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diff --git a/41629-0.txt b/41629-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..690d7de --- /dev/null +++ b/41629-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14411 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41629 *** + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + No. XXIII.-APRIL, 1852.--VOL. IV. + + + + +RODOLPHUS.--A FRANCONIA STORY. + +BY JACOB ABBOTT. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +I. THE SNOW-SHOES. + +As soon as Martha had gone, Ellen began to make such preparations as she +thought necessary for the night. She placed the furniture of the room in +order. She brought in some wood from the back room and laid it down very +gently by the side of the fire, so as to have a sufficient supply of +fuel at hand. She also brought the water pail and put it under the seat +of the settle, in order that the water might not freeze, and by means of +a long-handled tin dipper she filled the tea kettle full, in order that +there might be an ample supply of hot water, should any occasion occur +requiring any. She then brought a small blanket and held it to the fire, +and when it was very thoroughly warm, she put it very gently under the +counterpane, around her aunt's feet, fearing that her feet might be +cold. In fact they were very cold. Ellen extinguished the lamp, too, and +put it away upon her table near the window, lest the light of it should +shine upon her aunt's eyes and disturb her sleep. The light of the fire +was sufficient to illuminate the room. The light of the fire, too, +seemed more cheerful to Ellen than that of the lamp. It flashed brightly +upon the walls and ceiling, and diffused a broad and genial glow all +over the floor. + +Ellen made all these arrangements in the most quiet and noiseless manner +possible. During all the time her aunt lay silent and motionless, as if +in a profound slumber. + +After Ellen had extinguished the lamp, she paused a moment, looking +around the room to see if there was any thing which she had forgotten. +She could not think of any thing else to do, and so she concluded to sit +down and watch by her aunt until Martha should return. + +She took a cushion from a great rocking chair which stood in a corner of +the room, and put it down upon the bear skin rug. She then sat down upon +the cushion and laid her head upon the pillow by the side of her aunt. +She then gently took her aunt's hand and laid it upon her cheek, in the +position in which her aunt herself had placed it, when Ellen had laid +her head down there before. She looked timidly into her aunt's face as +she did this, to see whether any signs that she was awake could be +observed. The eyes of the patient opened a very little, and a faint +smile lighted up her pale features for a moment, and Ellen thought that +she could perceive a gentle pressure upon her cheek from her aunt's +hand. In a moment, however, both the hand and the face returned to their +state of repose, as before. + +Ellen remained quiet in this position a few minutes, looking into the +fire, and wondering when Martha would come back, when she felt something +gently touching her upon the shoulder. She looked round and found that +it was Lutie climbing up upon her. Lutie had jumped up from the floor to +the couch, and had crept along to where Ellen was lying, and was now +cautiously stepping over upon her. + +"Ah, Lutie," said she. "Is it you? It is time for you to go to bed." + +Lutie's bed was out in the back room. There was no door leading from the +room where Ellen was, directly into the back room. It was necessary to +go into a sort of entry first, and from this entry into the back room by +a separate door. All this may be clearly understood by referring to the +plan. + +It happened, however, that there was an old window in the partition +between the great room and the back room. The reason why this window was +in the partition was this. The house was first built without any back +room, and then the window on that side looked out upon the yard. When at +last the back room was built, the window was rendered useless, but it +was not closed up. There was a curtain over it, and this curtain was +always left drawn. The back room was used for storage of various things, +and for rough and heavy work on extraordinary occasions. + +Lutie's bed was in a box in a corner of this room. The place is marked L +in the plan. The bed was made of carpets and was very warm. Lutie was +always put out there every night at nine o'clock. She was not allowed to +remain at the fireside all night, lest she should do some damage to the +various things which were placed there on cold nights to keep them warm. +Lutie was accustomed to remain quietly in her bed until Martha got up in +the morning. She always knew when Martha got up, however early it might +be, for she could see the glow of the fire which Martha made, shining +through the old window in the partition between the rooms. When Lutie +saw this light she would go to the window, jump up upon the sill +outside, and mew for Martha to let her in. + +Although it was not yet nine o'clock, and though Ellen would have liked +Lutie's company as long as she remained alone with her aunt, she thought +she would put her out. + +"I may fall asleep myself," said she, "and then you will creep along +upon Aunt Anne, and disturb her. So you must go, Lutie." + +She accordingly took up the kitten and carried her out. When she opened +the door into the entry, she saw quite a little drift of snow, which had +blown in under the edge of the door from the outer platform. + +"Ah, it is a cold and stormy night," said she, "but you must get into +bed as soon as you can, and get warm." + +Ellen stopped a moment to listen to the sound of the storm, as it howled +and roared among the trees of the forest, and then went back again to +her place at the fireside. + +She moved her cushion and rug to the foot of the couch, and then +bringing a pillow from the bedroom, she put it upon the couch, at the +foot of it, so that she could sit upon the cushion, and lay her head +upon her own pillow, without any danger of incommoding or disturbing her +aunt. She then sat down and laid her head upon this pillow, with her +face toward the fire. She determined, however, though she thus laid her +head down, not to go to sleep, but to keep awake, if she possibly could, +until Martha or Hugh should return. + +She did go to sleep, however, notwithstanding all her resolution. She +was asleep in fifteen minutes after she had laid her head down. + +[Illustration: ELLEN ASLEEP.] + +Lutie fell asleep too, very soon, in her bed in the back room, and +Ellen's aunt was asleep, so that all were asleep. There was no one +watching or awake in all the house. + +Ellen slept several hours. In the mean time the wind and storm raged +more and more violently without, and the snow fell from the skies and +was driven along the ground faster and faster. Great drifts formed upon +the roofs and around the chimneys; and below, the yards, the fences, the +woodpiles were all covered. Great banks of snow were formed too, behind +the house, in the whirling eddy produced by the wind in turning round +the corner. One of these banks rose gradually up against the windows on +that side. At ten o'clock the whole lower sash of each window was +covered; at half past ten the snow had risen half way up the upper sash, +and at eleven one window was entirely concealed, while only a little +corner of the other was left, and even that was fast disappearing. The +bucket in the well was filled, and the snow was banked up against the +sides of the curb, till at last the crest of the drift began to curl +over at the top, as if seeking to bury up the well entirely. The fences +were all hidden from view, and a cart which had been left standing in +the corner of the yard, was so entirely covered, that nothing remained +but a white and shapeless mound to mark the place where it lay buried. + +At last Ellen opened her eyes again. She was at first frightened to find +that she had been asleep. She feared that some mischief might have +happened, while she had been insensible. The fire had burned entirely +down, and the room was almost dark. Ellen threw on a small stick of wood +to make a little blaze, and by the light of this blaze she looked at her +aunt. She was lying, she found, in the same posture as when Ellen went +to sleep. Ellen put her ear down to listen, and found that her aunt was +breathing--very gently, indeed--but still breathing. + +Ellen looked at the clock; for there was a large clock standing in a +corner of the room. It was twelve. + +"It is midnight," said Ellen; "I did not think it was so late." + +Ellen next put some large sticks of wood upon the fire. The room, she +thought, was getting cold. The wood was dry and it blazed up very +cheerfully and illuminated the whole apartment with a very cheerful +light. Lutie saw the light shining through the curtain, and she supposed +that it was morning, and that Martha had built the fire. So she +stretched her paws and rubbed her face, and then after listening a +moment to the sound of the storm, she stepped over the side of the box +where her bed was made, walked to the window, leaped up upon the +window-sill, and mewed, according to her usual custom, expecting that +Martha would come to let her in. + +Ellen went and opened the window for Lutie. Then she went back again to +the fire. She stood at the fire a minute or two, and then went to the +front window of the room, to look out; she wondered what could have +become of Martha. She listened at the window. The storm was roaring +dreadfully down the valley, but nothing could be seen. The panes of +glass were half covered with the snow, which was banked up upon the sash +on the outside. Ellen concluded that she would go to the door, where +she thought that perhaps she might see a little way down the road, and +if she could not see, at least she could listen. So she put a shawl over +her shoulders and went out into the porch. She shut the door leading +from the porch into the room, and then unlatched the porch-door which +opened to the outer air. + +As she opened the door a great bank of snow which had been piled up on +the outside of it, fell in about her feet. Ellen stepped back a little, +and then, standing still, she looked out into the storm and listened. +She had not listened long before she thought she heard a distant cry. It +came from down the road. She listened again. There came a blustering +blast of wind which rocked the trees, whirled the snow in her face, +roared in the chimneys over her head, and for a moment drowned all other +sounds. When this had passed, Ellen listened again. She was sure that +she heard a distant cry. + +"It is my father and mother!" she exclaimed; "they are out in the +storm!" + +Ellen's aunt had taught her to be collected and composed in all sudden +and alarming emergencies, and always to take time to consider calmly +what to do, however urgent the case might be. She stood for a moment, +therefore, quietly where she was, and then determined to go and wake her +aunt, and tell her what she had heard, and ask her what she had better +do. + +She tried to shut the door but she could not. The snow that had fallen +in prevented its closing. So she left it open and went through the porch +to the inner door, and so back into the room, taking care to shut the +inner door as soon as possible after she had passed through. + +She went to the couch, and kneeling down before it, she put her hand +softly upon her aunt's cheek and said, speaking in a low and gentle +tone, + +"Aunt!--Aunt Anne!" + +There was no answer. + +"Aunt Anne!" she repeated. "Wake up a moment;--I want to speak to you a +moment." + +There was still no answer. Ellen looked at her aunt's pale and beautiful +face for a moment, in doubt whether to speak to her again; and then she +determined to give up the attempt to awaken her, and to decide herself +what to do. + +After a little reflection she concluded that she would go, a little way +at least, and see if she could learn what the cries were that she heard. +She accordingly went to a closet in her aunt's bedroom, and took down a +cloak which was hanging there, and also a warm quilted hood. These she +put on. She then went into the back room and got a pair of snow-shoes +which hung against the wall there. She carried these snow-shoes into the +porch, and put them down upon the floor.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Snow-shoes are of an oval form and large and flat. They are +made of basket-work or of leather straps braided together. They are worn +by being fastened to the soles of the feet, and prevent the feet from +sinking down into the snow.] + +"Now," said she, "I will get the horn." The horn which she referred to +was made of tin. It was kept hanging upon a nail near the back-door, and +was used for calling Hugh to dinner, when he was far away from the +house. It was very hard to blow for one who was not accustomed to it, +but when it was blown skillfully it could be heard a great way. + +Ellen took down the horn from its nail, and went back into the porch. +She fastened the snow shoes to her feet, and drawing the cloak around +her, she sallied out into the storm. + +She could scarcely see where to go. The wind blew the snow in her face, +and every thing was so covered that all the usual landmarks were +concealed from view. The snow was very light, but the snow-shoes +prevented her from sinking into it. She walked on toward the road, +without however knowing exactly on what course she was going. In fact, +in coming out of the yard, she inclined so far to the left, in her +bewilderment, that instead of going out at the gateway, she passed over +a corner of the fence, without knowing it--fence and gateway being both +alike deeply buried in the snow. + +[Illustration: THE SNOW SHOES.] + +As soon as Ellen found that she was in the road, she stopped, and +turning her back to the wind, blew a long and loud blast with her horn. +She then immediately paused to listen, in order that she might hear if +there should be any reply. She heard a reply. It sounded like one or two +voices calling together. The voices were shrill. As soon as the response +ceased, Ellen blew her horn again. + +There was a second response--louder than the preceding one. Ellen was +very much pleased to find that her signals were heard, and she +immediately began to walk on down the road, in the direction from which +the sounds had proceeded. + +One makes but a slow and laborious progress when walking upon +snow-shoes. It is true that the shoes do not sink far into the snow, but +they sink a little, and they are so large and unwieldy that it is quite +difficult to walk upon them. Besides, the snow-shoes which Ellen wore +were too large for her. They were made for a man. Still Ellen advanced +without any serious difficulty, though she was obliged to stop now and +then to rest. Whenever she stopped she would blow her horn again, and +listen for the response. The response always came, and it became louder +and louder the farther she proceeded down the valley. + +At length Ellen arrived at the place from which the cries that she had +heard proceeded. She found there a horse and sleigh almost buried in the +snow, with her mother and Rodolphus in the sleigh. It would be hard to +say which was most astonished, Ellen, to find her mother and Rodolphus +in such a situation, or Mrs. Linn, at finding Ellen coming to their +rescue. + +"Why, mother!" exclaimed Ellen; "is this you?" + +"Why, Ellen!" said her mother; "is it possible that this is you?" + +"Why, mother!" said Ellen, more and more astonished; "did you undertake +to come up in all this storm alone, with only Rodolphus?" + +"No," said her mother, "Hugh came with us. We have been four hours +getting so far as here, and when Hugh found that we could not get any +further, he left us and went away alone to get some help." + +"And you are almost frozen to death, I suppose," said Ellen. + +"No," said her mother, "we are not very cold; we are well wrapped up in +buffalo robes, and the bottom of the sleigh is filled with straw." +Rodolphus peeped out from beneath the mass of coverings with which he +was enveloped, unharmed, but yet pale with anxiety and terror, though +now overjoyed at seeing Ellen. + +"But I don't see now what we are to do, to get home," said Ellen. "There +is only one pair of snow-shoes, and there are three of us to go." + +"We must go one at a time, then," said Rodolphus. + +"But when one has gone, how can we get the snow-shoes back?" asked +Ellen. + +"I don't know, I am sure," said Mrs. Linn. "I don't know what we shall +do." + +"Why did not father come with you?" asked Ellen, despondingly. + +"He was gone away," said her mother. "We waited for him a long time, but +he did not come, and so Hugh said that he would leave his team in the +village for the night, and come with me. But he went away some time ago, +and I don't know what can have become of him." + +While this consultation had been going on, the storm had continued to +rage around them in all its fury. The track behind the sleigh had been +wholly obliterated, the horse was half-buried, and the snow was fast +rising all around the sleigh and threatening before long to overwhelm +the party entirely. They were entirely at a loss to know what to do. So +they paused a moment in their perplexity, and during the pause, Ellen +thought that she heard another cry. + +"Hark!" said she. + +They all listened as well as the howling of the wind around them would +allow them to listen. It was certainly a distant shout that they heard. + +"Yes," said Ellen. + +"It must be Hugh," said her mother. + +Ellen raised the horn to her lips, and blew a long and loud blast, +turning the horn as she did so, in the direction of the voice. They all +listened after the sound of the horn had ceased, and heard a reply. + +"Yes," said Ellen, "it must be Hugh. I will go down to him on my +snow-shoes." + +"No," said Rodolphus, "you must not go and leave us here alone." + +"Yes," said Ellen, "I will go. I can give him the snow-shoes and then he +can go and get some help for us." + +Rodolphus declared that Ellen should not go, and began to scream and cry +in order to compel his mother to prevent her, but his mother said +nothing, and Ellen went away. She said, as she went, + +"I will blow the horn now and then, mother, and as long as you hear it, +you will know that I am safe." + +Ellen went toiling on down the road, stopping every few minutes to blow +her horn, and to listen to the responses of the voice. She soon found +that she was rapidly drawing near to the place whence the sound +proceeded. She perceived that the voice was that of a man. She had no +doubt that it was Hugh, and that he had lost his way, and was calling +for help. She still felt great anxiety, however, for she did not see, if +it should prove to be Hugh, what he could do with only one pair of +snow-shoes for four, to extricate such a party from their perilous +condition. She thought of her aunt, too, lying sick and alone upon her +couch, and of the distress and anxiety which she supposed the helpless +patient would feel, if she should wake up and find that both Martha and +Ellen had gone away, and left her, sick as she was, in absolute +solitude. + +She, however, pressed diligently forward, and at length found herself +drawing nearer and nearer to the voice. Presently she began to see a +dark mass lying helplessly in the snow just before her. + +"Hugh," said she, "are you here?" + +"I am here," replied the voice, "but it is not Hugh." + +"Why, Antonio, is it you?" said Ellen. She had recognized Antonio's +voice. "How came you to be here?" + +"How came _you_ to be here, is the question, I think?" rejoined Antonio. + +"I have got snow-shoes." said Ellen. "I heard cries and I came out to +see. My mother and Rodolphus are up the road a little way, in a sleigh, +and the snow is covering them over very fast. I'll blow my horn for +them." + +Here Ellen blew another long and loud blast with her horn, and +immediately afterward she heard the distant call of her mother and of +Rodolphus answering it together. + +"All right," said Antonio, "they answer. Now the first thing to do is +to get up to them. Give me the snow-shoes, and I think I can carry you +right along." + +"Oh, no," said Ellen, "I am too heavy." + +"Let us try," said Antonio. So saying he climbed up out of the snow, as +well as he could, and put on the snow-shoes. They were very easily put +on. Antonio found that the snow-shoes bore him up completely, but Ellen +had sunk down into the drift when she was deprived of them. Antonio, +however, soon raised her again, and took her in his arms. Enveloped as +she was in her cloak, she made a rather large looking load, though she +was not very heavy. Still it was difficult to carry even a light load, +walking with such shoes, on such a yielding surface, and in such a +storm. Antonio was obliged to stop very often to rest and to take +breath. At such times, Ellen would blow her horn, and listen for the +answer. Thus they gradually got back safely to the sleigh. + +As they had thus come up the hill, Antonio, in the intervals of his +conversation with Ellen, had determined on the course which he would +pursue. He knew that there was a snow-sled at Mr. Randon's house; that +is, a hand sled made light and with the shoes of the runners very broad +and flat. By means of this construction, the sled had, like the +snow-shoes, the property of not sinking much in the snow. Antonio +determined to go himself up to the house on the snow-shoes--leaving +Ellen with Rodolphus and her mother in the sleigh--and get this sled, +and he hoped, by means of it, to draw them all up safely one by one. The +poor horse, he thought, would have to be left in the drifts to die. + +Antonio's plan succeeded completely. He put Ellen under the buffalo +robes in the sleigh and covered her entirely in, except that he allowed +one little opening on one side for the horn, which he advised her to +blow from time to time, as it might possibly help Hugh to find his way +back to them. He then left the party in the sleigh, and was soon lost +from view. He went toiling up the hill to the house. He walked into the +yard. He groped his way to the barns and sheds, but the doors were all +blocked up with snow, so that he could not get them open. He, however, +contrived to climb up upon a roof, and by that means to get into a barn +window. He left his snow-shoes on the scaffold, and then groped his way +down in the dark to the place where Ellen had told him that the +snow-sled was kept. Every thing was in such perfect order that he met +with no difficulty on the way. He found the sled, and carrying it back +to the barn window, he contrived to heave it out there, throwing the +snow-shoes out after it. + +He followed himself, descending as he had ascended, by the roof of the +shed. As soon as he got into the road, he mounted upon his sled, and +guiding himself by the sound of the horn, which he heard from time to +time, and by the dark forms of the firs which grew upon the sides of the +road, he slid quite rapidly down to the sleigh. To his great relief and +joy he found that Hugh was there. + +It proved that Hugh had lost his way, and he would, perhaps, have +perished had he not heard the sound of the horn. The horn attracted his +attention just as he was about giving up in despair. He supposed that +the sound came from some farmer's house, where the people were, for some +reason or other, blowing a horn. He succeeded at last in making his way +to the place from which the sound proceeded, and was greatly astonished +to find himself back at the sleigh. + +Antonio took Hugh home first. Each took the snow-shoes by turns and drew +the other on the sled. When they reached the house, Antonio left Hugh +there, and returned himself, for the others. The second time he took +Rodolphus, the third time, Ellen. Their mother insisted on being left to +the last. By the time that the party were all safely conveyed to the +house, Hugh had got the barn-doors open, and had brought out a yoke of +oxen, with a lantern and shovels. He then took the snow-shoes from +Antonio, and putting them upon his own feet, he walked on, to mark the +way, while Antonio followed with the oxen. Antonio was, however, obliged +to go behind the oxen in driving them, so as to walk in the path which +they had broken. The snow was up to the sides of the oxen all the way, +and in some places they came to drifts so deep, that Antonio and Hugh +were obliged to shovel the snow away for a long time, before the oxen +could get through. At length, however, they reached the place where the +horse and sleigh had become foundered. The horse was nearly exhausted +with fatigue and cold. Hugh and Antonio trod down and shoveled away the +snow around him, and then unfastened the harness, so as to separate the +horse from the sleigh. They then turned back the shafts of the sleigh, +and fastened the oxen to them by a chain, turning the heads of the oxen +up the hill. Hugh got into the sleigh, to ride and drive the oxen. +Antonio walked behind, leading the horse. The road was now so broken, +that though the snow was very deep, and Antonio and the horse both sank +down very far into it, it was possible for them to get along. They +stopped two or three times to rest, and twice to shovel away the snow, +but, at last, they safely reached the house, and turning into the yard, +went directly to the barn. + +"Now," said Hugh, "I can take care of every thing here. You had better +go into the house and see if all is right there." + +So Antonio went into the house. Ellen came out to meet him at the +porch-door, weeping as if her heart would break. Antonio asked her what +was the matter. She said that her Aunt Anne was dead. + +Antonio tried to comfort Ellen as well as he could, but it was very hard +to comfort her. In the course of the evening, however, she was sometimes +tolerably composed, and at one such time, when she was sitting upon the +settle, Antonio took a seat by her side, and talked with her a little +while, about her going down to her mother in the storm. + +"I don't know," said he, "what _she_ will think of your having saved her +life by your courage and presence of mind; but you may depend, that I +shall not very soon forget your having saved _mine_." + + +II. DEATH. + +Rodolphus was very much shocked and overpowered at witnessing the scene +of anxiety and sorrow, into which he found himself ushered, when he +arrived at the house. He sat down for a time on Hugh's bench, in the +corner, by the fire, until he was warm. His mother then came and +undressed him and put him to bed in a sort of attic chamber over the +great room. + +Rodolphus was afraid to be left alone in the solitary chamber. The wind +howled mournfully among the trees of the neighboring forest, and the +snow clicked continually against the windows. Rodolphus was, however, +not afraid of the storm----nor was he afraid of robbers or of ghosts. In +fact, he did not know what he was afraid of. Still he was afraid. +Undutiful and disobedient boys are always afraid when they are left +alone. + +In fact, Rodolphus would have refused to go to bed altogether, had it +not been that his spirit was awed and subdued by the presence of death, +and by the strange situation in which he so suddenly found himself +placed. Notwithstanding this, however, he was upon the point of making +some resistance when his mother first came to him, to take him away, but +just then Antonio came into the room, and perceiving that there was +about to be some difficulty, he stopped and looked at Rodolphus, as if +to see what he was going to do. Rodolphus immediately submitted, and +allowed himself to be led away. He was more afraid of Antonio, than he +was even of being left alone in his chamber. + +The next morning when Rodolphus awoke he found that the storm was still +raging. He looked out the window, and perceived that the air was full of +driving snow, while upon the ground nothing was to be seen but vast and +shapeless masses of white. He rose, dressed himself, and came down +stairs. He found a great fire blazing in the fire-place, but every thing +was very still and solitary about the house. The body had been removed +to the bedroom, and was laid out there. The bedroom door was open. Hugh +and Antonio were out, trying to get into the barn. Ellen was walking +softly about the bedroom, putting away the things which had been used +during the sickness, but which were now needed no longer. Martha, who +had got home the evening before, while Ellen had been gone, and had +brought some of the neighbors with her, was busy preparing the +breakfast. Both she, however, and Ellen, and the others who were there, +moved about silently, and spoke, when they spoke at all, in a subdued +and gentle tone, as if they were afraid of disturbing the repose of the +dead. + +When the breakfast was ready, Martha went to call Hugh and Antonio and +all the others, to come to the table. They all came except Ellen. She +remained in the bedroom to watch with the body of her aunt. Her heart +was full of trouble. As she sat by her aunt's bed-side, she thought +bitterly of her loss, and she looked forward with many anxious +forebodings to the future. She felt as if her happiness was gone +forever. She loved her father and mother, it was true; but her aunt had +seemed to be her best and truest friend; and now that her aunt was gone +from her forever, she felt alone and desolate. + +After breakfast Antonio went away upon the snow-shoes to see if he could +obtain some assistance from the neighbors, in relation to the funeral. +The storm, he said, appeared to have abated. The clouds looked thin, and +at one time he could almost see the sun. In about two hours he returned, +bringing with him two or three men, all upon snow-shoes; for the snow +which had fallen was so deep that any other mode of traveling was +impossible. + +The preparations for the funeral went on during the day. The third day +the coffin came. It was brought upon a snow-sled, which was drawn by two +men upon snow-shoes. The storm had not yet entirely abated. The wind was +high, and the air was growing intensely cold. This was to be expected. +It is usually much colder in such cases after the storm is over, than +while the snow continues to fall. + +They dug the grave at some little distance from the house, under the +margin of a wood where there was a little shelter. In digging it they +had first to go down through the deep snow, and then with pick-axes and +iron bars to dig into the frozen ground. When the grave was ready they +put boards over it, to prevent its being filled up again with the snow. + +The funeral took place just at sunset. Hugh had broken out a road to the +place by means of the oxen. The men placed the coffin on a sled; it had +been arranged that two of the neighbors were to draw it. They said at +first that none but men could go to the grave, but Ellen said that she +_must_ go. + +"I can walk very well," said she, "I know, if you can let me have a pair +of the snow-shoes. I _must_ go. My aunt loved me and always took care of +me, and I must keep with her till the very last." + +When the men found how desirous she was to go, they said that they could +take another sled and draw her. They said that if she would like to take +Rodolphus with her, they could draw him, too; but Rodolphus said, that +he did not wish to go. + +When all was ready, the company assembled in the great room, and Antonio +read a prayer which Ellen found in a prayer-book that had belonged to +her Aunt Anne. It was a prayer suitable to a funeral occasion. When the +prayer had been read, the funeral procession moved mournfully from the +door. + +The coffin went first, covered as it lay upon the sled with a black +cloak for a pall, and drawn by two men. The other sled followed, drawn +also by two men. Ellen was seated upon the second sled, wrapped in +buffalo robes. The road had been broken out, so as to be passable, but +the snow was very deep, and the men made their way with great +difficulty through it. They stopped once or twice on the way to rest. + +[Illustration: THE FUNERAL.] + +When they arrived at the grave, they found that the sun was shining +pleasantly upon the spot, and the trees sheltered it from the wind. +Still it seemed to Ellen, as she looked down into the deep pit from the +top of the snow which surrounded it, that it was a very cold grave. The +men let the coffin down, and then two of them remained to fill the earth +in again, while Hugh and Antonio drew Ellen home. + +Distressed and unhappy as Ellen was at the death of her aunt, there was +another blow still to come upon her. She found when she reached the +house on her return from the funeral, that the whole family were in a +state of consternation and terror at the tidings which had arrived from +the village, that her father had perished in the storm. He had been +across the river when the storm came on. In attempting to return, his +horse had become exhausted in the snow, and he was forced to abandon him +and attempt to find his way home alone. He lost his way and wandered +about till his strength failed, and then, benumbed with the cold, and +wearied with the hopeless toil, he sank down into a drift, and fell +asleep. Of course, he never woke again. He was found when the storm was +over, by means of a small dark spot formed by a part of his shoulder, +which projected above the surface of the snow. + +It was thus that Rodolphus lost his father. + + +III.--CONSEQUENCES OF BAD TRAINING. + +One pleasant morning in the month of June, during the next summer after +the great storm, Rodolphus was drawing his sister Annie about the yard +in a little green cart which her sister Ellen kept for her. There was a +great elm-tree in the middle of the yard, with a path leading all around +it. Rodolphus was going round and round this tree. Annie was playing +that Rodolphus was her horse, and she had reins to drive him by. She +also had a little whip to whip him with when he did not go fast enough. + +Presently Ellen came to the door. She had a small hammer in one hand, +and a box containing some small nails and tags of leather in the other. +She was going to train up a climbing rose, which had been planted by the +side of the door. + +Ellen told Rodolphus that she thought it was time for him to get ready +to go to school. + +"Oh, no," said Rodolphus, "it is not time yet;" so he went prancing and +galloping on around the great tree. + +A moment afterward his mother came to the door. + +"Rodolphus," said she, "it is time for you to go to school." + +"Oh no, mother, not yet," said Rodolphus. + +"Yes," said his mother, "it is quite time. Come in directly." + +"Well, mother," said Rodolphus, "I will." + +Mrs. Linn stopped a moment to look at Ellen's rose-tree, and to say "How +pretty it looks climbing up here by the door;" and then she went in. +Rodolphus continued to run round the yard. Presently he came prancing up +to the door, and stopped to see what Ellen was doing. + +"Rodolphus," said Ellen, "you ought to obey mother. She said that you +must go to school." + +"Oh, pretty soon," said Rodolphus. "She is not in any hurry." + +"Yes, Rodolphus," said Annie, in a very positive manner. "You ought to +obey my mother. You must go to school." + +So saying, Annie began to move as if she were going to get out of the +cart, but Rodolphus perceiving this, immediately began to draw the cart +along, and thus prevented her. She could not get out while the cart was +going. + +Rodolphus continued to run about for some time longer. Annie begged of +him to stop and let her get out, but he would not. At length his mother +came to the door again, and renewed her commands. She said that unless +he stopped playing with the cart, and went to school immediately, she +should certainly punish him. + +"Why, mother," said Rodolphus, "it is not late. Besides, I am going to +draw Annie to school in the cart, and so we shall go very quick." + +"No," said his mother, "you must not take the cart to school. If you +do, it will come to some damage." + +"Oh, no," said Rodolphus. "Go and get me Annie's books, and I will start +off directly." + +His mother went into the house and brought out a spelling-book, and put +it down on the step of the door. She called out at the same time to +Rodolphus, who was at that time near the great tree, telling him that +there was the book, and that he must leave the cart, and take Annie and +the book, and go directly. + +The reason why Mrs. Linn was so solicitous for the safety of the cart, +was because it was Ellen's cart, and she knew that Ellen prized it very +highly. The way that Ellen came to have such a cart was this: + +One day she was walking alone near the back fence of the garden, at a +place where the fence was very high and close, when she heard the voices +of some children on the other side, in a little green lane, where +children often used to play. Ellen thought she heard Rodolphus's voice +among the others, and there appeared to be some difficulty, as in fact +there usually was, where Rodolphus's voice could be heard. So Ellen +climbed upon a sort of trellis, which had been made there against the +fence, in order that she might look over and see what was the matter. + +She found that there were two girls there with a small cart, and that +Rodolphus had got into the cart, and was insisting that the girls should +draw him along. The girls looked troubled and distressed, and were not +trying to draw. + +"Pull," said Rodolphus. "Pull away, hearty." + +"No," said the girls----"we can't pull. It is too heavy----besides, you +will break down our cart." + +"Rodolphus!" said Ellen. + +Rodolphus turned his head, and saw his sister looking down upon him from +the top of the fence. + +"Ellen," said he, "is that you?" + +"Yes," said Ellen, "I would not trouble those poor girls. Let them have +their cart." + +"Why, they could pull me just as well as not," said Rodolphus, "if they +would only try. Come, girls," he added, "give one good pull, and then I +will get out." + +The girls hesitated a moment, being obviously afraid that the cart would +be broken. They looked up to Ellen, as if they hoped that in some way or +other she could help them, but Ellen knew not what to do. So they +concluded to submit to Rodolphus's terms. They made a desperate effort +to draw the cart along a few steps, but the result which they had feared +was realized. The cart went on, staggering, as it were, under its heavy +burden, for a short space, and then a crack was heard, and one side of +it sank suddenly down to the ground. The axletree had broken, close to +the wheel. + +The children seemed greatly distressed at this accident. Rodolphus got +out of the cart, and looked at the fracture----appearing perplexed in +his turn, and not knowing what to say. The oldest girl took up the +wheel, and began to examine the fracture with a very sorrowful +countenance, while the youngest looked on, the picture of grief and +despair. + +"Now, Mary," said the youngest child, in a very desponding tone, "I +don't believe we can sell our cart at all." + +"Do you wish to sell it?" asked Ellen. + +"Yes," said Mary. "Father said that we might sell it, if we could find +any body that would buy it; but now it is broken, I don't suppose that +any body will." + +"How much do you ask for it?" said Ellen. + +"A quarter of a dollar," said Mary. + +"Well," replied Ellen, "perhaps _I_ will buy it. If you will bring it +round to our house this evening after tea, I will get Antonio to look at +it and see if it is worth a quarter of a dollar; or, rather, if it _was_ +worth a quarter of a dollar before it was broken----for that will make +no difference; and if he says it was, perhaps I may buy it." + +"Well," said Mary, "we will." + +"Is Beechnut coming to our house this evening?" asked Rodolphus. + +"Yes," said Ellen. + +The girls seemed much relieved of their distress at hearing this. Mary +took up the broken wheel and put it into the cart, saying at the same +time, + +"Come, Ally, let us carry it home." + +Mary stooped down to take hold of one side of the cart, while her sister +took hold of the other, and so they lifted it up. + +"Rodolphus," said Ellen, "I think you had better help them carry the +cart home." + +"Yes," said Rodolphus, "I will." + +So Rodolphus took the wheel out of the cart and gave it to Mary to +carry, and then lifting up the cart bodily, he put it upside down upon +his head, as if it were a cap, and then began to run after the girls +with it. They fled, filling the air with shouts of laughter, and thus +the three went off together, all in high glee. + +The end of it was, that Ellen bought the cart, and Antonio made a new +axletree for it, and put it, in all respects, in complete repair. He +also painted it beautifully inside and out, making it look better than +when it was new. Ellen's motive in getting the cart was chiefly to +promote Annie's amusement, but still she valued it herself, very highly. + +She used often to lend it to Rodolphus when he was playing with Annie in +the yard, and Rodolphus would draw his sister about in it. Ellen always +gave him many cautions not to go too fast, and was very careful never to +allow him to put any thing inside that would bruise or soil it. There +was a little seat inside for Annie to sit upon, with a box beneath it +where a small basket of provisions could be stored, in case of an +excursion. Beechnut had promised, too, to make Annie a whip, and Ellen +was going to make her a pair of reins, so that when Rodolphus was +drawing her she might play drive. + +But to return to the story. + +Rodolphus drew the cart up to the door, and taking up the book, he put +it upon Annie's lap and then began to move away again. + +"Stop," said Annie; "stop, and let me get out." + +"No," said Rodolphus, "I am going to draw you to school." + +"No," said Annie, "my mother said that you must not take my cart to +school." + +"Oh, she won't care," said Rodolphus, still going. + +"But she said that you must _not_," persisted Annie. + +"That was because she thought the cart would come to some damage," said +Rodolphus. "But it will not come to any damage. I shall bring it home +all safe at noon, and then she won't care." + +By this time Rodolphus had got out into the road. Annie looked anxious +and distressed, but as Rodolphus walked rapidly on, she was entirely +helpless, and could do nothing but sit still, though she urged Rodolphus +to stop, again and again, until at last, finding that it did no good, +she gave up in despair, and resigned herself to her fate. + +They proceeded in this way until they had got pretty near the village, +when, as they were going along the road, which at this place led near +the margin of the river, just below the bridge and mill, Rodolphus saw +two boys getting into a boat. He asked them where they were going; they +said that they were going a-fishing. + +[Illustration: THE BOYS AND THE BOAT.] + +"I mean to go too," said Rodolphus, looking toward Annie. + +"No," said Annie, "you must not go, for then what shall I do with my +cart?" + +"Oh, you can draw your cart along to school yourself, very well," said +Rodolphus, and so saying, he lifted Annie hastily and roughly out of the +cart, calling out at the same time to the boys to wait a minute for him. +He put the handle, which was at the end of the tongue of the cart, into +Annie's hand, and then ran down to the water; and thus, almost before +Annie had time to recover from her astonishment, she found herself left +alone in the road, while the boat, with Rodolphus and the other boys in +it, began slowly to recede from the shore. + +Annie began to cry. Rodolphus called out to her in a rough voice to go +along to school. So she began to walk slowly along, drawing the cart +wearily after her. + +On her way home from school that day, when she came to the place in the +road where Rodolphus had left her in the morning, she found him waiting +there for her. She was coming without the cart. Rodolphus asked her what +she had done with it. She said that she had left it at school. The +teacher had told her that it was too heavy for her to draw, and had put +it in a corner, to wait till Rodolphus came. Rodolphus then told Annie +to sit down upon a stone by the side of the road till he came back, and +then began to run toward the school-house. In a short time he came back +bringing the cart. He put Annie into it and went toward home. + +Annie asked him where he had been all the day--but he did not answer. He +seemed discontented and uneasy, and preserved a moody silence all the +way home, except that once he turned and charged Annie not to tell his +mother or Ellen that he had not been at school that day. When he reached +home, he left the cart at the door, and stepping into the entry he began +to call out aloud, + +"Mother! Mother!" + +Ellen came to the door and said in a gentle voice, + +"Mother can't come now, Rolfy; she is busy." + +"But I want to see her a minute," said he. "Mother! Mother!" + +A moment afterward his mother appeared at her bedroom window. + +"What do you want, Rolfy?" said she. + +Rodolphus said nothing, but stood still, pointing to the cart, with a +triumphant air. + +"What?" said his mother. + +"See!" said Rodolphus. + +"What is it?" said she. + +"The cart," said Rodolphus, "all safe." + +"Well," said his mother, "what then?" + +"Why, you said," replied Rodolphus, "that if I took it to school, it +would come to some damage." + +"Well, it _might_ have come to some damage," said she, "you know. And +you ought not to have taken it." + +So saying his mother went away from the window. + + * * * * * + +Rodolphus was, in fact, a source of continual trial and trouble to his +mother, though she did not know one half of his evil deeds. He concealed +them from her very easily, for she never made a careful inquiry into his +conduct when he was out of her sight. He played truant continually, +going off to play with idle boys. He fell into bad company, and formed +many evil habits. He was continually getting into mischief among the +neighbors. They complained of him sometimes, to his mother, but this did +no good. Generally, she would not believe any thing that they said +against him, and whenever any of his evil deeds were fully proved to +her, she made so many excuses for him, and looked upon his misconduct +with so indulgent a view, that she exercised no restraint upon him +whatever. + +He wanted more money than his mother could furnish him with, and he +gradually fell into dishonest means of obtaining it. His sister Ellen +had some poultry, and once a-week she used to commission him to carry +the eggs into the village for sale. Ellen used to go out every morning +to get the eggs from her nests, but Rodolphus would often go out before +her, and take a part of the eggs and hide them. These he would consider +his own, and so when he carried her supply to market, he would secretly +add to them those he had thus purloined, so as to get more money for the +eggs than he returned to her. He used to get the apples, too, from the +neighbors' orchards, and once when he was in a store in a village, and +saw a little money upon the counter, which a girl had laid down there to +pay for some thread, and which the store-keeper had forgotten to put +away, Rodolphus, watching his opportunity, slipped it into his pocket +and went away with it. He felt very guilty after he had done this, for +several days; but still he kept the money. + +Ellen was the only person who had any influence over Rodolphus, and she +had not a great deal. She was, however, herself a great help and a great +source of comfort to her mother. As soon as she came home, she began in +a very modest and unassuming manner, to introduce the system and order +which had prevailed in her aunt's household, into that of her mother. +She began with Annie's and Rodolphus' playthings, which, when she first +came home, were scattered all over the house in disorder and confusion. +She collected these playthings all together, repaired the books which +were damaged, mended the broken toys, and arranged them all neatly upon +a shelf which her mother allowed her to use for the purpose. Then she +gradually put the rooms in the house in order, one after another. She +drove up nails in convenient places, to hang implements and utensils +upon. She induced Rodolphus to put the yard and the grounds about the +house in order. Every useless thing that would burn, was put upon the +wood-pile, and all other rubbish cleared away. She planted the seeds of +climbing plants about the gateways, and near the windows of the house, +and in one corner she made a very pretty trellis, by tying poles +together with a kind of very flexible wire called binding wire. Antonio +showed her how to do it. In fact, by means of what Ellen did, the house +was in a very few months entirely transformed, and became one of the +neatest and pleasantest cottages in all the town; and she and her mother +and Annie would have lived together very happily in it, had it not been +for the anxiety and trouble which Rodolphus gave them. + +One day Antonio, who often came to Mrs. Linn's to see if there was any +thing he could do for the family, and who had often talked with +Rodolphus about the evil of his ways, drove up to the gate in a wagon, +and proposed to Rodolphus to go and take a ride with him. + +"Yes," said Rodolphus, "I will go." + +"Go and ask your mother first," said Antonio. + +"Oh, she will let me go, I know," said Rodolphus, coming at the same +time toward the wagon. + +"Go and ask her," said Antonio. + +So Rodolphus went and asked his mother, and she gave him leave. He then +ran back to the wagon, climbed up into it, and took his seat by the side +of Antonio. + +In the course of this ride, Antonio had a long and plain conversation +with Rodolphus about his evil course of life, and the sorrows and +sufferings to which it would lead him, and in which it would involve his +mother and sister, if he went on as he had begun. He told him, however, +that if on the other hand he would make a change, if he would obey his +mother, and go regularly to school, and keep away from bad company, and +become industrious and honest, he would grow up to be a useful and +respectable man, and would make himself and all around him happy. + +Rodolphus heard what Antonio said, patiently and attentively through to +the end, and then said, + +"Yes, Beechnut, my sister Ellen told me that very same thing, and I have +tried to be a better boy, very hard indeed, but I can't." + +However, notwithstanding this, Rodolphus promised Antonio that he would +try once more, and for several days after this conversation he was a +much better boy. He went to school regularly and was more willing to +help his mother and Ellen about the house. This lasted for about a week. + +At the end of that time he was one evening working with Ellen in the +garden, about sunset, when he heard a sound near him by a wall. There +was an old stone wall on that side of the garden, with bushes which grew +upon the outside rising above it. Rodolphus looked up when he heard the +noise, and saw a boy's head just over the wall at an opening among the +bushes. The boy held his finger to his lips in token of silence and +secrecy, pointing very quickly to Ellen, whose face at that instant was +turned the other way, so that she did not see him; he then dropped down +behind the wall out of sight again. + +Rodolphus knew that the boy wished to speak to him, and that he was +prevented from doing so because Ellen was there. + +Accordingly a moment afterward, Rodolphus told Ellen that she had better +go in, and that he would finish the rest of the work and come in +presently with the tools. Ellen thanked Rodolphus for what she supposed +was his disinterested kindness, and went in. + +As soon as Rodolphus was alone, the boy's head appeared above the wall +again. + +"She's gone at last," said he. "I thought she never _would_ go." The boy +then seemed to rise higher, as if he were stepping up upon a stone +outside the wall. He held out his hand toward Rodolphus, saying, "See +there!" + +Rodolphus looked, and saw that he had three half dollars in his hand. + +"Where did you get that money?" said Rodolphus. + +"Ah!" said the boy, winking, and looking very mysterious, "don't you +wish you knew! You'd like to find the nest that has such eggs as those +in it, wouldn't you? Well, I'll tell you all about it to-night. Come out +here after nine o'clock. I will be here to meet you. We have got plenty +of money and we're going to have a good time." + +Soon after this Rodolphus carried his tools to the shed, and went in to +his supper. About eight o'clock it became dark, and at half-past eight, +Rodolphus said that he felt rather tired and he believed that he would +go to bed. Feeling guilty and self-condemned as he did, he appeared +absent-minded and dejected, and Ellen was anxious about him. She was +afraid that he was going to be sick. She lighted the lamp for him, and +went up with him to his room and did all that she could to make him +comfortable. At length she bade him good-night and went away. + +The place where Rodolphus slept was in a little corner of an attic by a +great chimney. The place had been partitioned off, and there was a door +leading into it. This door had a hasp on the inside. There was also a +small window which opened out upon the roof of a shed. It was a pretty +long step from the window down to the roof of the shed, but yet +Rodolphus had often got down there, although his mother had repeatedly +forbidden him ever to do so. + +[Illustration: THE EVASION.] + +As soon as Ellen was gone, Rodolphus fastened the door and then waited a +little while till all was still. Then he opened the window very gently +and crept out. He put out his light the last thing before he got out of +the window, and crept down upon the roof of the shed. He stopped here to +listen. All was still. He walked softly, with his shoes in his hand, +down to the lower edge of the roof, and there he got down to the ground +by means of a fence which joined the shed at one corner there. + +Rodolphus found the boys waiting for him beyond the garden wall. He went +away with them and spent the night in carousals and wickedness, under a +barn in a solitary place. About one o'clock he came back to the house. +He climbed up the fence and got upon the shed. He crept along the shed +softly, with his shoes in his hand as before, and got into his window. +When in, he shut down the window, undressed himself, and went to bed. + +And this was the end of all Rodolphus's resolutions to reform. + + +IV. CRIME. + +Rodolphus went on in the evil way which we described, for some time, and +at length he became so disorderly in his conduct and so troublesome, and +caused his mother so much anxiety and care, that she finally concluded +to follow the advice which all the neighbors had very frequently given +her, and bind the boy out to some master to learn a trade. As soon as +she had decided upon this course, she asked the assistance of Mr. +Randon, to find a good place. Mr. Randon made a great many inquiries but +he could not find any place that would do, in Franconia; all the persons +to whom he applied in the village declined taking Rodolphus, giving +various reasons for their refusals. Some did not want any new +apprentice, some had other boys in view that they were going to apply +to. Some said that Rodolphus was too old, others that he was too young. +Mr. Randon thought that the real reason probably was, in a great many of +these cases, that the men did not like Rodolphus's character. In fact, +one man to whom he made application, after listening attentively to Mr. +Randon, until he came to mention the name of the boy, said, + +"What! Rodolphus Linn. Is it Rodolphus Linn?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Randon. + +"Hoh!" said the man. "I would not have Rodolphus Linn in my shop for a +hundred dollars a year." + +At last, however, Mr. Randon found in another town, about twenty-five +miles from Franconia, a man who kept a livery stable, that said he +wanted a boy. This man's name was Kerber. Mr. Kerber said that if +Rodolphus was a stout and able-bodied boy, he would take him. Mr. Randon +said that Rodolphus was stout enough, but he frankly told Mr. Kerber +that the boy was rather rude and unmanageable. "I'll take care of that," +said Mr. Kerber. "All I want is to have him _able_ to do his duty. If he +is only able to do it, you need not fear but that I'll find ways and +means of seeing that it is done." + +Mr. Randon thought from this conversation, and from other indications, +that Mr. Kerber was a very harsh man, and he thought that Rodolphus +might be likely to have a hard time if apprenticed to him. He concluded, +therefore, that before making his report to Mrs. Linn, he would make +some further inquiry. He found at last another man in the same town with +Mr. Kerber, who was willing to take Rodolphus. This man was a carpenter. +The carpenter was a man of quiet and gentle spirit, and he bore a most +excellent character among his neighbors. At first, the carpenter was +unwilling to take Rodolphus when he heard what his character was, but +when Mr. Randon told him about the circumstances of the family, and +explained to him that it would be a deed of great benevolence to save +the boy from ruin, the carpenter said he would take him for three months +upon trial, and then if he found that he should probably succeed in +making him a good boy, he would take him regularly as his apprentice. So +Mr. Randon went back to report the result of his inquiries to +Rodolphus's mother. + +Mrs. Linn was very anxious to have Rodolphus go to the carpenter's, but +Rodolphus himself insisted on going to Mr. Kerber's. The reason why he +wished to go there was, because Mr. Kerber kept a stable and horses. He +supposed that his chief business would be to tend the horses, and to +ride about. This would be much better, he thought, than to work hard all +day with planes, and saws, and chisels. + +Ellen joined her mother in begging Rodolphus to go to the carpenter's, +but he could not be persuaded to consent, and so it was finally settled +that he should be bound apprentice to Mr. Kerber. Mrs. Linn, however, +made an express stipulation that while Rodolphus remained at Mr. +Kerber's he was never on any account to be whipped. If he neglected his +duty or behaved badly, Mr. Kerber was to find out some other way to +punish him beside whipping. + +Mr. Kerber made no objection to this arrangement. He said to Mr. Randon, +when Mr. Randon proposed this condition to him, that he would make any +agreement of that kind that his mother desired. "I have learned," said +he, "that there are various contrivances for breaking refractory colts +besides silk snappers." + +When a boy is bound apprentice to a master, a certain paper is executed +between the master on the one part, and the parent or guardian of the +boy on the other, which is called the Indentures. The indentures specify +the name and age of the boy, and state the time for which he is bound to +the master. During that time the boy is bound to work for the master, +and to obey his orders. The master is bound to provide food and clothing +for the boy, and to teach him the trade. He has a right to compel the +boy to attend industriously to his work, and to punish him for any +idleness, or disobedience, or insubordination that he may be guilty of. +In a word, the master acquires, for the time that the apprenticeship +continues, the same rights that the father, if the boy has a father, +possessed before. + +According to this custom indentures of apprenticeship were regularly +drawn up, binding Rodolphus to Mr. Kerber till he was twenty-one years +of age. He was then nearly twelve. The indentures were signed, and +Rodolphus went to live with his new master. + +He, however, soon began to have a pretty hard life of it. He found that +his business was not to ride the horses about, but to perform the most +disagreeable and servile work in the stable. He could not even ride the +horses to water, for there was a great trough in one corner of the +stable with a stream of water always running into it, and the horses +were all watered there. Rodolphus was employed in harnessing and +unharnessing the horses, and rubbing them down when they came in; and in +pitching down hay, and measuring out oats and corn for them. He had to +work also a great deal at the house, splitting wood and carrying it in, +and in bringing water for the washing. He was kept hard at work all the +time, except in the evening, when he was generally allowed to roam about +the streets wherever he pleased. + +Rodolphus did not have much open difficulty with Mr. Kerber, for he +found out very soon that it was a very dangerous business to disobey +him. The first lesson that he had on that subject was as follows: + +One afternoon when he had been at work at the house, and had had some +difficulty with Mrs. Kerber, he undertook to make her agree to some of +his demands by threatening, as he had been accustomed to do with his +mother, that if she did not let him do what he wished, he would go and +jump into the pond. This pond was a small mill pond which came up to the +foot of Mr. Kerber's garden, where the garden was bounded by a high +wall. Mrs. Kerber took no notice of this threat at the time, but when +her husband came home she told him about it at the supper table. + +"Ah," said Mr. Kerber, when his wife had finished her statement; "he +threatened to drown himself, then? I am afraid he does not know exactly +what drowning is. I will enlighten him a little upon the subject after +supper." + +Accordingly, after supper, Mr. Kerber commanded Rodolphus to follow +him. Mr. Kerber led the way down to the bottom of the garden, and there +he tied a rope round Rodolphus's waist, and threw him off into the +water, and kept him there until he was half strangled. He would pull him +up a moment to recover his breath, and then plunge him in again and +again, until the poor boy was half dead with exhaustion and terror. +Then, pulling him out upon the bank, he left him to come to himself, and +to return to the house at his leisure. + +Rodolphus, after this, was very careful not to come into any open +collision with Mr. Kerber, or with his wife, but this kind of severity +did him, after all, no real good. When a boy has grown to such an age as +that of Rodolphus, in habits of self-indulgence, disobedience, and +insubordination, it is almost impossible to save him by any means +whatever----but heartless severity like this only makes him worse. +Rodolphus hated his master, and he determined to do as little for him as +he possibly could. Mr. Kerber, accordingly, was continually finding +fault with his apprentice for his idleness and his neglect of duty, and +he used often to punish him by putting him in what he called his +_prison_. + +This prison was a stall in one corner of the stable, near a little room +which Mr. Kerber used for his office and counting-room. The stall had +been boarded up in front, some years before, and used to shut up a small +colt in. It was half full of boxes and barrels, and there was a heap of +straw in one corner of it. There was a door in front, with a great +wooden button outside. When Mr. Kerber got out of patience with +Rodolphus, he used to put him into this old colt-pen and button him in, +and sometimes keep him there without any thing to eat, till he was half +starved. At one time Mr. Kerber kept him there all night. + +After the first half dozen times that Rodolphus was shut up there, he +did not suffer from hunger, for he made an arrangement with another +stable boy, older than himself, to supply him with food at such times. +The stable boy would get bread from the house by stealth, when Rodolphus +was in his prison, and bring it out to the stable in his pocket. Then, +watching his opportunity, when Mr. Kerber was not looking, he would +throw it over to Rodolphus. Rodolphus was thus saved from suffering much +through hunger, but yet he would always in such cases, when he was +finally let out, _pretend_ to be half starved, in order to prevent Mr. +Kerber's suspecting that he had been stealthily supplied with food. + +The prison, as Mr. Kerber called it, was adjoining the stable office, +which was a very small room, partitioned off from the stable itself. +This office had two doors, one on each side of it. One door led out into +the stable, and was the one ordinarily used. The other led to a shed at +one side of the stable, where the wood was kept for the office fire, +which was made in a small stove that stood in one corner of the office. +There was a desk in another corner of the office, and in this desk Mr. +Kerber kept his papers and his money. + +One day when Rodolphus was shut up in his prison, after having been +there several hours, he became very tired of having nothing to do, and +so, to amuse himself, he took his knife out from his pocket and began to +cut into the partition which separated the colt-pen from the office. The +partition was made of boards, and as Rodolphus's knife was pretty sharp, +he could cut into it quite easily. He heard voices in the office, and he +thought that if he should cut a small hole quite through the partition +he could hear what the men were saying, and see what they were doing. So +he cut away very diligently for half an hour, working very slowly and +carefully all the time, so as not to make a noise. + +At last the light began to shine through. Then Rodolphus worked more +carefully than ever. He, however, soon had a small hole opened, and +putting his eye close to it, he could see a whip hanging up against the +opposite wall of the office. Rodolphus gradually enlarged his hole, +until he could see more. He made the hole very large on the side toward +his prison, and yet kept it very small toward the office, and by this +means he could change the position of his eye and so see almost all over +the office, without, however, having made the opening large enough to +attract attention on the inside. + +Rodolphus saw Mr. Kerber and another man sitting by the desk. It was +summer, and there was no fire in the stove. There were a great many +whips hanging up on one side of the room, and a hammer, together with an +instrument called a nut-wrench, on a shelf over the desk. The door +leading out into the shed was fastened with a hasp. Rodolphus, as he +looked at it, thought that it would be easy for a thief, if he wished to +break into the office, to go into the shed and bore into the door of the +office just above the hasp, and then by putting in a slender iron rod, +the hasp might be lifted up out of the staple, and the door opened. + +Rodolphus listened to the conversation between Mr. Kerber and his +visitor, but he could not understand it very well. It was all about +business. At last the man took a large leather purse out of his pocket, +and prepared to pay Mr. Kerber some money. Mr. Kerber unlocked his desk. +The man counted out the money upon a small table which was there. Mr. +Kerber counted it after him, and then took from his desk a small box, +made of iron, which he called his strong box. He unlocked the strong box +with a key that he took from his pocket, and put the money into it. He +then locked the strong box and put it back into the desk, and finally +shut down the lid of the desk, locked it, and put the key in his pocket. + +Mr. Kerber kept Rodolphus confined in his prison much longer than usual +that day, so long, in fact, that Rodolphus became at last very impatient +and very angry. At length, however, Mr. Kerber let him out, and sent him +home to supper. + +That evening about nine o'clock, as Rodolphus was talking with some of +the bad boys with whom he was accustomed to spend his evenings, and +telling them how he hated his tyrannical and cruel master, he said, +among other things, that he wished he knew some thief or robber. The +boys asked him why. + +"Why, I would tell him," said Rodolphus, "how he might rob old Kerber, +and get as much money as he wanted." + +Among the boys who were with Rodolphus at this time, was one named +Gilpin. Gilpin was a very bad boy indeed, and considerably older than +Rodolphus. He was about fourteen years old. When Gilpin heard Rodolphus +say this, he gave him a little jog with his elbow, as an intimation not +to say any thing more. Very soon Gilpin took Rodolphus away, and walked +on with him alone, along a wall which extended down toward the water +from the place where the boys had been playing. As soon as he had drawn +Rodolphus away from the other boys, he asked him what he meant by what +he had said about a good chance to get some money. So Rodolphus +explained to Gilpin how his master had shut him up in the stall, and how +he had cut a hole through the partition, and what he had seen in the +office. He also explained to him how the back door of the little office +was fastened by a hasp, which it would be easy to open by boring a hole +through the door, if the robber only had a bit and a bit-stock. + +"Oh, we can get a bit and bit-stock, easily enough," said Gilpin. + +"Well," said Rodolphus, "shall we do it?" + +"Certainly," said Gilpin, "why not we as well as any body else. I want +money too much to leave any good chance for getting it to other people. +You and I will get it, and go shares." + +"No," said Rodolphus, "I don't dare to. And, besides, if we should get +into the office, we could not open the desk. He keeps the desk locked." + +"We can pry it open with a chisel," said Gilpin, "as easy as a man would +open on oyster." + +"But then we can't open the strong box," said Rodolphus. "The strong box +is made of iron." + +"We'll carry away the strong box and all," said Gilpin, "and get it open +at our leisure afterward." + +Rodolphus was at first strongly disinclined to enter into this plot, and +it was in fact several days before he concluded to join in it. At +length, however, he consented, and immediately commenced aiding Gilpin +in making the necessary preparations. He found a bit and bit-stock in an +old shop belonging to Mr. Kerber, near his house, and also a chisel, +which Gilpin said would do for forcing open the desk. There was another +boy almost as old as Gilpin, who joined in the plan. He was a coarse and +rough boy, and was generally called Griff. His real name was +Christopher. + +Gilpin and Griff gave Rodolphus a very large share of the work of making +the necessary preparations for the theft. Their plan was to make the +attempt on Saturday night They thought that by this means a whole day +would intervene before the discovery would be made that the money was +gone, since Mr. Kerber would not be likely to go to his office on +Sunday. They would thus, they thought, have ample time to take all the +necessary means for concealing their booty. Rodolphus was to go to bed +as usual, and then to get up about ten o'clock, and come out of his +window, over the roofs, as he used to do at home, and as he had very +often done since he came to Mr. Kerber's. The bit and bit-stock, and the +chisel were to be all ready in the shed, beforehand. Rodolphus was to +carry them there some time in the course of the afternoon. On descending +from the roofs, Rodolphus was to go to meet the other boys at a certain +corn-barn, which belonged to a house which had once been a farm-house in +the village. + +A corn-barn is a small square building, standing upon high posts at the +four corners. These posts are usually about four or five feet high. The +building is raised in this manner above the ground, to prevent mice and +other animals from getting into it and eating the corn. + +The corn-barn, however, at which the boys were to meet, was not now used +for the storage of grain, but as a sort of lumber-room for a tavern that +stood near by. It was behind the tavern, and almost out of sight of it, +at the end of a narrow lane. It was in a very secluded position. The +space beneath the building where the posts were, had been boarded up on +three sides, and there were various old boxes and barrels underneath it. +Rodolphus and the other bad boys of the village had often used this +place as a rendezvous, and had carried there the various things which +they had pilfered from time to time; and in summer nights they would +often meet there and stay half the night, spending the time in eating +and drinking, and in gambling with cards or coppers, and in other wicked +amusements. There was no floor but the ground, but the boys had carried +straw into the place, and spread it down where they were accustomed to +sit and lie, and this made the place very comfortable. + +The boys were to meet at this place at ten o'clock. Griff was to bring a +dark lantern. This lantern was one which the boys had made themselves. +It was formed of a round block of wood for the base, with a hole or +socket in the middle of it, for the admission of the end of the candle. +Around this block there had been rolled a strip of pasteboard, so as to +make of it a sort of round box, with a wooden bottom and no top. The +pasteboard was kept in its place by a string, which was wound several +times around it. There was a long hole cut in the pasteboard on one +side, for the light to shine out of. There was another pasteboard roll +which went over the whole, and closed this opening when the boys wanted +the lantern to be perfectly dark. + +The boys met at the place of rendezvous at the time appointed. They then +proceeded to the stable. They got into the shed, and there struck a +light, and lighted a short candle which one of the boys had in his +pocket. Rodolphus held this candle, while Gilpin, who was taller and +stronger than either of the other boys, bored the hole in the door, in +the place which Rodolphus indicated. When the hole was bored, the boys +inserted an iron rod into it, and running this rod under the hasp, they +pried the hasp up and unfastened the door. They opened the door, and +then, to their great joy, found themselves all safe in the office. + +[Illustration: THUS] + +They put the dark lantern down upon the table, and covered it with its +screen, and then listened, perfectly whist, a minute or two, to be sure +that nobody was coming. + +"You go and watch at the shed-door," said Gilpin to Rodolphus, "while we +open the desk." + +So Rodolphus went to the shed-door. He peeped out, and looked up and +down the village-street, but all was still. + +Presently he heard a sort of splitting sound within the office, which he +knew was made by the forcing open of the lid of the desk. Very soon +afterward the boys came out, in a hurried manner----Griff had the +lantern and Gilpin the box. + +"Have you got it?" said Rodolphus. + +"Yes," said Griff. + +"Let's see," said Rodolphus. + +Griff held out the box to Rodolphus. It was very heavy and they could +hear the sound of the money within. All three of the boys seemed almost +wild with trepidation and excitement. Griff however immediately began to +hurry them away, pulling the box from them and saying, "Come, come, +boys, we must not stay fooling here." + +"Wait a minute till I hide the tools again?" said Rodolphus, "and then +we'll run." + +Rodolphus hid the tools behind the wood-pile, in the shed, where they +had been before, and then the boys sallied forth into the street. They +crept along stealthily in the shadows of the houses and in the most dark +and obscure places, until they came to the tavern, where they were to +turn down the lane to the corn-barn. As soon as they got safely to this +lane, they felt relieved, and they walked on in a more unconcerned +manner; and when at length they got fairly in under the corn-barn they +felt perfectly secure. + +"There," said Griff, "was not that well done?" + +"Yes," said Rodolphus, "and now all that we have got to do is to get the +box open." + +"We can break it open with stones," said Griff. + +"No," said Gilpin, "that will make too much noise. We will bury it under +this straw for a few days, and open it somehow or other by-and-by, when +they have given up looking for the box. You can get the real key of it +for us, Rodolphus, can't you?" + +"How can I get it?" asked Rodolphus. + +"Oh, you can contrive some way to get it from old Kerber, I've no doubt. +At any rate the best thing is to bury it now." + +[Illustration: THE CORN-BARN.] + +To this plan the boys all agreed. They pulled away the straw, which was +spread under the corn-barn, and dug a hole in the ground beneath, +working partly with sticks and partly with their fingers. When they had +got the hole deep enough, they put the box in and covered it up. Then +they spread the straw over the place as before. + +During all this time the lantern had been standing upon a box pretty +near by, having been put there by the boys, in order that the light +might shine down upon the place where they had been digging. As soon as +their work was done, the boys went softly outside to see if the way was +clear for them to go home, leaving the lantern on the box; and while +they were standing at the corner of the barn outside, looking up the +lane, and whispering together, they saw suddenly a light beginning to +gleam up from within. They ran in and found that the lantern had fallen +down, and that the straw was all in a blaze. They immediately began to +tread upon the fire and try to put it out, but the instant that they did +so they were all thunderstruck by the appearance of a fourth person, who +came rushing in among them from the outside. They all screamed out with +terror and ran. Rodolphus separated from the rest and crouched down a +moment behind the stone wall, but immediately afterward, feeling that +there would be no safety for him here, he set off again and ran across +some back fields and gardens, in the direction toward Mr. Kerber's. He +looked back occasionally and found that the light was rapidly +increasing. Presently he began to hear cries of fire. He ran on till he +reached the house; he scrambled over the fences into the back yard, +climbed up upon a shed, crept along under the chimneys to the window of +his room, got in as fast as he could, undressed himself and went to bed, +and had just drawn the clothes up over him, when he heard a loud +knocking at the door, and Mrs. Kerber's voice outside, calling out to +him, that there was a cry of fire in the village, and that he must get +up quick as possible and help put it out. + + (TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.[2] + +BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. + +THE RETURN FROM EGYPT. + + +[Footnote 2: Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by +Harper and Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the +Southern District of New York.] + +The Expedition to Egypt was one of the most magnificent enterprises +which human ambition ever conceived. The Return to France combines still +more, if possible, of the elements of the moral sublime. But for the +disastrous destruction of the French fleet the plans of Napoleon, in +reference to the East, would probably have been triumphantly successful. +At least it can not be doubted that a vast change would have been +effected throughout the Eastern world. Those plans were now hopeless. +The army was isolated, and cut off from all reinforcements and all +supplies. The best thing which Napoleon could do for his troops in Egypt +was to return to France, and exert his personal influence in sending +them succor. His return involved the continuance of the most honorable +devotion to those soldiers whom he necessarily left behind him. The +secrecy of his departure was essential to its success. Had the bold +attempt been suspected, it would certainly have been frustrated by the +increased vigilance of the English cruisers. The intrepidity of the +enterprise must elicit universal admiration. + +Contemplate, for a moment, the moral aspects of this undertaking. A +nation of thirty millions of people, had been for ten years agitated by +the most terrible convulsions. There is no atrocity, which the tongue +can name, which had not desolated the doomed land. Every passion which +can degrade the heart of fallen man, had swept with simoom blast over +the cities and the villages of France. Conflagrations had laid the +palaces of the wealthy in ruins, and the green lawns where their +children had played, had been crimsoned with the blood of fathers and +sons, mothers and daughters. A gigantic system of robbery had seized +upon houses and lands and every species of property and had turned +thousands of the opulent out into destitution, beggary, and death. +Pollution had been legalized by the voice of God-defying lust, and +France, _la belle France_, had been converted into a disgusting +warehouse of infamy. Law, with suicidal hand, had destroyed itself, and +the decisions of the legislature swayed to and fro, in accordance with +the hideous clamors of the mob. The guillotine, with gutters ever +clotted with human gore, was the only argument which anarchy +condescended to use. Effectually it silenced every remonstrating tongue. +Constitution after constitution had risen, like mushrooms, in a night, +and like mushrooms had perished in a day. Civil war was raging with +bloodhound fury in France, Monarchists and Jacobins grappling each other +infuriate with despair. The allied kings of Europe, who by their +alliance had fanned these flames of rage and ruin, were gazing with +terror upon the portentous prodigy, and were surrounding France with +their navies and their armies. + +The people had been enslaved for centuries by the king and the nobles. +Their oppression had been execrable, and it had become absolutely +unendurable. "We, the millions," they exclaimed in their rage, "will no +longer minister to your voluptuousness, and pride, and lust." "You +shall, you insolent dogs," exclaimed king and nobles, "we heed not your +barking." "You shall," reiterated the Pope, in the portentous +thunderings of the Vatican. "You shall," came echoed back from the +palaces of Vienna, from the dome of the Kremlin, from the seraglio of +the Turk, and, in tones deeper, stronger, more resolute, from +constitutional, liberty-loving, happy England. Then was France a +volcano, and its lava-streams deluged Europe. The people were desperate. +In the blind fury of their frenzied self-defense they lost all +consideration. The castles of the nobles were but the monuments of past +taxation and servitude. With yells of hatred the infuriated populace +razed them to the ground. The palaces of the kings, where, for uncounted +centuries, dissolute monarchs had reveled in enervating and +heaven-forbidden pleasures, were but national badges of the bondage of +the people. The indignant throng swept through them, like a Mississippi +inundation, leaving upon marble floors, and cartooned walls and +ceilings, the impress of their rage. At one bound France had passed from +despotism to anarchy. The kingly tyrant, with golden crown and iron +sceptre, surrounded by wealthy nobles and dissolute beauties, had +disappeared, and a many-headed monster, rapacious and blood-thirsty, +vulgar and revolting, had emerged from mines and workshops and the +cellars of vice and penury, like one of the spectres of fairy tales to +fill his place. France had passed from Monarchy, not to healthy +Republicanism, but to Jacobinism, to the reign of the mob. Napoleon +utterly abhorred the tyranny of the king. He also utterly abhorred the +despotism of vulgar, violent, sanguinary Jacobin misrule. The latter he +regarded with even far deeper repugnance than the former. "I frankly +confess," said Napoleon, again and again, "that if I must choose between +Bourbon oppression, and mob violence, I infinitely prefer the former." + +Such had been the state of France, essentially, for nearly ten years. +The great mass of the people were exhausted with suffering, and longed +for repose. The land was filled with plots and counterplots. But there +was no one man of sufficient prominence to carry with him the nation. +The government was despised and disregarded. France was in a state of +chaotic ruin. Many voices here and there, began to inquire "Where is +Bonaparte, the conqueror of Italy, the conqueror of Egypt? He alone can +save us." His world-wide renown turned the eyes of the nation to him as +their only hope. + +Under these circumstances Napoleon, then a young man but twenty-nine +years of age, and who, but three years before, had been unknown to fame +or to fortune, resolved to return to France, to overthrow the miserable +government, by which the country was disgraced, to subdue anarchy at +home and aggression from abroad, and to rescue thirty millions of people +from ruin. The enterprise was undeniably magnificent in its grandeur and +noble in its object. He had two foes to encounter, each formidable, the +royalists of combined Europe and the mob of Paris. The quiet and +undoubting self-confidence with which he entered upon this enterprise, +is one of the most remarkable events in the whole of his extraordinary +career. He took with him no armies to hew down opposition. He engaged in +no deep-laid and wide-spread conspiracy. Relying upon the energies of +his own mind, and upon the sympathies of the great mass of the people, +he went alone, with but one or two companions, to whom he revealed not +his thoughts, to gather into his hands the scattered reins of power. +Never did he encounter more fearful peril. The cruisers of England, +Russia, Turkey, of allied Europe in arms against France, thronged the +Mediterranean. How could he hope to escape them? The guillotine was red +with blood. Every one who had dared to oppose the mob had perished upon +it. How could Napoleon venture, single-handed, to beard this terrible +lion in his den? + +It was ten o'clock at night, the 22d of August, 1799, when Napoleon +ascended the sides of the frigate Muiron, to sail for France. A few of +his faithful Guards, and eight companions, either officers in the army +or members of the scientific corps, accompanied him. There were five +hundred soldiers on board the ships. The stars shone brightly in the +Syrian sky, and under their soft light the blue waves of the +Mediterranean lay spread out most peacefully before them. The frigates +unfurled their sails. Napoleon, silent and lost in thought, for a long +time walked the quarter deck of the ship, gazing upon the low outline of +Egypt as, in the dim starlight, it faded away. His companions were +intoxicated with delight, in view of again returning to France. Napoleon +was neither elated nor depressed. Serene and silent he communed with +himself, and whenever we can catch a glimpse of those secret communings +we find them always bearing the impress of grandeur. Though Napoleon was +in the habit of visiting the soldiers at their camp fires, of sitting +down and conversing with them with the greatest freedom and familiarity, +the majesty of his character overawed his officers, and adoration and +reserve blended with their love. Though there was no haughtiness in his +demeanor, he habitually dwelt in a region of elevation above them all. +Their talk was of cards, of wine, of pretty women. Napoleon's thoughts +were of empire, of renown, of moulding the destinies of nations. They +regarded him not as a companion, but as a master, whose wishes they +loved to anticipate; for he would surely guide them to wealth, and fame, +and fortune. He contemplated them, not as equals and confiding friends, +but as efficient and valuable instruments for the accomplishment of his +purposes. Murat was to Napoleon a body of ten thousand horse-men, ever +ready for a resistless charge. Lannes was a phalanx of infantry, +bristling with bayonets, which neither artillery nor cavalry could +batter down or break. Augereau was an armed column of invincible troops, +black, dense, massy, impetuous, resistless, moving with gigantic tread +wherever the finger of the conqueror pointed. These were but the members +of Napoleon's body, the limbs obedient to the mighty soul which swayed +them. They were not the companions of his thoughts, they were only the +servants of his will. The number to be found with whom the soul of +Napoleon could dwell in sympathetic friendship was few--very few. + +Napoleon had formed a very low estimate of human nature, and +consequently made great allowance for the infirmities incident to +humanity. Bourrienne reports him as saying, "Friendship is but a name. I +love no one; no, not even my brothers. Joseph perhaps a little. And if I +do love him, it is from habit, and because he is my elder. Duroc! Ah, +yes! I love him too. But why? His character pleases me. He is cold, +reserved, and resolute, and I really believe that he never shed a tear. +As to myself, I know well that I have not one true friend. As long as I +continue what I am, I may have as many pretended friends as I please. We +must leave sensibility to the women. It is their business. Men should be +firm in heart and in purpose, or they should have nothing to do with war +or government. I am not amiable. No; I am not amiable I never have been. +But I am just." + +In another mood of mind, more tender, more subdued, he remarked, at St. +Helena, in reply to Las Casas, who with great severity was condemning +those who abandoned Napoleon in his hour of adversity: "You are not +acquainted with men. They are difficult to comprehend if one wishes to +be strictly just. Can they understand or explain even their own +characters? Almost all those who abandoned me would, had I continued to +be prosperous, never perhaps have dreamed of their own defection. There +are vices and virtues which depend upon circumstances. Our last trials +were beyond all human strength! Besides I was forsaken rather than +betrayed; there was more of weakness than of perfidy around me. _It was +the denial of St. Peter._ Tears and penitence are probably at hand, And +where will you find in the page of history any one possessing a greater +number of friends and partisans? Who was ever more popular and more +beloved? Who was ever more ardently and deeply regretted? Here, from +this very rock, on viewing the present disorders in France, who would +not be tempted to say that I still reign there? No; human nature might +have appeared in a more odious light." + +Las Casas, who shared with Napoleon his weary years of imprisonment at +St. Helena, says of him: "He views the complicated circumstances of his +fall from so high a point that individuals escape his notice. He never +evinces the least symptom of virulence toward those of whom it might be +supposed he has the greatest reason to complain. His strongest mark of +reprobation, and I have had frequent occasions to notice it, is to +preserve silence with respect to them whenever they are mentioned in his +presence. But how often has he been heard to restrain the violent and +less reserved expressions of those about him?" + +"And here I must observe," says Las Casas, "that since I have become +acquainted with the Emperor's character, I have never known him to +evince, for a single moment, the least feeling of anger or animosity +against those who had most deeply injured him. He speaks of them coolly +and without resentment, attributing their conduct, in some measure, to +the perplexing circumstances in which they were placed, and throwing the +rest to the account of human weakness." + +Marmont, who surrendered Paris to the allies, was severely condemned by +Las Casas. Napoleon replied: "Vanity was his ruin. Posterity will justly +cast a shade upon his character, yet his heart will be more valued than +the memory of his career." "Your attachment for Berthier," said Las +Casas, "surprised us. He was full of pretensions and pride." "Berthier +was not without talent," Napoleon replied, "and I am far from wishing to +disavow his merit, or my partiality; but he was so undecided!" "He was +very harsh and overbearing," Las Casas rejoined. "And what, my dear Las +Casas," Napoleon replied, "is more overbearing than weakness which feels +itself protected by strength? Look at women, for example." This Berthier +had, with the utmost meanness, abandoned his benefactor, and took his +place in front of the carriage of Louis XVIII. as he rode triumphantly +into Paris. "The only revenge I wish on this poor Berthier," said +Napoleon at the time, "would be to see him in his costume of captain of +the body-guard of Louis." + +Says Bourrienne, Napoleon's rejected secretary, "The character of +Napoleon was not a cruel one. He was neither rancorous nor vindictive. +None but those who are blinded by fury, could have given him the name of +Nero or Caligula. I think that I have stated his real faults with +sufficient sincerity to be believed upon my word. I can assert that +Bonaparte, apart from politics, was feeling, kind, and accessible to +pity. He was very fond of children, and a bad man has seldom that +disposition. In the habits of private life he had, and the expression is +not too strong, much benevolence and great indulgence for human +weakness. A contrary opinion is too firmly fixed in some minds for me to +hope to remove it. I shall, I fear, have opposers; but I address myself +to those who are in search of truth. I lived in the most unreserved +confidence with Napoleon until the age of thirty-four years, and I +advance nothing lightly." This is the admission of one who had been +ejected from office by Napoleon, and who had become a courtier of the +reinstated Bourbons. It is a candid admission of an enemy. + +The ships weighed anchor in the darkness of the night, hoping before the +day should dawn to escape the English cruisers which were hovering about +Alexandria. Unfortunately, at midnight, the wind died away, and it +became almost perfectly calm. Fearful of being captured, some were +anxious to seek again the shore. "Be quiet," said Napoleon, "we shall +pass in safety." + +Admiral Gantheaume wished to take the shortest route to France. +Napoleon, however, directed the admiral to sail along as near as +possible to the coast of Africa, and to continue that unfrequented +route, till the ships should pass the Island of Sardinia. "In the mean +while," said he, "should an English fleet present itself, we will run +ashore upon the sands, and march, with the handful of brave men and the +few pieces of artillery we have with us, to Oran or Tunis, and there +find means to re-embark." Thus Napoleon, in this hazardous enterprise, +braved every peril. The most imminent and the most to be dreaded of all, +was captivity in an English prison. For twenty days the wind was so +invariably adverse, that the ships did not advance three hundred miles. +Many were so discouraged and so apprehensive of capture that it was even +proposed to return to Alexandria. Napoleon was much in the habit of +peaceful submission to that which he could not remedy. During all these +trying weeks he appeared perfectly serene and contented. To the +murmuring of his companions he replied, "We shall arrive in France in +safety. I am determined to proceed at all hazards. Fortune will not +abandon us." "People frequently speak," says Bourrienne, who accompanied +Napoleon upon this voyage, "of the good fortune which attaches to an +individual, and even attends him through life. Without professing to +believe in this sort of predestination, yet, when I call to mind the +numerous dangers which Bonaparte escaped in so many enterprises, the +hazards he encountered, the chances he ran, I can conceive that others +may have this faith. But having for a length of time studied the 'man +of destiny,' I have remarked that what was called his fortune was, in +reality, his genius; that his success was the consequence of his +admirable foresight--of his calculations, rapid as lightning, and of the +conviction that boldness is often the truest wisdom. If, for example, +during our voyage from Egypt to France, he had not imperiously insisted +upon pursuing a course different from that usually taken, and which +usual course was recommended by the admiral, would he have escaped the +perils which beset his path? Probably not. And was all this the effect +of chance? Certainly not." + +[Illustration: THE RETURN VOYAGE.] + +During these days of suspense, Napoleon, apparently as serene in spirit +as the calm which often silvered the unrippled surface of the sea, held +all the energies of his mind in perfect control. A choice library he +invariably took with him wherever he went. He devoted the hours to +writing, study, finding recreation in solving the most difficult +problems in geometry, and in investigating chemistry and other +scientific subjects of practical utility. He devoted much time to +conversation with the distinguished scholars whom he had selected to +accompany him. His whole soul seemed engrossed in the pursuit of +literary and scientific attainments. He also carefully, and with most +intense interest, studied the Bible and the Koran, scrutinizing, with +the eye of a philosopher, the antagonistic systems of the Christian and +the Moslem. The stupidity of the Koran wearied him. The sublimity of the +Scriptures charmed him. He read again and again, with deep admiration, +Christ's sermon upon the mount, and called his companions, from their +card-tables, to read it to them, that they might also appreciate its +moral beauty and its eloquence. "You will, ere long, become devout +yourself," said one of his infidel companions. "I wish I might become +so," Napoleon replied. "What a solace Christianity must be to one who +has an undoubting conviction of its truth." But practical Christianity +he had only seen in the mummeries of the papal church. Remembering the +fasts, the vigils, the penances, the cloisters, the scourgings of a +corrupt Christianity, and contrasting them with the voluptuous paradise +and the sensual houries which inflamed the eager vision of the Moslem, +he once exclaimed, in phrase characteristic of his genius, "The religion +of Jesus is a threat, that of Mohammed a promise." The religion of Jesus +is not a threat. Though the wrath of God shall fall upon the children of +disobedience, our Saviour invites us, in gentle accents, to the green +pastures and the still waters of the Heavenly Canaan; to cities +resplendent with pearls and gold; to mansions of which God is the +architect; to the songs of seraphim, and the flight of cherubim, +exploring on tireless pinion, the wonders of infinity; to peace of +conscience, and rapture dwelling in the pure heart, and to blest +companionship loving and beloved; to majesty of person and loftiness of +intellect; to appear as children and as nobles in the audience-chamber +of God; to an immortality of bliss. No! the religion of Jesus is not a +threat, though it has too often been thus represented by its mistaken or +designing advocates. + +One evening a group of officers were conversing together, upon the +quarter deck, respecting the existence of God. Many of them believed not +in his being. It was a calm, cloudless, brilliant night. The heavens, +the work of God's fingers, canopied them gloriously. The moon and the +stars, which God had ordained, beamed down upon them with serene lustre. +As they were flippantly giving utterance to the arguments of atheism, +Napoleon paced to and fro upon the deck, taking no part in the +conversation, and apparently absorbed in his own thoughts. Suddenly he +stopped before them and said, in those tones of dignity which ever +overawed, "Gentlemen, your arguments are very fine. But who made all +those worlds, beaming so gloriously above us? Can you tell me that?" No +one answered. Napoleon resumed his silent walk, and the officers +selected another topic for conversation. + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON AND THE ATHEISTS.] + +In these intense studies Napoleon first began to appreciate the beauty +and the sublimity of Christianity. Previously to this, his own strong +sense had taught him the principles of a noble toleration; and Jew, +Christian, and Moslem stood equally regarded before him. Now he began to +apprehend the surpassing excellence of Christianity. And though the +cares of the busiest life through which a mortal has ever passed soon +engrossed his energies, this appreciation and admiration of the gospel +of Christ, visibly increased with each succeeding year. He unflinchingly +braved the scoffs of infidel Europe, in re-establishing the Christian +religion in paganized France. He periled his popularity with the army, +and disregarded the opposition of his most influential friends, from his +deep conviction of the importance of religion to the welfare of the +state. With the inimitable force of his own glowing eloquence, he said +to Montholon, at St. Helena, "I know men, and I tell you that Jesus +Christ is not a man! The religion of Christ is a mystery, which subsists +by its own force, and proceeds from a mind which is not a human mind. We +find in it a marked individuality which originated a train of words and +maxims unknown before. Jesus borrowed nothing from our knowledge. He +exhibited himself the perfect example of his precepts. Jesus is not a +philosopher; for his proofs are his miracles, and from the first his +disciples adored him. In fact, learning and philosophy are of no use for +salvation; and Jesus came into the world to reveal the mysteries of +heaven and the laws of the spirit. Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne, and +myself have founded empires. But upon what did we rest the creations of +our genius? upon _force_. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon +love. And at this moment millions of men would die for him. I die before +my time, and my body will be given back to earth, to become food for +worms. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. +What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ, +which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and which is extending over the +whole earth! Call you this dying? Is it not living rather? The death of +Christ is the death of a God!" + +At the time of the invasion of Egypt, Napoleon regarded all forms of +religion with equal respect. And though he considered Christianity +superior, in intellectuality and refinement, to all other modes of +worship, he did not consider any religion as of divine origin. At one +time, speaking of the course which he pursued in Egypt, he said, "Such +was the disposition of the army, that in order to induce them to listen +to the bare mention of religion, I was obliged to speak very lightly on +the subject; to place Jews beside Christians, and rabbis beside bishops. +But after all it would not have been so very extraordinary had +circumstances induced me to embrace Islamism. But I must have had good +reasons for my conversion. I must have been secure of advancing at least +as far as the Euphrates. Change of religion for private interest is +inexcusable. But it may be pardoned in consideration of immense +political results. Henry IV. said, _Paris is well worth a mass_. Will it +then be said that the dominion of the East, and perhaps the subjugation +of all Asia, were not worth a _turban and a pair of trowsers_? And in +truth the whole matter was reduced to this. The sheiks had studied how +to render it easy to us. They had smoothed down the great obstacles, +allowed us the use of wine, and dispensed with all corporeal +formalities. We should have lost only our small-clothes and hats." + +Of the infidel Rousseau, Napoleon ever spoke in terms of severe +reprobation. "He was a bad man, a very bad man," said he, "he caused the +revolution." "I was not aware," another replied, "that you considered +the French Revolution such an unmixed evil." "Ah," Napoleon rejoined, +"you wish to say that without the revolution you would not have had me. +Nevertheless, without the revolution France would have been more happy." +When invited to visit the hermitage of Rousseau, to see his cap, table, +great chair, &c., he exclaimed, "Bah! I have no taste for such +fooleries. Show them to my brother Louis. He is worthy of them." + +Probably the following remarks of Napoleon, made at St. Helena, will +give a very correct idea of his prevailing feelings upon the subject of +religion. "The sentiment of religion is so consolatory, that it must be +considered a gift from Heaven. What a resource would it not be for us +here, to possess it. What rewards have I not a right to expect, who have +run a career so extraordinary, so tempestuous, as mine has been, without +committing a single crime. And yet how many might I not have been guilty +of? I can appear before the tribunal of God, I can await his judgment, +without fear. He will not find my conscience stained with the thoughts +of murder and poisonings; with the infliction of violent and +premeditated deaths, events so common in the history of those whose +lives resemble mine. I have wished only for the power, the greatness, +the glory of France. All my faculties, all my efforts, all my movements, +were directed to the attainment of that object. These can not be crimes. +To me they appeared acts of virtue. What then would be my happiness, if +the bright prospect of futurity presented itself to crown the last +moments of my existence." + +After a moment's pause, in which he seemed lost in thought, he resumed: +"But, how is it possible that conviction can find its way to our hearts, +when we hear the absurd language, and witness the iniquitous conduct of +the greater part of those whose business it is to preach to us. I am +surrounded by priests, who repeat incessantly that their reign is not of +this world; and yet they lay their hands upon every thing which they can +get. The Pope is the head of that religion which is from Heaven. What +did the present chief pontiff, who is undoubtedly a good and a holy man, +not offer, to be allowed to return to Rome. The surrender of the +government of the church, of the institution of bishops was not too much +for him to give, to become once more a secular prince. + +"Nevertheless," he continued, after another thoughtful pause, "it can +not be doubted that, as emperor, the species of incredulity which I felt +was beneficial to the nations I had to govern. How could I have favored +equally sects so opposed to one another, if I had joined any one of +them? How could I have preserved the independence of my thoughts and of +my actions under the control of a confessor, who would have governed me +under the dread of hell!" Napoleon closed this conversation, by ordering +the New Testament to be brought. Commencing at the beginning, he read +aloud as far as the conclusion of our Saviour's address to his disciples +upon the mountain. He expressed himself struck with the highest +admiration, in contemplating its purity, its sublimity, and the +beautiful perfection of its moral code. + +For forty days the ships were driven about by contrary winds, and on the +1st of October they made the island of Corsica, and took refuge in the +harbor of Ajaccio. The tidings that Napoleon had landed in his native +town swept over the island like a gale, and the whole population crowded +to the port to catch a sight of their illustrious countryman. "It +seemed," said Napoleon, "that half of the inhabitants had discovered +traces of kindred." But a few years had elapsed since the dwelling of +Madame Letitia was pillaged by the mob, and the whole Bonaparte family, +in penury and friendlessness, were hunted from their home, effecting +their escape in an open boat by night. Now, the name of Bonaparte filled +the island with acclamations. But Napoleon was alike indifferent to such +unjust censure, and to such unthinking applause. As the curse did not +depress, neither did the hosanna elate. + +After the delay of a few days in obtaining supplies, the ships again +weighed anchor, on the 7th of October, and continued their perilous +voyage. The evening of the next day, as the sun was going down in +unusual splendor, there appeared in the west, painted in strong relief +against his golden rays, an English squadron. The admiral, who saw from +the enemy's signals that he was observed, urged an immediate return to +Corsica. Napoleon, convinced that capture would be the result of such a +man[oe]uvre, exclaimed, "To do so would be to take the road to England. +I am seeking that to France. Spread all sail. Let every one be at his +post. Steer to the northwest. Onward." The night was dark, the wind +fair. Rapidly the ships were approaching the coast of France, through +the midst of the hostile squadron, and exposed to the most imminent +danger of capture. Escape seemed impossible. It was a night of fearful +apprehension and terror to all on board, excepting Napoleon. He +determined, in case of extremity, to throw himself into a boat, and +trust for safety to darkness and the oars. With the most perfect +self-possession and composure of spirits, he ordered the long-boat to be +prepared, selected those whom he desired to accompany him, and carefully +collected such papers as he was anxious to preserve. Not an eye was +closed during the night. It was indeed a fearful question to be decided. +Are these weary wanderers, in a few hours, to be in the embrace of their +wives and their children, or will the next moment show them the black +hull of an English man-of-war, emerging from the gloom, to consign them +to lingering years of captivity in an English prison? In this terrible +hour no one could perceive that the composure of Napoleon was in the +slightest degree ruffled. The first dawn of the morning revealed to +their straining vision the hills of France stretching along but a few +leagues before them, and far away, in the northeast, the hostile +squadron, disappearing beneath the horizon of the sea. The French had +escaped. The wildest bursts of joy rose from the ships. But Napoleon +gazed calmly upon his beloved France, with pale cheek and marble brow, +too proud to manifest emotion. At eight o'clock in the morning the four +vessels dropped anchor in the little harbor of Frejus. It was the +morning of the 8th of October. Thus for fifty days Napoleon had been +tossed upon the waves of the Mediterranean, surrounded by the hostile +fleets of England, Russia, and Turkey, and yet had eluded their +vigilance. + +This wonderful passage of Napoleon, gave rise to many caricatures, both +in England and France. One of these caricatures, which was conspicuous +in the London shop windows, possessed so much point and historic truth, +that Napoleon is said to have laughed most heartily on seeing it. Lord +Nelson, as is well known, with all his heroism, was not exempt from the +frailties of humanity. The British admiral was represented as guarding +Napoleon. Lady Hamilton makes her appearance, and his lordship becomes +so engrossed in caressing the fair enchantress, that Napoleon escapes +between his legs. This was hardly a caricature. It was almost historic +verity. While Napoleon was struggling against adverse storms off the +coast of Africa, Lord Nelson, adorned with the laurels of his +magnificent victory, in fond dalliance with his frail Delilah, was +basking in the courts of voluptuous and profligate kings. "No one," said +Napoleon, "can surrender himself to the dominion of love, without the +forfeiture of some palms of glory." + +[Illustration: THE LANDING AT FREJUS.] + +When the four vessels entered the harbor of Frejus, a signal at the +mast-head of the Muiron informed the authorities on shore that Napoleon +was on board. The whole town was instantly in commotion. Before the +anchors were dropped the harbor was filled with boats, and the ships +were surrounded with an enthusiastic multitude, climbing their sides, +thronging their decks, and rending the air with their acclamations. All +the laws of quarantine were disregarded. The people, weary of anarchy, +and trembling in view of the approaching Austrian invasion, were almost +delirious with delight in receiving thus, as it were from the clouds, a +deliverer, in whose potency they could implicitly trust. When warned +that the ships had recently sailed from Alexandria, and that there was +imminent danger that the plague might be communicated, they replied, "We +had rather have the plague than the Austrians." Breaking over all the +municipal regulations of health, the people took Napoleon, almost by +violence, hurried him over the side of the ship to the boats, and +conveyed him in triumph to the shore. The tidings had spread from +farm-house to farm-house with almost electric speed, and the whole +country population, men, women, and children, were crowding down to the +shore. Even the wounded soldiers in the hospital, left their cots and +crawled to the beach, to get a sight of the hero. The throng became so +great that it was with difficulty that Napoleon could land. The +gathering multitude, however, opened to the right and the left, and +Napoleon passed through them, greeted with the enthusiastic cries of +"Long live the conqueror of Italy, the conqueror of Egypt, the liberator +of France." The peaceful little harbor of Frejus was suddenly thrown +into a state of the most unheard of excitement. The bells rang their +merriest peels. The guns in the forts rolled forth their heaviest +thunders over the hills and over the waves; and the enthusiastic shouts +of the ever increasing multitudes, thronging Napoleon, filled the air. +The ships brought the first tidings of the wonderful victories of Mount +Tabor and of Aboukir. The French, humiliated by defeat, were exceedingly +elated by this restoration of the national honor. The intelligence of +Napoleon's arrival was immediately communicated, by telegraph, to Paris, +which was six hundred miles from Frejus. + +When the tidings of Napoleon's landing at Frejus, arrived in Paris, on +the evening of the 9th of October, Josephine was at a large party at the +house of M. Gohier, President of the Directory. All the most +distinguished men of the metropolis were there. The intelligence +produced the most profound sensation. Some, rioting in the spoils of +office, turned pale with apprehension; knowing well the genius of +Napoleon, and his boundless popularity, they feared another revolution, +which should eject them from their seats of power. Others were elated +with hope; they felt that Providence had sent to France a deliverer, at +the very moment when a deliverer was needed. One of the deputies, who +had been deeply grieved at the disasters which were overwhelming the +Republic, actually died of joy, when he heard of Napoleon's return. +Josephine, intensely excited by the sudden and totally unexpected +announcement, immediately withdrew, hastened home, and at midnight, +without allowing an hour for repose, she entered her carriage, with +Louis Bonaparte and Hortense, who subsequently became the bride of +Louis, and set out to meet her husband. Napoleon almost at the same +hour, with his suite, left Frejus. During every step of his progress he +was greeted with the most extraordinary demonstrations of enthusiasm and +affection. Bonfires blazed from the hills, triumphal arches, hastily +constructed, spanned his path. Long lines of maidens spread a carpet of +flowers for his chariot wheels, and greeted him with smiles and choruses +of welcome. He arrived at Lyons in the evening. The whole city was +brilliant with illuminations. An immense concourse surrounded him with +almost delirious shouts of joy. The constituted authorities received him +as he descended from his carriage. The mayor had prepared a long and +eulogistic harangue for the occasion. Napoleon had no time to listen to +it. With a motion of his hand, imposing silence, he said, "Gentlemen, I +learned that France was in peril, I therefore did not hesitate to leave +my army in Egypt, that I might come to her rescue. I now go hence. In a +few days, if you think fit to wait upon me, I shall be at leisure to +hear you." Fresh horses were by this time attached to the carriages, and +the cavalcade, which like a meteor had burst upon them, like a meteor +disappeared. From Lyons, for some unexplained reason, Napoleon turned +from the regular route to Paris and took a less frequented road. When +Josephine arrived at Lyons, to her utter consternation she found that +Napoleon had left the city, several hours before her arrival, and that +they had passed each other by different roads. Her anguish was +inexpressible. For many months she had not received a line from her +idolized husband, all communication having been intercepted by the +English cruisers. She knew that many, jealous of her power, had +disseminated, far and wide, false reports respecting her conduct. She +knew that these, her enemies, would surround Napoleon immediately upon +his arrival, and take advantage of her absence to inflame his mind +against her. Lyons is 245 miles from Paris. Josephine had passed over +those weary leagues of hill and dale, pressing on without intermission, +by day and by night, alighting not for refreshment or repose. Faint, +exhausted, and her heart sinking within her with fearful apprehensions +of the hopeless alienation of her husband, she received the dreadful +tidings that she had missed him. There was no resource left her but to +retrace her steps with the utmost possible celerity. Napoleon would, +however, have been one or two days in Paris before Josephine could, by +any possibility, re-enter the city. Probably in all France, there was +not, at that time, a more unhappy woman than Josephine. + +Secret wretchedness was also gnawing at the heart of Napoleon. Who has +yet fathomed the mystery of human love? Intensest love and intensest +hate can, at the same moment, intertwine their fibres in inextricable +blending. In nothing is the will so impotent as in guiding or checking +the impulses of this omnipotent passion. Napoleon loved Josephine with +that almost superhuman energy which characterized all the movements of +his impetuous spirit. The stream did not fret and ripple over a shallow +bed, but it was serene in its unfathomable depths. The world contained +but two objects for Napoleon, glory and Josephine; glory first, and +then, closely following, the more substantial idol. + +Many of the Parisian ladies, proud of a more exalted lineage than +Josephine could boast, were exceedingly envious of the supremacy she had +attained in consequence of the renown of her husband. Her influence over +Napoleon was well known. Philosophers, statesmen, ambitious generals, +all crowded her saloons, paying her homage. A favorable word from +Josephine they knew would pave the way for them to fame and fortune. +Thus Josephine, from the saloons of Paris, with milder radiance, +reflected back the splendor of her husband. She, solicitous of securing +as many friends as possible, to aid him in future emergencies, was as +diligent in "winning hearts" at home, as Napoleon was in conquering +provinces abroad. The gracefulness of Josephine, her consummate delicacy +of moral appreciation, her exalted intellectual gifts, the melodious +tones of her winning voice, charmed courtiers, philosophers, and +statesmen alike. Her saloons were ever crowded. Her entertainments were +ever embellished by the presence of all who were illustrious in rank and +power in the metropolis. And in whatever circles she appeared the eyes +of the gentlemen first sought for her. Two resistless attractions drew +them. She was peculiarly fascinating in person and in character, and, +through her renowned husband, she could dispense the most precious +gifts. It is not difficult to imagine the envy which must thus have been +excited. Many a haughty duchess was provoked, almost beyond endurance, +that Josephine, the untitled daughter of a West Indian planter, should +thus engross the homage of Paris, while she, with her proud rank, her +wit, and her beauty, was comparatively a cipher. Moreau's wife, in +particular, resented the supremacy of Josephine as a personal affront. +She thought General Moreau entitled to as much consideration as General +Bonaparte. By the jealousy, rankling in her own bosom, she finally +succeeded in rousing her husband to conspire against Napoleon, and thus +the hero of Hohenlinden was ruined. Some of the brothers and sisters of +Napoleon were also jealous of the paramount influence of Josephine, and +would gladly wrest a portion of it from her hands. Under these +circumstances, in various ways, slanders had been warily insinuated into +the ears of Napoleon, respecting the conduct of his wife. Conspiring +enemies became more and more bold. Josephine was represented as having +forgotten her husband, as reveling exultant with female vanity, in +general flirtation; and, finally, as guilty of gross infidelity. Nearly +all the letters written by Napoleon and Josephine to each other, were +intercepted by the English cruisers. Though Napoleon did not credit +these charges in full, he cherished not a little of the pride, which led +the Roman monarch to exclaim, "Cæsar's wife must not be suspected." + +Napoleon was in this troubled state of mind during the latter months of +his residence in Egypt. One day he was sitting alone in his tent, which +was pitched in the great Arabian desert. Several months had passed since +he had heard a word from Josephine. Years might elapse ere they would +meet again. Junot entered, having just received, through some channel of +jealousy and malignity, communications from Paris. Cautiously, but +fully, he unfolded the whole budget of Parisian gossip. Josephine had +found, as he represented, in the love of others an ample recompense for +the absence of her husband. She was surrounded by admirers with whom she +was engaged in an incessant round of intrigues and flirtations. +Regardless of honor she had surrended herself to the dominion of +passion. Napoleon was for a few moments in a state of terrible +agitation. With hasty strides, like a chafed lion, he paced his tent, +exclaiming, "Why do I love that woman so? Why can I not tear her image +from my heart? I will do so. I will have an immediate and an open +divorce--open and public divorce." He immediately wrote to Josephine, in +terms of the utmost severity, accusing her of "playing the coquette with +half the world." The letter escaped the British cruisers, and she +received it. It almost broke her faithful heart. Such were the +circumstances under which Napoleon and Josephine were to meet after an +absence of eighteen months. Josephine was exceedingly anxious to see +Napoleon before he should have an interview with her enemies. Hence the +depth of anguish with which she heard that her husband had passed her. +Two or three days must elapse ere she could possibly retrace the weary +miles over which she had already traveled. + +In the mean time the carriage of Napoleon was rapidly approaching the +metropolis. By night his path was brilliant with bonfires and +illuminations. The ringing of bells, the thunders of artillery, and the +acclamations of the multitude, accompanied him every step of his way. +But no smile of triumph played upon his pale and pensive cheeks. He felt +that he was returning to a desolated home. Gloom reigned in his heart. +He entered Paris, and drove rapidly to his own dwelling. Behold, +Josephine was not there. Conscious guilt, he thought, had made her +afraid to meet him. It is in vain to attempt to penetrate the hidden +anguish of Napoleon's soul. That his proud spirit must have suffered +intensity of woe, no one can doubt. The bitter enemies of Josephine +immediately surrounded him, eagerly taking advantage of her absence, to +inflame, to a still higher degree, by adroit insinuations, his jealousy +and anger. Eugene had accompanied him in his return from Egypt, and his +affectionate heart ever glowed with love and admiration for his mother. +With anxiety, amounting to anguish, he watched at the window for her +arrival. Said one to Napoleon, maliciously endeavoring to prevent the +possibility of reconciliation, "Josephine will appear before you, with +all her fascinations. She will explain matters. You will forgive all, +and tranquillity will be restored." "Never!" exclaimed Napoleon, with +pallid cheek and trembling lip, striding nervously to and fro, through +the room, "never! I forgive! never!" Then stopping suddenly, and gazing +the interlocutor wildly in the face, he exclaimed, with passionate +gesticulation, "You know me. Were I not sure of my resolution, I would +tear out this heart, and cast it into the fire." + +How strange is the life of the heart of man. From this interview, +Napoleon, two hours after his arrival in Paris, with his whole soul +agitated by the tumult of domestic woe, went to the palace of the +Luxembourg, to visit the Directory, to form his plans for the overthrow +of the government of France. Pale, pensive, joyless, his inflexible +purposes of ambition wavered not--his iron energies yielded not. +Josephine was an idol. He execrated her and he adored her. He loved her +most passionately. He hated her most virulently. He could clasp her one +moment to his bosom with burning kisses; the next moment he would spurn +her from him as the most loathsome wretch. But glory was a still more +cherished idol, at whose shrine he bowed with unwavering adoration. He +strove to forget his domestic wretchedness by prosecuting, with new +vigor, his schemes of grandeur. As he ascended the stairs of the +Luxembourg, some of the guard, who had been with him in Italy, +recognized his person, and he was instantly greeted, with enthusiastic +shouts, "Long live Bonaparte." The clamor rolled like a voice of thunder +through the spacious halls of the palace, and fell, like a death knell, +upon the ears of the Directors. The populace, upon the pavement, caught +the sound and reechoed it from street to street. The plays at the +theatres, and the songs at the Opera, were stopped, that it might be +announced, from the stage, that Bonaparte had arrived in Paris. Men, +women, and children simultaneously rose to their feet, and a wild burst +of enthusiastic joy swelled upon the night air. All Paris was in +commotion. The name of Bonaparte was upon every lip. The enthusiasm was +contagious. Illuminations began to blaze, here and there, without +concert, from the universal rejoicing, till the whole city was +resplendent with light. One bell rang forth its merry peal of greeting, +and then another, and another, till every steeple was vocal with its +clamorous welcome. One gun was heard, rolling its heavy thunders over +the city. It was the signal for an instantaneous, tumultuous roar, from +artillery and musketry, from all the battalions in the metropolis. The +tidings of the great victories of Aboukir and Mount Tabor, reached Paris +with Napoleon. Those Oriental names were shouted through the streets, +and blazed upon the eyes of the delighted people in letters of light. +Thus in an hour the whole of Paris was thrown into a delirium of joy, +and, without any previous arrangements, there was displayed the most +triumphant and gorgeous festival. + +The government of France was at this time organized somewhat upon the +model of that of the United States. Instead of one President, they had +five, called Directors. Their Senate was called The House of Ancients; +their House of Representatives, The Council of Five Hundred. The five +Directors, as might have been expected, were ever quarreling among +themselves, each wishing for the lion's share of power. The Monarchist, +the Jacobin, and the moderate Republican could not harmoniously +co-operate in government. They only circumvented each other, while the +administration sank into disgrace and ruin. The Abbé Sieyes was +decidedly the most able man of the Executive. He was a proud patrician, +and his character may be estimated from the following anecdote, which +Napoleon has related respecting him: + +"The abbé, before the revolution, was chaplain to one of the princesses. +One day, when he was performing mass before herself, her attendants, and +a large congregation, something occurred which rendered it necessary for +the princess to leave the room. The ladies in waiting and the nobility, +who attended church more out of complaisance to her than from any sense +of religion, followed her example. Sieyes was very busy reading his +prayers, and, for a few moments, he did not perceive their departure. At +last, raising his eyes from his book, behold the princess, the nobles, +and all the ton had disappeared. With an air of displeasure and contempt +he shut the book, and descended from the pulpit, exclaiming, 'I do not +read prayers for the rabble.' He immediately went out of the chapel, +leaving the service half-finished." + +Napoleon arrived in Paris on the evening of the 17th of October, 1799. +Two days and two nights elapsed, ere Josephine was able to retrace the +weary leagues over which she had passed. It was the hour of midnight on +the 19th, when the rattle of her carriage-wheels was heard entering the +court-yard of their dwelling in the Rue Chanteraine. Eugene, anxiously +awaiting her arrival, was instantly at his mother's side, folding her in +his embrace. Napoleon also heard the arrival, but he remained sternly in +his chamber. He had ever been accustomed to greet Josephine at the door +of her carriage, even when she returned from an ordinary morning ride. +No matter what employments engrossed his mind, no matter what guests +were present, he would immediately leave every thing, and hasten to the +door to assist Josephine to alight and to accompany her into the house. +But now, after an absence of eighteen months, the faithful Josephine, +half-dead with exhaustion, was at the door, and Napoleon, with pallid +cheek and compressed lip, and jealousy rankling in his bosom, remained +sternly in his room, preparing to overwhelm her with his indignation. + +Josephine was in a state of terrible agitation. Her limbs tottered and +her heart throbbed most violently. Assisted by Eugene, and accompanied +by Hortense, she tremblingly ascended the stairs to the little parlor +where she had so often received the caresses of her most affectionate +spouse. She opened the door. There stood Napoleon, as immovable as a +statue, leaning against the mantle, with his arms folded across his +breast. Sternly and silently, he cast a withering look upon Josephine, +and then exclaimed in tones, which, like a dagger pierced her heart, +"Madame! It is my wish that you retire immediately to Malmaison." + +Josephine staggered and would have fallen, as if struck by a mortal +blow, had she not been caught in the arms of her son. Sobbing bitterly +with anguish, she was conveyed by Eugene to her own apartment. Napoleon +also was dreadfully agitated. The sight of Josephine had revived all his +passionate love. But he fully believed that Josephine had unpardonably +trifled with his affections, that she had courted the admiration of a +multitude of flatterers, and that she had degraded herself and her +husband by playing the coquette. The proud spirit of Napoleon could not +brook such a requital for his fervid love. With hasty strides he +traversed the room, striving to nourish his indignation. The sobs of +Josephine had deeply moved him. He yearned to fold her again in fond +love to his heart. But he proudly resolved that he would not relent. +Josephine, with that prompt obedience which ever characterized her, +prepared immediately to comply with his orders. It was midnight. For a +week she had lived in her carriage almost without food or sleep. +Malmaison was thirty miles from Paris. Napoleon did not suppose that she +would leave the house until morning. Much to his surprise, in a few +moments he heard Josephine, Eugene, and Hortense descending the stairs +to take the carriage. Napoleon, even in his anger, could not be thus +inhuman. "My heart," he said, "was never formed to witness tears without +emotion." He immediately descended to the court-yard, though his pride +would not yet allow him to speak to Josephine. He, however, addressing +Eugene, urged the party to return and obtain refreshment and repose. +Josephine, all submission, unhesitatingly yielded to his wishes, and +re-ascending the stairs, in the extremity of exhaustion and grief, threw +herself upon a couch, in her apartment. Napoleon, equally wretched, +returned to his cabinet. Two days of utter misery passed away, during +which no intercourse took place between the estranged parties, each of +whom loved the other with almost superhuman intensity. + +Love in the heart will finally triumph over all obstructions. The +struggle was long, but gradually pride and passion yielded, and love +regained the ascendency. Napoleon so far surrendered on the third day, +as to enter the apartment of Josephine. She was seated at a +toilet-table, her face buried in her hands, and absorbed in the +profoundest woe. The letters, which she had received from Napoleon, and +which she had evidently been reading, were spread upon the table. +Hortense, the picture of grief and despair, was standing in the alcove +of a window. Napoleon had opened the door softly, and his entrance had +not been heard. With an irresolute step he advanced toward his wife, and +then said, kindly and sadly, "Josephine!" She started at the sound of +that well-known voice, and raising her swollen eyes, swimming in tears, +mournfully exclaimed, "Mon ami"--_my friend_. This was the term of +endearment with which she had invariably addressed her husband. It +recalled a thousand delightful reminiscences. Napoleon was vanquished. +He extended his hand. Josephine threw herself into his arms, pillowed +her aching head upon his bosom, and in the intensity of blended joy and +anguish, wept convulsively. A long explanation ensued. Napoleon became +satisfied that Josephine had been deeply wronged. The reconciliation was +cordial and entire, and was never again interrupted. + +[Illustration: THE RECONCILIATION.] + +Napoleon now, with a stronger heart, turned to the accomplishment of his +designs to rescue France from anarchy. He was fully conscious of his own +ability to govern the nation. He knew that it was the almost unanimous +wish of the people that he should grasp the reins of power. He was +confident of their cordial co-operation in any plans he might adopt. +Still, it was an enterprise of no small difficulty to thrust the five +Directors from their thrones, and to get the control of the Council of +Ancients and of The Five Hundred. Never was a difficult achievement more +adroitly and proudly accomplished. + +For many days Napoleon almost entirely secluded himself from +observation, affecting a studious avoidance of the public gaze. He laid +aside his military dress, and assumed the peaceful costume of the +National Institute. Occasionally he wore a beautiful Turkish sabre, +suspended by a silk ribbon. This simple dress transported the +imagination of the beholder to Aboukir, Mount Tabor, and the Pyramids. +He studiously sought the society of literary men, and devoted to them +his attention. He invited distinguished men of the Institute to dine +with him, and avoiding political discussion, conversed only upon +literary and scientific subjects. + +Moreau and Bernadotte were the two rival generals from whom Napoleon had +the most to fear. Two days after his arrival in Paris Napoleon said to +Bourrienne, "I believe that I shall have Bernadotte and Moreau against +me. But I do not fear Moreau. He is devoid of energy. He prefers +military to political power. We shall gain him by the promise of a +command. But Bernadotte has Moorish blood in his veins. He is bold and +enterprising. He does not like me, and I am certain that he will oppose +me. If he should become ambitious he will venture any thing. Besides, +this fellow is not to be seduced. He is disinterested and clever. But, +after all, we have just arrived. We shall see." + +Napoleon formed no conspiracy. He confided to no one his designs. And +yet, in his own solitary mind, relying entirely upon his own capacious +resources, he studied the state of affairs and he matured his plans. +Sieyes was the only one whose talents and influence Napoleon feared. The +abbé also looked with apprehension upon his formidable rival. They stood +aloof and eyed each other. Meeting at a dinner party, each was too proud +to make advances. Yet each thought only of the other. Mutually +exasperated, they separated without having spoken. "Did you see that +insolent little fellow!" said Sieyes, "he would not even condescend to +notice a member of the government, who, if they had done right, would +have caused him to be shot." "What on earth," said Napoleon, "could have +induced them to put that priest in the Directory. He is sold to Prussia. +Unless you take care, he will deliver you up to that power." Napoleon +dined with Moreau, who afterward in hostility to Napoleon pointed the +guns of Russia against the columns of his countrymen. The dinner party +was at Cottier's, one of the Directors. The following interesting +conversation took place between the rival generals. When first +introduced, they looked at each other a moment without speaking, +Napoleon, conscious of his own superiority, and solicitous to gain the +powerful co-operation of Moreau, made the first advances, and, with +great courtesy, expressed the earnest desire he felt to make his +acquaintance. "You have returned victorious from Egypt," replied +Moreau, "and I from Italy after a great defeat. It was the month which +General Joubert passed in Paris, after his marriage, which caused our +disasters. This gave the allies time to reduce Mantua, and to bring up +the force which besieged it to take a part in the action. It is always +the greater number which defeats the less." "True," replied Napoleon, +"it is always the greater number which beats the less." "And yet," said +Gohier, "with small armies you have frequently defeated large ones." +"Even then," rejoined Napoleon, "it was always the inferior force which +was defeated by the superior. When with a small body of men I was in the +presence of a large one, collecting my little band, I fell like +lightning on one of the wings of the hostile army, and defeated it. +Profiting by the disorder which such an event never failed to occasion +in their whole line, I repeated the attack, with similar success, in +another quarter, still with my whole force. I thus beat it in detail. +The general victory which was the result, was still an example of the +truth of the principle that the greater force defeats the lesser." +Napoleon, by those fascinations of mind and manner, which enabled him to +win to him whom he would, soon gained an ascendency over Moreau. And +when, two days after, in token of his regard, he sent him a beautiful +poniard set with diamonds, worth two thousand dollars: the work was +accomplished, and Moreau was ready to do his bidding. Napoleon gave a +small and very select dinner party. Gohier was invited. The conversation +turned on the turquoise used by the Orientals to clasp their turbans. +Napoleon, rising from the table took from a private drawer, two very +beautiful brooches, richly set with those jewels. One he gave to Gohier, +the other to his tried friend Desaix. "It is a little toy," said he, +"which we republicans may give and receive without impropriety." The +Director, flattered by the delicacy of the compliment, and yet not +repelled by any thing assuming the grossness of a bribe, yielded his +heart's homage to Napoleon. + +Republican France was surrounded by monarchies in arms against her. +Their hostility was so inveterate, and, from the very nature of the +case, so inevitable, that Napoleon thought that France should ever be +prepared for an attack, and that the military spirit should be carefully +fostered. Republican America, most happily, has no foe to fear, and all +her energies may be devoted to filling the land with peace and plenty. +But a republic in monarchical Europe must sleep by the side of its guns. +"Do you, really," said Napoleon, to Gohier, in this interview, "advocate +a general peace? You are wrong. The Republic should never make but +partial accommodations. It should always contrive to have some war on +hand to keep alive the military spirit." We can, perhaps, find a little +extenuation for this remark, in its apparent necessity, and in the +influences of the martial ardor in which Napoleon from his very infancy +had been enveloped. Even now, it is to be feared that the time is far +distant ere the nations of the earth can learn war no more. + +Lefebvre was commandant of the guard of the two legislative bodies. His +co-operation was important. Napoleon sent a special invitation for an +interview. "Lefebvre," said he, "will you, one of the pillars of the +Republic, suffer it to perish in the hands of these _lawyers_? Join me +and assist to save it." Taking from his own aide the beautiful Turkish +scimitar which he wore, he passed the ribbon over Lefebvre's neck, +saying, "accept this sword, which I wore at the battle of the Pyramids. +I give it to you as a token of my esteem and confidence." "Yes," replied +Lefebvre, most highly gratified at this signal mark of confidence and +generosity, "let us throw the lawyers into the river." + +Napoleon soon had an interview with Bernadotte. "He confessed," said +Napoleon to Bourrienne, "that he thought us all lost. He spoke of +external enemies, of _internal_ enemies, and, at that word he looked +steadily in my face. I also gave him a glance. But patience; the pear +will soon be ripe." + +In this interview Napoleon inveighed against the violence and +lawlessness of the Jacobin club. "Your own brothers," Bernadotte +replied, "were the founders of that club. And yet you reproach me with +favoring its principles. It is to the instructions of some one, _I know +not who_, that we are to ascribe the agitation which now prevails." +"True, general," Napoleon replied, most vehemently, "and I would rather +live in the woods, than in a society which presents no security against +violence." This conversation only strengthened the alienation already +existing between them. + +Bernadotte, though a brave and efficient officer, was a jealous +braggadocio. At the first interview between these two distinguished men, +when Napoleon was in command of the army of Italy, they contemplated +each other with mutual dislike. "I have seen a man," said Bernadotte, +"of twenty-six or seven years of age, who assumes the air of one of +fifty; and he presages any thing but good to the Republic." Napoleon +summarily dismissed Bernadotte by saying, "he has a French head and a +Roman heart." + +There were three political parties now dividing France, the old royalist +party, in favor of the restoration of the Bourbons; the radical +democrats, or Jacobins, with Barras at its head, supported by the mob of +Paris; and the moderate republicans led by Sieyes. All these parties +struggling together, and fearing each other, in the midst of the general +anarchy which prevailed, immediately paid court to Napoleon, hoping to +secure the support of his all-powerful arm. Napoleon determined to +co-operate with the moderate republicans. The restoration of the +Bourbons was not only out of the question, but Napoleon had no more +power to secure that result, than had Washington to bring the United +States into peaceful submission to George III. "Had I joined the +Jacobins," said Napoleon, "I should have risked nothing. But after +conquering _with_ them, it would have been necessary almost +immediately, to conquer _against_ them. A club can not endure a +permanent chief. It wants one for every successive passion. Now to make +use of a party one day, in order to attack it the next, under whatever +pretext it is done, is still an act of treachery. It was inconsistent +with my principles." + +Sieyes, the head of the moderate republicans, and Napoleon soon +understood each other, and each admitted the necessity of co-operation. +The government was in a state of chaos. "Our salvation now demands," +said the wily diplomatist, "both a head and a sword." Napoleon had both. +In one fortnight from the time when he landed at Frejus, "the pear was +ripe." The plan was all matured for the great conflict. Napoleon, in +solitary grandeur, kept his own counsel. He had secured the cordial +co-operation, the unquestioning obedience of all his subordinates. Like +the general upon the field of battle, he was simply to give his orders, +and columns marched, and squadrons charged, and generals swept the field +in unquestioning obedience. Though he had determined to ride over and to +destroy the existing government, he wished to avail himself, so far as +possible, of the mysterious power of law, as a conqueror turns a +captured battery upon the foe from whom it had been wrested. Such a +plot, so simple, yet so bold and efficient, was never formed before. And +no one, but another Napoleon, will be able to execute another such +again. All Paris was in a state of intense excitement. Something great +was to be done. Napoleon was to do it. But nobody knew when, or what, or +how. All impatiently awaited orders. The majority of the Senate, or +Council of Ancients, conservative in its tendencies, and having once +seen, during the reign of terror, the horrors of Jacobin domination, +were ready, most obsequiously, to rally beneath the banner of so +resolute a leader as Napoleon. They were prepared, without question, to +pass any vote which he should propose. The House of Representatives or +Council of Five Hundred, more democratic in its constitution, contained +a large number of vulgar, ignorant, and passionate demagogues, +struggling to grasp the reins of power. Carnot, whose co-operation +Napoleon had entirely secured, was President of the Senate. Lucien +Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, was Speaker of the House. The two +bodies met in the palace of the Tuileries. The constitution conferred +upon the Council of Ancients, the right to decide upon the place of +meeting for both legislative assemblies. + +All the officers of the garrison in Paris, and all the distinguished +military men in the metropolis, had solicited the honor of a +presentation to Napoleon. Without any public announcement, each one was +privately informed that Napoleon would see him on the morning of the 9th +of November. All the regiments in the city had also solicited the honor +of a review by the distinguished conqueror. They were also informed that +Napoleon would review them early on the morning of the 9th of November. +The Council of Ancients was called to convene at six o'clock on the +morning of the same day. The Council of Five Hundred were also to +convene at 11 o'clock of the same morning. This, the famous 18th of +Brumaire, was the destined day for the commencement of the great +struggle. These appointments were given in such a way as to attract no +public attention. The general-in-chief was thus silently arranging his +forces for the important conflict. To none did he reveal those +combinations, by which he anticipated a bloodless victory. + +[Illustration: THE MORNING LEVEE.] + +The morning of the 9th of November arrived. The sun rose with unwonted +splendor over the domes of the thronged city. A more brilliant day never +dawned. Through all the streets of the mammoth metropolis there was +heard, in the earliest twilight of the day, the music of martial bands, +the tramp of battalions, the clatter of iron hoofs, and the rumbling of +heavy artillery wheels over the pavements, as regiments of infantry, +artillery, and cavalry, in the proudest array, marched to the Boulevards +to receive the honor of a review from the conqueror of Italy and of +Egypt. The whole city was in commotion, guided by the unseen energies of +Napoleon in the retirement of his closet. At eight o'clock Napoleon's +house, in the Rue Chanteraine, was so thronged with illustrious military +men, in most brilliant uniform, that every room was filled and even the +street was crowded with the resplendent guests. At that moment the +Council of Ancients passed the decree, which Napoleon had prepared, +that the two legislative bodies should transfer their meetings to St. +Cloud, a few miles from Paris; and that Napoleon Bonaparte should be put +in command of all the military forces in the city, to secure the public +peace. The removal to St. Cloud was a merciful precaution against +bloodshed. It secured the legislatures from the ferocious interference +of a Parisian mob. The President of the Council was himself commissioned +to bear the decree to Napoleon. He elbowed his way through the brilliant +throng, crowding the door and the apartment of Napoleon's dwelling, and +presented to him the ordinance. Napoleon was ready to receive it. He +stepped upon the balcony, gathered his vast retinue of powerful guests +before him, and in a loud and firm voice, read to them the decree. +"Gentlemen," said he, "will you help me save the Republic?" One +simultaneous burst of enthusiasm rose from every lip, as drawing their +swords from their scabbards they waved them in the air and shouted, "We +swear it, we swear it." The victory was virtually won. Napoleon was now +at the head of the French nation. Nothing remained but to finish his +conquest. There was no retreat left open for his foes. There was hardly +the possibility of a rally. And now Napoleon summoned all his energies +to make his triumph most illustrious. Messengers were immediately sent +to read the decree to the troops already assembled, in the utmost +display of martial pomp, to greet the idol of the army, and who were in +a state of mind to welcome him most exultingly as their chief. A burst +of enthusiastic acclamation ascended from their ranks which almost rent +the skies. Napoleon immediately mounted his horse, and, surrounded by +the most magnificent staff, whom he had thus ingeniously assembled at +his house, and, accompanied by a body of fifteen hundred cavalry, whom +he had taken the precaution to rendezvous near his dwelling, proceeded +to the palace of the Tuileries. The gorgeous spectacle burst like a +vision upon astonished Paris. It was Napoleon's first public appearance. +Dressed in the utmost simplicity of a civilian's costume, he rode upon +his magnificent charger, the centre of all eyes. The gleaming banners, +waving in the breeze, and the gorgeous trappings of silver and gold, +with which his retinue was embellished, set off in stronger relief the +majestic simplicity of his own appearance. With the pomp and the +authority of an enthroned king, Napoleon entered the Council of the +Ancients. The Ancients themselves were dazzled by his sudden apparition +in such imposing and unexpected splendor and power. Ascending the bar, +attended by an imposing escort, he addressed the assembly and took his +oath of office. "You," said Napoleon, "are the wisdom of the nation. To +you it belongs to concert measures for the salvation of the Republic. I +come, surrounded by our generals, to offer you support. Faithfully will +I fulfill the task you have intrusted to me. Let us not look into the +past for precedents. Nothing in history resembles the eighteenth +century. Nothing in the eighteenth century resembles the present +moment." + +An aid was immediately sent to the palace of the Luxembourg, to inform +the five Directors, there in session, of the decree. Two of the +Directors, Sieyes and Ducos, were pledged to Napoleon, and immediately +resigned their offices, and hastened to the Tuileries. Barras, +bewildered and indignant, sent his secretary with a remonstrance. +Napoleon, already assuming the authority of an emperor, and speaking as +if France were his patrimony, came down upon him with a torrent of +invective. "Where," he indignantly exclaimed, "is that beautiful France +which I left you so brilliant? I left you peace. I find war. I left you +victories. I find but defeats. I left you the millions of Italy. I find +taxation and beggary. Where are the hundred thousand men, my companions +in glory? They are dead. This state of things can not continue. It will +lead to despotism." Barras was terrified. He feared to have Napoleon's +eagle eye investigate his peculations. He resigned. Two Directors only +now were left, Gohier and Moulins. It took a majority of the five to +constitute a quorum. The two were powerless. In despair of successful +resistance and fearing vengeance they hastened to the Tuileries to find +Napoleon. They were introduced to him surrounded by Sieyes, Ducos, and a +brilliant staff. Napoleon received them cordially. "I am glad to see +you," said he. "I doubt not that you will both resign. Your patriotism +will not allow you to oppose a revolution which is both inevitable and +necessary." "I do not yet despair," said Gohier, vehemently, "aided by +my colleague Moulins, of saving the Republic." "With what will you save +it?" exclaimed Napoleon. "With the Constitution which is crumbling to +pieces?" Just at that moment a messenger came in and informed the +Directors that Santerre, the brewer, who, during the Reign of Terror, +had obtained a bloody celebrity as leader of the Jacobins, was rousing +the mob in the faubourgs to resistance. "General Moulins," said +Napoleon, firmly, "you are the friend of Santerre. Tell him that at the +very first movement he makes, I will cause him to be shot." Moulins, +exasperated yet appalled, made an apologetic reply. "The Republic is in +danger," said Napoleon. "We must save it. _It is my will._ Sieyes, +Ducos, and Barras have resigned. You are two individuals insulated and +powerless. I advise you not to resist." They still refused. Napoleon had +no time to spend in parleying. He immediately sent them both back into +the Luxembourg, separated them and placed them under arrest. Fouché,[3] +occupying the important post of Minister of Police, though not in +Napoleon's confidence, yet anxious to display his homage to the rising +luminary, called upon Napoleon and informed him that he had closed the +barriers, and had thus prevented all ingress or egress. "What means this +folly?" said Napoleon. "Let those orders be instantly countermanded. Do +we not march with the opinion of the nation, and by its strength alone? +Let no citizen be interrupted. Let every publicity be given to what is +done." + +[Footnote 3: "Fouché," said Napoleon, "is a miscreant of all colors, a +priest, a terrorist, and one who took an active part in many bloody +scenes of the Revolution. He is a man who can worm all your secrets out +of you, with an air of calmness and unconcern. He is very rich; but his +riches have been badly acquired. He never was my confidant. Never did he +approach me without bending to the ground. But I never had any esteem +for him. I employed him merely as an instrument."] + +The Council of Five Hundred, in great confusion and bewilderment, +assembled at eleven o'clock. Lucien immediately communicated the decree +transferring their session to St. Cloud. This cut off all debate. The +decree was perfectly legal. There could therefore be no legal pretext +for opposition. Napoleon, the idol of the army, had the whole military +power obedient to his nod. Therefore resistance of any kind was worse +than folly. The deed was adroitly done. At eleven o'clock the day's work +was accomplished. There was no longer a Directory. Napoleon was the +appointed chief of the troops, and they were filling the streets with +enthusiastic shouts of "Live Napoleon." The Council of Ancients were +entirely at his disposal. And a large party in the Council of Five +Hundred were also wholly subservient to his will. Napoleon, proud, +silent, reserved, fully conscious of his own intellectual supremacy, and +regarding the generals, the statesmen, and the multitude around him, as +a man contemplates children, ascended the grand staircase of the +Tuileries as if it were his hereditary home. Nearly all parties united +to sustain his triumph. Napoleon was a soldier. The guns of Paris +joyfully thundered forth the victory of one who seemed the peculiar +favorite of the God of war. Napoleon was a scholar, stimulating +intellect to its mightiest achievements. The scholars of Paris, +gratefully united to weave a chaplet for the brow of their honored +associate and patron. Napoleon was, for those days of profligacy and +unbridled lust, a model of purity of morals, and of irreproachable +integrity. The proffered bribe of millions could not tempt him. The +dancing daughters of Herodias, with all their blandishments, could not +lure him from his life of Herculean toil and from his majestic +patriotism. The wine which glitters in the cup, never vanquished him. At +the shrine of no vice was he found a worshiper. The purest and the best +in France, disgusted with that gilded corruption which had converted the +palaces of the Bourbons into harems of voluptuous sin, and still more +deeply loathing that vulgar and revolting vice, which had transformed +Paris into a house of infamy, enlisted all their sympathies in behalf of +the exemplary husband and the incorruptible patriot. Napoleon was one of +the most firm and unflinching friends of law and order. France was weary +of anarchy and was trembling under the apprehension that the gutters of +the guillotine were again to be clotted with blood. And mothers and +maidens prayed for God's blessing upon Napoleon, who appeared to them +as a messenger sent from Heaven for their protection. + +During the afternoon and the night his room at the Tuileries was +thronged with the most illustrious statesmen, generals, and scholars of +Paris, hastening to pledge to him their support. Napoleon, perfectly +unembarrassed and never at a loss in any emergency, gave his orders for +the ensuing day. Lannes was intrusted with a body of troops to guard the +Tuileries. Murat, who, said Napoleon, "was superb at Aboukir," with a +numerous cavalry and a corps of grenadiers was stationed at St. Cloud, a +thunderbolt in Napoleon's right hand. Woe betide the mob into whose +ranks that thunderbolt may be hurled. Moreau, with five hundred men, was +stationed to guard the Luxembourg, where the two refractory Directors +were held under arrest. Serrurier was posted in a commanding position +with a strong reserve, prompt for any unexpected exigence. Even a body +of troops were sent to accompany Barras to his country seat, ostensibly +as an escort of honor, but in reality to guard against any change in +that venal and versatile mind. The most energetic measures were +immediately adopted to prevent any rallying point for the disaffected. +Bills were every where posted, exhorting the citizens to be quiet, and +assuring them that powerful efforts were making to save the Republic. +These minute precautions were characteristic of Napoleon. He believed in +destiny. Yet he left nothing for destiny to accomplish. He ever sought +to make provision for all conceivable contingencies. These measures were +completely successful. Though Paris was in a delirium of excitement, +there were no outbreaks of lawless violence. Neither Monarchist, +Republican, nor Jacobin knew what Napoleon intended to do. All were +conscious that he would do something. It was known that the Jacobin +party in the Council of Five Hundred on the ensuing day, would make a +desperate effort at resistance. Sieyes, perfectly acquainted with +revolutionary movements, urged Napoleon to arrest some forty of the +Jacobins most prominent in the Council. This would have secured an easy +victory on the morrow. Napoleon, however, rejected the advice, saying, +"I pledged my word this morning to protect the national representation. +I will not this evening violate my oath." Had the Assembly been convened +in Paris, all the mob of the faubourgs would have risen, like an +inundation, in their behalf, and torrents of blood must have been shed. +The sagacious transference of the meeting to St. Cloud, several miles +from Paris, saved those lives. The powerful military display, checked +any attempt at a march upon St. Cloud. What could the mob do, with +Murat, Lannes, and Serrurier, guided by the energies of Napoleon, ready +to hurl their solid columns upon them? + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON ON HIS WAY TO ST. CLOUD.] + +The delicacy of attention with which Napoleon treated Josephine, was one +of the most remarkable traits in his character. It is not strange that +he should have won from her a love almost more than human. During the +exciting scenes of this day, when no one could tell whether events were +guiding him to a crown or to the guillotine, Napoleon did not forget his +wife, who was awaiting the result, with deep solicitude, in her chamber +in the Rue Chanteraine. Nearly every hour he dispatched a messenger to +Josephine, with a hastily written line communicating to her the progress +of events. Late at night he returned to his home, apparently as fresh +and unexhausted as in the morning. He informed Josephine minutely of the +scenes of the day, and then threw himself upon a sofa, for an hour's +repose. Early the next morning he was on horseback, accompanied by a +regal retinue, directing his steps to St. Cloud. Three halls had been +prepared in the palace; one for the Ancients, one for the Five Hundred, +and one for Napoleon. He thus assumed the position which he knew it to +be the almost unanimous will of the nation that, he should fill. During +the night the Jacobins had arranged a very formidable resistance. +Napoleon was considered to be in imminent peril. He would be denounced +as a traitor. Sieyes and Ducos had each a post-chaise and six horses, +waiting at the gate of St. Cloud, prepared, in case of reverse, to +escape for life. There were many ambitious generals, ready to mount the +crest of any refluent wave to sweep Napoleon to destruction. Bernadotte +was the most to be feared. Orders were given to cut down the first +person who should attempt to harangue the troops. Napoleon, riding at +the head of this imposing military display, manifested no agitation. He +knew, however, perfectly well the capriciousness of the popular voice, +and that the multitude in the same hour could cry "Hosanna!" and +"Crucify!" The two Councils met. The tumult in the Five Hundred was +fearful. Cries of "Down with the dictator!" "Death to the tyrant!" "Live +the Constitution!" filled the hall, and drowned the voice of +deliberation. The friends of Napoleon were swept before the flood of +passion. It was proposed that every member should immediately take anew +the oath to support the Constitution. No one dared to peril his life by +the refusal. Even Lucien, the Speaker, was compelled to descend from his +chair and take the oath. The Ancients, overawed by the unexpected +violence of this opposition in the lower and more popular house, began +to be alarmed and to recede. The opposition took a bold and aggressive +stand, and proposed a decree of outlawry against Napoleon. The friends +of Napoleon, remembering past scenes of carnage, were timid and +yielding. Defeat seemed inevitable. Victory was apparently turned into +discomfiture and death. In this emergency Napoleon displayed the same +coolness, energy, and tact with which so often, on the field of battle, +in the most disastrous hour, he had rolled back the tide of defeat in +the resplendent waves of victory. His own mind was the corps de reserve +which he now marched into the conflict to arrest the rout of his +friends. Taking with him a few aids and a band of grenadiers, he +advanced to the door of the hall. On his way he met Bernadotte. "You are +marching to the guillotine," said his rival, sternly. "We shall see," +Napoleon coolly replied. Leaving the soldiers, with their glittering +steel and nodding plumes, at the entrance of the room, he ascended the +tribune. The hush of perfect silence pervaded the agitated hall. +"Gentlemen," said he, "you are on a volcano. You deemed the Republic in +danger. You called me to your aid. I obeyed. And now I am assailed by a +thousand calumnies. They talk of Cæsar, of Cromwell, of military +despotism, as if any thing in antiquity resembled the present moment +Danger presses. Disaster thickens. We have no longer a government. The +Directors have resigned. The Five Hundred are in a tumult. Emissaries +are instigating Paris to revolt. Agitators would gladly bring back the +revolutionary tribunals. But fear not. Aided by my companions in arms I +will protect you. I desire nothing for myself, but to save the Republic. +And I solemnly swear to protect that _liberty and equality,_ for which +we have made such sacrifices." "And the _Constitution_!" some one cried +out. Napoleon had purposely omitted the _Constitution_ in his oath, for +he despised it, and was at that moment laboring for its overthrow. He +paused for a moment, and then, with increasing energy exclaimed, "The +Constitution! You have none. You violated it when the Executive +infringed the rights of the Legislature. You violated it when the +Legislature struck at the independence of the Executive. You violated it +when, with sacriligious hand, both the Legislature and the Executive +struck at the sovereignty of the people, by annulling their elections. +The Constitution! It is a mockery; invoked by all, regarded by none." + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON IN THE COUNCIL OF FIVE HUNDRED.] + +Rallied by the presence of Napoleon, and by these daring words, his +friends recovered their courage, and two-thirds of the Assembly rose in +expression of their confidence and support. At this moment intelligence +arrived that the Five Hundred were compelling Lucien to put to the vote +Napoleon's outlawry. Not an instant was to be lost. There is a +mysterious power in law. The passage of that vote would probably have +been fatal. Life and death were trembling in the balance. "I would then +have given two hundred millions," said Napoleon, "to have had Ney by my +side." Turning to the Ancients, he exclaimed, "if any orator, paid by +foreigners, shall talk of outlawing me, I will appeal for protection to +my brave companions in arms, whose plumes are nodding at the door. +Remember that I march accompanied by the God of fortune and by the God +of war." + +He immediately left the Ancients, and, attended by his military band, +hastened to the Council of Five Hundred. On his way he met Augereau, who +was pale and trembling, deeming Napoleon lost. "You have got yourself +into a pretty fix," said he, with deep agitation. "Matters were worse at +Arcola," Napoleon coolly replied. "Keep quiet. All will be changed in +half an hour." Followed by his grenadiers, he immediately entered the +Hall of the Five Hundred. The soldiers remained near the door. Napoleon +traversed alone half of the room to reach the bar. It was an hour in +which nothing could save him but the resources of his own mind. Furious +shouts rose from all parts of the house. "What means this! down with the +tyrant! begone! begone!" "The winds," says Napoleon, "suddenly escaping +from the caverns of Æolus can give but a faint idea of that tempest." In +the midst of the horrible confusion he in vain endeavored to speak. The +members, in the wildest fray, crowded around him. The grenadiers +witnessing the peril of their chief rushed to his rescue. A dagger was +struck at his bosom. A soldier, with his arm, parried the blow. With +their bayonets they drove back the members, and encircling Napoleon, +bore him from the Hall. Napoleon had hardly descended the outer steps +ere some one informed him that his brother Lucien was surrounded by the +infuriated deputies, and that his life was in imminent jeopardy. +"Colonel Dumoulin," said he, "take a battalion of grenadiers and hasten +to my brother's deliverance." The soldiers rushed into the room, drove +back the crowd who, with violent menaces, were surrounding Lucien, and +saying, "It is by your brother's commands," escorted him in safety out +of the hall into the court-yard. Napoleon, now mounting his horse, with +Lucien by his side, rode along in front of his troops. "The Council of +Five Hundred," exclaimed Lucien, "is dissolved. It is I that tell you +so. Assassins have taken possession of the hall of meeting. I summon you +to march and clear it of them." "Soldiers!" said Napoleon, "can I rely +upon you?" "Long live Bonaparte," was the simultaneous response. Murat +took a battalion of grenadiers and marched to the entrance of the hall. +When Murat headed a column it was well known that there would be no +child's play. "Charge bayonets, forward!" he exclaimed, with +imperturbable coolness. The drums beat the charge. Steadily the +bristling line of steel advanced. The terrified representatives leaped +over the benches, rushed through the passage ways, and sprang out of the +windows, throwing upon the floor, in their precipitate flight, gowns, +scarfs, and hats. In two minutes the hall was cleared. As the +Representatives were flying in dismay across the garden, an officer +proposed that the soldiers should be ordered to fire upon them. Napoleon +decisively refused, saying, "It is my wish that not a single drop of +blood be spilt." + +As Napoleon wished to avail himself as far as possible, of the forms of +law, he assembled the two legislative bodies in the evening. Those only +attended who were friendly to his cause. Unanimously they decreed that +Napoleon had deserved well of his country; they abolished the Directory. +The executive power they vested in Napoleon, Sieyes, and Ducos, with the +title of Consuls. Two committees of twenty-five members each, taken from +the two Councils, were appointed to co-operate with the Consuls in +forming a new Constitution. During the evening the rumor reached Paris +that Napoleon had failed in his enterprise. The consternation was great. +The mass of the people, of all ranks, dreading the renewal of +revolutionary horrors, and worn out with past convulsions, passionately +longed for repose. Their only hope was in Napoleon. At nine o'clock at +night intelligence of the change of government was officially announced, +by a proclamation which the victor had dictated with the rapidity and +the glowing eloquence which characterized all of his mental acts. It was +read by torchlight to assembled and deeply agitated groups, all over the +city. The welcome tidings were greeted with the liveliest demonstrations +of applause. At three o'clock in the morning Napoleon threw himself into +his carriage to return to Paris. Bourrienne accompanied him. Napoleon +appeared so absorbed in thought, that he uttered not one single word +during the ride. + +At four o'clock in the morning he alighted from his carriage, at the +door of his dwelling in the Rue Chanteraine. Josephine, in the greatest +anxiety, was watching at the window for his approach. Napoleon had not +been able to send her one single line during the turmoil and the peril +of that eventful day. She sprang to meet him. Napoleon fondly encircled +her in his arms, briefly recapitulated the scenes of the day, and +assured her that since he had taken the oath of office, he had not +allowed himself to speak to a single individual, for he wished that the +beloved voice of his Josephine might be the first to congratulate him +upon his virtual accession to the Empire of France. The heart of +Josephine could appreciate a delicacy of love so refined and so +touching. Well might she say, "Napoleon is the most fascinating of men." +It was then after four o'clock in the morning. The dawn of the day was +to conduct Napoleon to a new scene of Herculean toil in organizing the +Republic. Throwing himself upon a couch, for a few moments of repose, he +exclaimed, gayly, "good-night, my Josephine! To-morrow, we sleep in the +palace of the Luxembourg." + +Napoleon was then but twenty-nine years of age. And yet, under +circumstances of inconceivable difficulty, with unhesitating reliance +upon his own mental resources, he assumed the enormous care of creating +and administering a new government for thirty millions of people. Never +did he achieve a victory which displayed more consummate genius. On no +occasion of his life did his majestic intellectual power beam forth with +more brilliance. It is not to be expected that, for ages to come, the +world will be united in opinion respecting this transaction. Some +represent it as an outrage against law and liberty. Others consider it a +necessary act which put an end to corruption and anarchy. That the +course which Napoleon pursued was in accordance with the wishes of the +overwhelming majority of the French people no one can doubt. It is +questionable whether, even now, France is prepared for self-government. +There can be no question that then the republic had totally failed. Said +Napoleon, in reference to this revolution, "For my part, all my share of +the plot, was confined to assembling the crowd of my visitors at the +same hour in the morning, and marching at their head to seize upon +power. It was from the threshold of my door, and without my friends +having any previous knowledge of my intentions, that I led them to this +conquest. It was amidst the brilliant escort which they formed, their +lively joy and unanimous ardor, that I presented myself at the bar of +the Ancients to thank them for the dictatorship with which they invested +me. Metaphysicians have disputed and will long dispute, whether we did +not violate the laws, and whether we were not criminal. But these are +mere abstractions which should disappear before imperious necessity. One +might as well blame a sailor for waste and destruction, when he cuts +away a mast to save his ship. The fact is, had it not been for us the +country must have been lost. We saved it. The authors of that memorable +state transaction ought to answer their accusers proudly, like the +Roman, 'We protest that we have saved our country. Come with us and +render thanks to the Gods.'" + +With the exception of the Jacobins all parties were strongly in favor of +this revolution. For ten years the people had been so accustomed to the +violation of the laws, that they had ceased to condemn such acts, and +judged of them only by their consequences. All over France the feeling +was nearly universal in favor of the new government. Says Alison, who +surely will not be accused of regarding Napoleon with a partial eye, +"Napoleon rivaled Cæsar in the clemency with which he used his victory. +No proscriptions or massacres, few arrests or imprisonments followed the +triumph of order over revolution. On the contrary, numerous acts of +mercy, as wise as they were magnanimous, illustrated the rise of the +consular throne. The elevation of Napoleon was not only unstained by +blood, but not even a single captive long lamented the ear of the +victor. A signal triumph of the principles of humanity over those of +cruelty, glorious alike to the actors and the age in which it occurred; +and a memorable proof how much more durable are the victories obtained +by moderation and wisdom, than those achieved by violence and stained by +blood." + + + + +PARADISE LOST. + + +My knapsack was on my shoulder.--So said Armand, a young artist, when a +little company of us were sitting together the other evening.-- + +My knapsack was on my shoulder, my ashen stick in hand; three leagues of +dusty road had whitened me like a miller. Whence I came, whither I was +going--what matters it? I was not twenty years of age. My starting +point, therefore, was home; my goal was Paradise--any earthly Paradise I +could find. The country was not particularly picturesque; and the +weather was very hot. Great undulations of harvest-laden fields rolled +irregularly on all sides. Here was a hamlet; there a solitary +farm-house; yonder a wood; on each eminence a windmill. Some peasants +that were in the fields sang; and the birds chirped at them as if in +mockery. One or two wagons, dragged by oxen and horses, slowly moved +along the tree-bordered road. I sat down on a heap of stones. A wagoner +gruffly asked me if I was tired, and offered me "a lift." I accepted; +and soon I was stretched where dung had been; jolted into an uneasy +half-slumber, not without its charm, with the bells of the lazy team +softly jingling in my ears, until I thought fifty silver voices were +calling me away to a home that must be bright, and a land that must be +beautiful. + +I awoke in a mood sufficiently benign to receive an apology. The man had +forgotten me when he turned off the high road, and had taken me half a +league into the country. Where was the harm, honest wagoner? I am not +going any where; "I am only going to Paradise." There was no village of +that name in the neighborhood, he said; but he had no doubt I would be +pleased to see the grounds of the chateau. Of course, I had come on +purpose for that. I handed him his _pour-boire_. "Drink my health, good +man, and injure your own. Let us see these grounds.'" The man showed me +through a meadow near the farm (to which he belonged) and left me, +tossing the silver piece I had given him in his hard hand. I soon +observed that the place was worth seeing. + +A hasty glance showed it to be a fragment of wild nature, occupied in +its original state, and barricaded against civilization. There were +woods, and solitary trees, and lakes, and streams of sufficient +dimensions for grandeur; and, when once the wall disappeared amidst the +heavy foliage, I could at first discern no traces whatever of the +presence of man. However, on closer examination, I discovered that +nature had been improved upon; that all objects which might ungraciously +intercept the view, or deform a landscape, had been removed. There were +no sham ruins nor artificial cascades; but the stranger's steps were +led, by some ingenious process of plantation, insensibly to the best +points of view. I felt, and was thankful, for the presence of the art +which so industriously endeavored to conceal itself; but being, at that +time, as most young men are, inclined to compare great things with +small--thinking to be epigrammatic and knowing--I exclaimed aloud: "The +toilet of this park has been admirably performed." + +"A vulgar idea, vulgarly expressed," said a clear, firm voice above me. +I looked up, thinking that somebody was hidden in a tree; and, to my +surprise, saw a young woman, upon a fine large horse, holding a +riding-whip playfully over my head. She had approached across the turf +unheard; and had heard my exclamation, which, I assure you, was meant +for no ears but my own. + +"Madam," replied I, when I had recovered from my confusion, "I think you +misunderstand me. There is no vulgarity in comparing a prospect in which +every superfluity is thus tastefully pruned away, to a woman who, +instead of loading herself with ornaments, uses the arts of the toilet +to display all her beauties to the best advantage." + +"The explanation will not do," she replied. "It wants frankness. Your +phrase simply meant that you were ashamed of the admiration this view +had at first excited; and that you thought it necessary to exert the +manly privilege of contempt. If I had not seen you yonder using your +sketch-book, I should take you for a traveling hair-dresser." + +The tone and manner of my new acquaintance puzzled me exceedingly; and I +was at first rather irritated by the hostile attitude she assumed on +such slight grounds. It was evident she wished to provoke an +intellectual contest; for, at the moment, I did not understand that her +real desire was to suppress the formalities of an introduction. I +returned to the charge; she replied. A broadside of repartee was fired +off on either side; but insensibly we met upon common ground; +affectation was discarded; and, as we streamed irregularly along the +swardy avenues, or stopped at the entrance of a long vista--she gently +walking her docile genet; I with my hand upon its mane--we made more +advances toward familiarity and friendship in an hour than would have +been possible under any other circumstances in a season. + +Let me describe my impressions as I received them. Otherwise, how will +the narrative illustrate the theory? I am endeavoring to show, by +example, what an immense structure of happiness may be built upon a very +flimsy ground; that the material sequence of this life's events need +have no correspondence with the sequence of our sentiments; that--But I +must not anticipate. + +The lady, dressed in a green riding-habit, was remarkably handsome, as +this miniature will show. + +And Armand drew a small case from his breast. + +"It is made from memory; but I will answer for its exactitude." + +"We all know the face well enough, my friend," quoth Prevost; "it +re-appears in nearly all your pictures, like Raphael's Fornarina. Last +year you made it do duty for Medea; this year, modified to suit the +occasion, it will appear in the Salon as Charlotte Corday. Why have you +so carefully avoided that type in your Juliet and your Heloise? One +would imagine that, instead of being associated with pleasant +recollections, it suggested nothing but strife, violence, and despair." + +"Were that the case, you know," quoth Armand, with feigned +sprightliness, "my theory falls to the ground; and, in telling you my +story, I am only impertinently taking advantage of your good-nature to +make a confession, and thus ease a somewhat troubled mind. Listen to the +end; it is not far off." + +We reached a grotto on the borders of a little lake, where, to my +surprise, an elegant breakfast was laid out. There were two seats placed +ready; and Fifine, the maid, was there to serve. We partook of the meal +together, talking of every thing except of ourselves; but thinking of +nothing else. Once or twice a reflection on the oddity of this reception +flitted across my mind; but I thought that I had fallen in with some +eccentric mistress of the castle--such as one reads of in middle-age +romances--who was proud to give hospitality to a wandering artist. The +lady called me Hector, and I called her Andromache; and, under the +influence of some generous wine that came in with the dessert, I went so +far as to declare that my love for her was unbounded, and that she must +be my bride. I was thrown into ecstasies of delight by the frank reply, +that it only depended upon me to fix the day! What follies I committed I +scarcely recollect; but I know that Fifine scolded me; and said that, +for a well-educated young man, I was dreadfully forward. + +What a delightful half-hour was that which succeeded! The entrance of +the grotto was wreathed with vines. The ripples of the lake broke upon a +little beach of sand that seemed of gold dust; the path by which we had +come along ran at the foot of a precipice for about thirty yards, and +then climbed a steep bank; the expanse of water--possibly it was merely +a large pool, but these things magnify in memory--nestled at the feet of +some lofty wooded slopes, which, with the pure blue sky, it reflected. +We sat, side by side, hand in hand; but Fifine, whose notions of +propriety were extremely rigid, expostulated vehemently. I whispered +that she ought to be sent away; and Andromache was, perhaps, of my +opinion; but she did not venture to agree with me aloud. Thus the hour +passed in silent happiness; for our hearts soon became too full for +words; and I solemnly declare, that, to spend such another day, I would +discount ten years of my existence. + +As evening drew near, and I began to dream of the delights of a twilight +stroll along the margin of the lake, Fifine pitilessly suggested an +adjournment to the chateau. The word grated harshly on my ear. I had +almost pictured to myself the lady as a dryad, or a nymph living ever +amidst trees and grottoes. But prosy Fifine carried her point; and, in +half an hour, we were in the saloon of a most comfortable modern +dwelling, furnished with Parisian elegance. Several very commonplace +looking servants stared at me as I entered. My romantic ideas at once +received a shock. Five minutes afterward a post-chaise rolled up to the +door, and a stout old gentleman, accompanied by a tall, handsome young +man, issued therefrom. + +Why should I give you the ludicrous details of the explanation? +Andromache was betrothed to Monsieur Hector Chose; but she had never +seen him. Her father, a wealthy naturalist, had gone that day to meet +the bridegroom at a neighboring town. The young lady (who was of a +romantic disposition) had descried me in the park, and had fancied this +was a pre-arranged surprise. She had got up the breakfast in the grotto; +and had made my acquaintance as I have related. I answered to the name +of Hector; she naturally retorted Andromache. This was the whole +explanation of the mistake. I was overwhelmed with shame, when the +father and the real Hector, with vociferous laughter, undeceived me; and +the young lady herself went away in tears of vexation. For a moment, I +hoped that I had produced an ineffaceable impression; but I was soon +undeceived. In my mortification I insulted Hector. A hostile meeting was +the result. I received a severe wound, and lay a long time helpless in a +neighboring hamlet. Still my love was not cured. Even when I heard that +the marriage had been celebrated, I persisted in looking upon the bride +as my Andromache; but when Madame Duclique, her cousin, came to see me, +she destroyed all my illusions. Andromache, she said, though with much +affectation of romance, was a very matter-of-fact personage, and +remembered our love-passage only as a ridiculous mistake. She had +married Hector, not only without repugnance but with delight. He brought +her every thing she desired--a handsome person, a fine fortune, an +exalted position; and she was the first to joke on the subject of "that +poor counterfeit Hector." + +This interview cured me at once. I discovered that I was strong enough +to leave the Paradise I had lost. Madame Duclique, an amiable and +beautiful person, gave me a seat in her carriage, and drove me to the +town of Arques. I feel grateful to my Andromache for having impressed +upon my mind an enduring form of beauty. + +"Let us drink her health!" + + + + +THE VATTEVILLE RUBY. + + +The clock of the church of Besançon had struck nine, when a woman about +fifty years of age, wrapped in a cotton shawl and carrying a small +basket on her arm, knocked at the door of a house in the Rue St. +Vincent, which, however, at the period we refer to, bore the name of Rue +de la Liberté. The door opened. "It is you, Dame Margaret," said the +porter, with a very cross look. "It is high time for you. All my lodgers +have come home long since; you are always the last, and--" + +"That is not my fault, I assure you, my dear M. Thiebaut," said the old +woman in a deprecatory tone. "My day's work is only just finished, and +when work is to be done--" + +"That's all very fine," he muttered. "It might do well enough if I could +even reckon on a Christmas-box at the end of the year; but as it is, I +may count myself well off, if I do but get paid for taking up their +letters." + +The old woman did not hear the last words, for with quick and firm step +she had been making her way up the six flights of stairs, steep enough +to make her head reel had she been ascending them for the first time. +"Nine o'clock!--nine o'clock! How uneasy she must be!" and as she spoke, +she opened with her latch-key the door of a wretched garret, in which +dimly burned a rushlight, whose flickering flame scarcely seemed to +render visible the scanty furniture the room contained. + +"Is that you, my good Margaret," said a feeble and broken voice from the +farther end of the little apartment. + +"Yes, my dear lady; yes, it is I; and very sorry I am to have made you +uneasy. But Madame Lebriton, my worthy employer, is so active herself, +that she always finds the work-woman's day too short--though it is good +twelve hours--and just as I was going to fold up my work, she brought me +a job in a great hurry. I could not refuse her; but this time, I must +own, I got well paid for being obliging, for after I had done, she said +in her most good-natured way: 'Here, you shall take home with you some +of this nice pie, and this bottle of good wine, and have a comfortable +supper with your sister.' So she always calls you, madame," added +Margaret, while complacently glancing at the basket, the contents of +which she now laid out upon the table. "As I believe it is safest for +you, I do not undeceive her, though it is easily known she can not have +looked very close at us, or she might have seen that I could only be the +servant of so noble-looking a lady--" + +The feeble voice interrupted her: "My servant--you my servant! when, +instead of rewarding your services, I allow you to toil for my support, +and to lavish upon me the most tender, the moat devoted affection! My +poor Margaret! you who have undertaken for me at your age, and with your +infirmities, daily and arduous toil, are you not indeed a sister of whom +I may well be proud? Your nobility has a higher origin than mine. +Reduced by political changes, which have left me homeless and penniless, +I owe every thing to you; and so tenderly do you minister to me, that +even in this garret I could still almost fancy myself the noble Abbess +of Vatteville!" + +As she spoke, the aged lady raised herself in her old arm-chair, and +throwing back a black vail, disclosed features still beautiful, and a +forehead still free from every wrinkle, and eyes now sparkling with +something of their former brilliancy. She extended her hand to Margaret, +who affectionately kissed it; and then, apprehensive that further +excitement could not but be injurious to her mistress, the faithful +creature endeavored to divert her thoughts into another channel, by +inviting her to partake of the little feast provided by the kindness of +her employer. Margaret being in the habit of taking her meals in the +house where she worked, the noble Lady Marie Anne Adelaide de Vatteville +was thus usually left alone and unattended, to eat the scanty fare +prescribed by the extreme narrowness of her resources; so that she now +felt quite cheered by the novel comfort, not merely of the better-spread +table, but of the company of her faithful servant; and it was in an +almost mirthful tone she said, when the repast was ended; "Margaret, I +have a secret to confide to you. I will not--I ought not to keep it any +longer to myself." + +"A secret, my dear mistress! a secret from me!" exclaimed the faithful +creature in a slightly reproachful tone. + +"Yes, dear Margaret, a secret from you; but to be so no longer. No more +henceforth of the toils you have undergone for me; they must be given +up: I can not do without you. At my age, to be left alone is +intolerable. When you are not near me, I get so lonely, and sometimes +feel quite afraid, I can not tell of what, but I suppose it is natural +to the old to fear; and often--will you believe it?--I catch myself +weeping like a very child. Ah! when age comes on us, we lose all +strength, all fortitude. But you will not leave me any more? Promise me, +dear Margaret." + +"But in that case what is to become of us?" said Margaret. + +"This is the very thing I have to tell. And now listen to me. Take this +key, and in the right-hand drawer of the press you will find the green +casket, where, among my letters and family papers, you will see a small +case, which bring to me." + +Margaret, not a little surprised, did as she was desired. The abbess +gazed on the case for some moments in silence, and Margaret thought she +saw a tear glisten in her eye as she pressed the box to her lips, and +kissed it tenderly and reverentially. + +"I have sworn," said she, "never to part with it; yet what can I do? It +must be so: it is the will of God." And with a trembling hand, as if +about to commit sacrilege, she opened the case, and drew from it a ruby +of great brilliancy and beauty. "You see this jewel?" she said. +"Margaret, it is the glory of my ancient house; it is the last gem in my +coronet, and more precious in my eyes than any thing in the world. My +grand-uncle, the noblest of men, the Archbishop of Besançon, brought it +from the East; and when, in guerdon for some family service, Louis XIV. +founded the Abbey of Vatteville, and made my grand-aunt the first abbess +of the order, he himself adorned her cross with it. You now know the +value of the jewel to me; and though I can not tell its marketable +value, still, notwithstanding the pressure of the times, I can not but +think it must bring sufficient to secure us, for some time at least, +from want. Were I to consider myself alone, I would starve sooner than +touch the sacred deposit; but to allow you, Margaret, to suffer, and to +suffer for me--to take advantage any longer of your disinterested +affection and devoted fidelity--would be base selfishness. God has at +last taught me that I was but sacrificing you to my pride, and I must +hasten to make atonement. I will endeavor to raise money on this jewel. +You know old M. Simon? Notwithstanding his mean appearance and humble +mode of living, I am persuaded he is a rich man; and though parsimonious +in the extreme, he is good-natured and obliging whenever he can be so +without any risk of loss to himself." + +The next day, in pursuance of her project, the abbess, accompanied by +Margaret, repaired to the house of M. Simon. "I know, sir," she said, +"from your kindness to some friends of mine, that you feel an interest +in the class to which I belong, and that you are incapable of betraying +a confidence reposed in you. I am the Abbess of Vatteville. Driven forth +from the plundered and ruined abbey, I am living in the town under an +assumed name. I have been stripped of every thing; and but for the +self-sacrificing attachment of a faithful servant, I must have died of +want. However, I have still one resource, and only one. I know not if I +am right in availing myself of it, but at my age the power to struggle +fails. Besides, I do not suffer alone; and this consideration decides +me. Will you, then, have the goodness to give me a loan on this jewel?" + +"I believe, madam, you have mistaken me for a pawnbroker. I am not in +the habit of advancing money in this way. I am myself very poor, and +money is now every where scarce. I should be very glad to be able to +oblige you, but just at present it is quite out of the question." + +For a moment the poor abbess felt all hope extinct; but with a last +effort to move his compassion, she said: "Oh, sir, remember that secrecy +is of such importance to me, I dare not apply to any one else. The +privacy, the obscurity in which I live, alone has prevented me from +paying with my blood the penalty attached to a noble name and lineage." + +"But how am I to ascertain the value of the jewel? I am no jeweler; and +I fear, in my ignorance, to wrong either you or myself." + +"I implore you, sir, not to refuse me. I have no alternative but to +starve; for I am too old to work, and beg I can not. Keep the jewel as a +pledge, and give me some relief." + +Old Simon, though covetous, was not devoid of feeling. He was touched by +the tears of the venerable lady; and besides, the more he looked at the +jewel, the more persuaded he became of its being really valuable. After +a few moments' consideration, he said: "All the money I am worth at this +moment is 1500 francs; and though I have my suspicions that I am making +a foolish bargain, I had rather run any risk than leave you in such +distress. The next time I have business in Paris, I can ascertain the +value of the jewel, and if I have given you too little, I will make it +up to you." And with a glad and grateful heart the abbess took home the +1500 francs, thankful at having obtained the means of subsistence for at +least a year. + +Some months later, old Simon went up to Paris, and hastening to one of +the principal jewelers, showed the ruby, and begged to know its value. +The jeweler took the stone carelessly; but after a few moments' +examination of it, he cast a rapid glance at the thread-bare coat and +mean appearance of the possessor, and then abruptly exclaimed: "This +jewel does not belong to you, and you must not leave the house till you +account for its being in your possession. Close the doors," he said to +his foreman, "and send for the police." In vain did Simon protest his +innocence; in vain did he offer every proof of it. The lapidary would +listen to nothing; but at every look he gave the gem, he darted at him a +fresh glance of angry contempt. "You must be a fool as well as a knave," +he said. "Do you know, scoundrel, that this is the Vatteville--the +prince of rubies?--the most splendid, the rarest of gems? It might be +deemed a mere creation of imagination, were it not enrolled and +accurately described in the archives of our art. See here, in the _Guide +des Lapidaires_, a print of it. Mark its antique fashioning, and that +dark spot!