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diff --git a/43368-0.txt b/43368-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d996de --- /dev/null +++ b/43368-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14681 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43368 *** + +HARPER'S + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + +NO. XXVII.--AUGUST, 1852.--VOL. V. + + + + +[Illustration: VIEW OF MT. CARMEL FROM THE SEA.] + +MEMOIRS OF THE HOLY LAND + +BY JACOB ABBOTT + + +MOUNT CARMEL. + +ASPECT OF THE MOUNTAIN. + +The Christian traveler, in journeying to the Holy Land, often +obtains his first view of the sacred shores from the deck of some +small Levantine vessel in which he has embarked at Alexandria, after +having completed his tour among the wonders of Egypt and the Nile. +He ascends, perhaps, to the deck of his vessel, early in the +morning, summoned by the welcome intelligence that the land is full +in view. Here, as he surveys the shore that presents itself before +him, the first object which attracts his eye is a lofty promontory +which he sees rising in sublime and sombre majesty above the +surrounding country, and at the same time jutting boldly into the +sea. It forms, he observes, the seaward terminus of a mountain range +which his eye follows far into the interior of the country, until +the undulating crest loses itself at last from view in the haze of +distant hills. The massive and venerable walls of an ancient convent +crown its summit; its sloping sides are enriched with a soft and +luxuriant vegetation; and the surf, rolling in from the sea, whitens +the rocks at its foot with breakers and foam. This promontory is Mt. +Carmel. + + +GEOGRAPHY OF THE VICINITY. + +The geographical situation of Mt. Carmel is shown by the adjoining +map. Palestine in the time of our Saviour was comprised in three +distinct provinces--Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Of these, Judea, +which bordered upon the Dead Sea and the lower portion of the +Jordan, was the most southerly; while Galilee, which was opposite to +the sea of Tiberias and the upper part of the Jordan, was the most +northerly; being separated from Judea by the mountainous district of +Samaria, which lay between. The region comprised upon the map is +chiefly that of Samaria and Galilee. The chain of which Mt. Carmel +is the terminus forms the southern and southwestern boundary of +Galilee. A little south of the boundary was Mt. Gerizim, the holy +ground of the Samaritans. Mt. Gerizim forms a part of the great +central chain or congeries of mountains which rises in the interior +of Palestine, and from which the Carmel range branches, as a sort of +spur or offshoot, traversing the country in a westward and northward +direction, and continuing its course until it terminates at the sea. +The other principal mountain groups in the Holy Land are the ranges +of Lebanon on the north, and the mountainous tract about Jerusalem +in the south. + +[Illustration: MAP OF MOUNT CARMEL.] + +On the northern side of the Carmel chain, at some distance from the +sea, there lies a broad expanse of extremely rich and fertile +country, which, though not strictly level, is called a plain. It was +known in ancient times as the plain of Jezreel. It is now called the +plain of Esdraelon. The waters of this plain, flowing westward and +northward along the foot of Mt. Carmel to the sea, constitute the +river Kishon, so celebrated in sacred history. The sea itself sets +up a little way into the valley through which this river flows, +forming thus a broad bay to the north of Mt. Carmel, called the Bay +of Acre. The town of Acre lies at the northern extremity of this +bay, and the town of Haïfa[1] at the southern border of it, just at +the foot of Carmel. The ceaseless action of the sea has sloped and +smoothed the shore of this bay throughout the whole distance from +Haïfa to Acre, and formed upon it a beach of sand, which serves the +double purpose of a landing-place for the boats of the fishermen, +and a road for the caravans of travelers that pass to and fro along +the coast. The conformation of the bay, together with the precise +situation of Acre and Haïfa, as well as the more important +topographical details of the mountain, will be found very clearly +represented in the chart upon the adjoining page. + + +NAPOLEON'S ENGINEERS. + +The topographical chart of the bay of Acre here given is one made by +the engineers of the French army during Napoleon's celebrated +expedition to Egypt and Syria. These engineers accompanied the army +wherever it marched, and in the midst of all the scenes of +excitement, difficulty, and danger, through which they were +continually passing, devoted themselves to the performance of the +scientific duties which their commander had assigned them, with a +calmness and composure almost incredible. No possible excitement or +commotion around them seemed to have power to interrupt or disturb +them in their work. The din and confusion of the camp, the marches +and countermarches of the troops, the battles, the sieges, the +assaults, the excitement of victory, and the confusion of sudden and +unexpected retreats--all failed to embarrass or disconcert them. +Whatever were the scenes that might be transpiring around them, they +went quietly and fearlessly on, paying no regard to any thing but +their own proper duties. They adjusted their instruments; they made +their observations, their measurements, their drawings; they +computed their tables and constructed their charts; and in the end +they brought back to France a complete daguerreotype, as it were, of +every hill, and valley, and river, and plain, of the vast surface +which they traversed. The great chart from which the adjoining map +is taken was the last one which they made, for Acre was the northern +termination of Napoleon's expedition.[2] + +[Illustration: MOUNT CARMEL AND THE BAY OF ACRE.] + + +APPROACHES TO MOUNT CARMEL. + +By reference to the map, it will be seen that there are three roads +by which Mt. Carmel may be approached on land. One advances along +the coast from the southward, and passing round the promontory on +the western and northern side, between its steep declivity and the +sea, it turns to the east, and comes at last to the foot of the +branch road which leads up the mountain to the convent on the top. +The second is the road from Acre. It may be seen upon the map +following closely the line of the shore on the margin of the sandy +beach which has already been described. The third comes from +Nazareth, in the interior of the country. It descends from the plain +of Esdraelon by the banks of the Kishon, and joins the Acre road a +little to the east of the town of Haïfa. After passing through +Haïfa, the road follows the shore for a short distance, and then a +branch diverges to the right, leading to some ancient ruins on the +extremity of the cape. A little farther on another branch turns off +to the left, and leads up the mountain to the convent, while the +main road continues its course round the northern and western +extremity of the promontory, and there passes into the road that +comes up on the western coast, as at first described. + +Travelers approaching Mt. Carmel from the interior of the country +come generally from Nazareth by the way of the third road above +described, that is, the one that leads down from the valley of the +Kishon, following the bank of the stream. The town of Nazareth, +where the journey of the day in such cases is usually commenced, +lies among the hills about midway between the Mediterranean Sea and +the Sea of Tiberias. The route for some hours leads the traveler +along the northern part of the plain of Esdraelon, and charms him by +the scenes of beauty and fertility which pass before his view. He +sees rich fields of corn and grain, groves of the pomegranate, the +fig, and the olive, verdant valleys clothed with the most luxuriant +herbage, masses of hanging wood, that adorn the declivities of the +hills, and descend in capes and promontories of foliage to beautify +the plain, and ruins of ancient fortresses and towns, scattered here +and there in picturesque and commanding positions. The whole country +is like a romantic park, with the great chain of Mt. Carmel +extending continuously to the southward of it, and bounding the +view. + + +BAY OF ACRE. + +At length the great plain of Acre, with the bay, and the broad +expanse of the Mediterranean in the distance, opens before him. The +town of Acre, surrounded with its white walls, stands just on the +margin of the water, at the northern extremity of the bay; while at +the southern point of it stands Haïfa, sheltered by the mountain, +and adorned by the consular flags of the several nations who have +commercial agents there. In former times the principal harbor for +shipping was at Acre, but from some change which the course of time +has effected in the conformation of the coast or in the deposit of +sand, the only deep water is now found at the southern extremity of +the bay, where the Kishon finds its outlet--and Haïfa has +consequently become the port. It is not improbable, in fact, that +the greater depth of water at this point is to be attributed to the +effect produced by the outflow of the river in impeding the +accumulation of deposits from the sea. + +The river, as will be seen from the map, in flowing into the bay +passes across the beach of sand. Its depth and the quantity of water +which issues from it vary very much, according to the season of the +year, and thus the accounts of travelers who ford it at different +periods differ extremely. In its ordinary condition it is very +easily forded, but sometimes, when swollen with rains, it overflows +the meadows that line its banks, up the valley, and becomes wholly +impassable near its mouth. In the summer the stream often becomes so +low that the sea, incessantly rolling in from the offing, fills up +the outlet entirely with sand, and then smoothing over the dyke +which it has made, it forms a beach on the outer slope of it, and +thus the sandy shore of the bay is carried continuously across the +mouth of the river, and the water is shut back as by a dam. + +The next rain, however, and perhaps even the ordinary flow of the +river, causes the water to accumulate and rise behind this barrier +until it surmounts it. A small stream then begins to flow over the +beach--rapidly increasing in force and volume as the sand is washed +away--and thus the river regains once more its accustomed channel. +This alternate closing and opening of the outlet of a river is a +phenomenon often witnessed in cases where the river, at its mouth, +traverses a sandy beach on a coast exposed to winds and storms.[3] + +The distance from Haïfa to Acre along the shore of the bay is about +eight miles. Acre itself has always been a very celebrated fortress, +having figured as the central point of almost all great military +operations in Syria for nearly two thousand years. It has +experienced every possible form and phase of the fortune of war, +having been assaulted, defended, besieged, destroyed, and rebuilt +again and again, in an endless succession of changes, and in the +experience of every possible fortune and misfortune which twenty +centuries of uninterrupted military vicissitude could bring. Within +the knowledge of the present generation it has been the scene of two +terrific conflicts. Perhaps the most important of these events, in a +historical point of view, was the struggle for the possession of the +place between Napoleon and its English defenders, and the consequent +check which was placed upon Napoleon's career, on his advance from +Egypt into Syria. On his arrival at Acre, the young general found +the port in possession of an English force under the command of Sir +Sydney Smith, and though he made the most desperate and determined +efforts to dislodge them, he was unable to succeed. He planted his +batteries on the declivities of the hills behind the town, and +cannonaded the walls from that position; while the English supported +the garrison in their defense of the place, by firing upon the +batteries of the besiegers from ships which they had anchored in the +bay. + +[Illustration: DEFENSE OF ACRE.] + + +PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. + +The plains and valleys which border the Carmel chain of mountains, +especially on the northern side, are extremely fertile. They yield +grapes, olives, corn, and other similar productions, in the greatest +abundance, while the grass that clothes the slopes of the +surrounding mountains, and adorns with verdure and beauty a thousand +secluded valleys that wind among them, furnishes an almost +exhaustless supply of food for flocks and herds. A considerable +quantity of wheat, barley, cotton, and other similar products is +exported, being brought down to Haïfa and Acre from the interior, on +the backs of mules and camels, led by drivers in long caravans and +trains. One traveler speaks of having been detained at the gates of +Acre, when going out to make an excursion into the surrounding +country, by a train of _one hundred_ camels, laden with corn, that +were just then coming in. + + +MISGOVERNMENT. + +The commerce of the port, however, would be vastly greater than it +is, were it not for the exactions of the government which restrict +and burden it exceedingly. It is true that governments generally +maintain themselves by taxing the commerce of the countries over +which they rule, but the despotic authorities that have borne +military sway in Syria and Palestine for the last five hundred +years, have done this, as it would seem, in a peculiarly exorbitant +and reckless manner. A practice is adopted in those countries of +"farming out" the revenue, as it is called; that is, the government +sells the privilege of collecting a certain tax to some wealthy +capitalist, who pays, or secures payment, in advance, and then +collects from the people what is due, on his own account. Of course +he is invested with power and authority from the government to +enforce the collection, and as it is a matter of personal interest +to him to make the amount that he receives as great as possible, he +has every conceivable inducement to be extortionate and oppressive. +The sufferers, too, in such cases generally find it useless to +complain; for the government know well that, if they wish to obtain +high prices from the farmers of the revenue, from year to year, they +must not obstruct them in any way in the claims which they make, or +the measures which they adopt, in collecting the amounts due, from +the people. + +In the more highly civilized and commercial nations of the world, a +very different system is adopted. The revenue is never farmed, but +it is collected by officers appointed for the purpose, in the name +and for the benefit of the government; and generally in such a way, +that they who assess the tax, have no direct pecuniary interest--or, +at most, a very inconsiderable one--in the amount whether larger or +smaller, which they receive. The assessors and collectors thus +occupy, in some respects, the position of impartial umpires between +the government and the people, with very slight influences operating +upon their minds, to produce a bias in favor of one side or the +other. Even in this way, the evils and disadvantages of raising +national revenues by taxing commercial transactions, are very great, +while, in the form that has so long prevailed in Syria and +Palestine, the result is utterly disastrous. The taxes are +increased, under one pretext or another, until the poor peasant and +laborer finds himself robbed of every thing but the bare means of +subsistence. All hope and possibility of acquiring property by his +industry and thrift, and of rising to a respectable position in +society are taken away from him, and he spends his life in idleness, +degradation, and despair. + + +AN INCIDENT. + +An incident strikingly illustrative of these truths, occurred to a +traveler who was visiting Acre, about the year 1815. One morning, in +rambling about the city, he chanced to come into the vicinity of the +custom house, at the port, and there he overheard a violent dispute +going on between some fishermen and a certain farmer of the +revenue--probably a wealthy merchant of the town--who was standing +near. It seems that a duty of about thirty-three per cent., that is, +one-third part of the whole price, had been laid upon all fish that +should be taken in the bay and brought into the port for sale; and +the privilege of collecting the tax had been sold to the merchant, +who was engaged in the dispute. It had been calculated that the +remaining two-thirds of the value of the fish would be sufficient to +induce the fishermen to continue their vocation. It proved, however, +not to be so. The cost of boats and outfit, and the other expenses +which were necessarily incurred in the prosecution of the business, +were so great, that the poor fishermen found when they had returned +to the shore and sold their fares, and paid the expenses of their +trip, that the government tax took so large a portion of what +remained, as to leave little or nothing over, to reimburse them for +their labor. They accordingly became discouraged, and began to +abandon the employment; so that the farmer who had bought the right +to collect the tax, was alarmed at finding that the revenue was +likely to fail altogether, inasmuch as for every five boats that had +been accustomed to go out to fish before, only one went now. The +dispute which attracted the attention of the traveler was occasioned +by the anger of the farmer, who was assailing the fishermen with +bitter invectives and criminations, and threatening to compel them +to go out to fish, in order that he might receive his dues. + + +THE TYRANT DJEZZAR. + +For many years extending through the latter part of the last +century, and the earlier portion of the present one, the narratives +of travelers visiting Acre are filled with accounts of the tyranny +and oppression exercised upon the people of the country by a certain +despot named Djezzar, the history of whose government illustrates +very forcibly the nature of the injuries to which the wretched +inhabitants of those countries are compelled to submit. Djezzar, in +his infancy was carried into Egypt a slave, and sold to Ali-Bey, a +celebrated ruler of that country. In the service of Ali-Bey he rose +to high civil stations, and at length, after passing through a +great number of vicissitudes and romantic adventures, in the course +of which he was transferred to the service of the Turkish +government, he was placed by the Turks in command of the Pachalik of +Acre, in 1775. Here he ruled with such despotic cruelty, that he +made himself an object of universal execration to all mankind, +excepting always those who had placed him in power; for they seemed +to be pleased rather than otherwise with his remorseless and +terrible energy. One of the first measures which he adopted when he +entered upon his government, was to confiscate all the houses of the +town of Acre, declaring them the property of the government, and +requiring the inhabitants to pay rent for them to him. The taxes +were exorbitantly increased, and every possible pretext was resorted +to to deprive the people of their property, and transfer it to the +government. Land which was left uncultivated for three years was +considered as abandoned by the owners, and thenceforth fell to him. +Whenever a vessel was stranded upon the coast, he seized upon every +thing that could be saved from the wreck, as his perquisite. His +favorite mode of punishing those who displeased him, was to mutilate +their persons by cutting off an ear, a nose, an arm, or a foot, or +by taking out an eye. Those who visited his palace, say that it was +common to see many persons in the ante-chambers and halls who were +disfigured thus, having incurred the cruel monster's displeasure +from time to time in the course of their service. These were his +"marked men," as he called them--"persons bearing signs of their +having been instructed to serve their master with fidelity." His +secretary, who was his principal banker and minister, was deprived +of both an ear and an eye, at the same time, for some offense, real +or imaginary, which he had committed, and yet still continued to +serve his savage master. Djezzar lived in a massive palace, +occupying a well-protected part of the city of Acre, with gardens in +the rear between the palace and the city wall. Within this palace +was his harem, the residence of his women. No person but himself was +ever admitted to the harem. He was accustomed to retire thither +every evening through three massive doors, one within the other, +which doors he always closed and barred with his own hands. No one +knew how many or what women the harem contained. Additions were +often made to the number, from female slaves that were presented to +Djezzar from time to time; but no one knew how many were thus +introduced, or what was their fate after they disappeared from +public view. Every possible precaution was taken to seclude the +inmates of this harem in the most absolute manner from the outer +world. Their food was conveyed to them by means of a sort of wheel +or cylinder, turning in the wall, and so contrived that those +without could not see who received it. If any one was sick, a +physician was brought to a room where there was a hole in the wall +through which the patient, concealed on the other side, put her arm, +and thus the pulse was examined, and a prescription made. We might +fill many pages with curious details in respect to the life and +character, and peculiar habits, of this extraordinary man, but we +must leave Acre and the bay, and prepare to ascend the mountain. + +[Illustration: HORSEMAN OF ACRE.] + + +THE MOUNTAIN. + +The height of Mt. Carmel has been generally estimated at about +fifteen hundred feet. This is a very unusual elevation for land that +rises thus abruptly from the margin of the sea. Of course, from +every cliff, and rock, and projecting head-land on the higher +portions of it there is obtained a widely extended and most +commanding view both over the water and over the land. The sea lies +toward the west; the prospect is consequently in that direction +unobstructed to the horizon, and the whole western quarter of the +sky is fully exposed to view. It is by understanding the position of +Mt. Carmel in this respect, that we appreciate the full force and +beauty of the passage that describes the coming of the rain, after +the destruction of the priests of Baal by the Prophet Elijah; for it +is always, as we observe, in the western sky, through the operation +of some mysterious and hidden laws which human philosophy has not +yet been able to unfold, that the clouds which produce sudden summer +showers arise. It is almost invariably there, that those rounded and +dome-like condensations are formed, which from small and almost +unperceived beginnings expand and swell until they envelop the whole +heavens in darkness and gloom, and then sweep over the earth in +tempests of thunder, lightning, and rain. The narrative of the +sacred writer, describing the event is as follows. + + +AHAB AND THE RAIN. + +"And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is +a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. +And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down +upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, and said to his +servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked +and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And +it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, Behold there +ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand. And he +said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down +that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass, in the mean while, +that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a +great rain."--1 Kings, xviii. 