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diff --git a/41576-0.txt b/41576-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cd4b90 --- /dev/null +++ b/41576-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14212 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41576 *** + +HARPER'S + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + +NO. XI.--APRIL, 1851--VOL. II. + + + + +[Illustration: Washington Irving + +[From a Daguerreotype by Plumbe.]] + + +There is a freshness about the fame and the character of Mr. IRVING, no +less than about his writings, which enables us to contemplate them with +unabated delight. Few men are so identified personally with their +literary productions, or have combined with admiration of their genius +such a cordial, home-like welcome in the purest affections of their +readers. We never become weary with the repetition of his familiar name; +no caprice of fashion tempts us to enthrone a new idol in place of the +ancient favorite; and even intellectual jealousies shrink back before +the soft brilliancy of his reputation. In the present Number of our +Magazine, we give our readers a portrait of the cherished author, with a +sketch of his sunny residence, which we are sure will be a grateful +memorial of one, to whom our countrymen owe such an accumulated fund of +exquisite enjoyments and delicious recollections. We will not let the +occasion pass without a few words of recognition, though conscious of no +wish to indulge in criticisms which at this late day might appear +superfluous. + +The position of Mr. IRVING in American literature is no less peculiar +than it is enviable. With the exception of Mr. PAULDING, none of our +eminent living authors have been so long before the public. He commenced +his career as a writer almost with the commencement of the present +century. The first indications of his rich vein of humor and invention +that appeared through the press, were contained in the Jonathan Oldstyle +Letters, published in the Morning Chronicle in 1802, when he was in the +twentieth year of his age. His health at this time having become +seriously impaired, he spent a few years in European travel, and soon +after his return in 1806, he wrote the sparkling papers in Salmagundi, +which at once decided his position as a shrewd observer of society, a +pointed and vigorous satirist, a graphic delineator of manners, and a +quaint moral teacher, whose joyous humor graciously attempered the +bitterness of his wit. It was not, however, till the appearance of +Knickerbocker, that his unique powers, in this respect, were displayed +in all their vernal bloom, giving the promise of future golden harvests, +which has since been more than redeemed in the richness and beauty of +the varied productions of his genius. + +The lapse of years has brought no cloud over the early brightness of Mr. +Irving's fame. He has sustained his reputation with an elastic vigor +that shows the soundness of its elements. At the dawn of American +letters, he was acknowledged to possess those enchantments of style, +that betray the hand of a master. His rare genius captivated all hearts. +His name was identified by our citizens with the racy chronicles of +their Dutch ancestors, and soon became associated with local +recollections and family traditions. Born in a quarter of the town, +whose original features have passed away before the encroachments of +business, he has witnessed the growth of his fame with the growth of the +city. The memory of Diedrich Knickerbocker is now immortalized at the +corners of the streets, and in our most crowded thoroughfares. Even the +dusty haunts of Mammon are refreshed with the emblems of a man of genius +who once trod their pavements. + +With his successive publications, a new phase of Mr. Irving's +intellectual character was displayed to the public, but with no decrease +of the admiration, which from the first had stamped him as a universal +favorite. The Sketch Book, Bracebridge Hall, and Tales of a Traveler +revealed a magic felicity of description, with a pathetic tenderness of +sentiment, that gave a still more mellow beauty to his composition; +while his elaborate historical work, The Life of Columbus, established +his reputation for unrivaled skill in sustaining the continuous interest +of a narrative, and in grouping its details with admirable picturesque +effect. His later productions, illustrative of Indian life, and his +still more recent works on the history of Mahomet and the biography of +Goldsmith, are marked with the characteristic traits of the author, +proving that his right hand has lost none of its cunning, nor his tongue +aught of its mellifluous sweetness. + +It is highly creditable to the tastes of the present generation, that +Mr. Irving retains, to such a remarkable degree, his wonted ascendency. +Other authors of acknowledged eminence have arisen in various +departments of literature, since he won his earlier laurels, and many of +them since he has ceased to be a young man, but they have not enticed +the more youthful class of readers from the allegiance which was paid to +him by their fathers. The monarch that knew not Joseph has not yet +ascended the throne. Indeed many of the most true-hearted admirers of +Mr. Irving were not born until long after the Sketch Book had made his +name a household word among the tasteful readers of English literature. +This enduring popularity could not spring from any accidental causes. It +must proceed from those qualities in the author, which are the pledge of +a permanent fame. If a foretaste of literary immortality is desirable on +earth, we may congratulate Mr. Irving on the possession of one of its +most significant symbols, in the unfading brilliancy of his reputation +for little less than half a century. + +We have already alluded to the use made by Mr. Irving of the historical +legends of our country. Nor is this his only claim on the American +heart. He is peculiarly a national writer. He has sought his +inspirations from the woods and streams, the lakes and prairies of his +native land. No poet has been more successful in throwing the spell of +romance around our familiar scenery. Under his creative pen the lordly +heights of the Hudson have become classic ground. The beings of his +weird fancy have peopled their forest dells, and obtained a "local +habitation" as permanent as the river and the mountains. His love of +country is a genial passion, inspired by the reminiscences of his youth, +and quickened by the studies of his manhood. He is proud of his +birthright in a land of freedom. His protracted residence abroad has +never seduced him from the ardor of his first attachment to the American +soil. His favorite writings are pervaded with this spirit. Yet he +betrays none of the prejudices of national pride. His patriotism is free +from all tincture of bigotry. He scorns the narrowness of exclusive +partialities. With genuine cosmopolitan tastes, he gathers up all that +is precious and beautiful in the traditions, or manners, or institutions +of other lands, finding materials for his gorgeous pictures in the +ancestral glories of English castles, and the splendid ruins of the +Alhambra, as well as in the quaint legends of Manhattan, and the +adventures of trapper life in the Far West. This singular universality +has given him the freedom of the whole literary world. As he every where +finds himself at home, his fame is not the monopoly of any nation. He +has his circle of admirers around the hearth-stones of every cultivated +people. Even the English, who are slow to recognize a melody in their +own language when spoken by a transatlantic tongue, have vied with his +countrymen in rendering homage to his genius. His evident mastery, even +in those departments of composition which have been the favorite sphere +of the most popular English writers, has softened the asperity of +criticism, and won a genial admiration from the worshipers of Addison, +Goldsmith, and Mackenzie. In this respect Mr. Irving stands alone among +American writers. Cherished with a glow of affectionate enthusiasm by +his own countrymen, he has secured a no less beautiful fame among +myriads of readers, with whom his sole intellectual tie is the +spontaneous attraction of his genius. + +His universality is displayed with equal strength in the influence which +he exerts over all classes of minds. He has never been raised to a +factitious eminence by the applauses of a clique. His fame is as natural +and as healthy as his character, owing none of its lustre to the gloss +of flattery, or the glare of fashion. His themes have been taken, to a +great extent from common life. He has derived the coloring of his +pictures from the universal sentiments of humanity. He is equally free +from cold, prosaic, common-place hardness of feeling and from sickly and +mawkish effeminacy. He loves to deal with matters of fact, but always +surrounds them with the light of his radiant imagination. He exalts and +glorifies the actual, without losing it in the clouds of a vaporous +ideal. Refined and fastidious in feeling, he retains his sympathy with +the most homely realities of life, chuckles over the luscious comforts +of a Dutch ménage, and professes no philosophical indifference to the +savor of smoking venison in an Indian lodge. With the curious felicity +of his style, he uses no strange and far-fetched words. Its charm +depends on the beauty of its combinations, not on the rarity of its +language. He employs terms that are in the mouths of the people, but +weaves them up into those expressive and picturesque forms that never +cease to haunt the memory of the reader. Accordingly, he is cherished +with equal delight by persons of every variety of culture. His +fascinating volumes always formed a part of the traveling equipage of +one of the most celebrated New-England judges, and they may be found +with no less certainty among the household goods of the emigrant, and +the resources for a rainy day on the frugal shelves of the Yankee +farmer. They still detain the old man from his pillow, and the schoolboy +from his studies. Under their potent charm, the merchant forgets his +Wall-street engagements; the preacher lingers over their seductive +sentences till the Sunday becomes an astonishment; the statesman is +beguiled into oblivion of the salvation of his country; and the advocate +is absorbed in the fortunes of some "roystering varlet," till his own +forlorn client loses all chance of recovering his character. + +The writings of Mr. Irving are no less distinguished by the truthfulness +and purity of their moral tone, than by their delightful humor, and +their apt delineations of nature and society. It is small praise to say +that he never panders to a vicious sentiment, that he makes no appeal to +a morbid imagination, and has written nothing to encourage a false and +effeminate view of life. His merits, in this respect, are of a positive +character. No one can be familiar with his productions, without +receiving a kindly and generous influence. His goodness of heart +communicates a benignant contagion to his readers. His mild and +beautiful charity, his spirit of wise tolerance, the considerateness and +candor of his judgments, the placable gentleness of his temper, and the +just appreciation of the infinite varieties of character and life are +adapted to mitigate the harshness of the cynic, and even to quell the +wild furies of the bigot. His sharpest satire never degenerates into +personal abuse. It seems the efflorescence of a rich nature, susceptible +to every shade of the ludicrous, rather than the overflow of a poisonous +fountain, spreading blight and mildew in its course. If he laughs at the +follies of the world, it is not that he has any less love for the good +souls who commit them, but that with his exuberant good-nature he has no +heart to use a more destructive weapon than his lambent irony. With his +fine moral influence, he never affects the sternness of a reformer. He +is utterly free from all didactic pedantry. We know nothing that he has +written with a view to ethical effect. He reveals his own nature in the +sweet flow of his delicate musings, and if he does good it is with +delightful unconsciousness. He would blush to find that he had been +useful when he aimed only to give pleasure, or rather to relieve his own +mind of its "thick coming fancies." + +In describing the position of Mr. Irving in the field of American +literature, we have incidentally touched upon the characteristics of his +genius, to which he is indebted for his high and enviable fame. We need +not expand our rapid sketch into a labored analysis. Indeed every just +criticism of his writings would only repeat the verdict that has so +often been pronounced by the universal voice. + +Nor is it exclusively as a writer that Mr. Irving has won such a +distinguished place in the admiration of his countrymen. While proud of +his successes in the walks of literature, they have regarded his +personal character with affectionate delight, and lavished the heartfelt +sympathies on the man which are never paid to the mere author. The +purity of this offering is the more transparent, as Mr. Irving has never +courted the favor of the public, nor been placed in those relations with +his fellow-men, that are usually the conditions of general popularity. +He has wisely kept himself apart from the excitements of the day; with +decided political opinions, he has abstained from every thing like +partisanship; no one has been able to count on his advocacy of any +special interests; and with his singular fluency and grace of +expression in written composition, he has never affected the arts +of popular oratory. His habits have been those of the well-educated +gentleman--neither cherishing the retirement of the secluded student, +nor seeking a prominence in public affairs--throwing a charm over the +social circles which he frequented by the brilliancy of his intellect, +the amenity of his manners, and the ease of his colloquial +intercourse--but never surrounded by the prestige of factitious +distinction by which so many inferior men obtain an ephemeral notoriety. +His appointment as Minister to Spain has been his sole official honor; +and this was rather a tribute to his literary eminence than the reward +of political services. On his return from Europe in 1832, after an +absence of nearly twenty years, he was received with a spontaneous +welcome by his fellow-citizens, such as has been seldom enjoyed by the +most successful claimants of popular favor; and from that time to the +present, no one has shown a more undisputed title to the character of +the favorite son of Manhattan. In his beautiful retreat at Sunnyside, +"as quiet and sheltered a nook as the heart of man could desire in which +to take refuge from the cares and troubles of this world," he listens to +the echoes of his fame, cheered by the benedictions of troops of +friends, and enjoying the autumn maturity of life with no mists of envy +and bitterness to cloud the purple splendors of his declining sun. + +It is understood that Mr. Irving is now engaged in completing the Life +of Washington, a work of which he commenced the preparation before his +residence in Europe as Minister to the Spanish Court. We are informed +that it will probably be given to the public in the course of another +season. It can not fail to prove a volume of national and household +interest. The revered features of the Immortal Patriot will assume a +still more benignant aspect, under the affectionate and skillful touches +of the congenial Artist. With his unrivaled power of individualization, +his practiced ability in historical composition, and his acute sense of +the moral perspective in character, he will present the illustrious +subject of his biography in a manner to increase our admiration of his +virtues, and to inspire a fresh enthusiasm for the wise and beneficent +principles of which his life was the sublime embodiment. There is a +beautiful propriety in the still more intimate connection of the name of +WASHINGTON IRVING with that of the FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY. It is meet +that the most permanent and precious memorial of the First Chief of the +American Republic should be presented by the Patriarch of American +Letters. It would be a fitting close of his bright career before the +public--the melodious swan-song of his historic Muse. + +[Illustration: SUNNYSIDE, THE RESIDENCE OF WASHINGTON IRVING.] + + + + +[Illustration: William Cullen Bryant.] + + +The birthplace of Mr. BRYANT, in a secluded and romantic spot +among the mountains of western Massachusetts, seems to have been +selected by Nature as a fit residence for the early unfolding of high +poetic genius. Situated on the forest elevations above the beautiful +valley of the Connecticut in the old county of Hampshire, surrounded by +a rare combination of scenery, in which are impressively blended the +wild and rugged with the soft and graceful, adorned in summer with the +splendors of a rapid and luxuriant vegetation, in winter exposed to the +fiercest storms from the northwest which bury the roads and almost the +houses in gigantic snow-drifts, inhabited by a hardy and primitive +population which exhibit the peculiar traits of New England character in +their most salient form, the little town of Cummington has the +distinction of giving birth to the greatest American poet. + +It was here that he was first inspired with a sense of the glory and +mystery of Nature--first learned to "hold communion with her visible +forms," and to lend his ear to her "various language"--first awoke to +the consciousness of the "vision and the faculty divine," which he has +since displayed in such manifold forms of poetic creation. It was under +the shadow of his "native hills"-- + + "Broad, round, and green, that in the summer sky + With garniture of waving grass and grain, + Orchards, and beechen forests basking lie, + While deep the sunless glens are scooped between + Where brawl o'er shallow beds the streams unseen"-- + +in the "groves which were God's first temples," where the "sacred +influences" + + "From the stilly twilight of the place, + And from the gray old trunks, that high in heaven + Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound + Of the invisible breath, that swayed at once + All their green tops, stole over him"-- + +that the spirit of the boy-poet was touched with the mystic harmonies of +the universe, and received those impressions of melancholy grandeur from +natural objects, which pervade the most characteristic productions of +his genius. + +Mr. BRYANT'S vocation for poetry was marked at a very early age. The +history of literature scarcely affords an example of such a precocious, +and, at the same time, such a healthy development. His first efforts +betray no symptoms of a forced, hot-bed culture, but seem the +spontaneous growth of a prolific imagination. They are free from the +spasmodic forces which indicate a morbid action of the intellect, and +flow in the polished, graceful, self-sustaining tranquillity, which is +usually the crowning attainment of a large and felicitous experience. +Among his earliest productions were several translations from different +Latin poets, some of which, made at ten years of age, were deemed so +successful, as to induce his friends to publish them in the newspaper of +a neighboring town. These were followed by a regular satirical +poem, entitled "The Embargo," written during the heated political +controversies concerning the policy of Mr. Jefferson, many of whose most +strenuous opponents resided at Northampton (at that time the centre of +political and social influence to a wide surrounding country), and from +the contagion of whose intelligence and zeal, the susceptible mind of +the young poet could not be expected to escape. This was published in +Boston, in 1808, before the author had completed his fourteenth year. +Its merits were at once acknowledged; it was noticed in the principal +literary review of that day; it was read with an eagerness in proportion +to the warmth of party spirit; and, indeed, so strong was the impression +which it made on the most competent judges, that nothing but the +explicit assertions of the friends of the writer could convince them of +its genuineness. It seemed, in all respects, too mature and finished a +performance to have proceeded from such a juvenile pen. This point, +however, was soon decided, and if any remaining doubts lingered in their +minds, they might have been removed by the production of "Thanatopsis," +which was written about four years after, when the author was in the +beginning of his nineteenth year. + +This remarkable poem was not published until 1816, when it appeared in +the North American Review, then under the charge of Mr. DANA, +who has himself since attained to such a signal eminence among the poets +and essayists of America, and between whom and Mr. Bryant a singular +unity of intellectual tastes laid the foundation for a cordial +friendship, which has been maintained with a warmth and constancy in the +highest degree honorable to the character of both parties. Meanwhile, +Mr. Bryant had established himself in the profession of the law, in the +beautiful village of Great Barrington, exchanging the mountain wildness +of his native region, for the diversified and singularly lovely scenery +of the Housatonic Valley, where he composed the lines "To Green Elver," +"Inscription for an entrance to a Wood," "To a Waterfowl," and several +of his other smaller poems, which have since hardly been surpassed by +himself, and certainly not by any other American writer. + +The "Thanatopsis," viewed without reference to the age at which it was +produced, is one of the most precious gems of didactic verse in the +whole compass of English poetry, but when considered as the composition +of a youth of eighteen, it partakes of the character of the marvelous. +It is, however, unjust to its rich and solemn beauty to contemplate it +in the light of a prodigy. Nor are we often tempted to revert to the +singularity of its origin, when we yield our minds to the influence of +its grand and impressive images. It seems like one of those majestic +products of nature, to which we assign no date, and which suggest no +emotion but that of admiration at their glorious harmony. + +The objection has been made to the "Thanatopsis," that its consolations +in view of death are not drawn directly from the doctrines of religion, +and that it in fact makes no express allusion to the Divine Providence, +nor to the immortality of the soul. These ideas are so associated in +most minds with the subject matter of the poem, that their omission +causes a painful sense of incongruity. But the writer was not composing +a homily, nor a theological treatise. His imagination was absorbed with +the soothing influences of nature under the anticipation of the "last +bitter hour." In order to make the contrast more forcible, the poem +opens with a cold and dreary picture of the common destiny. Earth claims +the body which she has nourished; man is doomed to renounce his +individual being and mingle with the elements; kindred with the sluggish +clod, his mould is pierced by the roots of the spreading oak. The sun +shall no more see him in his daily course, nor shall any traces of his +image remain on earth or ocean. + +But the universality of this fate relieves the desolation of the +prospect. Nature imparts a solace to her favorite child, glides into his +darker musings with mild and healing sympathy, and gently counsels him +not to look with dread on the mysterious realm, which is the final goal +of humanity. No one retires alone to his eternal resting-place. No couch +more magnificent could be desired than the mighty sepulchre in which +kings and patriarchs have laid down to their last repose. Every thing +grand and lovely in nature contributes to the decoration of the great +tomb of man. The dead are every where. The sun, the planets, the +infinite host of heaven, have shone on the abodes of death through the +lapse of ages. The living, who now witness the departure of their +companions without heed, will share their destiny. With these kindly +admonitions, Nature speaks to the spirit when it shudders at the thought +of the stern agony and the narrow house. + +The stately movement of the versification, the accumulated grandeur of +the imagery, the vein of tender and solemn pathos, and the spirit of +cheerful trust at the close, which mark this extraordinary poem, render +it more effective, in an ethical point of view, than volumes of +exhortation; while, regarded as a work of art, the unity of purpose with +which its leading thought is presented under a variety of aspects, gives +it a completeness and symmetry which remove the force of the objection +to which we have alluded. + +In a similar style of majestic thought is the "Forest Hymn," from which +we can not refrain from quoting an inimitable passage, descriptive of +the alternation between Life and Death in the Universe, which seems to +us to open the heart of the mystery with a truthfulness of insight that +has found expression in language of unsurpassable energy. + + "My heart is awed within me, when I think + Of the great miracle that still goes on + In silence, round me--the perpetual work + Of thy creation, finish'd, yet renew'd + Forever. Written on thy works, I read + The lesson of thy own eternity. + Lo! all grow old and die--but see, again, + How on the faltering footsteps of decay + Youth presses--ever gay and beautiful youth, + In all its beautiful forms. These lofty trees + Wave not less proudly that their ancestors + Moulder beneath them. O, there is not lost + One of earth's charms: upon her bosom yet, + After the flight of untold centuries, + The freshness of her far beginning lies, + And yet shall lie. Life mocks the idle hate + Of his arch-enemy, Death--yea, seats himself + Upon the tyrant's throne--the sepulchre, + And of the triumphs of his ghastly foe + Makes his own nourishment. For he came forth + From thine own bosom, and shall have no end." + +The soft and exquisite beauty of the lines entitled "To a Waterfowl" is +appreciated by every reader of taste. They belong to that rare class of +poems which, once read, haunt the imagination with a perpetual charm. A +more natural expression of true religious feeling than that contained in +the closing stanzas, is nowhere to be met with. + + "Thou 'rt gone, the abyss of heaven + Hath swallow'd up thy form; yet, on my heart + Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, + And shall not soon depart. + + "He who, from zone to zone, + Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, + In the long way that I must tread alone, + Will lead my steps aright." + +[Illustration: BRYANT'S RESIDENCE, AT ROSLYN, (HEMPSTEAD HARBOR) L. I.] + +But we have no space to dwell upon the attractive details of Mr. +Bryant's poetry, though it would be a grateful task to pass in review +the familiar productions, of which we can weary as little as of the +natural landscape. It needs no profound analysis to state their most +general characteristics. Bryant's descriptions of nature are no less +remarkable for their minute accuracy than for the richness and delicacy +of their suggestions in the sphere of sentiment. No one can ever be +tempted to accuse him of obtaining his knowledge of nature at second +hand. He paints nothing which he has not seen. His images are derived +from actual experience. Hence they have the vernal freshness of an +orchard in bloom. He is no less familiar with the cheerful tune of +brooks in flowery June than with the voices and footfalls of the +thronged city. He has watched the maize-leaf and the maple-bough growing +greener under the fierce sun of midsummer; the mountain wind has +breathed its coolness on his brow; he has gazed at the dark figure of +the wild-bird painted on the crimson sky; and listened to the sound of +dropping nuts as they broke the solemn stillness of autumn woods. The +scenes of nature which he has loved and wooed have rewarded him with +their beautiful revelations in the moral world. Her dim symbolism has +become transparent to the anointed eye of the reverent bard, and +initiated him into the mysteries which give a new significance to the +material creation. + +It is true that the staple of his poetry is reflection, rather than +passion, reminding us of the chaste severity of sculpture, and not +appealing to the fancy by any sensuous or voluptuous arts of coloring. +But a deep sentiment underlies the expression; and he touches the +springs of emotion with a powerful hand, though he never ceases to be +master of his own feelings. The apparent coldness of which some have +complained, may be ascribed to the frigidity of the reader, with more +truth than to the apathy of the writer. With its highly intellectual +character, the poetry of Mr. Bryant is adapted to win a more profound +and lasting admiration than if it were merely the creation of a +productive fancy. It may gain a more limited circle of readers (although +its universal popularity sets aside this supposition), but they who have +once enjoyed its substantial reality will place it on the same shelf +with Milton and Wordsworth, with a "sober certainty" that they will +always find it instinct with a fresh and genuine vitality. + +The influence of this poetry is of a pure and ennobling character; never +ministering to false or unhealthy sensibility, it refreshes the better +feelings of our nature; inspiring a tranquil confidence in the on-goings +of the Universe, with whose most beautiful manifestations we are brought +into such intimate communion. Its most pensive tones, which murmur such +sweet, sad music, never lull the soul in the repose of despair, but +inspire it with a cheerful hope in the issues of the future. The +"inexorable Past" shall yet yield the treasures which are hidden in its +mysterious depths, and every thing good and fair be renewed in "the +glory and the beauty of its prime." + + "All shall come back, each tie + Of pure affection shall be knit again; + Alone shall Evil die, + And Sorrow dwell a prisoner in thy reign." + +As a prose writer, Mr. Bryant is distinguished for signal excellencies +both of thought and expression, evincing a remarkable skill in various +departments of composition, from the ephemeral political essay to the +high-wrought fictitious tale, and graphic recollections of foreign +travel. The superior brightness of his poetic fame can alone prevent him +from being known to posterity as a vigorous and graceful master of +prose, surpassed by few writers of the present day. + + + + +THE CRYSTAL PALACE. + + +In the early months of last year the Great Exhibition had become as +nearly a "fixed fact" as any thing in the future can be. The place where +and the building in which it was to be held, then became matters for +grave consideration. The first point, fortunately, presented little +difficulty, the south side of Hyde-park, between Kensington-road and +Rotten-row, having been early selected as the locality. + +The construction of the edifice, however, presented difficulties not so +easily surmounted. The Building Committee, comprising some of the +leading architects and engineers of the kingdom, among whom are Mr. +Barry, the architect of the new Houses of Parliament, and Mr. +Stephenson, the constructor of the Britannia Tubular Bridge, advertised +for plans to be presented for the building. When the committee met, they +found no want of designs; their table was loaded with them, to the +number of 240. Their first task was to select those which were +positively worthless, and throw them aside. By this process the +number for consideration was reduced to about sixty; and from +these the committee proceeded to concoct a design, which pleased +nobody--themselves least of all. However, the plan, such as it was, was +decided upon, and advertisements were issued for tenders for its +construction. This was the signal for a fierce onslaught upon the +proceedings of the committee. For the erection of a building which was +to be used for only a few months, more materials were to be thrown into +one of the main lungs of the metropolis, than were contained in the +eternal pyramids of Egypt. Moreover, could the requisite number of miles +of brickwork be constructed within the few weeks of time allotted? and +was it not impossible that this should, in so short a time, become +sufficiently consolidated to sustain the weight of the immense iron dome +which, according to the design of the committee, was to rest upon it? + +The committee, fortunately, were not compelled to answer these and a +multitude of similar puzzling interrogatories which were poured in upon +them. Relief was coming to them from an unexpected quarter: whence, we +must go back a little to explain. + +On New Year's Day, of the year 1839, Sir Robert Schomburgk, the +botanist, was proceeding in a native boat up the River Berbice, in +Demerara. In a sheltered reach of the stream, he discovered resting upon +the still waters an aquatic plant, a species of lily, but of a gigantic +size, and of a shape hitherto unknown. Seeds of this plant, to which was +given the name of "Victoria Regia," were transmitted to England, and +were ultimately committed to the charge of JOSEPH PAXTON, the +horticulturist at Chatsworth, the magnificent seat of the Duke of +Devonshire. The plant produced from these seeds became the occasion, and +in certain respects the model, for the Crystal Palace. + +Every means was adopted to place the plant in its accustomed +circumstances. A tropical soil was formed for it of burned loam and +peat; Newcastle coal was substituted for a meridian sun, to produce an +artificial South America under an English heaven; by means of a wheel a +ripple like that of its native river, was communicated to the waters of +the tank upon which its broad leaves reposed. Amid such enticements +the lily could not do otherwise than flourish; and in a month it had +outgrown its habitation. The problem was therefore set before its +foster-father to provide for it, within a few weeks, a new home. This +was not altogether a new task for Mr. Paxton, who had already devoted +much attention to the erection of green-houses; and within the required +space of time, he had completed this house for the "Victoria Regia," and +therein, in the sense in which the acorn includes the oak, that of the +Crystal Palace. + +[Illustration: THE GREAT EXHIBITION BUILDING.] + +While Mr. Paxton was planning an abode for this Brobdignagian lily, the +Building Committee of the Exhibition were poring wearily over the 240 +plans lying upon their table. They had rejected the 180 worthless ones, +and from the remainder had concocted, as we have said, with much +cogitation and little satisfaction, their own design. Such as it was, +however, it was determined that it should be executed--if possible. + +This brings us down to the middle, or to be precise, to the 18th of +June, on which day Mr. Paxton was sitting as chairman on a railway +committee. He had previously made himself acquainted with the case laid +before them, and was not therefore under the necessity of now devoting +his attention to it. He took advantage of this leisure moment to work +out a design for the Exhibition Building, which he had conceived some +days previously. In ten days thereafter elevations, sections, working +plans and specifications, were completed from this draft, and the whole +was submitted to the inspection of competent and influential persons, by +whom it was unanimously announced to be practicable, and the only +practicable scheme presented. + +This design was then laid before the contractors, Messrs. Fox and +Henderson, who at once determined to submit a tender for the +construction of a building in accordance with it. In a single week, they +had calculated the amount and cost of every pound of iron, every pane of +glass, every foot of wood, and every hour of labor which would be +required, and were prepared with a tender and specifications for the +construction of the edifice. But here arose a difficulty. The committee +had advertised only for proposals for carrying out their own design; +but, fortunately, they had invited the suggestion on the part of +contractors, of any improvements upon it; and so Mr. Paxton's plan was +presented simply as an "improvement" upon that of the committee, with +which it had not a single feature in common. This, with certain +modifications, was adopted, and the result is the Crystal Palace--itself +the greatest wonder which the Exhibition will present--the exterior of +which is represented in our accompanying Illustration. + +The building consists of three series of elevations of the respective +heights of 64, 44, and 24 feet, intersected at the centre by a transept +of 72 feet in width, having a semicircular roof rising to the height of +108 feet in the centre. It extends in length 1851 feet from north to +south, more than one-third of a mile, with a breadth of 456 feet upon +the ground; covering 18 superficial acres, nearly double the extent of +our own Washington-square; and exceeding by more than one half the +dimensions of the Park or the Battery. The whole rests upon cast-iron +pillars, united by bolts and nuts, fixed to flanges turned perfectly +true, so that if the socket be placed level, the columns and +connecting-pieces must stand upright; and, in point of fact, not a +crooked line is discoverable in the combination of such an immense +number of pieces. For the support of the columns, holes are dug in the +ground, in which is placed a bed of concrete, and upon this rest iron +sockets of from three to four feet in length, according to the level of +the ground, to which the columns are firmly attached by bolts and nuts. +At the top, each column is attached by a girder to its opposite column, +both longitudinally and transversely, so that the whole eighteen acres +of pillars is securely framed together. + +The roofs, of which there are five, one to each of the elevations, are +constructed on the "ridge and furrow" principle, and glazed +with sheets of glass of 49 inches in length. The construction will be at +once understood by imagining a series of parallel rows of the letter V +(thus, \/\/\/), extending in uninterrupted lines the whole length of the +building. The apex of each ridge is formed by a wooden sash-bar with +notches upon each side for holding the laths in which are fitted the +edges of the glass. The bottom bar, or rafter, is hollowed at the top so +as to form a gutter to carry off the water, which passes through +transverse gutters into the iron columns, which are hollow, thus serving +as water-pipes; in the base of the columns horizontal pipes are +inserted, which convey the accumulated water into the sewers. The +exhalations, from so large an extent of surface, from the plants, and +from the breath of the innumerable visitors, rising and condensed +against the glass, would descend from a flat roof in the form of a +perpetual mist, but it is found that from glass pitched at a particular +angle the moisture does not fall, but glides down its surface. The +bottom bars are therefore grooved on the inside, thus forming interior +gutters, by which the moisture also finds its way down the interior of +the columns, through the drainage pipes, into the sewers. These grooved +rafters, of which the total length is 205 miles, are formed by +machinery, at a single operation. + +The lower tier of the building is boarded, the walls of the upper +portion being composed, like the roof, of glass. Ventilation is provided +for by the basement portion being walled with iron plates, placed at an +angle of 45 degrees, known as _luffer-boarding_, which admits the air +freely, while it excludes the rain. A similar provision is made at the +top of each tier of the building. These are so constructed that they can +be closed at pleasure. In order to subdue the intense light in a +building having such an extent of glass surface, the whole roof and the +south side will be covered with canvas, which will also preclude the +possibility of injury from hail, as well as render the edifice much +cooler. + +In the construction of the building care has been taken to give to each +part the stiffest and strongest form possible in a given quantity of +material. The columns are hollow, and the girders which unite them are +trellis-formed. The utmost weight which any girder will ever be likely +to sustain is seven and a half tons; and not one is used until after +having been tested to the extent of 15 tons; while the breaking weight +is calculated at 30 tons. At first sight, there would seem to be danger +that a building presenting so great a surface to the action of the wind, +would be liable to be blown down. But from the manner in which the +columns are framed together they can not be overthrown except by +breaking them. Experiments show that in order to break the 1060 columns +on the ground floor, a force of 6360 tons must be exerted, at a height +of 24 feet. The greatest force of the wind ever known is computed at 22 +pounds to the superficial foot; assuming a possible force of 28 pounds, +and suppose a hurricane of that momentum to strike at once the whole +side of the building, the total force would be less than 1500 tons--not +one-fourth of the capacity of the building to sustain, independent of +the bracings, which add materially to its strength. So that, if any +reliance at all can be placed upon theoretical engineering, there can be +no doubt as to the safety of the building. + +Entering at the main east or west entrance, we find ourselves in a nave +64 feet in height, 72 in breadth, and extending without interruption the +whole length of the building, one-third of a mile. Parallel with this, +but interrupted by the transept in the centre, are a series of side +aisles of 48 and 24 feet in breadth, with a height of 44 and 24 feet. +Over the centre of the nave swells the semicircular roof of the +transept, overarching the stately trees beneath--a Brobdignagian +green-house with ancient elms instead of geraniums and rose-bushes. The +whole area of the ground floor is 772,784 square feet; and that of the +galleries 217,100; making in all within a fraction of one million square +feet; to which may be added 500,000 feet of hanging-space, available for +the display of the products of human heads and hands. + +There are three refreshment rooms, one in the transept, and one near +each end, around the trees which were left standing, where ices and +pastry for the wealthy, and bread-and-butter and cheese for the poorer +are to be furnished. No wine, spirits, or fermented liquors are to be +sold; only tea, coffee, and unfermented drinks; pure water is to be +furnished gratis to all comers by the lessees of the refreshment rooms. + +In respect to the decoration of the interior, a keen controversy has +been waged. The fact of iron being the material of construction renders +it necessary that it should be painted to preserve it from the action of +the atmosphere. On the one hand, it is said that the fact that the +structure is metallic should be indicated by the decoration, otherwise +the whole will have no more appearance of stability than an arbor of +wicker-work. Those who take this view recommend that the interior +should be bronzed. On the other hand, those to whom the decoration is +intrusted affirm that the object of using color is to increase the +effect of light and shade. If the whole were of one uniform dead color +the effect of the innumerable parts of which the building is composed, +all falling in similar lines, one before the other, would be precisely +that of a plane surface; the extended lines of pillars presenting the +aspect of a continuous wall. In order to bring out the distinctive +features of the building various colors must be used; and experiments +show that a combination of the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow, is +most pleasant to the eye. The best means for using these is to place +blue, which retreats, upon the concave surfaces, yellow, which advances, +upon the convex ones, reserving red for plane surfaces. But as when +these colors come in contact each becomes tinged with the complementary +color of the other--the blue with green, the red with orange--a line of +white is interposed between them. Applying these principles, the shafts +of the columns are to be yellow, the concave portions of their capitals +blue, the under side of the girders red, and their vertical surfaces +white. + +Among all the wonders of the Crystal Palace nothing is more wonderful +than its cheapness, and the rapidity of its construction. Possession of +the site was obtained on the 30th of July; in a period of only 145 +working-days the building was to all intents and purposes completed. As +to cheapness it costs less per cubic foot than an ordinary barn. If used +only for the Exhibition, and at its close returned to the contractors, +the cost will be nine-sixteenths of a penny a foot; or, if permanently +purchased, it will be one penny and one-twelfth. Thus: The solid +contents are 33,000,000 cubic feet; the price if returned is £79,800, if +retained £150,000. This simple fact, that a building of glass and iron, +covering eighteen acres, affording room for nine miles of tables, should +have been completed in less than five months from the day when the +contract was entered into, at a cost less than that of the humblest +hovel, opens a new era in the science of building. + +As to the final destination of the Crystal Palace, it is the wish of the +designer that it should be converted into a permanent winter-garden with +drives and promenades. Leaving ample space for plants, there would be +two miles of walks in the galleries, and the same amount for walks upon +the ground floor; in summer the removal of the upright glass would give +the whole the appearance of a continuous walk or garden. + + + + +[Illustration: VOYAGE IN SEARCH OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN] + + +Sir JOHN FRANKLIN, in command of the "Erebus" and "Terror," having on +board one hundred and thirty-eight souls, set sail from England on the +19th of May, 1845, in search of a northwest passage. On the 26th of +July, sixty-eight days afterward, they were seen by a passing whaler +moored to an iceberg near the centre of Baffin's Bay; since which time +no intelligence of their fate has been received. No special anxiety was +entertained respecting them until the beginning of 1848, for the +commander had intimated that the voyage would probably continue for +three years, and that they might be the first to announce their own +return. But as month after month passed away without bringing any +tidings, an anxious and painful sympathy sprung up in the public mind, +and the British Government determined that searches for the missing +vessels should be made in three different quarters by three separate +expeditions fitted out for that purpose. + +One quarter, however, that region known as Boothia, where there was a +probability of success, was beyond the scope of these expeditions, and +Lady Franklin determined to organize an expedition to explore that +region. For this purpose she appropriated all the means under her +control; and a subscription was opened to supply the deficiency. The +"Prince Albert," a ketch of less than ninety tons burden, measuring in +length about seventy-two feet, and seventeen in breadth, was purchased +for the expedition. She was taken to Aberdeen to be fitted up; a double +planking was put upon her, by way of pea-jacket to fit her for her +arctic voyage, and a crew of fourteen canny Scotchmen, secured by the +promise of double pay. Captain Forsyth, of the Royal Navy, proffered his +gratuitous services as commander. Attached to the expedition, having +special charge of the stores and scientific instruments, with the +express understanding that he should head one of the exploring parties +to be sent out from Regent's Inlet, was Mr. W. PARKER SNOW, from whose +Journal we propose to draw up some account of the pleasures of sailing +through the ice. + +Mr. Snow seems to have been precisely the man for such an undertaking. +He left America at three days' notice to join any expedition which might +be sent out by Lady Franklin. With an active, hopeful temperament, never +so happy as in a gale of wind, if it was only blowing the right way, he +rushed to the embrace of the Arctic Snows with as much alacrity as +though they were kinsmen as well as namesakes. He had, moreover, a +happy faculty of turning his hand to every thing, and no disposition to +hide his talent in a napkin. A physician had been engaged for the +vessel; but when, two days before sailing, the disciple of Esculapius +saw the diminutive craft, he declined to proceed:--Mr. Snow volunteered +to perform his duties; he had read a little medicine at odd hours; and +by the aid of Rees's Guide, and Smee's Broadsheet, his practice was +uniformly successful--either in spite of, or on account of, his informal +professional training. The sailors, as might be expected from their +Scotch blood, were desirous of having religious worship on board:--Mr. +Snow offered his services as chaplain, reading and expounding the +Scriptures, and offering up prayer. + +On the 6th of June, 1850, the Prince Albert set sail from Aberdeen; a +fortnight brought them within two hundred miles of the shores of +Greenland. Then came, for a week, a succession of heavy gales, which +drove them back upon their course; so that in six days their progress +was not more than a dozen miles. The 1st of July, however, found them +off Cape Farewell. Some idea of the multifarious occupations of the +many-officed Mr. Snow, at a time when his proper duties had not +commenced, may be gathered from his description of + + +LIFE ON SHIPBOARD. + +"At half-past six I used to turn out; and, warm or cold, wet or dry, +take an immediate ablution in the pure and natural element. For half an +hour I would then walk on deck, fair or foul; and, a little before +eight, examine the men's forecastle; see to their condition, and whether +any of them were sick; and if so, give them medicine. At eight bells, I +would then take the chronometrical time for Captain Forsyth, while he +observed the altitude of the sun, to get our longitude. Latterly I used, +by his desire, to take a set of sights also myself, taking the time from +a common watch, and comparing it afterward with the chronometer. The +chronometers were then wound up by me, and the thermometer, barometer, +&c., registered. At eight o'clock the two mates went to breakfast; the +captain and I getting ours soon after them. During the forenoon I had to +attend to the stores, provisions, &c.; write my accounts, journals, and +other papers; and at noon worked up the ship's reckoning, the +observations, and wrote the ship's log, examining our present position +and future course. The mates had their dinner at noon: the captain and I +at three P.M.; after which, a stroll for an hour or so on deck was taken +by both of us. Tea came round at six, and at eight P.M. I used to try +the temperature of the air on deck, and of the sea. After that, we would +read together in the stern cabin. At ten, we would take our hot grog; +and, generally about eleven, when free from rough weather or the +neighborhood of ice, turn in for the night. Very little candle was +required below at night, as there was seldom more than an hour or two's +darkness during any part of our voyage, until we were returning. It was +not long after this date, moreover, that we had continued daylight +through the whole twenty-four hours." + +The principal obstruction and danger in arctic navigation arises from +the ice; fields of which often occur of twenty or thirty miles in +diameter, and ten or fifteen feet in thickness. From these crystal +plains rise sometimes isolated, sometimes in groups, elevations of +thirty or more feet in height, called _hummocks_. Dr. Scoresby once saw +a field so free from hummocks and fissures that a coach might have +traversed it for leagues in a straight direction, without obstruction. +In May or June these fields begin to drift along in solemn procession to +the southwestward, in which direction they hold their steady course, +whether in calm or in spite of adverse winds. When these floating +continents emerge from the drift ice which had hitherto protected them, +they are shattered and broken up by the long, deep swell of the ocean. A +ground-swell, hardly perceptible in the open sea, will break up a field +in a few hours. These fields sometimes acquire a rotary motion, which +gives their circumference a velocity of several miles an hour, producing +a tremendous shock when one impinges upon another. "A body of more than +ten thousand millions of tons in weight," says Dr. Scoresby, "meeting +with resistance when in motion, produces consequences scarcely possible +to conceive. The strongest ship is but an insignificant impediment +between two fields in motion."--Mr. Snow gives the following account of + + +TAKING THE FIRST ICE. + +"We had come so quickly and unexpectedly upon this "stream" (not having +seen it, owing to the thick weather, until close aboard of it), that +promptitude of decision and movement was absolutely necessary. It was +one of those moments when the _seaman_ comes forward, and by boldly +acting, either in the one way or the other, shows what he is made of. In +the present case the question instantly arose as to whether the vessel +should at once run through the ice now before her, or wait until clearer +and milder weather came. The mate, as ice-master, was asked by the +captain which, in his opinion, was best. He advised _heaving to, to +windward of it, and waiting_. The second mate was then asked; and he, +without knowing the other's opinion, strongly urged the necessity of +_running through at once_. Captain Forsyth, using his own judgment, very +wisely decided upon the latter, and accordingly run the ship on. And a +pretty sight, too, it was, as the "Prince Albert" under easy and working +sail, in a moment or two more entered the intricate channels that were +presented to her between numerous bergs and pieces of ice, rough and +smooth, large and small, new and old, dark and white. It was hazy +weather, snowing and raining at the time; and all hands having been +summoned on deck, were wrapped in their oil-skin dresses and waterproof +overcoats. Standing on the topsail-yard was the second mate conning the +ship; half-way up the weather rigging clung the captain, watching and +directing as necessary; while aft, on the raised counter near the wheel, +stood the chief mate telling the helmsman how to steer. This being the +first ice in any large and continuous quantity that we had met, I looked +at it with some curiosity. The moment we had entered within the outer +edge of the stream the water became as smooth as a common pond on +shore; and it was positively a pretty sight to see that little vessel +dodging in and out and threading her way among the numerous pieces of +ice that beset her proper and direct course. The ice itself presented a +most beautiful appearance both in color and form, being variegated in +every direction. We were soon in the very thick of it; and before five +minutes had elapsed from our first taking it we could see no apparent +means of either going on or retracing our steps. But it was well +managed, and after about an hour's turning hither and thither, this way +and that way, straight and crooked, we got fairly through, and found +clear water beyond. + +"Throughout the night the wind blew a complete hurricane, and the short +high sea was perfectly furious; lashing about in all directions with the +madness of a maelström, and with a violence that, apparently, nothing +could resist. Heavy squalls, with sharp sleet and snowstorms from the +southward, added to the fearful tempest that was raging. It was +impossible to see three miles ahead, the weather being so thick. +Occasionally an iceberg would dart out through the mist, heaving its +huge body up and down in frightful motion, now advancing, next receding, +and again approaching with any thing but pleasant proximity. Our little +vessel, however, as usual, stood it well. Could we have divested +ourselves of the reality of the scene, it might have been likened to a +fancy picture, in which some strange and curious dance was being +represented between the sea, the ice, and the ship; the latter, by the +aid of the former, gallantly lifting herself to, and then declining from +the other. But it was too real; and the greater danger of the land being +possibly near, was too strongly impressed upon our minds, to allow any +visionary feeling to possess us at the time. It was the worst and most +dangerous night we had yet had, and hardly a man on board rested quietly +below until the height of it was past." + +Soon after this a boat's crew was sent ashore for water, where in a +lonely spot they discovered the grave of an European, with an +inscription on a rude wooden tablet at its head, stating that "John +Huntley of Shetland, was buried there in August, 1847." The sailors +replaced the board which had blown down; and left the solitary grave, +with the humble tribute of a wish for the repose of the poor fellow's +soul. A few days later while on shore, Mr. Snow was spectator of the + + +OVERTURN OF AN ICEBERG. + +"I was speedily awakened to reality by a sudden noise like the cracking +of some mighty edifice of stone, or the bursting of several pieces of +ordnance. Ere the sound of that noise had vibrated on the air, a +succession of reports like the continued discharge of a heavy fire of +musketry, interspersed with the occasional roar of cannon, followed +quickly upon one another, for the space of perhaps two minutes; when, +suddenly, my eye was arrested by the oscillation of a moderate-sized +iceberg not far beneath my feet, in a line away from the hill I was +upon; and the next moment it tottered, and with a sidelong inclination, +cut its way into the bosom of the sea upon which it had before been +reclining. Roar upon roar pealed in echoes from the mountain heights on +every side: the wild seabird arose with fluttering wings and rapid +flight as it proceeded to a quarter where its quiet would be less +disturbed: the heretofore peaceful water presented the appearance of a +troubled ocean after a fierce gale of wind; and, amid the varied sounds +now heard, human voices from the boat came rising up on high in honest +English--strangely striking on the ear--hailing to know if I had seen +the 'turn,' and also whether I wanted them to join me. But an instant +had not passed before the mighty mass of snow and ice which had so +suddenly overturned, again presented itself above the water. This time, +however, it bore a different shape. The conical and rotten surface that +had been uppermost, when I had first noticed it, was gone, and a smooth, +table-like plane, from which streamed numerous cascades and _jets +d'eau_, was now visible. The former had sunk some hundred feet below, +when the 'berg,' reversing itself, had been overturned by its extreme +upper weight, and thus brought the bottom of it high above the level of +the sea." + +Northward, and still northward: thicker and more continuous grew the +ice-plains, while ever and anon a sound like the discharge of heavy +artillery booming along the lonely seas, announced that one iceberg +after another had burst amid this freezing arctic midsummer. They now +found that they were approaching the great Pack, where their labors were +properly to begin. Due preparations were made, by laying in order +ice-anchors, claws, and axes, getting tow-ropes, warps, and +tracking-belts in order for instant use, and + + +INSTALLING THE CROW'S NEST. + +"The 'Crow's Nest' is a light cask, or any similar object, appointed for +the look-out man aloft to shelter himself in, and is in large ships +generally at the _topmast_ head. In smaller vessels, however, it is +necessary to have it as high up as possible, in order to give from it a +greater scope of vision than could be attained lower down. Consequently, +in the _Prince Albert_ it was close to the 'fore-truck,' that is, +completely at the mast-head. In our case, it was a long, narrow, but +_light_ cask, having at the lower part of it a trap, acting like a +valve, whereby any one could enter; and was open at the upper part. In +length it was about four feet, so that a person on the look-out had no +part of himself exposed to the weather but his head and shoulders. In +the interior of it was a small seat, slung to the hinder part of the +cask, and a spyglass, well secured. To reach this, a rope ladder was +affixed to the bottom of it, as seen in the engraving. This is called +the 'Jacob's Ladder,' and the boatswain may be observed attaching the +lower parts of it to the foremast-head. Upon the top-gallant yard are +two men, busy in securing the cask to the mast, while the second mate is +inside trying its strength, and giving directions concerning it. The +'Crow's Nest' is a favorite place with many whaling captains, who are +rarely out of it for days when among the ice. I was very frequently in +it myself, fair weather or foul--from six to a dozen times a day--both +for personal gratification, and for the purpose of looking out. It was a +favorite spot with me at midnight, when the atmosphere was clear, and +the whole beauty of arctic scenery was exposed to view. It was all fresh +to me: I enjoyed it; and had enough to do, admiring the enormous masses +of ice we were passing, the white-topped mountains in the distance, and +the strange aspect of every thing around me. It seemed, as we slowly +threaded our way through the bergs, that we were about approaching some +great battle-field, in which we were to be actively engaged; and that we +were now, cautiously, passing through the various outposts of the mighty +encampment; at other times I could almost fancy we were about to enter +secretly, by the suburbs, some of those vast and wonderful cities whose +magnificent ruins throw into utter insignificance all the grandeur of +succeeding ages. Silently, and apparently without motion, did we glide +along, amidst dark hazy weather, rain, and enough wind to fill the sails +and steady them, but no more." + +Northward yet, and ever northward:--More frequent and massive grew the +icebergs among which the little "Prince Albert" threaded its way; while +far and near, to the east and north and west the eye met nothing but a +uniform dazzling whiteness shot up from the glittering ice-peaks. Now +and then a bear was seen, sitting a grim sentinel, by some seal-hole, +from which his prey was soon "expected out." As they advanced the ice +closed in around them, until at last they were fairly + + +[Illustration: SURROUNDED BY ICEBERGS.] + +"We were fairly 'in the ice:' but ice of which most readers have no +idea. The water frozen in our ponds and lakes at home is but as a mere +thin pane of glass in comparison to that which now came upon us. Fancy +before you miles and miles of a tabular icy rock eight feet or more, +solid, thick throughout, unbroken, or only by a single rent here and +there, not sufficient to separate the piece itself. Conceive this icy +rock to be in many parts of a perfectly even surface, but in others +covered with what might well be conceived as the ruins of a mighty city +suddenly destroyed by an earthquake, and the remains jumbled together in +one confused mass. Let there be also huge blocks of most fantastic form +scattered about upon this tabular surface, and in some places rising in +towering height, and in one apparently connected chain, far, far beyond +the sight. Take these in your view, and you will have some faint idea of +what was the kind of ice presented to my eye as I gazed upon it from +aloft. We had at last come to the part most dreaded by the daring and +adventurous whalers. _Melville's Bay_, often called, from its fearful +character, the 'Devil's Nip,' was opening to my view, and stretching +away far to the northward out of sight. But neither bay nor aught else, +except by knowledge of its position, could I discover. Every where was +ice; and the wonder to me was, how we were to get on at all through +such an apparently insurmountable barrier. + +"Our position now was becoming more and more confined as to sailing +room. The channel in which we had hitherto been quietly gliding, +narrowed till little better than the breadth of the ship. At 4^h 30^m +P.M. we could get no further, a barrier of 'hummocky' ice intervening +right across our passage between us and some open water, visible not +above seventy yards from us. Speedily the channel through which we had +come began to close, and after trying in vain to force our way through +the obstruction, we found ourselves at six o'clock completely beset. The +_Devil's Thumb_, which was now plainly visible, at this time bore S.E. +(compass) about thirty miles. Other land was also seen topping over +enormous glaciers, which were most wonderful to look at, and used to +entrance my gaze for hours. At six o'clock our actual labors in the ice +commenced. It was beginning to press upon us rather hard; and from the +appearance of that which blocked our way, it was evident there had been +a heavy squeeze here, and we were afraid of getting fixed in another. +Accordingly every effort was made to remove the obstacle which impeded +our passage. We first began to try and _heave_ the ship through by +attaching strong warps to ice anchors, which latter being fastened in +the solid floe, enabled a heavy strain to be put in force. The windlass +was then set to work, but to no purpose, as we hardly gained a fathom. +We next tried what heaving out the pieces that were in our way would do, +but this proved of no avail. The saws were then set to work to cut off +some angular projections that inconveniently pressed against our side; +and while this was being done, I sprung on to the hummocky pieces and +examined the difficulty. The obstacle, however, was not removed; and at +two in the morning a crack in the large floe to the westward of us was +observed to be gradually enlarging. In less than half an hour the water +appeared in larger quantities astern, and a 'lane' was opened, by a +circuitous route, into the clear space ahead of us, whither we wanted to +go. All hands were called to the ship, and the vessel's head turned +round to the southward, any further attempt to get through the channel +we had been working at being given up. Sail was made to a light breeze, +and some delicate manoeuvring had to be accomplished in getting the +ship round and in among some heavy ice, toward the passage we wished to +enter. + +"When I went on deck the next morning about eight, I found the weather +very thick, with heavy rain. Our position seemed to me but little +improved from that of the past night, for numerous 'bergs' of every size +and shape appeared to obstruct our path. A fresh breeze was blowing from +the S.E., and our ship was bounding nimbly to it in water as smooth as a +mill-pond. But no sooner did she get to the end of her course one way, +than she had to retrace her steps and try it another. We seemed +completely hemmed in on every side by heavy packed ice, rough uneven +hummocks, or a complete fleet of enormous bergs. Like a frightened hare +did the poor thing seem to fly, here, there, and every where, vainly +striving to escape from the apparent trap she had got into. It was a +strange and novel sight. For three or four hours--indeed ever since we +had entered this basin of water, we had been vainly striving to find +some passage out of it, in as near a direction as possible to our proper +course, but neither this way, nor any other way, nor even that in which +we had entered (for the passage had again suddenly closed), could we +find one. At last, about ten A.M., an opening between two large bergs +was discovered to the N.W. Without a moment's delay our gallant little +bark was pushed into it, and soon we found ourselves threading through a +complete labyrinth of ice rocks, if they may be so called, where the +very smallest of them, ay, or even a fragment from one of them, if +falling on us, would have splintered into ten thousand pieces the +gallant vessel that had thus thrust herself among them, and would have +buried her crew irretrievably. Wonderful indeed was it all. Numerous +lanes and channels, not unlike the paths and streets of a mighty city, +branched off in several directions; but our course was in those that led +us most to the northward. Onward we pursued our way in this manner for +about two hours, when, suddenly, on turning out of a passage between +some lofty bergs, we found the view opening to us, a field of ice +appearing at the termination of the channel, and at the extreme end a +schooner fast to a 'floe,' that is, lying alongside the flat ice, as by +a quay. The wind was fair for us, blowing a moderate breeze, so that we +soon ran down to her in saucy style, rounding to just ahead of her +position, and making fast in like manner. To our great joy we found +that, as we had suspected, and, indeed, knew, as soon as colors were +hoisted, it was indeed Sir John Ross in the 'Felix.' Glad was I of an +opportunity to see the gallant old veteran, whose name and writings had +latterly been so frequently before me. Directly we got on board, Sir +John Ross came to meet us; I saw before me him who, for four long years +and more, had been incarcerated, hopelessly, with his companions, in +those icy regions to which we ourselves were bound. I was struck with +astonishment! It was nothing, in comparison, for the young and robust to +come on such a voyage; but that _he_, at his time of life, when men +generally think it right--and right, perhaps, it is, too--to sit quietly +down at home by their own firesides, should brave the hardship and +danger once again, was indeed surprising. + +"In the evening both vessels had to move into another position, in +consequence of the bergs approaching too closely toward us. To watch +these mountain, icy monsters in a calm, as they slowly and silently, yet +surely and determinedly, move about in the narrow sheet of water by +which they chance to be encompassed, one could well imagine that it was +some huge mysterious thing, possessed of life, and bent on the fell +purpose of destruction. Onward it almost imperceptibly glides, until +reaching an opposing floe, it forces its way far through the solid ice, +plowing up the pieces and throwing them aside in hilly heaps with a +force and power apparently incredible. Should it happen that an impetus +is given to it by wind, or other causes besides those thus occasioned by +the tide, or current, it is mighty in its strength, and terrific in the +desolation it produces. Nothing can save a ship if thus caught by one, +as was the case in the memorable and fatal year of 1830, in this very +bay, when vessels were 'squeezed flat'--'reared up by the ice, almost in +the position of a rearing horse! others thrown fairly over on their +broadsides; and some actually overrun by the advancing floe and totally +buried by it.'" + +The obstructions presented by the ice continued to increase so that in a +whole fortnight, in spite of the most strenuous exertions, they made +only twelve miles in their northward course. And even this, as they +subsequently learned, was more than was performed by the government +expedition, which was five weeks in advancing thirty miles. On the third +of August, in Melville's Bay, night closed in upon + + +[Illustration: THE PRINCE ALBERT IN A DANGEROUS POSITION.] + +"There was still more danger now, on account of the heavier and worse +kind of ice about us. Several bergs and rugged hummocks were in very +close quarters to us. At four A.M. we had again to unship the rudder; +and this we could hardly do, in consequence of being completely beset. +The 'Felix,' was just ahead; but not a particle of water any where near +or around us could be seen. Several times both vessels were in extreme +danger; and once we sustained a rather heavy pressure, being canted over +on the starboard side most unpleasantly. But the 'Prince Albert' stood +it well; although it was painfully evident that should the heavy outer +floes still keep setting in upon those which inclosed us, nothing could +save her. To describe our position at this moment it will be only +necessary to observe that both vessels were as completely in the ice as +if they had been dropped into it from on high, and frozen there. It had +been impossible for me to sleep during the night in consequence of the +constant harsh grating sound that the floes caused as they slowly and +heavily moved along or _upon_ the ship's side, crushing their outer +edges with a most unpleasant noise close to my ear. My sleeping berth +was half under and half above the level of the water, when the ship was +on an even keel. In the morning I heard the grating sound still stronger +and close to me: I threw myself off the bed and went on deck. From the +deck, I jumped on to the ice, and had a look how it was serving the poor +little vessel. Under her stern I perceived large masses crushed up in a +frightful manner, and with terrific force, sufficient, I thought, to +have knocked her whole counter in. My only wonder was how she stood it; +but an explanation, independent of her own good strength, was soon +presented to me in the fact that the floe I was standing upon was moving +right round, and grinding in its progress all lesser pieces in its way. +This was the cause of safety to ourselves and the 'Felix.' Had the heavy +bodies of ice been impelled directly toward us, as we at first feared +they would be, instead of passing us in an angular direction, we should +both, most assuredly, have been crushed like an egg-shell. The very +_bergs_, or the _floating_ ones, near which we had been fast on the +previous day, were aiding in the impetus given by the tide or current to +the masses now in motion; and most providential was it that no wind was +blowing from the adverse quarter at the time, upon each side of the ship +the floes were solid and of great thickness, and pressing closely upon +her timbers. Under the bow, several rough pieces had been thrown up +nearly as high as the level of the bowsprit, and these were in constant +change, as the larger masses drove by them. + +"I ascended on deck, and found all the preparations for taking to the +ice, if necessary, renewed. Spirits of wine, for portable fuel, had been +drawn off, and placed handy; bags of bread, pemmican, &c., were all in +readiness; and nothing was wanting in the event of a too heavy squeeze +coming. We could perceive that, sooner or later, a collision between the +two floes, the one on our larboard and the other on our starboard side, +must take place, as the former had not nearly so much motion as the +latter; but where this collision would occur was impossible to say. +Between the 'Felix' and us, the passage was blocked principally by the +same sort of pieces that I have mentioned as lying under our bow; and +astern of us were several small bergs that might or might not be of +service in breaking the collision. Very fortunately they proved the +former; for, presently, I could perceive the floe on our starboard hand, +as it came flushing and grinding all near it, in its circular movement, +catch one of its extreme corners on a large block of ice a short +distance astern, and by the force of the pressure drive it into the +opposite floe, rending and tearing all before it; while at the same time +itself rebounded, as it were, or swerved on one side, and glided more +softly and with a relaxed pressure past us. This was the last trial of +the kind our little 'Prince' had to endure; for afterward a gradual +slackening of the whole body of ice took place, and at ten it opened to +the southward. We immediately shipped the rudder, and began heaving, +warping, and tracking the ship through the loose masses that lay in +that, the only direction for us now to pursue, if we wished to get clear +at all." + +On the 10th of August, as the sun, which now never sank below the +horizon, rose above a low-lying fog-bank; one of the government +expeditions was seen emerging from the mist. The expedition consisted of +two screw steamers, each having a sailing vessel in tow. A strange sight +it was to see these steamers--the first that ever burst into that silent +sea--gliding along amid the eternal ice of the arctic circle. They +proved of great service in breaking through the ice, dashing stem on +against the massy barriers; then backing astern, to gain headway, and +repeating the manoeuvre until a passage was forced. When the ice was +too thick to be broken in this manner, a hole was drilled in it, into +which a powder-cylinder was placed, the mine fired, and the fragments +dragged out by the steamers. The "Prince Albert" and "Felix" were taken +in tow, for some three hundred miles by the steamers. Mr. Snow gives the +following sketch and description of + + +[Illustration: THE ARCTIC DISCOVERY SHIPS AT MIDNIGHT.] + +"I have before made mention of the remarkable stillness which may be +observed at midnight in these regions; but not until now did it come +upon me with such force, and in such a singular manner. I can not +attempt to describe the mingled sensations I experienced, of constant +surprise and amazement at the extraordinary occurrence then taking place +in the waters I was gazing upon, and of renewed hope, mellowed into a +quiet, holy, and reverential feeling of gratitude toward that mighty +Being who, in this solemn silence, reigned alike supreme, as in the busy +hour of noon when man is eager at his toil, or the custom of the +civilized world gives to business active life and vigor. Save the +distant humming noise of the engine working on board of the steamer +towing us, there was no sound to be heard denoting the existence of any +living thing, or of any animate matter. Yet there we were, perceptibly, +nay, rapidly, gliding past the land and floes of ice, as though some +secret and mysterious power had been set to work to carry us swiftly +away from those vexatious, harassing, and delaying portions of our +voyage, in which we had already experienced so much trouble and +perplexity. The leading vessels had passed all the parts where any +further difficulty might have been apprehended, and this of course gave +to us in the rear a sense of perfect security for the present. All +hands, therefore, except the middle watch on deck, were below in our +respective vessels; and, as I looked forward ahead of us, and beheld the +long line of masts and rigging that rose up from each ship before me, +without any sail set, or any apparent motion to propel such masses +onward, and without a single human voice to be heard around, it did seem +something wonderful and amazing! And yet, it was a noble sight: six +vessels were casting their long shadows across the smooth surface of the +passing floes of ice, as the sun, with mellowed light, and gentler, but +still beautiful lustre, was soaring through the polar sky, at the back +of Melville's Cape. Ay, in truth it was a noble sight; and well could I +look upward to the streaming pendant of my own dear country that hung +listlessly from the mast-head of the 'Assistance,' and feel the highest +satisfaction in my breast that I, too, was one of her children, and +could boast myself of being born on her own free soil, under her own +revered and idolized flag. But even as I beheld that listless symbol of +my country's name, pendant from the lofty truck, my glance was directed +higher; and as it caught the pale blue firmament of heaven, still in +this midnight hour divested of star or moon that shine by night, and +brightened by the sun; my heart breathed a prayer that He, who dwells +far beyond the ken of mortal eye, would deign to grant that the attempt +now making should not be made in vain, but that those whom we were now +on our way to seek might be found and restored to their home and +sorrowing friends; and that, until then, full support and strength might +be afforded them." + +After parting company with the other vessels, the "Prince Albert" stood +on her way westward, until they almost reached the spot where it had +been proposed to winter, and where the design of the expedition would +begin to be put in execution. But they found the harbor which they had +proposed to enter blocked up with ice; and so unaccountable a +discouragement came over the expedition, that on the 22d of August a +sudden resolution was taken to return forthwith. The Journal of Mr. Snow +is extremely guarded as to the reasons for this determination. The +vessel had performed admirably; every preparation had been made for +wintering; they were provisioned for two years; the crew were in +excellent health: and yet the whole expedition, which had been fitted +out at such a sacrifice, was abandoned, almost before it was fairly +begun. We are led to infer that the true reason was that the officers in +command had not the cool, determined courage requisite for such a +charge. But we are sure that such a deficiency can not be laid to the +charge of our author. From this time forth a tone of deep and bitter +chagrin runs through the Journal at this inglorious termination of the +expedition. It was no small addition to this feeling of intense +mortification, that on the very day when they determined to abandon the +enterprise, and return home, the American Expedition fitted out by Mr. +GRINNELL, which they had seen, a fortnight before, blocked up by ice, as +they supposed, in Melville's Bay, but which had now overtaken them, +notwithstanding their own tow by the steamers, was seen boldly pressing +its way where they themselves dared not follow. Notwithstanding this +feeling of mortification, Mr. Snow has too intense a sympathy with +daring and courage, ennobled by high and philanthropic purpose, to fail +to do ample justice to + + +THE AMERICAN RELIEF EXPEDITION. + +"Large pieces of ice were floating about, and setting rapidly up the +inlet. We had to stand away for some distance, to round the edge of this +stream; and as we approached the far end, we perceived that a vessel, +which we had some time before seen, was apparently standing right in +toward us. At first, we took her to be Sir John Ross's schooner, the +'Felix,' but a few moments more settled the point, by her size and rig +being different, and her colors being displayed, which proved her to be +one of the 'Americans!' All idea of sleep was now instantly banished +from me. The American vessels already up here, when we had fancied them +still in Melville's Bay, not far from where we had left them on the 6th +instant! Much as I knew of the enterprising and daring spirit of our +transatlantic brethren, I could not help being astonished. They must +have had either some extraordinary luck, or else the ice had suddenly +and most effectually broken up to admit of their exit, unaided by steam +or other help, in so short a time. I felt, however, a pleasure in thus +finding my repeated observations concerning them so thoroughly verified; +and I was not sorry for themselves that they were here. All exclusive +nationality was done away with. We were all engaged in the same noble +cause; we were all striving forward in the same animating and exciting +race, and none should envy the other his advance therein. We showed our +colors to him; and Captain Forsyth immediately determined to go on board +of him, and see whether the same plan of search for him was laid out as +for us. The boat was lowered, and in a short time we were standing on +the deck of the 'Advance,' Lieutenant De Haven, of the American Navy, +and most cordially received, with their accustomed hospitality, by our +transatlantic friends. + +"The 'Advance' was most extraordinarily fortified to resist any pressure +of the ice, and to enable her to force her way against such impediments +as those she encountered this evening. Her bow was one solid mass of +timber--I believe I am right in saying, from the foremast. Her timbers +were increased in size and number, so that she might well be said to +have been doubled inside as well as out. Her deck was also doubled, then +felted, and again lined inside, while her cabin had, in addition, a +sheathing of cork. The after-part of the vessel was remarkably strong; +and a movable bulk-head, which ran across the forepart of the cabin, +could at any time be unshipped to afford a free communication fore and +aft when needed. The crew, if I remember rightly, lived in a strongly +built 'round-house' on deck, amidships, one end of which was converted +into a cook-house, called a 'galley,' and another the 'pantry.' +_Ten_ men formed the number of the working seamen; there were no +'ice-masters,' nor regular 'ice-men:' but most of the sailors were long +accustomed to the ice. A steward and a cook completed the full +complement of the ship. The officers lived in a truly republican manner. +The whole cabin was thrown into one spacious room, in which captain, +mates, and surgeon lived together. Their sleeping berths were built +around it, and appeared to possess every accommodation to make them +comfortable. + +"The 'Advance' was one of two vessels (the other being the 'Rescue'--a +smaller craft) that had been bought and fitted out in the most noble and +generous manner, solely by one individual--HENRY GRINNELL, Esq., a +merchant of New York. This truly great and good man had long felt his +heart yearn toward the lost ones, whom we were now seeking, and their +friends; and desiring to redeem the partial pledge given by the +government of the United States to Lady Franklin, he yielded to the +strong impulses awakened by some of her private letters, which he had +had the opportunity of reading, and being blest with an ample fortune, +he determined to employ no small portion of it in sending out at his own +expense an expedition to this quarter of the world, to aid in the search +that England was making this year after her gallant children. It +required, however, not a trifling sum to accomplish this, and I well +know with what distrust and doubt of its fulfillment the first notice of +his intentions was received in New York and elsewhere, when publicly +made known. But he was not a man, it has appeared, to promise what he +means not, or can not perform. At a very heavy outlay he purchased two +vessels, one of, I believe, 125 tons, and the other of 95 tons, and had +them strengthened and prepared in a most efficient manner for the +service they were to enter upon. Applying to Congress, then assembled, +he got these ships received into the naval force, and brought under +naval authority. Officers and crews were appointed by the Board of +Administration for Maritime Affairs, and the government, moreover, +agreed to pay them as if in regular service, making an additional +allowance on each pay, of a grade in rank above. This having been +accomplished, and all things in readiness, on the 24th of May, 1850, he +had the satisfaction of seeing his two ships and their brave crews +depart from New York on their generous mission. He accompanied them +himself for some distance, and finally bid them farewell on the 26th, +returning in his yacht to the city, where, as he has often declared, he +can sit down now in peace, and be ready to lay his head at rest forever; +knowing that he has done his duty, and striven to perform the part of a +faithful steward with the wealth which he enjoys. + +"The 'Advance' was manned by sixteen persons, officers included. Her +commander, Lieutenant De Haven, a young man of about twenty-six years of +age, had served in the United States exploring expedition, under +Commodore Wilkes, in the Antarctic Seas. He seemed as fine a specimen of +a seaman, and a rough and ready officer, as I had ever seen. Nor was he +at all deficient in the characteristics of a true gentleman, although +the cognomen is so often misapplied and ill-understood. With a sharp, +quick eye, a countenance bronzed and apparently inured to all weathers, +his voice gave unmistakable signs of energy, promptitude, and decision. +There was no mistaking the man. He was undoubtedly well-fitted to lead +such an expedition, and I felt charmed to see it. + +"His second in command (for they were very differently organized from +us) was still younger and more slim, but withal of equally determined +and sailorlike appearance. Next to him was a junior officer, of whom I +saw but little; but that little was enough to tell me that the +executives under Captain De Haven would be efficient auxiliaries to him. +Last of all, though not least among them, was one of whom I must be +excused for saying more than a casual word or two. It was Dr. Kane, the +surgeon, naturalist, journalist, &c., of the expedition. Of an +exceedingly slim and apparently fragile form and make, and with features +to all appearance far more suited to a genial clime, and to the comforts +of a pleasant home, than to the roughness and hardships of an arctic +voyage, he was yet a very old traveler both by sea and land. His rank as +a surgeon in the American navy, and his appointment, at three days' +notice, to this service, were sufficient proof of his abilities, and of +his being considered capable of enduring all that would have to be gone +through. While our captain was talking to the American commander, Dr. +Kane turned his attention to me, and a congeniality of sentiment and +feeling soon brought us deep into pleasant conversation. I found he had +been in many parts of the world, by sea and land, that I myself had +visited, and in many other parts that I could only long to visit. Old +scenes and delightful recollections were speedily revived. Our talk ran +wild; and _there_, in that cold, inhospitable, dreary region of +everlasting ice and snow, did we again, in fancy, gallop over miles and +miles of lands far distant, and far more joyous. Ever-smiling Italy, and +its softening life; sturdy Switzerland, and its hardy sons; the Alps, +the Apennines, France, Germany, and elsewhere were rapidly wandered +over. India, Africa, and Southern America were brought before us in +swift succession. Then came Spain and Portugal, and my own England; next +appeared Egypt, Syria, and the Desert; with all of these was he +personally familiar, in all had he been a traveler, and in all could I +join him, too, except the latter. Rich in anecdote and full of pleasing +talk, time flew rapidly as I conversed with him, and partook of the +hospitality offered me. Delighted at the knowledge that I had been +residing for some time in New York, he tried all he could to make me +enjoy the moment." + +After parting with the American Expedition, the "Prince Albert" took her +homeward way, reaching Aberdeen on the 1st of October. "As it was quite +dark," says Mr. Snow, "few witnessed our arrival, and I was not sorry +for it". Had we returned fortunate, it would have been different; as it +was, why, the night was, I thought, better suited to our condition. The +"Prince Albert" brought the latest tidings received of the "Advance" and +"Rescue," when + + +BROTHER JONATHAN GIVES JOHN BULL "A LEAD." + +"If I had ever before doubted the daring and enterprising character of +the American, what I saw and heard on board of the 'Advance' would have +removed such doubt; but these peculiar features in the children of the +Stars and Stripes were always apparent to me, and admiringly +acknowledged. I was given a brief history of their voyage to the present +time, as also an outline of their future plans. They intended to push on +wherever they could, this way or that way, as might be found best, in +the direction of Melville Island, and parts adjacent, especially Banks's +Land; and they meant to winter wherever they might chance to be, in the +Pack or out of the Pack. As long as they could be moving or making any +progress, in any direction that might assist in the object for which +they had come, they meant still to be going on, and, with the true +characteristic of the American, cared for no obstacles or impediments +that might arise in their way. Neither fears, nor the necessary caution +which might easily be alleged as an excuse for hesitation or delay, at +periods when any thing like fancied danger appeared, was to deter them. +Happy fellows! thought I: no fair winds nor opening prospects will be +lost with you; no dissension or incompetency among your executive +officers exist to stay your progress. Bent upon one errand alone, your +minds set upon _that_ before you embarked, no trifles nor common +danger will prevent you daring every thing for the carrying out of your +mission. Go on, then, brave sons of America, and may at least some share +of prosperity and success attend your noble exertions! + +"If ever a vessel and her officers were capable of going through an +undertaking in which more than ordinary difficulties had to be +encountered, I had no doubt it would be the American; and this was +evinced to me, even while we were on board, by the apparently reckless +way in which they dashed through the streams of heavy ice running off +from Leopold Island. I happened to go on deck when they were thus +engaged, and was delighted to witness how gallantly they put aside every +impediment in their way. An officer was standing on the heel of the +bowsprit, conning the ship and issuing his orders to the man at the +wheel in that short, decisive, yet _clear_ manner, which the helmsman at +once well understood and promptly obeyed. There was not a rag of canvas +taken in, nor a moment's hesitation. The way was before them: the stream +of ice had to be either gone through boldly or a long _detour_ made; +and, despite the heaviness of the stream, _they pushed the vessel +through in her proper course_. Two or three shocks, as she came in +contact with some large pieces, were unheeded; and the moment the last +block was past the bow, the officer sung out, 'So: steady as she goes on +her course;' and came aft as if nothing more than ordinary sailing had +been going on. I observed our own little barky nobly following in the +American's wake; and, as I afterward learned, she got through it pretty +well, though not without much doubt of the propriety of keeping on in +such procedure after the 'mad Yankee,' as he was called by our mate." + + + + +WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE PINS? + + +Every body uses pins--men, women, and children. Every body buys them. +Every body bends them, breaks them, knocks off their heads, and loses +them. They enter into every operation, from the drawing-room to the +scullery. Go where you will, if you look sharp, you may calculate with +certainty on picking up a pin--in the streets, in the cabs, on +door-steps and mats, in halls and drawing-rooms, sticking in curtains +and sofas, and paper-hangings, in counting-houses and lawyers' offices, +keeping together old receipts and bills, and fragments of papers, in +ladies' needlework, in shopkeepers' parcels, in books, bags, baskets, +luggage--they are to be found every where, let them get there how +they may, by accident or design. Their ubiquity is astounding--and their +manufacture, being in proportion to it, must be something prodigious. +There is no article of perpetual use with which we are so familiar; and +out of this familiarity springs indifference, for there is no article +about whose final destination we are so profoundly ignorant. We know +well enough the end of things (not half so useful to us) that wear out +in the course of time, or that are liable to be smashed, cracked, +chipped, put out of order, or otherwise rendered unavailable for further +service; but of the fate of this little article, so universal in its +application, so indispensable in its utility, we know nothing whatever. +Nobody ever thinks of asking, WHAT BECOMES OF THE PINS? For our +own parts, we should be very glad to get an answer to that question, and +should be very much obliged to any person who could furnish us with it. + +The question is by no means an idle one. If we could get at the +statistics of pins, we should have some tremendous revelations. The loss +in pins, strayed, stolen, and mislaid, is past all calculation. Millions +of billions of pins must vanish--no woman alive can tell how or +where--in the course of a year. Of the actual number fabricated, +pointed, headed, and papered up for sale from one year's end to another +(remember they are to be found in every house, large and small, within +the pale of civilization), we should be afraid to venture a conjecture; +but, judging from what we know of their invincible tendency to lose +themselves, and our own inveterate carelessness in losing them, we +apprehend that, could such a return be obtained, it would present an +alarming result. Think of millions of billions of pins being in course +of perpetual disappearance! And that this has been going on for +centuries and centuries, and will continue to go on, probably, to the +world's end. A grave matter to contemplate, my masters! A pin, in its +single integrity, is a trifle, atomic, in comparison with other things +that are lost and never found again. But reflect for a moment upon pins +in the aggregate. The grand sum-total of human life is made up of +trifles--all large bodies are composed of minute particles. Years are +made up of months, months of weeks, weeks of days, days of hours, hours +of minutes, minutes of seconds; and, coming down to the seconds, and +calling in the multiplication-table to enlighten us, we shall find that +there are considerably upward of thirty-one millions of them in a year. +Try a similar experiment with the pins. Assume any given quantity of +loss in any given time, and calculate what it will come to in a cycle of +centuries. Most people are afraid of looking into the future, and would +not, if they could, acquire a knowledge of the destiny that lies before +them. Pause, therefore, before you embark in this fearful calculation; +for the chances are largely in favor of your arriving at this harrowing +conclusion, that, by the mere force of accumulation and the inevitable +pressure of quantity, the great globe itself must, at no very distant +period, become a vast shapeless mass of pins. + +As yet we have no signs or tokens of this impending catastrophe, and are +entirely in the dark about the process that is insidiously conducting us +to it; and hence we ask, in solemn accents, WHAT BECOMES OF THE PINS? +Where do they go to? How do they get there? What are the attractive and +repulsive forces to which they are subject after they drop from us? What +are the laws that govern their wanderings? Do they dissolve and +volatilize, and come back again into the air, so that we are breathing +pins without knowing it? Do they melt into the earth, and go to the +roots of vegetables, so that every day of our lives we are unconsciously +dining on them? The inquiry baffles all scholarship; and we are forced +to put up with the obscure satisfaction which Hamlet applies to the +world of apparitions, that there are more pins in unknown places and +unsuspected shapes upon the earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy. + + + + +LAMARTINE ON THE RELIGION OF REVOLUTIONARY MEN. + + +I know--I sigh when I think of it--that hitherto the French people have +been the least religious of all the nations of Europe. Is it because the +idea of God--which arises from all the evidences of Nature, and from the +depths of reflection, being the profoundest and weightiest idea of which +human intelligence is capable--and the French mind being the most rapid, +but the most superficial, the lightest, the most unreflective of all +European races--this mind has not the force and severity necessary to +carry far and long the greatest conception of the human understanding? + +Is it because our governments have always taken upon themselves to think +for us, to believe for us, and to pray for us? Is it because we are and +have been a military people, a soldier-nation, led by kings, heroes, +ambitious men, from battlefield to battlefield, making conquests, and +never keeping them, ravaging, dazzling, charming, and corrupting Europe; +and bringing home the manners, vices, bravery, lightness, and impiety of +the camp to the fireside of the people? + +I know not, but certain it is that the nation has an immense progress to +make in serious thought if she wishes to remain free. If we look at the +characters, compared as regards religious sentiment, of the great +nations of Europe, America, even Asia, the advantage is not for us. The +great men of other countries live and die on the scene of history, +looking up to heaven; our great men appear to live and die, forgetting +completely the only idea for which it is worth living and dying--they +live and die looking at the spectator, or, at most, at posterity. + +Open the history of America, the history of England, and the history of +France; read the great lives, the great deaths, the great martyrdoms, +the great words at the hour when the ruling thought of life reveals +itself in the last words of the dying--and compare. + +Washington and Franklin fought, spoke, suffered, ascended, and descended +in their political life of popularity in the ingratitude of glory, in +the contempt of their fellow-citizens--always in the name of God, for +whom they acted; and the liberator of America died, confiding to God the +liberty of the people and his own soul. + +Sidney, the young martyr of a patriotism, guilty of nothing but +impatience, and who died to expiate his country's dream of liberty, said +to his jailer--"I rejoice that I die innocent toward the king, but a +victim, resigned to the King on High, to whom all life is due." + +The Republicans of Cromwell only sought the way of God, even in the +blood of battles. Their politics were their faith--their reign a +prayer--their death a psalm. One hears, sees, feels, that God was in all +the movements of these great people. + +But cross the sea, traverse La Mancha, come to our times, open our +annals, and listen to the last words of the great political actors of +the drama of our liberty. One would think that God was eclipsed from the +soul, that His name was unknown in the language. History will have the +air of an atheist, when she recounts to posterity these annihilations, +rather than deaths, of celebrated men in the greatest year of France! +The victims only have a God; the tribunes and lictors have none. + +Look at Mirabeau on the bed of death--"Crown me with flowers," said he; +"intoxicate me with perfumes. Let me die to the sound of delicious +music"--not a word of God or of his soul. Sensual philosopher, he +desired only supreme sensualism, a last voluptuousness in his agony. +Contemplate Madame Roland, the strong-hearted woman of the Revolution, +on the cart that conveyed her to death. She looked contemptuously on the +besotted people who killed their prophets and sibyls. Not a glance +toward heaven! Only one word for the earth she was quitting--"Oh, +Liberty!" + +Approach the dungeon door of the Girondins. Their last night is a +banquet; the only hymn, the Marseillaise! + +Follow Camille Desmoulins to his execution. A cool and indecent +pleasantry at the trial, and a long imprecation on the road to the +guillotine, were the two last thoughts of this dying man on his way to +the last tribunal. + +Hear Danton on the platform of the scaffold, at the distance of a line +from God and eternity. "I have had a good time of it; let me go to +sleep." Then to the executioner, "you will show my head to the +people--it is worth the trouble!" His faith, annihilation; his last +sigh, vanity. Behold the Frenchman of this latter age! + +What must one think of the religious sentiment of a free people whose +great figures seem thus to march in procession to annihilation, and to +whom that terrible minister--death--itself recalls neither the +threatenings nor promises of God! + +The republic of these men without a God has quickly been stranded. The +liberty, won by so much heroism and so much genius, has not found in +France a conscience to shelter it, a God to avenge it, a people to +defend it against that atheism which has been called glory. All ended in +a soldier and some apostate republicans travestied into courtiers. An +atheistic republicanism can not be heroic. When you terrify it, it +bends; when you would buy it, it sells itself. It would be very foolish +to immolate itself. Who would take any heed? the people ungrateful and +God non-existent! So finish atheist revolutions!