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diff --git a/42693-0.txt b/42693-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4dabe8a --- /dev/null +++ b/42693-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14469 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42693 *** + +HARPER'S + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE + +NO. XXVI.--JULY, 1852.--VOL. V. + + + + +[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW.] + +THE ARMORY AT SPRINGFIELD + +BY JACOB ABBOTT + + +SPRINGFIELD. + +The Connecticut river flows through the State of Massachusetts, from +north to south, on a line about half way between the middle of the +State and its western boundary. The valley through which the river +flows, which perhaps the stream itself has formed, is broad and +fertile, and it presents, in the summer months of the year, one widely +extended scene of inexpressible verdure and beauty. The river meanders +through a region of broad and luxuriant meadows which are overflowed +and enriched by an annual inundation. These meadows extend sometimes +for miles on either side of the stream, and are adorned here and there +with rural villages, built wherever there is a little elevation of +land--sufficient to render human habitations secure. The broad and +beautiful valley is bounded on either hand by an elevated and +undulating country, with streams, mills, farms, villages, forests, and +now and then a towering mountain, to vary and embellish the landscape. +In some cases a sort of spur or projection from the upland country +projects into the valley, forming a mountain summit there, from which +the most magnificent views are obtained of the beauty and fertility of +the surrounding scene. + +There are three principal towns upon the banks of the Connecticut +within the Massachusetts lines: Greenfield on the north--where the +river enters into Massachusetts from between New Hampshire and +Vermont--Northampton at the centre, and Springfield on the south. +These towns are all built at points where the upland approaches near +to the river. Thus at Springfield the land rises by a gentle ascent +from near the bank of the stream to a spacious and beautiful plain +which overlooks the valley. The town is built upon this declivity. It +is so enveloped in trees that from a distance it appears simply like a +grove with cupolas and spires rising above the masses of forest +foliage; but to one within it, it presents every where most enchanting +pictures of rural elegance and beauty. The streets are avenues of +trees. The houses are surrounded by gardens, and so enveloped in +shrubbery that in many cases they reveal themselves to the passer-by +only by the glimpse that he obtains of a colonnade or a piazza, +through some little vista which opens for a moment and then closes +again as he passes along. At one point, in ascending from the river to +the plain above, the tourist stops involuntarily to admire the view +which opens on either side, along a winding and beautiful street which +here crosses his way. It is called Chestnut-street on the right hand, +and Maple-street on the left--the two portions receiving their several +names from the trees with which they are respectively adorned. The +branches of the trees meet in a dense and unbroken mass of foliage +over the middle of the street, and the sidewalk presents very +precisely the appearance and expression of an alley in the gardens of +Versailles. + + +THE ARMORY GROUNDS. + +On reaching the summit of the ascent, the visitor finds himself upon +an extended plain, with streets of beautiful rural residences on every +hand, and in the centre a vast public square occupied and surrounded +by the buildings of the Armory. These buildings are spacious and +elegant in their construction, and are arranged in a very picturesque +and symmetrical manner within the square, and along the streets that +surround it. The grounds are shaded with trees; the dwellings are +adorned with gardens and shrubbery. Broad and neatly-kept walks, some +graveled, others paved, extend across the green or along the line of +the buildings, opening charming vistas in every direction. All is +quiet and still. Here and there a solitary pedestrian is seen moving +at a distance upon the sidewalk, or disappearing among the trees at +the end of an avenue; and perhaps the carriage of some party of +strangers stands waiting at a gate. The visitor who comes upon this +scene on a calm summer morning, is enchanted by the rural beauty that +surrounds him, and by the air of silence and repose which reigns over +it all. He hears the distant barking of a dog, the voices of children +at play, or the subdued thundering of the railway-train crossing the +river over its wooden viaduct, far down the valley--and other similar +rural sounds coming from a distance through the calm morning air--but +all around him and near him is still. Can it be possible, he asks, +that such a scene of tranquillity and loveliness can be the outward +form and embodiment of a vast machinery incessantly employed in the +production of engines of carnage and death? + +It is, however, after all, perhaps scarcely proper to call the arms +that are manufactured by the American government, and stored in their +various arsenals, as engines of carnage and destruction. They ought, +perhaps, to be considered rather as instruments of security and peace; +for their destination is, as it would seem, not to be employed in +active service in the performance of the function for which they are +so carefully prepared; but to be consigned, when once finished, to +eternal quiescence and repose. They protect by their existence, and +not by their action; but in order that this, their simple existence, +should be efficient as protection, it is necessary that the +instruments themselves should be fitted for their work in the surest +and most perfect manner. And thus we have the very singular and +extraordinary operation going on, of manufacturing with the greatest +care, and with the highest possible degree of scientific and +mechanical skill, a vast system of machinery, which, when completed, +all parties concerned most sincerely hope and believe will, in a great +majority of cases, remain in their depositories undisturbed forever. +They fulfill their vast function by their simple existence--and thus, +though in the highest degree useful, are never to be used. + + +THE BUILDINGS. + +The general appearance of the buildings of the Armory is represented +in the engraving placed at the head of this article. The point from +which the view is taken, is on the eastern side of the square--that +is, the side most remote from the town. The level and extended +landscape seen in the distance, over the tops of the buildings, is the +Connecticut valley--the town of Springfield lying concealed on the +slope of the hill, between the buildings and the river. The river +itself, too, is concealed from view at this point by the masses of +foliage which clothe its banks, and by the configuration of the land. + +The middle building in the foreground, marked by the cupola upon the +top of it, is called the Office. It contains the various +counting-rooms necessary for transacting the general business of the +Armory, and is, as it were, the seat and centre of the power by which +the whole machinery of the establishment is regulated. North and south +of it, and in a line with it, are two shops, called the North and +South Filing Shops, where, in the several stories, long ranges of +workmen are found, each at his own bench, and before his own window, +at work upon the special operation, whatever it may be, which is +assigned to him. On the left of the picture is a building with the end +toward the observer, two stories high in one part, and one story in +the other part. The higher portion--which in the view is the portion +nearest the observer--forms the Stocking Shop, as it is called; that +is the shop where the stocks are made for the muskets, and fitted to +the locks and barrels. The lower portion is the Blacksmith's Shop. The +Blacksmith's Shop is filled with small forges, at which the parts of +the lock are forged. Beyond the Blacksmith's Shop, and in a line with +it, and forming, together with the Stocking Shop and the Blacksmith's +Shop, the northern side of the square, are several dwelling-houses, +occupied as the quarters of certain officers of the Armory. The +residence of the Commanding Officer, however, is not among them. His +house stands on the west side of the square, opposite to the end of +the avenue which is seen opening directly before the observer in the +view. It occupies a very delightful and commanding situation on the +brow of the hill, having a view of the Armory buildings and grounds +upon one side, and overlooking the town and the valley of the +Connecticut on the other. + +A little to the south of the entrance to the Commanding Officer's +house, stands a large edifice, called the New Arsenal. It is the +building with the large square tower--seen in the view in the middle +distance, and near the centre of the picture. This building is used +for the storage of the muskets during the interval that elapses from +the finishing of them to the time when they are sent away to the +various permanent arsenals established by government in different +parts of the country, or issued to the troops. Besides this new +edifice there are two or three other buildings which are used for the +storage of finished muskets, called the Old Arsenals. They stand in a +line on the south side of the square, and may be seen on the left +hand, in the view. These buildings, all together, will contain about +five hundred thousand muskets. The New Arsenal, alone, is intended to +contain three hundred thousand. + + +THE WATER SHOPS. + +[Illustration: THE MIDDLE WATER SHOPS.] + +Such is the general arrangement of the Arsenal buildings, "on the +hill." But it is only the lighter work that is done here. The heavy +operations, such as rolling, welding, grinding, &c., are all performed +by water-power. The stream which the Ordnance Department of the United +States has pressed into its service to do this work, is a rivulet that +meanders through a winding and romantic valley, about half a mile +south of the town. On this stream are three falls, situated at a +distance perhaps of half a mile from each other. At each of these +falls there is a dam, a bridge, and a group of shops. They are called +respectively the Upper, Middle, and Lower Water Shops. The valley in +which these establishments are situated is extremely verdant and +beautiful. The banks of the stream are adorned sometimes with green, +grassy slopes, and sometimes with masses of shrubbery and foliage, +descending to the water. The road winds gracefully from one point of +view to another, opening at every turn some new and attractive +prospect. The shops and all the hydraulic works are very neatly and +very substantially constructed, and are kept in the most perfect +order: so that the scene, as it presents itself to the party of +visitors, as they ride slowly up or down the road in their carriage, +or saunter along upon the banks of the stream on foot, forms a very +attractive picture. + + +THE MUSKET BARREL. + +The fundamental, and altogether the most important operation in the +manufacture of the musket, is the formation of the barrel; for it is +obvious, that on the strength and perfection of the barrel, the whole +value and efficiency of the weapon when completed depends. One would +suppose, that the fabrication of so simple a thing as a plain and +smooth hollow tube of iron, would be a very easy process; but the fact +is, that so numerous are the obstacles and difficulties that are in +the way, and so various are the faults, latent and open, into which +the workman may allow his work to run, that the forming of the barrel +is not only the most important, but by far the most difficult of the +operations at the Armory--one which requires the most constant +vigilance and attention on the part of the workman, during the process +of fabrication, and the application of multiplied tests to prove the +accuracy and correctness of the work at every step of the progress of +it, from beginning to end. + +The barrels are made from plates of iron, of suitable form and size, +called _scalps_ or barrel plates. These scalps are a little more than +two feet long, and about three inches wide. The barrel when completed, +is about three feet six inches long, the additional length being +gained by the elongating of the scalp under the hammer during the +process of welding. The scalps are heated, and then rolled up over an +iron rod, and the edges being lapped are welded together, so as to +form a tube of the requisite dimensions--the solid rod serving to +preserve the cavity within of the proper form. This welding of the +barrels is performed at a building among the Middle Water Shops. A +range of tilt hammers extend up and down the room, with forges in the +centre of the room, one opposite to each hammer, for heating the iron. +The tilt hammers are driven by immense water-wheels, placed beneath +the building--there being an arrangement of machinery by which each +hammer may be connected with its moving power, or disconnected from +it, at any moment, at the pleasure of the workman. Underneath the +hammer is an anvil. This anvil contains a die, the upper surface of +which, as well as the under surface of a similar die inserted in the +hammer, is formed with a semi-cylindrical groove, so that when the two +surfaces come together a complete cylindrical cavity is formed, which +is of the proper size to receive the barrel that is to be forged. The +workman heats a small portion of his work in his forge, and then +standing directly before the hammer, he places the barrel in its bed +upon the anvil, and sets his hammer in motion, turning the barrel +round and round continually under the blows. Only a small portion of +the seam is closed at one heat, _eleven_ heats being required to +complete the work. To effect by this operation a perfect junction of +the iron, in the overlapping portions, so that the substance of iron +shall be continuous and homogeneous throughout, the same at the +junction as in every other part, without any, the least, flaw, or +seam, or crevice, open or concealed, requires not only great +experience and skill, but also most unremitting and constant attention +during the performance of the work. Should there be any such flaw, +however deeply it may be concealed, and however completely all +indications of it may be smoothed over and covered up by a superficial +finishing, it is sure to be exposed at last, to the mortification and +loss of the workman, in the form of a great gaping rent, which is +brought out from it under the inexorable severity of the test to which +the work has finally to be subjected. + +[Illustration: THE WELDING ROOM.] + + +RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WORKMEN. + +We say to the _loss_ as well as to the mortification of the workman, +for it is a principle that pervades the whole administration of this +establishment, though for special reasons the principle is somewhat +modified in its application to the welder, as will hereafter be +explained, that each workman bears the whole loss that is occasioned +by the failure of his work to stand its trial, from whatever cause the +failure may arise. As a general rule each workman stamps every piece +of work that passes through his hands with his own mark--a mark made +indelible too--so that even after the musket is finished, the history +of its construction can be precisely traced, and every operation +performed upon it, of whatever kind, can be carried home to the +identical workman who performed it. The various parts thus marked are +subject to very close inspection, and to very rigid tests, at +different periods, and whenever any failure occurs, the person who is +found to be responsible for it is charged with the loss. He loses not +only his own pay for the work which he performed upon the piece in +question, but for the whole value of the piece at the time that the +defect is discovered. That is, he has not only to lose his own labor, +but he must also pay for all the other labor expended upon the piece, +which through the fault of his work becomes useless. For example, in +the case of the barrel, there is a certain amount of labor expended +upon the iron, to form it into scalps, before it comes into the +welder's hands. Then after it is welded it must be bored and turned, +and subjected to some other minor operations before the strength of +the welding can be proved. If now, under the test that is applied to +prove this strength--a test which will be explained fully in the +sequel--the work gives way, and if, on examination of the rent, it +proves to have been caused by imperfection in the welding, and not by +any original defect in the iron, the welder, according to the general +principle which governs in this respect all the operations of the +establishment, would have to lose not only the value of his own labor, +in welding the barrel, but that of all the other operations which had +been performed upon it, and which were rendered worthless by his +agency. It is immaterial whether the misfortune in such cases is +occasioned by accident, or carelessness, or want of skill. In either +case the workman is responsible. This rule is somewhat relaxed in the +case of the welder, on whom it would, perhaps, if rigidly enforced, +bear somewhat too heavily. In fact many persons might regard it as a +somewhat severe and rigid rule in any case--and it would, perhaps, +very properly be so considered, were it not that this responsibility +is taken into the account in fixing the rate of wages; and the workmen +being abundantly able to sustain such a responsibility do not complain +of it. The system operates on the whole in the most salutary manner, +introducing, as it does, into every department of the Armory, a spirit +of attention, skill, and fidelity, which marks even the countenances +and manners of the workmen, and is often noticed and spoken of by +visitors. In fact none but workmen of a very high character for +intelligence, capacity, and skill could gain admission to the +Armory--or if admitted could long maintain a footing there. + +The welders are charged one dollar for every barrel lost through the +fault of their work. They earn, by welding, twelve cents for each +barrel; so that by spoiling one, they lose the labor which they expend +upon eight. Being thus rigidly accountable for the perfection of their +work, they find that their undivided attention is required while they +are performing it; and, fortunately perhaps for them, there is nothing +that can well divert their attention while they are engaged at their +forges, for such is the incessant and intolerable clangor and din +produced by the eighteen tilt hammers, which are continually breaking +out in all parts of the room, into their sudden paroxysms of activity, +that every thing like conversation in the apartment is almost utterly +excluded. The blows of the hammers, when the white-hot iron is first +passed under them and the pull of the lever sets them in motion, are +inconceivably rapid, and the deafening noise which they make, and the +showers of sparks which they scatter in every direction around, +produce a scene which quite appalls many a lady visitor when she first +enters upon it, and makes her shrink back at the door, as if she were +coming into some imminent danger. The hammers strike more than six +hundred blows in a minute, that is more than _ten in every second_; +and the noise produced is a sort of rattling thunder, so overpowering +when any of the hammers are in operation near to the observer, that +the loudest vociferation uttered close to the ear, is wholly +inaudible. Some visitors linger long in the apartment, pleased with +the splendor and impressiveness of the scene. Others consider it +frightful, and hasten away. + + +FINISHING OPERATIONS.--BORING. + +From the Middle Water Shops, where this welding is done, the barrels +are conveyed to the Upper Shops, where the operations of turning, +boring and grinding are performed. Of course the barrel when first +welded is left much larger in its outer circumference, and smaller in +its bore, than it is intended to be when finished, in order to allow +for the loss of metal in the various finishing operations. When it +comes from the welder the barrel weighs over seven pounds: when +completely finished it weighs but about four and a half pounds, so +that nearly one half of the metal originally used, is cut away by the +subsequent processes. + +The first of these processes is the boring out of the interior. The +boring is performed in certain machines called boring banks. They +consist of square and very solid frames of iron, in which, as in a +bed, the barrel is fixed, and there is bored out by a succession of +operations performed by means of certain tools which are called +augers, though they bear very little resemblance to the carpenter's +instrument so named. These augers are short square bars of steel, +highly polished, and sharp at the edges--and placed at the ends of +long iron rods, so that they may pass entirely through the barrel to +be bored by them, from end to end. The boring parts of these +instruments, though they are in appearance only plain bars of steel +with straight and parallel sides, are really somewhat smaller at the +outer than at the inner end, so that, speaking mathematically, they +are truncated pyramids, of four sides, though differing very slightly +in the diameters of the lower and upper sections. + +The barrels being fixed in the boring bank, as above described, the +end of the shank of the auger is inserted into the centre of a wheel +placed at one end of the bank, where, by means of machinery, a slow +rotary motion is given to the auger, and a still slower progressive +motion at the same time. By this means the auger gradually enters the +hollow of the barrel, boring its way, or rather enlarging its way by +its boring, as it advances. After it has passed through it is +withdrawn, and another auger, a very little larger than the first is +substituted in its place; and thus the calibre of the barrel is +gradually enlarged, _almost_ to the required dimensions. + +Almost, but not quite; for in the course of the various operations +which are subsequent to the boring, the form of the interior of the +work is liable to be slightly disturbed, and this makes it necessary +to reserve a portion of the surplus metal within, for a final +operation. In fact the borings to which the barrel are subject, +alternate in more instances than one with other operations, the whole +forming a system far too nice and complicated to be described fully +within the limits to which we are necessarily confined in such an +article as this. It is a general principle however that the inside +work is kept always in advance of the outside, as it is the custom +with all machinists and turners to adopt the rule that is so +indispensable and excellent in morals, namely, to make all right first +within, and then to attend to the exterior. Thus in the case of the +musket barrel the bore is first made correct. Then the outer surface +of the work is turned and ground down to a correspondence with it. The +reverse of this process, that is first shaping the outside of it, and +then boring it out within, so as to make the inner and outer surfaces +to correspond, and the metal every where to be of equal thickness, +would be all but impossible. + + +TURNING. + +After the boring, then, of the barrel, comes the turning of the +outside of it. The piece is supported in the lathe by means of +mandrels inserted into the two ends of it, and there it slowly +revolves, bringing all parts of its surface successively under the +action of a tool fixed firmly in the right position for cutting the +work to its proper form. Of course the barrel has a slow progressive +as well as rotary motion during this process, and the tool itself, +with the rest in which it is firmly screwed, advances or recedes very +regularly and gradually, in respect to the work, as the process goes +on, in order to form the proper taper of the barrel in proceeding from +the breech to the muzzle. The main work however in this turning +process is performed by the rotation of the barrel. The workman thus +treats his material and his tools with strict impartiality. In the +_boring_, the piece remains at rest, and the tool does its work by +revolving. In the _turning_, on the other hand, the _piece_ must take +its part in active duty, being required to revolve against the tool, +while the tool itself remains fixed in its position in the rest. + +Among the readers of this article there will probably be many +thousands who have never had the opportunity to witness the process of +turning or boring iron, and to them it may seem surprising that any +tool can be made with an edge sufficiently enduring to stand in such a +service. And it is indeed true that a cutting edge destined to +maintain itself against iron must be of very excellent temper, and +moreover it must have a peculiar construction and form, such that when +set in its proper position for service, the cutting part shall be well +supported, so to speak, in entering the metal, by the mass of the +steel behind it. It is necessary, too, to keep the work cool by a +small stream of water constantly falling upon the point of action. The +piece to be turned, moreover, when of iron, must revolve very slowly; +the process will not go on successfully at a rapid rate; though in the +case of wood the higher the speed at which the machinery works, within +certain limits, the more perfect the operation. In all these points +the process of turning iron requires a very nice adjustment; but when +the conditions necessary to success are all properly fulfilled, the +work goes on in the most perfect manner, and the observer who is +unaccustomed to witness the process is surprised to see the curling +and continuous shaving of iron issuing from the point where the tool +is applied, being cut out there as smoothly and apparently as easily +as if the material were lead. + + +THE STRAIGHTENING. + +One of the most interesting and curious parts of the process of the +manufacture of the barrel, is the straightening of it. We ought, +perhaps, rather to say the straightenings, for it is found necessary +that the operation should be several times performed. For example, the +barrel must be straightened before it is turned, and then, inasmuch as +in the process of turning it generally gets more or less _sprung_, it +must be straightened again afterward. In fact, every important +operation performed upon the barrel is likely to cause some deflection +in it, which requires to be subsequently corrected, so that the +process must be repeated several times. The actual work of +straightening, that is the mechanical act that is performed, is very +simple--consisting as it does of merely striking a blow. The whole +difficulty lies in determining when and where the correction is +required. In other words, the _making straight_ is very easily and +quickly done; the thing attended with difficulty is to find out when +and where the work is crooked; for the deflections which it is thus +required to remedy, are so extremely slight, that all ordinary modes +of examination would fail wholly to detect them; while yet they are +sufficiently great to disturb very essentially the range and direction +of the ball which should issue from the barrel, affected by them. + +[Illustration: STRAIGHTENING THE BARRELS.] + +The above engraving represents the workman in the act of examining the +interior of a barrel with a view to ascertaining whether it be +straight. On the floor, in the direction toward which the barrel is +pointed, is a small mirror, in which the workman sees, through the +tube, a reflection of a certain pane of glass in the window. The pane +in question is marked by a diagonal line, which may be seen upon it, +in the view, passing from one corner to the other. This diagonal line +now is reflected by the mirror into the bore of the barrel, and then +it is reflected again to the eye of the observer; for the surface of +the iron on the inside of the barrel is left in a most brilliantly +polished condition, by the boring and the operations connected +therewith. Now the workman, in some mysterious way or other, detects +the slightest deviation from straightness in the barrel, by the +appearance which this reflection presents to his eye, as he looks +through the bore in the manner represented in the drawing. He is +always ready to explain very politely to his visitor exactly how this +is done, and to allow the lady to look through the tube and see for +herself. All that she is able to see, however, in such cases is a very +resplendent congeries of concentric rings, forming a spectacle of very +dazzling brilliancy, which pleases and delights her, though the +mystery of the reflected line generally remains as profound a mystery +after the observation as before. This is, in fact, the result which +might have been expected, since it is generally found that all +demonstrations and explanations relating to the science of optics and +light, addressed to the uninitiated, end in plunging them into greater +darkness than ever. + +The only object which the mirror upon the floor serves, in the +operation, is to save the workman from the fatigue of holding up the +barrel, which it would be necessary for him to do at each observation, +if he were to look at the window pane directly. By having a reflecting +surface at the floor he can point the barrel downward, when he wishes +to look through it, and this greatly facilitates the manipulation. +There is a rest, too, provided for the barrel, to support it while the +operator is looking through. He plants the end of the tube in this +rest, with a peculiar grace and dexterity, and then, turning it round +and round, in order to bring every part of the inner surface to the +test of the reflection, he accomplishes the object of his scrutiny in +a moment, and then recovering the barrel, he lays it across a sort of +anvil which stands by his side, and strikes a gentle blow upon it +wherever a correction was found to be required. Thus the operation, +though it often seems a very difficult one for the visitor to +understand, proves a very easy one for the workman to perform. + + +OLD MODE OF STRAIGHTENING. + +In former times a mode altogether different from this was adopted to +test the interior rectitude of the barrel. A very slender line, formed +of a hair or some similar substance, was passed through the +barrel--_dropped_ through, in fact, by means of a small weight +attached to the end of it. This line was then drawn tight, and the +workman looking through, turned the barrel round so as to bring the +line into coincidence successively with every portion of the inner +surface. If now there existed any concavity in any part of this +surface, the line would show it by the distance which would there +appear between the line itself and its reflection in the metal. The +present method, however, which has now been in use about thirty years, +is found to be far superior to the old one; so much so in fact that +all the muskets manufactured before that period have since been +condemned as unfit for use, on account mainly of the crookedness of +the barrels. When we consider, however, that the calculation is that +in ordinary engagements less than one out of every hundred of the +balls that are discharged take effect; that is, that ninety-nine out +of every hundred go wide of the mark for which they are intended, from +causes that must be wholly independent of any want of accuracy in the +aiming, it would seem to those who know little of such subjects, that +to condemn muskets for deviating from perfect straightness by less +than a hair, must be quite an unnecessary nicety. The truth is, +however, that all concerned in the establishment at Springfield, seem +to be animated by a common determination, that whatever may be the use +that is ultimately to be made of their work, the instrument itself, as +it comes from their hands, shall be absolutely perfect; and whoever +looks at the result, as they now attain it, will admit that they carry +out their determination in a very successful manner. + + +CINDER HOLES. + +Various other improvements have been made from time to time in the +mode of manufacturing and finishing the musket, which have led to the +condemnation or alteration of those made before the improvements were +introduced. A striking illustration of this is afforded by the case of +what are called _cinder holes_. A cinder hole is a small cavity left +in the iron at the time of the manufacture of it--the effect, +doubtless, of some small development of gas forming a bubble in the +substance of the iron. If the bubble is near the inner surface of the +barrel when it is welded, the process of boring and finishing brings +it into view, in the form of a small blemish seen in the side of the +bore. At a former period in the history of the Armory, defects of this +kind were not considered essential, so long as they were so small as +not to weaken the barrel. It was found, however, at length that such +cavities, by retaining the moisture and other products of combustion +resulting from the discharge of the piece, were subject to corrosion, +and gradual enlargement, so as finally to weaken the barrel in a fatal +manner. It was decided therefore that the existence of cinder holes in +a barrel should thenceforth be a sufficient cause for its rejection, +and all the muskets manufactured before that time have since been +condemned and sold; the design of the department being to retain in +the public arsenals only arms of the most perfect and unexceptionable +character. + +At the present time, in the process of manufacturing the barrels, it +is not always found necessary to reject a barrel absolutely in every +case where a cinder hole appears. Sometimes the iron may be forced in, +by a blow upon the outside, sufficiently to enable the workman to bore +the cinder hole out entirely. This course is always adopted where the +thickness of the iron will allow it, and in such cases the barrel is +saved. Where this can not be done, the part affected is sometimes cut +off, and a short barrel is made, for an arm called a musketoon. + + +THE GRINDING. + +After the barrel is turned to nearly its proper size it is next to be +ground, for the purpose of removing the marks left by the tool in +turning, and of still further perfecting its form. For this operation +immense grindstones, carried by machinery, are used, as seen in the +engraving. These stones, when in use, are made to revolve with great +rapidity--usually about _four hundred times in a minute_--and as a +constant stream of water is kept pouring upon the part where the +barrel is applied in the grinding, it is necessary to cover them +entirely with a wooden case, as seen in the engraving, to catch and +confine the water, which would otherwise be thrown with great force +about the room. The direct action therefore of the stone upon the +barrel in the process of grinding is concealed from view. + +[Illustration: GRINDING.] + +The workman has an iron rod with a sort of crank-like handle at the +end of it, and this rod he inserts into the bore of the barrel which +he has in hand. The rod fits into the barrel closely, and is held +firmly by the friction, so that by means of the handle to the rod, the +workman can turn the barrel round and round continually while he is +grinding it, and thus bring the action of the stone to bear equally +upon every part, and so finish the work in a true cylindrical form. +One of these rods, with its handle, may be seen lying free upon the +stand on the right of the picture. The workman is also provided with +gauges which he applies frequently to the barrel at different points +along its length, as the work goes on, in order to form it to the true +size and to the proper taper. In the act of grinding he inserts the +barrel into a small hole in the case, in front of the stone, and then +presses it hard against the surface of the stone by means of the iron +lever behind him. By leaning against this lever with greater or less +exertion he can regulate the pressure of the barrel against the stone +at pleasure. In order to increase his power over this lever he stands +upon a plate of iron which is placed upon the floor beneath him, with +projections cast upon it to hold his feet by their friction; the +moment that he ceases to lean against the lever, the inner end of it +is drawn back by the action of the weight seen hanging down by the +side of it, and the barrel is immediately released. + +The workman _turns_ the barrel continually, during the process of +grinding, by means of the handle, as seen in the drawing, and as the +stone itself is revolving all the time with prodigious velocity, the +work is very rapidly, and at the same time very smoothly and correctly +performed. + + +DANGER. + +It would seem too, at first thought, that this operation of grinding +must be a very safe as well as a simple one; but it is far otherwise. +This grinding room is the dangerous room--the only dangerous room, in +fact, in the whole establishment. In the first place, the work itself +is often very injurious to the health. The premises are always +drenched with water, and this makes the atmosphere damp and +unwholesome. Then there is a fine powder, which, notwithstanding every +precaution, will escape from the stone, and contaminate the air, +producing very serious tendencies to disease in the lungs of persons +who breathe it for any long period. In former times it was customary +to grind bayonets as well as barrels; and this required that the face +of the stone should be fluted, that is cut into grooves of a form +suitable to receive the bayonet. This fluting of the stone, which of +course it was necessary continually to renew, was found to be an +exceedingly unhealthy operation, and in the process of grinding, +moreover, in the case of bayonets, the workman was much more exposed +than in grinding barrels, as it was necessary that a portion of the +stone should be open before him and that he should apply the piece in +hand directly to the surface of it. From these causes it resulted, +under the old system, that bayonets, whatever might have been their +destination in respect to actual service against an enemy on the +field, were pretty sure to be the death of all who were concerned in +making them. + +The system, however, so far as relates to the bayonet is now changed. +Bayonets are now "milled," instead of being ground; that is, they are +finished by means of cutters formed upon the circumference of a wheel, +and so arranged that by the revolution of the wheel, and by the motion +of the bayonet in passing slowly under it, secured in a very solid +manner to a solid bed, the superfluous metal is cut away and the piece +fashioned at once to its proper form, or at least brought so near to +it by the machine, as to require afterward only a very little +finishing. This operation is cheaper than the other, and also more +perfect in its result; while at the same time it is entirely free from +danger to the workman. + +No mode, however, has yet been devised for dispensing with the +operation of grinding in the case of the barrel; though the injury to +the health is much less in this case than in the other. + + +BURSTING OF GRINDSTONES. + +There is another very formidable danger connected with the process of +grinding besides the insalubrity of the work; and that is the danger +of the bursting of the stones in consequence of their enormous weight +and the immense velocity with which they are made to revolve. Some +years since a new method of clamping the stone, that is of attaching +it and securing it to its axis, was adopted, by means of which the +danger of bursting is much diminished. But by the mode formerly +practiced--the mode which in fact still prevails in many manufacturing +establishments where large grindstones are employed--the danger was +very great, and the most frightful accidents often occurred. In +securing the stone to its axis it was customary to cut a square hole +through the centre of the stone, and then after passing the iron axis +through this opening, to fix the stone upon the axis by wedging it up +firmly with wooden wedges. Now it is well known that an enormous force +may be exerted by the driving of a wedge, and probably in many cases +where this method is resorted to, the stone is strained to its utmost +tension, so as to be on the point of splitting open, before it is put +in rotation at all. The water is then let on, and the stone becomes +saturated with it--which greatly increases the danger. There are three +ways by which the water tends to promote the bursting of the stone. It +makes it very much heavier, and thus adds to the momentum of its +motion, and consequently to the centrifugal force. It also makes it +weaker, for the water penetrates the stone in every part, and operates +to soften, as it were, its texture. Then finally it swells the wedges, +and thus greatly increases the force of the outward strain which they +exert at the centre of the stone. When under these circumstances the +enormous mass is put in motion, at the rate perhaps of five or six +revolutions in a _second_, it bursts, and some enormous fragment, a +quarter or a third of the whole, flies up through the flooring above, +or out through a wall, according to the position of the part thrown +off, at the time of the fracture. An accident of this kind occurred at +the Armory some years since. One fragment of the stone struck the wall +of the building, which was two or three feet thick, and broke it +through. The other passing upward, struck and fractured a heavy beam +forming a part of the floor above, and upset a work-bench in a room +over it, where several men were working. The men were thrown down, +though fortunately they were not injured. The workman who had been +grinding at the stone left his station for a minute or two, just +before the catastrophe, and thus his life too was saved. + + +POLISHING. + +We have said that the grinding room is the _only_ dangerous room in +such an establishment as this. There is one other process than +grinding which was formerly considered as extremely unhealthy, and +that is the process of polishing. The polishing of steel is performed +by means of what are called _emery wheels_, which are wheels bound on +their circumference by a band of leather, to which a coating of emery, +very finely pulverized, is applied, by means of a sizing of glue. +These wheels, a large number of which are placed side by side in the +same room, are made to revolve by means of machinery, with an +inconceivable velocity, while the workmen who have the polishing to +do, taking their stations, each at his own wheel, on seats placed +there for the purpose, and holding the piece of work on which the +operation is to be performed, in their hands, apply it to the +revolving circumference before them. The surface of the steel thus +applied, receives immediately a very high polish--a stream of sparks +being elicited by the friction, and flying off from the wheel opposite +to the workman. + +Now although in these cases the workman was always accustomed to take +his position at the wheel in such a manner as to be exposed as little +as possible to the effects of it, yet the air of the apartment, it was +found, soon became fully impregnated with the fine emery dust, and the +influence of it upon the lungs proved very deleterious. There is, +however, now in operation a contrivance by means of which the evil is +almost entirely remedied. A large air-trunk is laid beneath the floor, +from which the air is drawn out continually by means of a sort of fan +machinery connected with the engine. Opposite to each wheel, and in +the direction to which the sparks and the emery dust are thrown, are +openings connected with this air-trunk. By means of this arrangement +all that is noxious in the air of the room is drawn out through the +openings into the air-trunk, and so conveyed away. + +The sparks produced in such operations as this, as in the case of the +collision of flint and steel, consist of small globules of melted +metal, cut off from the main mass by the force of the friction, and +heated to the melting point at the same time. These metallic +scintillations were not supposed to be the cause of the injury that +was produced by the operation of polishing, as formerly practiced. It +was the dust of the emery that produced the effect, just as in the +case of the grinding it was the powder of the stone, and not the fine +particles of iron. + +The emery which is used in these polishing operations, as well as for +a great many similar purposes in the arts, is obtained by pulverizing +an exceedingly hard mineral that is found in several of the islands of +the Grecian Archipelago, in the Mediterranean. In its native state it +appears in the form of shapeless masses, of a blackish or bluish gray +color, and it is prepared for use by being pulverized in iron mortars. +When pulverized it is washed and sorted into five or six different +degrees of fineness, according to the work for which it is wanted. It +is used by lapidaries for cutting and polishing stones, by cutlers for +iron and steel instruments, and by opticians for grinding lenses. It +is ordinarily used in the manner above described, by being applied to +the circumference of a leathern covered wheel, by means of oil or of +glue. Ladies use bags filled with it, for brightening their needles. + +Emery is procured in Spain, and also in Great Britain, as well as in +the Islands of the Mediterranean. + + +PROVING. + +[Illustration: THE PROVING HOUSE.] + +When the barrels are brought pretty nearly to their finished +condition, they are to be _proved_, that is to be subjected to the +test of actual trial with gunpowder. For this proving they are taken +to a very strong building that is constructed for the purpose, and +which stands behind the Stocking Shop. Its place is on the +right in the general view of the Armory buildings, and near the +foreground--though that view does not extend far enough in that +direction to bring it in. The exterior appearance of this building is +represented in the above engraving. It is made very strong, being +constructed wholly of timber, in order to enable it to resist the +force of the explosions within. There are spacious openings in lattice +work, in the roof and under the eaves of the building, to allow of the +escape of the smoke with which it is filled at each discharge; for it +is customary to prove a large number of barrels at a time. The barrels +are loaded with a very heavy charge, so as to subject them to much +greater strain than they can ever be exposed to in actual service. The +building on the left, in the engraving, is used for loading the +barrels, and for cleaning and drying them after they are proved. The +shed attached to the main building, on the right hand, contains a bank +of clay, placed there to receive the bullets, with which the barrels +are charged. + +The arrangement of the interior of this building, as well as the +manner in which the proving is performed, will be very clearly +understood by reference to the engraving below. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE PROVING HOUSE.] + +On the right hand end of the building, and extending quite across it +from side to side, is a sort of platform, the upper surface of which +is formed of cast-iron, and contains grooves in which the muskets are +placed when loaded, side by side. A train of gunpowder is laid along +the back side of this platform, so as to form a communication with +each barrel. The train passes out through a hole in the side of the +building near the door. The bank of clay may be seen sloping down from +within its shed into the room on the left. The artist has represented +the scene as it appears when all is ready for the discharge. The +barrels are placed, the train is laid, and the proof-master is just +retiring and closing the door. A moment more and there will be a loud +and rattling explosion; then the doors will be opened, and as soon as +the smoke has cleared away the workman will enter and ascertain the +result. About one in sixty of the barrels are found to burst under the +trial. + +The pieces that fail are all carefully examined with a view to +ascertain whether the giving way was owing to a defect in the welding, +or to some flaw, or other bad quality, in the iron. The appearance of +the rent made by the bursting will always determine this point. The +loss of those that failed on account of bad welding is then charged to +the respective operatives by whom the work was done, at a dollar for +each one so failing. The name of the maker of each is known by the +stamp which he put upon it at the time when it passed through his +hands. + +The barrels that stand this first test are afterward subjected to a +second one in order to make it sure that they sustained no partial and +imperceptible injury at the first explosion. This done they are +stamped with the mark of approval, and so sent to the proper +departments to be mounted and finished. + +[Illustration: TESTING THE BAYONETS.] + +The bayonets, and all the other parts of which the musket is composed +are subjected to tests, different in character indeed, but equally +strict and rigid in respect to the qualities which they are intended +to prove, with that applied to the barrel. The bayonet is very +carefully gauged and measured in every part, in order to make sure +that it is of precisely the proper form and dimensions. A weight is +hung to the point of it to try its temper, and it is sprung by the +strength of the inspector, with the point of it set into the floor, to +prove its elasticity. If it is found to be tempered too high it +breaks; if too low it bends. In either case it is condemned, and the +workman through whose fault the failure has resulted is charged with +the loss. + + +THE FORGING. + +The number of pieces which are used in making up a musket is +forty-nine, each of which has to be formed and finished separately. Of +these there are only two--viz., the sight and what is called the +_cone-seat_, a sort of process connected with the barrel--that are +permanently attached to any other part; so that the musket can at any +time be separated into _forty-seven_ parts, by simply turning screws, +and opening springs, and then put together again as before. Most of +these parts are such that they are formed in the first instance by +being forged or rather _swedged_, and are afterward trimmed and +finished in lathes, and milling engines, or by means of files. +_Swedging_, as it is called, is the forming of irregular shapes in +iron by means of dies of a certain kind, called swedges, one of which +is inserted in the anvil, in a cavity made for the purpose, and the +other is placed above it. Cavities are cut in the faces of the +swedges, so that when they are brought together, with the end of the +iron rod out of which the article to be formed between them, the iron +is made to assume the form of the cavities by means of blows of the +hammer upon the upper swedge. In this way shapes are easily and +rapidly fashioned, which it would be impossible to produce by blows +directed immediately upon the iron. + +[Illustration: THE BLACKSMITH'S SHOP.] + +The shop where this swedging work is done at the Armory contains a +great number of forges, one only of which however is fully represented +in the engraving. The apparatus connected with these forges, differing +in each according to the particular operation for which each is +intended, is far too complicated to be described in this connection. +It can only be fully understood when seen in actual operation under +the hands of the workman. The visitor however who has the opportunity +to see it thus, lingers long before each separate forge, pleased with +the ingenuity of the contrivances which he witnesses, and admiring the +wonderful dexterity of the workman. There is no appearance of bellows +at any of these works. The air is supplied to the fires by pipes +ascending through the floor from a _fan blower_, as it is called, +worked by machinery arranged for the purpose below. + + +THE STOCKING SHOP. + +The Stocking Shop, so called, is the department in which the _stocks_ +to which the barrel and the lock are to be attached, are formed and +finished. The wood used for gun stocks in this country is the black +walnut, and as this wood requires to be seasoned some years +before it is used, an immense store of it is kept on hand at the +Armory--sufficient in fact for four years' consumption. The building +in which this material is stored may be seen on the right hand side in +the general view placed at the head of this article. It stands off +from the square, and behind the other buildings. The operations +conducted in the stocking shop are exceedingly attractive to all who +visit the establishment. In fact it happens here as it often does in +similar cases, that that which it is most interesting to witness is +the least interesting to be described. The reason is that the charm in +these processes consists in the high perfection and finish of the +machines, in the smoothness, grace, and rapidity of their motions, and +in the seemingly miraculous character of the performances which they +execute. Of such things no mere description can convey any adequate +idea. They must be seen to be at all appreciated. + +A gun stock, with all the innumerable cavities, grooves, perforations, +and recesses necessary to be made in it, to receive the barrel, the +lock, the bands, the ramrod, and the numerous pins and screws, all of +which require a separate and peculiar modification of its form, is +perhaps as irregular a shape as the ingenuity of man could devise--and +as well calculated as any shape could possibly be to bid defiance to +every attempt at applying machinery to the work of fashioning it. The +difficulties however in the way of such an attempt, insurmountable as +they would at first sight seem, have all been overcome, and every part +of the stock is formed, and every perforation, groove, cavity, and +socket is cut in it by machines that do their work with a beauty, a +grace, and a perfection, which awaken in all who witness the process, +a feeling of astonishment and delight. + +The general principle on which this machinery operates, in doing its +work, may perhaps be made intelligible to the reader by description. +The action is regulated by what are called _patterns_. These patterns +are models in iron of the various surfaces of the stock which it is +intended to form. Let us suppose, for example, that the large cavity +intended to receive the lock is to be cut. The stock on which the +operation is to be performed is placed in its bed in the machine, and +over it, pendant from a certain movable frame-work of polished steel +above, is the cutting tool, a sort of bit or borer, which is to do the +work. This borer is made to revolve with immense velocity, and is at +the same time susceptible of various other motions at the pleasure of +the workman. It may be brought down upon the work, and moved there +from side to side, so as to cut out a cavity of any required shape; +and such is the mechanism of the machine that these vertical and +lateral motions may be made very freely without at all interfering +with the swift rotation on which the cutting power of the tool +depends. This is effected by causing the tool to revolve by means of +small machinery within its frame, while the frame and all within it +moves together in the vertical and lateral motions. + +Now if this were all, it is plain that the cutting of the cavity in +the stock would depend upon the action of the workman, and the form +given to it would be determined by the manner in which he should guide +the tool in its lateral motions, and by the depth to which he should +depress it. But this is not all. At a little distance from the cutter, +and parallel to it is another descending rod, which is called the +guide; and this guide is so connected with the cutting tool, by means +of a very complicated and ingenious machinery, that the latter is +governed rigidly and exactly in all its movements by the motion of the +former. Now there is placed immediately beneath the guide, what is +called the pattern, that is a cavity in a block of iron of precisely +the form and size which it is intended to give to the cavity in the +wooden stock. All that the workman has to do therefore, when the +machine is put in motion is to bring the guide down into the pattern +and move it about the circumference and through the centre of it. The +cutting tool imitating precisely the motions of the guide, enters the +wood, and cutting its way in the most perfect manner and with +incredible rapidity, forms an exact duplicate of the cavity in the +pattern. The theory of this operation is sufficiently curious and +striking--but the wonder excited by it is infinitely enhanced by +seeing the work done. It is on this principle substantially that all +the machines of the Stocking Shop are constructed; every separate +recess, perforation, or groove of the piece requiring of course its +own separate mechanism. The stocks are passed from one of these +engines to another in rapid succession, and come out at last, each one +the perfect fac-simile of its fellow. + + +DIVISION OF LABOR. + +We have said that the number of separate parts which go to compose a +musket is forty-nine; but this by no means denotes the number of +distinct operations required in the manufacture of it--for almost +every one of these forty-nine parts is subject to many distinct +operations, each of which has its own name, is assigned to its own +separate workman, and is paid for distinctly and by itself, according +to the price put upon it in the general tariff of wages. The number of +operations thus separately named, catalogued and priced, is _three +hundred and ninety-six_. + +These operations are entirely distinct from one another--each +constituting, as it were, in some sense a distinct trade, so that it +might be quite possible that no one man in the whole establishment +should know how to perform any two of them. It is quite certain, in +fact, that no man can perform any considerable number of them. They +are of very various grades in respect to character and price--from the +welding of the barrel which is in some points of view the highest and +most responsible of all, down to the cutting out of pins and screws of +the most insignificant character. They are all however regularly +rated, and the work that is performed upon them is paid for by the +piece. + + +ASSEMBLING THE MUSKET. + +[Illustration: ASSEMBLING THE MUSKET.] + +When the several parts are all finished, the operation of putting them +together so as to make up the musket from them complete, is called +"assembling the musket." The workman who performs this function has +all the various parts before him at his bench, arranged in boxes and +compartments, in regular order, and taking one component from this +place, and another from that, he proceeds to put the complicated piece +of mechanism together. His bench is fitted up expressly for the work +which he is to perform upon it, with a vice to hold without marring, +and rests to support without confining, and every other convenience +and facility which experience and ingenuity can suggest. With these +helps, and by means of the dexterity which continued practice gives +him, he performs the work in a manner so adroit and rapid, as to +excite the wonder of every beholder. In fact it is always a pleasure +to see any thing done that is done with grace and dexterity, and this +is a pleasure which the visitor to the Armory has an opportunity to +enjoy at almost every turn. + +The component parts of the musket are all made according to one +precise pattern, and thus when taken up at random they are sure to +come properly together. There is no individual fitting required in +each particular case. Any barrel will fit into any stock, and a screw +designed for a particular plate or band, will enter the proper hole in +any plate or band of a hundred thousand. There are many advantages +which result from this precise conformity to an established pattern in +the components of the musket. In the first place the work of +manufacturing it is more easily performed in this way. It is always +the tendency of machinery to produce similarity in its results, and +thus although where only two things are to be made it is very +difficult to get them alike, the case is very different where there is +a call for two hundred thousand. In this last case it is far easier +and cheaper to have them alike than to have them different; for in +manufacturing on such a scale a machinery is employed, which results +in fashioning every one of its products on the precise model to which +the inventor adapted the construction of it. Then, besides, a great +convenience and economy results from this identity of form in the +component parts of the musket, when the arms are employed in service. +Spare screws, locks, bands, springs, &c., can be furnished in +quantities, and sent to any remote part of the country wherever they +are required; so that when any part of a soldier's gun becomes injured +or broken, its place can be immediately supplied by a new piece, which +is sure to fit as perfectly into the vacancy as the original occupant. +Even after a battle there is nothing to prevent the surviving soldiers +from making up themselves, out of a hundred broken and dismantled +muskets, fifty good ones as complete and sound as ever, by rejecting +what is damaged, and assembling the uninjured parts anew. + +To facilitate such operations as these the mechanism by which the +various parts of the musket are attached to each other and secured in +their places, is studiously contrived with a view to facilitating in +the highest degree the taking of them apart, and putting them +together. Each soldier to whom a musket is served is provided with a +little tool, which, though very simple in its construction, consists +of several parts and is adapted to the performance of several +functions. With the assistance of this tool the soldier sitting on the +bank by the roadside, at a pause in the middle of his march, if the +regulations of the service would allow him to do so, might separate +his gun into its forty-seven components, and spread the parts out upon +the grass around him. Then if any part was doubtful he could examine +it. If any was broken he could replace it--and after having finished +his inspection he could reconstruct the mechanism, and march on as +before. + +It results from this system that to make any change, however slight, +in the pattern of the musket or in the form of any of the parts of it, +is attended with great difficulty and expense. The fashion and form of +every one of the component portions of the arm, are very exactly and +rigidly determined by the machinery that is employed in making it, and +any alteration, however apparently insignificant, would require a +change in this machinery. It becomes necessary, therefore, that the +precise pattern both of the whole musket and of all of its parts, once +fixed, should remain permanently the same. + +The most costly of the parts which lie before the workman in +assembling the musket is the barrel. The value of it complete is three +dollars. From the barrel we go down by a gradually descending scale to +the piece of smallest value, which is a little wire called the ramrod +spring wire--the value of which is only one mill; that is the workman +is paid only one dollar a thousand for the manufacture of it. The time +expended in assembling a musket is about ten minutes, and the price +paid for the work is four cents. + + +THE ARSENAL. + +[Illustration: THE NEW ARSENAL.] + +The New Arsenal, which has already been alluded to in the description +of the general view of the Arsenal grounds, is a very stately edifice. +It is two hundred feet long, seventy feet wide, and fifty feet high. +It is divided into three stories, each of which is calculated to +contain one hundred thousand muskets, making three hundred thousand in +all. The muskets when stored in this arsenal are arranged in racks set +up for the purpose along the immense halls, where they stand upright +in rows, with the glittering bayonets shooting up, as it were, above. +The visitors who go into the arsenal walk up and down the aisles which +separate the ranges of racks, admiring the symmetry and splendor of +the display. + +The Arsenal has another charm for visitors besides the beauty of the +spectacle which the interior presents--and that is the magnificent +panorama of the surrounding country, which is seen from the summit of +the tower. This tower, which occupies the centre of the building, is +about ninety feet high--and as it is about thirty feet square, the +deck at the top furnishes space for a large party of visitors to stand +and survey the surrounding country. Nothing can be imagined more +enchanting than the view presented from this position in the month of +June. The Armory grounds upon one side, and the streets of the town +upon the other lie, as it were, at the feet of the spectator, while in +the distance the broad and luxuriant valley of the Connecticut is +spread out to view, with its villages, its fields, its groves, its +bridges, its winding railways, and its serpentine and beautiful +streams. + + +THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ARMORY. + +[Illustration: QUARTERS OF THE COMMANDING OFFICER.] + +The manufacture of muskets being a work that pertains in some sense to +the operations of the army, should be, for that reason, under +_military_ rule. On the other hand, inasmuch as it is wholly a work of +mechanical and peaceful industry, a _civil_ administration would seem +to be most appropriate for it. There is, in fact, a standing dispute +on this subject both in relation to the Armory at Springfield and to +that at Harper's Ferry, among those interested in the establishments, +and it is a dispute which, perhaps, will never be finally settled. The +Springfield Armory is at this time under military rule--the present +commanding officer, Colonel Ripley, having been put in charge of it +about ten years ago, previous to which time it was under civil +superintendence. At the time of Col. Ripley's appointment the works, +as is universally acknowledged, were in a very imperfect condition, +compared with the present state. On entering upon the duties of his +office, the new incumbent engaged in the work of improvement with +great resolution and energy, and after contending for several years +with the usual obstacles and difficulties which men have to encounter +in efforts at progress and reform, he succeeded in bringing the +establishment up to a state of very high perfection; and now the +order, the system, the neatness, the almost military exactness and +decorum which pervade every department of the works are the theme of +universal admiration. The grounds are kept in the most perfect +condition--the shops are bright and cheerful, the walls and floors are +every where neat and clean, the machinery and tools are perfect, and +are all symmetrically and admirably arranged, while the workmen are +well dressed, and are characterized by an air of manliness, +intelligence, and thrift, that suggests to the mind of the visitor the +idea of amateur mechanics, working with beautiful tools, for pleasure. + +And yet the men at first complained, sometimes, of the stringency of +rules and regulations required to produce these results. These rules +are still in force, though now they are very generally acquiesced in. +No newspapers of any kind can be taken into the shops, no tobacco or +intoxicating drinks can be used there, no unnecessary conversation is +allowed, and the regulations in respect to hours of attendance, and to +responsibility for damaged work are very definite and strict. But even +if the workmen should be disposed in any case to complain of the +stringency of these requirements, they can not but be proud of the +result; for they take a very evident pleasure in the gratification +which every visitor manifests in witnessing the system, the order, the +neatness, and the precision that every where prevail. + +Nothing can be more admirably planned, or more completely and +precisely executed than the system of accounts kept at the offices, by +which not only every pecuniary transaction, but also, as would seem, +almost every mechanical operation or act that takes place throughout +the establishment is made a matter of record. Thus every thing is +checked and regulated. No piece, large or small, can be lost from +among its hundreds of fellows without being missed somewhere in some +column of figures--and the whole history of every workman's doings, +and of every piece of work done, is to be found recorded. Ask the +master-armorer any questions whatever about the workings of the +establishment, whether relating to the minutest detail, or to most +comprehensive and general results, and he takes down a book and shows +you the answer in some column or table. + +After all, however, this neatness, precision, and elegance in the +appearance and in the daily workings of an establishment like this, +though very agreeable to the eye of the observer, constitute a test of +only secondary importance in respect to the actual character of the +administration that governs it. To judge properly on this point, the +thing to be looked at is the actual and substantial results that are +obtained. The manufacture of muskets is the great function of the +Armory, and not the exhibition of beautiful workshops, and curious +processes in mechanics for the entertainment of visitors. When we +inquire, however, into the present arrangement of this establishment, +in this point of view, the conclusion seems to be still more decidedly +in its favor than in the other. The cost of manufacturing each musket +immediately before the commencement of the term of the present +commander was about seventeen dollars and a half. During the past year +it has been eight dollars and three quarters, and yet the men are paid +better wages now per day, or, rather, they are paid at such rates for +their work, that they can earn more now per day, than then. The saving +has thus not been at all made from the pay of the workmen, but wholly +from the introduction of new and improved modes of manufacture, better +machines, a superior degree of order, system, and economy in every +department, and other similar causes. How far the improvements which +have thus been made are due to the intrinsic qualities of military +government, and how far to the personal efficiency of the officer in +this case intrusted with the administration of it, it might be +somewhat difficult to decide. + +In fact, when judging of the advancement made during a period of ten +years, in an establishment of this kind, at the present age of the +world, some considerable portion of the improvement that is manifested +is due, doubtless, to the operation of those causes which are +producing a general progress in all the arts and functions of social +life. The tendency of every thing is onward. Every where, and for all +purposes, machinery is improving, materials are more and more easily +procured, new facilities are discovered and new inventions are made, +the results of which inure to the common benefit of all mankind. It is +only so far as an establishment like the Armory advances at a more +rapid rate than that of the general progress of the age, that any +special credit is due to those who administer its affairs. It always +seems, however, to strangers visiting the Armory and observing its +condition, that these general causes will account for but a small +portion of the results which have been attained in the management of +it, during the past ten years. + + +CONCLUSION. + +As was stated at the commencement of the article, it is only a small +part of the hundreds of thousands of muskets manufactured, that are +destined ever to be used. Some portion of the whole number are served +out to the army, and are employed in Indian warfare, others are +destined to arm garrisons in various fortresses and military posts, +where they are never called to any other service than to figure in +peaceful drillings and parades. Far the greater portion, however, are +sent away to various parts of the country, to be stored in the +national arsenals, where they lie, and are to lie, as we hope, +forever, undisturbed, in the midst of scenes of rural beauty and +continued peace. The flowers bloom and the birds sing unmolested +around the silent and solitary depositories, where these terrible +instruments of carnage and destruction unconsciously and forever +repose. + + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.[A] + +BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. + + [Footnote A: Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the + year 1852, by Harper and Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of + the District Court of the Southern District of New York.] + + +PEACE WITH ENGLAND. + +It was the first great object of Napoleon, immediately upon his +accession to power, to reconcile France with Europe, and to make peace +with all the world. France was weary of war. She needed repose, to +recover from the turmoil of revolution. Napoleon, conscious of the +necessities of France, was consecrating Herculean energies for the +promotion of peace. The Directory, by oppressive acts, had excited the +indignation of the United States. Napoleon, by a course of +conciliation, immediately removed that hostility, and, but a short +time before the treaty of Luneville, ratified a treaty of amity +between France and the United States. The signature of this treaty was +celebrated with great rejoicings at the beautiful country seat which +Joseph, who in consequence of his marriage was richer than his +brother, had purchased at Morfontaine. Napoleon, accompanied by a +brilliant party, met the American commissioners there. The most +elegant decorations within the mansion and in the gardens, represented +France and America joined in friendly union. Napoleon presented the +following toast: "The memory of the French and the Americans who died +on the field of battle for the independence of the New World." Lebrun, +the Second Consul, proposed, "The union of America with the Northern +powers, to enforce respect for the liberty of the seas." Cambaceres +gave for the third toast, "The successor of Washington." Thus did +Napoleon endeavor to secure the friendship of the United States. + +About this time Pope Pius VI. died, and the Cardinals met to choose +his successor. The respect with which Napoleon had treated the Pope, +and his kindness to the emigrant priests, during the first Italian +campaign, presented so strong a contrast with the violence enjoined by +the Directory, as to produce a profound impression upon the minds of +the Pope and the Cardinals. + +The Bishop of Imola was universally esteemed for his extensive +learning, his gentle virtues, and his firm probity. Upon the occasion +of the union of his diocese with the Cisalpine Republic, he preached a +very celebrated sermon, in which he spoke of the conduct of the French +in terms highly gratifying to the young conqueror. The power of +Napoleon was now in the ascendant. It was deemed important to +conciliate his favor. "It is from France," said Cardinal Gonsalvi, +"that persecutions have come upon us for the last ten years. It is +from France, perhaps, that we shall derive aid and consolation for the +future. A very extraordinary young man, one very difficult as yet to +judge, holds dominion there at the present day. His influence will +soon be paramount in Italy. Remember that he protected the priests in +1797. He has recently conferred funeral honors upon Pius VI." These +were words of deep foresight. They were appreciated by the sagacious +Cardinals. To conciliate the favor of Napoleon, the Bishop of Imola +was elected to the pontifical chair as Pope Pius VII. + +Naples had been most perfidious in its hostility to France. The Queen +of Naples was a proud daughter of Maria Theresa, and sister of the +Emperor of Austria and of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. She surely +must not be too severely condemned for execrating a revolution which +had consigned her sister to the dungeon and to the guillotine. Naples, +deprived of Austrian aid, was powerless. She trembled under +apprehension of the vengeance of Napoleon. The King of Austria could +no longer render his sister any assistance. She adopted the decisive +and romantic expedient of proceeding in person, notwithstanding the +rigor of the approaching winter, to St. Petersburg, to implore the +intercession of the Emperor Paul. The eccentric monarch, flattered by +the supplication of the beautiful queen, immediately espoused her +cause, and dispatched a messenger to Napoleon, soliciting him, as a +personal favor, to deal gently with Naples. The occurrence was, of +course, a triumph and a gratification to Napoleon. Most promptly and +courteously he responded to the appeal. It was indeed his constant +study at this time, to arrest the further progress of the revolution, +to establish the interests of France upon a basis of order and of law, +and to conciliate the surrounding monarchies, by proving to them that +he had no disposition to revolutionize their realms. A word from him +would have driven the King and Queen of Naples into exile, and would +have converted their kingdom into a republic. But Napoleon refused to +utter that word, and sustained the King of Naples upon his throne. + +The Duke of Parma, brother of the King of Spain, had, through the +intercession of Napoleon, obtained the exchange of his duchy, for the +beautiful province of Tuscany. The First Consul had also erected +Tuscany into the kingdom of Etruria, containing about one million of +inhabitants. The old duke, a bigoted prince, inimical to all reform, +had married his son (a feeble, frivolous young man) to the daughter of +his brother, the King of Spain. The kingdom of Etruria was intended +for this youthful pair. Napoleon, as yet but thirty years of age, thus +found himself forming kingdoms and creating kings. The young couple +were in haste to ascend the throne. They could not, however, do this +until the Duke of Parma should die or abdicate. The unaccommodating +old duke refused to do either. Napoleon, desirous of producing a moral +impression in Paris, was anxious to crown them. He therefore allowed +the duke to retain Parma until his death, that his son might be placed +upon the throne of Etruria. He wished to exhibit the spectacle, in the +regicide metropolis of France, of a king created and enthroned by +France. Thus he hoped to diminish the antipathy to kings, and to +prepare the way for that restoration of the monarchical power which +he contemplated. He would also thus conciliate monarchical Europe, by +proving that he had no design of overthrowing every kingly throne. It +was indeed adroitly done. He required, therefore, the youthful princes +to come to Paris, to accept the crown from his hands, as in ancient +Rome vassal monarchs received the sceptre from the Cæsars. The young +candidates for monarchy left Madrid, and repaired to the Tuileries, to +be placed upon the throne by the First Consul. This measure had two +aspects, each exceedingly striking. It frowned upon the hostility of +the people to royalty, and it silenced the clamor against France, as +seeking to spread democracy over the ruins of all thrones. It also +proudly said, in tones which must have been excessively annoying to +the haughty legitimists of Europe, "You kings must be childlike and +humble. You see that I can create such beings as you are." Napoleon, +conscious that his glory elevated him far above the ancient dynasty, +whose station he occupied, was happy to receive the young princes with +pomp and splendor. The versatile Parisians, ever delighted with +novelty, forgot the twelve years of bloody revolutions, which had +overturned so many thrones, and recognizing, in this strange +spectacle, the fruits of their victories, and the triumph of their +cause, shouted most enthusiastically, "Long live the king!" The +royalists, on the other hand, chagrined and sullen, answered +passionately, "Down with kings!" Strange reverse! yet how natural! +Each party must have been surprised and bewildered at its own novel +position. In settling the etiquette of this visit, it was decided that +the young princes should call first upon Napoleon, and that he should +return their call the next day. The First Consul, at the head of his +brilliant military staff, received the young monarch with parental +kindness and with the most delicate attentions, yet with the +universally recognized superiorities of power and glory. The princes +were entertained at the magnificent chateau of Talleyrand at Neuilly, +with most brilliant festivals and illuminations. For a month the +capital presented a scene of most gorgeous spectacles. Napoleon, too +entirely engrossed with the cares of empire to devote much time to +these amusements, assigned the entertainment of his guests to his +ministers. Nevertheless he endeavored to give some advice to the young +couple about to reign over Etruria. He was much struck with the +weakness of the prince, who cherished no sense of responsibility, and +was entirely devoted to trivial pleasures. He was exceedingly +interested in the mysteries of cotillions, of leap-frog, and of +hide-and-go-seek--and was ever thus trifling with the courtiers. +Napoleon saw that he was perfectly incapable of governing, and said to +one of his ministers, "You perceive that they are princes, descended +from an ancient line. How can the reins of government be intrusted to +such hands? But it was well to show to France this specimen of the +Bourbons. She can judge if these ancient dynasties are equal to the +difficulties of an age like ours." As the young king left Paris for +his dominions, Napoleon remarked to a friend, "Rome need not be +uneasy. There is no danger of _his_ crossing the Rubicon." Napoleon +sent one of his generals to Etruria with the royal pair, ostensibly as +the minister of France, but in reality as the viceroy of the First +Consul. The feeble monarch desired only the rank and splendor of a +king, and was glad to be released from the _cares_ of empire. Of all +the proud acts performed by Napoleon during his extraordinary career, +this creation of the Etruscan king, when viewed in all its aspects, +was perhaps the proudest. + +Madame de Montesson had become the guilty paramour of the Duke of +Orleans, grandfather of Louis Phillipe. She was not at all ashamed of +this relation, which was sanctioned by the licentiousness of the +times. Proud even of this alliance with a prince of the blood, she +fancied that it was her privilege, as the only relative of the royal +line then in Paris, to pay to the King and Queen of Etruria such +honors as they might be gratified in receiving from the remains of the +old court society. She therefore made a brilliant party, inviting all +the returned emigrants of illustrious birth. She even had the boldness +to invite the family of the First Consul, and the distinguished +persons of his suite. The invitation was concealed from Napoleon, as +his determination to frown upon all immorality was well known. The +next morning Napoleon heard of the occurrence, and severely +reprimanded those of his suite who had attended the party, dwelling +with great warmth upon the impropriety of countenancing vice in high +places. Savary, who attended the party, and shared in the reprimand, +says, that Madame de Montesson would have been severely punished had +it not been for the intervention of Josephine, who was ever ready to +plead for mercy. + +Napoleon having made peace with continental Europe, now turned his +attention earnestly to England, that he might compel that unrelenting +antagonist to lay down her arms. "France," said he, "will not reap all +the blessings of a pacification, until she shall have a peace with +England. But a sort of delirium has seized on that government, which +now holds nothing sacred. Its conduct is unjust, not only toward the +French people, but toward all the other powers of the Continent. And +when governments are not just their authority is short-lived. All the +continental powers must force England to fall back into the track of +moderation, of equity, and of reason." Notwithstanding this state of +hostilities it is pleasant to witness the interchange of the courtesy +of letters. Early in January of 1801, Napoleon sent some very valuable +works, magnificently bound, as a present to the Royal Society of +London. A complimentary letter accompanied the present, +signed--BONAPARTE, _President of the National Institute, and First +Consul of France_. As a significant intimation of his principles, +there was on the letter a finely-executed vignette, representing +Liberty sailing on the ocean in an open shell with the following +motto: + + "LIBERTY OF THE SEAS." + +England claimed the right of visiting and searching merchant ships, to +whatever nation belonging, whatever the cargoes, wherever the +destination. For any resistance of this right, she enforced the +penalty of the confiscation of both ship and cargo. She asserted that +nothing was necessary to constitute a blockade but to announce the +fact, and to station a vessel to cruise before a blockaded port. Thus +all the nations of the world were forbidden by England to approach a +port of France. The English government strenuously contended that +these principles were in accordance with the established regulations +of maritime law. The neutral powers, on the other hand, affirmed that +these demands were an usurpation on the part of England, founded on +power, unsanctioned by the usages of nations, or by the principles of +maritime jurisprudence. "Free ships," said they, "make free goods. The +flag covers the merchandise. A port is to be considered blockaded only +when such a force is stationed at its mouth as renders it dangerous to +enter." + +Under these circumstances, it was not very difficult for Napoleon to +turn the arms of the united world against his most powerful foe. +England had allied all the powers of Europe against France. Now +Napoleon combined them all in friendly alliance with him, and directed +their energies against his unyielding and unintimidated assailant. +England was mistress of the seas. Upon that element she was more +powerful than all Europe united. It was one great object of the +British ministry to prevent any European power from becoming the +maritime rival of England. Napoleon, as he cast his eye over his +magnificent empire of forty millions of inhabitants, and surveyed his +invincible armies, was excessively annoyed that the fifteen millions +of people, crowded into the little island of England, should have +undisputed dominion over the whole wide world of waters. The English +have ever been respected, above all other nations, for wealth, power, +courage, intelligence, and all stern virtues; but they never have been +beloved. The English nation is at the present moment the most +powerful, the most respected, and the most unpopular upon the surface +of the globe. Providence deals in compensations. It is perhaps +unreasonable to expect that all the virtues should be centred in one +people. "When," exclaimed Napoleon, "will the French exchange their +vanity for a little pride?" It may be rejoined, "When will the English +lay aside their pride for a little vanity--that perhaps more ignoble, +but certainly better-natured foible?" England, abandoned by all her +allies, continued the war, apparently because her pride revolted at +the idea of being conquered into a peace. And in truth England had not +been vanquished at all. Her fleets were every where triumphant. The +blows of Napoleon, which fell with such terrible severity upon her +allies, could not reach her floating batteries. The genius of Napoleon +overshadowed the land. The genius of Pitt swept the seas. The commerce +of France was entirely annihilated. The English navy, in the utter +destitution of nobler game, even pursued poor French fishermen, and +took away their haddock and their cod. The verdict of history will +probably pronounce that this was at least a less magnificent rapacity +than to despoil regal and ducal galleries of the statues of Phidias +and the cartoons of Raphael. + +England declared France to be in a state of blockade, and forbade all +the rest of the world from having any commercial intercourse with her. +Her invincible fleet swept all seas. Wherever an English frigate +encountered any merchant ship, belonging to whatever nation, a shot +was fired across her bows as a very emphatic command to stop. If the +command was unheeded a broadside followed, and the peaceful +merchantman became lawful prize. If the vessel stopped, a boat was +launched from the frigate, a young lieutenant ascended the sides of +the merchantman, demanded of the captain the papers, and searched the +ship. If he found on board any goods which _he judged_ to belong to +France, he took them away. If he could find any goods which he could +consider as munitions of war, and which in his judgment the ship was +conveying to France, the merchantman, with all its contents was +confiscated. Young lieutenants in the navy are not proverbial for +wasting many words in compliments. They were often overbearing and +insolent. England contended that these were the established principles +of maritime law. All the nations of Europe, now at peace with France, +excessively annoyed at this _right of search_, which was rigorously +enforced, declared it to be an intolerable usurpation on the part of +England. Russia, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, France, and Spain +united in a great confederacy to resist these demands of the proud +monarch of the seas. The genius of Napoleon formed this grand +coalition. Paul of Russia, now a most enthusiastic admirer of the +First Consul, entered into it with all his soul. England soon found +herself single-handed against the world in arms. With sublime energy +the British ministry collected their strength for the conflict. +Murmurs, however, and remonstrances loud and deep pervaded all +England. The opposition roused itself to new vigor. The government, in +the prosecution of this war, had already involved the nation in a debt +of millions upon millions. But the pride of the English government was +aroused. "What! make peace upon compulsion!" England was conscious of +her maritime power, and feared not the hostility of the world. And the +world presented a wide field from which to collect remuneration for +her losses. She swept the ocean triumphantly. The colonies of the +allies dropped into her hand, like fruit from the overladen bough. +Immediately upon the formation of this confederacy, England issued an +embargo upon every vessel belonging to the allied powers, and also +orders were issued for the immediate capture of any merchant vessels, +belonging to these powers, wherever they could be found. The ocean +instantly swarmed with English privateersmen. Her navy was active +every where. There had been no proclamation of war issued. The +merchants of Europe were entirely unsuspicious of any such calamity. +Their ships were all exposed. By thousands they were swept into the +ports of England. More than half of the ships, belonging to the +northern powers, then at sea, were captured. + +Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, had a large armament in the Baltic. A +powerful English fleet was sent for its destruction. The terrible +energies of Nelson, so resplendent at Aboukir, were still more +resplendent at Copenhagen. A terrific conflict ensued. The capital of +Denmark was filled with weeping and woe, for thousands of her most +noble sons, the young and the joyous, were weltering in blood. "I have +been," said Nelson, "in above a hundred engagements; but that of +Copenhagen was the most terrible of them all." + +In the midst of this terrific cannonade, Nelson was rapidly walking +the quarter-deck, which was slippery with blood and covered with the +dead, who could not be removed as fast as they fell. A heavy shot +struck the main-mast, scattering the splinters in every direction. He +looked upon the devastation around him, and, sternly smiling, said, +"This is warm work, and this day may be the last to any of us in a +moment. But mark me, I would not be elsewhere for thousands." This was +heroic, but it was not noble. It was the love of war, not the love of +humanity. It was the spirit of an Indian chieftain, not the spirit of +a Christian Washington. The commander-in-chief of the squadron, seeing +the appalling carnage, hung out the signal for discontinuing the +action. Nelson was for a moment deeply agitated, and then exclaimed to +a companion, "I have but one eye. I have a right to be blind +sometimes." Then, putting the glass to his blind eye, he said, "I +really don't see the signal. Keep mine for closer battle still flying. +That is the way I answer such signals. Nail mine to the mast." The +human mind is so constituted that it must admire heroism. That +sentiment is implanted in every generous breast for some good purpose. +Welmoes, a gallant young Dane, but seventeen years of age, stationed +himself on a small raft, carrying six guns with twenty-four men, +directly under the bows of Nelson's ship. The unprotected raft was +swept by an incessant storm of bullets from the English marines. Knee +deep in the dead this fearless stripling continued to keep up his fire +to the close of the conflict. The next day, Nelson met him at a repast +at the palace. Admiring the gallantry of his youthful enemy, he +embraced him with enthusiasm, exclaiming to the Crown Prince, "He +deserves to be made an admiral." "Were I to make all my brave officers +admirals," replied the Prince, "I should have no captains or +lieutenants in my service." + +By this battle the power of the confederacy was broken. At the same +time, the Emperor Paul was assassinated in his palace, by his nobles, +and Alexander, his son, ascended the throne. When Napoleon heard of +the death of Paul, it is said that he gave utterance, for the first +time in his life, to that irreverent expression, "Mon Dieu" (_My +God_), which is ever upon the lips of every Frenchman. He regarded his +death as a great calamity to France and to the world. The +eccentricities of the Emperor amounted almost to madness. But his +enthusiastic admiration for Napoleon united France and Russia in a +close alliance. + +The nobles of Russia were much displeased with the democratic equality +which Napoleon was sustaining in France. They plotted the destruction +of the king, and raised Alexander to the throne, pledged to a +different policy. The young monarch immediately withdrew from the +maritime confederacy, and entered into a treaty of peace with England. +These events apparently so disastrous to the interests of France, were +on the contrary highly conducive to the termination of the war. The +English people, weary of the interminable strife, and disgusted with +the oceans of blood which had been shed, more and more clamorously +demanded peace. And England could now make peace without the +mortification of her pride. + +Napoleon was extremely vigilant in sending succor to the army in +Egypt. He deemed it very essential in order to promote the maritime +greatness of France, that Egypt should be retained as a colony. His +pride was also enlisted in proving to the world that he had not +transported forty-six thousand soldiers to Egypt in vain. Vessels of +every description, ships of war, merchantmen, dispatch-boats, sailed +almost daily from the various ports of Holland, France, Spain, Italy, +and even from the coast of Barbary, laden with provisions, European +goods, wines, munitions of war, and each taking a file of French +newspapers. Many of these vessels were captured. Others, however, +escaped the vigilance of the cruisers, and gave to the colony most +gratifying proof of the interest which the First Consul took in its +welfare. While Napoleon was thus daily endeavoring to send partial +relief to the army in Egypt, he was at the same time preparing a vast +expedition to convey thither a powerful reinforcement of troops and +materials of war. Napoleon assembled this squadron at Brest, +ostensibly destined for St. Domingo. He selected seven of the fastest +sailing ships, placed on board of them five thousand men and an ample +supply of all those stores most needed in Egypt. He ordered that each +vessel should contain a complete assortment of every individual +article, prepared for the colony, so that in the event of one vessel +being captured, the colony would not be destitute of the precise +article which that vessel might otherwise have contained. He also, in +several other places, formed similar expeditions, hoping thus to +distract the attention of England, and compel her to divide her forces +to guard all exposed points. Taking advantage of this confusion, he +was almost certain that some of the vessels would reach Egypt. The +plan would have been triumphantly successful, as subsequent events +proved, had the naval commanders obeyed the instructions of Napoleon. +A curious instance now occurred, of what may be called the despotism +of the First Consul. And yet it is not strange that the French people +should, under the peculiar circumstances, have respected and loved +such despotism. The following order was issued to the Minister of +Police: "Citizen Minister--Have the goodness to address a short +circular to the editors of the fourteen journals, forbidding the +insertion of any article, calculated to afford the enemy the slightest +clew to the different movements which are taking place in our +squadrons, unless the intelligence be derived from the official +journal." Napoleon had previously through the regularly constituted +tribunals, suppressed all the journals in Paris, but fourteen. The +world has often wondered why France so readily yielded to the +despotism of Napoleon. It was because the French were convinced that +dictatorial power was essential to the successful prosecution of the +war; and that each act of Napoleon was dictated by the most wise and +sincere patriotism. They were willing to sacrifice the liberty of the +press, that they might obtain victory over their enemies. + +The condition of England was now truly alarming. Nearly all the +civilized world was in arms against her. Her harvests had been cut +off, and a frightful famine ravaged the land. The starving people were +rising in different parts of the kingdom, pillaging the magnificent +country seats of the English aristocracy, and sweeping in riotous mobs +through the cities. The masses in England and in Ireland, wretchedly +perishing of hunger, clamored loudly against Pitt. They alleged that +he was the cause of all their calamities--that he had burdened the +nation with an enormous debt and with insupportable taxes--that by +refusing peace with France, he had drawn all the continental powers +into hostility with England, and thus had deprived the people of that +food from the Continent which was now indispensable for the support of +life. The opposition, seeing the power of Pitt shaken, redoubled their +blows. Fox, Tiernay, Grey, Sheridan, and Holland renewed their attacks +with all the ardor of anticipated success. "Why," said they, "did you +not make peace with France, when the First Consul proposed it before +the battle of Marengo? Why did you not consent to peace, when it was +again proposed after that battle? Why did you refuse consent to +separate negotiation, when Napoleon was willing to enter into such +without demanding the cessation of hostilities by sea?" They +contrasted the distress of England with the prosperity of France. +"France," said they, "admirably governed, is at peace with Europe. In +the eyes of the world, she appears humane, wise, tranquil, evincing +the most exemplary moderation after all her victories." With bitter +irony they exclaimed, "What have you now to say of this young +Bonaparte, of this rash youth who, according to the ministerial +language, was only doomed to enjoy a brief existence, like his +predecessors, so ephemeral, that it did not entitle him to be treated +with?" + +Pitt was disconcerted by the number of his enemies, and by the clamors +of a famishing people. His proud spirit revolted at the idea of +changing his course. He could only reiterate his argument, that if he +had not made war against revolutionary France, England would also have +been revolutionized. There is an aspect of moral sublimity in the +firmness with which this distinguished minister breasted a world in +arms. "As to the demand of the neutral powers," said he, "we must +envelop ourselves in our flag, and proudly find our grave in the deep, +rather than admit the validity of such principles in the maritime code +of nations." Though Pitt still retained his numerical majority in the +Parliament, the masses of the people were turning with great power +against him, and he felt that his position was materially weakened. +Under these circumstances, Pitt, idolized by the aristocracy, +execrated by the democracy, took occasion to send in his resignation. +The impression seemed to be universal, that the distinguished +minister, perceiving that peace must be made with France, temporarily +retired, that it might be brought about by others, rather than by +himself. He caused himself, however, to be succeeded by Mr. Addington, +a man of no distinguished note, but entirely under his influence. The +feeble intellect of the King of England, though he was one of the most +worthy and conscientious of men, was unequal to these political +storms. A renewed attack of insanity incapacitated him for the +functions of royalty. Mr. Pitt, who had been prime minister for +seventeen years, became by this event virtually the king of England, +and Mr. Addington was his minister. + +Napoleon now announced to the world his determination to struggle hand +to hand with England, until he had compelled that government to cease +to make war against France. Conscious of the naval superiority of his +foes, he avowed his resolve to cross the channel with a powerful army, +march directly upon London, and thus compel the cabinet of St. James's +to make peace. It was a desperate enterprise; so desperate that to the +present day it is doubted whether Napoleon ever seriously contemplated +carrying it into effect. It was, however, the only measure Napoleon +could now adopt. The naval superiority of England was so undeniable, +that a maritime war was hopeless. Nelson, in command of the fleet of +the channel, would not allow even a fishing boat to creep out from a +French cove. Napoleon was very desirous of securing in his favor the +popular opinion of England, and the sympathies of the whole European +public. He prepared with his own hand many articles for the +"Moniteur," which were models of eloquent and urgent polemics, and +which elicited admiration from readers in all countries. He wrote in +the most respectful and complimentary terms of the new English +ministry, representing them as intelligent, upright, and +well-intentioned men. He endeavored to assure Europe of the +unambitious desires of France, and contrasted her readiness to +relinquish the conquests which she had made, with the eager grasp with +which the English held their enormous acquisitions in India, and in +the islands of the sea. With the utmost delicacy, to avoid offending +the pride of Britain, he affirmed that a descent upon England would be +his last resource, that he fully appreciated the bravery and the power +of the English, and the desperate risks which he should encounter in +such an undertaking. But he declared that there was no other +alternative left to him, and that if the English ministers were +resolved that the war should not be brought to a close, but by the +destruction of one of the two nations, there was not a Frenchman who +would not make the most desperate efforts to terminate this cruel +quarrel to the glory of France. "But why," exclaimed he, in words +singularly glowing and beautiful, but of melancholy import, "why place +the question on this last resort? Wherefore not put an end to the +sufferings of humanity? Wherefore risk in this manner the lot of two +great nations? Happy are nations when, having arrived at high +prosperity, they have wise governments, which care not to expose +advantages so vast, to the caprices and vicissitudes of a single +stroke of fortune." These most impressive papers, from the pen of the +First Consul, remarkable for their vigorous logic and impassioned +eloquence, produced a deep impression upon all minds. This +conciliatory language was accompanied by the most serious +demonstrations of force upon the shores of the Channel. One hundred +thousand men were upon the coasts of France, in the vicinity of +Boulogne, preparing for the threatened invasion. Boats without number +were collected to transport the troops across the narrow channel. It +was asserted that by taking advantage of a propitious moment +immediately after a storm had scattered the English fleet, France +could concentrate such a force as to obtain a temporary command of the +channel, and the strait could be crossed by the invaders. England was +aroused thoroughly, but not alarmed. The militia was disciplined, the +whole island converted into a camp. Wagons were constructed for the +transportation of troops to any threatened point. It is important that +the reader should distinguish this first threat of invasion in 1801, +from that far more powerful naval and military organization executed +for the same purpose in 1804, and known under the name of the Camp of +Boulogne. + +Not a little uneasiness was felt in England respecting the temporary +success of the great conqueror. Famine raged throughout the island. +Business was at a stand. The taxes were enormous. Ireland was on the +eve of revolt. The mass of the English people admired the character of +Napoleon; and, notwithstanding all the efforts of the government, +regarded him as the foe of aristocracy and the friend of popular +rights. Nelson, with an invincible armament, was triumphantly sweeping +the Channel, and a French gun-boat could not creep round a head-land +without encountering the vigilance of the energetic hero. Napoleon, in +escaping from Egypt, had caught Nelson napping in a lady's lap. The +greatest admirers of the naval hero, could not but smile, half-pleased +that, under the guilty circumstances, he had met with the +misadventure. He was anxious, by a stroke of romantic heroism, to +obliterate this impression from the public mind. The vast flotilla of +France, most thoroughly manned and armed under the eye of Napoleon, +was anchored at Boulogne, in three divisions, in a line parallel to +the shore. Just before the break of day on the 4th of August, the +fleet of Nelson, in magnificent array, approached the French flotilla, +and for sixteen hours rained down upon it a perfect tornado of balls +and shells. The gun-boats were, however, chained to one another, and +to the shore. He did not succeed in taking a single boat, and retired +mortified at his discomfiture, and threatening to return in a few days +to take revenge. The French were exceedingly elated that in a naval +conflict they had avoided defeat. As they stood there merely upon +self-defense, victory was out of the question. + +The reappearance of Nelson was consequently daily expected, and the +French, emboldened by success, prepared to give him a warm reception. +Twelve days after, on the 16th of August, Nelson again appeared with a +vastly increased force. In the darkness of the night he filled his +boats with picked men, to undertake one of the most desperate +enterprises on record. In four divisions, with muffled oars, this +forlorn hope, in the silence of midnight, approached the French +flotilla. The butchery, with swords, hatchets, bayonets, bullets, and +hand grenades, was hideous. Both parties fought with perfect fury. No +man seemed to have the slightest regard for limb or life. England was +fighting for, she knew not what. The French were contending in +self-defense. For four long hours of midnight gloom, the slaughter +continued. Thousands perished. Just as the day was dawning upon the +horrid scene the English retired, repulsed at every point, and +confessing to a defeat. The result of these conflicts diminished the +confidence of the English in Nelson's ability to destroy the +preparations of Napoleon, and increased their apprehension that the +French might be enabled by some chance, to carry the war of invasion +to their own firesides. + +"I was resolved," said Napoleon, afterward, "to renew, at Cherbourg, +the wonders of Egypt. I had already raised in the sea my pyramid. I +would also have had my Lake Mareotis. My great object was to +concentrate all our maritime forces, and in time they would have been +immense, in order to be able to deal out a grand stroke at the enemy. +I was establishing my ground so as to bring the two nations, as it +were, body to body. The ultimate issue could not be doubtful; for we +had forty millions of French against fifteen millions of English. I +would have terminated the strife by a battle of Actium." + +One after another of the obstacles in the way of peace now gradually +gave way. Overtures were made to Napoleon. He accepted the advances of +England with the greatest eagerness and cordiality. "Peace," said he, +"is easily brought about, if England desires it." On the evening of +the 21st of October the preliminaries were signed in London. That very +night a courier left England to convey the joyful intelligence to +France. He arrived at Malmaison, the rural retreat of Napoleon, at +four o'clock in the afternoon of the next day. At that moment the +three Consuls were holding a government council. The excitement of +joy, in opening the dispatches, was intense. The Consuls ceased from +their labors, and threw themselves into each other's arms in cordial +embraces. Napoleon, laying aside all reserve, gave full utterance to +the intense joy which filled his bosom. It was for him a proud +accomplishment. In two years, by his genius and his indefatigable +exertions he had restored internal order to France, and peace to the +world. Still, even in this moment of triumph, his entire, never +wavering devotion to the welfare of France, like a ruling passion +strong even in death, rose above his exultation. "Now that we have +made a treaty of _peace_ with England," said Cambaceres, "we must make +a treaty of _commerce_, and remove all subjects of dispute between the +two countries." Napoleon promptly replied, "Not so fast! The political +peace is made. So much the better. Let us enjoy it. As to a commercial +peace we will make one, if we can. _But at no price will I sacrifice +French industry._ I remember the misery of 1786." The news had been +kept secret in London for twenty-four hours, that the joyful +intelligence might be communicated in both capitals at the same time. +The popular enthusiasm both in England and France bordered almost upon +delirium. It was the repose of the Continent. It was general, +universal peace. It was opening the world to the commerce of all +nations. War spreads over continents the glooms of the world of woe; +while peace illumines them with the radiance of Heaven. Illuminations +blazed every where. Men, the most phlegmatic, met and embraced each +other with tears. The people of England surrendered themselves to the +most extraordinary transports of ardor. They loved the French. They +adored the hero, the sage, the great pacificator, who governed France. +The streets of London resounded with shouts, "Long live Bonaparte." +Every stage-coach which ran from London, bore triumphant banners, upon +which were inscribed, _Peace with France_. The populace of London +rushed to the house of the French negotiator. He had just entered his +carriage to visit Lord Hawkesbury, to exchange ratifications. The +tumultuous throng of happy men unharnessed his horses and dragged him +in triumph, in the delirium of their joy rending the skies with their +shouts. The crowd and the rapturous confusion at last became so great +that Lord Vincent, fearing some accident, placed himself at the head +of the amiable mob, as it triumphantly escorted and conveyed the +carriage from minister to minister. + +A curious circumstance occurred at the festival in London, highly +characteristic of the honest bluntness, resolution, and good nature of +English seamen. The house of M. Otto, the French minister, was most +brilliantly illuminated. Attracted by its surpassing splendor a vast +crowd of sailors had gathered around. The word _concord_ blazed forth +most brilliantly in letters of light. The sailors, not very familiar +with the spelling-book, exclaimed, "_Conquered!