was restrained from inflicting instant chastisement +on the offender. An opportunity for partially wreaking his hoarded +vengeance occurred about six weeks afterward, and it was eagerly +embraced. The sailor who had ill-used young Somers was sentenced to +receive two dozen lashes for drunkenness and insubordination. He was +ordered to strip, placed at the gratings, and the punishment began. +Somers the boatswain, iron or sour-tempered as he might be, was by no +means harsh or cruel in his office, and his assistants, upon whom the +revolting office of flogging usually devolved, influenced by him, were +about the gentlest-handed boatswain's-mates I ever saw practice. On this +occasion he was in another and a very different mood. Two blows only had +been struck, when Somers, with an angry rebuke to the mate for not doing +his duty, snatched the cat from his hand, and himself lashed the culprit +with a ferocity so terribly effective, that Captain Boyle, a merciful +and just officer, instantly remitted half the number of lashes, and the +man was rescued from the unsparing hands of the vindictive boatswain. + +Other instances of the intensity of affection glowing within the stern +man's breast for his comparatively weak and delicate boy manifested +themselves. Once in action, when the lad, during a tumultuous and +murderous struggle in beating off a determined attempt to carry the +sloop by boarding, chanced to stumble on the slippery deck, he was +overtaken before he could recover himself, and involved in the fierce +assault which at the forecastle was momently successful. I was myself +hotly engaged in another part of the fight; but attention being suddenly +called to the forepart of the ship by the enemy's triumphant shouts, I +glanced round just in time to see the boatswain leap, with the yell and +bound of a tiger, into the _mêlée_, and strike right and left with such +tremendous ferocity and power as instantly to check the advancing rush. +Our men promptly rallied, and the deck was in a few minutes cleared of +every living foe that had recently profaned it. Ally Somers, who had +received a rather severe flesh wound, and fainted from loss of blood, +was instantly caught up by his father, and carried with headlong +impatience below. When the surgeon, after a brief look at the hurt, +said, "There is no harm done, Somers," the high-strung nerves of the +boatswain gave way, and he fell back upon a locker, temporarily +prostrate and insensible from sudden revulsion of feeling. Several times +I was an unintentional auditor of scraps of conversation between the two +while the lad was on the sick-list, from which I gathered that Ally was +the sole issue of a marriage which had left bitter memories in the mind +of the father; but whether arising from the early death of his wife, or +other causes, I did not ascertain. Somers was, it appeared a native of +the west of England, and it was quite evident had received a much better +education than usually falls to individuals of his class. + +At the close of the war Somers and his son were, with thousands of +others, turned adrift from the royal service. Some months after my +appointment to the command of the revenue-cutter, I chanced to meet the +father in the village of Talton, about four miles out of Southampton, on +the New Forest Road. He had, I found re-entered the navy, but chancing +to receive a hurt by the falling of a heavy block on his right knee, had +been invalided with a small pension, upon which he was now living at +about a hundred yards from the spot where we had accidentally met. Ally, +he informed me, was the skipper of a small craft, trading between +Guernsey and Southampton. There was little change in the appearance of +the man except that the crippled condition of his leg appeared to have +had an effect the reverse of softening upon his stem and rugged aspect +and temper. When paid off he was, I knew, entitled to a considerable sum +in prize-money, the greater part of which he told me he had recently +received. + +About two months after this meeting with the father I fell in with the +son. I was strolling at about eleven in the forenoon along the front of +the Southampton custom-house, when my eye fell upon a young man in a +seaman's dress, busily engaged with three others in loading a cart with +bundles of laths which had been landed shortly before from a small +vessel alongside the quay. It was Ally Somers sure enough; and so much +improved in looks since I last saw him, that but for a certain air of +fragility--inherited probably from his mother--he might have been +pronounced a handsome fine young fellow. The laths, upward of two +hundred bundles, which he was so busily assisting to cart, he had +brought from Guernsey, and were a very common importation from that +island: Guernsey possessing the right of sending its own produce customs +free to England, a slight duty, only tantamount to what the foreign +timber of which the laths were made would have been liable to, was +levied upon them, and this was ascertained by the proper officer simply +measuring the length and girth of the bundles. This had been done, and +the laths marked as "passed." It struck me that the manner of Ally +Somers was greatly flurried and excited, and when he saw me approaching, +evidently with an intention to accost him, this agitation perceptibly +increased. He turned deadly pale, and absolutely trembled with +ill-concealed apprehension. He was somewhat re-assured by my frank +salutation; and after a few common-place inquiries I walked away, +evidently to his great relief, and he with his sailors continued their +eager work of loading the cart. I could not help suspecting that +something was wrong, though I could not make up my mind to verify the +surmise his perturbed and hurried manner excited. Once in a skirmish on +shore his father, the boatswain, had saved my life by sending a timely +bullet through the head of a huge negro who held me for the moment at +his mercy. Besides I might be wrong after all, and I had no right to +presume that the officer who had passed the laths had not made a +sufficient examination of them. The flurry of the young man might arise +from physical weakness and the severe labor he was performing in such +hot weather. These reasons, or more truly these excuses for doing +nothing, were passing through my brain, when I observed the hasty +approach of the collector of customs himself toward the cart, followed +by several of his subordinates. Young Somers saw him as quickly as I +did, and the young man's first impulse, it was quite plain, was flight. +A thought, no doubt, of the hopelessness of such an attempt arrested his +steps, and he stood quaking with terror by the side of the cart, his +right hand grasping for support at one of the wheel-spokes. + +"One of you lend me a knife," said the collector, addressing the +officers of customs. + +A knife was quickly opened and handed to him: he severed the strong +cords which bound one of the bundles of laths together, and they flew +asunder, disclosing a long tin tube of considerable diameter, closely +rammed with tobacco! All the other bundles contained a similar deposit; +and so large was the quantity of the heavily-taxed weed thus +unexpectedly made lawful prize of, that a profit, I was assured, of not +less than £500 or £600 would have been made by the audacious smuggler +had he succeeded in his bold and ingenious attempt. The ends of the +bundles had been filled up with short pieces of lath, so that, except by +the process now adopted, it was impossible to detect that the cargo was +not _bonâ fide_ what it had been declared to be. The penalties to which +Somers had rendered himself liable were immense, the vessel also was +forfeited, and the unfortunate young man's liberty at the mercy of the +crown. He looked the very picture of despair, and I felt assured that +ruin, utter and complete, had fallen upon him. + +He was led off in custody, and had gone some dozen paces when he stopped +shortly, appeared to make some request to the officers by whom he was +escorted, and then turning round, intimated by a supplicatory gesture +that he wished to speak to me. I drew near, and at my request the +officers fell back out of hearing. He was so utterly prostrated by the +calamity by which he had been so suddenly overtaken, that he could not +for several moments speak intelligibly. I felt a good deal concerned for +so mere a boy, and one too so entirely unfitted by temperament and nerve +to carry through such desperate enterprises, or bear up against their +failure. + +"This is a bad business," I said; "but the venture has not, I trust, +been made with your own or your father's money? + +"Every penny of it," he replied, in a dry, fainting voice, "was our own. +Father lent me all his prize-money, and we are both miserable beggars." + +"What in the name of madness could induce you to venture your all upon a +single throw in so hazardous a game?" + +"I will tell you," he went on hurriedly to say in the same feeble and +trembling tone; "I am not fitted for a sea-life--not strong, not hardy +enough. I longed for a quiet, peaceful home ashore. A hope of one +offered itself. I made the acquaintance of Richard Sylvester, a miller +near Ealing. He is a good man, but griping as far as money is concerned. +I formed an attachment for his eldest daughter Maria; and he consented +to our union, and to taking me as a partner in his business, if I could +pay down five hundred pounds. I was too eager to wait long; besides I +thought that perhaps--but it boots not to speak of that now; I set more +than life upon this cast; I have lost, and am now bankrupt of resource +or hope! Will you break this news to my father, and see--" His remaining +firmness gave way as the thought he would have uttered struggled to his +lips, and the meek hearted young man burst into tears, and wept +piteously like a girl. A number of persons were collecting round us, and +I gently urged him to walk on to the custom-house. A few minutes +afterward I left him there, with a promise to comply with his request +without delay. + +I found John Somers at home, and had scarcely uttered twenty words when +he jumped at once at the true conclusion. + +"Out with it, sir!" exclaimed the steel-nerved man. "But you need not; I +see it all. Ally has failed--the tobacco has been seized--and he is in +prison." + +Spite of himself his breath came thick and short, and he presently added +with a fierce burst, while a glance of fire leaped from his eyes; "He +has been betrayed, and I think I know by whom." + +"Your suspicion that he has been informed against is very likely +correct, but you will, I think, have some difficulty in ascertaining by +whom. The custom-house authorities are careful not to allow the names of +their informants to leak through their office-doors." + +"I would find him were he hidden in the centre of the earth!" rejoined +the ex-boatswain with another vengeful outcry which startled one like an +explosion. "But," added the strong and fierce-willed man after a few +moments' silence, "it's useless prating of the matter like a wench. We +must part company at once. I thank you, sir, and will tell Ally you have +called." I mentioned the other request made by his son. "That is a +rotten plank to hold by," he said. "Ally's chance is over there, and it +would be mere waste of time to call on the old man; his resolution is +hard and unyielding as his own millstones. Maria Sylvester is gone with +the five hundred pounds her father bargained for; and the girl's tears, +if she shed any, will soon be dry. I warned Ally of the peril of +steering his course in life by the deceptive light of woman's capricious +smiles and vanities; but he, poor, flexile, gentle-minded boy, heeded me +not. I may not longer delay: he will be anxious to see me. Good-day, +sir." + +The consequence which I chiefly feared came to pass, even more speedily +than I had apprehended. It being impossible to liquidate the penalties +incurred, Ally Somers was imprisoned as a crown debtor; and at that +period, whatever may be the case now, revenue penalties could not be got +rid of by insolvent-court schedules. The prospect of an indefinite term +of imprisonment, with other causes of grief and depression, broke down +the always fragile health of the prisoner, and he died, ere yet his +youth was well begun, after about six months' confinement only. + +The tidings were brought me by the old man himself. I was seated in the +cabin of the _Rose_ cutter when it was announced that John Somers was +alongside in a boat, and wished to see me. I directed that he should be +allowed to come aboard, and presently the old man, with despair visible +in every line of his countenance, in every glance of his restless, +flaming eyes, entered the cabin. + +"I am come to tell you, sir, that Ally is dead." + +"I was somewhat prepared for this bad news, Mr. Somers," I answered. +"It's hard upon you, but it should be bravely borne with." + +He laughed strangely. "To be sure, to be sure," he said, "that is wise +counsel--very wise; but that which I want now more than wise counsel is +ten pounds--ten pounds, which I shall never be able to repay." + +"Ten pounds!" + +"Yes: you may remember that I once saved your life. If that piece of +service was worth the sum I have mentioned, you can now discharge the +obligation. I have parted with every thing, and Ally's last prayer was +to be buried beside his----Beside a grave, an early and untimely one, +like his own, many miles away." + +"I understand; it is a natural and pious wish, and you shall have the +money." + +"Thank you. The funeral over, I have but one more thing to do in life, +and that is to assist you in securing Cocquerel while running one of his +most valuable cargoes." + +"Cocquerel, the Guernseyman you mean?" + +"Ay, so he calls himself; but I fancy he at one time hailed from another +port. He is the man who sold Ally's secret to the revenue-officers!" + +"Are you sure?" + +"As death! He was Ally's only confidant, and Ally's father is now in +Cocquerel's confidence. It is but natural," added Somers, and a bitter, +deadly sneer curled his ashy lips--"it is but natural, you know, that I +should be eager to assist in pillaging a government which caged my son, +and held him under its iron bars till life had fled. Cocquerel +understands this, and trusts me fully; but that which he does _not_ +understand, know, or suspect," continued the fierce old man, sinking his +voice to a whisper, and leaning forward with his face close to mine, "is +that John Somers has found out _who_ it was that sold his boy's life! +Did he know that, and know _me_ too, there would be sounder sleepers +than he in these dark nights." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Nothing more, of course," he replied in a more checked and guarded +tone, "than to retort the trick he played Ally something after his own +fashion." + +"That is a fair revenge enough, and I'll not balk you. Now, then, for +your plan." + +Various details were discussed, and it was settled that on that day-week +Somers was again to communicate with me. He then took leave. + +At the appointed time Somers returned, and appeared to be in high but +flighty spirits. Every thing was, he said, arranged, and success all but +certain. His scheme was then canvassed and finally agreed upon, and he +again left the vessel. + +The arrangement for the surprise and capture of Cocquerel was +this:--That notorious smuggler intended running a large cargo on the +coast of Dorsetshire, on the north of Portland, at a place where the +cliffs are high, precipitous, and abrupt, and at that time very +inefficiently watched by the shore-force. Near the spot selected is or +was a kind of cavern worn by the action of the sea in the chalky +stratum, which at neap-tides was partially dry, and at the time of our +enterprise would effectually conceal a boat from the observation of any +one who did not actually peer in directly at its mouth. Cocquerel was to +leave Guernsey the next day in a large boat, with two lug-sails, but +chiefly depending for speed upon its sweeps. It was calculated that he +would reach his destination about midnight. Somers had undertaken the +duty of shore-signalman, and if danger were apprehended, was to warn the +smugglers that hawks were abroad by burning a blue-light. The manner of +running the cargo was to be this:--Somers was provided with a windlass +and sufficient length of rope, with a kind of rope-cradle at the end of +it, in which a man could sit, or a couple of kegs be slung, to reach the +boat. The windlass he was to secure firmly at the edge of the cliff, and +two or three of the men having been drawn up, other windlasses were to +be fixed, by means of which it was calculated that in about half an hour +the entire cargo would be safely carried off by the carts which Somers +had undertaken to have ready on the spot. The signal for our appearance +on the scene of action, the positive old man persisted, should be that +agreed upon for the warning of the smugglers--the sudden ignition of a +blue-light. This did not seem the cleverest possible mode of procedure; +but as the cavern in which we were to conceal ourselves was but a few +yards northward of the spot marked out for the landing, and Somers +promised he would only give the signal when the smugglers were in full +work, I had little fear that, if other accidents did not capsize our +scheme, they would be able to escape us. + +The next afternoon the largest boat belonging to the _Rose_ was fully +manned; and leaving the cutter quietly at anchor in the Southampton +river just above Calshot, we pulled with the tide--for there was but a +light air, and that favorable for the smugglers, not for us--to our +hiding-place, which we reached about eight o'clock in the evening. + +The hours crept very slowly and dismally away, amid the darkness and +hoarse echoes and moanings of the cavern, into which the sea and wind, +which were gradually rising, dashed and howled with much and increasing +violence. Occasional peeps at my watch, by the light of a lantern +carefully shaded seaward, warned us that ten, eleven, twelve, one +o'clock had passed, without bringing the friends we so anxiously +expected, and fears of ultimate disappointment were chilling us far more +than the cold night-breeze, when a man in the bow of the boat said in a +whisper that he could hear the dash of oars. + +We all instantly listened with eager attention; but it was not till we +had brought the boat to the entrance of the opening that the man's +assertion was verified. There it was clear enough: and the near +approach of a large boat, with the regular jerk of the oars or sweeps, +was distinctly audible. The loud, clear hail of their shore-signalman, +answered by the "All right" of the smugglers, left no doubt that the +expected prey was within our grasp; and I had a mind to pounce upon them +at once, but was withheld by a promise which I had been obliged several +times to repeat, that I would not under any circumstances do so till the +signal-flame sent its light over the waters. + +As soon as the noise and bustle of laying in the sweeps, lowering the +sails, and unstepping the masts, had subsided, we heard Somers hail the +boat, and insist that the captain should come up before any of the +others, as there was a difficulty about the carts which he alone could +settle. The reply was a growl of assent, and we could hear by the click +of the check to the cog-wheel of the windlass that Somers was paying out +the rope. Presently Cocquerel was heard to get into the cradle I have +spoken of, to which a line was fastened in order to steady his ascent +from below. The order was given to turn away, and the renewed click, +click, announced that he was ascending the face of the cliff. I could +hardly comprehend this man[oe]uvre, which seemed to indicate the escape +of the man we were the most anxious to secure, and the order to shove +off was just on my lips when a powerful blue-light flamed suddenly +forth, accompanied by a fierce but indistinct shout, or roar rather, +from Somers. The men replied by a loud cheer, and we shot smartly out; +but having, to avoid a line of reef, to row in a straight direction for +about a cable's length, the smugglers, panic-stricken and bewildered as +they were, had time to get way upon their lugger, and were plying their +sweeps with desperate energy before the revenue-boat was fairly turned +in direct pursuit. The frantic effort to escape was vain, and so was the +still more frantic effort at resistance offered when we ran alongside. +We did not hurt them much; one or two were knocked down by the sailors' +brass-butted pistols; and after being secured, they had leisure to vent +their rage in polyglot curses, part French, part English, and part +Guernsey _patois_, and I to look round and see what had become of +Cocquerel. + +The blue-light still shed a livid radiance all around, and to my +inexpressible horror and dismay, I saw that the unfortunate man was +suspended in the rope cradle, within about a fathom's length of the brow +of the cliff, upon which Somers was standing and gazing at his victim +with looks of demoniac rage and triumph. The deadly trap contrived by +the inexorable old man was instantly apparent, and to Cocquerel's +frenzied screams for help I replied by shouting to him to cut himself +loose at once, as his only chance, for the barrel of a pistol gleamed +distinctly in the hands of Somers. + +"Lieutenant Warneford," cried the exulting maniac--he was nothing +less--"I have caught this Cocquerel nicely for you--got him swinging +here in the prettiest cradle he was ever rocked in in his life--Ha! ha! +ha! + +"Cut loose at once!" I again shouted; and the men, as terribly impressed +as myself, with the horror of the wretched smuggler's position, swept +the boat rapidly toward the spot. "Somers, if you shoot that man you +shall die on the gallows." + +"Cut himself loose, do you say, lieutenant?" screamed Somers, heedless +of my last observation. "He can't! He has no knife--ha! ha! ha! And if +he had, this pistol would be swifter than that; but I'll cut him loose +presently, never fear. Look here, Jacques Cocquerel," he continued +laying himself flat down on the cliff, and stretching his right arm over +it till the mouth of his pistol was within a yard of Cocquerel's head, +"this contains payment in full for your kindness to Ally Somers--a debt +which I could in no other manner completely repay." + +At this moment the blue-light suddenly expired, and we were involved in +what by contrast was total darkness. We could still, however, hear the +frantic laughter and exulting gibes of the merciless old man in answer +to Cocquerel's shrieking appeals for mercy; and after a while, when the +figures of the two men had become partially visible, we could +distinguish the words, "One, two, three," followed by the report of a +pistol, and a half minute afterward a dark body shot down the white face +of the cliff, and disappeared beneath the waters! + +The body of Cocquerel never reappeared, and the only tidings I ever +heard of Somers were contained in the following paragraph which I read +some years afterward in the "Hampshire Telegraph," a journal at that +time published at Portsmouth: + +"The body of an aged, wretched man was found frozen to death in the +church-yard on Wednesday morning last, near two adjoining graves, one of +which, that of Alice Maynard, recalls the painful circumstances +connected with the sad story of the death of that ill-fated, and, as we +believe, entirely innocent person. At the inquest holden on Friday, it +was ascertained beyond a doubt that the deceased is John Maynard, who, +after his wife's untimely death, assumed the name of Somers, and was, we +believe, the person who shot a French smuggler, with whom he had +quareled, at the back of the Isle of Wight, under somewhat peculiar +circumstances, about seven years ago. He was buried in the grave that +contains the body of his son, John Alice Maynard, which was interred +there shortly before the commission of the homicide just alluded to. +There has never been to our knowledge any regular investigation of that +affair, but we believe that then, as before, Maynard's pistol was +pointed by a frantic and causeless jealousy." [_Plymouth Paper._] + +There are several mistakes sufficiently obvious to the reader in this +paragraph, but of the main fact that John Somers, _alias_ Maynard, +perished as described in the Devonshire journal, there can be no +reasonable doubt. + + + + +MISERS. + +BY F. SOMNER MERRYWEATHER. + + +Some years ago there lived in Marseilles an old man of the name of +Guyot; he was known to every inhabitant, and every urchin in the streets +could point him out as a niggard in his dealings, and a wretch of the +utmost penury in his habits of life. From his boyhood, this old man had +lived in the city of Marseilles; and, although the people treated him +with scorn and disgust, nothing could induce him to leave it. When he +walked the streets he was followed by a crowd of boys, who, hating him +as a grasping miser, hooted him vociferously, insulted him with the +coarsest epithets, and sometimes annoyed him by casting stones and filth +at his person. There was no one to speak a kind word in his favor, no +one to bestow an act of friendship, or a nod of recognition upon Guyot. +He was regarded by all as an avaricious, griping old miser, whose whole +life was devoted to the hoarding up of gold. At last this object of +universal scorn died, and it was found that, by his parsimony, he had +amassed an ample fortune. What was the surprise of his executors, on +opening his will, to find these remarkable words: "Having observed, from +my infancy, that the poor of Marseilles are ill-supplied with water, +which can only be procured at a great price, I have cheerfully labored +the whole of my life to procure for them this great blessing, and I +direct that the whole of my property shall be expended in building an +aqueduct for their use!" + +When it was proposed to build Bethlehem Hospital, many benevolent +individuals volunteered to solicit contributions by calling upon the +inhabitants of London. Two of these gentlemen went to a small house in +an impoverished neighborhood; for the pence of the poor were solicited +as well as the pounds of the rich. The door was open, and, as they drew +nigh, they overheard an old man scolding his female servant for having +thrown away a match, only one end of which had been used. Although so +trivial a matter, the master appeared to be much enraged, and the +collectors remained some time outside the door, before the old man had +finished his angry lecture. When the tones of his voice were somewhat +subdued, they entered, and, presenting themselves to this strict +observer of frugality and saving, explained the object of their +application; but they did not anticipate much success. The miser, +however, for such he was reputed in the neighborhood, no sooner +understood their object, than he opened a closet, and bringing forth a +well-filled bag, counted therefrom four hundred guineas, which he +presented to the astonished applicants. They expressed their surprise +and thankfulness, and could not refrain from telling the old gentleman +that they had overheard his quarrel with his domestic, and how little +they expected, in consequence, to have met with such munificence from +him. "Gentlemen," replied the old man, "your surprise is occasioned by +my care of a thing of such little consequence: but I keep my house, and +save my money in my own way; my parsimony enables me to bestow more +liberally on charity. With regard to benevolent donations, you may +always expect most from prudent people who keep their own accounts, and +who pay attention to trifles." + +Audley was a celebrated miser of the time of the Stuarts; he amassed his +wealth during the reign of the first Charles, and flourished amazingly +under the protectorate of Cromwell. Audley was originally a clerk, with +only six shillings a week salary, and yet out of this scanty sum he +managed to save more than half. His dinner seldom cost him any thing, +for he generally made some excuse to dine with his master's clients; +and, as to his other meals, a crust of bread or a dry biscuit was +regarded as fare sufficient after an ample dinner. In one circumstance +he was somewhat different from other misers: he was clean, if not neat, +in his outward appearance. But he was thus scrupulous in his apparel +from principle; for Audley often asserted, that, to be thrifty, it was +necessary to pay some respect to such matters. He was remarkably +industrious, even when a young man. At an age when others were seeking +pleasure, he was busy in lending out, and increasing his early savings. +He was always ready to work when the usual hours of business were over, +and would willingly sit up the whole night to obtain some trifling +remuneration. He was never above soliciting trifles, and touching his +hat to his master's clients. So rigid was he in his economy, and so +usurious in his dealings, that in four years, during which time, +however, he had never received more than a salary of six or eight +shillings a week, he managed to save and amass five hundred pounds. The +salary of the remaining years of his apprenticeship he sold for sixty +pounds, and after a while, having made up six hundred pounds in all, he +lent the whole to a nobleman for an annuity of ninety-six pounds for +nineteen years, which annuity was secured upon property producing eight +hundred a year. The nobleman soon died, and his heir neglected to pay +the annuity. Audley had execution upon the property, and by legal +trickery, in which he was well versed, he managed to obtain, in the way +of fines and forfeitures, about four thousand pounds' profit upon his +original six hundred. His master being one of the clerks of the Compter, +Audley had many opportunities of practicing his disreputable cunning, +and of obtaining vast sums by deluding insolvent debtors, and in +deceiving their creditors. He would buy bad debts for a mere trifle, and +afterward compound with the poor insolvent. One instance of his avarice +and villainy is so curious, that we can not refrain from giving the +anecdote to our readers. A tradesman, named Miller, unfortunately got +into arrears with his merchant, whose name was White. Many fruitless +applications were made for the debt, and at last Miller was sued by the +merchant for the sum of two hundred pounds. He was unable to meet the +demand, and was declared insolvent. Audley goes to White, and offers him +forty pounds for the debt, which the merchant gladly accepts. He then +goes to Miller, and undertakes to obtain his quittance of the debt for +fifty pounds, upon condition that he entered into a bond to pay for the +accommodation. The drowning man catches at a straw, and the insolvent, +with many protestations of thanks, eagerly signs a contract which, +without consideration, he regarded as one so light, and so easy in its +terms, as to satisfy him that the promptings of benevolence and +friendship could only actuate his voluntary benefactor. The contract +was, that he should pay to Audley some time within twenty years from +that time, one penny progressively doubled, on the first day of twenty +consecutive months; and, in case he failed to fulfill these easy terms, +he was to pay a fine of five hundred pounds. Thus acquitted of his debt +of two hundred pounds, Miller arranged with the rest of his creditors, +and again commenced business. Fortune turned, and he participated +liberally in her smiles. Every month added largely to his trade, and at +last he became firmly established. Two or three years after signing the +almost forgotten contract, Miller was accosted one fine morning in +October by old Audley, who politely demanded the first installment of +the agreement. With a smile, and many renewed expressions of +thankfulness, the hopeful tradesman paid his penny. On the first of the +succeeding month, Audley again called, and demanded twopence, and was as +politely satisfied as before. On the first of December, he received a +groat; the first of February, one shilling and fourpence. Still Miller +did not see through the artifice, but paid him with a gracious smile; +perhaps, however, there was something cynical in the look of Audley as +he left the shop this time, for the poor tradesman's suspicions were +aroused, and he put his pen to paper, as he ought to have done years +before, to ascertain the amount of his subsequent payments. Reader, what +think you would have been the amount of the payment due on the first of +the twentieth month? What sum, think ye, the little penny had become? No +less than two thousand one hundred and eighty pounds! And what was the +aggregate sum of all these twenty monthly payments? Why, the enormous +sum of four thousand three hundred and sixty-six pounds, eleven +shillings, and threepence? It sounds incredible; but, if you think it a +fable, do as Miller did, and reckon for yourselves. Of course Miller +refused the payment of his bond, and forfeited five hundred pounds by +the benevolence and charity of the miser. + +Vandille is one of the most remarkable characters, as a miser, that is +to be found among the eccentric biographies of France. His riches were +immense, and his avarice and parsimony extreme. He hired a miserable +garret in one of the most obscure parts of Paris, and paid a poor woman +a sou a day to wait upon him. Excepting once a week, his diet was never +varied; bread and milk for breakfast; the same for dinner, and the same +for supper, all the week round. On a Sunday he ventured to indulge in a +glass of sour wine, and he strove to satisfy the compunctions of +conscience by bestowing, in charity, a farthing every Sabbath. This +munificence, which incurred an expenditure of one shilling and a penny +per annum, he carefully noted down; and just before his death he found, +with some degree of regret, that during his life he had disbursed no +less than forty-three shillings and fourpence. Forty-three shillings and +fourpence! prodigious generosity for the richest man in France! Vandille +had been a magistrate at Boulogne, and while in that office he partly +maintained himself, free of cost, by constituting himself milk-taster +general at the market. He would munch his scrap of bread, and wash it +down with these gratuitous draughts. By such parsimonious artifices, and +a most penurious course of life, he succeeded in amassing an enormous +fortune, and was in a position to lend vast sums of money to the French +government. When he had occasion to journey from Boulogne to Paris, he +avoided the expence of coach-fare by proceeding on foot; and, lest he +should be robbed, he never carried more than threepence in his pocket, +although he had a distance of a hundred and thirty miles before him. If +he found this sum insufficient, he would profess poverty, and beg from +the passengers on the road a trifle to help him on. In the year 1735, +Vandille, the miser, was worth nearly eight hundred thousand pounds! He +used to boast that this vast accumulation sprang from a single shilling. +The winter of the year 1734 had been very cold and bitter, and the miser +felt inclined to purchase a little extra fuel in the summer time, to +provide, to some extent, against the like severity in the ensuing +winter. He heard a man pass the street with wood to sell; he haggled for +an unconscionable time about the price, and at last completed his +bargain, at the lowest possible rate. Avarice had made the miser +dishonest, and he stole from the poor woodman several logs. In his +eagerness to carry them away, and hide his ill-gotten store, he +overheated his blood, and produced a fever. For the first time in his +life, he sent for a surgeon. "I wish to be bled," said he; "what is your +charge?" "Half a livre," was the reply. The demand was deemed +extortionate, and the surgeon was dismissed. He then sent for an +apothecary, but he was also considered too high; and he at last sent for +a poor barber, who agreed to open the vein for threepence a time. "But, +friend," said the cautious miser, "how often will it be requisite to +bleed me?" "Three times," replied the barber. "Three times! and pray, +what quantity of blood do you intend to take from me at each operation?" +"About eight ounces each time," was the answer. "Let me see," said the +possessor of three-quarters of a million, "that will be ninepence; too +much; too much! I have determined to go a cheaper way to work; take the +whole twenty-four ounces at once, and that will save me sixpence." The +barber remonstrated, but the miser was firm; he was certain, he said, +that the barber was only desirous to extort an extra sixpence, and he +would not submit to such scandalous imposition. His vein was opened, +and four-and-twenty ounces of blood were taken from him. In a few days, +Vandille the miser was no more. The savings of his life, the wages of +his vice and avarice, he left to the King of France. + +A similar anecdote is related of Sir William Smyth, of Bedfordshire. He +was immensely rich, but most parsimonious and miserly in his habits. At +seventy years of age he was entirely deprived of his sight, unable to +gloat over his hoarded heaps of gold; this was a terrible affliction. He +was persuaded by Taylor, the celebrated oculist, to be couched; who was, +by agreement, to have sixty guineas if he restored his patient to any +degree of sight. Taylor succeeded in his operation, and Sir William was +enabled to read and write, without the aid of spectacles, during the +rest of his life. But no sooner was his sight restored, than the baronet +began to regret that his agreement had been for so large a sum; he felt +no joy as others would have felt, but grieved and sighed over the loss +of his sixty guineas! His thoughts were now how to cheat the oculist; he +pretended that he had only a glimmering, and could see nothing +distinctly; for which reason, the bandage on his eyes was continued a +month longer than the usual time. Taylor was deceived by these +misrepresentations, and agreed to compound the bargain, and accepted +twenty guineas, instead of sixty. Yet Sir William was an old bachelor, +and had no one to care or provide for. At the time Taylor attended him, +he had a large estate, an immense sum of money in the stocks, and six +thousand pounds in the house. + +Many years ago, there lived in a large, cheerless, and dilapidated old +house in St. Petersburg, a wretched miser. He confined himself to one +room, and left the rest of the rambling edifice to moulder into ruin; he +cared for no comfort, and deprived himself even of those things which +the poorest regard as the necessaries of life; he seldom lit a fire to +repel the dampness, which hung on the walls of his solitary chamber, and +a few worthless objects of furniture was all that the room contained. +Yet to this singular being the Empress Catherine the Second owed a +million of rubles. His cellar, it was said, contained casks full of +gold, and packages of silver were stowed away in the dismal corners of +his ruinous mansion. He was one of the richest men in Russia. He relied +for the safety of his hoards upon the exertions of a huge mastiff, which +he had trained to bark and howl throughout the night, to strike terror +into the hearts of thieves. The miser outlived the dog; but he disliked +to part with any portion of his treasure in the purchase of another cur, +and he resolved to save his money by officiating as his own watch-dog. +Every morning, and every evening, would that insane old man wander about +his dismal habitation, barking and howling in imitation of his recent +sentinel. + +A miser of the name of Foscue, who had amassed enormous wealth, by the +most sordid parsimony, and the most discreditable extortion, was +requested by the government to advance a sum of money, as a loan. The +miser, to whom a fair interest was not inducement sufficiently strong to +enable him to part with his treasured gold, declared his incapacity to +meet this demand; he pleaded severe losses, and the utmost poverty. +Fearing, however, that some of his neighbors, among whom he was very +unpopular, would report his immense wealth to the government, he applied +his ingenuity to discover some effectual way of hiding his gold, should +they attempt to institute a search to ascertain the truth or falsehood +of his plea. With great care and secrecy, he dug a deep cave in his +cellar; to this receptacle for his treasure he descended by a ladder, +and to the trap-door he attached a spring lock, so that, on shutting, it +would fasten of itself. By-and-by the miser disappeared; inquiries were +made; the house was searched; woods were explored, and the ponds were +dragged; but no Foscue could they find; and gossips began to conclude +that the miser had fled, with his gold, to some part where, by living +incognito, he could be free from the hands of the government. Some time +passed on; the house in which he had lived was sold, and workmen were +busily employed in its repair. In the progress of their work they met +with the door of the secret cave, with the key in the lock outside. They +threw back the door, and descended with a light. The first object upon +which the lamp was reflected was the ghostly body of Foscue the miser, +and scattered around him were heavy bags of gold, and ponderous chests +of untold treasure; a candlestick lay beside him on the floor. This +worshiper of Mammon had gone into his cave, to pay his devoirs to his +golden god, and became a sacrifice to his devotion! + + + + +THE CRICKET. + + "Far from all resort of mirth, + Save the cricket on the hearth."--_Milton._ + + +As it is very possible that many of our readers, who have listened with +delight to the pleasant chirp of the cricket, may be ignorant of its +habits and history, we purpose in the present article giving some +account of them. + +The cricket belongs to the same family as the grasshopper and the +locust, and all three are distinguished by having four wings, with the +first pair leathery throughout, overlapping at the edges only, and +concealing the second pair, which are folded lengthwise. + +There are three descriptions of cricket common in Great Britain--the +house-cricket, the field-cricket, and the mole-cricket; of these the two +first are very similar, but that the former is of a somewhat yellow +shade, and the latter rather brown. Their heads are very large in +proportion to their bodies, and are round. They are furnished with two +large eyes and three small ones, of a light yellow color, placed rather +high in their heads. The female has a hard, long spine at the extremity +of her body, thick at the end, and composed of two sheaths, which +contain two laminæ; this implement is made use of by the cricket to +enable her to sink and deposit her eggs in the ground. Their hinder +feet are much longer than the others, and serve them to leap. Unlike +mice, crickets are oftenest to be found in new houses, as they like the +damp, soft mortar, which saves them much trouble, when they feel +inclined to burrow and mine between the joints of the bricks or stones, +and to open communications from one room to another. They are very fond +of warmth, and their favorite place of resort is by the kitchen fire. In +the warm, long days of summer, however, they often venture out, and +appear to enjoy the heat of the mid-day sun, as may be supposed from the +heated atmosphere they inhabit. Crickets are a thirsty race, and, +indeed, are so anxious to satisfy their inclination, that they are +constantly found drowned in pans of water, milk, &c. They will even +destroy damp clothes for the sake of their moisture, and woe be to the +wet woolen stockings or aprons hung to dry within their reach. But the +cricket is hungry as well as thirsty, and will eat voraciously any +crumbs of bread, scummings of pots, &c., which happen to fall in their +way. + +Crickets are, in general, very inactive insects, and seldom use their +wings, except when they are about to migrate from one habitation to +another. The time they generally select for an excursion of this kind is +the dusk of a summer evening, when they fly out of the windows, and over +the neighboring roofs, no one knows whither; and this habit will account +for the sudden manner in which they often disappear from an old haunt, +as well as for their equally mysterious appearance in a new one--why +they left and why they came being equally unaccountable. When flying, +they move in wavelike curves, like woodpeckers, opening and shutting +their wings at every stroke; they are, therefore, always either rising +or falling. + +They often increase to such a degree as to become a perfect nuisance in +a house, and then they have to be destroyed, either by gunpowder being +discharged into their haunts, or else by drowning, like wasps. Crickets +are not fond of light; and on a candle being brought into a room where +they are running about, they will just give two or three shrill chirps, +as if to warn their companions of impending danger, and then quickly +retreat to their lurking-holes for safety. Many strange ideas are +entertained concerning these insects. Some imagine that they bring good +luck to any house where they take up their abode, and will not on any +account allow them to be killed. It is imagined, too, that they can +prognosticate events, such as the death of a near relative, or the +return of an absent lover. In Spain, crickets are held in such +estimation, that they are kept in cages like birds. + +The field-cricket is such a shy and timid insect, that it is exceedingly +difficult to make its acquaintance, as it cautiously rejects all +advances, and prudently retires backward into its burrow, where it +remains until it fancies that all danger is over. In France, children +amuse themselves by hunting the field-cricket. This they do by putting +into its hole an ant, secured by a long hair; and, as they slowly draw +it out again, it is always followed by the hapless cricket, which +ventures out to know the reason of this unwarrantable intrusion into its +domicile. But Pliny tells us of a more easy way of capturing them. He +says, that, if we thrust a long slender piece of stick into its burrow, +the insect would immediately get on it for the purpose of discovering +the cause of the disturbance. From this fact arose the old proverb, +"_stultior grillo_," or "more foolish than a cricket," applied to any +one who upon light grounds provokes his enemy, and falls into the snare +laid to entrap him. + +It is strange that although the field-cricket is furnished with a +curious apparatus of wings, and provided with long legs behind, and +brawny thighs for leaping, like grasshoppers, yet they never make use of +them when we would imagine they were most wanted, but suffer themselves +to be captured without making any struggle for liberty, crawling along +in a dull, shiftless manner. They satisfy their hunger with such herbs +as happen to grow near their burrows, and rarely stir from home. They +generally sit at the entrance of their caverns, and chirp away night and +day, from the middle of May to the middle of July. And who does not love +their pleasant song, shrill though it be? But harsh sounds are not +necessarily disagreeable. Much depends on the association of ideas; and +the summer song of the field-cricket recalls to us our childhood's days, +long since, it may be, gone by, and fills our mind with happy thoughts +of our wanderings in quest of them, when all nature appeared bright, and +gay, and joyous. In very hot weather, the field-cricket is most +vigorous, and then the hills echo their notes, while the evening breeze +carries them to a great distance, making their melody heard in the +stilly hours of night. + +About the 10th of March, the crickets appear at the mouth of their +cells, which they then open for the approaching summer. At that time +they are all in the pupa state, and have only the rudiments of wings, +which lie under a skin or coat, which must be cast off before the insect +arrives at maturity. This circumstance makes naturalists believe that +they seldom live a second year. They cast their skins in April, and +great quantities of them may be seen at the mouth of their cells. Their +eggs are long and narrow, of a yellowish color, and covered with a very +tough skin. The male field-cricket has a golden stripe across the +shoulders of its shining coat. The female is of a brighter color, and, +besides this, may be distinguished by the long, sword-shaped instrument +for laying her eggs beforementioned. + +They always live singly, male or female, as the case may be; and when +the males meet they fight fiercely. Once, when Mr. White of Selborne +placed some in a stone wall, where he was anxious to have them settle, +although they appeared distressed at being removed to a new habitation, +yet the first that got possession of the chinks, seized any that +intruded on them, with their powerful jaws, furnished with a row of +serrated fangs, formed something like the shears of a lobster's claw. +If field-crickets are confined in a paper cage, placed in the sun, and +supplied with plants well moistened with water, they will thrive as well +as in their more natural resorts, and become so merry and noisy as to be +troublesome to any one sitting in the same room. Should the plants +become dry, they will soon die. + +The mole-cricket, so called from the similarity of its habits to those +of the mole, is an ugly, but very curious-looking insect. Unlike the +house and field-cricket, its head is very small, and of an oblong form. +But the chief peculiarity of the insect is its two forefeet or +legs--screws, as they are sometimes not very inappropriately called. +They are very large and flat, ending outwardly in four large serrated +claws, and inwardly with only two. The four claws point somewhat +obliquely outward, that being the direction in which the insect digs, +throwing out the earth on each side of its course. How wonderfully does +He, who "preserves both man and beast," provide for the wants of each +insect! The breast of the field-cricket is formed of a thick, hard, +horny substance, which is further strengthened within by a double +framework of strong gristle, in front of the extremities of which the +shoulder-blades of the arm are firmly pointed--a structure evidently +intended to prevent the breast from being injured by the powerful +muscular motion of the arms in digging. + +While the house and field-cricket rejoice in dry and sunny banks, or +revel in the glowing heat of a kitchen-hearth, the mole-cricket haunts +damp meadows and marshy grounds by the river banks, where they perform +all their most curious functions. They burrow and work under ground, +like the mole, but raise a ridge as they proceed, instead of throwing up +hillocks. They are very fond of taking up their abode in gardens +situated near canals, but they are always unwelcome visitors, as they +disturb the walks in making their subterranean passages, and besides +this, they devour whole beds of cabbage, legumes, and other vegetables, +and sometimes even commit great ravages among flowers. + +The nest the female mole-cricket constructs for her eggs is exceedingly +curious, and well repays the trouble of hunting for them. They are about +the size of an egg, neatly smoothed and rounded inside. The way leading +to them is through a variety of caverns and winding passages. Within the +inner chamber, or nursery, are deposited about a hundred eggs, of a +dirty yellow color, enveloped in a tough skin. Sometimes, however, they +are of a lightish green, and translucent and gelatinous. They are not +placed deep under ground, but near the surface, so as to be within the +genial influence of the sun. The mound of fresh-moved earth, within +which they are carefully deposited, looks very like that raised by ants. + +Like the eggs and young of most other insects those of the mole-cricket +are exposed to depredation, especially from the black beetle, which +burrows in similar localities. The anxious and provident mother, +therefore, does not think her progeny secure, until she has defended +her nest in the manner of a regularly fortified town, with ramparts, +intrenchments, and covert-ways. "In some part of these defenses she +posts herself as an advanced guard; and, should a beetle venture to +intrude within her fortifications, she pounces on him, and, giving no +quarter, kills him without mercy." When disturbed out of their nests, +the mole-crickets appear dull and helpless; and during the day time they +seldom use their wings, but, as night advances, they become very +sprightly, and often wander on long excursions. When the weather is very +fine, about the middle or end of April, as the evening draws on, they +amuse themselves by making a low, dull, jarring noise, which is not very +unlike the chattering of the fern-owl or goat-sucker, and which they +continue without intermission for a long time. + +Anatomists tell us, that _all_ crickets, when carefully examined, are +found to possess three stomachs; a small one; behind that, a large one, +wrinkled and furrowed inside; and lower down, a third. They, therefore, +think it not improbable that they chew the cud, or ruminate, like the +cow and many other quadrupeds. They are not, however, satisfied entirely +to subsist on vegetable diet, but prey upon underground insects, and +sometimes even _undermine_ plants to get at them. + +Before taking leave of the cricket family, it may not be amiss to +mention that, in various parts of England, they are called +fern-crickets, churr-worms, and wee-churrs--all very appropriate names. + + + + +THE RIGHT ONE.--A LESSON FOR LOVERS. + + +"Do you know, with any certainty, in what language Adam declared his +love to Eve?" inquired I, one day, from a philologist of my +acquaintance. I put my question with so much earnestness, that he +answered, quite seriously, "Yes, to be sure, he made his declaration of +love in precisely the same language as that in which she accepted him." + +A profound answer! The only pity is, that I was not much wiser for it. +But it is altogether a pity--a very great pity--that we know so little +about the love-makings before the Flood. If any body could meet with a +love-story of that date, it would have more freshness and novelty in it +than can be found in any of our modern novels. And really that +love-making in the morning of time, in the groves of Paradise, it must +have been quite out of the common way! + +Ah, there breathes still in this world--several thousand years old +though it be--a gentle gale of the spring-time of Paradise, through the +life of every man, at the moment when he says, "I love! I am beloved!" + +Yes. It thrills through every happy son of Adam at the moment when he +finds his Eve. But Adam himself was, in one respect, better off than any +of his sons; for as there was only one Eve, he could make no mistake; +neither could she, on her side, have either choice or repentance. But +we--our name is Legion, and it is not easy for us to discover who, in +the swarm of the children of Adam, is the right partner for us. If every +one would seriously confess his experience in this respect, it would no +doubt be both instructive and amusing. And as I know no other way in +which I can instruct or amuse the world, I will now sincerely confess +what mistakes I made when I searched for my Eve, whom I first adored in +the person of Rose Ervan. + +I want words to describe her. She had fascinated me when I was but a +cadet; she bewitched me before I had left the fourth class. And, of a +truth, there never did exist a young lady more dangerous to a youth of +lively imagination. Her coquetry was so natural, so mixed with goodness +and childish grace, that it was impossible to regard it as any thing +more than the most angelic innocence. At the Military Academy, I saw in +my books her name and nothing besides. If I drew plans of fortifications +and fortresses, Rose stood in the middle of my circles and quadrants, +and the only line that I perceived clearly was the road that led to her +home: the verdurous Greendale. + +Greendale was a cheerful place, where there were always guests and +parties. And when the young people wished to have an excursion on the +water, or any other entertainment, I it was who always planned every +thing, and proposed it to the old baroness, the mother, for whom all the +children entertained a very considerable and wholesome respect. On these +occasions she used to say, "My dear sir, if you are with the children, I +will permit it; for I trust to you, and I know that you will take care +of them." + +"Yes, to be sure," I replied, though the truth was, I could not take +care of myself; and never took notice of any body, or of any thing, +excepting Rose. + +Many a one was fascinated just as I was fascinated; but I persuaded +myself that I was the only lucky fellow who had her preference. Once I +was terribly jealous. A certain Mr. T. (a professor of languages, I +believe) came to Greendale, played, sung, and chattered French; and +immediately Rose forgot me, to chat, and play, and sing with Mr. T., +making herself altogether as charming to him as she had hitherto been to +me. I was desperate; went away over meadows and fields; saw neither +hedges nor gates, stumbled into ditches and brooks, and reached home +furious as a blunderbuss. But, behold! Mr. T. was gone, and Rose was +again charming to me, and I was instantly as much under her fascination +as ever, fully convinced that it was all my fault, and that I was a +Turk, a monster--nay, quite an Othello of jealousy. + +After I had sighed and burned a considerable time, I made up my mind to +proceed to the declaration of my love. It is true I was still very +young, not three-and-twenty; but I thought myself quite old enough, +being a lieutenant, the son of a father who always spoke of "my wife" as +the greatest happiness of his life; besides which I had derived from my +home the most beautiful impressions of domestic life. Hence I always +represented to myself the highest good in the world under the image of +"my wife." + +Having duly considered the various forms of love proposals, I went one +fine day to Greendale, carrying with me, and near to my heart, a +moss-rose in a garden-pot. The roads were execrable, and I was well-nigh +shaken to pieces; but the smile of my beautiful Rose would, I was well +assured, reward me for all my trouble. In imagination I heard myself +constantly asseverating "I love you!" and heard her as constantly +replying, "I love you!" As regarded our domestic establishment, I had +not as yet thought as much about it as one of our favorite bards, who, +before he married, provided himself with a cask of flour, a coffee-pot, +and a frying-pan. I thought only of "a cottage and a heart." I saw +around my cottage multitudes of roses, and within it, my Rose and +myself. As for every thing else, all would be provided for by my +excellent father. + +As soon as I arrived at Greendale, I found there two other gentlemen +quite as much in love, and quite as much enchanted by the fascinating +young lady, as I was. I pitied the unfortunate youths, because they had +infatuated themselves with the hope of a happiness which no one, I +believed, should aspire to but myself. We were all old acquaintances; +and, as it is not our habit to put our light under a bushel, I was +determined to give my rivals a little hint of my advantageous prospects. + +I raised, therefore, somewhat the vail which had concealed my modest +confidence. But then came curious revelations! My rivals, animated by my +example, lifted likewise the vail from their respective prospects; and, +behold, we all three stood in precisely the same position. We all +sighed; we all hoped; we all had _souvenirs_ that we kissed in secret; +and they all were, as it were, serpents, and bit their own tails. + +At these unexpected revelations we all exclaimed, "Ah!" and left +Greendale together, each going his own way. My father was a little +surprised to see me return so soon. + +"My dear Constantine," said he, "I thought you intended to stay at +Greendale a much longer time?" + +"Yes," I replied with a pensive air, taking at the same moment, a large +mouthful of bread-and-butter; "yes; but I altered my mind when I got +there." + +With this the conversation ended, and the charm was broken, once and +forever. But with it was also broken one link out of the rosy time of my +life. I began to regard all roses whether real or typified, with angry +and suspicious looks, and to speak of the "illusions of life," and of +"giving them up," &c., &c. I made a solemn vow with myself that the next +object of my affections, the next choice I would make for "my wife," +should, in all respects, be the very reverse of the fascinating but +traitorous Rose. I had been deceived, as I imagined, by the poetry of +life; now I would keep to the sober prose. + +Ah! in what a noble form did my new ideal present herself to my eyes, +as one evening I entered the hospitable saloon of Mrs. A., the wife of +the celebrated judge. Abla, her daughter, stood ready to officiate at +the tea table; her features, her figure, her manners were dignified and +full of propriety. She looked like personified Truth, in +contra-distinction to the fantastical bewitching Rose. I instantly fell +in love with this beautiful image of Minerva, and thought of "my wife." + +Abla, however, seemed only to think of the tea, and looked neither to +the left nor the right. When tea was poured into all the cups she slowly +turned her splendid head, and I heard, at the same moment, a bass-voice +exclaim, "Sundholm!" + +Ah, Heavens! was that her voice? Was it not rather that of the Angel of +Judgment, who, in the middle of Mrs. A.'s evening party, summoned the +sinner Sundholm to hear his final doom? I could have believed any thing +rather than that such a voice could issue from the beautiful lips of +Abla. But, when I beheld Sundholm advance to the tea-table and receive +the tea-cups on his tray, I saw that the resounding bassoon-voice +belonged to no other than the sweet lady whom I had just adored, and +whom I had, in my heart, already called "my wife." + +It required some little time before I could reconcile my mind on this +point. "Sundholm!" sounded awfully through my ears for many a long hour. +I began to reason on the subject. If, said I, Nature has bestowed a +bass-voice on this beautiful young lady, is it not noble and excellent +of her not to try to conceal or embellish it? Does it not prove her love +of truth; her strength of character, and her greatness of soul? How easy +it would have been for her to cry "Sundholm!" in falsetto; but she would +not be false, even in this! Not willing to assume a disguise, even for +the sake of winning admiration, she summons Sundholm in the voice which +God has given her. Is there not something grand in all this? One who +thus calls out "Sundholm," will not deceive an honest fellow with hollow +words or pretended feeling, but will play an open game with him, and let +him understand the truth at once. + +I was introduced to the handsome Abla. There was no denying that the +voice was not fine; but, when you were accustomed to it, it ceased to be +so very disagreeable; besides which, her words were so simple and +candid, and her face so beautiful, that by-and-by I was completely +dazzled. My ears crept, as it were, into my eyes, and gazing, day after +day, on Abla's faultless profile, I was conveyed at once into the realms +of love, and, ravished by my sense of sight, asked Abla if she would be +"my wife." She answered "Yes," with a force of utterance that nearly +frightened me. We were betrothed, and the nearer I gazed on her fine +profile the more I was satisfied. This, however, did not last very long. + +The period of betrothal is a very singular one; a period of halfness and +incompleteness; nevertheless it is a sensible institution--when it does +not continue too long. It is the prelude to a union that nothing but +death _ought_ to dissolve; and, if it should appear impossible to +execute harmoniously the duet which has now commenced, there is yet time +to break it off calmly. + +The first discord that disturbed the duet between "my wife elect" and +myself, was--not her deep voice, but, alas! precisely that very thing +which, at first, had reconciled me to it; viz., her love of truth, or +rather, I should say, her unmerciful way of uttering it. + +That we all are sinners in thought, word, and deed, is a matter of fact, +and nobody was more willing to admit it than myself; but to be reminded +of it every moment by one's best friend is by no means agreeable; nor +does it do any good, especially when the plain-speaking friend never +fancies himself, or herself, capable of sinning, or being faulty in the +slightest degree. And the worst of it was, that apparently Abla had no +faults. Ah! if she had had but one; or, better still, if she would but +have admitted the possibility of it, then I should have been ready to +throw myself at her feet! But she was in temper and in character as +unimpeachable, as regular, as perfect, as she was in figure; she was so +correct and proper, that, sinner as I was, it drove me into a rage. I +felt that Abla's righteousness, and especially her mode of educating me, +would, in time, make me a prodigious sinner; more particularly, as she +would never yield to my wishes. It dawned upon me, before long, that her +self-righteousness and want of charity to others was, indeed, one of the +greatest conceivable faults. One fine day, therefore, I told her my +mind, in good earnest terms, and the following duet occurred between us: + +_She._ I can not be otherwise than I am. If you do not like me, you can +let it alone. + +_I._ If you will not be amiable toward me, I must cease to love you. + +_She._ That is of no consequence. I can go my own way by myself. + +_I._ So can I. + +_She._ Good-by, then, sir. + +_I._ Good-by, Miss A. + +"Thank Heaven, it was not too late!" thought I to myself, as, after my +dismissal, I hastened to my little farm in the country. Although this +abrupt termination of my second love affair caused but little pain to my +heart, I felt considerable mortification, and a secret hostility sprung +up in my soul toward the whole female sex. It happened, however, very +luckily for me, that while I remained in this state of mind I met with +one of my neighbors who was precisely in the same condition. He had been +for some time divorced from a wife with whom he had lived very +unhappily, and he drove about in his sulky, upon which he had had a +motto inscribed in golden letters: + + "It is better to be alone than to be ill-accompanied." + +The sentiment struck me as very excellent; and my neighbor and I often +met, and agreed admirably in our abuse of the ladies. In the mean time, +I occupied myself with books and agriculture. + +I have a great esteem for books, and I bow myself to the dust before +learning, but, I know not how it is, further than that I can not go; +esteem and veneration I feel, but assuredly my affections never grew in +that soil. My love for agriculture took me forth into Nature, and Nature +is lovely. But Adam was uneasy in Paradise, and did not wake to life and +happiness until Eve came; and I, who did not possess a paradise, found +myself very lonely and melancholy at "Stenbacke." Trees, after all, are +wooden and dull things, when we crave for human sympathies; and echo, +the voice of the rocks, is the most wearisome voice I know. No! heart to +heart, eye to eye, that is the life; and to live together, a happy and +healthy rural life, to work for the happiness of those who depend upon +us--to regulate the home, to live, to think, to love, to rejoice +together. Ah! "my wife" still stood vividly before my imagination. + +My experience in the realms of love had, however, made me suspicious. I +feared that I could never be happy, according to my ideas of happiness, +which my neighbor-friend characterized as "reposing in the shade of a +pair of slippers." I was in low spirits; and accordingly, one day, after +having finished the last of six dozen of cigars, and quarreled with my +neighbor, who bored me with his everlasting and doleful tirades against +the ladies, I set off in my own sulky to amuse myself by a drive. + +I drove a considerable distance to the house of an old friend, who had +been a fellow-student with me at the Military College at Carlberg, and +who had often invited me to visit him. He was now married, and was, in +fact, the father of eight children. A large family, I thought, at first; +but not one too many, said I to myself, after a single day spent in this +family, which had given me the impression of a heaven upon earth. + +The mistress of the house, the wife and mother, was the silent soul of +all. "It is she--it is she, who is my happiness!" said the fortunate +husband; but she said, "It is he! it is he!" + +"My dear friend," said I to him one day, "how have you managed to be so +happy in your marriage?" + +"Oh," replied he, smiling, "I have a secret to tell you." + +"A secret! for goodness sake, what is it?" + +"From my youth upward," he replied, "I have prayed God to give me a good +wife." + +"Yes," thought I to myself, "that is it! Here am I unmarried, because I +have never discovered this secret, without God's especial direction I +may not venture to choose 'my wife.'" + +A younger sister of my friend's wife lived in the family. No one would +have been attracted to her for her external charms, but a short time +brought you completely under the spell of her kindness, the intellectual +expression of her countenance, and the cheerful friendliness of her +manners. All the household loved her; she was kind and amiable to all. +To myself, however, it seemed that there was an exception: I thought her +somewhat cold and distant. I was almost sorry when I perceived that I +was grieved by this; a short time convinced me that I had really fallen +in love with this young lady. + +There was, however, a great difference between this and my former love +affairs. Formerly, I had permitted external charms to lead and blind me: +now, on the contrary, I was attracted to the soul, and its beauty alone +had captivated my heart. But why then was so excellent a soul so cold +toward me? + +My friend said that it was because Maria had heard me represented as a +fickle young fellow; one who amused himself with broken affiances. +Righteous Heaven! was that indeed one of my faults? _I_ fickle! _I_, who +felt myself created as a model of fidelity. It was impossible for me to +bear patiently so cruel an injustice. No! as truly as my name was +Constantine, must Maria do me justice. + +From that time, as she retired from me, so began I to walk after her. I +was determined to convince her that I was not the fickle, inconstant +being that I had been described. It was not, however, very easy to +succeed in this, but at length I did succeed. After having put me to a +trial, from which I came with flying colors, she accepted my proposals, +and agreed to try me still further in--a union for life. + +During the period of our betrothal, she said several times, quite +rapturously, "I am so glad to see that you also have faults; I feel now +less humiliated, less unhappy from my own." + +This pleased me very much, and all the more as I perceived that Maria, +while she showed me my faults with kindness, did not at all fondle her +own. + +Our wedding-day was fixed; and I ordered a carriage for two persons. +Company was invited, and Maria and I were married. Nothing can be more +commonplace than all this, excepting, perhaps, it be, that my wife and I +agreed to understand the ceremony in an earnest and real sense, and to +live accordingly. The result has been, that now, after having been +married five-and-twenty years (we celebrate our _silver nuptials_ +to-morrow), we love each other better, and are happier together than we +were in the first hour of our union. We have, therefore, come to the +conclusion, that unhappiness in marriage does not proceed from the +indissolubility of marriage, as some say, but because the +wedding-service is not realized in the marriage. + +Do not speak to me of the felicity of the honey-moon. It is but the +cooing of doves! No! we must walk together along thorny paths, penetrate +together the most hidden recesses of life, live together in pleasure and +pain, in joy and in sorrow; must forgive and be forgiven; and afterward +love better and love more. And as time goes on, something marvelous +occurs; we become lovely to each other, although wrinkles furrow the +cheek and forehead; and we become more youthful, though we add year to +year. Then no longer have worldly troubles, misfortunes, and failings +any power to dim the sun of our happiness, for it radiates from the eye +and the heart of our friend; and when our earthly existence draws to +its close, we feel indeed that our life and our love are eternal. And +this supernatural feeling is quite natural after all, for the deeper and +the more inwardly we penetrate into life, the more it opens in its depth +of eternal beauty. Many happy husbands and wives will testify to this. + +But, observe, husband or wife! To qualify as such a witness, you must +have been at some little pains to find--"the right one." Don't take the +wrong one, inconsiderately. + + + + +LORD BROUGHAM AS A JUDGE. + + +Lord Brougham, as a judge, gave much greater satisfaction than was +generally expected. It was thought that his constitutional precipitancy, +joined to a deficiency of Chancery knowledge, would have incapacitated +him for the important office. In this, however, people were mistaken. He +was not so hot and hasty on the bench as he had been at the bar and in +the senate--though his constitutional infirmities in this respect did +occasionally show themselves even on the seat of justice. He carefully +applied himself to the merits of every case which came before him, and +soon showed with what rapidity he could acquire the quantity of Chancery +knowledge requisite to enable him to discharge the duties of his office +as judge, in at least a respectable manner. + +Perhaps no Lord Chancellor ever presided in Chancery who applied himself +more assiduously and unremittingly to the discharge of the duties which +devolved upon him, than did Lord Brougham. The amount of physical, not +to speak of mental labor, he underwent during the greater part of his +chancellorship was truly astonishing. For many consecutive months did he +sit from ten till four o'clock in that court, hearing and disposing of +the cases before it; and, on returning home from the House of Lords, +after having sat four hours on the woolsack, he immediately applied all +the energies of his mind to the then pending cases before the court. The +best proof of this is to be found in the fact, that, though possessing, +in a degree seldom equaled, and certainly never surpassed, the power of +extemporaneous speaking, he wrote, on particular occasions, his +judgments, and then read them in the court. I might also advert, in +proof of Lord Brougham's extraordinary application to the duties of his +office, to the fact of his having, in two or three years, got rid of the +immense accumulation of arrear cases which were in the Court of Chancery +when he was first intrusted with the great seal. It is not, however, +necessary to allude particularly to this fact, as it is already so well +known. + +Lord Brougham's irritable temper often led him, when Lord Chancellor, +into squabbles with the counsel at the bar. The furious attack he made +on Sir Edward Sugden must be fresh in the memory of every body. No +person can justify that attack. It was as unwarrantable in principle as +it was unseemly in a court of law, and especially as coming from the +highest legal authority in the country. It is but due, however, to Lord +Brougham to say, that he often regretted these unbecoming outbreaks of +temper, and that he did so in this particular case. It consists with my +own private knowledge that he afterward, on pretext of speaking on +matters of public business, called Sir Edward one day into his private +room, and made a most ample apology for the attack he had made on him. +Sir Edward was generous enough to accept the apology, thus privately +given, though the offense was a public one. + +I may here, however, mention that, during the interval between the +attack and this apology, Lord Brougham, on several occasions, aggravated +the outrage by further annoyances of Sir Edward while practicing before +him. I do not say that such annoyances were intentional--possibly they +may have been accidental--but, whichever way the fact lay, it is not to +be wondered at if Sir Edward, in the peculiar circumstances in which he +was placed, was predisposed to regard them as intentional. On one +occasion, while the learned gentleman was pleading before his lordship +in a very important cause, and just in the middle of what he conceived +to be the most essential part of his speech, Lord Brougham suddenly +threw back his head on his chair, and, closing both eyes, remained in +that position for some time, as if he had been asleep. Sir Edward Sugden +abruptly paused, waiting, no doubt, till his lordship should resume an +attitude which would be more encouraging for him to proceed with his +speech. On this, Lord Brougham suddenly started up from his reclining +position, and, resuming that in which he usually sat when on the bench, +apostrophized Sir Edward after the manner so peculiar to himself--"Go +on, Sir Edward; proceed, Sir Edward; what's the cause of the stoppage?" + +"My lord," answered the latter, "I thought your lordship was not +attending to my argument." + +"You have no right to think any such thing, Sir Edward; it's highly +improper in you to do so; go on, if you please." + +Sir Edward resumed his speech, but had not addressed the court above two +or three minutes, when Lord Brougham, addressing the officer, said, in +his usual hasty manner, "Bring me some sheets of _letter_-paper +directly." + +Of the folio size always used in court, his lordship had an abundant +supply before him. + +"Yes, my lord," said the obedient officer, withdrawing for a moment to +execute his lordship's commands. He returned in a few seconds, and +placed some half-dozen sheets on the desk. His lordship immediately +snatched up a pen, and commenced writing, as if he had been inditing a +letter to some private friend. Sir Edward again paused in his address to +the court, and leaned with his elbows on the bench before him, as if +willing to wait patiently until his lordship should finish his +epistolary business. + +"Sir Edward!" exclaimed the Lord Chancellor, in angry and ironical +accents, after the learned gentleman had been silent for a few +moments--"Sir Edward! pray, what's the matter now?" + +"I thought, my lord, that your lordship was temporarily engaged with +some matter of your own." + +"Really, Sir Edward, this is beyond endurance." + +"I beg your lordship's pardon; but I thought your lordship was writing +some private letter." + +"Nothing of the kind, Sir Edward," said his lordship, tartly; "nothing +of the kind. I was taking a note of some points in your speech. See, +would you like to look at it?" said he, sarcastically, at the same time +holding out the sheet of paper toward Sir Edward. + +"Oh, not at all, your lordship; I do not doubt your lordship's word. I +must have been under a mistake." + +Sir Edward again resumed; and Lord Brougham, throwing his head back on +his chair, looked up toward the ceiling. + +Lord Brougham had a great horror of hearing the interminable speeches +which some of the junior counsel were in the habit of making, after he +conceived every thing had been said which could be said on the real +merits of the case before the court by the gentlemen who preceded them. +His hints to them to be brief on such occasions were sometimes extremely +happy. I recollect that, after listening with the greatest attention to +the speeches of two counsel on one side, from ten in the morning till +half-past two, a third rose to address the court on the same side. His +lordship was quite unprepared for this additional infliction, and +exclaimed, "What, Mr. A----, are _you_ really going to speak on the same +side?" + +"Yes, my lord; I mean to trespass on your lordship's attention for a +short time." + +"Then," said his lordship, looking the orator significantly in the +face--"then, Mr. A----, you had better cut your speech as short as +possible, otherwise you must not be surprised if you see me dozing; for +really this is more than human nature can endure." + +The youthful barrister took the hint; he kept closely to the point at +issue--a thing very rarely done by barristers--and condensed his +argument into a reasonable compass. + + + + +THE HOUSEHOLD OF SIR THO^S. MORE.