41-45. + + * * * * * + +The traveler, as he looks up to the summit of the mountain from the +beach of the Bay of Acre, over the sands of which he is slowly +making his way toward the foot of the ascent, pictures in his +imagination the form of the servant of Elijah standing upon some +projecting pinnacle, and looking off over the sea. He loses for the +moment his recollection of the age in which he lives, and under the +influence of a temporary illusion, forgetting the five-and-twenty +centuries which have elapsed since the days of Elijah, almost looks +to see the chariot and horsemen of Ahab riding away up the valley, +in obedience to the prophet's command. + + +ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. + +The road to the mountain, as will appear from the map, passes +through Haïfa. Travelers and pilgrims, however, seldom make any stay +in the town. There is no inn there to detain them. The convent is +the inn--on the top of the mountain. After passing Haïfa, the road, +as may be seen upon the map, follows the line of the shore for about +half a mile, and then turns a little inland, while a branch of the +main road, diverging to the right, continues along the shore of the +sea. This branch leads to the extremity of the cape, where are +situated the ruins of an ancient place named Porphyrion, and also a +small fortress, on the point. Porphyrion was a place of some +consequence in former times, but it went gradually to decay, and at +last when Haïfa was built it was entirely abandoned. + +A short distance further on, the traveler comes to another branch, +where a mule-path turns off to the left from the main road, and +leads up the mountain. The ascent is steep, but the path is so +guarded by a parapet on the outer side wherever required, that it +awakens no sense of danger. The declivities of the mountain, above +and below the path, are clothed with trees and herbage, with gray +walls, forming picturesque cliffs, and precipices, appearing here +and there among them. There is a profusion, too, of wild flowers of +every form and hue, which attract and charm the traveler, wherever +he turns. He looks off at every salient point that he passes in his +ascent, over the bay. He sees the white walls of the city of Acre +rising from the margin of the water at the extremity of it, far in +the distance--and never ceases to admire the smooth and beautiful +beach which lies spread out before him, its broad expanse broken, +perhaps, here and there on the side toward the sea, with the wrecks +of ships which lie there half buried, and enlivened on the land with +trains of mules or of camels passing toward Acre or Haïfa, or by +some picturesque group of tents pitched upon the plain--the +encampment of some wandering tribe of Arabs, or of a party of +European travelers. Further inland, he surveys broad fields of +luxuriant vegetation, variegated with every shade of green and +brown, and groves of trees that extend along the margin of the +rivers, and crown the summits of the distant hills. In a calm and +clear summer's morning, the observer looks down upon this brilliant +scene of verdure and beauty, as upon a map, and lingers long on his +way, to study minutely every feature of it. + +[Illustration: THE ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN.] + + +THE RIVER BELUS AND THE DISCOVERY OF GLASS. + +About midway between Haïfa and Acre, the traveler, pausing at some +resting-place in the progress of his ascent, may trace the course of +the river Belus, as it meanders through the plain beneath him, +northwardly, toward an outlet just in the rear of Acre, where it +empties into the sea. The course and direction of the stream are +delineated upon the map near the commencement of this article. This +river is celebrated as the place where, according to ancient story, +the discovery of the art of making glass was first made by means of +an accidental vitrification which chanced to take place under +certain peculiar circumstances, on its shores.[4] Glass is composed +essentially of silicious substances--such as sand--combined with +certain alkalies by fusion. For sand, though very refractory if +exposed alone to the influence of heat, when mixed with these +alkaline substances fuses easily, and _vitrifies_, that is it forms +a glass, which is more or less perfect according to the precise +nature of the substances employed, and the arrangements of the +process. The story of the origin of the discovery is, that a vessel +came into the mouth of the Belus from the Bay of Acre, laden with +certain fossil alkalies which were found somewhere along the coast, +and were used in those times for certain purposes, and that the +sailors landed on the beach and built a fire there, with a view of +taking supper on the shore. When the fire was made they looked about +the beach for stones to use as a support for their kettle; but the +soil being alluvial and sandy they were not able to find any stones, +and so they brought instead three fragments of the alkaline fossil, +whatever it might have been, with which their vessel was loaded. +These fragments they placed in the margin of the fire which they had +built upon the sand, and rested the kettle upon them; thus by means +of the alkali, the sand, the metal, and the fire, all the conditions +were combined that are essential to produce a vitrification, and +after their supper was ended the seamen found the glassy substance +which had been produced, lying beneath the fire. They made their +discovery known, and the experiment was repeated. Soon after this +the regular manufacture of glass for vessels and ornaments was +commenced in the city of Sidon, which lies on the coast of the +Mediterranean, not many miles north of the mouth of the Belus, and +from Sidon the art soon spread into every part of the civilized +world. + +[Illustration: THE DISCOVERY OF GLASS.] + + +THE CONVENT. + +The time required for the ascent from Haïfa to the convent is about +an hour--the buildings of the institution, though often spoken of as +upon the top of the mountain, being really only about two-thirds of +the way up to the highest summit. The condition in which the various +travelers who have visited the spot within the last hundred years +have found the institution, and the accounts which they have given +of the edifice and of the inmates, varies extremely according to the +time of the visit. In fact, after Napoleon's defeat before Acre, the +convent was entirely destroyed, and the spot was for a time +deserted. The cause of this was that Napoleon took possession of the +edifice for the purpose of using it as a hospital, and quartered his +wounded and disabled soldiers there. The Turks, consequently, when +they came and found the institution in the possession of the French, +considered themselves authorized to regard it as a post of the +enemy. They accordingly slaughtered the troops which they found +there, drove away the monks, and blew up the buildings. From this +time the convent remained desolate and in ruins for more than twenty +years. + +At length, between 1820 and 1830, a celebrated monk, known by the +name of John Baptist, undertook the work of building up the +institution again. With great zeal, and with untiring patience and +perseverance, he traversed many countries of Europe and Asia to +gather funds for the work, and to remove the various obstacles which +are always in the way in the case of such an undertaking. He +succeeded, at length, in accomplishing the work, and the convent was +rebuilt in a more complete and extended form than ever before. Since +that time, accordingly, the traveler finds, when he reaches the brow +of the mountain where the convent buildings stand, a stately and +commodious edifice ready to receive him. Like most of the other +convents and monasteries of Asia, the institution serves the purpose +of an inn. A monk receives the traveler and his party, and conducts +them to a commodious sitting-room, furnished with a carpet, with +tables, and with chairs. A corridor from this apartment leads to +bed-rooms in the rear, furnished likewise in a very comfortable +manner, with beds, chairs, and tables;--articles which attract the +attention of the traveler, and are specially mentioned in his +journal, as they are very rarely to be found in the East. On the +terraces and balconies of the building the visitor, wearied with the +toil of the ascent, finds seats where he reposes in peace, and +enjoys the illimitable prospect which the view commands, both up and +down the coast, and far out over the waters of the Mediterranean +Sea. + +Travelers are entertained at the convent as at an inn, except that +in place of a formal reckoning when they depart, they make their +acknowledgment for the hospitality which they have received in the +form of a donation to the monastery, the amount of which custom +prescribes. The rule is that no guest is to remain longer than a +fortnight--the arrangements being designed for the accommodation of +travelers, and not of permanent guests. This rule, however, is not +strictly enforced, except so far as to give to parties newly +arriving the precedence in respect to choice of rooms, over those +whose fortnight has expired. While the guests remain, they are very +kindly and hospitably entertained by the monks, who appear before +them clothed in a hood and cassock of coarse brown cloth, with a +rope girdle around the loins, and sandals upon the feet--the ancient +habit of the order. Their countenances wear a thoughtful and +serious, if not sad expression. + + +THE GROTTOS AND CAVES. + +The halo of sacredness which invests Mt. Carmel proceeds from the +memory of the prophet Elijah, who, while he lived on the earth, made +this mountain his frequent resort, if not his usual abode. This we +learn from the Scriptures themselves, as well as from the long and +unbroken testimony of ancient tradition. The memorable transactions +connected with the destruction of the priests of Baal, in the time +of Ahab, at the conclusion of which came the sudden rain, as +described in the passage already quoted, is supposed to have taken +place at the foot of the mountain near this spot--and the ground on +which the priests were slain is still shown, as identified by +ancient tradition, on the banks of the Kishon, a little way up the +valley.[5] The mountain above is full of grottos and caves. It is +said that more than a thousand have been counted. The one which is +supposed to have been Elijah's special abode is now within the +buildings of the convent. Higher up, among the rocks behind the +convent, is another which is called Elisha's cave, and at some +distance below, in the bottom of a frightful chasm, into which the +traveler descends by a steep and dangerous path, and which opens +toward the sea, is another cavern, the largest and most noted of +all. It forms a large and lofty apartment, vaulted above, and is +said to have been the place where Obadiah concealed and protected +the company of prophets, one hundred and fifty in number, and fed +them with bread and water while they remained in their retreat.[6] +This cave is called accordingly the cave of the prophets. The +situation of this grotto is beyond description solitary, desolate, +and sublime. Nothing is to be seen from within it but the open sea, +and no sound is heard but the breaking of the surf, as it rolls in +upon the rocky shore six hundred feet below. + + +THE PETRIFACTIONS. + +Among the other objects of interest and attraction for the pilgrims +and travelers that visit Mt. Carmel, are certain curious stones, +well known to geologists as a common mineral formation, but which +pass with the pilgrims and monks for petrified grapes, dates, or +melons, according to their size and configuration. These stones are +round in form, and are often hollow, being lined with a crystalline +incrustation within, the crystals representing, in the imagination +of the pilgrim, the seeds of the fruit from which the specimen was +formed. These fossils are found in a part of the mountain remote +from the convent, where a stream comes down from the heights above, +and they are supposed to be miraculous in their origin. The legend +accounting for the production of them is this. + +In the time of Elijah there was a garden and a vineyard on the spot, +and one day as Elijah was passing that way, weary and faint with his +journey, he looked over the wall and asked the owner of the ground +to give him some of the melons and fruits that he saw growing there. +The man refused the wayfarer's request, saying jestingly in his +refusal, that those things were not melons and fruits, but only +stones. "Stones then let them be," said Elijah, and so passed on. +The gardener, on turning to examine the fruits of his garden, found +to his consternation that they had all been turned into stone, and +ever since that day the ground has been under a curse, and has +produced nothing but stony semblances of fruit, instead of the +reality. These supposed petrifactions are greatly prized by all who +visit the mountain. Well informed travelers value them as specimens +illustrative of a very singular superstition, and as souvenirs of +their visit to the spot;--while monks and pilgrims believe them to +possess some supernatural virtue. They suppose that though Elijah's +denunciation proved a curse to the ground in respect to the owner, +in causing it to produce these flinty mockeries, the stones +themselves, being miraculous in their nature and origin, are endued +with some supernatural power to protect and bless those who +reverently collect and preserve them. + +[Illustration: ELIJAH AND THE GARDENER.] + + +ORIGIN OF THE CARMELITE ORDER. + +The convent of Mt. Carmel, as alluded to and described by travelers +during the last five hundred years is to be understood as denoting +not a single building, but a series of buildings, that have risen, +flourished, and gone to decay on the same spot, in a long +succession, like a dynasty of kings following each other in a line +on the same throne. The grottos and caverns which are found upon the +mountain began to be occupied at a very early period by hermits and +solitary monks, who lived probably at first in a state of separation +from each other as well as of seclusion from the world. After a time +however they began to combine together, and to live in edifices +specially constructed for their use, and for the last thousand years +the Carmelites have constituted a well known and numerous religious +order, having spread from their original seat and centre to every +part of Europe, and taken a very active and important part in the +ecclesiastical affairs of modern times. Every religious order of the +Roman Church prides itself on the antiquity of its origin, and the +traditions of the Carmelites for a long time carried back the +history of their society to a very remote period indeed--not merely +to the Christian era, but from the time of Christ and the apostles +back to Elijah, and from Elijah to Enoch. In discussing this +subject, however, one ecclesiastical writer very gravely maintains +that the Enoch, if there was one, among the founders of the +Carmelite fraternity, could not have been the patriarch Enoch, the +father of Methusaleh, since it is plain that there could have been +no Carmelite monks among those saved in the ark, at the time of the +deluge, for the vow of celibacy was an essential rule of the order +from the beginning, and the sons of Noah, who were the only men +besides Noah himself that were saved from the flood, were all +married men, and took their wives with them when they went into the +ark! + +These traditions, however, ascribing a very high antiquity to the +order of the Carmelites, were allowed to pass for many centuries +with very little question; but at last, about two hundred years ago, +certain religious historians belonging to other monastic orders, in +the course of the investigations which they made into the early +history of the church, came to the conclusion that the institution +of the Carmelites was founded in the twelfth century of the +Christian era. The earliest authentic information that they could +find, they said, in respect to its origin was the account given by a +traveler by the name of John Phocas, who visited the mountain in +1185, in the course of a tour which he was making in the Holy Land. +He relates that he ascended Mt. Carmel, and that he found there the +cave of Elijah, describing it as it now appears. He also states that +there was a monastery there which had been founded a few years +before by a venerable monk, gray-headed and advanced in years, who +had come upon the mountain in obedience to a revelation which he had +received from the Prophet Elijah, enjoining upon him so to do, and +that he had built a small tower for a dwelling, and a small chapel +for the purpose of worship, and that he had established himself here +with ten companions of the same religious profession with himself; +and this was the true origin of the convent of Mt. Carmel. + + +A CONTROVERSY. + +The Carmelite monks throughout Europe were every where greatly +displeased at the publication of this account, which cut off at a +single blow some two thousand years from the antiquity of their +order, even supposing their pretensions to go no farther back than +to the time of Elijah. A protracted and very bitter controversy +arose. Volumes after volumes were published--the quarrel, as is +usual with religious disputes, degenerating in character as it +advanced, and growing continually more and more rancorous and +bitter, until at last the Pope interposed and put an end to the +dispute by a bull. The bull did not attempt to decide the question; +it only silenced the combatants. Nothing more was to be said by any +party, or under any pretext, on the origin of the institution of the +Carmelites, but the whole subject was entirely interdicted. This +bull, the issuing of which was a most excellent act on the part of +his Holiness, proved an effectual remedy for the evil which it was +intended to suppress. The dispute was suddenly terminated, and +though the question was in form left undecided, it was settled in +fact, for it has since been generally admitted that the story of +John Phocas was true, and that Mt. Carmel, though inhabited by +hermits and individual recluses long before, was not the seat of a +regularly organized society of Monks until nearly twelve centuries +after the Christian era. + + +THE MONK ST. BASIL. + +The Carmelites themselves were accustomed to maintain that the +earliest written rule for the government of their order was given +them by a very celebrated ancient monk, known in history as St. +Basil. St. Basil lived about three hundred years after the time of +Christ. He was descended from a distinguished family, and received +an excellent education in early life, in the course of which he made +very high attainments in all the branches of knowledge customarily +pursued in those days. His mind, however, being strongly impressed +with a sense of religious obligation, he determined not to engage in +the duties of the profession for which he had been trained, but to +seclude himself from the world, in accordance with the custom that +prevailed in those days, and spend his life in religious meditation +and prayer. As a preliminary step he determined on taking a journey +into the countries where the practice of religious retirement had +begun to prevail, in order to visit the hermits, recluses, and +monks, in their dens and caves, and become practically acquainted +with the mode of life which these voluntary exiles from the world +were accustomed to lead. He accordingly set out upon his travels, +and in the course of a few years he explored Egypt, Palestine, +Syria, Asia Minor, and other countries still farther east, in order +to visit and converse with all the monks and hermits that he could +find, in the deserts and solitudes to which they had retired. We can +not here give the subsequent particulars of his life. It is +sufficient to say that his learning, his high rank, his exalted +character, and perhaps his honest and conscientious piety, combined +to raise him in the end to a very commanding position in respect to +the whole monastic world while he lived, and to inspire many +succeeding generations with a great veneration for his memory. He +was believed to have been during his life an object of the special +and miraculous protection of heaven; for it is recorded as sober +historic truth, that at one time, during the latter part of his +career, when certain theological enemies had prevailed in obtaining +a sentence of banishment against him, and the decree, properly drawn +up, was brought to the emperor to sign, the pen which was put into +the emperor's hand broke suddenly into pieces as soon as it touched +the paper. The emperor called for another pen, but on attempting to +use it the same result followed. This was done three times, and at +last, as the emperor seemed determined to persist in his design, his +hand was seized with a sudden and uncontrollable trembling, and the +chair upon which he was sitting broke down, and let him fall upon +the floor. The emperor now perceived that he was contending against +God, and taking up the decree he destroyed it by tearing it in +pieces. + +Now the Carmelites maintained that this St. Basil was a monk of +their order, that he was one of the successors of Elijah, that they +had obtained their first written rule of their order from him, and +that the Basilians, an order of monks taking their name from him and +well known throughout Europe in the middle ages, were to be +considered as only a branch, or offshoot, from the ancient Carmelite +institution. Out of this state of things there arose subsequently a +very extraordinary controversy between the Basilians and the +Carmelites as will presently appear. + + +RULES OF THE ORDER. + +The claim of the Carmelites to have received their first written +charter from St. Basil is not very well sustained, as the earliest +authentic evidence of any written rule for the government of the +institution relates to one given them by the patriarch of Jerusalem +in 1205, about thirty years after the time when the monastery was +founded, according to John Phocas's narrative. This "rule," or +charter as it would be called at the present day, consisted of +sixteen articles, and some particulars of it may be interesting to +the reader as illustrating the nature of this species of document. +The first article treats of the election of the prior of the +monastery, and of the obedience which was to be rendered to him by +the other monks. The second treats of the cells in which the +brethren were to live, and prescribes that they should be separated +from each other in such a way that there could be no intercourse or +communication between the respective inmates. The third contains +regulations in respect to the cell of the prior, its situation and +relation to the other cells. The fifth requires the monks to remain +constantly each within his own cell except when called away by +regularly prescribed duties elsewhere, and to devote himself in his +retirement to the work of prayer and meditation. The sixth +prescribes certain regulations in respect to divine service. By the +seventh the monks are forbidden to possess any private property of +any kind. The eighth requires the brethren of the monastery to build +an oratory or place of prayer in some central place, near the cells, +and to assemble there every morning to hear mass. The ninth +prescribes rules for the internal discipline of the institution. The +tenth enjoins certain fast days. The eleventh forbids the use of +flesh for food entirely. The twelfth exhorts the monks to clothe +themselves with certain spiritual armor which it describes. The +thirteenth enjoins upon them to labor with their hands, in +cultivating the fruits of the earth in their little gardens. The +fourteenth enjoins absolute silence upon them, from vespers until +the break of day on the following morning. The fifteenth inculcates +upon them the duty of humility and of devoting themselves to prayer; +and the sixteenth closes the series by exhorting them to be always +obedient and submissive to the prior. + + +EARLY MONASTIC LIFE. + +There is no question that the monastic system of Christian Europe, +established originally by such beginnings as these, led in the end +to evil consequences and results of the most deplorable character, +and we are accustomed, as Protestants, to believe that there is +nothing that is not worthy of unqualified condemnation in it from +beginning to end. But when we dismiss from our minds the ideas and +associations with which the religious history of the last five +hundred years has invested every thing that pertains to monastic +life, and look at such a community as this of Mt. Carmel as it was +in its original inception and design, we shall find it impossible to +ascribe the conduct of those simple-minded recluses to any other +motive than a desire to withdraw themselves from the world, in a +spirit of honest self-denial, in order to live nearer to God, and +enjoy the peace and happiness of daily and uninterrupted communion +with him. And as to the delusion and folly of the course which they +pursued, in order to judge impartially, we must look at the +circumstances of the case as they really were, and see how +effectually, in the arrangements which the hermits made, all the +essential requisites for human comfort and happiness were secured. +The mountain which they chose for their retreat was beautiful beyond +description; the soil was fertile, the air was balmy and pure, and +such was the climate that the season with them was an almost +perpetual summer. They had gardens to till, which produced them an +abundance of fruits and vegetables, and in those climes the human +constitution requires no other food. The grottos in which they lived +were dry, and formed undoubtedly very safe and not uncomfortable +dwellings. They suffered neither heat nor cold, for in Palestine +cold is seldom known, and though the sun is sometimes hot, and the +air sultry, in the valleys, the mountain which they dwelt upon rises +into a region of perpetual salubrity, where there is always an +atmosphere of soft and balmy air reposing in the groves, or +breathing gently over the summit. Besides all these natural +advantages of their situation, their course of daily duty gave them +healthful and agreeable employment. Their hours were systematically +arranged, and their occupations, though varied in kind, were regular +in rotation and order. Thus, on the whole, though there was +doubtless much of superstition and of error in their ideas, still we +are inclined to think that there are some usages and modes of life +not at all monastic in their character--to be witnessed among the +world-following Christians of the present day, in palaces of wealth +and prosperity--which exhibit quite as much delusion and folly as +was ever evinced by these poor world-abandoning monks, in the caves +and grottos of Mt. Carmel. + +[Illustration: THE HERMITS OF MOUNT CARMEL.] + + +THE DISPUTE WITH THE BASILIANS. + +A society of monks once established, depends of course for its +continuance and prosperity on external additions, and not on any +internal growth; for since celibacy is the rule of all monastic +orders, there can not be in such communities, as in the case of an +ordinary hamlet or village, any natural sequence of generations. A +man is never born a monk: so that monasticism has at least one of +the marks and characteristics of a monstrosity. It does not +propagate its kind. + +Notwithstanding this, however, the institution on Mt. Carmel +gradually increased. Accessions were made from time to time to the +numbers of the monks, until at length the order became so numerous +that several branch institutions were established in different parts +of Europe, and the Carmelites became very generally known throughout +the Christian world. We can not here, however, go away from the +mountain to follow the society in its general history, though we +will digress from our immediate subject so far as to give a brief +account of the singular controversy which arose in subsequent years +between the Carmelites and the Basilians, a controversy which not +only exhibits in a striking point of view some of the peculiar ideas +and religious usages of the times in which it occurred, but +illustrates certain important principles in respect to the nature of +religious controversy, that are applicable to the disputes of every +age. The question in this case related to the costume in which the +prophet Elijah was represented in a certain picture belonging to a +church which the Basilians built near Messina, in the island of +Sicily. The church was built in the year 1670, and the open +controversy arose then; but the origin of it may be traced to a +period antecedent to that time. It seems that in 1080, six hundred +years before the dispute to which we are referring commenced, a +certain Sicilian potentate built a church near Mt. Etna, in honor of +the prophet Elijah, as a token of his gratitude to the prophet for +appearing to him in a visible form at one time when he was involved +in very imminent danger, in his wars with the Saracens, and for +interposing to protect him. He also built a monastery in connection +with the church, and established a society of Basilian monks in it. + +It seems that at the time when the church and monastery were built, +a picture of the prophet Elijah was painted and hung in the church, +where it remained without exciting any question, for six hundred +years. + +At length at the expiration of that time the buildings of the +establishment having become very old, and being often greatly +damaged, and the lives of the inmates seriously endangered by the +shocks of earthquakes and the volcanic eruptions to which their +situation so near to Mt. Etna exposed them, it was determined to +remove the institution to another place, several miles distant from +its original location, where the ground was more secure. The old +picture of Elijah was however found to be too much decayed to be +removed. A careful copy of it was therefore made, the artist taking +care to transfer, as nearly as possible, to his copy, both the +features and the costume of the original. The following engraving is +a faithful representation of this portrait and of the dress which +became the subject of the dispute, except of course that the colors +are not shown. The shoulders are covered with a cloak which in the +painting was red. Beneath the cloak was a tunic, formed of the skin +of some animal, which descended to the knees. There were sandals on +the feet. There was a sword tipped with flame in the hand, and the +head was covered with a red cap trimmed with ornaments of gold. + +[Illustration: THE ELIJAH OF THE BASILIANS.] + +This painting in its original state had hung in its place in the old +convent during the whole six hundred years without attracting any +special notice; but when the copy was made and hung up in the new +convent, it became an object of greater attention, and the +Carmelites who saw or heard of it were much displeased with the +costume, inasmuch as it was not the costume of their order. The +painting by exhibiting the prophet in such a dress, seemed to deny +that Elijah had been a Carmelite, and to claim him as belonging to +some other order. They complained to the Basilians of the injustice +done them, and demanded that the obnoxious costume should be +changed. Finding, however, that their complaints and remonstrances +were unavailing, they appealed to the Archbishop of Sicily, praying +him to interpose his authority to redress the injury which they were +suffering, and to compel the Basilians to take down the painting in +question, the display of which was so dishonorable to the ancient +order of Mt. Carmel. The Basilians in reply alleged that the costume +of the portrait was no innovation of theirs, and they were not +responsible for it at all. The work, they said, was a faithful copy +of an ancient painting that had hung for six hundred years, +unquestioned and uncomplained of, in their former monastery, and +that they could not give up the ancient traditions and relics of +their institution; and they were especially unwilling to consent +that the prophet Elijah should be represented in their church in a +Carmelite dress, since that would prejudice the ancient claims of +the Basilian order. + + +SETTLEMENT OF THE DISPUTE. + +[Illustration: THE AUTHORIZED ELIJAH.] + +The Archbishop of Sicily, after a long hearing of the parties to +this dispute, refused to interpose, and finally the case was carried +by the Carmelites to Rome, and laid before a certain board of the +Roman church called the College of Rites, a sort of tribunal having +jurisdiction of all questions of this nature that might arise in the +Catholic church, and assume sufficient importance to come before +them. Here the Carmelites brought forward their cause, and offered +their complaints in language more earnest than ever. They +represented in very strong terms the deep dishonor which the +Basilians were inflicting upon them in publicly exhibiting the +prophet Elijah--the patriarch and the father of their order--dressed +in a cloak, and wearing a red cap upon his head, as if he were a +Turkish pashaw. To give force and emphasis to their plea they +exhibited to the sacred college before whom the cause was to be +tried, a representation of the picture, colored like the original, +in order that the judges might see for themselves how flagrant was +the wrong which they endured, and how much cause they had to +complain. After many long and patient hearings of the case before +the college, and many fruitless attempts to find some mode +satisfactory to all parties, for settling the dispute, the college +finally decided upon a middle course, a sort of forced compromise +which gave the victory to neither party. The costume of the painting +was ordered to be changed. The cap was to be taken away from the +head, and the sandals from the feet, and the red cloak was to be +replaced by one of a saffron color. The tunic of skin was to be +retained, and it was to be bound about the waist with a leathern +girdle. A new picture was accordingly painted in accordance with +this decision, as represented in the above engraving. The +controversy occupied ten years; it gave rise to protracted and +voluminous proceedings, and embroiled a great number of partisans +among all ranks and orders of the church: and by comparing the two +engravings the reader will see at a glance the amount of the +difference about which the combatants were contending. It might +excite surprise in our minds that a large section of the Christian +church could thus be engaged for ten years in an earnest, expensive, +and bitter controversy about the costume of a painting, were it not +that we sometimes see examples at the present day, of disputes +equally earnest and protracted, about points smaller and more +shadowy still. It ought, however, in strict justice to be said that +the real questions at issue in disputes about religious rites and +forms, are not usually as insignificant as they seem. Within and +beyond the outward symbol there usually lies some principle of +religious faith, which is, after all, the real object of the +controversy. In this case, for example, the comparative claims to +antiquity and pre-eminence on the part of two powerful religious +orders constituted the real question at issue. The costume of the +painting formed only the accidental battle ground, as it were, on +which the war was waged. It is thus with a great many religious +controversies, where at first view it would seem that the point at +issue is wholly inadequate to account for the degree of interest +taken in the dispute. The explanation is that the apparent question +is not the real one. The outward aspect of the contest seems to +indicate that the combatants are merely disputing about a form, +while they are really contending for a principle that lies concealed +beneath it. They are like soldiers at a siege, who fight on outer +walls, in themselves worthless, to defend homes and fire-sides that +are concealed within, entirely out of view. + + +DESCENT FROM THE MOUNTAIN. + +[Illustration: THE SERPENT.] + +But we must return to the mountain, though we return to it only to +come down, for it is time that our visit to it should be ended. In +his excursions around the convent during his stay on the mountain, +the visitor is somewhat restricted in respect to the range that he +can safely take, by fear of the wild beasts that infest the jungles +and thickets that grow densely on the declivities of the mountain, +and around the base of it, especially on the southern side. +Panthers, hyenas, wild boars, and strange serpents, make these +forests their abode, occupying, perhaps, in many cases, the caves +and grottos of the ancient recluses, for their dens. Many tales are +told by the monks of these savage beasts, and of the dangers which +pilgrims and travelers have incurred from them. There is an account +of a child which was found in a certain situation dead, with a +monstrous serpent coiled upon its breast. On examination of the body +no mark of any bite or wound could be perceived, and it was +accordingly supposed that the life of the little sufferer had been +extinguished by the chill of the body of the reptile, or by some +other mysterious and deadly agency, which it had power to exert. +Even the roadway leading up and down the mountain is not always +safe, it would seem, from these dangerous intruders. It is rocky and +solitary, and is bordered every where with gloomy ravines and +chasms, all filled with dense and entangled thickets, in which, and +in the cavernous rocks of which the strata of the mountain are +composed, wild beasts and noxious animals of every kind find a +secure retreat. The monks relate that not many years ago a servant +of the convent, who had been sent down the mountain to Haïfa, to +accompany a traveler, was attacked and seized by a panther on his +return. The panther, however, instead of putting his victim +immediately to death, began to play with him as a cat plays with a +mouse which she has succeeded in making her prey--holding him gently +with her claws, for a time, and then, after drawing back a little, +darting upon him again, as if to repeat and renew the pleasure of +capturing such a prize. This was continued so long, that the cries +of the terrified captive brought to the spot some persons that +chanced to be near, when the panther was terrified in her turn, and +fled into the forests; and then the man was rescued from his +horrible situation unharmed. + +[Illustration: THE PANTHER.] + +For these and similar reasons, travelers who ascend to the convent +of Mt. Carmel enjoy but little liberty there, but must confine their +explorations in most cases to the buildings of the monks, and to +some of the nearest caves of the ancient recluses. Still the spot is +rendered so attractive by the salubrity of the air, the intrinsic +beauty of the situation, the magnificence of the prospect, and the +kind and attentive demeanor of the monks, that some visitors have +recommended it as a place of permanent resort for those who leave +their homes in the West in pursuit of health, or in search of +retirement and repose. The rule that requires those who have been +guests of the convent more than two weeks to give place to others +more recently arrived, proves in fact to be no serious difficulty. +Some kind of an arrangement can in such cases always be made, though +it is seldom that any occasion arises that requires it. The +quarters, too, though plain and simple, are comfortable and neat, +and although the visitor is somewhat restricted, from causes that +have already been named, in respect to explorations of the mountain +itself, there are many excursions that can be made in the country +below, of a very attractive character. He can visit Haïfa, he can +ride or walk along the beach to Acre; he can go to Nazareth, or +journey down the coast, passing round the western declivity of the +mountain. In these and similar rambles he will find scenes of +continual novelty to attract him, and be surrounded every where with +the forms and usages of Oriental life. + + +LEAVING MOUNT CARMEL. + +The traveler who comes to Mt. Carmel by the way of Nazareth and the +plain of Esdraelon, in going away from it generally passes round the +western declivity of the mountain, and thence proceeds to the south, +by the way of the sea. On reaching the foot of the descent, where +the mountain mule-path comes out into the main road, as shown upon +the map near the commencement of this article, he turns short to the +left, and goes on round the base of the promontory, with the lofty +declivities of the mountain on one hand, and a mass of dense forests +on the other, lying between the road and the shore. As he passes on, +the road, picturesque and romantic from the beginning, becomes +gradually wild, solitary, and desolate. It leads him sometimes +through tangled thickets, sometimes under shelving rocks, and +sometimes it brings him out unexpectedly to the shore of the sea, +where he sees the surf rolling in upon the beach at his feet, and +far over the water the setting sun going down to his rest beneath +the western horizon. At length the twilight gradually disappears, +and as the shades of the evening come on, lights glimmer in the +solitary villages that he passes on his way; but there is no welcome +for him in their beaming. At length when he deems it time to bring +his day's journey to an end, he pitches his tent by the wayside in +some unfrequented spot, and before he retires to rest for the night, +comes out to take one more view of the dark and sombre mountain +which he is about to leave forever. He stands at the door of his +tent, and gazes at it long and earnestly, before he bids it +farewell, equally impressed with the sublime magnificence of its +situation and form, and with the solemn grandeur of its history. + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Spelled variously, by different authors, Caïpha, Kaïfa, + Caiffa, and in other ways. + + [2] The charts, as executed by the engineers, were on a + still larger scale than is here represented. It was + necessary to reduce the scale by one-fourth, in order to + bring the portion to be copied within the limits of a page. + + [3] A striking example of this occurs at Long Branch in New + Jersey, where a stream crosses the beach in entering the + sea, at a point about half a mile to the southward of the + hotels resorted to on that coast in summer by bathers. The + visitor who walks along the shore in that direction, + sometimes at a certain point finds himself upon an elevated + sandy ridge, with the surf of the sea rolling in upon one + side of it, and what appears to be a large inland pond lying + quietly on the other. A few days afterward, on visiting the + spot, he observes, perhaps, that the pond has disappeared; + and a wide chasm has been made across the ridge of sand that + he walked over before in safety, through the centre of which + a small stream is flowing quietly into the sea. Neither of + these views are of a nature to awaken any very special + interest, except when they are considered in connection with + each other: but if the observer should chance to come upon + the ground when the pond is nearly full, he may witness a + very extraordinary spectacle in the rushing out of the + torrent by which the barrier is carried away. The boys of + the vicinity often find amusement in hastening the + catastrophe, by digging a little channel in the sand with + their hands, when the water has risen nearly to the proper + level. The stream that flows through this opening is at + first extremely small, but it grows wider, deeper, and more + rapid every moment, as the opening enlarges, and soon + becomes a roaring torrent, spreading to a great width, and + tossing itself into surges and crests as it rushes down the + slope into the sea, in the most wild and tumultuous manner. + + The spectacle is almost equally imposing when, after the + pond has emptied itself, and the tide begins to rise, the + surf of the sea engages in its work of reconstructing the + dam. + + [4] It is somewhat doubtful whether the very first discovery + of the art of making glass, took place here or not, as + learned men have noticed a considerable number of allusions + in various writings of a very high antiquity, which they + have thought might possibly refer to this substance. An + example of this kind is found in the book of Job, where a + word, translated crystal, is used. The writer, speaking of + wisdom, says, "It can not be equaled with the gold of Ophir, + with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the + _crystal_ can not equal it." It has been considered doubtful + whether the word crystal, in this connection, is meant to + denote a glass or some transparent mineral. + + [5] See 1 Kings xviii. 17-46. For other passages of + Scripture referring to Mt. Carmel see 2 Kings ii. 25; iv. + 25; xix. 23. 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. Isa. xxxv. 2. Jer. xlvi. 18. + Amos i. 2; ix. 3. Micah vii. 14. + + [6] 1 Kings xviii. 4 + + + + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. + +BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. + + +FIRST CONSUL FOR LIFE. + +France was now at peace with all the world. It was universally +admitted that Napoleon was the great pacificator. He was the idol of +France. The masses of the people in Europe, every where regarded him +as their advocate and friend, the enemy of aristocratic usurpation, +and the great champion of equality. The people of France no longer +demanded _liberty_. Weary years of woe had taught them gladly to +relinquish the boon. They only desired a ruler who would take care +of them, govern them, protect them from the power of allied +despotism, and give them equal rights. Though Napoleon had now but +the title of First Consul, and France was nominally a republic, he +was in reality the most powerful monarch in Europe. His throne was +established in the hearts of nearly forty millions of people. His +word was law. + +It will be remembered that Josephine contemplated the extraordinary +grandeur to which her husband had attained, with intense solicitude. +She saw that more than ordinary regal power had passed into his +hands, and she was not a stranger to the intense desire which +animated his heart to have an heir to whom to transmit his name and +his glory. She knew that many were intimating to him that an heir +was essential to the repose of France. She was fully informed that +divorce had been urged upon him as one of the stern necessities of +state. One day, when Napoleon was busy in his cabinet, Josephine +entered softly, by a side door, and seating herself affectionately +upon his knee, and passing her hand gently through his hair, said to +him, with a burst of tenderness, "I entreat you, my friend, do not +make yourself king. It is Lucien who urges you to it. Do not listen +to him." Napoleon smiled upon her kindly, and said, "Why, my poor +Josephine, you are mad. You must not listen to these fables which +the old dowagers tell you. But you interrupt me now; I am very busy; +leave me alone." + +It is recorded that Lucien ventured to suggest to Josephine that a +law higher than the law of ordinary morality required that she must +become a mother, even were it necessary, for the attainment of that +end, that she should violate her nuptial vows. Brutalizing and +vulgar infidelity had obliterated in France, nearly all the +sacredness of domestic ties. Josephine, instinctively virtuous, and +revering the religion of her childhood, which her husband had +reinstated, bursting into tears, indignantly exclaimed, "This is +dreadful. Wretched should I be were any one to suppose me capable of +listening, without horror, to your infamous proposal. Your ideas are +poisonous; your language horrible." "Well, then, madame," responded +Lucien, "all that I can say is, that from my heart I pity you." + +Josephine was at times almost delirious in apprehension of the awful +calamity which threatened her. She knew the intensity of her +husband's love. She also knew the boundlessness of his ambition. +She could not be blind to the apparent importance, as a matter of +state policy, that Napoleon should possess an heir. She also was +fully aware that throughout France marriage had long been regarded +but as a partnership of convenience, to be formed and sundered +almost at pleasure. "Marriage," said Madame de Stael, "has become +but the sacrament of adultery." The nation, under the influence of +these views, would condemn her for selfishly refusing assent to an +arrangement apparently essential to the repose of France and of +Europe. Never was a woman placed in a situation of more terrible +trial. Never was an ambitious man exposed to a more fiery +temptation. Laying aside the authority