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diff --git a/42493-0.txt b/42493-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..978420e --- /dev/null +++ b/42493-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6204 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42493 *** + + LADY EUREKA; + OR, + THE MYSTERY: + A PROPHECY OF THE FUTURE. + + BY THE AUTHOR + OF + "MEPHISTOPHELES IN ENGLAND." + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + VOL. III. + + LONDON: + LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, + PATERNOSTER-ROW. + 1840. + + + + + LONDON; + Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE, + New-Street-Square. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. ROLY POLY'S SICKNESS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + II. AN AUSTRALIAN COLONY IN SPAIN. + III. OLD ENGLAND. + IV. THE LAST OF THE ENGLISHMEN. + V. AN ACCOUNT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF OLD ENGLAND. + VI. THE DEATH OF THE LAST OF THE ENGLISHMEN. + VII. LILYA. + VIII. LOVE MISPLACED. + IX. A DISCOVERY. + X. A FIGHT AT SEA. + XI. THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN DEATH, AND THE MEETING OF THE SHIPS. + XII. THE CONCLUSION. + + + + +EUREKA; + +A PROPHECY OF THE FUTURE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ROLY POLY'S SICKNESS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + + +"Oh, massa, I so bad!" exclaimed the fat cook, as he waddled up to the +surgeon, with a most woeful expression of countenance. + +"What's the matter with you, Roly Poly?" inquired Dr. Tourniquet. + +"Sich a debble ob a pain, massa," continued the black. + +"But where is it, man? where is it? Can't do you any good till I know +what's the matter with you, don't you see," said the surgeon. + +"Debble ob a pain, massa, in my tomack," replied his patient, rubbing +his huge hand over his stomach, and heaving the most despairing of +sighs. + +"Put out your tongue," exclaimed the doctor. + +The fat cook extended a pair of enormous jaws, and protruded something +which resembled a scorched brick-bat. + +"Ah! derangement of the digestive functions," remarked the practitioner, +after a brief inspection of the misshapen lump of flesh his patient had +exhibited. "What have you been eating?" + +"Eatin, massa?" repeated Roly Poly, looking most ludicrously pathetic, +"can't eat nutting, massa, to tink of. Loss nappetite 'pletely. +Breakfast, me only eat pound and harp o' beef--berry little lump o' cold +puddin big as my two fistes," (which were the size of another person's +head), "two or tree red herrin--harp-a-dozen egg--lope o' bread, and +one, two quart o' cocoa. Nuttin more, me 'sure you, massa. Yes, me loss +nappetite 'pletely. Den for lunch, me eat pound and harp o' beef--berry +little lump o' cold puddin, big as my two fistes--two or tree red +herrin--and drop o' liquor wash it down, not more den harp a gallon, +nutting to tink of, massa. Den for dinner me eat pound and harp o' +beef--berry little lump o' hot puddin, big as my two fistes--plate or +two o' wedgeables--lope o' bread--small bit o' cheese, big as one o' my +two fistes--and drop o' liquor wash it down, not more nor harp a gallon. +Can't eat nuttin. Den for tea me eat pound and harp o' beef--berry +little lump o' cold puddin, big as my two fistes--two or tree red +herrin--harp-a-dozen egg--lope o' bread, and one, two quart o' cocoa. +Nuttin to tink of. Den for supper, me eat pound and harp o' beef--berry +little lump o' cold puddin, big as my two fistes--two or tree red +herrin, and two or tree roasted tatoroes--lope o' bread--small bit o' +cheese, big as one o' my two fistes--and drop o' liquor wash it down, +not more nor harp a gallon. Me eat nuttin, massa. Loss nappetite +'pletely." + +"Why, you eat enough to satisfy a regiment," exclaimed Dr. Tourniquet. + +"No, massa, me berry poor eater," replied the fat cook in a doleful +tone; "eat nuttin to sinnify. Ony pound and harp o' beef--berry little +lump o' cold puddin----" + +"Yes, yes; I've heard all that," said the doctor, impatiently +interrupting him. "Your plethoric habit must be reduced, don't you see. +You must be bled and physicked, till we bring down that mountain of +flesh into something like a healthy size. You must eat no beef, no +pudding, no red herrings, no eggs, and no cheese; and drink neither +liquor nor cocoa. You must drink nothing but barley water, and eat +nothing but arrow-root; and run up and down the deck for half an hour, +half-a-dozen times a-day." + +As the Doctor described the remedies he desired his patient to adopt, +Roly Poly's mouth gradually extended itself till it threatened to +approach his ears; and his eyes kept winking and staring as if in +complete consternation. + +"Massa!" at last he loudly exclaimed, and seemed gradually becoming +more indignant. "What, starve poor nigger! reduce poor Roly Poly to a +natomy! No eat no pound and harp o' beef, no berry little lump o' cold +puddin big as my two fistes--no red herrin--no nuttin! You want to kill +poor Roly Poly, Sar! You want to 'prive de world o' de cook what makes +de booflifulest dishes as you nebber see, Sar! You want to make skeleton +o' poor nigger to put in glass-case, Sar! Nebber heard o' sich numanity! +sick barbararity--sich cruelty to anmals! Where de debble you spect to +go when you die?" + +"Well, if you don't like to follow my prescriptions, it's no use coming +for my advice, don't you see," remarked the Doctor. + +"Follow your scriptions?" replied his patient, losing all respect for +his companion in the intensity of his indignation. "Follow a shark's +grandmutter, Sar. What, eat nuttin but arrow-root? nassy slop!--pooty +joke indeed. Drink nuttin but barley water?--washy stuff! Tink you catch +me at it. Be bled and physicked, and run up and down deck six times a +day for harp an hour--what a preposterosterous impossumbility." + +"You will get much worse if you don't, and possibly you may die, don't +you see," observed Tourniquet. + +"Die, Massa!" cried the fat cook, looking horrified at the idea, and +rubbing his stomach with an increased energy. "Oh, sich a debble ob a +pain! Die Massa! Poor Roly Poly die? Sich a boofliful cook die! Quite +unnatral, Massa. Oh, sich a debble ob a pain! What become o' de poor +fellars who eat him nice puddins, and soups, and all dat? Nebber hab no +beckfast; nebber hab no lunch; nebber hab no dinner; nebber hab no tea; +nebber hab no supper; never hab no nuttin! What become o' ebry body? +What become o' ship? Same o' you say Roly Poly die! Nobody do nuttin +widout him; cook be most important ofcer in ship. Roly Poly be +booflifulest cook as nebber was. Same o' you say Roly Poly die!" + +"Well you will find out the difference by-and-bye, don't you see," said +the Doctor; and, turning on his heel, he left his patient to his own +reflections. + +"Him no more doctor dan a jackmorass," muttered the fat cook, as he +waddled to another part of the ship, making the most ludicrous grimaces, +and rubbing his stomach with an activity, that for him, was quite +surprising. On his way he met with Loop, the young midshipman, who had +lately distinguished himself by his love of mischief, and fondness for +tricks. The lad, with a very demure face, approached Roly Poly. + +"How do you do, Roly Poly?" he inquired, looking into his face as if he +was wonderfully interested in the result of his question. + +"Oh, sich a debble ob a pain!" replied the fat cook, with a most +melancholy visage, continuing the up and down motion of his hand. + +"You look very ill, very ill indeed," observed the boy. "What an +extraordinary change! I should scarcely have known you. You must be in +a very dangerous state, Roly Poly. You ought to be in your hammock. You +ought to be making your will--you ought to be saying your prayers." + +"Oo, oo, oo!" blubbered out the fat cook, lengthening his face as he +listened to the remarks of his companion. "You tink I die, Massa Loop?" + +"I am much afraid you will be as dead as a herring before you can look +about you," replied Loop. + +"Oo, oo, oo!" The other continued. "Doctor say I die: you say I die: +spose I must die. Oo, oo, oo!----" + +"We are all mortal," observed the youth, with a grave countenance; "and +all, sooner or later, must leave this sublunary world. Cooks cannot be +spared any more than midshipmen." + +"Oo, oo, oo!" cried Roly Poly. + +"Is there any thing I can do for you?" anxiously inquired the +midshipman;--"any consolation I can afford, before your cold remains are +consigned to the deep." + +"Oo, oo, oo!" continued the fat cook. + +"You must have fortitude to bear the blow," said Loop, with a +countenance that would have done credit to a judge. "Let this be your +consolation, that although your body will be devoured by the first shark +that ventures in its way----" + +"Oo, oo, oo, oo!" vehemently sobbed the sick man, interrupting the +sentence before it was half finished. + +"You ought now to think of your sins," continued his tormentor. "It is +never too late to repent, you know; and I should earnestly advise you to +confess all the injuries you have done your fellow-creatures by imposing +upon their stomachs the villanous specimens of your cookery you have +from time to time set before them. Confess upon what pipe-clay and +train-oil system you made your puddings,--confess the abominable trash +you put together to manufacture into soups;--confess how many you have +poisoned with your atrocious cocoa--confess----" + +It is possible that the young midshipman might have said much more, +but Roly Poly, who had listened to his injunctions at first with +astonishment, and next with rage, lost all consideration for his +approaching dissolution, and his yellow eyeballs flashed with fury. +"What de debble you mean you fellar!" thundered out the enraged cook, +approaching his companion, who wisely kept out of arms' reach. "What de +debble you mean ob pipe-clay and train-oil? What you mean ob bominable +trash--what you mean ob poison wid trocious cocoa? You mean to sult me, +Sar? You tink I put up wid your imprance, Sar? You spose I low one man +to peak sick horble tings o' nodder man." + +"Man!" exclaimed the youth, as he edged away from his pursuer,--"You +don't call yourself a man, surely? You know you're nothing else but an +old blacking bottle, turned inside out." + +"Blacka bottle!" shouted Roly Poly, while his face became livid with +rage, and he looked utter annihilation at his insulter, "Blacka bottle! +I blacka bottle you, I catch you!" and he waddled after the midshipman +as fast as his fat legs would carry him, intent upon vengeance. + +Loop kept dodging him about from one place to another, saying the most +aggravating things he could think of, till the perspiration rolled +down the black cheeks of the infuriated cook, and he seemed completely +exhausted by his exertions. Roly Poly sat down at the foot of one of the +masts to rest himself, breathing all sorts of threatenings against his +tormentor; while the young midshipman, laughing at the success of his +trick, nimbly ascended the yards, and took up a position just over +the head of the victim of his mischief. The latter was congratulating +himself that he was left at peace, and was endeavouring to recover +the tranquillity of his temper, when he became conscious of something +dropping down upon him; putting his hand to his woolly head, he +discovered it was being covered with pitch, and, looking up, beheld +Master Loop snugly balanced aloft, amusing himself by pouring from an +old bucket some of the fluid that had polluted his person. + +It would be in vain attempting to delineate the passion of the fat cook +at this discovery. Furious with rage, he caught up a small hand-spike +that lay near, and poised it in his hand with the intention of throwing +it at his tormentor. Loop saw what he was about to do, and immediately, +as rapidly as possible, moved from his position, and kept changing from +place to place, with a quickness that baffled the fat cook's aim; but +when he had ascended to a greater height, and was passing from one point +to another with a velocity that seemed impossible to be imitated, his +foot slipped, and with a scream that made all on deck aware of his +danger, he fell headlong into the sea. + +The Albatross was proceeding at a moderate rate, and was about fifty +miles off the coast of Spain. Oriel Porphyry was conversing with Zabra +on the quarter-deck, when he noticed the accident. He, with others, +rushed to the side; and, observing where the boy descended, he +immediately threw off his upper garments, and plunged into the waves. +There was a strong sea running at the time, and it required the arm of +a powerful swimmer to force a way through the heaving billows. Upon +arriving at the surface, after his plunge, Oriel struck out for the +spot where the midshipman had fallen, but saw nothing of the object +of his search. He dived about in every direction; but was equally +unsuccessful. Anxious to endeavour to save the youth while a possibility +remained of his rescue, he continued his exertions; but he met with +nothing that could in the slightest degree, assist him in his object. +Not a trace of the boy was to be seen. Disappointed and weary, he +was about returning to the ship, when he caught the sound of a faint, +bubbling cry at no great distance from him, and turning his eyes in that +direction, he thought he could distinguish something like a human head +in the trough of an advancing wave. He swum rapidly in that direction; +and as he approached, saw it disappear from the surface. Down he dived +after it as rapidly as his skill would allow; but though he swept the +waters, far and near, with his arms, he touched nothing but the cold +salt water; and after remaining beneath the surface till his strength +and breath were nearly exhausted, he arose, dispirited and faint, into +the open air. + +While the most painful reflections were created in his mind, by the +unsuccessful result of his labours, he suddenly observed a dark +substance rise within a few feet of him; he struck out towards it +in a moment, and grasping it firmly with his hand, to his deep and +inexpressible delight discovered it to be the body of the lost +midshipman. His face was pallid, his skin cold, and as Oriel found that +he made no reply to his hurried inquiries, he was much afraid that the +boy was either dead, or was in a state nearly approaching dissolution. + +By this time the ship had been put about, and the sailors having been +made acquainted with the accident rushed with anxious faces to the side. +They watched with the deepest interest the young merchant gallantly +breasting the waves in search of their drowning favourite, and became +uneasy as they noticed the unprofitableness of his efforts. But none +regarded the progress of the swimmer with such intense excitement of +feeling as Zabra. He saw his patron pass from wave to wave--he observed +him dive into the dark waters, and waited for his re-appearance with +sensations impossible to be described. As the vessel was brought round +to the spot where Oriel Porphyry was pursuing his researches, he became +more earnest in his attention. He endeavoured to encourage him in +his efforts with his voice, and to strengthen him in his purpose by +his praise. The captain had not ascended to the deck, and he was +unacquainted with the accident: but as soon as he was made aware of it, +he hurried to the ship's side in an agony of apprehension, and it was +only the strong grasp of Boggle and Climberkin that prevented him from +plunging into the sea. + +A loud cheer from the crew announced that the young merchant had +succeeded in finding the object of his solicitude, and anxiously every +eye turned towards the spot where he was seen supporting the boy with +one arm and cleaving his way through the waves with the other. + +"A shark--a shark!" screamed Zabra; and to the horror of Oriel and +those who were observing him, a monstrous shark was seen coming rapidly +towards him. A cry of terror arose from the ship. Some shouted in hopes +of frightening away the ravenous animal--others to warn the young +merchant of his danger. Some ran to get fire arms, and Hearty, breaking +away from those who held him, suddenly hurried below the deck. The agony +of Zabra became insupportable. He screamed in all the piercing tones +of horror and despair, and his handsome features seemed convulsed with +fear. Still, as if there was a fascination in the object, he kept his +eyes upon the form of the shark. He watched its movements with a fearful +interest, and saw it near its intended victim with wild and frantic +terror. + +Oriel Porphyry beheld the approach of the giant of the deep with +consternation and dread. He could not abandon his companion, who was +incapable of making the least exertion for his own safety, and he saw no +way of rescue for himself. He held the boy tighter, and dashed along the +waves with greater velocity in hopes of reaching the rope that was hung +out from the ship before the huge animal could come up with him. To the +attainment of this purpose he strained all his powers. Many friendly +voices cheered him on, and others strove all they could to frighten +away his remorseless enemy. But the shark kept on his way, unheeding the +frightful cries and showers of missiles with which he was assailed. His +fierce eyes were fixed upon his prey, and his monstrous jaws were gaping +for their food. The rope was almost within reach, but the destroyer was +nearer. Oriel Porphyry gave himself up for lost. It appeared evident to +all that he could not escape. The crew redoubled their cries and flung +every thing at hand at the monster without avail. Just as he was turning +on his side to make the fatal gripe, Hearty rushed upon the deck with a +long knife in his hand, and before any one was aware of his purpose, he +leaped over the side of the ship and descended into the water close to +the jaws of the shark, with a splash that completely distracted the +animal's attention, and allowed Oriel Porphyry unmolested to seize the +rope which the eager sailors held to assist him in regaining the vessel. +In a moment, with his lifeless burthen still grasped in his arm, he +was hawled upon the deck, and then placing him under the care of Dr. +Tourniquet, he was turning to notice the result of the Captain's +manoeuvre when he found himself seized by the friendly grasp of Zabra, +whose delight at his escape appeared to have taken away all power of +utterance. + +But now an extraordinary scene presented itself upon the sea. The shark +had dived below the surface, when Hearty suddenly dashed down before +him; but on rising again, which he very shortly did, and on perceiving +his prey escape, he turned with increased ferocity towards the hardy +seaman, who was rejoicing at the success of his scheme. The old man +waited quietly till the shark turned to make a snap at him, then diving +quickly under his enormous belly, he plunged the knife up to the hilt in +his body, and rose up on the other side. The crew cheered vociferously +when they saw what their captain was about, and every one on board +watched the unequal combat with feelings of the most intense interest. +The ravenous monster, smarting with pain, again approached his opponent; +again he turned to gripe him within his jaws, and again the old man +diving under his belly, plunged his knife deep into his flesh. The +animal now became furious; he lashed the waves with his tail till they +became a mass of foam, and rapidly followed his brave antagonist, making +every effort to devour him; but the old man warily avoided all his +ferocious attempts, and at every blow of his arm crimsoned the water +with his blood. This fight continued for several minutes, till both the +combatants disappeared from the surface, when the anxious crew of the +Albatross began to fear that their brave old commander had fallen a +sacrifice to his exertions; but when they beheld the huge fish floating +on the water belly upwards, and heard the old man cry out for a rope, a +long and hearty cheer rose from the ship, and every one rushed to bear +a hand in assisting him on board. + +He appeared covered with the blood of the slaughtered shark, and with +the weapon in his hand, of which he had made such good service. While he +was receiving the congratulations of his messmates, he inquired eagerly +after his young relative. Oriel, who had ascertained that he was doing +well, hastened to communicate the intelligence; and the old man as soon +as he beheld the preserver of his boy, eagerly grasped his hand, and +uttered his grateful thanks. Both soon afterwards left the deck to +change their apparel. + +Among those who seemed most anxious for the recovery of the young +midshipman was Roly Poly, who, although exceedingly passionate, and +easily enraged, was a very good hearted sort of creature, and he quite +forgot the insults he had received--forgot even the terrible pains +that had a short time since so much alarmed him, when he witnessed the +dangers to which the boy had been exposed, and saw him brought lifeless +upon the deck. He assisted Dr. Tourniquet in using the usual means for +restoring suspended animation, and observed his recovery with a delight +equal to that of any one in the ship. + +After Loop was able to walk about, Roly Poly addressed him with a great +deal of gravity upon the offence he had committed. + +"Nebber you gain call me Blacka Bottle," said the fat cook. "Nebber +you say nuttin scandabalous bout de boofliful tings what I cook. +Nebber you say no preposterosterous impossumbilities. Horble ting, +massa Loop, to call Roly Poly Blacka Bottle--Horble ting to say nuttin +scandabalous--Horble ting to say preposterosterous impossumbilities." + +"I'll never say any thing against you again, Roly Poly, as long as I +live," exclaimed the contrite midshipman: and thus ended the quarrel; +and ever afterwards they were the best friends in the ship. + + + + +CHAP. II. + +AN AUSTRALIAN COLONY IN SPAIN. + + +"We are approaching the Colony to which you thought of emigrating, +are we not?" inquired Oriel Porphyry of the captain's clerk, who +stood beside him on the deck, and with whom he had been in earnest +conversation concerning the misfortunes of the young Australian. + +An expression of pain and regret passed over Ardent's countenance. + +"Yes it was here," he replied making a violent effort to conquer his +emotion. "We were destined to the penal settlement of New Sydney on the +Spanish coast, thriving accounts of which were in circulation in +Australia. My brothers were desirous of a location somewhere near the +banks of the Guadalquivir, as, although it was thinly settled, the land +was said to be of a very superior quality. My father was of the same +inclination. I had no other wish than to accompany them. Optima was +anxious for nothing but to be with me. But, alas! the devouring flame, +or the equally unrelenting flood has swallowed up all. I am a wanderer +and a beggar.--I have neither kin nor country." + +"Say not so," replied the young merchant kindly. "I have not forgotten +the services you have rendered me, nor am I likely to pass them by +without notice. If you wish to settle at the colony, I will take care +you shall have the means of doing so with every hope of success; or if +you have no particular inclination towards any country, if you will +return with me to Columbia, you may depend upon meeting with many kind +friends, and may pass the rest of your life in comfort. I must touch at +New Sydney as I expect a letter from my father, from whom I have not for +some time had any communication, which makes me exceedingly anxious; and +if you hear of any desirable farm or plot of land, I wish you would let +me know." + +"Your kindness is overpowering," said Ardent, much affected. "I have +done nothing to deserve it. I have already been rewarded in a manner far +exceeding my deserts. But while I can be of any service, I should like +to remain with you. I have no ties to bind me to any country--and where +I can be useful is where I should like to dwell." + +"So it shall be then," added Oriel Porphyry. "Be satisfied that the +remainder of your life shall bear no comparison with what has preceded +it. We are now nearing the shore. I shall require your services as I +have some business to transact; therefore you will be good enough to +prepare to land with me immediately." + +As the Albatross approached the coast, the buildings of a small seaport +became distinguishable. Some large houses faced the sea, and a battery +commanded the entrance to the port; but with the exception of one or +two streets running at right angles, the buildings straggled about +with very little pretensions to regularity. The country seemed thinly +inhabited, yet looked fertile and picturesque. Broad hills and valleys +and noble views were observable in the distance;--a wild and lofty rock +rose along the coast; and forests of noble trees were spread out in +various directions. There was no shipping in the bay, except a few small +craft; but the beach was crowded with spectators. It was observed that, +among the hundreds who were watching the progress of the ship from the +shore, there was only one female: the rest were men, and they were +apparently of all ages, but principally men in the prime of life and in +the full vigour of health. The appearance of only one woman surrounded +by such an assemblage of the other sex seemed so remarkable, that it +attracted the attention of all on board. As the ship entered the bay, +several boats were put off, and the crew of each seemed to strain every +nerve in endeavouring to get first alongside the vessel. In a few +minutes the Albatross was boarded by several different parties. + +"How many women have you?" cried one; as soon as he reached the deck. + +"Let me see your cargo of female emigrants," demanded another as he +bustled up to the captain. + +"I want a wife!" shouted a third. + +"We have no women here," exclaimed Hearty. + +"No women!" cried they in full chorus, looking as disappointed as men +could be. + +"None," replied the captain. + +"What! have you brought us no wives?" asked one in a most doleful tone. + +"Nothing of the kind," said Hearty. + +"Tarnation!" exclaimed they; and they looked at each other with all the +eloquence of mute despair. + +"A little un 'ill do for me!" squeaked out a dumpy sort of fellow, with +a red nose and a pepper-and-salt waistcoat. + +"We've got neither little nor big!" responded the captain. + +"Tarnation!" again exclaimed the bachelors; and, slowly and +despondingly, they prepared to leave the ship. + +"Now ar'nt you got nothing feminine of no kind?" earnestly asked a +sharp-visaged, lanky-looking settler, who seemed very loth to leave the +ship. "If she's a nigger, I don't care." + +"I tell you we've got no women at all!" said old Hearty, rather sharply. + +"Tarnation!" muttered the disappointed colonists: and in a short time +after they had reached the land, there was scarcely a creature, with the +exception of the female already alluded to, to be seen on the beach. +They had been expecting a ship laden with female emigrants, and as they +were very much in want of wives, imagining the Albatross to be the much +wished for vessel, they had been excessively eager to behold the cargo. +The incident created considerable amusement among the voyagers. The +sailors were particularly merry upon the occasion; and the rueful +visages of the unfortunate colonists afforded many a hearty laugh. + +Oriel had landed, and was walking along the beach, when he was startled +by a short, quick scream, and turning round, beheld the female who had +previously attracted his attention, rush into the arms of the captain's +clerk. He had noticed, on his approach to the shore, that this woman, +who from her dress appeared to be a domestic servant, seemed to regard +the persons in the boat with an anxious scrutiny; but imagining it to be +the effect of curiosity, it did not excite in him any remark. Ardent, at +this rencontre, seemed to be in a state of surprise and wonder that kept +him speechless. He gazed upon the prepossessing features of the fair +stranger as earnestly as if he had no other faculty than that of seeing. +The kind and anxious look that met his own--the arms that clasped his +neck so firmly, and the gentle voice that murmured his name, convinced +him of a fact of which he was almost incredulous. It was Optima. + +"By what fortunate chance did you escape the death I felt assured that +you had met with?" inquired Ardent, after, at Oriel's request, he +had for the purpose of privacy retired to a chamber in one of the +neighbouring habitations. + +"When I found the boat sinking, I clung to it," replied his companion; +"and when it again rose to the surface I floated on it. The blow which +it had received from the ship had propelled it a considerable distance, +and the force of the waves carried it still farther. The plunge I had +received, for some minutes took my breath away; and, although I held on +with all my strength to the boat, the heavy waves continually breaking +upon me, and the alarming position in which I found myself placed, +made me quite incapable of uttering a sound. As soon as I was able to +comprehend the extent of my danger, the thought that I was separated +from you, and the fear that you had perished in the sea, made my heart +sink within me. I clung instinctively to the floating vessel; but I had +no desire to live. I had seen enough of that dreadful conflagration +to fill me with terror; and I had not recovered from the feelings it +occasioned, when I was left alone, friendless, and about to be engulphed +in the waters. All around me was so dark that I could see nothing; but +the saltwater, as it dashed over me, scarcely allowed me to open my +eyes if I could have seen, and my strength was being rapidly exhausted. +I soon sunk into a state of stupor. How long this lasted I do not know; +but on recovery, I found myself in a cabin, receiving every attention +that my wants required; and, on inquiry, I found that I had been picked +up by the crew of a ship, which, attracted by the glare of the burning +vessel, had sent out a boat, in hopes of affording assistance to the +survivors." + +"I was saved in a similar manner," remarked Ardent. + +"When they had taken me into the boat they did not proceed any farther," +continued Optima, "as they observed that another vessel had sent out +a boat's crew upon the same errand, and having no spare time at their +command, they left the other boat to pick up the survivors, and returned +with me to the ship. I discovered also that the vessel to which I had +been conveyed had left Sydney with emigrants for the very colony to +which we were proceeding. I told my story to my preservers, and many +who heard it were kind and compassionate. An offer was made me by +the wife of a settler to remain with her in the capacity of domestic +servant, which offer I accepted without hesitation. One thing was a +great consolation to me, and that was the conviction that you had been +saved. I knew that you were a strong swimmer, and as I had been told +that a party had been sent from the ship to rescue the crew of the boat +they had run down, I concluded that you were in safety." + +"You were right, dear Optima!" said the captain's clerk; "I was taken +on board that ship, and have since held in it a responsible situation." + +"Believing you to have been rescued, I continued to live, with the hope +that I should meet you again," continued Optima. "I arrived at the +colony. The persons whose protection I had accepted, settled at Sydney, +where the husband commenced business as a builder, in which he succeeded +beyond his expectations. I was very well treated, and labour being +exceedingly valuable in the colony, my exertions were rather profitable +to me. At that time I entertained the idea that as all our property was +consumed in the fire, you must be very much in want of a variety of +comforts to which you had been used; and as the expectation of my +meeting you again was never absent from me, I laboured diligently, and +saved all my earnings as a provision for our future support." + +Ardent could only look his gratitude, and rapturously kiss the hand he +held in his own. + +"It was such a pleasure to me, dear Ardent," resumed his companion, "to +count my gains as fast as they accumulated, and I kept saying to myself +'a little more and there will be enough to begin the world again with;' +and I thought how happy I should be able to make you, and I kept hoping +we should soon meet--and every day passed by in imagining what we should +do, and in enjoying a happiness of my own creating. Every time I heard +that a ship was in the bay, I came down to the beach in hopes of finding +you among the passengers. I scrutinised every one that left the vessel +so closely that I offended some and surprised others; but although I +met with repeated disappointments, I never left off expecting your +arrival. By this time I had saved about two hundred dollars, and whether +it became known, or whether the scarcity of females brought me into +such consideration, I do not know; but scarcely a day passed without my +receiving an offer of marriage." + +"An offer of marriage!" exclaimed Ardent in surprise. + +"Yes, dear Ardent," replied Optima. "The men seemed frantic after me. I +was not safe any where. If I went to pay a bill, it was sure to conclude +on the part of the tradesman with an offer of his hand and heart. If I +entered the market, no sooner had I made a purchase than I received a +proposal. I was besieged in all hours and at all places,--I may almost +say that I received a new suitor at the corner of every street. It was +in vain I told them I was married, and showed them my wedding ring. They +saw that I had no husband with me, and they were desirous of supplying +his place; and men even of a superior rank continually plagued me with +their proposals. It is scarcely necessary to say that I gave them all +a negative answer; but these were things that they did not appear to +understand, for the more frequently I refused, the more frequently they +again proposed. At last I was obliged to state how I was situated to the +lady with whom I was staying, and she spoke to her husband; and he took +measures that put an end to the persecution. And now, dear Ardent, that +my anticipations are realised, we will be so very happy--won't we?" + +It is easier to imagine what was the answer than to describe it. It is +sufficient to say that Oriel Porphyry made a considerable addition to +the two hundred dollars which the devoted Optima had saved, that enabled +the young couple to take a promising farm up the country, with every +prospect of enjoying a life of continued happiness. + +"It is very strange," remarked the young merchant to Zabra on his return +to the ship, "it is very strange that I have had no communication from +my father. I expected one at Athenia, but I received no intelligence. I +expected one at Constantinople--there I met with the same result; and I +then made sure of meeting with one at New Sydney, but was there equally +unsuccessful. It makes me very uneasy." + +"Possibly he may have nothing of importance to write about," replied +Zabra. "Things at Columbia may remain in the same state as at his last +despatch." + +"I doubt it. I doubt that the emperor will remain satisfied with his +prerogatives curtailed to the extent to which they have lately been +reduced," said Oriel Porphyry. "There is no sincerity in these men. They +will break any compact when it suits their convenience. They have no +notion of either honour or honesty: and the emperor is a weak, vain, +foolish man, proud, tyrannical, and deceitful. Such a man must be ever +scheming to regain his former power; and if he think it be practicable +he will not be particular as to the means he will employ for that +purpose. I am much afraid my father has fallen a sacrifice to his +patriotism." + +"It cannot be," observed his companion. "They would not dare harm him." + +"Dare!" echoed his patron. "What evil will not bad men dare? And did not +that proud upstart Philadelphia load his honourable limbs with chains +and thrust him into a loathsome dungeon to die the lingering death of +starvation? He dared do that, and I doubt much whether a worse villainy +could have been perpetrated. I hope to live to see the time when I shall +have an opportunity of bringing him to an account for these and other +atrocities. If my good sword be true, and my arm has lost none of its +power, I'll not leave his worthless body till I have relieved it of his +equally worthless soul." + +"What!" exclaimed Zabra, with considerable excitement, "would you be +thus revengeful to the father of Eureka? You too, who a short time +since seemed ready to forgive him all his errors on account of his +relationship to her. What has changed you? Why would you follow the bad +examples of bad men? That he is not what he should be is too true; but +that is no reason why you should become his executioner. Do you think +that Eureka could regard you with affection when you came to her +stained with her father's blood? I am surprised that you should have +given utterance to such a sentiment." + +"I knew not till lately the atrocities he had committed, and the savage +disposition he possessed," replied the young merchant; "and I can see no +more harm in killing such a monster than there is in destroying a mad +beast." + +"How different then your feelings must be to those of your father," +observed the other. "He knew what was due to humanity, and practised it, +and he was the person best entitled to call for vengeance, but he was +satisfied with justice. Professing the regard you do towards Eureka, +nothing could surprise me more than to hear you proclaim so inhuman a +wish." + +"It is impossible for me to help feeling exasperated against him," said +Oriel. "Imagine for a moment yourself in my situation. Let your father +be as mine is, the kindest and noblest of his species; know that he who +never did harm to any living creature, but sought to create happiness +throughout the world--was fettered and reviled, and left lingering in +filth and darkness for three days, enduring all the pangs of famine; +and if you have a heart within your breast, and a soul that hates the +cowardly vices of despotism, you will feel as I do, and long for an +opportunity to punish your father's persecutor, in a manner worthy of +his crimes. I know that your relationship to the offender must stand in +the way of your seeing the justice of the punishment I would inflict: +but I am no hypocrite Zabra. I cannot disguise my detestation of such a +monster; and although next to Eureka and my father I honour you, even +your opposition would not make me change a sentiment so natural and +appropriate." + +"Leave Philadelphia to his own feelings, which sooner or later will be +sufficient punishment," responded Zabra. "Touch him not if you value +the love of Eureka. She I know has little cause to feel much affection +for him, but bad as he is she never can be brought to look upon his +destroyer with any feeling save that of repugnance." + +"If that be the case I hope he will keep out of my way," rejoined the +young merchant; "for I think I could endure anything rather than her +dislike; but the absence of intelligence from my father has certainly +made me suspicious. I am almost determined to return to Columbia without +proceeding to England." + +"I do not think such a course advisable, Oriel," observed Zabra. "There +may be a thousand things that prevent your father's correspondence, or +he may have written, and the despatches may have been lost. If this be +the case, and there is a great probability that it is, he would be very +much vexed at your returning without having accomplished your voyage." + +"Well, I will proceed, but I will only make a brief stay among the +antiquities of England, and then steer direct for Columbia," replied +Oriel Porphyry: "I have very strong doubts about things being exactly +right there. The accounts I have heard are of a contrary tendency; but +if the storm is to be, it will come unexpected. If any attempt be made +by the government to restore the old order of things, I hope they will +have the goodness to wait till my return before they commence their +proceedings. There is a powerful regiment of horse, composed of the +young citizens of Columbus, of which I have the command; I believe that +they are devoted to my will; and even with these, although they are not +above a thousand strong, I would make such a stand as would soon bring +around me all the brave spirits in the country: I only wish for an +opportunity to try the experiment." + +"Will you never dismiss these delusive visions," said his young friend, +anxiously. "I thought that you were at last becoming reconciled to a +more useful and amiable way of life." + +"You have been deceived, Zabra," observed Oriel; "I have been more +quiet, but not less ambitious. This passion for glory has become a part +of my nature; it is with me at all times. I think of it and dream of it. +It is the anticipation of finding the opportunity for greatness that +makes me able to endure the tedious inactivity of my present mode of +existence. I shall never be satisfied till I acquire the power for which +I yearn." + +"What an unhappy nature yours must be then," replied Zabra. "You have +every hope of happiness within your reach; yet because it does not +come clothed in the gorgeous draperies in which you wish it to appear, +you seem desirous of dismissing it, as of not sufficient value to be +enjoyed. I had hoped that you had become wiser; I had hoped, too, that +you had been more solicitous for the happiness of Eureka. I am afraid +all my labour has been thrown away, and that I shall have to return to +her with the intelligence that your ambitious hopes have stifled every +feeling of affection." + +"There you wrong me," exclaimed the young merchant, "you wrong me +exceedingly. My aspirations for greatness are never separate from my +hopes of Eureka; because the first are merely the result of the latter. +It is useless attempting to check the impulses which urge me on. I must +be what I am; and while my state of being, and the purposes which it +creates and would see fulfilled, cannot in any way dishonour Eureka, +nothing will convince me that they are to be condemned. From my own +knowledge of her character, I cannot imagine that she would regard +my efforts for advancement with the feeling which you have stated +she possesses. Her own greatness of soul must bring her to look with +commendation on another, who evinces a desire to obtain a similar +greatness: this ambition is a passion so entirely of her own creating, +that she cannot, with any justice, be displeased with its exhibition." + +"How little you seem to know of the nature of her whose love you +possess," replied Zabra, in a low, tremulous voice; "no doubt, she +would feel gratified at any circumstance which would exalt you in the +estimation of your countrymen. The honour you might receive would be her +glory as much as yours, and the fame you might obtain would find none +more desirous of its security than herself. But it was not for these +things that she loved you. Ambition formed no part of the qualities that +called into existence her admiration--which, having acquired its full +growth, cannot be made more perfect by the greatness you covet; and +that admiration must continue as long as the qualities that called it +into operation exist. But knowing your desire to acquire renown, and +knowing the nature of that feeling is to swallow up all the more amiable +aspirations, and being aware that the only way to its acquirement is +through a thousand terrible dangers, she cannot help the conviction, +that she would rather possess your affection as you were, than live in +continual fear, to witness your superiority, as you may be." + +"Let us say no more about it," said Oriel. "It is very evident that +neither can convince the other. I may be positive that I am going right, +and you may be positive that I am going wrong; but it is time spent to +no purpose, if we cannot be brought to change our opinions." + +"Remember, I am only doing my duty," replied the youth. "I warn you, +because the path you desire to take is surrounded by dangers. If you are +determined on going on, I say, go on and prosper; but if you go on, and +fail, the bitter disappointment you will experience will not only render +yourself miserable, but must make equally unhappy her whose felicity +you appear so desirous of creating. If you must go on, Oriel, I say +again--go on, and prosper." + + + + +CHAP. III. + +OLD ENGLAND. + + +"We are approaching the British Islands, are we not?" inquired Oriel +Porphyry. + +"Yes, Sir, the land lies right ahead," replied the captain. + +"There are several of these islands, I believe," added the young +merchant. + +"There are a great number on 'em o' different sorts and sizes," said +Hearty; "but them as is most visited are England and Ireland." + +"What is the meaning of the prefix to the word land in each of these +names?" asked Oriel of the professor. + +"England or Ingle-land means the land of the fire side," replied +Fortyfolios. "Ingle is an old British word meaning the fire at which +the inhabitants of a house warmed themselves or cooked their food. The +natives have been from the earliest times, famous for their love of the +comforts of this fire, which was usually made of coal dug out of the +earth, that made a cheerful blaze in a room, and their attachment to +their ingles procured the island the name of Ingle-land, which, in +course of time was abbreviated into the name of England." + +"I doubt that very much, don't you see," here observed Dr. Tourniquet; +"for in my opinion, England has a totally different derivation. +The aborigines of the island were principally fishermen, and very +appropriately had given to them the name of angle-ers, which means +people who fish. Each separate kingdom was called a kingdom of the +Angles, from the natives using an angle, and the whole island was called +Angle-land, or the land of the angle, which for shortness was soon +afterwards called England." + +"'Tis nothing of the kind, Dr. Tourniquet," rejoined the professor +warmly. "I wonder you should have started such an absurd idea." + +"It is quite as reasonable as yours at any rate, don't you see," +remarked the doctor. + +"It has no such pretension," said the other in a decided manner. "I +can prove that the fire or ingle was a national characteristic of the +people." + +"And I can prove that fishing or angle-ing was a national characteristic +of the people," added his antagonist. + +"Pooh!" exclaimed one, contemptuously. + +"Pish!" cried the other. + +"Ingle-land,"--resumed the professor. + +"Angle-land,"--said the doctor, interrupting him. + +"Now, Dr. Tourniquet, I beg I may not be interrupted by your ridiculous +blunders," observed Fortyfolios with considerable asperity, and a look +of dignity peculiar to himself. + +"The blunder is on your side, don't you see," replied the surgeon, with +a chuckle of satisfaction exceedingly annoying to his companion. + +"Never mind if it be Ingle-land or Angle-land," exclaimed Oriel +Porphyry. "All we know for certain is, that it is now called England. +But how do you account for the adoption of the other name?" + +"Of the derivation of that word there can be no doubt--it explains +itself," said Fortyfolios. "Ireland means the land of ire. The natives +from time immemorial have been known to be excessively irascible. They +would quarrel upon the slightest cause, and fight from no cause at all. +They would fight when they were hungry, upon which occasion, as was very +natural, they fought for a belly-full. They would fight for liquor; they +would fight for fun; they would fight for love; they would fight to get +drunk, and then fight to get sober. The happiest men among them were +those who were most frequently beaten, and such persons were known to be +the best friends as were continually trying to knock out each other's +brains. These men consequently got the appropriate name of Ire-ishmen, +and the island was called Ire-land." + +"There you're wrong again, don't you see," observed Tourniquet. "The +name Ire-land was derived from Higher-land, to express that the country +was more elevated in the estimation of the natives than any other part +of the globe. They entertained the most preposterous ideas about the +importance of their island. They stated that when the rest of the world +was sunk in barbarism, their Higher-land was the seat of intelligence, +and virtue, and superior bravery. They asserted that their soldiers +were the only soldiers that ever existed, and that their agricultural +labourers were 'the finest pisantry in the world.' But there was +certainly something very singular about them; and even their +brick-layers' labourers were odd men. The island was also called by the +natives The Emerald Island, I believe because it sometimes produced +Irish diamonds. The Green Isle was another of its names--and this was +derived from the greenness of the people. The men went by the name of +'the boys' long after the age at which other boys became men; and even +the oldest of the old men among them, when he breathed his last, was +said to die in a green old age." + +"It is extraordinary to me, Dr. Tourniquet, that you will give utterance +to such fallacies," remarked the professor. "The facts are exactly as I +have stated them." + +"The facts are exactly as I have stated them," said the other with +marked emphasis. + +"Was there not a very celebrated character styled St. Patrick, who +flourished at one time among the Irish?" inquired the young merchant. + +"Certainly there was," replied Fortyfolios. "Patrick, Pater Rick--or +Rick being the abbreviation of Richard--Father Richard, was a poor +monk----" + +"That I deny!" eagerly exclaimed the doctor. "For, as it is stated in a +very ancient poem I have met with, + + 'St. Patrick was a gintleman + And born of dacent paple.'" + +"That is no authority," resumed Fortyfolios. "I affirm that he was a +poor monk and----" + +"I maintain that he was a gentleman," replied the other. + +"I insist that you do not interrupt me, Dr. Tourniquet," exclaimed the +professor angrily. "He was an exceedingly pious and virtuous man, +and by his example and precepts did a great deal of good among his +countrymen." + +"Yes," said the surgeon, gravely, "I have met with an authority that +says + + 'He gave the frogs and toads a twist, + And banished all the varmint.' + +Now the usual reading of this couplet is that he drove the frogs and +toads out of the country; but if we look to the meaning of the word +twist, we shall find that it means an appetite: a man with a twist means +a man with a certain facility in swallowing anything eatable that comes +before him; and as we know that frogs at one time were considered a +great delicacy by the ancients, it is not unreasonable to imagine that +St. Patrick was a great epicure, and swallowed all the frogs and toads +in the island." + +"Preposterous!" exclaimed Fortyfolios; "he was a saint whose prayers +had the efficacy of ridding the country of every venomous thing it +contained. But there is a remarkable legend connected with his history, +which I will relate to you as I found it in a very ancient poem +preserved in the Columbian Museum. It appears that he was one fast day +on a visit at a house, and he desired dinner might be brought to him; +but the family having already dined there was no fish, the usual food +for fast days, for his meal; in fact there was nothing eatable in the +larder but a leg of mutton. With great regret the people of the house +acquainted him with the real state of the case: but the good saint, with +a benevolent smile, as the poet describes, merely said, + + 'Send my compliments down to the leg + And bid it come hither a salmon.'" + +"And what was the result?" inquired Oriel. + +"To use the simple and expressive words of the poem," replied the +professor, with his usual gravity, + + "'And the leg most politely complied.'" + +"You see those white cliffs just beginning to show 'emselves," said the +captain, pointing to the distant coast. + +"I see them plainly," replied the young merchant. + +"That's the coast of England, Sir," added Hearty. Oriel Porphyry gazed +on the classic shores that were rising before him with a deep and +peculiar interest. He had read so much, and he had heard so much of the +glory of the country he was approaching, and of the greatness of her +people, that the first sight of land awakened in him the most agreeable +associations. He thought of the splendour of her achievements--he +thought of the magnificence of her power--he thought of her illustrious +men--he thought of her noble efforts in the advance of intelligence--and +the white cliff upon which he was gazing appeared to him to be the most +interesting portion of the world. + +"The appearance of the shore from the sea at one time conferred +on England the name of Albion," said the professor. "From _Alba_ +white--from which word many other names were derived, particularly +_album_--a white book in great request at one time among the females of +the island, to teach them the art of spoiling paper for the benefit of +the stationers--and _albumen_, the white of an egg, a sort of food in +great request with the chicken-hearted. Some of the natives of Albion +carried their attachment to the name so far that they lived in a place +which they designated _the Albany_, and had a favourite place of resort +which they called 'Whites.' There was also a certain building situated +in _White_ Cross Street, to which they proceeded, to show their +nationality, by getting _white_-washed. The females were remarkable for +a partiality to white bread, white wine, and white linen, and the males +evinced an equal fondness for white bait, white waistcoats, and white +hands, and to such an extent did this favouritism for a particular +colour extend, that there was a neighbouring island, called the Isle of +White, to which the inhabitants of Albion made occasional journeys, for +the pleasure of destroying white ducks, or white muslin: and it was +usual for every generation to be christened in white, to be married in +white, and to be buried in white." + +"What are these vessels approaching us in this threatening manner," +inquired Oriel Porphyry, as he noticed several old crazy-looking boats +filled with men who were coming towards them with their crews, howling, +screeching, and yelling with all the strength of their lungs. + +"I do not think they mean us any good," replied the captain: then +turning to some of the sailors standing scrutinising the appearance of +a strange fleet, evidently bearing down upon them, he exclaimed, "Get +the long gun ready, and give these fools a taste of grape if they +attempt to attack us." + +"Ay, ay! Sir," replied one of the men; and every disposition was made +to repel any assault that might be attempted. + +As they approached nearer, it was observed that these vessels were a +vast number of large open boats, some with sails, but most without, +and they were so crammed with men, that many of them were in danger +of sinking every minute. Their crews were clothed in ragged vestments +of every colour and description, and they were armed with old swords, +pistols, guns, pitchforks, and bludgeons, and these they displayed as +they advanced, shouting all the time in wild savage tones perfectly +deafening. A larger boat was in advance of the others, and in a +conspicuous situation in this vessel stood up a tall fierce-looking +man with his head bound round with a hay-band, and a tattered blanket +dropping from his shoulders. He brandished a rusty sword as he +approached, and gave orders to those who followed, which appeared to +meet with implicit obedience. When he came within gun-shot of the +Albatross, he turned round to his followers and addressed them. + +"Boys," said he, pointing to the ship, "yonder's the furreners. It's +meself as 'ill take their big baste iv a ship if ye'll be all to the +fore. Divle a care ye may take ov their darty guns that their pointing +at yese--its made ov wood they are, and sorrow a harm they can do, bad +luck to 'em. Keep your powther dry, boys, and look to your flints, and +iv we don't kill and murther and throttle every mother's son ov 'em, +I'm not King Teddy O'Riley." + +"Sheer off there, you ragamuffins," shouted the captain through a +speaking trumpet. "Sheer off, or I'll sink ev'ry soul of ye within +gun-range." + +"Down wid the darty furreners!" screamed King Teddy O'Riley; a shower of +balls whistled past the captain, and on came the over-loaded boats, with +their crews yelling in the most frantic manner. There appeared to be at +least five or six hundred of them, and it was judged expedient to put +an immediate stop to their progress. The long gun was discharged, which +sunk the foremost boat, and killed the greater portion of its crew. The +rest hesitated when they beheld their monarch swept into the sea; and +a well-directed fire of musketry made them glad enough to commence a +retreat as fast as they could, screaming in hideous chorus as long as +they could be heard. + +"Take a boat and see if you can save any of those rascals sprawling in +the water," exclaimed the captain to the midshipman Loop. + +"Yes, Sir," was the reply; and the boat having been lowered, a party +proceeded to pick up the wounded and drowning. They succeeded in saving +several, among whom was their illustrious leader, King Teddy O'Riley, +who was brought upon deck, looking very much deprived of his dignity, +his coronet of hay-bands wet and dirty, and his blanket of state shrunk +out of all shape. He created considerable surprise among his captors, +and not without sufficient cause, for nothing could exceed the +eccentricity of his appearance. His hair was thick and long, and of a +dark-red colour. Large, bushy whiskers of the same tint surrounded his +cheeks. His nose was remarkably red, and his face seamed with the marks +of the small-pox. Below his cloak was a long coat, which did not appear +the more royal for being out at the elbows, and for having lost half its +skirt. His lower garments hung upon him like a bag, and they had the +legs rolled back up to the knees. A pair of old boots, exceedingly down +at heel, out of which the toes of his majesty were seen to peep in +spite of the straw with which they were lined, completed his costume. + +"And who the deuce are you?" demanded the captain, after he had +sufficiently scrutinised the appearance of his prisoner. + +"Faix and isn't it King Teddy O'Riley I am?" replied the man. + +"And what part o' the world are you king of, I should like to know?" +asked Hearty in considerable surprise. + +"Faix and ain't I king ov Blatherumskite?" said the other. + +"And where, in the name o' all that's wonderful, is Blatherumskite?" +inquired the captain. + +"And is it yourself that doesn't know where Blatherumskite is?" +exclaimed his majesty in seeming wonder. "Well the ignorance o' some +people is amazin! Not know Blatherumskite! Be the holy japers that bates +Bannagher, and Bannagher bate the divle. And Blatherumskite sich a jewel +ov a place! Why Blatherumskite's the finest kingdom and has the finest +paple under the sun. It's full ov commodities ov all sorts. It dales in +turpentine, brickdust, soft soap, and other swate mates--tracle, and +train oil, pepper and salt, and other hardware,--pigs, buttermilk, +paraties, and other kumbustibles. Not know Blatherumskite indade! Be +this and be that, you're as ignorant as a born brute." + +"And what induced you to fire at me, Mr. King Teddy O'Riley?" demanded +the captain. + +"Faix and wasn't it only just to kill ye we fired at ye?" replied the +king, with the utmost simplicity. + +"It was, was it?" exclaimed Hearty; "and for what reason did you attack +the ship?" + +"Wid no other rason in life than to take it," responded his majesty. "I +was jist a lading the boys to make a decint on England, wid the hope ov +being able to pick up a few thrifles, when we seed your ship. 'The top +ov the morning to ye,' says I, 'and if I don't be afther ransacking ye +intirely small blame to me there'll be.' And then we pulled away at the +divle's own rate, and a mighty dale ov divarsion the boys had about what +they'd do wid the big ship when they'd got her, when widout wid your +lave or by your lave, I was regularly kilt, smashed, and smothered into +the wather. And here I am." + +"Well, King Teddy O'Riley, we must be under the necessity of hanging +you," observed the captain. + +"Hang me!" shouted the man, in perfect amazement. "Hang a king!--hang +King Teddy O'Riley? Hang the King ov Blatherumskite? Why its rank +trason? Ye'll not be afther thinkin ov doin sich a rebellious action. I +shall feel obliged to ye if ye wont mintion it." + +"And what would you have done with us if you had succeeded in your +ridiculous idea of taking the ship?" inquired Hearty. + +"Faix and wouldn't we have kilt every sowl of yese, and taken the rest +prisoners?" replied his majesty. + +"Then we cannot do better than follow your example," observed the +captain; then turning to some of his men, who appeared to enjoy the +scene with particular satisfaction, he exclaimed, "Get a rope ready at +the fore-yard arm that we may hang this fellow!" The sailors with great +alacrity made the necessary preparations. + +"Be all the holy saints betwixt this and no where, ye'll not be +afther taking away the life ov a poor king!" exclaimed his majesty of +Blatherumskite, with the greatest earnestness and alarm. "What'll I do +now? Sure and I'm in a bad way! Sure and I'll be done for intirely! And +is it to be hanged I am?" continued he, looking woefully at the rope +that was dangling ready for immediate use. "Is King Teddy O'Riley +to be kilt afther sich a villainous fashion? Oh what a disgrace for +Blatherumskite! What a dishonour to a king. Oh what 'ill I do--what 'ill +I do?" + +"Is the rope ready?" inquired Hearty. + +"All right, Sir," said the boatswain. + +"Then hoist him up," replied the captain. The men proceeded to fulfil +the command of their officer. + +"Oh it's in a pretty way I am!" exclaimed the unfortunate monarch, with +tears in his eyes. "Be the holy japers, wouldn't I change places wid +any body as would like to be hanged in my place. It's yourself, Murphy +O'Blarney, that's the good subject," said the king, addressing one of +his companions with particular and impressive emphasis. "Sure, and ye've +got more pathriotism than to let the King ov Blatherumskite be hanged, +when it's your own loyal neck as would fit the rope so azy." Murphy +O'Blarney did not seem to hear. "Bad luck to the likes ov yese for +a thraitor," murmured his majesty. Then, turning to another of his +subjects, he said, "Larry Brogues, it's great confidence I place in +ye--ye're a jewel ov a man intirely; and if ye 'ill jist be afther doing +me the thrifling favour ov being hanged in my place, the best pig I have +shall be your's." Larry appeared as if he had lost all relish for pork. +"I always said ye were a base ribbel!" muttered the angry monarch, +turning from him to address a third. "Mick Killarney, a sinsible boy +you've showed yerself afore to-day, and little's the praise I take to +meself for not having rewarded ye according to your desarts; but if +ye'll show your superior desarnment, by letting the little bit ov a +rope be placed round your neck instead ov mine, it's meself that 'ill +make a man ov ye when I get back to Blatherumskite." Mick Killarney +turned the only eye he had in his head, to another part of the ship. +"There's more brains in the tail of a dead pig, than 'ill ever come +out ov yer thick skull, ye villain!" exclaimed King Teddy O'Riley in a +thundering rage: then he looked very pathetic, wiped his eyes with a +corner of his blanket, and began to chant, in the most miserable tones, +the following words:-- + + "Who'll bile the paraties and pale 'em and ate 'em! + Who'll drink all the butthermilk I used to swallow! + Who'll hand round the whiskey, and take his own share too + Wid mighty convanience. + + "Oh Teddy O'Riley your reign's put a stop to, + Small blame to your sowl! you're a king now no longer, + You're smashed all to smothers, and dished up and done for + In a way most amazin. + + "Not brave Alexander, or Nebuchadnezzar, + Who went out to grass wid the rest ov the cattle, + Not Moses, or Boney, nor yet Cleopatra, + Were treated so vilely. + + "Its meself that is up to me eyes in amazement + To see you desaved and surrounded by villains, + Who are wantin to place your poor neck in a halter + Bad luck to their mothers! + + "Is it rope you're desirin? the divle a ha'porth. + Is it hanged that you would be? not me then by Japers, + Oh! there's sinse and there's rason in your own way ov thinkin, + You're cliver intirely. + + "But sorrow a hope have ye got to indulge in, + For there hangs the rope like a murtherin blaguard, + Wid a knot at one end, and a noose at the other. + Oh what 'ill I do now?" + +Oriel Porphyry, who had laughed exceedingly at the whole scene, now +stepped forward, and, by his interference, saved his majesty's life. + +"I always thought that Ireland formed a portion of the British +dominions," observed the young merchant. + +"So it did," replied Fortyfolios, "and enjoyed an unexampled state of +prosperity; but the people were always dissatisfied and unreasonable; +and were ever accusing the government of the country by which they were +ruled of creating that social disorganisation which was the effect +of their own evil habits--and which had existed, as may be proved by +a reference to their own annals, as far back as it was possible to +refer--and, upon the first opportunity, they threw off their allegiance +to the British empire, and became, as they had previously been, a +separate kingdom. As might have been expected, internal strife now +appeared. As had formerly been the case, the country was cut up into a +party of petty monarchies, that were continually at war with each other. +These having gradually become smaller and more numerous, there is now a +king to every potato-garden, of which class of monarchs his majesty of +Blatherumskite is an example; and when these fellows are not striving +to exterminate each other, they make piratical excursions to the +neighbouring coast, and there create all the mischief in their power, +by robbing, plundering, killing, and burning." + +"We are entering the Nore, now Sir," remarked the captain. + +"The derivation of the word is exceedingly puzzling," remarked the +professor, "and I have met with no explanation that has satisfied me. +Some antiquarians trace it to Noah, but they bring forward nothing which +can be relied on in proof of this idea. I must say it is my opinion +that Noah was never in this part of the world. Others ascribe it to +the frequent use of the words 'Know her,'--as parties of pleasure used +frequently to start in steam-boats from the metropolis to this place, +and then return; and intimacies between the young males and the young +females who had never met previously, used to spring up during this +excursion, and the former used to reply when they were asked if they +knew an individual of the other sex, 'Know her? we met going towards the +sea,' and the words at last became so common that it gave name to the +place." + +"You're wrong again, don't you see!" exclaimed the doctor. "But I'll +tell you how the place came by the name. In very ancient times a company +of individuals created a joint-stock association to work a copper mine +of great value which they said had been discovered on the neighbouring +coast, and the people, deluded by the great anticipations held out by +the schemers, invested large sums in the affair. The shaft was sunk and +the mine worked, and the anxious citizens were every day coming down in +crowds to learn the progress of the mine, but they invariably met with +one answer to all their queries, which was 'No Ore;' and this lasted +till the bubble burst. Since then the place was called 'No Ore,' which +ultimately dwindled into 'Nore.'" + +"Preposterous!" cried Fortyfolios. "I wonder you can repeat such a +ridiculous conception." + +"I'm positive that my 'No ore' is as good as your 'Noah' or 'Know her,' +don't you see," replied the doctor, good humouredly. + +"Nothing of the kind, Dr. Tourniquet," said the other very gravely. "My +derivations are founded on well ascertained facts." + +"And my derivation is founded on better ascertained facts," added the +surgeon. + +"The coast here seems quite deserted," observed Oriel Porphyry. "I +do not see a habitation--nor a human creature--nor any species of +vessel--nor any sign of life whatever." + +"Possibly the natives have deserted this part of the coast from its +liability to be visited by the Irish pirates," replied the professor. +"But what a change there must have been in the appearance of this +neighbourhood a few centuries back! Then vessels of every size and +nation might have been seen sailing in almost countless numbers down the +river to the Port of London, which was the mart of the world. Merchant +ships and ships of war, colliers, fishing-vessels, passage-boats and +pleasure-yachts were passing and re-passing each other at all hours of +the day. Then these masses of ruins which you are passing on each side +of the river, were filled with busy inhabitants engaged in the various +labours of traffic. Here ships were built, fitted out, victualled, and +stored, and when manned with a gallant crew, set sail to visit every +quarter of the globe, to dispose of their cargoes and to bring home the +produce of other countries. There was a battery to prevent the passage +of the enemy's ships in time of war. A little further on we come to a +fashionable watering place, in which the tired citizens forgot the toils +of business in the pursuit of pleasure. Towns and villages existed on +either side; some of considerable importance, with a numerous population +engaged in every species of manufacture and of laborious employment." + +"The country possesses a most desolate appearance," remarked Zabra. + +"The natural effect of the cause which produced it," responded the +professor. "Here all the horrors of war have been exhibited on the most +comprehensive scale, and what warfare left untouched time has since +destroyed. Nothing meets the eye but blackened buildings and tottering +walls. The country is a wilderness--the town a desert. A little time +since all was busy--all was fertile; and every nook and corner resounded +with the stir of the artisan at his craft, and the mirth of the idler at +his pleasure." + +"What part of the island was this called?" inquired Oriel. + +"These are the shores of Kent, so called from the ancient word Kenned, +known or famous," replied Fortyfolios. "It was called the garden of +England, and, if the accounts which describe it are to be depended on, +well did it deserve the title. It was one continued field of fruit, and +flowers, and grain. Forests of magnificent timber afforded materials for +the carpenter and the ship-builder--plantations of hops gave employment +to the cultivators, the merchants, and the brewers of malt liquors; and +orchards of cherries were in constant demand from one end of the island +to the other. Now the timber has either been cut down, or died of +natural decay--the hop gardens have given place to crops of luxuriant +weeds--and the sweet and luscious fruits have become wild and sour." + +"Here is an extensive collection of ruins on the left--and it seems once +to have been an important place," observed the young merchant. + +"It was so," said the professor. "There were the public dockyards, the +arsenal, a college for the education of youth to the profession of +war, manufactures on the most extensive scale of materials employed in +fitting out ships for the war or merchant service, and conveniences for +traffic or accumulation of all sorts of naval and military stores. There +were foundries for cannon--manufactories of cordage, shot, nails, and +ship biscuit--magazines for the safe deposit of gunpowder--yards for +ship-building, and warehouses for apparel: now you see nothing but the +bare walls rising up from the mass of ruins of which they are a portion. +In solitude the wild dog howls where all was human life and industry; +and with the boldness of long indulgence, the bats congregate in the +chambers of the merchants." + +"Here are the remains of a more stately structure than any we have +hitherto passed--was it a palace?" inquired Oriel Porphyry. + +"It was nothing more than a hospital for poor sailors, such as had been +maimed in the service of their country," replied Fortyfolios. + +"Indeed!" exclaimed the young merchant, with considerable surprise. + +"Nothing else, I assure you," added his tutor. + +"The government were remarkably attentive to the wants of their seamen +then--they must have valued their services very high to have lodged them +in so sumptuous a building as this appears to have been," observed +Oriel. + +"Their dwelling was at one time far more magnificent than the palace of +the King of England," continued the professor. "There was no edifice +erected for such a purpose to equal it in the whole world. There the +wounded sailor passed the rest of his life enjoying every comfort he +required. He had the range of a magnificent mansion, and an extensive +and beautiful park. Proper officers watched over his health, his diet +was strengthening and plentiful, and under the care of good and pious +men his moral wants were equally well attended to. In another part of +the river there used to be a building of similar extent that had been +erected for poor and wounded soldiers, and they were provided for in a +manner equally generous and considerate." + +"These people were distinguished for their charities, I believe," +remarked the young merchant. + +"They were," replied Fortyfolios. "They had numberless hospitals in +which the poor, afflicted with disease, or hurt by accidents, were +promptly cared for, and skilfully treated. The ablest physicians, the +most experienced surgeons, and the most skilful nurses waited upon them; +and all that the necessities of their cases demanded was immediately +rendered. They had asylums for females who had strayed from the path of +virtue, where they were taught industrious and moral habits, and then +restored to society capable of taking a place with its most useful and +honourable members. They had houses of instruction to reclaim young +thieves, in which they received an excellent education, were taught +some useful trade, and then re-entered the community capable of passing +through the busy scenes of life with credit to themselves and others. +They had----." + +"They had hospitals and asylums for every vice that disgraces humanity, +don't you see," said the doctor, interrupting the speaker with more +bitterness than was usual with him. "The vilest of the vile were +sheltered and preached to, and made comfortable and happy; but while +vice received every possible attention in fine buildings, with numerous +servants, virtue might crawl through the public streets and starve; +and while the rogue was carefully instructed in all things that were +excellent to save his wretched life and soul, the honest man, struggling +with adversity and sickness, was left to die and be damned. There was no +asylum for the virtuous woman; but the vilest prostitute had always a +ready home. Integrity and intelligence had to fight with famine alone +and unnoticed; but ignorance and dishonesty, profligacy and crime, were +sought after and generously provided for. In fact, under this miserable +state of things there existed a bonus upon vice. If the vile were +only vile enough, they were the objects of universal benevolence: +but to be poor without being vile--oh! it was considered something so +contemptible, that the charitable could not be brought to pay it the +slightest regard." + +For a wonder Fortyfolios made no reply. + +"This place is also of considerable importance to the scientific +inquirer," continued the professor; "for here was a famous observatory, +in which the most illustrious astronomers carried on their +investigations into the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the laws +which govern them. Many interesting discoveries were here made. From +here were calculated the distances of various parts of the world. The +neighbourhood was also distinguished by being a place of favorite resort +of the inhabitants of the metropolis; and even members of the government +used to indulge themselves occasionally with a trip to this once +delightful place, for the purpose of enjoying a delicacy in the shape of +a very small fish, a thousand of which would scarcely make a sufficient +meal." + +"Here are many heaps of stones and fragments of brickwork. I should +suppose that they are the remains of a town of some kind," observed the +young merchant. + +"They cover a space sufficiently extensive to make it probable," replied +Fortyfolios; "but they ought to be considered as a distant suburb of +the metropolis. They were chiefly inhabited by persons engaged in the +production or sale of naval stores, and boat-builders, fishermen, and +sailors employed in managing the craft upon the river. In some places +there are wharves for merchandise, in others for coals; here was a +factory for the produce of canvass, there an establishment of engineers +who sent steam vessels to every sea that flows. The river here used to +be crowded with shipping; so much so that the passage of the vessels +often became slow and dangerous. Here were ships from every commercial +nation on the globe, each laden with the produce of their country, and +each intent on returning with a cargo of English goods." + +"What a gloomy looking building this must have been, if we may judge +from what remains of it!" remarked Zabra. + +"That used to be a fortress and state prison," said the Professor. +"There were once confined persons accused of treason, and there they +remained previous to their execution. Some of the noblest and best +spirits of the time have been incarcerated in those old walls. The noble +Raleigh, the patriot Russell, the lovely Anna Boleyn, and numberless +others whose names have become a part of history. There also were kept +the regalia and--." + +"And there also were kept the wild beasts," observed the doctor, good +humouredly, "and there is every reason for believing that the latter +managed to get at the regalia; for an ancient poem I have met with +says-- + + "The lion and the unicorn + Were fighting for the crown, + And the lion beat the unicorn + All about the town"-- + +no doubt to the great astonishment of the citizens." + +"I am going to anchor now, sir," here exclaimed the captain, "as the +navigation o' the river beyond this arn't practicable for a vessel o' +such tonnage as the Albatross." + +"Let it be done then," replied the young merchant; "and let an armed +party be got ready to accompany me on land, as I am desirous of +examining the antiquities of the place." + +"Yes, sir," responded Hearty; and preparations were immediately made to +go ashore. + +"You see before you the remains of a bridge," observed Fortyfolios, +pointing to several broken arches that appeared above the water; "it was +considered one of the finest examples of that kind of structure that +had ever been erected, and an old chronicler I lately perused gives an +elaborate account of the ceremonies that took place when it was first +opened to the public. On that occasion the king and queen went in state, +accompanied by their court, and all the great men were there, and the +great merchants, and thousands upon thousands of citizens. Now you +can behold nothing but the crumbling stone-work, green with age, and +instead of the music and shouts which accompanied the procession, we can +only hear the hoarse cry of the bittern from the neighbouring marshes, +and the fierce howl of the jackal from some ruined building." + +"The boat's ready, sir!" said the captain; and shortly afterwards the +whole party proceeded in a boat to the shore. + + + + +CHAP. IV. + +THE LAST OF THE ENGLISHMEN. + + +A large tent had been pitched in an open space among the ruins of the +ancient city. Before it stood Oriel Porphyry leaning on a gun, with +Zabra at his side, resting on his harp. At the distance of a few feet +Fortyfolios and Tourniquet were seated on a fallen pillar, disputing +about the character of a building, the remains of which lay before them. +The captain and the midshipman were conversing together by the side +of the tent, and grouped about were twenty or thirty sailors well +armed--some reclining on the ground, others leaning against a column, +and the rest congregated into little parties, engaged in talking over +the adventures of the day, or in passing their opinions upon the +neighbouring ruins. + +On one side of the tent stood a great portion of a very elegant +structure, of considerable dimensions, and of a classical style of +architecture; on the other side stood the ruins of a building of about +the same size, with a handsome portico supported by several beautiful +pillars, upon which might be observed a female draperied figure much +mutilated. A short distance from between them there arose a tall column +with a bronze statue of a warrior, broken and disfigured, lying at its +base. Beyond the column was a flight of broken steps that led to an open +space overgrown with wild shrubs and weeds; and beyond these, and around +in every direction, nothing met the eye but confused heaps of stone and +brickwork, overgrown with rank herbage; and pillars, and walls, and +glassless windows. + +"I am tired of this continual ruin," exclaimed Oriel Porphyry. "We +have travelled all the day and met nothing but broken pedestals, and +prostrate capitals; porches without pillars, and pillars without +porches; trembling porticoes, tottering walls, and roofless dwellings. +I never witnessed such a perfect desolation. The only living thing I +have seen was a wolf, who stared at me as if quite unused to a human +countenance, and never attempted to move till I sent the contents of my +gun at his head. Then, immediately I had fired, there flew around me +such flights of bats, ravens, vultures, and owls, and they created such +a din of screaming and hooting, that I was absolutely startled." + +"See how the ivy clings to the wall, Oriel!" said Zabra to his patron, +as he pointed to a ruin beside them; "how it twines round the fluted +pillar, and hides the ornaments of the richly decorated capital. There +is poetry astir in those leaves--there is a music breathing in the +breeze that shakes them. There! see you the bird moving out its head +from their friendly shelter to notice our movements? She has her nest +there, Oriel: in that little circle are all her pleasures concentrated. +She has made her happiness in the very desolation of which you complain. +It is impossible to look around and say all is barren. There is not a +weed that grows but what is full of enjoyment for myriads of creatures +of which we take no note. Is there nothing in these stones which does +not awaken in you associations that ought to people them with the +countless multitudes that once found pleasure in this wilderness? I see +not the ruin. I notice not the silence. Memory looks through the vista +of departed time, and lo! all is splendour and beauty--and the deserted +porticoes echo with the voice of gladness. Let me sing to you, Oriel; +this is a glorious place for sweet sounds and antique memories, and I +will see to what use I can apply them." + +The young musician, after a short, touching prelude, then sung, with the +deep expression that characterised all his attempts at minstrelsy, the +following words:-- + + "To the home of the brave ones, the true and the kind, + With a heart filled with hope I have been; + And I thought of the gladness and peace I should find, + And the smiles of delight I had seen. + + "But the dwelling was homeless, and roofless, and bare, + 'Twas a ruin that threatened to fall; + And my sorrowing heart seemed to cling to despair, + Like the ivy that clung to the wall. + + "Oh! where are the roses that clustered and spread + Round the porch where my wishes were told? + Alas! from the porch all the roses have fled, + And the hands that once plucked them are cold. + + "Oh! where are the friends, the young, thoughtless, and gay, + Who gave life to the garden and hall? + All, all have departed--all, all passed away, + Save the ivy that clings to the wall. + + "Be glad, my fond heart--there is hope for you yet, + For these leaves have a comfort convey'd; + There are moments and pleasures I ne'er can forget, + Though both roses and friends have decayed. + + "Though this breast be a ruin where sorrow hath cast + Desolations she cannot recal; + Still mem'ry shall cling to the joys that are past, + Like the ivy that clings to the wall." + +"I tell you, Dr. Tourniquet, you're completely in error," exclaimed +Fortyfolios. "The meaning of the word United Service is evident, and +admits of no dispute. In old authors we frequently read of people 'going +to service,' and as often of a union of offices in the same person, +such as butler and steward, valet and