[3] + +[3] Continued from the September Number. + +LIBELLUS A MARGARETA MORE, QUINDECIM ANNOS NATA, CHELSEIÆ INCEPTVS + +"Nulla dies sine linea." + + + April, 1534. + +A heavier charge than either of y^e above hath been got up, concerning +the wicked woman of Kent, with whom they accuse him of having tampered, +that, in her pretended revelations and rhapsodies, she might utter words +against the king's divorce. His name hath, indeed, been put in the bill +of attainder; but, out of favor, he hath been granted a private +hearing, his judges being, the new archbishop, the new chancellor, his +grace of Norfolk, and Master Cromwell. + +He tells us that they stuck not to y^e matter in hand, but began +cunningly enow to sound him on y^e king's matters; and finding they +could not shake him, did proceed to threats, which, he told 'em, might +well enow scare children, but not him, and as to his having provoked his +grace the king to sett forth in his book aught to dishonour and fetter a +good Christian, his grace himself well knew the book was never shewn him +save for verbal criticism when y^e subject matter was completed _by the +makers of y^e same_, and that he had warned his grace not to express soe +much submission to the pope. Whereupon they with great displeasure +dismissed him, and he took boat for Chelsea with mine husband in such +gay spiritts, that Will, not having been privy to what had passed, +concluded his name to have beene struck out of y^e bill of attainder, +and congratulated him thereupon soe soone as they came aland, saying, "I +guess, father, all is well, seeing you thus merry." + +"It is indeed, son Roper," returns father steadilie, repeating +thereupon, once or twice, this phrase, "All is well." + +Will, somehow mistrusting him, puts the matter to him agayn. + +"You are then, father, put out of the bill?" + +"Out of the bill, good fellow?" repeats father, stopping short in his +walk, and regarding him with a smile that Will sayth was like to break +his heart.... "Wouldst thou know, dear son, why I am so joyful? In good +faith, I have given the devil a foul fall, for I have with those lords +gone so far, as that without great shame I can ne'er go back. The first +step, Will, is the worst, and that's taken." + +And so, to the house, with never another word, Will being smote at the +heart. + +But, this forenoon, deare Will comes running in to me, with joy all +bright, and tells me he hath just heard from Cromwell that father's name +is in sooth struck out. Thereupon, we go together to him with the news. +He taketh it thankfully, yet composedly, saying, as he lays his hand on +my shoulder, "In faith, Meg, quod differtur non aufertur." Seeing me +somewhat stricken and overborne, he sayth, "Come, let's leave good Will +awhile to the company of his own select and profitable thoughts, and +take a turn together by the water side." + +Then closing his book, which I marked was Plato's Phædon, he steps +forthe with me into the garden, leaning on my shoulder, and pretty +heavilie too. After a turn or two in silence, he lightens his pressure, +and in a bland, peaceifying tone commences Horace his tenth ode, book +second, and goes through the first fourteen or fifteen lines in a kind +of lulling monotone; then takes another turn or two, ever looking at the +Thames, and in a stronger voice begins his favorite + + "Justum, ac tenacem propositi virum + Non civium ardor," etc. + +on to + + "Impavidum ferient ruinæ;" + +--and lets go his hold on me to extend his hand in fine, free action. +Then, drawing me to him agayn, presentlie murmurs, "I reckon that the +sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with y^e +glory which shall be revealed in us.... Oh no, not worthy to be +compared. I have lived; I have laboured; I have loved. I have lived in +them I loved; laboured for them I loved; loved them for whom I laboured; +my labour has not been in vayn. To love and to labour is the sum of +living, and yet how manie think they live who neither labour nor love. +Again, how manie labour and love, and yet are not loved; but I have +beene loved, and my labour has not been in vayn. Now, the daye is far +spent, and the night forecloseth, and the time draweth nigh when man +resteth from his labours, even from his labours of love; but still he +shall love and he shall live where the Spiritt sayth he shall rest from +his labours, and where his works do follow him, for he entereth into +rest through and to Him who is Life, and Light, and Love." + +Then looking stedfastlie at the Thames, "How quietlie," sayth he, "it +flows on! This river, Meg, hath its origin from seven petty springs +somewhither amongst y^e Gloucestershire hills, where they bubble forthe +unnoted save by the herd and hind. Belike, they murmur over the pebbles +prettily enough; but a great river, mark you, never murmurs. It murmured +and babbled too, 'tis like, whilst only a brook, and brawled away as it +widened and deepened and chafed agaynst obstacles, and here and there +got a fall, and splashed and made much ado, but ever kept running on +towards its end, still deepening and widening; and now towards the close +of its course look you how swift and quiet it is, running mostly between +flats, and with the dear blue heaven reflected in its face." ... + + * * * * * + +'Twas o' Wednesdaye was a week, we were quietly taking our dinner, when, +after a loud and violent knocking at y^e outer door, in cometh a +poursuivant, and summoneth father to appear next daye before y^e +commissioners, to take y^e newly coined oath of supremacy. Mother utters +a hasty cry, Bess turns white as death, but I, urged by I know not what +suddain impulse to con the new comer's visage narrowly, did with +eagerness exclaim, "Here's some jest of father's; 'tis only Dick +Halliwell!" + +Whereupon, father burst out a laughing, hugged mother, called Bess a +silly puss, and gave Halliwell a grout for 's payns. Now, while some +were laughing, and others taking father prettie sharplie to task for soe +rough a crank, I fell a muzing, what c^d be y^e drift of this, and could +only surmize it mighte be to harden us beforehand, as 'twere, to what +was sure to come at last. And the preapprehension of this so belaboured +my alreadie o'erburthened spiritts, as that I was fayn to betake myself +to y^e nurserie, and lose alle thought and reflection in my little +Bill's prettie ways. And, this not answering, was forct to have recourse +to prayer; then, leaving my closett, was able to return to y^e +nurserie, and forget myselfe awhile in the mirth of the infants. + +Hearing voyces beneathe y^e lattice, I lookt forthe, and behelde his +Grace of Norfolk (of late a strange guest) walking beneath y^e window in +earnest converse with father, and, as they turned about, I hearde him +say, "By the mass, master More, 'tis perilous striving with princes. I +could wish you, as a friend, to incline to the king's pleasure; for, +indignatio principis mors est." + +"Is that all?" says father; "why then there will be onlie this +difference between your grace and me, that I shall die to-daye, and you +to-morrow;"--which was the sum of what I caught. + +Next morning, we were breaking our fast with peacefullness of heart, on +y^e principle that sufficient for the daye is the evill thereof, and +there had beene a wordy war between our two factions of the Neri and +Bianchi, Bess having defalked from y^e mancheteers on y^e ground that +black bread sweetened the breath and settled the teeth, to the no small +triumph of the cob-loaf party; while Daisy, persevering at her crusts, +sayd "No, I can cleave to the rye bread as steddilie as anie among you, +but 'tis vayn of father to maintain that it is as toothsome as a +manchet, or that I eat it to whiten my teeth, for thereby he robs +self-deniall of its grace." + +Father, strange to say, seemed taken at vantage, and was pausing for a +retort, when Hobson coming in and whispering somewhat in his ear, he +rose suddainlie and went forthe of the hall with him, putting his head +back agayn to say, "Rest ye alle awhile where ye be," which we did, +uneasilie enow. Anon he returns, brushing his beaver, and says calmlie, +"Now, let's forthe to church," and clips mother's arme beneathe his owne +and leads the way. We follow as soon as we can, and I, listing to him +more than to y^e priest, did think I never hearde him make response more +composedlie, nor sing more lustilie, by the which I founde myself in +stouter heart. After prayers, he is shriven, after which he saunters +back with us to the house, then brisklie turning on his heel, cries to +my husband, "Now, Will, let's toward, lad," and claps the wicket after +him, leaving us at t'other side without so much as casting back a +parting look. Though he evermore had been advised to let us companie him +to the boat, and there kiss him once and agayn or ever he went, I know +not that I s^d have thoughte much of this, had not Daisy, looking after +him keenly, exclaymed somewhat shortlie as she turned in doors, "I wish +I had not uttered that quip about the cob-loaf." + +Lord, how heavilie sped y^e day! The house, too big now for its master's +diminished retinue, had yet never hitherto seemed lonesome; but now a +somewhat of dreary and dreadfull, inexpressible in words, invisible to +the eye, but apprehended by the inner sense, filled the blank space alle +about. For the first time, everie one seemed idle; not only disinclined +for businesse, but as though there were something unseemlie in +addressing one's self to it. There was nothing to cry about, nothing to +talk over, and yet we alle stoode agaze at each other in groups, like +the cattle under y^e trees when a storm is at hand. Mercy was the first +to start off. I held her back and said, "What is to do?" She whispered, +"Pray." I let her arm drop, but Bess at that instant comes up with +cheeks as colourless as parchment. She sayth, "'Tis made out now. A +poursuivant _de facto_ fetched him forthe this morning." We gave one +deep, universal sigh; Mercy broke away, and I after her, to seek the +same remedie, but alack, in vayn.... + + * * * * * + +How large a debt we owe you, wise and holie men of old! How ye counsel +us to patience, incite us to self-mastery, cheer us on to high emprize, +temper in us the heat of youth, school our inexperience, calm the +o'erwrought mind, allay the anguish of disappointment, cheat suspense, +and master despair.... How much better and happier ye would make us, if +we would but list your teaching! + +Bess hath fallen sick; no marvell. Everie one goeth heavilie. All joy is +darkened; the mirthe of the house is gone. + +Will tells me, that as they pushed off from y^e stairs, father took him +about the neck and whispered, "I thank our Lord, the field is won!" +Sure, Regulus ne'er went forthe with higher self-devotion. + +Having declared his inabilitie to take y^e oath as it stoode, they bade +him, Will tells me, take a turn in the garden while they administered it +to sundrie others, thus affording him leisure for reconsideration. But +they might as well have bidden the neap-tide turn before its hour. When +called in agayn, he was as firm as ever, so was given in ward to y^e +Abbot of Westminster till the king's grace was informed of the matter. +And now, the fool's wise saying of vindictive Herodias came true, for +'twas the king's mind to have mercy on his old servant, and tender him a +qualifyed oath; but queen Anne, by her importunate clamours, did +overrule his proper will, and at four days end, y^e full oath being +agayn tendered and rejected, father was committed to y^e Tower. Oh, +wicked woman, how could you?... Sure, you never loved a father.... + + * * * * * + +In answer to our incessant applications throughout this last month past, +mother hath at length obtayned access to dear father. She returned, her +eyes nigh swollen to closing with weeping ... we crowded round about, +burning for her report, but 'twas some time ere she coulde fetch breath +or heart to give it us. At length Daisy, kissing her hand once and +agayn, draws forthe a disjoynted tale, somewhat after this fashion. + +"Come, give over weeping, dearest mother; 'twill do neither him, you, +nor us anie goode.... What was your first speech of him?" + +"Oh, my first speech, sweetheart, was, 'What, my goodness, Mr. More! I +marvell how that you, who were always counted a wise man, s^d now soe +play the fool as to lie here in this close, filthy prison, shut up with +mice and rats, when you mighte be abroade and at your liberty, with y^e +favour of king and council, and return to your righte fayr house, your +books and gallery, and your wife, children, and household, if soe be you +onlie woulde but do what the bishops and best learned of the realm have, +without scruple, done alreadie.'" + +"And what sayd he, mother, to that?" ... + +"Why, then, sweetheart, he chucks me under the chin and sayeth, 'I +prithee, good mistress Alice, to tell me one thing.' ... Soe then I say, +'What thing?' Soe then he sayeth, 'Is not this house, sweetheart, as +nigh heaven as mine own?' Soe then I jerk my head away and say +'Tilly-valley! tilley-valley.'" + +Sayth Bess, "Sure, mother, that was cold comfort.... And what next?" + +"Why, then I said, 'Bone Deus, man! Bone Deus! will this gear never be +left? Soe then he sayth, 'Well then, Mrs. Alice, if it be soe, 'tis +mighty well, but, for my part, I see no greate reason why I shoulde much +joy in my gay house, or in aniething belonging thereunto, when, if I +shoulde be but seven years buried underground, and then arise and come +thither agayn, I shoulde not fail to find some therein that woulde bid +me get out of doors, and tell me 'twas none o' mine. What cause have I +then, to care so greatlie for a house that woulde soe soone forget its +master?'" ... + +"And then, mother? and then?" + +"Soe then, sweetheart, he sayth, 'Come, tell me, Mrs. Alice, how long do +you think we might reckon on living to enjoy it?' Soe I say, 'Some +twenty years, forsooth.' 'In faith,' says he, 'had you said some +thousand years, it had beene somewhat; and yet he were a very bad +merchant that woulde put himselfe in danger to lose eternity for a +thousand years ... how much the rather if we are not sure to enjoy it +one day to an end?' Soe then he puts me off with questions, How is Will? +and Daisy? and Rupert? and this one? and t'other one? and the peacocks? +and rabbits? and have we elected a new king of the cob-loaf yet? and has +Tom found his hoop? and is y^e hasp of the buttery-hatch mended yet? and +how goes the court? and what was the text o' Sunday? and have I +practised the viol? and how are we off for money? and why can't he see +Meg? Then he asks for this book and t'other book, but I've forgot their +names, and he sayth he's kept mighty short of meat, though 'tis little +he eats, but his man John a Wood is gay an' hungry, and 'tis worth a +world to see him at a salt herring. Then he gives me counsell of this +and that, and puts his arm about me and says, 'Come, let us pray;' but +while he kept praying for one and t'other, I kept a-counting of his gray +hairs; he'd none a month agone. And we're scarce off our knees, when I'm +fetched away; and I say, 'When will you change your note, and act like a +wise man?' and he sayth, 'When? when!' looking very profound; 'why, ... +when gorse is out of blossom and kissing out of fashion.' Soe puts me +forthe by the shoulders with a laugh, calling after me, 'Remember me +over and over agayn to them alle, and let me se Meg.'" + +... I feel as if a string were tied tight about my heart. Methinketh +'twill burst if we goe on long soe. + + * * * * * + +He hath writ us a few lines with a coal, ending with "Sursum corda, dear +children! up with your hearts." The bearer was dear Bonvisi. + + * * * * * + +The Lord begins to cut us short. We are now on very meagre commons, dear +mother being obliged to pay fifteen shillings a-week for the board, poor +as it is, of father and his servant. She hath parted with her velvet +gown, embroidered overthwart, to my lady Sand's woman. Her mantle edged +with coney went long ago. + +But we lose not heart; I think mine is becoming annealed in the furnace, +and will not now break. I have writ somewhat after this fashion to +him.... "What do you think, most dear father, doth comfort us at +Chelsea, during this your absence? Surelie, the remembrance of your +manner of life among us, your holy conversation, your wholesome +counsells, your examples of virtue, of which there is hope that they do +not onlie persevere with you, but that, by God's grace, they are much +increast." + +I weary to see him.... Yes, we shall meet in heaven, but how long first, +oh Lord? how long? + + * * * * * + +Now that I've come back, let me seek to think, to remember.... Sure, my +head will clear by-and-by? Strange, that feeling shoulde have the +masterdom of thought and memory, in matters it is most concerned to +retayn. + +... I minded to put y^e haircloth and cord under my farthingale, and one +or two of y^e smaller books in my pouch, as alsoe some sweets and +suckets such as he was used to love. Will and Bonvisi were awaiting for +me, and deare Bess, putting forthe her head from her chamber door, cries +piteously, "Tell him, dear Meg, tell him ... 'twas never soe sad to me +to be sick ... and that I hope ... I pray ... the time may come ..." +then falls back swooning into Dancey's arms, whom I leave crying +heartilie over her, and hasten below to receive the confused medley of +messages sent by every other member of y^e house. For mine owne part, I +was in such a tremulous succussion as to be scarce fitt to stand or goe, +but time and the tide will noe man bide, and, once having taken boat, +the cool river air allayed my fevered spiritts; onlie I coulde not for +awhile get ridd of y^e impression of poor Dancey crying over Bess in her +deliquium. + +I think none o' the three opened our lips before we reached Lambeth, +save, in y^e Reach, Will cried to y^e steersman, "Look you run us not +aground," in a sharper voyce than I e'er heard from him. After passing +y^e Archbishop's palace, whereon I gazed full ruefullie, good Bonvisi +beganne to mention some rhymes he had founde writ with a diamond on one +of his window-panes at Crosby House, and would know were they father's? +and was't y^e chamber father had used to sleep in? I tolde him it was, +but knew nought of y^e distich, though 'twas like enow to be his. And +thence he went on to this and that, how that father's cheerfulle, funny +humour never forsook him, nor his brave heart quelled, instancing his +fearlesse passage through the Traitor's Gate, asking his neighbours +whether _his_ gait was that of a traditor; and, on being sued by the +porter for his upper garment, giving him his _cap_, which he sayd was +uppermost. And other such quips and passages, which I scarce noted nor +smiled at, soe sorry was I of cheer. + +At length we stayed rowing: Will lifted me out, kissed me, heartened me +up, and, indeede, I was in better heart then, having been quietlie in +prayer a good while. After some few forms, we were led through sundrie +turns and passages, and, or ever I was aware, I found myselfe quit of my +companions, and in father's arms. + +We both cried a little at first; I wonder I wept noe more, but strength +was given me in that hour. As soone as I coulde, I lookt him in the +face, and he lookt at me, and I was beginning to note his hollow cheeks, +when he sayd, "Why, Meg, you are getting freckled:" soe that made us +bothe laugh. He sayd, "You shoulde get some freckle-water of the lady +that sent me here; depend on it, she hath washes and tinctures in +plenty; and after all, Meg, she'll come to the same end at last, and be +as the lady all bone and skin, whose ghastlie legend used to scare thee +soe when thou wert a child. Don't tell that story to thy children; +'twill hamper 'em with unsavory images of death. Tell them of heavenlie +hosts a-waiting to carry off good men's souls in fire-bright chariots, +with horses of the sun, to a land where they shall never more be +surbated and weary, but walk on cool, springy turf and among myrtle +trees, and eat fruits that shall heal while they delight them, and drink +the coldest of cold water, fresh from y^e river of life, and have space +to stretch themselves, and bathe, and leap, and run, and, whichever way +they look, meet Christ's eyes smiling on them. Lord, Meg, who would +live, that could die? One mighte as lief be an angel shut up in a +nutshell as bide here. Fancy how gladsome the sweet spirit would be to +have the shell cracked! no matter by whom; the king, or king's +mistress.... Let her dainty foot but set him free, he'd say, 'For this +release, much thanks.' ... And how goes the court, Meg?" + +"In faith, father, never better.... There is nothing else there, I hear, +but dancing and disporting." + +"Never better, child, sayst thou? Alas, Meg, it pitieth me to consider +what misery, poor soul, she will shortlie come to. These dances of hers +will prove such dances that she will spurn our heads off like footballs; +but 'twill not be long ere her head will dance the like dance. Mark you, +Meg, a man that restraineth not his passions hath always something cruel +in his nature, and if there be a woman toward, she is sure to suffer +heaviest for it, first or last.... Seek scripture precedent for't ... +you'll find it as I say. Stony as death, cruel as the grave. Those +Pharisees that were, to a man, convicted of sin, yet haled a sinning +woman before the Lord, and woulde fain have seen the dogs lick up her +blood. When they lick up mine, deare Meg, let not your heart be +troubled, even though they shoulde hale thee to London Bridge to see my +head stuck on a pole. Think, most dear'st, I shall then have more reason +to weep for thee than thou for me. But there's noe weeping in heaven, +and bear in mind, Meg, distinctlie, that if they send me thither, 'twill +be for obeying the law of God rather than of men. And after alle, we +live not in the bloody, barbarous old times of crucifyings and flayings, +and immersings in cauldrons of boiling oil. One stroke, and the affair's +done. A clumsy chirurgeon would be longer extracting a tooth. We have +oft agreed that the little birds struck down by the kite and hawk suffer +less than if they were reserved to a naturall death. There is one +sensible difference, indeed, between us. In our cases, preparation is +a-wanting." + +Hereon, I minded me to slip off y^e haircloth and rope, and give the +same to him, along with the books and suckets, all which he hid away +privatelie, making merry at the last. + +"'Twoulde tell well before the council," quoth he, "that on searching +the prison-cell of Sir Thomas More, there was founde, flagitiouslie and +mysteriouslie laid up ... a piece of barley-sugar!" + +Then we talked over sundry home-matters; and anon, having now both of us +attayned unto an equable and chastened serenitie of mind, which needed +not any false shows of mirth to hide y^e naturall complexion of, he +sayth, "I believe, Meg, they that have put me here ween they have done +me a high displeasure; but I assure thee on my faith, mine own good +daughter, that if it had not beene for my wife, and you, my dear good +children, I would faine have beene closed up, long ere this, in as +straight a room, and straighter too." + +Thereon, he shewed me how illegal was his imprisonment, there being noe +statute to authorize the imposition of y^e oath, and he delivered +himself, with some displeasure, agaynst the king's ill counsellors. + +"And surelie, Meg," quoth he, "'tis pitie that anie Christian prince +shoulde, by a flexible council readie to follow his affections, and by a +weak clergy lacking grace to stand constantly to the truth as they +learned it, be with flattery so constantly abused. The lotus fruit +fabled by the ancients, which made them that ate it lose alle relish for +the daylie bread of their own homes, was flattery, Meg, as I take it, +and nothing else. And what less was the song of the Syrens, agaynst +which Ulysses made the sailors stop their ears, and which he, with all +his wisdom, coulde not listen to without struggling to be unbound from +the mast? Even praise, Meg, which, moderately given, may animate and +cheer forward the noblest minds, yet too lavishly bestowed, will +decrease and palsy their strength, e'en as an overdose of the most +generous and sprightlie medicine may prove mortiferous. But flattery is +noe medicine, but a rank poison, which hath slayn kings, yea, and mighty +kings; and they who love it, the Lord knoweth afar off; knoweth +distantlie, has no care to know intimatelie, for they are none of his." + +Thus we went on, from one theme to another, till methinketh a heavenlie +light seemed to shine alle about us like as when the angel entered the +prison of Peter. I hung upon everie word and thought that issued from +his lips, and drank them in as thirsty land sucks up the tender rain.... +Had the angel of death at that hour come to fetch both of us away, I +woulde not have sayd him nay, I was soe passivelie, so intenselie happy. +At length, as time wore on, and I knew I shoulde soone be fetcht forthe, +I coulde not but wish I had the clew to some secret passage or +subterreneal, of which there were doubtless plenty in the thick walls, +whereby we might steal off together. Father made answer, "Wishes never +filled a sack. I make it my businesse, Meg, to wish as little as I can, +except that I were better and wiser. You fancy these four walls +lonesome; how oft, dost thou suppose, I here receive Plato and Socrates, +and this and that holy saint and martyr? My jailors can noe more keep +them out than they can exclude the sunbeams. Thou knowest, Jesus stood +among his disciples when the doors were shut. I am not more lonely than +St. Anthony in his cave, and I have a divine light e'en here, whereby to +con the lesson 'God is love.' The futility of our enemies' efforts to +make us miserable was never more stronglie proven to me than when I was +a mere boy in Cardinal Morton's service. Having unwittinglie angered one +of his chaplains, a choleric and even malignant-spirited man, he did, of +his owne authoritie, shut me up for some hours in a certayn damp vault, +which, to a lad afeard of ghosts and devilish apparitions, would have +been fearsome enow. Howbeit, I there cast myself on the ground with my +back sett agaynst the wall, and mine arm behind my head, this fashion +... and did then and there, by reason of a young heart, quiet +conscience, and quick phansy, conjure up such a lively picture of the +queen o' the fairies' court, and alle the sayings and doings therein, +that never was I more sorry than when my gaoler let me goe free, and +bade me rise up and be doing. In place, therefore, my daughter, of +thinking of me in thy night watches as beating my wings agaynst my cage +bars, trust that God comes to look in upon me without knocking or +bell-ringing. Often in spiritt I am with you alle; in the chapel, in the +hall, in the garden; now in the hayfield, with my head on thy lap, now +on the river, with Will and Rupert at the oar. You see me not about your +path, you won't see my disembodied spiritt beside you hereafter, but it +may be close upon you once and agayn for alle that: maybe, at times when +you have prayed with most passion, or suffered with most patience, or +performed my hests with most exactness, or remembered my care of you +with most affection. And now, good speed, good Meg, I hear the key turn +in the door.... This kiss for thy mother, this for Bess, this for Cecil, +... this and this for my whole school. Keep dry eyes and a hopeful +heart; and reflect that nought but unpardoned sin should make us weep +forever." + + + + +BOOKWORMS. + +"Like caterpillar, eating his way in silence!" + + +The natural history of the bookworm has escaped the observation of +Cuvier. Yet the bookworm shares his habitat in common with the student, +and no doubt has often rubbed shoulder with the naturalist. The haunts +of the bookworm are the national libraries, the old booksellers' shops +about Holborn and Great Queen-street, Long-acre, and the bookstalls +generally. One will be sure to meet with him--a weary, worn, and faded +personage--in the reading-room of the Museum. The goodly morocco-bound +tome in folio is the bookworm's _bonne bouche_. Its scented binding and +odorous pages form the choicest of his meals. The atmosphere of the +national reading-room is close and redolent of strange smells; the +bookworm, however, enjoys it with the readier zest. Worm-like, he is a +reproducer, and capable of spinning words by the myriad, which he +deposits upon the surfaces of foolscap. + +The bookworm's natural disposition is gentle; but his temper is +irritable. His nature is indolent. He loves to doze over a Harleian +manuscript, or a dusty Elzevir or black letter. It is legendary that his +mission upon earth is occult--_videlicet_, to discover those lost +treasures the Sibylline Leaves, supposed to be embedded and fossilized +somewhere in the forest of leaves monastic. The hiding-place of the +Sibyl's precious autograph, albeit, remains, like the philosopher's +stone, a secret yet. + +It is not intended in this paper to be satirical upon bibliographical +pursuits. On this point our motto is the text recorded by the learned +and indefatigable Mr. Lowdes, in his "Manual." "Mankind are disposed to +remember the _abuse_ rather than the _utility_ of pursuits in which few +are deeply interested. And in the ridicule which the enthusiastic zeal +of bibliomaniacs has cast on bibliography, they lose sight of the fact +that all accurate knowledge is in a greater or less degree absolutely +dependent thereon." + +But the eccentricities and peculiarities of bookworms are left to us to +notice, without our incurring the displeasure of any liberal-minded +student or book-collector. Our task at present is merely to throw +together some information personally relating to bookworms, hitherto +hidden within the mouldering pages of cumbrous volumes, offering little +inducement for the perusal of the ordinary reader. Nevertheless we are +not unmindful what a field of scholastic romance we have traveled +through, at the cost of a somewhat dusty journey. + +Who were the original bookworms? From what point shall our +bibliographical notices date?--beyond or in advance of the monasticism? +The old clerks or copyists of the convents were the primitive bookworms +indubitably. Their occupation has been elevated by writers to a position +of moral philosophy. Dr. Dibdin, in his "Bibliomania," says, "Copying +excited insensibly a love of quiet, domestic order, and seriousness. I +am willing to admit every degree of merit to the manual dexterity of the +cloistered student. I admire his snow-white vellum missals, emblazoned +with gold, and sparkling with carmine and ultra-marine blue. By the help +of the microscopic glass I peruse his diminutive penmanship, executed +with the most astonishing neatness and regularity; his ink so glossy +black! Now and then, for a guinea or two, I purchase a specimen of such +marvelous legerdemain, but the book to me is a sealed book! Surely the +same exquisite and unrivaled beauty would have been exhibited in copying +an ode of Horace or a dictum of Quinctilian." With reference to this +allusion to the missal, it may be here worth while mentioning that the +most splendidly executed book of devotion known is the MS. volume, the +Bedford missal. It passed from the library of Harley, Earl of Oxford, +through various fortunes, until it finally found a resting-place in the +library of the Duchess of Portland. This antiquity is valued at 500 +guineas. + +As early as the sixth century, commenced the custom in some monasteries +of copying ancient books and composing new ones. In the fifteenth +century, the custom of keeping up monkish libraries had ceased, at least +in England. + +The illustrious progenitors of bookworms were such personages as the +venerable Bede, Alfred the Great, and Theodore, Archbishop of +Canterbury. Friar Roger Bacon was also an intense bookworm. The noble +book-spirit by which the lives of the Oxford Athenians are recorded and +preserved, is now probably forgotten by the world. The student, however +reveres the name of old Anthony à Wood. The remembrance of his +researches amidst paper and parchment documents, stored up in chests and +desks, and upon which the moth was "feeding sweetly," is perpetuated in +bibliography. We follow in imagination his cautious step, and head +bowing from premature decay, and solemn air, and sombre visage, with +cane under the arm, pacing from library to library, through Gothic +quadrangles, or sauntering along the Isis on his way to some neighboring +village, where, may be, with some congenial Radcliffe, he would recreate +with pipe and pot. While the Bodleian and Ashmolean collections remain, +so long will the memory of his laudable exertions continue unimpaired. +Anthony à Wood was in person of a large, robust make, tall and thin, and +had a sedate and thoughtful look, almost bordering upon a melancholy +cast. Beneath a strange garb and coarse exterior, lay all that acuteness +of observation and retentiveness of memory, as well as inflexible +integrity, which marked his intellectual character. After he had by +continual drudging worn out his body, he left this world contentedly, +A.D. 1695. + +In the early part of the seventeenth century, lived that very curious +collector of ancient popular little pieces, as well as lover of sacred, +secret soul soliloquies, that "melancholy Jaques," yclept Robert Burton. +He gave a multitude of books to the Bodleian Library. This original, +amusing, and _now popular_ author was an arrant book-hunter--a "devourer +of authors." Old Burton's constant companion was, we read, the eccentric +"Harry" Hastings, a bibliomaniac, yet also an ardent sportsman. Just +alighted from the toils of the chase, Harry Hastings, then in his +eightieth year, would partake of a substantial dinner, tipple his +tankard of ale dry, take his customary nap, wake up, rub his eyes, and +behold the "Anatomy of Melancholy" seated before the fire, his visage +buried in an opened folio! A rare old boy must have been this Hastings. +He is described as low of stature, but strong and active, of a ruddy +complexion, with flaxen hair. His clothes were always of Lincoln green. +His house was of the old fashion, in the midst of a large park well +stocked with game. He kept his hounds, and his great hall was commonly +strewed with marrow bones. He lived to be an hundred, and never lost his +eyesight nor used spectacles. + +Richard Ashmole, the founder of the Ashmolean Museum, was an intimate of +the astrologer Lilly, and one of the queerest of bookworms. His life was +grotesquely checkered by family jars. He had a termagant wife, who, it +appears, was continually "taking the law of him in return for neglect, +cruelty," &c. Whether Ashmole was proof or not proof against this +peculiar kind of henpecking, we can not report; but it is certain that +his bodily health failed him in the course of his wife's persecution; he +sought to tinker up his constitution with quack medicines, of which he +became the victim. + +The Bodleian and Ashmolean collections are emulated by the Harleian. +Harley, Earl of Oxford's attachment to books, and the large sums he +expended in forming the collection of MSS., have rendered the name +celebrated. The Harleian collection of MSS. was purchased by government +for the National Library; the purchase-money amounted to £10,000. Harley +lived in the middle of the seventeenth century. + +A remarkable individual of the order of bookworm, was the musical +bibliomaniac, Thomas Britton. This curious character lived in the +Augustan age of Queen Anne. He came to London from a northern county, +and, after serving an humble apprenticeship, embarked in business as a +kind of costermonger; he was in the habit of actually crying his coals +about the street. His attire was a Guernsey frock; he carried a black +sack on his shoulders, and a coal measure in his hands. In this style he +was painted by Woollaston. Britton lived in Aylesbury-street, +Clerkenwell, where he fitted up a concert-room, the progenitor of the +great philharmonic and ancient nobility concerts of the present day. Sir +Robert l'Estrange was one of Britton's first patrons, and by his +reputation and example induced the fashionable world of those days to +patronize Britton's concerts, at which Handel, Phil Hart, Banister, +Dubourg the violinist, and others, performed to the genteelest of +audiences. The concert-room was literally but one floor over a +coal-shed; and the visitors had to climb up to it by a ladder fixed +outside of the house, and to sit under a low roof, against which they +could not avoid knocking their heads soundingly. Britton was no +composer, only a musician and book-collector. He collected works on the +occult art chiefly, and on music; his library sold for a large sum of +money in those times. He was quite a notoriety on account of the humble +trade he so openly followed, and the refined tastes he was known to +cultivate. One day passing nigh the house of Woollaston the painter, in +Warwick-lane, Britton, being in his work-a-day attire, gave out lustily +his well-known cry of "Small-coal." Woollaston's attention was +attracted, and he recognized in the voice that of his musical +acquaintance Britton, whom he had never seen in the pursuit of his +ordinary trade. The artist at once beckoned Britton in, and there and +then took his portrait as he sat, a veritable itinerant coal-dealer. The +portrait is most characteristic, and is now to be seen in the collection +of paintings of the British Museum. But we must notice the small-coal +man under his bibliopolic phase. A bibliomania raged among Queen Anne's +nobility. The Earls of Oxford, Pembroke, Sunderland, and Winchelsea, and +the Duke of Devonshire, were among the smitten. These personages, on +Saturdays, during the winter season, used to resort to the city, and, +there separating, take several routes to the booksellers' shops in +different parts of the town, to search out old volumes and MSS. Some +time before noon, they would assemble at the shop of Christopher +Bateman, a bookseller, at the corner of Ave Maria-lane, in +Paternoster-row (query, Little Britain?), where they were frequently met +by other persons engaged in the same pursuits, and a conversation +commenced on the subject of their inquiries. As nearly as possible to +the hour of twelve by St. Paul's clock, Britton (uniquely, the "Literary +Dustman" of his age), who by that time had finished his round, clad in +his blue frock, and pitching his sack of small coal on the bulk of Mr. +Bateman's shop window, used to go in and join them. After about an +hour's chat, the noblemen adjourned to the Mourning Bush Tavern at +Aldersgate (probably the site of the present Albion Tavern), where they +dined, and spent the remainder of the day. Poor Britton was indeed a +singular character, and died a death as singular as his life. He was, we +are told, of an excessively nervous temperament, which rendered him the +object occasionally of villainous practical jokes. Unfortunately he +incurred the enmity of Honeyman, the ventriloquist. On a certain day, +when Britton gave one of his nobility concerts in Aylesbury-street, +Honeyman attended. An opportunity occurring, a voice was heard at a +distance, which announced that Thomas Britton's hour was near and that +he had but a short time to remain in this world. Poor Britton was not +proof against the art of the malicious mimic. He felt the +ventriloquist's words as though they were a sacred augur; so deep an +impression did the incident make upon him, that he died, almost as +predicted, in a brief period, aged fifty-eight, 1714. + +Browne Willis was another original of whom we are enabled to furnish a +few whimsical anecdotes. But we would reserve this respectful remark, +that the doctor was, notwithstanding oddities in externals and manners, +nevertheless a learned antiquary, and a good man. So were they all, all +learned antiquaries, and excellent men. His tastes led him chiefly to +the study of ecclesiastical relics. He visited every cathedral in +England and Wales. To these journeys he himself gave the name of +pilgrimages. Browne Willis lived in the latter part of the seventeenth +century. He was grandson of Dr. Thomas Willis, a celebrated physician, +and the first to reduce the theory of phrenology to order and system. +His person and dress are described by one who knew him well; they were +"so singular that, though a gentleman of £1000 per annum, he was often +taken for a beggar. An old leathern girdle or belt always surrounded the +two or three coats he wore, and over them an old blue cloak. He wrote +the worst hand of any man in England, such as he could with difficulty +read himself. His boots, which he almost always appeared in, were not +the least singular part of his dress. I suppose it would not be falsity +to say they were forty years old, patched and vamped up at various +times. They were all in wrinkles, and did not come up above half-way of +his legs. He was often called, in the neighborhood of Buckingham, 'Old +Wrinkle Boots.' The chariot of Mr. Willis was so singular, that from it +he was called himself, the 'Old Chariot.' It was his wedding chariot, +and had his arms on brass plates about it, not unlike a coffin, and +painted black." This rare antiquary was satirized by Dr. Darrell, in +some humorous and highly descriptive verses, of which the subjoined +couplets are a specimen: + + "High on a hill his mansion stood + But gloomy dark within. + Here mangled books, as bones and blood, + Lie in a giant's den: + + "Crude, undigested, half-devoured, + On groaning shelves they're thrown; + Such manuscripts no eye could read, + Nor hand write, but his own." + +His wife having written a serious book, Browne Willis wrote on his own +copy of the work, "All the connection in this book is owing to the +book-binder." He delighted to joke upon Mrs. Willis's book and her +authorship. + + + + +INCIDENTS OF DUELING. + + +Dueling has fallen into desuetude, and very properly. Times have changed +marvelously. Fifty years ago, gentlemen by descent, by property, or by +profession, were only _esquired;_ now, if you _mistered_ an attorney's +clerk, the letter would be sent repudiated to the dead office. To him +only who was entitled to bear arms, an appeal to arms was allowed; and +had a man in trade, though worth a plum, in those days presumed to send +a message to a gentleman not in trade, nor worth a penny, the odds would +be considerable that the bearer of the cartel would have been +horsewhipped on the spot. Even liberty to share in certain amusements +was considered great condescension on the part of the aristocracy to men +who had founded their own fortunes, and accidental meetings at the +cover-side were never supposed to warrant aught beyond a field +acquaintance. A brutal, but striking anecdote which marked this then +prevailing feeling of exclusiveness, is told of the too-celebrated +George Robert Fitzgerald. One hunting day, when drawing a fox cover, he +observed a well-mounted and smartly-dressed young man join the company; +and on inquiring his name from the whipper, was informed that the +stranger was a neighboring apothecary. + +"An apothecary!" exclaimed the master of hounds. "By Heaven! men's +impudence every day becomes more audacious! Why, it would not surprise +me after this, that an attorney should join our meeting next. Come, it +is time that this dealer in drugs should be taught that fox-hunting is a +trade practiced only by gentlemen;" and riding up to the unoffending +dabbler in Galenicals, he savagely flogged him off the field. + +That dueling has been employed too frequently for bad purposes, by brave +men--and for bloody ones, by blackguards, has never been denied. The +page of history, in the fatal meeting between Buckingham and Shrewsbury, +strikingly exemplifies the former assertion. For the seduction of his +wife--Buckingham, by the way, had seduced his _own_--the injured earl +demanded, and obtained satisfaction. In accordance with the barbarous +custom of the times, the seconds--two on either side--engaged; on the +duke's side, Jenkins was left dead; on the earl's, Sir John Talbot was +severely wounded. Buckingham, however, received no hurt beyond a +scratch, and ran his antagonist through the body, thus adding murder to +seduction. The fair frail one was worthy of the ducal ruffian she had +attached herself to. Disguised as a page, from a neighboring coppice she +watched the combat, and slept with the murderer of her husband the same +night, although the shirt he wore bore bloody evidence of the foul +assassination he had just committed. It is reported that the last hours +of the adulteress were miserable, and the felon blow that relieved the +world of such an unscrupulous villain as the duke, in our poor thinking, +was nothing beyond simple retribution. + +Another, and an opposite case, both in its results and causes, occurred +many years ago, when the writer of these pages was in Paris. The worst +and most dangerous companion upon earth is a gamester. "Nemo repente +fuit turpissimus;" which, according to Irish translation, meaneth, that +a man must be articled for five years to an attorney. As regards play, +we hold a different opinion, and believe that the course of +demoralization may be more rapidly effected by the _alea damnosa_ than +by law. To the proof:--even at the distance of a quarter of a century, +we must hold the name sacred; but there are old guardsmen who will +remember "Little Joe." A stouter soldier never headed a company. He was +kind, well-tempered, too generous probably, and every body liked him. In +money matters he was careless; had an early itch for play, and a sojourn +with the Army of Occupation confirmed a disease already rooted. In a +word, he abandoned a profession he could no longer continue in, and +became a regular gambler. + +Joe was a first-rate shot, and also constitutionally pugnacious. He felt +his own degradation keenly, when to remedy it was too late; and a temper +naturally excitable, had now become most dangerous. Is there one +gamester out of twenty who, in a very few years, does not +go--circumstances only considered--to ruin? Joe formed no exception. He +lost _caste_, and fell, and fell, "deeper and deeper still," until he +reached that last degrading _status_ in society--a _chevalier +d'industrie_. + +While engaged in his base vocation, a young citizen fell into the hands +of the gang with whom Joe, now a member of the body, regularly +confederated. The victim was a Londoner, and one, as it was represented, +who would stand plucking; and that very extensively. He had crossed the +Channel, like the thousand and one fools who flock annually to the +French capital to view Parisian lions, and, as a countryman, Little Joe +kindly undertook to play Mentor to this Cockney Telemachus. It was not a +difficult task for one who knew the world so well as Captain K---- to +worm himself into the confidence of a raw youth, and he easily +succeeded. In every point but one the intended victim was as pliant as +could be wished--but on that one he was most obstinate. He had a horror +of play. He would drink, racket about, dissipate, but name a game of +chance, and he started like a frightened steed. The period allotted by +"the governor at home," as he, in London parlance, termed his father, +had almost expired; and as plump a pigeon as ever a gambler dropped +upon, was about to return to the country-house he had quitted to see the +world, without losing a single feather. To the villainous confederation +that thought was maddening; and, as a last resource, a decoy duck was +tried--and one of the loveliest and most artful of the class, was +accidentally introduced by the gallant captain to Monsieur Callico, as +he derisively called the citizen. + +To describe the progress of this gambling conspiracy would be a waste of +time. It was managed with consummate ability. The devoted youth became +desperately enamored of this friend, of the captain; he "told his love," +and then came proof positive, that Greek and Roman friendship are not +comparable to the tremendous sacrifice of personal feeling, which you +may expect from a _café_ acquaintance. Damon returned in time to +substitute his own neck, and stay the execution of a gentleman called +Pythias, while + + "Cato the sententious + Lent his fair lady to his friend Hortensius." + +Now Captain K----, on learning the state of the young Londoner's +affections, although himself a secret worshiper at the shrine of the +same divinity, resigned his own pretensions, and actually undertook to +plead with the fair enslaver for his friend. Great was the intimacy, of +course, that succeeded; and at the apartments of Madame La C----, +morning, noon, and night, the young Englishman might have been found. + +Play was cautiously introduced--nothing was staked excepting a mere +_bagatelle_--beyond the hazard of a trifle, it was evident that any +experiment would be dangerous. The day for the citizen's departure was +fixed, and it was pretty certain the bird would escape the net of the +fowler. Could he have been but led to play he would have been cheated +scientifically. That was not to be done, and nothing could succeed but +bold and downright felony. + +Madame's birthday returned, as it did some twenty times a year; and she +gave a _petit souper_. K---- sent in the wine, and the citizen provided +the viands. A merrier evening could not be spent. Two or three ladies, +and as many gentlemen of high honor, favored La C---- with their +company. There was play, limited to a few francs, and on the +Englishman's part to gloves and garters. Supper was served--all was +hilarious--the wine circulated freely, and all the Londoner remembered +in the morning when he awoke with a burning head was, that he had become +unaccountably drunk, and got home he knew not how. + +He strove to get up, but his temples throbbed almost to bursting. An +excess in wine had never affected him so before: could this arise from +simple drunkenness? The sensation was altogether new. The truth was he +had not been drunk, but drugged! + +While rolling his aching head from side to side upon the pillow his +_lacquey de place_ announced his dear friend, the captain; and next +minute "Little Joe" was standing at his bedside. + +"Good heaven!" exclaimed the citizen; "how awfully drunk I must have +been last night! My very brain's on fire." + +"Drunk!" returned his companion; "you were not drunk but mad--what devil +possessed you to play? D--n it, you always swore you hated it, and every +score of _naps_ you lost you would, though I warned you, lay it on +thicker." + +"Naps! play!" exclaimed the sick man with a stare; "why, what do you +mean? I am but in sorry mood for jesting. I do remember playing for and +losing some gloves and garters to the ladies." + +"And let me tell you, I am in still less joking humor than yourself," +returned the captain, in high dudgeon; "through your cursed obstinacy, I +played against my better judgment--and was cleaned by Count F---- out of +eighteen thousand francs. How shall I come to book? In the devil's name +how can I face my creditor this evening at Madame's réunion? The three +hundred naps I won from you will go but a short way to meet my losses. I +think I shall go mad." + +"And I fancy that I am mad already," groaned the sufferer from the bed; +"do end this folly, K----." + +"Did I not know you, I should fancy you intended me offense," replied +the captain, rather angrily; "what, have you such a conveniency of +memory as to forget that you lost three hundred naps to me, eight +hundred to the count, and five-and-forty to Madame La C----?" + +Before the unhappy youth could find words to respond, the valet +announced another visitor, and Count F---- was shown in. + +"Monsieur le Comte," pursued the gallant captain, "are you, too, in a +jesting mood? My young friend here can not be persuaded that we had a +little play last night. Excuse me paying but half my loss till evening; +and, in the mean time, accept these _billets de banque_," and "Little +Joe" handed the chevalier a roll of bank notes; "you will find there ten +thousand francs." + +"Gentlemen," cried the astonished citizen, "I pray you end this farce. I +know I am indebted to madame heavily in gloves and ribbons." + +"Why, fiends and furies!" exclaimed the captain, "do you pretend, sir, +to assert, that you did not lose three hundred naps to me?" + +"Or that this acknowledgment for eight hundred was not given?" + +The youth, astounded as he was, took the paper. It purported to be an +I.O.U., but the forgery was clumsy. + +"That is not my writing--nor do I owe either of you a _sou_." + +The scene that followed may be imagined. Instant payment, or a legal +security for the alleged debts was demanded--or the alternative--a +meeting in the Bois de Boulogne within two hours. Half bewildered, the +young dupe assented to give the latter--and at the time appointed he +alighted, without friend or weapon, at the place named for the duel, by +these infamous men. + +Several other persons were on the ground, all strangers to the +unfortunate young man. Another attempt was made to induce him to admit +the debt of honor, and it was proposed that a reconciliation should take +place between him and his former friend, the captain. To do them +justice, the gentlemen unknown were ardent in their endeavors to +accommodate the matter, and persuade the citizen to pay the money, and +they were perfectly sincere in mediation on the occasion, for they were +all members of the same dishonest clique. But nothing could shake the +youth's determination to repudiate the infamous demand. Captain K----, +irritated to madness at his total failure, demanded that the duel should +instantly proceed--and the gang, as furious from the unexpected +disappointment, determined to murder one who could not be persuaded to +submit to bare-faced spoliation. + +Never were two combatants more unequally opposed, than the young +merchant and the desperate gambler--the one, probably, had never +discharged a pistol in his life--the other, and within six months, had +killed his man on the very spot the doomed youth was standing. + +Other and fouler circumstances went to render the result of the +impending duel almost a certainty. K---- fought with his own +pistols--with the firing signal he was particularly familiar--his back +was to the sun, and an open sky behind him. The scoundrel second, who +had volunteered his services, placed the young Englishman in a position +where the trunk of a large beech formed a leading line of fire, and the +stream of sunshine through the vista in the trees, was almost blinding. +To the intentional murderer and the intended victim, the loaded weapons +were delivered--a preparatory word was spoken, the signal fell. K---- +coolly raised his pistol, while, by a snap-shot, the flurried Englishman +anticipated his executioner by a second. On that momentary advantage +life or death depended. The bully, shot directly through the heart, fell +on the sward, a dead man. While the bullet destined for the breast of +his antagonist, cut the grass harmlessly at the foot of the fortunate +survivor. Never was a thoughtless youth more providentially delivered by +accident from certain murder--nor a scoundrel sent to his account so +justly and unexpectedly as Captain K----. + +In riding an hour after the affair had terminated in the forest, I met +the body of the dead gambler on a stretcher, _en route_ to the _Morgue_. + +The decline of dueling, from the period it was made ancillary to +swindling, or to the settlement of disputes between vulgar scoundrels, +who could not lay the slightest claims to the title or privileges of +gentlemen, has been rapid and progressive, and its gross abuse did more +to remedy its own mischief, than moral appeals and legal enactments. +What but disgust can be created against a system when prostituted to the +purposes of sheer murder? When two drunken blackguards stagger from the +billiard-room to the field, and, by the scoundrels who attend them, are +permitted to carry a dispute, emanating in a question of scoring or not +scoring a point or two, to an extent that the most flagitious injury +would not warrant? + +A more recent case which occurred in the neighborhood, and must be still +fresh in general recollection, may be adduced to prove how sadly the law +of honor is brought to the lowliest estimation. I allude to the case of +M----, killed by E----. A quarrel takes place in that sink of infamy, a +saloon--and the parties adjourn to Wimbledon to commit murder. One fire +is not enough, and, though a bullet passes through the hat of M----, the +seconds provide them with fresh weapons, and the wretched blackguard is, +on the next fire, shot dead. The ruffian who commits the murder, sees +the expiring wretch heaving his last sigh--and remarks to a casual +spectator, "I have done for the ----," using an epithet too disgusting to +be named. He, and the well-selected seconds, hurry off, without even +taking a parting glance at the prostrate victim. The surgeon, with his +friends, lugs the dead body into a cab. An inquest is held--"willful +murder" is returned, and thus ends, what the papers termed "an affair of +honor." And who were the blackguard actors in this cold-blooded tragedy? +E---- was son of a Taunton publican, and M---- a broken linen-draper. +Their companions were men of similar _caste_--for, unless gentility is +attached to brick-making, Y---- had no other claim. + +The first duel I ever witnessed was one which, at the expiration of +forty years, is too vividly engrafted upon memory to be forgotten. I was +then a satcheled schoolboy; and before six o'clock on a beautiful summer +morning, was wending my way, slowly, of course, to the abiding place of +the country pedagogue at whose feet I was being indoctrinated. A +gentleman was sitting on a log of timber, and in him I recognized +Lieutenant V---- of the--th, a frequent visitor and guest at my father's +house. He spoke to me, and I sate down upon the beam, and a bullet he +had been rolling carelessly on the log of timber, was interchanged +between him and me for five minutes. He started suddenly on perceiving +three gentlemen advance from an opposite direction, put the ball in his +waistcoat pocket, and bade me hastily "good-morning." I watched him--saw +him join the strangers, and the whole party turned into a rope-yard. I +rose from the beam--shouldered my satchel, and as I passed the place +where the gentlemen had disappeared, I looked through the open gate. +Although not more than three or four minutes had elapsed, the +preliminary preparations for a duel had been completed, and my late +companion on the log of timber confronted his antagonist at the +customary distance of a dozen paces. At the moment I peeped in, the +seconds delivered a pistol to each combatant--stepped two or three yards +back--and the words "Ready, fire!" were rapidly pronounced. The reports +were so simultaneous that it seemed as if one shot only had been +discharged; and as, for a second or two afterward, both gentlemen +remained standing, I fancied all was right; but I was fatally +mistaken--the discharged weapon dropped from V----'s hand, and he +tottered and fell forward. The seconds raised him to a sitting posture, +and a little man hitherto concealed behind the hedge, came forward +hastily. He laid his finger on V----'s pulse, and then looked at the +pupil of the eye, and in a low voice muttered, "All is over!" For many a +month afterward that brief sentence sounded in my ear, and the falling +man was present in imagination. But before manhood came, an intimacy +with some amiable young Galway gentlemen at the Dublin University, and a +short probation in a Southern militia regiment wrought a happy change. +The organ of hearing, as Byron says, became + + "More Irish and less nice" + +and a twelvemonth's sojourn in that land of promise, which lieth between +the Shannon and Atlantic, completed the cure. + +Like many an unnecessary appeal to arms, this fatal affair, in which a +young and gallant officer lost his life, originated in a trifling +misunderstanding. + +In the same barrack, and at a very short time after this fatal meeting +(spring of 1807) one of the most lamentable affairs, which in the annals +of dueling is recorded, unfortunately took place. I allude to the fatal +encounter between Boyd and Campbell. The sad story is simply told. + +The 21st were quartered in the town of Newry, and the half-yearly +inspection of the regiment had been made by General Kerr--when, as is +customary, the general and staff were entertained by the Fusileers. The +dinner was soon over--the staff retired--the officers went to the +play--and none remained in the mess-room, excepting Major Campbell and +Captain Boyd, the assistant-surgeon, and a lieutenant. Campbell, in +right of brevet rank, had commanded the regiment in the absence of the +colonel--and an argument took place between him and Captain Boyd, +whether a word of command that day used was correctly given. The latter +was a person of disagreeable manner--the former a man whose temper was +highly excitable--and each personally disliked the other, and were +tenacious equally of their own opinions. Campbell repudiated the charge +of incorrectness and Boyd as warmly maintained it. At last a crisis +came, "Heated with wine, and exasperated by what he conceived a +professional insult, Campbell left the table, hastened to his +apartments, loaded his pistols, returned, sent for Captain Boyd, brought +him to an inner mess-room, closed the door, and without the presence of +a friend or witness, demanded instant satisfaction. Shots were promptly +interchanged, and by the first fire Boyd fell, mortally wounded." + +Thank God! for human nature--Buckinghams and T----s are not common. +Before five minutes passed the tornado of wild passion was over, and +rushing to the room where the dying man was laid, "a sorry sight!" in +Macbeth's words, surrounded by his frantic wife and infant family, the +homicide knelt at his bed-side, implored forgiveness, and wrung from him +a qualified admission that "all was fair." No attempt was made to arrest +him, and that night Campbell left the town and remained at Chelsea with +his lady and family for several months, under an assumed name. When the +summer assizes were approaching, he determined to surrender and stand +his trial; and although his legal advisers warned him that the step was +most perilous, he would not be dissuaded, and unhappily persevered. + +He was, on the 13th of August, 1808, arraigned for "willful murder," +pleaded "not guilty" in the usual form--the fact of the homicide was +admitted--and a number of officers, high in rank, attended, and gave the +prisoner the highest character for humanity. I did not hear the +evidence, and when I came into the court-house the jury for some time +had been considering their verdict. The trial had been tedious; twilight +had fallen, and the hall of justice, dull at best, was rendered gloomier +still from the partial glare of a few candles placed upon the bench, +where Judge Fletcher was presiding. A breathless anxiety pervaded the +assembly, and the ominous silence that reigned throughout the court was +unbroken by a single whisper. I felt an unusual dread--a sinking of the +heart--a difficulty of respiration, and as I looked round the melancholy +crowd, my eye rested on the judge. Fletcher was a thin, billious-looking +being, and his cold and marble features had caught an unearthly +expression from the shading produced by the accidental disposition of +the candles. I shuddered as I gazed upon him, for the fate of a fellow +creature was hanging upon the first words that would issue from the lips +of that stern and inflexible old man. From the judge my eyes turned to +the criminal, and what a subject the contrast offered to the artist's +pencil! In the front of the bar, habited in deep mourning, his arms +folded and crossed upon his breast, the homicide was awaiting the word +that should seal his destiny. His noble and commanding figure thrown +into an attitude of calm determination, was graceful and dignified; and +while on every countenance besides a sickening anxiety was visible, +neither the quivering of an eyelash, nor a motion of the lip, betrayed +on the prisoner's face the appearance of discomposure or alarm. Just +then a slight noise was heard--a door was slowly and softly opened--one +by one the jury returned to their box--the customary question was asked +by the clerk of the crown--and--"Guilty" was faintly answered, +accompanied with a recommendation to mercy. An agonizing pause +succeeded--the court was as silent as the grave--the prisoner bowed +respectfully to the jury, then planting his foot firmly on the floor, he +drew himself up to his full height and calmly listened to his doom. +Slowly Judge Fletcher assumed the fatal cap, and all unmoved, he +pronounced, and Campbell listened to, his sentence. + +While the short address which sealed the prisoner's fate was being +delivered, the silence of the court was only broken by smothered sobs; +but when the sounds ceased, and, "Lord have mercy on your soul!" issued +from the ashy lips of the stern old man, a groan of horror burst from +the auditory, and the Highland soldiers, who thronged the court, +ejaculated a wild "Amen," while their flashing eyes betrayed how +powerfully the fate of their unhappy countryman had affected them. He +was removed from the bar--a doomed man--but no harsh restrictions were +imposed upon him, nor was he conducted to the gloomy apartment to which +condemned criminals after sentence were then consigned. From the moment +the unfortunate duelist had entered the prison gates, his mild and +gentlemanly demeanor had won the commiseration of all within; and the +governor, confident in the honor of his prisoner, subjected him to no +restraint. He occupied the apartments of the keeper, went over the +building as he pleased--received his friends--held unrestricted +communication with all that sought him--and, in fact, was a captive but +in name. + +No man impersonated the grandeur of Byron's beautiful couplet so happily +as Campbell: when the hour of trial came, + + "He died as sinful man should die + Without parade--without display," + +while, during the painful interval when the seat of mercy was appealed +to, and when, as it was generally considered, mercy would have been +extended, the most unmoved of all, as post after post brought not the +welcome tidings, was Campbell. + +One anecdote is too characteristic to be omitted. + +The commiseration of all classes was painfully increased by the length +of time that elapsed between the trial and death of Major Campbell. In +prison, he received from his friends the most constant and delicate +attention; and one lady, the wife of Captain ----, seldom left him. She +read to him, prepared his meals, cheered his spirits when he drooped, +and performed those gentle offices of kindness, so peculiarly the +province of a woman. When intelligence arrived that mercy could not be +extended, and the law must take its course, she boldly planned an escape +from prison; but Campbell, when she mentioned it, recoiled from a +proposition that must compromise his honor with the keeper. "What," he +exclaimed, when assured that otherwise his case was hopeless, "shall I +break my faith with him who trusted it? I know my fate, and am prepared +to meet it manfully; but never will I deceive the person who confided in +my honor." + +Two evenings before he suffered, Mrs. ---- was earnestly urging him to +escape. The clock struck twelve, and Campbell hinted that it was time +she should retire. As usual, he accompanied her to the gate; and on +entering the keeper's room, they found him fast asleep. Campbell placed +his finger on his lip. + +"Poor fellow," he said in a whisper, to his fair companion, "would it +not be a pity to disturb him?" then taking the keys softly from the +table, he unlocked the outer wicket. + +"Campbell," said the lady, "this is the crisis of your fate; this is the +moment for your deliverance! Horses are in readiness, and--" + +The convict put his hand upon her mouth. "Hush," he replied, as he +gently forced her out. "Would you have me violate my word of honor?" + +Bidding her "good night," he locked the wicket carefully, replaced the +keys, and retired to his chamber without awakening the sleeping jailer! + +His last hour was passed in prayer, and at noon he was summoned to pass +the grand ordeal which concludes the history of the hero and the +herdsman. + +The drop, as it was called, was, in the Irish jails, attached to the +upper story of the building, a large iron-studded door, which hung +against the wall, and was only raised to a parallel position with the +door from which the criminal made his last exit, when that concluding +ceremony of the law was to be performed. Attended by the jail +chaplain--one who, in the last bitter trial, clave to the condemned +soldier closer than a brother--he steadily mounted the stairs, and +entered the execution room. The preliminaries of death were undergone +composedly; he bade a long farewell to those around, and stepped firmly +on the board. Twenty-thousand lookers-on filled the green in front of +the prison; and, strange accident! the Highland regiment with whom, +shoulder to shoulder, he had charged "the Invincibles" in Egypt, formed +a semicircle round the prison. In the north of Ireland, all is +decorously conducted. When he appeared, a deep and solemn silence awed +the multitude; and until he addressed the Highlanders in Gaelic, a +whisper might have been heard in the crowd. To the simple request of +"Pray for me!" a low deep groan responded, and every bonnet was removed. +He dropped a cambric handkerchief--down came the iron-bound door--it +sounded over the heads of the silent concourse like a thunder-clap; and, +in one minute, as brave a heart as ever beat upon a battle-field, had +ceased to throb. + +Peace to the ashes of the brave! If a soldier's life, a Christian's end, +can atone for the sad consequences of unreining an ungovernable temper, +both can be honestly pleaded in extenuating poor Campbell's crime. + + + + +MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.[4] + +[4] Continued from the September Number. + + +CHAPTER XL. + +"THE CHATEAU OF ETTENHEIM." + +I now come to an incident in my life, of which however briefly I may +speak, has left the deepest impression on my memory. I have told the +reader how I left Kuffstein fully satisfied that the Count de Marsanne +was Laura's lover, and that in keeping my promise to see and speak with +him, I was about to furnish an instance of self-denial and fidelity that +nothing in ancient or modern days could compete with. + +The letter was addressed, "the Count Louis de Marsanne, Chateau +d'Ettenheim, à Bade," and thither I accordingly repaired, traveling over +the Arlberg to Bregenz, and across the Lake of Constance to Freyburg. My +passport contained a very few words in cipher, which always sufficed to +afford me free transit and every attention from the authorities. I had +left the southern Tyrol in the outburst of a glorious spring, but as I +journeyed northward I found the rivers frozen, the roads encumbered with +snow, and the fields untilled and dreary-looking. Like all countries +which derive their charms from the elements of rural beauty, foliage, +and verdure, Germany offers a sad-colored picture to the traveler in +winter or wintry weather. + +It was thus then that the Grand Duchy, so celebrated for its picturesque +beauty, struck me as a scene of dreary and desolate wildness, an +impression which continued to increase with every mile I traveled from +the high road. A long unbroken flat, intersected here and there by +stunted willows, traversed by a narrow earth road, lay between the Rhine +and the Taunus Mountains, in the midst of which stood the village of +"Ettenheim." Outside the village, about half a mile off, and on the +border of a vast pine forest, stood the Chateau. + +It was originally a hunting-seat of the dukes of Baden, but, from +neglect and disuse, gradually fell into ruin, from which it was +reclaimed, imperfectly enough, a year before, and now exhibited some +remnants of its former taste, along with the evidences of a far less +decorative spirit; the lower rooms being arranged as a stable, while the +stair and entrance to the first story opened from a roomy coach-house. +Here some four or five conveyances of rude construction were gathered +together, splashed and unwashed as if from recent use; and at a small +stove in a corner was seated a peasant in a blue frock smoking, as he +affected to clean a bridle which he held before him. + +Without rising from his seat he saluted me, with true German phlegm, and +gave me the "Guten Tag," with all the grave unconcern of a "Badener." I +asked if the Count de Marsanne lived there. He said yes, but the "Graf" +was out hunting. When would he be back? By nightfall. + +Could I remain there till his return? was my next question, and he +stared at me, as I put it, with same surprise. "Warum nicht," "Why not," +was at last his sententious answer, as he made way for me beside the +stove. I saw at once that my appearance had evidently not entitled me to +any peculiar degree of deference or respect, and that the man regarded +me as his equal. It was true I had come some miles on foot, and with a +knapsack on my shoulder, so that the peasant was fully warranted in his +reception of me. I accordingly seated myself at his side, and, lighting +my pipe from his, proceeded to derive all the profit I could from +drawing him into conversation. I might have spared myself the trouble. +Whether the source lay in stupidity or sharpness, he evaded me on every +point. Not a single particle of information could I obtain about the +count, his habits, or his history. He would not even tell me how long he +had resided there, nor whence he had come. He liked hunting, and so did +the other "Herren." There was the whole I could scan, and to the simple +fact that there were others with him, did I find myself limited. + +Curious to see something of the count's "interior," I hinted to my +companion that I had come on purpose to visit his master, and suggested +the propriety of my awaiting his arrival in a more suitable place; but +he turned a deaf ear to the hint, and dryly remarked that the "Graf +would not be long a-coming now." This prediction was, however, not to +be verified; the dreary hours of the dull day stole heavily on, and +although I tried to beguile the time by lounging about the place, the +cold ungenial weather drove me back to the stove, or to the dark +precincts of the stable, tenanted by three coarse ponies of the mountain +breed. + +One of these was the Graf's favorite, the peasant told me, and indeed +here he showed some disposition to become communicative, narrating +various gifts and qualities of the unseemly looking animal, which, in +his eyes, was a paragon of horse flesh. "He could travel from here to +Kehl and back in a day, and has often done it," was one meed of praise +that he bestowed; a fact which impressed me more as regarded the rider +than the beast, and set my curiosity at work to think why any man should +undertake a journey of nigh seventy miles between two such places and +with such speed. The problem served to occupy me till dark, and I know +not how long after. A stormy night of rain and wind set in, and the +peasant, having bedded and foraged his cattle, lighted a rickety old +lantern and began to prepare for bed; for such I at last saw was the +meaning of a long crib, like a coffin, half-filled with straw and sheep +skins. A coarse loaf of black bread, some black forest cheese, and a +flask of Kleinthaler, a most candid imitation of vinegar, made their +appearance from a cupboard, and I did not disdain to partake of these +delicacies. + +My host showed no disposition to become more communicative over his +wine, and, indeed, the liquor might have excused any degree of reserve; +and no sooner was our meal over than, drawing a great woolen cap half +over his face, he rolled himself up in his sheep-skins, and betook +himself to sleep, if not with a good conscience, at least with a sturdy +volition that served just as well. + +Occasionally snatching a short slumber, or walking to and fro in the +roomy chamber, I passed several hours, when the splashing sound of +horses' feet, advancing up the miry road, attracted me. Several times +before that I had been deceived by noises which turned out to be the +effects of storm, but now, as I listened, I thought I could hear voices. +I opened the door, but all was dark outside; it was the inky hour before +daybreak, when all is wrapped in deepest gloom. The rain, too, was +sweeping along the ground in torrents. The sounds came nearer every +instant, and, at last, a deep voice shouted out, "Jacob." Before I could +awaken the sleeping peasant, to whom I judged this summons was +addressed, a horseman dashed up to the door and rode in; another as +quickly followed him, and closed the door. + +"Parbleu, D'Egville," said the first who entered, "we have got a rare +peppering!" + +"Even so," said the other, as he shook his hat, and threw off a cloak +perfectly soaked with rain; "à la guerre comme, à la guerre." + +This was said in French, when, turning toward me, the former said in +German, "Be active, Master Jacob; these nags have had a smart ride of +it." Then, suddenly, as the light flashed full on my features, he +started back, and said, "How is this--who are you?" + +A very brief explanation answered this somewhat uncourteous question, +and, at the same time, I placed the marquise's letter in his hand, +saying, "The Count de Marsanne, I presume?" + +He took it hastily, and drew nigh to the lantern to peruse it. I had now +full time to observe him, and saw that he was a tall and well-built man, +of about seven or eight-and-twenty. His features were remarkably +handsome, and, although slightly flushed by his late exertion, were as +calm and composed as might be; a short black mustache gave his upper lip +a slight character of scorn, but the brow, open, frank, and +good-tempered in its expression, redeemed this amply. He had not read +many lines when, turning about, he apologized in the most courteous +terms for the manner of my reception. He had been on a shooting +excursion for a few days back, and taken all his people with him, save +the peasant who looked after the cattle. Then, introducing me to his +friend, whom he called Count d'Egville, he led the way up-stairs. + +It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast to the dark and +dreary coach-house than the comfortable suite of apartments which we now +traversed on our way to a large, well-furnished room, where a table was +laid for supper, and a huge wood fire blazed brightly on the hearth. A +valet, of most respectful manner, received the count's orders to prepare +a room for me, after which my host and his friend retired to change +their clothes. + +Although D'Egville was many years older, and of a graver, sterner +fashion than the other, I could detect a degree of deference and respect +in his manner toward him, which De Marsanne accepted like one +well-accustomed to receive it. It was a time, however, when, in the +wreck of fortune, so many men lived in a position of mere dependence +that I thought nothing of this, nor had I even the time, as Count de +Marsanne entered. From my own preconceived notions as to his being +Laura's lover, I was quite prepared to answer a hundred impatient +inquiries about the marquise and her niece, and as we were now alone, I +judged that he would deem the time a favorable one to talk of them. What +was my surprise, however, when he turned the conversation exclusively to +the topic of my own journey, the route I had traveled. He knew the +country perfectly, and spoke of the various towns and their inhabitants +with acuteness and tact. + +His royalist leanings did not, like those of the marquise, debar him +from feeling a strong interest respecting the success of the republican +troops, with whose leaders he was thoroughly acquainted, knowing all +their peculiar excellences and defaults as though he had lived in +intimacy with them. Of Bonaparte's genius he was the most enraptured +admirer, and would not hear of any comparison between him and the other +great captains of the day. D'Egville at last made his appearance, and we +sat down to an excellent supper, enlivened by the conversation of our +host, who, whatever the theme, talked well and pleasingly. + +I was in a mood to look for flaws in his character, my jealousy was +still urging me to seek for whatever I could find fault with, and yet +all my critical shrewdness could only detect a slight degree of pride in +his manner, not displaying itself by any presumption, but by a certain +urbanity that smacked of condescension; but even this, at last, went +off, and before I wished him good-night, I felt that I had never met any +one so gifted with agreeable qualities, nor possessed of such +captivating manners, as himself. Even his royalism had its fascinations, +for it was eminently national, and showed, at every moment, that he was +far more of a Frenchman than a monarchist. We parted without one word of +allusion to the marquise or to Laura! Had this singular fact any +influence upon the favorable impression I had conceived of him, or was I +unconsciously grateful for the relief thus given to all my jealous +tormentings? Certain is it that I felt infinitely happier than I ever +fancied I should be under his roof, and, as I lay down in my bed, +thanked my stars that he was not my rival! + +When I awoke the next morning I was some minutes before I could remember +where I was, and as I still lay, gradually recalling myself to memory, +the valet entered to announce the count. + +"I have come to say adieu for a few hours," said he; "a very pressing +appointment requires me to be at Pfortzheim to-day, and I have to ask +that you will excuse my absence. I know that I may take this liberty +without any appearance of rudeness, for the marquise has told me all +about you. Pray, then, try and amuse yourself till evening, and we shall +meet at supper." + +I was not sorry that D'Egville was to accompany him, and, turning on my +side, dozed off to sleep away some of the gloomy hours of a winter's +day. + +In this manner several days were passed, the count absenting himself +each morning, and returning at nightfall, sometimes accompanied by +D'Egville, sometimes alone. It was evident enough, from the appearance +of his horses at his return, as well as from his own jaded looks, that +he had ridden hard and far; but except a chance allusion to the state of +the roads or the weather, it was a topic to which he never referred, +nor, of course, did I ever advert. Meanwhile our intimacy grew closer +and franker. The theme of politics, a forbidden subject between men so +separated, was constantly discussed between us, and I could not help +feeling flattered at the deference with which he listened to opinions +from one so much his junior, and so inferior in knowledge as myself. +Nothing could be more moderate than his views of government, only +provided that it was administered by the rightful sovereign. The claim +of a king to his throne he declared to be the foundation of all the +rights of property, and which, if once shaken or disputed, would +inevitably lead to the wildest theories of democratic equality. "I +don't want to convert you," would he say, laughingly, "the son of an old +_Garde du Corps_, the born gentleman, has but to live to learn. It may +come a little later or a little earlier, but you'll end as a good +monarchist." + +One evening he was unusually late in returning, and when he came was +accompanied by seven or eight companions, some younger, some older than +himself, but all men whose air and bearing bespoke their rank in life, +while their names recalled the thoughts of old French chivalry. I +remember among them was a Coigny, a Grammont, and Rouchefoucauld--the +last as lively a specimen of Parisian wit and brilliancy as ever +fluttered along the sunny Boulevards. + +De Marsanne, while endeavoring to enjoy himself and entertain his +guests, was, to my thinking, more serious than usual, and seemed +impatient at D'Egville's absence, for whose coming we now waited supper. + +"I should not wonder if he was lost in the deep mud of those +cross-roads," said Coigny. + +"Or perhaps he has fallen into the Republic," said Rouchefoucauld, "it's +the only thing dirtier that I know of." + +"Monsieur forgets that I wear its cloth," said I in a low whisper to +him; and low as it was De Marsanne overheard it. + +"Yes, Charles," cried he, "you must apologize, and on the spot, for the +rudeness." + +Rouchefoucauld reddened and hesitated. + +"I insist, sir," cried De Marsanne, with a tone of superiority I had +never seen him assume before. + +"Perhaps," said he, with a half-sneer, "Monsieur de Tiernay might refuse +to accept my excuses?" + +"In that case, sir," interposed De Marsanne, "the quarrel will become +mine, for he is _my_ guest, and lives here under the safeguard of _my_ +honor." + +Rouchefoucauld bowed submissively and with the air of a man severely but +justly rebuked; and then advancing to me, said, "I beg to tender you my +apology, monsieur, for an expression which should never have been +uttered by _me_ in _your_ presence." + +"Quite sufficient, sir," said I, bowing, and anxious to conclude a scene +which for the first time had disturbed the harmony of our meetings. +Slight as was the incident, its effects were yet visible in the +disconcerted looks of the party, and I could see that more than one +glance was directed toward me with an expression of coldness and +distrust. + +"Here comes D'Egville at last," said one, throwing open the window to +listen; the night was starlit, but dark, and the air calm and +motionless. "I certainly heard a horse's tread on the causeway." + +"I hear distinctly the sound of several," cried Coigny; "and, if I +mistake not much, so does M. de Tiernay." This sudden allusion turned +every eye toward me, as I stood still, suffering from the confusion of +the late scene. + +"Yes; I hear the tramp of horses, and cavalry, too, I should say, by +their measured tread." + +"There was a trumpet call!" cried Coigny; "what does that mean?" + +"It is the signal to take open order," said I, answering as if the +question were addressed to myself. "It is a picket taking a +'reconnaissance.'" + +"How do you know that, sir?" said Grammont, sternly. + +"Ay! how does he know that?" cried several, passionately, as they closed +around me. + +"You must ask in another tone, messieurs," said I calmly, "if you expect +to be answered." + +"They mean to say how do you happen to know the German trumpet-calls, +Tiernay," said De Marsanne, mildly, as he laid his hand on my arm. + +"It's a French signal," said I; "I ought to know it well." + +Before my words were well uttered the door was thrown open, and +D'Egville burst into the room, pale as death, his clothes all +mud-stained and disordered. Making his way through the others, he +whispered a few words in De Marsanne's ear. + +"Impossible!" cried the other; "we are here in the territory of the +margrave?" + +"It is as I say," replied D'Egville; "there's not a second to lose--it +may be too late even now--by heavens it is!