of Christianity, and +contemplating the subject in the light of mere expediency, it seemed +a plain duty for Napoleon and Josephine to separate. But gloriously +does it illustrate the immutable truth of God's word, that even in +such an exigence as this, the path which the Bible pointed out was +the only path of safety and of peace. "In separating myself from +Josephine," said Napoleon afterward, "and in marrying Maria Louisa, +I placed my foot upon an abyss which was covered with flowers." + +Josephine's daughter, Hortense, beautiful, brilliant, and amiable, +then but eighteen years of age, was strongly attached to Duroc, one +of Napoleon's aids, a very fashionable and handsome man. Josephine, +however, had conceived the idea of marrying Hortense to Louis +Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother. She said, one day, to +Bourrienne, "My two brothers-in-law are my determined enemies. You +see all their intrigues. You know how much uneasiness they have +caused me. This projected marriage with Duroc, leaves me without any +support. Duroc, independent of Bonaparte's friendship, is nothing. +He has neither fortune, rank, nor even reputation. He can afford me +no protection against the enmity of the brothers. I must have some +more certain reliance for the future. My husband loves Louis very +much. If I can succeed in uniting my daughter to him, he will prove +a strong counterpoise to the calumnies and persecutions of my +brothers-in-law." These remarks were reported to Napoleon. He +replied, "Josephine labors in vain. Duroc and Hortense love each +other, and they shall be married. I am attached to Duroc. He is well +born. I have given Caroline to Murat, and Pauline to Le Clerc. I can +as well give Hortense to Duroc. He is brave. He is as good as the +others. He is general of division. Besides, I have other views for +Louis." + +In the palace the heart may throb with the same joys and griefs as +in the cottage. In anticipation of the projected marriage Duroc was +sent on a special mission to compliment the Emperor Alexander on his +accession to the throne. Duroc wrote often to Hortense while absent. +When the private secretary whispered in her ear, in the midst of the +brilliant throng of the Tuileries, "I have a letter," she would +immediately retire to her apartment. Upon her return her friends +could see that her eyes were moistened with the tears of affection +and joy. Josephine cherished the hope that could she succeed in +uniting Hortense with Louis Bonaparte, should Hortense give birth to +a son, Napoleon would regard him as his heir. The child would bear +the name of Bonaparte; the blood of the Bonapartes would circulate +in his veins; and he would be the offspring of Hortense, whom +Napoleon regarded as his own daughter, and whom he loved with the +strongest parental affection. Thus the terrible divorce might be +averted. Urged by motives so powerful, Josephine left no means +untried to accomplish her purpose. + +Louis Bonaparte was a studious, pensive, imaginative man, of great +moral worth, though possessing but little force of character. He had +been bitterly disappointed in his affections, and was weary of the +world. When but nineteen years of age he had formed a very strong +attachment for a young lady whom he had met in Paris. She was the +daughter of an emigrant noble, and his whole being became absorbed +in the passion of love. Napoleon, then in the midst of those +victories which paved his way to the throne of France, was +apprehensive that the alliance of his brother with one of the old +royalist families, might endanger his own ambitious projects. He +therefore sent him away on a military commission, and secured, by +his powerful instrumentality, the marriage of the young lady to +another person. The disappointment preyed deeply upon the heart of +the sensitive young man. All ambition died within him. He loved +solitude, and studiously avoided the cares and pomp of state. +Napoleon, not having been aware of the extreme strength of his +brother's attachment, when he saw the wound which he had inflicted +upon him, endeavored to make all the amends in his power. Hortense +was beautiful, full of grace and vivacity. At last Napoleon fell in +with the views of Josephine, and resolved, having united the two, to +recompense his brother, as far as possible, by lavishing great +favors upon them. + +It was long before Louis would listen to the proposition of his +marriage with Hortense. His affections still clung to the lost +object of his idolatry, and he could not, without pain, think of +union with another. Indeed a more uncongenial alliance could hardly +have been imagined. In no one thing were their tastes similar. But +who could resist the combined tact of Josephine and power of +Napoleon. All obstacles were swept away, and the maiden, loving the +hilarity of life, and its gayest scenes of festivity and splendor, +was reluctantly led to the silent, pensive scholar, who as +reluctantly received her as his bride. Hortense had become in some +degree reconciled to the match, as her powerful father promised to +place them in high positions of wealth and rank. Louis resigned +himself to his lot, feeling that earth had no further joy in store +for him. A magnificent _fête_ was given in honor of this marriage, +at which all the splendors of the ancient royalty were revived. +Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who, as President of the French Republic, +succeeded Louis Philippe, the King of the French, was the only child +of this marriage who survived his parents. + +Napoleon had organized in the heart of Italy a republic containing +about five millions of inhabitants. This republic could by no means +maintain itself against the monarchies of Europe, unaided by France. +Napoleon, surrounded by hostile kings, deemed it essential to the +safety of France, to secure in Italy a nation of congenial +sympathies and interests, with whom he could form the alliance +of cordial friendship. The Italians, all inexperienced in +self-government, regarding Napoleon as their benefactor and their +sole supporter, looked to him for a constitution. Three of the most +influential men of the Cisalpine Republic, were sent as delegates to +Paris, to consult with the First Consul upon the organization of +their government. Under the direction of Napoleon a constitution was +drafted, which, considering the character of the Italian people, and +the hostile monarchical influences which surrounded them, was most +highly liberal. A President and Vice-president were to be chosen for +ten years. There was to be a Senate of eight members and a House of +Representatives of seventy-five members. These were all to be +selected from a body composed of 300 landed proprietors, 200 +merchants, and 200 of the clergy and prominent literary men. Thus +all the important interests of the state were represented. + +In Italy, as in all the other countries of Europe at that time, +there were three prominent parties. The Loyalists sought the +restoration of monarchy and the exclusive privileges of kings and +nobles. The Moderate Republicans wished to establish a firm +government, which would enforce order and confer upon all equal +rights. The Jacobins wished to break down all distinctions, divide +property, and to govern by the blind energies of the mob. Italy had +long been held in subjection by the spiritual terrors of the priests +and by the bayonets of the Austrians. Ages of bondage had enervated +the people and there were no Italian statesmen capable of taking the +helm of government in such a turbulent sea of troubles. Napoleon +resolved to have himself proposed as President, and then reserving +to himself the supreme direction, to delegate the details of affairs +to distinguished Italians, until they should, in some degree, be +trained to duties so new to them. Says Thiers, "This plan was not, +on his part, the inspiration of ambition, but rather of great good +sense. His views on this occasion were unquestionably both pure and +exalted." But nothing can more strikingly show the almost miraculous +energies of Napoleon's mind, and his perfect self-reliance, than the +readiness with which, in addition to the cares of the Empire of +France, he assumed the responsibility of organizing and developing +another nation of five millions of inhabitants. This was in 1802. +Napoleon was then but thirty-three years of age. + +To have surrendered those Italians, who had rallied around the +armies of France in their hour of need, again to Austrian +domination, would have been an act of treachery. To have abandoned +them, in their inexperience, to the Jacobin mob on the one hand, and +to royalist intrigues on the other, would have insured the ruin of +the Republic. But by leaving the details of government to be +administered by Italians, and at the same time sustaining the +constitution by his own powerful hand, there was a probability that +the republic might attain prosperity and independence. As the press +of business rendered it extremely difficult for Napoleon to leave +France, a plan was formed for a vast congress of the Italians, to be +assembled in Lyons, about half way between Paris and Milan, for the +imposing adoption of the republican constitution. Four hundred and +fifty-two deputies were elected to cross the frozen Alps, in the +month of December. The extraordinary watchfulness and foresight of +the First Consul, had prepared every comfort for them on the way. In +Lyons sumptuous preparations were made for their entertainment. +Magnificent halls were decorated in the highest style of earthly +splendor for the solemnities of the occasion. The army of Egypt, +which had recently landed, bronzed by an African sun, was gorgeously +attired to add to the magnificence of the spectacle. The Lyonese +youth, exultant with pride, were formed into an imposing body of +cavalry. On the 11th of January, 1802, Napoleon, accompanied by +Josephine, arrived in Lyons. The whole population of the adjoining +country had assembled along the road, anxiously watching for his +passage. At night immense fires illumined his path, blazing upon +every hill side and in every valley. One continuous shout of "Live +Bonaparte," rolled along with the carriage from Paris to Lyons. It +was late in the evening when Napoleon arrived in Lyons. The +brilliant city flamed with the splendor of noon-day. The carriage of +the First Consul passed under a triumphal arch, surmounted by a +sleeping lion, the emblem of France, and Napoleon took up his +residence in the Hotel de Ville, which, in most princely +sumptuousness had been decorated for his reception. The Italians +adored Napoleon. They felt personally ennobled by his renown, for +they considered him their countryman. The Italian language was his +native tongue, and he spoke it with the most perfect fluency and +elegance. The moment that the name of Napoleon was suggested to the +deputies as President of the Republic, it was received with shouts +of enthusiastic acclamation. A deputation was immediately sent to +the First Consul to express the unanimous and cordial wish of the +convention that he would accept the office. While these things were +transpiring, Napoleon, ever intensely occupied, was inspecting his +veteran soldiers of Italy and of Egypt, in a public review. The +elements seemed to conspire to invest the occasion with splendor. +The day was cloudless, the sun brilliant, the sky serene, the air +invigorating. All the inhabitants of Lyons and the populace of the +adjacent country thronged the streets. No pen can describe the +transports with which the hero was received, as he rode along the +lines of these veterans, whom he had so often led to victory. The +soldiers shouted in a frenzy of enthusiasm. Old men, and young men, +and boys caught the shout and it reverberated along the streets in +one continuous roar. Matrons and maidens, waving banners and +handkerchiefs, wept in excess of emotion. Bouquets of flowers were +showered from the windows, to carpet his path, and every conceivable +demonstration was made of the most enthusiastic love. Napoleon +himself was deeply moved by the scene. Some of the old grenadiers, +whom he recognized, he called out of the ranks, kindly talked with +them, inquiring respecting their wounds and their wants. He +addressed several of the officers, whom he had seen in many +encounters, shook hands with them, and a delirium of excitement +pervaded all minds. Upon his return to the Hotel de Ville, he met +the deputation of the convention. They presented him the address, +urging upon him the acceptance of the Presidency of the Cisalpine +Republic. Napoleon received the address, intimated his acceptance, +and promised, on the following day, to meet the convention. + +[Illustration: REVIEW AT LYONS.] + +The next morning dawned brightly upon the city. A large church, +embellished with richest drapery, was prepared for the solemnities +of the occasion. Napoleon entered the church, took his seat upon an +elevated platform, surrounded by his family, the French ministers, +and a large number of distinguished generals and statesmen. He +addressed the assembly in the Italian language, with as much ease of +manner, elegance of expression, and fluency of utterance as if his +whole life had been devoted to the cultivation of the powers of +oratory. He announced his acceptance of the dignity with which they +would invest him, and uttered his views respecting the measures +which should be adopted to secure the prosperity of the _Italian +Republic_, as the new state was henceforth to be called. Repeated +bursts of applause interrupted his address, and at its close one +continuous shout of acclamation testified the assent and the delight +of the assembled multitude. Napoleon remained at Lyons twenty days, +occupied, apparently every moment, with the vast affairs which then +engrossed his attention. And yet he found time to write daily to +Paris, urging forward the majestic enterprises of the new government +in France. The following brief extracts, from this free and +confidential correspondence, afford an interesting glimpse of the +motives which actuated Napoleon at this time, and of the great +objects of his ambition. + +"I am proceeding slowly in my operations. I pass the whole of my +mornings in giving audience to the deputations of the neighboring +departments. The improvement in the happiness of France is obvious. +During the past two years the population of Lyons has increased more +than 20,000 souls. All the manufacturers tell me that their works +are in a state of high activity. All minds seem to be full of +energy, not that energy which overturns empires, but that which +re-establishes them, and conducts them to prosperity and riches." + +"I beg of you particularly to see that the unruly members, whom we +have in the constituted authorities, are every one of them removed. +The wish of the nation is, that the government shall not be +obstructed in its endeavors to act for the public good, and that the +head of Medusa shall no longer show itself, either in our tribunes +or in our assemblies. The conduct of Sieyes, on this occasion, +completely proves that, having contributed to the destruction of all +the constitutions since '91, he wishes now to try his hand against +the present. He ought to burn a wax candle to Our Lady, for having +got out of the scrape so fortunately and in so unexpected a manner. +But the older I grow, the more I perceive that each man must fulfill +his destiny. I recommend you to ascertain whether the provisions for +St. Domingo have actually been sent off. I take it for granted that +you have taken proper measures for demolishing the Châtelet. If the +Minister of Marine should stand in need of the frigates of the King +of Naples, he may make use of them. General Jourdan gives me a +satisfactory account of the state of Piedmont." + +"I wish that citizen Royer be sent to the 16th military division, to +examine into the accounts of the paymaster. I also wish some +individual, like citizen Royer, to perform the same duty for the +13th and 14th divisions. It is complained that the receivers keep +the money as long as they can, and that the paymasters postpone +payment as long as possible. The paymasters and the receivers are +the greatest nuisance in the state." + +"Yesterday I visited several factories. I was pleased with the +industry and the severe economy which pervaded these establishments. +Should the wintry weather continue severe, I do not think that the +$25,000 a month, which the Minister of the Interior grants for the +purposes of charity, will be sufficient. It will be necessary to add +five thousand dollars for the distribution of wood, and also to +light fires in the churches and other large buildings to give warmth +to a great number of people." + +Napoleon arrived in Paris on the 31st of January. In the mean time, +there had been a new election of members of the Tribunate and of the +Legislative body. All those who had manifested any opposition to the +measures of Napoleon, in the re-establishment of Christianity, and +in the adoption of the new civil code, were left out, and their +places supplied by those who approved of the measures of the First +Consul. Napoleon could now act unembarrassed. In every quarter there +was submission. All the officers of the state, immediately upon his +return, sought an audience, and, in that pomp of language which his +majestic deeds and character inspired, presented to him their +congratulations. He was already a sovereign, in possession of regal +power, such as no other monarch in Europe enjoyed. Upon one object +all the energies of his mighty mind were concentrated. France was +his estate, his diadem, his all. The glory of France was his glory, +the happiness of France his happiness, the riches of France his +wealth. Never did a father with more untiring self-denial and toil +labor for his family, than did Napoleon through days of Herculean +exertion and nights of sleeplessness devote every energy of body and +soul to the greatness of France. He loved not ease, he loved not +personal indulgence, he loved not sensual gratification. The +elevation of France to prosperity, wealth, and power, was a +limitless ambition. The almost supernatural success which had thus +far attended his exertions, did but magnify his desires and +stimulate his hopes. He had no wish to elevate France upon the ruins +of other nations. But he wished to make France the pattern of all +excellence, the illustrious leader, at the head of all nations, +guiding them to intelligence, to opulence, and to happiness. Such, +at this time, was the towering ambition of Napoleon, the most noble +and comprehensive which was ever embraced by the conception of man. +Of course, such ambition was not consistent with the equality of +other nations, for he determined that France should be the first. +But he manifested no disposition to destroy the prosperity of +others; he only wished to give such an impulse to humanity in +France, by the culture of mind, by purity of morals, by domestic +industry, by foreign commerce, by great national works, as to place +France in the advance upon the race course of greatness. In this +race France had but one antagonist--England. France had nearly forty +millions of inhabitants. The island of Great Britain contained but +about fifteen millions. But England, with her colonies, girdled the +globe, and, with her fleets, commanded all seas. "France," said +Napoleon, "must also have her colonies and her fleets." "If we +permit that," the statesmen of England rejoined, "we may become a +secondary power, and may thus be at the mercy of France." It was +undeniably so. Shall history be blind to such fatality as this? Is +man, in the hour of triumphant ambition, so moderate, that we can be +willing that he should attain power which places us at his mercy? +England was omnipotent upon the seas. She became arrogant, and +abused that power, and made herself offensive to all nations. +Napoleon developed no special meekness of character to indicate that +he would be, in the pride of strength which no nation could resist, +more moderate and conciliating. Candor can not censure England for +being unwilling to yield her high position--to surrender her +supremacy on the seas--to become a secondary power--to allow France +to become her master. And who can censure France for seeking the +establishment of colonies, the extension of commerce, friendly +alliance with other nations, and the creation of fleets to protect +her from aggression upon the ocean, as well as upon the land? +Napoleon himself, with that wonderful magnanimity which ever +characterized him, though at times exasperated by the hostility +which he now encountered, yet often spoke in terms of respect of the +influences which animated his foes. It is to be regretted that his +antagonists so seldom reciprocated this magnanimity. There was here, +most certainly, a right and a wrong. But it is not easy for man +accurately to adjust the balance. God alone can award the issue. +The mind is saddened as it wanders amid the labyrinths of +conscientiousness and of passion, of pure motives and of impure +ambition. This is, indeed, a fallen world. The drama of nations is a +tragedy. Melancholy is the lot of man. + +England daily witnessed, with increasing alarm, the rapid and +enormous strides which France was making. The energy of the First +Consul seemed superhuman. His acts indicated the most profound +sagacity, the most far-reaching foresight. To-day the news reaches +London that Napoleon has been elected President of the Italian +Republic. Thus in an hour five millions of people are added to his +empire! To-morrow it is announced that he is establishing a colony +at Elba, that a vast expedition is sailing for St. Domingo, to +re-organize the colony there. England is bewildered. Again it is +proclaimed that Napoleon has purchased Louisiana of Spain, and is +preparing to fill the fertile valley of the Mississippi with +colonists. In the mean time, all France is in a state of activity. +Factories, roads, bridges, canals, fortifications are every where +springing into existence. The sound of the ship hammer reverberates +in all the harbors of France, and every month witnesses the increase +of the French fleet. The mass of the English people contemplate with +admiration this development of energy. The statesmen of England +contemplate it with dread. + +For some months, Napoleon, in the midst of all his other cares, had +been maturing a vast system of public instruction for the youth of +France. He drew up, with his own hand, the plan for their schools, +and proposed the course of study. It is a little singular that, with +his strong scientific predilections, he should have assigned the +first rank to classical studies. Perhaps this is to be accounted for +from his profound admiration of the heroes of antiquity. His own +mind was most thoroughly stored with all the treasures of Greek and +Roman story. All these schools were formed upon a military model, +for, situated as France was, in the midst of monarchies, at heart +hostile, he deemed it necessary that the nation should be +universally trained to bear arms. Religious instruction was to be +communicated in all these schools by chaplains, military instruction +by old officers who had left the army, and classical and scientific +instruction by the most learned men Europe could furnish. The First +Consul also devoted special attention to female schools. "France +needs nothing so much to promote her regeneration," said he, "as +good mothers." To attract the youth of France to these schools, one +million of dollars was appropriated for over six thousand gratuitous +exhibitions for the pupils. Ten schools of law were established, +nine schools of medicine, and an institution for the mechanical +arts, called the "School of Bridges and Roads," the first model of +those schools of art which continue in France until the present day, +and which are deemed invaluable. There were no exclusive privileges +in these institutions. A system of perfect equality pervaded them. +The pupils of all classes were placed upon a level, with an +unobstructed arena before them. "This is only a commencement," said +Napoleon, "by-and-by we shall do more and better." + +Another project which Napoleon now introduced was vehemently +opposed--the