--yes, it is indeed the precious ruby so long thought lost. +Rest assured, fellow, you shall not quit the house until you satisfy me +how you have contrived to get possession of it." + +"I should at once have told you, but from unwillingness to endanger the +life of a poor woman who has confided in me. I got the jewel from the +Abbess de Vatteville herself, and it is her last and only resource." And +now M. Simon proved, by unquestionable documents, that notwithstanding +his more than humble appearance, he was a man of wealth and +respectability, and received the apologies which were tendered, together +with assurances that Madame Vatteville's secret was safe with one who, +he begged to say, "knew how to respect misfortune, whenever and however +presented to his notice." + +"But what is the jewel worth?" asked M. Simon. + +"Millions, sir! and neither I nor any one else in the trade here could +purchase it, unless as a joint concern, and in case of a coronation or a +marriage in one of the royal houses of Europe, for such an occasion +alone could make it not a risk to buy it. But, meanwhile, I will, if you +wish, mention it to some of the trade." + +"I am in no hurry," said Simon, almost bewildered by the possession of +such a treasure. "I may as well wait for some such occasion, and, in the +mean time, can make any necessary advances to the abbess. Perhaps I may +call on you again." + +The first day of the year 1795 had just dawned, and there was a thick +and chilling fog. The abbess and her faithful servant felt this day more +than usually depressed, for fifteen months had now elapsed since the +1500 francs had been received for the ruby, and there now remained +provision only for a few days longer. "I have got no answer from M. +Simon," said the abbess; and in giving utterance to her own thought, she +was replying to what was at that moment passing through Margaret's +mind. "I fear he has not been able to get more for the ruby than he +thinks fair interest for the money he advanced to me." + +"It is most likely," said Margaret; and both relapsed into their former +desponding silence. + +"What a dreary New-Year's Day!" resumed Madame de Vatteville, in a +melancholy tone. + +"Oh, why can I not help you, dear mistress?" exclaimed Margaret, +suddenly starting from her reverie. "Cheerfully would I lay down my life +for you!" + +"And why can I not return in any way your devoted attachment, my poor +Margaret?" + +At this instant, two loud and hurried knocks at the door startled them +both from their seats: and it was with a trembling hand Margaret opened +it to admit the old porter, and a servant with a letter in his hand. + +"Thank you, thank you, M. Thiebaut: this letter is for my mistress." But +the inquisitive old man either did not or would not understand +Margaret's hint to him to retire, and Madame de Vatteville was obliged +to tell him to leave the room. + +"Not a penny to bless herself with, though she has come to a better +apartment!" muttered he, enraged at the disappointment to his +curiosity--"and yet as proud as an aristocrat!" + +The abbess approached the casement, broke the seal with trembling hand, +and read as follows: + + "I have at length been able to treat with a merchant for the article + in question, and have, after much difficulty, obtained a sum of + 25,000 francs--far beyond any thing I could have hoped. But the sum + is to be paid in installments, at long intervals. It may therefore + be more convenient for you, under your peculiar circumstances, to + accept the offer I now make of a pension of 1500 francs, to revert + after your decease to the servant whom you mentioned as so devotedly + attached to you. If you are willing to accept this offer, the bearer + will hand you the necessary documents, by which you are to make over + to me all further claim upon the property placed in my hands; and on + your affixing your signature, he will pay you the first year in + advance. + + SIMON." + +"What a worthy, excellent man!" joyfully exclaimed the abbess; for, in +the noble integrity of her heart, she had no suspicion that he could +take advantage of her circumstances. + +However Simon settled the matter with his conscience, the abbess, +trained in the school of adversity to be content with being preserved +from absolute want, passed the remainder of her life quietly and happily +with her good Margaret, both every day invoking blessings on the head of +him whom they regarded as a generous benefactor. Madame de Vatteville +lived to the age of one hundred, and her faithful Margaret survived only +a few months the mistress to whom she had given such affecting proofs of +attachment. + +But Simon's detestable fraud proved of no use to him. After keeping his +treasure for several years, he thought the emperor's coronation +presented a favorable opportunity of disposing of it. Unfortunately for +him, his grasping avarice one morning suggested a thought which his +ignorance prevented his rejecting: "Since this ruby--old-fashioned and +stained as it is--can be worth so much, what would be its value if freed +from all defect, and in modern setting?" And he soon found a lapidary, +who, for a sum of 3000 francs, modernized it, and effaced the spot, and +with it the impress, the stamp of its antiquity--all that gave it value, +beauty, worth! This wanting, no jeweler could recognize it: it was no +longer worth a thousand crowns. + +It was thus that the most splendid ruby in Europe lost its value and its +fame; and its name is now only to be found in _The Lapidaries' Guide_, +as that which had once been the most costly of gems. It seemed as if it +could not survive the last of the illustrious house to which it owed its +introduction into Europe, and its name. + + + + +IMPRESSIONS OF ENGLAND IN 1851. + +FROM THE LETTERS AND MEMORANDA OF FREDRIKA BREMER. + + +THE CHOLERA IN LONDON. + +It is two years since I first found myself in England. When I was in +England in the autumn of 1849, the cholera was there. A dense, +oppressive atmosphere rested over its cities, as of a cloud pregnant +with lightning. Hearses rolled through the streets. The towns were empty +of people; for all who had the means of doing so had fled into the +country; they who had not were compelled to remain. I saw shadowy +figures, clad in black, stealing along the streets, more like ghosts +than creatures of flesh and blood. Never before had I seen human +wretchedness in such a form as I beheld it in Hull and in London. +Wretchedness enough may be found, God knows, even in Stockholm, and it +shows itself openly enough there in street and market. But it is there +most frequently an undisguised, an unabashed wretchedness. It is not +ashamed to beg, to show its rags or its drunken countenance. It is a +child of crime; and that is perhaps the most extreme wretchedness. But +it is less painful to behold, because it seems to be suffering only its +own deserts. One is more easily satisfied to turn one's head aside, and +pass on. One thinks, "I can not help that!" + +In England, however, misery had another appearance; it was not so much +that of degradation as of want, pallid want. It was meagre and retiring; +it ventured not to look up, or it looked up with a glance of hopeless +beseeching--so spirit-broken! It tried to look respectable. Those men +with coats and hats brushed till the nap was gone; those pale women in +scanty, washed-out, but yet decent clothes--it was a sight which one +could hardly bear. In a solitary walk of ten minutes in the streets of +Hull, I saw ten times more want than I had seen in a ten months' +residence in Denmark. + +The sun shone joyously as I traveled through the manufacturing +districts; saw their groups of towns and suburbs; saw their smoking +pillars and pyramids towering up every where in the wide landscape--saw +glowing gorges of fire open themselves in the earth, as if it were +burning--a splendid and wonderfully picturesque spectacle, reminding one +of fire-worshipers, of ancient and modern times, and of their altars. +But I heard the mournful cry of the children from the factories; the cry +which the public voice has made audible to the world; the cry of the +children, of the little ones who had been compelled, by the lust of gain +of their parents and the manufacturers, to sacrifice life, and joy, and +health in the workshops of machinery; the children who lie down in those +beds which never are cold, the children who are driven and beaten till +they sink insensibly into death or fatuity--that living death; I heard +the wailing cry of the children, which Elizabeth Barrett interpreted in +her affecting poem; and the wealthy manufacturing districts, with their +towns, their fire-columns, their pyramids, seemed to me like an enormous +temple of Moloch, in which the mammon-worshipers of England offered up +even children to the burning arms of their god--children, the hope of +the earth, and its most delicious and most beautiful joy! + +I arrived in London. They told me there was nobody in London. It was not +the season in which the higher classes were in London. Besides which, +the cholera was there; and all well-to-do people, who were able, had +fled from the infected city. And that, indeed, might be the reason why +there seemed to me to be so many out of health--why that pale +countenance of want was so visible. Certain it is, that it became to me +as a Medusa's head, which stood between me and every thing beautiful and +great in that great capital, the rich life and physiognomy of which +would otherwise have enchanted me. But as it was, the palaces, and the +statues, and the noble parks, Hampstead and Piccadilly, and Belgravia +and Westminster, and the Tower, and even the Thames itself, with all its +everchanging life, were no more than the decorations of a great tragedy. +And when, in St. Paul's, I heard the great roar of the voice of +London--that roar which, as it is said, never is silent, but merely +slumbers for an hour between three and four o'clock in the morning--when +I heard that voice in that empty church, where there was no divine +worship, and looked up into its beautiful cupola, which was filled by no +song of praise, but only by that resounding, roaring voice, a dark +chaotic roar, then seemed I to perceive the sound of the rivers of fate +rolling onward through time over falling kingdoms and people, and +bearing them onward down into an immeasurable grave!--It was but for a +moment, but it was a horrible dream! + +One sight I beheld in London which made me look up with rejoicing, which +made me think "that old Ygdrasil is still budding." This was the +so-called metropolitan buildings; a structure of many homes in one great +mass of building, erected by a society of enlightened men for the use of +the poorer working class, to provide respectable families of that class +with excellent dwellings at a reasonable rate, where they might possess +that which is of the most indispensable importance to the rich, as well +as to the poor, if they are to enjoy health both of body and +soul--light, air, and water, pure as God created them for the use of +mankind. The sight of these homes, and of the families that inhabited +them, as well as of the newly-erected extensive public baths and +wash-houses for the same class, together with the assurance that these +institutions already, in the second year of their establishment, +returned more than full interest to their projectors, produced the +happiest impression which I at this time received of England. These were +to me as the seed of the future, which gave the promise of verdant +shoots in the old tree. + +Nevertheless, when I left the shores of England, and saw thick autumnal +fog enveloping them, it was with a sorrowful feeling for the OLD world; +and with an inquiring glance of longing and hope, I turned myself to the +NEW. + +Two years passed on--a sun-bright, glowing dream, full of the vigor of +life!--it was again autumn, and I was again in England. Autumn met me +there with cold, and rain, and tempest, with the most horrible weather +that can be imagined, and such as I had never seen on the other side of +the globe. But in social life, every where throughout the mental +atmosphere, a different spirit prevailed. There, I perceived with +astonishment and joy, there it was that of spring. + +Free-trade had borne fruit, and under its banners manufacture and trade +had shot forth into new life; the price of all kinds of grain had +fallen, bread had become cheap. This tree of liberty, planted by Cobden +and Peel, had, with a strong and vigorous vitality, penetrated, as it +were, the life of the English people, and I heard on every hand the +soughing of its leaves in the free wind. The Crystal Palace was its +full-blown, magnificent blossom--and like swarms of rejoicing bees flew +the human throng upon the wings of steam, backward and forward, to the +great world's blossom; there all the nations met together, there all +manufactures, there all industry, and every kind of product unfolded +their flowers for the observation and the joy of all ... a Cactus +grandiflora, such as the world had never till then seen. + +I perceived more clearly every day of my stay in England, that this +period is one of a general awakening to a new, fresh life. In the +manufacturing districts, in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, every +where I heard the same conversation among all classes; prosperity was +universal and still advancing. That pale countenance of want, which had +on my first visit appeared to me so appalling, I now no longer saw as +formerly; and even where it was seen stealing along, like a gloomy +shadow near to the tables of abundance, it appeared to me no longer as a +cloud filled with the breath of cholera, darkening the face of heaven, +but rather as one of those clouds over which the wind and sun have +power, and which are swallowed up, which vanish in space, in the bright +ether.... + + +THE RAGGED SCHOOLS. + +In Liverpool I visited the so-called Ragged Schools--the schools where +are collected from the streets vagabond, neglected, and begging +children, who are here taught to read and so on--who here receive the +first rudiments of instruction, even in singing. These schools are, some +of them evening, others day schools, and in some of them, "the +Industrial Ragged Schools," children are kept there altogether; receive +food and clothing, and are taught trades. When the schools of this class +were first established in Liverpool, the number of children who +otherwise had no chance of receiving instruction, amounted to about +twenty thousand. Right-minded, thinking men saw that in these children +were growing up in the streets, those "dangerous classes," of which so +much has been said of late times; these men met together, obtained means +to cover the most necessary outlay of expense, and then, according to +the eloquent words of Lord Ashley, that "it is in childhood that evil +habits are formed and take root; it is childhood which must be guarded +from temptation to crime;" they opened these ragged schools with the +design of receiving the most friendless, the most wretched of society's +young generation--properly, "the children of rags, born in beggary, and +for beggary." + +I visited the Industrial Ragged School for boys, intended for the lowest +grade of these little children, without parents, or abandoned by them to +the influences of crime. There I saw the first class sitting in their +rags, upon benches in a cold room, arranging, with their little +frost-bitten fingers, bristles for the brush-maker. The faces of the +boys were clean; many of them I remarked were handsome, and almost +universally they had beautiful and bright eyes. Those little fingers +moved with extraordinary rapidity; the boys were evidently wishful to do +their best; they knew that they by that means should obtain better +clothing, and would be removed to the upper room, and more amusing +employment. I observed these "dangerous classes"--just gathered up from +the lanes, and the kennels, on their way to destruction; and was +astonished when I thought that their countenances might have borne the +stamp of crime. Bright glances of childhood, for that were you never +designed by the Creator! "Suffer little children to come unto me." These +words, from the lips of heaven, are forever sounding to earth. + +In the upper room a great number of boys were busy pasting paper-bags +for various trades, confectioners, etc., who make use of such in the +rapid sale of their wares; here, also, other boys were employed in +printing upon the bags the names and residences of the various tradesmen +who had ordered them. The work progressed rapidly, and seemed very +amusing to the children. The establishment for their residence, and +their beds, were poor; but all was neat and clean, the air was fresh, +and the children were cheerful. The institution was, however, but yet +in its infancy, and its means were small. + +Half-a-dozen women, in wretched clothes, sate in the entrance-room with +their boys, for whom they hoped to gain admittance into the school, and +were now, therefore, waiting till the directors of the establishment +made their appearance. + + +THE POORER CLASSES. + +A few days later I visited some different classes of poor +people--namely, the wicked and the idle; they who had fallen into want +through their own improvidence, but who had now raised themselves again; +and the estimable, who had honorably combated with unavoidable poverty. +In one certain quarter of Liverpool it is that the first class is +especially met with. Of this class of poor, in their wretched +rooms, with their low, brutalized expression, I will not speak; +companion-pieces to this misery may be met with every where. Most of +those whom I saw were Irish. It was a Sunday noon, after divine service. +The ale-houses were already open in this part of the town, and young +girls and men might be seen talking together before them, or sitting +upon the steps. + +Of the second class I call to mind, with especial pleasure, one little +household. It was a mother and her son. Her means of support, a mangle, +stood in the little room in which she had lived since she had raised +herself up again. It was dinner-time. A table, neatly covered for two +persons, stood in the room, and upon the iron stand before the fire was +placed a dish of mashed potatoes, nicely browned, ready to be set on the +table. The mother was waiting for her son, and the dinner was waiting +for him. He was the organ-blower in the church during divine service, +and he returned while I was still there. He was well dressed, but was a +little, weakly man, and squinted; the mother's eyes, however, regarded +him with love. This son was her only one, and her all. And he, to whom +mother Nature had acted as a step-mother, had a noble mother's heart to +warm himself with, which prepared for him an excellent home, a +well-covered table, and a comfortable bed. That poor little home was not +without its wealth. + +As belonging to the third and highest class, I must mention two +families, both of them shoe-makers, and both of them inhabiting cellars. +The one family consisted of old, the other of young people. The old +shoemaker had to maintain his wife, who was lame and sick, from a fall +in the street, and a daughter. The young one had a young wife, and five +little children to provide for; but work was scanty and the mouths many. +At this house, also, it was dinner-time, and I saw upon the table +nothing but potatoes. The children were clean, and had remarkably +agreeable faces; but--they were pale; so was also the father of the +family. The young and pretty, but very pale mother said, "Since I have +come into this room I have never been well, and this I know--I shall not +live long?" Her eyes filled with tears; and it was plain enough to see +that this really delicate constitution could not long sustain the +effects of the cold damp room, into which no sunbeam entered. These two +families, of the same trade, and alike poor, had become friends in need. +When one of the fathers of the family wanted work, and was informed by +the Home-missionary who visited them that the other had it, the +intelligence seemed a consolation to him. Gladdening sight of human +sympathy, which keeps the head erect and the heart sound under the +depressing struggle against competition! But little gladdening to me +would have been the sight of these families in their cellar-homes, had I +not at the same time been aware of the increase of those "Model +Lodging-houses," which may be met with in many parts of England, and +which will remove these inhabitants of cellars, they who sit in +darkness, into the blessing of the light of life--which will provide +worthy dwellings for worthy people. + + +BEE-HIVES. + +In my imagination Manchester was like a colossal woman sitting at her +spinning-wheel, with her enormous manufactories; her subject towns, +suburbs, villages, factories, lying for many miles round, spinning, +spinning, spinning clothes for all the people on the face of the earth. +And there, as she sate, the queen of the spindle, with her masses of +ugly houses and factories, enveloped in dense rain-clouds, as if in +cobwebs, the effect she made upon me was gloomy and depressing. Yet even +here, also, I was to breathe a more refreshing atmosphere of life; even +here was I also to see light. Free trade had brought hither her +emancipating spirit. It was a time of remarkable activity and +prosperity. The workpeople were fully employed; wages were good, and +food was cheap. Even here also had ragged-schools been established, +together with many institutions for improving the condition of the poor +working-classes. In one of these ragged-schools the boys had a perfectly +organized band of music, in which they played and blew, so that it was a +pleasure--and sometimes a disadvantage to hear them. The lamenting "cry +of the children" was no longer heard from the factories. Government had +put an end to the cruelties and oppressions formerly practiced on these +little ones by the unscrupulous lust of gain. No child under ten years +old can now be employed in the factories, and even such, when employed, +must of necessity be allowed part of the day for school. Every large +factory has now generally its own school, with a paid master for the +children. The boys whom I saw in the great rooms of the factories, and +with whom I conversed, looked both healthy and cheerful. + +Two ideas were impressed upon my mind at this place: how dangerous it +is, even amid a high degree of social culture, to give one class of men +unrestrained power over another; and how easily a free people, with a +powerful public spirit and accustomed to self-government, can raise +themselves out of humiliating circumstances. This spirit has done much +already in England, but it has yet more to do. + +Upon one of those large gloomy factories in Manchester, I read, +inscribed in iron letters, "THE GREAT BEEHIVE;" and in truth a good name +for these enormous hives of human industrial toil, in which people have +sometimes forgotten, and still forget, that man is any thing more than a +working bee, which lives to fill its cell in the hive and die. I visited +several of these huge beehives. In one of them which employed twelve +hundred work-people, I saw, in a large room, above three hundred women +sitting in rows winding cotton on reels. The room was clean, and so also +were all the women. It did not appear to be hard work; but the +steadfastly-fixed attention with which these women pursued their labor +seemed to me distressingly wearisome. They did not allow themselves to +look up, still less to turn their heads or to talk. Their life seemed to +depend upon the cotton thread. + +In another of these great beehives, a long low room, in which were six +hundred power-looms, represented an extraordinary appearance. What a +snatching to and fro, what a jingling, what an incessant stir, and what +a moist atmosphere there was between floor and ceiling, as if the limbs +of some absurd, unheard-of beast, with a thousand arms, had been +galvanized! Around us, from three to four hundred operatives, women and +men, stood among the rapid machinery, watching and tending. The twelve +o'clock bell rung, and now the whole throng of work-people would go +forth to their various mid-day quarters; the greatest number to their +respective dwellings in the neighborhood of the factory. I placed +myself, together with my conductor, in the court outside the door of the +room, which was on lower ground, in order that I might have a better +view of the work-people as they came out. + +Just as one sees bees coming out of a hive into the air, two, three, or +four at a time--pause, as it were, a moment from the effects of open air +and light, and then with a low hum, dart forth into space, each one his +own way; so was it in this case. Thus came they forth, men and women, +youths and girls. The greater number were well dressed, looked healthy, +and full of spirit. In many, however, might be seen the expression of a +rude life; they bore the traces of depravity about them. + + +THE ROYAL FAMILY. + +The Queen and her husband stand before the people as the personation of +every domestic and public virtue! The Queen is an excellent wife and +mother; she attends to the education of her children, and fulfills her +duties as sovereign, alike conscientiously. She is an early riser; is +punctual and regular in great as well as in small things. She pays ready +money for all that she purchases, and never is in debt to any one. Her +court is remarkable for its good and beautiful morals. On their estate, +she and Prince Albert carry every thing out in the best manner, +establish schools and institutions for the good of the poor; these +institutions and arrangements of theirs serve as examples to every one. +Their uprightness, kindness, generosity, and the tact which they under +all circumstances display, win the heart of the nation. They show a +warm sympathy for the great interests of the people, and by this very +sympathy are they promoted. Of this, the successful carrying out of free +trade, and the Exhibition in the Crystal Palace, projected in the first +instance by Prince Albert, and powerfully seconded by the Queen, furnish +brilliant examples. The sympathies of the Queen are those of the heart +as well as of the head. When that noble statesman, the great promoter of +free-trade, Sir Robert Peel, died, the Queen shut herself in for several +days, and wept for him as if she had lost a father. And whenever a warm +sympathy is called forth, either in public or in private affairs it is +warmly and fully participated by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. That +which the English people require from their rulers, is not merely formal +government, but a living interest in their affairs. + + +BIRMINGHAM AND THE CHARTISTS. + +From Manchester I traveled to Birmingham. I saw again the land of the +fire-worshipers, their smoking altars, in tall columns and pyramids, +towering above the green fields; saw again the burning gulfs yawning in +the earth, and--saw them now with unmixed pleasure. I heard no longer, +amid their boiling roar, the lamenting cry of the children; I heard and +saw them now only as the organs of the public prosperity, and rejoiced +over them as proofs of man's power over fire and water, over all the +powers of nature; the victory of the gods over the giants! + +The sun burst forth from between rain-clouds as I arrived in Birmingham, +England's--nay, the world's--workshop of steel-pens, nails, steel, tin, +and brass wares of all kinds. + +If Manchester is a colossal woman at her spinning-wheel, then is +Birmingham a colossal smith. + +In Birmingham I visited a steel-pen manufactory, and followed from room +to room the whole process of those small metal tongues which go abroad +over all the world and do so much--evil, and so much good; so much that +is great, so much that is small; so much that is important, so much that +is trivial. I saw four hundred young girls sitting in large, light +rooms, each with her little pen-stamp, employed in a dexterous and easy +work, especially fitted for women. All were well dressed, seemed healthy +and cheerful, many were pretty; upon the whole, it was a spectacle of +prosperity which surpassed even that of the mill-girls in the celebrated +factories of Lowell in North America. + +Birmingham was at this time in a most flourishing condition, and had +more orders for goods than it could supply, nor were there any male +paupers to be found in the town; there was full employment for all. + +In Birmingham I saw a large school of design. Not less than two hundred +young female artists studied here in a magnificent hall or rotunda, +abundantly supplied with models of all kinds, and during certain hours +in the week exclusively opened to these female votaries of art. A +clever, respectable old woman, the porter of the school-house, spoke of +many of these with especial pleasure, as if she prided herself on them +in some degree. + +I saw in Birmingham a beautiful park, with hot-houses, in which were +tropical plants, open to the public; saw also a large concert-room, +where twice in the week "glees" were sung, and to which the public were +admitted at a low price: all republican institutions, and which seem to +prosper more in a monarchical realm than in republics themselves. + +From Birmingham I had determined to go for a few days to +Stratford-on-Avon, before I went to London in order to secure a view of +the Great Exhibition, the last week of which was at hand. I was, +therefore, obliged to leave the manufacturing districts earlier than I +wished; but before quitting them on paper, I must say a few words on +their population, on their artisans, etc. + +These belong almost entirely to the class of what are called Chartists; +that is, advocates of universal suffrage. They are this, through good +and through evil; and the resistance which their just desire to be more +fully represented in the legislative body, has met with from that body, +has brought them more and more into collision with the power of the +state, more and more to base their demands in opposition, even to the +higher principles of justice: for they overlook the duty of rendering +themselves worthy of the franchise by sound education. But the fault +here, in the first place, was not theirs. Growing up amid machinery and +the hum of labor, without schools, without religious or moral worth; +hardened by hard labor, in continual fight with the difficulties of +life, they have moulded themselves into a spirit little in harmony with +life's higher educational influences, the blessings of which they had +never experienced. Atheism, radicalism, republicanism, socialism of all +kinds will and must nourish here in concealment among the strong and +daily augmenting masses of a population, restrained only by the fear of +the still more mighty powers which may be turned against them, and by +labor for their daily needs, so long as those powers are sufficing. And +perhaps the American slave-states are right when they say, in reference +to this condition of things, "England lies at our feet--England can not +do without our cotton. If the manufacturers of England must come to a +stand, then has she a popular convulsion at her door." Perhaps it may be +so; for these hosts of manufacturing workmen, neglected in the beginning +by society, neglected by church and state, look upon them merely as +exacting and despotic powers; and in strict opposition to them, they +have banded together, and established schools for their own children, +where only the elements of practical science are admitted, and from +which religious and moral instruction are strictly excluded. In truth, a +volcanic foundation for society, and which now, for some time past, has +powerfully arrested the attention of the most thinking men of England. + +But into the midst of this menacing chaos light has already begun to +penetrate with an organizing power; and over the dark profound hovers a +spirit which can and will divide the darkness from the light, and +prepare a new creation. + +I sought the manufacturing towns from a sense of duty, and the commands +of conscience. I was anxious to see this side of human life. But this +done, I thought I might do something for my own pleasure. I was in +England chiefly for this purpose. I must follow the impulse of my heart; +I must make a pilgrimage to the grave of Shakspeare. For the older I +have become, the more that I have lived and learned, the more valuable +have two good artists become to me--the more have I had to +thank--Beethoven and Shakspeare. + +From Birmingham I traveled, on the morning of the fourth of October, by +the railway to Leamington, and thence, alone in a little carriage, to +Stratford-on-Avon. + + + + +TRUE COURAGE.--A TALE OF TATTERSHALL CASTLE. + + +In the summer vacation of 183-, a party of gay young collegians visited +Tattershall Castle, in Lincolnshire. This remarkably noble ruin consists +of a single lofty keep, rising to the height of two hundred feet, the +interior being open from summit to basement. Mighty oaken beams once, +however, spanned the massive walls, supporting floors which formed +stories of varying height. Many of these beams have fallen to the +basement, completely rotten, through shameful exposure to the weather +ever since the roof crumbled away; others still pertinaciously hang, +more or less broken and decayed, but, in a majority of instances, seem +as if a strong gust of eddying wind would send them down crashing, to +mingle their fragments with those already mouldering below. + +The party were in high spirits. They had drunk old wines, and their +young blood flowed hotly in their veins; they had laughed, joked, and +talked themselves into wild excitement. About half way up to the castle +turrets there is a sort of open landing, which goes along one wall of +the structure; and on to this landing the party stepped from the grand +spiral staircase they had hitherto been ascending, and there paused a +moment to look about them. The scene was striking. A few beams sprung +across just below their feet; a few thick-moted rays of sun pierced +through the adjoining loop-holes; a few fleecy cloudlets flitted athwart +the blue ether high overhead. Startled by the noisy visitors, a number +of dusky jackdaws flew out of their holes up and down the walls, and, +after chattering their decided disapprobation of being disturbed, made +half-a-dozen whirling circuits of the interior, rising rapidly upward, +until they disappeared. + +Immediately afterward, a great white owl projected its visage from a +hole close above where one of the beams joined the opposite wall, and, +frightedly peering with its great dazzled eyes, the harmless creature +bewilderedly popped from its hole on to the beam, and having made a few +feeble flutterings with its wings, remained quite stationary, crouched +in a ball-like figure, close to the wall. + +"Oh, Deschamp," exclaimed one of the party to a friend at his side, who +was plucking the long gray moss of a peculiar species, which literally +clothes the castle walls inside and out, "look yonder at Minerva's +bird." + +"Ha! ha!" chorused the company--"a veritable owl!" + +Thereupon one and all began picking up bits of brick and mortar from +where they stood, and threw them at the bird with various degrees of +skill. One or two bits even struck it, but so far from being roused +thereby, the owl merely gave one boding, long-drawn, sepulchral screech, +and, contracting its ghastly outline into still smaller compass, fairly +buried its broad visage between the meeting bony tips of its wings. + +"What a stupid creature! hoo! horoo!" shouted they, thinking by that +means to induce it to fly. But the outcry only terrified the bird to +such a degree, that it stuck its claws convulsively into the decayed +timber, and stirred not at all. + +"It's the way o' them creeturs," here said the guide, who was showing +the party over the castle; "they're about the stupidest things in +creation, I'm a thinking!" + +"Humph!" muttered Lord Swindon, a handsome, athletic young man of +twenty, "with such an example before our eyes, we can not but admit your +opinion to be highly philosophic and indisputable. But I say, old +fellow," added he, tapping the guide familiarly on the shoulder with the +light riding switch he carried in his hand, "is _that_ beam a rotten +one?" + +"_I_ shouldn't be over-for'ard to trust myself on it, sir," replied the +man--a fat dumpy personage. + +"_You_ wouldn't! No. I should rather think not," responded Lord Swindon, +a smile of supreme disdain sweeping across his features, as he surveyed +the "old fellow" from head to foot. "But, tell me, did you ever know +_any body_ walk upon it, eh?" + +"Oh, dear, yes. Only last summer, a young Oxonian ran from end to end of +it, as I seed with my own eyes." + +"Did he?" + +"True," put in Deschamp. "I remember now, it was young Manners of +Brazennose; and didn't he brag about it!" + +"Him!" exclaimed Lord Swindon, with a toss of the head; "that fellow, +poor milksop? Not," continued he, hastily, "that it is any thing of a +feat. Pooh!" + +"Not a feat!" murmured his companions; and, with one accord, they +stretched forth their necks, and, gazing down the dim abyss, shuddered +at what they beheld. Well they might. The beam in question rose at a +height of about one hundred feet, and naught beneath it was there but a +gloomy chasm, only broken in one or two places by crumbling beams, and +not one even of these was by many feet near it. "Oh, Swindon, how can +you say so?" + +"I can say it, and I do," snappishly replied the fiery young man, his +brain heated with wine; "and, at any rate, what that fellow Manners has +done, I can do. So look out!" + +Thus speaking, he recklessly stepped on the beam, and, despite the +remonstrances of his companions, was in the act of proceeding along it, +when his arm was firmly grasped, and a low, deep-toned voice exclaimed, +"My lord, do you court a horrible death? Do not thus risk your life for +naught." + +The individual who thus unhesitatingly interfered was evidently unknown +to all present, being a casual visitor to the castle, who had just +joined the group. With an imprecation, the madcap youngster jerked his +arm away, and sprang forward along the beam. Its surface was rough, +rounded, and uneven; and as he ran along, swerving from side to side, +every instant in danger of being precipitated downward, with the awful +certainty of being dashed to pieces, his friends could hardly restrain +themselves from shrieking with terror, though such a course would +probably have had the immediate effect of discomposing the equilibrium +of their rash companion, and so inducing the catastrophe they fully +anticipated, without the power of prevention. Had the adventurer's +presence of mind one moment failed--had his self-possession and +confidence wavered or forsaken him--had his brain sickened, or his eyes +turned dim for a single second--had he made the least false step--had +his footing slipped on the slimy surface of the beam--had he tripped +against any of the knots projecting from the rotten wood which had +mouldered away around them--at once would he have been hurled into dread +eternity. + +But an unseen hand sustained him, and safely he reached the extremity of +the beam, ruthlessly wrenched the trembling owl from its perch, waved it +aloft in triumph, and then, with a proud ejaculation, began to retrace +his steps, with it shrieking and fluttering in his hands. When he +reached the centre of the frail beam, which creaked and bent terribly +with his comparatively small weight, he paused, drew himself up to his +full height--air above, air beneath, air all around, naught but air--and +deliberately tore the head of the owl by main force from its body. +Having perpetrated this cruel deed, he tossed the bloody head among the +breathless spectators, and sharply dashed the writhing body into the +void beneath his feet. He coolly watched its descent, until it lay a +shapeless mass on the stones below; then, with slow, bravadoing mien, he +walked back to his terrified party, and boastingly demanded of them +whether they thought "Manners could beat that?" + +"My lord," solemnly said the stranger, "you have not performed the act +either of a brave or a sane man, and you have committed a despicable +deed on one of God's helpless creatures. You ought to thank Him, my +lord, from the depth of your soul, that he saved you from the penalty +you incurred." + +"What do you say?" fiercely demanded Lord Swindon. "Do you dare to +insinuate cowardice against me?" and with flashing brow, he assumed a +threatening attitude. + +"I know not, my lord, whether you are brave or not, but what I have +witnessed was certainly not an exercise of true courage," was the +passionless reply. + +"And yet I'll wager a cool thousand that you daren't do it." + +"True, I dare not: for I am incapable of offering a deadly insult to my +Maker." + +"Fine words!" Then, carried away by the excitement of the moment, he +added, with an insolent look and gesture, "You are a lying coward." + +"Listen, my lord," answered the person thus addressed, and this time his +tone was even calmer than before. "One year ago, you were walking at the +midnight hour on the pier at the sea-port of Hull, and but one other +person was upon it, and he was a stranger to you. You trod too near the +edge of the pier, and fell into the sea. The tempest was howling, and +the tide was high and running strongly; and, ere you could utter more +than one smothered cry, it had swept you many yards away, and you were +sinking rapidly. Except God, none but that stranger heard your cry of +agony; and, soon as it reached his ear, he looked forth upon the waters, +and, catching a glimpse of your struggling form, he instantly plunged +in, and, after much diving, eventually grasped you at a great depth. +Long did he support your helpless body, and stoutly did he buffet the +stifling waves, and loudly did he call for aid. At length help came; and +at the last moment, he and you were saved just in time for life to be +preserved in both. Is not this true, my lord?" + +"It is," emphatically responded the young nobleman; "but what have you +to do with it? I don't know you--though it is not at all wonderful," +added he, with a sneer, "that you should happen to know about the +matter, for the newspapers blazoned it quite sufficiently." + +"My lord, one question more. Did you ever learn who that stranger was +who, under God, saved your life?" + +"No; when I recovered a little, he left me at the hotel, where he was +unknown, and I have never seen him since." + +"Then, my lord," was the startling rejoinder, "look well at me, for I am +that stranger." + +"You?" + +"Yes--I whom you have branded as a liar and a coward. Little thought I +that the life I saved at the imminent risk of my own would be madly, +wickedly jeopardized for no price whatever, as I have seen it this hour. +Mine, my lord, was true courage; yours was false. Henceforth know the +difference between them. Farewell." + +So saying, the stranger bowed, and before another word could be uttered, +had left the astounded party. + + + + +INTRODUCTION OF THE POTATO INTO FRANCE. + + +In that rational estimate of true greatness which men are daily becoming +more inclined to form, names will yet rank high as those of the +benefactors of mankind, which history has too long suffered to give +place to those of heroes (so called), who might be better designated as +the destroyers of national prosperity, the scourges of their country. +Among the names of such benefactors, that of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier +well deserves to be handed down to the gratitude of posterity. He was +born in the little town of Montdidier, in 1737, of poor but respectable +parents; and, having lost his father before he was three years old, he +was brought up altogether by his mother, a woman of considerable +intelligence, and in refinement of character far beyond her station; and +to her he owed much of that religious feeling and steadiness of +principle which stamped such value in after-life upon the ardent +disposition and spirit of enterprise which were natural to him. The good +curé of the place, who had long known and esteemed his parents, had an +opportunity of observing the uncommon intelligence of the boy, and +undertook to teach him the rudiments of Latin. At sixteen, the young +Augustin, anxious to be no longer a burden to his mother, placed himself +with an apothecary of his native town; but the following year he +repaired to Paris, invited thither by a relative, to study under him the +profession he had chosen. + +It was not long before prospects of advancement opened to the young +medical student. The war of Hanover broke out, and, in 1757, Parmentier, +attached to the medical staff, though in a very subordinate post, joined +the army. It was not long before he had opportunity to prove his skill +and zealous devotion to his duties. A dreadful epidemic appeared among +the French soldiery, and tested to the utmost his unwearied activity and +unceasing attention to his duties. His services were acknowledged by his +being promoted to the rank of assistant-apothecary. His dauntless +exposure of himself on the field of battle caused him to be five times +taken prisoner--a misfortune to which he afterward often made mirthful +allusion; extolling the dexterity with which the Prussian hussars had +more than once stripped him, and declaring that they were the best +valets de chambre he had ever met. + +It was while prisoner of war on one of these occasions that Parmentier +first conceived the idea which was destined to give him a claim upon the +gratitude of his country. The prisoners were kept in very close +confinement, and fed altogether on potatoes; but Parmentier, instead of +joining his companions in misfortune in their indignant abuse of a food +altogether new to them, was calmly and sensibly engaged in reflecting on +the utility of the vegetable, and in inquiring into its nature, and the +mode of cultivating it. We shall see how he kept the resolution he then +formed of not letting it escape his memory, should he ever be permitted +to revisit his native country. + +Peace being declared, he was released, and came back to Paris in 1763, +where he attended the Abbe Mollet's course of natural philosophy, the +chemical course of the Brothers Douille, and the botanical lectures of +the celebrated Bernard de Jussieu. At this time, however, his poverty +was so great, that he had to endure the severest privations, to enable +him to pay the necessary fees, and to purchase such books as he +required, without interfering with the pecuniary aid which he felt it +alike his duty and his privilege to afford his mother. In 1766, he +became a candidate for a situation as medical attendant at the Hotel des +Invalides, and was almost unanimously elected. In this position, he gave +the utmost satisfaction; and not only did the skill he displayed obtain +for him professional reputation, but his playful, yet never satirical +wit, and the charm of his gentle and affectionate disposition, made him +a universal favorite. He was the object of respectful attachment to the +disabled veterans, and also to the good Sisters of Charity who attended +the hospital. In 1769, he received, as the reward of his labors, the +appointment of apothecary-in-chief, which permanently fixed him in the +Hotel des Invalides. With a little more leisure, and comparative freedom +from pecuniary care, came back the recollection of his former plans with +regard to the potato. This now well-known and almost universally-used +tubercle had been introduced into Europe from Peru early in the +sixteenth century, and had at once been cultivated in Italy and Germany. +Brought from Flanders into France, its culture was promoted in the +southern provinces by the encouragement given by the great Turgot; but +the dogged pertinacity with which ignorance so often resists the +introduction of any thing new, had in every other part of the kingdom +interfered with its propagation. Indeed, the popular prejudice against +it was so high as to lead to the belief that it had a baleful effect on +any soil in which it was planted, and produced in those who used it as +food leprosy and other loathsome diseases. Such were the absurd and +groundless prejudices which Parmentier had to encounter, but he prepared +himself to carry on the contest with the boldness and perseverance of +one who knew that, however difficult it may be to struggle with old +opinions and long-established customs, yet nothing is impossible to the +spirit of enterprise, guided by sound judgment, and animated by genuine +philanthropy. Parmentier was not unmindful that to attain his object he +would, in the first instance, need high patronage; and this patronage he +sought and found in no less a personage than Louis XVI. himself. At his +earnest solicitation, the monarch placed at his disposal, as a field for +his experiment, fifty acres of the Plaine des Sablons. For the first +time, this sterile soil was tilled by Parmentier, and the plant he so +ardently desired to naturalize committed to it. In due time the +long-wished-for blossoms appeared. Almost wondering at his success, +Parmentier eagerly gathered a bouquet of the flowers, more precious to +him than the rarest exotic in the royal gardens, and hastened to +Versailles, to present them to the king. Louis accepted the offering +most graciously, and, notwithstanding the satirical smiles of some of +his courtiers, wore them in his button-hole. + +From that hour the triumph of the potato was secured. The nobles and +fine ladies, who had hitherto laughed at what they called "the poor +man's monomania," now took their tone from the monarch, and flocked +round the modest philanthropist with their congratulations. Guards +placed round the field excited the curiosity of the people; but as this +was a precaution rather against the pressure of the crowd than against +its cupidity, they were withdrawn at night, and soon it was announced to +Parmentier that his potatoes had been stolen. His delight at this +intelligence was extreme, and he bountifully rewarded the bearer of the +news; for he saw in this theft a proof of his complete success. "There +can scarcely be any remaining prejudice against my poor potatoes," he +said, "else they would not be stolen." A short time after he gave a +dinner, every dish of which consisted of the potato disguised in some +variety of form, and even the liquids used at table were extracted from +it. Among other celebrated persons, Franklin and Lavoisier were present. +And thus, to the persevering efforts of one individual was France +indebted for a vegetable which soon took its place in the first rank of +its agricultural treasures. By naturalizing the potato in that country, +Parmentier diffused plenty among thousands, once the hapless victims of +privation and misery during the seasons of scarcity hitherto frequently +recurring to desolate its provinces. + +From 1783 to 1791, Parmentier occupied himself in the publication of +several works of great merit upon domestic economy and agriculture. But +now came on the evil days of the Revolution. From prudence, natural +inclination, and engrossment in other pursuits, Parmentier took no part +in the political storm then raging. His moderation was regarded as a +protest against the principles then in the ascendant. The man who had +just rendered the most signal service to the people became an object of +persecution to those calling themselves the friends of the people. "Talk +not to me of this Parmentier," said an infuriate club orator; "he would +give us nothing to eat but potatoes. I ask you, was it not he that +invented them?" His name was put into the list of the suspected, and he +was deprived not only of the small pension allowed him by Louis XVI., +but also of his situation at the Hotel des Invalides. However, when the +coalition of all Europe forced France to avail herself to the utmost of +her every resource, it was found expedient to reorganize the medical +department of the military hospitals, and to improve the diet of the +soldiery; and Parmentier being fixed on for this difficult task, his +success amply justified the choice. His reputation for skill and talent +increasing with every test to which he was put, he was successively +placed on the sanitary commission for the department of the Seine, and +on the general committee of civil hospitals. Diplomas were sent to him +by all the learned societies, and he was enrolled a member of the +National Institute. + +Parmentier lived throughout the period of the Empire, honored and +esteemed by all classes; but, in 1813, grief for the loss of a beloved +sister added to his deep dejection at the reverses of the French arms, +seriously affected his health. His patriotism could not but deeply feel +the evils threatening his country from foreign invasion. He became +dangerously ill, and on the 13th of December the cause of social +progress lost by his death one of its most zealous and enlightened +promoters. In a discourse pronounced on the occasion before the +Pharmaceutic Association, Cadet de Gassicour dwelt principally on the +two great benefits conferred by Parmentier--the use of the potato, and +the introduction of the Sirop de Raisin, thus providing, according to +the benevolent boast of the philanthropist himself, "the poor man's +bread, and the poor man's sugar." During his lifetime, a proposal had +been made by the Minister François de Neufchateau that the potato should +be called _Parmentière_. It is to be regretted that a proposal which +would have secured a memorial as inexpensive as it was appropriate, was +rejected; one which would have indissolubly linked in the minds of every +Frenchman the name of the benefactor with the benefit. + + + + +THE ARTIST'S SACRIFICE. + + +On a cold evening in January--one of those dark and gloomy evenings +which fill one with sadness--there sat watching by the bed of a sick +man, in a little room on the fifth floor, a woman of about forty, and +two pretty children--a boy of twelve and a little girl of eight. The +exquisite neatness of the room almost concealed its wretchedness: every +thing announced order and economy, but at the same time great poverty. A +painted wooden bedstead, covered with coarse but clean calico sheets, +blue calico curtains, four chairs, a straw arm-chair, a high desk of +dark wood, with a few books and boxes placed on shelves, composed the +entire furniture of the room. And yet the man who lay on that wretched +bed, whose pallid cheek, and harsh, incessant cough, foretold the +approach of death, was one of the brightest ornaments of our literature. +His historical works had won for him a European celebrity, his writings +having been translated into all the modern languages; yet he had always +remained poor, because his devotion to science had prevented him from +devoting a sufficient portion of his time to productive labor. + +An unfinished piece of costly embroidery thrown on a little stand near +the bed, another piece of a less costly kind, but yet too luxurious to +be intended for the use of this poor family, showed that his wife and +daughter--this gentle child, whose large dark eyes were so full of +sadness--endeavored by the work of their hands to make up for the +unproductiveness of his efforts. The sick man slept, and the mother, +taking away the lamp and the pieces of embroidery, went with her +children into the adjoining room, which served both as ante-chamber and +dining-room: she seated herself at the table, and took up her work with +a sad and abstracted air; then observing her little daughter doing the +same thing cheerfully, and her son industriously coloring some prints +destined for a book of fashions, she embraced them; and raising her +tearful eyes toward heaven, she seemed to be thanking the Almighty, and, +in the midst of her affliction, to be filled with gratitude to Him who +had blessed her with such children. + +Soon after, a gentle ring was heard at the door, and M. Raymond, a young +doctor, with a frank, pleasing countenance, entered and inquired for the +invalid. + +"Just the same, doctor," said Madame G----. + +The young man went into the next room, and gazed for some moments +attentively on the sleeper, while the poor wife fixed her eyes on the +doctor's countenance, and seemed there to read her fate. + +"Is there no hope, doctor?" she asked, in a choking voice, as she +conducted him to the other room. The doctor was silent, and the +afflicted mother embraced her children and wept. After a pause, she +said: "There is one idea which haunts me continually: I should wish so +much to have my husband's likeness. Do you know of any generous and +clever artist, doctor? Oh, how much this would add to the many +obligations you have already laid me under!" + +"Unfortunately, I am not acquainted with a single artist," replied the +young doctor. + +"I must then renounce this desire," said Madame G----, sighing. + +The next morning Henry--so the little boy was called--having assisted +his mother and his sister Marie in their household labors, dressed +himself carefully, and, as it was a holiday, asked leave to go out. + +"Go, my child," said his mother; "go and breathe a little fresh air: +your continual work is injurious to you." + +The boy kissed his father's wasted hand, embraced his mother and sister, +and went out, at once sad and pleased. When he reached the street +he hesitated for a moment, then directed his steps toward the +drawing-school where he attended every day: he entered, and rung at the +door of the apartment belonging to the professor who directed this +academy. A servant opened the door, and conducted him into an +elegantly-furnished breakfast-room; for the professor was one of the +richest and most distinguished painters of the day. He was breakfasting +alone with his wife when Henry entered. + +"There, my dear," he said to her, as he perceived Henry; "there is the +cleverest pupil in the academy. This little fellow really promises to do +me great credit one day. Well, my little friend, what do you wish to say +to me?" + +"Sir, my father is very ill--the doctor fears that he may die: poor +mamma, who is very fond of papa, wishes to have his portrait. Would you, +sir, be kind enough to take it? O do not, pray sir, do not refuse me!" +said Henry, whose tearful eyes were fixed imploringly on the artist. + +"Impossible, Henry--impossible!" replied the painter. "I am paid three +thousand francs for every portrait I paint, and I have five or six at +present to finish." + +"But, my dear," interposed his wife, "it seems to me that this portrait +would take you but little time: think of the poor mother, whose husband +will so soon be lost to her forever." + +"It grieves me to refuse you, my dear; but you know that my +battle-piece, which is destined for Versailles, must be sent to the +Louvre in a fortnight, for I can not miss the Exposition this year. But +stay, my little friend, I will give you the address of several of my +pupils: tell them I sent you, and you will certainly find some one of +them who will do what you wish. Good-morning, Henry!" + +"Good-by, my little friend," added the lady. "I hope you may be +successful." The boy took his leave with a bursting heart. + +Henry wandered through the gardens of the Luxembourg, debating with +himself if he should apply to the young artists whose addresses he held +in his hand. Fearing that his new efforts might be equally unsuccessful, +he was trying to nerve himself to encounter fresh refusals, when he was +accosted by a boy of his own age, his fellow-student at the +drawing-school. Jules proposed that they should walk together; then +observing Henry's sadness, he asked him the cause. Henry told him of his +mother's desire; their master's refusal to take the portrait; and of his +own dislike to apply to those young artists, who were strangers to him. + +"Come with me," cried Jules, when his friend had ceased speaking. "My +sister is also an artist: she has always taken care of me, for our +father and mother died when we were both very young. She is so kind and +so fond of me, that I am very sure she will not refuse." + +The two boys traversed the Avenue de l'Observatoire, the merry, joyous +face of the one contrasting with the sadness and anxiety of the other. +When they got to the end of the avenue they entered the Rue de l'Ouest, +and went into a quiet-looking house, up to the fourth story of which +Jules mounted with rapid steps, dragging poor Henry with him. He tapped +gayly at a little door, which a young servant opened: he passed through +the ante-chamber, and the two boys found themselves in the presence of +Emily d'Orbe, the sister of Jules. + +She appeared to be about twenty-five: she was not tall, and her face was +rather pleasing than handsome; yet her whole appearance indicated +cultivation and amiability. Her dress was simple, but exquisitely neat; +her gown of brown stuff fitted well to her graceful figure; her linen +cuffs and collar were of a snowy whiteness; her hair was parted in +front, and fastened up behind _à l'antique_: but she wore no ribbon, no +ornament--nothing but what was necessary. The furniture of the room, +which served at the same time as a sitting-room and studio, was equally +simple: a little divan, some chairs, and two arm-chairs covered with +gray cloth, a round table, a black marble time-piece of the simplest +form; two engravings, the "Spasimo di Sicilia" and the "Three Maries," +alone ornamented the walls; green blinds were placed over the windows, +not for ornament, but to moderate the light, according to the desire of +the artist; finally, three easels, on which rested some unfinished +portraits, and a large painting representing Anna Boleyn embracing her +daughter before going to execution. + +When he entered, little Jules went first to embrace his sister; she +tenderly returned his caresses, then said to him in a gentle voice, as +she returned to her easel: "Now, my dear child, let me go on with my +painting;" not, however, without addressing a friendly "Good-morning" to +Henry, who, she thought, had come to play with Jules. + +Henry had been looking at the unfinished pictures with a sort of terror, +because they appeared to him as obstacles between him and his request. +He dared not speak, fearing to hear again the terrible word +"impossible!" and he was going away, when Jules took him by the hand and +drew him toward Emily. "Sister," he said, "I have brought my friend +Henry to see you; he wishes to ask you something; do speak to him." + +"Jules," she replied, "let me paint; you know I have very little time. +You are playing the spoiled child: you abuse my indulgence." + +"Indeed, Emily, I am not jesting; you must really speak to Henry. If you +knew how unhappy he is!" + +Mademoiselle d'Orbe, raising her eyes to the boy, was struck with his +pale and anxious face, and said to him in a kind voice, as she continued +her painting: "Forgive my rudeness, my little friend; this picture is to +be sent to the Exposition, and I have not a moment to lose, because, +both for my brother's sake and my own, I wish it to do me credit. But +speak, my child; speak without fear, and be assured that I will not +refuse you any thing that is in the power of a poor artist." + +Henry, regaining a little courage, told her what he desired: then Jules, +having related his friend's visit to their master, Henry added; "But I +see very well, mademoiselle, that you can not do this portrait either, +and I am sorry to have disturbed you." + +In the mean time little Jules had been kissing his sister, and caressing +her soft hair, entreating her not to refuse his little friend's request. +Mademoiselle d'Orbe was painting Anna Boleyn: she stopped her work; a +struggle seemed to arise in the depth of her heart, while she looked +affectionately on the children. She, however, soon laid aside her +pallet, and casting one glance of regret on her picture: "I will take +your father's portrait," she said to Henry---"that man of sorrow and of +genius. Your mother's wish shall be fulfilled." + +She had scarcely uttered these words when a lady entered the room. She +was young, pretty, and richly dressed. Having announced her name, she +asked Mademoiselle d'Orbe to take her portrait, on the express condition +that it should be finished in time to be placed in the Exposition. + +"It is impossible for me to have this honor, madame," replied the +artist: "I have a picture to finish, and I have just promised to do a +portrait to which I must give all my spare time." + +"You would have been well paid for my portrait, and my name in the +catalogue would have made yours known," added the young countess. + +Mademoiselle d'Orbe only replied by a bow; and the lady had scarcely +withdrawn, when, taking her bonnet and shawl, the young artist embraced +her brother, took Henry by the hand, and said to him: "Bring me to your +mother, my child." + +Henry flew rather than walked; Mademoiselle d'Orbe could with difficulty +keep up with him. Both ascended to the fifth story in the house in the +Rue Descartes, where this poor family lived. When they reached the door, +Henry tapped softly at it. Madame G---- opened it. + +"Mamma," said the boy, trembling with emotion, "this lady is an artist: +she is come to take papa's portrait." The poor woman, who had not hoped +for such an unexpected happiness, wept as she pressed to her lips the +hands of Mademoiselle d'Orbe, and could not find words to express her +gratitude. + +The portrait was commenced at once; and the young artist worked with +zeal and devotion, for her admiration of the gifted and unfortunate man +was intense. She resolved to make the piece valuable as a work of art, +for posterity might one day demand the portrait of this gifted man, and +her duty as a painter was to represent him in his noblest aspect. + +Long sittings fatigued the invalid; so it was resolved to take two each +day, and the young artist came regularly twice every day. As by degrees +the strength of the sick man declined, the portrait advanced. At length, +at the end of twelve days, it was finished: this was about a week before +the death of M. G----. + +At the same time that she was painting this portrait, Mademoiselle +d'Orbe worked with ardor on her large painting, always hoping to have it +ready in time. This hope did not fail her, until some days before the +1st of February. There was but a week longer to work: and this year she +must abandon the idea of sending to the Exposition. + +Some artists who had seen her picture had encouraged her very much; she +could count, in their opinion, on brilliant success. This she desired +with all her heart: first, from that noble thirst of glory which God has +implanted in the souls of artists; and, secondly, from the influence it +would have on the prospects of her little Jules, whom she loved with a +mother's tenderness, and whom she wished to be able to endow with all +the treasures of education. This disappointment, these long hours of +toil, rendered so vain at the very moment when she looked forward to +receive her reward, so depressed the young artist, that she became +dangerously ill. + +Mademoiselle d'Orbe had very few friends, as she was an orphan, and +lived in great retirement; she found herself, therefore, completely left +to the care of her young attendant. When Jules met Henry at the +drawing-school he told him of his sister's illness: Henry informed his +mother, and Madame G---- immediately hastened to Mademoiselle d'Orbe, +whom she found in the delirium of a fever from which she had been +suffering for some days. The servant said that her mistress had refused +to send for a doctor, pretending that her illness did not signify. +Madame G----, terrified at the state of her young friend, went out and +soon returned with Dr. Raymond. + +The invalid was delirious: she unceasingly repeated the +words--"portrait," "Anna Boleyn," "Exposition," "fortune," "disappointed +hopes;" which plainly indicated the cause of her illness, and brought +tears into the eyes of Madame G----. + +"Alas!" she said, "it is on my account she suffers: I am the cause of +her not finishing her picture. Doctor, I am very unfortunate." + +"All may be repaired," replied the doctor; "if you will promise to nurse +the invalid, I will answer for her recovery." + +In fact, Madame G---- ever left the sick-bed of Mademoiselle d'Orbe. The +doctor visited her twice in the day, and their united care soon restored +the health of the interesting artist. + +Mademoiselle was scarcely convalescent when she went to the Exposition +of paintings at the Louvre, of which she had heard nothing--the doctor +and Madame G---- having, as she thought, avoided touching on a subject +which might pain her. She passed alone through the galleries, crowded +with distinguished artists and elegantly-dressed ladies, saying to +herself that perhaps her picture would have been as good as many which +attracted the admiration of the crowd. She was thus walking sadly on, +looking at the spot where she had hoped to have seen her Anna Boleyn, +when she found herself stopped by a group of artists. They were +unanimous in their praises "This is the best portrait in the +Exposition," said one. "A celebrated engraver is about to buy from the +artist the right to engrave this portrait for the new edition of the +author's works," said another. "We are very fortunate in having so +faithful a likeness of so distinguished a writer as M. G----." + +At this name Mademoiselle d'Orbe raised her eyes, and recognized her own +work! Pale, trembling with emotion, the young artist was obliged to lean +on the rail for support; then opening the catalogue, she read her name +as if in a dream, and remained for some time to enjoy the pleasure of +hearing the praises of her genius. + +When the Exposition closed she hastened to Madame G----, and heard that +it was Dr. Raymond who had conceived the happy idea of sending the +portrait to the Louvre. "My only merit is the separating myself for a +time from a picture which is my greatest consolation," added Madame +G----. + +From this day the young artist became the friend of the poor widow, +whose prospects soon brightened. Through the influence of some of the +friends of her lost husband, she obtained a pension from government--a +merited but tardy reward! The two ladies lived near each other, and +spent their evenings together. Henry and Jules played and studied +together. Marie read aloud, while her mother and Mademoiselle d'Orbe +worked. Dr. Raymond sometimes shared in this pleasant intercourse. He +had loved the young artist from the day he had seen her renounce so much +to do a generous action; but, an orphan like herself, and with no +fortune but his profession, he feared to be rejected if he offered her +his hand. It was therefore Madame G---- who charged herself with +pleading his suit with the young artist. + +Mademoiselle d'Orbe felt a lively gratitude toward the young doctor for +the care and solicitude he had shown during her illness, and for sending +her portrait to the Exposition. Thanks to him, she had become known; +commissions arrived in numbers, a brilliant future opened before her and +Jules. Madame G---- had, then, a favorable answer to give to her young +friend, who soon became the husband of the interesting artist whose +generous sacrifice had been the foundation of her happiness. + + + + +THE STOLEN BANK NOTES. + + +The newspapers of 1810 contain a few brief paragraphs--cold, bare, and +partial as a tombstone, relative to a singular, and, to my thinking, +instructive passage in the domestic annals of Great Britain, with which +I happened to be very intimately acquainted. The impression it produced +on me at the time was vivid and profound, and a couple of lines in a +Liverpool journal the other day, curtly announcing the death of a Madame +L'Estrange, recalled each incident as freshly to memory as if graven +there but yesterday; and moreover induced me to pen the following +narrative, in which, now that I can do so without the risk of giving +pain or offense to any one, I have given the whole affair, divested of +coloring, disguise, or concealment. + +My father, who had influence with the late Lord Bexley, then Mr. +Vansittart, procured me, three weeks after I came of age, a junior +clerkship in one of the best paid of our government offices. In the same +department were two young men, my seniors by about six or seven years +only, of the names of Martin Travers and Edward Capel. Their salaries +were the same--three hundred pounds a year--and both had an equal chance +of promotion to the vacancy likely soon to occur, either by the death or +superannuation of Mr. Rowdell, an aged and ailing chief-clerk. I had +known them slightly before I entered the office, inasmuch as our +families visited in the same society, and we were very soon especially +intimate with each other. They were, I found, fast friends, though +differing greatly in character and temperament. I liked Martin Travers +much the best of the two. He was a handsome, well-grown, frank-spoken, +generous young man; and never have I known a person so full of buoyant +life as he--of a temper so constantly gay and cheerful. Capel was of a +graver, more saturnine disposition, with lines about the mouth +indicative of iron inflexibility of nerve and will; yet withal a hearty +fellow enough, and living, it was suspected, _quite_ up to his income, +if not to something considerably over. I had not been more than about +three months in the office, when a marked change was perceptible in +both. Gradually they had become cold, distant, and at last utterly +estranged from each other; and it was suggested by several among us, +that jealousy as to who should succeed to Rowdell's snug salary of six +hundred a year, might have produced the evidently bad feeling between +them. This might, I thought, have generated the lowering cloud hourly +darkening and thickening upon Capel's brow, but could scarcely account +for the change in Martin Travers. He whose contagious gayety used to +render dullness and ill-humor impossible in his presence, was now +fitful, moody, irascible; his daily tasks were no longer gone through +with the old cheerful alacrity; and finally--for he was morbidly +impatient of being questioned--I jumped to the conclusion--partly from +some half-words dropped, and partly from knowing where they both +occasionally visited--that the subtle influence which from the days of +Helen downward--and I suppose upward--has pleased and plagued mankind, +was at the bottom of the matter. I was quite right, and proof was not +long waited for. I was walking early one evening along Piccadilly with +Travers--who appeared, by-the-by, to wish me further, though he was too +polite to say so--when we came suddenly upon Capel. I caught his arm, +and insisted that he should take a turn with us as he used to do. I +thought that possibly a quiet word or two on the beauty and excellence +of kindly brotherhood among men, might lead to a better feeling between +them. I was deucedly mistaken. My efforts in that line--awkwardly enough +made, I dare say--proved utterly abortive. Capel indeed turned back, +rather than, as I supposed, fussily persist in going on; but both he and +Travers strode on as stiffly as grenadiers on parade--their cheeks +flushed, their eyes alight with angry emotion, and altogether sullen and +savage as bears. What seemed odd too, when Travers turned sharply round +within a short distance of Hyde Park Corner, with a scarcely-disguised +intention of shaking us off, Capel whirled round as quickly, as if quite +as resolutely determined not to be shaken off; while I, considerably +alarmed by the result of the pacific overture I had ventured upon, did, +of course, the same. We stalked on in silence, till just as we reached +Hoby's, and a Mr. Hervey, with his daughter Constance, turned suddenly +out of St. James's-street. I was fiery hot to the tips of my ears in an +instant. Travers and Capel stopped abruptly, stared fiercely at each +other, and barely recovered presence of mind in sufficient time to lift +their hats in acknowledgment of Mr. Hervey's brief greeting, and the +lady's slight bow, as, after half-pausing, they passed on. It was all +clear enough now. My two gentlemen had come to Piccadilly in the hope of +meeting with Constance Hervey, and accompanying her home; frustrated in +this, they had determined not to lose sight of each other; nor did they +for three mortal hours, during which, anxiety lest their rancorous +ill-humor should break out into open quarrel, kept me banging about from +post to pillar with them--a sullen companionship, so utterly wearisome +that I had several times half a mind to propose that they should fight +it out at once, or toss up which should jump for the other's benefit +into the Thames. At length ten o'clock struck, and it appearing to be +mutually concluded that a visit to Kensington was no longer possible, a +sour expression of relief escaped them, and our very agreeable party +separated. + +A very dangerous person in such a crisis was, I knew, this Constance +Hervey, though by no means a catch in a pecuniary sense for +well-connected young men with present salaries of three hundred a year, +and twice as much in near expectancy. Her father, who had once held his +head pretty high in the commercial world, had not long since become +bankrupt, and they were now living upon an annuity of little more, I +understood, than a hundred pounds, so secured to Mr. Hervey that his +creditors could not touch it. This consideration, however, is one that +weighs very little with men in the condition of mind of Capel and +Travers, and I felt that once enthralled by Constance Hervey's singular +beauty, escape, or resignation to disappointment was very difficult and +hard to bear. She was no favorite of mine, just then, by the way. I had +first seen her about three years previously--and even then, while yet +the light, the simplicity, the candor, of young girlhood lingered over, +and softened the rising graces of the woman, I read in the full depths +of her dark eyes an exultant consciousness of beauty, and the secret +instinct of its power. Let me, however, in fairness state that I had +myself--moon-calf that I must have been--made sundry booby, blushing +advances to the youthful beauty, and the half-amused, half-derisive +merriment with which they were received, gave a twist, no doubt, to my +opinion of the merits of a person so provokingly blind to mine. Be this, +however, as it may, there could be no question that Constance Hervey was +now a very charming woman, and I was grieved only, not surprised, at the +bitter rivalry that had sprung up between Travers and Capel--a rivalry +which each successive day but fed and strengthened! + +Capel appeared to be fast losing all control over his temper and mode of +life. He drank freely--that was quite clear; gambled, it was said, and +rumors of debt, protested bills, ready money raised at exorbitant +interest on the faith of his succeeding to Rowdell's post, flew thick as +hail about the office. Should he obtain the coveted six hundred a year, +Constance Hervey would, I doubted not--first favorite as Travers now +seemed to be--condescend to be Mrs. Capel. This, not very complimentary +opinion, I had been mentally repeating some dozen times with more than +ordinary bitterness as I sat alone one evening after dinner in our +little dining-room in Golden-square, when the decision came. The +governor being out, I had perhaps taken a few extra glasses of wine, and +nothing, in my experience, so lights up and inflames tender or +exasperating reminiscences as fine old port. + +"Rat-tat-tat-tat." It was unmistakably Travers's knock, and +boisterously hilarious, too, as in the old time, before any Constance +Herveys had emerged from pinafores and tuckers to distract and torment +mankind, and more especially well-to-do government clerks. The startled +maid-servant hastened to the door, and I had barely gained my feet and +stretched myself, when in bounced Travers--radiant--a-blaze with +triumph. + +"Hollo, Travers! Why, where the deuce do you spring from, eh?" + +"From Heaven! Paradise!--the presence of an angel at all events!" + +"There, there, that will do; I quite understand." + +"No, you don't Ned. Nobody but myself _can_ understand, imagine, guess, +dream of the extent the vastness of the change that has come over my +life. Firstly, then--but this is nothing--Rowdell is at length +superannuated, and I am to have his place." + +He paused a moment; and I, with certainly a more than half-envious +sneer, said--"And upon the strength of that piece of luck, you have +proposed to Constance Hervey, and been accepted--of course." + +"_Jubilate_--yes! Feel how my pulse throbs! It is four hours since, and +still my brain lightens and my eyes dazzle with the tumultuous joy. Do +not light the candles; I shall grow calmer in the twilight." + +"Confound his raptures," was my internal ejaculation. "Why the mischief +couldn't he take them somewhere else?" I, however, said nothing, and he +presently resumed the grateful theme. "You will be at the wedding, of +course. And by-the-by, now I think of it, haven't I heard Constance say +she especially remembers you for something--I forget exactly what--but +something pleasant and amusing--very!" + +My face kindled to flame, and I savagely whirled the easy chair in which +I sat two or three yards back from the fire-light before speaking. "I am +extremely obliged to the lady, and so I dare say is poor Capel, who, it +seems, has been so carelessly thrown over." + +"Carelessly thrown over!" rejoined Travers, sharply. "That is a very +improper expression. If he has, as I fear, indulged in illusions, he has +been only self-deceived. Still, his double disappointment grieves me. It +seems to cast--though there is no valid reason that it should do so--a +shadow on my conscience." + +We were both silent for some time. I was in no mood for talking, and he +sat gazing dreamily at the fire. I knew very well whose face he saw +there. I have seen it myself in the same place a hundred times. + +"There is another drawback, Ned," he at length resumed. "Our marriage +must be deferred six months at the least. I have but about two hundred +pounds in ready money, and the lease and furniture of the house we shall +require, would cost at least double that." + +"Any respectable establishment would credit you for the furniture upon +the strength of your greatly-increased salary." + +"So I urged; but Constance has such a perfect horror of debt--arising +no doubt from her father's misfortunes--that she positively insists we +must wait till every thing required in our new establishment can be paid +for when purchased. I could, I think, raise the money upon my own +acceptance, but should Constance hear that I had done so, she would, I +fear, withdraw her promise." + +"Stuff and nonsense! Six hundred a year can not be picked up every day." + +"You do not know Constance Hervey. But come; I must have patience! +Six--nine months are not a lifetime. Good-by. I knew you would be +rejoiced to hear of my good fortune." + +"Oh, of course--particularly delighted, in fact! Good-evening." I have +slept better than I did that night. + +It was Sunday evening when Travers called on me, and Capel did not make +his appearance at the office till the Friday following, his excuse being +urgent private business. Harassing business, if that were so, it must +have been, for a sharp fever could scarcely have produced a greater +change for the worse in his personal appearance. He was mentally changed +as greatly. He very heartily congratulated Travers on his promotion, and +took, moreover, the first opportunity of privately assuring him that his +(Capel's) transient fancy for Miss Hervey had entirely passed away, and +he cordially complimented his former rival on having succeeded in that +quarter also. This was all remarkably queer, _I_ thought; but Travers, +from whose mind a great load seemed taken, willingly believed him, and +they were better friends than ever; Capel, the more thoroughly, it +seemed, to mark his acquiescent indifference, accompanying Travers once +or twice to the Herveys'. So did I; though I would have given something +the first time to have been any where else; for if a certain kneeling +down, garden-arbor scene did not play about the lady's coral lips, and +gleam for a moment from the corners of her bewildering eyes, my pulse +was as steady and temperate just then, as it is now, after the frosts of +more than sixty winters have chilled its beatings. She was, however, +very kind and courteous, a shade _too_ considerately gentle and +patronizing, perhaps, and I became a rather frequent visitor. An ancient +aunt, and very worthy soul, lived with them, with whom I now and then +took a turn at backgammon, while the affianced couple amused themselves +with chess--such chess! Travers was, I knew, a superior player, but on +these occasions he hardly appeared to know a queen from a rook, or a +bishop from a pawn. They were thus absurdly engaged one evening, when I +made a discovery which, if it did not much surprise, greatly pained and +somewhat alarmed me. Aunt Jane had left the room on some household +intent, and I, partly concealed in the recess where I sat, by the +window-curtain, silently contemplated the queer chess-playing, the +entranced delight of the lover, and the calm, smiling graciousness of +the lady. I have felt in a more enviable frame of mind--more composed, +more comfortable than I did just then, but, good lord! what was my +innocent little pit-pat compared with the storm of hate, and fury, and +despair, which found terrific expression in the countenance that, as +attracted by a slight noise, I hastily looked up, met my view! It was +Capel's. He had entered the room, the door being ajar, unobserved, and +was gazing, as he supposed, unmarked, at the chess-players. I was so +startled that I, mechanically, as it were, sprang to my feet, and as I +did so, Capel's features, by a strong effort of will, resumed their +ordinary expression, save for the deathly pallor that remained, and a +nervous quivering of the upper lip which could not be instantly +mastered. I was more than satisfied as to the true nature of +smooth-seeming Mr. Capel's sentiments toward the contracted couple, but +as _they_ had observed nothing, I thought it wisest to hold my peace. I +could not, however, help smiling at the confiding simplicity with which +Travers, as we all three walked homeward together, sought counsel of +Capel as to the readiest means of raising--unknown to Miss Hervey--the +funds necessary to be obtained before Prudence, as interpreted by that +lady, would permit his marriage. Slight help, thought I, for such a +purpose, will be afforded by the owner of the amiable countenance I saw +just now. + +It was just a week after this that thunder fell upon our office by the +discovery that sixteen hundred pounds in Bank of England notes, sent in +by different parties, late on the previous day, had disappeared, +together with a memorandum-book containing the numbers and dates. Great, +it may be imagined, was the consternation among us all, and a rigorous +investigation, which, however, led to nothing, was immediately +instituted. Capel, who showed extraordinary zeal in the matter, went, +accompanied by one of the chief clerks, to the parties from whom the +notes had been received, for fresh lists, in order that payment might be +stopped. On their return, it was given out that no accurate, reliable +list could be obtained. This, it was afterward found, was a _ruse_ +adopted in order to induce the thief or thieves to more readily attempt +getting the notes into circulation. + +This occurred in the beginning of September, and about the middle of +October, Travers suddenly informed me that he was to be married on the +following Monday--this was Tuesday. The lease of a house at Hammersmith +had, he said, been agreed for, the furniture ordered, and every thing +was to be completed and paid for by the end of the present week. "And +the money--the extra two hundred and odd pounds required--how has that +been obtained?" "Of my uncle Woolridge, a marriage-_gift_, though +he won't, I believe, be present at the wedding," returned the +bridegroom-elect, with a joyous chuckle. I was quite sure from his +manner, as well as from my knowledge of his uncle's penurious character, +that this was a deception. Constance Hervey's scruples, I had always +thought, now that it was certain his next quarter's salary would +be one hundred and fifty pounds were somewhat over strained and +unreasonable--still I was vexed that he had stooped to deceive her by +such a subterfuge. It was, however, no especial affair of mine, and I +reluctantly accepted his invitation to dine at the Herveys' with him on +the last day of his bachelorhood, that is, on the following Sunday. +Capel was invited, but he refused. I also, declined, and resolutely, to +attend the wedding. That would, I felt, be _un peu trop fort_ just then. + +A very pleasant party assembled at Mr. Hervey's on the afternoon of that +terrible Sunday, and we were cheerfully chatting over the dessert, when +the servant-girl announced that four gentlemen were at the door who said +they _must_ see Mr. Travers instantly. + +"_Must_ see me!" exclaimed Travers. "Very peremptory, upon my word. With +your leave, sir--and yours, Constance, I will see these very determined +gentlemen here. Bid them walk in, Susan." + +Before Susan could do so, the door opened, and in walked the strangers +_without_ invitation. One of them, a square, thick-set, bullet-headed +man it instantly struck me I had been in company with before. Oh! to be +sure! he was the officer who conducted the investigation in the matter +of the stolen notes. What on earth could _he_ want there--or with +Travers? + +"You paid, Mr. Travers," said he, bluntly, "something over four hundred +pounds to these two gentlemen, yesterday." + +"Yes, certainly I did; no doubt about it." + +"Will you tell us, then, if you please, where you obtained the notes in +which you made those payments?" + +"Obtained them--where I obtained them?" said Travers, who did not, I +think, immediately recognize the officer. "To be sure. Four of +them--four fifties--I have had by me for some time; and--and--" + +"The two one-hundred pound notes--how about them?" quietly suggested the +man, seeing Travers hesitate. + +Travers, more confused than alarmed, perhaps, but white as the paper on +which I am writing, glanced hurriedly round--we had all impulsively +risen to our feet--till his eye rested upon Constance Hervey's +eagerly-attentive countenance. "I received them," he stammered, +repeating, I was sure, a falsehood, "from my uncle, Mr. Woolridge, of +Tottenham." + +"Then, of course, you will have no objection to accompany us to your +uncle, Mr. Woolridge, of Tottenham?" + +"Certainly not; but not now. To-morrow--you see I am engaged now." + +"I am sorry to say, Mr. Travers, that you _must_ go with us. Those two +notes were among those stolen from the office to which you belong." + +There was a half-stifled scream--a broken sob, and, but for me, +Constance Hervey would have fallen senseless on the floor. Travers was +in the merciless grasp of the officers, who needlessly hurried him off, +spite of his frantic entreaties for a brief delay. The confusion and +terror of such a scene may be imagined, not described. Although at first +somewhat staggered, five minutes had not passed before I felt thoroughly +satisfied that Travers was the victim of some diabolical plot; and I +pretty well guessed of whose concoction. An untruth he had no doubt been +guilty of, through fear of displeasing his betrothed--but guilty of +stealing money--of plundering the office!--bah!--the bare supposition +was an absurdity. + +As soon as Miss Hervey was sufficiently recovered to listen, I +endeavored to reason with her in this sense, but she could not +sufficiently command her attention. "My brain is dizzy and confused as +yet," she said; "do you follow, and ascertain, as far as possible, _all_ +the truth--the worst truth. I shall be calmer when you return." + +"I did so, and in less than two hours I was again at Kensington. Travers +was locked up, after confessing that his statement of having received +the hundred-pound notes of his uncle Woolridge, was untrue. He would +probably be examined at Bow-street the next day--his wedding-day, as he +had fondly dreamed!" + +I found Constance Hervey--unlike her father and aunt, who were moaning +and lamenting about the place like distracted creatures--perfectly calm +and self-possessed, though pale as Parian marble. I told her all--all I +had heard and seen, and all that I suspected. Her eyes kindled to +intensest lustre as I spoke. "I have no doubt," she said, "that your +suspicions point the right way, but proof, confronted as we shall be by +that wretched falsehood, will, I fear, be difficult. But I will not +despair; the truth will, I trust, ultimately prevail. And remember, +Thornton," she added, "that we count entirely upon you." She gave me her +hand on saying this; I clutched it with ridiculous enthusiasm, and +blurted out--as if I had been a warlike knight instead of a peaceable +clerk--"You may, Miss Hervey, to the death!" In fact, at that particular +moment, although by no means naturally pugnacious, and, moreover, of a +somewhat delicate constitution, I think I should have proved an ugly +customer had there been any body in the way to fight with. This, +however, not being the case, I consulted with Mr. Hervey as to what +legal assistance ought to be secured, and it was finally determined that +I should request Mr. Elkins, a solicitor residing in Lothbury, to take +Travers's instructions, and that Mr. Alley, the barrister, should be +retained to attend at Bow-street. This matter settled, I took my leave. + +I had a very unsatisfactory account to render on the morrow evening to +the anxious family at Kensington. Travers's appearance at Bow-street had +been deferred, at the request of his solicitor, to Wednesday, in order +that the individual from whom the prisoner _now_ declared he had +received the stolen notes might be communicated with. The explanation +given by Travers to the solicitor was briefly this: About seven months +previously he had amassed a considerable sum in guineas--then bearing a +high premium, although it was an offense at law to dispose of them for +more in silver or notes than their nominal value. Somebody--Mr. Capel, +he was pretty sure, but would not be positive--mentioned to him the name +of one Louis Brocard, of No. 18 Brewer-street, as a man who would be +likely to give him a good price for his gold. Travers accordingly saw +Brocard, who, after considerable haggling, paid him two hundred pounds +in Bank of England notes--four fifties--for one hundred and sixty-two +guineas. That lately he, Travers, had often mentioned to Capel, that he +wished to raise, as secretly as possible, on his own personal security, +a sum of at least two hundred pounds, and that Capel--this he was sure +of, as not more than a month had since elapsed--Capel had advised him to +apply to Louis Brocard for assistance. He had done so, and Brocard had +given him the two one-hundred pound notes in exchange for a note of +hand, at six months' date, for two hundred and twenty pounds. I had +obtained temporary leave of absence from the office, and at the +solicitor's request I accompanied him to Brewer-street. Brocard--a +strong-featured, swarthy _emigré_ from the south of France, Languedoc, I +believe, who had been in this country since '92, and spoke English +fluently--was at home, and I could not help thinking, from his manner, +expecting and prepared for some such visit. There was a young woman with +him, his niece, he said, Marie Deschamps, of the same cast of features +as himself, but much handsomer, and with dark fiery eyes, that upon the +least excitement seemed to burn like lightning. Brocard confirmed +Travers's statement without hesitation as to the purchase of the gold +and the discount of the bill. "In what money did you pay the two hundred +pounds for which you received the acceptance?" asked the solicitor. + +"I will tell you," replied Brocard, coolly. "Marie, give me the +pocket-book from the desk--the red one. September 26th," he continued, +after adjusting his spectacles, "Martin Travers, four fifty Bank of +England notes," and he read off the dates and numbers, of which I +possess no memoranda. + +"Why, those are the notes," exclaimed Mr. Elkins, very much startled, +and glancing at a list in his hand, "which you paid Mr. Travers for the +gold, and which you and others I could name, knew he had not since +parted with!" + +A slight flush crossed the Frenchman's brow, and the niece's eyes +gleamed with fierce expression at these words. The emotion thus +displayed was but momentary. + +"You are misinformed," said Brocard. "Here is a memorandum made at the +time (March 3d) of the notes paid for the gold. You can read it +yourself. The largest in amount, you will see, was a twenty." + +"Do you mean to persist in asserting," said Mr. Elkins, after several +moments of dead silence, "that you did not pay Mr. Travers for his bill +of exchange in two one-hundred pound notes?" + +"Persist!" exclaimed the Frenchman. "I don't understand your 'persist!' +I have told you the plain truth. Persist--_parbleu_!" + +I was dumfoundered. "Pray, Monsieur Brocard," said the solicitor, +suddenly; "Do you know Mr. Capel?" + +The swarthy flush was plainer now, and not so transitory. +"Capel--Capel," he muttered, averting his face toward his niece. "Do we +know Capel, Marie?" + +"No doubt your niece does, Mr. Brocard," said the solicitor, with a +sharp sneer, "or that eloquent face of hers belies her." + +In truth, Marie Deschamps's features were a-flame with confused and +angry consciousness; and her brilliant eyes sparkled with quick ire, as +she retorted, "And if I do, what then?" + +"Nothing, _perhaps_, young lady; but my question was addressed to your +uncle." + +"I have nothing more to say," rejoined Brocard. "I know nothing of the +hundred pound notes; very little of Mr. Capel, whom now, however, I +remember. And pray, sir," he added, with a cold, malignant smile, "did I +not hear this morning, that Martin Travers informed the officers that it +was a relation, an uncle, I believe, from whom he received the said +notes--stolen notes, it seems? He will endeavor to inculpate some one +else by-and-by, I dare say." + +There was no parrying this thrust, and we came away, much disturbed and +discouraged. I remained late that evening at Kensington, talking the +unfortunate matter over; but hope, alas! of a safe deliverance for poor +Travers appeared impossible, should Brocard persist in his statement. +The prisoner's lodgings had been minutely searched, but no trace of the +still missing fourteen hundred pounds had been discovered there. +Constance Hervey appeared to be greatly struck with my account of Marie +Deschamps's appearance and demeanor, and made me repeat each +circumstance over and over again. I could not comprehend how this could +so much interest her at such a time. + +Brocard repeated his statement, on oath, at Bow-street, and Mr. Alley's +cross-examination failed to shake his testimony. The first declaration +made by Travers necessarily deprived his after protestations, vehement +as they were, of all respect; but I could not help feeling surprise that +the barrister's suggestion that it was absurd to suppose that a man in +possession of the very large sum that had been stolen, would have +_borrowed_ two hundred pounds at an exorbitant interest, was treated +with contempt. All that, it was hinted, was a mere colorable contrivance +to be used in case of detection. The prisoner feared to put too many of +the notes in circulation at once, and the acceptance would have been +paid for in the stolen moneys, and so on. Finally, Travers was committed +for trial, and bail was refused. + +As the star of the unfortunate Travers sank in disastrous eclipse, that +of Capel shone more brilliantly. There was no doubt that he would +succeed, on his rival's conviction, to the vacated post; and some eight +or nine weeks after Travers had been committed, circumstances occurred +which induced me to believe that he would be equally successful in +another respect. I must also say that Capel evinced from the first much +sorrow for his old friend's lamentable fall; he treated the notion of +his being guiltless with disdain, and taking me one day aside, he said +he should endeavor to get Brocard out of the country before the day of +trial either by fair means or by tipping him the Alien Act. "In fact," +he added, with some confusion of manner, "I have faithfully promised +Miss Hervey, that for _her_ sake, though she can have no more doubt of +his guilt than I have, that no effort shall be spared to prevent his +_legal_ conviction; albeit, life, without character will be, I should +think, no great boon to him." + +"For _her_ sake! You, Edward Capel, have faithfully promised Miss Hervey +to attempt this for _her_ sake!" I exclaimed, as soon as I could speak +for sheer astonishment. + +"Ay, truly: does that surprise you, Thornton?" he added, with a +half-bitter, half-Malvolio smile. + +"Supremely; and if it be as your manner intimates, why then, Frailty, +thy name in very truth is--" + +"Woman!" broke in Capel, taking the word out of my mouth. "No doubt of +it, from the days of Eve till ours. But come, let us return to +business." + +I had been for some time grievously perplexed by the behavior of +Constance Hervey. Whenever I had called at Kensington, I found, that +though at times she appeared to be on the point of breaking through a +self-imposed restraint, all mention of Travers, as far as possible, was +avoided, and that some new object engrossed the mind of Constance, to +the exclusion of every other. What a light did this revelation of +Capel's throw on her conduct and its motives! And it was such a woman as +that, was it, that I had enshrined in the inmost recesses of my heart, +and worshiped as almost a divinity! Great God! + +These thoughts were trembling on my lips, when a brief note was brought +me: "Miss Hervey's compliments to Mr. Edward Thornton, and she will be +obliged if, late as it is, he will hasten to Kensington immediately." I +had never seen a line of hers before in my life, and it was wonderful +how all my anger, suspicion, scorn, vanished--exhaled, before those +little fly-stroke characters; so much so that--but no, I won't expose +myself. A hack soon conveyed me to Kensington; Mr. Hervey, Constance, +and good Aunt Jane were all there in the parlor, evidently in +expectation of my arrival. Miss Hervey proceeded to business at once. + +"You have not seen Marie Deschamps lately, I believe?" + +"Not I! The last time I saw her was in Bow-street, whither she +accompanied her scoundrel of an uncle." + +"Well, you must see her again to-morrow. She is deeply attached to Mr. +Capel, and expects that he will marry her as soon as Martin Travers is +convicted; and he, Capel, has secured the vacant place." + +"Ha!" + +"Mr. Capel," continued Miss Hervey, and a glint of sparkling sunlight +shot from her charming eyes, "has been foolish enough to prefer another +person--at least so I am instructed by papa, with whom the gentleman +left this note, not yet opened, addressed to me, some three hours since. +I can imagine its contents, but let us see." + +I can not depict in words the scorn, contempt, pride--triumph, too--that +swept over that beautiful countenance. "Very impassioned and eloquent, +upon my word," she said; "I only wonder such burning words did not fire +the paper. Now, Mr. Thornton, you must see this forsaken damsel, Marie +Deschamps, and acquaint her with Mr. Capel's inconstancy. She will +require proof--it shall be afforded her. In answer to this missive, I +shall appoint Mr. Capel to see me here to-morrow evening at seven +o'clock. Do you bring her by half-past six, and place yourselves in yon +little ante-room, where every thing done here, and every word spoken, +can be distinctly seen and heard. This well managed, I am greatly +deceived in those southern eyes of hers if the iniquitous plot, of which +there can be no doubt she holds the clew, will not receive an +unlooked-for solution." + +"Charming! glorious! beautiful!" I was breaking into _éclats_ of +enthusiastic admiration, but Miss Hervey, who was too earnest and +excited to listen patiently to rhapsodies, cut me short with, "My dear +sir, it's getting very late, and there is, you know, much to be done +to-morrow." It's not pleasant to be let down so suddenly when you are so +particularly stilty, but as I was by this time pretty well used to it, I +submitted with the best possible grace, and, after receiving some other +explanations and directions, took leave. + +I obtained an interview without difficulty, on the following morning, +with Marie Deschamps, just before office hours, and in her uncle's +absence. She was curious to know the object of my visit; but her manner, +though free and gay, was carefully guarded and unrelenting, till I +gradually and cautiously introduced the subject of Capel's infidelity. +It was marvelous how, as each sentence fell upon her ear, her figure +stiffened into statue-like rigidity, and her eyes kindled with fiery +passion. "If this be so," she said, when I ceased speaking, "he is +playing with his life! Is she the lady I passed a fortnight since, when +with him in the Park?" "Describe the lady, and I will tell you." She did +so; it was the exact portrait of Miss Hervey, and so I told her. "I had +a misgiving at the time," she said; "if it prove true--but I will +believe, after what has passed, only my own eyes and ears." + +This was all we desired; a satisfactory arrangement was agreed upon, and +I left her, not without hugging self-gratulation that _I_ was not the +recreant sweetheart about to be caught _in flagrante delicto_ by such a +damsel. + +I watched Capel that day with keen attention. He was much excited it was +evident, and withal ill at ease: there was a nervous apprehensiveness in +his manner and aspect I had never before noticed, over which, however, +from time to time quick flashes of exultation glimmered, sparkled, and +then vanished. Is it, thought I, the shadow of a sinister catastrophe +that already projects over and awes, appalls him? It might be. + +Marie Deschamps and I were ensconced punctually at the hour named, in +the little slip of a closet communicating with the Herveys' up-stairs +sitting-room. Nobody appeared there till about five minutes to seven, +when Constance, charmingly attired, and looking divinely--though much +agitated, I could see through all her assumed firmness--entered, and +seated herself upon a small couch, directly in front of the tiny window +through which we cautiously peered. "No wonder," I mentally exclaimed, +"that Capel has been beguiled of all sense or discretion!" + +In reply to Marie Deschamps' look of jealous yet admiring surprise, I +whispered, pointing to the neat but poor furniture, "Capel expects, you +know, soon to have six hundred a year." "Ah," she rejoined, in the same +tone, "and in this country gold is God!" "And all the Saints in yours, I +believe; but hark! there is a knock at the door; it is he, no doubt." + +Comparatively dark as the closet was, I could see the red, swarthy color +come and go on the young woman's cheeks and forehead; and I fancied I +could hear the violent and hurried beating of her heart. Presently Mr. +Capel entered the apartment; his features were flushed as with fever, +and his whole manner exhibited uncontrollable agitation. His first words +were unintelligible, albeit their purport might be guessed. Miss Hervey, +though much disturbed also, managed to say, after a few moment's awkward +silence, and with a half-ironical yet fascinating smile, taking up as +she spoke a letter which lay upon the table, "Upon my word, Mr. Capel, +this abrupt proposal of yours appears to me, under the circumstances, to +be singularly ill-timed and premature, besides--" + +The lady's discomposure had, it struck me, dissipated a half-formed +suspicion in Capel's mind that some trap or mystification was preparing +for him, and, throwing himself at the feet of Constance, he gave way to +a torrent of fervent, headlong protestation, which there could be no +question was the utterance of genuine passion. Marie Deschamps felt +this, and but that I forcibly held her back, she would have burst into +the room at once: as it was she pressed her arms across her bosom with +her utmost force, as if to compress, keep down, the wild rage by which +she was, I saw, shaken and convulsed. Miss Hervey appeared affected by +Capel's vehemence, and she insisted that he should rise and seat +himself. He did so, and after a minute or so of silence, Constance again +resolutely addressed herself to the task she had determined to perform. + +"But the lady, Mr. Capel, whom we saw you conversing with not long since +in the Park; one Marie--Marie, something?" + +"The name of such a person as Marie Deschamps should not sully Miss +Hervey's lips, even in jest, ha!