--they've drawn a cordon +round the chateau." + +"What's to be done, gentlemen?" said De Marsanne, seating himself +calmly, and crossing his arms on his breast. + +"What do _you_ say, sir?" cried Grammont, advancing to me with an air of +insolent menace, "_you_, at least, ought to know the way out of this +difficulty." + +"Or, by Heaven, his own road shall be one of the shortest, considering +the length of the journey," muttered another, and I could hear the sharp +click of a pistol cock as he spoke the words. + +"This is unworthy of _you_, gentlemen, and of _me_," said De Marsanne, +haughtily; and he gazed around him with a look that seemed to abash +them, "nor is it a time to hold such disputation. There is another and a +very difficult call to answer. Are we agreed"--before he could finish +the sentence the door was burst open, and several dragoons in French +uniforms entered, and ranged themselves across the entrance, while a +colonel, with, his sabre drawn, advanced in front of them. + +"This is brigandage," cried De Marsanne, passionately, as he drew his +sword, and seemed meditating a spring through them; but he was +immediately surrounded by his friends and disarmed. Indeed nothing could +be more hopeless than resistance; more than double our number were +already in the room, while the hoarse murmur of voices without, and the +tramp of heavy feet, announced a strong party. + +At a signal from their officer, the dragoons unslung their carbines, and +held them at the cock when the colonel called out, "Which of you, +messieurs, is the Duc d'Enghien?" + +"If you come to arrest him," replied De Marsanne, "you ought to have his +description in your warrant." + +"Is the descendant of a Condé ashamed to own his name?" asked the +colonel, with a sneer. "But we'll make short work of it, sirs; I arrest +you all. My orders are peremptory, messieurs. If you resist, or attempt +to escape--" and he made a significant sign with his hand to finish. The +"Duc"--for I need no longer call him "De Marsanne"--never spoke a word, +but with folded arms calmly walked forward, followed by his little +household. As we descended the stairs, we found ourselves in the midst +of about thirty dismounted dragoons, all on the alert, and prepared for +any resistance. The remainder of the squadron were on horseback without. +With a file of soldiers on either hand we marched for about a quarter of +a mile across the fields to a small mill, where a general officer and +his staff seemed awaiting our arrival. Here, too, a picket of +gens-d'armes was stationed; a character of force significant enough of +the meaning of the enterprise. We were hurriedly marched into the court +of the mill, the owner of which stood between two soldiers, trembling +from head to foot with terror. + +"Which is the Duc D'Enghien?" asked the colonel of the miller. + +"That is he with the scarlet vest," and the prince nodded an assent. + +"Your age, monsieur?" asked the colonel of the prince. + +"Thirty-two--that is, I should have been so much in August, were it not +for this visit," said he, smiling. + +The colonel wrote on rapidly for a few minutes, and then showed the +paper to the general, who briefly said, "Yes, yes; this does not concern +you nor me." + +"I wish to ask, sir," said the prince, addressing the general, "do you +make this arrest with the consent of the authorities of this country, or +do you do so in defiance of them?" + +"You must reserve questions like that for the court who will judge you, +Monsieur de Condé," said the officer, roughly. "If you wish for any +articles of dress from your quarters, you had better think of them. My +orders are to convey you to Strassburg. Is there any thing so singular +in the fact, sir, that you should look so much astonished?" + +"There is, indeed," said the prince, sorrowfully. "I shall be the first +of my house who ever crossed that frontier a prisoner." + +"But not the first who carried arms against his country," rejoined the +other, a taunt the duke only replied to by a look of infinite scorn and +contempt. With a speed that told plainly the character of the +expedition, we were now placed, two together, on country cars, and +driven at a rapid pace toward Strassburg. Relays of cattle awaited us on +the road, and we never halted but for a few minutes during the entire +journey. My companion on this dreary day was the Baron de St. Jacques, +the aid-de-camp to the duke; but he never spoke once--indeed he scarcely +lifted his head during the whole road. + +Heaven knows it was a melancholy journey; and neither the country nor +the season were such as to lift the mind from sorrow; and yet, strange +enough, the miles glided over rapidly, and to this hour I can not +remember by what magic the way seemed so short. The thought that for +several days back I had been living in closest intimacy with a +distinguished prince of the Bourbon family, that we had spent hours +together discussing themes and questions which were those of his own +house; canvassing the chances and weighing the claims of which he was +himself the asserter--was a most exciting feeling. How I recalled now +all the modest deference of his manner--his patient endurance of my +crude opinions--his generous admissions regarding his adversaries--and, +above all, his ardent devotion to France, whatever the hand that swayed +her destinies; and then the chivalrous boldness of his character, +blended with an almost girlish tenderness--how princely were such +traits? + +From these thoughts I wandered on to others about his arrest and +capture, from which, however, I could not believe any serious issue was +to come. Bonaparte is too noble minded not to feel the value of such a +life as this. Men like the prince can be more heavily fettered by +generous treatment than by all the chains that ever bound a felon. But +what will be done with him?--what with his followers?--and lastly, not +at all the pleasantest consideration, what is to come of Maurice +Tiernay, who, to say the least, has been found in very suspicious +company, and without a shadow of an explanation to account for it? This +last thought just occurred to me as we crossed over the long bridge of +boats, and entered Strassburg. + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +AN "ORDINARY" ACQUAINTANCE. + +The Duc D'Enghien and his aid-de-camp were forwarded with the utmost +speed to Paris; the remainder of us were imprisoned at Strassburg. What +became of my companions I know not; but I was sent on, along with a +number of others, about a month later, to Nancy, to be tried by a +military commission. I may mention it here, as a singular fact +illustrating the secrecy of the period, that it was not till long after +this time I learned the terrible fate of the poor Prince de Condé. Had I +known it, it is more than probable that I should have utterly despaired +of my own safety. The dreadful story of Vincennes--the mock trial, and +the midnight execution--are all too well known to my readers; nor is it +necessary I should refer to an event, on which I myself can throw no new +light. That the sentence was determined on before his arrest--and that +the grave was dug while the victim was still sleeping the last slumber +before "the sleep that knows not waking"--the evidences are strong and +undeniable. But an anecdote which circulated at the time, and which, so +far as I know, has never appeared in print, would seem to show that +there was complicity, at least, in the crime, and that the secret was +not confined to the First Consul's breast. + +On that fatal night of the 20th March, Talleyrand was seated at a +card-table at Caulaincourt's house at Paris. The party was about to rise +from play, when suddenly the "pendule" on the chimney-piece struck two. +It was in one of those accidental pauses in the conversation when any +sound is heard with unusual distinctness. Talleyrand started, as he +heard it, and then turning to Caulaincourt, whispered, "Yes; 'tis all +over now?" words which, accidentally overheard, without significance, +were yet to convey a terrible meaning when the dreadful secret of that +night was disclosed. + +If the whole of Europe was convulsed by the enormity of this crime--the +foulest that stains the name of Bonaparte--the Parisians soon forgot it, +in the deeper interest of the great event that was now approaching--the +assumption of the imperial title by Napoleon. + +The excitement on this theme was so great and absorbing, that nothing +else was spoken or thought of. Private sorrows and afflictions were +disregarded and despised, and to obtrude one's hardships on the notice +of others seemed, at this juncture, a most ineffable selfishness. That +I, a prisoner, friendless and unknown as I was, found none to sympathize +with me or take interest in my fate, is, therefore, nothing +extraordinary. In fact, I appeared to have been entirely forgotten; and +though still in durance, nothing was said either of the charge to be +preferred against me, nor the time when I should be brought to trial. + +Giacourt, an old lieutenant of the marines, and at that time +deputy-governor of the Temple, was kind and good-natured toward me, +occasionally telling of the events which were happening without, and +giving me the hope that some general amnesty would, in all likelihood, +liberate all those whose crimes were not beyond the reach of mercy. The +little cell I occupied--and to Giacourt's kindness I owed the sole +possession of it--looked out upon the tall battlements of the outer +walls, which excluded all view beyond, and thus drove me within myself +for occupation and employment. In this emergency I set about to write +some notices of my life--some brief memoirs of those changeful fortunes +which had accompanied me from boyhood. Many of those incidents which I +relate now, and many of those traits of mind or temper that I recall, +were then for the first time noted down, and thus graven on my memory. + +My early boyhood, my first experiences as a soldier, the campaign of the +"Schwarzwald," Ireland, and Genoa, all were mentioned, and, writing as I +did, solely for myself and my own eyes, I set down many criticisms on +the generals, and their plans of campaign, which, if intended for the +inspection of others, would have been the greatest presumption and +impertinence, and in this way Moreau, Hoche, Massena, and even +Bonaparte, came in for a most candid and impartial criticism. + +How Germany might have been conquered; how Ireland ought to have been +invaded; in what way Italy should have been treated, and lastly, the +grand political error of the seizure of Duc D'Enghein, were subjects +that I discussed and determined with consummate boldness and +self-satisfaction. I am almost overwhelmed with shame, even now, as I +think of that absurd chronicle, with its rash judgments, its crude +opinions and its pretentious decisions. + +So fascinated had I become with my task, that I rose early to resume it +each morning, and used to fall asleep, cogitating on the themes for the +next day, and revolving within myself all the passages of interest I +should commemorate. A man must have known imprisonment to feel all the +value that can be attached to any object, no matter how mean or +insignificant, that can employ the thoughts, amuse the fancy, or engage +the affections. The narrow cell expands under such magic, the barred +casement is a free portal to the glorious sun and the free air; the +captive himself is but the student bending over his allotted task. To +this happy frame of mind had I come, without a thought or a wish beyond +the narrow walls at either side of me, when a sad disaster befell me. On +awaking one morning, as usual, to resume my labor, my manuscript was +gone! the table and writing materials, all had disappeared, and, to +increase my discomfiture, the turnkey informed me that Lieutenant +Giacourt had been removed from his post, and sent off to some inferior +station in the provinces. + +I will not advert to the dreary time which followed this misfortune, a +time in which the hours passed on unmeasured and almost unfelt. Without +speculation, without a wish, I passed my days in a stupid indolence akin +to torpor. Had the prison doors been open, I doubt if I should have had +the energy to make my escape. Life itself ceased to have any value for +me, but somehow I did not desire death. I was in this miserable mood +when the turnkey awoke me one day as I was dozing on my bed. "Get up and +prepare yourself to receive a visitor," said he. "There's an officer of +the staff without, come to see you;" and, as he spoke, a young, +slightly-formed man entered, in the uniform of a captain, who, making a +sign for the turnkey to withdraw, took his seat at my bedside. + +"Don't get up, monsieur; you look ill and weak, so, pray, let me not +disturb you," said he, in a voice of kindly meaning. + +"I am not ill," said I, with an effort, but my hollow utterance and my +sunken cheeks contradicted my words, "but I have been sleeping; I +usually doze at this hour." + +"The best thing a man can do in prison, I suppose," said he, smiling +good-naturedly. + +"No, not the best," said I, catching up his words too literally. "I used +to write the whole day long, till they carried away my paper and my +pens." + +"It is just of that very thing I have come to speak, sir," resumed he. +"You intended that memoir for publication!" + +"No; never." + +"Then for private perusal among a circle of friends." + +"Just as little. I scarcely know three people in the world who would +acknowledge that title." + +"You had an object, however, in composing it?" + +"Yes; to occupy thought; to save me from--from--" I hesitated, for I was +ashamed of the confession that nearly burst from me, and, after a pause, +I said, "from being such as I now am?" + +"You wrote it for yourself alone, then?" + +"Yes." + +"Unprompted; without any suggestions from another?" + +"Is it here?" said I, looking around my cell, "Is it here that I should +be likely to find a fellow-laborer?" + +"No; but I mean to ask, were the sentiments your own, without any +external influence, or any persuasions from others?" + +"Quite my own." + +"And the narrative is true?" + +"Strictly so, I believe." + +"Even to your meeting with the Duc D'Enghien. It was purely accidental?" + +"That is, I never knew him to be the duke till the moment of his +arrest?" + +"Just so; you thought he was merely a royalist noble. Then, why did you +not address a memoir to that effect to the minister?" + +"I thought it would be useless; when they made so little of a Condé, +what right had I to suppose they would think much about me?" + +"If _he_ could have proved his innocence"--he stopped, and then in an +altered voice said--"but as to this memoir, you assume considerable airs +of military knowledge in it, and many of the opinions smack of heads +older than yours." + +"They are, I repeat, my own altogether; as to their presumption, I have +already told you they were intended solely for my own eye." + +"So that you are not a royalist?" + +"No." + +"Never were one?" + +"Never." + +"In what way would you employ yourself, if set at liberty to-day." + +I stared, and felt confused; for however easy I found it to refer to the +past, and reason on it, any speculation as to the future was a +considerable difficulty. + +"You hesitate; you have not yet made up your mind, apparently?" + +"It is not that; I am trying to think of liberty, trying to fancy myself +free--but I can not!" said I, with a weary sigh; "the air of this cell +has sapped my courage and my energy--a little more will finish the +ruin!" + +"And yet you are not much above four or five-and-twenty years of age?" + +"Not yet twenty!" said I. + +"Come, come, Tiernay--this is too early to be sick of life!" said he, +and the kind tone touched me so that I burst into tears. They were +bitter tears, too; for while my heart was relieved by this gush of +feeling, I was ashamed at my own weakness. "Come, I say," continued he, +"this memoir of yours might have done you much mischief--happily it has +not done so. Give me the permission to throw it in the fire, and, +instead of it, address a respectful petition to the head of the state, +setting forth your services, and stating the casualty by which you were +implicated in royalism. I will take care that it meets his eye, and, if +possible, will support its prayer; above all, ask for reinstatement in +your grade, and a return to the service. It may be, perhaps, that you +can mention some superior officer who would vouch for your future +conduct." + +"Except Colonel Mahon." + +"Not the Colonel Mahon who commanded the 13th Cuirassiers?" + +"The same!" + +"That name would little serve you," said he, coldly, "he has been placed +'en retraite' some time back; and if your character can call no other +witness than him, your case is not too favorable." He saw that the +speech had disconcerted me, and soon added, "Never mind--keep to the +memoir; state your case, and your apology, and leave the rest to +fortune. When can you let me have it?" + +"By to-morrow--to-night, if necessary." + +"To-morrow will do well, and so good-by. I will order them to supply you +with writing materials;" and slapping me good-naturedly on the shoulder, +he cried, "Courage, my lad," and departed. + +Before I lay down to sleep that night, I completed my "memoir," the +great difficulty of which I found to consist in that dry brevity which I +knew Bonaparte would require. In this, however, I believe I succeeded at +last, making the entire document not to occupy one sheet of paper. The +officer had left his card of address, which I found was inscribed +Monsieur Bourrienne, Rue Lafitte, a name that subsequently was to be +well known to the world. + +I directed my manuscript to his care, and lay down with a lighter heart +than I had known for many a day. I will not weary my reader with the +tormenting vacillations of hope and fear which followed. Day after day +went over, and no answer came to me. I addressed two notes respectful, +but urgent, begging for some information as to my demand--none came. A +month passed thus, when, one morning, the governor of the Temple entered +my room with an open letter in his hand. + +"This is an order for your liberation, Monsieur de Tiernay," said he; +"you are free." + +"Am I reinstated in my grade?" asked I, eagerly. + +He shook his head, and said nothing. + +"Is there no mention of my restoration to the service?" + +"None, sir." + +"Then, what is to become of me--to what end am I liberated?" cried I, +passionately. + +"Paris is a great city, there is a wide world beyond it, and a man so +young as you are must have few resources, or he will carve out a good +career for himself." + +"Say, rather, he must have few resentments, sir," cried I, bitterly, "or +he will easily hit upon a bad one;" and with this, I packed up the few +articles I possessed, and prepared to depart. + +I remember it well; it was between two and three o'clock of the +afternoon, on a bright day in spring, that I stood on the Quai Voltaire, +a very small packet of clothes in a bundle in one hand, and a cane in +the other, something short of three louis in my purse, and as much +depression in my heart as ever settled down in that of a youth not full +nineteen. Liberty is a glorious thing, and mine had been periled often +enough, to give me a hearty appreciation of its blessing; but at that +moment, as I stood friendless and companionless in a great thoroughfare +of a great city, I almost wished myself back again within the dreary +walls of the Temple, for somehow it felt like home! It is true one must +have had a lonely lot in life before he could surround the cell of a +prison with such attributes as these! Perhaps I have more of the +cat-like affection for a particular spot than most men; but I do find +that I attach myself to the walls with a tenacity that strengthens as I +grow older, and like my brother parasite, the ivy, my grasp becomes more +rigid the longer I cling. + +If I know of few merely sensual gratifications higher than a lounge +through Paris, at the flood-tide of its population, watching the varied +hues and complexions of its strange inhabitants, displaying, as they do +in feature, air, and gesture, so much more of character and purpose than +other people, so also do I feel that there is something indescribably +miserable in being alone, unknown, and unnoticed in that vast throng, +destitute of means for the present, and devoid of hope for the future. + +Some were bent on business, some on pleasure; some were evidently bent +on killing time till the hour of more agreeable occupation should +arrive; some were loitering along, gazing at the prints in shop-windows, +or half-listlessly stopping to read at book-stalls. There was not only +every condition of mankind, from wealth to mendicancy, but every frame +of mind from enjoyment to utter "ennui," and yet I thought I could not +hit upon any one individual who looked as forlorn and cast away as +myself; however, there were many who passed me that day who would gladly +have changed fortune with me, but it would have been difficult to +persuade me of the fact, in the mood I then was. + +At the time I speak of, there was a species of cheap ordinary held in +the open air on the quay, where people of the humblest condition used to +dine; I need scarcely describe the fare; the reader may conceive what it +was, which, wine included, cost only four sous; a rude table without a +cloth; some wooden platters, and an iron rail to which the knives and +forks were chained, formed the "equipage," the cookery bearing a due +relation to the elegance of these "accessories." As for the company, if +not polite, it was certainly picturesque; consisting of laborers of the +lowest class, the sweepers of crossings, hackney-cab men out of employ, +that poorest of the poor who try to earn a livelihood by dragging the +Seine for lost articles, and finally, the motley race of idlers who +vacillate between beggary and ballad singing, with now and then a dash +at highway robbery for a "distraction;" a class, be it said without +paradox, which in Paris includes a considerable number of tolerably +honest folk. + +The moment was the eventful one, in which France was about once more to +become a monarchy, and as may be inferred from the character of the +people, it was a time of high excitement and enthusiasm. The nation, +even in its humblest citizen, seemed to feel some of the reflected glory +that glanced from the great achievements of Bonaparte, and his elevation +was little other than a grand manifestation of national self-esteem. +That he knew how to profit by this sentiment, and incorporate his own +with the country's glory, so that they seemed to be inseparable, is not +among the lowest nor the least of the efforts of his genius. + +The paroxysm of national vanity, for it was indeed no less, imparted a +peculiar character to the period. A vainglorious, boastful spirit was +abroad; men met each other with high sounding gratulations about French +greatness and splendor, the sway we wielded over the rest of Europe, and +the influence with which we impressed our views over the entire globe. +Since the fall of the monarchy there had been half-a-dozen national +fevers! There was the great Fraternal and Equality one; there was the +era of classical associations, with all their train of trumpery +affectation in dress and manner. + +Then came the conquering spirit, with the flattering spectacle of great +armies; and now, as if to complete the cycle, there grew up that +exaggerated conception of "France and her Mission," an unlucky phrase +that has since done plenty of mischief, which seemed to carry the nation +into the seventh heaven of overweening self-love. + +If I advert to this here, it is but passingly, neither stopping to +examine its causes nor seeking to inquire the consequences that ensued +from it, but, as it were, chronicling the fact as it impressed me as I +stood that day on the Quai Voltaire, perhaps the only unimpassioned +lounger along its crowded thoroughfare. + +Not even the ordinary "à quatre sous" claimed exemption from this +sentiment. It might be supposed that meagre diet and sour wine were but +sorry provocatives to national enthusiasm, but even they could minister +to the epidemic ardor, and the humble dishes of that frugal board +masqueraded under titles that served to feed popular vanity. Of this I +was made suddenly aware as I stood looking over the parapet into the +river, and heard the rude voices of the laborers as they called for +cutlets "à la Caire," potatoes "en Mamelouques," or roast beef "à la +Montenotte," while every goblet of their wine was tossed off to some +proud sentiment of national supremacy. + +Amused by the scene, so novel in all its bearings, I took my place at +the table, not sorry for the excuse to myself for partaking so humble a +repast. + +"Sacre bleu," cried a rough-looking fellow with a red night-cap set on +one side of the head, "make room there, we have the 'aristocrates' +coming down among us." + +"Monsieur is heartily welcome," said another, making room for me; "we +are only flattered by such proofs of confidence and esteem." + +"Ay, parbleu," cried a third. "The Empire is coming, and we shall be +well-bred and well-mannered. I intend to give up the river, and take to +some more gentlemanlike trade than drudging for dead men." + +"And I, I'll never sharpen any thing under a rapier or a dress-sword for +the court," said a knife-grinder; "we have been living like 'cannaille' +hitherto--nothing better." + +"À l'empire, à l'empire," shouted half-a-dozen voices in concert, and +the glasses were drained to the toast with a loud cheer. + +Directly opposite to me sat a thin, pale, mild-looking man, of about +fifty, in a kind of stuff robe, like the dress of a village curate. His +appearance, though palpably poor, was venerable and imposing--not the +less so, perhaps, from its contrast with the faces and gestures at +either side of him. Once or twice, while these ebullitions of enthusiasm +burst forth, his eyes met mine, and I read, or fancied that I read, a +look of kindred appreciation in their mild and gentle glance. The +expression was less reproachful than compassionate, as though in pity +for the ignorance rather than in reprobation for the folly. Now, +strangely enough, this was precisely the very sentiment of my own heart +at that moment. I remembered a somewhat similar enthusiasm for +republican liberty, by men just as unfitted to enjoy it; and I thought +to myself the Empire, like the Convention, or the Directory, is a mere +fabulous conception to these poor fellows, who, whatever may be the +regime, will still be hewers of wood and drawers of water, to the end of +all time. + +As I was pondering over this, I felt something touch my arm, and on +turning perceived that my opposite neighbor had now seated himself at my +side, and, in a low, soft voice, was bidding me "Good-day." After one or +two commonplace remarks upon the weather and the scene, he seemed to +feel that some apology for his presence in such a place was needful, for +he said: + +"You are here, monsieur, from a feeling of curiosity, that, I see well +enough; but I come for a very different reason. I am the pastor of a +mountain village of the Ardêche, and have come to Paris in search of a +young girl, the daughter of one of my flock, who, it is feared, has been +carried off by some evil influence from her home and her friends, to +seek fortune and fame in this rich capital; for she is singularly +beautiful and gifted too, sings divinely, and improvises poetry with a +genius that seems inspiration." + +There was a degree of enthusiasm, blended with simplicity, in the poor +curé's admiration for his "lost sheep" that touched me deeply. He had +been now three weeks in vain pursuit, and was at last about to return +homeward, discomfited and unsuccessful. "Lisette" was the very soul of +the little hamlet, and he knew not how life was to be carried on there +without her. The old loved her as a daughter; the young were rivals for +her regard. + +"And to me," said the père, "whom, in all the solitude of my lonely lot, +literature, and especially poetry, consoles many an hour of sadness or +melancholy--to me, she was like a good angel, her presence diffusing +light as she crossed my humble threshold, and elevating my thoughts +above the little crosses and accidents of daily life." + +So interested had I become in this tale, that I listened while he told +every circumstance of the little locality; and walking along at his +side, I wandered out of the city, still hearing of "La Marche," as the +village was called, till I knew the ford where the blacksmith lived, and +the miller with the cross wife, and the lame schoolmaster, and Pierre +the postmaster, who read out the _Moniteur_ each evening under the elms, +even to Jacques Fulgeron the "tapageur," who had served at Jemappes, +and, with his wounded hand and his waxed mustache, was the terror of all +peaceable folk. + +"You should come and see us, my dear monsieur," said he to me, as I +showed some more than common interest in the narrative. "You, who seem +to study character, would find something better worth the notice than +these hardened natures of city life. Come, and spend a week or two with +me, and if you do not like our people and their ways, I am but a sorry +physiognomist." + +It is needless to say that I was much flattered by this kind proof of +confidence and good-will; and, finally, it was agreed upon between us +that I should aid him in his search for three days, after which, if +still unsuccessful, we should set out together for La Marche. It was +easy to see that the poor curé was pleased at my partnership in the +task, for there were several public places of resort--theatres, +"spectacles," and the like--to which he scrupled to resort, and these he +now willingly conceded to my inspection, having previously given me so +accurate a description of La Lisette, that I fancied I should recognize +her among a thousand. If her long black eyelashes did not betray her, +her beautiful teeth were sure to do so; or, if I heard her voice, there +could be no doubt then; and, lastly, her foot would as infallibly +identify her as did Cinderella's. + +For want of better, it was agreed upon that we should make the +Restaurant à Quatre Sous our rendezvous each day, to exchange our +confidences and report progress. It will scarcely be believed how even +this much of a pursuit diverted my mind from its own dark dreamings, and +how eagerly my thoughts pursued the new track that was opened to them. +It was the utter listlessness, the nothingness of my life, that was +weighing me down; and already I saw an escape from this in the pursuit +of a good object. I could wager that the pastor of La Marche never +thought so intensely, so uninterruptedly, of Lisette as did I for the +four-and-twenty hours that followed! It was not only that I had created +her image to suit my fancy, but I had invented a whole narrative of her +life and adventures since her arrival in Paris. + +My firm conviction being that it was lost time to seek for her in +obscure and out-of-the-way quarters of the city, I thought it best to +pursue the search in the thronged and fashionable resorts of the gay +world, the assemblies and theatres. Strong in this conviction, I changed +one of my three gold pieces, to purchase a ticket for the opera. The +reader may smile at the sacrifice; but when he who thinks four sous +enough for a dinner, pays twelve francs for the liberty to be crushed in +the crowded parterre of a play-house, he is indeed buying pleasure at a +costly price. It was something more than a fifth of all I possessed in +the world, but, after all, my chief regret arose from thinking that it +left me so few remaining "throws of the dice" for "Fortune." + +I have often reflected since that day by what a mere accident I was +present, and yet the spectacle was one that I have never forgotten. It +was the last time the First Consul appeared in public, before his +assumption of the imperial title; and at no period through all his great +career was the enthusiasm more impassioned regarding him. He sat in the +box adjoining the stage--Cambaceres and Lebrun, with a crowd of others, +standing, and not sitting, around and behind his chair. When he +appeared, the whole theatre rose to greet him, and three several times +was he obliged to rise and acknowledge the salutations. And with what a +stately condescension did he make these slight acknowledgments!--what +haughtiness was there in the glance he threw around him. I have often +heard it said, and I have seen it also written, that previous to his +assumption of the crown, Bonaparte's manner exhibited the mean arts and +subtle devices of a candidate on the hustings, dispensing all the +flatteries and scattering all the promises that such occasions are so +prolific of. I can not, of course, pretend to contradict this statement +positively; but I can record the impression which that scene made upon +me as decidedly the opposite of this assumption. I have repeatedly seen +him since that event, but never do I remember his calm, cold features +more impassively stern, more proudly collected, than on that night. + +Every allusion of the piece that could apply to him was eagerly caught +up. Not a phrase nor a chance word that could compliment, was passed +over in silence; and if greatness and glory were accorded, as if by an +instinctive reverence, the vast assemblage turned toward him, to lay +their homage at his feet. I watched him narrowly, and could see that he +received them all as his rightful tribute, the earnest of the debt the +nation owed him. Among the incidents of that night, I remember one which +actually for the moment convulsed the house with its enthusiasm. One of +the officers of his suite had somehow ambled against Bonaparte's hat, +which, on entering, he had thrown carelessly beside his chair. Stooping +down and lifting it up, he perceived to whom it belonged, and then +remarking the mark of a bullet on the edge, he showed it significantly +to a general near him. Slight and trivial as was the incident, it was +instantly caught up by the _parterre_. A low murmur ran quickly around, +and then a sudden cheer burst forth, for some one remembered it was the +anniversary of Marengo! And now the excitement became madness, and +reiterated shouts proclaimed that the glory of that day was among the +proudest memories of France. For once, and once only, did any trait of +feeling show itself on that impassive face. I thought I could mark even +a faint tinge of color in that sallow cheek, as in recognition he bowed +a dignified salute to the waving and agitated assembly. + +I saw that proud face, at moments when human ambition might have seemed +to have reached its limit, and yet never with a haughtier look than on +that night I speak of. His foot was already on the first step of the +throne, and his spirit seemed to swell with the conscious force of +coming greatness. + +And Lisette, all this time? Alas, I had totally forgotten her! As the +enthusiasm around me began to subside, I had time to recover myself, and +look about me. There was much beauty and splendor to admire. Madame +Junot was there, and Mademoiselle de Bessieres, with a crowd of others +less known, but scarcely less lovely. Not one, however, could I see that +corresponded with my mind-drawn portrait of the peasant-beauty; and I +scanned each face closely and critically. There was female loveliness of +every type, from the dark-eyed beauty of Spanish race, to the almost +divine regularity of a Raffaelite picture. There was the brilliant +aspect of fashion, too; but nowhere could I see what I sought for! +nowhere detect that image which imagination had stamped as that of the +beauty of "La Marche." If disappointed in my great object, I left the +theatre with my mind full of all I had witnessed. The dreadful event of +Ettenheim had terribly shaken Bonaparte, in my esteem; yet how resist +the contagious devotion of a whole nation--how remain cold in the midst +of the burning zeal of all France? These thoughts brought me to the +consideration of myself. Was I, or was I not, any longer a soldier of +his army? or was I disqualified for joining in that burst of national +enthusiasm which proclaimed that all France was ready to march under his +banner? To-morrow I'll wait upon the Minister of War, thought I, or I'll +seek out the commanding officer of some regiment that I know, or, at +least, a comrade; and so I went on, endeavoring to frame a plan for my +guidance, as I strolled along the streets, which were now almost +deserted. The shops were all closed; of the hotels, such as were yet +open, were far too costly for means like mine; and so, as the night was +calm and balmy with the fresh air of spring, I resolved to pass it out +of doors. I loitered then along the Champs Elysees; and, at length, +stretching myself on the grass beneath the trees, lay down to sleep. "An +odd bedroom enough," thought I, "for one who has passed the evening at +the opera, and who has feasted his ears at the expense of his stomach." +I remembered, too, another night, when the sky had been my canopy in +Paris, when I slept beneath the shadow of the guillotine and the Place +de Grève. "Well," thought I, "times are at least changed for the better, +since that day; and my own fortunes are certainly not lower." + +This comforting reflection closed my waking memories, and I slept +soundly till morning. + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE "COUNT DE MAUREPAS," ALIAS ---- + +There is a wide gulf between him who opens his waking eyes in a splendid +chamber, and with half-drowsy thoughts speculates on the pleasures of +the coming day, and him, who, rising from the dew-moistened earth, +stretches his aching limbs for a second or so, and then hurries away to +make his toilet at the nearest fountain. + +I have known both conditions, and yet, without being thought +paradoxical, I would wish to say that there are some sensations +attendant on the latter and the humbler lot which I would not exchange +for all the voluptuous ease of the former. Let there be but youth and +there is something of heroism, something adventurous in the notion of +thus alone and unaided breasting the wide ocean of life, and, like a +hardy swimmer, daring to stem the roughest breakers without one to +succor him, that is worth all the security that even wealth can impart, +all the conscious ease that luxury and affluence can supply. In a world +and an age like ours, thought I, there must surely be some course for +one young, active, and daring as I am. Even if France reject me there +are countries beyond the seas where energy and determination will open a +path. "Courage, Maurice," said I, as I dashed the sparkling water over +my head, "the past has not been all inglorious, and the future may prove +even better." + +A roll and a glass of iced water furnished my breakfast, after which I +set forth in good earnest on my search. There was a sort of +self-flattery in the thought that one so destitute as I was could devote +his thoughts and energies to the service of another, that pleased me +greatly. It was so "unselfish"--at least I thought so. Alas, and alas! +how egotistical are we when we fancy ourselves least so. That day I +visited St. Roche and Notre Dame at early mass, and by noon reached the +Louvre, the gallery of which occupied me till the hour of meeting the +curé drew nigh. + +Punctual to his appointment, I found him waiting for me at the corner of +the quay, and although disappointed at the failure of all his efforts, +he talked away with all the energy of one who would not suffer himself +to be cast down by adverse fortune. "I feel," said he, "a kind of +instinctive conviction that we shall find her yet. There is something +tells me that all our pains shall not go unrewarded. Have you never +experienced a sensation of this kind--a species of inward prompting to +pursue a road, to penetrate into a pass, or to explore a way, without +exactly knowing why or wherefore?" + +This question, vague enough as it seemed, led me to talk about myself +and my own position; a theme which, however much I might have shrunk +from introducing, when once opened, I spoke of in all the freedom of old +friendship. + +Nothing could be more delicate than the priest's manner during all this +time; nor even when his curiosity was highest did he permit himself to +ask a question or an explanation of any difficulty that occurred; and +while he followed my recital with a degree of interest that was most +flattering, he never ventured on a word or dropped a remark that might +seem to urge me to greater frankness. "Do you know," said he, at last, +"why your story has taken such an uncommon hold upon my attention. It is +not from its adventurous character, nor from the stirring and strange +scenes you have passed through. It is because your old pastor and guide, +the Père Delamoy, was my own dearest friend, my school companion and +playfellow from infancy. We were both students at Louvain together; both +called to the priesthood on the same day. Think, then, of my intense +delight at hearing his dear name once more; ay, and permit me to say it, +hearing from the lips of another the very precepts and maxims that I can +recognize as his own. "Ah, yes! _mon cher_ Maurice," cried he, grasping +my hand in a burst of enthusiasm, "disguise it how you may, cover it up +under the uniform of a 'Bleu,' bury it beneath the shako of the soldier +of the Republic, but the head and the heart will turn to the ancient +altars of the Church and the Monarchy. It is not alone that your good +blood suggests this, but all your experience of life goes to prove it. +Think of poor Michel, self-devoted, generous, and noble-hearted; think +of that dear cottage at Kuffstein, where, even in poverty, the dignity +of birth and blood threw a grace and an elegance over daily life; think +of Ettenheim and the glorious prince--the last Condé--and who now sleeps +in his narrow bed in the fosse of Vincennes!" + +"How do you mean?" said I, eagerly, for up to this time I knew nothing +of his fate. + +"Come along with me and you shall know it all," said he; and, rising, he +took my arm, and we sauntered along out of the crowded street, till we +reached the Boulevards. He then narrated to me every incident of the +midnight trial, the sentence, and the execution. From the death-warrant +that came down ready-filled from Paris, to the grave dug while the +victim was yet sleeping, he forgot nothing; and I own that my very blood +ran cold at the terrible atrocity of that dark murder. It was already +growing dusk when he had finished, and we parted hurriedly, as he was +obliged to be at a distant quarter of Paris by eight o'clock, again +agreeing to meet, as before, on the Quai Voltaire. + +From that moment till we met the following day the Duc D'Enghien was +never out of my thoughts, and I was impatient for the priest's presence +that I might tell him every little incident of our daily life at +Ettenheim, the topics we used to discuss, and the opinions he expressed +on various subjects. The eagerness of the curé to listen stimulated me +to talk on, and I not only narrated all that I was myself a witness of, +but various other circumstances which were told to me by the prince +himself; in particular an incident he mentioned to me one day of being +visited by a stranger who came, introduced by a letter from a very +valued friend; his business being to propose to the duke a scheme for +the assassination of Bonaparte. At first the prince suspected the whole +as a plot against himself, but on further questioning he discovered that +the man's intentions were really such as he professed them, and offered +his services in the conviction that no price could be deemed too high to +reward him. It is needless to say that the offer was rejected with +indignation, and the prince dismissed the fellow with the threat of +delivering him up to the government of the French Consul. The pastor +heard this anecdote with deep attention, and, for the first time, +diverging from his line of cautious reserve, he asked me various +questions as to when the occurrence had taken place, and where? If the +Prince had communicated the circumstance to any other than myself, and +whether he had made it the subject of any correspondence. I knew little +more than I had already told him: that the offer was made while residing +at Ettenheim, and during the preceding year, were facts, however, that I +could remember. + +"You are surprised, perhaps," said he, "at the interest I feel in all +this, but, strangely enough, there is here in Paris at this moment one +of the great 'Seigneurs' of the Ardèche; he has come up to the capital +for medical advice, and he was a great, perhaps the greatest friend of +the poor duke. What if you were to come and pay him a visit with me, +there is not probably one favor the whole world could bestow he would +value so highly. You must often have heard his name from the prince; has +he not frequently spoken of the Count de Maurepas?" I could not remember +having ever heard the name. "It is historical, however," said the curé, +"and even in our own days has not derogated from its ancient chivalry. +Have you not heard how a noble of the court rode postillion to the +king's carriage on the celebrated escape from Varennes? Well, even for +curiosity's sake, he is worth a visit, for this is the very Count Henry +de Maurepas, now on the verge of the grave!" + +If the good curé had known me all my life he could not more successfully +have baited a trap for my curiosity. To see and know remarkable people, +men who had done something out of the ordinary route of every-day life, +had been a passion with me from boyhood. Hero-worship was indeed a great +feature in my character, and has more or less influenced all my career, +nor was I insensible to the pleasure of doing a kind action. It was +rare, indeed, that one so humbly placed could ever confer a favor, and I +grasped with eagerness the occasion to do so. We agreed, then, on the +next afternoon, toward nightfall, to meet at the quay, and proceed +together to the count's residence. I have often reflected, since that +day, that Lisette's name was scarcely ever mentioned by either of us +during this interview; and yet, at the time, so preoccupied were my +thoughts, I never noticed the omission. The Chateau of Ettenheim, and +its tragic story, filled my mind to the exclusion of all else. + +I pass over the long and dreary hours that intervened, and come at once +to the time, a little after sunset, when we met at our accustomed +rendezvous. + +The curé had provided a "fiacre" for the occasion, as the count's +residence was about two leagues from the city, on the way to Belleville. +As we trotted along, he gave me a most interesting account of the old +noble, whose life had been one continued act of devotion to the +monarchy. + +"It will be difficult," said he, "for you to connect the poor, worn-out, +shattered wreck before you, with all that was daring in deed and +chivalrous in sentiment; but the 'Maurepas' were well upheld in all +their glorious renown, by him who is now to be the last of the race! You +will see him reduced by suffering and sickness, scarcely able to speak, +but be assured that you will have his gratitude for this act of true +benevolence." Thus chatting we rattled along over the paved highway, and +at length entered upon a deep clay road which conducted us to a spacious +park, with a long straight avenue of trees, at the end of which stood +what, even in the uncertain light, appeared a spacious chateau. The door +lay open, and as we descended a servant in plain clothes received us, +and, after a whispered word or two from the curé ushered us along +through a suite of rooms into a large chamber furnished like a study. +There were book shelves well filled, and a writing table covered with +papers and letters, and the whole floor was littered with newspapers and +journals. + +A lamp, shaded by a deep gauze cover, threw a half light over every +thing, nor was it until we had been nearly a couple of minutes in the +room that we became aware of the presence of the count, who lay upon a +sofa covered up in a fur pelisse, although the season was far advanced +in spring. + +His gentle "good evening, messieurs," was the first warning we had of +his presence, and the curé, advancing respectfully, presented me as his +young friend, Monsieur de Tiernay. + +"It is not the first time that I hear that name," said the sick man, +with a voice of singular sweetness. "It is chronicled in the annals of +our monarchy. Ay, sir, I knew that faithful servant of his king, who +followed his master to the scaffold." + +"My father," cried I, eagerly. + +"I knew him well," continued he. "I may say, without vaunting, that I +had it in my power to befriend him, too. He made an imprudent marriage; +he was unfortunate in the society his second wife's family threw him +among. They were not his equals in birth, and far beneath him in +sentiment and principle. Well, well," sighed he, "this is not a theme +for me to speak of, nor for you to hear; tell me of yourself. The curé +says that you have had more than your share of worldly vicissitudes. +There, sit down, and let me hear your story from your own lips." + +He pointed to a seat at his side, and I obeyed him at once, for, +somehow, there was an air of command even in the gentlest tones of his +voice, and I felt that his age and his sufferings were not the only +claims he possessed to influence those around him. + +With all the brevity in my power, my story lasted for above an hour, +during which time the count only interrupted me once or twice by asking +to which Colonel Mahon I referred, as there were two of the name? and +again, by inquiring in what circumstances the _emigré_ families were +living as to means, and whether they appeared to derive any of their +resources from France? These were points I could give no information +upon, and I plainly perceived that the count had no patience for a +conjecture, and that, where positive knowledge failed, he instantly +passed on to something else. When I came to speak of Ettenheim his +attention became fixed, not suffering the minutest circumstance to +escape him, and even asking for the exact description of the locality, +and its distance from the towns in the neighborhood. + +The daily journeys of the prince, too, interested him much, and once or +twice he made me repeat what the peasant had said of the horse being +able to travel from Strassburg without a halt. I vow it puzzled me why +he should dwell on these points in preference to others of far more +interest, but I set them down to the caprices of illness, and thought no +more of them. His daily life, his conversation, the opinions he +expressed about France, the questions he used to ask, were all matters +he inquired into, till, finally, we came to the anecdote of the +meditated assassination of Bonaparte. This he made me tell him twice +over, each time asking me eagerly whether, by an effort of memory, I +could not recall the name of the man who had offered his services for +the deed? This I could not; indeed I knew not if I had ever heard it. + +"But the prince rejected the proposal?" said he, peering at me beneath +the dark shadow of his heavy brow; "he would not hear of it?" + +"Of course not," cried I; "he even threatened to denounce the man to the +government." + +"And do you think that he would have gone thus far, sir?" asked he, +slowly. + +"I am certain of it. The horror and disgust he expressed when reciting +the story were a guarantee for what he would have done." + +"But yet Bonaparte has been a dreadful enemy to his race," said the +count. + +"It is not a Condé can right himself by a murder," said I as calmly. + +"How I like that burst of generous royalism, young man!" said he, +grasping my hand and shaking it warmly. "That steadfast faith in the +honor of a Bourbon is the very heart and soul of loyalty!" + +Now, although I was not, so far as I knew of, any thing of a +Royalist--the cause had neither my sympathy nor my wishes--I did not +choose to disturb the equanimity of a poor sick man by a needless +disclaimer, nor induce a discussion which must be both unprofitable and +painful. + +"How did the fellow propose the act? had he any accomplices? or was he +alone?" + +"I believe quite alone." + +"Of course suborned by England? Of that there can be no doubt." + +"The prince never said so." + +"Well, but, it is clear enough, the man must have had means; he traveled +by a very circuitous route; he had come from Hamburg, probably?" + +"I never heard." + +"He must have done so. The ports of Holland, as those of France, would +have been too dangerous for him. Italy is out of the question." + +I owned that I had not speculated so deeply on the matter. + +"It was strange," said he, after a pause, "that the duke never mentioned +who had introduced the man to him." + +"He merely called him a valued friend." + +"In other words, the Count D'Artois," said the count; "did it not strike +you so?" + +I had to confess it had not occurred to me to think so. + +"But reflect a little," said he. "Is there any other living who could +have dared to make such a proposal but the count? Who, but the head of +his house, could have presumed on such a step? No inferior could have +had the audacity! It must have come from one so highly placed, that +crime paled itself down to a mere measure of expediency, under the +loftiness of the sanction. What think you?" + +"I can not, I will not think so", was my answer. "The very indignation of +the prince's rejection refutes the supposition." + +"What a glorious gift is unsuspectfulness," said he, feelingly. "I am a +rich man, and you, I believe, are not so; and yet, I'd give all my +wealth, ay, ten times told, not for your vigor of health, not for the +lightness of your heart, nor the elasticity of your spirits, but for +that one small quality, defect though it be, that makes you trustful and +credulous." + +I believe I would just as soon that the old gentleman had thought fit to +compliment me upon any other quality. Of all my acquisitions, there was +not one I was so vain of as my knowledge of life and character. I had +seen, as I thought, so much of life! I had peeped at all ranks and +conditions of men, and it was rather hard to find an old country +gentleman, a "Seigneur de Village," calling me credulous and +unsuspecting! + +I was much more pleased when he told the curé that a supper was ready +for us in the adjoining room, at which he begged we would excuse his +absence; and truly a most admirable little meal it was, and served with +great elegance. + +"The count expects you to stop here; there is a chamber prepared for +you," said the curé, as we took our seats at table. "He has evidently +taken a fancy to you. I thought, indeed I was quite certain, he would. +Who can tell what good fortune this chance meeting may lead to, Monsieur +Maurice! A votre sante, mon cher!" cried he, as he clinked his champagne +glass against mine, and I at last began to think that destiny was about +to smile on me. + +"You should see his Chateau in the Ardêche; this is nothing to it! There +is a forest, too, of native oak, and a 'Chasse' such as royalty never +owned!" + +Mine were delightful dreams that night; but I was sorely disappointed on +waking to find that Laura was not riding at my side through a +forest-alley, while a crowd of "Piqueurs" and huntsmen galloped to and +fro, making the air vibrate with their joyous bugles. Still, I opened my +eyes in a richly-furnished chamber, and a Jaques handed me my coffee on +a silver stand, and in a cup of costliest Sèvres. + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF COLTON, THE AUTHOR OF "LACON." + + +Colton was remarkable for the extent and profundity of his talents, the +various mutations of fortune, self-entailed, which he underwent, and for +his inordinate addiction to a vice of all others the most degrading and +destructive to intellectual strength--who was yet great in intellect and +purpose amidst all the strange vicissitudes of which he was the +self-constituted victim, and beneath the pressure of moral and physical +degradation which he would never have undergone but for the influence of +one fatal and overwhelming passion. One of the very first objects of my +boyish reverence and veneration was, as might be expected with a child +religiously educated, the parson of the parish in the market town where +I was brought up. Parson C----, who, I believe, held the benefice of St. +Peter's in my native place, was a man whom, having once known, it was +not very easy to forget. I could have been hardly six years of age when +I first saw him without his canonical garb, on which occasion he was +playing a trout on the end of his line under one of the weirs in the +river Exe. At that time the town was pretty well stocked with French +prisoners. The jails were crammed with the miserable soldiery of +Napoleon's generals, captured in the Peninsular war, then raging, and +numbers of French officers on parole were installed with the +housekeepers of the place in the capacity of lodgers. With these our +all-accomplished divine was almost the only man in the place who could +hold converse. A part of my father's house was occupied by a couple of +Gallic strangers, to whom the parson's visits were many and frequent. As +they dined at the common table, their society, together with that of the +reverend gentleman, was shared by the whole family, and we thus became +more intimate with him than we otherwise should. It is said that +familiarity breeds contempt. Certain it is that my father's veneration +for the character of his and our spiritual guide and instructor suffered +considerable declension from his closer acquaintance. Still, what he +lost in reverence he perhaps gained in another way. His kind, agreeable, +and social manners won the admiration and good-will of the whole family, +and though he had a good many enemies in the town, we could not be of +the number. He was a man of eccentric manners and fine genius, and, +though then but young, had given proofs of talent of no mean order. He +had published a rather bulky poem on the subject of Hypocrisy, a subject +with which his detractors were not slow to observe he ought to be very +well acquainted. But he was not really a hypocrite in the true sense of +the word, if indeed, as may be questioned, he deserved the imputation at +all. He was rather the subject of ever-varying impulses, under the +instigation of which, were they good or bad, he would instinctively +proceed to act without consideration and without restraint. He would be +eloquent as Demosthenes in the pulpit in praise of the Christian +virtues, and would work himself into a passion of tears on behalf of +some benevolent or charitable purpose, the claims of which he would +enforce with the most irresistible appeals to the conscience; and the +next day he would gallop after the fox with a pack of hounds, fish, +shoot, or fight a main, in company with sporting blacklegs, bruisers, +dicers, _et hoc genus omne_. But he never made any personal pretensions +to religious sentiment that I am aware of, except on one occasion, +which, as it tends greatly to illustrate the true character of the man, +I shall relate. + +Among the companions of his sporting pursuits was a country squire of +the neighborhood, a dissolute and drunken specimen of a class of men of +which, fortunately for humanity, the present generation knows but +little. He had ruined his fortune and nearly beggared his family by +extravagance and intemperance, when, after a long course of +uninterrupted and abused health and vigor, he was laid by the heels upon +a sick bed, from which the doctors had no hopes of ever releasing him. +In this dilemma he sent for Parson C----, who appeared forthwith in the +chamber of the sick man, and was beginning to mutter over the service +for the visitation of the sick, when the latter, belching forth a volley +of oaths and curses, swore that he did not send for him for any such +purpose; that what he wanted was an acknowledgment from the parson's own +lips of the fact which all parsons' lives declared--that their religion, +and all religion was a lie. This was an admission which C---- declined +to make. A horrible scene ensued, of impotent rage and blasphemy on one +part, and shame and confusion on the other. It ended in the death of the +frantic and despairing drunkard, in the very presence of his ghostly +adviser, whom he cursed with his last breath. This deplorable climax to +such a scene of horror, it may be readily imagined, had a powerful +effect upon the impulsive and excitable nature of poor C----. He left +the chamber of such a death an altered man, and, proceeding homeward, +shut himself up in his closet. On the following Sunday morning he took +occasion to preach impressively, from the most solemn text he could +select, upon the uncertainty of life. In the course of his sermon, he +called upon all present to prepare for the doom which none could +escape--which, inexorable to all, might be immediate to any, and +therefore demanded instant and energetic preparation. He wound up his +discourse with the extraordinary declaration that he, for one, had made +up his mind upon the subject; that he had seen the error of his ways, +and determined to abandon them; and that he was resolved thenceforth, +with God's help, to devote the rest of his remaining life to his own +preparation, and theirs, for the dreaded hour. He then called upon his +auditors to bear witness to the resolution he had expressed, and to aid +him in carrying it out. There was something like a commotion even in the +church when this announcement was concluded; and the sensation and +excitement it occasioned in the town, for some time after, only subsided +as the parson's resolution waned in strength, and its effects became +less and less observable. For some months he held fast to his purpose +with the most laudable tenacity. It was in the spring of the year that +he made his public declaration; and though the old friends of his +follies laughed at it, and laid heavy wagers against his perseverance, +he held on his way steadily--He began a course of pastoral +visitation--sought out and relieved the poor and afflicted--parted with +his fishing-tackle, and commenced an enthusiastic canvass for a +dispensary for the poor. Of his old friends among the "ungodly," and his +old enemies among the pious, few knew what to make of it. The Parson +C---- of old time was no more; but, in his place, a new man with the +same face was every where active in the cause of charity and Christian +benevolence. Those who knew him best doubted most of his stability and +among these, I remember my father's expressing his conviction that the +reformation was "too hot to hold." So it turned out in the end. Three, +four, five months of exemplary conduct, and then came the first symptom +of declension, in the shape of the parson's gray horse harnessed to a +dog-cart, with his gun and brace of pointers, in charge of a groom, the +whole "turn-out" ready for starting, and waiting at the entrance of the +church-yard on Sunday evening, the last night of August, to carry the +parson, so soon as service was over, to a celebrated shooting-ground, +five-and-twenty miles off, that he might be on the spot, ready by dawn +for the irresistible 1st of September. Those who prophesied from this +demonstration a return to old habits had speedy occasion to pride +themselves upon their augury. + +The Sampford Ghost soon after came upon the stage, with his mysterious +knockings and poundings; and defied all objurgations and exorcisms, save +and except those of Parson C----, at the sound of whose classical Greek, +or gibberish, as it might happen, he absconded to the bottom of the Red +Sea, as in duty bound. Here was food for wonder and gaping superstition, +to which the reverend divine condescended to pander, by the publication +of a pamphlet supporting the supernatural view of the subject, which, +being on a marvelous topic, sold marvelously well, and brought grist to +the clerical mill. + +Of the subsequent career of this eccentric genius, from the time I +ceased to reside in Devonshire to that when I encountered him in Paris I +have no personal knowledge. I only know that he afterward obtained a +benefice in the neighborhood of London; that in the year 1820 he +published a work which has run through many editions, is in high repute +with a certain class of readers, and is said by competent judges to +manifest a profound practical acquaintance with the philosophy of the +mind, and to contain more original views in relation to that science +than any other work of equal dimensions. + +I have already hinted that my vocation as a teacher of English +introduced me to a new order of French humanity. Among the various +pupils who sought my cheap assistance in the promotion of their studies +was one Maubert, a young fellow of four or five and twenty, who was +contemplating a removal to London in the exercise of his profession, +which was neither more nor less than that of a gambler. He had a +relative in one of the hells at St. James's, who had offered him a +lucrative engagement so soon as he was sufficiently master of English to +be enabled to undertake it. I was astonished to find a person of such +mild, meek, and almost effeminate manners engaged in such a pursuit, and +still more to hear that he had been brought up to it from boyhood, and +was but following in the steps of his father, who was employed in the +same establishment in a situation of great trust and responsibility. + +In the course of our bilingual conversations, I made no scruple of +expressing my perfect horror of gambling, at which he appeared to be +heartily amused, and attributed the feeling I manifested not so much to +moral principle as to constitutional peculiarity. It soon became +apparent to me that he had not himself the slightest idea of disgrace or +discredit as attachable to the profession of a gambler, so long as it +was carried on upon principles of honesty and fair-play. "What is +gambling," said he, "after all, but a species of exchange, skill for +skill, or chance for chance? It is true, there is no solid merchandise +in question; but, since you are determined to consider it in a moral +point of view, what, let me ask, does the merchant or the shopkeeper +care for the goods that pass through his hands? Is not his sole object +to profit by the transfer? Does he not speculate to gain? and is not all +speculation, morally considered, gambling? Now, all the professed +gamester does is to get rid of the lumbering medium of +trading-speculations--to clear the game, which all men are willing to +play, of the cumbrous machinery that clogs its movements when played +upon commercial principles, and to bring it to a crisis and a close at +once. You talk of the misery and ruin entailed upon families by +gambling; but depend upon it the same men who ruin themselves and +families by play would do precisely the same thing were there no such +thing as play. For one Frenchman ruined by hazard, ten Englishmen are +ruined by commerce. In fact, as a people, you gamble much more than we +do, though in a different way; and when you choose to gamble _as_ we do, +you do it to much greater extent, and with a recklessness to which our +habits in that respect afford no parallel. There is an Englishman now in +Paris who has repeatedly won and lost ten thousand francs at a sitting, +and whom you may see, if you choose to come with me, any evening you +like." + +"What is his name?" I demanded. + +"C----. He is a priest, too, I have heard, and of course, when at home, +a preacher of morality." + +"Well," said I, "with your permission, I shall be glad to have a look at +him." + +"Very well; you shall dine with me to-morrow at the Salon Français. Meet +me there at six, and then, after dinner, I will accompany you." + +"Agreed." + +And so it came to pass that, about nine o'clock on the following +evening--for we had dined at most gentlemanly leisure, and followed up +the dinner with a complete debauch of sugared water--I entered, for the +first time, one of the saloons devoted to gambling on the first floor of +the Palais Royal. There was not so great and gorgeous display of taste +and expenditure as I had expected to see; though every thing was +substantial and elegant, nothing was pretentious or superb. Tables +arranged with a view to convenience rather than order or regularity, and +covered with the means and materials of gaming, were surrounded, on +three sides, by persons already engaged at the sport. We passed through +several rooms thus furnished, and more or less tumultuously filled. +Hazard appeared to be the most favorite game; as I noticed during my +stay that the tables where that was played were first in full +occupation, and throughout the evening were more crowded than others. +Maubert led me to a room, which must have been the fifth or sixth we +entered, and, pointing to a table at the further end, upon the centre of +which rose a brazen dragon, with a pair of emerald eyes, a yawning, +cavernous jaw, and a ridgy tail, whose voluminous folds coiled round a +column of polished steel--told me that there I should find my man in the +course of the evening, though I should have to wait for him, as he had +not yet arrived. He informed me that I could act as I chose, without +being questioned; and then took his leave, as his services were wanted +in his own department. I amused myself for nearly a couple of hours in +contemplating, _en philosophe_, the scene before me. I had heard and +read much of gamblers and gambling, and here they were in multitudes to +test the truth or falsity of my impressions. I noticed particularly +that, while the younger players acted throughout as though gaming were a +frolic, and welcomed both their gains and losses with a joke or a laugh, +the older hands maintained a perfect silence, and accepted the decrees +of fortune without betraying the least emotion. The table near which I +stood was appropriated to the following purpose: A ball, or rather solid +polygon, of near a hundred sides, each side colored blue, red, or black, +was dropped into the mouth of the dragon; and while it was rolling +audibly through the long folds of its tail, the players placed what sums +they chose upon red, blue, or black-colored spaces on the table. +Whatever color the ball, upon emerging from the tail and finally +resting, showed uppermost, was the winning color; the rest lost. The +first operation of the manager, after each throw, was to rake into the +bank in front of him the several amounts placed on the losing colors, +after which he paid the winners, doubling the stake for black, trebling +it for red, and multiplying it by five for the blue. Most of the young +players began upon the black; but whether they won or lost, and the +chance was equal for either fate, they invariably migrated to the other +colors; or, in other words, doubled or quintupled their stakes as their +passions became heated by play. The old ones, on the contrary, kept +mostly to one color; and, in pursuance of some cunningly-concocted plan, +frequently consulted pricked or penciled cards, upon which they had +perhaps made previous calculations, or chronicled the course of play as +it went on. The physiognomy of these old stagers certainly afforded a +rich variety of exceedingly ugly faces. Disappointment, however, was not +the prevailing expression; and, from what I observed of the general +manifestation of their hardened visages, I was led to the conclusion +that your calculating gambler, who has his passions under control, is +_not_, in the long-run, a loser, but the contrary; and that the support +of the bank, and the whole establishment, is derived from the swarming +flights of raw, inexperienced, and uncalculating pigeons which every day +brings to be plucked. One old fellow walked off with a bag of five-franc +pieces, which could not have been worth less than twenty pounds English, +accumulated in little more than half an hour; and others pocketed +various smaller sums, and then withdrew. An English gentleman lost +several five-pound notes in succession on the blue, and, continuing the +stake, recovered them all with a profit. An Irishman who had been +playing for silver on the black, attempted to do the same; but his heart +failed him, or else his pocket, after the loss of his second note, and +with a guttural oath, he retired in a rage. To win at gaming, it would +seem from such examples, requires but a large amount of courage and +capital; and it must be from this fact alone that, where the game, +whatever it be, is fairly played, the bank which has the courage to +challenge all the world, and unlimited capital to support the challenge, +is so largely the gainer. The natural advantage of the bank may, +however, be met by calculation and cautious adherence to system in +playing; and instances are not wanting where the bank, though well +stocked, has been broken, and the whole funds carried off, through the +success of a deep-laid scheme. + +While I was indulging in these speculations, in which I have no desire +that the reader should place implicit faith, the personage whom my +curiosity had led me hither to meet, entered the room, and made toward +the place where I stood. The long interval that had elapsed since I last +saw him had effected such an alteration in his appearance that it is +probable, that, had I not been expecting him, he would have passed +unrecognized. As it was, the first glance assured me of his identity. +From added years, or from long-enduring sedentary habits, he had +acquired a slight stoop, and the old sprightly elasticity of step had +given place to the sober foot-fall of mature age; but the face, though +of a somewhat darker hue, and now lined with faint furrows, bore the +same contour and much of the same expression as of yore. There was the +same classic and intellectual profile, and the same commonplace and +rather sordid indications in the full face, which had formerly given +rise to the saying among his flock, that "The parson had two faces, one +for Sundays and one for working days." He took his seat at the left-hand +of the money-raker, and, presenting a paper, probably a check or foreign +note, received a pile of gold and silver, which he spread before him. I +had intended to watch his game, and perhaps, if occasion offered, to +speak to him; but the sight of the very man from whose lips my infant +ears had caught the first accents of public worship, preparing to take +part in the debasing orgies of the pandemonium in which I stood, so +revolted my feelings--and his action, as he bent over his pocket-book in +search of something he wanted, brought so forcibly to my recollection +his old gestures in the pulpit--that I resolved to spare myself the +witnessing of his degradation, and accordingly walked away, and out of +the accursed den, to the side of the fountain in the quadrangle, in the +cool spray of which I sat for an hour, _not_ enjoying my reflections +upon the past. + +I learnt from Maubert subsequently, that, though C---- played the +boldest game, he was far from being a welcome guest at some of the +tables he chose to patronize. He won, occasionally, large sums; and, if +he lost them again, as from his known difficulties at certain seasons it +is pretty sure he did, he did not lose them at the public tables, but at +some of the private gaming-houses of the nobility which he was known to +frequent. That he was occasionally reduced to unpleasant straits I have +reason to think; because, long after the encounter above related, I met +him at a place whither I had resorted for a cheap dinner, and where we +dined together on a deal table from soup and _bouilli_, for a sum not to +be mentioned in connection with the repast of a gentleman. On this +occasion, I somewhat alarmed him by inquiring, in a broad Devonshire +accent, if he could inform me of the address of M. V----, naming one of +the French prisoners with whom the parson had been especially intimate +in the time of the war. He stared at me fixedly for a minute, and then, +with a voice like one apostrophizing a spirit, said, "You are ----, the +son of Thomas ----. I know you from your likeness to your father. Do not +know me here. Let me have your address; I should like to talk to you. M. +V---- is dead--dead! And your father, is he yet living?" + +I was going to reply to his queries, but, snatching the card I +presented, he bade me hastily adieu, and disappeared. + +It was rumored about that he won a large sum of money previous to the +breaking out of the Revolution, and that, having accomplished his +object, he withdrew from the gaming-table. But he had played the game of +life too fast, and, in desperately acquiring the means of expenditure, +had lost those of enjoyment. In the published work, to which allusion +has been made, is the following sentence: "The gamester, if he die a +martyr to his profession, is doubly ruined. He adds his soul to every +other loss, and, by the act of suicide, renounces earth to forfeit +heaven." It is wretched to think that the writer put an end to his own +existence, after a life devoted to the very vice he so powerfully +deprecated. He blew out his brains at Fontainbleau, in 1832--it was +said, to escape the pain of a surgical operation from which no danger +could be apprehended. + + + + +NEVER DESPAIR. + + + The opal-hued and many-perfumed Morn + From Gloom is born; + From out the sullen depth of ebon Night + The stars shed light; + Gems in the rayless caverns of the earth + Have their slow birth; + From wondrous alchemy of winter-hours + Come summer-flowers; + The bitter waters of the restless main + Give gentle rain; + The fading bloom and dry seed bring once more + The year's fresh store; + Just sequences of clashing Tones afford + The full accord; + Through weary ages, full of strife and ruth, + Thought reaches Truth; + Through efforts, long in vain, prophetic Need + Begets the Deed: + + Nerve then thy soul with direst need to cope; + Life's brightest Hope + Lies latent in Fate's deadliest lair-- + Never despair! + + + + +INCIDENT DURING THE MUTINY OF 1797. + + +The nineteenth century may now be said to have attained middle age, and +in the brilliant noonday of its intellect and science the important +events that marked the close of its predecessor are becoming dim and +indistinct, like the vanishing images of a dissolving view. Progress has +been so rapid since the peace that a wider chasm intervenes between 1799 +and 1851 than any dividing the preceding centuries: much more than half +a century appears to separate us from the eighteenth. But a stirring and +troublous period lies before this interval. Life, doubtless, was more +rife with interest and excitement to those whose youth belonged to it +than it is in this calmer age. One feels that the "old people" of to-day +have more of a "history in their lives" than our age will have; and even +while we acknowledge with devout gratitude the blessing of peace, it is +pleasant to listen to stories of "the War-time." One evening, while +sitting with a relative of our own, gazing on the waters of the Channel, +which were trembling and quivering beneath the rosy sunset, we expressed +some such sentiments, and after agreeing in our opinion that life in +those days was more animated by hope and fear than at present, he added, +smiling, "For instance, in '97 I narrowly escaped hanging!" + +We were much surprised at such a declaration from one who, at the time +he spoke, was a brave and distinguished admiral, and eagerly asked the +"how and why" of the adventure; and he told us. We regret that we can +not recall the exact words of the animated relation, but we will try to +give the substance as nearly as possible. + +In 1797 mutiny broke out among the seamen at Spithead--an inexcusable +crime in the opinion of naval men, but which he who related the story +palliated in some degree, by candidly acknowledging that in those days +the poor fellows who were guilty of it had great and just cause for +complaint. They were not only ill-paid, but their food was of very bad +quality; many captains in the navy were harsh and tyrannical--as, in +consequence of the perversity of human nature, will always be the case; +and the men whose blood was freely poured out in the defense of their +native land were, to say the least, neglected and uncared-for by their +rulers. Oh happy consequence of peace and advancing knowledge! these men +are now well-fed, have the means of instruction afforded them, and homes +provided for them when, returning from "the dangers of the sea," they +are discharged and sent on shore. The poor mutineers at Spithead dreamed +not of such advantages as these. + +Admiral R---- was a junior lieutenant on board the _Saturn_ when the +mutiny broke out; but promotion was very rapid then, and though bearing +that rank he was still only a youth in his teens. Probably the mutineers +had discovered, and in a measure appreciated the kindliness of his +nature, for, exempting him from the thralldom of his companions, whom +they had confined in the ward-room, they fixed on him to bear their +propositions and their threats to the port-admiral--swearing at the same +time, that if he did not bring them back a favorable answer they would +hang him on the yard-arm! He was obliged to obey their will, of course, +secretly resolving, however, not to give them the opportunity of +fulfilling their kind intentions by returning to the ship; but the young +officer calculated too much upon being his own master. He was put on +shore at the Point, and proceeded at once to the admiral's house in the +High-street. The naval chief gave him a good-natured and cordial +reception, and listened patiently to the message he delivered from the +mutineers, which was to the effect that they must have an immediate +advance of wages, good biscuit, pork, &c., or that they would carry +their ship over to the French. + +"Go on board again, sir," was his reply, "and tell these gentlemen that +none of their demands can be listened to till they return to their duty: +inform them also that the moment they attempt to weigh anchor hot shot +will be fired on them from the Isle of Dogs, and their vessel and +themselves sent to the bottom." + +The lieutenant bowed and left the office. Outside he paused. He was +going, in obedience to his superior, to certain death. It was a fearful +trial of courage and professional discipline. A mother whom he idolized +lived at no great distance: he would at least bid her a last farewell! +But the admiral, aware of the sacrifice he exacted, so much greater than +that of periling life by mounting "the deadly breach," had followed the +poor boy, and lightly tapping his shoulder, told him he would walk with +him to the beach. Thus, even the last look at home, for which he longed, +was denied him. A waterman's wherry conveyed him to the ship. It was +May--a bright, glorious May, such as England used to enjoy "once upon a +time;" and very sad were the feelings with which the young officer +looked back upon the retreating town, and round on the glad, sunny +waters and blue-tinted Isle of Wight, deeming that he beheld them for +the last time. Occasionally, also, he told us, his eyes would revert, in +spite of his endeavors to forget it, to the fatal yard-arm, distinct +with all its tracery of cordage against the clear blue sky. He gained +the ship, was received on board, and conducted to the forecastle, where +the chief mutineers had assembled. Here he delivered his message. They +were greatly enraged, and commanded him not to repeat the admiral's +threat of sinking the ship to the crew. He replied simply that it was +his duty to obey the orders of his superior officer. Their looks and +words threatened him at first with instant and summary vengeance; but +after a short consultation they agreed to try him by a court-martial, +and proceeding aft, ordered him to be brought before them. It was a +fearful scene; the men were terribly excited, frightfully ignorant, and +believed that their cause required a victim. + +The courage of the youth bore him through the trial, however, bravely. +He ventured boldly to reproach them with their guilt in confounding the +innocent with those whom they looked upon as their enemies; taunted them +with the cowardly injustice of the deed they contemplated; and +persisted, in opposition to the ringleaders' commands, in repeating the +admiral's message to the crew. He was heard by the officers in the +ward-room, and their loud cheers when he spoke probably gave him fresh +courage. The ringleaders becoming alarmed at the effect his words and +bearing might have on the British instincts of the ship's company, +condemned him to be hung in two hours' time, and ordered him to prepare +for death meantime in his cabin. There a new and singular scene awaited +him: one of the seamen had taken possession of it, opened his lockers, +and finding some brandy, had been drinking till he was perfectly +intoxicated, and lay in the sleep of drunkenness on the floor, which was +strewed and littered with the lieutenant's clothes, books, &c. A deep +oath escaped the lips of the ringleaders at this sight. Throughout the +fleet the mutineers had forbidden drunkenness on pain of death; for, +fully aware of the peril of their position, they kept up among +themselves a terribly severe discipline. They were raising their +insensible comrade in their arms, and coolly preparing to throw him +overboard, when, aware from their words of their intentions, the +condemned officer struck one of them to the floor, and standing over the +again prostrate drunkard, declared that while he lived he would not see +men who had sailed beneath the British flag guilty of murder! The +mutineers paused, touched probably by this generous defense of a +foe--for the insensible seaman had been peculiarly bitter against the +officers--and after a muttered oath or two they left the cabin. + +The lieutenant remained alone with his disgusting and unwelcome +visitant, and the two hours following he described as the most painful +of his life. It was less the fear of death than the destined mode of it +which tortured him: not that he was insensible or indifferent to the +blessing of life, for he was by nature of a happy, joyous temperament, +and fair prospects of advancement were before him; but in "war-time" +existence was held on such a precarious tenure that the idea of death in +battle would scarcely have troubled his equanimity. Two hours waiting to +be hanged, however, is a far different trial for courage, and we have +never read or imagined any thing more painful than the description which +the aged admiral gave us of that (to him) endless period of time. As if +to add to the horror of his position, the silence on board was so great +that it appeared as if he could hear the pulsation of his own heart, +while the low snoring of the drunken man struck with painful +distinctness on his ear. At last the bell struck the fatal hour, and +steps were heard on the ladder. His door opened; he rose prepared to +show no symptoms of faltering courage, when the leaders of the party +advancing, told him "that the people had taken his case into +consideration, and as they believed he individually had no ill-feeling +toward them, and as he had recently given proof that he cared for the +men, they had changed his sentence from death to _flogging!