establishment of the Legion of Honor. One of the +leading principles of the revolution was the entire overthrow of all +titles of distinction. Every man, high or low, was to be addressed +simply as _Citizen_. Napoleon wished to introduce a system of +rewards which should stimulate to heroic deeds, and which should +ennoble those who had deserved well of humanity. Innumerable +foreigners of distinction had thronged France since the peace. He +had observed with what eagerness the populace had followed these +foreigners, gazing with delight upon their gay decorations. The +court-yard of the Tuileries was ever crowded when these illustrious +strangers arrived and departed. Napoleon, in his council, where he +was always eloquent and powerful, thus urged his views: + +"Look at these vanities, which genius pretends so much to disdain. +The populace is not of that opinion. It loves these many-colored +ribbons, as it loves religious pomp. The democrat philosopher calls +it vanity. Vanity let it be. But that vanity is a weakness common to +the whole human race, and great virtues may be made to spring from +it. With these so much despised baubles heroes are made. There must +be worship for the religious sentiment. There must be visible +distinctions for the noble sentiment of glory. Nations should not +strive to be singular any more than individuals. The affectation of +acting differently from the rest of the world, is an affectation +which is reproved by all persons of sense and modesty. Ribbons are +in use in all countries. Let them be in use in France. It will be +one more friendly relation established with Europe. Our neighbors +give them only to the man of noble birth. I will give them to the +man of merit--to the one who shall have served best in the army or +in the state, or who shall have produced the finest works." + +It was objected that the institution of the Legion of Honor was a +return to the aristocracy which the revolution had abolished. "What +is there aristocratic," Napoleon exclaimed, "in a distinction purely +personal, and merely for life, bestowed on the man who has displayed +merit, whether civil or military--bestowed on him alone, bestowed +for his life only, and not passing to his children. Such a +distinction is the reverse of aristocratic. It is the essence of +aristocracy that its titles are transmitted from the man who has +earned them, to the son who possesses no merit. The ancient regimé, +so battered by the ram of the revolution, is more entire than is +believed. All the emigrants hold each other by the hand. The +Vendeeans are secretly enrolled. The priests, at heart, are not very +friendly to us. With the words 'legitimate king,' thousands might be +roused to arms. It is needful that the men who have taken part in +the revolution should have a bond of union, and cease to depend on +the first accident which might strike one single head. For ten years +we have only been making ruins. We must now found an edifice. Depend +upon it, the struggle is not over with Europe. Be assured that +struggle will begin again." + +It was then urged by some, that the Legion of Honor should be +confined entirely to military merit. "By no means," said Napoleon, +"Rewards are not to be conferred upon soldiers alone. All sorts of +merit are brothers. The courage of the President of the Convention, +resisting the populace, should be compared with the courage of +Kleber, mounting to the assault of Acre. It is right that civil +virtues should have their reward, as well as military virtues. Those +who oppose this course, reason like barbarians. It is the religion +of brute force they commend to us. Intelligence has its rights +before those of force. Force, without intelligence, is nothing. In +barbarous ages, the man of stoutest sinews was the chieftain. Now +the general is the most intelligent of the brave. At Cairo, the +Egyptians could not comprehend how it was that Kleber, with his +majestic form, was not commander-in-chief. When Mourad Bey had +carefully observed our tactics, he could comprehend how it was that +I, and no other, ought to be the general of an army so conducted. +You reason like the Egyptians, when you attempt to confine rewards +to military valor. The soldiers reason better than you. Go to their +bivouacs; listen to them. Do you imagine that it is the tallest of +their officers, and the most imposing by his stature, for whom they +feel the highest regard? Do you imagine even that the bravest stands +first in their esteem? No doubt they would despise the man whose +courage they suspected; but they rank above the merely brave man him +whom they consider the most intelligent. As for myself, do you +suppose that it is solely because I am reputed a great general that +I rule France? No! It is because the qualities of a statesman and a +magistrate are attributed to me. France will never tolerate the +government of the sword. Those who think so are strangely mistaken. +It would require an abject servitude of fifty years before that +could be the case. France is too noble, too intelligent a country to +submit to material power. Let us honor intelligence, virtue, the +civil qualities; in short, let us bestow upon them, in all +professions, the like reward." + +The true spirit of republicanism is certainly equality of rights, +not of attainments and honors; the abolition of hereditary +distinctions and privileges, not of those which are founded upon +merit. The badge of the Legion of Honor was to be conferred upon all +who, by genius, self-denial, and toil, had won renown. The prizes +were open to the humblest peasant in the land. Still the popular +hostility to any institution which bore a resemblance to the +aristocracy of the ancient nobility was so strong, that though a +majority voted in favor of the measure, there was a strong +opposition. Napoleon was surprised. He said to Bourrienne: "You are +right. Prejudices are still against me. I ought to have waited. +There was no occasion for haste in bringing it forward. But the +thing is done; and you will soon find that the taste for these +distinctions is not yet gone by. It is a taste which belongs to the +nature of man. You will see that extraordinary results will arise +from it." + +The order was to consist of six thousand members. It was constituted +in four ranks: grand officers, commanders, officers, and private +legionaries. The badge was simply a red ribbon, in the button-hole. +To the first rank, there was allotted an annual salary of $1000; to +the second, $400; to the third, $200; to the fourth, $50. The +private soldier, the retired scholar, and the skillful artist were +thus decorated with the same badge of distinction which figured upon +the breasts of generals, nobles, and monarchs. That this institution +was peculiarly adapted to the state of France, is evident from the +fact, that it has survived all the revolutions of subsequent years. +"Though of such recent origin," says Thiers, "it is already +consecrated as if it had passed through centuries; to such a degree +has it become the recompense of heroism, of knowledge, of merit of +every kind--so much have its honors been coveted by the grandees and +the princes of Europe the most proud of their origin." + +The popularity of Napoleon was now unbounded. A very general and +earnest disposition was expressed to confer upon the First Consul a +magnificent testimonial of the national gratitude--a testimonial +worthy of the illustrious man who was to receive it, and of the +powerful nation by which it was to be bestowed. The President of the +Tribunal thus addressed that body: "Among all nations public honors +have been decreed to men who, by splendid actions, have honored +their country, and saved it from great dangers. What man ever had +stronger claims to the national gratitude than General Bonaparte? +His valor and genius have saved the French people from the excesses +of anarchy, and from the miseries of war; and France is too great, +too magnanimous to leave such benefits without reward." + +A deputation was immediately chosen to confer with Napoleon upon the +subject of the tribute of gratitude and affection which he should +receive. Surrounded by his colleagues and the principal officers of +the state, he received them the next day in the Tuileries. With +seriousness and modesty he listened to the high eulogium upon his +achievements which was pronounced, and then replied: "I receive +with sincere gratitude the wish expressed by the Tribunate. I desire +no other glory than that of having completely performed the task +imposed upon me. I aspire to no other reward than the affection of +my fellow-citizens. I shall be happy if they are thoroughly +convinced, that the evils which they may experience, will always be +to me the severest of misfortunes; that life is dear to me solely +for the services which I am able to render to my country; that death +itself will have no bitterness for me, if my last looks can see the +happiness of the republic as firmly secured as is its glory." + +[Illustration: RECEPTION AT THE TUILERIES.] + +But how was Napoleon to be rewarded? That was the great and +difficult question. Was wealth to be conferred upon him? For wealth +he cared nothing. Millions had been at his disposal, and he had +emptied them all into the treasury of France. Ease, luxury, +self-indulgence had no charms for him. Were monuments to be reared +to his honor, titles to be lavished upon his name? Napoleon regarded +these but as means for the accomplishment of ends. In themselves +they were nothing. The one only thing which he desired was _power_, +power to work out vast results for others, and thus to secure for +himself renown, which should be pure and imperishable. But how could +the _power_ of Napoleon be increased? He was already almost +absolute. Whatever he willed, he accomplished. Senators, +legislators, and tribunes all co-operated in giving energy to his +plans. It will be remembered, that Napoleon was elected First Consul +for a period of ten years. It seemed that there was absolutely +nothing which could be done, gratifying to the First Consul, but to +prolong the term of his Consulship, by either adding to it another +period of ten years, or by continuing it during his life. "What does +he wish?" was the universal inquiry. Every possible means were +tried, but in vain, to obtain a single word from his lips, +significant of his desires. One of the senators went to Cambaceres, +and said, "What would be gratifying to General Bonaparte? Does he +wish to be king? Only let him say so, and we are all ready to vote +for the re-establishment of royalty. Most willingly will we do it +for him, for he is worthy of that station." But the First Consul +shut himself up in impenetrable reserve. Even his most intimate +friends could catch no glimpse of his secret wishes. At last the +question was plainly and earnestly put to him. With great apparent +humility, he replied: "I have not fixed my mind upon any thing. Any +testimony of the public confidence will be sufficient for me, and +will fill me with satisfaction." The question was then discussed +whether to add ten years to his Consulship, or to make him First +Consul for life. Cambaceres knew well the boundless ambition of +Napoleon, and was fully conscious, that any limited period of power +would not be in accordance with his plans. He ventured to say to +him; "You are wrong not to explain yourself. Your enemies, for +notwithstanding your services, you have some left even in the +Senate, will abuse your reserve." Napoleon calmly replied: "Let them +alone. The majority of the Senate is always ready to do more than it +is asked. They will go further than you imagine." + +On the evening of the 8th of May, 1802, the resolution was adopted, +of prolonging the powers of the First Consul for _ten years_. +Napoleon was probably surprised and disappointed. He, however, +decided to return a grateful answer, and to say that not from the +Senate, but from the suffrages of the people alone could he accept a +prolongation of that power to which their voices had elevated him. +The following answer was transmitted to the Senate, the next +morning: + +"The honorable proof of your esteem, given in your deliberation of +the 8th, will remain forever engraven on my heart. In the three +years which have just elapsed fortune has smiled upon the republic. +But fortune is fickle. How many men whom she has loaded with favors, +have lived a few years too long. The interest of my glory and that +of my happiness, would seem to have marked the term of my public +life, at the moment when the peace of the world is proclaimed. But +the glory and the happiness of the citizen ought to be silent, when +the interest of the state, and the public partiality, call him. You +judge that I owe a new sacrifice to the people. I will make it, if +the wishes of the people command what your suffrage authorizes." + +[Illustration: MALMAISON.] + +Napoleon immediately left Paris for his country-seat at Malmaison. +This beautiful chateau was about ten miles from the metropolis. +Josephine had purchased the peaceful, rural retreat at Napoleon's +request, during his first Italian campaign. Subsequently, large sums +had been expended in enlarging and improving the grounds; and it was +ever the favorite residence of both Napoleon and Josephine. +Cambaceres called an extraordinary meeting of the Council of State. +After much deliberation, it was resolved, by an immense majority, +that the following proposition should be submitted to the people: +"Shall Napoleon Bonaparte be First Consul for life?" It was then +resolved to submit a second question: "Shall the First Consul have +the power of appointing his successor?" This was indeed +re-establishing monarchy, under a republican name. + +Cambaceres immediately repaired to Malmaison, to submit these +resolutions to Napoleon. To the amazement of all, he immediately and +firmly rejected the second question. Energetically, he said: "Whom +would you have me appoint my successor? My brothers? But will +France, which has consented to be governed by me, consent to be +governed by Joseph or Lucien? Shall I nominate you consul, +Cambaceres? You? Dare you undertake such a task? And then the will +of Louis XIV. was not respected; is it likely that mine would be? A +dead man, let him be who he will, is nobody." In opposition to all +urgency, he ordered the second question to be erased, and the first +only to be submitted to the people. It is impossible to divine the +motive which influenced Napoleon in this most unexpected decision. +Some have supposed that even then he had in view the Empire and the +hereditary monarchy, and that he wished to leave a chasm in the +organization of the government, as a reason for future change. +Others have supposed that he dreaded the rivalries which would arise +among his brothers and his nephews, from his having at his disposal +so resplendent a gift as the Empire of France. But the historian +treads upon dangerous ground, when he begins to judge of motives. +That which Napoleon actually _did_ was moderate and noble in the +highest degree. He declined the power of appointing his successor, +and submitted his election to the suffrages of the people. A +majority of 3,568,885 voted for the Consulate for life, and only +eight thousands and a few hundreds, against it. Never before, or +since, was an earthly government established by such unanimity. +Never had a monarch a more indisputable title to his throne. Upon +this occasion Lafayette added to his vote these qualifying words: "I +can not vote for such a magistracy, until public freedom is +sufficiently guaranteed. When that is done, I give my voice to +Napoleon Bonaparte." In a private conversation with the First +Consul, he added: "A free government, and you at its head--that +comprehends all my desires." Napoleon remarked: "In theory Lafayette +is perhaps right. But what is theory? A mere dream, when applied to +the masses of mankind. He thinks he is still in the United +States--as if the French were Americans. He has no conception of +what is required for this country." + +A day was fixed for a grand diplomatic festival, when Napoleon +should receive the congratulations of the constituted authorities, +and of the foreign embassadors. The soldiers, in brilliant uniform, +formed a double line, from the Tuileries to the Luxembourg. The +First Consul was seated in a magnificent chariot, drawn by eight +horses. A cortège of gorgeous splendor accompanied him. All Paris +thronged the streets through which he passed, and the most +enthusiastic applause rent the heavens. To the congratulatory +address of the Senate, Napoleon replied: "The life of a citizen +belongs to his country. The French nation wishes that mine should be +wholly consecrated to France. I obey its will. Through my efforts, +by your assistance, citizen-senators, by the aid of the authorities, +and by the confidence and support of this mighty people, the +liberty, equality, and prosperity of France will be rendered secure +against the caprices of fate, and the uncertainty of futurity. The +most virtuous of nations will be the most happy, as it deserves to +be; and its felicity will contribute to the general happiness of all +Europe. Proud then of being thus called, by the command of that +Power from which every thing emanates, to bring back order, justice, +and equality to the earth, when my last hour approaches, I shall +yield myself up with resignation, and, without any solicitude +respecting the opinions of future generations." + +[Illustration: ELECTION FOR CONSUL FOR LIFE.] + +On the following day the new articles, modifying the constitution in +accordance with the change in the consulship, were submitted to the +Council of State. The First Consul presided, and with his accustomed +vigor and perspicuity, explained the reasons of each article, as he +recounted them one by one. The articles contained the provision that +Napoleon should nominate his successor to the Senate. To this, after +a slight resistance, he yielded. The most profound satisfaction now +pervaded France. Even Josephine began to be tranquil and happy. She +imagined that all thoughts of royalty and of hereditary succession +had now passed away. She contemplated with no uneasiness the power +which Napoleon possessed of choosing his successor. Napoleon +sympathized cordially with her in her high gratification that +Hortense was soon to become a mother. This child was already, in +their hearts, the selected heir to the power of Napoleon. On the +15th of August, Paris magnificently celebrated the anniversary of +the birth-day of the First Consul. This was another introduction of +monarchical usages. All the high authorities of the Church and the +State, and the foreign diplomatic bodies, called upon him with +congratulations. At noon, in all the churches of the metropolis, a +_Te Deum_ was sung, in gratitude to God for the gift of Napoleon. At +night the city blazed with illuminations. The splendors and the +etiquette of royalty were now rapidly introduced; and the same +fickle populace who had so recently trampled princes and thrones +into blood and ruin, were now captivated with the reintroduction of +these discarded splendors. Napoleon soon established himself in the +beautiful chateau of St. Cloud, which he had caused to be repaired +with great magnificence. On the Sabbath the First Consul, with +Josephine, invariably attended divine service. Their example was +soon followed by most of the members of the court, and the nation as +a body returned to Christianity, which, even in its most corrupt +form, saves humanity from those abysses of degradation into which +infidelity plunges it. Immediately after divine service he conversed +in the gallery of the chateau with the visitors who were then +waiting for him. The brilliance of his intellect, and his high +renown, caused him to be approached with emotions of awe. His words +were listened to with intensest eagerness. He was the exclusive +object of observation and attention. No earthly potentate had ever +attained such a degree of homage, pure and sincere, as now circled +around the First Consul. + +Napoleon was very desirous of having his court a model of decorum +and of morals. Lucien owned a beautiful rural mansion near Neuilly. +Upon one occasion he invited Napoleon, and all the inmates of +Malmaison, to attend some private theatricals at his dwelling. +Lucien and Eliza were the performers in a piece called Alzire. The +ardor of their declamation, the freedom of their gestures, and above +all the indelicacy of the costume which they assumed, displeased +Napoleon exceedingly. As soon as the play was over he exclaimed, "It +is a scandal. I ought not to suffer such indecencies. I will give +Lucien to understand that I will have no more of it." As soon as +Lucien entered the saloon, having resumed his usual dress, Napoleon +addressed him before the whole company, and requested him in future +to desist from all such representations. "What!" said he, "when I am +endeavoring to restore purity of manners, my brother and sister must +needs exhibit themselves upon a platform, almost in a state of +nudity! It is an insult!" + +One day at this time Bourrienne, going from Malmaison to Ruel, lost +a beautiful watch. He proclaimed his loss by means of the bellman at +Ruel. An hour after, as he was sitting down to dinner, a peasant boy +brought him the watch, which he had found on the road. Napoleon +heard of the occurrence. Immediately he instituted inquiries +respecting the young man and the family. Hearing a good report of +them, he gave the three brothers employment, and amply rewarded the +honest lad. "Kindness," says Bourrienne, "was a very prominent trait +in the character of Napoleon." + +If we now take a brief review of what Napoleon had accomplished +since his return from Egypt, it must be admitted that the records of +the world are to be searched in vain for a similar recital. No +mortal man before ever accomplished so much, or accomplished it so +well, in so short a time. + +Let us for a moment return to his landing at Frejus on the 8th of +October, 1799, until he was chosen First Consul for life, in August, +1802, a period of not quite three years. Proceeding to Paris, almost +alone, he overthrew the Directory, and seized the supreme power; +restored order into the administration of government, established a +new and very efficient system for the collection of taxes, raised +public credit, and supplied the wants of the suffering army. By +great energy and humanity he immediately terminated the horrors of +that unnatural war which had for years been desolating La Vendee. +Condescending to the attitude of suppliant, he implored of Europe +peace. Europe chose war. By a majestic conception of military +combinations, he sent Moreau with a vast army to the Rhine; +stimulated Massena to the most desperate strife at Genoa, and then, +creating as by magic, an army, from materials which excited but the +ridicule of his foes, he climbed, with artillery and horse, and all +the munitions of war, the icy pinnacles of the Alps, and fell like +an avalanche upon his foes upon the plain of Marengo. With far +inferior numbers, he snatched the victory from the victors; and in +the exultant hour of the most signal conquest, wrote again from the +field of blood imploring peace. His foes, humbled, and at his mercy, +gladly availed themselves of his clemency, and promised to treat. +Perfidiously, they only sought time to regain their strength. He +then sent Moreau to Hohenlinden, and beneath the walls of Vienna +extorted peace with continental Europe. England still prosecuted the +war. The First Consul, by his genius, won the heart of Paul of +Russia, secured the affection of Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden, and +formed a league of all Europe against the Mistress of the Seas. +While engaged in this work, he paid the creditors of the State, +established the Bank of France, overwhelmed the highway robbers with +utter destruction, and restored security in all the provinces; cut +magnificent communications over the Alps, founded hospitals on their +summits, surrounded exposed cities with fortifications, opened +canals, constructed bridges, created magnificent roads, and +commenced the compilation of that civil code which will remain an +ever-during monument of his labors