footman, gardener and groom; and +there cannot be a doubt that this is what was called united service, and +that this building was dedicated to the purpose of finding situations +for such people." + +"Dedicated to a fiddle-stick. Don't you see?" replied the doctor. "I +tell you it was a club that met there to play at cards, and that was the +reason that they had a king of clubs, and a queen of clubs, and a knave +of clubs, and ever so many other clubs; and as a qualification, all the +members were obliged to be club-footed, and they were governed by what +they called club law." + +"'T was no such thing, Dr. Tourniquet, depend upon it," said the +professor. "I'm sure 't was the united service, because I have a book +in my library that mentions it as the United Service." + +"And I'm sure it was a club, because I've got a book in my library that +mentions it as a club," responded the other. + +"Then the building opposite was devoted to very different purposes," +continued Fortyfolios. "It was called the Athenæum, the derivation of +which word I have never been able to discover. Perhaps it had its origin +in the Modern Athens, a place of some importance in the neighbourhood of +Blackwood's Magazine--once a famous depôt for combustibles, that blew up +occasionally with great damage. However, it was erected for the purpose +of bringing together all the intelligence of the country. + + 'Together let us range the fields, + Impearled with the morning dew,' + +says an ancient poet, and there is no doubt that the lines were +addressed by one member of the Athenæum to another." + +"And what good did they ever do by being brought together?" inquired +Tourniquet. + +"That has never been ascertained," replied the other. + +"For what purpose was this column erected?" asked the young merchant. + +"It was erected to commemorate the victories of a certain Duke of +York," said the professor. "He distinguished himself greatly during the +wars of the rival houses of York and Lancaster. Besides being a great +general, his piety was so great that he became a bishop, and there are a +series of moral discourses extant, that took place between the Bishop +and the Bishop's Clarke, a person who was also very celebrated. It may +be said that this Duke of York enjoyed more credit in his day than any +of his predecessors; indeed he was in such general requisition that the +constant inquiries after him, gave rise to the saying, 'York, you're +wanted;' and it was to him that the people, after a disturbance which +he had pacified, said,-- + + 'Now is the winter of our discontent + Made glorious summer by the son of York.'" + +"I certainly feel the charm of association as much as any one," observed +Oriel to his companion; "but the gratification I find in treading shores +so celebrated by historic recollections is changed to a painful feeling +at beholding the wreck to which has been reduced the greatness I have +honoured. I should suppose, from what I have seen, that the whole land +is in a similar state as that portion of it which has come under my +observation. I can imagine nothing so deplorable. There appear to be no +living things in the island but wild animals. I can only account for +their being here, from my knowledge that, in former times, the natives +kept several large collections of them for show, and that these having +escaped, they spread themselves over the country." + +At this moment Oriel's quick ear caught the sound of a low sharp growl +at no great distance from him, and turning round, beheld a large lion +crouching behind a heap of stones near the two philosophers, who were +disputing so vehemently that they had not the slightest idea of their +danger. The young merchant had just time to get his gun in readiness and +give the alarm to the sailors, when, with a fierce roar that came like +a peal of thunder upon the terrified disputants, the lion sprung upon +them, and knocked them both down. He stood majestically with one paw +upon the prostrate philosophers, looking defiance on Oriel and his +companions, as they cautiously approached him from all sides with their +muskets in their hands. + +"Now, my friends," exclaimed the young merchant, "don't fire till +you come within good aiming distance--don't more than half fire at a +time--let the others reserve their fire, in case he makes a spring--be +steady, and aim at his head." + +"Ay, ay, sir," was murmured by the captain; and every man held his +breath, cocked his gun, picked his way carefully over the stones, and +prepared himself for a struggle with his dangerous enemy. The lion saw +them advancing--shook his mane, lashed his tail, and, bending his head +to the ground, uttered a long and deafening roar. + +"Now then, mind your aim," said the young merchant. About a dozen +discharged their pieces; and, with a piercing howl, the lion dashed +among his foes, knocking down some half-a-dozen of them, and scattering +the rest in all directions. Luckily, he had been too severely wounded +to do any more serious mischief. His roar was terrible; but the men +having again approached him, poured in a more deadly fire, and with a +vain attempt to reach them, he gave a savage growl, and fell covered +with wounds. Scarcely had this been done, before a distant roar was +heard by the victors. + +"Make haste and reload, for, if I mistake not, we shall have the lioness +upon us in a few seconds," said Oriel Porphyry earnestly; and all +quickened their preparations, to be in readiness for another contest. +"Take up a position behind that ruin, for the lioness will first make to +the dead lion, and then she will attempt to turn her rage upon us. We +shall have her within gun range as soon as she comes to the lion, and +shall be in some sort of shelter when she begins her attack." + +Scarcely had the position been taken and the arrangements made, when the +roar became more distinct; and, soon afterwards, the lioness was seen +rapidly approaching, with a series of prodigious leaps that quickly +brought her into the immediate neighbourhood of the party in ambush. She +instantly proceeded to the lion. At first, she patted him with her paw. +Finding he took no notice of that, she fawned upon him, and licked him +with her tongue, playfully bit his ear, and played with his mane. +Observing that he was still inattentive to her movements, she gently +turned him over; and then, noticing the wounds in his head and body, and +his incapability of replying to her caresses, she uttered a roar so loud +and piercing, that it made the old walls about her echo again. This +was replied to by a peal of musketry from the neighbouring ruin. In a +moment, with another deafening howl, she rushed towards the place whence +came the reports, and with one desperate bound, leaped to the window +behind which Oriel and his companions lay concealed upon a heap of +stones and rubbish. She had got her fore paws and head upon the ledge of +the window, when another shower of balls sent her reeling back. Howling +with rage she made the leap again; when a blow on the head from the +butt end of a gun, held by a stout seaman, made her loosen her hold, +and, with a savage growl, she fell to the ground. From there she next +crawled to the body of the lion, licking the upper part of his body, +and uttering the most wild and melancholy howls. She was evidently much +wounded; but she managed to crawl round him several times, drawing her +long tongue over his mane, and moving a paw, or his head, in hopes of +noticing some sign of recognition. At last, finding all her efforts +ineffectual, she emitted a roar that rivalled the loudest thunder, +lashed her body furiously with her tail, began tearing up the stones and +soil around her, and then, as if putting forth her strength for a last +effort, she made two or three prodigious leaps towards the adjoining +building. The bullets that met her in her way did not stop her progress, +for with one enormous bound she cleared the window, and came down in +the midst of the voyagers, dashing them about with a violence that gave +several of the men very severe contusions, and grasping one by the neck +so furiously that he would have inevitably been killed, had not Loop +stabbed her to the heart with a short sword he carried, while Hearty +gave her a desperate blow on the head with an immense fragment of stone. +Letting go the man she had got so firmly in her grasp, she turned upon +her assailants a look of the most savage ferocity, and then, with a +short howl of agony, fell back dead at their feet. + +They had dragged the lioness out of the building, and several of the men +were busily engaged taking off the skins of the two animals, and the +rest were talking over the dangers they had escaped, when Zabra pointed +out to his patron the figures of an old man and a young female, who were +advancing up the broken steps that led to the base of the column. The +sight of human beings was so novel, that every one paid particular +attention to the individuals they now beheld. The man appeared to have +reached extreme old age, for his hair was white and long, and hung down +upon his neck and shoulders. His complexion was ruddy, but although the +face was covered with wrinkles and deeply marked furrows, there was +an animation in his eyes that showed that the fire of life was still +brilliantly burning. He was tall, and walked firmly, supporting himself +by a long staff. The skin of a lion hung from his neck over his manly +shoulders. The rest of his dress was composed of skins fastened by +thongs round his body and legs. A long sword was suspended at his side, +which, with a knife or dagger at his waist, seemed all the weapons he +possessed. + +He was accompanied by a young girl, whose complexion had evidently +been browned by exposure to the sun, the effect of which gave a warmer +character to the quiet beauty of her features. Her eyes were of a soft, +deep, blue, beaming with tenderness and benevolence; and her hair, which +was silken in its texture, and very light in colour, fell in clustering +curls from her forehead to her neck. A sort of cape, made of feathers, +covered her shoulders; beneath which was a long garment reaching below +the knees, made of different skins neatly sewed together, and bound +round the waist with a belt of the same. Her arms and legs were bare, +and they were of the most exquisite symmetry, delicately and beautifully +formed. In one hand she carried a light spear, and the other she rested +upon the shoulder of her companion. + +As soon as the young girl observed the voyagers, she started back with +an exclamation of fear, and clung to the arm of her elder companion, +who, noticing the cause of her alarm, immediately let fall his staff and +drew his sword. There was something remarkably imposing in the attitude +of the old man. He drew up his stately form to its full height; and as +he stood upon the defensive with his weapon firmly grasped in his right +hand, while with his left arm he clasped the young girl by the waist and +drew her behind him, there seemed a vigour in his silvery hairs, and +a fire in his sunken eyes, that neither youth or manhood could have +rivalled. + +Oriel Porphyry, who looked upon them with peculiar interest, laid down +his arms and advanced towards them, accompanied only by Zabra, who was +also unarmed. Their approaches were closely regarded by the man, and +watched with curiosity by the female. + +"Fear us not, old man, we will do you no harm," said the young merchant. + +"Fear!" exclaimed the old man proudly, "I know it not." + +"We are voyagers from a distant land, who have been induced to visit +your shores, from a desire to do honour to a country once so famous." + +The old man, without making any reply, hastily returned his sword to +its scabbard, and then, with a countenance in which fearlessness and +kindness were blended, held out his right hand. The hand of Oriel +Porphyry was soon in its cordial and friendly grasp, and a compact of +sociality seemed immediately agreed to between both parties. "And you, +fair maid, need not be alarmed," said Zabra, approaching the maiden with +a look that might have inspired a savage with confidence. "You will meet +amongst us none but friends anxious to do you honour and service." +She shrunk back from his advances with a strong feeling of timidity +expressed in her features; yet continued to gaze on the handsome face +and graceful person of the speaker, as if they had for her an attraction +impossible to be resisted. + +"The child is unused to strangers," observed her companion, as he +noticed the shy and wondering manner with which she regarded Zabra. "It +is long since she has seen a human being except myself. Be not afraid, +Lilya," he exclaimed, as he drew her towards him. "These are not +enemies. They are wanderers, like ourselves; but they have a home and +kindred--we have neither." + +The cheerful countenance of the old man now became clouded with +melancholy, and he sighed as if there was a heaviness upon his heart +that could not be removed; but the timid Lilya still gazed upon the +features of the young musician, as if she found it impossible to remove +her eyes from their beauty. There was an extraordinary contrast between +her and her companion. She seemed just in the dawn of womanhood, with +delicate limbs, and looks all bashfulness and pleased surprise; while +he appeared on the extreme verge of old age--all bone and sinews, hard +and rough with exposure to the severities of time and climate. She +was evidently too young to be his daughter; but that there was some +relationship between them was evident, for even in the gentle loveliness +that distinguished her youthful face might be discerned faint traces of +resemblance to the ancient but noble example of manhood that stood by +her side. + +"Your appearance has much interested me," said the young merchant, +gazing on the stranger's venerable appearance with affectionate respect; +"and I hope it will not be deemed intrusive or impertinent if I inquire +who it is I behold." + +"You see before you the last of the Englishmen," said the old man, +looking proudly upon the inquirer. + +"Is it possible?" exclaimed Oriel, regarding him with increased +admiration and a voluntary feeling of homage. + +"The last of that powerful and illustrious race is now before you," +he added, "and this is the child of my child's child. We are all that +remain of the great people who filled this island with their multitudes +and the world with their fame. Kindred and countrymen--all are gone; +their homes are the habitations of the wild cat and the vulture, and +even their very graves have been made desolate by the jackal and the +hyena." + +"You appear to have attained a great age," remarked Zabra. + +"Alas! I have outlived my country," replied the Englishman. "A hundred +and twenty years have passed since my existence commenced. Time has +forgotten me. I have been where the sword was ploughing deep furrows +around me far and near.--I have seen Death busy at his work amid the +youthful, the old, the innocent and the guilty.--I have noticed the +young trees grow up, put forth their bravery, and die.--I have beheld +mighty buildings crumble into dust.--I have known all things perish +before my eyes: yet I have remained untouched in the midst of the +desolation.--Three generations have passed away, and have left me to +gather consolation from their tombs." + +"If the relation of what you have known and endured be not too painful, +I should much like to hear it," said the young merchant. + +"If you have the patience to listen, all shall be told to you," replied +the old man. Then taking up his staff, he walked on to some fragments of +building that lay at a short distance, on which he sat with Lilya at his +feet. Oriel Porphyry, Zabra, Loop, the captain, Fortyfolios, and the +doctor sat or reclined in a circle round him, and beyond the circle, the +sailors stood leaning on their guns. + + + + +CHAP. V. + +AN ACCOUNT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF OLD ENGLAND. + + +"It must be at least a century since the necessities of the kingdom +obliged me, for the first time, to attempt the trade of war," said the +Englishman. "There had been some dispute between the government and the +people, which was originally of little consequence, but the zeal of +furious partizans on each side gave it an importance which would not +otherwise have belonged to it. One said the safety of the people +depended on their success--another declared that the security of +the crown was involved in the question. One party were frantic for +liberty--another party, not so numerous, but far more influential, +were enthusiastic for loyalty. But words were soon given up for more +effective weapons. The Court, proud in their strength, prepared +themselves for a sanguinary conflict; and their antagonists, having +equal confidence in their numbers, followed their example with the same +alacrity. The whole country was astir with contention: families were +divided, and friends turned into foes. He who opposed the King was +denounced as a rebel; and he who differed with the people was declared +a traitor. + +"Many disturbances had broken out before the parties took the field in +military array; but now the quarrel assumed a more serious aspect. Every +one armed himself, and hastened to join that cause which seemed to him +the best; and the most influential men on each side led these masses to +the battle. Though they were children of the same soil, and many had +relatives in the opposite ranks, nothing could equal the animosity with +which they engaged and the fury with which they fought. Never had they +against a foreign foe exhibited such fierceness. The battle raged +nearly the whole of the day with great slaughter on both sides. The +men of loyalty were less in number, but they were more experienced in +soldiership. The men of liberty had the most powerful army, but they +were deficient in military discipline and in martial appearance. They +fought with the most determined courage, resisting and making attacks, +attacking and defending positions, till, after a protracted struggle, +the latter succeeded in driving their opponents off the field. + +"This was merely the commencement of hostilities. The crown party, +though defeated, were very soon in a condition to renew the contest; and +though this victory to the popular cause brought a great increase of +strength, it did not save its partizans from being defeated with immense +slaughter in the next battle that was fought. For several years a +destructive civil war raged with unexampled ferocity in every part of +the kingdom; sometimes one party being the strongest, sometimes the +other. Every individual capable of bearing arms was obliged to join +either the cause of the king or that of the people; and, as a great +diversity of opinion existed, brothers were set against brothers, and +fathers against sons, and thousands and tens of thousands of the bravest +of her citizens daily were cast into pits to feed the worms of the soil +of England. At last the popular cause triumphed, and the King became a +fugitive. Loud were the congratulations of the victors when no doubt +seemed to remain of their success; but they had little cause for their +joy--they had only changed a bad ruler for a worse. + +"The triumphant party now sought out such of their fellow-citizens who +had most distinguished themselves by their hostility to their progress +during the late warfare; and they who did not succeed in escaping were +persecuted and exterminated in every way that vengeance could devise. +Blood continued to flow, and hatred and strife still existed. The +leading men among them had scarcely settled themselves in their +authority, before they began to differ concerning their notions of +government. Some were for one form and some for another, and each had +his own theory to support or his own ambition to gratify. The difference +soon increased to open hostility; and as each was supported by a +numerous band of partizans, each strove for the mastery with all the +cunning and boldness he possessed. Battles were again fought--victims +were again sacrificed. Party succeeded party; and as one overpowered the +other, the vanquished were sure to be massacred if they remained within +the power of their conquerors. + +"But the cause of the king was considered the cause of all kings; and +while the different leaders of the people seemed intent only upon +exterminating each other, a powerful armament was being fitted out in a +neighbouring kingdom for the purpose of restoring the deposed monarch to +his possessions. The first intimation that the ruling government had of +this expedition was derived from its landing upon the coast; and the +necessity of an immediate union between all parties against the common +enemy became so evident, that they lost no time in settling their +differences, joining their disposable forces, and making preparations +to resist the approaches of their expelled sovereign. Numbers, who had +suffered from the oppressions of the many, now hastened to the king's +standard. The loyal came from their hiding places, and those who had +fled to the neighbouring continent hurried back again to share in +the struggle. The battle-cry of one was, 'God and the King'--that of +the other, 'God and the People;' and, with increased animosity, the +contending armies rushed to the conflict, till the whole country seemed +flowing with blood. + +"At first the king was successful in almost every encounter with his +rebellious subjects. Battle after battle was fought, and still he kept +advancing and triumphing on his way. But the leaders of the people +did not despair. They carried on the contest with the same spirit +notwithstanding their defeats. The whole population rose in arms. No +sooner was one army dispersed than another was ready for action. Three +times the court party took possession of the capital, and were again +driven out. The contest was prolonged by the military genius of one +man, whose mind seemed exhaustless in resources. He had risen from +obscurity, and had gradually exalted himself from one command to another +during the civil war, till the whole forces on the side of the people +were at his disposal. Success appeared to attend all his efforts. As he +in his own person exhibited the most determined bravery, his followers +were stimulated to copy his example. The most daring attacks were +planned and executed, and the royalists began to lose all the advantages +they had previously gained. It was the intention of the popular general +to terminate the contest at a blow; and with this object in view he +concentrated all his forces, and unexpectedly brought them upon the +enemy's camp. The royalists were taken quite unprepared, and few escaped +to announce their defeat. The king, the nobles, the foreign troops, and +a great portion of their native allies perished in one indiscriminate +slaughter; and thus the hopes of the loyal were utterly annihilated for +the time. + +"As every man was obliged to join one or the other party, I had my share +in these struggles for mastery. I had inherited a small patrimony in +one of the inland counties, and I had recently married a young and +beautiful relative, to whom I had been attached from my youth, when I +was first called upon to contribute my assistance towards bringing the +contest to a termination. I was an ardent lover of liberty. I was a +great advocate for republics, and I had long looked upon kings as +expensive and useless machines, which the people could easily spare. It +may easily be imagined, from my acknowledgement of these sentiments, +that I eagerly embraced the popular cause. I mixed myself up as little +as possible with the squabbles of partizans; but there were few more +sincere adherents to the principles I professed than myself. I was +present at nearly all the great engagements, received several wounds, +and gradually acquired rank and experience in the republican army. +My superior officers respected me, and the men under my command were +attentive and obedient. + +"After the destruction of the royalists, the people were so frantic in +praise of their leader that he thought he might be allowed to assume +the sovereign power. He did so, amid the acclamations of the multitude; +and in six months after was assassinated. No sooner was his decease +known than there rose the same intrigues for supremacy that his master +mind had quelled. Party succeeded party, and government followed +government, in rapid succession; and the gibbet and the axe were in +constant requisition by whatever party happened to be in power. As if +it was determined that this unhappy nation should enjoy no respite from +its troubles, the son of the late king, assuming the royal dignity, had +succeeded in inducing a foreign power to grant such assistance as might +be required to reinstate him in the throne of his fathers. He landed on +the English coast with a large army of foreigners, and advanced in a +very imposing manner towards the ancient metropolis. The government had +no force sufficient to dispute his progress, and fancying itself unable +to struggle successfully against the army brought against it, it took +the dangerous resolution of inviting to its assistance the monarch of a +neighbouring and powerful kingdom. While this was being done the young +king marched forward, meeting with very little opposition till he came +within a few miles of the metropolitan city. There the leaders of the +people had taken up a strong position, and although they were inferior +to the royalists in number and soldiership, and had not yet received the +expected succours from the foreign power, they determined to dispute +the passage with the royalists. The battle was long and sanguinary. The +people, favoured by their position, quietly awaited the attack of their +opponents, and as they advanced, poured into their ranks a heavy and +destructive fire; but although they fought in the most steady and heroic +manner, the superiority of the enemy in numbers and discipline was too +great to be counteracted by the most steady courage. The republicans +were driven from their position, and defeated with great slaughter; +after which the young monarch marched into the ancient city, of which +he took possession. It was at first resolved to renew the fight in the +streets of the metropolis; but dissension and ill-will arose in their +councils, and nothing being resolved on, the popular army retreated +from the city, leaving it open to the advance of the royalists. + +"The young king, fancying that all opposition had ceased, or that the +defeated party could not now offer him any molestation, passed his time +in getting up the idle ceremonies of a coronation; but the leaders of +the people were preparing to recommence the struggle. A powerful army +from the monarch who had promised them assistance, had landed, and such +good use did they make of their time, that the young king was obliged +to leave the metropolis in the very midst of his coronation. Then again +the horrors of civil war broke out with fresh fury. As each party +was assisted by foreign allies, the war was never left to languish. +Reinforcements were continually being poured into the kingdom, and the +ranks of the opposing armies, thus strengthened, were led against each +other, and fiercer and more relentless became the strife. Blood +flowed like water, and flesh was cut down like grass. Villages were +deserted--towns burnt--cities depopulated. Whether by design or +accident is not known, but it was found out that in all engagements the +inhabitants suffered infinitely more than their foreign auxiliaries. At +every battle the fields were strewn with their dead, while the loss of +their allies was but trifling. + +"After the war had been protracted till there scarcely seemed materials +left in the kingdom to continue it, the king's party were completely +annihilated, and the foreign troops that had assisted them were glad to +make their escape out of the country. The allies which the leaders of +the people had called to their assistance, had been gradually augmented +until they had become an exceedingly numerous and powerful body, and +when the war was over, it was the anxious desire of the people to get +rid of them as soon as possible. But their friends were not so easily +to be disposed of. On different pretexts they protracted their stay +till they had obtained possession of nearly all the strong places in the +empire, and then they not only refused to depart, but commenced a war +of extermination on the people they came to protect. For this treachery +the inhabitants were but ill prepared. The greater portion of the +English army had been disbanded, and the rest were insignificant in +comparison with the new enemy against which they were called to act. The +consequence was, that for a considerable time the foreign army passed +from one part of the island to the other, burning and destroying +whatever they met with, without meeting any resistance. + +"A force was hastily organised for the purpose of driving these +treacherous friends out of the country. The old and young of all parties +and opinions rushed to the national standard with the hope of freeing +their native land from foreign rule. A battle ensued. Nothing could +exceed the desperate bravery of my countrymen; but the discipline of +their enemy was not to be resisted. The people were slaughtered in +multitudes, and I, who commanded one of the wings of the army on that +occasion, was the only general officer who retreated from the field +with anything like a respectable body of men. We were attacked as we +retreated by a force greatly our superior; but I continued to show a +resolute front, beat off the assailants, and maintained a successful +fight. I succeeded in placing my men within the shelter of impregnable +walls. + +"The people had by this time become sick of war. Thirty years of +continued bloodshed had done destructive work all over the country. The +population had been greatly reduced; agriculture had been neglected; +commerce was rapidly decaying; manufactures had been destroyed; all the +resources of industry had been annihilated; poverty, misery, and ruin +existed throughout the land. The people sued for peace. The enemy sent +back a message:--it was, 'England must be destroyed;' and still they +continued their relentless work of pillage, burning, and slaughter. +But the spirit of the nation was not utterly broken. They still waged +a defensive and offensive war whenever there was an opportunity of +doing so with advantage. Every small party of the enemy were cut off, +stragglers killed wherever met with, and their army harassed in every +way that hatred and ingenuity could devise. Bands of well-armed +Englishmen, from fifty to a thousand in number, under separate and +independent leaders, surprised positions, destroyed convoys, and cut +off supplies. A new plan of warfare was now attempted, which, although +destructive to the country, was found a most effective means of +expelling the invaders. This was, wherever the enemy approached, to burn +the dwellings, and to move or destroy every kind of provision. + +"About this period, there appeared amongst the crowd of wretched beings +who congregated the cities, a new and malignant epidemic. How it first +originated was a mystery. It came, and none knew from what cause. Its +fatal character was soon proved. At first, the people died in tens +and twenties, then they perished by hundreds, and then thousands fell +victims to its malignity. The rich fled from their town houses into the +country, carrying with them the very infection from which they were +flying, and in a short time it penetrated into the most remote corner +of the kingdom. Where the population had not been extensive, there were +not left enough to bury the dead. In some rural districts they died, +and none knew of their decease. It attacked all constitutions with the +same violence: the old, the young, the strong and the weak, were its +continual victims. The rich were as much subject to its ravages as the +poor. There was no condition or class of society in which the disease +did not enter and carry off the majority of its members. + +"The system which had been pursued, chiefly under my direction, against +the enemy, gave them considerable annoyance; but still the inhabitants +generally would have done anything to have purchased the blessings of +peace. Again was the boon sued for, and the reply was, 'You haughty +islanders have continued too long to lord it over the world. We have +been your victims many a time; but now you shall be ours--England must +be destroyed.' They might have triumphed over our hostility; they +might, by keeping up a communication with their ships, continue to have +supplies of provision and forage independent of the country; but they +saw that they could not escape the plague: and, after effecting all the +mischief they could produce, they hastened to their vessels, and sailed +from the pestilential shores they had come to conquer. + +"I had not mingled in the sufferings of my country without having to +endure my own share. I had found my home burnt to the ground, and my +wife sacrificed in the flames. Three of my sons had died fighting by +my side. But worse suffering was now in store for me: the plague was +amongst us. I had used every precaution to prevent the infection +spreading among my relatives. I had retired to a dwelling up a steep +mountain in the west, and there I resided with my children and their +families. There were four of my sons, strong, robust men, well inured +to all the dangers of war; and there were their wives, all of healthy +constitutions, and their children, of different ages, every one full +of health and spirits. With these were my two daughters, with their +husbands and families, none of whom were touched by the slightest +illness. One morning I was congratulating them upon the beneficial +effect of my regulations to prevent the spread of the infection, and +the mothers looked at their children and the husbands on their wives, +and I gazed on all, with a delight we found to be unspeakable. In less +than a week I had buried them all but one." + +Here the old man's voice sunk, and he appeared to be powerfully +agitated. No one attempted an observation; and after making a strong +effort to recover his self-possession, he continued. + +"The survivor was a boy of ten years of age; he was one of the few whom +the plague had touched and spared. Me it had passed by harmless. But +the destruction caused by the pestilence exceeded all calculation. As +in my case, whole families were carried off, and districts entirely +depopulated. The pits that were dug to throw in the dead were quickly +filled, and none were strong enough to dig others. The dead cart stood +in the street with its load piled up; for both the driver and the horse +had been destroyed by the pestilence. Physicians and surgeons appeared +to have been the earliest of its victims. They came to visit their +patients, and they died by the bedside. All remedies were tried without +avail; all precautions were used, but they were equally useless. There +were different opinions existing as to its origin. The royalists said +that it was a punishment for the sins of the republicans; and the +republicans retorted by proclaiming that it was a judgment on the +profligacy of the royalists. Religious fanatics went running about the +deserted streets, with streaming hair and blood-shot eyes, shouting out, +in piercing tones, 'Wo! wo! the day of judgment is at hand!'" + +This lasted for the better portion of a year; and, after putting the +boy in a place of safety, when the pestilence was over, as I journeyed +through the country to notice the effects it had produced, where I +had once known crowded thoroughfares, I passed along without meeting +a single inhabitant. The country appeared to have been completely +unpeopled; and in the city, the few persons I met with only made the +immense mortality which had existed appear more great. I inquired for +the government, and found that not a trace of it was in existence. +I asked for the army, and I was shown about a couple of hundred men. +I called a meeting of the citizens in the metropolis, and they all +came; and they filled a moderate sized room. I explained to them the +deplorable state into which the plague had reduced the country, and I +asked their counsel and assistance to form some sort of government to +manage its affairs. There was a melancholy silence for some minutes. +None attempted to speak. Their hearts seemed too full for utterance. At +last one of the citizens ventured to wish that I would do what I thought +best for the community; and I did do what I thought best. I travelled +through every part of this once populous island to notice with my own +eyes the exact state of the remaining population. Some cities I found +deserted; in others two-thirds of their buildings were untenanted; the +rank grass was growing in the public streets, and the gardens of the +rich were filled with nettles. + +"But the measure of afflictions for this unhappy country had not yet +been filled up. No sooner had the pestilence abated, than another +enemy, scarcely less dreadful, made its appearance. The continued +ravages of war had prevented the tilling of the fields. No one would +attempt to sow, knowing how insecure would be his ownership of the +crop he might produce. There had been no grain, and no fruits, and no +vegetables; and the cattle had died of the plague, or had been destroyed +by the enemy. It was in vain attempting to get a supply from foreign +countries. Our commerce had been destroyed, for no nation would +hold communication with a people among whom raged so destructive a +pestilence. They avoided the shores of England as if death was on its +soil; and any vessel attempting to communicate with them, or to enter +one of their ports, was fired at and sunk. The consequence was, our +ships lay rotting in the docks, and their crews were either dead, or +had dispersed over the island, and were not to be found. The terrific +visitation of famine was now upon us. Every thing was eaten that the +human stomach could be brought to swallow. Things the most loathsome +to the taste, and offensive to the eyes, were readily and ravenously +devoured. Then the cheek sunk; the eye-ball fell; the flesh dwindled +away; and all crawled with half lifeless limbs in search of any +substance that might lessen the cravings of their appetites. But at last +every thing that was digestible disappeared, and the skeleton forms of +the sufferers were stretched stiffly on the place where they fell--some +in madness, some in despair, and all in agony and dread. + +"There was no opportunity allowed me for legislating with any advantage. +I thought of every plan that afforded the slightest assistance towards +lessening the dreadful effects of the calamity which the whole country +was enduring; but I met with no one to second my exertions. The few who +retained the use of their faculties were feeble and emaciated. Famine +was in their gaunt limbs, and despair upon their aching hearts. No one +appeared inclined to pay the slightest attention to any thing but his +own sufferings. There was no authority but that of the strong, and they +who retained their physical power the longest, robbed the dying of such +slight nourishment as they had acquired. The rich would bring out their +treasures and offer them for a meal, and when some avaricious wretch was +found to make the exchange, one more strong than either would come by, +and wrest the food from the impoverished, and the wealth from the miser; +and both died within the hour. The breast of the mother became dry, and +the infant was abandoned to starve when it became an incumbrance to the +famished parent. Cats, dogs, rats, mice, and every kind of animal, no +matter how disgusting in its habits, had been greedily devoured; birds, +fish, and insects, that had previously been considered loathsome, were +sought after as delicacies; and weeds, roots, the leaves of trees, +offal, and even many things still more objectionable, became the daily +food of many who had been accustomed to the most luxurious fare. + +"Finding that I could do no good among the scanty band of skeletons that +clung to a lingering existence, I determined on endeavouring to make my +way to the northern part of the island, where an industrious and hardy +race had managed to retain their independence and prosperity during the +wars, the pestilence, and the famine, that ravaged its southern portion. +My grandson was too young to walk great distances; so, when he was +tired, I placed him upon my shoulder, and thus we journeyed on our way. +Our food was acorns, berries, roots, and leaves. Sometimes I was enabled +to catch a fish, or a bird, or a small animal; but these were luxuries +seldom to be enjoyed. We passed several parties apparently intent upon +the same object as ourselves; but many were there of the groups who +laid themselves down on the road-side weary and famishing, and there +perished. Continually I came upon some individual made desperate by his +hunger, scratching up the earth with his hands in search of the worms +it contained, which, if found, were eaten with as much enjoyment as the +most delicious meats, and if the search was fruitless, the dry soil +was crammed into the mouth as a substitute. Very few of the travellers +could have reached the end of their journey, for we continued to pass +the dying and the dead as far as we proceeded. Sometimes a solitary +wretch would be found prostrate at the foot of a tree, the bark of which +he had evidently been gnawing; further on a family of children were +discovered, with their little bodies shrunk to the bone, and the parents +at a short distance, with their faces turned from them, as if they could +not look upon their sufferings; and in another place, a lover and his +mistress lay clasped in each other's fleshless arms. + +"We were crossing an extensive and barren moor, when we came before +a group of dead bodies, among which, to my exceeding astonishment, I +beheld a child--a delicate girl of five or six years of age--busily +occupied in chasing a butterfly. The scene was so extraordinary that I +stood gazing on it for a considerable period before I could determine +what to do. The insect's gaudy wings kept fluttering over the lifeless +forms that were cold and stiff on the ground, sometimes alighting on +a hand, sometimes on a face; and the child, in an ecstasy of delight, +screaming, and laughing, and stretching out its little arms, pursued it +from place to place. What a time was this for reflection! Here was life +in the midst of death--the pursuit of pleasure among the most fatal and +least endurable examples of pain. It was a wonderful sight! The girl +seemed to know neither want nor sorrow; and continued her sport, +indifferent to the spectral shapes that lay extended at her feet. Their +ghastly stare, and gaunt visages, had no terrors for her. The hunt of +the butterfly occupied all her thoughts, and the hope of attaining +possession of its beautiful colours seemed the only desire entertained. +After watching her movements with indescribable interest for several +minutes, I advanced towards the child, and invited her to go with me. I +had considerable difficulty to get her to leave the butterfly; and when +I led her away from the spot, she chatted with infantile volubility, as +if there was nothing else but the butterfly in the world. + +"I found the people of the northern provinces hospitable, and with them +I lived for nearly half a century. They escaped the ravages of the +pestilence by not allowing any infected persons from the neighbouring +counties, who crowded towards the borders, to enter into their +territory. None had presented themselves during the prevalence of the +famine but myself; and their own frugality saved them from the horrors +which had desolated England. They looked upon the southern portion of +the island as a doomed country, for although several parties from the +north had gone there for the purpose of forming settlements, they either +returned after a short stay, stating that neither cattle nor crops would +nourish on the land, or were never more heard of, and were supposed to +have fallen victims to the pirates who occasionally visited the coast. I +passed my time in educating the two children of whom I had taken charge, +and both made great progress under my instructions. The boy became +a fine, active, intelligent man, the girl an admirable example of +womankind; and as I found that their hearts were for each other, in due +time I had them made man and wife. I have outlived them and all their +progeny, with the exception of Lilya, whom, after the decease of her +family, I took with me to England, having at the time an ardent desire +to revisit its desolated shores. + +"What I found England I need scarcely describe; you see it before you. +It was a complete ruin. A sad and miserable remnant of her people did +strive to till the land; but the soil refused to give sustenance to the +seed, and the cultivator could gather nothing but a harvest of weeds. +The earth was abandoned for the waters, and the farmers became +fishermen; but the sea and the river gave an inadequate supply. One by +one the inhabitants dropped off, till at last the only human creatures +within the country were myself and Lilya. We managed to subsist by +hunting and fishing. Our fare was not at all times very delicate, and +was seldom very plentiful; but we provided for ourselves tolerably +well. We were obliged to rely upon our own resources; for the savage +appearance of the island, and the belief that it was doomed to +destruction, prevented our being visited by any vessels from the +continent; and even the pirates from the neighbouring islands, having +found that the country contained nothing to tempt them to a visit, +turned their attention to more opulent regions. Lilya and I, therefore, +had the whole land to ourselves, and over it we held absolute +sovereignty. Even the savage monsters of the forest appeared to +acknowledge our supremacy, for none offered to molest us. We took our +way through deserted piles and fallen monuments; and if we disturbed +the lion in his lair, or the eagle in his eyrie, they made way for our +approach, and returned to their haunts when we were gone. + +"Thus passed the time. Lilya grew up as you see--a child of the forest, +skilful in snaring game, and in preserving skins; affectionate in her +manner, gentle in her temper, and shy as a dove in her nest. As for me, +I was a wanderer over the lands of my forefathers. The stream, the vale, +the mountain, and the plain, were accustomed to my visits. I became a +denizen of the forest and the plain--a resident in the deserted cities. +I found a dwelling in the palace and the hut; and all places were my +home. I experienced a melancholy pleasure in beholding the scenes in +which the greatness of my country had once been exhibited. I walked +among the crumbling ruins of her once gorgeous halls. The sunken +roofs of her stately cathedrals for me were full of religious awe and +veneration; the dilapidated battlements of her ancient castles seemed +still to show the dauntless valour of the spirits by whom they had been +defended; and the moss and lichens that disfigured her public monuments +gave only a fresher interest to the worth they represented. From these +I gathered the memories of a better time, and the glories of the past +warmed my old heart with the vigour of a second youth. I lived over +again the departed age--I recalled to life the buried generations--I +contemplated the happiness which the grave had long since hid in her +bosom--and the discoloured stones around me seemed to echo the busy +goings on of an industrious population. Free hearts were throbbing +proudly around me, and the stillness of the desert along which I stalked +was made alive with the pleasures of the young, the noble, and the +brave. + +"Gone is your glory, oh my country!" exclaimed the old man, in a more +feeble voice; "your greatness among the nations is put down; your +magnificence has dwindled to a heap of stones; your power has nothing by +which it may be known. If the stranger come in a few years, and inquire +for the city which was the wonder of the world, none shall tell him, for +both city and citizens will have crumbled into dust. If he ask for the +people whose name was a glory in every clime that exists, he shall find +no better reply than the echo of his own voice. He may wander over the +brave old island in search of places that history has made immortal, +without being able to discover a trace of their existence. The thistle +and the nettle will hide the graves of its illustrious; ravenous beasts +will prowl in its cities; and all that is noble and grand in its +localities will be crushed, swallowed, and lost in one devouring ruin; +and I, that am here as an ancient tree with gnarled trunk and brittle +boughs, that stands up as if unnoticed by the destroyer, when the rest +of the forest have mouldered into the soil, will then have perished and +passed away, and not even a remembrance of my name will be left upon the +land." + +"Noble old man!" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry with fervour, "there is no +one here who does not sympathise with your situation. I would endeavour +to console you, but I am afraid that your case is one beyond all +consolation. What can I do to render you assistance? Let me prevail +on you to leave this land, which has been so completely devoted to +destruction, and I will find you a more attractive home, and friends as +kind as those you have lost." + +"Leave this land!" loudly cried the Englishman, apparently astonished +at the suggestion. "For a hundred and twenty years this island has been +the attraction of all my thoughts; my love for it arose from admiration +of its magnificence, and my heart still clings to it in its utter +annihilation. Do you think it would be possible for me, after having +made myself so familiar with its ruins, to find pleasure in the +prosperity of a far off country? No! to me the world hath nothing like +it. What are smiling landscapes? What are stately edifices? What are +fields busy with life, and cities astir with industry, if on a foreign +shore? Its homes are not my home--its graves are not the graves of my +people. But these tottering walls and depopulated lands are mine; I +hold them in undisputed possession; I have a claim on them which has +been long acknowledged; and they have a claim on me which I feel I must +speedily prepare to liquidate. No: leave me to the desolation in which +I dwell. It has become habitual--it has become necessary. I have long, +perhaps too long, been its inhabitant; but the hour comes when another +ruin must be added to those which now encumber the soil." + +"And then what is to become of the gentle Lilya?" inquired the young +merchant. + +"Ah! 'tis of that I am ever anxious," replied the old man, with a look +of affectionate solicitude towards his youthful relative. "The child is +full of amiable ways--she is artless and untutored: I cannot part with +her; and yet to leave her unprotected in this wilderness is a source of +constant disquietude to me." + +"If you entrust her to me," added Oriel, "by the honour of manhood I +promise to behave to her as a brother; and I will place her under the +protection of a lady from whom she will receive every attention her +youth and unfriended situation requires." + +"In her name I can promise all that she stands most in need of," said +Zabra. + +"What say you, my Lilya?" inquired the Englishman. "Will you go with +the strangers? Will you leave this wretched country, and seek one where +happiness awaits you?" + +"I will have no other country but yours, oh my protector!" exclaimed the +girl, as she flung herself into the old man's arms. "These strangers +are good; but they can never be so good as you have been: and these old +walls too--where shall I meet with such verdant moss, or such beautiful +ivy, as they possess? While you live, with you must my existence be +passed: and when you have ceased to lead me in my wanderings through the +silent forest or the deserted city, I care not where I go; for I shall +never again find the parent, the friend and guardian I shall have lost." + +The Englishman pressed her more closely to his breast. + + + + +CHAP. VI. + +THE DEATH OF THE LAST OF THE ENGLISHMEN. + + +"My life is drawing rapidly to its close," faltered the old man; "my +weary pilgrimage is nearly over. Farewell, ye solitary halls and +voiceless palaces! Farewell, ye grassy streets and ivied porticoes! The +eyes that have gazed upon ye in your splendour, and watched ye gradually +passing into ruin, will soon be darkened and closed. The heart that hath +drawn so many pleasures from your unfading braveries is fast sinking +into that state of nothingness to which you all hasten. City of the +silent! he who worshipped your prosperity, and loved your decay, must +now pass from amidst your ruined dwellings. Like your time-honoured +walls, I totter and tremble, and am ready to fall upon the earth that +supports me--the ivy seems twining up my unsteady limbs, and the moss +is spreading over my ancient heart. Farewell, ye untasted pastures, ye +uncultivated fields, ye gardens of weeds and orchards of brambles--the +wildness of your looks shall welcome me no more. Farewell, ye hoary +mountains and savage rocks, ye untrodden forests and unhonored +streams--the same iron hand that hath visited ye so heavily, as heavily +must fall on me. I pass from among ye, oh land of my fathers! Your earth +shall receive me to her breast!" + +The old man lay on a green bank overgrown with wild flowers, while Oriel +and Zabra supported his head. Lilya was reclining at his side, with +one of his hands at her lips, and her face hid on his breast, and she +spoke only in convulsive sobs. Tourniquet stood near him feeling his +pulse, and the professor was close beside endeavouring to administer +consolation. At a short distance stood the captain and midshipman, with +part of the crew of the Albatross, apparently taking a deep interest in +the scene. They were congregated together near a shelving hillock in the +neighbourhood of an extensive marsh. Before them was an ancient arch of +marble, and beyond that, the ruins of a structure evidently once of very +great extent and magnificence, with many statues, some standing where +they had been placed, and others lying mutilated among the heaps of +stones that were piled up around the place for a considerable distance. +The sun was declining in the heavens, and the day was bright and warm. +Ruins, in different stages of decay, were observed as far as the eye +could reach in every direction, except towards the west, where an open +space showed the distant hills, over which the sun was hastening his +descent. + +It was evident that the Englishman was dying. His venerable brow was +covered with a thick perspiration, and his fine countenance had become +more pallid and anxious than it had previously been. Yet his eyes beamed +as if they had lost none of their accustomed brilliancy, and his noble +form possessed the same dignity which had first attracted the attention +of the voyagers. He was still in possession of all his faculties, +and there was an energy in his manner, and an impressiveness in his +language, which proved that the spirit that had outlived so many +generations had lost none of its youthful vigour. + +"Your pulse is getting more feeble, don't you see?" said the doctor, +with much sympathy for his patient; "and I regret to be obliged to agree +with you in stating that your hours are numbered. You have lived far +beyond the usual term of life, and it must be a great consolation to +you, in your present state, to know that you have lived all that time in +honour, and worth, and virtue." + +"Be grateful to Providence that you have been so long spared," observed +Fortyfolios. "The age of man is threescore and ten, and this is but +rarely attained; and yet your existence has been prolonged to nearly +double that length of time. How much have you to be thankful for! +Consider the myriads of human beings who are cut off unprepared;--who +die in infancy, in early youth, or perfect manhood--who just begin to +taste the sweets of life, and then are hurried from its enjoyment. +Consider the advantages you have enjoyed over your fellow-countrymen, +who were destroyed by war, by pestilence, and famine. You have much +reason to congratulate yourself. You have been spared, doubtless, for +some admirable purpose which our finite reason cannot comprehend. +Reflect upon these things, and you will be enabled to meet the approach +of death without apprehension." + +"What are your wishes concerning the disposal of Lilya?" inquired Oriel +Porphyry. "Remember that it is impossible that she can be left alone +upon this island with the slightest comfort to herself or pleasure +to others. The offer I made to you the other day I repeat. It is not +probable that her welfare can be secured more effectively in any other +way. Let me implore you then, as you value her future happiness, to take +advantage of my accidental arrival, and give me authority to bear her to +a secure and honourable asylum." + +"It must be so, oh my Lilya," exclaimed the old man affectionately. +"When I have left you, this desolate place can be no proper home for +you. You must accompany these kind strangers to their own country. There +you will find that protection and care which is necessary to make you +pass through life with the esteem of your associates. Remember, oh my +Lilya, that if you wish the spirit of the old man who has been your +constant companion in all your journeyings to rest satisfied with his +afterlife, your conduct must be irreproachable, and you must endeavour +to keep your mind free from the approach of all degrading errors. The +world is open before you; but although you will find it fruitful in +every delicious produce--though it possess the most lovely landscapes, +and is peopled by multitudes of the good and generous, there is less +ruin in the desolation you see around you than exists in those fair and +fertile shores. I part with you with much regret--deeply does my heart +feel the separation--but it must be. The evil has no remedy. It ought +to be endured without a murmur. Go then, my Lilya, to the land of the +stranger, and my blessing shall be upon your footsteps, like an eternal +sunshine, wherever they may wander. But in whatever part of the world +you may make your sojourn, forget not that the land from whence you came +exceeded in glory and in excellence all other lands that have existed +since the creation of the world. Do it no dishonour. Show that you are +worthy to acknowledge the place of your nativity; and if you should hear +the idle, the ungenerous, and the thoughtless attempt to lower her fame, +or seek to question her superiority, stand up in her defence with all +the eloquence that truth inspires and patriotism makes perfect; and +speak of the good she has done, and the wonders she has achieved, and +then the most illiberal and unjust of your audience shall find their +erroneous impressions fade before your convincing eulogy, and with +a new and better spirit they shall say, 'Would that I had been an +Englishman!'" + +Lilya answered only with her sobs, which now became quicker and more +vehement. + +"It must be gratifying to you to know that your country has never been +enslaved," remarked the young merchant, earnestly. "While other lands +have been degraded by the vilest spirit of despotism, the energies of +the public men of England kept her unshackled." + +"I stand on the grave of a mighty empire," replied the Englishman, "who +has erected monuments of her greatness in every quarter of the globe. I +am hurrying to the same sepulchre. In such a situation, more than in any +other, it is natural that I should speak the words of truth and honesty. +It is my conviction, then, that this country could never have fallen +from its greatness, except through its own internal dissensions. When +it enjoyed an unexampled state of prosperity, there existed men calling +themselves patriots, yet possessing no claim to such a title, who kept +the multitude in a restless and unsatisfied state, by their continual +abuse of its institutions, and frequent demands for change. If these +individuals could have been believed on their own testimony, they were +the most disinterested set of men that ever existed. They had no motive +except for the common good. They had no feeling separate from the +interests of the community. In my time there flourished few more ardent +lovers of liberty than myself; my inclination for freedom was a passion, +an enthusiasm, a dream. I seemed to see nothing but chains where a +fetter never existed, and found nothing but slavery in a state of +society that enjoyed a higher degree of independence than any in the +world. My connection with the popular party brought me much into contact +with the influencial patriots; and I found them the most selfish, +narrow-minded, bigotted men that ever disgraced a country: they had no +other desire but for their own aggrandisement. They fawned upon the +people till they became possessed of the power they coveted, and then +endeavoured to exert a more absolute authority than had ever been +exhibited by the government they superseded. Self was the great object +of all their exertions, and to selfish ends their fine speeches and +liberal promises always tended. They had no care for the multitude +except as steps for their own advancement. Freedom still appears to me +in the same alluring guise in which she first won me to follow in her +footsteps, and amid the solitude of this uncultivated wild I have +enjoyed more of her smiles than the most perfect form of government +could create; but my experience has convinced me that a vast population +must be well prepared for a change in their constitution, that promises +a considerable accession of liberty, as it is called, before it can be +enjoyed with safety to the commonwealth. Sudden changes never come to +any good. The whole frame-work of society is unhinged by them; opinions +are unsettled, the public confidence is withdrawn, the reverence for +the old is broken, and the new being untried, cannot be regarded with +the same respect as a state of things which has existed for centuries. +I have noticed this; and it proves that revolutions in systems of +government that have any lasting value should be introduced by the +gradual growth of public opinion, and that any system of government that +produces a certain quantity of benefit to the people, however faulty +it may be in other respects, is preferable to any other system of +government which has been untried, and the utility of which, therefore, +has not been ascertained. I am convinced that the dissolution of this +great empire originated in the dissatisfaction in the public mind for +the existing laws, which had been artfully created by numbers of mock +patriots, such as may be found in all states enjoying liberty of +opinion, for the purpose of realising schemes they had entertained for +their own advantage." + +"But true patriotism may exist in a state, though the false may be +predominant, don't you see," remarked Tourniquet; "and it is too +sterling a thing to be set aside, because any constitution which governs +the many possesses some acknowledged merit. The real patriotism may +always be known from the false by its self-abandonment, and the true +patriot seeks no other advantage than the public good." + +"In the history of nations of any celebrity," said Fortyfolios, "there +can be nothing more interesting to the student than to observe their +gradual rise, decline, and fall. They first arise out of an obscurity +so profound, that among earlier empires they were known, if known +at all, only as a few straggling savages. These multiply and become +enlightened, build cities and ships, cultivate the land and invent +manufactures, make war and obtain great triumphs; and as they advance in +civilisation their resources increase, their intelligence becomes more +general, and at last they acquire a superiority over the most important +nations at such a time existing in the world. This power they retain as +long as they are united, wise, and brave; but immediately a disunion +appears, a complete disorganisation takes place, every thing goes wrong, +and the whole fabric, so elaborately built up, tumbles to pieces. They +once more become reduced to wandering savages, and their country is +again a wilderness. All the earliest nations of antiquity have been +thus created, and thus have perished: and as Carthage, Egypt, Troy, and +numberless other states of equal importance in the youth of the world, +were dissolved till nothing remained of them but the name, so has +England, infinitely their superior, both in public intelligence and in +public glory, arrived at a dissolution as desolating and complete. The +subject of inquiry for the philosopher now is, whether kingdoms or +commonwealths, having returned to the state of barbarism from which they +advanced, will not at a proper period again progress in civilisation +till they once more arrive at the pre-eminence from which they had +fallen." + +"The spirit of the future is upon me!" exclaimed the last of the +Englishmen, in an elevated tone of voice, and with his countenance lit +up with deep and powerful excitement. "The glory of the past rises from +its sepulchre with renewed life, and a power exceeding all experience. +Again the ruin rings with life, and the wilderness is a smiling garden, +fruitful in human happiness. The voices of industry now cheer every +corner of the solitary city, and the laugh of pleasure awakens the +gloomy recesses of the forest with an inspiring feeling of gladness. +Now are the broad waters of the abandoned river covered with shipping +of every maritime nation under the sun; and in every sea that flows +beneath the arching vault of the everlasting heavens, the dauntless +mariners of England dash along, triumphing over the tempest and the foe. +The magnificence, the bravery, the intelligence, the virtue, and the +might of former times now rise before my gaze, multiplied tenfold in +degree. I see the banners of a thousand victories; the shouts of freedom +and the glad pæans of triumph swell upon my ear; the pomp of stirring +music--the beauty of art in its noblest creations--the perfection of +unrivalled manufactures--the imposing array of palaces of streets and +streets of palaces, stupendous bridges, noble monuments, and stately +halls;--the throngs of the noble, the great, the good, the wise and the +industrious, with sumptuous equipages, numerous retinues, gay liveries, +or joyous faces, and happy hearts, become evident to my senses. I +see the felicitous influence of a wise government exercised upon a +flourishing and contented population countless as the stars. I see +societies, and families, and individuals, all sharing in the general +joy. I see wealth, abundance, skill, and industry, flowing in a +refreshing channel that fertilises the whole island. I behold thee, oh, +my country! the proudest of the nations, whose laws govern the seas, and +whose name is absolute on the dry land, rising from the darkness and the +desolation which now shrouds thy greatness, and with a prouder dignity, +and a fresher splendour, and a power more universal than to one nation +ever belonged resume thy ancient throne upon the waters, and commence a +reign which shall far exceed in glory all the glories by which it has +ever been preceded." + +The old man fell back exhausted into the arms of Oriel and Zabra, and it +was at first feared that his spirit had departed; but in a few moments +respiration gently recommenced, the look of life beamed in his gaze, and +he returned to a state of consciousness. + +"This will not last long, don't you see;" said the doctor to his +companions. "Though the intellectual powers have suffered but little, +the physical are nearly destroyed. He is but lingering on his journey. +His resting-place is close at hand." + +"Let me see the sun;" exclaimed the Englishman, with the same +enthusiastic fervour he had previously exhibited, as he endeavoured +to turn himself in the required direction. His hearers lifted him up +gently, so that he could have a full view of that majestic luminary +as it was setting behind the western hills. "Let me again behold that +glorious orb whose uprisings and whose goings down I have witnessed +so long and proudly. Ha! There still spread the ruddy tints--the glow +of fire and gold is upon the skies once more;--there are the gorgeous +colours and radiant splendours that have so often shed their +magnificence upon our ancient island. Once again, O wondrous Oread, I +drink in delighted the sweet effulgence of your rays. They warm me, they +cheer me, they invigorate the flagging current still flowing through +my veins. How many times have I looked upon your rising and your +setting!--and on every fresh occasion have exclaimed how lovely! how +new! how wonderful! And now for the last time, I watch ye taking the +accustomed path, clothed in that panoply of state that knows of no +decay. Stay, stay a little in your course: your rising on the morrow +will not be for my enjoyment; for, with your setting, on me sets +the world. Stay, bright harbinger of gladness, your task is not yet +done;--there is a soul fondly hovering on your beams, that, as you fade, +must pass away. Slowly your glories dissolve into the cloud, and with +them the impulses of my existence disappear. The fires around you, +are becoming faint, and the flame that burns in this receptacle is +trembling, and flickering, and dying into darkness. Still I follow you +over the distant hills, now purpled with your beauty. Heaven and earth +are fading from my sight, and England, the land of my birth and grave, +of my long pilgrimage and devoted love, passeth from my view like a +cloud in the nighttime. Lilya! my blessing be upon you from now to +eternity. Friends, I submit her to your care with a thankfulness that +language cannot speak. I die with many consolations. I have no enemies +to forgive;--I have had none to sin against. I die in the religion of +my fathers, with glory to God and good will towards men. See, the last +streak of crimson over the hill, just above the fading disc of the +setting sun. Watch it--my spirit is hastening to share in its +splendours. See,--it lessens--it fades--'t is gone!" + +The old man had extended his arm towards that part of the horizon to +which he wished to attract attention; and as the last words of the +preceding sentence were uttered, the disc of the sun disappeared over +the hills, the arm fell, the head dropped, and without a sigh, the +spirit of the last of the Englishmen had departed to its eternal rest. +Lilya, in an uncontrollable agony of grief, flung herself upon the +corpse; and there was scarcely a person present who was not deeply +affected. + +"Is he quite dead?" whispered the young merchant, observing that +Tourniquet had his fingers upon his wrist. + +"It's impossible to be more so, don't you see;" replied the surgeon, as +he dropped the lifeless arm by the side of the body. + +"We had better give him christian burial before we leave the island;" +remarked Fortyfolios. "The wild beasts, it seems, are numerous about +here, and it would not be a friendly act to leave his body to be +devoured by them. I do not know whether there is any consecrated ground +near, but I should think in a city so celebrated for the number of its +churches, a burial-place cannot be far off." + +"I will not have his remains mingle with the herd that choke up a +church-yard;" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry. "He shall have a more honourable +sepulchre. About a mile hence I noticed the colossal statue of some +distinguished hero. It is in a large park-like place, slightly elevated, +and at a considerable distance from any ruins. We will bury him at +its base: it is a grave such as his free spirit would have loved to +contemplate." + +The young merchant instantly gave orders about the funeral, and while +the preparations were being made, he, assisted by Zabra, drew Lilya +from the body, which she could not be induced to leave without force. +The seamen had brought with them some pickaxes and shovels for the +purpose of digging for antiquities, and these were now to be called into +use for a more melancholy occasion. Every one being in readiness, twelve +sailors with muskets reversed, walked slowly two abreast: then came the +body, still in its dress of wild skins, wrapped up in the Columbian +flag, and carried by eight men upon four muskets crossed. After them +walked Lilya, supported by Oriel Porphyry and Zabra. They were followed +by Fortyfolios and Tourniquet, and the captain and the midshipman, and +the procession was closed by twelve seamen marching slowly, two abreast, +with arms reversed. + +They passed along what appeared to be the remains of a road, for about +half a mile, when they came to a magnificent ancient triumphal arch, +a splendid example of architectural beauty, standing in excellent +preservation, with a colossal equestrian statue of a warrior trampling +under his horse's feet a group of warlike figures in different +costumes. An illegible inscription, supposed to be a list of victories +gained over the enemies of his country by the original of the statue, +was placed under the prostrate group, and beneath them in large +capitals that might be read at a great distance, was observed the word +"WELLINGTON." This admirable work of antiquity was divided into a +large central arch and two smaller ones, one on each side. They were +richly sculptured in bas relief, and adorned with every appropriate +architectural ornament. + +Passing beneath this grand triumphal monument, the funeral train +observed another of a less imposing character just before them, which +was much dilapidated. To reach it, they had to walk through a field of +weeds and high grass, which at different places, showed signs of having +once been a fine broad public thoroughfare; and venturing under the +tottering walls of this arch, they entered an expansive field of docks +and nettles, wild flowers, and gigantic thistles. Ruins of considerable +buildings were observed on the right. Clumps of trees were scattered in +every direction, and about the centre, on a high mound, stood a colossal +bronze statue of an ancient warrior, supposed to be some illustrious +English general. It was a splendid specimen of sculpture, and appeared +to be of great antiquity. + +Here it was intended should be consigned the remains of the heroic old +man, and the seamen having dug a deep grave at the foot of the statue, +he was deposited on the bank, where he lay wrapped up in the flag for a +few minutes to give to every one an opportunity of seeing him for the +last time. Lilya knelt down by the side of the dead body, kissed the +cold hand, and covered it with her tears. Many attempts were made to +tranquillise her grief, but without success. Every head was uncovered as +the professor read the funeral service, and even the hardy seaman seemed +much affected by the impressive character of the scene. + +"The brevity of existence has been much insisted on," observed +Fortyfolios at the conclusion of the service; "and here is an example +of the prolongation of life far beyond the usual term, and prolonged +under circumstances remarkably rare and interesting. This human +antiquity bore all the marks of greatness which were first impressed +upon its nature, through the violent changes that shook to ruin the +society to which it belonged. He was brave, patriotic, noble, and +patient. He could draw hope from the materials of despair, and find +comfort in the midst of desolation. Let us not murmur, then, at the +small evils among which we exist, when we find such admirable endurance +of evils of the greatest magnitude. The love of country is a natural and +amiable virtue, but never has it sat so gracefully, and existed with +such disinterestedness, as in the character of this ancient Englishman. +He loved, not because such love was a common feeling which every object +around him might excite; but he loved as if he had calculated what +would be the amount of patriotism possessed by his countrymen had they +existed; and considering himself as the representative of the dead, +endeavoured to exhibit the total of their contributions; and this +exhibition seemed the more abundant, as the objects which should have +the most readily created it became the least capable of exciting it +into action. He was a great man, and may be looked upon as the last +production of a great country." + +"As for the men who are vulgarly called great, don't you see," observed +the doctor, "your kings, your conquerors, and such poor cattle, they +shrink into their proper insignificance when compared to the last of the +Englishmen. How could they have endured the barren waste and wilderness +of ruins for any length of time! They could have found nothing to +appreciate in its solitude, they would have left its desolation in +disgust. Patriotism here was the most amiable of virtues. It was pure +and honest and excellent. It was full of truth and courage, and a power +that was invincible. Let us honour this old man: the grave will hold him +fast. We shall see nothing of the kind again. Let us then make the most +of his memory, for the estimation of such excellence will be always a +proof of the existence of a love of that which is best. The self-denials +of ascetics, and the mortifications of religious misanthropists, who, +shutting themselves up from the sweet influence of social intercourse, +hate their fellows and torture themselves; what are these compared with +that nobler, purer, better feeling which bound this old man to the grave +of his country, and made him find enjoyment and consolation in the +recollection of her immortal excellences? Let us honour him, for he is +an example of how much honour humanity may attain." + +"I cannot unwillingly join in praise so well deserved," said Oriel +Porphyry; "the extraordinary energy of his heroic nature that made him +endure with so cheerful a spirit the evils under which generation after +generation sunk into utter hopelessness, is worthy of all the admiration +we can confer upon it. We will bury him in the earth he loved so well; +and although we raise no monument to glorify his actions, and although +to strangers he be indebted for the rites of sepulture, his sleep will +not be the less profound, nor his obsequies the less honourable. +Perhaps in some future age, when, as he hath prophesied, this ancient +nation shall arrive at a degree of prosperity and greatness far beyond +any thing it has hitherto attained, the people of the future imagining +that this monument has been erected over the mortal remains of some +heroic spirit of the early ages, shall throng in crowds to confer on it +the homage of their reverence; and the fame, though in error, will do +him justice, and posterity, though ignorant, will rightly apply their +admiration." + +"Grieve not, sweet Lilya!" exclaimed Zabra, as he was endeavouring to +console the afflicted mourner; "he for whom you mourn mourns not; why, +therefore, should you be afflicted? His spirit is at peace with the +world; he treads no more among the ruins and weeds of this deserted +land; his home is where nature enjoys an unfading youth; where beauty +breathes from an unclouded atmosphere, and love dwells around him like +a perpetual blessing. Grieve not for the loss of the goodness which was +enshrined in his nature, it has gone to join the First Great Cause of +all good from which its goodness was derived. You see the wild flowers +that are scattered at our feet; they gather from the air and the soil +their fragrance and their loveliness, and these qualities they give back +to the air and the soil, when the freshness of their leaves is dried up, +and the soft hues in which we so much delight fade from their blossoms. +Whatever exists, exists in a state of continual giving and receiving. It +gains only to lose when what it has acquired can no longer be rendered +profitable to its owner. As the rivers run into the sea, glides all +humanity into the boundless ocean of the eternal; yet, fast as they +empty themselves as rapidly they flow from their sources, just as the +waters of life rush into the gulf of death, and though swallowed up with +inconceivable velocity, rise from their innumerable springs in greater +abundance. Grieve not, then, for grief is of no utility to either +the living or the dead. Consider yourself: in you are deposited the +materials of much happiness for yourself and others; endeavour to apply +them to the most advantage. Some fond youth may soon be looking on your +eyes, as gazes the devotee on the innermost sanctuary of his temple. In +you he will concentrate all his ideas of what is most admirable; to you +he will turn his thoughts; for you he will breathe his aspirations; +his dreams he will gladden with your smiles; his hopes he will make +brilliant in the lustre of your gaze. Are such things unworthy of your +contemplation? Leave off these regrets; quit this senseless clay which +answers not to your sympathy. Strive to become all, when living, he +would have wished you to be. Virtue and truth and wisdom invite you to +partake of their enjoyments, and if you attend to the better business of +life, under their instructive auspices, you may be assured of becoming +possessed of such happiness as it is felicitous even to imagine." + +Lilya raised her eyes streaming with tears to the handsome countenance +of the speaker, and her face was lit up with an expression that for +the time obliterated all traces of sorrow. At this moment the body was +carefully deposited in the grave, over which the seamen fired a volley +of musketry, after which he was covered with the soil, and the party +returned to their tents. Here, immediately on Zabra's arrival, he +proceeded to his harp, and after a few chords full of melancholy and +tender feeling, sang the following lines:-- + + "The last of his race now lies low, + Lies low in the soil that gave bliss to his eyes, + Though his country no joy could bestow, + For in deserts he lived and 'mid ruin he dies; + For him no dull trappings of woe, + No dark hirelings of grief round his sepulchre rise, + And he leaves not a friend or a foe, + His merits to praise or his faults to despise. + + "The last of his race to his rest, + To his rest in the grave hath gone silently down; + With his sword girded on o'er his vest, + And arrayed as in life from the foot to the crown. + But say not his tomb is unblest, + Or the name he hath left be unknown to renown, + For the wild flow'r shall bloom o'er his breast, + And his fame shall be echoed through village and town. + + "Though strangers his corse in the grave, + In the grave they have chosen with honour shall place, + Though the earth take the life which it gave, + And the tooth of the worm shall the mortal efface, + There shall dwell neither tyrant or slave, + There shall live not a people so lost in disgrace, + Who shall know not the land of the brave, + And respect not the bones of the Last of his Race." + +At the close of the song, Zabra felt a hand placed lightly on his +shoulder, and, turning round, beheld Lilya gazing on him with a look so +full of pleasure, that he felt almost inclined to doubt it was the same +creature who a short time since was so overpowered with affliction. "I +will go with you," said the timid girl, as a slight blush appeared on +either cheek; "I will go with you to your own country--if--that is--I +should like to go with you if you will take me." + +The same evening they were all on board the Albatross, which immediately +set sail, and retraced her way through the river into the wide ocean. + + + + +CHAP. VII. + +LILYA. + + +"I am getting very anxious about my father!" said Oriel Porphyry to his +young friend; "I am sure something must have happened, or I should have +found a communication from him at one or other of the different ports I +have touched at. Not a syllable of information have I been able to gain +from any of my father's ships I have spoken with, for most of them had +left Columbia about the same time as my last advices, and the others +were not aware of any thing important having transpired." + +"We are going homewards now, Oriel, and if any thing has happened shall +soon be made aware of it;" observed Zabra. "Let us hope for the best. I +should not imagine, from the immense influence that he possesses, that +the government would attempt to injure him." + +"They only want the power, I believe;" replied the young merchant. +"I know these sort of people too well to put much confidence in an +appearance of tranquillity that has been forced upon them. They must +hate my father. As the prime mover in the revolution which exhibited +their insignificance so palpably, they will look upon the merchant as a +person particularly odious, and no doubt would gladly get rid of him at +any cost or risk." + +"I should think for their own interests they would let him alone;" +remarked his companion. "Experience ought to