--_Bien Publique._ + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +THOMAS HARLOWE. + + + All amid the summer roses + In his garden, with his wife, + Sate the cheerful Thomas Harlowe, + Glancing backward through his life. + + Woodlarks in the trees were singing, + And the breezes, low and sweet, + Wafted down laburnum blossoms, + Like an offering, at his feet. + + There he sate, good Thomas Harlowe, + Living o'er the past in thought; + And old griefs, like mountain summits, + Golden hues of sunset caught. + + Thus he spake: "The truest poet + Is the one whose touch reveals + Those deep springs of human feeling + Which the conscious heart conceals. + + "Human nature's living fountains, + Ever-flowing, round us lie, + Yet the poets seek their waters + As from cisterns old and dry. + + "Hence they seldom write, my Ellen, + Aught so full of natural woe, + As that song which thy good uncle + Made so many years ago. + + "My sweet wife, my life's companion, + Canst thou not recall the time + When we sate beneath the lilacs, + Listening to that simple rhyme? + + "I was then just five-and-twenty, + Young in years, but old in sooth; + Hopeless love had dimmed my manhood, + Care had saddened all my youth. + + "But that touching, simple ballad, + Which thy uncle writ and read, + Like the words of God, creative, + Gave a life unto the dead. + + "And thenceforth have been so blissful + All our days, so calm, so bright, + That it seems like joy to linger + O'er my young life's early blight. + + "Easy was my father's temper, + And his being passed along + Like a streamlet 'neath the willows, + Lapsing to the linnet's song. + + "With the scholar's tastes and feelings, + He had all he asked of life + In his books and in his garden, + In his child, and gentle wife. + + "He was for the world unfitted; + For its idols knew no love; + And, without the serpent's wisdom + Was as guileless as the dove. + + "Such men are the schemer's victims. + Trusting to a faithless guide, + He was lured on to his ruin, + And a hopeless bankrupt died. + + "Short had been my father's sorrow; + He had not the strength to face + What was worse than altered fortune, + Or than faithless friends--disgrace. + + "He had not the strength to combat + Through the adverse ranks of life; + In his prime he died, heart-broken, + Leaving unto us the strife. + + "I was then a slender stripling, + Full of life, and hope, and joy; + But, at once, the cares of manhood + Crushed the spirit of the boy. + + "Woman oft than man is stronger + Where are inner foes to quell, + And my mother rose triumphant, + When my father, vanquished, fell. + + "All we had we gave up freely, + That on him might rest less blame; + And, without a friend in London, + In the winter, hither came. + + "To the world-commanding London, + Came as atoms, nothing worth; + 'Mid the strift of myriad workers, + Our small efforts to put forth. + + "Oh, the hero-strength of woman, + When her strong affection pleads, + When she tasks her to endurance + In the path where duty leads! + + "Fair my mother was and gentle, + Reared 'mid wealth, of good descent, + One who, till our time of trial, + Ne'er had known what hardship meant. + + "Now she toiled. Her skillful needle + Many a wondrous fabric wrought, + Which the loom could never equal, + And which wealthy ladies bought. + + "Meantime I, among the merchants + Found employment; saw them write, + Brooding over red-lined ledgers, + Ever gain, from morn till night. + + "Or amid the crowded shipping + Of the great world's busy hive, + Saw the wealth of both the Indies, + For their wealthier marts, arrive + + "So we lived without repining, + Toiling, toiling, week by week; + But I saw her silent sufferings + By the pallor of her cheek. + + "Love like mine was eagle sighted; + Vainly did she strive to keep + All her sufferings from my knowledge, + And to lull my fears to sleep. + + "Well I knew her days were numbered; + And, as she approached her end, + Stronger grew the love between us, + Doubly was she parent--friend! + + "God permitted that her spirit + Should through stormy floods be led, + That she might converse with angels + While she toiled for daily bread. + + "Wondrous oft were her communings, + As of one to life new-born, + When I watched beside her pillow, + 'Twixt the midnight and the morn. + + "Still she lay through one long Sabbath, + But as evening closed she woke, + And like one amazed with sorrow, + Thus with pleading voice she spoke: + + "'God will give whate'er is needful; + Will sustain from day to day; + This I know--yet worldly fetters + Keep me still a thrall to clay! + + "'Oh, my son, from these world-shackles + Only thou canst set me free!' + 'Speak thy wish,' said I, 'my mother, + Lay thy lov'd commands on me!' + + "As if strength were given unto her + For some purpose high, she spake: + 'I have toiled, and--like a miser-- + Hoarded, hoarded for thy sake. + + "'Not for sordid purpose hoarded, + But to free from outward blame, + From the tarnish of dishonor, + Thy dead father's sacred name, + + "'And I lay on thee this duty-- + 'Tis my last request, my son-- + Lay on thee this solemn duty + Which I die and leave undone! + + "'Promise, that thy dearest wishes, + Pleasure, profit, shall be naught, + Until, to the utmost farthing, + Thou this purpose shalt have wrought!' + + "And I promised. All my being + Freely, firmly answered, yea! + Thus absolved, her angel-spirit, + Breathing blessings, passed away. + + "Once more in the noisy, jostling + Human crowd; I seemed to stand, + Like to him who goes to battle, + With his life within his hand. + + "All things wore a different aspect; + I was now mine own no more: + Pleasure, wealth, the smile of woman + All a different meaning bore. + + "Thus I toiled--though young, not youthful + Ever mingling in the crowd, + Yet apart; my life, my labor, + To a solemn purpose vowed. + + "Yet even duty had its pleasure, + And I proudly kept apart; + Lord of all my weaker feelings; + Monarch of my subject heart. + + "Foolish boast! My pride of purpose + Proved itself a feeble thing, + When thy uncle brought me hither, + In the pleasant time of Spring. + + "Said he, 'Thou hast toiled too closely; + Thou shalt breathe our country air; + Thou shalt come to us on Sundays, + And thy failing health repair!' + + "Now began my hardest trial. + What had I with love to do? + Loving thee was sin 'gainst duty, + And 'gainst thy good uncle too! + + "Until now my heart was cheerful; + Duty had been light till now, + --Oh that I were free to woo thee; + That my heart had known no vow! + + "Yet, I would not shrink from duty; + Nor my vow leave unfulfilled! + --Still, still, had my mother known thee, + Would she thus have sternly willed? + + "Wherefore did my angel-mother + Thus enforce her dying prayer? + --Yet what right had I to seek thee, + Thou, thy uncle's wealthy heir! + + "Thus my spirit cried within me; + And that inward strife began, + That wild warfare of the feelings + Which lays waste the life of man. + + "In such turmoil of the spirit, + Feeble is our human strength; + Life seems stripped of all its glory: + --Yet was duty lord at length. + + "So at least I deemed. But meeting + Toward the pleasant end of May + With thy uncle, here he brought me, + I who long had kept away. + + "He was willful, thy good uncle; + I was such a stranger grown; + I must go to hear the reading + Of a ballad of his own. + + "Willing to be won, I yielded. + Canst thou not that eve recall, + When the lilacs were in blossom, + And the sunshine lay o'er all? + + "On the bench beneath the lilacs, + Sate we; and thy uncle read + That sweet, simple, wondrous ballad, + Which my own heart's woe portrayed. + + "'Twas a simple tale of nature-- + Of a lowly youth who gave + All his heart to one above him, + Loved, and filled an early grave. + + "But the fine tact of the poet + Laid the wounded spirit bare, + Breathed forth all the silent anguish + Of the breaking heart's despair. + + "'Twas as if my soul had spoken, + And at once I seemed to know, + Through the poet's voice prophetic, + What the issue of my woe. + + "Later, walking in the evening + Through the shrubbery, thou and I, + With the woodlarks singing round us, + And the full moon in the sky; + + "Thou, my Ellen, didst reproach me, + For that I had coldly heard + That sweet ballad of thy uncle's, + Nor responded by a word. + + "Said I, 'If that marvelous ballad + Did not seem my heart to touch; + It was not from want of feeling, + But because it felt too much.' + + "And even as the rod of Moses + Called forth water from the rock; + So did now thy sweet reproaches + All my secret heart unlock. + + "And my soul lay bare before thee; + And I told thee all; how strove, + As in fierce and dreary conflict, + My stern duty and my love. + + "All I told thee--of my parents, + Of my angel-mother's fate; + Of the vow by which she bound me; + Of my present low estate. + + "All I told thee, while the woodlarks + Filled with song the evening breeze, + And bright gushes of the moonlight + Fell upon us through the trees. + + "And thou murmured'st, oh! my Ellen, + In a voice so sweet and low; + 'Would that I had known thy mother. + Would that I might soothe thy woe!' + + "Ellen, my sweet, life's companion! + From my being's inmost core + Then I blessed thee; but I bless thee, + Bless thee, even now, still more! + + "For, as in the days chivalric + Ladies armed their knights for strife, + So didst thou, with thy true counsel, + Arm me for the fight of life. + + "Saidst thou, 'No, thou must not waver, + Ever upright must thou stand: + Even in duty's hardest peril, + All thy weapons in thy hand. + + "'Doing still thy utmost, utmost; + Never resting till thou'rt free!-- + But, if e'er thy soul is weary, + Or discouraged--think of me!' + + "And again thy sweet voice murmured, + In a low and thrilling tone; + 'I have loved thee, truly loved thee, + Though that love was all unknown! + + "'And the sorrows and the trials + Which thy youth in bondage hold, + Make thee to my heart yet dearer + Than if thou hadst mines of gold! + + "'Go forth--pay thy debt to duty; + And when thou art nobly free, + He shall know, my good old uncle, + Of the love 'twixt thee and me!' + + "Ellen, thou wast my good angel! + Once again in life I strove-- + But the hardest task was easy, + In the light and strength of love. + + "And, when months had passed on swiftly, + Canst thou not that hour recall-- + 'Twas a Christmas Sabbath evening-- + When we told thy uncle all? + + "Good old uncle! I can see him, + With those calm and loving eyes, + Smiling on us as he listened, + Silent, yet with no surprise. + + "And when once again the lilacs + Blossom'd, in the merry May, + And the woodlarks sang together, + Came our happy marriage day. + + "My sweet Ellen, then I blessed thee + As my young and wealthy wife, + But I knew not half the blessings + With which thou wouldst dower my life!" + + Here he ceased, good Thomas Harlowe; + And as soon as ceased his voice-- + That sweet chorusing of woodlarks + Made the silent night rejoice. + + + + +[From Fraser's Magazine.] + +PHANTOMS AND REALITIES.--AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. + + (_Continued from Page 468._) + + + + +PART THE FIRST--MORNING. + + +VII. + +"I am not about to relate a family history," he began; "but there are +some personal circumstances to which I must allude. At nineteen, I was +left the sole protector of two sisters, and of a ward of my father, +whose guardianship also devolved upon me. It was a heavy responsibility +at so early an age, and pressed hard upon a temperament better adapted +for gayety and enjoyment. I discharged it, however, with the best +judgment I could, and with a zeal that has bequeathed me, among many +grateful recollections, one source of lasting and bitter repentance." + +"Repentance, Forrester?" I cried, involuntarily. + +"You may understand the sort of dangers to which these young creatures +were exposed in the spring-tide of their beauty, protected only by a +stripling, who knew little more of the world than they did themselves. +Upon that point, perhaps, I was too sensitive. I knew what it was to +struggle against the natural feelings of youth, and was not disposed to +place much trust in the gad-flies who gathered about my sisters. Well--I +watched every movement, and I was right. Yet, with all my care, it so +happened that an offense--an insult such as your heartless libertines +think they may inflict with impunity on unprotected women--was offered +to one of my sisters. Our friendless situation was a mark for general +observation, and it was necessary that society should know the terms I +kept with it. My enemy--for I made him so on the instant--would have +appeased me, but I was inaccessible to apologies. We met; I was wounded +severely--my opponent fell. This fearful end of the quarrel affected my +sister's health. She had a feeling of remorse about being the cause of +that man's death, and her delicate frame sunk under it." + +"Perhaps," said I, "there might have been other feelings, which she +concealed." + +"That fear has cast a shadow over my whole life. But we will not talk of +it. I must hasten on. There was a fatal malady in our family--the +treacherous malady which is fed so luxuriously by the climate of +England. My remaining sister, plunged into grief at our bereavement, +became a prey to its wasting and insidious influence. You saw that the +servant who opened the door was in mourning? I have mentioned these +particulars that you may understand I was not alone in the world, as I +am now, when the lady you have seen came to reside in my house. At that +time, my sisters were living." + +"And she?" + +"Was my father's ward, of whom I have spoken. During the early part of +her life she lived in Scotland, where she had friends. Now listen to me +attentively. Gertrude Hastings lost her mother in her childhood; and +upon the death of her father, being a minor, her education and +guardianship devolved upon my father, who was trustee to her fortune. At +his death, which took place soon afterward, the trust came into my +hands. It was thought advisable, under these circumstances, that she +should have the benefit of wiser counsel than my own, and for several +years she was placed in the house of her mother's sister, who lived at +no great distance from the English Border. It was my duty to visit her +sometimes." He hesitated, and his voice trembled as he spoke. + +"Well--I entreat you to proceed." + +"Let me collect myself. I visited her sometimes--at first at long +intervals, then more frequently. Every man in his youth forms some +ideal, false or true, of the woman to whom he would devote his love. +Such dreams visited me, but my situation forbade me to indulge in them, +and I resolved to devote myself to the charge I had undertaken, and to +forego all thoughts of marriage. I never found this conflict beyond my +strength until I saw Gertrude Hastings." + +I was struck with horror at these words, and shuddered at what I feared +was yet to come. He perceived the effect they took upon me, and went on: + +"You are precipitate in your judgment, and I must beg that you will hear +me patiently to the end. I will be brief, for I am more pained by the +disclosure than you can be. Why should I prolong a confession which you +have already anticipated? I loved her; and every time I saw her, I loved +her more and more. I was justified by the circumstances that drew us +together--the equality of our births--the connection of our families. +She was free to choose--so was I. I knew of no impediment, and there was +none at the time she inspired me with that fatal passion which, when it +grew too strong to be concealed from her, she was unable to return." + +I breathed more freely; but seeing the emotion under which poor +Forrester was laboring, I kept silence, and waited for him to resume. + +"I despise what is called superstition," he said, "as much as any of +those bald philosophers we are in the habit of meeting. When they, or +you, or I, talk of supernatural agencies, we must each of us be judged +by the measure of our knowledge. Ignorance and unbelief evade the +question they fear to examine by the easy process of rejecting the +evidence on which it rests. If the evidence be trustworthy, if it be +clear and coherent in every particular, if it be such as we should be +bound to admit upon matters that come within the range of our +experience, I have yet to learn upon what grounds it can be rejected +when it relates to matters of which we know nothing. Our inability to +refute it should make us pause before we heap odium on the witnesses who +vouch for its truth." + +Forrester was proceeding in this strain, apparently under an +apprehension that the disclosure he was about to make required some +prologue of this kind to bespeak credit for it, little suspecting that +there were incidents in my own life which rendered me too easy a +recipient of such statements. But I interrupted him by an assurance that +I was quite prepared to believe in things much more extraordinary than +any which he could have to relate. He then returned to the narrative. + +"Gertrude's aunt had been bred up in Scotland, and was a staunch +supporter of the old customs, and a stickler for the popular faith in +the ceremonies that are practiced there on certain anniversaries. On +one of these occasions, Gertrude, whose imagination had, probably, been +affected by the stories she had heard concerning them, was induced, half +in play and half in earnest, to try the virtue of one of the charms +prescribed for the Eve of All Hallows. We might safely smile at these +things, if they did not sometimes, as in this instance, lead to serious +results. You see I am relating it to you calmly and circumstantially, +although it has blighted my existence. The charm worked out its ends to +a miracle. The table was laid out with supper, the necessary +incantations having been previously performed, and Gertrude, hiding +behind a screen, waited for the appearance of the lover who was to +decide her future destiny. They say there was a long pause--at least it +seemed so to her--and then a footstep was heard, and then the figure of +a man entered the room, and seated himself at the table. Trembling with +terror, she looked out from her hiding-place, and saw him clearly within +two or three yards of her. The chair had been so placed that his face +was exactly opposite to her. She scanned his features so accurately, +that she remembered the minutest particulars, to the color of his hair +and eyes, and the exact form of his mouth, which had a peculiar +expression in it. The figure moved, as if to rise from the chair, and +Gertrude, struck to the heart with fear, uttered a loud shriek, and fell +in a swoon upon the ground. Her friends, who were watching outside, +rushed into the room, but it was empty." + +"And that figure--has she never seen it since?" + +"Never till to-night. _She recognized you in an instant._" + +My amazement at this narrative nearly deprived me of the power of +speech. + +"What followed this?" I inquired. + +"A delusion that has occupied her thoughts ever since. It took such +complete possession of her, that all arguments were useless. When she +was asked if she believed it to be real, her invariable answer was that +it was real to her. I suffered her to indulge this fancy, hoping that +one day or another she would recover from what I regarded as a trance of +the mind; but I was mistaken. She always said she was sure of your +existence; and looked forward to the realization of her destiny, like +one who lived under an enchantment. By slow degrees I relinquished all +hopes, and resolved to sacrifice my own happiness to hers, if the +opportunity should ever arrive. After this she came to London, broken +down in health, and rapidly wasting away under the influence of the +protracted expectation that was destroying her. Then it was I first met +you. I had some misgiving about you from the beginning, and prevailed +upon her to describe to me again and again the person of my spectral +rival. It was impossible to mistake the portrait. My doubts were cleared +up, and the duty I had to perform was obvious. But I determined to make +further inquiry before I revealed to either what I knew of both, and +having heard you speak of your birth-place and residence, I went into +the country, satisfied myself on all points respecting you, and at the +same time learned the whole particulars of your life. Still I delayed +from day to day my intention of bringing you together, knowing that when +it was accomplished my own doom would be sealed forever. While I +delayed, however, she grew worse, and I felt that it would be criminal +to hesitate any longer. I have now fulfilled my part--it remains for you +to act upon your own responsibility. My strength exerted for her has +carried me so far--I can go no further." + +As he uttered these words he rose and turned away his head. I grasped +his hand and tried to detain him. He stood and listened while I +expressed the unbounded gratitude and admiration with which his conduct +inspired me, and explained, hurriedly, the fascination that had held me +in a similar trance to that which he had just described. But he made no +observation on what I said. It appeared as if he had resolved to speak +no more on the subject; and he exhibited such signs of weariness and +pain that I thought it would be unreasonable to solicit his advice at +that moment. And so we parted for the night. + + +VIII. + +I pondered all night upon the history related to me by Forrester. In the +desire to escape from the clouds which still darkened my judgment, I +endeavored to persuade myself at one moment that Forrester was trying to +impose upon me, and at another that he must be laboring under a mental +aberration. The pride of reason revolted from the incredible particulars +of that extraordinary narrative; yet certain coincidences, which seemed +to confirm their truth, made me hesitate in my skepticism. If I had +related to him what had happened to myself, he would have had as good a +right to doubt my sanity or veracity as I had to doubt his. This was +what staggered me. + +I sifted every particle of the story, and was compelled to confess that +there was nothing in it which my own experience did not corroborate. The +fetch, or wraith, or whatever it was that had appeared to Gertrude, was +a counterpart illusion to the figure that had appeared to me. Upon her +memory, as upon mine, it had made so vivid an impression, that our +recognition of each other was mutual and instantaneous. That fact was +clear, and placed the truth of Forrester's statement beyond controversy. +It was competent to others, who had no personal evidence of such +visitations, to treat with indifference the mysteries of the spiritual +world; but I was not free, however much I desired it, to set up for a +philosophical unbeliever. All that remained, therefore, was to speculate +in the dark on the circumstances which were thus shaping out our +destiny, and which, inscrutable as they were, commanded the submission +of my reason and my senses. + +It occurred to me that, as Gertrude's residence beyond the border might +not have been distant many miles from the spot where I imagined I had +seen her, it was possible--barely possible--that her appearance there +might have been a reality after all. This supposition was a great relief +to me, for I would gladly have accepted a natural solution of the +phenomenon, and I accordingly resolved to question her upon the subject. + +I thought the next day would never come, yet I shuddered at its coming. +I was eager to see her again, although I dreaded the interview; and I +will frankly acknowledge, that when I approached the house I trembled +like a man on the eve of a sentence which was to determine the issue of +life or death. + +The blinds were down in all the windows, and the aspect of the whole was +chill and dismal. Where sickness is, there, too, must be cheerlessness +and fear. The passion which had so long possessed me was as strong as +ever, but it was dashed with a hideous terror; there was so much to +explain and to be satisfied upon before either of us could rightly +comprehend our situation. + +I knocked faintly. There was no answer. I knocked again, more loudly, +but still lowly, and with increasing apprehension. The door was opened +by Forrester. He looked dreadfully haggard, as if he had been sitting up +all night, worn by grief and watching. I spoke to him, something broken +and hardly articulate: he bent his head, and, raising his hand in token +of silence, beckoned me to follow him. He was evidently much agitated, +and a suspicion crossed my mind that he already repented the sacrifice +he had made. But I did him wrong. + +When we reached the door of the room in which we had seen Gertrude on +the preceding night Forrester paused, as if to gather up his manhood for +what was to follow; then, putting forward his hand, he pushed open the +door. + +"Go in--go in," he cried, in a choking voice; and hurrying me on he +retreated back into the shadow, as if he wished to avoid being present +at our meeting. + +The room was in deep twilight. The curtains were drawn together over the +windows, and there was less disorder in the apartment than when I had +last seen it. The evidences of illness which I had observed scattered +about were removed, and the furniture was more carefully arranged. The +atmosphere was heavy, and affected me painfully. But I thought nothing +of these things, although the slightest incident did not escape me. +Gertrude still lay upon the sofa, and appeared to be more tranquil and +composed. There was a solemn hush over her as she lay perfectly calm and +motionless. I fancied she was asleep, and approached her gently. Her +hands were stretched down by her sides, and I ventured to raise one of +them to my lips. I shall never forget the horror of that touch. A thrill +shot through my veins, as if a bolt of ice had struck upon my heart and +frozen up its current at the fountain. It was the hand of a corpse. + +In the first feeling of madness and despair which seized upon me I ran +my hands wildly over her arms, and even touched her face and lips, +doubting whether the form that lay before me was of this world. Some +such wild apprehension traversed my brain; but the witnesses of death in +the flesh were too palpable in many ways to admit of any superstitious +incredulity. The violent surprise and emotion of the night before had +proved too much for her wasted strength, and she had sunk suddenly under +the fearful re-action. + +The shock overwhelmed me. Not only was she taken from me at the very +instant of discovery and possession, but all hope of mutual explanation +was extinguished forever. Upon one point alone had I arrived at +certainty, but that only rendered me more anxious to clear up the rest. +I had seen her living, had spoken to her, and heard her voice; and now +she was dead, the proof of her actual humanity was palpable. It was some +comfort to know that she to whom I had dedicated myself under the +influence of a sort of sorcery, was a being actuated by passions like my +own, and subject to the same natural laws; but it was the extremity of +all conceivable wretchedness to lose her just as I had acquired this +consoling knowledge. The phantom had scarcely become a reality when it +again faded into a phantom. + +A few days afterward, for the second time, I followed a hearse to the +grave. The only persons to whom I had consecrated my love were gone; and +this last bereavement seemed to me at the time as if it were final, and +as if there was nothing left for me but to die. My reason, however, had +gained some strength by my rough intercourse with the world; and even in +the midst of the desolation of that melancholy scene I felt as if a +burden had been taken off my mind, and I had been released from a +harassing obligation. At all events I had a consciousness, that as the +earth closed over the coffin of Gertrude, I passed out of the region of +dreams and deceptions, and that whatever lay in advance of me, for good +or evil, was of the actual, toiling, practical world. The exodus of my +delusion seemed to open to me a future, in which imagination would be +rebuked by the presence of stern and harsh realities. I felt like a +manumitted slave, who goes forth reluctantly to the hard work of +freedom, and would gladly fall back, if he could, upon the supine repose +which had spared him the trouble of thinking for himself. + +Forrester bore his agony with heroic endurance. I, who knew what was in +his heart, knew what he suffered. But his eyes were still and his lips +were fixed, and not a single quiver of his pulses betrayed his anguish +to the bystanders. When the last rites were over, and we turned away, he +wrung my hand without a word of leave-taking, and departed. A few days +afterward he left England. The associations connected with the scenes +of his past life--with the country that contained the ashes of all he +loved--embittered every hour of his life, and he wisely sought relief in +exile. I was hurt at not having received some communication from him +before he went away; but I knew he was subject to fits of heavy +depression, and his silence, although it pained me at the time, did not +diminish the respect and sympathy inspired by his conduct. + +I will not dwell upon the immediate effect which the dissolution of +Gertrude, and the phantoms connected with her, had upon my mind. +Shattered and subdued, I re-entered the world, which I was now resolved, +out of cowardice and distrust of myself, not to leave again; taking +mental exercise, as an invalid, slowly recovering from the prostration +of a long illness, tests his returning strength in the open air. I had a +great fear upon me of going into the country, and being once more alone. +The tranquillity of Nature would have thrown me back into despair, while +the crowded haunts of London kept me in a state of activity that +excluded the morbid influences I had so much reason to dread. Of my new +experiences in the second phase of my life, as different from the former +as light from darkness, I shall speak with the same fidelity which I +have hitherto strictly observed. + + + + +PART THE SECOND--NOON. + + +I. + +When I had deposited Gertrude in the grave I was a solitary tree, +singled out by the lightning, from the rest of the forest, and blasted +through every part of its articulation. There was no verdure in my soul. +I was dead to the world around me. I lived in what was gone--I had no +interest in what was to come. I believed that the fatal spell that had +exercised such a power over my thoughts and actions had accomplished its +catastrophe, and that there was nothing further for me to fulfill but +death. My Idol had perished in her beauty and her love. She had withered +before my eyes, destroyed by the supernatural passion which had bound us +to each other. How then could I live, when that which was my life had +vanished like a pageant in the sky? I thought I could not survive her. +Yet I did. And seeing things as I see them now, and knowing the +supremacy of time over affliction, I look back and wonder at the thought +which desolated my heart under the immediate pressure of a calamity that +appeared irreparable, but for which the world offered a hundred +appeasing consolations. + +I went again into the bustle--the strife of vanities, ambitions, +passions, and interests. At first I merely suffered myself to be carried +away by the tide; my plank was launched, and I drifted with the current. +But in a little time I began to be excited by the roar and jubilee of +the waters. + +For many months Gertrude was ever present to me, in moments of respite +and solitude. As certain as the night returned, the stillness of my +chamber was haunted by her smiles. The tomb seemed to give up its tenant +in the fresh bloom and sweet confidence of life, and she would come in +her star-light brightness, smiling sadly, as if she had a feeling of +something wanted in that existence to which death had translated her, +and looking reproachfully, but sweetly down upon me for lingering so +long behind her. By degrees, as time wore on, her form grew less and +less distinct, and, wearied of watching and ruminating, I would fall +asleep and lose her; and so, between waking and sleeping, the floating +outlines vanished, and she visited me no more. At last I almost forgot +the features which were once so deeply portrayed upon my heart. Poor +human love and grief, how soon their footprints are washed away! + +I resided entirely in London, without any settled plan of life, tossed +about upon the living surge, and indifferent whither it swept me. I +lived from hour to hour, and from day to day, upon the incidents that +chanced to turn up. People thought there was something singular in my +manner, and that my antecedents were ambiguous; consequently I was much +sought after, and invited abroad. My table was covered with cards. I was +plagued with inquiries, and found that ladies were especially anxious to +know more about me than I chose to tell. My silence and reserve piqued +their curiosity. Had I been a romantic exile, dressed in a bizarre +costume, with an interesting head of hair, and an impenetrable +expression of melancholy in my face, I could not have been more +flattered by their inconvenient attentions. Out of this crush of +civilities I made my own election of friends. My acquaintance was +prodigious--my intimacies were few. Wherever I went I met a multitude of +faces that were quite familiar to me, and to which I was expected to +bow, but very few individuals whom I really knew. I had not the kind of +talent that can carry away a whole _London Directory_ in its +head. I could never remember the names of the mob of people I was +acquainted with. I recognized their faces, and shook their hands, and +was astonished to find how glibly they all had my name, although I +hardly recollected one of theirs, and this round of nods and +how-d'ye-do's constituted the regular routine of an extensive +intercourse with society. The clatter, frivolous as it was, kept me in +motion, and there was health in that; but it was very wearisome. A man +with a heart in his body desires closer and more absorbing ties. But we +get habituated to these superficialities, and drop into them with +surprising indifference; knowing or hoping that the sympathy we long for +will come at last, and that, if it never comes, it is not so bad a thing +after all, to be perpetually stopped on the journey of life by lively +gossips, who will shake you by the hand, and insist upon asking you how +you are, just as cordially as if they cared to know. + +There was one family I visited more frequently than the rest of my +miscellaneous acquaintance. I can hardly explain the attraction that +drew me so much into their circle, for there was little in it that was +lovable in itself, or that harmonized with my tastes. But antagonisms +are sometimes as magnetic as affinities in the moral world. They were +all very odd, and did nothing like other people. They were so changeable +and eccentric that they scarcely appeared to me for two evenings in +succession to be the same individuals. They were perpetually shifting +the slides of character, and exhibiting new phases. Their amusements and +occupations resembled the incessant dazzle of a magic lantern. They were +never without a novelty of some kind on hand--a new whim, which they +played with like a toy till they got tired of it--a subtle joke, with a +little malicious pleasantry in it--or a piece of scandal, which they +exhausted till it degenerated into ribaldry. Their raillery and mirth, +even when they happened to be in their most good-natured moods, were +invariably on the side of ridicule. They took delight in distorting +every thing, and never distorted any thing twice in the same way. They +laughed at the whole range of quiet, serious amiabilities, as if all +small virtues were foibles and weaknesses; and held the heroic qualities +in a sort of mock awe that was more ludicrous and humiliating than open +scoffing and derision. In this way they passed their lives, coming out +with fresh gibes every morning, and going to bed at night in the same +harlequinade humor. It seemed as if they had no cares of their own, and +made up for the want of them by taking into keeping the cares of their +neighbors; which they tortured so adroitly that, disrelish it as you +might, it was impossible to resist the infection of their grotesque +satire. + +One of the members of this family was distinguished from the rest by +peculiarities special to himself. He was a dwarf in stature, with a +large head, projecting forehead, starting eyes, bushy hair, and an +angular chin. He was old enough to be dealt with as a man; but from his +diminutive size, and the singularity of his manners, he was treated as a +boy. Although his mental capacity was as stunted as his body, he +possessed so extraordinary a talent for translating and caricaturing +humanity, that he was looked upon as a domestic mime of unrivaled +powers. He could run the circle of the passions with surprising +facility, rendering each transition from the grave to the gay so +clearly, and touching so rapidly, yet so truly, every shade of emotion, +that your wonder was divided between the dexterity, ease, and +completeness of the imitation, and the sagacious penetration into +character which it indicated. Acting, no doubt, is not always as wise as +it looks; and the mimicry that shows so shrewd on the surface is often a +mere mechanical trick. But in this case the assumptions were various, +distinct, and broadly marked, and not to be confounded with the low art +that paints a feeling in a contortion or a grimace. During these strange +feats he never spoke a word. He did not require language to +give effect or intelligence to his action. All was rapid, graphic, and +obvious, and dashed off with such an air of original humor that the most +serious pantomime took the odd color of a jest without compromising an +atom of its grave purpose. Indeed this tendency to indulge in a kind of +sardonic fun was the topping peculiarity of the whole group, and the +dwarf was a faithful subscriber to the family principles. + +I suffered myself to be most unreasonably amused by this daily +extravagance. The dwarf was a fellow after my own fancy: an +irresponsible fellow, headlong, irregular, misshapen, and eternally +oscillating to and fro without any goal in life. He never disturbed me +by attempts to show things as they were, or by over-refined reasoning +upon facts, in which some people are in the habit of indulging until +they wear off the sharp edge of truths, and fritter them down into +commonplaces. In short, he never reasoned at all. He darted upon a +topic, struck his fangs into it, and left it, depositing a little poison +behind him. His singularities never offended me, because they never +interfered with my own. He turned the entire structure and operations of +society to the account of the absurd; and made men, not the victims of +distaste as I did, but the puppets of a farce. We arrived, however, at +much the same conclusion by different routes, and the dwarf and I agreed +well together; although there was an unconfessed repulsion between us +which prohibited the interchange of those outward tokens of harmony that +telegraph the good fellowship of the crowd. + +From the first moment of our acquaintance I had a secret distrust about +my friend the dwarf. I shrank from him instinctively when I felt his +breath upon me, which was as hot as if it came from a furnace. I felt as +if he was a social Mephistophiles, exercising a malignant influence over +my fate. Yet, in spite of this feeling, we became intimate all at once. +As I saw him in the first interview, I saw him ever after. We relaxed +all formalities on the instant of introduction, when he broke out with a +gibe that put us both at our ease at once. We were intimates in slippers +and morning-gowns, while the rest of the family were as yet on +full-dress ceremony with me. + + +II. + +After I had known this family a considerable time, a lady from a distant +part of the country, whom I had never seen or heard of before, came on a +visit to them. She was a woman of about twenty-five years of age, with a +handsome person, considerable powers of conversation, and more intellect +than fine women usually take the trouble to cultivate or display, +preferring to trust, as she might have safely done, to the influence of +their beauty. Her form was grand and voluptuous; her head, with her hair +bound up in fillets, had a noble classical air; and her features were +strictly intellectual. She had never been married; and exhibiting, as +she did at all times, a lofty superiority over the people by whom she +was surrounded in this house, it opened a strange chapter of sprightly +malevolence to observe how they criticised her, and picked off her +feathers, whenever she happened to be out of the room. They affected the +most sublime regard for her, and the way they showed it was by wondering +why she remained single, and trying to account for it by sundry +flattering inuendos, with a sneer lurking under each of them. + +The men had no taste--this was said so slily as to make every body +laugh--or perhaps they were afraid of her; she was hard to please; her +mind was too masculine, which made her appear more repulsive than she +really was; she did not relish female society, and men are always +jealous of women who are superior to themselves, and so, between the +two--hem!--there was the old adage! Then she aimed at eccentricity, and +had some uncommon tastes; she was fond of poetry and philosophy, and +blue stockings are not so marketable as hosiery of a plainer kind: in +short, it was not surprising that such a woman should find it rather +difficult to suit herself with a husband. But whoever did succeed in +overcoming her fastidiousness would get a prize! + +These criticisms, probably, awakened an interest in my mind about this +lady. She was evidently not understood by her critics; and it was by no +means unlikely that, in attributing peculiarities to her which did not +exist, they might have overlooked the true excellencies of her +character. In proportion as they depreciated her, she rose in my +estimation, by the rule of contrarieties. It had always been a weakness +of mine to set myself against the multitude on questions of taste, and +to reverse their judgment by a foregone conclusion. I then believed, and +do still in a great measure believe, that persons of genius are not +appreciated or comprehended by the mob; but I occasionally committed the +mistake of taking it for granted that persons who were depreciated by +the mob must of necessity be persons of genius. + +Astræa--for so she was familiarly called, at first in the way of covert +ridicule, but afterward from habit--was thoroughly in earnest in every +thing she said and did. She could adapt herself to the passing humor of +vivacity or sarcasm without any apparent effort, but her natural manner +was grave and dominant. Beneath the severity of her air was an unsettled +spirit, which a close observer could not fail to detect. It was to carry +off or hide this secret disquietude of soul (such, at least, it appeared +to me), that, with a strong aversion to frivolity, she heeded all the +frivolous amusements; but then it was done with an effort and excess +that showed how little her taste lay in it, and that it was resorted to +only as an escape from criticism. She had no skill in these relaxations, +and blundered sadly in her attempts to get through them; and people +tried to feel complimented by her condescension, but were never really +satisfied. And when she had succeeded in getting up the group to the +height of its gayety, and thought that every body was fully employed, +she would take advantage of the general merriment and relapse into her +own thoughts. It was then you could see clearly how little interest she +took in these things. But she was too important a person to be allowed +to drop out, and as she was well aware of the invidious distinction with +which she was treated, she would speedily rally and mix in the frivolity +again. All this was done with a struggle that was quite transparent to +me. She never played that part with much tact. Yet her true character +baffled me, notwithstanding. There was an evident restlessness within; +as if she were out of her sphere, or as if there were a void to be +filled, a longing after something which was wanted to awaken her +sympathies, and set her soul at repose. Of that I was convinced; but all +beyond was impenetrable obscurity. + +The mystery that hovered about her manner, her looks, her words, +attracted me insensibly toward her. She was an enigma to the world as I +was myself; and a secret feeling took possession of me that there were +some latent points of unison in our natures which would yet be drawn out +in answering harmony. This feeling was entirely exempt from passion. +Gertrude had absorbed all that was passionate and loving in my +nature--at least, I thought so then. And the difference between them was +so wide, that it was impossible to feel in the same way about Gertrude +first and Astræa afterward. Simplicity, gentleness, and timidity, were +the characteristics of Gertrude; while Astræa was proud, grand, almost +haughty, with a reserve which I could not fathom. If it be true that the +individual nature can find a response only in another of a certain +quality, then it would have been absurd to delude myself by any dreams +of that kind about Astræa. If I had really loved Gertrude, I could not +love Astræa. They were essentially in direct opposition to each other. +As for Astræa, she appeared inaccessible to the weaknesses of passion; +her conversation was bold, and she selected topics that invited +argument, but rarely awakened emotion. Energetic, lofty, and severe, her +very bearing repelled the approaches of love. He would have been a brave +man who should have dared to love Astræa. I wondered at her beauty, +which was not captivating at a glance, but full of dignity. I wondered, +admired, listened, but was not enslaved. + +She treated me with a frankness which she did not extend to others. This +did not surprise me in the circle in which I found her. It was natural +enough that she should avail herself of any escape that offered from +that atmosphere of _persiflage_. I was guided by a similar +impulse. But the same thing occurs every day in society. People +always, when they can, prefer the intercourse which comes nearest to +their own standard. It does not follow, however, that they must +necessarily fall in love. Such a suspicion never entered my head. + +I soon discovered that her knowledge was by no means profound; and that +her judgment was not always accurate. Setting aside the showy +accomplishments which go for nothing as mental culture she was +self-educated. She had been an extensive reader, but without method. +She touched the surface of many subjects, and carried away something +from each, to show that she had been there, trusting to her vigorous +intellect for the use she should make of her fragmentary acquisitions. +It was only when you discussed a subject fully with her that you +discovered her deficiencies. In the ordinary way, rapidly lighting upon +a variety of topics, she was always so brilliant and suggestive that you +gave her credit for a larger field of acquirements than she really +traversed. This discovery gave me an advantage over her; and my +advantage gave me courage. + +One evening we were talking of the mythology, one of her favorite +themes. + +"And you seriously think," I observed, in answer to something she said, +"that the story of Hercules and the distaff has a purpose?" + +"A deep purpose, and a very obvious moral," she replied. + +"Will you expound it to me?" + +"It is quite plain--the parable of strength vanquished by gentleness. +There is nothing so strong as gentleness." + +This reply took me by surprise, and I observed, "I should hardly have +expected that from you." I was thinking more of the unexpected admission +of the power of gentleness from the lips of Astræa, than of the truth or +depth of the remark. + +"Do you mean that as a compliment?" she inquired. + +"Well--no. But from a mind constituted like yours, I should have looked +for a different interpretation." + +"Then you think that my mind ought to prostrate itself before a brawny +development of muscles?" + +"No, no; remember, you spoke of gentleness." + +"That is the mind of woman," she answered, "taking its natural place, +and asserting its moral power. For gentleness, like beauty, is a moral +power." + +"Beauty a moral power?" I exclaimed. + +"That is its true definition, unless you would degrade it by lowering it +to the standard of the senses," she replied, kindling as she spoke. +"It elevates the imagination; we feel a moral exaltation in the +contemplation of it; it is the essential grace of nature; it refines and +dignifies our whole being; and appreciated in this aspect, it inspires +the purest and noblest aspirations." + +This creed of beauty was very unlike any thing I had anticipated from +her. If any body in a crowded drawing-room had spoken in this style, I +should have expected that she would have smiled somewhat contemptuously +upon them. + +"Your definition is imperfect," I ventured to say; "I do not dispute it +as far as it goes, but it is defective in one article of faith." + +"Oh! I am not sent from the stars--though they have voted me Astræa--to +convert heathens. Pray, let us have your article of faith." + +"I believe implicitly in your religion," said I; "but believing so much, +I am compelled to believe a little more. If beauty calls up this homage +of the imagination, and inspires these pure and elevating aspirations, +it must awaken the emotions of the heart. To feel and appreciate beauty +truly, therefore, is, in other words, to love." + +"That is an old fallacy. If love were indispensable to the appreciation +of beauty, it would cruelly narrow the pleasures of the imagination." + +"On the contrary," I replied, "I believe them to be inseparable." + +"You are talking riddles," she replied, as if she were getting tired of +the subject; "but, true or false, I have no reliance upon the word love, +or the use that is made of it. It means any thing or nothing." + +"Then you must allow me to explain myself;" and so I set about my +explanation without exactly knowing what it was I had to explain. "I +spoke of love as an abstract emotion." She smiled very discouragingly at +that phrase, and I was, therefore, bound to defend it. "Certainly there +is such a thing--listen to me for a moment. I was not speaking of the +love of this or that particular object--a love that may grow up and then +die to the root; but the love which may be described as the poetical +perception and permanent enjoyment of the ideal." + +"We must not quarrel about the word," interrupted Astræa, as if she +wished to bring the conversation to a close; "we agree, possibly, in the +thing, although I should have expressed it differently." + +"I grant," said I, trying to gather my own meaning more clearly, "love +must have an object. Abstractions may occupy the reason, but do not +touch the heart. When beauty appeals to the heart it must take a +definite shape, and the love it inspires must be addressed to that +object alone." + +"We have changed our argument," observed Astræa, quickly, "and see, we +must change our seats, too, for supper is announced." + +I felt that I was rhapsodizing, and that, if I had gone on much further, +I must have uttered a great deal that Astræa would have inevitably set +down as rank nonsense. I was not sorry, therefore, that the conversation +was broken off at that dubious point. We were both scared out of our +subtleties by the flutter and laughter that rang through the room as +every body rose to go to supper; and in a few moments I found myself +seated at table with Astræa next to me, and my friend the dwarf seated +exactly opposite. + + +III. + +The chatter of the party was, as usual, noisy and sarcastic. They were +in an extraordinary flow of spirits, and indulged their unsparing +raillery to an extravagant excess. The dwarf had quite a roystering fit +upon him, and tossed his great shapeless head about with such outrageous +fun, that one might suppose he was laboring under a sudden access of +delirium, or had, at least, fallen in with a rare God-send to exercise +his powers of frantic ridicule upon. These things, no doubt, presented +themselves to me in an exaggerated light, for I was a little out of +humor with myself; and could not help contrasting the reckless levity of +the group with the stillness of Astræa, who must have secretly despised +the companionship into which she was thrown. + +Whenever any body uttered a joke (and dreary and miserable jokes they +were), the dwarf, who acted a sort of chorus to their obstreperous +humors, would jerk his head back with a theatrical "Ha!" and spread out +his hands like so many coiling snakes, with an indescribable +exaggeration of astonishment. Then a sneer and chirrup would run round +the table, rising presently into a loud laugh, which the lady of the +house would discreetly suppress by lifting her finger half way to her +face--a signal that was understood to imply a cessation of hostilities +when the ribaldry was supposed to be going too far. + +I looked at Astræa involuntarily on one of these occasions, and found +her eyes turned at the same instant to mine. The same thought was in +both our minds. We both abhorred the coarseness of the scene, and felt +the same desire to be alone. The position which thus extracted the +feelings that we held in common was full of peril to us; but at such +moments one never thinks of peril. + +I asked her to take wine, pouring it into her glass at the same moment. +This implied a familiarity between us which I certainly did not intend, +and should not have been conscious of if I had not chanced to notice the +face of the dwarf. He was looking straight at us, his mouth pursed out, +and his head thrust forward as if to make way for a sudden writhing or +elevation of his shoulders. It was the express image of a man who had +discovered something very strange, or in whom a previous doubt had just +been confirmed. I could not at all comprehend his meaning; but I knew he +had a meaning, and that threw me back upon myself to find out the point +of the caricature. I attributed it to the unceremonious freedom I had +taken with Astræa, and regretted that I had given occasion to so pitiful +a jest; but I was by no means satisfied that there was not an _arrière +pensée_ in the mind of the dwarf. + +The spiteful mirth went on in a rapid succession of vulgar inuendos, +puns, and jokes. The peculiarities of one intimate friend after another +were anatomized with surprising skill; nobody was spared; and the finger +of the hostess was in constant requisition to check the riot, and direct +the scandal-hunters after fresh quarry. As none of the people who were +thus made the subjects of unmerciful ridicule were known to me or +Astræa, we took no part in their dissection, and imperceptibly dropped +into a conversation between ourselves. + +We resumed our old subject, and talked in low and earnest tones. I +supposed that they were all too much engaged in the personal topics that +afforded them so much amusement to think about us, and had no suspicion +that they were observing us closely all the time. I was apprised of +the fact by the astounding expression I detected on the face of +my indefatigable Mephistophiles: I shall never forget it. It was a +face of saturnine ecstasy, with a secret smile of pleasure in it, +evidently intended for me alone, as if he rejoiced, and wondered, and +congratulated me, and was in high raptures at my happiness. I was +astonished and confounded, and felt myself singularly agitated; yet, I +knew not why--I was not angry with him: for although his manner was +inexplicable, and ought to have been taken as an offense from its +grossness, still, for some unaccountable reason, it was pleasant rather +than disagreeable to me. + +I forgot the little demon, however, in the delight of looking at Astræa, +and listening to her. There was such a charm in her eyes, and in the +sound of her voice, that I was soon drawn again within its powerful +influence. As to the subject of our conversation, it was of secondary +interest to the pleasure of hearing her speak. Whatever I said was but +to induce her to say more. To struggle in an argument was out of the +question--all I yearned for was the music of her tones. Not that I quite +lost the thread of our discussion, but that I was more engaged in +following the new graces and embellishments it derived from her mode of +treating it, than in pursuing the main topic. Again I turned to the +dwarf, and there he was again glaring upon us with a look of transport. +But his fiery eyes no longer leaped out upon me alone; they were moved +quickly from Astræa to me alternately, and were lighted up with a wild +satisfaction that appeared to indicate the consummation of some +delirious passion. I never saw so much mad glee in a human face; all the +more mad to me, since I was entirely ignorant of the source from whence +it sprang. Once I thought Astræa observed him, but she turned aside her +head, and hastily changed the conversation, apparently to defeat his +curiosity. + +Many times before I took leave that night the mime repeated his antics; +and, as if to make me feel assured that I was really the object of his +pantomimic raptures, he squeezed my hand significantly at parting, and +with more cordiality than he had ever shown me before. + +As I bade Astræa "good-night," she gave me her hand--in the presence of +the whole family; there was nothing to conceal in her thoughts. I took +it gently in mine, and, gazing for a moment intently into her face, in +which I thought I perceived a slight trace of confusion, I bowed and +withdrew. + +That was a night of strange speculation. For some time past, I had +thought little of Gertrude--had almost forgotten her. That night she +returned, but unlike what she had ever been before. The smile, like +sunlight let in upon the recesses of a young bud, no longer cleft her +lips; and her eyes were cold and glassy. I felt, too, that I had +recalled her by an effort of the will, and that she did not come +involuntarily, as of old. + +There was a sense of guiltiness in this. Was Gertrude fading from my +memory?--and was Astræa concerned in the change? No, Astræa was nothing +to me--she was out of my way--the height on which she stood was frozen. +What was it, then, that troubled and excited me, and blotted out the +past? + +I was more unhappy than ever; yet it was an unhappiness that carried me +onward, as if there was an escape for it, or a remedy. I was perplexed +and disturbed. I was like a bird suddenly awakened in its cage amidst +the glare of torches. I tried to think of Gertrude, but it was in vain. +The thought no longer appeased me. The dwarf-mime was before me with all +his devilish tricks and gestures. I could not rid myself of his hideous +features. They danced and gibbered in the air, and were always fastened +upon me. He was like a human nightmare; and even the gray dawn, as it +came through the curtains, only showed that misshapen head more clearly. +What was this dwarf to me that he should haunt me thus, and become an +agony to my soul. Was he my fate? or was he sent to torture me to some +deed of self-abandonment? I should have gone mad with this waking dream, +but as the morning advanced, and the light spread, my aching eyes closed +in an uneasy sleep. + +I was dissatisfied with myself, without exactly knowing why. I hated the +dwarf, yet was fascinated by the very importunity that made me hate him. +Why should he meddle with me? Why should he exult in any diversion of my +fortunes? What was he to me, or Astræa to either of us? I was an +unchartered ship, in which no living person had an interest, drifting on +the wide waste of waters. Why should his eyes traverse the great expanse +to keep watch on me? Could he not let me founder on the breakers, +without making mocking signals to me from the shore, where he and his +stood in heartless security? My sleep was full of dreams of that +malignant demon, and I awoke in a state of actual terror from their +violent action on my nerves. + + +IV. + +The next morning I went out, determined to dissipate these harassing +reflections, and, above all things, resolved not to see Astræa. I +wandered about half the day, perfectly sincere in my intention of +avoiding the quarter of the town in which she lived. My mind was so much +absorbed, that I was quite unconscious of the route I had taken, until, +raising my eyes, I saw the dwarf standing before me on the steps of his +own door. I had dropped into the old track by the sheer force of habit, +and have no doubt that my tormentor put the worst construction on the +flush that shot into my face at seeing him. The same riotous glee was in +his eyes that I had noticed, for the first time, on the evening before; +but it now took something of a look of triumph that perplexed me more +than ever. + +"Ha!" he exclaimed, with a chuckle that literally palpitated through his +whole body--"you are come at last. I have been looking out for you the +whole morning." + +"Indeed!" + +"How did you sleep last night?" he continued; "what sort of dreams had +you? I'll answer for it that no dancing dervish ever went through such +contortions!" + +"What do you mean?" I demanded. + +"Why, there!" he replied, "you turn red and white by turns. Are you +hit?--are you hit? Confess yourself, and I will comfort you." + +"Come, come," said I, anxious not to provoke the explanation I panted +for, yet dreaded, "this _badinage_ is sorry work for the day-light. +You should keep it till the lamps are lighted!" + +"Have at you, then," he returned, his features undergoing a comical +transition into affected gravity; "I will talk proverbs with you, and +look as gloomy as a mute at a funeral:" giving, at the same time, an +irresistible imitation of one of those ghastly, wire-drawn, drunken +faces. "Mercy upon us! what ominous tokens are in that doleful +countenance of yours! The candle gives out its warning-sheet for the +bespoken of the grave; the sea has its sights and sounds for the doomed +man who is to sup with the fishes; the cricket challenges death in the +hearth; the devil gives three knocks at the door when some miserable +wretch is passing through the mortal agony; and there are signs in your +face of a living torture, which any man galloping by may see. What does +it mean? Is the leaf only turned over by the wind, and will the next +blast whisk it back again? or are its fibres riven past recovery?" + +I could not bear this tantalizing mockery; and if I had not been afraid +of exciting the malice of that fiendish nature, there must have been an +explosion at this moment. I managed, however, to control myself, and +spoke to him calmly, but with a resolution in my voice which admitted of +no mis-construction. "Now, listen to me, my friend," I said, "and +understand distinctly what I am going to say. You have extraordinary +talents for sarcasm, but I must ask you not to practice them upon me. I +don't like to be questioned and criticised in this way. I dare say you +don't intend any thing beyond an idle joke; but I don't like being made +the subject of jokes. I covet no favor from you but to be spared your +gibes--and that is not much for you to grant." + +"The hardest thing in the world to grant!" he answered. "To be spared my +gibes! What is to become of us, if I'm not to have my gibes? You might +as well ask me to look you straight in the face and not to see you. +Nonsense! you mustn't impose such a penance upon me." + +"But why do you jest with me in this way? Do you think I am a fit object +for burlesque and buffoonery?" + +"Burlesque and buffoonery?" he returned, twitching his mouth as if he +were stung to the quick; "I do not burlesque you, and I am not a +buffoon." + +"Then drop this strange humor of yours, and try to be serious with me." + +"Do you desire me to be serious with you?" + +"Most assuredly I do. I don't understand any thing else." + +"Then it is a bond between us henceforth," he cried, in a tone of deep +earnestness. "From this hour I jest with you no more." + +As he spoke he glanced at me darkly under his eyebrows, and turned into +the house. I was rather taken by surprise at this new manifestation of +his versatile genius, and followed him mechanically, utterly forgetful +of the wise resolution with which I had set out. + +We went into the drawing-room. Astræa was surrounded by a group o girls, +some kneeling, others dispersed about her, while she was directing their +employment on a piece of tapestry on a large frame. The _tableau_ +was striking, and I thought Astræa never looked so well Her fine figure +was thrown into a graceful attitude, the head slightly averted, and one +hand pointing to the tracery, while the other was raised in the air, +suspending some threads of the embroidery. The face that formed a circle +round her were looking up, beaming with pleasure and presented an +animated picture. Here was Astræa in a new aspect. I felt the injustice +her flippant critics had committed in unsexing her, and depriving her of +her domestic attributes. + +Our entrance disturbed the group, and, springing up, they took to flight +like a flock of birds. + +"You see, Astræa," said the dwarf, in a sharp voice, meant to convey +sneer through a compliment, "you are not allowed to be useful in this +world. You are invaded at all your weak points: the force of you +attraction will not suffer you to enjoy even your needle in private." + +"A truce, sir, to this folly!" exclaimed Astræa, turning from him an +advancing to meet me. + + The dwarf twirled painfully on his chair, as if the scorn had taken +full effect upon him. We had both struck him in the same place. Had we +premeditated a plan of operations for wounding his vanity we could not +have acted more completely in concert. + + "I hope," said I, desiring to change the subject, "you have recovered +our merriment of last night?" + + "Merriment?" interposed Mephistophiles; "Good! _Your_ merriment +You and Astræa were like dull citizens yawning over a comedy, which we +were fools enough to act for you. When next we play in that fashion may +we have a livelier audience." + + "The reproach, I am afraid, is just," I observed, looking at Astræa. +But she was not disposed to give the vantage ground to Mephistophiles. +"I hope next time you may have an audience more to your liking," she +observed; "tastes differ, you know, in these matters." + +"Yes, that's quite true," returned the dwarf, dryly; "but _your_ +tastes, it seems agree wonderfully." + +Thus Astræa and I were coupled and cast together by the mime, who +evidently took a vindictive delight in committing us to embarrassments +of that kind. To have attempted to extricate ourselves would probably +have only drawn fresh imputations upon us; so we let it pass. + +Every body has observed what important events sometimes take their +spring in trifles. The destiny of a life is not unfrequently determined +by an accident. I felt that there was something due to Astræa or the +freedom to which she was exposed on my account. Yet it was an +exceedingly awkward subject to touch upon. The very consciousness of +this awkwardness produced or suggested other feelings that involved me in +fresh difficulties. I felt that I ought to apologize for having brought +this sort of observation upon her; but I also felt that explanations on +such subjects are dangerous, and that it is safer to leave them +unnoticed. The impulse, however, to say something was irresistible; and +what I did say was not well calculated to help me out of the dilemma. + +"I feel," said I, quite aware at the moment I spoke that it would have +been just as well to have left my feelings out of the question--"I feel +that I ought to apologize to you for bringing discredit on your taste. +The whole fault of the dullness lies with me." + +"Not at all," she replied; "I am perfectly willing to take my share of +it. Be assured that the highest compliment is often to be extracted from +some people's sarcasms." + +This was a "palpable hit," and I apprehended that it would rouse the +dwarf to a fierce rejoinder. But he had left the room, and we were +alone. + +There was a pause; and Astræa, who had more courage under the +embarrassment than I could command, was the first to speak. "They +mistake me," she said slowly; "it has been my misfortune all my life to +be misunderstood. Perhaps the error is in myself. Possibly my own nature +is at cross-purposes, marring and frustrating all that I really mean to +do and say. I try to adapt myself to other people, but always fail. Even +my motive are misinterpreted, and I can not make myself intelligible. It +must be some original willfulness of my nature, that makes me seem too +proud to the proud, and too condescending to the humble; but certain it +is that both equally mistake me." + +"_I_ do not mistake you, Astræa," I cried, startled by the humility +of her confession. + +"I feel you do not," she answered. + +"They say you are scornful and unapproachable--not so! You are as timid +at heart as the fawn trembling in its retreat at the sound of the +hunter's horn. But you hold them, with whom you can not mingle, by the +bond of fear. You compel them to treat you with deference, from the +apprehension that they might otherwise become familiar. The translate +your high intelligence into haughtiness; and because they can not reach +to your height, they believe you to be proud and despotic." + +"I know not how that may be," she returned; "but I will acknowledge that +my feelings must be touched before the mere woman's nature is awakened. +They who do not know me think--" + +"That you are insensible to that touch," said I, supplying the +unfinished sentence; "they libel you, Astræa! Achilles had only one +vulnerable spot, but that was fatal. Protected in all else, you are +defenseless on one point, and when that is struck your whole nature is +subjugated. Do I describe you truly? When the woman is awakened, the +insensibility and fortitude in which you are shut up will melt +away--your power will be reduced to helplessness: absorbing devotion, +unbounded tenderness, which are yearning for their release, will flow +out; the conqueror will become the enslaved, living, not for victories +which you despise, but for a servitude which will bring your repressed +enthusiasm into action. For this you would sacrifice the world--pride, +place, applause, disciples, flattery!" + +"Not a very agreeable picture--but, I am afraid, a faithful one." + +"Strong feelings and energy of character are not always best for our +happiness," I went on; "you expected too much; you found the world cold +and selfish, and your heart closed upon it. This was the action of a +temperament eager and easily chilled; and it was natural enough that +people who could not move your sympathies should think that your heart +was dead or callous. Yet there it was, watching for the being who was +one day to call up its idolatry--for it is not love that will constitute +your happiness, Astræa--it must be idolatry. It is that for which you +live--to relinquish yourself for another. All is darkness and probation +with you till she who now inspires so much worship to which she is +indifferent, shall herself become the worshiper. It is the instinct of +your nature, the secret of the enigma, which makes you seem exactly the +opposite of what you are." + +I might have run on I know not to what excess, for I felt my eloquence +kindling and rising to an extravagant height, when I perceived Astræa +change color and avert her eyes. + +"Have I offended you, Astræa?" I inquired. + +"Offended me?" she answered; "no, you have done me a service. You have +shown me the error of my life--the folly and delusion of hoping for a +destiny different from that of the ordinary lot." + +"Why do you call it a delusion? You will yet find that haven of rest +toward which your heart looks so tremulously. The bird whose instinct +carries it over the wild seas from continent to continent sometimes +droops its jaded wings and sinks, but it makes land at last." + +"No, no; it was a dream. There is no reality in such foolish notions." + +"Come," said I, with increasing earnestness, "you must not speak against +your convictions. You do not think it a dream--you rely confidently on +the hope that the time will come--" + +"The thought is madness," interrupted Astræa, quickly; +"no--no--no--there is no such hope for me. Do not misconceive me. You +have read my nature as clearly as if the volume of my whole life to its +inmost thoughts were laid open before you. But the dream is over. It +might have been the pride and glory of my soul to have waited upon some +high Intelligence--to have followed its progress, cheered it patiently +in secret to exertion, encouraged its ambition, and lain in the shadow +of its triumphs. It is over. That may never be!" + +Her voice shook, although she looked calmly at me as she spoke, trying +to conceal her emotion. Her hand accidentally lay in mine. There was a +danger in it which I would not see. + +"And you have not found the Intelligence for which you sought?" I +demanded, in a voice that conveyed more than it expressed in words. + +"Yes," she replied slowly, "I have found Intelligence--original, hard, +athletic; but wanting in the sympathy that alone wins the heart of +woman." + +"Astræa," I replied, "your imagination has pictured an ideal which I +fear you will never find realized." + +"I _have_ found it!" she cried, betrayed into a transport of +feeling; then, checking herself, she added, "and I have lost it. Would +to God I had never found it!" + +Her head drooped--it touched my shoulder; my arm pressed her waist--I +was ignorant of it; a haze swam before my eyes. Tumultuous sensations +beat audibly at my heart. Astræa, the haughty beauty--the intellectual, +proud Astræa--where was her dominant power--her lofty self-possession +now? Subdued, bowed down by emotion, the strength of her will seemed to +pass from her to me, reversing our positions, and placing in my hands +the ascendency she had so lately wielded. The air seemed to palpitate +with these new and agitating feelings. I made an effort to control +myself and speak, but could only pronounce her name + +"Astræa!" + +There were a hundred questions in the word; but she was silent, and in +her silence a hundred answers. + +"Not here, Astræa," I cried; "we shall be more free to speak +elsewhere--away from those vacant eyes through which no hearts find +utterance for us. One word, and I will be still--one word--" + +She trembled violently, and pressed my hand convulsively, as if she +desired that I should not ask that word. But it was no longer possible +to restrain it. + +That word was spoken. + +A shudder passed over her, and as she bent her head I felt a gush of +tears upon my hand. At that moment a muffled step was on the stairs, and +I had scarcely time to disengage myself when our imp half opened the +door, and looked in with a leer of ribaldry and suspicion that chilled +me to the core. + + (_To be continued._) + + + + +WILLIAM PENN'S CONVERSION TO QUAKERISM.[1] + + +[Footnote 1: From a new life of Penn, by Hepworth Dixon, in the press of +Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia.] + +Penn did not remain long in London. His father, anxious to keep him +apart from his old Puritan friends--and to sustain the habit of devotion +to his temporal interests into which he seemed gradually falling, sent +him again into Ireland. He had no suspicion that the enemy of his peace +lay in ambush at the very gates of his stronghold. But the youth had not +resided more than a few months at Shangarry Castle before one of those +incidents occurred which destroy in a day the most elaborate attempts to +stifle the instincts of nature. When the admiral in England was pluming +himself on the triumphs of his worldly prudence, his son, on occasion of +one of his frequent visits to Cork, heard by accident that Thomas Loe, +his old Oxford acquaintance, was in the city and intended to preach that +night. He thought of his boyish enthusiasm at college, and wondered how +the preacher's eloquence would stand the censures of his riper judgment. +Curiosity prompted him to stay and listen. The fervid orator took for +his text the passage--"There is a faith that overcomes the world, and +there is a faith that is overcome by the world." The topic was +peculiarly adapted to his own situation. Possessed by strong religious +instincts, but at the same time docile and affectionate--he had hitherto +oscillated between two duties--duty to God and duty to his father. The +case was one in which the strongest minds might waver for a time. On the +one side--his filial affection, the example of his brilliant friends, +the worldly ambition never quite a stranger to the soul of man--all +pleaded powerfully in favor of his father's views. On the other there +was only the low whisperings of his own heart. But the still voice would +not be silenced. Often as he had escaped from thought into business, gay +society, or the smaller vanities of the parade and mess-room--the moment +of repose again brought back the old emotions. The crisis had come at +last. Under Thomas Loe's influence they were restored to a permanent +sway. From that night he was a Quaker in his heart. + +He now began to attend the meetings of this despised and persecuted +sect, and soon learned to feel the bitter martyrdom to which he had +given up all his future hopes. In no part of these islands were the +Quakers of that time treated as men and as brethren--and least of any +where in Ireland. Confounded by ignorant and zealous magistrates with +those sterner Puritans who had lately ruled the land with a rod of iron, +and had now fallen into the position of a vanquished and prostrate +party--they were held up to ridicule in polite society, and pilloried by +the vulgar in the market-place. On the 3d of September (1667), a meeting +of these harmless people was being held in Cork when a company of +soldiers broke in upon them, made the whole congregation prisoners and +carried them before the mayor on a charge of riot and tumultuous +assembling. Seeing William Penn, the lord of Shangarry Castle and an +intimate friend of the viceroy, among the prisoners, the worthy +magistrate wished to set him at liberty on simply giving his word to +keep the peace, but not knowing that he had violated any law he refused +to enter into terms, and was sent to jail with the rest. From the prison +he wrote to his friend the Earl of Ossory--Lord President of +Munster--giving an account of his arrest and detention. An order was of +course sent to the mayor for his immediate discharge; but the incident +had made known to all the gossips of Dublin the fact that the young +courtier and soldier had turned Quaker. + +His friends at the vice-regal court were greatly distressed at this +untoward event. The earl wrote off to the admiral to inform him of his +son's danger, stating the bare facts just as they had come to his +knowledge. The family were thunderstruck. The father especially was +seriously annoyed; he thought the boy's conduct not only mad but what +was far worse in that libertine age--ridiculous. The world was beginning +to laugh at him and his family:--he could bear it no longer. He wrote in +peremptory terms, calling him to London. William obeyed without a word +of expostulation. At the first interview between father and son nothing +was said on the subject which both had so much at heart. The admiral +scrutinized the youth with searching eyes--and as he observed no change +in his costume, nor in his manner any of that formal stiffness which he +thought the only distinction of the abhorred sect, he felt re-assured. +His son was still dressed like a gentleman; he wore lace and ruffles, +plume and rapier; the graceful curls of the cavalier still fell in +natural clusters about his neck and shoulders: he began to hope that his +noble correspondent had erred in his friendly haste. But a few days +served to dissipate this illusion. He was first struck with the +circumstance that his son omitted to uncover in the presence of his +elders and superiors; and with somewhat of indignation and impatience in +his tone demanded an interview and an explanation. + +William frankly owned that he was now a Quaker. The admiral laughed at +the idea, and treating it as a passing fancy, tried to reason him out of +it. But he mistook his strength. The boy was the better theologian and +the more thorough master of all the weapons of controversy. He then fell +back on his own leading motives. A Quaker! Why, the Quakers abjured +worldly titles: and he expected to be made a peer! Had the boy turned +Independent, Anabaptist--any thing but Quaker, he might have reconciled +it to his conscience. But he had made himself one of a sect remarkable +only for absurdities which would close on him every door in courtly +circles. Then there was that question of the hat. Was he to believe that +his own son would refuse to uncover in his presence? The thing was quite +rebellious and unnatural. And to crown all--how would he behave himself +at court? Would he wear his hat in the royal presence? William paused. +He asked an hour to consider his answer--and withdrew to his own +chamber. + +This enraged the admiral more than ever. What! a son of his could +hesitate at such a question! Why, this was a question of breeding--not +of conscience. Every child uncovered to his father--every subject to his +sovereign. Could any man with the feelings and the education of a +gentleman doubt? And this boy--for whom he had worked so hard--had won +such interest--had opened such a brilliant prospect--that he, with his +practical and cultivated mind, should throw away his golden +opportunities for a mere whimsy! He felt that his patience was sorely +tried. + +After a time spent in solitude and prayer, the young man returned to his +father with the result of his meditation--a refusal. + +The indignant admiral turned him out of doors. + + + + +THE BIRTH OF CRIME--A SKETCH FROM LIFE. + + +He was scarce past his childhood, and yet, at a glance, I perceived that +he had commenced life's warfare for himself; that necessity had, with a +stern, unbending brow, pointed out to him the way he was to take, and +taught him, young as he was, that his fate must be to battle for himself +on the path of life. His very humble and tattered dress, the sorrowful +expression which had settled on his pallid yet interesting features, +told their own story, and I involuntarily sighed while observing him. +"Want alone," I mentally exclaimed, "has hitherto been his companion; +light hearts, gamboling playmates of his own years, exuberance of the +young spirit, which gives buoyancy to the foot, throws sunshine on the +heart, and 'neath whose spell all things seem beautiful--he, poor boy! +has never known. He knows naught of the green fields and flowers, of +murmuring brooks and leafy trees, amidst whose branches sweet music +dwells: in some pent-up, crowded alley is his home, and his young mind +hath been awoke in confines close, amidst scenes of toil and misery." + +The gentle and dejected expression of his countenance first attracted my +attention, and, unobserved by him, I watched his movements as he slowly +advanced down the crowded street toward the spot where I stood. +Occasionally he paused, and after looking up and down the busy +thoroughfare, apparently awaiting or looking for some expected object to +come in sight, he resumed his saunter, keeping close to the wall, so as +to avoid intercepting the way of the numbers who were hurrying past him. +The more I saw of the boy, the more was my interest in him increased, +and my desire to know what object had brought him thither. So young, +could his design be criminal? had he been initiated into the craft of +pocket-picking? did he thus linger amidst the bustle of the crowded +pathway to mark where he could successfully seize the spoil? I looked at +him more earnestly as he approached me still nearer, and I felt that in +the bare suspicion I had done him an injustice. + +While I was thus speculating on his character, he paused within a few +paces of me, and gazed earnestly down the street, where something +appeared to be exciting his attention. Following the direction of his +earnest look, I perceived at a little distance a gentleman on horseback +slowly advancing, while looking inquiringly at the houses he was +passing, as though in search of one of them in particular. He had +arrived within a few yards of the place where I stood, when he halted, +and dismounted: in an instant the boy I have spoken of was at his side, +and touching the ragged apology for a cap which he wore, evidently +tendered his services to hold the horse. The horseman cast a hasty +glance at the little fellow, and was apparently about to resign the +reins into his hands, when the door of the house before which he was +standing opened, and a servant advanced to address him. I indistinctly +caught the words "from home" and "to-morrow," when the functionary +retired to the house; the horseman remounted, and cantered down the +street, leaving the boy disappointedly and wistfully gazing after him. + +Yes, I saw the gleam which had irradiated the little fellow's face +vanish; and fancied I heard a sigh, which his young breast heaved forth +as he turned away dejectedly from the spot. Thus unsuccessful, I saw him +next, from some of the passers-by, ask charity; but so timidly, that I +saw he feared the repulse of harsh words, which, as I watched him, in +some instances met his solicitations; while others passed him without +the slightest notice. Apparently very tired, he now seated himself on a +door-step, still looking eagerly about him, as though anxious for +another opportunity to present itself, when he might, with success, +offer his services. While he was thus employed, an open carriage came +rattling up the street, and, pulling up, a lady alighted at the house +immediately opposite to where the young street-wanderer sat. I watched +the play of his features as his gaze rested upon two little fellows of +apparently his own age who were in the carriage, and who, in spite of an +elderly-looking nurse's efforts to restrain them, were gamboling with +each other rather boisterously. In the true spirit of boyish glee and +mischief, they were endeavoring with parasols to push off the hat of the +footman; who, seemingly, as much amused as themselves, while standing by +the carriage awaiting the lady's return, was giving them opportunities +to accomplish their object. Yes, right joyous were they; and with their +costly dresses, rosy cheeks, and bright eyes, presented a striking +contrast to the little fellow, who, in rags and wretchedness, from the +door-step, was earnestly observing them. I would have given much to have +known his thoughts in those moments; to have read, like the pages of a +book, the feelings of his heart, while watching them in their gambols. +There was no envy in the expression of his countenance; but, by the +fixedness of his gaze, I judged that the sight of the carriage and its +young occupants, at that juncture, had given birth to a train of +thoughts and ideas as new as they were, perhaps, saddening. Did he think +that fate had dealt hardly with him? Did he in his cogitations become +bewildered in a labyrinth of thought, in endeavoring to account for the +why of their being so differently situated? or, did fancy in his young +brain raise some strange speculation on the world and the designs of Him +who made it? + +After a short time had elapsed, the door of the house opened, and the +lady came forth; she entered the carriage, the footman mounted behind, +away they rattled down the street, and were soon out of sight. I turned +to look at the boy; he seemed to have fallen into a reverie, sitting +motionless, while his gaze rested on the part of the street where the +carriage had disappeared. + +When I again observed him, he had left his seat, and was rapidly +crossing the street, to meet a female who, attired somewhat above the +common garb, was advancing on the opposite side, and bearing in her arms +a rather bulky parcel, which she appeared inconveniently to carry. As I +had seen him salute the horseman, the street-wanderer, in addressing +her, touched his cap, and evidently tendered his services to carry the +parcel. The woman paused for a moment to look at the applicant, when, +either deeming him too diminutive for the burden, or actuated by a +spirit of economy, with some brief but decisive remark she turned from +him, and resumed her walk. At the same moment a boor of a porter, rather +than diverge from his path, knocked roughly against the boy, who was +standing on the pavement, and sent him staggering against the wall, +continuing his heavy tread onward, without as much as turning his head +to see whether or not the little fellow had fallen. + +Thus twice had I seen the cup held to his lips and dashed away; twice +had I seen him strong in hope, and twice in disappointment deep. Where +now, boy, is thy energy? where thy spirit, thy resolution? Methinks thou +needst them now. Alas! thou art but a child; and at thy age the green +fields, where birds are blithely singing, or the jocund playground with +young kindred spirits, where sport hath its daring and its perseverance +too, were more fitting place to bring forth such exalted qualities than +the crowded street--where want, perhaps, spurs thee to attempt; where +fortune frowns upon thee, and seems hope to whisper only to deceive! +Courage thou hast no more. Energy, it has left thee; else wouldst thou +not so dejectedly hang thy head, and creep along the street as though +thou wert upon forbidden ground, or trespassing in sharing the light of +the fading day and the breath of heaven with those who are heedlessly +hurrying past thee. + +After his last unsuccessful application, I next saw the dispirited +little fellow turn down a small, little-frequented street, and, with the +intention of meeting and speaking to him, I made a short _détour_, soon +gaining the opposite end of the street which I had seen him enter. The +buildings consisted entirely of warehouses, which were all closed for +the night; and knowing that he could scarcely have entered one of them, +I was not a little surprised to find the street apparently deserted. +Advancing a few paces, however, the mystery was soon solved. Nestling in +the corner of a warehouse doorway, with his head resting on his little +hand, my eyes fell upon the wanderer I was in search of. Absorbed in his +grief, I approached him unseen, unheard. Ah! need I say that he was +weeping bitterly? + +Reader, the boy had a home; I saw it; a cellar, whose bare walls and +brick-uncovered floor bespoke it the abode of poverty and misery. He was +not an orphan; for on a heap of rags, which served her for a bed, I saw +an emaciated figure which he called his mother; a brother and a sister, +too, were there, younger than my guide, and in their tattered, dirty +garments scarcely distinguishable from the bed of rags on which they +were huddled beside the dying woman. He was not an orphan; the young +street-wanderer had a father. Him, too, I saw; a rude, blear-eyed +drunkard, whose countenance it was fearful to look upon; for there might +be seen that the worst passions of our common nature had with him +obtained a perilous ascendency--a brute, whose intellect, perhaps never +bright, had become more brutal under the influence of the fire-spirit, +to which he bore conspicuous marks of being a groveling soul-and-body +slave. To me he appeared like the demon Ruin midst the wreck around. On +him, now that the wife could work no more, were they dependent. Need I +say that there were days when they scarce tasted food, when the young +wanderer had been unsuccessful in the streets? and when hungry, tired, +and dejected, he gave current to his grief, as when I found him in the +midst of his heart-breaking sorrow? + +Yes, my first surmise was painfully correct. He had, indeed, commenced +life's warfare for himself; young as he was, it was his fate to battle +his way on the path of life, and not a soul to advise and guard him +against the demon Crime, whose favorite haunts are the footsteps of the +ignorant and needy. + +Reader, how many of the victims of crime who fill our prisons, were +their histories known, would prove to have commenced life like this boy! +Not always, then, let us unpitying behold the criminal, who, in his +early manhood or the prime of life, is banished from his country, or +suffers the dread penalty of death, without reflecting how much those +who brought him into the world were concerned with so melancholy an +issue--without reflecting that, like the little fellow of whom these +pages tell, he may have had a father little better than the brute of the +field, and in his childish years have been turned out to get his +bread--a wanderer in the streets. + + + + +THE HOUSEHOLD OF SIR THO^S. MORE. + + +LIBELLUS A MARGARETA MORE, QUINDECIM ANNOS NATA, CHELSEIÆ INCEPTVS. + + * * * * * + + "Nulla dies sine linea." + + * * * * * + + CHELSEA, _June 18_. + +On asking Mr. Gunnel to what use I s^d put this fayr _libellus_, he did +suggest my making it a kinde of family register, wherein to note y^e +more important of our domestick passages, whether of joy or griefe--my +father's journies and absences--the visits of learned men, theire +notable sayings, etc. "You are smart at the pen, Mistress Margaret," he +was pleased to say; "and I woulde humblie advise your journalling in y^e +same fearless manner in the which you framed that letter which soe well +pleased the Bishop of Exeter, that he sent you a Portugal piece. 'Twill +be well to write it in English, which 'tis expedient for you not +altogether to negleckt, even for the more honourable Latin." + +Methinks I am close upon womanhood.... "Humblie advise," quotha! to me, +that hath so oft humblie sued for his pardon, and sometimes in vayn! + +'Tis well to make trial of Gonellus his "humble" advice: albeit, our +daylie course is so methodicall, that 'twill afford scant subject for +y^e pen--_Vitam continet una dies._ + + * * * * * + +... As I traced y^e last word, methoughte I heard y^e well-known tones +of Erasmus his pleasant voyce; and, looking forthe of my lattice, did +indeede beholde the deare little man coming up from y^e river side with +my father, who, because of y^e heat, had given his cloak to a tall +stripling behind him to bear. I flew up stairs, to advertise mother, who +was half in and half out of her grogram gown, and who stayed me to clasp +her owches; so that, by y^e time I had followed her down stairs, we +founde 'em alreadie in y^e hall. + +So soon as I had kissed their hands, and obtayned their blessings, the +tall lad stept forthe, and who s^d he but William Roper, returned from +my father's errand over-seas! He hath grown hugelie, and looks mannish; +but his manners are worsened insteade of bettered by forayn travell; +for, insteade of his old franknesse, he hung upon hand till father bade +him come forward; and then, as he went his rounds, kissing one after +another, stopt short when he came to me, twice made as though he would +have saluted me, and then held back, making me looke so stupid, that I +c^d have boxed his ears for his payns. 