and his genius. In opposition to +the remonstrances of his best friends, he re-established +Christianity, and with it proclaimed perfect liberty of conscience. +Public works were every where established, to encourage industry. +Schools and colleges were founded. Merit of every kind was +stimulated by abundant rewards. Vast improvements were made in +Paris, and the streets cleaned and irrigated. In the midst of all +these cares, he was defending France against the assaults of the +most powerful nation on the globe; and he was preparing, as his last +resort, a vast army, to carry the war into the heart of England. +Notwithstanding the most atrocious libels with which England was +filled against him, his fame shone resplendent through them all, and +he was popular with the English people. Many of the most illustrious +of the English statesmen advocated his cause. His gigantic +adversary, William Pitt, vanquished by the genius of Napoleon, was +compelled to retire from the ministry--and the world was at peace. + +The difficulties, perplexities, embarrassments which were +encountered in these enterprises were infinite. Says Napoleon, with +that magnanimity which history should recognize and applaud, "We are +told that all the First Consul had to look to, was to do justice. +But to whom was he to do justice? To the proprietors whom the +revolution had violently despoiled of their properties, for this +only, that they had been faithful to their legitimate sovereign and +to the principle of honor which they had inherited from their +ancestors; or to those new proprietors, who had purchased these +domains, adventuring their money on the faith of laws flowing from +an illegitimate authority? Was he to do justice to those royalist +soldiers, mutilated in the fields of Germany, La Vendee, and +Quiberon, arrayed under the white standard of the Bourbons, in the +firm belief that they were serving the cause of their king against a +usurping tyranny; or to the million of citizens, who, forming around +the frontiers a wall of brass, had so often saved their country from +the inveterate hostility of its enemies, and had borne to so +transcendent a height the glory of the French eagle? Was he to do +justice to that clergy, the model and the example of every Christian +virtue, stripped of its birthright, the reward of fifteen hundred +years of benevolence; or to the recent acquirers, who had converted +the convents into workshops, the churches into warehouses, and had +turned to profane uses all that had been deemed most holy for ages?" + +"At this period," says Thiers, "Napoleon appeared so moderate, after +having been so victorious, he showed himself so profound a +legislator, after having proved himself so great a commander, he +evinced so much love for the arts of peace, after having excelled in +the arts of war, that well might he excite illusions in France and +in the world. Only some few among the personages who were admitted +to his councils, who were capable of judging futurity by the +present, were filled with as much anxiety as admiration, on +witnessing the indefatigable activity of his mind and body, and the +energy of his will, and the impetuosity of his desires. They +trembled even at seeing him do good, in the way he did--so impatient +was he to accomplish it quickly, and upon an immense scale. The wise +and sagacious Tronchet, who both admired and loved him, and looked +upon him as the saviour of France, said, nevertheless, one day in a +tone of deep feeling to Cambaceres, 'This young man begins like +Cæsar; I fear that he will end like him.'" + +The elevation of Napoleon to the supreme power for life was regarded +by most of the states of continental Europe with satisfaction, as +tending to diminish the dreaded influences of republicanism, and to +assimilate France with the surrounding monarchies. Even in England, +the prime minister, Mr. Addington, assured the French embassador of +the cordial approbation of the British government of an event, +destined to consolidate order and power in France. The King of +Prussia, the Emperor Alexander, and the Archduke Charles of Austria, +sent him their friendly congratulations. Even Catharine, the haughty +Queen of Naples, mother of the Empress of Austria, being then at +Vienna, in ardent expression of her gratification to the French +embassador said, "General Bonaparte is a great man. He has done me +much injury, but that shall not prevent me from acknowledging his +genius. By checking disorder in France, he has rendered a service to +all of Europe. He has attained the government of his country because +he is most worthy of it. I hold him out every day as a pattern to +the young princes of the imperial family. I exhort them to study +that extraordinary personage, to learn from him how to direct +nations, how to make the yoke of authority endurable, by means of +genius and glory." + +But difficulties were rapidly rising between England and France. The +English were much disappointed in not finding that sale of their +manufactures which they had anticipated. The cotton and iron +manufactures were the richest branches of industry in England. +Napoleon, supremely devoted to the development of the manufacturing +resources of France, encouraged those manufactures by the almost +absolute prohibition of the rival articles. William Pitt and his +partisans, still retaining immense influence, regarded with extreme +jealousy the rapid strides which Napoleon was making to power, and +incessantly declaimed, in the journals, against the ambition of +France. Most of the royalist emigrants, who had refused to +acknowledge the new government, and were still devoted to the cause +of the Bourbons, had taken refuge in London. They had been the +allies with England in the long war against France. The English +government could not refrain from sympathizing with them in their +sufferings. It would have been ungenerous not to have done so. The +emigrants were many of them supported by pensions paid them by +England. At the same time they were constantly plotting conspiracies +against the life of Napoleon, and sending assassins to shoot him. "I +will yet teach those Bourbons," said Napoleon, in a moment of +indignation, "that I am not a man to be shot at like a dog." +Napoleon complained bitterly that his enemies, then attempting his +assassination, were in the pay of the British government. Almost +daily the plots of these emigrants were brought to light by the +vigilance of the French police. + +A Bourbon pamphleteer, named Peltier, circulated widely through +England the most atrocious libels against the First Consul, his +wife, her children, his brothers and sisters. They were charged with +the most low, degrading, and revolting vices. These accusations were +circulated widely through England and America. They produced a +profound impression. They were believed. Many were interested in the +circulation of these reports, wishing to destroy the popularity of +Napoleon, and to prepare the populace of England for the renewal of +the war. Napoleon remonstrated against such infamous representations +of his character being allowed in England. But he was informed that +the British press was free; that there was no resource but to +prosecute for libel in the British courts; and that it was the part +of true greatness to treat such slanders with contempt. But Napoleon +felt that such false charges were exasperating nations, were paving +the way to deluge Europe again in war, and that causes tending to +such woes were too potent to be despised. + +The Algerines were now sweeping with their piratic crafts the +Mediterranean, exacting tribute from all Christian powers. A French +ship had been wrecked upon the coast, and the crew were made +prisoners. Two French vessels and a Neapolitan ship had also been +captured and taken to Algiers. The indignation of Napoleon was +aroused. He sent an officer to the Dey with a letter, informing him +that if the prisoners were not released and the captured vessels +instantly restored, and a promise given to respect in future the +flags of France and Italy, he would send a fleet and an army and +overwhelm him with ruin. The Dey had heard of Napoleon's career in +Egypt. He was thoroughly frightened, restored the ships and the +prisoners, implored clemency, and with barbarian injustice doomed to +death those who had captured the ships in obedience to his commands. +Their lives were saved only through the intercession of the French +minister. Napoleon then performed one of the most gracious acts of +courtesy toward the Pope. The feeble monarch had no means of +protecting his coasts from the pirates who still swarmed in those +seas. Napoleon selected two fine brigs in the naval arsenal at +Toulon, equipped them with great elegance, armed them most +effectively, filled them with naval stores, and conferring upon them +the apostolical names of St. Peter and St. Paul, sent them as a +present to the Pontiff. With characteristic grandeur of action, he +carried his attentions so far as to send a cutter to bring back the +crews, that the papal treasury might be exposed to no expense. The +venerable Pope, in the exuberance of his gratitude, insisted upon +taking the French seamen to Rome. He treated them with every +attention in his power; exhibited to them St. Peter's, and dazzled +them with the pomp and splendor of cathedral worship. They returned +to France loaded with humble presents, and exceedingly gratified +with the kindness with which they had been received. + +It was stipulated in the treaty of Amiens, that both England and +France should evacuate Egypt, and that England should surrender Malta +to its ancient rulers. Malta, impregnable in its fortifications, +commanded the Mediterranean, and was the key of Egypt. Napoleon had +therefore, while he professed a willingness to relinquish all claim to +the island himself, insisted upon it, as an essential point, that +England should do the same. The question upon which the treaty hinged, +was the surrender of Malta to a neutral power. The treaty was signed. +Napoleon promptly and scrupulously fulfilled his agreements. Several +embarrassments, for which England was not responsible, delayed for a +few months the evacuation of Malta. But now nearly a year had passed +since the signing of the treaty. All obstacles were removed from the +way of its entire fulfillment, and yet the troops of England remained +both in Egypt and in Malta. The question was seriously discussed in +Parliament and in the English journals, whether England were bound to +fulfill her engagements, since France was growing so alarmingly +powerful. Generously and eloquently Fox exclaimed, "I am astonished at +all I hear, particularly when I consider who they are that speak such +words. Indeed I am more grieved than any of the honorable friends and +colleagues of Mr. Pitt, at the growing greatness of France, which is +daily extending her power in Europe and in America. That France, now +accused of interfering with the concerns of others, we invaded, for +the purpose of forcing upon her a government to which she would not +submit, and of obliging her to accept the family of the Bourbons, +whose yoke she spurned. By one of those sublime movements, which +history should recommend to imitation, and preserve in eternal +memorial, she repelled her invaders. Though warmly attached to the +cause of England, we have felt an involuntary movement of sympathy +with that generous outburst of liberty, and we have no desire to +conceal it. No doubt France is great, much greater than a good +Englishman ought to wish, but that ought not to be a motive for +violating solemn treaties. But because France now appears too great to +us--greater than we thought her at first--to break a solemn +engagement, to retain Malta, for instance, would be an unworthy breach +of faith, which would compromise the honor of Britain. I am sure that +if there were in Paris an assembly similar to that which is debating +here, the British navy and its dominion over the seas would be talked +of, in the same terms as we talk in this house of the French armies, +and their dominion over the land." + +Napoleon sincerely wished for peace. He was constructing vast works +to embellish and improve the empire. Thousands of workmen were +employed in cutting magnificent roads across the Alps. He was +watching with intensest interest the growth of fortifications and +the excavation of canals. He was in the possession of absolute +power, was surrounded by universal admiration, and, in the enjoyment +of profound peace, was congratulating himself upon being the +pacificator of Europe. He had disbanded his armies, and was +consecrating all the resources of the nation to the stimulation of +industry. He therefore left no means of forbearance and conciliation +untried to avert the calamities of war. He received Lord Whitworth, +the English embassador in Paris, with great distinction. The most +delicate attentions were paid to his lady, the Duchess of Dorset. +Splendid entertainments were given at the Tuileries and at St. Cloud +in their honor. Talleyrand consecrated to them all the resources of +his courtly and elegant manners. The two Associate Consuls, +Cambaceres and Lebrun, were also unwearied in attentions. Still all +these efforts on the part of Napoleon to secure friendly relations +with England were unavailing. The British government still, in open +violation of the treaty, retained Malta. The honor of France was at +stake in enforcing the sacredness of treaties. Malta was too +important a post to be left in the hands of England. Napoleon at +last resolved to have a personal interview himself with Lord +Whitworth, and to explain to him, with all frankness, his sentiments +and his resolves. + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON AND THE BRITISH EMBASSADOR.] + +It was on the evening of the 18th of February, 1803, that Napoleon +received Lord Whitworth in his cabinet in the Tuileries. A large +writing-table occupied the middle of the room. Napoleon invited the +embassador to take a seat at one end of the table, and seated +himself at the other. "I have wished," said he, "to converse with +you in person, that I may fully convince you of my real opinions and +intentions." Then with that force of language and that perspicuity +which no man ever excelled, he recapitulated his transactions with +England from the beginning; that he had offered peace immediately +upon his accession to the consulship; that peace had been refused; +that eagerly he had renewed negotiations as soon as he could with +any propriety do so; and that he had made great concessions to +secure the peace of Amiens. "But my efforts," said he, "to live on +good terms with England, have met with no friendly response. The +English newspapers breathe but animosity against me. The journals of +the emigrants are allowed a license of abuse which is not justified +by the British constitution. Pensions are granted to Georges and his +accomplices, who are plotting my assassination. The emigrants, +protected in England, are continually making excursions to France to +stir up civil war. The Bourbon princes are received with the +insignia of the ancient royalty. Agents are sent to Switzerland and +Italy to raise up difficulties against France. Every wind which +blows from England brings me but hatred and insult. Now we have come +to a situation from which we must relieve ourselves. Will you or +will you not execute the treaty of Amiens? I have executed it on my +part with scrupulous fidelity. That treaty obliged me to evacuate +Naples, Tarento, and the Roman States, within three months. In less +than two months, all the French troops were out of those countries. +Ten months have elapsed since the exchange of the ratifications, and +the English troops are still in Malta, and at Alexandria. It is +useless to try to deceive us on this point. Will you have peace, or +will you have war? If you are for war, only say so; we will wage it +unrelentingly. If you wish for peace, you must evacuate Alexandria +and Malta. The rock of Malta, on which so many fortifications have +been erected, is, in a maritime point of view, an object of great +importance; but, in my estimation, it has an importance infinitely +greater, inasmuch as it implicates the honor of France. What would +the world say, if we were to allow a solemn treaty, signed with us, +to be violated? It would doubt our energy. For my part, my +resolution is fixed. I had rather see you in possession of the +Heights of Montmartre, than in possession of Malta." + +"If you doubt my desire to preserve peace, listen, and judge how far +I am sincere. Though yet very young, I have attained a power, a +renown to which it would be difficult to add. Do you imagine that I +am solicitous to risk this power, this renown, in a desperate +struggle? If I have a war with Austria, I shall contrive to find the +way to Vienna. If I have a war with you, I will take from you every +ally upon the Continent. You will blockade us; but I will blockade +you in my turn. You will make the Continent a prison for us; but I +will make the seas a prison for you. However, to conclude the war, +there must be more direct efficiency. There must be assembled +150,000 men, and an immense flotilla. We must try to cross the +Strait, and perhaps I shall bury in the depths of the sea my +fortune, my glory, my life. It is an awful temerity, my lord, the +invasion of England." Here, to the amazement of Lord Whitworth, +Napoleon enumerated frankly and powerfully all the perils of the +enterprise: the enormous preparations it would be necessary to make +of ships, men, and munitions of war--the difficulty of eluding the +English fleet. "The chance that we shall perish," said he, "is +vastly greater than the chance that we shall succeed. Yet this +temerity, my lord, awful as it is, I am determined to hazard, if you +force me to it. I will risk my army and my life. With me that great +enterprise will have chances which it can not have with any other. +See now if I ought, prosperous, powerful, and peaceful as I now am, +to risk power, prosperity, and peace in such an enterprise. Judge, +if when I say I am desirous of peace, if I am not sincere. It is +better for you; it is better for me to keep within the limits of +treaties. You must evacuate Malta. You must not harbor my assassins +in England. Let me be abused, if you please, by the English +journals, but not by those miserable emigrants, who dishonor the +protection you grant them, and whom the Alien Act permits you to +expel from the country. Act cordially with me, and I promise you, on +my part, an entire cordiality. See what power we should exercise +over the world, if we could bring our two nations together. You have +a navy, which, with the incessant efforts of ten years, in the +employment of all my resources, I should not be able to equal. But I +have 500,000 men ready to march, under my command, whithersoever I +choose to lead them. If you are masters of the seas, I am master of +the land. Let us then think of uniting, rather than of going to war, +and we shall rule at pleasure the destinies of the world. France and +England united, can do every thing for the interests of humanity." + +England, however, still refused, upon one pretense and another, to +yield Malta; and both parties were growing more and more +exasperated, and were gradually preparing for the renewal of +hostilities. Napoleon, at times, gave very free utterance to his +indignation. "Malta," said he, "gives the dominion of the +Mediterranean. Nobody will believe that I consent to surrender the +Mediterranean to the English, unless I fear their power. I thus +loose the most important sea in the world, and the respect of +Europe. I will fight to the last, for the possession of the +Mediterranean; and if I once get to Dover, it is all over with those +tyrants of the seas. Besides, as we must fight, sooner or later, +with a people to whom the greatness of France is intolerable, the +sooner the better. I am young. The English are in the wrong; more so +than they will ever be again. I had rather settle the matter at +once. They shall not have Malta." + +Still Napoleon assented to the proposal for negotiating with the +English for the cession of some other island in the Mediterranean. +"Let them obtain a port to put into," said he. "To that I have no +objection. But I am determined that they shall not have two +Gibraltars in that sea: one at the entrance, and one in the middle." +To this proposition, however, England refused assent. + +Napoleon then proposed that the Island of Malta should be placed in +the hands of the Emperor of Russia; leaving it with him in trust, +till the discussions between France and England were decided. It had +so happened that the emperor had just offered his mediation, if that +could be available, to prevent a war. This the English government +also declined, upon the plea that it did not think that Russia would +be willing to accept the office thus imposed upon her. The English +embassador now received instructions to demand that France should +cede to England, Malta for ten years; and that England, by way of +compensation, would recognize the Italian republic. The embassador +was ordered to apply for his passports, if these conditions were not +accepted within seven days. To this proposition France would not +accede. The English minister demanded his passports, and left +France. Immediately the English fleet commenced its attack upon +French merchant-ships, wherever they could be found. And the world +was again deluged in war. + +[Illustration: SEA COMBAT.] + + + + +THE PALACES OF FRANCE. + +BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. + + +France has recorded her past history and her present condition, in +the regal palaces she has reared. Upon these monumental walls are +inscribed, in letters more legible than the hieroglyphics of Egypt, +and as ineffaceable, the long and dreary story of kingly vice, +voluptuousness and pride, and of popular servility and oppression. +The unthinking tourist saunters through these magnificent saloons, +upon which have been lavished the wealth of princes and the toil of +ages, and admires their gorgeous grandeur. In marbled floors and +gilded ceilings and damask tapestry, and all the appliances of +boundless luxury and opulence, he sees but the triumphs of art, and +bewildered by the dazzling spectacle, forgets the burning outrage +upon human rights which it proclaims. Half-entranced, he wanders +through uncounted acres of groves and lawns, and parterres of +flowers, embellished with lakes, fountains, cascades, and the most +voluptuous statuary, where kings and queens have reveled, and he +reflects not upon the millions who have toiled, from dewy morn till +the shades of night, through long and joyless years, eating black +bread, clothed in coarse raiment--the man, the woman, the ox, +companions in toil, companions in thought--to minister to this +indulgence. But the palaces of France proclaim, in trumpet tones, +the shame of France. They say to her kings, Behold the undeniable +monuments of your pride, your insatiate extortion, your measureless +extravagance and luxury. They say to the people, Behold the proofs +of the outrages which your fathers, for countless ages, have +endured. They lived in mud hovels that their licentious kings might +riot haughtily in the apartments, canopied with gold, of Versailles, +the Tuileries, and St. Cloud--the Palaces of France. The mind of the +political economist lingers painfully upon them. They are gorgeous +as specimens of art. They are sacred as memorials of the past. +Vandalism alone would raze them to their foundations. Still, the +_judgment_ says, It would be better for the political regeneration +of France, if, like the Bastile, their very foundations were plowed +up, and sown with salt. For they are a perpetual provocative to +every thinking man. They excite unceasingly democratic rage against +aristocratic arrogance. Thousands of noble women, as they traverse +those gorgeous halls, feel those fires of indignation glowing in +their souls, which glowed in the bosom of Madame Roland. Thousands +of young men, with compressed lip and moistened eye, lean against +those marble pillars, lost in thought, and almost excuse even the +demoniac and blood-thirsty mercilessness of Danton, Marat, and +Robespierre. These