_ He must +therefore prepare to receive three dozen on the following morning." + +My kinsman, with the ready humor that never deserted him, returned +thanks with mock gravity for their clemency, and begged them to carry +his compliments to the gentlemen who sent them, and assure them that he +could not have believed he should ever have felt so much satisfaction at +the prospect of a whipping. The men, always susceptible of fun, laughed. +From that moment he was safe! Falstaff wisely despairs of gaining the +love of Prince John, "because he could not make him laugh;" the young +lieutenant acted as if he possessed Shakspeare's knowledge of human +nature when he awoke by his jest the slumbering sympathies of the +sailors. He was detained a prisoner, but no further notice was taken of +the threatened flogging. + +The mutiny subsided on the 16th of May, when Parliament passed an act to +raise the seamen's wages, and the royal pardon was bestowed on the +mutineers; not, however, before some sacrifice of human life had ensued, +as Admiral Colpoys, on the recommencement of the mutiny on board the +_London_, had ordered the marines to fire on the people, and three +seamen fell. The funeral of these unfortunates was described to us as a +singularly impressive and touching spectacle. The townspeople were +fearful of some violence or riot on the part of the sailors when they +landed to bury their dead, and consequently closed their shutters and +retired into their houses. The mournful procession moved therefore +through deserted and silent streets on its way to the village +church-yard, in which the victims were to be interred. But there was no +cause for alarm. The men walked silently and solemnly, two and two, +after their slain comrades, a stern, quiet sorrow legible on their +weather-beaten faces; and nothing could exceed the reverence and +propriety of their conduct beside the grave. It is a quiet, pretty +village church-yard in which these most pardonable rebels have their +resting-place, not far from which is the large grave where three hundred +bodies of those who perished in the _Royal George_ are buried. + +One can scarcely forbear wondering at the little real mischief which +proceeded from this alarming mutiny. It afforded, on the whole, a noble +display of the principal characteristics of the British seaman--the +frolic-spirit peculiar to him manifesting itself even when he is most +sadly and seriously in earnest. A captain of marines, who was especially +the object of the mutineers' aversion, was brought on shore by them, and +compelled to parade up the High-street to the "Rogue's March," which was +drummed before him. He was a tall, gaunt old man, with a singularly long +neck. The day after his expulsion from his ship, the crew sent a man to +his house with a message, ordering him to "come on board again and be +hanged!" The unpopular veteran sent back his compliments; but +considering his throat unbecomingly long _naturally_, he did not wish to +have it stretched: he declined, therefore, accepting their invitation. +The men went away laughing. The people and the times were both +extraordinary. + + + + +WOMAN'S OFFICES AND INFLUENCE. + +BY PROF. J. H. AGNEW, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. + + +Ours is an age of stirring life, an age of notions and novelties, of +invention and enterprise, of steam-motives and telegraph-wires. The +ocean, for passage, has become a river. The air a medium for the flight, +not only of birds, but of thoughts. Distance scarce any more lends +enchantment to the view, for 'tis annihilated. The ends of the earth +meet, and the watchmen on her walls see eye to eye. Even worlds long +buried in the deep unknown are now revealed to human vision, and we +almost penetrate the arcana of our own fair satellite, as she nightly +looks down upon us in her beauty. And man would fain believe, too, in +his wisdom, or his folly, that e'en the rappings of spirits are heard in +this nether planet of ours. + +But what of all this? Why, we live in this whirl of galvanic motion: we +breathe this excited atmosphere: we revolve on this stirring sphere. +And, think you, without feeling aught of its forces? + +We have our being, too, amid the busy scenes of a new world, a free +world, a forming world. Our geologic species is a conglomerate. Whether +it shall be of rude, unshapen masses, or of polished gems, fit not only +for the pillars of this republican edifice, but for its adornment also, +will depend much on the present generation, more on the women of that +generation. + +Believing that woman not only takes impressions from the age, but +emphatically makes them on it too, I select for my theme WOMAN'S OFFICES +AND INFULUENCE. + +_To make home happy_ is one of the offices of woman. Home, blessed word. +Thanks to our Saxon fathers for it. Not the name merely, but the +realities it expresses. An English, an American home is a Bethlehem-star +in the horizon of earth's sorrows, the shadow of a great rock in a weary +land. + + "There is a magic in that little word: + It is a mystic circle that surrounds + Comforts and virtues never known beyond + The hallowed limit." + + "The tabernacle of our earthly joys + And sorrows, hopes and fears--this Home of ours + Is it not pleasant?" + +Yes, home is the centre of all that is sweet in the sympathies, dear in +the affections of the soul. There the kiss of love is impressed in its +purity, the warm pressure of the hand knows no betrayal, the smile of +joy plays no deceiver's part. All is candid, cordial, sincere. The +faults and failings which belong to humanity fallen, are there covered +by the mantle of charity, and the feeling of every member of the family +is, "With all thy faults I love thee still." + +How the traveler climbing Alpine summits, looking forth on the sublime +creations of Jehovah, thinks of home, and wishes the loved ones there +could share his rapture. How the wrecked mariner on some desert isle +longs for a mother's fond endearment, a sister's kindly care. Home is in +all his thoughts. + +It is worth the while, then, to strive to make _home_ happy; to do each +his part toward rendering it the spot of all pleasant associations. In +the several relations of child, sister, wife, mother, let kindness and +cheerfulness reign. + +Kindness comes over the spirit like the music of David's harp over the +passion of Saul. It softens and subdues. It manifests itself in a +thousand nameless forms, but all beautiful. It is a crown of glory on +the head of old age, a jewel on the breast of childhood. The light it +diffuses is soft, the rays it emits are melting. + + "And oh, if those who cluster round, + The altar and the hearth, + Have gentle words and loving smiles, + How beautiful is earth." + +Cheerfulness is another attribute of character tending to the happiness +of home: and let me commend it to woman's cultivation. Some there are, +ever disposed to look on the dark side of life; and thus they not only +becloud their own spirits, but cast a shadow over the smiling precincts +of home. Every single sour grape portends a cluster; every flash of +lightning a riving thunderbolt. Earth's actual cares are not enough; +troubles must be borrowed. The present does not fill their heart with +sadness; the future must be laid under contribution. + +All this is just the opposite of cheerfulness. That scatters wide over +the soil of the household the seeds of many little joys, that the weeds +of small vexations may be kept under, and ever and anon the sickle be +thrust in and a harvest of good fruits be garnered for daily use. It +gazes on the bright side of the picture, and throws its delighted +glances upon every eye. And thus it not only augments present bliss, but +in hoary years the memory of other days around the family hearth will be +sweeter, and the influence on ourselves better. + +"Cheerfully to bear thy cross in patient strength is duty." "Not few nor +light are the burdens of life: then load it not with heaviness of +spirit; sickness, and penury, and travail--these be ills enow: the tide +is strong against us: struggle, thou art better for the strife, and the +very energy shall hearten thee." + +"In thy day of grief let nature weep; leave her alone; the freshet of +her sorrow must run off; and sooner will the lake be clear, relieved of +turbid floodings. Yet see, that her license hath a limit." + +"For empty fears, the harassings of possible calamity, pray and thou +shalt prosper: trust God and tread them down." "The stoutest armor of +defense is that which is worn within the bosom, and the weapon which no +enemy can parry is a bold and cheerful spirit." + +Beautiful in the family is this spirit of cheerfulness; and surely it +is an office of woman to cherish it. It can be wooed and won. Wherever +woman goes, and especially at home, let it be as an halo of light around +her head, and then shall she be a blessing to the circle in which she +moves. Despondency is death, cheerfulness life. But remember that levity +and boisterous mirth are no essential ingredients of this wholesome +cordial. Its chief element is rather that which Paul spake of when he +said, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be +content." + +Another office of woman is, _to check the utilitarianism, the +money-loving spirit of the day_. There is something beside bread and +water to be cared for in this probationary world of ours, inhabited by +living _spirits_. And yet one is almost compelled to the conclusion that +the whole race, at the present day, has given itself up to the worship +of Mammon. + +That which is a _physical_ fact, which is capable of being _used_, is +the _summum bonum. Cui bono_, in a terrene sense, is the great question. +"Will it pay," the grand idea of the age. And men are hurrying along, +life in hand, breathless and bootless, over the highways and byways to +the Great Mogul's temple, where there is no spiritual Divinity to +revere. + +We almost wish the return of the old Grecian's faith, who enveloped +himself with a spiritual world, and this, at least, elevated his +intellect, if it did not renovate his heart. To him the majestic +mountain was peopled with august entities. To us it is of no account, if +it do not contain in its bowels buried stores of wealth, though it may +awaken the feeling of the sublime, and lift the soul up to God. To him +the shady tree was the habitation of dryads, the rippling brook of +naïads: to us, neither has beauty, unless the one can turn a mill, and +the other furnish us fire-wood or lumber. + +We have made the soul slave to the body; have stripped the Universe of +its glory, as a reflecting mirror, pouring down upon us such rays of +Heaven's brilliancy as our vision can endure. God's sun is only to +lighten us on our pathway of business; His mighty ocean only to bear the +burden of our commerce; His magnificent lakes to carry our trade; His +beautiful hills and smiling vales but to grow our corn, feed our cattle, +and be the substratum for our railways. + +This utilitarianism of the day, too, has but little sympathy with the +fine arts. It laughs at music and painting, poetry and sculpture, as +things of naught, although they may tend mightily to the culture of the +spirit and the refinement of humanity. Classical learning it discards, +because with its dusty eyes it can not just see how that can qualify man +or woman for the better enjoyment of life, or how it will help us plow +or measure our fields, grind our grain, or churn our butter. + +The mere discipline of the mind, the symmetrical development of man's +higher powers, the æsthetic evolution of himself; all this, though it +expand his intellect and enlarge his heart, though it impress on him +more of the lineaments of the skies, and bring him nearer to his great +Original, is but waste of time and thought, because it falls not within +the described circle of the utilitarian. Shades of Bacon and Locke, of +Shakspeare and Milton, of Goethe and Schiller, come and alight at least +on the daughters of our land! + +Here is a wide field of influence for woman. You are the vestal virgins +to watch the fires on the altar of the fine arts. Yours it is to check +the sensuousness of man, to recall him from his ceaseless toil after the +mammon of this life, his restless ambition to turn every thing to +account in available funds, in bank-stocks, copper-stocks, +railroad-stocks. Tell your sons and your sires that there are higher +sources of joy. Point them away from earth's sordid gold to the brighter +gems of literature. Direct their energies to the intellectual and moral +advancement of their age. Help them to slake their quenchless thirst at +the pure fountains of knowledge and religion. + +There is a poetry of life worth cultivating. There are spiritual +entities around us to which we are linked by ethereal chains. Let us not +struggle to throw off those chains, but rather to bind them faster about +us. And when you see a link broken, and others likely to drop, mend it. + +Woman's office is it also _to soften political asperities in the other +sex, and themselves to shun political publicity_. Not that woman need be +ignorant of the great questions of the age; better be familiar with +them. But let her not become absorbed in them: rather keep so aloof from +exciting occasions as to be better qualified to form and express a +deliberate and unbiased judgment on men and measures. Let her opinions +be well matured, and always uttered with calmness and caution. When her +dearest friends of the other sex seem embittered toward others, and in +danger of forgetting the sweet charities of life amid the chafings of +party rivalry, let her pour out the milk of human kindness into the cup +of courtesy, and ask them to drink of it. When the waters are troubled +and the billows roar, let her diffuse over them the oil of love to still +the waters into a great calm. Surely this is an office higher, better +far, than to be pressing on, as some would have her, into the busy +bustle of out-door politics. Here is _influence_, and it is better than +_power_. + +Who that loves woman, that really admires her worth as _woman_, that +thinks of her as the delicate, refined, tasteful, sensitive development +of humanity, the incarnation of all that is lovely, gentle, modest, +peaceful, and pure, the highest earthly manifestation of God as _love;_ +who that remembers her as the "help-meet," can bear the thought of +hurrying her out upon the theatre of politics, the platform of +legislation? + +"Woman's rights," they cry, and so loud the cry, that even woman's +ambition has conquered her judgment and her delicacy, and she has gone +forth, out of her appointed and fitting sphere, to be gazed on by a +curious crowd, and perhaps to hear the plaudits of a noisy populace. _O +tempora! O mores!_ Save us from such a race of women! + +Now woman has rights, many rights, and let them be well guarded; but she +has no right to be a _man_. Yet, no wonder 'tis, if amid the stirring +enterprises and new discoveries of the age, some half-amazon should defy +the customs of social life, and assume the right of leveling all +distinctions between the sexes, walking forth _à la Turk_, and becoming +the gazing-stock of the street. Oh, let beauteous, winning woman wear +the gracefully-flowing robes of modesty; let her not be met by us "up to +the eyes" in politics, nor at the ballot-box, nor the caucus, nor in the +legislative hall, nor on the judicial bench, surrounded, perchance, by +tobacco-chewing barristers, nor as the public haranguer, addressing +promiscuous multitudes. + +Let us rather see her in the quiet retirement of home, not doomed to the +busy drudgery of hard housekeeping merely, but there the refined woman, +whose pure sensibilities are shocked at the thought of a public +notoriety; who shuns the wistful gaze of the crowd, and finds in her own +family circle her kingdom and her _rights_, and seeks to adorn that with +all that is lovely and of good report. Thus will she win our admiration +and secure our love. Were her intellect and her eloquence displayed at +the bar or on the platform, we might indeed wonder with deep amazement, +but we should not love; and wanting this, both she and we were unhappy. + +While sensible, then, of her equality with man in the possession of a +soul like his own, capable of the highest enterprises in science and +literature, may she yet recognize, as the appointment of her all-wise +Creator, subordination to man in power, superordination in influence. Be +content to be _woman_. It is a province high enough. If not cherubic, it +is seraphic. It is that phase of humanity we think most godlike; for if +Jehovah's highest expression of himself is _Love_, then that form of +humanity expressing most of it, is most like Him. That form, in our +opinion, is woman. + +Let her not, then, strip herself of her chief glory, and depart further +from her God and Saviour, by shooting out from her own feminine orbit, +and aiming to revolve in that of the other sex, under the false +impression that it is a higher one. Even if it were, it is not hers, and +by thus battling with the order of nature, and swinging loose from the +proper relations of her being, she might become a wandering star in the +blackness of darkness forever. + +Another evident office of woman is, _to regulate the forms and control +the habits of social life_. In this land, especially, do the "lords of +creation" bow with due deference to their ladies. We give them our arms, +'tis true, and we ask them to lean upon us, yet do we take step with +them, and in turn lean on them, amid the trying times of life, and look +to them for many of our joys, for most of our happiness. He is vulgar, +even barbarous, we think, who does not appreciate her worth and respect +her character. Hence, every where, hers is the first place, the best +place; and an American gentleman would rather suffer an agony than +subject women to a discomfort. + +Such being her relative position, hers it must be to prescribe the +customs of social life, and say to man, "hitherto shalt thou go and no +further." The tone of morals will be such as she makes it. Man will be +conformed to the model she exhibits. He seldom, if ever, rises above the +level of his female associates. Surround him with the vulgar, the +thoughtless, the impure, and you shall not see him pure, thoughtful, +refined. Place him ever in the society of intelligent, dignified, +Christian women, and their virtues will be reflected on him. + +And is it so, that woman is responsible, in a great measure, for the +fashions and habits of the community in which she lives? It is even so. +If she discard that foolish frippery and passion for display, which +occasionally characterize her own sex, it will not long live. It must be +buried in its own foibles, and have no resurrection. If she frown upon +him who robs woman of her jewel, he is a fugitive on the face of the +earth. If she discountenance the use of intoxicating beverages, the +young man will learn that abstinence on his part is the price of respect +and love on hers. Her office here is magnified: her influence has become +a power. The other offices were guiding and directory; this is +reformatory. Society looks to her for its type. Its virtues and its +vices are of her moulding. _It is what she bids it be._ + +What a potency! Let her wield it for her country's welfare. Then shall +it be a beacon light to other lands now in darkness and degradation, +because there woman is still the slave of man's passions, and has never +risen, under Christianity, to know her dignity, and make her brutal +master feel her moral equality in the scale of being. + +Only one other office of woman shall we notice at present--_the +exemplification and diffusion of Christianity_--of Christianity, not so +much in its forms and dogmas, as in its spirit; not solely as a +redeeming scheme, but also as a reforming power. + +To Christianity woman is emphatically a debtor. It has breathed into her +its breath of life, and she has become a living soul. Else had she been +but a dead manikin. To it she owes her present advanced position, her +commanding influence. Even all the literature and refinement of Greece +and Rome could not confer on woman the boon which the religion of Jesus +has brought her. He was woman's son, and his religion tells it. Go where +that religion is not, and there woman is naught. + +Christianity has not only broken down the wall of partition between male +and female, but has opened the sealed fountains of her soul, and caused +them to send forth rills of gentleness and love, which have refreshed +humanity and poured out gladness on a dark and dreary world. Let the +cross, then, be woman's standard, Jesus woman's trust, Christianity +woman's charter. That thrown overboard, we are wrecked. Its principles +abandoned, the world sinks again into barbarism, and woman to brute +degradation. "The last at the cross and earliest at the sepulchre," +must remember to cling to Christianity as her hope, her life. Let _her_ +never be ashamed to confess it her ruling principle, her source of joy, +nor be hesitant in disseminating its seeds, that she may every where +behold its lily-flowers. + +Can it ever be well said of woman, "she careth not if there be a God, or +a soul, or a time of retribution; pleasure is the idol of her heart: she +thirsteth for no purer heaven." Let such an one be decked in all the +gorgeous trappings of wealth, let her brow be crowned with the coronet +of rank, let her girdle hold the key which unlocks the treasures of +California, and yet she wants that which ennobles her sex, and would +render her an object of love and a source of joy to others. + + "Oh, what is woman, what her smile, + Her lip of love, her eyes of light. + What is she, if her lips revile + The lowly Jesus? Love may write + His name upon her marble brow, + And linger in her curls of jet: + The light spring-flower may scarcely bow + Beneath her step--and yet--and yet-- + Without that meeker grace she'll be + A lighter thing than vanity." + +Never, then, let the sneer of the infidel, nor the scorn of the skeptic +drive woman from compounding the spices to embalm her crucified Master, +nor make her ashamed to be seen early at his sepulchre. Rather let her +glory in the cross, and make the most of her high mission here to send +its healing influences to every sick and sorrowing creature on this +green earth. Why should any poor, perishing mortal be left in all the +degradation of idolatry, when there is in our possession a power that +would lift him to heights of bliss, temporal and eternal? Why should the +world be left to its wailings and its woes, when Christianity diffused, +in its benign spirit, would convert those woes into joys, those wailings +into hallelujahs? How can woman, owing her all to the religion of the +Bible, refrain from exerting her energies to place this word of life in +the hands of every pilgrim over the deserts of time? And may she so +breathe its spirit and feel its power, that it shall never again be thus +written of her: + + "There came + A stranger bright and beautiful + With steps of grace, and eye of flame, + And tone and look most sweetly blent + To make her presence eloquent; + Oh, then I looked for tears. She stood + Before the prisoner of Calvary. + I saw the piercing spear--the blood-- + The gall--the writhe of agony. + I saw his quivering lips in prayer, + 'Father, forgive them'--all was there! + I turned in bitterness of soul, + And spake of Jesus. I had thought + Her feelings would refuse control: + For woman's heart I knew was fraught + With gushing sympathies. She gazed + A moment on it carelessly, + Then coldly curl'd her lip, and praised + The high priest's garment! Could it be + That look was meant, dear Lord, for thee!" + +A few words on _Influence_. This is woman's power. That distinctively +belongs to man, and is exercised by authority. Law and penalty grow out +of it. It regulates actions, it punishes crime. Influence, on the other +hand, awakens feeling, generates opinions, implants sentiments in the +soul, silently yet emphatically; and thus it crushes vice, promotes +virtue, and avoids the necessity of penal infliction. + +Now this is pre-eminently the potent lever in the hands of woman for +regenerating and reforming the political and moral world. We may stand +in awe, indeed, before the exhibition of _power_, whether physical or +moral, but we are not won by them to the love of truth and goodness, +while _influence_ steals in upon our hearts, gets hold of the springs of +action, and leads us into its own ways. It is the _inflowing_ upon +others from the nameless traits of character which constitute woman's +idiosyncracy. Her heart is a great reservoir of love, the water-works of +moral influence, from which go out ten thousand tubes, conveying off the +ethereal essences of her nature, and diffusing them quietly over the +secret chambers of man's inner being. + +Even the weakness of woman softens and subdues, and thus unseals the +soul for the infusion of her own sentiments. Her winning smiles, her +tender sympathies, her sensible expressions, her gentle ways, all +influence us, flow in upon our spirits. Who can be long boisterous in +the presence of woman? No more can the yeasty waves dash and foam when +superinfused by the mollifying touch of oil, than can the passions of +man rage with impetuosity in contact with the oleaginous serenity of +gentle woman. + +Let man, then, exercise power; woman exert influence. By this will she +best perform her offices, discharge her duties. Thus will she most +effectually make home happy, restrain utilitarianism, allay party +asperities, regulate the habits of social life, and both exemplify and +diffuse Christianity. Thus will she become _vanqueur des vanqueurs de la +terre_--"conqueror of the conquerors of earth," and do more to bless the +world, and make it truly happy, than all political institutions, fiscal +agencies, and merely intellectual educations. + +Surely this is a mission exalted. Let no woman despise it, though it +exclude her from the senator's seat and the chair of state. Let her +rather remember that she honors herself more, glorifies her God better, +and elevates her race higher, by adorning the sphere which her very +physical organization prescribes. Never will she be improved in her +nature, elevated in her influence, happier in her own spirit, or more +potent in effecting the happiness of the world, by aiming at the proper +dignities of _man_, throwing herself out upon the arena of public life, +meddling and mingling in its chafings and chances. Ah no! let us still +hope that woman will have good sense enough to discern the wisdom of God +in her proper relation, and that man shall still and ever have the +privilege and the joy of admiring and loving her as gentle, retiring, +delicate, yet influential _woman_. + + + + +THE TOWN-HO'S STORY.[5] + +[5] From "The Whale." The title of a new work by Mr. Melville, in the +press of Harper and Brothers, and now publishing in London by Mr. +Bentley. + +BY HERMAN MELVILLE. + + +The Cape of Good Hope, and all the watery region round about there, is +much like some noted four corners of a great highway, where you meet +more travelers than in any other part. + +It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another +homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho, was encountered. She was manned +almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us +strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White +Whale was now wildly heightened by a circumstance of the Town-Ho's +story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain +wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God +which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, +with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the +secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears +of Captain Ahab or his mates. For that secret part of the story was +unknown to the captain of the Town-Ho himself. It was the private +property of three confederate white seamen of that ship, one of whom, it +seems, communicated it to Tashtego with Romish injunctions of secresy, +but the following night Tashtego rambled in his sleep, and revealed so +much of it in that way, that when he was awakened he could not well +withhold the rest. Nevertheless, so potent an influence did this thing +have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, +and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in +this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never +transpired abaft the Pequod's mainmast. Interweaving in its proper place +this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the +whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record. + +For my humor's sake, I shall preserve the style in which I once narrated +it at Lima, to a lounging circle of my Spanish friends, one saint's eve, +smoking upon the thick-gilt tiled piazza of the Golden Inn. Of those +fine cavaliers, the young Dons, Pedro and Sebastian, were on the closer +terms with me; and hence the interluding questions they occasionally +put, and which are duly answered at the time. + +"Some two years prior to my first learning the events which I am about +rehearsing to you, gentlemen, the Town-Ho, Sperm Whaler of Nantucket, +was cruising in your Pacific here, not very many days' sail eastward +from the eaves of this good Golden Inn. She was somewhere to the +northward of the Line. One morning, upon handling the pumps, according +to daily usage, it was observed that she made more water in her hold +than common. They supposed a sword-fish had stabbed her, gentlemen. But +the captain, having some unusual reason for believing that rare good +luck awaited him in those latitudes; and therefore being very averse to +quit them, and the leak not being then considered at all dangerous, +though, indeed, they could not find it after searching the hold as low +down as was possible in rather heavy weather, the ship still continued +her cruisings, the mariners working at the pumps at wide and easy +intervals; but no good luck came; more days went by, and not only was +the leak yet undiscovered, but it sensibly increased. So much so, that +now taking some alarm, the captain, making all sail, stood away for the +nearest harbor, among the islands, there to have his hull hove out and +repaired. + +"Though no small passage was before her, yet, if the commonest chance +favored, he did not at all fear that his ship would founder by the way, +because his pumps were of the best, and being periodically relieved at +them, those six-and-thirty men of his could easily keep the ship free; +never mind if the leak should double on her. In truth, well nigh the +whole of this passage being attended by very prosperous breezes, the +Town-Ho had all but certainly arrived in perfect safety at her port +without the occurrence of the least fatality, had it not been for the +brutal overbearing of Radney, the mate, a Vineyarder, and the bitterly +provoked vengeance of Steelkilt, a Lakeman and desperado from Buffalo. + +"'Lakeman!--Buffalo! Pray, what is a Lakeman, and where is Buffalo?' +said Don Sebastian, rising in his swinging mat of grass. + +"On the eastern shore of our Lake Erie, Don; but--I crave your +courtesy--may be, you shall soon hear further of all that. Now, +gentlemen, in square-sail brigs and three-masted ships, well nigh as +large and stout as any that ever sailed out of your old Callao to far +Manilla; this Lakeman, in the land-locked heart of our America, had yet +been nurtured by all those agrarian free-booting impressions popularly +connected with the open ocean. For in their interflowing aggregate, +those grand fresh-water seas of ours--Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and +Superior, and Michigan--possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with many +of the ocean's noblest traits; with many of its rimmed varieties of +races and of climes. They contain round archipelagoes of romantic isles, +even as the Polynesian waters do; in large part, are shored by two great +contrasting nations, as the Atlantic is; they furnish long maritime +approaches to our numerous territorial colonies from the East, dotted +all round their banks; here and there are frowned upon by batteries, and +by the goat-like craggy guns of lofty Mackinaw; they have heard the +fleet thunderings of naval victories; at intervals, they yield their +beaches to wild barbarians, whose red painted faces flash from out their +peltry wigwams; for leagues and leagues are flanked by ancient and +unentered forests, where the gaunt pines stand like serried lines of +kings in Gothic genealogies; those same woods harboring wild Afric +beasts of prey, and silken creatures whose exported furs give robes to +Tartar Emperors; they mirror the paved capitals of Buffalo and +Cleveland, as well as Winnebago villages; they float alike the +full-rigged merchant ship, the armed cruiser of the State, the steamer, +and the beech canoe; they are swept by Borean and dismasting blasts as +direful as any that lash the salted wave; they know what shipwrecks are, +for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a +midnight ship with all its shrieking crew. Thus, gentlemen, though an +inlander, Steelkilt was wild-ocean born, and wild-ocean nurtured; as +much of an audacious mariner as any. And for Radney, though in his +infancy he may have laid him down on the lone Nantucket beach, to nurse +at his maternal sea; though in after life he had long followed our +austere Atlantic and your contemplative Pacific; yet was he quite as +vengeful and full of social quarrel as the backwoods seaman, fresh from +the latitudes of buck-horn handled Bowie-knives. Yet was this +Nantucketer a man with some good-hearted traits; and this Lakeman, a +mariner, who though a sort of devil indeed, might yet by inflexible +firmness, only tempered by that common decency of human recognition +which is the meanest slave's right; thus treated, this Steelkilt had +long been retained harmless and docile. At all events, he had proved so +thus far; but Radney was doomed and made mad, and Steelkilt--but, +gentlemen, you shall hear. + +"It was not more than a day or two at the furthest after pointing her +prow for her island haven, that the Town-Ho's leak seemed again +increasing, but only so as to require an hour or more at the pumps every +day. You must know that in a settled and civilized ocean like our +Atlantic, for example, some skippers think little of pumping their whole +way across it; though of a still, sleepy night, should the officer of +the deck happen to forget his duty in that respect, the probability +would be that he and his shipmates would never again remember it, on +account of all hands gently subsiding to the bottom. Nor in the solitary +and savage seas far from you to the westward, gentlemen, is it +altogether unusual for ships to keep clanging at their pump-handles in +full chorus even for a voyage of considerable length; that is, if it lie +along a tolerably accessible coast, or if any other reasonable retreat +is afforded them. It is only when a leaky vessel is in some very out of +the way part of those waters, some really landless latitude, that her +captain begins to feel a little anxious. + +"Much this way had it been with the Town-Ho; so when her leak was found +gaining once more, there was in truth some small concern manifested by +several of her company; especially by Radney the mate. He commanded the +upper sails to be well hoisted, sheeted home anew, and every way +expanded to the breeze. Now this Radney, I suppose, was as little of a +coward, and as little inclined to any sort of nervous apprehensiveness +touching his own person as any fearless, unthinking creature on land or +on sea that you can conveniently imagine, gentlemen. Therefore when he +betrayed this solicitude about the safety of the ship, some of the +seamen declared that it was only on account of his being a part owner +in her. So when they were working that evening at the pumps, there was +on this head no small gamesomeness slily going on among them, as they +stood with their feet continually overflowed by the rippling clear +water; clear as any mountain spring, gentlemen--that bubbling from the +pumps ran across the deck, and poured itself out in steady spouts at the +lee scupper-holes. + +"Now, as you well know, it is not seldom the case in this conventional +world of ours--watery or otherwise; that when a person placed in command +over his fellow-men finds one of them to be very significantly his +superior in general pride of manhood, straightway against that man he +conceives an unconquerable dislike and bitterness; and if he have a +chance he will pull down and pulverize that subaltern's tower, and make +a little heap of dust of it. Be this conceit of mine as it may, +gentlemen, at all events Steelkilt was a tall and noble animal with a +head like a Roman, and a flowing golden beard like the tasseled housings +of your last viceroy's snorting charger; and a brain, and a heart, and a +soul in him, gentlemen, which had made Steelkilt Charlemagne, had he +been born son to Charlemagne's father. But Radney, the mate, was ugly as +a mule; yet as hardy, as stubborn, as malicious. He did not love +Steelkilt, and Steelkilt knew it. + +"Espying the mate drawing near as he was toiling at the pump with the +rest, the Lakeman affected not to notice him, but unawed, went on with +his gay banterings. + +"'Ay, ay, my merry lads, it's a lively leak this; hold a cannikin, one +of ye, and let's have a taste. By the Lord, it's worth bottling! I tell +ye what, men, old Rad's investment must go for it! he had best cut away +his part of the hull and tow it home. The fact is, boys, that sword-fish +only began the job; he's come back again with a gang of ship-carpenters, +saw-fish, and file-fish, and what not; and the whole posse of 'em are +now hard at work cutting and slashing at the bottom; making +improvements, I suppose. If old Rad were here now, I'd tell him to jump +overboard and scatter 'em. They're playing the devil with his estate, I +can tell him. But he's a simple old soul--Rad, and a beauty, too. Boys, +they say the rest of his property is invested in looking-glasses. I +wonder if he'd give a poor devil like me the model of his nose.' + +"'Damn your eyes! what's that pump stopping for?' roared Radney, +pretending not to have heard the sailors' talk. 'Thunder away at it!' + +"'Ay, ay, sir,' said Steelkilt, merry as a cricket. 'Lively, boys, +lively, now!' And with that the pump clanged like fifty fire-engines; +the men tossed their hats off to it, and ere long that peculiar gasping +of the lungs was heard which denotes the fullest tension of life's +utmost energies. + +"Quitting the pump at last, with the rest of his band, the Lakeman went +forward all panting, and sat himself down on the windlass; his face +fiery red, his eyes bloodshot, and wiping the profuse sweat from his +brow. Now what cozening fiend it was, gentlemen, that possessed Radney +to meddle with such a man in that corporeally exasperated state, I know +not; but so it happened. Intolerably striding along the deck, the mate +commanded him to get a broom and sweep down the planks, and also a +shovel, and remove some offensive matters consequent upon allowing a pig +to run at large. + +"Now, gentlemen, sweeping a ship's deck at sea is a piece of household +work which in all times but raging gales is regularly attended to every +evening; it has been known to be done in the case of ships actually +foundering at the time. Such, gentlemen, is the inflexibility of +sea-usages and the instinctive love of neatness in seamen; some of whom +would not willingly drown without first washing their faces. But in all +vessels this broom business is the prescriptive province of the boys, if +boys there be aboard. Besides, it was the stronger men in the Town-Ho +that had been divided into gangs, taking turns at the pumps; and being +the most athletic seaman of them all, Steelkilt had been regularly +assigned captain of one of the gangs; consequently he should have been +freed from any trivial business not connected with truly nautical +duties, such being the case with his comrades. I mention all these +particulars so that you may understand exactly how this affair stood +between the two men. + +"But there was more than this: the order about the shovel was almost as +plainly meant to sting and insult Steelkilt, as though Radney had spat +in his face. Any man who has gone sailor in a whale-ship will understand +this; and all this and doubtless much more, the Lakeman fully +comprehended when the mate uttered his command. But as he sat still for +a moment, and as he steadfastly looked into the mate's malignant eye and +perceived the stacks of powder-casks heaped up in him and the slow match +silently burning along toward them; as he instinctively saw all this, +that strange forbearance and unwillingness to stir up the deeper +passionateness in any already ireful being--a repugnance most felt, when +felt at all, by really valiant men even when aggrieved--this nameless +phantom feeling, gentlemen, stole over Steelkilt. + +"Therefore, in his ordinary tone, only a little broken by the bodily +exhaustion he was temporarily in, he answered him, saying that sweeping +the deck was not his business, and he would not do it. And then, without +at all alluding to the shovel, he pointed to three lads as the customary +sweepers; who, not being billeted at the pumps, had done little or +nothing all day. To this, Radney replied with an oath, in a most +domineering and outrageous manner unconditionally reiterating his +command; meanwhile advancing upon the still seated Lakeman, with an +uplifted cooper's club hammer which he had snatched from a cask near by. + +"Heated and irritated as he was by his spasmodic toil at the pumps, for +all his first nameless feeling of forbearance the sweating Steelkilt +could but ill brook this bearing in the mate; but somehow still +smothering the conflagration within him, without speaking he remained +doggedly; rooted to his seat, till at last the incensed Radney shook the +hammer within a few inches of his face, furiously commanding him to do +his bidding. + +"Steelkilt rose, and slowly retreating round the windlass, steadily +followed by the mate with his menacing hammer, deliberately repeated his +intention not to obey. Seeing, however, that his forbearance had not the +slightest effect, by an awful and unspeakable intimation with his +twisted hand he warned off the foolish and infatuated man; but it was to +no purpose. And in this way the two went once slowly round the windlass; +when, resolved at last no longer to retreat, bethinking him that he had +now forborne as much as comported with his humor, the Lakeman paused on +the hatches and thus spoke to the officer: + +"'Mr. Radney, I will not obey you. Take that hammer away, or look to +yourself.' But the predestinated mate coming still closer to him, where +the Lakeman stood fixed, now shook the heavy hammer within an inch of +his teeth; meanwhile repeating a string of insufferable maledictions. +Retreating not the thousandth part of an inch; stabbing him in the eye +with the unflinching poniard of his glance, Steelkilt, clenching his +right hand behind him and creepingly drawing it back, told his +persecutor that if the hammer but grazed his cheek he (Steelkilt) would +murder him. But, gentlemen, the fool had been branded for the slaughter +by the gods. Immediately the hammer touched the cheek; the next instant +the lower jaw of the mate was stove in his head; he fell on the hatch +spouting blood like a whale. + +"Ere the cry could go aft Steelkilt was shaking one of the backstays +leading far aloft to where two of his comrades were standing their +mast-heads. They were both Canalers. + +"'Canalers!' cried Don Pedro. 'We have seen many whaleships in our +harbors, but never heard of your Canalers. Pardon: who and what are +they?' + +"Canalers, Don, are the boatmen belonging to our grand Erie Canal. You +must have heard of it. + +"'Nay, Senor; hereabouts in this dull, warm, most lazy, and hereditary +land, we know but little of your vigorous North.' + +"Ay? Well, then, Don, refill my cup. Your chicha's very fine; and, ere +proceeding further I will tell you what our Canalers are; for such +information may throw side-light upon my story. + +"For three hundred and sixty miles, gentlemen, through the entire +breadth of the state of New York; through numerous populous cities and +most thriving villages; through long, dismal, uninhabited swamps, and +affluent, cultivated fields, unrivaled for fertility; by billiard-room +and bar room; through the holy-of-holies of great forests; on Roman +arches over Indian rivers; through sun and shade; by happy hearts or +broken; through all the wide contrasting scenery of those noble Mohawk +counties; and especially by rows of snow-white chapels, whose spires +stand almost like milestones, flows one continual stream of Venetianly +corrupt and often lawless life. There's your true Ashantee, gentlemen; +there howl your pagans; where you ever find them, next door to you; +under the long-flung shadow, and the snug patronizing lee of churches. +For by some curious fatality, as it is often noted of your metropolitan +freebooters that they ever encamp around the halls of justice, so +sinners, gentlemen, most abound in holiest vicinities. + +"'Is that a friar passing?' said Don Pedro, looking downward into the +crowded plaza, with humorous concern. + +"'Well for our northern friend, Dame Isabella's Inquisition wanes in +Lima,' laughed Don Sebastian. 'Proceed, Senor.' + +"'A moment! Pardon!' cried another of the company. 'In the name of all +us Limeese, I but desire to express to you, sir sailor, that we have by +no means overlooked your delicacy in not substituting present Lima for +distant Venice in your corrupt comparison. Oh! do not bow and look +surprised; you know the proverb all along this coast--"Corrupt as Lima." +It but bears out your saying, too; churches more plentiful than +billiard-tables, and forever open--and "Corrupt as Lima." So, too, +Venice; I have been there; the holy city of the blessed evangelist, St. +Mark!--St. Dominic, purge it! Your cup! Thanks: here I refill; now, you +pour out again.' + +"Freely depicted in his own vocation, gentlemen, the Canaler would make +a fine dramatic hero, so abundantly and picturesquely wicked is he. Like +Mark Antony, for days and days along his green-turfed, flowery Nile, he +indolently floats, openly toying with his red-cheeked Cleopatra, +ripening his apricot thigh upon the sunny deck. But ashore, all this +effeminacy is dashed. The brigandish guise which the Canaler so proudly +sports; his slouched and gayly-ribboned hat betoken his grand features. +A terror to the smiling innocence of the villages through which he +floats; his swart visage and bold swagger are not unshunned in cities. +Once a vagabond on his own canal, I have received good turns from one of +those Canalers; I thank him heartily; would fain be not ungrateful; but +it is often one of the prime redeeming qualities of your man of +violence, that at times he has as stiff an arm to back a poor stranger +in a strait, as to plunder a wealthy one. In sum, gentlemen, what the +wildness of this canal life is, is emphatically evinced by this; that +our wild whale-fishery contains so many of its most finished graduates, +and that scarce any race of mankind, except Sydney men, are so much +distrusted by our whaling captains. Nor does it at all diminish the +curiousness of this matter, that to many thousands of our rural boys and +young men born along its line, the probationary life of the Grand Canal +furnishes the sole transition between quietly reaping in a Christian +corn-field, and recklessly ploughing the waters of the most barbaric +seas." + +"'I see! I see!' impetuously exclaimed Don Pedro, spilling his chicha +upon his silvery ruffles. 'No need to travel! The world's one Lima. I +had thought, now, that at your temperate North the generations were cold +and holy as the hills. But the story.' + +"I left off, gentlemen, where the Lakeman shook the backstay. Hardly had +he done so, when he was surrounded by the three junior mates and the +four harpooners, who all crowded him to the deck. But sliding down the +ropes like baleful comets, the two Canalers rushed into the uproar, and +sought to drag their man out of it toward the forecastle. Others of the +sailors joined with them in this attempt, and a twisted turmoil ensued; +while standing out of harm's way, the valiant captain danced up and down +with a whale-pike, calling upon his officers to manhandle that atrocious +scoundrel, and smoke him along to the quarter-deck. At intervals, he ran +close up to the revolving border of the confusion, and prying into the +heart of it with his pike, sought to prick out the object of his +resentment. But Steelkilt and his desperadoes were too much for them +all; they succeeded in gaining the forecastle deck, where, hastily +slewing about three or four large casks in a line with the windlass, +these sea-Parisians entrenched themselves behind the barricade." + +"'Come out of that, ye pirates!' roared the captain, now menacing them +with a pistol in each hand, just brought to him by the steward. 'Come +out of that, ye cut-throats!' + +"Steelkilt leaped on the barricade, and striding up and down there, +defied the worst the pistols could do; but gave the captain to +understand distinctly, that his (Steelkilt's) death would be the signal +for a murderous mutiny on the part of all hands. Fearing in his heart +lest this might prove but too true, the captain a little desisted, but +still commanded the insurgents instantly to return to their duty. + +"'Will you promise not to touch us, if we do?' demanded their +ringleader. + +"'Turn to! turn to!--I make no promise; to your duty! Do you want to +sink the ship, by knocking off at a time like this? Turn to!' and he +once more raised a pistol. + +"'Sink the ship?' cried Steelkilt. 'Ay, let her sink. Not a man of us +turns to, unless you swear not to raise a rope-yarn against us. What say +ye, men?' turning to his comrades. A fierce cheer was their response. + +"The Lakeman now patrolled the barricade, all the while keeping his eye +on the Captain, and jerking out such sentences as these: 'It's not our +fault; we didn't want it; I told him to take his hammer away; it was +boys' business: he might have known me before this; I told him not to +prick the buffalo; I believe I have broken a finger here against his +cursed jaw; ain't those mincing knives down in the forecastle there, +men? look to those handspikes, my hearties. Captain, by God, look to +yourself; say the word; don't be a fool; forget it all; we are ready to +turn to; treat us decently, and we're your men; but we won't be +flogged.' + +"'Turn to! I make no promises: turn to, I say!' + +"'Look ye, now,' cried the Lakeman, flinging out his arm toward him, +'there are a few of us here (and I am one of them) who have shipped for +the cruise, d'ye see; now as you well know, sir, we can claim our +discharge as soon as the anchor is down; so we don't want a row; it's +not our interest; we want to be peaceable; we are ready to work, but we +won't be flogged.' + +"'Turn to!' roared the Captain. + +"Steelkilt glanced round him a moment, and then said: 'I tell you what +it is now, Captain, rather than kill ye, and be hung for such a shabby +rascal, we won't lift a hand against ye unless ye attack us; but till +you say the word about not flogging us, we don't do a hand's turn.' + +"'Down into the forecastle then, down with ye, I'll keep ye there till +ye're sick of it. Down ye go.' + +"'Shall we?' cried the ringleader to his men. Most of them were against +it; but at length, in obedience to Steelkilt, they preceded him down +into their dark den, growlingly disappearing like bears into a cave. + +"As the Lakeman's bare head was just level with the planks, the Captain +and his posse leaped the barricade, and rapidly drawing over the slide +of the scuttle, planted their group of hands upon it, and loudly called +for the steward to bring the heavy brass padlock belonging to the +companionway. Then opening the slide a little, the Captain whispered +something down the crack, closed it, and turned the key upon them--ten +in number--leaving on deck some twenty or more, who thus far had +remained neutral. + +"All night a wide-awake watch was kept by all the officers, forward and +aft, especially about the forecastle scuttle and fore hatchway; at which +last place it was feared the insurgents might emerge, after breaking +through the bulkhead below. But the hours of darkness passed in peace; +the men who still remained at their duty toiling hard at the pumps, +whose clinking and clanking at intervals through the dreary night +dismally resounded through the ship. + +"At sunrise the Captain went forward, and knocking on the deck summoned +the prisoners to work; but with a yell they refused. Water was then +lowered down to them, and a couple of handfuls of biscuit were tossed +after it; when again turning the key upon them and pocketing it, the +Captain returned to the quarter-deck. Twice every day for three days +this was repeated; but on the fourth morning a confused wrangling, and +then a scuffling was heard, as the customary summons was delivered; and +suddenly four men burst up from the forecastle, saying they were ready +to turn to. The fetid closeness of the air, and a famishing diet, united +perhaps to some fears of ultimate retribution, had constrained them to +surrender at discretion. Emboldened by this, the Captain reiterated his +demand to the rest, but Steelkilt shouted up to him a terrific hint to +stop his babbling and betake himself where he belonged. On the fifth +morning three others of the mutineers bolted up into the air from the +desperate arms below that sought to restrain them. Only three were left. + +"'Better turn to, now!' said the Captain with a heartless jeer. + +"'Shut us up again, will ye!' cried Steelkilt. + +"'Oh! certainly,' said the Captain, and the key clicked. + +"It was at this point, gentlemen, that enraged by the defection of seven +of his former associates, and stung by the mocking voice that had last +hailed him, and maddened by his long entombment in a place as black as +the bowels of despair; it was then that Steelkilt proposed to the two +Canalers, thus far apparently of one mind with him, to burst out of +their hole at the next summoning of the garrison; and armed with their +keen mincing knives (long, crescentic, heavy implements with a handle at +each end) run a muck from the bowsprit to the taffrail; and if by any +devilishness of desperation possible, seize the ship. For himself, he +would do this, he said, whether they joined him or not. That was the +last night he should spend in that den. But the scheme met with no +opposition on the part of the other two; they swore they were ready for +that, or for any other mad thing, for any thing, in short, but a +surrender. And what was more, they each insisted upon being the first +man on deck, when the time to make the rush should come. But to this +their leader as fiercely objected, reserving that priority for himself; +particularly as his two comrades would not yield, the one to the other, +in the matter; and both of them could not be first, for the ladder would +but admit one man at a time. And here, gentlemen, the foul play of these +miscreants must come out. + +"Upon hearing the frantic project of their leader, each in his own +separate soul had suddenly lighted, it would seem, upon the same piece +of treachery, namely: to be foremost in breaking out, in order to be the +first of the three, though the last of the ten, to surrender; and +thereby secure whatever small chance of pardon such conduct might merit. +But when Steelkilt made known his determination still to lead them to +the last, they in some way, by some subtle chemistry of villainy, mixed +their before secret treacheries together; and when their leader fell +into a doze, verbally opened their souls to each other in three +sentences; and bound the sleeper with cords, and gagged him with cords; +and shrieked out for the Captain at midnight. + +"Thinking murder at hand, and smelling in the dark for the blood, he and +all his armed mates and harpooners rushed for the forecastle. In a few +minutes the scuttle was opened, and, bound hand and foot, the still +struggling ringleader was shoved up into the air by his perfidious +allies, who at once claimed the honor of securing a man who had been +fully ripe for murder. But all three were collared, and dragged along +the deck like dead cattle; and, side by side, were seized up into the +mizen rigging, like three quarters of meat, and there they hung till +morning. 'Damn ye,' cried the Captain, pacing to and fro before them, +'the vultures would not touch ye, ye villains!' + +"At sunrise he summoned all hands; and separated those who had rebelled +from those who had taken no part in the mutiny, he told the former that +he had a good mind to flog them all around--thought, upon the whole, he +would do so--he ought to--justice demanded it; but, for the present, +considering their timely surrender, he would let them go with a +reprimand, which he accordingly administered in the vernacular. + +"'But as for you, ye carrion rogues,' turning to the three men in the +rigging--'for you, I mean to mince ye up for the try-pots;' and, seizing +a rope, he applied it with all his might to the backs of the two +traitors, till they yelled no more, but lifelessly hung their head +sideways, as the two crucified thieves are drawn. + +"'My wrist is sprained with ye!' he cried, at last; 'but there is still +rope enough left for you, my fine bantam, that wouldn't give up. Take +that gag from his mouth, and let us hear what he can say for himself.' + +"For a moment the exhausted mutineer made a tremulous motion of his +cramped jaws, and then painfully twisting round his head, said, in a +sort of hiss, 'What I say is this--and mind it well--if you flog me, I +murder you!' + +"'Say ye so? then see how ye frighten me'--and the Captain drew off with +the rope to strike. + +"'Best not,' hissed the Lakeman. + +"'But I must'--and the rope was once more drawn back for the stroke. + +"Steelkilt here hissed out something, inaudible to all but the Captain; +who, to the amazement of all hands, started back, paced the deck rapidly +two or three times, and then suddenly throwing down his rope, said, 'I +won't do it--let him go--cut him down: d'ye hear?' + +"But as the junior mates were hurrying to execute the order, a pale man, +with a bandaged head, arrested them--Radney the chief mate. Ever since +the blow, he had lain in his berth; but that morning, hearing the tumult +on the deck, he had crept out, and thus far had watched the whole scene. +Such was the state of his mouth, that he could hardly speak; but +mumbling something about _his_ being willing and able to do what the +Captain dared not attempt, he snatched the rope and advanced to his +pinioned foe. + +"'You are a coward!' hissed the Lakeman. + +"'So I am, but take that.' The mate was in the very act of striking, +when another hiss stayed his uplifted arm. He paused: and then pausing +no more, made good his word, spite of Steelkilt's threat, whatever that +might have been. The three men were then cut down, all hands were turned +to, and, sullenly worked by the moody seamen, the iron pumps clanged as +before. + +"Just after dark that day, when one watch had retired below, a clamor +was heard in the forecastle; and the two trembling traitors running up, +besieged the cabin-door, saying they durst not consort with the crew. +Entreaties, cuffs, and kicks could not drive them back, so at their own +instance they were put down in the ship's run for salvation. Still, no +sign of mutiny re-appeared among the rest. On the contrary, it seemed, +that mainly at Steelkilt's instigation, they had resolved to maintain +the strictest peacefulness, obey all orders to the last, and, when the +ship reached port, desert her in a body. But in order to insure the +speediest end to the voyage, they all agreed to another thing--namely, +not to sing out for whales, in case any should be discovered. For, spite +of her leak, and spite of all her other perils, the Town-Ho still +maintained her mast heads, and her captain was just as willing to lower +for a fish that moment, as on the day his craft first struck the +cruising-ground, and Radney the mate was quite as ready to change his +berth for a boat, and with his bandaged mouth seek to gag in death the +vital jaw of the whale. + +"But though the Lakeman had induced the seamen to adopt this sort of +passiveness in their conduct, he kept his own counsel (at least till all +was over) concerning his own proper and private revenge upon the man who +had stung him in the ventricles of his heart. He was in Radney the +chief-mate's watch; and as if the infatuated man sought to run more than +half way to meet his doom, after the scene at the rigging, he insisted, +against the express counsel of the captain, upon resuming the head of +his watch at night. Upon this, and one or two other circumstances, +Steelkilt systematically built the plan of his revenge. + +"During the night, Radney had an unseaman-like way of sitting on the +bulwarks of the quarter-deck, and leaning his arm upon the gunwale of +the boat which was hoisted up there, a little above the ship's side. In +this attitude, it was well known, he sometimes dozed. There was a +considerable vacancy between the boat and the ship, and down between +this was the sea. Steelkilt calculated his time, and found that his next +trick at the helm would come round at two o'clock, in the morning of the +third day from that in which he had been betrayed. At his leisure, he +employed the interval in braiding something very carefully in his +watches below. + +"'What are you making there?' said a shipmate. + +"'What do you think? what does it look like?' + +"'Like a lanyard for your bag; but it's an odd one, seems to me.' + +"'Yes, rather oddish,' said the Lakeman, holding it at arm's length +before him; 'but I think it will answer. Shipmate, I haven't enough +twine--have you any?' + +"But there was none in the forecastle. + +"'Then I must get some from old Rad;' and he rose to go aft. + +"'You don't mean to go a-begging to _him!_' said a sailor. + +"'Why not? Do you think he won't do me a turn, when it's to help himself +in the end, shipmate?' and going to the mate, he looked at him quietly, +and asked him for some twine to mend his hammock. It was given +him--neither twine nor lanyard was seen again; but the next night an +iron ball, closely netted, partly rolled from the pocket of the +Lakeman's monkey-jacket, as he was tucking the coat into his hammock for +a pillow. Twenty-four hours after, his trick at the silent helm--nigh to +the man who was apt to doze over the grave always ready dug to the +seaman's hand--that fatal hour was then to come; and in the +fore-ordaining soul of Steelkilt, the mate was already stark and +stretched as a corpse, with his forehead crushed in. + +"But, gentlemen, a fool saved the would-be murderer from the bloody deed +he had planned. Yet complete revenge he had, and without being the +avenger. For by a mysterious fatality, Heaven itself seemed to step in +to take out of his hands into its own the damning thing he would have +done. + +"It was just between daybreak and sunrise of the morning of the second +day, when they were washing down the decks, that a stupid Teneriffe man, +drawing water in the main-chains, all at once shouted out, 'There she +rolls! there she rolls! Jesu! what a whale!' It was Moby Dick. + +"'Moby Dick!' cried Don Sebastian; 'St. Dominic! Sir sailor, but do +whales have christenings? Whom call you Moby Dick?' + +"A very white, and famous, and most deadly immortal monster, Don; but +that would be too long a story. + +"'How? how? cried all the young Spaniards, crowding. + +"Nay, Dons, Dons--nay, nay! I can not rehearse that now. Let me get more +into the air, sirs. + +"'The chicha! the chicha!' cried Don Pedro; 'our vigorous friend looks +faint; fill up his empty glass!' + +"No need, gentlemen; one moment, and I proceed. Now, gentlemen, so +suddenly perceiving the snowy whale within fifty yards of the +ship--forgetful of the compact among the crew--in the excitement of the +moment, the Teneriffe man had instinctively and involuntarily lifted his +voice for the monster, though for some little time past it had been +plainly beheld from the three sullen mast-heads. All was now a frenzy. +'The White Whale--the White Whale!' was the cry from captain, mates, and +harpooners, who, undeterred by fearful rumors, were all anxious to +capture so famous and precious a fish; while the dogged crew eyed +askance, and with curses, the appalling beauty of the vast milky mass, +that lit up by a horizontal spangling sun, shifted and glistened like a +living opal in the blue morning sea. Gentlemen, a strange fatality +pervades the whole career of these events, as if verily mapped out +before the world itself was charted. The mutineer was the bowsman of the +mate, and when fast to a fish, it was his duty to sit next him, while +Radney stood up with his lance in the prow, and haul in or slacken the +line, at the word of command. Moreover, when the four boats were +lowered, the mate's got the start; and none howled more fiercely with +delight than did Steelkilt, as he strained at his oar. After a stiff +pull, their harpooner got fast, and, spear in hand, Radney sprang to the +bow. He was always a furious man, it seems, in a boat. And now his +bandaged cry was, to beach him on the whale's topmost back. Nothing +loath, his bowsman hauled him up and up, through a blinding foam that +blent two whitenesses together; till of a sudden the boat struck as +against a sunken ledge, and keeling over, spilled out the standing mate. +That instant, as he fell on the whale's slippery back, the boat righted, +and was dashed aside by the swell, while Radney was tossed over into the +sea, on the other flank of the whale. He struck out through the spray, +and, for an instant, was dimly seen through that vail, wildly seeking to +remove himself from the eye of Moby Dick. But the whale rushed round in +a sudden maelstrom--seized the swimmer between his jaws; and rearing +high up with him, plunged headlong again, and went down. + +"Meantime, at the first tap of the boat's bottom, the Lakeman had +slackened the line, so as to drop astern from the whirlpool; calmly +looking on, he thought his own thoughts. But a sudden, terrific, +downward jerking of the boat, quickly brought his knife to the line. He +cut it; and the whale was free. But, at some distance, Moby Dick rose +again, with some tatters of Radney's red woolen shirt, caught in the +teeth that had destroyed him. All four boats gave chase again; but the +whale eluded them, and, finally, wholly disappeared. + +"In good time, the Town-Ho reached her port--a savage, solitary +place--where no civilized creature resided. There, headed by the +Lakeman, all but five or six of the foremast-men deliberately deserted +among the palms; eventually, as it turned out, seizing a large double +war-canoe of the savages, and setting sail for some other harbor. + +"The ship's company being reduced to but a handful, the Captain called +upon the Islanders to assist him in the laborious business of heaving +down the ship to stop the leak. But to such unresting vigilance over +their dangerous allies was this small band of whites necessitated, both +by night and by day, and so extreme was the hard work they underwent, +that upon the vessel being ready again for sea, they were in such a +weakened condition that the captain durst not put off with them in so +heavy a vessel. After taking counsel with his officers, he anchored the +ship as far off shore as possible; loaded and ran out his two cannon +from the bows; stacked his muskets on the poop; and warning the +Islanders not to approach the ship at their peril, took one man with +him, and setting the sail of his best whale-boat, steered straight +before the wind for Tahiti, five hundred miles distant, to procure a +reinforcement to his crew. + +"On the fourth day of the sail, a large canoe was descried, which seemed +to have touched at a low isle of corals. He steered away from it; but +the savage craft bore down on him; and soon the voice of Steelkilt +hailed him to heave to, or he would run him under water. The captain +presented a pistol. With one foot on each prow of the yoked war-canoes, +the Lakeman laughed him to scorn; assuring him that if the pistol so +much as clicked in the lock, he would bury him in bubbles and foam. + +"'What do you want of me?' cried the captain. + +"'Where are you bound? and for what are you bound?' demanded Steelkilt; +'no lies.' + +"'I am bound to Tahiti for more men.' + +"'Very good. Let me board you a moment--I come in peace.' With that he +leaped from the canoe, swam to the boat; and climbing the gunwale, stood +face to face with the captain. + +"'Cross your arm, sir; throw back your head. Now, repeat after me. As +soon as Steelkilt leaves me, I swear to beach this boat on yonder +island, and remain there six days. If I do not, may lightnings strike +me!' + +"'A pretty scholar,' laughed the Lakeman. 'Adios, Senor!' and leaping +into the sea, he swam back to his comrades. + +"Watching the boat till it was fairly beached, and drawn up to the roots +of the cocoa-nut trees, Steelkilt made sail again, and in due time +arrived at Tahiti, his own place of destination. There, luck befriended +him; two ships were about to sail for France, and were providentially in +want of precisely that number of men which the sailor headed. They +embarked; and so forever got the start of their former captain, had he +been at all minded to work them legal retribution. + +"Some ten days after the French ships sailed, the whale-boat arrived, +and the captain was forced to enlist some of the more civilized +Tahitans, who had been somewhat used to the sea. Chartering a small +native schooner, he returned with them to his vessel; and finding all +right there, again resumed his cruisings. + +"Where Steelkilt now is, gentlemen, none know; but upon the island of +Nantucket, the widow of Radney still turns to the sea which refuses to +give up its dead; still in dreams sees the awful white whale that +destroyed him.... + +"'Are you through?' said Don Sebastian, quietly. + +"I am, Don. + +"'Then I entreat you, tell me if to the best of your own convictions, +this your story is, in substance, really true? It is so passing +wonderful! Did you get it from an unquestionable source? Bear with me if +I seem to press.' + +"'Also bear with all of us, sir sailor; for we all join in Don +Sebastian's suit,' cried the company, with exceeding interest. + +"Is there a copy of the Holy Evangelists in the Golden Inn, gentlemen? + +"'Nay,' said Don Sebastian; 'but I know a worthy priest near by, who +will quickly procure one for me. I go for it; but are you well advised? +this may grow too serious.' + +"'Will you be so good as to bring the priest also, Don?' + +"'Though there are no Auto-da-Fés in Lima now,' said one of the company +to another; 'I fear our sailor friend runs risk of the archiepiscopacy. +Let us withdraw more out of the moonlight. I see no need of this.' + +"Excuse me for running after you, Don Sebastian; but may I also beg that +you will be particular in procuring the largest sized Evangelists you +can.... + +"'This is the priest; he brings you the Evangelists,' said Don +Sebastian, gravely, returning with a tall and solemn figure. + +"Let me remove my hat. Now, venerable priest, further into the light, +and hold the Holy Book before me that I may touch it. + +"So help me Heaven, and on my honor, the story I have told ye, +gentlemen, is, in substance and its great items, true. I know it to be +true; it happened on this ball; I trod the ship; I knew the crew; I have +seen and talked with Steelkilt since the death of Radney." + + + + +MY NOVEL, OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.[6] + +[6] Continued from the September Number. + +Book VII.--INITIAL CHAPTER. + + +"What is courage?" said my uncle Roland, rousing himself from a reverie +into which he had fallen after the Sixth Book in this history had been +read to our family circle. + +"What is courage?" he repeated more earnestly. "Is it insensibility to +fear? _That_ may be the mere accident of constitution; and, if so, there +is no more merit in being courageous than in being this table." + +"I am very glad to hear you speak thus," observed Mr. Caxton, "for I +should not like to consider myself a coward; yet I am very sensible to +fear in all dangers, bodily and moral." + +"La, Austin, how can you say so?" cried my mother, firing up; "was it +not only last week that you faced the great bull that was rushing after +Blanche and the children?" + +Blanche at that recollection stole to my father's chair, and, hanging +over his shoulder kissed his forehead. + +Mr. Caxton (sublimely unmoved by these flatteries).--"I don't deny that +I faced the bull, but I assert that I was horribly frightened." + +Roland.--"The sense of honor which conquers fear is the true courage of +chivalry: you could not run away when others were looking on--no +gentleman could." + +Mr. Caxton.--"Fiddledee! It was not on my gentility that I stood, +Captain. I should have run fast enough, if it had done any good. I stood +upon my understanding. As the bull could run faster than I could, the +only chance of escape was to make the brute as frightened as myself." + +Blanche.--"Ah, you did not think of that; your only thought was to save +me and the children." + +Mr. Caxton.--"Possibly, my dear--very possibly I might have been afraid +for you too--but I was very much afraid for myself. However, luckily I +had the umbrella, and I sprang it up and spread it forth in the animal's +stupid eyes, hurling at him simultaneously the biggest lines I could +think of in the First Chorus of the 'Seven against Thebes.' I began with +ELEDEMNAS PEDIOPLOKTUPOS; and when I came to the grand howl of Iô, iô, +iô, iô--the beast stood appalled as at the roar of a lion. I shall never +forget his amazed snort at the Greek. Then he kicked up his hind legs, +and went bolt through the gap in the hedge. Thus, armed with Æschylus +and the umbrella, I remained master of the field; but (continued Mr. +Caxton, ingenuously), I should not like to go through that half minute +again." + +"No man would," said the Captain, kindly. "I should be very sorry to +face a bull myself, even with a bigger umbrella than yours, and even +though I had Æschylus, and Homer to boot, at my fingers' ends." + +Mr. Caxton.--"You would not have minded if it had been a Frenchman with +a sword in his hand?" + +Captain.--"Of course not. Rather liked it than otherwise," he added, +grimly. + +Mr. Caxton.--"Yet many a Spanish matador, who doesn't care a button for +a bull, would take to his heels at the first lunge _en carte_ from a +Frenchman. Therefore, in fact, if courage be a matter of constitution, +it is also a matter of custom. We face calmly the dangers we are +habituated to, and recoil from those of which we have no familiar +experience. I doubt if Marshal Turenne himself would have been quite at +his ease on the tight rope; and a rope-dancer, who seems disposed to +scale the heavens with Titanic temerity, might possibly object to charge +on a cannon." + +Captain Roland.--"Still, either this is not the courage I mean, or there +is another kind of it. I mean by courage that which is the especial +force and dignity of the human character, without which there is no +reliance on principle, no constancy in virtue--a something," continued +my uncle, gallantly, and with a half bow toward my mother, "which your +sex shares with our own. When the lover, for instance, clasps the hand +of his betrothed, and says, 'Wilt thou be true to me, in spite of +absence and time, in spite of hazard and fortune, though my foes malign +me, though thy friends may dissuade thee, and our lot in life may be +rough and rude?' and when the betrothed answers, 'I will be true,' does +not the lover trust to her courage as well as her love?" + +"Admirably put, Roland," said my father. "But _apropos_ of what do you +puzzle us with these queries on courage?" + +Captain Roland (with a slight blush).--"I was led to the inquiry +(though, perhaps, it may be frivolous to take so much thought of what, +no doubt, costs Pisistratus so little), by the last chapters in my +nephew's story. I see this poor boy, Leonard, alone with his fallen +hopes (though very irrational they were), and his sense of shame. And I +read his heart, I dare say, better than Pisistratus does, for I could +feel like that boy if I had been in the same position; and, conjecturing +what he and thousands like him must go through, I asked myself, 'What +can save him and them?' I answered, as a soldier would answer, +'Courage!' Very well. But pray, Austin, what is courage?" + +Mr. Caxton (prudently backing out of a reply).--"_Papæ!_ Brother, since +you have just complimented the ladies on that quality, you had better +address your question to them." + +Blanche here leant both hands on my father's chair, and said, looking +down at first bashfully, but afterward warming with the subject, "Do you +not think, sir, that little Helen has already suggested, if not what is +courage, what at least is the real essence of all courage that endures +and conquers, that ennobles, and hallows, and redeems? Is it not +Patience, father?--and that is why we women have a courage of our own. +Patience does not affect to be superior to fear, but at least it never +admits despair." + +Pisistratus.--"Kiss me, my Blanche, for you have come near to the truth +which perplexed the soldier and puzzled the sage." + +Mr. Caxton (tartly).