have taught them the danger +of meddling with so popular a character, and having suffered so severely +it is not like that they will renew the hazardous experiment." + +"It is because they have suffered that they will be desirous of +revenging themselves upon one whom they consider as the cause of the +infliction;" said Oriel. "It would have appeared bad enough to them if +my father had been one of the most powerful of the aristocracy; but it +wounds them to the quick when they reflect that he is a plebeian--in +their ideas immeasurably beneath them--an individual of no ancient +family, without rank or dignity. With the feelings which a knowledge of +this fact must create it is impossible that they can rest satisfied with +their limited privileges and curtailed power. They will be continually +intriguing for his destruction." + +"They dare not do it, Oriel," replied Zabra; "I feel assured they dare +not." + +"I wish I could think so," said his patron; "but I have a little more +knowledge of the world than you, Zabra, and I know something more of +the disposition of such men. As long as he lives they will consider +themselves insecure. They can know no peace save in his death; and I am +convinced that they will use every exertion to accomplish it. I hope I +may be enabled to return in time to frustrate their intentions. I should +like nothing better than to expose their machinations, and to punish +them in an appropriate manner; and if the people exist in the same state +of feeling as when my father last wrote, I will show them something +they little expect to see. My father's friends are almost innumerable in +Columbus, and are always ready with hand and heart to serve him whenever +he will give the word, which he is always exceedingly loth to give; +and I think I may say that my friends in the metropolis are neither +despicable in number nor in influence, and are as eager to befriend me +in time of need; and I shall be quite as eager to accept their services. +I remember the times when I have been exercising my regiment, the +devotion that was displayed by both officers and men; but this I am well +aware was owing to their admiration of my father's virtues. Of them I am +secure. My fondness for military exercises made me labour to perfect in +discipline the troops I commanded, and they are now as effective a body +of men as ever entered a field of battle. They will perform good service +wherever they go. The national guard is another powerful engine to be +employed on such an occasion. In the metropolis alone they amount in +number to about twenty thousand; and they are devotedly attached to my +father. If there exist but a sufficient cause I know that I have only +to present myself amongst them, to induce them to follow me wherever I +choose to lead." + +"I trust you will have no occasion for their services," said his +companion; "it is my belief that on our return we shall find every thing +in the most comfortable state, and all parties satisfied with each +other. Your military dreams will then be completely disappointed, and +you will be under the painful necessity of making up your mind to share +the well-earned honours of your father, and partake of a perfect state +of happiness with Eureka." + +"Ah, Eureka!" exclaimed the young merchant with passionate emphasis; +"how rejoiced I shall be to return to her! I often find myself inquiring +into the possibility of a change in her disposition towards me." + +"That can never be, Oriel;" observed the other. + +"I have the fullest confidence in her fidelity, but sometimes I find +an apprehension intrude without knowing what produced it;" said his +companion. "There are no such self-tormentors as your true lovers; and +although I should be among the first to laugh at the suffering they give +themselves, I must acknowledge that on more than one occasion I have +endured a state of feeling which was any thing but satisfactory." + +"By what was it occasioned?" inquired Zabra. + +"Merely from my ignorance of the motives which have induced her to deny +me any communication with her till my return;" answered Oriel. + +"You would not condemn her if you knew what made such a denial +necessary;" remarked his young friend. + +"Very probably not: but the mischief of it is, I do _not_ know;" +said Master Porphyry. "Any thing in the shape of a mystery annoys me +amazingly, and this behaviour of hers appears to me most mysterious and +unaccountable. I think between lovers the most perfect sincerity should +exist. There should be no room left for doubt or suspicion. But in +the generality of attachments you will find much more deception than +sincerity. In the affections of youth there is an earnestness which is +the most natural and convincing that can be conceived; but as the heart +grows older, it gradually loses all this admirable freshness and purity, +and in a few short years it has recourse to artifices and disguises +without number. I detest deceit. I cannot imagine Eureka deceitful. I +hope never to find her so. To the truly devoted--to one who finds no +enjoyment like that which proceeds from honoring his adored as the +truest, the purest, and the best, there can be nothing so revolting +as the discovery that she whom he worships as one so pre-eminent in +goodness is the habitual practiser of contemptible deceits, hides +all her actions under a cloak of elaborate artifices, and lives in a +spider-like existence, spinning a dirty web to hide herself and betray +her victims." + +"Eureka is of a very different character;" observed Zabra, who during +the preceding observations had appeared exceedingly confused. "She has +not deceived you in any thing which it was requisite for you to know. +She detests artifice as much as you do. But there are always some things +which the most sincere may find it necessary to conceal. The truth +cannot be spoken at _all_ times." + +"You might just as well say that good money ought not to be passed at +all times;" said Oriel Porphyry. "That which is good ought to be good +upon all occasions, and truth is the very best of things in social +intercourse. It is the sterling coin of the affections; and she who uses +base counterfeits deserves the ignominy with which such vile cheating +should be punished. I have the very highest opinion of the female +character, and I desire always to think highly of womankind; but taking +the sex generally, I do sincerely think that they are amazingly fond +of disguising the truth as much as possible. It is a crooked policy--a +policy that in time poisons every better feeling a woman can possess. +Deception and a love of general admiration are her prevailing vices. +I am well aware that they are thought very innocent little foibles by +those who practise them, but on that account they are not the less +destructive to feminine excellence. Love is a passion of one for one +only. It ought to be excited by one object, and conferred on one object +alone. And thus exhibited, it is the purest, the most graceful, and the +most natural of human emotions. If either party introduce another as a +sharer in the affections, the whole feeling becomes tainted. What can be +more unjust to the lover who concentrates all his hopes on the exclusive +possession of the affections of the object of his fond idolatry, which +hopes have been called into existence by fond avowals and delicious +caresses, than for the woman whom he thus regards, to be just as +affectionate in her manner to a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and +a sixth? Some women seem to pride themselves on the number of their +admirers. What a miserable vanity it is! It is exactly the same feeling +with which an Eastern monarch used to regard the number of females in +his seraglio. Imagine the state of mind produced in a man of refined +intellect and delicacy of feeling at discovering that the lips he +thought sacred to his caresses were defiled by the caresses of another! +Or if she allow others merely to continue to profess to her their +ardent admiration, she evinces a neglect of the unalterable law of the +affections, which ought to be punished by contempt, scorn, and disgust." + +"But no woman ought to be accountable for the admiration she may +excite;" observed Zabra. "The most virtuous woman may without the +slightest intention create an unhallowed passion in one of the opposite +sex." + +"Women are remarkably quick sighted in every thing connected with the +affections;" replied the young merchant. "They can discover the earliest +signs of admiration, and every truly virtuous woman, if her sympathies +are pre-engaged, will endeavour to crush this feeling in the bud, and +show, by her displeasure and avoidance of the object, that he has +created no reciprocal emotion. If after such passion is declared she +continue to tolerate the attentions of her admirer, although she be +virtuous in other respects she has no conception of the nature of +perfect virtue. She is fostering an illicit feeling; she is encouraging +a passion she has no intention of indulging--a crime the most +destructive in its effects upon the happiness of the individual whose +passion she encourages; and as it is vicious in its tendency, because +it aims at indulgence at the expense of virtue, and as she assisted in +its developement instead of destroying it in its early growth, she is +answerable for all the consequences that may arise from its existence, +and has deserved the censure of being considered vicious in her +disposition. Toleration creates hope, and hope will love through all +difficulty; but no man, unless he be a fool or a knave, will love in +utter hopelessness." + +"Surely these observations can have no relation to Eureka!" exclaimed +Zabra earnestly. + +"Not the slightest;" replied his patron. "She is all I would wish her +to be; and the only cause of uneasiness she has given me during our +attachment is this mystery about the place of her concealment, and her +avoidance of any communication with me for so long a time." + +"Your uneasiness will soon be removed, then, and the mystery will be +explained in a manner that will perfectly satisfy you;" said the youth. + +"I hope so;" exclaimed his patron. "But I certainly do not like being +mystified by those in whom I take an interest. Mysteries, however, seem +most abundant around me just now. There is something very strange and +unaccountable in you, Zabra." + +"Me! in me, Oriel?" replied his companion, in evident confusion. "What +can there be strange or unaccountable in me?" + +"I have noticed many things in your behaviour exceedingly +extraordinary;" said the young merchant. "Your superiority to the +situation in which you were introduced to me has often made me imagine +that you are not what you assume to be." + +"Not what I assume to be!" exclaimed Zabra in increased embarrassment. +"Is it possible I can be any thing else?" + +"That is best known to yourself, and to her who sent you," replied +Oriel Porphyry; "but there certainly is a mystery about your character." + +"A mystery! how strange you should imagine such a thing;" responded his +youthful companion, attempting to conceal his confusion. + +"Then there's my father, he has _his_ mystery," continued his patron; +"it is some secret connected with that wretched aristocrat Philadelphia, +but what it is about he is not inclined to communicate." + +"I have noticed it," said Zabra, recovering from his confusion; "and I +imagined it to be a knowledge of some circumstances connected with my +father's early life, the publication of which would do him very serious +injury." + +"I cannot say what it is, but these things are very perplexing," +observed the young merchant; "however, I hope to make my way through +them on my arrival at Columbia. How glad I shall be to see its glorious +shores again! Nothing is so likely to excite patriotism as exile; and +Columbia is a country worthy of one's patriotism; the first nation of +the world; its citizens have reason to be proud. I have beheld during +my voyage many lands and many people, but I have seen neither land or +people to be compared to Columbia and its inhabitants. I rejoice that I +am returning to them, and though I am glad that this voyage is nearly +at an end, I hope that my father will be gratified with my proceedings +during my absence; and then if Eureka's sentiments in my favour have +not undergone any change I shall have nothing to fear." + +"Of Eureka's constancy you will soon be convinced;" said Zabra, in a +more subdued tone than he had previously used. + +"I shall be delighted to find it so. But do you think that she would +have no objection to protect the gentle Lilya?" asked Oriel. + +"None whatever;" replied his companion. "I am sure she will be much +gratified by your suggestion of such an arrangement. Lilya is timid and +perfectly ignorant of the world, yet she is docile and affectionate, and +with proper management I have no doubt she would become an amiable and +accomplished woman, qualified to adorn any rank in society." + +"The creature is so shy that I can scarcely ever get a glimpse of her," +observed his patron. + +"She is almost always with me," said the other; "every thing appears to +be new to her on board the ship, and her pleasure at the novelties she +beholds is so genuine that it is delightful to see her. She requires a +companion, or she would feel quite alone amongst us; and I being about +her own age, she naturally feels more at ease with me than with any +other. Her diffidence is excessive; I cannot get her to associate with +any one except myself; but I have no doubt that in time she will gain +confidence, and join us in the cabin or on the quarter-deck with perfect +self-possession. She seems remarkably fond of music, and appears to +enjoy nothing so much as hearing me sing to her." + +"Take care, Zabra;" said the young merchant, with a smile. "An ancient +poet has said that music is the food of love. The harmony of sweet +sounds, breathed around two such hearts as yours and Lilya's, will be +sure to put them in unison. If you go on in this way, existing in a +state of such intimate communion, it will be utterly impossible for +either of you to resist the soft influence of the tender passion, and +you have both of you arrived at a time of life when the disposition is +peculiarly susceptible to its impressions." + +"There is no fear of such feelings being created, I assure you;" replied +Zabra. + +"It seems to me very probable," observed Oriel; "your being so much +together is sufficient to produce such an effect. Besides, she is so +very pretty. What a depth of tenderness there exists in the soft blue +of her beautiful eyes! and her smile is positively exquisite. The rich +bloom of her complexion reminds me of some delicious fruit, it is so +warm, and soft, and tempting; and then the expression,--so innocent, +so artless, and so bashful, it is absolutely enchanting. I must not +forget her graceful figure, it is worthy of the highest eulogium for +being so delicately rounded. I am glad she has not thrown aside her +dress of skins and feathers, for, in my opinion, its simplicity and +picturesqueness would put fashion out of countenance. I never behold +her, whenever she does venture into my presence, but I imagine her to be +the Psyche of the heathen mythology, or some other amiable character in +that system of dreams:--the object of devotion to the immortal youth, or +the rosy cup-bearer to the gods. I assure you, I admire her very much." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed Zabra, who had listened to these praises of Lilya in +evident uneasiness. + +"Yes, she has interested me very deeply;" replied Oriel. "I am +charmed at the gentle being who has been so unexpectedly thrown on my +protection. I feel delighted at being able to gratify her unambitious +wishes; and when she comes shrinking into my presence, like a delicate +flower before the breeze, nothing pleases me so much as endeavouring to +assure her of her safety. And then the simple creature is so grateful, +and thanks me with such looks, that there is no resisting them." + +Zabra's eyes gleamed restlessly, his lips became pale, and his cheeks +bloodless. + +"I wish I could see her more frequently, and she would be somewhat +less reserved;" continued his patron. "It is so difficult to get her +to converse; yet her voice is so subdued and melodious that it is a +pleasure to hear her. It is seldom any thing beyond a murmur. She never +attempts to raise her voice into a more audible sound. She seems as +if she was afraid of hearing herself speak. After having been used to +the affectations and hypocrisies of female society, the artlessness +of Lilya's conduct and the purity of her nature becomes exceedingly +refreshing: I certainly do admire her very much." + +Zabra, as if unable to conceal the emotions that were evidently +producing a most powerful effect upon him, with a look of indescribable +anguish hastily left the cabin. + +"How strange!" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry, astonished at the sudden +departure of his young friend. "He must love her. I am certain from his +appearance while I was speaking in her praise, that he loves her, and +is jealous of the admiration I have expressed. How very strange!" + +Zabra hastened to the quarter deck, where he sat himself down in a +retired corner, apparently in the most intense agony of mind. His dark +features were impressed with the workings of a violent passion; his +lustrous eyes shone with a brilliancy that was vivid and piercing to an +extraordinary degree; and his breast heaved with that full and rapid +pulsation of the heart which is the usual effect of great excitement. +Covering his face with his hands, he continued in that position for +several minutes. "That it should come to this!" he muttered in a voice +tremulous with emotion. "That it should come to this! What a reward +for all I have done and suffered! Oh agony insupportable!--Oh misery +scarcely to be endured! Where will the devoted heart meet with fidelity? +Where will the loving one, who feels and thinks and acts with no other +desire than for the happiness of the loved, meet with a like regard? +The dream is over--the delusion is passed--the hope which has led me on +seems utterly extinguished. But perhaps it may not be--I may be deceived +in my suspicions. It would look like injustice to condemn him without +a more perfect knowledge. I will observe them. But he said how much he +admired her; he said it to me!--Ah! it must be true." + +Zabra was impatiently starting from his seat when he beheld Lilya +standing before him with every appearance of deep concern in her +countenance; he suddenly snatched her by the arm, drew her towards him, +and gazed in her face with a fierce and searching look. + +"Why do you gaze on me thus?" inquired Lilya, shrinking from the stern +scrutiny to which she was being subjected. "Why is your look so dark? He +whom I used to call my father never looked thus on me, and you never so +regarded me before. Have I done any thing wrong, by which I could offend +you? How sorry I shall be if I have! Or are you ill? Let me endeavour +to make you better: I know where grow the healing herbs and the balmy +plants that are good for many different maladies. Let me gather them +and make you a drink such as may restore you to health; or shall I run +down the young leveret or snare the tender woodpigeon to procure you +delicate eating? Ah me! I forgot that I am not where either herbs or +plants, or leveret or woodpigeon are to be found, but on the wide waste +of sea, where neither green moss nor twining ivy, nor flowers, nor +trees, nor any leafy thing exists. But what can I do to make you +better?" + +"Can I believe you?" asked her companion, relaxing in some degree in +the severity of his gaze. + +"You can if you like, Zabra," replied the simple girl; "and I do not see +why anyone should not believe me, because I always speak the truth; and +why _you_ should not believe me seems so very strange. I always believe +you. I am sure you would not say any thing that was not true, and I +could not think of saying a word with an intention of deceiving you." + +"You do not seem like one inclined to be treacherous;" observed the +youth. + +"I never saw any one inclined to be treacherous, therefore I cannot say +whether I do or do not look in that way," said the girl; "but I am not +so inclined, that I am positive of, for I have nothing in the world +to be treacherous about, and it is impossible that I should ever be +treacherous to you. Now, Zabra, you look more like the good and kind +being I have known you to be. Ah! what a pleasure it is to listen to you +when you sing your delightful songs, or speak to me so persuasively of +virtue, and wisdom, and excellence, and all such admirable things. It +makes me forget how much I loved to watch the birds at their nests, and +the young kids at play; and hear the lark's song in the morning, and the +nightingale's at night. It makes me forget all my favourite haunts where +the choicest flowers used to grow. It makes me to forget all I once +found so pleasant to remember." + +"You have noticed Oriel Porphyry, have you not?" inquired Zabra, fixing +on his companion a searching glance. + +"Oh yes," replied Lilya eagerly; "he that is so noble looking. His eyes +are so bright, and his hair curls over his forehead so beautifully, and +he looks so kindly at me when I see him and talks to me so kindly, that +I like him very much." + +"No doubt you do!" exclaimed the youth, with considerable bitterness. + +"I have not been much with him, for I feel quite afraid of him;" +continued Lilya. "He seems to me so very grand and proud in his +appearance, that I dare scarcely look at him when we meet, and as for +speaking I have then neither voice nor words. But he appears so good. +He takes my hand in his, and he presses it so gently, and he says to +me such encouraging things, and he looks upon my face with so much +earnestness, that----" + +"Oh it's palpable!" cried Zabra, hastily interrupting his companion, +and regarding her with a gloomy scowl. + +"That I cannot help feeling that I like him very much; and, although +I am afraid to utter a sentence, he still continues his kindness, and +never lets my hand go from his. However, I must try to tell him how +grateful I am. It is very foolish of me, I believe, in not saying how I +feel towards him. But how you look at me, Zabra!" exclaimed Lilya, as +she noticed the dark and angry expression of her companion's features. +"Is it displeasing to you that I do not express the sentiments I +entertain? I will confess them. Are you angry because I do not like +him so well as I ought to do? I will like him ever so much more." + +"Truly, you are obedient!" observed the other, with sarcastic emphasis; +"a pattern of one who is willing to please! There cannot be a question +about your dutifulness. Dupe, that I have been not to see your +artifices! But who could have supposed that, under such apparent +artlessness, there lurked so much treachery? Your deceit is well done. +None would suspect it. It is the most finished piece of falsehood that +ever was acted." + +"Falsehood! Deceit! Treachery!" exclaimed Libya, astonished and alarmed +by the violence in the language and conduct of her companion. "What are +such things to me, Zabra? I know them not. They cannot be for me to +use. Oh, why do you look at me in so unkind a manner? They are not the +looks that make me happy. I see you are angry with me, and I know not +for why. I must have done some great wrong, or you would not behave to +me in a way so unlike what you have used me to. And, indeed, I did not +do it intentionally. I would not have offended you if I could have +avoided it. What shall I do? Tell me what I shall do to acquire your +forgiveness, and I will never repeat the offence again." + +"And do you think that I will now believe these professions?" inquired +her companion, with considerable asperity. "Do you think, after having +been once deceived, I would allow myself to be the victim of the same +deception? Oh no! that can never be. You are discovered. I know you +thoroughly. Away with you, and let me no more be made miserable by your +presence." + +"Alas! alas! what heinous wrong have I done?" exclaimed Lilya, as the +tears made their appearance on her cheeks. "I know not what it is--I +cannot imagine any thing, unless it be my behaviour to Oriel Porphyry, +that offended you. I acknowledge he deserved better treatment; but, if +it be your desire, I will immediately go and tell him all that I think +of him: and when he looks so kindly, and talks so kindly, and presses my +hand----" + +"Away, vile hypocrite!" shouted Zabra, as with looks of indignation and +rage he pushed Lilya aside, and rushed from the place. She gazed after +him without uttering a word. Her spirit appeared quite overwhelmed; and +all the confidence she felt in his society completely deserted her. The +heart of the timid girl seemed filled with a sense of desolation she had +never before experienced, and she sat down in the seat he had vacated, +and wept. Here she remained, in the full consciousness of her +unprotected state, till the sound of approaching footsteps made her +hurriedly seek concealment in some obscure part of the ship. + +"The Albatross is crossing the Atlantic in very brilliant style, I +think;" observed the young merchant. + +"Yes, sir, she does spank along pretty smartly," replied the captain. +"But it's utterly impossible for a better bit o' timber to be found. +She's been tried in all sorts o' weathers, in all sorts o' seas; and no +matter whether we were doubling the Cape, or beating about in that ere +terrible monsoon in the Bay o' Bengal, she stood on her feet like a +trump, and answered to the helm as sensible as any born cretur." + +"Our passage home will be brief and pleasant, I should imagine, from the +portion we have passed," remarked Oriel Porphyry. + +"There's no knowin' sir," said old Hearty, seriously. "Sometimes it's +fair weather and sometimes it's foul, and sometimes it's a bit o' both. +The weather's the most unsartaintest thing in nature; it puzzles the +wisest on us. It's quite optional whether it has a mind to blow one way +or t'other, and sometimes it seems as if there was a reg'lar blow up wi' +ev'ry wind as blows, and they gets a skylarking wi' one another most +considerably." + +"I am very anxious to return to Columbia with as little delay as +possible," observed the young merchant. "My not having received any +communication from my father, and my knowledge of the unsettled state of +the country, makes me fear that the government have got the upper hand +again, and that they have made my father the victim of their vengeance." + +"They daren't harm him, sir," replied the old man; "they daren't harm a +hair o' his head; they knows of old how popular he is, and how popular +he desarves to be; and they must have a pretty considerable winkin' that +they'll be left among breakers if they 'tempts to steer that course. I +arn't no great politician, but it's as plain as a marlin spike to me, +that if they bore down upon master Porphyry after that fashion, they'd +get such a broadside from the people as 'ould sew 'em all up in their +hammocks in very little time." + +"I hope I shall arrive before they can execute their evil intentions, if +such intentions they have," remarked Oriel. "In case I should require +their services, do you think I could depend on the crew of this ship?" + +"On ev'ry mother's son of 'em," said the captain, with emphasis. "Ev'ry +man in the vessel's selected, and most ov 'em have sailed wi' me at +some time or other. There arn't a braver or more skilful crew afloat; +and if 'tis required that they shall bear a hand in defence o' master +Porphyry, I've got a notion there's nothin' they'd do wi' half so much +'lacrity. Master Porphyry ha' done so much good in his time that there's +scarcely a cretur livin' as has'nt through his friends or relations +profited by it in some degree, and it arn't in the natur o' a seaman not +to be grateful. As for me, when I've had never a shot in the locker, +master Porphyry, more nor once, has made me comfortable inside and out, +and sent me afloat, laden wi' summat else besides ballast; and if I +don't stand among the foremost in any shindy as you've a mind to kick +up, and don't sarve out the lubbers as would be tryin' to circumvent +your honourable old father, I'll give you leave to slice me into +pea-shells and dish me up into hogswash." + +"I'm perfectly satisfied with your fidelity, captain," said the young +merchant, "and I am very much gratified by hearing that I can depend +upon the crew. There's no knowing what may happen, and you and your +men might render me service of the highest value. If the struggle +I anticipate is to be made, every brave man will be an important +acquisition." + +"If we could only get together all the craft as master Porphyry +possesses, scrunch me! if we shouldn't be able to turn 'em inside out, +wi' as much ease as a fellow might take in a reef," exclaimed the old +man. + +"That cannot be done without the sacrifice of more time than I can +spare," observed Oriel. "My great object is to arrive in the metropolis +before the government can find an opportunity for working out its +schemes, as I feel convinced that they only wait occasion to resume the +influence of which they were dispossessed. If I am in time to prevent +their intrigues, I will speedily take such measures as shall put it out +of their power to make any attempt of the kind; and if the mischief +should be done previous to my arrival, I will make such a stir in the +country as shall shake them out of their ill-got authority before they +have had time to exercise it." + +"I maintain that the ancients greatly excel us!" exclaimed Fortyfolios +in a loud voice, as he approached the place where the captain and the +young merchant were conversing. + +"And I maintain quite the reverse, don't you see," replied the doctor. + +"Think of their universities, their schools, their royal academies +of painting and music, their royal societies for the advancement of +science, their extensive libraries, their galleries of art, and the +wonderful degree of perfection they attained in mechanics," said the +professor. + +"As for their universities," observed Tourniquet, "they distinguished +themselves most by their bigoted attachment to prejudices that had long +been exploded in every other part of the community. They wasted a vast +deal of time and intellect in teaching all such knowledge as was most +unprofitable; and this was what they called a classical education. It +consisted in making the student devote the best portion of his life in +learning one or two languages which were never spoken by the living, +and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred could not be of the slightest +advantage to the learner. A facility in the making of Latin verses, +which had no pretension to the name of poetry, was looked upon as +evidence of great merit; and he who could put together a few sentences +in Greek, unmarked by one original idea, was regarded as a genius which +his college ought to be proud of." + +"Do you mean to affirm that the dead languages are not worthy of study?" +inquired Fortyfolios. + +"I affirm nothing of the kind, don't you see," replied the doctor. "I +only maintain that the time devoted to their acquisition in the system +of education pursued by the ancients might have been more advantageously +employed. Both the teachers and the taught enslaved their minds with the +same shackles. What loads of paper have been spoiled by the labours of +some learned blockhead on the Greek particle, or by the annotations and +interpretations of some laborious trifles attempting to elucidate the +meaning of some obscure Latin writer. But there is a greater mischief +in this than the mere worthlessness of what it produces. The exclusive +attention which is required to gain a mastery over a dead language +stifles the affections and narrows the intellect. It makes men egotists +and bigots; ignorant, prejudiced, proud, and quarrelsome. What was +Bentley? what was Parr? what was Johnson? what was Porson? What were all +who distinguished themselves by such great talents in small things? Were +they temperate, or modest, or amiable? moderate in their enjoyments, +or inoffensive in their behaviour? Were they not the very reverse of +these?" + +"They were great scholars," observed the professor. + +"They were great fools, don't you see," said the other sharply. "A man +who offends against decency, who is quarrelsome and imperious, knows not +the respect he owes himself or the courtesies which are due to society; +and his actions, if they are not crimes, must certainly be follies. +As for his wisdom--as for the wisdom of the grammarian, or the mere +number of books comparatively useless, his is the knowledge of a man +who has lived all his life in the narrow circuit of a little village; he +may know every brick in every house, and may be familiar with the exact +state and quantity of every dunghill there to be met with: but take him +out into the open world, and he knows nothing but the prejudices of the +place from which he came." + +"That does not prove that the learning of the ancients is unworthy of +study," remarked Fortyfolios. + +"Who are the ancients?" inquired Tourniquet. "The English are our +ancients, the Romans were their ancients, the Greeks were the ancients +of the Romans, and the Egyptians were the ancients of the Greeks: the +Hindoos, or the Chinese, were the ancients of the Egyptians; and if we +could look to a more remote period, we should be sure to find a people +who also had their ancients. It is a very strange idea of the world to +expect to progress by always looking back, don't you see. The learning +of our predecessors may always be worthy of study if it be superior to +the learning in existence; but it has been the system of universities +and public schools to concentrate the attention of the studious upon the +learning of the ancients, to the neglect of a knowledge more available +and of far more practical utility." + +"It is strange, then, that the public schools and universities of +the English should have produced so many illustrious men!" said the +professor. + +"I maintain that their most illustrious men were not produced in the +public schools, don't you see," replied the doctor. "Of philosophers, +Bacon, Hume, Hobbes, Berkley, Shaftesbury, Dugald Stewart, and Hartley; +of men of science, Newton, Flamstead, Napier, Davy, Priestley, and +Black; of statesmen, Burleigh, Clarendon, Wolsey, Cromwell, Raleigh, +Temple, Burke, and Pitt; of divines, Tillotson, Chillingworth, More, +Jeremy Taylor, Selden, and Sherlock; of heroes, Hampden, Russell, +Marlborough, Clive, and Wolfe; and of poets, Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, +Spenser, Goldsmith, Pope, and Thomson; besides numberless others I +cannot now remember; attained their eminence without any assistance from +public schools." + +"I suppose you equally condemn their royal societies and academies?" +inquired Fortyfolios. + +"I do, so far as concerns their utility, don't you see," said +Tourniquet. "Did their royal societies ever produce a great man? What +eminent philosopher or distinguished man of science did they ever +create? And as for their royal academies, when you can point out to me +the great painters and great musicians they have given to the world, I +will acknowledge the benefit society has received from them, but not +till then." + +"It is not to be expected that all institutions will perfectly answer +the end for which they were designed," remarked the professor. "The +object for which they were founded was wise and admirable, and to a +certain extent they realise that object. They collect together the +talent in the country, and then as much as possible make it known to +the public." + +"They neglect much more talent than they collect, don't you see," +replied the doctor; "and these being usually governed by a select few +who have no conception of such a thing as impartiality, he is considered +the greatest man amongst them who possesses the most patronage. But the +manner in which superior intelligence was regarded by the government of +England was exceedingly discouraging to men of genius. They would lavish +pensions upon profligates, spies, political apostates, the tools of +power, and the slaves of intrigue; but the man who strived to exercise +talents from which his country would derive a certain and lasting +advantage was left to struggle on without the slightest assistance. Any +person, however ignorant, if he could manage by prostituting his soul +to every kind of meanness and chicanery to scrape together a sufficient +sum of money, might aspire to the dignity of a title of honour; and +sometimes, but very rarely, the same title was conferred upon a +favourite painter or physician; minds of the highest order were obliged +to be satisfied without any such distinction. The pliant orator, the +successful soldier, and the ready lawyer were ennobled; but genius, and +virtue, and honour, and worth, such as were developed in the wisest and +best of men, were not thought worthy of a regard." + +"Notwithstanding all this, the literature, and science, and art of +England flourished till it became the admiration of surrounding nations, +and excited the wonder of each succeeding generation," observed the +professor. + +"Which proves that neither universities, nor public schools, nor royal +societies, nor academies, nor artificial distinctions, such as existed +in England, were of any advantage in increasing the intelligence of the +people, don't you see," added his companion. "All such institutions +might be rendered highly serviceable to the state; but the system upon +which they were conducted was so faulty, their government so illiberal, +and their influence so ineffective, that I cannot conscientiously afford +to give them any praise, as they existed among the ancients. As for +their extensive libraries, on what principle could a government defend +the policy of not only withholding from men of genius the patronage +they ought to afford them, but robbing every author of several copies +of every book he produced without the slightest recompence--merely for +the purpose of augmenting their libraries? The wealthiest state then +existing was guilty of this meanness. The philosopher might exist as +he could--starve--die--rot--in any obscure hole in which he could find +refuge, without attracting the least attention: but immediately his +works were published--no matter how expensive they were to him, or how +much labour and suffering they had cost him--down came a demand for +eleven copies for the public libraries, for which the author never in +any shape saw a consideration." + +"But the author had proper protection for his publications," said +Fortyfolios. + +"Nothing of the kind," replied the doctor; "the law of copyright, as it +was called, then in existence for the protection of authors in the sale +of their works, was the most bungling atrocity that ever originated in a +legislature. An author was allowed to possess his property, the product +of his own labour, _only_ for a certain time. Any man might leave to his +heir the land he had received from his father--any man was allowed to +bestow on his child the wealth that he possessed; but the children +of the man of genius could not inherit any right in the acknowledged +property of their parent. After the term had expired in which he was +allowed to possess his own--think of their generosity in allowing +this!