_ not so, by a great +deal. That will not do." Excitement and dissatisfaction rapidly +spread. Violence was threatened. M. Otto came forward himself most +blandly, but his attempts at explanation were utterly fruitless. The +offensive word was removed, and _amity_ substituted. The sailors, +fully satisfied with the _amende honorable_, gave three cheers and +went on their way rejoicing. + +In France the exultation was, if possible, still greater than in +England. The admiration of Napoleon, and the confidence in his wisdom +and his patriotism were perfectly unbounded. No power was withheld +from the First Consul which he was willing to assume. The nation +placed itself at his feet. All over the Continent Napoleon received +the honorable title of "_The Hero Pacificator of Europe_." And yet +there was a strong under-current to this joy. Napoleon was the +favorite, not of the nobles, but of the people. Even his acts of +despotic authority were most cordially sustained by the people of +France, for they believed that such acts were essential for the +promotion of their welfare. "The ancient privileged classes and the +foreign cabinets," said Napoleon, "hate me worse than they did +Robespierre." The hosannas with which the name of Bonaparte was +resounding through the cities and the villages of England fell +gloomily upon the ears of Mr. Pitt and his friends. The freedom of the +seas was opening to the energetic genius of Napoleon, an unobstructed +field for the maritime aggrandizement of France. The British minister +knew that the sleepless energies of Napoleon would, as with a +magician's wand, call fleets into existence to explore all seas. +Sorrowfully he contemplated a peace to which the popular voice had +compelled him to yield, and which in his judgment boded no good to the +naval superiority of England. + +It was agreed that the plenipotentiaries, to settle the treaty +definitively, should meet at Amiens, an intermediate point midway +between London and Paris. The English appointed as their minister Lord +Cornwallis. The Americans, remembering this distinguished general at +Brandywine, Camden, and at the surrender of Yorktown, have been in the +habit of regarding him as an enemy. But he was a gallant soldier, and +one of the most humane, high-minded, and estimable of men. Frankly he +avowed his conviction that the time had arrived for terminating the +miseries of the world by peace. Napoleon has paid a noble tribute to +the integrity, urbanity, sagacity, and unblemished honor of Lord +Cornwallis. Joseph Bonaparte was appointed by the First Consul +embassador on the part of France. The suavity of his manners, the +gentleness of his disposition, his enlightened and liberal political +views, and the Christian morality which, in those times of general +corruption, embellished his conduct, peculiarly adapted him to fulfill +the duties of a peace-maker. Among the terms of the treaty it was +agreed that France should abandon her colony in Egypt, as endangering +the English possessions in India. In point of fact, the French +soldiers had already, by capitulation, agreed to leave Egypt, but +tidings of the surrender had not then reached England or France. The +most important question in these deliberations was the possession of +the Island of Malta. The power in possession of that impregnable +fortress had command of the Mediterranean. Napoleon insisted upon it, +as a point important above all others, that England should not retain +Malta. He was willing to relinquish all claim to it himself, and to +place it in the hands of a neutral power; but he declared his +unalterable determination that he could by no possibility consent that +it should remain in the hands of England. At last England yielded, and +agreed to evacuate Malta, and that it should be surrendered to the +Knights of St. John. + +This pacification, so renowned in history both for its establishment +and for its sudden and disastrous rupture, has ever been known by the +name of the Peace of Amiens. Napoleon determined to celebrate the +joyful event by a magnificent festival. The 10th of November, 1801, +was the appointed day. It was the anniversary of Napoleon's attainment +of the consular power. Friendly relations having been thus restored +between the two countries, after so many years of hostility and +carnage, thousands of the English flocked across the channel and +thronged the pavements of Paris. All were impatient to see France, +thus suddenly emerging from such gloom into such unparalleled +brilliancy; and especially to see the man, who at that moment was the +admiration of England and of the world. The joy which pervaded all +classes invested this festival with sublimity. With a delicacy of +courtesy characteristic of the First Consul, no carriages but those of +Lord Cornwallis were allowed in the streets on that day. The crowd of +Parisians, with most cordial and tumultuous acclamations, opened +before the representative of the armies of England. The illustrious +Fox was one of the visitors on this occasion. He was received by +Napoleon with the utmost consideration, and with the most delicate +attentions. In passing through the gallery of sculpture, his lady +pointed his attention to his own statue filling a niche by the side of +Washington and Brutus. "Fame," said Napoleon, "had informed me of the +talents of Fox. I soon found that he possessed a noble character, a +good heart, liberal, generous, and enlightened views. I considered him +an ornament to mankind, and was much attached to him." Every one who +came into direct personal contact with the First Consul at this time, +was charmed with his character. + +Nine deputies from Switzerland, the most able men the republic could +furnish, were appointed to meet Napoleon, respecting the political +arrangements of the Swiss cantons. Punctual to the hour the First +Consul entered a neat spacious room, where there was a long table +covered with green baize. Dr. Jones of Bristol, the intimate friend of +several of these deputies, and who was with them in Paris at the time, +thus describes the interview. "The First Consul entered, followed by +two of his ministers, and after the necessary salutation, sat down at +the head of the table, his ministers on each side of him. The deputies +then took their seats. He spread out before them a large map as +necessary to the subject of their deliberations. He then requested +that they would state freely any objection which might occur to them +in the plan which he should propose. They availed themselves of the +liberty, and suggested several alterations which they deemed +advantageous to France and Switzerland. But from the prompt, clear, +and unanswerable reasons which Napoleon gave in reply to all their +objections, he completely convinced them of the wisdom of his plans. +After an animated discussion of _ten hours_, they candidly admitted +that he was better acquainted with the local circumstances of the +Swiss cantons, and with what would secure their welfare than they were +themselves. During the whole discussion his ministers did not speak +one word. The deputies afterward declared that it was their decided +opinion that Napoleon was the most extraordinary man whom they had met +in modern times, or of whom they had read in ancient history." Said M. +Constant and M. Sismondi, who both knew Napoleon well, "The quickness +of his conception, the depth of his remarks, the facility and +propriety of his eloquence, and above all the candor of his replies +and his patient silence, were more remarkable and attractive than we +ever met with in any other individual." + +"What your interests require," said Napoleon, at this time, "is: 1. +Equality of rights among the whole eighteen cantons. 2. A sincere and +voluntary renunciation of all exclusive privileges on the part of +patrician families. 3. A federative organization, where every canton +may find itself arranged according to its language, its religion, its +manners, and its interests. The central government remains to be +provided for, but it is of much less consequence than the central +organization. Situated on the summit of the mountains which separate +France, Italy, and Germany, you participate in the disposition of all +these countries. You have never maintained regular armies, nor had +established, accredited agents at the courts of the different +governments. Strict neutrality, a prosperous commerce, and family +administration, can alone secure your interests, or be suited to your +wishes. Every organization which could be established among you, +hostile to the interests of France, would injure you in the most +essential particulars." This was commending to them a federative +organization similar to that of the United States, and _cautioning +them against the evil of a centralization of power_. No impartial man +can deny that the most profound wisdom marked the principles which +Napoleon suggested to terminate the divisions with which the cantons +of Switzerland had long been agitated. "These lenient conditions," +says Alison, "gave universal satisfaction in Switzerland." The +following extract from the noble speech which Napoleon pronounced on +the formation of the constitution of the confederacy, will be read by +many with surprise, by all with interest. + +"The re-establishment of the ancient order of things in the democratic +cantons is the best course which can be adopted, both for you and me. +They are the states whose peculiar form of government render them so +interesting in the eyes of all Europe. But for this pure democracy you +would exhibit nothing which is not to be found elsewhere. _Beware of +extinguishing so remarkable a distinction._ I know well that this +democratic system of administration has many inconveniences. But it is +established. It has existed for centuries. It springs from the +circumstances, situation, and primitive habits of the people, from the +genius of the place, and can not with safety be abandoned. You must +never take away from a democratic society the practical exercise of +its privileges. To give such exercise a direction consistent with the +tranquillity of the state is the part of true political wisdom. In +ancient Rome the votes were counted by classes, and they threw into +the last class the whole body of indigent citizens, while the first +contained only a few hundred of the most opulent. But the populace +were content, and, amused with the solicitation of their votes, did +not perceive the immense difference in their relative value." The +moral influence which France thus obtained in Switzerland was regarded +with extreme jealousy by all the rival powers. Says Alison, who, +though imbued most strongly with monarchical and aristocratic +predilections, is the most appreciative and impartial of the +historians of Napoleon, "His conduct and language on this occasion, +were distinguished by his usual penetration and ability, and a most +unusual degree of lenity and forbearance. And if any thing could have +reconciled the Swiss to the loss of their independence, it must have +been the wisdom and equity on which his mediation was founded." + +The English who visited Paris, were astonished at the indications of +prosperity which the metropolis exhibited. They found France in a very +different condition from the hideous picture which had been described +by the London journals. But there were two parties in England. Pitt +and his friends submitted with extreme reluctance to a peace which +they could not avoid. Says Alison, "But while these were the natural +feelings of the inconsiderate populace, who are ever governed by +present impressions, and who were for the most part destitute of the +information requisite to form a rational opinion on the subject, +there were many men, gifted with greater sagacity and foresight, who +deeply lamented the conditions by which peace had been purchased, and +from the very first prophesied that it could be of no long endurance. +They observed that the war had been abruptly terminated, without any +one object being gained for which it was undertaken; that it was +entered into in order to curb the ambition, and to stop the democratic +propagandism of France." These "many men gifted with greater +sagacity," with William Pitt at their head, now employed themselves +with sleepless vigilance and with fatal success to bring to a rupture +a peace which they deemed so untoward. Sir Walter Scott discloses the +feelings with which this party were actuated, in the observations, "It +seems more than probable that the extreme rejoicing of the rabble of +London, at signing the preliminaries, their dragging about the +carriage of Lauriston, and shouting 'Bonaparte forever,' had misled +the ruler of France into an opinion that peace was indispensably +necessary to England. He may easily enough have mistaken the cries of +a London mob for the voice of the British people." + +In the midst of all these cares, Napoleon was making strenuous efforts +to restore religion to France. It required great moral courage to +prosecute such a movement. Nearly all the generals in his armies were +rank infidels, regarding every form of religion with utter contempt. +The religious element, by _nature_, predominated in the bosom of +Napoleon. He was constitutionally serious, thoughtful, pensive. A +profound melancholy ever overshadowed his reflective spirit. His +inquisitive mind pondered the mysteries of the past and the +uncertainties of the future. Educated in a wild country, where the +peasantry were imbued with religious feelings, and having been trained +by a pious mother, whose venerable character he never ceased to adore, +the sight of the hallowed rites of religion revived in his sensitive +and exalted imagination the deepest impressions of his childhood. He +had carefully studied, on his return from Egypt, the New Testament, +and appreciated and profoundly admired its beautiful morality. He +often conversed with Monge, Lagrange, Laplace, sages whom he honored +and loved, and he frequently embarrassed them in their incredulity, by +the logical clearness of his arguments. The witticisms of Voltaire, +and the corruptions of unbridled sin, had rendered the purity of the +gospel unpalatable to France. Talleyrand, annoyed by the remembrance +of his own apostasy, bitterly opposed what he called "the religious +peace." Nearly all the supporters and friends of the First Consul +condemned every effort to bring back that which they denominated the +reign of superstition. Napoleon honestly believed that the interests +of France demanded that God should be recognized and Christianity +respected by the French nation. + +"Hear me," said Napoleon one day earnestly to Monge. "I do not +maintain these opinions through the positiveness of a devotee, but +from reason. My religion is very simple. I look at this universe, so +vast, so complex, so magnificent, and I say to myself that it can not +be the result of chance, but the work, however intended, of an +unknown, omnipotent being, as superior to man as the universe is +superior to the finest machines of human invention. Search the +philosophers, and you will not find a more decisive argument, and you +can not weaken it. But this truth is too succinct for man. He wishes +to know, respecting himself and respecting his future destiny, a crowd +of secrets which the universe does not disclose. Allow religion to +inform him of that which he feels the need of knowing, and respect her +disclosures." + +One day when this matter was under earnest discussion in the council +of state, Napoleon said, "Last evening I was walking alone, in the +woods, amid the solitude of nature. The tones of a distant church bell +fell upon my ear. Involuntarily I felt deep emotion. So powerful is +the influence of early habits and associations. I said to myself, If I +feel thus, what must be the influence of such impressions upon the +popular mind? Let your philosophers answer that, if they can. It is +absolutely indispensable to have a religion for the people. It will be +said that I am a Papist. I am not. I am convinced that a part of +France would become Protestant, were I to favor that disposition. I am +also certain that the much greater portion would continue Catholic; +and that they would oppose, with the greatest zeal, the division among +their fellow-citizens. We should then have the Huguenot wars over +again, and interminable conflicts. But by reviving a religion which +has always prevailed in the country, and by giving perfect liberty of +conscience to the minority, all will be satisfied." + +On another occasion he remarked, "What renders me most hostile to the +establishment of the Catholic worship, are the numerous festivals +formerly observed. A saint's-day is a day of idleness, and I do not +wish for that. People must labor in order to live. I shall consent to +four holidays during the year, but to no more. If the gentlemen from +Rome are not satisfied with that, they may take their departure." The +loss of time appeared to him such a calamity, that he almost +invariably appointed any indispensable celebration upon some day +previously devoted to festivity. + +The new pontiff was attached to Napoleon by the secret chain of mutual +sympathy. They had met, as we have before remarked, during the wars of +Italy. Pius VII., then the bishop of Imola, was surprised and +delighted in finding in the young republican general, whose fame was +filling Europe, a man of refinement, of exalted genius, of reflection, +of serious character, of unblemished purity of life, and of delicate +sensibilities, restraining the irreligious propensities of his +soldiers, and respecting the temples of religion. With classic purity +and eloquence he spoke the Italian language. The dignity and decorum +of his manners, and his love of order, were strangely contrasted with +the recklessness of the ferocious soldiers with whom he was +surrounded. The impression thus produced upon the heart of the pontiff +was never effaced. Justice and generosity are always politic. But he +must indeed be influenced by an ignoble spirit who hence infers, that +every act of magnanimity is dictated by policy. A legate was sent by +the Pope to Paris. "Let the holy father," said Napoleon, "put the +utmost confidence in me. Let him cast himself into my arms, and I will +be for the church another Charlemagne." + +Napoleon had collected for himself a religious library of well chosen +books, relating to the organization and the history of the church, and +to the relations of church and state. He had ordered the Latin +writings of Bossuet to be translated for him. These works he had +devoured in those short intervals which he could glean from the cares +of government. His genius enabled him, at a glance, to master the +argument of an author, to detect any existing sophistry. His memory, +almost miraculously retentive, and the philosophical cast of his mind, +gave him at all times the perfect command of these treasures of +knowledge. He astonished the world by the accuracy, extent, and +variety of his information upon all points of religion. It was his +custom, when deeply interested in any subject, to discuss it with all +persons from whom he could obtain information. With clear, decisive, +and cogent arguments he advocated his own views, and refuted the +erroneous systems successively proposed to him. It was urged upon +Napoleon, that if he must have a church, he should establish a French +church, independent of that of Rome. The poetic element was too strong +in the character of Napoleon for such a thought. "What!" he exclaimed, +"shall I, a warrior, wearing sword and spurs, and doing battle, +attempt to become the head of a church, and to regulate church +discipline and doctrine. I wish to be the pacificator of France and of +the world, and shall I become the originator of a new schism, a little +more absurd and not less dangerous than the preceding ones. I must +have a Pope, and a Pope who will approximate men's minds to each +other, instead of creating divisions; who will reunite them, and give +them to the government sprung from the revolution, as a price for the +protection that he shall have obtained from it. For this purpose I +must have the true Pope, the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Pope, +whose seat is at the Vatican. With the French armies and some +deference, I shall always be sufficiently his master. When I shall +raise up the altars again, when I shall protect the priests, when I +shall feed them, and treat them as ministers of religion deserve to be +treated in every country, he will do what I ask of him, through the +interest he will have in the general tranquillity. He will calm men's +minds, reunite them under his hand, and place them under mine. Short +of this there is only a continuation and an aggravation of the +desolating schism which is preying on us, and for me an immense and +indelible ridicule." + +The Pope's legate most strenuously urged some of the most arrogant +and exclusive assumptions of the papal church. "The French people must +be allured back to religion," said Napoleon, "not shocked. To declare +the Catholic religion _the religion of the state_ is impossible. It is +contrary to the ideas prevalent in France, and will never be admitted. +In place of this declaration we can only substitute the avowal of the +fact, _that the Catholic religion is the religion of the majority of +Frenchmen_. But there must be perfect freedom of opinion. The +amalgamation of wise and honest men of all parties is the principle of +my government. I must apply that principle to the church as well as to +the state. It is the only way of putting an end to the troubles of +France, and I shall persist in it undeviatingly." + +Napoleon was overjoyed at the prospect, not only of a general peace +with Europe, but of religious peace in France. In all the rural +districts, the inhabitants longed for their churches and their +pastors, and for the rites of religion. In the time of the Directory, +a famous wooden image of the Virgin had been taken from the church at +Loretto, and was deposited in one of the museums of Paris, as a +curiosity. The sincere Catholics were deeply wounded and irritated by +this act, which to them appeared so sacrilegious. Great joy was caused +both in France and Italy, when Napoleon sent a courier to the Pope, +restoring this statue, which was regarded with very peculiar +veneration. The same embassador carried the terms of agreement for +peace with the church. This religious treaty with Rome was called "The +Concordat." The Pope, in secular power, was helpless. Napoleon could, +at any moment, pour a resistless swarm of troops into his territories. +As the French embassador left the Tuileries, he asked the First Consul +for his instructions. "Treat the Pope," said Napoleon, magnanimously, +"as if he had two hundred thousand soldiers." The difficulties in the +way of an amicable arrangement were innumerable. The army of France +was thoroughly infidel. Most of the leading generals and statesmen who +surrounded Napoleon, contemplated Christianity in every aspect with +hatred and scorn. On the other hand, the Catholic Church, uninstructed +by misfortune, was not disposed to abate in the least its arrogant +demands, and was clamorous for concessions which even Napoleon had not +power to confer. It required all the wisdom, forbearance, and tact of +the First Consul to accomplish this reconciliation. Joseph Bonaparte, +the accomplished gentleman, the sincere, urbane, sagacious, upright +man, was Napoleon's _corps de reserve_ in all diplomatic acts. The +preliminaries being finally adjusted, the Pope's legation met at the +house of Joseph Bonaparte, and on the 15th of July, 1801, this great +act was signed. Napoleon announced the event to the Council of State. +He addressed them in a speech an hour and a half in length, and all +were struck with the precision, the vigor, and the loftiness of his +language. By universal consent his speech was pronounced to be +eloquent in the highest degree. But those philosophers, who regarded +it as the great glory of the revolution, that all superstition, by +which they meant all religion, was swept away, in sullen silence +yielded to a power which they could not resist. The people, the +millions of France, were with Napoleon. + +The following liberal and noble sentiments were uttered in the +proclamation by which Napoleon announced the Concordat to the French +people: "An insane policy has sought, during the revolution, to +smother religious dissensions under the ruins of the altar, under the +ashes of religion itself. At its voice all those pious solemnities +ceased, in which the citizens called each other by the endearing name +of brothers, and acknowledged their common equality in the sight of +Heaven. The dying, left alone in his agonies, no longer heard that +consoling voice, which calls the Christian to a better world. God +Himself seemed exiled from the face of nature. Ministers of the +religion of peace, let a complete oblivion vail over your dissensions, +your misfortunes, your faults. Let the religion which unites you, bind +you by indissoluble cords to the interests of your country. Let the +young learn from your precepts, that the God of Peace is also the God +of Arms, and that He throws his shield over those who combat for the +liberties of France. Citizens of the Protestant Faith, the law has +equally extended its solicitude to your interests. Let the morality, +so pure, so holy, so brotherly, which you profess, unite you all in +love to your country, and in respect for its laws; and, above all, +never permit disputes on doctrinal points to weaken that universal +charity which religion at once inculcates and commands." + +To foreign nations the spectacle of France, thus voluntarily returning +to the Christian faith, was gratifying in the highest degree. It +seemed to them the pledge of peace and the harbinger of tranquillity. +The Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia publicly expressed +their joy at the auspicious event. The Emperor of Austria styled it "a +service truly rendered to all Europe." The serious and devout, in all +lands, considered the voluntary return of the French people to +religion, from the impossibility of living without its precepts, as +one of the most signal triumphs of the Christian faith. + +On the 11th of April, 1802, the event was celebrated by a magnificent +religious ceremony in the cathedral of Nôtre Dame. No expense was +spared to invest the festivity with the utmost splendor. Though many +of the generals and the high authorities of the State were extremely +reluctant to participate in the solemnities of the occasion, the power +and the popularity of the First Consul were so great, that they dared +not make any resistance. The cathedral was crowded with splendor. The +versatile populace, ever delighted with change and with shows, were +overjoyed. General Rapp, however, positively refused to attend the +ceremony. With the bluntness of a soldier, conscious that his +well-known devotion to the First Consul would procure for him +impunity, he said, "I shall not attend. But if you do not make these +priests your aids or your cooks, you may do with them as you please." + +As Napoleon was making preparations to go to the cathedral, Cambaceres +entered his apartment. + +"Well," said the First Consul, rubbing his hands in the glow of his +gratification, "we go to church this morning. What say they to that in +Paris?" + +"Many persons," replied Cambaceres, "propose to attend the first +representation in order to hiss the piece, should they not find it +amusing." + +"If any one," Napoleon firmly replied, "takes it into his head to +hiss, I shall put him out of the door by the grenadiers of the +consular guard." + +"But what if the grenadiers themselves," Cambaceres rejoined, "should +take to hissing, like the rest?" + +"As to that I have no fear," said Napoleon. "My old mustaches will go +here to Notre Dame, just as at Cairo, they would have gone to the +mosque. They will remark how I do, and seeing their general grave and +decent, they will be so, too, passing the watchword to each other, +_Decency_." + +"What did you think of the ceremony?" inquired Napoleon of General +Delmas, who stood near him, when it was concluded. "It was a fine +piece of mummery," he replied; "nothing was wanting but the million of +men who have perished to destroy that which you have now +re-established." Some of the priests, encouraged by this triumphant +restoration of Christianity, began to assume not a little arrogance. A +celebrated opera dancer died, not in the faith. The priest of St. +Roche refused to receive the body into the church, or to celebrate +over it the rites of interment. The next day Napoleon caused the +following article to be inserted in the _Moniteur_. "The curate of St. +Roche, in a moment of hallucination, has refused the rites of burial +to Mademoiselle Cameroi. One of his colleagues, a man of sense, +received the procession into the church of St. Thomas, where the +burial service was performed with the usual solemnities. The +archbishop of Paris has suspended the curate of St. Roche for three +months, to give him time to recollect that Jesus Christ commanded us +to pray even for our enemies. Being thus recalled by meditation to a +proper sense of his duties, he may learn that all these superstitious +observances, the offspring of an age of credulity or of crazed +imaginations, tend only to the discredit of true religion, and have +been proscribed by the recent concordat of the French Church." The +most strenuous exertions were made by the clergy to induce Napoleon +publicly to partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It was +thought that his high example would be very influential upon others. +Napoleon nobly replied, "I have not sufficient faith in the ordinance +to be benefited by its reception; and I have too much faith in it to +allow me to be guilty of sacrilege. We are well as we are. Do not ask +me to go farther. You will never obtain what you wish. I will not +become a hypocrite. Be content with what you have already gained." + +It is difficult to describe the undisguised delight with which the +peasants all over France again heard the ringing of the church-bells +upon the Sabbath morning, and witnessed the opening of the +church-doors, the assembling of the congregations with smiles and +congratulations, and the repose of the Sabbath. Mr. Fox, in +conversation with Napoleon, after the peace of Amiens, ventured to +blame him for not having authorized the marriage of priests in France. +"I then had," said Napoleon, in his nervous eloquence, "need to +pacify. It is with water and not with oil that you must extinguish +theological volcanoes. I should have had less difficulty in +establishing the Protestant religion in my empire." + +The magistrates of Paris, grateful for the inestimable blessings which +Napoleon had conferred upon France, requested him to accept the +project of a triumphal monument to be erected in his honor at a cost +of one hundred thousand dollars. Napoleon gave the following reply. "I +view with grateful acknowledgments those sentiments which actuate the +magistrates of the city of Paris. The idea of dedicating monumental +trophies to those men who have rendered themselves useful to the +community is a praiseworthy action in all nations. I accept the offer +of the monument which you desire to dedicate to me. Let the spot be +designated. But leave the labor of constructing it to future +generations, should they think fit thus to sanction the estimate which +you place upon my services." + +There was an indescribable fascination about the character of +Napoleon, which no other man ever possessed, and which all felt who +entered his presence. Some military officers of high rank, on one +occasion, in these days of his early power, agreed to go and +remonstrate with him upon some subject which had given them offense. +One of the party thus describes the interview. + +"I do not know whence it arises, but there is a charm about that man, +which is indescribable and irresistible. I am no admirer of him. I +dislike the power to which he has risen. Yet I can not help confessing +that there is a something in him, which seems to speak that he is born +to command. We went into his apartment determined to declare our minds +to him very freely; to expostulate with him warmly, and not to depart +till our subjects of complaint were removed. But in his manner of +receiving us, there was a certain something, a degree of fascination, +which disarmed us in a moment; nor could we utter one word of what we +had intended to say. He talked to us for a long time, with an +eloquence peculiarly his own, explaining, with the utmost clearness +and precision, the necessity for steadily pursuing the line of conduct +he had adopted. Without contradicting us in direct terms, he +controverted our opinions so ably, that we had not a word to say in +reply. We left him, having done nothing else but listen to him, +instead of expostulating with him; and fully convinced, at least for +the moment, that he was in the right, and that we were in the wrong." + +The merchants of Rouen experienced a similar fascination, when they +called to remonstrate against some commercial regulations which +Napoleon had introduced. They were so entirely disarmed by his +frankness, his sincerity, and were so deeply impressed by the extent +and the depth of his views, that they retired, saying, "The First +Consul understands our interests far better than we do ourselves." +"The man," says Lady Morgan, "who, at the head of a vast empire, could +plan great and lasting works, conquer nations, and yet talk astronomy +with La Place, tragedy with Talma, music with Cherubini, painting with +Gerrard, _vertu_ with Denon, and literature and science with any one +who would listen to him, was certainly out of the roll of common men." + +Napoleon now exerted all his energies for the elevation of France. He +sought out and encouraged talent wherever it could be found. No merit +escaped his princely munificence. Authors, artists, men of science +were loaded with honors and emoluments. He devoted most earnest +attention to the education of youth. The navy, commerce, agriculture, +manufactures, and all mechanic arts, secured his assiduous care. He +labored to the utmost, and with a moral courage above all praise, to +discountenance whatever was loose in morals, or enervating or unmanly +in amusements or taste. The theatre was the most popular source of +entertainment in France. He frowned upon all frivolous and immodest +performances, and encouraged those only which were moral, grave, and +dignified. In the grandeur of tragedy alone he took pleasure. In his +private deportment he exhibited the example of a moral, simple, and +toilsome life. Among the forty millions of France, there was not to be +found a more temperate and laborious man. When nights of labor +succeeded days of toil, his only stimulus was lemonade. He loved his +own family and friends, and was loved by them with a fervor which +soared into the regions of devotion. Never before did mortal man +secure such love. Thousands were ready at any moment to lay down their +lives through their affection for him. And that mysterious charm was +so strong that it has survived his death. Thousands now live who would +brave death in any form from love for Napoleon. + + + + +PECULIAR HABITS OF DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS. + + +Among the curious facts which we find in perusing the biographies of +great men, are the circumstances connected with the composition of the +works which have made them immortal. + +For instance, Bossuet composed his grand sermons on his knees; Bulwer +wrote his first novels in full dress, scented; Milton, before +commencing his great work, invoked the influence of the Holy Spirit, +and prayed that his lips might be touched with a live coal from off +the altar; Chrysostom meditated and studied while contemplating a +painting of Saint Paul. + +Bacon knelt down before composing his great work, and prayed for light +from Heaven. Pope never could compose well without first declaiming +for some time at the top of his voice, and thus rousing his nervous +system to its fullest activity. + +Bentham composed after playing a prelude on the organ, or while taking +his "ante-jentacular" and "post-prandial" walks in his garden--the +same, by the way, that Milton occupied. Saint Bernard composed his +Meditations amidst the woods; he delighted in nothing so much as the +solitude of the dense forest, finding there, he said, something more +profound and suggestive than any thing he could find in books. The +storm would sometimes fall upon him there, without for a moment +interrupting his meditations. Camoens composed his verses with the +roar of battle in his ears; for, the Portuguese poet was a soldier, +and a brave one, though a poet. He composed others of his most +beautiful verses, at the time when his Indian slave was begging a +subsistence for him in the streets. Tasso wrote his finest pieces in +the lucid intervals of madness. + +Rousseau wrote his works early in the morning; Le Sage at mid-day; +Byron at midnight. Hardouin rose at four in the morning, and wrote +till late at night. Aristotle was a tremendous worker; he took little +sleep, and was constantly retrenching it. He had a contrivance by +which he awoke early, and to awake was with him to commence work. +Demosthenes passed three months in a cavern by the sea-side, in +laboring to overcome the defects of his voice. There he read, studied, +and declaimed. + +Rabelais composed his Life of _Gargantua_ at Bellay, in the company of +Roman cardinals, and under the eyes of the Bishop of Paris. La +Fontaine wrote his fables chiefly under the shade of a tree, and +sometimes by the side of Racine and Boileau. Pascal wrote most of his +Thoughts on little scraps of paper, at his by-moments. Fenelon wrote +his _Telemachus_ in the palace of Versailles, at the court of the +Grand Monarque, when discharging the duties of tutor to the Dauphin. +That a book so thoroughly democratic should have issued from such a +source, and been written by a priest, may seem surprising. De Quesnay +first promulgated his notion of universal freedom of person and trade, +and of throwing all taxes on the land--the germ, perhaps, of the +French Revolution--in the _boudoir_ of Madame de Pompadour! + +Luther, when studying, always had his dog lying at his feet--a dog he +had brought from Wartburg, and of which he was very fond. An ivory +crucifix stood on the table before him, and the walls of his study +were stuck round with caricatures of the Pope. He worked at his desk +for days together without going out; but when fatigued, and the ideas +began to stagnate in his brain, he would take his flute or his guitar +with him into the porch, and there execute some musical fantasy (for +he was a skillful musician), when the ideas would flow upon him again +as fresh as flowers after summer's rain. Music was his invariable +solace at such times. Indeed Luther did not hesitate to say, that +after theology, music was the first of arts. "Music," said he, "is the +art of the prophets; it is the only other art, which, like theology, +can calm the agitation of the soul, and put the devil to flight." Next +to music, if not before it, Luther loved children and flowers. That +great gnarled man had a heart as tender as a woman's. + +Calvin studied in his bed. Every morning at five or six o'clock, he +had books, manuscripts, and papers, carried to him there, and he +worked on for hours together. If he had occasion to go out, on his +return he undressed and went to bed again to continue his studies. In +his later years he dictated his writings to secretaries. He rarely +corrected any thing. The sentences issued complete from his mouth. If +he felt his facility of composition leaving him, he forthwith quitted +his bed, gave up writing and composing, and went about his out-door +duties for days, weeks, and months together. But so soon as he felt +the inspiration fall upon him again, he went back to his bed, and his +secretary set to work forthwith. + +Cujas, another learned man, used to study when laid all his length +upon the carpet, his face toward the floor, and there he reveled +amidst piles of books which accumulated about him. The learned Amyot +never studied without the harpsichord beside him; and he only quitted +the pen to play it. Bentham, also, was extremely fond of the +piano-forte, and had one in nearly every room in his house. + +Richelieu amused himself in the intervals of his labor, with a +squadron of cats, of whom he was very fond. He used to go to bed at +eleven at night, and after sleeping three hours, rise and write, +dictate or work, till from six to eight o'clock in the morning, when +his daily levee was held. This worthy student displayed an +extravagance equaling that of Wolsey. His annual expenditure was some +four millions of francs, or about £170,000 sterling! + +How different the fastidious temperance of Milton! He drank water and +lived on the humblest fare. In his youth he studied during the +greatest part of the night; but in his more advanced years he went +early to bed--by nine o'clock--rising to his studies at four in summer +and five in winter. He studied till mid-day; then he took an hour's +exercise, and after dinner he sang and played the organ, or listened +to others' music. He studied again till six, and from that hour till +eight he engaged in conversation with friends who came to see him. +Then he supped, smoked a pipe of tobacco, drank a glass of water, and +went to bed. Glorious visions came to him in the night, for it was +then, while lying on his couch, that he composed in thought the +greater part of his sublime poem. Sometimes when the fit of +composition came strong upon him, he would summon his daughter to his +side, to commit to paper that which he had composed. + +Milton was of opinion that the verses composed by him between the +autumnal and spring equinoxes were always the best, and he was never +satisfied with the verses he had written at any other season. Alfieri, +on the contrary, said that the equinoctial winds produced a state of +almost "complete stupidity" in him. Like the nightingales he could +only sing in summer. It was his favorite season. + +Pierre Corneille, in his loftiest flights of imagination, was often +brought to a stand-still for want of words and rhyme. Thoughts were +seething in his brain, which he vainly tried to reduce to order, and +he would often run to his brother Thomas "for a word." Thomas rarely +failed him. Sometimes, in his fits of inspiration, he would bandage +his eyes, throw himself on a sofa, and dictate to his wife, who almost +worshiped his genius. Thus he would pass whole days, dictating to her +his great tragedies; his wife scarcely venturing to speak, almost +afraid to breathe. Afterward, when a tragedy was finished, he would +call in his sister Martha, and submit it to her judgment; as Moliere +used to consult his old housekeeper about the comedies he had newly +written. + +Racine composed his verses while walking about, reciting them in a +loud voice. One day, when thus working at his play of _Mithridates_, +in the Tuileries Gardens, a crowd of workmen gathered around him, +attracted by his gestures; they took him to be a madman about to throw +himself into the basin. On his return home from such walks, he would +write down scene by scene, at first in prose, and when he had thus +written it out, he would exclaim, "My tragedy is done," considering +the dressing of the acts up in verse as a very small affair. + +Magliabecchi, the learned librarian to the Duke of Tuscany, on the +contrary, never stirred abroad, but lived amidst books, and almost +lived upon books. They were his bed, board, and washing. He passed +eight-and-forty years in their midst, only twice in the course of his +life venturing beyond the walls of Florence; once to go two leagues +off, and the other time three and a half leagues, by order of the +Grand Duke. He was an extremely frugal man, living upon eggs, bread, +and water, in great moderation. + +The life of Liebnitz was one of reading, writing, and meditation. That +was the secret of his prodigious knowledge. After an attack of gout, +he confined himself to a diet of bread and milk. Often he slept in a +chair; and rarely went to bed till after midnight. Sometimes he was +months without quitting his seat, where he slept by night and wrote by +day. He had an ulcer in his right leg which prevented his walking +about, even had he wished to do so. + +The chamber in which Montesquieu wrote his _Spirit of the Laws_, is +still shown at his old ancestral mansion; hung about with its old +tapestry and curtains; and the old easy chair in which the philosopher +sat is still sacredly preserved there. The chimney-jamb bears the +mark of his foot, where he used to rest upon it, his legs crossed, +when composing his books. His _Persian Letters_ were composed merely +for pastime, and were never intended for publication. The principles +of Laws occupied his life. In the study of these he spent twenty +years, losing health and eye-sight in the pursuit. As in the case of +Milton, his daughter read for him, and acted as his secretary. In his +Portrait of himself, he said--"I awake in the morning rejoiced at the +sight of day. I see the sun with a kind of ecstasy, and for the rest +of the day I am content. I pass the night without waking, and in the +evening when I go to bed, a kind of numbness prevents me indulging in +reflections. With me, study has been the sovereign remedy against +disgust of life, having never had any vexation which an hour's reading +has not dissipated. But I have the disease of making books, and of +being ashamed when I have made them." + +Rousseau had the greatest difficulty in composing his works, being +extremely defective in the gift of memory. He could never learn six +verses by heart. In his _Confessions_ he says--"I studied and +meditated in bed, forming sentences with inconceivable difficulty; +then, when I thought I had got them into shape, I would rise to put +them on paper. But lo! I often entirely forgot them during the process +of dressing!" He would then walk abroad to refresh himself by the +aspect of nature, and under its influence his most successful writings +were composed. He was always leaving books which he carried about with +him at the foot of trees, or by the margin of fountains. He sometimes +wrote his books over from beginning to end, four or five times, before +giving them to the press. Some of his sentences cost him four or five +nights' study. He thought with difficulty, and wrote with still +greater. It is astonishing that, with such a kind of intellect, he +should have been able to do so much. + +The summer study of the famous Buffon, at Montbar, is still shown, +just as he left it. It is a little room in a pavilion, reached by +mounting a ladder, through a green door with two folds. The place +looks simplicity itself. The apartment is vaulted like some old +chapel, and the walls are painted green. The floor is paved with +tiles. A writing-table of plain wood stands in the centre, and before +it is an easy chair. That is all! The place was the summer study of +Buffon. In winter, he had a warmer room within his house, where he +wrote his _Natural History_. There, on his desk, his pen still lies, +and by the side of it, on his easy chair, his red dressing-gown and +cap of gray silk. On the wall near to where he sat, hangs an engraved +portrait of Newton. There, and in his garden cabinet, he spent many +years of his life, studying and writing books. He studied his work +entitled _Epoques de la Nature_ for fifty years, and wrote it over +_eighteen times_ before publishing it! What would our galloping +authors say to that? + +Buffon used to work on pages of five distinct columns, like a ledger. +In the first column he wrote out the first draught; in the second he +corrected, added, pruned, and improved; thus proceeding until he had +reached the fifth column, in which he finally wrote out the result of +his labor. But this was not all. He would sometimes re-write a +sentence twenty times, and was once fourteen hours in finding the +proper word for the turning of a period! Buffon knew nearly all his +works by heart. + +On the contrary, Cuvier never re-copied what he had once written. He +composed with great rapidity, correctness, and precision. His mind was +always in complete order, and his memory was exact and extensive. + +Some writers have been prodigiously laborious in the composition of +their works. Cæsar had, of course, an immense multiplicity of +business, as a general, to get through; but he had always a secretary +by his side, even when on horseback, to whom he dictated; and often he +occupied two or three secretaries at once. His famous _Commentaries_ +are said to have been composed mostly on horseback. + +Seneca was very laborious. "I have not a single idle day," said he, +describing his life, "and I give a part of every night to study. I do +not give myself up to sleep, but succumb to it. I have separated +myself from society, and renounced all the distractions of life." With +many of these old heathens, study was their religion. + +Pliny the Elder read two thousand volumes in the composition of his +Natural History. How to find time for this? He managed it by devoting +his days to business and his nights to study. He had books read to him +while he was at meals; and he read no book without making extracts. +His nephew, Pliny the Younger, has given a highly interesting account +of the intimate and daily life of his uncle. + +Origen employed seven writers while composing his _Commentaries_, who +committed to paper what he dictated to them by turns. He was so +indefatigable in writing that they gave him the name of _Brass +Bowels_! Like Philip de Comines, Sully used to dictate to four +secretaries at a time, without difficulty. + +Bossuet left _fifty volumes_ of writings behind him, the result of +unintermitting labor. The pen rarely quitted his fingers. Writing +became habitual to him, and he even chose it as a relaxation. A +night-lamp was constantly lit beside him, and he would rise at all +hours to resume his meditations. He rose at about four o'clock in the +morning during summer and winter, wrapped himself in his loose dress +of bear's skin, and set to work. He worked on for hours, until he felt +fatigued, and then went to bed again, falling asleep at once. This +life he led for more than twenty years. As he grew older, and became +disabled for hard work, he began translating the Psalms into verse, to +pass time. In the intervals of fatigue and pain, he read and corrected +his former works. + +Some writers composed with great rapidity, others slowly and with +difficulty. Byron said of himself, that though he felt driven to +write, and he was in a state of torture until he had fairly delivered +himself of what he had to say, yet that writing never gave him any +pleasure, but was felt to be a severe labor. Scott, on the contrary, +possessed the most extraordinary facility; and dashed off a great +novel of three volumes in about the same number of weeks. + +"I have written _Catiline_ in eight days," said Voltaire; "and I +immediately commenced the _Henriade_." Voltaire was a most impatient +writer, and usually had the first half of a work set up in type before +the second half was written. He always had several works in the course +of composition at the same time. His manner of preparing a work was +peculiar. He had his first sketch of a tragedy set up in type, and +then rewrote it from the proofs. Balzac adopted the same plan. The +printed form enabled them to introduce effects, and correct errors +more easily. + +Pascal wrote most of his thoughts on little scraps of paper, at his +by-moments of leisure. He produced them with immense rapidity. He +wrote in a kind of contracted language--like short hand--impossible to +read, except by those who had studied it. It resembled the impatient +and fiery scratches of Napoleon; yet, though half-formed, the +characters have the firmness and precision of the graver. Some one +observed to Faguere (Pascal's editor), "This work (deciphering it) +must be very fatiguing to the eyes." "No," said he, "it is not the +eyes that are fatigued, so much as the brain." + +Many authors have been distinguished for the fastidiousness of their +composition--never resting satisfied, but correcting and re-correcting +to the last moment. Cicero spent his old age in correcting his +orations; Massillon in polishing his sermons; Fenelon corrected his +_Telemachus_ seven times over. + +Of thirty verses which Virgil wrote in the morning, there were only +ten left at night. Milton often cut down forty verses to twenty. +Buffon would condense six pages into as many paragraphs. Montaigne, +instead of cutting down, amplified and added to his first sketch. +Boileau had great difficulty in making his verses. He said--"If I +write four words, I erase three of them;" and at another time--"I +sometimes hunt three hours for a rhyme!" + +Some authors were never satisfied with their work. Virgil ordered his +_Æneid_ to be burnt. Voltaire cast his poem of _The League_ into the +fire. Racine and Scott could not bear to read their productions again. +Michael Angelo was always dissatisfied; he found faults in his +greatest and most admired works. + +Many of the most admired writings were never intended by their authors +for publication. Fenelon, when he wrote _Telemachus_, had no intention +of publishing it. Voltaire's _Correspondence_ was never intended for +publication, and yet it is perused with avidity; whereas his +_Henriade_, so often corrected by him, is scarcely read. Madame de +Sevigní, in writing to her daughter those fascinating letters +descriptive of the life of the French Court, never had any idea of +their publication, or that they would be cited as models of +composition and style. What work of Johnson's is best known? Is it not +that by Boswell, which contains the great philosopher's +conversation?--that which he never intended should come to light, and +for which we have to thank Bozzy. + +There is a great difference in the sensitiveness of authors to +criticism. Sir Walter Scott passed thirteen years without reading what +the critics or reviewers said of his writings; while Byron was +sensitive to an excess about what was said of him. It was the +reviewers who stung him into his first work of genius--_English Bards +and Scotch Reviewers_. Racine was very sensitive to criticism; and +poor Keats was "snuffed out by an article." Moliere was thrown into a +great rage when his plays were badly acted. One day, after _Tartuffe_ +had been played, an actor found him stamping about as if mad, and +beating his head, crying--"Ah! dog! Ah! butcher!" On being asked what +was the matter, he replied--"Don't be surprised at my emotion! I have +just been seeing an actor falsely and execrably declaiming my piece; +and I can not see my children maltreated in this horrid way, without +suffering the tortures of the damned!" The first time Voltaire's +_Artemise_ was played, it was _hissed_. Voltaire, indignant, sprang to +his feet in his box, and addressed the audience! At another time, at +Lausanne, where an actress seemed fully to apprehend his meaning, he +rushed upon the stage and embraced her knees! + +A great deal might be said about the first failures of authors and +orators. Demosthenes stammered, and was almost inaudible, when he +first tried to speak before Philip. He seemed like a man moribund. +Other orators have broken down, like Demosthenes, in their first +effort. Curran tried to speak, for the first time, at a meeting of the +Irish Historical Society; but the words died on his lips, and he sat +down amid titters--an individual present characterizing him as _orator +Mum_. Boileau broke down as an advocate, and so did Cowper, the poet. +Montesquieu and Bentham were also failures in the same profession, but +mainly through disgust with it. Addison, when a member of the House of +Commons, once rose to speak, but he could not overcome his diffidence, +and ever after remained silent. + + + + +OSTRICHES. + +HOW THEY ARE HUNTED. + + +The family of birds, of which the ostrich forms the leading type, is +remarkable for the wide dispersion of its various members; the ostrich +itself spreads over nearly the whole of the burning deserts of +Africa--the Cassowary represents it amid the luxuriant vegetation of +the Indian Archipelago. The Dinornis, chief of birds, formerly towered +among the ferns of New Zealand, where the small Apteryx now holds its +place; and the huge Æpyornis strode along the forests of Madagascar. +The Emu is confined to the great Australian continent, and the Rhea to +the southern extremity of the western hemisphere; while nearer home +we find the class represented by the Bustard, which, until within a +few years, still lingered upon the least frequented downs and plains +of England. + +With the Arabs of the desert, the chase of the ostrich is the most +attractive and eagerly sought of the many aristocratic diversions in +which they indulge. The first point attended to, is a special +preparation of their horses. Seven or eight days before the intended +hunt, they are entirely deprived of straw and grass, and fed on barley +only. They are only allowed to drink once a day, and that at +sunset--the time when the water begins to freshen: at that time also +they are washed. They take long daily exercises, and are occasionally +galloped, at which time care is taken that the harness is right, and +suited to the chase of the ostrich. "After seven or eight days," says +the Arab, "the stomach of the horse disappears, while the chest, the +breast, and the croup remain in flesh; the animal is then fit to +endure fatigue." They call this training _techaha_. The harness used +for the purpose in question is lighter than ordinary, especially the +stirrups and saddle, and the martingale is removed. The bridle, too, +undergoes many metamorphoses; the mountings and the ear-flaps are +taken away, as too heavy. The bit is made of a camel rope, without a +throat-band, and the frontlet is also of cord, and the reins, though +strong, are very light. The period most favorable for ostrich-hunting +is that of the great heat; the higher the temperature the less is the +ostrich able to defend himself. The Arabs describe the precise time as +that, when a man stands upright, his shadow has the length only of the +sole of his foot. + +Each horseman is accompanied by a servant called _zemmal_, mounted on +a camel, carrying four goat-skins filled with water, barley for the +horse, wheat-flour for the rider, some dates, a kettle to cook the +food, and every thing which can possibly be required for the repair of +the harness. The horseman contents himself with a linen vest and +trowsers, and covers his neck and ears with a light material called +_havuli_, tied with a strip of camel's hide; his feet are protected +with sandals, and his legs with light gaiters called _trabag_. He is +armed with neither gun nor pistol, his only weapon being a wild olive +or tamarind stick, five or six feet long, with a heavy knob at one +end. + +Before starting, the hunters ascertain where a large number of +ostriches are to be found. These birds are generally met with in +places where there is much grass, and where rain has recently fallen. +The Arabs say, that where the ostrich sees the light shine, and barley +getting ready, wherever it may be, thither she runs, regardless of +distance; and ten days' march is nothing to her; and it has passed +into a proverb in the desert, of a man skillful in the care of flocks, +and in finding pasturage, that he is like the ostrich, where he sees +the light there he comes. + +The hunters start in the morning. After one or two days' journey, when +they have arrived near the spot pointed out, and they begin to +perceive traces of their game, they halt and camp. The next day, two +intelligent slaves, almost entirely stripped, are sent to reconnoitre; +they each carry a goat-skin at their side, and a little bread; they +walk until they meet with the ostriches, which are generally found in +elevated places. As soon as the game is in view, one lies down to +watch, the other returns to convey the information. The ostriches are +found in troops, comprising sometimes as many as sixty: but at the +pairing time they are more scattered, three or four couple only +remaining together. + +The horsemen, guided by the scout, travel gently toward the birds; the +nearer they approach the spot the greater is their caution, and when +they reach the last ridge which conceals them from the view of their +game, they dismount, and two creep forward to ascertain if they are +still there. Should such be the case, a moderate quantity of water is +given to the horses, the baggage is left, and each man mounts, +carrying at his side a _chebouta_, or goat-skin. The servants and +camels follow the track of the horsemen, carrying with them only a +little corn and water. + +The exact position of the ostriches being known, the plans are +arranged; the horsemen divide and form a circle round the game at such +a distance as not to be seen. The servants wait where the horsemen +have separated, and as soon as they see them at their posts, they walk +right before them; the ostriches fly, but are met by the hunters, who +do nothing at first but drive them back into the circle; thus their +strength is exhausted by being made to continually run round in the +ring. At the first signs of fatigue in the birds, the horsemen dash +in--presently the flock separates; the exhausted birds are seen to +open their wings, which is a sign of great exhaustion; the horsemen, +certain of their prey, now repress their horses; each hunter selects +his ostrich, runs it down, and finishes it by a blow on the head with +the stick above mentioned. The moment the bird falls the man jumps off +his horse, and cuts her throat, taking care to hold the neck at such a +distance from the body, as not to soil the plumage of the wings. The +male bird, while dying, utters loud moans, but the female dies in +silence. + +When the ostrich is on the point of being overtaken by the hunter, she +is so fatigued, that if he does not wish to kill her, she can easily +be driven with the stick to the neighborhood of the camels. +Immediately after the birds have been bled to death, they are +carefully skinned, so that the feathers may not be injured, and the +skin is then stretched upon a tree, or on a horse, and salt rubbed +well into it. A fire is lit, and the fat of the birds is boiled for a +long time in kettles; when very liquid, it is poured into a sort of +bottle made of the skin of the thigh and leg down to the foot, +strongly fastened at the bottom; the fat of one bird is usually +sufficient to fill two of these legs; it is said that in any other +vessel the fat would spoil. When, however, the bird is breeding, she +is extremely lean, and is then hunted only for the sake of her +feathers. After these arrangements are completed, the flesh is eaten +by the hunters, who season it well with pepper and flour. + +While these proceedings are in progress, the horses are carefully +tended, watered, and fed with corn, and the party remain quiet during +forty-eight hours, to give their animals rest; after that they either +return to their encampment, or embark in new enterprises. + +To the Arab the chase of the ostrich has a double attraction--pleasure +and profit; the price obtained for the skins well compensates for the +expenses. Not only do the rich enjoy the pursuit, but the poor, who +know how to set about it, are permitted to participate in it also. The +usual plan is for a poor Arab to arrange with one who is opulent for +the loan of his camel, horse, harness, and two-thirds of all the +necessary provisions. The borrower furnishes himself the remaining +third, and the produce of the chase is divided in the same +proportions. + +The ostrich, like many other of the feathered tribe, has a great deal +of self-conceit. On fine sunny days a tame bird may be seen strutting +backward and forward with great majesty, fanning itself with its +quivering, expanded wings, and at every turn seeming to admire its +grace, and the elegance of its shadow. Dr. Shaw says that, though +these birds appear tame and tractable to persons well-known to them, +they are often very fierce and violent toward strangers, whom they +would not only endeavor to push down by running furiously against +them, but they would peck at them with their beaks, and strike with +their feet; and so violent is the blow that can be given, that the +doctor saw a person whose abdomen had been ripped completely open by a +stroke from the claw of an ostrich. + +To have the stomach of an ostrich has become proverbial, and with good +reason; for this bird stands enviably forward in respect to its +wonderful powers of digestion, which are scarcely inferior to its +voracity. Its natural food consists entirely of vegetable substances, +especially grain; and the ostrich is a most destructive enemy to the +crops of the African farmers. But its sense of taste is so obtuse, +that scraps of leather, old nails, bits of tin, buttons, keys, coins, +and pebbles, are devoured with equal relish; in fact, nothing comes +amiss. But in this it doubtless follows an instinct: for these hard +bodies assist, like the gravel in the crops of our domestic poultry, +in grinding down and preparing for digestion its ordinary food. + +There was found by Cuvier in the stomach of an ostrich that died at +Paris, nearly a pound weight of stones, bits of iron and copper, and +pieces of money worn down by constant attrition against each other, as +well as by the action of the stomach itself. In the stomach of one of +these birds which belonged to the menagerie of George the Fourth, +there were contained some pieces of wood of considerable size, several +large nails, and a hen's egg entire and uninjured, perhaps taken as a +delicacy from its appetite becoming capricious. In the stomach of +another, beside several large cabbage-stalks, there were masses of +bricks of the size of a man's fist. Sparrman relates that he saw +ostriches at the Cape so tame that they went loose to and from the +farm, but they were so voracious as to swallow chickens whole, and +trample hens to death, that they might tear them in pieces afterward +and devour them; and one great barrel of a bird was obliged to be +killed on account of an awkward habit he had acquired of trampling +sheep to death. But perhaps the most striking proof of the prowess of +an ostrich in the eating way, is that afforded by Dr. Shaw, who saw +one swallow bullet after bullet as fast as they were pitched, +scorching hot, from the mould. + + + + +A DULL TOWN. + + +Putting up for the night in one of the chiefest towns of +Staffordshire, I find it to be by no means a lively town. In fact, it +is as dull and dead a town as any one could desire not to see. It +seems as if its whole population might be imprisoned in its Railway +Station. The Refreshment-room at that station is a vortex of +dissipation compared with the extinct town-inn, the Dodo, in the dull +High-street. + +Why High-street? Why not rather Low-street, Flat-street, +Low-spirited-street, Used-up-street? Where are the people who belong +to the High-street? Can they all be dispersed over the face of the +country, seeking the unfortunate Strolling Manager who decamped from +the mouldy little theatre last week, in the beginning of his season +(as his play-bills testify), repentantly resolved to bring him back, +and feed him, and be entertained? Or, can they all be gathered +to their fathers in the two old church-yards near to the +High-street--retirement into which church-yards appears to be a mere +ceremony, there is so very little life outside their confines, and +such small discernible difference between being buried alive in the +town, and buried dead in the town-tombs? Over the way, opposite to the +staring blank bow windows of the Dodo, are a little ironmonger's shop, +a little tailor's shop (with a picture of the fashions in the small +window and a bandy-legged baby on the pavement staring at it)--a +watchmaker's shop, where all the clocks and watches must be stopped, I +am sure, for they could never have the courage to go, with the town in +general, and the Dodo in particular, looking at them. Shade of Miss +Linwood, erst of Leicester-square, London, thou art welcome here, and +thy retreat is fitly chosen! I myself was one of the last visitors to +that awful storehouse of thy life's work, where an anchorite old man +and woman took my shilling with a solemn wonder, and conducting me to +a gloomy sepulchre of needlework dropping to pieces with dust and age, +and shrouded in twilight at high noon, left me there, chilled, +frightened, and alone. And now, in ghostly letters on all the dead +walls of this dead town, I read thy honored name, and find, that thy +Last Supper, worked in Berlin Wool, invites inspection as a powerful +excitement! + +Where are the people who are bidden with so much cry to this feast of +little wool? Where are they? Who are they? They are not the +bandy-legged baby studying the fashions in the tailor's window. They +are not the two earthy plow-men lounging outside the saddler's +shop, in the stiff square where the Town Hall stands, like a +brick-and-mortar private on parade. They are not the landlady of the +Dodo in the empty bar, whose eye had trouble in it and no welcome, +when I asked for dinner. They are not the turnkeys of the Town Jail, +looking out of the gateway in their uniforms, as if they had locked up +all the balance (as my American friends would say) of the inhabitants, +and could now rest a little. They are not the two dusty millers in the +white mill down by the river, where the great water-wheel goes heavily +round and round, like the monotonous days and nights in this forgotten +place. Then who are they? for there is no one else. No; this deponent +maketh oath and saith that there is no one else, save and except the +waiter at the Dodo, now laying the cloth. I have paced the streets, +and stared at the houses, and am come back to the blank bow-window of +the Dodo; and the town-clock strikes seven, and the reluctant echoes +seem to cry, "Don't wake us!" and the bandy-legged baby has gone home +to bed. + +If the Dodo were only a gregarious bird--if it had only some confused +idea of making a comfortable nest--I could hope to get through the +hours between this and bed-time, without being consumed by devouring +melancholy. But the Dodo's habits are all wrong. It provides me with a +trackless desert of sitting-room, with a chair for every day in the +year, a table for every month, and a waste of sideboard where a lonely +China vase pines in a corner for its mate long departed, and will +never make a match with the candlestick in the opposite corner if it +live till doomsday. The Dodo has nothing in the larder. Even now, I +behold the Boots returning with my sole in a piece of paper; and with +that portion of my dinner, the Boots, perceiving me at the blank +bow-window, slaps his leg as he comes across the road, pretending it +is something else. The Dodo excludes the outer air. When I mount up to +my bed-room, a smell of closeness and flue gets lazily up my nose like +sleepy snuff. The loose little bits of carpet writhe under my tread, +and take wormy shapes. I don't know the ridiculous man in the +looking-glass, beyond having met him once or twice in a +dish-cover--and I can never shave _him_ to-morrow morning! The Dodo is +narrow-minded as to towels; expects me to wash on a freemason's apron +without the trimming; when I ask for soap, gives me a stony-hearted +something white, with no more lather in it than the Elgin marbles. The +Dodo has seen better days, and possesses interminable stables at the +back--silent, grass-grown, broken-windowed, horseless. + +This mournful bird can fry a sole, however, which is much. Can cook a +steak, too, which is more. I wonder where it gets its Sherry! If I +were to send my pint of wine to some famous chemist to be analyzed, +what would it turn out to be made of? It tastes of pepper, sugar, +bitter almonds, vinegar, warm knives, any flat drink, and a little +brandy. Would it unman a Spanish exile by reminding him of his native +land at all? I think not. If there really be any townspeople out of +the church-yards, and if a caravan of them ever do dine, with a bottle +of wine per man, in this desert of the Dodo, it must make good for the +doctor next day! + +Where was the waiter born? How did he come here? Has he any hope of +getting away from here? Does he ever receive a letter, or take a ride +upon the railway, or see any thing but the Dodo? Perhaps he has seen +the Berlin Wool. He appears to have a silent sorrow on him, and it may +be that. He clears the table; draws the dingy curtains of the great +bow-window, which so unwillingly consent to meet, that they must be +pinned together; leaves me by the fire with my pint decanter, and a +little thin funnel-shaped wine-glass, and a plate of pale biscuits--in +themselves engendering desperation. + +No book, no newspapers! I left the Arabian Nights in the railway +carriage, and have nothing to read but Bradshaw, and "that way madness +lies." Remembering what prisoners and shipwrecked mariners have done +to exercise their minds in solitude, I repeat the multiplication +table, the pence table, and the shilling table: which are all the +tables I happen to know. What if I write something? The Dodo keeps no +pens but steel pens; and those I always stick through the paper, and +can turn to no other account. + +What am I to do? Even if I could have the bandy-legged baby knocked up +and brought here, I could offer him nothing but sherry, and that would +be the death of him. He would never hold up his head again, if he +touched it. I can't go to bed, because I have conceived a mortal +hatred for my bedroom; and I can't go away because there is no train +for my place of destination until morning. To burn the biscuits will +be but a fleeting joy; still it is a temporary relief, and here they +go on the fire! + + + + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.[B] + + [Footnote B: Continued from the June Number.] + + +CHAPTER X.--CONTINUED. + +Randal walked home slowly. It was a cold moonlit night. Young idlers +of his own years and rank passed him by, on their way from the haunts +of social pleasure. They were yet in the first fair holiday of life. +Life's holiday had gone from him forever. Graver men, in the various +callings of masculine labor--professions, trade, the state--passed him +also. Their steps might be sober, and their faces careworn; but no +step had the furtive stealth of his--no face the same contracted, +sinister, suspicious gloom. Only once, in a lonely thoroughfare, and +on the opposite side of the way, fell a foot-fall, and glanced an +eye, that seemed to betray a soul in sympathy with Randal Leslie's. + +And Randal, who had heeded none of the other passengers by the way, as +if instinctively, took note of this one. His nerves crisped at the +noiseless slide of that form, as it stalked on from lamp to lamp, +keeping pace with his own. He felt a sort of awe, as if he had beheld +the wraith of himself; and ever, as he glanced suspiciously at the +arranger, the stranger glanced at him. He was inexpressibly relieved +when the figure turned down another street and vanished. + +That man was a felon, as yet undetected. Between him and his kind +there stood but a thought--a vail air-spun, but impassable, as the +vail of the Image at Sais. + +And thus moved and thus looked Randal Leslie, a thing of dark and +secret mischief--within the pale of the law, but equally removed from +man by the vague consciousness that at his heart lay that which the +eyes of man would abhor and loathe. Solitary amidst the vast city, and +on through the machinery of Civilization, went the still spirit of +Intellectual Evil. + + +CHAPTER XI + +Early the next morning Randal received two notes--one from Frank, +written in great agitation, begging Randal to see and propitiate his +father, whom he feared he had grievously offended; and then running +off, rather incoherently, into protestations that his honor as well as +his affections were engaged irrevocably to Beatrice, and that her, at +least, he could never abandon. + +And the second note was from the Squire himself--short, and far less +cordial than usual--requesting Mr. Leslie to call on him. + +Randal dressed in haste, and went at once to Limmer's hotel. + +He found the Parson with Mr. Hazeldean, and endeavoring in vain to +soothe him. The Squire had not slept all night, and his appearance was +almost haggard. + +"Oho! Mr. young Leslie," said he, throwing himself back in his chair +as Randal entered--"I thought you were a friend--I thought you were +Frank's adviser. Explain, sir; explain." + +"Gently, my dear Mr. Hazeldean," said the Parson. "You do but surprise +and alarm Mr. Leslie. Tell him more distinctly what he has to +explain." + +SQUIRE.--"Did you or did you not tell me or Mrs. Hazeldean, that Frank +was in love with Violante Rickeybockey?" + +RANDAL (as in amaze).--"I! Never, sir! I feared, on the contrary, that +he was somewhat enamored of a very different person. I hinted at that +possibility. I could not do more, for I did not know how far Frank's +affections were seriously engaged. And indeed, sir, Mrs. Hazeldean, +though not encouraging the idea that your son could marry a foreigner +and a Roman Catholic, did not appear to consider such objections +insuperable, if Frank's happiness were really at stake." + +Here the poor Squire gave way to a burst of passion, that involved, in +one tempest, Frank, Randal, Harry herself, and the whole race of +foreigners, Roman Catholics, and women. While the Squire himself was +still incapable of hearing reason, the Parson, taking aside Randal, +convinced himself that the whole affair, so far as Randal was +concerned, had its origin in a very natural mistake; and that while +that young gentleman had been hinting at Beatrice, Mrs. Hazeldean had +been thinking of Violante. With considerable difficulty he succeeded +in conveying this explanation to the Squire, and somewhat appeasing +his wrath against Randal. And the Dissimulator, seizing his occasion, +then expressed so much grief and astonishment at learning that matters +had gone as far as the Parson informed him--that Frank had actually +proposed to Beatrice, been accepted, and engaged himself, before even +communicating with his father; he declared so earnestly, that he could +never conjure such evil--that he had had Frank's positive promise to +take no step without the sanction of his parents; he professed such +sympathy with the Squire's wounded feelings, and such regret at +Frank's involvement, that Mr. Hazeldean at last yielded up his honest +heart to his consoler--and gripping Randal's hand, said, "Well, well, +I wronged you--beg your pardon. What now is to be done?" + +"Why, you can not consent to this marriage--impossible," replied +Randal; "and we must hope therefore to influence Frank, by his sense +of duty." + +"That's it," said the Squire; "for I'll not give way. Pretty pass +things have come to, indeed! A widow too, I hear. Artful +jade--thought, no doubt, to catch a Hazeldean of Hazeldean. My estates +go to an outlandish Papistical set of mongrel brats! No, no, never!" + +"But," said the Parson, mildly, "perhaps we may be unjustly prejudiced +against this lady. We should have consented to Violante--why not to +her? She is of good family?" + +"Certainly," said Randal. + +"And good character?" + +Randal shook his head, and sighed. The Squire caught him roughly by +the arm--"Answer the Parson!" cried he, vehemently. + +"Indeed, sir, I can not speak ill of the character of a woman, who +may, too, be Frank's wife; and the world is ill-natured, and not to be +believed. But you can judge for yourself, my dear Mr. Hazeldean. Ask +your brother whether Madame di Negra is one whom he would advise his +nephew to marry." + +"My brother!" exclaimed the Squire furiously. "Consult my distant +brother on the affairs of my own son!" + +"He is a man of the world," put in Randal. + +"And of feeling and honor," said the Parson, "and, perhaps, through +him, we may be enabled to enlighten Frank, and save him from what +appears to be the snare of an artful woman." + +"Meanwhile," said Randal, "I will seek Frank, and do my best with him. +Let me go now--I will return in an hour or so." + +"I will accompany you," said the Parson. + +"Nay, pardon me, but I think we two young men can talk more openly +without a third person, even so wise and kind as you." + +"Let Randal go," growled the Squire. And Randal went. + +He spent some time with Frank, and the reader will easily divine how +that time was employed. As he left Frank's lodgings, he found himself +suddenly seized by the Squire himself. + +"I was too impatient to stay at home and listen to the Parson's +prosing," said Mr. Hazeldean, nervously. "I have shaken Dale off. Tell +me what has passed. Oh! don't fear--I'm a man, and can bear the +worst." + +Randal drew the Squire's arm within his, and led him into the adjacent +park. + +"My dear sir," said he, sorrowfully, "this is very confidential what I +am about to say. I must repeat it to you, because without such +confidence, I see not how to advise you on the proper course to take. +But if I betray Frank, it is for his good, and to his own +father:--only do not tell him. He would never forgive me--it would for +ever destroy my influence over him." + +"Go on, go on," gasped the Squire; "speak out. I'll never tell the +ungrateful boy that I learned his secrets from another." + +"Then," said Randal, "the secret of his entanglement with Madame di +Negra is simply this--he found her in debt--nay, on the point of being +arrested--" + +"Debt!--arrested! Jezabel!" + +"And in paying the debt himself, and saving her from arrest, he +conferred on her the obligation which no woman of honor could accept +save from her affianced husband. Poor Frank!--if sadly taken in, still +we must pity and forgive him!" + +Suddenly, to Randal's great surprise, the Squire's whole face +brightened up. + +"I see, I see!" he exclaimed, slapping his thigh. "I have it--I have +it. 'Tis an affair of money! I can buy her off. If she took money from +him, the mercenary, painted baggage! why, then, she'll take it from +me. I don't care what it costs--half my fortune--all! I'd be content +never to see Hazeldean Hall again, if I could save my son, my own son, +from disgrace and misery; for miserable he will be when he knows he +has broken my heart and his mother's. And for a creature like that! My +boy, a thousand hearty thanks to you. Where does the wretch live? I'll +go to her at once." And as he spoke, the Squire actually pulled out +his pocket-book and began turning over and counting the bank-notes in +it. + +Randal at first tried to combat this bold resolution on the part of +the Squire; but Mr. Hazeldean had seized on it with all the obstinacy +of his straightforward English mind. He cut Randal's persuasive +eloquence off in the midst. + +"Don't waste your breath. I've settled it; and if you don't tell me +where she lives, 'tis easily found out, I suppose." + +Randal mused a moment. "After all," thought he, "why not? He will be +sure so to speak as to enlist her pride against himself, and to +irritate Frank to the utmost. Let him go." + +Accordingly, he gave the information required; and, insisting with +great earnestness on the Squire's promise, not to mention to Madam di +Negra his knowledge of Frank's pecuniary aid (for that would betray +Randal as the informant); and satisfying himself as he best might with +the Squire's prompt assurance, "that he knew how to settle matters, +without saying why or wherefore, as long as he opened his purse wide +enough," he accompanied Mr. Hazeldean back into the streets, and there +left him--fixing an hour in the evening for an interview at Limmer's, +and hinting that it would be best to have that interview without the +presence of the Parson. "Excellent good man," said Randal, "but not +with sufficient knowledge of the world for affairs of this kind, which +_you_ understand so well." + +"I should think so," quoth the Squire, who had quite recovered his +good-humor. "And the Parson is as soft as buttermilk. We must be firm +here--firm, sir." And the Squire struck the end of his stick on the +pavement, nodded to Randal, and went on to Mayfair as sturdily and as +confidently as if to purchase a prize cow at a cattle-show. + + +CHAPTER XII + +"Bring the light nearer," said John Burley--"nearer still." + +Leonard obeyed, and placed the candle on a little table by the sick +man's bedside. + +Burley's mind was partially wandering; but there was method in his +madness. Horace Walpole said that "his stomach would survive all the +rest of him." That which in Burley survived the last was his quaint +wild genius. He looked wistfully at the still flame of the candle. "It +lives ever in the air!" said he. + +"What lives ever?" + +Burley's voice swelled--"Light!" He turned from Leonard, and again +contemplated the little flame. "In the fixed star, in the +Will-o'-the-wisp, in the great sun that illumes half a world, or the +farthing rushlight by which the ragged student strains his eyes--still +the same flower of the elements. Light in the universe, thought in the +soul--ay--ay--Go on with the simile. My head swims. Extinguish the +light! You can not; fool, it vanishes from your eye, but it is still +in the space. Worlds must perish, suns shrivel up, matter and spirit +both fall into nothingness, before the combinations whose union makes +that little flame, which the breath of a babe can restore to darkness, +shall lose the power to unite into light once more. Lose the +power!--no, the _necessity_:--it is the one _Must_ in creation. Ay, +ay, very dark riddles grow clear now--now when I could not cast up an +addition sum in the baker's bill! What wise man denied that two and +two made four? Do they not make four? I can't answer him. But I could +answer a question that some wise men have contrived to make much +knottier." He smiled softly, and turned his face for some minutes to +the wall. + +This was the second night on which Leonard had watched by his bedside, +and Burley's state had grown rapidly worse. He could not last many +days, perhaps many hours. But he had evinced an emotion beyond mere +delight at seeing Leonard again. He had since then been calmer, more +himself. "I feared I might have ruined you by my bad example," he +said, with a touch of humor that became pathos as he added, "That idea +preyed on me." + +"No, no; you did me great good." + +"Say that--say it often," said Burley, earnestly; "it makes my heart +feel so light." + +He had listened to Leonard's story with deep interest, and was fond of +talking to him of little Helen. He detected the secret at the young +man's heart, and cheered the hopes that lay there, amidst fears and +sorrows. Burley never talked seriously of his repentance; it was not +in his nature to talk seriously of the things which he felt solemnly. +But his high animal spirits were quenched with the animal power that +fed them. Now, we go out of our sensual existence only when we are no +longer enthralled by the Present, in which the senses have their +realm. The sensual being vanishes when we are in the Past or the +Future. The Present was gone from Burley; he could no more be its +slave and its king. + +It was most touching to see how the inner character of this man +unfolded itself, as the leaves of the outer character fell off and +withered--a character no one would have guessed in him--an inherent +refinement that was almost womanly; and he had all a woman's +abnegation of self. He took the cares lavished on him so meekly. As +the features of the old man return in the stillness of death to the +aspect of youth--the lines effaced, the wrinkles gone--so, in seeing +Burley now, you saw what he had been in his spring of promise. But he +himself saw only what he had failed to be--powers squandered--life +wasted. "I once beheld," he said, "a ship in a storm. It was a cloudy, +fitful day, and I could see the ship with all its masts fighting hard +for life and for death. Then came night, dark as pitch, and I could +only guess that the ship fought on. Toward the dawn the stars grew +visible, and once more I saw the ship--it was a wreck--it went down +just as the stars shone forth." + +When he had made that allusion to himself, he sate very still for some +time, then he spread out his wasted hands, and gazed on them, and on +his shrunken limbs. "Good," said he, laughing low; "these hands were +too large and rude for handling the delicate webs of my own mechanism, +and these strong limbs ran away with me. If I had been a sickly, puny +fellow, perhaps my mind would have had fair play. There was too much +of brute body here! Look at this hand now! you can see the light +through it! Good, good!" + +Now, that evening, until he had retired to bed, Burley had been +unusually cheerful, and had talked with much of his old eloquence, if +with little of his old humor. Among other matters, he had spoken with +considerable interest of some poems and other papers in manuscript +which had been left in the house by a former lodger, and which, the +reader may remember, that Mrs. Goodyer had urged him in vain to read, +in his last visit to her cottage. But _then_ he had her husband Jacob +to chat with, and the spirit-bottle to finish, and the wild craving +for excitement plucked his thoughts back to his London revels. Now +poor Jacob was dead, and it was not brandy that the sick man drank +from the widow's cruise. And London lay afar amidst its fogs, like a +world resolved back into nebulæ. So to please his hostess, and +distract his own solitary thoughts, he had condescended (just before +Leonard found him out) to peruse the memorials of a life obscure to +the world, and new to his own experience of coarse joys and woes. "I +have been making a romance, to amuse myself, from their contents," +said he. "They may be of use to you, brother author. I have told Mrs. +Goodyer to place them in your room. Among those papers is a journal--a +woman's journal; it moved me greatly. A man gets into another world, +strange to him as the orb of Sirius, if he can transport himself into +the centre of a woman's heart, and see the life there, so wholly +unlike our own. Things of moment to us, to it so trivial; things +trifling to us, to it so vast. There was this journal--in its dates +reminding me of stormy events of my own existence, and grand doings in +the world's. And those dates there, chronicling but the mysterious +unrevealed record of some obscure loving heart! And in that chronicle, +O, Sir Poet, there was as much genius, vigor of thought, vitality of +being, poured and wasted, as ever kind friend will say was lavished on +the rude outer world by big John Burley! Genius, genius; are we all +alike, then, save when we leash ourselves to some matter-of-fact +material, and float over the roaring seas on a wooden plank or a +herring-tub?" And after he had uttered that cry of a secret anguish, +John Burley had begun to show symptoms of growing fever and disturbed +brain; and when they had got him into bed, he lay there muttering to +himself, until toward midnight he had asked Leonard to bring the light +nearer to him. + +So now he again was quiet--with his face turned toward the wall; and +Leonard stood by the bedside sorrowfully, and Mrs. Goodyer, who did +not heed Burley's talk, and thought only of his physical state, was +dipping cloths into iced water to apply to his forehead. But as she +approached with these, and addressed him soothingly, Burley raised +himself on his arm, and waved aside the bandages. "I do not need +them," said he, in a collected voice. "I am better now. I and that +pleasant light understand one another, and I believe all it tells me. +Pooh, pooh, I do not rave." He looked so smilingly and so kindly into +her face, that the poor woman, who loved him as her own son, fairly +burst into tears. He drew her toward him and kissed her forehead. + +"Peace, old fool," said he, fondly. "You shall tell anglers hereafter +how John Burley came to fish for the one-eyed perch which he never +caught: and how, when he gave it up at the last, his baits all gone, +and the line broken among the weeds, you comforted the baffled man. +There are many good fellows yet in the world who will like to know +that poor Burley did not die on a dunghill. Kiss me! Come, boy, you +too. Now, God bless you, I should like to sleep." His cheeks were wet +with the tears of both his listeners, and there was a moisture in his +own eyes, which, nevertheless, beamed bright through the moisture. + +He laid himself down again, and the old woman would have withdrawn the +light. He moved uneasily. "Not that," he murmured--"light to the +last!" And putting forth his wan hand, he drew aside the curtain so +that the light might fall full on his face. In a few minutes he was +asleep, breathing calmly and regularly as an infant. + +The old woman wiped her eyes, and drew Leonard softly into the +adjoining room, in which a bed had been made up for him. He had not +left the house since he had entered it with Dr. Morgan. "You are +young, sir," said she, with kindness, "and the young want sleep. Lie +down a bit: I will call you when he wakes." + +"No, I could not sleep," said Leonard. "I will watch for you." + +The old woman shook her head. "I must see the last of him, sir; but I +know he will be angry when his eyes open on me, for he has grown very +thoughtful of others." + +"Ah, if he had but been as thoughtful of himself!" murmured Leonard; +and he seated himself by the table, on which, as he leaned his elbow, +he dislodged some papers placed there. They fell to the ground with a +dumb, moaning, sighing sound. + +"What is that?" said he, starting. + +The old woman picked up the manuscripts and smoothed them carefully. + +"Ah, sir, he bade me place these papers here. He thought they might +keep you from fretting about him, in case you would sit up and wake. +And he had a thought of me, too; for I have so pined to find out the +poor young lady, who left them years ago. She was almost as dear to me +as he is; dearer perhaps until now--when--when--I am about to lose +him." + +Leonard turned from the papers, without a glance at their contents: +they had no interest for him at such a moment. + +The hostess went on-- + +"Perhaps she is gone to heaven before him: she did not look like one +long for this world. She left us so suddenly. Many things of hers +besides these papers are still here; but I keep them aired and dusted, +and strew lavender over them, in case she ever comes for them again. +You never heard tell of her, did you, sir?" she added, with great +simplicity, and dropping a half courtsey. + +"Of her?