--"If you mean me by the sage, I was not puzzled at +all. Heaven knows you do right to inculcate patience--it is a virtue +very much required in your readers. Nevertheless," added my father, +softening with the enjoyment of his joke--"nevertheless, Blanche and +Helen are quite right. Patience is the courage of the conqueror; it is +the virtue, _par excellence_, of Man against Destiny--of the One against +the World, and of the Soul against Matter. Therefore this is the courage +of the Gospel; and its importance, in a social view--its importance to +races and institutions--can not be too earnestly included. What is it +that distinguishes the Anglo-Saxon from all other branches of the human +family, peoples deserts with his children, and consigns to them the +heritage of rising worlds? What but his faculty to brave, to suffer, to +endure--the patience that resists firmly, and innovates slowly. Compare +him with the Frenchman. The Frenchman has plenty of valor--that there is +no denying; but as for fortitude, he has not enough to cover the point +of a pin. He is ready to rush out of the world if he is bit by a flea." + +Captain Roland.--"There was a case in the papers the other day, Austin, +of a Frenchman who actually did destroy himself because he was so teased +by the little creatures you speak of. He left a paper on his table, +saying that 'life was not worth having at the price of such +torments.'"[7] + +[7] Fact. In a work by M. Gibert, a celebrated French physician, on +diseases of the skin, he states that that minute troublesome kind of +rash, known by the name of _prurigo_, though not dangerous in itself, +has often driven the individual afflicted by it to--suicide. I believe +that our more varying climate, and our more heating drinks and aliments, +render the skin complaint more common in England than in France, yet I +doubt if any English physician could state that it had ever driven one +of his _English_ patients to suicide. + +Mr. Caxton (solemnly).--"Sir, their whole political history, since the +great meeting of the Tiers État, has been the history of men who would +rather go to the devil than be bit by a flea. It is the record of human +impatience, that seeks to force time, and expects to grow forests from +the spawn of a mushroom. Wherefore, running through all extremes of +constitutional experiment, when they are nearest to democracy they are +next door to a despot; and all they have really done is to destroy +whatever constitutes the foundation of every tolerable government. A +constitutional monarchy can not exist without aristocracy, nor a +healthful republic endure with corruption of manners. The cry of +Equality is incompatible with Civilization, which, of necessity, +contrasts poverty with wealth, and, in short, whether it be an emperor +or a mob that is to rule, Force is the sole hope of order, and the +government is but an army. + +"Impress, O Pisistratus! impress the value of patience as regards man +and men. You touch there on the kernel of the social system--the secret +that fortifies the individual and disciplines the million. I care not, +for my part, if you are tedious so long as you are earnest. Be minute +and detailed. Let the real human life, in its war with Circumstance, +stand out. Never mind if one can read you but slowly--better chance of +being less quickly forgotten. Patience, patience! By the soul of +Epictetus, your readers shall set you an example!" + + +CHAPTER II. + +Leonard had written twice to Mrs. Fairfield, twice to Riccabocca, and +once to Mr. Dale; and the poor proud boy could not bear to betray his +humiliation. He wrote with as cheerful spirits--as if perfectly +satisfied with his prospects. He said that he was well employed, in the +midst of books, and that he had found kind friends. Then he turned from +himself to write about those whom he addressed, and the affairs and +interests of the quiet world wherein they lived. He did not give his own +address, nor that of Mr. Prickett. He dated his letters from a small +coffee-house near the bookseller, to which he occasionally went for his +simple meals. He had a motive in this. He did not desire to be found +out. Mr. Dale replied for himself and for Mrs. Fairfield, to the +epistles addressed to these two. Riccabocca wrote also. Nothing could be +more kind than the replies of both. They came to Leonard in a very dark +period in his life, and they strengthened him in the noiseless battle +with despair. + +If there be a good in the world that we do without knowing it, without +conjecturing the effect it may have upon a human soul, it is when we +show kindness to the young in the first barren footpath up the mountain +of life. + +Leonard's face resumed its serenity in his intercourse with his +employer; but he did not recover his boyish ingenuous frankness. The +under-currents flowed again pure from the turbid soil and the splintered +fragments uptorn from the deep; but they were still too strong and too +rapid to allow transparency to the surface. And now he stood in the +sublime world of books, still and earnest as a seer who invokes the +dead. And thus, face to face with knowledge, hourly he discovered how +little he knew. Mr. Prickett lent him such works as he selected and +asked to take home with him. He spent whole nights in reading; and no +longer desultorily. He read no more poetry, no more Lives of Poets. He +read what poets must read if they desire to be great--_Sapere principium +et fons_--strict reasonings on the human mind; the relations between +motive and conduct, thought and action; the grave and solemn truths of +the past world; antiquities, history, philosophy. He was taken out of +himself. He was carried along the ocean of the universe. In that ocean, +O seeker, study the law of the tides; and seeing Chance nowhere--Thought +presiding over all--Fate, that dread phantom, shall vanish from +creation, and Providence alone be visible in heaven and on earth! + + +CHAPTER III. + +There was to be a considerable book-sale at a country house one day's +journey from London. Mr. Prickett meant to have attended it on his own +behalf, and that of several gentlemen who had given him commissions for +purchase; but, on the morning fixed for his departure, he was seized +with a severe return of his old foe, the rheumatism. He requested +Leonard to attend instead of himself. Leonard went, and was absent for +the three days during which the sale lasted. He returned late in the +evening, and went at once to Mr. Prickett's house. The shop was closed; +he knocked at the private entrance; a strange person opened the door to +him, and in reply to his question if Mr. Prickett was at home, said with +a long and funereal face--"Young man, Mr. Prickett senior has gone to +his long home, but Mr. Richard Prickett will see you." + +At this moment a very grave-looking man, with lank hair, looked forth +from the side-door communicating between the shop and the passage; and +then stepped forward--"Come in, sir; you are my late uncle's assistant, +Mr. Fairfield, I suppose?" + +"Your late uncle! Heavens, sir, do I understand aright--can Mr. Prickett +be dead since I left London?" + +"Died, sir, suddenly last night. It was an affection of the heart; the +doctor thinks the rheumatism attacked that organ. He had small time to +provide for his departure, and his account books seem in sad disorder: I +am his nephew and executor." + +Leonard had now followed the nephew into the shop. There, still burned +the gas lamp. The place seemed more dingy and cavernous than before. +Death always makes its presence felt in the house it visits. + +Leonard was greatly affected--and yet more, perhaps, by the utter want +of feeling which the nephew exhibited. In fact, the deceased had not +been on friendly terms with this person, his nearest relative and +heir-at-law, who was also a bookseller. + +"You were engaged but by the week I find, young man, on reference to my +late uncle's papers. He gave you a £1 a week--a monstrous sum! I shall +not require your services any further. I shall move these books to my +own house. You will be good enough to send me a list of those you bought +at the sale, and your account of traveling expenses, &c. What may be due +to you shall be sent to your address. Good evening." + +Leonard went home, shocked and saddened at the sudden death of his kind +employer. He did not think much of himself that night; but, when he rose +the next day, he suddenly felt that the world of London lay before him, +without a friend, without a calling, without an occupation for bread. + +This time it was no fancied sorrow, no poetic dream disappointed. Before +him, gaunt and palpable, stood Famine. + +Escape!--yes. Back to the village; his mother's cottage; the exile's +garden; the radishes and the fount. Why could he not escape? Ask why +civilization can not escape its ills and fly back to the wilds and the +wigwam? + +Leonard could not have returned to the cottage, even if the Famine that +faced had already seized him with her skeleton hand. London releases not +so readily her fated stepsons. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +One day three persons were standing before an old book-stall in a +passage leading from Oxford-street into Tottenham-court-road. Two were +gentlemen; the third, of the class and appearance of those who more +habitually halt at old book-stalls. + +"Look," said one of the gentlemen to the other, "I have discovered here +what I have searched for in vain for the last ten years--the Horace of +1580, the Horace of the Forty Commentators--a perfect treasury of +learning, and marked only fourteen shillings!" + +"Hush, Norreys," said the other, "and observe what is yet more worth +your study;" and he pointed to the third bystander, whose face, sharp +and attenuated, was bent with an absorbed, and as it were, with a +hungering attention over an old worm-eaten volume. + +"What is the book, my lord?" whispered Mr. Norreys. + +His companion smiled, and replied by another question, "What is the man +who reads the book?" + +Mr. Norreys moved a few paces, and looked over the student's shoulder. +"Preston's translation of Boethius, _The Consolations of Philosophy_," +he said, coming back to his friend. + +"He looks as if he wanted all the consolations Philosophy can give him, +poor boy." + +At this moment a fourth passenger paused at the book-stall, and, +recognizing the pale student, placed his hand on his shoulder and said, +"Aha, young sir, we meet again. So poor Prickett is dead. But you are +still haunted by associations. Books--books--magnets to which all iron +minds move insensibly. What is this? Boethius! Ah, a book written in +prison, but a little time before the advent of the only philosopher who +solves to the simplest understanding every mystery of life--" + +"And that philosopher?" + +"Is Death!" said Mr. Burley. "How can you be dull enough to ask? Poor +Boethius, rich, nobly born, a consul, his sons consuls--the world one +smile to the Last Philosopher of Rome. Then suddenly, against this type +of the old world's departing WISDOM, stands frowning the new world's +grim genius, FORCE--Theodoric the Ostrogoth condemning Boethius the +Schoolman; and Boethius, in his Pavian dungeon, holding a dialogue with +the shade of Athenian Philosophy. It is the finest picture upon which +lingers the glimmering of the Western golden day, before night rushes +over time." + +"And," said Mr. Norreys abruptly, "Boethius comes back to us with the +faint gleam of returning light, translated by Alfred the Great. And, +again, as the sun of knowledge bursts forth in all its splendor, by +Queen Elizabeth. Boethius influences us as we stand in this passage; and +that is the best of all the Consolations of Philosophy--eh, Mr. Burley?" + +Mr. Burley turned and bowed. + +The two men looked at each other; you could not see a greater contrast. +Mr. Burley, his gay green dress already shabby and soiled, with a rent +in the skirts, and his face speaking of habitual night-cups. Mr. +Norreys, neat and somewhat precise in dress, with firm lean figure, and +quiet, collected, vigorous energy in his eye and aspect. + +"If," replied Mr. Burley, "a poor devil like me may argue with a +gentleman who may command his own price with the booksellers, I should +say it is no consolation at all Mr. Norreys. And I should like to see +any man of sense accept the condition of Boethius in his prison, with +some strangler or headsman waiting behind the door, upon the promised +proviso that he should be translated, centuries afterward, by Kings and +Queens, and help indirectly to influence the minds of Northern +barbarians, babbling about him in an alley, jostled by passers-by who +never heard the name of Boethius, and who don't care a fig for +philosophy. Your servant, sir--young man, come and talk." + +Burley hooked his arm within Leonard's, and led the boy passively away. + +"That is a clever man," said Harley L'Estrange. "But I am sorry to see +yon young student, with his bright, earnest eyes, and his lip that has +the quiver of passion and enthusiasm, leaning on the arm of a guide who +seems disenchanted of all that gives purpose to learning, and links +philosophy with use to the world. Who, and what is this clever man whom +you call Burley?" + +"A man who might have been famous, if he had condescended to be +respectable! The boy listening to us both so attentively interested _me_ +too--I should like to have the making of him. But I must buy this +Horace." + +The shopman, lurking within his hole like a spider for flies, was now +called out. And when Mr. Norreys had bought the Horace, and given an +address where to send it, Harley asked the shopman if he knew the young +man who had been reading Boethius. + +"Only by sight. He has come here every day the last week, and spends +hours at the stall. When once he fastens on a book, he reads it +through." + +"And never buys?" said Mr. Norreys. + +"Sir," said the shopman, with a good-natured smile, "they who buy seldom +read. The poor boy pays me two-pence a day to read as long as he +pleases. I would not take it, but he is proud." + +"I have known men amass great learning in that way," said Mr. Norreys. +"Yes, I should like to have that boy in my hands. And now, my lord, I am +at your service, and we shall go to the studio of your artist." + +The two gentlemen walked on toward one of the streets out of +Fitzroy-square. + +In a few minutes more Harley L'Estrange was in his element, seated +carelessly on a deal table, smoking his cigar, and discussing art with +the gusto of a man who honestly loved, and the taste of a man who +thoroughly understood it. The young artist, in his dressing robe, adding +slow touch upon touch, paused often to listen the better. And Henry +Norreys, enjoying the brief respite from a life of great labor, was +gladly reminded of idle hours under rosy skies; for these three men had +formed their friendship in Italy, where the bands of friendship are +woven by the hands of the Graces. + + +CHAPTER V. + +Leonard and Mr. Burley walked on into the suburbs round the north road +from London, and Mr. Burley offered to find literary employment for +Leonard--an offer eagerly accepted. + +Then they went into a public house by the wayside. Burley demanded a +private room, called for pen, ink, and paper; and placing these +implements before Leonard, said, "Write what you please, in prose, five +sheets of letter paper, twenty-two lines to a page neither more nor +less." + +"I can not write so." + +"Tut, 'tis for bread." + +The boy's face crimsoned. + +"I must forget that," said he. + +"There is an arbor in the garden under a weeping ash," returned Burley. +"Go there, and fancy yourself in Arcadia." + +Leonard was too pleased to obey. He found out the little arbor at one +end of a deserted bowling-green. All was still--the hedgerow shut out +the sight of the inn. The sun lay warm on the grass, and glinted +pleasantly through the leaves of the ash. And Leonard there wrote the +first essay from his hand as Author by profession. What was it that he +wrote? His dreamy impressions of London? an anathema on its streets, and +its hearts of stone? murmurs against poverty? dark elegies on fate? + +Oh, no! little knowest thou true genius if thou askest such questions, +or thinkest that there, under the weeping ash, the taskwork for bread +was remembered; or that the sunbeam glinted but over the practical +world, which, vulgar and sordid, lay around. Leonard wrote a fairy +tale--one of the loveliest you can conceive, with a delicate touch of +playful humor--in a style all flowered over with happy fancies. He +smiled as he wrote the last word--he was happy. In rather more than an +hour Mr. Burley came to him, and found him with that smile on his lips. + +Mr. Burley had a glass of brandy and water in his hand; it was his +third. He too smiled--he too looked happy. He read the paper aloud, and +well. He was very complimentary. "You will do!" said he, clapping +Leonard on the back. "Perhaps some day you will catch my one-eyed +perch." Then he folded up the MS., scribbled off a note, put the whole +in one envelope--and they returned to London. + +Mr. Burley disappeared within a dingy office near Fleet-street, on which +was inscribed--"Office of the _Beehive_," and soon came forth with a +golden sovereign in his hand--Leonard's first fruits. Leonard thought +Peru lay before him. He accompanied Mr. Burley to that gentleman's +lodging in Maida Hill. The walk had been very long; Leonard was not +fatigued. He listened with a livelier attention than before to Burley's +talk. And when they reached the apartments of the latter, and Mr. Burley +sent to the cookshop, and their joint supper was taken out of the golden +sovereign, Leonard felt proud, and for the first time for weeks he +laughed the heart's laugh. The two writers grew more and more intimate +and cordial. And there was a vast deal in Burley by which any young man +might be made the wiser. There was no apparent evidence of poverty in +the apartment--clean, new, well furnished; but all things in the most +horrible litter--all speaking of the huge literary sloven. + +For several days Leonard almost lived in those rooms. He wrote +continuously--save when Burley's conversation fascinated him into +idleness. Nay, it was not idleness--his knowledge grew larger as he +listened; but the cynicism of the talker began slowly to work its way. +That cynicism in which there was no faith, no hope, no vivifying breath +from Glory--from Religion. The cynicism of the Epicurean, more degraded +in his style than ever was Diogenes in his tub; and yet presented with +such ease and such eloquence--with such art and such mirth--so adorned +with illustration and anecdote, so unconscious of debasement. + +Strange and dread philosophy--that made it a maxim to squander the gifts +of mind on the mere care for matter, and fit the soul to live but as +from day to day, with its scornful cry, "A fig for immortality and +laurels!" An author for bread! Oh, miserable calling! was there +something grand and holy, after all, even in Chatterton's despair! + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The villainous _Beehive!_ Bread was worked out of it, certainly; but +fame, but hope for the future--certainly not. Milton's _Paradise Lost_ +would have perished without a sound, had it appeared in the _Beehive_. + +Fine things were there in a fragmentary crude state, composed by Burley +himself. At the end of a week they were dead and forgotten--never read +by one man of education and taste; taken simultaneously and +indifferently with shallow politics and wretched essays, yet selling, +perhaps, twenty or thirty thousand copies--an immense sale; and nothing +got out of them but bread and brandy! + +"What more would you have?" cried John Burley. "Did not stern old Sam +Johnson say he could never write but from want?" + +"He might say it," answered Leonard; "but he never meant posterity to +believe him. And he would have died of want, I suspect, rather than have +written _Rasselas_ for the _Beehive!_ Want is a grand thing," continued +the boy, thoughtfully. "A parent of grand things. Necessity is strong, +and should give us its own strength; but Want should shatter asunder, +with its very writhings, the walls of our prison-house, and not sit +contented with the allowance the jail gives us in exchange for our +work." + +"There is no prison-house to a man who calls upon Bacchus--stay--I will +translate to you Schiller's Dithyramb. 'Then see I Bacchus--then up come +Cupid and Ph[oe]bus, and all the Celestials are filling my dwelling.'" + +Breaking into impromptu careless rhymes, Burley threw off a rude but +spirited translation of that divine lyric. + +"O materialists!" cried the boy, with his bright eyes suffused. +"Schiller calls on the gods to take him to their heaven with him; and +you would debase the gods to a gin palace." + +"Ho, ho!" cried Burley, with his giant laugh. "Drink, and you will +understand the Dithyramb." + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Suddenly one morning, as Leonard sate with Burley, a fashionable +cabriolet, with a very handsome horse, stopped at the door--a loud +knock--a quick step on the stairs, and Randal Leslie entered. Leonard +recognized him and started. Randal glanced at him in surprise, and then, +with a tact that showed he had already learned to profit by London life, +after shaking hands with Burley, approached, and said, with some +unsuccessful attempt at ease, "Unless I am mistaken, sir, we have met +before. If you remember me, I hope all boyish quarrels are forgotten?" + +Leonard bowed, and his heart was still good enough to be softened. + +"Where could you two ever have met?" asked Burley. + +"In a village green, and in single combat," answered Randal, smiling; +and he told the story of the Battle of the Stocks with a well-bred jest +on himself. Burley laughed at the story. "But," said he, when this laugh +was over, "my young friend had better have remained guardian of the +village stocks, than come to London in search of such fortune as lies at +the bottom of an inkhorn." + +"Ah," said Randal, with the secret contempt which men elaborately +cultivated are apt to feel for those who seek to educate +themselves--"ah, you make literature your calling, sir? At what school +did you conceive a taste for letters? not very common at our great +public schools." + +"I am at school now for the first time," answered Leonard, drily. + +"Experience is the best schoolmistress," said Burley; "and that was the +maxim of Goethe, who had book-learning enough, in all conscience." + +Randal slightly shrugged his shoulders, and, without wasting another +thought on Leonard, peasant-born and self-taught, took his seat, and +began to talk to Burley upon a political question, which made then the +war-cry between the two great Parliamentary parties. It was a subject in +which Burley showed much general knowledge; and Randal, seeming to +differ from him, drew forth alike his information and his argumentative +powers. The conversation lasted more than an hour. + +"I can't quite agree with you," said Randal, taking his leave; "but you +must allow me to call again--will the same hour to-morrow suit you?" + +"Yes," said Burley. + +Away went the young man in his cabriolet. Leonard watched him from the +window. + +For five days consecutively, did Randal call and discuss the question in +all its bearings; and Burley, after the second day, got interested in +the matter, looked up his authorities--refreshed his memory and even +spent an hour or two in the Library of the British Museum. + +By the fifth day Burley had really exhausted all that could well be said +on his side of the question. + +Leonard, during these colloquies, had sate apart, seemingly absorbed in +reading, and secretly stung by Randal's disregard of his presence. For +indeed that young man, in his superb self-esteem, and in the absorption +of his ambitious projects, scarce felt even curiosity as to Leonard's +rise above his earlier station, and looked on him as a mere journeyman +of Burley's. But the self-taught are keen and quick observers. And +Leonard had remarked that Randal seemed more as one playing a part for +some private purpose, than arguing in earnest; and that when he rose and +said, "Mr. Burley, you have convinced me," it was not with the modesty +of a sincere reasoner, but the triumph of one who has gained his end. +But so struck, meanwhile, was our unheeded and silent listener, with +Burley's power of generalization, and the wide surface over which his +information extended, that when Randal left the room the boy looked at +the slovenly, purposeless man, and said aloud--"True; knowledge is _not_ +power." + +"Certainly not," said Burley, drily--"the weakest thing in the world." + +"Knowledge is power," muttered Randal Leslie, as, with a smile on his +lip, he drove from the door. + +Not many days after this last interview there appeared a short pamphlet; +anonymous, but one which made a great impression on the town. It was on +the subject discussed between Randal and Burley. It was quoted at great +length in the newspapers. And Burley started to his feet one morning, +and exclaimed, "My own thoughts! my very words! Who the devil is this +pamphleteer?" + +Leonard took the newspaper from Burley's hand. The most flattering +encomiums preceded the extracts, and the extracts were as stereotypes of +Burley's talk. + +"Can you doubt the author?" cried Leonard, in deep disgust and ingenuous +scorn. "The young man who came to steal your brains, and turn your +knowledge--" + +"Into power," interrupted Burley, with a laugh, but it was a laugh of +pain. "Well, this was very mean; I shall tell him so when he comes." + +"He will come no more," said Leonard. Nor did Randal come again. But he +sent Mr. Burley a copy of the pamphlet with a polite note, saying, with +candid but careless acknowledgment, that "he had profited much by Mr. +Burley's hints and remarks." + +And now it was in all the papers, that the pamphlet which had made so +great a noise was by a very young man, Mr. Audley Egerton's relation, +and high hopes were expressed of the future career of Mr. Randal Leslie. + +Burley still attempted to laugh, and still his pain was visible. Leonard +most cordially despised and hated Randal Leslie, and his heart moved to +Burley with noble but perilous compassion. In his desire to soothe and +comfort the man whom he deemed cheated out of fame, he forgot the +caution he had hitherto imposed on himself, and yielded more and more to +the charm of that wasted intellect. He accompanied Burley now where he +went to spend his evenings, and more and more--though gradually, and +with many a recoil and self-rebuke--there crept over him the cynic's +contempt for glory, and miserable philosophy of debased content. + +Randal had risen into grave repute upon the strength of Burley's +knowledge. But, had Burley written the pamphlet, would the same repute +have attended _him?_ Certainly not. Randal Leslie brought to that +knowledge qualities all his own--a style simple, strong, and logical; a +certain tone of good society, and allusions to men and to parties that +showed his connection with a cabinet minister, and proved that he had +profited no less by Egerton's talk than Burley's. + +Had Burley written the pamphlet, it would have showed more genius, it +would have had humor and wit, but have been so full of whims and quips, +sins against taste, and defects in earnestness, that it would have +failed to create any serious sensation. Here, then, there was something +else besides knowledge, by which knowledge became power. Knowledge must +not smell of the brandy bottle. + +Randal Leslie might be mean in his plagiarism, but he turned the useless +into use. And so far he was original. + +But one's admiration, after all, rests where Leonard's rested--with the +poor, shabby, riotous, lawless, big fallen man. + +Burley took himself off to the Brent, and fished again for the one-eyed +perch. Leonard accompanied him. His feelings were indeed different from +what they had been when he had reclined under the old tree, and talked +with Helen of the future. But it was almost pathetic to see how Burley's +nature seemed to alter, as he strayed along the banks of the rivulet, +and talked of his own boyhood. The man then seemed restored to something +of the innocence of the child. He cared, in truth, little for the perch, +which continued intractable, but he enjoyed the air and the sky, the +rustling grass and the murmuring waters. These excursions to the haunts +of youth seemed to rebaptize him, and then his eloquence took a pastoral +character, and Izaak Walton himself would have loved to hear him. But as +he got back into the smoke of the metropolis, and the gas lamps made him +forget the ruddy sunset, and the soft evening star, the gross habits +reassumed their sway; and on he went with his swaggering, reckless step +to the orgies in which his abused intellect flamed forth, and then sank +into the socket quenched and rayless. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Helen was seized with profound and anxious sadness. Leonard had been +three or four times to see her, and each time she saw a change in him +that excited all her fears. He seemed, it is true, more shrewd, more +worldly-wise, more fitted, it might be, for coarse daily life; but, on +the other hand, the freshness and glory of his youth were waning slowly. +His aspirings drooped earthward. He had not mastered the Practical, and +moulded its uses with the strong hand of the Spiritual Architect, of the +Ideal Builder: the Practical was overpowering himself. She grew pale +when he talked of Burley, and shuddered, poor little Helen! when she +found he was daily and almost nightly in a companionship which, with her +native honest prudence, she saw so unsuited to strengthen him in his +struggles, and aid him against temptation. She almost groaned when, +pressing him as to his pecuniary means, she found his old terror of debt +seemed fading away, and the solid healthful principles he had taken from +his village were loosening fast. Under all, it is true, there was what a +wiser and older person than Helen would have hailed as the redeeming +promise. But that something was _grief_--a sublime grief in his own +sense of falling--in his own impotence against the Fate he had provoked +and coveted. The sublimity of that grief Helen could not detect: she saw +only that it _was_ grief, and she grieved with it, letting it excuse +every fault--making her more anxious to comfort, in order that she might +save. Even from the first, when Leonard had exclaimed, "Ah, Helen, why +did you ever leave me?" she had revolved the idea of return to him; and +when in the boy's last visit he told her that Burley, persecuted by +duns, was about to fly from his present lodgings, and take his abode +with Leonard in the room she had left vacant, all doubt was over. She +resolved to sacrifice the safety and shelter of the home assured her. +She resolved to come back and share Leonard's penury and struggles, and +save the old room, wherein she had prayed for him, from the tempter's +dangerous presence. Should she burden him? No; she had assisted her +father by many little female arts in needle and fancy work. She had +improved herself in these during her sojourn with Miss Starke. She could +bring her share to the common stock. Possessed with this idea, she +determined to realize it before the day on which Leonard had told her +Burley was to move his quarters. Accordingly she rose very early one +morning; she wrote a pretty and grateful note to Miss Starke, who was +fast asleep, left it on the table, and before any one was astir, stole +from the house, her little bundle on her arm. She lingered an instant at +the garden-gate, with a remorseful sentiment--a feeling that she had +ill-repaid the cold and prim protection that Miss Starke had shown her. +But sisterly love carried all before it. She closed the gate with a +sigh, and went on. + +She arrived at the lodging-house before Leonard was up, took possession +of her old chamber, and, presenting herself to Leonard as he was about +to go forth, said (story-teller that she was)--"I am sent away, brother, +and I have come to you to take care of me. Do not let us part again. But +you must be very cheerful and very happy, or I shall think that I am +sadly in your way." + +Leonard at first did look cheerful, and even happy; but then he thought +of Burley, and then of his own means of supporting her, and was +embarrassed, and began questioning Helen as to the possibility of +reconciliation with Miss Starke. And Helen said gravely, "Impossible--do +not ask it, and do not go near her." + +Then Leonard thought she had been humbled and insulted, and remembered +that she was a gentleman's child, and felt for her wounded pride--he was +so proud himself. Yet still he was embarrassed. + +"Shall I keep the purse again, Leonard?" said Helen coaxingly. + +"Alas!" replied Leonard, "the purse is empty." + +"That is very naughty in the purse," said Helen, "since you put so much +into it." + +"I?" + +"Did not you say that you made, at least, a guinea a-week?" + +"Yes; but Burley takes the money; and then, poor fellow! as I owe all to +him, I have not the heart to prevent his spending it as he likes." + +"Please, I wish you could settle the month's rent," said the landlady, +suddenly showing herself. She said it civilly, but with firmness. + +Leonard colored. "It shall be paid to-day." + +Then he pressed his hat on his head, and putting Helen gently aside, +went forth. + +"Speak to _me_ in future, kind Mrs. Smedley," said Helen with the air of +a housewife. "_He_ is always in study, and must not be disturbed." + +The landlady--a good woman, though she liked her rent--smiled benignly. +She was fond of Helen, whom she had known of old. + +"I am so glad you are come back; and perhaps now the young man will not +keep such late hours. I meant to give him warning, but--" + +"But he will be a great man one of these days, and you must bear with +him now." And Helen kissed Mrs. Smedley, and sent her away half inclined +to cry. + +Then Helen busied herself in the rooms. She found her father's box, +which had been duly forwarded. She re-examined its contents, and wept as +she touched each humble and pious relic. But her father's memory itself +thus seemed to give this home a sanction which the former had not; and +she rose quietly and began mechanically to put things in order, sighing +as she saw all so neglected, till she came to the rose-tree, and that +alone showed heed and care. "Dear Leonard!" she murmured, and the smile +re-settled on her lips. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Nothing, perhaps, could have severed Leonard from Burley but Helen's +return to his care. It was impossible for him, even had there been +another room in the house vacant (which there was not), to install this +noisy riotous son of the Muse by Bacchus, talking at random, and +smelling of spirits, in the same dwelling with an innocent, delicate, +timid female child. And Leonard could not leave her alone all the +twenty-four hours. She restored a home to him, and imposed its duties. +He therefore told Mr. Burley that in future he should write and study in +his own room, and hinted with many a blush, and as delicately as he +could, that it seemed to him that whatever he obtained from his pen +ought to be halved with Burley, to whose interest he owed the +employment, and from whose books or whose knowledge he took what helped +to maintain it; but that the other half, if his, he could no longer +afford to spend upon feasts or libations. He had another to provide for. + +Burley pooh-poohed the notion of taking half his coadjutor's earnings, +with much grandeur, but spoke very fretfully of Leonard's sober +appropriation of the other half; and, though a good-natured, +warm-hearted man, felt extremely indignant against the sudden +interposition of poor Helen. However, Leonard was firm; and then Burley +grew sullen, and so they parted. But the rent was still to be paid. +How? Leonard for the first time thought of the pawnbroker. He had +clothes to spare, and Riccabocca's watch. No; that last he shrank from +applying to such base uses. + +He went home at noon, and met Helen at the street-door. She too had been +out, and her soft cheek was rosy red with unwonted exercise and the +sense of joy. She had still preserved the few gold pieces which Leonard +had taken back to her on his first visit to Miss Starke's. She had now +gone out and bought wools and implements for work; and meanwhile she had +paid the rent. + +Leonard did not object to the work, but he blushed deeply when he knew +about the rent, and was very angry. He paid back to her that night what +she had advanced; and Helen wept silently at his pride, and wept more +when she saw the next day a woeful hiatus in his wardrobe. + +But Leonard now worked at home, and worked resolutely; and Helen sate by +his side, working too; so that next day, and the next, slipped +peacefully away, and in the evening of the second he asked her to walk +out in the fields. She sprang up joyously at the invitation, when bang +went the door, and in reeled John Burley--drunk:--And so drunk! + + +CHAPTER X. + +And with Burley there reeled in another man--a friend of his--a man who +had been a wealthy trader and once well to do, but who, unluckily, had +literary tastes, and was fond of hearing Burley talk. So, since he had +known the wit, his business had fallen from him, and he had passed +through the Bankrupt Court. A very shabby-looking dog he was, indeed, +and his nose was redder than Burley's. + +John made a drunken dash at poor Helen. "So you are the Pentheus in +petticoats who defies Bacchus," cried he; and therewith he roared out a +verse from Euripides. Helen ran away, and Leonard interposed. + +"For shame, Burley!" + +"He's drunk," said Mr. Douce, the bankrupt trader--"very drunk--don't +mind--him. I say, sir, I hope we don't intrude. Sit still, Burley, sit +still, and talk, do--that's a good man. You should hear him +ta--ta--talk, sir." + +Leonard meanwhile had got Helen out of the room, into her own, and +begged her not to be alarmed, and keep the door locked. He then returned +to Burley, who had seated himself on the bed, trying wondrous hard to +keep himself upright; while Mr. Douce was striving to light a short pipe +that he carried in his button-hole--without having filled it--and, +naturally failing in that attempt, was now beginning to weep. + +Leonard was deeply shocked and revolted for Helen's sake; but it was +hopeless to make Burley listen to reason. And how could the boy turn out +of his room the man to whom he was under obligations? + +Meanwhile there smote upon Helen's shrinking ears loud jarring talk and +maudlin laughter, and cracked attempts at jovial songs. Then she heard +Mrs. Smedley in Leonard's room, remonstrating, and Burley's laugh was +louder than before, and Mrs. Smedley, who was a meek woman, evidently +got frightened, and was heard in precipitate retreat. Long and loud talk +recommenced, Burley's great voice predominant, Mr. Douce chiming in with +hiccupy broken treble. Hour after hour this lasted, for want of the +drink that would have brought it to a premature close. And Burley +gradually began to talk himself somewhat sober. Then Mr. Douce was heard +descending the stairs, and silence followed. At dawn, Leonard knocked at +Helen's door. She opened it at once, for she had not gone to bed. + +"Helen," said he, very sadly, "you can not continue here. I must find +out some proper home for you. This man has served me when all London was +friendless, and he tells me that he has nowhere else to go--that the +bailiffs are after him.--He has now fallen asleep. I will go and find +you some lodging close at hand--for I can not expel him who has +protected me; and yet you can not be under the same roof with him. My +own good angel, I must lose you." + +He did not wait for her answer, but hurried down the stairs. + +The morning looked through the shutterless panes in Leonard's garret, +and the birds began to chirp from the elm-tree, when Burley rose, and +shook himself, and stared round. He could not quite make out where he +was. He got hold of the water-jug which he emptied at three draughts, +and felt greatly refreshed. He then began to reconnoitre the +chamber--looked at Leonard's MSS.--peeped into the drawers--wondered +where the devil Leonard himself had gone to--and finally amused himself +by throwing down the fire-irons, ringing the bell, and making all the +noise he could, in the hopes of attracting the attention of somebody or +other, and procuring himself his morning dram. + +In the midst of this _charivari_ the door opened softly, but as if with +a resolute hand, and the small quiet form of Helen stood before the +threshold. Burley turned round, and the two looked at each other for +some moments with silent scrutiny. + +Burley (composing his features into their most friendly +expression).--"Come hither, my dear. So you are the little girl whom I +saw with Leonard on the banks of the Brent, and you have come back to +live with him--and I have come to live with him too. You shall be our +little housekeeper, and I will tell you the story of Prince Prettyman, +and a great many others not to be found in _Mother Goose_. Meanwhile, my +dear little girl, here's sixpence--just run out and change this for its +worth in rum." + +Helen (coming slowly up to Mr. Burley, and still gazing earnestly into +his face).--"Ah, sir, Leonard says you have a kind heart, and that you +have served him--he can not ask you to leave the house: and so I, who +have never served him, am to go hence and live alone." + +Burley (moved).--"You go, my little lady?--and why? Can we not all live +together?" + +Helen. "No sir. I left every thing to come to Leonard, for we had met +first at my father's grave. But you rob me of him, and I have no other +friend on earth." + +Burley (discomposed).--"Explain yourself. Why must you leave him because +I come?" + +Helen looks at Mr. Burley again, long and wistfully, but makes no +answer. + +Burley (with a gulp).--"Is it because he thinks I am not fit company for +you?" + +Helen bowed her head. + +Burley winced, and after a moment's pause said--"He is right." + +Helen (obeying the impulse at her heart, springs forward and takes +Burley's hand).--"Ah, sir," she cried, "before he knew you he was so +different--then he was cheerful--then, even when his first +disappointment came, I grieved and wept; but I felt he would conquer +still--for his heart was so good and pure. Oh, sir, don't think I +reproach you; but what is to become of him if--if--No, it is not for +myself I speak. I know that if I was here, that if he had me to care +for, he would come home early and--work patiently--and--and--that I +might save him. But now when I am gone, and you with him--you to whom he +is grateful, you whom he would follow against his own conscience (you +must see that, sir)--what is to become of him?" + +Helen's voice died in sobs. + +Burley took three or four long strides through the room--he was greatly +agitated. "I am a demon," he murmured. "I never saw it before--but it is +true I should be this boy's ruin." Tears stood in his eyes, he paused +abruptly, made a clutch at his hat, and turned to the door. + +Helen stopped the way, and taking him gently by the arm, said--"Oh, sir, +forgive me--I have pained you;" and looked up at him with a +compassionate expression, that indeed made the child's sweet face as +that of an angel. + +Burley bent down as if to kiss her, and then drew back--perhaps with a +sentiment that his lips were not worthy to touch that innocent brow. + +"If I had had a sister--a child like you, little one," he muttered, +"perhaps I too might have been saved in time. Now--" + +"Ah, now you may stay, sir; I don't fear you any more." + +"No, no; you would fear me again ere night-time, and I might not be +always in the right mood to listen to a voice like yours, child. Your +Leonard has a noble heart and rare gifts. He should rise yet, and he +shall. I will not drag him into the mire. Good-by--you will see me no +more." He broke from Helen, cleared the stairs with a bound, and was out +of the house. + +When Leonard returned he was surprised to hear his unwelcome guest was +gone--but Helen did not venture to tell him of her interposition. She +knew instinctively how such officiousness would mortify and offend the +pride of man; but she never again spoke harshly of poor Burley. Leonard +supposed that he should either see or hear of the humorist in the course +of the day. Finding he did not, he went in search of him at his old +haunts; but no trace. He inquired at the _Beehive_ if they knew there of +his new address, but no tidings of Burley could be obtained. + +As he came home disappointed and anxious, for he felt uneasy as to the +disappearance of his wild friend, Mrs. Smedley met him at the door. + +"Please, sir, suit yourself with another lodging," said she. "I can have +no such singings and shoutings going on at night in my house. And that +poor little girl too!--you should be ashamed of yourself." + +Leonard frowned, and passed by. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Meanwhile, on leaving Helen, Burley strode on; and, as if by some better +instinct, for he was unconscious of his own steps, he took the way +toward the still green haunts of his youth. When he paused at length, he +was already before the door of a rural cottage, standing alone in the +midst of fields, with a little farm-yard at the back; and far through +the trees in front was caught a glimpse of the winding Brent. + +With this cottage Burley was familiar; it was inhabited by a good old +couple who had known him from a boy. There he habitually left his rods +and fishing-tackle; there, for intervals in his turbid, riotous life, he +had sojourned for two or three days together--fancying, the first day +that the country was a heaven, and convinced before the third that it +was a purgatory. + +An old woman of neat and tidy exterior came forth to greet him. + +"Ah, Master John," said she, clasping his nerveless hand--"well, the +fields be pleasant now--I hope you are come to stay a bit? Do; it will +freshen you: you lose all the fine color you had once, in Lunnon town." + +"I will stay with you, my kind friend," said Burley, with unusual +meekness--"I can have the old room, then?" + +"Oh yes, come and look at it. I never let it now to any one but +you--never have let it since the dear beautiful lady with the angel's +face went away. Poor thing, what could have become of her?" + +Thus speaking, while Burley listened not, the old woman drew him within +the cottage, and led him up the stairs into a room that might have well +become a better house, for it was furnished with taste, and even +elegance. A small cabinet pianoforte stood opposite the fire-place, and +the window looked upon pleasant meads and tangled hedgerows, and the +narrow windings of the blue rivulet. Burley sank down exhausted, and +gazed wistfully from the casement. + +"You have not breakfasted?" said the hostess anxiously. + +"No." + +"Well, the eggs are fresh laid, and you would like a rasher of bacon, +Master John? And if you _will_ have brandy in your tea, I have some that +you left long ago in your own bottle." + +Burley shook his head. "No brandy, Mrs. Goodyer; only fresh milk. I will +see whether I can yet coax Nature." + +Mrs. Goodyer did not know what was meant by coaxing Nature, but she +said, "Pray do, Master John," and vanished. + +That day Burley went out with his rod, and he fished hard for the +one-eyed perch: but in vain. Then he roved along the stream with his +hands in his pockets, whistling. He returned to the cottage at sunset, +partook of the fare provided for him, abstained from the brandy, and +felt dreadfully low. He called for pen, ink, and paper, and sought to +write, but could not achieve two lines. He summoned Mrs. Goodyer, "Tell +your husband to come and sit and talk." + +Up came old Jacob Goodyer, and the great wit bade him tell him all the +news of the village. Jacob obeyed willingly, and Burley at last fell +asleep. The next day it was much the same, only at dinner he had up the +brandy bottle, and finished it; and he did _not_ have up Jacob, but he +contrived to write. + +The third day it rained incessantly. + +"Have you no books, Mrs. Goodyer?" asked poor John Burley. + +"Oh, yes; some that the dear lady left behind her; and perhaps you would +like to look at some papers in her own writing?" + +"No, not the papers--all women scribble, and all scribble the same +things. Get me the books." + +The books were brought up--poetry and essays--John knew them by heart. +He looked out on the rain, and at evening the rain had ceased. He rushed +to his hat and fled. + +"Nature, Nature!" he exclaimed when he was out in the air, and hurrying +by the dripping hedgerows, "you are not to be coaxed by me! I have +jilted you shamefully, I own it; you are a female and unforgiving. I +don't complain. You may be very pretty, but you are the stupidest and +most tiresome companion that ever I met with. Thank heaven, I am not +married to you!" + +Thus John Burley made his way into town, and paused at the first +public-house. Out of that house he came with a jovial air, and on he +strode toward the heart of London. Now he is in Leicester-square, and he +gazes on the foreigners who stalk that region, and hums a tune; and now +from yonder alley two forms emerge, and dog his careless footsteps; now +through the maze of passages toward St. Martin's he threads his path, +and, anticipating an orgy as he nears his favorite haunts, jingles the +silver in his pockets; and now the two forms are at his heels. + +"Hail to thee, O Freedom!" muttered John Burley; "thy dwelling is in +cities, and thy palace is the tavern." + +"In the king's name," quoth a gruff voice and John Burley feels the +horrid and familiar tap on the shoulder. + +The two bailiffs who dogged have seized their prey. + +"At whose suit?" asked John Burley falteringly. + +"Mr. Cox, the wine-merchant." + +"Cox! A man to whom I gave a check on my bankers, not three months ago!" + +"But it warn't cashed." + +"What does that signify?--the intention was the same. A good heart takes +the will for the deed. Cox is a monster of ingratitude; and I withdraw +my custom." + +"Sarve him right. Would your honor like a jarvey?" + +"I would rather spend the money on something else," said John Burley. +"Give me your arm, I am not proud. After all, thank heaven, I shall not +sleep in the country." + +And John Burley made a night of it in the Fleet. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Miss Starke was one of those ladies who pass their lives in the direst +of all civil strife--war with their servants. She looked upon the +members of that class as the unrelenting and sleepless enemies of the +unfortunate householders condemned to employ them. She thought they ate +and drank to their villainous utmost, in order to ruin their +benefactors--that they lived in one constant conspiracy with one another +and the tradesmen, the object of which was to cheat and pilfer. Miss +Starke was a miserable woman. As she had no relations or friends who +cared enough for her to share her solitary struggle against her domestic +foes; and her income, though easy, was an annuity that died with +herself, thereby reducing various nephews, nieces, or cousins, to the +strict bounds of a natural affection--that did not exist; and as she +felt the want of some friendly face amidst this world of distrust and +hate, so she had tried the resource of venal companions. But the venal +companions had never staid long--either they disliked Miss Starke, or +Miss Starke disliked them. Therefore the poor woman had resolved upon +bringing up some little girl whose heart, as she said to herself, would +be fresh and uncorrupted, and from whom she might expect gratitude. She +had been contented, on the whole, with Helen, and had meant to keep that +child in her house as long as she (Miss Starke) remained upon the +earth--perhaps some thirty years longer; and then, having carefully +secluded her from marriage, and other friendship, to leave her nothing +but the regret of having lost so kind a benefactress. Agreeably with +this notion, and in order to secure the affections of the child, Miss +Starke had relaxed the frigid austerity natural to her manner and mode +of thought, and been kind to Helen in an iron way. She had neither +slapped nor pinched her, neither had she starved. She had allowed her +to see Leonard, according to the agreement made with Dr. Morgan, and had +laid out tenpence on cakes, besides contributing fruit from her garden +for the first interview--a hospitality she did not think fit to renew on +subsequent occasions. In return for this, she conceived she had +purchased the right to Helen bodily and spiritually, and nothing could +exceed her indignation when she rose one morning and found the child had +gone. As it never had occurred to her to ask Leonard's address, though +she suspected Helen had gone to him, she was at a loss what to do, and +remained for twenty-four hours in a state of inane depression. But then +she began to miss the child so much that her energies woke, and she +persuaded herself that she was actuated by the purest benevolence in +trying to reclaim this poor creature from the world, into which Helen +had thus rashly plunged. + +Accordingly, she put an advertisement into the _Times_, to the +following effect, liberally imitated from one by which, in former years, +she had recovered a favorite Blenheim: + + TWO GUINEAS REWARD. + + Strayed, from Ivy Cottage, Highgate, a Little Girl, answers to the + name of Helen; with blue eyes and brown hair; white muslin frock, + and straw hat with blue ribbons. Whoever will bring the same to Ivy + Cottage, shall receive the above Reward. + + _N.B._--Nothing more will be offered. + +Now, it so happened that Mrs. Smedley had put an advertisement in the +_Times_ on her own account relative to a niece of hers who was coming +from the country, and for whom she desired to find a situation. So, +contrary to her usual habit, she sent for the newspaper, and, close by +her own advertisement, she saw Miss Starke's. + +It was impossible that she could mistake the description of Helen; and, +as this advertisement caught her eye the very day after the whole house +had been disturbed and scandalized by Burley's noisy visit, and on which +she had resolved to get rid of a lodger who received such visitors, the +good-hearted woman was delighted to think that she could restore Helen +to some safe home. While thus thinking, Helen herself entered the +kitchen where Mrs. Smedley sate, and the landlady had the imprudence to +point out the advertisement, and talk, as she called it, "seriously" to +the little girl. + +Helen in vain and with tears entreated her to take no step in reply to +the advertisement. Mrs. Smedley felt it was an affair of duty, and was +obdurate, and shortly afterward put on her bonnet and left the house. +Helen conjectured that she was on her way to Miss Starke's, and her +whole soul was bent on flight. Leonard had gone to the office of the +_Beehive_ with his MSS.; but she packed up all their joint effects, and, +just as she had done so, he returned. She communicated the news of the +advertisement, and said she should be so miserable if compelled to go +back to Miss Starke's, and implored him so pathetically to save her from +such sorrow that he at once assented to her proposal of flight. Luckily, +little was owing to the landlady--that little was left with the +maid-servant; and, profiting by Mrs. Smedley's absence, they escaped +without scene or conflict. Their effects were taken by Leonard to a +stand of hackney vehicles, and then left at a coach-office, while they +went in search of lodgings. It was wise to choose an entirely new and +remote district; and before night they were settled in an attic in +Lambeth. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +As the reader will expect, no trace of Burley could Leonard find: the +humorist had ceased to communicate with the _Beehive_. But Leonard +grieved for Burley's sake; and, indeed, he missed the intercourse of the +large wrong mind. But he settled down by degrees to the simple loving +society of his child companion, and in that presence grew more tranquil. +The hours in the day time that he did not pass at work he spent as +before, picking up knowledge at bookstalls; and at dusk he and Helen +would stroll out--sometimes striving to escape from the long suburb into +fresh rural air; more often wandering to and fro the bridge that led to +glorious Westminster--London's classic land--and watching the vague +lamps reflected on the river. This haunt suited the musing melancholy +boy. He would stand long and with wistful silence by the +balustrade--seating Helen thereon, that she too might look along the +dark mournful waters which, dark though they be, still have their charm +of mysterious repose. + +As the river flowed between the world of roofs, and the roar of human +passions on either side, so in those two hearts flowed Thought--and all +they knew of London was its shadow. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +There appeared in the _Beehive_ certain very truculent political +papers--papers very like the tracts in the Tinker's bag. Leonard did not +heed them much, but they made far more sensation in the public that read +the _Beehive_ than Leonard's papers, full of rare promise though the +last were. They greatly increased the sale of the periodical in the +manufacturing towns, and began to awake the drowsy vigilance of the Home +Office. Suddenly a descent was made upon the _Beehive_, and all its +papers and plant. The editor saw himself threatened with a criminal +prosecution, and the certainty of two years' imprisonment: he did not +like the prospect, and disappeared. One evening, when Leonard, +unconscious of these mischances, arrived at the door of the office, he +found it closed. An agitated mob was before it, and a voice that was not +new to his ear, was haranguing the bystanders, with many imprecations +against "tyrans." He looked, and, to his amaze, recognized in the orator +Mr. Sprott the Tinker. + +The police came in numbers to disperse the crowd, and Mr. Sprott +prudently vanished. Leonard learned then what had befallen, and again +saw himself without employment and the means of bread. + +Slowly he walked back. "O, knowledge, knowledge!--powerless indeed!" he +murmured. + +As he thus spoke, a handbill in large capitals met his eyes on a dead +wall--"Wanted, a few smart young men for India." + +A crimp accosted him--"You would make a fine soldier, my man. You have +stout limbs of your own." Leonard moved on. + +"It has come back, then, to this. Brute physical force after all. O +Mind, despair! O Peasant, be a machine again." + +He entered his attic noiselessly, and gazed upon Helen as she sate at +work, straining her eyes by the open window--with tender and deep +compassion. She had not heard him enter, nor was she aware of his +presence. Patient and still she sate, and the small fingers plied +busily. He gazed, and saw that her cheek was pale and hollow, and the +hands looked so thin! His heart was deeply touched, and at that moment +he had not one memory of the baffled Poet, one thought that proclaimed +the Egotist. + +He approached her gently, laid his hand on her shoulder--"Helen, put on +your shawl and bonnet, and walk out--I have much to say." + +In a few moments she was ready, and they took their way to their +favorite haunt upon the bridge. Pausing in one of the recesses or nooks, +Leonard then began--"Helen we must part." + +"Part?--Oh, brother!" + +"Listen. All work that depends on mind is over for me; nothing remains +but the labor of thews and sinews. I can not go back to my village and +say to all, 'My hopes were self-conceit, and my intellect a delusion!' I +can not. Neither in this sordid city can I turn menial or porter. I +might be born to that drudgery, but my mind has, it may be unhappily, +raised me above my birth. What, then, shall I do? I know not yet--serve +as a soldier, or push my way to some wilderness afar, as an emigrant, +perhaps. But whatever my choice, I must henceforth be alone; I have a +home no more, but there is a home for you, a very humble one (for you, +too, so well born), but very safe--the roof of--of--my peasant mother. +She will love you for my sake, and--and--" + +Helen clung to him trembling, and sobbed out, "Any thing, any thing you +will. But I can work; I can make money, Leonard, I do, indeed, make +money--you do not know how much--but enough for us both till better +times come to you. Do not let us part." + +"And I--a man, and born to labor, to be maintained by the work of an +infant! No, Helen, do not so degrade me." + +She drew back as she looked on his flushed brow, bowed her head +submissively, and murmured, "Pardon." + +"Ah," said Helen, after a pause, "if now we could but find my poor +father's friend! I never so much cared for it before." + +"Yes, he would surely provide for you." + +"For _me!_" repeated Helen, in a tone of soft deep reproach, and she +turned away her head to conceal her tears. + +"You are sure you would him remember if we met him by chance?" + +"Oh yes. He was so different from all we see in this terrible city, and +his eyes were like yonder stars, so clear and so bright; yet the light +seemed to come from afar off, as the light does in yours, when your +thoughts are away from all things round you. And then, too, his dog, +whom he called Nero--I could not forget that." + +"But his dog may not be always with him." + +"But the clear, bright eyes are! Ah, now you look up to heaven, and +yours seem to dream like his." + +Leonard did not answer, for his thoughts were indeed less on earth than +struggling to pierce into that remote and mysterious heaven. + +Both were silent long; the crowd passed them by unheedingly. Night +deepened over the river, but the reflection of the lamplights on its +waves was more visible than that of the stars. The beams showed the +darkness of the strong current, and the craft that lay eastward on the +tide, with sailless, spectral masts and black dismal hulks, looked +death-like in their stillness. + +Leonard looked down, and the thought of Chatterton's grim suicide came +back to his soul, and a pale scornful face with luminous haunting eyes +seemed to look up from the stream, and murmur from livid lips, "Struggle +no more against the tides on the surfaces--all is calm and rest within +the deep." + +Starting in terror from the gloom of his reverie, the boy began to talk +fast to Helen, and tried to soothe her with descriptions of the lowly +home which he had offered. + +He spoke of the light cares which she would participate with his +mother--for by that name he still called the widow--and dwelt, with an +eloquence that the contrast round him made sincere and strong, on the +happy rural life, the shadowy woodlands, the rippling corn-fields, the +solemn lone church-spire soaring from the tranquil landscape. +Flatteringly he painted the flowery terraces of the Italian exile, and +the playful fountain that, even as he spoke, was flinging up its spray +to the stars, through serene air untroubled by the smoke of cities, and +untainted by the sinful sighs of men. He promised her the love and +protection of natures akin to the happy scene: the simple affectionate +mother--the gentle pastor--the exile wise and kind--Violante, with dark +eyes full of the mystic thoughts that solitude calls from +childhood--Violante should be her companion. + +"And oh!" cried Helen, "if life be thus happy there, return with me, +return--return!" + +"Alas!" murmured the boy, "if the hammer once strike the spark from the +anvil, the spark must fly upward: it can not fall back to earth until +life has left it. Upward still, Helen--let me go upward still!" + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The next morning Helen was very ill--so ill that, shortly after rising, +she was forced to creep back to bed. Her frame shivered--her eyes were +heavy--her hand burned like fire. Fever had set in. Perhaps she might +have caught cold on the bridge--perhaps her emotions had proved too much +for her frame. Leonard, in great alarm, called on the nearest +apothecary. The apothecary looked grave, and said there was danger. And +danger soon declared itself.--Helen became delirious. For several days +she lay in this state, between life and death. Leonard then felt that +all the sorrows of earth are light, compared with the fear of losing +what we love. How valueless the envied laurel seemed beside the dying +rose. + +Thanks, perhaps, more to his heed and tending than to medical skill, she +recovered sense at last--immediate peril was over But she was very weak +and reduced--her ultimate recovery doubtful--convalescence, at best, +likely to be very slow. + +But when she learned how long she had been thus ill, she looked +anxiously at Leonard's face as he bent over her, and faltered forth, +"Give me my work! I am strong enough for that now--it would amuse me." + +Leonard burst into tears. + +Alas! he had no work himself; all their joint money had melted away; the +apothecary was not like good Dr. Morgan; the medicines were to be paid +for, and the rent. Two days before, Leonard had pawned Riccabocca's +watch; and when the last shilling thus raised was gone, how should he +support Helen? Nevertheless he conquered his tears, and assured her that +he had employment; and that so earnestly that she believed him, and sank +into soft sleep. He listened to her breathing, kissed her forehead, and +left the room. He turned into his own neighboring garret, and, leaning +his face on his hands, collected all his thoughts. + +He must be a beggar at last. He must write to Mr. Dale for money--Mr. +Dale, too, who knew the secret of his birth. He would rather have begged +of a stranger--it served to add a new dishonor to his mother's memory +for the child to beg of one who was acquainted with her shame. Had he +himself been the only one to want and to starve, he would have sunk inch +by inch into the grave of famine, before he would have so subdued his +pride. But Helen, there on that bed--Helen needing, for weeks perhaps, +all support, and illness making luxuries themselves like necessaries! +Beg he must. And when he so resolved, had you but seen the proud, bitter +soul he conquered, you would have said--"This which he thinks is +degradation--this is heroism. Oh strange human heart!--no epic ever +written achieves the Sublime and the Beautiful which are graven, unread +by human eye, in thy secret leaves." Of whom else should he beg? His +mother had nothing, Riccabocca was poor, and the stately Violante, who +had exclaimed, "Would that I were a man!" he could not endure the +thought that she should pity him, and despise. The Avenels! No--thrice +No. He drew toward him hastily ink and paper, and wrote rapid lines that +were wrung from him as from the bleeding strings of life. + +But the hour for the post had passed--the letter must wait till the next +day; and three days at least must elapse before he could receive an +answer. He left the letter on the table, and, stifling as for air, went +forth. He crossed the bridge--he passed on mechanically--and was borne +along by a crowd pressing toward the doors of Parliament. A debate that +excited popular interest was fixed for that evening, and many bystanders +collected in the street to see the members pass to and fro, or hear what +speakers had yet risen to take part in the debate, or try to get orders +for the gallery. + +He halted amidst these loiterers, with no interest, indeed, in common +with them, but looking over their heads abstractedly toward the tall +Funeral Abbey--Imperial Golgotha of Poets, and Chiefs, and Kings. + +Suddenly his attention was diverted to those around by the sound of a +name--displeasingly known to him, "How are you, Randal Leslie? coming to +hear the debate?" said a member who was passing through the street. + +"Yes; Mr. Egerton promised to get me under the gallery. He is to speak +himself to-night, and I have never heard him. As you are going into the +House, will you remind him?" + +"I can't now, for he is speaking already--and well too. I hurried from +the Athenæum, where I was dining, on purpose to be in time, as I heard +that his speech was making a great effect." + +"This is very unlucky," said Randal. "I had no idea he would speak so +early." + +"M---- brought him up by a direct personal attack. But follow me; +perhaps I can get you into the House; and a man like you, Leslie, of +whom we expect great things some day, I can tell you, should not miss +any such opportunity of knowing what this House of ours is on a field +night. Come on!" + +The member hurried toward the door; and as Randal followed him, a +bystander cried--"That is the young man who wrote the famous +pamphlet--Egerton's relation." + +"Oh, indeed!" said another. "Clever man, Egerton--I am waiting for him." + +"So am I." + +"Why, you are not a constituent, as I am?" + +"No; but he has been very kind to my nephew, and I must thank him. You +are a constituent--he is an honor to your town." + +"So he is; enlightened man!" + +"And so generous." + +"Brings forward really good measures," quoth the politician. + +"And clever young men," said the uncle. + +Therewith one or two others joined in the praise of Audley Egerton, and +many anecdotes of his liberality were told. + +Leonard listened at first listlessly, at last with thoughtful attention. +He had heard Burley, too, speak highly of this generous statesman, who, +without pretending to genius himself, appreciated it in others. He +suddenly remembered, too, that Egerton was half-brother to the Squire. +Vague notions of some appeal to this eminent person, not for charity, +but employ to his mind, gleamed across him--inexperienced boy that he +yet was! And while thus meditating, the door of the House opened, and +out came Audley Egerton himself. A partial cheering, followed by a +general murmur, apprised Leonard of the presence of the popular +statesman. Egerton was caught hold of by some five or six persons in +succession; a shake of the hand, a nod, a brief whispered word or two, +sufficed the practiced member for graceful escape; and soon, free from +the crowd, his tall erect figure passed on, and turned toward the +bridge. He paused at the angle and took out his watch, looking at it by +the lamp-light. + +"Harley will be here soon," he muttered "he is always punctual; and now +that I have spoken, I can give him an hour or so. That is well." + +As he replaced his watch in his pocket, and re-buttoned his coat over +his firm, broad chest, he lifted his eyes, and saw a young man standing +before him. + +"Do you want me?" asked the statesmen, with the direct brevity of his +practical character. + +"Mr. Egerton," said the young man, with a voice that slightly trembled, +and yet was manly amidst emotion, "you have a great name, and great +power--I stand here in these streets of London without a friend, and +without employ. I believe that I have it in me to do some nobler work +than that of bodily labor, had I but one friend--one opening for my +thoughts. And now I have said this, I scarcely know how or why, but from +despair, and the sudden impulse which that despair took from the praise +that follows your success. I have nothing more to add." + +Audley Egerton was silent for a moment, struck by the tone and address +of the stranger; but the consummate and wary man of the world, +accustomed to all manner of strange applications, and all varieties of +imposture, quickly recovered from a passing effect. + +"Are you a native of ----?" (naming the town he represented as member.) + +"No, sir." + +"Well, young man, I am very sorry for you; but the good sense you must +possess (for I judge of that by the education you have evidently +received) must tell you that a public man, whatever be his patronage, +has it too fully absorbed by claimants who have a right to demand it, to +be able to listen to strangers." + +He paused a moment, and, as Leonard stood silent, added, with more +kindness than most public men so accosted would have showed-- + +"You say you are friendless--poor fellow, in early life that happens to +many of us, who find friends enough before the close. Be honest, and +well-conducted; lean on yourself, not on strangers; work with the body +if you can't with the mind; and, believe me, that advice is all I can +give you, unless this trifle," and the minister held out a crown piece. + +Leonard bowed, shook his head sadly, and walked away. Egerton looked +after him with a slight pang. + +"Pooh!" said he to himself, "there must be thousands in the same state +in the streets of London. I can not redress these necessities of +civilization. Well educated! It is not from ignorance henceforth that +society will suffer--it is from over-educating the hungry thousands who, +thus unfitted for manual toil, and with no career for mental, will some +day or other stand like that boy in our streets, and puzzle wiser +ministers than I am." + +As Egerton thus mused, and passed on to the bridge, a bugle-horn rang +merrily from the box of a gay four-in-hand. A drag-coach with superb +blood-horses, rattled over the causeway, and in the driver Egerton +recognized his nephew--Frank Hazeldean. + +The young Guardsman was returning, with a lively party of men, from +dining at Greenwich; and the careless laughter of these children of +pleasure floated far over the still river. + +It vexed the ear of the careworn statesman--sad, perhaps, with all his +greatness, lonely amidst all his crowd of friends. It reminded him, +perhaps, of his own youth, when such parties and companionships were +familiar to him, though through them all he bore an ambitious, aspiring +soul--"_Le jeu, vaut-il la chandelle?_" said he, shrugging his +shoulders. + +The coach rolled rapidly past Leonard, as he stood leaning against the +corner of the bridge, and the mire of the kennel splashed over him from +the hoofs of the fiery horses. The laughter smote on his ear more +discordantly than on the minister's, but it begot no envy. + +"Life is a dark riddle," said he, smiting his breast. + +And he walked slowly on, gained the recess where he had stood several +nights before with Helen; and dizzy with want of food, and worn out for +want of sleep, he sank down into the dark corner; while the river that +rolled under the arch of stone muttered dirge-like in his ear; as under +the social key-stone wails and rolls on forever the mystery of Human +Discontent. Take comfort, O Thinker, by the stream! 'Tis the river that +founded and gave pomp to the city; and without the discontent, where +were progress--what were Man? Take comfort, O THINKER! wherever the +stream over which thou bendest, or beside which thou sinkest, weary and +desolate, frets the arch that supports thee--never dream that, by +destroying the bridge, thou canst silence the moan of the wave. + + (TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +THE FORTUNES OF THE REVEREND CALEB ELLISON. + + +CHAPTER THE FIRST. + +The Reverend Caleb Ellison had an odd way of doing every thing; but he +was so good a man, and so adored a clergyman, that his being in love was +an interesting circumstance to a large proportion of the inhabitants of +the country town in which he lived. When he looked up at the +chimney-pots as he walked the streets, or went slowly skipping along the +foot-pavement to the Reading-room in the market-place, the elders of his +congregation might wish that he would walk more like other men, and the +children giggled at the sight; but the ladies, young and old, regarded +these things as a part of the "originality" which they admired in him; +and Joanna Carey would scarcely admit to herself that such freaks +required forbearance. + +On Friday evening Mr. Carey returned before the rest of his party from a +strawberry feast, to tell his wife that their dear girl had shown him by +a look, that she must now decide on her lot for life. Ellison had +certainly spoken. Joanna must decide for herself. If she was satisfied +to have the greatest blessings that a woman could have--high moral and +spiritual excellence in a man who loved her--and could, for these, make +light of the daily drawbacks of his oddities, it was not for any one +else to object. Mr. Carey could not say that his own temper would bear +with so eccentric a companion; but perhaps he was narrow: perhaps his +wife's nice household ways for twenty-five years had spoiled him. Joanna +knew what she was undertaking. She knew that it was as much as the clerk +and the deacons could do, to get the pastor into the pulpit in proper +time every Sunday, and that this would be her business now. She knew +that he seldom remembered to shave, and how he had burned his marble +chimney-piece black; and--Well; perhaps these were trifles. Perhaps it +was a fault not to regard them as such. If a father was fortunate enough +to have a man of eminent single-mindedness for his son-in-law, and +genius to boot, he ought not, perhaps, to require common sense also; but +it had always been Mr. Carey's belief that good sense was the greatest +part of genius. + +By Sunday evening Mr. Carey was little disposed to desire any thing more +in his intended son-in-law than had appeared that day. Joanna had +engaged herself to him on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning there was +something in the tone of his pathetic voice so unusual, in the very +first verses of the Psalm, that many hearers looked up; and then they +saw something very unusual in his countenance. He so preached, that a +stranger inquired earnestly who this Mr. Ellison was, and whence he +came; and his admirers in the congregation said he was inspired. + +"Joanna behaved very well, did not she?" whispered Mrs. Carey to her +husband, as they were returning from chapel. + +"Very well, indeed. And it was extremely fine, his preaching to-day. +Extremely fine!" + +And this particular day, the father feared as little for Joanna as +Joanna for herself. + +There was no reason for delay about the marriage. Mr. Ellison had three +hundred pounds a year from his office, and was never likely to have any +more. The interest of Joanna's portion--one thousand pounds--was hers +whenever she married. She was four-and-twenty, and Mr. Ellison was five +years older. They were no children; there was no reason for delay; so +every body knew of the engagement immediately, and the preparations went +on diligently. + +A pastor's marriage is always a season of great interest and amusement. +In this case it was unusually diverting from the singular innocence of +the gentleman about all household affairs. He showed all the solicitude +of which he was capable to have every thing right and comfortable for +Joanna; but his ideas were so extraordinary, that his friends suspected +that he had been quizzed by certain youths of his congregation, who had +indeed made solemn suggestions to him about dredging-boxes and +rolling-pins, and spigots, and ball-irons, and other conveniences, the +names of which were strange to him. He had promised to leave the whole +concern of furnishing in the hands of a discreet lady and her daughters, +with a power of appeal to Mrs. Carey in doubtful cases; but when these +mysterious names had been lying on his mind for some days, he could not +help making inquiries and suggestions, which brought nothing but +laughter upon him. Mr. and Mrs. Carey thought the quizzing went rather +too far; but Joanna did not seem to mind it. + +"His head should not be stuffed with nonsense," observed Mr. Carey to +his wife, "when business that he really ought to be attending to is left +undone." + +"You mean the Life Insurance," replied she. "Why do you not remind him +of it?" + +"I believe I must. But it is not a pleasant thing to do. No man in his +circumstances ought to need to be spoken to more than once. However, I +have to suggest to him to insure all this pretty furniture that his +friends are giving him; and while I am speaking about the Fire +Insurance, I can easily mention the more important one." + +"I should feel no difficulty," observed Mrs. Carey. "He will be purely +thankful to you for telling him what he ought to do." + +An opportunity soon occurred. The presents came in fast: the Careys were +consulted about how to stow them all. One evening at supper, the +conversation naturally turned--as it probably does in every house--on +what should be saved first in case of fire. Mr. Carey asked Mr. Ellison +whether his landlord had not insured the cottage, and whether he himself +was not thinking of insuring the furniture from fire. + +Instant opposition arose from Mr. Carey's second daughter, Charlotte, +who declared that she could not bear to think of such a thing. She +begged that nobody would speak of such a thing. Indeed, she wondered +that any body could. When induced to explain the emotions with which +her mind was laboring, she declared her horror that any one belonging to +her could feel that any money could compensate for the loss of the +precious things, such as old letters, and fond memorials, which perish +in a fire. + +"How old are you, my dear?" inquired her father. + +"Sixteen, papa." + +"Indeed! I should have taken you to be six years younger. I should +wonder at a child of ten talking so sillily as you are doing." + +Mr. Ellison stared; for his sympathy with Charlotte's sentiment was so +strong, that he was looking at her with beaming eyes, and softly +ejaculating, "Dear Charlotte! dear child!" + +It took some time to convince both (for young ladies of sixteen +sometimes see things less clearly than six years before and ten years +after that age) that, if precious papers and gifts are unhappily lost in +a fire, that is no reason why tables and chairs, and fish-kettles and +dredging-boxes, and carpets and house linen should not be paid for by an +Insurance Office; but at last both young lady and pastor saw this. +Still, Charlotte did not look satisfied; and her father invited her to +utter what was in her mind. After some fencing about whether her +thoughts were silly, and whether it would be silly to speak them, out +came the scruple. Was there not something worldly in thinking so much +about money and the future? + +"Dear Charlotte! dear child!" again soliloquized Mr. Ellison. + +Mr. Carey did not think the apprehension silly; but, in his opinion, the +danger of worldliness lay the other way. He thought the worldliness lay +in a man's spending all his income, leaving wife and children to be +maintained by their neighbors, in case of accidents which may happen any +day to any body, and which do happen to a certain proportion of people, +within an assigned time, as regularly as death happens to all. Charlotte +had nothing to say against life insurance, because every man knows that +he shall die; and there is no speculation in the case. But she was +extremely surprised to hear that there is an equal certainty, though of +a narrower extent, about fire, and other accidents; that it is a fact +that, out of so many householders, such and such a number will have +their houses burned down. + +"Is it indeed so?" asked Joanna. + +"It is indeed so. Moreover, out of so much property, such and such an +amount will perish by fire. Every householder being bound in with this +state of things for his share of the risk, he owes it equally to others +and to himself to secure the compensation, in case of accident. Does he +not?" + +"How to others?" + +"Because he should contribute his share to the subscription, if you like +to call it so, by which the sufferer from fire, whoever he be, is to be +compensated. Thus, you see, Charlotte, that which seems to you an act of +worldliness is a neighborly act, as well as a prudent one." + +When reminded, Charlotte admitted that she had herself said so about +the Cow Club at B----. She had told many people how the cottagers at +B----, were now saved from all danger of ruin by the loss of a cow--a +loss fatal to so many cottagers elsewhere. The farmers at B----, who +could ill afford to lose from nine pounds to fifteen pounds at a stroke +by the death of a cow, had joined with the cottagers in setting up a Cow +Life-insurance. The club employed a skillful cow-doctor. The members +paid in a small portion of the weekly profits of their milk-selling; and +had the comfort of knowing that, whenever their cow died, they would be +supplied with another, or with a part of the value of one, according to +the length of time, or the yearly amount they had paid. Charlotte +admitted that she had been delighted with the scheme, but now asserted +that she was much more pleased about the Quakers and their ship. + +"Ha! Quakers?" said Mr. Ellison. + +Yes; those Quakers, now, were the sort of people whom Charlotte admired. +So unworldly! so trusting! There was a rich India ship, belonging to +some Quakers, lately wrecked in the Channel, very near her port. The +whole cargo was lost. It had been a total loss to the owners, because +their principles would not allow them to insure--to put themselves out +of the hands of Providence, and speculate in "the stormy winds +fulfilling his word." That had been their statement; and was there not +something very beautiful in it? Charlotte looked at her father for an +answer. + +"Tell me, first, my dear," he replied, "whether you admire Tasker, the +shoemaker, for refusing to have his children vaccinated, saying that it +was taking them out of the hands of the Lord?" + +Charlotte could not think of poor little Mary Tasker, disfigured and +half blind, and not wish that she had been vaccinated; and yet Tasker +had acted in a resigned spirit. + +"Well: exactly as much as you admire Tasker, I admire your Quakers. I +honor their motive, but I am sorry for their mistake--sorry that they +refuse one safeguard against worldliness." + +"Worldliness, papa!" + +Mr. Carey explained how the moral dangers of commercial pursuits are in +proportion to their gambling character. Large gains and great hazards +must be more engrossing to the mind, and more stimulating to the +passions than small and secure profits. The great drawback upon commerce +with very remote countries is, or was, its gambling character, from the +variety and seriousness of the risks, and the largeness of the profits +laid on to cover them. By means of insurance against sea risks and other +dangers, the losses are spread over so large a number that they cease to +be losses, and become a mere tax, such as men may willingly pay for +security. When a man has so introduced moderation into his gains and his +losses, as to detach himself from "the cares of the world and the +deceitfulness of riches," he may listen with a quiet pulse (as far as +his own affairs are concerned) to the wind roaring over the sea, and +need not be "afraid of evil tidings." It was quite a new view to +Charlotte that her Quakers had been gambling, in fact, when they should +have been trading safely; but she could not deny that it was so. Nobody +wished her to give them up, in regard to their spirit of faith and +trust; but nobody could stand up for their prudence. + +The most striking view to Charlotte was that there is nothing accidental +in storms and tempests; and that it is only our ignorance which makes us +call them so. The realm of Meteorology is, no doubt, governed by laws as +invariable as that of Astronomy. We know this fact, though we, as yet, +know little of these laws. Something more we know: and that is, the +average of shipwrecks and conflagrations, in a certain condition of +society; in the same way that we know the average of men that will die, +out of a certain number, in a certain time: and it is this knowledge of +the averages which justifies the resource of insurance in all the three +cases. When Mr. Ellison at length comprehended that there were thousands +of prudent men now paying their mite to compensate him for the loss of +his new furniture, in case of its being burned, on the simple condition +of his paying his mite also, he was so struck by their neighborly +conduct, that he could scarcely express his sense of it. The ladies +considered it impossible that he should feel so strongly, and be +heedless about the condition on his own part. Mr. Carey shook his head. + +Mr. Carey was right. The wedding-day came, and the insurance was not +effected.