'Speciallie as father burst out +a-laughing, and cried, "The third time's lucky!" + +After supper, we took deare Erasmus entirely over y^e house, in a kind +of family procession, e'en from the buttery and scalding-house to our +own deare Academia, with its cool green curtain flapping in y^e evening +breeze, and blowing aside, as though on purpose to give a glimpse of y^e +cleare-shining Thames! Erasmus noted and admired the stone jar, placed +by Mercy Giggs on y^e table, full of blue and yellow irises, scarlet +tiger-lilies, dog-roses, honeysuckles, moonwort, and herb-trinity; and +alsoe our various desks, eache in its own little retirement,--mine own, +in speciall, so pleasantly situate! He protested, with everie semblance +of sincerity, he had never seene so pretty an academy. I should think +not, indeede! Bess, Daisy, and I, are of opinion, that there is not +likelie to be such another in y^e world. He glanced, too, at y^e books +on our desks; Bessy's being Livy; Daisy's, Sallust; and mine, St. +Augustine, with father's marks where I was to read, and where desist. He +tolde Erasmus, laying his hand fondlie on my head, "Here is one who +knows what is implied in the word Trust." Dear father, well I may! He +added, "There was no law against laughing in _his_ academia, for +that his girls knew how to be merry and wise." + +From the house to the new building, the chapel and gallery, and thence +to visitt all the dumbe kinde, from the great horned owls to Cecy's pet +dormice. Erasmus was amused at some of theire names, and doubted whether +Dun Scotus and the venerable Bede would have thoughte themselves +complimented in being made name-fathers to a couple of owls; though he +admitted that Argus and Juno were goode cognomens for peacocks. Will +Roper hath broughte mother a pretty little forayn animal called a +marmot, but she sayd she had noe time for such-like playthings, and bade +him give it to his little wife. Methinks, I being neare sixteen and he +close upon twenty, we are too old for those childish names now, nor am I +much flattered at a present not intended for me; however, I shall be +kind to the little creature, and, perhaps, grow fond of it, as 'tis both +harmlesse and diverting. + +To return, howbeit, to Erasmus; Cecy, who had hold of his gown, and had +alreadie, through his familiar kindnesse and her own childish +heedlessness, somewhat transgrest bounds, began now in her mirthe to +fabricate a dialogue, she pretended to have overhearde, between Argus +and Juno as they stoode pearcht on a stone parapet. Erasmus was +entertayned with her garrulitie for a while, but at length gentlie +checkt her, with "Love y^e truth, little mayd, love y^e truth, or, if +thou liest, let it be with a circumstance," a qualification which made +mother stare and father laugh. + +Sayth Erasmus, "There is no harm in a fabella, apologus, or parabola, so +long as its character be distinctlie recognised for such, but +contrariwise, much goode; and y^e same hath been sanctioned, not only +by y^e wiser heads of Greece and Rome, but by our deare Lord himself. +Therefore, Cecilie, whom I love exceedinglie, be not abasht, child, at +my reproof, for thy dialogue between the two peacocks was innocent no +less than ingenious, till thou wouldst have insisted that they, in +sooth, sayd something like what thou didst invent. Therein thou didst +violence to y^e truth, which St. Paul hath typified by a girdle, to be +worn next the heart, and that not only confineth within due limits but +addeth strength. So now be friends; wert thou more than eleven and I no +priest, thou shouldst be my little wife, and darn my hose, and make me +sweet marchpane, such as thou and I love. But, oh! this pretty Chelsea! +What daisies! what buttercups! what joviall swarms of gnats! The country +all about is as nice and flat as Rotterdam." + +Anon, we sit down to rest and talk in the pavillion. + +Sayth Erasmus to my father, "I marvel you have never entered into the +king's service in some publick capacitie, wherein your learning and +knowledge, bothe of men and things, would not onlie serve your own +interest, but that of your friends and y^e publick." + +Father smiled and made answer, "I am better and happier as I am. As for +my friends, I alreadie do for them alle I can, soe as they can hardlie +consider me in their debt; and, for myself, y^e yielding to theire +solicitations that I w^d putt myself forward for the benefit of the +world in generall, w^d be like printing a book at request of friends, +that y^e publick may be charmed with what, in fact, it values at a doit. +The cardinall offered me a pension, as retaining fee to the king a +little while back, but I tolde him I did not care to be a mathematical +point, to have position without magnitude." + +Erasmus laught and sayd, "I woulde not have you y^e slave of anie king; +howbeit, you mighte assist him and be useful to him." + +"The change of the word," sayth father, "does not alter the matter; I +shoulde _be_ a slave, as completely as if I had a collar rounde my +neck." + +"But would not increased usefulnesse," says Erasmus, "make you happier?" + +"Happier?" says father, somewhat heating; "how can that be compassed in +a way so abhorrent to my genius? At present, I live as I will, to which +very few courtiers can pretend. Half-a-dozen blue-coated serving-men +answer my turn in the house, garden, field, and on the river: I have a +few strong horses for work, none for show, plenty of plain food for a +healthy family, and enough, with a hearty welcome, for a score of guests +that are not dainty. The lengthe of my wife's train infringeth not the +statute; and, for myself, I soe hate bravery, that my motto is, 'Of +those whom you see in scarlet, not one is happy.' I have a regular +profession, which supports my house, and enables me to promote peace and +justice; I have leisure to chat with my wife, and sport with my +children; I have hours for devotion, and hours for philosophie and y^e +liberall arts, which are absolutelie medicinall to me, as antidotes to +y^e sharpe but contracted habitts of mind engendered by y^e law. If +there be aniething in a court life which can compensate for y^e losse of +anie of these blessings, deare Desiderius, pray tell me what it is, for +I confesse I know not." + +"You are a comicall genius," says Erasmus. + +"As for you," retorted father, "you are at your olde trick of arguing on +y^e wrong side, as you did y^e firste time we mett. Nay, don't we know +you can declaime backward and forwarde on the same argument, as you did +on y^e Venetian war?" + +Erasmus smiled quietlie, and sayd, "What coulde I do? The pope changed +his holy mind." Whereat father smiled too. + +"What nonsense you learned men sometimes talk!" pursues father. +"I--wanted at court, quotha! Fancy a dozen starving men with one roasted +pig betweene them;--do you think they would be really glad to see a +thirteenth come up, with an eye to a small piece of y^e crackling? No; +believe me, there is none that courtiers are more sincerelie respectfull +to than the man who avows he hath no intention of attempting to go +shares; and e'en him they care mighty little about, for they love none +with true tendernesse save themselves." + +"We shall see you at court yet," says Erasmus. + +Sayth father, "Then I will tell you in what guise. With a fool-cap and +bells. Pish! I won't aggravate you, churchman as you are, by alluding to +the blessings I have which you have not; and I trow there is as much +danger in taking you for serious when you are onlie playful and +ironicall as if you were Plato himself." + +Sayth Erasmus, after some minutes' silence, "I know full well that you +holde Plato, in manie instances, to be sporting when I accept him in +very deed and truth. _Speculating_ he often was; as a brighte, pure +flame must needs be struggling up, and, if it findeth no direct vent, +come forthe of y^e oven's mouth. He was like a man shut into a vault, +running hither and thither, with his poor, flickering taper, agonizing +to get forthe, and holding himself in readinesse to make a spring +forward the moment a door s^d open. But it never did. 'Not manie wise +are called.' He had clomb a hill in y^e darke, and stoode calling to his +companions below, 'Come on, come on! this way lies y^e east; I am +advised we shall see the sun rise anon.' But they never did. What a +Christian he woulde have made! Ah! he is one now. He and Socrates--the +veil long removed from their eyes--are sitting at Jesus' feet. Sancte +Socrates, ora pro nobis!" + +Bessie and I exchanged glances at this so strange ejaculation; but y^e +subjeckt was of such interest, that we listened with deep attention to +what followed. + +Sayth father, "Whether Socrates were what Plato painted him in his +dialogues, is with me a great matter of doubte; but it is not of +moment. When so many contemporaries coulde distinguishe y^e fancifulle +from y^e fictitious, Plato's object coulde never have beene to +_deceive_. There is something higher in art than gross imitation. He who +attempteth it is always the leaste successfull; and his failure hath the +odium of a discovered lie; whereas, to give an avowedlie fabulous +narrative a consistence within itselfe which permitts y^e reader to be, +for y^e time, voluntarilie deceived, is as artfulle as it is allowable. +Were I to construct a tale, I woulde, as you sayd to Cecy, lie with a +circumstance, but shoulde consider it noe compliment to have my unicorns +and hippogriffs taken for live animals. Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, +magis tamen amica veritas. Now, Plato had a much higher aim than to give +a very pattern of Socrates his snub nose. He wanted a peg to hang his +thoughts upon--" + +"A peg? A statue of Phidias," interrupts Erasmus. + +"A statue by Phidias, to clothe in y^e most beautiful drapery," sayth +father; "no matter that y^e drapery was his own, he wanted to show it to +the best advantage, and to y^e honour rather than prejudice of the +statue. And, having clothed y^e same, he got a spark of Prometheus his +fire, and made the aforesayd statue walk and talk to the glory of gods +and men, and sate himself quietlie down in a corner. By the way, +Desiderius, why shouldst thou not submitt thy subtletie to the rules of +a colloquy? Set Eckius and Martin Luther by the ears! Ha! man, what +sport! Heavens! if I were to compound a tale or a dialogue, what +crotches and quips of mine own woulde I not putt into my puppets' +mouths! and then have out my laugh behind my vizard, as when we used to +act burlesques before Cardinall Morton. What rare sporte we had, one +Christmas, with a mummery we called the 'Triall of Feasting!' Dinner and +Supper were broughte up before my Lord Chief Justice, charged with +murder. Theire accomplices were Plum-pudding, Mince-pye, Surfeit, +Drunkenness, and suchlike. Being condemned to hang by y^e neck, I, who +was Supper, stuft out with I cannot tell you how manie pillows, began to +call lustilie for a confessor; and, on his stepping forthe, commenct a +list of all y^e fitts, convulsions, spasms, payns in y^e head, and so +forthe, I had inflicted on this one and t'other. 'Alas! good father,' +says I, 'King John layd his death at my door; indeede, there's scarce a +royall or noble house that hath not a charge agaynst me; and I'm sorelie +afrayd' (giving a poke at a fat priest that sate at my lord cardinall's +elbow) 'I shall have the death of _that_ holy man to answer for.'" + +Erasmus laughed, and sayd, "Did I ever tell you of the retort of +Willibald Pirkheimer. A monk, hearing him praise me somewhat lavishly to +another, could not avoid expressing by his looks great disgust and +dissatisfaction; and, on being askt whence they arose, confest he c^d +not, with patience, hear y^e commendation of a man soe notoriously fond +of eating fowls. 'Does he steal them?' says Pirkheimer. 'Surely no,' +says y^e monk. 'Why, then,' quoth Willibald, 'I know of a fox who is ten +times the greater rogue; for, look you, he helps himself to many a fat +hen from my roost without ever offering to pay me. But tell me now, dear +father, is it then a sin to eat fowls?' 'Most assuredlie it is,' says +the monk, 'if you indulge in them to gluttony.' 'Ah! if, if!' quoth +Pirkheimer. 'If stands stiff, as the Lacedemonians told Philip of +Macedon; and 'tis not by eating bread alone, my dear father, you have +acquired that huge paunch of yours. I fancy, if all the fat fowls that +have gone into it coulde raise their voices and cackle at once, they +woulde make noise enow to drown y^e drums and trumpets of an army.' Well +may Luther say," continued Erasmus, laughing, "that theire fasting is +easier to them than our eating to us; seeing that every man Jack of them +hath to his evening meal two quarts of beer, a quart of wine, and as +manie as he can eat of spice cakes, the better to relish his drink. +While I--'tis true my stomach is Lutheran, but my heart is Catholic; +that's as heaven made me, and I'll be judged by you alle, whether I am +not as thin as a weasel." + +'Twas now growing dusk, and Cecy's tame hares were just beginning to be +on y^e alert, skipping across our path, as we returned towards the +house, jumping over one another, and raysing 'emselves on theire hind +legs to solicitt our notice. Erasmus was amused at theire gambols, and +at our making them beg for vine-tendrils; and father told him there was +hardlie a member of y^e householde who had not a dumb pet of some sort. +"I encourage the taste in them," he sayd, "not onlie because it fosters +humanitie and affords harmless recreation, but because it promotes +habitts of forethought and regularitie. No child or servant of mine hath +liberty to adopt a pet which he is too lazy or nice to attend to +himself. A little management may enable even a young gentlewoman to do +this, without soyling her hands; and to neglect giving them proper food +at proper times entayls a disgrace of which everie one of 'em w^d be +ashamed. But, hark! there is the vesper-bell." + +As we passed under a pear-tree, Erasmus told us, with much drollerie, of +a piece of boyish mischief of his--the theft of some pears off a +particular tree, the fruit of which the superior of his convent had +meant to reserve to himself. One morning, Erasmus had climbed the tree, +and was feasting to his great content, when he was aware of the superior +approaching to catch him in y^e fact; soe, quicklie slid down to the +ground, and made off in y^e opposite direction, limping as he went. The +malice of this act consisted in its being the counterfeit of the gait of +a poor lame lay brother, who was, in fact, smartlie punisht for Erasmus +his misdeede. Our friend mentioned this with a kinde of remorse, and +observed to my father, "Men laugh at the sins of young people and +little children, as if they were little sins; albeit, the robbery of an +apple or cherry-orchard is as much a breaking of the eighth commandment +as the stealing of a leg of mutton from a butcher's stall, and ofttimes +with far less excuse. Our Church tells us, indeede, of venial sins, such +as the theft of an apple or a pin; but, I think" (looking hard at +Cecilie and Jack), "even the youngest among us could tell how much sin +and sorrow was brought into the world by stealing an apple." + +At bedtime, Bess and I did agree in wishing that alle learned men were +as apt to unite pleasure with profit in theire talk as Erasmus. There be +some that can write after y^e fashion of Paul, and others preach like +unto Apollos; but this, methinketh, is scattering seed by the wayside, +like the great Sower. + + * * * * * + +'Tis singular, the love that Jack and Cecy have for one another; it +resembleth that of twins. Jack is not forward at his booke; on y^e other +hand, he hath a resolution of character which Cecy altogether wants. +Last night, when Erasmus spake of children's sins, I observed her +squeeze Jack's hand with alle her mighte. I know what she was thinking +of. Having bothe beene forbidden to approach a favorite part of y^e +river bank which had given way from too much use, one or y^e other of em +transgressed, as was proven by y^e smalle footprints in y^e mud, as well +as by a nosegay of flowers, that grow not, save by the river; to wit, +purple loose-strife, cream-and-codlins, scorpion-grass, water plantain, +and the like. Neither of them would confesse, and Jack was, therefore, +sentenced to be whipt. As he walked off with Mr. Drew, I observed Cecy +turn soe pale, that I whispered father I was certayn she was guilty. He +made answer, "Never mind, we cannot beat a girl, and 'twill answer y^e +same purpose; in flogging him we flog both." Jack bore the first stripe +or two, I suppose, well enow, but at lengthe we hearde him cry out, on +which Cecy coulde not forbeare to do y^e same, and then stopt bothe her +ears. I expected everie moment to hear her say, "Father, 'twas I;" but +no, she had not courage for that; onlie, when Jack came forthe all +smirked with tears, she put her arm aboute his neck, and they walked off +together into the nuttery. Since that hour, she hath beene more devoted +to him than ever, if possible; and he, boy-like, finds satisfaction in +making her his little slave. But the beauty lay in my father's +improvement of y^e circumstance. Taking Cecy on his knee that evening +(for she was not ostensiblie in disgrace), he beganne to talk of +atonement and mediation for sin, and who it was that bare our sins for +us on the tree. 'Tis thus he turns y^e daylie accidents of our quiet +lives into lessons of deepe import, not pedanticallie delivered, ex +cathedrâ, but welling forthe from a full and fresh mind. + +This morn I had risen before dawn, being minded to meditate on sundrie +matters before Bess was up and doing, she being given to much talk +during her dressing, and made my way to y^e pavillion, where, methought, +I s^d be quiet enow; but beholde! father and Erasmus were there before +me, in fluent and earneste discourse. I w^d have withdrawne, but father, +without interrupting his sentence, puts his arm rounde me and draweth me +to him, soe there I sit, my head on 's shoulder, and mine eyes on +Erasmus his face. + +From much they spake, and other much I guessed, they had beene +conversing y^e present state of y^e Church, and how much it needed +renovation. + +Erasmus sayd, y^e vices of y^e Clergy and ignorance of y^e vulgar had +now come to a poynt, at the which, a remedie must be founde, or y^e +whole fabric w^d falle to pieces. + +--Sayd, the revival of learning seemed appoynted by heaven for some +greate purpose, 'twas difficulte to say how greate. + +--Spake of y^e new art of printing, and its possible consequents. + +--Of y^e active and fertile minds at present turning up new ground and +ferreting out old abuses. + +--Of the abuse of monachism, and of y^e evil lives of conventualls. In +special, of y^e fanaticism and hypocrisie of y^e Dominicans. + +Considered y^e evills of y^e times such, as that societie must shortlie, +by a vigorous effort, shake 'em off. + +Wondered at y^e patience of the laitie for soe manie generations, but +thoughte 'em now waking from theire sleepe. The people had of late +beganne to know theire physickall power, and to chafe at y^e weighte of +theire yoke. + +Thoughte the doctrine of indulgences altogether bad and false. + +Father sayd, that y^e graduallie increast severitie of Church discipline +concerning minor offences had become such as to render indulgences y^e +needfulle remedie for burdens too heavie to be borne.--Condemned a +Draconic code, that visitted even sins of discipline with y^e extream +penaltie.--Quoted how ill such excessive severitie answered in our owne +land, with regard to y^e civill law; twenty thieves oft hanging together +on y^e same gibbet, yet robberie noe whit abated. + +Othermuch to same purport, y^e which, if alle set downe, woulde too +soone fill my libellus. At length, unwillinglie brake off, when the bell +rang us to matins. + +At breakfaste, William and Rupert were earneste with my father to let +'em row him to Westminster, which he was disinclined to, as he was for +more speede, and had promised Erasmus an earlie caste to Lambeth; +howbeit, he consented that they s^d pull us up to Putney in y^e evening, +and William s^d have y^e stroke-oar. Erasmus sayd, he must thank y^e +archbishop for his present of a horse; "tho' I'm full faine," he +observed, "to believe it a changeling. He is idle and gluttonish, as +thin as a wasp, and as ugly as sin. Such a horse, and such a rider!" + +In the evening, Will and Rupert made 'emselves spruce enow, with +nosegays and ribbons and we tooke water bravelie--John Harris in y^e +stern, playing the recorder. We had the six-oared barge; and when Rupert +Allington was tired of pulling, Mr. Clement tooke his oar; and when _he_ +wearied, John Harris gave over playing y^e pipe; but William and Mr. +Gunnel never flagged. + +Erasmus was full of his visitt to y^e archbishop, who, as usuall, I +think, had given him some money. + +"We sate down two hundred to table," sayth he; "there was fish, flesh, +and fowl; but Wareham onlie played with his knife, and drank noe wine. +He was very cheerfulle and accessible; he knows not what pride is; and +yet, of how much mighte he be proude! What genius! what erudition! what +kindnesse and modesty! From Wareham, who ever departed in sorrow?" + +Landing at Fulham, we had a brave ramble thro' y^e meadows. Erasmus +noting y^e poor children a gathering y^e dandelion and milk-thistle for +the herb-market, was avised to speak of forayn herbes and theire uses, +bothe for food and medicine. + +"For me," says father "there is manie a plant I entertayn in my garden +and paddock which y^e fastidious woulde cast forthe. I like to teache my +children y^e uses of common things--to know, for instance, y^e uses of +y^e flowers and weeds that grow in our fields and hedges. Manie a poor +knave's pottage woulde be improved, if he were skilled in y^e properties +of y^e burdock and purple orchis, lady's-smock, brook-lime, and old +man's pepper. The roots of wild succory and water arrow-head mighte +agreeablie change his Lenten diet; and glasswort afford him a pickle for +his mouthfulle of salt-meat. Then, there are cresses and wood-sorrel to +his breakfast, and salep for his hot evening mess. For his medicine, +there is herb-twopence, that will cure a hundred ills; camomile, to lull +a raging tooth; and the juice of buttercup to cleare his head by +sneezing. Vervain cureth ague; and crowfoot affords y^e leaste painfulle +of blisters. St. Anthony's turnip is an emetic; goosegrass sweetens the +blood; woodruffe is good for the liver; and bind-weed hath nigh as much +virtue as y^e forayn scammony. Pimpernel promoteth laughter; and poppy +sleep: thyme giveth pleasant dreams; and an ashen branch drives evil +spirits from y^e pillow. As for rosemarie, I lett it run alle over my +garden walls, not onlie because my bees love it, but because 'tis the +herb sacred to remembrance, and, therefore, to friendship, whence a +sprig of it hath a dumb language that maketh y^e chosen emblem at our +funeral wakes, and in our buriall grounds. Howbeit, I am a schoolboy +prating in presence of his master, for here is John Clement at my elbow, +who is the best botanist and herbalist of us all." + +--Returning home, y^e youths being warmed with rowing, and in high +spiritts, did entertayn themselves and us with manie jests and playings +upon words, some of 'em forced enow, yet provocative of laughing. +Afterwards, Mr. Gunnel proposed enigmas and curious questions. Among +others, he woulde know which of y^e famous women of Greece or Rome we +maidens w^d resemble. Bess was for Cornelia, Daisy for Clelia, but I for +Damo, daughter of Pythagoras, which William Roper deemed stupid enow, +and thoughte I mighte have found as good a daughter, that had not died a +maid. Sayth Erasmus, with his sweet, inexpressible smile, "Now I will +tell you, lads and lassies, what manner of man _I_ w^d be, if I +were not Erasmus. I woulde step back some few years of my life, and be +half-way 'twixt thirty and forty; I would be pious and profounde enow +for y^e church, albeit noe churchman; I woulde have a blythe, stirring, +English wife, and half-a-dozen merrie girls and boys, an English +homestead, neither hall nor farm, but betweene both; but neare enow to +y^e citie for convenience, but away from its noise. I woulde have a +profession, that gave me some hours daylie of regular businesse, that +s^d let men know my parts, and court me into publick station, for which +my taste made me rather withdrawe. I woulde have such a private +independence, as s^d enable me to give and lend, rather than beg and +borrow. I woulde encourage mirthe without buffoonerie, ease without +negligence; my habitt and table shoulde be simple, and for my looks I +woulde be neither tall nor short, fat nor lean, rubicund nor sallow, but +of a fayr skin with blue eyes, brownish beard, and a countenance +engaging and attractive, soe that alle of my companie coulde not choose +but love me." + +"Why, then, you woulde be father himselfe," cried Cecy, clasping his arm +in bothe her hands with a kind of rapture, and, indeede, y^e portraiture +was soe like, we coulde not but smile at y^e resemblance. + +Arrived at y^e landing, father protested he was wearie with his ramble, +and, his foot slipping, he wrenched his ankle, and sate for an instante +on a barrow, the which one of y^e men had left with his garden tools, +and before he c^d rise or cry out, William, laughing, rolled him up to +y^e house-door; which, considering father's weight, was much for a +stripling to doe. Father sayd the same, and, laying his hand on Will's +shoulder with kindnesse, cried, "Bless thee, my boy, but I woulde not +have thee overstrayned, like Biton and Clitobus." + + (_To be continued._) + + + + +SKETCH OF A MISER. + + +John Overs was a miser, living in the old days when popery flourished, +and friars abounded in England. Some of his vices and eccentricities +have been chronicled in a little tract of great rarity, entitled "The +True History of the Life and Death of John Overs, and of his Daughter +Mary, who caused the Church of St. Mary Overs to be built." But in +giving the particulars of his life, we do not vouch for their +authenticity: the tract resembles too strongly a chap book to bear the +marks of honest truth; yet the anecdotes are amusing, and the tradition +of the miser's pretty daughter reads somewhat romantic. + +John Overs was a Southwark ferryman, and he obtained, by paying an +annual sum to the city authorities, a monopoly in the trade of conveying +passengers across the river. He soon grew rich, and became the master of +numerous servants and apprentices. From his first increase of wealth, he +put his money out to use on such profitable terms, that he rapidly +amassed a fortune almost equal to that of the first nobleman in the +land; yet, notwithstanding this speedy accumulation of wealth, in his +habits, housekeeping, and expenses, he bore the appearance of the most +abject poverty, and was so eager after gain, that even in his old age, +and when his body had become weak by unnecessary deprivations, he would +labor incessantly, and allow himself no rest or repose. This most +miserly wretch, it is said, had a daughter, remarkable both for her +piety and beauty; the old man, in spite of his parsimonious habits, +retained some affection for his child, and bestowed upon her a somewhat +liberal education. + +Mary Overs had no sympathy with the avarice and selfishness of her +parent: she grew up endowed with amiability, and with a true maiden's +heart to love. As she approached womanhood, her dazzling charms +attracted numerous suitors; but the miser refused all matrimonial +offers, and even declined to negociate the matter on any terms, although +some of wealth and rank were willing to wed with the ferryman's +daughter. Mary was kept a close prisoner, and forbidden to bestow her +smiles upon any of her admirers, nor were any allowed to speak with her; +but love and nature will conquer bolts and bars, as well as fear; and +one of her suitors took the opportunity, while the miser was busy +picking up his penny fares, to get admitted to her company. The first +interview pleased well; another was granted and arranged, which pleased +still better; and a third ended in a mutual plighting of their troths. +During all these transactions at home, the silly old ferryman was still +busy with his avocation, not dreaming but that things were as secure on +land as they were on water. + +John Overs was of a disposition so wretched and miserly, that he even +begrudged his servants their necessary food. He used to buy black +puddings, which were then sold in London at a penny a yard; and whenever +he gave them their allowance, he used to say, "There, you hungry dogs, +you will undo me with eating." He would scarcely allow a neighbor to +obtain a light from his candle, lest he should in some way impoverish +him by taking some of its light. He used to go to market to search for +bargains: he bought the siftings of the coarsest meal, looked out +eagerly for marrow-bones that could be purchased for a trifle, and +scrupled not to convert them into soup if they were mouldy. He bought +the stalest bread, and he used to cut it into slices, "that, taking the +air, it might become the harder to be eaten." Sometimes he would buy +meat so tainted, that even his dog would refuse it; upon which +occasions, he used to say that it was a dainty cur, and better fed than +taught, and then eat it himself. He needed no cats, for all the rats and +mice voluntarily left the house, as nothing was cast aside from which +they could obtain a picking. + +It is said that this sordid old man resorted one day to a most singular +stratagem, for the purpose of saving a day's provision in his +establishment. He counterfeited illness, and pretended to die; he +compelled his daughter to assist in the deception, much against her +inclination. Overs imagined that, like good Catholics, his servants +would not be so unnatural as to partake of food while his body was above +ground, but would lament his loss, and observe a rigid fast; when the +day was over, he intended to feign a sudden recovery. He was laid out as +dead, and wrapt in a sheet; a candle was placed at his head, in +accordance with the popish custom of the age. His apprentices were +informed of their master's death; but, instead of manifesting grief, +they gave vent to the most unbounded joy; hoping, at last, to be +released from their hard and penurious servitude. They hastened to +satisfy themselves of the truth of this joyful news, and seeing him laid +out as dead, could not even restrain their feelings in the presence of +death, but actually danced and skipped around the corpse; tears or +lamentations they had none; and as to fasting, an empty belly admits of +no delay. In the ebullition of their joy, one ran into the kitchen, and +breaking open the cupboard, brought out the bread; another ran for the +cheese, and brought it forth in triumph; and the third drew a flagon of +ale. They all sat down in high glee, congratulating and rejoicing among +themselves, at having been so unexpectedly released from their bonds of +servitude. Hard as it was, the bread rapidly disappeared; they indulged +in huge slices of cheese, even ventured to cast aside the parings, and +to take copious draughts of the miser's ale. The old man lay all this +time struck with horror at this awful prodigality, and enraged at their +mutinous disrespect: flesh and blood--at least, the flesh and blood of a +miser--could endure it no longer; and starting up he caught hold of the +funeral taper, determined to chastise them for their waste. One of them +seeing the old man struggling in the sheet, and thinking it was the +devil or a ghost, and becoming alarmed, caught hold of the butt end of a +broken oar, and at one blow struck out his brains! "Thus," says the +tradition, "he who thought only to counterfeit death, occasioned it in +earnest; and the law acquitted the fellow of the act, as he was the +prime cause of his own death." The daughter's lover, hearing of the +death of old Overs, hastened up to London with all possible speed; but +riding fast, his horse unfortunately threw him, just as he was entering +the city, and broke his neck. This, with her father's death, had such an +effect on the spirits of Mary Overs, that she was almost frantic, and +being troubled with a numerous train of suitors, she resolved to +retire into a nunnery, and to devote the whole of her wealth, which was +enormous, to purposes of charity and religion. She laid the foundation +of "a famous church, which at her own charge was finished, and by her +dedicated to the Virgin Mary." This, tradition says, was the origin of +St. Mary Overs, Southwark, a name which it received in memory of its +beautiful, but unfortunate foundress. + +On an old sepulchre, in St. Saviour's church, may be seen to this day, +reclining in no very easy posture, the figure of a poor, +emaciated-looking being; which rumor has declared to be the figure of +John Overs, the ferryman. There is not much to warrant the conclusion, +except, perhaps, the similarity which the mind might discover in the +stone effigy and the aspect with which, in idea, we instinctively endow +all such objects of penury. The figure looks thin enough for a man who +lived on the pickings of stale bones, and musty bread, it must be +allowed; and the countenance certainly looks miserly enough for any +miser; but then the marble tablet above merely tells the passer by that +the body of one William Emerson lyeth there, "who departed out of this +life," one day in June, in the year 1575. + +The curious little tract from which we have gleaned many of the above +particulars, gives a very different account of the miser's +burying-place. On account, it is said, of his usury, extortion, and the +general sordidness of his life, he had been excommunicated, and refused +Christian burial; but the daughter, by large sums of money, endeavored +to bribe the friars of Bermondsey Abbey to get him buried. As my lord +abbot happened to be away from home, the holy brothers took the money, +and buried him within the cloister. The abbot on his return seeing a new +grave, inquired who, in his absence, had been buried there; and on being +informed, he ordered it to be immediately disinterred, and be laid on +the back of an ass; then muttering some benediction, or, perhaps, an +anathema, he turned the beast from the abbey gates. "The ass went with a +solemn pace, unguided by any, through Kent Street, till it came to St. +Thomas-a-Watering, which was then the common execution place; and then +shook him off, just under the gallows, where a grave was instantly made, +and, without any ceremony, he was tumbled in, and covered with earth." + +While we abhor the abuse, and think it well to guard others by hideous +examples of its folly and vice, we can appreciate and participate in its +general use. We look upon it as a solemn duty in men, whether regarded +as citizens or fathers of families, to practice a prudent economy; and +the man who is frugal without being avaricious--who is parsimonious +without being sordid--we regard as fulfilling one of his greatest social +duties. If economy is a virtue, wastefulness is a sin; and yet how many +weekly glory in being thought extravagant! Ruined spendthrifts will +boast of their meanless prodigality and their wasteful dissipation, as +if in their past liberal selfishness they could claim some forbearance +for their present disrepute, or some compassion for the misfortunes into +which their own heedlessness has thrown them. The learned, too, will +disdain all knowledge of the dull routine of economy, and proclaim their +ignorance of the affairs of life, as if the confession endowed them with +a virtue; but perfection is not the privilege of any order of men, and +many who ought to have been the monitors of mankind, whose talents have +made their names immortal, embittered their lives, and impaired the +vigor of their intellects by their thoughtless and wanton extravagance. + + + + +AN INCIDENT OF THE FIRST FRENCH REVOLUTION. + + +In the winter of the year 1792, Paris was agitated to the very core, by +the most important public question which had yet arisen during the +course of the Revolution. The people had hitherto been completely +triumphant in their attack on established things. They had overturned +the throne, and sent its supporters by thousands to the scaffold or to +exile. They had subverted the ancient constitution; and, though no new +form of government had yet been arranged, all power lay for the time in +the hands of their leaders, of one or another denomination of +republicans. The Jacobins, ultimately the dominant faction, had not yet +obtained full sway, but had to contend for supremacy in the convention +(or senate) of the nation, with the Girondists, a section numbering in +its ranks many of the most able and more moderate republicans of France. +Daily and bitterly did these two parties struggle at this time against +one another--Robespierre, Danton, and Marat being the virtual chiefs, +whether acting in unison or otherwise, of the Jacobins or violent +republicans; while Vergniaud, Guadet, Louvet, Salle, Petion, and others, +headed the Girondists or moderates. Matters stood thus before the +commencement of the trial of Louis XVI., the question already alluded to +as exceeding in importance and interest any to which the Revolution had +yet given birth. On the results of the process hung the life of the +king; and men speculated as to the issue with anxiety, mingled with fear +and wonderment. Doubts existed as to what might be that issue--doubts +excited chiefly by the condition of parties just described. On the +whole, the chances seemed in favor of the king before the commencement +of his trial, seeing that the Girondists had then a decided ascendency +over their rivals in the convention, and that many of them had strong +leanings to the side of mercy. But the unfortunate Louis XVI., whose +very mildness made him the scape-goat for the errors of his +predecessors, stood in mortal peril in the best view of the case. So +felt his friends throughout France, and they were yet numerous, though +constrained to look on in silence, and bury their feelings in their own +bosoms. + +One evening, in the winter mentioned, before the trial of the king had +opened, the convention broke up after a stormy sitting, and its members +separated for their clubs or their homes, to intrigue or to recreate, as +they felt inclined. The Girondist leaders, Vergniaud, Guadet, Fonfrene, +and others, might then have been seen, as they left the place of +sitting, to surround a young man who was speaking loudly and vehemently. +His theme was Robespierre; and bitter were the recriminations which he +poured on that too famous individual. Vergniaud and the rest attempted +to check the outbursts of wrath, but, at the same time, with peals of +laughter at their young colleague's angry violence. + +"Come home with me, my good Barbaroux," said Vergniaud; "we shall hear +you more comfortably before a good fire. It is piercingly cold, and I +promise you, that, if the vines of Medoc have to sustain such a season, +we need not expect to drink Bordeaux at a reasonable price for fifteen +years to come." + +"Fifteen years!" said Guadet, in a melancholy voice; "and do you then +count upon living for another fifteen years, Vergniaud?" + +"Why not?" was the answer; "am I a king that I should fear the anger of +the Republic?" + +At this moment, a little Savoyard, with his stool at his back, threw +himself almost betwixt the legs of Vergniaud, and, holding out a letter, +exclaimed, "Which of you, citizens, is the representative Barbaroux?" + +"Here," said Vergniaud, taking the letter from the lad, and handing it +to his companion, the irritated young deputy above mentioned, "here is a +billet for you, Barbaroux. I should guess that it comes from some +ex-marchioness, who wishes to know if the judges of the king are formed +like other men, or if you have got horns on your head, and a cloven +foot." + +Barbaroux, at this time little more than twenty-seven years of age, was +one of the most handsome, as well as beautiful men of his time. Madame +Roland, in one phrase, has given us a singular idea of his personal +attractions. "He had," she says, "the head of Antinous upon the frame of +a Hercules." The young representative of Marseilles (for such was his +station) took the note of the Savoyard, and, advancing to a lamp, opened +it, and read therein the following words: + +"Citizen, if you fear not to accede to an invitation which can not be +signed, repair this evening, at nine o'clock, to the street St. Honore, +where you will find a coach standing in front of the house, No. 56. +Enter the vehicle without fear, and it will conduct you among old +friends." + +Turning to his companions, after reading this mystic note, Barbaroux +observed, "You are right, Vergniaud; it is a communication from an +ex-marchioness." + +"Ah! I thought so," replied the other; "and will you accept the +invitation?" + +"I know not," was the careless response. + +Barbaroux was young, and, without being exactly weary of the agitated +public life which he habitually led, felt any circumstance calculated to +take him out of it for a time as a piece of good fortune not to be +contemned. He deceived Vergniaud, therefore, when he affected to treat +the matter of the billet lightly. In fact, it seized upon his thoughts +exclusively; and he not only spoke no more of Robespierre to his +friends, but quitted them upon some slight pretext soon afterward. He +then returned directly to his own home; and, when there, delivered +himself up to conjectures respecting the mysterious epistle which he had +received. Barbaroux was young, be it again observed, and of a +temperament not indisposed to gallantry, though the softer concerns of +life had been all but banished from his thoughts more lately. However, +the anonymous billet, which came, he felt assured, from a female, +directed his reflections into a train once not so unfamiliar to them, +and the more so as it spoke of his meeting "old friends." With +impatience, therefore, he watched the movements of his time-piece, as it +indicated the gradual approach of the hour of appointment. The +Marseillaise representative felt no personal alarm respecting the coming +adventure. He had never been an advocate of bloodshed in his public +character, and knew of none likely to entertain against him sentiments +of hostility, or to project snares for his life. No; he confidently +assumed the object of the unknown correspondent to be friendly. + +Enough, however, about the anticipations of Barbaroux. The hour of nine +came, and he hastily left his own residence, to proceed to the Rue St. +Honore. There, opposite to No. 56, he found a coach in waiting. Without +a word, he opened the door, leaped inside, and shut himself up with his +own hands. In a moment the coachman lashed his horses, and Barbaroux +felt himself whirled along for an hour with such rapidity, as, together +with the obscurity of the evening, to prevent him completely from +discerning the route taken. At length the vehicle stopped abruptly, in a +petty street, and before a house of sufficiently mediocre appearance. +The gate opened instantly, and the driver, descending from his seat, +silently showed Barbaroux into the house, after which the door was +closed behind. The young man now found himself in a passage of some +length, as was shown by a distant light. That light speedily increased, +and the visitor perceived a young girl approaching him with a lamp in +her hand--one of those old iron lamps in which the oil floats openly, +and which have the wick at one of the sides. Barbaroux was instantly +reminded of the fisher-cots of Marseilles--his own well-known +Marseilles--where such articles are used constantly by the fishing +community. Casting his eyes attentively on the girl, he saw more to +remind him of the same ancient sea-port--her cap, colored kerchief, and +dress generally, being such as its young women always wore. Her face, +too, was not a strange one. Moreover the odor of tar, or that smell +peculiar to well-used cordage and sails, struck forcibly on his senses, +and strengthened the same associative recollections. Astonished +already, Barbaroux felt still more so, when a once familiar voice +addressed him in accents strongly provincial, or Marseillaise. + +"Charles," said the girl with the lamp, "you have made us wait. You +promised this morning to be earlier here." + +"I promised!" cried Barbaroux, with amazement, heightened by a sort of +impression that he was speaking to a person who ought at the moment to +be at two hundred leagues' distance. + +"Yes! promised," continued the girl; "but no doubt, you have been at the +office, or have forgotten yourself with the curate of La Major, who +makes you study such beautiful plants. Never mind; come with me. Melanie +is with her uncle Jean, and I, as I tell you, have been waiting for you +more than an hour. Come, then!" + +Barbaroux scarcely comprehended what was said to him. He found all his +senses deceiving him at once, as it were, sight, hearing, and smell; and +his imagination transported from the present to the past, had some +difficulty in overcoming the first shock of stupefied surprise. +Thereafter, he felt a kind of wish to yield himself up voluntarily to +what seemed a sweet illusion. He followed the young girl as desired, but +soon found new causes for astonishment. Before him appeared the old +screw-stair of a well-known fisher dwelling, with the narrow +landing-place, chalky walls, and plastered chimney, with its tint of +yellow, to him most familiar of old. He even noted on the plaster an +acanthus leaf, where such a thing had been once rudely charcoaled by his +own hand. In the chimney grate, he beheld an enormous log, the Christmas +log, sparkling above the red embers; and he then called to mind that the +day was the 24th of December, and the evening Christmas Eve. + +"Ah! you see," said the young girl, rousing him by her voice, "we are +going to hold the Christmas feast. Come, Charles, enter, and sit down +opposite to uncle Jean, and by the side of Melanie. I will take my place +on your other hand." + +As the girl spoke, she had opened the door of an inner apartment, and +led forward Barbaroux. The latter did indeed see before him uncle Jean; +he clasped in his own the hands of Melanie. He beheld all that he had +been once wont to see, in short, in the home of uncle Jean, the old +seaman of Marseilles. The same veteran weather-glass hung on the wall; +the compass was there, too, pointing still, as it pointed of yore. On +the table Barbaroux observed the green glasses of Provence; the bottles +were the peculiar bottles of uncle Jean; and, amid others, he saw the +yellow seals marking the prized Cyprus wine of the ancient mariner +of Marseilles. Brown dishes were there of the pottery of Saint +Jacquerie--articles to Paris unknown. Edibles lay upon them too, such as +Marseilles draws from sunny Afric: almonds and dates, with figs and +raisins, alone, or compounded into cakes, after the mode of southern +France. All these things confounded the young member of convention. Had +he made in a few hours a journey of eight days? Had he retrograded in +the way of existence? Had he dreamt of a busy life of three years, since +the time when, under the shade of the church of St. Laurent of +Marseilles, he had courted the fair niece of uncle Jean, amid scenes and +sights such as now surrounded him? The deputy of Marseilles, the popular +conventionist, closed his eyes in doubt. Dreamed he at that moment or +had he dreamed for years? + +Barbaroux was no weak-minded man, and yet it is not too much to say, +that he felt positive difficulty in determining what he saw to be +unreal, or, at most but an illusory revival of a former reality; and +this difficulty he felt, even though he had in his pocket, and touched +with his fingers, a note from Madame Roland, received in the convention +on that very afternoon. On the other hand, the two Provençal girls were +assuredly by his side; and, at the sight of Melanie, upsprung anew that +fresh young love which politics had stifled in his heart in its very +bud. Was not uncle Jean there, moreover, with his robust form and open +features, his kindly smile, and his strong Marseillaise accents? If all +was a delusion, as the reason of Barbaroux ever and anon told him, and +if a purposed delusion, as seemed more than likely, what could that +purpose be? Had uncle Jean and Melanie thus mysteriously encompassed him +with souvenirs of former and happy hours, to rekindle the love from +which politics had detached him, and to lead him yet into that union +once all but arranged? Such might possibly be the case, and the thought +tended to check the questions which rose naturally to the young man's +lip. He could not, would not, bring a blush to the cheek of Melanie, by +asking her explanations so delicate. These would be voluntarily given, +doubtless, in due time. Besides, to speak the truth, he felt so happy to +be again by her side, as to shrink from the idea of breaking the spell, +and was contented to yield himself up to the soft intoxication of the +moment. He spoke of Marseilles, as if he was actually there, and as if +he had no thought save of its passing interests and affairs. On these +matters, uncle Jean and the two girls conversed with him freely, never +leaving it to be supposed for an instant, however, that they were at all +conscious of being elsewhere, or that Barbaroux had ever been absent +from their sides. Only now and then did Barbaroux catch the glance of +Melanie, fixed on him with an unusual expression, made up of mingled +tenderness and thoughtful anxiety. His observation, however, made her +instantly recur to the same manner displayed by her sister and uncle, +who treated him as if they had seen him but a few hours previously. The +deputy, after being enlivened by the little supper and the good wine, +even smiled internally to see the extent to which they carried this +caution, though it mystified him the more. The window of the chamber in +which they sat at their singular Christmas feast, opened suddenly of its +own accord. + +"Shut that window, Melanie," said uncle Jean; "the air of the sea is +unwholesome by night." The window was closed accordingly; but Barbaroux +fancied that he had actually heard through it the roll of the waves, and +felt on his cheek the freshness of the ocean breeze. + +At length the hour of midnight sounded--the hour at which, once only in +the year, the priest ascends the high altar to say mass--the hour of the +Saviour's birth. + +"It is midnight," cried the two girls; "let us proceed to mass." + +As they spoke, the girls rose from table, and, in doing so, overturned, +by accident or intention, the two candles by which the room was lighted. +Barbaroux found himself a second time in the dark; but speedily his arms +were seized by the girls, one on each side, and he was noiselessly led +down into the dark passage by which he had entered. Barbaroux had often +stolen an embrace from Melanie in such circumstances as the present, and +he here found himself repaid by a voluntary one from herself. For a +moment her arm lingered around him, and was then withdrawn in silence. +The door was then opened for him, and, in another second of time, he +stood alone in the street, with the coach in waiting which had brought +him thither. Confusedly and mechanically he entered the vehicle, and was +ere long set down in the Rue St. Honore, at liberty to regain his own +home. + +Deeply as he was impressed by this remarkable incident, Barbaroux did +not think it necessary to disclose the particulars to Vergniaud and his +other political companions; but he made a confidant of Madame Roland. + +"It is plain," said he, concludingly to that lady, "that the whole was a +purposed plan of deception or illusion. It is the story of Aline put in +action for my especial benefit, but surely without end, without +sufficing grounds. Wherefore employ such chicanery with a man like me? +It would have been better to have addressed me frankly, and so have +reminded me of the past, than to have resorted to a scheme which, though +impressive at the time, can only move me now to a smile. Yes, madame, I +would say--that the issue might possibly have been more agreeable to +their wishes, had they dealt with me less mysteriously. But what +inducement can have made uncle Jean go in with such a step, really +puzzles me. He is a man who dies of ennui when out of sight of the sea +for a day. Besides, though he did love me once, I believe that he at +heart hates the convention, with all belonging to it, and favors the +Bourbons." + +"Even if the intention," replied Madame Roland, "was only to recall your +old love to your recollection, Barbaroux, there is something pretty in +the idea. It is as if your Melanie, in putting her home, her friends, +and herself, before you in their perfect reality, had said--'This is all +I can offer--all save my love.' But there is something more under it +than all this, Barbaroux,' pursued the lady, after reflecting gravely +for some time. 'They gave you no verbal explanation, you say; but did +they leave you no clew otherwise? Did you wear your present dress +yesterday?" + +"I did, madame." + +"Have you examined its pockets?" + +"No," said Barbaroux, "but I shall do so immediately." + +The young member of convention accordingly put his hands into his +pockets, and was not slow to discover there, as Madame Roland had +acutely conjectured, a complete solution of his whole enigma. He found a +paper bearing his address, in which an offer was made to him of the hand +of the woman he (once, at least, had) loved, with a dowry of five +hundred thousand francs, and the prospect of enjoying anew all the +pleasures of his happy youth, provided that he supported the Appeal to +the People on behalf of Louis XVI.--provided, in short, that he lent his +influence to save the life, at all events, of the king. That such an +appeal would have saved Louis from the scaffold, all men at the time +believed. The Jacobins obviously thought so, since they obstinately +denied him any such chance of escape. + +It is probable that the monetary clause in this proposal would alone +have prevented its entertainment by the young deputy for Marseilles. Be +this as it may, the romantic scheme which the friendship of uncle Jean, +and the love of Melanie, had led them to enter upon, at the instance, +doubtless of the other friends of Louis, for inducing Barbaroux to +befriend the king, and for wiling himself from the dangerous vortex of +political turmoil, ended in nothing. Within a few weeks--nay, a few days +afterward--began that life-and-death struggle between the Girondists and +Jacobins, which only terminated with the total fall of the former party, +and the condemnation to the scaffold of all its leaders. To the honor of +Barbaroux, be it told that, without a bribe, he supported the Appeal to +the People, and had he had the power would have saved the ill-fated king +from the extreme and bloody penalty of the guillotine. But the infuriate +councils of Robespierre and Marat prevailed; and Barbaroux, with five +companions, fled for safety to the Gironde, that southern portion of +France, of which Bordeaux is the capital, and whence they had derived +their party name. They found there, however, no safety; they were hunted +down like wild beasts by the dominant faction, and every man of them was +taken and beheaded, or otherwise perished miserably, with the exception +of Louvet, who subsequently recorded their perils and their sufferings. +Barbaroux, the young, gay, handsome and brave Barbaroux, died on the +scaffold, while Petion met the death of a wild beast in the +fields--starved while in life, and mangled by wolves when no +more. Well had it been for Barbaroux, had he yielded timeously to the +loving call of Melanie, made so romantically and mysteriously. It was +not so destined to be.[2] + +[Footnote 2: This little story is drawn from the French. The +Revolutionary era was so fertile in romantic incidents, springing at +once from the theatrical character of the people, and the extraordinary +excitement of the period, that the adventure of Barbaroux is quite +within the range of probability. One vote did at last condemn Louis +XVI.] + + + + +"JUDGE NOT!" + + +Many years since, two pupils of the University at Warsaw were passing +through the street in which stands the column of King Sigismund, round +whose pedestal may generally be seen seated a number of women selling +fruit, cakes, and a variety of eatables, to the passers-by. The young +men paused to look at a figure whose oddity attracted their attention. +This was a man apparently between fifty and sixty years of age; his +coat, once black, was worn threadbare; his broad hat overshadowed a thin +wrinkled face; his form was greatly emaciated, yet he walked with a firm +and rapid step. He stopped at one of the stalls beneath the column, +purchased a halfpenny worth of bread, ate part of it, put the remainder +into his pocket, and pursued his way toward the palace of General +Zaionczek, lieutenant of the kingdom, who, in the absence of the czar, +Alexander, exercised royal authority in Poland. + +"Do you know that man?" asked one student of the other. + +"I do not; but judging by his lugubrious costume, and no less mournful +countenance, I should guess him to be an undertaker." + +"Wrong, my friend; he is Stanislas Staszic." + +"Staszic!" exclaimed the student, looking after the man, who was then +entering the palace. "How can a mean, wretched-looking man, who stops in +the middle of the street to buy a morsel of bread, be rich and +powerful?" + +"Yet, so it is," replied his companion. "Under this unpromising exterior +is hidden one of our most influential ministers, and one of the most +illustrious _savans_ of Europe." + +The man whose appearance contrasted so strongly with his social +position, who was as powerful as he seemed insignificant, as rich as he +appeared poor, owed all his fortune to himself--to his labors, and to +his genius. + +Of low extraction--he left Poland, while young, in order to acquire +learning. He passed some years in the Universities of Leipsic and +Göttingen, continued his studies in the College of France, under Brisson +and D'Aubanton; gained the friendship of Buffon; visited the Alps and +the Apennines; and, finally, returned to his native land, stored with +rich and varied learning. + +He was speedily invited by a nobleman to take charge of the education of +his son. Afterward, the government wished to profit by his talents; and +Staszic, from grade to grade, was raised to the highest posts and the +greatest dignities. His economical habits made him rich. Five hundred +serfs cultivated his lands, and he possessed large sums of money placed +at interest. When did any man ever rise very far above the rank in which +he was born, without presenting a mark for envy and detraction to aim +their arrows against? Mediocrity always avenges itself by calumny; and +so Staszic found it, for the good folks of Warsaw were quite ready to +attribute all his actions to sinister motives. + +A group of idlers had paused close to where the students were standing. +All looked at the minister, and every one had something to say against +him. + +"Who would ever think," cried a noble, whose gray mustaches and +old-fashioned costume recalled the era of King Sigismund, "that +_he_ could be a minister of state? Formerly, when a Palatin +traversed the capital, a troop of horsemen both preceded and followed +him. Soldiers dispersed the crowds that pressed to look at him. But what +respect can be felt for an old miser, who has not the heart to afford +himself a coach, and who eats a piece of bread in the streets, just as a +beggar would do?" + +"His heart," said a priest, "is as hard as the iron chest in which he +keeps his gold; a poor man might die of hunger at his door, before he +would give him alms." + +"He has worn the same coat for the last ten years," remarked another. + +"He sits on the ground for fear of wearing out his chairs," chimed in a +saucy-looking lad, and every one joined in a mocking laugh. + +A young pupil of one of the public schools had listened in indignant +silence to these speeches, which cut him to the heart; and at length, +unable to restrain himself, he turned toward the priest and said: + +"A man distinguished for his generosity ought to be spoken of with more +respect. What does it signify to us how he dresses, or what he eats, if +he makes a noble use of his fortune?" + +"And pray what use _does_ he make of it?" + +"The Academy of Sciences wanted a place for a library, and had not funds +to hire one. Who bestowed on them a magnificent palace? Was it not +Staszic!" + +"Oh! yes, because he is as greedy of praise as of gold." + +"Poland esteems, as her chief glory, the man who discovered the laws of +the sidereal movement. Who was it that raised to him a monument worthy +of his renown--calling the chisel of Canova to honor the memory of +Copernicus?" + +"It was Staszic," replied the priest, "and so all Europe honors for it +the generous senator. But, my young friend, it is not the light of the +noon-day sun that ought to illume Christian charity. If you want really +to know a man, watch the daily course of his private life. This +ostentatious miser, in the books which he publishes groans over the lot +of the peasantry, and in his vast domains he employs five hundred +miserable serfs. Go some morning to his house--there you will find a +poor woman beseeching with tears a cold proud man who repulses her. That +man is Staszic--that woman his sister. Ought not the haughty giver of +palaces, the builder of pompous statues, rather to employ himself in +protecting his oppressed serfs, and relieving his destitute relative?" + +The young man began to reply, but no one would listen to him. Sad and +dejected at hearing one who had been to him a true and generous friend, +so spoken of, he went to his humble lodging. + +Next morning he repaired at an early hour to the dwelling of his +benefactor. There he met a woman weeping, and lamenting the inhumanity +of her brother. + +This confirmation of what the priest had said, inspired the young man +with a fixed determination. It was Staszic who had placed him at +college, and supplied him with the means of continuing there. Now, he +would reject his gifts--he would not accept benefits from a man who +could look unmoved at his own sister's tears. + +The learned minister, seeing his favorite pupil enter, did not desist +from his occupation, but, continuing to write, said to him: + +"Well, Adolphe, what can I do for you to-day? If you want books, take +them out of my library; or instruments--order them, and send me the +bill. Speak to me freely, and tell me if you want any thing." + +"On the contrary, sir, I come to thank you for your past kindness, and +to say that I must in future decline receiving your gifts." + +"You are, then, become rich?" + +"I am as poor as ever." + +"And your college?" + +"I must leave it." + +"Impossible!" cried Staszic, standing up, and fixing his penetrating +eyes on his visitor. "You are the most promising of all our pupils--it +must not be!" + +In vain the young student tried to conceal the motive of his conduct; +Staszic insisted on knowing it. + +"You wish," said Adolphe, "to heap favors on me, at the expense of your +suffering family." + +The powerful minister could not conceal his emotion. His eyes filled +with tears, and he pressed the young man's hand warmly, as he said: + +"Dear boy, always take heed to this counsel--'JUDGE NOTHING BEFORE +THE TIME.' Ere the end of life arrives, the purest virtue may be +soiled by vice, and the bitterest calumny proved to be unfounded. My +conduct is, in truth, an enigma, which I can not now solve--it is the +secret of my life." + +Seeing the young man still hesitate, he added: + +"Keep an account of the money I give you, consider it as a loan; and +when some day, through labor and study, you find yourself rich, pay the +debt by educating a poor, deserving student. As to me, wait for my +death, before you judge my life." + +During fifty years Stanislas Staszic allowed malice to blacken his +actions. He knew the time would come when all Poland would do him +justice. + +On the 20th of January, 1826, thirty thousand mourning Poles flocked +around his bier, and sought to touch the pall, as though it were some +holy, precious relic. + +The Russian army could not comprehend the reason of the homage thus paid +by the people of Warsaw to this illustrious man. His last testament +fully explained the reason of his apparent avarice. His vast estates +were divided into five hundred portions, each to become the property of +a free peasant--his former serf. A school, on an admirable plan and very +extended scale, was to be established for the instruction of the +peasants' children in different trades. A reserved fund was provided for +the succor of the sick and aged. A small yearly tax, to be paid by the +liberated serfs, was destined for purchasing, by degrees, the freedom of +their neighbors, condemned, as they had been, to hard and thankless +toil. + +After having thus provided for his peasants, Staszic bequeathed six +hundred thousand florins for founding a model hospital; and he left a +considerable sum toward educating poor and studious youths. As for his +sister, she inherited only the same allowance which he had given her, +yearly, during his life; for she was a person of careless, extravagant +habits, who dissipated foolishly all the money she received. + +A strange fate was that of Stanislas Staszic. A martyr to calumny during +his life, after death his memory was blessed and revered by the +multitudes whom he had made happy. + + + + +A MATHEMATICAL HERMIT. + + +During the earlier half of the last century, there lived in one of the +villages on the outskirts of the moor on which a singular pile of rocks +on the Cornish moors called the Cheese-Wring stands, a stone-cutter +named Daniel Gumb. This man was noted among his companions for his +taciturn, eccentric character, and for his attachment to mathematical +studies. Such leisure time as he had at his command he regularly devoted +to pondering over some of the problems of Euclid; he was always drawing +mysterious complications of angles, triangles, and parallelograms, on +pieces of slate, and on the blank leaves of such few books as he +possessed. But he made very slow progress in his studies. Poverty and +hard work increased with the increase of his family. At last he was +obliged to give up his mathematics altogether. He labored early and +labored late; he hacked and hewed at the hard material out of which he +was doomed to cut a livelihood with unremitting diligence; but want +still kept up with him, toil as he might to outstrip it, in the career +of life. In short, times went on so ill with Daniel, that in despair of +ever finding them better he took a sudden resolution of altering his +manner of living, and retreating from the difficulties that he could +not overcome. He went to the hill on which the Cheese-Wring stands, and +looked about among the rocks until he found some that had accidentally +formed themselves into a sort of rude cavern. He widened this recess; he +propped up a great wide slab, that made its roof, at one end where it +seemed likely to sink without some additional support; he cut out in a +rock that rose above this, what he called his bed-room--a mere +longitudinal slit in the stone, the length and breadth of his body, into +which he could roll himself sideways when he wanted to enter it. After +he had completed this last piece of work, he scratched the date of the +year of his extraordinary labors (1735) on the rock; and then, he went +and fetched his wife and family away from their cottage, and lodged them +in the cavity he had made--never to return during his life-time, to the +dwellings of men! + +Here he lived and here he worked, when he could get work. He paid no +rent now: he wanted no furniture; he struggled no longer to appear to +the world as his equals appeared; he required no more money than would +procure for his family and himself the barest necessaries of life; he +suffered no interruptions from his fellow-workmen, who thought him a +madman, and kept out of his way; and--most precious privilege of his new +position--he could at last shorten his hours of labor, and lengthen his +hours of study, with impunity. Having no temptations to spend money, no +hard demands of an inexorable landlord to answer, whether he was able or +not, he could now work with his brains as well as his hands, he could +toil at his problems upon the tops of rocks, under the open sky, amid +the silence of the great moor; he could scratch his lines and angles on +thousands of stone tablets freely offered around him. The great ambition +of his life was greatly achieved. + +Henceforth, nothing moved him, nothing depressed him. The storms of +winter rushed over his unsheltered dwelling, but failed to dislodge him. +He taught his family to brave solitude and cold in the cavern among the +rocks, as he braved them. In the cell that he had scooped out for his +wife (the roof of which has now fallen in) some of his children died, +and others were born. They point out the rock where he used to sit on +calm summer evenings, absorbed over his tattered copy of Euclid. A +geometrical "puzzle," traced by his hand, still appears on the stone. +When he died, what became of his family, no one can tell. Nothing more +is known of him than that he never quitted the wild place of his exile; +that he continued to the day of his death to live contentedly with his +wife and children, amid a civilized nation, and during a civilized age, +under such a shelter as would hardly serve the first savage tribes of +the most savage country--to live, starving out poverty and want on a +barren wild; defying both to follow him among the desert rocks--to live, +forsaking all things, enduring all things for the love of Knowledge, +which he could still nobly follow through trials and extremities, +without encouragement of fame or profit, without vantage ground of +station or wealth, for its own dear sake. Beyond this, nothing but +conjecture is left. The cell, the bed-place, the lines traced on the +rocks, the inscription of the year in which he hewed his habitation out +of them, are all the memorials that remain of a man, whose strange and +striking story might worthily adorn the pages of a tragic yet glorious +history which is still unwritten--the history of the martyrs of +knowledge in humble life! + + + + +A PRISON ANECDOTE. + + +In the year 1834, a widow lady of good fortune (whom we shall call Mrs. +Newton), resided with her daughter in one of the suburbs nearest to the +metropolis. They lived in fashionable style, and kept an ample +establishment of servants. + +A very pretty young girl, nineteen years of age, resided in this family +in the capacity of lady's-maid. She was tolerably educated, spoke with +grammatical correctness, and was distinguished by a remarkably gentle +and fascinating address. + +At that time Miss Newton was engaged to be married to one Captain +Jennings, R.N.; and Miss Newton (as many young ladies in the like +circumstances have done before), employed her leisure in embroidering +cambric, making it up into handkerchiefs, and sending them and other +little presents of that description, to Captain Jennings. Unhappily, but +very naturally, she made Charlotte Mortlock, her maid, the bearer of +these tender communications. The captain occupied lodgings suited to a +gentleman of station, and thither Charlotte Mortlock frequently repaired +at the bidding of her young mistress, and generally waited (as lovers +are generally impatient) to take back the captain's answers. + +A strange sort of regard, or attachment (it is confidently believed to +have been guiltless) sprung up between the captain and the maid; and the +captain, who would seem to have deserved Miss Newton's confidence as +little as her maid did, gave as presents to Charlotte, some of the +embroidered offerings of Miss Newton. + +It happened that a sudden appointment to the command of a ship of war, +took Captain Jennings on a transatlantic voyage. He had not been very +long gone, when the following discovery threw the family of the Newtons +into a state of intense agitation. + +In search of some missing article in the absence of her maid, Miss +Newton betook herself to that young woman's room, and, quite +unsuspiciously, opened a trunk which was left unlocked. There she found, +to her horror, a number of the handkerchiefs she had embroidered for her +lover. The possibility of the real truth never flashed across her mind; +the dishonesty of Charlotte seemed to be the only solution of the +incident. "Doubtless," she reasoned, "the parcels had been opened on +their way to Captain Jennings, and their contents stolen." + +On the return of Charlotte Mortlock, she was charged with the robbery. +What availed the assertion that she had received the handkerchiefs from +the captain himself? It was no defense, and certainly was not calculated +to soften the anger of her mistress. A policeman was summoned, the +unhappy girl was charged with felony, underwent examination, was +committed for trial, and, destitute of witnesses, or of any probable +defense, was ultimately _convicted_. The judge (now deceased) who tried +the case, was unsparingly denounced by many philanthropic ladies, for +the admiration he had expressed for the weeping girl, and especially for +his announcement to the jury, in passing sentence of one year's +imprisonment with hard labor, "that he would not transport her, since +the country could not afford to loose such beauty." It was doubtless, +not a very judicial remark; but an innocent girl was, at all events, +saved from a sentence that might have killed her. + +Consigned to the County House of Correction, Charlotte Mortlock observed +the best possible conduct--was modest, humble, submissive, and +industrious--and soon gained the good-will of all her supervisors. To +the governor she always asserted her innocence, and told, with great +simplicity, the tale of her fatal possession of those dangerous gifts. + +She had been in prison a few months, when the governor received a visit +from a certain old baronet, who with ill-disguised reluctance, and in +the blunt phraseology which was peculiar to him, proceeded to say, that +"A girl named Charlotte Mortlock had quite bewitched his friend Captain +Jennings, who was beyond the Atlantic; and that a letter he produced +would show the singular frame of mind in which the captain was, about +that girl." + +Assuredly, the letter teemed with expressions of anguish, remorse, and +horror at the suffering and apparent ruin of "a dear innocent girl," the +victim of his senseless and heartless imprudence. However, the baronet +seemed to be any thing but touched by his friend's rhapsodies. He talked +much of "human nature," and of "the weakness of a man when a pretty girl +was in the case;" but, in order to satisfy his friend's mind, asked to +see her, that he might write some account of her appearance and +condition. Accordingly, he _did_ see her, in the governor's +presence. After a few inappropriate questions, he cut the interview +short, and went away, manifestly disposed to account his gallant friend +a fool for his excitement. + +The incident was not lost upon the governor, who listened with increased +faith to the poor girl's protestations. In a few months more he received +a stronger confirmation of them. Apparently unsatisfied with the +baronet's services, Captain Jennings wrote to another friend of his, a +public functionary, formerly a captain in the renowned Light Division; +and that officer placed in the governor's hands a letter from the +captain, expressing unbounded grief for the dreadful fate of an innocent +young woman. "He could not rest night or day; she haunted his +imagination, and yet he was distant, and powerless to serve her." His +second messenger was touched with pity, and consulted the governor as to +the proper steps to pursue. However, under the unhappy circumstances of +the case, Captain Jennings being so far away, no formal document being +at hand, and the period of the poor girl's release being then almost +come, it was deemed unadvisable to take any step. Charlotte Mortlock +fulfilled the judgment of the law. + +She had been carefully observed, her occupation had been of a womanly +character; she had never incurred a reproof, much less a punishment, in +the prison; and her health had been well sustained. She, consequently, +quitted her sad abode in a condition suitable for active exertion. Such +assistance as could be extended to her, on her departure, was afforded, +and so she was launched into the wide world of London. + +She soon found herself penniless. Happily, she did not linger in want, +pawn her clothes (which were good), and gradually descend to the extreme +privation which has assailed so many similarly circumstanced. She +resolved to _act_, and again went to the prison gates. Well attired, but +deeply vailed, so as to defy recognition, she inquired for the governor. +The gate porter announced that "a lady" desired to speak to him. The +stranger was shown in, the vail was uplifted, and, to the governor's +astonishment, there stood Charlotte Mortlock! Her hair was neatly and +becomingly arranged about her face; her dress was quiet and pretty; and +altogether she looked so young, so lovely, and, at the same time, so +modest and innocent, that the governor, perforce, almost excused the +inconstancy (albeit attended with such fatal consequences) of Captain +Jennings. + +With many tears she acknowledged her grateful obligations for the +considerate and humane treatment she had received in prison. She +disclosed her poverty, and her utter friendlessness; expressed her +horror of the temptations to which she was exposed; and implored the +governor's counsel and assistance. Without a moment's hesitation, she +was advised to go at once to a lady of station, whose extensive +charities and zealous services, rendered to the outcasts of society at +that time, were most remarkable. She cheerfully acquiesced. She found +the good lady at home, related her history, met with sympathy and active +aid, and, after remaining for a time, by her benevolent recommendation, +in a charitable establishment, was recommended to a wealthy family, to +whom every particular of her history was confided. In this service she +acquitted herself with perfect trustfulness and fidelity, and won the +warmest regard. The incident which had led to her unmerited +imprisonment, broke off the engagement between Captain Jennings and Miss +Newton; but whether the former had ever an opportunity of indemnifying +the poor girl for the suffering she had undergone, the narrator has +never been able to learn. This is, in every particular, a true case of +prison experience. + + + + +THE PILCHARD FISHERY ON THE COAST OF CORNWALL.[3] + + +[Footnote 3: From "Rambles beyond Railways," an interesting +work by W. WILKIE COLLINS, just published in London.] + +If it so happened that a stranger in Cornwall went out to take his first +walk along the cliffs toward the south of the country, in the month of +August, that stranger could not advance far in any direction without +witnessing what would strike him as a very singular and alarming +phenomenon. He would see a man standing on the extreme edge of a +precipice, just over the sea, gesticulating in a very remarkable manner, +with a bush in his hand, waving it to the right and the left, +brandishing it over his head, sweeping it past his feet; in short, +apparently acting the part of a maniac of the most dangerous +description. It would add considerably to the startling effect of this +sight on the stranger aforesaid, if he were told, while beholding it, +that the insane individual before him was paid for flourishing the bush +at the rate of a guinea a week. And if he, thereupon, advanced a little +to obtain a nearer view of the madman, and then observed on the sea +below (as he certainly might) a well-manned boat, turning carefully to +right and left exactly as the bush turned right and left, his +mystification would probably be complete, and his ideas on the sanity of +the inhabitants of the neighborhood would at least be perplexed with +grievous doubt. + +But a few words of explanation would soon make him alter his opinion. He +would then learn that the man with the bush was an important agent in +the Pilchard Fishery of Cornwall; that he had just discovered a shoal of +pilchards swimming toward the land; and that the men in the boat were +guided by his gesticulations alone, in securing the fish on which they +and all their countrymen on the coast depend for a livelihood. + +To begin, however, with the pilchards themselves, as forming one of the +staple commercial commodities of Cornwall. They may be, perhaps, best +described as bearing a very close resemblance to the herring, but as +being rather smaller in size and having larger scales. Where they come +from before they visit the Cornish coast--where those that escape the +fishermen go to when they quit it, is unknown; or, at best, only vaguely +conjectured. All that is certain about them is, that they are met with, +swimming past the Scilly Isles, as early as July (when they are caught +with a drift-net). They then advance inland in August, during which +month the principal, or "in-shore," fishing begins, visit different +parts of the coast until October or November, and after that disappear +until the next year. They may be sometimes caught off the southwest part +of Devonshire, and are occasionally to be met with near the southernmost +coast of Ireland; but beyond these two points they are never seen on any +other portion of the shores of Great Britain, either before they +approach Cornwall, or after they have left it. + +The first sight from the cliffs of a shoal of pilchards advancing toward +the land, is not a little interesting. They produce on the sea the +appearance of the shadow of a dark cloud. This shadow comes on, and on, +until you can see the fish leaping and playing on the surface by +hundreds at a time, all huddled close together, and all approaching so +near to the shore that they can be always caught in some fifty or sixty +feet of water. Indeed, on certain occasions, when the shoals are of +considerable magnitude, the fish behind have been known to force the +fish before, literally up to the beach, so that they could be taken in +buckets, or even in the hand with the greatest ease. It is said that +they are thus impelled to approach the land by precisely the same +necessity which impels the fishermen to catch them as they appear--the +necessity of getting food. + +With the discovery of the first shoal, the active duties of the +"look-out" on the cliffs begin. Each fishing-village places one or more +of these men on the watch all round the coast. They are called "huers," +a word said to be derived from the old French verb _huer_, to call +out, to give an alarm. On the vigilance and skill of the "huer" much +depends. He is, therefore, not only paid his guinea a week while he is +on the watch, but receives, besides, a perquisite in the shape of a +percentage on the produce of all the fish taken under his auspices. He +is placed at his post, where he can command an uninterrupted view of the +sea, some days before the pilchards are expected to appear; and, at the +same time, boats, nets, and men are all ready for action at a moment's +notice. + +The principal boat used is at least fifteen tons in burden, and carries +a large net called the "seine," which measures a hundred and ninety +fathoms in length, and costs a hundred and seventy pounds--sometimes +more. It is simply one long strip, from eleven to thirteen fathoms in +breadth, composed of very small meshes, and furnished, all along its +length, with lead at one side and corks at the other. The men who cast +this net are called the "shooters," and receive eleven shillings and +sixpence a week, and a perquisite of one basket of fish each out of +every haul. + +As soon as the "huer" discerns the first appearance of a shoal, he waves +his bush. The signal is conveyed to the beach immediately by men and +boys watching near him. The "seine" boat (accompanied by another small +boat, to assist in casting the net) is rowed out where he can see it. +Then there is a pause, a hush of great expectation on all sides. +Meanwhile, the devoted pilchards press on--a compact mass of thousands +on thousands of fish, swimming to meet their doom. All eyes are fixed on +the "huer;" he stands watchful and still, until the shoal is thoroughly +embayed, in water which he knows to be within the depth of the "seine" +net. Then, as the fish begin to pause in their progress, and gradually +crowd closer and closer together, he gives the signal; the boats come +up, and the "seine" net is cast, or, in the technical phrase, "shot" +overboard. + +The grand object is now to inclose the entire shoal. The leads sink one +end of the net perpendicularly to the ground--the corks buoy up the +other to the surface of the water. When it has been taken all round the +fish, the two extremities are made fast, and the shoal is then +imprisoned within an oblong barrier of network surrounding it on all +sides. The great art is to let as few of the pilchards escape as +possible, while this process is being completed. Whenever the "huer" +observes from above that they are startled, and are separating at any +particular point, to that point he waves his bush, thither the boat is +steered, and there the net is "shot" at once. In whatever direction the +fish attempt to get out to sea again, they are thus immediately met and +thwarted with extraordinary readiness and skill. This labor completed, +the silence of intense expectation that has hitherto prevailed among the +spectators on the cliff, is broken. There is a great shout of joy on all +sides--the shoal is secured! + +The "seine" is now regarded as a great reservoir of fish. It may remain +in the water a week or more. To secure it against being moved from its +position in case a gale should come on, it is warped by two or three +ropes to points of land in the cliff, and is, at the same time, +contracted in circuit, by its opposite ends being brought together, and +fastened tight over a length of several feet. While these operations are +in course of performance, another boat, another set of men, and another +net (different in form from the "seine") are approaching the scene of +action. + +This new net is called the "tuck;" it is smaller than the "seine," +inside which it is now to be let down for the purpose of bringing the +fish closely collected to the surface. The men who manage this net are +termed "regular seiners." They receive ten shillings a week, and the +same perquisite as the "shooters." Their boat is first of all rowed +inside the seine-net, and laid close to the seine-boat, which remains +stationary outside, and to the bows of which one rope at one end of the +"tuck-net" is fastened. The "tuck" boat then slowly makes the inner +circuit of the "seine," the smaller net being dropped overboard as she +goes, and attached at intervals to the larger. To prevent the fish from +getting between the two nets during this operation, they are frightened +into the middle of the inclosure by beating the water, at proper places, +with oars, and heavy stones fastened to ropes. When the "tuck" net has +at length traveled round the whole circle of the "seine," and is +securely fastened to the "seine" boat, at the end as it was at the +beginning, every thing is ready for the great event of the day--the +hauling of the fish to the surface. + +Now, the scene on shore and sea rises to a prodigious pitch of +excitement. The merchants, to whom the boats and nets belong, and by +whom the men are employed, join the "huer" on the cliff; all their +friends follow them; boys shout, dogs bark madly; every little boat in +the place puts off crammed with idle spectators; old men and women +hobble down to the beach to wait for the news. The noise, the bustle, +the agitation, increases every moment. Soon the shrill cheering of the +boys is joined by the deep voices of the "seiners." There they stand, +six or eight stalwart, sunburnt fellows, ranged in a row in the "seine" +boat, hauling with all their might at the "tuck" net, and roaring the +regular nautical "Yo-heave-ho!" in chorus! Higher and higher rises the +net, louder and louder shout the boys and the idlers. The merchant +forgets his dignity, and joins them; the "huer," so calm and collected +hitherto, loses his self-possession and waves his cap triumphantly--even +you and I, reader, uninitiated spectators though we are, catch the +infection, and cheer away with the rest, as if our bread depended on the +event of the next few minutes. "Hooray! hooray! Yo-hoy, hoy, hoy! Pull +away, boys! Up she comes! Here they are! Here they are!" The water boils +and eddies; the "tuck" net rises to the surface, and one teeming, +convulsed mass of shining, glancing, silvery scales; one compact crowd +of thousands of fish, each one of which is madly endeavoring to escape, +appears in an instant! + +The noise before, was as nothing compared with the noise now. Boats as +large as barges are pulled up in hot haste all round the net; baskets +are produced by dozens: the fish are dipped up in them, and shot out, +like coals out of a sack, into the boats. Ere long, the men are up to +their ankles in pilchards; they jump upon the rowing benches and work +on, until the boats are filled with fish as full as they can hold, and +the gunwales are within two or three inches of the water. Even yet, the +shoal is not exhausted; the "tuck" net must be let down again and left +ready for a fresh haul, while the boats are slowly propelled to the +shore, where we must join them without delay. + +As soon as the fish are brought to land, one set of men, bearing +capacious wooden shovels, jump in among them; and another set bring +large handbarrows close to the side of the boat, into which the +pilchards are thrown with amazing rapidity. This operation proceeds +without ceasing for a moment. As soon as one barrow is ready to be +carried to the salting-house, another is waiting to be filled. When this +labor is performed by night--which is often the case--the scene becomes +doubly picturesque. The men with the shovels, standing up to their knees +in pilchards, working energetically; the crowd stretching down from the +salting-house, across the beach, and hemming in the boat all around; the +uninterrupted succession of men hurrying backward and forward with their +barrows, through a narrow way, kept clear for them in the throng: the +glare of the lanterns giving light to the workmen, and throwing red +flashes on the fish as they fly incessantly from the shovels over the +side of the boat, all combine together to produce such a series of +striking contrasts, such a moving picture of bustle and animation, as no +attentive spectator can ever forget. + +Having watched the progress of affairs on the shore, we next proceed to +the salting-house, a quadrangular structure of granite, well roofed-in +all round the sides, but open to the sky in the middle. Here, we must +prepare ourselves to be bewildered by incessant confusion and noise; for +here are assembled all the women and girls in the district, piling up +the pilchards on layers of salt, at three-pence an hour; to which +remuneration, a glass of brandy and a piece of bread and cheese are +hospitably added at every sixth hour, by way of refreshment. It is a +service of some little hazard to enter this place at all. There are men +rushing out with empty barrows, and men rushing in with full barrows, in +almost perpetual succession. However, while we are waiting for an +opportunity to slip through the doorway, we may amuse ourselves by +watching a very curious ceremony which is constantly in course of +performance outside it. + +As the filled harrows are going into the salting-house, we observe a +little urchin running by the side of them, and hitting their edges with +a long cane, in a constant succession of smart strokes, until they are +fairly carried through the gate, when he quickly returns to perform the +same office for the next series that arrive. The object of this +apparently unaccountable proceeding is soon practically illustrated by a +group of children, hovering about the entrance of the salting-house, who +every now and then dash resolutely up to the barrows, and endeavor to +seize on as many fish as they can take away at one snatch. It is +understood to be their privilege to keep as many pilchards as they can +get in this way by their dexterity, in spite of a liberal allowance of +strokes aimed at their hands; and their adroitness richly deserves its +reward. Vainly does the boy officially intrusted with the administration +of the cane, strike the sides of the barrow with malignant smartness and +perseverance--fish are snatched away with lightning rapidity and +pickpocket neatness of hand. The hardest rap over the knuckles fails to +daunt the sturdy little assailants. Howling with pain, they dash up to +the next barrow that passes them, with unimpaired resolution; and often +collect their ten or a dozen fish apiece, in an hour or two. No +description can do justice to the "Jack-in-office" importance of the boy +with the cane, as he flourishes it about ferociously in the full +enjoyment of his vested right to castigate his companions as often as he +can. As an instance of the early development of the tyrannic tendencies +of human nature, it is, in a philosophical point of view, quite +_unique_. + +But now, while we have a chance, while the doorway is accidentally clear +for a few moments, let us enter the salting-house, and approach the +noisiest and most amusing of all the scenes which the pilchard fishery +presents. First of all, we pass a great heap of fish lying in one recess +inside the door, and an equally great heap of coarse, brownish salt +lying in another. Then, we advance further, get out of the way of every +body, behind a pillar; and see a whole congregation of the fair sex +screaming, talking, and--to their honor be it spoken--working at the +same time, round a compact mass of pilchards which their nimble hands +have already built up to a height of three feet, a breadth of more than +four, and a length of twenty. Here we have every variety of the "female +type" displayed before us, ranged round an odoriferous heap of salted +fish. Here, we see crones of sixty and girls of sixteen; the ugly and +the lean, the comely and the plump; the sour-tempered and the sweet--all +squabbling, singing, jesting, lamenting, and shrieking at the very top +of their very shrill voices for "more fish," and "more salt;" both of +which are brought from the stores, in small buckets, by a long train of +children running backward and forward with unceasing activity and in +inextricable confusion. But, universal as the uproar is, the work never +flags; the hands move as fast as the tongues; there may be no silence +and no discipline, but there is also no idleness and no delay. Never was +three-pence an hour more joyously or more fairly earned than it is here! + +The labor is thus performed. After the stone floor has been swept clean, +a thin layer of salt is spread on it, and covered with pilchards laid +partly edgewise, and close together. Then another layer of salt, +smoothed fine with the palm of the hand, is laid over the pilchards; and +then more pilchards are placed upon that; and so on until the heap rises +to four feet, or more. Nothing can exceed the ease, quickness, and +regularity with which this is done. Each woman works on her own small +area, without reference to her neighbor; a bucketful of salt and a +bucketful of fish being shot out in two little piles under her hands, +for her own especial use. All proceed in their labor, however, with such +equal diligence and equal skill, that no irregularities appear in the +various layers when they are finished--they run as straight and smooth +from one end to the other, as if they were constructed by machinery. The +heap, when completed, looks like a long, solid, neatly-made mass of +dirty salt; nothing being now seen of the pilchards but the extreme tips +of their noses or tails, just peeping out in rows, up the sides of the +pile. + +The fish will remain thus in salt, or, as the technical expression is, +"in bulk," for five or six weeks. During this period, a quantity of oil, +salt, and water drips from them into wells cut in the centre of the +stone floor on which they are placed. After the oil has been collected +and clarified, it will sell for enough to pay off the whole expense of +the wages, food, and drink given to the "seiners"--perhaps, for some +other incidental charges besides. The salt and water left behind, and +offal of all sorts found with it, furnish a valuable manure. Nothing in +the pilchard itself, or in connection with the pilchard, runs to +waste--the precious little fish is a treasure in every part of him. + +After the pilchards have been taken out of "bulk," they are washed clean +in salt water, and packed in hogsheads, which are then sent for +exportation to some large sea-port--Penzance, for instance--in coast +traders. The fish reserved for use in Cornwall, are generally cured by +those who purchase them. The export trade is confined to the shores of +the Mediterranean--Italy and Spain providing the two great foreign +markets for pilchards. The home consumption, as regards Great Britain, +is nothing, or next to nothing. Some variation takes place in the prices +realized by the foreign trade--their average, wholesale, is stated to +about fifty shillings per hogshead. + +Some idea of the almost incalculable multitude of pilchards caught on +the shores of Cornwall, may be formed from the following _data_. At +the small fishing cove of Trereen, 600 hogsheads were taken in little +more than one week, during August 1850. Allowing 2400 fish only to each +hogshead--3000 would be the highest calculation--we have a result of +1,440,000 pilchards, caught by the inhabitants of one little village +alone, on the Cornish coast, at the commencement of the season's +fishing! + +At considerable sea-port towns, where there is an unusually large supply +of men, boats, and nets, such figures as those quoted above, are far +below the mark. At St. Ives, for example, 1000 hogsheads were taken in +the first three seine nets cast into the water. The number of hogsheads +exported annually, averages 22,000. This year, 27,000 have been secured +for the foreign markets. Incredible as these numbers may appear to some +readers, they may nevertheless be relied on; for they are derived from +trustworthy sources--partly from local returns furnished to me--partly +from the very men who filled the baskets from the boat-side, and who +afterward verified their calculations by frequent visits to the +salting-houses. + +Such is the pilchard fishery of Cornwall--a small unit, indeed, in the +vast aggregate of England's internal sources of wealth: but yet, neither +unimportant nor uninteresting, if it be regarded as giving active +employment to a hardy and honest race who would starve without it, as +impartially extending the advantages of commerce to one of the remotest +corners of our island, and--more than all--as displaying a wise and +beautiful provision of Nature, by which the rich tribute of the great +deep is most generously lavished on the land which most needs a +compensation for its own sterility. + + + + +[From Dickens's Household Words.] + +LUCY CAWTHORNE.