--of whom?" + +"Did not Mr. John tell you her name--dear--dear?--Mrs. Bertram." + +Leonard started;--the very name so impressed upon his memory by Harley +L'Estrange. + +"Bertram!" he repeated. "Are you sure?" + +"O yes, sir! And many years after she had left us, and we had heard no +more of her, there came a packet addressed to her here, from over sea, +sir. We took it in, and kept it, and John would break the seal, to +know if it would tell us any thing about her; but it was all in a +foreign language like--we could not read a word." + +"Have you the packet? Pray, show it to me. It may be of the greatest +value. To-morrow will do--I can not think of that just now. Poor +Burley!" + +Leonard's manner indicated that he wished to talk no more, and to be +alone. So Mrs. Goodyer left him, and stole back to Burley's room on +tiptoe. + +The young man remained in deep reverie for some moments. "Light," he +murmured. "How often "Light" is the last word of those round whom the +shades are gathering!"[C] He moved, and straight on his view through +the cottage lattice there streamed light, indeed--not the miserable +ray lit by a human hand--but the still and holy effulgence of a +moonlit heaven. It lay broad upon the humble floors--pierced across +the threshold of the death-chamber, and halted clear amidst its +shadows. + + [Footnote C: Every one remembers that Goethe's last words + are said to have been, "More Light;" and perhaps what has + occurred in the text may be supposed a plagiarism from those + words. But, in fact, nothing is more common than the craving + and demand for light a little before death. Let any consult + his own sad experience in the last moments of those whose + gradual close he has watched and tended. What more frequent + than a prayer to open the shutters and let in the sun? What + complaint more repeated, and more touching, than "that it is + growing dark?" I once knew a sufferer--who did not then seem + in immediate danger--suddenly order the sick-room to be lit + up as if for a gala. When this was told to the physician, he + said gravely, "No worse sign."] + +Leonard stood motionless, his eye following the silvery silent +splendor. + +"And," he said inly--"and does this large erring nature, marred by its +genial faults--this soul which should have filled a land, as yon orb +the room, with a light that linked earth to heaven--does it pass away +into the dark, and leave not a ray behind? Nay, if the elements of +light are ever in the space, and when the flame goes out, return to +the vital air--so thought, once kindled, lives for ever around and +about us, a part of our breathing atmosphere. Many a thinker, many a +poet, may yet illume the world, from the thoughts which yon genius, +that will have no name, gave forth--to wander through air, and +recombine again in some new form of light." + +Thus he went on in vague speculations, seeking, as youth enamored of +fame seeks too fondly, to prove that mind never works, however +erratically, in vain--and to retain yet, as an influence upon earth, +the soul about to soar far beyond the atmosphere where the elements +that make fame abide. Not thus had the dying man interpreted the +endurance of light and thought. + +Suddenly, in the midst of his reverie, a low cry broke on his ear. He +shuddered as he heard, and hastened forebodingly into the adjoining +room. The old woman was kneeling by the bedside, and chafing Burley's +hand--eagerly looking into his face. A glance sufficed to Leonard. All +was over. Burley had died in sleep--calmly, and without a groan. + +The eyes were half open, with that look of inexpressible softness +which death sometimes leaves; and still they were turned toward the +light; and the light burned clear. Leonard closed tenderly the heavy +lids; and, as he covered the face, the lips smiled a serene farewell. + + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +THE LITTLE GRAY GOSSIP. + + +Soon after Cousin Con's marriage, we were invited to stay for a few +weeks with the newly-married couple, during the festive winter season; +so away we went with merry hearts, the clear frosty air and pleasant +prospect before us invigorating our spirits, as we took our places +inside the good old mail-coach, which passed through the town of +P----, where Cousin Con resided, for there were no railways then. +Never was there a kinder or more genial soul than Cousin Con; and +David Danvers, the good-man, as she laughingly called him, was, if +possible, kinder and more genial still. They were surrounded by +substantial comforts, and delighted to see their friends in a +sociable, easy way, and to make them snug and cozy, our arrival being +the signal for a succession of such convivialities. Very mirthful and +enjoyable were these evenings, for Con's presence always shed radiant +sunshine, and David's honest broad face beamed upon her with +affectionate pride. During the days of their courtship at our house, +they had perhaps indulged in billing and cooing a little too freely +when in company with others, for sober, middle-aged lovers like +themselves; thereby lying open to animadversions from prim spinsters, +who wondered that Miss Constance and Mr. Danvers made themselves so +ridiculous. + +But now all this nonsense had sobered down, and nothing could be +detected beyond a sly glance, or a squeeze of the hand now and then; +yet we often quizzed them about by-gones, and declared that engaged +pairs were insufferable--we could always find them out among a +hundred! + +"I'll bet you any thing you like," cried Cousin Con, with a +good-humored laugh, "that among our guests coming this evening" (there +was to be a tea-junketing), "you'll not be able to point out the +engaged couple--for there will be only one such present--though plenty +of lads and lasses that would like to be so happily situated! But the +couple I allude too are real turtle-doves, and yet I defy you to find +them out!" + +"Done, Cousin Con!" we exclaimed; "and what shall we wager?" + +"Gloves! gloves to be sure!" cried David. "Ladies always wager gloves; +though I can tell you, my Con is on the safe side now;" and David +rubbed his hands, delighted with the joke; and _we_ already, in +perspective, beheld our glove-box enriched with half-a-dozen pair of +snowy French sevens! + +Never had we felt more interested in watching the arrivals and +movements of strangers, than on this evening, for our honor was +concerned, to detect the lovers, and raise the vail. Papas and mammas, +and masters and misses, came trooping in; old ladies, and middle-aged; +old gentlemen, and middle-aged--until the number amounted to about +thirty, and Cousin Con's drawing-rooms were comfortably filled. We +closely scrutinized all the young folks, and so intently but covertly +watched their proceedings, that we could have revealed several +innocent flirtations, but nothing appeared that could lead us to the +turtle-doves and their engagement. At length, we really had hopes, and +ensconced ourselves in a corner, to observe the more cautiously a +tall, beautiful girl, whose eyes incessantly turned toward the door of +the apartment; while each time it opened to admit any one, she sighed +and looked disappointed, as if that one was not the one she yearned to +see. We were deep in a reverie, conjuring up a romance of which she +was the heroine, when a little lady, habited in gray, whose age might +average threescore, unceremoniously seated herself beside us, and +immediately commenced a conversation, by asking if we were admiring +pretty Annie Mortimer--following the direction of our looks. On +receiving a reply in the affirmative, she continued: "Ah, she's a +good, affectionate girl; a great favorite of mine is sweet Annie +Mortimer." + +"Watching for her lover, no doubt?" we ventured to say, hoping to gain +the desired information, and thinking of our white kid-gloves. "She is +an engaged young lady?" + +"Engaged! engaged!" cried the little animated lady: "no indeed. The +fates forbid! Annie Mortimer is not engaged." The expression of the +little lady's countenance at our bare supposition of so natural a +fact, amounted almost to the ludicrous; and we with some difficulty +articulated a serious rejoinder, disavowing all previous knowledge, +and therefore erring through ignorance. We had now time to examine our +new acquaintance more critically. As we have already stated, she was +habited in gray; but not only was her attire gray, but she was +literally gray all over: gray hairs, braided in a peculiar obsolete +fashion, and quite uncovered; gray gloves; gray shoes; and, above all, +gray eyes, soft, large, and peculiarly sad in expression, yet +beautiful eyes, redeeming the gray, monotonous countenance from +absolute plainness. Mary Queen of Scots, we are told, had gray eyes; +and even she, poor lady, owned not more speaking or history-telling +orbs than did this little unknown gossip in gray. But our attention +was diverted from the contemplation, by the entrance of another actor +on the stage, to whom Annie Mortimer darted forward with an +exclamation of delight and welcome. The new comer was a slender, +elderly gentleman, whose white hairs, pale face, and benignant +expression presented nothing remarkable in their aspect, beyond a +certain air of elegance and refinement, which characterized the whole +outward man. + +"That is a charming-looking old gentleman," said we to the gray lady; +"is he Annie's father?" + +"Her father! Oh dear, no! That gentleman is a bachelor; but he is +Annie's guardian, and has supplied the place of a father to her, for +poor Annie is an orphan." + +"Oh!" we exclaimed, and there was a great deal of meaning in our oh! +for had we not read and heard of youthful wards falling in love with +their guardians? and might not the fair Annie's taste incline this +way? The little gray lady understood our thoughts, for she smiled, but +said nothing; and while we were absorbed with Annie and her supposed +antiquated lover, she glided into the circle, and presently we beheld +Annie's guardian, with Annie leaning on his arm, exchange a few words +with her in an under tone, as she passed them to an inner room. + +"Who is that pleasing-looking old gentleman?" said we to our hostess; +"and what is the name of the lady in gray, who went away just as you +came up? That is Annie Mortimer we know, and we know also that she +isn't engaged!" + +Cousin Con laughed heartily as she replied: "That nice old gentleman +is Mr. Worthington, our poor curate; and a poor curate he is likely +ever to continue, so far as we can see. The lady in gray we call our +'little gray gossip,' and a darling she is! As to Annie, you seem to +know all about her. I suppose little Bessie has been lauding her up to +the skies." + +"Who is little Bessie?" we inquired. + +"Little Bessie is your little gray gossip: we never call her any thing +but Bessie to her face; she is a harmless little old maid. But come +this way: Bessie is going to sing, for they won't let her rest till +she complies; and Bessie singing, and Bessie talking, are widely +different creatures." + +Widely different indeed! Could this be the little gray lady seated at +the piano, and making it speak? while her thrilling tones, as she sang +of 'days gone by,' went straight to each listener's heart, she herself +looking ten years younger! When the song was over, I observed Mr. +Worthington, with Annie still resting on his arm, in a corner of the +apartment, shaded by a projecting piece of furniture; and I also noted +the tear on his furrowed cheek, which he hastily brushed away, and +stooped to answer some remark of Annie's, who, with fond affection, +had evidently observed it too, endeavoring to dispel the painful +illusion which remembrances of days gone by occasioned. + +We at length found the company separating, and our wager still +unredeemed. The last to depart was Mr. Worthington, escorting Annie +Mortimer and little Bessie, whom he shawled most tenderly, no doubt +because she was a poor forlorn little old maid, and sang so sweetly. + +The next morning at breakfast, Cousin Con attacked us, supported by +Mr. Danvers, both demanding a solution of the mystery, or the scented +sevens! After a vast deal of laughing, talking, and discussion, we +were obliged to confess ourselves beaten, for there had been an +engaged couple present on the previous evening, and we had failed to +discover them. No; it was not Annie Mortimer; she had no lover. No; it +was not the Misses Halliday, or the Masters Burton: they had flirted +and danced, and danced and flirted indiscriminately; but as to serious +engagements--pooh! pooh! + +Who would have conjectured the romance of reality that was now +divulged? and how could we have been so stupid as not to have read it +at a glance? These contradictory exclamations, as is usual in such +cases, ensued when the riddle was unfolded. It is so easy to be wise +when we have learned the wisdom. Yet we cheerfully lost our wager, and +would have lost a hundred such, for the sake of hearing a tale so far +removed from matter-of-fact; proving also that enduring faith and +affection are not so fabulous as philosophers often pronounce them to +be. + +Bessie Prudholm was nearly related to David Danvers, and she had been +the only child of a talented but improvident father, who, after a +short, brilliant career, as a public singer, suddenly sank into +obscurity and neglect, from the total loss of his vocal powers, +brought on by a violent rheumatic cold and lasting prostration of +strength. At this juncture, Bessie had nearly attained her twentieth +year, and was still in mourning for an excellent mother, by whom she +had been tenderly and carefully brought up. From luxury and indulgence +the descent to poverty and privation was swift. Bessie, indeed, +inherited a very small income in right of her deceased parent, +sufficient for her own wants, and even comforts, but totally +inadequate to meet the thousand demands, caprices, and fancies of her +ailing and exigent father. However, for five years she battled bravely +with adversity, eking out their scanty means by her exertions--though, +from her father's helpless condition, and the constant and unremitting +attention he required, she was in a great measure debarred from +applying her efforts advantageously. The poor, dying man, in his days +of health, had contributed to the enjoyment of the affluent, and in +turn been courted by them; but now, forgotten and despised, he +bitterly reviled the heartless world, whose hollow meed of applause it +had formerly been the sole aim of his existence to secure. Wealth +became to his disordered imagination the desideratum of existence, and +he attached inordinate value to it, in proportion as he felt the +bitter stings of comparative penury. To guard his only child--whom he +certainly loved better than any thing else in the world, save +himself--from this dreaded evil, the misguided man, during his latter +days, extracted from her an inviolable assurance, never to become the +wife of any individual who could not settle upon her, subject to no +contingencies or chances, the sum of at least one thousand pounds. + +Bessie, who was fancy-free, and a lively-spirited girl, by no means +relished the slights and privations which poverty entails. She +therefore willingly became bound by this solemn promise; and when her +father breathed his last, declaring that she had made his mind +comparatively easy, little Bessie half smiled, even in the midst of +her deep and natural sorrow, to think how small and easy a concession +her poor father had exacted, when her own opinions and views so +perfectly coincided with his. The orphan girl took up her abode with +the mother of David Danvers, and continued to reside with that worthy +lady until the latter's decease. It was beneath the roof of Mrs. +Danvers that Bessie first became acquainted with Mr. Worthington--that +acquaintance speedily ripening into a mutual and sincere attachment. +He was poor and patronless then, as he had continued ever since, with +slender likelihood of ever possessing £100 of his own, much less £1000 +to settle on a wife. It is true, that in the chances and changes of +this mortal life, Paul Worthington might succeed to a fine +inheritance; but there were many lives betwixt him and it, and Paul +was not the one to desire happiness at another's expense, nor was +sweet little Bessie either. + +Yet was Paul Worthington rich in one inestimable possession, such as +money can not purchase--even in the love of a pure devoted heart, +which for him, and for his dear sake, bravely endured the life-long +loneliness and isolation which their peculiar circumstances induced. +Paul did not see Bessie grow old and gray: in his eyes, she never +changed; she was to him still beautiful, graceful, and enchanting; she +was his betrothed, and he came forth into the world, from his books, +and his arduous clerical and parochial duties, to gaze at intervals +into her soft eyes, to press her tiny hand, to whisper a fond word, +and then to return to his lonely home, like a second Josiah Cargill, +to try and find in severe study oblivion of sorrow. + +Annie Mortimer had been sent to him as a ministering angel: she was +the orphan and penniless daughter of Mr. Worthington's dearest friend +and former college-chum, and she had come to find a shelter beneath +the humble roof of the pious guardian, to whose earthly care she had +been solemnly bequeathed. Paul's curacy was not many miles distant +from the town where Bessie had fixed her resting-place; and it was +generally surmised by the select few who were in the secret of little +Bessie's history, that she regarded Annie Mortimer with especial favor +and affection, from the fact that Annie enjoyed the privilege of +solacing and cheering Paul Worthington's declining years. Each spoke +of her as a dear adopted daughter, and Annie equally returned the +affection of both. + +Poor solitaries! what long anxious years they had known, separated by +circumstance, yet knit together in the bonds of enduring love! + +I pictured them at festive winter seasons, at their humble solitary +boards; and in summer prime, when song-birds and bright perfumed +flowers call lovers forth into the sunshine rejoicingly. They had not +dared to rejoice during their long engagement; yet Bessie was a +sociable creature, and did not mope or shut herself up, but led a life +of active usefulness, and was a general favorite amongst all classes. +They had never contemplated the possibility of evading Bessie's solemn +promise to her dying father; to their tender consciences, that fatal +promise was as binding and stringent, as if the gulf of marriage or +conventual vows yawned betwixt them. We had been inclined to indulge +some mirth at the expense of the little gray gossip, when she first +presented herself to our notice; but now we regarded her as an object +of interest, surrounded by a halo of romance, fully shared in by her +charming, venerable lover. And this was good Cousin Con's elucidation +of the riddle, which she narrated with many digressions, and with +animated smiles, to conceal tears of sympathy. Paul Worthington and +little Bessy did not like their history to be discussed by the rising +frivolous generation; it was so unworldly, so sacred, and they looked +forward with humble hope so soon to be united for ever in the better +land, that it pained and distressed them to be made a topic of +conversation. + +Were we relating fiction, it would be easy to bring this antiquated +pair together, even at the eleventh hour; love and constancy making up +for the absence of one sweet ingredient, evanescent, yet +beautiful--the ingredient, we mean, of youth. But as this is a romance +of reality, we are fain to divulge facts as they actually occurred, +and as we heard them from authentic sources. Paul and Bessie, divided +in their lives, repose side by side in the old church-yard. He dropped +off first, and Bessie doffed her gray for sombre habiliments of darker +hue. Nor did she long remain behind, loving little soul! leaving her +property to Annie Mortimer, and warning her against long engagements. + +The last time we heard of Annie, she was the happy wife of an +excellent man, who, fully coinciding in the opinion of the little gray +gossip, protested strenuously against more than six weeks' courtship, +and carried his point triumphantly. + + + + +THE MOURNER AND THE COMFORTER. + + +It was a lovely day in the month of August, and the sun, which had +shone with undiminished splendor from the moment of dawn, was now +slowly declining, with that rich and prolonged glow with which it +seems especially to linger around those scenes where it seldomest +finds admittance. For it was a valley in the north of Scotland into +which its light was streaming, and many a craggy top and rugged side, +rarely seen without their cap of clouds or shroud of mist, were now +throwing their mellow-tinted forms, clear and soft, into a lake of +unusual stillness. High above the lake, and commanding a full view of +that and of the surrounding hills, stood one of those countryfied +hotels not unfrequently met with on a tourist's route, formerly only +designed for the lonely traveler or weary huntsman, but which now, +with the view to accommodate the swarm of visitors which every summer +increased, had gone on stretching its cords and enlarging its +boundaries, till the original tenement looked merely like the seed +from which the rest had sprung. Nor, even under these circumstances, +did the house admit of much of the luxury of privacy; for, though the +dormitories lay thick and close along the narrow corridor, all +accommodation for the day was limited to two large and long rooms, one +above the other, which fronted the lake. Of these, the lower one was +given up to pedestrian travelers--the sturdy, sunburnt shooters of the +moors, who arrive with weary limbs and voracious appetites, and +question no accommodation which gives them food and shelter; while the +upper one was the resort of ladies and family parties, and was +furnished with a low balcony, now covered with a rough awning. + +Both these rooms, on the day we mention, were filled with numerous +guests. Touring was at its height, and shooting had begun; and, while +a party of way-worn young men, coarsely clad and thickly shod, were +lying on the benches, or lolling out of the windows of the lower +apartment, a number of traveling parties were clustered in distinct +groups in the room above; some lingering round their tea-tables, while +others sat on the balcony, and seemed attentively watching the +evolutions of a small boat, the sole object on the lake before them. +It is pleasant to watch the actions, however insignificant they may +be, of a distant group; to see the hand obey without hearing the voice +that has bidden; to guess at their inward motives by their outward +movements; to make theories of their intentions, and try to follow +them out in their actions; and, as at a pantomime, to tell the drift +of the piece by dumb show alone. And it is an idle practice, too, and +one especially made for the weary or the listless traveler, giving +them amusement without thought, and occupation without trouble; for +people who have had their powers of attention fatigued by incessant +exertion, or weakened by constant novelty, are glad to settle it upon +the merest trifle at last. So the loungers on the balcony increased, +and the little boat became a centre of general interest to those who +apparently had not had one sympathy in common before. So calm and +gliding was its motion, so refreshing the gentle air which played +round it, that many an eye from the shore envied the party who were +seated in it. These consisted of three individuals, two large figures +and a little one. + +"It is Captain H---- and his little boy," said one voice, breaking +silence; "they arrived here yesterday." + +"They'll be going to see the great waterfall," said another. + +"They have best make haste about it; for they have a mile to walk +up-hill when they land," said a third. + +"Rather they than I," rejoined a languid fourth; and again there was a +pause. Meanwhile the boat party seemed to be thinking little about the +waterfall, or the need for expedition. For a few minutes the +quick-glancing play of the oars was seen, and then they ceased again; +and now an arm was stretched out toward some distant object in the +landscape, as if asking a question; and then the little fellow pointed +here and there, as if asking many questions at once, and, in short, +the conjectures on the balcony were all thrown out. But now the oars +had rested longer than usual, and a figure rose and stooped, and +seemed occupied with something at the bottom of the boat. What were +they about? They were surely not going to fish at this time of +evening? No, they were not; for slowly a mast was raised, and a sail +unfurled, which at first hung flapping, as if uncertain which side the +wind would take it, and then gently swelled out to its full +dimensions, and seemed too large a wing for so tiny a body. A slight +air had arisen; the long reflected lines of colors, which every object +on the shore dripped, as it were, into the lake, were gently stirred +with a quivering motion; every soft strip of liquid tint broke +gradually into a jagged and serrated edge; colors were mingled, forms +were confused; the mountains, which lay in undiminished brightness +above, seemed by some invisible agency to be losing their second +selves from beneath them; long, cold white lines rose apparently from +below, and spread radiating over all the liquid picture: in a few +minutes, the lake lay one vast sheet of bright silver, and half the +landscape was gone. The boat was no longer in the same element: +before, it had floated in a soft, transparent ether; now, it glided +upon a plain of ice. + +"I wish they had stuck to their oars," said the full, deep voice of an +elderly gentleman; "hoisting a sail on these lakes is very much like +trusting to luck in life--it may go on all right for a while, and save +you much trouble, but you are never sure that it won't give you the +slip, and that when you are least prepared." + +"No danger in the world, sir," said a young fop standing by, who knew +as little about boating on Scotch lakes as he did of most things any +where else. Meanwhile, the air had become chill, the sun had sunk +behind the hills, and the boating party, tired, apparently, of their +monotonous amusement, turned the boat's head toward shore. For some +minutes they advanced with fuller and fuller bulging sail in the +direction they sought, when suddenly the breeze seemed not so much to +change as to be met by another and stronger current of air, which came +pouring through the valley with a howling sound, and then, bursting on +the lake, drove its waters in a furrow before it. The little boat +started, and swerved like a frightened creature; and the sail, +distended to its utmost, cowered down to the water's edge. + +"Good God! why don't they lower that sail? Down with it! down with +it!" shouted the same deep voice from the balcony, regardless of the +impossibility of being heard. But the admonition was needless; the +boatman, with quick, eager motions, was trying to lower it. Still it +bent, fuller and fuller, lower and lower. The man evidently strained +with desperate strength, defeating, perhaps, with the clumsiness of +anxiety, the end in view; when, too impatient, apparently, to witness +their urgent peril without lending his aid, the figure of Captain +H---- rose up; in one instant a piercing scream was borne faintly to +shore--the boat whelmed over, and all were in the water. + +For a few dreadful seconds nothing was seen of the unhappy creatures; +then a cap floated, and then two struggling figures rose to the +surface. One was evidently the child, for his cap was off, and his +fair hair was seen; the other head was covered. This latter buffeted +the waters with all the violence of a helpless, drowning man; then he +threw his arms above his head, sank, and rose no more. The boy +struggled less and less, and seemed dead to all resistance before he +sank, too. The boat floated keel upward, almost within reach of the +sufferers; and now that the waters had closed over them, the third +figure was observed, for the first time, at a considerable distance, +slowly and laboriously swimming toward it, and in a few moments two +arms were flung over it, and there he hung. It was one of those scenes +which the heart quails to look on, yet which chains the spectator +to the spot. The whole had passed in less than a minute: +fear--despair--agony--and death, had been pressed into one of those +short minutes, of which so many pass without our knowing how. It is +well. Idleness, vanity, or vice--all that dismisses thought--may dally +with time, but the briefest space is too long for that excess of +consciousness where time seems to stand still. + +At this moment a lovely and gentle-looking young woman entered the +room. It was evident that she knew nothing of the dreadful scene that +had just occurred, nor did she now remark the intense excitement which +still riveted the spectators to the balcony; for, seeking, apparently, +to avoid all intercourse with strangers, she had seated herself, with +a book, on the chair farthest removed from the window. Nor did she +look up at the first rush of hurried steps into the room; but, when +she did, there was something which arrested her attention, for every +eye was fixed upon her with an undefinable expression of horror, and +every foot seemed to shrink back from approaching her. There was also +a murmur as of one common and irrepressible feeling through the whole +house; quick footsteps were heard as of men impelled by some dreadful +anxiety; doors were banged; voices shouted; and, could any one have +stood by a calm and indifferent spectator, it would have been +interesting to mark the sudden change from the abstracted and composed +look with which Mrs. H---- (for she it was) first raised her head from +her book to the painful restlessness of inquiry with which she now +glanced from eye to eye, and seemed to question what manner of tale +they told. + +It is something awful and dreadful to stand before a fellow-creature +laden with a sorrow which, however we may commiserate it, it is theirs +alone to bear; to be compelled to tear away that vail of +unconsciousness which alone hides their misery from their sight; and +to feel that the faintness gathering round our own heart alone enables +theirs to continue beating with tranquillity. We feel less almost of +pity for the suffering we are about to inflict than for the peace +which we are about to remove; and the smile of unconsciousness which +precedes the knowledge of evil is still more painful to look back upon +than the bitterest tear that follows it. And, if such be the feelings +of the messenger of heavy tidings, the mind that is to receive them is +correspondingly actuated. For who is there that thanks you really for +concealing the evil that was already arrived--for prolonging the +happiness that was already gone? Who cares for a reprieve when +sentence is still to follow? It is a pitiful soul that does not prefer +the sorrow of certainty to the peace of deceit; or, rather, it is a +blessed provision which enables us to acknowledge the preference when +it is no longer in our power to choose. It seems intended as a +protection to the mind from something so degrading to it as an unreal +happiness, that both those who have to inflict misery and those who +have to receive it should alike despise its solace. Those who have +trod the very brink of a precipice, unknowing that it yawned beneath, +look back to those moments of their ignorance with more of horror than +of comfort; such security is too close to danger for the mind ever to +separate them again. Nor need the bearer of sorrow embitter his errand +by hesitations and scruples how to disclose it; he need not pause for +a choice of words or form of statement. In no circumstance of life +does the soul act so utterly independent of all outward agency; it +waits for no explanation, wants no evidence; at the furthest idea of +danger it flies at once to its weakest part; an embarrassed manner +will rouse suspicions, and a faltered word confirm them. Dreadful +things never require precision of terms--they are wholly guessed +before they are half-told. Happiness the heart believes not in till it +stands at our very threshold; misery it flies at as if eager to meet. + +So it was with the unfortunate Mrs. H----; no one spoke of the +accident, no one pointed to the lake; no connecting link seemed to +exist between the security of ignorance and the agony of knowledge. At +one moment she raised her head in placid indifference, at the next she +knew that her husband and child were lying beneath the waters. And did +she faint, or fall as one stricken? No: for the suspicion was too +sudden to be sustained; and the next instant came the thought, This +must be a dream; God can not have done it. And the eyes were closed, +and the convulsed hands pressed tight over them, as if she would shut +out mental vision as well; and groans and sobs burst from the crowd, +and men dashed from the room, unable to bear it; and women, too, +untrue to their calling. And there was weeping and wringing of hands, +and one weak woman fainted; but still no sound or movement came from +her on whom the burden had fallen. Then came the dreadful revulsion of +feeling; and, with contracted brow and gasping breath, and voice +pitched almost to a scream, she said, "It is not true--tell me--it is +not true--tell me--tell me!" And, advancing with desperate gestures, +she made for the balcony. All recoiled before her; when one gentle +woman, small and delicate as herself, opposed her, and, with streaming +eyes and trembling limbs, stood before her. "Oh, go not there--go not +there! cast your heavy burden on the Lord!" These words broke the +spell. Mrs. H---- uttered a cry which long rang in the ears of those +that heard it, and sank, shivering and powerless, in the arms of the +kind stranger. + +Meanwhile, the dreadful scene had been witnessed from all parts of the +hotel, and every male inmate poured from it. The listless tourist of +fashion forgot his languor, the way-worn pedestrian his fatigue. The +hill down to the lake was trodden by eager, hurrying figures, all +anxious to give that which in such cases it is a relief to give, viz., +active assistance. Nor were these all, for down came the sturdy +shepherd from the hills; and the troops of ragged, bare-legged urchins +from all sides; and distant figures of men and women were seen +pressing forward to help or to hear; and the hitherto deserted-looking +valley was active with life. Meanwhile, the survivor hung motionless +over the upturned boat, borne about at the will of the waters, which +were now lashed into great agitation. No one could tell whether it was +Captain H---- or the Highland boatman, and no one could wish for the +preservation of the one more than the other. For life is life to all; +and the poor man's wife and family may have less time to mourn, but +more cause to want. And before the boat, that was manning with eager +volunteers, had left the shore, down came also a tall, raw-boned +woman, breathless, more apparently with exertion than anxiety--her +eyes dry as stones, and her cheeks red with settled color; one child +dragging at her heels, another at her breast. It was the boatman's +wife. Different, indeed, was her suspense to that of the sufferer who +had been left above; but, perhaps, equally true to her capacity. With +her it was fury rather than distress; she scolded the bystanders, chid +the little squalling child, and abused her husband by turns. + +"How dare he gang to risk his life, wi' six bairns at hame? Ae body +knew nae sail was safe on the lake for twa hours thegether; mair fule +he to try!" And then she flung the roaring child on to the grass, bade +the other mind it, strode half-leg high into the water to help to push +off the boat; and then, returning to a place where she could command a +view of its movements, she took up the child and hushed it tenderly to +sleep. Like her, every one now sought some elevated position, and the +progress of the boat seemed to suspend every other thought. It soon +neared the fatal spot, and in another minute was alongside the +upturned boat; the figure was now lifted carefully in, something put +round him, and, from the languor of his movements, and the care taken, +the first impression on shore was that Captain H---- was the one +spared. But it was a mercy to Mrs. H---- that she was not in a state +to know these surmises; for soon the survivor sat steadily upright, +worked his arms, and rubbed his head, as if to restore animation; and, +long before the boat reached the shore, the coarse figure and garments +of the Highland boatman were distantly recognized. Up started his +wife. Unaccustomed to mental emotions of any sudden kind, they were +strange and burdensome to her. + +"What, Meggy! no stay to welcome your husband!" said a bystander. + +"Walcome him yoursal!" she replied; "I hae no the time. I maun get his +dry claes, and het his parritch; and that's the best walcome I can gie +him." And so, perhaps, the husband thought, too. + +And now, what was there more to do? The bodies of Captain H---- and +his little son had sunk in seventy fathom deep of water. If, in their +hidden currents and movements they cast their victims aloft to the +surface, all well; if not, no human hand could reach them. There was +nothing to do! Two beings had ceased to exist, who, as far as regarded +the consciousness and sympathies of the whole party, had never existed +at all before. There had been no influence upon them in their lives, +there was no blank to them in their deaths. They had witnessed a +dreadful tragedy; they knew that she who had risen that morning a +happy wife and mother was now widowed and childless, with a weight of +woe upon her, and a life of mourning before her; but there were no +forms to observe, no rites to prepare; nothing necessarily to +interfere with one habit of the day, or to change one plan for the +morrow. It was only a matter of feeling; a great only, it is true; +but, as with every thing in life, from the merest trifle to the most +momentous occurrence, the matter varied with the individual who felt. +All pitied, some sympathized, but few ventured to help. Some wished +themselves a hundred miles off, because they could not help her; +others wished the same, because she distressed them; and the solitary +back room, hidden from all view of the lake, to which the sufferer had +been home, after being visited by a few well-meaning or curious women, +was finally deserted by all save the kind lady we have mentioned, and +a good-natured maid-servant, the drudge of the hotel, who came in +occasionally to assist. + +We have told the tale exactly as it occurred; the reader knows both +plot and conclusion: and now there only remains to say something of +the ways of human sorrow, and something, too, of the ways of human +goodness. + +Grief falls differently on different hearts; some must vent it, others +can not. The coldest will be the most unnerved, the tenderest the most +possessed; there is no rule. As for this poor lady, hers was of that +sudden and extreme kind for which insensibility is at first mercifully +provided; and it came to her, and yet not entirely--suspending the +sufferings of the mind, but not deadening all the sensation of the +body; for she shivered and shuddered with that bloodless cold which +kept her pale, numb, and icy, like one in the last hours before death. +A large fire was lighted, warm blankets were wrapped round her, but +the cold was too deep to be reached; and the kind efforts made to +restore animation were more a relief to her attendants than to her. +And yet Miss Campbell stopped sometimes from the chafing of the hands, +and let those blue fingers lie motionless in hers, and looked up at +that wan face with an expression as if she wished that the eyes might +never open again, but that death might at once restore what it had +just taken. For some hours no change ensued, and then it was gradual; +the hands were withdrawn from those that held them, and first laid, +and then clenched together; deep sighs of returning breath and +returning knowledge broke from her; the wrappers were thrown off, +first feebly, and then restlessly. There were no dramatic startings, +no abrupt questionings; but, as blood came back to the veins, anguish +came back to the heart. All the signs of excessive mental oppression +now began, a sad train as they are, one extreme leading to the other. +Before, there had been the powerlessness of exertion, now, there was +the powerlessness of control; before she had been benumbed by +insensibility, now, she was impelled as if bereft of sense. Like one +distracted with intense bodily pain, her whole frame seemed strained +to endure. The gentlest of voices whispered comfort, she heard not; +the kindest of arms supported her, she rested not. There was the +unvarying moan, the weary pacing, the repetition of the same action, +the measurement of the same distance, the body vibrating as a mere +machine to the restless recurrence of the same thought. + +We have said that every outer sign of woe was there--all but that +which great sorrows set flowing, but the greatest dry up--she shed no +tears! Tears are things for which a preparation of the heart is +needful; they are granted to anxiety for the future, or lament for the +past. They flow with reminiscences of our own, or with the example of +others; they are sent to separations we have long dreaded, and to +disappointments we can not forget; they come when our hearts are +softened, or when our hearts are wearied; but, in the first amazement +of unlooked-for woe, they find no place: the cup that is suddenly +whelmed over lets no drop of water escape. + +It was evident, however, through all the unruliness of such distress, +that the sufferer was a creature of gentle and considerate nature; in +the whirlpool which convulsed every faculty of her mind, the smooth +surface of former habits was occasionally thrown up. Though the hand +which sought to support her was cast aside with a restless, excited +movement, it was sought the next instant with a momentary pressure of +contrition. Though the head was turned away one instant from the +whisper of consolation with a gesture of impatience, yet it was bowed +the next as if in entreaty of forgiveness. Poor creature! what effort +she could make to allay the storm which was rioting within her was +evidently made for the sake of those around. With so much and so +suddenly to bear, she still showed the habit of forbearance. + +Meanwhile night had far advanced; many had been the inquiries and +expressions of sympathy made at Mrs. H----'s door; but now, one by +one, the parties retired each to their rooms. Few, however, rested +that night as usual; however differently the terrible picture might be +carried on the mind during the hours of light, it forced itself with +almost equal vividness upon all in those of darkness. The father +struggling to reach the child, and then throwing up his arms in agony, +and that fair little head borne about unresistingly by the waves +before they covered it over--these were the figures which haunted many +a pillow. Or, if the recollection of that scene was lulled for a +while, it was recalled again by the weary sound of those footsteps +which told of a mourner who rested not. Of course, among the number +and medley of characters lying under that roof, there was the usual +proportion of the selfish and the careless. None, however, slept that +night without confessing, in word or thought, that life and death are +in the hands of the Lord; and not all, it is to be hoped, forgot the +lesson. One young man, in particular, possessed of fine intellectual +powers, but which unfortunately had been developed among a people who, +God help them! affect to believe only what they understand, was +indebted to this day and night for a great change in his opinions. His +heart was kind, though his understanding was perverted; and the +thought of that young, lovely, and feeble woman, on whom a load of +misery had fallen which would have crushed the strongest of his own +sex, roused within him the strongest sense of the insufficiency of all +human aid or human strength for beings who are framed to love and yet +ordained to lose. He was oppressed with compassion, miserable with +sympathy, he longed with all the generosity of a manly heart to do +something, to suggest something, that should help her, or satisfy +himself. But what were fortitude, philosophy, strength of mind? +Mockeries, nay, more, imbecilities, which he dared not mention to her, +nor so much as think of in the same thought with her woe. Either he +must accuse the Power who had inflicted the wound, and so deep he had +not sunk, or he must acknowledge His means of cure. Impelled, +therefore, by a feeling equally beyond his doubting or his proving, he +did that which for years German sophistry had taught him to forbear; +he gave but little, but he felt that he gave his best--he _prayed_ for +the suffering creature, and in the name of One who suffered for all, +and from that hour God's grace forsook him not. + +But the most characteristic sympathizer on the occasion was Sir Thomas +----, the fine old gentleman who had shouted so loudly from the +balcony. He was at home in this valley, owned the whole range of hills +on one side of the lake from their fertile bases to their bleak tops, +took up his abode generally every summer in this hotel, and felt for +the stricken woman as if she had been a guest of his own. Ever since +the fatal accident he had gone about in a perfect fret of +commiseration, inquiring every half-hour at her door how she was, or +what she had taken. Severe bodily illness or intense mental distress +had never fallen upon that bluff person and warm heart, and abstinence +from food was in either case the proof of an extremity for which he +had every compassion, but of which he had no knowledge. He prescribed, +therefore, for the poor lady every thing that he would have relished +himself, and nothing at that moment could have made him so happy as to +have been allowed to send her up the choicest meal that the country +could produce. Not that his benevolence was at all limited to such +manifestations; if it did not deal in sentiment, it took the widest +range of practice. His laborers were dispatched round the lake to +watch for any traces of the late catastrophe; he himself kept up an +hour later planning how he could best promote the comfort of her +onward journey and of her present stay; and though the good old +gentleman was now snoring loudly over the very apartment which +contained the object of his sympathy, he would have laid down his life +to save those that were gone, and half his fortune to solace her who +was left. + +Some hours had elapsed, the footsteps had ceased, there was quiet, if +not rest, in the chamber of mourning; and, shortly after sunrise, a +side door in the hotel opened, and she who had been as a sister to the +stranger, never seen before, came slowly forth. She was worn with +watching, her heart was sick with the sight and sounds of such woe, +and she sought the refreshment of the outer air and the privacy of the +early day. It was a dawn promising a day as beautiful as the +preceding; the sun was beaming mildly through an opening toward the +east, wakening the tops of the nearest hills, while all the rest of +the beautiful range lay huge and colorless, nodding, as it were, to +their drowsy reflections beneath, and the lake itself looked as calm +and peaceful as if the winds had never swept over its waters, nor +those waters over all that a wife and mother had loved. Man is such a +speck on this creation of which he is lord, that had every human being +now sleeping on the green sides of the hills, been lying deep among +their dark feet in the lake, it would not have shown a ripple the +more. Miss Campbell, meanwhile, wandered slowly on, and though +apparently unmindful of the beauty of the scene, she was evidently +soothed by its influence. All that dreary night long had she cried +unto God in ceaseless prayer, and felt that without His help in her +heart, and His word on her lips, she had been but as a strengthless +babe before the sight of that anguish. But here beneath His own +heavens her communings were freer; her soul seemed not so much to need +Him below, as to rise to Him above; and the solemn dejection upon a +very careworn, but sweet face, became less painful, but perhaps more +touching. In her wanderings she had now left the hotel to her left +hand, the boatman's clay cottage was just above, and below a little +rough pier of stones, to an iron ring in one of which the boat was +usually attached. She had stood on that self-same spot the day before +and watched Captain H---- and his little son as they walked down to +the pier, summoned the boatman, and launched into the cool, smooth +water. She now went down herself, and stood with a feeling of awe upon +the same stones they had so lately left. The shores were loose and +shingly, many footsteps were there, but one particularly riveted her +gaze. It was tiny in shape and light in print, and a whole succession +of them went off toward the side as if following a butterfly, or +attracted by a bright stone. Alas! they we're the last prints of that +little foot on the shores of this world! Miss Campbell had seen the +first thunderbolt of misery burst upon his mother; she had borne the +sight of her as she lay stunned, and as she rose frenzied, but that +tiny footprint was worse than all, and she burst into a passionate fit +of tears. She felt as if it were desecration to sweep them away, as if +she could have shrined them round from the winds and waves, and +thoughtless tread of others; but a thought came to check her. What did +it matter how the trace of his little foot, or how the memory of his +short life were obliterated from this earth? There was One above who +had numbered every hair of his innocent head, and in His presence she +humbly hoped both father and child were now rejoicing. + +She was just turning away when the sound of steps approached, and the +boatman's wife came up. Her features were coarse and her frame was +gaunt, as we have said, but she was no longer the termagant of the day +before, nor was she ever so. But the lower classes, in the most +civilized lands, are often, both in joy and grief, an enigma to those +above them; if nature, rare alike in all ranks, speak not for them, +they have no conventional imitation to put in her place. The feeling +of intense suspense was new to her, and the violence she had assumed +had been the awkwardness which, under many eyes, knew not otherwise +how to express or, conceal; but she had sound Scotch sense, and a +tender woman's heart, and spoke them both now truly, if not +gracefully. + +"Ye'll be frae the hotel, yonder?" she said; "can ye tell me how the +puir leddy has rested? I was up mysel' to the house, and they tell't +me they could hear her greeting!" + +Miss Campbell told her in a few words what the reader knows, and asked +for her husband. + +"Oh! he's weel eneugh in body, but sair disquieted in mind. No that +he's unmindfu' of the mercy of the Lord to himsel', but he can no just +keep the thocht away that it was he wha helped those poor creatures to +their end." She then proceeded earnestly to exculpate her husband, +assuring Miss Campbell that in spite of the heavy wind and the +entangled rope, all might even yet have been well if the gentleman had +kept his seat. "But I just tell him that there's Ane above, stronger +than the wind, who sunk them in the lake, and could have raised them +from it, but it was no His pleasure. The puir leddy would ha' been +nane the happier if Andrew had been ta'en as well, and I and the +bairns muckle the waur." Then observing where Miss Campbell stood, she +continued, in a voice of much emotion, "Ah! I mind them weel as they +came awa' down here; the bairnie was playing by as Andrew loosened the +boat--the sweet bairnie! so happy and thochtless as he gaed in his +beautiful claes--I see him noo!" and the poor woman wiped her eyes. +"But there's something ye'll like to see. Jeanie! gang awa' up, and +bring the little bonnet that hangs on the peg. Andrew went out again +with the boat the night, and picked it up. But it will no be dry." + +The child returned with a sad token. It was the little fellow's cap; a +smart, town-made article, with velvet band, and long silk tassel which +had been his first vanity, and his mother had coaxed it smooth as she +pulled the peak low down over his fair forehead, and then, fumbling +his little fingers into his gloves, had given him a kiss which she +little thought was to be the last! + +"I was coming awa' up wi' it mysel', but the leddy will no just bear +to see it yet." + +"No, not yet," said Miss Campbell, "if ever. Let me take it. I shall +remain with her till better friends come here, or she goes to them;" +and giving the woman money, which she had difficulty in making her +accept, she possessed herself of the cap, and turned away. + +She soon reached the hotel, it was just five o'clock, all blinds were +down, and there was no sign of life; but one figure was pacing up and +down, and seemed to be watching for her. It was Sir Thomas. His +sympathy had broken his sleep in the morning, though it had not +disturbed it at night. He began in his abrupt way: + +"Madam, I have been watching for you. I heard you leave the house. +Madam, I feel almost ashamed to lift up my eyes to you; while we have +all been wishing and talking, you alone have been acting. We are all +obliged to you, madam; there is not a creature here with a heart in +them to whom you have not given comfort!" + +Miss Campbell tried to escape from the honest overflowings of the old +man's feelings. + +"You have only done what you liked: very true, madam. It is choking +work having to pity without knowing how to help; but I would sooner +give ten thousand pounds than see what you have seen. I would do any +thing for the poor creature, any thing, but I could not look at her." +He then told her that his men had been sent with the earliest dawn to +different points of the lake, but as yet without finding any traces of +the late fatal accident; and then his eyes fell upon the cap in Miss +Campbell's hand, and he at once guessed the history. "Picked up last +evening, you say--sad, sad--a dreadful thing!" and his eyes filling +more than it was convenient to hold, he turned away, blew his nose, +took a short turn, and coming back again, continued, "But tell me, how +has she rested? what has she taken? You must not let her weep too +much!" + +"Let her weep!" said Miss Campbell; "I wish I could bid her. She has +not shed a tear yet, and mind and body alike want it. I left her +lying back quiet in an arm-chair, but I fear this quiet is worse than +what has gone before!" + +"God bless my heart!" said Sir Thomas, his eyes now running over +without control. "God bless my heart! this is sad work. Not that I +ever wished a woman to cry before in my life, if she could help it. +Poor thing! poor thing! I'll send for a medical man: the nearest is +fifteen miles off!" + +"I think it will be necessary. I am now going back to her room." + +"Well, ma'am, I won't detain you longer, but don't keep all the good +to yourself. Let me know if there is any thing that I, or my men, or," +the old gentleman hesitated, "my money, madam, can do, only don't ask +me to see her;" and so they each went their way--Sir Thomas to the +stables to send off man and horse, and Miss Campbell to the chamber of +mourning. + +She started as she entered; the blind was drawn up, and, leaning +against the shutter, in apparent composure, stood Mrs. H----. That +composure was dreadful; it was the calm of intense agitation, the +silence of boiling heat, the immovability of an object in the most +rapid motion. The light was full upon her, showing cheek and forehead +flushed, and veins bursting on the small hands. Miss Campbell +approached with trembling limbs. + +"Where is the servant?"--"I did not want her." + +"Will you not rest?"--"I _can not_!" + +Miss Campbell was weary and worn out; the picture before her was so +terrible, she sunk on the nearest chair in an agony of tears. + +Without changing her position, Mrs. H---- turned her head, and said, +gently, "Oh, do not cry so! it is I who ought to cry, but my heart is +as dry as my eyes, and my head is so tight, and I can not think for +its aching; I can not think, I can not understand, I can not remember, +I don't even know your name, then why should this be true? It is I who +am ill, they are well, but they never were so long from me before." +Then coming forward, her face working, and her breath held tightly, as +if a scream were pressing behind, "Tell me," she said, "tell me--my +husband and child--" she tried hard to articulate, but the words were +lost in a frightful contortion. Miss Campbell mastered herself, she +saw the rack of mental torture was strained to the utmost. Neither +could bear this much longer. She almost feared resistance, but she +felt there was one way to which the sufferer would respond. + +"I am weary and tired," she said; "weary with staying up with you all +night. If you will lie down, I will soon come and lie by your side." + +Poor Mrs. H---- said nothing, but let herself be laid upon the bed. + +Three mortal hours passed, she was burnt with a fever which only her +own tears could quench; and those wide-open, dry eyes were fearful to +see. A knock came to the door, "How is she now?" said Sir Thomas's +voice, "The doctor is here: you look as if you wanted him yourself. +I'll bring him up." + +The medical man entered. Such a case had not occurred in his small +country practice before, but he was a sensible and a kind man, and no +practice could have helped him here if he had not been. He heard the +whole sad history, felt the throbbing pulse, saw the flush on the +face, and wide-open eyes, which now seemed scarcely to notice any +thing. He took Miss Campbell into another room, and said that the +patient must be instantly roused, and then bled if necessary. + +"But the first you can undertake better than I, madam." He looked +round. "Is there no little object which would recall?--nothing you +could bring before her sight? You understand me?" + +Indeed, Miss Campbell did. She had not sat by that bed-side for the +last three hours without feeling and fearing that this was necessary; +but, at the same time, she would rather have cut off her own hand than +undertaken it. She hesitated--but for a moment, and then whispered +something to Sir Thomas. + +"God bless my heart!" said he: "who would have thought of it? Yes. I +know it made me cry like a child." + +And then he repeated her proposition to the medical man, who gave +immediate assent, and she left the room. In a few minutes she entered +that of Mrs. H---- with the little boy's cap in her hand, placed it in +a conspicuous position before the bed, and then seated herself with a +quick, nervous motion by the bed-side. It was a horrid pause, like +that which precedes a cruel operation, where you have taken upon +yourself the second degree of suffering--that of witnessing it. The +cap lay there on the small stone mantle-piece, with its long, +drabbled, weeping tassel, like a funeral emblem. It was not many +minutes before it caught those eyes for which it was intended. A +suppressed exclamation broke from her; she flew from the bed, looked +at Miss Campbell one instant in intense inquiry, and the next had the +cap in her hands. The touch of that wet object seemed to dissolve the +spell; her whole frame trembled with sudden relaxation. She sank, +half-kneeling, on the floor, and tears spouted from her eyes. No +blessed rain from heaven to famished earth was ever more welcome. +Tears, did we say? Torrents! Those eyes, late so hot and dry, were as +two arteries of the soul suddenly opened. What a misery that had been +which had sealed them up! They streamed over her face, blinding her +riveted gaze, falling on her hands, on the cap, on the floor. +Meanwhile the much-to-be-pitied sharer of her sorrow knelt by her +side, her whole frame scarcely less unnerved than that she sought to +support, uttering broken ejaculations and prayers, and joining her +tears to those which flowed so passionately. But she had a gentle and +meek spirit to deal with. Mrs. H---- crossed her hands over the cap +and bowed her head. Thus she continued a minute, and then turning, +still on her knees, she laid her head on her companion's shoulder. + +"Help me up," she said, "for I am without strength." And all weak, +trembling, and sobbing, she allowed herself to be undressed and put to +bed. + +Miss Campbell lay down in the same room. She listened till the +quivering, catching sobs had given place to deep-drawn sighs, and +these again to disturbed breathings, and then both slept the sleep of +utter exhaustion, and Miss Campbell, fortunately, knew not when the +mourner awoke from it. + +Oh, the dreary first-fruits of excessive sorrow! The first days of a +stricken heart, passed through, writhed through, ground through, we +scarcely know or remember how, before the knowledge of the bereavement +has become habitual--while it is still struggle and not endurance--the +same ceaseless recoil from the same ever-recurring shock. It was a +blessing that she was ill, very ill; the body shared something of the +weight at first. + +Let no one, untried by such extremity, here lift the word or look of +deprecation. Let there not be a thought of what she ought to have +done, or what they would have done. God's love is great, and a +Christian's faith is strong, but when have the first encounters +between old joys and new sorrows been otherwise than fierce? From time +to time a few intervals of heavenly composure, wonderful and gracious +to the sufferer, may be permitted, and even the dim light of future +peace discerned in the distance; but, in a moment, the gauntlet of +defiance is thrown again--no matter what--an old look, an old word, +which comes rushing unbidden over the soul, and dreadful feelings rise +again only to spend themselves by their own violence. It always seems +to us as if sorrow had a nature of its own, independent of that +whereon it has fallen, and sometimes strangely at variance with +it--scorching the gentle, melting the passionate, dignifying the weak, +and prostrating the strong--and showing the real nature, habits, or +principles of the mind, only in those defenses it raises up during the +intervals of relief. With Mrs. H---- these defenses were reared on the +only sure base, and though the storm would sweep down her bulwarks, +and cover all over with the furious tide of grief, yet the foundation +was left to cling to, and every renewal added somewhat to its +strength. + +Three days were spent thus, but the fourth she was better, and on Miss +Campbell's approaching her bed-side, she drew her to her, and, putting +her arms round her neck, imprinted a calm and solemn kiss upon her +cheek. + +"Oh! what can I ever do for you, dear friend and comforter? God, who +has sent you to me in my utmost need, He alone can reward you. I don't +even know your name; but that matters not, I know your heart. Now, you +may tell me all--all; before, I felt as if I could neither know nor +forget what had happened, before, it was as if God had withdrawn His +countenance; but now He is gracious, He has heard your prayers." + +And then, with the avidity of fresh, hungry sorrow, she besought Miss +Campbell to tell her all she knew; she besought and would not be +denied, for sorrow has royal authority, its requests are commands. So, +with the hand of each locked together, and the eyes of each averted, +they sat questioning and answering in disjointed sentences till the +whole sad tale was told. Then, anxious to turn a subject which could +not be banished, Miss Campbell spoke of the many hearts that had bled, +and the many prayers that had ascended for her, and told her of that +kind old man who had thought, acted, and grieved for her like a +father. + +"God bless him--God bless them all; but chiefly you, my sister. I want +no other name." + +"Call me Catherine," said the faithful companion. + +Passionate bursts of grief would succeed such conversations; +nevertheless, they were renewed again and again, for, like all +sufferers from severe bereavements, her heart needed to create a world +for itself, where its loved ones still were, as a defense against that +outer one where they were not, and to which she was only slowly and +painfully to be inured, if ever. In these times she would love to tell +Catherine--what Catherine most loved to hear--how that her lost +husband was both a believer and a doer of Christ's holy word, and that +her lost child had learned at her knee what she herself had chiefly +learned from his father. For she had been brought up in ignorance and +indifference to religious truths, and the greatest happiness of her +life had commenced that knowledge, which its greatest sorrow was now +to complete. + +"I have been such a happy woman," she would say, "that I have pitied +others less blessed, though I trust they have not envied me." And then +would follow sigh on sigh and tear on tear, and again her soul writhed +beneath the agony of that implacable mental spasm. + +Sometimes the mourner would appear to lose, instead of gaining ground, +and would own with depression, and even with shame, her fear that she +was becoming more and more the sport of ungovernable feeling. "My +sorrow is sharp enough," she would say, "but it is a still sharper +pang when I feel I am not doing my duty under it. It is not thus that +_he_ would have had me act." And her kind companion, always at hand to +give sympathy or comfort, would bid her not exact or expect any thing +from herself, but to cast all upon God, reminding her in words of +tenderness that her soul was as a sick child, and that strength would +not be required until strength was vouchsafed. "Strength," said the +mourner, "no more strength or health for me." And Miss Campbell would +whisper that, though "weariness endureth for a night, joy comes in the +morning." Or she would be silent, for she knew, as most women do, +alike how to soothe and when to humor. + +It was a beautiful and a moving sight to see two beings thus riveted +together in the exercise and receipt of the tenderest and most +intimate feelings, who had never known of each other's existence +till the moment that made the one dependent and the other +indispensable. All the shades and grades of conventional and natural +acquaintanceship, all the gradual insight into mutual character, and +the gradual growth into mutual trust, which it is so sweet to look +back upon from the high ground of friendship, were lost to them; but +it mattered not, here they were together, the one admitted into the +sanctuary of sorrow, the other sharing in the fullness of love, with +no reminiscence in common but one, and that sufficient to bind them +together for life. + +Meanwhile the friend without was also unremitting in his way. He +crossed not her threshold in person, nor would have done so for the +world, but his thoughts were always reaching Mrs. H---- in some kind +form. Every delicate dainty that money could procure--beautiful fruits +and flowers which had scarce entered this valley before--every thing +that could tempt the languid appetite or divert the weary eye was in +turn thought of, and each handed in with a kind, hearty inquiry, till +the mourner listened with pleasure for the step and voice. Nor was +Miss Campbell forgotten; all the brief snatches of air and exercise +she enjoyed were in his company, and often did he insist on her coming +out for a short walk or drive when the persuasions of Mrs. H---- had +failed to induce her to leave a room where she was the only joy. But +now a fresh object attracted Sir Thomas's activity, for after many +days the earthly remains of one of the sufferers were thrown up. It +was the body of the little boy. Sir Thomas directed all that was +necessary to be done, and having informed Miss Campbell, the two +friends, each strange to the other, and bound together by the interest +in one equally strange to both, went out together up the hill above +the hotel, and were gone longer than usual. The next day the +intelligence was communicated to Mrs. H----, who received it calmly, +but added, "I could have wished them both to have rested together; but +God's will be done. I ought not to think of them as on earth." + +The grave of little Harry H---- was dug far from the burial-ground of +his fathers, and strangers followed him to it; but though there were +no familiar faces among those who stood round, there were no cold +ones; and when Sir Thomas, as chief mourner, threw the earth upon the +lowered coffin, warm tears fell upon it also. Miss Campbell had +watched the procession from the window, and told how the good old man +walked next behind the minister, the boatman and his wife following +him, and how a long train succeeded, all pious and reverential in +their bearing, with that air of manly decorum which the Scotch +peasantry conspicuously show on such occasions. And she who lay on a +bed of sorrow and weakness blessed them through her tears, and felt +that her child's funeral was not lonely. + +From this time the mourner visibly mended. The funeral and the +intelligence that preceded it had insensibly given her that change of +the same theme, the want of which had been so much felt at first. She +had now taken up her burden, and, for the dear sakes of those for whom +she bore it, it became almost sweet to her. She was not worshiping her +sorrow as an idol, but cherishing it as a friend. Meanwhile she had +received many kind visits from the minister who had buried her child, +and had listened to his exhortations with humility and gratitude; but +his words were felt as admonitions, Catherine's as comfort. To her, +now dearer and dearer, every day she would confess aloud the secret +changes of her heart; how at one time the world looked all black and +dreary before her, how at another she seemed already to live in a +brighter one beyond; how one day life was a burden she knew not how to +bear, and another how the bitterness of death seemed already past. +Then with true Christian politeness she would lament over the +selfishness of her grief, and ask where Miss Campbell had learned to +know that feeling which she felt henceforth was to be the only solace +of her life--viz., the deep, deep sympathy for others. And Catherine +would tell her, with that care-worn look which confirmed all she said, +how she had been sorely tried, not by the death of those she loved, +but by what was worse--their sufferings and their sins. How she had +been laden with those misfortunes which wound most and teach least, +and which, although coming equally from the hand of God, torment you +with the idea that, but for the wickedness or weakness of some human +agent, they need never have been; till she had felt, wrongly no doubt, +that she could have better borne those on which the stamp of the +Divine Will was more legibly impressed. She told her how the sting of +sorrow, like that of death, is sin; how comparatively light it was to +see those you love dead, dying, crippled, maniacs, victims, in short, +of any evil, rather than victims of evil itself. She spoke of a +heart-broken sister and a hard-hearted brother; of a son--an only one, +like him just buried--who had gone on from sin to sin, hardening his +own heart, and wringing those of others, till none but a mother's love +remained to him, and that he outraged. She told, in short, so much of +the sad realities of life, in which, if there was not more woe, there +was less comfort, that Mrs. H---- acknowledged in her heart that such +griefs had indeed been unendurable, and returned with something like +comfort to the undisturbed sanctity of her own. + +About this time a summons came which required Sir Thomas to quit the +valley in which these scenes had been occurring. Mrs. H---- could have +seen him, and almost longed to see him; but he shrunk from her, +fearing no longer her sorrow so much as her gratitude. + +"Tell her I love her," he said, in his abrupt way, "and always shall; +but I can't see her--at least, not yet." Then, explaining to Miss +Campbell all the little arrangements for the continuation of the +mourner's comfort, which his absence might interrupt, he authorized +her to dispose of his servants, his horses, and every thing that +belonged to him, and finally put into her hands a small packet, +directed to Mrs. H----, with instructions when to give it. He had +ascertained that Mrs. H---- was wealthy, and that her great +afflictions entailed no minor privations. "But you, my dear, are poor; +at least, I hope so, for I could not be happy unless I were of service +to you. I am just as much obliged to you as Mrs. H---- is. Mind, you +have promised to write to me and to apply to me without reserve. No +kindness, no honor--nonsense. It is _I_ who honor _you_ above every +creature I know, but I would not be a woman for the world; at least, +the truth is, I _could_ not." And so he turned hastily away. + +And now the time approached when she, who had entered this valley a +happy wife and mother, was to leave it widowed and childless, a +sorrowing and heavy-hearted woman, but not an unhappy one. She had +but few near relations, and those scattered in distant lands; but +there were friends who would break the first desolation of her former +home, and Catherine had promised to bear her company till she had +committed her into their hands. + +It was a lovely evening, the one before their departure. Mrs. H---- +was clad for the first time in all that betokened her to be a mourner; +but, as Catherine looked from the black habiliments to that pale face, +she felt that there was the deepest mourning of all. Slowly the widow +passed through that side-door we have mentioned, and stood once more +under God's heaven. Neither had mentioned to the other the errand on +which they were bound, but both felt that there was but one. Slowly +and feebly she mounted the gentle slope, and often she stopped, for it +was more than weakness or fatigue that made her breath fail. The way +was beautiful, close to the rocky bed and leafy sides of that sweetest +of all sweet things in the natural world, a Scotch burn. And now they +turned, for the rich strip of grass, winding among bush and rock, +which they had been following as a path, here spread itself out in a +level shelf of turf, where the burn ran smoother, the bushes grew +higher, and where the hill started upward again in bolder lines. Here +there was a fresh-covered grave. The widow knelt by it, while +Catherine stood back. Long was that head bowed, first in anguish, and +then in submission, and then she turned her face toward the lake, on +which she had not looked since that fatal day, and gazed steadily upon +it. The child lay in his narrow bed at her feet, but the father had a +wider one far beneath. Catherine now approached and was folded in a +silent embrace; then she gave her that small packet which Sir Thomas +had left, and begged her to open it on the spot. It was a legal deed, +making over to Mary H----, in free gift, the ground on which she +stood--a broad strip from the tip of the hill to the waters of the +lake. The widow's tears rained fast upon it. + +"Both God and man are very good to me," she said; "I am lonely but not +forsaken. But, Catherine, it is you to whom I must speak. I have tried +to speak before, but never felt I could till now. Oh, Catherine! stay +with me; let us never be parted. God gave you to me when He took all +else beside; He has not done it for naught. I can bear to return to my +lonely home if you will share it--I can bear to see this valley, this +grave again, if you are with me. I am not afraid of tying your +cheerfulness to my sorrow; I feel that I am under a calamity, but I +feel also that I am under no curse--you will help to make it a +blessing. Oh! complete your sacred work, give me years to requite to +you your last few days to me. You have none who need you more--none +who love you more. Oh! follow me; here, on my child's grave, I humbly +entreat you, follow me." + +Catherine trembled; she stood silent a minute, and then, with a low, +firm voice, replied, "Here, on your child's grave, I promise you. Your +people shall be my people, and your God my God." She kept her promise +and never repented it. + + + + +LIFE OF BLAKE, THE GREAT ADMIRAL. + + +Robert Blake was born at Bridgewater, in August, 1599. His father, +Humphrey Blake, was a merchant trading with Spain--a man whose temper +seems to have been too sanguine and adventurous for the ordinary +action of trade, finally involving him in difficulties which clouded +his latter days, and left his family in straitened circumstances: his +name, however, was held in general respect; and we find that he lived +in one of the best houses in Bridgewater, and twice filled the chair +of its chief magistrate. The perils to which mercantile enterprise was +then liable--the chance escapes and valorous deeds which the +successful adventurer had to tell his friends and children on the dark +winter nights--doubtless formed a part of the food on which the +imagination of young Blake, "silent and thoughtful from his +childhood," was fed in the "old house at home." At the Bridgewater +grammar-school, Robert received his early education, making tolerable +acquaintance with Latin and Greek, and acquiring a strong bias toward +a literary life. This _penchant_ was confirmed by his subsequent +career at Oxford, where he matriculated at sixteen, and where he +strove hard, but fruitlessly, for scholarships and fellowships at +different colleges. His failure to obtain a Merton fellowship has been +attributed to a crotchet of the warden's, Sir Henry Savile, in favor +of tall men: "The young Somersetshire student, thick-set, +fair-complexioned, and only five feet six, fell below his standard of +manly beauty;" and thus the Cavalier warden, in denying this aspirant +the means of cultivating literature on a little university oatmeal, +was turning back on the world one who was fated to become a republican +power of the age. This shining light, instead of comfortably and +obscurely merging in a petty constellation of Alma Mater, was to +become a bright particular star, and dwell apart. The avowed +liberalism of Robert may, however, have done more in reality to shock +Sir Henry, than his inability to add a cubit to his stature. It is +pleasant to know, that the "admiral and general at sea" never outgrew +a tenderness for literature--his first-love, despite the rebuff of his +advances. Even in the busiest turmoil of a life teeming with accidents +by flood and field, he made it a point of pride not to forget his +favorite classics. Nor was it till after nine years' experience of +college-life, and when his father was no longer able to manage his +_res angusta vitæ_, that Robert finally abandoned his long-cherished +plans, and retired with a sigh and last adieu from the banks of the +Isis. + +When he returned to Bridgewater, in time to close his father's eyes, +and superintend the arrangements of the family, he was already +remarkable for that "iron will, that grave demeanor, that free and +dauntless spirit," which so distinguished his after-course. His tastes +were simple, his manners somewhat bluntly austere; a refined dignity +of countenance, and a picturesque vigor of conversation, invested him +with a social interest, to which his indignant invectives against +court corruptions gave distinctive character. To the Short Parliament +he was sent as member for his native town; and in 1645, was returned +by Taunton to the Long Parliament. At the dissolution of the former, +which he regarded as a signal for action, he began to prepare arms +against the king; his being one of the first troops in the field, and +engaged in almost every action of importance in the western counties. +His superiority to the men about him lay in the "marvelous fertility, +energy, and comprehensiveness of his military genius." Prince Rupert +alone, in the Royalist camp, could rival him as a "partisan soldier." +His first distinguished exploit was his defense of Prior's Hill fort, +at the siege of Bristol--which contrasts so remarkably with the +pusillanimity of his chief, Colonel Fiennes. Next comes his yet more +brilliant defense of Lyme--then a little fishing-town, with some 900 +inhabitants, of which the defenses were a dry ditch, a few +hastily-formed earth-works, and three small batteries, but which the +Cavalier host of Prince Maurice, trying storm, stratagem, blockade, +day after day, and week after week, failed to reduce or dishearten. +"At Oxford, where Charles then was, the affair was an inexplicable +marvel and mystery: every hour the court expected to hear that the +'little vile fishing-town,' as Clarendon contemptuously calls it, had +fallen, and that Maurice had marched away to enterprises of greater +moment; but every post brought word to the wondering council, that +Colonel Blake still held out, and that his spirited defense was +rousing and rallying the dispersed adherents of Parliament in those +parts." After the siege was raised, the Royalists found that more men +of gentle blood had fallen under Blake's fire at Lyme, than in all +other sieges and skirmishes in the western counties since the opening +of the war. + +The hero's fame had become a spell in the west: it was seen that he +rivaled Rupert in rapid and brilliant execution, and excelled him in +the caution and sagacity of his plans. He took Taunton--a place so +important at that juncture, as standing on and controlling the great +western highway--in July, 1644, within a week of Cromwell's defeat of +Rupert at Marston Moor. All the vigor of the Royalists was +brought to bear on the captured town; Blake's defense of which is +justly characterized as abounding with deeds of individual +heroism--exhibiting in its master-mind a rare combination of civil and +military genius. The spectacle of an unwalled town, in an inland +district, with no single advantage of site, surrounded by powerful +castles and garrisons, and invested by an enemy brave, watchful, +numerous, and well provided with artillery, successively resisting +storm, strait, and blockade for several months, thus paralyzing the +king's power, and affording Cromwell time to remodel the army, +naturally arrested the attention of military writers at that time; and +French authors of this class bestowed on Taunton the name of the +modern Saguntum. The rage of the Royalists at this prolonged +resistance was extreme. Reckoning from the date when Blake first +seized the town, to that of Goring's final retreat, the defense +lasted exactly a year, and under circumstances of almost overwhelming +difficulty to the besieged party, who, in addition to the fatigue of +nightly watches, and the destruction of daily conflicts, suffered from +terrible scarcity of provisions. "Not a day passed without a fire; +sometimes eight or ten houses were burning at the same moment; and in +the midst of all the fear, horror, and confusion incident to such +disasters, Blake and his little garrison had to meet the +storming-parties of an enemy brave, exasperated, and ten times their +own strength. But every inch of ground was gallantly defended. A broad +belt of ruined cottages and gardens was gradually formed between the +besiegers and the besieged; and on the heaps of broken walls and burnt +rafters, the obstinate contest was renewed from day to day." At last +relief arrived from London; and Goring, in savage dudgeon, beat a +retreat, notwithstanding the wild oath he had registered, either to +reduce that haughty town, or to lay his bones in its trenches. + +Blake was now the observed of all observers; but, unlike most of his +compeers, he abstained from using his advantages for purposes of +selfish or personal aggrandizement. He kept aloof from the "centre of +intrigues," and remained at his post, "doing his duty humbly and +faithfully at a distance from Westminster; while other men, with less +than half his claims, were asking and obtaining the highest honors and +rewards from a grateful and lavish country." Nor, indeed, did he at +any time side with the ultras of his party, but loudly disapproved of +the policy of the regicides. This, coupled with his influence, so +greatly deserved and so deservedly great, made him an object of +jealousy with Cromwell and his party; and it was owing, perhaps, to +their anxiety to keep him removed from the home sphere of action, that +he was now appointed to the chief naval command. + +Hitherto, and for years afterward, no state, ancient or modern, as +Macaulay points out, had made a separation between the military and +the naval service. Cimon and Lysander, Pompey and Agrippa, had fought +by sea as well as by land: at Flodden, the right wing of the English +was led by her admiral, and the French admiral led the Huguenots at +Jarnac, &c. Accordingly, Blake was summoned from his pacific +government at Taunton, to assume the post of "General and Admiral at +Sea;" a title afterward changed to "General of the Fleet." Two others +were associated with him in the command; but Blake seems at _least_ to +have been recognized as _primus inter pares_. The navy system was in +deplorable need of reform; and a reformer it found in Robert Blake, +from the very day he became an admiral. His care for the well-being of +his men made him an object of their almost adoring attachment. From +first to last, he stood alone as England's model seaman. "Envy, +hatred, and jealousy dogged the steps of every other officer in the +fleet; but of him, both then and afterward, every man spoke well." The +"tremendous powers" intrusted to him by the Council of State, he +exercised with off-handed and masterly success--startling politicians +and officials of the _ancien régime_, by his bold and open tactics, +and his contempt for tortuous by-paths in diplomacy. His wondrous +exploits were performed with extreme poverty of means. He was the +first to repudiate and disprove the supposed fundamental maxim in +marine warfare, that no ship could attack a castle, or other strong +fortification, with any hope of success. The early part of his naval +career was occupied in opposing and defeating the piratical +performances of Prince Rupert, which then constituted the support of +the exiled Stuarts. Blake's utmost vigilance and activity were +required to put down this extraordinary system of freebooting; and by +the time that he had successively overcome Rupert, and the minor but +stubborn adventurers, Grenville and Carteret, he was in request to +conduct the formidable war with Holland, and to cope with such +veterans as Tromp, De Witt, De Ruyter, &c. + +On one occasion only did Blake suffer ever a defeat; and this one is +easily explained by--first, Tromp's overwhelming superiority of force; +secondly, the extreme deficiency of men in the English fleet; and, +thirdly, the cowardice or disaffection of several of Blake's captains +at a critical moment in the battle. Notwithstanding this disaster, not +a whisper was heard against the admiral either in the Council of State +or in the city; his offer to resign was flatteringly rejected; and he +soon found, that the "misfortune which might have ruined another man, +had given him strength and influence in the country." This disaster, +in fact, gave him power to effect reforms in the service, and to root +out abuses which had defied all his efforts in the day of his success. +He followed it up by the great battle of Portland, and other +triumphant engagements. + +Then came his sweeping _tours de force_ in the Mediterranean; in six +months he established himself as a power in that great midland sea, +from which his countrymen had been politically excluded since the age +of the Crusades--teaching nations, to which England's very name was a +strange sound, to respect its honors and its rights; chastising the +pirates of Barbary with unprecedented severity; making Italy's petty +princes feel the power of the northern Protestants; causing the pope +himself to tremble on his seven hills; and startling the +council-chambers of Venice and Constantinople with the distant echoes +of our guns. And be it remembered, that England had then no Malta, +Corfu, and Gibraltar as the bases of naval operations in the +Mediterranean: on the contrary, Blake found that in almost every gulf +and island of that sea--in Malta, Venice, Genoa, Leghorn, Algiers, +Tunis, and Marseilles--there existed a rival and an enemy; nor were +there more than three or four harbors in which he could obtain even +bread for love or money. + +After this memorable cruise, he had to conduct the Spanish war--a +business quite to his mind; for though his highest renown had been +gained in his conflicts with the Dutch, he had secretly disliked such +encounters between two Protestant states; whereas, in the +case of Popish Spain, his soul leaped at the anticipation of +battle--sympathizing as he did with the Puritan conviction, that Spain +was the devil's stronghold in Europe. At this period, Blake was +suffering from illness, and was sadly crippled in his naval +equipments, having to complain constantly of the neglect at home to +remedy the exigencies of the service. "Our ships," he writes, +"extremely foul, winter drawing on, our victuals expiring, all stores +failing, our men falling sick through the badness of drink, and eating +their victuals boiled in salt water for two months' space" (1655). His +own constitution was thoroughly undermined. For nearly a year, remarks +his biographer, "he had never quitted the 'foul and defective' +flag-ship. Want of exercise and sweet food, beer, wine, water, bread, +and vegetables, had helped to develop scurvy and dropsy; and his +sufferings from these diseases were now acute and continuous." But his +services were indispensable, and Blake was not the man to shrink from +dying in harness. His sun set gloriously at Santa Cruz--that +miraculous and unparalleled action, as Clarendon calls it, which +excited such grateful enthusiasm at home. At home! words of +fascination to the maimed and enfeebled veteran, who now turned his +thoughts so anxiously toward the green hills of his native land. +Cromwell's letter of thanks, the plaudits of parliament, and the +jeweled ring sent to him by his loving countrymen, reached him while +homeward bound. But he was not again to tread the shores he had +defended so well. + +As the ships rolled through the Bay of Biscay, his sickness increased, +and affectionate adherents saw with dismay that he was drawing near to +the gates of the grave. "Some gleams of the old spirit broke forth as +they approached the latitude of England. He inquired often and +anxiously if the white cliffs were yet in sight. He longed to behold +once more the swelling downs, the free cities, the goodly churches of +his native land.... At last, the Lizard was announced. Shortly +afterward, the bold cliffs and bare hills of Cornwall loomed out +grandly in the distance. But it was too late for the dying hero. He +had sent for the captains and other great officers of his fleet, to +bid them farewell; and while they were yet in his cabin, the +undulating hills of Devonshire, glowing with the tints of early +autumn, came full in view.... But the eyes which had so yearned to +behold this scene once more were at that very instant closing in +death. Foremost of the victorious squadron, the _St. George_ rode with +its precious burden into the Sound; and just as it came into full view +of the eager thousands crowding the beach, the pier-heads, the walls +of the citadel, &c, ready to catch the first glimpse of the hero of +Santa Cruz, and salute him with a true English welcome--he, in his +silent cabin, in the midst of his lion-hearted comrades, now sobbing +like little children, yielded up his soul to God." + +The corpse was embalmed, and conveyed to Greenwich, where it lay in +state for some days. On the 4th of September, 1657, the Thames bore a +solemn funeral procession, which moved slowly, amid salvos of +artillery, to Westminster, where a new vault had been prepared in the +noble abbey. The tears of a nation made it hallowed ground. A prince, +of whom the epigram declares that, if he never said a foolish thing, +he never did a wise one--saw fit to disturb the hero's grave, drag out +the embalmed body, and cast it into a pit in the abbey-yard. One of +Charles Stuart's most witless performances! For Blake is not to be +confounded--though the Merry Monarch thought otherwise--with the +Iretons and Bradshaws who were similarly exhumed. The admiral was a +moderate in the closest, a patriot in the widest sense. + +In the chivalric disposition of the man, there was true affinity to +the best qualities of the Cavalier, mingled sometimes with a certain +grim humor, all his own. Many are the illustrations we might adduce of +this high-minded and generous temperament. For instance: meeting a +French frigate of forty guns in the Straits, and signaling for the +captain to come on board his flag-ship, the latter, considering the +visit one of friendship and ceremony, there being no _declared_ war +between the two nations--though the French conduct at Toulon had +determined England on measures of retaliation--readily complied with +Blake's summons; but was astounded on entering the admiral's cabin, at +being told he was a prisoner, and requested to give up his sword. No! +was the surprised but resolute Frenchman's reply. Blake felt that an +advantage had been gained by a misconception, and scorning to make a +brave officer its victim, he told his guest he might go back to his +ship, if he wished, and fight it out as long as he was able. The +captain, we are told, thanked him for his handsome offer, and retired. +After two hours' hard fighting, he struck his flag; like a true French +knight, he made a low bow, kissed his sword affectionately, and +delivered it to his conqueror. Again: when Blake captured the Dutch +herring-fleet off Bochness, consisting of 600 boats, instead of +destroying or appropriating them, he merely took a tithe of the whole +freight, in merciful consideration toward the poor families whose +entire capital and means of life it constituted. This "characteristic +act of clemency" was censured by many as Quixotic, and worse. But +"Blake took no trouble to justify his noble instincts against such +critics. His was indeed a happy fate: the only fault ever advanced by +friend or foe against his public life, was an excess of generosity +toward his vanquished enemies!" His sense of the comic is amusingly +evidenced by the story of his _ruse_ during a dearth in the same +siege. Tradition reports, that only one animal, a hog, was left alive +in the town, and that more than half starved. In the afternoon, Blake, +feeling that in their depression a laugh would do the defenders as +much good as a dinner, had the hog carried to all the posts and +whipped, so that its screams, heard in many places, might make the +enemy suppose that fresh supplies had somehow been obtained. + +The moral aspects of his character appear in this memoir in an +admirable light. If he did not stand so high as some others in public +notoriety, it was mainly because, to stand higher than he did, he must +plant his feet on a _bad_ eminence. His patriotism was as pure as +Cromwell's was selfish. Mr. Dixon, his biographer, alludes to the +strong points of contrast, as well as of resemblance between the two +men. Both, he says, were sincerely religious, undauntedly brave, +fertile in expedients, irresistible in action. Born in the same year, +they began and almost closed their lives at the same time. Both were +country gentlemen of moderate fortune; both were of middle age when +the revolution came. Without previous knowledge or professional +training, both attained to the highest honors of their respective +services. But there the parallel ends. Anxious only for the glory and +interest of his country, Blake took little or no care of his personal +aggrandizement. His contempt for money, his impatience with the mere +vanities of power, were supreme. Bribery he abhorred in all its +shapes. He was frank and open to a fault; his heart was ever in his +hand, and his mind ever on his lips. His honesty, modesty, generosity, +sincerity, and magnanimity were unimpeached. Cromwell's inferior moral +qualities made him distrust the great seaman; yet, now and then, as in +the case of the street tumult at Malaga, he was fain to express his +admiration of Robert Blake. The latter was wholly unversed in the +science of nepotism, and "happy family" compacts; for, although +desirous of aiding his relatives, he was jealous of the least offense +on their part, and never overlooked it. Several instances of this +disposition are on record. When his brother Samuel, in rash zeal for +the Commonwealth, ventured to exceed his duty, and was killed in a +fray which ensued, Blake was terribly shocked, but only said: "Sam had +no business there." Afterward, however, he shut himself up in his +room, and bewailed his loss in the words of Scripture: "Died Abner as +a fool dieth!" His brother Benjamin, again, to whom he was strongly +attached, falling under suspicion of neglect of duty, was instantly +broken, and sent on shore. "This rigid measure of justice against his +own flesh and blood, silenced every complaint, and the service gained +immeasurably in spirit, discipline, and confidence." Yet more touching +was the great admiral's inexorable treatment of his favorite brother +Humphrey, who, in a moment of extreme agitation, had failed in his +duty. The captains went to Blake in a body, and argued that Humphrey's +fault was a neglect rather than a breach of orders, and suggested his +being sent away to England till it was forgotten. But Blake was +outwardly unmoved, though inwardly his bowels did yearn over his +brother, and sternly said: "If none of you will accuse him, I must be +his accuser." Humphrey was dismissed from the service. It is affecting +to know how painfully Blake missed his familiar presence during his +sick and lonely passage homeward, when the hand of death was upon that +noble heart. To Humphrey he bequeathed the greater part of the +property which he left behind him. In the rare intervals of private +life which he enjoyed on shore, Blake also compels our sincere regard. +When released for awhile from political and professional duties, he +loved to run down to Bridgewater for a few days or weeks, and, as his +biographer says, with his chosen books, and one or two devout and +abstemious friends, to indulge in all the luxuries of seclusion. "He +was by nature self-absorbed and taciturn. His morning was usually +occupied with a long walk, during which he appeared to his simple +neighbors to be lost in profound thought, as if working out in his own +mind the details of one of his great battles, or busy with some +abstruse point of Puritan theology. If accompanied by one of his +brothers, or by some other intimate friend, he was still for the most +part silent. Always good-humored, and enjoying sarcasm when of a +grave, high class, he yet never talked from the loquacious instinct, +or encouraged others so to employ their time and talents in his +presence. Even his lively and rattling brother Humphrey, his almost +constant companion when on shore, caught, from long habit, the great +man's contemplative and self-communing gait and manner; and when his +friends rallied him on the subject in after-years, he used to say, +that he had caught the trick of silence while walking by the admiral's +side in his long morning musings on Knoll Hill. A plain dinner +satisfied his wants. Religious conversation, reading, and the details +of business, generally filled up the evening until supper-time; after +family prayers--always pronounced by the general himself--he would +invariably call for his cup of sack and a dry crust of bread, and +while he drank two or three horns of Canary, would smile and chat in +his own dry manner with his friends and domestics, asking minute +questions about their neighbors and acquaintance; or when scholars or +clergymen shared his simple repast, affecting a droll anxiety--rich +and pleasant in the conqueror of Tromp--to prove, by the aptness and +abundance of his quotations, that, in becoming an admiral, he had not +forfeited his claim to be considered a good classic." + +The care and interest with which he looked to the well-being of his +humblest followers, made him eminently popular in the fleet. He was +always ready to hear complaints, and to rectify grievances. When +wounded at the battle of Portland, and exhorted to go on shore for +repose and proper medical treatment, he refused to seek for himself +the relief which he had put in the way of his meanest comrade. Even at +the early period of his cruise against the Cavalier corsairs of +Kinsale, such was Blake's popularity, that numbers of men were +continually joining him from the enemy's fleet, although he offered +them less pay, and none of that license which they had enjoyed under +Prince Rupert's flag. They gloried in following a leader _sans peur et +sans reproche_--one with whose renown the whole country speedily +rang--the renown of a man who had revived the traditional glories of +the English navy, and proved that its meteor flag could "yet terrific +burn." + + + + +THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. + +BY FREDRIKA BREMER. + + +London possesses two scenes of popular enjoyment on a great scale, in +its British Museum and its Zoological Gardens. In the former, the +glance is sent over the life of antiquity; in the latter, over that of +the present time in the kingdom of nature; and in both may the +Englishman enjoy a view of England's power and greatness, because it +is the spirit of England which has compelled Egypt and Greece to +remove hither their gods, their heroic statues: it is England whose +courageous sons at this present moment force their way into the +interior of Africa, that mysterious native land of miracles and of the +Leviathan; it is an Englishman who held in his hand snow from the +clefts of the remote Mountains of the Moon; it is England which has +aroused that ancient Nineveh from her thousands of years of sleep in +the desert; England, which has caused to arise from their graves, and +to stand forth beneath the sky of England, those witnesses of the life +and art of antiquity which are known under the name of the Nineveh +Marbles, those magnificent but enigmatical figures which are called +the Nineveh Bulls, in the immense wings of which one can not but +admire the fine artistic skill of the workmanship, and from the +beautiful human countenances of which glances Oriental despotism--with +eyes such as those with which King Ahasuerus might have gazed on the +beautiful Esther, when she sank fainting before the power of that +glance. They have an extraordinary expression--these countenances of +Nineveh, so magnificent, so strong, and at the same time, so joyous--a +something about them so valiant and so joyously commanding! It was an +expression which surprised me, and which I could not rightly +comprehend. It would be necessary for me to see them yet again before +I could fully satisfy myself whether this inexpressible, proudly +joyous glance is one of wisdom or of stupidity! I could almost fancy +it might be the latter, when I contemplate the expression of gentle +majesty in the head of the Grecian Jupiter. Nevertheless, whether it +be wisdom or stupidity--these representations of ancient Nineveh have +a real grandeur and originality about them. Were they then +representatives of life there? Was life there thus proud and joyous, +thus unconscious of trouble, care, or death, thus valiant, and without +all arrogance? Had it such eyes? Ah! and yet it has lain buried in the +sand of the desert, lain forgotten there many thousand years. And now, +when they once more look up with those large, magnificent eyes, they +discover another world around them, another Nineveh which can not +understand what they would say. Thus proudly might Nineveh have looked +when the prophet uttered above her his "woe!" Such a glance does not +accord with the life of earth. + +In comparison with these latest discovered but most ancient works of +art, the Egyptian statues fall infinitely short, bearing evidence of a +degraded, sensual humanity, and the same as regarded art. But neither +of these, nor of the Elgin marbles, nor of many other treasures of art +in the British Museum which testify at the same time to the greatness +of foregone ages, and to the power of the English world-conquering +intelligence, shall I say any thing, because time failed me rightly to +observe them, and the Nineveh marbles almost bewitched me by their +contemplation. + +It is to me difficult to imagine a greater pleasure than that of +wandering through these halls, or than by a visit to the Zoological +Garden which lies on one side of the Regent's Park. I would willingly +reside near this park for a time, that I might again and again wander +about in this world of animals from all zones, and listen to all that +they have to relate, ice-bears and lions, turtles and eagles, the +ourang-outang and the rhinoceros! The English Zoological Garden, +although less fortunate in its locality than the _Jardin des Plantes_ +in Paris, is much richer as regards animals. That which at this time +attracted hither most visitors was the new guest of the garden, a +so-called river-horse or hippopotamus, lately brought hither from +Upper Egypt, where it was taken when young. It was yet not full-grown, +and had here its own keeper--an Arab--its own house, its own court, +its own reservoir, to bathe and swim in! Thus it lived in a really +princely hippopotamus fashion. I saw his highness ascend out of his +bath in a particularly good-humor, and he looked to me like an +enormous--pig, with an enormously broad snout. He was very fat, +smooth, and gray, and awkward in his movements, like the elephant. +Long-necked giraffes walked about, feeding from wooden racks in the +court adjoining that of the hippopotamus, and glancing at us across +it. One can scarcely imagine a greater contrast than in these animals. + +The eagles sate upon crags placed in a row beneath a lofty transparent +arch of iron work, an arrangement which seemed to me excellent, and +which I hope seemed so to them, in case they could forget that they +were captives. Here they might breathe, here spread out their huge +wings, see the free expanse of heaven, and the sun, and build +habitations for themselves upon the rock. On the contrary, the lions, +leopards, and such-like noble beasts of the desert, seemed to me +particularly unhappy in their iron-grated stone vaults; and their +perpetual, uneasy walking backward and forward in their cages--I could +not see that without a feeling of distress. How beautiful they must be +in the desert, or amid tropical woods, or in the wild caverns of the +mountains, those grand, terrific beasts--how fearfully beautiful! One +day I saw these animals during their feeding time. Two men went round +with wooden vessels filled with pieces of raw meat; these were taken +up with a large iron-pronged fork, and put, or rather flung, through +the iron grating into the dens. It was terrible to see the savage joy, +the fury, with which the food was received and swallowed down by the +beasts. Three pieces of meat were thrown into one great vault which +was at that time empty, a door was then drawn up at the back of the +vault, and three huge yellow lions with shaggy manes rushed roaring +in, and at one spring each possessed himself of his piece of flesh. +One of the lions held his piece between his teeth for certainly a +quarter of an hour, merely growling and gloating over it in savage +joy, while his flashing eyes glared upon the spectators, and his tail +was swung from side to side with an expression of defiance. It was a +splendid, but a fearful sight. One of my friends was accustomed +sometimes to visit these animals in company with his little girl, a +beautiful child, with a complexion like milk and cherries. The sight +of her invariably produced great excitement in the lions. They seemed +evidently to show their love to her in a ravenous manner. + +The serpents were motionless in their glass house, and lay, +half-asleep, curled around the trunks of trees. In the evening by +lamp-light they become lively, and then, twisting about and flashing +forth their snaky splendors, they present a fine spectacle. The +snake-room, with its walls of glass, behind which the snakes live, +reminded me of the old northern myth of Nastrond, the roof of which +was woven of snakes' backs, the final home of the ungodly--an +unpleasant, but vigorous picture. The most disagreeable and the +ugliest of all the snakes, was that little snake which the beautiful +Queen Cleopatra, herself false as a serpent, placed at her breast; a +little gray, flat-headed snake which liked to bury itself in the sand. + +The monkey-family lead a sad life; stretch out their hands for nuts or +for bread, with mournful human gestures; contentious, beaten, +oppressed, thrust aside, frightening one another, the stronger the +weaker--mournfully human also. + +Sad, also, was the sight of an ourang-outang, spite of all its queer +grimaces, solitary in its house, for it evidently suffered ennui, was +restless, and would go out. It embraced its keeper and kissed him with +real human tenderness. The countenance, so human, yet without any +human intelligence, made a painful impression upon me; so did the +friendly tame creature here, longing for its fellows, and seeing +around it only human beings. Thou poor animal! Fain would I have seen +thee in the primeval woods of Africa, caressing thy wife in the clear +moonlight of the tropical night, sporting with her among the branches +of the trees, and sleeping upon them, rocked by the warm night wind. +There thy ugliness would have had a sort of picturesque beauty. After +the strange beast-man had climbed hither and thither along the iron +railing, seizing the bars with his hands, and feet which resembled +hands, and also with his teeth, he took a white woolen blanket, +wrapped it around him in a very complicated manner, and ended by +laying himself down as a human being might do, in his chilly, desolate +room. + +After this, all the more charming was the spectacle presented by the +water-fowl from every zone--Ducks, Swans, and Co., all quite at home +here, swimming in the clear waters, among little green islands on +which they had their little huts. It was most charmingly pretty and +complete. And the mother-duck with her little, lively golden-yellow +flock, swimming neck and heels after her, or seeking shelter under her +wings, is at all times one of the most lovely scenes of natural +life--resembling humanity in a beautiful manner. + +Even among the wild beasts I saw a beautiful human trait of maternal +affection. A female leopard had in her cage two young cubs, lively and +playful as puppies. When the man threw the flesh into her cage, she +drew herself back and let the young ones first seize upon the piece. + +Crows from all parts of the world here live together in one +neighborhood, and that the chattering and laughter was loud here did +not surprise me, neither that the European crows so well maintained +their place among their fellows. That which, however, astonished and +delighted me was, the sweet flute-like melodious tones of the +Australian crow. In the presence of this crow from Paradise--for +originally it must have come therefrom--it seemed to me that all the +other crows ought to have kept silence with their senseless +chattering. But they were nothing but crows, and they liked better to +hear themselves. + +Parrots from all lands lived and quarreled together in a large room, +and they there made such a loud screaming, that in order to stand it +out one must have been one of their own relations. Better be among the +silent, dejected, stealthy, hissing, shining snakes, than in company +with parrots! The former might kill the body, but the latter the soul. + +Twilight came on, and drove me out of the Zoological Garden each time +I was there, and before I had seen all its treasures. Would that I +might return there yet a third time and remain still longer! + + + + +A TERRIBLY STRANGE BED. + + +The most difficult likeness I ever had to take, not even excepting my +first attempt in the art of Portrait-painting, was a likeness of a +gentleman named Faulkner. As far as drawing and coloring went, I had +no particular fault to find with my picture; it was the _expression_ +of the sitter which I had failed in rendering--a failure quite as much +his fault as mine. Mr. Faulkner, like many other persons by whom I +have been employed, took it into his head that he must assume an +expression, because he was sitting for his likeness; and, in +consequence, contrived to look as unlike himself as possible, while I +was painting him. I had tried to divert his attention from his own +face, by talking with him on all sorts of topics. We had both traveled +a great deal, and felt interested alike in many subjects connected +with our wanderings over the same countries. Occasionally, while we +were discussing our traveling experiences, the unlucky set-look left +his countenance, and I began to work to some purpose; but it was +always disastrously sure to return again, before I had made any great +progress--or, in other words, just at the very time when I was most +anxious that it should not re-appear. The obstacle thus thrown in the +way of the satisfactory completion of my portrait, was the more to be +deplored, because Mr. Faulkner's natural expression was a very +remarkable one. I am not an author, so I can not describe it. I +ultimately succeeded in painting it, however; and this was the way in +which I achieved my success: + +On the morning when my sitter was coming to me for the fourth time, I +was looking at his portrait in no very agreeable mood--looking at it, +in fact, with the disheartening conviction that the picture would be a +perfect failure, unless the expression in the face represented were +thoroughly altered and improved from nature. The only method of +accomplishing this successfully, was to make Mr. Faulkner, somehow, +insensibly forget that he was sitting for his picture. What topic +could I lead him to talk on, which would entirely engross his +attention while I was at work on his likeness?--I was still puzzling +my brains to no purpose on this subject, when Mr. Faulkner entered my +studio; and, shortly afterward, an accidental circumstance gained for +me the very object which my own ingenuity had proved unequal to +compass. + +While I was "setting" my pallet, my sitter amused himself by turning +over some portfolios. He happened to select one for special notice, +which contained several sketches that I had made in the streets of +Paris. He turned over the first five views rapidly enough; but when he +came to the sixth, I saw his face flush directly; and observed that he +took the drawing out of the portfolio, carried it to the window, and +remained silently absorbed in the contemplation of it for full five +minutes. After that, he turned round to me; and asked, very anxiously, +if I had any objection to part with that sketch. + +It was the least interesting drawing of the series--merely a view in +one of the streets running by the backs of the houses in the Palais +Royal. Some four or five of these houses were comprised in the view, +which was of no particular use to me in any way; and which was too +valueless, as a work of Art, for me to think of _selling_ it to my +kind patron. I begged his acceptance of it, at once. He thanked me +quite warmly; and then, seeing that I looked a little surprised at the +odd selection he had made from my sketches, laughingly asked me if I +could guess why he had been so anxious to become possessed of the view +which I had given him? + +"Probably"--I answered--"there is some remarkable historical +association connected with that street at the back of the Palais +Royal, of which I am ignorant." + +"No"--said Mr. Faulkner--"at least, none that _I_ know of. The only +association connected with the place in _my_ mind, is a purely +personal association. Look at this house in your drawing--the house +with the water-pipe running down it from top to bottom. I once passed +a night there--a night I shall never forget to the day of my death. I +have had some awkward traveling adventures in my time; but _that_ +adventure--! Well, well! suppose we begin the sitting. I make but a +bad return for your kindness in giving me the sketch, by thus wasting +your time in mere talk." + +He had not long occupied the sitter's chair (looking pale and +thoughtful), when he returned--involuntarily, as it seemed--to the +subject of the house in the back street. Without, I hope, showing any +undue curiosity, I contrived to let him see that I felt a deep +interest in every thing he now said. After two or three preliminary +hesitations, he at last, to my great joy, fairly started on the +narrative of his adventure. In the interest of his subject he soon +completely forgot that he was sitting for his portrait--the very +expression that I wanted, came over his face--my picture proceeded +toward completion, in the right direction, and to the best purpose. At +every fresh touch, I felt more and more certain that I was now getting +the better of my grand difficulty; and I enjoyed the additional +gratification of having my work lightened by the recital of a true +story, which possessed, in my estimation, all the excitement of the +most exciting romance. + +This, as nearly as I can recollect, is, word for word, how Mr. +Faulkner told me the story:-- + +Shortly before the period when gambling-houses were suppressed by the +French Government, I happened to be staying at Paris with an English +friend. We were both young men then, and lived, I am afraid, a very +dissipated life, in the very dissipated city of our sojourn. One +night, we were idling about the neighborhood of the Palais Royal, +doubtful to what amusement we should next betake ourselves. My friend +proposed a visit to Frascati's; but his suggestion was not to my +taste. I knew Frascati's, as the French saying is, by heart; had lost +and won plenty of five-franc pieces there, "merely for the fun of the +thing," until it was "fun" no longer; and was thoroughly tired, in +fact, of all the ghastly respectabilities of such a social anomaly as +a respectable gambling-house. "For Heaven's sake"--said I to my +friend--"let us go somewhere where we can see a little genuine, +blackguard, poverty-stricken gaming, with no false gingerbread glitter +thrown over it at all. Let us get away from fashionable Frascati's, to +a house where they don't mind letting in a man with a ragged coat, or +a man with no coat, ragged or otherwise."--"Very well," said my +friend, "we needn't go out of the Palais Royal to find the sort of +company you want. Here's the place, just before us; as blackguard a +place, by all report, as you could possibly wish to see." In another +minute we arrived at the door, and entered the house, the back of +which you have drawn in your sketch. + +When we got up-stairs, and had left our hats and sticks with the +doorkeeper, we were admitted into the chief gambling-room. We did not +find many people assembled there. But, few as the men were who looked +up at us on our entrance, they were all types--miserable types--of +their respective classes. We had come to see blackguards; but these +men were something worse. There is a comic side, more or less +appreciable, in all blackguardism--here, there was nothing but +tragedy; mute, weird tragedy. The quiet in the room was horrible. The +thin, haggard, long-haired young man, whose sunken eyes fiercely +watched the turning up of the cards, never spoke; the flabby, +fat-faced, pimply player, who pricked his piece of pasteboard +perseveringly, to register how often black won, and how often +red--never spoke; the dirty, wrinkled old man, with the vulture eyes, +and the darned great coat, who had lost his last _sous_, and still +looked on desperately, after he could play no longer--never spoke. +Even the voice of the croupier sounded as if it were strangely dulled +and thickened in the atmosphere of the room. I had entered the place +to laugh; I felt that if I stood quietly looking on much longer, I +should be more likely to weep. So, to excite myself out of the +depression of spirits which was fast stealing over me, I unfortunately +went to the table, and began to play. Still more unfortunately, as the +event will show, I won--won prodigiously; won incredibly; won at such +a rate, that the regular players at the table crowded round me; and +staring at my stakes with hungry, superstitious eyes, whispered to one +another that the English stranger was going to break the bank. + +The game was _Rouge et Noir_. I had played at it in every city in +Europe, without, however, the care or the wish to study the Theory of +Chances--that philosopher's stone of all gamblers! And a gambler, in +the strict sense of the word, I had never been. I was heart-whole from +the corroding passion for play. My gaming was a mere idle amusement. I +never resorted to it by necessity, because I never knew what it was to +want money. I never practiced it so incessantly as to lose more than I +could afford, or to gain more than I could coolly pocket, without +being thrown off my balance by my good luck. In short, I had hitherto +frequented gambling-tables--just as I frequented ball-rooms and +opera-houses--because they amused me, and because I had nothing better +to do with my leisure hours. + +But, on this occasion, it was very different--now, for the first time +in my life, I felt what the passion for play really was. My success +first bewildered, and then, in the most literal meaning of the word, +intoxicated me. Incredible as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, +that I only lost, when I attempted to estimate chances, and played +according to previous calculation. If I left every thing to luck, and +staked without any care or consideration, I was sure to win--to win in +the face of every recognized probability in favor of the bank. At +first, some of the men present ventured their money safely enough on +my color; but I speedily increased my stakes to sums which they dared +not risk. One after another they left off playing, and breathlessly +looked on at my game. Still, time after time, I staked higher and +higher; and still won. The excitement in the room rose to fever pitch. +The silence was interrupted, by a deep, muttered chorus of oaths and +exclamations in different languages, every time the gold was shoveled +across to my side of the table--even the imperturbable croupier dashed +his rake on the floor in a (French) fury of astonishment at my +success. But one man present preserved his self-possession; and that +man was my friend. He came to my side, and whispering in English, +begged me to leave the place, satisfied with what I had already +gained. I must do him the justice to say, that he repeated his +warnings and entreaties several times; and only left me and went away, +after I had rejected his advice (I was to all intents and purposes +gambling-drunk) in terms which rendered it impossible for him to +address me again that night. + +Shortly after he had gone, a hoarse voice behind me cried: "Permit me, +my dear sir!--permit me to restore to their proper place two Napoleons +which you have dropped. Wonderful luck, sir!--I pledge you my word of +honor as an old soldier, in the course of my long experience in this +sort of thing, I never saw such luck as yours!--never! Go on, +sir--_Sacré mille bombes!_ Go on boldly, and break the bank!" + +I turned round and saw, nodding and smiling at me with inveterate +civility, a tall man, dressed in a frogged and braided surtout. If I +had been in my senses, I should have considered him, personally, as +being rather a suspicious specimen of an old soldier. He had goggling, +bloodshot eyes, mangy mustaches, and a broken nose. His voice betrayed +a barrack-room intonation of the worst order, and he had the dirtiest +pair of hands I ever saw--even in France. These little personal +peculiarities exercised, however, no repelling influence on me. In the +mad excitement, the reckless triumph of that moment, I was ready to +"fraternize" with any body who encouraged me in my game. I accepted +the old soldier's offered pinch of snuff; clapped him on the back, and +swore he was the honestest fellow in the world; the most glorious +relic of the Grand Army that I had ever met with. "Go on!" cried my +military friend, snapping his fingers in ecstasy--"Go on, and win! +Break the bank--_Mille tonnerres!_ my gallant English comrade, break +the bank!" + +And I _did_ go on--went on at such a rate, that in another quarter of +an hour the croupier called out: "Gentlemen! the bank has discontinued +for to-night." All the notes, and all the gold in that "bank," now lay +in a heap under my hands; the whole floating capital of the +gambling-house was waiting to pour into my pockets! + +"Tie up the money in your pocket-handkerchief, my worthy sir," said +the old soldier, as I wildly plunged my hands into my heap of gold. +"Tie it up, as we used to tie up a bit of dinner in the Grand Army; +your winnings are too heavy for any breeches pockets that ever were +sewed. There! that's it!--shovel them in, notes and all! _Credié!_ +what luck!--Stop! another Napoleon on the floor! _Ah! sacré petit +polisson de Napoleon!_ have I found thee at last? Now, then, sir--two +tight double knots each way with your honorable permission, and the +money's safe. Feel it! feel it, fortunate sir! hard and round as a +cannon ball--_Ah, bah!_ if they had only fired such cannon balls at us +at Austerlitz--_nom d'une pipe!_ if they only had! And now, as an +ancient grenadier, as an ex-brave of the French army, what remains for +me to do? I ask what? Simply this: to entreat my valued English friend +to drink a bottle of champagne with me, and toast the goddess Fortune +in foaming goblets before we part!" + +Excellent ex-brave! Convivial ancient grenadier! Champagne by all +means! An English cheer for an old soldier! Hurrah! hurrah! Another +English cheer for the goddess Fortune! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! + +"Bravo! the Englishman; the amiable, gracious Englishman, in whose +veins circulates the vivacious blood of France! Another glass? _Ah, +bah!_--the bottle is empty! Never mind! _Vive le vin!_ I, the old +soldier, order another bottle, and half a pound of _bon-bons_ with +it!" + +No, no, ex-brave; never--ancient grenadier! _Your_ bottle last time; +_my_ bottle this. Behold it! Toast away! The French Army!--the great +Napoleon!--the present company! the croupier! the honest croupier's +wife and daughters--if he has any! the Ladies generally! Every body in +the world! + +By the time the second bottle of champagne was emptied, I felt as if I +had been drinking liquid fire--my brain seemed all a flame. No excess +in wine had ever had this effect on me before in my life. Was it the +result of a stimulant acting upon my system when I was in a +highly-excited state? Was my stomach in a particularly disordered +condition? Or was the champagne particularly strong? + +"Ex-brave of the French Army!" cried I, in a mad state of +exhilaration. "_I_ am on fire! how are _you_? You have set me on fire! +Do you hear; my hero of Austerlitz? Let us have a third bottle of +champagne to put the flame out!" The old soldier wagged his head, +rolled his goggle-eyes, until I expected to see them slip out of their +sockets; placed his dirty forefinger by the side of his broken nose; +solemnly ejaculated "Coffee!" and immediately ran off into an inner +room. + +The word pronounced by the eccentric veteran, seemed to have a magical +effect on the rest of the company present. With one accord they all +rose to depart. Probably they had expected to profit by my +intoxication; but finding that my new friend was benevolently bent on +preventing me from getting dead drunk, had now abandoned all hope of +thriving pleasantly on my winnings. Whatever their motive might be, at +any rate they went away in a body. When the old soldier returned, and +sat down again opposite to me at the table, we had the room to +ourselves. I could see the croupier, in a sort of vestibule which +opened out of it, eating his supper in solitude. The silence was now +deeper than ever. + +A sudden change, too, had come over the "ex-brave." He assumed a +portentously solemn look; and when he spoke to me again, his speech +was ornamented by no oaths, enforced by no finger-snapping, enlivened +by no apostrophes, or exclamations. + +"Listen, my dear sir," said he, in mysteriously confidential +tones--"listen to an old soldier's advice. I have been to the mistress +of the house (a very charming woman, with a genius for cookery!) to +impress on her the necessity of making us some particularly strong and +good coffee. You must drink this coffee in order to get rid of your +little amiable exaltation of spirits, before you think of going +home--you _must_, my good and gracious friend! With all that money to +take home to-night, it is a sacred duty to yourself to have your wits +about you. You are known to be a winner to an enormous extent, by +several gentlemen present to-night, who, in a certain point of view, +are very worthy and excellent fellows; but they are mortal men, my +dear sir, and they have their amiable weaknesses! Need I say more? Ah, +no, no! you understand me! Now, this is what you must do--send for a +cabriolet when you feel quite well again--draw up all the windows when +you get into it--and tell the driver to take you home only through the +large and well-lighted thoroughfares. Do this; and you and your money +will be safe. Do this; and to-morrow you will thank an old soldier for +giving you a word of honest advice." + +Just as the ex-brave ended his oration in very lachrymose tones, the +coffee came in, ready poured out in two cups. My attentive friend +handed me one of the cups, with a bow. I was parched with thirst, and +drank it off at a draught. Almost instantly afterward, I was seized +with a fit of giddiness, and felt more completely intoxicated than +ever. The room whirled round and round furiously; the old soldier +seemed to be regularly bobbing up and down before me, like the piston +of a steam-engine. I was half-deafened by a violent singing in my +ears; a feeling of utter bewilderment, helplessness, idiotcy, overcame +me. I rose from my chair, holding on by the table to keep my balance; +and stammered out, that I felt dreadfully unwell--so unwell, that I +did not know how I was to get home. + +"My dear friend," answered the old soldier; and even his voice seemed +to be bobbing up and down, as he spoke--"My dear friend, it would be +madness to go home, in _your_ state. You would be sure to lose your +money; you might be robbed and murdered with the greatest ease. _I_ am +going to sleep here: do _you_ sleep here, too--they make up capital +beds in this house--take one; sleep off the effects of the wine, and +go home safely with your winnings, to-morrow--to-morrow, in broad +daylight." + +I had no power of thinking, no feeling of any kind, but the feeling +that I must lie down somewhere, immediately, and fall off into a cool, +refreshing, comfortable sleep. So I agreed eagerly to the proposal +about the bed, and took the offered arms of the old soldier and the +croupier--the latter having been summoned to show the way. They led me +along some passages and up a short flight of stairs into the bedroom +which I was to occupy. The ex-brave shook me warmly by the hand; +proposed that we should breakfast together the next morning; and then, +followed by the croupier, left me for the night. + +I ran to the wash-hand stand; drank some of the water in my jug; +poured the rest out, and plunged my face into it--then sat down in a +chair, and tried to compose myself. I soon felt better. The change for +my lungs, from the fetid atmosphere of the gambling-room to the cool +air of the apartment I now occupied; the almost equally refreshing +change for my eyes, from the glaring gas-lights of the "Salon" to the +dim, quiet flicker of one bedroom candle; aided wonderfully the +restorative effects of cold water. The giddiness left me, and I began +to feel a little like a reasonable being again. My first thought was +of the risk of sleeping all night in a gambling-house; my second, of +the still greater risk of trying to get out after the house was +closed, and of going home alone at night, through the streets of +Paris, with a large sum of money about me. I had slept in worse places +than this, in the course of my travels; so I determined to lock, bolt, +and barricade my door. + +Accordingly, I secured myself against all intrusion; looked under the +bed, and into the cupboard; tried the fastening of the window; and +then, satisfied that I had taken every proper precaution, pulled off +my upper clothing, put my light, which was a dim one, on the hearth +among a feathery litter of wood ashes; and got into bed, with the +handkerchief full of money under my pillow. + +I soon felt, not only that I could not go to sleep, but that I could +not even close my eyes. I was wide awake, and in a high fever. Every +nerve in my body trembled--every one of my senses seemed to be +preternaturally sharpened. I tossed, and rolled, and tried every kind +of position, and perseveringly sought out the cold corners of the bed, +and all to no purpose. Now, I thrust my arms over the clothes; now, I +poked them under the clothes; now, I violently shot my legs straight +out, down to the bottom of the bed; now, I convulsively coiled them up +as near my chin as they would go; now, I shook out my crumpled pillow, +changed it to the cool side, patted it flat, and lay down quietly on +my back; now, I fiercely doubled it in two, set it up on end, thrust +it against the board of the bed, and tried a sitting posture. Every +effort was in vain; I groaned with vexation, as I felt that I was in +for a sleepless night. + +What could I do? I had no book to read. And yet, unless I found out +some method of diverting my mind, I felt certain that I was in the +condition to imagine all sorts of horrors; to rack my brains with +forebodings of every possible and impossible danger; in short, to pass +the night in suffering all conceivable varieties of nervous terror. I +raised myself on my elbow, and looked about the room--which was +brightened by a lovely moonlight pouring straight through the +window--to see if it contained any pictures or ornaments, that I could +at all clearly distinguish. While my eyes wandered from wall to wall, +a remembrance of Le Maistre's delightful little book, "Voyage autour +de ma Chambre," occurred to me. I resolved to imitate the French +author, and find occupation and amusement enough to relieve the tedium +of my wakefulness by making a mental inventory of every article of +furniture I could see, and by following up to their sources the +multitude of associations which even a chair, a table, or a wash-hand +stand, may be made to call forth. + +In the nervous, unsettled state of my mind at that moment, I found it +much easier to make my proposed inventory, than to make my proposed +reflections, and soon gave up all hope of thinking in Le Maistre's +fanciful track--or, indeed, thinking at all. I looked about the room +at the different articles of furniture, and did nothing more. There +was, first, the bed I was lying in--a four-post bed, of all things in +the world to meet with in Paris!--yes, a thorough clumsy British +four-poster, with the regular top lined with chintz--the regular +fringed valance all round--the regular stifling, unwholesome curtains, +which I remembered having mechanically drawn back against the posts, +without particularly noticing the bed when I first got into the room. +Then, there was the marble-topped wash-hand stand, from which the +water I had spilt, in my hurry to pour it out, was still dripping, +slowly and more slowly, on to the brick floor. Then, two small chairs, +with my coat, waistcoat, and trowsers flung on them. Then, a large +elbow chair covered with dirty-white dimity: with my cravat and +shirt-collar thrown over the back. Then, a chest of drawers, with two +of the brass handles off, and a tawdry, broken china inkstand placed +on it by way of ornament for the top. Then, the dressing-table, +adorned by a very small looking-glass, and a very large pincushion. +Then, the window--an unusually large window. Then, a dark old picture, +which the feeble candle dimly showed me. It was the picture of a +fellow in a high Spanish hat, crowned with a plume of towering +feathers. A swarthy sinister ruffian, looking upward; shading his eyes +with his hand, and looking intently upward--it might be at some tall +gallows at which he was going to be hanged. At any rate he had the +appearance of thoroughly deserving it. + +This picture put a kind of constraint upon me to look upward, too--at +the top of the bed. It was a gloomy and not an interesting object, and +I looked back at the picture. I counted the feathers in the man's hat; +they stood out in relief; three, white; two, green. I observed the +crown of his hat, which was of a conical shape, according to the +fashion supposed to have been favored by Guido Fawkes. I wondered what +he was looking up at. It couldn't be at the stars; such a desperado +was neither astrologer nor astronomer. It must be at the high +gallows, and he was going to be hanged presently. Would the +executioner come into possession of his conical crowned hat, and plume +of feathers? I counted the feathers again; three, white; two, green. + +While I still lingered over this very improving and intellectual +employment, my thoughts insensibly began to wander. The moonlight +shining into the room reminded me of a certain moonlight night in +England--the night after a pic-nic party in a Welsh valley. Every +incident of the drive homeward through lovely scenery, which the +moonlight made lovelier than ever, came back to my remembrance, though +I had never given the pic-nic a thought for years; though, if I had +_tried_ to recollect it, I could certainly have recalled little or +nothing of that scene long past. Of all the wonderful faculties that +help to tell us we are immortal, which speaks the sublime truth more +eloquently than memory? Here was I, in a strange house of the most +suspicious character, in a situation of uncertainty, and even of +peril, which might seem to make the cool exercise of my recollection +almost out of the question; nevertheless remembering, quite +involuntarily, places, people, conversations, minute circumstances of +every kind, which I had thought forgotten forever, which I could not +possibly have recalled at will, even under the most favorable +auspices. And what cause had produced in a moment the whole of this +strange, complicated, mysterious effect? Nothing but some rays of +moonlight shining in at my bedroom window. + +I was still thinking of the pic-nic; of our merriment on the drive +home; of the sentimental young lady, who _would_ quote Childe Harold +because it was moonlight. I was absorbed by these past scenes and past +amusements, when, in an instant, the thread on which my memories hung, +snapped asunder; my attention immediately came back to present things +more vividly than ever, and I found myself, I neither knew why or +wherefore, looking hard at the picture again. + +Looking for what? Good God, the man had pulled his hat down on his +brows!--No! The hat itself was gone! Where was the conical crown? +Where the feathers; three, white; two green? Not there! In place of +the hat and feathers, what dusky object was it that now hid his +forehead--his eyes--his shading hand? Was the bed moving? + +I turned on my back, and looked up. Was I mad? drunk? dreaming? giddy +again? or, was the top of the bed really moving down--sinking slowly, +regularly, silently, horribly, right down throughout the whole of its +length and breadth--right down upon me, as I lay underneath? + +My blood seemed to stand still; a deadly paralyzing coldness stole all +over me, as I turned my head round on the pillow, and determined to +test whether the bed-top was really moving or not, by keeping my eye +on the man in the picture. The next look in that direction was +enough. The dull, black, frowsy outline of the valance above me was +within an inch of being parallel with his waist. I still looked +breathlessly. And steadily, and slowly--very slowly--I saw the figure, +and the line of frame below the figure, vanish, as the valance moved +down before it. + +I am, constitutionally, any thing but timid. I have been, on more than +one occasion, in peril of my life, and have not lost my +self-possession for an instant; but, when the conviction first settled +on my mind that the bed-top was really moving, was steadily and +continuously sinking down upon me, I looked up for one awful minute, +or more, shuddering, helpless, panic-stricken, beneath the hideous +machinery for murder, which was advancing closer and closer to +suffocate me where I lay. + +Then the instinct of self-preservation came, and nerved me to save my +life, while there was yet time. I got out of bed very quietly, and +quickly dressed myself again in my upper clothing. The candle, fully +spent, went out. I sat down in the arm-chair that stood near, and +watched the bed-top slowly descending. I was literally spell-bound by +it. If I had heard footsteps behind me, I could not have turned round; +if a means of escape had been miraculously provided for me, I could +not have moved to take advantage of it. The whole life in me, was, at +that moment, concentrated in my eyes. + +It descended--the whole canopy, with the fringe round it, came +down--down--close down; so close that there was not room now to +squeeze my finger between the bed-top and the bed. I felt at the +sides, and discovered that what had appeared to me, from beneath, to +be the ordinary light canopy of a four-post bed was in reality a +thick, broad mattress, the substance of which was concealed by the +valance and its fringe. I looked up, and saw the four posts rising +hideously bare. In the middle of the bed-top was a huge wooden screw +that had evidently worked it down through a hole in the ceiling, just +as ordinary presses are worked down on the substance selected for +compression. The frightful apparatus moved without making the faintest +noise. There had been no creaking as it came down; there was now not +the faintest sound from the room above. Amid a dead and awful silence +I beheld before me--in the nineteenth century, and in the civilized +capital of France--such a machine for secret murder by suffocation, as +might have existed in the worst days of the Inquisition, in the lonely +Inns among the Hartz Mountains, in the mysterious tribunals of +Westphalia! Still, as I looked on it, I could not move; I could hardly +breathe; but I began to recover the power of thinking; and, in a +moment, I discovered the murderous conspiracy framed against me, in +all its horror. + +My cup of coffee had been drugged, and drugged too strongly. I had +been saved from being smothered, by having taken an over-dose of some +narcotic. How I had chafed and fretted at the fever fit which had +preserved my life by keeping me awake! How recklessly I had confided +myself to the two wretches who had led me into this room, determined, +for the sake of my winnings, to kill me in my sleep, by the surest and +most horrible contrivance for secretly accomplishing my destruction! +How many men, winners like me, had slept, as I had proposed to sleep, +in that bed; and never been seen or heard of more! I shuddered as I +thought of it. + +But, erelong, all thought was again suspended by the sight of the +murderous canopy moving once more. After it had remained on the +bed--as nearly as I could guess--about ten minutes, it began to move +up again. The villains, who worked it from above, evidently believed +that their purpose was now accomplished. Slowly and silently, as it +had descended, that horrible bed-top rose toward its former place. +When it reached the upper extremities of the four posts, it reached +the ceiling too. Neither hole nor screw could be seen--the bed became +in appearance, an ordinary bed again, the canopy, an ordinary canopy, +even to the most suspicious eyes. + +Now, for the first time, I was able to move, to rise from my chair, to +consider of how I should escape. If I betrayed by the smallest noise, +that the attempt to suffocate me had failed, I was certain to be +murdered. Had I made any noise already? I listened intently, looking +toward the door. No! no footsteps in the passage outside; no sound of +a tread, light or heavy, in the room above--absolute silence every +where. Besides locking and bolting my door, I had moved an old wooden +chest against it, which I had found under the bed. To remove this +chest (my blood ran cold, as I thought what its contents _might_ be!) +without making some disturbance, was impossible; and, moreover, to +think of escaping through the house, now barred-up for the night, was +sheer insanity. Only one chance was left me--the window. I stole to it +on tiptoe. + +My bedroom was on the first floor, above an _entresol_, and looked +into the back street, which you had sketched in your view. I raised my +hand to open the window, knowing that on that action hung, by the +merest hair's-breadth, my chance of safety. They keep vigilant watch +in a House of Murder--if any part of the frame cracked, if the hinge +creaked, I was, perhaps, a lost man! It must have occupied me at least +five minutes, reckoning by time--five _hours_, reckoning by +suspense--to open that window. I succeeded in doing it silently, in +doing it with all the dexterity of a house-breaker; and then looked +down into the street. To leap the distance beneath me, would be almost +certain destruction! Next, I looked round at the sides of the house. +Down the left side, ran the thick water-pipe which you have drawn--it +passed close by the outer edge of the window. The moment I saw the +pipe, I knew I was saved; my breath came and went freely for the first +time since I had seen the canopy of the bed moving down upon me! + +To some men the means of escape which I had discovered might have +seemed difficult and dangerous enough--to _me_, the prospect of +slipping down the pipe into the street did not suggest even a thought +of peril. I had always been accustomed, by the practice of gymnastics, +to keep up my schoolboy powers as a daring and expert climber; and +knew that my head, hands, and feet would serve me faithfully in any +hazards of ascent or descent. I had already got one leg over the +window-sill, when I remembered the handkerchief, filled with money, +under my pillow. I could well have afforded to leave it behind me; but +I was revengefully determined that the miscreants of the +gambling-house should miss their plunder as well as their victim. So I +went back to the bed, and tied the heavy handkerchief at my back by my +cravat. Just as I had made it tight, and fixed it in a comfortable +place, I thought I heard a sound of breathing outside the door. The +chill feeling of horror ran through me again as I listened. No! dead +silence still in the passage--I had only heard the night air blowing +softly into the room. The next moment I was on the window-sill--and +the next, I had a firm grip on the water-pipe with my hands and knees. + +I slid down into the street easily and quietly, as I thought I should, +and immediately set off, at the top of my speed, to a branch +"Prefecture" of Police, which I knew was situated in the immediate +neighborhood. A "Sub-Prefect" and several picked men among his +subordinates, happened to be up, maturing, I believe, some scheme for +discovering the perpetrator of a mysterious murder, which all Paris +was talking of just then. When I began my story, in a breathless hurry +and in very bad French, I could see that the Sub-Prefect suspected me +of being a drunken Englishman, who had robbed somebody, but he soon +altered his opinion, as I went on; and before I had any thing like +concluded, he shoved all the papers before him into a drawer, put on +his hat, supplied me with another (for I was bare-headed), ordered a +file of soldiers, desired his expert followers to get ready all sorts +of tools for breaking open doors and ripping up brick-flooring, and +took my arm, in the most friendly and familiar manner possible, to +lead me with him out of the house. I will venture to say, that when +the Sub-Prefect was a little boy, and was taken for the first time to +the Play, he was not half as much pleased as he was now at the job in +prospect for him at the "Gambling-House!" + +Away we went through the streets, the Sub-Prefect cross-examining and +congratulating me in the same breath, as we marched at the head of our +formidable _posse comitatus_. Sentinels were placed at the back and +front of the gambling-house the moment we got to it; a tremendous +battery of knocks were directed against the door; a light appeared at +a window; I waited to conceal myself behind the police--then came more +knocks, and a cry of "Open in the name of the law!" At that terrible +summons, bolts and locks gave way before an invisible hand, and the +moment after, the Sub-Prefect was in the passage, confronting a +waiter, half-dressed and ghastly pale. This was the short dialogue +which immediately took place: + +"We want to see the Englishman who is sleeping in this house?" + +"He went away hours ago." + +"He did no such thing. His friend went away; _he_ remained. Show us to +his bedroom!" + +"I swear to you, Monsieur le Sous-Préfet, he is not here! he--" + +"I swear to you, Monsieur le Garçon, he is. He slept here--he didn't +find your bed comfortable--he came to us to complain of it--here he +is, among my men--and here am I, ready to look for a flea or two in +his bedstead. Picard! (calling to one of the subordinates, and +pointing to the waiter) collar that man, and tie his hands behind him. +Now, then, gentlemen, let us walk up-stairs!" + +Every man and woman in the house was secured--the "Old Soldier," the +first. Then I identified the bed in which I had slept; and then we +went into the room above. No object that was at all extraordinary +appeared in any part of it. The Sub-Prefect looked round the place, +commanded every body to be silent, stamped twice on the floor, called +for a candle, looked attentively at the spot he had stamped on, and +ordered the flooring there to be carefully taken up. This was done in +no time. Lights were produced, and we saw a deep raftered cavity +between the floor of this room and the ceiling of the room beneath. +Through this cavity there ran perpendicularly a sort of case of iron, +thickly greased; and inside the case appeared the screw, which +communicated with the bed-top below. Extra lengths of screw, freshly +oiled--levers covered with felt--all the complete upper works of a +heavy press, constructed with infernal ingenuity so as to join the +fixtures below--and, when taken to pieces again, to go into the +smallest possible compass, were next discovered, and pulled out on the +floor. After some little difficulty, the Sub-Prefect succeeded in +putting the machinery together, and, leaving his men to work it, +descended with me to the bedroom. The smothering canopy was then +lowered, but not so noiselessly as I had seen it lowered. When I +mentioned this to the Sub-Prefect, his answer, simple as it was, had a +terrible significance. "My men," said he, "are working down the +bed-top for the first time--the men whose money you won, were in +better practice." + +We left the house in the sole possession of two police agents--every +one of the inmates being removed to prison on the spot, The +Sub-Prefect, after taking down my "_procès-verbal_" in his office, +returned with me to my hotel to get my passport. "Do you think," I +asked, as I gave it to him, "that any men have really been smothered +in that bed, as they tried to smother _me_?" + +"I have seen dozens of drowned men laid out at the Morgue," answered +the Sub-Prefect, "in whose pocket-books were found letters, stating +that they had committed suicide in the Seine, because they had lost +every thing at the gaming-table. Do I know how many of those men +entered the same gambling-house that _you_ entered? won as _you_ won? +took that bed as _you_ took it? slept in it? were smothered in it? and +were privately thrown into the river, with a letter of explanation +written by the murderers and placed in their pocket-books? No man can +say how many, or how few, have suffered the fate from which you have +escaped. The people of the gambling-house kept their bedstead +machinery a secret from _us_--even from the police! The dead kept the +rest of the secret for them. Good-night, or rather good-morning, +Monsieur Faulkner! Be at my office again at nine o'clock--in the mean +time, _au revoir_!" + +The rest of my story is soon told. I was examined, and re-examined; +the gambling-house was strictly searched all through, from top to +bottom; the prisoners were separately interrogated; and two of the +less guilty among them made a confession. _I_ discovered that the Old +Soldier was the master of the gambling-house--_justice_ discovered +that he had been drummed out of the army, as a vagabond, years ago; +that he had been guilty of all sorts of villainies since; that he was +in possession of stolen property, which the owners identified; and +that he, the croupier, another accomplice, and the woman who had made +my cup of coffee, were all in the secret of the bedstead. There +appeared some reason to doubt whether the inferior persons attached to +the house knew any thing of the suffocating machinery; and they +received the benefit of that doubt, by being treated simply as thieves +and vagabonds. As for the Old Soldier and his two head-myrmidons, they +went to the galleys; the woman who had drugged my coffee was +imprisoned for I forget how many years; the regular attendants at the +gambling-house were considered "suspicious," and placed under +"surveillance"; and I became, for one whole week (which is a long +time), the head "lion" in Parisian society. My adventure was +dramatized by three illustrious playmakers, but never saw theatrical +daylight; for the censorship forbade the introduction on the stage of +a correct copy of the gambling-house bedstead. + +Two good results were produced by my adventure, which any censorship +must have approved. In the first place, it helped to justify the +government in forthwith carrying out their determination to put down +all gambling-houses; in the second place, it cured me of ever again +trying "Rouge et Noir" as an amusement. The sight of a green cloth, +with packs of cards and heaps of money on it, will henceforth be +forever associated in my mind with the sight of a bed-canopy +descending to suffocate me, in the silence and darkness of the night. + +Just as Mr. Faulkner pronounced the last words, he started in his +chair, and assumed a stiff, dignified position, in a great hurry. +"Bless my soul!" cried he--with a comic look of astonishment and +vexation--"while I have been telling you what is the real secret of my +interest in the sketch you have so kindly given to me, I have +altogether forgotten that I came here to sit for my portrait. For the +last hour, or more, I must have been the worst model you ever had to +paint from!" + +"On the contrary, you have been the best," said I. "I have been +painting from your expression; and, while telling your story, you have +unconsciously shown me the natural expression I wanted." + + + + +WHAT THE SUNBEAM DOES. + + +Heat, or the caloric portion of the sunbeam, is the great cause of +life and motion in this our world. As it were with a magical energy, +it causes the winds to blow and the waters to flow, vivifies and +animates all nature, and then bathes it in refreshing dew. The +intensity of the heat which we receive depends on the distance of the +earth from the sun, its great source, and still more on the relative +position of the two orbs; since in winter we are nearer the sun than +we are in summer, yet, in consequence of the position of the earth at +that season, the sun's rays fall obliquely on its northern hemisphere, +rendering it far colder than at any other period of the year. + +A great portion of the heat-rays which are emitted by the sun are +absorbed in their passage through the atmosphere which surrounds our +globe. It is calculated that about one-third of the heat-rays which +fall on it never reach the earth, which fact adds another to the many +beneficent purposes fulfilled by our gaseous envelope, screening us +from the otherwise scorching heat. It is curious to trace the varied +fates of the calorific rays which strike on the surface of the earth. +Some at once on falling are reflected, and, passing back through the +atmosphere, are lost amid the immensity of space; others are absorbed +or imbibed by different bodies, and, after a time, are radiated from +them; but the greater part of the beams which reach the earth during +the summer are absorbed by it, and conveyed downward to a considerable +distance, by conduction from particle to particle. Heat also spreads +laterally from the regions of the equator toward the poles, thereby +moderating the intense cold of the arctic and antarctic circles, and +in winter, when the forest-trees are covered with snow, their +deeply-penetrating roots are warmed by the heat, which, as in a vast +store-house, has been laid up in the earth, to preserve life during +the dreary winter. The rays which fall on the tropical seas descend to +the depth of about three hundred feet. The sun's attraction for the +earth, being also stronger at that quarter of the world, the heated +waters are drawn upward, the colder waters from the poles rush in, and +thus a great heated current is produced, flowing from the equator +northward and southward, which tends to equalize the temperature of +the earth. The sailor also knows how to avail himself of this +phenomenon. When out at sea, despite his most skillful steering, he is +in constant danger of shipwreck, if he fails to estimate truly the +force and direction of those currents which are dragging him +insensibly out of the true course. His compass does not help him here, +neither does any log yet known give a perfectly authentic result. But +he knows that this great gulf-stream has a stated path and time, and, +by testing from hour to hour the temperature of the water through +which he is proceeding, he knows at what point he is meeting this +current, and reckons accordingly. + +We have already said that heat was the producer of the winds, which +are so essential to the preservation of the purity of the atmosphere. +In order to understand their action, we shall consider the stupendous +phenomenon of the trade-winds, which is similar to that of the current +we have described. The rays of the sun falling vertically on the +regions between the tropics, the air there becomes much heated. It is +the property of air to expand when heated, and, when expanded, it is +necessarily lighter than the cooler air around it. Consequently it +rises. As it rises, the cooler air at once takes its place. Rushing +from the temperate and polar regions to supply the want, the warm air +which has risen flows toward the poles, and descends there, loses its +heat, and again travels to the tropics. Thus a grand circulation is +continually maintained in the atmosphere. These aerial currents, being +affected by the revolution of the earth, do not move due north and +south, as they otherwise would. Hence, while they equalize the +temperature of the atmosphere, they also preserve its purity; for the +pure oxygen evolved by the luxuriant vegetation of the equatorial +regions is wafted by the winds to support life in the teeming +population of the temperate zones, while the air from the poles bears +carbonic acid gas on its wings to furnish food for the rich and +gorgeous plants of the tropics. Thus the splendid water-lily of the +Amazon, the stately palm-tree of Africa, and the great banyan of +India, depend for nourishment on the breath of men and animals in +lands thousands of miles distant from them, and, in return, they +supply their benefactors with vivifying oxygen. + +Little less important, and still more beautiful, is the phenomenon of +dew, which is produced by the power of radiating heat, possessed in +different degrees by all bodies. The powers both of absorbing and of +radiating heat, in great measure, depend on the color of bodies--the +darker the color, the greater the power; so that each lovely flower +bears within its petals a delicate thermometer, which determines the +amount of heat each shall receive, and which is always the amount +essential to their well-being. The queenly rose, the brilliant +carnation, the fair lily, and the many-colored anemone, all basking in +the same bright sunshine, enjoy different degrees of warmth, and when +night descends, and the heat absorbed by day is radiated back, and +bodies become cooler than the surrounding air, the vapor contained in +the atmosphere is deposited in the form of dew. Those bodies which +radiate most quickly receive the most copious supply of the refreshing +fluid. This radiating power depends on the condition of the surface, +as well as upon color, so that we may often see the grass garden +bathed in dew, while the gravel walks which run through it are +perfectly dry, and, again, the smooth, shining, juicy leaves of the +laurel are quite dry, while the rose-tree beneath it is saturated with +moisture. + +The great effect produced on the vegetable kingdom by the heat-rays +may be judged of from the fact, that almost all the plants which +exhibit the remarkable phenomena of irritability, almost approaching +to animal life, are confined to those regions where the heat is +extreme. On the banks of the Indian rivers grows a plant in almost +constant motion. In the hottest of the conservatories at Kew is a +curious plant, whose leaflets rise by a succession of little starts. +The same house contains Venus's fly-trap. Light seems to have no +effect in quickening their movements; but the effect of increased heat +is at once seen. They exhibit their remarkable powers most during the +still hot nights of an Indian summer. + +Heat is of essential importance in the production and ripening of +fruit. Many trees will not bear fruit in our cold climate, which are +most productive in the sunny south. Animal as well as vegetable life +is in great measure dependent on heat. Look at the insect tribes. The +greater number of them pass their winter in the pupa state. Hidden in +some sheltered nook, or buried in the earth, they sleep on, until the +warmth of returning spring awakens them to life and happiness; and if, +by artificial means, the cold be prolonged, they still sleep on, +whereas, if they he exposed to artificial heat, their change is +hastened, and butterflies may be seen sporting about the flowers of a +hothouse, when their less favored relatives are still wrapped in the +deepest slumber. To judge of the influence of heat on the animal and +vegetable economy, we need but contrast summer and winter--the one +radiant and vocal with life and beauty, the other dark, dreary, and +silent. + +The third constituent of the sunbeam is actinism--its property being +to produce chemical effects. So long ago as 1556, it was noticed by +those strange seekers after impossibilities, the alchemists, that horn +silver, exposed to the sunbeam, was blackened by it. This phenomenon +contained the germ of those most interesting discoveries which have +distinguished the present age; but, in their ardent search for the +philosopher's stone and the elixir of life, they overlooked many an +effect of their labors which might have led them to important truths. + +As yet, the effects of actinism have been more studied in the +inanimate than the organic creation. Still, in the vegetable kingdom, +its power is known to be of the utmost importance. A seed exposed to +the entire sunbeam will not germinate; but bury it in the earth, at a +depth sufficient to exclude the light, yet enough to admit actinism, +which, like heat, penetrates the earth to some distance, and soon a +chemical change will take place; the starch contained in the seed is +converted into gum and water, forming the nutriment of the young +plant; the tiny root plunges downward, the slender stem rises to the +light, the first leaves, or cotyledons, then unfold, and now fully +expand to the light, and a series of chemical changes of a totally +different nature commence, which we have before noticed, when speaking +of light. Experiments clearly prove that this change is to be +attributed to actinism, and not to heat. Glass has been interposed of +a dark blue color, which is transparent to actinism, though opaque to +light and heat, and germination has been thereby quickened. Gardeners +have long known this fact practically, and are accustomed to raise +their cuttings under blue shades. There is no doubt that actinism +exercises a powerful and beneficent influence on plants during their +whole existence, but science has yet to demonstrate its nature; and it +is curious to observe that the actinic element is most abundant in the +sunbeam in the spring, when its presence is most essential in +promoting germination--in summer the luminous rays are in excess, when +they are most needed for the formation of woody fibre--and in autumn +the heat-rays prevail, and ripen the golden grain and the delicious +fruit; in each day the proportions of the different rays vary--in the +morning the actinic principle abounds most, at noon the light, and at +eventide the heat. + +The influence of actinism on the animal world is not well known; but +it is probable that many of the effects hitherto referred to light are +in reality due to actinism. It has the strange power of darkening the +human skin, causing the deep color of those tribes who inhabit the +sunniest regions of the earth; and even in our own country, in summer, +that darkening of the skin called sun-burning. Doubtless, more careful +investigation will discover this principle to be equally important to +the life and health of animals as either of its closely allied powers +of light and heat. + +Our knowledge of actinic influence on inanimate nature is not so +scanty, for it is now a well established fact, that the sunbeam can +not fall on any body, whether simple or compound, without producing on +its surface a chemical and molecular change. The immovable rocks which +bound our shores, the mountain which rears its lofty head above the +clouds, the magnificent cathedral, the very triumph of art, and the +beautiful statue in bronze or marble, are all acted on destructively +by the sunbeam, and would soon perish beneath its irresistible energy, +but for the beautiful provision made for their restoration during the +darkness of night--the repose of darkness being no less essential to +inorganic, than it is to animated nature. During its silent hours, the +chemical and molecular changes are all undone, and the destruction of +the day repaired, we know not how. + +The art of painting by the sunbeam has been rather unfortunately +called photography, which means light-painting, for the process is not +due to light, but is rather interfered with by it; and, contrary to +all preconceived ideas, the pictures taken in our comparatively sombre +country, are more easily and brilliantly produced than in brighter +and more sunny lands--so much so, that a gentleman, who took the +requisite materials to Mexico, in order to take views of its principal +buildings, met with failure after failure, and it was not until the +darker days of the rainy season that he met with any measure of +success. + + + + +THE RECORD OF A MADNESS WHICH WAS NOT INSANITY. + + +A fresh, bright dawn, the loveliest hour of an English summer, was +rousing the slumbering life in woods and fields, and painting the +heavens and the earth in the gorgeous hues of the sunrise. + +Beautiful it was to see the first blush of day mantling over the +distant hills, tinging them with a faint crimson, and the first smile +shooting, in one bright beam through the sky, while it lit up the fair +face of nature with a sparkling light. Lilias Randolph stood on the +flight of steps which led from the Abbey to the park, and looked down +on the joyous scene. She seemed herself a very type of the morning, +with her sunny eyes, and her golden hair; and her gaze wandered glad +and free over the spreading landscape, while her thoughts roamed far +away in regions yet more bright--even the sunlit fields of fancy. + +It was the day and the hour when she was to go and meet Richard +Sydney, in order to have, at length, a full revelation of his +mysterious connection with her cousin. She knew that it was an +interview of solemn import to both of those, in whom she felt so deep +an interest; yet, so entirely were one thought and one feeling alone +gaining empire over her spirit that, even then, in that momentous +hour, they had no share in the visions with which her heart was busy. + +So soon, therefore, as Lilias came within sight of Richard Sydney, who +had arrived first at the place of rendezvous, she resolutely banished +the thoughts that were so absorbing to her own glad heart, and set +herself seriously to give her entire attention to the work now before +her, if, haply, it might be given her, in some degree, to minister +unto their grievous misery. And truly her first glance upon the face +of the man who stood there, with his eyes fixed on the path which was +to bring her and her hoped-for succor near to him, would have sufficed +to have driven all ideas from her mind, save the one conviction, that +in that look alone she had acquired a deeper knowledge of suffering +than her own past life, in all its details, had ever afforded her. +Sydney heard her step, long before she believed it possible, and, +bounding toward her, he seized her hand with a grasp which was almost +convulsive. He drew her aside to some little distance from her nurse, +who sat down on a bank to wait for them. + +Lilias bent down her head that she might not seem to note the workings +of his countenance, as he laid bare before her the most hidden springs +of his soul, and he began: + +"I was born heir to a curse. Centuries ago an ancestor of mine +murdered a woman he once had loved, because his neglect had driven +her mad, and that in her ravings she revealed his many crimes. With +her dying breath she invoked the curse of insanity on him and his +house forever, and the cry of her departing soul was heard. There has +not been a generation in our family since that hour which has not had +its shrieking maniac to echo in our ears the murdered woman's scream. +Some there have been among the Sydneys of peculiar constitution, as it +would seem, who have not actually been visited with the malady; but +they have never failed to transmit it to their children. Of such am I; +while my father died a suicide by his own senseless act, and his only +other child besides myself, my sister, wears her coronet of straw in +the Dublin Asylum, and calls herself a queen. + +"It would appall you to hear the fearful calamities which each +succeeding family has undergone through this awful curse. At last, as +the catalogue of tragic events grew darker and darker, it became a +solemn matter of discussion to our unhappy race, whether it were not +an absolute duty that the members of a house so doomed, should cease +at last to propagate the curse, and by a resolute abandonment of all +earthly ties, cause our name and misery to perish from the earth. The +necessity for this righteous sacrifice was admitted; but the +resolution in each separate individual to become the destined +holocaust, has hitherto forever failed before the power of the mighty +human love that lured them ever to its pure resistless joys. It was so +with my father--like myself he was an only son; and, in the ardor of a +generous youth, he vowed to be the offering needful to still the cry +of that innocent blood for vengeance; but the sweet face of my mother +came between him and his holy vow. He married her, and the punishment +came down with fearful weight on both, when her fond heart broke at +sight of his ghastly corpse. Then it was she knew the retribution in +their case had been just; and on her dying bed, with the yet unclosed +coffin of her husband by her side, she made me vow upon the holy cross +that I, myself, would be the sacrifice--that never would I take a wife +unto my heart or home; and that never, from my life, should any +helpless being inherit existence with a curse. That vow I took, that +vow I kept, and that vow I will keep, though Aletheia, beloved of my +heart and soul, dearer than all beneath the skies, were to lay herself +down beneath my very feet to die. Oh! shall we not rest in heaven." + +He bowed his head for a moment, and his frame shook with emotion, but +driving back the tide of anguish, he went on: "After my mother's death +and my sister's removal, who had been insane almost from childhood, I +shut myself up entirely at Sydney Court, and gave way to a species of +morbid melancholy which was thought to be fearfully dangerous for one +in my position. I had friends, however; and the best and truest was +Colonel Randolph, my Aletheia's father, the early companion of my own +poor, hapless parent. He was resolved to save me from the miserable +condition in which I then was. He came to me and told me, with all the +authority of his long friendship, that I must go with him to the +M----, where he had been appointed governor. He said it was a crime to +waste a life, which, though unblest by human ties, might be made most +useful to my fellow-creatures. I had studied much in brighter days, +and given to the world the fruits of my labors. These had not passed +unheeded; he told me they had proved that talents had been committed +to me whereby I might be a benefactor to my race, all the more that no +soft endearments of domestic joys would wean my thoughts from sterner +duties. I was to go with him; he insisted it would benefit myself, and +would injure none. His family consisted of his one daughter, his +precious, beloved Aletheia, for he doated on her with more than the +ordinary love of a father. She knew my history, and would be to me a +sister. Alas! alas! for her destruction, I consented." + +Again, a momentary pause. Lilias gently raised her compassionate eyes, +but he saw her not; he seemed lost in a vision of the past, and soon +went on: + +"That lovely land where I dwelt with her, it seems a type of the +beauty and happiness which was around me then! And, oh! what a dream +it is to think of now--the cloudless sky--the glorious sun--and her +eyes undimmed, her smile unfaded! Oh! Aletheia--my Aletheia--treasure +of many lives! bright and joyous--light to the eyes that looked on +her, blessing to the hearts that loved her--would that I had died or +ever I drew her very soul into mine, and left her the poor, crushed, +helpless being that she is! You can not picture to yourself the +fascination that was around her then--high-minded, noble in heart, +lofty in soul; her bright spirit stamped its glory on her face, and +she was beautiful, with all spiritual loveliness. None ever saw her +who loved her not--her rare talents--her enchanting voice; that voice +of her very soul, which spoke in such wonderful music, drew to her +feet every creature who knew her; for with all these gifts, this +wonderful intellect, and rarest powers of mind, she was playful, +winning, simple as an innocent child. I say none saw her, and loved +her not; how, think you, _I_ loved her?--the doomed man, the desolate +being, whose barren, joyless life walked hand in hand with a curse. +Let this anguish tell you how I loved her;" and he turned on Lilias a +face of ghastly paleness, convulsed with agony, and wet with the dews +of suffering; but he did not pause, he went on rapidly: "I was mad, +then, in one sense, though it was the madness of the heart, and not +the brain. Poor wretch, I thought I would wring a joy out of my +blasted life in spite of fate, and, while none other claimed her as +their own, I would revel in her presence, and in the rapture of her +tenderness. I knew it was mockery when I bid her call me brother--a +sister truly is loved with other love than that I gave her. I would +have seen every relation I had ever known laid dead at my feet, could +I have thereby purchased for her, my thrice-beloved one, one moment's +pleasure. + +"Lilias, does a passion of such fearful power shock and terrify you, +who have only known the placid beating of a gentle, childlike heart? +Take a yet deeper lesson, then, in the dark elements of which this +life may be composed, and learn that deep, and true, and mighty as was +my love for her, it is as a mere name, a breath, a vapor, compared +with that most awful affection which Aletheia had already, even then, +vowed unto me, in the depth of her secret heart. Ah! it needed, in +truth, such an agony as that which is now incorporate with it in her +heart, to cope with its immensity; for, truly, no weak happiness of +earth could have had affinity with it--a love so saint-like must needs +have been a martyr. I will not attempt to tell you what her devotion +to me was, and is, and shall be, while one faintest throb of life is +stirring in her noble heart. You have seen it--you have seen that love +looking through those eyes of hers, like a mighty spirit endowed with +an existence separate from her own, which holds her soul in its +fierce, powerful grasp. + +"I must hurry on now, and my words must be rapid as the events that +drove us from the serene elysian fields of that first dear +companionship, through storm and whirlwind, to this wilderness of +misery where I am sent to wander to and fro, like a murderer, as I am; +condemned to watch the daily dying of the sweet life I have destroyed. +You may think me blind and senseless, for so I surely was, but it is +certain that I never suspected the love she bore me. I saw that she +turned away from the crowds that flocked around, and was deaf to all +the offers that were made to her, of rank, and wealth, and station, +and many a true heart's love; but I thought this was because her own +was yet untouched, and when I saw that I alone was singled out to be +the object of her attention and solicitude, I fancied it was but the +effect of her deep, generous pity for my desolate condition--and pity +it was, but such as the mother feels for the suffering of the +first-born, whom she adores. And the day of revelation came! + +"I told you how Colonel Randolph doated on his daughter; truly, none +ever loved Aletheia with a common love. When he was released from the +duties of his high office, it was one of his greatest pleasures to +walk, or ride with me, that he might talk to me of her. One morning he +came in with a packet of letters from England, and, taking me by the +arm, drew me out into the garden, that he might tell me some news, +which, he said, gave him exceeding joy. The letters announced the +arrival of the son of an old friend of his, who had just succeeded to +his title and estates, the young Marquis of L----, and further +communicated, in the most unreserved manner, that his object in coming +to the M---- was to make Aletheia his wife, if he could win her to +himself; he had long loved her, and had only delayed his offer till he +could install her in his lordly castle with all the honors of his +station. To see this union accomplished, Colonel Randolph said, had +been his one wish since both had played as children at his feet, and +he now believed the desired consummation was at hand. Aletheia's +consent was alone required, and there seemed no reason to doubt it +would be given, for there was not, he asserted, in all England, one +more worthy of her, by every noble gift of mind, than the high-born, +generous-hearted L----. + +"Why, indeed, should she not, at once, accept the brilliant destiny +carved out for her!--I did not doubt it more than the exulting father, +and I heard my doom fixed in the same senseless state of calm with +which the criminal who knows his guilt and its penalty, hears the +sentence of his execution. I had long known this hour must come; and +what had I now to do but gather, as it were, a shroud round my +tortured soul, and, like the Cæsars, die decently to all earthly +happiness! Even in that tremendous hour, I had a consciousness of the +dignity of suffering--suffering, that is, which comes from the height +of heaven above, and not from the depths of crime below! I resolved +that the lamp of my life's joy should go out without a sigh audible to +human ears, save hers alone, who had lit that pure flame in the black +night of my existence. + +"Lilias, I enter into no detail of what I felt in that momentous +crisis, for you have no woman's heart if you have not understood it, +in its uttermost extent of misery. One thought, however, stood up +pre-eminent in that chaos of suffering--the conviction that I must not +see Aletheia Randolph again, or the very powers of my mind would give +way in the struggle that must ensue. This thought, and one other--one +solitary gleam of dreary comfort, that alone relieved the great +darkness which had fallen upon me, were all that seemed distinct in my +mind: that last mournful consolation was the resolution taken along +with the vow to see her no more, that ere I passed forever from her +memory, she should know what was the love with which I loved her. + +"Quietly I gave her father my hand when I quitted him, and he said, +'We shall meet in the evening;' my own determination was never to look +upon his face again. I went home, and sitting down, I wrote to +Aletheia a letter, in which all the pent-up feelings of the deep, +silent devotion I cherished for her, were poured out in words to which +the wretchedness of my position gave a fearful intensity--burning +words, indeed! She has told me since, that they seemed to eat into her +heart like fire. I left the letter for her and quitted the house; and +I believed my feet should never pass that beloved threshold again. +There was a spot where Aletheia and I had gone almost day by day to +wander, since we had dwelt in that land. She loved it, because she +could look out over the ocean in its boundlessness, whose aspect +soothed her, she said, as with a promise of eternity. It was a huge +rock that rose perpendicularly from the sea, and sloped down on the +other side, by a gentle declivity, to the plain. I have often thought +what a type of our life it was; we saw nothing of the precipice as we +ascended the soft and verdant mount, and suddenly it was at our feet, +and if the blast of heaven had driven us another step, it had been +into destruction. + +"Thither, when I had parted, as I believed, forever, with that darling +of my heart, I went with what intent I know not: it was not to commit +suicide; although in that form, in the mad longing for it, the curse +of my family has ever declared itself. I was yet sane, and my soul +acknowledged and abhorred the tremendous guilt of that mysterious +crime, wherein the created dashes back the life once given, in the +very face of the Creator; not for suicide I went, yet, Lilias, as I +stood within an inch of death, and looked down on the placid waters +that had so swiftly cooled the burning anguish of my heart and brain, +I felt, in the intense desire to terminate my life, and in that desire +resisted, a more stinging pain than any which my bitter term of years +has ever offered me. Oh, how shall I tell you what followed? I feel as +though I could not: and briefly, and, indeed, incoherently, must I +speak; for on the next hour--the supreme, the crowning hour of all my +life--my spirit enters not, without an intensity of feeling which +well-nigh paralyzes every faculty. + +"I stood there, and suddenly I heard a sound--a soft, breathing sound, +as of a gentle fawn wearied in some steep ascent--a sound coming +nearer and nearer, bringing with it ten thousand memories of hours and +days that were to come no more: a step, light and tremulous, falling +on the soft grass softly, and then a voice.--Oh, when mine ears are +locked in death, shall I not hear it?--a voice uttering low and sweet, +my well-known name. I turned, and when I saw that face, on whose sweet +beauty other eyes should feed, yea, other lips caress, for one instant +the curse of my forefather seemed upon me; my brain reeled, and I +would have sprung from the precipice to die. But ere I could +accomplish the sudden craving of this momentary frenzy, Aletheia, my +own Aletheia, was at my feet, her clinging arms were round me, her +lips were pressed upon my hands, and her voice--her sweet, dear +voice--went sounding through my soul like a sudden prophecy of most +unearthly joy, murmuring, 'Live, live for me, mine own forever!' + +"Oh, Lilias, how can I attempt with human words to tell you of these +things, so far beyond the power of language to express! I felt that +what she said was true--that in some way, by some wonderful means, she +was in very deed and truth, 'mine own, forever,' though, in that +moment of supremest joy, no less firmly than in the hour of supremest +sorrow by my mother's dying bed, my heart and soul were faithful to +the vow then taken, that never on my desolate breast a wife should lay +her head to rest. 'Mine own forever!'--as I looked down, and met the +gaze of fathomless, unutterable love with which her tearful eyes were +fastened full upon my own, I was as one who having long dwelt in +darkest night, was blinded with the sudden glare of new returning day. +I staggered back, and leant against the rock; faint and shivering I +stretched out my hands on that beloved head, longing for the power to +bless her, and said, 'Oh, Aletheia, what is it you have said: have you +forgotten who and what I am!' + +"'No!' was her answer, steady and distinct; 'and for that very reason, +because you are a stricken man, forever cut off from all the common +ties of earth, have I been given to you, to be in heart and soul +peculiarly your own, with such a measure of entire devotion as never +was offered to man on earth before.' + +"I looked at her almost in bewilderment. She rose up to her full +height, perfectly calm, and with a deep solemnity in her words and +aspect. + +"'Richard,' she said, 'the lives of both of us are hanging on this +hour; by it shall all future existence on this earth be shaped for us, +and its memory shall come with death itself to look us in the face, +and stamp our whole probation with its seal; it becomes us, therefore, +to cast aside all frivolous rules of man's convention, and speak the +truth as deathless soul with deathless soul. Hear me, then, while I +open up my inmost spirit to your gaze, and then decide whether you +will lay your hand upon my life, and say--'Thou art my own;' or +whether you will fling it from you to perish as some worthless thing?' + +"I bowed my head in token that she should continue, for I could not +speak. I, Lilias, who had looked death and insanity in the face, under +their most frightful shapes, trembled, like a reed in the blast, +before the presence of a love that was mightier than either! Aletheia +stretched out her hand over the precipice, and spoke-- + +"'Hear me, then, declare first of all, solemnly as though this hour +were my last, that, not even to save you from that death which, but +now, you dared to meditate, would I ever consent to be your wife, even +if you wished it, as utterly as I doubt not you abhor the idea of such +perjury--not to save you from death--I say--the death of the mortal +body, for by conniving at your failure in that most righteous vow, +once taken on the holy cross itself, I should peril--yea, destroy, it +may be, the immortal soul, which is the true object of my love. Hear +me, in the face of that pure sky announce this truth, and then may I +freely declare to you all that is in my heart--all the sacred purpose +of my life for you, without a fear that my worst enemy could pronounce +me unmaidenly or overbold, though I have that to say which few women +ever said unasked.' + +"Unmaidenly! Oh, Lilias, could you have seen the noble dignity of her +fearless innocence in that hour, you would have felt that never had +the impress of a purer heart been stamped upon a virgin brow." + +"'Have you understood and well considered this my settled purpose +never to be your wife?' she continued. + +"And I said--'I have.'" + +"'Then speak out, my soul,' she exclaimed, lifting up her eyes as if +inspired. 'Tell him that there is a righteous Providence over the life +that immolates itself for virtue's sake! and that another existence +hath been sent to meet it in the glorious sacrifice, in order that +this one may yield up its treasures to the heart that would have +stript itself of all! Richard, Richard Sydney, you have made a +holocaust of your life, and lo! by the gift of another life, it is +repaid to you.' + +"Slowly she knelt down, and took my hand in both of hers, while with +an aspect calm and firm, and a voice unfaltering, she spoke this vow: + +'I, Aletheia Randolph, do most solemnly vow and promise to give +myself, in heart and soul, unto the last day of my life, wholly and +irrevocably, to Richard Sydney. I devote to him, and him alone, my +whole heart, my whole life, and my whole love. I do forever forswear, +for his sake, all earthly ties, all earthly affections, and all +earthly hopes. I will love him only, live for him only, and make it my +one happiness to minister to him in all things as faithfully and +tenderly as though I were bound to him by the closest of human +bonds--in spite of all obstacles and the world's blame--in defiance of +all allurements, which might induce me to abandon him. I will seek to +abide ever as near to him as may be, that I may bestow on him all the +care and tender watchfulness which the most faithful wife could offer; +but absent or present, living or dying, no human being on this earth +shall ever have known such an entire devotion as I will give to him +till the last breath pass from this heart in death!' + +"I was speechless, Lilias--speechless with something almost of horror +at the sacrifice she was making! I strove to withdraw my hand--I could +have died to save her from thus immolating herself; but she clung to +me, and a deadly paleness spread itself over her countenance as she +felt my movement. + +"'Hear me! hear me yet again, Richard Sydney!' she exclaimed; 'you can +not prevent me taking this vow; it was registered in the record of my +fate--uttered again and again deep in my soul, long before it was +spoken by these mortal lips!--it is done--I am yours forever, or +forever perjured! But hear me!--hear me!--although the offering of my +life is made, yea, and it _shall_ be yours in every moment, in every +thought, in every impulse of my being, yet I can not force you to +accept this true oblation, made once for all, and forever! I can not +constrain you to load your existence with mine. Now, now, the +consummation of all is in your own hands; you may make this offering, +which is never to be recalled, as you will--a blessing or a curse to +yourself as unto me! I am powerless--what you decree I must submit to; +but hear me, hear me!--although you now reject, and scorn, and spurn +me--me, and the life which I have given you--although you drive me +from you, and command me never to appear before your eyes again, yet, +Richard Sydney, I WILL KEEP MY VOW! Even in obeying you, and departing +to the uttermost corner of the earth that you may never look upon my +face again; yet will I keep my vow, and the life shall be yours, and +the love shall be around you; and the heart, and the soul, and the +thoughts, and the prayers of her, who is your own forever, shall be +with you night and day, till she expires in the agony of your +rejection. + +"'This were the curse, and curse me if you will, I yet will bless you! +And now hear, hear what the blessing might be if you so willed it. In +spiritual union we should be forever linked, soul with soul, and heart +with heart--all in all to one another in that wedding of our immortal +spirits only, as truly and joyously as though we had been bound in an +earthly bridal at the altar; abiding forever near each other in +sweetest and most pure companionship, while my father lives under the +same roof, and afterward still meeting daily; one in love, in joy, in +hope, in sorrow; one in death (for if your soul were first called +forth, I know that mine would take that summons for its own), and one, +if it were so permitted, in eternity itself. This we may be, Richard +Sydney, this we shall be, except you will, this day, trample down +beneath your feet the life that gives itself to you. But wherefore, +oh, wherefore would you do so? Why cast away the gift which hath been +sent, in order that, by a wondrous and most just decree, the righteous +man who, in his noble rectitude, abandoned every earthly tie, should +be possessed, instead thereof, of such a deep, devoted love as never +human heart received before? Wherefore, oh! wherefore? Yet, do as you +will, now you know all; and I, who still, whatever be your decree, +happen what may, am verily your own forever, must here abide the +sentence of my life.' + +"Slowly her dear head fell down upon her trembling hands, and, +kneeling at my feet, she waited my acceptance or rejection of the +noblest gift that ever one immortal spirit made unto another. Lilias, +I told you when I commenced this agonizing record, that there were +portions of it which I would breathe to no mortal ears, not even to +yours, good and gentle as you are. And now, of such is all that +followed in the solemn, blessed hours of which I speak; you know what +my answer was; it can not be that you doubt it--could it have been +otherwise, indeed? She had said truly, that the deed was done--the +sacrifice was made--the life was given. What would it have availed if +I, by my rejection, had punished her unparalleled devotion with +unexampled misery? and for myself, could I--could I--should I have +been human if I, who, till that hour, had believed myself of all men +most accursed on earth--had suddenly refused to be above all men +blest? + +"When the sun went down that night, sinking into the sea, whose +boundlessness seemed narrow to my infinity of joy, Aletheia lay at my +feet like a cradled child; and as I bent down over her, and scarcely +dared to touch, with deep respect, the long, soft tresses of her +waving hair, which the light breeze lifted to my lips, I heard her +ever murmuring, as though she could never weary of that sound of +joy--'Mine own, mine own forever.' + +"The period which followed that wonderful hour was one of an Eden-like +happiness, such as, I believe, this fallen world never could before +have witnessed--it was the embodiment, in every hour and instant, of +that blessing of which my Aletheia had so fervently spoken--the +spiritual union which linked us in heart and soul alone, was as +perfect as it was unearthly; and the intense bliss which flowed from +it, on both of us, could only have been equaled by the love, no less +intense, that made us what we were. + +"But, Lilias, of this brief dream of deep delight I will not and I can +not speak. This is a record of misery and not of joy," he continued, +turning round upon her almost fiercely. "It becomes not me, who have +been the murderer of Aletheia's joyous life, to take so much as the +name of happiness between my lips. It passed--it departed--that joy, +as a spirit departs out of the body; unseen, unheard; you know not it +is gone, till suddenly you see that the beautiful living form has +become a stark and ghastly corpse!--and so, in like manner, our life +became a hideous thing.... + +"Colonel Randolph asked me to go on an embassy to a distant town; the +absence was to be but for a fortnight. We were to write daily to one +another, and we thought nothing of it. Nevertheless, in one sense, we +felt it to be momentous. Aletheia designed, if an opportunity +occurred, to inform her father of the change in her existence, and the +irrevocable fate to which she had consigned herself. She had delayed +doing so hitherto, because his mind had been fearfully disturbed by +grievous disappointments in public affairs; and as he was a man of +peculiarly sensitive temperament, she would not add to his distresses +by the announcement of the fact, which she knew he would consider the +great misfortune of his life. It was impossible, indeed, that the +doating father could fail to mourn bitterly over the sacrifice of his +one beloved daughter, to the man who dared not so much as give her +barren life the protection of his name lest haply, he wed her to a +maniac. + +"It was within two days of my proposed return to their home, that an +express arrived in fiery haste to tell me Colonel Randolph had fallen +from his horse, had received a mortal injury, and was dying. I was +summoned instantly. He had said he would not die in peace till he saw +me. One hurried line from Aletheia, in addition to the aid-de-camp's +letter, told how even, in that awful hour, I was first and last in his +thoughts. It ran thus: 'He is on his death-bed, and I have told him +all. I could not let him die unknowing the consecration of his child +to one so worthy of her. But, alas! I know not why, it seems almost to +have maddened him. He says he will tell you all; come, then, with all +speed.' + +"In two hours I was by the side of the dying man. Aletheia was +kneeling with her arms round him, and he was gazing at her with +sombre, mournful fondness. The instant he saw me he pushed her from +him. 'Go,' he said, 'I must see this man alone.' The epithet startled +me. I saw he was filled with a bitter wrath. His daughter obeyed; she +rose and left the room; but as she passed me she took my hand, and +bowing herself as to her master, pressed it to her lips, then turning +round she said. 