--" + +No wonder he stopped abruptly, and turned round with quick alarm. Till +that moment I had with difficulty succeeded in holding the said Marie, +but no sooner was her name thus contemptuously pronounced, than she +plucked a small, glittering instrument from her bodice--the half of a +pair of scissors, it seemed to me, but pointed and sharp as a +dagger--and drove it into my arm with such hearty good-will, that I +loosed her in a twinkling. In she burst upon the utterly astounded Capel +with a cry of rage and vengeance, and struck furiously at him right and +left, at the same time hurling in his face the epithets of "liar!" +"traitor!" "robber!" "villain!" and so on, as thick as hail, and with +maniacal fury. I had instantly followed, and at the same moment Mr. +Hervey, and the officer who arrested Travers, came in by another door. I +and Mr. Hervey placed ourselves before Constance, who was terribly +scared, for this stabbing business was more than we had looked or +bargained for. The officer seized Marie Deschamps' arm, and with some +difficulty wrenched the dangerous weapon she wielded with such deadly +ferocity from her grasp. It was, as I supposed, a sharpened +scissors-blade, and keen, as a large scar on my arm still testifies, as +a poinard. Capel, paralyzed, bewildered by so unexpected and furious an +attack, and bleeding in several places, though not seriously hurt, +staggered back to the wall, against which he supported himself, as he +gazed with haggard fear and astonishment at the menacing scene before +him. + +"And so you would marry that lady, thief and villain that you are!" +continued the relentless young fury; "she shall know, then, what you +are; that it was you contrived the stealing of the bank notes, which--" + +"Marie!" shrieked Capel, "dear Marie! for your own sake, stop! I will do +any thing--" + +"Dog! traitor!" she broke in, with even yet wilder passion than before, +if it were possible; "it is too late. I know you now, and spit at both +you and your promises? It was you, I say, who brought my uncle the +one-hundred pound notes by which your _friend_, Martin Travers, has been +entrapped!" + +"'Tis false! the passionate, mad, jealous fool lies!" shouted Capel, +with frantic terror. + +"Lie, do I? Then there is _not_ a thousand pounds worth of the stolen +notes concealed at this moment beneath the floor of your sitting-room, +till an opportunity can be found of sending them abroad! That, unmatched +villain that you are, is false, too, perhaps?" + +She paused from sheer exhaustion, and for a brief space no one spoke, so +suddenly had the blow fallen. Presently the officer said, "The game is +up, you see, at last, Mr. Capel; you will go with me;" and he stepped +toward the unhappy culprit. Capel, thoroughly desperate, turned, sprang +with surprising agility over a dining-table, threw up a window-sash, and +leapt into the street. The height was not so much, but his feet caught +in some iron railing, and he fell head foremost on the pavement, +fracturing his skull frightfully. Before an hour had passed, he was +dead. + +Brocard contrived to escape, but the evidence of Marie Deschamps and the +finding of the stolen notes, in accordance with her statement, fully +established the innocence of Travers, and he was restored to freedom and +his former position in the world. He and Constance Hervey, to whom he +owed so much, were married three months after his liberation, and I +officiated, by particular desire, as bride's father. + +I had lost sight of Marie Deschamps for some twelve or thirteen years, +when I accidentally met her in Liverpool. She was a widow, having +married and buried a M. L'Estrange, a well-to-do person there, who left +her in decent circumstances. We spoke together of the events I have +briefly but faithfully narrated, and she expressed much contrition for +the share she had taken in the conspiracy against Travers. I fancied, +too--it was perhaps an unjust fancy--that, knowing I had lately been +promoted to four hundred a year, she wished to dazzle me with those +still bright eyes of hers--a bootless effort, by whomsoever attempted. +The talismanic image daguerreotyped upon my heart in the bright sunlight +of young manhood, could have no rival there, and is even now as fresh +and radiant as when first impressed, albeit the strong years have done +their work, yet very gently, upon the original. It could scarcely be +otherwise, living visibly, as she still does, in youthful grace and +beauty in the person of the gay gipsy I am, please God, soon to "give +away," at St. Pancras Church, as I did her grandmamma, more than forty +years ago, at Kensington. Constance, _this_ Constance is, as she well +knows, to be my heiress. Travers, her grandfather, is now a +silver-haired, yet hale, jocund, old man; and so tenderly, I repeat, has +Time dealt with his wife--the Constance Hervey of this narrative--that I +can sometimes hardly believe her to be more than about three or four and +forty years of age. This is, however, perhaps only an illusion of the +long and, whatever fools or skeptics may think, or say, elevating dream +that has pursued me through youth and middle age, even unto confirmed +old bachelorhood. Madame L'Estrange, as before stated, died a short time +since at Liverpool; her death, by influenza, the paper noticed, was +sudden and unexpected. + + + + +WONDERFUL TOYS. + + +Very wonderful things are told by various writers of the power of +inventive genius in expending itself upon trifles. Philip Camuz +describes an extraordinary automaton group that was got up, regardless, +of course, of expense, for the entertainment of Louis the Fourteenth. +It consisted of a coach and horses--what a modern coachman would +designate "a first-rate turn-out." Its road was a table; and, at +starting, the coachman smacked his whip, the horses began to prance; +then, subsiding into a long trot, they continued until the whole +equipage arrived opposite to where the King sat. They then stopped, a +footman dismounted from the foot-board, opened the door, and handed out +a lady; who, courtesying gracefully, offered a petition to his Majesty, +and re-entered the carriage. The footman jumped up behind--all +right--the whip smacked once more; the horses pranced, and the long trot +was resumed. + +Some of the stories extant, respecting musical automata, are no less +extraordinary. D'Alembert gives an account, in the "_Encyclopédie +Methodique_," of a gigantic mechanical Flute-player. It stood on a +pedestal, in which some of the "works" were contained; and, not only +blew into the flute, but, with its lips, increased or diminished the +tones it forced out of the instrument, performing the legato and +staccato passages to perfection. The fingering was also quite accurate. +This marvelous Flautist was exhibited in Paris in 1738, and was made by +Jacques de Vaucanson, the prince of automaton contrivers. + +Vaucanson labored under many disadvantages in constructing this +marvelous figure; among others, that of a skeptic uncle; who, for some +years, laughed him out of his project. At length, fortune favored the +mechanist with a severe illness; and he took advantage of it to contrive +the automaton he had so long dreamt of. This was at Grenoble; and, as +Vaucanson designed each portion of the figure, he sent it to be made by +a separate workman; that no one should find out the principle of his +invention. As the pieces came home, he put them together; and, when the +whole was completed, he crawled out of bed, by the help of a servant who +had been his go-between with the various operative mechanics, and locked +his chamber door. Trembling with anxiety, he wound up the works. At the +first sound emitted from the flute, the servant fell on his knees, and +began to worship his master as somebody more than mortal. They both +embraced each other, and wept with joy to the tune which the figure was +merrily playing. + +None of Vaucanson's imitators have been able to accomplish the +organization by which his figure modified the tones, by the action of +the lips; although several flute-playing puppets have since been made. +About forty years ago there was an exhibition in London, of two +mechanical figures, of the size of life, which performed duets. +Incredulous visitors were in the habit of placing their fingers on the +holes of the flutes, in order to convince themselves that the puppets +really supplied the wind, which caused the flutes to discourse such +excellent music. + +A full orchestra of clock-work musicians is quite possible. Maelzel, the +inventor of the Metronome, opened an exhibition in Vienna, in 1809, in +which an automaton Trumpeter as large as life, performed with +surprising accuracy and power. The audience first saw, on entering the +room, a tent. Presently the curtains opened, and Maelzel appeared +leading forward the trumpeter, attired in full regimentals of an +Austrian dragoon. He then pressed the left epaulet of the figure, and it +began to sound, not only all the cavalry flails then in use for +directing the evolutions of the Austrian cavalry, but to play a march, +and an allegro by Weigl, which was accompanied by a full band of living +musicians. The figure then retired; and, in a few minutes, reappeared in +the dress of a trumpeter of the French guard. The inventor wound it up +on the left hip; another touch on the left shoulder, and forth came from +the trumpet, in succession, all the French cavalry-calls, the French +cavalry march, a march by Dussek, and one of Pleyel's allegros; again +accompanied by the orchestra. In the _Journal des Modes_, whence this +account is derived, it is declared that the tones produced by Maelzel's +automaton were even fuller and richer than those got out of a trumpet by +human lungs and lips; because a man's breath imparts to the inside of +the instrument a moisture which deteriorates the quality of the tone. + +Vaucanson has, however, never been outdone; after his Flautist, he +produced a figure which accompanied a flageolet played with one hand, +with a tambourine struck with the other. But his most wonderful +achievements were in imitating animals. His duck became a wonder of the +world. He simulated nature in the minutest point. Every bone, every +fibre, every organ, were so accurately constructed and fitted, that the +mechanism waddled about in search of grain; and, when it found some, +picked it up with its bill and swallowed it. "This grain" (we quote from +the _Biographie Universelle_) "produced in the stomach a species of +trituration, which caused it to pass into the intestines, and to perform +all the functions of digestion." The wonderful duck was not to be +distinguished from any live duck. It muddled the water with its beak, +drank, and quacked to the life. From men and ducks Vaucanson descended +to insects. When Marmontel brought out his tragedy of "Cleopatra," +Vaucanson obliged the author with a mechanical Aspic, in order that the +heroine might be stung with the closest imitation of nature. At the +proper moment the insect darted forth from the side-scenes, and settled +upon the actress, hissing all the while. A wit, on being asked his +opinion of the play, answered pithily, "_I_ agree with the Aspic." + +One never contemplates these wonders without regretting that so much +mechanical genius should have been mis-expended upon objects by which +mankind are no gainers beyond a little fleeting gratification. Vaucanson +did not, however, wholly waste himself upon ingenious trifling. He was +appointed by Cardinal Fleury, Inspector of Silk Manufactories, into +which he introduced, during a visit to Lyons, some labor-saving +improvements. In return for this, the workmen stoned him out of the +town; but he conveyed his opinion of their folly by constructing and +setting to work a machine which produced a very respectable flower +pattern in silk damask by the aid of an Ass. Had his genius confined +itself wholly to the useful arts, it is not to be doubted that Vaucanson +would have advanced the productive powers of machinery, and, +consequently, the prosperity of mankind, at least half a century. In +point of abstract ingenuity, his useless contrivances equal, if they do +not exceed in inventive power and mechanical skill, the important +achievements of Arkwright and Watt. Vaucanson's inventions died with +him; those of the great English engineers will live to increase the +happiness and comfort of mankind forever. + +Single mechanical figures, including the automaton Chess-player (which +was scarcely a fair deception, and is too well known to need more than a +passing allusion), although surprising for their special performances, +were hardly more attractive than the groups of automata which have been +from time to time exhibited. One of the Memoirs of the French Academy of +Sciences describes, in 1729, a set of mechanical puppets, which were at +that time performing a pantomime in five acts. In 1746, Bienfait, the +show-man, brought out "The Bombardment of the City of Antwerp," which +was performed in the most soldier-like manner, by automata; all the +artillery being served and discharged with that regularity which is +always attributed to clock-work. A year or two later, the same artist +produced "The Grand Assault of Bergem-op-Zoom," with unequivocal +success. He called his company _Comédiens praticiens_. + +The latest notable effort of mechanical puppet manufacture is exhibited +at Boulogne at the present time. It is that of a jeweler, who has +devoted eight years of his life to the perfection of a clock-work +conjuror; which he has made a thorough master of the thimble-rig. +Dressed in an Eastern costume, this necromancer stands behind a table, +covered, as the tables of professors of legerdemain usually are, with +little boxes and cabinets, from which he takes the objects he employs +during the exhibition. He produces his goblets, and shows the balls +under them; which vanish and reappear in the most approved style: now +two or three are conjured into a spot, a moment before vacant; +presently, these disappear again, and are perpetually divided and +re-united. + +At every exclamation of the spectators, the little conjuror turns his +eyes from side to side, as if looking round the house; smiles, casts his +eyes modestly down, bows, and resumes his sleight-of-hand. He not only +takes up the goblets from a stand, and places them over the balls, but +leaves them there for a minute, and holds his hands up, to show the +audience that he conceals nothing in his palm or sleeve. He then seizes +the goblets again and goes on. This trick over, he puts his cups away, +and shuts his cabinet. He then knocks on his table, and up starts an +egg, to which he points, to secure attention; he touches the egg (which +opens lengthwise) and a little bird starts into life; sings a +roundelay, claps its enameled wings--which are of real hummingbirds' +feathers, beyond any metallic art in lustre--and then falls back into +its egg. The little conjuror nods, smiles, rolls his eyes right and +left, bows as before, and the egg disappears into the table; he bows +again, and then sits down to intimate that the performance is over. The +height of this little gentleman is about three inches; his table and +every thing else being in due proportion. He stands on a high square +pedestal, apparently of marble. It is, however, of tin, painted white, +and within it are all the wheels and works containing the heart of the +mystery. + +This jeweler sold to a dealer, who re-sold to a Persian Prince, not long +since, a Marionnette flute-player; but whose fingering in the most +elaborate pieces, although as accurate as if Drouet or Nicholson had +been the performers, had no influence over the tune; which was played by +a concealed musical box. It was therefore, much inferior to those +mechanical flautists we have already described. The jeweler has never +ceased to regret having sold this toy. He could have borne to have +parted with it if it had remained in Europe, but that it should have +been conveyed, as he says, "to the other world," has been too cruel a +blow. "_Tout le monde_," he exclaims, "_sera enchanté de mon ouvrage; +mais, on ne parlera pas de moi, là-bas_"--all the world will be +enchanted with my work, but no one will speak of me yonder--by which +distant region, he probably means Ispahan. + +He is now perfecting a beautiful bird, which flies from spray to spray, +and sings when it alights, somewhat similarly to the little Swiss bird +which warbled so sweetly at the Great Exhibition. + + + + +MY TRAVELING COMPANION. + + +My picture was a failure. Partial friends had guaranteed its success; +but the Hanging Committee and the press are not composed of one's +partial friends. The Hanging Committee thrust me into the darkest corner +of the octagon-room, and the press ignored my existence--excepting in +one instance, when my critic dismissed me in a quarter of a line as a +"presumptuous dauber." I was stunned with the blow, for I had counted so +securely on the £200 at which my grand historical painting was +dog-cheap--not to speak of the deathless fame which it was to create for +me--that I felt like a mere wreck when my hopes were flung to the +ground, and the untasted cup dashed from my lips. I took to my bed, and +was seriously ill. The doctor bled me till I fainted, and then said, +that he had saved me from a brain-fever. That might be, but he very +nearly threw me into a consumption, only that I had a deep chest and a +good digestion. Pneumonic expansion and active chyle saved me from an +early tomb, yet I was too unhappy to be grateful. + +But why did my picture fail? Surely it possessed all the elements of +success! It was grandly historical in subject, original in treatment, +pure in coloring; what, then, was wanting? This old warrior's head, of +true Saxon type, had all the majesty of Michael Angelo; that young +figure, all the radiant grace of Correggio; no Rembrandt showed more +severe dignity than yon burnt umber monk in the corner; and Titian never +excelled the loveliness of this cobalt virgin in the foreground. Why did +it not succeed? The subject, too--the "Finding of the Body of Harold by +Torch-light"---was sacred to all English hearts; and being conceived in +an entirely new and original manner, it was redeemed from the charge of +triteness and wearisomeness. The composition was pyramidal, the apex +being a torch home aloft for the "high light," and the base showing some +very novel effects of herbage and armor. But it failed. All my skill, +all my hope, my ceaseless endeavor, my burning visions, all--all had +failed; and I was only a poor, half-starved painter, in Great +Howland-street, whose landlady was daily abating in her respect, and the +butcher daily abating in his punctuality; whose garments were getting +threadbare, and his dinners hypothetical, and whose day-dreams of fame +and fortune had faded into the dull-gray of penury and disappointment. I +was broken-hearted, ill, hungry; so I accepted an invitation from a +friend, a rich manufacturer in Birmingham, to go down to his house for +the Christmas holidays. He had a pleasant place in the midst of some +iron-works, the blazing chimneys of which, he assured me, would afford +me some exquisite studies of "light" effects. + +By mistake, I went by the Express train, and so was thrown into the +society of a lady whose position would have rendered any acquaintance +with her impossible, excepting under such chance-conditions as the +present; and whose history, as I learned it afterward, led me to reflect +much on the difference between the reality and the seeming of life. + +She moved my envy. Yes--base, mean, low, unartistic, degrading as is +this passion, I felt it rise up like a snake in my breast when I saw +that feeble woman. She was splendidly dressed--wrapped in furs of the +most costly kind, trailing behind; her velvets and lace worth a +countess's dowry. She was attended by obsequious menials; surrounded by +luxuries; her compartment of the carriage was a perfect palace in all +the accessories which it was possible to collect in so small a space; +and it seemed as though "Cleopatra's cup" would have been no +impracticable draught for her. She gave me more fully the impression of +luxury, than any person I had ever met with before; and I thought I had +reason when I envied her. + +She was lifted into the carriage carefully; carefully swathed in her +splendid furs and lustrous velvets; and placed gently, like a wounded +bird, in her warm nest of down. But she moved languidly, and fretfully +thrust aside her servants' busy hands, indifferent to her comforts, and +annoyed by her very blessings. I looked into her face: it was a strange +face, which had once been beautiful; but ill-health, and care, and +grief, had marked it now with deep lines, and colored it with unnatural +tints. Tears had washed out the roses from her cheeks, and set large +purple rings about her eyes; the mouth was hard and pinched, but the +eyelids swollen; while the crossed wrinkles on her brow told the same +tale of grief grown petulant, and of pain grown soured, as the thin lip, +quivering and querulous, and the nervous hand, never still and never +strong. + +The train-bell rang, the whistle sounded, the lady's servitors stood +bareheaded and courtesying to the ground, and the rapid rush of the iron +giant bore off the high-born dame and the starveling painter in strange +companionship. Unquiet and unresting--now shifting her place--now +letting down the glass for the cold air to blow full upon her withered +face, then drawing it up, and chafing her hands and feet by the +warm-water apparatus concealed in her _chauffe-pied_, while shivering as +if in an ague-fit--sighing deeply--lost in thought--wildly looking out +and around for distraction--she soon made me ask myself whether my envy +of her was as true as deep sympathy and pity would have been. + +"But her wealth--her wealth!" I thought. "True she may suffer, but how +gloriously she is solaced! She may weep, but the angels of social life +wipe off her tears with perfumed linen, gold embroidered; she may +grieve, but her grief makes her joys so much the more blissful. Ah! she +is to be envied after all!--envied, while I, a very beggar, might well +scorn my place now!" + +Something of this might have been in my face, as I offered my sick +companion some small attention--I forget what--gathering up one of her +luxurious trifles, or arranging her cushions. She seemed almost to read +my thoughts as her eyes rested on my melancholy face; and saying +abruptly: "I fear you are unhappy, young man?" she settled herself in +her place like a person prepared to listen to a pleasant tale. + +"I am unfortunate, madam," I answered. + +"Unfortunate?" she said impatiently. "What! with youth and health, can +you call yourself unfortunate? When the whole world lies untried before +you, and you still live in the golden atmosphere of hope, can you pamper +yourself with sentimental sorrows? Fie upon you!--fie upon you! What are +your sorrows compared with mine?" + +"I am ignorant of yours, madam," I said, respectfully; "but I know my +own; and, knowing them, I can speak of their weight and bitterness. By +your very position, you can not undergo the same kind of distress as +that overwhelming me at this moment: you may have evils in your path of +life, but they can not equal mine." + +"Can any thing equal the evils of ruined health and a desolated hearth?" +she cried, still in the same impatient manner. "Can the worst griefs of +wayward youth equal the bitterness of that cup which you drink at such a +time of life as forbids all hope of after-assuagement? Can the first +disappointment of a strong heart rank with the terrible desolation of a +wrecked old age? You think because you see about me the evidences of +wealth, that I must be happy. Young man, I tell you truly, I would +gladly give up every farthing of my princely fortune, and be reduced to +the extreme of want, to bring back from the grave the dear ones lying +there, or pour into my veins one drop of the bounding blood of health +and energy which used to make life a long play-hour of delight. Once, no +child in the fields, no bird in the sky, was more blessed than I; and +what am I now?--a sickly, lonely old woman, whose nerves are shattered +and whose heart is broken, without hope or happiness on the earth! Even +death has passed me by in forgetfulness and scorn!" + +Her voice betrayed the truth of her emotion. Still, with an accent of +bitterness and complaint, rather than of simple sorrow, it was the voice +of one fighting against her fate, more than of one suffering acutely and +in despair: it was petulant rather than melancholy; angry rather than +grieving; showing that her trials had hardened, not softened her heart. + +"Listen to me," she then said, laying her hand en my arm, "and perhaps +my history may reconcile you to the childish depression, from what cause +soever it may be, under which you are laboring. You are young and +strong, and can bear any amount of pain as yet: wait until you reach my +age, and then you will know the true meaning of the word despair! I am +rich, as you may see," she continued, pointing to her surroundings: "in +truth, so rich that I take no account either of my income or my +expenditure. I have never known life under any other form; I have never +known what it was to be denied the gratification of one desire which +wealth could purchase, or obliged to calculate the cost of a single +undertaking. I can scarcely realize the idea of poverty. I see that all +people do not live in the same style as myself; but I can not understand +that it is from inability: it always seems to me to be from their own +disinclination. I tell you, I can not fully realize the idea of poverty; +and you think this must make me happy, perhaps?" she added, sharply, +looking full in my face. + +"I should be happy, madam, if I were rich," I replied. "Suffering now +from the strain of poverty, it is no marvel if I place an undue value on +plenty." + +"Yet see what it does for me!" continued my companion. "Does it give me +back my husband, my brave boys, my beautiful girl? Does it give rest to +this weary heart, or relief to this aching head? Does it soothe my mind +or heal my body? No! It but oppresses me, like a heavy robe thrown round +weakened limbs: it is even an additional misfortune, for if I were poor, +I should be obliged to think of other things besides myself and my woes; +and the very mental exertion necessary to sustain my position would +lighten my miseries. I have seen my daughter wasting year by year and +day by day, under the warm sky of the south--under the warm care of +love! Neither climate nor affection could save her: every effort was +made--the best advice procured--the latest panacea adopted; but to no +effect. Her life was prolonged, certainly; but this simply means, that +she was three years in dying, instead of three months. She was a +gloriously lovely creature, like a fair young saint for beauty and +purity--quite an ideal thing, with her golden hair and large blue eyes! +She was my only girl--my youngest, my darling, my best treasure! My +first real sorrow--now fifteen years ago--was when I saw her laid, on +her twenty-first birthday, in the English burial-ground at Madeira. It +is on the grave-stone, that she died of consumption: would that it had +been added--and her mother of grief! From the day of her death, my +happiness left me!" + +Here the poor lady paused, and buried her face in her hands. The first +sorrow was evidently also the keenest; and I felt my own eyelids moist +as I watched this outpouring of the mother's anguish. After all, here +was grief beyond the power of wealth to assuage: here was sorrow deeper +than any mere worldly disappointment. + +"I had two sons," she went on to say, after a short time--"only two. +They were fine young men, gifted and handsome. In fact, all my children +were allowed to be very models of beauty. One entered the army, the +other the navy. The eldest went with his regiment to the Cape, where he +married a woman of low family--an infamous creature of no blood; though +she was decently conducted for a low-born thing as she was. She was +well-spoken of by those who knew her; but what _could_ she be with a +butcher for a grandfather! However, my poor infatuated son loved her to +the last. She was very pretty, I have heard--young, and timid; but being +of such fearfully low origin, of course she could not be recognized by +my husband or myself! We forbade my son all intercourse with us, unless +he would separate himself from her; but the poor boy was perfectly mad, +and he preferred this low-born wife to his father and mother. They had a +little baby, who was sent over to me when the wife died--for, thank God! +she did die in a few years' time. My son was restored to our love, and +he received our forgiveness; but we never saw him again. He took a fever +of the country, and was a corpse in a few hours. My second boy was in +the navy--a fine, high-spirited fellow, who seemed to set all the +accidents of life at defiance. I could not believe in any harm coming to +_him_. He was so strong, so healthy, so beautiful, so bright: he might +have been immortal, for all the elements of decay that showed themselves +in him. Yet this glorious young hero was drowned--wrecked off a +coral-reef, and flung like a weed on the waters. He lost his own life in +trying to save that of a common sailor--a piece of pure gold bartered +for the foulest clay! Two years after this, my husband died of typhus +fever, and I had a nervous attack, from which I have never recovered. +And now, what do you say to this history of mine? For fifteen years, I +have never been free from sorrow. No sooner did one grow so familiar to +me, that I ceased to tremble at its hideousness, than another, still +more terrible, came to overwhelm me in fresh misery. For fifteen years, +my heart has never known an hour's peace; and to the end of my life, I +shall be a desolate, miserable, broken-hearted woman. Can you +understand, now, the valuelessness of my riches, and how desolate my +splendid house must seem to me? They have been given me for no useful +purpose here or hereafter; they encumber me, and do no good to others. +Who is to have them when I die? Hospitals and schools? I hate the +medical profession, and I am against the education of the poor. I think +it the great evil of the day, and I would not leave a penny of mine to +such a radical wrong. What is to become of my wealth--?" + +"Your grandson," I interrupted, hastily: "the child of the officer." + +The old woman's face gradually softened. "Ah! he is a lovely boy," she +said; "but I don't love him--no, I don't," she repeated, vehemently. "If +I set my heart on him, he will die or turn out ill: take to the low ways +of his wretched mother, or die some horrible death. I steel my heart +against him, and shut him out from my calculations of the future. He is +a sweet boy: interesting, affectionate, lovely; but I will not allow +myself to love him, and I don't allow him to love me! But you ought to +see him. His hair is like my own daughter's--long, glossy, golden hair; +and his eyes are large and blue, and the lashes curl on his cheek like +heavy fringes. He is too pale and too thin: he looks sadly delicate; but +his wretched mother was a delicate little creature, and he has doubtless +inherited a world of disease and poor blood from her. I wish he was here +though, for you to see; but I keep him at school, for when he is much +with me, I feel myself beginning to be interested in him; and I do not +wish to love him--I do not wish to remember him at all! With that +delicate frame and nervous temperament, he _must_ die; and why should I +prepare fresh sorrow for myself, by taking him into my heart, only to +have him plucked out again by death?" + +All this was said with the most passionate vehemence of manner, as if +she were defending herself against some unjust charge. I said something +in the way of remonstrance. Gently and respectfully, but firmly, I spoke +of the necessity for each soul to spiritualize its aspirations, and to +raise itself from the trammels of earth; and in speaking thus to her, I +felt my own burden lighten off my heart, and I acknowledged that I had +been both foolish and sinful in allowing my first disappointment to +shadow all the sunlight of my existence. I am not naturally of a +desponding disposition, and nothing but a blow as severe as the +non-success of my "Finding the Body of Harold by Torch-light" could have +affected me to the extent of mental prostration, as that under which I +was now laboring. But this was very hard to bear! My companion listened +to me with a kind of blank surprise, evidently unaccustomed to the +honesty of truth; but she bore my remarks patiently, and when I had +ended, she even thanked me for my advice. + +"And now, tell me the cause of your melancholy face?" she asked, as we +were nearing Birmingham. "Your story can not be very long, and I shall +have just enough time to hear it." + +I smiled at her authoritative tone, and said quietly: "I am an artist, +madam, and I had counted much on the success of my first historical +painting. It has failed, and I am both penniless and infamous. I +am the 'presumptuous dauber' of the critics--despised by my +creditors--emphatically a failure throughout." + +"Pshaw!" cried the lady, impatiently; "and what is that for a grief! a +day's disappointment which a day's labor can repair! To me, your +troubles seem of no more worth than a child's tears when he has broken +his newest toy! Here is Birmingham, and I must bid you farewell. Perhaps +you will open the door for me? Good-morning: you have made my journey +pleasant, and relieved my ennui. I shall be happy to see you in town, +and to help you forward in your career." + +And with these words, said in a strange, indifferent, matter-of-fact +tone, as of one accustomed to all the polite offers of good society, +which mean nothing tangible, she was lifted from the carriage by a train +of servants, and borne off the platform. + +I looked at the card which she placed in my hand, and read the address +of "Mrs. Arden, Belgrave-square." + +I found my friend waiting for me; and in a few moments was seated before +a blazing fire in a magnificent drawing-room, surrounded with every +comfort that hospitality could offer, or luxury invent. + +"Here, at least, is happiness," I thought, as I saw the family assemble +in the drawing-room before dinner. "Here are beauty, youth, wealth, +position--all that makes life valuable. What concealed skeleton can +there be in this house to frighten away one grace of existence? +None--none! They must be happy; and, oh! what a contrast to that poor +lady I met with to-day; and what a painful contrast to myself!" + +And all my former melancholy returned like a heavy cloud upon my brow; +and I felt that I stood like some sad ghost in a fairy-land of beauty, +so utterly out of place was my gloom in the midst of all this gayety and +splendor. + +One daughter attracted my attention more than the rest. She was the +eldest, a beautiful girl of about twenty-three, or she might have been +even a few years older. Her face was quite of the Spanish style--dark, +expressive, and tender; and her manners were the softest and most +bewitching I had ever seen. She was peculiarly attractive to an artist, +from the exceeding beauty of feature, as well as from the depth of +expression which distinguished her. I secretly sketched her portrait on +my thumb-nail, and in my own mind I determined to make her the model for +my next grand attempt at historical composition--"the Return of +Columbus." She was to be the Spanish queen; and I thought of myself as +Ferdinand; for I was not unlike a Spaniard in appearance, and I was +almost as brown. + +I remained with my friend a fortnight, studying the midnight effects of +the iron-foundries, and cultivating the acquaintance of Julia. In these +two congenial occupations, the time passed like lightning, and I woke as +from a pleasant dream, to the knowledge of the fact, that my visit was +expected to be brought to a close. I had been asked, I remembered, for a +week, and I had doubled my furlough. I hinted at breakfast, that I was +afraid I must leave my kind friends to-morrow, and a general regret was +expressed, but no one asked me to stay longer; so the die was unhappily +cast. + +Julia was melancholy. I could not but observe it; and I confess that the +observation caused me more pleasure than pain. Could it be sorrow at my +departure? We had been daily, almost hourly, companions for fourteen +days, and the surmise was not unreasonable. She had always shown me +particular kindness, and she could not but have seen my marked +preference for her. My heart beat wildly as I gazed on her pale cheek +and drooping eyelid; for though she had been always still and gentle, I +had never seen--certainly I had never noticed--such evident traces of +sorrow, as I saw in her face to-day. Oh, if it were for me, how I would +bless each pang which pained that beautiful heart!--how I would cherish +the tears that fell, as if they had been priceless diamonds from the +mine!--how I would joy in her grief and live in her despair! It might be +that out of evil would come good, and from the deep desolation of my +unsold "Body" might arise the heavenly blessedness of such love as this! +I was intoxicated with my hopes; and was on the point of making a public +idiot of myself, but happily some slight remnant of common sense was +left me. However, impatient to learn my fate, I drew Julia aside; and, +placing myself at her feet, while she was enthroned on a luxurious +ottoman, I pretended that I must conclude the series of lectures on art, +and the best methods of coloring, on which I had been employed with her +ever since my visit. + +"You seem unhappy to-day, Miss Reay," I said, abruptly, with my voice +trembling like a girl's. + +She raised her large eyes languidly. "Unhappy? no, I am never unhappy," +she said, quietly. + +Her voice never sounded so silvery sweet, so pure and harmonious. It +fell like music on the air. + +"I have, then, been too much blinded by excess of beauty to have been +able to see correctly," I answered. "To me you have appeared always +calm, but never sad; but to-day there is a palpable weight of sorrow on +you, which a child might read. It is in your voice, and on your eyelids, +and round your lips; it is on you like the moss on the young +rose--beautifying while vailing the dazzling glory within." + +"Ah! you speak far too poetically for me," said Julia, smiling. "If you +will come down to my level for a little while, and will talk to me +rationally, I will tell you my history. I will tell it you as a lesson +for yourself, which I think will do you good." + +The cold chill that went to my soul! Her history! It was no diary of +facts that I wanted to hear, but only a register of feelings--a register +of feelings in which I should find myself the only point whereto the +index was set. History! what events deserving that name could have +troubled the smooth waters of her life? + +I was silent, for I was disturbed; but Julia did not notice either my +embarrassment or my silence, and began, in her low, soft voice, to open +one of the saddest chapters of life which I had ever heard. + +"You do not know that I am going into a convent?" she said; then, +without waiting for an answer, she continued: "This is the last month of +my worldly life. In four weeks, I shall have put on the white robe of +the novitiate, and in due course I trust to be dead forever to this +earthly life." + +A heavy, thick, choking sensation in my throat, and a burning pain +within my eyeballs, warned me to keep silence. My voice would have +betrayed me. + +"When I was seventeen," continued Julia, "I was engaged to my cousin. We +had been brought up together from childhood, and we loved each other +perfectly. You must not think, because I speak so calmly now, that I +have not suffered in the past. It is only by the grace of resignation +and of religion, that I have been brought to my present condition of +spiritual peace. I am now five-and-twenty--next week I shall be +six-and-twenty: that is just nine years since I was first engaged to +Laurence. He was not rich enough, and indeed he was far too young, to +marry, for he was only a year older than myself; and if he had had the +largest possible amount of income, we could certainly not have married +for three years. My father never cordially approved of the engagement, +though he did not oppose it. Laurence was taken partner into a large +concern here, and a heavy weight of business was immediately laid on +him. Youthful as he was, he was made the sole and almost irresponsible +agent in a house which counted its capital by millions, and through +which gold flowed like water. For some time, he went on well--to a +marvel, well. He was punctual, vigilant, careful; but the responsibility +was too much for the poor boy: the praises he received, the flattery and +obsequiousness which, for the first time, were lavished on the +friendless youth, the wealth at his command, all turned his head. For a +long time, we heard vague rumors of irregular conduct; but as he was +always the same good, affectionate, respectful, happy Laurence, when +with us, even my father, who is so strict, and somewhat suspicious, +turned a deaf ear to them. I was the earliest to notice a slight change, +first in his face, and then in his manners. At last, the rumors ceased +to be vague, and became definite. Business neglected; fatal habits +visible, even in the early day; the frightful use of horrible words, +which once he would have trembled to use; the nights passed at the +gaming-table, and the days spent in the society of the worst men on the +turf--all these accusations were brought to my father by credible +witnesses; and, alas! they were too true to be refuted. My +father--heaven and the holy saints bless his gray head!--kept them from +me as long as he could. He forgave him again and again, and used every +means that love and reason could employ to bring him back into the way +of right; but he could do nothing against the force of such fatal habits +as those to which my poor Laurence had now become wedded. With every +good intention, and with much strong love for me burning sadly amid the +wreck of his virtues, he yet would not refrain: the evil one had +overcome him; he was his prey here and hereafter. Oh, no--not +hereafter!" she added, raising her hands and eyes to heaven, "if prayer, +if fasting, patient vigil, incessant striving, may procure him +pardon--not forever his prey! Our engagement was broken off; and this +step, necessary as it was, completed his ruin. He died...." Here a +strong shudder shook her from head to foot and I half rose, in alarm. +The next instant she was calm. + +"Now, you know my history," continued she. "It is a tragedy of real +life, which you will do well, young painter, to compare with your own!" +With a kindly pressure of the hand, and a gentle smile--oh! so sweet, so +pure and heavenly!--Julia Reay left me; while I sat perfectly awed--that +is the only word I can use--with the revelation which she had made both +of her history and of her own grand soul. + +"Come with me to my study," said Mr. Reay, entering the room; "I have a +world to talk to you about. You go to-morrow, you say. I am sorry for +it; but I must therefore settle my business with you in good time +to-day." + +I followed him mechanically, for I was undergoing a mental castigation +which rather disturbed me. Indeed, like a young fool--as eager in +self-reproach as in self-glorification--I was so occupied in inwardly +calling myself hard names, that even when my host gave me a commission +for my new picture, "The Return of Columbus," at two hundred and fifty +pounds, together with an order to paint himself, Mrs. Reay, and +half-a-dozen of their children, I confess it with shame, that I received +the news like a leaden block, and felt neither surprise nor joy--not +though these few words chased me from the gates of the Fleet, whither I +was fast hastening, and secured me both position and daily bread. The +words of that beautiful girl were still ringing in my ears, mixed up +with the bitterest self-accusations; and these together shut out all +other sound, however pleasant. But that was always my way. + +I went back to London, humbled and yet strengthened, having learned more +of human nature and the value of events, in one short fortnight, than I +had ever dreamed of before. The first lessons of youth generally come in +hard shape. I had sense enough to feel that I had learned mine gently, +and that I had cause to be thankful for the mildness of the teaching. +From a boy, I became a man, judging more accurately of humanity than a +year's ordinary experience would have enabled me to do. And the moral +which I drew was this: that under our most terrible afflictions, we may +always gain some spiritual good, if we suffer them to be softening and +purifying, rather than hardening influences over us. And also, that +while we are suffering the most acutely, we may be sure that others are +suffering still more acutely; and if we would but sympathize with them +more than with ourselves--live out of our own selves, and in the wide +world around us--we would soon be healed while striving to heal others. +Of this I am convinced: the secret of life, and of all its good, is in +love; and while we preserve this, we can never fail of comfort. The +sweet waters will always gush out over the sandiest desert of our lives +while we can love; but without it--nay, not the merest weed of comfort +or of virtue would grow under the feet of angels. In this was the +distinction between Mrs. Arden and Julia Reay. The one had hardened her +heart under her trials, and shut it up in itself; the other had opened +hers to the purest love of man and love of God; and the result was to be +seen in the despair of the one, and in the holy peace of the other. + +Full of these thoughts, I sought out my poor lady, determined to do her +real benefit if I could. She received me very kindly, for I had taken +care to provide myself with a sufficient introduction, so as to set all +doubts of my social position at rest: and I knew how far this would go +with her. We soon became fast friends. She seemed to rest on me much for +sympathy and comfort, and soon grew to regard me with a sort of motherly +fondness that of itself brightened her life. I paid her all the +attention which a devoted son might pay--humored her whims, soothed her +pains; but insensibly I led her mind out from itself---first in kindness +to me, and then in love to her grandson. + +I asked for him just before the midsummer holidays, and with great +difficulty obtained an invitation for him to spend them with her. She +resisted my entreaties stoutly, but at last was obliged to yield; not to +me, nor to my powers of persuasion, but to the holy truth of which I was +then the advocate. The child came, and I was there also to receive him, +and to enforce by my presence--which I saw, without vanity, had great +influence--a fitting reception. He was a pensive, clever, interesting +little fellow; sensitive and affectionate, timid, gifted with wonderful +powers, and of great beauty. There was a shy look in his eyes, which +made me sure that he inherited much of his loveliness from his mother; +and when we were great friends, he showed me a small portrait of "Poor +mamma;" and I saw at once the most striking likeness between the two. No +human heart could withstand that boy, certainly not my poor friend's. +She yielded, fighting desperately against me and him, and all the powers +of love, which were subduing her, but yielding while she fought; and in +a short time the child had taken his proper place in her affections, +which he kept to the end of her life. And she, that desolate mother, +even she, with her seared soul and petrified heart, was brought to the +knowledge of peace by the glorious power of love. + +Prosperous, famous, happy, blessed in home and hearth, this has become +my fundamental creed of life, the basis on which all good, whether of +art or of morality, is rested: of art especially; for only by a tender, +reverent spirit can the true meaning of his vocation be made known to +the artist. All the rest is mere imitation of form, not insight into +essence. And while I feel that I can live out of myself, and love +others--the whole world of man--more than myself, I know that I possess +the secret of happiness; ay, though my powers were suddenly blasted as +by lightning, my wife and children laid in the cold grave, and my happy +home desolated forever. For I would go out into the thronged streets, +and gather up the sorrows of others, to relieve them; and I would go out +under the quiet sky, and look up to the Father's throne; and I would +pluck peace, as green herbs from active benevolence and contemplative +adoration. Yes; love can save from the sterility of selfishness, +and from the death of despair; but love alone. No other talisman +has the power; pride, self-sustainment, coldness, pleasure, +nothing--nothing--but that divine word of Life which is life's soul! + + + + +THE LITTLE SISTERS. + + +Almsgiving takes the place of the work-house system, in the economy of a +large part of Europe. The giving of alms to the helpless is, moreover, +in Catholic countries, a religious office. The voluntary surrender of +gifts, each according to his ability, as a means of grace, is more +prominently insisted upon than among Protestants; consequently +systematic taxation for the poor is not resorted to. Nor is there so +great a necessity for it as in England; for few nations have so many +paupers to provide for as the English are accustomed to regard as a +natural element in society; and thus it happens, that when, about ten +years ago, there was in France no asylum but the hospital, for aged and +ailing poor, the want of institutions for the infirm but healthy was not +so severe as to attract the public eye. + +But there was at that time a poor servant-woman, a native of the village +of La Croix, in Brittany--Jeanne Sugon was her name--who was moved by +the gentleness of her heart, and the fervor of her religion, to pity a +certain infirm and destitute neighbor, to take her to her side as a +companion, and to devote herself to her support. Other infirm people +earned, by their helplessness, a claim on her attention. She went about +begging, when she could not work, that she might preserve life as long +as Nature would grant it to her infirm charges. Her example spread a +desire for the performance of similar good offices. Two pious women, her +neighbors, united with Jeanne in her pious office. These women +cherished, as they were able, aged and infirm paupers; nursed them in a +little house, and begged for them in the vicinity. The three women, who +had so devoted themselves, attracted notice, and were presently received +into the order of Sisters of Charity, in which they took for themselves +the name of "Little Sisters of the Poor"--PETITES S[OE]RS DES PAUVRES. + +The first house of the Little Sisters of the Poor was opened at St. +Servan, in Brittany. A healthy flower scatters seed around. We saw that +forcibly illustrated, in the progress, from an origin equally humble, of +the Rauhe Haus, near Hamburgh: we see it now again, in the efforts of +the Little Sisters, which flourished and fructified with prompt +usefulness. On the tenth anniversary of the establishment at St. Servan, +ten similar houses had been founded in ten different French towns. + +The _Petites S[oe]urs_ live with their charges in the most frugal way, +upon the scraps and waste meat which they can collect from the +surrounding houses. The voluntary contributions by which they support +their institution, are truly the crumbs falling from the rich man's +table. The nurse fares no better than the objects of her care. She lives +upon equal terms with Lazarus, and acts toward him in the spirit of a +younger sister. + +The establishment at Dinan, over which Jeanne Sugon herself presides, +being under repair, and not quite fit for the reception of visitors, we +will go over the Sisters' house at Paris, which is conducted on exactly +the same plan. + +We are ushered into a small parlor, scantily furnished, with some +Scripture prints upon the walls. A Sister enters to us with such a +bright look of cheerfulness as faces wear when hearts beneath them feel +that they are beating to some purpose in the world. She accedes gladly +to our desire, and at once leads us into another room of larger size, in +which twenty or thirty old women are at this moment finishing their +dinner; it being Friday, rice stands on the table in the place of meat. +The Sister moves and speaks with the gentleness of a mother among +creatures who are in, or are near to the state of second childhood. You +see an old dame fumbling eagerly over her snuff-box lid. The poor +creatures are not denied luxuries; for, whatever they can earn by their +spinning is their own money, and they buy with it any indulgences they +please; among which nothing is so highly prized or eagerly coveted as a +pinch of snuff. + +In the dormitories on the first floor, some lie bed-ridden. Gentler +still, if possible, is now the Sister's voice. The rooms throughout the +house are airy, with large windows, and those inhabited by the Sisters +are distinguished from the rest by no mark of indulgence or superiority. + +We descend now into the old men's department; and enter a warm room, +with a stove in the centre. One old fellow has his feet upon a little +foot-warmer, and thinly pipes out, that he is very comfortable now, for +he is always warm. The chills of age, and the chills of the cold +pavement remain together in his memory; but he is very comfortable +now--very comfortable. An other decrepit man, with white hair and bowed +back--who may have been proud, in his youth, of a rich voice for +love-song, talks of music to the Sister; and, on being asked to sing, +blazes out with joyous gestures, and strikes up a song of Béranger's in +a cracked, shaggy voice, which sometimes--like a river given to flow +under ground--is lost entirely, and then bubbles up again, quite thick +with mud. + +We go into a little oratory, where all pray together nightly before they +retire to rest. Thence we descend into a garden for the men; and pass +thence by a door into the women's court. The chapel-bell invites us to +witness the assembly of the Sisters for the repetition of their psalms +and litanies. From the chapel we return into the court, and enter a +large room, where the women are all busy with their spinning-wheels. One +old soul immediately totters to the Sister (not the same Sister with +whom we set out), and insists on welcoming her daughter with a kiss. We +are informed that it is a delusion of her age to recognize in this +Sister really her own child, who is certainly far away, and may possibly +be dead. The Sister embraces her affectionately, and does nothing to +disturb the pleasant thought. + +And now we go into the kitchen. Preparation for coffee is in progress. +The dregs of coffee that have been collected from the houses of the +affluent in the neighborhood, are stewed for a long time with great +care. The Sisters say they produce a very tolerable result; and, at any +rate, every inmate is thus enabled to have a cup of coffee every +morning, to which love is able to administer the finest Mocha flavor. A +Sister enters from her rounds out of doors with two cans full of broken +victuals. She is a healthy, and, I think, a handsome woman. Her daily +work is to go out with the cans directly after she has had her morning +coffee, and to collect food for the ninety old people that are in the +house. As fast as she fills her cans, she brings them to the kitchen, +and goes out again; continuing in this work daily till four o'clock. + +You do not like this begging? What are the advertisements on behalf of +our own hospitals? what are the collectors? what are the dinners, the +speeches, the charity sermons? A few weak women, strong in heart, +without advertisement, or dinners, or charity sermons; without urgent +appeals to a sympathizing public; who have no occasion to exercitate +charity, by enticing it to balls and to theatrical benefits; patiently +collect waste food from house to house, and feed the poor with it, +humbly and tenderly. + +The cans are now to be emptied; the contents being divided into four +compartments, according to their nature--broken meat, vegetables, slices +of pudding, fish, &c. Each is afterward submitted to the best cookery +that can be contrived. The choicest things are set aside--these, said a +Sister, with a look of satisfaction, will be for our poor dear sick. + +The number of Sisters altogether in this house engaged in attendance on +the ninety infirm paupers, is fourteen. They divide the duties of the +house among themselves. Two serve in the kitchen, two in the laundry; +one begs, one devotes herself to constant personal attendance on the +wants of the old men, and so on with the others, each having her special +department. The whole sentiment of the household is that of a very large +and very amiable family. To feel that they console the last days of the +infirm and aged poor, is all the Little Sisters get for their hard work. + + + + +HOW GUNPOWDER IS MADE.--VISIT TO HOUNSLOW MILLS. + + +Hounslow Gunpowder Mills are not so much like a special "town," as so +many other large manufactories appear, but rather have the appearance of +an infant colony--a very infant one, inasmuch as it has very few +inhabitants. We never met a single man in all our rambles through the +plantations, nor heard the sound of a human voice. It is like a strange +new settlement, where there is ample space, plenty of wood and water, +but with scarcely any colonists, and only here and there a log-hut or a +dark shed among the trees. + +These works are distributed over some hundred and fifty acres of land, +without reckoning the surface of the Colne, which, sometimes broad, +sometimes narrow, sometimes in a line, and sometimes coiling, and +escaping by a curve out of sight, intersects the whole place. It is, in +fact, a great straggling plantation of firs, over swells and declivities +of land, with a branch or neck of a river meeting you unexpectedly at +almost every turn. The more we have seen of this dismal settlement "in +the bush," the more do we revert to our first impression on entering it. +The place is like the strange and squalid plantation of some necromancer +in Spenser's "Fairy Queen." Many trees are black and shattered, as if by +lightning; others distorted, writhing, and partially stripped of their +bark; and all of them have a sort of conscious look that this is a very +precarious spot for the regular progress of vegetation. You wander up +narrow winding paths, and you descend narrow winding paths; you see the +broad arm of a river, with little swampy osier islands upon it, and then +you enter another plantation, and come upon a narrow winding neck of +river, leading up to a great black slanting structure, which you are +told is a "blast-wall;" and behind this is the green embankment of a +fortification, and further back you come upon one of the black, +ominous-looking powder "houses." You advance along other tortuous paths, +you cross small bridges, and again you enter a plantation, more or less +sombre, and presently emerge upon an open space, where you see a +semicircular road of red gravel, with cart-ruts deeply trenched in it; +and then another narrower road down to a branch of the river, where +there is another little bridge; and beyond this, on the other side, you +see a huge water-wheel revolving between two black barn-like houses. +You ascend a slope, by a path of mud and slush, and arriving at another +larger open space, you find yourself in front of a sheet of water, and +in the distance you observe one enormous wheel--the diabolical queen of +all the rest--standing, black and immovable, like an antediluvian +skeleton, against the dull, gray sky, with a torrent of water running in +a long narrow gully from beneath its lower spokes, as if disgorged +before its death. This open space is surrounded by trees, above which, +high over all, there rises a huge chimney, or rather tower; and again, +over all this there float clouds of black smoke, derived from charred +wood, if we may judge of the effect upon our noses and eyes. + +At distances from each other, varying from thirty or forty to a hundred +and fifty yards, over this settlement are distributed, by systematic +arrangement of the intervals, and the obstructive character of the +intervening ground and plantations, no less than ninety-seven different +buildings. By these means, not only is the danger divided, but the loss, +by an explosion, reduced to the one "house" in which the accident +occurs. Such, at least, is the intention, though certainly not always +affording the desired protection. The houses are also, for the most +part, constructed of light materials, where the nature of the operation +will admit of it; sometimes extremely strong below, but very light +above, like a man in armor with a straw hat; so that if a "puff" comes, +there will be a free way upward, and they hope to get rid of the fury +with no greater loss than a light roof. In some cases the roofs are of +concrete, and bomb-proof; in others, the roofs are floated with water in +shallow tanks. There are five steam-engines employed, one being a +locomotive; and the extraordinary number of twenty-six water-mills, as +motive powers for machinery--obviously much safer than any other that +could be obtained from the most guarded and covered-in engines requiring +furnaces. + +In this silent region, amidst whose ninety-seven work-places no human +voice ever breaks upon the ear, and where, indeed, no human form is seen +except in the isolated house in which his allotted task is performed, +there are secreted upward of two hundred and fifty work-people. They are +a peculiar race; not, of course, by nature, in most cases, but by the +habit of years. The circumstances of momentary destruction in which they +live, added to the most stringent and necessary regulations, have +subdued their minds and feelings to the conditions of their hire. There +is seldom any need to enforce these regulations. Some terrific explosion +here, or in works of a similar kind elsewhere, leaves a fixed mark in +their memories, and acts as a constant warning. Here no shadow of a +practical joke, or caper of animal spirits ever transpires; no +witticisms, no oaths, no chaffing, or slang. A laugh is never heard; a +smile seldom seen. Even the work is carried on by the men with as few +words as possible, and these uttered in a low tone. Not that any body +fancies that mere sound will awaken the spirit of combustion, or cause +an explosion to take place, but that their feelings are always kept +subdued. If one man wishes to communicate any thing to another, or to +ask for any thing from somebody at a short distance, he must go there; +he is never permitted to shout or call out. There is a particular reason +for this last regulation. Amidst all this silence, whenever a shout +_does_ occur, every body knows that some imminent danger is expected the +next moment, and all rush away headlong from the direction of the shout. +As to running toward it to offer any assistance, as common in all other +cases, it is thoroughly understood that none can be afforded. An +accident here is immediate and beyond remedy. If the shouting be +continued for some time (for a man might be drowning in the river), that +might cause one or two of the boldest to return; but this would be a +very rare occurrence. It is by no means to be inferred that the men are +selfish and insensible to the perils of each other; on the contrary, +they have the greatest consideration for each other, as well as for +their employers, and think of the danger to the lives of others, and of +the property at stake at all times, and more especially in all the more +dangerous "houses." The proprietors of the various gunpowder mills all +display the same consideration for each other, and whenever any +improvement tending to lessen danger is discovered by one, it is +immediately communicated to all the others. The wages of the men are +good, and the hours very short; no artificial lights are ever used in +the works. They all wash themselves--black, white, yellow, and +bronze--and leave the mills at half-past three in the afternoon, winter +and summer. + +After several unsuccessful attempts to effect an entrance into one of +the mysterious manufactories--attributable solely to the dangers of +utter destruction that momentarily hover over all works of this kind, +and not in the least from any want of courtesy in the proprietors--we +eventually obtained permission to inspect these mills owned by the +Messrs. Curtis, which are among the largest works of the kind in Europe. +It was a very wet day, but that circumstance was rather favorable than +otherwise, as our obliging companion, Mr. Ashbee, the manager of the +works, considerately informed us. After visiting successively the mills +where the charcoal, saltpetre, and brimstone, are separately prepared, +we plash our way over the wet path to the "incorporation mill"--a +sufficiently dangerous place. Having exchanged our boots for India +rubber over-shoes, we enter and find the machinery--consisting of two +ponderous, upright millstones, rolling round like wagon-wheels, in a +small circle. In the bed beneath these huge rolling stones lies, not +one, but the _three_ terrible ingredients of powdered charcoal, +saltpetre, and sulphur, which are thus incorporated. The bed upon which +the stones roll is of iron; from it the stones would inevitably strike +sparks--and "there an end of all"--if they came in contact in any part. +But between the stones and the iron bed lies the incorporating +powder--forty pounds of it giving a bed of intermediate powder, of two +or three inches deep; so that the explosive material is absolutely the +only protection. So long as the powder lies in this bed with no part of +the iron left bare, all is considered to be safe. To keep it within the +bed, therefore--while the rolling twist of the stones is continually +displacing it, and rubbing it outward and inward--several mechanical +contrivances are adopted, which act like guides, and scoops, and +scrapers; and thus restore, with regularity, the powder to its proper +place, beneath the stones. A water-wheel keeps this mill in action. No +workmen remain here; but the time required for the incorporating process +being known, the bed of powder is laid down, the mill set in motion, and +then shut up and left to itself--as it ought to be, in case of any +little oversight or "hitch" on the part of the guides, scoops, or +scrapers. The machinery of these mills, as may be readily credited, is +always kept in the finest order. "And yet," says Mr. Ashbee, in a +whisper; "and yet, five of them--just such mills as these--_went off_ at +Faversham, the other day, one after the other. Nobody knew how." This +seasonable piece of information naturally increases the peculiar +interest we feel in the objects we are now examining, as they proceed +with their work. + +The next house we visit, Mr. Ashbee assures us, is a very interesting +process. To be sure, it is one of the most dangerous; and what makes +this worse, is the fact that the process is of that kind which requires +the constant presence of the men. They can not set the machinery to +work, and leave it for a given time; they must always remain on the +spot. It is the "Corning House" sometimes called "Graining," as it is +the process which reduces the cakes and hard knobs, into which the +gunpowder has been forced by hydraulic pressure, into grains--a very +nice, and, it would appear, a sufficiently alarming operation. + +Ascending by a rising pathway, we pass over a mound covered with a +plantation of firs, and descending to a path by the river side, we +arrive at a structure of black timber, some five-and-twenty feet high, +set up in the shape of an acute angle. This is a "blast-wall," intended +to offer some resistance to a rush of air in case of an explosion near +at hand. There is also a similar blast-wall on the opposite side of the +river. Passing this structure, we arrive at a green embankment thrown up +as in fortified places, and behind and beneath this stands the "Corning +House." + +It is a low-roofed, black edifice, like the rest, although, if possible, +with a still more dismal appearance. We know not what causes the +impression, but we could fancy it some place of torture, devoted to the +service of the darkest pagan superstitions, or those of the Holy +Inquisition. A little black vestibule, or out-house, stands on the side +nearest us. The whole structure is planted on the river's edge, to which +the platform in front extends. We enter the little vestibule, and here +we go through the ceremony of the over-shoes. We are then permitted to +advance upon the sacred platform, and we then approach the entrance. If +we have received a strange and unaccountable impression of a place of +torture, from the external appearance and surrounding circumstances, +this is considerably borne out by the interior. The first thing that +seems to justify this is a dry, strangulated, shrieking cry which +continues at intervals. We discover that it is the cry of a wooden screw +in torment, which in some sort reconciles us. But the sound lingers, and +the impression too. The flooring is all covered with leather and hides, +all perfectly black with the dust of gunpowder, and on this occasion all +perfectly dry. We do not much like that: the wet sliding about was more +amusing; perhaps, also, a trifle safer. + +The first object that seizes upon our attention is a black square +frame-work, apparently suspended from the ceiling. Its ugly +perpendicular beams, and equally uncouth horizontal limbs would be just +the thing to hang the dead bodies of tortured victims in. We can not +help following up our first impression. The men here, who stand in +silence looking intently at us, all wear black masks. On the left there +is reared a structure of black wood reaching to within two or three feet +of the roof. It is built up in several stages, descending like broad +steps. Each of these broad steps contains a sieve made of closely woven +wire, which becomes finer as the steps get lower and lower. In this +machine we noticed iron axles for the wheels, but our attention was +directed to the rollers, which were of zinc. Thus the friction does not +induce sparks, the action being also guarded against external blows. At +present the machine is not in motion; and the men at work here observe +their usual silence and depressing gravity. We conjecture that the +machine, when put in motion, shakes and sifts the gunpowder in a slow +and most cautious manner, corresponding to the seriousness of the human +workers, and with an almost equal sense of the consequences of iron +mistaking for once the nature of copper and brass. "Put _on_ the house!" +says Mr. Ashbee, in the calm voice always used here, and nodding at the +same time to the head corning-man. A rumbling sound is heard--the wheels +begin to turn--the black sieves bestir themselves, moving from side to +side; the wheels turn faster--the sieves shake and shuffle faster. We +trust there is no mistake. They all get faster still. We do not wish +them to put themselves to any inconvenience on our account. The full +speed is laid on! The wheels whirl and buzz--iron teeth play into brass +teeth--copper winks at iron--the black sieves shake their infernal sides +into fury--the whole machine seems bent upon its own destruction--the +destruction of us all! Now--one small spark--and in an instant the whole +of this house, with all in it, would be instantly swept away! Nobody +seems to think of this. And see!--how the gunpowder rashes from side to +side of the sieves, and pours down from one stage to the other. We feel +sure that all this must be much faster than usual. We do not wish it. +Why should pride prevent our requesting that this horror should cease? +We hear, also, an extraordinary noise behind us. Turning hastily round, +we see the previously immovable black frame-work for the dead whirling +round and round in the air with frightful rapidity, while two men with +wooden shovels are shoveling up showers of gunpowder, as if to smother +and suffocate its madness. Nothing but shame--nothing but shame and an +anguish of self-command, prevents our instantly darting out of the +house--across the platform--and headlong into the river. + +What a house--what a workshop! It is quiet again. We have not sprung +into the river. But had we been alone here, under such circumstances for +the first time, we should have had no subsequent respect for our own +instincts and promptitude of action if we had done any thing else. As it +was, the thing is a sensation for life. We find that the whirling +frame-work also contains sieves--that the invisible moving power is by a +water-wheel under the flooring, which acts by a crank. But we are very +much obliged already--we have had enough of "corning." + +We take our departure over the platform--have our over-shoes taken +off--and finding that there is something more to see, we rally and +recover our breath, and are again on the path by the water's edge. A man +is coming down the river with a small covered barge, carrying powder +from one house to another. We remark that boating must be one of the +safest positions, not only as unconducive to explosion, but even in case +of its occurring elsewhere. Mr. Ashbee coincides in this opinion, +although, he adds, that some time ago, a man coming down the river in a +boat--just as that one is now doing--had his right arm blown off. We see +that, in truth, _no_ position is safe. One may be "blown off" any where, +at any moment. Thus pleasantly conversing as we walk, we arrive at the +"Glazing-House." + +The process of glazing consists in mixing black-lead with gunpowder in +large grains, and glazing, or giving it a fine glossy texture. For this +purpose four barrels containing the grains are ranged on an axle. They +are made to revolve during four hours, to render them smooth; black-lead +is then added, and they revolve four hours more. There is iron in this +machinery; but it works upon brass or copper wheels, so that friction +generates heat, but not fire. The process continues from eight to +twenty-four hours, according to the fineness of polish required; and the +revolution of the barrels sometimes causes the heat of the gunpowder +within to rise to one hundred and twenty degrees--even to charring the +wood of the interior of the barrels by the heat and friction. We inquire +what degree of heat they may be in at the present moment? It is rather +high, we learn; and the head-glazer politely informs us that we may put +our hand and arm into the barrels and feel the heat. He opens it at the +top for the purpose. We take his word for it. However, as he inserts one +hand and arm by way of example, we feel in some sort called upon, for +the honor of "Household Words," to do the same. It is extremely hot, +and a most agreeable sensation. The faces of the men here, being all +black from the powder, and shining with the addition of the black lead, +have the appearance of grim masks of demons in a pantomime, or rather of +real demons in a mine. Their eyes look out upon us with a strange +intelligence. They know the figure they present. So do we. This, added +to their subdued voice, and whispering, and mute gesticulation, and +noiseless moving and creeping about, renders the scene quite unique; and +a little of it goes a great way. + +Our time being now short--our hours, in fact, being "numbered"--we move +quickly on to the next house, some hundred yards distant. It is the +"Stoving-house." We approach the door. Mr. Ashbee is so good as to say +there is no need for us to enter, as the process may be seen from the +door-way. We are permitted to stand upon the little platform outside, in +our boots, dispensing with the over-shoes. This house is heated by +pipes. The powder is spread upon numerous wooden trays, and slid into +shelves on stands, or racks. The heat is raised to one hundred and +twenty-five degrees. We salute the head stove-man, and depart. But +turning round to give a "longing, lingering look behind," we see a large +mop protruded from the door-way. Its round head seems to inspect the +place where we stood in our boots on the platform. It evidently +discovers a few grains of gravel or grit, and descends upon them +immediately, to expurgate the evil communication which may corrupt the +good manners of the house. A great watering-pot is next advanced, and +then a stern head--not unlike an old medallion we have seen of +Diogenes--looks round the door-post after us. + +The furnace, with its tall chimney, by means of which the stove-pipes of +the house we have just visited, are heated, is at a considerable +distance, the pipes being carried under-ground to the house. + +We next go to look at the "Packing-house," where the powder is placed in +barrels, bags, tin cases, paper cases, canisters, &c. On entering this +place, a man runs swiftly before each of us, laying down a mat for each +foot to step upon as we advance, thus leaving rows of mats in our wake, +over which we are required to pass on returning. We considered it a mark +of great attention--a kind of Oriental compliment. + +The last of our visits is to a "Charge-House." There are several of +these, where the powder is kept in store. We approach it by a path +through a plantation. It lies deep among the trees--a most lonely, +dismal sarcophagus. It is roofed with water--that is, the roof is +composed of water-tanks, which are filled by the rain; and in dry +weather they are filled by means of a pump arranged for that purpose. +The platform at the entrance is of water--that is to say, it is a broad +wooden trough two inches deep, full of water, through which we are +required to walk. We do so, and with far more satisfaction than some +things we have done here to-day. We enter the house alone; the others +waiting outside. All silent and dusky as an Egyptian tomb. The tubs of +powder, dimly seen in the uncertain light, are ranged along the walls, +like mummies--all giving the impression of a secret life within. But a +secret life, how different! "Ah! there's the rub." We retire with a +mental obeisance, and a respectful air--the influence remaining with us, +so that we bow slightly on rejoining our friends outside, who bow in +return, looking from us to the open door-way of the "house!" + +With thoughtful brows, and not in any very high state of hilarity, after +the duties of the day--not to speak of being wet through to the skin, +for the second time--we move through the fir groves on our way back. We +notice a strange appearance in many trees, some of which are curiously +distorted, others with their heads cut off; and, in some places, there +are large and upright gaps in a plantation. Mr. Ashbee, after +deliberating inwardly a little while, informs us that a very dreadful +accident happened here last year. "Was there an explosion?" we inquire. +He says there was. "And a serious one?"--"Yes."--"Any lives +lost?"--"Yes."--"Two or three?"--"More than that."--"Five or six?" He +says more than that. He gradually drops into the narrative, with a +subdued tone of voice. There was an explosion last year. Six different +houses blew up. It began with a "Separating House,"--a place for sizing, +or sorting, the different grains through sieves. Then the explosion went +to a "Granulating-House," one hundred yards off. How it was carried such +distances, except by a general combustion of the air, he can not +imagine. Thence, it went to a "Press House," where the powder lies in +hard cakes. Thence, it went in two ways--on one side to a "Composition +Mixing-House," and, on the other, to a "Glazing-House;" and thence to +another "Granulating-House." Each of these buildings were fully one +hundred yards from another; each was intercepted by plantations of fir +and forest trees as a protection; and the whole took place within forty +seconds. There was no tracing how it had occurred. + +This, then, accounts for the different gaps--some of them extending +fifty or sixty yards--in the plantations and groves? Mr. Ashbee nods a +grave assent. He adds, that one large tree was torn up by the roots, and +its trunk was found deposited at such a distance, that they never could +really ascertain where it came from. It was just found lying there. An +iron water-wheel, of thirty feet in circumference, belonging to one of +the mills, was blown to a distance of fifty yards through the air, +cutting through the heads of all the trees in its way, and finally +lodging between the upper boughs of a large tree, where it stuck fast, +like a boy's kite. The poor fellows who were killed--(our informant here +drops his voice to a whisper, and speaks in short detached fragments; +there is nobody near us, but he feels as a man should feel in speaking +of such things)--the poor fellows who were killed were horribly +mutilated--more than mutilated, some of them--their different members +distributed hither and thither, could not be buried with their proper +owners, to any certainty. One man escaped out of a house, before it blew +up, in time to run at least forty yards. He was seen running, when +suddenly he fell. But when he was picked up, he was found to be quite +dead. The concussion of the air had killed him. One man coming down the +river in a boat was mutilated. Some men who were missing, were never +found--blown all to nothing. The place where some of the "houses" had +stood, did not retain so much as a piece of timber, or a brick. All had +been swept away, leaving nothing but the torn-up ground, a little +rubbish, and a black hash of bits of stick, to show the place where they +had been erected. + +We turn our eyes once more toward the immense gaps in the fir groves, +gaps which here and there amount to wide intervals, in which all the +trees are reduced to about half their height, having been cut away near +the middle. Some trees, near at hand, we observe to have been flayed of +their bark all down one side; others have strips of bark hanging dry and +black. Several trees are strangely distorted, and the entire trunk of +one large fir has been literally twisted like a corkscrew, from top to +bottom, requiring an amount of force scarcely to be estimated by any +known means of mechanical power. Amid all this quietness, how dreadful a +visitation! It is visible on all sides, and fills the scene with a +solemn, melancholy weight. + +But we will linger here no longer. We take a parting glance around, at +the plantations of firs, some of them prematurely old, and shaking their +heads, while the air wafts by, as though conscious of their defeated +youth, and all its once-bright hopes. The dead leaves lie thick beneath, +in various sombre colors of decay, and through the thin bare woods we +see the gray light fading into the advancing evening. Here, where the +voice of man is never heard, we pause, to listen to the sound of +rustling boughs, and the sullen rush and murmur of water-wheels and +mill-streams; and, over all, the song of a thrush, even while uttering +blithe notes, gives a touching sadness to this isolated scene of human +labors--labors, the end of which, is a destruction of numbers of our +species, which may, or may not, be necessary to the progress of +civilization, and the liberty of mankind. + + + + +AN INSANE PHILOSOPHER. + + +A visitor to the Hanwell Insane Asylum, in England, will have his +attention directed to one of the inmates who is at once the "pet," the +peer, the philosopher, and the poet of that vast community. No one can +long enjoy the privilege of his company without perceiving that he has +received a first-rate classical education. His mind is remarkably +clear-visioned, acute, severe, logical, and accomplished. His manners +usually display the refinement, polish, and urbanity of a well-bred +gentleman, though at times, it is said, they are tinged with a degree of +aristocratic pride, austerity, and hauteur, especially when brought +into contact with the ignorant and vulgar. In conversation, though +impeded by a slight hesitation of utterance, he displays clearness and +breadth of intelligence in all his views, and pours forth freely from +the treasures of a well-stored memory abundance of information, +anecdote, and fact. His physiognomy and physical structure are well +adapted to enshrine a mind of such a calibre. In stature he is tall, +rather slender, but firmly knit. The muscular development of the frame +denotes considerable strength--a quality which he claims to possess in a +pre-eminent degree. He boasts, probably with considerable truth, of +having no equal, in this respect, in the asylum. His head, beautifully +formed, after a fine intellectual type, is partially bald--the few +surviving locks of hair that fringe its sides being nearly gray. The +keen, twinkling, gray eye; the prominent classic brow; the +boldly-chiseled aquiline nose; the thin cheeks, "sicklied o'er with the +pale cast of thought;" the sharp features, together with the small, +firmly-compressed mouth, plainly bespeak him a man of reflection, and +strong purpose. In age, he appears to have weathered about fifty stormy +winters. The term of his residence in this rendezvous of afflicted +strangers is somewhere about six years. His _real_ name, his early +history, his human kindred, his former social status--in fact, all the +antecedents of his life, previous to his admission to the asylum--are +utterly unknown. On all these matters he preserves the silence of a +sphinx. No remarks, so far as we know, have ever escaped his lips, +calculated to afford any certain clew for the elucidation of the mystery +that enshrouds him. Surmise and conjecture have of course been busy with +their guesses as to his probable extraction; and the organ of wonder has +been sorely taxed in an effort to account for the marvelous fact, that a +gentleman of such apparent distinction, it may be of noble birth and +fortune, should have been lost to his friends for a space of six years, +and no earnest inquiries been made to discover his fate. That he is of +aristocratic descent, appears to be the general impression among the +officers and inmates of the asylum--an impression justified by his +elegant manners, his superior attainments, his extensive acquaintance +with noble families, and many significant allusions found in his painted +chamber, upon the walls of which he has faithfully daguerreotyped the +images, the feelings, the recollections, and the cherished sentiments of +his inner man. The _fictitious_ name by which he is known at present is +that of Mr. Chiswick--a name commemorative of the _scene_ of that sad +event which has overshadowed the afternoon, and which threatens to +darken the evening, of his earthly existence. But the reader will be +anxious to learn under what strange conjunction of circumstances this +mysterious being--without father or mother, brothers or sisters, +kinsfolk or acquaintances, and without even a local habitation or a +name--obtained an introduction to this strange home. We will at once +state such facts as we have been able to collect. + +On one Sabbath-day, about six years ago, a congregation had gathered +together, as was their wont, for the celebration of divine worship, in +the small country church of Turnham Green, near Chiswick. The +officiating clergyman and the worshiping assembly had jointly gone +through the liturgical services without the occurrence of any unusual +event. As soon as the robed minister had ascended the sacred desk, and +commenced his discourse, however, the eyes of a portion of the audience +were attracted toward a gentleman occupying a somewhat conspicuous +position in the church, whose strange and restless movements, wild and +excited air, and occasional audible exclamations, indicated the presence +of either a fanatic or a lunatic. These symptoms continued to increase, +until, at length, as if irritated beyond endurance by some sentiment +that fell from the lips of the preacher, he gave way to a perfect +paroxysm of frenzy, under the influence of which he seized his hat, and +flung it at the head of the minister. Of course, the service was +suspended until the offender was expelled. It was soon discovered that +the unhappy author of this untoward disturbance was suffering under a +violent fit of mania. When borne from the church, no person could +recognize or identify him. He was a total stranger to all residing in +the neighborhood, so that no clew could be obtained that would enable +them to restore him to the custody and surveillance of his friends. +Under these circumstances, he was taken to the adjoining work-house at +Isleworth, where he was detained for some weeks under medical care, +during which period the most diligent inquiries were instituted with the +view of unraveling the mystery of the stranger's kinship. But without +avail. No one claimed him; and even when pressed himself to impart some +information on the subject, he either could not or would not divulge the +secret. Finding, at length, that all efforts to identify the great +Incognito were ineffectual, he was removed to Hanwell, the asylum of the +county to which he had thus suddenly become chargeable, and where he has +ever since remained. + +Mr. Chiswick is treated by the magistrates and officers with great +kindness and consideration. His employments are such as befit a +gentleman. No menial or laborious tasks are imposed upon him. He is +allowed, to a great extent, to consult his predilections, and these are +invariably of a tasteful and elegant description. His time is divided +chiefly between reading and painting, in which occupations he is +devotedly industrious. He is an early riser, and intersperses his more +sedentary pursuits with seasons of vigorous exercise. To this practice, +in conjunction with strictly temperate habits, he attributes his +excellent health and remarkable prowess. To a stranger, no signs of +mental aberration are discernible. His aspect is so calm and collected, +and his ideas are so lucidly expressed, that, if met with in any other +place besides an asylum, no one would suspect that he had ever been +smitten with a calamity so terrible. He would simply be regarded as +eccentric. So satisfied is he of his own perfect saneness, and of his +ability to secure self-maintenance by the productions of his own genius, +that confinement begins to be felt by him as intolerably irksome and +oppressive. The invisible fetters gall his sensitive soul, and render +him impatient of restraint. On our last visit but one, he declared that +he had abandoned all thoughts of doing any thing more to his painted +room; he aspired to higher things than that. He was striving to +cultivate his artistic talents, so that by their exercise he might +henceforth minister to his own necessities. Who his connections, and +what his antecedents were should never be known--they were things that +concerned no one; his aim was to qualify himself, by self-reliant labor, +to wrestle once more with the world, and to wring from it the pittance +of a humble subsistence. As soon as he felt himself competent to hazard +this step, he intended to demand his immediate release; "and, should it +then be refused," said he, with the solemn and impressive emphasis of a +man thoroughly in earnest, "they will, on the next day, find me a +_corpse_." To the superintendent in the tailoring department, he +likewise remarked, a short time since, when giving instructions for a +new garment: "This is the last favor I shall ever ask of you. I intend +shortly to quit the asylum; for if they do not discharge me of their own +accord, in answer to my request, _I will discharge myself_." + +On the occasion of our second visit to the asylum, we were received by +Mr. Chiswick with great courtesy, and were favored with a long +conversation on a variety of topics. Besides the exercise of his brush +and pencil, his genius manifests itself in other ways, some of them +being rather amusing and eccentric. Among these, is that of making +stockings, and other articles of apparel in a very original manner. His +mind, as we have remarked, is well replenished with anecdotes and +illustrations suitable to whatever topic may happen to be on hand. On +the present occasion, upon offering us a glass of wine, we declined his +hospitality, on the true plea that we had fasted since eight o'clock in +the morning, and it was then nearly five in the afternoon. Upon this, he +produced a piece of sweet bread, saying, "Take that first, and then the +wine will not hurt you. You remember the anecdote of the bride? Soon +after her marriage, her mother inquired,'How does your husband treat +you, my dear?' Oh, he loves me very much, for he gives me two glasses of +white wine every morning before I am up.' 'My dear child,' said the +mother, with an air of alarm, 'he means to kill you. However, do not +refuse the wine, but take a piece of cake to bed with you at night, and +when he is gone for the wine in the morning, do you eat the cake, then +the wine will not hurt you,' The bride obeyed the mother's advice, and +lived to a good old age." + +Having sat down by the fire in the ward with a number of the patients, +Mr. Chiswick took out his pocket-book to show us a letter which he had +received from some kind but unknown friend, who had visited the asylum, +and also that he might present to us a piece of poetry, which had just +been printed at the asylum press. In looking for these, he accidentally +dropped a greater part of the contents of his pocket-book on the floor; +and when one of the lunatics hastened to scramble for some of the +papers, Mr. Chiswick, quick as thought, pulled off the officious +patient's hat, and sent it flying to the other end of the ward, bidding +its owner to run after it. We offered to assist in picking up the +scattered papers, but he would not allow us to touch them. "You act," we +remarked, "on the principle of not allowing others to do for you any +thing that you can do yourself." "Exactly so," said he, "and I will tell +you a good anecdote about that. There was once a bishop of Gibraltar, +who hired a valet; but for some time this valet had nothing to do: the +bishop cleaned his own boots, and performed many other menial tasks, +which the servant supposed that he had been engaged to do. At length he +said--'Your lordship, I should be glad to be informed what it is +expected that I should do. You clean your own boots, brush your own +clothes, and do a multitude of other things that I supposed would fall +to my lot.' 