--A TALE BY A BACHELOR CLERK. + + +The office of clerk of the Carvers' Company has been filled by members +of my family for one hundred years past. My great-grandfather was +elected in the year 1749. After him, came his younger brother; and, when +he died, my grandfather was chosen by nine votes out of twelve; after +that, all opposition vanished: our dynasty was established. When my +grandfather died, my father went through the ceremony of calling upon +the members of the Court of Assistants, and soliciting their votes; and, +afterward, the formality of a show of hands being passed, he was +declared, as every one knew he would be who was aware of the existence +of the Carvers' Company, the successor of his father. The transition +from him to myself was so easy as to be hardly felt. When I threw aside +my yellow breeches, and came out of the "Blue-Coat School," with some +knowledge of Greek, and very small skill in penmanship, I was at once +transplanted to a stool at my father's desk; which stood railed off, in +a corner of the great hall, under the stained-glass window. The master +and twelve senior liverymen, who formed what is called the Court of +Assistants, saw me there when they met together; and one patted me on +the head, and prophesied great things of me, while I sat, very red in +the face, wondering who had been talking to him about me. Another, who +had himself worn the girdle and blue-petticoats, some half a century +previously, examined my classical knowledge; and, finding himself +somewhat at fault, remarked that he was not fresh from school, like me. +At length, my father and I attended their meetings alternately; and, as +he became old and infirm, the duties devolved entirely upon me. When he +died, therefore, there was no change. The twelve liverymen held up +twelve of their four-and-twenty hands, and my election was recorded on +the minutes. + +Carvers' Hall was a place not very easy to find out, for any but the +warder and twelve liverymen: but, as few people else ever had occasion +to find it out, that was not of much consequence. The portion of the +city in which it stood had escaped the fire of London, which took a turn +at a short distance, owing, perhaps, to a change in the wind, and left +the hall and some adjacent courts untouched. In order to arrive there, +it was necessary, first, to pass through a narrow passage running up +from Thames-street; then, along a paved yard, by the railing of a +church; and, lastly, down an impassable court, at the bottom of which +stood the antique gateway of Carvers' Hall. Over the door-way was a +curious carving of the Resurrection, in oak, which must have cost some +ancient member of the Worshipful Guild considerable time and trouble. +There were represented graves opening, and bald-headed old men forcing +up the lids of their family-vaults--some looking happy, and some with +their features distorted by despair. Out of others, whole families, +mother, father, and several children, had just issued, and were standing +hand-in-hand. Some, again, were struggling, half-buried in the ground; +while others, already extricated, were assisting their kinsmen in their +efforts to disinter themselves. The scene was made a section, in order +to give the spectator a view of an immense host of cherubim above, +sitting upon a massy pile of cloud; through, which--the middle point of +the picture--the summoning angel was throwing himself down, with a +trumpet in his hand; which, according to the relative scale of the work, +must have been several leagues, at least, in length. Having passed under +this gate-way, you entered a small square yard, paved with black and +white stones, placed diamond-wise; and facing you was the hall itself, +up three stone-steps, and with a wooden portico. + +This solitary building, silent and retired, though in the heart of a +crowded city, has been my home for nearly sixty years. I have become +assimilated to the place by long usage. I am myself silent, retired, and +tenacious of old habits; though I do not think this is my natural +disposition. But why do I talk of natural disposition? Are we not all +moulded and made what we are by time and outward influences? However, +when I was at school I was a cheerful boy, though the monastic life of +Christ's Hospital is not calculated to improve the spirits. It was only +on entering my father's office that I began to be subdued to the formal +being which I have since become. The portraits of my predecessors hang +in the hall; they are exactly alike, both in features and in dress, +except that the first two wore hair-powder. It was my father's pride +that he clung to the style of dress which was prevalent when he was a +young man, which he considered to be, in every way, superior to all +modern inventions. I was only released from the absurd dress of the +blue-coat boy to be put into garments equally provocative of remarks +from impertinent boys. The family costume is, _imprimis_, a pair of +knee-breeches with buckles; then a blue coat with metal buttons; and a +large white cravat, spread out over the whole chest, and ornamented in +the middle with a cornelian brooch. The same brooch appears in every one +of the portraits. I have worn this dress all my life, with the exception +of a short period, when I changed it to return to it shortly again. + +If happiness consists in having many friends, I ought to have been a +happy man. Old carvers, neighbors, pensioners of the company, every one +down to the housekeeper, and Tom Lawton, my only clerk, spoke kindly of +me. Theirs was no lip-service. I knew they liked me in their hearts. The +world, too, had gone smoothly with me. I knew nothing of the struggles +for bread, the hardships and wrongs which other men endure. They +appeared to me even fabulous when I read them. The means of getting my +living were put into my hands. The company seemed almost grateful to my +father for bringing me up to the office. My income was two hundred +pounds per annum, as well as the house to live in, and coals and +candles, which was more than I needed for my support, though I always +found means of disposing of the surplus, and never saved any thing. I +was not, however, a happy man. I had always the feeling of a spirit +subdued to a life to which it was not suited. I do not say that in +another sphere I should have led a boisterous life. My mind was, +perhaps, more prone to reflection than to action, although I felt that +if I had been more in the world, if I had known more of life and change, +I should have been a happier man. But from my earliest days the vanity +of life, and the virtue of keeping aloof from temptation, were instilled +into me. "A rolling stone gathers no moss," was the first proverb which +I heard from my father's mouth. These principles, implanted early, took +deep root, though, perhaps, in an unfavorable soil. Living also under +the same roof with my father, I felt alarmed at every whispering of my +own inclinations which was opposed to his wishes, and strove to subdue +them, as if I were struggling with the evil portion of my nature. Thus, +in course of time, I became what I am; not a misanthrope, thank God, but +a timid and somewhat melancholy man. We had no mirth-making in our +household, except at Christmas-time, when we feasted, in good earnest. +My father loved at that time to display a rough hospitality. We had +generally two or three nights of merry-making, at which were both young +and old people--all carvers, or the children of carvers--and after his +death I continued the custom. Often, as I sat with my happy friends +about me, some sweet young woman would give me a sly hit upon my +obdurate determination to die an old bachelor; little thinking that her +heedless words could give me pain, though they cut me deeply, and set me +looking at the fire with a thoughtful face. I might have married, +perhaps, if I had found a partner; my income was not large, but many men +run the risk of a family with less means to support one than I had; but, +somehow, I found myself at forty-five years of age unmarried, slim, and +prim--the very type of an old bachelor. It was not from indifference, +for I was by nature sensitive and affectionate. For women I had a kind +of reverence. I pictured them to myself all that is noble and good: yet, +in their presence, I only looked upon them timidly, speaking little, but +thinking of them, perhaps, long afterward when they were gone. + +One result of my reputation for gravity was a number of executorships +which had been imposed upon me by deceased friends. Any one would have +thought that there was a conspiracy abroad to overwhelm me with proofs +of confidence. My stock of mourning rings is considerable. The +expression, "Nineteen guineas for his trouble," had to me an old +familiar sound with it. At length I was obliged to hint to any old +carver who waxed sickly, that my duties in that way were already as much +as I could fulfill. There was, however, an old grocer of my +acquaintance, named Cawthorne, who would make me executor of his will, +in spite of my remonstrances, relieving my scruples by assuring me that +he had named another friend for my colleague, who, it was understood, +was to undertake, if we survived him, the greater part of his duties, +including the guardianship of his daughter Lucy. We did survive him; and +the other executor entered upon his office, seldom troubling me except +when absolutely necessary. Thus he went on for some years. The daughter +had become a fine young woman of nineteen, with blue eyes and fair hair, +rippled like the sunlight upon waters touched by a light wind. I saw her +often in the house when he was taken ill, and thought her very +beautiful. I fancied, sometimes, how she would look robed in pure white, +and holding in her hand an olive branch, as I had seen some angels +carved in stone. I have met her ascending the stairs with a candle in +her hand, the light striking upward, like a glory on her face, and she +seemed to me not to mount from step to step, but slowly to ascend +without a movement of the feet. My feeling with regard to her almost +amounted to a superstitious awe; for I seldom spoke many words to her, +and I think, at first, she thought me harsh and cold. At length her +guardian died, and although I had known from the first that in that +event his duty would devolve upon me, the fact seemed to take me by +surprise. I could hardly believe that henceforth, for some time, she +would look to me as her sole protector. However, in a short time, the +affairs of my deceased colleague were set in order, and she came to +reside with me in the old Hall. + +She soon forgot her first antipathy, and we became good friends +together. I took her over the old place, and showed her the library and +the paintings, and every thing there that was quaint and curious. We had +a garden at the back of the Hall, in which she sat at work on fine days. +It was not large, but it was nevertheless a garden, and in the midst of +London. It was planted with shrubs, and contained two or three large +trees, as well as a rustic seat upon a grass-plot; though the grass was +not very thriving, on account of the trees shutting out the sun and air. +However, sitting here, the back of the Hall had a picturesque look, half +covered with the great leaves of a fig-tree nailed against the wall, and +with its worn stone steps guarded on each side by an aloe in a green +tub. This was her favorite place. She worked or read there in the +morning, and in the afternoon she taught two little nieces of the +housekeeper to read and write. Sometimes, in the evening, I got an old +book from the library, and read to her, and made her laugh at its +quaintness. I remember one translation of a Spanish novel in folio, +printed in the seventeenth century, which amused her very much. The +translation occupied one half of the book, and the prefaces the other. +There was the Translator's "Apology for his labor;" "A declaration for +the better understanding of the book;" an address "To the learned +Reader;" another "To the discreet and courteous Reader;" and another "To +the vulgar Reader," with some others; and, finally, the Spanish novel +itself was ushered in by a number of verses in English and Latin, +laudatory of the book and the translator, by celebrated men of the +period. + +On Sunday we sat at church, in the same pew, and often I forgot my own +devotions in listening to the earnest tones with which she said the +prayers. I thought that she, of all that congregation, was best fitted +to speak those words of Christian love. I was vexed to hear an old +overseer of the parish, whom I knew to be a bad and worldly man, in the +next pew, repeating the same words in a drawling tone; and I could +almost have requested him to say them to himself. + +Thus, ours was not a very cheerful way of life for a young maiden; but +she seemed always happy and contented. For myself, although I was sorry +for the death of my co-executor, I blessed the day when she came into +the house; and I grieved that I had objected to become her guardian from +the first, that she might have grown up from childhood with me, and +learnt to look up to me as a father. Living with her daily, and noting +all her thoughts and actions, sometimes even when she did not suspect +that I observed her, I saw her purer than the purest of my own ideals. +My feeling was almost an idolatry. If I had, at forty-five years of age, +still any thoughts of marrying, I renounced them for her sake, and +resolved to devote all my care to her, until such time as she should +find a husband worthy of her. + +By an ancient bequest to the Company, we distributed, on the day before +Christmas-day, to twenty-four poor people, a loaf of bread, a small log +of wood, or bavin, as we call it, and the sum of two shillings and +ten-pence to each person. The recipients were all old, decrepit men and +women. There was an ancient regulation, still unrepealed, that they +should all attend on the following court-day, at noon precisely, to +"return thanks for the same;" though that performance of mechanical +gratitude had been allowed to fall into disuse by a more philosophical +generation. The first Christmas after Lucy came there, she begged me to +let her distribute these gifts, and I consented. I stood at my little +desk at the end of the hall, with my face resting upon my hands, +watching her, and listening to her talking to the old people. Next to +the pleasure of hearing her speak to little children, I delighted to +hear her talk with the very aged folks. There was something in the +contrast of the two extremes of life--the young and beautiful maiden, +and the bent and wrinkled old people--that pleased me. She heard all +their oft-repeated complaints, their dreary accounts of their agues and +rheumatics, and consoled them as well as she could; and, with some of +the very old, she took their brown and sinewy hands in hers, and led +them down the steps. I did not know what ailed me that day. I stood +dreaming and musing, till I seemed to have lost that instinctive +dexterity with which we perform the simple operations of our daily +life. Some accounts lay before me which I was anxious to cast, but +several times I essayed, and seemed incapable of doing so. As the simple +words of our daily language, which issue from our lips simultaneously +with the thought, become vague and indistinct if we muse upon their +origin, and repeat them several times to ourselves; so by dwelling long +upon the idea of the work before me, it seemed to have become confused, +and difficult to realize. I handed them over to my clerk, Tom Lawton, +who sat opposite to me. + +Poor Tom Lawton! I thought I saw him looking anxiously at me, several +times, when I raised my eyes. No being upon earth ever loved me more +than he. It is true, I had done him some acts of kindness, but I had +often done as much for others, who had forgotten it since; whereas his +gratitude became a real affection for me, which never failed to show +itself each day that he was with me. He was a fine young man, and a +great favorite with the housekeeper, who said "she liked him because he +was so good to his mother, just as she thought her poor son would have +been if he had lived." Tom was fond of reading, and sometimes wrote +verses, of which he made copies for his friends in a neat hand. He was a +shrewd fellow in some things, but in others he was as simple as a child. +His temper was the sweetest in the world--the children knew that. No +diving into his coat-pocket ever ruffled him; no amount of pulling his +hair could ever induce him to cry out. + +Tom was to spend his Christmas Eve with us, and to make "toast and ale," +as was our custom; so, when the gifts were all distributed, he left me, +and ran home to dress himself smartly for the occasion. I stood at my +desk, still musing, till the evening closed upon the short and wintry +afternoon. Lucy came and called me, saying the tea was on the table. + +"We thought you were fallen asleep," said she. "Mr. Lawton is come." + +We sat round a large fire in the old wainscoted sitting-room, while Lucy +made the tea--and would have made the toast, too; but Tom said he would +sooner burn his eyes out than suffer her to do so. The housekeeper came +up, and afterward came an old carver and his daughter. We sat till after +midnight. The old carver told some anecdotes of people whom my father +knew; and Tom told a ghost story, which kept them all in breathless +terror, till it turned out, at last, to be a dream. But I was restless, +and spoke little. Once, indeed, I answered the old carver sharply. He +had patted Lucy on the head, and said he supposed she would be soon +getting married, and leaving us old people. I could not endure the +thought of her leaving us; though I knew that she would do so, probably, +one day. She had never looked to me more interesting than she did that +evening. A little child, worn out with playing, had fallen asleep, with +its head upon her lap; and, as she was speaking to us, her hand was +entangled in its hair. I gazed at her, and caught up every word she +spoke; and when she stopped, my restlessness returned. I strove in vain +to take part in their mirth. I wanted to be alone. + +When I sat that night in my little bedroom, I was thinking still of +Lucy. I heard her voice still sounding in my ear; and, when I shut my +eyes, I pictured her still before me, with her dear kind face, and her +little golden locket hung upon her neck. I fell asleep and dreamed of +her. I woke, and waited for the daylight, thinking of her still. So we +passed all the Christmas holidays. Sometimes it was a happy feeling +which possessed me; and sometimes I almost wished that I had never seen +her. I was always restless and anxious; I knew not for what. I became a +different man to that which I had been before I knew her. + +When, at last, I concealed from myself no longer that I loved her +fondly, deeply--deeper, I believe, than ever man has loved--I became +alarmed. I knew what people would say, if it came to be known. She had +some property, and I had nothing; but what was worse, I was forty-five +years of age, and she was only twenty. I was, moreover, her guardian; +and she had been consigned to my care by her dying father, in +confidence, that if she came under my protection, I would act toward her +as he himself would have acted, if he had lived, not dreaming that I +should encourage other thoughts than those of a protector and a friend. +I knew that I should have been jealous, angry, with any one who evinced +a liking for her; and yet I asked myself whether it was right that I +should discourage any man who might make her happy; who, perhaps, would +love her nearly as much as I did, and be more suited for her, by reason +of his youth and habits; not like mine, sedate and monkish. Even if I +eventually gained her affections, would not the world say that I had +exerted the undue influence of my authority over her; or that I had kept +her shut up from society; so that, in her ignorance of life, she mistook +a feeling of respect for a stronger sentiment? And, again, if all these +things were set aside, was it not wrong that I should take a young and +beautiful girl and shut her up in that old place forever--checking the +natural gayety of youth, and bringing her by slow degrees to my old +ways? I saw the selfishness of all my thoughts, and resolved to strive +to banish them forever. + +But they would not leave me. Each day I saw something in her that +increased my passion. I watched her as she went from room to room. I +walked stealthily about the place, in the hope of seeing her somewhere +unobserved, and hearing her speak, and stealing away again before she +saw me. I walked on tiptoe once, and saw her through the open door, +thoughtful--looking at the candle--with her work untouched beside her. I +fancied to myself what thoughts possessed her: perhaps the memory of a +friend, no longer of this world, had touched her suddenly, +and made her mute and still; or, perhaps, the thought of some one +dearer. The idea ran through me like a subtle poison, and I shuddered. I +thought she started. I believe it was a fancy; but I stole away +hurriedly, on tiptoe, and never looked behind me till I reached my +corner in the Hall. + +Every one remarked a change in me. Lucy looked at me anxiously +sometimes, and asked me if I was not ill. Tom Lawton grieved to see me +so dejected, till he became himself as grave as an old man. I sat +opposite to Lucy sometimes, with a book in my hand. I had ceased to read +aloud; and she seeing that I took no pleasure in it, did not press me to +do so. I looked at the pages, without a thought of their contents, +simply to avoid her looks. I thought, at last, that she grew vexed with +my neglect. One night I suddenly threw down my book, and looking at her +boldly and intently, to observe the expression of her features, I said, + +"I have been thinking, Lucy, that you grow weary of my dull ways. You do +not love me now, as you did some months ago." + +"Oh, yes!" she replied, "indeed I do. I do not know what makes you talk +like this, unless I have offended you in something. But I see it now," +she said. "I must have said something that has given you pain; though it +was never in my thought to do so. And this is why you treat me coldly, +day by day, and never let me know what I have done." + +She came over to me, and took my hand in hers; and, with tears in her +eyes, begged me to tell her what it was. + +"I know," she said, "I have no friend more kind and good than you. My +father died before I knew how great a friend I had in him; but, had he +lived, I never could have loved him more than I love you." + +"Well, well, Lucy," said I, "I did not mean to hurt you. I know not why +I reproached you. I am not well; and when I feel thus, I know not what I +say." + +"Kiss me, then," said she, "and tell me you are not angry with me; and +do not think now, that I am tired of living here with you. I will do +every thing to make you happy. I will not ask you to read. I will put +away my work and read to you in future. I have seen you silent, looking +unhappy, and have said nothing--thinking that was best, as I did not +know what it was that made you so; and you have thought, perhaps, that I +was vexed with you, and wished to show it by a sullen air. But now I +will strive to make you cheerful. I will read and sing to you, and we +will play at draughts, sometimes, as we used to do. Indeed, I like this +old place, and all that live in it, and never was so happy in my life as +I have been since I came here." + +I placed my hand upon her head, and kissed her on the forehead, saying +nothing. + +"You are trembling," she exclaimed; "this is not merely illness. You +have some sorrow on your mind that haunts you. Tell me what it is that +ails you; perhaps I may be able to console you. I have not so much +experience as you; but sometimes a young mind can advise the oldest and +the most experienced. Perhaps, too, you magnify your trouble by brooding +over it; you think upon it, till your mind is clouded, and you can not +see the remedy, which I, looking at it for the first time, might see +directly. Besides," she said, seeing me hesitate, "if you do not tell +me, I shall always be unhappy--imagining a hundred evils, each, perhaps, +more serious than the truth." + +"No, Lucy," said I, "I am unwell; I have felt thus for some time, and +to-night I feel worse. I must go to bed; I shall be better after a +night's rest." + +I lighted a candle, and, bidding her good night, left her and stole up +to bed--afraid to stay longer, lest I should be tempted to reveal my +secret. Oh, how could I endure the thought of her kind words, more +painful to me than the coldest scorn! She had said she loved me as a +father. In the midst of all her kindness, she had spoken of my age and +my experience. Did I, then, look so old as that? Yes, I knew that it was +not my years which made me old; it was my staid manners, my grave and +thoughtful face, which made me look an old man, even in my prime. +Bitterly I complained of my father, who had shut me out from the +knowledge of all that makes life beautiful; who had biased me to a +belief that such a life as his was best, by hiding from me all +comparison; till now, when I perceived my error, it was too late to +repair it. I surveyed my antiquated garments with disgust; my huge +cravat; the very hair of my head, by long training, become old-fashioned +beyond all reclaiming. My whole appearance was that of a man who had +slept for half a century, except that I was without a speck or soil. I +believe they would have admitted me to a masquerade in such a dress, +without a single alteration, and think that I had hired it for the +occasion. But a new hope sprang up within me. I would change my way of +life--I would try to be more cheerful; I would wear more modern clothes, +and endeavor, at least, not to make myself look older than I was. + +I have known nothing like the peace of mind which these thoughts brought +me, for many days. I wondered that what was so obvious had not occurred +to me before. I had gone about dreaming in my absent way, brooding +unprofitably over my troubles, instead of devising something practical +and useful. But I would act differently--I would not despair. +Five-and-forty years was, after all, no great age. I recalled to my mind +many instances of men marrying long after that time with women younger +than themselves, and living afterward very happily. I remembered one of +our wardens who married at sixty a young and very beautiful women, and +every one saw how happy they were, and how she loved her husband for +years, till a rascal, by slow and artful steps, won over her +affections, and she ran away with him. But Lucy would not do that; I +knew too well the goodness of her nature to have any fear of such a +result. Then I thought how kind I would be to her--studying every way +that could amuse and please a youthful mind; till she, seeing how all my +life was devoted to her, would come to love me in the end. I planned out +minutely our way of life. I would invite more friends to visit us, and +we would go out and visit others. We would play at our old game of +draughts together in the winter evenings, and sometimes I would take her +to the theatre. In the summer we would go into the country--lingering +all day long in quiet, shady places, and returning about dusk. Sweet +thoughts, that held my mind until I slept, and lingered, breeding +pleasant dreams. + +The next day I visited my tailor, who took my orders with evident +astonishment. My clothes were brought home in a few days, and I threw +off my knee-breeches, as I thought, forever. I felt a little uneasy in +my new attire--my legs had been so long used to feel cool and +unrestrained, that the trowsers were irksome. However, I supposed I +should soon become accustomed to them; and they really made me look some +years younger. What would my father have said if he had visited the +earth that day and seen me? My hair, however, was less manageable--in +vain I parted it on the right side, and brushed it sideways, instead of +backward, as I had hitherto done. For five-and-forty years it had been +brushed in one direction, and it seemed as if nothing but five-and-forty +years' daily brushing in the other, could ever reverse it. I descended +from my room, trying to look unconscious of any thing unusual in my +appearance. It was court-day: the Warden and Assistants stared at me, +and would have laughed, no doubt, if most of them had not left off +laughing for many years. Some of them, however, coughed; and one +addressed to me some simple questions, evidently intended to test my +sanity. I felt a little vexed; for I thought it was no concern of +theirs, if I chose to adopt some alterations in my dress. However, I +said nothing, but went quietly through my duties. Tom Lawton was there. +It should have been a joyful day for him; for they increased his salary +at that court. But he looked at me compassionately, and evidently +thought, like the rest, that I was going mad. I was, however, amply +consoled--for Lucy was pleased to see the change in my dress and +manners. I laughed and chatted with her, and she read to me, and sang, +as she had promised. Thus I went on for some time; when something of my +old restlessness came back. I saw how little she suspected that I loved +her more than as a friend; and fearing still to let her know the truth, +I felt that I might go on thus for years to little purpose. So, by +degrees, I returned to my former sadness, and became again reserved and +thoughtful. + +One night, I descended from my little room into the garden, and walked +about with my hat in my hand, for I felt feverish and excited. +Night after night, my sleep had been broken and disturbed by +dreams, that glided from my memory when I woke, but left a feeling of +despondency that followed me throughout the day. Sometimes, I thought, +myself, that my reason was deserting me. We were very busy at that time, +and Tom Lawton and I were to have worked together all the evening, but I +had left him; utterly unable to fix my attention upon what I set before +me. I paced to and fro several times, when passing by the window where I +had left him at work, I heard him speaking with some one. A word, which +I fancied having caught, made me curious, and I mounted upon a stone +ledge and listened; for the sliding pane of glass which served to +ventilate the Hall had been pushed back, and I could hear distinctly +when I applied my ear to the aperture. The light being inside, I could +not be seen, although I could see his desk. The lamp was shaded, and the +window was of stained glass, so that I did not see very clearly. But I +had a quick vision for such a scene as that before me. + +That form standing beside Tom Lawton, with its hand in his, was Lucy's! +The blood rushed to my head. A thousand little lights were dancing +before my eyes. I felt myself falling, but I made an effort, and +clutched the window-sill and listened. It was Lucy's voice that I heard +first. + +"Hush!" she said, "I heard a noise; there is some one coming. +Good-night! Good-night!" + +"No, no," said Tom, "it is the wind beating the dead leaves against the +window." + +They seemed to listen for a moment, and then he spoke again, + +"Oh, Miss Lucy, do not run away before we have talked together a little. +I see you now so seldom, and when I do there are others present, and I +can not speak to you of what is always uppermost in my thoughts. I think +of you all day, and at night I long for the next morning, to be in the +same house with you, in the hope of seeing you before I go; though I am +continually disappointed. I think I am unfortunate in all but one thing, +though that consoles me for the rest--I think you love me a little, +Lucy." + +"Yes, Tom, I do; a great deal. I have told you so many times, and I am +not ashamed to repeat it. I would not hide it from any one, if you did +not tell me to do so. But why do you tease yourself with fancies, and +think yourself unfortunate? I do not know why we should not tell him all +about it. He is the kindest being in the world, and I know he would not +thwart me in any thing that could procure my happiness; and then, again, +you are a favorite of his, and I am sure he would be delighted to think +that we loved each other." + +"No, no, Lucy; you must not say a word about it. What would he think of +me, with nothing in the world but my small salary, encouraging +such thoughts toward you, who are rich; and going on like this--laying +snares, as he would say, for months, to gain your affections, and never +saying a word about it; bringing, too, disgrace upon him, as your +guardian, that he had suffered a poor clerk in his office to find +opportunities of speaking to you alone, and at last persuading you to +promise to become his wife one day?" + +"All this you have told me many a time; but indeed this need not be an +obstacle. I wish that I had not sixpence in the world. My money is +become a misfortune to us, instead of a blessing, as it should be. I +wish I might give it away, or renounce it altogether. I am sure we +should be as well without it, one day; and if we had to wait a long +time, we should still be able to see one another openly, and not have to +watch for secret opportunities, as if we were doing wrong. You do not +know, Tom, how unhappy the thought of all this makes me. I never had a +secret before, that I feared to tell before the whole world; and now I +sit, night after night, with him from whom I should conceal nothing, and +feel that I am deceiving him. Every time he looks at me, I fancy that he +knows all about it, and thinks me an artful girl, and waits to see how +long I shall play my part before him. Many times I have been tempted to +tell him all, in spite of your injunction, and beg him not to be angry +with me because I had not dared to tell him before. I would have taken +all blame upon myself, and said that I had loved you secretly before you +had ever spoken to me about it--any thing I would have said rather than +feel myself deceitful, as I do!" + +"Lucy!" exclaimed Tom, in a broken voice, "you must not--you must not, +indeed, ever give way to such an impulse. I know not what might come of +it, if he knew. It would ruin us--perhaps, be the cause of our being +separated forever--make him hate us both, and never pardon me, at least, +while he lives. Oh, Lucy! I have not told you all. Something yet more +serious remains behind." + +"Tell me--what is this, Tom?--you alarm me!" + +"Come here then, and bring your ear closer. No; I will not tell you. Do +not ask me again. It is, perhaps, only a fancy, which has come into my +head because I am anxious about you, and imagine all kinds of +misfortunes that might arise to make us wretched. But, oh! if I am +right, we are, indeed, unfortunate. No misfortune that could befall us +could be equal to this." + +Lucy's eyes were filled with tears. "I do not like to go back into the +parlor," she said, "lest he should be there, and ask me why I have been +crying. He was in his room, upstairs, I think, just now, and he may have +come down, and I am sure I could not stand before him as I am. You have, +indeed, made me miserable. Oh! Tom, Tom, do tell me what this is?" + +"I _can not_ tell you," he replied, "it would not be right to +breathe a word about it till I have surer ground for my suspicion. Let +me dry your eyes, and now go back into the parlor, or your absence will +be observed." + +Twice he bade her "good-night" before she left him, and each time I saw +him put his arms about her, and kiss her; then he called after her, + +"Lucy!" + +She turned back, and ran up to him. + +"I hardly know why I called you back. Only, I may not see you again for +some time, and it may be many, many days, before I can speak to you +alone." + +"Well?" + +I trembled for what he was about to say, and in my anxiety to catch his +words, I put my ear closer, and, in so doing, struck the door of the +ventilator. + +"Hark! I thought I heard something moving. Go, go!" said Tom. +"Good-night! Good-night!" And she glided across the hall, and was gone +in a moment. + +In the eagerness with which I had listened to their conversation, I had +not had time to feel the terrible blow which I had received. It was only +when the voices ceased, that I felt how all my hopes had been shattered +in a moment. I relaxed my hold; and, alighting on the ground, walked +again to and fro--but more hurriedly than before. I had never dreamed of +this: Tom Lawton! + +I sat down upon the garden-seat, and wept and sobbed like a child--the +first time for many years. I could not help feeling angry with them +both. "Oh!" thought I, "Tom Lawton, you were right in thinking that I +should never pardon you for this. You have taken away the one hope of my +life. I shall hate you while I live. Lucy, also, I blame; but my anger +is chiefly with you. In order to shield you, she would have told me, +poor child, that she only was to blame; but I know better. You have laid +snares for her, and inveigled her; your heart told you that you had, +when you put the words into my mouth." + +I walked about and sat down again several times. I groaned aloud, for my +heart was swelled almost to bursting. So I continued for some time +fiercely denouncing my rival to myself; but that night, upon my bed, +when I was worn out with my passion, a better feeling came upon me. I +grew more calm and resigned to my misfortune. I saw how useless--nay, +how wrong, would be all persecution; and I felt that it was natural that +the young should love the young before the old. So, with a sorrowful and +humbled spirit, I resolved to encourage them and bring about their +union. God knows how much the resolution cost me; but it brought with it +a certain peace of mind--a consciousness of doing rightly--which +sustained me in my purpose. I would not delay a day, lest my resolution +should waver. In the morning I walked into the parlor, and bidding Tom +Lawton follow me, stood there before him and Lucy. Tom looked pale as +if he dreaded my anger. + +"I expect," said I, "a direct answer to what I am going to ask you. Have +you not given your faith to one another?" + +Tom turned paler still; but Lucy answered before he could say a word, +and confessing all, said she took the blame upon herself; but Tom +interrupted her, exclaiming that he only was to blame. + +"There is no blame attached to either," said I, "except for a little +concealment, for which I pardon you." + +Thus far I had done the duty which I had set before me; but I did not +feel it to be completed till they were married. + +About three months after I gave my permission, and the day was fixed. I +saw them the happiest creatures upon earth. They never knew my secret. +That Tom had suspected it, and that it was to that he referred when he +was speaking to Lucy in the hall, I had never doubted; though the +readiness with which I had befriended them had deceived him. He had +taken a small house, and every thing was ready. But, on the day before +their wedding, my heart failed me. I knew then that I had never ceased +to love her, and I could not endure the thought of her marriage. I felt +that I must go away until the day was past; so I gave out that I had +suddenly received a summons to go into the country, and that it was my +wish that the marriage should not be delayed on that account. That night +I went away, not caring whither. + +I know what were my thoughts in those two days that I was absent. When I +returned, the Hall was silent--Lucy was gone; and I was again alone in +the old place. + +I remain there. + + + + +HOW TO BE IDOLIZED. + + +The hyperbole of being "idolized" was never, perhaps, made a literal +truth in so striking a manner as is shown in the following story; for +which we are indebted to a French author. + +In 1818, the good ship "Dido" left the Mauritius, on her voyage to +Sumatra. She had a cargo of French manufactures on board, which her +captain was to barter for coffee and spice with the nabobs of the Sunda +Isles. After a few days' sail, the vessel was becalmed; and both +passengers and crew were put on short allowance of provisions and water. + +Preserved meats, fruits, chocolate, fine flour, and live-stock, were all +exhausted, with the exception of one solitary patriarchal cock, who, +perched on the main-yard, was mourning his devastated harem, like Mourad +Bey after the battle of the Pyramids. + +The ship's cook, Neptune, a Madagascar negro, received orders, one +morning, to prepare this bird for dinner; and, once more, the hungry +denizens of the state-cabin snuffed up the delicious odor of roast fowl. +The captain took a nap, in order to cheat his appetite until +dinner-time; and the chief mate hovered like a guardian-angel round the +caboose, watching lest any audacious spoiler should lay violent hands on +the precious dainty. + +Suddenly, a cry of terror and despair issued from the cook's cabin, and +Neptune himself rushed out, the picture of affright, with both his hands +twisted, convulsively, in the sooty wool that covered his head. What was +the matter? Alas! in an ill-starred hour the cook had slumbered at his +post, and the fowl was burnt to a cinder. + +A fit of rage, exasperated by hunger and a tropical sun, is a fearful +thing. The mate, uttering a dreadful imprecation, seized a large knife, +and rushed at Neptune. At that moment, one of the passengers, named +Louis Bergaz, interposed to ward off the blow. The negro was saved, but +his preserver received the point of the steel in his wrist, and his +blood flowed freely. With much difficulty the other passengers succeeded +in preventing him, in his turn, from attacking the mate; but, at length, +peace was restored, the aggressor having apologized for his violence. As +to poor Neptune, he fell on his knees, and kissed and embraced the feet +of his protector. + +In a day or two the breeze sprang up, and the "Dido" speedily reached +Sumatra. Four years afterward, it happened, one day, that Louis Bergaz +was dining at the public table of an English boarding-house at Batavia. +Among the guests were two learned men who had been sent out by the +British Government to inspect the countries lying near the equator. +During dinner, the name of Bergaz happening to be pronounced distinctly +by one of his acquaintances at the opposite side of the table, the +oldest of the _savans_ looked up from his plate, and asked, +quickly, + +"Who owns the name of Bergaz?" + +"I do." + +"Curious enough," said the _savant_, "you bear the same name as a god of +Madagascar." + +"Have they a god called Bergaz?" asked Louis, smilingly. + +"Yes. And if you like, after dinner, I will show you an article on the +subject, which I published in an English scientific journal." + +Louis thanked him; and afterward read as follows: + +"The population of Madagascar consists of a mixture of Africans, Arabs, +and the aboriginal inhabitants. These latter occupy the kingdom of the +Anas, and are governed by a queen. The Malagasys differ widely from the +Ethiopian race, both in their physical and moral characteristics. They +are hospitable and humane, but extremely warlike, because a successful +foray furnishes them with slaves. It is a mistake to believe that the +Malagasys worship the devil, and that they have at Teintingua a tree +consecrated to the Evil One. They have but one temple, dedicated to the +god Bergaz (_beer_, source, or well, in the Chaldean, and _gaz_, light, +in the Malagasy tongue.) To this divinity they are ardently devoted, +and at stated periods offer him the sacrifice of a cock, as the ancient +Greeks did to Æsculapius. So true it is that the languages and +superstitions of all lands and ages are linked together by mysterious +bonds, which neither time nor distance can destroy." + +Louis Bergaz thought the latter philosophical reflection very striking. + +"You can scarcely imagine," said his companion, "how important these +remote analogies, traced out by us with so much labor and fatigue, are +to the advancement of science!" + +Bergaz bowed, and was silent. + +The cares of a busy commercial life soon caused him to forget both the +philosopher and his own idol namesake. + +After the lapse of about two years, Bergaz set out to purchase ebony at +Cape St. Maria, in Madagascar; but a violent tempest forced the vessel +to stop at Simpaï on the Avas coast. While the crew were busy refitting +the ship, Bergaz started off to explore the interior of the country. +There are no carnivorous wild beasts in Madagascar; but, there is +abundance of game to tempt the sportsman: and Louis, with his gun on his +shoulder, followed the chase of partridges, quails, and pheasants, for +several miles, until he reached the border of a thick bamboo jungle. + +There, he saw a number of the natives prostrate before the entrance of a +large hut. They were singing, with one accord, a monotonous sort of +hymn, whose burden was the word "Bergaz!" so distinctly pronounced, that +Louis immediately recollected the account given him by the philosopher +in Batavia. + +Impelled by very natural curiosity, he stepped forward, and peeped into +the temple. No attempt had been made to ornament its four walls, built +of bamboo, cemented with clay; but, in the centre of the floor stood, on +a pedestal, the statue of the god Bergaz, and Louis was greatly struck +with his appearance. + +The idol, although far from being a finished work of art, was yet far +superior in form and workmanship to the ordinary divinities of savage +nations. The figure represented a man, dressed in European costume, with +a wide straw hat on his head, and a striped muslin cravat round his +neck. He was standing in the attitude of one who is intercepting a blow, +and his right hand was stained with blood. There was even an attempt, +Louis Bergaz thought, to imitate his own features; and the god had thick +black whiskers meeting under his chin, precisely such as Louis had worn +in 1818. The dress, too, resembled his own; and the cravat, marked in +the corner, L. B., was one which he had given Neptune the cook. In a few +minutes, a procession of natives entered the temple; they kindled a fire +in a sort of chafing-dish; and, placing on it a dead cock, burnt the +sacrifice before their god, amid loud acclamation. Bergaz, unluckily, +was not able to preserve his gravity during this pious ceremonial. He +burst into a fit of laughter, and was instantly seized by the offended +worshipers. With shouts of rage they were about to sacrifice him to +their outraged deity, when a noise of cymbals announced the approach of +the chief of the tribe. The high priest met him at the door, and +announced the sacrilegious conduct of the stranger. The incensed +chieftain seized a Malayan _crease_, and ran to take vengeance on +the offender. Bergaz turned and looked at him; each uttered a cry of +surprise; the next moment, the chief was embracing the feet of Louis. + +"Neptune, old fellow! what is all this?" asked Bergaz pointing to the +figure, "Bergaz is my god!" cried the negro, striking his breast. Then, +to the unbounded astonishment of all present, the European and the chief +walked off lovingly together toward the palace of the latter. + +On their way thither, Neptune related his history to his friend. The +powerful Radamas, sovereign of Madagascar, had concluded a treaty of +peace with his enemy Réné. The wife of the latter, being a woman of +genius, was named queen of the Anas, by an edict of Radama; and this +lady was the sister of Neptune, ex-cook of the Dido. + +No sooner was she seated on the throne than she released her brother +from his menial situation, and gave him absolute authority over the +small province of Simpaï. + +Neptune's first act was an endeavor to manifest his gratitude, after the +strange fashion of his people, to his protector Bergaz; and we may fancy +how cordial was the reception, how warm and affectionate the welcome, +bestowed on the living benefactor, whose wooden semblance he and his +people worshiped as a god. The grateful negro loaded him with presents, +and sent his most skillful workmen to assist in repairing the ship. +Probably, to this day, the god Bergaz may still be worshiped in Simpaï; +and the Æsculapian cock may still excite the wonder, and fill the +note-books of traveling philosophers. + + + + +THE CHILD COMMODORE. + + +After a long continental ramble, I was glad to have the prospect of +getting home again; but an embargo was laid upon me at Boulogne. It blew +great guns from the opposite side of the Channel. The genius of Albion +was not just then in the mood for receiving visits, or welcoming the +return of absentees; and so the steam-packet lay fretting in the harbor, +and rubbing her sides peevishly against the pier; while her intending +passengers were distributed among the hotels and boarding-houses, +venting their discontent on the good things of the table d'hôte, and +mounting every now and then to the garret to throw a scowling look to +windward. + +For my part I had been tossed about the world too long, and bumped too +hard against its rocks and snags, to think much of a little compulsory +tranquillity. On the second day I rather liked it. It was amusing to +watch the characters of my companions stealing out from beneath the vail +of conventionalism; and it was better than amusing to become actually +acquainted with one or two of them, as if we were indeed +men and women, and not the mere automata of society. Taking them in the +mass, however, a good deal of the distinction observable among them +depended on the mere circumstance of age. We old gentlemen sat coolly +sipping our wine after dinner, rarely alluding in conversation to our +present dilemma; while the green hands, after a whirl round the +billiard-table, drank their glass of brandy-and-water with vehemence, +and passed a unanimous vote of censure on the captain for his breach of +faith and unsailor-like timidity. + +"This is pleasant!" said I, smiling at one +of these outbreaks, which occurred late at night--"one +always meets something out of the way +in traveling." + +"_I_ never do," replied the gentleman I had addressed; "I find the +human character every where the same. You may witness the same kind of +absurdity among raw lads like these every day at home; and it is only +your own imagination that flings upon it here a different color. I wish +I _could_ see something strange!" + +"Perhaps, my dear sir," said I blandly, "you never look? For my part I +never fail to meet with something strange, if I have only the +opportunity of examining. Come, let us go out into the street, and I +shall undertake to prove it. Let us peep under the first vail or the +first slouched hat we meet, and I pledge myself that, on due inquiry, we +shall light upon a tale as odd or as wild as fancy ever framed. A bottle +of wine upon it?" + +"Done!" + +"Done, then: but hold, what's that?" + +"Le paquebot va partir à minuit!" + +"Hurra!" cried the young men. "The storm is not down a single breath, +and it is pitch dark! The captain's a trump after all!" + +Then there were hurrying steps and slamming doors, and flitting lights +through the whole house; then hasty reckonings, and jingling coins, and +bows, and shrugs, and fights with the sleeves of greatcoats; and +finally, stiff moving figures mummied in broadcloth; and grim faces, +half-visible between the cravat and cap; and slender forms, bonneted, +yet shapeless, clinging to stout arms, as we all floated out into the +night. + +"The Diet is deserted," said my friend, "pro loco et tempore." + +"Only the venue changed to shipboard," gasped I against the wind. +"Remember the first man, woman, or child that attracts our attention on +deck!" And so we parted, losing one another, and ourselves lost in the +unsteady crowd. + +The vessel had cleared the harbor before I met with my friend in the +darkness and confusion of the midnight deck: and when we were thrown +together, it was with such emphasis that we both came down. We fell, +however, upon a bundle of something comparatively soft--something that +stirred and winced at the contact--something that gave a low cry in +three several cadences, as if it had three voices. It gave us, in fact, +some confused idea of a mass of heads, legs, arms, and other +appurtenances of the human body; but the whole was shrouded in a sort of +woolly covering, the nature of which the darkness of the night and the +rolling of the ship rendered it impossible to ascertain. I thought to +myself for a moment that this was just the thing for my boasted +demonstration; but no philosophy could keep the deck under such +circumstances; and when my friend and I had gathered ourselves up, we +made the best of our way--and it was no easy task--to the cabin, and +crept into our berths. As I lay there in comparative coziness, my +thoughts reverted to that bundle of life, composed in all probability of +deck passengers, exposed to the cold night-wind and the drenching +spray; but I soon fell asleep, my sympathy merging as my faculties +became more dim in a grateful sense of personal comfort. + +As the morning advanced, the wind moderated, testifying to the +weather-wisdom of our captain; and my friend and I getting up betimes, +met once more upon the deck. The bundle of life was still there, just +without the sacred line which deck and steerage passengers must not +cross; and we saw that it was composed of human figures, huddled +together without distinction, under coarse and tattered cloaks. + +"These persons," said I dictatorially, pointing to them with my cane, +"have a story, and a strange one; and by-and-by we shall get at it." + +"The common story of the poor," replied my friend: "a story of hardship, +perhaps of hunger: but why don't they wake up?" + +This question seemed to have occurred to some of the other passengers, +and all looked with a sort of languid curiosity, as they passed, at the +breathing bundle of rags. After a time, some motion was observed beneath +the tattered cloaks, and at length a head emerged from their folds; a +head that might have been either a woman's or a little girl's, so old it +was in expression, and so young in size and softness. It _was_ a little +girl's, as was proved by the shoulders that followed--thin, slight, +childish; but so intelligent was the look she cast around, so full of +care and anxiety, that she seemed to have the burden of a whole family +on her back. After ascertaining by that look, as it seemed, what her +present position was, and bestowing a slight, sweeping glance upon the +bystanders, the ship, and the gloomy sky, she withdrew her thoughts from +these extraneous matters, and with a gentle hand, and some whispered +words, extracted from his bed of rags a small, pale, little boy. The boy +woke up in a sort of fright, but the moment his eyes rested on his +sister's face--for she _was_ his sister, that was clear--he was calm and +satisfied. No smiles were exchanged, such as might have befitted their +age; no remark on the novel circumstances of their situation. The boy +looked at nothing but the girl; and the girl smoothed his hair with her +fingers, arranged his threadbare dress, and breathing on his hands, +polished them with her sleeve. This girl, though bearing the marks of +premature age, could not in reality have been more than eleven, and the +boy was probably four years younger. + +A larger figure was still invisible, except in the indefinite outline of +the cloak, and my friend and I indulged in some whispered speculations +as to what it might turn out. + +"The elder sister doubtless," said he, with one of his cold smiles; "a +pretty and disconsolate young woman, the heroine of your intended +romance, and the winner of my bottle of wine!" + +"Have patience," said I, "have patience;" but I had not much myself. I +wished the young woman would awake, and I earnestly hoped--I confess the +fact--that she might prove to be as pretty as I was sure she was +disconsolate. You may suppose, therefore, that it was with some anxiety +I at length saw the cloak stir, and with some surprise I beheld emerge +from it one of the most ordinary and commonplace of all the daughters of +Eve. She was obviously the mother of the two children, but although +endowed with all her natural faculties, quite as helpless and dependent +as the little boy. She held out her hand to the little girl, who kissed +it affectionately in the dutiful morning fashion of Fatherland; and then +dropping with that action the manner of the child, resumed, as if from +habit, the authority and duties of the parent. She arranged her mother's +hair and dress as she had done those of her brother, dictated to her the +place and posture in which she was to sit, and passed a full half +hour--I can not now tell how--in quiet but incessant activity. + +Time passed on; the other passengers had all breakfasted; but no one had +seen the solitary family eat. Two or three of us remarked the +circumstance to each other, and suggested the propriety of our doing +something. But what to do was the question, for although poor, they were +obviously not beggars. I at length ventured to offer a biscuit to the +little boy. He looked at it, and then at his sister, but did not stir. +The proceeding, apparently, was contrary to their notions of etiquette; +and I presented the biscuit to the mother "for her little son." She took +it mechanically--indifferently--as if it was a thing she had no concern +in, and handed it to the girl. The little girl bowed gravely, muttered +some words in German, apparently of thanks, and dividing the biscuit +among them, in three unequal portions, of which she kept the smallest to +herself, they all began to eat with some eagerness. + +"Hunger!" said my friend--"I told you: nothing else." + +"We shall see;" but I could not think of my theory just then. The +family, it appeared, were starving; they had undertaken the little +voyage without preparation of any kind in food, extra clothing, or +money; and under such circumstances, they sat calmly, quietly, without +uttering a single complaint. In a few minutes a more substantial +breakfast was before them; and it was amusing to see the coolness with +which the little girl-commodore accepted the providential windfall, as +if it had been something she expected, although ignorant of the quarter +whence it should come, and the business-like gravity with which she +proceeded to arrange it on their joint laps, and distribute the shares. +Nothing escaped her; her sharp look was on every detail; if a fold of +her mother's cloak was out of order, she stopped her till she had set it +right; and when her brother coughed as he swallowed some tea, she raised +his face, and patted him on the back. I admired that little creature +with her wan face, and quick eyes, and thin fragile shoulders; but she +had no attention to bestow on any one but the family committed to her +charge. + +"This is comical," said my friend: "I wonder what they are. But they +have done breakfast: see how carefully the little girl puts away the +fragments! Let us now ask them for what you call their "story," and get +them to relate the romantic circumstances which have induced them to +emigrate to London, to join some of their relatives in the business of +selling matches or grinding organs!" + +We first tried the mother, but she, in addition to being of a singularly +taciturn, indifferent disposition, spoke nothing but German. The little +boy answered only with a negative or affirmative. The commodore of the +party, however, knew some words of French, and some of English, and we +were able to understand what she told us with no more difficulty than +arose from the oddity of the circumstances. The following is the +dialogue that took place between us, with her polyglott part translated +into common English. + +"Where are you from, my little lass?" + +"Is it me, sir? Oh, I am from New York." + +"From New York! What were you doing there!" + +"Keeping my father's room, sir: he is a journeyman." + +"And what brings you to Europe?" + +"My father sent me to bring over mother." + +"Sent _you_." + +"Yes, sir; and because my brother could not be left in the room all day +when my father was out at work, I took him with me." + +"What! and you two little children crossed the ocean to fetch your +mother?" + +"Oh, that is nothing: the ship brought us--we did not come. It was worse +when we landed in London; for there were so many people there, and so +many houses, it was just as if we had to find our way, without a ship, +through the waves of the sea." + +"And what were you to do in London." + +"I was to go to a countryman of ours, who would find me a passage to +France. But nobody we met in the street knew him, and nobody could +understand what place it was I asked for; and if we had not met a little +German boy with an organ, I do not know what we should have done. But +somebody always comes in time--God sends him. Father told us that." + +"And the little German boy took you to your countryman?" + +"Yes, and more than that! He bought some bread with a penny as we went +along, and we all sat down on a step and ate it." Here my friend +suddenly used his handkerchief, and coughed vigorously; but the young +girl went on without minding the interruption. + +"Our countryman gave us a whole handful of copper money, and a paper to +the captain of the ship. It was late before we got there, and we were so +tired that I could hardly get my brother along. But the captain was so +good as to let us sleep on the deck." + +"Your mother was in Germany. How did you get to her?" + +"Oh, we walked--but not always. Sometimes we got a cast in a wagon; and +when we were very hungry, and would not lay out our money, we were +always sure to get something given us to eat." + +"Then you _had_ money." + +"Oh yes, to be sure!" and the little girl gave a cunning twinkle of her +eye. "We could not get mother away, you know, without money--could we, +mother?" patting her on the back like one fondling a child. + +Such was the story of the little commodore--a story which was listened +to not only by my friend and myself, but by at least a score of other +persons, some of whom will no doubt be pleased to see it here +reproduced.[4] A collection was made for the travelers, whose boasted +funds had been exhausted at Boulogne; but what became of them afterward +I never knew. When we reached London, I saw them walk up the +landing-place--wholly unencumbered with baggage, poor things!--the +mother and the little boy clinging on either side to the commodore; and +so, like the shadowy figures in the "Pilgrim's Progress," "they passed +on their way, and I saw them no more." + +[Footnote 4: The writer is in earnest; this is a true +story.--ED.] + +For my own part, my theory had gone much further than I had thought of +carrying it. My friend himself was not more surprised than I by the +story of the little girl; and, like the Witch of Endor, when her +pretended incantations were answered by the actual apparition of the +prophet, I was stupefied by my own success. + + + + +HABITS AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE LONDON COSTERMONGERS.[5] + + +[Footnote 5: From MAYHEW'S "London Labor and the London +Poor," now publishing by Harper and Brothers.] + +I find it impossible to separate these two headings; for the habits of +the costermonger are not domestic. His busy life is passed in the +markets or the streets, and as his leisure is devoted to the beer-shop, +the dancing-room, or the theatre, we must look for his habits to his +demeanor at those places. Home has few attractions to a man whose life +is a street-life. Even those who are influenced by family ties and +affections, prefer to "home"--indeed that word is rarely mentioned among +them--the conversation, warmth, and merriment of the beer-shop, where +they can take their ease among their "mates." Excitement or amusement +are indispensable to uneducated men. Of beer-shops resorted to by +costermongers, and principally supported by them, it is computed that +there are 400 in London. + +Those who meet first in the beer-shop talk over the state of trade and +of the markets, while the later comers enter at once into what may be +styled the serious business of the evening--amusement. + +Business topics are discussed in a most peculiar style. One man takes +the pipe from his mouth and says, "Bill made a doogheno[6] hit this +morning." "Jem," says another, to a man just entering, "you'll stand a +top o' reeb?"[7] "On,"[8] answers Jem, "I've had a trosseno tol,[9] and +have been doing dab."[10] If any strangers are present, the conversation +is still further clothed in slang, so as to be unintelligible even to +the partially initiated. The evident puzzlement of any listener is of +course gratifying to the costermonger's vanity for he feels that he +possesses a knowledge peculiarly his own. + +[Footnote 6: First rate.] + +[Footnote 7: Pot of beer.] + +[Footnote 8: No.] + +[Footnote 9: Bad luck.] + +[Footnote 10: Badly.] + +Among the in-door amusements of the costermonger is card-playing, at +which many of them are adepts. The usual games are all-fours, all-fives, +cribbage, and put. Whist is known to a few, but is never played, being +considered dull and slow. Of short whist they have not heard: "But," +said one, whom I questioned on the subject, "if it's come into fashion, +it'll soon be among us." The play is usually for beer, but the game is +rendered exciting by bets both among the players and the lookers-on. +"I'll back Jem for a yanepatine," says one. "Jack for a gen," cries +another. A penny is the lowest sum laid, and five shillings generally +the highest, but a shilling is not often exceeded. "We play fair +among ourselves," said a costermonger to me--"ay, fairer than the +aristocrats--but we'll take in any body else." Where it is known that +the landlord will not supply cards, "a sporting coster" carries a pack +or two with him. The cards played with have rarely been stamped; they +are generally dirty, and sometimes almost illegible, from long handling +and spilled beer. Some men will sit patiently for hours at these games, +and they watch the dealing round of the dingy cards intently, and +without the attempt--common among politer gamesters--to appear +indifferent, though they bear their losses well. In a full room of +card-players, the groups are all shrouded in tobacco-smoke, and from +them are heard constant sounds--according to the games they are engaged +in--of "I'm low, and Ped's high." "Tip and me's game." "Fifteen four and +a flush of five." I may remark it is curious that costermongers, who can +neither read nor write, and who have no knowledge of the multiplication +table, are skillful in all the intricacies and calculations of cribbage. +There is not much quarreling over the cards, unless strangers play with +them, and then the costermongers all take part one with another, fairly +or unfairly. + +It has been said that there is a close resemblance between many of the +characteristics of a very high class, socially, and a very low class. +Those who remember the disclosures on a trial a few years back, as to +how men of rank and wealth passed their leisure in card-playing--many of +their lives being one continued leisure--can judge how far the analogy +holds when the card-passion of the costermongers is described. + +"Shove-halfpenny" is another game played by them; so is "Three-up." +Three halfpennies are thrown up, and when they fall all "heads" or all +"tails," it is a mark; and the man who gets the greatest number of marks +out of a given amount--three, or five, or more--wins. "Three-up" is +played fairly among the costermongers; but is most frequently resorted +to when strangers are present to "make a pitch,"--which is, in plain +words, to cheat any stranger who is rash enough to bet upon them. "This +is the way, sir," said an adept to me; "bless you, I can make them fall +as I please. If I'm playing with Jo, and a stranger bets with Jo, why, +of course I make Jo win." This adept illustrated his skill to me by +throwing up three halfpennies, and, five times out of six they fell upon +the floor, whether he threw them nearly to the ceiling or merely to his +shoulder, all heads or all tails. The halfpence were the proper current +coins--indeed, they were my own; and the result is gained by a peculiar +position of the coins on the fingers, and a peculiar jerk in the +throwing. There was an amusing manifestation of the pride of art in the +way in which my obliging informant displayed his skill. + +"Skittles" is another favorite amusement, and the costermongers class +themselves among the best players in London. The game is always for +beer, but betting goes on. + +A fondness for "sparring" and "boxing" lingers among the rude members of +some classes of the working-men, such as the tanners. With the great +majority of the costermongers this fondness is still as dominant as it +was among the "higher classes," when boxers were the pets of princes and +nobles. The sparring among the costers is not for money, but for beer +and "a lark"--a convenient word covering much mischief. Two out of every +ten landlords, whose houses are patronized by these lovers of "the art +of self-defense," supply gloves. Some charge 2_d._ a night for +their use; others only 1_d._ The sparring seldom continues long, +sometimes not above a quarter of an hour; for the costermongers, though +excited for a while, weary of sports in which they can not personally +participate, and in the beer-shops only two spar at a time, though fifty +or sixty may be present. The shortness of the duration of this pastime +may be one reason why it seldom leads to quarreling. The stake is +usually a "top of reeb," and the winner is the man who gives the first +"noser;" a _bloody_ nose however is required to show that the blow +was veritably a noser. The costermongers boast of their skill in +pugilism as well as at skittles. "We are all handy with our fists," said +one man, "and are matches, ay, and more than matches, for any body but +regular boxers. We've stuck to the ring, too, and gone reg'lar to the +fights, more than any other men." + +"Twopenny-hops" are much resorted to by the costermongers, men and +women, boys and girls. At these dances decorum is sometimes, but not +often, violated. "The women," I was told by one man, "doesn't show their +necks as I've seen the ladies do in them there pictures of high life in +the shop-winders, or on the stage. Their Sunday gowns, which is their +dancing gowns, ain't made that way." At these "hops" the clog-hornpipe +is often danced, and sometimes a collection is made to insure the +performance of a first-rate professor of that dance; sometimes, and more +frequently, it is volunteered gratuitously. The other dances are jigs, +"flash jigs"--hornpipes in fetters--a dance rendered popular by the +success of the acted "Jack Sheppard"--polkas, and country-dances, the +last-mentioned being generally demanded by the women. Waltzes are as yet +unknown to them. Sometimes they do the "pipe-dance." For this a number +of tobacco-pipes, about a dozen, are laid close together on the floor, +and the dancer places the toe of his boot between the different pipes, +keeping time with the music. Two of the pipes are arranged as a cross, +and the toe has to be inserted between each of the angles, without +breaking them. The numbers present at these "hops" vary from 30 to 100 +of both sexes, their ages being from 14 to 45, and the female sex being +slightly predominant as to the proportion of those in attendance. At +these "hops" there is nothing of the leisurely style of dancing--half a +glide and half a skip--but vigorous, laborious capering. The hours are +from half-past eight to twelve, sometimes to one or two in the morning, +and never later than two, as the costermongers are early risers. There +is sometimes a good deal of drinking; some of the young girls being +often pressed to drink, and frequently yielding to the temptation. +From £1 to £7 is spent in drink at a hop; the youngest men or lads +present spend the most, especially in that act of costermonger +politeness--"treating the gals." The music is always a fiddle, sometimes +with the addition of a harp and a cornopean. The band is provided by the +costermongers, to whom the assembly is confined; but during the present +and the last year, when the costers' earnings have been less than the +average, the landlord has provided the harp, whenever that instrument +has added to the charms of the fiddle. + +The other amusements of this class of the +community are the theatre and the penny concert, and their visits are +almost entirely confined to the galleries of the theatres on the +Surrey-side--the Surrey, the Victoria, the Bower Saloon, and (but less +frequently) Astley's. Three times a week is an average attendance at +theatres and dances by the more prosperous costermongers. The most +intelligent man I met with among them gave me the following account. He +classes himself with the many, but his tastes are really those of an +educated man: "Love and murder suits us best, sir; but within these few +years I think there's a great deal more liking for deep tragedies among +us. They set men a-thinking; but then we all consider them too long. Of +_Hamlet_ we can make neither end nor side; and nine out of ten of +us--ay, far more than that--would like it to be confined to the ghost +scenes, and the funeral, and the killing off at the last. _Macbeth_ +would be better liked, if it was only the witches and the fighting. The +high words in a tragedy we call jaw-breakers, and say we can't tumble to +that barrikin. We always stay to the last, because we've paid for it +all, or very few costers would see a tragedy out if any money was +returned to those leaving after two or three acts. We are fond of music. +Nigger music was very much liked among us, but it's stale now. Flash +songs are liked, and sailors' songs, and patriotic songs. Most +costers--indeed, I can't call to mind an exception--listen very quietly +to songs that they don't in the least understand. We have among us +translations of the patriotic French songs. 'Mourir pour la patrie' is +very popular, and so is the 'Marseillaise.' A song to take hold of us +must have a good chorus." "They like something, sir, that is worth +hearing," said one of my informants, "such as the 'Soldier's Dream,' +'The Dream of Napoleon,' or 'I 'ad a dream--an 'appy dream.'" + +The songs in ridicule of Marshal Haynau, and in laudation of Barclay and +Perkins's draymen, were and are very popular among the costers; but none +are more popular than Paul Jones--"A noble commander, Paul Jones was his +name." Among them the chorus of "Britons never shall be slaves," is +often rendered "Britons always shall be slaves." The most popular of all +songs with the class, however, is "Duck-legged Dick," of which I give +the first verse. + + "Duck-legged Dick had a donkey, + And his lush loved much for to swill, + One day he got rather lumpy, + And got sent seven days to the mill. + His donkey was taken to the green-yard, + A fate which he never deserved. + Oh! it was such a regular mean yard, + That alas! the poor moke got starved. + Oh! bad luck can't be prevented, + Fortune she smiles or she frowns, + He's best off that's contented, + To mix, sirs, the ups and the downs." + +Their sports are enjoyed the more, if they are dangerous and require +both courage and dexterity to succeed in them. They prefer, if crossing +a bridge, to climb over the parapet, and walk along on the stone coping. + When a house is building, rows of coster lads will climb up the long +ladders, leaning against the unslated roof, and then slide down again, +each one resting on the other's shoulders. A peep-show with a battle +scene is sure of its coster audience, and a favorite pastime is fighting +with cheap theatrical swords. They are, however, true to each other, and +should a coster, who is the hero of his court, fall ill and go to a +hospital, the whole of the inhabitants of his quarter will visit him on +the Sunday, and take him presents of various articles so that "he may +live well." + +Among the men, rat-killing is a favorite sport. They will enter an old +stable, fasten the door and then turn out the rats. Or they will find +out some unfrequented yard, and at night-time build up a pit with +apple-case boards, and lighting up their lamps, enjoy the sport. Nearly +every coster is fond of dogs. Some fancy them greatly, and are proud of +making them fight. If when out working, they see a handsome stray, +whether he is a "toy" or "sporting" dog, they whip him up--many of the +class not being _very_ particular whether the animals are stray or +not. + +Their dog-fights are both cruel and frequent. It is not uncommon to see +a lad walking with the trembling legs of a dog shivering under a bloody +handkerchief, that covers the bitten and wounded body of an animal that +has been figuring at some "match." These fights take place on the +sly--the tap-room or back-yard of a beer-shop being generally chosen for +the purpose. A few men are let into the secret, and they attend to bet +upon the battle, the police being carefully kept from the spot. + +Pigeons are "fancied" to a large extent, and are kept in lath cages on +the roofs of the houses. The lads look upon a visit to the Red-house, +Battersea, where the pigeon-shooting takes place, as a great treat. They +stand without the boarding that incloses the ground, and watch for the +wounded pigeons to fall, when a violent scramble takes place among them, +each bird being valued at 3_d._ or 4_d._ So popular has this +sport become, that some boys take dogs with them trained to retrieve the +birds, and two Lambeth costers attend regularly after their morning's +work with their guns, to shoot those that escape the "shots" within. + +A good pugilist is looked up to with great admiration by the costers, +and fighting is considered to be a necessary part of a boy's education. +Among them cowardice in any shape is despised as being degrading and +loathsome; indeed the man who would avoid a fight, is scouted by the +whole of the court he lives in. Hence it is important for a lad and even +a girl to know how to "work their fists well"--as expert boxing is +called among them. If a coster man or woman is struck they are obliged +to fight. When a quarrel takes place between two boys, a ring is formed, +and the men urge them on to have it out, for they hold that it is a +wrong thing to stop a battle, as it causes bad blood for life; whereas, +if the lads fight it out they shake hands and forget all about it. +Every body practices fighting, and the man who has the largest and +hardest muscle is spoken of in terms of the highest commendation. It is +often said in admiration of such a man that "he could muzzle half a +dozen bobbies before breakfast." + +To serve out a policeman is the bravest act by which a costermonger can +distinguish himself. Some lads have been imprisoned upward of a dozen +times for this offense; and are consequently looked upon by their +companions as martyrs. When they leave prison for such an act, a +subscription is often got up for their benefit. In their continual +warfare with the force, they resemble many savage nations, from the +cunning and treachery they use. The lads endeavor to take the +unsuspecting "crusher" by surprise, and often crouch at the entrance of +a court till a policeman passes, when a stone or a brick is hurled at +him, and the youngster immediately disappears. Their love of revenge too +is extreme--their hatred being in no way mitigated by time; they will +wait for months, following a policeman who has offended or wronged them, +anxiously looking out for an opportunity of paying back the injury. One +boy, I was told, vowed vengeance against a member of the force, and for +six months never allowed the man to escape his notice. At length, one +night, he saw the policeman in a row outside a public-house, and running +into the crowd kicked him savagely, shouting at the same time: "Now, you +b---- I've got you at last." When the boy heard that his persecutor was +injured for life, his joy was very great, and he declared the +twelvemonth's imprisonment he was sentenced to for the offense to be +"dirt cheap." The whole of the court where the lad resided sympathized +with the boy, and vowed to a man, that had he escaped, they would have +subscribed a pad or two of dry herrings, to send him into the country +until the affair had blown over, for he had shown himself a "plucky +one." + +It is called "plucky" to bear pain without complaining. To flinch from +expected suffering is scorned, and he who does so is sneered at and told +to wear a gown, as being more fit to be a woman. To show a disregard for +pain, a lad, when without money, will say to his pal, "Give us a penny, +and you may have a punch at my nose." They also delight in tattooing +their chests and arms with anchors, and figures of different kinds. +During the whole of this painful operation, the boy will not flinch, but +laugh and joke with his admiring companions, as if perfectly at ease. + + + + +FIVE MINUTES TOO LATE. + + + "Miss not the occasion; by the forelock take + That subtle power--the never-halting time-- + Lest a mere moment's putting off should make + Mischance almost as heavy as a crime!" + +We have just closed a volume of "Wordsworth's Poems," and the motto we +have quoted, and the sonnet following it, recalled certain memories +which have proved suggestive of our present subject. Five minutes too +late! What an awful meaning is conveyed by the last two words of that +brief sentence to the children of time, over whom circumstances and +death have such fearful power! They conjure before our mental vision a +spectral array of consequences from which we shrink: ghosts +of vain hopes, of disappointed expectations, of love closed in death, +move in ghastly procession, and but for certain recollections of a more +enlivening nature--(for sometimes comedy blends even with the deepest +tragedy in this kaleidoscope world of ours!)--we should erase our title, +and choose another theme. Let it not alarm the reader, however, by the +apparent threat it holds out of a homily upon the evils of +procrastination. We mean to bestow no such tediousness upon his worship, +deeming that the "golden-lipped" saint himself would prove powerless to +exorcise that most pertinacious of demons when he has once taken +possession of any human soul. No; we intend simply to give a few +instances of the singular, fatal, or ludicrous effects which the loss or +delay of five minutes has caused, leaving Wordsworth's motto to point +the moral of our gossiping. + +The first, and one of the most painful of these our "modern instances," +was very recently related to us by the son of him whose fortunes were +changed, and finally his fate sealed, by the unheeded flitting of those +few sands of time, and whose family are still sufferers from this +apparent trifle. The momentous five minutes to which we allude were a +portion of one of the most glorious periods that ever dial or +hourglass marked--that in which the Trafalgar victory was won, and +Nelson lost. Among the gallant fleet which on that day roused the echoes +of the hills of Spain, was a certain cutter commanded by a young +lieutenant, who, possessing no naval interest, hoped for advancement +only from his own gallantry and good conduct; and little doubt was there +that either would prove lacking in his case. Memories of the fair wife +and dear babe whose fortunes were, in the expressive language of the +East, "bound up in the bundle of his life," awoke every energy of his +nature, and gave (for him) a double and inspiring meaning to that +celebrated signal, the simple majesty of which still thrills the heart +of all who owe homage to the name of our country--"England expects every +man to do his duty." When the fight began, our young lieutenant did his +duty gallantly; the "angel opportunity" was lacking for any very +memorable achievement, but in that scene of unrivaled valor and +exertion, the eye of the great commander marked the conduct of the +gallant little cutter, and he noticed it to "Hardy." Had he lived, the +fortune of the young officer would have been assured; but the life which +then "set in bloody glory" bore with it the hopes of many a brave +mariner "into the dim oblivion!" + +It is well known that the fleet which achieved this victory had, during +the succeeding night and day, to contend with the fury of the elements; +many ships dismasted in the battle, all shattered, and in numerous cases +without an anchor to let go. It was while the storm was still raging +that Lord Collingwood made a signal to the ---- cutter to send a boat +for the dispatches which were to be conveyed to England. The office +intended for her commander was a favor, as the harbinger of such +intelligence was certain of promotion; but, alas! our young lieutenant, +engrossed by the present scene, and excited by the recent march of +events, was not heeding the signal of the _Euryalus_, and it had +been flying five minutes before it was reported to him. _Then_ he +hurried to obey the mandate--too late! Another had seen the summons, and +preceded him, deeming that the state of the cutter must be the cause of +her commander's delay. As her boat came alongside the _Euryalus_, +that of his successful rival--if I may so style him--pushed off, and the +officers exchanged greetings. Poor Y---- at that moment bade farewell to +the flood-tide of his fortunes! The admiral accepted his excuses, and +regretted that he had not arrived in time, giving him the only charge +remaining in his power to bestow--duplicates of the dispatches--and with +these he took his homeward course: but the lost five minutes had wrecked +his hopes. His predecessor arrived safely, received promotion, and is +now, or was very recently, an admiral, while the hero of our story +obtained only a sword in commemoration of his bravery; and at the close +of the war, was thrown aside, with many a gallant comrade, to waste the +remainder of his life in oblivion and neglect. The disappointment of his +hopes affected him deeply; the more so as his family increased, and his +means of supporting and providing for them were small. What profound +regret darkened the vision of Trafalgar when it recurred to the old +officer's memory! He was sometimes heard to say, with a playful mockery +of his own ill-fortune, "that he had grown prematurely bald from the +number of young men who had _walked over his head_;" but there was +a pathos in the very jest. By a marvelous coincidence, his life was +closed, as its prospects had been blighted, by the fatal five minutes +too late. He was engaged to dine with an old brother-officer--one who +hated to be kept waiting for his dinner--and by some accident, it was +five minutes after the appointed time when he left his house to proceed +to his Amphitryon's. In his anxiety to redeem the lost time, he hurried +up the hill he was compelled to ascend at a pace little befitting his +age and infirmities--for he suffered from a complaint of the +heart--reached the dining-room "again five minutes too late," as he +remarked himself, in allusion to the unseen signal, was taken ill from +the exertion, carried home, and died. "The tide" of life as well as of +fortune had for him "passed the flood!" + +The colors of this kaleidoscope vision are of the darkest and saddest; +let us shake the instrument and vary the combinations, and lo an Indian +bungalow rises before us seated on a mountain height; and many busy +forms are moving near and about it, for the lady who dwells there is +about to join a party of friends traveling to the island presidency +below. Her husband's regiment has been recently hurried to the seat of +war, and she can no longer dwell upon the wide and pleasant plains of +the Deccan; moreover, the monsoon is ended, and the hot winds of the +season are beginning to penetrate the screens. And now the ayah hastens +her lady's preparations, by the information that the party of travelers +are waiting in their palanquins without; but the "Ma'am Sahib" is a +confirmed procrastinator, and so much has been left till this last +moment unprepared and undone, that she can not obey the summons. The +climate is not favorable to patience; besides, there is a "tide" to be +caught at the next _bunder_, and _it_, proverbially, will wait +for no one; therefore, with some few apologies, the party moved on, +expressing their assurance that Mrs. T---- would soon overtake them. She +was of the same opinion, and bore their desertion very philosophically, +insisting even on not detaining a gentleman of the group, who would fain +have waited her leisure. As she entered her palanquin, she observed to +her ayah--the only servant who accompanied her--that she had been, +"after all, only five minutes too late." The "God's image carved in +ebony," as Fuller calls the dark sisterhood of our race, showed her +ivory teeth good-humoredly in assent, and retired to take possession of +her own conveyance, in which she was ordered to follow closely that of +her mistress, deeming the loss of time of as little moment as the lady +did. The hamals then began their labors, and the first portion of the +descent was achieved pleasantly and safely. Seated in her coffin-like +carriage, Mrs. T---- looked forth on a scene of almost unrivaled beauty, +every turn of the mountain pathway varying its character and increasing +its loveliness. Revived by the recent heavy rains, the trees and herbage +wore a green as vivid as if they were never scorched by the burning +kisses of an Eastern sun; gay wild-flowers peeped out from the long +grass of the jungle; and tiny waterfalls danced and sported down the +mountains' sides to their own liquid music: the tramp of the bearers, +the monotonous chant into which they occasionally broke, even the shrill +cry of the green parrot, had all a charm for the fair lady traveler; and +she forgot the "five minutes too late" which had separated her from her +companions, and the fact that there was still no appearance of rejoining +them. The latter recollection had, however, occurred to her bearers, and +gradually, though their burden marked it not, they slackened their pace, +and held low conference among themselves. The ayah's palanquin was far +behind, the travelers who preceded them far before; the road was +solitary, the jungle deep and secret as the grave; the lady known to be +rich in jewels, if not in gold and rupees. + +Evening was closing in: day fades rapidly in the East, and the brief +twilight is as solemn as it is soft and short. The hamals' steps fell +slower and slower; and at last a vague fear awoke in the lady's mind, to +which the gradually deepening gloom added force. She was imaginative, +and she fancied the pretty water-jets grew larger, and foamed, and took +a spectral form, like the mischievous uncle of "Undine," and that the +dark figures of the relay of hamals, running by the side of the +palanquin, grew taller, and more fiendish-looking: she began to "see +their visage" less "in their mind" than in its natural color and swart +ugliness, and bitterly repented having been five minutes too late. A +regret, alas! _too late_ also; for suddenly her palanquin was set +upon the ground, and eight shadowy forms gathered round the door, with +glittering eyes and looks from which she shrank, while one in brief +phrase desired her to give him her jewel-case and her money. The request +was not instantly granted. The Scotswoman was courageous, and +represented to her false guides that they could neither rob nor injure a +woman of her race with impunity. In answer, one fellow pointed to the +deep jungle, and made an expressive sign at the back of his own throat. +She saw that it would be vain to refuse, and delivered the small box she +had with her, and her money. They received it silently; and sitting down +in her sight, coolly examined and divided their spoil. Then came a +fearful pause. They looked toward the palanquin; they were evidently +consulting as to what they should do with her. Never could she afterward +forget the feeling with which her gaze encountered those terrible black +eyes! the agony of suspense was more than she could bear; and as they +rose simultaneously, she buried her face in her hands, and in a short, +almost wordless prayer, commended her soul to her Creator. At the same +instant a frightful roar, echoed by a thrilling scream, or rather yell, +burst on her ear. She looked up, and beheld her foes scattered on all +sides, pursued by a tiger, to whose remorseless thirst one had evidently +fallen a prey, for faint from the distance came a cry of mortal agony. +She was saved! The five minutes they had loitered over their spoil had, +through the mercy of a good Providence, made crime too late to be +consummated. She sat there alone, wonderfully preserved, but still in an +awful situation for a female, since night was gathering round her, and +the lair of the wild beast so near! Her heart beat audibly, when +suddenly the stillness was broken by a familiar and blessed sound: "Auld +Lang-syne," played on her native bagpipes, stole on the silence of the +evening, and, relieved from a weight of terror--from the fear of death +itself--she shed large heavy tears as the clear music approached her. A +Highland regiment was on its night march back to the Presidency, and +either its approach had been perceived by the robbers who had escaped +the tiger, and thus prevented their return to their victim, or their +superstitious terror at the jungle tyrant had kept them from the spot. +In a few minutes some of the Highland officers were beside the +palanquin, listening indignantly to the lady's story, and offering her +every assistance in their power. She was a good horsewoman, and the +adjutant resigned his steed to her. Her jewels and money, found +scattered on the road, were collected and given in charge to a +Highlander, and she was escorted in safety by the gallant 7-th to the +bunder, from whence she could embark for Bombay. If any thing could cure +procrastination, the effects of such a "five minutes too late" might be +expected to perform it; but, as we have said, we have no faith in even +so severe a remedy, and we doubt if pretty Mrs. T---- has ever put her +bonnet on the quicker since her adventure on the Kandallah Ghauts. + +And now, looking back into our very early childhood, we can see a neat, +quiet-looking old lady, on whose fate our ominous title had as important +a result. She was the widow of a merchant-ship captain, who had left her +a comfortable independence, and the care of a boy nephew--his only +sister's son--a fine lad destined for the sea. The pair lived in an +old-fashioned house in one of the old, narrow, dull, but respectable +streets of Portsea, and were introduced to our notice by the necessity +of applying to Mrs. Martin, or, as she called herself, Mrs. +Mar_ting_, for the character of a servant. Inquiries touching the +damsel's capabilities had been made by letter, but the reply was by no +means as clear as could be desired; for the old lady was a very "queen +of the dictionary," and played so despotically with words, and the +letters which form them, that the only part of her reply at all +intelligible to my mother was a kindly-expressed hope that "Susan Olding +would _shoot_ her!" We supposed she meant _suit_; but to make +assurance doubly sure, mamma called on her, and took us children with +her. It was about Christmas-time, and we remember distinctly how nice +and _cosy_ we thought the quaint-looking old parlor into which we +were ushered. The fireplace was formed of Dutch tiles, commemorative of +a whole Bible biography: a large closet, with glass doors, exhibited to +our childish peeping a quantity of valuable old china. There was a +harpsichord--the only one we ever saw--open in the room. Round the walls +hung pieces of embroidery framed, the subjects being taken from the +"Faerie Queen;" and above each shone the glittering leaves and scarlet +berries of a holly sprig. A bright fire blazed on the hearth; and by the +side of it, in an imposing-looking arm-chair, sat the mistress of the +dwelling knitting--a pretty woman even in advancing years, with a kind, +happy expression of countenance, that one would have felt grieved to see +overshadowed by a care. + +From that time we became acquaintances of good Mrs. Martin. She met us +in our walks; sometimes took us into her house to give us a piece of +seed-cake and a glass of home-made wine; and finally, invited us +occasionally to drink tea with her. We enjoyed those evenings +exceedingly; she was so kind, and good-natured, and so ready to enter +into all our games, in which we had also a blithe comrade in the young +man her nephew, who had just returned from sea. He would play with us +till we were tired, and then seating us round the blazing fire, would +entertain us, Othello-like, with his adventures, and those of his +messmates, till we held our breath to listen. A very fine seaman-like +youth was Harry Darling the midshipman, and very proud his aunt was of +him. In truth she had good cause to rejoice in her affection for him, as +the incident we have to relate will prove. When Harry first went to sea, +his adopted mother felt, as she expressed it, "very _dissolute_" +(desolate?) in her deserted house, and sought refuge from her anxious +thoughts by frequenting oftener the tea-tables of her neighbors, among +whom her cheerful temper, to say nothing of her comfortable income and +hospitality, made her very popular. At the house of one of the most +intimate of her gossips, the worthy widow was in the habit of meeting, +and of being partner at whist, with a tall gentleman wearing a mustache, +and distinguished by the title of "Count." Now, if Mrs. Martin had a +weakness, it was her love for "great people," as she phrased it; many of +whose privileges were the especial objects of her envy, especially the +mournful one of a funeral exhibition of heraldic honors. She always +regretted that she had not been able to hang out "a hatchet" for her +poor dear departed Mar_ting_. Now, as she never dreamed, dear guileless +old body, of any one assuming a dignity not justly appertaining to them, +and had no conception of the exact standard of national rank, a foreign +count with a mustache like a Life Guardsman was as imposing a personage +in her estimation as an ancient English "Thane," and she treated his +countship with all possible respect and attention, considering it a high +honor when he favored her neat dwelling with a visit, and drank tea out +of her best china. She always called him "my lord," and "your lordship," +and sympathized deeply in the cruel reverses to which the Revolution had +subjected him, never wearying of hearing descriptions of his "cha_too_," +and of his hotel in Paris, though it long continued a mystery to her how +a nobleman with such a fortune could have liked to keep a _hotel_, a +difficulty she had at last solved by ascribing it to foreign manners. +But the count became daily more intimate at her house, telling her long +stories over the winter fire, or while partaking of the meal she called, +in compliment to him, her "petty soupey," and gradually the usual +consequences of such story-telling ensued. The unfortunate noble +proposed to Mrs. Martin, and, quite flattered and dazzled by the honor, +the widow consented to become Madame la Comtesse. His lady-love's assent +once obtained, the Frenchman was eager for the immediate celebration of +their nuptials; but Mrs. Martin insisted on waiting till her dear Harry +came home from sea, his ship being daily expected. The bridegroom +shrugged an unwilling assent, and consoled himself by dining +occasionally, as well as drinking tea, with his lady-love. + +At length the battery and guard-ship guns of Portsmouth greeted the +expected frigate, and the next day Harry Darling embraced his aunt, and +learned from her with much surprise, and a little vexation, that she was +about to marry "a member of the French House of Lords!" The boy had +already seen enough of the world to take a very different view of the +proposed exaltation, and to have serious fears for his kinswoman's +happiness in a union with one whom he, at first sight, pronounced an +adventurer; but on hinting his suspicions to her, the good lady for the +first time grew angry with him, ascribing his observations to a selfish +regard for his own interest, and Harry finding remonstrance vain, was +fain to yield a sad consent to be present at the ceremony in a week's +time. + +The wedding-day arrived. The ceremony was to be performed at a little +village church at some distance, and the carriages destined to convey +the bridal party were ordered at an early hour. The bride, handsomely +attired, and the bridegroom in the dignity of an entire new suit, were +waiting, attended by their friends, in the parlor we have described, for +the appearance of Harry, who had been unable to get leave till the +eventful morning, but had promised to be there in time. There is nothing +more calculated to throw a gloom over persons assembled for some festive +or momentous occasion, than the having to wait for an expected guest. +The gossips assembled in Mrs. Martin's room had met with gay smiles and +pleasant congratulations, but as minute after minute stole away, and no +Harry Darling appeared, the conversation sank into silence, and the +company looked grave and tired. The count became impatient, and urged +his betrothed not to delay longer, as circumstances might have occurred +to prevent "Monsieur Darling" from leaving his ship; but the widow was +not to be persuaded. She loved Harry with all the warmth of her +affectionate nature. She had never known him break his promise; if he +did not come, he must, "she was sure, be ill, or he might even have +fallen overboard, and could the count think her such an inhuman monster +as to go to be married while the dear child's fate was doubtful?" The +gentleman internally wished "the dear child" at the bottom of Spithead, +but he dared not dispute the will of his despotic widow, and they waited +another quarter of an hour, when, to the joy of all, the missing Harry +sprang across the threshold, releasing the "wedding guests" from their +thralldom to a nameless kind of discomfort, and his aunt from her +nervous fears. + +With all speed the party then drove off, and proceeded at a brisk pace +to the village church; but even as the tall spire rose in sight above +the leafy elms, the clock struck the hour of noon. The bridal party +exchanged looks: after twelve, it is not possible to be married in +England without a special license. But the bride's attendant suggested +that as it could not be more than five minutes after the time, the +rector might be induced to overlook the rule, and they alighted and +entered the church. Only the sexton was visible, in the act of closing +the doors. He told them that the Rev. Mr. Bunbury, after waiting for +them till noon, had just ridden off to attend a clerical meeting at some +distance; but that even had he been at home, it would have been quite +impossible for him to have performed the ceremony after the appointed +hour. They were therefore compelled to return unmarried, and Harry +received a gentle chiding from his aunt for the confusion he had +occasioned, which, however, he asserted was not his fault, but that of +the first lieutenant, who had detained him. To atone in some measure for +the disappointment to her friends, Mrs. Martin invited them all to dine +with her at six, and to accompany her on a similar expedition on the +morrow. The invitation was accepted, and the count forgot his +disappointment over a plate of turtle-soup, and indulged in delightful +anticipations of the next morning which was to render him + + "Monarch of all he surveyed." + +Alas, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip! A five minutes +too late is no such trifling matter. It was even while wit and champagne +were at their height, that a knock at the street door disturbed the +jovial company, and was followed by the announcement of "a lady who +wished to speak to Monsieur de Fierville." Mrs. Martin, eager to please +the man she delighted to honor, bade the servant usher the lady in, and +a scene of confusion followed which may rather be imagined than +described. It was no less a personage than the Madame de Fierville +herself--the true and living wife of the deceitful lover--who had at +length, as she informed them, been able to dispose advantageously of her +business as a _modiste_, and had followed her husband to England, +trusting she should find him established, according to his intention, as +a hairdresser in the good town of Portsea. On reaching his lodgings, +however--for she had, after some difficulty, succeeded in tracing +him--she learned from the mistress of the house that he had taken to +himself the title of his former master--he had been valet to Count +F----, and an English wife, and she had come to the home of the latter +to exact justice or revenge. "The count" was no match for his vehement +and enraged wife, and could not deny the authenticity of the +testimonials of the truth of her statement, which she produced. He was +hurried, at rather uncivil speed, from the house by the enraged Harry +Darling, and was followed thence by the angry and garrulous Frenchwoman; +while Mrs. Martin had a gentle hysteric--nothing could greatly disturb +the equanimity of her temper--and sinking on her nephew's shoulder, +murmured in broken sobs her thanks to Providence, and, under Providence, +to him, "that from being five minutes too late she had escaped being +made an accomplice in the crime of _burglary_!" + +We must turn from Mrs. Mar_ting_--her love passages and her +blunders--to an incident in which the words of our motto were most +pathetically and fatally exemplified-- + + "A moment's putting off has made + Mischance as heavy as a crime." + +The actors, or rather sufferers, of the story were a twin brother and +sister, orphans, and dependent on the bounty of a near kinswoman, who, +being of the Romish persuasion, had educated the girl in the doctrines +of her own faith, although, in compliance with the dying wish of her +widowed sister, the boy was suffered to retain that of his country and +his father. But this difference of creeds proved the cause of no +diminution of affection between the children, whose love for each other +equaled or surpassed those loves which Scripture and poetry have made +immortal. They were ever to be seen hand-in-hand; the one had no +pleasure the other did not partake; their playthings, books, thoughts, +joys, and infantine sorrows were shared invariably; and as the boy was +educated at home, they were never separated till John had attained his +seventeenth year, when his aunt's interest procured him a cadetship, and +he was obliged to leave Mary in order to join his regiment in India. It +was a terrible separation in those days, when the subjected elements +"yoked to man's iron car" had not, as in the present day, nearly +fulfilled the modest wish of Dryden's lovers, and + + "Annihilated time and space!" + +The twins were heartbroken at the idea of parting; but John consoled his +sister by the promise of sending for her as soon as he had an Indian +home to offer her; and Mary pleaded "that it might be soon, no matter +how humble that home might be!" And he assented to all her wishes, and +pledged his word never to miss an opportunity of writing to her. + +Letters from the East were then few and far between; and when received, +brought in their very date a painful reminder of the time that had +elapsed since the beloved hand had traced them, and a fear of all that +might have chanced since their old news was written. But they were the +chief comfort of Mary Murray-- + + "When seas between them broad had rolled," + +and for days after the arrival of one, her step would fall more lightly, +and her voice take a happier tone. After the departure of her nephew, +Mrs. Jermyn removed with her niece to France. Her means were straitened, +and she could live more economically on the Continent; and there, after +the lapse of some few years, she died, leaving Mary Murray all her +little property, and advising her to join her brother in India as soon +as she conveniently could, but to remain as boarder in a convent till +arrangements to that effect could be made. The poor girl obeyed the +wishes of her last and only friend, and became for a time the inmate of +a cloister; but her thoughts and wishes all tended to the East, and she +longed for the arrival of her brother's next letter--the answer to that +in which she had made him aware of her loss, and of her wish to go to +him. The mail arrived; there was no letter for _her_, but it brought +news of an engagement in which John Murray's regiment had fought bravely +and suffered much. His name was not in the list of killed or wounded, +but he was reported "missing," probably a prisoner to the enemy, or +drowned in the river, on the banks of which the contest had taken place. +The grief of her, who had no other tie of love in the world may be +imagined; it could scarcely be described. Nevertheless she was young, +and the young are generally sanguine. Almost without her being conscious +of it, she still cherished a hope that he might be restored to her; but +months rolled on, and brought no tidings. Then it was that, sick at +heart, and weary even of the hope that was so constantly disappointed, +her thoughts turned to the cloister as a refuge from her lonely sorrow. +She had no object of interest beyond the walls; the nuns were kind and +good; the duties of the convent such as she loved to fulfill. She took +the white vail, and at the end of the year's novitiate, the black. The +service of final dedication had begun, when a stranger arrived at the +convent gate, and requested to see Miss Murray on business of +importance. He was desired by the porteress to wait till the ceremony, +which had commenced about five minutes previously, was ended; and +ignorant of the name of the nun who was making her profession, he of +course consented to the request. In about an hour's time, a young +figure, robed in black, and vailed, stood at the grate to ask his +business with her. He uttered an exclamation of alarm and consternation +when he perceived Miss Murray in the dress of a nun. Then recovering +himself he informed her, as cautiously as his surprise permitted, that +he had come from her brother, who had been made prisoner, and was now +restored to his regiment, after having endured much, and met with a +number of adventures, of which a letter he then offered her would give +her a full account. It ought, he acknowledged, to have been delivered a +day or two earlier, but he had been much engaged since his arrival in +Paris, and had forgotten it till that morning, when, ashamed and sorry +for his neglect, he had proceeded at an early hour to the convent. Mary +Murray heard him with a pale cheek and quivering lip, and as she took +the letter from his hand, murmured, "You came five minutes too late, +sir! and to that lost time my brother's happiness and mine have been +sacrificed. I am a nun now--as dead to him as if the grave had closed +above me!" The young messenger was overwhelmed with regret as vain as it +was agonizing. Miss Murray kindly endeavored to console him, but on +herself the blow fell heavily. She was never seen to smile from that +day; and in less than a year after, the nuns of St. Agnes followed their +young sister to the grave. Most fitly might the beautiful epitaph in the +church of Santa Croce have been graven beneath the holy sign her +tombstone bore: + + "Ne la plaignez pas! Si vous saviez + Combien de peines ce tombeau l'a épargné!" + +The brother grieved deeply for a while, but the stream of the world bore +him onward, and its waters are the true Lethe for ordinary and even +extraordinary sorrow. He married, and years afterward returned to +England with his wife and family; and then the memory of his sister Mary +returned vividly and painfully to his mind, and, as a warning to his +children, he told them the story of her enduring affection, and of +_the fatal five minutes too late_! + + + + +VISIT TO A COPPER-MINE.