'Father, remember what I have told you: he is mine own +forever; not even your death-bed curse could make me falter in my +vow.' He groaned aloud: 'No curse, no curse, my child,' he cried; +'fear not; it is not you whom I would curse. Come--kiss me; we may +perhaps not meet again; and if you find me dead at your return--' He +waited till she closed the door, and then added, 'Say that Richard +Sydney killed me, and you will speak the truth! Madman, madman, +indeed! What is it you have done? Was it for this I took you into my +home, and was to you a father? That you might slay my only +daughter--that you might make such havoc of her life as is worse than +a thousand deaths.' + +"I would have spoken; he fiercely interrupted me: 'I know what you +would say--that she gave herself to you--that she offered this +oblation of a whole existence--but I tell you, if one grain of justice +or of generosity had been within your coward heart, you would have +flung yourself over that precipice, and so absolved her from her vow, +rather than let her immolate herself to a doom so horrible; for you +know not, yourself, what is that doom! Yes, poor wretch,' he added, +more gently, 'you knew not what you did; but I know, and now will I +tell. I, who have watched over the soul of Aletheia Randolph for +well-nigh twenty years, know well of what fire it is made; I tell you +I have long foreknown that there was a capacity of love in her which +is most awful, and which would most infallibly work her utter woe, +except its ardent immensity found a perpetual outlet in the many ties +which weave themselves around a happy wife and mother. And now, oh! +was there none to have mercy on her, and save her noble heart and life +from such destruction; this soul of flame, fathomless as the deep, +burning and pure as the spotless noonday sky, hath gone forth to +fasten itself upon a desolating, barren, mournful love, where, +hungering forever after happiness, and never fed, it will be driven to +insanity or death! Yes, I tell you, it will be so; my departing spirit +is almost on my lips, and my words must be few, but they are words of +fearful truth. I know her, and I know that thus it will be; one day's +separation from you, whom the world will never admit to be her +own--one cloud upon your brow, which she has not the power to +disperse, will work in her a torment that will sap her noble mind, and +will make her, haply, the lunatic, and _you_--_you_, descendant of the +maniac Sydneys, her keeper! Oh, what had she done to you that you +should hate her so? Oh, wherefore have you cursed her, my innocent +child, my only daughter?' + +"I fell on my knees; I gasped for breath; Lilias, I felt that every +word he said was true, that all would come to pass as he foretold; for +he spoke with the prophetic truth of the dying; he saw my utter agony. +Suddenly he lifted himself up in the bed, and the movement broke the +bandage on his head, whence the blood streamed suddenly with a +destructive violence; he heeded it not, but grasped my arm with the +last energy of life. + +"'I see you are in torments,' he said, 'and fitly so; but if you have +this much of grace left, now at least to suffer, it may be that every +spark of justice is not dead within you, and that you will save her +yet.' + +"'Save her!' I almost shrieked. 'Yes, if by any means upon this earth +such a blessing be possible! Shall I die? I am ready--oh, how ready.' + +"'No; to die were but to carry her into your grave,' the cruel voice +replied; 'but living, I believe that you may save her. From what I +know of that most noble child's pure soul, I do believe that you may +save her yet. Man! who have been her curse and mine, will you swear to +do so, by any means I may command?' + +"'I will swear!' was my answer, and his glazing eyes were suddenly lit +up with a fierce delight. 'And how?' I cried. + +"'Thus,' he answered, drawing me close to him, and putting his lips to +my ear: 'by rendering yourself hateful to her! To quit her were to bid +her lament you unto the death; but _by her very side to render +yourself abhorrent to her_, thus shall you save her! You have +sworn--remember, you have sworn! Go! When I am dead, give up that +voice and look of love; put on a stern aspect; treat her as a cruel +taskmaster treats a slave; be harsh; be merciless; tell her the love +she bears you, by its depth of passion, hath become a crime, and you +have vowed to crush it out of her; but say not I commanded it; let her +believe it is your own free will; punish her for that love; let her +think you hate her for it; trample her soul beneath your haughty feet; +let her hear naught but bitterest words--see naught but sternest +looks--feel naught but a grasp severe and torturing--to tear her +clinging arms from around you!--so shall you save her; for she will +suffer but a little while at first, and then will leave you to be +forever blest;--so shall you crush her love, and send her out from +your heart to seek a better. Sydney, you have sworn to do it--you have +sworn!' + +"He repeated the words with fearful vehemence, for life was ebbing +with the blood that flowed. Gathering up his last energies, he +shrieked into my ear--'Say that you have sworn!--answer, or my spirit +curses you forever!' and I answered: 'I have sworn!' + +"He burst into a laugh of awful triumph, sunk back, and expired.... + +"Lilias, I have kept that vow!" + +At these words, uttered in a hoarse and ominous tone, which seemed to +convey a volume of fearful meaning, a cold shiver crept over the frame +of the young Lilias: a horror unspeakable took possession of her, as +the vail seemed suddenly lifted up from the mysterious agony which had +made Aletheia's life, even to the outward eye, a mere embodiment of +perpetual suffering; and her deep and womanly appreciation of what her +unhappy cousin had endured, caused her to shrink almost in fear from +the wretched man by her side, who had thus been constrained to become +the cruel tyrant of her he loved so fondly. But he spoke again in such +broken, faltering accents, that her heart once more swelled with pity +for him. + +"Yes, Lilias, I kept that fearful vow: the grasp of the dead man's +hand, which, even as he stiffened into a mass of senseless clay, still +locked my own as with an iron gripe, seemed to have bound it on my +soul, and I, alas! believed in the efficacy of this means for her +restoration from the destructive madness of her love to such an one as +I. I believed I thus should save her, and turn her pure affection to a +salutary hate. Yes; with energy, with fierce determination, I did keep +that vow, because it was to bind myself unto such untold tortures, +that it seemed a righteous expiation; and what, oh, what has been the +result! Her father thought he knew her. He thought the intensity of +her tenderness would brave insanity or death; but, not _my_ hatred and +contempt! and he knew her not, in her unparalleled generosity! for +behold her glorious devotion hath trampled even my contumely under +foot, and hath risen faithful, changeless, all perfect as before. + +"Oh, Lilias, I can not tell you the detail of the cruelties I have +perpetrated on her--redoubled, day by day, as I saw them all fall +powerless before her matchless love. I told her that because of its +intensity, her affection had become a crime, for one whose eternal +abiding place was not within this world, and that it inspired me with +horror and with wrath; and since she had taken me for her master, as +her master, I would drive this passion from her soul, by even the +sternest means that fancy can devise; and then, I dare not tell you +all that I have done; but she, with her imploring voice, her tender, +mournful eyes, forever answered that if she were hateful to me I had +better leave her, only with me should go her love, her life, her very +soul! Alas! alas! I could not leave her till my fearful task was done. +I have labored--oh, let the spirit of that dead father witness--I have +labored according to his will, and what has been the up-shot of it +all? Lilias," he spoke with sudden fierceness, "I have learnt to crush +the life out of her, _but not the love_! the pure, devoted, boundless +love is there, still, true and tender as before, only it abides my +torture, day and night, chained to the rack by these cruel hands." + +He buried his face on his knees, and a strong convulsion shook his +frame. + + + + +A TALE OF MID-AIR. + + +In a cottage in the valley of Sallanches near the foot of Mont Blanc, +lived old Bernard and his three sons. One morning he lay in bed sick, +and, burning with fever, watched anxiously for the return of his son, +Jehan, who had gone to fetch a physician. At length a horse's tread +was heard, and soon afterward the Doctor entered. He examined the +patient closely, felt his pulse, looked at his tongue, and then said, +patting the old man's cheek, "It will be nothing, my friend--nothing!" +but he made a sign to the three lads, who open-mouthed and anxious, +stood grouped around the bed. All four withdrew to a distant corner, +the doctor shook his head, thrust out his lower lip, and said "Tis a +serious attack--very serious--of fever. He is now in the height of the +fit, and as soon as it abates he must have sulphate of quinine." + +"What is that, doctor?" + +"Quinine, my friend, is a very expensive medicine, but which you may +procure at Sallanches. Between the two fits your father must take at +least three francs' worth. I will write the prescription. You can +read, Guillaume?" + +"Yes, doctor." + +"And you will see that he takes it?" + +"Certainly." + +When the physician was gone, Guillaume, Pierre, and Jehan looked at +each other in silent perplexity. Their whole stock of money consisted +of a franc and a half, and yet the medicine must be procured +immediately. + +"Listen," said Pierre, "I know a method of getting from the mountain +before night three or four five-franc pieces." + +"From the mountain?" + +"I have discovered an eagle's nest in a cleft of a frightful +precipice. There is a gentleman at Sallanches, who would gladly +purchase the eagles; and nothing made me hesitate but the terrible +risk of taking them; but that's nothing when our father's life is +concerned. We may have them now in two hours." + +"I will rob the nest," said Guillaume. + +"No, no, let me," said Jehan, "I am the youngest and lightest." + +"I have the best right to venture," said Pierre, "as it was I who +discovered it." + +"Come," said Pierre, "let us decide by drawing lots. Write three +numbers, Guillaume, put them into my hat, and whoever draws number one +will try the venture." + +Guillaume blackened the end of a wooden splinter in the fire; tore an +old card into three pieces; wrote on them one, two, three, and threw +them into the hat. + +How the three hearts beat! Old Bernard lay shivering in the cold fit, +and each of his sons longed to risk his own life, to save that of his +father. + +The lot fell on Pierre, who had discovered the nest; he embraced the +sick man. + +"We shall not be long absent, father," he said, "and it is needful for +us to go together." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"We will tell you as soon as we come back." + +Guillaume took down from the wall an old sabre, which had belonged to +Bernard when he served as a soldier; Jehan sought a thick cord which +the mountaineers use when cutting down trees; and Pierre went toward +an old wooden cross, reared near the cottage, and knelt before it for +some minutes in fervent prayer. + +They set out together, and soon reached the brink of the precipice. +The danger consisted not only in the possibility of falling several +hundred feet, but still more in the probable aggression of the birds +of prey, inhabiting the wild abyss. + +Pierre, who was to brave these perils, was a fine athletic young man of +twenty-two. Having measured with his eye the distance he would have to +descend, his brothers fastened the cord around his waist, and began to +let him down. Holding the sabre in his hand, he safely reached the +nook that contained the nest. In it were four eaglets of a light +yellowish-brown color, and his heart beat with joy at the sight of +them. He grasped the nest firmly in his left hand, and shouted +joyfully to his brothers, "I have them! Draw me up!" + +Already the first upward pull was given to the cord, when Pierre felt +himself attacked by two enormous eagles, whose furious cries proved +them to be the parents of the nestlings. + +"Courage, brother! defend thyself! don't fear!" + +Pierre pressed the nest to his bosom, and with his right hand made the +sabre play around his head. + +Then began a terrible combat. The eagles shrieked, the little ones +cried shrilly, the mountaineer shouted and brandished his sword. He +slashed the birds with its blade, which flashed like lightning, and +only rendered them still more enraged. He struck the rock and sent +forth a shower of sparks. + +Suddenly he felt a jerk given to the cord that sustained him. Looking +up he perceived that, in his evolutions, he had cut it with his sabre, +and that half the strands were severed! + +Pierre's eyes, dilated widely, remained for a moment immovable, and +then closed with terror. A cold shudder passed through his veins, and +he thought of letting go both the nest and the sabre. + +At that moment one of the eagles pounced on his head, and tried to +tear his face. The Savoyard made a last effort, and defended himself +bravely. He thought of his old father, and took courage. + +Upward, still upward, mounted the cord: friendly voices eagerly +uttered words of encouragement and triumph; but Pierre could not reply +to them. When he reached the brink of the precipice, still clasping +fast the nest, his hair, which an hour before had been as black as a +raven's wing, was become so completely white, that Guillaume and Jehan +could scarcely recognize him. + +What did that signify? the eaglets were of the rarest and most +valuable species. That same afternoon they were carried to the village +and sold. Old Bernard had the medicine, and every needful comfort +beside, and the doctor in a few days pronounced him convalescent. + + + + +STORIES ABOUT BEASTS AND BIRDS. + + +The strength and courage of the lion is so great that, although he is +seldom four feet in height, he is more than a match for fierce animals +of three or four times his size, such as the buffalo. He will even +attack a rhinoceros or an elephant, if provoked. He possesses such +extraordinary muscular power, that he has been known to kill and carry +off a heifer of two years old in his mouth, and, after being pursued +by herdsmen on horseback for five hours, it has been found that he has +scarcely ever allowed the body of the heifer to touch the ground +during the whole distance. But here is an instance of strength in a +man--a different sort of strength--which surpasses all we ever heard +of a lion: + +Three officers in the East Indies--Captain Woodhouse, Lieutenant +Delamain, and Lieutenant Laing--being informed that two lions had made +their appearance, in a jungle, at some twenty miles' distance from +their cantonment, rode off in that direction to seek an engagement. +They soon found the "lordly strangers," or natives, we should rather +say. One of the lions was killed by the first volley they fired; the +other retreated across the country. The officers pursued, until the +lion, making an abrupt curve, returned to his jungle. They then +mounted an elephant, and went in to search for him. They found him +standing under a bush, looking directly toward them. He sought no +conflict, but seeing them approach, he at once accepted the first +challenge, and sprang at the elephant's head, where he hung on. The +officers fired; in the excitement of the onset their aim was defeated, +and the lion only wounded. The elephant, meanwhile, had shaken him +off, and, not liking such an antagonist, refused to face him again. +The lion did not pursue, but stood waiting. At length the elephant was +persuaded to advance once more; seeing which, the lion became furious, +and rushed to the contest. The elephant turned about to retreat, and +the lion, springing upon him from behind, grappled his flesh with +teeth and claws, and again hung on. The officers fired, while the +elephant kicked with all his might; but, though the lion was +dislodged, he was still without any mortal wound, and retired into the +thicket, content with what he had done in return for the assault. The +officers had become too excited to desist; and in the fever of the +moment, as the elephant, for his part, now directly refused to have +any thing more to do with the business, Captain Woodhouse resolved to +dismount, and go on foot into the jungle. Lieutenant Delamain and +Lieutenant Laing dismounted with him, and they followed in the +direction the lion had taken. They presently got sight of him, and +Captain Woodhouse fired, but apparently without any serious injury, as +they saw "the mighty lord of the woods" retire deeper into the thicket +"with the utmost composure." They pursued, and Lieutenant Delamain got +a shot at the lion. This was to be endured no longer, and forth came +the lion, dashing right through the bushes that intervened, so that he +was close upon them in no time. The two lieutenants were just able to +escape out of the jungle to re-load, but Captain Woodhouse stood +quietly on one side, hoping the lion would pass him unobserved. This +was rather too much to expect after all he had done. The lion darted +at him, and in an instant, "as though by a stroke of lightning," the +rifle was broken and knocked out of his hand, and he found himself in +the grip of the irresistible enemy whom he had challenged to mortal +combat. Lieutenant Delamain fired at the lion without killing him, and +then again retreated to re-load. Meantime, Captain Woodhouse and the +lion were both lying wounded on the ground, and the lion began to +craunch his arm. In this dreadful position Captain Woodhouse had the +presence of mind, and the fortitude, amid the horrible pain he +endured, to lie perfectly still--knowing that if he made any +resistance now, he would be torn to pieces in a minute. Finding all +motion had ceased, the lion let the arm drop from his mouth, and +quietly crouched down with his paws on the thigh of his prostrate +antagonist. Presently, Captain Woodhouse, finding his head in a +painful position, unthinkingly raised one hand to support it, +whereupon the lion again seized his arm, and craunched it higher up. +Once more, notwithstanding the intense agony, and yet more intense +apprehension of momentary destruction, Captain Woodhouse had the +strength of will and self-command to lie perfectly still. He remained +thus, until his friends, discovering his situation, were hastening up, +but upon the wrong side, so that their balls might possibly pass +through the lion, and hit him. Without moving, or manifesting any +hasty excitement, he was heard to say, in a low voice, "To the other +side!--to the other side!" They hurried round. Next moment the +magnanimous lion lay dead by the side of a yet stronger nature than +his own. + +Diedrik Müller, during his hunting time in South Africa, came suddenly +upon a lion. The lion did not attack him, but stood still, as though +he would have said, "Well, what do you want here in my desert?" Müller +alighted from his horse, and took deliberate aim at the lion's +forehead. Just as he drew the trigger, his horse gave a start of +terror, and the hunter missed his aim. The lion sprang forward; but, +finding that the man stood still--for he had no time either to remount +his horse, or take to his heels--the lion stopped within a few paces, +and stood still also, confronting him. The man and the lion stood +looking at each other for some minutes; the man never moved; at length +the lion slowly turned, and walked away. Müller began hastily to +re-load his gun. The lion looked back over his shoulder, gave a deep +growl, and instantly returned. Could words speak plainer? Müller, of +course, held his hand, and remained motionless. The lion again moved +off, warily. The hunter began softly to ram down his bullet. Again the +lion looked back, and gave a threatening growl. This was repeated +between them until the lion had retired to some distance, when he +bounded into a thicket. + +A very curious question is started by the worthy vicar of Swaffham +Bulbec on the mortality of birds. The mortality must be enormous every +year, yet how seldom in our country rambles do we find a dead bird. +One, now and then, in the woods or hedgerows, is the utmost seen by +any body, even if he search for them. Very few, comparatively, are +destroyed by mankind. Only a few species are killed by sportsmen; all +the rest can not live long, nor can they all be eaten by other birds. +Many must die from natural causes. Immense numbers, especially of the +smaller birds, are born each year, yet they do not appear to increase +the general stock of the species. Immense numbers, therefore, must die +every year; but what becomes of the bodies? Martins, nightingales, and +other migratory birds, may be supposed to leave a great number of +their dead relations in foreign countries; this, however, can not +apply to our own indigenous stock. Mr. Jenyns partly accounts for this +by saying, that no doubt a great many young birds fall a prey to +stronger birds soon after leaving the nest, and probably a number of +the elder birds also; while the very old are killed by the cold of +winter; or, becoming too feeble to obtain food, drop to the earth, and +are spared the pain of starvation by being speedily carried off by +some hungry creature of the woods and fields. Besides these means for +the disposal of the bodies, there are scavenger insects, who devour, +and another species who act as sextons, and bury the bodies. During +the warm months of summer, some of the burying beetles will accomplish +"the humble task allotted them by Providence," in a surprisingly short +time. Mr. Jenyns has repeatedly, during a warm spring, placed dead +birds upon the ground, in different spots frequented by the +_necrophorus vespillo_, and other allied beetles, who have effected +the interment so completely in four-and-twenty hours, that there was a +difficulty in finding the bodies again. + +All this goes a great way to account for our so very seldom seeing any +dead birds lying about, notwithstanding the immense mortality that +must take place every year; but it certainly is not satisfactory; for +although the birds of prey, and those which are not devoured by +others, are comparatively small in number, how is it that none of +_these_ are ever found? Once in a season, perhaps, we may find a dead +crow, or a dead owl (generally one that has been shot), but who ever +finds hawks, ravens, kites, sparrow-hawks, or any number of crows, out +of all the annual mortality that must occur in their colonies? These +birds are for the most part too large for the sexton beetle to bury; +and, quickly as the foxes, stoats, weasels, and other prowling +creatures would nose out the savoury remains, or the newly-fallen +bodies, these creatures only inhabit certain localities--and dead +birds may be supposed to fall in many places. Still, they are not +seen. + +A pair of robins built their nest in the old ivy of a garden wall, and +the hen shortly afterward sat in maternal pride upon four eggs. The +gardener came to clip the ivy; and, not knowing of the nest, his +shears cut off a part of it, so that the four eggs fell to the ground. +Dropping on leaves, they were not broken. Notice being attracted by +the plaintive cries of the hen bird, the eggs were restored to the +nest, which the gardener repaired. The robins returned, the hen sat +upon the eggs, and in a few days they were hatched. Shortly afterward +the four little ones were all found lying upon the ground beneath, +cold, stiff, and lifeless. The gardener's repairs of the nest had not +been according to the laws of bird-architecture, and a gap had broken +out. The four unfledged little ones were taken into the house, and, +efforts being made to revive them by warmth, they presently showed +signs of life, recovered, and were again restored to the nest. The gap +was filled up by stuffing a small piece of drugget into it. The parent +robins, perched in a neighboring tree, watched all these operations, +without displaying any alarm for the result, and, as soon as they were +completed, returned to the nest. All went on well for a day or two: +but misfortune seemed never weary of tormenting this little family. A +violent shower of rain fell. The nest being exposed, by the close +clipping of the ivy leaves, the drugget got sopped, the rain half +filled the nest, and the gardener found the four little ones lying +motionless in the water. Once more they were taken away, dried near +the fire, and placed in the nest of another bird fixed in a tree +opposite the ivy. The parent birds in a few minutes occupied the nest, +and never ceased their attentions until the brood were able to fly, +and take care of themselves. + +The story we have already related of Diedrik Müller's lion, is +surpassed by another of a similar kind, which we take to be about the +best lion-story that zoological records can furnish. + +A hunter, in the wilds of Africa, had seated himself on a bank near a +pool, to rest, leaving his gun, set upright against a rock, a few feet +behind him. He was alone. Whether he fell asleep, or only into a +reverie, he did not know, but suddenly he saw an enormous lion +standing near him, attentively observing him. Their eyes met, and thus +they remained, motionless, looking at each other. At length the hunter +leaned back, and slowly extended his arm toward his gun. The lion +instantly uttered a deep growl, and advanced nearer. The hunter +paused. After a time, he very gradually repeated the attempt, and +again the lion uttered a deep growl, the meaning of which was not to +be mistaken. This occurred several times (as in the former case), +until the man was obliged to desist altogether. Night approached; the +lion never left him the whole night. Day broke; the lion still was +there, and remained there the whole day. The hunter had ceased to make +any attempt to seize his gun, and saw that his only hope was to weary +the lion out by the fortitude of a passive state, however dreadful the +situation. All the next night the lion remained. The man, worn out for +want of sleep, dared not to close his eyes, lest the lion, believing +him to be dead, should devour him. All the provision in his wallet was +exhausted. The third night arrived. Being now utterly exhausted, and +having dropped off to sleep, several times, and as often come back to +consciousness with a start of horror at finding he had been asleep, he +finally sunk backward, and lay in a dead slumber. He never awoke till +broad day, and then found that the lion was gone. + +On the question of "best" stories of animals, there are so many +excellent stories of several species that the superlative degree may +be hard to determine. Setting down the above, however, as the best +lion-story, we will give what we consider to be (up to this time) the +best elephant-story. In one of the recent accounts of scenes of Indian +warfare (the title of the book has escaped us, and perhaps we met with +the narrative in a printed letter), a body of artillery was described +as proceeding up a hill, and the great strength of elephants was found +highly advantageous in drawing up the guns. On the carriage of one of +these guns, a little in front of the wheel, sat an artilleryman, +resting himself. An elephant, drawing another gun, was advancing in +regular order close behind. Whether from falling asleep, or +over-fatigue, the man fell from his seat, and the wheel of the +gun-carriage, with its heavy gun, was just rolling over him. The +elephant comprehending the danger, and seeing that he could not reach +the body of the man with his trunk, seized the wheel by the top, and, +lifting it up, passed it carefully over the fallen man, and set it +down on the other side. + +The best dog-story--though there are a number of best stories of this +honest fellow--we fear is an old one; but we can not forbear telling +it, for the benefit of those who may not have met with it before. A +surgeon found a poor dog, with his leg broken. He took him home, set +it, and in due time gave him his liberty. Off he ran. Some months +afterward the surgeon was awoke in the night by a dog barking loudly +at his door. As the barking continued, and the surgeon thought he +recognized the voice, he got up, and went down stairs. When he opened +the door, there stood his former patient, wagging his tail, and by his +side another dog--a friend whom he had brought--who had also had the +misfortune to get a leg broken. There is another dog-story of a +different kind, told by Mr. Jenyns, which we think very amusing. A +poodle, belonging to a gentleman in Cheshire, was in the habit of +going to church with his master, and sitting with him in the pew +during the whole service. Sometimes his master did not come; but this +did not prevent the poodle, who always presented himself in good time, +entered the pew, and remained sitting there alone: departing with the +rest of the congregation. One Sunday, the dam at the head of a lake in +the neighborhood gave way, and the whole road was inundated. The +congregation was therefore reduced to a few individuals, who came from +cottages close at hand. Nevertheless, by the time the clergyman had +commenced reading the Psalms, he saw his friend the poodle come slowly +up the aisle, dripping with water: having been obliged to swim above a +quarter of a mile to get to church. He went into his pew, as usual, +and remained quietly there to the end of the service. This is told on +the authority of the clergyman himself. + +A hungry jackdaw once took a fancy to a young chicken which had only +recently been hatched. He pounced upon it accordingly, and was +carrying it off, when the hen rushed upon him, and beat him with her +wings, and held him in her beak, until the cock came up, who +immediately attacked the jackdaw, and struck him so repeatedly that he +was scarcely able to effect his escape by flight. But the best +hen-story is one in Mr. Jenyns' "Observations." A hen was sitting on a +number of eggs to hatch them. An egg was missing every night; yet +nobody could conjecture who had stolen it. One morning, after several +had been lost in this way, the hen was discovered with ruffled +feathers, a bleeding breast, and an inflamed countenance. By the side +of the nest was seen the dead body of a large rat, whose skull had +been fractured--evidently by blows from the beak of the valiant hen, +who could endure the vile act of piracy no longer. + +Mr. Jenyns relates a good owl-story. He knew a tame owl, who was so +fond of music that he would enter the drawing-room of an evening, and, +perching on the shoulder of one of the children, listen with great +attention to the tones of the piano-forte: holding his head first on +one side, then on the other, after the manner of connoisseurs. One +night, suddenly, spreading his wings, as if unable to endure his +rapture any longer, he alighted on the keys, and, driving away the +fingers of the performer with his beak, began to hop about upon the +keys himself, apparently in great delight with his own execution. This +pianist's name was _Keevie_. He was born in the woods of +Northumberland, and belonged to a friend of the Reverend Mr. Jenyns. + +Good bear-stories are numerous. One of the best we take from the +"Zoological Anecdotes." At a hunt in Sweden, an old soldier was +charged by a bear. His musket missed fire, and the animal being close +upon him, he made a thrust, in the hope of driving the muzzle of his +piece down the bear's throat. But the thrust was parried by one of +huge paws with all the skill of a fencer, and the musket wrested from +the soldier's hand, who was forthwith laid prostrate. He lay quiet, +and the bear, after smelling, thought he was dead, and then left him +to examine the musket. This he seized by the stock, and began to knock +about, as though to discover wherein its virtue consisted, when the +soldier could not forbear putting forth one hand to recover his +weapon. The bear immediately seized him by the back of the head, and +tore his scalp over his crown, so that it fell over the soldier's +face. Notwithstanding his agony, the poor fellow restrained his cries, +and again pretended death. The bear laid himself upon his body, and +thus remained, until some hunters coming up relieved him from this +frightful situation. As the poor fellow rose, he threw back his scalp +with his hand, as though it had been a peruke, and ran frantically +toward them, exclaiming--"The bear! the bear!" So intense was his +apprehension of his enemy, that it made him oblivious of his bodily +anguish. He eventually recovered, and received his discharge in +consequence of his loss of hair. There is another bear-story in this +work, which savors--just a little--of romance. A powerful bull was +attacked by a bear in a forest, when the bull succeeded in striking +both horns into his assailant, and pinning him to a tree. In this +situation they were both found dead--the bear, of his wounds; the bull +(either fearing, or, from obstinate self-will, refusing, to relinquish +his position of advantage) of starvation! + +The beat cat-and-mouse story (designated "Melancholy Accident--a Cat +killed by a Mouse") is to be found in "The Poor Artist," the author of +which seems to have derived the story from a somewhat questionable +source, though we must admit the possibility. "A cat had caught a +mouse on a lawn, and let it go again, in her cruel way, in order to +play with it; when the mouse, inspired by despair, and seeing only one +hole possible to escape into--namely, the round red throat of the cat, +very visible through her open mouth--took a bold spring into her jaws, +just escaping between her teeth, and into her throat he struggled and +stuffed himself; and so the cat was suffocated." It reads plausibly; +let us imagine it was true. + +The best spider-and-fly story we also take from the last-named book. +"A very strong, loud, blustering fellow of a blue-bottle fly bounced +accidentally into a spider's web. Down ran the old spider, and threw +her long arms round his neck; but he fought, and struggled, and blew +his drone, and fuzzed, and sung sharp, and beat, and battered, and +tore the web in holes--and so got loose. The spider would not let go +her hold round him--and _the fly flew away with the spider_!" This is +related on the authority of Mr. Thomas Bell, the naturalist, who +witnessed the heroic act. + + + + +A MISER'S LIFE AND DEATH. + + +This is Harrow Weal Common; and a lovely spot it is. Time was when the +whole extent lay waste, or rather covered with soft herbage and wild +flowers, where the bee sought her pasture, and the lark loved to hide +her nest. But since then, cultivation has trenched on much of Harrow +Weal. Cottages have risen, and small homesteads tell of security and +abundance. It is pleasant to look upon them from this rising ground; +to follow the windings of the broad stream, with pastures on either +side, where sheep and cattle graze. Look narrowly toward yonder group +of trees, and that slight elevation of the ground covered with wild +chamomile; if the narrator who told concerning the miser of Harrow +Weal Common has marked the spot aright, that mound and flowers are +associated with the history of one whose profitless life affords a +striking instance of the withering effects of avarice. + +On that spot stood the house of Daniel Dancer; miserable in the +fullest conception of the word: desolate and friendless, for no bright +fire gleamed in winter on the old man's hearthstone; nor yet in +spring, when all nature is redolent of bliss, did the confiding +sparrow build her nest beside his thatch. The walls of his solitary +dwelling were old and lichen-dotted; ferns sprung from out their +fissures, and creeping ivy twined through the shattered window-panes. +A sapling, no one knew how, had vegetated in the kitchen; its broken +pavement afforded a free passage, and, as time went on, the sapling +acquired strength, pushing its tall head through the damp and +mouldering ceiling; then, catching more of air and light, it went +upward to the roof, and, finding that the tiles were off and part of +the rafters broken, that same tree looked forth in its youth and +vigor, throwing its branches wide, and serving, as years passed on, to +shelter the inmates of the hut. + +Other trees grew round; unpruned and thickly-tangled rank grass sprang +up wherever the warm sunbeams found an entrance; and as far as the eye +could reach, appeared a wilderness of docks and brambles, with huge +plantains and giant thistles, inclosed with a boundary hedge of such +amazing height as wholly to exclude all further prospect. + +Eighty acres of good land belonged to Dancer's farm. An ample stream +once held its winding course among them, but becoming choked at the +further end with weeds and fallen leaves, and branches broken by the +wind, it spread into a marsh, tenanted alike by the slow, creeping +blind-worm, and water-newt, the black slug, and frogs of portentous +size. The soil was rich, and would have yielded abundantly; the +timber, too, was valuable, for some of the finest oaks, perhaps, in +the kingdom grew upon the farm; but the cultivation of the one, and +the culling of the other, was attended with expense, and both were +consequently left uncared for. + +In the centre of this lone and wretched spot, dwelt the miserable +Dancer and his sister, alike in their habits and penuriousness. The +sister never went from home; the brother rarely, except to sell his +hay. He had some acres of fine meadow-land, upon which the brambles +had not trenched, and his attention was exclusively devoted to keeping +them clear of weeds. Having no other occupation, the time of +hay-harvest seems to have been the only period at which his mind was +engrossed with business, and this too was rendered remarkable by the +miser's laying aside his habits of penuriousness--scarcely any +gentleman in the neighborhood gave his mowers better beer, or in +greater quantity; but at no other time was the beverage of our Saxon +ancestors found within his walls. + +Some people thought that the old man was crazed; but those who knew +him spoke well of his intelligence. As his father had been before him, +so was he; his mantle had descended in darkness and in fullness on all +who bore his name, and while that of Daniel Dancer was perhaps the +most familiar, his three brothers were equally penurious. One sordid +passion absorbed their every faculty; they loved money solely and +exclusively for its own sake, not for the pleasures it could procure, +nor yet because of the power it bestowed, but for the love of +hoarding. + +When the father of Daniel Dancer breathed his last, there was reason +to believe that a large sum, amounting to some thousands, was +concealed on the premises. This conjecture occasioned his son no small +uneasiness, not so much from the fear of loss, as from the +apprehension lest his brothers should find the treasure and divide it +among themselves. Dancer, therefore, kept the matter as much as +possible to himself. He warily and secretly sought out every hole and +corner, thrusting his skinny hand into many a deserted mouse-hole, and +examining every part of the chimney. Vain were all his efforts, till +at length, on removing an old grate, he discovered about two hundred +pounds, in gold and bank-notes, between two pewter dishes. Much more +undoubtedly there was, but the rest remained concealed. + +Strange beings were Dancer and his sister to look upon. The person of +the old man was generally girt with a hay-band, in order to keep +together his tattered garments; his stockings were so darned and +patched that nothing of the original texture remained; they were girt +about in cold and wet weather with strong bands of hay, which served +instead of boots, and his hat having been worn for at least thirteen +years, scarcely retained a vestige of its former shape. Perhaps the +most wretched vagabond and mendicant that ever crossed Harrow Weal +Common was more decently attired than this miserable representative of +an ancient and honorable house. + +The sister possessed an excellent wardrobe, consisting not only of +wearing apparel, but table linen, and twenty-four pair of good sheets; +she had also clothes of various kinds, and abundance of plate +belonging to the family, but every thing was stowed away in chests. +Neither the brother nor the sister had the disposition or the heart to +enjoy the blessings that were liberally given them; and hence it +happened that Dancer was rarely seen, and that his sister scarcely +ever quitted her obscure abode. + +The interior of the dwelling well befitted its occupants. Furniture, +and that of a good description, had formerly occupied a place within +the walls, but every article had long since been carefully secluded +from the light, all excepting two antique bedsteads which could not +readily be removed. These, however, neither Dancer nor his sister +could be prevailed to occupy; they preferred sleeping on sacks stuffed +with hay, and covered with horse-rugs. Nor less miserable was their +daily fare. Though possessed of at least ten thousand pounds, they +lived on cold dumplings, hard as stone, and made of the coarsest meal; +their only beverage was water; their sole fire a few sticks gathered +on the common, although they had abundance of wood, and noble trees +that required lopping. + +Thus they lived, isolated from mankind, while around them the +desolation of their paternal acres, and the rank luxuriance of weeds +and brambles, presented a mournful emblem of their condition. Talents, +undoubtedly they had; kindly tempers in early life, which might have +conduced to the well-being of society. Daniel especially possessed +many admirable qualities, with good sense and native integrity; his +manners, too, though unpolished by intercourse with the world, were at +one time both frank and courteous, but all and each were absorbed by +one master passion--sordid avarice took possession of his soul, and +rendered him the most despicable of men. + +At length Dancer's sister died. They had lived together for many +years, similar in their penuriousness, though little, perhaps, of +natural affection subsisted between them. The sister was possessed of +considerable wealth, which she left to her brother. The old man +greatly rejoiced at its acquisition; he resolved, in consequence, that +her funeral should not disgrace the family, and accordingly contracted +with an undertaker to receive timber in exchange for a coffin, rather +than to part with gold. + +Lady Tempest, who resided in the neighborhood, compassionating the +wretched condition of an aged woman, sick, and destitute of even +pauper comforts, had the poor creature conveyed to her house. Every +possible alleviation was afforded, and medical assistance immediately +obtained; but they came too late. The disease, which proceeded +originally from want, proved mortal, and the victim of sordid avarice +was borne unlamented to her grave. + +There was crowding on the funeral day beside the road that led to Lady +Tempest's. People came trooping from far and near, with a company of +boys belonging to Harrow School, thoughtless, and amused with the +strangeness of a spectacle which might rather have excited feelings of +sorrow and commiseration. First came a coffin of the humblest kind, +containing the emaciated corpse of one who had possessed ample +wealth--a woman to whom had been committed the magnificent gift of +life, fair talents, and health, with faculties for appropriating each +to the glory of Him who gave them, but who, on dying, had no soothing +retrospect of life, no thankfulness for having been the instrument of +good to others, no hope beyond the grave. Behind that coffin, as +chief-mourner, followed the brother, unbeloved, and heedless of all +duties either to God or man--a miserable being; the possessor of many +thousands, yet too sordid to purchase even decent mourning. It was +only by the importunate entreaties of his relatives that he consented +to unbind the hay-bands with which his legs were covered, and to put +on a second-hand pair of black worsted stockings. His coat was of a +whitish brown color, his waistcoat had been black about the middle of +the last century, and the covering of his head was a nondescript kind +of wig, which had descended to him as an heirloom. Thus attired, and +followed and attended by a crowd whom curiosity had drawn together, +went on old Daniel and the coffin of his sister toward the place of +its sojourn. When there, the horse's girth gave way, for they were +past all service, and the brother was suddenly precipitated into his +sister's grave; but the old man escaped unhurt. The service proceeded; +and slowly into darkness and forgetfulness went down the remains of +his miserable counterpart. + +One friend, however, remained to the miser--and this was Lady Tempest. +That noble-minded woman had given a home to the sister, and sought by +every possible means to alleviate her sufferings; now also, when the +object of her solicitude was gone, she endeavored to inspire the +brother with better feelings, and to ameliorate his miserable +condition. This kindly notice by Lady Tempest, while it soothed his +pride, served also to lessen the sufferings and sorrows of his +declining age; and so far did her representations prevail, that, +having given him a comfortable bed, she actually induced him to throw +away the sack on which he slept for years. Nay, more, he took into his +service a man of the name of Griffith, and allowed him an ample supply +of food, but neither cat nor dog purred or watched beneath his roof; +he had no kindliness of heart to bestow upon them, nor occasion for +their services, for he still continued to live on crusts and +fragments; even when Lady Tempest sent him better fare, he could +hardly be prevailed to partake of it. + +In his boyish days, he possessed, it might be, some natural feelings +of affection toward his kind; but as years passed on, and his sordid +avarice increased, he manifested the utmost aversion for his brother, +who rivaled himself in penury and wealth, and still continued to +pasture sheep on the same common. To his niece, however, he once +presented a guinea, on the birth of a daughter, but this he made +conditional, she was either to name the child Nancy, after his mother, +or forfeit the whole sum. + +Still, with that strange contrariety which even the most penurious +occasionally present, gleams of kindness broke forth at intervals, as +sunbeams on a stony waste. He was known secretly to have assisted +persons whose modes of life and appearance were infinitely superior to +his own; and though parsimonious in the extreme, he was never guilty +of injustice, or accused of attempting to overreach his neighbors. He +was also a second Hampden in defending the rights and privileges of +those who were connected with his locality. While old Daniel lived, no +infringements were permitted on Harrow Weal Common; he heeded neither +the rank nor wealth of those who attempted to act unjustly, but, +putting himself at the head of the villagers, he resisted such +aggressions with uniform success. On one occasion, also, having been +reluctantly obliged to prosecute a horse-stealer at Aylesbury, he set +forth with one of his neighbors on an unshod steed, with a mane and +tail of no ordinary growth, a halter for a bridle, a sack instead of a +saddle. Thus equipped, he went on, till, having reached the principal +inn at Aylesbury, the miser addressed his companion, saying, + +"Pray, sir, go into the house and order what you please, and live like +a gentleman, I will settle for it readily; but as regards myself, I +must go on in my old way." + +His friend entreated him to take a comfortable repast, but this he +steadily refused. A penny-worth of bread sufficed for his meal, and at +night he slept under his horse's manger; but when the business that +brought him to Aylesbury was ended, he paid fifteen shillings, the +amount of his companion's bill, with the utmost cheerfulness. + +Grateful too, he was, as years went on, to Lady Tempest for her +unwearied kindness, and he resolved to leave her the wealth which he +had accumulated. His sister, too, expressed the same wish; and when, +after six months of continued attention from that lady, Miss Dancer +found her end approach, she instructed her brother to give their +benefactress an acknowledgment from the one thousand six hundred +pounds which she had concealed in an old tattered petticoat. + +"Not a penny of that money," said old Dancer, unceremoniously to his +sister. "Not a penny as yet. The good lady shall have the whole when I +am gone." + +At length the time came when the old man must be gone; when his +desolate abode and neglected fields should bear witness no longer +against him. Few particulars are known concerning his death. The fact +alone is certain, that the evening before his departure, he dispatched +a messenger to Lady Tempest requesting to see her ladyship, and that, +being gratified by her arrival, he expressed great satisfaction. +Finding himself somewhat better, his attachment to the hoarded pelf, +which he valued even more than the only friend he had on earth, +overcame the resolution he had formed of giving her his will; and +though his hand was scarcely able to perform its functions, he took +hold of the precious document and replaced it in his bosom. + +The next morning he became worse, and again did the same kind lady +attend the old man's summons; when, having confided to her keeping the +title-deeds of wealth which he valued more than life, his hand +suddenly became convulsed, his head sunk upon the pillow, and the +miser breathed his last. + +The house in which he died, and where he first drew breath, exhibited +a picture of utter desolation. Those who crossed the threshold stood +silent, as if awe-struck. Yet that miserable haunt contained the +hoarded wealth of years. Gold and silver coins were dug up on the +ground-floor; plate and table-linen, with clothes of every +description, were found locked up in chests; large bowls, filled with +guineas and half-guineas came to light, with parcels of bank-notes +stuffed under the covers of old chairs. Some hundred-weights of +waste-paper, the accumulation of half a century, were also discovered; +and two or three tons of old iron, consisting of nails and +horse-shoes, which the miser had picked up. + +Strange communings had passed within the walls--sordid, yet bitter +thoughts, the crushing of all kindly yearnings toward a better state +of mind. The outer conduct of the man was known, but the internal +conflict between good and evil remains untold. + +Nearly sixty-four years have elapsed since the miser and his sister +passed from among the living. Perchance some lichen-dotted stone, if +carefully sought for and narrowly examined, may give the exact period +of their death, but, as yet, no record of the kind has been +discovered. Collateral testimonies, however, go far to prove that the +death of the miser took place about the year 1775, and that his sister +died a few months previous. + + + + +RESULTS OF AN ACCIDENT.--THE GUM SECRET. + + +In journeying from Dublin westward, by the banks of the Liffey, we +pass the village of Chapelizod, and hamlet of Palmerstown. The +water-power of the Liffey has attracted manufacturers at different +times, who with less or greater success, but, unfortunately, with a +general ill-success, have established works there. Paper-making, +starch-making, cotton-spinning and weaving, bleaching and printing of +calicoes, have been attempted. But all have been in turn abandoned, +though occasionally renewed by some new firm or private adventurer. +Into the supposed causes of failure it is not here necessary to +inquire. The manufacture of starch has survived several disasters. + +The article British gum, which is now so extensively used by +calico-printers, by makers-up of stationery, by the Government in +postage-stamp making, and in various industrial arts, was first made +at Chapelizod. Its origin and history are somewhat curious. + +The use of potatoes in the starch factories excited the vehement +opposition of the people, whose chief article of food was thus +consumed and enhanced in price. These factories were several times +assailed by angry multitudes, and on more than one occasion set on +fire by means never discovered. The fires were not believed to have +been always accidental. + +On the fifth of September, 1821, George the Fourth, on his return to +England from visiting Ireland, embarked at Dunleary harbor, near +Dublin. On that occasion the ancient Irish name of Dunleary was +blotted out, and in honor of the royal visit that of Kingston was +substituted. In the evening the citizens of Dublin sat late in taverns +and at supper parties. Loyalty and punch abounded. In the midst of +their revelry a cry of "fire" was heard. They ran to the streets, and +some, following the glare and the cries, found the fire at a starch +manufactory near Chapelizod. The stores not being of a nature to burn +rapidly, were in great part saved from the fire, but they were so +freely deluged with water, that the starch was washed away in streams +ankle-deep over the roadways and lanes into the Liffey. + +Next morning one of the journeymen block-printers--whose employment +was at the Palmerstown print-works, but who lodged at Chapelizod--woke +with a parched throat and headache. He asked himself where he had +been. He had been seeing the King away; drinking, with thousands more, +Dunleary out of, and Kingston into, the map of Ireland. Presently, his +confused memory brought him a vision of a fire: he had a thirsty sense +of having been carrying buckets of water; of hearing the hissing of +water on hot iron floors; of the clanking of engines, and shouts of +people working the pumps, and of himself tumbling about with the rest +of the mob, and rolling over one another in streams of liquefied +wreck, running from the burning starch stores. + +He would rise, dress, go out, inquire about the fire, find his +shopmates, and see if it was to be a working day, or once again a +drinking day. He tried to dress; but--a--hoo!--his clothes were gummed +together. His coat had no entrance for his arms until the sleeves were +picked open, bit by bit; what money he had left was glued into his +pockets; his waistcoat was tightly buttoned up with--what? Had he been +bathing with his clothes on, in a sea of gum-arabic--that costly +article used in the print-works? + +This man was not the only one whose clothes were saturated with gum. +He and four of his shopmates held a consultation, and visited the +wreck of the starch factory. In the roadway, the starch, which, in a +hot, calcined state, had been watered by the fire-engines the night +before, was now found by them lying in soft, gummy lumps. They took +some of it home; they tested it in their trade; they bought starch at +a chandler's shop, put it in a frying-pan, burned it to a lighter or +darker brown, added water, and at last discovered themselves masters +of an article, which, if not gum itself, seemed as suitable for their +trade as gum-arabic, and at a fraction of the cost. + +It was their own secret; and, could they have conducted their future +proceedings as discreetly as they made their experiments, they might +have realized fortunes, and had the merit of practically introducing +an article of great utility--one which has assisted in the +fortune-making of some of the wealthiest firms in Lancaster (so long +as they held it as a secret), and which now the Government of the +British empire manufacture for themselves. + +Its subsequent history is not less curious than that just related. +Unfortunately for the operative block-printers, who discovered it, +their share in its history is soon told. + +It is said that six of them subscribed money to send one of their +number to Manchester with samples of the new gum for sale; the reply +which he received from drysalters and the managers of print-works, was +either that they would have nothing to do with his samples, or an +admonition to go home for the present, and return when he was sober. +His fellow-workmen, hearing of his non-success and fearing the escape +of the secret, sent another of their number to his aid with more +money. The two had no better success than the one. The remaining four, +after a time, left their work at Dublin, and joined the two in +Manchester. They now tried to sell their secret. Before this was +effected one died; two were imprisoned for a share in some drunken +riots; and all were in extreme poverty. What the price paid for the +secret was, is not likely to be revealed now. Part of it was spent in +a passage to New Orleans, where it is supposed the discoverers of +British gum did not long survive their arrival. + +The secret was not at first worked with success. It passed from its +original Lancashire possessor to a gentleman who succeeded in making +the article of a sufficiently good quality; and at so low a price that +it found a ready introduction in the print-works. But he could not +produce it in large quantity without employing assistants, whom he +feared to trust with a knowledge of a manufacture so simple and so +profitable. In employing men to assist in some parts of the work, and +shutting them out from others, their curiosity, or jealousy, could not +be restrained. On one or two occasions they caused the officers of +Excise to break in upon him when he was burning his starch, under the +allegation that he was engaged in illicit practices. His manufactory +was broken into in the night by burglars, who only wanted to rob him +of his secret. Once the place was maliciously burned down. Other +difficulties, far too numerous for present detail, were encountered. +Still, he produced the British gum in sufficient quantities for it to +yield him a liberal income. At last, in a week of sickness, he was +pressed by the head of a well-known firm of calico-printers for a +supply. He got out of bed; went to his laboratory; had the fire +kindled; put on his vessel of plate-iron; calcined his starch, added +the water, observed the temperature; and all the while held +conversation with his keen-eyed customer, whom he had unsuspectingly +allowed to be present. It is enough to say that this acute +calico-printer never required any more British gum of the +convalescent's making. Gradually the secret spread, although the +original purchaser of it still retained a share of the manufacture. + +When penny postage came into operation, it was at first doubtful +whether adhesive labels could be made sufficiently good and +low-priced, which would not have been the case with gum-arabic. +British gum solved the difficulty; and the manufacturer made a +contract to supply it for the labels. In the second year of his +contract, a rumor was spread, that the adhesive matter on the postage +stamps was a deleterious substance, made of the refuse of fish, and +other disgusting materials. The great British gum secret was then +spread far and wide. The public was extensively informed that the +postage-label poison was made simply of--potatoes. + + + + +MY LITTLE FRENCH FRIEND. + + +Mademoiselle Honorine is a teacher of her own language in a cathedral +town south of the Loire, celebrated for the finest church and the +longest street in France; at least, so say the inhabitants, who have +seen no others. The purest French is supposed to be spoken hereabouts, +and the reputation thus given has for many years attracted hosts of +foreigners anxious to attain the true accent formerly in vogue at the +court of the refined Catherine de Medici. It is true that this extreme +grace of diction and tone is not acknowledged by Parisians; who, when +they had a court, imagined the best French was spoken in the capital +where that court resided; and they have been long in the habit of +sneering at the pretensions of their rivals; who, however, among +foreigners, still keep their middle-age fame. + +Mademoiselle Honorine is not a native of this remarkable town; and the +French she teaches is of a different sort, for she comes from a +far-off province, by no means so remarkable for purity of accent. She +is an Alsatian, and her natal town is no other than Vancouleurs, where +the tree under which Joan of Arc saw angels and became inspired, once +existed. + +As may be imagined, Mademoiselle Honorine is proud of this accident of +birth, and tells with much exultation of having, at the age of +fifteen, some thirty-five years ago, borne the part of La Pucelle in +the grand procession to Domremy, formerly an annual festival. She +relates that she attracted universal attention on that occasion, +chiefly from the circumstance of her hair, which is now of silvery +whiteness, having been equally so then, much to the admiration of all +who beheld her. + +"I was always," she remarks, with satisfied vanity, "celebrated for my +hair, and I had at all times a high color and bright eyes; so that, +though some people preferred the beauty of my sisters, I always got +more partners than they at all our _fêtes_. It is true they all +married, and no one proposed to me, except old Monsieur de Monzon, who +suffered from the gout and a very bad temper; but I had no respect for +his character and though he was rich, and I might have been a +_châtelaine_, instead of such a poor woman as I am, still I refused +him, for I preferred my liberty; and that, also, was the reason I left +my uncle's domain, because I like independence. We used, my aunt, my +uncle, and I, to spend most of our time at his country place, going +out every day lark-catching, which we did with looking-glasses: they +held the glasses and lured the birds, while I was ready with the net +to throw over them. My uncle, however, was always scolding me for +talking and frightening the birds away; so I got tired of this +amusement and of the dependence in which I lived." + +The independence preferred by Mademoiselle Honorine to lark-catching +and snubbing, consists in giving lessons to the English. As, of late, +we islanders have been as hard to catch as the victims of the +looking-glasses, her occupation is not lucrative; and although she +sometimes devotes her energies to the arts, in the form of twisted +colored paper tortured into the semblance of weeping willows, and +nondescript flowers, yet these specimens of ingenuity do not bring in +a very large revenue. In fact, her income, when I knew her, could not +be considered enormous; for, to pay house-rent, board, washing, and +sundry little expenses, she possessed twelve francs a month: yet with +these resources, nevertheless, she contrived to do more benevolent and +charitable acts than any person I ever met with. She has always +halfpence for the poor's bag at church--always farthings for certain +regular pensioners, who expect her donation as she passes them, at +their begging stations, on her way to her pupils. Moreover, on +New-year's day, she has always the means of making the prettiest +presents to a friend who for years has shown her countenance, and put +little gains in her way. + +She obtains six francs per month from a couple of pupils, whose merit +is as great in receiving, as hers in giving lessons. These are two +young workwomen who desire to improve their education, and daily +devote to study the only unoccupied hour they possess. From six +o'clock till seven, Mademoiselle Honorine, therefore, on her return +from the five o'clock mass--which she never misses--calls at the +garret of these devotees, and imparts her instruction in reading and +writing to the zealous aspirants for knowledge. + +"I would not," she says, "miss their lessons for the world; because, +you see, I have thus always an eye upon their conduct, and have an +opportunity of throwing in a little good advice, and making them read +good books." + +As these young damsels go out to their work directly after the lesson +is over--taking breakfast at a late hour in the day--Mademoiselle +Honorine provides herself, before starting to the five o'clock mass, +with a bit of dry bread, which she puts in her pocket, ready to eat +when the moment of hunger arrives. She never allows herself any other +breakfast; and, as she drinks only cold water, no expenditure of fuel +is necessary for this in her establishment. Except it occurs to any of +her pupils--few of whom are much richer than her earliest-served--to +offer her some refreshment to lighten her labors, Mademoiselle +Honorine contrives to walk, and talk, and laugh, and be amusing on an +empty stomach, till dinner-time, when she is careful to provide +herself with an apple and another slice of bread, which she enjoys in +haste, and betakes herself to other occupations, chiefly +unremunerative--such as visiting a sick neighbor, reading to a blind +friend, or taking a walk on the fashionable promenade with an infirm +invalid, who requires the support of an arm. + +Fire in France is an expensive luxury which she economizes--not that +she indulges, when forced to allow herself in comfort, in much besides +turf or pine-cones, with perhaps a sprinkling of fagot-wood if a +friend calls in. She is able, however, to keep a little canary in a +cage, who is her valued companion; and she nourishes, besides, several +little productive plants in pots, such as violets and résida; chiefly, +it must be owned, with a view of having the means of making floral +offerings, on birthdays and christenings, to her very numerous +acquaintances. + +She is never seen out of spirits, and is welcomed as an object of +interest whenever she flits along with her round, rosy, smiling face, +shrined in braids of white hair, and set off with a smart +fashionable-shaped bonnet; for she likes being in the fashion, and is +proud of the slightness of her waist, which her polka shows to +advantage. The strings of her bonnet, and the ribbons and buttons of +her dress, are sometimes very fresh, and her mittens are sometimes +very uncommon: this she is particular about, as she shows her hands a +good deal in accompanying herself on the guitar, which she does with +much taste, for her ear is very good and her voice has been musical. +There are few things Mademoiselle Honorine can not do to be useful. +She can play at draughts and dominos, can knit or net, knowing all the +last new patterns; her satin stitch is neatness itself. It is +suspected that she turns some of these talents to advantage; but that +is a secret, as she considers it more dignified to be known only as a +teacher. + +She had a curious set of pupils when I became acquainted with her. +Those whom I knew were English; who were, rather late in their career, +endeavoring to become proficients in a tongue positively necessary for +economical, useful, or sentimental purposes, as the case might be, but +which in more early days they had not calculated on requiring. + +They were of those who encourage late ambition-- + + "And from the dregs of life think to receive + What the first sprightly running could not give." + +The first of these was a bachelor of some fifty-five, formerly a +medical practitioner, now retired, and living in a lively lodging, in +a _premier_ that overlooked the Loire; which reflected back so much +sun from its broad surface on a bright winter's day, that the +circumstance greatly diminished his expenses in the dreaded article of +fuel--a consideration with both natives and foreigners. Economy was +strictly practiced by Dr. Drowler. Nevertheless, as he was very +gallant, and loved to pay compliments to his fair young French +friends, whom he did not suspect of laughing at him, he became +desirous of acquiring greater facility in the lighter part of a +language which served him indifferently well in the ordinary concerns +of his bachelor house-keeping. He therefore resolved to take advantage +of the low terms and obliging disposition of Mademoiselle Honorine, +and placed himself on her form. There was much good-will on both +sides, and his instructress declared that she should have felt little +fear of his ultimate success, but for his defective hearing; which +considerably interfered with his appreciation of those shades of +pronunciation which might be necessary to render him capable of +charming the attentive ears of the young ladies, who were on the +tiptoe of expectation to hear what progress he had made in the +language of Jean Jacques Rousseau. + +Another of Mademoiselle Honorine's charges was Mrs. Mumble, a widow of +uncertain age, whose early education had been a good deal left to +nature; and who--her income being small--had sought the banks of the +poetical Loire (in, she told her Somersetshire friends, the south of +France) to make, as she expressed it, "both ends meet." "One lesson a +week at a _franc_," she reflected, "won't ruin me, and I shall soon +get to speak their language as well as the best of 'em." Mademoiselle +Honorine herself would not have despaired of her pupil arriving at +something approaching to this result, could she have got the better of +a certain indistinctness of utterance caused by the loss of several +teeth. + +Miss Dogherty was a third pupil; a young lady of fifty, with very +youthful manners, and a slight figure. She had labored long to acquire +the true "Porris twang," as she termed it; but, finding her efforts +unavailing, she had resolved during her winter in Touraine, to devote +herself to the language, drawing it pure from the source; and agreed +to sacrifice ten francs per month, in order, by daily hours of +devotion, to reach the goal. An inveterate Tipperary accent interfered +slightly with her views, but she hit on an ingenious expedient for +concealing the defect; this was, never to open her mouth to more than +half its size in speaking; and always to utter her English in a broken +manner, which might convey to the stranger the idea of her being a +foreigner. She had her cards printed as Mademoiselle Durté, which made +the illusion complete. + +But these pupils were not to be entirely relied on for producing an +income--Mademoiselle Honorine could scarcely reckon on the advantages +they presented for a continuance, sanguine as she was. In fact, she +may be said to have, as a certainty, only one permanent pupil, whom +she looks upon as her chief stay, and her gratitude for this source of +emolument is such, that she is always ready to evince her sense of its +importance by adopting the character of nursemaid, classical +teacher--although her knowledge of the dead languages is not +extensive--or general governess, approaching the maternal character +the nearer from the compassion she feels for the pretty little orphan +English boy, who lives under the care of an infirm old grandmother. +With this little gentleman, whose domicile is situated about two miles +from her own, at the top of a steep hill, she walks, and talks, and +laughs, and teaches, and enjoys herself so much, that she considers it +but right to reward him for the pleasure he gives her by expending a +few sous every day in sweetmeats for his delectation; this sum making +a considerable gap in the monthly salary his grandmother is able to +afford. However, her disinterestedness is not thrown away here, and I +learn with singular satisfaction that Mademoiselle Honorine having +been detected in the act of devouring her dry crust, by way of +breakfast, and her pupil having won from her the confession that she +never had any other, a cup of hot chocolate was always afterward +prepared and offered to her by the little student as soon as she +entered his study. When I had an opportunity of judging--a fact which +more than once occurred to me--of the capabilities of Mademoiselle +Honorine's appetite, I was gratified, though surprised, to find that +nothing came amiss to her; that she could enjoy any thing in the shape +of fish, flesh, or fowl, and drank a good glass of Bordeaux, or even +Champagne, with singular glee. + +It happened, not long since, that the friend who had revealed to me +the secret of her manner of life, was suddenly called upon to pay a +sum of money on some railway shares she possessed; and, being +unprepared, was lamenting in the presence of Mademoiselle Honorine, +the inconvenience she was put to. + +The next day, the lively little dame appeared with a canvas bag in her +hand, containing no less a sum than five hundred francs. "Here," she +said, smiling, "is the exact sum you want. It is most lucky I should +happen to have as much. I have been collecting it for years; for, you +know, in case of sickness, one likes to avoid being a burden to one's +friends. It is at your service for as long a time as you like, and you +will relieve me from anxiety in taking it into your hands." It was +impossible to refuse the offer; and the good little woman was thus +enabled to repay the many kindnesses she had received, and to add +greatly to her own dignity; of which she is very tenacious. + +"Ah!" said a Parisian lady to her one day, after hearing of her +thousand occupations and privations, "how do you contrive to live; and +what can you care about life? I should have had recourse to charcoal +long ago, if I had been in your situation. Yet you are always laughing +and gay, as if you dined on foie-gras and truffles every day of your +existence!" + +"So I do," replied the little heroine--"at least on what is quite as +good--for I have all I want, all I care about, never owing a sous, and +being a charge to no one. Besides, I have a secret happiness which +nothing can take away; and, when I go into the church of a morning to +mass, I thank God with all my heart for all the blessings he gives me, +and, above all, for the extreme content which makes all the world seem +a paradise of enjoyment. I never know what it is to be dull, and as +for charcoal, I have no objection to it in a foot-warmer, but that is +all the acquaintance I am likely to make with it." + +"Poor soul!" returned the Parisienne, "how I pity you!" + + + + +BLEAK HOUSE.[D] + +BY CHARLES DICKENS. + + [Footnote D: Continued from the June Number.] + + +CHAPTER XI.--OUR DEAR BROTHER. + +A touch on the lawyer's wrinkled hand, as he stands in the dark room, +irresolute, makes him start and say, "What's that?" + +"It's me," returns the old man of the house, whose breath is in his +ear. "Can't you wake him?" + +"No." + +"What have you done with your candle?" + +"It's gone out. Here it is." + +Krook takes it, goes to the fire, stoops over the red embers, and +tries to get a light. The dying ashes have no light to spare, and his +endeavors are vain. Muttering, after an ineffectual call to his +lodger, that he will go down stairs, and bring a lighted candle from +the shop, the old man departs. Mr. Tulkinghorn, for some new reason +that he has, does not await his return in the room, but on the stairs +outside. + +The welcome light soon shines upon the wall, as Krook comes slowly up, +with his green-eyed cat following at his heels. "Does the man +generally sleep like this?" inquires the lawyer, in a low voice. "Hi! +I don't know," says Krook, shaking his head, and lifting his eyebrows. +"I know next to nothing of his habits, except that he keeps himself +very close." + +Thus whispering, they both go in together. As the light goes in, the +great eyes in the shutters, darkening, seem to close. Not so the eyes +upon the bed. + +"God save us!" exclaims Mr. Tulkinghorn. "He is dead!" + +Krook drops the heavy hand he has taken up, so suddenly that the arm +swings over the bedside. + +They look at one another for a moment. + +"Send for some doctor! Call for Miss Flite up the stairs, sir. Here's +poison by the bed! Call out for Flite, will you?" says Krook, with his +lean hands spread out above the body like a vampire's wings. + +Mr. Tulkinghorn hurries to the landing, and calls, "Miss Flite! Flite! +Make haste, here, whoever you are! Flite!" Krook follows him with his +eyes, and, while he is calling, finds opportunity to steal to the old +portmanteau, and steal back again. + +"Run, Flite, run! The nearest doctor! Run!" So Mr. Krook addresses a +crazy little woman, who is his female lodger: who appears and vanishes +in a breath: who soon returns, accompanied by a testy medical man, +brought from his dinner--with a broad snuffy upper lip, and a broad +Scotch tongue. + +"Ey! Bless the hearts o' ye," says the medical man, looking up at +them, after a moment's examination. "He's just as dead as Phairy!" + +Mr. Tulkinghorn (standing by the old portmanteau) inquires if he has +been dead any time. + +"Any time, sir?" says the medical gentleman. "It's probable he wull +have been dead aboot three hours." + +"About that time, I should say," observes a dark young man, on the +other side of the bed. + +"Air you in the maydickle prayfession yourself, sir?" inquires the +first. + +The dark young man says yes. + +"Then I'll just tak' my depairture," replies the other; "for I'm nae +gude here!" With which remark, he finishes his brief attendance, and +returns to finish his dinner. + +The dark young surgeon passes the candle across and across the face, +and carefully examines the law-writer, who has established his +pretensions to his name by becoming indeed No one. + +"I knew this person by sight, very well," says he. "He has purchased +opium of me, for the last year and a half. Was any body present +related to him?" glancing round upon the three bystanders. + +"I was his landlord," grimly answers Krook, taking the candle from the +surgeon's outstretched hand. "He told me once, I was the nearest +relation he had." + +"He has died," says the surgeon, "of an over-dose of opium, there is +no doubt. The room is strongly flavored with it. There is enough here +now," taking an old teapot from Mr. Krook, "to kill a dozen people." + +"Do you think he did it on purpose?" asks Krook. + +"Took the over-dose?" + +"Yes!" Krook almost smacks his lips with the unction of a horrible +interest. + +"I can't say. I should think it unlikely, as he has been in the habit +of taking so much. But nobody can tell. He was very poor, I suppose?" + +"I suppose he was. His room--don't look rich," says Krook; who might +have changed eyes with his cat, as he casts his sharp glance around. +"But I have never been in it since he had it, and he was too close to +name his circumstances to me." + +"Did he owe you any rent?" + +"Six weeks." + +"He will never pay it!" says the young man, resuming his examination. +"It is beyond a doubt that he is indeed as dead as Pharaoh; and to +judge from his appearance and condition, I should think it a happy +release. Yet he must have been a good figure when a youth, and I dare +say good-looking." He says this, not unfeelingly, while sitting on the +bedstead's edge, with his face toward that other face, and his hand +upon the region of the heart. "I recollect once thinking there was +something in his manner, uncouth as it was, that denoted a fall in +life. Was that so?" he continues, looking round. + +Krook replies, "You might as well ask me to describe the ladies whose +heads of hair I have got in sacks down stairs. Than that he was my +lodger for a year and a half, and lived--or didn't live--by +law-writing, I know no more of him." + +During this dialogue, Mr. Tulkinghorn has stood aloof by the old +portmanteau, with his hands behind him, equally removed, to all +appearance, from all three kinds of interest exhibited near the +bed--from the young surgeon's professional interest in death, +noticeable as being quite apart from his remarks on the deceased as an +individual; from the old man's unction; and the little crazy woman's +awe. His imperturbable face has been as inexpressive as his rusty +clothes. One could not even say he has been thinking all this while. +He has shown neither patience nor impatience, nor attention nor +abstraction. He has shown nothing but his shell. As easily might the +tone of a delicate musical instrument be inferred from its case, as +the tone of Mr. Tulkinghorn from _his_ case. + +He now interposes; addressing the young surgeon, in his unmoved, +professional way. + +"I looked in here," he observes, "just before you, with the intention +of giving this deceased man, whom I never saw alive, some employment +at his trade of copying. I had heard of him from my stationer--Snagsby +of Cook's Court. Since no one here knows any thing about him, it might +be as well to send for Snagsby. Ah!" to the little crazy woman, who +has often seen him in Court, and whom he has often seen, and who +proposes, in frightened dumb-show, to go for the law stationer. +"Suppose you do!" + +While she is gone, the surgeon abandons his hopeless investigation, +and covers its subject with the patchwork counterpane. Mr. Krook and +he interchange a word or two. Mr. Tulkinghorn says nothing; but +stands, ever, near the old portmanteau. + +Mr. Snagsby arrives hastily, in his gray coat and his black sleeves. +"Dear me, dear me," he says; "and it has come to this, has it! Bless +my soul!" + +"Can you give the person of the house any information about this +unfortunate creature, Snagsby?" inquires Mr. Tulkinghorn. "He was in +arrears with his rent, it seems. And he must be buried, you know." + +"Well, sir," says Mr. Snagsby, coughing his apologetic cough behind +his hand; "I really don't know what advice I could offer, except +sending for the beadle." + +"I don't speak of advice," returns Mr. Tulkinghorn. "_I_ could +advise--" + +("No one better, sir, I am sure," says Mr. Snagsby, with his +deferential cough.) + +"I speak of affording some clew to his connections, or to where he +came from, or to any thing concerning him." + +"I assure you, sir," says Mr. Snagsby, after prefacing his reply with +his cough of general propitiation, "that I no more know where he came +from, than I know--" + +"Where he has gone to, perhaps," suggests the surgeon, to help him +out. + +A pause. Mr. Tulkinghorn looking at the law-stationer. Mr. Krook, with +his mouth open, looking for somebody to speak next. + +"As to his connections, sir," says Mr. Snagsby, "if a person was to +say to me, 'Snagsby, here's twenty thousand pound down, ready for you +in the Bank of England, if you'll only name one of 'em, I couldn't do +it, sir! About a year and a half ago--to the best of my belief at the +time when he first came to lodge at the present Rag and Bottle Shop--" + +"That was the time!" says Krook, with a nod. + +"About a year and a half ago," says Mr. Snagsby, strengthened, "he +came into our place one morning after breakfast, and, finding my +little woman (which I name Mrs. Snagsby when I use that appellation) +in our shop, produced a specimen of his handwriting, and gave her to +understand that he was in wants of copying work to do, and was--not to +put too fine a point upon it--" a favorite apology for plain-speaking +with Mr. Snagsby, which he always offers with a sort of argumentative +frankness, "hard up! My little woman is not in general partial to +strangers, particular--not to put too fine a point upon it--when they +want any thing. But she was rather took by something about this +person; whether by his being unshaved, or by his hair being in want of +attention, or by what other ladies' reasons, I leave you to judge; and +she accepted of the specimen, and likewise of the address. My little +woman hasn't a good ear for names," proceeds Mr. Snagsby, after +consulting his cough of consideration behind his hand, "and she +considered Nemo equally the same as Nimrod. In consequence of which, +she got into a habit of saying to me at meals, 'Mr. Snagsby, you +haven't found Nimrod any work yet!' or 'Mr. Snagsby, why didn't you +give that eight-and-thirty Chancery folio in Jarndyce, to Nimrod?' or +such like. And that is the way he gradually fell into job-work at our +place; and that is the most I know of him, except that he was a quick +hand, and a hand not sparing of night-work; and that if you gave him +out, say five-and-forty folio on the Wednesday night, you would have +it brought in on the Thursday morning. All of which--" Mr. Snagsby +concludes by politely motioning with his hat toward the bed, as much +as to add, "I have no doubt my honorable friend would confirm, if he +were in a condition to do it." + +"Hadn't you better see," says Mr. Tulkinghorn to Krook, "whether he +had any papers that may enlighten you? There will be an Inquest, and +you will be asked the question. You can read?" + +"No, I can't," returns the old man, with a sudden grin. + +"Snagsby," says Mr. Tulkinghorn, "look over the room for him. He will +get into some trouble or difficulty, otherwise. Being here, I'll wait, +if you make haste; and then I can testify on his behalf, if it should +ever be necessary, that all was fair and right. If you will hold the +candle for Mr. Snagsby, my friend, he'll soon see whether there is any +thing to help you." + +"In the first place, here's an old portmanteau, sir," says Snagsby. + +Ah, to be sure, so there is! Mr. Tulkinghorn does not appear to have +seen it before, though he is standing so close to it, and though there +is very little else, Heaven knows. + +The marine-store merchant holds the light, and the law-stationer +conducts the search. The surgeon leans against a corner of the +chimney-piece; Miss Flite peeps and trembles just within the door. The +apt old scholar of the old school, with his dull black breeches tied +with ribbons at the knees, his large black waistcoat, his long-sleeved +black coat, and his wisp of limp white neck-kerchief tied in the bow +the Peerage knows so well, stands in exactly the same place and +attitude. + +There are some worthless articles of clothing in the old portmanteau; +there is a bundle of pawnbrokers' duplicates, those turnpike tickets +on the road of Poverty, there is a crumpled paper, smelling of opium, +on which are scrawled rough memoranda--as, took, such a day, so many +grains; took, such another day, so many more--begun some time ago, as +if with the intention of being regularly continued, but soon left off. +There are a few dirty scraps of newspapers, all referring to Coroners' +Inquests; there is nothing else. They search the cupboard, and the +drawer of the ink-splashed table. There is not a morsel of an old +letter, or of any other writing, in either. The young surgeon examines +the dress on the law-writer. A knife and some odd halfpence are all he +finds. Mr. Snagsby's suggestion is the practical suggestion after all, +and the beadle must be called in. + +So the little crazy lodger goes for the beadle, and the rest come out +of the room. "Don't leave the cat there!" says the surgeon: "that +won't do!" Mr. Krook therefore drives her out before him; and she goes +furtively down stairs, winding her lithe tail and licking her lips. + +"Good-night!" says Mr. Tulkinghorn; and goes home to Allegory and +meditation. + +By this time the news has got into the court. Groups of its +inhabitants assemble to discuss the thing; and the outposts of the +army of observation (principally boys) are pushed forward to Mr. +Krook's window, which they closely invest. A policeman has already +walked up to the room, and walked down again to the door, where he +stands like a tower, only condescending to see the boys at his base +occasionally; but whenever he does see them, they quail and fall back. +Mrs. Perkins, who has not been for some weeks on speaking terms with +Mrs. Piper, in consequence of an unpleasantness originating in young +Perkins having "fetched" young Piper "a crack," renews her friendly +intercourse on this auspicious occasion. The pot-boy at the corner, +who is a privileged amateur, as possessing official knowledge of life, +and having to deal with drunken men occasionally, exchanges +confidential communications with the policeman, and has the appearance +of an impregnable youth, unassailable by truncheons and unconfinable +in station-houses. People talk across the court out of window, and +bare-headed scouts come hurrying in from Chancery Lane to know what's +the matter. The general feeling seems to be that it's a blessing Mr. +Krook warn't made away with first, mingled with a little natural +disappointment that he was not. In the midst of this sensation, the +beadle arrives. + +The beadle, though generally understood in the neighborhood to be a +ridiculous institution, is not without a certain popularity for the +moment, if it were only as a man who is going to see the body. The +policeman considers him an imbecile civilian, a remnant of the +barbarous watchmen-times; but gives him admission, as something that +must be borne with until Government shall abolish him. The sensation +is heightened, as the tidings spread from mouth to mouth that the +beadle is on the ground, and has gone in. + +By-and-by the beadle comes out, once more intensifying the sensation, +which has rather languished in the interval. He is understood to be in +want of witnesses, for the Inquest to-morrow, who can tell the Coroner +and Jury any thing whatever respecting the deceased. Is immediately +referred to innumerable people who can tell nothing whatever. Is made +more imbecile by being constantly informed that Mrs. Green's son "was +a law-writer his-self, and knowed him better than any body"--which son +of Mrs. Green's appears, on inquiry, to be at the present time aboard +a vessel bound for China, three months out, but considered accessible +by telegraph, on application to the Lords of the Admiralty. Beadle +goes into various shops and parlors, examining the inhabitants; always +shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy, +exasperating the public. Policeman seen to smile to potboy. Public +loses interest, and undergoes re-action. Taunts the beadle, in shrill, +youthful voices, with having boiled a boy; choruses fragments of a +popular song to that effect, and importing that the boy was made into +soup for the workhouse. Policeman at last finds it necessary to +support the law, and seize a vocalist; who is released upon the flight +of the rest, on condition of his getting out of this then, come! and +cutting it--a condition he immediately observes. So the sensation dies +off for the time; and the unmoved policeman (to whom a little opium, +more or less, is nothing), with his shining hat, stiff stock, +inflexible great-coat, stout belt and bracelet, and all things +fitting, pursues his lounging way with a heavy tread: beating the +palms of his white gloves one against the other, and stopping now and +then at a street-corner, to look casually about for any thing between +a lost child and a murder. + +Under cover of the night, the feeble-minded beadle comes flitting +about Chancery Lane with his summonses, in which every Juror's name is +wrongly spelt, and nothing is rightly spelt, but the beadle's own name +which nobody can read or wants to know. His summonses served, and his +witnesses forewarned, the beadle goes to Mr. Krook's, to keep a small +appointment he has made with certain paupers; who, presently +arriving, are conducted up-stairs; where they leave the great eyes in +the shutter something new to stare at, in that last shape which +earthly lodgings take for No one--and for Every one. + +And, all that night, the coffin stands ready by the old portmanteau; +and the lonely figure on the bed, whose path in life has lain through +five-and-forty years, lies there, with no more track behind him, that +any one can trace, than a deserted infant. + +Next day the court is all alive--is like a fair, as Mrs. Perkins, more +than reconciled to Mrs Piper, says, in amicable conversation with that +excellent woman. The coroner is to sit in the first-floor room at the +Sol's Arms, where the Harmonic Meetings take place twice a week, and +where the chair is filled by a gentleman of professional celebrity, +faced by little Swills, the comic vocalist, who hopes (according to +the bill in the window) that his friends will rally round him and +support first-rate talent. The Sol's Arms does a brisk stroke of +business all the morning. Even children so require sustaining, under +the general excitement, that a pieman, who has established himself for +the occasion at the corner of the court, says his brandy-balls go off +like smoke. What time the beadle, hovering between the door of Mr. +Krook's establishment and the door of the Sol's Arms, shows the +curiosity in his keeping to a few discreet spirits, and accepts the +compliment of a glass of ale or so in return. + +At the appointed hour arrives the Coroner, for whom the Jurymen are +waiting, and who is received with a salute of skittles from the good +dry skittle-ground attached to the Sol's Arms. The Coroner frequents +more public-houses than any man alive. The smell of sawdust, beer, +tobacco-smoke, and spirits, is inseparable in his vocation from death +in its most awful shapes. He is conducted by the beadle and the +landlord to the Harmonic Meeting Room, where he puts his hat on the +piano, and takes a Windsor-chair at the head of a long table, formed +of several short tables put together, and ornamented with glutinous +rings in endless involutions, made by pots and glasses. As many of the +Jury as can crowd together at the table sit there. The rest get among +the spittoons and pipes, or lean against the piano. Over the Coroner's +head is a small iron garland, the pendant handle of a bell, which +rather gives the Majesty of the Court the appearance of going to be +hanged presently. + +Call over and swear the Jury! While the ceremony is in progress, +sensation is created by the entrance of a chubby little man in a +large shirt-collar, with a moist eye, and an inflamed nose, who +modestly takes a position near the door as one of the general public, +but seems familiar with the room too. A whisper circulates that this +is little Swills. It is considered not unlikely that he will get up an +imitation of the Coroner, and make it the principal feature of the +Harmonic Meeting in the evening. + +"Well, gentlemen--" the Coroner begins. + +"Silence there, will you!" says the beadle. Not to the Coroner, though +it might appear so. + +"Well, gentlemen!" resumes the Coroner. "You are impaneled here, to +inquire into the death of a certain man. Evidence will be given before +you, as to the circumstances attending that death, and you will give +your verdict according to the--skittles; they must be stopped, you +know, beadle!--evidence, and not according to any thing else. The +first thing to be done, is to view the body." + +"Make way there!" cries the beadle. + +So they go out in a loose procession, something after the manner of a +straggling funeral, and make their inspection in Mr. Krook's back +second floor, from which a few of the Jurymen retire pale and +precipitately. The beadle is very careful that two gentlemen not very +neat about the cuffs and buttons (for whose accommodation he has +provided a special little table near the Coroner, in the Harmonic +Meeting Room), should see all that is to be seen. For they are the +public chroniclers of such inquiries, by the line; and he is not +superior to the universal human infirmity, but hopes to read in print +what "Mooney, the active and intelligent beadle of the district," said +and did; and even aspires to see the name of Mooney is familiarly and +patronizingly mentioned as the name of the Hangman is, according to +the latest examples. + +Little Swills is waiting for the Coroner and Jury on their return. Mr. +Tulkinghorn, also. Mr. Tulkinghorn is received with distinction, and +seated near the Coroner; between that high judicial officer, a +bagatelle board, and the coal-box. The inquiry proceeds. The Jury +learn how the subject of their inquiry died, and learn no more about +him. "A very eminent solicitor is in attendance, gentlemen," says the +Coroner, "who, I am informed, was accidentally present, when discovery +of the death was made; but he could only repeat the evidence you have +already heard from the surgeon, the landlord, the lodger, and the +law-stationer; and it is not necessary to trouble him. Is any body in +attendance who knows any thing more?" + +Mrs. Piper pushed forward by Mrs. Perkins. Mrs. Piper sworn. + +Anastasia Piper, gentlemen. Married woman. Now, Mrs. Piper--what have +you got to say about this? + +Why, Mrs. Piper has a good deal to say, chiefly in parenthesis and +without punctuation, but not much to tell. Mrs. Piper lives in the +court (which her husband is a cabinet-maker) and it has long been well +beknown among the neighbors (counting from the day next but one before +the half-baptizing of Alexander James Piper aged eighteen months and +four days old on accounts of not being expected to live such was the +sufferings gentlemen of that child in his gums) as the Plaintive--so +Mrs. Piper insists on calling the deceased--was reported to have sold +himself. Thinks it was the Plaintive's air in which that report +originatinin. See the Plaintive often, and considered as his air was +feariocious, and not to be allowed to go about some children being +timid (and if doubted hoping Mrs. Perkins may be brought forard for +she is here and will do credit to her husband and herself and family). +Has seen the Plaintive wexed and worrited by the children (for +children they will ever be and you can not expect them specially if of +playful dispositions to be Methoozellers which you was not yourself). +On accounts of this and his dark looks has often dreamed as she see +him take a pick-ax from his pocket and split Johnny's head (which the +child knows not fear and has repeatually called after him close at his +heels). Never however see the plaintive take a pick-ax or any other +wepping far from it. Has seen him hurry away when run and called after +as if not partial to children and never see him speak to neither child +nor grown person at any time (excepting the boy that sweeps the +crossing down the lane over the way round the corner which if he was +here would tell you that he has been seen a speaking to him frequent). + +Says the Coroner, is that boy here? Says the beadle, no, sir, he is +not here. Says the Coroner, go and fetch him, then. In the absence of +the active and intelligent, the Coroner converses with Mr. +Tulkinghorn. + +O! Here's the boy, gentlemen! + +Here he is, very muddy, very hoarse, very ragged. Now, boy!--But stop +a minute. Caution. This boy must be put through a few preliminary +paces. + +Name, Jo. Nothing else that he knows on. Don't know that every body +has two names. Never heerd of sich a thing. Don't know that Jo is +short for a longer name. Thinks it long enough for _him_. _He_ don't +find no fault with it. Spell it? No. _He_ can't spell it. No father, +no mother, no friends. Never been to school. What's home? Knows a +broom's a broom, and knows it's wicked to tell a lie. Don't recollect +who told him about the broom, or about the lie, but knows both. Can't +exactly say what'll be done to him arter he's dead if he tells a lie +to the gentlemen here, but believes it'll be something wery bad to +punish him, and serve him right--and so he'll tell the truth. + +"This won't do, gentlemen!" says the Coroner, with a melancholy shake +of the head. + +"Don't you think you can receive his evidence, sir?" asks an attentive +Juryman. + +"Out of the question," says the Coroner. "You have heard the boy. +'Can't exactly say' won't do, you know. We can't take _that_, in a +Court of Justice, gentlemen. It's terrible depravity. Put the boy +aside." + +Boy put aside; to the great edification of the audience;--especially +of Little Swills, the Comic Vocalist. + +Now. Is there any other witness? No other witness. + +Very well, gentlemen! Here's a man unknown, proved to have been in the +habit of taking opium in large quantities for a year and a half, +found dead of too much opium. If you think you have any evidence to +lead you to the conclusion that he committed suicide, you will come to +that conclusion. If you think it is a case of accidental death, you +will find a Verdict accordingly. + +Verdict Accordingly. Accidental death. No doubt. Gentlemen, you are +discharged. Good afternoon. + +While the Coroner buttons his great coat, Mr. Tulkinghorn and he give +private audience to the rejected witness in a corner. + +That graceless creature only knows that the dead man (whom he +recognized just now by his yellow face and black hair) was sometimes +hooted and pursued about the streets. That one cold winter night, when +he, the boy, was shivering in a doorway near his crossing, the man +turned to look at him, and came back, and, having questioned him and +found that he had not a friend in the world, said, "Neither have I. +Not one!" and gave him the price of a supper and a night's lodging. +That the man had often spoken to him since; and asked him whether he +slept sound at night, and how he bore cold and hunger, and whether he +ever wished to die; and similar strange questions. That when the man +had no money, he would say in passing, "I am as poor as you to-day, +Jo;" but that when he had any he had always (as the boy most heartily +believes) been glad to give him some. + +"He wos wery good to me," says the boy, wiping his eyes with his +wretched sleeve. "Wen I see him a layin' so stritched out just now, I +wished he could have heerd me tell him so. He wos wery good to me, he +wos!" + +As he shuffles down stairs, Mr. Snagsby, lying in wait for him, puts a +half-crown in his hand. "If ever you see me coming past your crossing +with my little woman--I mean a lady--" says Mr. Snagsby, with his +finger on his nose, "don't allude to it!" + +For some little time the Jurymen hang about the Sol's Arms +colloquially. In the sequel, half a dozen are caught up in a cloud of +pipe-smoke that pervades the parlor of the Sol's Arms; two stroll to +Hampstead: and four engage to go half-price to the play at night, and +top up with oysters. Little Swills is treated on several hands. Being +asked what he thinks of the proceedings, characterizes them (his +strength lying in a slangular direction) as "a rummy start." The +landlord of the Sol's Arms, rinding Little Swills so popular, commends +him highly to the Jurymen and public; observing that, for a song in +character, he don't know his equal, and that that man's +character-wardrobe would fill a cart. + +Thus, gradually the Sol's Arms melts into the shadowy night, and then +flares out of it strong in gas. The Harmonic Meeting hour arriving, +the gentleman of professional celebrity takes the chair; is faced +(red-faced) by Little Swills; their friends rally round them, and +support first-rate talent. In the zenith of the evening, Little Swills +says, Gentlemen, if you'll permit me, I'll attempt a short +description of a scene of real life that came off here to-day. Is much +applauded and encouraged; goes out of the room as Swills; comes in as +the Coroner (not the least in the world like him); describes the +Inquest, with recreative intervals of piano-forte accompaniment to the +refrain--With his (the Coroner's) tippy tol li doll, tippy tol lo +doll, tippy tol li doll, Dee! + +The jingling piano at last is silent, and the Harmonic friends rally +round their pillows. Then there is rest around the lonely figure, now +laid in its last earthly habitation; and it is watched by the gaunt +eyes in the shutters through some quiet hours of night. If this +forlorn man could have been prophetically seen lying here, by the +mother at whose breast he nestled, a little child, with eyes upraised +to her loving face, and soft hand scarcely knowing how to close upon +the neck to which it crept, what an impossibility the vision would +have seemed! O, if, in brighter days, the now-extinguished fire within +him ever burned for one woman who held him in her heart, where is she, +while these ashes are above the ground! + +It is any thing but a night of rest at Mr. Snagsby's, in Cook's Court; +where Guster murders sleep, by going, as Mr. Snagsby himself +allows--not to put too fine a point upon it--out of one fit into +twenty. The occasion of this seizure is, that Guster has a tender +heart, and a susceptible something that possibly might have been +imagination, but for Tooting and her patron saint. Be it what it may, +now, it was so direfully impressed at tea-time by Mr. Snagsby's +account of the inquiry at which he had assisted, that at supper-time +she projected herself into the kitchen preceded by a flying +Dutch-cheese, and fell into a fit of unusual duration: which she only +came out of to go into another, and another, and so on through a chain +of fits, with short intervals between, of which she has pathetically +availed herself by consuming them in entreaties to Mrs. Snagsby not to +give her warning "when she quite comes to;" and also in appeals to the +whole establishment to lay her down on the stones, and go to bed. +Hence, Mr. Snagsby, at last hearing the cock at the little dairy in +Cursitor-street go into that disinterested ecstasy of his on the +subject of daylight, says, drawing a long breath, though the most +patient of men, "I thought you was dead, I am sure!" + +What question this enthusiastic fowl supposes he settles when he +strains himself to such an extent, or why he should thus crow (so men +crow on various triumphant public occasions, however) about what can +not be of any moment to him, is his affair. It is enough that daylight +comes, morning comes, noon comes. + +Then the active and intelligent, who has got into the morning papers +as such, comes with his pauper company to Mr. Krook's and bears off +the body of our dear brother here departed, to a hemmed-in +church-yard, pestiferous and obscene, whence malignant diseases are +communicated to the bodies of our dear brothers and sisters who have +not departed; while our dear brothers and sisters who hang about +official backstairs--would to Heaven they _had_ departed!