'Well,' said the bishop, 'I have been accustomed to do this, +and I can do it very well; therefore, why should you do it? I act upon +the principle of never allowing others to do what I can do myself. +Therefore, do you go and study, and I will go on as usual. I have +already had opportunities to get knowledge, and you have not; and I +think that will be to do to you as I should wish you to do to me.'" + + + + +BLEAK HOUSE. + +BY CHARLES DICKENS. + + +CHAPTER I.--IN CHANCERY. + +London. Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in +Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the +streets, as if the water had but newly retired from the face of the +earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet +long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn hill. Smoke +lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with +flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snow-flakes--gone into +mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, +undistinguishable in mire. Horses scarcely better; splashed to their +very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another's umbrellas, in a +general infection of ill-temper, and losing their foot-hold at +street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have +been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if the day ever broke), +adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those +points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound +interest. + +Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and +meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of +shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog +on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the +cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards, and hovering in +the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and +small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich +pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem +and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his +close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering +little 'prentice boy on deck. Chance people on the bridges peeping over +the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if +they were up in a balloon, and hanging in the misty clouds. + +Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the +sun may, from the spongy fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and +plow-boy. Most of the shops lighted two hours before their time--as the +gas seems to know, for it has a haggard and unwilling look. + +The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy +streets are muddiest, near that leaden-headed old obstruction, +appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old +corporation: Temple Bar. And hard by Temple Bar, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, +at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High +Court of Chancery. + +Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire +too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which +this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds, +this day, in the sight of heaven and earth. + +On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be +sitting here--as here he is--with a foggy glory round his head, softly +fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate +with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and +outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where +he can see nothing but fog. On such an afternoon, some score of members +of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be--as here they are--mistily +engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping +one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in +technicalities, running their goat-hair and horse-hair warded heads +against walls of words, and making a pretense of equity with serious +faces, as players might. On such an afternoon, the various solicitors in +the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their +fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be--as are they not?--ranged +in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for Truth +at the bottom of it), between the registrar's red table and the silk +gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, +affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters' reports, mountains +of costly nonsense, piled before them. Well may the court be dim, with +wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if +it would never get out; well may the stained glass windows lose their +color, and admit no light of day into the place; well may the +uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in +the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect, and by the +drawl languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord +High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it, and +where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! This is the Court +of Chancery; which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in +every shire; which has its worn-out lunatic in every mad-house, and its +dead in every church-yard; which has its ruined suitor, with his +slipshod heels and threadbare dress, borrowing and begging through the +round of every man's acquaintance; which gives to moneyed might the +means abundantly of wearying out the right; which so exhausts finances, +patience, courage, hope; so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart; +that there is not an honorable man among its practitioners who would not +give--who does not often give--the warning, "Suffer any wrong that can +be done you, rather than come here!" + +Who happen to be in the Lord Chancellor's court this murky afternoon +besides the Lord Chancellor, the counsel in the cause, two or three +counsel who are never in any cause, and the well of solicitors before +mentioned? There is the registrar below the Judge, in wig and gown; and +there are two or three maces, or petty-bags, or privy-purses, or +whatever they may be, in legal court suits. These are all yawning; for +no crumb of amusement ever falls from JARNDYCE AND JARNDYCE (the cause +in hand) which was squeezed dry years upon years ago. The short-hand +writers, the reporters of the court, and the reporters of the +newspapers, invariably decamp with the rest of the regulars when +Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes on. Their places are a blank. Standing on a +seat at the side of the hall, the better to peer into the curtained +sanctuary, is a little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet, who is always +in court, from its sitting to its rising, and always expecting some +incomprehensible judgment to be given in her favor. Some say she really +is, or was, a party to a suit; but no one knows for certain, because no +one cares. She carries some small litter in a reticule which she calls +her documents; principally consisting of paper matches and dry lavender. +A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time, to +make a personal application "to purge himself of his contempt;" which, +being a solitary surviving executor who has fallen into a state of +conglomeration about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had +ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. In the meantime, +his prospects in life are ended. Another ruined suitor, who periodically +appears from Shropshire, and breaks out into efforts to address the +Chancellor at the close of the day's business, and who can by no means +be made to understand that the Chancellor is legally ignorant of his +existence after making it desolate for a quarter of a century, plants +himself in a good place and keeps an eye on the Judge, ready to call out +"My lord!" in a voice of sonorous complaint, on the instant of his +rising. A few lawyers' clerks and others who know this suitor by sight, +linger, on the chance of his furnishing some fun, and enlivening the +dismal weather a little. + +Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scare-crow of a suit has, in +course of time, become so complicated, that no man alive knows what it +means. The parties to it understand it least; but it has been observed +that no two Chancery lawyers can talk about it for five minutes, without +coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises. Innumerable +children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have +married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Scores of +persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and +Jarndyce, without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited +legendary hatreds with the suit. The little plaintiff or defendant, who +was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be +settled, has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted +away into the other world. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers +and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone +out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere +bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth +perhaps, since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a +coffee-house in Chancery-lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its +dreary length before the Court, perennially hopeless. + +Jarndyce and Jarndyce has passed into a joke. That is the only good that +has ever come of it. It has been death to many, but it is a joke in the +profession. Every master in Chancery has had a reference out of it. +Every Chancellor was "in it," for somebody or other, when he was counsel +at the bar. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, +bulbous-shoed old benchers, in select port-wine committee after dinner +in hall. Articled clerks have been in the habit of fleshing their +legal wit upon it. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, +correcting Mr. Blowers the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing +might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, "or when we get +through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers;"--a pleasantry that +particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses. + +How many people out of the suit, Jarndyce and Jarndyce has stretched +forth its unwholesome hand to spoil and corrupt, would be a very wide +question. From the master, upon whose impaling files reams of dusty +warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes; +down to the copying clerk in the Six Clerks' Office, who has copied his +tens of thousands of Chancery-folio-pages under that eternal heading; no +man's nature has been made the better by it. In trickery, evasion, +procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretenses of all +sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. The very +solicitors' boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by +protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise, was +particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an +extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and +Jarndyce. The receiver in the cause has acquired a goodly sum of money +by it, but has acquired too a distrust of his own mother, and a contempt +for his own kind. Chizzle, Mizzle, and otherwise, have lapsed into a +habit of vaguely promising themselves that they will look into that +outstanding little matter, and see what can be done for Drizzle--who was +not well used--when Jarndyce and Jarndyce shall be got out of the +office. Shirking and sharking, in all their many varieties, have been +sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have +contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil, have +been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to +take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go +wrong, it was, in some off-hand manner, never meant to go right. + +Thus, in the midst of the mud and at the heart of the fog, sits the Lord +High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery. + +"Mr. Tangle," says the Lord High Chancellor, latterly something restless +under the eloquence of that learned gentleman. + +"Mlud," says Mr. Tangle. Mr. Tangle knows more of Jarndyce and Jarndyce +than any body. He is famous for it--supposed never to have read any +thing else since he left school. + +"Have you nearly concluded your argument?" + +"Mlud, no--variety of points--feel it my duty tsubmit--ludship," is the +reply that slides out of Mr. Tangle. + +"Several members of the bar are still to be heard, I believe?" says the +Chancellor, with a slight smile. + +Eighteen of Mr. Tangle's learned friends, each armed with a little +summary of eighteen hundred sheets, bob up like eighteen hammers in a +piano-forte, make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of +obscurity. + +"We will proceed with the hearing on Wednesday fortnight," says the +Chancellor. For, the question at issue is only a question of costs, a +mere bud on the forest tree of the parent suit, and really will come to +a settlement one of these days. + +The Chancellor rises; the bar rises; the prisoner is brought forward in +a hurry; the man from Shropshire cries, "My lord!" Maces, bags, and +purses, indignantly proclaim silence, and frown at the man from +Shropshire. + +"In reference," proceeds the Chancellor, "still on Jarndyce and Jarndyce, +to the young girl----." + +"Begludship's pardon--boy," says Mr. Tangle, prematurely. + +"In reference," proceeds the Chancellor, with extra distinctness, "to +the young girl and boy, the two young people." + +(Mr. Tangle crushed.) + +"Whom I directed to be in attendance to-day, and who are now in my +private room, I will see them and satisfy myself as to the expediency of +making the order for their residing with their uncle." + +Mr. Tangle on his legs again. + +"Begludship's pardon--dead." + +"With their," Chancellor looking through his double eye-glass at the +papers on his desk, "grandfather." + +"Begludship's pardon--victim of rash action--brains." + +Suddenly a very little counsel, with a terrific bass voice, arises, +fully inflated, in the back settlements of the fog, and says, "Will your +lordship allow me? I appear for him. He is a cousin, several times +removed. I am not at the moment prepared to inform the Court in what +exact remove he is a cousin; but he _is_ a cousin." + +Leaving this address (delivered like a sepulchral message) ringing in +the rafters of the roof, the very little counsel drops, and the fog +knows him no more. Every body looks for him. Nobody can see him. + +"I will speak with both the young people," says the Chancellor anew, +"and satisfy myself on the subject of their residing with their cousin. +I will mention the matter to-morrow morning when I take my seat." + +The Chancellor is about to bow to the bar, when the prisoner is +presented. Nothing can possibly come of the prisoner's conglomeration, +but his being sent back to prison; which is soon done. The man from +Shropshire ventures another remonstrative "My lord!" but the Chancellor, +being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Every body else quickly +vanishes too. A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of +papers and carried off by clerks; the little mad old woman marches off +with her documents; the empty court is locked up. If all the injustice +it has committed, and all the misery it has caused, could only be locked +up with it, and the whole burnt away in a great funeral pyre--why, so +much the better for other parties than the parties in Jarndyce and +Jarndyce! + + +CHAPTER II.--IN FASHION. + +It is but a glimpse of the world of fashion that we want on this same +miry afternoon. It is not so unlike the Court of Chancery, but that we +may pass from the one scene to the other, as the crow flies. Both the +world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and +usage; over-sleeping Rip Van Winkles, who have played at strange games +through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties, whom the Knight +will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin +to turn prodigiously. + +It is not a large world. Relatively even to this world of ours, which +has its limits too (as your Highness shall find when you have made the +tour of it, and are come to the brink of the void beyond), it is a very +little speck. There is much good in it; there are many good and true +people in it; it has its appointed place. But the evil of it is, that it +is a world wrapped up in too much jeweler's cotton and fine wool, and +can not hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and can not see them as +they circle round the sun. It is a deadened world, and its growth is +sometimes unhealthy for want of air. + +My Lady Dedlock has returned to her house in town for a few days +previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay +some weeks; after which her movements are uncertain. The fashionable +intelligence says so, for the comfort of the Parisians, and it knows all +fashionable things. To know things otherwise, were to be unfashionable. +My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar +conversation, her "place" in Lincolnshire. The waters are out in +Lincolnshire. An arch of the bridge in the park has been sapped and +sopped away. The adjacent low-lying ground, for half a mile in breadth, +is a stagnant river, with melancholy trees for islands in it, and a +surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain. My Lady +Dedlock's "place" has been extremely dreary. The weather, for many a day +and night, has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft +loppings and prunings of the woodman's ax can make no crash or crackle +as they fall. The deer, looking soaked, leave quagmires, where they +pass. The shot of a rifle loses its sharpness in the moist air, and its +smoke moves in a tardy little cloud toward the green rise, +coppice-topped, that makes a back-ground for the falling rain. The view +from my Lady Dedlock's own windows is alternately a lead-colored view, +and a view in Indian ink. The vases on the stone terrace in the +foreground catch the rain all day; and the heavy drops fall, drip, drip, +drip, upon the broad flagged pavement, called, from old time, the +Ghost's Walk, all night. On Sundays, the little church in the park is +mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a +general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves. My +Lady Dedlock (who is child-less), looking out in the early twilight from +her boudoir at a keeper's lodge, and seeing the light of a fire upon the +latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased +by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a +wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of +temper. My Lady Dedlock says she has been "bored to death." + +Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire, +and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the +deer, and the partridges, and pheasants. The pictures of the Dedlocks +past and gone seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of +spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms, shutting up +the shutters. And when they will next come forth again, the fashionable +intelligence--which, like the fiend, is omniscient of the past and +present, but not the future--can not yet undertake to say. + +Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but there is no mightier +baronet than he. His family is as old as the hills, and infinitely more +respectable. He has a general opinion that the world might get on +without hills, but would be done up without Dedlocks. He would on the +whole admit Nature to be a good idea (a little low, perhaps, when not +inclosed with a park-fence), but an idea dependent for its execution on +your great county families. He is a gentleman of strict conscience, +disdainful of all littleness and meanness, and ready, on the shortest +notice, to die any death you may please to mention rather than give +occasion for the least impeachment of his integrity. He is an honorable, +obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely prejudiced, perfectly +unreasonable man. + +Sir Leicester is twenty years, full measure, older than my Lady. He will +never see sixty-five again, nor perhaps sixty-six, nor yet sixty-seven. +He has a twist of the gout now and then, and walks a little stiffly. He +is of a worthy presence, with his light gray hair and whiskers, his fine +shirt-frill, his pure white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright +buttons always buttoned. He is ceremonious, stately, most polite on +every occasion to my Lady, and holds her personal attractions in the +highest estimation. His gallantry to my Lady, which has never changed +since he courted her, is the one little touch of romantic fancy in him. + +Indeed, he married her for love. A whisper still goes about, that she +had not even family; howbeit, Sir Leicester had so much family that +perhaps he had enough, and could dispense with any more. But she had +beauty, pride, ambition, insolent resolve, and sense enough to portion +out a legion of fine ladies. Wealth and station, added to these, soon +floated her upward; and for years, now, my Lady Dedlock has been at the +centre of the fashionable intelligence, and at the top of the +fashionable tree. + +How Alexander wept, when he had no more worlds to conquer, every body +knows--or has some reason to know by this time, the matter having been +rather frequently mentioned. My Lady Dedlock, having conquered _her_ +world, fell, not into the melting but rather into the freezing mood. An +exhausted composure, a worn-out placidity, an equanimity of fatigue, not +to be ruffled by interest or satisfaction, are the trophies of her +victory. She is perfectly well bred. If she could be translated to +Heaven to-morrow, she might be expected to ascend without any rapture. + +She has beauty still, and, if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in +its autumn. She has a fine face--originally of a character that would be +rather called very pretty than handsome, but improved into classicality +by the acquired expression of her fashionable state. Her figure is +elegant, and has the effect of being tall. Not that she is so, but that +"the most is made," as the Honorable Bob Staples has frequently asserted +upon oath, "of all her points." The same authority observes, that she is +perfectly got up and remarks, in commendation of her hair especially, +that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud. + +With all her perfections on her head, my Lady Dedlock has come up from +her place in Lincolnshire (hotly pursued by the fashionable +intelligence), to pass a few days at her house in town previous to her +departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, +after which her movements are uncertain. And at her house in town, upon +this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old +gentleman, attorney-at-law, and eke solicitor of the High Court of +Chancery, who has the honor of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks, +and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside, as +if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror's trick, and were +constantly being juggled through the whole set. Across the hall, and up +the stairs, and along the passages, and through the rooms, which are +very brilliant in the season and very dismal out of it--Fairy-land to +visit, but a desert to live in--the old gentleman is conducted, by a +Mercury in powder, to my Lady's presence. + +The old gentleman is rusty to look at, but is reputed to have made good +thrift out of aristocratic marriage settlements and aristocratic wills, +and to be very rich. He is surrounded by a mysterious halo of family +confidences; of which he is known to be the silent depository. There are +noble Mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks, among +the growing timber and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets +than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn. He +is of what is called the old school--a phrase generally meaning any +school that seems never to have been young--and wears knee breeches tied +with ribbons, and gaiters or stockings. One peculiarity of his black +clothes, and of his black stockings, be they silk or worsted, is, that +they never shine. Mute, close, irresponsive to any glancing light, his +dress is like himself. He never converses, when not professionally +consulted. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at +corners of dinner-tables in great country houses, and near doors of +drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is +eloquent: where every body knows him, and where half the Peerage stops +to say "How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?" He receives these salutations +with gravity, and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge. + +Sir Leicester Dedlock is with my Lady, and is happy to see Mr. +Tulkinghorn. There is an air of prescription about him which is always +agreeable to Sir Leicester; he receives it as a kind of tribute. He +likes Mr. Tulkinghorn's dress; there is a kind of tribute in that too. +It is eminently respectable, and likewise, in a general way, +retainer-like. It expresses, as it were, the steward of the legal +mysteries, the butler of the legal cellar of the Dedlocks. + +Has Mr. Tulkinghorn any idea of this himself? It may be so, or it may +not; but there is this remarkable circumstance to be noted in every +thing associated with my Lady Dedlock as one of a class--as one of the +leaders and representatives of her little world. She supposes herself to +be an inscrutable Being, quite out of the reach and ken of ordinary +mortals--seeing herself in her glass, where indeed she looks so. Yet, +every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager +of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, +haughtinesses, and caprices; and lives upon as accurate a calculation +and as nice a measure of her moral nature, as her dress-maker takes of +her physical proportions. Is a new dress, a new custom, a new singer, a +new dancer, a new form of jewelry, a new dwarf or giant, a new chapel, a +new any thing, to be set up? There are deferential people, in a dozen +callings, whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration +before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby; +who do nothing but nurse her all their lives; who, humbly affecting to +follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after +them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off, as Lemuel +Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. "If you +want to address our people, sir," say Blaze and Sparkle the +jewelers--meaning by our people, Lady Dedlock and the rest--"you must +remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit +our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a +place." "To make this article go down, gentlemen," say Sheen and Gloss +the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, "you must come to us, +because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it +fashionable." "If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high +connection, sir," says Mr. Sladdery the librarian, "or if you want to +get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connection, sir, or +if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high +connection, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me; for I have +been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connection, sir; and I +may tell you, without vanity, that I can turn them round my finger"--in +which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. + +"Therefore, while Mr. Tulkinghorn may not know what was passing in the +Dedlock mind at present, it is very possible that he may. + +"My Lady's cause has been again before the Chancellor, has it, Mr. +Tulkinghorn?" says Sir Leicester, giving him his hand. + +"Yes. It has been on again to-day," Mr. Tulkinghorn replies; making one +of his quiet bows to my Lady, who is on a sofa near the fire, shading +her face with a hand-screen. + +"It would be useless to ask," says my Lady, with the dreariness of the +place in Lincolnshire still upon her, "whether any thing his been done." + +"Nothing that _you_ would call any thing has been done to-day," replies +Mr. Tulkinghorn. + +"Nor ever will be," says my Lady. + +Sir Leicester has no objection to an interminable Chancery suit. It is a +slow, expensive, British, constitutional kind of thing. To be sure, he +has not a vital interest in the suit in question, her part in which was +the only property my Lady brought him; and he has a shadowy impression +that for his name--the name of Dedlock--to be in a cause, and not in the +title of that cause, is a most ridiculous accident. But he regards the +Court of Chancery, even if it should involve an occasional delay of +justice and a trifling amount of confusion, as a something, devised in +conjunction with a variety of other somethings, by the perfection of +human wisdom, for the eternal settlement (humanly speaking) of every +thing. And he is, upon the whole, of a fixed opinion, that to give the +sanction of his countenance to any complaints respecting it, would be to +encourage some person of the lower orders to rise up somewhere--like Wat +Tyler. + +"As a few fresh affidavits have been put upon the file," says Mr. +Tulkinghorn, "and as they are short, and as I proceed upon the +troublesome principle of begging leave to possess my clients with any +new proceedings in a cause;" cautious man, Mr. Tulkinghorn, taking no +more responsibility than necessary; "and further, as I see you are going +to Paris, I have brought them in my pocket." + +(Sir Leicester was going to Paris too, by-the-by, but the delight of the +fashionable intelligence was in his Lady.) + +Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a +golden talisman of a table at my Lady's elbow, puts on his spectacles, +and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp. + +"'In Chancery. Between John Jarndyce--'" + +My Lady interrupts him, requesting him to miss as many of the formal +horrors as he can. + +Mr. Tulkinghorn glances over his spectacles, and begins again lower +down. My Lady carelessly and scornfully abstracts her attention. Sir +Leicester in a great chair looks at the fire, and appears to have a +stately liking for the legal repetitions and prolixities, as ranging +among the national bulwarks. It happens that the fire is hot, where my +Lady sits; and that the hand-screen is more beautiful than useful, being +priceless, but small. My Lady, changing her position, sees the papers on +the table--looks at them nearer--looks at them nearer still--asks +impulsively: + +"Who copied that?" + +Mr. Tulkinghorn stops short, surprised at my Lady's animation and her +unusual tone. + +"Is it what you people call law hand?" she asks, looking full at him in +her careless way again, and toying with her screen. + +"Not quite. Probably"--Mr. Tulkinghorn examines it as he speaks--"the +legal character it has, was acquired after the original hand was formed. +Why do you ask?" + +"Any thing to vary this detestable monotony. O, go on, do!" + +Mr. Tulkinghorn reads again. The heat is greater; my Lady screens her +face. Sir Leicester dozes, starts up suddenly, and cries, "Eh? what do +you say?" + +"I say I am afraid," says Mr. Tulkinghorn, who has risen hastily, "that +Lady Dedlock is ill." + +"Faint," my Lady murmurs, with white lips, "only that; but it is like +the faintness of death. Don't speak to me. Ring, and take me to my +room!" + +Mr. Tulkinghorn retires into another chamber; bells ring, feet shuffle +and patter, silence ensues. Mercury at last begs Mr. Tulkinghorn to +return. + +"Better now," quoth Sir Leicester, motioning the lawyer to sit down and +read to him alone. "I have been quite alarmed. I never knew my lady +swoon before. But the weather is extremely trying--and she really has +been bored to death down at our place in Lincolnshire." + + +CHAPTER III.--A PROGRESS. + +I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write my portion of +these pages, for I know I am not clever. I always knew that. I can +remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my +doll, when we were alone together, "Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you +know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!" And so +she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful +complexion and rosy lips, staring at me--or not so much at me, I think, +as at nothing--while I busily stitched away, and told her every one of +my secrets. + +My dear old doll! I was such a shy little thing that I seldom dared to +open my lips, and never dared to open my heart, to any body else. It +almost makes me cry to think what a relief it used to be to me, when I +came home from school of a day, to run up stairs to my room, and say, "O +you dear faithful Dolly, I knew you would be expecting me!" and then to +sit down on the floor, leaning on the elbow of her great chair, and tell +her all I had noticed since we parted. I had always rather a noticing +way--not a quick way, O no!--a silent way of noticing what passed before +me, and thinking I should like to understand it better. I have not by +any means a quick understanding. When I love a person very tenderly +indeed, it seems to brighten. But even that may be my vanity. + +I was brought up, from my earliest remembrance--like some of the +princesses in the fairy stories, only I was not charming--by my +godmother. At least I only knew her as such. She was a good, good woman! +She went to church three times every Sunday, and to morning prayers on +Wednesdays and Fridays, and to lectures whenever there were lectures; +and never missed. She was handsome; and if she had ever smiled, would +have been (I used to think) like an angel--but she never smiled. She was +always grave, and strict. She was so very good herself, I thought, that +the badness of other people made her frown all her life. I felt so +different from her, even making every allowance for the differences +between a child and a woman; I felt so poor, so trifling, and so far +off; that I never could be unrestrained with her--no, could never even +love her as I wished. It made me very sorry to consider how good she +was, and how unworthy of her I was; and I used ardently to hope that I +might have a better heart; and I talked it over very often with the +dear old doll; but I never loved my godmother as I ought to have loved +her, and as I felt I must have loved her if I had been a better girl. + +This made me, I dare say, more timid and retiring than I naturally was, +and cast me upon Dolly as the only friend with whom I felt at ease. But +something happened when I was still quite a little thing, that helped it +very much. + +I had never heard my mamma spoken of. I had never heard of my papa +either, but I felt more interested about my mamma. I had never worn a +black frock, that I could recollect. I had never been shown my mamma's +grave. I had never been told where it was. Yet I had never been taught +to pray for any relation but my godmother. I had more than once +approached this subject of my thoughts with Mrs. Rachael, our only +servant, who took my light away when I was in bed (another very good +woman, but austere to me), and she had only said, "Esther, good-night!" +and gone away and left me. + +Although there were seven girls at the neighboring school where I was a +day boarder, and although they called me little Esther Summerson, I knew +none of them at home. All of them were older than I, to be sure (I was +the youngest there by a good deal), but there seemed to be some other +separation between us besides that, and besides their being far more +clever than I was, and knowing much more than I did. One of them, in the +first week of my going to the school (I remember it very well), invited +me home to a little party, to my great joy. But my godmother wrote a +stiff letter declining for me, and I never went. I never went out at +all. + +It was my birthday. There were holidays at school on other +birthdays--none on mine. There were rejoicings at home on other +birthdays, as I knew from what I heard the girls relate to one +another--there were none on mine. My birthday was the most melancholy +day at home, in the whole year. + +I have mentioned, that, unless my vanity should deceive me (as I know it +may, for I may be very vain, without suspecting it--though indeed I +don't), my comprehension is quickened when my affection is. My +disposition is very affectionate; and perhaps I might still feel such a +wound, if such a wound could be received more than once, with the +quickness of that birthday. + +Dinner was over, and my godmother and I were sitting at the table before +the fire. The clock ticked, the fire clicked; not another sound had been +heard in the room, or in the house, for I don't know how long. I +happened to look timidly up from my stitching, across the table, at my +godmother, and I saw in her face, looking gloomily at me, "It would have +been far better, little Esther, had you had had no birthday; that you +had never been born!" + +I broke out sobbing and crying, and I said, "O, dear godmother, tell me, +pray do tell me, did mamma die on my birthday?" + +"No," she returned. "Ask me no more, child!" + +"O, do pray tell me something of her. Do now, at last, dear godmother, +if you please! What did I do to her? How did I lose her? Why am I so +different from other children, and why is it my fault, dear godmother? +No, no, no, don't go away. O, speak to me!" + +I was in a kind of fright beyond my grief; and I had caught hold of her +dress, and was kneeling to her. She had been saying all the while, "Let +me go!" But now she stood still. + +Her darkened face had such power over me, that it stopped me in the +midst of my vehemence, I put up my trembling little hand to clasp hers, +or to beg her pardon with what earnestness I might, but withdrew it as +she looked at me, and laid it on my fluttering heart. She raised me, sat +in her chair, and standing me before her, said, slowly, in a cold, low +voice--I see her knitted brow, and pointed finger: + +"Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers. The time will +come--and soon enough--when you will understand this better, and will +feel it too, as no one save a woman can. I have forgiven her;" but her +face did not relent; "the wrong she did to me, and I say no more of it, +though it was greater than you will ever know--than any one will ever +know, but I, the sufferer. For yourself, unfortunate girl, orphaned and +degraded from the first of these evil anniversaries, pray daily that the +sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is +written. Forget your mother, and leave all other people to forget her +who will do her unhappy child that greatest kindness. Now, go!" + +She checked me, however, as I was about to depart from her--so frozen as +I was!--and added this: + +"Submission, self-denial, diligent work, are the preparations for a life +begun with such a shadow on it. You are different from other children, +Esther, because you were not born, like them, in common sinfulness and +wrath. You are set apart." + +I went up to my room, and crept to bed, and laid my doll's cheek against +mine wet with tears; and holding that solitary friend upon my bosom, +cried myself to sleep. Imperfect as my understanding of my sorrow was, I +knew that I had brought no joy, at anytime, to anybody's heart, and that +I was to no one upon earth what Dolly was to me. + +Dear, dear, to think how much time we passed alone together afterward, +and how often I repeated to the doll the story of my birthday, and +confided to her that I would try, as hard as ever I could, to repair the +fault I had been born with (of which I confusedly felt guilty and yet +innocent), and would strive as I grew up to be industrious, contented, +and kind-hearted, and to do some good to some one, and win some love to +myself if I could. I hope it is not self-indulgent to shed these tears +as I think of it. I am very thankful, I am very cheerful, but I can not +quite help their coming to my eyes. + +There! I have wiped them away now, and can go on again properly. + +I felt the distance between my godmother and myself so much more after +the birthday, and felt so sensible of filling a place in her house which +ought to have been empty, that I found her more difficult of approach, +though I was fervently grateful to her in my heart, than ever. I felt in +the same way toward my school companions; I felt in the same way toward +Mrs. Rachael, who was a widow; and O toward her daughter, of whom she +was proud, who came to see her once a fortnight! I was very retired and +quiet, and tried to be very diligent. + +One sunny afternoon, when I had come home from school with my books and +portfolio, watching my long shadow at my side, and as I was gliding up +stairs to my room as usual, my godmother looked out of the parlor door, +and called me back. Sitting with her, I found--which was very unusual +indeed--a stranger. A portly, important-looking gentleman, dressed all +in black, with a white cravat, large gold watch seals, a pair of gold +eye-glasses, and a large seal-ring upon his little finger. + +"This," said my godmother in an under tone, "is the child." Then she +said, in her naturally stern way of speaking, "This is Esther, sir." + +The gentleman put up his eye-glasses to look at me, and said, "Come +here, my dear!" He shook hands with me, and asked me to take off my +bonnet--looking at me all the while. When I had complied, he said, "Ah!" +and afterward "Yes!" And then, taking off his eye-glasses and folding +them in a red case, and leaning back in his arm-chair, turning the case +about in his two hands he gave my godmother a nod. Upon that, my +godmother said, "You may go up-stairs, Esther!" and I made him my +courtesy and left him. + +It must have been two years afterward, and I was almost fourteen, when +one dreadful night my godmother and I sat at the fireside. I was reading +aloud, and she was listening. I had come down at nine o'clock, as I +always did, to read the Bible to her; and was reading, from St. John, +how our Saviour stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust, when +they brought the sinful woman to him. + +"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto +them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at +her!'" + +I was stopped by my godmother's rising, putting her hand to her head, +and crying out, in an awful voice, from quite another part of the book: + +"'Watch ye therefore! lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And +what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!'" + +In an instant, while she stood before me repeating these words, she fell +down on the floor. I had no need to cry out; her voice had sounded +through the house, and been heard in the street. + +She was laid upon her bed. For more than a week she lay there, little +altered outwardly; with her old handsome, resolute frown that I so well +knew, carved upon her face. Many and many a time, in the day and in the +night, with my head upon the pillow by her that my whispers might be +plainer to her, I kissed her, thanked her, prayed for her, asked her for +her blessing and forgiveness, entreated her to give me the least sign +that she knew or heard me. No, no, no. Her face was immovable. To the +very last, and even afterward, her frown remained unsoftened. + +On the day after my poor good godmother was buried, the gentleman in +black with the white neckcloth re-appeared. I was sent for by Mrs. +Rachael, and found him in the same place, as if he had never gone away. + +"My name is Kenge," he said; "you may remember it, my child; Kenge and +Carboy, Lincoln's Inn." + +I replied, that I remembered to have seen him once before. + +"Pray be seated--here, near me. Don't distress yourself; it's of no use. +Mrs. Rachael, I needn't inform you, who were acquainted with the late +Miss Barbary's affairs, that her means die with her; and that this young +lady, now her aunt is dead--" + +"My aunt, sir!" + +"It really is of no use carrying on a deception when no object is to be +gained by it," said Mr. Kenge, smoothly. "Aunt in fact, though not in +law. Don't distress yourself! Don't weep! Don't tremble! Mrs. Rachael, +our young friend has no doubt heard of--the--a--Jarndyce and Jarndyce." + +"Never," said Mrs. Rachel. + +"Is it possible," pursued Mr. Kenge, putting up his eye-glasses, "that +our young friend--I _beg_ you won't distress yourself!--never heard of +Jarndyce and Jarndyce?" + +I shook my head, wondering even what it was. + +"Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce?" said Mr. Kenge, looking over his glasses +at me, and softly turning the case about and about, as if he were +petting something. "Not of one of the greatest Chancery suits known? Not +of Jarndyce and Jarndyce--the--a--in itself a monument of Chancery +practice? In which (I would say) every difficulty, every contingency, +every masterly fiction, every form of procedure known in that court, is +represented over and over again? It is a cause that could not exist, out +of this free and great country. I should say that the aggregate of costs +in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mrs. Rachael;" I was afraid he addressed +himself to her, because I appeared inattentive; "amounts at the present +hour to from SIX-TY to SEVEN-TY THOUSAND POUNDS!" said Mr. Kenge, +leaning back in his chair. + +I felt very ignorant, but what could I do? I was so entirely +unacquainted with the subject, that I understood nothing about it even +then. + +"And she really never heard of the cause!" said Mr. Kenge. "Surprising!" + + +"Miss Barbary, sir," returned Mrs. Rachael, "who is now among the +Seraphim--" + +("I hope so, I am sure," said Mr. Kenge, politely.) + +"--Wished Esther only to know what would be serviceable to her. And she +knows, from any teaching she has had here, nothing more." + +"Well!" said Mr. Kenge. "Upon the whole, very proper. Now to the point," +addressing me. "Miss Barbary, your sole relation (in fact, that is; for +I am bound to observe that in law you had none), being deceased, and it +naturally not being to be expected that Mrs. Rachael--" + +"O dear no!" said Mrs. Rachael, quickly. + +"Quite so," assented Mr. Kenge; "that Mrs. Rachael should charge +herself with your maintenance and support (I beg you won't distress +yourself), you are in a position to receive the renewal of an offer +which I was instructed to make to Miss Barbary some two years ago, and +which, though rejected then, was understood to be renewable under the +lamentable circumstances that have since occurred. Now, if I avow that I +represent, in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, and otherwise, a highly humane, but +at the same time singular man, shall I compromise myself by any stretch +of my professional caution?" said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair +again, and looking calmly at us both. + +He appeared to enjoy beyond every thing, the sound of his own voice. I +couldn't wonder at that, for it was mellow and full, and gave great +importance to every word he uttered. He listened to himself with obvious +satisfaction, and sometimes gently beat time to his own music with his +head, or rounded a sentence with his hand. I was very much impressed by +him--even then, before I knew that he formed himself on the model of a +great lord who was his client, and that he was generally called +Conversation Kenge. + +"Mr. Jarndyce," he pursued, "being aware of the--I would say, +desolate--position of our young friend, offers to place her at a +first-rate establishment; where her education shall be completed, where +her comfort shall be secured, where her reasonable wants shall be +anticipated, where she shall be eminently qualified to discharge her +duty in that station of life unto which it has pleased--shall I say +Providence?--to call her." + +My heart was filled so full, both by what he said, and by his affecting +manner of saying it, that I was not able to speak, though I tried. + +"Mr. Jarndyce," he went on, "makes no condition, beyond expressing his +expectation, that our young friend will not at any time remove herself +from the establishment in question without his knowledge and +concurrence. That she will faithfully apply herself to the acquisition +of those accomplishments, upon the exercise of which she will be +ultimately dependent. That she will tread in the paths of virtue, and +honor, and--the--a--so forth." + +I was still less able to speak than before. + +"Now, what does our young friend say?" proceeded Mr. Kenge. "Take time, +take time! I pause for her reply. But take time!" + +What the destitute subject of such an offer tried to say, I need not +repeat. What she did say, I could more easily tell, if it were worth the +telling. What she felt, and will feel to her dying hour, I could never +relate. + +This interview took place at Windsor, where I had passed (as far as I +knew) my whole life. On that day week, amply provided with all +necessaries, I left it, inside the stage-coach, for Reading. + +Mrs. Rachael was too good to feel any emotion at parting, but I was not +so good, and wept bitterly. I thought that I ought to have known her +better after so many years, and ought to have made myself enough of a +favorite with her to make her sorry then. When she gave me one cold, +parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch--it +was a very frosty day--I felt so miserable and self-reproachful that I +clung to her and told her it was my fault, I knew, that she could say +good-by so easily! + +"No, Esther!" she returned. "It is your misfortune!" + +The coach was at the little lawn gate--we had not come out until we +heard the wheels--and thus I left her, with a sorrowful heart. She went +in before my boxes were lifted to the coach-roof, and shut the door. As +long as I could see the house, I looked back at it from the window, +through my tears. My godmother had left Mrs. Rachael all the little +property she possessed; and there was to be a sale; and an old +hearth-rug with roses on it, which always seemed to me the first thing +in the world I had ever seen, was hanging outside in the frost and snow. +A day or two before, I had wrapped the dear old doll in her own shawl, +and quietly laid her--I am half-ashamed to tell it--in the garden-earth, +under the tree that shaded my own window. I had no companion left but my +bird, and him I carried with me in his cage. + +When the house was out of sight, I sat, with my bird-cage in the straw +at my feet, forward on the low seat to look out of the high window; +watching the frosty trees that were like beautiful pieces of spar; and +the fields all smooth and white with last night's snow; and the sun so +red but yielding so little heat; and the ice, dark like metal, where the +skaters and sliders had brushed the snow away. There was a gentleman in +the coach who sat on the opposite seat, and looked very large in a +quantity of wrappings; but he sat gazing out of the other window, and +took no notice of me. + +I thought of my dead godmother; of the night when I read to her; of her +frowning so fixedly and sternly in her bed; of the strange place I was +going to; of the people I should find there, and what they would be +like, and what they would say to me; when a voice in the coach gave me a +terrible start. + +It said, "What the de-vil are you crying for?" + +I was so frightened that I lost my voice, and could only answer in a +whisper. "Me, sir?" For of course I knew it must have been the +gentleman in the quantity of wrappings, though he was still looking out +of his window. + +"Yes, you," he said, turning round. + +"I didn't know I was crying, sir," I faltered. + +"But you are!" said the gentleman. "Look here!" He came quite opposite +to me from the other corner of the coach, brushed one of his large furry +cuffs across my eyes (but without hurting me), and showed me that it was +wet. + +"There! Now, you know you are," he said. "Don't you?" + +"Yes, sir," I said. + +"And what are you crying for?" said the gentleman. "Don't you want to go +there?" + +"Where, sir?" + +"Where? Why, wherever you are going," said the gentleman. + +"I am very glad to go there, sir," I answered. + +"Well, then! Look glad!" said the gentleman. + +I thought he was very strange, or at least that what I could see of him +was very strange, for he was wrapped up to the chin, and his face was +almost hidden in a fur cap, with broad fur straps at the side of his +head, fastened under his chin; but I was composed again, and not afraid +of him. So I told him that I thought I must have been crying, because of +my godmother's death, and because of Mrs. Rachael's not being sorry to +part with me. + +"Con-found Mrs. Rachael!" said the gentleman. "Let her fly away in a +high wind on a broomstick!" + +I began to be really afraid of him now, and looked at him with the +greatest astonishment. But I thought that he had pleasant eyes, although +he kept on muttering to himself in an angry manner, and calling Mrs. +Rachael names. + +After a little while, he opened his outer wrapper, which appeared to me +large enough to wrap up the whole coach, and put his arm down into a +deep pocket in the side. + +"Now, look here!" he said. "In this paper," which was nicely folded, "is +a piece of the best plum-cake that can be got for money--sugar on the +outside an inch thick, like fat on muttonchops. Here's a little pie (a +gem this is, both for size and quality), made in France. And what do you +suppose it's made of? Livers of fat geese. There's a pie! Now let's see +you eat 'em." + +"Thank you, sir," I replied; "thank you very much, indeed, but I hope +you won't be offended; they are too rich for me." + +"Floored again!" said the gentleman, which I didn't at all understand; +and threw them both out of window. + +He did not speak to me any more, until he got out of the coach a little +way short of Reading, when he advised me to be a good girl, and to be +studious; and shook hands with me. I must say I was relieved by his +departure. We left him at a milestone. I often walked past it afterward, +and never, for a long time, without thinking of him, and half-expecting +to meet him. But I never did; and so, as time went on, he passed out of +my mind. + +When the coach stopped, a very neat lady looked up at the window, and +said, + +"Miss Donny." + +"No, ma'am, Esther Summerson." + +"That is quite right," said the lady, "Miss Donny." + +I now understood that she introduced herself by that name, and begged +Miss Donny's pardon for my mistake, and pointed out my boxes at her +request. Under the direction of a very neat maid, they were put outside +a very small green carriage; and then Miss Donny, the maid, and I, got +inside, and were driven away. + +"Every thing is ready for you, Esther," said Miss Donny; "and the scheme +of your pursuits has been arranged in exact accordance with the wishes +of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce." + +"Of ----, did you say, ma'am?" + +"Of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce," said Miss Donny. + +I was so bewildered that Miss Donny thought the cold had been too severe +for me, and lent me her smelling-bottle. + +"Do you know my--guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, ma'am?" I asked, after a good +deal of hesitation. + +"Not personally, Esther," said Miss Donny; "merely through his +solicitors, Messrs. Kenge and Carboy, of London. A very superior +gentleman, Mr. Kenge. Truly eloquent, indeed. Some of his periods quite +majestic!" + +I felt this to be very true, but was too confused to attend to it. Our +speedy arrival at our destination, before I had time to recover myself, +increased my confusion; and I never shall forget the uncertain and +unreal air of every thing at Greenleaf (Miss Donny's house), that +afternoon! + +But I soon became used to it. I was so adapted to the routine of +Greenleaf before long, that I seemed to have been there a great while; +and almost to have dreamed, rather than to have really lived, my old +life at my godmother's. Nothing could be more precise, exact, and +orderly, than Greenleaf. There was a time for every thing all round the +dial of the clock, and every thing was done at its appointed moment. + +We were twelve boarders, and there were two Miss Donnys, twins. It was +understood that I would have to depend, by-and-by, on my qualifications +as a governess; and I was not only instructed in every thing that was +taught at Greenleaf, but was very soon engaged in helping to instruct +others. Although I was treated in every other respect like the rest of +the school, this single difference was made in my case from the first. +As I began to know more, I taught more, and so in course of time I had +plenty to do, which I was very fond of doing, because it made the dear +girls fond of me. At last, whenever a new pupil came, who was a little +downcast and unhappy, she was so sure--indeed I don't know why--to make +a friend of me, that all new-comers were confided to my care. They said +I was so gentle; but I am sure _they_ were! I often thought of the +resolution I had made on my birth-day, to try to be industrious, +contented, and true-hearted, and to do some good to some one, and win +some love if I could; and indeed, indeed, I felt almost ashamed to have +done so little, and have won so much. + +I passed at Greenleaf six happy, quiet years. I never saw in any face +there, thank Heaven, on my birthday, that it would have been better if I +had never been born. When the day came round, it brought me so many +tokens of affectionate remembrance, that my room was beautiful with them +from New-Year's Day to Christmas. + +In those six years I had never been away, except on visits at holiday +time in the neighborhood. After the first six months or so, I had taken +Miss Donny's advice in reference to the propriety of writing to Mr. +Kenge, to say that I was happy and grateful; and, with her approval, I +had written such a letter. I had received a formal answer acknowledging +its receipt, and saying, "We note the contents thereof, which shall be +duly communicated to our client." After that, I sometimes heard Miss +Donny and her sister mention how regularly my accounts were paid; and +about twice a year I ventured to write a similar letter. I always +received by return of post exactly the same answer, in the same round +hand; with the signature of Kenge and Carboy in another writing, which I +supposed to be Mr. Kenge's. + +It seems so curious to me to be obliged to write all this about +myself!--as if this narrative were the narrative of _my_ life! But my +little body will soon fall into the background now. + +Six quiet years (I find I am saying it for the second time) I had passed +at Greenleaf, seeing in those around me, as it might be in a +looking-glass, every stage of my own growth and change there, when, one +November morning, I received this letter. I omit the date. + + _Old Square, Lincoln's Inn._ + + _Madam,_ + + _Jarndyce and Jarndyce._ + + _Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an + Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he + wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he + will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity._ + + _We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight + o'clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse + Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting + to convey you to our offe as above._ + + _We are, Madam,_ + _Your obed^t Serv^ts,_ + _Kenge and Carboy._ + + _Miss Esther Summerson._ + +O, never, never, never shall I forget the emotion this letter caused in +the house! It was so tender in them to care so much for me; it was so +gracious in that Father who had not forgotten me, to have made my orphan +way so smooth and easy, and to have inclined so many youthful natures +toward me; that I could hardly bear it. Not that I would have had them +less sorry--I am afraid not; but the pleasure of it, and the pain of it, +and the pride and joy of it, and the humble regret of it, were so +blended, that my heart seemed almost breaking while it was full of +rapture. + +The letter gave me only five days' notice of my removal. When every +minute added to the proofs of love and kindness that were given me in +those five days; and when at last the morning came, and when they took +me through all the rooms, that I might see them for the last time; and +when some cried "Esther, dear, say good-by to me here, at my bedside, +where you first spoke so kindly to me!" and when others asked me only to +write their names, "With Esther's love;" and when they all surrounded mo +with their parting presents, and clung to me weeping, and cried, "What +shall we do when dear Esther's gone!" and when I tried to tell them how +forbearing, and how good they had all been to me, and how I blessed, and +thanked them every one; what a heart I had! + +And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me, as the +least among them; and when the maids said, "Bless you, miss, wherever +you go!" and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly +noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a +little nosegay of geraniums, and told me I had been the light of his +eyes--indeed the old man said so!--what a heart I had then! + +And could I help it, if with all this, and the coming to the little +school, and the unexpected sight of the poor children outside waving +their hats and bonnets to me, and of a gray-headed gentleman and lady, +whose daughter I had helped to teach, and at whose house I had visited +(who were said to be the proudest people in all that country), caring +for nothing but calling out "Good-by, Esther. May you be very happy!" +could I help it if I was quite bowed down in the coach by myself, and +said, "O, I am so thankful, I am so thankful!" many times over! + +But of course I soon considered that I must not take tears where I was +going, after all that had been done for me. Therefore, of course, I made +myself sob less, and persuaded myself to be quiet, by saying very often, +"Esther! now, you really must! This _will not_ do!" I cheered myself up +pretty well at last, though I am afraid I was longer about it than I +ought to have been; and when I had cooled my eyes with lavender water, +it was time to watch for London. + +I was quite persuaded that we were there, when we were ten miles off; +and when we really were there, that we should never get there. However, +when we began to jolt upon a stone pavement, and particularly when every +other conveyance seemed to be running into us and we seemed to be +running into every other conveyance, I began to believe that we really +were approaching the end of our journey. Very soon afterward we stopped. + +A young gentleman who had inked himself by accident, addressed me from +the pavement, and said, "I am from Kenge and Carboy's, miss, of +Lincoln's Inn." + +"If you please, sir," said I. + +He was very obliging; and as he handed me into a fly, after +superintending the removal of my boxes, I asked him whether there was a +great fire any where? For the streets were so full of dense brown smoke +that scarcely any thing was to be seen. + +"O dear no, miss," he said. "This is a London particular." + +I had never heard of such a thing. + +"A fog, miss," said the young gentleman. + +"O indeed!" said I. + +We drove slowly through the dirtiest and darkest streets that ever were +seen in the world (I thought), and in such a distracting state of +confusion that I wondered how the people kept their senses, until we +passed into sudden quietude under an old gateway, and drove on through a +silent square, until we came to an odd nook in a corner, where there was +an entrance up a steep broad flight of stairs, like an entrance to a +church. And there really was a church-yard outside under some cloisters, +for I saw the grave-stones from the staircase window. + +This was Kenge and Carboy's. The young gentleman showed me through an +outer office into Mr. Kenge's room--there was no one in it--and politely +put an arm-chair for me by the fire. He then called my attention to a +little looking-glass, hanging from a nail on one side, of the +chimney-piece. + +"In case you should wish to look at yourself, miss, after the journey, +as you're going before the Chancellor. Not that it's necessary, I am +sure," said the young gentleman, civilly. + +"Going before the Chancellor?" I said, startled for a moment. + +"Only a matter of form, miss," returned the young gentleman. "Mr. Kenge +is in court now. He left his compliments, and would you partake of some +refreshment;" there were biscuits and a decanter of wine on a small +table; "and look over the paper;" which the young gentleman gave me as +he spoke. He then stirred the fire, and left me. + +Every thing was so strange--the stranger for its being night in the +day-time, and the candles burning with a white flame, and looking raw +and cold--that I read the words in the newspaper without knowing what +they meant, and found myself reading the same words repeatedly. As it +was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at +my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room +which was not half lighted, and at the shabby dusty tables, and +at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most +inexpressive-looking books that ever had any thing to say for +themselves. Then I went on, thinking, thinking, thinking; and the fire +went on, burning, burning, burning; and the candles went on flickering +and guttering, and there were no snuffers--until the young gentleman +by-and-by brought a very dirty pair; for two hours. + +At last Mr. Kenge came. _He_ was not altered; but he was surprised to +see how altered I was, and appeared quite pleased. "As you are going to +be the companion of the young lady who is now in the Chancellor's +private room, Miss Summerson," he said, "we thought it well that you +should be in attendance also. You will not be discomposed by the Lord +Chancellor, I dare say?" + +"No, sir," I said, "I don't think I shall." Really not seeing, on +consideration, why I should be. + +So Mr. Kenge gave me his arm, and we went round the corner, under a +colonnade, and in at a side door. And so we came, along a passage, into +a comfortable sort of room, where a young lady and a young gentleman +were standing near a great, loud-roaring fire. A screen was interposed +between them and it, and they were leaning on the screen, talking. + +They both looked up when I came in, and I saw in the young lady, with +the fire shining upon her, such a beautiful girl! With such rich golden +hair, such soft blue eyes, and such a bright, innocent, trusting face! + +"Miss Ada," said Mr. Kenge, "this is Miss Summerson." + +She came to meet me with a smile of welcome, and her hand extended, but +seemed to change her mind in a moment, and kissed me. In short, she had +such a natural, captivating, winning manner, that in a few minutes we +were sitting in the window-seat, with the light of the fire upon us, +talking together, as free and happy as could be. + +What a load off my mind! It was so delightful to know that she could +confide in me, and like me! It was so good of her, and so encouraging to +me! + +The young gentleman was her distant cousin, she told me, and his name +Richard Carstone. He was a handsome youth, with an ingenuous face, and a +most engaging laugh; and after she had called him up to where we sat, he +stood by us, in the light of the fire too, talking gayly, like a +light-hearted boy. He was very young; not more than nineteen then, if +quite so much, but nearly two years older than she was. They were both +orphans, and (what was very unexpected and curious to me) had never met +before that day. Our all three coming together for the first time, in +such an unusual place, was a thing to talk about; and we talked about +it; and the fire, which had left off roaring, winked its red eyes at +us--as Richard said--like a drowsy old Chancery lion. + +We conversed in a low tone, because a full-dressed gentleman in a bag +wig frequently came in and out, and when he did so, we could hear a +drawling sound in the distance, which he said was one of the counsel in +our case addressing the Lord Chancellor. He told Mr. Kenge that the +Chancellor would be up in five minutes; and presently we heard a bustle, +and a tread of feet, and Mr. Kenge said that the Court had risen, and +his lordship was in the next room. + +The gentleman in the bag wig opened the door almost directly, and +requested Mr. Kenge to come in. Upon that, we all went into the next +room; Mr. Kenge first, with my darling--it is so natural to me now, that +I can't help writing it; and there, plainly dressed in black, and +sitting in an arm-chair at a table near the fire, was his lordship, +whose robe, trimmed with beautiful gold lace, was thrown upon another +chair. He gave us a searching look as we entered, but his manner was +both courtly and kind. + +The gentleman in the bag wig laid bundles of papers on his lordship's +table, and his lordship silently selected one, and turned over the +leaves. + +"Miss Clare," then said the Lord Chancellor. "Miss Ada Clare?" + +Mr. Kenge presented her, and his lordship begged her to sit down near +him. That he admired her, and was interested by her, even _I_ could see +in a moment. It touched me, that the home of such a beautiful young +creature should be represented by that dry official place. The Lord High +Chancellor, at his best, appeared so poor a substitute for the love and +pride of parents. + +"The Jarndyce in question," said the Lord Chancellor, still turning over +leaves, "is Jarndyce of Bleak House." + +"Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord," said Mr. Kenge. + +"A dreary name," said the Lord Chancellor. + +"But not a dreary place at present, my lord," said Mr. Kenge. + +"And Bleak House," said his lordship, "is in--" + +"Hertfordshire, my lord." + +"Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House is not married?" said his lordship. + +"He is not, my lord," said Mr. Kenge. + +A pause. + +"Young Mr. Richard Carstone is present?" said the Lord Chancellor, +glancing toward him. + +Richard bowed and stepped forward. + +"Hum!" said the Lord Chancellor, turning over more leaves. + +"Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord," Mr. Kenge observed, in a low +voice, "if I may venture to remind your lordship, provides a suitable +companion for--" + +"For Mr. Richard Carstone?" I thought (but I am not quite sure) I heard +his lordship say, in an equally low voice, and with a smile. + +"For Miss Ada Clare. This is the young lady. Miss Summerson." + +His lordship gave me an indulgent look, and acknowledged my courtesy +very graciously. + +"Miss Summerson is not related to any party in the cause, I think?" + +"No, my lord." + +Mr. Kenge leant over before it was quite said, and whispered. His +lordship, with his eyes upon his papers, listened, nodded twice or +thrice, turned over more leaves, and did not look toward me again, until +we were going away. + +Mr. Kenge now retired, and Richard with him, to where I was, near the +door, leaving my pet (it is so natural to me that again I can't help +it!) sitting near the Lord Chancellor; with whom his lordship spoke a +little apart; asking her, as she told me afterward, whether she had well +reflected on the proposed arrangement, and if she thought she would be +happy under the roof of Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House, and why she thought +so? Presently he rose courteously, and released her, and then he spoke +for a minute or two with Richard Carstone; not seated, but standing, and +altogether with more ease and less ceremony--as if he still knew, though +he _was_ Lord Chancellor, how to go straight to the candor of a boy. + +"Very well!" said his lordship aloud. "I shall make the order. Mr. +Jarndyce of Bleak House has chosen, so far as I may judge," and this was +when he looked at me, "a very good companion for the young lady, and the +arrangement altogether seems the best of which the circumstances admit." + +He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all went out, very much obliged to +him for being so affable and polite; by which he had certainly lost no +dignity, but seemed to us to have gained some. + +When we got under the colonnade, Mr. Kenge remembered that he must go +back for a moment to ask a question; and left us in the fog, with the +Lord Chancellor's carriage and servants waiting for him to come out. + +"Well!" said Richard Carstone, "_that's_ over! And where do we go next, +Miss Summerson?" + +"Don't you know?" I said. + +"Not in the least," said he. + +"And don't _you_ know, my love?" I asked Ada. + +"No!" said she. "Don't you?" + +"Not at all!" said I. + +We looked at one another, half-laughing at our being like the children +in the wood, when a curious little old woman in a squeezed bonnet, and +carrying a reticule, came courtesying and smiling up to us, with an air +of great ceremony. + +"O!" said she. "The wards in Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy, I am sure, to have +the honor! It is a good omen for youth, and hope, and beauty, when they +find themselves in this place, and don't know what's to come of it." + +"Mad!" whispered Richard, not thinking she could hear him. + +"Right! Mad, young gentleman," she returned so quickly that he was quite +abashed. "I was a ward myself. I was not mad at that time," courtesying +low, and smiling between every little sentence. "I had youth, and hope. +I believe, beauty. It matters very little now. Neither of the three +served, or saved me. I have the honor to attend court regularly. With my +documents. I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment. I have +discovered that the sixth seal mentioned in the Revelations is the +Great Seal. It has been open a long time! Pray accept my blessing." + +[Illustration: THE LITTLE OLD LADY.] + +As Ada was a little frightened, I said, to humor the poor old lady, that +we were much obliged to her. + +"Ye-es!" she said, mincingly. "I imagine so. And here is Conversation +Kenge. With _his_ documents. How does your honorable worship do?" + +"Quite well, quite well! Now don't be troublesome, that's a good soul!" +said Mr. Kenge, leading the way back. + +"By no means," said the poor old lady, keeping up with Ada and me. "Any +thing but troublesome. I shall confer estates on both--which is not +being troublesome, I trust? I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of +Judgment. This is a good omen for you. Accept my blessing!" + +She stopped at the bottom of the steep, broad flight of stairs; but we +looked back as we went up, and she was still there, saying, still with a +courtesy and a smile between every little sentence, "Youth. And hope. +And beauty. And Chancery. And Conversation Kenge! Ha! Pray accept my +blessing!" + + +CHAPTER IV.--TELESCOPIC PHILANTHROPY. + +We were to pass the night, Mr. Kenge told us when we arrived in his +room, at Mrs. Jellyby's; and then he turned to me, and said he took it +for granted I knew who Mrs. Jellyby was? + +"I really don't, sir," I returned. "Perhaps Mr. Carstone--or Miss +Clare--" + +But no, they knew nothing whatever about Mrs. Jellyby. + +"In-deed! Mrs. Jellyby," said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the +fire, and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. +Jellyby's biography, "is a lady of very remarkable strength of +character, who devotes herself entirely to the public. She has devoted +herself to an extensive variety of public subjects, at various times, +and is at present (until something else attracts her) devoted to the +subject of Africa, with a view to the general cultivation of the coffee +berry--_and_ the natives--and the happy settlement, on the banks of the +African rivers, of our superabundant home population. Mr. Jarndyce, who +is desirous to aid in any work that is considered likely to be a good +work, and who is much sought after by philanthropists, has I believe, a +very high opinion of Mrs. Jellyby." + +Mr. Kenge, adjusting his cravat, then looked at us. + +"And Mr. Jellyby, sir?" suggested Richard. + +"Ah! Mr. Jellyby," said Mr. Kenge, "is--a--I don't know that I can +describe him to you better than by saying that he is the husband of Mrs. +Jellyby." + +"A nonentity, sir?" said Richard, with a droll look. + +"I don't say that," returned Mr. Kenge, gravely. "I can't say that, +indeed, for I know nothing whatever _of_ Mr. Jellyby. I never, to my +knowledge, had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Jellyby. He may be a very +superior man; but he is, so to speak, merged--merged--in the more +shining qualities of his wife." Mr. Kenge proceeded to tell us that as +the road to Bleak House would have been very long, dark, and tedious, on +such an evening, and as we had been traveling already, Mr. Jarndyce had +himself proposed this arrangement. A carriage would be at Mrs. Jellyby's +to convey us out of town, early in the forenoon of to-morrow. + +He then rang a little bell, and the young gentleman came in. Addressing +him by the name of Guppy, Mr. Kenge inquired whether Miss Summerson's +boxes and the rest of the baggage had been "sent round." Mr. Guppy said +yes, they had been sent round, and a coach was waiting to take us round +too, as soon as we pleased. + +"Then it only remains," said Mr. Kenge, shaking hands with us, "for me +to express my lively satisfaction in (good-day, Miss Clare!) the +arrangement this day concluded, and my (_good_-by to you, Miss +Summerson!) lively hope that it will conduce to the happiness, the (glad +to have had the honor of making your acquaintance, Mr. Carstone!) +welfare, the advantage in all points of view, of all concerned! Guppy, +see the party safely there." + +"Where _is_ 'there,' Mr. Guppy?" said Richard, as he went down stairs. + +"No distance," said Mr. Guppy; "round in Thavies' Inn, you know." + +"I can't say I know where it is, for I come from Winchester, and am +strange in London." + +"Only round the corner," said Mr. Guppy. "We just twist up +Chancery-lane, and out along Holborn, and there we are in four minutes' +time, as near as a toucher. This is about a London particular _now_, +ain't it, miss?" He seemed quite delighted with it on my account. + +"The fog is very dense indeed!" said I. + +"Not that it affects you, though, I am sure," said Mr. Guppy, putting up +the steps. "On the contrary, it seems to do you good, miss, judging from +your appearance." + +I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at +myself for blushing at it, when he had shut the door and got upon the +box; and we all three laughed, and chatted about our inexperience, and +the strangeness of London, until we turned up under an archway, to our +destination: a narrow street of high houses, like an oblong cistern to +hold the fog. There was a confused little crowd of people, principally +children, gathered about the house at which we stopped, which had a +tarnished brass plate on the door, with the inscription, JELLYBY. + +"Don't be frightened!" said Mr. Guppy, look-in at the coach-window. "One +of the young Jellybys been and got his head through the area railings!" + +"O poor child," said I, "let me out, if you please!" + +"Pray be careful of yourself, miss. The young Jellybys are always up to +something," said Mr. Guppy. + +I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little +unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened, and +crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a +milk-man and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were +endeavoring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression +that his skull was compressible by those means. As I found (after +pacifying him), that he was a little boy, with a naturally large head, I +thought that, perhaps, where his head could go, his body could follow, +and mentioned that the best mode of extrication might be to push him +forward. This was so favorably received by the milk-man and beadle, that +he would immediately have been pushed into the area, if I had not held +his pinafore, while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen, +to catch him when he should be released. At last he was happily got down +without any accident, and then he began to beat Mr. Guppy with a +hoop-stick in quite a frantic manner. + +Nobody had appeared belonging to the house, except a person in pattens, +who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don't know +with what object, and I don't think she did. I therefore supposed that +Mrs. Jellyby was not at home; and was quite surprised when the person +appeared in the passage without the pattens, and going up to the back +room on the first floor, before Ada and me, announced us as, "Them two +young ladies, Missis Jellyby!" We passed several more children on the +way up, whom it was difficult to avoid treading on in the dark; and as +we came into Mrs. Jellyby's presence, one of the poor little things fell +down stairs--down a whole flight (as it sounded to me), with a great +noise. + +Mrs. Jellyby, whose face reflected none of the uneasiness which we could +not help showing in our own faces, as the dear child's head recorded its +passage with a bump on every stair--Richard afterward said he counted +seven, besides one for the landing--received us with perfect equanimity. +She was a pretty, very diminutive, plump woman, of from forty to fifty, +with handsome eyes, though they had a curious habit of seeming to look a +long way off. As if--I am quoting Richard again--they could see nothing +nearer than Africa! + +"I am very glad indeed," said Mrs. Jellyby, in an agreeable voice, "to +have the pleasure of receiving you. I have a great respect for Mr. +Jarndyce; and no one in whom he is interested can be an object of +indifference to me." + +We expressed our acknowledgments, and sat down behind the door, where +there was a lame invalid of a sofa. Mrs. Jellyby had very good hair, but +was too much occupied with her African duties to brush it. The shawl in +which she had been loosely muffled, dropped on to her chair when she +advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help +noticing that her dress didn't nearly meet up the back, and the open +space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace, like a +summer-house. + +The room, which was strewn with papers and nearly filled by a great +writing-table covered with similar litter, was, I must say, not only +very untidy, but very dirty. We were obliged to take notice of that with +our sense of sight, even while, with our sense of hearing, we followed +the poor child who had tumbled down stairs: I think into the back +kitchen, where somebody seemed to stifle him. + +But what principally struck us was a jaded, and unhealthy-looking, +though by no means plain girl, at the writing-table, who sat biting the +feather of her pen, and staring at us. I suppose nobody ever was in such +a state of ink. And, from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which +were disfigured with frayed and broken slippers trodden down at heel, +she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin +upward, that was in its proper condition or its right place. + +"You find me, my dears," said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great +office candles in tin candle-sticks, which made the room taste strongly +of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate +but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), "you find me, my dears, as +usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. The African project at +present employs my whole time. It involves me in correspondence with +public bodies, and with private individuals anxious for the welfare of +their species all over the country. I am happy to say it is advancing. +We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two +hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of +Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger." + +As Ada said nothing, but looked at me, I said it must be very +gratifying. + +"It is gratifying," said Mrs. Jellyby. "It involves the devotion of all +my energies, such as they are; but that is nothing, so that it succeeds; +and I am more confident of success every day. Do you know, Miss +Summerson, I almost wonder that _you_ never turned your thoughts to +Africa?" + +This application of the subject was really so unexpected to me, that I +was quite at a loss how to receive it. I hinted that the climate-- + +"The finest climate in the world!" said Mrs. Jellyby. + +"Indeed, ma'am?" + +"Certainly. With precaution," said Mrs. Jellyby. "You may go into +Holborn, without precaution, and be run over. You may go into Holborn +with precaution, and never be run over. Just so with Africa." + +I said, "No doubt."--I meant as to Holborn. + +"If you would like," said Mrs. Jellyby, putting a number of papers +toward us, "to look over some remarks on that head, and on the general +subject (which have been extensively circulated), while I finish a +letter, I am now dictating--to my eldest daughter, who is my +amanuensis--" + +The girl at the table left off biting her pen, and made a return to our +recognition, which was half bashful and half sulky. + +"--I shall then have finished for the present," proceeded Mrs. Jellyby, +with a sweet smile; "though my work is never done. Where are you, +Caddy?" + +"Presents her compliments to Mr. Swallow, and begs--'" said Caddy. + +"'--And begs,'" said Mrs. Jellyby, dictating, "to inform him, in +reference to his letter of inquiry on the African project.'--No, Peepy! +Not on any account!" + +Peepy (so self-named) was the unfortunate child who had fallen down +stairs, who now interrupted the correspondence by presenting himself, +with a strip of plaster on his forehead, to exhibit his wounded knees, +in which Ada and I did not know which to pity most--the bruises or the +dirt. Mrs. Jellyby merely added, with the serene composure with which +she said every thing, "Go along, you naughty Peepy!" and fixed her fine +eyes on Africa again. + +However, as she at once proceeded with her dictation, and as I +interrupted nothing by doing so, I ventured quietly to stop poor Peepy +as he was going out, and to take him up to nurse. He looked very much +astonished at it, and at Ada's kissing him; but soon fell fast asleep in +my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. I +was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I +derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of +Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, +that I felt quite ashamed to have thought so little about it. + +"Six o'clock!" said Mrs. Jellyby. "And our dinner hour is nominally (for +we dine at all hours) five! Caddy, show Miss Clare and Miss Summerson +their rooms. You will like to make some change, perhaps? You will excuse +me, I know, being so much occupied. O, that very bad child! Pray put him +down, Miss Summerson!" + +I begged permission to retain him, truly saying that he was not at all +troublesome; and carried him up-stairs and laid him on my bed. Ada and I +had two upper rooms, with a door of communication between. They were +excessively bare and disorderly, and the curtain to my window was +fastened up with a fork. + +"You would like some hot water, wouldn't you?" said Mrs. Jellyby, +looking round for a jug with a handle to it, but looking in vain. + +"If it is not being troublesome," said we. + +"O, it's not the trouble," returned Miss Jellyby; "the question is, if +there _is_ any." + +The evening was so very cold, and the rooms had such a marshy smell, +that I must confess it was a little miserable; and Ada was half crying. +We soon laughed, however, and were busily unpacking, when Miss Jellyby +came back to say, that she was sorry there was no hot water; but they +couldn't find the kettle, and the boiler was out of order. + +We begged her not to mention it, and made all the haste we could to get +down to the fire again. But all the little children had come up to the +landing outside, to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed; and +our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and +fingers, in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. It was +impossible to shut the door of either room; for my lock, with no knob to +it, looked as if it wanted to be wound up; and though the handle of +Ada's went round and round with the greatest smoothness, it was attended +with no effect whatever on the door. Therefore I proposed to the +children that they should come in and be very good at my table, and I +would tell them the story of little Red Riding Hood while I dressed; +which they did, and were as quiet as mice, including Peepy, who awoke +opportunely before the appearance of the wolf. + +When we went down stairs we found a mug, with "A Present from Tunbridge +Wells" on it, lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick; +and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage, +blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with +Mrs. Jellyby's room), and choking dreadfully. It smoked to that degree +in short, that we all sat coughing and crying with the windows open for +half an hour; during which Mrs. Jellyby, with the same sweetness of +temper, directed letters about Africa. Her being so employed was, I must +say, a great relief to me; for Richard told us that he had washed his +hands in a pie-dish, and that they had found the kettle on his +dressing-table; and he made Ada laugh so, that they made me laugh in the +most ridiculous manner. + +Soon after seven o'clock we went down to dinner; carefully, by Mrs. +Jellyby's advice; for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in +stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. We had a fine +cod-fish, a piece of roast beef, a dish of cutlets, and a pudding; an +excellent dinner, if it had had any cooking to speak of, but it was +almost raw. The young woman with the flannel bandage waited, and dropped +every thing on the table wherever it happened to go, and never moved it +again until she put it on the stairs. The person I had seen in pattens +(who I suppose to have been the cook), frequently came and skirmished +with her at the door, and there appeared to be ill-will between them. + +All through dinner; which was long, in consequence of such accidents as +the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal-skuttle, and the handle +of the cork-screw coming off, and striking the young woman in the chin; +Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. She told us a +great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives; +and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four +envelopes in the gravy at once. Some of the letters were proceedings of +ladies' committees, or resolutions of ladies' meetings, which she read +to us; others were applications from people excited in various ways +about the cultivation of coffee, and natives; others required answers, +and these she sent her eldest daughter from the table three or four +times to write. She was full of business, and undoubtedly was, as she +had told us, devoted to the cause. + +I was a little curious to know who a mild, bald gentleman in spectacles +was, who dropped into a vacant chair (there was no top or bottom in +particular) after the fish was taken away, and seemed passively to +submit himself to Borrioboola-Gha, but not to be actively interested in +that settlement. As he never spoke a word, he might have been a native, +but for his complexion. It was not until we left the table, and he +remained alone with Richard, that the possibility of his being Mr. +Jellyby ever entered my head. But he was Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious +young man, called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples, and +his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, +and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called +the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of +mind and matter. + +This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about +Africa, and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach +the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, +delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saying, "I believe now, Mrs. +Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two +hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?" or, +"If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that +you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one +time?"--always repeating Mrs. Jellyby's answer to us, like an +interpreter. During the whole evening, Mr. Jeilyby sat in a corner with +his head against the wall, as if he were subject to low spirits. It +seemed that he had several times opened his mouth when alone with +Richard, after dinner, as if he had something on his mind; but had +always shut it again, to Richard's extreme confusion, without saying any +thing. + +Mrs. Jellyby, sitting in quite a nest of waste paper, drank coffee all +the evening, and dictated at intervals to her eldest daughter. She also +held a discussion with Mr. Quale; of which the subject seemed to be--if +I understood it--the Brotherhood of Humanity; and gave utterance to some +beautiful sentiments. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have +wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking +about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another +story: so we sat down among them, and told them, in whispers, Puss in +Boots and I don't know what else, until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally +remembering them, sent them to bed. As Peepy cried for me to take him to +bed, I carried him up-stairs; where the young woman with the flannel +bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragoon, and +overturned them into cribs. + +After that, I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy, and in +coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted, to burn; which, at +last, it did, quite brightly. On my return down stairs, I felt that Mrs. +Jellyby looked down upon me rather, for being so frivolous; and I was +sorry for it; though, at the same time, I knew that I had no higher +pretensions. + +It was nearly midnight before we could find an opportunity of going to +bed; and even then we left Mrs. Jellyby among her papers drinking +coffee, and Miss Jellyby biting the feather of her pen. + +"What a strange house!" said Ada, when we got up-stairs. "How curious of +my cousin Jarndyce to send us here!" + +"My love," said I, "it quite confuses me. I want to understand it, and I +can't understand it at all." + +"What?" asked Ada, with her pretty smile. + +"All this, my dear," said I. "It _must_ be very good of Mrs. Jellyby to +take such pains about a scheme for the benefit of Natives--and +yet--Peepy and the housekeeping!" + +Ada laughed: and put her arm about my neck, as I stood looking at the +fire; and told me I was a quiet, dear, good creature, and had won her +heart. "You are so thoughtful, Esther," she said, "and yet so cheerful! +and you do so much, so unpretendingly! You would make a home out of even +this house." + +My simple darling! She was quite unconscious that she only praised +herself, and that it was in the goodness of her own heart that she made +so much of me! + +"May I ask you a question?" said I, when we had sat before the fire a +little while. + +"Five hundred," said Ada. + +"Your cousin, Mr. Jarndyce. I owe so much to him: Would you mind +describing him to me?" + +Shaking back her golden hair, Ada turned her eyes upon me with such +laughing wonder, that I was full of wonder, too--partly at her beauty, +partly at her surprise. + +"Esther!" she cried. + +"My dear!" + +"You want a description of my cousin, Jarndyce?" + +"My dear, I never saw him." + +"And _I_ never saw him!" returned Ada. + +Well, to be sure! + +No, she had never seen him. Young as she was when her mamma died, she +remembered how the tears would come into her eyes when she spoke of him, +and of the noble generosity of his character, which she had said was to +be trusted above all earthly things; and Ada trusted it. Her cousin, +Jarndyce, had written to her a few months ago--"a plain, honest letter," +Ada said--proposing the arrangement we were now to enter on, and telling +her that, "in time, it might heal some of the wounds made by the +miserable Chancery suit." She had replied, gratefully accepting his +proposal. Richard had received a similar letter, and had made a similar +response. He _had_ seen Mr. Jarndyce once, but only once, five years +ago, at Winchester school. He had told Ada, when they were leaning on +the screen before the fire where I found them, that he recollected him +as "a bluff, rosy fellow." This was the utmost description Ada could +give me. + +It set me thinking so, that when Ada was asleep, I still remained before +the fire, wondering and wondering about Bleak House, and wondering and +wondering that yesterday morning should seem so long ago. I don't know +where my thoughts had wandered, when they were recalled by a tap at the +door. + +I opened it softly, and found Miss Jellyby shivering there, with a +broken candle in a broken candlestick in one hand, and an egg-cup in the +other. + +"Good-night!" she said, very sulkily. + +"Good-night!" said I. + +"May I come in?" she shortly and unexpectedly asked me, in the same +sulky way. + +"Certainly," said I. "Don't wake Miss Clare." + +She would not sit down, but stood by the fire, dipping her inky middle +finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the +ink stains on her face; frowning, the whole time, and looking very +gloomy. + +"I wish Africa was dead!" she said, on a sudden. + +I was going to remonstrate. + +"I do!" she said. "Don't talk to me, Miss Summerson. I hate it and +detest it. It's a beast!" + +I told her she was tired, and I was sorry. I put my hand upon her head, +and touched her forehead, and said it was hot now, but would be cool +to-morrow. She still stood, pouting and frowning at me; but presently +put down her egg-cup, and turned softly toward the bed where Ada lay. + +"She is very pretty!" she said, with the same knitted brow, and in the +same uncivil manner. + +I assented with a smile. + +"An orphan. Ain't she?" + +"Yes." + +"But knows a quantity, I suppose? Can dance, and play music, and sing? +She can talk French, I suppose, and do geography, and globes, and +needlework, and every thing?" + +"No doubt," said I. + +"_I_ can't," she returned. "I can't do any thing hardly, except write. +I'm always writing for Ma. I wonder you two were not ashamed of +yourselves to come in this afternoon, and see me able to do nothing +else. It was like your ill-nature. Yet you think yourselves very fine, +I dare say!" + +[Illustration: MISS JELLYBY.] + +I could see that the poor girl was near crying, and I resumed my chair +without speaking, and looked at her (I hope), as mildly as I felt toward +her. + +"It's disgraceful," she said. "You know it is. The whole house is +disgraceful. The children are disgraceful. _I_'m disgraceful. Pa's +miserable, and no wonder! Priscilla drinks--she's always drinking. It's +a great shame, and a great story, of you, if you say you didn't smell +her to-day. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting at dinner, you know +it was!" + +"My dear, I don't know it," said I. + +"You do," she said, very shortly. "You sha'n't say you don't. You do!" + +"O, my dear!" said I, "if you won't let me speak--" + +"You're speaking now. You know you are. Don't tell stories, Miss +Summerson." + +"My dear," said I, "as long as you won't hear me out--" + +"I don't want to hear you out." + +"O yes, I think you do," said I, "because that would be so very +unreasonable. I did not know what you tell me, because the servant did +not come near me at dinner; but I don't doubt what you tell me, and I am +sorry to hear it." + +"You needn't make a merit of that," said she. + +"No, my dear," said I. "That would be very foolish." + +She was still standing by the bed, and now stooped down (but still with +the same discontented face) and kissed Ada. That done, she came softly +back, and stood by the side of my chair. Her bosom was heaving in a +distressful manner that I greatly pitied; but I thought it better not to +speak. + +"I wish I was dead!" she broke out. "I wish we were all dead. It would +be a great deal better for us." + +"In a moment afterward, she knelt on the ground at my side, hid her face +in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. I comforted her, +and would have raised her, but she cried, No, no; she wanted to stay +there! + +"You used to teach girls," she said. "If you could only have taught me, +I could have learned from you! I am so very miserable, and I like you so +very much!" + +I could not persuade her to sit by me, or to do any thing but move a +ragged stool to where she was kneeling, and take that, and still hold my +dress in the same manner. By degrees, the poor tired girl fell asleep; +and then I contrived to raise her head so that it should rest on my lap, +and to cover us both with shawls. The fire went out, and all night long +she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. At first I was painfully +awake, and vainly tried to lose myself, with, my eyes closed, among the +scenes of the day. At length, by slow degrees, they became indistinct +and mingled. I began to lose the identity of the sleeper resting on me. +Now, it was Ada; now, one of my old Reading friends from whom I could +not believe I had so recently parted. Now, it was the little mad woman +worn out with courtesying and smiling; now, some one in authority at +Bleak House. Lastly, it was no one, and I was no one. + +The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog, when I opened my +eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me. +Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in his bedgown and cap, and +was so cold that his teeth were chattering as if he had cut them all. + + + + +HUNTING AN ALLIGATOR. + + +In the course of the year 1831, the proprietor of Halahala at Manilla, +in the Island of Luconia, informed me that he frequently lost horses and +cows on a remote part of his plantation, and that the natives assured +him they were taken by an enormous alligator who frequented one of the +streams which run into the lake. Their descriptions were so highly +wrought, that they were attributed to the fondness for exaggeration to +which the inhabitants of that country are peculiarly addicted, and very +little credit was given to their repeated relations. All doubts as to +the existence of the animal were at last dispelled by the destruction of +an Indian, who attempted to ford the river on horseback, although +entreated to desist by his companions, who crossed at a shallow place +higher up. He reached the centre of the stream and was laughing at the +others for their prudence, when the alligator came upon him. His teeth +encountered the saddle, which he tore from the horse, while the rider +tumbled on the other side into the water and made for the shore. The +horse, too terrified to move, stood trembling where the attack was made. +The alligator, disregarding him, pursued the man, who safely reached the +bank which he could easily have ascended, but, rendered foolhardy by his +escape, he placed himself behind a tree which had fallen partly into the +water, and drawing his heavy knife leaned over the tree, and on the +approach of his enemy struck him on the nose. The animal repeated his +assaults and the Indian his blows, until the former exasperated at the +resistance, rushed on the man and seizing him by the middle of the body, +which was at once inclosed and crushed in his capacious jaws, swam into +the lake. His friends hastened to the rescue, but the alligator slowly +left the shore, while the poor wretch, writhing and shrieking in his +agony, with his knife uplifted in his clasped hands, seemed, as the +others expressed it, held out as a man would carry a torch. His +sufferings were not long continued, for the monster sank to the bottom, +and soon after reappearing alone on the surface, and calmly basking in +the sun, gave to the horror-stricken spectators the fullest confirmation +of the death and burial of their comrade. + +A short time after this event I made a visit to Halahala, and expressing +a strong desire to capture or destroy the alligator, my host readily +offered his assistance. The animal had been seen a few days before, with +his head and one of his fore-feet resting on the bank, and his eyes +following the motions of some cows which were grazing near. Our informer +likened his appearance to that of a cat watching a mouse, and in the +attitude to spring upon his prey when it should come within his reach. I +may here mention as a curious fact, that the domestic buffalo, which is +almost continually in the water, and in the heat of day remains for +hours with only his nose above the surface, is never molested by the +alligator. All other animals become his victims when they incautiously +approach him, and their knowledge of the danger most usually prompts +them to resort to shallow places to quench their thirst. + +Having heard that the alligator had killed a horse, we proceeded to the +place, about five miles from the house; it was a tranquil spot and one +of singular beauty even in that land. The stream, which a few hundred +feet from the lake narrowed to a brook, with its green bank fringed with +the graceful bamboo, and the alternate glory of glade and forest +spreading far and wide, seemed fitted for other purposes than the +familiar haunt of the huge creature that had appropriated it to himself. +A few cane huts were situated at a short distance from the river, and we +procured from them what men they contained, who were ready to assist in +freeing themselves from their dangerous neighbor. The terror which he +had inspired, especially since the death of their companion, had +hitherto prevented them from making an effort to get rid of him, but +they gladly availed themselves of our preparations, and, with the usual +dependence of their character were willing to do whatever example should +dictate to them. Having reason to believe that the alligator was in the +river, we commenced operations by sinking nets upright across its mouth, +three deep, at intervals of several feet. The nets which were of great +strength, and intended for the capture of the buffalo, were fastened to +trees on the banks, making a complete fence to the communication with +the lake. + +My companion and myself placed ourselves with our guns on either side of +the stream, while the Indians with long bamboos felt for the animal. For +some time he refused to be disturbed, and we began to fear that he was +not within our limits, when a spiral motion of the water under the spot +where I was standing, led me to direct the natives to it, and the +creature slowly moved on the bottom toward the nets, which he no sooner +touched than he quietly turned back and proceeded up the stream. This +movement was several times repeated, till, having no rest in the +inclosure, he attempted to climb up the bank. On receiving a ball in the +body, he uttered a growl like that of an angry dog, and plunging into +the water crossed to the other side, where he was received with a +similar salutation, discharged directly into his mouth. Finding himself +attacked on every side, he renewed his attempts to ascend the banks; but +whatever part of him appeared was bored with bullets, and finding that +he was hunted, he forgot his own formidable means of attack, and sought +only safety from the troubles which surrounded him. A low spot which +separated the river from the lake, a little above the nets, was +unguarded, and we feared that he would succeed in escaping over it. It +was here necessary to stand firmly against him, and in several attempts +which he made to cross it, we turned him back with spears, bamboos, or +whatever came first to hand. He once seemed determined to force his way, +and foaming with rage, rushed with open jaws and gnashing his teeth with +a sound too ominous to be despised, appeared to have his full energies +aroused, when his career was stopped by a large bamboo thrust violently +into his mouth, which he ground to pieces, and the fingers of the holder +were so paralyzed that for some minutes he was incapable of resuming his +gun. The natives had now become so excited as to forget all prudence, +and the women and children of the little hamlet had come down to the +shore to share in the general enthusiasm. They crowded to the opening, +and were so unmindful of their danger that it was necessary to drive +them back with some violence. Had the monster known his own strength and +dared to have used it, he would have gone over that spot with a force +which no human power could have withstood, and would have crushed or +carried with him into the lake about the whole population of the place. +It is not strange that personal safety was forgotten in the excitement +of the scene. The tremendous brute, galled with wounds and repeated +defeat, tore his way through the foaming water, glancing from side to +side, in the vain attempt to avoid his foes; then rapidly plowing up the +stream he grounded on the shallows, and turned back frantic and +bewildered at his circumscribed position. At length, maddened with +suffering and desperate from continued persecution, he rushed furiously +to the mouth of the stream, burst through two of the nets, and I threw +down my gun in despair, for it looked as though his way at last was +clear to the wide lake; but the third net stopped him, and his teeth and +legs had got entangled in all. This gave us a chance of closer warfare +with lances, such as are used against the wild buffalo. We had sent for +this weapon at the commencement of the attack, and found it much more +effectual than guns. Entering the canoe, we plunged lance after lance +into the alligator, as he was struggling under the water, till a wood +seemed growing from him, which moved violently above while his body was +concealed below. His endeavors to extricate himself lashed the waters +into foam mingled with blood, and there seemed no end to his vitality or +decrease to his resistance till a lance struck him directly through the +middle of the back, which an Indian, with a heavy piece of wood, +hammered into him as he could catch an opportunity. My companion on the +other side now tried to haul him to the shore, by the nets to which he +had fastened himself, but had not sufficient assistance with him. As I +had more force with me, we managed, by the aid of the women and +children, to drag his head and part of his body on to the little beach, +and giving him the _coup de grace_, left him to gasp out the remnant of +his life. + +This monster was nearly thirty feet in length and thirteen feet in +circumference, and the head alone weighed three hundred pounds. On +opening him there were found, with other parts of the horse, three legs +entire, torn off at the haunch and shoulder, besides a large quantity of +stones, some of them of several pounds' weight. + + + + +THE MOOR'S REVENGE.[4] + +A PARAPHRASE FROM THE POLISH OF MICKIEWICZ + +BY EPES SARGENT. + + + Before Grenada's fated walls, + Encamped in proud array, + And flushed with many a victory, + The Spanish army lay. + Of all Grenada's fortresses + But one defies their might: + On Alphuara's minarets + The crescent still is bright. + Almanzor! King Almanzor! + All vainly you resist: + Your little band is fading fast + Away like morning mist. + A direr foe than ever yet + They met on battle-plain + Assaults life's inmost citadel, + And heaps the ground with slain. + + One onset more of Spanish ranks-- + (And soon it will be made!) + And Alphuara's towers must reel, + And in the dust be laid. + "And shall the haughty infidel + Pollute this sacred land?" + Almanzor said, as mournfully + He marked his dwindling band. + "Upon our glorious crescent + Shall the Spaniard set his heel? + And is there not one lingering hope? + Can Heaven no aid reveal? + Ay, by our holy Prophet, + _One_ ally still remains! + And I will bind him close to me,-- + For better death than chains!" + + The victors at the banquet sat, + And music lent its cheer, + When suddenly a sentry's voice + Announced a stranger near. + From Alphuara had he come. + With fierce, unwonted speed, + And much would it import to Spain + The news he bore to heed. + "Admit him!" cry the revelers; + And in the pilgrim strode, + And throwing off his mantle loose, + A Moorish habit showed! + "Almanzor! King Almanzor!" + They cried with one acclaim: + "Almanzor!" said the Moslem chief-- + "Almanzor is my name. + + "To serve your prophet and your king, + Oh, Spaniards! I am here; + Believe, reject me, if you will-- + This breast has outlived fear! + No longer in his creed or cause + Almanzor can confide; + For all the Powers above, 'tis clear, + Are fighting on your side!" + "Now, welcome, welcome, gallant Moor!" + The Spanish chieftain said; + "Grenada's last intrenchment now + We speedily shall tread. + Approach, embrace; our waning feast + Your coming shall renew; + And in this cup of foaming wine + We'll drink to yours and you." + + Right eagerly, to grasp the hands + Outstretched on every side, + Almanzor rushed, and greeted each, + As bridegroom might his bride; + He glued his fevered lips to theirs-- + He kissed them on the cheek, + And breathed on each as if his heart + Would all its passion wreak. + But suddenly his limbs relax, + A flush comes o'er his face, + He reels, as with a pressure faint, + He gives a last embrace; + And livid, purple, grows his skin, + And wild his eyeballs roll, + And some great torture seems to heave + The life-roots of his soul. + + "Look, Giaours! miscreants in race. + And infidels in creed! + Look on this pale, distorted face, + And tell me what ye read! + These limbs convulsed, these fiery pangs, + These eyeballs hot and blear-- + Ha! know ye not what they portend? + The plague--the plague is here! + And it has sealed you for its own! + Ay! every Judas kiss + I gave shall bring to you anon + An agony like this! + All art is vain; your poisoned blood + All leechcraft will defy; + Like me ye shall in anguish writhe-- + Like me in torture die!" + + Once more he stepped, their chief to reach + And blast him with his breath; + But sank, as if revenge itself + Were striving hard with death. + And through the group a horrid thrill + His words and aspect woke, + When, with a proud, undaunted mien, + Their chief Alphonzo spoke: + "And deem'st thou, treacherous renegade, + Whatever may befall, + These warriors true, these hearts of proof, + Death ever can appall? + Ay, writhe and toss, no taint of fear + The sight to them can bring; + Their souls are shrived, and Death himself + For them has lost his sting! + + "Then let him come as gory War, + With life-wounds deep and red, + Or let him strike as fell Disease + With racking pains instead-- + Still in these spirits he shall find + A power that shall defy + All woe and pain that can but make + The mortal body die. + So, brethren, leave this carrion here-- + Nay, choke not with thy gall!-- + And through our camp a note of cheer + Let every bugle call! + We'll tear yon crescent from its tower + Ere stars are out to-night: + And let Death come--we'll heed him not!-- + So forward! to the fight!" + + A groan of rage upon his lips, + Almanzor hid his head + Beneath his mantle's ample fold, + And soon was with the dead. + But, roused by those intrepid words, + To death-defying zeal, + The chieftains armed as if they longed + To hear the clash of steel. + The trumpets sounded merrily, + While, dazzlingly arrayed, + On Alphuara's walls they rushed, + And low the crescent laid! + And of the gallant, gallant hearts, + Who thus grim Death defied, + 'Mid pestilence and carnage, none + Of plague or battle died! + +[Footnote 4: From THE STANDARD SPEAKER; containing exercises in prose +and poetry, for declamation in schools, academies, lyceums, and +colleges. Newly translated or compiled from the most celebrated orators, +ancient and modern. By EPES SARGENT. In press by Thomas, Cowperthwait & +Co., Philadelphia.] + + + + +A TASTE OF FRENCH DUNGEONS. + +AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF MRS. RADCLIFFE. + + +Toward the middle of the year 1795, a short time after the deplorable +affair of Quiberon, an English lady was taken prisoner just as she was +entering France by the Swiss frontier. Her knowledge of French was +limited to a few mispronounced words. An interpreter was soon found, and +upon his interrogating her as to her motives for attempting so perilous +an enterprise without passport, she replied that she had exposed +herself to all these dangers for the purpose of visiting the château +where the barbarous Sieur de Fayel had made Gabrielle de Vergy eat the +heart of her lover. Such a declaration appeared so ridiculous to those +who heard it that they were compelled to doubt either the sanity or the +veracity of the strange being who ventured upon it. They chose to do the +latter, and forwarded the stranger to Paris, with a strong escort, as an +English spy. Upon her arrival there, she was safely deposited in the +Conciergerie. + +Public feeling just then ran very high against the English. The +countrywoman of Pitt was loaded with ill-usage; and her terrors, +expressed in a singular jargon of English mingled with broken French, +served but to augment the coarse amusement of her jailers. After +exhausting every species of derision and insult upon their prisoner, +they ended by throwing her into the dampest and most inconvenient +dungeon they could find. The door of this den was not more than four +feet high; and the light that dimly revealed the dripping walls and +earthen floor, came through a horizontal opening four inches in height +by fifteen in width. The sole movables of the place consisted of a rope +pallet and a screen. + +The bed served for both couch and chair; the screen was intended as a +partial barrier between the inhabitant of the dungeon and the curious +gaze of the jailers stationed in the adjoining apartment, who could +scrutinize at will, through a narrow opening between the cells, the +slightest movements of their prisoner. + +The stranger recoiled with disgust, and asked whether they had not a +less terrible place in which to confine a woman. + +"You are very bad to please, madame," replied her brutal jailer, +mimicking her defective French. "You are in the palace of Madame Capet." + +And shutting behind him the massive door, barricaded with plates of iron +and secured by three or four rusty bolts, he left her, to repeat his +joke to his companion, and enjoy with them the consternation of Madame +_Rosbif_. + +Meanwhile the prisoner fell upon her knees, and gazed around her with a +species of pious emotion. + +"What right have I," she cried, "to complain of being cast into this +dungeon, once inhabited by the Queen of France--the beautiful, the noble +Marie Antoinette? I sought food for my imagination; I undertook a +journey to France to visit the most celebrated sojourns of the most +celebrated individuals. Fortune has come to my aid. Here is what is +better than the château of the Sieur de Fayel, and the terrible history +of the bleeding heart. Never did a grander inspiration overflow my +spirits. I will to work." + +She drew from her pocket a small roll of paper, that had escaped the +scrutiny of the jailers; and, passing her hand across her forehead, +approached the horizontal opening, in order to make the most of the +little remainder of daylight; then, taking out a pencil, she rapidly +covered ten or twelve pages with microscopic characters in close lines. +The increasing darkness at length compelled her to pause, and she was +refolding the MS. to replace it in her pocket, when a rude hand snatched +it from her grasp. + +"Ah! ah! Madame Rosbif," cried the jailer, triumphantly, "so you believe +yourself at liberty to scribble away here, hatching plots against the +Republic, and holding intelligence with the enemies of the nation. _Nous +verrons cela!_ These papers shall be remitted this very day to Monsieur +Tallien, and we will know all about this new attack upon liberty. +_Entendez-vouz?_ miserable agent of Pitt and Cobourg." + +The same evening Tallien received the stranger's manuscript. Being +unacquainted with the English language, he rang for his secretary; but +the latter was nowhere at hand, so the puzzled minister took the papers +and proceeded to his wife's apartments. + +Madame Tallien was just completing her toilet for a fancy ball. Leaning +forward in a graceful attitude, she was in the act of twining round her +slender ankle the fastenings of a purple buskin. Her Grecian tunic, +simply clasped upon the shoulder with diamonds, and her hair, knotted +like that of the Polyhymnia of the Louvre, harmonized admirably with the +classical contour of her features. Monsieur Tallien, as he gazed upon +her, half forgot his errand. + +The lady uttered a little cry of surprise. + +"Upon what grave errand has monsieur deigned to favor me with a visit at +this unaccustomed hour?" + +"I have here some papers," replied the minister, "that have been seized +upon the person of a female spy, and are said to contain proofs of a +dangerous conspiracy. They are written in English; my secretary is +absent; and I must ask you to do me the favor to translate them to me." + +Madame Tallien took the MS., and looked it over. + +"Shall I read aloud?" said she, in an amused tone of voice. + +Her husband assented. + +"The wind howls mournfully through the foliage, and the descending rain +falls in torrents. The terrors of my prison become every instant more +fearful. Phantoms arise on every side, and wave their snowy +winding-sheets. Misfortune, with her cold and pitiless hand, weighs +heavily on my youthful brow.' + +"Thus spoke the lovely prisoner, as she groped with her trembling hands +over the humid walls of the dungeon." + +"Here is a singular conspiracy, truly," said Madame Tallien, as she +finished reading the above. "Let me see the envelope; 'Chapter XII. The +Dungeon of the Château.' And the authoress's name. 'Anne Radcliffe.' +_Vite, citoyen._ Set this woman at liberty, and bring her to me. Your +spy is no other than the great English romance-writer, the celebrated +authoress of the 'Mysteries of Udolpho!" + +Tallien now recalled the romantic intention of the stranger's hazardous +journey, as confessed by herself; perceived the mistake of his agents, +and laughed heartily. Going quickly out, he issued orders for the +immediate liberation of the prisoner, and desired the messenger to bring +her straight to the presence of Madame Tallien. + +Meanwhile, the beautiful Frenchwoman, forgetting her toilet and the +ball, paced the apartment with almost childish delight and impatience. +She was about to make the acquaintance--in a manner the most piquant and +unexpected--of the authoress of those romances which had so often filled +her vivid imagination with ideas of apparitions, and prisoners dying of +hunger in horrible dungeons. She consulted her watch perpetually, and +counted the very seconds. At length there was a sound of carriage-wheels +in the court-yard of the hotel. Madame Tallien rushed to the door; it +opened, and the two celebrated females stood face to face. + +The minister's wife could not avoid recoiling with surprise, and some +degree of consternation, before the singular figure that paused in the +open doorway; for Mrs. Radcliffe had stopped short, dazzled and +bewildered by the lights of the saloon, which wounded eyes accustomed +for some hours past to the humid obscurity of a dungeon. The English +authoress presented a striking contrast to the radiant being before her. +Dry, cold, and angular, her attire necessarily in some degree of +disorder from her arrest, forced journey, and imprisonment, her whole +aspect had in it something _bizarre_ and fantastic, that added to her +age at least ten years. + +A little recovered from her first surprise, Madame Tallien advanced +toward the stranger, gave her a cordial welcome in English, and told her +how happy she esteemed herself in having been the means of setting at +liberty so celebrated an authoress. The Englishwoman made a polite reply +to this compliment, and then they seated themselves before the fire, +whose clear flame and vivifying heat were very welcome to the liberated +prisoner, and quickly restored an activity of mind that appeared to have +been benumbed by the coldness of her dungeon. The ensuing conversation +was gay, piquant, full of charm and _abandon_, and was only interrupted +by the orders given by Madame Tallien to her _femme de chambre_ to send +the carriage away, and deny her to all visitors. + +Mrs. Radcliffe had traveled much, and related her adventures with grace +and originality. Hours flew by unheeded, and the Englishwoman was in the +very midst of some bold enterprise of her journey in Switzerland, when +the time-piece struck twelve. She turned pale, and a visible shuddering +seized her. Then pausing in her tale, she looked wildly and fearfully +around, as if following the movements of some invisible being. Madame +Tallien, struck with a species of vague terror, dared not address a +single word to her visitor. The latter at length abruptly rose, opened +the door, and with an imperative gesture ordered some one by the name of +Henry to leave the room, after which she appeared to experience a sudden +relief. + +The lovely Frenchwoman, with the tact of real kindness, appeared not to +notice this strange incident, and the new-made friends soon after +separated, Madame Tallien herself conducting her guest to the apartment +provided for her, where she took leave of her with an affectionate "_au +revoir!_" + +The following evening Mrs. Radcliffe appeared in her hostess's saloon, +as soon as the latter had signified that she was ready to receive her. +Calm and composed, habited _a la Française_, the English romancist +appeared ten years younger than she had done the evening before, and was +even not without a certain degree of beauty. She said not a word on the +scene of the preceding evening; was gay, witty, amiable, and took an +animated part in the conversation that followed. But as soon as the +minute-hand of the time-piece pointed to half-past eleven, her color +fled, a shade of pensiveness replaced her former gayety, and a few +moments afterward she took her leave of the company. + +The same thing happened the next day, and every ensuing evening. Madame +Tallien could not avoid a feeling of curiosity, but she had too much +politeness to question the stranger confided to her hospitality. In this +way a month elapsed, at the end of which time Mrs. Radcliffe could not +avoid expressing, one evening when she found herself alone with her new +friend, her disappointment at being detained a prisoner in France, +without the power of returning to her own country. Upon this Madame +Tallien rose, took a paper from a desk, and handed it to the +Englishwoman. It was a passport dated from the same evening that Mrs. +Radcliffe had been liberated from her dungeon. + +"Since you wish to leave your French friends," said her lovely hostess, +smiling, "go, ingrate!" + +"Oh, no, not ungrateful!" replied the authoress, taking the beautiful +hands of her friend, and carrying them to her lips; "but the year is +fast waning, and a solemn duty recalls me to my native land. In the +church-yard of a poor village near London are two tombs, which I visit +each Christmas-day with flowers and prayers. If I return not before +then, this will be the first time for five years that they have been +neglected. You already know all my other secrets," she continued, +lowering her voice; "it is my intention to confide this secret also to +your friendly ears." Passing her hand across her brow, the Englishwoman +then proceeded to relate a strange and tragic tale, for the particulars +of which we have not space in our limited sketch. Suffice it to say, +that it had left our authoress subject to a distressing and obstinate +spectral illusion. In the reality of this appearance she firmly +believed, not having sufficient knowledge of science to attribute her +visitation to its true origin--a partial disarrangement of the nervous +system. This visitation regularly recurred at midnight, and at once +accounted for the singular behavior that had so piqued the benevolent +Frenchwoman's curiosity. + +Mrs. Radcliffe now returned to London, where she shortly afterward +published "The Italian, or the Confessional of the Black Penitents." + +We can, in our day, realize to ourselves very little of the effect +produced by Anne Radcliffe's romances at the time of their appearance. +All the contemporary critics agree in testifying to their immense +success, only inferior to that of the Waverley novels in more recent +times. Now they appear nothing more than the efflux of a morbid +imagination, full of hallucinations and absurdities, and insufferably +tedious to our modern tastes, accustomed to the condensed writing of the +present day. Their unconnected plots are nevertheless not altogether +devoid of a certain sort of interest, and are fraught with picturesque +situations and melodramatic surprises. The living characters therein +introduced present few natural features. We recognize every where the +caprices of an unbridled fancy, and a prevailing vitiation of sense and +taste. + +Anne Radcliffe died near London, on the 7th February, 1823, at the age +of 63. The "New Monthly Magazine," for May of that year, announces her +decease, and affirms that her death was accompanied by singular visions, +which had pursued her ever since a romantic event of her youth. + + + + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.[5] + + +CHAPTER XVII.--CONTINUED. + +[Footnote 5: Continued from the March Number.] + +"Your flatterers will tell you, Signorina, that you are much improved +since then, but I liked you better as you were; not but what I hope to +return some day what you then so generously pressed upon me." + +"Pressed upon you!--I? Signor, you are under some strange mistake." + +"Alas! no; but the female heart is so capricious and fickle! You pressed +it upon me, I assure you. I own that I was not loth to accept it." + +"Pressed it? Pressed, what?" + +"Your kiss, my child," said Harley; and then added with a serious +tenderness, "And I again say that I hope to return it some day--when I +see you, by the side of father and of husband, in your native land--the +fairest bride on whom the skies of Italy ever smiled! And now, pardon a +hermit and a soldier for his rude jests, and give your hand in token of +that pardon, to--Harley L'Estrange." + +Violante, who at the first words of this address had recoiled, with a +vague belief that the stranger was out of his mind, sprang forward as it +closed, and in all the vivid enthusiasm of her nature, pressed the hand +held out to her, with both her own. "Harley L'Estrange--the preserver of +my father's life!" she cried, and her eyes were fixed on his with such +evident gratitude and reverence, that Harley felt at once confused and +delighted. She did not think at that instant of the hero of her +dreams--she thought but of him who had saved her father. But, as his +eyes sank before her own, and his head, uncovered, bowed over the hand +he held, she recognized the likeness to the features on which she had so +often gazed. The first bloom of youth was gone, but enough of youth +still remained to soften the lapse of years, and to leave to manhood the +attractions which charm the eye. Instinctively she withdrew her hands +from his clasp, and, in her turn, looked down. + +In this pause of embarrassment to both, Riccabocca let himself into the +garden by his own latch-key, and, startled to see a man by the side of +Violante, sprang forward with an abrupt and angry cry. Harley heard, and +turned. + +As if restored to courage and self-possession by the sense of her +father's presence, Violante again took the hand of the visitor. +"Father," she said, simply, "it is he--_he_ is come at last." And then, +retiring a few steps, she contemplated them both; and her face was +radiant with happiness--as if something, long silently missed and looked +for, was as silently found, and life had no more a want, nor the heart a +void. + + +BOOK X.--INITIAL CHAPTER. + +It is observed by a very pleasant writer--read nowadays only by the +brave, pertinacious few who still struggle hard to rescue from the House +of Pluto the souls of departed authors, jostled and chased as those +souls are by the noisy footsteps of the living--it is observed by the +admirable Charron, that "judgment and wisdom is not only the best, but +the happiest portion God Almighty hath distributed among men; for though +this distribution be made with a very uneven hand, yet nobody thinks +himself stinted or ill-dealt with, but he that hath never so little is +contented in _this_ respect."[6] + +[Footnote 6: Translation of _Charron on Wisdom_. By G. STANHOPE, D.D., +late Dean of Canterbury (1729). A translation remarkable for ease, +vigor, and (despite that contempt for the strict rules of grammar, which +was common enough among writers at the commencement of the last century) +for the idiomatic raciness of its English.] + +And, certainly, the present narrative may serve in notable illustration +of the remark so drily made by the witty and wise preacher. For whether +our friend Riccabocca deduce theories for daily life from the great +folio of Machiavel; or that promising young gentleman, Mr. Randal +Leslie, interpret the power of knowledge into the art of being too +knowing for dull honest folks to cope with him; or acute Dick Avenel +push his way up the social ascent with a blow for those before, and a +kick for those behind him, after the approved fashion of your strong New +Man; or Baron Levy--that cynical impersonation of Gold--compare himself +to the Magnetic Rock in the Arabian tale, to which the nails in every +ship that approaches the influence of the loadstone fly from the planks, +and a shipwreck per day adds its waifs to the Rock: questionless, at +least, it is, that each of these personages believed that Providence had +bestowed on him an elder son's inheritance of wisdom. Nor, were we to +glance toward the obscurer paths of life, should we find good Parson +Dale deem himself worse off than the rest of the world in this precious +commodity--as, indeed, he had signally evinced of late in that shrewd +guess of his touching Professor Moss; even plain Squire Hazeldean took +it for granted that he could teach Audley Egerton a thing or two worth +knowing in politics; Mr. Stirn thought that there was no branch of +useful lore on which he could not instruct the squire; and Sprott, the +tinker, with his bag full of tracts and lucifer matches, regarded the +whole framework of modern society, from a rick to a constitution, with +the profound disdain of a revolutionary philosopher. Considering that +every individual thus brings into the stock of the world so vast a share +of intelligence, it can not but excite our wonder to find that +Oxenstiern is popularly held to be right when he said, "See, my son, how +little wisdom it requires to govern states;"--that is, Men! That so many +millions of persons each with a profound assurance that he is possessed +of an exalted sagacity, should concur in the ascendency of a few +inferior intellects, according to a few stupid, prosy, matter-of-fact +rules as old as the hills, is a phenomenon very discreditable to the +spirit and energy of the aggregate human species! It creates no surprise +that one sensible watch-dog should control the movements of a flock of +silly, grass-eating sheep; but that two or three silly, grass-eating +sheep should give the law to whole flocks of such mighty sensible +watch-dog--_Diavolo!_ Dr. Riccabocca, explain _that_ if you can! And +wonderfully strange it is, that notwithstanding all the march of +enlightenment, notwithstanding our progressive discoveries in the laws +of nature--our railways, steam engines, animal magnetism, and +electro-biology--we have never made any improvement that is generally +acknowledged, since Men ceased to be troglodytes and nomads, in the +old-fashioned gamut of flats and sharps, which attunes into irregular +social jog-trot all the generations that pass from the cradle to the +grave; still, "_the desire for something we have not_" impels all the +energies that keep us in movement, for good for ill, according to the +checks or the directions of each favorite desire. + +A friend of mine once said to a _millionaire_, whom he saw forever +engaged in making money which he never seemed to have any pleasure in +spending, "Pray, Mr. ----, will you answer me one question: You are said +to have two millions, and you spend £600 a year. In order to rest and +enjoy, what will content you?" + +"A little more," answered the _millionaire_. That "little more" is the +mainspring of civilization. Nobody ever gets it! + +"Philus," saith a Latin writer, "was not so rich as Lælius; Lælius was +not so rich as Scipio; Scipio was not so rich as Crassus; and Crassus +was not so rich--as he wished to be!" If John Bull were once contented, +Manchester might shut up its mills. It is the "little more" that makes a +mere trifle of the National Debt!--Long life to it! + +Still, mend our law-books as we will, one is forced to confess that +knaves are often seen in fine linen, and honest men in the most shabby +old rags; and still, notwithstanding the exceptions, knavery is a very +hazardous game; and honesty, on the whole, by far the best policy. +Still, most of the Ten Commandments remain at the core of all the +Pandects and Institutes that keep our hands off our neighbors' throats, +wives, and pockets; still, every year shows that the Parson's +maxim--_quieta non movere_--is as prudent for the health of communities +as when Apollo recommended his votaries not to rake up a fever by +stirring the Lake Camarina; still people, thank Heaven, decline to +reside in parallelograms; and the surest token that we live under a free +government is, when we are governed by persons whom we have a full right +to imply, by our censure and ridicule, are blockheads compared to +ourselves! Stop that delightful privilege, and, by Jove! sir, there is +neither pleasure nor honor in being governed at all! You might as well +be--a Frenchman. + + +CHAPTER II. + +The Italian and his friend are closeted together. + +"And why have you left your home in ----shire? and why this new change +of name?" + +"Peschiera is in England." + +"I know it." + +"And bent on discovering me; and, it is said, of stealing from me my +child." + +"He has had the assurance to lay wagers that he will win the hand of +your heiress. I know that too; and therefore I have come to +England--first to baffle his design--for I do not think your fears are +exaggerated--and next to learn from you how to follow up a clew which, +unless I am too sanguine, may lead to his ruin, and your unconditional +restoration. Listen to me. You are aware that, after the skirmish with +Peschiera's armed hirelings, sent in search of you, I received a polite +message from the Austrian government, requesting me to leave its Italian +domains. Now, as I hold it the obvious duty of any foreigner, admitted +to the hospitality of a state, to refrain from all participation in its +civil disturbances, so I thought my honor assailed at this intimation, +and went at once to Vienna to explain to the Minister there (to whom I +was personally known), that though I had, as became man to man, aided to +protect a refugee, who had taken shelter under my roof, from the +infuriated soldiers at the command of his private foe, I had not only +not shared in any attempt at revolt, but dissuaded, as far as I could, +my Italian friends from their enterprise; and that because, without +discussing its merits, I believed, as a military man and a cool +spectator, the enterprise could only terminate in fruitless bloodshed. I +was enabled to establish my explanation by satisfactory proof; and my +acquaintance with the Minister assumed something of the character of +friendship. I was then in a position to advocate your cause, and to +state your original reluctance to enter into the plots of the +insurgents. I admitted freely that you had such natural desire for the +independence of your native land, that, had the standard of Italy been +boldly hoisted by its legitimate chiefs, or at the common uprising of +its whole people, you would have been found in the van, amidst the ranks +of your countrymen; but I maintained that you would never have shared in +a conspiracy frantic in itself, and defiled by the lawless schemes and +sordid ambition of its main projectors, had you not been betrayed and +decoyed into it by the misrepresentations and domestic treachery of your +kinsman--the very man who denounced you. Unfortunately, of this +statement I had no proof but your own word. I made, however, so far an +impression in your favor, and, it may be, against the traitor, that your +property was not confiscated to the State, nor handed over, upon the +plea of your civil death, to your kinsman." + +"How!--I do not understand. Peschiera has the property?" + +"He holds the revenues but of one-half upon pleasure, and they would be +withdrawn, could I succeed in establishing the case that exists against +him. I was forbidden before to mention this to you; the Minister, not +inexcusably, submitted you to the probation of unconditional exile. +Your grace might depend upon your own forbearance from farther +conspiracies--forgive the word. I need not say I was permitted to return +to Lombardy. I found, on my arrival, that--that your unhappy wife had +been to my house, and exhibited great despair at hearing of my +departure." + +Riccabocca knit his dark brows, and breathed hard. + +"I did not judge it necessary to acquaint you with this circumstance, +nor did it much affect me. I believed in her guilt--and what could now +avail her remorse, if remorse she felt? Shortly afterward, I heard that +she was no more." + +"Yes," muttered Riccabocca, "she died in the same year that I left +Italy. It must be a strong reason that can excuse a friend for reminding +me even that she once lived!" + +"I come at once to that reason," said L'Estrange, gently. "This autumn I +was roaming through Switzerland, and, in one of my pedestrian excursions +amidst the mountains, I met with an accident, which confined me for some +days to a sofa at a little inn in an obscure village. My hostess was an +Italian; and, as I had left my servant at a town at some distance, I +required her attention till I could write to him to come to me. I was +thankful for her cares, and amused by her Italian babble. We became very +good friends. She told me she had been servant to a lady of great rank, +who had died in Switzerland; and that, being enriched by the generosity +of her mistress, she had married a Swiss innkeeper, and his people had +become hers. My servant arrived, and my hostess learned my name, which +she did not know before. She came into my room greatly agitated. In +brief, this woman had been servant to your wife. She had accompanied her +to my villa, and known of her anxiety to see me, as your friend. The +government had assigned to your wife your palace at Milan, with a +competent income. She had refused to accept of either. Failing to see +me, she had set off toward England, resolved, upon seeing yourself; for +the journals had stated that to England you had escaped." + +"She dared!--shameless! And see, but a moment before, I had forgotten +all but her grave in a foreign soil--and these tears had forgiven her," +murmured the Italian. + +"Let them forgive her still," said Harley, with all his exquisite +sweetness of look and tone. "I resume. On entering Switzerland, your +wife's health, which you know was always delicate, gave way. To fatigue +and anxiety succeeded fever, and delirium ensued. She had taken with her +but this one female attendant--the sole one she could trust--on leaving +home. She suspected Peschiera to have bribed her household. In the +presence of this woman she raved of her innocence--in accents of terror +and aversion, denounced your kinsman--and called on you to vindicate her +name and your own." + +"Ravings indeed! Poor Paulina!" groaned Riccabocca, covering his face +with both hands. + +"But in her delirium there were lucid intervals. In one of these she +rose, in spite of all her servant could do to restrain her, took from +her desk several letters, and reading them over, exclaimed piteously, +'But how to get them to him?--whom to trust? And his friend is gone!' +Then an idea seemed suddenly to flash upon her, for she uttered a joyous +exclamation, sate down, and wrote long and rapidly; inclosed what she +wrote with all the letters, in one packet, which she sealed carefully, +and bade her servant carry to the post, with many injunctions to take it +with her own hand, and pay the charge on it. 'For, oh!' said she (I +repeat the words as my informant told them to me)--'for, oh, this is my +sole chance to prove to my husband that, though I have erred, I am not +the guilty thing he believes me; the sole chance, too, to redeem my +error, and restore, perhaps, to my husband his country, to my child her +heritage.' The servant took the letter to the post; and when she +returned, her lady was asleep, with a smile upon her face. But from that +sleep she woke again delirious, and before the next morning her soul had +fled." Here Riccabocca lifted one hand from his face, and grasped +Harley's arm, as if mutely beseeching him to pause. The heart of the man +struggled hard with his pride and his philosophy; and it was long before +Harley could lead him to regard the worldly prospects which this last +communication from his wife might open to his ruined fortunes. Not, +indeed, till Riccabocca had persuaded himself, and half persuaded Harley +(for strong, indeed, was all presumption of guilt against the dead), +that his wife's protestations of innocence from all but error had been +but ravings. + +"Be this as it may," said Harley, "there seems every reason to suppose +that the letters inclosed were Peschiera's correspondence, and that, if +so, these would establish the proof of his influence over your wife, and +of his perfidious machinations against yourself. I resolved, before +coming hither, to go round by Vienna. There I heard with dismay that +Peschiera had not only obtained the imperial sanction to demand your +daughter's hand, but had boasted to his profligate circle that he should +succeed; and he was actually on his road to England. I saw at once that +could this design, by any fraud or artifice, be successful with Violante +(for of your consent, I need not say, I did not dream), the discovery of +this packet, whatever its contents, would be useless: his end would be +secured. I saw also that his success would suffice forever to clear his +name; for his success must imply your consent (it would be to disgrace +your daughter, to assert that she had married without it), and your +consent would be his acquittal. I saw, too, with alarm, that to all +means for the accomplishment of his project he would be urged by +despair; for his debts are great, and his character nothing but new +wealth can support. I knew that he was able, bold, determined, and that +he had taken with him a large supply of money, borrowed upon usury;--in +a word, I trembled for you both. I have now seen your daughter, and I +tremble no more. Accomplished seducer as Peschiera boasts himself, the +first look upon her face, so sweet, yet so noble, convinced me that she +is proof against a legion of Peschieras. Now, then, return we to this +all-important subject--to this packet. It never reached you. Long years +have passed since then. Does it exist still? Into whose hands would it +have fallen? Try to summon up all your recollections. The servant could +not remember the name of the person to whom it was addressed; she only +insisted that the name began with a B, that it was directed to England, +and that to England she accordingly paid the postage. Whom, then, with a +name that begins with B, or (in case the servant's memory here mislead +her) whom did you or your wife know, during your visit to England, with +sufficient intimacy to make it probable that she would select such a +person for her confidante?" + +"I cannot conceive," said Riccabocca, shaking his head. "We came to +England shortly after our marriage. Paulina was affected by the climate. +She spoke not a word of English, and indeed not even French as might +have been expected from her birth, for her father was poor, and +thoroughly Italian. She refused all society. I went, it is true, +somewhat into the London world--enough to induce me to shrink from the +contrast that my second visit as a beggared refugee would have made to +the reception I met with on my first--but I formed no intimate +friendships. I recall no one whom she could have written to as intimate +with me." + +"But," persisted Harley, "think again. Was there no lady well acquainted +with Italian, and with whom, perhaps, for that very reason, your wife +become familiar?" + +"Ah, it is true. There was one old lady of retired habits, but who had +been much in Italy. Lady--Lady--I remember--Lady Jane Horton." + +"Horton--Lady Jane!" exclaimed Harley; "again! thrice in one day--is +this wound never to scar over?" Then, noting Riccabocca's look of +surprise, he said, "Excuse me, my friend; I listen to you with renewed +interest. Lady Jane was a distant relation of my own; she judged me, +perhaps, harshly--and I have some painful associations with her name; +but she was a woman of many virtues. Your wife knew her?" + +"Not, however, intimately--still, better than any one else in London. +But Paulina would not have written to her; she knew that Lady Jane had +died shortly after her own departure from England. I myself was summoned +back to Italy on pressing business; she was too unwell to journey with +me as rapidly as I was obliged to travel; indeed, illness detained her +several weeks in England. In this interval she might have made +acquaintances. Ah, now I see; I guess. You say the name began with B. +Paulina, in my absence, engaged a companion; it was at my suggestion--a +Mrs. Bertram. This lady accompanied her abroad. Paulina became +excessively attached to her, she knew Italian so well. Mrs. Bertram left +her on the road, and returned to England, for some private affairs of +her own. I forget why or wherefore; if, indeed, I ever asked or learned. +Paulina missed her sadly, often talked of her, wondered why she never +heard from her. No doubt it was to this Mrs. Bertram that she wrote!" + +"And you don't know the lady's friends or address?" + +"No." + +"Nor who recommended her to your wife?" + +"No." + +"Probably Lady Jane Horton?" + +"It may be so. Very likely." + +"I will follow up this track, slight as it is." + +"But if Mrs. Bertram received the communication, how comes it that it +never reached--O, fool that I am, how should it! I, who guarded so +carefully my incognito!" + +"True. This your wife could not foresee; she would naturally imagine +that your residence in England would be easily discovered. But many +years must have passed since your wife lost sight of this Mrs. Bertram, +if their acquaintance was made so soon after your marriage; and now it +is a long time to retrace--long before even your Violante was born." + +"Alas! yes. I lost two fair sons in the interval. Violante was born to +me as the child of sorrow." + +"And to make sorrow lovely! how beautiful she is!" + +The father smiled proudly. + +"Where, in the loftiest houses of Europe, find a husband worthy of such +a prize?" + +"You forget that I am still an exile--she still dowerless. You forget +that I am pursued by Peschiera; that I would rather see her a beggar's +wife--than--Pah, the very thought maddens me, it is so foul, _Corpo di +Bacco_! I have been glad to find her a husband already." + +"Already! Then that young man spoke truly?" + +"What young man?" + +"Randal Leslie. How! You know him?" Here a brief explanation followed. +Harley heard with attentive ear, and marked vexation, the particulars of +Riccabocca's connection and implied engagement with Leslie. + +"There is something very suspicious to me in all this," said he. "Why +should this young man have so sounded me as to Violante's chance of +losing a fortune if she married an Englishman?" + +"Did he? Oh, pooh! excuse him. It was but his natural wish to seem +ignorant of all about me. He did not know enough of my intimacy with you +to betray my secret." + +"But he knew enough of it--must have known enough to have made it right +that he should tell you I was in England. He does not seem to have done +so." + +"No--_that_ is strange--yet scarcely strange; for, when we last met, his +head was full of other things--love and marriage. _Basta!_ youth will be +youth." + +"He has no youth left in him!" exclaimed Harley, passionately. "I doubt +if he ever had any. He is one of those men who come into the world with +the pulse of a centenarian. You and I never shall be as old--as he was +in long-clothes. Ah, you may laugh; but I am never wrong in my +instincts. I disliked him at the first--his eye, his smile, his voice, +his very footstep. It is madness in you to countenance such a marriage: +it may destroy all chance of your restoration." + +"Better that than infringe my word once passed." + +"No, no," exclaimed Harley; "your word is not passed--it shall not be +passed. Nay, never look so piteously at me. At all events, pause till we +know more of this young man. If he be worthy of her without a dower, +why, then, let him lose you your heritage. I should have no more to +say." + +"But why lose me my heritage!" + +"Do you think the Austrian government would suffer your estates to pass +to this English jackanapes, a clerk in a public office? Oh, sage in +theory, why are you such a simpleton in action!" + +Nothing moved by this taunt, Riccabocca rubbed his hands, and then +stretched them comfortably over the fire. + +"My friend," said he, "the heritage would pass to my son--a dowry only +goes to the daughter." + +"But you have no son." + +"Hush! I am going to have one; my Jemima informed me of it yesterday +morning; and it was upon that information that I resolved to speak to +Leslie. Am I a simpleton now?" + +"Going to have a son," repeated Harley, looking very bewildered; "how do +you know it is to be a son?" + +"Physiologists are agreed," said the sage, positively, "that where the +husband is much older than the wife, and there has been a long interval +without children before she condescends to increase the population of +the world--she (that is, it is at least as nine to four)--she brings +into the world a male. I consider that point, therefore, as settled, +according to the calculations of statistics and the researches of +naturalists." + +Harley could not help laughing, though he was still angry and disturbed. + +"The same man as ever; always the fool of philosophy." + +"_Cospetto!_" said Riccabocca, "I am rather the philosopher of fools. +And talking of that, shall I present you to my Jemima?" + +"Yes; but in turn I must present you to one who remembers with gratitude +your kindness, and whom your philosophy, for a wonder, has not ruined. +Some time or other you must explain that to me. Excuse me for a moment; +I will go for him." + +"For him--for whom? In my position I must be cautious; and--" + +"I will answer for his faith and discretion. Meanwhile, order dinner, +and let me and my friend stay to share it." + +"Dinner? _Corpo di Bacco!_--not that Bacchus can help us here. What will +Jemima say?" + +"Henpecked man, settle that with your connubial tyrant. But dinner it +must be." + +I leave the reader to imagine the delight of Leonard at seeing once more +Riccabocca unchanged, and Violante so improved; and the kind Jemima, +too. And their wonder at him and his history, his books and his fame. He +narrated his struggles and adventures with a simplicity that removed +from a story so personal the character of egotism. But when he came to +speak of Helen, he was brief and reserved. + +Violante would have questioned more closely; but, to Leonard's relief, +Harley interposed. + +"You shall see her whom he speaks of, before long, and question her +yourself." + +With these words, Harley turned the young man's narrative into new +directions; and Leonard's words again flowed freely. Thus the evening +passed away happily to all save Riccabocca. But the thought of his dead +wife rose ever and anon before him; and yet when it did, and became too +painful, he crept nearer to Jemima, and looked in her simple face, and +pressed her cordial hand. And yet the monster had implied to Harley that +his comforter was a fool--so she was, to love so contemptible a +slanderer of herself, and her sex. + +Violante was in a state of blissful excitement; she could not analyze +her own joy. But her conversation was chiefly with Leonard; and the most +silent of all was Harley. He sate listening to Leonard's warm, yet +unpretending eloquence--that eloquence which flows so naturally from +genius, when thoroughly at its ease, and not chilled back on itself by +hard unsympathizing hearers--listened, yet more charmed, to the +sentiments less profound, yet no less earnest--sentiments so feminine, +yet so noble, with which Violante's fresh virgin heart responded to the +poet's kindling soul. Those sentiments of hers were so unlike all he +heard in the common world--so akin to himself in his gone youth! +Occasionally--at some high thought of her own, or some lofty line from +Italian song, that she cited with lighted eyes, and in melodious +accents--occasionally he reared his knightly head, and his lips +quivered, as if he had heard the sound of a trumpet. The inertness of +long years was shaken. The Heroic, that lay deep beneath all the humors +of his temperament, was reached, appealed to; and stirred within him, +rousing up all the bright associations connected with it, and long +dormant. When he rose to take leave, surprised at the lateness of the +hour, Harley said, in a tone that bespoke the sincerity of the +compliment, "I thank you for the happiest hours I have known for years." +His eye dwelt on Violante as he spoke. But timidity returned to her with +his words--at his look; and it was no longer the inspired muse, but the +bashful girl that stood before him. + +"And when shall I see you again?" asked Riccabocca disconsolately, +following his guest to the door. + +"When? Why, of course, to-morrow. Adieu! my friend. No wonder you have +borne your exile so patiently--with such a child!" + +He took Leonard's arm, and walked with him to the inn where he had left +his horse. Leonard spoke of Violante with enthusiasm. Harley was silent. + + +CHAPTER III. + +The next day a somewhat old-fashioned, but exceedingly patrician +equipage stopped at Riccabocca's garden-gate. Giacomo, who, from a +bedroom window, had caught sight of it winding toward the house, was +seized with undefinable terror when he beheld it pause before their +walls and heard the shrill summons at the portal. He rushed into his +master's presence, and implored him not to stir--not to allow any one to +give ingress to the enemies the machine might disgorge. "I have heard," +said he, "how a town in Italy--I think it was Bologna--was once taken +and given to the sword, by incautiously admitting a wooden horse, full +of the troops of Barbarossa, and all manner of bombs and Congreve +rockets." + +"The story is differently told in Virgil," quoth Riccabocca, peeping out +of the window. "Nevertheless, the machine looks very large and +suspicious; unloose Pompey!" + +"Father," said Violante, coloring, "it is your friend Lord L'Estrange; I +hear his voice." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Quite. How can I be mistaken?" + +"Go, then, Giacomo; but take Pompey with thee--and give the alarm, if we +are deceived." + +But Violante was right; and in a few moments Lord L'Estrange was seen +walking up the garden, and giving the arm to two ladies. + +"All," said Riccabocca, composing his dressing-robe round him, "go, my +child, and summon Jemima. Man to man; but, for Heaven's, sake woman +to-woman." + +Harley had brought his mother and Helen, in compliment to the ladies of +his friend's household. + +The proud countess knew that she was in the presence of Adversity, and +her salute to Riccabocca was only less respectful than that with which +she would have rendered homage to her sovereign. But Riccabocca, always +gallant to the sex that he pretended to despise, was not to be outdone +in ceremony; and the bow which replied to the courtesy would have +edified the rising generation, and delighted such surviving relicts of +the old Court breeding as may linger yet amidst the gloomy pomp of the +Faubourg St. Germain. These dues paid to etiquette, the countess briefly +introduced Helen, as Miss Digby, and seated herself near the exile. In a +few moments the two elder personages became quite at home with each +other; and really, perhaps, Riccabocca had never, since we have known +him, showed to such advantage as by the side of his polished, but +somewhat formal visitor. Both had lived so little with our modern, +ill-bred age! They took out their manners of a former race, with a sort +of pride in airing once more such fine lace and superb brocade. +Riccabocca gave truce to the shrewd but homely wisdom of his +proverbs--perhaps he remembered that Lord Chesterfield denounces +proverbs as vulgar; and gaunt though his figure, and far from elegant +though his dressing-robe, there was that about him which spoke +undeniably of the _grand seigneur_--of one to whom a Marquis de Dangeau +would have offered _fauteuil_ by the side of the Rohans and +Montmorencies. + +Meanwhile Helen and Harley seated themselves a little apart, and were +both silent--the first, from timidity; the second, from abstraction. At +length the door opened, and Harley suddenly sprang to his feet--Violante +and Jemima entered. Lady Lansmere's eyes first rested on the daughter, +and she could scarcely refrain from an exclamation of admiring surprise; +but then, when she caught sight of Mrs. Riccabocca's somewhat humble, +yet not obsequious mien--looking a little shy, a little homely, yet +still thoroughly a gentlewoman (though of your plain rural kind of that +genus)--she turned from the daughter, and with the _savoir vivre_ of the +fine old school, paid her first respects to the wife; respects +literally, for her manner implied respect--but it was more kind, simple +and cordial than the respect she had shown to Riccabocca; as the sage +himself had said, here, "it was Woman to Woman." And then she took +Violante's hand in both hers, and gazed on her as if she could not +resist the pleasure of contemplating so much beauty. "My son," she said, +softly, and with a half sigh--"my son in vain told me not to be +surprised. This is the first time I have ever known reality exceed +description!" + +Violante's blush here made her still more beautiful; and as the countess +returned to Riccabocca she stole gently to Helen's side. + +"Miss Digby, my ward," said Harley, pointedly, observing that his mother +had neglected her duty of presenting Helen to the ladies. He then +reseated himself, and conversed with Mrs. Riccabocca; but his bright +quick eye glanced ever at the two girls. They were about the same +age--and youth was all that, to the superficial eye, they seemed to have +in common. A greater contrast could not well be conceived; and, what is +strange, both gained by it. Violante's brilliant loveliness seemed yet +more dazzling, and Helen's fair, gentle face yet more winning. Neither +had mixed much with girls of their own age; each took to the other at +first sight. Violante, as the less shy, began the conversation. + +"You are his ward--Lord L'Estrange's?" + +"Yes." + +"Perhaps you came with him from Italy?" + +"No, not exactly. But I have been in Italy for some years." + +"Ah! you regret--nay, I am foolish--you return to your native land. But +the skies in Italy are so blue--here it seems as if nature wanted +colors." + +"Lord L'Estrange says that you were very young when you left Italy; you +remember it well. He, too, prefers Italy to England." + +"He! Impossible!" + +"Why impossible, fair skeptic?" cried Harley, interrupting himself in +the midst of a speech to Jemima. + +Violante had not dreamed that she could be overheard--she was speaking +low; but, though visibly embarrassed, she answered distinctly-- + +"Because in England there is the noblest career for noble minds." + +Harley was startled, and replied, with a slight sigh, "At your age I +should have said as you do. But this England of ours is so crowded with +noble minds, that they only jostle each other, and the career is one +cloud of dust." + +"So, I have read, seems a battle to the common soldier, but not to the +chief." + +"You have read good descriptions of battles, I see." + +Mrs. Riccabocca, who thought this remark a taunt upon her +daughter-in-law's studies, hastened to Violante's relief. + +"Her papa made her read the history of Italy, and I believe that is full +of battles." + +HARLEY.--"All history is, and all women are fond of war and of warriors. +I wonder why." + +VIOLANTE (turning to Helen, and in a very low voice, resolved that +Harley should not hear this time).--"We can guess why--can we not?" + +HARLEY (hearing every word, as if it had been spoken in St. Paul's +Whispering Gallery.)--"If you can guess, Helen, pray tell me." + +HELEN (shaking her pretty head, and answering with a livelier smile than +usual.)--"But I am not fond of war and warriors." + +HARLEY (to Violante).--"Then I must appeal at once to you, +self-convicted Bellona that you are. Is it from the cruelty natural to +the female disposition?" + +VIOLANTE (with a sweet musical laugh).--"From two propensities still +more natural to it." + +HARLEY.--"You puzzle me: what can they be?" + +VIOLANTE.--"Pity and admiration; we pity the weak, and admire the +brave." + +Harley inclined his head and was silent. + +Lady Lansmere had suspended her conversation with Riccabocca to listen +to this dialogue. "Charming!" she cried. "You have explained what has +often perplexed me. Ah, Harley, I am glad to see that your satire is +foiled; you have no reply to that." + +"No; I willingly own myself defeated--too glad to claim the Signorina's +pity, since my cavalry sword hangs on the wall, and I can have no longer +a professional pretense to her admiration." + +He then rose, and glanced toward the window. "But I see a more +formidable disputant for my conqueror to encounter is coming into the +field--one whose profession it is to substitute some other romance for +that of camp and siege." + +"Our friend Leonard," said Riccabocca, turning his eye also toward the +window. "True; as Quevedo says wittily, 'Ever since there has been so +great a demand for type, there has been much less lead to spare for +cannon-balls.'" + +Here Leonard entered. Harley had sent Lady Lansmere's footman to him +with a note, that prepared him to meet Helen. As he came into the room, +Harley took him by the hand, and led him to Lady Lansmere. + +"The friend of whom I spoke. Welcome him now for my sake, ever after for +his own;" and then, scarcely allowing time for the Countess's elegant +and gracious response, he drew Leonard toward Helen. "Children," said +he, with a touching voice, that thrilled through the hearts of both, "go +and seat yourselves yonder, and talk together of the past. Signorina, I +invite you to renewed discussion upon the abstruse metaphysical subject +you have started; let us see if we can not find gentler sources for pity +and admiration than war and warriors." He took Violante aside to the +window. "You remember that Leonard, in telling you his history last +night, spoke, you thought, rather too briefly of the little girl who had +been his companion in the rudest time of his trials. When you would have +questioned more, I interrupted you, and said 'You should see her +shortly, and question her yourself.' And now what think you of Helen +Digby? Hush, speak low. But her ears are not so sharp as mine." + +VIOLANTE.--"Ah! that is the fair creature whom Leonard called his +child-angel? What a lovely innocent face!--the angel is there still." + +HARLEY (pleased both at the praise and with her who gave it).--"You +think so, and you are right. Helen is not communicative. But fine +natures are like fine poems--a glance at the first two lines suffices +for a guess into the beauty that waits you, if you read on." + +Violante gazed on Leonard and Helen as they sat apart. Leonard was the +speaker, Helen the listener; and though the former had, in his +narrative the night before, been indeed brief as to the episode in his +life connected with the orphan, enough had been said to interest +Violante in the pathos of their former position toward each other, and +in the happiness they must feel in their meeting again--separated for +years on the wide sea of life, now both saved from the storm and +shipwreck. The tears came into her eyes. "True," she said very softly, +"there is more here to move pity and admiration than in--" She paused. + +HARLEY.--"Complete the sentence. Are you ashamed to retract? Fie on your +pride and obstinacy." + +VIOLANTE.--"No; but even here there have been war and heroism--the war +of genius with adversity, and heroism in the comforter who shared it and +consoled. Ah! wherever pity and admiration are both felt, something +nobler than mere sorrow must have gone before: the heroic must exist." + +"Helen does not know what the word heroic means," said Harley, rather +sadly; "you must teach her." + +Is it possible, thought he as he spoke, that a Randal Leslie could have +charmed this grand creature? No heroic, surely, in that sleek young +place-man. "Your father," he said aloud, and fixing his eyes on her +face, "sees much, he tells me, of a young man, about Leonard's age, as +to date; but I never estimate the age of men by the parish register; and +I should speak of that so-called young man as a contemporary of my +great-grandfather;--I mean Mr. Randal Leslie. Do you like him?" + +"Like him?" said Violante slowly, and as if sounding her own mind. "Like +him--yes." + +"Why?" asked Harley, with dry and curt indignation. + +"His visits seem to please my dear father. Certainly, I like him." + +"Hum. He professes to like you, I suppose?" + +Violante laughed, unsuspiciously. She had half a mind to reply, "Is that +so strange?" But her respect for Harley stopped her. The words would +have seemed to her pert. + +"I am told he is clever," resumed Harley. + +"O, certainly." + +"And he is rather handsome. But I like Leonard's face better." + +"Better--that is not the word. Leonard's face is as that of one who has +gazed so often upon heaven; and Mr. Leslie's--there is neither sunlight +nor starlight reflected there." + +"My dear Violante!" exclaimed Harley, overjoyed; and he pressed her +hand. + +The blood rushed over the girl's cheek and brow; her hand trembled in +his. But Harley's familiar exclamation might have come from a father's +lips. + +At this moment, Helen softly approached them, and looking timidly into +her guardian's face, said, "Leonard's mother is with him: he asks me to +call and see her. May I?" + +"May you! A pretty notion the Signorina must form of your enslaved +state of pupilage, when she hears you ask that question. Of course you +may." + +"Will you take me there?" + +Harley looked embarrassed. He thought of the widow's agitation at his +name; of that desire to shun him, which Leonard had confessed, and of +which he thought he divined the cause. And so divining, he too shrank +from such a meeting. + +"Another time, then," said he, after a pause. + +Helen looked disappointed, but said no more. + +Violante was surprised at this ungracious answer. She would have blamed +it as unfeeling in another. But all that Harley did, was right in her +eyes. + +"Can not I go with Miss Digby?" said she, "and my mother will go too. We +both know Mrs. Fairfleld. We shall be so pleased to see her again." + +"So be it," said Harley; "I will wait here with your father till you +come back. O, as to my mother, she will excuse the--excuse Madame +Ricccabocca, and you too. See how charmed she is with _your_ father. I +must stay to watch over the conjugal interests of _mine_." + +But Mrs. Riccabocca had too much good old country breeding to leave the +Countess; and Harley was forced himself to appeal to Lady Lansmere. When +he had explained the case in point, the Countess rose and said---- + +"But I will call myself, with Miss Digby." + +"No," said Harley, gravely, but in a whisper. "No--I would rather not. I +will explain later." + +"Then," said the Countess aloud, after a glance of surprise at her son, +"I must insist on your performing this visit, my dear Madam, and you, +Signorina. In truth, I have something to say confidentially to--" + +"To me," interrupted Riccabocca. "Ah, Madame la Comtesse, you restore me +to five-and-twenty. Go, quick--O jealous and injured wife; go, both of +you, quick; and you, too, Harley." + +"Nay," said Lady Lansmere, in the same tone, "Harley must stay, for my +design is not at present upon destroying your matrimonial happiness, +whatever it may be later. It is a design so innocent that my son will be +a partner in it." + +Here the Countess put her lips to Harley's ear, and whispered. He +received her communication in attentive silence: but when she had done, +pressed her hand, and bowed his head, as if in assent to a proposal. + +In a few minutes, the three ladies and Leonard were on their road to the +neighboring cottage. + +Violante, with her usual delicate intuition, thought that Leonard and +Helen must have much to say to each other; and ignorant as Leonard +himself was, of Helen's engagement to Harley, began already, in the +romance natural to her age, to predict for them happy and united days in +the future. So she took her step-mother's arm, and left Helen and +Leonard to follow. + +"I wonder," she said musingly, "how Miss Digby became Lord L'Estrange's +ward. I hope she is not very rich, nor very high-born." + +"La, my love," said the good Jemima, "that is not like you; you are not +envious of her, poor girl?" + +"Envious! Dear mamma, what a word! But don't you think Leonard and Miss +Digby seem born for each other? And then the recollections of their +childhood--the thoughts of childhood are so deep, and its memories so +strangely soft!" The long lashes drooped over Violante's musing eyes as +she spoke. "And therefore," she said; after a pause, "therefore, I hoped +that Miss Digby might not be very rich, nor very high-born." + +"I understand you now, Violante," exclaimed Jemima, her own early +passion for match-making instantly returning to her; "for as Leonard, +however clever and distinguished, is still the son of Mark Fairfield the +carpenter, it would spoil all if Miss Digby was, as you say, rich and +high-born. I agree with you--a very pretty match, a very pretty match, +indeed. I wish dear Mrs. Dale were here now--she is so clever in +settling such matters." + +Meanwhile Leonard and Helen walked side by side a few paces in the rear. +He had not offered her his arm. They had been silent hitherto since they +left Riccabocca's house. + +Helen now spoke first. In similar cases it is generally the woman, be +she ever so timid, who does speak first. And here Helen was the bolder; +for Leonard did not disguise from himself the nature of his feelings, +and Helen was engaged to another; and her pure heart was fortified by +the trust reposed in it. + +"And have you ever heard more of the good Dr. Morgan, who had powders +against sorrow, and who meant to be so kind to us--though," she added, +coloring, "we did not think so then?" + +"He took my child-angel from me," said Leonard, with visible emotion; +"and if she had not returned, where and what should I be now? But I have +forgiven him. No, I have never met him since." + +"And that terrible Mr. Burley?" + +"Poor, poor Burley! He, too, is vanished out of my present life. I have +made many inquiries after him; all I can hear is that he went abroad, +supposed as a correspondent to some journal. I should like so much to +see him again, now that perhaps I could help him as he helped me." + +"_Helped_ you--ah!" + +Leonard smiled with a beating heart, as he saw again the dear, prudent, +warning look, and involuntary drew closer to Helen. She seemed more +restored to him and to her former self. + +"Helped me much by his instructions; more, perhaps, by his very faults. +You can not guess, Helen--I beg pardon, Miss Digby--but I forgot that we +are no longer children; you can not guess how much we men, and, more +than all perhaps, we writers, whose task it is to unravel the web of +human actions, owe even to our own past errors; and if we learn nothing +by the errors of others, we should be dull indeed. We must know where +the roads divide, and have marked where they lead to, before we can +erect our sign-posts; and books are the sign-posts in human life." + +"Books!--And I have not yet read yours. And Lord L'Estrange tells me you +are famous now. Yet you remember me still--the poor orphan child, whom +you first saw weeping at her father's grave, and with whom you burdened +your own young life, over-burdened already. No, still call me Helen--you +must always be to me--a brother! Lord L'Estrange feels _that_; he said +so to me when he told me that we were to meet again. He is so generous, +so noble. Brother!" cried Helen, suddenly, and extending her hand, with +a sweet but sublime look in her gentle face--"brother, we will never +forfeit his esteem; we will both do our best to repay him! Will we +not--say so?" + +Leonard felt overpowered by contending and unanalyzed emotions. Touched +almost to tears by the affectionate address--thrilled by the hand that +pressed his own--and yet with a vague fear a consciousness that +something more than the words themselves was implied--something that +checked all hope. And this word "brother," once so precious and so dear, +why did he shrink from it now?--why could he not too say the sweet word +"sister?" + +"She is above me now and evermore?" he thought, mournfully; and the +tones of his voice, when he spoke again, were changed. The appeal to +renewed intimacy but made him more distant; and to that appeal itself he +made no direct answer; for Mrs. Riccabocca, now turning round, and +pointing to the cottage which came in view, with its picturesque +gable-ends, cried out, + +"But is that your house, Leonard? I never saw any thing so pretty." + +"You do not remember it, then," said Leonard to Helen, in accents of +melancholy reproach--"there where I saw you last! I doubted whether to +keep it exactly as it was, and I said, 'No! the association is not +changed because we try to surround it with whatever beauty we can +create; the dearer the association, the more the Beautiful becomes to it +natural." "Perhaps you don't understand this--perhaps it is only we poor +poets who do." + +"I understand it," said Helen, gently. She looked wistfully at the +cottage. + +"So changed--I have so often pictured it to myself--never, never like +this; yet I loved it, commonplace as it was to my recollection; and the +garret, and the tree in the carpenter's yard." + +She did not give these thoughts utterance And they now entered the +garden. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Mrs. Fairfield was a proud woman when she received Mrs. Riccabocca and +Violante in her grand house; for a grand house to her was that cottage +to which her boy Lenny had brought her home. Proud, indeed, ever was +Widow Fairfield; but she thought then in her secret heart, that if ever +she could receive in the drawing-room of that grand house the great +Mrs. Hazeldean, who had so lectured her for refusing to live any longer +in the humble tenement rented of the Squire, the cup of human bliss +would be filled, and she could contentedly die of the pride of it. She +did not much notice Helen--her attention was too absorbed by the ladies +who renewed their old acquaintance with her, and she carried them all +over the house, yea, into the very kitchen; and so, somehow or other, +there was a short time when Helen and Leonard found themselves alone. It +was in the study. Helen had unconsciously seated herself in Leonard's +own chair, and she was gazing with anxious and wistful interest on the +scattered papers, looking so disorderly (though, in truth, in that +disorder there was method, but method only known to the owner), and at +the venerable, well-worn books, in all languages, lying on the floor, on +the chairs--any where. I must confess that Helen's first tidy womanlike +idea was a great desire to arrange the latter. "Poor Leonard," she +thought to herself--"the rest of the house so neat, but no one to take +care of his own room and of him!" + +As if he divined her thought, Leonard smiled, and said, "It would be a +cruel kindness to the spider, if the gentlest hand in the world tried to +set its cobweb to rights." + +HELEN.--"You were not quite so bad in the old days." + +LEONARD.--"Yet even then, you were obliged to take care of the money. I +have more books now, and more money. My present housekeeper lets me take +care of the books, but she is less indulgent as to the money." + +HELEN (archly).--"Are you as absent as ever?" + +LEONARD.--"Much more so, I fear. The habit is incorrigible, Miss +Digby--" + +HELEN.--"Not Miss Digby--sister, if you like." + +LEONARD (evading the word that implied so forbidden an +affinity).--"Helen, will you grant me a favor? Your eyes and your smile +say 'yes.' Will you lay aside, for one minute, your shawl and bonnet? +What! can you be surprised that I ask it? Can you not understand that I +wish for one minute to think you are at home again under this roof?" + +Helen cast down her eyes, and seemed troubled; then she raised them, +with a soft angelic candor in their dovelike blue, and as if in shelter +from all thoughts of more warm affection, again murmured "_brother_," +and did as he asked her. + +So there she sate, among the dull books, by his table, near the open +window--her fair hair parted on her forehead--looking so good, so calm, +so happy! Leonard wondered at his own self-command. His heart yearned to +her with such inexpressible love--his lips so longed to murmur, "Ah, as +now so could it be forever! Is the home too mean?" But that word +"brother" was as a talisman between her and him. + +Yet she looked so at home--perhaps so at home she felt!--more certainly +than she had yet learned to do in that stiff stately house in which she +was soon to have a daughter's rights. Was she suddenly made aware of +this--that she so suddenly arose--and with a look of alarm and distress +on her face-- + +"But--we are keeping Lady Lansmere too long," she said, falteringly. "We +must go now," and she hastily took up her shawl and bonnet. + +Just then Mrs. Fairfield entered with the visitors, and began making +excuses for inattention to Miss Digby, whose identity with Leonard's +child-angel she had not yet learned. + +Helen received these apologies with her usual sweetness. "Nay," she +said, "your son and I are such old friends, how could you stand on +ceremony with me?" + +"Old friends!" Mrs. Fairfield stared amazed, and then surveyed the fair +speaker more curiously than she had yet done. "Pretty, nice spoken +thing," thought the widow; "as nice spoken as Miss Violante, and +humbler-looking-like--though as to dress, I never see any thing so +elegant out of a picter." + +Helen now appropriated Mrs. Riccabocca's arm; and after a kind +leave-taking with the widow, the ladies returned toward Riccabocca's +house. + +Mrs. Fairfield, however, ran after them with Leonard's hat and gloves, +which he had forgotten. + +"'Deed, boy," said she, kindly, yet scoldingly, "but there'd be no more +fine books, if the Lord had not fixed your head on your shoulders. You +would not think it, marm," she added to Mrs. Riccabocca, "but sin' he +has left you, he's not the 'cute lad he was; very helpless at times, +marm!" + +Helen could not resist turning round, and looking at Leonard, with a sly +smile. + +The widow saw the smile, and catching Leonard by the arm, whispered, +"But, where before have you seen that pretty young lady? Old friends!" + +"Ah, mother," said Leonard, sadly, "it is a long tale; you have heard +the beginning, who can guess the end?"--and he escaped. But Helen still +leant on the arm of Mrs. Riccabocca, and, in the walk back, it seemed to +Leonard as if the winter had resettled in the sky. + +Yet he was by the side of Violante, and she spoke to him with such +praise of Helen! Alas! it is not always so sweet as folks say, to hear +the praises of one we love. Sometimes those praises seem to ask +ironically, "And what right hast thou to hope because thou lovest? _All_ +love _her_." + + +CHAPTER V. + +No sooner had Lady Lansmere found herself alone with Riccabocca and +Harley than she laid her hand on the exile's arm, and, addressing him by +a title she had not before given him, and from which he appeared to +shrink nervously, said: "Harley, in bringing me to visit you, was forced +to reveal to me your incognito, for I should have discovered it. You may +not remember me, in spite of your gallantry. But I mixed more in the +world than I do now, during your first visit to England, and once sate +next to you at dinner at Carlton House. Nay, no compliments, but listen +to me. Harley tells me you have cause for some alarm respecting the +designs of an audacious and unprincipled--adventurer, I may call him; +for adventurers are of all ranks. Suffer your daughter to come to me, on +a visit, as long as you please. With me, at least, she will be safe; and +if you, too, and the--" + +"Stop, my dear madam," interrupted Riccabocca, with great vivacity; +"your kindness over-powers me. I thank you most gratefully for your +invitation to my child; but--" + +"Nay," in his turn interrupted Harley, "no buts. I was not aware of my +mother's intention when she entered this room. But since she whispered +it to me, I have reflected on it, and am convinced that it is but a +prudent precaution. Your retreat is known to Mr. Leslie--he is known to +Peschiera. Grant that no indiscretion of Mr. Leslie's betray the secret; +still I have reason to believe that the Count guesses Randal's +acquaintance with you. Audley Egerton this morning told me he had +gathered that, not from the young man himself, but from questions put to +himself by Madame di Negra; and Peschiera might, and would, set spies to +track Leslie to every house that he visits--might and would, still more +naturally, set spies to track myself. Were this man an Englishman, I +should laugh at his machinations; but he is an Italian, and has been a +conspirator. What he could do, I know not; but an assassin can penetrate +into a camp, and a traitor can creep through closed walls to one's +hearth. With my mother, Violante must be safe; that you can not oppose. +And why not come yourself?" + +Riccabocca had no reply to these arguments, so far as they affected +Violante; indeed, they awakened the almost superstitious terror with +which he regarded his enemy, and he consented at once that Violante +should accept the invitation proffered. But he refused it for himself +and Jemima. + +"To say truth," said he, simply, "I made a secret vow, on re-entering +England, that I would associate with none who knew the rank I had +formerly held in my own land. I felt that all my philosophy was needed, +to reconcile and habituate myself to my altered circumstances. In order +to find in my present existence, however humble, those blessings which +make all life noble--dignity and peace--it was necessary for poor, weak +human nature, wholly to dismiss the past. It would unsettle me sadly, +could I come to your house, renew awhile, in your kindness and +respect--nay, in the very atmosphere of your society--the sense of what +I have been; and then (should the more than doubtful chance of recall +from my exile fail me) to awake, and find myself for the rest of +life--what I am. And though, were I alone, I might trust myself perhaps +to the danger--yet my wife: she is happy and contented now; would she be +so, if you had once spoiled her for the simple position of Dr. +Riccabocca's wife? Should I not have to listen to regrets, and hopes, +and fears that would prick sharp through my thin cloak of philosophy? +Even as it is, since in a moment of weakness I confided my secret to +her, I have had 'my rank' thrown at me--with a careless hand, it is +true--but it hits hard, nevertheless. No stone hurts like one taken from +the ruins of one's own home; and the grander the home, why, the heavier +the stone! Protect, dear madam--protect my daughter, since her father +doubts his own power to do so. But--ask no more." + +Riccabocca was immovable here. And the matter was settled as he decided, +it being agreed that Violante should be still styled but the daughter of +Dr. Riccabocca. + +"And now, one word more," said Harley. "Do not confide to Mr. Leslie +these arrangements; do not let him know where Violante is placed--at +least, until I authorize such confidence in him. It is sufficient +excuse, that it is no use to know unless he called to see her, and his +movements, as I said before, may be watched. You can give the same +reason to suspend his visits to yourself. Suffer me, meanwhile, to +mature my judgment on this young man. In the mean while, also, I think +that I shall have means of ascertaining the real nature of Peschiera's +schemes. His sister has sought to know me; I will give her the occasion. +I have heard some things of her in my last residence abroad, which make +me believe that she can not be wholly the Count's tool in any schemes +nakedly villainous; that she has some finer qualities in her than I once +supposed; and that she can be won from his influence. It is a state of +war: we will carry it into the enemy's camp. You will promise me, then, +to refrain from all further confidence to Mr. Leslie." + +"For the present, yes," said Riccabocca, reluctantly. + +"Do not even say that you have seen me, unless he first tell you that I +am in England, and wish to learn your residence. I will give him full +occasion to do so. Pish! don't hesitate; you know your own proverb-- + + 'Boccha chiusa, ed occhio aperto + Non fece mai nissun deserto.' + +'The closed mouth and the open eye,' &c." + +"That's very true," said the Doctor, much struck. "Very true. '_In +boccha chiusa non c'entrano mosche._' One can't swallow flies if one +keeps one's mouth shut. _Corpo di Bacco!_ that's very true, indeed!" + +Harley took aside the Italian. + +"You see if our hope of discovering the lost packet, or if our belief in +the nature of its contents, be too sanguine, still, in a few months it +is possible that Peschiera can have no further designs on your +daughter--possible that a son may be born to you, and Violante would +cease to be in danger, because she would cease to be an heiress. Indeed, +it may be well to let Peschiera know this chance; it would, at least, +make him delay all his plans while we are tracking the document that may +defeat them forever." + +"No, no! for heaven's sake, no!" exclaimed Riccabocca, pale as ashes. +"Not a word to him. I don't mean to impute to him crimes of which he +may be innocent. But he meant to take my life when I escaped the pursuit +of his hirelings in Italy. He did not hesitate, in his avarice, to +denounce a kinsman; expose hundreds to the sword, if resisting--to the +dungeon, if passive. Did he know that my wife might bear me a son, how +can I tell that his designs might not change into others still darker, +and more monstrous, than those he now openly parades, though, after all, +not more infamous and vile. Would my wife's life be safe? Not more +difficult to convey poison into my house, than to steal my child from my +hearth. Don't despise me; but when I think of my wife, my daughter, and +that man, my mind forsakes me: I am one fear." + +"Nay, this apprehension is too exaggerated. We do not live in the age of +the Borgias. Could Peschiera resort to the risks of a murder; it is for +yourself that you should fear." + +"For myself!--I! I!" cried the exile, raising his tall stature to its +full height. "Is it not enough degradation to a man who has borne the +name of such ancestors, to fear for those he loves! Fear for myself! Is +it you who ask if I am a coward?" + +He recovered himself, as he felt Harley's penitential and admiring grasp +of the hand. + +"See," said he, turning to the Countess, with a melancholy smile, "how +even one hour of your society destroys the habits of years. Dr. +Riccabocca is talking of his ancestors!" + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Violante and Jemima were both greatly surprised, as the reader may +suppose, when they heard, on their return, the arrangements already made +for the former. The Countess insisted on taking her at once, and +Riccabocca briefly said, "Certainly, the sooner the better." Violante +was stunned and bewildered. Jemima hastened to make up a little bundle +of things necessary, with many a woman's sigh that the poor wardrobe +contained so few things befitting. But among the clothes she slipped a +purse, containing the savings of months, perhaps of years, and with it a +few affectionate lines, begging Violante to ask the Countess to buy her +all that was proper for her father's child. There is always something +hurried and uncomfortable in the abrupt and unexpected withdrawal of any +member from a quiet household. The small party broke into still smaller +knots. Violante hung on her father, and listened vaguely to his not very +lucid explanations. The Countess approached Leonard, and, according to +the usual mode with persons of quality addressing young authors, +complimented him highly on the books she had not read, but which her son +assured her were so remarkable. She was a little anxious to know how +Harley had met with Mr. Oran, whom he called his friend; but she was too +high-bred to inquire, or to express any wonder that rank should be +friends with genius. + +She took it for granted that they had formed their acquaintance abroad. + +Harley conversed with Helen.--"You are not sorry that Violante is coming +to us? She will be just such a companion for you as I could desire; of +your own years too." + +HELEN (ingenuously).--"It is hard to think I am not younger than she +is." + +HARLEY.--"Why, my dear Helen?" + +HELEN.--"She is so brilliant. She talks so beautifully. And I--" + +HARLEY.--"And you want but the habit of talking, to do justice to your +own beautiful thoughts." + +Helen looked at him gratefully, but shook her head. It was a common +trick of hers, and always when she was praised. + +At last the preparations were made--the farewell was said. Violante was +in the carriage by Lady Lansmere's side. Slowly moved on the stately +equipage with its four horses and trim postillions, heraldic badges on +their shoulders, in the style rarely seen in the neighborhood of the +metropolis, and now fast vanishing even amidst distant counties. + +Riccabocca, Jemima, and Jackeymo continued to gaze after it from the +gate. + +"She is gone," said Jackeymo, brushing his eyes with his coat sleeve. +"But it is a load off one's mind." + +"And another load on one's heart," murmured Riccabocca. "Don't cry, +Jemima; it may be bad for you, and bad for _him_ that is to come. It is +astonishing how the humors of the mother may affect the unborn. I should +not like to have a son who has a more than usual propensity to tears." + +The poor philosopher tried to smile, but it was a bad attempt. He went +slowly in and shut himself up with his books. But he could not read. His +whole mind was unsettled. And though, like all parents, he had been +anxious to rid himself of a beloved daughter for life, now that she was +gone, but for a while, a string seemed broken in the Music of Home. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The evening of the same day, as Egerton, who was to entertain a large +party at dinner, was changing his dress, Harley walked into his room. + +Egerton dismissed his valet by a sign, and continued his toilet. + +"Excuse me, my dear Harley, I have only ten minutes to give you. I +expect one of the royal dukes, and punctuality is the stern virtue of +men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes." + +Harley had usually a jest for his friend's aphorisms; but he had none +now. He laid his hand kindly on Egerton's shoulder--"Before I speak of +my business, tell me how you are--better?" + +"Better--nay, I am always well. Pooh! I may look a little tired--years +of toil will tell on the countenance. But that matters little--the +period of life has passed with me when one cares how one looks in the +glass." + +As he spoke, Egerton completed his dress, and came to the hearth, +standing there, erect and dignified as usual, still far handsomer than +many a younger man, and with a form that seemed to have ample vigor to +support for many a year the sad and glorious burthen of power. + +"So now to your business, Harley." + +"In the first place, I want you to present me, at the first opportunity, +to Madame di Negra. You say she wished to know me." + +"Are you serious?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, then, she receives this evening. I did not mean to go; but when +my party breaks up--" + +"You can call for me at 'The Travelers.' Do!" + +"Next--you knew Lady Jane Horton better even than I did, at least in the +last year of her life." Harley sighed, and Egerton turned and stirred +the fire. + +"Pray, did you ever see at her house, or hear her speak of, a Mrs. +Bertram?" + +"Of whom?" said Egerton, in a hollow voice, his face still turned toward +the fire. + +"A Mrs. Bertram; but Heavens! my dear fellow, what is the matter? Are +you ill?" + +"A spasm at the heart--that is all--don't ring--I shall be better +presently--go on talking. Mrs.----; why do you ask?" + +"Why? I have hardly time to explain; but I am, as I told you, resolved +on righting my old Italian friend, if Heaven will help me, as it ever +does help the just when they bestir themselves; and this Mrs. Bertram is +mixed up in my friend's affairs." + +"His! How is that possible?" + +Harley rapidly and succinctly explained. Audley listened attentively, +with his eyes fixed on the floor, and still seeming to labor under great +difficulty of breathing. + +At last he answered, "I remember something of this Mrs.--Mrs.--Bertram. +But your inquiries after her would be useless. I think I have heard that +she is long since dead; nay, I am sure of it." + +"Dead!