palaces are a perpetual stimulus and provocative +to governmental aggression. There they stand, in all their +gorgeousness, empty, swept, and garnished. They are resplendently +beautiful. They are supplied with every convenience, every luxury. +King and Emperor dwelt there. Why should not the _President_? Hence +the palace becomes the home of the Republican President. The +expenses of the palace, the retinue of the palace, the court +etiquette of the palace become the requisitions of good taste. In +America, the head of the government, in his convenient and +appropriate mansion, receives a salary of twenty-five thousand +dollars a year. In France, the President of the Republic receives +four hundred thousand dollars a year, and yet, even with that vast +sum, can not keep up an establishment at all in accordance with the +dwellings of grandeur which invite his occupancy, and which +unceasingly and irresistibly stimulate to regal pomp and to regal +extravagance. The palaces of France have a vast influence upon the +present politics of France. There is an unceasing conflict between +those marble walls of monarchical splendor, and the principles of +republican simplicity. This contest will not soon terminate, and its +result no one can foresee. Never have I felt my indignation more +thoroughly aroused than when wandering hour after hour through the +voluptuous sumptuousness of Versailles. The triumphs of taste and +art are admirable, beyond the power of the pen to describe. But the +moral of execrable oppression is deeply inscribed upon all. In a +brief description of the Palaces of France, I shall present them in +the order in which I chanced to visit them. + +1. _Palais des Thermes._--In long-gone centuries, which have faded +away into oblivion, a wandering tribe of barbarians alighted from +their canoes, upon a small island in the Seine, and there reared +their huts. They were called the Parisii. The slow lapse of +centuries rolled over them, and there were wars and woes, bridals +and burials, and still they increased in numbers and in strength, +and fortified their little isle against the invasions of their +enemies; for man, whether civilized or savage, has ever been the +most ferocious wild beast man has had to encounter. But soon the +tramp of the Roman legions was heard upon the banks of the Seine, +and all Gaul, with its sixty tribes, came under the power of the +Cæsars. Extensive marshes and gloomy forests surrounded the +barbarian village; but, gradually, Roman laws and institutions were +introduced; and Roman energy changed the aspect of the country. +Immediately the proud conquerors commenced rearing a palace for the +provincial governor. The Palace of Warm Baths rose, with its massive +walls, and in imposing grandeur. Roman spears drove the people to +the work; and Roman ingenuity knew well how to extort from the +populace the revenue which was required. Large remains of that +palace continue to the present day. It is the most interesting +memorial of the past which can now be found in France. The +magnificence of its proportions still strike the beholder with awe. +"Behold," says a writer, who trod its marble floors nearly a +thousand years ago: "Behold the Palace of the Kings, whose turrets +pierce the skies, and whose foundations penetrate even to the empire +of the dead." Julius Cæsar gazed proudly upon those turrets; and +here the shouts of Roman legions, fifteen hundred years ago, +proclaimed Julian emperor; and Roman maidens, with throbbing hearts, +trod these floors in the mazy dance. No one can enter the grand hall +of the baths, without being deeply impressed with the majestic +aspect of the edifice, and with the grandeur of its gigantic +proportions. The decay of nearly two thousand years has left its +venerable impress upon those walls. Here Roman generals proudly +strode, encased in brass and steel, and the clatter of their arms +resounded through these arches. In these mouldering, crumbling tubs +of stone, they laved their sinewy limbs. But where are those fierce +warriors now? In what employments have their turbulent spirits been +engaged, while generation after generation has passed on earth, in +the enactment of the comedies and the tragedies of life? Did their +rough tutelage in the camp, and their proud bearing in the court, +prepare them for the love, the kindness, the gentleness, the +devotion of Heaven? In fields of outrage, clamor, and blood, madly +rushing to the assault, shouting in frenzy, dealing, with iron hand, +every where around, destruction and death, did they acquire a taste +for the "green pastures and the still waters?" Alas! for the mystery +of our being! They are gone, and gone forever! Their name has +perished--their language is forgotten. + + "The storm which wrecks the wintry sky, + No more disturbs their deep repose, + Than summer evening's gentlest sigh, + Which shuts the rose." + +Upon a part of the ruins of this old palace of the Cæsars, there has +been reared, by more _modern ancients_, still another palace, where +mirth and revelry have resounded, where pride has elevated her +haughty head, and vanity displayed her costly robes--but over all +those scenes of splendor, death has rolled its oblivious waves. +About four hundred years ago, upon a portion of the crumbling walls +of this old Roman mansion, the Palace of Cluny was reared. For three +centuries, this palace was one of the abodes of the kings of France. +The tide of regal life ebbed and flowed through those saloons, and +along those corridors. There is the chamber where Mary of England, +sister of Henry VIII., and widow of Louis XII., passed the weary +years of her widowhood. It is still called the chamber of the "white +queen," from the custom of the queens of France to wear white +mourning. Three hundred years ago, these Gothic turrets, and +gorgeously ornamented lucarne windows, gleamed with illuminations, +as the young King of Scotland, James V., led Madeleine, the blooming +daughter of Francis I., to the bridal altar. Here the haughty family +of the Guises ostentatiously displayed their regal retinue--vying +with the kings of France in splendor, and outvying them in power. +These two palaces, now blended by the nuptials of decay into one, +are converted into a museum of antiquities--silent depositories of +memorials of the dead. Sadly one loiters through their deserted +halls. They present one of the most interesting sights of Paris. In +the reflective mind they awaken emotions which the pen can not +describe. + +2. _The Louvre._--When Paris consisted only of the little island in +the Seine, and kings and feudal lords, with wine and wassail were +reveling in the saloons of Cluny, a hunting-seat was reared in the +dense forest which spread itself along the banks of the river. As +the city extended, and the forest disappeared, the hunting-seat was +enlarged, strengthened, and became a fortress and a state-prison. +Thus it continued for three hundred years. In its gloomy dungeons +prisoners of state, and the victims of crime, groaned and died; and +countless tragedies of despotic power there transpired, which the +Day of Judgment alone can reveal. Three hundred years ago, Francis +I. tore down the dilapidated walls of this old castle, and commenced +the magnificent Palace of the Louvre upon their foundations. But its +construction has required the labor of ages, and upon it has been +expended millions, which despotic power has extorted from the hard +hands of penury. This gorgeous palace contains a wilderness of +saloons and corridors, and flights of stairs; and seems rather +adapted to accommodate the population of a city, than to be merely +one of the residences of a royal family. The visitor wanders +bewildered through its boundless magnificence. The spirits of the +dead rise again, and people these halls. Here the pure and the noble +Jeanne d'Albret was received in courtly grandeur, by the impure and +the ignoble Catherine de Medici. Here Henry IV. led his profligate +and shameless bride to the altar. From this window Charles IX. shot +down the Protestants as they fled, amidst the horrors of the +perfidious massacre of St. Bartholomew. In this gilded chamber, with +its lofty ceiling and its tapestried walls, Catherine de Medici died +in the glooms of remorse and despair. Her bed of down, her despotic +power could present no refuge against the King of Terrors; and the +mind is appalled with the thought, that from this very room, now so +silent and deserted, her guilty spirit took its flight to the +tribunal of the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Successive +generations of haughty sovereigns have here risen and died. And if +there be any truth in history, they have been, almost without +exception, proud, merciless, licentious oppressors. The orgies of +sin have filled this palace. Defiance to God and man has here held +its high carnival. + +[Illustration: THE LOUVRE.] + +The mind is indeed bewildered with a flood of emotions rushing +through it, as one is pointed to the alcove where Henry IV. was +accustomed to sleep three hundred years ago, and to the very spot +where, in anguish, he gasped and died, after having been stabbed by +Ravaillac. Here one sees the very helmet worn by Henry II. on that +unfortunate day, when the tilting spear of the Count of Montgommeri, +entering his eye, pierced his brain. It requires the labor of a day +even to saunter through the innumerable rooms of this magnificent +abode. But it will never again resound with the revelries of kings +and queens. Royalty has forsaken it forever. Democracy has now taken +strange and anomalous possession of its walls. It is converted into +the most splendid museum in the world--filled with the richest +productions of ancient and modern art. The people now enter freely +that sanctuary, where once none but kings and courtiers ventured to +appear. The Louvre now is useful to the world; but upon its massive +walls are registered deeds of violence, oppression, and crime which +make the ear to tingle. + +[Illustration: THE INNER COURT OF THE LOUVRE.] + +3. _Malmaison._--When Napoleon was in the midst of his Egyptian +campaign, he wrote to Josephine, to purchase somewhere in the +vicinity of Paris, a pleasant rural retreat, to which they could +retire from the bustle of the metropolis, and enjoy the luxury of +green fields and shady groves. Josephine soon found a delightful +chateau, about nine miles from Paris, and five from Versailles, +which she purchased, with many acres of land around it, for about +one hundred thousand dollars. The great value of the place was in +the spacious and beautiful grounds, not in the buildings. The +chateau itself was plain, substantial, simple, far less ostentatious +in its appearance than many a country-seat erected upon the banks of +the Hudson, or in the environs of Boston. Here Josephine resided +most of the time during the eighteen months of Napoleon's absence in +Egypt. Upon Napoleon's return, this became the favorite residence of +them both. Amid all the splendors of the Empire, it was ever their +great joy to escape to the rural quietude of Malmaison. There they +often passed the Sabbath, in the comparative happiness of private +life. Often Napoleon said, as he left those loved haunts, to attend +to the cares and toils of the Tuileries, "Now I must again put on +the yoke of misery." Napoleon ever spoke of the hours passed at +Malmaison, as the happiest of his life. He erected for himself +there, in a retired grove, a little pavilion, very simple, yet +beautiful, in its structure, which still retains the name of the +Pavilion of the Emperor. Here he passed many hours of uninterrupted +solitude, in profound study of his majestic plans and enterprises. +Directly behind the chateau there was a smooth and beautiful lawn, +upon a level with the ground floor of the main saloon. The windows, +extending to the floor, opened upon this lawn. When all the kings of +Europe were doing homage to the mighty emperor, crowds of visitors +were often assembled at Malmaison; and upon this lawn, with the +characteristic gayety of the French, many mirthful games were +enacted. The favorite amusement here was the game of prisoners. +Frequently, after dinner, the most distinguished gentlemen and +ladies, not of France only, but of all Europe, were actively and +mirthfully engaged in this sport. Kings and queens, and princes of +the blood royal were seen upon the green esplanade, pursuing and +pursued. Napoleon occasionally joined in the sport. He was a poor +runner, and not unfrequently fell and rolled over upon the grass, +while he and his companions were convulsed with laughter. Josephine, +fond of deeds of benevolence, loved to visit the cottages in the +vicinity of Malmaison; and her sympathy and kindness gave her +enthronement in the hearts of all their inmates. After the divorce +of Josephine, the Palace of Malmaison, which Napoleon had +embellished with all those attractions which he thought could soothe +the anguish of his wounded, weeping, discarded wife, was assigned to +Josephine. A jointure of six hundred thousand dollars a year was +settled upon her, and she retained the title and the rank of Empress +Queen. Here Napoleon frequently called to see her; though from +motives of delicacy, he never saw her alone. Taking her arm, he +would walk for hours through those embowered avenues, confiding to +her all his plans. + +Just before Napoleon set out for his fatal campaign to Russia, he +called to see Josephine. Taking her hand, he led her out to a +circular seat in the garden, in front of the mansion, and for two +hours continued engaged with her in the most earnest conversation. +At last he rose and affectionately kissed her hand. She followed him +to his carriage and bade him adieu. This was their last interview +but one. He soon returned a fugitive from Moscow. All Europe was in +arms against him. He earnestly sought a hurried interview with the +faithful wife of his youth in her retreat at Malmaison. As he gazed +upon her beloved features, tenderly and sadly he exclaimed, +"Josephine! I have been as fortunate as was ever man upon the face +of this earth. But in this hour, when a storm is gathering over my +head, I have not any one in this wide world but you upon whom I can +repose." With a moistened eye he bade her farewell. They met not +again. + +When the allied armies entered Paris a guard was sent, out of +respect to Josephine, to protect Malmaison. The Emperor Alexander, +with a number of illustrious guests, dined with the Empress Queen, +and in the evening walked out upon the beautiful lawn. Josephine, +whose health was shattered by sympathy and sorrow, took cold, and +after the illness of a few days died. It was the 29th of May, 1814. +It was the serene and cloudless evening of a tranquil summer's day. +The windows of the apartment were open where the Empress was dying. +The sun was silently sinking behind the trees of Malmaison, and its +rays, struggling through the foliage, shone cheerfully upon the bed +of death. The air was filled with the songs of birds, warbling, as +it were, the vespers of Josephine's most eventful life. Thus sweetly +her gentle spirit sank into its last sleep. In the antique village +church of Ruel, about two miles from Malmaison, the mortal remains +of this most lovely of women now slumber. A beautiful monument of +white marble, with a statue representing the Empress kneeling in +her coronation robes, is erected over her burial place, with this +simple but affecting inscription: + + TO + JOSEPHINE, + BY + EUGENE AND HORTENSE. + +It was a bright and beautiful morning when I took a carriage, with a +friend, and set out from Paris to visit Malmaison. We had been +informed that the property had passed into the hands of Christina, +the Queen-Mother of Spain, and that she had given strict injunctions +that no visitors should be admitted to the grounds. My great desire, +however, to visit Malmaison induced me to make special efforts to +accomplish the object. A recent rain had laid the dust, the trees +were in full leaf, the grass was green and rich, the grain was +waving in the wind, and the highly cultivated landscape surrounding +Paris presented an aspect of extraordinary beauty. We rode quietly +along, enjoying the luxury of the emotions which the scene inspired, +till we came to the village of Ruel. A French village has no aspect +of beauty. It is merely the narrow street of a city set down by +itself in the country. The street is paved, the cheerless, tasteless +houses are huddled as closely as possible together. There is no yard +for shrubbery and flowers, apparently no garden, no barn-yards with +lowing herds. The flowers of the empire have been garnered in the +palaces of the kings. The taste of the empire has been concentrated +upon the Tuileries, Versailles, St. Cloud, Fontainebleau, and none +has been left to embellish the home of the peasant. The man who +tills the field must toil day and night, with his wife, his +daughter, and his donkey, to obtain food and clothing for his +family, as animals. This centralization of taste and opulence in +particular localities, is one of the greatest of national mistakes +and wrongs. America has no Versailles. May God grant that she never +may have. But thousands of American farmers have homes where poets +would love to dwell. Their daughters trim the shrubbery in the yard, +and cultivate the rose, and partake themselves of the purity and the +refinement of the rural scenes in the midst of which they are +reared. In the village of Ruel, so unattractive to one accustomed to +the rich beauty of New England towns, we found the church, an old, +cracked, mouldering and crumbling stone edifice, built five hundred +years ago. It was picturesque in its aspect, venerable from its +historical associations, and as poorly adapted as can well be +imagined for any purposes to which we in America appropriate our +churches. The floor was of crumbling stone, worn by the footfalls of +five centuries. There were enormous pillars supporting the roof, +alcoves running in here and there, a pulpit stuck like the mud nest +of a swallow upon a rock. The village priest was there catechising +the children. A large number of straight-backed, rush-bottomed +chairs were scattered about in confusion, instead of pews. These old +Gothic churches, built in a semi-barbarian age, and adapted to a +style of worship in which the pomp of paganism and a corrupted +Christianity were blended, are to my mind gloomy memorials of days +of darkness. Visions of hooded monks, of deluded penitents, of +ignorant, joyless generations toiling painfully through them to the +grave, impress and oppress the spirit. In one corner of the church, +occupying a space some twenty feet square, we saw the beautiful +monument reared by Eugene and Hortense to their mother. It was +indeed a privilege to stand by the grave of Josephine; there to +meditate upon life's vicissitudes, there to breathe the prayer for +preparation for that world of spirits to which Josephine has gone. +How faithful her earthly love; how affecting her dying prayer! +clasping the miniature of the Emperor fervently to her bosom, she +exclaimed, "O God! watch over Napoleon while he remains in the +desert of this world. Alas! though he hath committed great faults, +hath he not expiated them by great sufferings? Just God, thou hast +looked into his heart, and hast seen by how ardent a desire for +useful and durable improvements he was animated! Deign to approve my +last petition. And may this image of my husband bear me witness that +my latest wish and my latest prayer were for him and for my +children." + +As the Emperor Alexander gazed upon her lifeless remains, he +exclaimed, "She is no more; that woman whom France named the +Beneficent; that angel of goodness is no more. Those who have known +Josephine can never forget her. She dies regretted by her offspring, +her friends, and her contemporaries." + +In the same church, opposite to the tomb of Josephine, stands the +monument of her daughter Hortense. Her life was another of those +tragedies of which this world has been so full. Her son, the present +President of France, has reared to her memory a tasteful monument of +various colored marble, emblematic, as it were, of the vicissitudes +of her eventful life. The monument bears the inscription--"To Queen +Hortense, by Prince Louis Bonaparte." She is represented kneeling in +sorrowful meditation. As I stood by their silent monuments, and +thought of the bodies mouldering to dust beneath them, the beautiful +lines of Kirke White rose most forcibly to my mind: + + "Life's labor done, securely laid + In this their last retreat, + Unheeded o'er their silent dust + The storms of life shall beat." + +From Ruel we rode slowly along, through vineyards and fields of +grain, with neither hedges nor fences to obstruct the view, for +about two miles, when we arrived at the stone wall and iron +entrance-gate of the chateau of Malmaison. The concierge, a +pleasant-looking woman, came from the porter's lodge, and looking +through the bars of the gate very politely and kindly told us that +we could not be admitted. I gave her my passport, my card, and a +copy of the Life of Josephine, which I had written in America, and +requested her to take them to the head man of the establishment, +and to say to him that I had written the life of Josephine, and that +I had come to France to visit localities which had been made +memorable by Napoleon and Josephine, and that I was exceedingly +desirous to see Malmaison. The good woman most obligingly took my +parcel, and tripping away as lightly as a girl, disappeared in the +windings of the well-graveled avenue, skirted with trees and +shrubbery. In about ten minutes she returned, and smiling and +shaking her head, said that the orders were positive, and that we +could not be admitted. I then wrote a note to the keeper, in French, +which I fear was not very classical, informing him "that I was +writing the life of Napoleon; that it was a matter of great +importance that I should see Malmaison, his favorite residence; that +I had recently been favored with a private audience with the Prince +President, and that he had assured me that he would do every thing +in his power to facilitate my investigations, and that he would give +me free access to all sources of information. But that as I knew the +chateau belonged to the Queen of Spain, I had made no efforts to +obtain from the French authorities a ticket of admission." Then for +the first time I reflected that the proper course for me to have +pursued was to have called upon the Spanish embassador, a very +gentlemanly and obliging man, who would unquestionably have removed +every obstacle from my way. Giving the good woman a franc to quicken +her steps, again she disappeared, and after a considerable lapse of +time came back, accompanied by the keeper. He was a plain, +pleasant-looking man, and instead of addressing me with that angry +rebuff, which, in all probability in America one, under similar +circumstances, would have encountered, he politely touched his hat, +and begged that I would not consider his refusal as caprice in him, +but that the Queen of Spain did not allow any visitors to enter the +grounds of Malmaison. The French are so polite, that an American is +often mortified by the consciousness of his own want of +corresponding courtesy. Assuming, however, all the little suavity at +my command, I very politely touched my hat, and said: "My dear sir, +is it not rather a hard case? I have crossed three thousand miles of +stormy ocean to see Malmaison. Here I am at the very gate of the +park, and these iron bars won't let me in." The kind-hearted man +hesitated for a moment, looked down upon the ground as if deeply +thinking, and then said, "Let me see your passports again, if you +please." My companion eagerly drew out his passport, and pointed to +the cabalistic words--"Bearer of dispatches." Whether this were the +talisman which at last touched the heart of our friend I know not, +but suddenly relenting he exclaimed, with a good-natured smile, "Eh +bien! Messieurs, entrez, entrez," and rolling the iron gate back +upon its hinges, we found ourselves in the enchanting park of +Malmaison. + +Passing along a beautiful serpentine avenue, embowered in trees and +shrubbery, and presenting a scene of