--are very +complacent and agreeable. Into a beastly scrap of ground which a Turk +would reject as a savage abomination, and a Caffre would shudder at, +they bring our dear brother here departed, to receive Christian +burial. + +With houses looking on, on every side, save where a reeking little +tunnel of a court gives access to the iron gate--with every villainy +of life in action close on death, and every poisonous element of death +in action close on life--here, they lower our dear brother down a foot +or two: here, sow him in corruption, to be raised in corruption; an +avenging ghost at many a sick-bedside; a shameful testimony to future +ages, how civilization and barbarism walked this boastful island +together. + +Come night, come darkness, for you can not come too soon, or stay too +long, by such a place as this! Come, straggling lights into the +windows of the ugly houses; and you who do iniquity therein, do it at +least with this dread scene shut out! Come, flame of gas, burning so +sullenly above the iron gate, on which the poisoned air deposits its +witch-ointment slimy to the touch! It is well that you should call to +every passer-by, "Look here!" + +With the night, comes a slouching figure through the tunnel-court, to +the outside of the iron gate. It holds the gate with its hands, and +looks in between the bars; stands looking in, for a little while. + +It then, with an old broom it carries, softly sweeps the step, and +makes the archway clean. It does so, very busily and trimly; looks in +again, a little while; and so departs. + +Jo, is it thou? Well, well! Though a rejected witness, who "can't +exactly say" what will be done to him in greater hands than men's, +thou art not quite in outer darkness. There is something like a +distant ray of light in thy muttered reason for this: + +"He wos wery good to me, he wos!" + + +CHAPTER XII.--ON THE WATCH. + +It has left off raining down in Lincolnshire, at last, and Chesney +Wold has taken heart. Mrs. Rouncewell is full of hospitable cares, for +Sir Leicester and my Lady are coming home from Paris. The fashionable +intelligence has found it out, and communicates the glad tidings to +benighted England. It has also found out, that they will entertain a +brilliant and distinguished circle of the _élite_ of the _beau monde_ +(the fashionable intelligence is weak in English, but a +giant-refreshed in French), at the ancient and hospitable family seat +in Lincolnshire. + +For the greater honor of the brilliant and distinguished circle, and +of Chesney Wold into the bargain, the broken arch of the bridge in the +park is mended; and the water, now retired within its proper limits +and again spanned gracefully, makes a figure in the prospect from the +house. The clear cold sunshine glances into the brittle woods, and +approvingly beholds the sharp wind scattering the leaves and drying +the moss. It glides over the park after the moving shadows of the +clouds, and chases them, and never catches them, all day. It looks in +at the windows, and touches the ancestral portraits with bars and +patches of brightness, never contemplated by the painters. Athwart the +picture of my Lady, over the great chimney-piece, it throws a broad +bend-sinister of light that strikes down crookedly into the hearth, +and seems to rend it. + +Through the same cold sunshine and the same sharp wind, my Lady and +Sir Leicester, in their traveling chariot (my Lady's woman, and Sir +Leicester's man affectionate in the rumble), start for home. With a +considerable amount of jingling and whip-cracking, and many plunging +demonstrations on the part of two bare-backed horses, and two Centaurs +with glazed hats, jack-boots, and flowing manes and tails, they rattle +out of the yard of the Hôtel Bristol in the Place Vendôme, and canter +between the sun-and-shadow-checkered colonnade of the Rue de Rivoli +and the garden of the ill-fated palace of a headless king and queen, +off by the Place of Concord, and the Elysian Fields, and the Gate of +the Star, out of Paris. + +Sooth to say, they can not go away too fast, for, even here, my Lady +Dedlock has been bored to death. Concert, assembly, opera, theatre, +drive, nothing is new to my Lady, under the worn-out heavens. Only +last Sunday, when poor wretches were gay--within the walls, playing +with children among the clipped trees and the statues in the Palace +Garden; walking, a score abreast, in in the Elysian Fields, made more +Elysian by performing dogs and wooden horses; between whiles filtering +(a few) through the gloomy Cathedral of Our Lady, to say a word or two +at the base of a pillar, within flare of a rusty little gridiron-full +of gusty little tapers--without the walls encompassing Paris with +dancing, love-making, wine-drinking, tobacco-smoking, tomb-visiting, +billiard card and domino playing, quack-doctoring, and much murderous +refuse, animate and inanimate--only last Sunday, my Lady in the +desolation of Boredom and the clutch of Giant Despair, almost hated +her own maid for being in spirits. + +She can not, therefore, go too fast from Paris. Weariness of soul lies +before her, as it lies behind--her Ariel has put a girdle of it round +the whole earth, and it can not be unclasped--but the imperfect remedy +is always to fly, from the last place where it has been experienced. +Fling Paris back into the distance, then, exchanging it for endless +avenues and cross-avenues of wintry trees! And, when next beheld, let +it be some leagues away, with the Gate of the Star a white speck +glittering in the sun, and the city a mere mound in a plain: two dark +square towers rising out of it, and light and shadow descending on it +aslant, like the angels in Jacob's dream! + +Sir Leicester is generally in a complacent state, and rarely bored. +When he has nothing else to do, he can always contemplate his own +greatness. It is a considerable advantage to a man to have so +inexhaustible a subject. After reading his letters, he leans back in +his corner of the carriage, and generally reviews his importance to +society. + +"You have an unusual amount of correspondence this morning?" says my +Lady, after a long time. She is fatigued with reading. Has almost read +a page in twenty miles. + +"Nothing in it, though. Nothing whatever." + +"I saw one of Mr. Tulkinghorn's long effusions, I think?" + +"You see every thing," says Sir Leicester, with admiration. + +"Ha!" sighs my Lady. "He is the most tiresome of men!" + +"He sends--I really beg your pardon--he sends," says Sir Leicester, +selecting the letter, and unfolding it, "a message to you. Our +stopping to change horses, as I came to his postscript, drove it out +of my memory. I beg you'll excuse me. He says--" Sir Leicester is so +long in taking out his eye-glass and adjusting it, that my Lady looks +a little irritated. "He says 'In the matter of the right of way--' I +beg your pardon, that's not the place. He says--yes! Here I have it! +He says, 'I beg my respectful compliments to my Lady, who, I hope, has +benefited by the change. Will you do me the favor to mention (as it +may interest her), that I have something to tell her on her return, in +reference to the person who copied the affidavit in the Chancery suit, +which so powerfully stimulated her curiosity. I have seen him.'" + +My Lady, leaning forward, looks out of her window. + +"That's the message," observes Sir Leicester. + +"I should like to walk a little," says my Lady, still looking out of +her window. + +"Walk?" repeats Sir Leicester, in a tone of surprise. + +"I should like to walk a little," says my Lady, with unmistakable +distinctness. "Please to stop the carriage." + +The carriage is stopped, the affectionate man alights from the rumble, +opens the door, and lets down the steps, obedient to an impatient +motion of my Lady's hand. My Lady alights so quickly, and walks away +so quickly, that Sir Leicester, for all his scrupulous politeness, is +unable to assist her, and is left behind. A space of a minute or two +has elapsed before he comes up with her. She smiles, looks very +handsome, takes his arm, lounges with him for a quarter of a mile, is +very much bored, and resumes her seat in the carriage. + +The rattle and clatter continue through the greater part of three +days, with more or less of bell-jingling and whip-cracking, and more +or less plunging of Centaurs and bare-backed horses. Their courtly +politeness to each other, at the Hotels where they tarry, is the theme +of general admiration. Though my Lord is a little aged for my Lady, +says Madame, the hostess of the Golden Ape, and though he might be her +amiable father, one can see at a glance that they love each other. +One observes my Lord with his white hair, standing, hat in hand, to +help my Lady to and from the carriage. One observes my Lady, how +recognizant of my Lord's politeness, with an inclination of her +gracious head, and the concession of her so-genteel fingers! It is +ravishing! + +The sea has no appreciation of great men, but knocks them about like +the small fry. It is habitually hard upon Sir Leicester, whose +countenance it greenly mottles in the manner of sage-cheese, and in +whose aristocratic system it effects a dismal revolution. It is the +Radical of Nature to him. Nevertheless, his dignity gets over it, +after stopping to refit; and he goes on with my Lady for Chesney Wold, +lying only one night in London on the way to Lincolnshire. + +Through the same cold sunlight--colder as the day declines--and +through the same sharp wind--sharper as the separate shadows of bare +trees gloom together in the woods, and as the Ghost's Walk, touched at +the western corner by a pile of fire in the sky, resigns itself to +coming night--they drive into the park. The Rooks, swinging in their +lofty houses in the elm-tree avenue, seem to discuss the question of +the occupancy of the carriage as it passes underneath; some agreeing +that Sir Leicester and my Lady are come down; some arguing with +malcontents who won't admit it; now, all consenting to consider the +question disposed of; now, all breaking out again in violent debate, +incited by one obstinate and drowsy bird, who will persist in putting +in a last contradictory croak. Leaving them to swing and caw, the +traveling chariot rolls on to the house; where fires gleam warmly +through some of the windows, though not through so many as to give an +inhabited expression to the darkening mass of front. But the brilliant +and distinguished circle will soon do that. + +Mrs. Rouncewell is in attendance, and receives Sir Leicester's +customary shake of the hand with a profound courtesy. + +"How do you do, Mrs. Rouncewell? I am glad to see you." + +"I hope I have the honor of welcoming you in good health, Sir +Leicester?" + +"In excellent health, Mrs. Rouncewell." + +"My Lady is looking charmingly well," says Mrs. Rouncewell, with +another courtesy. + +My Lady signifies, without profuse expenditure of words, that she is +as wearily well as she can hope to be. + +But Rosa is in the distance, behind the housekeeper; and my Lady, who +has not subdued the quickness of her observation, whatever else she +may have conquered, asks: + +"Who is that girl?" + +"A young scholar of mine, my Lady. Rosa." + +"Come here, Rosa!" Lady Dedlock beckons her, with even an appearance +of interest. "Why, do you know how pretty you are, child?" she says, +touching her shoulder with her two forefingers. + +Rosa, very much abashed, says "No, if you please, my Lady!" and +glances up, and glances down, and don't know where to look, but looks +all the prettier. + +"How old are you?" + +"Nineteen, my Lady." + +"Nineteen," repeats my Lady, thoughtfully. "Take care they don't spoil +you by flattery." + +"Yes, my Lady." + +My Lady taps her dimpled cheek with the same delicate gloved fingers, +and goes on to the foot of the oak staircase, where Sir Leicester +pauses for her as her knightly escort. A staring old Dedlock in a +panel, as large as life and as dull, looks as if he didn't know what +to make of it--which was probably his general state of mind in the +days of Queen Elizabeth. + +That evening, in the housekeeper's room, Rosa can do nothing but +murmur Lady Dedlock's praises. She is so affable, so graceful, so +beautiful, so elegant; has such a sweet voice, and such a thrilling +touch, that Rosa can feel it yet! Mrs. Rouncewell confirms all this, +not without personal pride, reserving only the one point of +affability. Mrs. Rouncewell is not quite sure as to that. Heaven +forbid that she should say a syllable in dispraise of any member of +that excellent family; above all, of my Lady, whom the whole world +admires; but if my Lady would only be "a little more free," not quite +so cold and distant, Mrs. Rouncewell thinks she would be more affable. + +"'Tis almost a pity," Mrs. Rouncewell adds--only "almost," because it +borders on impiety to suppose that any thing could be better than it +is, in such an express dispensation as the Dedlock affairs; "that my +Lady has no family. If she had had a daughter now, a grown young lady, +to interest her, I think she would have had the only kind of +excellence she wants." + +"Might not that have made her still more proud, grandmother?" says +Watt; who has been home and come back again, he is such a good +grandson. + +"More and most, my dear," returns the housekeeper with dignity, "are +words it's not my place to use--nor so much as to hear--applied to any +drawback on my Lady." + +"I beg your pardon, grandmother. But she is proud, is she not?" + +"If she is, she has reason to be. The Dedlock family have always +reason to be." + +"Well," says Watt, "it's to be hoped they line out of their +Prayer-Books a certain passage for the common people about pride and +vain-glory. Forgive me, grandmother! Only a joke!" + +"Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock, my dear, are not fit subjects for +joking." + +"Sir Leicester is no joke, by any means," says Watt; "and I humbly ask +his pardon. I suppose, grandmother, that, even with the family and +their guests down here, there is no objection to my prolonging my stay +at the Dedlock Arms for a day or two, as any other traveler might?" + +"Surely, none in the world, child." + +"I am glad of that," says Watt, "because I--because I have an +inexpressible desire to extend my knowledge of this beautiful +neighborhood." + +He happens to glance at Rosa, who looks down, and is very shy, indeed. +But, according to the old superstition, it should be Rosa's ears that +burn, and not her fresh bright cheeks; for my Lady's maid is holding +forth about her at this moment, with surpassing energy. + +My Lady's maid is a Frenchwoman of two-and-thirty, from somewhere in +the Southern country about Avignon and Marseilles--a large-eyed, brown +woman with black hair; who would be handsome, but for a certain feline +mouth, and general uncomfortable tightness of face, rendering the jaws +too eager, and the skull too prominent. There is something indefinably +keen and wan about her anatomy; and she has a watchful way of looking +out of the corners of her eyes without turning her head, which could +be pleasantly dispensed with--especially when she is in an ill-humor +and near knives. Through all the good taste of her dress and little +adornments, these objections so express themselves, that she seems to +go about like a very neat She-Wolf imperfectly tamed. Besides being +accomplished in all the knowledge appertaining to her post, +she is almost an Englishwoman in her acquaintance with the +language--consequently, she is in no want of words to shower upon Rosa +for having attracted my Lady's attention; and she pours them out with +such grim ridicule as she sits at dinner, that her companion, the +affectionate man, is rather relieved when she arrives at the spoon +stage of that performance. + +Ha, ha, ha! She, Hortense, been in my Lady's service since five years, +and always kept at the distance, and this doll, this puppet, +caressed--absolutely caressed--by my Lady on the moment of her +arriving at the house! Ha! ha! ha! "And do you know how pretty you +are, child?"--"No, my Lady."--You are right there! "And how old are +you, child? And take care they do not spoil you by flattery, child!" O +how droll! It is the _best_ thing altogether. + +In short, it is such an admirable thing, that Mademoiselle Hortense +can't forget it; but at meals for days afterward, even among her +countrywomen and others attached in like capacity to the troop of +visitors, relapses into silent enjoyment of the joke--an enjoyment +expressed in her own convivial manner, by an additional tightness of +face, thin elongation of compressed lips, and sidewise look: which +intense appreciation of humor is frequently reflected in my Lady's +mirrors, when my Lady is not among them. + +All the mirrors in the house are brought into action now: many of them +after a long blank. They reflect handsome faces, simpering faces, +youthful faces, faces of threescore-and-ten that will not submit to be +old; the entire collection of faces that have come to pass a January +week or two at Chesney Wold, and which the fashionable intelligence, a +mighty hunter before the Lord, hunts with a keen scent, from their +breaking cover at the Court of St. James's to their being run down to +Death. The place in Lincolnshire is all alive. By day guns and voices +are heard ringing in the woods, horsemen and carriages enliven the +park-roads, servants and hangers-on pervade the Village and the +Dedlock Arms. Seen by night, from distant openings in the trees, the +row of windows in the long drawing-room, where my Lady's picture hangs +over the great chimney-piece, is like a row of jewels set in a black +frame. On Sunday, the chill little church is almost warmed by so much +gallant company, and the general flavor of the Dedlock dust is +quenched in delicate perfumes. + +The brilliant and distinguished circle comprehends within it, no +contracted amount of education, sense, courage, honor, beauty, and +virtue. Yet there is something a little wrong about it, in despite of +its immense advantages. What can it be? + +Dandyism? There is no King George the Fourth now (more's the pity!) to +set the dandy fashion; there are no clear-starched jack-towel +neckcloths, no short-waisted coats, no false calves, no stays. There +are no caricatures, now, of effeminite Exquisites so arrayed, swooning +in opera boxes with excess of delight, and being revived by other +dainty creatures, poking long-necked scent-bottles at their noses. +There is no beau whom it takes four men at once to shake into his +buckskins, or who goes to see all the Executions, or who is troubled +with the self-reproach of having once consumed a pea. But is there +Dandyism in the brilliant and distinguished circle notwithstanding, +Dandyism of a more mischievous sort, that has got below the surface +and is doing less harmless things than jack-toweling itself and +stopping its own digestion, to which no rational person need +particularly object! + +Why, yes. It can not be disguised. There _are_ at Chesney Wold this +January week, some ladies and gentlemen of the newest fashion, who +have set up a Dandyism--in Religion, for instance. Who, in mere +lackadaisical want of an emotion, have agreed upon a little dandy talk +about the Vulgar wanting faith in things in general; meaning, in the +things that have been tried and found wanting, as though a low fellow +should unaccountably lose faith in a bad shilling, after finding it +out! Who would make the Vulgar very picturesque and faithful, by +putting back the hands upon the Clock of Time, and canceling a few +hundred years of history. + +There are also ladies and gentlemen of another fashion, not so new, +but very elegant, who have agreed to put a smooth glaze on the world, +and to keep down all its relations. For whom every thing must be +languid and pretty. Who have found out the perpetual stoppage. Who are +to rejoice at nothing, and be sorry for nothing. Who are not to be +disturbed by ideas. On whom even the Fine Arts, attending in powder +and walking backward like the Lord Chamberlain, must array themselves +in the milliners' and tailors' patterns of past generations, and be +particularly careful not to be in earnest, or to receive any impress +from the moving age. + +Then there is my Lord Boodle, of considerable reputation with his +party, who has known what office is, and who tells Sir Leicester +Dedlock with much gravity, after dinner, that he really does not see +to what the present age is tending. A debate is not what a debate used +to be; the House is not what the House used to be; even a Cabinet is +not what it formerly was. He perceives with astonishment, that +supposing the present Government to be overthrown, the limited choice +of the Crown, in the formation of a new Ministry, would lie between +Lord Coddle and Sir Thomas Doodle--supposing it to be impossible for +the Duke of Foodle to act with Goodle, which may be assumed to be the +case in consequence of the breach arising out of that affair with +Hoodle. Then, giving the Home Department and the Leadership of the +House of Commons to Joodle, the Exchequer to Koodle, the Colonies to +Loodle, and the Foreign Office to Moodle, what are you to do with +Noodle? You can't offer him the Presidency of the Council; that is +reserved for Poodle. You can't put him in the Woods and Forests; that +is hardly good enough for Quoodle. What follows? That the country is +shipwrecked, lost, and gone to pieces (as is made manifest to the +patriotism of Sir Leicester Dedlock), because you can't provide for +Noodle! + +On the other hand, the Right Honorable William Buffy, M.P., contends +across the table with some one else, that the shipwreck of the +country--about which there is no doubt; it is only the manner of it +that is in question--is attributable to Cuffy. If you had done with +Cuffy what you ought to have done when he first came into Parliament, +and had prevented him from going over to Duffy, you would have got him +into an alliance with Fuffy, you would have had with you the weight +attaching as a smart debater to Guffy, you would have brought to bear +upon the elections the wealth of Huffy, you would have got in for +three counties Juffy, Kuffy, and Luffy; and you would have +strengthened your administration by the official knowledge and the +business habits of Muffy. All this, instead of being, as you now are, +dependent on the mere caprice of Puffy! + +As to this point, and as to some minor topics, there are differences +of opinion; but it is perfectly clear to the brilliant and +distinguished circle, all round, that nobody is in question but Boodle +and his retinue, and Buffy and _his_ retinue. These are the great +actors for whom the stage is reserved. A People there are, no doubt--a +certain large number of supernumeraries, who are to be occasionally +addressed, and relied upon for shouts and choruses, as on the +theatrical stage; but Boodle and Buffy, their followers and families, +their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, are the born +first-actors, managers, and leaders, and no others can appear upon the +scene for ever and ever. + +In this, too, there is perhaps more dandyism at Chesney Wold than the +brilliant and distinguished circle will find good for itself in the +long run. For it is, even with the stillest and politest circles, as +with the circle the necromancer draws around him--very strange +appearances may be seen in active motion outside. With this +difference; that, being realities and not phantoms, there is the +greater danger of their breaking in. + +Chesney Wold is quite full, any how; so full, that a burning sense of +injury arises in the breasts of ill-lodged ladies' maids, and is not +to be extinguished. Only one room is empty. It is a turret chamber of +the third order of merit, plainly but comfortably furnished, and +having an old-fashioned business air. It is Mr. Tulkinghorn's room, +and is never bestowed on any body else, for he may come at any time. +He is not come yet. It is his quiet habit to walk across the park from +the village, in fine weather; to drop into this room, as if he had +never been out of it since he was last seen there; to request a +servant to inform Sir Leicester that he is arrived, in case he should +be wanted; and to appear ten minutes before dinner, in the shadow of +the library door. He sleeps in his turret, with a complaining +flag-staff over his head; and has some leads outside, on which, any +fine morning when he is down here, his black figure may be seen +walking before breakfast like a larger species of rook. + +Every day before dinner, my Lady looks for him in the dusk of the +library, but he is not there. Every day at dinner, my Lady glances +down the table for the vacant place, that would be waiting to receive +him if he had just arrived; but there is no vacant place. Every night, +my Lady casually asks her maid: + +"Is Mr. Tulkinghorn come?" + +Every night the answer is: "No my Lady, not yet." + +One night, while having her hair undressed, my Lady loses herself in +deep thought after this reply, until she sees her own brooding face in +the opposite glass, and a pair of black eyes curiously observing her. + +"Be so good as to attend," says my Lady then, addressing the +reflection of Hortense, "to your business. You can contemplate your +beauty at another time." + +"Pardon! It was your Ladyship's beauty." + +"That," says my Lady, "you needn't contemplate at all." + +At length, one afternoon a little before sunset, when the bright +groups of figures, which have for the last hour or two enlivened the +Ghost's Walk, are all dispersed, and only Sir Leicester and my Lady +remain upon the terrace, Mr. Tulkinghorn appears. He comes toward them +at his usual methodical pace, which is never quickened, never +slackened. He wears his usual expressionless mask--if it be a +mask--and carries family secrets in every limb of his body, and every +crease of his dress. Whether his whole soul is devoted to the great, +or whether he yields them nothing beyond the services he sells, is +his personal secret. He keeps it, as he keeps the secrets of his +clients; he is his own client in that matter, and will never betray +himself. + +"How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?" says Sir Leicester, giving him his +hand. + +Mr. Tulkinghorn is quite well. Sir Leicester is quite well. My Lady is +quite well. All highly satisfactory. The lawyer, with his hands behind +him, walks, at Sir Leicester's side, along the terrace. My Lady walks +upon the other side. + +"We expected you before," says Sir Leicester. A gracious observation. +As much as to say, "Mr. Tulkinghorn, we remember your existence when +you are not here to remind us of it by your presence. We bestow a +fragment of our minds upon you, sir, you see!" + +Mr. Tulkinghorn, comprehending it, inclines his head, and says he is +much obliged. + +"I should have come down sooner," he explains, "but that I have been +much engaged with those matters in the several suits between yourself +and Boythorn." + +"A man of a very ill-regulated mind," observes Sir Leicester, with +severity. "An extremely dangerous person in any community. A man of a +very low character of mind." + +"He is obstinate," says Mr. Tulkinghorn. + +"It is natural to such a man to be so," says Sir Leicester, looking +most profoundly obstinate himself. "I am not at all surprised to hear +it." + +"The only question is," pursues the lawyer, "whether you will give up +anything." + +"No, sir," replies Sir Leicester. "Nothing. _I_ give up?" + +"I don't mean any thing of importance; that, of course, I know you +would not abandon. I mean any minor point." + +"Mr. Tulkinghorn," returns Sir Leicester, "there can be no minor point +between myself and Mr. Boythorn. If I go farther, and observe that I +can not readily conceive how _any_ right of mine can be a minor point, +I speak not so much in reference to myself as an individual, as in +reference to the family position I have it in charge to maintain." + +Mr. Tulkinghorn inclines his head again. "I have now my instructions," +he says. "Mr. Boythorn will give us a good deal of trouble--" + +"It is the character of such a mind, Mr. Tulkinghorn," Sir Leicester +interrupts him, "_to_ give trouble. An exceedingly ill-conditioned, +leveling person. A person who, fifty years ago, would probably have +been tried at the Old Bailey for some demagogue proceeding, and +severely punished--if not," adds Sir Leicester, after a moment's +pause, "if not hanged, drawn, and quartered." + +Sir Leicester appears to discharge his stately breast of a burden, in +passing this capital sentence; as if it were the next satisfactory +thing to having the sentence executed. + +"But night is coming on," says he, "and my Lady will take cold. My +dear, let us go in." + +As they turned toward the hall-door, Lady Dedlock addresses Mr. +Tulkinghorn for the first time. + +"You sent me a message respecting the person whose writing I happened +to inquire about. It was like you to remember the circumstance; I had +quite forgotten it. Your message reminded me of it again. I can't +imagine what association I had with a hand like that; but I surely had +some." + +"You had some?" Mr. Tulkinghorn repeats. + +"Oh, yes!" returns my Lady, carelessly. "I think I must have had some. +And did you really take the trouble to find out the writer of that +actual thing--what is it!--Affidavit?" + +"Yes." + +"How very odd!" + +They pass into a sombre breakfast-room on the ground-floor, lighted in +the day by two deep windows. It is now twilight. The fire glows +brightly on the paneled wall, and palely on the window-glass, where, +through the cold reflection of the blaze, the colder landscape +shudders in the wind, and a gray mist creeps along: the only traveler +besides the waste of clouds. + +My Lady lounges in a great chair in the chimney-corner, and Sir +Leicester takes another great chair opposite. The lawyer stands before +the fire, with his hand out at arm's length, shading his face. He +looks across his arm at my Lady. + +"Yes," he says, "I inquired about the man, and found him. And, what is +very strange, I found him--" + +"Not to be any out-of-the-way person, I am afraid!" Lady Dedlock +languidly anticipates. + +"I found him dead." + +"Oh, dear me!" remonstrated Sir Leicester. Not so much shocked by the +fact, as by the fact of the fact being mentioned. + +"I was directed to his lodging--a miserable, poverty-stricken +place--and I found him dead." + +"You will excuse me, Mr. Tulkinghorn," observes Sir Leicester. "I +think the less said--" + +"Pray, Sir Leicester, let me hear the story out;" (it is my Lady +speaking.) "It is quite a story for twilight. How very shocking! +Dead?" + +Mr. Tulkinghorn re-asserts it by another inclination of his head. +"Whether by his own hand--" + +"Upon my honor!" cries Sir Leicester. "Really!" + +"Do let me hear the story!" says my Lady. + +"Whatever you desire, my dear. But, I must say--" + +"No, you mustn't say! Go on, Mr. Tulkinghorn." + +Sir Leicester's gallantry concedes the point; though he still feels +that to bring this sort of squalor among the upper classes is +really--really-- + +"I was about to say," resumes the lawyer, with undisturbed calmness, +"that whether he had died by his own hand or not, it was beyond my +power to tell you. I should amend that phrase, however, by saying that +he had unquestionably died of his own act; though whether by his own +deliberate intention, or by mischance, can never certainly be known. +The coroner's jury found that he took the poison accidentally." + +"And what kind of man," my Lady asks, "was this deplorable creature?" + +"Very difficult to say," returns the lawyer, shaking his head. "He had +lived so wretchedly, and was so neglected, with his gipsy color, and +his wild black hair and beard, that I should have considered him the +commonest of the common. The surgeon had a notion that he had once +been something better, both in appearance and condition." + +"What did they call the wretched being?" + +"They called him what he had called himself, but no one knew his +name." + +"Not even any one who had attended on him?" + +"No one had attended on him. He was found dead. In fact, I found him." + +"Without any clew to any thing more?" + +"Without any; there was," says the lawyer, meditatively, "an old +portmanteau; but--No, there were no papers." + +During the utterance of every word of this short dialogue, Lady +Dedlock and Mr. Tulkinghorn, without any other alteration in their +customary deportment, have looked very steadily at one another--as was +natural, perhaps, in the discussion of so unusual a subject. Sir +Leicester has looked at the fire, with the general expression of the +Dedlock on the staircase. The story being told, he renews his stately +protest, saying, that as it is quite clear that no association in my +Lady's mind can possibly be traceable to this poor wretch (unless he +was a begging-letter writer), he trusts to hear no more about a +subject so far removed from my Lady's station. + +"Certainly, a collection of horrors," says my Lady, gathering up her +mantles and furs; "but they interest one for the moment! Have the +kindness, Mr. Tulkinghorn, to open the door for me." + +Mr. Tulkinghorn does so with deference, and holds it open while she +passes out. She passes close to him, with her usual fatigued manner, +and insolent grace. They meet again at dinner--again, next day--again, +for many days in succession. Lady Dedlock is always the same exhausted +deity, surrounded by worshipers, and terribly liable to be bored to +death, even while presiding at her own shrine. Mr. Tulkinghorn is +always the same speechless repository of noble confidences: so oddly +out of place, and yet so perfectly at home. They appear to take as +little note of one another, as any two people, inclosed within the +same walls, could. But, whether each evermore watches and suspects the +other, evermore mistrustful of some great reservation; whether each is +evermore prepared at all points for the other, and never to be taken +unawares; what each would give to know how much the other knows--all +this is hidden, for the time, in their own hearts. + + +CHAPTER XIII.--ESTHER'S NARRATIVE. + +We held many consultations about what Richard was to be; first, +without Mr. Jarndyce, as he had requested, and afterward with him; +but it was a long time before we seemed to make progress. Richard said +he was ready for any thing. When Mr. Jarndyce doubted whether he might +not already be too old to enter the Navy, Richard said he had thought +of that, and perhaps he was. When Mr. Jarndyce asked him what he +thought of the Army, Richard said he had thought of that, too, and it +wasn't a bad idea. When Mr. Jarndyce advised him to try and decide +within himself, whether his old preference for the sea was an ordinary +boyish inclination, or a strong impulse, Richard answered, Well, he +really _had_ tried very often, and he couldn't make out. + +"How much of this indecision of character," Mr. Jarndyce said to me, +"is chargeable on that incomprehensible heap of uncertainty and +procrastination on which he has been thrown from his birth, I don't +pretend to say; but that Chancery, among its other sins, is +responsible for some of it, I can plainly see. It has engendered or +confirmed in him a habit of putting off--and trusting to this, that, +and the other chance, without knowing what chance--and dismissing +every thing as unsettled, uncertain, and confused. The character of +much older and steadier people may be even changed by the +circumstances surrounding them. It would be too much to expect that a +boy's, in its formation, should be the subject of such influences, and +escape them." + +I felt this to be true; though, if I may venture to mention what I +thought besides, I thought it much to be regretted that Richard's +education had not counteracted those influences, or directed his +character. He had been eight years at a public school, and had learnt, +I understood, to make Latin Verses of several sorts, in the most +admirable manner. But I never heard that it had been any body's +business to find out what his natural bent was, or where his failings +lay, or to adapt any kind of knowledge to _him_. _He_ had been adapted +to the Verses, and had learnt the art of making them to such +perfection, that if he had remained at school until he was of age, I +suppose he could only have gone on making them over and over again, +unless he had enlarged his education by forgetting how to do it. +Still, although I had no doubt that they were very beautiful, and very +improving, and very sufficient for a great many purposes of life, and +always remembered all through life, I did doubt whether Richard would +not have profited by some one studying him a little, instead of his +studying them quite so much. + +To be sure, I knew nothing of the subject, and do not even now know +whether the young gentlemen of classic Rome or Greece made verses to +the same extent--or whether the young gentlemen of any country ever +did. + +"I haven't the least idea," said Richard, musing, "what I had better +be. Except that I am quite sure I don't want to go into the Church, +it's a toss-up." + +"You have no inclination in Mr. Kenge's way?" suggested Mr. Jarndyce. + +"I don't know that, sir!" replied Richard. "I am fond of boating. +Articled clerks go a good deal on the water. It's a capital +profession!" + +"Surgeon--" suggested Mr. Jarndyce. + +"That's the thing, sir!" cried Richard. + +I doubt if he had ever once thought of it before. + +"That's the thing, sir!" repeated Richard, with the greatest +enthusiasm. "We have got it at last. M.R.C.S.!" + +He was not to be laughed out of it, though he laughed at it heartily. +He said he had chosen his profession, and the more he thought of it, +the more he felt that his destiny was clear; the art of healing was +the art of all others for him. Mistrusting that he only came to this +conclusion, because, having never had much chance of finding out for +himself what he was fitted for, and having never been guided to the +discovery, he was taken by the newest idea, and was glad to get rid of +the trouble of consideration, I wondered whether the Latin Verses +often ended in this, or whether Richard's was a solitary case. + +Mr. Jarndyce took great pains to talk with him, seriously, and to put +it to his good sense not to deceive himself in so important a matter. +Richard was a little grave after these interviews; but invariably told +Ada and me "that it was all right," and then began to talk about +something else. + +"By Heaven!" cried Mr. Boythorn, who interested himself strongly in +the subject--though I need not say that, for he could do nothing +weakly; "I rejoice to find a young gentleman of spirit and gallantry +devoting himself to that noble profession! The more spirit there is in +it, the better for mankind, and the worse for those mercenary +taskmasters and low tricksters who delight in putting that illustrious +art at a disadvantage in the world. By all that is base and +despicable," cried Mr. Boythorn, "the treatment of Surgeons aboard +ship is such, that I would submit the legs--both legs--of every member +of the Admiralty Board to a compound fracture, and render it a +transportable offense in any qualified practitioner to set them, if +the system were not wholly changed in eight-and-forty hours!" + +"Wouldn't you give them a week?" asked Mr. Jarndyce. + +"No!" cried Mr. Boythorn, firmly. "Not on any consideration! +Eight-and-forty hours! As to Corporations, Parishes, Vestry-Boards, +and similar gatherings of jolter-headed clods, who assemble to +exchange such speeches that, by Heaven! they ought to be worked in +quicksilver mines for the short remainder of their miserable +existence, if it were only to prevent their detestable English from +contaminating a language spoken in the presence of the Sun--as to +those fellows, who meanly take advantage of the ardor of gentlemen in +the pursuit of knowledge, to recompense the inestimable services of +the best years of their lives, their long study, and their expensive +education, with pittances too small for the acceptance of clerks, I +would have the necks of every one of them wrung, and their skulls +arranged in Surgeons' Hall for the contemplation of the whole +profession--in order that its younger members might understand from +actual measurement, in early life, _how_ thick skulls may become!" + +He wound up this vehement declaration by looking round upon us with a +most agreeable smile, and suddenly thundering, Ha, ha, ha! over and +over again, until any body else might have been expected to be quite +subdued by the exertion. + +As Richard still continued to say that he was fixed in his choice, +after repeated periods for consideration had been recommended by Mr. +Jarndyce, and had expired; and as he still continued to assure Ada and +me, in the same final manner that it was "all right;" it became +advisable to take Mr. Kenge into council. Mr. Kenge therefore, came +down to dinner one day, and leaned back in his chair, and turned his +eye-glasses over and over, and spoke in a sonorous voice, and did +exactly what I remembered to have seen him do when I was a little +girl. + +"Ah!" said Mr. Kenge. "Yes. Well? A very good profession, Mr. +Jarndyce; a very good profession." + +"The course of study and preparation requires to be diligently +pursued," observed my Guardian, with a glance at Richard. + +"O, no doubt," said Mr. Kenge. "Diligently." + +"But that being the case, more or less, with all pursuits that are +worth much," said Mr. Jarndyce, "it is not a special consideration +which another choice would be likely to escape." + +"Truly," said Mr. Kenge. "And Mr. Richard Carstone, who has so +meritoriously acquitted himself in the--shall I say the classic +shades?--in which his youth had been passed, will, no doubt, apply the +habits, if not the principles and practice, of versification in that +tongue in which a poet was said (unless I mistake) to be born, not +made, to the more eminently practical field of action on which he +enters." + +"You may rely upon it," said Richard, in his off-hand manner, "that I +shall go at it, and do my best." + +"Very well, Mr. Jarndyce!" said Mr. Kenge, gently nodding his head. +"Really, when we are assured by Mr. Richard that he means to go at it, +and to do his best," nodding feelingly and smoothly over those +expressions; "I would submit to you, that we have only to inquire into +the best mode of carrying out the object of his ambition. Now, with +reference to placing Mr. Richard with some sufficiently eminent +practitioner. Is there any one in view at present?" + +"No one, Rick, I think?" said my Guardian. + +"No one, sir," said Richard. + +"Quite so!" observed Mr. Kenge. "As to situation, now. Is there any +particular feeling on that head?" + +"N--no," said Richard. + +"Quite so!" observed Mr. Kenge again. + +"I should like a little variety," said Richard; "--I mean a good range +of experience." + +"Very requisite, no doubt," returned Mr. Kenge "I think this may be +easily arranged, Mr. Jarndyce? We have only, in the first place, to +discover a sufficiently eligible practitioner; and, as soon as we make +our want--and, shall I add, our ability to pay a premium?--known, our +only difficulty will be in the selection of one from a large number. +We have only, in the second place, to observe those little formalities +which are rendered necessary by our time of life, and our being under +the guardianship of the Court. We shall soon be--shall I say, in Mr. +Richard's own light-hearted manner, 'going at it'--to our heart's +content. It is a coincidence," said Mr. Kenge, with a tinge of +melancholy in his smile, "one of those coincidences which may or may +not require an explanation beyond our present limited faculties, that +I have a cousin in the medical profession. He might be deemed eligible +by you, and might be disposed to respond to this proposal. I can +answer for him as little as for you; but he _might_?" + +As this was an opening in the prospect, it was arranged that Mr. Kenge +should see his cousin. And as Mr. Jarndyce had before proposed to take +us to London for a few weeks, it was settled next day that we should +make our visit at once, and combine Richard's business with it. + +Mr. Boythorn leaving us within a week, we took up our abode at a +cheerful lodging near Oxford-street, over an upholsterer's shop. +London was a great wonder to us, and we were out for hours and hours +at a time, seeing the sights; which appeared to be less capable of +exhaustion than we were. We made the round of the principal theatres, +too, with great delight, and saw all the plays that were worth seeing. +I mention this, because it was at the theatre that I began to be made +uncomfortable again, by Mr. Guppy. + +I was sitting in front of the box one night with Ada; and Richard was +in the place he liked best, behind Ada's chair; when, happening to +look down into the pit, I saw Mr. Guppy, with his hair flattened down +upon his head, and woe depicted in his face, looking up at me. I felt, +all through the performance, that he never looked at the actors, but +constantly looked at me, and always with a carefully prepared +expression of the deepest misery and the profoundest dejection. + +It quite spoiled my pleasure for that night, because it was so very +embarrassing and so very ridiculous. But, from that time forth, we +never went to the play, without my seeing Mr. Guppy in the pit--always +with his hair straight and flat, his shirt-collar turned down, and a +general feebleness about him. If he were not there when we went in, +and I began to hope he would not come, and yielded myself for a little +while to the interest of the scene, I was certain to encounter his +languishing eyes when I least expected it, and, from that time, to be +quite sure that they were fixed upon me all the evening. + +I really can not express how uneasy this made me. If he would only +have brushed up his hair, or turned up his collar, it would have been +bad enough; but to know that that absurd figure was always gazing at +me, and always in that demonstrative state of despondency, put such a +constraint upon me that I did not like to laugh at the play, or to cry +at it, or to move, or to speak. I seemed able to do nothing naturally. +As to escaping Mr. Guppy by going to the back of the box, I could not +bear to do that; because I knew Richard and Ada relied on having me +next them, and that they could never have talked together so happily +if any body else had been in my place. So there I sat, not knowing +where to look--for wherever I looked, I knew Mr. Guppy's eyes were +following me--and thinking of the dreadful expense to which this young +man was putting himself, on my account. + +[Illustration: MR. GUPPY'S DESOLATION.] + +Sometimes I thought of telling Mr. Jarndyce. Then I feared that the +young man would lose his situation, and that I might ruin him. +Sometimes, I thought of confiding in Richard; but was deterred by the +possibility of his fighting Mr. Guppy, and giving him black eyes. +Sometimes, I thought, should I frown at him, or shake my head. Then I +felt I could not do it. Sometimes, I considered whether I should write +to his mother, but that ended in my being convinced that to open a +correspondence would be to make the matter worse. I always came to the +conclusion, finally, that I could do nothing. Mr. Guppy's +perseverance, all this time, not only produced him regularly at any +theatre to which we went, but caused him to appear in the crowd as we +were coming out, and even to get up behind our fly--where I am sure I +saw him, two or three times, struggling among the most dreadful +spikes. After we got home, he haunted a post opposite our house. The +upholsterer's where we lodged, being at the corner of two streets, and +my bedroom window being opposite the post, I was afraid to go near the +window when I went up-stairs, lest I should see him (as I did one +moonlight night) leaning against the post, and evidently catching +cold. If Mr. Guppy had not been, fortunately for me, engaged in the +day-time, I really should have had no rest from him. + +While we were making this round of gayeties in which Mr. Guppy so +extraordinarily participated, the business which had helped to bring +us to town was not neglected. Mr. Kenge's cousin was a Mr. Bayham +Badger, who had a good practice at Chelsea, and attended a large +public Institution besides. He was quite willing to receive Richard +into his house, and to superintend his studies; and as it seemed that +those could be pursued advantageously under Mr. Badger's roof, and as +Mr. Badger liked Richard, and as Richard said he liked Mr. Badger +"well enough," an agreement was made, the Lord Chancellor's consent +was obtained, and it was all settled. + +On the day when matters were concluded between Richard and Mr. Badger, +we were all under engagement to dine at Mr. Badger's house. We were to +be "merely a family party," Mrs. Badger's note said; and we found no +lady there but Mrs. Badger herself. She was surrounded in the +drawing-room by various objects, indicative of her painting a little, +playing the piano a little, playing the guitar a little, playing the +harp a little, singing a little, working a little, reading a little, +writing poetry a little, and botanizing a little. She was a lady of +about fifty, I should think, youthfully dressed, and of a very fine +complexion. If I add, to the little list of her accomplishments, that +she rouged a little, I do not mean that there was any harm in it. + +Mr. Bayham Badger himself was a pink, fresh-faced, crisp-looking +gentleman, with a weak voice, white teeth, light hair, and surprised +eyes: some years younger, I should say, than Mrs. Bayham Badger. He +admired her exceedingly, but principally, and to begin with, on the +curious ground (as it seemed to us) of her having had three husbands. +We had barely taken our seats, when he said to Mr. Jarndyce quite +triumphantly. + +"You would hardly suppose that I am Mrs. Bayham Badger's third!" + +"Indeed?" said Mr. Jarndyce. + +"Her third!" said Mr. Badger. "Mrs. Bayham Badger has not the +appearance, Miss Summerson, of a lady who has had two former +husbands?" + +I said "Not at all!" + +"And most remarkable men!" said Mr. Badger, in a tone of confidence. +"Captain Swosser of the Royal Navy, who was Mrs. Badger's first +husband, was a very distinguished officer indeed. The name of +Professor Dingo, my immediate predecessor, is one of European +reputation." + +Mrs. Badger overheard him, and smiled. + +"Yes, my dear!" Mr. Badger replied to the smile, "I was observing to +Mr. Jarndyce and Miss Summerson, that you had had two former +husbands--both very distinguished men. And they found it, as people +generally do, difficult to believe." + +"I was barely twenty," said Mrs. Badger, "when I married Captain +Swosser of the Royal Navy. I was in the Mediterranean with him; I am +quite a Sailor. On the twelfth anniversary of my wedding-day, I became +the wife of Professor Dingo." + +("Of European reputation," added Mr. Badger in an under tone.) + +"And when Mr. Badger and myself were married," pursued Mrs. Badger, +"we were married on the same day of the year. I had become attached to +the day." + +"So that Mrs. Badger has been married to three husbands--two of them +highly distinguished men," said Mr. Badger, summing up the facts; +"and, each time, upon the twenty-first of March at Eleven in the +forenoon!" + +We all expressed our admiration. + +"But for Mr. Badger's modesty," said Mr. Jarndyce, "I would take leave +to correct him, and say three distinguished men." + +"Thank you, Mr. Jarndyce! What I always tell him!" observed Mrs. +Badger. + +"And, my dear," said Mr. Badger, "what do _I_ always tell you? That +without any affectation of disparaging such professional distinction +as I may have attained (which our friend Mr. Carstone will have many +opportunities of estimating), I am not so weak--no, really," said Mr. +Badger to us generally, "so unreasonable--as to put my reputation on +the same footing with such first-rate men as Captain Swosser and +Professor Dingo. Perhaps you may be interested, Mr. Jarndyce," +continued Mr. Bayham Badger, leading the way into the next drawing +room, "in this portrait of Captain Swosser. It was taken on his return +home from the African Station, where he had suffered from the fever of +the country. Mrs. Badger considers it too yellow. But it's a very fine +head. A very fine head!" + +We all echoed, "A very fine head!" + +"I feel when I look at it," said Mr. Badger, "'that's a man I should +like to have seen!' It strikingly bespeaks the first-class man that +Captain Swosser pre-eminently was. On the other side, Professor Dingo. +I knew him well--attended him in his last illness--a speaking +likeness! Over the piano, Mrs. Bayham Badger when Mrs. Swosser. Over +the sofa, Mrs. Bayham Badger when Mrs. Dingo. Of Mrs. Bayham Badger +_in esse_, I possess the original, and have no copy." + +Dinner was now announced, and we went down stairs. It was a very +genteel entertainment, very handsomely served. But the Captain and the +Professor still ran in Mr. Badger's head, and, as Ada and I had the +honor of being under his particular care, we had the full benefit of +them. + +"Water, Miss Summerson? Allow me! Not in that tumbler, pray. Bring me +the Professor's goblet, James!" + +Ada very much admired some artificial flowers, under a glass. + +"Astonishing how they keep!" said Mr. Badger. "They were presented to +Mrs. Bayham Badger when she was in the Mediterranean." + +[Illustration: THE FAMILY PORTRAITS AT MR. BAYHAM BADGER'S.] + +He invited Mr. Jarndyce to take a glass of claret. + +"Not that claret," he said. "Excuse me! This is an occasion, and _on_ +an occasion I produce some very special claret I happen to have. +(James, Captain Swosser's wine!) Mr. Jarndyce, this is a wine that was +imported by the Captain, we will not say how many years ago. You will +find it very curious. My dear, I shall be happy to take some of this +wine with you. (Captain Swosser's claret to your mistress, James!) My +love, your health!" + +After dinner when we ladies retired, we took Mrs. Badger's first and +second husband with us. Mrs. Badger gave us, in the drawing-room a +Biographical sketch of the life and services of Captain Swosser before +his marriage, and a more minute account of him dating from the time +when he fell in love with her, at a ball on board the Crippler, given +to the officers of that ship when she lay in Plymouth harbor. + +"The dear old Crippler!" said Mrs. Badger, shaking her head. "She was +a noble vessel. Trim, ship-shape, all a taunto, as Captain Swosser +used to say. You must excuse me if I occasionally introduce a nautical +expression; I was quite a sailor once. Captain Swosser loved that +craft for my sake. When she was no longer in commission, he frequently +said that if he were rich enough to buy her old hulk, he would have an +inscription let into the timbers of the quarter-deck where we stood as +partners in the dance, to mark the spot where he fell--raked fore and +aft (Captain Swosser used to say) by the fire from my tops. It was his +naval way of mentioning my eyes." + +Mrs. Badger shook her head, sighed, and looked in the glass. + +"It was a great change from Captain Swosser to Professor Dingo," she +resumed, with a plaintive smile. "I felt it a good deal at first. Such +an entire revolution in my mode of life! But custom, combined with +science--particularly science--inured me to it. Being the Professor's +sole companion in his botanical excursions, I almost forgot that I had +ever been afloat, and became quite learned. It is singular that the +Professor was the Antipodes of Captain Swosser, and that Mr. Badger is +not in the least like either!" + +We then passed into a narrative of the deaths of Captain Swosser and +Professor Dingo, both of whom seemed to have had very bad complaints. +In the course of it, Mrs. Badger signified to us that she had never +madly loved but once; and that the object of that wild affection, +never to be recalled in its fresh enthusiasm, was Captain Swosser. The +Professor was yet dying by inches in the most dismal manner, and Mrs. +Badger was giving us imitations of his way of saying, with great +difficulty, "Where is Laura? Let Laura give me my toast and water!" +when the entrance of the gentlemen consigned him to the tomb. + +Now, I observed that evening, as I had observed for some days past, +that Ada and Richard were more than ever attached to each other's +society; which was but natural, seeing that they were going to be +separated so soon. I was therefore not very much surprised, when we +got home, and Ada and I retired up-stairs, to find Ada more silent +than usual; though I was not quite prepared for her coming into my +arms, and beginning to speak to me, with her face hidden. + +"My darling Esther!" murmured Ada. "I have a great secret to tell +you!" + +A mighty secret, my pretty one, no doubt! + +"What is it, Ada?" + +"O Esther, you would never guess!" + +"Shall I try to guess?" said I. + +"O no! Don't! Pray, don't!" cried Ada, very much startled by the idea +of my doing so. + +"Now, I wonder who it can be about?" said I, pretending to consider. + +"It's about," said Ada, in a whisper. "It's about--my cousin Richard!" + +"Well, my own!" said I, kissing her bright hair, which was all I could +see. "And what about him?" + +"O, Esther, you would never guess!" + +It was so pretty to have her clinging to me in that way, hiding her +face; and to know that she was not crying in sorrow, but in a little +glow of joy, and pride, and hope; that I would not help her just yet. + +"He says--I know it's very foolish, we are both so young--but he +says," with a burst of tears, "that he loves me dearly, Esther." + +"Does he indeed?" said I. "I never heard of such a thing! Why, my pet +of pets, I could have told you that, weeks and weeks ago!" + +To see Ada lift up her flushed face in joyful surprise, and hold me +round the neck, and laugh, and cry, and blush, and laugh, was so +pleasant! + +"Why, my darling!" said I, "what a goose you must take me for! Your +cousin Richard has been loving you as plainly as he could, for I don't +know how long!" + +"And yet you never said a word about it!" cried Ada, kissing me. + +"No, my love," said I. "I waited to be told." + +"But now I have told you, you don't think it wrong of me; do you?" +returned Ada. She might have coaxed me to say No, if I had been the +hardest-hearted Duenna in the world. Not being that yet, I said No, +very freely. + +"And now," said I, "I know the worst of it." + +"O, that's not quite the worst of it, Esther dear!" cried Ada, holding +me tighter, and laying down her face again upon my breast. + +"No?" said I. "Not even that?" + +"No, not even that!" said Ada, shaking her head. + +"Why, you never mean to say--!" I was beginning in joke. + +But Ada looking up, and smiling through her tears, cried. "Yes, I do! +You know, you know I do!" and then sobbed out, "With all my heart I +do! With all my whole heart, Esther!" + +I told her, laughing, why, I had known that, too, just as well as I +had known the other! And we sat before the fire, and I had all the +talking to myself for a little while (though there was not much of +it); and Ada was soon quiet and happy. "Do you think my cousin John +knows, dear Dame Durden?" she asked. + +"Unless my cousin John is blind, my pet," said I, "I should think my +cousin John knows pretty well as much as we know." + +"We want to speak to him before Richard goes," said Ada, timidly, "and +we wanted you to advise us, and to tell him so. Perhaps you wouldn't +mind Richard's coming in, Dame Durden?" + +"O! Richard is outside, is he, my dear?" said I. + +"I am not quite certain," returned Ada, with a bashful simplicity that +would have won my heart, if she had not won it long before; "but I +think he's waiting at the door." + +There he was, of course. They brought a chair on either side of me, +and put me between them, and really seemed to have fallen in love with +me, instead of one another; they were so confiding, and so trustful, +and so fond of me. They went on in their own wild way for a little +while--I never stopped them; I enjoyed it too much myself--and then we +gradually fell to considering how young they were, and how there must +be a lapse of several years before this early love could come to any +thing, and how it could come to happiness only if it were real and +lasting, and inspired them with a steady resolution to do their duty +to each other, with constancy, fortitude, and perseverance: each +always for the other's sake. Well! Richard said that he would work his +fingers to the bone for Ada, and Ada said that she would work her +fingers to the bone for Richard, and they called me all sorts of +endearing and sensible names, and we sat there, advising and talking, +half the night. Finally, before we parted, I gave them my promise to +speak to their cousin John to-morrow. + +So, when to-morrow came, I went to my Guardian after breakfast, in the +room that was our town-substitute for the Growlery, and told him that +I had it in trust to tell him something. + +"Well, little woman," said he, shutting up his book, "if you have +accepted the trust, there can be no harm in it." + +"I hope not, Guardian," said I. "I can guarantee that there is no +secresy in it. For it only happened yesterday." + +"Ay? And what is it, Esther?" + +"Guardian," said I, "you remember the happy night when we first came +down to Bleak House? When Ada was singing in the dark room?" + +I wished to recall to his remembrance the look he had given me then. +Unless I am much mistaken, I saw that I did so. + +"Because," said I, with a little hesitation. + +"Yes, my dear!" said he. "Don't hurry." + +"Because," said I, "Ada and Richard have fallen in love. And have told +each other so." + +"Already?" cried my Guardian, quite astonished. + +"Yes!" said I, "and to tell you the truth, Guardian, I rather expected +it." + +"The deuce you did!" said he. + +He sat considering for a minute or two; with his smile, at once so +handsome and so kind, upon his changing face; and then requested me to +let them know that he wished to see them. When they came, he encircled +Ada with one arm, in his fatherly way, and addressed himself to +Richard with a cheerful gravity. + +"Rick," said Mr. Jarndyce, "I am glad to have won your confidence. I +hope to preserve it. When I contemplated these relations between us +four which have so brightened my life, and so invested it with new +interests and pleasures, I certainly did contemplate, afar off, the +possibility of you and your pretty cousin here (don't be shy, Ada, +don't be shy, my dear!) being in a mind to go through life together. I +saw, and do see, many reasons to make it desirable. But that was afar +off, Rick, afar off!" + +"We look afar off, sir," returned Richard. + +"Well!" said Mr. Jarndyce. "That's rational. Now, hear me, my dears! I +might tell you that you don't know your own minds yet; that a thousand +things may happen to divert you from one another; that it is well this +chain of flowers you have taken up is very easily broken, or it might +become a chain of lead. But I will not do that. Such wisdom will come +soon enough, I dare say, if it is to come at all. I will assume that, +a few years hence, you will be in your hearts to one another, what you +are to-day. All I say before speaking to you according to that +assumption is, if you _do_ change--if you _do_ come to find that you +are more commonplace cousins to each other as man and woman, than you +were as boy and girl (your manhood will excuse me, Rick!)--don't be +ashamed still to confide in me, for there will be nothing monstrous or +uncommon in it. I am only your friend and distant kinsman. I have no +power over you whatever. But I wish and hope to retain your +confidence, if I do nothing to forfeit it." + +"I am very sure, sir," returned Richard, "that I speak for Ada, too, +when I say that you have the strongest power over us both--rooted in +respect, gratitude, and affection, strengthening every day." + +"Dear cousin John," said Ada, on his shoulder, "my father's place can +never be empty again. All the love and duty I could ever have rendered +to him, is transferred to you." + +"Come!" said Mr. Jarndyce. "Now for our assumption. Now we lift our +eyes up, and look hopefully at the distance! Rick, the world is before +you; and it is most probable that as you enter it, so it will receive +you. Trust in nothing but in Providence and your own efforts. Never +separate the two, like the heathen wagoner. Constancy in love is a +good thing; but it means nothing, and is nothing, without constancy in +every kind of effort. If you had the abilities of all the great men, +past and present, you could do nothing well, without sincerely meaning +it, and setting about it. If you entertain the supposition that any +real success, in great things or in small, ever was or could be, ever +will or can be, wrested from Fortune by fits and starts, leave that +wrong idea here, or leave your cousin Ada here." + +"I will leave it here, sir," replied Richard, smiling, "if I brought +it here just now (but I hope I did not), and will work my way on to my +cousin Ada in the hopeful distance." + +"Right!" said Mr. Jarndyce. "If you are not to make her happy, why +should you pursue her?" + +"I wouldn't make her unhappy--no, not even for her love," retorted +Richard, proudly. + +"Well said!" cried Mr. Jarndyce; "that's well said! She remains here, +in her home with me. Love her, Rick, in your active life, no less than +in her home when you revisit it, and all will go well. Otherwise, all +will go ill. That's the end of my preaching. I think you and Ada had +better take a walk." + +Ada tenderly embraced him, and Richard heartily shook hands with him, +and then the cousins went out of the room--looking back again +directly, though, to say that they would wait for me. + +The door stood open, and we both followed them with our eyes, as they +passed down the adjoining room on which the sun was shining, and out +at its farther end. Richard, with his head bent, and her hand drawn +through his arm, was talking to her very earnestly; and she looked up +in his face, listening, and seemed to see nothing else. So young, so +beautiful, so full of hope and promise, they went on lightly through +the sunlight, as their own happy thoughts might then be traversing +the years to come, and making them all years of brightness. So they +passed away into the shadow, and were gone. It was only a burst of +light that had been so radiant. The room darkened as they went out, +and the sun was clouded over. + +"Am I right, Esther?" said my Guardian, when they were gone. + +He who was so good and wise, to ask me whether he was right! + +"Rick may gain, out of this, the quality he wants. Wants, at the core +of so much that is good!" said Mr. Jarndyce, shaking his head. "I have +said nothing to Ada, Esther. She has her friend and counselor always +near." And he laid his hand lovingly upon my head. + +I could not help showing that I was a little moved, though I did all I +could to conceal it. + +"Tut tut!" said he. "But we must take care, too, that our little +woman's life is not all consumed in care for others." + +"Care? My dear Guardian, I believe I am the happiest creature in the +world!" + +"I believe so too," said he. "But some one may find out, what Esther +never will--that the little woman is to be held in remembrance above +all other people!" + +I have omitted to mention in its place, that there was some one else +at the family dinner party. It was not a lady. It was a gentleman. It +was a gentleman of a dark complexion--a young surgeon. He was rather +reserved, but I thought him very sensible and agreeable. At least, Ada +asked me if I did not, and I said yes. + + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + + +THE COUNTER-STROKE. + + +Just after breakfast one fine spring morning in 1837, an advertisement +in the _Times_ for a curate caught and fixed my attention. The salary +was sufficiently remunerative for a bachelor, and the parish, as I +personally knew, one of the most pleasantly situated in all +Somersetshire. Having said that, the reader will readily understand +that it could not have been a hundred miles from Taunton. I instantly +wrote, inclosing testimonials, with which the Rev. Mr. Townley, the +rector, was so entirely satisfied, that the return-post brought me a +positive engagement, unclogged with the slightest objection to one or +two subsidiary items I had stipulated for, and accompanied by an +invitation to make the rectory my home till I could conveniently suit +myself elsewhere. This was both kind and handsome; and the next day +but one I took coach, with a light heart, for my new destination. It +thus happened that I became acquainted, and in some degree mixed up, +with the train of events it is my present purpose to relate. + +The rector I found to be a stout, portly gentleman, whose years +already reached to between sixty and seventy. So many winters, +although they had plentifully besprinkled his hair with gray, shone +out with ruddy brightness in his still handsome face, and keen, +kindly, bright-hazel eyes; and his voice, hearty and ringing, had not +as yet one quaver of age in it. I met him at breakfast on the morning +after my arrival, and his reception of me was most friendly. We had +spoken together but for a few minutes, when one of the French windows, +that led from the breakfast-room into a shrubbery and flower-garden, +gently opened and admitted a lady, just then, as I afterward learned, +in her nineteenth spring. I use this term almost unconsciously, for I +can not even now, in the glowing summer of her life, dissociate her +image from that season of youth and joyousness. She was introduced to +me, with old-fashioned simplicity, as "My grand-daughter, Agnes +Townley." It is difficult to look at beauty through other men's eyes, +and, in the present instance, I feel that I should fail miserably in +the endeavor to stamp upon this blank, dead paper, any adequate idea +of the fresh loveliness, the rose-bud beauty of that young girl. I +will merely say, that her perfectly Grecian head, wreathed with wavy +_bandeaux_ of bright hair, undulating with golden light, vividly +brought to my mind Raphael's halo-tinted portraitures of the +Virgin--with this difference, that in place of the holy calm and +resignation of the painting, there was in Agnes Townley, a sparkling +youth and life, that even amid the heat and glare of a crowded +ball-room, or of a theatre, irresistibly suggested and recalled the +freshness and perfume of the morning--of a cloudless, rosy morning of +May. And, far higher charm than feature-beauty, however exquisite, a +sweetness of disposition, a kind gentleness of mind and temper, was +evinced in every line of her face, in every accent of the low-pitched, +silver voice, that breathed through lips made only to smile. + +Let me own, that I was greatly struck by so remarkable a combination +of rare endowments; and this, I think, the sharp-eyed rector must have +perceived, or he might not, perhaps, have been so immediately +communicative with respect to the near prospects of his idolized +grand-child, as he was the moment the young lady, after presiding at +the breakfast-table, had withdrawn. + +"We shall have gay doings, Mr. Tyrrel, at the rectory shortly," he +said. "Next Monday three weeks will, with the blessing of God, be +Agnes Townley's wedding-day." + +"Wedding-day!" + +"Yes," rejoined the rector, turning toward and examining some flowers +which Miss Townley had brought in and placed on the table. "Yes, it +has been for some time settled that Agnes shall on that day be united +in holy wedlock to Mr. Arbuthnot." + +"Mr. Arbuthnot, of Elm Park?" + +"A great match, is it not, in a worldly point of view?" replied Mr. +Townley, with a pleasant smile at the tone of my exclamation. "And +much better than that: Robert Arbuthnot is a young man of a high and +noble nature, as well as devotedly attached to Agnes. He will, I doubt +not, prove in every respect a husband deserving and worthy of her; +and that from the lips of a doting old grandpapa must be esteemed high +praise. You will see him presently." + +I did see him often, and quite agreed in the rector's estimate of his +future grandson-in-law. I have not frequently seen a finer-looking +young man--his age was twenty-six; and certainly one of a more +honorable and kindly spirit, of a more genial temper than he, has +never come within my observation. He had drawn a great prize in the +matrimonial lottery, and, I felt, deserved his high fortune. + +They were married at the time agreed upon, and the day was kept not +only at Elm Park, and in its neighborhood, but throughout "our" +parish, as a general holiday. And, strangely enough--at least I have +never met with another instance of the kind--it was held by our entire +female community, high as well as low, that the match was a perfectly +equal one, notwithstanding that wealth and high worldly position were +entirely on the bridegroom's side. In fact, that nobody less in the +social scale than the representative of an old territorial family +ought, in the nature of things, to have aspired to the hand of Agnes +Townley, appeared to have been a foregone conclusion with every body. +This will give the reader a truer and more vivid impression of the +bride, than any words or colors I might use. + +The days, weeks, months of wedded life flew over Mr. and Mrs. +Arbuthnot without a cloud, save a few dark but transitory ones which I +saw now and then flit over the husband's countenance as the time when +he should become a father drew near, and came to be more and more +spoken of. "I should not survive her," said Mr. Arbuthnot, one day in +reply to a chance observation of the rector's, "nor indeed desire to +do so." The gray-headed man seized and warmly pressed the husband's +hand, and tears of sympathy filled his eyes; yet did he, nevertheless, +as in duty bound, utter grave words on the sinfulness of despair under +any circumstances, and the duty, in all trials, however heavy, of +patient submission to the will of God. But the venerable gentleman +spoke in a hoarse and broken voice, and it was easy to see he _felt_ +with Mr. Arbuthnot that the reality of an event, the bare possibility +of which shook them so terribly, were a cross too heavy for human +strength to bear and live. + +It was of course decided that the expected heir or heiress should be +intrusted to a wet-nurse, and a Mrs. Danby, the wife of a miller +living not very far from the rectory, was engaged for that purpose. I +had frequently seen the woman; and her name, as the rector and I were +one evening gossiping over our tea, on some subject or other that I +forgot, came up. + +"A likely person," I remarked; "healthy, very good-looking, and one +might make oath, a true-hearted creature. But there is withal a +timidity; a frightenedness in her manner at times, which, if I may +hazard a perhaps uncharitable conjecture, speaks ill for that smart +husband of hers." + +"You have hit the mark precisely, my dear sir. Danby is a sorry +fellow, and a domestic tyrant to boot. His wife, who is really a good, +but meek-hearted person, lived with us once. How old do you suppose +her to be?" + +"Five-and-twenty perhaps." + +"Six years more than that. She has a son of the name of Harper by a +former marriage, who is in his tenth year. Anne wasn't a widow long. +Danby was caught by her good looks, and she by the bait of a +well-provided home. Unless, however, her husband gives up his corn +speculations, she will not, I think, have that much longer." + +"Corn speculations! Surely Danby has no means adequate to indulgence +in such a game as that?" + +"Not he. But about two years ago he bought, on credit, I believe, a +considerable quantity of wheat, and prices happening to fly suddenly +up just then, he made a large profit. This has quite turned his head, +which, by-the-by, was never, as Cockneys say, quite rightly screwed +on." The announcement of a visitor interrupted any thing further the +rector might have had to say, and I soon afterward went home. + +A sad accident occurred about a month subsequent to the foregoing +conversation. The rector was out riding upon a usually quiet horse, +which all at once took it into its head to shy at a scarecrow it must +have seen a score of times, and thereby threw its rider. Help was +fortunately at hand, and the reverend gentleman was instantly conveyed +home, when it was found that his left thigh was broken. Thanks, +however, to his temperate habits, it was before long authoritatively +pronounced that, although it would be a considerable time before he +was released from confinement, it was not probable that the lusty +winter of his life would be shortened by what had happened. +Unfortunately, the accident threatened to have evil consequences in +another quarter. Immediately after it occurred, one Matthews, a busy, +thick-headed lout of a butcher, rode furiously off to Elm Park with +the news. Mrs. Arbuthnot, who daily looked to be confined, was walking +with her husband upon the lawn in front of the house, when the great +burly blockhead rode up, and blurted out that the rector had been +thrown from his horse, and it was feared killed! + +The shock of such an announcement was of course overwhelming. A few +hours afterward, Mrs. Arbuthnot gave birth to a healthy male-child; +but the young mother's life, assailed by fever, was for many days +utterly despaired of--for weeks held to tremble so evenly in the +balance, that the slightest adverse circumstance might in a moment +turn the scale deathward. At length the black horizon that seemed to +encompass us so hopelessly, lightened, and afforded the lover-husband +a glimpse and hope of his vanished and well-nigh despaired of Eden. +The promise was fulfilled. I was in the library with Mr. Arbuthnot, +awaiting the physician's morning report, very anxiously expected at +the rectory, when Dr. Lindley entered the apartment in evidently +cheerful mood. + +"You have been causelessly alarmed," he said. "There is no fear +whatever of a relapse. Weakness only remains, and that we shall +slowly, perhaps, but certainly remove." + +A gleam of lightning seemed to flash over Mr. Arbuthnot's expressive +countenance. "Blessed be God!" he exclaimed. "And how," he added, +"shall we manage respecting the child? She asks for it incessantly." + +Mr. Arbuthnot's infant son, I should state, had been consigned +immediately after its birth to the care of Mrs. Danby, who had herself +been confined, also with a boy, about a fortnight previously. +Scarlatina being prevalent in the neighborhood, Mrs. Danby was hurried +away with the two children to a place near Bath, almost before she was +able to bear the journey. Mr. Arbuthnot had not left his wife for an +hour, and consequently had only seen his child for a few minutes just +after it was born. + +"With respect to the child," replied Dr. Lindley, "I am of opinion +that Mrs. Arbuthnot may see it in a day or two. Say the third day from +this, if all goes well. I think we may venture so far; but I will be +present, for any untoward agitation might be perhaps instantly fatal." +This point provisionally settled, we all three went our several ways: +I to cheer the still suffering rector with the good news. + +The next day but one, Mr. Arbuthnot was in exuberant spirits. "Dr. +Lindley's report is even more favorable than we had anticipated," he +said; "and I start to-morrow morning, to bring Mrs. Danby and the +child--" The postman's subdued but unmistakable knock interrupted him. +"The nurse," he added, "is very attentive and punctual. She writes +almost every day." A servant entered with a salver heaped with +letters. Mr. Arbuthnot tossed them over eagerly, and seizing one, +after glancing at the post-mark, tore it eagerly open, muttering as he +did so, "It is not the usual handwriting; but from her, no doubt--" +"Merciful God!" I impulsively exclaimed, as I suddenly lifted my eyes +to his. "What is the matter?" A mortal pallor had spread over Mr. +Arbuthnot's before animated features, and he was glaring at the letter +in his hand as if a basilisk had suddenly confronted him. Another +moment, and the muscles of his frame appeared to give way suddenly, +and he dropped heavily into the easy-chair from which he had risen to +take the letters. I was terribly alarmed, and first loosening his +neckerchief, for he seemed choking, I said: "Let me call some one;" +and I turned to reach the bell, when he instantly seized my arms, and +held me with a grip of iron. "No--no--no!" he hoarsely gasped; +"water--water!" There was fortunately some on a side table. I handed +it to him, and he drank eagerly. It appeared to revive him a little. +He thrust the crumpled letter into his pocket, and said in a low, +quick whisper: "There is some one coming! Not a word, remember--not a +word!" At the same time, he wheeled his chair half round, so that his +back should be toward the servant we heard approaching. + +"I am sent, sir," said Mrs. Arbuthnot's maid, "to ask if the post has +arrived?" + +"Yes," replied Mr. Arbuthnot, with wonderful mastery of his voice. +"Tell your mistress I shall be with her almost immediately, and that +her--her son is quite well." + +"Mr. Tyrrel," he continued, as soon as the servant was out of hearing, +"there is, I think a liqueur-stand on the sideboard in the large +dining-room. Would you have the kindness to bring it me, +unobserved--mind that--unobserved by any one?" + +I did as he requested; and the instant I placed the liqueur-frame +before him, he seized the brandy _carafe_, and drank with fierce +eagerness. "For goodness' sake," I exclaimed, "consider what you are +about, Mr. Arbuthnot; you will make yourself ill." + +"No, no," he answered, after finishing his draught. "It seems scarcely +stronger than water. But I--I am better now. It was a sudden spasm of +the heart; that's all. The letter," he added, after a long and painful +pause, during which he eyed me, I thought, with a kind of +suspicion--"the letter you saw me open just now, comes from a +relative, an aunt, who is ill, very ill, and wishes to see me +instantly. You understand?" + +I _did_ understand, or at least I feared that I did too well. I, +however, bowed acquiescence; and he presently rose from his chair, and +strode about the apartment in great agitation, until his wife's +bedroom bell rang. He then stopped suddenly short, shook himself, and +looked anxiously at the reflection of his flushed and varying +countenance in the magnificent chimney-glass. + +"I do not look, I think--or, at least shall not, in a darkened +room--odder, more out of the way--that is, more agitated--than one +might, that one _must_ appear after hearing of the dangerous illness +of--of--an aunt?" + +"You look better, sir, than you did a while since." + +"Yes, yes; much better, much better. I am glad to hear you say so. +That was my wife's bell. She is anxious, no doubt, to see me." + +He left the apartment; was gone perhaps ten minutes; and when he +returned, was a thought less nervous than before. I rose to go. "Give +my respects," he said, "to the good rector; and as an especial favor," +he added, with strong emphasis, "let me ask of you not to mention to a +living soul that you saw me so unmanned as I was just now; that I +swallowed brandy. It would appear so strange, so weak, so ridiculous." + +I promised not to do so, and almost immediately left the house, very +painfully affected. His son was, I concluded, either dead or dying, +and he was thus bewilderedly casting about for means of keeping the +terrible, perhaps fatal tidings, from his wife. I afterward heard that +he left Elm Park in a post-chaise, about two hours after I came away, +unattended by a single servant! + +He was gone three clear days only, at the end of which he returned +with Mrs. Danby and--his son--in florid health, too, and one of the +finest babies of its age--about nine weeks only--I had ever seen. Thus +vanished the air-drawn Doubting Castle and Giant Despair which I had +so hastily conjured up! The cause assigned by Mr. Arbuthnot for the +agitation I had witnessed, was doubtless the true one; and yet, and +the thought haunted me for months, years afterward, he opened only +_one_ letter that morning, and had sent a message to his wife that the +child was well. + +Mrs. Danby remained at the Park till the little Robert was weaned, and +was then dismissed very munificently rewarded. Year after year rolled +away without bringing Mr. and Mrs. Arbuthnot any additional little +ones, and no one, therefore, could feel surprised at the enthusiastic +love of the delighted mother for her handsome, nobly-promising boy. +But that which did astonish me, though no one else, for it seemed that +I alone noticed it, was a strange defect of character which began to +develop itself in Mr. Arbuthnot. He was positively jealous of his +wife's affection for their own child! Many and many a time have I +remarked, when he thought himself unobserved, an expression of intense +pain flash from his fine, expressive eyes, at any more than usually +fervent manifestation of the young mother's gushing love for her first +and only born! It was altogether a mystery to me, and I as much as +possible forbore to dwell upon the subject. + +Nine years passed away without bringing any material change to the +parties involved in this narrative, except those which time brings +ordinarily in his train. Young Robert Arbuthnot was a healthy, tall, +fine-looking lad of his age; and his great-grandpapa, the rector, +though not suffering under any actual physical or mental infirmity, +had reached a time of life when the announcement that the golden bowl +is broken, or the silver cord is loosed, may indeed be quick and +sudden, but scarcely unexpected. Things had gone well, too, with the +nurse, Mrs. Danby, and her husband; well, at least, after a fashion. +The speculative miller must have made good use of the gift to his wife +for her care of little Arbuthnot, for he had built a genteel house +near the mill, always rode a valuable horse, kept, it was said, a +capital table; and all this, as it seemed, by his clever speculations +in corn and flour, for the ordinary business of the mill was almost +entirely neglected. He had no children of his own, but he had +apparently taken, with much cordiality, to his step-son, a fine lad, +now about eighteen years of age. This greatly grieved the boy's +mother, who dreaded above all things that her son should contract the +evil, dissolute habits of his father-in-law. Latterly, she had become +extremely solicitous to procure the lad a permanent situation abroad, +and this Mr. Arbuthnot had promised should be effected at the earliest +opportunity. + +Thus stood affairs on the 16th of October, 1846. Mr Arbuthnot was +temporarily absent in Ireland, where he possessed large property, and +was making personal inquiries as to the extent of the potato-rot, not +long before announced. The morning's post had brought a letter to his +wife, with the intelligence that he should reach home that very +evening; and as the rectory was on the direct road to Elm Park, and +her husband would be sure to pull up there, Mrs. Arbuthnot came with +her son to pass the afternoon there, and in some slight degree +anticipate her husband's arrival. + +About three o'clock, a chief-clerk of one of the Taunton banks rode up +in a gig to the rectory, and asked to see the Rev. Mr. Townley, on +pressing and important business. He was ushered into the library, +where the rector and I were at the moment rather busily engaged. The +clerk said he had been to Elm Park, but not finding either Mr. +Arbuthnot or his lady there, he had thought that perhaps the Rev. Mr. +Townley might be able to pronounce upon the genuineness of a check for +£300, purporting to be drawn on the Taunton Bank by Mr. Arbuthnot, and +which Danby the miller had obtained cash for at Bath. He further +added, that the bank had refused payment and detained the check, +believing it to be a forgery. + +"A forgery!" exclaimed the rector, after merely glancing at the +document. "No question that it is, and a very clumsily executed one, +too. Besides, Mr. Arbuthnot is not yet returned from Ireland." + +This was sufficient; and the messenger, with many apologies for his +intrusion, withdrew, and hastened back to Taunton. We were still +talking over this sad affair, although some hours had elapsed since +the clerk's departure--in fact, candles had been brought in, and we +were every moment expecting Mr. Arbuthnot--when the sound of a horse +at a hasty gallop was heard approaching, and presently the pale and +haggard face of Danby shot by the window at which the rector and +myself were standing. The gate-bell was rung almost immediately +afterward, and but a brief interval passed before "Mr. Danby" was +announced to be in waiting. The servant had hardly gained the passage +with leave to show him in, when the impatient visitor rushed rudely +into the room in a state of great, and it seemed angry excitement. + +"What, sir, is the meaning of this ill-mannered intrusion?" demanded +the rector, sternly. + +"You have pronounced the check I paid away at Bath to be a forgery; +and the officers are, I am told, already at my heels. Mr. Arbuthnot, +unfortunately, is not at home, and I am come, therefore, to seek +shelter with you." + +"Shelter with me, sir!" exclaimed the indignant rector, moving, as he +spoke, toward the bell. "Out of my house you shall go this instant." + +The fellow placed his hand upon the reverend gentleman's arm, and +looked with his bloodshot eyes keenly in his face. + +"Don't!" said Danby; "don't, for the sake of yourself and yours! +Don't! I warn you; or, if you like the phrase better, don't, for the +sake of me and _mine_." + +"Yours, fellow! Your wife, whom you have so long held in cruel bondage +through her fears for her son, has at last shaken off that chain. +James Harper sailed two days ago from Portsmouth for Bombay. I sent +her the news two hours since." + +"Ha! is that indeed so?" cried Danby, with an irrepressible start of +alarm. "Why, then--But no matter: here, luckily, comes Mrs. Arbuthnot +_and her son_. All's right! She will, I know, stand bail for me, and, +if need be, acknowledge the genuineness of her husband's check." + +The fellow's insolence was becoming unbearable, and I was about to +seize and thrust him forcibly from the apartment, when the sound of +wheels was heard outside. "Hold! one moment," he cried with fierce +vehemence. "That is probably the officers: I must be brief, then, and +to the purpose. Pray, madam, do not leave the room for your own sake: +as for you, young sir, I _command_ you to remain!" + +"What! what does he mean?" exclaimed Mrs. Arbuthnot bewilderedly, and +at the same time clasping her son--who gazed on Danby with kindled +eyes, and angry boyish defiance--tightly to her side. Did the man's +strange words give form and significance to some dark, shadowy, +indistinct doubt that had previously haunted her at times? I judged +so. The rector appeared similarly confused and shaken, and had sunk +nerveless and terrified upon a sofa. + +"You guess dimly, I see, at what I have to say," resumed Danby with a +malignant sneer. "Well, hear it, then, once for all, and then, if you +will, give me up to the officers. Some years ago," he continued, +coldly and steadily--"some years ago, a woman, a nurse, was placed in +charge of two infant children, both boys: one of these was her own; +the other was the son of rich, proud parents. The woman's husband was +a gay, jolly fellow, who much preferred spending money to earning it, +and just then it happened that he was more than usually hard up. One +afternoon, on visiting his wife, who had removed to a distance, he +found that the rich man's child had sickened of the small-pox, and +that there was no chance of its recovery. A letter containing the sad +news was on a table, which he, the husband, took the liberty to open +and read. After some reflection, suggested by what he had heard of the +lady-mother's state of mind, he re-copied the letter, for the sake of +embodying in it a certain suggestion. That letter was duly posted, and +the next day brought the rich man almost in a state of distraction; +but his chief and mastering terror was lest the mother of the already +dead infant should hear, in her then precarious state, of what had +happened. The tidings, he was sure, would kill her. Seeing this, the +cunning husband of the nurse suggested that, for the present, his--the +cunning one's--child might be taken to the lady as her own, and that +the truth could be revealed when she was strong enough to bear it. The +rich man fell into the artful trap, and that which the husband of the +nurse had speculated upon, came to pass even beyond his hopes. The +lady grew to idolize her fancied child--she has, fortunately, had no +other--and now, I think, it would really kill her to part with him. +The rich man could not find it in his heart to undeceive his +wife--every year it became more difficult, more impossible to do so; +and very generously, I must say, has he paid in purse for the +forbearance of the nurse's husband. Well now, then, to sum up: the +nurse was Mrs. Danby; the rich, weak husband, Mr. Arbuthnot; the +substituted child, that handsome boy, _my son_!" + +A wild scream from Mrs. Arbuthnot broke the dread silence which had +accompanied this frightful revelation, echoed by an agonized cry, half +tenderness, half rage, from her husband, who had entered the room +unobserved, and now clasped her passionately in his arms. The +carriage-wheels we had heard were his. It was long before I could +recall with calmness the tumult, terror, and confusion of that scene. +Mr Arbuthnot strove to bear his wife from the apartment, but she would +not be forced away, and kept imploring with frenzied vehemence that +Robert--that her boy should not be taken from her. + +"I have no wish to do so--far from it," said Danby, with gleeful +exultation. "Only folk must be reasonable, and not threaten their +friends with the hulks--" + +"Give him any thing, any thing!" broke in the unhappy lady. "O Robert! +Robert!" she added with a renewed burst of hysterical grief, "how +could you deceive me so?" + +"I have been punished, Agnes," he answered in a husky, broken voice, +"for my well-intending but criminal weakness; cruelly punished by the +ever-present consciousness that this discovery must one day or other +be surely made. What do you want?" he after awhile added with +recovering firmness, addressing Danby. + +"The acknowledgment of the little bit of paper in dispute, of course; +and say a genuine one to the same amount." + +"Yes, yes," exclaimed Mrs. Arbuthnot, still wildly sobbing, and +holding the terrified boy still strained in her embrace, as if she +feared he might be wrenched from her by force. "Any thing--pay him any +thing!" + +At this moment, chancing to look toward the door of the apartment, I +saw that it was partially opened, and that Danby's wife was listening +there. What might that mean? But what of helpful meaning in such a +case could it have? + +"Be it so, love," said Mr. Arbuthnot, soothingly. "Danby, call +to-morrow at the Park. And now, begone at once." + +"I was thinking," resumed the rascal with swelling audacity, "that we +might as well at the same time come to some permanent arrangement upon +black and white. But never mind: I can always put the screw on; +unless, indeed, you get tired of the young gentleman, and in that +case, I doubt not, he will prove a dutiful and affectionate son--Ah, +devil! What do you here? Begone, or I'll murder you! Begone, do you +hear?" + +His wife had entered, and silently confronted him. "Your threats, evil +man," replied the woman quietly, "have no terrors for me now. My son +is beyond your reach. Oh, Mrs. Arbuthnot," she added, turning toward +and addressing that lady, "believe not--" + +Her husband sprang at her with the bound of a panther. "Silence! Go +home, or I'll strangle--" His own utterance was arrested by the fierce +grasp of Mr. Arbuthnot, who seized him by the throat, and hurled him +to the further end of the room. "Speak on, woman; and quick! quick! +What have you to say?" + +"That your son, dearest lady," she answered, throwing herself at Mrs. +Arbuthnot's feet, "is as truly your own child as ever son born of +woman!" + +That shout of half-fearful triumph seems even now as I write to ring +in my ears! I _felt_ that the woman's words were words of truth, but I +could not see distinctly: the room whirled round, and the lights +danced before my eyes, but I could hear through all the choking +ecstasy of the mother, and the fury of the baffled felon. + +"The letter," continued Mrs. Danby, "which my husband found and +opened, would have informed you, sir, of the swiftly approaching death +of _my_ child, and that yours had been carefully kept beyond the reach +of contagion. The letter you received was written without my knowledge +or consent. True it is that, terrified by my husband's threats, and in +some measure reconciled to the wicked imposition by knowing that, +after all, the right child would be in his right place, I afterward +lent myself to Danby's evil purposes. But I chiefly feared for my son, +whom I fully believed he would not have scrupled to make away with in +revenge for my exposing his profitable fraud. I have sinned; I can +hardly hope to be forgiven, but I have now told the sacred truth." + +All this was uttered by the repentant woman, but at the time it was +almost wholly unheard by those most interested in the statement. They +only comprehended that they were saved--that the child was theirs in +very truth. Great, abundant, but for the moment, bewildering joy! Mr. +Arbuthnot--his beautiful young wife--her own true boy (how could she +for a moment have doubted that he was her own true boy!