--Joanna did not like to tease her betrothed about worldly +affairs. If the subject was mentioned, and the train of thought revived, +he went into an enthusiasm about the benevolent class of insurers: but +he did not become one himself. + + +CHAPTER THE SECOND. + +The wedding-day came and went. The young people were married and gone. +Mr. Ellison's flock were assembled, almost entire, in the parish church, +for the first and last time. In those days, dissenters could not marry +in their own chapels, or any where but in church; and the present was an +occasion when the clergyman of the parish appeared to great advantage, +with his kind courtesy toward his dissenting neighbors. The whole affair +was talked over from day to day, during the wedding-trip of the +Ellisons, in the intervals of Charlotte's business in preparing their +house for their return. Then began her sisterly relation toward the +pastor beloved by so many. Her reverence for him, and her pride on +Joanna's account, made her consider his dignity (in spite of himself) on +all occasions; from the receiving him at his own door, on the evening of +arrival, to the defending him in every trifle in which he vexed her +orderly father. When Mr. Carey complained of his being found at +breakfast unshaven, and wondered how he would like to see Joanna come +down with her hair in papers, Charlotte contended that these things +mattered less in a gentleman than a lady; and that it was from a +meditative turn that he forgot to shave, even as Newton forgot to dine. +If he fell over all his new furniture in turn, she declared it was +because the affection of his friends had over-crowded his cottage with +memorials of their love. If he was met half-way to the town without his +hat, she looked with reverence in his face for a foretaste of his next +Sunday's sermon. When it came out that Joanna had paid all the post boys +and bills on the journey; that Joanna had to go with him to the +tailor's, when he was to be measured for a new coat; that Joanna had to +carve, because he did not know the wing of a fowl from the leg--But we +will not dwell further on the foibles of a good man whose virtues were +as uncommon in their degree, as his weaknesses, it may be hoped, in +kind. + +Full as the cottage was of pretty things, it was destined to be yet +fuller in another year. Never was there a prettier little wardrobe of +tiny caps and robes, and the like, than room must be found for, the next +autumn, in preparation for that prettiest of all things--a baby. Half +the ladies in the congregation brought their offerings of delicate work, +in cambric and the softest of flannel, and most fantastical of +pincushions and baskets. It was a delightful season to the whole family; +and Joanna was so well and bright! And when the great day was over, +there were such rallyings of Mr. and Mrs. Carey, on their being so early +a grand-papa and grand-mamma; and it was so droll to see Mr. Ellison, +who seemed never to have seen a baby, but in baptizing the little +creatures, whom he had always hitherto regarded as young Christians, and +never as little infants! Mr. Carey was rather ashamed of the extent of +his ignorance, shown on the first sight of his child in its sleep, by +its mother's side. + +"Ha!" he exclaimed, "a baby!" in as much surprise as if it had been the +last thing he expected to see. + +"Yes; there is your baby. How do you like her?" + +He gazed in silence, and at length said--"But can she walk?" + +"My dear Ellison! at a day old!" + +"But can she talk?" + +"All in good time. You will have enough of that by-and by." + +"Dear, dear! Ha!" said he, again and again, till he was sent off to +dinner, at a friend's house. + +He dined at some friend's house every day. On the fourth day it was at a +distance of three miles. Mrs. Carey had gone home, in the twilight of a +November day. As soon as she was gone, the nurse stepped out, very +improperly, for something that she wanted, the child being asleep beside +Joanna. She desired the servant girl to carry up her mistress's gruel in +a quarter-of-an-hour, if she was not back. The girl did so; and +approached the bed, with the basin in one hand and a candle in the +other. She poked the candle directly against the dimity curtains, and +set the bed on fire. It was a large bed, in a small crowded room, close +to two walls and near the window-curtain. The flame caught the tester +instantly, and then the corner of the pillow, and the edge of the sheet. +Before that, the girl had thrown down the basin of hot gruel on the +baby, rushed to the window, thrown up the sash, and screamed; and she +next rushed out at the door, leaving it wide open, and then at the +house-door, leaving that wide open too. The air streamed up the +staircase, and the bed was on fire all round. + +Poor Joanna crept off the bed, and took the child in one arm, while with +the other she tried to pull off a blanket. She was found weakly tugging +at it. He who so found her was a sailor, who had seen the light from the +road, and run up the stairs. + +"I see how it is, madam," said he, in a cheerful voice. "Don't be +alarmed; you are very safe. Come in here." And he carried her into the +next room--the little drawing-room--and laid her, with her baby on her +arm, on the sofa. He summoned a comrade, who was in the road. They +pulled up the drugget from the floor, doubled it again, laid it over +her, and tucked it nicely in, as if there was no hurry. + +"Now, madam," said he, "where shall we carry you?" She was carried +through damp and dusk to her father's house. Her mother was not there. +Such news spreads, nobody knows how. Her mother was then in the streets +without her bonnet, imploring every body she met to save her child. She +presently encountered one of the sailors, returning to the fire. He +assured her the lady and child were safe, and sent her home. Mr. Carey +was almost as much beside himself. His first idea was, that it was Mr. +Ellison who had, by some awkwardness, set his house on fire; and he said +so, very publicly; and very sorry he was for it afterward. + +Mr. Ellison was called from the dinner-table, and told he was wanted at +home. He strode along, in a bewildered state, till he saw the flames +from a distance. As he stood before the cottage, which was now one +blaze, nobody could tell him where his wife was. He was trying to break +from many hands, and enter the house, when some one at last came up with +the news of the safety of his wife and babe. As for the servant, it was +some days before she was heard of; and there were serious apprehensions +about her, when her aunt came in from the country, to say that the poor +creature had fled to her, and would never come near the town, or see any +of the family again. Nobody wondered that she said she should never be +happy again. + +Joanna seemed to be really no worse for the adventure; and for some days +it was confidently believed that the infant would do well, though it was +severely scalded. Every thing was lost--every article of clothing of all +three, all the pretty gifts, all the furniture, two precious portraits, +all Mr. Ellison's books and manuscripts. But he was so happy and +thankful that his chief treasures were saved, that he never preached +more nobly than on the next Sunday, without a scrap of notes;--he who +took such pains with his sermons, and never preached extempore! It was +from the abundance of his heart that he spoke. + +"I have to beg your pardon, Ellison," said Mr. Carey, "for what I said +in the first moments of misery." + +"It was natural--it was not doing me wrong; for my mother used to say +that I did awkward things sometimes; that I was not expert; and it +appears to me that I really have erred." And the good man went on to +blame himself for having no furniture and clothes to give Joanna, no +piano, no books! His landlord was no loser by the fire, while he was +destitute. In short, Mr. Ellison was full of remorse for not having +insured. All the ladies of his acquaintance were stitching away in his +and his wife's behalf; but this was rather an aggravation than a +comfort; and he fully intended to effect an insurance, both against fire +(when he should again be settled) and on his life. Still, Mr. Carey told +his wife, with a shake of the head, that his impression was that it +would never be done. + +All such thoughts were presently banished. The baby did not get through. +After pining for ten days, she died. Then it was that the pastor's fine +qualities manifested themselves. He surrendered so patiently a happiness +and hope which had really become very dear to his heart; he supported +Joanna so tenderly; he considered the whole family so much more than +himself, that Mr. Carey vowed he would never more be vexed or ashamed at +the peculiarities of such a man. + + +CHAPTER THE THIRD. + +Nobody would hear of the pastor going into furnished lodgings. The +pastor and his wife would not hear of Mr. Carey's furnishing another +house for them. Joanna was allowed to draw half her little fortune to +buy furniture and clothes, and a few indispensable books for her +husband. Thus, their income was reduced by twenty-five pounds, and the +half of the principal was gone. If that twenty-five pounds of lost +income had been devoted to a life insurance, it would, at Mr. Ellison's +present age, have secured one thousand pounds at his death. Thus he had, +by neglect, in fact, thrown away one thousand five hundred pounds of +future provision for his family. The present was not the easiest moment +for contracting new obligations; but the duty was clear, even to the +unpractical mind of the pastor. He went to London to effect his +insurances, and his wife went with him partly for change of scene and +thoughts, and partly because she knew that her husband could never get +through the business by himself. + +It was not got through, after all. One pious friend had affected them +with fears, that they would find it an ensnaring bondage to worldly +things to have to think of the payment of the annual premium; another +thought it was speculating in God's will; another assured them that they +could not spare the money, and should provide for their own household, +and hospitality to neighbors, to-day, instead of taking thought for the +morrow. They returned without having been near an insurance-office at +all. The Careys thought this a sad mistake, and pointed out to them the +peace of mind they would lose by the precariousness of their fortunes, +and the ease with which the business might be managed, by the trustees +of the chapel being authorized to deduct the necessary sum from the +pastor's salary, and the pastor's way of living being proportioned to an +income of three hundred pounds a year. It was certain that Mr. Ellison +would never lay by money in any other way than this; for he could never +see a beggar without giving him whatever he had in his pocket. + +It may be observed, that insurance was a more onerous matter in those +days than in ours. Science has introduced much ease and many varieties +into the process of insurance. The rates of premium in Mr. Ellison's +younger days were higher; the methods were restricted; middle-class men +drank more, and taxed their brother insurers for their accelerated +mortality, though precautions were taken against obviously fatal +intemperance. The "bondage," that friends talked of, was greater, and +the advantages were less, than at present. If Mr. Ellison was wrong in +his delays and hesitation, much more are family men wrong who delay and +hesitate now. + +Time went on, and Joanna was made happy by the birth of a son. During +the whole period of her confinement, her husband refused to leave the +house, except on Sundays; and he went about, many times in the day, from +the attics to the cellars, with his nose in the air, trying to smell +fire. There was none, however, to reward his anxious search. No accident +happened. The mother and child throve without drawback; and a finer +little fellow really was never seen. + +For two years--two precious years--all went well. Then came one of those +seasons of unhealthiness which occur at intervals, as if to warn men of +their ignorance of the laws on which their life depends, and to rebuke +their carelessness about observing such conditions of health as they do +understand. No town was less prepared to encounter an onset of autumnal +fever than that in which the Ellisons lived. It had no right to expect +health at any time: the history of the place told of plague in old +times, and every epidemic which visited England became a pestilence amid +its ill-drained streets, its tidal expanse of mud, and its crowded +alleys. These were the times when the beloved pastor's fidelity shone +out. For weeks he was, night and day, in close attendance on the poor of +his flock; and any other poor who were needing help. He could not aid +them in the way that a more practical man would have done; but Joanna +supplied that kind of ability, while the voice of her husband carried +peace and support into many a household, prostrated in grief and dread. +He ran far greater risks all the while than he needed, if he could have +been taught common prudence. He forgot to eat, and went into +unwholesome chambers with an empty stomach and an exhausted frame. In +spite of his wife's watchfulness, he omitted to give himself the easy +advantages of freshened air, change of clothes, and a sufficiency of +wholesome food; and, for one week, he hardly came home to sleep. It was +no wonder that, at last, both were down in the fever. The best care +failed to save Joanna. She died without having bidden farewell to +husband and child. Her husband was in bed delirious, and her boy was in +the country, whither he had been taken for safety when the fever entered +the house. + +Mr. Ellison recovered slowly, as might be expected, from the weight upon +his mind. There was something strange, it appeared to his physician, in +his anxiety to obtain strength to go to London. He was extremely +pertinacious about this. The Careys, glad to see that he could occupy +himself with any project, humored this, without understanding it. They +spoke as if he was going to London when he should be strong enough. They +did not dream of his not waiting for this. But, in the dark, damp +evening of the day when he dismissed his physician, after Mrs. Carey had +gone home, leaving him on the sofa, and promising that her husband +should call after tea, he was seen at the coach-office, in the +market-place; and he made a night-journey to London. + +There were no railways in those days; and this journey of one hundred +miles required twelve hours by the "Expedition," the "Highflyer," the +"Express," or whatever the fastest coach might be called. As soon as he +arrived, Mr. Ellison swallowed a cup of coffee in the bar of the inn, +had a coach called, and proceeded to an insurance-office to insure his +life. As he presented himself, emaciated and feeble, unwashed, unshaven, +with a crimson handkerchief tied over his white lips, which quivered +when he uncovered them; as he told his errand, in a weak and husky +voice, the clerks of the office stared at him in pitying wonder; and the +directors dismissed him from their parlor, under the gentlest pretexts +they could devise. + +He returned home immediately, and told his adventure to Mr. Carey. + +"I could not rest till I had made the effort," he said. "When dear +Joanna was gone, and I believed that I should follow her, it occurred to +me that our child would be left destitute. I saw that I had neglected my +duty; and I resolved that, if I recovered, it should be so no longer. I +have made the effort; it has failed; and God's will be done!" + +Mr. Carey would not allow that the matter must be given up. In fact, +there was no difficulty in effecting the insurance, in the next spring, +when Mr. Ellison was restored to his ordinary state of health, and Mr. +Carey was his guide and helper in the business. The interest of Joanna's +little portion was appropriated for the purpose, with a small addition, +rendered necessary by the lapse of three years. It is well known that +the most unworldly and unapt persons are the most proud of any act of +prudence or skill that they may have been able to achieve. So it was in +this case. When the pastor sat gazing at his child, it appeared to him a +marvelous thing that he, even he, should have endowed any human being +with a fortune. He was heard to say to himself, on such occasions, in a +tone of happy astonishment, + +"A thousand pounds! Ha! a thousand pounds!" + +We can not here follow out the curious process of that boy's rearing. We +have not space to tell how tenderly he was watched by grand-mamma, and +by Charlotte, till her marriage gave her cares of her own:--nor what a +stroke it was when Mr. Ellison moved to a distant city, being invited to +a higher post in the ministry of his sect; nor how curiously he and his +child lived in a lodging, where, notwithstanding all his efforts to fill +the place of both parents, his boy was too often seen in rags; nor how +the child played leap-frog and other games with little beggars and +ruffians in the streets, so cleverly, that his father might be seen +gazing at him from the foot-pavement, in a rapture of admiration; nor +how, on the great occasion of the little lad's first going to chapel, he +told every body within reach, that it was "Pa" in the pulpit; nor how, +when he was tired of the sermon, he was wont to scrape the sand from the +floor, and powder with it the wigs of the old men who sat in the long +pew before him; nor how, at length, the importunity of friends prevailed +to get him sent to school; nor how comfortably his father was boarded in +a private family when the lodging plan became too bad to be borne even +by him. All this we must leave undescribed; and also his satisfaction +when, in a later time--when his son was grown up, and prosperous, and +well married--the good pastor found himself at liberty to do, if he +should wish it, what he had always thought ministers had better do, +leave the pulpit before they were worn out--before any body had begun to +look for their wearing out. The "dear child," as he still calls the +father of his grand-children, early persuaded his father to take +advantage of that modern improvement by which his life insurance can be +commuted into an annuity at sixty years of age, if he should attain it, +or receivable in full, if that method should be preferred. A small +independence being thus secured, if he lives to leave the pulpit at +sixty, and a legacy to his son, if he dies before that time, Mr. Ellison +feels more free from worldly cares than is often the case with +dissenting ministers who begin the world without fortune, and with +thoughts far above the lucre of gain. + +No one wonders that he never seemed to think of marrying again. Before +his removal, the name of his "dear Joanna" was often on his lips. After +his removal, it was never again heard, except on the rare occasions of +his meeting old friends. He did not speak of her to those who had never +known her; but not the less was her image understood to be ever in his +thoughts. + + + + +LAMARTINE ON THE RESTORATION.[8] + +[8] "History of the Restoration of Monarchy in France," by Alphonse De +Lamartine. 12mo. Harper and Brothers. + + +An able critic in a recent English journal, remarks as follows, on the +last brilliant work of Lamartine on "The History of the Restoration:" +Whatever may be said of the author of this volume as a politician, and +however much his capabilities for legislation may be despised, he ranks +as a first class historian, and as the most brilliant foreign writer of +the present day, both of his country's annals, romance, and poetry. If +M. Lamartine's "History of the Girondists" excited immense interest, his +"History of the Restoration of the Monarchy" is calculated to produce a +much greater enthusiasm. The manner in which he details the thrilling +events which succeeded the conclusion of the Reign of Terror in the +former work, and the opening of the Consulate, has been spoken of by +critics of all shades of politics as unique, as perfect in style and +comprehensive in detail; but we doubt very much whether it will not be +universally acknowledged that in all these points the new effort +surpasses the older. The praise of such a work is best accorded by +extracts from its own pages. Such extracts speak for themselves, and +award far more valuable encomiums than any which those whose office it +is to sit in judgment upon their characteristics can do. We present the +following account of the arrest and murder of the young Duke d'Enghien, +a crime which Europe has very justly never forgiven, and by which the +character of Napoleon has been forever blasted. We had thought that a +more vivid picture of this act of treachery could not by any possibility +have been written than that which appears in the tale of Maurice +Tierney, the Soldier of Fortune; but every thing which has been there +said, or has been elsewhere written concerning that event, gives place +to this vivid picture drawn by Lamartine, while his opinion respecting +the dark deed itself, and the villainy by which it was accomplished, +will ever stamp him as a man of the most honorable mind, and as a truly +noble-hearted Frenchman. + +ARREST AND MURDER OF THE DUKE D'ENGHIEN. + +"Ordener set out on the same night, that of the 10th and 11th of March, +and arrived on the 12th at Strassburg. He held a council on his arrival +with General Leval, Charlot, the colonel of gendarmes, and the +commissary of police, and they resolved to precede and facilitate the +nocturnal expedition by a minute reconnoitring of the scene of action. +An agent of police named Stahl, and a non-commissioned officer of the +gendarmerie, named Pfersdoff, were dispatched on the instant, and +marching all night, arrived at eight o'clock in the morning at +Ettenheim. They strolled with an affectation of indifference about the +house of the Prince, in order to make themselves well acquainted with +the approaches to it. The Prince's valet-de-chambre, concealed behind a +window, observed these two strangers walking round the walls, and +intently noting the objects of their mission. He called another of the +servants, named Cannone, and communicated his anxieties to him. Cannone +was an old soldier and companion of the Prince from his earliest +infancy. He had fought with him in all his campaigns, and had saved his +life in Poland, by covering him with his sabre and his person. He +fancied that he remembered having somewhere seen the face of Pfersdoff, +and thought he recognized in him a gendarme in disguise. He hastened to +inform the Prince, who, with the thoughtlessness of his age, disdained +to pay any attention to these symptoms of espionage. Nevertheless, an +officer of his army, named Schmidt, went out and accosted Stahl and +Pfersdoff, and questioned them with an appearance of unconcern, +pretending that he was going their way, and accompanied them for more +than a league; but at last seeing them take a road which led into the +interior of Germany, instead of returning toward the Rhine, he felt +re-assured, and returned to tranquilize the servants and retainers at +Ettenheim. But the anxieties of love are not so easily set at rest as +those of friendship. The Princess Charlotte de Rohan was filled with a +presentiment of danger, and begged the Prince would absent himself for a +few days from a residence where he was so evidently watched, and +possibly with a criminal intention. Out of affection for her, rather +than from uneasiness on his own account, the duke consented to absent +himself for two or three days, and it was settled that he should set out +the third morning after, on a long hunting excursion in the forests of +the Grand Duke of Baden, during which the suspicions of his betrothed +would be either dissipated or verified; but it was fated that, the third +morning should not dawn on him in Germany.... On the evening of the +14th, General Ordener, accompanied by General Fririon, chief of General +Leval's staff, and by Charlot, colonel of gendarmes, set out in the dark +toward the ferry of Rheinau on the Rhine, and found there, at the +appointed hour, the 300 dragoons of the 26th, 15 ferrymen, the five +large boats, and, lastly, the 30 mounted gendarmes destined to be +employed in the violation of dwellings and seizure of persons, in an +expedition more worthy of lictors than of soldiers. The Rhine was +crossed in silence at midnight, and the column, unperceived during the +sleep of the German peasants on the right bank, and guided by different +roads, arrived, as the day was breaking, at Ettenheim. The spies, whom +Ordener and Charlot had brought with them, pointed out to the gendarmes +the houses which were to be invested.... The Duke d'Enghien, who had +spent the evening before at the house of the Prince Rohan-Rochefort, +with the Princess Charlotte, had promised her to absent himself for a +few days, to allow time for the plots against his safety, of which she +was apprehensive, either to evaporate or be unraveled. He was +accordingly about to start at sunrise, with Colonel Grunstein, one of +his friends, on his hunting excursion for several days. He had already +left his bed, and was dressing himself, and preparing his arms. +Grunstein, contrary to his usual custom, had slept under the same roof +with the Prince, that he might be the sooner ready to escort him. This +companion of his own, on the battle-field and in the chase, was also +half-dressed, when the tramp of horses and the sight of dragoons and +gendarmes made the rest of the household start from their sleep. Feron, +the most familiar servant of the Prince, flew to the chamber of his +young master, and announced to him that the court-yard and garden were +surrounded at every outlet by French soldiers, and that the officer +commanding them was loudly calling on the servants to open the doors, +declaring that in case of refusal, he would have them broken open with +hatchets. 'Well, then, we must defend ourselves,' exclaimed the +undaunted young man, and saying these words, he seized his +double-barreled fowling-piece, ready loaded with ball for the chase, +while Cannone, his other servant, animated with the same determination +as his master, possessed himself of another fowling-piece, and Grunstein +entering the chamber at that moment, armed in a like manner, the whole +then darted to the windows to fire. The Prince leveled at Colonel +Chariot, who threatened the door, and was about to stretch him dead on +the threshold, when Grunstein, perceiving on all sides a host of helmets +and sabres, and seeing another detachment of gendarmes already masters +of one of the wings of the chateau, seized the barrel of the Prince's +fowling-piece, and throwing the gun upward, showed the Duke d'Enghien, +by signs, the uselessness of resistance against such overwhelming +numbers, and prevented his firing. 'My lord,' he said, 'have you in any +way committed yourself?'--'No,' replied the duke. 'Well, then, that +being the case, do not attempt a hopeless struggle. We are hemmed in by +a complete wall of troops. See how their bayonets glisten on every +side.' The Prince was turning round to reply to these words when he +beheld Pfersdoff, whom he recognized as the spy of the day before, +accompanied by gendarmes with presented carbines, rush into his room. He +was followed by Col. Charlot, who, with his soldiers, seized and +disarmed the Prince, together with Grunstein, Feron, and Cannone. The +Duke, as we have seen, was ready to set out, and was thus lost by the +delay of only a few moments. He was dressed in the costume of a Tyrolean +hunter, wearing a handsome gold-laced cap, with long gaiters of chamois +skin buckled at the knees; and the manly beauty and dauntless expression +of his features, heightened by the excitement of the surprise, and +determination to resist, struck the soldiers with astonishment. In the +midst of such a scene, and the tramp of feet and clatter of arms in the +house, the sound of a disturbance without for a moment inspired the +Prince and his followers with a hope of deliverance. Loud cries of fire +issued from the village, and these cries were re-echoed from house to +house, like a tocsin of human voices. Windows were thrown open, and +doorways filled with the inhabitants aroused by the invasion of the +French. Half naked mechanics were seen running to the steeple to ring +the bells, and summon the peasants to vengeance. Colonel Charlot, +however, had them seized, and also arrested the master of the hounds of +the Duke of Baden, who, on hearing of the disturbance, was hastening to +the house of the Prince, and who was told by Charlot that what was +taking place had been mutually agreed upon by the First Consul and his +sovereign. On hearing this falsehood, the excitement of the inhabitants +subsided, and they submitted, with looks of sorrow and expressions of +grief, to the misfortune of a young man who had rendered himself an +object of the deepest regard.... The Prince was dragged away from his +residence, without being permitted to take a last farewell of her whom +he left swooning and in tears." + +Bonaparte had determined on the duke's death, and his ministers and +judges received their instructions to that effect. The midnight trial, +the despicable meanness of the tribunal, the heroic attitude of the +young Condé, are vividly depicted in this volume: but we pass on to the +_dénouement_ of the plot. + +"As soon as the judgment was pronounced, and even before it was drawn +up, Hullin sent to inform Savary and the Judge Advocate of the sentence +of death, in order that they might take their measures for its +execution. It seemed as if the time was equally pressing to the tribunal +as to those who awaited their decision, and as if an invisible genius +was hurrying along the acts, formalities, and hours, in order that the +morning's sun might not witness the deeds of the night. Hullin and his +colleagues remained in the hall of council, and drew up at random the +judgment they had just given; and this short and unskillfully prepared +document (summing up a whole examination in two questions and two +answers) terminated with the order to execute the sentence forthwith. +Savary had not waited for this order to be written before he prepared +for its execution, and had already marked out the spot. The court and +the esplanade being encumbered with troops, by the presence of the +brigade of infantry, and the legion of gendarmes d'élite, no safe place +could be found there in which the fire of a platoon did not run the risk +of striking a soldier or a spectator. No doubt it was also feared that +too great publicity would thus be given to the murder in the midst of an +army; that the scene of the execution was too distant from the place of +sepulture; and that feelings of pity and horror would pervade the ranks +at the sight of this young man's mangled corpse. The moat of the +chateau, however, offered the means of avoiding all these dangers, as it +would conceal the murder as well as the victim. This place was +accordingly chosen. Harel received orders to give up the keys of the +steps and iron gateways, which descended from the towers and opened on +the foundation of the chateau to point out the different outlets and +sites, and to procure a gravedigger to commence digging a grave while +the man for whom it was intended still breathed. A poor working gardener +of the chateau, named Bontemps, was awakened, and his work pointed out +to him. He was furnished with a lantern to guide him through the +labyrinth of the moat, and light him while he dug it up. Bontemps +descended with his shovel and pickax to the bottom of the moat, and +finding the ground all about dry and hard, he recollected that they had +begun to dig a trench the evening before, at the foot of the Queen's +Pavilion, in the angle formed by the tower and a little wall +breast-high, for the purpose, it was said, of depositing rubbish in it. +He accordingly went to the foot of the tower, marked out in paces the +measure of a man's body extended at length, and dug in the earth that +had been already moved a grave for the corpse they were preparing for +it. The Duke d'Enghien could have heard from his window, over the +humming noise of the troops below, the dull and regular sound of the +pickax which was digging his last couch. Savary, at the same time, +marched down and arranged slowly in the moat the detachments of troops +who were to witness this military death, and ordered the firing party to +load their muskets. The Prince was far from suspecting either so much +rigor or so much haste on the part of his judges. He did not doubt that +even a sentence of death, if awarded by the commission, would give +occasion for an exhibition of magnanimity on the part of the First +Consul. He had granted an amnesty to emigrants taken with arms in their +hands; how could it be doubted, then, that he who pardoned obscure and +culpable exiles, would not honor himself by an act of justice or +clemency toward an illustrious prince, beloved by all Europe, and +innocent of all crime? He had been taken back, after his interrogatories +and his appearance before the military commission, into the room where +he had slept. He entered it without exhibiting any of that fright which +prisoners experience in the anxiety and uncertainty of their sentence. +With a serene countenance and unoccupied mind, he conversed with his +gendarmes, and played with his dog. Lieutenant Noirot who was on guard +over him, had formerly served in a regiment of cavalry commanded by a +colonel who was a friend of the Prince of Condé. He had also seen the +Duke d'Enghien, when a child, sometimes accompany his father to reviews +and field days of the regiment; and he reminded the Prince of that +period and these circumstances of his youth. The duke smiled at these +reminiscences, and renewed them himself by other recollections of his +infancy, which mingled with those of Noirot. He inquired, with a +curiosity full of interest, about the career of this officer since that +epoch; of the campaigns he had made; of the battles in which he had been +engaged; of the promotion he had received; of his present rank, his +expectations, and his partiality for the service. He seemed to find a +lively pleasure in this conversation on the past with a brave officer, +who spoke to him with the accent and the heart of a man who would gladly +indulge in pity, were it not for the severity of duty. A noise of +footsteps, advancing slowly toward the chamber, interrupted this +agreeable and last indulgence of captivity. It was the commandant of +Vincennes, Harel, accompanied by the brigadier of the gendarmerie of the +village, Aufort. This friend of Harel's had been permitted to remain in +one of the commandant's rooms, after having ordered the Prince's supper, +and from thence he had heard or seen all the events of the night. Harel, +agitated and trembling at the mission he had to fulfill, had permitted +Aufort to follow and assist him in his message to the prisoner. They +saluted the Prince respectfully; but neither of them had the firmness to +acquaint him with the truth. The dejected attitude and trembling voice +of Harel alone revealed to the eye and to the heart of the Prince a +fatal presentiment of the rigor of his judges. He thought they now came +for him only to hear his sentence read. Harel desired him, on the part +of the tribunal, to follow him, and he went before with a lantern in his +hand, through the corridors, the passages, and the courts it was +necessary to cross, to arrive at the building called the 'Devil's +Tower.' The interior of this tower contained the only staircase and the +only door descending to, and opening into, the lowest moat. The Prince +appeared to hesitate two or three times on going into this suspicious +tower, like a victim which smells the blood, and which resists and turns +back its head on crossing the threshold of a slaughter-house. Harel and +Aufort preceded the duke in silence down the steps of the narrow winding +staircase, which descended to a postern through the massy walls of this +tower. The Prince, with an instinctive horror of the place, and of the +depth beneath the soil to which the steps were leading him, began to +think they were not conducting him before the judges, but into the hands +of murderers, or to the gloom of a prison. He trembled in all his limbs, +and convulsively drew back his foot as he addressed his guides in front: +'Where are you conducting me?' he demanded, with a stifled voice. 'If it +is to bury me alive in a dungeon, I would rather die this instant.' +'Sir,' replied Harel, turning round, 'follow me, and summon up all your +courage.' The Prince partly comprehended him, and followed. They at +length issued from the winding staircase, through a low postern which +opened on the bottom of the moat, and continued walking for some time in +the dark, along the foot of the lofty walls of the fortress, as far as +the basement of the Queen's Pavilion. When they had turned the angle of +this pavilion, which concealed another part of the moat behind its +walls, the Prince suddenly found himself in front of the detachment of +the troops drawn up to witness his death. The firing party selected for +the execution was separated from the rest; and the barrels of their +muskets, reflecting the dull light of some lanterns carried by a few of +the attendants, threw a sinister glare on the moat, the massy walls, +and the newly-dug grave. The Prince stopped at a sign from his guides, +within a few paces of the firing party. He saw his fate at a glance, but +he neither trembled nor turned pale. A slight and chilling rain was +falling from a gloomy sky, and a melancholy silence reigned throughout +the moat. Nothing disturbed the horror of the scene but the whispering +and shuffling feet of a few groups of officers and soldiers who had +collected upon the parapets above, and on the drawbridge which led into +the forest of Vincennes. Adjutant Pelle, who commanded the detachment, +advanced, with his eyes lowered, toward the Prince. He held in his hand +the sentence of the military commission, which he read in a low, dull +voice, but perfectly intelligible. The Prince, listened without making +an observation or losing his firmness. He seemed to have collected in an +instant all his courage, and all the military heroism of his race, to +show his enemies that he knew how to die. Two feelings alone seemed to +occupy him during the moment of intense silence which followed the +reading of his sentence; one was to invoke the aid of religion to soothe +his last struggle, and the other to communicate his dying thoughts to +her he was going to leave desolate on the earth. He accordingly asked if +he could have the assistance of a priest, but there was none in the +castle; and though a few minutes would suffice to call the curé of +Vincennes, they were too much pressed for time, and too anxious to avail +themselves of the night which was to cover every thing. The officers +nearest to him made a sign that he must renounce this consolation; and +one brutal fellow from the midst of a group called out in a tone of +irony, 'Do you wish, then, to die like a Capuchin?' The Prince raised +his head with an air of indignation, and turning toward the group of +officers and gendarmes who had accompanied him to the ground, he asked, +in a loud voice, if there was any one among them willing to do him one +last service. Lieutenant Noirot advanced from the group, and approached +him, thus sufficiently evincing his intention. The Prince said a few +words to him in a low voice, and Noirot, turning toward the side +occupied by the troops, said, 'Gendarmes, have any of you got a pair of +scissors about you?' The gendarmes searched their cartridge-boxes, and a +pair of scissors was passed from hand to hand to the Prince. He took off +his cap, cut off one of the locks of his hair, drew a letter from his +pocket, and a ring from his finger, then folding the hair, the letter, +and the ring in a sheet of paper, he gave the little packet, his sole +inheritance, to Lieutenant Noirot, charging him, in the name of pity for +his situation and his death, to send them to the young Princess +Charlotte de Rohan, at Ettenheim. This love message being thus confided, +he collected himself for a moment, with his hands joined, to offer up a +last prayer, and in a low voice commended his soul to God. He then made +five or six paces to place himself in front of the firing party, whose +loaded muskets he saw glimmering at a short distance. The light of a +large lantern containing several candles, placed upon the little wall +that stood over the open grave, gleamed full upon him, and lighted the +aim of the soldiers. The firing party retired a few paces to a proper +distance, the adjutant gave the word to fire, and the young Prince, as +if struck by a thunderbolt, fell upon the earth, without a cry and +without a struggle. At that moment the clock of the castle struck the +hour of three. Hullin and his colleagues were waiting in the vestibule +of Harel's quarters for their carriage to convey them back to Paris, and +were talking with some bitterness of Savary's refusal to transmit their +letter to his master, when an unexpected explosion, resounding from the +moat of the forest gate, made them start and tremble, and taught them +that judges should never reckon upon any thing but justice and their own +conscience. This still small voice pursued them through their lives. The +Duke d'Enghien was no more. His dog, which had followed him into the +moat, yelled when he saw him fall, and threw himself on the body of his +master. It was with difficulty the poor animal could be torn away from +the spot, and given to one of the Prince's servants, who took him to the +Princess Charlotte--the only messenger from that tomb where slept the +hapless victim whom she never ceased to deplore." + + + + +THE CAPTAIN'S SELF-DEVOTION.[9] + +[9] Translated from a new volume of Tales by Fanny Lewald. + + +Some twenty years ago my father had a new ship launched from the stocks. +A large company had assembled at our house to witness the ceremony of +christening the vessel, and afterward to celebrate the marriage of the +captain who was to take command of her. He had been for a long time in +my father's service, had been uniformly successful in his voyages, and +was just the man to take charge of a new enterprise on the western coast +of Africa. + +Captain Jan Evers, from the time when he first went to sea as cabin-boy, +had lived but little at home, with the exception of the time which he +subsequently passed with his parents, while he was attending his course +at the Navigation School of Hamburg, in order to prepare for his +examination as pilot. His parents owned a bit of ground in the village +of Neumühlen, the long rows of houses of which stretch along the mouth +of the Elbe, beyond Altona. After the death of the old people, the house +stood for a long while uninhabited; until, in the year of which I now +speak, the captain, who had returned from a voyage, concluded, at the +desire of my father, not to go to sea again, until his new ship should +be ready. This induced him to have the long-closed shutters of his house +opened, in order to take up his own residence there; for he had never +rented it. + +You must be aware of the extraordinary cleanliness of the northern +sea-ports, and must have seen how the sailors love to have their houses +as neat as their ships; and how in Neumühlen, where many captains and +pilots have their little estates, the houses seem to shine with the +incessant care bestowed upon them, in order to comprehend how vexed Jan +Evers was when he found his long-deserted house to have suffered sadly +from neglect. The little garden-plot before the door, which is never +wanting, was full of weeds; the boughs of the fine linden had run wild +all about, and shaded the chambers, which had thereby grown mouldy, so +that the green paint on the walls had contracted ugly yellow stains. The +whole aspect of the house made a melancholy impression, and even the +Chinese mandarin which was still standing upon the walnut buffet, where +Jan used to see it when a child, seemed to nod its head gloomily when +Jan once more took possession of his paternal abode. + +The captain, who was a fresh jolly fellow of some forty years old, was +no longer the same man after he had passed a couple of weeks there. He +grew moody, peevish, and barely civil; and my father often lamented the +impatience with which he awaited the completion of the ship, in order to +be off again. + +One day Evers came to our house at an unusual hour, and desired to see +my father, who at that time of day was not usually in his counting-room, +but with his family. The captain was shown in, and after we children had +been sent away, at his desire, he said: + +"I have something to say to you which it is best your good lady should +hear, too. I have just come from the dock-yard, where I have been +looking at the ship. It will be two months before she will be off the +stocks. Then it will be too late to go to sea, even if you should have +her rigged upon the stocks. I can't get off till spring; and I can't +hold out so long as that. If I only had my fellows of the Fortune +here"--(this was the name of the vessel he had last commanded)--"if I +only had them with me in Neumühlen, it would be all right: but I grow +down in the mouth there, it is so quiet. I'd rather be on a sand-island, +alone with the seals and the sea-mews, under the open heavens, than +among all those nicknacks of my little house, which must be used, and +which I can't use. And so, I thought I'd ask you--" + +"If you couldn't be off!" interrupted my father. "Surely, Evers, you are +not thinking of that in earnest, are you?" + +"No, I am not thinking of that. I have agreed to take command of the new +ship; and I am in the habit of keeping my word. But I thought I would +ask--" here he stopped, twirled his hat about in his hand, turned to my +mother, and continued--"what you think about it--whether I hadn't better +get married?" + +It seemed as though a great load was taken from his mind, when he had +got out these words. He had his house, a pretty little property, and was +a good-looking, noble fellow, and bid fair to make an excellent husband; +and so my mother advised him earnestly to carry his design into +execution; asking him whether he had yet found a girl whom he could wish +to marry. + +"Will you give me Marie?" asked he. + +Marie was the daughter of a woman who had attended me and my sisters, +and who had long been dead. My parents had brought Marie up, and she +served my mother as chambermaid; but was looked upon as one of the +family, and was very dear to us all. She was about four-and-twenty years +old, and might be considered a very pretty girl. My mother said, that +she thought a marriage between Marie and the captain would be altogether +proper, notwithstanding he was considerably the older; and Evers begged +her to be his spokeswoman with Marie. + +"Tell her," said he, "that I have liked her for many years; that always +when I have returned from a voyage, I have been glad to look upon her +again; that when I have been in foreign ports, and have seen other +captains buying presents for their wives and children, I have often +thought: Could you but do so, and make others happy--but for whom? I +have grieved that I was unmarried; and at sea in stormy weather, I have +fallen asleep imagining myself, some time or other, reposing with my +wife and children. But as soon as I came into port, I have always been +obliged to set sail again forthwith, and have forgotten all about +getting married, as I had to be off so soon again, and must see to +getting the cargo on board. But now I have time to think about it, and I +like Marie very much? I will try to make her happy. You can assure her +of that." + +Marie was asked, and very gladly said Yes. The captain had his house set +in order; the rooms were newly painted, the garden attended to, the +linden pruned; while Marie arranged the stores of linen and plate left +by her deceased parents-in-law, with the pleasurable feeling of +ownership. And so came the day when the ship was to be launched, and the +pair were to be united. + +We all went to the dock; my parents conveyed the young pair in a +carriage, and the guests followed. We went on board the ship, the young +couple preceding, then my parents, and the guests. The vessel was +christened by the name of "Young Couple." We all burst out into loud +huzzas, swung our glasses and our hats, and hurried from the stern, +where the ceremony took place, to the bows, to remain there during the +launch. The steps were removed; the ways in which the keel was to run +were slushed with soap and tallow; the sound of the ax was heard, +knocking away the last blocks; the line was cast off; one blow of an ax, +and amid the huzzas of the carpenters, sailors, and spectators, the +noble vessel shot into the water. Suddenly a shriek was heard; the +bow-line had parted, and the ship, freed from its check, shot across the +river, with such momentum that it struck against the opposite shore, and +stuck fast. + +In itself this was no great matter; for it cost little trouble or +expense to tow the vessel back again. But the merriment of the occasion +was interrupted by the shriek, and disturbed by the superstitious belief +that any accident happening at a launch is a bad sign for the vessel. A +silence fell upon the guests; Marie wept, and the captain looked +anxious, for all sailors are more or less superstitious. However, after +the wedding, we grew cheerful again; the young pair went on to +Neumühlen, and the autumn and winter passed away quickly and happily. +Sorrowfully they watched the approach of spring, for the ship was +afloat, her cargo ready, and the anchor was to be weighed as soon as the +Elbe was free from ice. + +This took place toward the end of March. For the first time in his life, +the captain left Hamburg with tears in his eyes, after having heartily +commended to my mother the care of his wife, who was expecting her first +child to be born during the course of the summer. If all went well, +tidings of his arrival on the coast of Africa might be looked for about +the time of her confinement; and he had promised to write as soon as +possible, as not only his wife, but our establishment were anxious to +receive letters from him. + +But long after Marie had given birth to a boy, no tidings had come from +her husband. Autumn came and was gone; winter came and went, and yet no +intelligence reached us of the ship. + +No other vessel had spoken her; she had put in at no other port; not a +trace of her could be discovered; and after a year and a day we were +forced to conclude that she had gone down with all on board. The grief +of the young wife was very deep, though the hope still remained that the +crew might have been saved, and that her husband would return. Thus +passed years, until finally when all imaginable inquiries had been made +in vain, Marie began to grow accustomed to the idea of his loss, and to +look upon herself as a widow. + +About this time she became acquainted with man who carried on a small +business in Neumühlen, and who wished to make her his wife. As Evers had +been absent eight years, my parents advised her to consent, especially +as they perceived that such was her own inclination. But before a new +marriage could be contracted, Evers must be judicially pronounced to be +dead. In the present case, after the usual preliminaries, there was no +difficulty; and in the year 1828, Marie was married a second time; her +son by the first marriage being then in his ninth year. + +This marriage also proved to be a very happy one; and she had two +children born in the first two years; both of whom survived. + +One evening in the autumn of 1830, Marie was holding her youngest child +in her arms, while her husband sat by her upon the sofa, enjoying his +pipe. The elder boy, the son of Evers, was busy at another table, near +which his little sister was playing. A fierce storm was howling without; +the rain and hail rattled against the windows; the night was unusually +dark; and as some draught was felt, even in the well-secured apartment, +Marie told her eldest son to close the shutters. The lad went to the +window, but quickly returned, saying that a man was standing there. + +"Let him stand," replied the father, and the boy went back to the window +to close the shutters, when he found that the man had gone. All was +quiet in the room. The boy went back to his occupation; the mother laid +her infant in the cradle, put the girl to bed, and had taken up her +work-basket, when an old woman burst into the room half out of her wits +with excitement, crying, "Madame! Madame! Jan Evers was out there!" + +Marie, her husband, and the boy sprang up, and ran to the door. No one +was to be seen. Marie trembled in every limb; the boy stood near her in +utter bewilderment; the husband at last so far recovered himself as to +be able to inquire into the facts of the case. + +The old woman who had lived for some years in Neumühlen, and was well +acquainted with all the inhabitants, was almost as much excited and +confounded as her neighbors. Gazing hastily about her all the time, as +though she expected every moment to see the apparition again, she said +that she "was going by for to buy some stuff, and then she saw a man in +a blue jacket, with a nor'wester on his head, a-staring in at your +window, and then it came into my head to come and look in too; and when +the stranger saw me he asked, 'Who lives in this house?' and then I told +him Christian Veltlin did. Then the man went up to the window again and +looked in again, and then he turned about and went away. And then I knew +him by his size, and ran after him, and called out as loud as ever I +could, 'Jan Evers! Jan Evers!' But he wouldn't turn his head round, but +ran on as fast as he could, but I caught him at last at the stairs that +lead from Neumühlen up to the _chaussée_. And then I took hold of him by +the sleeve, and asked him, 'Jan Evers, Jan Evers, where have you come +from?' And then he pushed me away, and growled, 'I don't know nothin' +about your Jan Everses. I'm the bo's'n of the Greenlander over there!' +and then he ran off and left me standing there. But 'twas him, and I ran +over here to tell you all about it." + +You may imagine the terror, the agony, and the despair in that little +house. Veltlin, however, in order to soothe his wife, argued with her +how improbable was the return of Evers, and how easily the old woman +might have been deceived. Yet he was himself greatly troubled, and on +the following morning, as early as possible, he and his wife came to my +father to lay the matter before him, and to ask his advice. + +My father advised them, first and foremost, to keep silent about the +whole affair; but it was too late for that, for the old woman had told +all Neumühlen what had happened. New inquiries were at once set on foot +after the reputedly dead Jan Evers. But they were just as fruitless as +the former ones had been; and after a while Marie and Veltlin began to +grow composed, convinced that the old woman must have been deceived by +some strange resemblance. Peace and joy returned to the little +household, and the marriage was never disturbed up to the time of +Marie's death, which took place last summer. + +After that event a document was transmitted to me by the magistracy of +the capital, where, it seems, Jan had passed his last years, under an +assumed name. By this document, executed upon his death-bed, he +constituted all the children of Marie Veltlin heirs to his little +property; but with the express provision that the will should not be +made public till after the death of Marie. Then it was known, for the +first time, that the old woman was right. Jan Evers had most +magnanimously sacrificed himself for his wife, and had lived and died +alone and among strangers, although he was fully aware that a son had +been born to him, who had lived to grow up. + + + + +THE EAGLE AND THE SWAN. + +(_From the German._) + + THE SWAN. + + My tranquil life is passed the waves among, + Light ripples tracing as I glide along, + And the scarce ruffled tide, as in a glass, + Reflects my form unaltered as I pass! + + THE EAGLE. + + In the clefts of the rocks my wild dwelling I form, + I sail through the air on the wings of the storm, + 'Mid dangers and combats I dart on my prey, + And trust the bold pinion that bears me away! + + THE SWAN. + + Won by the charm of Ph[oe]bus, in the wave + Of heavenly harmony I dare to lave, + Couched at his feet, I listen to the lays, + In Tempè's vale, that echo to his praise! + + THE EAGLE. + + I perch at the right hand of Jove on his throne, + And the thunderbolt launch when his signal is shown, + And my heavy wings droop, when in slumber I lie, + O'er the sceptre that sways the wide earth from on high! + + THE SWAN. + + _Me_ charms the heaven's blue arch, serene and bland, + And odorous flowers attract me to the land + While basking in the sun's departing beams, + I stretch my white wings o'er the purpled streams! + + THE EAGLE. + + I exult in the tempest, triumphant and bold, + When the oaks of the forest it rends from their hold, + I demand of the thunder--the spheres when it shakes-- + If, like me, a wild joy in destruction it takes! + + THE SWAN. + + Oft in the glassy tide the stars I view, + And that blue heav'n the waves give back anew. + And dim regret recalls me to the home + In higher spheres, reluctant whence I roam! + + THE EAGLE. + + With joy, from the hour that my young life begun, + I have soared to the skies--I have gazed on the sun. + I can not stoop down to the dust of the earth-- + Allied to the gods, I exult in my birth! + + THE SWAN. + + When a calm death succeeds to tranquil life, + Its links detaching without pain or strife, + And to my voice restores its primal power, + Its dying tones shall hail the solemn hour! + + THE EAGLE. + + The soul, like the phoenix, springs forth from the pyre, + All free and unvailed, to the skies to aspire, + To hail the bright vision that bursts on its view, + And its youth at the dark torch of death to renew! + + + + +Monthly Record of Current Events. + + +UNITED STATES. + +A new invasion of Cuba, somewhat more formidable, but less successful +even, than the former, has absorbed public attention during the past +month. Immediately after the return of Lopez from his first expedition, +rumors were rife that he was making preparations for another attempt. +These reports, however, attracted comparatively little attention, and no +effective measures were taken to put a stop to proceedings which were so +palpably in violation of our treaty engagements with Spain. The reported +rising of the inhabitants of Cuba at Puerto Principe, which was noticed +in our last Number, and which was grossly exaggerated in public prints +throughout the country, had evidently been regarded by the Cubans in the +United States as eminently favorable to the prosecution of their +purposes. A party of about 480 men, led by Lopez himself, and commanded +by subordinate officers, accordingly embarked on board the steamer +Pampero, at New Orleans, and set out for Cuba. They intended to land in +the central department of the island upon the southern coast, where the +disaffection had been represented as most rife, and where they were, +therefore, most sure of a favorable reception. But on touching at Key +West for supplies, they were informed that a revolt had taken place in +the Vuelta de Abajo, and Lopez accordingly resolved to land in that +district. By some mistake, the nature of which has not been clearly +explained, they missed their point of destination, and landed on the +northern coast of the western department of the Island on the night of +the 11th of August. The shore was deserted and they met no opposition. + +General Lopez left Colonel Crittenden at this point with about 100 men +in charge of the stores and unnecessary arms, and advanced with the +remainder of his command to the town of Las Pozas: the inhabitants, +however, fled as he approached, neither joining his standard nor +furnishing him with provisions or encouragement of any sort. The day +after landing, Col. Crittenden was attacked by the Spanish troops--two +bodies of infantry and one company of horse. This force was too strong +for them. After struggling as long as possible, they withdrew from the +field, and finding that neither Lopez himself, who was only three miles +off, nor any of the inhabitants came to their aid, they resolved to +return to the United States. They procured small boats, and had just got +to sea when they were followed and captured on the 15th by the Spanish +steamer Habanero. They were taken to Havana, and, on the 17th, were +shot. It was at first reported that they had no trial, but were shot +immediately, and that their bodies were horribly mutilated and every +possible insult offered to their remains by the Cuban populace. These +statements were, however, afterward contradicted. It was stated that +they were properly tried, and condemned, and that after their execution +they were decently interred. Several of them, and Colonel Crittenden +among the number, wrote letters to their friends at home, all of which +agreed that they had been grossly deceived as to the state of public +feeling in Cuba, and that, so far as could be perceived, not the +slightest disposition prevailed among the inhabitants of the Island to +overthrow the Spanish government. + +General Lopez was attacked on the 13th by a large body of Spanish troops +at Las Pozas; the action was severe, and the Spaniards were repulsed. +The loss of Lopez was considerable, and among those who fell was Colonel +Pragay, an officer who had served with distinction in Hungary. He lost +in all about fifty men, but retained possession of the place. He soon +perceived that all his hopes of aid from the inhabitants were +groundless, and that it would be impossible to maintain himself against +the Spanish troops; and determined to conceal himself in the mountains. +On their march thither they met several Spanish detachments with whom +they had successive engagements, suffering severely in each, and +inflicting losses more or less serious upon their opponents. Among the +Spaniards who fell was General Enna, a distinguished officer, who was +buried at Havana on the 21st, with military pomp. At Martitorena on the +24th, while the remaining body of the invaders were breakfasting, they +were surprised by an overwhelming Spanish force, and completely +scattered; and from that time forward they seem to have been zealously +hunted by the inhabitants of all classes, and by every means. The +official reports of the Spanish officers state that the peasants pursued +them with dogs, that the negroes aided in their capture, and that every +part of the population evinced the most active and devoted loyalty to +the Spanish government. On the 28th, Lopez with only six followers, was +endeavoring to conceal himself and escape to the sea coast, and on the +29th, he was captured in the Pinos de Rangel, by a guide named Jose +Antonio Castañeda, with fifteen peasants. He was at once handed over to +a military force under Colonel Ramon de Sago, who had him conveyed by a +night march to Havana, where orders were immediately issued for his +execution, which took place at 7 o'clock on the morning of September +1st. He perished by the _garrote vil_, an instrument in common use among +the Spaniards. It consists of an iron chair, with a back, upon which, at +a point even with the head of the person sitting in it, is the +instrument of death. This consists of iron clasps made to fit the sides +of the head, and a clasp to pass round the throat. From behind is a long +iron bar attached to a screw, which put in motion by the executioner +giving it a single turn, draws the throat and side pieces tight and at +the same time sends an iron rod into the spinal marrow at the neck from +behind, causing instantaneous death. This machine was placed upon a +scaffold about ten feet high, in the middle of a large square, +surrounded by troops. An eyewitness has given an account of the +execution. He states that Lopez behaved like a brave man throughout--and +walked, surrounded by a guard, to the steps of the scaffold, as coolly +as if he were at the head of his troops. He was dressed in a long white +gown, and a white cap; his wrists were tied in front and above his +elbows behind, with the cords held by soldiers. He ascended the steps +with two civilians, friends, but without a priest. He faced round and +looked upon the soldiers, and the immense throng of people outside of +the square, and then turned round and knelt in prayer for about one +minute. He then rose and turned toward the front, and in a clear, manly +voice, and in tones loud enough to be heard by the thousands present +(for it was still as night), spoke as follows:--"Countrymen, I most +solemnly, in this last awful moment of my life, ask your pardon for any +injury I have caused you. It was not my wish to injure any one, my +object was your freedom and happiness;" here he was interrupted by the +commanding officer in front. He concluded, by saying, "My intention was +good, and my hope is in God." He then bowed, and turned round and took +his seat, apparently with as much coolness as if he were taking a chair +in a room with friends. He placed his head back, between the iron +grasps, the negro hangman then adjusted the iron throat clasp and tied +his feet to bolts on each side of the seat. During this preparation, +Lopez was in conversation with his friends. The executioner, then took +his place at the iron bar behind. Lopez kissed the cross handed to him +by his friend; the negro then gave one turn of the wrench, and Lopez +died instantly without the least struggle. The military at once returned +to the city, the band playing a quick step; the thousands dispersed with +little or no noise; and thus ended the second invasion of Cuba. + +The intelligence of these proceedings, as it reached the United States, +caused an intense excitement throughout the country. In the Southern +States, and especially in New Orleans, where the expedition had been +planned and prepared, the popular agitation was overwhelming. When the +news of the execution of the fifty men under Colonel Crittenden reached +New Orleans, with the report of the indignities shown to their dead +bodies, a mob destroyed the office of a Spanish newspaper in that city, +menaced and injured the shops of sundry Spanish inhabitants, and even +sacked the house of the Spanish consul. Large meetings were held in all +the principal cities of the United States, at which the conduct of the +Spanish authorities was denounced, and active preparations were made for +sending fresh reinforcements to the invaders. Subsequent accounts, +however, and the interference of the Government, prevented the execution +of these designs. The failure of Lopez cooled the ardor of that class of +our population whose opinions of the morality and legality of any +action, depend upon its success or failure; while the slightest +reflection was sufficient to show the great mass of our people, that +without a declaration of war against Spain by our Government, we had no +right to invade her colonies. If a revolution had existed there, our +people, as in the case of Texas, could have emigrated thither, and after +becoming Cubans and abandoning all claims to American citizenship, have +taken such part as they might see fit in the affairs of the island. But +no such revolution existed. Lopez and those who acted with him were +undoubtedly deceived as to the state of public sentiment in Cuba. No one +can fail to regret the loss of so many noble spirits; but they put their +lives upon the hazard of the die, and expected, in case of failure, the +fate which they met. About 150 prisoners still remain in the hands of +the colonial government; it is understood that their punishment will be +commuted to imprisonment and transportation. + +Political conventions have been held in several States during the past +month, to nominate officers for the coming elections. In Massachusetts +the Whigs assembled at Springfield on the 10th of September, above one +thousand delegates being in attendance. Hon. Robert C. Winthrop was +nominated for Governor, receiving 811 out of 1033 votes, and George +Grinnell, of Greenfield County, was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor. +Edward Everett, George Ashmun, and Seth Sprague were chosen delegates +from the State at large to the National Convention. A series of +resolutions was adopted, declaring substantially, that the Constitution +of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof, are the +supreme law of the land, any thing in the constitution or laws of any +State to the contrary notwithstanding, and that no citizen or State has +any right to resist their execution, except in such extreme cases as +justify violent resistance to the laws, on the principle of the natural +and indefeasible prerogative of self-defense against intolerable +oppression;--that the preservation of the Union transcends in importance +any and all other political questions;--that the Whigs of Massachusetts +will faithfully perform every duty imposed upon them by the Constitution +of the United States, and they call upon their brethren in every section +of the State to respect and observe all its provisions;--that they +"cordially support the national administration in all its just and +patriotic measures; in its generous sympathy with oppressed nations +struggling for liberty in every part of the world; in its able and +vigorous management of our foreign affairs; in its unwavering purpose to +maintain inviolate our public faith with all nations; and in its sworn +resolve to vindicate the integrity of the Union against all assaults +from whatever quarter;"--that they have undiminished confidence in the +comprehensive statesmanship of Daniel Webster;--that they cordially +approve the agreement entered into by the Whigs of New York;--that they +disapprove very decidedly of the present administration of State affairs +in Massachusetts, and that they will use every exertion to secure the +election of the Whig candidates put in nomination. The Democratic party +held their Convention on the 20th of August. A series of resolutions was +adopted declaring that "the Democratic party is preëminently national, +anti-sectional, and for the Union as a whole Union--that it has always +sustained, and can only regain its supremacy in the Union, by adhering +to its own men and measures; reposing on its fundamental principle of +excluding all tests marked by sectional lines, South or North, East or +West; and by leaving to the sound sense of the people of each State and +Territory their domestic policy and institutions;"--that they recommend +a National Democratic Convention to be held at Baltimore in May, +1852;--that they "deprecate as disunion in its worst form the attempts +of any party or class of men to stigmatize and denounce one portion of +the Union for its domestic institutions with which the Constitution does +not interfere, and of the propriety of which each State is its own +independent judge;"--that they approve the resolutions adopted in the +National Democratic Convention of 1848;--and that they "go for a +faithful execution of and acquiescence in all the Compromise measures +settled by the last Congress." Charles G. Greene, Henry H. Childs, and +Isaac Davis were appointed delegates to the National Convention. George +S. Boutwell was nominated for Governor, and Henry W. Cushman for +Lieutenant-Governor. + +In New York the Whig Convention met on the 11th at Syracuse. Only part +of the State officers are to be chosen at the election this fall. George +W. Patterson was nominated for Controller, James M. Cook for Treasurer, +Samuel A. Foote for Judge of the Court of Appeals, James C. Forsyth for +Secretary of State, Daniel Ullman Jr. for Attorney-General, Henry +Fitzhugh for Canal Commissioner, and A. H. Wells for State Prison +Inspector. Four very brief resolutions were adopted, declaring that the +action of the two Whig State Committees at Albany, which was sketched in +our last, was "the result of honorable and patriotic devotion to the +Constitution, and for the best interests of the whole people, and that +it is adopted and approved by this Convention;"--that to the entire +completion of the Erie Canal and kindred public works the Whig party is +fully pledged;--that those who supported the canal bill rendered a +service to the State of such eminent value, that it has obtained for +them the gratitude of every friend of the true prosperity of the State; +and that the candidates nominated for State offices deserve and will +receive the united support of the whole Whig party.--The Democratic +Convention met at the same place on the 10th. Two days were spent in +effecting an organization. A series of resolutions was adopted +reaffirming the views and principles set forth in the resolutions +adopted by the State Convention at Syracuse last year. The following +gentlemen were nominated as the Democratic candidates for the several +state offices:--John C. Wright for Controller; Henry S. Randall for +Secretary of State; Levi S. Chatfield for Attorney-General; Benjamin +Welch Jr. for Treasurer; Horace Wheaton for Canal Commissioner; W. J. +M'Alpine for State Engineer; Gen. Storms for Inspector of State Prisons; +and A. S. Johnson for Judge of the Court of Appeals.--In Maryland P. F. +Thomas was nominated for Controller, James Murray for Commissioner of +the Land Office, and T. R. Stewart for Lottery Commissioner, by the +Democratic State Convention held on the 12th of September. + +A very severe storm swept over the whole southern coast of the United +States and the West India Islands on the 18th of August. The damage to +vessels and other property was very great. In the island of Porto Rico a +great number of plantations and an immense number of cattle were +destroyed, and many persons lost their lives. In the middle of West +Florida, Georgia, and Alabama the gale was terribly destructive. The +tobacco crop is said to have suffered severely. + +Advices from Texas give encouraging accounts of the cotton crop in that +State. In both quality and quantity it will exceed that of ordinary +years. A new military post has been established in the Clear Fork of the +Brazos; and in the immediate vicinity, it is said, very large deposits +of iron ore and of coal have been discovered. A very large trade in +cattle has sprung up of late between Texas and New Orleans; the net +proceeds of the trade this year are estimated at $120,000. The Boundary +Commission is progressing slowly. When last heard from it was at the +copper mines. The survey had been temporarily suspended, owing to an +error in running the Boundary, making it 60 miles above El Paso, instead +of 16, as required by the treaty. About 130 persons are attached to the +American Commission, while the Mexican Commission has only seven. From +El Paso we learn that a conflict occurred early in June between a +considerable body of Apache Indians and a party of twelve Americans, on +their way to California. The affray took place near the copper mines. +The Americans were defeated, with a loss of two men killed and two +wounded. Writers in the Texas papers, who have passed over the route to +California from San Antonio and El Paso, state that it is far preferable +to the usual route by way of Independence, Missouri. It is said to be +shorter, cheaper, and less dangerous. + +Two more cases of the surrender of fugitive slaves have occurred in the +State of New York during the month. A colored person, living at +Poughkeepsie, and named John M. Boulding, was arrested there and brought +to New York. Evidence was submitted to Mr. Nelson, a Commissioner under +the law of 1850, which showed him to be the slave of Mr. Anderson, of +South Carolina, whither he was immediately sent. The other case occurred +at Buffalo, where a negro called Daniel was brought before Commissioner +H. K. Smith. He was claimed under the tenth section of the act of 1850, +a certified copy of the records of a court of Kentucky being produced, +as required by that section, to prove him the property of a Mr. Rust. +The Commissioner decided that the evidence was sufficient, but a _habeas +corpus_ was granted by Judge Conklin of the U. S. District Court, and +the case was argued before him. He decided that the tenth section of the +law of 1850, could not apply to slaves who had escaped previous to the +passage of the law; and as Daniel was alleged to have fled before that +time, the evidence provided for by that section was insufficient. He was +therefore discharged. This decision is one of a good deal of importance, +as it essentially modifies the operation of the law. + +An election was held in Mississippi, on the 1st and 2d of September, for +delegates to a State Convention, to consider what action Mississippi +ought to take in regard to the action of the last Congress on the +question of slavery. The majority of _Union_ delegates returned was very +large; so decisive, indeed, was the result regarded as to the feeling of +the State upon the subject, that Gen. Quitman, who was running against +Senator Foote, as the secession candidate, immediately withdrew from the +canvass. + +The American Association for the Advancement of Education held, the last +of August, a very interesting meeting at Cleveland, Ohio. Many of the +most distinguished teachers and friends of Education from widely distant +parts of the country were in attendance, and the discussions were of +decided interest. The new system of collegiate education recently +introduced in Brown University, and adopted in the new University at +Cleveland (allowing students to select such studies as they may deem +most important to prepare them for their several pursuits in life, and +giving them certificates of their actual attainments, instead of the +usual diplomas), was thoroughly canvassed, both by its friends and its +opponents. The chief defenders of the new system were President Mahan of +Cleveland, and Prof. Greene of Brown University. Many other important +subjects were also discussed, and the proceedings of the Association +generally were such as are adapted to exert a wide and beneficent +influence upon the cause of education. + +J. E. Caldwell, executor of the will of Elihu Creswell, of New Orleans, +has addressed a letter to Gov. Hunt, of New York, asking him for +suggestions as to the most desirable locality for fifty-one slaves, +emancipated by Mr. Creswell, with directions that they should be removed +to a free State. Gov. Hunt has published the letter of Mr. Caldwell, +with an extract from the will, in order to elicit the desired +information. + +The United States Commissioner to the Western Indians, with his suite, +recently arrived in Galena, Ill., from Mendota and St. Paul. The treaty +with the Lower Sioux bands was signed on the 5th of August. These bands +are to receive, when they have reached their destination, some $225,000, +to pay their debts and expenses of removal, and an annuity in money of +about $30,000, for fifty years. The lands treated for with the lower +bands amount to some sixteen millions of acres. They lie along and west +of the Mississippi, from the Iowa State line north to the Falls of St. +Anthony, and above. The amount to be paid for this immense territory, +when the treaties will have been fully carried out, will amount to the +sum of nearly three millions. + +From _California_ we have news to the first of August. There is little +intelligence of special interest. The excitement in regard to Lynch law +executions had subsided, and it was believed that the courts of law +would hereafter be left to the exercise of their functions. The reports +from the mining districts continue to be encouraging and the shipments +of gold for August and September were likely to exceed those of any +previous month. Numerous canals are to be constructed for the purpose of +diverting the water of streams known to be rich in gold, and abundant +preparations had been made for mining the quartz rock with heavy +machinery. The belief is general that this is hereafter to be the main +source of profitable mining. Agriculture is attracting increased +attention. Indian hostilities have ceased on the southern and eastern +borders, and broken out on the northern frontier. A military expedition, +under command of Gen. J. M. Estell, is to accompany the Indian +Commissioners, in their tour of negotiation, to Clear Lake, thence to +the sources of the Sacramento. After which they will proceed to Klamath +River. The hostile Indians on Rogue's River have been dispersed but not +subdued. Navigation on the upper rivers is suspended on account of the +low state of water. The two political parties were holding conventions +in the various counties to nominate for the Legislature and for county +offices. The four candidates for Congress have been busily engaged in +canvassing. The project of dividing the State is still urged in some of +the southern counties, which were once the seat of nearly all the +Spanish establishments in this State, but which have lost all their +political importance under the new _regime_. + +Rev. Stephen Olin, D.D., President of the Wesleyan University, died at +his residence in Middletown, Conn., on the 16th of August. His health +had not been strong for many years, and an attack of epidemic dysentery +proved too much for his enfeebled frame. Born in Vermont, on the 2d of +March, 1797, he received his academical education at Middlebury College, +where he graduated with the highest honor. In 1824, he entered upon the +ministry of the Gospel, in South Carolina, and soon became eminent as a +pulpit orator. In 1830, he was called to a professorship in Franklin +College, Ga., and in 1832 to the Presidency of Randolph Macon College, +Va. The years from 1837 to 1841, he passed in an extended career of +travel through Europe and the East: and the fruit of his observations in +the latter region, have appeared in his two excellent volumes of +"Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy Land" (Harper and +Brothers). In 1842, he was chosen President of the Wesleyan University, +and filled that office to the time of his death. + +Dr. Olin's reputation as an author must depend upon his Travels, and +upon his published Discourses, which, it is to be hoped, will be +gathered together in permanent form. The Travels are marked by quick and +sagacious observation, considerable power of graphic description, and +sound judgment. Dr. Olin's account of Egypt is the best, on the whole, +in the language. The Discourses are massive, full of thought, and yet +glowing with fervor. In breadth and comprehensiveness they are perhaps +equal to any thing that the American pulpit has produced. It was, +indeed, as a pulpit orator that Dr. Olin shone pre-eminently. His power +consisted, not in any single quality--in force of reasoning--or fire of +imagination--or heat of declamation--but in all combined. His course of +argument was always clear and strong, yet interfused throughout with +passion--the two inseparably united in a torrent that overwhelmed all +who listened to him. Dr. Olin's personal qualities were those of the +highest style of man. His nature was imaginative--so full of genial +kindness as to win all hearts. None could be in his company even for a +few moments without feeling this fascination, and at the same time +without imbibing a deep reverence for the intellectual majesty of the +man. He had, in a very remarkable degree, what Coleridge calls one of +the highest characteristics of genius: "the power to carry forward the +fresh feelings of childhood on through youth, and manhood, and age:" +there was no decay of feeling, no sign of senility in failing of human +interest or sympathy. With these qualities, it is not strange that he +was sought for to fill high places in literary institutions, and that as +President of a University, he was eminently useful and successful. He +would have been equally distinguished, we are sure, in the world of +letters, had not his work been hindered by lifelong disease. As it was, +it is wonderful indeed that he accomplished so much. + +The Hon. Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, died at Portsmouth, N. H., on +the 4th of September, where he had suffered for a long while, under a +painful disease. Mr. Woodbury was born at Francestown, New Hampshire, +about the year 1790, was graduated with a high reputation for +scholarship at Dartmouth College in 1809, and was admitted to the bar in +1812. He practiced his profession with distinguished success, and +rapidly rose to a high rank in it. When the Democratic party acquired +the ascendency in the State, in 1816, he was appointed Secretary of +State; and at the commencement of the next year, a Judge of the Superior +Court. In 1819 he removed to Portsmouth, the commercial capital of New +Hampshire, where he resided the remainder of his life, with the +exception of the intervals when his official duties called him to +Washington. Mr. Woodbury was elected Governor of New Hampshire in 1822, +and in 1825 a Senator of the United States. General Jackson appointed +him Secretary of the Navy in 1831, and subsequently, on the rejection of +Mr. Taney by the Senate, Secretary of the Treasury. He continued in the +office till the close of Mr. Van Buren's presidency, when he resumed his +seat in the Senate. During the administration of Mr. Polk, he was +appointed one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, and had withdrawn from +the more active scenes of political life. + +James Fenimore Cooper, the distinguished American novelist, died at his +residence at Cooperstown, N. Y., on the 14th of September. He was born +at Burlington, New Jersey, on the 15th of September, 1789. His father, a +judge of some distinction, was a large landholder in Otsego County, and +gave his name to one of its townships. Mr. Cooper received the rudiments +of his education under a private tutor in Burlington, and entered Yale +College in 1802. In 1805 he entered the navy of the United States as a +midshipman, and remained in that service six years. No reader of his sea +novels can fail to trace upon them the influence of this portion of his +experience. In 1810 he left the navy, married, and settled in +Westchester County, New York, whence he soon removed to Cooperstown and +wrote his first novel, entitled Precaution. Although this work gave +small promise of the brilliant literary career upon which he entered, he +continued to write, and soon published that series of tales of early +American life which have won for him such enviable distinction. In 1826 +he sailed for Europe, and remained there several years, where he wrote +several of his best sea novels. Since his return he has written several +tales, using them chiefly as a medium of political opinions, and of +course sacrificing much of the success and distinction which his +previous works had acquired. Some of his strictures upon the faults of +American character and social life, subjected him for some years to a +very warm and bitter hostility. His health had been seriously impaired +for the last few months. Intelligence of his death will be received +with profound regret throughout the world. + +Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, LL.D., well known as the pioneer of deaf-mute +instruction in this country, died at Hartford, Conn., on the 10th of +September, at the age of 64. Dr. G. first became interested in the cause +to which his after life was devoted in 1807, having succeeded in +conveying instruction to a deaf and dumb daughter of Dr. Cogswell in +Hartford; and through the efforts of that gentleman he was commissioned +to visit Europe for the purpose of qualifying himself to become a +teacher of the Deaf and Dumb in this country. Seven gentlemen of +Hartford subscribed a sufficient amount of funds to defray his expenses, +and on the 25th of May, 1815, Mr. Gallaudet sailed for Europe. +Meanwhile, the friends of the project employed the interval of time in +procuring an act of incorporation from the Legislature of Connecticut, +which was accomplished in May, 1816. In May, 1819, the name of "the +American Asylum at Hartford for the Education and Instruction of the +Deaf and Dumb," was bestowed by the Legislature on the first Institution +for the deaf-mutes established in the United States. After spending +several months in the assiduous prosecution of his studies, under the +Abbé Sicard and others, Mr. Gallaudet returned to this country in +August, 1816. He was accompanied by Mr. Laurent Clerc, a deaf and dumb +Professor in the Institution of Paris, and well-known in Europe as a +most intelligent pupil of the Abbé. Mr. Clerc is now living in a +vigorous old age, and is still a teacher in the American Asylum at +Hartford. The Asylum was opened on the 15th of April, 1817, and during +the first week of its existence numbered seven pupils; it now averages +220 annually. Mr. Gallaudet became the Principal of the Institution at +its commencement, and held the office until April, 1830, when he +resigned, and has since officiated as Chaplain of the Retreat for the +Insane at Hartford. His interest in the cause of deaf-mute education has +always continued unabated, and his memory will be warmly cherished by +that unfortunate class of our fellow beings as well as by a large circle +of devoted friends. + +Rev. Sylvester Graham, the founder and untiring advocate of the +Vegetarian System of dietetics, died at Northampton, Mass., on Thursday, +Sept. 11. Dr. Graham was chiefly known for his strict adherence to the +system which, for some time, bore his name. His writings on the subject +were numerous and popular, and his labors, as a lecturer, were +incessant. The most important of his works are, _Lectures on the Science +of Human Life_, first published in Boston in 1839; and _Lectures to +Young Men on Chastity_. The "Science of Human Life," is a work in two +large volumes, containing a systematic and in some degree, a scientific +exposition of the author's peculiar views, and has had a rapid sale. It +passed through several editions in this country, and has lately been +reprinted in England, where its sale is quite extensive. Dr. Graham was +a native of Suffield, Ct., and at the time of his death was aged about +55. His character evinced energy and decision, and his influence on the +public mind was rather beneficial than deleterious. Of his theories, +each will form his own judgment; the projector, at least, was +undoubtedly honest and sincere in sustaining them. + +Prof. Beverly Tucker, of William and Mary College, Virginia, died at +Winchester on the 26th ult. Mr. Tucker was one of the Federal Judges of +the Territory of Missouri before its admission as a State; and was +subsequently State Judge in Virginia for a number of years, when he +resigned, and accepted the chair of Professor of Law at William and Mary +College. He was a member of the last Nashville Convention, and is known +as the author of a work published fifteen years ago, entitled _The +Partisan Leader_. Mr. Tucker's age was about 67. + + +CANADA. + +The Canadian Parliament was prorogued by the Governor-General on the +30th of August. The Royal Speech represents the revenue as in a +satisfactory state, and refers to the grants for improving the +navigation of the St. Lawrence, and to the reduction of the emigrant +tax. Six bills were reserved for the approval of the Queen, three of +which relate to churches and rectories, two to the reduction of +salaries, and one to the incorporation of the Fort Erie and Buffalo +Suspension Bridge Company. The reciprocity question was left unsettled. +The reductions in the civil list authorized by the Imperial Government +have been carried out by the Legislature. The salaries of the Chief +Justices and that of the Chancellor are to be reduced from $4,800 to +$3,600 a year, upon the departure of the present incumbents from office. +The question of seignorial tenure was discussed at this session, and +although no final action was taken upon it, a bill was introduced which +will probably come up again. The subject is one of great interest to the +people of Canada, and will not be allowed to drop. The law of +promogeniture in the succession of real estate has been abolished in +Upper Canada. This is the most democratic measure that has been passed +during the present Parliament, and it can not fail to exert a highly +beneficial influence on the future condition of the Province. A set of +resolutions has been passed granting 50 acres of land each to certain +companies of enrolled military pensioners from England, whom it is +intended to station in different parts of the province. It is intended +that they shall be ready to act as a local police, and also be employed +on the public works. + + +SOUTH AMERICA. + +The arrival of the steamer Georgia, on the 7th of September, put us in +possession of later news from the Pacific coast of South America. In +_Guayaquil_ a military outbreak, excited, so far as appears, solely by +personal resentments, has resulted in a complete change of the +administration. The President, Gen. Neuva, left Querto on the 17th of +July for the purpose of visiting his family at Guayaquil. On approaching +that city he was met by a military cavalcade, ostensibly for the purpose +of escorting him in: but he was immediately seized by them, and hurried +off to sea in a vessel lying in the river; the destination of the +vessel, and the fate of the captive were unknown. Gen. Urbina +immediately entered upon the administration of affairs. In _Chili_, Don +Manual Montt has been elected President by an overwhelming majority. He +was understood to be in favor of internal improvements and of a more +effectual promotion of education. The Copiapo Railroad was to be opened +in September. Congress was in session the last of July, but no important +business engaged its attention. In 1850 the public revenue amounted to +$4,334,314, and the expenditures to $3,610,837, including over three +hundred thousand dollars remitted to England to pay interest on the loan +contracted there. The whole English debt is now about seven millions of +dollars. A very severe storm swept the harbor of Valparaiso in the early +part of July. The damage to shipping, both Chilian and American, was +very considerable. In _Bolivia_, the decree allowing foreign goods to be +entered at a lower duty from vessels that had not touched at other +ports, has been revoked. In _Peru_, Congress was still in session. The +legislative and executive branches of the government are represented as +being on the best of terms with each other, so that affairs are +conducted with a good degree of promptness and efficiency. A bill has +been urged in Congress for the greater extension of the freedom of +trade, and another to prohibit the circulation in that Republic of +Bolivian money. Several bills of decided local importance engaged the +attention of Congress. There has been during the past year a very large +export from Chili, chiefly of wheat and flour, amounting to two hundred +thousand dollars more than during the previous year. In _New Grenada_, +it is said there are new disturbances. The government levied a forced +loan, and further decreed that the friends of the government should be +exempted from its payment. In several provinces the decree had the +effect of converting nearly the whole population into a government +party; but in Bogota and Carthagena it had the opposite effect. +Arrangements were in progress for an extensive revolt, and it was said +that it had commenced at Bogota, but with what result is not clear. + +From _Mexico_ later advices have been received,--to August 22d from the +capital and the 29th from Vera Cruz. The hostility of the government to +the fulfillment of its treaty stipulations concerning the Tehuantepec +Canal continues unabated; and it is stated that two vessels sent from +New Orleans to commence the work were seized by the Mexican authorities. +The financial condition of the country continues to engross attention, +but no one of the numerous projects offered for its relief seems likely +to be adopted. The ministerial plan calling a convention of the +Governors of the several Provinces, meets with very little favor. The +appropriation of the Church property to the necessities of the +Government has been warmly recommended by some of the public journals. +The estates of the clergy and of various religious incorporations amount +to $50,000,000. This sum, which has been accumulating in unproductive +hands for the last three centuries, it was maintained, would save the +country from bankruptcy and ruin. + +The Mexican Senate has passed an act recommending a general +Confederation among the Spanish American republics. A plan for +accomplishing this object is detailed, of which the most marked features +are a general Congress, a uniform political system, a general act of +navigation and commerce, an alliance offensive and defensive, and a +tribunal for the settlement of differences. The project is a good one, +but there seems to be little chance of its being carried out. In +Durango, a popular commotion occurred on the 17th of August, in +consequence of the high price of corn, but it was quelled without +bloodshed, by an order from the government compelling the holders of the +article to reduce its price. In Vera Cruz, on the 21st, a very large +number of the inhabitants, including some of the National Guard, +assembled to ask of the local government relief from recent and very +oppressive taxes. Some of the soldiers were ordered out to oppose them, +when the people retired to their houses and prepared for defense. A +brisk action ensued in which several were killed, but quiet was restored +by the announcement that the local government had yielded to the popular +demands. President Arista's birthday was celebrated on the 25th of July. +He has dissolved a club formed for the purpose of regulating the annual +celebration of Mexican Independence, as some of its regulations did not +meet his approbation. An abortive attempt at a pronunciamiento in favor +of Santa Anna has been made at Guanajuato. The plot, which probably had +plunder for its chief object, was discovered before it had come to +maturity, and the leaders were taken into custody. A revolution has +broken out in Chiapas, aiming at the abolition of the internal Custom +Houses. Col. Munoz, commanding the battalion of Guerrero in Tehuantepec, +was ordered to proceed to Chiapas and aid the government party in the +suppression of the rebellion. His men began to desert soon after the +commencement of the march, and before he had advanced fifty miles from +Tehuantepec he had not more then seventy men. The revolt is headed by +Meldono, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the State. + +A good deal of excitement has been produced in Mexico by the publication +of the letters of Payno, to the President of the Committee of Mexican +bond-holders in London. It seems that the assertion of Payno that he was +Chargé d'Affaires of the Mexican Legation in London, and was +commissioned to adjust certain matters pending in Europe, was entirely +destitute of foundation. On the publication of the letter containing +these statements, and others equally untrue, a resolution was introduced +into the Chamber of Deputies, inquiring by what authority Payno had +received the appointment of chargé, and how much money was appropriated +to his mission. The Minister replied that Payno had never received the +commission from the Government, but that $20,000 had been applied to +defraying the expense of the voyage. In consequence of this information, +a complaint was lodged against the former Minister of Finance, and of +Foreign Relations. The affair was also taken up by the Senate, which has +recommended Lacunza as Minister to England. + +From _Montevideo_ we have intelligence to the first of July. The aspect +of affairs in Brazil and Buenos Ayres was by no means pacific. The +Brazilian force under Admiral Grenfell, the Commander-in-chief, had +penetrated the waters of the Uraguay, and were stationed at commanding +points along the north bank of the river. The disaffection of the +province of Entre Rios had been followed by that of Corrientes, warlike +preparations were in train; and every thing threatened a general +outbreak. The mediation of Great Britain had been accepted by Gen. +Rosas. The slave-trade on the coast of Brazil was at a low ebb, a deep +laid scheme for its revival having been defeated by the British +squadron. Only 1000 slaves were landed during the first six months of +1851, while no less than 20,000 were landed in the same period of 1848. + +From the island of _Hayti_ our advices are to the middle of August. +Every thing was then quiet. The Emperor had returned to Cape Haytien +from his tour, having crossed the Dominican frontier without being +molested, and it was reported that the difficulties between the +Dominican and Haytian governments have been amicably settled. + +An eruption of the long dormant volcanoes of the Pellée Mountain, in +Martinique, took place on the night of August 5. It was accompanied with +a noise similar to the approach of thunder, and with a strong vibration +that was felt to a considerable distance. The town of St. Pierre, as +well as all the surrounding country, was covered over with gray ashes. +The population of Prêcheur were obliged to flee from their homes, and to +take refuge in St. Pierre. There was no shock of an earthquake. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +Parliament was prorogued on the 9th of August by the Queen in person, +until the 4th of September. The speech of her Majesty contained nothing +of special interest or importance. + +No event in England has created more excitement, or engaged more +attention, during the past month than the visit and performances of the +yacht _America_, built in New York, and owned by John C. Stevens, Esq., +who commands her. She arrived at Cowes early in July, and her commander +immediately offered to sail her against any vessel of a similar +construction in the world, for any wager up to $50,000. Public attention +was instantly attracted to her by the reports of pilots and others who +had seen her, and she was visited by thousands and thousands of people +from every part of England, but her challenge was not accepted. On the +18th there was a race of seventeen yachts, owned by gentlemen from every +part of the kingdom, contending for the prize of the gold cup, which the +Queen gives every year to the best yacht in the kingdom. The _America_ +was entered for the race, and won it so easily, as to excite the +unbounded admiration and applause of the unsuccessful competitors. On +the 25th there was another race, by the squadron; but the _America_ was +not entered. The wind was light, and the last vessel of the squadron had +been under weigh sixty-five minutes when the _America_ hoisted sail and +followed. The race was round the Isle of Wight, and she came in only ten +minutes behind the winner. Mr. Stephenson, the distinguished engineer, +offered to sail his yacht, the _Titania_, for a small wager against the +_America_. The offer was accepted, and the race came off on the 28th of +Aug. The wind was fresh, and the course was forty miles out, and forty +back. Earl Wilton was umpire. The _America_ won the race by a long +distance. The Queen, with Prince Albert and the royal family, visited +the yacht on the 20th. The spirit of England is thoroughly roused by +this unlooked-for defeat; but they are unbounded in their expressions of +admiration for the vessel which has conquered them. Several new cutters +are to be built immediately for the express purpose of contending with +the _America_. + +The Royal Commissioners of the Great Exhibition have resolved to close +it on the 11th of October. A meeting of the Commissioners will be held +on the 15th, for the purpose of taking leave of the exhibitors, and +immediately after they will have permission to remove their goods. The +number of visitors has fallen off considerably. + +A great meeting was held in Dublin on the 19th of August, of Roman +Catholics from all parts of the kingdom, to protest against the +Ecclesiastical Titles Bill just enacted. Immediately after the call was +issued, a Protestant clergyman, named Tresham Gregg, issued a notice +that he would be there to confront the Catholics, and summoned all true +Protestants to his aid. This notice, and the general excitement which +prevailed, led to anticipations of violence. An immense concourse of +people was present. Admittance was refused to Mr. Gregg and his party, +and the collision was thus avoided. A large number of Roman Catholic +prelates were in attendance. The most Rev. Dr. Cullen, Archbishop of +Armagh, and Primate of all Ireland, presided, and read a long address, +urging Catholics every where to take measures to preserve their +religion. Several speeches were made by distinguished Catholics, +generally urging a political union of all Catholics, without reference +to other political questions. An ostentatious disregard of the late law +was shown in the constant use of the ecclesiastical titles prohibited by +it. + +The condition of laboring men in parts of England finds striking +exemplification in an incident which occurred at a colliery in +Bedminster. Several persons had been killed by the breaking of the rope +upon which the miners daily descended 240 feet to their work. It +appeared upon the trial that the workmen knew that the rope was unsafe, +but they had not dared to complain, lest they should lose their +places--"poor men are tied down so tight now." One of the witnesses, a +collier, after giving his testimony, said, "for the evidence I have +given this day, I shall be out of work." + +The Exhibition, and the official visit to Paris, have aroused writers in +England to a sense of their own clumsiness and artistic inferiority to +the French. In all departments of art, and especially in the graces and +elegancies of life, the English feel themselves to be far behind their +neighbors. The _Times_ suggests, as one step toward remedying the evil, +that Cleopatra's Needle should be brought to London, as the Luxor was to +Paris, and erected as a monument to Sir Ralph Abercromby. It can be +procured, and the cost of removal is estimated at £2500. + +The English Government has granted new pensions of £200 a year to Mr. J. +Silk Buckingham, who is well known in this country, and the same amount +to Col. Torrens, the author of several works on political economy. Mrs. +Jamieson, whose admirable books upon Shakspeare's female characters are +universally known, has received a pension of £100. + +Alderman Salomons, the Jewish representative of Greenwich, whose +forcible exclusion from the House of Commons was noticed in our last, +has been honored with a public dinner by his constituents. He declared +his belief that public opinion would demand the rescinding of the +obnoxious oath, but declared his purpose to commence a systematic +canvass of the country for the purpose of hastening that event. He +assures his constituents that, with their support, he "will not be got +rid of" by the government. + +The management of English railways is generally supposed to be so nearly +perfect that accidents never occur. Though their police is, as a general +thing, superior to that of the American railways, recent accounts +chronicle a very large number of serious mishaps. On the Great Western +road, a train, having broken down in a tunnel, was run into by another +which was not warned of the danger. On the Lancashire Railway, near +Liverpool, part of a bridge had been taken down for the purpose of being +repaired. A luggage-train was suffered to come up in the night without +any notification, and of course ran into the gap. Several minor +accidents in various parts of the kingdom are chronicled, showing very +culpable negligence on the part of the railway police. + +The leading authors of England have petitioned the Master of the Rolls +for leave to examine the records of the realm gratuitously. Their +request has been granted. At a time when the historical records of the +past enter so largely into the literary productions of the day, this is +a boon of decided importance. + +Mr. Jerdan, who was for many years the editor of the London Literary +Gazette, is said to be engaged in preparing his Reminiscences of +Literary Men, and his Correspondence with them, for the press. His long +connection with the literary circles of England must have given him +unusual facilities for making such a work valuable and interesting. +Among the London announcements of new books in press we observe a novel, +entitled "Marian Withers," by Geraldine E. Jewsbury, the author of +_Zoe;_ one of the most powerful novels of the day. + +The London _Examiner_ states that Haynau, the notorious Austrian +General, has taken up his residence upon a large estate which he has +just purchased in Hungary. It is said that he omits no opportunity of +making himself popular with the Magyars; that he pays assiduous court to +the nobility, many of whom were sentenced by his courts-martial; that he +joins the Hungarians in denouncing the Austrian attempt to monopolize +the sale of tobacco, and says that throughout the Hungarian war, he was +only the tool of the Austrian government. He declares that there is no +country in Europe he likes so well as England, and speaks of the beating +he received there with perfect complacency. It is difficult to believe +all these statements, though the _Examiner_ vouches for their accuracy. + + +FRANCE. + +The French National Assembly met on the 9th for the last time of the +session, and then adjourned until the 4th of November. A manifesto was +at once issued by the Republican members, complaining that the sovereign +power was in the hands of men opposed to all reforms, but predicting a +certain victory as the fruit of union, perseverance, and devotedness on +the part of the people. The document declares that the Constitution is +the supreme law, and must be maintained inviolate; and that any attempt +to re-elect Bonaparte, or to prolong existing powers, will not be a +crisis, but a revolution; that resistance to all such attempts will be +"legitimate as right, holy as justice, sacred as liberty;" and that the +Republican members, under the flag of the Constitution, will not fail in +any of the duties which the salvation of the Republic may impose upon +them. + +Preparations for the coming Presidential election are in active +progress. The Orleanists seem to be settling down upon the Prince de +Joinville as their candidate, and several of the most distinguished +among them, recently paid a visit to the Duke of Nemours to ascertain +the feelings of the family in regard to it. The conversation seems not +to have been very satisfactory: the most that the Duke would say was, +that they would not be responsible for the action of their friends. The +Republicans have not yet fixed upon a candidate. + +Public attention in France has been drawn to the trial at Lyons of a +number of persons charged with conspiracy. It seems that in November +last a club was discovered there, of which a person named Gent was a +leading member. His plan is said to have been to give the southern +provinces a thorough secret organization, so as to enable them to rise +on a given signal, to secure the frontiers of Switzerland and Savoy as a +means of assistance or retreat, and to take steps to inflame the whole +country, and thus bring about a general republican movement. The trial +had not been concluded at our last advices. + +A singular accident occurred at the funeral ceremonies of Marshal +Sebastiani, at the Invalides in Paris, on the 13th. The flame of a wax +candle was brought in contact with the hangings of the catafalque, and +the whole splendid drapery of the church was speedily in a blaze. Before +the fire could be extinguished, nearly one half of the magnificent +collection of trophies taken by the French armies were destroyed. + +The grand fête given by the authorities of Paris to the Lord Mayor of +London and the Commissioners of the great Exhibition, had a brilliant +and successful termination. The mutual compliments of the visit were +closed by a correspondence between M. Charles Dupin, the President of +the French Commission, and Prince Albert. M. Dupin wrote to acknowledge +the courtesies received by the Committee during their visit to the +Exhibition, and to thank the Prince for the conspicuous part he had +taken in it. The constant attendance of the Queen, and her success "in +conquering suffrages and good wishes among the representatives of all +nations, in favor of a work which she still cherished as that of the +father of her children," are gracefully noticed. M. Dupin, after +remarking that "Art, like Nature, loves to scatter her gifts among the +children of great national families, and that they could thus honor, on +different grounds, genius, taste, imagination, reason, in nations whose +brilliant variety constitutes the riches and splendor of the human +race," designates the real service which the Great Exhibition will +render the world, by saying, that "each nation, without affecting its +character, may add to its well-being, its riches, its power, by +judiciously borrowing from the discoveries and improvements of other +nations. Here," he says, "each people sees its products side by side +with those of all others, and often sees them surpassed. Pride, which +grows while favored by isolation, is here abased, and reason profits by +the opportunity. Each nation, instead of dreaming of self-sufficiency +and inborn superiority, vows to improve in the future. Thus we shall see +new efforts attempted in every country, to ameliorate the productions of +the human race." Prince Albert, in his reply, tendered his thanks to the +President for his kind expressions, and to the Commissioners for their +attention and care. + + +GERMANY AND SOUTHERN EUROPE. + +The intelligence from Germany is neither interesting nor important. The +Sovereigns of Austria and Prussia seem to be acting together for the +entire suppression of every thing like constitutional rights and liberty +in the German states. A proposition is about to be laid before the Diet +by these two powers, declaring that "the so-called fundamental rights of +the German people," proclaimed in the Constitutions of 1848 and 1849, +are neither valid as a law of the Empire, nor binding on the several +states, and they be therefore repealed, with all laws based upon +them.--In the Italian dominions of Austria, the state of things is +gloomy and ominous. Arrests of compromised persons are continually made +in Milan and Verona. In the latter city, one of the new prisoners was a +lady of rank, accused of forwarding a correspondence to Mazzini. A +system of espionage has been adopted in the Venetian provinces of +Austria, unparalleled for its inquisitorial and oppressive character, in +the history of the most despotic states. Many persons belonging to the +higher classes have been arrested in Verona, and nearly every night +domiciliary visits are made by the police. The public mind throughout +Austrian Italy is described as in a state of the most violent +excitement, and insurrection is apprehended by government. Marshal +Radetzky published a proclamation to the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom on +the 9th of July, and from his head-quarters at Monga. The +Lombardo-Venetian kingdom is declared to be in a state of siege; the +communes are made responsible for all assassinations similar to that of +Vandoni at Milan; and the inhabitants will be severely dealt with if +they do not immediately surrender all such offenders to the military. + +Two musical artists have been made victims to the paltry prosecution of +the Austrian government. Mdlle. Anna Zerr, for having visited two of the +Hungarian exiles resident in London, and for having consented to sing at +a concert for the relief of the Hungarian refugees, has, on her return +to Vienna, been deprived of her place of Imperial Chamber-singer, +prohibited from appearing on the stage of the Imperial Theatre, where +she was one of the most distinguished performers, and placed under the +surveillance of the police. And Leopold Iansa, an eminent violinist, +who has been for many years in the Imperial Chapel, was dismissed for a +similar offense. + +The Austrian authorities recently opened packages addressed to the +United States consulate at Venice. Mr. Flagg, the American consul, +remonstrated, and was told in reply, that the government claimed the +right to examine all publications introduced into the Venetian States, +no matter from what quarter or to what address. Several communications +have passed upon the subject. + +In _Switzerland_ there have been heavy inundations which in the canton +of Berne alone have caused losses to the amount of about £100,000. +Active preparations are making for the coming election, in which it is +supposed the radical party will resort to extreme measures, if +necessary, for the accomplishment of their purposes. + +Dr. Paulus, a distinguished German scholar, died at Heidelberg, on the +10th of August, at the advanced age of 94 years. In 1784 he was +appointed Professor of Oriental Languages at Jena, and in 1793 succeeded +to the chair of theology. His profound learning, penetrating judgment, +marked courage, and unwearied assiduity, obtained for his numerous +writings a very wide circulation. He was exceedingly amiable in private +life and was always employed in endeavors to promote the interest of +piety, virtue, and humanity. + +A terrible catastrophe took place at Moscow, on the 20th July. As the +monks of the convent of Wladimir were setting out in procession to visit +an image of the Virgin at a neighboring village, a wooden bridge thrown +over the moat of the convent (formerly a fortress) gave way, and out of +200 of the monks, 158 were drowned; the water being 45 feet deep, and +the sides of the moat perpendicular. + +The Austrian authorities in Hungary are resorting to the most unheard-of +cruelties in order to crush the spirit of the people. At a peasant's +wedding lately, near Groswardein, the _gendarmes_ approached the bride +and ordered her to take off the red, white, and green ribbons which she +wore in her hair, as these colors were revolutionary. The reply was that +it should be done after the ceremony. While the bride was kneeling at +the altar the _gendarme_ rushed forward and cut her tresses from her +head. The peasants resented the indignity, and an affray ensued, in +which three of the _gendarmes_ and four of the peasantry, including the +bridegroom, were killed. + +We mentioned last month the release of Mr. Brace, the American traveler +in Hungary, who had been arrested and thrown into prison by the Austrian +authorities upon the most frivolous grounds. His release was procured by +Mr. McCurdy, who threatened to demand his own passports, if it was not +conceded. It seems that further proceedings of interest may be expected. +Mr. M. promised that Mr. Brace should present himself for trial. The +London _Spectator_ remarks that "this trial will be watched with +interest, it will take place in the sight of Europe and America, and +also in the sight of Hungary. The oppressed subjects of Austria will see +the right of personal freedom vindicated, in the person of a gentleman +whose own government will do no more than insist on the strict +fulfillment of the law, but will not be content with less. Austria will +be obliged to submit to the law, and will be forced to that hateful +submission at the dictation of a distant State. It will be brought to +that submission, that dictation, before the eyes of Europe, even before +its own subjects. It will be a very instructive trial." + +It is stated upon what is believed to be good authority, that the +Turkish Government has definitively determined that Kossuth shall be set +at liberty on the 1st of September. The Austrian Government has warmly +and steadily protested against his release, but without effect. The +government of the United States has sent a national vessel to receive +him upon his liberation, and his arrival in the United States may be +expected by the 1st of November. No man living would receive a warmer +welcome. + + +THE EAST. + +The English government has directed the seizure of another large +_Indian_ territory, part of the Nizam's dominions, to enforce the +payment of a large sum of money with interest. It is thought that the +Nizam can and will pay at the last moment; but if not, it is not +probable that his sway over his own dominions will hereafter be more +than nominal. At Gobindpore on the 14th of June, seventy prisoners were +chained together in a hut for safe keeping. During the night, the hut +took fire and all but five perished. + +The news from _China_ represents the insurrection in the southern +provinces as one of magnitude and great political importance. It is said +that one of the leaders has assumed to himself the title of sovereign, +and that the insurgents, numbering a hundred thousand, menace the city +of Canton. The Chinese journals take very different views of the +character of this disturbance, some considering it as merely the work of +a few desperadoes, seeking only pillage, and others attributing to it +the highest political consequence. The emperor is said to be +considerably alarmed, and has sent against them his choicest troops. + +The London _Spectator_ thinks it highly probable that the malcontents +are masters of all the provinces south of the Yellow River, and have +seized upon the great entrepot of Canton. This, it adds, would be a +revolution; for Pekin, which derives its supplies of provisions by the +great canal from those southern provinces, would be starved into +submission; and the principal seat of foreign commerce would fall into +the hands of a party more bigotedly hostile to intercourse with +foreigners than even the Celestial Government. Nor is such a revolution +either impossible or improbable. Our knowledge of Chinese history is dim +and obscure; yet enough appears to show that the Mantchoo authority has +never been so firmly established to the south as to the north of the +Yellow River--that the purely Chinese element of society has always +preponderated in the southern provinces. In _Siam_, too, changes of +policy appear to be impending. The king who refused to treat with Sir +James Brooke is dead; and a contested succession has been temporarily +avoided by the simultaneous nomination of a king and a vice-king. The +new king has always been remarkable for his disposition to cultivate the +acquaintance and friendship of foreigners, and he is said to understand +and even to write English. The institutions of the Chinese and +Hindu-Chinese nations are thus shaken and sapped at the very time when +the traders of Europe and America are making more vigorous and +continuous efforts than at any former period to obtain a footing in +them. + +Twenty-three British seamen belonging to the ship Larpent, were wrecked +over a year ago upon the coast of the Chinese island of Formosa. They +were immediately set upon by the savage inhabitants, and all but three +butchered in cold blood. These three were taken into servitude, and +after about eight months' captivity made their escape in a boat to an +American brig which happened to be passing. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +In the extreme western portion of the North American continent, and of +the North American National Confederacy, there are now to be found, +growing side by side, two of the most singular phenomena of the age. We +allude to the new social and political organization, constituting the +State of California, and the new theocracy, as it is assumed to be, of +the Mormon Commonwealth or Church--the one the most decidedly secular of +all known modern enterprises, the other the only example of the rise of +a new religion, and of a distinctly new religious people in the 19th +century. Mormonism, it is true, has some decidedly secular elements. In +this respect it easily assimilates itself to the gross spirit of worldly +enterprise by which it is surrounded, and even finds itself at home in +the midst of the most turbulent scenes. But this is far from accounting +for its wonderful success. It is also true, on the other hand, that the +present age has been marked by the division and subdivision of religious +denominations. Yet still, none of these come up to that idea or +pretension of Mormonism, which seems now to have presented itself in the +world for the first time since the days of Mohammed. Although, +therefore, acknowledging Christianity and the Old Scriptures, just as +Mohammed did, it is distinctly a new religion. It claims a new +revelation, and a new prophet. It has a new law, a new spiritual polity, +and a new mission. Instead of being merely a new interpretation of an +old theology, it professes to have renewed the long-suspended +intercourse with Heaven and the supernatural. Instead of presenting a +new dispensation growing out of an old ecclesiastical history, to which +it assumes to impart a new life, it has actually created a past history +of its own, which, though severed from the main current of our common +traditional Christianity, connects it back, through passages never +before suspected or explored, with the early Jewish revelation--or that +original fountain from which the Gospel and Mohammedanism may be said to +have derived, the one its reality and its purity, the other the +materials for its fanatical perversions. + +Whatever may be the truth in respect to the real origin and authorship +of the book of Mormon, there can be no doubt of its wonderful +adaptedness to the purposes to which it has been applied. We can not +agree with those who would deny to the work either genius or talent. The +Koran bears with it that prestige of antiquity which always insures some +degree of respect. It is written in a dead, and what is now regarded a +learned language. It has its Oriental imagery, together with frequent +allusions to what most interests us in Oriental romance. Above all, it +has had its centuries of scholiasts and commentators, extracting the +aroma as well as the dust of its assumed divinity. In short, there is +about it a show of learning and "venerable antiquity," and yet, we do +not hesitate to say it, Joe Smith, or whoever was its author, has made a +book superior to that of the Arabian prophet; deeper in its philosophy, +purer in its morality, and far more original. There are, doubtless, many +faults both of style and language; but centuries hence may convert these +into precious archaisms, and give to the bad Anglo-Saxon of the Mormon +book all the interest which ages of scholiasts have imparted to what was +once the irregular Arabic of the rude tribes of the desert. + +It may startle some to be told, that Mormonism has actually pressed +itself more upon the attention of the world than Christianity had done +at the same age. We carry back into the early days of the Gospel's +progress the clear light and outline of its later history. We can hardly +realize that even for a century, or more, after its first promulgation, +it was an object of little interest to the world, and that when it first +began to demand a passing paragraph from the historian, it was only as +an "_execrabilis superstitio_," creating a disturbance barely visible on +the surface of society. Of course there is no intention, by any such +remark, to make any comparison between the intrinsic merits of the two +systems. A true believer in Jesus, and of "the truth as it is in Jesus," +will never suffer himself to be disturbed by any parallel, real or +seeming, between Christ and Socrates, or Christ and Mohammed, or +Confucius, or the founder of any new religion, or of any pretended +social reform, either in ancient or modern times. He can have no nervous +fear of confounding the immeasurable difference between any such +pretension and "that name which is above every other name." The strength +and success of the counterfeit only adds lustre and assurance to the +original. Neither does the great idea of a revelation suffer any +detraction by being associated in thought with such attempts. The Koran +only confirms the Gospel. It never would have been what it is without +it. The false prophet never would have arisen had it not been for the +true. All religious imposture and fanaticism may thus be regarded as +involuntary witnesses to an absolute truth, of which they are but the +frenzied caricatures. The grossest delusions only show, by their very +extravagance, the indestructibleness of the religious principle in the +human soul, and how it clings and ever must cling to the idea of some +Divine revelation, some lifting of the vail, as the etymology of the +word imports, which hangs so densely over man and nature. + +There is a more inexplicable phenomenon than Mormonism or any false +religion. It is the disposition manifested in some parts of the +philosophical, and even professedly religious world, to depreciate, if +not directly to deny the supernatural--to put as far away as possible, +or to receive as the last allowable explanation of any difficulty, the +thought of any direct communication from Heaven to earth. It is on this +principle some would even interpret, not only present phenomena, but +also all that during countless ages have left their mark upon our globe. +On this principle another class would unspiritualize as far as they +could, even the acknowledged Scriptures. But why should it be so? Why +this strange delight in believing in the omnipotence and +unchangeableness of a blind and unrelenting nature? What comfort has it +for the soul, or what enlargement even for the intellect? What happiness +in the thought of being bound in such an adamantine chain, even if we +are compelled to admit its stern reality! It may be, peradventure, that +philosophy here is in the right, but, if we may employ the paradox, her +reverence for nature must certainly seem most unnatural. Nature, even +our nature, longs for some Divine or supernatural communications. For +this "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together until now." +The wonder, then, is not that there have been in the world so many +mythical accounts of Divine intercourse, but that there has been so +little of the reality. Why does not God speak to us here? Why has "_He +made darkness his pavilion round about him?_" Why "cometh He not out" +more frequently "from the _hiding-place of his power?_" Why has He ever +been called--by Homer, and Hesiod, and Orpheus, as well as in the +Bible--"_The Dweller in the cloud?_" Why does not our Father's voice +oftener break the fearful stillness of nature, and give us that evidence +of His existence, His government, and His providence, without which +nature is but a gloomy prison-house, while life is but a smothered +effort to escape from its terrible immutability, and breathe the freedom +of a spiritual and supernatural atmosphere? Is it said that He is always +speaking--that the Great Cause of causes is always exhibiting itself in +its effects? But what comfort in this? It speaketh not to us--it +manifests no knowledge of our present thought, of our present individual +wants. The voice that is alike _in_ all things, and comes alike _to_ all +things, we can not distinguish from nature herself. The true ground for +marvel, then, is not that men are led astray by false prophets, but that +such vast multitudes should be so utterly immersed in nature and +worldliness, "caring for none of these things," and finding in such +phenomena as Millerism and Mormonism, only occasion for insane +merriment, instead of deep religious and philosophical inquiry. + +The indestructibleness of the religious principle in the human soul! +This is the great lesson read to us by such events. Even this nineteenth +century with all its secularity, has not wholly drowned it. It breaks +out in the midst of every form of worldliness. When untaught in respect +to the true path, it follows the wildest imposture; and, as though in +awful derision of the inability of the mere secular spirit ever to +satisfy the deepest human wants, a Kingdom of the Saints settles itself +in nearest contiguity to what would seem to be the exclusive territory +of Mammon. + +We can only call attention to this strange phenomenon without going into +any discussion of the causes of its remarkable success. As we have said, +it is the only case of a distinctly new religion since the days of +Mohammed. Yet still it may be compared with other anomalous religious +movements that have characterized the present century. Most of these +have already had their growth and decline. Some that started with more +enthusiasm than has ever been claimed for the Mormons, have, for years, +been dying out, or only manifesting an outward and formal existence. On +the other hand, too, a similar fate has attended most of the schemes of +Socialists, and of those reformers who have relied solely on some +doctrine of political economy, while ignoring, as far as they could, any +recognition of a supernatural religionism. In distinction from both +these, Mormonism has flourished because it has possessed the element of +vitality which was respectively wanting to each. The religious sects to +which we have alluded (and we mean of course such as may be justly +characterized as unscriptural delusions) have been too unworldly for +success. They have lacked the secular element. Schemes of mere social +reform, on the other hand, have been dead from the beginning. They have +been wanting in that vitality which alone can come from a real or +pretended connection with a future life, and a supernatural world. +Mormonism professes to wield both powers. Whatever may be thought of the +first founders of the sect, the multitudes who from all parts of the +United States, and from England, and even from the Continent, are now +crowding to the Salt Lake and the modern Canaan, give evidence of a +power of tremendous reality, however much it may be above the +comprehension of the shallow witling, or the mere secular political +economist. The cause must have a universality in some way corresponding +to the wide effect it is producing. But be it what it may, the lesson +taught is most timely as well as important. It is, we repeat--and it +will bear to be repeated--_the indestructibleness of the religious +principle in the human soul_. If this have not the true nourishment, it +will feed on falsehood; but nourishment and life of some kind it must +have. The most secular age, instead of destroying, only causes it to +burst out in some new and monstrous form. And even in this idea there is +light and consolation for true faith. It derives new evidence from every +spurious manifestation. The religious principle can not be wholly +annihilated-- + + Merses profundo pulchrior evenit. + +Let all worldly causes combine to drive it seemingly from the earth--let +the edifice of supernatural belief be leveled with the ground, it would +only be the signal for reconstruction. Take away the true, or quench it +in the worldly spirit, and some form of false belief will start up in +its place. _There will be faith in the earth_--there will be a sacred +book--there will be a ritual, or system of worship, ever maintaining +itself as a symbol of the inextinguishable trust in the reality of +"things unseen and eternal." The naturalizing philosophy may endure, and +even be strong as the antagonist of a revealed supernaturalism. But take +away the latter, and the former falls with it. Its success is suicidal. +Its triumph is its own utter defeat. All true interest in nature and +science must expire, when every where the soul ceases to acknowledge any +thing higher than either. Without a return to a true faith, spiritual +delusions, on the one hand, or the grossest secularity and sensualism, +on the other, will be the only alternative. And, if we must come to +this, can any thinking mind have difficulty in deciding where we should +look for the truest exhibition of human dignity--in Utah or +California--in the Land of the Saints, or in the Land of Gold? + + * * * * * + +And there was evening--_and there was morning--one day._ (Gen. i. 5.) +Why has the inspired historian placed the night first? It must doubtless +be because it actually came first in the order of our present creation. +What was this first night but the long chaos of darkness that covered +the face of the deep, and over which the Spirit brooded when the command +came forth for the first morning to appear--when God said, _Let there be +light_ on that dark world, and immediately _light was there?_ But still, +night was first, and hence in all the traditions that have sprung from +this account it has ever been an object of religious reverence. In the +old mythologies Night is the mother of day; and hence the epithets that +poetry has ever conferred upon her--Sacred Night, Divine Night, Holy +Night, Most Venerable and Religious Night. But not only has she been +regarded as the mythological _mother_ of creation, but as ever the +_nurse_ of the purest emotion and the truest thoughts. On this account +the Greek poets gave her that beautiful name _Euphrone_--indicating the +season of good feeling--the hour of hope, of calm yet joyous +contemplation. It is true, the inspired description of the heavenly +state says, _There shall be no night there_. But in our present +imperfect being, the idea of the highest earthly bliss would be marred +by its absence from the picture. As yet we can not dispense with the +shade. The + + Sacred, high, eternal noon + +is for beings of another order, and another life; and however much we +may admire the pure sublimity of this fine line of Doddridge, we feel +that we must be endowed with new emotions before we could truly enjoy +the never to be remitted splendor of such a state as it describes. + +Although affected by particular circumstances, and expressed with great +variety of imagery, there has been a wonderful harmony in the spiritual +conceptions which the contemplation of night has ever called forth. We +have, therefore, thought that it might interest our readers to present a +few of the most striking night scenes from ancient and modern poets. The +first from our port-folio, of course, is Homer's. The selection is from +the close of the eighth book of the Iliad. Its introduction partakes of +the warlike character of the poem, but softened into that holy calmness +which the scene ever assumes, whatever may be the circumstances in which +it is presented. We give Pope's splendid translation, although some +might prefer the more accurate version of Cowper. + + As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, + O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, + When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, + And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene; + Around her throne the vivid planets roll, + And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole, + O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, + And tip with silver every mountain's head; + Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, + A flood of glory bursts from all the skies. + +But neither Pope nor Cowper can be said to have caught the spirit of the +original as well as the old ballad version of Chapman. + + As when about the silver moon, when air is free from winde, + And stars shine cleare to whose sweet beams high prospects and + the brows + Of all steep hills and pinnacles thrust up themselves for shows; + And even the lowly vallies joy to glitter in their sight-- + When the unmeasured firmament bursts to disclose her light, + And all the signs in heaven are seen that glad the shepherd heart. + +Apollonius Rhodius, in the _Argonautica_, presents a greater diversity +of imagery. He has not in view, like Homer, the unity of a single scene, +but calls up similar emotions by a dispersed variety of the most +impressive pictures. We present a translation, which, if it have no +other merit, may at least be said to be almost word for word-- + + Now Night had thrown her shadow o'er the earth. + Far out at sea the sailors stood and gazed, + On wheeling Arctos and Orion's stars. + The traveler longed to hear the warder's voice + Invite to rest; and even the mother's eyes + That drowsy hour pressed downward, as she watched + By her dead child--the watch-dog's voice was mute; + The city's thronging noise had died away, + And stillness reigned o'er all the shaded realm; + Save in Medea's restless soul-- + +Virgil closely imitates the Greek poet in the designed contrast, if not +in his scenery. As we have not troubled them with the Greek, our fair +readers, and others, we hope, will pardon us for putting on our page the +Latin. Even those may appreciate its exceedingly liquid flow, who are +compelled to resort to the translation for its meaning. + + Nox erat, et placidum carpebat fessa soporem + Corpora per terras, sylvæque et sæva quiêrant + Æquora: cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu: + Cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes, pictæque volucres, + Quæque lacus late liquidos, quæque aspera dumis + Rura tenent, somno positæ sub node silenti, + Lenibant curas, et corda oblita laborum + At non infelix Dido-- + _Æneid, Lib._ iv. + + 'Twas dead of night when wearied bodies close + Their eyes in balmy sleep, and soft repose. + The winds no longer whisper through the woods, + Nor murmuring tides disturb the gentle floods. + The stars in silent order moved around, + And peace with downy wings was brooding on the ground. + The flocks, and herds, and particolored fowl, + Which haunt the woods, or swim the seedy pool, + Stretched on the quiet earth securely lay, + Forgetting the past labors of the day. + All but unhappy Dido-- + +Dryden is very far from doing justice to Virgil in the translation of +this passage, and yet, we must say, that the original, much as it has +been praised, falls greatly short of the exquisite description by +Apollonius. How much does that most impressive image in the sixth line +of the Grecian poet exceed any effect produced by Virgil's _pictæ +volucres_, or "particolored fowl," however ornate the language, and +liquid the melody of his highly wrought lines. + +But Byron--shall we risk the criticism--Byron, in our judgment, +surpasses every example we have quoted, and even had we added, as we +might have done, Shakspeare and Milton to the list. + + 'Twas midnight--On the mountains brown + The cold round moon shone deeply down + Blue rolled the waters, blue the sky + Spread like an ocean hung on high; + Bespangled with those isles of light, + So widely, spiritually bright. + Who ever gazed upon them shining, + And turned to earth without repining! + The sea on either shore lay there, + Calm, clear, and azure as the air; + And scarce the foam the pebbles shook, + That murmured meekly as the brook. + The winds were pillowed on the waves; + The banners drooped along their staves; + And that deep silence was unbroke, + Save where the watch his signal spoke; + Save where the steed neighed oft and shrill, + And echo answered from the hill. + _Siege of Corinth._ + +Our concluding example is from the Scriptures. We challenge not for it a +superiority simply on the ground of its inspiration. Every reader may +judge for himself how immeasurably it excels any thing of the kind to be +found in ancient or modern poetry. How full of _natural_ sublimity, and, +at the same time, how profoundly impressive the _moral_ lesson of this +night scene from Job! + + In thoughts from visions of the night, + When deep sleep falleth upon men, + Fear came upon me, and trembling, + And made all my bones to shake. + Then a spirit passed before my face; + The hair of my flesh rose up. + It stood. An image was before mine eyes, + And yet I could not discern the form thereof. + There was silence-- + And yet I heard a voice--saying-- + Shall a mortal be more just than God? + Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? + + * * * * * + +We hear often of popular fallacies. Books have been written on them. But +there are also learned fallacies, and among these we know of no one more +common than that which prevails respecting the word _education_. It is +quite usual with lecturers and essayists to derive a profound +philosophical meaning from the bare etymology of the term. It is from +_educo_, they tell us, to _lead or draw out_. It means the _drawing_ out +or developing the faculties. It is the bringing out the unwrought man, +like the polished statue from the rough block of marble. All sorts of +changes are rung upon the word. With some it is the _educing_ of the +individuality, with others, of the humanity. Others again talk much of +_drawing out the ideas_, and that, too, without any previous exact +_in_struction, or the furnishing of what might be styled the prepared +material of thought--about as wise a course as to attempt to develop, or +draw _out_ the faculties of a nail-making machine, without ever thinking +of putting any well-wrought iron _into_ it. Now, all this is pedantic +nonsense. The old Roman Roundheads, from whom the term is derived, never +dreamed of any such transcendental conception. The word, in its primary +sense, simply means _nursing_, _fostering_, _rearing_. Hence is it +afterward applied to knowledge and discipline. It is educed from the +simple conception of holding the child by the hand, and leading him +forth when he first begins to walk. From the same primitive thought +comes the word _pedagogue_, which simply means, _one who leads a boy_, +and was first applied to the slave, or servant, who conducted the +Athenian child to and from school. It would, however, be hardly worth +our while to show the fallacy of this very common etymological +deduction, were it not sometimes made the ground of very false ideas. +The old view, although it have no great philosophy, will be found to be +the true one. It is to hold a child up, and lead him forth by the hand, +before you set him to walk alone by himself, under pretense of +developing his _faculties_, either of thinking or of locomotion. + + * * * * * + +Every man has two parents, four grand-parents, eight +great-grand-parents, sixteen great-great-grand-parents, &c., &c., &c. If +we reckon 30 years to a generation, and carry on the above series to the +time of the Norman conquest, it will be found that each one of us must +have had at that period, no less than 32,000,000 of ancestors. Now, +making all allowance for the crossing of genealogical lines, and +consequently for the same person being in many of the intersections, +still there will remain a number sufficient, at that period, to cover +the whole Norman and Anglo-Saxon race. Whatever, therefore, was then +noble, or pious, or princely, or even kingly, stands somewhere in the +line of ancestry of the most ignoble and plebeian among us. Each man of +the present day may be almost certain of having had, not only earls (and +it may be bishops), but even crowned heads among his progenitors. And so +also may we be almost assured that the highest families of that period +have now lineal representatives in persons so low in the social scale, +that all the sounding lines of heraldry would fail to fathom the depth +of their obscurity. In less than a thousand years, the blood of Victoria +inevitably mingles with that of some of the most ignoble of the earth. +Carry the calculation further back, and we soon pass beyond any +population that ever existed on our globe. A thousand years from the +present time brings the number up to 1,024,000,000. Two or three +centuries more carries it beyond a thousand billions, and long before we +arrive at the period of our world's creation, it would have reached a +number surpassing all powers of easy enumeration. It is a consequence, +too, of the same view, that a thousand years hence, each man who has now +an ordinary family of children, will probably have a representative some +way of his blood in each one of 30,000,000 of persons; and that these +will be of all conditions, high and low, rich and poor, unless, as may +be the case, some system of social philosophy may long before that have +swept all distinctions from our world. + + + + +Editor's Drawer. + + +The "monitory season" of Nature has come. The faded garniture of the +fields; the many-colored, gorgeous woods; the fitful winds, sighing for +the flowers "whose fragrance late they bore:" the peculiar yellow-green +of the sky at the horizon, in the twilight gloaming; all these proclaim +that "summer is ended" and autumn is here. Brainard, a poet of true +tenderness and feeling, once asked, "What is there saddening in the +autumn leaf?" Perhaps it would be difficult to tell _what_ it is, but +that it _is_ saddening, in the midst of its dying beauty, most persons +have felt. One of our own poets, too early called away,[10] wrote many +years since, on the first day of October, the following sad and tender +lines: + + "Solemn, yet beautiful to view, + Month of my heart! thou dawnest here, + With sad and faded leaves to strew + The Summer's melancholy bier; + The moaning of thy winds I hear, + As the red sunset dies afar, + And bars of purple clouds appear, + Obscuring every western star. + + "Thou solemn month! I hear thy voice, + It tells my soul of other days, + When but to live was to rejoice, + When earth was lovely to my gaze + Oh, visions bright--oh, blessed hours, + Where are their living raptures now? + I ask my spirit's wearied powers, + I ask my pale and fevered brow. + + "I look to Nature, and behold + My life's dim emblems rustling round, + In hues of crimson and of gold-- + The year's dead honors on the ground. + And sighing with the winds, I feel, + While their low pinions murmur by, + How much their sweeping tones reveal + Of life and human destiny. + + "When Spring's delightsome moments shone, + They came in zephyrs from the West: + They bore the wood-lark's melting tone, + They stirred the blue lake's glassy breast + Through Summer, fainting in the heat, + They lingered in the forest shade; + But changed and strengthened now, they beat + In storm, o'er mountain, glen, and glade. + + "How like those transports of the heart, + When life is fresh and joy is new; + Soft as the halcyon's downy nest, + And transient all as they are true! + They stir the leaves in that bright wreath + Which HOPE about her forehead twines, + Till Grief's hot sighs around it breathe, + Then Pleasure's lip its smile resigns. + + "Alas, for Time, and Death, and Care, + What gloom about our way they fling + Like clouds in Autumn's gusty air, + The burial-pageant of the Spring + The dreams that each successive year + Seemed bathed in hues of brighter pride, + At last like withered leaves appear, + And sleep in darkness, side by side!" + +[10] Willis Gaylord Clark, for many years Editor of the Philadelphia +Daily Gazette, and author of the "_Ollapodiana_" papers in the +Knickerbocker Magazine. + + * * * * * + +Carlyle, in his "Sartor Resartus," gives a condensed, but exceedingly +forcible picture of the "net purport and upshot of war," by taking +thirty able-bodied men from a French and English village, and making +them face each other on a pleasant morning, when they blow each other's +souls out, and straightway become "shells of men." We were speaking of +this the other evening with a friend, who was with our army in Mexico, +and in the course of much chat, touching war and its accompaniments, he +mentioned an anecdote of as brave a fellow as there was in his command, +but who had an unfortunate and irresistible habit of occasional +intoxication, whenever, by hook or by crook, he could procure a "horn" +of brandy or whiskey. One evening, the day after an engagement, in which +his coolness and determined bravery had won the admiration and warm +commendation of his superior officers, he was brought before his +commanding officer, who was on parade, in a state of beastly +intoxication. Remembering his services of the day before, the officer +was reluctant to punish him, at least without first trying to make him +ashamed of his offense by exhortation and remonstrance. "Are you not +ashamed of yourself?" he asked, "to be brought before me in this +condition?--you that _can_ be so good a soldier? There was not a braver +man in the regiment yesterday than you; and now you go and spoil all the +honor you acquired, by disobeying orders, and coming before me drunk. +Take him away!--I'm ashamed of him!" "Here--hello--hold on!" said the +soldier--"hold on a minute: you've rep-rep-ri-_manded_ me some, and +praised me a good deal: now look o' here, cap'n, do you expect to buy +all the human virtues for seven dollars a month? It's too _cheap_, +cap'n--too cheap!" He probably thought with Lowell's Yankee, writing +from Saltillo after his first engagement: + + "I wish that I was furder! + Ninepence a day for killin' folks + Comes kind o' low, for murder; + I worked out to slaughterin' some + For Deacon Cephas Billin's, + And in the hardest times there was, + I allers fetch'd ten shillins!" + + * * * * * + +As we sat looking at a conjurer or necromancer performing his tricks the +other evening, at which were some hundreds of other lookers-on, we fell +to meditate upon the influence which any thing that is at all mysterious +has upon the human mind. "To him," says Dr. Chatfield, "who has been +sated, and perhaps disappointed by the actual and the intelligible, +there is an indefinable charm in the unattainable and inscrutable." And +it is so. Infants stretch out their hands for the moon; children delight +in puzzles and riddles, even when they can not discover their solution; +and "children of a larger growth" desire, oftentimes, no better +employment than to follow their example. Look at the fanaticism +engendered by Rev. Edward Irving's "Unknown Tongues; at which," says the +authority we have quoted, "we need not wonder, when we remember the +confession of the pious Baxter, that in order to awaken an interest in +his congregation, he made it a rule, in every sermon, to say something +above their capacity." There are not wanting ministers nowadays who +follow the Baxterian practice, with the difference only, that what they +sometimes preach is as much above their _own_ comprehension as that of +their audience. + + * * * * * + +Is it not a "little curious" that Harriet Martineau, an old maid, a +"benign cerulean of the second sex," as Lord Byron calls her class, who +"never loved," or if she did, yet who, if published accounts are true, +shrunk from the nuptial bonds, and left her affianced lord in the lurch +at the last moment--is it not a little curious, we say, that such a +woman, should have written so exquisite a picture of true love as that +which ensues? We once heard a distinguished American author remark, +sitting by his "Dutchman's Fireside," that he kept for days out of the +literary lady-traveler's way when she was trying to meet him. "There she +was," said he, "going about with that long India-rubber ear-trumpet of +hers, taking in every thing that was offered to it, just like an +elephant going round with his trunk, drawing in here an apple, there a +piece of cake, now a handful of nuts, and next, perhaps, a chew of +tobacco. _I_ wasn't going to contribute to _her_ trunk, nor to the +lining any others, when she had got home and printed her notes!" If the +authoress, however, _had_ met this unwilling host, and had told this +"tale of love," doubtless he would have listened in "mute admiration." +But we are forgetting the passage: "There is no other such crisis in +human life as the crisis of LOVE. The philosopher may experience +uncontrollable agitation in verifying his principle of balancing systems +of worlds, feeling perhaps as if he actually saw the creative hand in +the act of sending the planets forth on their everlasting way; but he +knows at such a moment no emotions so divine as those of the spirit +becoming conscious that it is beloved; be it the peasant-girl in the +meadow, or the daughter of the sage, or the artisan beside his loom, or +the man of letters musing by his fire-side. The warrior about to strike +the decisive blow for the liberties of a nation is not in a state of +such lofty resolution as those who, by joining hearts, are laying their +joint hands on the whole wide realm of futurity for their own. The +statesman, in the moment of success, is not conscious of so holy and so +intimate a thankfulness as they who are aware that their redemption has +come in the presence of a new and sovereign affection. And these are +many: they are in all corners of every land. The statesman is the leader +of a nation; the warrior is the grace of an age; the philosopher is the +birth of a thousand years; but the LOVER--where is he _not?_ Wherever +parents look round upon their children, there he _has_ been: wherever +children are at play together there he soon _will_ be; wherever there +are roofs under which men dwell, wherever there is an atmosphere +vibrating with human voices, there is the lover, and there is his lofty +worship going on--unspeakable, perchance, but revealed in the brightness +of the eye, the majesty of the presence, and the high temper of the +discourse. Men have been ungrateful and perverse; they have done what +they could to counteract it, to debate this most heavenly influence of +their life; but the laws of their MAKER are too strong, the benignity of +their FATHER is too patient and fervent, for their opposition to +withstand; and true love continues, and _will_ continue, to send up its +homage amidst the meditations of every eventide, and the busy hum of +noon, and the song of the morning stars." + + * * * * * + +Some lively French writer, whose name has quite escaped us, once wrote a +vivid sketch, entitled, "_L'Homme Rouge_," or "The Red Man." There was +an under-plot of sentiment in the story, we well remember, but the great +feature of the romance was, that whenever there was a fire to happen in +any part of Paris, whether by accident or design, there suddenly +appeared "_L'Homme Rouge;_" sometimes in the midst of a party of +revelers at a masked-ball; sometimes surprising nuns at their devotions, +and not unfrequently where crime was hatching, or unnatural orgies +making night hideous. But he was a good, benevolent deity, and always +came to warn against or to suppress conflagration. Such, it would +appear, and without fable, hereafter, will be the man who can command +the great "Fire-Annihilator," which is making such a sensation, and +proving so unerringly effective in England. A man, bearing one of these +easily-carried machines, enters his blazing domicil, all a-glow with a +bright flame, which is curling its forked tongues around every thing +which resists its progress, and touching a spring, a cloud of smoke-like +vapor issues forth, before which the flame flickers, grows pale, and at +once fades entirely out, and the conflagration is stopped. It has been +tested in so many instances, that its success is now considered wholly +infallible. A company for the sale of the "Annihilator" has been formed +in this country, the "central bureau" of which is in New York, the +president being Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of the American Congress. The +age of rail-roads, magnetic telegraphs, and fire-exterminators, will +signalize this era as one of the most remarkable in the world's history. + + * * * * * + +Seneca complains that the ancients had compelled him to borrow from them +what they would have taken from him, had he been lucky enough to have +preceded them! "Every one of my writings," says Goethe, in the same +candid spirit, "has been furnished to me by a thousand different +persons, a thousand different things: the learned and the ignorant, the +wise and the foolish, infancy and old age have come in turn, generally +without having the least suspicion of it, to bring me the offering of +their thoughts, their faculties, their experience. Often have they sowed +the harvest I have reaped. My works are an aggregation of human beings, +taken from the whole of nature." It is in the power of any writer, says +a commentator upon this passage, to be original, by deserting nature, +and seeking the quaint and the fantastical. "When I was a young man," +says Goldsmith, "being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually +starting new propositions; but I soon gave this over, for I found that +generally what was new was false." + + * * * * * + +Dean Swift's remark at the close of a charity-sermon, from the text "He +that giveth to the poor lendeth to the LORD," is well known--("If you +like the security, down with your dust!") But the two following +eccentricities of speech, which are attributed to him, we never saw +before: "My brethren," said he, on one occasion, "there are three sorts +of pride--pride of birth, of riches, and of talents. I shall not now +speak of the latter, none of you being addicted or liable to that +abominable vice!" "I fear," said he, on another occasion, to his flock, +"I fear, when I explained to you, in my last charity-sermon, that +philanthropy was the love of our species, you must have misunderstood me +to say _specie_, which may account for the smallness of the collection. +You will prove, I hope, by your present contributions, that you are no +longer laboring under the same mistake!" A surer way of securing a good +collection was recently adopted by a benevolent lecture-giver in a +sister city. The audience were admitted _free;_ but when the lecture was +closed, no one was permitted to pass out until he or she had disbursed +twenty-five cents! + + * * * * * + +Some fourteen years ago there appeared in one of the English magazines +an amusing article, showing up the aristocratic stupidity of the large +and costly English annuals, which were indebted almost exclusively to +the nobility for their contents. Until then, we had not been made aware +that the Duke of Wellington was a poet. But it seems that we were +mistaken; the "noble Duke" is a master of the military sonnet, a +specimen of which is subjoined. Its "terse composition," the "boldness +of its character," its "laconic simplicity," and martial +"determination," were very highly commended by the editor: + + Halt! Shoulder arms! Recover! As you were! + Right wheel! Eyes left! Attention! Stand at ease! + O Britain! oh, my country! words like these + Have made thy name a terror and a fear + To all the nations. Witness Ebro's bank + Assays, Toulouse, Nivelle, and Waterloo, + Where the grim despot muttered, "_Sauve qui peut!