[11] + + +[Footnote 11: From "Rambles beyond Railways," by W. WILKIE COLLINS.] + +We left the Land's End, feeling that our homeward journey had now begun +from that point; and, walking northward, about five miles along the +coast, arrived at Botallack, which contains the most extraordinary +copper-mine in Cornwall. Having heard that there was some disinclination +in Cornwall to allow strangers to go down the mines, we had provided +ourselves, through the kindness of a friend, with a proper letter of +introduction, in case of emergency. We were told to go to the +counting-house to present our credentials; and on our road thither, +beheld the buildings and machinery of the mine, literally stretching +down the precipitous face of the cliff, from the land at the top, to the +sea at the bottom. + +This sight was striking and extraordinary. Here, we beheld a scaffolding +perched on a rock that rose out of the waves--there, a steam-pump was at +work raising gallons of water from the mine every minute, on a mere +ledge of land, half-way down the steep-cliff side. Chains, pipes, +conduits, protruded in all directions from the precipice; rotten-looking +wooden platforms, running over deep chasms, supported great beams of +timber and heavy coils of cable; crazy little boarded-houses were built, +where gulls' nests might have been found in other places. There did not +appear to be a foot of level space anywhere, for any part of the works +of the mine to stand upon; and yet, there they were, fulfilling all the +purposes for which they had been constructed, as safely and completely +on rocks in the sea, and down precipices on the land, as if they had +been cautiously founded on the tracts of smooth, solid ground above! + +The counting-house was built on a projection of earth about midway +between the top of the cliff and the sea. When we got there, the agent, +to whom our letter was addressed, was absent; but his place was supplied +by two miners, who came out to receive us; and to one of them we +mentioned our recommendation, and modestly hinted a wish to go down the +mine forthwith. + +But our new friend was not a person who did any thing in a hurry. He was +a grave, courteous, and rather melancholy man, of great stature +and strength. He looked on us with a benevolent, paternal expression, +and appeared to think that we were nothing like strong enough, or +cautious enough, to be trusted down the mine. "Did we know," he urged, +"that it was dangerous work?" "Yes; but we didn't mind danger!" "Perhaps +we were not aware that we should perspire profusely, and be dead-tired +getting up and down the ladders?" "Very likely; but we didn't mind that, +either!" "Surely we shouldn't like to strip, and put on miners' +clothes?" "Yes, we should, of all things!" and, pulling off coat, +waistcoat, and trowsers, on the spot, we stood half-undressed already, +just as the big miner was proposing another objection, which, under +existing circumstances, he good-naturedly changed into a speech of +acquiescence. "Very well, gentlemen," said he, taking up two suits of +miners' clothes; "I see you are determined to go down; and so you shall! +You'll be wet through with the heat and the work before you come up +again; so just put on these things, and keep your own clothes dry." + +The clothing consisted of a flannel shirt, flannel drawers, canvas +trowsers, and a canvas jacket--all stained of a tawny copper color; but +all quite clean. A white night-cap and a round hat, composed of some +iron-hard substance, well calculated to protect the head from any loose +stones that might fall on it, completed the equipment; to which, three +tallow-candles were afterward added--two to hang at the button-hole, +one to carry in the hand. + +My friend was dressed first. He had got a suit which fitted him +tolerably, and which, as far as appearances went, made a regular miner +of him at once. Far different was my case. + +The same mysterious dispensation of fate, which always awards tall wives +to short men, decreed that a suit of the big miner's should be reserved +for me. He stood six feet two inches--I stand five feet six inches. I +put on his flannel shirt--it fell down to my toes, like a bed-gown; his +drawers--and they flowed in Turkish luxuriance over my feet. At his +trowsers I helplessly stopped short, lost in the voluminous recesses of +each leg. The big miner, like a good Samaritan as he was, came to my +assistance. He put the pocket-button through the waist button-hole, to +keep the trowsers up, in the first instance; then, he "hauled taut" the +braces (as sailors say), until my waistband was under my armpits; and +then he pronounced that I and my trowsers fitted each other in great +perfection. The cuffs of the jacket were next turned up to my +elbows--the white nightcap was dragged over my ears--the round hat was +jammed down over my eyes. When I add to all this, that I am so +near-sighted as to be obliged to wear spectacles, and that I finished my +toilet by putting my spectacles on (knowing that I should see little or +nothing without them), nobody, I think, will be astonished to hear that +my companion seized his sketch-book, and caricatured me on the spot; and +that the grave miner, polite as he was, shook with internal laughter, as +I took up my tallow-candles and reported myself ready for a descent into +the mine. + +We left the counting-house, and ascended the face of the cliff. Then, +walked a short distance along the edge, descended a little again, and +stopped at a wooden platform built across a deep gully. Here, the miner +pulled up a trap-door, and disclosed a perpendicular ladder leading down +to a black hole, like the opening of a chimney. "This is the shaft; I +will go down first, to catch you, in case you tumble; follow me, and +hold tight!" Saying this, our friend squeezed himself through the +trap-door, and we went after him as we had been bidden. + +The black hole, when we entered it, proved to be not quite so dark as it +had appeared from above. Rays of light occasionally penetrated it +through chinks in the outer rock. But, by the time we had got some +little way further down, these rays began to fade. Then, just as we +seemed to be lowering ourselves into total darkness, we were desired to +stand on a narrow landing-place opposite the ladder, and wait there +while the miner went below for a light. He soon reascended to us, +bringing not only the light he had promised, but a large lump of damp +clay with it. Having lighted our candles, he stuck them against the +front of our hats with the clay, in order, as he said, to leave both our +hands free to us to use as we liked. Thus strangely accoutred, like +Solomon Eagles in the Great Plague, with flame on our heads, we resumed +the descent of the shaft; and now, at last, began to penetrate beneath +the surface of the earth in good earnest. + +The process of getting down the ladders was not very pleasant. They were +all quite perpendicular, the rounds were placed at irregular distances, +were many of them much worn away, and were slippery with water and +copper-ooze. Add to this, the narrowness of the shaft, the dripping-wet +rock shutting you in, as it were, all round your back and sides against +the ladder--the fathomless-looking darkness beneath--the light flaring +immediately above you, as if your head was on fire--the voice of the +miner below, rumbling away in dull echoes lower and lower into the +bowels of the earth--the consciousness that if the rounds of the ladder +broke, you might fall down a thousand feet or so of narrow tunnel in a +moment--imagine all this, and you may easily realize what are the first +impressions produced by a descent into a Cornish mine. + +By the time we had got down seventy fathoms, or four hundred and twenty +feet of ladders, we stopped at another landing-place, just broad enough +to afford standing-room for us three. Here, the miner, pointing to an +opening yawning horizontally in the rock at one side of us, said that +this was the first gallery from the surface; that we had done with the +ladders for the present; and that a little climbing and crawling were +now to begin. + +Our path was a strange one, as we advanced +through the rift. Rough stones of all sizes, holes here, and eminences +there, impeded us at every yard. Sometimes, we could walk on in a +stooping position--sometimes, we were obliged to crawl on our hands and +knees. Occasionally, greater difficulties than these presented +themselves. Certain parts of the gallery dipped into black, ugly-looking +pits, crossed by thin planks, over which we walked dizzily, a little +bewildered by the violent contrast between the flaring light that we +carried above us, and the pitch-darkness beneath and before us. One of +these places terminated in a sudden rising in the rock, hollowed away +below, but surmounted by a narrow, projecting wooden platform, to which +it was necessary to climb by cross-beams arranged at wide distances. My +companion ascended to this awkward elevation without hesitating; but I +came to an "awful pause" before it. Fettered as I was by my Brobdignag +jacket and trowsers, I felt a humiliating consciousness that any +extraordinary gymnastic exertion was altogether out of my power. + +Our friend, the miner, saw my difficulty, and extricated me from it at +once, with a promptitude and skill which deserves record. Descending +half way by the beams, he clutched with one hand that hinder part of my +too voluminous nether garments, which presented the broadest superficies +of canvas to his grasp (I hope the delicate reader appreciates the +ingenious cleanliness of my periphrasis, when I mention in detail so +coarse a subject as trowsers!). Having grappled me thus, he lifted me up +in an instant, as easily as a small parcel; then carried me horizontally +along the loose boards, like a refractory little boy borne off by the +usher to the master's birch; or, considering the candle burning on my +hat, and the necessity of elevating my position by as lofty a comparison +as I can make--like a flying Mercury with a star on his head; and +finally deposited me safely upon my legs again, on the firm rock pathway +beyond. "You are but a light and a little man, my son!" says this +excellent fellow, snuffing my candle for me before we go on; "only let +me lift you about as I like, and you shan't come to any harm while I am +with you!" + +Speaking thus, the miner leads us forward again. After we have walked a +little further in a crouching position, he calls a halt, makes a seat +for us by sticking a piece of old board between the rocky walls of the +gallery, and then proceeds to explain the exact subterranean position +which we actually occupy. + +We are now four hundred yards out, _under the bottom of the sea_; +and twenty fathoms, or a hundred and twenty feet, below the sea level. +Coast-trade vessels are sailing over our heads. Two hundred and forty +feet beneath us men are at work, and there are galleries deeper yet, +even below that! The extraordinary position down the face of the cliff, +of the engines and other works on the surface, at Botallack, is now +explained. The mine is not excavated like other mines under the land, +but under the sea! + +Having communicated these particulars, the miner next tells us to keep +strict silence and listen. We obey him, sitting speechless and +motionless. If the reader could only have beheld us now, dressed in our +copper-colored garments, huddled close together in a mere cleft of +subterranean rock, with flame burning on our heads, and darkness +enveloping our limbs--he must certainly have imagined, without any +violent stretch of fancy, that he was looking down upon a conclave of +gnomes! + +After listening for a few moments, a distant, unearthly noise becomes +faintly audible--a long, low, mysterious moaning, that never changes, +that is _felt_ on the ear as well as _heard_ by it--a sound +that might proceed from some incalculable distance--from some far +invisible height--a sound unlike any thing that is heard on the upper +ground, in the free air of heaven--a sound so sublimely mournful and +still, so ghostly and impressive when listened to in the subterranean +recesses of the earth, that we continue instinctively to hold our peace, +as if enchanted by it, and think not of communicating to each other the +strange awe and astonishment which it has inspired in us both from the +very first. + +At last, the miner speaks again, and tells us that what we hear is the +sound of the surf lashing the rocks a hundred and twenty feet above us, +and of the waves that are breaking on the beach beyond. The tide is now +at the flow, and the sea is in no extraordinary state of agitation: so +the sound is low and distant just at this period. But, when storms are +at their height, when the ocean hurls mountain after mountain of water +on the cliffs, then the noise is terrific; the roaring heard down here +in the mine is so inexpressibly fierce and awful, that the boldest men +at work are afraid to continue their labor--all ascend to the surface to +breathe the upper air and stand on the firm earth; dreading, though no +such catastrophe has ever happened yet, that the sea will break in on +them if they remain in the caverns below. + +Hearing this, we get up to look at the rock above us. We are able to +stand upright in the position we now occupy; and flaring our candles +hither and thither in the darkness, can see the bright pure copper +streaking the dark ceiling of the gallery in every direction. Lumps of +ooze, of the most lustrous green color, traversed by a natural network +of thin red veins of iron, appear here and there in large irregular +patches, over which water is dripping slowly and incessantly in certain +places. This is the salt water percolating through invisible crannies in +the rock. On stormy days it spirts out furiously in thin, continuous +streams. Just over our heads we observe a wooden plug of the thickness +of a man's leg; there is a hole here, and the plug is all that we have +to keep out the sea. + +Immense wealth of metal is contained in the roof of this gallery, +throughout its whole length; but it remains, and will always remain, +untouched; the miners dare not take it, for it is part, and a great +part, of the rock which forms their only protection against the sea; and +which has been so far worked away here, that its thickness is limited to +an average of three feet only between the water and the gallery in which +we now stand. No one knows what might be the consequence of another +day's labor with the pickax on any part of it. + +This information is rather startling when communicated at a depth of +four hundred and twenty feet under ground. We should decidedly have +preferred to receive it in the counting-house! It makes us pause for an +instant, to the miner's infinite amusement, in the very act of knocking +away about an inch of ore from the rock, as a memento of Botallack. +Having, however, ventured, on reflection, to assume the responsibility +of weakening our defense against the sea by the length and breadth of an +inch, we secure our piece of copper, and next proceed to discuss the +propriety of descending two hundred and forty feet more of ladders, for +the sake of visiting that part of the mine where the men are at work. + +Two or three causes concur to make us doubt the wisdom of going lower. +There is a hot, moist, sickly vapor floating about us, which becomes +more oppressive every moment; we are already perspiring at every pore, +as we were told we should, and our hands, faces, jackets, and trowsers, +are all more or less covered with a mixture of mud, tallow, and +iron-drippings, which we can feel and smell much more accurately than is +exactly desirable. We ask the miner what there is to see lower down. He +replies, nothing but men breaking ore with pickaxes; the galleries of +the mine are alike, however deep they may go: when you have seen one, +you have seen all. + +The answer decides us--we determine to get back to the surface. + +We returned along the gallery, just as we had advanced, with the same +large allowance of scrambling, creeping, and stumbling on our way. I was +charitably carried along and down the platform over the pit by my +trowsers, as before: our order of procession only changed when we gained +the ladders again. Then, our friend the miner went last instead of +first, upon the same principle of being ready to catch us if we fell, +which led him to precede us on our descent. Except that one of the +rounds cracked under his weight as we went up, we ascended without +casualties of any kind. As we neared the mouth of the shaft, the +daylight atmosphere looked dazzlingly white, after the darkness in which +we had been groping so long; and when we once more stood out on the +cliff, we felt a cold, health-giving purity in the sea-breeze, and, at +the same time, a sense of recovered freedom in the power that we now +enjoyed of running, jumping, and stretching our limbs in perfect +security and with full space for action, which it was almost a new +sensation to experience. Habit teaches us to think little of the light +and air that we live and breathe in, or, at most, to view them only as +the ordinary conditions of our being. To find out that they are more +than this, that they are a luxury as well as a necessity of life, go +down into a mine, and compare what you _can_ exist in there, with +what you _do_ exist in, on upper earth! + +On re-entering the counting-house, we were greeted by the welcome +appearance of two large tubs of water, with soap and flannel placed +invitingly by their sides. Copious ablutions and clean clothes, are +potent restorers of muscular energy. These, and a half hour of repose, +enabled us to resume our knapsacks as briskly as ever, and walk on +fifteen miles to the town of St. Ives--our resting-place for the night. + +Serious accidents are rare in the mines of Cornwall. From the horrors of +such explosions as take place in coal-mines, they are by their nature +entirely free. The casualties that oftenest occur are serious falls, +generally produced by the carelessness of inexperienced, or foolhardy +people. Of these, and of extraordinary escapes from death with which +they are associated, many anecdotes are told in mining districts, which +would appear to the reader exaggerated, or positively untrue, if I +related them on mere hearsay evidence. There was, however, one instance +of a fall down the shaft of a mine, unattended with fatal consequences, +which occurred while I was in Cornwall; and which I may safely adduce, +for I can state some of the facts connected with the affair, as an +eye-witness. I attended an examination of the sufferer by a medical man, +and heard the story of the accident from the parents of the patient. + +On the 7th of August last, a boy fourteen years of age, the son of a +miner, slipped into the shaft of Boscaswell Down Mine, in the +neighborhood of Penzance. He fell to the depth of thirteen fathoms, or +seventy-eight feet. Fifty-eight feet down, he struck his left side +against a board placed across the shaft, snapped it in two, and then +falling twenty feet more, pitched on his head. He was of course taken up +insensible; the doctor was sent for; and, on examining him, found, to +his amazement, that there was actually a chance of the boy's recovery +after his tremendous fall! + +Not a bone in his body was broken. He was bruised and scratched all +over, and there were three cuts--none of them serious--on his head. The +board stretched across the shaft, twenty feet from the bottom, had saved +him from being dashed to pieces; but had inflicted, at the same time, +where his left side had struck it, the only injury that appeared +dangerous to the medical man--a large, hard lump that could be felt +under the bruised skin. The boy showed no symptoms of fever; his pulse, +day after day, was found never varying from eighty-two to the minute; +his appetite was voracious; and the internal functions of his body only +required a little ordinary medicine to keep them properly at work. In +short, nothing was to be dreaded but the chance of the formation of an +abscess in his left side, between the hip and ribs. He had been under +medical care exactly one week, when I accompanied the doctor on a visit +to him. + +The cottage where he lived with his parents, though small, was neat and +comfortable. We found him lying in bed, awake. He looked sleepy and +lethargic; but his skin was moist and cool; his face displayed neither +paleness, nor injury of any kind. He had just eaten a good dinner of +rabbit-pie; and was anxious to be allowed to sit up in a chair, and +amuse himself by looking out of the window. His left side was first +examined. A great circular bruise discolored the skin, over the whole +space between the hip and ribs; but on touching it, the doctor +discovered that the lump beneath had considerably decreased in size, and +was much less hard than it had felt during previous visits. Next, we +looked at his back and arms--they were scratched and bruised all over; +but nowhere seriously. Lastly, the dressings were taken off his head, +and three cuts were disclosed, which even a non-medical eye could easily +perceive to be of no great importance. Such were all the results of a +fall of seventy-eight feet! + +The boy's father reiterated to me the account of the accident, just as I +had already heard it from the doctor. How it happened, he said, could +only be guessed, for his son had completely forgotten all the +circumstances immediately preceding the fall; neither could he +communicate any of the sensations which must have attended it. Most +probably, he had been sitting dangling his legs idly over the mouth of +the shaft, and had so slipped in. But, however the accident really +happened, there the sufferer was before us--less seriously hurt than +many a lad who has trodden on a piece of orange peel as he was walking +along the street. + +We left him (humanly speaking) certain of recovery, now that the +dangerous lump in his side had begun to decrease. I have since heard +from his medical attendant, that in two months from the date of the +accident, he was at work again as usual in the mine; at that very part +of it too, where his fall had taken place! + +It was not the least interesting part of my visit to the cottage where +he lay ill, to observe the anxious affection displayed toward him by +both his parents. His mother left her work in the kitchen to hold him in +her arms, while the old dressings were being taken off and the new ones +applied--sighing bitterly, poor creature, every time he winced or cried +out under the pain of the operation. The father put several questions to +the doctor; which were always perfectly to the point; and did the honors +of his little abode to his stranger visitor, with a natural politeness +and a simple cordiality of manner which showed that he really meant the +welcome that he spoke. Nor was he any exception to the rest of his +brother-workmen with whom I met. As a body of men, they are industrious +and intelligent; sober and orderly; neither soured by hard work, nor +easily depressed by harder privations. No description of personal +experiences in the Cornish mines can be fairly concluded, without a +collateral testimony to the merits of the Cornish miners--a testimony +which I am happy to accord here; and to which my readers would +cheerfully add their voices, if they ever felt inclined to test its +impartiality by their own experience. + + + + +SATURDAY IN A LONDON MARKET.[12] + + +[Footnote 12: From MAYHEW'S "London Labor and the London Poor," in the +press of Messrs. Harper and Brothers.] + +On a Saturday--the coster's business day--it is computed that as many as +2000 donkey-barrows, and upward of 3000 women with shallows and +head-baskets visit this market during the forenoon. About six o'clock in +the morning is the best time for viewing the wonderful restlessness of +the place, for then not only is the "Garden" itself all bustle and +activity, but the buyers and sellers stream to and from it in all +directions, filling every street in the vicinity. From Long Acre to the +Strand on the one side, and from Bow-street to Bedford-street on the +other, the ground has been seized upon by the market-goers. As you +glance down any one of the neighboring streets, the long rows of carts +and donkey-barrows seem interminable in the distance. They are of all +kinds, from the greengrocer's taxed cart to the coster's barrow--from +the showy excursion-van to the rude square donkey-cart and bricklayer's +truck. In every street they are ranged down the middle and by the +curb-stones. Along each approach to the market, too, nothing is to be +seen, on all sides, but vegetables; the pavement is covered with heaps +of them waiting to be carted; the flagstones are stained green with the +leaves trodden under foot; sieves and sacks full of apples and potatoes, +and bundles of broccoli and rhubarb, are left unwatched upon almost +every door-step; the steps of Covent Garden Theatre are covered with +fruit and vegetables; the road is blocked up with mountains of cabbages +and turnips; and men and women push past with their arms bowed out by +the cauliflowers under them, or the red tips of carrots pointing from +their crammed aprons, or else their faces are red with the weight of the +loaded head-basket. + +The donkey-barrows, from their number and singularity, force you to stop +and notice them. Every kind of ingenuity has been exercised to construct +harness for the costers' steeds; where a buckle is wanting, tape or +string make the fastening secure; traces are made of rope and old chain, +and an old sack or cotton handkerchief is folded up as a saddle-pad. +Some few of the barrows make a magnificent exception, and are gay with +bright brass; while one of the donkeys may be seen dressed in a suit of +old plated carriage-harness, decorated with coronets in all directions. +At some one of the coster conveyances stands the proprietor, arranging +his goods, the dozing animal starting up from its sleep each time a +heavy basket is hoisted on the tray. Others, with their green and white +and red load neatly arranged, are ready for starting, but the coster is +finishing his breakfast at the coffee-stall. On one barrow there may +occasionally be seen a solitary sieve of apples, with the horse of some +neighboring cart helping himself to the pippins while the owner is away. +The men that take charge of the trucks, while the costers visit the +market, walk about, with their arms full of whips and sticks. At one +corner a donkey has slipped down, and lies on the stones covered with +the cabbages and apples that have fallen from the cart. + +The market itself presents a beautiful scene. In the clear morning air +of an autumn day the whole of the vast square is distinctly seen from +one end to the other. The sky is red and golden with the newly-risen +sun, and the rays falling on the fresh and vivid colors of the fruit and +vegetables, brighten up the picture as with a coat of varnish. There is +no shouting, as at other markets, but a low murmuring hum is heard, like +the sound of the sea at a distance, and through each entrance to the +market the crowd sweeps by. Under the dark Piazza little bright dots of +gas-lights are seen burning in the shops; and in the paved square the +people pass and cross each other in all directions, hampers clash +together, and excepting the carters from the country, every one is on +the move. Sometimes a huge column of baskets is seen in the air, and +walks away in a marvelously steady manner, or a monster railway van, +laden with sieves of fruit, and with the driver perched up on his high +seat, jolts heavily over the stones. Cabbages are piled up into stacks, +as it were. Carts are heaped high with turnips, and bunches of carrots, +like huge red fingers, are seen in all directions. Flower-girls, with +large bundles of violets under their arms, run past, leaving a trail of +perfume behind them. Wagons, with their shafts sticking up in the air, +are ranged before the salesmen's shops, the high green load railed in +with hurdles, and every here and there bunches of turnips are seen +flying in the air over the heads of the people. Groups of apple-women, +with straw pads on their crushed bonnets, and coarse shawls crossing +their bosoms, sit on their porter's knots, chatting in Irish, and +smoking short pipes; every passer-by is hailed with the cry of "Want a +baskit, yer honor?" The porter, trembling under the piled-up hamper, +trots along the street, with his teeth clenched, and shirt wet with the +weight, and staggering at every step he takes. + +Inside, the market is all bustle and confusion. The people walk along +with their eyes fixed on the goods, and frowning with thought. Men in +all costumes, from the coster in his corduroy suit to the greengrocer in +his blue apron, sweep past. A countryman, in an old straw hat and dusty +boots, occasionally draws down the anger of a woman for walking about +with his hands in the pockets of his smock-frock, and is asked, "if that +is the way to behave on a market-day?" Even the granite pillars can not +stop the crowd, for it separates and rushes past them, like the tide by +a bridge pier. At every turn there is a fresh odor to sniff at; either +the bitter aromatic perfume of the herbalists' shops breaks upon you, or +the scent of oranges, then of apples, and then of onions, is caught for +an instant as you move along. The broccoli tied up in square packets, +the white heads tinged slightly red, as it were, with the sunshine--the +sieves of crimson love-apples, polished like china--the bundles of white +glossy leeks, their roots dangling like fringe; the celery, with its +pinky stalks and bright green tops, the dark purple pickling-cabbages, +the scarlet carrots, the white knobs of turnips, the bright yellow balls +of oranges, and the rich brown coats of the chestnuts--attract the eye +on every side. Then there are the apple-merchants, with their fruit of +all colors, from the pale yellow green to the bright crimson, and the +baskets ranged in rows on the pavement before the little shops. Round +these the customers stand examining the stock, then whispering together +over their bargain, and counting their money. "Give you four shillings +for this here lot, master," says a coster, speaking for his three +companions. "Four-and-six is my price," answers the salesman. "Say four, +and it's a bargain," continues the man. "I said my price," returns the +dealer; "go and look round, and see if you can get 'em cheaper; if not, +come back. I only wants what's fair." The men, taking the salesman's +advice, move on. The walnut-merchant, with a group of women before his +shop, peeling the fruit, their fingers stained deep brown, is busy with +the Irish purchasers. The onion stores, too, are surrounded by +Hibernians, feeling and pressing the gold-colored roots, whose dry skins +crackle as they are handled. Cases of lemons in their white paper +jackets, and blue grapes, just seen above the sawdust, are ranged about, +and in some places the ground is slippery as ice from the refuse leaves +and walnut-husks scattered over the pavement. + +Against the railings of St. Paul's Church are hung baskets and slippers +for sale, and near the public-house is a party of countrymen preparing +their bunches of pretty colored grass--brown and glittering, as if it +had been bronzed. Between the spikes of the railing are piled up square +cakes of green turf for larks; and at the pump, boys, who probably have +passed the previous night in the baskets about the market, are washing, +and the water dripping from their hair that hangs in points over the +face. The curb-stone is blocked up by a crowd of admiring lads, gathered +round the bird-catcher's green stand, and gazing at the larks beating +their breasts against their cages. The owner, whose boots are red with +the soil of the brick-field, shouts, as he looks carelessly around, "A +cock linnet for tuppence," and then hits at the youths who are poking +through the bars at the fluttering birds. + +Under the Piazza the costers purchase their flowers (in pots), which +they exchange in the streets for old clothes. Here is ranged a small +garden of flower-pots, the musk and mignonnette smelling sweetly, and +the scarlet geraniums, with a perfect glow of colored air about the +flowers, standing out in rich contrast with the dark green leaves of the +evergreens behind them. "There's myrtles, and laurels, and boxes," says +one of the men selling them, "and there's a harbora witus, and +lauristiners, and that bushy shrub with pink spots is heath." Men and +women, selling different articles, walk about under the cover of the +colonnade. One has seed-cake, another small-tooth and other combs, +others old caps or pig's feet, and one hawker of knives, razors, and +short hatchets, may occasionally be seen driving a bargain with a +countryman, who stands passing his thumb over the blade to test its +keenness. Between the pillars are the coffee-stalls, with their large +tin cans and piles of bread and butter, and protected from the wind by +paper screens and sheets thrown over clothes-horses; inside these little +parlors, as it were, sit the coffee-drinkers on chairs and benches, some +with a bunch of cabbages on their laps, blowing the steam from their +saucers, others, with their mouths full, munching away at their slices, +as if not a moment could be lost. One or two porters are there besides, +seated on their baskets, breakfasting with their knots on their heads. + +As you walk away from this busy scene, you meet in every street barrows +and costers hurrying home. The pump in the market is now surrounded by a +cluster of chattering wenches quarreling over whose turn it is to water +their drooping violets, and on the steps of Covent Garden Theatre are +seated the shoeless girls, tying up the halfpenny and penny bundles. + + + + +THE HORRORS OF WAR. + + +In a work recently published in London, entitled "Lights and Shades of +Military Life," M. de VIGNY, the author, gives incidents from +his own experience which place in a striking light some of the +unutterable horrors of war. + +In his first march, with his ambition glowing as brightly as his maiden +sword, and his hopes yet fresh as his untarnished epaulets, he falls in +with an old _chef de bataillon_. He was a man of about fifty, with +mustaches, tall and stout, his back curved, after the manner of old +military officers who have carried the knapsack. His features were hard +but benevolent, such as you often meet with in the army, indicating, at +the same time, the natural goodness of the heart of the man, and the +callousness induced by long use to scenes of blood and carnage. This old +soldier of the Empire is marching along beside a little cart, drawn by a +sorry mule, in which sits a woman--a maniac--whose story he tells with a +soldier's frankness, as a part of his own history. The old man had been +a sailor in his youth, and at the time of the Directory was captain of a +merchantman. From that situation he was promoted, aristocracy being at a +discount, to command the Marat, a brig of war, and one of his first +duties was to sail with two political prisoners, a young Frenchman and +his wife. He supposed that he was to land them at Cayenne, to which +place other exiles had previously been dispatched in other vessels; but +he carried sealed orders from the Directory, which were not to be opened +till the vessel reached the Equator. On the passage, the captain and his +young passengers became greatly attached to each other, so much so that +he wished to leave the service, and, with what fortune he had, share and +alleviate their fate. In their youth and innocence, and earnest love for +each other, the young unfortunates had twined themselves about the rough +heart of the sailor, and he regarded them as his children. But there was +the ominous letter, bearing the red seals of the Directory, which was to +decide their fate--and the time arrived for it to be opened. The seals +were broken, and what was the captain's horror to find that it contained +an order for him to have the young husband shot, and then to return with +the wife to France. After he had read the paper, he rubbed his eyes, +thinking that they must have deceived him. He could not trust his +senses. His limbs trembled beneath him. He could not trust himself to go +near the fair young Laura, who looked so happy, with tidings that would +blight her existence. What was he to do? He never seems to have thought +of leaving the order unexecuted; the iron of unreasoning obedience had +seared his soul too deeply for that. The horrid task, revolt at it as he +might, was a _duty_, because he had been _ordered_ to do it. +He communicated the order to his victim, who heard his fate with a +stoicism worthy of an old Roman. His only thought was for his poor young +wife, so fair, and fond, and gentle. He said, with a voice as mild as +usual, "I ask no favor, captain. I should never forgive myself if I were +to cause you to violate your duty. I should merely like to say a few +words to Laura, and I beg you to protect her, in case she should survive +me, which I do not think she will." It is arranged between the victim of +slavish obedience, and the victim of the cruelty of the Reign of Terror, +that poor Laura should know nothing of what was to be her husband's +fate. She is put into a boat at night and rowed from the ship, while the +tragedy is being acted out; but she sees the flash of the muskets, her +heart tells her too plainly what has happened, and her reason fails +under the shock. "At the moment of firing, she clasped her hand to her +head, as if a ball had struck her brow, and sat down in the boat without +fainting, without shrieking, without speaking, and returned to the brig +with the crew when they pleased and how they pleased." The old captain +spoke to her but she did not understand him. She was mute, rubbing her +pale forehead, and trembling as though she were afraid of every body, +and thus she remained an idiot for life. The captain returned to France +with his charge, got himself removed into the land forces, for the +sea--into which he had cast innocent blood--was unbearable to him; and +had continued to watch over the poor imbecile as a father over his +child. + +M. de Vigny saw the poor woman; he says, "I saw two blue eyes of +extraordinary size, admirable in point of form, starting from a long, +pale, emaciated face, inundated by perfectly straight fair hair. I saw, +in truth, nothing but those two eyes, which were all that was left of +that poor woman, for the rest of her was dead. Her forehead was red, her +cheeks hollow and white, and bluish on the cheek bones. She was crouched +among the straw, so that one could just see her two knees rising above +it, and on them she was playing all alone at dominoes. She looked at us +for a moment, trembled a long time, smiled at me a little, and began to +play again. It seemed to me that she was trying to make out how her +right hand beat her left." It was the wreck of love and beauty, torn by +the blind slave obedience, at the bidding of vengeance and hate. M. de +Vigny was a young and thoughtless soldier; but young and thoughtless as +he was, the phantom glory must have beamed brightly indeed, to prevent +him from seeing the gloomy darkness of such a shade of military life as +this, and keep him from shaking the fetters of blind obedience from +intellect and mercy. He never saw the old _chef_ and his charge +again; but he heard of them. In speaking to a brother officer one day of +the sad story, his companion in arms replied, "Ah, my dear fellow, I +knew that poor devil well. A brave man he was too; he was taken off by a +cannon-ball at Waterloo. He had, in fact, left along with the baggage a +sort of crazy girl, whom we took to the hospitable of Amiens on our way +to the army of the Loire, and who died there and raving at the end of +three days." + +If in this story we recognize the goodness, the true nobility of heart +of this old soldier, we can not fail to see in all its hideousness, the +horrors and evils of a system which deadens intellect, paralyzes virtue, +and dims the light of mercy--the system of slavish obedience, crushing +out all individuality, and making the good and the bad alike its +subservient instruments. + +As a pendant to the above we take a few extracts from the story of +Captain Renaud, once a page to Napoleon, of whom Byron truly says: + + "With might unquestioned--power to save-- + Thine only gift hath been the grave, + To those that worship'd thee." + +And so poor Renaud found. He had the misfortune to fall under the +displeasure of the Emperor, and was sent from the army to serve on board +that abortive flat-bottomed-boat armada, which threatened a descent upon +the shores of England. Here he was taken prisoner, and, after a long +captivity, being exchanged, hastened to Paris to throw himself at the +feet of the conqueror. The reception was a strange one. It took place at +the Opera, and we quote a description of it. "He (Napoleon) placed his +left hand upon his left eye to see better, according to his custom; I +perceived that he had recognized me. He turned about sharply, took no +notice of any thing but the stage, and presently retired. I was already +in waiting for him. He walked fast along the corridor, and, from his +thick legs, squeezed into white silk stockings, and his bloated figure +in his green dress, I should scarcely have known him again. He stopped +short before me, and speaking to the colonel, who presented me, instead +of addressing himself direct to me, 'Why,' said he, 'have I never seen +any thing of him? Still a lieutenant?' + +"'He has been a prisoner ever since 1804.' + +"'Why did he not make his escape?' + +"'I was on parole!' said I, in an undertone. + +"'I don't like prisoners!--the fellows ought to get killed,' said he, +turning his back upon me. + +"We remained motionless in file, and when the whole of his suite had +passed: 'My dear fellow,' said the colonel, 'don't you see plainly that +you are a fool? You have lost your promotion, and nobody thinks the +better of you for it.'" + +Poor obedience, blind, slavish, unreasoning; its reward was often to be +spurned. "Fool" indeed; a great many people will be inclined to re-echo +the colonel's epithet, not because Renaud had been a prisoner--not +because he was not killed, or did not escape, but because this same +habit of obedience had so thoroughly taken the true man out of him, that +he did not cut the epaulets from his shoulders, and leave glory to find +some other fool. But he was a soldier, and a soldier's first duty was +obedience. He went to his regiment, and from his after-life we extract +another "shade" of the horrors of war. Captain Renaud narrates how he +surprised a detachment of Russians at their post. It was a glorious +achievement of course--a parallel to any of the atrocities of the North +American Indians. "I came up slowly, and I could not, I must confess, +get the better of a certain emotion which I had never felt at the moment +of other encounters. It was shame for attacking men who were asleep; I +saw them wrapped in their cloaks, lighted by a close lantern, and my +heart throbbed violently. But all at once, at the moment of acting, I +feared that it was a weakness very like that of cowards; I was afraid +that I had for once felt fear, and taking my sword, which had been +concealed under my arm, I briskly entered first, setting the example to +my grenadiers. I made a motion to them which they comprehended; they +fell first upon the guns, then upon the men, like wolves upon a flock of +sheep. Oh, it was a dismal, a horrible butchery. The bayonet pierced, +the butt-end smashed, the knee stifled, the hand strangled. All cries +were extinguished, almost before they were uttered, beneath the feet of +our soldiers; and not a head was raised without receiving the mortal +blow. On entering, I had struck at random a terrible stroke at something +black, which I had run through and through. An old officer, a tall stout +man, whose head was covered with white hair, sprung upon his feet like a +phantom, made a violent lunge at my face with a sword, and instantly +dropped dead pierced by the bayonets! On my part, I fell beside him, +stunned by the blow, which had struck me between the eyes, and I heard +beneath me the tender and dying voice of a boy, saying, 'papa!' I then +comprehended what I had done, and I looked at my work with frantic +eagerness. I saw one of those officers of fourteen, so numerous in the +Russian armies, which invaded us at that period, and who were dragged +away to this awful school. His long curling hair fell upon his bosom, as +fair, as silken as that of a woman, and his head was bowed, as though he +had but fallen asleep a second time. His rosy lips, expanded like those +of a new-born infant, seemed to be yet moist with the nurse's milk; and +his large blue eyes, half open, had a beauty of form that was fond and +feminine. I lifted him upon one arm, and his cheek fell against mine, +dripping with blood, as though he were burying his face in his mother's +bosom to warm it again. He seemed to shrink from me, and crouch close to +the ground, in order to get away from his murderer. Filial affection, +and the confidence and repose of a delicious sleep pervaded his lifeless +face, and he seemed to say to me, 'Let us sleep in peace!' + +"At this moment, the colonel entered, followed close by his column, +whose step and arms I heard. + +"'Bravo, my dear fellow,' said he, 'you've done that job cleverly; but +you are wounded!' + +"'Look there,' said I; 'what difference is there between me and a +murderer?' + +"'Eh! _Sacre dieu!_ comrade, what would you have? 'Tis our trade!'" + +Great God! what a trade for men to give themselves up to, for +considerations of all kinds, from peerages and pensions down to a +shilling a day. Legalized murder as a profession for the poor +foster-children of passive obedience, who, when they trust themselves to +think, sometimes find themselves--and upon their own showing, +too--little better than murderers. Poor Captain Renaud, however, +continued in the service still. So thoroughly was the man smothered in +the soldier, that neglect, contempt, contumely, and the sensations of a +homicide were not sufficient to induce him to break his fetters. After +Napoleon's fall, he remained a soldier of the Bourbons, and there was a +sort of poetical justice in his death; for in the sanguinary revolution +of 1830 a _gamin de Paris_, a boy scarcely able to hold a +horse-pistol, shot the veteran of the Empire. + +M. de Vigny closes his portion of the "Lights and Shades" by setting up +an idol for soldiers to worship, and which is to sustain them under all +their sufferings. The profession of arms has lost the attribute of +apparent usefulness which once belonged to it. The star of glory is +setting below the horizon of peace; and warriors, knowing themselves at +once hated and feared--feeling themselves out of place in the era which +is beginning--degraded from heroes into policemen--are to lean upon +HONOR for support; but we think, that in the midst of obloquy, +privation, and neglect, that sentiment will prove but a broken staff, +incapable of bearing such a load of misery and wrong. + + + + +THE FACTORY BOY. + + BY HARRIET MARTINEAU. + + +In the middle of a dark night, Joel, a boy of nine years old, heard his +name called by a voice which, through his sleep, seemed miles away. Joel +had been tired enough when he went to bed, and yet he had not gone to +sleep for some time; his heart beat so at the idea of his mother being +very ill. He well remembered his father's death, and his mother's +illness now revived some feelings which he had almost forgotten. His bed +was merely some clothes spread on the floor, and covered with a rug; but +he did not mind that; and he could have gone to sleep at once but for +the fear that had come over him. When he did sleep, his sleep was sound; +so that his mother's feeble voice calling him seemed like a call from +miles away. + +In a minute Joel was up and wide awake. + +"Light the candle," he could just hear the voice say. + +He lighted the candle, and his beating heart seemed to stop when he saw +his mother's face. He seemed hardly to know whether it was his mother or +no. + +"Shall I call--?" + +"Call nobody, my dear. Come here." + +He laid his cheek to hers. + +"Mother, you are dying," he murmured. + +"Yes, love, I am dying. It is no use calling any one. These little ones, +Joel." + +"I will take care of them, mother." + +"You, my child! How should that be?" + +"Why not?" said the boy, raising himself, and standing at his best +height. "Look at me, mother. I can work. I promise you--" + +His mother could not lift her hand, but she moved a finger in a way +which checked him. + +"Promise nothing that may be too hard afterward," she said. + +"I promise to try then," he said; "that little sister shall live at +home, and never go to the workhouse." He spoke cheerfully, though the +candle-light glittered in the two streams of tears on his cheeks. "We +can go on living here; and we shall be so--" + +It would not do. The sense of their coming desolation rushed over him in +a way too terrible to be borne. He hid his face beside her, murmuring, +"O mother! mother!" + +His mother found strength to move her hand now. She stroked his head +with a trembling touch, which he seemed to feel as long as he lived. She +could not say much more. She told him she had no fear for any of them. +They would be taken care of. She advised him not to waken the little +ones, who were sound asleep on the other side of her, and begged him to +lie down himself till daylight, and try to sleep, when she should be +gone. + +This was the last thing she said. The candle was very low; but before +it went out, she was gone. Joel had always done what his mother wished; +but he could not obey her in the last thing she had said. He lighted +another candle when the first went out; and sat thinking, till the gray +dawn began to show through the window. + +When he called the neighbors, they were astonished at his quietness. He +had taken up the children, and dressed them, and made the room tidy, and +lighted the fire, before he told any body what had happened. And when he +opened the door, his little sister was in his arms. She was two years +old, and could walk, of course; but she liked being in Joel's arms. Poor +Willy was the most confounded. He stood with his pinafore at his mouth, +staring at the bed, and wondering that his mother lay so still. + +If the neighbors were astonished at Joel that morning, they might be +more so at some things they saw afterward; but they were not. Every +thing seemed done so naturally; and the boy evidently considered what he +had to do so much a matter of course, that less sensation was excited +than about many smaller things. + +After the funeral was over, Joel tied up all his mother's clothes. He +carried the bundle on one arm, and his sister on the other. He would not +have liked to take money for what he had seen his mother wear; but he +changed them away for new and strong clothes for the child. He did not +seem to want any help. He went to the factory the next morning, as +usual, after washing and dressing the children, and getting a breakfast +of bread and milk with them. There was no fire; and he put every knife, +and other dangerous thing on a high shelf, and gave them some trifles to +play with, and promised to come and play with them at dinner-time. And +he did play. He played heartily with the little one, and as if he +enjoyed it, every day at the noon hour. Many a merry laugh the neighbors +heard from that room when the three children were together; and the +laugh was often Joel's. + +How he learned to manage, and especially to cook, nobody knew; and he +could himself have told little more than that he wanted to see how +people did it, and looked accordingly, at every opportunity. He +certainly fed the children well; and himself too. He knew that every +thing depended on his strength being kept up. His sister sat on his knee +to be fed till she could feed herself. He was sorry to give it up; but +he said she must learn to behave. So he smoothed her hair, and washed +her face before dinner, and showed her how to fold her hands while he +said grace. He took as much pains to train her to good manners at table +as if he had been a governess, teaching a little lady. While she +remained a "baby," he slept in the middle of the bed, between the two, +that she might have room, and not be disturbed; and when she ceased to +be a baby, he silently made new arrangements. He denied himself a hat, +which he much wanted, in order to buy a considerable quantity of coarse +dark calico, which, with his own hands, he made into a curtain, and +slung up across a part of the room; thus shutting off about a third of +it. Here he contrived to make up a little bed for his sister; and he was +not satisfied till she had a basin and jug, and piece of soap of her +own. Here nobody but himself was to intrude upon her without leave; and, +indeed, he always made her understand that he came only to take care of +her. It was not only that Willy was not to see her undressed. A neighbor +or two, now and then lifted the latch without knocking. One of these one +day, heard something from behind the curtain, which made her call her +husband silently to listen; and they always afterward treated Joel as if +he were a man, and one whom they looked up to. He was teaching the child +her little prayer. The earnest, sweet, devout tones by the boy, and the +innocent, cheerful imitation of the little one, were beautiful to hear, +the listeners said. + +Though so well taken care of, she was not to be pampered; there would +have been no kindness in that. Very early, indeed, she was taught, in a +merry sort of way, to put things in their places, and to sweep the +floor, and to wash up the crockery. She was a handy little thing, well +trained and docile. One reward that Joel had for his management was, +that she was early fit to go to chapel. This was a great point; as he, +choosing to send Willy regularly, could not go till he could take the +little girl with him. She was never known to be restless; and Joel was +quite proud of her. + +Willy was not neglected for the little girl's sake. In those days, +children went earlier to the factory, and worked longer than they do +now, and, by the time the sister was five years old, Willy became a +factory boy; and his pay put the little girl to school. When she, at +seven, went to the factory, too, Joel's life was altogether an easier +one. He always had maintained them all, from the day of his mother's +death. The times must have been good--work constant, and wages +steady--or he could not have done it. Now, when all three were earning, +he put his sister to a sewing-school for two evenings in the week, and +the Saturday afternoons; and he and Willy attended an evening-school, as +they found they could afford it. He always escorted the little girl +wherever she had to go: into the factory, and home again--to the school +door, and home again--and to the Sunday-school; yet he was himself +remarkably punctual at work and at worship. He was a humble, earnest, +docile pupil himself, at the Sunday-school--quite unconscious that he +was more advanced than other boys in the sublime science and practice of +duty. He felt that every body was very kind to him; but he was unaware +that others felt it an honor to be kind to him. + +I linger on these years, when he was a fine growing lad, in a state of +high content. I linger, unwilling to proceed. But the end must come; and +it is soon told. He was sixteen, I think, when he was asked to become a +teacher in the Sunday-school, while not wholly ceasing to be a scholar. +He tried, and made a capital teacher, and he won the hearts of the +children while trying to open their minds. By this he became more widely +known than before. + +One day in the next year a tremendous clatter and crash was heard in the +factory where Joel worked. A dead silence succeeded, and then several +called out that it was only an iron bar that had fallen down. This was +true: but the iron bar had fallen on Joel's head, and he was taken up +dead! + +Such a funeral as his is rarely seen. There is something that strikes on +all hearts in the spectacle of a soldier's funeral--the drum, the march +of comrades, and the belt and cap laid on the coffin. But there was +something more solemn and more moving than all such observances in the +funeral of this young soldier, who had so bravely filled his place in +the conflict of life. There was the tread of comrades here, for the +longest street was filled from end to end. For relics, there were his +brother and sister; and for a solemn dirge, the uncontrollable groans of +a heart-stricken multitude. + + + + +FIDGETY PEOPLE. + + +There are people whom one occasionally meets with in the world, who are +in a state of perpetual fidget and pucker. Every thing goes wrong with +them. They are always in trouble. Now, it is the weather, which is too +hot; or at another time, too cold. The dust blows into their eyes, or +there is "that horrid rain," or "that broiling sun," or "that Scotch +mist." They are as ill to please about the weather as a farmer; it is +never to their liking, and never will be. They "never saw such a +summer," "not a day's fine weather," and they go back to antiquity for +comfort--"it was not so in our younger days." + +Fidgety people are rarely well. They have generally "a headache," or +"spasms," or "nerves," or something of that sort; they can not be +comfortable in their way, without trouble. Most of their friends are +ill; this one has the gout "_so_ bad;" another has the rheumatics; +a third is threatened with consumption; and there is scarcely a family +of their acquaintance whose children have not got measles, +whooping-cough, scarlet fever, or some other of the thousand +ills which infantine flesh is heir to. They are curiously solicitous +about the health of every body; this one is exhorted "not to drink too +much cold water," another "not to sit in the draught," a third is +advised to "wear flannels;" and they have great doctors at their +fingers' ends whom they can quote in their support. They have read +Buchan and Culpepper, and fed their fidgets upon their descriptions of +diseases of all sorts. They offer to furnish recipes for pills, +draughts, and liniments; and if you would believe them, your life +depends on taking their advice gratis forthwith. + +To sit at meals with such people is enough to give one the dyspepsia. +The chimney has been smoking, and the soot has got into the soup; the +fish is over-done, and the mutton is underdone; the potatoes have had +the disease, the sauce is not of the right sort, the jelly is candied, +the pastry is fusty, the grapes are sour. Every thing is wrong. The cook +must be disposed of; Betty stands talking too long at the back-gate. The +poultry-woman must be changed, the potato-man discarded. There will be a +clean sweep. But things are never otherwise. The fidgety person remains +unchanged, and goes fidgeting along to the end of the chapter; changing +servants, and spoiling them by unnecessary complainings and +contradictions, until they become quite reckless of ever giving +satisfaction. + +The fidgety person has been reading the newspaper, and is in a ferment +about "that murder!" Every body is treated to its details. Or somebody's +house has been broken into, and a constant fidget is kept up for a time +about "thieves!" If a cat's whisper is heard in the night, "there is a +thief in the house;" if an umbrella is missing, "a thief has been in the +lobby;" if a towel can not be found, "a thief must have stolen it off +the hedge." You are counseled to be careful of your pockets when you +stir abroad. The outer doors are furnished with latches, new bolts and +bars are provided for outhouses, bells are hung behind the shutters, and +all other possible expedients are devised to keep out the imaginary +"thief." + +"Oh! there is a smell of fire!" Forthwith the house is traversed, +down-stairs and up-stairs, and a voice at length comes from the kitchen, +"It's only Bobby been burning a stick." You are told forthwith of a +thousand accidents, deaths, and burnings, that have come from burning +sticks! Bobby is petrified and horror-stricken, and is haunted by the +terror of conflagrations. If Bobby gets a penny from a visitor, he is +counseled "not to buy gunpowder" with it, though he has a secret longing +for crackers. Maids are cautioned to "be careful about the +clothes-horse," and their ears are often startled with a cry from +above-stairs of "Betty, there is surely something singeing!" + +The fidgety person "can not bear" the wind whistling through the +key-hole, nor the smell of washing, nor the sweep's cry of "svee-eep, +svee-eep," nor the beating of carpets, nor thick ink, nor a mewing cat, +nor new boots, nor a cold in the head, nor callers for rates and +subscriptions. All these little things are magnified into miseries, and +if you like to listen, you may sit for hours and hear the fidgety person +wax eloquent about them, drawing a melancholy pleasure from the recital. + +The fidgety person sits upon thorns, and loves to perch his or her +auditor on the same raw material. Not only so, but you are dragged over +thorns, until you feel thoroughly unskinned. Your ears are bored, and +your teeth are set on edge. Your head aches, and your withers are wrung. + You are made to shake hands with +misery, and almost long for some real sorrow as a relief. + +The fidgety person makes a point of getting out of humor upon any +occasion, whether about private or public affairs. If subjects for +misery do not offer within doors, they abound without. Something that +has been done in the next street excites their ire, or something done a +thousand miles off, or even something that was done a thousand years +ago. Time and place matter nothing to the fidgety. They overleap all +obstacles in getting at their subject. They _must_ be in hot water. +If one question is set at rest, they start another; and they wear +themselves to the bone in settling the affairs of every body, which are +never settled; they + + "Are made desperate by a too quick sense + Of constant infelicity." + +Their feverish existence refuses rest, and they fret themselves to death +about matters with which they have often no earthly concern. They are +spendthrifts in sympathy, which in them has degenerated into an +exquisite tendency to pain. They are launched on a sea of trouble, the +shores of which are perpetually extending. They are self-stretched on a +rack, the wheels of which are ever going round. + +The fundamental maxim of the fidgety is--whatever is, is wrong. They +will not allow themselves to be happy, nor any body else. They always +assume themselves to be the _most_ aggrieved persons extant. Their +grumbling is incessant, and they operate as a social poison wherever +they go. Their vanity and self-conceit are usually accompanied by +selfishness in a very aggravated form, which only seems to make their +fidgets the more intolerable. You will generally observe that they are +idle persons; indeed, as a general rule, it may be said, that the +fidgety class want healthy occupations. In nine cases out of ten, +employment in some active pursuit, in which they could not have time to +think about themselves, would operate as a cure. + +But, we must make an allowance. Fidgets are often caused by the state of +the stomach, and a fit of bad temper may not unfrequently be traced to +an attack of indigestion. One of the most fidgety members of the House +of Commons is a martyr to dyspepsia, and it is understood that some of +his most petulant and bitter diatribes have been uttered while laboring +under more than usually severe attacks of this disease. He has "pitched +into" some "honorable gentleman" when he should have taken blue pill. +And so it is with many a man, in domestic and social life, whom we blame +for his snappish and disagreeable temper, but whose stomach is the real +organ at fault. Indeed, the stomach is the moral no less than the +physical barometer of most men; and we can very often judge of tempers, +conditions, and sympathies, pretty accurately, according to its state. +Let us, therefore, be charitable to the fidgety, whose stomachs, rather +than their hearts, may be at fault; and let us counsel them to mend +them, by healthy and temperate modes of living, and by plenty of +wholesome occupation and exercise. + + + + +ANECDOTES OF SERPENTS. + + +We need not go to the Valley of Diamonds with Sinbad to find enormous +serpents. The companions of other sailors have been swallowed up by +those monstrous reptiles, as was too-clearly proved to the crew of the +Malay proa, who anchored for the night close to the island of Celebes. +One of the party went on shore to look for betel-nut, and, on returning +from his search, stretched his wearied limbs to rest on the beach, where +he fell asleep, as his companions believed. They were roused in the +middle of the night by his screams, and hurried on shore to his +assistance; but they came too late. A monstrous snake had crushed him to +death. All they could do was to wreak their vengeance on his destroyer, +whose head they cut off, and bore it with the body of their ship-mate to +their vessel. The marks of the teeth of the serpent, which was about +thirty feet in length, were impressed on the dead man's right wrist, and +the disfigured corpse showed that it had been crushed by constriction +round the head, neck, breast, and thigh. When the snake's jaws were +extended, they admitted a body the size of a man's head. + +But to see the true boas in their native forests we must cross the +Atlantic; and those who are not familiar with the story may have no +objection to learn how Captain Stedman fared in an encounter with one +twenty-two feet and some inches in length, during his residence in +Surinam. + +Captain Stedman was lying in his hammock, as his vessel floated down the +river, when the sentinel told him that he had seen and challenged +something black, moving in the brushwood on the beach, which gave no +answer. Up rose the captain, manned the canoe that accompanied his +vessel, and rowed to the shore to ascertain what it was. One of his +slaves cried out that it was no negro, but a great snake that the +captain might shoot if he pleased. The captain, having no such +inclination, ordered all hands to return on board. The slave, David, who +had first challenged the snake, then begged leave to step forward and +shoot it. This seems to have roused the captain, for he determined to +kill it himself, and loaded with ball cartridge. + +The master and slave then proceeded. David cut a path with a bill-hook, +and behind him came a marine with three more loaded guns. They had not +gone above twenty yards through mud and water, the negro looking every +way with uncommon vivacity, when he suddenly called out, "Me see +snakee!" and, sure enough there the reptile lay, coiled up under the +fallen leaves and rubbish of the trees. So well covered was it, that +some time elapsed before the captain could perceive its head, not +above sixteen feet from him, moving its forked tongue, while its +vividly-bright eyes appeared to emit sparks of fire. The captain now +rested his piece upon a branch to secure a surer aim, and fired. The +ball missed the head, but went through the body, when the snake struck +round with such astonishing force as to cut away all the underwood +around it with the facility of a scythe mowing grass, and, flouncing +with its tail, made the mud and dirt fly over their heads to a +considerable distance. This commotion seems to have sent the party to +the right about; for they took to their heels, and crawled into the +canoe. David, however, entreated the captain to renew the charge, +assuring him that the snake would be quiet in a few minutes, and that it +was neither able nor inclined to pursue them, supporting his opinion by +walking before the captain till the latter should be ready to fire. + +They now found the snake a little removed from its former station, very +quiet, with its head as before, lying out among the fallen leaves, +rotten bark, and old moss. Stedman fired at it immediately, but with no +better success than at first; and the enraged animal, being but slightly +wounded by the second shot, sent up such a cloud of dust and dirt as the +captain had never seen, except in a whirlwind; and away they all again +retreated to their canoe. Tired of the exploit, Stedman gave orders to +row toward the barge; but the persevering David still entreating that +_he_ might be permitted to kill the reptile, the captain determined +to make a third and last attempt in his company; and they this time +directed their fire with such effect that the snake was shot by one of +them through the head. + +The vanquished monster was then secured by a running-noose passed over +its head, not without some difficulty, however; for, though it was +mortally wounded, it continued to writhe and twist about so as to render +a near approach dangerous. The serpent was dragged to the shore, and +made fast to the canoe, in order that it might be towed to the vessel, +and continued swimming like an eel till the party arrived on board, +where it was finally determined that the snake should be again taken on +shore, and there skinned for the sake of its oil. This was accordingly +done; and David having climbed a tree with the end of a rope in his +hand, let it down over a strong-forked bough, the other negroes hoisted +away, and the serpent was suspended from the tree. Then, David quitting +the tree, with a sharp knife between his teeth, clung fast upon the +suspended snake, still twisting and twining, and proceeded to perform +the same operation that Marsyas underwent, only that David commenced his +work by ripping the subject up: he then stripped down the skin as he +descended. Stedman acknowledges, that though he perceived that the snake +was no longer able to do the operator any harm, he could not, without +emotion, see a naked man, black and bloody, clinging with arms and legs +round the slimy and yet living monster. The skin and above four gallons +of clarified fat, or rather oil, were the spoils secured on this +occasion; full as many gallons more seem to have been wasted. The +negroes cut the flesh into pieces, intending to feast on it; but the +captain would not permit them to eat what he regarded as disgusting +food, though they declared that it was exceedingly good and wholesome. +The negroes were right, and the captain was wrong: the flesh of most +serpents is very good and nourishing, to say nothing of the restorative +qualities attributed to it. + +One of the most curious accounts of the benefit derived by man from the +serpent race, is related by Kircher (see _Mus. Worm._), where it is +stated that near the village of Sassa, about eight miles from the city +of Bracciano, in Italy, there is a hole, or cavern, called _la Grotto, +delli Serpi_, which is large enough to contain two men, and is all +perforated with small holes like a sieve. From these holes, in the +beginning of spring, issue a prodigious number of small, +different-colored serpents, of which every year produces a new brood, +but which seem to have no poisonous quality. Such persons as are +afflicted with scurvy, leprosy, palsy, gout, and other ills to which +flesh is heir, were laid down naked in the cavern, and their bodies +being subjected to a copious sweat from the heat of the subterraneous +vapors, the young serpents were said to fasten themselves on every part, +and extract by sucking every diseased or vitiated humor; so that after +some repetitions of this treatment, the patients were restored to +perfect health. Kircher, who visited this cave, found it warm, and +answering, in every way, the description he had of it. He saw the holes, +heard a murmuring, hissing noise in them, and, though he owns that he +missed seeing the serpents, it not being the season of their creeping +out, yet he saw great numbers of their exuviæ, or sloughs, and an elm +growing hard by laden with them. The discovery of this air Schlangenbad, +was said to have been made by a leper going from Rome to some baths near +this place, who, fortunately, losing his way, and being benighted, +turned into this cave. Finding it very warm, and being very weary, he +pulled off his clothes, and fell into such a deep sleep that he did not +feel the serpents about him till they had wrought his cure. + +Such instances of good-will toward man, combined with the periodical +renovation of youthful appearance, by a change of the whole external +skin, and the character of the serpent for wisdom, contributed, +doubtless, to raise the form to a place among the deities. + +Their aptitude for tameness was another quality which aided their +elevation. The little girl mentioned by Maria Edgeworth, of blessed +memory, took out her little porringer daily to share her breakfast with +a friendly snake that came from its hiding-place to her call; and when +the guest intruded beyond the due limits, she would give it a tap on the +head with her spoon, and the admonition, "Eat on your own side, I say." + +A lad whom I knew kept a common snake in London, which he had rendered +so tame that it was quite at ease with him, and very fond of its +master. When taken out of its box, it would creep up his sleeve, come +out at the top, wind itself caressingly about his neck and face, and +when tired retire to sleep in his bosom. + +Carver, in his travels, relates an instance of docility, which, if true, +surpasses any story of the kind I ever heard. + +"An Indian belonging to the Menomonie, having taken a rattlesnake, found +means to tame it; and when he had done this treated it as a deity, +calling it his great father, and carrying it with him in a box wherever +he went. This he had done for several summers, when Mons. Pinnisance +accidentally met with him at this carrying place, just as he was setting +off for a winter's hunt. The French gentleman was surprised one day to +see the Indian place the box which contained his god on the ground, and +opening the door, give him his liberty; telling him, while he did it, to +be sure and return by the time he himself should come back, which was to +be in the month of May following. As this was but October, Monsieur told +the Indian, whose simplicity astonished him, that he fancied he might +wait long enough, when May arrived, for the arrival of his great father. +The Indian was so confident of his creature's obedience, that he offered +to lay the Frenchman a wager of two gallons of rum, that at the time +appointed he would come and crawl into his box. This was agreed on, and +the second week in May following fixed for the determination of the +wager. At that period they both met there again, when the Indian set +down his box, and called for his great father. The snake heard him not; +and the time being now expired, he acknowledged that he had lost. +However, without seeming to be discouraged, he offered to double the bet +if his father came not within two days more. This was further agreed on; +when, behold, on the second day, about one o'clock the snake arrived, +and of his own accord crawled into the box, which was placed ready for +him. The French gentleman vouched for the truth of this story, and from +the accounts I have often received of the docility of those creatures, I +see no reason to doubt its veracity." + + + + +THE WATCHER.