--you might +read that thought through all her tears, thickly as they fell)--the +aged and half-stunned rector, while yet Mrs. Danby was speaking, were +exclaiming, sobbing in each other's arms, ay, and praising God too, +with broken voices and incoherent words it may be, but certainly with +fervent, pious, grateful hearts. + +When we had time to look about us, it was found that the felon had +disappeared--escaped. It was well, perhaps, that he had; better, that +he has not been heard of since. + + + + +PHILOSOPHY OF LAUGHTER. + + +From the time of King Solomon downward, laughter has been the subject +of pretty general abuse. Even the laughers themselves sometimes +vituperate the cachinnation they indulge in, and many of them + + "Laugh in such a sort, + As if they mocked themselves, and scorned the spirit + That could be moved to laugh at any thing." + +The general notion is, that laughter is childish, and unworthy the +gravity of adult life. Grown men, we say, have more to do than to +laugh; and the wiser sort of them leave such an unseemly contortion of +the muscles to babes and blockheads. + +We have a suspicion that there is something wrong here--that the world +is mistaken not only in its reasonings, but its facts. To assign +laughter to an early period of life, is to go contrary to observation +and experience. There is not so grave an animal in this world as the +human baby. It will weep, when it has got the length of tears, by the +pailful; it will clench its fists, distort its face into a hideous +expression of anguish, and scream itself into convulsions. It has not +yet come up to a laugh. The little savage must be educated by +circumstances, and tamed by the contact of civilization, before it +rises to the greater functions of its being. Nay, we have sometimes +received the idea from its choked and tuneless screams, that _they_ +were imperfect attempts at laughter. It feels enjoyment as well as +pain, but has only one way of expressing both. + +Then, look at the baby, when it has turned into a little boy or girl, +and come up in some degree to the cachinnation. The laughter is still +only rudimental: it is not genuine laughter. It expresses triumph, +scorn, passion--anything but a feeling of natural amusement. It is +provoked by misfortune, by bodily infirmities, by the writhings of +agonized animals; and it indicates either a sense of power or a +selfish feeling of exemption from suffering. The "light-hearted laugh +of children!" What a mistake! Observe the gravity of their sports. +They are masters or mistresses, with the care of a family upon their +hands; and they take especial delight in correcting their children +with severity. They are washerwomen, housemaids, cooks, soldiers, +policemen, postmen; coach, horsemen, and horses, by turns; and in all +these characters they scour, sweep, fry, fight, pursue, carry, whirl, +ride, and are ridden, without changing a muscle. + +At the games of the young people there is much shouting, argument, +vituperation--but no laughter. A game is a serious business with a +boy, and he derives from it excitement, but no amusement. If he laughs +at all, it is at something quite distinct from the purpose of the +sport; for instance, when one of his comrades has his nose broken by +the ball, or when the feet of another make off from him on the ice, +and he comes down upon his back like a thunderbolt. On such occasions, +the laugh of a boy puts us in mind of the laugh of a hyæna: it is, in +fact, the broken, asthmatic roar of a beast of prey. + +It would thus appear that the common charge brought against laughter, +of being something babyish, or childish, or boyish--something +properly appertaining to early life--is unfounded. But we of course +must not be understood to speak of what is technically called +giggling, which proceeds more from a looseness of the structures than +from any sensation of amusement. Many young persons are continually on +the giggle till their muscles strengthen; and indeed, when a company +of them are met together, the affection aggravated by emulation, +acquires the loudness of laughter, when it may be likened, in +Scripture phrase, to the crackling of thorns. What we mean is a +regular guffaw; that explosion of high spirits, and the feeling of +joyous excitement, which is commonly written ha! ha! ha! This is +altogether unknown in babyhood; in boyhood, it exists only in its +rudiments; and it does not reach its full development till adolescence +ripens into manhood. + +This train of thought was suggested to us a few evenings ago, by the +conduct of a party of eight or ten individuals, who meet periodically +for the purpose of philosophical inquiry. Their subject is a very +grave one. Their object is to mould into a science that which as yet +is only a vague, formless, and obscure department of knowledge; and +they proceed in the most cautious manner from point to point, from +axiom to axiom--debating at every step, and coming to no decision +without unanimous conviction. Some are professors of the university, +devoted to abstruse studies; some are clergymen; and some authors and +artists. Now, at the meeting in question--which we take merely as an +example, for all are alike--when the hour struck which terminates +their proceedings for the evening, the jaded philosophers retired to +the refreshment-room; and here a scene of remarkable contrast +occurred. Instead of a single deep, low, earnest voice, alternating +with a profound silence, an absolute roar of merriment began, with the +suddenness of an explosion of gunpowder. Jests, bon-mots, anecdotes, +barbarous plays upon words--the more atrocious the better--flew round +the table; and a joyous and almost continuous ha! ha! ha! made the +ceiling ring. This, we venture to say it, _was_ laughter--genuine, +unmistakable laughter, proceeding from no sense of triumph, from no +self-gratulation, and mingled with no bad feeling of any kind. It was +a spontaneous effort of nature coming from the head as well as the +heart; an unbending of the bow, a reaction from study, which study +alone could occasion, and which could occur only in adult life. + +There are some people who can not laugh, but these are not necessarily +either morose or stupid. They may laugh in their heart, and with their +eyes, although by some unlucky fatality, they have not the gift of +oral cachinnation. Such persons are to be pitied; for laughter in +grown people is a substitute devised by nature for the screams and +shouts of boyhood, by which the lungs are strengthened and the health +preserved. As the intellect ripens, that shouting ceases, and we learn +to laugh as we learn to reason. The society we have mentioned studied +the harder the more they laughed, and they laughed the more the harder +they studied. Each, of course, to be of use, must be in its own place. +A laugh in the midst of the study would have been a profanation; a +grave look in the midst of the merriment would have been an insult to +the good sense of the company. + +If there are some people who can not laugh, there are others who will +not. It is not, however, that they are ashamed of being grown men, and +want to go back to babyhood, for by some extraordinary perversity, +they fancy unalterable gravity to be the distinguishing characteristic +of wisdom. In a merry company, they present the appearance of a Red +Indian whitewashed, and look on at the strange ways of their neighbors +without betraying even the faintest spark of sympathy or intelligence. +These are children of a larger growth, and have not yet acquired sense +enough to laugh. Like the savage, they are afraid of compromising +their dignity, or, to use their own words, of making fools of +themselves. For our part, we never see a man afraid of making a fool +of himself at the right season, without setting him down as a fool +ready made. + +A woman has no natural grace more bewitching than a sweet laugh. It is +like the sound of flutes on the water. It leaps from her heart in a +clear, sparkling rill; and the heart that hears it feels as if bathed +in the cool, exhilarating spring. Have you ever pursued an unseen +fugitive through the trees, led on by her fairy laugh; now here, now +there--now lost, now found? We have. And we are pursuing that +wandering voice to this day. Sometimes it comes to us in the midst of +care, or sorrow, or irksome business; and then we turn away, and +listen, and hear it ringing through the room like a silver bell, with +power to scare away the ill-spirits of the mind. How much we owe to +that sweet laugh! It turns the prose of our life into poetry; it +flings showers of sunshine over the darksome wood in which we are +traveling; it touches with light even our sleep, which is no more the +image of death, but gemmed with dreams that are the shadows of +immortality. + +But our song, like Dibdin's, "means more than it says;" for a man, as +we have stated, may laugh, and yet the cachinnation be wanting. His +heart laughs, and his eyes are filled with that kindly, sympathetic +smile which inspires friendship and confidence. On the sympathy +within, these external phenomena depend; and this sympathy it is which +keeps societies of men together, and is the true freemasonry of the +good and wise. It is an imperfect sympathy that grants only +sympathetic tears: we must join in the mirth as well as melancholy of +our neighbors. If our countrymen laughed more, they would not only be +happier, but better, and if philanthropists would provide amusements +for the people, they would be saved the trouble and expense of their +fruitless war against public-houses. This is an indisputable +proposition. The French and Italians, with wine growing at their +doors, and spirits almost as cheap as beer in England, are sober +nations. How comes this? The laugh will answer that leaps up from +group after group--the dance on the village-green--the family dinner +under the trees--the thousand merry-meetings that invigorate industry, +by serving as a relief to the business of life. Without these, +business is care; and it is from care, not from amusement, men fly to +the bottle. + +The common mistake is to associate the idea of amusement with error of +every kind; and this piece of moral asceticism is given forth as true +wisdom, and, from sheer want of examination, is very generally +received as such. A place of amusement concentrates a crowd, and +whatever excesses may be committed, being confined to a small space, +stand more prominently forward than at other times. This is all. The +excesses are really fewer--far fewer--in proportion to the number +assembled, than if no gathering had taken place How can it be +otherwise? The amusement is itself the excitement which the wearied +heart longs for; it is the reaction which nature seeks; and in the +comparatively few instances of a grosser intoxication being +superadded, we see only the craving of depraved habit--a habit +engendered, in all probability, by the _want_ of amusement. + +No, good friends, let us laugh sometimes, if you love us. A dangerous +character is of another kidney, as Cæsar knew to his cost: + + "He loves no plays, + As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music; + Seldom he laughs;" + +and when he does, it is on the wrong side of his mouth. + +Let us be wiser. Let us laugh in fitting time and place, silently or +aloud, each after his nature. Let us enjoy an innocent reaction rather +than a guilty one, since reaction there must be. The bow that is +always bent loses its elasticity, and becomes useless. + + + + +Monthly Record of Current Events. + + +THE UNITED STATES. + +The past month has been one of unusual activity. The proceedings of +Congress have not been without importance:--political Conventions have +been held, shaping to a certain extent public movements for the coming +season: and numerous religious and benevolent associations, as well as +ecclesiastical assemblies for business purposes, have held their +annual meetings. + +In the United States Senate, the debate upon an amendment to the +Deficiency Bill, by which it was proposed to grant a large increase of +pay annually to the Collins line of Atlantic steamers, continued for +several days. On the 30th of May, Senator Rusk spoke in favor of it, +and on the 6th, Senator James made an argument upon the same side. +Senator Jones, of Tennessee, opposed so large a grant as that +suggested, though he declared himself desirous of sustaining the line. +He moved to strike out $33,000, and insert $25,000, as the increase +each trip. On the 7th, Mr. Cass spoke at length in favor of the +appropriation. The amendment of Mr. Jones was then rejected, by a vote +of 20 to 28. Senator Brooke moved an amendment, granting the whole +amount of postages received in place of all other compensation: this +was rejected by 9 to 38. Mr. Rusk moved that Congress shall have the +power at any time after December, 1854, to discontinue the extra +allowance, on giving six months' notice. This was agreed to. Mr. +Mallory moved, that the contract be transferred from the Naval to the +Post Office Department: this was lost, 18 to 19. On the 13th, Senator +Borland spoke in opposition to the increased grant. On the 19th, the +amendment, giving the line $33,000 additional pay for each trip, was +agreed to, by a vote of 23 ayes to 21 noes: and on the 21st, upon a +motion to agree to this amendment, as reported by the Committee of the +whole, it was decided in the affirmative by an increased vote. + +In the House of Representatives the only action taken, worthy of +special record, was the passage, on the 12th, of the Bill granting to +each head of a family, who may be a native citizen of the United +States or naturalized previous to January, 1852, the right to enter +upon and cultivate one quarter-section of the Public Lands, and +directing the issue to him of a patent for such land after five years +of actual residence and cultivation. The Bill was passed by a vote of +107 to 56.----The other debates of the House have turned so +exclusively upon unimportant topics, or upon temporary matters +relating to the approaching Presidential election, as to render +further reference to them here unnecessary. + +In reply to the call of the Senate, the closing correspondence of +Chevalier Hulsemann, Austrian Chargé, with the State Department, has +been published. Under date of April 29, Mr. H. writes to the +Secretary, stating that the time had arrived for carrying into effect +the intentions of his government in regard to his official connection +with that of the United States. He complains that the Secretary had +not answered his communication of December 13, in regard to the public +reception given to Kossuth, and that, in spite of verbal +encouragements given him to expect different treatment, his movements +had been derisively commented on by the public journals. He had deemed +it his duty on the 21st of November, to complain of these annoyances, +and on the 28th the Secretary had thereupon notified him that no +further communication would be held with him except in writing. On the +7th of January, the Secretary of State had seen fit to mate a speech +encouraging revolution in Hungary. This demonstration he considered so +strange that he immediately inquired of the President whether it was +to be considered an expression of the sentiments of the government of +the United States. The Austrian government had expressed itself +satisfied with the assurances given in return by the President on the +12th of April, and had instructed him no longer to continue official +relations with the "principal promoter of the Kossuth episode." He +closed his letter by stating that Mr. A. Belmont, Consul-general of +Austria at New York, would continue in the exercise of his functions. +Under date of May 3, Mr. Hunter, acting Secretary of State, +acknowledged the receipt of this communication, and informed Chevalier +Hulsemann that, "as Mr. Belmont is well known to the Secretary of +State as a gentleman of much respectability, any communication which +it may be proper for him to address to the department in his official +character, will be received with entire respect." + +The Democratic National Convention, for the nomination of candidates +for the coming canvass, met at Baltimore on the 1st of June, and was +organized by the election of Hon. JOHN W. DAVIS, of Indiana, +President. The number of delegates present was 288, and a rule was +adopted requiring a vote of two-thirds (192) for a nomination. +Unsuccessful ballotings were had for four days, and it was not until +the forty-ninth ballot that General FRANKLIN PIERCE, of New Hampshire, +received the nomination. Upon the forty-eighth ballot he received 55 +votes, the remainder being divided among Messrs. Cass, Buchanan, +Douglass, and Marcy:--upon the next trial he received 282 votes. Hon. +WILLIAM R. KING, of Alabama, was then nominated for Vice President. A +series of resolutions was adopted, rehearsing the leading principles +of the Democratic party, and declaring resistance to "all attempts at +renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery +question under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made"--and +also a determination to "abide by, and adhere to, a faithful execution +of the acts known as the Compromise measures settled by the last +Congress--the act reclaiming fugitives from service or labor +included." The Convention adjourned on the 5th. + +Mr. Webster, being upon a brief visit to his place of residence, +accepted an invitation of the citizens of Boston to meet them at +Faneuil Hall, on the 22d of May, when he made a brief address. He +spoke of the pleasure which it always gave him to meet the people of +Boston--of the astonishing progress and prosperity of that city, and +of the many motives her citizens had to labor strenuously for her +advancement. He spoke also of the general nature and functions of +government, and of the many causes which the people of this country +have to reverence and cherish the institutions bequeathed to them by +their fathers. + +In the State of New York, the Court of Appeals has decided against the +constitutionality of the law of 1851, for the more speedy completion +of the State canals. It will be recollected that the Constitution of +the State directs that the surplus revenues of the Canals shall in +each fiscal year be applied to these works, in such manner as the +Legislature may direct; and it also forbids the contracting of any +debt against the State, except by an act to be submitted to the +people, and providing for a direct tax sufficient to pay the interest +and redeem within eighteen years the principal of the debt thus +contracted. The Bill in question provided for the issue of +certificates to the amount of nine millions of dollars, to be paid +exclusively out of the surplus revenues thus set apart, and stating on +their face that the State was to be in no degree responsible for their +redemption; and for the application of moneys that might be raised +from the sale of these certificates, to the completion of the Canals. +Under the law contracts had been made for the whole work, which were +pronounced valid by the last Legislature. The Court of Appeals decides +that the law conflicts with that clause of the Constitution which +requires the application of the revenues in each fiscal year, as also +with that which forbids the incurring of a debt except in the mode +specified. The decision was concurred in by five out of the eight +judges of that Court. + +In South Carolina the State Convention of delegates elected to take +such measures as they might deem expedient against the encroachments +and aggressions of the Federal Government, met at Columbia on the 29th +of April. It adopted a resolution, declaring that the wrongs sustained +by the State, especially in regard to slavery, amply "justify that +State, so far as any duty or obligation to her confederates is +involved, in dissolving at once all political connection with her +co-States, and that she forbears the exercise of that manifest right +of self-government, from considerations of expediency only." This +resolution was accompanied by an ordinance asserting the right of +secession, and declaring that for the sufficiency of the causes which +may impel her to such a step, she is responsible solely to God and to +the tribunal of public opinion among the nations of the earth. The +resolution was adopted by a vote of 135 to 20. + +A bill has been passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts, forbidding +the sale of intoxicating liquors within the limits of the State. As +originally passed, it provided for its submission to the popular vote, +and was vetoed by the Governor, because it did not provide for taking +that vote by secret, instead of by an open ballot. The Legislature +then enacted the law without any clause submitting it to the people; +and in this form it received the assent of the Governor. A similar +law, has been enacted in Rhode Island. + +During the second week in May all the Missionary, Bible, and other +benevolent associations connected with the several religious +denominations having their centres of operation in the city of New +York, held their anniversary celebrations in that city. They were so +numerous, and their proceedings, except as given in detail, would +prove so uninstructive, that it would be useless to make any extended +mention of them here. They were attended with even more than the +ordinary degree of public interest: very able and eloquent addresses +were made by distinguished gentlemen, clergymen and others, from +various parts of the country; and reports of their proceedings--of +results accomplished and agencies employed--were spread before the +public. The history of their labors during the year has been highly +encouraging. Largely increased contributions of money have augmented +their resources and their ability to prosecute their labors which have +been attended with marked success.----During the week succeeding, +similar meetings were held in Boston of all the associations which +have their head-quarters in that city.----The two General Assemblies, +which constitute the government of the two divisions of the +Presbyterian Church in the United States, have held their sessions +during the month. That representing the Old School met at Charleston, +S.C., on the 20th of May. Rev. John C. Lord, of Buffalo, N.Y., was +chosen Moderator. That of the New School met at Washington on the same +day, and Rev. Dr. Adams, of New York, was elected Moderator. Both were +engaged for several days in business relating to the government and +organization of their respective organizations.----The General +Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) met at Boston on +the 1st of May, and held a protracted session--extending through the +whole month. Most of the business transacted related of course to +matters of temporary or local interest. Special reports were made and +action taken upon the interests of the Church in various sections of +the country, and in the fields of missionary labor. It was decided +that the next General Conference should meet at Indianapolis. Steps +were taken to organize a Methodist Episcopal Tract Society. On the +25th of May the four new bishops were elected by ballot--Rev. Drs. +Levi Scott, Matthew Simpson, Osmond C. Baker, and Edward R. Ames being +chosen. Dr. T. E. Bond was elected editor of the Christian Advocate +and Journal, the recognized organ of the Church; Dr. J. M'Clintock, +editor of the Quarterly Review; D. P. Kidder, of the Sunday School +publications; W. Nast, of the Christian Apologist; and Rev. Dr. +Charles Elliott, of the Western Christian Advocate. Rev. Dr. J. P. +Durbin was chosen Missionary Secretary. + +Kossuth, after visiting the principal towns in Massachusetts, had a +public reception at Albany, and spent a week in visiting Buffalo, +Niagara, Syracuse, Troy, and other cities. He was expected at New York +when our Record closed.----Thomas Francis Meagher, Esq., one of the +Irish State prisoners, effected his escape from Van Dieman's Land in +February, and arrived, in an American vessel, at New York on the 1st +of June. He was very warmly welcomed by the public, especially by his +countrymen. + +From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 6th of May. The total +shipments of gold for April were $3,419,817; for March, $2,549,704. +Great numbers of Chinese continued to arrive, and they had become so +numerous in the country as to excite serious disaffection, and to lead +to various propositions for their exclusion. The Governor sent in a +special message to the Legislature, urging the necessity of +restricting emigration from China, to enhance the prosperity and +preserve the tranquillity of the State. He objects especially to those +who come under contracts for a limited time--returning to China with +the products of their labor after their term is out, and adding +nothing to the resources or industry of the country. He says that they +are not good American citizens, and can not be; and that their +immigration is not desirable. By a reference to statistics he shows +that China can pour in upon our coast millions of her population +without feeling their loss; that they live upon the merest pittance; +and that while they spend comparatively nothing in the country, the +tendency of their presence is to create an unhealthy competition with +our own people, and reduce the price of labor far below our American +living standard. Governor Bigler also expresses a doubt, whether the +Celestials are entitled to the benefit of the naturalization laws. He +proposes as a remedy--1st. Such an exercise of the taxing power by the +State as will check the present system of indiscriminate and unlimited +Asiatic emigration. 2d. A demand by the State of California for the +prompt interposition of Congress, by the passage of an Act prohibiting +"Coolies," shipped to California under contracts, from laboring in the +mines of this State. Measures have been taken in several of the mining +localities to exclude the Chinese from them.----The Legislature +adjourned on the 4th; the bill proposing a Convention to revise the +Constitution of the State was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 11 +to 9.----Serious Indian difficulties have occurred again in the +interior. In Trinity County a company of armed citizens went in +pursuit of a band of Indians who were supposed to have been concerned +in the murder of one of their fellow-citizens. On the 22d of April +they overtook them, encamped on the south fork of Trinity river, and +taking them by surprise, shot not less than a hundred and fifty of +them in cold blood. Men, women, and children were alike +destroyed.----Accounts of murders, accidents, &c., abound. The +accounts from the mining districts continue to be encouraging. + +From the SANDWICH ISLANDS, we have news to the 10th of April. +Parliament was opened on the 7th. In the Society group, the people of +Raiatea have rebelled against the authority of Queen Pomare. She had +just appointed one of her sons to the government of Raiatea, but +before his arrival the inhabitants had assembled, as those of the +others had previously done, elected a Governor of their own choice for +two years, and formed a Republic of confederated States, each island +to constitute a separate State. Military preparations had been made to +resist any attempt on the part of the Queen to regain her authority. +It was said that she had applied ineffectually for assistance to the +French, English, and American authorities at Tahiti. There seemed to +be little doubt that all the Leeward islands would establish their +independence. + + +MEXICO. + +We have news from the city of Mexico to the 10th of May. The news of +the rejection of the Tehuantepec treaty is fully confirmed. The vote +was almost unanimous against it, and is fully sustained by the press +and public sentiment. The Government, however, has appointed Mr. +Larrainzas a special envoy to the United States, and has given him, it +is said, instructions for arranging this difficulty upon some +mutually-satisfactory basis. It is reported that Mexico is not +unwilling to grant a right of way across the Isthmus, but that the +very large grants of land embraced in the original treaty led to its +rejection. Upon this point, however, nothing definite is known.----A +difficulty has arisen between the Legislature of the State of Vera +Cruz and the Mexican Congress. The former insists upon a greater +reduction of the tariff of 1845 than the ten per cent. allowed by the +National Senate. The Senate will allow this reduction of ten per +cent., but refuses to do away with any of the duties. The Lower House +of Congress, on the contrary, is in favor of abolishing some of the +duties. Zacatecas and Durango, besides being ravaged by the savages, +are suffering from the visitation of a general famine. + + +SOUTH AMERICA. + +From BUENOS AYRES we have news to the 5th of April. The upper +provinces have sent in felicitations to General Urquiza upon his +accession to power. It is thought that the provinces will unite in a +General Confederacy, under a Central Government, framed upon the model +of that of the United States: and it is suggested that General Urquiza +will probably aspire to the position of President. He is conducting +affairs firmly and successfully, though against great difficulties in +the province, and has issued several proclamations calling upon the +people to sustain him in maintaining order and tranquillity. It is +said that a rupture has occurred between the Brazilian authorities and +the Oriental government, in regard to the execution of late treaties +made and ratified by President Suarez. Negotiations had been +suspended. + +From CHILI we hear of the execution, at Valparaiso, on the 4th of +April, of Cambiaso, the brigand leader of the convict insurrection at +the Straits of Magellan, together with six of his accomplices. They +all belonged to the army, Cambiaso being a lieutenant, and were +stationed at the garrison. The insurrection which he headed resulted +in the seizure of two American vessels, and the murder of all on +board. Several others connected with him were convicted, but pardoned +on proof that they had been forced to join him. + +From RIO JANEIRO the only news of interest, is that of the ravages of +the yellow-fever, which has been very severe, especially among the +shipping. At the middle of April, there were great numbers of +American ships in port, unable to muster hands enough to get out of +port. + +In PERU the Government has issued a decree against Gen. Flores's +expedition, dated the 14th of March, and stated that having received +repeated information of the warlike preparations taking place in Peru, +they have ordered the Prefects of the different provinces to take all +possible measures to put a stop to them; that government will not +afford protection to any Peruvian citizen who should embark on this +expedition, or take any part in it, and that all Peruvian vessels +engaged in the expedition, would no longer be considered as bearing +the national flag. + +From NEW GRENADA we learn that the President has issued a Message +concerning the Flores expedition against Ecuador. From this it appears +that, according to a treaty of peace, amity, and alliance, established +between the Government and that of Ecuador, in December, 1832, the one +power is at all times bound to render aid to the other, both military +and pecuniary, in case of foreign invasion. To this end, the President +has proclaimed that there be raised in this country, either by loan or +force, the sum of sixteen millions of reals, or two millions dollars; +and further, that twenty thousand men be called to serve under arms, +in order to assist the sister republic. The President declares his +intention to oppose Flores and all countries rendering him aid, and +accuses Peru of fitting out two vessels, and Valparaiso one, to assist +in his expedition; he also demands authority to confiscate the +property of all natives and foreigners residing in New Grenada, who +may be found to have aided or abetted Flores in any way in his present +revolutionary movement. He further states his belief that Flores is +merely endeavoring to carry out his revolutionary movement of 1846, in +which he was defeated by the British Government, and that the object +of the present revolution is to re-establish a monarchical government +on the South Pacific coast, under the old Spanish rule. He also +expresses his fears that Flores, if successful in Ecuador, will +immediately come into New Grenada, and therefore deems it not only a +matter of honor, but also of policy, to assist Ecuador. Among the +documents submitted, is an official letter to the Ecuadorian +Government, from the United States Chargé d'Affairs at Guayaquil, the +Hon. C. CUSHING; in which he says that "he believes himself +sufficiently authorized to state that the Government of the United +States will not look with indifference at any warlike movements +against Ecuador, likely to effect its independence or present +government." At the latest dates, the 27th of April, Flores was still +at Puna, delaying his attack upon that place until the war he had +endeavored to excite between Peru and Ecuador, should break out. He +then expected sufficient aid from Peru to render his capture of the +place easy. Other accounts represent his forces as being rapidly +diminished by desertion; but these can scarcely be deemed authentic. +Reliable intelligence had reached Guayaquil that Peru had sent +reinforcements to the fleet of Flores, and this had created so great +an excitement that the residence of the Peruvian Consul was attacked +and demolished by a mob. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +The intelligence from England extends from the 19th of April to the +22d of May, and embraces several items of more than ordinary interest. +Parliament re-assembled on the day first named, after the holiday +recess. In the House of Commons a committee was appointed, to inquire +into the condition of the British Empire in India,--after a speech +upon that subject from the President of the Board of Control, who +took occasion to say that the affairs of that country had never before +stood upon so good a footing, or in a position so well calculated to +develop its resources. There were now 2846 natives employed in +administrative offices, and forty educational establishments had been +endowed, in which the instruction given was of the highest +character.----On the 22d, Mr. Milner Gibson submitted a motion adverse +to continuing the duty upon paper, the stamp duties upon newspapers, +and the advertisement taxes. The proposition gave rise to a protracted +discussion, in which the injurious character of these duties, in +restricting the general diffusion of knowledge among the poorer +classes of the English people, was very generally admitted, and a wish +was expressed on all sides to have them removed. But the Chancellor of +the Exchequer feared the effect of such a step upon the revenue of the +kingdom--which the proposal would sacrifice to the extent of a million +and a half of pounds. Upon his motion the debate was adjourned until +the 12th of May, when it was renewed. Mr. Gladstone spoke earnestly in +exposition of the depressing influence of these taxes upon the +production and sale of books, but conceded full weight to the +financial reasons which had been urged against their removal. The vote +was then taken, first, upon the motion to abolish the paper duty as +soon as it could be done with safety to the revenue: which received +ayes, 107--noes, 195; being lost by a majority of 88; next, upon the +abolition of the stamp duty on newspapers; for which there were ayes, +100--noes, 199: majority against it, 99; and lastly, upon the motion +to abolish the tax upon advertisements, for which there were 116 ayes, +and 181 noes, and which was thus rejected by a majority of 65.----On +the 23d of April, the Militia Bill came up; and was supported by the +Ministerial party, and opposed by the late Ministers. Lord John +Russell opposed it, because he deemed it inadequate to the emergency. +The 41,000 infantry which it proposed to raise, he deemed +insufficient, and the character of the force provided, he feared would +make it unreliable. Lord Palmerston vindicated the bill against Lord +John's objections, and thought it at once less expensive and more +efficient than the one submitted by the late government. On the 26th, +to which the debate was adjourned, after further discussion, the +second reading of the bill was carried by 315 to 105.----The bill came +up again on the 6th, when Mr. Disraeli declared that its main object +was to habituate the people of Great Britain to the use of arms, and +thus to lay the foundation of a constitutional system of national +defense. He did not claim that the bill would at once produce a +disciplined army, able to encounter the veteran legions of the world; +but it would be a step in the right direction. After the debate, an +amendment, moved by Mr. Gibson, that the words 80,000 should not form +part of the bill, was rejected, 106 to 207. On the 13th, the debate +was renewed, and several other amendments, designed to embarrass the +bill, were rejected. But up to our latest dates, the vote on its final +passage had not been taken.----On the 10th of May, the Ministry was +defeated, upon a motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for leave +to bring in a bill to assign the four seats in Parliament, which would +be vacated if the bill for the disfranchisement of the borough of St. +Albans should pass. He proposed to assign two of these seats to the +West-Riding of Yorkshire, and the other two to the southern division +of the county of Lancaster. The motion was lost: receiving 148 votes +in favor, and 234 against it--being an anti-Ministerial majority of +86.----The Tenant Right Bill, intended to meliorate the condition of +land cultivators in Ireland, was rejected on the 5th, by a vote of 57 +to 167, upon the second reading.----The Court of Exchequer having +decided against the right of Alderman Salomons to take his seat in +Parliament, Lord Lyndhurst has introduced a bill to remove Jewish +disabilities.----The Duke of Argyle called attention, on the 17th, to +the case of Mr. Murray, an Englishman, who was said to have been +imprisoned for several years in Rome, without a trial, and to be now +lying under sentence of death. The Earl of Malmesbury said that +strenuous efforts had been made to procure reliable information upon +this case; but that great difficulty had been experienced, in +consequence of the very defective and unworthy provisions which +existed for diplomatic intercourse with the Roman government. The Duke +of Argyle thought that the English government owed to its own dignity +some energetic action upon this case. The correspondence upon this +subject, as also that with Austria upon the expulsion of Protestant +missionaries from that country, was promised at an early day. On the +27th of April, Mr. Disraeli, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made the +annual statement of the financial condition and necessities of the +kingdom, which had been awaited with great interest, as an official +announcement of the intended course of the new Ministry upon the +subject of taxation. He discussed, in succession, the three modes of +deriving income--from duties on imports, duties on domestic +manufactures, and direct taxation. During the last ten years, under +the policy established in 1842 by Sir Robert Peel, the duties upon +corn and other articles of import, have been reduced, in the +aggregate, upward of nine million pounds sterling; and this reduction +had been so steadily and regularly made every year, that any +proposition to restore them would now have very slight chances of +success. In the excise duties, also, there had been reductions to the +amount of a million and a half; and it was clear that the Minister who +should propose to increase the revenue by adding to the duties on +domestic manufactures, could not expect to be sustained by the House +or the country. The income tax had been very unpopular, and could only +be renewed last year, for a single year, and then with very +considerable modifications. Comparing the actual income of the past +year, with that which had been estimated, Mr. Disraeli said that, +while it had been estimated at £52,140,000, the actual income had been +£52,468,317, notwithstanding the loss of £640,000 by the change of the +house tax for the window duty, and the reduction in the coffee, +timber, and sugar duties. The customs had been estimated to produce +£20,000,000. After deducting the anticipated loss, £400,000, on +account of the three last-named duties, they had produced £20,673,000; +and the consumption of the articles on which the duties had been +reduced had increased--foreign coffee by 3,448,000 lbs., as compared +with 1851, when the higher and differential duty prevailed; and +colonial coffee from 28,216,000 lbs. to 29,130,000 lbs. Foreign sugar +had increased in the last year by 412,000 cwts., and since 1846 (when +the first reduction took place) by 1,900,000 cwts. a year; British +colonial sugar, by upward of 114,000 in 1852, as compared with 1851; +and during the last six years the consumption had increased 95,000 +tons, or 33 per cent. on the consumption of 1846; and in timber the +result was the same. The other heads of revenue had been thus +estimated: Excise, £14,543,000; stamps, £6,310,000; taxes, £4,348,000; +property tax, £5,380,000; Post-office, £830,000; Woods and Forests, +£160,000; miscellaneous, £262,000; old stores, £450,000; and had +produced respectively £14,543,000, £6,346,000, £3,691,000, £5,283,000, +£1,056,000, £150,000, £287,000, and £395,000. The expenditure of the +year, estimated at £50,247,000, had been £50,291,000, and the surplus +in hand was £2,176,988. The expenditure for the current year he +estimated at £51,163,979, including an additional vote to be proposed +of £200,000 for the Kaffir war, and another of £350,000 for the +expenses of the militia. The income, which in some items had been +increased by the Exhibition last year, was estimated for the next year +thus--Customs, £20,572,000; Excise, £14,604,000; stamps, £6,339,000; +taxes, £3,090,000; property tax (the half-year), £2,641,500; +Post-office, £938,000; Woods and Forests, £235,000; miscellaneous, +£260,000; old stores, £400,000; total, £48,983,000, exhibiting a +deficiency of £2,180,479, which would be increased in the next year by +the total loss of the income tax, supposing it not to be renewed, to +£4,400,000. If, however, that tax were re-imposed, he calculated it +would produce net £5,187,000, which would give a gross income, from +all sources, of £51,625,000, the surplus would then be £461,021. And +though it would give him great pleasure to re-adjust the burdens of +taxation fairly and equally on all classes, and all interests, yet, +seeing the position of the finances, and the difficulty, if not +impossibility, of dealing with the subject in the present state of +feeling in the House and the country, he felt bound to propose the +re-imposition of the property and income tax for a further limited +period of one year. This statement was received by the House, as by +the whole country, as embodying a substantial tribute from the +Protectionist Ministry to the soundness of the Free Trade policy and +to the necessity of leaving it undisturbed. + +The annual dinner of the Royal Academy was attended on the 1st with +more than usual eclat. Sir Charles Eastlake presided, and proposed the +health of the Duke of Wellington, who duly acknowledged the +compliment. The Earl of Derby was present, and spoke encouragingly of +the prospect of having a better building soon erected for the +accommodation of the Academy's works. Pleasant compliments were +exchanged between Disraeli and Lord John Russell, and speeches were +made by sundry other dignitaries who were in attendance.----At the +Lord Mayor's dinner, on the 8th, the festivities partook more of a +political character. The Earl of Derby spoke long and eloquently of +the nature of the British Government, urging that in all its various +departments it was a compromise between conflicting expedients and a +system of mutual concessions between apparently conflicting interests. +Count Walewski, the French Minister, congratulated the company on the +good understanding which prevailed between France and England, and Mr. +Disraeli spoke of the House of Commons as a true republic--"the only +republic, indeed, that exists founded upon the principles of liberty, +equality, and fraternity; but liberty there was maintained by +order--equality is mitigated by good taste, and fraternity takes the +shape of cordial brotherhood."----The anniversary dinner of the Royal +Literary Fund took place on the 12th, and was chiefly distinguished by +an amusing speech from Thackeray. + +An important collision has occurred between the book publishers in +London and the retail booksellers, which has engrossed attention to no +inconsiderable extent. The publishers, it seems, have been in the +habit of fixing a retail price upon their books, and then selling them +to dealers at a deduction of twenty-five per cent. Some of the +latter, thinking to increase their sales thereby, have contented +themselves with a smaller rate of profit, and have sold their books at +less than the price fixed by the publishers. Against this the latter +have taken active measures of remonstrance, having formed an +association among themselves, and agreed to refuse to deal with +booksellers who should thus undersell the regular trade. On the other +hand the retail dealers have held meetings to assert their rights, and +one of them, held on the 4th, was attended by a very large number of +the authors and men of letters interested in the question. Mr. Dickens +presided, and a characteristic letter was read from Mr. Carlyle, who +was warmly in favor of the objects of the meeting, though he thought +many other things necessary to give authors their proper position in +society. The rights of the case were submitted to Lord Campbell, Mr. +Grote, and Dr. Milman, who heard both sides argued, and gave a +decision on the 18th, on all points _against_ the regulations for +which the publishers contended. + +Very sad intelligence has reached England of the fate of a party of +seven missionaries, who were sent out by the Protestant Missionary +Society, in 1850, to Patagonia. Captain Gardiner was at the head of +the band. The vessel that took them out landed at Picton Island, off +the southern coast of Terra del Fuego, on the 6th of December, 1850, +and kept hovering about to see how they were likely to be received. +The natives seemed menacing: but on the 18th of December the +missionaries left the ship, and with their stores of provisions, +Bibles, &c., embarked in two boats, meaning to make for the coast of +Terra del Fuego. On the 19th the ship sailed; and no news of them +having reached England, the ship _Dido_ was ordered by the Admiralty +in October, 1850, to touch there, and ascertain their fate. The _Dido_ +reached the coast in January, and after ten or twelve days of search, +on a rock near where they first landed on Picton Island, a writing was +found directing them to go to Spaniard Harbor, on the opposite Fuegan +coast. Here were found, near a large cavern, the unburied bodies of +Captain Gardiner and another of the party; and the next day the bodies +of three others were found. A manuscript journal, kept by Captain +Gardiner, down to the last day when, only two or three days before his +death, he became too weak to write, was also found, from which it +appeared that the parties were driven off by the natives whenever they +attempted to land; that they were thus compelled to go backward and +forward in their boats, and at last took refuge in Spaniard harbor, as +the only spot where they could be safe; that they lived there eight +months, partly in a cavern and partly under shelter of one of the +boats, and that three of them died by sickness, and the others by +literal and lingering starvation. Four months elapsed between the +death of the last of the party and the discovery of their bodies. The +publication of the journal of Captain Gardiner, in which profound +piety is shown mingled with his agonizing grief, has excited a deep +sensation throughout England.----An explosion occurred in a coal pit +in the Aberdare valley, South Wales, on the 10th, by which sixty-four +lives were lost; another pit near Pembrey filled with water the same +night, and twenty-seven men were drowned.----The fate of the Crystal +Palace was sealed by a vote in the House of Commons of 103 to 221 on a +proposition to provide for its preservation. It has been sold, and is +to be forthwith taken down, and re-erected out of town, for a winter +garden.----A memorial numerously and most respectably signed, was +presented to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, on the 17th of May, +praying that the Queen would extend clemency to the Irish State +prisoners now in exile at Van Dieman's Land. The Lord Lieutenant, in a +brief and direct speech, declined to lay the memorial before her +Majesty, on the ground that the exiles in question deserved no further +clemency at her hands. He noticed, with censure, the fact that one of +them had effected his escape. + + +FRANCE. + +The _fêtes_ of May 10th, were attended with great splendor and eclat; +but the non-proclamation of the Empire on that occasion is the feature +most remarked upon by the foreign press. The number of troops present +is estimated at 80,000. The whole Champ de Mars had been prepared +especially for the occasion. The President was received with loud +applause. After distributing the eagles among the various regiments, +he addressed them briefly, saying that the history of nations was, in +a great measure, the history of armies--that on their success or +reverse depends the fate of civilization and of the country; that the +Roman eagle adopted by the Emperor Napoleon at the commencement of the +century was the most striking signification of the regeneration and +the grandeur of France; and that it should now be resumed, not as a +menace against foreign powers, but as the symbol of independence, the +souvenir of an heroic epoch, and as the sign of the nobleness of each +regiment. After this address the standards were taken to the chapel +and blessed by the Archbishop. The ceremonies were protracted and +attended by an immense concourse of spectators.----General Changarnier +has addressed a remarkable letter to the Minister of the Interior in +reply to his demand that he should take the oath of allegiance to +Louis Napoleon. He says that the President had repeatedly endeavored +to seduce him to his support--that he had offered not only to make him +Marshal but to confer upon him another military dignity unknown since +the Empire, and to attach to it immense pecuniary rewards; that when +he perceived that personal ambition had no effect upon him, he +endeavored to gain him over, by pretending a design to prepare the way +for the restoration of the Monarchy to which he supposed him to be +attached. All these attempts had been without effect. He had never +ceased to be ready to defend with energy the legal powers of Louis +Napoleon, and to give every opposition to the illegal prolongation of +those powers. The exile he had undergone in solitude and silence had +not changed his opinion of the duties he owed to France. He would +hasten to her defense should she be attacked, but he refused the oath +exacted by the perjured man who had failed to corrupt him. In reply to +this letter, M. Cassagnac, editor of the _Constitutionnel_, brought +against General Changarnier specific charges--that in March, 1849, he +demanded from Louis Napoleon written authority to throw the +Constituent Assembly out of the window--that he subsequently urged him +in the strongest manner to make a _coup d'etat_; and that in November, +1850, he assembled a number of political personages, and proposed to +them to arrest Louis Napoleon and send him to prison, to prorogue the +Assembly for six months, and to make him Dictator. It was further +alleged that one of the persons present at this meeting was M. Molé, +who refused to sanction the scheme and immediately disclosed it to the +President. Count Molé immediately published an indignant denial of the +whole story, so far as his name had been connected with it.----General +Lamoriciere has, also, in a published letter, refused to take the oath +required; he declares his readiness to defend France against foreign +foes whenever she shall be attacked, but he will not take the oath of +fidelity to a perjured chief.----The venerable astronomer, Arago, has +also refused to take the oath of allegiance required of all connected +in any way with the government. He wrote a firm and dignified letter +to the Minister notifying him of his purpose, and calling on him to +designate the day when it would be necessary for him to quit the +Bureau of Longitude with which he had been so closely connected for +half a century. He also informed him that he should address a circular +letter to scientific men throughout the world, explaining the +necessity which drove him from an establishment with which his name +had been so long associated, and to vindicate his motives from +suspicion. The Minister informed him that, in consideration of his +eminent services to the cause of science, the government had decided +not to exact the oath, and that he could therefore retain his +post.----These examples of non-concurrence in the new policy of the +President have been followed by inferior magistrates in various parts +of France. In several of the departments members of the local councils +have refused to take the oaths of allegiance, and in the towns of +Havre, Thiers, and Evreux the tribunals of commerce have done +likewise. The civil courts of Paris have also, in one or two +instances, asserted their independence by deciding against the +government in prosecutions commenced against the press. On the 23d of +April, moreover, the civil tribunal gave judgment on the demand made +by the Princes of the Orleans family to declare illegal the seizure by +the Prefect of the Seine, of the estates of Neuilly and Monceaux, +under the decree of the 22d of January, relative to the property of +the late king, Louis Philippe. In answer to this demand, the Prefect +of the Seine, in the name of the government, called on the tribunal to +declare that the decree of 22d January was a legislative act, and the +seizure of the property an administrative act, and that consequently +the tribunal had no jurisdiction. The case was pleaded at great +length; and the court pronounced a judgment declaring itself +competent, keeping the case before it, fixing a day for discussing it +on its merits, and condemning the Prefect in costs. These movements +indicate a certain degree of reaction in the public mind, and have +prepared the way for the favorable reception of a letter which the +Bourbon pretender, the Count de Chambord, has issued to the partisans +of monarchy throughout France. This letter is dated at Venice, April +27, and is designed as an official declaration of his wishes to all +who wish still to remain faithful to the principles which he +represents. He declares it to be the first duty of royalists to do no +act, to enter into no engagement, in opposition to their political +faith. They must not hesitate, therefore, to refuse all offices where +promises are required from them contrary to their principles, and +which would not permit them to do in all circumstances what their +convictions impose upon them. Still, important and active duties are +devolved upon them. They should reside as much as possible in the +midst of the population on whom they can exercise influence, and +should try, by rendering themselves useful to them, to acquire, each +day, still greater claims to their gratitude and confidence. They +ought also to aid the government in its struggles against anarchy and +socialism, and to show themselves in all emergencies the most +courageous defenders of social order. Even in case of an attempt to +re-establish the Empire, they are exhorted to abstain from doing any +thing to endanger the repose of the country, but to protest formally +against any change which can endanger the destinies of France, and +expose it once more to catastrophes and perils from which the +legitimate monarchy alone can save it. He urges them to be unalterable +on matters of principle, but at the same time calm, patient, and ever +moderate and conciliating toward persons. "Let your ranks, your +hearts," he says, "like mine, remain continually open to all. We are +all thrown on times of trials and of sacrifices; and my friends will +not forget that it is from the land of exile that I make this new +appeal to their constancy and their devotedness. Happier days are yet +in store for France and for us. I am certain of the fact. It is in my +ardent love for my country--it is in the hope of serving it--of being +able to serve it--that I gather the strength and the courage necessary +for me to accomplish the great duties which have been imposed on me by +Providence."----Additional importance is ascribed to this proclamation +from the fact that it was made just after a visit from the Grand Dukes +of Russia and Venice, and just before the arrival of the Emperor +Nicholas at Vienna. The death of Prince Schwarzenberg is supposed to +have led to a still closer union of interest and of policy between +Austria and Russia, as the personal leanings both of the Austrian +Emperor, and the new prime Minister are known to be in that direction. + +Some further developments have been made of the sentiments of the +three allied powers, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, concerning the +re-establishment of the Empire in France. It is represented that the +late Minister of Austria was in favor of encouraging such a step, but +that both the other powers concurred in saying that the accomplishment +of it would be a "violation of the treaties of 1814 and 1815, inasmuch +as those treaties have excluded for ever the family of Bonaparte from +the government of France." Now, those treaties form the basis of the +whole policy of Europe; and it is the duty of the powers to demand +that they shall be respected by the President of the Republic himself +in all their provisions, and particularly not to permit any infraction +of them as to the point in question, which has reference to him +personally. Nevertheless, the sovereigns of Prussia and Russia would +not perhaps be disposed to refuse to recognize Louis Napoleon +Bonaparte as Emperor of the French Republic--if that title were +conferred on him by a new plébiscite--as had been spoken of but they +should only recognize him as an elective Emperor, and for life, with +only a status analogous to that of the former kings of Poland. If the +two cabinets of St. Petersburg and Berlin consented to such a +recognition, it was the utmost that it was possible to do; but, most +certainly, beyond that point they should never go. At the same time, +the cabinets formally declare, that they would only recognize the +Emperor of the French Republic on the condition of his election being +the result of the mode already announced (the plébiscite). They will +not admit any other manner of re-establishing in France an imperial +throne, even were it but for life; the two sovereigns being firmly +resolved never to accept in the person of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, +any other than the supreme elective chief of the Republic, and to +oppose by all the means in their power the pretension of establishing +the actual President of the French Republic as Emperor, in the sense +of an hereditary transmitter or founder of a Napoleonian dynasty. They +add, that Louis Napoleon Bonaparte not being the issue of a sovereign +or reigning family, can not become a real sovereign, or assimilate +himself to reigning houses.----The pictures belonging to the late +Marshal Soult were sold at auction on the 19th. The collection +consisted of 157 paintings, and among them were many of the +master-pieces of the old masters. The most celebrated was Murillo's +'Conception of the Virgin,' for which the chief competitors were the +Emperor of Russia, the Queen of Spain, and the Director of the Louvre. +It was bought by the latter at the enormous price of 586,000 +francs,--or about $117,200. + + +EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE. + +In PRUSSIA, a communication was made on the 28th of April by the King +to the Chambers, transmitting a bill to abolish the articles of the +Constitution and regulate the organization of the peerage. In the +First Chamber it was referred to the existing committee on the +constitution of the body concerned. In the Second Chamber a committee +was appointed to consider the measure. The minister desired that the +matter might be quickly dispatched. In the same sitting of the 28th, +the Second Chamber came to two other important votes. It rejected, by +a majority of 186 to 82, the resolution of the First Chamber, and +which, dividing the budget of ordinary and extraordinary expenses, +decided that the first should be no longer fixed annually, but once +for all, and that no future modification should take place, except by +a law. It also rejected, by 225 to 57, another decision of the First +Chamber, by which it had declared, in opposition to the Constitution, +that it could vote the budget, article by article, like the Second +Chamber. + +In TUSCANY a decree of the Grand Duke has abolished the Constitution +and Civic Guard, and constituted the government on the same basis as +before 1848. The ministers are henceforward responsible to the Grand +Duke; the Council of State is separated from that of the Ministers; +the communal law of 1849 and the law on the press are to be revised. + +The DANISH question has been settled in London, by conferences of the +representatives of the several powers concerned. Prince Christian of +Glucksberg is to succeed to the crown on the death of the present King +and his brother, both of whom are childless. + +In TURKEY all differences with Egypt have been adjusted. Fuad-Effendi, +it is announced by the Paris _Presse_, justifying all the hopes which +his mission had given birth to, has come to a complete understanding +with the Egyptian government, whose good intentions and perfect fair +dealing he admits. The Viceroy accepts the code with the modifications +called for by the state of the country, and which the Turco-Egyptian +Commissioners had already fixed in their conferences at +Constantinople. On its side, the Porte accords to the Viceroy the +right of applying the punishment of death during seven years, without +reference to the divan. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +The birth-day of a nation is not merely a figurative expression. +Nations are _born_ as well as men. The very etymology of the word +implies as much. Social compacts may be _declarative of their +independence_, or definitive of their existence, but do not create +them. In truth, all such compacts and conventions do in themselves +imply a previous natural growth or organization lying necessarily +still farther back, as the ground of any legitimacy they may possess. +There can be no _con-vening_ unless there is something to determine, +_a priori_, who shall _come together_, and how they shall come +together--as _representatives_ of what _principals_--as _parts_ of +what ascertained _whole_--with what powers, on what terms, and for +what ends. There can no more be an artificial nation than an +artificial language. Aside from other influences, all attempts of the +kind must be as abortive in politics as they have ever been in +philology. Nations are not manufactured, either to order or otherwise, +but born--born of other nations, and nurtured in those peculiar +arrangements of God's providence which are expressly adapted to such a +result. The analogy between them and individuals may be traced to +almost any extent. They have, in general, some one event in which +there may be discovered the conceptive principle, or _principium_, of +their national life. They have their embryo or formative period. They +have their _birth_, or the time of their complete separation from the +maternal nationality to which they were most nearly and dependently +united. They have their struggling infancy--their youth--their +growth--_their heroic period_--their iron age of hardship +and utility--their manhood--their silver age of luxury and +refinement--their golden age of art and science and literature--their +acme--their decline--their decay--their final extinction, or else +their dissolution into those fragmentary organisms from which spring +up again the elements or seeds of future nationalities. + +We need not trace our own history through each of these periods. The +incipient stages have all been ours, although, in consequence of a +more healthy and vigorous maternity, we have passed through them with +a rapidity of which the previous annals of the world present no +examples. Less than a century has elapsed since that birth, whose +festive natal day is presented in the calendar of the present month, +and yet we are already approaching the season of manhood. We have +passed that proud period which never comes but once in a nation's +life, although it may be succeeded by others far surpassing it in what +may be esteemed the more substantial elements of national wealth and +national prosperity. Almost every state has had its HEROIC AGE. We too +have had ours, and we may justly boast of it as one equaling in +interest and grandeur any similar period in the annals of Greece and +Rome--as one which would not shrink from a comparison with the +chivalrous youth of any of the nations of modern Europe. It is the +unselfish age, or rather, the time when the self-consciousness, both +individual and national, is lost in some strong and all-absorbing +emotion--when a strange elevation of feeling and dignity of action are +imparted to human nature, and men act from motives which seem +unnatural and incredible to the more calculating and selfish +temperaments of succeeding times. It is a period which seems designed +by Providence, not for itself only, or the great effects of which it +is the immediate cause, but for its influence upon the whole +after-current of the national existence. The strong remembrance of it +becomes a part of the national life; it enters into its most common +and constant thinking, gives a peculiar direction to its feeling; it +imparts a peculiar character to its subsequent action; it makes its +whole historical being very different from what it would have been had +there been no such epic commencement, no such superhuman or _heroic +birth_. It furnishes a treasury of glorious reminiscences wherewith to +reinvigorate from time to time the national virtue when impaired, as +it ever is, by the factious, and selfish, and unheroic temper produced +by subsequent days of merely economical or utilitarian prosperity. + +This heroic age must pass away. It is sustained, while it lasts, by +special influences which can not have place in the common life and +ordinary work of humanity. Its continuance, therefore, would be +inconsistent with other benefits and other improvements of a more +sober or less exciting kind, but which, nevertheless, belong to the +proper development of the state. The deep effects, however, still +remain. It inspires the poet and the orator. It furnishes the +historian with his richest page. It tinges the whole current of the +national literature. In fact, there can be no such thing as a national +literature, in its truest sense--there can be no national poetry, no +true national art, no national music, except as more or less +intimately connected with the spirit of such a period. + +It was not the genius of democracy simply, as Grote and some other +historians maintain, but the heroic remembrances of the Persian +invasion, that roused the Grecian mind, and created the brilliant +period of the Grecian civilization. The new energy that came from this +period was felt in every department--of song, of eloquence, of art, +and even of philosophy. Marathon and Salamis still sustained the +national life when it was waning under the mere political wisdom of +Pericles, the factious recklessness of Alcibiades, and the still more +debasing influence of the venal demagogues of later times. When this +old spirit had gone out, there was nothing in the mere forms of her +free institutions that could prevent Athens from sinking down into +insignificance, or from being absorbed in the growth of new and rising +powers. + +Rome would never have been the mistress of the world, had it not been +for the heroic impetus generated in the events which marked her +earliest annals. Even if we are driven to regard these as in a great +measure mythical, they still, in the highest and most valid sense, +belong to Roman history, and all the efforts of Niebuhr and of Arnold +have failed, and ever will fail, to divest them of the rank they have +heretofore maintained among the formative influences in the Roman +character. They entered into the national memory. They formed for ages +the richest and most suggestive part of the national thinking. They +became thus more really and vitally incorporated into the national +being than many events whose historical authenticity no critic has +ever called in question. But we can not believe them wholly or even +mainly mythical. Some of the more modern theories on this subject will +have to be re-examined. With all their plausibility they are open to +the objection of presenting the mightiest effects without adequate or +corresponding causes. Twelve hundred years of empire, such as that of +Rome, could not well have had its origin in any period marked by +events less strangely grand and chivalrous than those that Livy has +recorded. Brutus, and Cincinnatus, and Fabricius, must have been as +real as the splendid reality which could only have grown out of so +heroic an ancestry. The spirit of Numa more truly ruled, even in the +later Roman empire, than did ever that of Augustus. It was yet +powerful in the days of Constantine. It was still present in that +desperate struggle which made it difficult, even for a Christian +senate, to cast out the last vestiges of the old religion, and to +banish the Goddess of Victory from the altars and temples she had so +long occupied. + +A similar view, drawn from the Jewish history, must commend itself to +every one who has even an ordinary knowledge of the Scriptures. The +glorious deliverances from Egyptian bondage, the sublime reminiscences +of Sinai, the heroic, as exhibited in Moses, and Joshua, and Jephthah, +and Gideon, are ever reappearing in the Hebrew prophetic and lyrical +poetry. These proud recollections cheer them in the long years of the +captivity. Even in the latest and most debasing periods of their +history, they impart an almost superhuman energy to their struggle +with Rome; and what is more than all, after having sustained the +Jewish song, and the Jewish eloquence, during ages of depressing +conflict, their influence is still felt in all the noblest departments +of Christian art and Christian literature. + +No, we may almost say it, there can not truly be a nation without +something that may be called its heroic age; or if there have been +such, the want of this necessary fountain of political vitality has +been the very reason why they have perished from the pages of history. +We, too, have had such a period in our annals, and we are all the +better for it, and shall be all the better for it, as long as our +political existence shall endure. Some such chapter in our history +seems necessary to legitimate our claim to the appellation; and +however extravagant it may seem, the assertion may, nevertheless, be +hazarded, that one borrowed from the maternal nationality, or from a +foreign source, or even altogether mythical, would be better than none +at all. If we had not had our Pilgrim Fathers, our Mayflower band, our +Plymouth Rock, our Bunker Hill, our Saratoga, our Washingtons, our +Warrens, our Putnams, our Montgomerys, our heroic martyr-Congresses, +voting with the executioner and the ax before their eyes, we might +better have drawn upon the epic imagination for some such introduction +to our political existence, than regard it as commencing merely with +prosaic paper compacts, or such artificial gatherings as are presented +in your unheroic, though very respectable Baltimore and Harrisburg +Conventions. + +Some such chivalrous commencement is, moreover, absolutely essential +to that great idea of national _continuity_, so necessary for the +highest ends of political organization; and yet so liable to be +impaired or wholly lost in the strife of those ephemeral parties, +those ever-gathering, ever-dissolving factions, which, ignoring both +the future and the past, are absorbed solely in the magnified +interests of the present hour. For this purpose, we want an antiquity +of some kind--even though it may not be a distant one--something +parted from us by events so grand, so unselfish, so unlike the common, +every-day acts of the current years, as to have the appearance at +least of a sacred and memory-hallowed remoteness. We need to have our +store of glorious olden chronicles, over which time has thrown his +robe of reverence--a reverence which no profane criticism of after +days shall be allowed to call in question, no subsequent statistics be +permitted to impair. We need to have our proud remembrances for all +parties, for all interests, for all ages--our common fund of heroic +thought, affording a constant supply for the common mind of the state, +thus ever living in the national history, connecting each present not +only with such a heroic commencement, but, through it, with all the +past that intervenes, and in this way furnishing a historical bond of +union stronger than can be found in any amount of compromises or paper +constitutions. + +If we would be truly a State, we must have "_the Fathers_," and the +revered "olden time." It is in some such veneration for a common +glorious ancestry that a political organization finds its deepest +root. Instead of being absurd, it is the most rational, as well as the +most conservative of all feelings in which we can indulge. The more we +are under its influence, the higher do we rise in the scale of being +above the mere animal state, and that individualism which is its chief +characteristic. It is a "good and holy thought" thus to regard the +dead as still present with us, and past generations as still having an +interest in our history--still justly claiming some voice in the +administration of that _inheritance_ they have transmitted to us, and +in respect to which our influence over the ages to come will be in +proportion to our reverential remembrance of those that have preceded. +Such a feeling is the opposite of that banefully radical and +disorganizing view which regards the state as a mere aggregation of +individual local fragments in space, and a succession of +separately-flowing drops in time--which looks upon the present +majority of the present generation as representing the whole national +existence, and which is, of course, not only inconsistent with any +true historical life, but with any thing which is really entitled to +the name of fundamental or constitutional law. It is the opposite, +both in its nature and its effects, of that contemptible cant now so +common in both political parties, and which is ever talking of "Young +America" as some new development, unconnected with any thing that has +ever gone before it. The heroic men of our revolution, they were +"Young America;" the gambling managers of modern political caucuses, +to whatever party they may belong, or whatever may be their age or +standing, are the real and veritable "old fogies." + +We can not attach too much importance to this idea of _inheritance_, +so deeply grounded in the human mind. The _Sancti Patres_ are +indispensable to a true historical nationality. Hence the classical +name for country--_Patria a patribus_--_The Father-land_. We love it, +not simply for its present enjoyments and present associations, but +for its past recollections-- + + Land of the Pilgrims' pride, + Land where our fathers died. + +Without some such thought of transmitted interest continually carrying +the past into the present, and both into the future, patriotism is but +the cant of the demagogue. Our country is our country, not only in +space, but in time--not only territorially, but historically; and it +is in this latter aspect it must ever present its most intense and +vital interest. Where such an interest is excluded, or unappreciated, +there is nothing elevated, nothing heroic, to which the name of +patriotism can be given. There is nothing but the most momentary +selfishness which can bind our affections to one spot on earth more +than to any other. + +Opposed to this is a species of cosmopolitanism, which sometimes +claims the Scriptures as being on its side. The opinion, however, will +not stand the test of fair interpretation. The Bible, it is true, +enjoins love to all mankind, but not as a blind and abstract +philanthropy which would pass over all the intermediate gradations +that Infinite Wisdom has appointed. Love of "the fathers," love of +family, love of kindred, love of "our own people"--"our own, +our _native_ land"--our "own Zion," nationally, as well as +ecclesiastically, are commended, not only as good in themselves, but +as the foundation of all the other social virtues, as the appointed +means, in fact, by which the circle of the affections is legitimately +expanded, and, at the same time, with a preservation of that intensity +of feeling which is never found in any inflating abstract cosmopolitan +benevolence. + +In no book, too, do we find more distinctly set forth that idea which +we have styled the root of all true patriotism--the idea of the +national continuance from generation to generation, as a living, +responsible whole--as one ever-flowing stream, in which the individual +parts are passing away, it is true but evermore passing to that +"congregation of the fathers" which still lives in the present organic +life. It is presented, too, not as any difficult or transcendental or +mystical conception, but as a thought belonging everywhere to the +common mind, and necessarily underlying all those dread views the +Scripture so often give us of national accountability and national +retribution. + +Every country distinguished for great deeds has ever been proud of its +ancestors; has ever gloried in the facts of its early history; has +ever connected them with whatever was glorious in its later annals has +ever made them the boast of its eloquence, the themes of its poetry, +and the subjects of festal rejoicings. In the preservation of such +feelings and such ideas, our annual Fourth of July celebrations +instead of being useless, and worse than useless periods of noisy +declamation, as some would contend, are, in fact, doing more to +preserve our union than the strongest legislative acts. This may hold +when every other cable in the vessel has parted. The bare thought that +our glorious old Fourth of July could never more be celebrated in its +true spirit (and it would be equally gone for each and every sundered +fragment) is enough to check the wildest faction, and to stay the hand +of the most reckless disunionist. + +It was in view of such an effect, that one of our wisest statesmen, +one the farthest removed from the demagogue, and himself a +participator in our heroic struggle, is represented as so +enthusiastically commending this annual festival to the perpetual +observation of posterity, "Through the thick gloom of the present," he +exclaims, "I see the brightness of the future as the sun in heaven. We +shall make this _a glorious, an immortal day_. When we are in our +graves our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with +thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its +annual return, they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears of +exultation of gratitude, and of joy." "And so that day _shall_ be +honored," continues his eloquent eulogist--"And so that day shall be +honored, illustrious prophet and patriot! so that day shall be +honored, and as often as it returns thy renown shall come along with +it, and the glory of thy life, like the day of thy death, shall not +fail from the remembrance of men!" + +The highest reason, then, as well as the purest feeling, bid us not be +ashamed of glorying in our forefathers. Scripture is in unison here +with patriotism in commending the sacred sentiment. There is a +religious element in the true love of race and country. "The God of +our Fathers" becomes a prime article of the national as well as of the +ecclesiastical creed, and without the feeling inspired by it, +nationality may turn out to be a mere figment, which all political +bandages will fail to sustain against the disorganizing influence of +factious or sectional interests. It is not absurd, too, to cherish the +belief that our ancestors were better men than ourselves, if we +ourselves are truly made better by thus believing. + +As we have remarked before, there may be mythical exaggeration +attending such tradition, but if so, this very exaggeration must have +had its ground in something really transcending what takes place in +the ordinary course of a nation's life. Some late German scholars have +been hunting out depreciating charges against the hero of Marathon, +and, for this purpose, have subjected his very ashes to the most +searching critical analysis. Truth, it may be said, is always sacred. +We would not wish to undervalue the importance of the sentiment. But +Miltiades the patriot is the real element that exerted so heroic an +effect upon the subsequent Grecian history. Miltiades charged with +political offenses lives only as the subject of antiquarian research, +or a humiliating example of the common depravity appearing among the +most lauded of mankind. And so, in our own case, what political +utility can there be in discovering, even if it were so, that +Washington was not so wise, or Warren so brave, or Putnam so +adventurous, or Bunker Hill so heroically contested, as has been +believed? Away with such skepticism, we say, and the mousing criticism +by which it is sometimes attempted to be supported. Such beliefs have +at all events become real for us by entering into the very soul of our +history, and forming the staple of our national thought. To take them +away would now be a baneful disorganizing of the national mind. Their +influence has been felt in every subsequent event. Saratoga and +Monmouth have reappeared in Chippewa, and New Orleans, and Buena +Vista. May it not be hoped, too, that something of the men who +convened in Philadelphia on the 4th of July, 1776, or of that earlier +band on whom Burke pronounced his splendid eulogy, may still live, +even in the worst and poorest of our modern Congresses! + +Again, this reverence for "the fathers" is the most healthfully +conservative of all influences, because it presents the common sacred +ground on which all political parties, all sectional divisions, and +all religious denominations can heartily unite. Every such difference +ought to give way, and, in general, does give way, in the presence of +the healing spirit that comes to us from the remembrance of those old +heroic times. The right thinking Episcopalian not only acquiesces, but +rejoices cordially in the praises of the Pilgrim Fathers. He can glory +even in their stern puritanism, without losing a particle of reverence +or respect for his own cherished views. The Presbyterian glows with +pride at the mention of the cavaliers of Virginia, and sees in their +ancient loyalty the strength and consistency of their modern +republicanism. The most rigid Churchman of either school--whether of +Canterbury or Geneva--finds his soul refreshed by the thought of that +more than martial heroism which distinguished the followers of Penn +and the first colonists of Pennsylvania. + +Our rapid editorial view has been suggested by the great festal period +of the current month; but we can not close it without the expression +of one thought which we deem of the highest importance. If the +influences coming from this heroic age of our history are so very +precious, we should be careful not to diminish their true conservative +power, by associating them with every wretched imitation for which +there may be claimed the same or a similar name. The memory of our +revolution (to which we could show, if time permitted, there should be +given a truer and a nobler epithet) is greatly lowered by being +compared continually with every miserable Cuban expedition and +Canadian invasion, or every European _émeute_, without any reference +to the grounds on which they are attempted, or the characters and +motives of those by whom they are commenced. We may indeed sympathize +with every true effort to burst the hard bonds of irresponsible power; +but we should carefully see to it that our own sacred deposit of +glorious national reminiscences lose not all its reverence by being +brought out for too common uses, or profaned by too frequent +comparison with that which is really far below it, if not altogether +of a different kind. When Washington and Greene and Franklin are thus +placed side by side with Lopez, and Ledru-Rollin, and Louis Blanc, or +a profane parallel is run between the Pilgrim colonists and modern +Socialists and St. Simonians, there is only an inevitable degradation +on the one side without any true corresponding elevation on the other. +They are the enemies of our revolution, and of its true spirit, who +are thus for making it subservient to all purposes that may be +supposed to bear the least resemblance. Our fathers' struggle, be it +ever remembered, was not for the subversion but the conservation of +constitutional law, and, therefore, even its most turbulent and +seemingly lawless acts acquire a dignity placing them above all vulgar +reference, and all vulgar imitation. He is neither a patriot nor a +philanthropist who would compare the destruction of the tea in the +harbor of Boston with every abolition riot, or every resistance to our +own solemnly enacted laws, or every lynching mob that chooses to +caricature the forms of justice, or every French _émeute_, or +revolutionary movement with its mock heroics--its burlesque travestie +of institutions it can not comprehend, and of a liberty for which it +so soon shows itself utterly unqualified. It is our mission to redeem +and elevate mankind, by showing that the spirit of our heroic times +lives constantly in the political institutions to which they gave +birth, and that republican forms are perfectly consistent, not only +with personal liberty, but with all those higher ideas that are +connected with the conservation of law, of reverence, of loyalty, of +rational submission to right authority--in a word, of true +_self-government_, as the positive antithesis to that animal and +counterfeit thing--the _government of self_. It is not the +conservative who is staying the true progress of mankind. A licentious +press, a corrupt and gambling spirit of faction in our political +parties, and, above all, frequent exhibitions of vulgar demagoguism in +our legislative bodies, may do more to strengthen and perpetuate the +European monarchies, than all the ignorance of their subjects, and all +the power of their armies. + + + + +Editor's Easy Chair. + + +An Easy Chair for July, and specially for such hot July, as we doubt +not is just now ripening over our readers' heads, should be a cool +chair, with a lining of leather, rather than the soft plushes which +beguile the winter of its iciness. Just so, we should be on the +look-out in these hap-hazard pages, that close our monthly labors, for +what may be cooling in the way of talk; and should make our periods +wear such shadows as will be grateful to our sun-beaten readers. + +If by a touch of the pen, we could, for instance, build up a grove of +leaf-covered trees, with some pebble-bottomed brook fretting +below--idly, carelessly, impetuously--even as our pen goes fretting +over this Paris _feuille_; and if we could steep our type in that +summer fragrance which lends itself to the country groves of July; and +if we could superadd--like so many fragmentary sparkles of verse--the +songs of July birds--what a claimant of your thanks we should become? + +Much as a man may be street-ridden, after long city experience--even +as the old and rheumatic become bed-ridden--yet the far-off shores of +Hoboken, and the tree-whispers of St. John's and Grammercy Parks, do +keep alive somewhat of the Eden longings, which are born into the +world with us, and which can only die when our hearts are dead. + +And hence it is that we find it a loving duty to linger much and often +as we may in this sunny season of the year (alas, that it should be +only in imagination!) around rural haunts--plucking flowers with +broad-bonneted girls--studying shadows with artist eye--brushing the +dews away with farmers' boys--lolling in pools with sleek-limbed +cattle--dropping worms or minnow with artist anglers, and humming to +ourselves, in the soft and genial spirit of the scene, such old-time +pleasant verses as these: + + The lofty woods, the forests wide and long, + Adorned with leaves and branches fresh and green, + In whose cool bowers the birds with many a song + Do welcome with their quire the summer's queen; + The meadows fair, where Flora's gifts among + Are intermixed with verdant grass between; + The silver-scaled fish that softly swim + Within the sweet brook's crystal watery stream. + + All these and many more of His creation + That made the Heavens, the angler oft doth see; + Taking therein no little delectation, + To think how strange, how wonderful they be; + Framing, thereof, an inward contemplation, + To set his heart from other fancies free; + And while he looks on these with joyful eye, + His mind is rapt above the starry sky. + +And since we are thus in the humor of old and rural-imaged +verse--notwithstanding the puff and creak of the printing enginery is +coming up from the caverns below us (a very Vulcan to the Venus of our +thought) we shall ask your thanks for yet another triad of verses, +which will (if you be not utterly barren) breed daisies on your +vision. + +The poet has spoken of such omnibus drives and Perrine pavements as +offended good sense two or three hundred years ago: + + Let them that list these pleasures then pursue, + And on their foolish fancies feed their fill; + So I the fields and meadows green may view, + And by the rivers fresh may walk at will, + Among the daizies and the violets blue, + Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodil, + Purple narcissus like the morning rayes, + Pale ganderglas, and azure culverkayes. + + I count it better pleasure to behold + The goodly compass of the loftie skie; + And in the midst thereof, like burning gold, + The flaming chariot of the world's great eye; + The wat'ry clouds that in the ayre up rolled + With sundry kinds of painted colors flie; + And faire Aurora lifting up her head, + All blushing rise from old Tithonus' bed. + + The hills and mountains raised from the plains, + The plains extended level with the ground, + The ground divided into sundry vaines, + The vaines enclosed with running rivers round, + The rivers making way through Nature's chaines, + With headlong course into the sea profound; + The surging sea beneath the vallies low, + The vallies sweet, and lakes that gently flow. + +The reader may thank us for a seasonable bouquet--tied up with old +ribbon indeed, and in the old free and easy way--but the perfume is +richer than the artificial scents of your modern verse. + + * * * * * + +We do not know who first gave the epithet "leafy June;" but the +goodness of the term was never so plain, as through that twelfthlet of +the year which has just shadowed our paths. Whether it be the heavy +rains of the early spring, or an over-luxurious outburst from the +over-stiff chains of the last winter--certain it is, that the trees +never bore up such heaviness of green, or the grass promised such +height and "bottom." And we can not forbear the hope, that the +exceeding beauty of the summer will stimulate the activity and +benevolence of those guardians of our city joy, in whose hands lies +the fate of the "Up-town Park." + + * * * * * + +And as we speak of parks, comes up a thought of that very elegant +monument to the memory of Washington, which has risen out of the +brains of imaginative and venturesome people, any time during the last +fifty years. The affair seems to have a periodic and somewhat +whimsical growth. We suffer a kind of intermittent Washingtonianism, +which now and then shows a very fever of drawings, and of small +subscriptions; and anon, the chill takes us, and shakes the whole +fabric to the ground. + +We can not but regard it as a very unfavorable symptom, that a +corner-stone should have been laid some two or three years ago in a +quarter called Hamilton Square, and that extraordinary energy should +have pushed forward the monumental design to the height of a few feet. + +Since that period a debility has prevailed. The Washington sentiment +has languished painfully--proving to our mind most satisfactorily, +that the true Washington enthusiasm is periodic in its growth; and +that to secure healthful alternations of recruit and exuberance, it +should--like asparagus--be cut off below ground. + +Meantime, the strangers and office-seekers of our great capital, are +doing somewhat toward redeeming the fame of the country. In connection +with their design, a suggestion is just now bruited of calling upon +clergymen, this coming Fourth of July (three days hence, bear in mind) +to drop a hint to the memory of the hero who has made that day the +Sunday of our political year, and furthermore, to drop such pennies, +as his parishioners will bestow, into the Washington monumental fund. + +We should be untrue to the chit-chat of the hour--as well as to our +Washington fervor--if we did not give the suggestion a record, and the +purpose a benison! + + * * * * * + +It is fortunate for all minor matters--such as Jenny Lind, Kossuth, +green-peas, strawberries, and Lola Montez--that our President-making +comes only by quartettes of years. It is painful to think of the +monotone of talk which would overtake the world, if Baltimore +Conventions were held monthly or even yearly. + +We are writing now in the eye of the time; and can give no guess as to +what candidates will emerge from the Baltimore ballot-boxes; but when +this shall come under our reader's eye, two names only will form the +foci of his political fears and hopes. Without any predilections +whatever, we most ardently wish that our reader may not be +disappointed--however his hopes may tend: and if any editor in the +land can "trim" to his readers' humor, with greater sincerity, and +larger latitude, we should like to know it. + + * * * * * + +Ole Bull has been delighting the musical world, in his way, for the +month last gone, and has made more converts to the violin, by the +fullness of his faith, and the fervor of his action, than many +preachers can win over, by like qualities, to any labor of love. + +The truth is, there lies in this Scandinavian a heartiness of impulse, +and an exuberance of soul, which makes the better part of what men +call genius. You have a conviction--as you listen--that you are +dependent for your delight upon no nice conformity with rules--no +precision of compliance--no formulary excellence, but only and solely +upon the spirit of the man, creeping over him to the very finger-tips, +and making music and melody of very necessity. + +There is a freshness, a wildness, a _fierté_ in the harmonies that Ole +Bull creates, which appeal not alone to your nice students of flats +and sharps, but to every ear that ever heard a river flowing, or the +soughing of pine woods. It is a make-piece--not of Donizetti's +arias--but of that unceasing and musical hum which is going up every +summer's day in the way of bee-chants, and bird-anthems, and which the +soul-wakened Scandinavian has caught, and wrought and strung upon five +bits of thread! + +The papers (they are accountable for whatever may not be true in our +stories) have told us strange, sad things of the musical hero's life. +First, that he has been a great patron of the arts--nor is it easy to +believe that he could be otherwise. Next, they have told us, that he +is an earnest lover of such liberty as makes men think, and read, and +till their own lands--nor is this hard to believe. Again they tell us +that he has sometimes rendered himself obnoxious to the powers that +be--that his estates, once very large, have been confiscated, and that +he has come hitherward only for the sake of repairing his altered +fortunes. + +If the truth lie indeed so hardly upon him, we wish him even more +success than his merit will be sure to win. + +Among the _on dits_ of the time, we must not pass by the good and +ill-natured comments upon the new-passed Liquor Laws of Massachusetts +and of Rhode Island. When the reader remembers that Nahant and Newport +are within the limits of these two States, and that summer visitors to +the favorite watering places are not unapt to call for a wine-card, +and to moisten their roast lamb and peas (especially after an +exhilarating sea-bath) with a cup of Heidseck, or of Longworth's +sparkling Catawba, they may readily imagine the consternation that has +crept over certain portions of the visiting world. We (meaning we as +Editors) are of course without any preferences either for watering +places or--for that matter--liquoring places. Yet we are curious to +see how far the new system will favor the fullness and the gayety of +the old summer resorts. + +Persistent Newport visitors, who have grown old with their sherry and +their port, are arranging for the transportation of "small stores," as +a portion of their luggage; and are negotiating with the landlords +their rates of "corkage." Whether this side-tax on the matter will not +render host and guest obnoxious to the new-started laws, is a matter +we commend to the serious attention of the hopeful lawyers of Newport. + +What the reformatory legal enactments may do with the wine-growers of +Ohio, and with the distillers of Pennsylvania and Indiana, we are +curious to see. As for the latter, we can not say (speaking now in our +individual capacity) that we should greatly regret the downfall of +those huge distillery pig-yards, which spend their odors over the Ohio +river; but as for the Cincinnati wines and vineyards, we must confess +that we have a lurking fondness that way--first, because the grape +culture is Scriptural, beautiful, healthful; and next, because it is +clothing the hill-sides of our West with a purple and bountiful +product, that develops nobly the agricultural resources of the +country, and throws the gauntlet in the very face of Burgundy. Still +again, we have a fancy--perhaps a wrong one--that pure wines, well +made, and cheapened to the wants of the humblest laborer, will outgrow +and overshadow that feverish passion for stronger drink which vitiates +so sadly our whole working population: and yet once again, we have +charity for western vineyards, for a very love of their products; and +have felt ourselves, after a wee bit of the quiet hock which +Zimmermann presses out of the ripe Catawba--a better feeling toward +our fellows, and a richer relish for such labor of the office as now +hampers our pen. + + * * * * * + +Under story of pleasure-seeking for the summer, some Journalists +record the intent of a southern party to broach--in the August that +now lies thirty days into the sunshine--the passage of the Rocky +Mountains, skirting by the way the miniature valley of the +Missouri--wearing weapons of defense and offense--carrying parlors +upon wheels, and kitchens in their carts--shooting rabbits and Indians +as the seasons vary, and dining upon buffalo and corn bread _à +volanté_. + +We wish them much pleasure of the trip--meaning good roads, few +Indians, and musquito bars. + +Seriously, however, when shall we see the valley of the Missouri form +a pleasant tangent to summer travel, and the sportsman who now camps +it by Long Lake, or shoots coot by Moniment Point--oiling his rifle +for a range at the stalking varmint by St. Joseph's, and along the +thousand forked branches of the Missouri waters? + +At Minnessota, they say (the doubtful newspapers again,) people have +discovered a gem of a lake,--so still, that the bordering trees seem +growing root upward, and the islands are all _Siamesed_ where they +float; and so clear that you count your fish before you throw them the +bait, and make such selections among the eager patrons of your hook, +as you would do at the City market on the corner of Spring-street. + +When Professor Page's Galvanic Railroad will take us there in a day, +we will wash the ink from our fingers in the lake of Minnessota; and +if the fates favor us, will stew a trout in Longworth's Catawba; +meantime, we wait hopefully feeding upon Devoe's, moderately fatted +mutton, and great plenty of imaginative diet. + + * * * * * + +Among the rest, old Markham's "Summer Contentments" has furnished us +with rare meals, and inveigled us into trying with inapt hands the +_metier_ of the rod and angle. We flatter ourselves that we have won +upon the _character_ of the angler, however little we may win upon his +fish. + +"He must," says pleasant old Markham, "neither be amazed with storms, +nor frighted with thunder; and if he is not temperate, but has a +gnawing stomach, that will not endure much fasting, and must observe +hours, it troubleth the mind and body, and loseth that delight which +only maketh pastime pleasing. + +"He must be of a well-settled and constant belief, to enjoy the +benefit of his expectation; for than to despair, it were better never +to be put in practice: and he must ever think, when the waters are +pleasant, and any thing likely, that there the Creator of all good +things, hath stored up much of plenty; and though your satisfaction +be not as ready as your wishes, yet you must hope still, that with +perseverance you shall reap the fullness of your harvest with +contentment. Then he must be full of love both to his pleasure, and +his neighbor--to his pleasure, which will otherwise be irksome and +tedious--and to his neighbor, that he never give offense in any +particular, nor be guilty of any general destruction; then he must be +exceeding patient, and neither vex nor excruciate himself with any +losses or mischances, as in losing the prey when it is almost in hand, +or by breaking his tools by ignorance or negligence; but with pleased +sufferance amend errors, and think mischances instructions to better +carefulness." + +We commend all this to the trout fishers among the musquitos, and +black flies of Hamilton County--for even into that dim, and barbarian +region, our monthly budget finds its way. + + * * * * * + +Among other things of the hour, we must spare a note for those +pleasant statistics of author-and-bookdom, which the international +discussion of Copyright has called into print. + +Heretofore, the man of books has been reckoned as a liver, for the +most part, upon such manna as rained down from time to time, from a +very imaginative heaven; he has lived, by a certain charitable +courtesy of the world, (which is coy of