_" + And Ney fled darkling. Silence in the ranks! + Inspired by these, amidst the iron crash + Of armies in the centre of his troop, + The soldier stands--immovable, not rash + Until the forces of the foemen droop; + Then knock the Frenchmen to eternal smash, + Pounding them into mummy. Shoulder, hoop! + +Thus the "Conquerer of Napoleon" conquers the stubborn rhyme! + + * * * * * + +"I suppose," writes a contemplative and elegant modern English author, +now unnamed, but who can not long remain _stat nominis umbra_, "that it +has happened to most men who observe their thoughts at all, to notice +how some expression returns again and again in the course of their +meditations, or, indeed, of their business, forming, as it were, a +refrain to all they think or do, for any given hour. Sometimes, too, +this refrain has no particular concern with the thought or business of +the day, but seems as if it belonged to some under-current of thought +and feeling. This at least is what I experienced to-day myself, being +haunted by a bit of old Spanish poetry, which obtruded itself, sometimes +inopportunely, sometimes not so, in the midst of all my work or play. +The words were these: + + 'How quickly passes pleasure away + How, after being granted. + It gives pain: + How, in our opinion, + Any past time + Was better,' + +(than that we passed in pleasure). It was not that I agreed with the +sentiment, except as applied to vicious pleasure; being rather of Sydney +Smith's mind, that the remembrance of past pleasure is present pleasure; +but I suppose the words chimed in with reflections on the past which +formed the under-current of my thoughts, as I went through the wood of +beeches which bounded my walk to day.... In a moment I went back, not to +the pleasures, but to the ambitious hopes and projects of youth. And +when a man does reflect upon the ambitions which are as characteristic +of that period of life as reckless courage or elastic step, and finds +that at each stage of his journey since, some hope has dropped off as +too burdensome or too romantic, till at last it is enough for him to +carry only himself at all upright in this troublesome world--what +thoughts come back upon him! How he meditates upon his own errors and +short-comings, and sees that he has had not only the hardness, oiliness, +and imperturbability of the world to contend with; but that he himself +has generally been his worst antagonist. In this mood I might have +thrown myself upon the mound under a great beech-tree that was near, the +king of the woods, and uttered many lamentations; but instead of doing +any thing of the kind, I walked sedately by it; for, as we go on in +life, we find we can not afford excitement, and we learn to be +parsimonious in our emotions." + + * * * * * + +One of the Boston newspapers, in allusion to the great Railroad Festival +which is about taking place, as the last sheets of our Magazine are +passing through the press, observes: "The Canadian Judiciary Courts +have adjourned for the whole of the next week, in order to give an +opportunity to our Canadian friends to be present at the great Railroad +Jubilee, to be celebrated in our city. They are expected to arrive in +great numbers on Tuesday of next week. That day will be devoted to an +examination of our city. On Wednesday there will be a formal reception; +and the City Government will accompany their English guests to the +Bunker Hill Monument and _other_ places of _interest_." Now we can not +dissociate that word 'interest,' from the same word which forms the +nucleus of an anecdote, which we will venture to relate, in illustration +of the _kind_ of 'interest' which a loyal English subject might be +supposed to feel in paying a visit to Bunker Hill. At Bladensburgh +battle-field, there is a very non-committal guide who shows visitors +over the ground, enlightening those who are ignorant as to the character +of the ground, where the different forces lay, how they advanced, and +the like. The guide, however, is a 'prudent man,' for his situation +depends upon being 'all things to all men' who may chance to be obliged +to avail themselves of his services. If he is showing an English party +over the ground, he fancies that he knows it, and therefore 'governs +himself accordingly;' if an American party, he throws his 'balance of +power' in the other scale. But he was sadly puzzled _once_. He could get +no 'cue' from the gentleman and his friend, who had secured his +services, as to whether they were English or Americans--the conversation +was so vague and so limited. "Why was it," said one of these visitors, +"that the Americans _fled_ on this occasion?" "Fled!" he exclaimed, as +if with impromptu dignity--"_fled!_" "Yes," said his interrogator, "why +did the Americans retreat on that occasion?--why did they run away!" +"Retreat!--run away!--guess _not!_ Yes: well--perhaps they did. Yes; I +b'lieve they did. The reason was, that somehow or 'nother they _didn't +seem to take no interest!_" + + * * * * * + +Most readers have heard the story of the connoisseur in the fine arts +who said one day to a friend, "I wish you would come down and see a +picture I bought last week. I'd like to have you give me your _candid_ +opinion of it. A friend of mine had the impudence to say this morning +that it was not an original! I should like to hear _another_ man say +that it was not an original! But you come and see it, and tell me +honestly what you think of its authenticity." It strikes us that a man +would not be apt to give a _very_ "candid" opinion under those +circumstances. This freedom of opinion is not unlike the liberty of +action said to have been granted by Col. M'Lane to the troops under his +command, before going into winter-quarters at Valley Forge. They were +suffering for provisions and clothing, and Congress had been repeatedly +petitioned for that relief which it was not in their power to bestow. +Under this state of things, Colonel M'Lane paraded his band of suffering +soldiers, and thus addressed them: "Fellow-soldiers, you have served +your country faithfully and truly. We've fought hard fights together +against our common enemy. You are in a bad way for comfortable clothes, +it is true, and it grieves my very heart to see you tracking your feet +in blood on the frozen ground. But Congress can not help it, nor can +General Washington or I. But if any of you wish to return home, you can +go. Let such of you as would like to go home step out four paces in +front--_but_ the first man that steps out, if I don't shoot him my name +is not M'Lane." It is perhaps needless to add, that not a solitary +"volunteer" homeward was to be found. + + + + +Editor's Easy Chair. + + +After our more severe Editorial work is done--the scissors laid in our +drawer, and the Monthly Record made as full as our pages will bear, of +history, we have a way of throwing ourselves back into an old red-backed +EASY CHAIR, that has long been an ornament of our dingy office, and +indulging in an easy, and careless overlook of the gossiping papers of +the day, and in such chit-chat with chance visitors, as keeps us +informed of the drift of the town-talk, while it relieves greatly the +monotony of our office hours. + +We have before now sailed over seas with some rollicking, red-faced +captain, who, after a good day's run with his yards well braced to the +wind, would, as evening began to fall, and the breezes to lull, rig out +his studding-sail booms, and set new bits of canvas to catch every puff +of the dying zephyrs. In like manner, we, having made our course good, +out of mere whim, add to our sail, and mean to catch up in these few +additional pages, those lighter whiffs from the great world of opinion, +which come floating to us, as we sit here in our EASY CHAIR. + +Nor are we altogether bent on choosing mere gossip; but, rather, we +shall be on the watch for such topics or incidents as give a handle to +the conversation of the town; and instead of treating them in any such +philosophic fashion, as most writing men think it necessary to do, we +shall try and set them down with all that gloss, and that happy lack of +sequence, which makes every-day talk so much better than every-day +writing. + +There are hundreds of monthly occurrences which go into the journals as +mere skeletons of facts; and yet, if a body had but the art of embalming +by language, that fleshy covering which the every-day talk is sure to +wrap about them, they would prove (these facts, we mean) the +cheerfullest companions in the world. + +And this is just the thing that we shall try to do. If the Cubans, down +in Havanna, shoot some fifty men, we shall not be content with entering +it upon our record: we shall not take up what we consider (as the Daily +Journals consider they do) some impregnable position, and thunder away +at some one else who has an equally impregnable position of precisely +the opposite character; but we shall try and get hold of the actual +situation of this new provision for the town maw, in that great +feeding-place of the town, viz.--Public Talk. We shall say who are the +most voracious feeders, and may possibly comment, in an amiable humor, +upon the different modes of consumption. + + * * * * * + +The French have a most happy way of commuting the dull coinage of +every-day facts into the most mailable matter in the world: and as we +sit in our EASY CHAIR, and catch up, as we sometimes do, a leaf of a +Parisian journal, we find ourselves unconsciously creeping into the +heart of some street-story, which, in any English journal, would have +been the merest item of Police! + +Take, for instance, a single one--entered on all the commercial sheets +after this fashion: "We understand that a suicide was committed under +deplorable circumstances, not long since, in the Rue St. George. It +appears that a French gentleman, owing to pecuniary embarrassments, had +long been melancholy, and last evening killed himself with the fumes of +charcoal. It is reported that he had been twice married, and (_horribile +dictu_) that he exhumed his first wife, previous to committing the fatal +deed. He leaves a very respectable property." + +Now look at our EASY CHAIR survey of such an unfortunate matter: + +"Monsieur B----, a widower of great respectability, was married to his +second wife several years previous to the Revolution of 1848. The +embarrassments which this event occasioned to several of the most +considerable of his debtors, involved him in pecuniary difficulties of a +serious character. + +"Being of a sensitive nature, and unable to meet at that period his more +immediate engagements, he became the victim of an intense mortification, +which no efforts of his friends could relieve, and which gradually +settled into entire mental alienation. + +"He had still ample fortune, and lived in the enjoyment of his usual +luxuries. His attentions to his new wife (who is represented as +exceedingly beautiful) were, of course, less decided and punctilious +than before, but there were observed no indications of any special +hostility. + +"Things wore on in this way for a year or more, when it was observed +that Monsieur B---- absented himself at a certain time of the day for +many hours, from home, without allowing his wife to suspect his +whereabouts. His man[oe]uvres to prevent pursuit, and avoid observation, +were most adroit, and utterly forbade detection. + +"Meantime the guardians of the cemetery of _Père le Chaise_ had observed +at a certain hour of the day a well-dressed individual make his +appearance at the gates, and disappear upon the heights, within the +inclosure of a little Gothic tomb, erected to the memory of Madame +B----. + +"The guardians having ascertained that the visitor was the husband of +the deceased lady, with true Parisian politeness, avoided any special +observation. + +"It was ascertained afterward, however, that he employed these stolen +hours in laboring upon the tomb--a pocket-knife, his only implement, and +a single crazy hope--(which will appear in the sequel)--his only aim. +Having, after four or five months of daily toil, finished his work, he +waited only the absence of his wife to carry into execution his plan. +For this he had not long to wait; she had promised a visit to the +country; and upon the very day following her departure, Monsieur B---- +hurried to his old rendezvous at _Père le Chaise_, and with the same +knife with which he had worked his way into the stone sarcophagus in +which the body of his first wife reposed, he severed the head from the +trunk, transported it under cover of his cloak to his home; placed it +before him upon the table; kindled a brazier of charcoal; wrote a last +word to his living partner, and then, with his pipe in his mouth, and in +face of the ghastly head from the tomb--he died upon his chair!" + +There is in this story, insufferable as it may seem to delicate-minded +readers, strong illustration of the French love of the horrible--of +French passion--and of that French spirit of Dramatism, which would turn +even the vulgarity of suicide into the heroism of a Tragedy. + + * * * * * + +Reading on, as we do, in our EASY CHAIR way, our eye falls upon another +bit of French romance of a different style: it will probably never come +to the eyes of half of our readers in its Paris shape, so we employ a +lazy interval of our weightier duties to render it into old-fashioned +English: + +Every body knows that the rage for gaming in Paris, specially in private +circles, has been for the last eight or ten years--excessive. And if any +weak-minded American has "dined out" there, within that time, he has +very likely been mulcted in a very pretty sum (after coffee was removed) +at _écarte_. + +But, this is not to our story, which, in translating, we shall take the +liberty of vamping into the easiest possible shape--for ourselves. + +Monsieur X---- was some descendant (grandson, for aught we know) of a +certain Marshal of the Empire of France, and inherited from him (if +report spake true) a handsome fortune of some five hundred thousand +francs; or, in American coinage, one hundred thousand dollars. This is +quite enough to live on pleasantly in Paris, or, for that matter, any +where else. + +Of course, Monsieur X---- was a mark for such mammas as had marriageable +daughters; and as the French mothers always manage these affairs +themselves, and are, beside, very thoroughly schooled in the ways of the +world, Monsieur X---- stood a very poor chance of escape. In fact, he +did not escape, but was married one fine morning to a very pretty +mademoiselle, who had the credit of possessing rare virtues, and whom +our hero (Monsieur X----), for a wonder, did really and truly love. + +We mention this as even a greater rarity on the other side of the water, +than on this; and every body of ordinary observation knows that it is +rare enough with us. + +They lived happily through the honey-moon, and much to the surprise of +his friends, for a year or two afterward. But at length it was observed +that he wore very long faces, and dined frequently by himself at the +Café de Paris, and did not even smile at the broadest of Grassot's comic +acting. As he was known to be a young man of very correct habits, the +inference was (not always a just one, by the way) that the wife was in +fault. + +The truth was, that with a disposition naturally amiable and yielding, +she had been seduced by those married friends who knew of her husband's +resources, into an intense love of cards. As a natural consequence she +became ever eager for play, morose in her habit, and petulant of manner. + +The husband bore this all very quietly for a while, revolving in his own +mind what could be done, and paying his wife's drafts upon him without a +murmur. Days and weeks passed by, and the change wore grievously upon +his spirits. + +At length, he chose his course, and pursued it--after this manner. + +He entered with apparent gayety into his wife's amusements, and +introduced her, through the interposition of a friend, into one of the +most famous gambling salons of Paris. As usual, she took her seat at the +table where the stakes were largest. Her antagonist at the play was a +stout old gentleman who wore a careless manner, but who after the first +round or two played with remarkable success. When madame's losses had +amounted to a considerable sum, he proposed "double or quits." Madame +accepted and--lost. + +The gentleman proposed the same game: madame accepted and lost! + +The gentleman proposed the same trial a third and fourth time; and +madame, supposing him to be an eccentric old gentleman, who was willing +to furnish her with this opportunity of winning again the money, +accepted each time his proposal, and uniformly--lost. + +Still the play went on, until madame's losses had amounted to the +extraordinary sum of four hundred thousand francs, when the old +gentleman pleaded an engagement, and retired. + +Madame X----, in an agony of trepidation gained her home, and throwing +herself at her husband's feet, confessed and regretted the folly which +had ruined them. + +The husband was naturally astounded: "But," said he, controlling his +emotion, "the losses must be met. There will remain some seventy +thousand francs of my estate, and with that we can live comfortably in +the country. For myself, I do not at all regret this: but, my dear (for +his old affection lingered), I fear that you may sink under the +privations you must encounter." + +His goodness overcame her; she avowed not only her willingness but her +great joy in becoming the companion of his exile. + +It was in an old town of Brittany (we believe, for the paper is not at +hand) that they lived quietly and cosily together, in a mossy old +chateau. Their table was frugally served, and their servants were of the +neighboring peasantry: in place of the old joyous rides in the Bois de +Boulogne, they now took strolls together under the wood that shaded the +chateau. Thus, for ten years they lived, growing into each other's +affections, and rejoicing in the loss which had won them to a real +enjoyment of life, and of each other's love. + +"It was indeed a happy loss," said she. + +"It was none at all," said the husband, and with a caress he handed her +the certificates for some five hundred thousand francs, in the most +available of French funds! + +"Your antagonist," said he, "was a sure winner, but his services were +purchased by your husband, and now that he has won you to his love, and +to a sense of your own dignity, he makes over to you this recovered +fortune." + +And the French chronicler goes on to paint a pretty scene as a hint for +those dramatists who choose to put the affair on the stage. And he +further says that the story is well authenticated, as he might prove by +giving the parties' names; but upon consideration, he favors us only +with an X. + +If the story is a lie, all we can say is, that Eugene Guinot must take +the blame of it: and judging from his experience, we think the blame +will sit lightly on him. + + * * * * * + +We have wandered so far from the town, that we had half forgotten that +there was any town at all. But, after all, there lies but a step +nowadays between Paris and New York--a step over sea, and a step over a +very narrow bridge of morals. True, we have not yet imported the salon +gambling, except in a quiet club-way, where surely vagrant bachelors, it +would seem, have as good right to stultify themselves, as they have in +most other situations in life. It is to be doubted, however, if gaming +does not presently come into the round of amusements. Old methods do not +last long in our growing society: and as evidence, we may note the +abandonment, the present year, of the fancy balls, which, for four or +five seasons back, have made the very Elysium of a summer's festivities. + +What matter has been made of it under the new dispensation of +undisguised ball costume, the papers have not much informed us: indeed +it is richly observable, that when the fashions of the day withdraw from +_outré_ action, and shed those enormities of feature which excite the +stare of the vulgar--just so soon the public press respects their +modesty, and gives them the award of silence. As a consequence (for the +_sequitur_ may not appear, in the illogical order of our after-dinner +arrangement) little has been said this year of the "dress balls" of +Saratoga and Newport: and the catalogues of watering-place Deities have +been transferred from the flash-papers, to the roll-books of the +marriageable men. A few sharp days of early September (not far from the +date of our writing) will have driven our city people away from those +shores, where the eastern fogs come sailing in laden with agues, and +dropped them down here and there, along those sheltered hill-sides of +inland repute, which bask in a summer morning, and which, by and by, +will smoke with the kindling glory of an Indian summer. + +As yet few have found their way to the town itself: and those few find +the streets full of bustle, of strangers, of dust, and of Cuba. It +strikes a man oddly, who has been taking his siesta the summer through, +under the shadow of country-grown trees, and in the hearing of birds, +until he has grown into a sort of assimilation with country habit and +country talk, to rebound upon a sudden, from the hard, frosted +hill-sides into the very centre of this great furnace of business--and +to find it all sweltering and panting with its labor, just as it did six +months gone by, and just as it will do in six months to come! Your +country idler, with the conceit of the city on him, somehow conceives +the idea, that without him there will be less noise, and less commotion: +and yet he may go and come, and take his thousands, and bring his +thousands, and shout at his loudest, and the great city, quite careless +of it all, still sends up from her pebbled veins, and her sweeping +quays, the same unceasing roar. + + * * * * * + +We have forewarned our reader, or should have done it, that we shall +shift our topic in these our after-dinner musings, as easy as the +turning of a leaf. Our eyes have just now fallen upon a passage in Mr. +Greeley's last letter from Europe, in which he speaks of the appearance +of the English women, and commends, with a little more than his usual +ardor of expression, their perfection of figure. He attributes this, and +very justly, to the English lady's habit of out-of-door exercise. We had +thought that this fact was known: that it was known years ago, and that +our fair country-women would catch a hint from it, that would throw +color into their cheeks and fullness into their forms. And yet, sadly +enough, our ladies still coop themselves in their heated rooms, until +their faces are like lilies, and their figures--like lily stems! + +We have alluded to the matter now, not for the sake of pointing a satire +surely, but for the sake of asking those one or two hundred thousand +ladies, who every month light our pages with their looks, if they do +indeed prize a little unnatural pearliness of hue, and delicacy of +complexion, beyond that ruddy flush of health (the very tempter of a +kiss!) and that full development of figure, which all the poets, from +Homer down, have made one of the chiefest beauties of a woman? + +If not, let them make of themselves horsewomen: or, bating that, let +them make acquaintance with the sunrise: let them pick flowers with the +dew upon them: let them study music of nature's own orchestra. Vulgarity +is not essential to health: and a lithe, elastic figure does not grow in +hot-houses. + +For ourselves, we incline heartily to the belief, that if American women +have a wish to add to the respect, the admiration, the love, and (if +need be) the fear of the men, they will find an easier road toward that +gain, in a little vigorous out-of-door exercise and a uniform attention +to the great essentials of health, than in any new-fangled costumes, or +loudly applauded "Rights." + +We have grown unconsciously heated with the topic, and this added to the +90° by Fahrenheit, which is steaming at our elbow, must cut short the +first installment of gossip from our red-backed easy-chair. + +New York, _September, 1851_. + + + + +Literary Notices. + + +The Oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, on +_The American Mind_, by Rev. William B. Sprague, is superior to the +average run of anniversary discourses. Chaste, vigorous, and eloquent in +expression, eminently genial and catholic in spirit, pervaded equally +with a genuine love of learning, and a glowing patriotism, it abounds in +wise and generous counsels, adapted to the present times, and displays +frequent touches of pathos and wit. The tribute to the memory of +Buckminster, at the close of the oration, is an admirable specimen of +classical eulogy. + +_The Farmer's Every-Day Book_, by Rev. John L. Blake (published by +Derby, Miller, and Co., Auburn), is a unique collection of varieties by +a veteran manufacturer of books, whose educational works have had an +extensive influence on the youth of our country, and whose ripened +experience is devoted to productions of practical utility for the adult +mind. A mass of information is accumulated in this volume, which must be +welcome to the cultivator of the soil, in his choice intervals of +leisure, on a winter's evening or a rainy day. It is arranged under +appropriate heads, expressed in lucid and attractive language, and +combined with excellent moral suggestions. The author has derived his +materials from every available source. He has shown a sound judgment in +their selection. Nothing is admitted which has not a real claim on the +attention of the reader, while there are few topics of interest to the +farmer which are not discussed with more or less detail. The articles +from Mr. Blake's own pen are distinguished for their liveliness and good +sense. His book is equally adapted to the modest farm-houses of New +England, and the log-cabins of the Western Prairie. + +Harper and Brothers have published a sumptuous edition of _The Nile +Boat; or, Glimpses of the Land of Egypt_, by W. H. Bartlett--another +agreeable volume on the manners and customs of the Orientals, with +numerous sketches of their scenery. Mr. Bartlett's course was similar to +that of which we have such a charming memorial in the "Nile Notes," by a +Howadji; and it is interesting to compare the descriptions of two +travelers, who look at the same objects from such entirely different +points of view. Mr. Bartlett's first point is Alexandria, from which he +departs for Cairo, whence he passes up the Nile, visits Thebes, Esneh, +and Edfou, ascends the cataracts, and explores the weird ruins of +Philae. The style of this volume is quiet and unpretending. It is +illustrated with a profusion of engravings, from drawings made on the +spot by the author, many of them with the camera lucida. They exhibit +the principal monuments of the Pharonic period, as at Thebes, the later +Ptolemaic style, as at Edfou and Philae, with some of the most beautiful +specimens of the Arabian, at Cairo, besides many others of an +interesting and instructive character. The volume is an admirable +specimen of typography, and deserves a place in every library. + +Of the swarm of _Annuals_ for 1852, we have received _The Iris_, edited +by John S. Hart, LL.D., and _The Dew-Drop_, a smaller volume, both +published by Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. _The Iris_ is issued, with its +usual splendor of embellishment and typography, with one especial +feature for the present year, which can not fail to enhance its interest +and value. This is a collection of drawings of some of the most +remarkable objects connected with the Indian traditions on this +continent, made by Capt. Eastman, of the United State's Topographical +Corps, who was stationed for nine years on our northwestern frontier, +among the Indian tribes in the vicinity of Fort Snelling. The traditions +themselves have been wrought up into poems and tales by the wife of +Capt. Eastman, depicting the vicissitudes of Indian life, and the +passions of Indian character. A great part of the letter-press of the +volume consists of these sketches, which, for the most part, are +executed with a firm and graceful hand. Besides these there are several +pieces which are gems of literary excellence. "The Cenotaph," by E. W. +Ellsworth, in memory of Capt. Nathan Hale, who died nobly in the service +of the Revolution, is a quaint ballad, displaying a strange union of +pathos and Yankee humor. Edith May, Mrs. Mary E. Hewitt, and Alice Carey +each contribute characteristic poetical pieces. + +_The Dew-Drop_ is exquisitely embellished, and contains selections from +the writings of several of the best American authors. Among them we find +the names of Longfellow, Boker, Tuckerman, Stoddard, Edith May, Miss +Lynch, Miss Sedgwick, Mrs. Child, and other popular celebrities. + +_Uncle Frank's Willow-Lane Stories_ is a budget of pleasant narratives +for children, from the pen of Francis C. Woodworth, whose contributions +to juvenile literature are always distinguished for their cordial and +lifesome sympathy with the young heart. These stories are taken from +country life, and are full of juvenile adventure and incident. The +volume is illustrated with neat wood-cuts. (Published by Charles +Scribner). + +_Drayton_ (published by Harper and Brothers), is a new American novel, +presenting several fine examples of character-painting, with a plot of +more than common interest. The hero, who passes from the shoemaker's +bench to a high place in the legal profession, is not a bad specimen of +American go-ahead-itiveness, softened down by numerous redeeming traits. +We think the anonymous author has displayed a degree of ability in this +volume which promises a future career of decided brilliancy. + +_The Epoch of Creation_, by Eleazar Lord (published by Charles +Scribner). An elaborate volume, devoted to the defense of Divine +Revelation against the encroachments of modern science, with especial +reference to the alleged results of geological research. The leading +idea of the work is expressed in the following paragraph of the +Introduction, of which, though by another hand, the whole treatise is an +expansion and illustration. "The work of creation was necessarily a +supernatural work; and hence all reasoning from the general laws of +nature, which in their operation were subsequent to the work of +creation, is as irrelevant in explanation of the Mosaic account, as the +argument drawn from universal experience in disparagement of the +miracles recorded in Holy Writ." Mr. Lord, accordingly, in explaining +the teachings of Scripture on the work of creation, defends the literal +sense of the Mosaic history. He maintains that the six days of the +creation are to be understood in their most obvious acceptation, and +that the attempt to reconcile them with the theory of a more ancient +date of the material universe, is absurd in point of philosophy, and +fatal to the interests of revealed truth. In the course of his argument, +the author takes occasion to present several searching criticisms of +Hitchcock, Miller, Pye Smith, and other eminent geologists, who have +regarded the question in a different point of view. His work will be +read with interest, at the present day, when so much attention has been +drawn to the religious and scientific issues in controversy. Mr. Lord +presents an earnest and able defense of the theological view, in +opposition to what may be considered as the prevailing opinion of the +scientific world. He writes with clearness and force. He is master of +considerable logical skill. Without the vivacity of style, or the +brilliancy of rhetoric which distinguishes the productions of many of +his opponents, he aims mainly at the lucid expression of the arguments +in the case, which he sustains with shrewdness and ability. No one can +mistake his evident zeal for the interests of revelation; or accuse him +of the slightest taste for scientific novelties. + +_The Theory of Human Progression_ (published by B. B. Mussey and Co., +Boston). The purpose of this book, which we should suppose was written +by a Scotch Presbyterian, is to show the natural probability of a reign +of justice on the earth. It is written in a hard, dry, ultra-logical +style, tinctured with the spirit of Scotch and German metaphysics, and +deducing the most stringent conclusions in regard to social justice from +the language of the Bible. The author is an original thinker. He has +little respect to custom or precedent. With great acuteness and +discrimination, he points out the unavoidable inferences from the +premises, which he assumes, and which, in most cases, he derives from +the doctrines of Scripture. We rarely find such radical views of +society, combined with such orthodox principles of theology. If the +volume had been written with greater simplicity and liveliness of style, +its effect would have been immeasurably enhanced. + +_Forest Life and Forest Trees_, by John S. Springer (published by Harper +and Brothers). This is a genuine American work, redolent of the pine +forests of Maine, and filled with fresh and glowing descriptions of the +life of a New-England backwoodsman. The writer was reared in the midst +of the scenes which he portrays with such distinct outlines and such +natural coloring, and has spent several of what he regards as the most +pleasant years of his life in the toils and adventures of a "down east" +lumberman. Hence he moves among the "strange, eventful" incidents of his +story, like one who is perfectly at home, jotting down his exciting +narrations without the slightest effort or pretension, and introducing +his readers by the simplest transitions to the very heart of the remote +wilderness. His work is divided into three parts, namely, The Trees of +America, The Pine Tree, or Forest Life, and River Life. The first part +is a valuable compilation selected from the most authentic materials on +the dendrology of New-England, accompanied with judicious original +comments. In the remaining portions of the book, we have a variety of +reminiscences of a residence among the wild mountains, forests, lakes, +and rivers of Maine, adventures of lumbermen in the pursuit of their +perilous calling, fresh pictures of the sublime scenery with which they +are surrounded, and a fund of amusing anecdotes. Several instructive +details are given in regard to the lumber trade. The volume is +illustrated with numerous wood engravings, which will give a distinct +idea of many of the localities and scenes described by the author. +Although making no claims to literary excellence, in the technical sense +of the term, we are sure this book will become a universal favorite with +the "reading millions" of America, from Canada to California. + +_Service Afloat and Ashore, during the Mexican War_, by Lieut. Raphael +Semmes (published by Wm. H. Moore and Co., Cincinnati), has already +asserted a successful claim on the public favor, a large edition having +been exhausted, and a second being on the eve of appearance. It is a +work of standard merit, and does honor to the growing literature of the +West. More substantial in its character than one would anticipate from +its finical, book-making title, it presents a well-digested summary of +the political history of Mexico, of her relations with the United +States, and the various complications that led to the war of 1846. The +author was personally engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz, of which +terrible operation he gives a vivid description, drawn up both with +military precision, and with appropriate poetical coloring. He afterward +joined the army of Gen. Scott at Jalapa, was present at the battle of +Churubusco as aid to Gen. Worth, and accompanied the victorious troops +to the Mexican Capital. With an excellent opportunity for observation, +and no small experience of military affairs, he has subjected the +movements of the American army to a critical scrutiny, and presents his +conclusions with soldier-like frankness and decision, though evidently +aiming at impartiality. His remarks on the course of Gen. Scott are +often severe, though he pays a warm tribute to the many admirable +qualities of that eminent commander; but his deepest enthusiasm is +called forth by the chivalrous and romantic character of Gen. Worth. +Whatever opinion may be formed of the correctness of his comments on +delicate military questions, it must be admitted that they are put forth +in fairness and good faith, and if not to be regarded as conclusive, +they afford a valuable aid in deciding the judgment of the impartial +reader. The style of Lieut. Semmes is usually chaste and vigorous. In +the mere narrative of historical events it sometimes flags, calling for +the application of the whip and spur; but in the description of scenes +of stirring interest, of battles, and marches, and shipwrecks, it +kindles up with the occasion, and becomes glowing and vehement, often +presenting passages of wild and startling beauty. We congratulate the +noble-spirited author on the signal success of his work, and hope that +we shall again hear of his name in the field of literature, as well as +in the service of his country. + +_The Lady and the Priest_, is the title of a striking English novel, +reprinted by Harper and Brothers, founded on the romantic history of the +Fair Rosamond, Henry the Second, and Queen Eleanor. The wily priest, +Thomas a Becket plays an important part in the plot, presenting an +expressive contrast by his ambition and cunning to the innocent, +confiding, and deeply injured Rosamond. As a specimen of the English +historical novel, this work will compare favorably with the best recent +productions of the London press. The development of the story is +skillfully managed, and grows more and more interesting with each step +of its progress. + +_Vagamundo; or, The Attaché in Spain_, by John Esaias Warren. (Published +by Charles Scribner.) The title of this work is descriptive of its +character. It is a good-humored record of a touch-and-go, +genteel-vagabondish residence of several months in "old romantic Spain," +where the position of the author gave him access to much "good society," +and his tastes led him into a variety of odd, rollicking adventures, +which he relates with an easy audacity that becomes quite fascinating +before you arrive at the close of the volume. The strength of the author +lies in his cordial, careless, jovial freedom. He shows such a +quintessence of frankness, such a gay, contagious good-fellowship, as to +disarm our habitual sternness as critics. His book contains little +wisdom, and less wit, but for a dashing, effervescing, sparkling +effusion of anecdote and adventure, commend us to its hilarious pages. +There are trifles here and there, indeed, at which the over-fastidious +may take offense, as in duty bound; but readers who are not frightened +with a little exuberance of youthful frolic will find it a tempting +volume. + +A neat reprint of Hugh Miller's _Scenes and Legends of the North of +Scotland_, has been issued by Wm. H. Moore and Co., Cincinnati. It +consists of a collection of interesting Scotch traditions, historical +episodes, and personal anecdotes, presented in the garrulous, +descriptive style, which has made the author popular among numerous +classes of readers. Miller is a staunch, thorough-going Scotchman; in +his opinion, there is no country like Scotland (and we too love +Scotland); and no man in Scotland like himself (to which we demur); and +this perennial self-complacency diffuses a kindly warmth over his +writings, even when we find little to attract us in the dryness of his +subjects. + +A. Hart, Philadelphia, has published an edition of Miss Benger's +_Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots_, which portrays the history of the +ill-fated queen in true and vivid colors. The work contains a variety of +interesting anecdotes of the court of Henry II. + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have published an additional volume of William +Motherwell's _Poems_, from the Glasgow edition. They include songs, +fragments of verse, and other pieces not contained in the former +volumes. They are distinguished for the characteristic simplicity, +unction, and pathos of their gifted author. + +A new edition of the _Memoirs of the Buckminsters_, father and son, by +Eliza Buckminster Lee, is issued by the same house--a volume of rare +interest and beauty. Its pictures of rural life in New England are drawn +with exquisite grace, as well as perfect fidelity, forming an +appropriate embellishment to the affecting history of the subjects of +the memoir. + +_Plymouth and the Pilgrims_, by Joseph Banvard (published by Gould and +Lincoln, Boston), is a popular compend of the events in the colonial +history of Plymouth, illustrated with numerous engravings. It is +intended to form the first of a series, devoted to the history of the +United States, and consisting of at least twelve volumes. The narrative +in this volume is derived from authentic sources, but exhibits no +remarkable skill in its construction. + +A new treatise on the _Elements of Geology_, by Samuel St. John, has +been issued by George P. Putnam, adapted to the use of students in the +higher seminaries of learning. It has evidently been prepared with great +care and excellent judgment. Omitting the controverted and more abstruse +points of theoretical geology, it aims at presenting a clear statement +of the facts, which may be regarded as established in the present state +of the science, and this is accomplished, we think, with the best +success. + +_Sketches of European Capitals_, by William Ware. (Published by +Phillips, Sampson, and Co., Boston). Rome, Florence, Naples, and London, +are the capitals to which this admirable volume is devoted. Although +passing over beaten ground, Mr. Ware has treated his subjects with +freshness and originality. He copies no one; consults his own excellent +taste in preference to any authorities; gives his impressions as they +are made from his own point of view; and describes them with equal +simplicity and boldness. His language is usually felicitous and choice. +He is a keen dissecter of character, and has presented us with some +highly-finished specimens of his skill in this kind. His remarks on the +present condition of Italian society are discriminating and forcible. +Coming from a genuine lover of freedom, they are entitled to great +weight. The obstacles to the establishment of Italian independence, +arising from internal jealousies, and the want of national unity are +exhibited in a strong light. Mr. Ware was not favorably affected by the +manifestations of English character, which he witnessed on English soil. +On this point he expresses himself without the least reserve, in a vein +of acute and biting criticism. Various other topics are handled in this +volume, and all of them with freedom and manliness. Differing from the +author in many of his artistic judgments, we like the prevailing tone of +his work--its honesty, its unaffectedness, its vigor, its humane +spirit--to say nothing of its language, which, as we have already +hinted, is a model of classical and elegant English. + +Harper and Brothers have republished the first volume of Lamartine's +_History of the Restoration_, from which we have given several extracts +among our selections. It is decidedly the most important work of its +prolific author since the "History of the Girondists." Bold in +conception, abounding in lofty speculations, colored with a rich glow of +moral emotion, it displays in the highest degree of perfection, the +singular power of brilliant word-painting, and the felicitous artifices +of rhetoric of which Lamartine is such a consummate master. + +_Rule and Misrule of the English in America_, by the author of "Sam +Slick the Clock Maker" (published by Harper and Brothers). In the +present work, Judge Haliburton leaves the field of humor and satire for +grave political discussion. It is written in the interests of +monarchical government, taking the United States as a warning against +the evils of democracy. With this view, the writer traces the +introduction of the popular principle into this continent, the means of +its early establishment, and the provisions for its support and +continuance. He endeavors to show that the success of republicanism in +the United States has been owing no less to a wonderful combination of +accidental causes, than to the ability, energy, and practical skill of +the American people. Hence he argues that this form of government is not +applicable to England or France, and still less to other European +countries. Some of his speculations have the merit of ingenuity; they +will awaken interest, as showing the effect of our institutions on an +outside observer; but they can not be regarded as models of political +acuteness or sagacity. + +Phillips, Sampson, and Co. have published the first number of a new +_Life of Napoleon_, by Ben. Perley Poore, in which the author +controverts the opinions of Scott and other tory writers on the subject. +It shows a good deal of research, and is written in an animated style. + + * * * * * + +Tuckerman's _Characteristics of Literature_ is briefly noticed in the +_London Athenæum_, as a "series of suggestive papers," whose "criticisms +are for the most part sound and moderate, but exhibiting no great extent +of reading, nor any profound and subtle appreciation of literary beauty. +Sometimes they remind us of Channing--of whose style Mr. Tuckerman is +evidently an admirer; but they lack his clearness of thought and +brilliancy of color, his intensity of conviction, and continual +reference to fixed canons and principles." The _Athenæum_ is +systematically cold to American writers; nor does it do justice to Mr. +Tuckerman in its criticism; yet it is right in tracing the influence of +Channing both in his style and turn of thought. No one who was +conversant with that "old man eloquent" in the latter years of his life +could escape all tincture of the love of moral beauty which was the +master principle of his nature. His contagious influence is seen in the +harmonic proportions, the clearness of expression, the equilibrium of +thought, and, we may add, the sensitive timidity of opinion which mark +the writings of his unconscious disciple almost as decidedly as they did +his own.--Dr. Ungewitter's _Europe, Past, and Present_, is spoken of in +the same journal in terms of lukewarm approval. + + * * * * * + +The Copyright Question, so far as the English courts of law is +concerned, stands thus.--The Court of Exchequer is at variance with the +Court of Queen's Bench:--and the case on which the next decision will be +made, is that of Murray _v._ Bohn with respect to the copyright of +certain works of Washington Irving. Mr. Routledge, against whom Mr. +Murray had brought the law to bear, has surrendered, and admitted that +he has injured the plaintiff to the extent of two thousand pounds. Mr. +Bohn, however, stands out; and the point which he has now to prove in an +English court of law is, priority of publication of Mr. Irving's works +in America. Plaintiff and defendant have each, we are informed, sent a +special commissioner over to America on the subject. + + * * * * * + +The death of Mr. Gibbon, one of the most munificent patrons of modern +British art, is announced. In the _genre_ school he has the credit of +having called into existence some of the best efforts of many young +artists of celebrity, by whom his liberality and protection will be +gratefully remembered. To that and landscape pictures he principally +confined himself as a collector, having little sympathy, so far as +collection is a test, with the historical school of painting. + + * * * * * + +At Clifton, on Friday the 1st of August, died the patriarch of English +authoresses--we might add of English authors--Miss Harriet Lee, at the +age of ninety-five. To most of the generation now busied with fiction, +drama, and poetry, this announcement will be a surprise: so long +protracted was Miss Lee's life, and so many years have elapsed since her +last appearance in the world of imaginative creation took place. To +readers of our time, Miss Lee is best known as having in her "German's +Tale" of the "Canterbury Tales" (a miscellany of little romances by +herself and her sister), furnished Lord Byron with the plot of his play +of "Werner." More old-fashioned novel readers, who are given to weary at +the philanthropy, philosophy, and preaching which threaten to turn our +thousand and one tales into something more like "Evening Services" than +"Arabian Nights," will find in her vigor and clearness of invention a +merit which of itself deserves to keep the name of the novelist alive. +Miss Lee's further title to mortuary honors is a play, or plays, acted +with small success--and which has, or have, gone the way of Hannah +More's triumphant "Percy," and Madame d'Arblay's withdrawn tragedy. +Harriet Lee survived her sister Sophia twenty-seven years: Sophia having +died at Clifton, in 1824.----In London on the 4th died Lady Louisa +Stuart--aged nearly ninety-four--the youngest daughter of the Minister, +Earl of Bute, and the grand-daughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montague--the +lady to whom we owe the charming "Introductory Anecdotes," prefixed to +the late Lord Wharncliffe's edition of Lady Mary's Works. Lady Louisa +remembered to have seen her grandmother, Lady Mary--when at old +Wortley's death that celebrated woman returned to London after her long +and still unexplained exile from England. Lady Louisa herself was a +charming letter-writer; and her correspondence with Sir Walter Scott +will, it is said, fully sustain the Wortley reputation for wit, and +beauty of style, while it will exhibit a poet in a very different +character from that in which another poet figures in his celebrated +correspondence with her grandmother, Lady Mary. Some of Scott's letters +to Lady Louisa are included in Mr. Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter. + + * * * * * + +A pert English traveler, of a class which has shared too largely in the +hospitalities of facile Americans, gives an amusing caricature of a New +York Literary Soiree, to which he had by some chance gained +admittance:--"I went to stay at a Mr. S.'s country house, about six +miles out town, and was there introduced to his father, who has one of +the best collections of pictures in New York. They were kind enough to +take me to a literary réunion given by one Miss ----, an American +authoress of some note, who always opens her house on that evening, and +to point out to me many of the notabilities in the New York world of +letters. Many of them were real 'lions,' and not a few only wore the +skin. The latter classes made themselves undesignedly very amusing, and +were mostly little men, who had published and circulated a novel or two +largely among their friends, which in their own opinions entitled them +to turn down their shirt collars, allow their hair and beards to grow at +random, and to assume the appearance of men in whom mind had become so +predominant over body, as to render the latter quite a minor +consideration. They did not open their lips all the evening, but were to +be seen in pensive attitudes with their arms leaning on chimney pieces, +and looking pleasantly at vacancy, or seated on solitary ottomans, +contemplating the company with a sort of cynical stare. They wished, in +fact, to be considered as living in an atmosphere of dreams, and nobody +offered to disturb them. Mr. N. P. Willis, to whom I was introduced, +afforded a very pleasant contrast to these little lions, and laughed and +talked on many subjects like an ordinary being. Miss ----, too, has +nothing of the pedant, and very little of the professed 'blue' about +her, and wound up the amusements of the evening by gracefully leading +off in a polka. During the evening a 'hush' was circulated all round the +room, and on inquiry I found that a Herr something, very like +Puddlewitz, 'was going to play his thoughts,' and forthwith a foreign +gentleman with as much hair as one face could conveniently carry, sat +down at the piano. From the nature of the music, I should say that +Puddlewitz's thoughts were of a remarkably mild and sentimental nature, +and not at all in keeping with his ferocious aspect. After the polka the +little lions began to rouse themselves and dispel the mental web which +their thoughts had been working round them for the last two or three +hours, and we all gradually dispersed." + + * * * * * + +A curious instance of LITERARY STRATEGY is presented in the London +edition of _Vagamundo, or The Attaché in Spain_, the sprightly work of +our countryman, Mr. Warren, which we have noticed above. It seems that +he had made an arrangement with a London publisher to bring out an +edition at the same time with its appearance in this country. Every +thing from the manuscript that could betray its American origin is +eliminated, and it is thus issued apparently as a native born English +production, "dyed in the wool." A start is obtained on the American +publisher, and the work is put into the market two or three months +before its publication in New York. Our first impressions of it as a +lively gossiping book were received from the English copy some time +since, which surprised us as a remarkable specimen of the free and easy +style, for English growth. + + * * * * * + +Of Andrews' Latin Lexicon, the _London Athenæum_ speaks as follows: "It +can not now be said that there is any lack of good Latin and Greek +Lexicons among us. Whatever our classical deficiencies may be, they must +not hereafter be attributed to the want of such a _sine qua non_. Within +the last twenty--even ten--years most valuable additions have been made +to our lexicographical stores. Entick, Ainsworth, Schrevelius, and a +host of other worthies who long reigned over us, have at length been +banished to make room for their betters. Even Donnegan--after a brief +but successful career--has met with an inglorious fall. + +"Besides our own dictionaries, we have those of our transatlantic +brethren. Some few years ago they sent us over a large Latin Dictionary +by Leverett; and now another of still higher pretensions (Freund's +Latin-English Lexicon--edited by Dr. Andrews) has found its way here.... +Whatever time, attention, and care can do toward making the work +complete and correct, seems to have been done, and we all know how much +the excellence of a dictionary depends upon these points,--especially +when they are accompanied by competent scholarship, as we have every +reason to believe they are in the present case. The result is, what +might be expected, a rich repository of philological information, +clearly expressed and well arranged.... + +"In conclusion, we are glad to have an opportunity of introducing so +excellent a work to the notice of our classical and philological +readers. It has all that true German _Grundlichkeit_ about it which is +so highly appreciated by English scholars. Rarely, if ever, has so vast +an amount of philological information been comprised in a single volume +of the size. The knowledge it conveys of the early and later Latin is +not to be gathered from ordinary Latin Dictionaries. With regard to the +manner in which it is got up, we can speak most favorably. Never have we +seen a better specimen of American typography. Every page bears the +impress of industry and care. The type is clear, neat, and judiciously +varied. A pretty close inspection has not enabled us to discover any +errors worth mentioning." + + * * * * * + +A contributor to the _London Times_ has collected a mass of curious +statistics in regard to the rise and progress of RAIL-ROAD LITERATURE in +England. His essay in that journal has recently been issued in a +separate pamphlet. Among other interesting statements, we find the +following facts, which are singularly illustrative of English habits: + +"The gradual rise of the Railway book-trade is a singular feature of our +marvellous Railway era. In the first instance, when the scope and +capabilities of the Rail had yet to be ascertained, the privilege of +selling books, newspapers, &c., at the several stations, was freely +granted to any who might think proper to claim it. Vendors came and went +when and how they chose, their trade was of the humblest, and their +profits were as varying as their punctuality. When it became evident +that the vendors of books and papers were deriving large sums of money +from their business, the directors of the several companies resolved to +make a charge for permission to carry it on; and tenders were duly +advertised for, regard being had to the amount offered, and by no means +to the mode in which it was proposed to prosecute the work. In some +cases £200, and in others as much as £600 per annum have been deemed a +fair rental for the book-stall at a London terminus. At one of the most +important stations in the metropolis, a bookseller, who at one time +professed himself unable to contribute £60 by way of rent to a benefit +society established for the servants of the company, offered two years +afterward £600 when the privilege was put up to public auction. The +extent to which literary trash has been sold at these railway +book-shops, may be conceived, when it is stated that a large profit has +still remained for the bookseller after paying the very large +rent-charge to the company. + +"A movement has, however, been made on the North-Western Railway to put +an end to this unwholesome condition of things. The stalls have been +taken by a spirited bookseller and news-agent, determined to supply none +but works of sterling literature; and the leading publishers have +responded to this movement by the reproduction of some of their most +valuable copyrights in shilling and half-crown volumes. The little +reprint of Lord Mahon's 'Narrative of the Insurrection of 1845,' appears +to have been the first step to improvement. It caught our eye, as it had +already fortunately arrested the attention at more than one railway +station of Mr. Macaulay, the historian. The sight of it suggested to +that brilliant writer the idea and title of a 'Traveller's Library,' and +at his instigation--for which we here tender him our thanks--Messrs. +Longman commenced the cheap and popular series known by this name, and +adorned by Mr. Macaulay's own charming productions. + +"As we progressed north, a wholesome change, we rejoice to say, became +visible in railway book-stalls. We had trudged in vain after the +schoolmaster elsewhere, but we caught him by the button at +Euston-square; and it is with the object of inducing him to be less +partial in his walks that we now venture thus publicly to appeal to him. +At the North-Western terminus we diligently searched for that which +required but little looking after in other places, but we poked in vain +for the trash. If it had ever been there, the broom had been before us +and swept it clean away. We asked for something 'highly colored.' The +bookseller politely presented us with Kugler's 'Handbook of Painting.' +We shook our head and demanded a volume more intimately concerned with +life and the world. We were offered 'Kosmos.' 'Something less +universal,' said we, 'benefits the London traveler.' We were answered by +'Prescott's Mexico,' 'Modern Travel,' and 'Murray's Handbook of France.' +We could not get rubbish, whatever price we might offer to pay for it. +There was no 'Eugene Sues' for love or money--no cheap translations of +any kind--no bribes to ignorance or unholy temptations to folly. 'You'll +soon be in the _Gazette_' we said commiseratingly to the bookseller. The +bookseller smiled. 'You never sell those things,' we added mildly. +'Constantly; we can sell nothing else.' 'What! have you nothing for the +million?' 'Certainly; here is 'Logic for the Million,' price 6s.; will +you buy it? 'Thank you, but surely books of a more chatty +character----.' 'Chatty--oh, yes!' 'Coleridge's Table Talk' is a +standard dish here, and never wants purchasers. + +"Every new work of interest as it appeared was furnished to the stalls, +from Macaulay's 'England' down to Murray's 'Colonial Library,' and +purchasers were not slow to come for all. Upon many good books, as well +of recent as of more remote publication, there has been an actual run. +'Macaulay' sold rapidly, 'Layard' not less so. 'Stokers and Pokers,' a +sketch of the London and North-Western Railway, published in Murray's +'Colonial Library,' sold to the extent of upwards of 2000 copies. +Borrow's 'Bible' and 'Gypsies in Spain,' are always in demand, and St. +John's 'Highland Sports' keep pace with them. Graver books have equally +steady sale. Coleridge's works are popular on the rail. 'Friends in +Council,' 'Companions of my Solitude,' and similar small books grasping +great subjects, and written with high philosophical aim, are continually +purchased. Poetry is no drug at the prosaic terminus if the price of the +article be moderate. Moore's 'Songs and Ballads,' published at 5_s._ +each; Tennyson's works, and especially 'In Memoriam,' have gone off +eagerly; the same remark applies to the Lays of Macaulay and to the +Scotch Ballads of Aytoun. + +"The style of books sold depends more upon the salesman than on the +locality; but there are exceptions to the rule. At Bangor, all books in +the Welsh language must have a strong Dissenting and Radical savor. +English books at the same station must be High Church and Conservative. +School-boys always insist upon having Ainsworth's novels and any thing +terrible. Children's books are disdained, and left for their sisters. +'Jack Sheppard' is tabooed at the North-Western, and great is the wrath +of the boys accordingly. Stations have their idiosyncracies. Yorkshire +is not partial to poetry. It is very difficult to sell a valuable book +at any of the stands between Derby, Leeds, and Manchester. Religious +books hardly find a purchaser in Liverpool, while at Manchester, at the +other end of the line, they are in high demand." + + * * * * * + +A writer in one of the London literary journals presents a severe +criticism of the "Bateman children," who are now performing at St. +James' Theatre, under the auspices of our widely-known compatriot, Mr. +Barnum. A part of his strictures is as follows, of which there is much +more of the same kind: + +"Mr. Barnum, the American monster-monger, has opened this theatre with +an exhibition which it is disagreeable to witness and impossible to +treat as a matter of art. Two American children, Ellen and Kate Bateman, +stated to be six and eight years of age, are here produced in the +respective characters of _Richard the Third_ and _Richmond_ in the fifth +act of Colley Cibber's tragedy. Ellen, who performs the crooked-backed +tyrant, carefully made up to look like Edmund Kean, has evidently been +drilled by some one well acquainted with the style of that great actor, +and elaborately wrought into a miniature resemblance of him. Not only +the manner, but the voice has been tutored--tone and emphasis have been +imparted, as well as gesture and deportment. To us, who recollect every +phase of the style of the departed tragedian, this exact copy was +something painful and revolting. Similar pains had been taken with the +elder girl Kate--who, armed _cap-à-pie_, strutted and fretted as +Richmond. The delivery of the children has been enormously exaggerated +in their determination to produce effect. They are strained far beyond +their natural powers--and the result is, an impression of caricature and +burlesque." + + * * * * * + +The Dublin literary circles have recently lost the Rev. Dr. Samuel +O'Sullivan--a political writer of much force and activity, and one of +the leading contributors to the _Dublin University Magazine_. "His style +was close and consecutive--and of late years was marked by a vein of +reflectiveness not often found among Irish writers. He was abler in +attack than in defense--like most polemic authors. The most valuable of +his writings are, a series of elaborate biographical essays on modern +Irish statesmen; which apart from their literary talent have the merit +of originality of matter. For his papers on Lord Chancellor Clare and +Mr. Saurin he was furnished with special facts; and his Chaplaincy to +the Ph[oe]nix Park Military School gave him access to several persons +high in office, whose acquaintance he preserved. He was an entertaining +and instructive companion--fertile in curious original anecdote. His pen +exercised much influence on the Irish Conservative press for several +years: but with the merits or demerits of political controversialists we +meddle not. We hear that it was Dr. O'Sullivan's intention to reprint, +with additional matter, his excellent essays on Flood and Grattan: the +best pictures left us of these Irish statesmen." + + * * * * * + +The Hakluyt Society have added to their very interesting publications, +Richard Hakluyt's translation of the account of De Soto's _Discovery and +Conquest of Florida_, with an additional account curiously corroborative +of all its substantial details discovered and translated by the editor, +Mr. Rye, of the British Museum. The expedition was not without valuable +results of an accidental kind, though in its main objects it failed so +lamentably; and the narrative now given is extremely vivid and striking. + + * * * * * + +Another volume curiously illustrative of the past, has been published +with the uninviting title of _Consuetudines Kanciæ._ This is, in other +words, a history of the Gavelkind, and other remarkable customs of the +County of Kent. The author is a skilled antiquary, and gives many sound +reasons for his belief that in not a few of those peculiar customs may +be directly traced the famous and venerable laws of Edward the +Confessor. + + * * * * * + +Doctor Latham has added to those researches and speculations as to races +which have lately been found to explain so much of the peculiarities of +national habits, customs, and laws, a sketch of the _Ethnology of the +British Colonies and Dependencies_. + + * * * * * + +Dr. Lingard's valuable library has been bequeathed by the late learned +historian to St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw. + + * * * * * + +The _Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ has been seized and confiscated by the +police at Leipzig, for having published, under the head of Great +Britain, a notice, with translated extracts, of the two letters written +by Mr. Gladstone to the Earl of Aberdeen on the treatment of the +Neapolitan state prisoners. + + * * * * * + +The death of the famous naturalist, Dr. Lorenz Oken, whose theory of the +Cranial Homologies effected a revolution in philosophical anatomy, and +led the way to the admirable researches of Owen, has recently been +announced. The name of Oken is most commonly associated by English +readers with his "Physio-philosophy," a translation of which work, by +Mr. Tulk, was published by the Ray Society. It abounds in admirable +generalizations, unfortunately immersed in much that is false and +fantastic, and clothed in the cloudiest phraseology of German +transcendental metaphysics. Oken's researches and speculations (for he +was as practical as he was dreamy) extended over all departments of +natural history. Of the value he set upon facts, and the industry with +which he collected them, a lasting monument exists in the volumes of the +"Isis," a vast library of abstracts of the science of his time, founded +and conducted by him as a periodical. Few men have had greater +influence on European science than Oken. Until forced to quit Germany on +account of his political opinions, he held a Professorship at Jena. +Latterly he was Professor of Natural History at the University of +Zurich, in which city he died about the last of August, at the advanced +age of seventy-three years. + + * * * * * + +From Halle, we hear of the death, a short time since, of a voluminous +German writer, John Godfrey Gruber, founder and principal editor of the +"Universal Encyclopædia of Sciences and Arts"--a work which was at first +carried on by him conjointly with Herr Ersch. Herr Gruber was also a +large contributor to the _Litteratur Zeitung_ and the +_Conversations-Lexicon_. His separate works include: "The Destiny of +Man," "The Dictionary of Esthetics and Archæology," "Researches into the +Greek and Roman Mythology," "The Life of Wieland," and "The Dictionary +of German Synonymes." These are but a few of his many writings. + + * * * * * + +M. Dupaty, one of the forty French academicians, died a few days ago. He +was one of the most obscure of that learned corps. His literary +reputation, such as it was, was based almost exclusively on vaudevilles +and on the libretti of comic operas. He was held in esteem in the days +of Napoleon; but then literary distinction was very easily earned. The +most notable event in the last twenty years of his life was being chosen +(to his own great astonishment) an academician in preference to Victor +Hugo, then at the height of his fame. + + * * * * * + +The 16th, 17th, and 18th volumes of the complete works of Frederick the +Great have just been published at Berlin. They are entirely occupied +with his correspondence. There are 4000 letters written by +him--two-thirds are in French, the other third, chiefly on military +operations, are in German, and were addressed to his generals. The whole +letters belong to the state archives. The edition of the great +Frederick's works, now in course of publication, was undertaken by order +of the present King of Prussia, and at his expense. + + * * * * * + +The indefatigable Eugene Sue, notwithstanding his daily labors as one of +the 750 law-givers of the Republic are, or ought to be, rather heavy, +has found time to write another romance, of which the publication has +been recently commenced in one of the daily Paris journals. It is called +"Fernand Duplesis; or, the Memoirs of a Husband;" and is, it appears, to +be an exposure of what in France it is the fashion to call the miseries +and iniquities of married life. Written in great haste, it will (judging +from the opening chapters) be slovenly in style and negligent in +language; but, _en revanche_, it will (as it seems) be of great dramatic +interest, and will throw new light on Parisian society--that strange and +striking assemblage of intrigue and passion, of vanity and folly, of +elegance and refinement, of chivalry and corruption, of much that is +good, and of more that is bad. + + * * * * * + +Don Hannibal de Gasparis, the Neapolitan astronomer, who has, in the +course of the last few years, discovered no less than five new planets, +has, by a royal decree of the 4th, been named Professor of Astronomy at +the University of Naples. + + * * * * * + +In Hans Andersen's charming _Memoirs_ we find a graphic sketch of an +interview with Reboul, the baker poet of Nismes, celebrated in +"Lamartine's Journey to the East."--I found him at the house, stepped +into the bakehouse, and addressed myself to a man in shirt sleeves who +was putting bread into the oven; it was Reboul himself! A noble +countenance which expressed a manly character greeted me. When I +mentioned my name, he was courteous enough to say he was acquainted with +it through the 'Revue de Paris,' and begged me to visit him in the +afternoon, when he should be able to entertain me better. When I came +again I found him in a little room which might be called almost elegant, +adorned with pictures, casts, and books, not alone French literature, +but translations of the Greek classics. A picture on the wall +represented his most celebrated poem, 'The Dying Child,' from Marmier's +_Chansons du Nord_. He knew I had treated the same subject, and I told +him this was written in my school days. If in the morning I had found +him the industrious baker, he was now the poet completely; he spoke with +animation of the literature of his country, and expressed a wish to see +the North, the scenery and intellectual life of which seemed to interest +him. With great respect I took leave of a man whom the muses have not +meanly endowed, and who yet has good sense enough, spite of all the +homage paid him, to remain steadfast to his honest business, and prefer +being the most remarkable baker in Nismes to losing himself in Paris, +after a short triumph, among hundreds of other poets. + + * * * * * + +The Writings of Shakspeare would appear, from the following fact, to be +read with as much avidity and delight in Sweden as in England and this +country. A translation of his plays by Hagberg, Professor of Greek in +the University of Lund, is now in course of publication. Of this, 12 +volumes have appeared; and although the first edition consisted of no +less than 2000 copies, the whole have been sold off, and a second +edition is in preparation. Professor Hagberg's translation is most +favorably spoken of by those who are qualified to judge of its merits. + + * * * * * + +A new theological work by Jonathan Edwards, printed from his own +manuscript, is announced as soon to be issued. The fame of our +illustrious American theologian attaches great interest, in the +religious world, to this new production from his pen. + + * * * * * + +The Poem entitled "The Ship of Death," which floated into our Editor's +Drawer from an unknown source, was written by Thomas H. Chivers, M.D., +author of a volume entitled "Eonchs of Rubies," and other poetical +works. + + * * * * * + +Miss Catherine Hayes the celebrated Irish vocalist arrived in this +country a few days since. Her first concert will be given while the +sheets of our present Number are passing through the press. She is +pronounced in her own sphere to be as unequaled as Jenny Lind in hers; +brilliancy is the peculiar characteristic of the latter, pathos of the +former. Those who have heard her abroad, predict for her a success not +inferior to that achieved by her Swedish compeer. The fact of Ireland +being her native land will of itself insure her a favorable hearing in +America. + + * * * * * + +We are reminded that the English work entitled "How to make Home +Unhealthy," which was ascribed to Harriet Martineau, in a former Number +of this Magazine, was written by Henry Morley, Esq. + + + + +A Leaf from Punch. + +[Illustration: "Lor! What a most abominable Glass--I declare it makes +one look a perfect Fright."] + +[Illustration: "There's a Bite! Pull him up, Charley, I've got the +Landing Net."] + + * * * * * + +MUCH TOO CONSIDERATE. + +[Illustration: _Robinson._--"There, Brown, my Boy, that's as fine a +Glass of Wine as you can get anywhere." + +_Mrs. Brown._--"A-hem! Augustus, My De-ar. You are surely never going to +take Port Wine. You know it never agrees with you, my Love!"] + +[Illustration: _Angelina_ (_the Wife of his Bussom_).--"Well, Edwin, if +you can't make the 'Things,' as you call them, meet, you need not swear +so. It's really quite dreadful!"] + +[Illustration: _Uncle._--"So, you've been to the Crystal Palace--Have +you, Gus?" + +_Gus._--"Yes, Uncle." + +_Uncle._--"Well, now, I'll give you Sixpence if you will tell me what +you admired most in that Temple of Industry?" + +_Gus_ (_unhesitatingly._)--"Veal and 'Am Pies, and the Ginger Beer. Give +us the Sixpence!"] + + + + +Fashions for October. + + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Walking and Riding Dress.] + +October, the beautiful month, standing like a mediator between summer +and winter, is the season for exercise in the open air; especially for +that healthful recreation, riding on horseback. It is the season, too, +of the Indian Summer, when the pleasures of carriage riding and +promenading are greater than at any other time of the year. For the +ladies it should be an _out-of-door_ month; and for them we herald the +decrees of fashion, touching their appearance in the open air. + +Walking Dress.--The figure on the left represents a very pretty costume +for promenade. Bonnet, drawn _tulle_ with low crown. The poke is made on +a skeleton of wire covered with yellow silk, and having four pieces +across. Under the wires are fastened small bows of gauze ribbon so as to +form three well-rounded rows. A similar row of bows trims the edge of +the poke inside, and the ribbons composing it are continued along flat. +A gathered ribbon is laid all round and fastens with bows. The crown is +of _tulle_, slightly puffed, and ornamented with five ribbon _ruches_, +supported by five wires covered with silk, which slope toward each +other, and meet near the curtain. The curtain is _tulle_, trimmed with a +plaited ribbon, from which proceed bows astride on the edge. The shawl +is of silk or other light fabric. On the body there are five cross-bands +of silk, goffered and cut at the edges. The top one reaches from one +shoulder-seam to the other and is 2-1/2 inches wide, the other four +gradually diminish down to the waist, where the last one is but little +more than an inch. The trimmings goffered in small flutes are fixed +under a narrow galloon; another galloon is placed a little higher, +leaving an interval of about half an inch between them. A similar +trimming runs round the waist and forms the lappets. The skirt has seven +rows of goffered trimmings gathered like those on the body. The top one +is an inch and a quarter deep, and all increase gradually down to the +lowest, which is 3-1/4 inches. The sleeves are open under the arm from +the elbow downward, and are held together by two goffered cross bands. +The under-sleeves are lace, and form a large puff, which is fastened in +a worked wristband. + +Riding Dress.--The figure on the right represents a riding dress. Felt +hat with a terry velvet ribbon as binding for the edges, bows of the +same, and a frosted feather. Body of white quilting, high and tight. The +skirts hold to the body without seam at the waist. They are very round +and full, owing to the cut of the side and the gores. They should come +well over the hips, but not sit too tight. The middle of the body is +open and leaves visible a rich lace shirt-frill very deep and full, and +falling back on itself, owing to its fullness. The lace collar forms a +ruff with two rows. The top and bottom of the body are hooked inside, +but seem to be held by three gold double buttons; these twin buttons are +attached together by a small gold chain. Those at bottom have a longer +chain than the others. The sleeves are straight with a cuff turned up +and standing out from the sleeve. Shirt of plain poplin, trimmed in +front with velvet ribbons nearly half an inch wide, and continued all +round the bottom. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Carriage Costume.] + +Carriage Costume.--Dress of _glacé_ silk; body half high, and open in +front; waist long and slightly pointed; the body a tight fit and trimmed +with a rich fancy trimming. The short skirt is very full, rounded at the +corners _a la robes_, and trimmed to correspond with the corsage. The +gathers at the waist are confined by narrow rows of _guimpe_. The skirt +is long and very full, with a row of silk trimming laid on the hem at +the bottom. Bonnet of _paille de riz;_ brim very open. Feathers are +placed low at the right side. Lined with fulled _tulle_, ornamented +with pink satin A shawl of white cachmere, with very deep fringe. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Caps and Undersleeve.] + +Caps.--The cap is almost universally worn as a part of morning costume. +Nos. 1 and 2 represent two of the latest styles, adapted for the cool +mornings of autumn. Those of a _negligé_ form are generally composed of +muslin, embroidered _au plumetis_, or cambric, entirely covered with the +richest kind of English embroidery, which sometimes resembles a splendid +_guipure_. When the lappets are not formed of the same material, we see +them of pink taffetas, attached to the cap, with a bunch of _coques_, +composed of the same colored ribbon very full, and put on so as to +replace the full bands of hair. + +Undersleeves, so elegant with open dress sleeves, are worn by all. The +style as well as material has many varieties. No. 3 is a very neat +style, made either of embroidered muslin, or lace. + +Pelisses are becoming very fashionable, made of plain Italian silk, and +trimmed with a fancy ribbon three fingers in width, and bordered on +either side with two narrow ones, appearing as if woven in the dress. We +may cite, as a most elegant costume in this style, a redingote of +pearl-gray, encircled with a ribbon of a pearl-gray ground, over which +is quadrillé dark-blue velvet, having the narrow rows on either side. +The front of the pelisse is closed with eight or ten rows of the same +kind of ribbon, each end being turned back so as to form a point, from +which depends a small blue and gray mixed tassel. The corsage is formed +with broad facings, encircled to match the lower part of the sleeves. + +Jewelry.--The _châtelaine_ is now replaced, in a measure, by waistcoat +chains, attached at both ends, the middle forming a festoon. _Brooches_ +are very rich; the finest are cameos set round with brilliants. +_Ear-rings_ are composed of large stones mounted in plain rings, without +pendants. _Bracelets_ are of enamel, sparkling stones, and gold. The +waistcoat button is now a very elegant piece of jewelry. + + * * * * * + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + PUNCTUATION + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + The oe ligature in the words manoeuvre, Phoenix, etc., has been + replaced with the separate letters in this text version. + Superscripted letters are indicated by a caret character, e.g. y^e. + Small capital text has sometimes been replaced with all capitals, + but not where it occurs in names of individuals, footnotes, or + illustrations. + Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired. + This text contains several examples of inconsistent hyphenation, e.g. + two thirds/two-thirds, and word spacing, e.g. mean time/meantime, + which have been retained in this version, except for "Good by" which + has been normalised to "Good-by". + + Pg 582, question mark replaced with exclamation mark (Honor to + Letitia, the mother of Napoleon!) + Pg 680, question mark replaced with exclamation mark (Extremely fine!) + + WORDS AND SPELLING + + pg 579: "women" changed to "woman" (the best woman in France) + pg 588: "hunddred" changed to "hundred" (a population of but about + five hundred thousand) + pg 602: "Limana" normalised to "Limeña" (Limeña at home) + pg 606: "that" changed to "than" (much less depressed than that) + pg 616: "insted" changed to "instead" (twenty guineas, instead of + sixty) + pg 629: "grostesquely" changed to "grotesquely" (His life was + grotesquely checkered) + pg 631: "reched" changed to "reached" (he reached that last degrading + status in society) + pg 647: "guarrantee" changed to "guarantee" (a guarantee for what he + would have done) + pg 654: "massses" changed to "masses" (rude, unshapen masses) + pg 669: "tast" changed to "taste" (the taste of a man) + pg 675: "scluded" changed to "secluded" (having carefully secluded + her from marriage) + pg 695: duplicated word "been" removed (have been busily engaged) + pg 696: duplicated word "that" removed (It is intended that they shall) + pg 700: "it" changed to "its" (derives its supplies of provisions) + pg 715: "controversalists" changed to "controversialists" (merits or + demerits of political controversialists) + pg 720: "paile" changed to "paille" (paille de riz) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. +III, No. XVII, October 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41411 *** |