--his labours might enrich any one who chose to make them +profitable, and he and his children, and his children's children, were +left to starve. The man who writes a book which acquires a certain value +by publication, has as much right to consider all the profits it may +produce as belonging to him and to his heirs for ever, as is the man who +becomes possessed of land or other property entitled to continue it in +the possession of his family from generation to generation: and it is +nothing better than an act of robbery for any government to deprive +either of a right to which they have so perfect a claim." + +"But you have said nothing about the perfection to which they carried +their machinery," said the professor. "I think the ancients deserve our +thanks for their mechanical inventions." + +"I cannot confer praise on any invention, however brilliant it may be, +that must come into operation at the expense of human sufferings, don't +you see," observed the other; "and all those machines which were brought +into use for the purpose of diminishing the amount of manual employment, +did produce a very great degree of human wretchedness. It may be very +satisfactory to some parties, to consider that the country becomes more +wealthy according to the increasing facility with which its manufactures +are sent to market; but the time must come, if this rapidity of creating +produce continue, when the supply must exceed the demand, and then +finding an inadequate market for its manufactures, the country must +become poor. But while this result is gradually brought about by +the manufacturers endeavouring to produce their goods by means of +machinery, at as little cost and with as great facility as it is +possible to attain, the thousands who gained their subsistence by the +labour which these machines have supplied, are left without a resource; +they must crawl out the remainder of their miserable lives as they can, +and are left to famish, to beg, or to steal. It is pleasant, perhaps, to +know that machinery allows you to purchase half a dozen pairs of shoes +at the price you formerly paid for one, but while every one can get +shoes for a trifle, they who make them can neither get shoes nor bread." + +"Are you still arguing, gentlemen?" inquired Oriel Porphyry as he +returned from another part of the ship to which he had proceeded with +the captain on the approach of the philosophers. "There certainly must +be a great fascination in your method of reasoning, or you would either +be tired of talking, or want subjects to talk about. What has been the +matter in debate on this occasion?" + +"We have been arguing upon the superiority of the ancients over the +moderns," replied the professor. "I maintained and do still maintain, +that the ancients far exceeded us in intelligence, in skill, and in +every thing which is a sign of superior civilisation. Their works of +learning are invaluable--their efforts in art not to be surpassed--their +discoveries in science have been the admiration of every succeeding +age." + +"And what says the doctor to this?" inquired the young merchant. +Fortyfolios looked round, and discovered that his antagonist had left +the field. + + + + +CHAP. VIII. + +LOVE MISPLACED. + + +Zabra's disposition appeared to have undergone a complete change. He +was no longer to be found in the cabin delighting every one with the +stirring eloquence of his language, or on the quarter-deck instructing +the gentle Lilya in the wonders of the ship. Instead of, as had hitherto +been the case, seeking the company of Oriel Porphyry as the greatest +enjoyment he possessed, he had for several days avoided every place +where they were likely to meet. He roamed about the vessel without +attempting to converse with either officers or crew, and if any one +ventured to address him, the proud look with which the speaker was +regarded, as the young creole turned away, was sufficiently repulsive to +prevent the experiment being repeated. Even those with whom he had used +to be on terms of intimacy, the captain and the young midshipman, were +passed by with the same gloomy look. Every one wondered at the change, +and all were ignorant of the cause. + +Oriel more than once sought him for the purpose of inquiring the reason +of his strange conduct, with the intention of endeavouring to induce him +to return to his usual place, as his friend and companion; but the youth +fled from his approach so determinedly, and treated his messages with +such a studied neglect, that the young merchant, imagining that Zabra +was in one of his mysterious moods, at last abandoned all intention +of interfering, expecting that in a day or two he would become more +reasonable, and join in the cabin circle as usual. Oriel Porphyry had +observed so much in the behaviour of his friend that was extraordinary, +that he had ceased to be surprised by the strange way in which he +frequently acted. His conduct, therefore, in this instance, did not +excite in him any particular attention or remark. But no one appeared to +regard Zabra's unsocial manner with so deep an interest as Lilya. She +felt severely his estrangement from her society: all her pleasures +seemed to be completely annihilated by his absence. It was evident that +his kind attentions had not been lost upon her grateful disposition, for +she was too artless to disguise her feelings, and her sentiments in his +favour seemed too evident to be misinterpreted. His handsome features, +so warm and eloquent in their expression--his lustrous eyes, shining +with so soft a light--and his youthful figure, so buoyant and elastic, +had from the first awakened in her breast a feeling of surprise and +admiration that was both strange and delightful. A new world seemed +rising before her eyes. She entered into a different state of existence. +All around her breathed an atmosphere of happiness that made her +previous pleasures appear dull and cold; and then she found no enjoyment +except in being near him, and when he kindly endeavoured to lead her +mind to the contemplation of such subjects as were likely to interest, +to amuse, and instruct her simple nature, as the fire of youthful +enthusiasm shone in his brilliant gaze, and his intellectual countenance +kept changing its expression in accord with the different feelings which +the subject created, she held her breath, as if she thought that there +was something in what she saw that the least disturbance would destroy; +and hung upon his words as if there was a charm in their sound which, +once destroyed, could never be created again. + +In the lessons with which he sought to enlighten her untutored +intellect, her feelings had participated. Her timid nature acquired +confidence in his presence. She more frequently sought than shrunk from +his society; and she forgot that she was alone upon the world without +a single connecting tie to associate her with its sympathies. It was +from such feelings as these that she was first disturbed by Zabra's +unaccountable and unkind behaviour. In vain she endeavoured to find a +reasonable cause for such conduct in any thing she had done; she knew +nothing in which she could have offended, except in not having appeared +sufficiently grateful to Oriel Porphyry; and this fault of hers +she reflected on so long, that she began to regard it as something +particularly heinous, and became daily more desirous of attempting, by +a different behaviour, to repair the wrong she had committed. + +She strived as much as possible to get rid of her natural bashfulness, +and sought out the young merchant with the design of repairing her fault +in the best way she could. After considerable hesitation and frequent +desire to turn back as she proceeded, she ventured as far as the cabin +door; where, after waiting a considerable time, daring neither to go on, +or to return, she knocked gently. A voice kindly bid her come in, and +with a palpitating heart she opened the door and entered. + +"Ah, Lilya!" exclaimed Oriel, who sat alone studying a book of military +exercises, "this is an unexpected pleasure." Then hastening towards her +with a smile of welcome, he led her blushing and trembling to the sofa. + +"I hope you will not any longer be such a truant as you have proved +yourself," said the young merchant, kindly. + +"Have I been a truant?" asked the timid girl. + +"Yes you have, and a very sad truant too," replied Oriel Porphyry, with +a smile. + +"How sorry I am!" murmured Lilya, looking deeply concerned, though she +knew not what wrong she had committed. + +"Well, I will forgive you if you will promise not to repeat the +offence," said Oriel. "You must let me see you more frequently. It is +not kind of you to absent yourself from your best friends. Remember that +in me you will always find a friend ready to do any thing that is likely +to insure your happiness. Will you promise me, that you will not keep +away from me as you have done?" + +"If you will forgive me, I will promise any thing that is proper for +me to do," replied the bashful maiden, appearing by her downcast eyes +afraid to look upon her companion. + +"Of course I will forgive you," responded the other affectionately, +taking one of her hands in his. "There can be very little difficulty in +my doing that." + +"But there is something else," said Lilya, trembling like a condemned +criminal. + +"What else can there be?" inquired Oriel. + +"Something else for you to forgive," replied the timid girl. + +"Indeed, I was not aware of its existence," responded the young +merchant. "Tell me what it is. It will give me pleasure to forgive you." + +"I have never told you how grateful I am for your kindness to me," +murmured his fair companion in a voice scarcely audible. "But indeed I +feel it. I cannot help seeing how good you are, and--and--and I like you +very much for it." + +"You are an admirable creature," exclaimed Oriel Porphyry, apparently +delighted with her unaffected simplicity; "and it will be a great source +of pleasure to me to be able to assist in creating your happiness. As +for gratitude, there is no necessity for that, at any rate, at present; +but when I have succeeded in insuring you all the blessings I wish you +to enjoy, you may be as grateful as you please." + +"And you forgive me for my neglect?" asked Lilya, looking up to his face +imploringly, and then instantly casting her eyes to the ground. + +"Forgive you!" cried her companion kindly, "you have committed no fault. +But if it be any satisfaction to you to receive my forgiveness, it is +readily granted; indeed, I feel so much pleasure in conferring it, that +I hope you will very soon either commit the same or a similar fault, +that I may be allowed the same enjoyment I now possess." + +"No, I will not do so again, because that would be wrong," observed the +bashful maiden; "I should be unworthy of your kindness if, after you +had once been so good as to forgive me for a fault I had committed, I +committed the same fault again." + +"In truth, you are a most admirable creature," exclaimed the young +merchant, with impressive emphasis. "But what can I do to make your +stay in the ship more endurable. Your being used to roam at will over +the wide fields and open valleys of your native land, must make this +voyage appear very tedious. I should like to vary its monotony for you +as much as possible. Have you a desire for any pleasure I can gratify?" + +Lilya looked confused, the colour in her face disappeared and returned, +and she tried once or twice to raise her eyes from the ground to the +face of her companion; but as soon as she had elevated them about half +way, she let them fall, and seemed as if she had not courage to make +another effort. + +"You don't answer me, Lilya," said Oriel Porphyry. "Do not be afraid of +asking for what you require. I wish your time to pass as pleasantly as I +can make it, and you will afford me gratification as well as yourself by +giving me an opportunity for increasing your enjoyments. Tell me what it +is you most wish to be done." + +"I wish Zabra would be as he used to be," exclaimed the simple girl, and +an expression of sadness became visible upon her beautiful features. + +"So do I," replied the young merchant; "but I have done every thing to +induce him to become so, without success. I cannot tell what it is that +makes him act so strangely; but he is a strange creature at all times, +and as I have allowed him to do as he pleases, I am afraid nothing I +could say or do would make him become more rational. He avoids every +attempt I have made to prevail upon him to take his place amongst us as +usual, and I have therefore no remedy now but patience." + +"He never used to be so," murmured Lilya. + +"He appears to have taken offence at something or somebody, but what the +cause is I do not pretend to know," said Oriel. "I am sure I have said +or done nothing at which he ought to have felt offence." + +"I thought he was offended with me, because I did not tell you how +grateful I was for your kindness," observed his companion. + +"I doubt that that is the cause," replied the other. "But it is my +opinion that, if any one can bring him back to his former behaviour, it +is yourself, Lilya." + +"Me!" exclaimed the blushing maiden; "I bring him back to be what he +was! Oh I wish I could!" + +"I think you have only to try and there is no doubt of success," +remarked Oriel: "Go to him, be kind to him; tell him how much you are +afflicted by observing him abandon all his friends, and assure him how +happy it will make you to see him exerting himself in the same social +offices in which he used to take delight." + +"Do you really think that would be of use?" inquired Lilya, as she +raised her eyes till they met those of her companion. + +"There is not a doubt of it," replied he. + +"Then I will go this moment," she exclaimed; and leaping from the sofa, +she hastened out of the cabin. + +Zabra was alone bending over his harp and striking a series of +melancholy chords. He was so completely lost in his own reflections, +which evidently from the gloomy expression of his countenance were far +from being pleasant, that he did not observe the approach of Lilya. The +first notice he had of her vicinity was in feeling his hand timidly laid +hold of; and on turning his head round, he beheld her gazing on him +anxiously and kindly close at his side. + +"What brought you here? Why do you follow me? Is there no place where +I can be secure from your intrusion?" were the quick inquiries of the +young musician, as with a stern look he snatched his hand from the hold +of the timid girl. + +"Indeed I have no wish to offend you, Zabra," said Lilya, feeling quite +confounded with the unfriendly reception she had met with. "I come to +you, because I think you are unhappy." + +"Who told you I was unhappy?" asked Zabra, sharply; "and what is my +unhappiness to you?" + +"It is much, because it makes _me_ unhappy," replied the simple girl; +"and I thought you were unhappy, because you have abandoned all your +friends, and deprived me of the pleasure you used to confer." + +"I did not abandon them till they showed themselves unworthy of my +companionship," said the youth proudly. "Do you think I can sit quietly +to become the victim of deceit and treachery? Do you imagine I can stand +tamely by while the heart I worship is ensnared by another? No! I cannot +endure it, and I will not. I wish to be alone." + +"And will you not return to your place among the friends who delight in +your presence?" inquired the bashful maiden; "they are very anxious to +see you. And I--I should like you--I should very much like you to be +as you used to be; for then you were so kind, and talked to me so +delightfully, and appeared so very happy." + +"I was very happy then," exclaimed her companion, in a voice tremulous +with emotion. "I loved and believed myself loved in return. But it is +all over now; I have been deceived. Go and leave me." + +"And if you did love, Zabra," murmured Lilya without daring to move +her eyes from the ground, "if you are sure you loved--I think I'm +convinced--that is, I mean, that if you do love, you must be loved in +return." + +"No, no! I saw it too plain," observed Zabra. "It's beyond a doubt; it +is evident--palpable--I cannot be mistaken. Why do you waste your time +here? Have I not told you I wish to be alone?" + +"Oh! do not look upon me so sternly," exclaimed the gentle girl, with +tears in her eyes; "indeed I wish to make you happy. I will never offend +you. I will be all you desire. I will listen to you with the most +perfect attention, and carefully remember every thing you tell me. Come, +Zabra, come!" she continued, as she ventured tremblingly to lay hold of +his hand. "Let me lead you to the kind friends who are so desirous of +your presence; let me assure you that you are loved," she added, as she +raised the hand she held in her own to her lips, and pressed them softly +and quickly upon it, and then, as if alarmed by her own temerity, she +hastily dropped it and stood blushing and trembling by his side. + +"No, no! I tell you no! I am not loved. I know it too well. Why do you +come to me with your affectionate words and fond endearments? Take them +to Oriel Porphyry; he can best appreciate them," said her companion. + +"Well, I will if you wish it, Zabra," replied the simple girl. "I would +do any thing to please you." + +"No doubt you would," exclaimed Zabra sarcastically. + +"Yes I would, Zabra; and I will go this moment and do what you require +me:" and she had scarcely uttered the words before she hurriedly left +the presence of her companion. + +Zabra sat alone at his harp, half doubting in his mind whether it was +simplicity or artifice that Lilya had exhibited; but as he remembered +what both had confessed, he felt the conviction that she was again +endeavouring to deceive him; and the miserable feeling thus created he +endeavoured to express in the following words:-- + + "Be not deceived, fond heart, + Be not deceived; + Words are but sounds, and looks changing and vain; + None are believed, fond heart, + None are believed: + When they delude, never trust them again. + + "Seek not for truths, sad heart, + Seek not for truth; + Truth's in the grave, and there only will stay; + Maiden and youth, sad heart, + Maiden and youth: + Each will beguile and then each will betray. + + "Love is a dream, fond heart, + Love is a dream; + Clothed with delight for the heart and the eye; + Bright though it seem, fond heart, + Bright though it seem, + Sleep not--you dream but to wake--and to die!" + +"Mustn't allow you to sing such melancholy ditties, don't you see," +exclaimed Dr. Tourniquet, standing before the young musician, where +he had been for several minutes. "They make every body miserable and +yourself too; and besides this they are very hurtful in their effects +upon the system. They are a sort of sedative that affect the head and +the heart at the same time--prevent eating, drinking, or sleeping with +any thing like a healthy state of feeling. Allow me the privilege of an +old friend to ask you what's the matter with you?" + +"Alas! it is a malady beyond the reach of medicine!" exclaimed Zabra +mournfully. + +"That's to be proved, don't you see," replied the doctor. "I have for +some days noticed you running into holes and corners away from all your +friends. It is both unreasonable and unsocial. I don't pretend to know +what has been the occasion of it; but as you have acquainted me with +your secret, I can make a shrewd guess. Ah! this love's a terrible +thing." + +"After having been assured you were beloved," said the young musician; +"after having convinced your own heart that your affection was returned +with the same ardour with which it was given, to find doubt follow +doubt, till a certainty that you were not loved gradually forced itself +on your mind--this, this is terrible." + +"But that cannot have been your case, don't you see," exclaimed +Tourniquet. "You cannot doubt--there's nothing for you to dread." + +"It is too true. I have been deceived," replied Zabra, and his features +became overcast with a deeper melancholy. "All that I have done has been +unavailing; all that I have dared has been cast to the winds. To be the +sole possessor of one heart I thought would be a sufficient recompense +for all my past sufferings, and dangers, and difficulties; but now I +have discovered the unwelcome truth, that another has acquired the +ownership of what I strove so earnestly to gain. Oh shame on the +treachery that can allure a trusting soul into the conviction that its +sweet hopes are acknowledged and its fond dreams replied to! and then, +as a new face or a more beguiling nature comes upon the scene, will turn +to it with a fondness which should have been confined to the sincere +one, and leave all those hopes and dreams to be crushed under the +withering touch of despair!" + +"I'll wager my professional skill you're mistaken, don't you see," said +the doctor. "But who do you imagine to be the guilty parties?" + +"Oriel and Lilya," replied his young companion. + +"It can't be, don't you see," remarked the other. "I'm a little older +than you are, and a better judge of character; and from the result of +my own observations, I feel certain that neither of them are capable +of such conduct. Oriel Porphyry is noble, and is more sincere in his +character than any man I ever met with; and Lilya is the most artless, +shy, unsophisticated creature that ever existed. You must be wrong, +don't you see." + +"Both of them have acknowledged it to me," said Zabra; "both have +confessed to me their mutual regard. Yes, it is too true. It is placed +beyond the possibility of a doubt." + +"Without meaning any offence to you, I can't believe it, don't you see," +said the doctor good humouredly. "You have been deceiving yourself. +There is a little bit of jealousy in the case, depend upon it. And +though I maintain that jealousy is usually a very reasonable passion; +for it is impossible for one who has thought himself the owner of +the affections of another, to find a third party regarded as their +possessor, without feeling a considerable degree of indignation: I +think, in this instance, there is no cause for it." + +"I wish I could think so! I most fervently wish I could think so!" +exclaimed the youth earnestly. "Nothing could gratify me so much as to +find my suspicions unfounded; but the facts are so clear that the most +credulous would be convinced." + +"Ah! lovers are the worst people in the world to argue with, don't you +see," remarked Tourniquet with a smile. "They are always convinced of +something that no one else would entertain for a moment. They believe +without a proof, and deny without a cause. With all due respect for you, +I must say that love is the greatest folly upon earth. I don't mean to +say that I have not had my follies, don't you see; for I have had a very +fair share of them. I remember my first folly of the kind very well. I +had commenced my medical education under the auspices of an old uncle +of mine. He was exceedingly like all other uncles from the creation of +the world to the present time. He was obstinate, peevish, domineering, +and quarrelsome, and was blest with a daughter, as all uncles are that +have a nephew to reside with them. I was then a youth remarkable for the +pains I took in my clothes and in my personal appearance; in fact, my +dandyism was so conspicuous that I was ashamed to look a dog in the face +for fear he should acknowledge me as a puppy. + +"All at once I thought it was highly necessary I should be in love, +don't you see; so I brushed up my bits of whiskers, held my head as high +as I could, and looked about me. My eyes quickly fell upon the charming +Papaverica. To be sure her hair was as much like a bundle of scorched +tow as it was possible to be; but of course I called it an auburn. Her +nose was a lump of flesh; but of what shape it would have puzzled a +geometrician to decide; yet I declared it was Grecian; and her mouth +_was_ a mouth--there was no mistaking it, and it gave an openness to +her countenance more than usually expressive; and of course I swore it +was like two cherries seeming parted. Then her body showed that she was +somebody. It might have been as thick as it was long, for its length was +nothing to brag of. As for her feet, Papaverica was not a girl to stand +upon trifles. But whatever her figure was like, I had no difficulty in +convincing her it was the very perfection of grace and beauty. + +"I fell in love. Papaverica was medicine, surgery, and anatomy to me. +The pharmacopoeia was neglected, the vade mecum thrust on one side. I +forgot drugs and dressings, lancets and laudanum. I had no taste for +mixtures, and my soul was above pills. My thoughts were ever wandering +towards the charming Papaverica; and as it is not possible for the mind +to entertain two thoughts at the same time, my labours in making up the +medicines for my uncle's patients occasionally produced very strange +effects. Potions and lotions, cathartics and emetics, pills and squills, +were mixed together in what was not considered 'most admired disorder;' +for my uncle's stick spoke of any thing but admiration. But my blunders +were most conspicuous in writing the labels. In giving the directions +for a mixture I was sure to write 'Papaverica, when taken to be well +shaken'--for a draught, 'Papaverica to be taken at bedtime,'--and for +a lotion that had been repeated, 'Papaverica as before.' + +"All this time we met, and made love after our fashion, don't you see. +Papaverica and I looked at each other till we couldn't see out of our +eyes, and sighed like paviers at work on a hard piece of ground. But +her father tried to put a stop to our proceedings; and if he caught +me talking to her, he gave me such a setting down, or more properly, +speaking, such a knocking down, as gave me cause to remember the +conversation. + +"'Fathers have flinty hearts!' said the sympathising Papaverica. + +"'And desperate thick sticks!' I exclaimed, with tears in my eyes, as +I rubbed my aching back against the door. However, this sort of thing +could not go on for ever. I was sent to pursue my studies at Columbus, +and I lost sight of Papaverica--I may add, for ever; for she soon +afterwards eloped with a strolling actor who had been vagabondising +in the neighbourhood, and who had won her heart by playing Romeo in a +cocked hat and leather breeches. + +"My next folly was of a different kind. I was a young student as fond of +mischief as any of the fraternity to which I belonged. I was invited to +an evening party, where among the company, I noticed a young girl with a +laughing, dare-devil eye, and a person remarkably smart. I inquired her +name, and from a friend learned all the particulars of her history. +Observing that she was regarding me in a manner that told me that she +was quizzing me to her companions, I advanced, humming an air till I +came close before her. + +"'Ah Floss!' said I, nodding familiarly. 'Is it you? Haven't seen you +this age. You look particularly charming; and how is your grandmother? +Shouldn't suppose you half so old as you are, to look at you. And +has the cat kittened? I always admire your style of dress--it's very +becoming. So the house dog's got well at last! Being an old friend of +the family, you must really make room for me beside you.--How is your +aunt's toothach?' + +"The girl at first stared at my impudence, don't you see; but, finding I +proceeded with the same nonchalance, making all sorts of heterogeneous +remarks and inquiries, she laughed heartily, in which she was as +heartily joined by her companions, and we became intimate in a moment. +We joked and romped in the most provoking manner, and said the smartest +things of each other that could possibly be conceived. I found that she +lived with an aged grandmother and an old maiden aunt, in a small house +in a retired part of the town. I watched my opportunity when I saw +the two old women go out to take their evening walk, and gave such a +tremendous knock at the door that it made the windows rattle again. As +I expected my charmer opened the door, and in I marched as stately as +an emperor. + +"'Halloo, sir, where are you going? This is like your impudence, +certainly!' said she, not knowing whether to be most offended or amused +at my behaviour. + +"'I have come to honour you with a little of my superfluous time, +Floss,' I replied in an easy, condescending manner. + +"'You have, have you? then I shall just thank you to make the best of +your way back again,' she rejoined as she followed me into the parlour. + +"'I shall do nothing of the kind, Floss, till I please,' said I, as +observing some decanters of wine on the table I began very quietly to +help myself; 'and I have the pleasure to drink your health, Floss, and +a good husband to you--when you can get one.' + +"'You impudent jackanapes!' she exclaimed, as she observed me toss off +a bumper. 'This exceeds every thing I ever heard of.' + +"'I always strive to excel, Floss,' I replied, flinging myself at full +length on a sofa. But come here. Come to me like a good girl. I have +something to say to you.' + +"'Go to you! I'll see you farther first!' she cried, looking as +disdainfully as she could. + +"'Very well,' said I, rising and retreating a few paces: 'now come to +me--you see me further.' + +"'I shan't do any thing of the kind, Mr. Impudence,' she exclaimed, +trying to hide her laughter. + +"'Then if you wo'n't come to me, I shall be obliged to go to you, which +is a great hardship,' I observed as I advanced towards her. + +"'If you come near me I'll scratch your eyes out!' cried Floss, looking +monstrously fierce; yet I could easily see by the corners of her mouth +that she was very much disposed to laugh, so I still approached. + +"'If you touch me I'll box your ears!' she exclaimed, beginning to look +more serious. + +"'Don't be alarmed, Floss; you wouldn't hurt a hair of my head, I know,' +said I, as I attempted to insinuate my arm round her waist. 'Ha, will +you?' she cried; and she gave me a slap of the face that made my teeth +rattle in my mouth like a box of cherry stones. I was not to be easily +driven from my purpose, so I attempted to make good my hold, but +immediately received a box on the ear that made me see all the colours +of the rainbow. + +"'You haven't the heart to hurt a fly,' said I very coolly, while I +endeavoured to throw my left arm over her left shoulder, to get the +command of her arms; but in the execution of this manoeuvre, I received +a shower of blows that would have made a less eager lover than myself +glad enough to leave the field. + +"'What means this behaviour, sir?' exclaimed my charmer, endeavouring to +look expressively angry, and struggling with me with all her might. + +"'I mean to honour you so far as to kiss you, Floss,' I replied very +quietly, though smarting from the pain of the blows. + +"'I'll scream--I'll raise the house--I'll cry murder--I'll----' + +"'I'm remarkably fond of music,' said I, interrupting her; and in a +moment afterwards I had both her arms tightly pressed to her body, and +her face blushing and looking angry a few inches beneath my own. + +"'I'll never let you see me again as long as I live--I'll hate +you--I'll----' + +"Her mouth was stopped by mine, and every time she attempted to speak I +repeated the same interesting ceremony, which she struggled unavailingly +to prevent; but with this revenge I was not satisfied. + +"'Let me go, sir; let me go this minute! You wretch, don't you see how +you're rumpling my collar! Let me go, I command you!' + +"'Before I do that I shall first allow you the pleasure of kissing me,' +said I, with as much condescension as I could assume. + +"'Kiss you!' cried Floss, looking as savage as an enraged turkey-cock; +'I'd see you hanged first!' + +"'You'll not go till you do,' I replied, with all the coolness +imaginable. + +"'Let me go, sir; your assurance is unbearable!' she exclaimed, making +violent but ineffectual efforts to release herself from my embrace. + +"'You'll not go till you kiss me,' said I, as calmly as possible. A loud +knock at this moment was heard at the door. + +"'Let me go, sir. Here's my grandmother and my aunt returned, and +they'll abuse me famously if they catch you here.' + +"'You'll not go till you kiss me,' I repeated in exactly the same tone +of voice I had previously used. Another louder knock was now heard. + +"'There then, you plague!' she cried as she hurriedly pressed her lips +to mine; 'and now let me go.' + +"'Leave every thing to me, I'll manage the old ladies,' said I as I +allowed her to escape. + +"'It's very strange, Floss, that you always will keep us at the door so +long when we knock,' mumbled the eldest of the two old ladies as well as +her want of teeth would allow her, as soon as the door was opened. + +"'It's very strange,' remarked the other with stronger emphasis. + +"'I've spoken to you so often about it, that I'm quite shocked at your +negligence,' mumbled the first. + +"'I'm quite shocked at your negligence;' echoed the other. + +"'Goodness, a man!' screamed out the eldest, throwing her arms back, and +nearly pitching off her balance as she entered the room. + +"'Goodness, a man!' squeaked out the other in exactly the same tone, and +with exactly the same motion. + +"'May I be allowed to know the cause which has conferred upon me +the honour of a visit from a perfect stranger, as it seems very +extraordinary,' said the mumbler, advancing towards me with stately +steps, and scrutinising me through her spectacles as if she would look +right through me. + +"'It seems very extraordinary,' remarked the other emphatically, as she +also brought her spectacles to bear upon my person. + +"'Have I the honour of speaking to the amiable and accomplished Mrs. +Parrot-cum-Poodle?" I inquired, advancing two steps with a grave and +respectful air, and making a bow to the ground. + +"I am that humble individual," replied the ugliest of the two, making +a profound courtesy; and then turning to her companion, she said in a +whisper, "A very well spoken young man." + +"A very well spoken young man," echoed the least ugliest. + +"How much have I reason to be gratified with my good fortune;" I +observed, looking as delighted as I could. "I have travelled far to +procure it." + +"Take a seat, my dear sir!" exclaimed the old one, with a look of +sympathy that did not make her look more agreeable. + +"Take a seat, my dear sir!" repeated the other, in the same tone and +manner. + +"Floss, why don't you give the gentleman a chair?" cried number one, +sharply. + +"Floss, why don't you give the gentleman a chair?" cried number two in +a similar voice. + +"I should prefer standing in the presence of ladies for whom I have +such perfect respect," said I, with another bow equally profound. + +"Oh, you are too good!" mumbled the first, with something that was +intended to be a smile. + +"Oh, you are too good!" muttered the other, after the same fashion. + +"I have come all the way from the village of Parrot-cum-Poodle for the +express purpose of elucidating an important point in the pedigree of +the respectable and ancient family which still bears the name of that +distinguished place," said I, with the gravest face I had ever made use +of. "When the Parrot-cum-Poodles first intermarried with the Tabbies, +connected as the Tabbies previously were with the Macaws, one of the +collateral branches of the Parrot-cum-Poodle family; and the Macaws +having formed several alliances with the Pugs, I am desirous of knowing +what degree of consanguinity the Pugs bear to the present descendants +of the ancient race of the Parrot-cum-Poodles, because it is an inquiry +of exceeding interest, and one of the utmost value towards a right +understanding of the family genealogy. You must remember, that when the +branch of the Tabbies became extinct for want of heirs male, there was a +lineal descendant that could trace his pedigree in a direct line up to +the first inheritor of the ancient name of Parrot-cum-Poodle; but he +being abroad at the time when the title was declared extinct, knew +nothing of his legal claim to the honourable name of his ancestors, and +had a large family which were brought up in perfect ignorance of their +relationship with the Tabbies. One of these has lately married a remote +branch of the Pugs: now the descendants of this pair will stand in a +very extraordinary point of relationship to the Parrot-cum-Poodles; and +I should wish to know where any of these descendants are to be found." + +"The oldest old lady had gradually opened her mouth as I proceeded to +show the labyrinth of the Parrot-cum-Poodle genealogy, till it was +extended as far as it could stretch, and she stared at me through her +spectacles with as complete a look of mystification as it was possible +to imagine, and was turning towards the youngest old lady when she met a +mouth equally wide, and eyes equally mystified on the point of turning +towards her with the same desire for explanation. All this time Floss +had stood behind them making the most desperate efforts to swallow her +pocket-handkerchief. + +"However it is sufficient to say, that after having bothered the old +folks till they did not know whether they were standing on their head or +their heels, I took my departure; and so ended my second folly, for I +never saw Floss again. And now, having amused you, don't you see, which +is all I aimed at, I must insist upon your going to Oriel Porphyry, and +inquiring of him whether there exist any reason for your suspicions." + +"I will try and do it," replied Zabra, in a more cheerful tone than he +had previously used; "and I hope it may be as you say." + + + + +CHAP. IX. + +A DISCOVERY. + + +"And so you have no desire to live in the gay world of fashion, Lilya?" +inquired Oriel Porphyry, as they sat together on the sofa. + +"I do not understand what fashion means," replied the simple girl. + +"Fashion itself is merely the way in which a certain class of persons +dress, think, speak, and conduct themselves," said Oriel. "And the +world of fashion is this exclusive class, with all its gaieties, its +frivolities, its prejudices, its follies, and its crimes." + +"If there is any thing wrong in it, I certainly should not like to live +there," observed Lilya. + +"What, not to partake of its brilliant pleasures, of its balls, operas, +concerts, dinners, and fêtes?" asked the young merchant. + +"The things you mention I know nothing of. Where do they grow?" inquired +his fair companion. + +"They do not grow, Lilya," replied Oriel, with a smile; "they are the +amusements of the world of fashion. A ball is a collection of persons, +or rather the amusement of a collection of persons brought together +for the purpose of enjoying the diversion of dancing; and dancing is +a gliding motion of the feet, by which the body is moved in different +attitudes from one place to another." + +"And do people amuse themselves in this way; or is it an amusement for +others to look upon?" asked Lilya. + +"It is the amusement in which both sexes most delight," said the young +merchant. "They meet together in rooms such as this cabin, only much +larger, and much more gay, where music is provided; and directly the +music plays, they are all set in motion, and so continue till the dance +is over. Some dances consist in whirling round, others in bounding +forward, and a great number in gliding from place to place." + +"I do not think a ball would amuse me; I should soon get tired of such +exertion, especially as I cannot perceive what causes the amusement," +said Lilya. + +"The amusement, I believe, is more generally created by the persons who +are brought together than by any quality in the dance," observed Oriel. +"But it is considered a graceful and agreeable way of passing the time; +and, to young people particularly, it appears to possess very great +attractions. It might be rendered a profitable exercise, but the heat +and glitter of a ball-room is not the place in which it can be made most +advantageous." + +"I would rather run after the leveret, or chase the young deer for +exercise," observed the simple girl. + +"Operas and concerts are places where fashionable people meet to hear +music," continued the young merchant. "It is rarely that the best music +is played there; but, generally, the best performers are there to be met +with." + +"I would rather hear Zabra," exclaimed the bashful maiden, hanging down +her head as if afraid the acknowledgment might not have been proper. + +"And so would I a thousand times," replied the young merchant, +emphatically. "For in him we might be sure of finding something like +nature, which is not to be hoped for at operas or concerts. As for +dinners and fêtes, they are merely for the purpose of allowing people to +eat and drink together, talk, stare, push, squeeze, and elbow." + +"Then I have no desire for any of these," said Lilya. "I do not perceive +the pleasure they would confer. I would rather be what I am, than exist +in a state such as you have described." + +"But that cannot be Lilya," observed Oriel, kindly. "I am going to put +you under the protection of a lady--of the lady whom I love, Lilya. She +is a beautiful, accomplished, and amiable woman, of high family, and +admirable disposition; and, as she is obliged to find friends and +acquaintances in the circle I have pointed out to your attention, you +must from the same source derive all your social enjoyments; and then +you will be clothed in silks and velvets, feathers and diamonds--will +not that delight you?" + +"Do these fine things make the possessor happy?" asked his companion. + +"To tell you the truth Lilya, I do not think they do," replied Oriel +Porphyry. + +"Then I will have none of them," she exclaimed. "I know that I can be +happy in these humble skins that I have put together with my own hands; +but I know not that I can be happy in the gay things to which I am +unused; and I would rather retain what I possess, than give it up for +an uncertainty." + +"But the Lady Eureka, with whom you will stay, makes use of these +things," said the young merchant; "and, unless you mean to offend your +best friends, you must do the same." + +"I will wear them if my friends wish it," observed the simple girl; +"but I would rather not, because I should appear so awkward in them." + +"I do not fear that," exclaimed the young merchant. "You will not be +allowed to wear them till you know in what manner they should be worn; +and that you should look, and act, and think, as becomes one who is the +Lady Eureka's friend. The most skilful masters in every department of +education will be provided for you; and every endeavour will be made to +render you as elegant, intellectual, and agreeable a woman as the world +of fashion can produce." + +"Will Zabra be there?" inquired Lilya, timidly. + +"Yes, I think so. I've no doubt he will," replied Oriel Porphyry. + +"Then I should like to be there!" murmured his fair companion, with +marked emphasis on the pronoun. "And the Lady Eureka you speak of--do +you love her? + +"Indeed I do, Lilya," replied the young merchant, earnestly; "and +you will find her worthy of being beloved. She is beautiful, good, +affectionate, and intelligent." + +"And does she love you in return?" asked Lilya. + +"It is my happiness to believe so," responded Oriel. + +"How delightful it must be for both of you," exclaimed the simple girl, +with her face beaming with animation as she turned her soft blue eyes +full upon her companion. + +"And you shall share in this delight, Lilya, if you prove yourself +worthy of it," said Oriel, kindly. "Eureka is distinguished for her +superior excellence; and she cannot love you unless you possess goodness +to recommend you to her. There is nothing in the world that a woman +ought so much to pride herself upon as the purity of her actions. She +ought not to allow any one even to suspect her of wrong; and if her +behaviour is free from mystery or deceit, she will never give cause for +suspicion. The first step towards the commission of great criminality in +a woman, is a carelessness in tolerating familiarities from more than +one, that are not considered any thing beyond trifling gallantries from +the one by whom she is truly loved; and from that one only can such +things be permitted, because in this instance they become the natural +signs of a sincere affection, that are peculiarly graceful and +refreshing in their influence: but as the wife confines all expressions +of affection to her husband, so ought the loved one to preserve all her +devotion for her lover. Their situations are exactly similar; and 't is +as great a crime for a woman to deceive her lover by allowing others to +share in her affections, as it is for a wife to betray her husband by a +violation of the marriage vow." + +"I do not understand you," said Lilya, looking considerably puzzled and +bewildered. + +"Ah! I forgot it was to you I was speaking," replied Oriel. "But what I +meant to express to you is, that if you wish to insure and preserve the +good opinion of those whose good opinion is most valuable to you, you +will show yourself particularly anxious to become distinguished for +excellence of conduct and goodness of disposition." + +"Ah, that is just what Zabra has told me," exclaimed the blushing +maiden, "He used to be always talking to me in that way; and told me so +much that was proper for me to know, and looked so kind, and appeared +so attentive, that I was always delighted to hear him. But he no longer +talks to me in that manner. He is now harsh in his language, and stern +in his gaze; and he will scarcely look or speak to me." + +"Have you not been able to induce him to return to us? I should have +thought your intreaties would have been complied