--A SKETCH FROM REAL LIFE. + + +In a dark room, in a ruined and wretched house, in one of the most +filthy districts of a great city, a mother sat watching her sleeping +babe. The infant was lying on a hard pallet on the floor, and the mother +was sitting beside it on a broken chair, plying her needle with eager +haste, and occasionally pausing to look down at her babe or to kiss it +as it lay asleep. The child was pale and sickly, and in the close +offensive air of the room it seemed to breathe painfully and to inhale, +with every pulse of its tender heart, the insidious principles of death +and dissolution. But not less pale and wan was the mother, who sat there +watching; her features wore that blanched, unearthly hue, and that +strange upward light was playing in her eyes, which spoke but too +plainly that death was breathing on her. The room was lonely--very +lonely--for there were no pictures to adorn its walls, scarcely any +articles of common domestic use within it; it was bare, almost +unfurnished, dismal, and cold. The mother was engaged in making shirts, +and the price which she received for them averaged two-pence-halfpenny +each; and it is said that by extraordinary exertions, for twenty hours +out of twenty-four, the sum of three shillings may be earned weekly at +such labor. Well, the pale, care-worn, suffering mother continued to +stitch, stitch, anxiously from hour to hour, leaving off now and then to +take her dying baby in her arms and to press it fondly to her breast, +until the tide of her heart's affection came stealing forth in tears; +and recollecting that the next meal for herself and child must be earned +by the continued labor of her jaded hands, she placed the infant on its +bed, and again resumed her work. + +Thus many hours had passed in a silence broken only by the low moaning +of the child, as it turned to and fro in the feeble expression of +long-continued anguish, and the deep sighs of the mother as she gazed +anxiously upon its fevered face, and saw the stamp of want and misery +there in an expression akin to the imbecility of years. At length the +babe awoke, and the mother took it tenderly into her arms; she pressed +it to her breast and kissed the cold dew from its forehead. And now she +began to prepare her humble meal, she placed a few sticks of wood in the +stove and lighted them, and placed an old broken kettle half filled with +water upon them; and then arranged two cups and saucers on a small tray, +and took a portion of a loaf from a shelf above. While waiting for the +water to boil she gave her child some food; and she had scarcely begun +to do this when a heavy and unsteady step was heard upon the threshold; +her heart leaped with fear, and she trembled like a moonlight shadow. A +creature somewhat in the semblance of a man staggered into the room, and +threw himself down upon the pallet where the child had just been +sleeping. + +"Charles, Charles, do not, for God's sake, treat me thus," said the +mother of the child, and she sobbed loudly, and was steeped in tears. + +The man scowled upon her from beneath the broken brim of a slouched hat, +and in a low fiendish growl, cursed her. His clothes had been +respectable in their time, but now were tattered and slovenly, and his +face wore the savage wildness and vacancy of long-continued dissipation. + +"I came home to ask you for money, so give me what you've got, and let +me go, for I haven't done drinking yet," said he, while the devil-like +glare of his eyes seemed to pierce the poor mother to the soul. + +"I spent my last penny to buy my child some food, I know not where to +get another; you have never wanted a meal while I could work, and my +poor fingers are wasted to the bone by midnight labor and the want of +bread, and my poor child is wasting away before my face, while you, +forgetting all the ties that bind a father to his offspring, or a +husband to his wife, take the very bread from me and my babe, to waste +it in drunkenness; oh, Charles, you loved me once, but you are killing +me now, and my poor dear child." + +"You howling, canting hypocrite, give me some money and let me go," +bawled the intoxicated brute, and with a sweep of his hand, as he sat +upon the child's bed, he overturned the table and scattered the +miserable meal upon the floor. The heart-broken wife rushed with her +babe to the opposite end of the room, and cowered down in fear. "Do you +hear, or do you want me to murder you?" and he rose from where he sat +and reeled toward her; shrinking and shivering as she bent over her +babe, she pressed its almost lifeless body to her heart, and when he +stood above her, she looked up in his face in the agony of despair, and +implored, in the mute utterance of her tear-worn eyes, for mercy. But he +did not strike her, although she was indeed well used to that, but he +put out his hand and taking from her bosom a locket, which had been a +dear sister's gift, and the last thing left her but her babe and death, +staggered to the door, and, after looking back with a menacing and +brutal expression of his savage features, left her. Although he was gone +she moved not, but sat wailing like a dove whose nest has been bereft of +that which made life dear, and sobbing loudly in her grief she looked +upon her child, and saw the tokens of pain and want upon its meagre +face, and could feel the throbbing of its little heart becoming more and +more feeble, from hour to hour, as the shadow of its life was waning. + +And night came, and she laid her child down to rest, and again sat +working and watching. She kissed it when its low cry startled her in the +midnight silence, and hushed it again to sleep, for it wanted food and +that she had not. The morning came, but it was still night to her, and +the darkness of her woe sat hovering over her frail soul like the shadow +of a great but silent misery. She hurried on in the delirium of extreme +weakness that she might complete the wretched work she had, and get food +for her famished child. Intense suffering, long watching, hunger, cold, +and cruelty had blanched a cheek which had been more fair than snow, and +had carved wrinkles, like those of age, upon a youthful brow; death +hovered over her like a ghastly shadow, not to her--as to those in +comfort--terrible, but welcome. And thus from hour to hour, and from day +to day, that mother labored for her lonely child, while he, whose heart +should have beat with the devotion of love for her whom he had sworn to +cherish, and whose hand should have been ever ready to defend her, +deeming nothing too severe, nothing too difficult, which could bring +food and comfort to a woman's constant heart, came only to rob her of +her last morsel, and to add fresh agonies to her almost withered soul by +imprecations and curses. + +One morning, after she had been toiling long in cold and hunger, she +became too weak to labor more, and nature faltered. She stooped to kiss +her babe and to ask a blessing on its head from Him whose benedictions +come even to the sorrowful and needy, and as she bent down above its +little shadowy form, her sorrows overwhelmed her, and she fell down +beside her child and fainted. With none to aid and soothe her--with none +to nourish her in her distress of heart, and no kind hand to minister to +the poor watcher in that hour of affliction, she lay in that sweet peace +which comes to the aching heart when it can for a time forget its +sorrows; and better too, perhaps, for her, for her babe was dying, and +in the unconsciousness of temporary death, she knew it not. + +She awoke at last, for even the forgetfulness so dear to the wounded +spirit will have an end, and the grim bitter realities become palpable +once more; and as consciousness returned she was startled from her +partial dream by the icy chill which fell upon her when she touched her +child. She shrieked wildly, and fell upon her face in the maddening +agony of despair, "my child, my child, oh, my child!" she cried, and +tore her hair in frenzy. Now she became more calm, and turned round to +look upon the babe, whose soul had passed into that better sleep from +which there is no waking. She kissed its cold wasted form, and bathed +its little marble face with her scalding tears. + +"Oh, my child," she sobbed, "my poor child, murdered by its father's +hand, the victim of his cruelty; oh, Father of all, Father of the wicked +and good, take my poor babe to thy fostering bosom, and let me die too, +for my last hope is gone, the last link of my heart's affection is +broken; Father of mercies, listen to the supplications of a childless +mother!" + +That step! and the blood goes back to her heart like an icy flood, and +every pulse is withered, as with a bleak and desolating frost; she holds +her breath, and with her dead child in her arms, crouches down in the +corner on the floor, and in the silence of despair and terror asks her +God to bless and protect her, and to soften his heart in such an awful +moment as this. He came to the threshold of the room, and fell prostrate +on the floor as he attempted to approach her; he was too much +intoxicated to rise, and there he lay muttering, in broken and +inarticulate words, the most horrible oaths and imprecations. The mother +spake not, for although, even then she could have prayed for him in her +heart, and bless him with her tongue; ay, and still labor for him with +her hands, if by such she could win back the old love which had made her +youthful hours glad, and which had spread the rosy atmosphere of hope +before her; but which was now a thing of silent memory, of sadness, and +of tears. + +Thus passed away the morning, and at noon the drunkard arose from where +he lay, and again demanded what money she had; she gave him a few +halfpence from her pocket, and he snatched them from her and departed. + +To know that he had gone to procure the poison on which he fed, with +this last remnant of the midnight toil, and when his child lay dead +within its mother's arms; to know that for the veriest morsel she must +toil again, sleepless and famished, and with the withered blossom of her +heart's broken hope beside her; to know that the last office of +affection, the burial of the child, must be performed by those who cared +for neither her nor it, and who would desecrate, by the vile touch of +parochial charity, that which had been more dear to her than her own +life; to know that all her joys were wasted now, and that she still +lived to hear him curse her in the very place where death had so lately +been; and that although she sat before him with the sleeping infant in +her arms, while he was too brutalized by drink to know that that sleep +was one from which it would never more awake, and that her own terror +made her speechless when she would have told him; all this was a torrent +of sorrow, before whose overbearing force her wintered heart gave way, +and she sank down upon the floor, with her dead babe in her arms, +senseless. + +Sleep came upon her like a poppy spell, and wafted her silent, soul to +sweeter worlds. Far away from her cold and solitary room, far away from +hunger, wretchedness, and tears; far away from the keen tortures of +maternal sorrow and the despair of withered love, her spirit wandered in +that peaceful dream. From earth, as from a wilderness of ashes, her +willing spirit went upon its upward flight, ascending and ascending. It +neared the blue and shining arch above, and clapped its wings for joy, +and felt within it the renovated bliss of innocent and unchanging +beauty. It felt the calming influence of soft music swelling around it +like sunbright waves upon a summer sea; it saw sweet spots and green +peaceful valleys lying in the rosy light of heaven, as clouds at evening +lie folded up in sleep. On and on her spirit went in calm and holy +majesty, amid the shadowy beauty of that pleasant land. It seemed to +bathe in bliss amid bright galaxies of living and rejoicing worlds, and +to embrace happiness as its long-sought boon. Through flowery pastures, +and falling waters, perfumed gardens, and star-lighted solitudes where +the soul of music dwelt and lived amid the sweet echoes of her seraph +songs, that mother's new-born soul wandered in its freedom, forgetting +all the pangs and tears it had so lately known. Now it passed floating +islands of glittering beauty where troops of cherubim were worshiping +their God; and from the midst of a soft bed of twilight flowers arose an +angel host of babes, soaring in their wantonness of joy to higher +regions of the azure air, and singing their simple songs in harmony +together. From all the gleaming lights afar came dulcet harpings of +angelic wings, and all things in that sweet dream-land of beauty told of +the joy which falls upon the virtuous soul. The spirit of the mother, +dazzled and amazed till now, awoke from its trance of wonder, and cried +aloud "my child, my child, and my husband, where, where are they?" and +she sank upon a gleaming bed of purpled blooms, and from the odorous +sighing of the lute-toned air the voice of her child came gladly in +reply. And now a joyous troop of star-light seraphs sailed toward her, +like a snowy cloud, and in the midst she sees her darling babe, clapping +its little hands in laughing glee, and overjoyed once more to meet her. +Oh, what bliss is like the feeling of a mother, when her trusting heart +is gladdened by the return of a child whom she deemed was lost; and if +such joy awake within the soul amid all the harsh realities of earth, +how much more so in the spirit's home, where nothing but the peaceful +thought can live, and all earth's grief is banished? It was her own +babe, the bud of hope she nursed and tended in the dark winter of her +earthly sorrow, now wearing the same smile which gladdened her amid the +gloom, but holier, fairer, and freed from all the traces of want and +suffering. The spirits of the mother and the babe embraced each other in +the wild joy of this happy meeting, and the mother's spirit knelt before +the heaven-built temple of light which arched above, and offered the +incense of its prayers for him whose wickedness of heart had steeped her +earthly days in bitterness; but who was yet to her the token of a +youthful hope, and the living memory of a trusting love. Her earnest +spirit, in the gush of its awakened affection for the child of her +bosom, called upon its God to have mercy upon him, and to snatch his +soul from the blackness of its guilt and the impending terrors of +destruction. And the prayer went upward, and the angels sung. + + * * * * * + +The drunkard staggered to the wretched home, and reeling into the silent +room gazed upon the wife and child. They spoke not, moved not; he +stooped to touch, but recoiled in horror, for both of them were dead. +The mother, in her sweet dream, had glided into the blissful evening +land, and he, the destroyer of a wife and child, now felt in all the +piercing agony of sin and shame, the scorpion stings of conscience. He +fell upon his knees and prayed for mercy! His withering soul seemed +struggling within him, and he gasped for breath. He had wandered into +wicked paths, he had blighted a gentle heart by cruelty and neglect, he +had wasted his own child's meal in drunkenness and villainy, while it +lay on its mother's breast perishing for want of food. He felt all the +terrors of remorse, and hell seemed gaping beneath him! He arose and +wept, and the first tear he shed was carried by invisible hands upward +to that world of peace, as a sacrifice of penitence to the kneeling +spirit of a mother. He wandered away in silence, and where he went were +the falling tears which spoke, in accents eloquent and true, the silent +utterance of a repentant heart. + + + + +PLATE GLASS--WHAT IT IS, AND HOW IT IS MADE. + + +Two other gentlemen occupied the railway carriage, which, on a gusty day +in December, was conveying us toward Gravesend, _via_ Blackwall. +One wore spectacles, by the aid of which he was perusing a small pocket +edition of his favorite author. No sound escaped his lips; yet, his +under-jaw and his disengaged hand moved with the solemn regularity of an +orator emitting periods of tremendous euphony. Presently, his delight +exploded in a loud shutting up of the book and an enthusiastic appeal to +us in favor of the writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson. + +"What, for example, can be finer, gentlemen, than his account of the +origin of glass-making; in which, being a drysalter, I take a particular +interest. Let me read the passage to you!" + +"But the noise of the train--" + +"Sir, I can drown that." + +The tone in which the Johnsonian "Sir" was let off, left no doubt of it. +Though a small man, the reader was what his favorite writer would have +denominated a Stentor, and what the modern school would call a Stunner. +When he re-opened the book and began to read, the words smote the ear as +if they had been shot out of the mouth of a cannon. To give additional +effect to the rounded periods of his author, he waved his arm in the air +at each turn of a sentence, as if it had been a circular saw. "Who," he +recited, "when he saw the first sand or ashes, by a casual intenseness +of heat, melted into a metalline form, rugged with excrescences, and +clouded with impurities, would have imagined, that in this shapeless +lump lay concealed so many conveniences of life, as would in time +constitute a great part of the happiness of the world? Yet by some such +fortuitous liquefaction was mankind taught to procure a body at once in +a high degree solid and transparent, which might admit the light of the +sun, and exclude the violence of the wind: which might extend the light +of the philosopher to new ranges of existence, and charm him at one time +with the unbounded extent of the material creation, and at another with +the endless subordination of animal life; and, what is yet of more +importance, might supply the decays of nature, and succor old age with +subsidiary sight. Thus was the first artificer in glass employed, though +without his own knowledge or expectation. He was facilitating and +prolonging the enjoyment of light, enlarging the avenues of science, and +conferring the highest and most lasting pleasures; he was enabling the +student to contemplate nature, and the beauty to behold herself. This +passion for--" + +"Blackwall, gents! Blackwall, ladies! Boat for Gravesend!" We should, +unquestionably, have been favored with the rest of the ninth number of +the "Rambler" (in which the fore-going passage occurs) but for these +announcements. + +"There is one thing, however," said the little man with the loud voice, +as we walked from the platform to the pier, "which I can _not_ +understand. What does the illustrious essayist mean by the 'fortuitous +liquefaction' of the sand and ashes. Was glass found out by accident?" + +Luckily, a ray of school-day classics enlightened a corner of our +memory, and we mentioned the well-known story, in Pliny, that some +Phoenician merchants, carrying saltpetre to the mouth of the river +Belus, went ashore; and, placing some lumps of the cargo under their +kettles to cook food, the heat of the fire fused the nitre, which ran +among the sand of the shore. The cooks finding this union to produce a +translucent substance, discovered the art of making glass. + +"That," said our other companion, holding his hat to prevent the wind +from blowing it aboard the Gravesend steamer (which was not to start for +ten minutes), "has been the stock tale of all writers on the subject, +from Pliny down to Ure; but, Sir Gardiner Wilkinson has put it out of +the power of future authors to repeat it. That indefatigable haunter of +Egyptian tombs discovered minute representations of glass-blowing, +painted on tombs of the time of Orsirtasin the First, some sixteen +hundred years before the date of Pliny's story. Indeed, a glass bead, +bearing the name of a king who lived fifteen hundred years before +Christ, was found in another tomb by Captain Henvey, the specific +gravity of which is precisely that of English crown-glass." + +"You seem to know all about it!" exclaimed the loud-voiced man. + +"Being a director of a plate-glass company I have made it my business to +learn all that books could teach me on the subject." + +"I should like to see glass made," said the vociferous admirer of Dr. +Johnson, "especially plate-glass." + +To this, the other replied, with ready politeness, "If your wish be very +strong, and you have an hour to spare, I shall be happy to show you the +works to which I am going--those of the Thames Plate Glass Company. They +are close by." + +"The fact is," was the reply, "Mrs. Bossle (I'm sorry to say Mrs. Bossle +is an invalid) expects me down to Gravesend to tea; but an hour won't +matter much." + +"And you, sir?" said the civil gentleman, addressing me. + +My desire was equally strong, and the next hour equally my own; for, as +the friend, whom a negligent public had driven to emigration, was not to +sail until the next morning, it did not much matter whether I took my +last farewell of him at Gravesend early or late that evening. + +Tracking our guide through dock gates, over narrow drawbridges, along +quays; now, dodging the rigging of ships; now, tripping over cables, +made "taut" to rings; now falling foul of warping-posts (for it was +getting dusk); one minute, leaping over deserted timber; the next, +doubling stray casks; the next, winding among the strangest ruins of +dismantled steamboats, for which a regular hospital seemed established +in that region of mud and water; then, emerging into dirty lanes, and +turning the corners of roofless houses; we finished an exciting game of +Follow-my-Leader, at a pair of tall gates. One of these admitted us into +the precincts of the southernmost of the six manufactories of plate +glass existing in this country. + +The first ingredient in making glass, to which we were introduced, was +contained in a goodly row of barrels in full tap, marked with the +esteemed brand of "Truman, Hanbury, Buxton, and Co." It is the +well-known fermented extract of malt and hops, which is, it seems, +nearly as necessary to the production of good plate glass, as flint and +soda. To liquefy the latter materials by means of fire is, in truth, dry +work; and our _cicerone_ explained, that seven pints per day, per +man, of Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, Buxton, and Company's Entire, has been +found, after years of thirsty experience, to be absolutely necessary to +moisten human clay, hourly baked at the mouths of blazing furnaces. +These furnaces emit a heat more intense than the most perspiring +imagination can conceive, or the stanchest thermometer indicate. An +attempt to ascertain the degree of heat was once made: a pyrometer (a +thermometer of the superlative degree, or "fire-measurer"), was applied +to the throat of a furnace--for every furnace has its mouth, its throat, +and its flaming tongues; but the wretched instrument, after five +minutes' scorching, made an expiring effort to mark _thirteen hundred +degrees above boiling point_, cracked, was shivered into bits, and +was finally swallowed up by the insatiable element whose proceedings it +had presumptuously attempted to register. + +Having, by this time, crossed a yard, we stood on the edge of a foul +creek of the Thames, so horribly slimy, that a crocodile or an +alligator, or any scaly monster of the Saurian period, seemed much more +likely to be encountered in such a neighborhood than the beautiful +substance that makes our modern rooms so glittering and bright; our +streets so dazzling, and our windows at once so radiant and so strong. + +"In order to understand our process thoroughly," said the obliging +director of the seven acres of factory and the four hundred operatives +we had come to see, "we must begin with the beginning. This," picking up +from a heap a handful of the finest of fine sand--the glittering pounce, +in fact, with which our forefathers spangled their writing--"is the +basis of all glass. It is the whitest, most highly pulverized flint sand +that can be procured. This comes from Lynn, on the coast of Norfolk. Its +mixture with the other materials is a secret, even to us. We give the +man who possesses it a handsome salary for exercising his mystery." + +"A secret!" cried Mr. Bossle. "Every body, I thought, knew--at least +every body in the drysaltery line understands--what glass is made of. +Why, I can repeat the recipe given by Dr. Ure, from memory: To every +hundred parts of materials, there are of pure sand forty-three parts; +soda twenty-five and a half (by-the-by, we have some capital carbonate +coming forward _ex_ Mary Anne, that we could let you have at a low +figure); quick-lime, four; nitre, one and a half; broken glass, +twenty-six. The doctor calculates, if I remember rightly, that of the +whole, thirty parts of this compound run to waste in fusing so that +seventy per cent. becomes, on an average, glass." + +"That is all very true," was the answer; "but our glass is, we flatter +ourselves, of a much better color, and stands annealing better, than +that made from the ordinary admixture: from which, however, ours differs +but little--only, I think, in the relative quantities. In that lies the +secret." + +Mr. Bossle expressed great anxiety to behold an individual who was +possessed of a secret worth several hundreds a year, paid weekly. +Romance invariably associates itself with mystery; and we are not quite +sure from the awful way in which Mr. Bossle dropped his voice to a soft +whisper, that he did not expect, on entering the chamber of +pre-vitrified chemicals, to find an individual clothed like the hermit +in "Rasselas," or mingling his "elements" with the wand of Hermes +Trismegistus. He looked as if he could hardly believe his spectacles, +when he saw a plain, respectable-looking, indifferent-tempered man, not +a whit more awe-inspiring--or more dusty--than a miller on a market-day. + +We do not insinuate that Mr. Bossle endeavored to "pluck out the heart +of the mystery," though nothing seemed to escape the focus of his +spectacles. But, although here lay, in separate heaps, the sand and soda +and saltpetre and lime and _cullet_, or broken glass; while there, +in a huge trough, those ingredients were mixed up (like "broken" in a +confectioner's shop) ready to be pushed through a trap to fill the +crucible or stomach of the furnace; yet, despite Mr. Bossle's sly +investigations, and sonorous inquiries, he left the hall of "elements" +as wise as he had entered. + +Passing through a variety of places in which the trituration, +purification, and cleaning of the materials were going on, we mounted to +an upper story that reminded us of the yard in which the cunning captain +of the Forty Thieves, when he was disguised as an Oil Merchant, stored +his pretended merchandise. It was filled with rows and rows of great +clay jars, something like barrels with their heads knocked out. Each +had, instead of a hoop, an indented band round the middle, for the +insertion of the iron gear by which they were, in due time, to be lifted +into and out of the raging furnaces. There were two sizes; one about +four feet deep, and three feet six inches in diameter, technically +called "pots," and destined to receive the materials for their first +sweltering. The smaller vessels (_cuvettes_) were of the same shape, but +only two feet six inches deep, and two feet in diameter. These were the +crucibles in which the vitreous compound was to be fired a second time, +ready for casting. These vessels are _built_--for that is really the +process; and it requires a twelvemonth to build one, so gradually must +it settle and harden, and so slowly must it be pieced together, or the +furnace would immediately destroy it--of Stourbridge clay, which is the +purest and least silicious yet discovered. + +"We have now," said Mr. Bossle, wiping his spectacles, and gathering +himself up for a loud Johnsonian period, "seen the raw materials ready +to be submitted to the action of the fire, and we have also beheld the +vessels in which the vitrification is to take place. Let us therefore +witness the actual liquefaction." + +In obedience to this grandiloquent wish, we were shown into the hall of +furnaces. + +It was a sight indeed. A lofty and enormous hall, with windows in the +high walls open to the rainy night. Down the centre, a fearful row of +roaring furnaces, white-hot: to look at which, even through the chinks +in the iron screens before them, and masked, seemed to scorch and +splinter the very breath within one. At right angles with this hall, +another, an immense building in itself, with unearthly-looking +instruments hanging on the walls, and strewn about, as if for some +diabolical cookery. In dark corners, where the furnaces redly glimmered +on them, from time to time, knots of swarthy muscular men, with nets +drawn over their faces, or hanging from their hats: confusedly grouped, +wildly dressed, scarcely heard to mutter amid the roaring of the fires, +and mysteriously coming and going, like picturesque shadows, cast by the +terrific glare. Such figures there must have been, once upon a time, in +some such scene, ministering to the worship of fire, and feeding the +altars of the cruel god with victims. Figures not dissimilar, alas! +there have been, torturing and burning, even in our Saviour's name. But, +happily those bitter days are gone. The senseless world is tortured for +the good of man, and made to take new forms in his service. Upon the +rack, we stretch the ores and metals of the earth, and not the image of +the Creator of all. These fires and figures are the agents of +civilization, and not of deadly persecution and black murder. Burn fires +and welcome! making a light in England that shall not be quenched by all +the monkish dreamers in the world! + +We were aroused by a sensation like the sudden application of a hot mask +to the countenance. As we instinctively placed a hand over our face to +ascertain how much of the skin was peeling off, our cool informant +announced that the furnace over against us had been opened to perform +the _tréjetage_, or ladling of the liquid _pot à feu_ from the +large pots into the smaller ones. "I must premise," he said, "that +one-third of the raw materials, as put together by our secret friend, +are first thrown in; and when that is melted, one-third more; on that +being fused, the last third is added. The mouth of the furnace is then +closed, and an enormous heat kept up by the _tiseur_ or stoker (all +our terms are taken from the French), during sixteen hours. That time +having now elapsed, in the case of the flaming pot before you, the +furnace is opened. The man with the long ladle thrusts it, you perceive, +into the pot, takes out a ladleful, and, by the assistance of two +companions, throws the vitrified dough upon an iron anvil. The other two +men turn it over and over, spread it upon the inverted flat-iron, and +twitch out, with pliers, any speck or impurity; it is tossed again into +the ladle, and thrown into a cuvette in another furnace. When the +cuvettes are full, that furnace is stopped up to maintain a roaring heat +for another eight hours; and, in the language of the men, 'the ceremony +is performed.'" + +At this moment, the noise burst forth from the middle of the enormous +shed, of several beats of a gong: so loud, that they even drowned the +thundering inquiries with which Mr. Bossle was teasing one of the +"teasers." In an instant the men hastened to a focus, like giants in a +Christmas pantomime about to perform some wonderful conjuration; and not +a whisper was heard. + +"Aha!" exclaimed the director, "they are going to cast. This way, +gentlemen!" + +The kitchen in which the Ogre threatened to cook Jack and his seven +brothers could not have been half so formidable an apartment as the +enormous cuisine into which we were led. One end was occupied with a row +of awful ovens; in the midst, stood a stupendous iron table; and upon it +lay a rolling-pin, so big, that it could only be likened to half-a-dozen +garden-rollers joined together at their ends. Above, was an iron crane +or gallows to lift the enormous messes of red-hot gruel, thick and slab, +which were now to be brought from the furnaces. + +"Stand clear!" A huge basin, white with heat, approaches, on a sort of +iron hurley; at one end of which sits, triumphant, a salamander, in +human form, to balance the Plutonian mass, as it approaches on its +wheeled car--playing with it--a game of see-saw. It stops at the foot of +the iron gallows. Mr. Bossle approaches to see what it is, and discovers +it to be a cuvette filled with molten glass, glowing from the fiery +furnace. What is that man doing with a glazed mask before his face? +"Why, if you will believe me," exclaims Mr. Bossle, in the tones of a +speaking-trumpet (we are at a prudent distance), "he is ladling off the +scum, as composedly as if it were turtle-soup!" Mr. Bossle grows bold, +and ventures a little nearer. Rash man! His nose is assuredly scorched; +he darts back, and takes off his spectacles, to ascertain how much of +the frames are melted. The dreadful pot is lifted by the crane. It is +poised immediately over the table; a workman tilts it; and out pours a +cataract of molten opal which spreads itself, deliberately, like +infernal sweet-stuff, over the iron table; which is spilled and slopped +about, in a crowd of men, and touches nobody. "And has touched nobody +since last year, when one poor fellow got the large shoes he wore, +filled with white-hot glass." Then the great rolling-pin begins to "roll +it out." + +But, those two men, narrowly inspecting every inch of the red hot sheet +as the roller approaches it--is their skin salamandrine? are their eyes +fire-proof? + +"They are looking," we are told, "for any accidental impurity that may +be still intruding in the vitrifaction, and, if they can tear it out +with their long pincers before the roller has passed over it, they are +rewarded. From the shape these specks assume in being torn away, they +are called 'tears.'" + +When the roller has passed over the table, it leaves a sheet of red-hot +glass, measuring some twelve feet by seven. + +This translucent confection is pushed upon a flat wooden platform on +wheels--sparkling, as it touches the wood, like innumerable +diamonds--and is then run rapidly to an oven, there to be baked or +annealed. The bed or "sole" of this _carquèse_ is heated to a +temperature exactly equal to that of the glass; which is now so much +cooled that you can stand within a yard or so of it without fear of +scorching off your eyelashes. The pot out of the furnace is cooled, +too, out in the rain, and lies there, burst into a hundred pieces. It +has been a good one: for it has withstood the fire seventy days. + +So rapidly are all these casting operations performed, that, from the +moment when Mr. Bossle thought his spectacles were melting off his nose, +to the moment when the sheet of glass is shut up in the oven, about five +minutes have elapsed. The operations are repeated, until the oven is +full of glass-plates. + +When eight plates are put into the _carquèse_, it is closed up +hermetically; for the tiniest current of cold air would crack the glass. +The fire is allowed to go out of its own accord, and the cooling takes +place so gradually, that it is not completed until eight days are over. +When drawn forth, the glass is that "rough plate" which we see let into +the doors of railway stations, and forming half-transparent floors in +manufactories. To make it completely transparent for windows and +looking-glasses, elaborate processes of grinding and polishing are +requisite. They are three in number: roughing down, smoothing, and +polishing. + +"I perceive," said Mr. Bossle, when he got to the roughing-down room, +where steam machinery was violently agitating numerous plates of glass, +one upon the other, "that the diamond-cut-diamond principle is adopted." + +"Exactly; the under-plate is fastened to a table by plaster-of-paris, +and the upper one--quite rough--is violently rubbed by machinery upon +it, with water, sand, and other grinding-powders between. The top-plate +is then fastened to a table, to rough down another first plate; for the +under one is always the smoother." + +Then comes the "smoothing." Emery, of graduated degrees of fineness, is +used for that purpose. "Until within the last month or so, smoothing +could only be done by human labor. The human hand alone was capable of +the requisite tenacity, to rub the slippery surfaces over each other; +nay, so fine a sense of touch was requisite, that even a man's hand had +scarcely sensitiveness enough for the work; hence females were, and +still are employed." + +As our pains-taking informant spoke, he pushed open a door, and we +beheld a sight that made Mr. Bossle wipe his spectacles, and ourselves +imagine for a moment that a scene from an Oriental story-book was +magically revealed to us; so elegant and graceful were the attitudes +into which a bevy of some fifty females--many of them of fine forms and +handsome features--were unceasingly throwing themselves. Now, with arms +extended, they pushed the plates to one verge of the low tables, +stretching their bodies as far as possible; then, drawing back, they +stood erect, pulling the plate after them; then, in order to reach the +opposite edge of the plane, they stretched themselves out again to an +almost horizontal posture. The easy beauty of their movements, the +glitter of the glass, the brilliancy of the gas-lights, the bright +colors of most of the dresses, formed a _coup d'oeil_ which Mr. +Bossle enjoyed a great deal more than Mrs. Bossle, had she been there, +might have quite approved. + +The fairy scene is soon, however, to disappear. Mr. Blake the ingenious +manager of the works, has invented an artificial female hand, by means +of which, in combination with peculiar machinery, glass smoothing can be +done by steam. The last process is "polishing." This art is practiced in +a spacious room glowing with red. Every corner of the busy interior is +as rubicund as a Dutch dairy. The floor is red, the walls are red, the +ceiling is red, the pillars are red. The machinery is very red. Red +glass is attached, by red plaster of Paris, to red movable tables; red +rubbers of red felt, heavily weighted with red leads, are driven rapidly +over the red surface. Little red boys, redder than the reddest of Red +Indians, are continually sprinkling on the reddened glass, the rouge +(moistened crocus, peroxyde of iron), which converts the scene of their +operations into the most gigantic of known Rubrics. + +When polished, the glass is taken away to be "examined." A body of +vigilant scrutineers place each sheet between their own eyes and a +strong light: wherever a scratch or flaw appears, they make a mark with +a piece of wax. If removable, these flaws are polished out by hand. The +glass is then ready for the operation which enables "the beauty to +behold herself." The spreading of the quicksilver at the back is, +however, a separate process, accomplished elsewhere, and performed by a +perfectly distinct body of workmen. It is a very simple art. + +The manufacture of plate-glass adds another to the thousand and one +instances of the advantages of unrestricted and unfettered trade. The +great demand occasioned by the immediate fall in price consequent upon +the New Tariff, produced this effect on the Thames Plate Glass Works. +They now manufacture as much plate-glass per week as was turned out in +the days of the Excise, in the same time, by all the works in the +country put together. The Excise incubi clogged the operations of the +workmen, and prevented every sort of improvement in the manufacture. +They put their gauges into the "metal" (or mixed materials) before it +was put into the pot. They overhauled the paste when it was taken out of +the fire, and they applied their foot-rules to the sheets after the +glass was annealed. The duty was collected during the various stages of +manufacture half-a-dozen times, and amounted to three hundred per cent. +No improvement was according to law, and the exciseman put his veto upon +every attempt of the sort. In the old time, the mysterious mixer could +not have exercised his secret vocation for the benefit of his employers, +and the demand for glass was so small that Mr. Blake's admirable +polishing machine would never have been invented. Nor could plate-glass +ever have been used for transparent flooring, or for door panels, or +for a hundred other purposes, to which it is now advantageously and +ornamentally applied. + +Thanking the courteous gentlemen who had shown us over the works, we +left Mr. Bossle in close consultation with the manager. As, in crossing +the yard, we heard the word "soda!" frequently thundered forth, we +concluded that the Johnsonian drysalter was endeavoring to complete some +transactions in that commodity, which he had previously opened with the +director. But, it is not in our power to report decisively on this head, +for our attention was directed to two concluding objects. + +First, to a row of workmen--the same we had lately seen among the fires +and liquid glass--good-humoredly sitting, with perfect composure, on a +log of timber, out in the cold and wet, looking at the muddy creek, and +drinking their beer, as if there were no such thing as temperature +known. Secondly, and lastly, to the narrow passages or caves underneath +the furnaces, into which the glowing cinders drop through gratings. +These looked, when we descended into them, like a long Egyptian street +on a dark night, with a fiery rain falling. In warm divergent chambers +and crevices, the boys employed in the works love to hide and sleep, on +cold nights. So slept DE FOE'S hero, COLONEL JACK, among the ashes of +the glass-house where _he_ worked. + +And that, and the river together, made us think of ROBINSON CRUSOE the +whole way home, and wonder what all the English boys who have been since +his time, and who are yet to be, would have done without him and his +desert Island. + + + + +"BIRTHS:--MRS. MEEK, OF A SON."--A PLEA FOR INFANTS. + + +My name is Meek. I am, in fact, Mr. Meek. That son is mine and Mrs. +Meek's. When I saw the announcement in the Times, I dropped the paper. I +had put it in, myself, and paid for it, but it looked so noble that it +overpowered me. + +As soon as I could compose my feelings, I took the paper up to Mrs. +Meek's bedside. "Maria Jane," said I (I allude to Mrs. Meek), "you are +now a public character." We read the review of our child, several times, +with feelings of the strongest emotion; and I sent the boy who cleans +the boots and shoes, to the office, for fifteen copies. No reduction was +made on taking that quantity. + +It is scarcely necessary for me to say, that our child had been +expected. In fact, it had been expected, with comparative confidence, +for some months. Mrs. Meek's mother, who resides with us--of the name of +Bigby--had made every preparation for its admission to our circle. + +I hope and believe I am a quiet man. I will go further. I _know_ I am a +quiet man. My constitution is tremulous, my voice was never loud, and, +in point of stature, I have been from infancy, small. I have the +greatest respect for Maria Jane's mamma. She is a most remarkable woman. +I honor Maria Jane's mamma. In my opinion she would storm a town, +single-handed, with a hearth-broom, and carry it. I have never known her +to yield any point whatever, to mortal man. She is calculated to terrify +the stoutest heart. + +Still--but I will not anticipate. + +The first intimation I had, of any preparations being in progress, on +the part of Maria Jane's mamma, was one afternoon, several months ago. I +came home earlier than usual from the office, and, proceeding into the +dining-room, found an obstruction behind the door, which prevented it +from opening freely. It was an obstruction of a soft nature. On looking +in, I found it to be a female. + +The female in question stood in the corner behind the door, consuming +sherry wine. From the nutty smell of that beverage pervading the +apartment, I had no doubt she was consuming a second glassful. She wore +a black bonnet of large dimensions, and was copious in figure. The +expression of her countenance was severe and discontented. The words to +which she gave utterance on seeing me, were these, "Oh, git along with +you, sir, if _you_ please; me and Mrs. Bigby don't want no male parties +here!" + +That female was Mrs. Prodgit. + +I immediately withdrew, of course. I was rather hurt, but I made no +remark. Whether it was that I showed a lowness of spirits after dinner, +in consequence of feeling that I seemed to intrude, I can not say. But, +Maria Jane's mamma said to me on her retiring for the night, in a low +distinct voice, and with a look of reproach that completely subdued me, +"George Meek, Mrs. Prodgit is your wife's nurse!" + +I bear no ill-will toward Mrs. Prodgit. Is it likely that I, writing +this with tears in my eyes, should be capable of deliberate animosity +toward a female, so essential to the welfare of Maria Jane? I am willing +to admit that Fate may have been to blame, and not Mrs. Prodgit; but, it +is undeniably true, that the latter female brought desolation and +devastation into my lowly dwelling. + +We were happy after her first appearance; we were sometimes exceedingly +so. But, whenever the parlor door was opened, and "Mrs. Prodgit!" +announced (and she was very often announced), misery ensued. I could not +bear Mrs. Prodgit's look. I felt that I was far from wanted, and had no +business to exist in Mrs. Prodgit's presence. Between Maria Jane's +mamma, and Mrs. Prodgit, there was a dreadful, secret understanding--a +dark mystery and conspiracy, pointing me out as a being to be shunned. I +appeared to have done something that was evil. Whenever Mrs. Prodgit +called, after dinner, I retired to my dressing-room--where the +temperature is very low, indeed, in the wintry time of the year--and sat +looking at my frosty breath as it rose before me, and at my rack of +boots: a serviceable article of furniture, but never, in my opinion, an +exhilarating object. The length of the councils that were held with Mrs. +Prodgit, under these circumstances, I will not attempt to describe. I +will merely remark, that Mrs. Prodgit always consumed sherry wine while +the deliberations were in progress; that they always ended in Maria +Jane's being in wretched spirits on the sofa; and that Maria Jane's +mamma always received me, when I was recalled, with a look of desolate +triumph that too plainly said, "_Now_, George Meek! You see my child, +Maria Jane, a ruin, and I hope you are satisfied!" + +I pass, generally, over the period that intervened between the day when +Mrs. Prodgit entered her protest against male parties, and the +ever-memorable midnight when I brought her to my unobtrusive home in a +cab, with an extremely large box on the roof, and a bundle, a bandbox, +and a basket, between the driver's legs. I have no objection to Mrs. +Prodgit (aided and abetted by Mrs. Bigby, who I never can forget is the +parent of Maria Jane), taking entire possession of my unassuming +establishment. In the recesses of my own breast, the thought may linger +that a man in possession can not be so dreadful as a woman, and that +woman Mrs. Prodgit: but, I ought to bear a good deal, and I hope I can, +and do. Huffing and snubbing, prey upon my feelings; but I can bear them +without complaint. They may tell in the long run; I may be hustled +about, from post to pillar, beyond my strength; nevertheless, I wish to +avoid giving rise to words in the family. + +The voice of Nature, however, cries aloud in behalf of Augustus George, +my infant son. It is for him that I wish to utter a few plaintive +household words. I am not at all angry; I am mild--but miserable. + +I wish to know why, when my child, Augustus George, was expected in our +circle, a provision of pins was made, as if the little stranger were a +criminal who was to be put to the torture immediately on his arrival, +instead of a holy babe? I wish to know why haste was made to stick those +pins all over his innocent form, in every direction? I wish to be +informed why light and air are excluded from Augustus George, like +poisons? Why, I ask, is my unoffending infant so hedged into a +basket-bedstead, with dimity and calico, with miniature sheets and +blankets, that I can only hear him snuffle (and no wonder!) deep down +under the pink hood of a little bathing-machine, and can never peruse +even so much of his lineaments as his nose. + +Was I expected to be the father of a French Roll, that the brushes of +All Nations were laid in, to rasp Augustus George? Am I to be told that +his sensitive skin was ever intended by Nature to have rashes brought +out upon it, by the premature and incessant use of those formidable +little instruments? + +Is my son a Nutmeg, that he is to be grated on the stiff edges of sharp +frills? Am I the parent of a Muslin boy, that his yielding surface is to +be crimped and small-plaited? Or is my child composed of Paper or of +Linen, that impressions of the finer getting-up art, practiced by the +laundress, are to be printed off, all over his soft arms and legs, as I +constantly observe them? The starch enters his soul; who can wonder that +he cries? + +Was Augustus George intended to have limbs, or to be born a Torso? I +presume that limbs were the intention, as they are the usual practice. +Then, why are my poor child's limbs fettered and tied up? Am I to be +told that there is any analogy between Augustus George Meek, and Jack +Sheppard. + +Analyze Castor Oil at any Institution of Chemistry that may be agreed +upon, and inform me what resemblance, in taste, it bears to that natural +provision which it is at once the pride and duty of Maria Jane to +administer to Augustus George! Yet, I charge Mrs. Prodgit (aided and +abetted by Mrs. Bigby) with systematically forcing Castor Oil on my +innocent son, from the first hour of his birth. When that medicine, in +its efficient action, causes internal disturbance to Augustus George, I +charge Mrs. Prodgit (aided and abetted by Mrs. Bigby) with insanely and +inconsistently administering opium to allay the storm she has raised! +What is the meaning of this? + +If the days of Egyptian Mummies are past, how dare Mrs. Prodgit require, +for the use of my son, an amount of flannel and linen that would carpet +my humble roof? Do I wonder that she requires it? No! This morning, +within an hour, I beheld this agonizing sight. I beheld my son--Augustus +George--in Mrs. + +Prodgit's hands, and on Mrs. Prodgit's knee, being dressed. He was at +the moment, comparatively speaking, in a state of nature; having nothing +on, but an extremely short shirt, remarkably disproportionate to the +length of his usual outer garments. Trailing from Mrs. Prodgit's lap, on +the floor, was a long narrow roller or bandage--I should say, of several +yards in extent. In this, I SAW Mrs. Prodgit tightly roll the body of my +unoffending infant, turning him over and over, now presenting his +unconscious face upward, now the back of his bald head, until the +unnatural feat was accomplished, and the bandage secured by a pin, which +I have every reason to believe entered the body of my only child. In +this tourniquet, he passes the present phase of his existence. Can I +know it, and smile! + +I fear I have been betrayed into expressing myself warmly, but I feel +deeply. Not for myself; for Augustus George. I dare not interfere. Will +any one? Will any publication? Any doctor? Any parent? Any body? I do +not complain that Mrs. Prodgit (aided and abetted by Mrs. Bigby) +entirely alienates Maria Jane's affections from me, and interposes an +impassable barrier between us. I do not complain of being made of no +account. I do not want to be of any account. But Augustus George is a +production of Nature (I can not think otherwise) and I claim that he +should be treated with some remote reference to Nature. In my opinion, +Mrs. Prodgit is, from first to last, a convention and a superstition. +Are all the faculty afraid of Mrs. Prodgit? If not, why don't they take +her in hand and improve her? + +P.S. Maria Jane's mamma boasts of her own knowledge of the subject, and +says she brought up seven children besides Maria Jane. But how do +_I_ know that she might not have brought them up much better? Maria +Jane herself is far from strong, and is subject to headaches, and +nervous indigestion. Besides which, I learn from the statistical tables +that one child in five dies within the first year of its life; and one +child in three within the fifth. That don't look as if we could never +improve in these particulars, I think! + +P.P.S. Augustus George is in convulsions. + + + + +THE FARM-LABORER.--THE FATHER. + + BY HARRIET MARTINEAU. + + +When George Banks was nearly thirty years of age, he married. He had +always been happy, except for one great drawback: and now he hoped to be +happier than ever; and, indeed, he was. The drawback was that his father +drank. Banks had been brought up to expect a little property which +should make life easy to him; but, while still a youth, he gave up all +thought of any property but such as he might earn. He saw every thing +going to ruin at home; and he and his sister, finding that their father +was irreclaimable, resolved to go out and work for themselves, and for +their mother while she lived. The sister went out to service, and Banks +became a farm-laborer. Their father's pride was hurt at their sinking +below the station they were born to; but they were obliged to disregard +his anger when an honest maintenance was in question. There was a +smaller drawback, by the way; Banks was rather deaf, and he thought the +deafness increased a little; but it was not enough to stand in the way +of his employment as a laborer; he could hear the sermon in church; and +Betsy did not mind it, so he did not. He had a good master in old Mr. +Wilkes, a large farmer in a southern county. Mr. Wilkes paid him +12_s._ a week all the year round, and £5 for the harvest month. For +some years Banks laid by a good deal of money; so did Betsy, who was a +housemaid at Mr. Wilkes's. When they became engaged, they had between +them £50 laid by. + +Banks took a cottage of three rooms, with nearly half a rood of +garden-ground. They furnished their house really well, with substantial +new furniture, and enough of it. In those days of high prices it made a +great cut out of their money: but they agreed that they should never +repent it. Banks had the privilege of a run on the common for his cow, +and of as much peat as he chose to cut and carry for fuel. He had seen +the consequences of intemperance in his father's case, and he was a +water-drinker. He seldom touched even beer, except at harvest-time, when +his wife brewed for him, that they might keep clear of the public-house. + +During the whole of their lives to this day (and they are now old) they +have never bought any thing whatever without having the money in their +hands to pay for it. If they had not the money, they no more thought of +having the article than if it had been at the North Pole. They paid £5 a +year for their cottage, and the poor rate has always been from 15_s._ to +20_s._ a year. It was war-time when they married, in 1812; and the dread +came across them now and then, of a recruiting party appearing, or of +Banks being drawn for the militia; but they hoped that the deafness +would save them from this misfortune. And the fear was not for long: in +1814, peace was proclaimed. It was a merry night--that when the great +bonfire was lighted for the peace. Mrs. Banks could not go to see it, +for she was in her second confinement at the time; but her husband came +to her bedside and told her all about it. She had never seen him so gay. +He was always cheerful and sweet-tempered; but he was of a grave cast +of character, which the deafness had deepened into a constant +thoughtfulness. This night, however, he was very talkative, telling her +what good times were coming, now that Bonaparte was put down; how every +man might stay at home at his proper business, and there would be fewer +beggars and lower poor rates, and every thing would go well, with God's +blessing on a nation at peace. The next year there was war again; but, +almost as soon as it was known that Bonaparte had reappeared, the news +came of the battle of Waterloo, and there was an end of all apprehension +of war. + +In eleven years they had eleven children. There was both joy and sorrow +with those children. For seven years, the eldest, little Polly, was +nothing but joy to her parents. She was the prettiest little girl they +had ever seen; and the neighbors thought so too. She was bright and +merry, perfectly obedient, very clever, and so handy that she was a +helpful little maid to her mother. When three infants died, one after +another, her father found comfort in taking this child on his knees in +the evenings, and getting her to prattle to him. Her clear little merry +voice came easily to his ear, when he could not hear older people +without difficulty. The next child, Tom, was a blessing in his way: he +was a strong little fellow of six; and he went out with Banks to the +field, and really did some useful work--frightening the birds, leading +the horses, picking sticks, weeding, running errands, and so on. But the +charm at home was little Polly. When Polly was seven, however, a sad +accident happened. She was taking care of the little ones before the +door, during her mother's confinement, and one of the boys struck her on +the top of the head with a saucepan. She fell, and when she was taken up +she looked so strangely that the doctor was consulted about her. After +watching her for some weeks he said he feared there was some injury to +the brain. Banks has had many troubles in life, but none has been sorer +than that of seeing the change that came over this child. It was not the +loss of her beauty that made his heart ache when he looked in her face: +it was the staring, uneasy expression of countenance which made him turn +his eyes away in pain of heart. She grew jealous and suspicious; and, +though no mood of mind remained many minutes, this was a sad contrast +with the open sweetness of temper that they were never more to see. She +did as she was bid; she went on learning to cook and to sew, and she +could clean the house; but she never remembered from one minute to +another what she was to do, and was always asking questions about things +that she had known all her life. Her uncle (her mother's brother), who +was well off in the world, and had no children, took her home, saying +that change and going to school would make all the difference in her. +But she had no memory, and could learn nothing, while she lost the +mechanical things she could do at home. So, after a patient trial of +three years, her uncle brought her home, and took, in her stead, the +bright little Susan, now four years old. Polly never got better. After a +time, fits of languor came on occasionally, and her mother could not get +her out of bed; and now she sometimes lies for many days together, as in +a swoon, looking like one dying, but always reviving again, though +declining on the whole; so that it is thought it can not now go on very +long. + +Tom never went to school. There was no school within reach, while he was +a very little boy, and when a new clergyman's lady came and set up one, +Tom was thought rather too old to begin; and, besides, his father really +could not spare his earnings. Old Mr. Wilkes was dead, and his son, +succeeding to the farm, complained of bad times, and reduced his +laborers' wages to 11_s._, and then 10_s._, and then 9_s._, while the +poor-rate went on increasing. Tom can not read or write, and his father +is very sorry for it. The boy always seemed, however, to have that +sobriety of mind and good sense which education is thought necessary to +give. The fact is, he has had no mean education in being the associate +of his honorable-minded father. He grew up as grave as his father, +thoughtful and considerate, while very clever. He is a prodigious +worker, gets through more work than any other man in the neighborhood, +and does it in a better manner. Earning in his best days only 9_s._ a +week, and not being sure of that, he has never married, nor thought of +marrying; and a great loss that is to some good woman. + +The school being set up while Harry was a little fellow, he was sent to +it, and he remained at it till he was twelve years old. It was well +meant for him--well meant by the lady and by his parents; but the +schoolmistress "was not equal to her business," as the family mildly +say. Those years were almost entirely lost. Harry was remarkably clever, +always earnest in what he was about, always steady and business-like, +and eager to learn; yet he came away, after all those years, barely able +to spell out a chapter in the Testament on Sundays, and scarcely able to +sign his own name. He tried to use and improve his learning, putting in, +where beans and peas were sown, slips of wood with banes and pase upon +them, and holding a pen with all his force when he wanted to write his +name; but he felt all along that he had better have been obtaining the +knowledge which the earnest mind may gain in the open fields, unless he +had been really well taught. + +By this time there were few at home, and the home had become grave and +somewhat sad. Six children had died in infancy--the oldest dying under +three years old. Susan was at her uncle's, and not likely to come home +again; for her aunt had become insane, and was subject to epilepsy to +such a degree that she could not be left. Some people thought Susan's +prospects very fine, for her uncle promised great things as to providing +for her and leaving her property; but the story of her grandfather was a +warning to her. Her uncle was falling into drinking habits, and this +young girl, supposed to be so fortunate, often found herself with her +aunt on one side in an epileptic fit, and her uncle on the other +helplessly or violently drunk. He was an amiable man, and always, when +remonstrated with, admitted his fault and promised amendment. It ended, +however, in his being reduced in his old age to the point of screwing +out of Susan her earnings at service, under the name of debt, and +finding a home with her old father. Instead of enjoying his money, she +enjoys the comfort of having gloriously discharged her duty to him, and +she seems to be quite content. + +But of the small party at home. The sons did not live at home, but they +were not far off. Their honest faces looked in pretty often, and they +were so good that their father had a constant pride in them. It was +little more than seeing them, for Banks was now so deaf that +conversation was out of the question. He went to church every Sunday, as +he had always done; but every body knew that he did not hear one word of +the service. His wife, exhausted by care and grief for her children, was +too feeble to be much of a companion to him; and many a long night now +he was kept awake by rheumatism. Yet no one ever saw a cross look in +either, or heard a complaining word. Their house was clean; their +clothes were neat; and, somehow or other, they went on paying poor-rate. +One of the daughters says, "We always live very comfortably;" and the +sons were told that, if their employment failed, they were always to +come to their father's for a dinner. Banks worked harder and with more +intenseness of mind at his garden, and they still continued to keep a +pig; so they reckoned upon always having bacon and vegetables--summer +vegetables, at least--upon the table. The youngest daughter lived at +home, and earned a humble subsistence by stay-making and dress-making +for the neighbors. She could read and write well enough to be a comfort +if any letter came from a distance (an incident which, as we shall see, +was hereafter to happen often), and to amuse her mother in illness with +a book. Lizzy was not so clever as her brothers and Susan, but she was a +good girl and a steady worker. + +But soon the second Mr. Wilkes died rather suddenly. Banks's heart sank +at the news. He had been attached to his employer, and valued by him, +though his earnings had been so much reduced; and he had a misgiving +that there would be a change for the worse under the young master. It +was too true. The young master soon began to complain of want of money, +and to turn off his laborers. He told Banks to his face that being now +past sixty, and rheumatic at times, it was impossible that his work +could be worth what it was, and he should have no more than six +shillings a week henceforth. It was a terrible blow; but there was no +help for it. A deaf old man had no chance of getting work in any new +place; and the choice was simply between getting six shillings a week +and being turned off. If his heart was ever weak within him, it must +have been now. His savings were all gone years ago; there was no +security that he would not be turned off any day. His children really +could give him no effectual help; for the sons could not marry, and the +daughters were not fully maintaining themselves. The workhouse was an +intolerable thought to one who had paid rates, as he had done ever since +he married. It was a dark time now, the very darkest. Yet the grave man +lost nothing of his outward composure and gentleness. They were not +without friends. The clergyman had his eye upon them; and Mrs. Wilkes, +the widow, sent for Mrs. Banks once a year to spend two or three days +with her, and talk over old times; and she always sent her guest home +with a new gown. The friendship of some, and the respect of all, were as +hearty as ever. + +Some comfort was near at hand: and out of one comfort grew several. +Susan first found herself well placed; and soon after, and as a +consequence, Harry, and then, and again as a consequence, Tom; and then, +Lizzy. About this, more will be told hereafter. The next thing that +befell was a piece of personal comfort to Banks himself. A deaf lady, at +a distance, sent him an ear-trumpet--with little hope that it would be +of use--so long, and so extremely deaf as he was. He took it to church, +and heard the service for the first time for twenty years. Steady and +composed as he usually was, he now cried for a whole day. After that he +cheered up delightfully; but nothing could make him use his trumpet on +week days. It was too precious for any day but Sundays. When the lady +heard this, she sent him an old shabby one for every day use, and it +makes a great difference in his everyday life. + +Next, the good clergyman found himself able to do something that he had +long and earnestly wished, to let out some allotments to laborers. Banks +obtained one immediately; a quarter of an acre of good land, at a rent +of ten shillings a year. The benefit of this is very great. He is still +strong enough to cultivate it well; and, by his knowledge, as well as +his industry, makes it admirably productive. In the midst of this little +brightening of his prospects, there is one overshadowing fear which it +sickens the heart to hear of; it happened that, by an accident which +need not be detailed, the fact got into print that one of the sons at a +distance had sent some money to his old father. The family were +immediately in terror lest the employer should hear of it, and should +turn off his old servant on the plea that he had other means of +subsistence than his labor. It is not credible that such a thing should +be done in the face of society. It is not credible that any one should +desire to do such a thing. But that the fear should exist is mournful +enough, and tells a significant tale; a tale too significant to need to +be spoken out. + +Banks is, as we have said a silent man. He does not pour out his heart +in speech, as some of us do who have much less in our hearts than he. +And there is surely no need. We want no prompting from him to feel that +wrong must exist somewhere when a glorious integrity, a dignified virtue +like his, has been allied with sinking fortunes through life, and has no +prospect of repose but in the grave. + + + + +JANE ECCLES; OR, CONFESSIONS OF AN ATTORNEY. + + +The criminal business of the office was, during the first three or four +years of our partnership, entirely superintended by Mr. Flint; he being +more _au fait_, from early practice, than myself in the art and +mystery of prosecuting and defending felons, and I was thus happily +relieved of duties which, in the days when George III. was king, were +frequently very oppressive and revolting. The criminal practitioner +dwelt in an atmosphere tainted alike with cruelty and crime, and +pulsating alternately with merciless decrees of death, and the shrieks +and wailings of sentenced guilt. And not always guilt! There exist many +records of proofs, incontestable, but obtained too late, of innocence +having been legally strangled on the gallows in other cases than that of +Eliza Fenning. How could it be otherwise with a criminal code crowded in +every line with penalties of death, nothing but--death? Juster, wiser +times have dawned upon us, in which truer notions prevail of what man +owes to man, even when sitting in judgment on transgressors; and this we +owe, let us not forget, to the exertions of a band of men who, +undeterred by the sneers of the reputedly wise and _practical_ men +of the world, and the taunts of "influential" newspapers, persisted in +teaching that the rights of property could be more firmly cemented than +by the shedding of blood--law, justice, personal security more +effectually vindicated than by the gallows. Let me confess that I also +was, for many years, among the mockers, and sincerely held such +"theorists" and "dreamers" as Sir Samuel Romilly and his fellow-workers +in utter contempt. Not so my partner Mr. Flint. Constantly in the +presence of criminal judges and juries, he had less confidence in the +unerring verity of their decisions than persons less familiar with them, +or who see them only through the medium of newspapers. Nothing could +exceed his distress of mind if, in cases in which he was prosecuting +attorney, a convict died persisting in his innocence, or without a full +confession of guilt. And to such a pitch did this morbidly-sensitive +feeling at length arrive, that he all at once refused to undertake, or +in any way meddle with, criminal prosecutions, and they were +consequently turned over to our head clerk, with occasional assistance +from me if there happened to be a press of business of the sort. Mr. +Flint still, however, retained a monopoly of the _defenses_, except +when, from some temporary cause or other, he happened to be otherwise +engaged, when they fell to me. One of these I am about to relate, the +result of which, whatever other impression it produced, thoroughly cured +me--as it may the reader--of any propensity to sneer or laugh at +criminal-law reformers and denouncers of the gallows. + +One forenoon, during the absence of Mr. Flint in Wiltshire, a Mrs. +Margaret Davies called at the office, in apparently great distress of +mind. This lady, I must premise, was an old, or at all events an elderly +maiden, of some four-and-forty years of age--I have heard a very +intimate female friend of hers say she would never see fifty again, but +this was spite--and possessed of considerable house property in rather +poor localities. She found abundant employment for energies which might +otherwise have turned to cards and scandal, in collecting her weekly, +monthly, and quarterly rents, and in promoting, or fancying she did, the +religious and moral welfare of her tenants. Very barefaced, I well knew, +were the impositions practiced upon her credulous good-nature in money +matters, and I strongly suspected the spiritual and moral promises and +performances of her motley tenantry exhibited as much discrepancy as +those pertaining to rent. Still, deceived or cheated as she might be, +good Mrs. Davies never wearied in what she conceived to be well-doing, +and was ever ready to pour balm and oil into the wounds of the sufferer, +however self-inflicted or deserved. + +"What is the matter now?" I asked as soon as the good lady was seated, +and had untied and loosened her bonnet, and thrown back her shawl, fast +walking having heated her prodigiously. "Nothing worse than +transportation is, I hope, likely to befall any of those interesting +clients of yours?" + +"You are a hard-hearted man, Mr. Sharp," replied Mrs. Davies between a +smile and a cry; "but being a lawyer, that is of course natural, and, as +I am not here to consult you as a Christian, of no consequence." + +"Complimentary, Mrs. Davies; but pray go on." + +"You know Jane Eccles, one of my tenants in Bank Buildings: the +embroidress who adopted her sister's orphan child?" + +"I remember her name. She obtained, if I recollect rightly, a balance of +wages for her due to the child's father, a mate, who died at sea. Well, +what has befallen her?" + +"A terrible accusation has been preferred against her," rejoined Mrs. +Davies; "but as for a moment believing it, that is quite out of the +question. Jane Eccles," continued the warm-hearted lady, at the same +time extracting a crumpled newspaper from the miscellaneous contents of +her reticule--"Jane Eccles works hard from morning till night, keeps +herself to herself; her little nephew and her rooms are always as clean +and nice as a new pin; she attends church regularly; and pays her rent +punctually to the day. This disgraceful story, therefore," she added, +placing the journal in my hands, "_can not_ be true." + +I glanced over the police news: "Uttering forged Bank-of-England notes, +knowing them to be forged," I exclaimed, "The devil!" + +"There's no occasion to be spurting that name out so loudly, Mr. Sharp," +said Mrs. Davies with some asperity, "especially in a lawyer's office. +People have been wrongfully accused before to-day, I suppose?" + +I was intent on the report, and not answering, +she continued, "I heard nothing of it till I read the shameful account +in the paper half an hour agone. The poor slandered girl was, I daresay, +afraid or ashamed to send for me." + +"This appears to be a very bad case, Mrs. Davies," I said at length. +"Three forged ten-pound notes changed in one day at different shops each +time, under the pretense of purchasing articles of small amount, and +another ten-pound note found in her pocket! All that has, I must say, a +very ugly look." + +"I don't care," exclaimed Mrs. Davies, quite fiercely, "if it looks as +ugly as sin, or if the whole Bank of England was found in her pocket! I +know Jane Eccles well: she nursed me last spring through the fever; and +I would be upon my oath that the whole story, from beginning to end, is +an invention of the devil, or something worse!" + +"Jane Eccles," I persisted, "appears to have been unable or unwilling to +give the slightest explanation as to how she became possessed of the +spurious notes. Who is this brother of hers, 'of such highly-respectable +appearance,' according to the report, who was permitted a private +interview with her previous to the examination?" + +"She has no brother that I have ever heard of," said Mrs. Davies. "It +must be a mistake of the papers." + +"That is not likely. You observed, of course, that she was fully +committed--and no wonder!" + +Mrs. Davies's faith in the young woman's integrity was not to be shaken +by any evidence save that of her own bodily eyes, and I agreed to see +Jane Eccles on the morrow, and make the best arrangements for the +defense--at Mrs. Davies's charge--which the circumstances and the short +time I should have for preparation--the Old Bailey session would be on +in a few days--permitted. The matter so far settled, Mrs. Margaret +hurried off to see what had become of little Henry, the prisoner's +nephew. + +I visited Jane Eccles the next day in Newgate. She was a well-grown +young woman of about two or three-and-twenty--not exactly pretty, +perhaps, but very well-looking. Her brown hair was plainly worn, without +a cap, and the expression of her face was, I thought, one of sweetness +and humility, contradicted in some degree by rather harsh lines about +the mouth, denoting strong will and purpose. As a proof of the existence +of this last characteristic, I may here mention that when her first +overweening confidence had yielded to doubt, she, although dotingly-fond +of her nephew, at this time about eight years of age, firmly refused to +see him, "in order," she once said to me, and the thought brought a +deadly pallor to her face--"in order that, should the worst befall, her +memory might not be involuntarily connected in his mind with images of +dungeons, and disgrace, and shame." Jane Eccles had received what is +called in the country "a good schooling," and the books Mrs. Davies had +lent her she had eagerly perused. She was, therefore, to a certain +extent, a cultivated person; and her speech and manners were mild, +gentle, and, so to speak, religious. I generally found, when I visited +her, a Bible or prayer-book in her hand. This, however, from my +experience, comparatively slight though it was, did not much impress me +in her favor--devotional sentiment, so easily, for a brief time, +assumed, being, in nine such cases out of ten, a hypocritical deceit. +Still she, upon the whole, made a decidedly favorable impression on me, +and I no longer so much wondered at the bigotry of unbelief manifested +by Mrs. Davies in behalf of her apparently amiable and grateful +protégée. + +But beyond the moral doubt thus suggested of the prisoner's guilt, my +interviews with her utterly failed to extract any thing from her in +rebutment of the charge upon which she was about to be arraigned. At +first she persisted in asserting that the prosecution was based upon +manifest error; that the impounded notes, instead of being forged, were +genuine Bank-of-England paper. It was some time before I succeeded in +convincing her that this hope, to which she so eagerly, desperately +clung, was a fallacious one. I did so at last; and either, thought I, as +I marked her varying color and faltering voice, "either you are a +consummate actress, or else the victim of some frightful delusion or +conspiracy." + +"I will see you, if you please, to-morrow," she said, looking up from +the chair upon which, with her head bowed and her face covered with her +hands, she had been seated for several minutes in silence. "My thoughts +are confused now, but to-morrow I shall be more composed; better able to +decide if--to talk, I mean, of this unhappy business." + +I thought it better to comply without remonstrance, and at once took my +leave. + +When I returned the next afternoon, the governor of the prison informed +me that the brother of my client, James Eccles, quite a dashing +gentleman, had had a long interview with her. He had left about two +hours before, with the intention, he said, of calling upon me. + +I was conducted to the room where my conferences with the prisoner +usually took place. In a few minutes she appeared, much flushed and +excited, it seemed to be alternately with trembling joy, and hope, and +doubt, and nervous fear. + +"Well," I said, "I trust you are now ready to give me your unreserved +confidence, without which, be assured, that any reasonable hope of a +successful issue from the peril in which you are involved is out of the +question." + +The varying emotions I have noticed were clearly traceable as they swept +over her telltale countenance during the minute or so that elapsed +before she spoke. + +"Tell me candidly, sir," she said at last, "whether, if I owned to you +that the notes were given to me by a--a person, whom I can not, if I +would, produce, to purchase various articles at different shops, and +return him--the person I mean--the change; and that I made oath this +was done by me in all innocence of heart, as the God of heaven and earth +truly knows it was, it would avail me?" + +"Not in the least," I replied, angry at such trifling. "How can you ask +such a question? We must _find_ the person who, you intimate, has +deceived you, and placed your life in peril; and if that can be proved, +hang him instead of you. I speak plainly, Miss Eccles," I added, in a +milder tone; "perhaps you may think unfeelingly, but there is no further +time for playing with this dangerous matter. To-morrow a true-bill will +be found against you, and your trial may then come on immediately. If +you are careless for yourself, you ought to have some thought for the +sufferings of your excellent friend Mrs. Davies; for your nephew, soon, +perhaps, to be left friendless and destitute." + +"Oh, spare me--spare me!" sobbed the unhappy young woman, sinking +nervelessly into a seat. "Have pity upon me, wretched, bewildered as I +am!" Tears relieved her; and, after a while, she said: "It is useless, +sir, to prolong this interview. I could not, I solemnly assure you, if I +would, tell you where to search for, or find the person of whom I spoke. +And," she added, while the lines about her mouth of which I have spoken +grew distinct and rigid, "I would not, if I could. What, indeed, would +it, as I have been told and believe, avail, but to cause the death of +two deceived, innocent persons, instead of one? Besides," she continued, +trying to speak with firmness, and repress the shudder which crept over +and shook her as with ague--"besides, whatever the verdict, the penalty +will not, can not, I am sure, I know, be--be--" + +I understood her plainly enough, although her resolution failed to +sustain her through the sentence. + +"Who is this brother, James Eccles he calls himself, whom you saw at the +police-office, and who has twice been here, I understand--once to-day?" + +A quick start revealed the emotion with which she heard the question, +and her dilated eyes rested upon me for a moment with eager scrutiny. +She speedily recovered her presence of mind, and, with her eyes again +fixed on the floor, said, in a quivering voice: "My brother! Yes--as you +say--my brother!" + +"Mrs. Davies says you have no brother!" I sharply rejoined. + +"Good Mrs. Davies," she replied, in a tone scarcely above a whisper, and +without raising her head, "does not know all our family." + +A subterfuge was, I was confident, concealed in these words; but after +again and again urging her to confide in me, and finding warning and +persuasion alike useless, I withdrew discomfited and angry; and withal +as much concerned and grieved as baffled and indignant. On going out, I +arranged with the governor that the "brother," if he again made his +appearance, should be detained _bongrè malgrè_, till my arrival. +Our precaution was too late: he did not reappear; and so little notice +had any one taken of his person, that to advertise a description of him +with a reward for his apprehension was hopeless. + +A true bill was found, and two hours afterward Jane Eccles was placed in +the dock. The trial did not last more than twenty minutes, at the end of +which, an unhesitating verdict of guilty was returned, and she was duly +sentenced to be hanged by the neck till she was dead. We had retained +the ablest counsel practicing in the court, but, with no tangible +defense, their efforts were merely thrown away. Upon being asked what +she had to say why the sentence of the law should not be carried into +effect, she repeated her previous statement--that the notes had been +given her to change by a person in whom she reposed the utmost +confidence; and that she had not the slightest thought of evil or fraud +in what she did. That person, however, she repeated once more, could not +be produced. Her assertions only excited a derisive smile; and all +necessary forms having been gone through, she was removed from the bar. + +The unhappy woman bore the ordeal through which she had just passed with +much firmness. Once only, while sentence was being passed, her +high-strung resolution appeared to falter and give way. I was watching +her intently, and I observed that she suddenly directed a piercing look +toward a distant part of the crowded court. In a moment her eye +lightened, the expression of extreme horror which had momently darkened +her countenance passed away, and her partial composure returned. I had +instinctively, as it were, followed her glance, and thought I detected a +tall man, enveloped in a cloak, engaged in dumb momentary communication +with her. I jumped up from my seat, and hastened as quickly as I could +through the thronged passages to the spot, and looked eagerly around, +but the man, whosoever he might be, was gone. + +The next act in this sad drama was the decision of the Privy Council +upon the recorder's report. It came. Several were reprieved, but among +them was _not_ Jane Eccles. She and nine others were to perish at +eight o'clock on the following morning. + +The anxiety and worry inseparable from this most unhappy affair, which +from Mr. Flint's protracted absence, I had exclusively to bear, fairly +knocked me up, and on the evening of the day on which the decision of +the council was received, I went to bed much earlier than usual, and +really ill. Sleep I could not, and I was tossing restlessly about, +vainly endeavoring to banish from my mind the gloomy and terrible images +connected with the wretched girl and her swiftly-coming fate, when a +quick tap sounded on the door, and a servant's voice announced that one +of the clerks had brought a letter which the superscription directed to +be read without a moment's delay. I sprang out of bed, snatched the +letter, and eagerly ran it over. It was from the Newgate chaplain, a +very worthy, humane gentleman, and stated that, on hearing the result +of the deliberations of the Privy Council, all the previous stoicism and +fortitude exhibited by Jane Eccles had completely given way, and she had +abandoned herself to the wildest terror and despair. As soon as she +could speak coherently, she implored the governor with frantic +earnestness to send for me. As this was not only quite useless in the +opinion of that official, but against the rules, the prisoner's request +was not complied with. The chaplain, however, thinking it might be as +well that I should know of her desire to see me, had of his own accord +sent me this note. He thought that possibly the sheriffs would permit me +to have a brief interview with the condemned prisoner in the morning, if +I arrived sufficiently early; and although it could avail nothing as +regarded her fate in this world, still it might perhaps calm the +frightful tumult of emotion by which she was at present tossed and +shaken, and enable her to meet the inevitable hour with fortitude and +resignation. + +It was useless to return to bed after receiving such a communication, +and I forthwith dressed myself, determined to sit up and read, if I +could, till the hour at which I might hope to be admitted to the jail +should strike. Slowly and heavily the dark night limped away, and as the +first rays of the cold wintry dawn reached the earth, I sallied forth. A +dense, brutal crowd were already assembled in front of the prison, and +hundreds of well-dressed sight-seers occupied the opposite windows, +morbidly eager for the rising of the curtain upon the mournful tragedy +about to be enacted. I obtained admission without much difficulty, but, +till the arrival of the sheriffs, no conference with the condemned +prisoners could be possibly permitted. Those important functionaries +happened on this morning to arrive unusually late, and I paced up and +down the paved corridor in a fever of impatience and anxiety. They were +at last announced, but before I could, in the hurry and confusion, +obtain speech of either of them, the dismal bell tolled out, and I felt +with a shudder that it was no longer possible to effect my object. +"Perhaps it is better so," observed the reverend chaplain in a whisper. +"She has been more composed for the last two or three hours, and is now, +I trust, in a better frame of mind for death." I turned, sick at heart, +to leave the place, and in my agitation missing the right way, came +directly in view of the terrible procession. Jane Eccles saw me, and a +terrific scream, followed by frantic heart-rending appeals to me to save +her, burst with convulsive effort from her white quivering lips. Never +will the horror of that moment pass from my remembrance. I staggered +back, as if every spasmodic word struck me like a blow; and then, +directed by one of the turnkeys, sped in an opposite direction as fast +as my trembling limbs could carry me--the shrieks of the wretched +victim, the tolling of the dreadful bell, and the obscene jeers and +mocks of the foul crowd through which I had to force my way, evoking a +confused tumult of disgust and horror in my brain, which, if long +continued, would have driven me mad. On reaching home, I was bled +freely, and got to bed. This treatment, I have no doubt, prevented a +violent access of fever; for, as it was, several days passed before I +could be safely permitted to re-engage in business. + +On revisiting the office, a fragment of a letter written by Jane Eccles +a few hours previous to her death, and evidently addressed to Mrs. +Davies, was placed by Mr. Flint, who had by this time returned, before +me. The following is an exact copy of it, with the exception that the +intervals which I have marked with dots, . . . . . were filled with +erasures and blots, and that every word seemed to have been traced by a +hand smitten with palsy: + + "From my Death-place, _Midnight_. + +"DEAR MADAM--No, beloved friend, mother let me call you . . . . +. . Oh, kind, gentle mother, I am to die . . . . . to be killed in a few +hours by cruel man!--I, so young, so unprepared for death, and yet +guiltless! Oh, never doubt that I am guiltless of the offense for which +they will have the heart to hang me . . . . . Nobody, they say, can save +me now; yet if I could see the lawyer . . . . I have been deceived, +cruelly deceived, madam--buoyed up by lying hopes, till just now the +thunder burst, and I--oh God! . . . . As they spoke, the fearful chapter +in the Testament came bodily before me--the rending of the vail in +twain, the terrible darkness, and the opened graves! . . . . I did not +write for this, but my brain aches and dazzles . . . . It is too +late--too late, they all tell me! . . . . . Ah, if these dreadful laws +were not so swift, I might yet--but no; _he_ clearly proved to me +how useless . . . . . I must not think of that . . . . . It is of my +nephew, of your Henry, child of my affections, that I would speak. Oh, +that I . . . . . But hark!--they are coming . . . . . The day has dawned +. . . . . to me the day of judgment! . . . . . ." + +This incoherent scrawl only confirmed my previous suspicions, but it was +useless to dwell further on the melancholy subject. The great ax had +fallen, and whether justly or unjustly, would, I feared, as in many, +very many other cases, never be clearly ascertained in this world. I was +mistaken. Another case of "uttering forged Bank-of-England notes, +knowing them to be forged," which came under our cognizance a few months +afterward, revived the fading memory of Jane Eccles's early doom, and +cleared up every obscurity connected with it. + +The offender in this new case was a tall, dark-complexioned, handsome +man, of about thirty years of age, of the name of Justin Arnold. His +lady mother, whose real name I shall conceal under that of Barton, +retained us for her son's defense, and from her and other sources we +learned the following particulars: + +Justin Arnold was the lady's son by a former marriage. Mrs. Barton, +still a splendid woman, had, in second nuptials, espoused a very wealthy +person, and from time to time had covertly supplied Justin Arnold's +extravagance. This, however, from the wild course the young man pursued, +could not be for ever continued, and after many warnings, the supplies +were stopped. Incapable of reformation, Justin Arnold, in order to +obtain the means of dissipation, connected himself with a +cleverly-organized band of swindlers and forgers, who so adroitly +managed their nefarious business, that, till his capture, they had +contrived to keep themselves clear of the law--the inferior tools and +dupes having been alone caught in its fatal meshes. The defense, under +these circumstances necessarily a difficult, almost impossible one, was +undertaken by Mr. Flint, and conducted by him with his accustomed skill +and energy. + +I took a very slight interest in the matter, and heard very little +concerning it till its judicial conclusion by the conviction of the +offender, and his condemnation to death. The decision on the recorder's +report was this time communicated to the authorities of Newgate on a +Saturday, so that the batch ordered for execution, among whom was Justin +Arnold, would not be hanged till the Monday morning. Rather late in the +evening a note once more reached me from the chaplain of the prison. +Justin Arnold wished to see me--_me_, not Mr. Flint. He had +something of importance to communicate, he said, relative to a person in +whom I had once felt great interest. It flashed across me that this +Justin might be the "brother" of Jane Eccles, and I determined to see +him. I immediately sought out one of the sheriffs, and obtained an order +empowering me to see the prisoner on the afternoon of the morrow +(Sunday.) + +I found that the convict expressed great anxiety lest I should decline +to see him. My hoped-for visit was the only matter which appeared to +occupy the mind or excite the care of the mocking, desperate young man; +even the early and shameful termination of his own life on the morrow he +seemed to be utterly reckless of. Thus prepared, I was the less +surprised at the scene which awaited me in the prisoner's cell, where I +found him in angry altercation with the pale, affrighted chaplain. + +I had never seen Justin Arnold before; this I was convinced of the +instant I saw him; but he knew, and greeted me instantly by name. His +swarthy, excited features were flushed and angry, and after briefly +thanking me for complying with his wishes, he added in a violent, rapid +tone, "This good man has been teasing me. He says, and truly, that I +have defied God by my life; and now he wishes me to mock that +inscrutable Being, on the eve of death, by words without sense, meaning, +or truth!" + +"No, no, no!" ejaculated the reverend gentleman. "I exhorted you to true +repentance, to peace, charity, to--" + +"True repentance, peace, charity!" broke in the prisoner with a scornful +burst: "when my heart is full of rage, and bitterness, and despair! Give +me _time_ for this repentance which you say is so needful--time to +lure back long since banished hope, and peace, and faith! Poh!--you but +flout me with words without meaning. I am unfit, you say, for the +presence of men, but quite fit for that of God, before whom you are +about to arrogantly cast me! Be it so: my deeds upon my head! It is at +least not my fault that I am hurled to judgment before the Eternal Judge +himself commanded my presence there!" + +"He may be unworthy to live," murmured the scared chaplain, "but, oh, +how utterly unfit to die!" + +"That is true," rejoined Justin Arnold with undiminished vehemence. +"Those, if you will, are words of truth and sense: go you and preach +them to the makers and executioners of English law. In the mean time I +would speak privately with this gentleman." + +The reverend pastor, with a mute gesture of compassion, sorrow, and +regret, was about to leave the cell, when he was stayed by the prisoner, +who exclaimed, "Now I think of it, you had better, sir, remain. The +statement I am about to make can not, for the sake of the victim's +reputation, and for her friends' sake, have too many witnesses. You both +remember Jane Eccles?" A broken exclamation from both of us answered +him, and he quickly added--"Ah, you already guess the truth, I see. +Well, I do not wonder you should start and turn pale. It _was_ a +cruel, shameless deed--a dastardly murder, if there was ever one. In as +few words as possible, so you interrupt me not, I will relate _my_ +share in the atrocious business." He spoke rapidly, and once or twice +during the brief recital the moistened eye and husky voice betrayed +emotions which his pride would have concealed. + +"Jane and I were born in Hertfordshire, within a short distance of each +other. I knew her from a child. She was better off then, I worse than we +subsequently became--she by her father's bankruptcy, I by my mo--, by +Mrs. Barton's wealthy marriage. She was about nineteen, I twenty-four, +when I left the country for London. That she loved me with all the +fervor of a trusting woman I well knew; and I had, too, for some time +known that she must be either honorably wooed or not at all. That with +me was out of the question, and, as I told you, I came about that time +to London. You can, I daresay, imagine the rest. We were--I and my +friends I mean--at a loss for agents to dispose of our wares, and at the +same time pressed for money. I met Jane Eccles by accident. Genteel, of +graceful address and winning manners, she was just fitted for our +purpose. I feigned reawakened love, proffered marriage, and a home +across the Atlantic, as soon as certain trifling but troublesome affairs +which momently harassed me were arranged. She believed me. I got her to +change a considerable number of notes under various pretexts, but that +they were forged she had not and could not have the remotest suspicion. +You know the catastrophe. After her apprehension I visited this prison as her brother, and buoyed +her up to the last with illusions of certain pardon and release, +whatever the verdict, through the influence of my wealthy father-in-law, +of our immediate union afterward, and tranquil American home. It is +needless to say more. She trusted me, and I sacrificed her--less +flagrant instances of a like nature occur every day. And now, gentlemen, +I would fain be alone." + +"Remorseless villain!" I could not exclaiming under my breath as he +moved away. + +He turned quickly back, and looking me in the face, without the +slightest anger said, "An execrable villain if you like--not a +remorseless one! Her death alone sits near, and troubles my to all else +hardened conscience. And let me tell you, reverend sir," he continued, +resuming his former bitterness as he addressed the chaplain--"let me +tell you that it was not the solemn words of the judge the other day, +but her pale, reproachful image, standing suddenly beside me in the +dock, just as she looked when I passed my last deception on her, that +caused the tremor and affright, complacently attributed by that grave +functionary to his own sepulchral eloquence. After all, her death can +not be exclusively laid to my charge. Those who tried her would not +believe her story, and yet it was true as death. Had they not been so +confident in their own unerring wisdom, they might have doomed her to +some punishment short of the scaffold, and could now have retrieved +their error. But I am weary, and would, I repeat, be alone. Farewell!" +He threw himself on the rude pallet, and we silently withdrew. + +A paper embodying Justin Arnold's declaration was forwarded to the +secretary of state, and duly acknowledged, accompanied by an official +expression of mild regret that it had not been in time to save the life +of Jane Eccles. No further notice was taken of the matter, and the +record of the young woman's judicial sacrifice still doubtless encumbers +the archives of the Home Office, forming, with numerous others of like +character, the dark, sanguine background upon which the achievements of +the great and good men who have so successfully purged the old Draco +code that now a faint vestige only of the old barbarism remains, stand +out in bright relief and changeless lustre. + + + + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE. + + (_Continued from page 543._) + + + + +BOOK IV.--INITIAL CHAPTER:--COMPRISING MR. CAXTON'S OPINIONS ON THE +MATRIMONIAL STATE, SUPPORTED BY LEARNED AUTHORITIES. + + +"It was no bad idea of yours, Pisistratus," said my father, graciously, +"to depict the heightened affections and the serious intentions of +Signior Riccabocca by a single stroke--_He left off his +spectacles!_ Good." + +"Yet," quoth my uncle, "I think Shakspeare represents a lover as falling +into slovenly habits, neglecting his person, and suffering his hose to +be ungartered, rather than paying that attention to his outer man which +induces Signor Riccabocca to leave off his spectacles, and look as +handsome as nature will permit him." + +"There are different degrees and many phases of the passion," replied my +father. "Shakspeare is speaking of an ill-treated, pining, woebegone +lover, much aggrieved by the cruelty of his mistress--a lover who has +found it of no avail to smarten himself up, and has fallen despondently +into the opposite extreme. Whereas Signor Riccabocca has nothing to +complain of in the barbarity of Miss Jemima." + +"Indeed he has not!" cried Blanche, tossing her head--"forward +creature!" + +"Yes, my dear," said my mother, trying her best to look stately, "I am +decidedly of opinion that, in that respect, Pisistratus has lowered the +dignity of the sex. Not intentionally," added my mother, mildly, and +afraid she had said something too bitter; "but it is very hard for a man +to describe us women." + +The Captain nodded approvingly; Mr. Squills smiled; my father quietly +resumed the thread of his discourse. + +"To continue," quoth he. "Riccabocca has no reason to despair of success +in his suit, nor any object in moving his mistress to compassion. He +may, therefore, very properly tie up his garters and leave off his +spectacles. What do you say, Mr. Squills?--for, after all, since +love-making can not fail to be a great constitutional derangement, the +experience of a medical man must be the best to consult." + +"Mr. Caxton," replied Squills, obviously flattered, "you are quite +right: when a man makes love, the organs of self-esteem and desire of +applause are greatly stimulated, and therefore, of course, he sets +himself off to the best advantage. It is only, as you observe, when, +like Shakspeare's lover, he has given up making love as a bad job, and +has received that severe hit on the ganglions which the cruelty of a +mistress inflicts, that he neglects his personal appearance: he neglects +it, not because he is in love, but because his nervous system is +depressed. That was the cause, if you remember, with poor Major Prim. He +wore his wig all awry when Susan Smart jilted him; but I set it all +right for him." + +"By shaming Miss Smart into repentance, or getting him a new +sweetheart?" asked my uncle. + +"Pooh!" answered Squills, "by quinine and cold bathing." + +"We may therefore grant," renewed my father, "that, as a general rule, +the process of courtship tends to the spruceness, and even foppery, of +the individual engaged in the experiment, as Voltaire has very prettily +proved somewhere. Nay, the Mexicans, indeed, were of opinion that the +lady, at least, ought to continue those cares of her person even after +marriage. There is extant, in Sahagun's _History of New Spain_, the +advice of an Aztec or Mexican mother to her daughter, in which she +says--'That your husband may not take you in dislike, adorn yourself, +wash yourself, and let your garments be clean.' It is true that the good +lady adds--'Do it in moderation; since, if every day you are +washing yourself and your clothes, the world will say that you are +over-delicate; and particular people will call you--TAPETZON +TINEMAXOCH!' What those words precisely mean," added my father, +modestly, "I can not say, since I never had the opportunity to acquire +the ancient Aztec language--but something very opprobrious and horrible, +no doubt." + +"I daresay a philosopher like Signor Riccabocca," said my uncle, "was +not himself very _Tapetzon tine_--what d'ye call it?--and a good, +healthy, English wife, like that poor affectionate Jemima, was thrown +away upon him." + +"Roland," said my father, "you don't like foreigners: a respectable +prejudice, and quite natural in a man who has been trying his best to +hew them in pieces, and blow them up into splinters. But you don't like +philosophers either--and for that dislike you have no equally good +reason." + +"I only implied that they were not much addicted to soap and water," +said my uncle. + +"A notable mistake. Many great philosophers have been very great beaux. +Aristotle was a notorious fop. Buffon put on his best laced ruffles when +he sat down to write, which implies that he washed his hands first. +Pythagoras insists greatly on the holiness of frequent ablutions; and +Horace--who, in his own way, was as good a philosopher as any the Romans +produced--takes care to let us know what a neat, well-dressed, dapper +little gentleman he was. But I don't think you ever read the 'Apology of +Apuleius?'" + +"Not I--what is it about?" asked the Captain. + +"About a great many things. It is that Sage's vindication from several +malignant charges--among others, and principally indeed, that of being +much too refined and effeminate for a philosopher. Nothing can +exceed the rhetorical skill with which he excuses himself for +using--tooth-powder. 'Ought a philosopher,' he exclaims, 'to allow any +thing unclean about him, especially in the mouth--the mouth, which is +the vestibule of the soul, the gate of discourse, the portico of +thought! Ah, but Æmilianus [the accuser of Apuleius] never opens +_his_ mouth but for slander and calumny--tooth-powder would indeed +be unbecoming to _him_! Or, if he use any, it will not be my good +Arabian tooth-powder, but charcoal and cinders. Ay, his teeth should be +as foul as his language! And yet even the crocodile likes to have his +teeth cleaned; insects get into them, and, horrible reptile though he +be, he opens his jaws inoffensively to a faithful dentistical bird, who +volunteers his beak for a toothpick.'" + +My father was now warm in the subject he had started, and soared +miles away from Riccabocca and "My Novel." "And observe," he +exclaimed--"observe with what gravity this eminent Platonist pleads +guilty to the charge of having a mirror. 'Why, what,' he exclaims, 'more +worthy of the regards of a human creature than his own image' (_nihil +respectabilius homini quam formam suam!_) Is not that one of our +children the most dear to us who is called 'the picture of his father?' +But take what pains you will with a picture, it can never be so like you +as the face in your mirror! Think it discreditable to look with proper +attention on one's self in the glass! Did not Socrates recommend such +attention to his disciples--did he not make a great moral agent of the +speculum? The handsome, in admiring their beauty therein, were +admonished that handsome is who handsome does; and the more the ugly +stared at themselves, the more they became naturally anxious to hide the +disgrace of their features in the loveliness of their merits. Was not +Demosthenes always at his speculum? Did he not rehearse his causes +before it as before a master in the art? He learned his eloquence from +Plato, his dialectics from Eubulides; but as for his delivery--there, he +came to the mirror! + +"Therefore," concluded Mr. Caxton, returning unexpectedly to the +subject--"therefore it is no reason to suppose that Dr. Riccabocca is +averse to cleanliness and decent care of the person, because he is a +philosopher; and, all things considered, he never showed himself more a +philosopher than when he left off his spectacles and looked his best." + +"Well," said my mother, kindly, "I only hope it may turn out happily. +But I should have been better pleased if Pisistratus had not made Dr. +Riccabocca so reluctant a wooer." + +"Very true," said the Captain; "the Italian does not shine as a lover. +Throw a little more fire into him, Pisistratus--something gallant and +chivalrous." + +"Fire--gallantry--chivalry!" cried my father, who had taken Riccabocca +under his special protection--"why, don't you see that the man is +described as a philosopher?--and I should like to know when a +philosopher ever plunged into matrimony without considerable misgivings +and cold shivers. Indeed, it seems that--perhaps before he was a +philosopher--Riccabocca _had_ tried the experiment, and knew what +it was. Why, even that plain-speaking, sensible, practical man, Metellus +Numidicus, who was not even a philosopher, but only a Roman Censor, thus +expressed himself in an exhortation to the People to perpetrate +matrimony--'If, O Quirites, we could do without wives, we should all +dispense with that subject of care (_eâ molestiâ careremus_); but +since nature has so managed it, that we can not live with women +comfortably, nor without them at all, let us rather provide for the +human race than our own temporary felicity." + +Here the ladies set up a cry of such indignation, +that both Roland and myself endeavored to appease their wrath by hasty +assurances that we utterly repudiated that damnable doctrine of Metellus +Numidicus. + +My father, wholly unmoved, as soon as a sullen silence was established, +recommenced--"Do not think, ladies," said he, "that you were without +advocates at that day: there were many Romans gallant enough to blame +the Censor for a mode of expressing himself which they held to be +equally impolite and injudicious. 'Surely,' said they, with some +plausibility, 'if Numidicus wished men to marry, he need not have +referred so peremptorily to the disquietudes of the connection, and thus +have made them more inclined to turn away from matrimony than given them +a relish for it.' But against these critics one honest man (whose name +of Titus Castricius should not be forgotten by posterity) maintained +that Metellus Numidicus could not have spoken more properly; 'For +remark,' said he, 'that Metellus was a censor, not a rhetorician. It +becomes rhetoricians to adorn, and disguise, and make the best of +things; but Metellus, _sanctus vir_--a holy and blameless man, +grave and sincere to wit, and addressing the Roman people in the solemn +capacity of Censor--was bound to speak the plain truth, especially as he +was treating of a subject on which the observation of every day, and the +experience of every life, could not leave the least doubt upon the mind +of his audience.' Still Riccabocca, having decided to marry, has no +doubt prepared himself to bear all the concomitant evils--as becomes a +professed sage; and I own I admire the art with which Pisistratus has +drawn the precise woman likely to suit a philosopher." + +Pisistratus bows, and looks round complacently; but recoils from two +very peevish and discontented faces feminine. + +MR. CAXTON (completing his sentence.)--"Not only as regards mildness of +temper and other household qualifications, but as regards the very +_person_ of the object of his choice. For you evidently remembered, +Pisistratus, the reply of Bias, when asked his opinion on marriage: +[Greek: Êtoi kalên hexeis, ê aischran; kai ei kalên, hexeis koinên; ei +dê aischran hexeis poinên.]" + +Pisistratus tries to look as if he had the opinion of Bias by heart, and +nods acquiescingly. + +MR. CAXTON.--"That is, my dears, 'The woman you would marry is +either handsome or ugly; if handsome, she is koiné, viz., you don't have +her to yourself; if ugly, she is poiné--that is, a fury.' But, as it is +observed in Aulus Gellius (whence I borrow this citation), there is a +wide interval between handsome and ugly. And thus Ennius, in his tragedy +of _Menalippus_, uses an admirable expression to designate women of +the proper degree of matrimonial comeliness, such as a philosopher would +select. He calls this degree _stata forma_--a rational, mediocre +sort of beauty, which is not liable to be either koiné or poiné. And +Favorinus, who was a remarkably sensible man, and came from +Provence--the male inhabitants of which district have always valued +themselves on their knowledge of love and ladies--calls this said +_stata forma_ the beauty of wives--the uxorial beauty. Ennius says +that women of a _stata forma_ are almost always safe and modest. +Now Jemima, you observe, is described as possessing this _stata +forma_; and it is the nicety of your observation in this respect, +which I like the most in the whole of your description of a +philosopher's matrimonial courtship, Pisistratus, (excepting only the +stroke of the spectacles) for it shows that you had properly considered +the opinion of Bias, and mastered all the counter logic suggested in +Book v. Chapter xi., of Aulus Gellius." + +"For all that," said Blanche, half-archly, half-demurely, with a smile +in the eye, and a pout of the lip, "I don't remember that Pisistratus, +in the days when he wished to be most complimentary, ever assured me +that I had a _stata forma_--a rational, mediocre sort of beauty." + +"And I think," observed my uncle, "that when he comes to his real +heroine, whoever that may be, he will not trouble his head much about +either Bias or Aulus Gellius." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Matrimony is certainly a great change in life. One is astonished not +to find a notable alteration in one's friend, even if he or she have +been only wedded a week. In the instance of Dr. and Mrs. Riccabocca the +change was peculiarly visible. To speak first of the lady, as in +chivalry bound, Mrs. Riccabocca had entirely renounced that melancholy +which had characterized Miss Jemima: she became even sprightly and gay, +and looked all the better and prettier for the alteration. She did not +scruple to confess honestly to Mrs. Dale, that she was now of opinion +that the world was very far from approaching its end. But, in the mean +while, she did not neglect the duty which the belief she had abandoned +serves to inculculate--"She set her house in order." The cold and +penurious elegance that had characterized the Casino disappeared like +enchantment--that is, the elegance remained, but the cold and penury +fled before the smile of woman. Like Puss-in-Boots after the nuptials of +his master, Jackeymo only now caught minnows and sticklebacks for his +own amusement. Jackeymo looked much plumper, and so did Riccabocca. In a +word, the fair Jemima became an excellent wife. Riccabocca secretly +thought her extravagant, but, like a wise man, declined to look at the +house bills, and ate his joint in unreproachful silence. + +Indeed, there was so much unaffected kindness in the nature of Mrs. +Riccabocca--beneath the quiet of her manner there beat so genially the +heart of the Hazeldeans--that she fairly justified the favorable +anticipations of Mrs. Dale. And though the Doctor did not noisily boast +of his felicity, nor, as some new married folks do, thrust it +insultingly under the _nimis unctis naribus_--the turned-up noses + of your surly old married folks, nor force it gaudily and glaringly on +the envious eyes of the single, you might still see that he was a more +cheerful and light-hearted man than before. His smile was less ironical, +his politeness less distant. He did not study Machiavelli so +intensely--and he did not return to the spectacles; which last was an +excellent sign. Moreover, the humanizing influence of the tidy English +wife might be seen in the improvement of his outward or artificial man. +His clothes seemed to fit him better; indeed, the clothes were new. Mrs. +Dale no longer remarked that the buttons were off the wristbands, which +was a great satisfaction to her. But the sage still remained faithful to +the pipe, the cloak, and the red silk umbrella. Mrs. Riccabocca had (to +her credit be it spoken) used all becoming and wife-like arts against +these three remnants of the old bachelor Adam, but in vain, "_Anima +mia_--soul of mine," said the Doctor, tenderly, "I hold the cloak, +the umbrella, and the pipe, as the sole relics that remain to me of my +native country. Respect and spare them." + +Mrs. Riccabocca was touched, and had the good sense to perceive that +man, let him be ever so much married, retains certain signs of his +ancient independence--certain tokens of his old identity, which a wife, +the most despotic, will do well to concede. She conceded the cloak, she +submitted to the umbrella, she concealed her abhorrence of the pipe. +After all, considering the natural villainy of our sex, she confessed to +herself that she might have been worse off. But, through all the calm +and cheerfulness of Riccabocca, a nervous perturbation was sufficiently +perceptible; it commenced after the second week of marriage--it went on +increasing, till one bright sunny afternoon, as he was standing on his +terrace gazing down upon the road, at which Jackeymo was placed--lo, a +stage-coach stopped! The Doctor made a bound, and put both hands to his +heart as if he had been shot; he then leapt over the balustrade, and his +wife from her window beheld him flying down the hill, with his long hair +streaming in the wind, till the trees hid him from her sight. + +"Ah," thought she with a natural pang of conjugal jealousy, "henceforth +I am only second in his home. He has gone to welcome his child!" And at +that reflection Mrs. Riccabocca shed tears. + +But so naturally amiable was she, that she hastened to curb her emotion, +and efface as well as she could the trace of a stepmother's grief. When +this was done, and a silent, self-rebuking prayer murmured over, the +good woman descended the stairs with alacrity, and, summoning up her +best smiles, emerged on the terrace. + +She was repaid; for scarcely had she come into the open air, when two +little arms were thrown round her, and the sweetest voice that ever came +from a child's lips, sighed out in broken English, "Good mamma, love me +a little." + +"Love you? with my whole heart!" cried the stepmother, with all a +mother's honest passion. And she clasped the child to her breast. + +"God bless you, my wife!" said Riccabocca, in a husky tone. + +"Please take this, too," added Jackeymo, in Italian, as well as his sobs +would let him--and broke off a great bough full of blossoms from his +favorite orange-tree, and thrust it into his mistress's hand. She had +not the slightest notion what he meant by it! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Violante was indeed a bewitching child--a child to whom I defy Mrs. +Caudle herself (immortal Mrs. Caudle!) to have been a harsh stepmother. + +Look at her now, as, released from those kindly arms, she stands, still +clinging with one hand to her new mamma, and holding out the other to +Riccabocca--with those large dark eyes swimming in happy tears. What a +lovely smile!--what an ingenuous candid brow! She looks delicate--she +evidently requires care--she wants the mother. And rare is the woman who +would not love her the better for that! Still, what an innocent +infantine bloom in those clear smooth cheeks!--and in that slight frame, +what exquisite natural grace! + +"And this, I suppose, is your nurse, darling?" said Mrs. Riccabocca, +observing a dark foreign-looking woman, dressed very strangely--without +cap or bonnet, but a great silver arrow stuck in her hair, and a +filagree chain or necklace resting upon her kerchief. + +"Ah, good Annetta," said Violante in Italian. "Papa, she says she is to +go back; but she is not to go back--is she?" + +Riccabocca, who had scarcely before noticed the woman, started at that +question--exchanged a rapid glance with Jackeymo--and then, muttering +some inaudible excuse, approached the Nurse, and, beckoning her to +follow him, went away into the grounds. He did not return for more than +an hour, nor did the woman then accompany him home. He said briefly to +his wife that the Nurse was obliged to return at once to Italy, and that +she would stay in the village to catch the mail; that indeed she would +be of no use in their establishment, as she could not speak a word of +English; but that he was sadly afraid Violante would pine for her. And +Violante did pine at first. But still, to a child it is so great a thing +to find a parent--to be at home--that, tender and grateful as Violante +was, she could not be inconsolable while her father was there to +comfort. + +For the first few days, Riccabocca scarcely permitted any one to be with +his daughter but himself. He would not even leave her alone with his +Jemima. They walked out together--sat together for hours in the +Belvidere. Then by degrees he began to resign her more and more to +Jemima's care and tuition, especially in English, of which language at +present she spoke only a few sentences (previously, perhaps, learned by +heart), so as to be clearly intelligible. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +There was one person in the establishment of Dr. Riccabocca, who was +satisfied neither with the marriage of his master nor the arrival of +Violante--and that was our friend Lenny Fairfield. Previous to the +all-absorbing duties of courtship, the young peasant had secured a very +large share of Riccabocca's attention. The sage had felt interest in the +growth of this rude intelligence struggling up to light. But what with +the wooing, and what with the wedding, Lenny Fairfield had sunk very +much out of his artificial position as pupil, into his natural station +of under-gardener. And on the arrival of Violante, he saw, with natural +bitterness, that he was clean forgotten, not only by Riccabocca, but +almost by Jackeymo. It was true that the master still lent him books, +and the servant still gave him lectures on horticulture. But Riccabocca +had no time nor inclination now to amuse himself with enlightening that +tumult of conjecture which the books created. And if Jackeymo had been +covetous of those mines of gold buried beneath the acres now fairly +taken from the Squire (and good-naturedly added rent-free, as an aid to +Jemima's dower), before the advent of the young lady whose future dowry +the produce was to swell--now that she was actually under the eyes of +the faithful servant, such a stimulus was given to his industry, that he +could think of nothing else but the land, and the revolution he designed +to effect in its natural English crops. The garden, save only the +orange-trees, was abandoned entirely to Lenny, and additional laborers +were called in for the field-work. Jackeymo had discovered that one +part of the soil was suited to lavender, that another would grow +chamomile. He had in his heart apportioned a beautiful field of rich +loam to flax; but against the growth of flax the Squire set his face +obstinately. That most lucrative, perhaps, of all crops, when soil and +skill suit, had, it would appear, been formerly attempted in England +much more commonly than it is now; since you will find few old leases +which do not contain a clause prohibitory of flax, as an impoverishment +of the land. And though Jackeymo learnedly endeavored to prove to the +Squire that the flax itself contained particles which, if returned to +the soil, repaid all that the crop took away, Mr. Hazeldean had his +old-fashioned prejudices on the matter, which were insuperable. "My +forefathers," quoth he, "did not put that clause in their leases without +good cause; and as the Casino lands are entailed on Frank, I have no +right to gratify your foreign whims at his expense." + +To make up for the loss of the flax, Jackeymo resolved to convert a very +nice bit of pasture into orchard ground, which he calculated would bring +in £10 net per acre by the time Miss Violante was marriageable. At this, +the Squire pished a little; but as it was quite clear that the land +would be all the more valuable hereafter for the fruit trees, he +consented to permit the "grass land" to be thus partially broken up. + +All these changes left poor Lenny Fairfield very much to himself--at a +time when the new and strange devices which the initiation into book +knowledge creates, made it most desirable that he should have the +constant guidance of a superior mind. + +One evening after his work, as Lenny was returning to his mother's +cottage very sullen and very moody, he suddenly came in contact with +Sprott the tinker. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The tinker was seated under a hedge, hammering away at an old +kettle--with a little fire burning in front of him--and the donkey hard +by, indulging in a placid doze. Mr. Sprott looked up as Lenny +passed--nodded kindly, and said: + +"Good evenin', Lenny: glad to hear you be so 'spectably sitivated with +Mounseer." + +"Ay," answered Lenny, with a leaven of rancor in his recollections, +"You're not ashamed to speak to me now, that I am not in disgrace. But +it was in disgrace, when it wasn't my fault, that the real gentleman was +most kind to me." + +"Ar--r, Lenny," said the Tinker, with a prolonged rattle in that said +Ar--r, which was not without great significance. "But you sees the real +gentleman who han't got his bread to get, can hafford to 'spise his +cracter in the world. A poor tinker must be timbersome and nice in his +'sociations. But sit down here a bit, Lenny; I've summat to say to ye!" + +"To me--" + +"To ye. Give the neddy a shove out i' the vay, and sit down, I say." + +Lenny rather reluctantly, and somewhat superciliously, accepted this +invitation. + +"I hears," said the Tinker in a voice made rather indistinct by a couple +of nails which he had inserted between his teeth; "I hears as how you be +unkimmon fond of reading. I ha' sum nice cheap books in my bag +yonder--sum as low as a penny." + +"I should like to see them," said Lenny, his eyes sparkling. + +The Tinker rose, opened one of the panniers on the ass's back, took out +a bag which he placed before Lenny, and told him to suit himself. The +young peasant desired no better. He spread all the contents of the bag +on the sward, and a motley collection of food for the mind was +there--food and poison--_serpentes avibus_--good and evil. Here, +Milton's Paradise Lost, there The Age of Reason--here Methodist tracts, +there True Principles of Socialism--Treatises on Useful Knowledge by +sound learning actuated by pure benevolence--Appeals to Operatives by +the shallowest reasoners, instigated by the same ambition that had +moved Eratosthenes to the conflagration of a temple; works of fiction +admirable as Robinson Crusoe, or innocent as the Old English Baron, +beside coarse translations of such garbage as had rotted away the youth +of France under Louis Quinze. This miscellany was an epitome, in short, +of the mixed World of Books, of that vast City of the Press, with its +palaces and hovels, its aqueducts and sewers--which opens all alike to +the naked eye and the curious mind of him to whom you say, in the +Tinker's careless phrase, "suit yourself." + +But it is not the first impulse of a nature, healthful and still pure, +to settle in the hovel and lose itself amid the sewers; and Lenny +Fairfield turned innocently over the bad books, and selecting two or +three of the best, brought them to the Tinker and asked the price. + +"Why," said Mr. Sprott, putting on his spectacles, "you has taken the +werry dearest: them 'ere be much cheaper, and more hinterestin'." + +"But I don't fancy them," answered Lenny; "I don't understand what they +are about, and this seems to tell one how the steam-engine is made, and +has nice plates; and this is Robinson Crusoe, which Parson Dale once +said he would give me--I'd rather buy it out of my own money." + +"Well, please yourself," quoth the Tinker; "you shall have the books for +four bob, and you can pay me next month." + +"Four bobs--four shillings? it is a great sum," said Lenny, "but I will +lay by, as you are kind enough to trust me; good evening, Mr. Sprott." + +"Stay a bit," said the Tinker; "I'll just throw you these two little +tracks into the barging; they be only a shilling a dozen, so 'tis but +tuppence--and ven you has read _those_, vy, you'll be a reglar +customer." + +The Tinker tossed to Lenny Nos. 1 and 2 of Appeals to Operatives, and +the peasant took them up gratefully. + +The young knowledge-seeker went his way across the green fields, and +under the still autumn foliage of the hedgerows. He looked first at one +book, then at another; he did not know on which to settle. + +The Tinker rose and made a fire with leaves and furze and sticks, some +dry and some green. + +Lenny has now opened No. 1 of the tracts: they are the shortest to read, +and don't require so much effort of the mind as the explanation of the +steam-engine. + +The Tinker has now set on his grimy glue-pot, and the glue simmers. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +As Violante became more familiar with her new home, and those around her +became more familiar with Violante, she was remarked for a certain +stateliness of manner and bearing, which, had it been less evidently +natural and inborn, would have seemed misplaced in the daughter of a +forlorn exile, and would have been rare at so early an age among +children of the loftiest pretensions. It was with the air of a little +princess that she presented her tiny hand to a friendly pressure, or +submitted her calm clear cheek to a presuming kiss. Yet withal she was +so graceful, and her very stateliness was so pretty and captivating, +that she was not the less loved for all her grand airs. And, indeed, she +deserved to be loved; for though she was certainly prouder than Mr. Dale +could approve of, her pride was devoid of egotism; and that is a pride +by no means common. She had an intuitive forethought for others; you +could see that she was capable of that grand woman-heroism, abnegation +of self; and though she was an original child, and often grave and +musing, with a tinge of melancholy, sweet, but deep in her character, +still she was not above the happy genial merriment of childhood--only +her silver laugh was more attuned, and her gestures more composed than +those of children, habituated to many playfellows, usually are. Mrs. +Hazeldean liked her best when she was grave, and said "she would become +a very sensible woman." Mrs. Dale liked her best when she was gay, and +said, "she was born to make many a heart ache;" for which Mrs. Dale was +properly reproved by the Parson. Mrs. Hazeldean gave her a little set of +garden tools; Mrs. Dale a picture-book and a beautiful doll. For a long +time the book and the doll had the preference. But Mrs. Hazeldean having +observed to Riccabocca that the poor child looked pale, and ought to be +a good deal in the open air, the wise father ingeniously pretended to +Violante that Mrs. Riccabocca had taken a great fancy to the picture +book, and that he should be very glad to have the doll, upon which +Violante hastened to give them both away, and was never so happy as when +mamma (as she called Mrs. Riccabocca) was admiring the picture-book, and +Riccabocca with austere gravity dandled the doll. Then Riccabocca +assured her that she could be of great use to him in the garden; and +Violante instantly put into movement her spade, hoe, and wheelbarrow. + +This last occupation brought her into immediate contact with Mr. Leonard +Fairfield; and that personage one morning, to his great horror, found +Miss Violante had nearly exterminated a whole celery-bed, which she had +ignorantly conceived to be a crop of weeds. + +Lenny was extremely angry. He snatched away the hoe, and said, angrily, +"You must not do that, Miss. I'll tell your papa if you--" + +Violante drew herself up, and never having been so spoken to before, at +least since her arrival in England, there was something comic in the +surprise of her large eyes, as well as something tragic in the dignity +of her offended mien. "It is very naughty of you, Miss," continued +Leonard, in a milder tone, for he was both softened by the eyes and +awed by the mien, "and I trust you will not do it again." + +"_Non capisco_" (I don't understand), murmured Violante, and the +dark eyes filled with tears. At that moment up came Jackeymo; and +Violante, pointing to Leonard, said, with an effort not to betray her +emotion, "_Il fanciullo e molto grossolano_" (he is a very rude +boy). + +Jackeymo turned to Leonard with the look of an enraged tiger. "How you +dare, scum of de earth that you are," cried he,[13] "how you dare make +cry the signorina?" And his English not supplying familiar vituperatives +sufficiently, he poured out upon Lenny such a profusion of Italian +abuse, that the boy turned red and white in a breath with rage and +perplexity. + +[Footnote 13: It need scarcely be observed, that Jackeymo, in his +conversations with his master or Violante, or his conference with +himself, employs his native language, which is therefore translated +without the blunders that he is driven to commit when compelled to trust +himself to the tongue of the country in which he is a sojourner.] + +Violante took instant compassion upon the victim she had made, and, with +true feminine caprice, now began to scold Jackeymo for his anger, and, +finally approaching Leonard, laid her hand on his arm, and said with a +kindness at once childlike and queenly, and in the prettiest imaginable +mixture of imperfect English and soft Italian, to which I can not +pretend to do justice, and shall therefore translate: "Don't mind him. I +dare say it was all my fault, only I did not understand you: are not +these things weeds?" + +"No, my darling signorina," said Jackeymo, in Italian, looking ruefully +at the celery-bed, "they are not weeds, and they sell very well at this +time of the year. But still, if it amuses you to pluck them up, I should +like to see who's to prevent it." + +Lenny walked away. He had been called "the scum of the earth," by a +foreigner, too! He had again been ill-treated for doing what he +conceived his duty. He was again feeling the distinction between rich +and poor, and he now fancied that that distinction involved deadly +warfare, for he had read from beginning to end those two damnable tracts +which the Tinker had presented to him. But in the midst of all the angry +disturbance of his mind, he felt the soft touch of the infant's hand, +the soothing influence of her conciliating words, and he was half +ashamed that he had spoken so roughly to a child. + +Still, not trusting himself to speak, he walked away, and sat down at a +distance. "I don't see," thought he, "why there should be rich and poor, +master and servant." Lenny, be it remembered, had not heard the Parson's +Political Sermon. + +An hour after, having composed himself, Lenny returned to his work. +Jackeymo was no longer in the garden; he had gone to the fields; but +Riccabocca was standing by the celery-bed, and holding the red silk +umbrella over Violante as she sat on the ground, looking up at her +father with those eyes already so full of intelligence, and love, and +soul. + +"Lenny," said Riccabocca, "my young lady has been telling me that she +has been very naughty, and Giacomo very unjust to you. Forgive them +both." + +Lenny's sullenness melted in an instant; the reminiscences of tracts +Nos. 1 and 2, + + "Like the baseless fabrics of a vision, + Left not a wreck behind." + +He raised eyes, swimming with all his native goodness, toward the wise +man, and dropped them gratefully on the face of the infant peacemaker. +Then he turned away his head and fairly wept. The Parson was right: "O +ye poor, have charity for the rich; O ye rich, respect the poor." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Now from that day the humble Lenny and the regal Violante became great +friends. With what pride he taught her to distinguish between celery and +weeds--and how proud too, was she when she learned that she was +_useful_! There is not a greater pleasure you can give to children, +especially female children, than to make them feel they are already of +value in the world, and serviceable as well as protected. Weeks and +months rolled away, and Lenny still read, not only the books lent him by +the Doctor, but those he bought of Mr. Sprott. As for the bombs and +shells against religion which the Tinker carried in his bag, Lenny was +not induced to blow himself up with them. He had been reared from his +cradle in simple love and reverence for the Divine Father, and the +tender Saviour, whose life beyond all records of human goodness, whose +death beyond all epics of mortal heroism, no being whose infancy has +been taught to supplicate the Merciful and adore the Holy, yea, even +though his later life may be entangled amidst the thorns of some +desolate Pyrrhonism, can ever hear reviled and scoffed without a shock +to the conscience and a revolt of the heart. As the deer recoils by +instinct from the tiger, as the very look of the scorpion deters you +from handling it, though you never saw a scorpion before, so the very +first line in some ribald profanity on which the Tinker put his slack +finger, made Lenny's blood run cold. Safe, too, was the peasant boy from +any temptation in works of a gross and licentious nature, not only +because of the happy ignorance of his rural life, not because of a more +enduring safeguard--genius! Genius, that, manly, robust, healthful as it +be, is long before it lose its instinctive Dorian modesty: shame-faced, +because so susceptible to glory--genius, that loves indeed to dream, but +on the violet bank, not the dunghill. Wherefore, even in the error of +the senses, it seeks to escape from the sensual into worlds of fancy, +subtle and refined. But apart from the passions, true genius is the most +practical of all human gifts. Like the Apollo, whom the +Greek worshiped as its type, even Arcady is its exile, not its home. +Soon weary of the dalliance of Tempé, its ascends to its mission--the +Archer of the silver bow, the guide of the car of light. Speaking more +plainly, genius is the enthusiasm for self-improvement; it ceases or +sleeps the moment it desists from seeking some object which it believes +of value, and by that object it insensibly connects its self-improvement +with the positive advance of the world. At present Lenny's genius had no +bias that was not to the Positive and Useful. It took the direction +natural to his sphere, and the wants therein, viz., to the arts which we +call mechanical. He wanted to know about steam-engines and Artesian +wells; and to know about them it was necessary to know something of +mechanics and hydrostatics; so he bought popular elementary works on +those mystic sciences, and set all the powers of his mind at work on +experiments. + +Noble and generous spirits are ye, who with small care for fame, and +little reward from pelf, have opened to the intellects of the poor the +portals of wisdom! I honor and revere ye; only do not think ye have +done all that is needful. Consider, I pray ye, whether so good a +choice from the Tinker's bag would have been made by a boy whom +religion had not scared from the Pestilent, and genius had not led to +the Self-improving. And Lenny did not wholly escape from the mephitic +portions of the motley elements from which his awakening mind drew its +nurture. Think not it was all pure oxygen that the panting lip drew +in. No; there were still those inflammatory tracts. Political I do not +like to call them, for politics mean the art of government, and the +tracts I speak of assailed all government which mankind has hitherto +recognized. Sad rubbish, perhaps, were such tracts to you, O sound +thinker, in your easy-chair! Or to you, practiced statesman, at your +post on the Treasury Bench--to you, calm dignitary of a learned +Church--or to you, my lord judge, who may often have sent from your +bar to the dire Orcus of Norfolk's Isle the ghosts of men whom that +rubbish, falling simultaneously on the bumps of acquisitiveness and +combativeness, hath untimely slain. Sad rubbish to you! But seems it +such rubbish to the poor man, to whom it promises a paradise on the +easy terms of upsetting a world? For ye see, these "Appeals to +Operatives" represent that same world-upsetting as the simplest thing +imaginable--a sort of two-and-two-make-four proposition. The poor have +only got to set their strong hands to the axle, and heave-a-hoy! and +hurrah for the topsy-turvy! Then, just to put a little wholesome rage +into the heave-a-hoy! it is so facile to accompany the eloquence of +"Appeals" with a kind of stir-the-bile-up statistics--"Abuses of the +Aristocracy"--"Jobs of the Priesthood"--"Expenses of Army kept up for +Peers' younger sons"--"Wars contracted for the villainous purpose of +raising the rents of the landowners"--all arithmetically dished up, +and seasoned with tales of every gentleman who has committed a +misdeed, every clergyman who has dishonored his cloth; as if such +instances were fair specimens of average gentlemen and ministers of +religion! All this passionately advanced, (and observe, never +answered, for that literature admits no controversialists, and the +writer has it all his own way), may be rubbish; but it is out of such +rubbish that operatives build barricades for attack, and legislators +prisons for defense. + +Our poor friend Lenny drew plenty of this stuff from the Tinker's bag. +He thought it very clever and very eloquent; and he supposed the +statistics were as true as mathematical demonstrations. + +A famous knowledge-diffuser is looking over my shoulder, and tells me, +"Increase education, and cheapen good books, and all this rubbish will +disappear!" Sir, I don't believe a word of it. If you printed Ricardo +and Adam Smith at a farthing a volume, I still believe they would be as +little read by the operatives as they are nowadays by a very large +proportion of highly-cultivated men. I still believe that while the +press works, attacks on the rich, and propositions for heave-a-hoys, +will always form a popular portion of the Literature of Labor. There's +Lenny Fairfield reading a treatise on hydraulics, and constructing a +model for a fountain into the bargain; but that does not prevent his +acquiescence in any proposition for getting rid of a National Debt, +which he certainly never agreed to pay, and which he is told makes sugar +and tea so shamefully dear. No. I tell you what does a little counteract +those eloquent incentives to break his own head against the strong walls +of the Social System--it is, that he has two eyes in that head, which +are not always employed in reading. And, having been told in print that +masters are tyrants, parsons hypocrites or drones in the hive, and +landowners vampires and bloodsuckers, he looks out into the little +world around him, and, first he is compelled to acknowledge that his +master is not a tyrant (perhaps because he is a foreigner and a +philosopher, and, for what I and Lenny know, a republican). But then +Parson Dale, though High Church to the marrow, is neither hypocrite nor +drone. He has a very good living, it is true--much better than he ought +to have, according to the "political" opinions of those tracts; but +Lenny is obliged to confess that, if Parson Dale were a penny the +poorer, he would do a pennyworth's less good; and, comparing one parish +with another, such as Rood Hall and Hazeldean, he is dimly aware that +there is no greater CIVILIZER than a parson tolerably well off. +Then, too, Squire Hazeldean, though as arrant a Tory as ever stood upon +shoe-leather, is certainly not a vampire nor bloodsucker. He does not +feed on the public; a great many of the public feed upon him: and, +therefore, his practical experience a little staggers and perplexes +Lenny Fairfield as to the gospel accuracy of his theoretical +dogmas. Masters, parsons, landowners! having, at the risk of all +popularity, just given a _coup de patte_ to certain sages extremely +the fashion at present, I am not going to let you off without an +admonitory flea in the ear. Don't suppose that any mere scribbling and +typework will suffice to answer scribbling and typework set at work to +demolish you--_write_ down that rubbish you can't--_live_ it +down you may. If you are rich, like Squire Hazeldean, do good with your +money; if you are poor, like Signor Riccabocca, do good with your +kindness. + +See! there is Lenny now receiving his week's wages; and though Lenny +knows that he can get higher wages in the very next parish, his blue +eyes are sparkling with gratitude, not at the chink of the money, but at +the poor exile's friendly talk on things apart from all service; while +Violante is descending the steps from the terrace, charged by her +mother-in-law with a little basket of sago, and suchlike delicacies, for +Mrs. Fairfield, who has been ailing the last few days. + +Lenny will see the Tinker as he goes home, and he will buy a most +Demosthenean "Appeal"--a tract of tracts, upon the "Propriety of +Strikes," and the Avarice of Masters. But, somehow or other, I think a +few words from Signor Riccabocca, that did not cost the Signor a +farthing, and the sight of his mother's smile at the contents of the +basket, which cost very little, will serve to neutralize the effects of +that "Appeal," much more efficaciously than the best article a Brougham +or a Mill could write on the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Spring had come again; and one beautiful May-day, Leonard Fairfield sate +beside the little fountain which he had now actually constructed in the +garden. The butterflies were hovering over the belt of flowers which he +had placed around his fountain, and the birds were singing overhead. +Leonard Fairfield was resting from his day's work, to enjoy his +abstemious dinner, beside the cool play of the sparkling waters, and, +with the yet keener appetite of knowledge, he devoured his book as he +munched his crusts. + +A penny tract is the shoeing-horn of literature: it draws on a great +many books, and some too tight to be very useful in walking. The penny +tract quotes a celebrated writer, you long to read him; it props a +startling assertion by a grave authority, you long to refer to it. +During the nights of the past winter, Leonard's intelligence had made +vast progress: he had taught himself more than the elements of +mechanics, and put to practice the principles he had acquired, not only +in the hydraulical achievement of the fountain, nor in the still more +notable application of science, commenced on the stream in which +Jackeymo had fished for minnows, and which Lenny had diverted to the +purpose of irrigating two fields, but in various ingenious contrivances +for the facilitation or abridgment of labor, which had excited great +wonder and praise in the neighborhood. On the other hand, those rabid +little tracts, which dealt so summarily with the destinies of the human +race, even when his growing reason, and the perusal of works more +classical or more logical, had led him to perceive that they were +illiterate, and to suspect that they jumped from premises to conclusions +with a celerity very different from the careful ratiocination of +mechanical science, had still, in the citations and references wherewith +they abounded, lured him on to philosophers more specious and more +perilous. Out of the Tinker's bag he had drawn a translation of +Condorcet's _Progress of Man_, and another of Rousseau's _Social +Contract_. These had induced him to select from the tracts in the +Tinker's miscellany those which abounded most in professions of +philanthropy, and predictions of some coming Golden Age, to which old +Saturn's was a joke--tracts so mild and mother-like in their language, +that it required a much more practical experience than Lenny's to +perceive that you would have to pass a river of blood before you had the +slightest chance of setting foot on the flowery banks on which they +invited you to repose--tracts which rouged poor Christianity on the +cheeks, clapped a crown of innocent daffodillies on her head, and set +her to dancing a _pas de zephyr_ in the pastoral ballet in which +St. Simon pipes to the flock he shears; or having first laid it down as +a preliminary axiom, that + + "The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, + The solemn temples, the great globe itself-- + Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve," + +substituted in place thereof Monsieur Fourier's symmetrical phalanstere, +or Mr. Owen's architectural parallelogram. It was with some such tract +that Lenny was seasoning his crusts and his radishes, when Riccabocca, +bending his long dark face over the student's shoulder, said abruptly-- + +"_Diavolo_, my friend! What on earth have you got there? Just let +me look at it, will you?" + +Leonard rose respectfully, and colored deeply as he surrendered the +tract to Riccabocca. + +The wise man read the first page attentively, the second more cursorily, +and only ran his eye over the rest. He had gone through too vast a range +of problems political, not to have passed over that venerable _Pons +Asinorum_ of Socialism, on which Fouriers and St. Simons sit +straddling and cry aloud that they have arrived at the last boundary of +knowledge! + +"All this is as old as the hills," quoth Riccabocca irreverently; "but +the hills stand still, and this--there it goes!" and the sage pointed to +a cloud emitted from his pipe. "Did you ever read Sir David Brewster on +Optical Delusions? No! Well, I'll lend it to you. You will find therein +a story of a lady who always saw a black cat on her hearth-rug. The +black cat existed only in her fancy, but the hallucination was natural +and reasonable--eh--what do you think?" + +"Why, sir," said Leonard, not catching the Italian's meaning, "I don't +exactly see that it was natural and reasonable." + +"Foolish boy, yes! because black cats are things possible and known. But +who ever saw upon earth a community of men such as sit on the +hearth-rugs of Messrs. Owen and Fourier? If the lady's hallucination was +not reasonable, what is his, who believes in such visions as these?" + +Leonard bit his lip. + +"My dear boy," cried Riccabocca kindly, "the only thing sure and +tangible to which these writers would lead you, lies at the first step, +and that is what is commonly called a Revolution. Now, I know what that +is. I have gone, not indeed through a revolution, but an attempt at +one." + +Leonard raised his eyes toward his master with a look of profound +respect, and great curiosity. + +"Yes," added Riccabocca, and the face on which the boy gazed exchanged +its usual grotesque and sardonic expression for one animated, noble, and +heroic. "Yes, not a revolution for chimeras, but for that cause which +the coldest allow to be good, and which, when successful, all time +approves as divine--the redemption of our native soil from the rule of +the foreigner! I have shared in such an attempt. And," continued the +Italian mournfully, "recalling now all the evil passions it arouses, all +the ties it dissolves, all the blood that it commands to flow, all the +healthful industry it arrests, all the madmen that it arms, all the +victims that it dupes, I question whether one man really honest, pure, +and humane, who has once gone through such an ordeal, would ever hazard +it again, unless he was assured that the victory was certain--ay, and +the object for which he fights not to be wrested from his hands amidst +the uproar of the elements that the battle has released." + +The Italian paused, shaded his brow with his hand, and remained long +silent. Then, gradually resuming his ordinary tone, he continued-- + +"Revolutions that have no definite objects made clear by the positive +experience of history; revolutions, in a word, that aim less at +substituting one law or one dynasty for another, than at changing the +whole scheme of society, have been little attempted by real statesmen. +Even Lycurgus is proved to be a myth who never existed. They are the +suggestions of philosophers who lived apart from the actual world, and +whose opinions (though generally they were very benevolent, good sort of +men, and wrote in an elegant poetical style) one would no more take on a +plain matter of life, than one would look upon Virgil's _Eclogues_ +as a faithful picture of the ordinary pains and pleasures of the +peasants who tend our sheep. Read them as you would read poets, and they +are delightful. But attempt to shape the world according to the +poetry--and fit yourself for a madhouse. The farther off the age is from +the realization of such projects, the more these poor philosophers have +indulged them. Thus, it was amidst the saddest corruption of court +manners that it became the fashion in Paris to sit for one's picture +with a crook in one's hand, as Alexis or Daphne. Just as liberty was +fast dying out of Greece, and the successors of Alexander were founding +their monarchies, and Rome was growing up to crush, in its iron grasp, +all states save its own, Plato withdraws his eyes from the world, to +open them in his dreamy Atlantis. Just in the grimmest period of English +history, with the ax hanging over his head, Sir Thomas More gives you +his _Utopia_. Just when the world is to be the theatre of a new +Sesostris, the dreamers of France tell you that the age is too +enlightened for war, that man is henceforth to be governed by pure +reason and live in a paradise. Very pretty reading all this to a man +like me, Lenny, who can admire and smile at it. But to you, to the man +who has to work for his living, to the man who thinks it would be so +much more pleasant to live at his ease in a phalanstere than to work +eight or ten hours a day; to the man of talent, and action, and +industry, whose future is invested in that tranquillity, and order of a +state, in which talent, and action and industry are a certain capital; +why, Messrs. Coutts, the great bankers, had better encourage a theory to +upset the system of banking! Whatever disturbs society, yea, even by a +causeless panic, much more by an actual struggle, falls first upon the +market of labor, and thence affects, prejudicially, every department of +intelligence. In such times the arts are arrested; literature is +neglected; people are too busy to read any thing save appeals to their +passions. And capital, shaken in its sense of security, no longer +ventures boldly through the land, calling forth all the energies of toil +and enterprise, and extending to every workman his reward. Now, Lenny, +take this piece of advice. You are young, clever, and aspiring: men +rarely succeed in changing the world; but a man seldom fails of success +if he lets the world alone, and resolves to make the best of it. You are +in the midst of the great crisis of your life; it is the struggle +between the new desires knowledge excites, and that sense of poverty, +which those desires convert either into hope and emulation, or into envy +and despair. I grant that it is an up-hill work that lies before you; +but don't you think it is always easier to climb a mountain than it is +to level it? These books call on you to level the mountain; and that +mountain is the property of other people, subdivided among a great many +proprietors, and protected by law. At the first stroke of the pick-ax, +it is ten to one but what you are taken up for a trespass. But the path +up the mountain is a right of way uncontested. You may be safe at the +summit, before (even if the owners are fools enough to let you) you +could have leveled a yard. _Cospetto!_" quoth the Doctor, "it is +more than two thousand years ago since poor Plato began to level it, and +the mountain is as high as ever!" + +Thus saying, Riccabocca came to the end of his pipe, and, stalking +thoughtfully away, he left Leonard Fairfield trying to extract light +from the smoke. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Shortly after this discourse of Riccabocca's, an incident occurred to +Leonard that served to carry his mind into new directions. One evening, +when his mother was out, he was at work on a new mechanical contrivance, +and had the misfortune to break one of the instruments which he +employed. Now it will be remembered that his father had been the +Squire's head-carpenter; the widow had carefully hoarded the tools of +his craft, which had belonged to her poor Mark; and though she +occasionally lent them to Leonard, she would not give them up to his +service. Among these, Leonard knew that he should find the one that he +wanted; and being much interested in his contrivance, he could not wait +till his mother's return. The tools, with other little relics of the +lost, were kept in a large trunk in Mrs. Fairfield's sleeping room; the +trunk was not locked, and Leonard went to it without ceremony or +scruple. In rummaging for the instrument, his eye fell upon a bundle of +MSS.; and he suddenly recollected that when he was a mere child, and +before he much knew the difference between verse and prose, his mother +had pointed to these MSS. and said, "One day or other, when you can read +nicely, I'll let you look at these Lenny. My poor Mark wrote such +verses--ah, he _was_ a scollard!" Leonard, reasonably enough, +thought that the time had now arrived when he was worthy the privilege +of reading the paternal effusions, and he took forth the MSS. with a +keen but melancholy interest. He recognized his father's handwriting, +which he had often seen before in account-books and memoranda, and read +eagerly some trifling poems, which did not show much genius, nor much +mastery of language and rhythm--such poems, in short as a self-educated +man, with poetic taste and feeling, rather than poetic inspiration or +artistic culture, might compose with credit, but not for fame. But +suddenly, as he turned over these "Occasional Pieces," Leonard came to +others in a different handwriting--a woman's handwriting--small, and +fine, and exquisitely formed. He had scarcely read six lines of these +last, before his attention was irresistibly chained. They were of a +different order of merit from poor Mark's; they bore the unmistakable +stamp of genius. Like the poetry of women in general, they were devoted +to personal feeling--they were not the mirror of a world, but +reflections of a solitary heart. Yet this is the kind of poetry most +pleasing to the young. And the verses in question had another attraction +for Leonard: they seemed to express some struggle akin to his own--some +complaint against the actual condition of the writer's life, some sweet +melodious murmurs at fortune. For the rest, they were characterized by a +vein of sentiment so elevated that, if written by a man, it would have +run into exaggeration; written by a woman, the romance was carried off +by so many genuine revelations of sincere, deep, pathetic feeling, that +it was always natural, though true to a nature from which you would not +augur happiness. + +Leonard was still absorbed in the perusal of these poems, when Mrs. +Fairfield entered the room. + +"What have you been about, Lenny? searching in my box?" + +"I came to look for my father's bag of tools, mother, and I found these +papers, which you said I might read some day." + +"I doesn't wonder you did not hear me when I came in," said the widow +sighing. "I used to sit still for the hour together, when my poor Mark +read his poems to me. There was such a pretty one about the 'Peasant's +Fireside,' Lenny--have you got hold of that?" + +"Yes, dear mother; and I remarked the allusion to you: it brought tears +to my eyes. But these verses are not my father's--whose are they? They +seem a woman's hand." + +Mrs. Fairfield looked--changed color--grew faint--and seated herself. + +"Poor, poor Nora!" said she, faltering. "I did not know as they were +there; Mark kep 'em; they got among his--" + +LEONARD.--"Who was Nora!" + +MRS. FAIRFIELD.--"Who?--child--who? Nora was--was my own--own +sister." + +LEONARD (in great amaze, contrasting his ideal of the writer of +these musical lines, in that graceful hand, with his homely uneducated +mother, who can neither read nor write).--"Your sister--is it possible? +My aunt, then. How comes it you never spoke of her before? Oh! you +should be so proud of her, mother." + +MRS. FAIRFIELD (clasping her hands).--"We were proud of her, +all of us--father, mother--all! She was so beautiful and so good, and +not proud she! though she looked like the first lady in the land. Oh! +Nora, Nora!" + +LEONARD (after a pause).--"But she must have been highly +educated?" + +MRS. FAIRFIELD.--"'Deed she was!" + +LEONARD.--"How was that?" + +MRS. FAIRFIELD (rocking herself to and fro in her chair.)--"Oh! +my Lady was her godmother--Lady Lansmere I mean--and took a fancy to her +when she was that high! and had her to stay at the Park, and wait on her +ladyship; and then she put her to school, and Nora was so clever that +nothing would do but she must go to London as a governess. But don't +talk of it, boy! don't talk of it!" + +LEONARD.--"Why not, mother? what has become of her? where is +she?" + +MRS. FAIRFIELD (bursting into a paroxysm of tears.)--"In her +grave--in her cold grave! Dead, dead!" + +Leonard was inexpressibly grieved and shocked. +It is the attribute of the poet to seem always living, always a friend. +Leonard felt as if some one very dear had been suddenly torn from his +heart. He tried to console his mother; but her emotion was contagious, +and he wept with her. + +"And how long has she been dead?" he asked at last, in mournful accents. + +"Many's the long year, many; but," added Mrs. Fairfield, rising, and +putting her tremulous hand on Leonard's shoulder, "you'll just never +talk to me about her--I can't bear it--it breaks my heart. I can bear +better to talk of Mark--come down stairs--come." + +"May I not keep these verses, mother? Do let me." + +"Well, well, those bits o' paper be all she left behind her--yes, keep +them, but put back Mark's. Are _they_ all here?--sure?" And the +widow, though she could not read her husband's verses, looked jealously +at the MSS. written in his irregular large scrawl, and, smoothing them +carefully, replaced them in the trunk, and resettled over them some +sprigs of lavender, which Leonard had unwittingly disturbed. + +"But," said Leonard, as his eye again rested on the beautiful +handwriting of his lost aunt--"but you call her Nora--I see she signs +herself L." + +"Leonora was her name. I said she was my Lady's god-child. We called her +Nora for short--" + +"Leonora--and I am Leonard--is that how I came by the name?" + +"Yes, yes--do hold your tongue, boy," sobbed poor Mrs. Fairfield; and +she could not be soothed nor coaxed into continuing or renewing a +subject which was evidently associated with insupportable pain. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It is difficult to exaggerate the effect that this discovery produced on +Leonard's train of thought. Some one belonging to his own humble race +had, then, preceded him in his struggling flight toward the loftier +regions of Intelligence and Desire. It was like the mariner amidst +unknown seas, who finds carved upon some desert isle a familiar +household name. And this creature of genius and of sorrow--whose +existence he had only learned by her song, and whose death created, in +the simple heart of her sister, so passionate a grief, after the lapse +of so many years--supplied to the romance awaking in his young heart the +ideal which it unconsciously sought. He was pleased to hear that she had +been beautiful and good. He paused from his books to muse on her, and +picture her image to his fancy. That there was some mystery in her fate +was evident to him; and while that conviction deepened his interest, the +mystery itself, by degrees, took a charm which he was not anxious to +dispel. He resigned himself to Mrs. Fairfield's obstinate silence. He +was contented to rank the dead among those holy and ineffable images +which we do not seek to unvail. Youth and Fancy have many secret hoards +of idea which they do not desire to impart, even to those most in their +confidence. I doubt the depth of feeling in any man who has not certain +recesses in his soul into which none may enter. + +Hitherto, as I have said, the talents of Leonard Fairfield had been more +turned to things positive than to the ideal; to science and +investigation of fact than to poetry, and that airier truth in which +poetry has its element. He had read our greater poets, indeed, but +without thought of imitating; and rather from the general curiosity to +inspect all celebrated monuments of the human mind, than from that +especial predilection for verse which is too common in childhood and +youth to be any sure sign of a poet. But now these melodies, unknown to +all the world beside, rang in his ear, mingled with his thoughts--set, +as it were, his whole life to music. He read poetry with a different +sentiment--it seemed to him that he had discovered its secret. And so +reading, the passion seized him, and "the numbers came." + +To many minds, at the commencement of our grave and earnest pilgrimage, +I am Vandal enough to think that the indulgence of poetic taste and +reverie does great and lasting harm; that it serves to enervate the +character, give false ideas of life, impart the semblance of drudgery to +the noble toils and duties of the active man. All poetry would not do +this--not, for instance, the Classical, in its diviner masters--not the +poetry of Homer, of Virgil, of Sophocles--not, perhaps, even that of the +indolent Horace. But the poetry which youth usually loves and +appreciates the best--the poetry of mere sentiment--does so in minds +already over predisposed to the sentimental, and which require bracing +to grow into healthful manhood. + +On the other hand, even this latter kind of poetry, which is peculiarly +modern, does suit many minds of another mould--minds which our modern +life, with its hard positive forms, tends to produce. And as in certain +climates plants and herbs, peculiarly adapted as antidotes to those +diseases most prevalent in the atmosphere, are profusely sown, as it +were, by the benignant providence of nature--so it may be that the +softer and more romantic species of poetry, which comes forth in harsh, +money-making, unromantic times, is intended as curatives and +counter-poisons. The world is so much with us, nowadays, that we need +have something that prates to us, albeit even in too fine an euphuism, +of the moon and stars. + +Certes, to Leonard Fairfield, at that period of his intellectual life, +the softness of our Helicon descended as healing dews. In his turbulent +and unsettled ambition, in his vague grapple with the giant forms of +political truths, in his bias toward the application of science to +immediate practical purposes, this lovely vision of the Muse came in the +white robe of the Peacemaker; and with upraised hand, pointing to +serene skies, she opened to him fair glimpses of the Beautiful, which is +given to Peasant as to Prince--showed to him that on the surface of +earth there is something nobler than fortune--that he who can view the +world as a poet is always at soul a king; while to practical purpose +itself, that larger and more profound invention, which poetry +stimulates, supplied the grand design and the subtle view--leading him +beyond the mere ingenuity of the mechanic, and habituating him to regard +the inert force of the matter at his command with the ambition of the +Discoverer. But, above all, the discontent that was within him finding a +vent, not in deliberate war upon this actual world, but through the +purifying channels of song--in the vent itself it evaporated, it was +lost. By accustoming ourselves to survey all things with the spirit that +retains and reproduces them only in their lovelier or grander aspects, a +vast philosophy of toleration for what we before gazed on with scorn or +hate insensibly grows upon us. Leonard looked into his heart after the +enchantress had breathed upon it; and through the mists of the fleeting +and tender melancholy which betrayed where she had been, he beheld a new +sun of delight and joy dawning over the landscape of human life. + +Thus, though she was dead and gone from his actual knowledge, this +mysterious kinswoman--"a voice and nothing more"--had spoken to him, +soothed, elevated, cheered, attuned each discord into harmony; and, if +now permitted from some serener sphere to behold the life that her soul +thus strangely influenced, verily, with yet holier joy, the saving and +lovely spirit might have glided onward in the Eternal Progress. + +We call the large majority of human lives _obscure_. Presumptuous +that we are! How know we what lives a single thought retained from the +dust of nameless graves may have lighted to renown? + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +It was about a year after Leonard's discovery of the family MSS. that +Parson Dale borrowed the quietest pad mare in the Squire's stables, and +set out on an equestrian excursion. He said that he was bound on +business connected with his old parishioners of Lansmere; for, as it has +been incidentally implied in a previous chapter, he had been connected +with that borough town (and, I may here add, in the capacity of curate) +before he had been inducted into the living of Hazeldean. + +It was so rarely that the Parson stirred from home, that this journey to +a town more than twenty miles off was regarded as a most daring +adventure, both at the Hall and at the Parsonage. Mrs. Dale could not +sleep the whole previous night with thinking of it; and though she had +naturally one of her worst nervous headaches on the eventful morn, she +yet suffered no hands less thoughtful than her own to pack up the +saddlebags which the Parson had borrowed along with the pad. Nay, so +distrustful was she of the possibility of the good man's exerting the +slightest common sense in her absence, that she kept him close at her +side while she was engaged in that same operation of packing up--showing +him the exact spot in which the clean shirt was put, and how nicely the +old slippers were packed up in one of his own sermons. She implored him +not to mistake the sandwiches for his shaving-soap, and made him observe +how carefully she had provided against such confusion, by placing them +as far apart from each other as the nature of saddlebags will admit. The +poor Parson--who was really by no means an absent man, but as little +likely to shave himself with sandwiches and lunch upon soap as the most +common-place mortal may be--listened with conjugal patience, and thought +that man never had such a wife before; nor was it without tears in his +own eyes that he tore himself from the farewell embrace of his weeping +Carry. + +I confess, however, that it was with some apprehension that he set his +foot in the stirrup, and trusted his person to the mercies of an +unfamiliar animal. For whatever might be Mr. Dale's minor +accomplishments as a man and parson, horsemanship was not his forte. +Indeed, I doubt if he had taken the reins in his hand more than twice +since he had been married. + +The Squire's surly old groom, Mat, was in attendance with the pad; and, +to the Parson's gentle inquiry whether Mat was quite sure that the pad +was quite safe, replied laconically, "Oi, oi, give her her head." + +"Give her her head!" repeated Mr. Dale, rather amazed, for he had not +the slightest intention of taking away that part of the beast's frame, +so essential to its vital economy--"Give her her head!" + +"Oi, oi; and don't jerk her up like that, or she'll fall a doincing on +her hind-legs." + +The Parson instantly slackened the reins; and Mrs. Dale--who had tarried +behind to control her tears--now running to the door for "more last +words," he waved his hand with courageous amenity, and ambled forth into +the lane. + +Our equestrian was absorbed at first in studying the idiosyncrasies of +the pad, and trying thereby to arrive at some notion of her general +character: guessing, for instance, why she raised one ear and laid down +the other; why she kept bearing so close to the left that she brushed +his leg against the hedge; and why, when she arrived at a little +side-gate in the fields, which led toward the home-farm, she came to a +full stop, and fell to rubbing her nose against the rail--an occupation +from which the Parson, finding all civil remonstrances in vain, at +length diverted her by a timorous application of the whip. + +This crisis on the road fairly passed, the pad seemed to comprehend that +she had a journey before her, and giving a petulant whisk of her tail, +quickened her amble into a short trot, which soon brought the Parson +into the high road, and nearly opposite the Casino. + +Here, sitting on the gate which led to his abode, and shaded by his +umbrella, he beheld Dr. Riccabocca. + +The Italian lifted his eyes from the book he was reading, and stared +hard at the Parson; and he--not venturing to withdraw his whole +attention from the pad (who, indeed, set up both her ears at the +apparition of Riccabocca, and evinced symptoms of that surprise and +superstitious repugnance at unknown objects which goes by the name of +"shying"), looked askance at Riccabocca. + +"Don't stir, please," said the Parson, "or I fear you'll alarm this +creature; it seems a nervous, timid thing;--soho--gently--gently." + +And he fell to patting the mare with great unction. + +The pad thus encouraged, overcame her first natural astonishment at the +sight of Riccabocca and the red umbrella; and having before been in the +Casino on sundry occasions, and sagaciously preferring places within the +range of experience to bournes neither cognate nor conjecturable, she +moved gravely up toward the gate on which the Italian sate; and, after +eying him a moment--as much as to say, "I wish you would get off"--came +to a dead lock. + +"Well," said Riccabocca, "since your horse seems more disposed to be +polite to me than yourself, Mr. Dale, I take the opportunity of your +present involuntary pause to congratulate you on your elevation in life, +and to breathe a friendly prayer that pride may not have a fall!" + +"Tut," said the Parson, affecting an easy air, though still +contemplating the pad, who appeared to have fallen into a quiet doze, +"It is true that I have not ridden much of late years, and the Squire's +horses are very high fed and spirited; but there is no more harm in them +than their master when one once knows their ways." + + "Chi và piano, và sano, + E chi va sano và lontano," + +said Riccabocca, pointing to the saddle-bags. "You go slowly, therefore +safely; and he who goes safely may go far. You seem prepared for a +journey?" + +"I am," said the Parson; "and on a matter that concerns you a little." + +"Me!" exclaimed Riccabocca--"concerns me!" + +"Yes, so far as the chance of depriving you of a servant whom you like +and esteem affects you." + +"Oh," said Riccabocca, "I understand: you have hinted to me very often +that I or knowledge, or both together, have unfitted Leonard Fairfield +for service." + +"I did not say that exactly; I said that you have fitted him for +something higher than service But do not repeat this to him. And I can +not yet say more to you, for I am very doubtful as to the success of my +mission; and it will not do to unsettle poor Leonard until we are sure +that we can improve his condition." + +"Of that you can never be sure," quoth the wise man, shaking his head; +"and I can't say that I am unselfish enough not to bear you a grudge for +seeking to decoy away from me an invaluable servant--faithful, steady, +intelligent, and (added Riccabocca, warming as he approached the +climacteric adjective)--exceedingly cheap! Nevertheless go, and Heaven +speed you. I am not an Alexander, to stand between man and the sun." + +"You are a noble great-hearted creature, Signor Riccabocca, in spite of +your cold-blooded proverbs and villainous books." The Parson, as he said +this, brought down the whip-hand with so indiscreet an enthusiasm on the +pad's shoulder, that the poor beast, startled out of her innocent doze, +made a bolt forward, which nearly precipitated Riccabocca from his seat +on the stile, and then turning round--as the Parson tugged desperately +at the rein--caught the bit between her teeth, and set off at a canter. +The Parson lost both his stirrups; and when he regained them (as the pad +slackened her pace), and had time to breathe and look about him, +Riccabocca and the Casino were both out of sight. + +"Certainly," quoth Parson Dale, as he resettled himself with great +complacency, and a conscious triumph that he was still on the pad's +back--"certainly it is true 'that the noblest conquest ever made by man +was that of the horse:' a fine creature it is--a very fine creature--and +uncommonly difficult to sit on,--especially without stirrups." Firmly in +his stirrups the Parson planted his feet; and the heart within him was +very proud. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Lansmere was situated in the county adjoining that which contained the +village of Hazeldean. Late at noon the Parson crossed the little stream +which divided the two shires, and came to an inn, which was placed at an +angle, where the great main road branched off into two directions--the +one leading toward Lansmere, the other going more direct to London. At +this inn the pad stopped, and put down both ears with the air of a pad +who has made up her mind to bait. And the Parson himself, feeling very +warm, and somewhat sore, said to the pad, benignly: "It is just--thou +shalt have corn and water!". + +Dismounting, therefore, and finding himself very stiff, as soon as he +had reached _terra firma_, the Parson consigned the pad to the +hostler, and walked into the sanded parlor of the inn, to repose himself +on a very hard Windsor chair. + +He had been alone rather more than half-an-hour, reading a county +newspaper which smelt much of tobacco, and trying to keep off the flies +that gathered round him in swarms, as if they had never before seen a +Parson, and were anxious to ascertain how the flesh of him tasted--when +a stage-coach stopped at the inn. A traveler got out with his carpet-bag +in his hand, and was shown into the sanded parlor. + +The Parson rose politely, and made a bow. + +The traveler touched his hat, without taking it off--looked at Mr. Dale +from top to toe--then walked to the window, and whistled a lively, +impatient tune, then strode toward the fireplace and rang the bell; then +stared again at the Parson; and that gentleman having courteously laid +down the newspaper, the traveler seized it, threw himself on a chair, +flung one of his legs over the table, tossed the other up on the +mantle-piece, and began reading the paper, while he tilted the chair on +its hind-legs with so daring a disregard to the ordinary position of +chairs and their occupants, that the shuddering Parson expected every +moment to see him come down on the back of his skull. + +Moved, therefore, to compassion, Mr. Dale said, mildly: + +"Those chairs are very treacherous, sir; I'm afraid you'll be down." + +"Eh," said the traveler, looking up much astonished. "Eh, down?--oh, +you're satirical, sir!" + +"Satirical, sir? upon my word, no!" exclaimed the Parson, earnestly. + +"I think every free-born man has a right to sit as he pleases in his own +house," resumed the traveler, with warmth; "and an inn is his own house, +I guess, so long as he pays his score. Betty, my dear!" + +For the chamber-maid had now replied to the bell. + +"I han't Betty, sir; do you want she?" + +"No, Sally--cold brandy-and-water--and a biscuit." + +"I han't Sally, either," muttered the chamber-maid; but the traveler, +turning round, showed so smart a neckcloth, and so comely a face, that +she smiled, colored, and went her way. + +The traveler now rose, and flung down the paper. He took out a penknife, +and began paring his nails. Suddenly desisting from this elegant +occupation, his eye caught sight of the Parson's shovel-hat, which lay +on a chair in the corner. + +"You're a clergyman, I reckon, sir," said the traveler, with a slight +sneer. + +Again Mr. Dale bowed--bowed in part deprecatingly--in part with dignity. +It was a bow that said, "No offense, sir! but I _am_ a clergyman, and +I'm not ashamed of it!" + +"Going far?" asked the traveler. + +PARSON.--"Not very." + +TRAVELER.--"In a chaise or fly? If so, and we are going the same +way--halves!" + +PARSON.--"Halves?" + +TRAVELER.--"Yes, I'll pay half the damage--pikes inclusive." + +PARSON.--"You are very good, sir: but" (_spoken with pride_), "I am on +horseback." + +TRAVELER.--"On horseback! Well, I should not have guessed that! You +don't look like it. Where did you say you were going?" + +"I did _not_ say where I was going, sir," said the Parson, drily, for he +was much offended at that vague and ungrammatical remark, applicable to +his horsemanship, that "he did not look like it!" + +"Close!" said the traveler, laughing; "an old traveler, I reckon!" + +The Parson made no reply; but he took up his shovel-hat, and, with a bow +more majestic than the previous one, walked out to see if his pad had +finished her corn. + +The animal had indeed finished all the corn afforded to her, which was +not much, and in a few minutes more Mr. Dale resumed his journey. He had +performed about three miles, when the sound of wheels behind made him +turn his head, and he perceived a chaise driven very fast, while out of +the windows thereof dangled strangely a pair of human legs. The pad +began to curvet as the post-horses rattled behind, and the Parson had +only an indistinct vision of a human face supplanting these human legs. +The traveler peered out at him as he whirled by--saw Mr. Dale tossed up +and down on the saddle, and cried out: "How's the leather?" + +"Leather!" soliloquized the Parson, as the pad recomposed herself. "What +does he mean by that? Leather! a very vulgar man. But I got rid of him +cleverly!" + +Mr. Dale arrived without further adventure at Lansmere. He put up at the +principal inn--refreshed himself by a general ablution--and sat down +with good appetite to his beef-steak and pint of port. + +The Parson was a better judge of the physiognomy of man than that of the +horse; and after a satisfactory glance at the civil, smirking landlord, +who removed the cover and set on the wine, he ventured on an attempt at +conversation. "Is my lord at the park?" + +Landlord, still more civilly than before: "No, sir; his lordship and my +lady have gone to town to meet Lord L'Estrange." + +"Lord L'Estrange! He is in England, then?" + +"Why, so I heard," replied the landlord; "but we never see him here now. +I remember him a very pretty young man. Every one was fond of him, and +proud of him. But what pranks he did play when he was a lad! We hoped he +would come in for our boro' some of these days, but he has taken to +foren parts--more's the pity. I am a reg'lar Blue, sir, as I ought to +be. The Blue candidate always does me the honor to come to the Lansmere +Arms. 'Tis only the low party puts up with The Boar," added the +landlord, with a look of ineffable disgust. "I hope you like the wine, +sir?" + +"Very good, and seems old." + +"Bottled these eighteen years, sir. I had in the cask for the great +election of Dashmore and Egerton. I have little left of it, and I never +give it but to old friends like--for, I think, sir, though you be grown +stout, and look more grand, I may say that I've had the pleasure of +seeing you before." + +"That's true, I dare say, though I fear I was never a very good +customer." + +LANDLORD.--"Ah, it _is_ Mr. Dale, then! I thought so when you came into +the hall. I hope your lady is quite well, and the Squire, too; a fine +pleasant-spoken gentleman; no fault of his if Mr. Egerton went wrong. +Well, we have never seen him--I mean Mr. Egerton--since that time. I +don't wonder he stays away; but my lord's son, who was brought up +here--it an't nat'ral-like that he should turn his back on us!" + +Mr. Dale made no reply, and the landlord was about to retire, when the +Parson, pouring out another glass of the port, said: "There must be +great changes in the parish. Is Mr. Morgan, the medical man, still +here?" + +"No, indeed; he took out his ploma after you left, and became a real +doctor; and a pretty practice he had, too, when he took, all of a +sudden, to some new-fangled way of physicking--I think they calls it +homy-something--" + +"Homoeopathy?" + +"That's it--something against all reason; and so he lost his practice +here and went up to Lunnun. I have not heard of him since." + +"Do the Avenels keep their old house?" + +"Oh yes!--and are pretty well off, I hear say. John is always poorly; +though he still goes now and then to the Odd Fellows, and takes his +glass; but his wife comes and fetches him away before he can do himself +any harm." + +"Mrs. Avenel is the same as ever." + +"She holds her head higher, I think," said the landlord, smiling. "She +was always--not exactly proud like, but what I calls gumptious." + +"I never heard that word before," said the Parson, laying down his knife +and fork. "Bumptious, indeed, though I believe it is not in the +dictionary, has crept into familiar parlance, especially among young +folks at school and college." + +"Bumptious is bumptious, and gumptious is gumptious," said the landlord, +delighted to puzzle a Parson. "Now the town beadle is bumptious and Mrs. +Avenel is gumptious." + +"She is a very respectable woman," said Mr. Dale, somewhat rebukingly. + +"In course, sir, all gumptious folks are; they value themselves on their +respectability, and looks down on their neighbors." + +PARSON (still philologically occupied). "Gumptious--gumptious. +I think I remember the substantive at school--not that my master taught +it to me. 'Gumption,' it means cleverness." + +LANDLORD, (doggedly).--"There's gumption and gumptious! +Gumption is knowing; but when I say sum un is gumptious, I mean--though +that's more vulgar like--sum un who does not think small beer of +hisself. You take me, sir?" + +"I think I do," said the Parson, half-smiling. "I believe the Avenels +have only two of their children alive still--their daughter, who married +Mark Fairfield, and a son who went off to America?" + +"Ah, but he made his fortune there, and has come back." + +"Indeed! I'm very glad to hear it. He has settled at Lansmere?" + +"No, sir. I hear as he's bought a property a long way off. But he comes +to see his parents pretty often--so John tells me--but I can't say that +I ever see him. I fancy Dick doesn't like to be seen by folks who +remember him playing in the kennel." + +"Not unnatural," said the Parson indulgently; "but he visits his +parents; he is a good son, at all events, then?" + +"I've nothing to say against him. Dick was a wild chap before he took +himself off. I never thought he would make his fortune; but the Avenels +are a clever set. Do you remember poor Nora--the Rose of Lansmere, as +they called her? Ah, no, I think she went up to Lunnun afore your time, +sir." + +"Humph!" said the Parson drily. "Well, I think you may take away now. It +will be dark soon, and I'll just stroll out and look about me." + +"There's a nice tart coming, sir." + +"Thank you, I've dined." + +The Parson put on his hat and sallied forth into the streets. He eyed +the houses on either hand with that melancholy and wistful interest with +which, in middle life, we revisit scenes familiar to us in +youth--surprised to find either so little change or so much, and +recalling, by fits and snatches, old associations and past emotions. + +The long High-street which he threaded now began to change its bustling +character, and slide, as it were gradually, into the high road of a +suburb. On the left, the houses gave way to the moss-grown pales of +Lansmere Park: to the right, though houses still remained, they were +separated from each other by gardens, and took the pleasing appearance +of villas--such villas as retired tradesmen or their widows, old maids, +and half-pay officers, select for the evening of their days. + +Mr. Dale looked at these villas with the deliberate attention of a man +awakening his power of memory, and at last stopped before one, almost +the last on the road, and which faced the broad patch of sward that lay +before the lodge of Lansmere Park. An old pollard oak stood near it, and +from the oak there came a low discordant sound: it was the hungry cry of +young ravens, awaiting the belated return of the parent bird. Mr. Dale +put his hand to his brow, paused a moment, and then, with a hurried +step, passed through the little garden and knocked at the door. A light +was burning in the parlor, and Mr. Dale's eye caught through the window +a vague outline of three forms. There was an evident bustle within at +the sound of the knocks. One of the forms rose and disappeared. A very +prim, neat, middle-aged maid-servant, now appeared at the threshold, and +austerely inquired the visitor's business. + +"I want to see Mr. or Mrs. Avenel. Say that I have come many miles to +see them; and take in this card." + +The maid-servant took the card, and half-closed the door. At least three +minutes elapsed before she re-appeared. + +"Missis says it's late, sir; but walk in." + +The Parson accepted the not very gracious invitation, stepped across the +little hall, and entered the parlor. + +Old John Avenel, a mild-looking man, who seemed slightly paralytic, rose +slowly from his arm-chair. Mrs. Avenel, in an awfully stiff, clean, and +Calvinistical cap, and a gray dress, every fold of which bespoke +respectability and staid repute--stood erect on the floor, and, fixing +on the Parson a cold and cautious eye, said-- + +"You do the like of us great honor, Mr. Dale--take a chair! You call +upon business?" + +"Of which I have apprised you by letter, Mr. Avenel." + +"My husband is very poorly." + +"A poor creature!" said John feebly, and as if in compassion of himself. +"I can't get about as I used to do. But it ben't near election time, be +it, sir." + +"No, John," said Mrs. Avenel, placing her husband's arm within her own. +"You must lie down a bit, while I talk to the gentleman." + +"I'm a real good blue," said poor John; "but I ain't quite the man I +was;" and, leaning heavily on his wife, he left the room, turning round +at the threshold, and saying, with, great urbanity--"Any thing to +oblige, sir?" + +Mr. Dale was much touched. He had remembered John Avenel the comeliest, +the most active, and the most cheerful man in Lansmere; great at glee +club and cricket (though then stricken in years), greater in vestries; +reputed greatest in elections. + +"Last scene of all," murmured the Parson; "and oh well, turning from the +poet, may we cry with the disbelieving philosopher. 'Poor, poor +humanity!'"[14] + +[Footnote 14: Mr. Dale probably here alludes to Lord Bolingbroke's +ejaculation as he stood by the dying Pope; but his memory does not serve +him with the exact words.] + +In a few minutes Mrs. Avenel returned. She took a chair, at some +distance from the Parson's, and, resting one hand on the elbow of the +chair, while with the other she stiffly smoothed the stiff gown, she +said-- + +"Now, sir." + +That "Now, sir," had in its sound something sinister and warlike. This +the shrewd Parson recognized, with his usual tact. He edged his chair +nearer to Mrs. Avenel, and placing his hand on hers-- + +"Yes, now then, and as friend to friend." + + (_To be continued._) + + + + +VICTIMS OF SCIENCE. + + +There is a proverb which says, "Better is the enemy of well." Perhaps we +may go further, and say, that "Well sometimes makes us regret bad." + +You would have confessed the truth of this latter axiom if you had +known, as I did, an excellent young man named Horace Castillet, who had +been gifted by Providence with good health, powerful intellect, an +amiable disposition, and many other perfections, accompanied by one +single drawback. He had a distorted spine and crooked limbs, the +consciousness of which defects prevented him from rushing into the +gayety and vain dissipation which so often ensnare youth. Forsaking the +flowery paths of love and pleasure, he steadily pursued the rough, +up-hill road of diligent, persevering study. He wrought with ardor, and +already success crowned his efforts. Doubtless bitter regrets sometimes +troubled his hours of solitary study, but he was amply consoled by the +prospect of fortune and well-earned fame which lay before him. So he +always appeared in society amiable and cheerful, enlivening the social +circle with the sallies of his wit and genius. He used sometimes to say, +laughing: "Fair ladies, mock me, but I will take my revenge by obliging +them to admire!" + +One day a surgeon of high repute met Horace, and said to him: "I can +repair the wrong which nature has done you: profit by the late +discoveries of science, and be, at the same time, a great and a handsome +man." Horace consented. During some months he retired from society, and +when he reappeared, his most intimate friends could scarcely recognize +him. "Yes," said he, "it is I myself: this tall, straight, well-made man +is your friend Horace Castillet. Behold the miracle which science has +wrought! This metamorphosis has cost me cruel suffering. For months I +lay stretched on a species of rack, and endured the tortures of a +prisoner in the Inquisition. But I bore them all, and here I am, a new +creature! Now, gay comrades, lead me whither you will; let me taste the +pleasures of the world, without any longer having to fear its raillery!" + +If the name of Horace Castillet is unspoken among those of great men--if +it is now sunk in oblivion, shall we not blame for this the science +which he so much lauded? Deeply did the ardent young man drink of this +world's poisoned springs. Farewell to study, fame, and glory! Æsop, +perhaps, might never have composed his Fables had orthopedia been +invented in his time. Horace Castillet lost not only his talents, but a +large legacy destined for him by an uncle, in order to make him amends +for his natural defects. His uncle, seeing him no longer deformed in +body and upright in mind, chose another heir. After having spent the +best years of his life in idleness and dissipation, Horace is now poor, +hopeless, and miserable. He said lately to one of his few remaining +friends: "I was ignorant of the treasure I possessed. I have +acted like the traveler who should throw away his property in order to +walk more lightly across a plain!" + +The surgeon had another deformed patient, a very clever working +mechanic, whose talents made him rich and happy. When he was perfectly +cured, and about to return to his workshop, the conscription seized +him, finding him fit to serve the state. He was sent to Africa, and +perished there in battle. + +A gentleman who had the reputation of being an original thinker, could +not speak without a painful stutter; a skillful operator restored to him +the free use of his tongue, and the world, to its astonishment, +discovered that he was little better than a fool! Hesitation had given a +sort of originality to his discourse. He had time to reflect before he +spoke. Stopping short in the middle of a sentence had occasionally a +happy effect; and a half-spoken word seemed to imply far more than it +expressed. But when the flow of his language was no longer restrained, +he began to listen to his own commonplace declamation with a complacency +which assuredly was not shared by his auditors. + +One fine day a poor blind man was seated on the Pont-Royal in Paris, +waiting for alms. The passers-by were bestowing their money liberally, +when a handsome carriage stopped near the mendicant, and a celebrated +oculist stepped out. He went up to the blind man, examined his eyeballs, +and said--"Come with me; I will restore your sight." The beggar obeyed; +the operation was successful; and the journals of the day were filled +with praises of the doctor's skill and philanthropy. The ex-blind man +subsisted for some time on a small sum of money which his benefactor had +given him; and when it was spent, he returned to his former post on the +Pont-Royal. Scarcely, however, had he resumed his usual appeal, when a +policeman laid his hand on him, and ordered him to desist, on pain of +being taken up. + +"You mistake," said the mendicant, producing a paper; "here is my legal +license to beg, granted by the magistrates." + +"Stuff!" cried the official; "this license is for a _blind_ man, and you +seem to enjoy excellent sight." Our hero, in despair, ran to the +oculist's house, intending to seek compensation for the doubtful benefit +conferred on him; but the man of science had gone on a tour through +Germany, and the aggrieved patient found himself compelled to adopt the +hard alternative of _working_ for his support, and abandoning the easy +life of a professed beggar. + +Some years since there appeared on the boards of a Parisian theatre an +excellent and much-applauded comic actor named Samuel. Like many a wiser +man before him, he fell deeply in love with a beautiful girl, and wrote +to offer her his hand, heart, and his yearly salary of 8000 francs. A +flat refusal was returned. Poor Samuel rivaled his comrade, the head +tragedian of the company, in his dolorous expressions of despair; but +when, after a time, his excitement cooled down, he dispatched a friend, +a trusty envoy, with a commission to try and soften the hard-hearted +beauty. Alas, it was in vain! + +"She does not like you," said the candid embassador; "she says you are +ugly; that your eyes frighten her; and, besides, she is about to be +married to a young man whom she loves." + +Fresh exclamations of despair from Samuel. + +"Come," said his friend, after musing for a while, "if this marriage be, +as I suspect, all a sham, you may have her yet." + +"Explain yourself?" + +"You know that, not to mince the matter, you have a frightful squint?" + +"I know it." + +"Science will remove that defect by an easy and almost painless +operation." No sooner said than done. Samuel underwent the operation for +strabismus, and it succeeded perfectly. His eyes were now straight +and handsome; but the marriage, after all, was no sham--the lady became +another's, and poor Samuel was forced to seek for consolation in the +exercise of his profession. He was to appear in his best character: the +curtain rose, and loud hissing saluted him. + +"Samuel!" "Where is Samuel?" "We want Samuel!" was vociferated by pit +and gallery. + +When silence was partly restored, the actor advanced to the footlights +and said--"Here I am, gentlemen: I am Samuel!" + +"Out with the impostor!" was the cry, and such a tumult arose, that the +unlucky actor was forced to fly from the stage. He had lost the +grotesque expression, the comic mask, which used to set the house in a +roar: he could no longer appear in his favorite characters. The +operation for strabismus had changed his destiny: he was unfitted for +tragedy, and was forced, after a time, to take the most insignificant +parts, which barely afforded him a scanty subsistence. "Let _well_ +alone" is a wise admonition: "Let _bad_ alone" may sometimes be a +wiser. + + + + +ADDRESS TO GRAY HAIR. + + + Thou silvery braid, now banded o'er my brow, + Before thy monitory voice I bow; + Obedient to thy mandate, youth forget, + And strive thy word to hear without regret. + Why should regret attend that onward change, + Which tells that time is coming to its range-- + Its border line, which God approves and seals, + As crown of glory to the man who feels + Content in ways of righteousness to dwell? + To such gray hair does not of weakness tell; + But rays of glory light its silv'ry tint, + And change its summons to a gentle hint + That time from all is fading fast away, + But that to some its end is lasting day; + And that the angels view its pure white band, + As seal of glory from their master's hand, + And closer draw, the near ripe fruit to shield, + Until to heaven its produce they can yield. + + + + +Monthly Record of Current Events. + + + + +POLITICAL AND GENERAL NEWS. + + +THE UNITED STATES. + +Congress adjourned, as required by the Constitution, on the fourth of +March. The protracted character of the discussions of the session +compelled final action upon nearly all the important bills at the very +close of the session; and as a natural consequence many bills which have +challenged a marked degree of attention, were not passed. The bill +making appropriations for the improvement of Rivers and Harbors, which +had passed the House, was sent into the Senate, but was not passed by +that body. The bills making appropriations in aid of the American line +of steamers,--that authorizing and aiding the establishment of a line of +steamers to Liberia,--the bill providing for the payment of French +spoliations,--the one appropriating lands to aid in the establishment of +Asylums for the insane, and a great number of other bills, of decided +importance, but of less general interest than these, were lost. Sundry +valuable bills, however, were duly acted upon and passed into laws. A +joint resolution was adopted authorizing the President to grant the use +of a ship attached to the American squadron in the Mediterranean for the +use of Kossuth and his companions in coming to this country, after they +shall have been liberated by the Turkish authorities. A very interesting +letter from the Secretary of State to the American Minister at +Constantinople, in regard to the Hungarian exiles, has just been +published. Mr. WEBSTER refers to the fact, that under the convention +between Austria and Turkey, the term of one year for which the exiles +were to be confined within the limits of the Turkish empire, would soon +expire: and the hope is confidently expressed that the Sublime Porte has +not made, and will not make, any new stipulations for their detention. +Mr. MARSH is instructed to address himself urgently, though +respectfully, to the Turkish government upon this question, and to +convince it that no improper interference with the affairs of another +nation is intended by this application. The course of the Sublime Porte, +in refusing to allow these exiles to be seized by the Austrians, +although "the demand upon him was made by a government confident in its +great military power, with armies in the field of vast strength, flushed +with recent victory, and whose purposes were not to be thwarted, or +their pursuit stayed, by any obstacle less than the interposition of an +empire prepared to maintain the inviolability of its territories, and +its absolute sovereignty over its own soil," is warmly applauded, and +his generosity in providing for their support, is commended in the +highest terms of admiration. Mr. WEBSTER proceeds to say that "it is not +difficult to conceive what may have been the considerations which led +the Sublime Porte to consent to remove these persons from its frontiers, +require them to repair to the interior, and there to remain for a +limited time. A great attempt at revolution, against the established +authorities of a neighboring State, with which the Sublime Porte was at +peace, had only been suppressed. The chief actors in that attempt had +escaped into the dominions of the Porte. To permit them to remain upon +its frontiers, where they might project new undertakings against that +State, and into which, if circumstances favored, they could enter in +arms at any time, might well have been considered dangerous to both +governments; and the Sublime Porte, while protecting them, might +certainly, also, prevent their occupying any such position in its own +dominions, as should give just cause of alarm to a neighboring and +friendly power. Their removal to certain localities might also be +rendered desirable by considerations of convenience to the Sublime +Porte, itself, upon whose charity and generosity such numbers had +suddenly become dependent. The detention of these persons for a short +period of time, in order that they might not at once repair to other +parts of Europe, to renew their operations, was a request that it was +not unnatural to make, and was certainly in the discretion of the +Sublime Porte to grant, without any sacrifice of its dignity, or any +want of kindness toward the refugees." But now all danger from this +source has disappeared. The attempts of these exiles to establish for +their country an independent government have been sternly crushed: their +estates have been confiscated, their families dispersed, and themselves +driven into exile. Their only wish now is to remove from the scene of +their conflict and find new homes in the vast interior of the United +States. The people of the United States wait to receive these exiles on +their shores, and they trust that, through the generosity of the Turkish +government, they may be released. + +A bill was also passed reducing the rates of postage on letters and +newspapers throughout the United States. All letters weighing not more +than half-an-ounce are charged _three_ cents if prepaid; +_five_ cents if not prepaid, for all distances under three thousand +miles;--over three thousand miles, they pay twice these rates. Upon +newspapers the imposition of postage is quite complicated. The following +statement shows the rates charged to regular subscribers, who pay +postage quarterly in advance, comparing, also, the new postage with the +old: + + Miles. Weekly. Semi- Daily. + Weekly. + + Under 50 (new bill) 5 cts. 10 25 + Present rate 12 24 48 + Over 50-under 300 10 20 50 + Present rate 18 36 108 + Over 300-under 1000 15 30 75 + Present rate 18 36 108 + Over 1000-under 2000 20 40 100 + Present rate 18 36 108 + Over 2000-under 4000 25 50 125 + Present rate 18 36 108 + Over 4000 30 60 150 + +Papers weighing less than an ounce and a half pay half these rates; +papers measuring less than three hundred square-inches pay one-fourth. +On monthly and semi-monthly papers the same rates are paid, in +proportion to the number of sheets, as weekly papers. All weekly papers +are free within the county where they are published. Although the bill +does not reduce postage quite as low as was very generally desired, it +is still a decided advance upon the old law. The experience of the past +has shown that reduced rates increase the revenue. + +The usual appropriation bills were passed, as were also bills giving the +Colonization Society forty thousand dollars, for expenses incurred in +supporting the Africans recaptured from the Pons; appointing appraisers +at large, to look into the doings of the local appraisers; repealing +constructive mileage; repaying Maine money, formerly advanced to the +General Government; and establishing an asylum for soldiers, infirm and +disabled, who have served twenty years, or been disabled by wounds or +disease--the money for its support to be fines and stoppages of pay of +soldiers punished by courts-martial, and one hundred thousand dollars +levied by General Scott in Mexico. + +A good deal of excitement was created by the rescue at Boston of a +person claimed and arrested as a fugitive slave, under the law of the +last session. The rescue was effected by a mob, mainly of colored men, +who rushed into the room where the alleged fugitive was in custody of +the officers, took him therefrom, and started him on his way to Canada, +where he safely arrived soon after. Intelligence of the affair was +transmitted by telegraph to Washington. The President issued a +proclamation, commanding obedience to the laws, and sent a message to +Congress, narrating the facts, and stating that the whole power of the +Government should be used to enforce the laws. The matter was referred +to the Judiciary Committee in the Senate, from which two reports were +made--one by Mr. BRADBURY, of Maine, stating that the President +possessed all needful power, and the other from Mr. BUTLER, of South +Carolina, arguing that the President could not call out either the army +and navy or the militia to suppress an insurrection, without having +previously issued a proclamation. No further action upon the subject was +had in Congress, but a great number of arrests have been made in Boston +of persons charged with participation in the rescue. + +Unsuccessful attempts to elect U. S. Senators have been renewed in New +York, and Massachusetts. In New Jersey Commodore R. F. STOCKTON, +Democrat; and in Ohio Hon. BENJAMIN F. WADE, Free Soil Whig, have been +elected to the U. S. Senate. + +In New Hampshire two Whig and two Democratic Members of Congress have +been elected. There is a Democratic majority in the Senate; in the House +parties are very nearly balanced, each, at present, claiming the +majority. The Free Soilers, apparently, hold the balance of power. The +Governor will be chosen by the Legislature, there being no choice by the +people; the regular Democratic candidate has a decided plurality over +either of his opponents. + +In Virginia, the State election has been postponed from April to +October. This has been done in consequence of the unsettled state of +affairs growing out of the deliberations of the State Constitutional +Convention. It is supposed that the draft of the New Constitution will +be completed so that it may be submitted to the people at that time. + +An Act to exempt Homesteads from sale on execution, has passed the +General Assembly of Illinois, and is to take effect on the 4th of July +next. It provides that in addition to property now exempt from +execution, the lot of ground and buildings occupied as a residence by +any debtor being a householder, shall be free from levy or forced sale +for debts contracted after the above date, provided that the value shall +not exceed one thousand dollars. This exemption is to continue, after +the death of the owner, for the benefit of the widow and children, until +the death of the widow, and until the youngest child shall reach the age +of twenty-one years. Provisions are made for levying upon the amount of +the value of property above one thousand dollars. + +Upon the same day, a bill to exempt from levy upon execution, bed, +furniture and tools, to an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars, +becomes a law in Delaware. A license law, containing extremely stringent +provisions, has been passed in this State. + +A Bill has passed the Legislature of Iowa, prohibiting the immigration +of negroes. They are required to leave the State after receiving three +days' notice of the law, and in case of returning are liable to +penalties. + +Manufactures are advancing in some of the Southern States, especially in +Georgia. A few days since a large quantity of cotton yarn was shipped +from Augusta to find markets in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. + +Emigration from the Old World, and especially from Germany, is setting +strongly into Texas, Houston and Galveston, with a population of 8000, +have 2000 Germans. An effort is made to appropriate a considerable part +of the ten millions received from the United States, to the purposes of +popular education. Indian depredations occur along the western frontier. +Two engagements, attended with loss of life on both sides, have recently +taken place between the troops of the United States and the Indians. An +expedition is to be organized against the Comanches. + +Intelligence from the Boundary Commission has been received up to +December 31st. The initial point from which the survey is to commence +has been agreed upon by both sides. It is to be at a point on the Rio +Grande in latitude 32 degrees 22 minutes. The precise point is to be +ascertained by the astronomers, and will probably be about 20 miles to +the northward of El Paso. The time of completing the survey is variously +estimated at from one to three years. + +From CALIFORNIA there have been three arrivals since our last, bringing +an aggregate of $1,700,000 in gold, and between 700 and 800 passengers. +Our dates are up to the 1st of February. The intelligence of most +importance is that of desperate hostilities between the Indians and the +whites. The former seem to have determined upon a war of extermination, +which of course meets with prompt retaliation; and the ultimate issue +can be no matter of uncertainty. Seventy-two miners were attacked by +surprise in a gulch near Rattlesnake Creek, and massacred to a man. A +petition for aid was dispatched to the Executive of the State, +and a force of 200 men ordered out. In the instructions to the +commander, directions are given studiously to avoid any act calculated +unnecessarily to exasperate the Indians. A daring attack was made on the +9th of January, by a company of 40 or 50 Americans, upon an intrenched +camp, manned by 400 or 500 Indians. The position was so strong that a +dozen whites might have defended it against thousands. Of the Indians 44 +were killed, and the _rancheria_ fired. Many of the aged and children +were burned to death. Of the Americans two were killed, and five or six +wounded. It is reported that all the Indians from Oregon to the Colorado +are leagued together, and have sworn eternal hostility to the white +race. + +The product of gold continues to be great. The report of the new gold +bluffs, mentioned in our last Number, is confirmed; but the access to +them is so difficult that they will not probably be soon available. They +are situated near the mouth of the Klamath River, about thirty miles +north of Trinidad. The approach to them by land is over a plain of sand, +into which the traveler sinks ankle-deep at every step. The bluffs +stretch along some five or six miles, and present a perpendicular front +to the ocean of from 100 to 400 feet in height. In ordinary weather the +beach at the foot is from 20 to 50 feet in width, composed of a mixture +of gray and black sand, the latter containing the gold in scales so fine +that they can not be separated by the ordinary process of washing; so +that resort must be had to chemical means. The beach changes with every +tide, and sometimes no black, auriferous sand is to be seen on the +surface. By digging down, it is found mixed with a gray sand, which +largely predominates. The violence of the surf renders landing in boats +impracticable. Several tons of goods were landed from a steamer +dispatched thither, by means of lines from the vessel to the shore. The +Pacific Mining Company claim a large portion of the beach, and have made +preparations for working the bluffs, and are sanguine of an extremely +profitable result. + +Specimens of gold in quartz have been submitted to assay, which have +proved very rich. Operations in the "dry diggings" have been much +retarded by the absence of rain. Large quantities of sand have been +thrown up, ready to take advantage of the earliest showers to wash it +out. + +A bill to remove the State Capital from San José to Vallejo has passed +the Senate, but has not been acted upon in the House. A project has been +started for a railroad from San José to San Francisco. The receipts into +the city treasury of San Francisco, for the quarter ending Nov. 30, were +$426,076, and the expenditures $638,522. The total debt of the city was +$536,493. No election for U. S. Senator had taken place. The choice will +undoubtedly fall upon Mr. Frémont or T. Butler King. The Whigs seem +confident of success. An expedition was dispatched toward the close of +October to explore the Colorado River from its mouth. They have been +heard from about 30 miles up the stream, to which point they had +ascended without difficulty. They believe the Colorado to be navigable +for steamboats, during the greater portion of the year, as high as the +mouth of the Gila. + + +MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. + +Señor Munguia, the new Bishop of Michoacan, has refused to take the +oaths required by Government, throwing himself upon the rights and +privileges granted to the clergy, upon the first establishment of +Christianity in Mexico.