ferreting out its injustices) +beyond the tongue of talk, and his pride and poverty have suffered an +amiable reprieve. + +The time, it seems, is now gone by; and we find Prescott and Irving +submitted to the same fiscal measurement, as are the brokers upon +'Change. We wish the whole author fraternity might come as bravely out +of it as the two we have named: and should it ever come to pass, that +the fraternity were altogether rich, we hope they will not neglect the +foundation of some quiet hospital for the poor fellows (like +ourselves) who record their progress, and chronicle their honors. + +In old times a fancy held men's minds, that the payment for poetry +came only from Heaven: and that so soon as the Divine fingers which +caught the minstrelsy of the angel world, touched upon gold, they +palsied, and lost their power. Under the present flattering condition +of the author world (of which, alas, we only read!) it may be well to +revive the caution: the poor may, at the least, console themselves +thereby; and as for the rich--they need no consolation. + +Time and time again, we believe, spicy authors have threatened to take +the publisher's business off his hands; and in lieu of half the +profits, to measure them all with themselves. But, unfortunately for +the credit of the calling, authors are, in the general way, blessed +with very moderate financial capacity; and from Scott to Lamartine, +they have in such venture, to the best of our observation, worked very +hard--for very little pay. + + * * * * * + +Speaking of Lamartine, reminds us of a little episode of French life, +which has latterly crept into the French papers, and which would have +made (as the publishers say) a "companion volume" to Lamartine's +Raphael--always provided it were as well written out. The episode is +dismissed in two or three lines of the journals, and is headed in very +attracting way--"Died of Love." + +Such a kind of death being mostly unheard of--especially in New +York--it will be necessary to justify the title by a somewhat fuller +_résumé_ of the story, than the journalist favors us with. + +Marie of Montauban was as pretty a girl as the traveler might see in +going through all of southern France; and a pretty girl of southern +France, is more than pretty in any other quarter of France. + +Her father had been a small _propriétaire_, and had married a +descendant of an old family, under circumstances of that vague and +wild romance which grew up a little after the old Revolution. Both the +parents, however, died early in life: she inherited from the mother +exceeding delicacy, and a refinement, which agreed very poorly with +the poverty to which her father's improvidence had left her an heir. + +Admired and beloved, and sometimes courted by those about her, she +resolutely determined to secure her own support. She commenced in a +romantic way--by quitting secretly her home, and throwing herself upon +a very broad and a very wicked world. Fortune guided her to the home +of a worthy baker; she here learned the smaller mysteries of his +craft, and made such show in the front shop of her new-found patron, +as bewitched the provincial _gailliards_, and made its tale upon the +heart of the baker's son. + +In short, the son wooed in earnest; the baker protested: and whether +it was the protest (which is sure to kindle higher flame) or the +honest heart of the wooer himself, Marie forgot the earnest longings, +which her mother's nature had planted in her, and became the runaway +wife of the runaway baker's son. + +All French runaways (except from Government) go to Paris: therefore it +was, that in a year's time, you might have seen the humble sign of the +baker's son upon a modest shop of the Boulevard Beaumarchais. Beauty +is always found out in Paris, and it is generally admired. Therefore +it was, that the baker's son prospered, and the Café de Paris heard +mention of the beautiful baker's wife of the Beaumarchais. + +But, with the sight of the Louvre, the Tuileries, and all the +elegancies of metropolitan life, the old longings of the motherly +nature came back to the humiliated Marie. She stole hours for reading +and for music, and quieted her riotous ambition with the ambition of +knowledge. + +Still, however, her admirers besieged her; but thanks to her birth, +besieged in vain. From month to month she attended her shop; and from +month to month beguiled her mission with reading of old stories, and +with the music of her guitar. + +Now, it happened that in this time, a certain Jacques Arago (well +known to fame) chanced upon a day to visit the baker's shop of the +Boulevard Beaumarchais; and it further happened, that as the customer +was a traveler and a savant, that he fell into talk with the beautiful +Marie, who even then held in her fingers some work of the visitor +himself. + +Talk ripened into conversation, and conversation into interest. The +heart of Marie--always dutiful at home--now went wandering under the +guide of her mind. She admired the distinguished traveler, and from +admiring, she came presently--in virtue of his kind offices and of his +instructions continued day after day--to love him. + +Therefore it was that Jacques Arago, when he came to depart upon new +voyages (and here we follow his own story, rather than probability), +did not whisper of his leave to the beautiful Marie, who still held +her place in the baker's shop upon the Boulevard Beaumarchais. + +But she found her liking too strong to resist; and when she heard of +his departure, she hurried away to Havre--only to see the sails of his +out-bound ship glimmering on the horizon. + +She bore the matter stoutly as she could--cherishing his letters each +one as so many parts of the mind that had enslaved her; and, finally, +years after, met him calmly, on his return. "I have lived," she said, +"to see you again." + +But in a little while, Arago, sitting one day in his bureau, receives +a letter from Marie of Beaumarchais. + +"You deceived me when you went away over the sea; I forgive you for +it! Will you forgive me now another deception? I was not well when you +saw me last; I am now in the Hospital Beaujon; I shall die before +tomorrow. But I die faithful to my religion--God--you! Adieu! + + MARIE." + +Jacques Arago himself writes so much of the story as has served to +make the back-bone for this; and we appeal to the ninety thousand +readers of our gossip if Jacques Arago needed any thing more than the +_finesse_ of Lamartine, and a touch of his poetic nature, to weave the +story of poor Marie into another Raphael? + + +AN OLD GENTLEMAN'S LETTER. + +"THE STORY OF THE BRIDE OF LANDECK." + +DEAR SIR--I now resume the very interesting tale I wished to tell you; +but from which, in my last, I was diverted in a manner requiring some +apology. + +You know, however, that this failing of being carried away to +collaterals, is frequent in old gentlemen and nurses; and you must +make excuses for my age and infirmity. Now, however, you shall have +the story of "The Bride of Landeck." A bride is always interesting, +and therefore I trust that my bride will not be less so than others. +There is something so touching in the confidence with which she +bestows the care of her whole fate and happiness on another, something +so strangely perilous, even in her very joy, such a misty darkness +over that new world into which she plunges, that even the coarsest and +most vulgar are moved by it. + +I recollect an almost amusing instance of this. The very words +employed by the speakers will show you that they were persons of +inferior condition; and yet they were uttered with a sigh, and with +every appearance of real feeling. + +I was one day walking along through the streets of a great city, where +it is the custom, in almost all instances, for marriages to take place +in church. My way lay by the vestry of a fashionable church, and I was +prevented for a minute or two from passing by a great throng of +carriages, and a little crowd gathered to see a bride and bridegroom +set out upon their wedding tour. There were two mechanics immediately +before me--carpenters apparently--and, being in haste, I tried to +force my way on. One of the men looked round, saying quietly, "There's +no use pushing, you can't get by;" and in a moment after, the bridal +party came forth. The bridegroom was a tall, fine-looking, grave young +man; and the bride a very beautiful, interesting creature, hardly +twenty. They both seemed somewhat annoyed by the crowd, and hurried +into their carriage and drove away. + +When the people dispersed, the two carpenters walked on before me, +commenting upon the occurrence. "Well," said the one, "she's as pretty +a creature as ever I saw; and he's a handsome man; but he looks a +little sternish, to my mind. I hope he'll treat her well." + +"Ah, poor thing," said the other, "she has tied a knot with her +tongue, that she can not untie with her teeth." + +It is not, however, only sentiment which is occasionally elicited at +weddings. I have known some of the most ludicrous scenes in the world +occur on these solemn occasions. One, especially, will never pass from +my mind, and I must try to give you an account of it, although the +task will be somewhat difficult. + +Some fifty years ago, in the good city of Edinburgh, many of the +conveniences, and even necessaries of household comfort were arranged +in a very primitive manner. It was about this time, or a little before +it, that a gentleman, whom I afterward knew well, Mr. J---- F----, +wooed and won a very beautiful girl of the best society in the city. +His doing so was, indeed, a marvel to all; for, though young, witty, +and well-looking, he was perhaps the most absent man upon the face of +the earth; and the wonder was that he could ever recollect himself +sufficiently to make love to one woman for two days consecutively. +However, so it was; and a vast number of mistakes and blunders having +been got over, the wedding day was appointed and came. The ceremony +was to be performed in the house of the bride's father; and a large +and fashionable company was assembled at the hour appointed. The +bridegroom was known to have been in the house some time; but he did +not appear; and minister, parents, bride, bridesmaids, and bridesmen, +all full dressed, the ladies in court lappets, and the gentlemen with +_chapeaux bras_ under their arms, began to look very grave. + +The bride's brother, however, knew his friend's infirmity, and was +also aware that he had an exceedingly bad habit of reading classical +authors in places the least fitted for such purposes. He stole out of +the room, then, hurried to the place where he expected his future +brother-in-law might be found; and a minute after, in spite of doors +and staircases, his voice was heard exclaiming, "Jimmy--Jimmy; you +forget you are going to be married, man. Every one is waiting for +you." + +"I will come directly--I will come directly," cried another voice--"I +quite forgot--go and keep them amused." + +The young gentleman returned, with a smile upon his face; but +announced that the bridegroom would be there in an instant; and the +whole party arranged themselves in a formidable semi-circle. This was +just complete, when the door opened, and the bridegroom appeared. All +eyes fixed upon him--all eyes turned toward his left arm, where his +_chapeau bras_ should have been; and a universal titter burst from all +lips. Poor F---- stood confounded, perceived the direction of their +looks, and turned his own eyes to his left arm also. Close pressed +beneath it, appeared, instead of a neat black _chapeau bras_, a thin, +flat, round piece of oak, with a small brass knob rising from the +centre of one side. In horror, consciousness, and confusion, he +suddenly lifted his arm. Down dropped the obnoxious implement, lighted +on its edge, rolled forward into the midst of the circle, whirled +round and round, as if paying its compliments to every body, and +settled itself with a flounder at the bride's feet. A roar, which +might have shook St. Andrews, burst from the whole party. + +The bride married him notwithstanding, and practiced through life the +same forbearance--the first of matrimonial virtues--which she showed +on the present occasion. + +Poor F----, notwithstanding the sobering effects of matrimony, +continued always the most absent man in the world; and one instance +occurred, some fifteen or sixteen years after his marriage, which his +wife used to tell with great glee. She was a very notable woman, and +good housekeeper. Originally a Presbyterian, she had conformed to the +views of her husband, and regularly frequented the Episcopal church. +One Sunday, just before the carriage came to the door to take her and +her husband to the morning service, she went down to the kitchen, as +was her custom, in mercantile parlance, to take stock, and give her +orders. She happened to be somewhat longer than usual: the carriage +was announced, and poor F----, probably knowing that if he gave +himself a moment to pause, he should forget himself, and his wife, and +the church, and all other holy and venerable things, went down after +her, with the usual, "My dear, the carriage is waiting; we shall be +very late." + +Mrs. F---- went through her orders with customary precision, took up +her prayer-book, entered the carriage with her husband, and rolled +away toward the church. + +"My dear, what an extraordinary smell of bacon there is in the +carriage," said Mr. F----. + +"I do not smell it, my dear," said Mrs. F----. + +"I do," said Mr. F----, expanding his nostrils emphatically. + +"I think I smell it too, now," said Mrs. F----, taking a sniff. + +"Well, I hope those untidy servants of ours do not smoke bacon in the +carriage," said Mr. F----. + +"Oh, dear, no," replied his wife, with a hearty laugh. "No fear of +that, my dear." + +Shortly after, the carriage stopped at the church door; and Mr. and +Mrs. F---- mounted the stairs to their pew, which was in the gallery, +and conspicuous to the whole congregation. The lady seated herself, +and laid her prayer-book on the velvet cushion before her. Mr. F---- +put his hand into his pocket, in search of his own prayer-book, and +pulled out a long parallelogram, which was not a prayer-book, but +which he laid on the cushion likewise. + +"I don't wonder there was a smell of bacon in the carriage, my dear," +whispered Mrs. F----; and, to his horror, he perceived lying before +him, in the eyes of a thousand persons, a very fine piece of +red-and-white streaky bacon, which he had taken up in the kitchen, +thinking it was his prayer-book. + +On only one subject could Mr. F---- concentrate his thoughts, and that +was the law, in the profession of which he obtained considerable +success, although occasionally, an awful blunder was committed; but, +strange to say, never in the strictly legal part of his doings. He +would forget his own name, and write that of some friend of whom he +was thinking instead. He would confound plaintiff with defendant, and +witnesses with counsel; but he never made a mistake in an abstract +legal argument. There, where no collateral, and, as he imagined, +immaterial circumstances were concerned--such as, who was the man to +be hanged, and who was not--the reasoning was clear, acute, and +connected; and for all little infirmities of mind, judges and jurors, +who generally knew him well, made due allowance. + +Other people had to make allowance also; and especially when, between +terms, he would go out to pay a morning visit to a friend, Mrs. F---- +never counted, with any certainty, upon his return for a month. He +would go into the house where his call was to be made, talk for a few +minutes, take up a book, and read till dinner time--dine--and lucky if +he did not fancy himself in his own house, and take the head of the +table. Toward night he might find out his delusion, and the next +morning proceed upon his way, borrowing a clean shirt, and leaving his +dirty one behind him. Thus it happened, that at the end of a +twelvemonth, his wardrobe comprised a vast collection of shirts, of +various sorts and patterns, with his own name on very few of them. + +The stories of poor Jimmy F----'s eccentricities in Edinburgh were +innumerable. On one occasion, seeing a lady, on his return home, +coming away from his own door, he handed her politely into her +carriage, expressing his regret that she had not found Mrs F---- at +home. + +"I am not surprised, my dear," said the lady, who was in reality his +own wife, "that you forget me, when you so often forget yourself." + +"God bless me," cried Jimmy, with the most innocent air in the world. +"I was quite sure I had seen you somewhere before; but could not tell +where it was." + +Dear old Edinburgh, what a city thou wert when I first visited thee, +now more than forty years ago! How full of strange nooks and corners, +and, above all, how full of that racy and original character which the +world in general is so rapidly losing! Warm hearted hospitality was +one of the great characteristics of Auld Reekie in those times, and it +must be admitted that social intercourse was sometimes a little too +jovial. This did not indeed prevent occasional instances of miserly +closeness, and well laughed at were they when they were discovered. +There was a lady of good station and ample means in the city, somewhat +celebrated for the not unusual combination of a niggard spirit, and a +tendency to ostentatious display. Large supper parties were then in +vogue; and I was invited to more than one of these entertainments at +the house of Lady C---- G----, where I remarked that, though the table +was well covered, the guests were not very strenuously pressed to +their food. She had two old servants, a butler and a foot-man, trained +to all her ways, and apparently participating in her economical +feelings. These men, with the familiarity then customary in Scotch +servants, did not scruple to give their mistress any little hints at +the supper table in furtherance of her saving propensities, and as the +old lady was somewhat deaf, these _asides_ were pretty much public +property. On one occasion, the butler was seen to bend over his +mistress's chair, saying, in a loud whisper, and good broad Scotch, +"Press the jeelies, my leddy--press the jeelies. They'll no keep." + +Lady C---- G---- did not exactly catch his words, and looked up +inquiringly in his face, and the man repeated, "Press the jeelies, my +leddy: they're getting mouldy." + +"Shave them, John--shave them," said Lady C---- G----, in a solemn +tone. + +"They've been shaved already, my leedy," roared John; and the company +of course exploded. + +But to return to my tale. The small village of Landeck, is situated in +the heart of the Tyrol, and in that peculiar district, called the +Vorarlberg. It is as lovely a spot as the eye of man can rest upon, +and the whole drive, in fact, from Innspruck is full of picturesque +beauty. But-- + +But I find this is the last page of the sheet, when I fondly fancied +that I had another whole page, which I think would be sufficient to +conclude the tale. I had probably better, therefore, reserve the story +of The Bride of Landeck for another letter, and only beg you to +believe me + + Yours faithfully, + + P. + + + + +Editor's Drawer. + + +It is not a very long time ago, that "bustles" formed a very essential +part of a fashionable lady's dress; nor has this singular branch of +the fine arts altogether fallen into decadence at the present day. +And, as apropos of this, we find in the "Drawer" a description of the +uses of this article in Africa, which we think will awaken a smile +upon the fair lips of our lady-readers. "The most remarkable article +of dress," says the African traveler, from whom our extract is quoted, +"that I have seen, is one which I have vaguely understood to +constitute a part of the equipment of my fair countrywomen; in a word, +the veritable '_Bustle!_' Among the belles here, there is a reason for +the excrescence which does not exist elsewhere; for the little +children ride astride the maternal bustle, which thus becomes as +useful as it is an ornamental protuberance. Fashion, however, has +evidently more to do with the matter than convenience; for old +wrinkled grandmothers wear these beautiful anomalies, and little girls +of eight years old display protuberances that might excite the envy of +a Broadway belle. Indeed, Fashion may be said to have its perfect +triumph and utmost refinement in this article; it being a positive +fact that some of the girls hereabout wear _merely_ the bustle, +without so much as the shadow of a garment! Its native name is +"_Tarb-Koshe_."" + + * * * * * + +Here is a formula for all who can couple "love" and "dove," by which +they may rush into print as "poets" of the common "water." The +skeleton may be called any thing--"Nature," "Poesy," "Woman," or what +not: + + Stream.....mountain.....straying, + Breeze.....gentle.....playing; + Bowers.....beauty.....bloom, + Rose.....jessamine.....perfume. + Twilight.....moon.....mellow ray, + Tint.....glories.....parting day. + Poet.....stars.....truth.....delight, + Joy.....sunshine.....silence.....night; + Voice.....frown.....affection.....love, + Lion.....anger.....taméd dove. + Lovely.....innocent.....beguile, + Terror.....frown.....conquer.....smile; + Loved one.....horror.....haste.....delay, + Past.....thorns.....meet.....gay. + Sweetness.....life.....weary.....prose, + Love.....hate.....bramble.....rose; + Absence.....presence.....glory.....bright, + Life.....halo.....beauty.....light. + + * * * * * + +Not long since a young English merchant took his youthful wife with +him to Hong-Kong, China, where the couple were visited by a wealthy +Mandarin. The latter regarded the lady very attentively, and seemed to +dwell with delight upon her movements. When she at length left the +apartment, he said to the husband, in broken English (worse than +broken China): + +"What you give for that wifey-wife yours?" + +"Oh," replied the husband, laughing at the singular error of his +visitor, "two thousand dollars." + +This the merchant thought would appear to the Chinese rather a high +figure; but he was mistaken. + +"Well," said the Mandarin, taking out his book with an air of +business, "s'pose you give her to me; give you _five_ thousand +dollar!" + +It is difficult to say whether the young merchant was more amazed than +amused; but the very grave and solemn air of the Chinaman convinced +him that he was in sober earnest; and he was compelled, therefore, to +refuse the offer with as much placidity as he could assume. The +Mandarin, however, continued to press his bargain: + +"I give you seven thousand dollar," said he: "You _take_ 'em?" + +The merchant, who had no previous notion of the value of the commodity +which he had taken out with him, was compelled, at length, to inform +his visitor that Englishmen were not in the habit of selling their +wives after they once came in their possession--an assertion which the +Chinaman was very slow to believe. The merchant afterward had a hearty +laugh with his young and pretty wife, and told her that he had just +discovered her full value, as he had that moment been offered seven +thousand dollars for her; a very high figure, "as wives were going" in +China at that time! + +Nothing astonishes a Chinaman so much, who may chance to visit our +merchants at Hong-Kong, as the deference which is paid by our +countrymen to their ladies, and the position which the latter are +permitted to hold in society. The very servants express their disgust +at seeing American or English ladies permitted to sit at table with +their lords, and wonder why men can so far forget their dignity! + + * * * * * + +We have seen the thought contained in the following Persian fable, +before, in the shape of a scrap of "Proverbial Philosophy," by an +eastern sage; but the sentiment is so admirably versified in the +lines, that we can not resist presenting them to the reader: + + "A little particle of rain, + That from a passing cloud descended, + Was heard thus idly to complain: + 'My brief existence now is ended. + Outcast alike of earth and sky, + Useless to live--unknown to die.' + + "It chanced to fall into the sea, + And then an open shell received it, + And, after-years, how rich was he + Who from its prison-house relieved it! + That drop of rain had formed a gem, + To deck a monarch's diadem." + + * * * * * + +There is a certain London cockneyism that begins to obtain among +_some_ persons even here--and that is, the substitution of the word +"gent," for gentleman. It is a gross vulgarism. In England, however, +the terms are more distinctive, it seems. A waiting-maid at a +provincial inn, on being asked how many "gents" there were in the +house, replied, "Three gents and four gentlemen." "Why do you make a +distinction, Betty?" said her interrogator. "Oh, why, the gents are +only _half_ gentlemen, people from the country, who come on horseback; +the others have their carriages, and are _real_ gentlemen!" + + * * * * * + +Most readers will remember the ill-favored fraternity mentioned by +Addison, known as "_The Ugly Club_," into which no person was admitted +without a visible queerity in his aspect, or peculiar cast of +countenance. The club-room was decorated with the heads of eminent +ogres; in short, every thing was in keeping with the deformed objects +of the association. They have a practice at the West of giving to the +ugliest man in all the "diggins" round about, a jack-knife, which he +carries until he meets with a man uglier than himself, when the new +customer "takes the knife," with all its honors. A certain notorious +"beauty" had carried the knife for a long time, with no prospect of +ever being called upon to "stand and deliver" it. He had an under-lip, +which hung down like a motherless colt's, bending into a sort of pouch +for a permanent chew of tobacco his eyes had a diabolical squint +_each_ way; his nose was like a ripe warty tomato; his complexion like +that of an old saddle-flap; his person and limbs a miracle of +ungainliness, and his gait a cross between the slouch of an elephant +and the scrambling movement of a kangaroo. Yet this man was compelled +to give up the knife. It happened in this wise: _He was kicked in the +face by a horse!_ His "mug," as the English cockney would call it, was +smashed into an almost shapeless mass. But so _very_ ugly was he +_before_ the accident, that, when his face got well, it was found to +be so much improved that he was obliged to surrender up the knife to a +successful competitor! He must have been a handsome man, whom a kick +in the face by a horse would "improve!" + + * * * * * + +Some years ago the Queen of England lost a favorite female dog. It was +last seen, before its death, poking its nose into a dish of +sweet-breads on the pantry-dresser. Foul play was suspected; the +scullery-maid was examined; the royal dog-doctor was summoned; a +"crowner's quest" was held upon the body; and the surgeon, after the +evidence was "all in," assuming the office of coroner, proceeded to +"sum up" as follows: + +"This affair was involved, apparently, in a good deal of doubt until +this inquisition was held. The deceased might have been poisoned, or +might not; and here the difficulty comes in, to determine whether he +was or wasn't. On a post-mortem examination, there was a good deal of +vascular inflammation about the coats of the nose; and I have no doubt +the affair of the sweet-bread, which was possibly very highly +peppered, had something to do with these appearances. The pulse had, +of course, stopped; but, as far as I could judge from appearances, I +should say it had been pretty regular. The ears were perfectly +healthy, and the tail appeared to have been recently wagged; showing +that there could have been nothing very wrong in that quarter. The +conclusion at which, after careful consideration, I have arrived, is, +that the royal favorite came to his death from old age, or rather from +the lapse of time; and a _deodand_ is therefore imposed on the +kitchen-clock, which was rather fast on the day of the dog's death, +and very possibly might have accelerated his demise!" + + * * * * * + +It is no small thing to be called on suddenly to address a public +meeting, of any sort, and to find all your wits gone a-wool-gathering, +when you most require their services. "Such being the case," and +"standing admitted," as it will be, by numerous readers, we commend +the following speech of a compulsory orator at the opening of a free +hospital: + +"GENTLEMEN--Ahem!--I--I--I rise to say--that is, I wish to propose a +toast--wish to propose a toast. Gentlemen, I think that you'll all +say--ahem--I think, at least, that this toast is, as you'll say, the +toast of the evening--toast of the evening. Gentlemen, I belong to a +good many of these things--and I say, gentlemen, that this hospital +requires no patronage--at least, you don't want any recommendation. +You've only got to be ill--got to be ill. Another thing--they are all +locked up--I mean they are shut up separate--that is, they've all got +separate beds--separate beds. Now, gentlemen, I find by the report +(_turning over the leaves in a fidgety manner_), I find, gentlemen, +that from the year seventeen--no, eighteen--no, ah, yes, I'm +right--eighteen hundred and fifty--No! it's a 3, thirty-six--eighteen +hundred and thirty-six, no less than one hundred and ninety-three +millions--no! ah! (_to a committee-man at his side_,) Eh?--what?--oh, +yes--thank you!--thank you, yes--one hundred and ninety-three +thousand--two millions--no (_looking through his eye-glass_), two +hundred and thirty-one--one hundred and ninety-three thousand, two +hundred and thirty-one! Gentlemen, I beg to propose-- + + "_Success to this Institution!_" + +Intelligible as Egyptian hieroglyphics, and "clear as mud" to the +"most superficial observer!" + + * * * * * + +That was a touch of delicate sarcasm which is recorded of Charles +Lamb's brother, "James Elia." He was out at Eton one day, with his +brother and some other friends; and upon seeing some of the Eton boys, +students of the college, at play upon the green, he gave vent to his +forebodings, with a sigh and solemn shake of the head: "Ah!" said he, +"what a pity to think that these fine ingenuous lads in a few years +will all be changed into frivolous members of parliament!" + + * * * * * + +Some spendthrifts belonging to "_The Blues_" having been obliged to +submit their "very superior long-tailed troop horses" to the +arbitrament of a London auctioneer's hammer, a wag "improves the +occasion" by inditing the following touching parody: + + "Upon the ground he stood, + To take a last fond look + At the troopers, as he entered them + In the horse-buyer's book. + He listened to the neigh, + So familiar to his ear; + But the soldier thought of bills to pay, + And wiped away a tear. + + "Beside the stable-door, + A mare fell on her knees; + She cocked aloft her crow-black tail, + That fluttered in the breeze, + She seemed to breathe a prayer-- + A prayer he could not hear-- + For the soldier felt his pockets bare, + And wiped away a tear. + + "The soldier blew his nose-- + Oh! do not deem him weak! + To meet his creditors, he knows + He's not sufficient 'cheek.' + Go read the writ-book through, + And 'mid the names, I fear, + You're sure to find the very Blue + Who wiped away the tear!" + + * * * * * + +We believe it is Dryden who says, "It needs all we know to make things +_plain_." We wonder what he would have thought of this highly +intelligible account of blowing up a ship by a submarine battery, as +Monsieur Maillefert blew up the rocks in Hellgate: + +"There is no doubt that all submarine salts, acting in coalition with +a pure phosphate, and coagulating chemically with the sublimate of +marine potash, _will_ create combustion in nitrous bodies. It is a +remarkable fact in physics, that sulphurous acids, held in solution by +glutinous compounds, will create igneous action in aquiferous bodies; +and hence it is, therefore, that the pure carbonates of any given +quantity of bituminous or ligneous solids will of themselves create +the explosions in question." + +We have heard men listen to such lucid, _pellucid_ "expositions" as +this, with staring eyes: + + "And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, + That one small head could carry all he knew." + + * * * * * + +He was a keen observer and a rare discriminator of children, who drew +this little picture, in a work upon "Childhood and its Reminiscences:" + +"See those two little girls! You hardly know which is the elder, so +closely do they follow each other. They were born to the same +routine, and will be bred in it for years, perhaps, side by side, in +unequal fellowship; one pulling back, the other dragging forward. +Watch them for a few moments as they play together, each dragging her +doll about in a little cart. Their names are Cecilia and Constance, +and they manage their dolls always as differently as they will their +children. You ask Cecilia where she is going to drive her doll to, and +she will tell you, 'Through the dining-room into the hall, and then +back into the dining-room,' which is all literally true. You ask +Constance, and with a grave, important air, and a loud whisper, for +Doll is not to hear on any account, she answers, 'I am going to take +her to London, and then to Brighton, to see her little cousin: the +hall is Brighton, you know,' she adds, with a condescending look. +Cecilia laments over a dirty frock, with a slit at the knee, and +thinks that Mary, the maid, will never give her the new one she +promised. Constance's doll is somewhat in the costume of the king of +the Sandwich Islands; top-boots and a cocked-hat, having only a skein +of worsted tied round her head, and a strip of colored calico or her +shoulders; but she is perfectly satisfied that it is a wreath of +flowers and a fine scarf; bids you smell of the "rose-oil" in her +hair, and then whips herself, to jump over the mat. + +"In other matters, the case is reversed. When fear is concerned, +Cecilia's imagination becomes active, and Constance's remains +perfectly passive. A bluff old gentleman passes through that same +hall. The children stop their carts and stare at him, upon which he +threatens to put them in his pocket. Poor Cecilia runs away, in the +greatest alarm; but Constance coolly says: "You _can't_ put us in your +pocket; it isn't half big enough!" + +It strikes us that there is an important lesson to parents in this +last passage. Because _one_ child has no fear to go to bed in the +dark, how many poor trembling children, differently constituted, have +passed the night in an agony of fear! + + * * * * * + +There are few more striking things in verse, in the English Language, +than "_The Execution of Montrose_." The author has not, to our +knowledge, been named, and the lines appeared for the first time many +years ago. The illustrious head of the great house of GRAHAME in +Scotland was condemned to be hung, drawn, and quartered; his head to +be affixed on an iron pin and set on the pinnacle of the Tolbooth in +Edinburgh; one hand to be set on the port of Perth, the other on the +port of Stirling; one leg and foot on the port of Aberdeen, the other +on the port of Glasgow. In the hour of his defeat and of his death he +showed the greatness of his soul, by exhibiting the most noble +magnanimity and Christian heroism. The few verses which follow will +enable the reader to judge of the spirit which pervades the poem: + + "'Twas I that led the Highland host + Through wild Lochaber's snows, + What time the plaided clans came down + To battle with Montrose: + I've told thee how the Southrons fell + Beneath the broad claymore, + And how we smote the CAMPBELL clan + By Inverlochy's shore: + I've told thee how we swept Dundee, + And tamed the LINDSAY'S pride! + But never have I told thee yet, + How the Great Marquis died! + + "A traitor sold him to his foes; + Oh, deed of deathless shame! + I charge thee, boy, if e'er thou meet + With one of ASSYNT'S name-- + Be it upon the mountain side, + Or yet within the glen, + Stand he in martial gear alone, + Or backed by armed men-- + Face him, as thou would'st face the man + Who wronged thy sire's renown; + Remember of what blood thou art, + And strike the caitiff down!" + +The poet goes on to describe his riding to the place of execution in a +cart, with hands tied behind him, and amidst the jeers and taunts of +his enemies; but his noble bearing subdued the hearts of many even of +his bitter foes. Arrived at the place of execution, the "Great +Marquis" looks up to the scaffold, and exclaims: + + "Now by my faith as belted knight, + And by the name I bear, + And by the red St. Andrew's cross + That waves above us there-- + Ay, by a greater, mightier oath, + And oh! that such should be!-- + By that dark stream of royal blood + That lies 'twixt you and me-- + I have not sought on battle-field + A wreath of such renown, + Nor dared I hope, on my dying day, + To win a martyr's crown! + + "There is a chamber far away, + Where sleep the good and brave, + But a better place ye have named for me + Than by my father's grave. + For truth and right 'gainst treason's might, + This hand has always striven, + And ye raise it up for a witness still + In the eye of earth and heaven. + Then raise my head on yonder tower, + Give every town a limb, + And GOD who made, shall gather them; + I go from you to HIM!" + +We know of few sublimer deaths than this, in which the poet has taken +no liberties with historical facts. + + * * * * * + +A cunning old fox is Rothschild, the greatest banker in the world. He +said, on one occasion, to Sir Thomas Buxton, in England, "My success +has always turned upon one maxim. I said, '_I_ can do what _another_ +man can;' and so I am a match for all the rest of 'em. Another +advantage I had: I was always an off-hand man. I made a bargain at +once. When I was settled in London, the East India Company had eight +hundred thousand pounds in gold to sell. I went to the sale, and +bought the whole of it. I knew the Duke of Wellington _must_ have it. +I had bought a great many of his bills at a discount. The Government +sent for me, and _said_ they must have it. When they had got it, they +didn't know how to get it to Portugal, where they wanted it. I +undertook all that, and I sent it through France; and that was the +best business I ever did in my life. + +"It requires a great deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to +make a great fortune, and when you have got it, it requires ten times +as much wit to keep it. If I were to listen to one half the projects +proposed to me, I should ruin myself very soon. + +"One of my neighbors is a very ill-tempered man. He tries to vex me, +and has built a great place for swine close to my walk. So when I go +out, I hear first, 'Grunt, grunt,' then 'Squeak, squeak.' But this +does me no harm. I am always in good-humor. Sometimes, to amuse +myself, I give a beggar a guinea. He thinks it is a mistake, and for +fear I should find it out, he runs away as hard as he can. I advise +you to give a beggar a guinea sometimes--it is very amusing." + + * * * * * + +Travelers by railroad, who stop at the "eating stations," and are +hurried away by the supernatural shriek of the locomotive before they +have begun their repast, will appreciate and laugh at the following: + +"We have sometimes seen in a pastry-cook's window, the announcement of +'Soups hot till eleven at night,' and we have thought how very hot the +said soups must be at ten o'clock in the morning; but we defy any soup +to be so red-hot, so scorchingly and so intensely scarifying to the +roof of the mouth, as the soup you are allowed just three minutes to +swallow at the railway stations. In the course of our perigrinations, +a day or two ago, we had occasion to stop at a distant station. A +smiling gentleman, with an enormous ladle, said insinuatingly: + +"'Soup, sir?' + +"'Thank you--yes.' + +"Then the gigantic ladle was plunged into a caldron, which hissed with +hot fury at the intrusion of the ladle. + +"We were put in possession of a plateful of a colored liquid, that +actually took the skin off our face by mere steam. Having paid for the +soup, we were just about to put a spoonful to our lips when a bell was +rung, and the gentleman who had suggested the soup, ladled out the +soup, and got the money for the soup, blandly remarked: + +"'Sir, the train is just off!' + +"We made a desperate thrust of a spoonful into our mouth, but the skin +peeled off our lips, tongue, and palate, like the 'jacket' from a hot +potato." + +Probably the same soup was served out to the passengers by the next +train. Meanwhile the "soup-vendor smiled pleasantly, and evidently +enjoyed the fun!" + + * * * * * + +One of the best of the minor things of Thackeray's--thrown off, +doubtless before his temporarily-suspended cigar had gone out--is the +following. It is a satire upon the circumstance of some fifty deer +being penned into the narrow wood of some English nobleman, for Prince +ALBERT to "_hunt_" in those confined limits. The lines are by "Jeems, +cousin-german on the Scotch side," to "Chawls Yellowplush, Igsquire": + + "SONNICK. + + "SEJESTED BY PRINCE HALBERT GRATIOUSLY KILLING + THE STAGS AT JACKS COBUG GOTHY. + + "Some forty Ed of sleak and hantlered dear, + In Cobug (where such hanimels abound) + Was shot, as by the newspaper I 'ear, + By Halbert, Usband of the British crownd. + Britannia's Queen let fall the pretty tear, + Seeing them butchered in their sylvan prisns; + Igspecially when the keepers standing round, + Came up and cut their pretty innocent whizns. + Suppose, instead of this pore Germing sport, + This Saxon wenison wich he shoots and bags, + Our Prins should take a turn in Capel Court, + And make a massyker of Henglish stags. + Poor stags of Hengland! were the Untsman at you, + What havoc he would make, and what a tremenjus battu. + JEEMS." + + * * * * * + +What is pleasure? It is an extremely difficult thing to say what +"pleasure" means. Pleasure bears a different scale to every person. +Pleasure to a country girl may mean a village ball, and "so many +partners that she danced till she could scarcely stand." Pleasure to a +school-boy means tying a string to his school-fellow's toe when he is +asleep, and pulling it till he wakens him. Pleasure to a "man of +inquiring mind" means, "a toad inside of a stone," or a beetle running +around with his head off. Pleasure to a hard-laboring man means doing +nothing; pleasure to a fashionable lady means, "having something to +do to drive away the time." Pleasure to an antiquary means, an +"illegible inscription." Pleasure to a connoisseur means, a "dark, +invisible, very fine picture." Pleasure to the social, the "human face +divine." Pleasure to the morose, "Thank Heaven, I shan't see a soul +for the next six months!" + + * * * * * + +"Why don't you wash and dress yourself when you come into a court of +justice?" asked a pompous London judge of a chimney-sweep, who was +being examined as a witness. "Dress myself, my lord," said the sweep: +"I _am_ dressed as much as your lordship: you are in your +_working_-clothes, and so am I!" + + * * * * * + +A good while ago that inimitable wag, PUNCH had some very amusing +"_Legal Maxims_," with comments upon them; a few of which found their +way into the "Drawer," and a portion of which we subjoin: + +"_A personal action dies with the person._"--This maxim is clear +enough; and means that an action brought against a man, when he dies +in the middle of it, can not be continued. Thus, though the law +sometimes, and very often, pursues a man to the grave, his rest there +is not likely to be disturbed by the lawyers. If a soldier dies in +action, the action does not necessarily cease, but is often continued +with considerable vigor afterward. + +"_Things of a higher nature determine things of a lower +nature._"--Thus a written agreement determines one in words; although +if the words are of a very high nature, they put an end to all kinds +of agreement between the parties. + +"_The greater contains the less._"--Thus, if a man tenders more money +than he ought to pay, he tenders what he owes: for the greater +contains the less; but a quart wine-bottle, which is greater than a +pint and a half, does not always contain a pint and a half; so that, +in this instance, the less is not contained in the greater. + +"_Deceit and fraud shall be remedied on all occasions._"--It may be +very true, that deceit and fraud _ought_ to be remedied, but whether +they _are_, is quite another question. It is much to be feared, that +in law, as well as in other matters, _ought_ sometimes stands for +nothing. + +"_The law compels no one to impossibilities._"--This is extremely +considerate on the part of the law; but if it does not compel a man to +impossibilities, it sometimes drives him to attempt them. The law, +however, occasionally acts upon the principle of two negatives making +an affirmative; thus treating two impossibilities as if they amounted +to a possibility. As, when a man can not pay a debt, law-expenses are +added, which he can not pay either; but the latter being added to the +former, it is presumed, perhaps, that the two negatives, or +impossibilities may constitute one affirmative or possibility, and the +debtor is accordingly thrown into prison, if he fails to accomplish +it. + + * * * * * + +Some country readers of the "Drawer," unacquainted with the dance +called the "_Mazurka_," may like to know how to accomplish that +elaborate and fashionable species of saltation. Here follows a +practical explanation of the figures: + + Get a pair of dress-boats, high heels are the best, + And a partner; then stand with six more in a ring; + Skip thrice to the right, take two stamps and a rest, + Hop thrice to the left, give a kick and a fling; + Be careful in stamping some neighbor don't rue it, + Though people with corns had better not do it. + + Your partner you next circumnavigate; that + Is, dance all the way round her, unless she's too fat; + Make a very long stride, then two hops for _poussette_; + Lastly, back to your place, if you can, you must get. + A general mêlée here always ensues, + Begun by the loss of a few ladies' shoes; + A faint and a scream--"Oh, dear, I shall fall!" + "How stupid you are!"--"We are all wrong!" and that's all. + +Truly to appreciate such a dancing scene as this, one should see it +through a closed window, at a fashionable watering-place, without +being able to hear a note of the music, the "moving cause" of all the +frisking. + + +CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR DRAWER. + +MISS TREPHINA and MISS TREPHOSA, two ancient ladies of virgin fame, +formerly kept a boarding-house in the immediate neighborhood of the +Crosby-street Medical College. They _took in_ students, did their +washing, and to the best of their abilities mended their shirts and +their morals. Miss Trephina, in spite of the numerous landmarks which +time had set up upon her person, was still of the sentimental order. +She always dressed "_de rigueur_" in cerulean blue, and wore false +ringlets, and teeth (_miserabile dictu!_) of exceedingly doubtful +_extraction_. Miss Trephosa, her sister, was on the contrary an +uncommonly "strong-minded" woman. Her appearance would have been +positively majestic, had it not been for an unfortunate squint, which +went far to upset the dignified expression of her countenance. She +wore a fillet upon her brows "_à la Grecque_," and people _did_ say +that her temper was as cross as her eyes. Bob Turner was a +whole-souled Kentuckian, for whom his professorial guardian obtained +lodgings in the establishment presided over by these two fascinating +damsels. Somehow or other, Bob and his hostesses did not keep upon the +best of terms very long. Bob had no notion of having his minutest +actions submitted to a surveillance as rigid as (in his opinion) it +was impertinent. One morning a fellow-student passing by at an early +hour, saw the Kentuckian, who was standing upon the steps of the +dragons' castle, from which he had just emerged, take from his pocket +a slip of paper, and proceed to affix the same, with the aid of +wafers, to the street door. The student skulked about the premises +until Bob was out of sight, and he could read without observation the +inscription placarded upon the panel. It was as follows--we do not +vouch for its originality, although we know nothing to the contrary: + + "To let or to lease, for the term of her life, + A scolding old maid, in the way of a wife; + She's old and she's ugly--ill-natured and thin; + For further particulars, inquire within!" + +An hour afterward the paper had disappeared from the door. Whether Bob +was ever detected or not we can not tell, but he changed his lodgings +the next term. + + * * * * * + +The Spaniards have a talent for self-glorification which throws that +of all other nations, even our own, into the shade. Some allowance +should be made, perhaps, for conventional hyperbolism of style, but +vanity has as much to do with it as rhetoric. A traveled friend +saw performed at Barcelona a play called "Españoles sobre +todos"--"Spaniards before all"--in which the hero, a Spanish knight, +and a perfect paladin in prowess, overthrows more English and French +knights with his single arm than would constitute the entire regular +army of this country. All these absurdities were received by the +audience with a grave enthusiasm marvelous enough to witness. The play +had a great run in all the cities of Spain, until it reached Madrid, +where its first representation scandalized the French embassador to +such a degree, that, like a true Gaul as he was, he made it a national +question, interfered diplomatically, and the Government suppressed the +performance. + +There is a light-house at Cadiz--a very good light-house--but in no +respect an extraordinary production of art. There is an inscription +carved upon it, well peppered with notes of exclamation, and which +translated reads as follows: + +"This light-house was erected upon Spanish soil, of Spanish stone, by +Spanish hands." + + * * * * * + +An old farmer from one of the rural districts--we may be allowed to +say, from one of the very rural districts--recently came to town to +see the sights, leaving his better-half at home, with the cattle and +the poultry. Among various little keepsakes which he brought back to +his wife, on his return to his Penates, was his own daguerreotype. +"Oh! these men, these men! what creturs they are!" exclaimed the old +lady, on receiving it; "just to think that he should fetch a picture +of himself all the way from York, and be so selfish as not to fetch +one of me at the same time!" + + * * * * * + +The following good story is told of George Hogarth, the author of +musical history, biography, and criticism, and of "Memoirs of the +Musical Drama." It seems that Mr. Hogarth is an intimate friend of +Charles Dickens. Upon one occasion, Mr. Dickens had a party at his +house, at which were present, among other notabilities, Miss ----, the +famous singer, and her mother, a most worthy lady, but not one of the +"illuminated." Mr. Hogarth's engagement as musical critic for some of +the leading London Journals kept him busy until quite late in the +evening; and to Mrs. ----'s reiterated inquiries as to when Mr. +Hogarth might be expected, Mr. Dickens replied that he could not +venture to hope that he would come in before eleven o'clock. At about +that hour the old gentleman, who is represented as being one of the +mildest and most modest of men, entered the rooms, and the excited +Mrs. ---- solicited an immediate introduction. When the consecrated +words had been spoken by the amused host, fancy the effect of Mrs. +----'s bursting out with the hearty exclamation, "Oh, Mr. Hogarth, how +shall I express to you the honor which I feel on making the +acquaintance of the author of the 'Rake's Progress!'" + +We wish it had been our privilege to see Dickens' face at that moment. + + * * * * * + +DR. DIONYSIUS LARDNER married an Irish lady, of the city of Dublin, we +believe, whose name was Cicily. The Doctor is represented not to have +treated her with all conceivable marital tenderness. Among the +University wags, he went by the name of "Dionysius, the _Tyrant of +Cicily_" (_Sicily._) + + * * * * * + +The late Pope of Rome, Gregory XVI., was once placed in an extremely +awkward dilemma, in consequence of his co-existing authority as +temporal and spiritual prince. A child of Jewish parentage was stolen +from its home in early infancy. Every possible effort was made to +discover the place of its concealment, but for many years without any +success. At length, after a long lapse of time, it was accidentally +ascertained that the boy, who had now almost grown a man, was residing +in a Christian family, in a section of the town far removed from the +"Ghetto," or Jews' quarter. The delighted parents eagerly sought to +take their child home at once, but his Christian guardians refused to +give him up; and the Pope was applied to by both parties, to decide +upon the rival claims. On the one hand it was urged, that, as the head +of the State, his Holiness could never think of countenancing the +kidnapping of a child, and the detaining him from his natural friends. +On the other hand it was contended, that, as head of the Church, it +was impossible for him to give back to infidelity one who had been +brought up a true believer. The case was a most difficult one to pass +upon, and what might have been the result it would be hard to tell, +had not the voice of habit been stronger than the voice of blood, and +the subject of the dispute expressed an earnest desire to cling to the +Church rather than be handed over to the Synagogue. + + * * * * * + +The famous humorist, Horne Tooke, once stood for Parliament in the +Liberal interest. His election was contested by a person who had made +a large fortune as a public contractor. This gentleman, in his speech +from the hustings, exhorted the constituency not to elect a man who +had no stake in the country. Mr. Tooke, in reply, said that he must +confess, with all humility, that there was, at least, one stake in the +country which he did not possess, and that was a _stake taken from the +public fence_. + +Upon another occasion, the blank form for the income-tax return was +sent in to Mr. Tooke to be filled up. He inserted the word "Nil," +signed it, and returned it to the board of county magistrates. Shortly +afterward he was called before this honorable body of gentlemen to +make an explanation. "What do you mean by 'Nil,' sir?" asked the most +ponderous of the gentlemen upon the bench. "I mean literally 'Nil,'" +answered the wag. + +"We perfectly understand the meaning of the Latin word +_Nil_--nothing," rejoined the magistrate, with an air of +self-congratulation upon his learning. "But do you mean to say, sir, +that you live without any income at all--that you live upon nothing?" + +"Upon nothing but my brains, gentlemen," was Tooke's answer. + +"Upon nothing but his brains!" exclaimed the presiding dignitary to +his associates. "It seems to me that this is a novel source of +income." + +"Ah, gentlemen," retorted the humorist, "it is not every man that _has +brains to mortgage_." + + * * * * * + +In nothing is the irregularity of our orthography shown more than in +the pronunciation of certain proper names. The English noble names of +Beauchamp, Beauvoir, and Cholmondeley are pronounced respectively +Beechum, Beaver, and Chumley. + +One of the "Anglo-Saxun" reformers, meeting Lord Cholmondeley one day +coming out of his own house, and not being acquainted with his +Lordship's person, asked him if Lord Chol-mon-de-ley (pronouncing each +syllable distinctly), was at home? "No," replied the Peer, without +hesitation, "nor any of his pe-o-ple." + + * * * * * + +Before commons were abolished at Yale College, it used to be customary +for the steward to provide turkeys for the Thanksgiving dinner. As +visits of poultry to the "Hall" table were "few and far between," this +feast was looked forward to with anxious interest by all the students. +The birds, divested of their feathers, were ordinarily deposited +over-night in some place of safety--not unfrequently in the +Treasurer's office. + +Upon one occasion a Vandal-like irruption, by some unknown parties, +was made in the dead of night upon the place of deposit. By the next +morning the birds had all flown--been spirited away, or carried +off--we give the reader his choice. A single venerable specimen of +antiquity, the stateliest of the flock, was found tied by the legs to +the knocker of the steward's door. And, as if to add insult to injury +(or injury to insult, as you please), a paper was pinned upon his +breast with the significant motto written upon it: _E pluribus +unum_--"One out of many." + + * * * * * + +At one corner of the Palazzo Braschi, the last monument of Papal +nepotism, near the Piazza Navona, in Rome, stands the famous mutilated +torso known as the Statue of Pasquin. It is the remains of a work of +art of considerable merit, found at this spot in the sixteenth +century, and supposed to represent Ajax supporting Menelaus. It +derives its modern name, as Murray tells us, from the tailor Pasquin, +who kept a shop opposite, which was the rendezvous of all the gossips +in the city, and from which their satirical witticisms on the manners +and follies of the day obtained a ready circulation. The fame of +Pasquin is perpetuated in the term _pasquinade_, and has thus become +European; but Rome is the only place in which he flourishes. The +statue of Marforio, which stood near the arch of Septimus Severus, in +the Forum, was made the vehicle for replying to the attacks of +Pasquin; and for many years they kept up an incessant fire of wit and +repartee. When Marforio was removed to the Museum of the Capitol, the +Pope wished to remove Pasquin also; but the Duke di Braschi, to whom +he belongs, would not permit it. Adrian VI. attempted to arrest his +career by ordering the statue to be burnt and thrown into the Tiber, +but one of the Pope's friends, Ludovico Sussano, saved him, by +suggesting that his ashes would turn into frogs, and croak more +terribly than before. It is said that his owner is compelled to pay a +fine whenever he is found guilty of exhibiting any scandalous +placards. The modern Romans seem to regard Pasquin as part of their +social system; in the absence of a free press, he has become in some +measure the organ of public opinion, and there is scarcely an event +upon which he does not pronounce judgment. Some of his sayings are +extremely broad for the atmosphere of Rome, but many of them are very +witty, and fully maintain the character of his fellow-citizens for +satirical epigrams and repartee. When Mezzofante, the great linguist, +was made a Cardinal, Pasquin declared that it was a very proper +appointment, for there could be no doubt that the "Tower of Babel," +"_Il torre di Babel_," required an interpreter. At the time of the +first French occupation of Italy, Pasquin gave out the following +satirical dialogue: + + "I Francesi son tutti ladri, + "Non tutti--ma Buonaparte." + "The French are all robbers. + "Not all, but a _good part_;" or, + "Not all--but Buonaparte." + +Another remarkable saying is recorded in connection with the +celebrated Bull of Urban VIII., excommunicating all persons who took +snuff in the Cathedral of Seville. On the publication of this decree, +Pasquin appropriately quoted the beautiful passage in Job--"Wilt thou +break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry +stubble?" + + + + +Literary Notices. + + +_The Naval Dry Docks of the United States._ By CHARLES B. +STUART.--This elegant volume, by the Engineer-in-Chief of the United +States Navy, is dedicated with great propriety to President Fillmore. +It is an important national work, presenting a forcible illustration +of the scientific and industrial resources of this country, and of the +successful application of the practical arts to constructions of great +public utility. The Dry Docks at the principal Navy Yards in the +United States are described in detail--copious notices are given of +the labor and expense employed in their building--with a variety of +estimates, tables, and plans, affording valuable materials for +reference to the contractor and engineer. Gen. Stuart has devoted the +toil of many years to the preparation of this volume, which forms the +first of a series, intended to give a history and description of the +leading public works in the United States. He has accomplished his +task with admirable success. Every page bears the marks of fidelity, +diligence, and skill. The historical portions are written in a popular +style, and as few professional technicalities have been employed as +were consistent with scientific precision. In its external appearance, +this publication is highly creditable to American typography; a more +splendid specimen of the art has rarely, if ever been issued from the +press in this country. The type, paper, and binding are all of a +superior character, and worthy of the valuable contents of the volume. +The scientific descriptions are illustrated by twenty-four fine steel +engravings, representing the most prominent features of the Dry Docks +at different stages of their construction. We trust that this superb +volume, in which every American may well take an honest pride, will +not only attract the attention of scientific men, but find its way +generally into our public and private libraries. + +A unique work on the manners of gentlemen in society has been issued +by Harper and Brothers, entitled, _The Principles of Courtesy_. The +author, GEORGE WINFRED HERVEY, whom we now meet for the first time in +the domain of authorship, seems to have made a specialty of his +subject, judging from the completeness of detail and earnestness of +tone which he has brought to its elucidation. It is clearly his +mission to "catch the living manners as they rise" to submit them to a +stringent search for any thing contraband of good feeling or good +taste. He is an observer of no common acuteness. While he unfolds with +clearness the great principles of courtesy, few trifles of detail are +too unimportant to escape his notice. He watches the social bearing of +men in almost every imaginable relation of life--detects the slight +shades of impropriety which mar the general comfort--points out the +thousand little habits which diminish the facility and grace of +friendly intercourse--and spares no words to train up the aspirants +for decency of behavior in the way they should go. We must own that we +have usually little patience with works of this description. The +manners of a gentleman are not formed by the study of Chesterfield. A +formal adherence to written rules may make dancing-masters, or Sir +Charles Grandisons; but the untaught grace of life does not come from +previous intent. This volume, however, somewhat modifies our opinion. +It is no stupid collection of stereotype precepts, but a bold, lively +discussion of the moralities of society, interspersed with frequent +dashes of caustic humor, and occasional sketches of character in the +style of La Bruyere. Whatever effect it may have in mending the +manners of our social circles, it is certainly a shrewd, pungent book, +and may be read for amusement as well as edification. + +_An Exposition of some of the Laws of the Latin Grammar_, by GESSNER +HARRISON, M.D. (Published by Harper and Brothers.) This is a treatise +on several nice topics of Latin philology, which are discussed with +great sagacity and analytic skill. It is not intended to take the +place of any of the practical grammars now in use, but aims rather to +supply some of their deficiencies, by presenting a philosophical +explanation of the inflections and syntax of the language. Although +the subtle distinctions set forth by the author may prove too strong +meat for the digestion of the beginner, we can assure the adept in +verbal analogies, that he will find in this volume a treasure of rare +learning and profound suggestion. While professedly devoted to the +Latin language, it abounds with instructive hints and conclusions on +general philology. It is one of those books which, under a difficult +exterior, conceals a sweet and wholesome nutriment. Whoever will crack +the nut, will find good meat. + +An excellent aid in the acquisition of the French language may be +found in Professor FASQUELLE'S _New Method_, published by Newman and +Ivison. It is on the plan of Woodbury's admirable German Grammar, and +for simplicity, copiousness, clearness, and accuracy, is not surpassed +by any manual with which we are acquainted. + +_The Two Families_ is the title of a new novel by the author of "Rose +Douglas," republished by Harper and Brothers. Pervaded by a spirit of +refined gentleness and pathos, the story is devoted to the description +of humble domestic life in Scotland, perpetually appealing to the +heart by its sweet and natural simplicity. The moral tendency of this +admirable tale is pure and elevated, while the style is a model of +unpretending beauty. + +_A Greek Reader_, by Professor JOHN J. OWEN (published by Leavitt and +Allen), is another valuable contribution of the Editor to the +interests of classical education. It comprises selections from the +fables of Æsop, the Jests of Hierocles, the Apophthegms of Plutarch, +the Dialogues of Lucian, Xenophon's Anabasis and Cyropædia, Homer's +Iliad and Odyssey, and the Odes of Anacreon. With the brief Lexicon +and judicious Notes by the Editor, it forms a highly convenient +text-book for the use of beginners. + +The Second Volume of LAMARTINE'S _History of the Restoration_ (issued +by Harper and Brothers), continues the narrative of events from the +departure of Napoleon from Fontainebleau to his escape from Elba, his +defeat at Waterloo, and his final abdication. The tone of this volume +is more chaste and subdued, than that of the previous portions of the +work. The waning fortunes of the Emperor are described with calmness +and general impartiality, though the author's want of sympathy with +the fallen conqueror can not be concealed. Many fine portraitures of +character occur in these pages. In this department of composition, +Lamartine is always graphic and felicitous. We do not admit the charge +that he sacrifices accuracy of delineation to his love of effect. His +sketches will bear the test of examination. Among others, Murat, +Talleyrand, and Benjamin Constant are hit off with masterly boldness +of touch. In fact, whatever criticisms may be passed upon this work as +a history, no one can deny its singular fascinations as a +picture-gallery. + +_Clifton_, by ARTHUR TOWNLEY (published by A. Hart, Philadelphia), is +an American novel, chiefly remarkable for its lively portraitures of +fashionable and political life in this country. The plot has no +special interest, and is in fact subservient to the taste for +dissertation, in which the writer freely indulges. His sketches of +manoeuvres and intrigues in society and politics are often quite +piquant, betraying a sharp observer and a nimble satirist. We do not +know the position of the author, but he is evidently familiar with the +sinuosities of Washington and New York society. + +The Fourth Volume of _Cosmos_ by HUMBOLDT (republished by Harper and +Brothers), continues the Uranological portion of the Physical +Description of the Universe, completing the subject of Fixed Stars, +and presenting a thorough survey of the Solar Region, including the +Sun as the central body, the planets, the comets, the ring of the +zodiacal light, shooting stars, fireballs, and meteoric stones. This +volume, like those already published, is distinguished for its profuse +detail of physical facts and phenomena, its lucid exhibition of +scientific laws, and the breadth and profoundness of view with which +the unitary principles of the Universe are detected in the midst of +its vast and bewildering variety. Nor is Humboldt less remarkable for +the impressive eloquence of his style, than for the extent of his +researches, and the systematic accuracy of his knowledge. The sublime +facts of physical science are inspired with a fresh vitality as they +are presented in his glowing pages. He awakens new conceptions of the +grandeur of the Universe and the glories of the Creator. No one can +pursue the study of his luminous and fruitful generalizations, without +a deep sense of the wonderful laws of the divine harmony, and hence, +his writings are no less admirable in a moral point of view, than they +are for the boldness and magnificence of their scientific expositions. + +_Dollars and Cents_, by AMY LOTHROP (published by G. P. Putnam), is a +new novel of the "Queechy" school, in many respects bearing such a +marked resemblance to those productions, that it might almost be +ascribed to the same pen. Like the writings of Miss Wetherell, its +principal merit consists in its faithful descriptions of nature, and +its insight into the workings of the human heart in common life. The +dialogue is drawn out to a wearisome tenuity, while the general +character of the plot is also fatiguing by its monotonous and sombre +cast. The story hinges on the reverses of fortune in a wealthy family, +by whom all sorts of possible and impossible perplexities are endured +in their low estate, till finally the prevailing darkness is relieved +by a ray of light, when the curtain rather abruptly falls. In the +progress of the narrative, the writer frequently displays an uncommon +power of expression; brief, pointed sentences flash along the page; +but the construction of the plot, as a whole, is awkward; and the +repeated introduction of improbable scenes betrays a want of +invention, which finally marks the work as a failure in spite of the +talent which it occasionally reveals. + +The _Study of Words_ by RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH (Published by +Redfield.) A reprint of a curious, but not very profound English work +on the derivation of words. The author presents a variety of specimens +of ingenious verbal analysis; always suggestive; but not seldom +fanciful; relying on subtle hypotheses, rather than on sound +authority. Still his book is not without a certain utility. It +enforces the importance of a nice use of language as an instrument of +thought. The hidden meaning wrapped up in the derivation of terms is +shown to be more significant than is usually supposed; and the +numerous instances of cunning etymology which it brings forward tend +to create a habit of tracing words to their origin, which directed by +good sense, rather than fancy, can not fail to exert a wholesome +influence in the pursuit of truth. + +_Life and Correspondence of Lord Jeffrey_, by Lord COCKBURN. +(Published by Lippincott, Grambo, and Co.) The best part of this book +is that in which Jeffrey is made to speak for himself. Except on the +ground of intimate friendship, Lord Cockburn had no special vocation +for the present task. He exhibits little skill in the arrangement of +his materials, and none of the graces of composition. His narrative is +extremely inartificial, and fails to present the subject in its most +commanding and attractive aspects. He often dwells upon trifles with a +zeal quite disproportioned to their importance. These defects, +however, are in some degree compensated by the thorough sincerity and +earnestness of the whole performance. It is altogether free from +pretension and exaggeration. Lord Cockburn writes like a plain, +hard-headed, common-sense Scotchman. He tells a straightforward story, +leaving it to produce its own effect, without superfluous +embellishment. His relations with Jeffrey were of the most familiar +character. Their friendship commenced early in life, and was continued +without interruption to the last hour. The difference in their +pursuits seemed only to cement their intimacy. Hence, on the whole, +the biography was placed in the right hands. We thus have a more +transparent record of the character of Jeffrey, than if the work had +been prepared in a more ambitious literary spirit. In fact, his +letters reveal to us the best parts of his nature, far more than could +have been done by any labored eulogy. The light they throw on his +affections is a perpetual surprise. His reputation in literature +depends so much on the keenness and severity of his critical +judgments, that we have learned to identify them with the personal +character of the writer. We think of him almost as a wild beast, +lurking in the jungles of literature, eager, with blood-thirsty +appetite, to pounce upon his prey. He seems to roll the most poignant +satire "as a sweet morsel under his tongue." But, in truth, this was +not his innate disposition. When prompted by a sense of critical +justice to slay the unhappy victim, "dividing asunder the joints and +the marrow," he does not spare the steel. No compunctuous visitings of +nature are permitted to stay the hand, when raised to strike. But, +really, there never was a kinder, a more truly soft-hearted man. He +often displays a woman's gentleness and wealth of feeling. The +contrast between this and his sharp, alert, positive, intellectual +nature is truly admirable. With his confidential friends, he lays +aside all reserve. He unbosoms himself with the frank artlessness of a +child. His letters to Charles Dickens are among the most remarkable in +these volumes. He early detected the genius of the young aspirant to +literary distinction. His passion for the writings of Dickens soon +ripened into a devoted friendship for the author, which was cordially +returned. Never was more enthusiastic attachment expressed by one man +for another than is found in this correspondence. It speaks well for +the head and heart of both parties. Incidental notices of the progress +of English literature during the last half-century are, of course, +profusely scattered throughout these volumes. The exceeding interest +of that period, the variety and splendor of its intellectual +productions, and the personal traits of its celebrities, furnish +materials of rare value for an attractive work. With all its defects +of execution, we must welcome this as one of the most delightful +publications of the season. + +_Eleven Weeks in Europe_, by JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. (Boston: Ticknor, +Reed, and Fields.) We never should be surfeited with books of travels, +if they all evinced the frankness, intelligence, and cultivated taste +which characterize this readable volume. Mr. Clarke shows how much can +be done in a short time on a European tour. His book is valuable as a +guide to the selection of objects, no less than for its excellent +descriptions and criticisms. Without claiming any great degree of +novelty, it has an original air from the freedom with which the author +uses his own eyes and forms his own judgments. He speaks altogether +from personal impressions, and does not aim to echo the opinions of +others, however wise or well-informed. His volume is, accordingly, a +rarity in these days, when every body travels, and all copy. + + * * * * * + +Messrs. Lippincott, Grambo, and Co., of Philadelphia, are now +publishing a library edition of the WAVERLEY NOVELS, to be complete in +12 monthly volumes, neatly bound in cloth, with illustrations, at one +dollar per volume. They also issue the work in semi-monthly parts, at +fifty cents, each part embracing a complete novel. The above will take +the place of the edition recently proposed by Harper and Brothers. + + * * * * * + +The third volume of DOUGLAS JERROLD'S writings contains some of his +most popular and remarkable pieces. The "Curtain Lectures, as suffered +by the late Job Caudle," and "The Story of a Feather" appeared +originally in _Punch_--and they have since been repeatedly reprinted, +the former in several editions. The thousands of readers who have +profited by the lectures of Mrs. Caudle may be glad to learn Mr. +Jerrold's characteristic account of the manner in which that household +oracle first addressed herself to his own mind. "It was a thick, black +wintry afternoon, when the writer stopt in the front of the +play-ground of a suburban school. The ground swarmed with boys full of +the Saturday's holiday. The earth seemed roofed with the oldest lead; +and the wind came, sharp as Shylock's knife, from the Minories. But +those happy boys ran and jumped, and hopped, and shouted, +and--unconscious men in miniature!--in their own world of frolic, had +no thought of the full-length men they would some day become; drawn +out into grave citizenship; formal, respectable, responsible. To them +the sky was of any or all colors; and for that keen east-wind--if it +was called the east-wind--cutting the shoulder-blades of old, old men +of forty--they in their immortality of boyhood had the redder faces, +and the nimbler blood for it. And the writer, looking dreamily into +that play-ground, still mused on the robust jollity of those little +fellows, to whom the tax-gatherer was as yet a rarer animal than baby +hippopotamus. Heroic boyhood, so ignorant of the future in the knowing +enjoyment of the present! And the writer, still dreaming and musing, +and still following no distinct line of thought, there struck upon +him, like notes of sudden household music, these words--CURTAIN +LECTURES. One moment there was no living object save those racing, +shouting boys; and the next, as though a white dove had alighted on +the pen-hand of the writer, there was--MRS. CAUDLE. Ladies of the +jury, are there not, then, some subjects of letters that mysteriously +assert an effect without any discoverable cause? Otherwise, +wherefore should the thought of CURTAIN LECTURES grow from a +school-ground?--wherefore, among a crowd of holiday schoolboys should +appear MRS. CAUDLE? For the LECTURES themselves, it is feared they +must be given up as a farcical desecration of a solemn time-honored +privilege; it may be exercised once in a life-time--and that once +having the effect of a hundred repetitions; as Job lectured his wife. +And Job's wife, a certain Mohammedan writer delivers, having committed +a fault in her love to her husband, he swore that on his recovery he +would deal her a hundred stripes. Job got well, and his heart was +touched and taught by the tenderness to keep his vow, and still to +chastise his helpmate; for he smote her once with a palm-branch having +a hundred leaves." To the "Curtain Lectures" and the "Story of a +Feather" Mr. Jerrold has added a very beautiful and characteristic +"tale of faëry," entitled, "The Sick Giant and the Doctor Dwarf." + + * * * * * + +A new edition of Professor ANTHON'S _Anabasis of Xenophon_, with +English notes, is published in London, under the revision of Dr. John +Doran. "Dr. Anthon," says the _Athenæum_, "has edited, and elucidated +by notes, several of the ancient classics, and whatever he has +undertaken he has performed in a scholarly style. At the same time his +books are entirely free from pedantry, and the notes and comments are +so plain and useful, that they are as popular with boys as they are +convenient for teachers." + + * * * * * + +The same Journal has rather a left-handed compliment to American +literature in general, to which, however, it is half inclined to make +our popular IK. MARVEL an exception. + +"There is no very startling vitality in any other of Mr. Marvel's +'daydreams.' Still, at the present period, when the writers of +American _belles-lettres_, biography and criticism, show such a +tendency to mould themselves into those affected forms by which +vagueness of thought and short-sightedness of view are disguised, and +to use a jargon which is neither English nor German--a writer +unpretending in his manner and simple in his matter is not to be +dismissed without a kind word; and therefore we have advisedly +loitered for a page or two with Ik. Marvel." + + * * * * * + +At a meeting of the Edinburgh Town Council, the following letter, +addressed to the Lord Provost, magistrates, and council, was read from +Professor Wilson, resigning the Professorship of Moral Philosophy in +the University: "My Lord and Gentlemen--When the kindness of the +patrons, on occasion of my sudden and severe illness in September +last, induced, and the great goodness of the learned Principal Lee +enabled them to grant me leave of absence till the close of the +ensuing session now about to terminate, the benefit to my health from +that arrangement was so great as to seem to justify my humble hopes of +its entire and speedy restoration; but, as the year advances, these +hopes decay, and I feel that it is now my duty to resign the chair +which I have occupied for so long a period, that the patrons may have +ample time for the election of my successor." + + * * * * * + +Among the candidates for the chair of Moral Philosophy in Edinburgh, +vacant by the resignation of Professor Wilson, are Professor Ferrier, +of St. Andrews; Professor Macdougall, of New College, Edinburgh; +Professor M'Cosh, of Belfast; Mr. J. D. Morell; Mr. George Ramsay, +late of Trin. Col., Cam., now of Rugby; and Dr. W. L. Alexander, of +Edinburgh. + + * * * * * + +Dr. MACLURE, one of the masters of the Edinburgh Academy, has been +appointed by the Crown to the Professorship of Humanity in Marischal +College, Aberdeen, vacant by the translation of Mr. Blackie to the +Greek chair at Edinburgh. + + * * * * * + +The motion for abolishing tests in regard to the non-theological +chairs of the Scottish universities has been thrown out, on the second +reading in the House of Commons, by 172 to 157. + + * * * * * + +Mr. W. JERDAN, late editor of _The Literary Gazette_, is to become +editor of "_The London Weekly Paper_," an "organ of the middle +classes." + + * * * * * + +The department of MSS. in the British Museum has been lately enriched +with a document of peculiar interest to English literature--namely, +the original covenant of indenture between John Milton, gent., and +Samuel Symons, printer, for the sale and publication of _Paradise +Lost_, dated the 27th of April, 1667. By the terms of agreement, +Milton was to receive £5 at once, and an additional £5 after the sale +of 1300 copies of each of the first, the second, and the third +"impressions" or editions--making in all the sum of £20 to be received +for the copy of the work and the sale of 3900 copies. + + * * * * * + +The _Athenæum_ thus notices the death of a late traveler in this +country. "The world of literature has to mourn the untimely closing of +a career full of promise--and which, short as it has been, was not +without the illustration of performance. Mr. ALEXANDER MACKAY, known +to our readers as the author of 'The Western World,' has been snatched +from life at the early age of thirty-two. Besides the work which bears +his name before the world, Mr. Mackay had already performed much of +that kind of labor which, known for the time only to the scientific +few, lays the ground for future publicity and distinction. Connected +as a special correspondent with the _Morning Chronicle_ he had been +employed by that journal in those collections of facts and figures on +the aggregate and comparison of which many of the great social and +statist questions of the day are made to depend. In 1850 Mr. Mackay +was commissioned by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce to visit India +for the purpose of ascertaining by minute inquiries on the spot what +obstacles exist to prevent an ample supply of good cotton being +obtained from its fields, and devising the means of extending the +growth of that important plant in our Eastern empire." + + * * * * * + +GRANIER DE CASSAGNAC, long known to France as an impudent, +unveracious, reckless journalist and critic, has published some +critical Essays, written in his obscurer days. He calls them _Oeuvres +Litéraires_. The volume contains articles on Chateaubriand, Lamennais, +Lacordaire, Corneille, Racine, Dumas, Hugo, &c. + + * * * * * + +The readers of the _Débats_ will remember a series of violent, +bigoted, conceited, but not unimportant articles in the _feuilleton_, +signed CUVILLIER FLEURY, devoted principally to the men and books of +the Revolutions of '89 and '48. Written with asperity and passion, +they have the force and vivacity of passion, although their intense +conceit and personality very much abates the reader's pleasure. M. +FLEURY has collected them in two volumes, under the title, _Portraits +Politiques et Révolutionnaires_. Politicians will be attracted toward +the articles on Louis-Philippe, Guizot, the Duchess of Orleans, the +Revolution of 1848, &c.; men of letters will turn to the articles on +Lamartine, Sue, Louis Blanc, Daniel Stern, Proudhon, and Victor Hugo, +or to those on Rousseau, St. Just, Barère, and Camille Desmoulins. + + * * * * * + +Baron de WALKAENER, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions +et Belles Lettres, of Paris, died April 27. In addition to eminence in +what the French call the Moral and Political Sciences, he was a very +laborious _homme de lettres_, and has given to the world interesting +biographies of La Fontaine and other French writers, together with +correct editions of their works. He was a member of the Institute, and +was one of the principals of the Bibliothèque Nationale. + + * * * * * + +The first number of JACOB and WILHELM GRIMM'S _German Dictionary_ is +just out. It would be premature to criticise the work in its present +stage; it seems, however, to be most carefully and accurately +compiled. It is printed in large octavo form, in double columns, on +good paper, and in a clear print. Some idea may be formed of the labor +which has been expended on this work, from the fact that all the +leisure time of a learned professor has been devoted for the last +three years to reading through the works of Goethe alone in connection +with it. The first number consists of one hundred and twenty pages, +and contains about half the letter A. It is announced to us that 7000 +copies had been subscribed for up to the 20th of April. This is a +result almost unparalleled in the German book-trade, and not often +surpassed in England. + + * * * * * + +The library of the convent at Gaesdorf, in Germany, is in possession +of a most interesting MS. of REMPEN'S _De Successione Christi_. It +contains the whole of the four books, and its completion dates from +the year 1427. This MS. is therefore the oldest one extant of this +work, for the copy in the library of the Jesuits at Antwerp, which has +generally been mistaken for the oldest MS., is of the year 1440. The +publication of this circumstance also settles the question as to the +age of the fourth book of Rempen's work, which some erroneously +assumed had not been written previous to 1440. + + * * * * * + +The new Catalogue of the Leipzig Easter Book-Fair contains, according +to the German papers, 700 titles more than the previous Catalogue for +the half year ending with the Fair of St. Michael. The latter included +3860 titles of published books, and 1130 of forthcoming publications. +The present Catalogue enumerates 4527 published works and 1163 in +preparation. These 5690 books represent 903 publishers. A single house +in Vienna contributes 113 publications. That of Brockhaus figures for +95. + + * * * * * + +From Kiel it is stated that Germany has lost one of her most +celebrated natural philosophers in the person of Dr. PFAFF, senior of +the Professors of the Royal University of Kiel--who has died at the +age of seventy-nine. M. Pfaff is the author of a variety of well-known +scientific works--and of others on Greek and Latin archæology. Since +his death, his correspondence with Cuvier, Volta, Kielmayer, and and +other celebrated men, has been found among his papers. + + + + +Comicalities, Original and Selected. + + +[ILLUSTRATION: ILLUSTRATION OF HUMBUG. + +"'Tis true, there is a slight difference in our ages, but with hearts +that love, such considerations become frivolous. The world! Pshaw! Did +you but love as I do, you would care but little for its opinion. Oh! +say, beautiful being, will you be mine?"] + + * * * * * + +RULES FOR HEALTH. + +BY A SCOTCH PHILOSOPHER WHO HAS TRIED THEM ALL. + +Never drink any thing but water. + +Never eat any thing but oatmeal. + +Wear the thickest boots. + +Walk fifteen miles regularly every day. + +Avoid all excitement; consequently it is best to remain single, for +then you will be free from all household cares and matrimonial +troubles, and you will have no children to worry you. + +The same rule applies to smoking, taking snuff, playing at cards, and +arguing with an Irishman. They are all strong excitements, which must +be rigidly avoided, if you value in the least your health. + +By attending carefully to the above rules, there is every probability +that you may live to a hundred years, and that you will enjoy your +hundredth year fully as much as your twenty-first. + + * * * * * + +FINANCE FOR YOUNG LADIES. + +Taxes on knowledge are objected to, and taxes on food are objected to; +in fact, there is so much objection to every species of taxation, that +it is very difficult to determine what to tax. The least unpopular of +imposts, it has been suggested, would be a tax on vanity and folly, +and accordingly a proposition has been made to lay a tax upon stays; +but this is opposed by political economists on the ground that such a +duty would have a tendency to check consumption. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: MAINE-LAW PETITIONERS] + +[Illustration: ANTI MAINE-LAW PETITIONERS.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: MATRIMONY MADE EASY.] + +The following letter has been sent to our office, evidently in +mistake: + + "_Matrimonial Office, Union Court, Love Lane._ + + "(STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.) + + "SIR--Your esteemed favor of the 10th ult. came duly to + hand, and, agreeably to your desire, we have the honor to + forward to you our quarterly sheet of photographic + likenesses of our Female Clients. We were very sorry that + the Ladies you fixed upon in our last year's sheets were all + engaged before your duly honored application arrived at our + Office; but we hope to be more fortunate in our present + sheet, which we flatter ourselves contains some highly + eligibles. We should, however, recommend as early an + application as possible, as, this being leap-year, Ladies + are looking up, and considerably risen in the Market, and + shares in their affections and fortunes are now much above + par. Should you not be particular to a shade, we should + respectfully beg leave to recommend No. 7, her father having + very large estates near Timbuctoo, to which she will be sole + heiress in case of her twenty-seven brothers dying without + issue. And should the Great African East and West Railway be + carried forward, the value of the Estates would be + prodigiously increased. No. 8 is a sweet poetess, whose + 'Remains' would probably be a fortune to any Literary Gent. + to publish after her decease. No. 9 has been much approved + by Gents., having buried eight dear partners, and is an + eighth time inconsolable. + + "Further particulars may be had on application at our + Office. + + "We beg also, respectfully, to inform you that your esteemed + portrait was duly received and appeared in our last Gent.'s + sheet of Clients; but we are sorry to say as yet no + inquiries respecting it have come to hand. + + "Permit us further to remind you that a year's subscription + was due on the 1st of January, which, with arrears amounting + to £4 4_s._, we shall be greatly obliged by your remitting + by return of post. + + "With most respectful impatience, awaiting a renewal of your + ever-esteemed applications, and assuring you that they shall + be duly attended to with all dispatch, secrecy, and + punctuality. + + "We have the honor to be, esteemed Sir, + + "Your most obedient Servants, + + "HOOKHAM AND SPLICER, + + "_Sole Matrimonial Agents for Great Britain_. + + "P.S.--We find our female clients run much on mustaches. + Would you allow us humbly to suggest the addition of them to + your portrait in our next Quarterly Sheet? It could be done + at a slight expense, and would probably insure your being + one of our fortunate clients." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: FAVORITE INVESTMENTS. + +LADY.--"Goodness Bridget! what is that you have on?" + +BRIDGET.--"Shure! an' didn't I hear you say these Weskitts was all the +fashion? An' so I borrer'd me bruther Pathrick's to wait at the table +in."] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: AN AGREEABLE PARTNER. + +FASCINATING YOUNG LADY.--"I dare say you think me a very odd Girl--and +indeed, mamma always says I am a giddy, thoughtless creature--and--" + +PARTNER.--"Oh, here's a vacant seat, I think."] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: DELICACY. + +YOUNG GENTLEMAN.--"I don't want to hurry you out of the room, old +girl, but the fact is--I am going to wash myself."] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE DOG-DAYS. + +PROPRIETOR OF THE DOG.--"Has he been a bitin' on you, sir?" + +VICTIM.--"Oh!--Ah!--Ugh!" + +PROPRIETOR.--"Vell, I thought as there was somethink the matter with +him, cos he wouldn't drink nuffin for two days, and so I vos jist +a-goin to muzzle him."] + + * * * * * + +THE AMERICAN CRUSADERS. + +AIR--"_Dunois the Brave_." + + OLD HERMIT PETER was a goose + To preach the first Crusade, + And skase e'en GODFREY of Bouillon + The speculation paid; + They rose the banner of the Cross + Upon a foolish plan-- + Not like we hists the Stars and Stripes, + To go agin Japan. + + All to protect our mariners + The gallant PERRY sails, + Our free, enlightened citizens + A-cruisin' arter whales; + Who, bein' toss'd upon their shores + By stormy winds and seas, + Is wus than niggers used by them + Tarnation Japanese. + + Our war-cries they are Breadstuffs, Silks. + With Silver, Copper, Gold, + And Camphor, too, and Ambergris, + All by them crittars sold: + And also Sugar, Tin, and Lead, + Black Pepper, Cloves likewise. + And Woolen Cloths and Cotton Thread, + Which articles they buys. + + We shan't sing out to pattern saints + Nor gals, afore we fights, + Like, when they charged the Saracens, + Did them benighted knights: + But "Exports to the rescue, ho!" + And "Imports!" we will cry; + Then pitch the shell, or draw the bead + Upon the ene--my. + + We'll soon teach them unsocial coon + Exclusiveness to drop; + And stick the hand of welcome out, + And open wide their shop; + And fust, I hope we shant be forced + To whip 'em into fits, + And chaw the savage loafers right + Up into little bits. + + * * * * * + +POETICAL COOKERY BOOK. + +STEWED DUCK AND PEAS. + +AIR--"_My Heart and Lute_." + + I give thee all my kitchen lore, + Though poor the offering be; + I'll tell thee how 'tis cooked, before + You come to dine with me: + The Duck is truss'd from head to heels, + Then stew'd with butter well; + And streaky bacon, which reveals + A most delicious smell. + + When Duck and Bacon in a mass + You in a stewpan lay, + A spoon around the vessel pass, + And gently stir away: + A table-spoon of flour bring, + A quart of water plain, + Then in it twenty onions fling, + And gently stir again. + + A bunch of parsley, and a leaf + Of ever-verdant bay, + Two cloves--I make my language brief-- + Then add your Peas you may! + And let it simmer till it sings + In a delicious strain: + Then take your Duck, nor let the string + For trussing it remain. + + The parsley fail not to remove, + Also the leaf of bay; + Dish up your Duck--the sauce improve + In the accustom'd way, + With pepper, salt, and other things, + I need not here explain: + And, if the dish contentment brings, + You'll dine with me again. + + + + +Fashions for Summer. + + +[Illustration: FIGURES 1 AND 2.--COSTUMES FOR HOME AND FOR THE +PROMENADE.] + +Novelty is the distinguishing characteristic of the prevailing +fashions. Give us something new in material, is the cry to the +manufacturer. Give us something new in form, is the demand made upon +the modiste. Both do their best to meet this demand; and both have +succeeded. For the present, whatever is new, fantastic, striking, and +odd, is admired and adopted. It will doubtless be a work of time to +return to simplicity again. + +The costumes which we present for the present month, combine +originality enough to meet even the present demand, with good taste +and elegance--a union not always attainable. + +FIG. 1.--Dress of white taffeta with colored figures, a particular +pattern for each part of the dress. The ground of the skirt and body +is sprinkled with small Pompadour bouquets _en jardinière_, that is to +say, with flowers of different colors in graduated shades. The +flounces have scolloped edges; the ground is white, and over each +scollop is a rich bouquet of various flowers. The body is very high +behind; it opens square in front, and the middle of the opening is +even a little wider than the top (this cut is more graceful than the +straight one). The waist is very long, especially at the sides; the +front ends in a rounded point not very long. The bottom of the body is +trimmed with a _ruche_, composed of small white ribbons mixed with +others. This _ruche_ is continued on the waist, and meets at the +bottom of the point. There are three bows of _chiné_ ribbon on the +middle of the body. The upper one has double bows and ends; the other +two gradually smaller. The sleeves are rather wide, and open a little +behind at the side. The opening is rounded; the edge is trimmed with a +_ruche_, like the body. There is a small lace at the edge of the body. +The lace sleeves are the same form as those of the stuff, but they are +longer. Coiffure, _à la jeune Femme_--the parting on the left side; +the hair lying in close curls on each side. + +FIG. 2.--Redingote of _moire antique_; body high, with six +lozenge-shaped openings in front, diminishing in size toward the +waist. The edges of these lozenges are trimmed with velvet; the points +meet like bands under a button. Through these lozenge openings there +appears a white muslin habit-shirt, gathered in small flutes (this +muslin, however close, always projects through the openings, under the +pressure of the body). The habit-shirt is finished at the neck by two +rows of lace. The sleeve, which increases in size toward the bottom, +has also lozenge openings, confined by buttons, and through the +opening is seen a muslin under-sleeve, puffing a little, plaited +length-wise in small flutes and held at the wrist by an embroidered +band with lace at the edge. The skirt has nine graduated openings down +the front from top to bottom, buttoned like the others, through which +is seen a nansouk petticoat, worked with wheels linked together, small +at top and larger at bottom. Drawn bonnet of blond and satin. The brim +is very open at the sides and lowered a little in front. It is +transparent for a depth of four inches, and consists of five rows of +gathered blond, on each of which is sewed a narrow white terry velvet +ribbon, No. 1. The brim, made of Lyons tulle, is edged with a white +satin roll. The band of the crown is Tuscan straw on which are five +drawings of white satin. The top of the crown is round, and of white +satin; it is puffed in _crevés_. The curtain is blond, like the brim. +The ornament consists of a white satin bow, placed quite at the side +of the brim and near the edge.--The inside of the brim is trimmed with +four rows of blond, each having a narrow pink terry velvet, and a +wreath of roses, small near the forehead, larger near the cheeks. +Blond is likewise mixed with the flowers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--BONNET.] + +FIG. 3.--BONNET. Foundation of crèpe; trimming of blond and satin; the +curtain of crèpe, edged with narrow blond. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--CARRIAGE COSTUME.] + +FIG. 4.--Dress of white muslin, the skirt with three deep flounces, +richly embroidered. The body, _à basquine_, is lined with pale blue +silk; it has a small pattern embroidered round the edge; which is +finished by a broad lace set on full. The sleeves have three rows of +lace, the bottom one forming a deep ruffle.--Waistcoat of pale blue +silk, buttoning high at the throat, then left open, about half way, to +show the chemisette; the waist is long, and has small lappets. White +lace bonnet, the crown covered with a _fanchonnette_ of lace; rows of +lace, about two inches wide, form the front. The bonnet is +appropriately trimmed with light and extremely elegant flowers. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--CAP.] + +FIG. 5.--_Fanchon_ of India muslin, trimmed with pink silk ribbons, +forming tufts near the cheek, and a knot on the head. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--SLEEVE.] + +FIG. 6.--_Pagoda sleeve_ of jaconet, with under-sleeves; trimming +relieved with small plaits. + +The new materials of the season include some elegant printed +cashmeres, bareges, and broche silks, in endless variety as to +pattern, and combination of color. There are some beautiful dresses of +_lampas, broché_, with wreaths and bouquets in white, on a blue, +green, or straw-colored ground. Among the lighter textures, adapted +for both day and evening wear, are some very pretty mousselines de +soie, and grenadines. The new bareges are in every variety of color +and pattern. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Words surrounded by _ are italicized. + +Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including: +- use of accent (e.g. "Notre" and "Nôtre"); +- use of hyphen (e.g. "bed-room" and "bedroom"). + +Pg 198, word "was" removed from sentence "He was [was] the first..." + +Pg 248, sentence "(TO BE CONTINUED.)" added to the end of article. + +Pg 279, word "or" changed into "of" in sentence "...election of my +successor..." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. +XXVI, July 1852, Vol. V, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42693 *** |