with immediately," said +the young merchant. + +"Alas, no!" replied Lilya, sorrowfully. "All my intreaties have been +disregarded." + +"Then you must allow me to make you forget him till he comes to his +senses," said Oriel. + +"No, I cannot forget him--I'm sure I cannot forget him--indeed, I cannot +forget him," exclaimed the artless girl. + +"He scarcely deserves to be so well remembered," observed the young +merchant. "In fact I am beginning to feel angry with him for being so +obstinate." + +"Oh, do not be angry with him!" exclaimed Lilya, earnestly; "you must +not be angry with him, for I am sure he is unhappy." + +"Well, then, if I promise you not to be angry, you must allow me to be +as kind to you as you would wish him to be," said Oriel Porphyry. "For I +cannot suffer a creature so unoffending as you are to be made wretched +by such unreasonable conduct. I shall regard you as a favorite sister; +and I feel just as much interested in your happiness as if you were so +dearly related to me. I will not allow you to have a wish ungratified +that is harmless and natural. I will endeavour to afford you whatever +pleasure you most delight in, that I have the means of procuring; and I +will watch over you, and guard you from all evil, and shield you from +every danger." + +"Oh, how good you are!" murmured the gentle girl, raising her beautiful +eyes, suffused with tears, to his face. + +"And I shall expect in return for all this attention to your welfare, +that you will regard me with a sisterly affection," continued the other. +"You must be as kind to me as I will be to you. You must endeavour +always to appear cheerful and willing to be pleased. Every effort that +I make to render your life an enjoyment to you, you must respond to by +showing the gladness it ought to produce. You must be attentive to my +instructions, obedient to my wishes, be gratified with my attentions, +and satisfied with the exertions I shall make to insure your happiness." + +"Indeed, I will!" exclaimed the timid maiden, affectionately clasping +the hand of Oriel in her own. + +"It will be a most pure and exquisite pleasure to me to be allowed to +labour in such a good work as creating the felicity of so gentle and +innocent a creature," said the young merchant; his noble countenance +beaming with benevolence. "It will be a labour of which my father would +be proud; and to do as he would do must always appear to me to be the +highest degree of excellence. It will be delightful to be loved as a +brother, and to show a brother's care and anxiety and solicitude. It +will be admirable to be able to enjoy the sweet sympathies of a nature +such as yours, and to live in the enjoyment of an interchange of +endearments so purifying to the heart as ours will be. I must be +loved Lilya. I will be as kind to you and as careful of you as may be +necessary for your welfare; but I must be loved." + +"And I will love you;" murmured his fair companion, trembling and +blushing she knew not for why--"I will love you as fondly as you wish. I +will love you kindly and affectionately. I will love you always. I will +be at all times every thing you most desire me to be. You shall never +find reason to be dissatisfied. I will not allow you to be unhappy: all +I do shall be done with the intention of giving you pleasure. My heart +is overflowing with your goodness; and, indeed--and, indeed I love you +very much." With these words she caught up the hand she had held in her +own; and eagerly, yet timidly, pressed it to her lips! + +Oriel Porphyry was so charmed by the simplicity and genuine affection +expressed by the action, that he drew the bashful girl to his arms, +and pressed her lips to his own. This had scarcely been done, when, on +raising his eyes, he encountered the full and piercing gaze of Zabra. +He stood before them,--his dark features wearing an expression the most +wild and fearful--his breast heaving with passion, and his whole frame +trembling with the powerful excitement under which he laboured. Lilya, +with an exclamation of surprise, shrunk into the farthest corner of the +sofa, and covered her face with her hands. Oriel looked upon him with +astonishment, not unmixed with wonder; for the extraordinary beauty +of his countenance, shrouded by its clustering black curls, with the +intensity of the expression now impressed upon it, looked perfectly +sublime. + +"Has it come to this?" muttered the youth, in a voice that seemed choked +with emotion. "Has it come to this? The last hope I have been allowed to +entertain is now utterly crushed. Nothing remains but the conviction of +my own misery, and of your baseness." + +"Zabra!" exclaimed Oriel. + +"What a reward is this you have given me!" continued the other, in the +same hoarse tones. "What a recompense for all I have done! Could you +think of no way of showing your appreciation of my devotion for you than +by destroying the dream of happiness I have entertained? Have I not been +faithful, and attached, and willing, and affectionate--as ready in the +hour of danger to defend as desirous in a time of pleasure to amuse? Did +I not share with you your anxieties, and rejoice with you in every thing +that gave you joy? And yet you have committed this treachery." + +"Zabra!" again exclaimed his patron. + +"In what have I failed to do you honour and worship?" still continued +his companion, slightly raising his voice as he proceeded. "In what have +I been deficient? Where have I offended? Have I not sought all times and +opportunities to fulfil your wishes before they could be expressed? Has +not my heart been ever anxious to assist in the realisation of your +best hopes? Is there any one thing you could have wished me to do that +I have not done? If I had been slack in my exertions--if I had been +careless in my services--if I had been heedless, thoughtless, or +inattentive in my behaviour, there might have been some cause for +depriving me of the affections which then I should have been unworthy to +possess:--but I have exceeded all previous examples in the exclusiveness +of my devotion. I have dared to do more than others could have +imagined--I have sought you out to watch over your safety--and have +served you with all honour, and care, and kindness. Why--why have you +used me thus?" + +"Zabra, what madness is this?" exclaimed the young merchant, more +surprised than offended. + +"And this is your love for Eureka!" continued the youth. "This is the +way in which you return an affection, so deep, so earnest, and so true +as her's has been? Have you lost all notion of justice, of virtue, and +of that sincerity which most ennobles manhood? Where is your sense of +shame? What manner of man are you, who, after you have been loved in +all earnestness, in all purity, in all exclusiveness, and with all that +self-abandonment which is most conspicuous in the love of woman, can +turn round upon the object by whom you have been so truly honoured, and +cast her hopes to the wind?" + +"Zabra, you are proceeding beyond the limits of endurance; and I shall +be obliged to acquaint Eureka with your unreasonable and offensive +conduct," said Oriel. + +"I--I AM EUREKA!" shouted the disguised page, in a voice that made both +her companions leap from their seats with looks of the most intense +astonishment, as, with flashing eyes, and words that seemed to breathe +of fire, she exclaimed,--"It was Eureka who left her father's house +to escape from an alliance into which she would have been forced had +she remained.--It was Eureka who forsook family and friends, and the +security and comforts of her own land, to share the dangers and watch +over the safety of one to whom she was so completely devoted.--It was +Eureka who quitted the dress and abandoned the prejudices of womanhood, +the more securely to devote her disinterested heart to the service +of her lover.--It was Eureka who dared with him the perils of the +sea--rescued him from the clutches of the pirate--stopped the blows +that were aimed at his life--shed her blood in his defence; and, in all +offices of kindness--in all times of danger and difficulty--in all +moments of tranquillity and desire of innocent enjoyment, thought only +of his security--cared only for his amusement, and was anxious only for +the perfect realisation of his happiness. It was Eureka who did these +things: and I--I am Eureka!" + +Probably she might have continued the same eloquent and forcible +language; but the attention of herself and of her lover were attracted +towards their companion. Lilya had listened with the most breathless +interest to the avowal of the disguised Zabra; her eyes were fixed upon +the speaker in one continued stare--wild, ghastly, and unnatural: the +colour fled from her lips, the blood rushed from her face; her breast +heaved in quick, short, spasms, and something was seen rising and +swelling at her throat. An expression of unutterable anguish was +impressed upon her beautiful features; she made two or three choking +gasps, and tottering forward a few steps, fell at the feet of Eureka. + +Oriel hurried to raise her from the ground; gently he lifted her head, +and exposed to view a face pale as marble; the delicate mouth, half +open, and the fair blue eyes fixed and sightless. As he attempted to +take her hand, the head fell back upon his shoulder.--She was dead. + +"Eureka!" exclaimed the young merchant, in a voice husky with emotion, +as he supported the drooping corpse upon his arm, "you have wronged both +her and me. She would never have been regarded by me save as a sister; +and it was only with a brother's fondness that you saw me caress her. I +am deeply grateful to you for the devotion with which you have honoured +me; but when I look here,"--he continued, gazing on the lifeless form he +held, with feelings that almost deprived him of utterance,--"and find +a creature so perfectly innocent, so simple, so gentle, and so kind, +that has been made its victim, I am obliged to regret that it has been +purchased at so fearful a sacrifice." + +He was answered only by hysteric sobs, that in a few minutes were +succeeded by violent convulsions: and Dr. Tourniquet entering the cabin +at this moment, Oriel hastily explained what had transpired; left her to +his care, and rushed upon deck. + + + + +CHAP. X. + +A FIGHT AT SEA. + + +"A sail to leeward!" shouted the look-out man on the gangway. + +"Give me my glass, Loop!" cried the Captain. + +"What does she look like, Cap'ain," inquired Climberkin. + +"I see nothin' yet but a tall spar, pointing pretty sharpish into the +sky," said Hearty. "Now I observe she has her royals set, and has an +unkimmon low hull. But take the glass yourself, and see what you can +make of her." + +"She's schooner built, sir, with raking masts, carries a smartish number +o' guns, and is altogether as suspicious looking a craft as ever I +seed," observed the Lieutenant. + +"Which way does she steer?" inquired the old man. + +"She's bearin' right down upon us, sir," replied Climberkin; "and she +means mischief, or I'm pretty considerably mistaken." + +"Call up all hands to quarters--throw open the ports, and let the guns +be shotted;" cried the captain. All was immediately bustle and confusion +in every part of the Albatross. Fore and aft the men with the utmost +alacrity, prepared to give the strange vessel a proper welcome in case +of an attack. Muskets, pikes, cutlasses, powder and shot, were handed up +from the hold with as much cheerfulness as if the crew were commencing +some favourite amusement. The officers were giving their orders, the men +busy at their preparations. Some threw off their jackets and tucked up +their sleeves to be the more free in their movements. The decks were +cleared: all things put away that could be an obstacle at such a time; +the guns run out, and every man was at his post ready for action. + +The schooner bore down gallantly upon the Albatross, and certainly was a +very suspicious-looking vessel. A shot from one of her carronades came +booming along without doing any mischief. + +"There's no mistaking that, captain;" said Oriel Porphyry, who had been +watching the proceedings around him with considerable interest. + +"She's a pirate, sir, there's not a doubt on 't," observed the old man; +"but she'll find we are not to be caught napping; and as she's ventured +to begin the game, we'll just see who can play at it best. Give her a +taste of the long gun, Boggle." + +"Ay, ay, sir;" replied the second lieutenant. + +"I must bear a hand in this, Hearty;" said the young merchant, unable to +restrain his eagerness to join in the approaching fight. + +"As you please, sir," rejoined the captain; "and as we know you are +a fighter, and one o' the right sort, we shall be very glad o' your +company. Here's a capital cutlass, which is much at your service." + +"No, thank you; I'll go and get my own arms;" replied Oriel, and he +immediately left the deck. + +A long brass thirty-two pounder under the management of an experienced +gunner was now got ready, and fired with such precision as to make the +splinters fly from her hull. + +"Pitch the shot into her as often as you can load and fire;" cried the +captain. + +"Ay, ay, sir;" said the man at the gun. + +At this instant, a shot from the schooner brought down some of the +standing and running rigging of the Albatross, and severed the jaws of +the main-gaff. It was immediately answered by her long gun, which was +kept rapidly firing, and ploughed up the decks of the pirate at every +shot. During this, the Albatross by her superiority of sailing, kept +wearing round the schooner, raking her fore and aft with a most +destructive fire. They were now near enough to see that the decks of the +supposed pirate were covered with men, among whom the thirty-two pounder +had done considerable mischief. Finding that this sort of warfare was +telling against them, the pirates altered their course, made sail, and +ranged up within a cable's length of their opponent, displaying at the +same time in their ship a black flag soaring up to her main-peak. As +they approached, the sound of many voices came over the waters, and +the crew of the Albatross distinctly heard the pirates singing in full +chorus:-- + + "Our ship sails on the wave, + On the wave, on the wave, + Our ship sails on the wave, Captain Death; + For free mariners are we, and we ride the stormy sea, + And our Captain still shall be + Captain Death! Captain Death! + Our Captain still shall be Captain Death!" + +"It must be the miscreants we left on the island of Madagascar;" said +the young merchant. "I remember that murderous song well; but we'll +strive hard to spoil their singing." + +"Scrunch me if we don't make 'em change their toon at any rate;" +exclaimed the old man. "There's nothin in life I've been so much wishin +for as a 'portunity to sarve out that ere double distilled willain +Scrumpydike, or Rifle, or whatever his name is." + +"And you must leave the other scoundrel to me;" added Oriel Porphyry. "I +have an account to settle with him, and if I can get within reach, he +shall not escape." + +The pirate ranged up on the quarter of the Albatross, pouring in her +broadside as she advanced, which was answered with all the guns that +could be brought to bear on that side of the ship, and then, by a +manoeuvre skilfully executed, the Albatross was made to wear round the +schooner, pouring in a volley of musketry, till she presented her other +side, from which another sweeping fire belched forth. The shot crashed +through the timbers of the pirate, committing dreadful slaughter upon +her closely packed deck, and when the smoke which enveloped her bows +cleared away, it was seen that her foretop-mast had gone, her sails had +been shot through in numerous places, and a considerable portion of +her rigging hung in ragged shreds. Three cheers from the crew of the +Albatross, and groans, and shouts and imprecations from the schooner, +evinced the effect the firing had in both ships. + +The pirate bore up as if with the intention of running alongside to +board, and poured in her broadside as she advanced, which killed six or +seven men, and wounded several others; but her opponent waited till she +was within about three ships' length, and then gave her the contents +of all her available carronades. The mizen and mainmast of the pirate, +which had previously been wounded, now fell by the board. At this +instant the schooner fell foul of the Albatross on her larboard quarter, +and the pirates made several desperate attempts to board, but the crew +of the other ship kept up such a murderous discharge of musketry and +small arms from her tops as well as from her decks, that every attempt +was ineffectual, and the Albatross wearing off, discharged her larboard +quarter-deck guns, and such of the main-deck guns as could be brought to +bear, into the schooner's larboard bow. + +The excitement on board the Albatross was now at its height. Every man +was at his post, and one spirit seemed to stir the whole. The wounded +were carried down to the surgeon as soon as their hurts were known, and +the dead thrown into the sea that they might not incommode the living. +Oriel Porphyry continued in one of the most exposed parts of the ship +encouraging the men, and firing a musket whenever the ships were near +enough for him to do so with any effect. Broadside after broadside +followed from the Albatross in rapid succession, sweeping the decks of +the schooner, and splitting her timbers into fragments. But the pirate +captain still made every exertion to board the merchant ship. His vessel +was scarcely manageable, and nearly half her crew were either killed +or wounded: but he bore up to his opponent with the same dauntless +resolution that had distinguished him throughout his career; he cheered +his men on to the fight; and continued to discharge every gun that could +be brought into play. + +A quick and well-directed fire of musketry was kept up from the tops and +forecastle of the Albatross, and her quarter deck guns were discharged +with scarcely any intermission and with dreadful effect. The schooner +now fell on board the merchant ship on the starboard quarter, and the +pirates lashed her bowsprit to the stump of their mainmast; but the +lashings soon afterwards gave way, and the two vessels, yard-arm and +yard-arm, continued to pour into each other their sweeping broadsides, +very much to the advantage of the Albatross, who was crippling her +opponent at every discharge, and slaughtering her crew. + +At this time the main-mast of the pirate fell over the side, and as the +smoke cleared away, she was seen with her ports jammed in, her decks +torn up in several places, her hull battered, and every part of her +wearing the appearance of a complete wreck. But Captain Death was not a +man to think of surrendering. When his vessel became short of hands, he +assisted in working a gun; and as soon as he could get the two ships +close alongside, he headed a party that lashed them together, and then, +followed by the remainder of his crew--men of all nations, of all +colours, and of every kind of costume, rushed upon the deck of the +Albatross. + +The fight now became one of hand to hand. The pistol, the pike, and +the cutlass seemed the only weapons in requisition. The crew of the +Albatross hurried to the place where Captain Death, Lieutenant Rifle, +and their followers were hewing their way with the most desperate +valour. Oriel Porphyry, the captain, Climberkin, and Boggle headed +their party, cheering them on, and cutting down their opponents. Oriel +Porphyry was engaged with a gigantic negro, whose head he severed at a +blow, and then attacked a second and a third with the same spirit, and +with a similar effect. Old Hearty beheld his ancient enemy, first known +to him by the name of Scrumpydike, and frantic with the remembrance of +what he had once suffered at his hands, he rushed upon him, cutlass in +hand. A pistol was discharged at his head as he advanced which missed +its object, and the two were immediately engaged in hacking at each +other with all their strength and skill. The old man in strength was the +equal of his opponent, but he was his superior at the weapon, at which +he had been practising ever since their previous fight, with the desire +of having his revenge should they meet again. The struggle was a fierce +one, but it was brief. Hearty cut his opponent's sword-arm above the +elbow with such force that it severed the bone, and at the same moment +the young midshipman Loop run him through the body with a boarding-pike. +With a malignant scowl he fell dead on the deck. + +Oriel Porphyry had endeavoured to come in contact with the pirate +captain, whom he observed at a short distance from him cutting down all +by whom he was opposed; but several times he was attacked by some other +of the gang whom he was obliged to dispose of before he could have the +slightest chance of getting at him. At last Captain Death saw his former +companion, and freeing himself from those with whom he was engaged, he +hurried towards him, waving his uplifted sword streaming with blood, and +shouting exclamations of rage and defiance. + +"It is you I have sought far and near since you escaped me, but there's +no escape for you now;" muttered the pirate, as he rushed furiously +upon the young merchant, and strived by the force and rapidity of his +blows to bring the combat to a speedy termination. But he was engaged +with one of the most accomplished swordsmen in existence, with a +well-tried weapon, and a spirit burning to destroy the wretch with whom +he fought. He parried dexterously, and warded off with the greatest ease +the most furious blows that were aimed at him; and the blood flowing +from wounds in the captain's head and shoulder soon proved that he was +not content with acting merely on the defensive. During the struggle +these two got separated from the other combatants, and they stood in a +part of the deck unnoticed by the men engaged on either side. Death, +smarting from his wounds, pressed upon his antagonist with increasing +rage and violence; but the latter, knowing that the victory was in his +own hands, allowed the other to exhaust his strength in unavailing +blows; then when he found the pirate's exertions slacken, his sword +flashed about with a rapidity that baffled the eye, and seemed to draw +blood at every stroke. He followed him with a strength of arm that +appeared perfectly irresistible, beating down his defence, and striking +aside his blows; but just as he was hurrying forward to put a finishing +stroke to the contest, he tumbled over a dead body, and fell unarmed at +the feet of his foe. + +"Ah, ha!" shouted the pirate chief, while a gleam of malignant +satisfaction shot from his eyes; "your doom is sealed." He swung round +his sabre to bring it with all his strength upon the head of his +defenceless antagonist, but before the blow had time to descend he heard +a slight shriek, a rush of feet, and the next moment received two pistol +bullets in his body. Oriel Porphyry regained his footing as Captain +Death fell staggering on the deck, and with a wild cry of exultation +Eureka rushed into his arms. + +The pirates on the fall of their leader became dispirited; but knowing +what would be their reward if taken, they returned to their ship, +fighting desperately every inch of the way, and the strife was renewed +upon their own deck till every man of them was cut down. The crew +of the Albatross had upon the termination of the conflict dispersed +themselves over the schooner with the intention of securing whatever +valuables she might contain, when they were obliged to make a rapid +retreat to their own vessel, as the schooner was rapidly sinking, but +they did not depart without bringing with them a prisoner whom they had +found secreted in the hold. The lashings were immediately cut away, and +the Albatross had just time to sheer off, when the pirate filled and +went down. + +"Well, master Log!" exclaimed Boggle to his trembling prisoner; "I likes +to ha' particular notions o' things in general, as every man as is a man +and thinks like a man should have, and I has a notion o' you as is werry +particular; arn't you a willain?" + +"A villain--a villain--a great villain--a very great villain--indeed I +may say a pretty considerable, atrocious, abominable tarnation villain, +mister Boggle!" cried the other with a look that showed that he had been +entirely put out of conceit of himself. + +"What you says true's parfectly right," said the second lieutenant; +"and I must pay you the compliment to acknowledge as how you shows a +deal o' gumption in your 'splanation o' your own character. Don't you +desarve to be spiflicated?" + +"Spiflicated--spiflicated--well spiflicated--regularly spiflicated--I +must confess that I ought to be right down regularly spiflicated, +smothered, smashed, dished up and done for;" acknowledged the +unfortunate captain's clerk, with a most woeful physiognomy and a +sincerity of manner that carried conviction to his hearers. + +"I likes to make ev'ry fellar comfortable arter his own fashion," said +Boggle, with the utmost gravity; and then addressing a sailor who was +grinning from ear to ear at a few paces distant, he cried, "I say, +Solemnchops! just rig a noose in the main top gallant halyards." + +"I'll do it wi' pleasure for the gentleman, sir;" replied the man, +benevolently hastening to execute the command. + +"Now, master Log, I begs to say as how I got no notion o' hurtin' any o' +your feelins," continued the lieutenant; "but I considers it necessary +for your health as you should be hanged. I knows unkimmon well as human +natur' is human natur', and in consequence o' that ere I comes to the +conclusion as it is the most properest thing as is for you to make +yourself agreeable to your friends wi' a dance upon nuffin. But afore I +leaves you in this here moloncholy perdickyment, I think 't will be but +friendly in me to hint to you as how you ought to die like a respectable +'dividual; arn't you rayther a miserable sinner?" + +"A miserable sinner!--a miserable sinner! a very miserable sinner--a +very shocking miserable sinner, indeed I may say a very extraordinary +shocking miserable sinner, and no mistake;" cried the unhappy Log. + +More dead than alive the trembling wretch had the noose placed round his +neck, and was run up to the halyards, accompanied by the consolations of +the friendly Boggle. + +"Hullo! what are you about there? Let that man down directly!" shouted +the captain as he approached the scene, and the ex-captain's clerk +descended upon the deck with a velocity that sent all the breath out of +his body. "What's the meaning o' this?" + +"Why, you see, sir," replied the second lieutenant, with his usual +gravity; "I can't say as Master Log be given to drinkin, but I sartainly +seed him just now unkimmonly elewated." + + + + +CHAP. XI. + +THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN DEATH, AND THE MEETING OF THE SHIPS. + + +"There's no saving his life, don't you see;" remarked Tourniquet, who +had discovered that Captain Death was not quite dead, and had been +examining his wounds. "Every effort would be useless here, all skill +unavailing; and there are many others in imminent danger, to whom I +might be of service." + +"Stop, he moves!" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry, as he stood gazing on the +changing features of the dying pirate. + +Captain Death lay extended on his back on the deck where he had fallen. +His sword was still firmly grasped in his hand, and both his arms were +stretched out nearly at right angles with his body. The long silken cap +in which he used to confine his black hair had fallen off, and the hair +fell in disordered masses, clotted with blood, around his face. He had +allowed his beard and moustachios to grow, and they now added to the +natural ferocity of his countenance. His jacket, of the richest velvet, +was cut through in several places, and stiffened with gore, which had +run down and soiled the crimson shawl of embroidered silk he wore girded +round his waist, and had more conspicuously stained his lower garments +of linen. His face was livid, and his eyes blood-shot, and the +expression which was impressed upon them kept continually changing +from pain to rage, and from rage to hate. Occasionally some convulsive +movement of the muscles would more strongly distort his features, and +his body writhed and twisted as if in great agony. After a long fit of +violent shuddering, which shook every part of his body, his face assumed +a more tranquil expression, and his lips moved as if with an effort to +speak. + +"Virgo!" he whispered; "'tis your father. He comes to drag me to the +halter. See how he glares at me! He laughs. He shows me his chains. No, +no, no! 'Tis not that savage old man. 'Tis not him. There is no one. +Come to me, my preserver, come to me; and let the refreshing purity of +your caresses drive away the evil thoughts which have made my nature so +abandoned and desperate. There is the little bed, with its clean white +curtains; there are the flowers. There, there! I see you all again, +reminding me of a state of innocence I was unworthy to share. Come, my +preserver, come!" + +"He is delirious, don't you see;" observed the doctor. + +"Do you think there is any possibility of his recovering?" inquired the +young merchant. + +"Not the slightest; he won't live an hour;" replied Tourniquet. + +"Hush!" exclaimed Oriel; "he speaks again." + +"Virgo! 'tis time to rise. See how the rosy morning dawns upon the room! +Let me kiss you before you leave me: there! my soul is on my lips, and +I drink in a better life from yours. Draw around the curtains. My face +is on the pillow; I cannot see you, but my blessings follow you wherever +you go. Ah! you leave the room, and all is strife and hate and passion +within me." + +"He's talking of that young creature that was so fond of him, don't you +see," said the doctor; "though for my part I can't comprehend what she +could see in him to like." + +"There's no knowing," replied Oriel Porphyry; "the love of woman is a +mystery which none properly understand and few appreciate." + +"She's dead!" exclaimed the pirate in a heart-broken voice; "she's dead! +the innocent, the good, the gentle, the fearless, the confiding one, who +would have plucked the rank weeds from my sinful nature, has perished +and left me none like her in the world. She died for me--for me, a +wretch unworthy to breathe in her presence. All is lost. There is no +goodness now remaining on the earth. She's dead! she's dead!" + +"I did not think he had so much natural feeling in him;" said the young +merchant. + +"There's nothing so evil but what has some good in it, don't you see;" +replied the surgeon. + +The expression in the features of Captain Death now underwent a complete +change: it became fierce, daring, and revengeful. His body appeared +violently agitated, and his arms moved with convulsive twitches. + +"Pipe all hands to quarters!" shouted the dying pirate with all +his remaining strength. "Make sail--clear away for fighting--run +out the guns and shot them.--She's a rich merchantman, and there's +enough in her to enrich us all. Pour out a broadside--there goes her +main-mast:--another, and her mizenmast goes by the board. Sweep her +quarter deck with our quarter deck guns, and pour down upon her a fire +of musketry from the tops. Board her by the bow-sprit. Now, boys, follow +me and cut down all." Here the features of the dying pirate became +absolutely terrific, and he made some desperate struggles to rise from +the ground, in which he at last succeeded; when, waving his sword round +his head, he sung in a piercing voice-- + + "We stifle ev'ry cry, + Ev'ry cry,--ev'ry cry-- + We stifle ev'ry cry, Captain Death! + And then we spread our sails that are filled with welcome gales, + Singing, 'Dead men tell no tales,' + Captain Death! Captain Death! + Singing, 'Dead men tell no tales,' Captain Death." + +"Ah!" screamed the singer, while an expression of the most intense agony +distorted his features. He dropped the sword he had held; he drew both +his hands suddenly to his wounded side, and staggering back, gasping +frightfully for breath, he fell violently on his back. + +"He's dead, don't you see;" said the doctor. + +"A sail on the starboard quarter;" cried a man aloft. + +"No more pirates, I hope;" exclaimed Fortyfolios, who had just ventured +on deck. + +"It is not quite impossible, don't you see;" was the surgeon's +encouraging reply, and both almost immediately descended the hatchway, +one to look after his patients, and the other to look after himself. +Oriel Porphyry hastened to the captain, whom he found standing in the +waist, examining the distant vessel through a glass. + +"Any more fighting preparing for us?" inquired the young merchant. + +"Can't exactly say yet, sir, but it's best to be prepared;" replied old +Hearty, as he gave some orders to the men around him. "She looms large, +and looks as if she was arter standing right across our fore-foot. Now +she's alterin her course, and is comin with all sail set right down upon +us. Call all hands to quarters: Climberkin, let the guns be shotted, +and the dead bodies flung into the sea;--and yet I think she's a +merchantman. Scrunch me, if it arn't my old ship, the Whittington!" + +"What, my father's vessel?" asked Oriel Porphyry. + +"The very same!" cried the old man with delight. "I knows her better +nor any ship I ever sailed in. No doubt she wants to speak with us. +Bring her head up to the wind, helmsman! I wonder whether my old captain +is alive still? He was a right-down trump. But what a mazement he'll be +in to find me in command o' the Albatross." + +"I know Captain Barter well. I've met him frequently at my father's +table, and a very gentlemanly, sensible man he is;" said the young +merchant. "I have no doubt he's brought me some communication from +Columbus." + +"We shall soon see, sir, as we shall be alongside very shortly;" +observed Hearty. + +"Is master Oriel Porphyry on board?" was shouted from the Whittington, +as the ships neared each other. Oriel caught up a speaking trumpet. + +"Yes, Captain Barter, I am here;" he replied. + +"I will come on board, sir, if you please, as soon as a boat is +lowered;" said the captain of the Whittington. + +"Have you any communication for me from my father?" inquired Oriel. + +"I have, sir; and 'tis of great consequence," replied the other. + +Oriel Porphyry was now all anxiety and impatience to know the +intelligence he was promised. He hurried to the quarter-deck to receive +his visitor, and strode backwards and forwards with hasty steps till he +made his appearance. Now he thought that the news must be bad, and in a +moment after he imagined that it was good. One instant he anticipated +the death of his father, and in the next, hoped that he had been raised +by his fellow-citizens to the highest honours in the nation. And in this +way his mind continued changing its impressions for the better and for +the worse, till he had worked himself into a state of considerable +excitement, when Captain Barter advanced towards him. + +He was an elderly man, of gentlemanly appearance; neat in his dress, and +polite in his deportment. His face was pale, and slightly marked with +wrinkles; and his features were mild and pleasing. His hair was gray, +and his body rather thin; but he was perfectly upright in his walk, and +his step was firm and manly. + +"I regret I have unpleasant intelligence to communicate to you, sir," +said Captain Barter, after they had exchanged the customary salutations. + +"It is then as I suspected," exclaimed Oriel Porphyry, earnestly. "My +father is dead." + +"No, sir, it is not so bad as that," replied the captain, as if +hesitating in making the communication. + +"What is it then? let me know immediately. I am sure by your manner it +is something dreadful," cried the young merchant. + +"Your father is a prisoner," said Captain Barter, with a look of sincere +commiseration. + +"Have they dared?" exclaimed Oriel. + +"But I am sorry to say it is worse than that, sir," added his companion. + +"What! what is it? Do not keep me in suspense--I implore you to tell +me," cried the other. + +"He is ordered for execution," said the captain. + +"The miscreants!" muttered the young merchant. "But I knew it would +be so. I knew they would not rest satisfied with their privileges +curtailed. I knew they would seek the first opportunity to regain their +lost power. I was convinced that they would regard my father as their +enemy, and sacrifice him on the earliest occasion. But tell me how it +was brought about? I would know all." + +"After the revolution, which effected those important changes in the +government of which you have been informed," said Captain Barter, +"nothing could have exceeded the appearance of good will which existed +in every part of the empire. The emperor seemed desirous of nothing so +much as gratifying the people; and his ministers appeared to emulate +each other in endeavouring to become popular. Public fêtes were given +in honour of the revolution, at which the emperor assisted in person; +and measures of the most liberal character were passed through the +legislature, without a division. All was harmony and social order. +The citizens congratulated each other on the improved state of the +country--the industrious classes found themselves provided with +sufficient employment, at a fair recompense--trade again became +brisk--commerce flourished; and abundance seemed to be generally +diffused over the whole surface of Columbia." + +"A mere trick!" exclaimed Oriel Porphyry; "nothing but an artifice to +lull the people into a fancied security, I'll wager my existence." + +"Just so, sir," replied the captain. "The leaders of the people had +now nothing to complain of. Every improvement was made before they had +time to offer a suggestion on the subject; and that being rendered +comparatively useless, they quickly lost their influence over their +fellow-citizens. Your father, observing how well things were proceeding, +withdrew himself from all participation in politics, considering that +his services were no longer required, and devoted himself to his +commercial pursuits, and to the realisation of those philanthropic +desires that have distinguished every portion of his existence. He +became again so completely the private citizen, that no person unaware +of the circumstances could have imagined that he had recently played so +important a part in the late changes. All the most influential of the +popular leaders gradually retired into private life in the same manner." + +"I see the scheme," cried Oriel, eagerly. "The vile treachery becomes +manifest. How well 'twas planned. How artfully designed. Oh! these +planners and plotters are a brilliant set; they are too wise for us poor +citizens." + +"So they proved, sir," continued the captain; "for while the things I +have related were being done, the government gradually and imperceptibly +concentrated a military force in the metropolis, by calling in portions +of the garrisons distributed over the empire; and these were well +supplied with all the necessaries of war, and liberally paid, and +officered by men upon whom the government could depend. Soon after this, +on the pretence that they were no longer necessary, the national guards +were disbanded and deprived of their arms. Suspicion was now created +among the sharp-sighted few; but the public generally did not appear to +have the slightest notion of the danger which threatened them. As the +object of the emperor and his party began to assume a more threatening +aspect, the leaders of the people took the alarm, and endeavoured to +awaken their fellow-citizens to a sense of their danger. In the course +of a few hours every one of them was securely lodged in a dungeon." + +"And my father amongst them," exclaimed the young merchant. + +"He appears to have been the chief object at which their malice was +directed," observed the captain. "At this time it was thought necessary +to throw off the mask. The old ministers were restored to their +forfeited privileges and possessions; and your father's implacable foe, +Philadelphia, was placed at the head of the government. An imposing +force of soldiery was kept continually under arms, to prevent any rising +of the populace; and seizures of concealed arms were made in every +direction. The people, deprived of their leaders and of their weapons, +felt themselves powerless. They saw too late the trap into which they +had fallen. They beheld the despotism that was approaching them, and +were unable to make the slightest effort to defend themselves from its +approaches. Domiciliary visits were now made, upon the most frivolous +pretexts, to the houses of the principal citizens; and papers and +arms were seized, and their owners, if they gave the slightest cause +of offence, were hurried to prison. Any one known or suspected of +entertaining hostile intentions was seized and incarcerated, and fined +in heavy penalties, or sent out of the country. The citizens were +confounded, and appeared utterly unable to make the slightest +resistance." + +"Oh, I wish I had been there!" exclaimed Oriel, eagerly, "I would have +infused such a spirit into their natures as should have made them ready +to rush upon their oppressors with a certainty of success; and that +conviction should have insured their triumph. I would have made their +hearts astir with the love of freedom, till all obstacles in their way +should have been as straws in the path of the tempest. I would have made +them fight like lions--I would have made them conquer like men. But what +became of my father? you have not told me that. Tell me what became of +him?" + +"While they were placing the citizens in a degree of subjection fit +for their purpose," replied Captain Barter, "with a monstrous deal of +unnecessary parade, they were making preparations for the trial of the +leaders of the people. The long-expected day came, and its proceedings +were watched with eager interest by the citizens, although they dared +not show the anxiety they felt. Master Porphyry, with his companions, +were arraigned as rebels and traitors, accused of murder and treason, +and reviled by the hired advocates of the crown in terms which only the +more exposed the badness of the cause they defended. Philadelphia was +president of the Chamber of Peers, by whom they were tried; and he took +every occasion to abuse, brow-beat, and threaten your father in language +the most intemperate that can be imagined; but your father replied in a +manner that would have conciliated a savage. His language was mild, his +bearing noble; and when he was called upon to make his defence, he made +one of the most eloquent speeches that had ever been heard within those +walls. He merely related what he had done, and what were his reasons for +so doing; exposed the errors of the government, and the mischiefs to +which they had led; recounted the share he had had in the revolution, +which had reduced the power of the crown and of the aristocracy to +reasonable limits, and the motives which induced him to use all his +influence in the contest: and his defence so utterly annihilated the +charges brought against him, that he must have been acquitted had he +been treated with any thing like justice; but his judges were his +accusers, and they sealed his doom before they entered upon his trial. +The prisoners were all found guilty. Some were sent into exile, some +imprisoned for life, some were heavily fined--and Master Porphyry was +condemned to be beheaded, and to have all his property confiscated to +the crown." + +"The murderous and insatiate tyrants!" exclaimed the young merchant. + +"When Philadelphia delivered the sentence," continued the captain, "he +appeared to take a malignant joy in having such an opportunity for +reviling your father--there was no name of opprobrium he did use: but +your honoured parent replied to him only with a look of wonder and pity; +and with a bow to his relentless judges, left the court in company with +his guards." + +"Noble old man!" cried Oriel, earnestly. + +"As soon as the people learned the result of the trial, they were in the +deepest affliction," added Captain Barter, "that the kind and excellent +philanthropist--the true and disinterested patriot, the glory of their +city, and the pride of the world--should perish on a scaffold, was more +than they could endure. But they had no leaders, and no weapons; and, +although they would have risen in a mass in his rescue, under the +circumstances of the case they saw that any attempt of the kind was +utterly hopeless. All eyes were then turned toward you. Your character +had already acquired their admiration; your relationship to Master +Porphyry excited their devotion; and, knowing that you had departed on +a voyage, the most powerful friends of your father met secretly for the +purpose of devising some plan by which they could make you acquainted +with your father's danger, and with their desire to assist in his +rescue. With this idea in view, all your father's vessels that could be +sent to sea, besides a vast number of ships belonging to other merchants +who had volunteered to give their assistance, sailed in quest of you. +From knowing something of the plan of voyage designed by your father I +imagined that about this time you would be crossing the Atlantic; so +here I have been sailing about for the last two days, and there are +nearly a hundred sail of merchant vessels in the same pursuit." + +"A sail on the larboard bow!" shouted a man. + +"That is one of them, I have no doubt, sir," observed Captain Barter. + +"A sail on the starboard quarter!" shouted another. + +"There is another, sir!" added the captain. + +"A sail to leeward!" cried a third. + +"We shall have them all about you soon, sir," said Captain Barter. + +"There's a sail in every point o' the compass," cried Climberkin, as he +swept the horizon with his glass. + +"I told you so, sir," continued the captain. + +Climberkin was right. Wherever the eye could gaze the spars of a vessel +were seen rising from the wave; and, apparently, as soon as each ship +discovered the Albatross, she made all sail towards her. It was a +beautiful sight to see them approaching, most of them with every stitch +of canvass set--some bearing right down upon the Albatross, and others +making tacks; while the distant cheers of their crews, answered by the +crews of the Whittington and the Albatross, increased the stirring +character of the scene. As soon as they were near enough a boat was seen +putting off from each vessel; and, a few minutes after, the captains of +the different ships came on board the Albatross, and sat with Oriel +Porphyry in his cabin for several hours, in deep and earnest conference. +These had scarcely departed when others arrived. New vessels kept +continually approaching. As fast as one party left the ship others made +their appearance, and at last the Albatross was surrounded by an immense +fleet. All their commanders having at last communicated with Oriel +Porphyry, they crowded sail for Columbia. + +"Captain," exclaimed the young merchant, after the last of his visitors +had departed, "are you sure of the crew?" + +"To a man, sir," replied old Hearty. "There's such a stir in the ship as +never was afore. They are all impatient to be led against your enemies. +I never saw such enthusiusiasm in all my life." + +"Keep them in that humour, captain," said Oriel Porphyry. "Let every man +have a good supply of ball cartridges, a musket, a pair of pistols, and +a cutlass." + +"Yes, sir." + +"And let a party be formed who can use the hatchet and crow-bar with +good effect." + +"Yes, sir." + +"And get the carpenter to make carriages for the larger guns, so that +they can be dragged by ropes upon the land; and let them be manned by +picked men." + +"Yes, sir: and if we don't rescue your honourable father out o' the +clutches o' them ere lubbers, I'm spiflicated if we don't diskiver the +reason why." + +"How far are we from port?" asked Oriel. + +"About two days sail, sir," replied the captain. + +"We shall be too late if the greatest despatch is not used," observed +the young merchant, earnestly. "I rely upon your using every effort that +your skill can suggest." + +"I'll do every thing, sir, as a mortal cretur can do!" exclaimed the old +man. "I arn't the fellow to stand shilly-shally at such a time as this. +I'll look to every thing myself, and see about it immediately." + +The captain had scarcely left the cabin, and Oriel had thrown himself +back in his seat, in deep and earnest meditation, when he was disturbed +by a knock at the door. + +"Come in," he cried. + +"May I enter, Oriel?" said Eureka, as she gently opened the door. + +"Of course, dearest!" replied Oriel Porphyry, as he hastened towards +her, and led her into the cabin, with her hands clasped in his. + +"You are kinder to me than I deserve, Oriel," murmured his fair +companion, with a look of gratitude from her lustrous eyes that he +found perfectly irresistible. + +"Not at all, my Eureka!" said her lover, affectionately; "am I not +indebted to you for life and liberty, and all that render them valuable? +Do I not know how much you have dared and endured for my sake? And +do you think it possible, that with a knowledge of these things, I +can regard you with any other feeling than that of the most devoted +affection? No, Eureka, I must love you while I have life. But how +cleverly you continued the disguise. When I first saw you, I recognised +in the handsome page a resemblance to features it was impossible for me +not to notice; but your scheme was so admirably managed that I never +entertained the slightest suspicion of your true character." + +"Nor up to the present moment has any one in the ship," replied Eureka. +"They only know me as Zabra, except that worthy creature, Tourniquet, +who discovered my secret when I was wounded, and I immediately made him +aware of my history and object in joining you, at which he was so much +delighted as to proffer his assistance in carrying on the deception; and +I should have been discovered but for him on more than one occasion." + +"That accounts for his confusion at the tiger-hunt," observed Oriel; +"and for what I considered the mystery in your behaviour. But there is +nothing strange or unaccountable in it now. I only wonder at you. I am +amazed when I think of your risking so much for one who is so little +worthy of such extraordinary devotion." + +"You will not love me the less for it, will you?" inquired Eureka, +gazing in his face with a look of thrilling tenderness. + +"Love you less, Eureka!" exclaimed the young merchant; "that would be +ungrateful! While I have an appreciation of truth and excellence and +fidelity, and that wonderful intellectual power you have so often +exhibited, the admiration with which I regard you must approach +idolatry. You are a creature to be proud of." + +"And yet I am afraid I shall lose you," said his companion, anxiously; +"I have just heard upon what errand you are hastening. It is full of +danger. It is beset by perils. But the cause is a proud one, and I do +not attempt to dissuade you from proceeding with it. Go on your career +of glory. Give your impetuous soul free scope for the developement of +its energies. Think not of me, except the thought can nerve your arm and +strengthen your resolution. Be as daring as your fearless nature prompts +you to be. With such an end in view as that you have before you, I can +allow myself no other sense, or impression, or emotion than that which +may accompany my earnest hopes for your success. I have come to a +resolution to forget my own selfish feelings. It is time I should. Your +advancement, your greatness, your fame, are the objects to which any +thoughts must now always incline. If you live to triumph over your +enemies, and to attain that eminence whereon you are so desirous of +being placed, and to which you will do so much honour, none will rejoice +more sincerely than she who has shown herself so anxious to insure your +happiness--if you die----" + +"Eureka, my adored!" rapturously exclaimed Oriel, pressing her to his +breast, as he noticed that she was unable to proceed, "there is no fear +of such a result. Believe me you alarm yourself unnecessarily. I shall +succeed, I am assured of it: I shall succeed to have the proud enjoyment +of glorifying you with my pre-eminence. I feel convinced that if we can +only arrive in time, I shall rescue my father. Nothing shall stop me--I +will not be defeated: and if we should be too late for this great +object, which I see no reason to apprehend, I will not rest satisfied +till I have punished his murderers. I have no dread of death; but if I +should die, I shall die a death worthy of the lover of Eureka. I shall +die in endeavouring to rescue my country from its oppressors.--I shall +die in avenging the murder of one of the noblest and best of men." + +"One word more, Oriel--one word more," said Eureka. "I have only to ask +you, as a testimony of your love for me, that, if in the coming conflict +you should meet my father, you will not kill him." + +"He deserves little mercy at my hands," replied the young merchant. "But +your desire is natural, and I will comply with it. He must answer for +his crimes to the country they have disgraced. And now let us go on +deck, a little fresh air would do neither of us any harm; and when you +behold the noble fleet that has joined me in my enterprise, I hope that +all your apprehensions will vanish." + +Among the crew of the Albatross the intelligence of the events which had +occurred in Columbia created an extraordinary sensation; and as soon +as it was known that Oriel Porphyry designed attempting his father's +rescue, every man in the ship volunteered to assist in the enterprise. +Never was such a general indignation produced as that which burst from +them when they learned the fate to which the government had doomed +Master Porphyry. A land fight was something new to them, but they did +not prepare themselves for it with less alacrity, nor were their tongues +less active than their limbs. Various opinions prevailed as to the +best method of bringing about a revolution; and as to the best form +of government which should replace the old one, there were as many +different notions as tongues to utter them. A group had gathered +together in the forecastle, where they had been engaged for some +time over an extra allowance of grog, discussing different political +subjects, when Boggle, who, notwithstanding his promotion, was amazingly +fond of associating with his old messmates, joined the disputants. + +"I'll tell you what it is, my mates," said he, "government's tryin to +come their handy-dandy sugar-candy over us, and we arn't a goin to stand +nuffin o' the sort. Are we to be slaves?" + +"Never," shouted a dozen voices simultaneously. + +"Nebber," echoed Roly Poly, with equal energy, as he was gulping down +the contents of a huge black-jack of hot grog. + +"Now I likes to have particular notions o' things in general as every +man as is a man, and thinks like a man, should," continued Boggle. "And +I must say as how it's my notion that there's never no occasion for no +government whatsomdever." + +"Of course," remarked the boatswain, who would have thought it high +treason to have disagreed with his officer. + +"Ob coorse," repeated Roly Poly, still pulling away at the black-jack. + +"We don't want no rulers--there arn't no 'cessity for 'em;" said the +second lieutenant. "But if we must have kings--let every man be his own +king." + +"Let every man be his own king," was echoed from one to another +throughout the circle. + +"Let ebery man be his own king," repeated the fat cook. + +"The whole circumbendibus comes to this," continued Boggle. "If so be as +how we're obligated to pay for what we don't want, it's hoptional on our +parts not to want what we're obligated to pay for." + +"Certainly, sir," said the boatswain. + +"Sartinly, sar," echoed Roly Poly, endeavouring to hold his head up, and +look as if he understood what was going forward. + +"There's nuffin but oppression goin on fore and aft," said the orator. +"They grinds the faces o' the poor, and makes their bread o' the flour; +and therefore we must stand up for the liberty o' the subject." + +"We must stand up for the liberty o' the subject, there's not a doubt +on't," remarked the boatswain, evidently without knowing what the +liberty of the subject expressed. + +"De libty ob de subjack?" exclaimed the fat cook, vainly endeavouring +to steady his position. "I like de libty ob de black-jack best;" and +so saying, he waddled off after a very circuitous fashion, with the +black-jack under his arm. + + + + +CHAP. XII. + +THE CONCLUSION. + + +The morning dawned slow and sullenly over the great metropolis of +Columbia; and its immense field of buildings seemed as gloomy as the +skies above them. All the shops were closed, as if in a time of general +mourning; and the citizens hurried along the streets with melancholy and +unsocial looks. Occasionally, two or three would stop at a corner of a +street and exchange a few eloquent words and gesticulations; but the +approach of some of the numerous bands of soldiers that continually +perambulated the streets separated them, and they continued on their +way. Everywhere the houses looked cheerless, as if they had been +deserted. The shutters were closed, the windows darkened, and not a sign +of life appeared about them. Such of the inhabitants as had ventured +out, appeared to be proceeding in one direction, communicating with one +another when they could do so without being observed by the troops. All +wore the same aspect--that of deep dejection; but, occasionally, a +close observer might have noticed a more fierce expression in their +countenances, as a muttered execration escaped from their lips. + +They passed regiments of horse and foot at every commanding situation. +The whole city seemed to be filled with them; and their picquets +stationed at regular intervals, patroling every thoroughfare, prevented +any attempt at revolt on the part of the citizens. Still they proceeded +forward till they entered a spacious quadrangle, the whole space of +which, including all the avenues that approached it, was filled with +soldiers and citizens. Along the wall of a high gloomy building, +evidently from its construction a prison, there had been erected a +platform, covered with black cloth. Upon it appeared a block, and at a +short distance from it a coffin, both covered with black cloth. Around +the platform were a troop of horse; and others were posted along the +sides of the quadrangle, the inner space of which was filled with a +regiment of foot supported by several pieces of artillery. + +At one corner of the principal entrance to the quadrangle was an ancient +stone structure, very strongly built, from the windows of which there +was a good view of the proceedings before the prison; at the opposite +corner was a similar edifice, and in their windows and on their roofs +crowds of anxious citizens had congregated. If any had come with an +intention of attempting a rescue, the disposition of the military was +sufficient to make them despair; and all they did was to throng as near +as possible to the place of execution, where they stood regarding the +scaffold and its defenders with scowling looks, and hearts eager for +vengeance. + +The utmost decorum prevailed among the multitude. There was no talking +or laughing; and when Master Porphyry made his appearance upon the +scaffold every head was uncovered, and blessings loud and deep were +breathed from all. The philanthropist advanced to the block with a firm +step, and eyes as mild and kind as they had ever beamed. His look was +cheerful, and his bearing noble and manly. He wore the robe of honour, +which distinguished him as the chief magistrate of the city, as +if desirous of dying in possession of the dignity to which he had +been raised by the respect of his fellow-citizens. After bowing in +acknowledgment of the recognitions of the people, he looked unmoved upon +the coffin and the block; and with the executioner on one side, masked, +having a glittering axe in his hand, and with a priest on the other, who +kept addressing him with pious exhortations, to which he paid respectful +attention, he advanced to that part of the platform which overlooked the +surrounding multitude. Some murmurs and execrations had burst from the +spectators at sight of the executioner; but when it was noticed that +Master Porphyry was about to address them, the vast assembly were +instantly hushed to the most perfect silence. + +"My countrymen!" exclaimed the philanthropist, in a clear unbroken +voice, "I do not in any way regret the fate that has been prepared for +me, except so far as it prevents me continuing those offices of social +kindness which made the happiness of my existence. To be without the +means of doing good is scarcely less desirable than to be in the +commission of evil; and it was a wise and charitable thing of my +persecutors, after having confiscated all my property, to take away a +life no longer of value to the community."--A low murmur escaped from +the crowd. "I may safely say, and I proudly say, I have lived for you; +and it is an equal gratification for me to be allowed to assert, that +I die for you."--Ten thousand blessings followed the delivery of this +sentence. + +"My death, therefore, is not to be considered pitiable, if regarded in +that light. I am pleased that I have been thought worthy of this honour. +I am delighted that my oppressors have given me an opportunity of +leaving life with so much satisfaction to myself. Let me beg of you, +therefore, to refrain from any exhibition of regret for the manner of +my death--it is a very humane one; and my persecutors have shown me +a kindness in allowing me to be so disposed of.--I see nothing in it +terrible. I see nothing in it painful. I see nothing in it of shame or +dishonour. 'T is a blow, and it is over.--Had my oppressors wished, I +might have died suffering the most excruciating tortures. Had I lived, +probably I might have been the victim of some loathsome disease; or have +been deprived of my faculties--have become idiotic, or insane, or blind; +and at the last extremity have been deserted by friends, or left without +the means of serving those who most required assistance. How much better +is it for me to close my existence in this way, without pain, in the +full enjoyment of my reason, and surrounded by friends; and although +I am rendered incapable of continuing of use to you, the remembrance +of the pleasures I have enjoyed from a life of active benevolence is +sufficiently agreeable to overpower the regret I feel in having been +left to so unprofitable an end."--Again murmurs of applause broke from +all parts of the crowd. + +"There is however a regret, which is powerful, and which I require all +my philosophy to endure.--I regret that I leave my country in a worse +condition than I found her.--I regret that the freedom for which I +strived so earnestly is passing away from her people.--I regret to see +a state of bondage in preparation for the free hearts around me, which +is likely to deprive them of all their noblest privileges. I was born +a free citizen, and a free citizen I will die. The galling chains of +abject servitude which are being forged for you shall never disgrace +my nature. Remember, oh, my countrymen, that freedom is your natural +inheritance; and although it would be madness to attempt its +repossession without sufficient means, never give up the desire of +liberty--wait the fitting time; and while you endure, forget not that +the graves of your fathers are disgraced, and the spirits of your +children are being dishonoured."--The citizens testified, by loud shouts +and eager exclamations, their assent to the sentiments expressed by the +philanthropist; and many were the fierce looks directed towards the +soldiery. + +"If there is any man amongst you whom I have injured, I desire of him +most earnestly to tell me the wrong I have done, that I may repair it +before I die. I am quite certain that I have never done any one an +intentional injury; but if I have left undone any good which I might +have done, I consider that I have done an injustice, and would remedy it +before it be too late. Speak, my fellow-citizens; tell me what injuries +against you I have committed."--There was an eloquent silence, that +lasted for several minutes. Each man looked at his neighbour, and all +saw that the philanthropist had no accuser. + +"There is one more subject to which I wish to draw your attention, and +it is the last," said Master Porphyry, in a voice less firm than had +distinguished the delivery of the preceding portion of his discourse. +"I have a son. My persecutors, while punishing me, have thought proper +to make my child a beggar;--_that_ I feel. He possesses many good +qualities--many good qualities likely to render him an excellent +citizen. Let me bequeath him to your care."--A simultaneous shout of +assent from the immense multitude proved that the appeal had not been +made in vain. + +"And now that I have left nothing undone, and nothing untold, I must +take my leave of you." + +"No, no!" was shouted by every voice. + +"My dear friends, it must be," continued Master Porphyry; "I am taking +up the time of these good people; and although it is a pleasure for me +to linger among you, I must not purchase it at the expense of trouble to +others. I should leave you with a cheerful heart, if I had not upon me +the fear that there is much suffering preparing for you; and I should +die without an unkind feeling against any human creature, if I did not +possess at this time a natural indignation against your oppressors. For +myself I have no fear--those who have wronged me I forgive; but I have +the feelings of a man and a citizen, and I cannot forgive the enemies +of my country."--Groans and indignant exclamations here rose on every +side. "I implore you to desist from the exhibition of any acts of +violence with the hope of procuring my liberation. There is not a chance +of success. You will be slaughtered in crowds the first attempt of the +kind you may make. Let not my last moments be made wretched by seeing +your blood shed unavailingly. If I have done that which seems good in +your eyes, it was with the desire of gaining your love that I did it. +Have I succeeded?"--An universal shout of assent burst from all parts of +the crowd. + +"Then I die with the proudest satisfaction I could enjoy under the +circumstances. I hope you will raise for me no useless monuments. I +desire that when I am dead my unprofitable body may meet with no funeral +honours. If I have done that which is honourable, honour me in your +remembrance. If I have done that which is good, teach your children to +do as I have done. With my best wishes for your happiness--with my most +earnest aspirations for your enfranchisement, I can now lay my head +upon the block. Grieve not because I die: you should rejoice that your +fellow-citizen can die without dishonour." + +"We'll avenge you, our benefactor!" shouted a voice from the crowd. + +"We'll be revenged on your murderers!" exclaimed another. + +"Down with the tyrants!" cried a third. Similar exclamations followed, +and the masses of the people seemed in great commotion, pressing forward +towards the soldiery with groans, hisses, and execrations; but when the +different regiments made a movement forward and presented their arms +as if about to fire, the multitude fell back, and order was restored +amongst them. + +"Think of your sins, unhappy man," said the priest, with a hypocritical +visage, who was one of those bigots who put on the garment, and know +nothing of the spirit, of religion;--"think of your sins, and repent, +for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." + +"I would repent, good sir," replied Master Porphyry, mildly, "if I +thought I had any thing of which I could repent; or if I thought I +could do any good by repenting." + +"Confess your sins against your God! confess, and be saved! There is +salvation for the worst of sinners," drawled out the other. + +"I am not aware of having committed any sins," said the philanthropist; +"therefore I can have no confession to make." + +"How have you served your Creator? What has been your religion?" +inquired his companion, sharply. + +"I have considered that philanthropy was the only true religion, and I +have practised it," replied master Porphyry; "and I felt convinced that +the right way of worshipping God was by doing all the good in my power +to my fellow-creatures; and from that way I have never deviated." + +"Atheistical, abominable, atrocious, heretical, and damnable!" exclaimed +the priest, with a look of horror. "You are in the hands of the devil. +The church renounces you. Flames and brimstone must be your portion; +wailing and gnashing of teeth your reward." + +The philanthropist looked surprised; but turning to one of the +assistant executioners who stood at a short distance, he said, "I am +ready." The man instantly proceeded to disrobe him of his upper garment, +and arranged his dress so that the whole of his neck was bare. + +"I would rather have died in that robe," observed he; "for I like not +parting with the honours that have been bestowed upon me. However, it +is gratifying to know that I have never disgraced it. It can give me +no distinction where I am going, therefore there let it lie."--His +countenance every moment appeared to become more benevolent in its +expression; and there was a nobility in his manner that commanded +respect from all around him. + +"Kill me as quickly as you can, my good friend," said he to the +executioner; "but after you have killed me you may do what you please." + +The citizens had watched with breathless interest the preparations for +Master Porphyry's execution; but when they beheld him kneel down before +the block, and saw the headsman raise his axe, a shudder seemed to pass +over the whole multitude. At this instant a proud-looking man, in a +military costume, appeared upon the scaffold; and, immediately he was +observed, a yell of execration arose from the quadrangle, and from every +place that could command a view of the platform. The officer stood up +his full height, and looked down upon the people with glances of scorn +and contempt. Groans, hisses, and curses became louder and more general. + +"Death to the persecutor!" shouted one. + +"Down with the oppressor!" cried another. + +"Yell on ye wretched rabble!" exclaimed the object of their indignation, +his mustachios curling with a contemptuous sneer, and his eyes flashing +with malignity. "It matters not to me what is said by such vile hounds. +Yell on then, it does my heart good to hear ye; and ye know full well ye +dare not do any thing else." Then turning round to Master Porphyry, he +said, "I have come to testify my loyalty by beholding the death of a +traitor." + +"There is no traitor here, Philadelphia," replied the philanthropist, +mildly, "unless it be yourself." + +"Oh, the hated tyrant!" shouted some of the multitude. + +"The curses of the people are upon thee, thou miserable slave!" cried +others. + +"Down with him! Down with the despot! Down with the enslaver of his +country!" exclaimed the rest. At this instant a banner was raised near +the centre of the quadrangle, with the inscription upon it, in large +letters, of "PORPHYRY, OR DEATH!" It was the signal for an immediate +rush towards the scaffold. With one simultaneous cheer the vast +multitude hurried forwards, burst in upon the troops, and with frantic +rage began to struggle with them for the possession of their arms. A +volley of musketry from an opposite window at this moment killed the +executioners and several others, and the rest, with the exception of +Philadelphia and Master Porphyry, took to flight. + +"Leap down here, my benefactor, and I will save you," shouted a voice +from beneath the platform. + +"You shall not escape me a second time, my enemy," muttered the noble +as he drew his sword, and with a look of mingled hatred and ferocity +exclaimed, "Thus I punish a traitor!" as he drove the weapon through +the body of his companion. + +The philanthropist gazed on his murderer, more in sorrow than in anger; +and the only words he uttered, before he dropped down dead on the +platform, were, "MY BROTHER!" The miserable fratricide seemed confounded +by the avowal; but little time was allowed him for reflection. Curses, +yells, screams, groans, and execrations burst from the assembled +citizens as they noticed the death of their chief magistrate; and +Philadelphia fell by his side, pierced by a hundred bullets. A shout +of triumph arose when they beheld the fall of the tyrant; and, as if +inspirited by the sight, they threw themselves upon the soldiery in +countless masses, and endeavoured to drag them from their horses, or +wrest their weapons out of their hands. In this manoeuvre, although it +was attended by immense loss of life, many succeeded; but the strength +and discipline of the troops at last prevailed, and the citizens were +forced out of the quadrangle; and when the artillery began to play upon +them they dispersed in all directions. + +The soldiery were now forming ready to make a charge in case the people +should re-assemble, when from the stone buildings at the corner of the +avenue a most destructive fire of heavy cannon was opened upon them. +Every window in the neighbourhood was broken by the concussion, and the +havoc made in both the horse and foot regiments was excessive. The word +was given for the foot soldiers to endeavour to take these buildings by +assault, and they marched forward for that purpose; but directly they +came near enough, a continuous stream of bullets issued from every place +that could command a shot at them, and they fell back in confusion. +Again they advanced to the assault, pouring in a steady fire at the +windows; but these spaces were blocked up with sand-bags, allowing only +sufficient room for a ship's gun to be run in and out, and they were +defended by the crew of the Albatross, under the command of their +veteran captain. After fighting their way through all opposition, +assisted by detachments from the fleet, and by the citizens, they had +dragged the guns through the city, and when the people made their attack +upon the soldiers, they were preparing their batteries. The military +again came to the attack, amid the enthusiastic cheers of the brave +sailors; and although they persisted for a long time in endeavouring to +obtain possession of the buildings, they were repulsed and retreated in +disorder. + +The artillery was then brought to bear upon the place, but scarcely +had it been placed in a proper position, before it was rendered +unserviceable by the destructive fire from the batteries; and the troops +finding that they were being mowed down without a chance of silencing +their opponents, charged up the avenue--the horse supported by the foot +regiments. Here they were met by a fire of musketry from the houses +on each side, and having passed a short distance amid showers of +heavy missiles, that were hurled down upon them from the tops of the +buildings by the enraged citizens, they came to a barrier hastily +erected of stones and earth, from which a murderous fire from three +thirty-two pounders opened upon them as they advanced, throwing the +cavalry into confusion, and causing them to retreat in disorder upon +the infantry. + +Here they were joined by a strong reinforcement, consisting of several +thousand fresh troops, and a charge was made upon the barrier which, +after an obstinate resistance, was forced. They then proceeded onwards, +exposed to a destructive fire from the neighbouring houses; but they +had not advanced above a hundred yards, when they were thrown into a +complete derout by the hasty retreat of a regiment of horse, which fell +back upon them, scattering dismay and terror into their ranks. Shouts of +triumph were heard in the distance, accompanied by the fierce roar +of cannon, and the rattle of frequent volleys of musketry. While the +whole military force was on the point of endeavouring to find safety +in flight, they were joined by another large reinforcement, and the +cavalry having re-formed as soon as they beheld the new troops, they +moved forward in a body to where it was evident that a violent contest +was raging. They continued to meet parties both of horse and foot flying +from the scene of action; and these were received into their ranks. + +Having passed through several streets, fighting at every step, they +advanced under a broad archway into an open park. Here a tremendous +battle was still going on. The two contending armies were placed +opposite each other, and had been engaged for several hours attacking +each other's positions, and defending their own. The army of the people +had taken up a position on a slope with a plantation of fine oak trees +on one side, and a deep but narrow rivulet on the other. Their centre +was composed of the national guards; their right wing consisted of a +body of several thousand sailors; and their left was a body of armed +citizens equally numerous, supported by several batteries, and a reserve +of cavalry. They were opposed by the flower of the emperor's troops; +but their superior discipline and military skill availed them nothing. +Although the citizens suffered severely from the attacks which were +made upon them, they increased in numbers every hour. Thousands joined +their ranks; new batteries were raised; and while the enemy was losing +strength, they were increasing their forces. + +Oriel Porphyry, on his landing, made for the rendezvous which had been +agreed upon. Here he placed himself at the head of his own regiment of +dragoons; with which, assisted by the citizens from their houses, he +attacked several parties of the military that paraded the streets. The +national guards then began to make their appearance in great numbers; +and these having provided themselves with arms from the gun-shops while +the young merchant kept the imperial troops employed, soon collected +together and marched to his assistance. Finding himself in two or three +hours at the head of a body of nearly twenty thousand men, willing to +follow wherever he led, he left the street-fighting to the citizens, and +sending several detachments in different directions, so as, as much +as possible, to divide the attention of the military, he took up the +position that has been described, in the park, with the intention of +attacking a large body of troops there posted. + +The battle began by a division of the imperial troops attempting to +force a bridge over the rivulet, which was defended by the sailors, +supported by several pieces of cannon. The attack was continued with +great spirit, reinforcements arriving almost every half hour; but it was +defended with equal bravery, and the soldiers were beaten back every +time with very great loss. Two regiments of cavalry then were sent +against it, but the bridge being narrow, only a few could attempt to +cross at a time, and these were brought down by the cannon and musketry +as soon as they made their appearance. The lower part of the bridge +became blocked up with dead bodies, and the cavalry, after repeated +efforts, were obliged to retreat, having lost nearly one third of their +number. + +An attempt was now made on the wood by a strong party of infantry, while +the cavalry in great force made an attack upon the centre; but a strong +palisade had been raised among the trees, from which the citizens, +in almost perfect security, poured a deadly fire upon the advancing +columns, which thinned their ranks rapidly; and the national guards +having formed into square, as the cavalry advanced, received them +with such streams of bullets, that they staggered and fell back. They +repeated the attack several times, and always met with the same result. +While these proceedings had been going on, Oriel Porphyry had given +orders for the sailors to pass the bridge, whom he supported with his +cavalry, and they fell with irresistible impetuosity upon the left wing +of the enemy, which had been considerably weakened by its unsuccessful +attacks upon the bridge. + +The young merchant dashed on at the head of his dragoons, exhibiting the +most daring valour. He had had three horses killed under him during the +battle, and had been wounded in several places, but he continued his +brilliant career, making both cavalry and infantry fly before him. The +left wing, after a brief resistance, gave way, and they were in full +retreat when they were met by the soldiers who had been on guard in the +quadrangle. Immediately they fled, he made a desperate attack upon the +enemy's rear, and the national guards making a charge at the same moment +all along their line, the imperial troops were thrown into inextricable +confusion, and the reinforcement which made its appearance only came in +time to be mixed up in the general rout. They were pursued from street +to street without the slightest cessation; and so general was the panic +that spread among them on their retreat, that they flung away their +arms, and dispersed in every direction. + +A few days after the transactions just narrated the city seemed as +if dressed for a festival. The houses were decorated with garlands +of flowers, flags, and pieces of rich tapestry, and the windows and +house-tops were crowded with elegantly dressed females, and the citizens +in their holyday-dresses. Every face seemed breathing gladness, and +every eye beamed with delight. The long thoroughfares were thronged with +spectators, all of whom wore the same joyful expression of countenance; +they were waiting the expected return of Oriel Porphyry from his last +battle with the enslavers of his country, in which the emperor had been +slain, and his forces completely discomfited. + +Distant shouts of triumph announced the approach of the young conqueror; +and every neck was stretched out, and every eye turned in the direction +from whence the sounds proceeded. The cheers of the excited citizens +became gradually more loud, and the impatience of the inhabitants of +the houses more conspicuous. At last the measured sound of military +music came upon the ear, and in a few minutes the whole force of the +metropolitan national guards marched by; every regiment with its band +playing and its ensigns waving; after them came a car, drawn by four +milk-white horses, on which lay the body of the philanthropist in his +robe of honour; it was followed by Oriel Porphyry, or, to give him his +proper title, the prince of Philadelphia, bare-headed, on a powerful +war-charger, who seemed by his prancings and curvettings, proud of the +noble burden he carried. Blessings were showered upon him from every +side; flowers descended on his head, and all hailed him as the deliverer +of his country. His handsome countenance and manly figure never appeared +impressed with such a nobility of character as when he bowed in +acknowledgment of the universal enthusiasm which was excited in his +favour. Eureka rode at his side, expressing by her beautiful countenance +the delight she experienced. His own regiment of cavalry came next, +and they were followed by the crew of the Albatross, and of the other +merchant vessels that had assisted him in the struggle. Nothing was +heard among the people but cheering and exclamations of praise; nothing +was seen but the waving of caps and handkerchiefs. + +In the course of the same day Oriel Porphyry was declared emperor of the +Columbians; and when he ascended the throne of his country Eureka shared +in his glory. + + +THE END. + + + LONDON: + Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE, + New-Street-Square. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + +A table of Contents has been added. + +Text in italics has been placed between _underscores_ and text in small +capitals has been changed to all capitals. + +Some punctuation errors have been corrected silently. Inconsistent use +of quotation marks in some parts of the book has not been changed. + +The following corrections have been made, on page + + 15 "Chinberkin" changed to "Climberkin" (the strong grasp of Boggle + and Climberkin that prevented) + + 32 "ome" changed to "some" (I offended some and surprised others) + + 98 "shrunkback" changed to "shrunk back" (She shrunk back from) + + 109 "acknowment" changed to "acknowledgement" (from my + acknowledgement of these sentiments) + + 129 "because" changed to "became" (and the farmers became fishermen) + + 178 "n" changed to "in" (in evident confusion) + + 178 "trange" to "strange" (can there be strange or unaccountable) + + 182 "Lilya'" changed to "Lilya's" (such hearts as yours and Lilya's) + + 200 "thumber" changed to "number" (or the mere number of books + comparatively useless) + + 279 "misable" changed to "miserable" (a very shocking miserable + sinner). + +Otherwise the original was preserved, including archaic and inconsistent +spelling and hyphenation. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Eureka, v. 3 (of 3), by +Robert Folkestone Williams + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42493 *** |