----Great complaints are made of the inefficiency +of the police in the capital. On the 3d of January a band of armed +robbers attacked the promenaders on the _Paseo_, rifling them of +their money and valuables.----Chihuahua was greatly alarmed by the +report that a band of American adventurers and Indians were encamped at +a distance of 25 leagues. The band is said to be well armed, having two +field-pieces. From the description of the leader he is supposed to be +the notorious Captain French.----The affairs of Yucatan are in a +situation almost desperate. The Indians are waging fierce hostilities, +which have prevented the transportation of provisions. The treasury is +exhausted, the army without pay, and almost reduced to starvation.----A +poetical work, by a young Mexican woman, is advertised. It is entitled +the "Awakener of Patriotism," and narrates the history of the late war +with the United States. + +Hostilities have broken out between the central Government of Guatemala +on the one hand, and the allied States of San Salvador and Honduras on +the other. A battle took place on the 21st of January at a village +called San José, when the forces of San Salvador and Honduras were +totally routed, and fled in every direction, closely pursued by the +victors. Such, at least, is the Guatemalan account, which is the only +one that has yet reached us. + +Attention has recently been turned to the gold region of New Grenada, +portions of which have been found to be extremely productive. The +districts richest in gold are said to be extremely unhealthy. + +From Nicaragua we learn that the survey of the route from Lake Nicaragua +to the Pacific is nearly completed. The distance is 12 miles, and the +highest point only 40 feet. The steamer Director is running on the lake. +A complete steam communication will in a few weeks be effected between +the lake and the Atlantic; a canal of 12 miles will unite the lake with +the Pacific. When lines of steamers are established on both sides of the +Isthmus, connecting with this rout across, it is anticipated that the +passage from New York to San Francisco may be made in 24 days. + +Carthagena was visited on the 7th of February by a severe shock of an +earthquake, which lasted nine seconds. Considerable damage was done +throughout the city; some houses were thrown down, and several lives +lost. The city walls and the Cathedral were much injured. Had the shock +been protracted a few seconds longer, the whole city would have been +laid in ruins. On the night of the 8th the public squares and walks were +filled with people who had left their dwellings in dread of a repetition +of the shock. But up to the 15th none had occurred. No city in the +region felt the shock so severely as did Carthagena. + +In Peru, Congress was to meet March 20. The Presidential election has +terminated in favor of Echenique. + +In Bolivia there have been one or two attempts at insurrection. A decree +has been issued, banishing all Buenos Ayreans except those married to +Bolivian women, and all who were known as Federalists. + +From Brazil it is officially announced that liberated slaves, not +Brazilian born, must not be taken to that country. By a law of 1831, +which it is announced will be rigidly enforced, a penalty of 100 +milreas, besides expenses of re-exportation, is imposed upon masters of +vessels for each such person landed. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +We have the somewhat unexpected intelligence of the defeat and +resignation of the Whig Ministry at the very opening of the session. +Parliament met on the 4th of February. On the preceding evening, the +customary absurd farce of searching the vaults under the house, as a +precaution against a second gunpowder-plot, was enacted. Nothing was +discovered boding any peril to the wisdom of the nation about to be +assembled. The Royal Speech was of the usual brevity, and of more than +usual tameness. The following were the only paragraphs of the least +interest: + +"I have to lament, however, the difficulties which are still felt by +that important body among my people who are owners and occupiers of +land. But it is my confident hope, that the prosperous condition of +other classes of my subjects will have a favorable effect in diminishing +those difficulties, and promoting the interests of agriculture. + +"The recent assumption of certain ecclesiastical titles, conferred by a +Foreign Power, has excited strong feelings in this country; and large +bodies of my subjects have presented addresses to me, expressing +attachment to the throne, and praying that such assumptions should be +resisted. I have assured them of my resolution to maintain the rights of +my crown, and the independence of the nation, against all encroachment, +from whatever quarter it may proceed. I have, at the same time, +expressed my earnest desire and firm determination, under God's +blessing, to maintain unimpaired the religous liberty which is so justly +prized by the people of this country. It will be for you to consider the +measure which will be laid before you on this subject." + +There was no actual debate on the Address to the Queen. It consisted of +a mere echo and amplification of the Royal Speech; and was still further +amplified and diluted in the speeches of the movers and seconders. The +Opposition were evidently taken by surprise at the moderation with which +the Catholic question was referred to. They had expected something +answering to the famous Durham letter of the Premier. Lord John Russell +took occasion to explain that certain phrases in that letter, which +Catholics had assumed to be insult to their religion, were, in fact, +applied to a portion of his own communion. Lord Camoys, in the Upper, +and Mr. Anstey, in the Lower House, both Catholics, most emphatically +repudiated any idea of the supremacy of the Pope in temporal matters; +and deprecated the establishment of the Catholic sees in England as +ill-advised in the extreme. This would seem to be the general tone of +feeling among the nobility and gentry of England. In Ireland, however, +the action of the Pope meets with warm approbation. + +The campaign was fairly opened on Friday, the 7th, when Lord John +Russell asked leave to bring in the Government bill, "to prevent the +assumption of certain ecclesiastical titles in respect of places in the +United Kingdom." He admitted that no violation of any existing law was +committed by the assumption as it had been made; and though the +introduction of bulls from Rome was illegal, and liable to punishment, +the statute had been so long in disuse, that a prosecution would +undoubtedly fail. The measure which he finally proposed seems almost +ludicrous when looked upon as the sequel to the fierce controversy which +has convulsed the kingdom, and caused the effusion of such torrents of +ink. It contains two provisions. By the first, the provision of the +Catholic Act, which imposes a penalty of £100 upon the assumption by +Roman Catholic prelates of any title of existing sees in the United +Kingdom, is to be extended, so as to include titles belonging to any +city, district, or place in Great Britain. By the second provision, any +act done by or for any prelate under such title, is absolutely null and +void; so that any bequest or endowment made to him under such title +falls to the Crown. Leave to bring in the bill was granted, by an +overwhelming majority, after four nights of debate. Although the bill +falls so far short of what was demanded in one direction, it goes no +less beyond what will be submitted to in another. The Catholic prelates +denounce it as persecution, and declare that they will disobey it, if +passed; and defy the Government to place the religious teachers of a +third of the nation in a posture of conscientious opposition to the law. +All the indications are, that the bill will be carried triumphantly +through Parliament; or if at all modified, will be rendered more +stringent. This will be but the commencement of the difficulty. + +Pending the ecclesiastical question, the Ministers "lost a victory" on +that of Free-trade. On Tuesday, the 11th, Mr. Disraeli, taking advantage +of that paragraph in the Royal Speech which admits the existence of +distress among the owners and occupiers of land, moved a resolution to +the effect that it was the duty of Ministers to take effectual measures +for the relief of this distress. This was, in effect, a covert and +dexterous attack upon the principle of free-trade in corn, and as such +was met by the Ministers. The leading speech, in reply, was made by Sir +James Graham, endorsed by Lord John Russell. He declared that the +abolition of protection upon corn had been of incalculable benefit to +the people at large, and that any attempt to raise again the price of +bread-stuffs by artificial protection must be a failure. The Corn-law +Rhymer could not have taken higher ground than did the Minister. He +declared, that in consequence of the removal of duty, millions of +quarters of grain had been introduced, and had been consumed by those +who otherwise would never have tasted of wheaten bread. There was not a +plowman, nor a weaver, nor a shepherd, whose condition was not made more +tolerable by the repeal of the Corn-law, and they knew it. The condition +of the mass of the people was the true test of national prosperity. The +resolution of Mr. Disraeli was made a test-question by Government, and +was lost by 267 to 281, showing a ministerial majority of only 14. If +this were to be accepted as a true indication of the state of parties in +Parliament on the vital question of Protection, the Ministers could not +carry on government, and must either resign or dissolve Parliament, and +trust to the chances of a new election. But it is said that many members +voted for Mr. Disraeli's resolution out of pique at the action of the +Ministers upon the ecclesiastical question, and that the true strength +of the Free-trade and Protection parties is yet to be tested. At all +events, the Whigs are irretrievably committed against any attempt to +enhance the price of bread by any artificial protection. + +On Monday, the 17th, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Charles Wood, +presented the Budget. The main difficulty here was to decide what to do +with the surplus revenue. It is so long a time since any European +government has had a question of this nature to deal with, that it is +not to be wondered at that it caused embarrassment. Official ingenuity +has been well-trained to devise ways and means to supply deficiencies in +revenue, by inventing new taxes, or by borrowing; but it has had no +experience in dealing with an actual surplus. Where every interest is +burdened to the utmost, each feels itself to be the most oppressed, and +demands to be first relieved. There were claims to ten times the amount +to be taken off. The Chancellor kept his project a profound secret from +all men; no deputation could worm out of him whether he favored their +own special views; when the proper time came, they should see what they +should see. They did all see; and not a soul was satisfied. The surplus +was estimated to be about £1,900,000; one million was to be devoted to +the payment of the National Debt--a rate which, if kept up, would +extinguish the whole debt in somewhat less than four thousand years; the +remainder was proposed to be so apportioned that no interest +will find itself specially benefited. For instance, the window-tax was +to be nominally abolished; but a large proportion of it was to be +re-imposed in the shape of a duty upon houses;--and all these proposed +reductions were based upon the condition that the income-tax, which has +some features making it particularly odious, involving as it does an +almost inquisitorial prying into private affairs, should be continued +for another three years. The debate upon the Budget was fixed for +Friday, the 21st. + +In the mean time, however, it became apparent that the Budget could not +be carried. A circumstance unimportant in itself sufficiently evinced +this. Mr. King moved for leave to bring in a bill giving the right of +voting in the counties, as well as in the boroughs, to all occupiers of +tenements of the value of £10. Though this was nowise a test question, +Lord John Russell opposed it, and when the vote was taken only 52 votes +were found for the Ministers, while for the motion there were 100. The +apathy of their own party showed the Ministers that they could not +sustain themselves. Lord John Russell moved that the debate on the +Budget should be adjourned to Monday, the 24th. In the mean while, on +Saturday the 22d, the Ministry tendered their resignations. + +The defeat on the Franchise was only "the last feather that broke the +camel's back." The Ministry fell, at the first attack, from inherent +weakness. For a week the Government literally went a-begging, no +statesman daring to undertake the task of conducting it. The Queen, as +the most natural recourse, applied in the first place, to Lord Stanley, +the recognized leader of the Opposition, and head of the Protectionist +party. But he declined to attempt the formation of a Ministry. She then +fell back upon Lord John Russell, who endeavored in vain to reconstruct +a Cabinet which should secure a Parliamentary majority. An unsuccessful +application was then made to Lord Aberdeen. Lord Stanley was again +applied to, who made an attempt to form a Conservative Ministry, leaving +the subject of Protection in abeyance; but he failed to gain the +acquiescence of the leading men of his party upon other grounds, and +abandoned the task. Thus matters remained up to March 1st, the date of +our latest intelligence. It is worthy of remark, how completely the +existence of the House of Peers has been ignored throughout the whole of +these proceedings; the only point aimed at having been to secure a +majority in the Commons. + +A cool attempt to swindle the treasury out of £20,000 has been made in +behalf of the estate of the late Queen Dowager. Her comfortable annuity +of £100,000 was made payable at regular quarter-days, commencing after +the death of William IV. As it happened, he died ten days before the +quarter-day, so that the queen received pay for a whole quarter for +those ten days. She died 63 days after the last quarterly payment; and a +claim was made for payment for that time; although blending the two +periods together she would have received a quarter's payment for 19 days +less than a quarter's time. The court, however, refused to grant the +privilege of burning the candle at both ends; and the beggarly German +heirs of the late queen fail in gaining the sum. + +Petitions have been presented to Parliament from the bishop, +commissioners of parishes, and householders of Capetown, stating that +the Legislative Assembly of the colony has lost the confidence of the +colonists, and presenting the details of a constitution which they pray +may be granted them. + +Certain Protestants of Dublin addressed a letter to the Duke of +Wellington urging him to fulfill a pledge which they infer him to have +made many years ago, when he was Premier, to move the repeal of the +Catholic Relief Bill, if it should, on trial, be found not to work +satisfactorily. The Duke replies in one of the curtest letters in all +his curt correspondence; and in terms which the liveliest imagination +can not interpret as complimentary, refuses to have any thing to do with +them or their request. + +The Commissioners of the Exhibition have decided upon the following +rates for admission: Season tickets for a gentleman will cost three +guineas, for a lady, two guineas. These tickets are not transferrable, +and will admit the owner at all times to the Exhibition. On the day of +opening those only are to be admitted who have season tickets. On the +two subsequent days, the price of admittance will be twenty shillings. +On the fourth day, it will be reduced to five shillings, at which sum it +will continue till the 22d day, when it will be lowered to one shilling. +After that period, the rate will be one shilling, except on Fridays, +when it will be two shillings and sixpence, and Saturdays, when it will +be five shillings. The severest tests have demonstrated the stability of +the building. + +The proposed abolition of the Vice-royalty in Ireland, excites great +opposition, especially in Dublin. A large meeting has been held, at +which the Lord Mayor presided, for the purpose of petitioning against +the intended abolition, and protesting against the system of +centralization which, it is alleged, has been so destructive of the best +interests of Ireland. + + +FRANCE. + +The main features of interest are confined to the quarrel between the +President and the Assembly. Bonaparte is gaining ground. The Minister of +Finance presented the bill asking for a dotation for the President. The +question was an embarrassing one for the Assembly. If they granted it, +it would be giving additional power to him. If they refused, he would +become an object of sympathy, and still gain power. The amount asked was +1,800,000 francs, in addition to his salary of 600,000. M. de +Montalembert was the principal speaker in favor of the bill. He declared +that the President had fulfilled his mission in restoring society and +reestablishing order, and warned the majority not to persist in their +course of hostility, or they would repent it in 1852. Upon taking the +question, there were 294 for the bill, and 396 against it; so that it +was lost by a majority of 102. In anticipation of this rejection, +subscriptions were set on foot throughout the country in aid of the +President; but Bonaparte, by an official notice in the _Moniteur_ +declined to receive any such contributions, choosing, as he said, to +make any personal sacrifices rather than endanger the peace of the +country. He made immediate preparation to live according to his means: +stopped his expensive receptions, and announced a sale of his horses. He +is playing a subtle and well-considered game for re-election to the +Presidency; and if the constitutional prohibition can be repealed or +overridden, there seems little question that he will succeed. His +popularity among the middle classes is great and increasing. When the +question of the revision of the Constitution comes up, the great contest +of parties will begin, which will decide the fate of the Republic. It is +almost impossible that the incongruous combination which now constitutes +the formidable majority against him can hold together, against his cool +and cautious policy, and with so many elements of disunion among +themselves. + + +GERMANY. + +The doings of the Dresden Conference have not officially transpired. But +enough is known to make it evident that our previous accounts are +correct. In addition it is now said, and with probable truth, that +Austria and Prussia have determined to share the executive power of the +Diet between them, to the absolute exclusion of the minor Powers. +Austria brings into the Confederacy the whole of her Sclavic and Italian +possessions. This will call forth the vehement remonstrances of the +other European states, who look upon it as undoing the work of the Holy +Alliance, and disturbing the balance of power. In consideration of +granting this real advantage to Austria, Prussia gains the empty honor +of sharing the Presidency in the Diet, which was formerly held by +Austria exclusively. The pacification of Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse is +complete. In the latter the malcontents are undergoing the penalties of +Bavarian courts-martials. Hamburg is occupied by Austrian troops. Well +authenticated accounts of a conspiracy at Vienna have been received, but +the particulars are not given. The 150th anniversary of the erection of +Prussia into a kingdom was celebrated at Berlin on the 17th of January, +with great pomp. + + +ITALY. + +There can be little doubt that an insurrection, of which Mazzini is the +soul and centre is in course of organization. Funds to a considerable +amount have been provided. The overthrow of the democratic cause +throughout Europe has disbanded an immense number of soldiers, who will +be ready for any enterprise, and will be especially glad to fight for +the old cause, against the old enemy, upon Italian ground. Various parts +of the country are terribly infested with brigands, whose enterprises +are carried on with an audacity which reminds one of the middle ages. +There are reports of an approaching Austrian interference in Piedmont +and Switzerland. The Pope is said to be desirous of the withdrawal of +the French troops from Rome, that he may place himself under the more +immediate protection of Austria and Naples. The Austrian army in Italy +has been considerably reinforced, to provide against the action of +Mazzini and the growing discontent in Lombardy. Archbishop Hughes of +this city is preaching at Rome to increasing audiences. He predicts, +there as well as here, the speedy downfall of Protestantism, and +prophesies that ere long it will have disappeared from the world as +completely as the heretical sects of the Arians and the Manichæans. +There is apparently no doubt that the Archbishop will be raised to the +rank of Cardinal. At the sitting of the Piedmontese Chamber of Deputies, +in Turin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered a speech on occasion +of presenting the Budget, marked by a liberality for which we are not +accustomed to look to statesmen of Italy. + + +THE EAST. + +In INDIA, on the whole, tolerable tranquillity was prevalent. +Sir Charles Napier, in taking leave of the army of India, of which he +was commander-in-chief, addressed a most ultra-Naperian epistle to the +officers. Instead of reminding them of the laurels they have won, and +the territories they have overrun, he berates them for their habits of +lavish expenditure, and for contracting debts which they have no means +or expectation of paying. An interview has been held between Gholab +Singh, the ruler of Cashmere, and the Governor-general, in which the +usual protestations of eternal friendship were interchanged. These +interviews, since the days of Hastings and Clive, have betokened fresh +accessions to the territories of the Company. + +An insurrection of a formidable character which had been raging in some +of the provinces of CHINA, the object of which was the overthrow of the +Tartar dynasty, was, at the latest dates, entirely suppressed. The +famous Commissioner Lin, whose energetic proceedings gave rise to the +opium war, is dead. From the un-oriental energy of his character, and +the salutary dread with which he had inspired his countryman, his death +is a loss to the Empire. + +Difficulties are apprehended in EGYPT. The Porte demands certain reforms +of the Viceroy; among which are the abatement of taxes and the reduction +of the army. The Viceroy refuses to comply, and is determined to offer +forcible resistance, in case of an attempt to enforce the demands. + +The hostilities at Bagdad between the Turks and Arabs have been renewed +since the death of Bem. Vigorous measures, are to be taken to reduce the +insurgent Arabs to subjection. + +From Southern AFRICA, under date of Sept. 6, we have authentic +intelligence of terrible atrocities committed by the Namquas upon the +Danish missionary station. Numbers were killed; and women and children +cruelly tortured. + + + + +LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, PERSONAL MOVEMENTS, ETC. + + +UNITED STATES. + +It is seed-time rather than harvest in the world of Literature and Art, +as well as in that of matter. Publishers are in deep consultation over +projected works. The still labor of brain, eye, and hand goes on in the +library of the author and the studio of the artist, the results of +which, when ready for the public eye, we shall chronicle. The series of +lectures before the Artists' Association has been brought to a very +appropriate close by a lecture from HUNTINGTON, the painter. His subject +was "Christian Art." He claimed, in theory, for his Art that lofty and +sublime mission which he has attempted to exemplify in practice.----The +most attractive series of lectures delivered in this city during the +last season has undoubtedly been that of Mr. LORD, on the "Heroes and +Martyrs of Protestantism." Those who might feel inclined to dissent from +several of his views and conclusions, could not be other than pleased by +the earnestness and zeal with which they were set forth and advocated. +As literary productions, these lectures are deserving of high +praise.----BANVARD'S three-mile Panorama of the Mississippi has been the +fruitful parent of a multitude of staring and impudent productions, +which it were almost a libel upon Art to call pictures. The "cheap side" +of Broadway is lined with these monstrosities, which for the most part +have met with the very moderate patronage which they deserve. + +MARTIN FARQUUHART TUPPER, has arrived in this country. We copy +from the _Evening Post_ the following graceful lines, written in +the harbor on the morning of his arrival: + + Not with cold scorn or ill-dissembled sneer, + Ungraciously your kindly looks to greet, + By God's good favor safely landed here. + Oh friends and brothers, face to face we meet. + Now for a little space my willing feet, + After long hope and promise many a year, + Shall tread your happy shores; my heart and voice + Your kindred love shall quicken and shall cheer, + While in your greatness shall my soul rejoice-- + For you are England's nearest and most dear! + Suffer my simple fervors to do good, + As one poor pilgrim haply may and can, + Who, knit to heaven and earth by gratitude, + Speaks from his heart, to touch his fellow man. + +WASHINGTON'S BIRTH-DAY was celebrated with unusual splendor in this +city. An oration was delivered by Hon. H. M. FOOTE, of Mississippi. At +the public dinner letters were read from President FILLMORE, and Messrs. +WEBSTER, CLAY, and CASS. The principal speech of the evening was made by +Hon. EDWARD EVERETT, in reply to the toast of "the Constitution." + +WASHINGTON IRVING has written a pleasant and characteristic +letter, which has been going the rounds of the papers, to Jesse Merwin, +of Kinderhook, the original Ichabod Crane, of the far-renowned "Legend +of Sleepy Hollow." + + +EUROPEAN. + +Among the recent issues of the London press we notice "_The Mirror for +Maidens_," by Mrs. Sherwood and her daughter, Mrs. Streeten. The +well-won reputation of the mother, acquired so many years ago, will not +be enhanced by her share in this tale.--A volume of _Poems_, by W. +C. Bennett, is made up of pieces of very unequal merit. Some portions +are extremely beautiful, while others are utterly devoid of expression +or character. The readers of Mrs. Marsh's tales will remember many +mottoes taken from Mr. Bennett, giving promise of no common degree of +poetic talent.--Sheridan Knowles, the dramatist, has taken the field as +a religious controversialist in a volume upon Transubstantiation, in +reply to the lectures of Cardinal Wiseman. He shows more familiarity +with the principles and details of the controversy than could have been +anticipated from his former avocations.--_England as it Is_, by Wm. +Johnston, is an attempt to point out the political, social, and +industrial state of the kingdom in the middle of the nineteenth century. +The author is of the opinion that, on the whole, the mechanical +inventions and money-making spirit of the last fifty years have lessened +the comforts and deteriorated the character of the poorer classes. The +book does not seem to be written with sufficient ability to make any +decided impression. + +_Revelations of Hungary_, by the Baron Prochazka, presents the Austrian +view of the question with more zeal than ability. The author details +with the utmost complacency the fearful atrocities of the campaign, +wondering all the while that the Austrians were hated by the oppressed +population. Appended to the Revelations is a "Memoir of Kossuth," +designed to instruct the world as to the true character of the +illustrious Magyar. Every good quality which has been attributed to him, +from genius down to personal beauty, is vehemently disputed. The world +is assured that "Kossuth is by no means the handsome man his partisans +represent him to be; he is of middle stature; his figure is +insignificant; his hair was brown, but being bald, he wears a wig of +that color." This last allegation, we fear is too true; for Kossuth lost +not only his hair, but his health and every thing but life, hope, and +honor during his imprisonment in Austrian dungeons. + +_The Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes_, edited by +J. Eddleston, M.A., presents a view of all the ascertained facts in the +personal and intellectual history of the great mathematician. When he +was engaged in elaborating his theory respecting light and color, in +order "to quicken his faculties, and fix his attention, he confined +himself to a small quantity of bread during all the time, with a little +sack and water, of which, without any regulation, he took as he found a +craving or failure of spirits." + +A continuation of the _Dix Ans_ of Louis Blanc has been commenced by M. +Elias Regnault, under the title of _L'Histoire de Huit Ans_, 1840-48. + +The London _Leader_ speaks of a new work by Harriet Martineau and +Mr. Atkinson which is likely to excite attention. It is entitled +"Letters on Man's Nature and Development." The _Leader_ having read +a few of the proof sheets, says that for boldness of outspeaking on +subjects usually glozed over, and for power of philosophic exposition, +it has few equals. The marvels of mesmerism and clairvoyance are stated +with unflinching plainness, as facts admitting of no dispute. +Materialism is unequivocally and even eloquently avowed; and phrenology +assumes quite a new aspect from the observations and discoveries here +recorded. + +The London _Critic_ contains an interesting paraagraph giving an account +of the payments made to authors in France. It is said that Lamartine, +for the single volume of his _Confidences_, received 8000 dollars. +Chauteaubriand, a few years before his death, contracted with a company +to sell them, at the price of 4000 dollars per volume, any new works he +might write and desire to print. Victor Hugo, by contract with the +publishers, is paid 3000 dollars for each new volume with which he may +furnish them. De Balzac, in 1837, entered into a contract with his +publisher, Delloye, by which the publisher acquired the property for +fifteen years of the works of De Balzac at that time published. The +pecuniary consideration paid to the author, was 12,000 dollars cash, and +an annuity of 3000 dollars. Eugene Sue sold for 9600 dollars the right +of publishing and selling, during five years only, his novel called +_Martin the Foundling, or the Memoirs of a Valet de Chambre_. The work +was already in course of publication in the _feuilleton_ of _The +Constitutionnel_, and the purchaser's rights were confined to France. It +was the _Mystères de Paris_ that made the great literary name and +fortune of Eugene Sue. Previously the remuneration of his literary +labors was much more modest. _La Salamandre_ was disposed of at 300 +dollars per volume. _The Wandering Jew_, and _Les Mystères de Paris_, +were sold at 20,000 dollars the volume: and the purchaser made 12,000 by +the operation. In August, 1845, _The Constitutionnel_, wishing to secure +M. Sue exclusively to itself, made with him a contract which was to last +for thirteen years and a half. By its terms the author bound himself to +furnish for publication in the _feuilleton_ of _The Constitutionnel_ not +less than four, nor more than six volumes of novels per annum, for which +he was to be paid 2000 dollars per volume on delivery of the manuscript. + +LAMARTINE seems determined to surpass the literary fecundity of James, +or even, if such a thing be conceivable, that of the renowned Alexandre +Dumas. In addition to his History of the Directory, mentioned in our +last number, it is announced that he has contracted to write a History +of the Restoration, in some eight or ten volumes. The _Leader_, which is +good authority on these matters, however, states that this last is +substituted for the History of the Directory, which Lamartine abandoned +in disgust when he found that Garner de Cassagnac had undertaken the +same subject for feuilleton publication. A romance, after the manner of +Genevieve, is advertised to appear in the feuilleton of _La Presse_. He +has long been under engagements to furnish, under the title of the +_Conseiller du Peuple_, a monthly pamphlet on current political events; +and he is said to have engaged to write another similar one every +fortnight. Finally, he has in contemplation a History of Turkey. He is, +moreover, an active member of the Legislative Assembly, and a frequent +speaker. During one of the late ministerial crises he came very near +being placed at the head of the Ministry. With such a number of +engagements, undertaken under the pressure of pecuniary necessities, it +is not to be wondered that his recent productions have been unworthy of +his former reputation. + +Dr. J. F. SCHRÖDER has produced a unique work on Talmudic and Rabbinic +maxims and usages. As a specimen of these, we give some of the +refinements and distinctions relating to the observance of the Sabbath: +"Hunting is totally forbidden on the Sabbath, and since fly-catching is +a species of hunting, it is prohibited--nay, the prohibition extends so +far, that a Jew must not cover vessels in which there are flies, because +in this way a sort of catching might take place. Fleas must first have +bitten before they may be caught; and it is not allowable to kill them +when caught. A louse found on the body may be killed, but not one that +has taken up its abode in the outer parts of the garments. Animals, on +the contrary, which are tame and willingly allow themselves to be taken, +may be caught even on the Sabbath; some, however, consider this not +allowable. An egg laid on the Sabbath, or fruits which have been plucked +on that day, may not be used.... If any body wishes to borrow any thing +of another on the Sabbath, he must not say, '_Lend me this or that_;' +but '_Give it me, and I will give it you back_.' If a pledge is to be +restored, the lender must lay it down in silence. He who wishes to have +some beer or wine on a Sabbath, must not say to the tavern-keeper, +'_Give me so much wine or beer for so much money_;' but '_Give me the +vessel full or half full_.' After the Sabbath the vessel may be +measured, and the value of the wine or beer received may be determined. +Letters must not be either written or opened on the Sabbath; but if any +one not a Jew has opened them, without having received orders to do so, +and one is anxious to know the contents, they may be read; but the words +must not be uttered aloud. News also may be read in this way. Accounts, +on the contrary, bills of exchange, and such things, relating to trade, +may not be read. If a leg, &c., falls out of a chair or bench on the +Sabbath, the injury must not be repaired on that day. Should a wine-cask +or any thing of that sort begin to leak, a vessel may be put under it, +but the hole must not be stopped up." + +CHARLES KNIGHT, the eminent publisher, in an effective pamphlet +advocating the repeal of the paper-tax, presents some facts showing the +bearing of that tax upon the diffusion of knowledge. He has had in +contemplation a Supplement to the National Cyclopædia, to consist of a +series of treatises upon Scientific, Social, and Industrial Progress, to +extend to four volumes. To produce this as it should be done, he must +secure the assistance of the most eminent men in every department of +knowledge; which assistance will cost £2000. To cover the outlay he must +sell at least 25,000 copies; which will consume 6400 reams of paper, the +duty upon which would be £880. This additional expense, adding nothing +to the value of the work, makes him hesitate to embark in the +enterprise, If this burden were removed he might either save it in the +original cost, or expend it in adding to the value of the work. In +either case he would not hesitate to carry out his design. + +ROBERT CHAMBERS shows the bearing of the same tax upon labor. His +Miscellany of Tracts was stopped as not paying, although it had a +regular sale of 80 000. While published it had paid a paper-tax of +£6220. This publication, which might have been continued had it not been +for this tax, distributed £18,000 a year in labor. He had since started +a similar series at three halfpence, of which, owing to the increase in +price, only half as many were sold as the other. It is calculated that +this tax keeps out of employment, in London alone, full 40,000 people. +The whole value of the paper annually manufactured in the kingdom is +estimated at £4,000,000, upon which a duty is laid of £800,000. This is +levied almost entirely upon labor, the mateterial used being almost +entirely without value. + +LEOPOLD RANKE, author of the History of the Popes, in the course of his +researches in the National Library at Paris, has discovered a manuscript +portion of the Memoirs of the famous statesman Cardinal Richelieu, which +has long been supposed to be lost. In the manuscript deposited at the +French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a series of leaves is wanting. These +Mr. Ranke found by accident in a bundle of old papers. It is thought +that this discovery may throw some light upon the disputed question +whether the cardinal was the actual author of the works which are +attributed to him, or merely revised and corrected them. + +The _Quarterly Review_ tells a story about George IV. which reflects +little credit upon the "First Gentleman of Europe." The noble library of +George III., in the British Museum bears an inscription purporting that +it was a gift to the nation from his successor. It appears, however, +that the library was a purchase. George IV., in one of his frequent +pecuniary straits, had negotiated for its sale to the Emperor of Russia, +and was only prevented from completing the contract by the most urgent +remonstrances, backed by the receipt of the value of the Russian rubles, +in sterling coin, from the droits of the Admiralty. It is suggested that +the inscription in the Museum should be erased; as there can be no good +reason why the nation should be called upon to supply by a public +forgery the deficiency of worthy records left behind by that monarch. + +According to the _Journal de la Librairie_ the whole number of +books and pamphlets printed in France during the past year is 7208, of +which 5848 are new publications. The publications in the French language +were 6661; in the dialects spoken in France, 68; in German, 53; in +English, 61; in Spanish, 51; in Greek, 83; in Latin, 165; in Portuguese, +16; in Polish, 14; in Hebrew, 9. + +A _Grammar of the Kaffir Language_, by Rev. JOHN W. APPLEYARD, a +Wesleyan Missionary in British Kaffraria, is another valuable +contribution to science resulting from missionary labors. This language, +although, of course, destitute of literary treasures, presents some +features of interest to students of comparative philology. Those +relations of words to each other which in other languages are indicated +by change of termination, are in this denoted by prefixes, which are +regulated by similarity of sound. Neither gender nor number has any +influence upon grammatical construction, being lost sight of in the +euphonic form of the word or prefix. The noun is the leading word in a +sentence, the prefix to it determining that to the other words. Thus, +_abantu_ means "the people," and _ziyeza_, "are coming;" but a Kaffir +would not express "the people are coming" by _abantu ziyeza_, but by +_abantu bayeza_, it being necessary that the prefixes to the verb and +its subject should have a similar sound. The language is also remarkable +for freedom from anomalous usages and exceptions, and for great facility +of forming compound words. Mr. Appleyard's work contains also valuable +ethnographical materials in the shape of a general classification of +the South African dialects. + +An Italian savant announces that when the fog is so thick as to prevent +signals being seen from one station to another, the difficulty may be +greatly diminished by placing a colored glass between the eye and the +eye-piece of the telescope. The best color for those who have strong +eyesight is dark red; while those who are short-sighted find light red +preferable. He accounts for the fact by stating that the white color of +the fog strikes too powerfully upon the eye, particularly if the glass +have a large field; and the intensity of the light is diminished by the +interception of a part of the rays by the colored glass, so that the eye +is less wearied. + +_The Velocity of Artificial Light_ has been the subject of some very +ingenious experiments by M. Fizean. A point of intense brightness, +produced by oxy-hydrogen light, is concentrated by a lens, and being +received upon a mirror placed at about two leagues distance, is +reflected back again in the same line. This is effected so exactly that +scarcely any deviation in the course of the two rays can be perceived, +the going and returning ray appearing one within the other. Behind the +point of light is placed a wheel having 720 teeth, so adjusted that the +light shines between two of the teeth, so that when the wheel is at +rest, an eye placed behind it receives the impression of the full ray. +When the wheel is moved so that 12·6 revolutions are made in a second, +the teeth of the wheel appear continuous, and half the light is +obstructed. If the velocity be sufficiently accelerated all the light is +cut off, and that rate shows the time necessary for the light to have +traversed the two leagues and back again, for the observer sees only the +returning ray. The velocity of artificial light has thus been fixed at +70,000 French leagues in a second, which agrees remarkably with that +given by astronomers to solar light, 192,500 miles in a second. The +English mile, it will be recollected is a trifle longer than the French +mile. + +A paper read before the British Association, describes several +remarkable hail storms which have occurred in India. The weight of some +masses of ice which have fallen exceeds 14 pounds. Many of these masses, +under a rough external coat, contained an interior of clear ice. Immense +conglomerated masses of hail stones had been known to be swept down the +mountain ravines by the torrents which succeeded the storms; and in one +of these conglomerations a snake was found frozen up, and apparently +dead; but it revived on being thawed out. + +A patent has been taken out for what the patentee calls the _essence of +milk_. Fresh milk is placed in a long, shallow copper pan, heated by +steam to a temperature of 110 degrees. A quantity of sugar is mixed with +the milk, which is continually kept in motion by stirring. This is +continued for about four hours, during which the milk is reduced by +evaporation to one-fourth of its original bulk. It is then put into +small tin cans, the tops of which are soldered on. These cans are placed +for a while in boiling water, which completes the process. This +preparation may be kept for a long time, in any climate. It is +peculiarly adapted for use on shipboard. + + +OBITUARIES. + +The MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON (Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton) died Jan. 16, +aged 60 years. He early manifested a love for literature, science, and +art, which he cultivated with greater assiduity than is usual among +students of his social rank. Among his associates at the university were +many whose names have since become known in the world of mind. In 1830 +he became a member of the Royal Society. In 1838, when the presidency of +that body was resigned by the Duke of Sussex, on the ground that the +£13,000 a year, which was granted him as a prince of the blood, was an +income too limited to enable him to afford the coffee and sandwiches +usually furnished at the _soirées_ of the Society, the Marquis of +Northampton was selected to fill that place. If the selection was to be +on the grounds of rank rather than of high scientific attainments, no +better one could have been made. The _soirées_ which he gave drew +together the rank and science of the country, and had a happy influence +upon the scientific world. His attainments in almost every graceful +branch of intellectual culture were highly respectable. He resigned the +presidency of the Royal Society in 1848, and was succeeded by the Earl +of Rosse. He took no very decided part in politics, although he was +always recognized as belonging to the liberal portion of the House of +Peers. Among the large number of the higher classes who have recently +died, no one, since the death of Sir Robert Peel, is so great a loss to +literature and science as the Marquis of Northampton. + +JOHN PYE SMITH, D.D., one of the most learned and eminent of the +dissenting clergy of England died Feb. 5, aged 77 years. He was the +author of a number of works of decided merit; the one by which he was +best known was Scripture and Geology. His attainments in geological +science procured his election as a member of the Royal Society. Early in +January a company of his friends and admirers presented him with a +testimonial of their affectionate regard, in commemoration of the +fiftieth year of his academic labors in the Dissenting College at +Homerton. The sum of £2600 was raised, the interest of which was to be +applied to his benefit during his lifetime, and the principal, after his +death, to be applied to the foundation of scholarships. This testimonial +to his eminent merit was only in time for an honor, but too late as a +pecuniary benefit. + +CHARLES COQUEREL, whose recent death is announced in the Paris papers, +was the brother of the celebrated Protestant clergyman of France. He was +the author of a number of works, among which we remember a History of +English Literature; Caritas, an Essay on a complete Spiritual +Philosophy; and the History of the Churches in the Desert, or the +History of the Protestant Churches of France from the Revocation of the +Edict of Nantes to the Reign of Louis XVI. In this last work he +introduced the substance of a vast mass of private and official +correspondence relative to the persecutions undergone by the French +Protestants. He was also distinguished for his scientific attainments, +and for many years reported the proceedings of the French Academy of +Sciences for the _Courrier Francaise_. He was especially interested in +Arago's investigations upon light, and was busied with them almost to +the day of his death. + +GASPAR SPONTINI, composer of _La Vestale_, and many other less +successful operas, died recently in the Roman States, at an advanced +age. For many years he was chapel-master to the late King of Prussia, +where both himself and his music were unpopular to the last degree among +artists; and it was an article in the contract of more than one _prima +donna_, that she should not be required to sing Spontini's music. The +one great work of his life was _La Vestale_, produced in 1809. It was +in rehearsal for a twelvemonth, and while in preparation was retouched +and amended to such an extent, that the expense of copying the +alterations is said to have amounted to 10,000 francs. + +MRS. SHELLEY, wife of the poet, and daughter of Godwin and the +celebrated Mary Wolstoncroft, died in London on the 11th of February, +aged 53 years. She was herself an authoress of no inconsiderable repute. +Her wild and singular novels, among which are the Last Man, Walpurga, +and Frankenstein, are unequaled in their kind. The last in particular, +notwithstanding the revolting nature of the legend, is wrought up with +great power, and possesses singular fascination for the lovers of the +marvelous and the supernatural. + +JOANNA BAILLIE, the most illustrious of the female poets of England, +unless that place be assigned to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, +notwithstanding her many affectations and great inequalities, died at +Hampstead, on the 23d of February, at the age of 90 years, within a few +weeks. She is best known by her "Plays on the Passions," in which she +made a bold and successful attempt to delineate the stronger passions of +the mind by making each of them the subject of a tragedy and a comedy. +The first volume was published in 1798, and was followed by a second and +a third in 1802 and 1812, and in 1836 by three additional volumes. In +addition to these she published at different times miscellaneous poetry, +which was in 1841 collected into a volume. Her career as an author thus +extends over almost half a century. A complete edition of her works in +one large volume has been issued within a few weeks. To Miss Baillie and +Wordsworth, more than to any others is to be attributed the redemption +of our poetry from that florid or insipid sentimentalism which was its +prevailing characteristic at the beginning of the present century. They +boldly asserted, by precept and practice, the superiority of nature over +all affectation and conventionalism. "Let one simple trait of the human +heart," says she in the Introduction to her first volume, "one +expression of passion genuine to truth and nature, be introduced, and it +will stand forth alone in the boldness of reality, while the false and +unnatural around it fades away upon every side, like the rising +exhalations of the morning." Her dramas are wrought wholly out from her +own conceptions, and exhibit great originality and invention. Her power +of portraying the darker and sterner passions of the human heart has +rarely been surpassed. Scott eulogized "Basil's love and Montfort's +hate" as a revival of something of the old Shaksperean strain in our +later and more prosaic days. But her dramas have little in common with +those of Shakspeare, so full of life, action, and vivacity. Their spirit +is more akin to the stern and solemn repose of the Greek dramas. They +have little of the form and pressure of real life. The catastrophe +springs rather from the characters themselves than from the action of +the drama. The end is seen from the beginning. Over all broods a fate as +gloomy as that which overhung the doomed House of Atreus. Her female +characters are delineated with great elevation and purity. Jane de +Montfort--with her stately form which seems gigantic, till nearer +approach shows that it scarcely exceeds middle stature; her queenly +bearing, and calm, solemn smile; her "weeds of high habitual state"--is +one of the noblest conceptions of poetry. Miss Baillie was a conspicuous +instance of high poetic powers existing in a mind capable of fulfilling +the ordinary duties of life. Among her friends were numbered most of +those whose genius has adorned their day. Her modest residence at +Hampstead was sought by visitors from all parts of Europe, and +especially from America, attracted by admiration of her genius, and love +for her virtues. In her has set one of the last and brightest stars of +that splendid constellation of genius, which arose during the early part +of the present century. + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + +Lippincott, Grambo & Co. have issued the third edition of _California +and Oregon, or, Sights in the Gold Region_, by THEODORE T. JOHNSON, a +work which has deservedly met with a favorable reception from the +public, and which can not fail to be highly appreciated by the emigrant +to the shores of the Pacific. The author describes the incidents of his +voyage to Chagres, the journey across the Isthmus, his stay at Panama, +and his observations in the Gold Regions, in a spirited and graphic +style, which renders his volume no less amusing than instructive. The +chapters devoted to Oregon are full of valuable information, and form +not the least interesting portions of the work. In the opinion of the +author, Oregon is destined to be the permanent seat of American Empire +on the Pacific coast. The tide of emigration to California is now +setting in with gradual but increasing force toward Oregon, and of the +thousands among the population of that territory who have visited the +placers of the Sacramento, none have become settlers, but all have +returned to resume their abode in Oregon. The statements embodied in +this volume concerning the climate, soil, physical resources, and social +condition of Oregon, by Hon. Mr. Thurston, the able Representative to +Congress from that Territory, are distinguished for their good sense and +practical character, and have already made a strong impression on the +public mind. They should be taken into consideration by every one who +proposes to establish his residence in the Farthest West. + +_Mount Hope, or, Philip, King of the Wampanoags_, by G. H. HOLLISTER +(published by Harper and Brothers) is a new historical romance, founded +on the scenes of Indian warfare which occurred in the first century +after the settlement of New England. The fruitful legends of that +period, which present such rich materials to the novelist, are +interwoven with the historical incidents of the day, in a tale of more +than common vigor and beauty. The development of the plot is accompanied +with numerous portraitures of real characters, some of which betray no +mean powers of description, and predict the future distinction of the +writer in this line of composition. Among the historical personages who +figure in the story, are Whalley and Goffe, the regicide judges, who +found an asylum for many years in Massachusetts, and who have left so +many traditions of mysterious interest concerning their fate. A scene +from the death-bed of the former presents a favorable specimen of the +author's ability: + +"On a beautiful peninsula, formed by the most graceful curve which the +Connecticut (the loveliest of all the rivers that gleam among the hills +of the north) makes in its long, winding journey to the ocean, stood the +rural village of Hadley. It was situated upon the very point of the +peninsula, with one main street running north and south, and abutting at +either extremity upon the river. The settlement was then new, and had in +it few houses; but most of them indicated, from their size and neatness, +as well as from the degree of culture that surrounded them, the industry +and comparative opulence of the inhabitants. + +"On the eastern side of the street, and about midway between the arms of +the river, stood the large, well-built mansion of Mr. Russell, the +parish clergyman, almost hidden behind the branches of two magnificent +elms of primitive growth. In the rear of the house was a lawn covered +with apple-trees. + +"It was about ten o'clock in the evening of the day mentioned in the +preceding chapter, when a gentleman, closely enveloped in a long cloak +that perfectly concealed his person, emerged from the tall forest-trees +that skirted the river, and entered the orchard. At first, his step was +rapid and bold, but as he neared the house, he walked with more caution; +and on arriving at the garden-gate he paused, with his hand upon the +latch, and looked cautiously around him. Having apparently satisfied +himself that he was unnoticed, he passed noiselessly through the garden, +and stepped over the little low stile that separated it from the house, +stopped suddenly, and stamped his foot upon the ground. The earth +beneath him returned a hollow sound, and the traveler, kneeling upon his +right knee, commenced removing the rubbish that had been thrown so +artfully over the spot as to elude the vigilance of any eye not +acquainted with the premises. After he had cleared a space of about two +feet in diameter, the clear moonlight disclosed the entire surface of a +small trap-door, fastened by a strong padlock. He then pulled from his +pocket a bunch of keys, tied together by a thong of deerskin, and, +selecting the one that seemed to suit his purpose, applied it to the +lock, which yielded readily to his hand. Lifting the door upon its rusty +hinges far enough to admit his person, he placed his foot upon a short +ladder, letting the heavy door gently down as he descended. The pit in +which he had thus voluntarily shut himself was about six feet in depth, +and walled in like a well. At the west side, and near the bottom, was a +narrow channel or passage, of sufficient size to admit a full-grown man, +running horizontally westward with side-walls, and covered with large, +flat stones. Along this passage the mysterious night-wanderer crept +softly until he came to another door, opening inward, and secured in a +similar manner to the one that he had just passed. This he unlocked, and +glided through the aperture, shutting and fastening the door carefully +behind him. He was now in the cellar of the parsonage, which was so deep +that he could stand upright without touching the timbers overhead. After +groping about in the dark for some moments he discovered a small movable +staircase standing against the wall, and leading perpendicularly upward. +This he carefully ascended until he reached a third door, constructed of +lighter materials than the others, which he easily raised with a slight +pressure of the hand. He now found himself in a spacious closet, shut in +with solid panels of oak. Letting the door noiselessly down, he stood a +moment, and listened. Putting his ear to the wainscot, he could hear the +indistinct murmur of voices in low but apparently earnest conversation. +He heaved a deep sigh, and muttering to himself, 'I pray God it be not +too late,' knocked distinctly with his heavy hand against the firm +partition. The voices ceased, and he heard a light step cross the +adjoining apartment, and then a knock against the wall corresponding to +his own. + +"'Who waits there?' inquired a voice from within. + +"'Mr. Goldsmith,' responded the stranger. + +"In a moment the door was partly opened from within by Mr. Russell, the +proprietor of the mansion, who held a lighted candle in his hand, and +who glanced stealthily into the closet, as if in doubt whether he could +safely admit his visitor. + +"'Thank Heaven!' exclaimed the clergyman, 'my expectations have not +deceived me: you are with us at last.' + +"'Ay, my son; the wanderer has returned. But you look pale--I am too +late--tell me if he yet lives?' + +"'He lives, but is fast sinking.' + +"'And his mind?' + +"'Is still wandering; but there are intervals--I should rather say +glimmerings of reason; he spoke incoherently but a moment since; but he +replied not to my words, and whether he was sleeping or waking I could +not tell. His eyes were closed.' + +"'I must see him: lead the way.' And opening wider the massive door, the +gray-haired regicide entered the apartment of the invalid. + +"It was a small but comfortable chamber, neatly carpeted, and furnished +with a table (covered with writing materials and a few books), three +large oaken chairs, and two beds, in one of which, with his face turned +to the wall, as if to avoid the trembling rays of light that flickered +upon the table, lay an old man, apparently about eighty-five years of +age. As the evening was sultry, his only covering was a single linen +sheet thrown loosely over him, from which his emaciated arm and small, +livid fingers had escaped, and lay languidly by his side. His high, +straight forehead, and calm features, which, from their perfect outline, +neither age nor disease had robbed of their serene beauty, were pale as +marble. The window was partly open to admit the cool air from the river, +and the night breeze fanned gently the thin, snow-white locks that still +lingered about his temples. The tall form of Goffe bent over him, long +and silently, while he read with mournful earnestness the ravages of +superannuation and disease in every lineament and furrow of the +venerable face of his friend. Then, turning to the clergyman, who still +remained standing by the table, he asked, in a voice choked with grief, +while a tear sparkled in his bright eye, 'How long is it, my son, since +he spoke intelligibly? Hath he inquired after me to-day?' + +"'About one o'clock, when I brought him his simple meal, he roused +himself for a moment, and demanded of me if 'I had seen his dear +major-general;' but when I sought to prolong the conversation, and asked +if he would see Goffe, his beloved son-in-law, he smiled, and said +'Yes;' but added, soon after, 'No, no: I have no son, and Goffe died +long ago.'' + +"'Alas!' replied Goffe--seating himself, and motioning the clergyman to +a seat that stood near him--'alas! I fear that my fruitless journey hath +taken from me the privilege I most prized on earth--the administering of +consolation to the last moments of this more than father.' + +"'You call it a fruitless journey, then? And did you hear no tidings of +the long-lost son?' + +"'None: I have ridden over ground where the sound of my very name would +have echoed treason; I have sought him out among men who, had they known +the name of the seeker, would gladly have bought the royal favor by +seizing and delivering over to the hands of the executioner the wasted, +life-weary _regicide_. I have this very day encountered the mortal +enemy of me and my race; but my arm struck down the wretch, as it has +stricken down many a better man in the days of the Protector. He paid +the price of his mad folly in the last debt to nature.' + +"'An enemy! and slain! Have you, then, been discovered?' + +"'Ay, an enemy to God and man. But did I not tell thee that he was +dead? Death is no betrayer of secrets: the hounds that scented my blood, +bore off his mutilated remains, but they will gladly leave them in the +wilderness to gorge the wolf and the raven.' + +"'Who is this fallen enemy?' + +"'Edward Randolph.' + +"'Edward Randolph! Have you met and slain Edward Randolph?' + +"'I have slain him. You look wild--you shudder. Dost think it a sin in +the sight of Heaven to stop the breath of a murderer? You start at my +words, and the minister of God may well shrink from the weapons which +the servants of the Protector have grown old in wielding. But, Russell, +Justice always bears a sword, and Oliver only taught us to employ it as +the meanest viper that crawls will use his envenomed tooth, to protect +his writhing shape from the foot that crushes him.' + +"'The weapons of our warfare are not carnal,' interposed the clergyman. + +"'Self-defense is the first law of our nature, Russell. But +self-defense, when roused against a tyrant, or the minions of a tyrant, +and in behalf of a goaded and maddened people, to inspire them with hope +and freedom, and lift their eyes to the pure light of heaven, is the +sentiment of a Christian patriot, and God will approve it. But let us +awaken our aged friend, and try if we can marshal his scattered thoughts +for a last conflict with the enemy of man.' + +"He walked the room a moment, to banish, by more tranquil thoughts, the +frown that still lowered upon his brow and the gleam that had lighted +his dark eye--the reflex of many a bloody field; and walking slowly up +to the bed of the sick man, stooped over him, and passed his brawny hand +over the pale forehead of the sleeper. 'Awake, father, awake!--Dost thou +not know that thy son has returned? Let me hear thy voice once again.' + +"The invalid turned his face suddenly toward the light, and, opening his +eyes, stared wildly at Goffe, but showed no signs of recognition. + +"'Speak, Whalley: do you know me?' + +"At the sound of his name, the old man started up, and rising upon his +elbow, cried, in a voice that rang hollow as the echo of the sepulchre, +'Who calls Whalley? Was it my Lord Cromwell? Was it the Lord General? +Tell him that I am ready with two hundred good troopers that carry +pistols at their holsters and swords at their girdles.' Then raising his +arm, with his small attenuated hand clenched as if it grasped the weapon +of which he raved, he continued with increased energy, 'Up, my merry +men! to horse! hew the roisterers down!--one more charge like that, and +we drive them into the morass!--There again--it was well done--now they +flounder man and horse in the dead pool--call off the men. They cry +quarter--shame on ye--'tis murder to strike a fallen foe! But I wander. +Who called Whalley? Sure I have heard that voice ere this.' + +"'It is your son: it is Goffe.' + +"'Peace, man! I know thee not. There _was_ a Goffe, who stood once +by my side in the armies of the Protector, and who sat with me in +judgment upon the tyrant; but he was attainted of high-treason, and +hanged--or, if not, he must have died in the tower. My memory is poor +and treacherous; I am _old_, sir; but you look--" + +"'Hear me, father. Do you remember under whose charge the Stuart was +placed at Hampton Court?' + +"'Do I _remember_ it!' quoth he. 'Ay, do I, as if it were but a +thing of yesterday. Yesterday! better than that. Sir, I have forgotten +_yesterday_ already: my thoughts live only in those glorious days; +they are written on the tablets of the brain as with a diamond. But what +was I saying? It has escaped me.' + +"'The Stuart, father--' + +"'Who had the Stuart in charge at Hampton Court? _I_ had him, and +thought the game-bird would sooner have escaped from the talons of the +falcon when poised on the wing, than he from me. But some knave played +me false, and for love or gold let the tyrant slip through my hands. +And, sir, to own the truth, he was a princely gentleman; and after his +escape he wrote me a loving letter, with many thanks for my gentle +courtesy and kindly care of him. Yet his phantasy was ever running upon +trifles: for in that very epistle he begged me to present in his name a +trumpery dog as a keep-sake to the Duke of Richmond. Had it not been for +such light follies and an overweening tyranny, he might have ruled +England to this hour.' + +"Goffe now perceived that he had hit upon the right vein, and proceeded +to ply him with reminiscences of his earlier manhood. + +"'Had you e'er a wife?' + +"'The wife of my youth was an angel. What of her, but that she is dead, +and I desolate? Or who are you, that venture to thrust my grief upon me +unasked. You tread upon the ashes of the dead!' + +"'Pardon me: I wound, that I may heal. Had you ever a daughter?' + +"'I had several, but I can not recall their names. Yet I am sure there +must have been more than one.' + +"'Was not one of them made by your consent the wife of William Goffe?' + +"'Yes--why yes: Frances was the wife of Goffe--a gallant officer, and a +faithful servant of God and the commonwealth. I mind him well now. He +was a host in battle, but something rash, and of a hot temper. I thought +to hear of his death at the end of every conflict with the cavaliers. He +would ride a furlong in front of his troop in the rage of pursuit, if +ever the enemy broke rank and fled.' + +"'What became of him?' + +"'He died--no--it has all come back to me now. He came with me to +America, and here in the rocks and caverns of this wilderness he has +helped to hide me, with the tenderness of a bird for its unfledged +young, through this my second infancy.' + +"'Do you not know me now?' asked Goffe, affectionately taking his hand. + +"The old man fixed his mild blue eye, already beaming with the rays of +returning intelligence, full upon the anxious face of his fellow-exile, +and gazed long and intently, as if he would have read in his features +some sign of an attempt to practice upon his credulity. Then the color +came back in a momentary glow to his cheeks, and tears flowed copiously +over them, as he threw his arms around the iron form of Goffe, and +smiled faintly as he faltered, 'Alas the day--that I should live to +forget thee, my more than son!' + +"The empire of reason was restored: and although afterward it sometimes +lost its sway in the chaos of the dim and shadowy images of the past, +yet from that time to the day of his death, the jealous glance with +which he followed the steps of the companion of his earlier and more +prosperous days, as he moved noiselessly around the room--the warm grasp +of the hand--the subdued patience of the sufferer--the oft-repeated +endearing appellation 'my son--my son'--were constant witnesses to the +faithfulness of memory, when kindled and kept in exercise by gratitude +and love." + +_Parnassus in Pillory_, by MOTLEY MANNERS, Esq. (published by Adriance, +Sherman, and Co.), is a satire of great pretension and considerable +success upon several of the most eminent living American poets. Mr. +Manners has some sharp weapons in his armory, which he flourishes with +the skill of an adroit fencing master, but in most cases, they gleam +idly in the air without drawing blood. His happiest hits are usually +harmless, but now and then they damage himself while his antagonist +escapes. On the whole, the author's forte is poetry rather than satire, +and punning more than either. In this last accomplishment, we admit his +"proud pre-eminence." + +Ticknor, Reed, and Fields have issued a new edition of _Twice Told +Tales_, by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, with an original preface, +and a portrait of the author. The preface is highly characteristic, and +will be read with as much interest as any of the stories. Mr. Hawthorne +presents some details of his literary autobiography, in which he relates +the ill success of his first adventures as an author, with irresistible +unction and naïvete. He claims to have been for a good many years the +obscurest literary man in America. His stories were published in +magazines and annuals, for a period comprising the whole of the writer's +young manhood, without making the slightest impression on the public, +or, with the exception of "The Rill from the Town-Pump," as far as he is +aware, having met with the good or evil fortune to be read by any body. +When collected into a volume, at a subsequent period, their success was +not such as would have gratified a craving desire for notoriety, nor did +they render the writer or his productions much more generally known than +before. The philosophy of this experience is unfolded by the author +without the slightest affectation of concealment, or any show of +querulousness on account of its existence. On the contrary, he views the +whole affair with perfect good humor, and consoles himself in the +failure of large popularity, with the sincere appreciation which his +productions received in certain gratifying quarters. They were so little +talked about that those who chanced to like them felt as if they had +made a new discovery, and thus conceived a kindly feeling not only for +the book but for the author. The influence of this on his future +literary labors is set forth with his usual half-comic seriousness. "On +the internal evidence of his sketches, he came to be regarded as a mild, +shy, gentle, melancholic, exceedingly sensitive, and not very forcible +man, hiding his blushes under an assumed name, the quaintness of which +was supposed, somehow or other, to symbolize his personal and literary +traits. He is by no means certain that some of his subsequent +productions have not been influenced and modified by a natural desire to +fill up so amiable an outline, and to act in consonance with the +character assigned to him, nor even now could he forfeit it without a +few tears of tender sensibility." + +_Time the Avenger_ is the title of Mrs. MARSH'S last +novel, reprinted by Harper and Brothers. It is intended as the sequel to +"The Wilmingtons," and like that powerful story abounds in vivid +delineations of character, and natural and impressive developments of +passion. With a more reflective character than most of the former +productions of the author, the style is equally vigorous and sparkling +with that of the admirable works which have given her such a brilliant +celebrity. + +_The Educational System of the Puritans and Jesuits compared_, by +N. PORTER, Professor in Yale College (published by M. W. Dodd) +is an historical and argumentative treatise discussing the origin, +influence, and prevalence in this country of the two systems. The views +of the author are presented with discrimination and force, and well +deserve the attention of the friends of religion and education. + +George P. Putnam has issued the second part of _The Girlhood of +Shakspeare's Heroines_, by MARY COWDEN CLARKE, containing +_The Thane's Daughter_, in which the early history of Lady Macbeth +is described in an ingenious and lively fiction. The story does great +credit to the author's power of invention, and is executed with so much +skill, as in some degree to atone for the presumptuousness of the +enterprise. The volume is embellished with a neat engraving of "Cawdor +Castle." + +Munroe and Francis, Boston, have published a volume of _Poetry from +the Waverly Novels_, containing the poems scattered through the +Waverly Novels, which are supposed to be written by Sir Walter Scott, +and which are ascribed by him to anonymous sources. The volume will be +welcomed by every lover of poetry and of Scott, not only for the +agreeable associations which it awakens, but for the numerous delicious +morceaux which it has preserved. + +A new edition of _Essays and Reviews_ by EDWIN P. WHIPPLE, +has been issued by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, comprising the contents of +the former edition, with a Review of Dana's Poems and Prose Writings, +and one or two less elaborate papers. These volumes present the +character of the author as an acute and enlightened critic in a very +favorable light. With a familiar knowledge of the lighter portions of +English literature, a healthy relish for the racy varieties of a wide +range of authors, a sensitive taste which is none the less accurate in +its decisions for being catholic in its affinities, a peculiar facility +in appreciating the point of view of the writers under discussion, and a +richness, point, and beauty of expression rarely combined in any +department of composition, Mr. Whipple has attained a deserved eminence +as a critical authority, which is certainly not surpassed in the field +of American letters, and with but few exceptions, by any writer in the +English language. + +_Elements of Analytical Geometry and of the Differential and Integral +Calculus_, by ELIAS LOOMIS, Professor in the University of +New York (published by Harper and Brothers) presents the principles of +the sciences treated of, with a precision of statement and clearness of +illustration, without sacrificing any thing of scientific rigor, which +make it an admirable text-book for the college student, as well as a +facile guide for the mathematical amateur. The happy manner in which the +knotty points of the Calculus are unraveled in this treatise presents a +strong temptation to plunge into the time-devouring study. + +Harper and Brothers have published _Wallace_ and _Mary +Erskine_, being the second and third numbers of Mr. ABBOTT'S +popular series of _Franconia Stories_. + +_The City of the Silent_, by W. GILMORE SIMMS, is the +title of an occasional poem delivered at the consecration of Magnolia +Cemetery, Charleston, S. C. Its felicitous selection of topics, and +classic beauty of expression, entitle it to a high place in the current +poetry of the day, and amply sustain the reputation of the distinguished +author. The notes exhibit a rich store of curious erudition. + +_The Shipmaster's Assistant and Commercial Digest_, by JOSEPH +BLUNT, is published by Harper and Brothers, in the fifth edition, +although such changes have been introduced as to render it in fact a new +work. It presents a complete digest of the laws of the different States +of the Union, relating to subjects connected with navigation; a +systematic arrangement of the acts of Congress in regard to the revenue +and commerce; a view of the different moneys and weights and measures of +the world, besides an immense amount of information, under appropriate +heads, on the various points of marine law and commercial regulations +that can interest an American shipmaster. + + + + +Three Leaves from Punch. + + + + +[Illustration: 1851. + +"PLEASE, SIR, SHALL I HOLD YOUR HORSE?"] + + * * * * * + + +THE AFFAIRS OF GREASE. + +Fat cattle did not sell well this year. Their ever-obesity seems to have +been one of the causes of their going off so heavily--which is no +wonder. Fat oxen can not be expected to be brisk. Now, this truth has +been brought home to graziers, perhaps they will abandon the system of +fattening animals so enormously; which is the merest infatuation. + + * * * * * + + +THE WAR ON HATS. + +Every one knows that _Punch_ has lately been knocking the modern hat +upon the head with his playful, but powerful _bâton_. War to the hat is +happily superseding, on the Continent, the rage for making war on crowns +alone; and, indeed, we had so much rather see the military employed +abroad in a crusade against hats than in the work of carnage, that, by +way of giving employment in a good cause, to a brave soldier, we invest +with full powers against hats the renowned GENERAL HATZOFF. + + * * * * * + + +PEACE OFFERING. + +The Crystal Palace may be looked upon as a noble Temple of Peace, where +all nations will meet, by appointment, under the same roof, and shake +each other by the hand. It is very curious that one-half of MR. PAXTON'S +name should be significant of Peace. We propose, therefore, that over +the principal entrance there be erected in large gold letters, the +following motto, so that all foreigners may read it as a friendly salute +on the part of England: + + "PAX(_ton_) VOBISCUM." + + * * * * * + + +THE BEST LAW BOOK. + +We find there has been recently advertised a Law Book under the +promising title of _Broom's Practice_. This is just what is wanted in +the law; the Broom happens to be a good one, for a little practice with +such an implement may have the effect of operating a sweeping reform. + + * * * * * + + + + +JUSTICE FOR BACHELORS. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + +"DEAR MR. PUNCH, + +"I am a bachelor, and my friends, I believe, allow that, in the main, I +am a tolerably good-natured fellow--but just look here! I was invited a +few days ago to spend a week at a country house, and here I am; but I +must confess that I was a little put out when taken to the very top of +it, and told that this was my bedroom. I have since been led to suppose +that unmarried men must expect to sleep in the worst rooms there are; +for see--this is the bedroom of a married couple, friends of mine. +Now--confound it! I say the comfort is monstrously and unfairly +disproportioned. The ladies--bless them!--ought, of course, to be made +as cosy as possible; no man could object to their having their nice +little bit of fire, and their dear little slippers placed before it, +with their couches, and their easy chairs, &c.--of course not--but that +is no reason why we single men should be treated like so many Shetland +ponies. There is no fireplace in my room, and the only ventilation is +through a broken window. As far as the shooting, the riding, the eating +and drinking go, I have nothing whatever to complain of. But I want to +know why--why _this_ mature female always answers my bell, and that +great brute Snawkins (whose mind, by-the-by, is not half so well +regulated as mine)--merely because he is a married man--has his hot +water brought by this little maid! I don't understand it. You may print +this, if you like; only send me a few copies of _Punch_, when it +appears, that's a good fellow, and I will carelessly leave them about, +in the hope that Mrs. Haycock may see them; and by Jove! if the hint is +not taken, and my bedroom changed--or, at least, made more +comfortable--I'll--yes--(there's an uncommonly nice girl stopping here) +I'll be hanged if I don't think very seriously of getting married +myself. + + "Believe me, my dear _Punch_, + "Yours faithfully, + "CHARLES SINGLEBOY." + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + +DRAMAS FOR EVERY-DAY LIFE. + + +The following drama is upon a subject that will come home to the heart +and tongue, the lungs and the lips, the epiglottis and the affections, +of every Englishman. There is not a theme in the whole range of +every-day life, that so frequently furnishes the matter of conversation, +and there can be none, consequently, so universal in its interest, as +the one which forms the subject of the drama we are about to present to +our readers. In every circle, at every hour of every day, the first +point started by every one meeting with another, and taken up by that +other with the keenest relish, is--The Weather. The title may not appear +at first sight a promising one, for the purposes of the dramatist; but +if he can succeed in presenting to his countrymen a type of a drama for +every-day life, divested of those common-places which long habit and an +apparent exhaustion of the theme may have thrown about it, he will be +content to hang up his harp on the first hat-peg of "Tara's," or any one +else's "hall," and repose, as well as such a substitute for a mattress +will allow him, upon his already-acquired laurels. But without further +prologue, we will "ring up," and let the curtain rise for the drama of + + + THE WEATHER. + + * * * * * + + DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. + + MR. MUFFLE { _An old friend of the late husband of_ + { MRS. YAWNLEY. + + MRS. MUFFLE _Wife of_ MR. MUFFLE. + + MRS. SHIVERS { _A casual acquaintance of_ MRS. YAWNLEY, + { _and knowing incidentally a little of the_ + { MUFFLES. + + MRS. YAWNLEY { _A widow, whose late husband was a friend of_ + { MR. MUFFLE. + + Servant to MRS. YAWNLEY. + +_The_ SCENE _passes in the drawing-room of_ MRS. YAWNLEY. _The Stage +represents a handsome drawing-room, elegantly furnished. There is a door +at the back opening on to a hall in which is hung a weather-glass._ + +MRS. YAWNLEY _(in a morning dress) discovered seated in conversation +with_ MRS. SHIVERS, _who wears her shawl and bonnet_. + + * * * * * + + _Mrs. Y._ It is indeed! the winter, as you say, + Has now set in with great severity. + + _Mrs. S._ Not that I think we've reason to complain. + This is December, we should recollect. + + _Mrs. Y._ We should indeed--a very true remark: + And one that never struck me till you made it. + + _Enter_ Servant, _announcing_ MR. _and_ MRS. MUFFLE. + + _Mrs. Y._ (_rising._) Dear MRS. MUFFLE, this is very kind, + To come to see me on a day like this. + Which I and MRS. SHIVERS (whom you know) + Were just remarking was extremely cold. + + _Mr. M._ Cold--do you think! + + _Mrs. Y._ Yes--pray come near the fire. + + _Mrs. M._ Oh! Thank you--no--I'd really rather not. + I'm very warm with walking. + + [_Sits at a distance._ + + _Mrs. S._ Probably. + But walking somehow never makes me warm. + +[_An awkward pause, during which_ MR. MUFFLE _puts his fingers between +the bars of a parrot's cage, as if playing with the bird, receives a +savage snap, but says nothing, as the affair is not remarked by any +body_.] + + _Mrs. Y._ What think you, MISTER MUFFLE, will it rain? + You gentlemen can always judge so well. + + _Mr. M._ (_Walking to the window, partly to + conceal the pain of his finger._) Why, that depends + a good deal on the wind. + + _Mrs. S._ They say that when the smoke is beaten down, + Rain may be looked for. + + _Mrs. M._ I have often heard + That if the birds fly very near the ground, + Wet is in store. Look at that sparrow now, + He's fairly _on_ the ground, so it _must_ rain. + + _Mrs. Y._ But now he's off again, and so it won't, + Those adages, I think, are often wrong. + + _Mr. M._ One rule I've always found infallible. + + _Mrs. S._ Pray tell us what it is. + + _Mrs. Y._ Do--I entreat. + It would be so convenient to know. + Some certain rule by which to guide one's self. + My glass deceives me often. + + _Mrs. M._ (_in a mental aside._) Rather say + Your glass tells often some unpleasant truths. + + _Mr. M._ My weather-glass, dear madam, is my corn. + + _Mrs. M._ Why, really, MISTER M., you're quite absurd; + Have we the means of guidance such as that? + You're positively rude. + + _Mrs. Y._ (_laughing._) Oh, not at all; + He's trod upon no tender place of mine. + + _Mrs. S._ I've heard some story of the tails of cows + 'Tis said that when to the wind's quarter turn'd, + They augur rain. Now tell me, MR. MUFFLE, + Do you believe in that? + + _Mr. M._ I'd trust a cow's, + As well as any other idle tail. + + _Mrs. Y._ That's saying very little. Tell me, now, + (For your opinion, really, I respect,) + Are mackerel-looking clouds a sign of wet? + + _Mr. M._ I think it probable that mackerel clouds + Betoken wet, just as a mackerel's self + Puts us in mind of water. + + _Mrs. S._ Are you joking + Or speaking as a scientific man? + + _Mrs. Y._ You're such a wag, there's never any knowing + When you are serious, or half in jest. + Dear MRS. MUFFLE, you that know him best, + Shall we believe him? + + _Mrs. M._ Oh, I can say nothing, + +[_All laugh for some minutes, on and off, at the possibly intended wit +of_ MR. MUFFLE; _and the tittering having died off gradually, there is a +pause_.] + + _Mrs. M._ (_to_ MRS. Y.) Have you been out much lately? + + _Mrs. Y._ No, indeed, + The dampness in the air prevented me. + + _Mrs. S._ 'Tis rather drier now. + + _Mrs. Y._ I think it is. + I hope I shall be getting out next week, + If I can find a clear and frosty day. + + _Mr. M._ I think 'tis very probable you will. + + _Mrs. Y._ I'm quite delighted to have heard you say so; + But are you quizzing us. You're such a quiz! + + _Mr. M._ (_with serious earnestness._) Believe me, MRS. YAWNLEY, when + I say + I've far too much regard--too much esteem-- + For one I've known as long as I've known you, + To say a word intending to mislead; + In friendship's solemn earnestness I said, + And say again, pledging my honor on it, + 'Tis my belief we may, ere very long, + Some clear and frosty days anticipate. + + _Mrs. Y._ I know your kindness, and I feel it much; + You were my poor dear husband's early friend. + +[_Taking out her handkerchief._ MRS. S. _goes toward the window to avoid +being involved in the scene._] + + I feel that though with cheerful badinage + You now and then amuse a passing hour, + When with a serious appeal addressed, + You never make a frivolous reply. + + _Mrs. M._ (_rising, and kissing_ MRS. Y.) You do him justice, but we + must be going. + + _Mr. M._ (_giving his hand to_ MRS. Y.) Good morning, MRS. YAWNLEY. + + _Mrs. Y._ Won't you wait, + And take some luncheon? + + _Mr. M._ Thank you; no, indeed; + We must be getting home, I fear 'twill rain. + + _Mrs. S._ I think you go my way--I'm in a fly, + And shall be very glad to set you down. + + _Mrs. M._ Oh, thank you; that's delightful. + + _Mrs. S._ (_to_ MRS. Y.) So, I'll say + Good-by at once. + + _Mrs. Y._ Well, if you will not stay. + +[MR. _and_ MRS. MUFFLE, _and_ MRS. SHIVERS, _exeunt by the door_. MRS. +YAWNLEY _goes to the bell_. MR. MUFFLE _taps on the weather-glass; the +bell rings; and the glass, which is going down, falls considerably at +the same moment as the curtain_.] + + + + +[Illustration: A JUVENILE PARTY. + +_First Juvenile._--"THAT'S A PRETTY GIRL TALKING TO YOUNG ALGERNON +BINKS." + +_Second Juvenile._--"HM--TOL-LOL! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HER SOME SEASONS +AGO."] + + + + +THE KITCHEN RANGE OF ART. + + +Soyer, in his _Modern Housewife_, is quite angry that our great +Painters have never busied themselves with "such useful and interesting +subjects" as the subjects of the kitchen, instead of "continually +tracing on innumerable yards of canvas the horrors of war, the +destruction of a fire by fire or water, the plague, the storm, the +earthquake." For this purpose, SOYER suggests some admirable +historical events, connected with the _Cuisine_, on which artists +might, with advantage, employ their genius. Among others, he mentions +the following: + +"LOUIS XIV., at Versailles, receiving from the hands of the PACHA the +First Cup of _Café_ ever made in France." + +"VOLTAIRE helping FREDERIC, on the Field of Potsdam, with a Cup of +Cho-ca." + +"CARDINAL MAZARIN tasting, at the Louvre, the First Cup of Chocolate." + +In all matters of taste (excepting his _Nectar_ and his _Economical +Soup_, which, we candidly confess, we never could stomach) we always +agree with the mighty SOYER. And we are so moved with his indignation at +the neglect with which artists have too long visited all subjects +connected with culinary art, that we go out of our way to give Royal +Academicians the benefit of the following notions, which may have the +desired effect of elevating the _Cuisine_ to the same level as the +Conqueror's Tent, or the Monarch's Council Chamber. We see a grand +historical picture in each of the following suggestions: + +"GEORGE THE THIRD in the Old Woman's Cottage, wondering 'how ever the +apples got inside the apple-dumpling.'" + +"UDE Tearing his Hair, upon learning that the British Nobleman had put +salt into his soup." + +"The DUKE OF NORFOLK conceiving the brilliant notion of rescuing a +Nation from Starvation, by means of his celebrated Curry-Powder." + +"The Immortal Courage of the GREAT UNKNOWN who Swallowed the First +Oyster." + +"MARIE-ANTOINETTE wondering how the People could starve, when there were +such nice little _Gâteaux_ at three sous apiece." + +"NAPOLEON Eating the Dish of Stewed Mushrooms, by which, it is said, he +lost (in consequence of the indigestion), the Battle of Leipzig." + +"The Resignation of SOYER at the Reform Club." + +"Portrait of the Celebrated American Oyster, that was so large, that it +took three men to swallow it." + +"ABERNATHY inventing his Dinner-Pill." + +"BRILLAT SAVARIN tasting the Wonderful Sauce, that was so delicious, +that a person could eat his own father with it." + +"CÆSAR, or DANDO, Astonishing the Natives." + +"Heroic Death of VATEL, upon hearing that the Fish had not arrived." + +"CANN first hitting upon the glorious idea of giving in Holborn 'a +devilish good dinner for 2-1/2_d._'" + +As soon as our great Painters have put into living shape the above +delicious _morçeaux_, we shall be prepared to furnish them with another +course of the same choice quality. + + + + +[Illustration: REWARD OF MERIT. + +_Ragged Urchin._--"PLEASE GIVE DAD A SHORT PIPE?" + +_Barman._--"CAN'T DO IT. DON'T KNOW HIM." + +_Ragged Urchin._--"WHY, HE GETS DRUNK HERE EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT." + +_Barman._--"OH! DOES HE, MY LITTLE DEAR? THEN 'ERE'S A NICE LONG 'UN, +WITH A BIT OF WAX AT THE END."] + + + + +SPRING FASHIONS. + + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--PROMENADE AND EVENING COSTUMES.] + +Like coquettish April, Fashion is now beginning to exchange its more +sombre aspect for its sweetest smiles, and to develop its pretty flowers +and delicate foliage. The darker colors and firmer textures of winter +are now disappearing, and all the gay hues and lighter fabrics are +taking their places. + +WALKING DRESSES.--Silks of every color and texture are now to be seen +for afternoon toilet. We may cite the following as the most general form +in which they are made: First, a dress of green silk or velvet, the +skirt made perfectly plain and very full; three-quarters high body, +fitting close to the figure, and ornamented with _noeuds_ of velvet, +to which are attached three small drops of fancy buttons, put on at +regular distances, and reaching from the top of the corsage to the lower +edge of the skirt. Loose sleeves, made open up to the elbow at the back, +and rounded, trimmed with a double frilling of narrow velvet. Chemisette +and full sleeves of white cambric. Bonnet of a deep lilac _velours +épinglé_. Across the centre of the front is worked a wreath in tambour +work, the edge of the front finished with a narrow fulling. The curtain +is bordered to match the front, the interior of which is decorated with +loops of ribbon, with _brides_ to match. Such is the costume represented +on the right in Figure 1. + +Another beautiful walking dress is of green silk, the skirt trimmed with +three deep flounces, the upper one descending from the waist, and each +encircled with three narrow _galons_, put on so as to represent square +vandykes; high body, closing at the back, and ornamented in front of the +chest with five _noeuds papillons_, and on either side three _galons_, +forming _revers_. Pagoda sleeves, rather short, and finished with two +frillings decorated with _galons_; white sleeves of embroidered muslin, +having three frillings of Valenciennes lace. Another pretty style is +composed of _moire antique_ of a dark blue and black ground, _broché_ in +light blue, and trimmed with a _chenille_ lace of a dark blue color. +Changeable, lilac, pale blue, and corn-color silks are now becoming +fashionable for walking dresses. + +EVENING COSTUME.--Every variety of color is now fashionable for evening +costume. The most favorite colors are _mauve_, amber, pink, lilac, blue, +and peach. The centre figure in our first illustration exhibits a very +elegant evening costume. A dress of pale pink satin, trimmed upon each +side of the skirt with a broad lappet of the same, edged with a flat row +of blonde, and confined at two distances with a _noeud_ of satin and +two ostrich feathers shaded pink, the lower part being rounded. The +centre of the pointed corsage is formed of two rows of lace, divided +with fullings of satin; the cape is composed of two rows of lace, headed +with a fulling of ribbon. The cap is composed of white lace and +decorated with pink ribbons and feathers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--COIFFURE.] + +COIFFURES.--There is a great variety of head dresses, many of them +extremely rich and elegant. They are composed of light fabrics, and +flowers of the rarest kind. The latter are generally intermixed with +fancy ribbons, combining the most vivid hues with threads of gold or +silver, while others are varied with _noeuds_ and streamers of ribbon +velvet. Figure 2 represents a neat style of head dress for an evening +party, showing the arrangement of the back hair. An elegant style of +_coiffure_ is composed of the white thistle, intermixed with small +clusters of gold berries and white gauze ribbon, richly embroidered with +gold. Those formed of ivy leaves, interspersed with tips of white +_marabout sables d'or_, and attached with bows of green and gold ribbon, +are extremely elegant. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--BONNET.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--STRAW BONNET.] + +BONNETS.--Figure 3 represents a very pretty style of bonnet, adapted for +early spring. It is composed of folds of pink silk or satin, ornamented +within with flowers. The front is trimmed with fullings of satin, +attached to which, and frilling back, is a row of pointed lace. Figure 4 +shows an elegant style of straw flat, for a little Miss, trimmed, in +connection with the tie, with several folds of satin ribbon. The only +external ornament is a long ostrich feather, sweeping gracefully around +the front of the crown, and falling upon the side of the brim. + +BALL DRESSES are of almost every variety of style. Narrow blondes are +now much used for decorating ball dresses; they give a light and +sparkling effect when arranged in narrow _rûches_ upon a dress of rich +satin. Sometimes the skirt is trimmed with a single flower, upon which +is placed five or six _papillons_ of blonde, and sometimes upon one +skirt are four flounces, made of the same material as the dress, or of +lace. The figure on the left, in our first plate, represents an elegant +and elaborate style. The dress is pale amber satin; the corsage low; the +waist long, and _à pointe; berthe_ of _point d'Alençon_; the sleeves are +short and plain, and are nearly covered by the deep _berthe_; the skirt +is long and full, trimmed with a double row of _dentelle de laine_, +between which are bows of broad satin ribbon. The _sortie de bal_ which +covers the body, is of white cachmere, finished by a deep flounce of +_dentelle de laine_. Across the front are placed five rows of fancy silk +fringe; the top row going round the shoulders in the form of a small +cape; the pelerine, or hood, is composed entirely of _dentelle de +laine_; tassels at the corner in front; the sleeves very wide and +trimmed with deep lace to correspond with the flounce. The hood, which, +in the figure is thrown over the head, is terminated at the points with +two large tassels of fancy silk. This is an elegant costume in which to +leave the ball room for the carriage. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Variant and dialect spelling have been retained. + +Punctuation normalized without comment. + +Italics denoted by "_". + +Page 606, "passions with suprising" was changed to read "passions with +surprising." + +Page 611, "the wise resotion" was changed to read "the wise resolution." + +Page 615, "too diminuitive for" was changed to read "too diminutive +for." + +Page 624, "southorn France." was changed to read "southern France." + +Page 628, "he never quited" was changed to read "he never quitted." + +Page 647, "spectral arrray of" was changed to read "spectral array of." + +Page 658, "myrtles, and larels" was changed to read "myrtles, and +laurels." + +Page 662, "accompanied by selfishess" was changed to read "accompanied +by selfishness." + +Page 662, "measles, hooping-cough," was changed to read "measles, +whooping-cough,." + +Page 665, "for I havn't done" was changed to "for I haven't done." + +Page 668, "for these anouncements" was changed to read "for these +announcements." + +Page 672, "door pannels" was changed to read "door panels." + +Page 680, "if I arrrived" was changed to read "if I arrived." + +Page 681, "momently harrassed me" was changed to read "momently +harassed me." + +Page 693, "that peried of" was changed to read "that period of." + +Page 694, "his old parishoners" was changed to read "his old +parishioners." + +Page 701, "punished by courts martial" was changed to read "punished by +courts-martial." + +Page 701, "against the Camanches" was changed to read "against the +Comanches." + +Page 705, "Bavarian court-martials" was changed to read "Bavarian +courts-martial." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. +XI.--April, 1851--Vol. II., by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41576 *** |