--that is most unfortunate. But do you know any of her relations +or friends? Can you suggest any mode of tracing this packet, if it came +to her hands?" + +"No." + +"And Lady Jane had scarcely any friend that I remember, except my +mother, and she knows nothing of this Mrs. Bertram. How unlucky! I think +I shall advertise. Yet, no. I could only distinguish this Mrs. Bertram +from any other of the same name, by stating with whom she had gone +abroad, and that would catch the attention of Peschiera, and set him to +counterwork us." + +"And what avails it?" said Egerton. "She whom you seek is no more--no +more!" He paused, and went on rapidly--"The packet did not arrive in +England till years after her death--was no doubt returned to the +post-office--is destroyed long ago." + +Harley looked very much disappointed. Egerton went on in a sort of set +mechanical voice, as if not thinking of what he said, but speaking from +the dry practical mode of reasoning which was habitual to him, and by +which the man of the world destroys the hopes of an enthusiast. Then +starting up at the sound of the first thundering knock at the street +door, he said, "Hark! you must excuse me." + +"I leave you, my dear Audley. Are you better now?" + +"Much, much--quite well. I will call for you--probably between eleven +and twelve." + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +If any one could be more surprised at seeing Lord L'Estrange at the +house of Madame di Negra that evening than the fair hostess herself, it +was Randal Leslie. Something instinctively told him that this visit +threatened interference with whatever might be his ultimate projects in +regard to Riccabocca and Violante. But Randal Leslie was not one of +those who shrink from an intellectual combat. On the contrary, he was +too confident of his powers of intrigue, not to take a delight in their +exercise. He could not conceive that the indolent Harley could be a +match for his own restless activity and dogged perseverance. But in a +very few moments fear crept on him. No man of his day could produce a +more brilliant effect than Lord L'Estrange, when he deigned to desire +it. Without much pretense to that personal beauty which strikes at first +sight, he still retained all the charm of countenance, and all the grace +of manner which had made him in boyhood the spoiled darling of society. +Madame di Negra had collected but a small circle round her, still it was +of the _élite_ of the great world; not, indeed, those more precise and +reserved _dames du château_, whom the lighter and easier of the fair +dispensers of fashion ridicule as prudes; but, nevertheless, ladies were +there, as umblemished in reputation as high in rank; flirts and +coquettes, perhaps--nothing more; in short, "charming women"--the gay +butterflies that hover over the stiff parterre. And there were +embassadors and ministers, and wits and brilliant debaters, and +first-rate dandies (dandies when first-rate, are generally very +agreeable men). Among all these various persons, Harley, so long a +stranger to the London world, seemed to make himself at home with the +ease of an Alcibiades. Many of the less juvenile ladies remembered him, +and rushed to claim his acquaintance, with nods, and becks, and wreathed +smiles. He had ready compliment for each. And few indeed, were there, +men or women, for whom Harley L'Estrange had not appropriate attraction. +Distinguished reputation as soldier and scholar, for the grave; whim and +pleasantry for the gay; novelty for the sated; and for the more vulgar +natures, was he not Lord L'Estrange, unmarried, heir to an ancient +earldom, and some fifty thousand a year? + +Not till he had succeeded in the general effect--which, it must be +owned, he did his best to create--did Harley seriously and especially +devote himself to his hostess. And then he seated himself by her side; +and as if in compliment to both, less pressing admirers insensibly +slipped away and edged off. + +Frank Hazledean was the last to quit his ground behind Madame di +Negra's chair; but when he found that the two began to talk in Italian, +and he could not understand a word they said, he too--fancying, poor +fellow, that he looked foolish, and cursing his Eton education that had +neglected, for languages spoken by the dead, of which he had learned +little, those still in use among the living, of which he had learned +naught--retreated toward Randal, and asked wistfully, "Pray, what age +should you say L'Estrange was? He must be devilish old, in spite of his +looks. Why, he was at Waterloo!" + +"He is young enough to be a terrible rival," answered Randal, with +artful truth. + +Frank turned pale, and began to meditate dreadful bloodthirsty thoughts, +of which hair-triggers and Lord's Cricket-ground formed the staple. + +Certainly there was apparent ground for a lover's jealousy. For Harley +and Beatrice now conversed in a low tone, and Beatrice seemed agitated, +and Harley earnest. Randal himself grew more and more perplexed. Was +Lord L'Estrange really enamored of the Marchesa? If so, farewell to all +hopes of Frank's marriage with her! Or was he merely playing a part in +Riccabocca's interest; pretending to be the lover, in order to obtain an +influence over her mind, rule her through her ambition, and secure an +ally against her brother? Was this _finesse_ compatible with Randal's +notions of Harley's character? Was it consistent with that chivalric and +soldierly spirit of honor which the frank nobleman affected, to make +love to a woman in mere _ruse de guerre_? Could mere friendship for +Riccabocca be a sufficient inducement to a man, who, whatever his +weaknesses or his errors, seemed to wear on his very forehead a soul +above deceit, to stoop to paltry means, even for a worthy end? At this +question, a new thought flashed upon Randal--might not Lord L'Estrange +have speculated himself upon winning Violante?--would not that account +for all the exertions he had made on behalf of her inheritance at the +court of Vienna--exertions of which Peschiera and Beatrice had both +complained? Those objections which the Austrian government might take to +Violante's marriage with some obscure Englishman would probably not +exist against a man like Harley L'Estrange, whose family not only +belonged to the highest aristocracy of England, but had always supported +opinions in vogue among the leading governments of Europe. Harley +himself, it is true, had never taken part in politics, but his notions +were, no doubt, those of a high-born soldier, who had fought, in +alliance with Austria, for the restoration of the Bourbons. And this +immense wealth--which Violante might lose if she married one like Randal +himself--her marriage with the heir of the Lansmeres might actually tend +only to secure. Could Harley, with all his own expectations, be +indifferent to such a prize?--and no doubt he had learned Violante's +rare beauty in his correspondence with Riccabocca. + +Thus considered, it seemed natural to Randal's estimate of human +nature, that Harley's more prudish scruples of honor, as regards what is +due to women, could not resist a temptation so strong. Mere friendship +was not a motive powerful enough to shake them, but ambition was. + +While Randal was thus cogitating, Frank thus suffering, and many a +whisper, in comment on the evident flirtation between the beautiful +hostess and the accomplished guest, reached the ears both of the +brooding schemer and the jealous lover, the conversation between the two +objects of remark and gossip had taken a new turn. Indeed, Beatrice had +made an effort to change it. + +"It is long, my lord," said she, still speaking Italian, "since I have +heard sentiments like those you address to me; and if I do not feel +myself wholly unworthy of them, it is from the pleasure I have felt in +reading sentiments equally foreign to the language of the world in which +I live." She took a book from the table as she spoke: "Have you seen +this work?" + +Harley glanced at the title-page. "To be sure I have, and I know the +author." + +"I envy you that honor. I should so like also to know one who has +discovered to me deeps in my own heart which I had never explored." + +"Charming Marchesa, if the book has done this, believe me that I have +paid you no false compliment--formed no overflattering estimate of your +nature; for the charm of the work is but in its simple appeal to good +and generous emotions, and it can charm none in whom those emotions +exist not!" + +"Nay, that can not be true, or why is it so popular?" + +"Because good and generous emotions are more common to the human heart +than we are aware of till the appeal comes." + +"Don't ask me to think that! I have found the world so base." + +"Pardon me a rude question; but what do you know of the world?" + +Beatrice looked first in surprise at Harley, then glanced round the room +with significant irony. + +"As I thought; you call this little room 'the world.' Be it so. I will +venture to say, that if the people in this room were suddenly converted +into an audience before a stage, and you were as consummate in the +actor's art as you are in all others that please and command--" + +"Well?" + +"And were to deliver a speech full of sordid and base sentiments, you +would be hissed. But let any other woman, with half your powers, arise +and utter sentiments sweet and womanly, or honest and lofty--and +applause would flow from every lip, and tears rush to many a worldly +eye. The true proof of the inherent nobleness of our common nature is in +the sympathy it betrays with what is noble wherever crowds are +collected. Never believe the world is base;--if it were so, no society +could hold together for a day. But you would know the author of this +book? I will bring him to you." + +"Do." + +"And now," said Harley, rising, and with his candid winning smile, "do +you think we shall ever be friends?" + +"You have startled me so, that I can scarcely answer. But why would you +be friends with me?" + +"Because you need a friend. You have none." + +"Strange flatterer!" said Beatrice, smiling, though very sadly; and, +looking up, her eye caught Randal's. + +"Pooh!" said Harley, "you are too penetrating to believe that you +inspire friendship _there_. Ah, do you suppose that, all the while I +have been conversing with you, I have not noticed the watchful gaze of +Mr. Randal Leslie? What tie can possibly connect you together I know not +yet; but I soon shall." + +"Indeed! you talk like one of the old Council of Venice. You try hard to +make me fear you," said Beatrice, seeking to escape from the graver kind +of impression Harley had made on her, by the affectation, partly of +coquetry, partly of levity. + +"And I," said L'Estrange, calmly, "tell you already, that I fear you no +more." He bowed, and passed through the crowd to rejoin Audley, who was +seated in a corner, whispering with some of his political colleagues. +Before Harley reached the minister, he found himself close to Randal and +young Hazeldean. + +He bowed to the first, and extended his hand to the last. Randal felt +the distinction, and his sullen, bitter pride was deeply galled--a +feeling of hate toward Harley passed into his mind. He was pleased to +see the cold hesitation with which Frank just touched the hand offered +to him. But Randal had not been the only person whose watch upon +Beatrice the keen-eyed Harley had noticed. Harley had seen the angry +looks of Frank Hazeldean, and divined the cause. So he smiled +forgivingly at the slight he had received. + +"You are like me, Mr. Hazeldean," said he. "You think something of the +heart should go with all courtesy that bespeaks friendship-- + + "The hand of Douglas is his own." + +Here Harley drew aside Randal. "Mr. Leslie, a word with you. If I wished +to know the retreat of Dr. Riccabocca, in order to render him a great +service, would you confide to me that secret?" + +"That woman has let out her suspicions that I know the exile's retreat," +thought Randal; and with rare presence of mind, he replied at once: + +"My Lord, yonder stands a connection of Dr. Riccabocca's. Mr. Hazeldean +is surely the person to whom you should address this inquiry." + +"Not so, Mr. Leslie; for I suspect that he can not answer it, and that +you can. Well, I will ask something that it seems to me you may grant +without hesitation. Should you see Dr. Riccabocca, tell him that I am in +England, and so leave it to him to communicate with me or not; but +perhaps you have already done so?" + +"Lord L'Estrange," said Randal, bowing low, with pointed formality, +"excuse me if I decline either to disclaim or acquiesce in the knowledge +you impute to me. If I am acquainted with any secret intrusted to me by +Dr. Riccabocca, it is for me to use my own discretion how best to guard +it. And for the rest, after the Scotch earl, whose words your lordship +has quoted, refused to touch the hand of Marmion, Douglas could scarcely +have called him back in order to give him--a message!" + +Harley was not prepared for this tone in Mr Egerton's _protégé_, and his +own gallant nature was rather pleased than irritated by a haughtiness +that at least seemed to bespeak independence of spirit. Nevertheless, +L'Estrange's suspicions of Randal were too strong to be easily set +aside, and therefore he replied, civilly, but with covert taunt: + +"I submit to your rebuke, Mr. Leslie, though I meant not the offense you +would ascribe to me. I regret my unlucky quotation yet the more, +since the wit of your retort has obliged you to identify yourself +with Marmion, who, though a clever and brave fellow, was an +uncommonly--tricky one." And so Harley, certainly having the best of it, +moved on, and joining Egerton, in a few minutes more both left the room. + +"What was L'Estrange saying to you?" asked Frank. "Something about +Beatrice, I am sure." + +"No; only quoting poetry." + +"Then what made you look so angry, my dear fellow? I know it was your +kind feeling for me. As you say, he is a formidable rival. But that +can't be his own hair. Do you think he wears a _toupet_? I am sure he +was praising Beatrice. He is evidently very much smitten with her. But I +don't think she is a woman to be caught by _mere_ rank and fortune! Do +you? Why can't you speak?" + +"If you do not get her consent soon, I think she is lost to you," said +Randal, slowly; and, before Frank could recover his dismay, glided from +the house. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Violante's first evening at the Lansmeres, had seemed happier to her +than the first evening, under the same roof, had done to Helen. True +that she missed her father much--Jemima some what; but she so identified +her father's cause with Harley, that she had a sort of vague feeling +that it was to promote that cause that she was on this visit to Harley's +parents. And the Countess, it must be owned, was more emphatically +cordial to her than she had ever yet been to Captain Digby's orphan. But +perhaps the real difference in the heart of either girl was this, that +Helen felt awe of Lady Lansmere, and Violante felt only love for Lord +L'Estrange's mother. Violante, too, was one of those persons whom a +reserved and formal person, like the Countess, "can get on with," as the +phrase goes. Not so poor little Helen--so shy herself, and so hard to +coax into more than gentle monosyllables. And Lady Lansmere's favorite +talk was always of Harley. Helen had listened to such talk with respect +and interest. Violante listened to it with inquisitive eagerness--with +blushing delight. The mother's heart noticed the distinction between the +two, and no wonder that that heart moved more to Violante than to Helen. +Lord Lansmere, too, like most gentlemen of his age, clumped all young +ladies together, as a harmless, amiable, but singularly stupid class of +the genus Petticoat, meant to look pretty, play the piano, and talk to +each other about frocks and sweethearts. Therefore this animated, +dazzling creature, with her infinite variety of look and play of mind, +took him by surprise, charmed him into attention, and warmed him into +gallantry. Helen sat in her quiet corner, at her work, sometimes +listening with almost mournful, though certainly unenvious admiration at +Violante's vivid, yet ever unconscious eloquence of word and +thought--sometimes plunged deep into her own secret meditations. And all +the while the work went on the same, under the same noiseless fingers. +This was one of Helen's habits that irritated the nerves of Lady +Lansmere. She despised young ladies who were fond of work. She did not +comprehend how often it is the source of the sweet, womanly mind, not +from want of thought, but from the silence and the depth of it. Violante +was surprised, and perhaps disappointed, that Harley had left the house +before dinner, and did not return all the evening. But Lady Lansmere, in +making excuse for his absence, on the plea of engagements, found so good +an opportunity to talk of his ways in general--of his rare promise in +boyhood--of her regret at the inaction of his maturity--of her hope to +see him yet do justice to his natural powers, that Violante almost +ceased to miss him. + +And when Lady Lansmere conducted her to her room, and, kissing her cheek +tenderly, said, "But you are just the person Harley admires--just the +person to rouse him from melancholy dreams, of which his wild humors are +now but the vain disguise"--Violante crossed her arms on her bosom, and +her bright eyes, deepened into tenderness, seemed to ask, "He +melancholy--and why?" + +On leaving Violante's room, Lady Lansmere paused before the door of +Helen's; and, after musing a little while, entered softly. + +Helen had dismissed her maid; and, at the moment Lady Lansmere entered, +she was kneeling at the foot of the bed, her hands clasped before her +face. + +Her form, thus seen, looked so youthful and child-like--the attitude +itself was so holy and so touching, that the proud and cold expression +on Lady Lansmere's face changed. She shaded the light involuntarily, and +seated herself in silence, that she might not disturb the act of prayer. + +When Helen rose, she was startled to see the Countess seated by the +fire; and hastily drew her hand across her eyes. She had been weeping. + +Lady Lansmere did not, however, turn to observe those traces of tears, +which Helen feared were too visible. The Countess was too absorbed in +her own thoughts; and as Helen timidly approached, she said--still with +her eyes on the clear low fire--"I beg your pardon, Miss Digby, for my +intrusion; but my son has left it to me to prepare Lord Lansmere to +learn the offer you have done Harley the honor to accept. I have not yet +spoken to my lord; it may be days before I find a fitting occasion to do +so; meanwhile, I feel assured that your sense of propriety will make you +agree with me that it is due to Lord L'Estrange's father, that strangers +should not learn arrangements of such moment in his family, before his +own consent be obtained." + +Here the Countess came to a full pause; and poor Helen, finding herself +called upon for some reply to this chilling speech, stammered out, +scarce audibly-- + +"Certainly, madam, I never dreamed of--" + +"That is right, my dear," interrupted Lady Lansmere, rising suddenly, +and as if greatly relieved. "I could not doubt your superiority to +ordinary girls of your age, with whom these matters are never secret for +a moment. Therefore, of course, you will not mention, at present, what +has passed between you and Harley, to any of the friends with whom you +may correspond." + +"I have no correspondents--no friends, Lady Lansmere," said Helen +deprecatingly, and trying hard not to cry. + +"I am very glad to hear it, my dear; young ladies never should have. +Friends, especially friends who correspond, are the worst enemies they +can have. Good-night, Miss Digby, I need not add, by the way, that, +though we are bound to show all kindness to this young Italian lady, +still she is wholly unconnected with our family; and you will be as +prudent with her as you would have been with your correspondents--had +you had the misfortune to have any." + +Lady Lansmere said the last words with a smile, and pressed a reluctant +kiss (the step-mother's kiss) on Helen's bended brow. She then left the +room, and Helen sate on the seat vacated by the stately, unloving form, +and again covered her face with her hands, and again wept. But when she +rose at last, and the light fell upon her face, that soft face was sad +indeed, but serene--serene, as if with some inward sense of duty--sad, +as with the resignation which accepts patience instead of hope. + + (TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +PIPE-CLAY AND CLAY PIPES. + + +I have an eccentric friend, whom I meet occasionally. He can not be said +to have an inquiring turn of mind, or usually to busy himself with the +science of industrial economy. Babbage is an unknown writer to him; and +he has not yet contrived to "get up" any interest in the recent Reports +on Her Majesty's Customs. In fact, I should not be surprised if he never +opened the interesting volumes in question. He is a man with an active +mind, nevertheless; but this activity is expended, as a rule, in +eccentric pursuits. He has one confirmed antipathy--he hates a purpose. +Since he heard that I had written a paper on the wrongs of factory +children, he has treated me with marked coolness. Yet he is a man with +an excellent heart. Let me at once give the key to his character. Most +people have one serious object in life, therefore he is opposed to all +serious objects. Lately, I met him walking briskly on his way homeward, +and I consented to accompany him. Suddenly, he remembered that he must +make a call before he entered his chambers. + +This call led us out of a great thoroughfare, through two or three +narrow and dark streets, to the door of a dingy house. As we paused on +the threshold, my companion asked me if I had ever seen a tobacco-pipe +manufactory. I expressed my inexperience; and, having been cautioned +against sermons on what I was about to see, followed my eccentric friend +down a dark passage, which terminated in a very dirty and a very dark +warehouse. A few samples of tobacco-pipes lay upon a counter, and one +side of the warehouse was skirted with drawers full of "yards of +clay"--my eccentric friend's ordinary expression when alluding to his +pipes. In a dark corner, a strong man was savagely punching huge blocks +of clay with a heavy wooden bar; in another corner lay a huge pile of +clay-blocks in the rough state--apparently a heap of dirt, of little use +to any body. A mild woman--the wife of the manufacturer--showed us about +with a cheerful manner. My friend, who took an evident interest in all +the processes we witnessed, still contrived to maintain his eccentric +habit, by continually expressing his unconcern. As we looked at the +skillful action of the workmen's fingers, my friend allowed that they +played the fiddle well, but added that they could _only_ play the +fiddle. However, I left him to pursue his eccentric way, and wandered +about with unfeigned curiosity. + +Turning from the muscular fellow who was beating the rough clay with the +wooden bar, and moistening it, that it might yield to the pressure of +the mould, I suddenly saw a black gaping mouth before me, that seemed to +be in the agony of swallowing a dense stack of tobacco-pipes; this, I +learned, was the pipe-kiln. The pipes were arranged in exact rows, and +in vast quantities. I ventured to express my astonishment at the number +of pipes in the capacious kiln; whereupon the clay-beater paused from +his labor, and, with a smile that expressed pity for my ignorance, +declared that there was a mere handful on the premises. + +"There are a few still, up there," he added, pointing to the roof of the +warehouse. + +I followed the direction of his finger, and saw above me a roof of +tobacco-pipes piled in regular rows on brackets. The number appeared +incalculable, but the clay-beater contemptuously pronounced it +insignificant. He informed me that I might see "a few more," if I would +have the goodness to go up stairs. My eccentric friend vowed that the +trouble was excessive--that our business was with the pipes when they +had tobacco in them; and not with the people who made them; and, as he +remarked (having had a sharp pecuniary altercation with the +manufacturer's wife), who took particular care to charge a remunerative +price for them. But he mounted the stairs, in spite of his objections, +and followed me into the room where the battered clay of the beater +below was undergoing other processes. Here and there men seemed to be +printing off pipes--the action of their arms, and the movement of their +presses nearly resembling those of hand-printing. A pale woman sat in +the centre of the room with a counter before her, and two or three +delicate tools; but we went past her at once to the man who had a mound +of soft gray clay before him. He was working briskly. He first seized +two lumps of clay, each of the average size of an apple, and having +carelessly kneaded them with his fingers, seemed to throw them +contemptuously upon the board before him. Then, with the palms of his +hand he rolled them sharply out on the board, leaving one end of each +lump very thick, and producing, altogether, two clay tadpoles of a large +size. These he took up, and placed with others in a row, all pressed and +sticking together. The apparent unconcern and indifference with which +the entire operation was performed struck us particularly. When we had +sufficiently noticed the manufacture of gigantic tadpoles, we crossed +the room to an opposite bench where a man was working rapidly. Here we +found a confused heap of clay tadpoles, ready to be run through and +burnt into seemly pipes. + +We watched the operations of the second skilled laborer with intense +interest. First, with a weary air he took up a bundle of limp clay +tadpoles, and threw them down close beside him. He then took a fine +steel rod in his left hand, and seizing a tadpole, drew its long slender +tail on to the rod. This operation was so dexterously performed, that +the rod never protruded the least to the right or to the left, but was +kept, by the fine touch of the right-hand fingers, exactly in the centre +of the tube. The spitted tadpole was then laid flat in the lower half of +the metal pipe mould; the upper part was pulled down over it, and then +pressed. On lifting the mould from the press, the workman quickly cut +away the superfluous clay that stood up beyond the bowl, opened the +mould, and disclosed, to the undisguised admiration even of my eccentric +friend, the graceful flow of his usual "yard of clay." But it was not +yet ready for smoking; very far from it. + +It was still a damp, leaden gray pipe, with two broad seams of clay +projecting from it, throughout its entire length. It was ragged too. On +these deficiencies my friend began to offer a few pungent remarks; when +the workman interrupted him by pointing toward an industrious woman, who +seemed to be in a desperate hurry; yet she was not at all excited. My +friend suggested that steam must be circulating in her nimble fingers, +instead of blood. She smiled at the pleasantry; and said meekly enough, +that it was custom. She was as clumsy as I should be when she began--but +long, long days of experience--there, sitting before that board, and +cutting incessantly those seams that curl so neatly off the rough +pipes, give that dexterity, and it is well, perhaps severely, paid for. +The work-woman wears a serious, dull face generally. It struck me, as I +watched the repetition of her movements, that in their dreadful monotony +there must be a deadening influence upon the mind and heart. I even +thought that she must find it a relief now and then to break a pipe, or +drop one of the glistening steel rods. First, she took up one of the +rough pipes, and with a sharp steel instrument, smoothed all the rough +clay about the bowl. Then she smoothed the stem with a flat +instrument--then she cut the mouthpiece even. Having thus rapidly +traveled over the moulder's work, she withdrew the fine steel rod from +the tube, blew down the pipe to assure herself that the air passed from +the bowl to the mouth-piece, and then carefully added it to a row, +placed upon a frame beside her. The finished pipe was hardly deposited +in its place before another was in her hands, and in rapid process +toward completion. + +A roaring fire crackled in the grate, and the heat of the atmosphere was +oppressive. Above were more endless rows and galleries of pipes; waiting +to be baked, and in a fair way, I thought, of undergoing that process +where they lay. I could hear the dull, heavy sounds of the clay-beater's +weapon below, and in the rooms the incessant click of the closing +moulds. The workmen were proud to show their dexterity, as they well +might be. Our friend in the farther corner, as he talked pleasantly to +us on various subjects, still carelessly made his clay tadpoles; the +woman never paused from her rapid work when she exchanged occasional +sentences with a boy who stood near her; and the wife of the +manufacturer surveyed the busy scene with sparkling eyes. + +I thought once or twice of the damp clay streaming about these +workpeople; and of the hard, stern work going on to provide receptacles +for lazy men's tobacco. Pipe-clay seemed to force itself every where; +about the rafters, on the benches, on the floor, in the walls. My +friend's curiosity was soon satisfied: for his anxiety to avoid contact +with the raw material of his favorite manufactured article, drove every +other consideration from his mind. He vowed that he did not wish to +appear in the streets of London in the guise of a miller--that, +generally, he preferred a black coat to a piebald one, and that not +being a military man, the less pipe-clay he took away in the nap of his +clothes, the better. But I had one or two questions to put to the +tadpole-maker--not with the view, as my friend stoutly asserted, of +writing a sermon, but perhaps with an object sufficiently laudable. I +learned that a workman, "keeping to it" twelve hours, can make "four +gross and a half" of pipes per day. + +My friend was struck with this astonishing fact; and, forthwith, began +to prove from this assertion that he ought to have the half-gross he +wanted at a very low price indeed. It was only when the workman paused, +for the first time, from his work to discuss the beauties of various +pipes, that my friend felt himself quite at home in the manufactory. +Hereupon, the workman placed a variety of pipes in juxtaposition, and +began to talk of their relative excellences and beauties with the tact +of an artist. This man was not without a shrewd sense of art; he had his +ideal of a tobacco-pipe, as the political dreamer has his ideal of a +model state, or a sculptor of his ideal beauty. He had shrewd, +unanswerable reasons for a certain roundness in the bowl; his eye +wandered critically down the graceful bend of the tube, and his hand +tested nicely the finish of the surface. His skill lay, certainly, only +in the manufacture of tobacco-pipes; but, still, herein his mind was +active, and his taste was cultivated. + +"What would become of you if smoking were put down by Act of +Parliament?" my friend asked, with a sarcastic air. But the man was a +match even for the practiced eccentricity of my companion. + +"Why, sir," said the man, "most likely more snuff would be consumed +instead, and I should shut up the kiln, and take to making snuffboxes." + +My friend was silenced; and, as we walked away from the manufactory, +down the dark, narrow streets, he allowed, in a whisper, that there was +wisdom in the pipemaker's answer. And then he began to make calculations +as to how many people flourish in every country on the bad habits and +vices of their fellow-citizens. He wove a chain of terrible length, to +show how many men were interested in the drunkenness of the country. A +man reeled past us in the imbecile, singing stage of the vice. "That +man," said my eccentric friend, "has done the state some service +to-night. He has been helping to swell the Excise returns; presently, he +will create a disturbance; a policeman will gallantly walk him off to +the station-house, and be promoted; his hat will be broken, to the great +advantage of a hatter; his shirt front will be torn, to the benefit of +some poor, lone sempstress; and there, he has broken his yard of clay, +to the advantage of the manufactory we have just left. Delirium tremens +will come at last; and with it a surgeon; and, with the surgeon, herbs +which are now growing under the burning heat of Indian skies." Thus my +eccentric friend ran on, and I did not interrupt him; for, in his words, +I detected sparks of light that led us merrily forward to our journey's +end, where we found half-a-gross of "yards of clay;" "a perfect +picture," according to my friend--lying, all white as snow before us, +trimmed, I knew, by the serious, nimble-fingered woman we had seen at +her work. And she is at it now, still cutting the seams off, and blowing +down the tubes! + + + + +HABITS AND CHARACTER OF THE DOG-RIB INDIANS.[7] + + +[Footnote 7: From Sir John Richardson's Arctic "Searching Expedition," +just published by Harper and Brothers.] + +Few traces of the stoicism popularly attributed to the red races exist +among the Dog ribs; they shrink from pain, show little daring, express +their fears without disguise on all occasions, imaginary or real, shed +tears readily, and live in constant dread of enemies, bodied and +disembodied. Yet all, young and old, enjoy a joke heartily. They are not +a morose people, but, on the contrary, when young and in a situation of +security, they are remarkably lively and cheerful. The infirmities of +age, which press heavily on the savage, render them querulous. They are +fond of dancing, but their dance, which is performed in a circle, is +without the least pretensions to grace, and is carried on laboriously +with the knees and body half bent and a heavy stamping, having the +effect of causing the dancers to appear as if they were desirous of +sinking into the ground. It is accompanied by a song resembling a chorus +of groans, or pretty nearly the deep sigh of a pavier as he brings his +rammer down upon the pavement. They are great mimics, and readily ape +the peculiarities of any white man; and many of the young men have +caught the tunes of the Canadian voyagers, and hum them correctly. + +The Dog-ribs are practical socialists; and, as much of the misery they +occasionally experience may be traced to this cause, the study of the +working of such a system may be instructive in a community like this, +whose members owe their condition in the social scale solely to their +personal qualities, and not to inheritance, favor, or the other +accidents which complicate the results in civilized life. Custom has +established among them a practice universally acted upon--that all may +avail themselves of the produce of a hunter's energy and skill; and they +do not even leave to him the distribution of his own game. When it is +known in the camp that deer have been killed, the old men and women of +each family sally forth with their sledges, and, tracing up the hunter's +footsteps to the carcasses of the animals he has slain, proceed to +divide them among themselves, leaving to the proper owner the ribs, +which is all that he can claim to himself of right. He has also the +tongue, which he takes care to cut out on killing the deer. It is not in +the power of these people to restrain their appetites when they have +abundance; and the consequence is, that when the chase is successful, +all the community feast and grow fat, however little many of the +men--and there are not a few idle ones--may have contributed to the +common good. The hunter's wife dries the rib-pieces, after cutting out +the bone, in the smoke, or over a fire, to carry to a fort for the +purposes of trade; but, unless there is a superabundance, little +provision is made by the party for a time of scarcity, which is sure to +arrive before long; since the deer, when much hunted, move to some other +district. Taught by their frequent sufferings on such occasions, the +more active hunters frequently withdraw themselves and their families +from the knowledge of the drones of the community, leaving them at some +fishing station, where, with proper industry, they may subsist +comfortably. A fish diet is not, however, agreeable to the palates of +these people for any length of time; and, as soon as rumors of a +hunter's success reach them--which they do generally much exaggerated by +the way--a longing for the flesh-pots is instantly excited, especially +among the old, and a general movement to the hunting-ground ensues. If, +on their march, the craving multitude discover a hoard of meat stored up +by any of the hunting parties, it is devoured on the spot; but they are +not always so fortunate. Before they reach the scene of anticipated +abundance, the deer may have gone off, followed by the hunters, with +uncertain hopes of overtaking them, and nothing remains for the hungry +throng, including the old and the lame, but to retrace their steps, with +the prospect of many of them perishing by the way, should their stock of +food have been quite exhausted. Such occurrences are by no means rare; +they came several times under our immediate notice during our winter +residence at Fort Confidence, and similar facts are recorded by Mr. +Simpson of the same tribe. This gentleman expresses his opinion that the +charge made against this nation, of abandoning their infirm aged people +and children, had its origin in the _sauve qui peut_ cry raised during a +forced retreat from some one of these most injudicious excursions; and I +am inclined fully to agree with him; for I witnessed several +unquestionable instances of tenderness and affection shown by children +to their parents, and of compliance with their whims, much to their own +personal inconvenience. The grief they show on the loss of a parent, is +often great and of long continuance, and it is the custom, both for men +and women, to lament the death of relations for years, by nightly +wailings. + +Hospitality is not a virtue which is conspicuous among the Dog-ribs, who +differ in this respect from the Eythinyuwuk, in whose encampments a +stranger meets a welcome and a proffer of food. It is not customary, +however, for the Dog-rib to receive the traveler who enters his tent +with the same show of kindness. If he is hungry, and meat hangs up, he +may help himself without eliciting a remark, for the 'Tinnè hold it to +be mean to say much about a piece of meat; or he may exert his patience +until some cookery goes on, and then join in the meal; and should there +be venison at hand, he will not have long to wait, for every now and +then some one is prompted to hang a kettle on the fire, or to place a +joint or steak to roast before it. + +Of the peculiarities of their religious belief I could gain no certain +information. The interpreters to whom I applied for assistance disliked +the task, and invariably replied, "As for these savages, they know +nothing; they are ignorant people." The majority of the nation recognize +a "Great Spirit," at least by name, but some doubt his existence, +assigning, as a reason for their atheism, their miserable condition; or +they say, "If there be such a being, he dwells on the lands of the white +people, where so many useful and valuable articles are produced." With +respect to evil spirits, their name in the Dog-rib country is legion. +The 'Tinnè recognize them in the Bear, Wolf, and Wolverene, in the +woods, waters, and desert places; often hear them howling in the winds, +or moaning by the graves of the dead. Their dread of these disembodied +beings, of whom they spoke to us under the general name of "enemies," is +such that few of the hunters will sleep out alone. They never make any +offerings to the Great Spirit, or pay him an act of adoration; but they +deprecate the wrath of an evil being by prayer, and the sacrifice of +some article, generally of little value, perhaps simply by scattering a +handful of deer hair or a few feathers. + + + + +MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS. + + +THE UNITED STATES. + +In Congress, during the past month, there has been copious discussion of +a great variety of subjects, but no important action upon any. The +influence of the approaching Presidential election makes itself felt +upon the debates of Congress, coloring every speech and often +superseding every other subject. Memorials have been presented in favor +of authorizing another Arctic expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, +for which Mr. Henry Grinnell again tenders the use of his ships--asking +only that the government will send a small steamer with them and men for +officers and sailors. Commander Wilkes has also addressed Congress on +the subject; proposing a very large Expedition--sufficient indeed to +establish a permanent settlement in the Arctic regions, from which the +search may be prosecuted. Nothing has been done with regard to +either.----Governor Kossuth has addressed to Congress a letter of thanks +for the reception given him, which was presented in the Senate on the +17th of February, and gave rise to a long debate on the proposition to +print it: it was ordered to be printed by 21 votes to 20 against +it.----In the Senate a bill has been reported by Commitee to establish a +branch mint in the city of New York, on condition that the city donate +land for a site and the State exempt it from taxation.----A good deal of +the attention of the Senate has been devoted to a debate upon the Public +Land policy of the country, the question coming up on a bill granting +large tracts of land to Iowa to aid in the construction of certain +railroads. Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, spoke in favor of ceding all +the public lands to the States in which they lie, mainly on the ground +that the exemption of those lands from State taxation had created in +those States an equitable title to them. On the 24th of February Mr. +Geyer, of Missouri, spoke in favor of the same policy, basing his +argument in its support upon the same facts. Mr. Underwood offered an +amendment to the effect of distributing among the seventeen States in +which there are no public lands, fifteen millions of acres. He +spoke in defense of it at length. No vote has been taken upon the +subject.----Further debate has been had upon the resolutions on the +subject of non-intervention. On the 26th of February, Mr. Miller, of New +Jersey, spoke against the policy of intermeddling at all in the affairs +of foreign nations. He represented intervention in foreigns affairs as +the habitual policy of European monarchies, which Washington had +resisted; and he urged the duty and necessity of adhering strictly to +the ground of neutrality which was adopted during the early history of +this country. The subject was then postponed until the 9th of March, +when Mr. Seward of New York, spoke upon it. He urged the absolute +independence of every State, and the duty of all States to recognize and +respect it. He entered upon a historical review of the connection of +Hungary and Austria to show that Hungary was fully entitled to this +right, and that it had been grossly violated when her freedom and +constitution were destroyed by the armed intervention of Russia. He then +urged that the United States, although recognizing the existing rule in +Hungary from motives of political necessity, can not be indifferent to +such usurpation, and may lawfully protest against it, and especially +against any new intervention should it be intended by Russia. He +referred to the diplomatic history of the United States to show that +this principle has always been recognized and practiced by them, and +insisted that there was no reason why it should now be abandoned. Upon +the conclusion of his speech the subject was postponed for a week.----A +debate of personal rather than general interest occurred in the Senate +on the 27th and 28th of February, between Mr. Rhett of South Carolina +and Mr. Clemens of Alabama. The former read a very long paper which he +had prepared to expose the political inconsistencies of Mr. Clemens, and +in which he used strong language in characterizing his course. Mr. +Clemens replied with passionate warmth and with increased vituperation +Their speeches have no general interest or importance.----In the _House +of Representatives_ discussion, although it has comprehended various +subjects, has grown mainly out of bills to appropriate public lands to +certain railroads in Missouri and Illinois. They have been debated with +a good deal of warmth, and almost every speaker has connected with them +the discussion of the Presidential question. In the course of the debate +a letter from Gen. William O. Butler, addressed to a personal friend, +was read, in which he declares his entire assent and approval of the +Compromise Measures of 1850. On the 1st of March, Mr. Fitch of Iowa +offered a resolution deprecating all further agitation of the questions +growing out of these measures as useless and dangerous: and a vote was +taken on a motion to suspend the rules so as to allow its introduction: +there were ayes 119, nays 74. As two-thirds were required to pass it, +the motion failed.----On the 20th of February a message was received +from the President, transmitting, in reply to a resolution of the House, +copies of the correspondence between the officers of the Mississippi and +the Government concerning Kossuth. It was quite voluminous, embracing +letters from other American functionaries as well as naval officers. +They show on the part of all of them a strong distrust of Kossuth's +plans and great dissatisfaction at the marks of respect paid to him at +the various ports on the Mediterranean, at which the Mississippi +touched. His returning thanks to the people at Marseilles who cheered +him, is especially censured. + +The month has been marked by several literary discourses of more than +common interest. At the anniversary meeting of the New York Historical +Society, held on the 23d of February, Hon. Daniel Webster read an +elaborate paper upon the dignity and importance of History, and making +sundry detailed criticisms upon the historical writings of ancient and +modern historians. He dwelt somewhat minutely upon all the great writers +of Greece and Rome, and passed more hastily over those of England. He +sketched the early history of the United States, dwelling especially +upon the proceedings of the first Congress after the Constitution, and +pronouncing a high eulogy upon the great men to whose hands the +legislation of that important era was intrusted. He closed by alluding +to the dangers which had recently menaced the Union and the +Constitution, and declared himself ready to co-operate with those of +every party who would rally in their defense. The discourse was heard +with marked attention by an immense and intelligent audience.----On the +evening of the 27th, a very large meeting was held in New York to +testify regard for the memory of the late J. Fenimore Cooper. The +occasion was distinguished by the attendance, as presiding officer, of +Mr. Webster, and by the presence of a great number of distinguished +literary gentlemen. Mr. Webster made a brief address, expressing his +cordial interest in the occasion, and the high respect which he +entertained for the writings of Cooper, as being preeminent for their +thorough American feeling and high moral tone, as well as great +intellectual ability. William Cullen Bryant delivered a commemorative +address, rehearsing Mr. Cooper's life, and making passing criticisms +upon his successive works.----On the evening of March 8th, Archbishop +Hughes read a Lecture on the Catholic Chapter in the History of the +United States, the leading purpose of which was to show that in this +country no religious denomination has any claim to supremacy--that it is +neither Protestant nor Catholic--but that the Constitution prohibits all +legislation upon the subject, and that all stand upon precisely the same +level.----A Whig State Convention was held in Kentucky, at Frankfort, on +the 24th of February. Hon. Chilton Allan presided. A series of +resolutions was adopted, pronouncing in favor of the Compromise measures +of 1850, and of the course pursued by the President of the United States +in securing the execution of the laws. They also declared in favor of +public appropriations for internal improvements, against granting the +public lands to the States in which they lie, and in favor of +maintaining strict neutrality in the affairs of all foreign nations. The +Convention declared its willingness to abide by the nomination of a Whig +National Convention, but presented President Fillmore to the +consideration of that body, as a "statesman of such approved prudence, +experience, firmness, and wisdom as to unite the entire Whig vote of +Kentucky."----A large public meeting was held in New York, on the 5th of +March, of those in favor of the nomination of Mr. Webster for the +Presidency, subject to the decision of a National Whig Convention. Mr. +George Griswold presided. An address was adopted rehearsing the public +history of Mr. Webster, and referring to his services to the country in +the various public offices which he has held.----A Whig State Convention +in Indiana adopted resolutions nominating General Scott for the +Presidency.----Washington's birth-day was celebrated at the National +Capital by a banquet, got up mainly by members of Congress. Senator +Stockton presided, and speeches were made by several gentlemen--mainly +directed against the policy of intermeddling to any degree or for any +purpose in the affairs of foreign nations. Mr Clay, whose illness +prevented his attendance, wrote a letter, saying that the serious +efforts made to subvert the policy of neutrality established by +Washington, called for energetic measures of resistance. The attempts +made to induce this country to plunge, by perilous proceedings and +insensible degrees, in the wars of Europe, rendered it proper to recall +attention to his principles by celebrating his birth-day. + +From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 2d of February. Col. JOHN B. +WELLER (Democrat) has been elected United States Senator in place of +Col. Frémont. He was once candidate for Governor of Ohio and more +recently chief of the Mexican Boundary Commission.----Governor Bigler +has sent to the Legislature a special message, concerning the financial +affairs of the State, in which he urges upon the Legislature the early +adoption of measures to relieve the burden of the State's liabilities, +and exhibits the amount of her indebtedness. According to the +Controller's report, $1,000,000 still stands against the State from the +expenses of last year's military expeditions. The aggregate +indebtedness, civil and military, of the State, on the 31st December was +$2,242,339.74.----There had been no further disturbances from the +Indians, though further precautions against them had been taken by +sending troops into their neighborhood.----Hon. T. B. King has published +a letter recommending the relinquishment of the public lands to actual +settlers, and the confirmation by Congress of the rules established by +the miners themselves, defining the rights of those who may be employed +in the collection of gold, or who may invest capital in machinery for +the purpose of working the vein mines.----Intelligence from the mining +districts continues to be encouraging. The quartz mining companies are +generally doing well, though from defects in machinery some failures +have occurred. New discoveries continue to be made. + +From OREGON our advices are to Jan. 24. The Legislature and Judiciary +disagree about the seat of government, part of the members meeting in +the place fixed by judicial decision, and others refusing to concur in +the decision and meeting elsewhere. The dispute has been transferred to +the people, by the adjournment of the Assembly on the 21st of Jan. It is +canvassed with great warmth and earnestness.----Some doubts having +arisen as to the true boundary line between Oregon and California, the +Surveyor-general has been directed to make the necessary observations to +determine it. + +In the Territory of NEW MEXICO, from which we have news to Jan. 31st, +fresh Indian outrages have occurred. An escort of United States troops, +consisting of a sergeant and four men, was proceeding southward when +they were attacked by a band of Apaches in ambush, and four of the party +were killed; the other succeeded in making his escape. Four murders were +perpetrated also near Polvodera in the early part of January, and soon +after the Indians attacked a party of nine persons of whom they killed +five. The scene of these outrages is the desert region called the +Jornada, lying on the route from Santa Fé to Chihuahua. The daring +nature of the attacks of the several tribes of Indians had created great +alarm throughout the country. A body of troops had been sent out to +punish the Indians for these murders, but returned without +success.----Movements are in progress in Santa Fé to work the gold +placers known to exist in that vicinity. The chief difficulty has +hitherto arisen from the want of water for washing the dust: this is now +to be remedied by digging wells. A gold hunting company of forty men has +left Santa Fé for a thorough exploration of the Gila region: they +expected to find others on the way to join them, so as to swell their +number to a hundred and fifty which would be sufficient for +self-defense. + +From UTAH the last California mail brought news that the Mormons at the +Great Salt Lake city had published a declaration of independence, +announcing their determination to setup a republic for themselves--that +they had put the United States' authorities at defiance--that all the +United States' officers had left, and the people were preparing to +resist all authority, by fortifying their settlements. The delegate in +Congress from Utah, Mr. John W. Bernhisel, published a card on the 1st +of March, pronouncing the report untrue, so far as the latest +intelligence from home which had reached him enabled him to give an +opinion. He said he thought the rumor was merely an exaggerated +statement of difficulties previously known. On the other hand, another +gentleman who left California on the 16th of December, expresses the +belief that the accounts are true. He says that the news was by no means +unexpected to the people of Oregon and California, as they had long been +aware of their hostile and ambitious designs. For decisive intelligence +we shall be obliged to wait for another arrival. + +From NORTHERN MEXICO we have news of a renewed repulse of Carvajal, whom +our last Record left on the Rio Grande, recruiting his forces. General +Avalos fortified Matamoras against an expected attack, which had created +great alarm among the inhabitants. On the 20th of February Carvajal +attacked Camargo with a force of over 500 men, but he was repulsed with +decided loss. He succeeded in escaping to the American side of the Rio +Grande. Of his whole force it is stated that only 84 were Mexicans. + +From SOUTH AMERICA we have intelligence of a later date. In _Venezuela_, +from which we have news to the 1st of February, Congress opened on the +25th of January. The Message of President Monagas announces a great +improvement in the financial condition of the country. All the +obligations on account of the public service have been met--the expenses +of the wars of 1848 and 1849 have been partially liquidated--the +interest on the domestic debt, which has not been satisfied since 1847, +has been paid, and the installments on the foreign debt, which have been +neglected for some years, have been promptly remitted to London--thus +improving the national credit abroad.----From the _La Plata_ we have +intelligence of an engagement, about the 1st of January, between the +forces of Rosas and Urquiza, which is said to have resulted in the +victory of the former, and in the desertion to his standard of five +thousand of Urquiza's troops. It is not easy to say how much of this is +reliable.----Political offenders in _Chili_ have been for some years +banished to the Straits of Magellan. An insurrection took place among +them lately, in which they killed the governor, seized the garrison, and +declared themselves independent of Chili. It is said that they have also +seized two or three American vessels. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +The political events of the month in England have been of striking +interest and importance. The expulsion of Lord Palmerston from the +Cabinet, mainly for offenses against etiquette--the meeting of +Parliament, and the subsequent defeat and retirement of the Russell +Ministry, with the reinstatement of a Protectionist Cabinet, are +certainly events of more consequence than are usually crowded into a +single month. + +Parliament met on the 3d of February, and was opened in person by the +Queen. Her speech announced that she continued to maintain the most +friendly relations with Foreign Powers. She had reason to believe that +the treaty between Germany and Denmark, concluded at Berlin year before +last, will soon be fully executed. Although tranquillity has prevailed +throughout the greater part of Ireland, certain parts of the counties of +Armagh, Monaghan, and Louth have been marked by the commission of +outrages of the most serious description. Bills have been prepared +founded upon the reports of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into +the practice and proceedings of the Superior Courts of Law and Equity, +which are commended to deliberate attention. The act of 1848 suspending +the previous act which conferred representative institutions on New +Zealand, expires early next year; and no reason exists for its renewal. +The large reductions of taxes which have taken place of late years have +not been attended with a proportionate diminution of national income. +The revenue of the past year has been fully adequate to the demands of +the public service, while the reduction of taxation has tended greatly +to the relief and comfort of the people. The Queen states that it +appears to her that "this is a fitting time for calmly considering +whether it may not be advisable to make such amendments in the act of +the late reign, relating to the Representation of the Commons in +Parliament, as may be deemed calculated to carry into more complete +effect the principles upon which that law is founded." She had "the +fullest confidence that, in any such consideration, Parliament would +firmly adhere to the acknowledged principles of the Constitution, by +which the prerogatives of the Crown, the authority of both Houses of +Parliament, and the rights and liberties of the people are equally +secured." + +Previous to the meeting of Parliament, the public was taken completely +by surprise by the retirement of Lord Palmerston from the Ministry, and +the appointment of Earl Granville as his successor. In the House of +Commons explanations took place on the first day of the session. The +reply to the Queen's speech was moved by Sir Richard Bulkeley; but, +before the question was taken, Sir Benjamin Hall called upon the Premier +for explanations of the disruption of the Ministry. Lord John Russell +immediately entered upon the subject, and after declaring his former +confidence in Lord Palmerston's management of Foreign Affairs, and +stating that in 1835, and again in 1845 and 1846 he had strongly +recommended him for that department, went on to state his conception of +the position of the Foreign Secretary toward the Crown and the Prime +Minister. He believed it to be the duty of the Minister to give to the +Crown the most full and frank details of every measure, and either to +obey the instructions he may receive, or resign. It "did so happen," he +said, "that in 1850 precise terms were laid down in a communication from +the Queen to Lord Palmerston--in which Her Majesty required, first, that +Lord Palmerston should distinctly state what he proposes in a given +case, in order that the Queen may know as distinctly to what she is +giving her Royal sanction; and, secondly, that having once given her +sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by +the Minister. The Queen further expected to be kept informed of what +passes between the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Ministers, before +important decisions are taken based upon that intercourse--to receive +the foreign dispatches in good time, and to have the drafts for her +approval sent to her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with +their contents before they must be sent off."--In reply to this +communication, Lord Palmerston said he would not fail to attend to the +directions which it contained.--As for the Prime Minister, Lord John +Russell said he considered him, in fact, responsible for the business of +the department. At a meeting of the Cabinet, on the 3d of November, Lord +John expressed his opinion on the situation of Europe, which he deemed +very critical. There was a prospect of seeing social democracy, or +absolute power triumphant on the Continent; and in either case the +position of England would be very critical. He thought it necessary, +therefore, for England to preserve a strict neutrality, and to exercise +the utmost vigilance to prevent any cause of offense being given. Yet +very soon after that, Lord Palmerston received a deputation, and +listened to addresses containing expressions in the highest degree +offensive to sovereigns in alliance with England. Still Lord John said +he was willing to take the responsibility for all this, as he thought +the Secretary had merely committed an error.--The next cause of +difference occurred immediately after the usurpation of Louis Napoleon +on the 2d of December. The next day a cabinet meeting was held, at which +a request was presented from Lord Normanby, the English Minister at +Paris, that he might be furnished with instructions as to the +continuance of diplomatic relations with the new Government. In +conformity with the decision then made, Lord Palmerston, on the 5th, +instructed him to make no change in his relations with the French +government. On the 6th, Lord Normanby wrote saying that he had called on +M. Turgot, the French Minister, and informed him of this decision, to +which M. Turgot replied that it was of less consequence as he had two +days since heard from M. Walewski, the French Minister in London, that +Lord Palmerston had expressed to him his entire approbation of the act +of the President, and his conviction that he could not have acted +otherwise than he had done. On seeing this dispatch, Lord John asked +Lord Palmerston for an explanation, but got no answer. On the 13th of +December, he received a letter from the Queen, requesting an +explanation; but Lord Palmerston maintained the same disdainful silence. +On the 17th, he received another dispatch from Lord Normanby to Lord +Palmerston, complaining that Lord Palmerston should use one language in +his instructions to him and another to the French Minister in London, +and that while enjoining him not to express any opinion of French +politics, he should himself have expressed a very decided judgment. Such +a course, he added, subjected him to misrepresentation and suspicion. +Lord Palmerston, in reply to this, stated that Lord Normanby's +instructions related only to his conduct, and not to opinions: but that +if he wished to know Lord Palmerston's opinion concerning French +affairs, it was, that "such a state of antagonism had arisen between the +President and the Assembly, that it was becoming every day more clear +that their coexistence could not be of long duration; and it seemed to +him better for the interests of France, and through them for the +interests of the rest of Europe, that the power of the President should +prevail, inasmuch as the continuance of his authority might afford a +prospect of the maintenance of social order in France, whereas the +divisions of opinions and parties in the Assembly appeared to betoken +that their victory over the President would be the starting-point for +disastrous civil strife." Lord John Russell said that this dispatch +contained no satisfactory explanation of Lord Palmerston's course; that +the merits of the French government had now nothing to do with the case: +but that the real question was, whether the Secretary of State was +entitled of his own authority, to write a dispatch, as the organ of the +Government, in which his colleagues had never concurred, and to which +the Queen had never given her sanction. He thought, therefore, that he +could not without degrading the Crown, advise her Majesty longer to +retain Lord Palmerston in the Foreign department, and he had accordingly +advised her to request his resignation, which she had done. In +continuing his remarks Lord John expressed his belief that the President +of France had acted under a belief that the course he had taken was the +one best calculated to insure the welfare of his country; and proceeded +to censure the course of the English press toward Louis Napoleon, as +calculated to excite the animosity of the French nation, and perhaps to +involve the two countries in war. Lord Palmerston replied in a very +moderate tone, substantially admitting the truth of Lord John's +statements, though denying the justice of his inferences. He repelled +the intimation that he had abandoned the principles he had always +maintained--that he had become the advocate of absolute power, or in +favor of the abolition of Constitutional governments. He concurred in +what Lord John had said of the relations that ought to exist between the +Foreign Secretary and the Crown, and said he had done nothing +inconsistent with them. In regard to the deputation he had received, he +admitted that he had been surprised into a false position. His delay in +answering the letters of Lord John Russell had been entirely owing to +the great pressure of business; and his expressions of opinion +concerning Louis Napoleon were unofficial and in conversation. Other +members of the cabinet had expressed the same opinions, and under +circumstances quite as objectionable, certainly, as those under which +his own conversation was held. Lord Palmerston rehearsed the outlines of +the policy he had pursued in managing the foreign relations of Great +Britain, and concluded by saying that, on quitting office, he left the +character and reputation of England unsullied, and standing high among +the nations of the world.----In the House of Lords the debates following +the reading of the Queen's speech, had greater incidental than direct +interest. The Earl of Derby took occasion to speak in very strong terms +of what he termed "the injudicious and unjustifiable language of a large +portion of the English press upon the French government." He insisted +that it was the duty of the press to maintain the same tone of +moderation in discussing public affairs which is required of public men; +and he styled it worse than folly for the press in one breath to provoke +a French invasion, and in the next to proclaim the unpreparedness of the +English people to meet it. He was followed by Earl Grey, who expressed +his hearty concurrence in what he had said of the press, as did also +Lord Brougham. The London journals, and among them pre-eminently the +_Times_ and the _Examiner_, have taken up the challenge thus thrown +down, and have vindicated the press from the censures of the Lords in +some of the ablest writing of the day. + +On the 9th, Lord John Russell introduced his new Reform Bill. Its +provisions may be very briefly stated. The £10 franchise was to be +reduced to £5; the £50 county franchise gives way to one of £20; that of +copyholders and long leaseholders is to be reduced from £10 to £5; and a +new class of voters is to be created out of those who, resident in +either county or borough, pay direct taxes to the amount of 40 +shillings. In 67 boroughs additions are proposed to the electoral +boundaries; the property qualification is to be abolished, and the oaths +of members to be put in such a form as to create no invidious +distinctions. A member taking office under the crown vacates his seat; +but if he merely changes it, he may retain his representative capacity. +The Premier made a speech upon the subject, over an hour in length, and +remarkably free from feeling of any sort. The main objections urged to +the bill are that it does not concede the ballot, that it does not +remedy the evils of unequal representation, and that the changes it does +make in the existing law are of very little importance. Notice has been +given of an intention to move amendments to the bill which would remedy +these defects.----On the 19th, Lord Naas proposed a resolution severely +censuring the Earl of Clarendon's employment of the _World_ newspaper to +support the government, as being "of a nature to weaken the authority of +the executive, and to reflect discredit on the administration of public +affairs." The Earl was defended warmly by Lords Russell and Palmerston, +both of whom urged that, irregular as the proceeding might have been, it +was of trifling consequence compared with his lordship's eminent +services to the country. The resolution was rejected 229 to 137.----On +the 16th, Lord John Russell introduced a bill for the establishment of a +local militia force. He gave a sketch of the recent history of the +military organization of England, and set forth the reasons which, in +his judgment, rendered it important that some more effectual provision +should be made for the defense of the country against possible +hostilities. The general provisions of the bill were that persons of the +age of 20 and 21 years should be subject to being balloted for as +militia men--that one-fifth of the whole number should be chosen--and +that they should be drilled for 14 or 28 days each year. The entire +force thus raised, he thought, would be about 70,000 the first year, +100,000 the second, and 130,000 after that; the forces could not be +taken out of their own counties, without their consent, except in case +of invasion or danger. The subject was very slightly discussed at that +time, but came up again on the 20th, when Lord John Russell again spoke +in support of the bill. Lord Palmerston expressed his entire concurrence +in the principle of the bill, but moved as an amendment, to strike out +the word _local_ from the title, in order to make the title correspond +with the character of the bill itself. Lord John Russell said he could +not understand the object of such a motion, and that he should oppose +it. After some further debate the amendment was put and carried, ayes +136, noes 125, showing a majority against the Ministry of 11. Lord John +Russell expressed great surprise at the vote, and said that he should +hold office no longer. The resignation of the Ministry under such +circumstances created a good deal of surprise. In the course of three or +four days a new cabinet was formed under the leadership of the Earl of +Derby--late Lord Stanley--which is thoroughly Protectionist in its +sentiments. The Earl is Prime Minister; Mr. Disraeli is Chancellor of +the Exchequer and leader in the House of Commons; Mr. G. F. Young is +Vice President of the Board of Trade; Duke of Northumberland, first Lord +of the Admiralty; Lord John Manners, Commissioner of Woods and Forests; +Sir F. Thesiger, Attorney General; Earl of Eglintoun, Lord Lieutenant of +Ireland; Duke of Montrose, Lord Steward; Lord Stanley, Under Secretary +for Foreign Affairs. It is supposed that the new Ministry will break +ground at once against the corn-law policy established by Sir Robert +Peel, hostility to which is the only bond of union among its members; +and the universal belief is that the new administration will fail to be +sustained by the country on that question. + +One of the earliest topics to which the attention of the Earl of +Granville, Lord Palmerston's immediate successor, was called, was the +degree of protection which England should afford to political refugees +from other countries. In reply to representations on this subject from +the Austrian Government, Earl Granville, in a dispatch dated January 13, +spoke of the right of asylum which England always had granted, and could +never refuse to political refugees; and added that the English +government would, nevertheless, consider any intrigues, carried on there +against governments with which they were at peace, as a breach of +hospitality, and would not fail to watch the conduct of suspected +refugees, and to prevent them from abusing the privileges afforded them +by English laws. Prince Schwarzenberg, in reply, expressed satisfaction +at the tenor of these assurances, but said, that until the words of the +English government were followed by deeds, it would be necessary for +Austria to take measures of precaution and protection against the +dangers which the ceaseless machinations of foreign refugees on English +soil created. The Imperial government would be especially rigid in +regard to English travelers, and would, moreover, reserve the right of +taking into consideration ulterior measures, if, unhappily, the need of +them should still make itself felt.----A terrible disaster from floods +occurred in the north of England on the 5th of February. Several of the +factories of the town of Holmfrith, near Huddersfield, were supplied +with water by large reservoirs, in which an immense body of water had +been accumulated. Owing to the heavy rains one of the largest of them +broke its banks, and the water poured through the town, sweeping houses +away in its path and causing an immense loss of life and property. Over +one hundred persons were drowned. Very great injury had been sustained +by other towns in that vicinity. In the south of Ireland also, +especially in the counties of Limerick and Clare, much property and some +lives have been lost by the swelling of the smaller streams.----The +dispatches of Earl Grey recalling Sir Harry Smith from the government of +the Cape, have been published: they show that his incompetence for the +post has been the real cause of his removal, and that the policy of the +government is to prosecute the war with increased vigor, so as to reduce +the Kaffirs and Hottentots to unconditional submission.----We mentioned +in our Record for March, the repulse of the English slave squadron while +attempting to ascend the river, to the town of Lagos, on the coast of +Africa, contrary to the commands of the chief. Later advices report the +renewal of the attempt, and the overthrow of the chief's authority, +though at a very heavy cost on the part of the English. The town of +Lagos has long been the stronghold of the slave trade on that part of +the coast, and the English have directed their efforts toward the +suppression of the traffic there. The chief of the town named Kosoko, +was actively engaged in the trade himself, in connection with Portugese +and Brazilian dealers. He had obtained power by expelling a rival named +Akitoye, who sought aid against him in an alliance with the English. +When Kosoko, therefore, refused permission to the English to bring their +armed boats to Lagos, the commander of the squadron concerted an attack +upon the town, with the adherents of the expelled chief. The town was +defended with a good deal of skill and bravery, and the assault upon it +lasted three days, at the end of which time it was found to have been +deserted. The English lost 16 killed and 64 wounded. It is said that the +destruction of this town will do much toward the suppression of the +slave trade.----A new expedition in search of Sir John Franklin has been +resolved upon by the British Government, and Sir Edward Belcher has been +appointed to the command. He will leave England about the middle of +April, with the four ships which composed Captain Austin's late +expedition. His attention will first be directed to Beechey Island, +where Sir John is known to have passed the winter of 1845-6. The great +object of this new expedition is to examine the upper part of Wellington +Strait as far as possible beyond Captain Penny's northwest advance. + + +FRANCE. + +Political affairs in France remain substantially unchanged. The law +organizing the Legislative body has been published. The Legislature is +to consist of 261 deputies, elected by the people, in the proportion of +one for every 35,000 electors in the first instance, with one more +deputy for every 25,000 beyond that number. Algeria and the Colonies are +not to be represented. All electors are eligible except public +functionaries. Every Frenchman of the age of twenty-one, who has not +forfeited his civil rights, has the vote.----We mentioned in our last +Record the protest of the testamentary executors of Louis Philippe +against the decree of confiscation, issued by the President. The Princes +of Orleans--the Duke de Nemours, and the Prince de Joinville--have +addressed a letter of thanks to the executors, in which they resent with +becoming indignation the insults heaped upon the memory of their father, +which they say are "especially odious when brought forward by a man who +on two different occasions received proofs of the magnanimity of King +Louis Philippe, and whose family never received any thing from him but +benefits." To the honor of the country which they had always loyally +served and would ever love, they say, "these disgraceful decrees, and +their still more disgraceful preambles, have not dared to appear except +under the _régime_ of a state of siege, and after the suppression of all +the guaranties which protected the liberties of the nation." The Duchess +of Orleans has also addressed the following brief and indignant protest +to the President:--"Monsieur--As I do not acknowledge your right to +plunder my family, neither do I acknowledge your right to assign to me a +dotation in the name of France. I refuse the dowry.--HELENA +D'ORLEANS."----The new Ministry of Police has been organized by decree. +The Minister is to have attached to his office three directors-general, +who are to appoint inspector-general, special inspectors, and +commissaries of police in the departments. Prominent among the duties of +all of these officials are those of watching and reporting every attempt +to influence public opinion against the government, keeping a close eye +on the press and on publications of every sort--upon theatres, prisons, +schools, and political and commercial associations. They are all to be +under the immediate direction and control of the Minister of Police. The +organization spreads a complete network of precaution over every form of +public opinion in France.----Louis Napoleon gave a magnificent +entertainment to a large number of the English nobility at Paris, on the +1st of February, at the Elysée---the whole party numbering 44. It is +stated that after the dinner was over, he took occasion to complain of +the attacks upon him in the English press, and to say that he should be +obliged to exclude them from France. He also spoke of the rumors that he +intended to invade England as absurd.----Jerome Bonaparte is appointed +President of the Senate, with the _petit_ Luxembourg as his official +residence in Paris, the Palace of Meudon for his country-seat, and a +salary of 150,000 francs, besides 800,000 francs for entertaining, a +year.----It is stated that Madame George Sand recently had an interview +with the President, and made very strong representations to him of the +sufferings of the peasantry in the rural districts from the immense +number of arrests that had been made of suspected persons, and urgently +requesting him to grant a general amnesty. The President is said to have +expressed great interest in the subject, but to have declined any +compliance with the request.----The decree for the regulation of the +press has been promulgated. It is almost needless to say that it +destroys every semblance of freedom of the press, and makes it a mere +subservient tool in the hands of the Government. It consists of four +chapters, and the following are their provisions: (1.) No journal can be +published without first obtaining permission of the Government; nor can +any foreign journal be admitted into France except by the same +permission: and any person bringing into France an unauthorized paper +will be liable to a year's imprisonment and to a fine of 5000 francs. +Every publisher must deposit caution-money, from 15,000 to 50,000 +francs, before he can issue a paper, under heavy penalties. (2.) Stamp +duties are imposed upon all journals whether published in France, or +introduced from other countries; and the authorities are enjoined to +seize all publications violating these regulations. (3.) Every violation +of the article of the Constitution which prohibits Legislative reports, +is punishable by fine of from 1000 to 5000 francs. The publication of +false news subjects to a fine, and if it be of a tendency to disturb the +public peace, imprisonment is added. No account of the proceedings of +the Senate or Council of State, and no report of trials for press +offenses, can be published; and in all affairs, civil, correctional, or +criminal, the courts may forbid the publication of their proceedings. +Every editor is bound to publish official documents, relations, and +rectifications which may be addressed to him by any public authority; if +he fail to do so, he may be fined and his journal seized No one can +carry on the bookseller's trade, or issue or sell engravings, medals, or +prints of any kind, without obtaining permission of the authorities, and +becoming subject to the same restrictions as are imposed upon journals. +(4.) With regard to existing journals, three months are allowed for them +to deposit the caution money required, and to conform to the other +provisions of the new law.----The President, by decree, has abolished +all fête days except the birth-day of the Emperor, on the ground that +their celebration recalls the remembrance of civil discord; and that the +only one observed should be that which best tends to unite all minds in +the common sentiment of national glory----The Paris correspondent of the +London _Times_ reports that a correspondence of general interest has +taken place between the governments of France and Russia. It is said +that the Czar wrote to his minister in Paris, expressing dissatisfaction +at the adoption by the President of the emblems of the Empire, stating +that he saw in all these movements the preliminaries of the +re-establishment of the Imperial era. While he approved of the _coup +d'état_ which had put an end to republicanism in France, he could only +regard Louis Napoleon as the temporary chief, and could not approve any +attempt to give another and more important character to his authority. +It is said that Louis Napoleon replied to this note, when it was read to +him, by complaining that his intentions had been misunderstood and +misrepresented;--that, in re-establishing the emblems of the Empire, and +in reverting to the constitution of the year VIII., he only meant to +establish a strong authority in his hands; that the recollections of the +Empire constituted his strength, and invested him with popularity among +the masses; that there was nothing astonishing in the fact of his +seeking in the institutions of the Empire what was certain to +re-establish authority in France; that he had no intention of +re-establishing the Empire, or of making himself Emperor; that he did +not want either, for the accomplishment of the mission to which he had +been called; that his title of President sufficed for him; that he had +no reason to trouble himself about an Imperial dynasty which has no +existence; and that there was no reason for the Emperor Nicholas +troubling himself about it. + +The relations of France to Belgium are assuming a character of +considerable interest and importance. The fact that most of the exiled +Frenchmen found refuge in Belgium, excited the fears of the government +that they would thence exert a dangerous influence upon French affairs. +Strong representations were therefore made to the Belgian authorities, +who have adopted every possible means of satisfying the French +government, by suppressing distrusted journals, exercising strict +vigilance over refugees, and ordering many of them out of the country, +or away from Brussels. It is also stated that the Duke of Bassano, the +new French envoy to the Belgian court, has been authorized to demand +from that government the removal of the monumental lion erected by the +British government to commemorate the battle of Waterloo, and to +demolish the other trophies. The rumors of hostile designs on the part +of Louis Napoleon, have led to the publication of an official denial in +the _Moniteur_. That article states that the French government has +addressed no demands whatever to foreign powers, excepting Belgium, +where it was necessary, in order to prevent a system of incessant +aggression. It has not armed a single soldier, neither has it done any +thing to awaken the least susceptibility in its neighbors. All the views +of the power in France are bent upon interior improvements. "It will not +depart from its calm demeanor, except on the day when an attack shall +have been made on the national honor and dignity." The London _Morning +Chronicle_ states, as a fact of considerable historical interest, that, +as early as 1849, Louis Napoleon distinctly solicited General Changamier +to join with him in such a usurpation as he has since achieved, offering +to make him Constable of France, with a million of francs a year and the +palace of the Elysée for a residence; and that he was met by a +peremptory refusal. + + +SPAIN. + +An attempt to assassinate the Queen of Spain was made by a priest named +Martin Marino, on the 2d of February. The Queen was proceeding along the +principal gallery of her palace toward the grand staircase, intending to +go out upon a fête occasion, for which splendid preparations had been +made, when she was approached by the priest, who kneeled to present a +memorial. Her Majesty reached out her hand to take it, when he suddenly +drew a dirk and made a stab at her side. Her arm, however, partially +averted the blow, though she was severely wounded. She leaned against +the wall, and one of her aids came up just in time to prevent a second +blow. The assassin was arrested and confessed the crime--saying that his +object was to render a service to humanity; and denying that he had any +accomplices. He was tried on the 3d, and sentenced to death by +strangulation. On the 7th, he was executed by the _garote vil_. He +conducted himself with the most brutal indifference, refusing any of the +usual offices of religion, and abusing all who came near him. The Queen +suffered considerably from the wound, but was convalescent at the last +accounts. Several arrests had been made, of persons suspected of having +been concerned as accomplices with him, but no evidence was found to +implicate any. + + +CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. + +No events of special importance have occurred in any of the continental +nations. All the governments seem to be more or less agitated by rumors +of differences with England and France, and their policy is somewhat +affected by them. The suspicion of hostile intentions on the part of +Louis Napoleon toward Belgium has enlisted a good deal of suspicion, and +letters from Brussels, dated the 19th February, state positively that a +convention had been entered into, by which Russia agrees to furnish +100,000 men for the defense of that territory in case it should be +invaded or seriously menaced by France. Prussia has also promised +similar assistance, and the Prince de Ligne is said to be now in Berlin +for the purpose of arranging the details. These important statements, +however, do not seem to be made on authority sufficient to command full +credit. + +In AUSTRIA, it is said, that Prince Schwartzenberg is preparing a +general statement of the views of Austria concerning the state of +Europe, and an indication of the line of policy which she will pursue. +The mediation of Austria between Sardinia and the Pope has also been +proposed, and amicable relations are again to be established between the +Sardinian and Austrian governments. A new treaty has been concluded, by +which Austria is to supply Russia annually with large quantities of +salt. + +In SWITZERLAND the only movements of importance relate to the demand +made by the French government that the Council should promise hereafter +to expel any fugitive who might be designated as dangerous. The Federal +Government, while firmly refusing to enter into any such engagement, +avowed its readiness to take all proper and necessary precautions +against the sojourn of political refugees in Switzerland becoming a +source of disquietude to neighboring states. An official report on the +subject states that in June last there were but 235 political refugees +in the Swiss states, and that they were all under the strict +_surveillance_ of the police. Those who had taken any active steps +likely to compromise the interests of other states, had been promptly +expelled. There was a great deal of public interest manifested +throughout Switzerland concerning the relations between their country +and France, and considerable apprehension prevailed that their rights +and liberties might not always be rigidly respected. + +The government of the Duchy of HOLSTEIN was formally transferred by the +Commissaries of Prussia and Austria to the Commissary of Denmark, Count +Reventlow-Criminil, on the 8th of February, in an official conference +held at Kiel. + +In both GREECE and TURKEY there have been changes of Ministry. In the +former country the change has no general importance. In Turkey, it is +significant of reaction. Reschid Pacha, the most liberal and enlightened +minister ever placed at the head of affairs in the Ottoman empire, has +been dismissed, and is succeeded by Raaf Pacha, a man upward of eighty +years of age, who was prime minister in 1838. The negotiation in regard +to the Holy Sepulchre has been abandoned, and the French minister was to +leave Constantinople forthwith. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +Science, it has been said, is essentially unpoetical. It must be +acknowledged, nevertheless, that it not unfrequently furnishes some of +our choicest similes. Homer had, indeed, long ago compared thought to +the lightning; but how much more definite, and, on this account, more +effective, is the kindred simile drawn from the discovery of the modern +electric telegraph. And yet, is there not here something more than +simile? Is not the communication from soul to soul literally, as well as +figuratively _tele-graphic_, that is, _far-writing_, or _writing from +afar_? We hope to interest our readers by a brief examination of the +query we have started. + +An identity might, perhaps, be shown in the very medium of +communication, so far as the process has a material medium. There is no +difficulty, and no danger, in admitting that the electric fluid may be +the agent in the cerebral and organic transmission, as well as in the +galvanic battery. But it is mainly in the process itself that we may +trace the striking correspondence between the two modes of intelligence. +The primary element of all thought is a spiritual _emotion_. The end +of all communication, mediate or immediate, is to produce the same +emotion or feeling in another soul. To this every other step is +subordinate. Even thought is not so much an end, in itself, as is the +spiritual feeling, or exercise of soul corresponding to it. This +spiritual emotion, then, must first be brought under the form of a +conception, or an objective picture, without which it can not be +distinctly read and understood, even by the soul in which it first +exists, much less communicated to another. So far the process is +strikingly the same with that adopted in the telegraphic dispatch. The +soul, by its own spiritual energy, first turns the emotion or feeling +into a thought. It translates the thought from the abstract to the +concrete, from the intuitional to the conceptive. It brings it down into +the soul's chamber of imagery, and imprints it on the brain. In other +words, the message is reduced to writing and given to the clerk at the +station-house, who translates it into telegraphic signals. The more +immediate transmitting power is now set in operation. An influence is +imparted from the brain to the nerves (or wires) of the vocal organs. It +is continued to the lungs, and sets in motion a current of air. This +impinges on the outward atmosphere, and is carried on through successive +undulations until it reaches the other station for which it was +designed. It enters the office-chamber of the ear, communicates with the +other cerebral battery, and then writes off from the auditory nerve or +wire, the signals which, by the other logical and linguistic faculty, or +the clerk at the second station, are translated into the pictorial +symbols understood by all, and thus written on the second brain. The +spiritual inhabitant to whom it is directed, again translates it, in a +reverse order, from the verbal to the conceptive, from the conceptive to +the emotional--the intuition is spiritually _seen_--the emotion is +_felt_--and thus the circuit is completed. + +This is substantially the process every time we hold intercourse by +means of speech. The operation is ever imperfect in all, and more +imperfect in some than in others. We make mistakes in translating our +own intuitions and emotions. We make still greater mistakes in taking +off from the wires, and in re-translating the conceptual language which +brings to us the feelings and intuitions of others. But there is no +other way. The author of our spiritual and material constitution hath +literally _shut us up_ to this, and we can not get out of the limits +within which He has confined our intercourse with other spirits. +Clairvoyance boasts of having broken through them, or over them; but +clairvoyance is yet a fact to be established. Even, too, if it has any +claims upon our belief, it will doubtless be found, in the end, to be +only a stenographic shortening of some of the steps, without being, in +reality, any more an _immediate_ action of mind upon mind than the +ordinary process. + +Spirit can only communicate with spirit through outward symbols, and by +more or less steps, all of which may be regarded as _outward_ to the +most interior effect. By long familiarity this circuitous chain assumes +to us the appearance of directness. But in truth we never see each +other; we never hear each other; if by the terms be meant our very +_self_--our very spiritual form, our very spiritual voice. Even to our +human soul may be accommodated without irreverence the language which +Paul applies to the Deity. Even of us it may be said, although in a far +lower sense, "_Our invisible things are only understood by the things +that are done_," even our temporal power and humanity. Each soul is +_shut up_ in an isolation as perfect, in one sense, as that which +separates the far distant worlds in the universe. Had there been round +each one of us a wall of adamant a thousand feet in thickness, with only +the smallest capillary apertures through which to carry the wires of +telegraphic signals, we could not, as to the essential action of the +spirit, be more secluded than we are at present. We say the essential, +or first action of the soul--for doubtless there may be various degrees +of difficulty or facility in the modes of mediate communication. But in +this more spiritual sense each one of us exists by himself. We live +apart in utter loneliness. The seclusion of each spirit knows no +infraction. Its perfect solitude has never been invaded by any foreign +intrusion. + +To one who deeply reflects on the fact to which we have been calling +attention, the first feeling, and a just feeling too, might be one of +pride. The dignity of our nature would seem enhanced by such a +constitution. Each man's "mind is his kingdom," in which he may be as +autocratic as he wills. It makes even the lowest in the scale of +humanity such an absolute sovereign within his own spiritual boundaries, +so perfectly secure, if he please, against all foreign intervention. It +sets in so striking a light what in its physical and etymological, +rather than its moral sense, may be styled the _holiness_--_the +wholeness_, _hale-ness_, or _separate integrity_ of each man's essential +being. It is in this point of view, too, that to every hale mind the +pretensions of clairvoyance must appear so inexpressibly revolting. We +allude to its assumption of having the power of committing what, for the +want of a better name, we can only characterize as spiritual +burglary--in other words, of breaking into our spiritual house, and +taking its seat in the very shrine of the interior consciousness. What +can be more degrading to our human nature than to admit that any other +human power, or human will, can at any time, and from any motive, even +for purposes of the most frivolous amusement, actually enter this inner +sanctuary, turning the immortal spirit into a paltry show-house, and +rudely invading, or pretending to invade, the soul's essential glory, +its sacred and unapproachable individuality? + +There is, however, another aspect of the thought in which it may give +rise to a very different, if not an opposite emotion. There may be, too, +at times, a feeling of the deepest melancholy called out by that other +consideration of our spiritual solitude, of our being so utterly alone +upon the earth--a feeling which has never been set forth with so much +power and, at the same time, truthful simplicity, as in the touching +language of inspiration--"_The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a +stranger meddleth not with its joy._" And then, again, although we would +in general shrink from it as a painful ordeal, there are periods when we +long for a more searching communion with other spirits than can ever be +expected from the most intimate methods of mediate intercourse. There +are periods when we are irresistibly drawn out to say--O that some other +soul were acquainted with us as we think we are acquainted with +ourselves, not only with our fancied virtues and our mere real sins, as +they appear imperfectly manifested by misinterpreted signals from +within, but with our very soul itself. Yes, there is sadness in the +thought that we are so unknown, even to those who would be thought to +know us best--unknown alike in that which makes us better as in that +which makes us worse than we seem;--for we are all better, and we are +all worse than we appear to our fellow-men. + +And here, we think, may be found an argument for the existence of Deity, +built on stronger and more assuring ground than is furnished by any of +the ordinary positions of natural theology. It is an argument derived +from one of the most interior wants of our moral constitution. There is +no doubt that in our fallen state a feeling of pain--at times of intense +pain--may connect itself in our minds with the recognition of the Divine +idea; but there is also an element of happiness, and, if cherished, of +the highest and most serious happiness, in the thought that there is One +Great Soul that does penetrate into our most interior spirituality. +There is one Soul that is ever as intimately present with us as our own +consciousness--that holds communion with us, and with whom we may hold +communion, in a manner impossible for any other. There is One that +thinks our thoughts, and feels our feelings, even as we think them, and +as we feel them, although, along with this, in another manner, too, of +its own, that transcends our thinking "even as the heavens are high +above the earth," and is as far removed from all the imperfections of +our own spiritual exercises. There may seem an inconsistency in this +apparent mingling of the finite and the infinite in the Divine Nature, +but it is the belief of both which unlocks for us the meaning of the +Scriptures, and sheds light over every page of revelation and of +providence. There is a higher Soul that pervades our spiritual entity, +not as an impersonal or pantheistic abstraction, but as the most +distinctly personal of all personalities--not as a mere Law of nature, +but as a Father "who careth for us," as a Guardian "who numbereth the +very hairs of our heads," as a Judge who taketh note of every thought, +and gives importance to all our forgotten sins, while He is, at the same +time, present with, and caring for every other individual soul in the +universe. As in some previous musings of our Editorial Table, we might +have adverted to the Divine physical power as the ever-present dynamical +entity in the seeming vacuities of space, and binding together the +isolated material worlds, so here we may regard the Higher Spiritual +Presence as the true bond of union among all those isolated souls that +fill the spiritual universe. Thus viewed, the fact of such communion +would be the highest truth in philosophy, as a belief in the reality of +its possible consciousness would be the highest article of faith. + + +HISTORY IS PHILOSOPHY TEACHING BY EXAMPLE. + +The thought has been deemed so profound as to give rise to some +discussion respecting its origin. As a definition, however, the maxim is +liable to serious objection. It presents, rather, the uses, or the chief +use, of history, than the essential idea. The individual memory may also +be said to be _philosophy teaching by example_; but then it becomes only +another name for that experience which is but the application of +remembered facts to the guidance of the future life. So history may be +called THE WORLD'S MEMORY--the memory of a race--of a nation--of a +collective humanity. + +It is in vain, then, for us to say what facts, in themselves, _ought_ to +constitute history. The matter is settled. It is not what any +philosophy, or any theology, or any science of history may deem _worthy_ +of remembrance, but what has actually been thus remembered, or is now so +entering into the common mind as to form the ground of memory in the +future. The parallelism in this respect between the individual and this +national, or common mind, is striking and complete. The true history of +each man is not so much what he has done, as what he has thought and +felt. The thought is the _form_ of the feeling, and the act merely the +outward testimony by which both are revealed. It is not, therefore, +every act, or _doing_, which enters into his history--not even those +which have formed the greater part of his constant daily exercise--but +simply such as for any reason have made the deepest impression on the +inner man, and which, therefore, stand out in the records of his memory +when all else has perished. What this chronicles is the man's veritable +history. However important other parts of his conduct may appear +externally, this is his true spiritual life. It is the record, the +imperishable record of that which has reached and stirred the depths of +his soul, while other acts, and other events, have had their lodgment +only in the outward un-emotional existence. + +Such memory, or such history, may not be what it ought to have been; it +may not be the measure of accountability. All that we insist upon is the +fact, that, whether right or wrong, it is the true history of the +individual, because it is his real life. But then there are degrees of +memory. It is not always, in all its parts, either present to the mind, +or capable of recall at will. Still, what has once in this manner truly +_affected_ his soul, has by this become a part of it, and can, +therefore, never be lost. Like some old historical record it may be laid +aside for a season, but sooner or later must it come forth, and claim +its place as belonging to that individual personality into which it +enters as a constituent and inseparable portion. + +The parallel may be traced to almost any extent. Like the memory of our +earliest years, so is the dawning history of a young world or nation, +except so far as positive revelation has shed its light upon it. Both +are _mythical_. In other words, facts are remembered, not as they are in +themselves, but as seen through the magnifying and coloring influence of +the emotional medium with which they are ever afterward associated. Like +stars observed through a densely refracting atmosphere, they stand +apart, each in its own seclusion, and hence they loom upon the vision +without any of those mutually connecting associations that belong to our +subsequent thinking. There is, too, in both cases, the same +chronicler--the pure remembrance, a _tradition_ unaided by any of those +outward helps that are afterward employed. At a later period more +regular annals succeed this mythic handing down of isolated facts. The +state has its formal remembrancer, its [Greek: syngrapheus], or +historical _arranger_ of events in a _connected_ story, and in their +mutual relations. Corresponding to this, then, arises in the individual +that orderly habit of thinking which produces associations, having a +similar effect in causing a stricter union between the outer and inner +relations of the soul. + +Again, there are times when the man gets to himself what may be called +an _artificial_ memory. He would change the natural flow of thought, +and determine what he _will_ remember, and what he _ought_ to +remember--forgetting that before he can effectually do this he must be +changed himself in the innermost springs of his being. He studies +mnemonics. He manufactures new laws of association. But this effort ever +fails in the end. Nature will have her way. The old course of memory +will return; and with it the spiritual history of the man will go on as +before. + +So, too, the state or nation may have its artificial periods, and its +systems of political mnemonics. The mythical, the epic, the heroic, and +not only these, but the later, yet not less thrilling chronicles of +stirring events that carried with them the whole heart of the national +humanity, give way to statistics, and documents of trade, or tables of +revenue, or in a word, to what are deemed the more important records of +_political economy_. Here, too, there may be an attempt to change the +course of nature, and make that to be history which never can be such, +except at the expense of some of those attributes, which, although +liable to great and dangerous perversions, are still the noblest parts +of our humanity. + +Such artificial records of history may be highly useful in their +connection with the interests of particular classes and occupations. The +time also may come in which they may gather around them an antiquarian +value, blending with some of the more universal emotions of our common +nature. But aside from this, although they may furnish rich materials +for other departments of useful knowledge, they are not history, simply +because they lack that catholic element, by which alone they enter into +the common memory, and thus become a part of the common national mind. + +Some say the world has heretofore been all wrong in the matter. History +has been but a record of wars, of tumultuous national movements, of +theological dogmas, of religious and political excitements. It has been +but the biography of monarchs and royal families, or a narrative of +popular commotions as connected with them. It has presented us only with +names of isolated pre-eminence. The time has now come when we "must +change all that." The daily pursuits of the masses, and all the +statistics of ordinary life--these ought to have been history, and good +writers will henceforth make them so, not only for our times, but for +the periods that are past. "The history of the world," it has been said, +"is yet to be written." But, alas! for these plausible and philanthropic +reforms, there are two serious obstacles in the way. In the first place, +the records of such matters as they would make the grounds of history +are too scanty and uncertain, because they never have had that catholic +interest which would give them an abiding place in the common national +memory. In the second place, it will be equally difficult to secure for +them such lodgment in the universal thinking of the present age, or of +ages yet to come. Not that the world will always continue the same, or +that there will not be ever new matters of genuine historical interest. +The course of things and thinking may greatly change. Wars may cease. +Monarchy may expire. Even democracies may become obsolete. Such changes +may be for the better or the worse. Faith may go out. Those religious +dogmas and discussions, which politicians and political economists have +regarded as such useless and troublesome intruders into the province of +history, may lose their hold upon the mind. Still our essential position +remains unchanged. It will not be what the masses severally _do_ but +what _moves_ the masses, not their _several_ occupations and pursuits, +but what has a deep and moving interest for the common national soul, +that will constitute history. The wars of the White and Red Roses were +the true history of England for that period, because they were the only +subjects that could be said to occupy all minds alike. It was not +because the chronicler forgot the masses, and thought only of the great, +but because he wrote for the masses, and for the masses not only of his +own time, but of times to come. + +Events may have more or less of a personal connection with monarchs, but +it would not follow from this that the history which records them is a +history alone of kings and statesmen. It is only so far as they and +their acts were the representatives of the national heart, and the +national thought, that they came down in the national memory, and the +national records. The separate ordinary pursuits of men may, in one +sense, occupy more of our ordinary thinking, but the other or historic +interest we recognize as being of a higher, a more exciting, and even a +more absorbing kind, because belonging to us, and felt by us in common +with multitudes of other souls. The mechanic or farmer may consult books +of a professional or statistical nature, but _as history_ they will be +ever unreadable. Even in the workshop and in the field, although the +habitual current of his thoughts may be upon what would seem to him the +nearest, and therefore the more important concerns of life, these other +elements of history will yet have the greater charm, and occupy a higher +place both in his feelings and his intelligence. + +It is what he thinks _with others_ that constitutes the higher life of +his being. Hence the tendency of the popular mind, in all ages, to be +absorbed in the recital of deeds most remote from the daily associations +of ordinary life. Hence the popularity of the rhapsodist, the minstrel, +the chronicler, and, in our own age, of the Magazine and the Newspaper. +Hence, too, in the more free and popular governments of modern times, +the universal devotion to what is called _politics_. Why is the farmer +more excited by an election than by the sale of his wheat? Most false as +well as unphilosophical is the view which would ascribe this to any +calculating patriotism, to any utilitarian vigilance, or to what is +commonly called an _enlightened self-interest_. The mechanic thinks more +of politics than of his trade; for the same reason that led his ancestor +to the crusade or the tournament. Instead of being the offspring of +utilitarian views, this _public spirit_ is often most blindly +destructive of the _private_ interest, and most directly opposed to all +the teachings of that political economy which recognizes its own +utilities as alone the true and rational ends of human action. In a much +higher sense, too, is all this true, when a religious element enters +into the common or catholic feeling. + +To illustrate the view we have endeavored to present, let us select some +particular date--say the 5th day of March, in the year of our Lord one +thousand seven hundred and seventy. What was the history of our own +country for that day? What the masses were doing would be the answer +which some of the new school would promptly make. But even could this be +ascertained it would not be history. On that day the three millions of +our land were engaged in the various avocations connected with their +ordinary life and ordinary interests. On that day, too, there was a +particular, and, perhaps, ascertainable state of agriculture, of the +mechanic arts, of education, &c., such as might furnish the ground of a +most valuable statistical essay. There were also, doubtless, thousands +of striking incidents every where transpiring. But none of these +constituted the then history of our country. This was all taking place +in one narrow street of one single city, away off in one remote corner +of our land. A quarrel had arisen between a few foreign soldiers and a +collection of exasperated citizens, in the course of which some few of +the latter were slain. In this event was centred, for the time, the +whole history of the English colonies in North America, and of what +afterward became the great American nation. Among all the acts and +states, and influences of that day, this alone was history, because it +alone, whether right or not, entered into the universal national memory. +It was _thought_ by all, _felt_ by all, and therefore became, for the +time in which it was so thought and felt, the one common history of all. +Again--on the 19th day of April, 1775, the one fact which afterward +formed the common thought and the common memory, was the battle of +Lexington. On the 4th of July, 1776, it was the Declaration of American +Independence. On the 23d day of September, 1780, there might have been +seen, in a secluded valley of the Hudson, three rustic militia men +busily examining the dress of a British officer. One of them is in the +act of taking a piece of paper from the prisoner's boot. This, in a most +emphatic sense, was American history for that day; may we not say the +history of Europe also, and of the world. And so in other departments. A +single man is standing before a company of statesmen and ecclesiastics. +It is Luther before the Diet of Worms. This is the one common thought +which represents that momentous period in the records of the Church. The +subject tempts us with further illustrations, but we call to mind that +our Drawer and Easy Chair are waiting impatiently for the delivery of +their contents. It is time, therefore, to exchange the prosings of the +Editor's Table for their more varied, and, as we trust the reader will +judge, more attractive materials. + + + + +Editor's Easy Chair. + + +Our _now_, when we write, stands morally as far off from what will be +_now_ to our readers, when this sheet comes before them, as though the +interval measured half the circumference of the Ecliptic, instead of +being bounded between these dull March days and the bright April +morning, when our Magazine will be lying by many an open window from +Maine to Georgia. Our Easy Chair chit-chat must take its coloring from +our _now_, and not from that of our readers. + + * * * * * + +The town has just woke up from its wintry carnival of sleighs and bells, +and wears much the aspect of a reveler who is paying the penalty for too +free over-night potations. Broadway no longer flows along like a stream +of molten silver, but resembles nothing so much as the mud-river of +Styx--"darker far than perse" of the great Florentine; and instead of +the fairy-like sleighs of the month gone by, is traversed only by the +lumbering omnibuses, scattering far and wide the inky fluid. To cross +the street dry-shod is not to be thought of, save at one or two points +where philanthropic tradesmen, mindful of the public good--and their +own--have subsidized a troop of sweepers to clear a passage in front of +their doors. We accept the favor with all gratitude, and do not inquire +too closely into the stories of silver goblets, presented by grateful +ladies to these public benefactors. Under such circumstances all lighter +matters of gossip are things of the past--and of the future, let us +hope. + + * * * * * + +Into the current of graver talk several pebbles have been thrown, which +have rippled its surface into circlets wider than usual. The meeting in +commemoration of COOPER was a worthy tribute to the memory of one who +has shed honor upon his country by adding new forms of beauty to the +intellectual wealth of the world. It was singularly graceful and +appropriate that the funeral discourse of the greatest American +Novelist, should have been pronounced by the greatest American Poet--and +should we say the greatest living poet who speaks the tongue of Milton +and Shakspeare, who would dare to place another name in competition for +the honor with that of BRYANT? + + * * * * * + +Public "Lectures," or the "Lyceum," as one of the lecturing notabilities +not very felicitously denominates the institution, had begun to assume a +somewhat mythical character in the estimation of townsmen, as relics of +ages long gone by, of which man's memory--the Metropolitan man's, that +is--takes no note. We have indeed had rumors from the "Athens of +America," and other far-away places, that Lectures had not fallen into +utter desuetude; but we were, on the whole, inclined to put little faith +in the reports. During the last few weeks, however, the matter has again +forced its way into the town talk. The "Tabernacle" weekly opens its +ponderous jaws, for the delivery of the "People's Lectures," where, for +the not very alarming sum of one shilling--with a deduction in cases +where a gentleman is accompanied by more ladies than one--a person may +listen for an hour to the mystic elocution and seer-like deliverances of +EMERSON, or may hear KANE depict the dreamy remembrances of those +Hyperborean regions where sunrise and sunset are by no means those +every-day occurrences that they are in more equatorial regions. To us, +as we sit in our Easy Chair, it seems as though this system of cheap +popular public lectures were capable of almost indefinite expansion. Why +should not SILLIMAN or GUYOT address three thousand instead of three +hundred hearers? Why should they not unswathe the world from its +swaddling-clothes before an audience which would fill our largest halls? +Why should not ORVILLE DEWEY discourse on the great problems of Human +Destiny and Progress before an assemblage which should people the +cavernous depths of the "Tabernacle," as well as before the audience, +relatively small, though doubtless fit, assembled before the frescoes of +the Church of the Messiah? We throw these suggestions out lightly, by +way of hint; a graver consideration of them would belong rather to our +Table than to our Easy Chair discourses. + + * * * * * + +As a sort of pendant to the nine-days' talk of the Forrest divorce +case, we notice the unanimous verdict of approval which has been +accorded to the exemplary damages awarded in the case of a savage and +cowardly assault committed by one of the principals in that scandalous +affair. Though no pecuniary award can make reparation to the person who +has suffered the infliction of brutal personal outrage, yet as long as +there are ruffians whose only susceptible point is the pocket-nerve, we +are glad to see the actual cautery applied to that sensitive point. + + * * * * * + +If things continue much longer in their present downward course, it will +be necessary for any man who hopes to gain acceptance in respectable +society to have it distinctly noted on his cards and letters of +introduction, that he is not a Member of either House of Congress. The +last month has been signalized at Washington by several exhibitions of +Congressional scurrility, which in no other city in the Union would have +been tolerated beyond the limits of the lowest dens of infamy. In one of +these affairs, the summit of impudence was crowned by one of the +interlocutors, who, after giving and receiving the most abusive +epithets, excused himself from having recourse to the duello, that +_ultima ratio_--of fools--on the plea that he was a member of a +Christian church; which plea was magnanimously accepted by his no less +chivalrous compeer in abuse. It would be no easy task to decide which +was the most disreputable, the "satisfaction" evaded, or the means of +its evasion. + + * * * * * + +This is not the place to discuss the stringent "Maine Liquor Law," which +is proposed for adoption in the Empire State; but we can not avoid +chronicling the almost sublime assumption of one of its opponents, who +challenged its advocates to name any man of lofty genius who was not a +"toddy-drinker." As this side of the measure seems sadly in want of both +speakers and arguments, we consider ourselves entitled to the gratitude +of the opponents of the law, for insinuating to them that the defense of +punch by Fielding's hero, that it was "a good wholesome liquor, nowhere +spoken against in Scripture," is capable of almost indefinite extension +and application. + + * * * * * + +A somewhat characteristic reminiscence of JOHN NEWLAND MAFFITT has been +lying for a long while in our mind; and we can not do better than accord +to it the honors of paper and ink. It happened years ago, when that +eccentric preacher was in the height of his reputation; when he was, or +at least thought he was in earnest; before the balance of his mind had +been destroyed by adulation, conceit, vanity, and something worse. + +During these days, in one of his journeyings, he came to a place on the +Mississippi--perhaps its name was not _Woodville_, but that shall be its +designation for the occasion. Now, Woodville was the most notoriously +corrupt place on the whole river; it was the sink into which all the +filth of the surrounding country was poured; it was shunned like a +pest-house, and abandoned to thieves, gamblers, desperadoes, and +robbers. + +Maffitt determined to labor in this uninviting field. He commenced +preaching, and soon gathered an audience; for preaching was something +new there; and besides, Maffitt's silvery tones and strange flashes of +eloquence would at that time attract an audience any where. Those who +knew the man only in his later years know nothing of him. + +Day after day he preached, but all to no purpose. He portrayed the bliss +of heaven--its purity and peace--in his most rapt and glowing manner. +It was the last place which could have any charms for his Woodville +audience. + +He portrayed the strife and turmoil of the world of woe. Apart from its +physical torments--and they felt a sort of wild pride in defying +these--they rather liked the picture. At all events, it was much more to +their taste than was his description of heaven. + +So it went on, day after day. Not a sigh of penitence; not a wet eye; +not a single occupant of the anxious seat. His labors were fruitless. + +Finally, he determined upon a change of tactics. He spoke of the decay +of Woodville; how it was falling behind every other town on the +river--"Oh!" said he, "might but the Angel of Mercy be sent forth from +before the Great White Throne, commissioned to proclaim to all the +region round that there was a revival in Woodville, and what a change +there would be! The people would flock here from every quarter; the hum +of business would be heard in your streets; the steamers, whose bright +wheels now go flashing past your wharf, would stay in their fleet +career; these dense forests, which now lour around, would be hewn down +and piled up for food for these vast leviathans; and thus a golden tide +would pour in upon you; and Woodville would become the wealthiest, the +most beautiful, and the happiest place on the banks of the great Father +of Waters!" + +A chord had been touched in the hitherto insensible hearts of the +Woodvillers. Thought, emotion, feeling, were aroused; and soon the +strange electric sympathy of mind with mind was excited. The emotion +spread and increased; the anxious seats were thronged; and a powerful, +and to all appearance genuine revival of religion ensued. The character +of Woodville was entirely changed; and from that time it has continued +to be one of the most moral, quiet, thriving, and prosperous of all the +minor towns upon the Mississippi. + + * * * * * + +Turning our eye Paris-ward, our first emotion is one of sorrow--for +their sakes and our own--at the present sad fate of our French brethren +of the quill. The bayonet has pitted itself against the pen, and has +come off victor--for the time being. The most immediate sufferers are +doubtless political writers, who must stretch their lucubrations upon +the Procrustean bed furnished by the Prince-President. But the sparkling +_feuilletonists_ who blow up such brilliant bubbles of romance from the +prosaic soap-and-water of every-day life, can not escape. How can Fancy +have free play when the Fate-like shears of the _Censure_ or the mace of +the new press-law are suspended over its head? Besides, the lynx-eye of +despotism may detect a covert political allusion in the most +finely-wrought romance of domestic life. The delicate touches by which +the _feuilletonist_ sought to depict the fate of the deserted girl whose +body was fished up from the Seine, may be thought to bear too strongly +upon the fate of poor LIBERTÉ, betrayed and deserted by her quondam +adorer, the Nephew of his Uncle; in which case, the writer would find +himself forced to repent of his pathos behind the gratings of a cell, +while his publisher's pocket would suffer the forfeiture of the +'caution-money.' Parisian gossip can not, under such circumstances, +furnish us any thing very lively, but must content itself with +chronicling the brilliant but tiresome receptions of the Elysée. + +An occasional claw is however protruded through the velvet paws upon +which French society creeps along so daintily in these critical days, +showing that the propensity to scratch is not extinct, though for the +present, as far as the President and his doings are concerned, "I dare +not waits upon I would" in the cat-like Parisian salon life. + + * * * * * + +The subject of gossip most thoroughly French in its character, which has +of late days passed current, is one of which the final scene was Genoa, +and the prominent actor unfortunately an American. We touch upon the +leading points of this as they pass current from lip to lip. + +Our readers have no great cause of regret if they have never before +heard of, or have entirely forgotten, a certain so-called "Chevalier" +WYKOFF, who, a few years since, gained an unenviable notoriety, in +certain circles in this country, as the personal attendant of the famous +_danseuse_, FANNY ELSSLER. Since that time the Chevalier has +occasionally shown his head above water in connection with Politics, +Literature, Fashion, and Frolic. + +In due course of years the Chevalier grew older if not wiser, and became +anxious to assume the responsibilities of a wife--provided that she was +possessed of a fortune. It chanced that, about these times, a lady whom +he had known for many years, without having experienced any touches of +the tender passion, was left an orphan with a large fortune. The +sympathizing Chevalier was prompt with his condolences at her +irreparable loss, and soon established himself in the character of +confidential friend. + +The lady decides to visit the Continent to recruit her shattered health. +The Chevalier--sympathizing friend that he is--is at once convinced that +there is for him no place like the Continent. + +Having watched the pear till he supposed it fully ripe, the ex-squire to +the _danseuse_ proposed to shake the tree. One evening he announced that +he must depart on the morrow, and handed the lady a formidable document, +which he requested her to read, and to advise him in respect to its +contents. + +The document proved to be a letter to another lady, a friend of both +parties, announcing a deliberate intention of offering his fine person, +though somewhat the worse for wear, to the lady who was reading the +letter addressed to her friend. This proposal in the third person met +with little favor, and the Chevalier received a decided negative in the +second person. + +The Chevalier, however, saw too many solid charms in the object of his +passion to yield the point so easily. The lady returns to London, and +lo! there is the Chevalier. She flees to Paris, and thither he hies. She +hurries to Switzerland, and one morning as she looks out of the Hospice +of St. Bernard, she is greeted with the Chevalier's most finished bow of +recognition. She walks by the Lake of Geneva, and her shadow floats upon +its waters by the side of that of her indefatigable adorer. He watches +his opportunity and seizes her hand, muttering low words of love and +adoration; and as a company of pleasure-seekers to whom they are known +approaches, he raises his voice so as to be heard, and declares that he +will not release the hand until he receives a promise of its future +ownership. Bewildered and confused, the lady whispers a "Yes," and is +for the moment set at liberty. No sooner is she fairly rid of him than +she retracts her promise, and forbids her adorer the house. + +She again flies to the Continent to avoid him. He follows upon her +track, bribes couriers and servants all along her route, and finally +manages at Genoa to get her into a house which he declares to be full of +his dependents. He locks the door, and declares that marry him she must +and shall. She refuses, and makes an outcry. He seizes her and tries to +_soothe_ her with chloroform. Once more she is frightened into a +consent. + +But the Chevalier is now determined to make assurance doubly sure; and +demands a written agreement to marry him, under penalty of the +forfeiture of half her fortune, in case of refusal. To this the lady +consents: and the ardent admirer leaves the room to order a carriage to +convey her to her hotel. She seizes the opportunity to make her escape. + +On the day following, the adventurous Chevalier involuntarily makes the +acquaintance of the Intendant of Police, and finds that his "bold stroke +for a wife" is like to entail upon him certain disagreeable consequences +in the shape of abundant opportunity for reflection, while a compulsory +guest of the public authorities of Genoa. + +Ought not the Chevalier WYKOFF to have been a Frenchman? + + + + +Editor's Drawer. + + +The following anecdote of a legal gentleman of Missouri, was compiled +many years ago from a newspaper of that State. There is a racy freshness +about it that is quite delightful: + +Being once opposed to Mr. S----, then lately a member of Congress, he +remarked as follows to the jury, upon some point of disagreement between +them: + +"Here my brother S---- and I differ materially. Now this, after all, is +very natural. Men seldom see things in the same light; and they may +disagree in opinion upon the simplest principles of the law, and that +very honestly; while, at the same time, neither, perhaps, can perceive +any earthly reason why they should. And this is merely because they look +at different sides of the subject, and do not view it in all its +bearings. + +"Now, let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that a man should +come into this court-room, and boldly assert that my brother S----'s +head" (here he laid his hand very familiarly upon the large +"chuckle-head" of his opponent) "is _a squash_! I, on the other hand, +should maintain, and perhaps with equal confidence, that it was _a +head_. Now, here would be difference--doubtless an honest difference--of +opinion. We might argue about it till doom's-day, and never agree. You +often see men arguing upon subjects just as _empty_ and trifling as +this! But a third person coming in, and looking at the neck and +shoulders that support it, would say at once that I had reason on my +side; for if it was _not_ a head, it at least occupied the _place_ of +one: it stood where a head _ought_ to be!" + +All this was uttered in the gravest and most solemn manner imaginable, +and the effect was irresistibly ludicrous. + + * * * * * + +Washington Irving, in one of his admirable sketches of Dutch character, +describes an old worthy, with a long eel-skin queue, a sort of covering +that was "a potent nourisher and strengthener of the hair." This was in +"other times;" and here is a "Tail" of that remote period: + + "A Tale I'll tell of "other times," + Because I'm in the mind: + You may have seen the tale before, + I've seen it oft behind. + + "There's no detraction in this tale, + Nor any vile attack, + Or slander when 'tis told, although + It goes behind one's back. + + "Impartial auditors it had, + Who ne'er began to rail, + Because there always was an ear + For both sides of the tale. + + "But oh, alas! I have forgot, + I am not in the queue; + The tale has just dropped from my head. + As it was wont to do!" + + * * * * * + +A clergyman in one of our New England villages once preached a sermon, +which one of his auditors commended. + +"Yes," said a gentleman to whom it was mentioned, "it _was_ a good +sermon, but he _stole_ it!" + +This was told to the preacher. He resented it, at once, and called upon +his parishioner to retract what he had said. + +"I am not," replied the aggressor, "very apt to retract any thing I may +have said, for I usually weigh my words before I speak them. But in this +instance I will retract. I said you had stolen the sermon. I find, +however, that I was wrong; for on returning home, and referring to the +book whence I thought it had been taken, I found it there, word for +word!" + +The angry clergyman "left the presence," with an apparent consciousness +that he had made very little by his "motion." + + * * * * * + +We gave in a late "Drawer" some rather frightful statistics concerning +snuff-takers and tobacco-chewers: we have now "the honor to present" +some curious characteristics of the kinds of _materiel_ which have +regaled the nostrils of so many persons who were "up to snuff." + +Lundy Foot, the celebrated snuff-manufacturer, originally kept a small +tobacconist's shop at Limerick, Ireland. One night his house, which was +uninsured, was burnt to the ground. As he contemplated the smoking ruins +on the following morning, in a state bordering on despair, some of the +poor neighbors, groping among the embers for what they could find, +stumbled upon several canisters of unconsumed but half-baked snuff, +which they tried, and found so grateful to their noses, that they loaded +their waistcoat pockets with the spoil. + +Lundy Foot, roused from his stupor, at length imitated their example, +and took a pinch of his own property, when he was instantly struck by +the superior pungency and flavor it had acquired from the great heat to +which it had been exposed. Treasuring up this valuable hint, he took +another house in a place called "Black-Yard," and, preparing a large +oven for the purpose, set diligently about the manufacture of that +high-dried commodity, which soon became widely known as "Black-Yard +Snuff;" a term subsequently corrupted into the more familiar word, +"Blackguard." + +Lundy Foot, making his customers pay liberally through the nose for one +of the most "distinguished" kinds of snuffs in the world, soon raised +the price of his production, took a larger house in the city of Dublin, +and was often heard to say, + +"I made a very handsome fortune by being, as I supposed, utterly +ruined!" + + * * * * * + +Somebody has described Laughter as "a faculty bestowed exclusively upon +man," and one which there is, therefore, a sort of impiety in not +exercising as frequently as we can. One may say, with Titus, that we +have "lost a day," if it shall have passed without laughing, "An inch of +laugh is worth an ell of moan in any state of the market," says one of +the old English "Fathers." Pilgrims at the shrine of Mecca consider +laughter so essential a part of their devotion that they call upon their +prophet to preserve them from sad faces. + +"Ah!" cried Rabelais, with an honest pride, as his friends were weeping +around his sick bed; "if I were to die ten times over, I should never +make you cry half so much as I have made you laugh!" + +After all, if laughter be genuine, and consequently a means of innocent +enjoyment, _can_ it be inept? + + * * * * * + +Taylor, an English author, relates in his "Records," that having +restored to sight a boy who had been born blind, the lad was perpetually +amusing himself with a hand-glass, calling his own reflection his +"little man," and inquiring why he could make it do every thing he did, +_except to shut its eyes_. A French lover, making a present of a mirror +to his mistress, sent with it the following lines: + + "This mirror _my_ object of love will unfold, + Whensoe'er your regard it allures; + Oh, would, when I'm gazing, that might behold + On its surface the object of _yours_!" + +This is very delicate and pretty; but the following +old epigram, on the same subject, is in even a much +finer strain: + + "When I revolve this evanescent state, + How fleeting is its form, how short its date; + My being and my stay dependent still + Not on my own, but on another's will: + I ask myself, as I my image view, + Which is the real shadow of the two?" + + * * * * * + +It is a little singular, but it is true, that scarcely any native writer +has succeeded better in giving what is termed the true "Yankee dialect," +than a foreigner, an Englishman, Judge Haliburton, of Nova Scotia, "Sam +Slick." Hear him describe a pretty, heartless bar-maid, whom he met at +the "Liner's Hotel, in Liverpool:" + +"What a tall, well-made, handsome piece of furniture she is, ain't she, +though? Look at her hair--ain't it neat? And her clothes fit so well, +and her cap is so white, and her complexion so clear, and she looks so +good-natured, and smiles so sweet, it does one good to look at her. +She's a whole team and a horse to spare, that's a fact. I go and call +for three or four more glasses than I want, every day, just for the sake +of talking to her. She always says, + +"'What will you be pleased to have, sir!' + +"'Something,' says I, 'that I can't have,' looking at her pretty +mouth--about the wickedest. + +"Well, she laughs, for she knows well enough what I mean; and she says, + +"'Pr'aps you'll have a glass of bitters, sir,' and off she goes to get +it. + +"Well, this goes on three or four times a day; every time the identical +same tune, only with variations. It wasn't a great while afore I was +there agin. + +"'What will you be pleased to have, sir?' said she agin, laughin'. + +"'Something I can't git,' says I, a-laughin' too, and lettin' off sparks +from my eyes like a blacksmith's chimney. + +"'You can't tell that till you try,' says she; 'but you can have your +bitters at any rate;' and she goes agin and draws a glass, and gives it +to me. + +"Now she's seen _you_ before, and knows you very well. Just you go to +her and see how nicely she'll curtshy, how pretty she'll smile, and how +lady-like she'll say, + +"'How do you do, sir? I hope you are quite well, sir? Have you just +arrived? Here, chamber-maid, show this gentleman up to Number Two +Hundred. Sorry, sir, we are so full, but to-morrow we will move you into +a better room. Thomas, take up this gentleman's luggage.' And then +she'd curtshy agin, and smile so handsome! + +"Don't that look well, now? Do you want any thing better than that? If +you do, you are hard to please, that's all. But stop a little: don't be +in such an almighty, everlastin' hurry. Think afore you speak. Go there, +agin, see her a-smilin' once more, and look clust. It's only skin-deep; +just on the surface, like a cat's-paw on the water; it's nothin' but a +rimple like, and no more. Then look cluster still, and you'll discarn +the color of it. You laugh at the 'color' of a smile, but do you +_watch_, and you'll _see_ it. + +"Look, _now_; don't you see the color of the shilling there? It's white, +and cold, and silvery: _it's a boughten smile_, and a boughten smile, +like an artificial flower, hain't got no sweetness into it. It's like +whipt cream; open your mouth wide; take it all in, and shut your lips +down tight, and it ain't nothin'. It's only a mouthful of moonshine, +a'ter all." + +Sam goes on to say that a smile can easily be counterfeited; but that +the eye, rightly regarded, can not deceive. + +"Square, the first railroad that was ever made, was made by Natur. It +runs strait from the heart to the eye, and it goes so almighty fast it +can't be compared to nothin' but 'iled lightning. The moment the heart +opens its doors, out jumps an emotion, whips into the car, and offs, +like wink, to the eye. That's the station-house and terminus for the +passengers, and every passenger carries a lantern in his hand, as bright +as an argand lamp; you can see him ever so far off. + +"Look to _the eye_, Square: if there ain't no lamp there, no soul leaves +the heart that hitch: there ain't no train runnin', and the +station-house is empty. Smiles can be put on and off, like a wig; sweet +expressions come and go like lights and shades in natur; the hands will +squeeze like a fox-trap; the body bends most graceful; the ear will be +most attentive; the manner will flatter, so you're enchanted; and the +tongue will lie like the devil: _but the eye never_. + +"But, Square, there's all sorts of eyes. There's an onmeanin' eye, and +a cold eye; a true eye and a false eye; a sly eye, a kickin' eye, a +passionate eye, a revengeful eye, a man[oe]uvring eye, a joyous eye, and +a sad eye; a squintin' eye, and the evil-eye; and more'n all, the dear +little lovin' eye. They must all be studied to be larnt; but the two +important ones to be known are the true eye and the false eye." + +An American writer, somewhat more distinguished as a philosopher and +psychologist than Mr. Slick, contends that the "practiced eye" may often +deceive the most acute observer, but that there is something in the play +of the lines about the mouth, the shades of emotion developed by the +least change in the expression of the lips, that defies the strictest +self-control. We leave both theories with the reader. + + * * * * * + +That was a pleasant story, told of an English wit, of very pleasant +memory, who was no mean proficient in "turning the tables" upon an +opponent, when he found himself losing. On one occasion he was rapidly +losing ground in a literary discussion, when the opposite party +exclaimed: + +"My good friend, you are not such a rare scholar as you imagine; you are +only an _every-day_ man." + +"Well, and you are a _week_ one," replied the other; who instantly +jumped upon the back of a horse-laugh, and rode victoriously over his +prostrate conqueror. + + * * * * * + +We know not the author of the following lines, nor how, or at what time, +they came to find a place in the "Drawer;" but there is no reader who +will not pronounce them very touching and beautiful: + + I am not old--I can not be old, + Though three-score years and ten + Have wasted away like a tale that is told, + The lives of other men + + I am not old--though friends and foes + Alike have gone to their graves; + And left me alone to my joys or my woes, + As a rock in the midst of the waves + + I am not old--I can not be old, + Though tottering, wrinkled, and gray; + Though my eyes are dim, and my marrow is cold, + Call me not old to-day! + + For early memories round me throng, + Of times, and manners, and men; + As I look behind on my journey so long, + Of three-score miles and ten. + + I look behind and am once more young, + Buoyant, and brave, and bold; + And _my heart_ can sing, as of yore it sung, + Before they called me old. + + I do not see her--the old wife there-- + Shriveled, and haggard, and gray; + But I look on her blooming, soft, and fair, + As she was on her wedding-day. + + I do not see you, daughters and sons, + In the likeness of women and men; + But I kiss you now as I kissed you once + My fond little children then. + + And as my own grandson rides on my knee, + Or plays with his hoop or kite, + I can well recollect I was merry as he, + The bright-eyed little wight! + + 'Tis not long since--it can not be long, + My years so soon were spent, + Since I was a boy, both straight and strong. + But now I am feeble and bent. + + A dream, a dream--it is all a dream! + A strange, sad dream, good sooth; + For old as I am, and old as I seem, + My heart is full of youth. + + Eye hath not seen, tongue hath not told, + And ear hath not heard it sung, + How buoyant and bold, tho' it seem to grow old, + Is the heart forever young! + + Forever young--though life's old age, + Hath every nerve unstrung; + The heart, _the heart_ is a heritage, + That keeps the old man young! + + * * * * * + +That is a good story told of an empty coxcomb, who, after having +engrossed the attention of the company for some time with himself and +his petty ailments, observed to the celebrated caustic Dr. Parr, that he +could never go out without catching cold in his head. + +"No wonder," said the doctor, rather pettishly; "you always go out +without any thing in it!" + +We have heard somewhere of another of the same stamp, who imagined +himself to be a poet, and who said to "Nat. Lee," whose insane verse was +much in vogue at the time: + +"It is not easy to write like a madman, as you do." + +"No," was the reply; "but it is very easy to write like _a fool_, as +_you_ do!" + +There was some "method" in the "madness" that dictated that cutting +rejoinder, at any rate. + + * * * * * + +"I was once a sea-faring man," said an old New York ship-master one day, +to a friend in "The Swamp," "and my first voyage was to the East Indies. +To keep me from mischief, the mate used to set me picking oakum, or +ripping up an old sail for 'parceling,' as it was called. While engaged +one day at this last employment, it occurred to me that a small piece of +the sail would answer an admirable purpose in mending my duck +over-trowsers, as they were beginning to be rather tender in certain +places, owing, perhaps, to my sitting down so much. I soon appropriated +a small piece, but was detected by the mate while 'stowing it away.' + +"He took it from me, and while he was lecturing me, the captain, a noble +fellow, with a human heart in his bosom, came on deck, when the whole +matter was laid before him. + +"'A----,' said he, 'always _ask_ for what you want; if it is _denied_ to +you, then steal it, if you think proper.' + +"I remembered his advice; and in a short time afterward had another +piece of canvas snugly 'stowed away.' I carried it forward, and gave it +to my 'chummy,' an old 'salt,' who had the charge of my wardrobe (which +consisted of six pairs of duck-trowsers, the same number of red-flannel +shirts, a Scotch woolen cap, and a fine-tooth comb), and performed my +mending. + +"The next day I went on deck with a clean pair of trowsers on, neatly +patched. As I was going forward the captain hailed me: + +"'You took that piece of canvas, sir!' + +"'Yes, captain,' I replied, 'I _did_. You yourself told me to ask, and +if I was refused, to do the _other_ thing. I was refused, and _did_ do +the 'other thing.'' + +"'Well,' rejoined the captain, 'I have no great objection to your having +the canvas, but let me tell you that you will never make a sailor if you +carry your flying-jib over the stern!' + +"My 'chummy,' sewing from the inside, had 'seated' my trowsers with a +piece of canvas marked 'F. JIB!"' + + * * * * * + +There used to be quite popular, many years ago, a species of +letter-writing in poetry, in accomplishing which much ingenuity was +tasked and much labor expended. The ensuing lines are a good example of +this kind of composition by comic writers who have not sufficiently +advanced in joking to get "out of their _letters_." The lines were +addressed to Miss Emma Vee, who had a pet jay, of which she was very +fond: + + "Your jay is fond, which well I know, + He does S A to prove; + And he can talk, I grant, but O! + He can not talk of love. + + "Believe me, M A, when I say, + I dote to that X S, + I N V even that pet J, + Which U sometimes caress. + + "Though many other girls I know, + And they are fair, I C, + Yet U X L them all, and so + I love but M A V. + + "M A, my love can ne'er D K, + Except when I shall die; + And if your heart _must_ say me nay, + Just write and tell me Y!" + + * * * * * + +The following "_Welsh Card of Invitation_" is a very amusing example of +the avoidance of pronouns: + +"Mr. Walter Morton, and Mrs. Walter Morton, and Miss Sandys's +compliments to Mr. Charles Morgan, Mrs. Charles Morgan, Miss Charles +Morgan, and the Governess (whose name Mr. Walter Morton, Mrs. Walter +Morton, and Miss Sandys do not recollect), and Mr. Walter Morton, Mrs. +Walter Morton, and Miss Sandys request the favor of the company of Mr. +Charles Morgan, Mrs. Charles Morgan, Miss Charles Morgan, and the +Governess (whose name Mr. Walter Morton, Mrs. Walter Morton, and Miss +Sandys do not recollect), to dinner on Monday next. + +"_Mr. Walter Morton_, _Mrs. Walter Morton_, and Miss Sandys, beg to +inform Mr. Charles Morgan, Mrs. Charles Morgan, Miss Charles Morgan, and +the Governess (whose name Mr. Walter Morton, Mrs. Walter Morton, and +Miss Sandys do not recollect), that Mr. Walter Morton, Mrs. Walter +Morton, and Miss Sandys can accommodate Mr. Charles Morgan, Mrs. Charles +Morgan, Miss Charles Morgan, and the Governess (whose name Mr. Walter +Morton, Mrs. Walter Morton, and Miss Sandys do not recollect), with +beds, if remaining through the night is agreeable to Mr. Charles Morgan, +Mrs. Charles Morgan, Miss Charles Morgan, and the Governess (whose name +Mr. Walter Morton, Mrs. Walter Morton, and Miss Sandys do not +recollect!)" + +This is an exact copy of an authentic note of invitation to a +dinner-party. In point of roundaboutativeness, it is on a par with the +long legal papers which used to be served upon pecuniary delinquents. + + * * * * * + +If you would enjoy a bit of most natural and felicitous description, +read the following by that classical and witty writer--no longer, with +sorrow be it spoken, of this world--the author of "The American in +Paris." The passage has been in the "Drawer" for many years: + +"There is a variety of little trades and industries which derive their +chief means of life from the wants and luxuries of the street; I mean +trades that are unknown in any other country than Paris. You will see an +individual moving about at all hours of the night, silent and active, +and seizing the smallest bit of paper in the dark, where you can see +nothing; and with a hook in the end of a stick, picking it up, and +pitching it with amazing dexterity into a basket tied to his left +shoulder; with a cat-like walk, being every where and nowhere at the +same time, stirring up the rubbish of every nook and gutter of the +street, under your very nose. This is the 'Chiffonier.' He is a very +important individual. He is in matter what Pythagoras was in mind; and +his transformations are scarcely less curious than those of the Samian +sage. The beau, by his pains, peruses once again his worn-out dicky or +cravat, of a morning, in the 'Magazin des Modes;' while the politician +has his linen breeches reproduced in the 'Journal des Debats;' and many +a fine lady pours out her soul upon a _billet-doux_ that was once a +dish-cloth. The 'chiffonier' stands at the head of the little trades, +and is looked up to with envy by the others. He has two coats, and on +holidays wears a chain and quizzing-glass. He rises, too, like the Paris +gentry, when the chickens roost, and when the lark cheers the morning, +goes to bed. + +"All the city is divided into districts, and let out to these +'chiffoniers' by the hour; to one from ten to eleven, and from eleven to +twelve to another, and so on through the night; so that several get a +living and consideration from the same district. This individual does +justice to the literary compositions of the day. He crams into his bag +indiscriminately the last vaudeville, the last sermon of the Archbishop, +and the last essay of the Academy. + +"Just below the 'chiffonier' is the 'Gratteur.' This artist scratches +the livelong day between the stones of the pavement for old nails from +horses' shoes, and other bits of iron; always in hope of a bit of +silver, and even perhaps a bit of gold; more happy in his hope than a +hundred others in the possession. He has a store, or 'magazin,' in the +Faubourgs, where he deposits his ferruginous treasure. His wife keeps +this store, and is a '_Marchande de Fer_.' He maintains a family, like +another man; one or two of his sons he brings up to scratch for a +living, and the other he sends to college; and he has a lot 'in +perpetuity' in Père la Chaise. His rank, however, is inferior to that of +the 'chiffonier,' who will not give him his daughter in marriage, and he +don't ask him to his _soirées_." + + * * * * * + +A sad and "harrowing" event (after the manner of "the horrid" poetical +school), is recorded in the subjoined wild "Fragment:" + + "His eye was stern and wild; his cheek + Was pale and cold as clay; + Upon his tightened lip a smile + Of fearful meaning lay: + + "He mused awhile, but not in doubt; + No trace of doubt was there; + It was the steady, solemn pause + Of resolute despair! + + "Once more he looked upon the scroll, + Once more its words he read; + Then calmly, with unflinching hand, + Its folds before him spread. + + "I saw him bare his throat, and seize + The blue, cold-gleaming steel, + And grimly try the temper'd edge + He was so soon to feel! + + "A sickness crept upon my heart, + And dizzy swam my head: + I could not stir, I could not cry, + I felt benumbed and dead! + + "Black icy horrors struck me dumb, + And froze my senses o'er: + I closed my eyes in utter fear, + And strove to think no more! + + * * * * * + + "Again I looked: a fearful change + Across his face had passed; + He seemed to rave:--on cheek and lip + A flaky foam was cast. + + "He raised on high the glittering blade; + Then first I found a tongue: + 'Hold! madman! stay the frantic deed! + I cried, and forth I sprung: + + "He heard me, but he heeded not: + One glance around he gave: + And ere I could arrest his hand, + He had--BEGUN TO SHAVE!" + +We can recall some half-dozen specimens of this style of writing; one, +at least, of which, from an erratic American poet, must be familiar to +the general reader. + + + + +Literary Notices. + + +_Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli._ (Published by Phillips, Sampson, +and Co.) The subject of these volumes has left a reputation for strength +and brilliancy of intellect which, we imagine, will hardly be justified +hereafter by the perusal of her writings. No one, however, can read this +touching tribute to her memory without perceiving that she was a +remarkable woman. It at once explains the secret of her success, and of +her want of general recognition. From her early childhood, she displayed +a wonderful precocity of genius. This was stimulated by constant mental +inebriation, produced by the excitements of an ambitious and ill-judged +education. Her girlish studies were devoted to subjects which demanded +the mature experience of a masculine intellect. Deprived of the frolic +delights of childhood, a woman in cultivation while young in years, +goaded to the wildest intensity of effort by the urgency of an exacting +parent, and attaining an extraordinary mental development at the expense +of her physical nature, she must, of course, soon have become the object +of marked attention and wonder--a prodigy to her friends, and a mystery +to herself. Thus she was early placed in a false position. She grew up +self-involved, her diseased mind preying on itself, and the +consciousness of her personal importance assumed a gigantic magnitude, +which threatened to overshadow all healthy manifestations of character. +In this condition, she was accustomed to claim more than she could +give--more than others were content to grant. The loftiness of her +self-esteem was the measure of her lavish disdain. Hence, with the +exception of those with whom chance had made her intimate, she was more +formidable than attractive to the circle of her acquaintance; her +presence in society called forth aversion or terror; as she dispensed +the scathing splendors of her Jove-like lightnings, rather than the +sweet refreshments of womanhood. But beneath this social despotism, were +concealed a genuine kindliness of nature, a large sympathizing heart, a +singular power of entering into the condition of others, and a weird +magnetic charm which drew to her closest intimacy the most opposite +characters. She was, moreover, generous and noble to an uncommon degree, +in all the more sacred relations of life; with a high sense of duty; +never shrinking from sacrifices; a wise and faithful counselor where her +confidence was invoked; absolutely free from every trait of petty or +sordid passion; the very soul of honor; and with a sense of justice that +seemed to ally her with Eternal Truth.--In these volumes, she is left in +a great measure to speak for herself. Her letters and private journals +present a transparent record of her character. The editorial portion, by +R. W. Emerson, James F. Clarke, and W. H. Channing, is executed with +beautiful candor. The most truthful simplicity graces and fortifies +their statements. With no other aim than to exhibit an honest +portraiture of their friend, they have in no case, that we can discover, +allowed their private feelings to gain the mastery over their sterner +judgments.--Her residence in Italy reveals her heroism, devotion, and +womanly tenderness, in a light that would almost induce the belief, on +the part of those who had met her only in the antagonisms of society, +that she had changed her identity. A profound, mysterious pathos hovers +around her Italian experience, preparing the reader for the tragic close +of a life, which was itself a tragedy. The description of her last hours +presents a scene of desolation, before which grief can only bow in mute +tears. + +_Charity and its Fruits_, by JONATHAN EDWARDS, edited by TRYON EDWARDS. +A new work from the pen of the illustrious Northampton pastor can not +fail to be welcome to the admirers of his profound and original genius. +Combining a rare acuteness of metaphysical speculation, with a glowing +fervor of religious sentiment, Edwards has called forth the most +expressive eulogiums from the philosophers of the old world, while his +name is still "familiar as a household word" in the primitive homes of +New England. His character presented a striking union of intellectual +vigor with earnest piety. The childlike simplicity of his tastes was +blended with the refined subtlety of a mediæval schoolman. The apostle +of disinterested love, his soul was inspired and thrilled with +contemplating the glories of redemption, and the triumphs of grace over +the ruins of humanity The Lectures contained in this volume are devoted +to his favorite theme. They illustrate the principle of love as the +foundation of the Christian character, and the expression of +reconciliation with the Lord. In the high standard of duty which they +present, in their deep and comprehensive views of human nature, and in +the force and sweetness of their style, they compare favorably with the +standard productions of their author, and are certainly not surpassed by +any religious treatise of modern times. + +The manuscripts from which these lectures have been prepared were nearly +ready for the press, as left by the writer. They were afterward placed +in the charge of Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Bellamy, and are now for the first +time given to the public by the present editor. He justly deserves the +gratitude of the religious world for this valuable gift. (Published by +R. Carter and Brothers). + +Harper and Brothers have issued a neat octavo edition of Sir JOHN +RICHARDSON'S _Arctic Searching Expedition_, comprising a copious journal +of a boat-voyage through Rupert's Land and the Arctic Sea, in search of +Sir John Franklin--a variety of interesting details concerning the +savages of that region--and an elaborate treatise on the physical +geography of North America. Sir John Richardson left Liverpool in March, +1848, and after landing in New York, proceeded at once to the Saut Ste. +Marie, where he arrived about the last of April. Starting in a few days +from the Saut, he reached the mouth of the River Winnipeg on the 29th of +May, and arrived at Cumberland House, on the Saskatchewan, June 13--a +distance of nearly 3000 miles from New York. His various adventures on +the overland route to Fort Confidence, in 66 degrees of north latitude, +where the winter residence of the party was established, are related +with great minuteness, presenting a lively picture of the manners of the +Indians, and the physical phenomena of the icy North. The history of Sir +John Franklin's Expedition, and the present state of the search for that +intrepid navigator, is briefly recorded. With the prevailing interest in +every thing connected with Arctic discovery, this volume is a most +seasonable publication, and will be read with avidity by our intelligent +countrymen. + +_The Future Wealth of America_, by FRANCIS BONYNGE, is a volume of +curious interest, describing the physical resources of the United +States, and the commercial and agricultural advantages of introducing +several new branches of cultivation. Among the products enumerated by +the author as adapted to the soil and climate of this country are tea, +coffee, and indigo, the date, the orange, the peach fruit, and the +guava. The work, though written in an enthusiastic spirit, is filled +with practical details, and presents a variety of useful suggestions in +regard to the conditions of national prosperity. Mr. Bonynge is +familiarly acquainted with the culture of tropical products, having +resided for fourteen years in India and China. His book is +well-deserving the attention of the American public. + +The Twenty-second Part of COPLAND'S _Dictionary of Practical Medicine_ +is published by Harper and Brothers, reaching to the eight hundredth +page of the third volume of the work, and to the commencement of the +letter S. For laymen who have occasion to refer to a medical work, this +Dictionary forms a valuable book of reference, and may be consulted with +convenience and profit. Its merits are too well known to the profession +to demand comment. + +_A Reel in the Bottle, for Jack in the Doldrums_, by Rev. HENRY T. +CHEEVER. Modern allegory is a dangerous species of composition. The +taste of the age demands clearness, brevity, point; it prefers +practical facts to mystic symbols; and, above all, rejects artificial +tamperings with Oriental imagery. Imitations of the venerable simplicity +of the Bible are always offensive to a correct mind; and scarcely less +so is the ancient form of allegory disguised in fashionable trappings. +The volume now put forth by Mr. Cheever forms no exception to these +remarks. He has met with but indifferent success, in an attempt where a +perfect triumph would have brought little credit. The frequent +sacrifices of nature and good taste, which his plan demands, illustrate +his ingenuity at the expense of his judgment. He reminds us of John +Bunyan, whom he takes for his model, only by contrast. We should as soon +expect a modern Hamlet from Bulwer as a second Pilgrim's Progress from +the present author. (Published by Charles Scribner.) + +_The Head of the Family_, by the gifted author of "The Ogilvies," forms +the One Hundred and Sixty-seventh number of Harper's "Library of Select +Novels." It is distinguished for the absorbing interest of its plot, the +refinement and beauty of its characterizations, and its frequent scenes +of tenderness and pathos. + +NEANDER'S _Practical Exposition of the Epistle of James_ has been +translated by Mrs. H. C. CONANT, and published by Lewis Colby. We have +before spoken of the success of Mrs. Conant, as the translator of +Neander. She has accomplished her present task with equal felicity. +Biblical students are greatly in her debt for introducing them to the +acquaintance of such a profound and sympathizing interpreter of Holy +Writ. Neander wisely avoids metaphysical subtleties. Nor is he a barren, +verbal critic. He brings a sound, robust common sense to the exposition +of his subject, seeking to detect the living spirit of the writer, and +to reproduce it with genuine vitality. A new glow breathes over the +sacred page under his cordial, feeling comments, and we seem to be +brought into the most intimate communion with the inspired writer. It is +no small praise to say of the translator, that she has transferred this +lifesome spirit, to a great degree, into her own production. + +Redfield has published a spirited translation of ARSENE HOUSSAYE'S work +on the _Men and Women of the Eighteenth Century_ in France. A more +characteristic portraiture of that egotistic and voluptuous age is not +to be found in any language. It places us in the midst of the frivolous +court, where the love of pleasure had triumphed over natural sentiment, +where religion was lost in hypocrisy, and earnestness of character +laughed out of countenance by shameless adventurers. The brilliancy of +coloring in these volumes does not disguise the infamy of the persons +whom it celebrates. They are displayed in all their detestable +heartlessness, and present a wholesome warning to the reader by the +hideous ugliness of their example. + +BON GAULTIER'S _Book of Ballads_. These clever parodies and satires, +whose cool audacity and mischievous love of fun have secured them a +favorite place in the English magazines, have been republished in a neat +edition by Redfield. Our too thin-skinned compatriots may find something +to provoke their ire in the American Ballads, but the sly malice of +these effusions generally finds an antidote in their absurdity. For the +rest, Bon Gaultier may be called, in Yankee parlance, "a right smart +chap," excelling in a species of literature which the highest genius +rarely attempts. + + +We have a new edition of WALKER'S _Rhyming_ _Dictionary_ from Lindsay +and Blakiston--a welcome aid, no doubt, to scribblers in pursuit of +rhymes under difficulties. We hope it will not have the effect to +stimulate the crop of bad poetry, which of late has been such a nuisance +to honest readers. + + * * * * * + +MISS MITFORD, in her _Literary Recollections_ gives some specimens of +poetical charades by Mr. Praed, the most successful composer of lyrical +_jeux d'esprit_ of this kind. In the review of her work by the +_Athenæum_, the two following charades are quoted, the latter of which, +Miss Mitford says, is still a mystery to her, and proposes a solution to +her readers: + +I. + + "Come from my _First_, ay, come! + The battle dawn is nigh; + And the screaming trump and the thundering drum + Are calling thee to die! + Fight as thy father fought; + Fall as thy father fell; + Thy task is taught; thy shroud is wrought, + So; forward and farewell! + + "Toll ye my _Second_! toll! + Fling high the flambeau's light; + And sing the hymn for a parted soul + Beneath the silent night! + The wreath upon his head, + The cross upon his breast, + Let the prayer be said, and the tear be shed, + So,--take him to his rest! + + "Call ye my _Whole_, ay, call, + The lord of lute and lay; + And let him greet the sable pall + With a noble song to-day; + Go, call him by his name! + No fitter hand may crave + To light the flame of a soldier's fame + On the turf of a soldier's grave. + +II. + + "Sir Hilary charged at Agincourt,-- + Sooth 'twas an awful day! + And though in that old age of sport + The rufflers of the camp and court + Had little time to pray, + 'Tis said Sir Hilary muttered there + Two syllables by way of prayer. + + "My _First_ to all the brave and proud + Who see to-morrow's sun; + My _Next_ with her cold and quiet cloud + To those who find their dewy shroud + Before to-day's be done; + And both together to all blue eyes + That weep when a warrior nobly dies." + +A correspondent of the _Literary Gazette_ furnishes +the following poetical solution of the two charades +in one: + + "No more we hear the sentry's heavy tramp + Around the precincts of the drowsy _camp_; + All now is hush'd in calm and sweet repose, + And peaceful is the lovely evening's close; + Save when the village chimes the hours forth-tell, + Or parting souls demand the passing _bell_. + Would I could grasp a _Campbell's_ lyric pen! + I then might justice do to 'arms and men,' + And sing the well-fought field of Agincourt, + Where, hand to hand, mix'd in the bloody sport, + The hosts of France, vain of superior might, + By English valor were o'erthrown in fight, + And bade to fame and fortune long _Good Night_!" + + * * * * * + +Messrs. Clark of Edinburgh have in preparation, translations of the +following works: viz.--Dr. JULIUS MULLER'S great work on the _Doctrine +of Sin_, translated under the superintendence of the author.--Professor +MUSTON'S _Israel of the Alps_, the latest and most complete History of +the Waldenses, translated with the concurrence of the author.--DORNER on +the _Person of Christ_, translated by the Rev. Mr. KINGSFORD, one of +the Chaplains to the Hon. East India Company.--BENGEL'S _Gnomon of the +New Testament_, translated by the Rev. PETER HOLMES, of the Plymouth +Royal Grammar School. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Bohn announces the following important Works as about to appear +shortly: KIRBY and KIDD'S _Bridgewater Treatises_.--_Coin-Collector's +Hand-Book_, by H. N. HUMPHREYS, with numerous engravings of Ancient +Coins.--_Greek Anthology; or Select Epigrams of the Greek Classic +Poets_, literally translated into Prose, with occasional parallels in +verse by English Poets.--OERSTED'S _Soul in Nature_, and other works, +translated from the Danish, with Life of the Author.--_Rome in the 19th +Century_; with Maps and Diagrams.--KUGLER'S _Historical Manual of +Sculpture, Painting, and Architecture, Ancient and Modern_. + + * * * * * + +The election of the Greek Professor in the University of Edinburgh was +fixed for the 2d of March. The number of candidates in the field was +very large, but it was thought that many would retire before the day of +election. The principal struggle was supposed to be between Dr. William +Smith, of New College, London, the learned author of the Classical +Dictionaries; Dr. Price, late of Rugby, the friend of Dr. Arnold; +Professor Macdowall, of Queen's College, Belfast; and Professor Blackie, +of Aberdeen. The emoluments of the chair are upward of 800_l._, and the +college duties extend only over about half the year, during the winter +session from November to May. + + * * * * * + +Professor ROBINSON, our townsman, whose proposed expedition to Palestine +we lately announced, was at Berlin, at the latest accounts, and expects +to be at Beyrout on the 1st of March. He intends to occupy most of his +time in visiting the more remote districts of the country, and those +villages off the usual routes, which are least known to travelers. +Toward the completion of the topography and geography of Palestine, we +may expect many new facts to be thus obtained. One of the American +missionaries in Syria, the Rev. ELI SMITH, and Mr. WILLIAM DICKSON, of +Edinburgh, are to join Professor ROBINSON at Beyrout, and accompany him +in the journey. The identification of the site of the Holy Sepulchre, +about which there has been much dispute lately, is one object to which +special attention will be given. Dr. Robinson was in London, on his +route to the Continent, and attended the meetings of the Geographical +and other Societies. + + * * * * * + +The wife of Professor ROBINSON has recently published a protest in the +London _Athenæum_ against a garbled English edition of her work on the +Colonization of New England. Mrs. ROBINSON says, "A work appeared in +London last summer with the following title: 'Talvi's History of the +Colonization of America,' edited by William Hazlitt, in two volumes. It +seems proper to state that the original work was written under favorable +circumstances _in German_ and published in Germany. It treated only of +the colonization of _New England_:--and that only stood on its +title-page. The above English publication therefore, is a mere +translation--and it was made without the consent or knowledge of the +author. The very title is a misnomer; all references to authorities are +omitted; and the whole work teems with errors, not only of the press, +but also of translation--the latter such as could have been made by no +person well acquainted with the German and English tongues. For the work +in this form, therefore, the author can be in no sense whatever +responsible." + + * * * * * + +A late number of the _London Leader_ in a review of HERMAN MELVILLE'S +_Moby Dick, or the Whale_, says, "Want of originality has long been the +just and standing reproach to American literature; the best of its +writers were but second-hand Englishmen. Of late some have given +evidence of originality; not _absolute_ originality, but such genuine +outcoming of the American intellect as can be safely called national. +Edgar Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville are assuredly no +British off-shoots; nor is Emerson--the _German_ American that he is! +The observer of this commencement of an American literature, properly so +called, will notice as significant that these writers have a wild and +mystic love of the super-sensual, peculiarly their own. To move a horror +skillfully, with something of the earnest faith in the Unseen, and with +weird imagery to shape these phantasms so vividly that the most +incredulous mind is hushed, absorbed--to do this no European pen has +apparently any longer the power--to do this American literature is +without a rival. What _romance_ writer can be named with HAWTHORNE? Who +knows the horrors of the seas like HERMAN MELVILLE?" + + * * * * * + +A bill has been introduced by the Lord Advocate for abolishing tests in +the Scottish universities for all professional chairs but those of the +theological faculties. At present every professor, before induction, is +required by law to sign the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the +other formularies of the Scottish Established Kirk. In many cases the +signature is not actually required, or it is given as a mere matter of +form. Many of the most distinguished professors in Scotland do not +belong to the Established Church of that country. + + * * * * * + +Count DE MONTALEMBERT'S formal reception as a Member of the Académie +Française took place on the 5th of February; and as an event of literary +and political importance, excited extraordinary sensation. The _salle_ +of the Academy was thronged to excess by the _élite_ of Parisian +society, and hundreds who had obtained tickets were unable to secure +admission. As usual on such occasions, the Count delivered an harangue, +the text of which was the merits, real or supposed, of the deceased +member to whose chair he succeeded--but the burden of which was an +exposition of the Count's opinions on things political, and things in +general. As usual, also, one of the Academicians replied by a +complimentary discourse to the new member, and it so chanced that the +respondent was no less a personage than M. Guizot. These two +distinguished men are what the French call "eagles of eloquence," and +under any circumstance the liveliest interest would have been felt to +see the two noble birds take an oratorical flight; but on this occasion +it was immensely increased, by the fact that they are recognized chiefs +of two different creeds in religion, the Catholic and the Protestant; of +two hostile political parties, that of absolutism, and that of liberty; +and of two contending schools in philosophy--one, which imposes +authority on the mind of man, the other, which maintains his right to +free examination. + + * * * * * + +CAVAIGNAC is stated to be employing the leisure of his voluntary exile +in writing his own memoirs. This may be one of the mere rumors which +float idly about in an age of interrupted sequence and disturbed action, +but should it prove true, the public may hope for a curious and +exciting narrative from the hero of June. Godfrey Cavaignac, his +brother, was one of the wittiest and sternest of republican writers +under Louis Philippe--and his own avowed opinions were the cause of much +suspicion to the government, though his brilliant exploits in Algiers +rendered it impossible to keep him down. Of course, however, the chief +interest of his memoirs would centre in the pages devoted to his share +in events subsequent to 1848. + + * * * * * + +A letter-writer from Paris to a London journal, presents some sound +comments on the recent infamous law for the suppression of the freedom +of the press: "President Bonaparte has this day promulgated his +long-expected law on the press. It is of unexampled harshness and +oppression. Old Draco himself, if living in these days, would not have +made it so atrociously severe. It ruins newspaper and periodical +proprietors; it strips editors, and writers, and reporters of the means +of obtaining their bread by their honest industry; it altogether +annihilates the political press. And not content with this, it prohibits +the entrance into France of _foreign_ political journals and +periodicals, without the special authorization of the government. + +"A few months ago the number of daily political newspapers in Paris +exceeded thirty; it now does not amount to ten, and of these ten some +are certain to disappear in the course of a short time. It is a very +moderate computation to suppose that each one of the twenty and odd +suppressed journals gave regular employment at good salaries to ten +literary men, as editors, contributors, reporters, correspondents, or +critics, and that each one afforded occasional employment to at least +the same number of feuilletonistes. Here, then, we have upward of twice +two hundred men, who, as regards intelligence, are of the _élite_ of +society, suddenly deprived of 'the means whereby they lived,' without +any fault of their own. What is to become of them? What of their +helpless wives and families? Few of them have any aptitude for any other +calling, and even if they had, what chance have they, in this +overstocked world, of finding vacant places? The contemplation of their +misery must wring every heart, and the more so as, from a certain +_fierté_ they all possess, they feel it with peculiar bitterness. But, +after all, they are but a small portion of the unfortunates who are +ruined by the ruining of the press: there are the compositors, who must +exceed two thousand in number; there are the news-venders, who must +amount to hundreds, there are the distributors, and the publishers, and +the clerks, and all the various dependents of a journal, who must amount +to hundreds more--all, like Othello, now exclaiming, 'My occupation's +gone.' And then paper-makers and type-founders must surely find work +slacker and wages lower, now that the newspapers are dead. And then, +again, the cafés and the reading-rooms--a very legion--can they do the +same amount of business when they have no newspapers to offer? I wonder +whether the French Dictator has ever thought of the wide-spread misery +he has occasioned, and is causing, by his enmity to the press. It may be +doubted--else, perhaps, he would never, from motives of personal or +political convenience, have annihilated such an important branch of +human industry, which gave bread to tens of thousands. It is a fine +thing to have a giant's strength, but tyrannous to use it as a giant." + + * * * * * + +The German papers say that DR. MEINHOLD, the author of the _Amber +Witch_, has left among his papers an unfinished manuscript, entitled +"Hagar and the Reformation"--which, they add, is now in an editor's +hands, and will be shortly given to the public. + + * * * * * + +LAMARTINE'S new periodical, the _Civilisateur_, is receiving fair +support. The subscriptions are coming in rapidly, and the first number +will appear shortly. + + * * * * * + +_The Mysteries of the People_, by EUGENE SUE, is announced to be +completed immediately. The sale of this eccentric novel, to say no more, +has been prodigious. Eugene Sue is in Switzerland. + + * * * * * + +Dr. NEUMAN, Professor of History in the University of Munich, has +completed his long-promised _History of the English Empire in Asia_. It +is on the eve of publication. + + * * * * * + +Herr HARTLEBEN, the publisher at Pesth and Vienna, whose meritorious +efforts to familiarize his countrymen with the best works of English +literature, has just published a translation of Mr. DICKENS'S _Child's +History of England_. A German edition of Mr. WARBURTON'S _Darien_ is +preparing for publication. + + * * * * * + +The German letter addressed to the Countess HAHN-HAHN on her two +works--_From Babylon to Jerusalem_, and _In Jerusalem_--in Germany +generally ascribed to Dr. NITZSCH, of Berlin, has been translated and +published by Mr. Parker. It is very clever, and will probably amuse and +interest the readers of that lady's former novels. The restless longing +after new sensations, and the logicless action of a vain and ambitious +mind, have seldom been analyzed so well or satirized so keenly as in +_Babylon_ and _Jerusalem_. A sharp preface from the translator also adds +to the reader's zest. + + * * * * * + +GUTZKOW, the German critic and novelist, has just published a collected +edition of his works in thirteen volumes, to which he is about to add a +fourteenth volume, containing the memoirs of his earlier years. His +gigantic novel, the _Knights of the Spirit_, has reached a second +edition. + + * * * * * + +An English newspaper, _The Rhenish Times_, is about to be published at +Neuwied, on the Rhine. This new organ, which has not many chances of +success, is to be devoted to polite literature, politics, &c.; from the +contributions of a number of "eminent English authors," now residents of +Neuwied and its environs. + + * * * * * + +The Austrian government, in order to secure the improvement of Hebrew +works of devotion for its own subjects, has authorized the establishment +of a special printing press at Goritz, in Illyrïa; and it calculates +that it will henceforth be able to supply the vast demand which exists +in the East. Heretofore the Jews of Eastern Europe, of Asia, and of +Northern Africa, have obtained their religious books principally from +Amsterdam or Leghorn. + + * * * * * + +"Of the language and literature of Hungary," says the _Literary +Gazette_, "little is known in England. No European nation has excited so +much political interest, with so little intellectual communion, or +literary intercourse with other nations. By deeds, very little by words, +has Hungary gained the sympathy and respect of the Anglo-Saxon freemen +on both sides of the Atlantic. Few Englishmen have ever heard of the +names of Garay, and Petöfi, and Kisfaludy, and Vörösmartz, whose lyric +strains stir the hearts of the Magyars. The literature of so noble a +people can not remain longer neglected in England. Besides the +political importance which the country will yet assume, there is beauty +and originality in the language itself deserving study. Of all European +tongues, it has most of the Oriental spirit and form in its idioms. We +are glad to find that an elementary work, entitled 'The Hungarian +Language; its Structure and Rules, with Exercises and a Vocabulary,' is +in the press, by Sigismund Wékey, late aid-de-camp to Kossuth. Both in +Great Britain and America, we have little doubt, the book will be +popular." + + * * * * * + +The Edinburgh papers record the death, upon the 14th, at the early age +of forty-four, of ROBERT BLACKWOOD, Esq., the head of the firm of +eminent publishers of that name. For the last two years the state of Mr. +Blackwood's health compelled his withdrawal from a business which, for +the previous fifteen years, he had conducted with admirable energy, +sagacity, and success. In the discharge of the difficult duties which +devolved upon him, from his position with reference to the literary men +of the day, Robert Blackwood uniformly displayed the same strong +practical sense for which his father, the founder of the Magazine, was +distinguished. He was respected and beloved for his simple and manly +qualities by all who had the happiness to know him. His judgments were +independent, clear, and decided; his attachments strong and sincere, and +by many his name will be long and warmly remembered as that of a stanch +and cordial friend. + + * * * * * + +The friends and admirers of the late LORENZ OKEN, one of the most +eminent anatomists and natural philosophers of modern Europe, have set +on foot a subscription for a monument to his memory. Oken's writings +have been widely read in Europe and in America--and have, we believe, +been translated into French, Italian, and Scandinavian, as well as into +English. The character of the monument can not be determined until the +probable amount of the subscription shall have been ascertained--but it +is expected to take the form of a bust or a statue, to be set up in the +Platz at Jena. + + * * * * * + +Baron D'OHSON died recently at Stockholm, aged 73. He was a member of +the Academy of Sciences, and President of the Royal Society of +Literature in that city. He was one of the most eminent Oriental +scholars of the day, and author, among other things, of an important +work on the peoples of Caucasus, and of a valuable history of Chinese +Tartary, He was born at Constantinople, of Armenian parents, but was +educated at Paris. He became secretary to Bernadotte, accompanied him to +Sweden, and subsequently fulfilled several diplomatic missions to Paris, +London, &c. + + * * * * * + +Turin journals announce the death of SERANGELI, an artist of celebrity. +He was born at Rome, in 1770, and became a pupil of the celebrated +David. At an early age he distinguished himself by a painting in one of +the annual exhibitions at Paris, and commissions of importance were +given to him by the government. His principal works are: _Eurydice dying +in the arms of Orpheus_; _Orpheus soliciting her release from the King +of Hell_; _Sophocles pleading against his Sons_; a _Christ Crucified_; +and the _Interview of the Emperors Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit_. Of +late years he confined himself principally to portrait-painting, and his +skill as an historical painter declined in consequence. + + + + +Three Leaves from Punch. + + +[Illustration: GOING TO COVER. + +VOICE IN THE DISTANCE.--"Now, then, Smith--Come along!" + +SMITH.--"Oh, it's all very well to say, Come along! when he won't move a +step, and I'm afraid he's going to lie down!"] + + +[Illustration: OLD GENT.--"You see, my Dear, that the Earth turns on its +own Axis, and makes one Revolution round the Sun each Year." + +YOUNG REVOLVER.--"Then, Pa, does France turn on its own Axis when it +makes its Revolutions?" + +OLD GENT.--"No, my Dear, it turns on its Bayonets. However, that's not a +Question in Astronomy."] + + + + +THOUGHTS ON FRENCH AFFAIRS. + +(_Selected from a Course of Lectures by_ PROFESSOR PUNCH.) + + +The President has been elected for ten years. By the time this period +has closed, it will be found that not only the term of the President's +power, but the prosperity of France will be Decade (_Decayed_). + +"ELECTION," according to the Dictionaries, is a synonym for "Choice.'" +But in Louis Napoleon's new Political Dictionary we find the significant +addendum:--"'_Hobson's' understood_." + +The two parties in France, who are the one in favor of a King and the +other in favor of a Commonwealth, are easily distinguished by the +denominations of Monarchists and Republicans; but there is some +difficulty in finding a denomination for those in favor of an Empire, +unless we adopt that of _Empirics_. + +The President is said to be a firm believer in the _Thompsonian +practice_ of medicine. This is probable, from the fact that he has +treated the Insurgents with _Cayenne_. + +In honor of the vote for Louis Napoleon "the Tower of Notre Dame was +decorated with hangings." Considering the origin of the present +government, which is based on so many _shootings_, a very appropriate +decoration is by means of _hanging_. + +The French trees of Liberty have been cut down and the wood given to the +poor for fuel. The only liberty which the French have is--to warm +themselves. + +The French have long been well instructed in Deportment; the President +is now giving them lessons in Deportation. + +France is still quiet; she is taking her little +_Nap_. + +[Illustration: EARLY PUBLICATION OF A LIBERAL PAPER IN +PARIS.--_Time_--Four A.M.] + +[Illustration: SCENE FROM THE "PRESIDENT'S PROGRESS." + +(_Suggested by_ HOGARTH'S _Rake's Progress_.)] + +This plate represents the "PRINCE PRESIDENT" taking possession of the +effects of his deceased Uncle. From an old chest he has rummaged out the +Imperial globe, crown, eagle, and collar. The Code Napoleon, a pair of +military boots--too large to fit the new owner--and a bayonet, make up +the remainder of the contents of the chest. The sceptre is surmounted by +an expanded hand, the thumb of which comes in suspicious proximity to +the nose of a bust of the Uncle. From an open closet the Imperial eagle, +reduced to the last state of emaciation, is looking out. In the +fireplace is the Imperial chair, to which an old hag, who might pass for +the Avenging Nemesis, is setting fire, probably with the wood of the +Trees of Liberty. Sundry hoards, left by the former occupant of the +house, have been discovered, from which the young heir's ghostly +attendant is helping himself. The new tailor, Monsieur GENDARME, is in +the act of measuring the President for a suit of "Imperial purple, first +quality." Mademoiselle LIBERTE, accompanied by her mother, Madame +FRANCE, comes to demand the fulfillment of the promises he has made her, +and has brought the wedding-ring; but he refuses to fulfill his solemnly +sworn engagement; and offers money to the mother, who rejects it with an +expression of countenance that brooks no good to the gay deceiver. "The +characters in this picture," says Heir SAUERTEIG, "are admirably +developed; the stupid brutality of the heir, the grief and shame of the +poor deceived LIBERTE, the anger of FRANCE, which, it is clear, will not +be satisfied with words, the greed and avarice of the peculating priest, +and the business-like air of the tailor--perfectly indifferent whether +he fits his patron with an imperial robe or a convict's blouse--are +worthy of the highest admiration." + + +[Illustration: LADY.--"I have called, Mr. Squills to say that my darling +Dog(!) has taken all his Mixture, but his Cough is no better."] + + +[Illustration: MASTER TOM--"Have a Weed, Gran'pa?" + +GRAN'PA.--"A what! Sir?" + +MASTER TOM.--"A Weed!--A Cigar, you know." + +GRAN'PA.--"Certainly not, Sir. I never smoked in my life." + +MASTER TOM.--"Ah! then I wouldn't advise you to begin."] + + +[Illustration: EFFECTS OF A STRIKE. + + UPON THE CAPITALIST. UPON THE WORKMAN.] + + +[Illustration: MR. ----.--"So, your Name is Charley, is it? Now, Charley +doesn't know who I am?" + +SHARP LITTLE BOY.--"Oh yes! but I do, though." + +MR. ----.--"Well, who am I?" + +SHARP LITTLE BOY.--"Why, you're the Gentleman who kissed Sister Sophy in +the Library, the other night, when you thought no one was there."] + + +[Illustration: "I say, Cook, will you ask the Policeman, could he step +up--there's a Row in the next street."] + + + + +THE SEVEN WONDERS OF A YOUNG LADY. + + +I. + +Keeping her accounts in preference to an Album. + +II. + +Generously praising the attractions of that "affected creature" who +always cut her out. + +III. + +Not ridiculing the man she secretly prefers--nor quizzing what she +seriously admires. + +IV. + +Not changing her "dear, dear friend" quarterly--or her dress three times +a day. + +V. + +Reading a novel without looking at the third volume first; or writing a +letter without a post-script; or taking wine at dinner without saying +"the smallest drop in the world;" or singing without "a bad cold;" or +wearing shoes that were not "a mile too big for her." + +VI. + +Seeing a baby without immediately rushing to it and kissing it. + +VII. + +Carrying a large bouquet at an evening party, and omitting to ask her +partner "if he understands the language of flowers." + + + + +Spring Fashions. + +[Illustration: FIGURES 1 AND 2.--DRAWING-ROOM AND BALL COSTUMES.] + + +The sunny days of April, after our long, cold winter, are peculiarly +inviting to promenaders, who have been housed for four months. Fashion, +always on the alert to please, and as prompt in her ministrations, as +the breath of spring to the buds, is unfolding her beauties in the world +of mode, and, within another month will bring forth her creations in +full bloom. In the mean while, new costumes for the drawing room and the +saloon are not wanting. We present our readers this month with a report +of in-door costumes only, but hope to give them something acceptable in +our next, concerning dresses for the carriage and the promenade. The +fabrics and colors suitable for March yet prevail, with few changes. + +The figure on the right (Fig. 1) in our first illustration exhibits a +FULL DRESS TOILET, at once rich, chaste, and elegant. It is particularly +adapted to youthful matrons, or ladies who may have doubled their teens +without being caught in the noose of Hymen. The head-dress is very +elegant. The parting of the hair in the middle of the forehead is very +short, and the whole front hair is arranged in small curls, short in +front, and gradually lengthening toward the sides. A band of pearls goes +all round the head above the curls, and is brought round behind to hold +the back hair. + +Dress of antique watered silk, open all the way down from top of body. +The body is cut so as to form lappets and has no seam at the waist; the +lappet, quite smooth, goes round behind. The skirt is put on and +gathered just under the edge of the lappet. The trimming of this dress +is silk net in puffed _bouillonnés_. There is some round the body, on +the sleeves, and all down the fore parts of the body and the dress. The +_bouillons_ on the top of the body and sleeves are confined by pearl +loops. A rich brooch of pearls and diamonds, conceals the junction of +the _bouillés_ at the top of the body on the breast. The _bouillonnés_ +of the edges of fore part are confined by pearl cords, and at every +other _bouillon_, the strings of pearls are double and go from one edge +to the other. The body leaving open a space of two or three inches at +the waist, just shows the bottom of an under-body of white satin. The +under-skirt is satin, embroidered to represent an apron, with very rich +pattern worked in white silk and with the crochet. Two rows of Alençon +lace decorate each sleeve; a little white chemisette reaches beyond the +body. The silk crochet embroidery may be replaced by one executed in +silver, &c. + +FIG. 2.--BALL COSTUME.--The season for balls is about closing, yet we +give another illustration of a very elegant style: Hair in puffed bands; +wreath of roses, laid so as to follow the curve of the bands, forming a +point in front, and meeting behind in the back hair. Dress, white satin, +covered with embroidered silk-net, and ornamented with bouquets of +roses. The body is close, plain, and straight at top, and cut in three +pieces in front; the point is long, the silk-net of sprigged pattern is +laid even on the body, and follows its cut. The satin skirt has hollow +plaits, and the net one is placed over it, so as to puff a good deal, +without following the same plaits as those in the satin skirt. The +effect of this black silk-net with black flowers over white satin, is +very striking. In the front of the skirt, and from left to right, ten or +eleven bouquets of moss roses and rose-buds are scattered at random, and +this is a most appropriate occasion to apply Boileau's verse, in which +he says, that "fine disorder is the effect of art." The short sleeves +are puffed a little, and are trimmed with _engageantes_ of +scolloped-edged black blonde. + +FIG. 3 represents a portion of an elegant DRESS-TOILET. Over the head is +seen the upper part of a rich _sortie de bal_ of white silk, trimmed +with broad white galloon, watered, rather more than three inches wide. +This galloon is sewed on flat about an inch from the edge. A galloon of +an inch and a half begins at the waist, and comes, marking the shape of +the breast, to pass over the shoulder, and form a round at the back. The +galloon serves as an ornament, and it is below that the body of the +garment assumes the fullness for fluting. A double trimming of white, +worsted gimp, embroidered with white jet, forms a pelerine. The upper +one is raised, like a _fanchon_, to cover the top of the head, without +muffling the neck and chin. The bottom is also trimmed with a deep +gimp, gathered, in sewing on. The dress is yellow _moire antique_, +figured with a lampas pattern, reaching to the top. In the front, at the +middle, by an effect of white satin, obtained in the manufacture, the +imitation of a beautiful white ribbon is interwoven in the figured part, +beginning at the waist, diverging on either side as it descends, and +running round the bottom of the skirt. This admirable dress has received +the name of _Victoria_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--DRESS TOILET.] + +We denominate FIG. 4 a FANCY COSTUME for a little girl, because it has +not been in vogue for the last three-fourths of a century. It represents +the costume of a girl at about the time of our Revolution. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--FANCY COSTUME.] + +It was the dress, not only of children, but of girls "in their teens." +It must be admitted, we think, that Fashion has not grown wise by age. +In elegant simplicity this costume is far in advance of the flaunting +exhibitions of finery, which little girls of our day often display. We +recommend it to our Bloomer friends, as a practical historical evidence +that their notions are not "new-fangled," but have the consecration of +age, and the sanction of the generation when our good Washington flirted +with the gay belles of Virginia. + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: + +Variant spelling has been retained. Minor corrections to punctuation +have been made without note. + +Oe ligature denoted by [oe] in the text version. + +Superscript denoted with caret (^) in the text version. + +A Table of Contents has been provided for the HTML version. + +Small caps replaced by all caps and italics denoted by "_" in the text +version. + +Correction of printer's errors: + +Page 588: "...would to tend the horses..." changed to read "...would be +to tend the horses..." + +Page 595: "...the fasts, the v.gils, the penances..." changed to read +"...the fasts, the vigils, the penances..." + +Page 606: "...aided by my colleage, Moulins..." changed to read +"...aided by my colleague Moulins..." + +Page 607: "...that thunberbolt may be..." changed to read "...that +thunderbolt may be..." + +Page 607: "...sagacious transferrence of the meeting..." changed to read +"...sagacious transference of the meeting ..." + +Page 661: "...he said was one one of the counsel..." changed to read +"...he said was one of the counsel ..." + +Page 665: "...himself to Borriboola-Gha..." changed to read "...himself +to Borrioboola-Gha..." + +Page 666: "...made a similar responce." changed to read "...made a +similar response." + +Page 666: "...the utmost discription Ada could give..." changed to read +"...the utmost description Ada could give..." + +Page 678: "...it it was Woman..." changed to read "...it was Woman..." + +Page 687: "...Douglas could scarcly have called him ..." changed to read +"...Douglas could scarcely have called him..." + +Page 690: "...the man was a a match..." changed to read "...the man was +a match..." + +Page 693: "...washing the dus: this is..." changed to read "...washing +the dust: this is..." + +Page 696: "...Lord Lieutenant of Ireand; Duke of Montrose..." changed to +read "...Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Duke of Montrose..." + +Page 696: "...a good deal of skil and bravery..." changed to read "...a +good deal of skill and bravery..." + +Page 706: "...the color of the shiling there?" changed to read "...the +color of the shilling there?" + +Page 708: "...she was a reremarkable woman." changed to read "...she was +a remarkable woman." + +Page 710: "...the Greek Professsor in the University..." changed to read +"...the Greek Professor in the University..."] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. +XXIII.--April, 1852.--Vol. IV., by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41629 *** |