very attractive rural beauty, +we came in sight of the plain, comfortable home-like chateau. A +pleasant garden, smiling with flowers, bloomed in solitude before +the windows of the saloon, and a statue of Napoleon, in his familiar +form, was standing silently there. An indescribable air of +loneliness and yet of loveliness was spread over the scene. It was +one of the most lovely of May days. Nearly all the voices of nature +are pensive; the sighing of the zephyr and the wailing of the +tempest, the trickling of the rill and the roar of the ocean, the +vesper of the robin and the midnight cry of the wild beast in his +lair. Nature this morning and in this scene displayed her mood of +most plaintive pathos. There was Napoleon, standing in solitude in +the garden. All was silence around him. The chateau was empty and +deserted. Josephine and Hortense were mouldering to dust in the damp +tombs of Ruel. The passing breeze rustled the leaves of the forest, +and the birds with gushes of melody sung their touching requiems. +Shall I be ashamed to say that emotions uncontrollable overcame me, +and I freely wept? No! For there are thousands who will read this +page who will sympathize with me in these feelings, and who will +mingle their tears with mine. + +We entered the house, and walked from room to room through all its +apartments. Here was the library of Napoleon, for he loved books. +Christina has converted it into a billiard-room, for she loves play. +Here was the little boudoir where Napoleon and Josephine met in +their hours of sacred confidence, and the tapestry and the window +curtains, in their simplicity, remain as arranged by Josephine's own +hands. Here is the chamber in which Josephine died, and the very bed +upon which she breathed her last. The afternoon sun was shining +brilliantly in through the windows, which we had thrown open, as it +shone forty years ago upon the wasted form and pallid cheek of the +dying Josephine. The forest, so secluded and beautiful, waved +brightly in the sun and in the breeze then as now; the birds then +filled the air with the same plaintive melody. The scene of nature +and of art--house, lawn, shrubbery, grove, cascade, grotto--remains +unchanged; but the billows of revolution and death have rolled over +the world-renowned inmates of Malmaison, and they are all swept +away. + +An old-serving man, eighty years of age, conducted us through the +silent and deserted apartments. The affection with which he spoke of +Napoleon and of Josephine amounted almost to adoration. He was in +their service when the Emperor and Empress, arm-in-arm, sauntered +through these apartments and these shady walks. There must have been +some most extraordinary fascination in Napoleon, by which he bound +to him so tenaciously all those who were brought near his person. +His history in that respect is without a parallel. No mortal man, +before or since, has been so enthusiastically loved. The column in +the Place Vendome is still hung with garlands of flowers by the hand +of affection. It is hardly too much to say, that the spirit of +Napoleon, emerging from his monumental tomb under the dome of the +Invalids, still reigns in France. Louis Napoleon is nothing in +himself. His power is but the reflected power of the Emperor. + +We passed from the large saloon, upon the smooth green lawn, which +has so often resounded with those merry voices, which are now all +hushed in death. We looked upon trees which Napoleon and Josephine +had planted, wandered through the walks along which their footsteps +had strayed, reclined upon the seats where they had found repose, +and culling many wild flowers, as memorials of this most beautiful +spot, with lingering footsteps retired. Nothing which I have seen in +France has interested me so much as Malmaison. Galignani's +Guide-Book says: "The park and extensive gardens in which Josephine +took so much delight are nearly destroyed. The chateau still exists, +but the Queen Dowager of Spain, to whom Malmaison now belongs, has +strictly forbidden all visits." This appears to be, in part, a +mistake. The park and the grounds immediately around the mansion, as +well as the chateau itself, remain essentially as they were in the +time of Josephine. France contains no spot more rich in touching +associations. + +4. _The Tuileries._--"Will Prince Louis Napoleon," inquired a +gentleman, of a French lady, "take up his residence in the +Tuileries?" "He had better not," was the laconic reply. "It is an +unlucky place." It requires not a little effort of imagination to +invest this enormous pile of blackened buildings with an aspect of +beauty. Three hundred years ago the palace was commenced by +Catherine de Medici. But it has never been a favorite residence of +the kings of France, and no effort of the imagination, and no +concomitants of regal splendor can make it an agreeable home. It has +probably witnessed more scenes of woe, and more intensity of +unutterable anguish, than any other palace upon the surface of the +globe. Its rooms are of spacious, lofty, cheerless grandeur. Though +millions have been expended upon this structure, it has had but +occasional occupants. A few evenings ago I was honored with an +invitation to a party given by Prince Louis Napoleon in the palace +of the Tuileries. Four thousand guests were invited. The vast +palace, had all its rooms been thrown open, might perhaps have +accommodated twice as many more. When I arrived at half-past nine +o'clock at the massive gateway which opens an entrance to the court +of the Tuileries, I found a band of soldiers stationed there to +preserve order. Along the street, also, for some distance, armed +sentinels were stationed on horseback, promptly to summon, in case +of necessity, the 80,000 troops who, with spear and bayonet, keep +the restless Parisians tranquil. The carriage, following a long +train, and followed by a long train, entered, between files of +soldiers with glittering bayonets, the immense court-yard of the +palace, so immense that the whole military force of the capital can +there be assembled. The court-yard was illuminated with almost the +brilliance of noon-day, by various pyramids of torches; and dazzling +light gleamed from the brilliant windows of the palace, proclaiming +a scene of great splendor within. A band of musicians, stationed in +the court-yard, pealed forth upon the night air the most animating +strains of martial music. At the door, an armed sentry looked at my +ticket of invitation, and I was ushered into a large hall. +It was brilliantly lighted, and a swarm of servants, large, +imposing-looking men in gorgeous livery, thronged it. One of these +servants very respectfully conducted the guest through the hall to a +spacious ante-room. This room also was dazzling with light, and +numerous servants were there to take the outer garments of the +guests, and to give them tickets in return. My number was 2004. We +then ascended a magnificent flight of marble stairs, so wide that +twenty men could, with ease, march up them abreast. Sentinels in +rich uniform stood upon the stairs with glittering bayonets. We +were ushered into the suit of grand saloons extending in long +perspective, with regal splendor. Innumerable chandeliers suspended +from the lofty gilded ceilings, threw floods of light upon the +brilliant throng which crowded this abode of royalty. In two +different saloons bands of musicians were stationed, and their +liquid notes floated through the hum of general conversation. Men of +lofty lineage were there, rejoicing in their illustrious birth, and +bearing upon their breasts the jeweled insignia of their rank. +Generals of armies were there, decorated with garments inwoven with +gold. Ladies, almost aerial in their gossamer robes, floated like +visions through the animated assembly. Occasionally the dense throng +was pressed aside, and a little space made for the dancers. The +rooms were warm, the crowd immense, the champagne abundant, and the +dancers seemed elated and happy. As the hours of the night wore +away, and the throng was a little diminished, and the bottles +emptied, I thought that I could perceive that the polka and the +waltz were prosecuted with a decided increase of fervor. I must +confess that, with my Puritan notions, I should not like to see a +friend of mine, whose maiden delicacy I desired to cherish, exposed +to such hugs and such twirls. + +About half-past ten o'clock, a wide door was thrown open at one end +of the long suit of rooms, and the Prince President, accompanied by +a long retinue of lords, ladies, embassadors, &c., entered the +apartments. They passed along through the crowd, which opened +respectfully before them, and entering one of the main saloons, took +their seats upon an elevated platform, which had been arranged and +reserved for them. All eyes were fastened upon the President. Every +one seemed to feel an intense curiosity to see him. Wherever he +moved, a circle, about ten feet in diameter, was left around him. It +was curious to see the promptness with which the crowd would +disperse before him, and close up behind him, whenever he changed +his position. There were two immense refreshment rooms, supplied +with every luxury, at the two ends of the suit of apartments, filled +with guests. These rooms of vast capacity--for four thousand hungry +people were to be provided for--were fitted up with counters running +along three of their sides like those of a shop. Behind these +counters stood an army of waiters; before them, all the evening +long, an eager crowd. As soon as one had obtained his supply, there +were two or three others ready to take his place. In one of the +rooms there were provided wines, meats of all kinds, and a +most luxurious variety of substantial viands. In the other +refreshment-room, at the other end of the thronged apartments, there +were ices, confectionery, fruits, and all the delicacies of the +dessert. + +This was seeing the Palace of the Tuileries in all its glory. +Embassadors of all nations were there--the turbaned Turk, the proud +Persian, the white-robed Arab. Many of the ladies were glittering +with diamonds and every variety of precious stones. + + "Music was there with her voluptuous swell, + And all went merry as a marriage bell." + +But as I sauntered through the brilliant scene, visions of other +days, and of spectacles more impressive, filled my mind. Through +these very halls, again and again, has rolled an inundation of all +that Paris can furnish of vulgarity, degradation, and violence. Into +the embrasure of this very window the drunken mob of men and women +drove, with oaths and clubs, Louis XVI., and compelled him to drink +the cup of humiliation to its very dregs. It was from this window +that the hapless Maria Antoinette looked, when the sentinel beneath +brutally exclaimed to her, "I wish, Austrian woman, that I had your +head upon my bayonet here, that I might pitch it over the wall to +the dogs in the street!" It was upon this balcony that the sainted +Madame Elizabeth and Maria Antoinette stepped, that dark and +dreadful night when frenzied Paris, from all its garrets, and all +its kennels, was surging like the billows of the ocean against the +Tuileries. Their hearts throbbed with terror as they heard the +tolling of the alarm bells, the rumbling of artillery wheels, and +the rattle of musketry, as the infuriate populace thronged the +palace, thirsting for their blood. From this balcony that awful +night, Maria entered the chamber where her beautiful son was +sleeping, gazed earnestly upon him, and left a mother's loving kiss +upon his cheek. She then went to the apartment of her daughter. The +beautiful child, fifteen years of age, comprehending the peril of +the hour, could not sleep. Maria pressed her to her throbbing heart, +and a mother's tenderness triumphed over the stoicism of the Queen. +Her pent-up feelings burst through all restraints, and she wept with +anguish unendurable. + +[Illustration: THE TUILERIES.] + +The Tuileries! It is, indeed, an "unlucky palace." This saloon, now +resounding with music and mirth, is the very spot where Josephine, +with swollen eyes and heart of agony, signed that cruel deed of +divorcement which sundered the dearest hopes and the fondest ties +which a human heart can cherish. History contains not a more +affecting incident than her final adieu to her husband, which +occurred in this chamber the night after the divorce. The Emperor, +restless and wretched, had just placed himself in the bed from which +he had ejected his faithful wife, when the door of his chamber was +slowly opened, and Josephine tremblingly entered. She tottered into +the middle of the room, and approached the bed. Here, irresolutely +stopping, she burst into a flood of tears. She seemed for a moment +to reflect that it was no longer proper for her to approach the bed +of Napoleon. But suddenly the pent-up fountains of love and grief in +her heart burst forth; and, forgetting every thing, in the fullness +of her anguish, she threw herself upon the bed, clasped Napoleon's +neck in her arms, and exclaiming, "My husband! my husband!" wept in +agony which could not be controlled. The firm spirit of Napoleon +was vanquished: he folded her to his bosom, pressed her cheek to +his, and their tears were mingled together. He assured her of his +love, of his ardent and undying love, and endeavored in every way to +sooth her anguish. + +It was down this marble staircase, now thronged with brilliant +guests, that the next morning Josephine descended, vailed from head +to foot. Her grief was too deep for utterance. Waving an adieu to +the affectionate and weeping friends who surrounded her, she entered +her carriage, sank back upon the cushion, buried her face in her +handkerchief, and, sobbing bitterly, left the Tuileries forever. It +is not probable that the Tuileries will ever again be inhabited by +royalty. There are too many mournful associations connected with the +place ever to render it agreeable as a residence. When Louis +Philippe was driven from the Tuileries, the mob again sacked it, and +its vast saloons are unfurnished and empty. Four years ago, the +Provisional Government passed a decree that this palace should be +converted into a hospital for invalid workmen. The Provisional +Government, however, has passed away, and the decree has not been +carried into effect. After the insurrection in June of 1848 it was +used as a hospital for the wounded. More recently it has been used +as a museum for the exhibition of paintings. Its days of regal pride +and splendor have now passed away for ever. + +[Illustration: GRAND AVENUE OF THE TUILERIES.] + +5. _The Palace Elysée._--This is a beautiful rural home in the very +heart of Paris. It is now occupied by Prince Louis Napoleon. For a +regal residence it is quite unostentatious, and few abodes could any +where be found, combining more attractions, for one of refined and +simple tastes. Through the kindness of our minister, Mr. Rives, I +obtained an audience with Count Roguet, who is at the head of the +Presidential household, and through him secured an "audience +particulière" with Prince Louis Napoleon in the Elysée. As I +alighted from a hackney-coach at the massive gateway of the palace, +armed sentinels were walking to and fro upon the pavements, +surrounding the whole inclosure of the palace with a vigilant guard. +At the open iron gate two more were stationed. I passed between +their bayonets and was directed into a small office where a +dignified-looking official examined my credentials, and then pointed +my steps along the spacious court-yard to the door of the mansion. +Armed soldiers were walking their patrols along the yard, and upon +the flight of steps two stood guarding the door, with their +glittering steel. They glanced at my note of invitation, and I +entered the door. Several servants were there, evidently picked men, +large and imposing in figure, dressed in small-clothes, and silk +stockings, and laced with rich livery. One glanced at my letter, and +conducting me across the hall introduced me into another room. There +I found another set of servants and three clerks writing at a long +table. One took my note of invitation and sat down, as if to copy +it, and I was ushered into the third room. This was a large room in +the interior of the palace, richly ornamented with gilded pilasters +and ceiling. The walls were painted with landscapes, representing +many scenes of historic interest. There were ten gentlemen, who had +come before me, waiting for an audience. Some were nobles, with the +full display upon their breasts of the decorations of their rank. +Others were generals, in brilliant military costume. Several I +observed with the modest red ribbon in the button hole, indicating +that they were members of the Legion of Honor. All spoke in low and +subdued tones of voice, and with soft footsteps moved about the +room. Occasionally, an officer of the household would enter the room +with a paper in his hands, apparently containing a list of the +names of those who had arrived, and softly would call out the name +of one, who immediately followed him into another room. As I at once +saw that I had at least an hour to wait in the ante-room, I turned +my thoughts to the scenes which, in years gone by, have transpired +in this palace of Elysium. Nearly 150 years ago, the Count of Evreux +built it for his aristocratic city residence. It was afterward +purchased, enlarged, and beautified for the residence of Madame de +Pompadour, the frail, voluptuous, intriguing paramour of Louis XV.; +and often have they, arm-in-arm, paced this floor. They have passed +out at these open French windows into the beautiful lawn which +spreads before the mansion, and sauntered until lost in the +wilderness of fountains, flowers, shrubbery, grove, and serpentine +walks which spread over these enchanting grounds. But inexorable +death struck down both king and mistress, and they passed away to +the Judgment. The Revolution came, the awful retribution for +centuries of kingly pride and oppression, and the regal palace +became a printing-office for the irreligion of Voltaire, and the +Jacobinism of Marat. These saloons and boudoirs were turned into +eating rooms, and smoking rooms. The girls of the street crowded +this spacious parlor, and where kings and queens had danced before +them, they proudly danced with _liberté, fraternité, égalité_, in +red cap and blouse. Then came the young soldier from Corsica, and +with a whip of small cords drove printer, blouse, and grisette into +the street. By his side stands the tall, athletic, mustached +inn-keeper's boy, who had learned to ride when grooming the horses +of his father's guests. With his whirlwind cloud of cavalry he had +swept Italy and Egypt, and now enriched and powerful, Murat claims +the hand of Caroline Bonaparte, the sister of the great conqueror. +With his bride he takes the palace of the Elysée, and lives here in +extravagance which even Louis XV. could not surpass. These paintings +on the wall, Murat placed here. These pyramids of Egypt ever remind +his guests that Murat, with his crushing squadrons, trampled down +the defiant Mamelukes upon the Nile. This lady, walking beneath the +trees of the forest, is Caroline, his wife. The children filling +this carriage so joyously, are his sons and daughters. But he who +had crowns at his disposal, places his brother-in-law upon the +throne of Naples, and Napoleon himself chooses this charming spot +for his favorite city residence. Weary with the cares of empire, he +has often sought repose in these shady bowers. But allied Europe +drove him from his Elysium, and the combined forces of Russia, +Prussia, and Austria, take possession of the capital of his empire, +and reinstate the Bourbons upon the throne from which they had been +driven. Napoleon returns from Elba, and again hastens to his beloved +Elysée. A hundred days glide swiftly by, and he is a prisoner, bound +to St. Helena, to die a captive in a dilapidated stable. As I was +reflecting upon the changes, and upon the painful contrast which +must have presented itself to Napoleon, between the tasteful and +exquisite seclusion of the Elysée, and the cheerless, barren, +mist-enveloped rock of St. Helena, I was awakened from my reverie by +a low tone of voice calling my name. I followed the messenger +through a door, expecting to enter the presence of Louis Napoleon. +Instead of that I was ushered into a large, elegantly furnished +saloon--the council chamber of the Emperor Napoleon, but it was +empty. There was a large folio volume, resembling one of the account +books of a merchant, lying open upon a table. The messenger who +summoned me, with my note of invitation in his hand, went to the +book, passed his finger down the page, and soon I saw it resting +upon my name. He read, apparently, a brief description of my +character, and then, leaving me alone, went into another room, I +suppose to inform the President who was to be introduced to him. In +a few moments he returned, and I was ushered into the presence of +the Prince President of Republican France. He was seated in an +arm-chair, at the side of a table covered with papers. Louis +Napoleon is a small man, with a mild, liquid, rather languid eye, +and a countenance expressive of much passive resolution rather than +of active energy. In his address, he is courteous, gentle, and +retiring, and those who know him best, assign him a far higher +position in the grade of intellect than is usually in our country +allotted to him. His government is an utter despotism, sustained by +the bayonets of the army. I have made great efforts, during the two +months in which I have been in Paris, to ascertain the state of +public opinion respecting the government of Louis Napoleon. +Circumstances have thrown me much into French society, both into the +society of those who are warm friends, and bitter enemies of the +present government. So far as I can ascertain facts, they seem to be +these. There are four parties who divide France--the Bourbonists, +the Orleanists, the Socialists, and the Bonapartists. Like the +military chieftains in Mexico, they are all struggling for dominion. +There is not sufficient intelligence and virtue in France, for it to +be governed by _opinion_, by a _vote_. The bayonet is the +all-availing argument. If Louis Napoleon is overthrown, it must be +to give place to some one, who, like him, must call the army and +despotic power to his support. Consequently, multitudes say, What +shall we gain by the change? We shall have new barricades in the +street, new rivulets of blood trickling down our gutters, and simply +another name in the Elysée.--I can see no indication that Louis +Napoleon has any personal popularity. The glory of his uncle +over-shadows him and renders him available. The army and the church, +but without any enthusiasm, are in his favor. Most of the men in +active business who seek protection and good order, support his +claims. The American merchants, settled in Paris, generally feel +that the overthrow of Louis Napoleon would be to them a serious +calamity, and that they should hardly dare in that case, to remain +in Paris. His government is submitted to, not merely as a choice of +evils, but there is a kind of approval of his despotism as necessary +to sustain him in power, and for the repose of France. I do not say +that these views are correct. I only say, that so far as I can +learn, this appears to me to be the state of the public mind. + +It is very evident that no portion of the people regard Louis +Napoleon with enthusiasm. At the great fête in the Champs Elysée, +which called all Europe to Paris, to witness the restoration of the +ancient eagles of France to the standards of the army, it was almost +universally supposed out of Paris, that the hundred thousand troops +then passing in proud array before the President would hail him +_Emperor_. A countless throng encircled the area of that vast field. +It was estimated that nearly a million of people were there +assembled. Yet when Louis Napoleon made his appearance with his +brilliant staff, I did not hear one single _citizen's_ voice raised +in applause. As he rode along the ranks of the army, a murmur of +recognition followed his progress, but no shouts of enthusiasm. + +Immediately after the fête, a magnificent ball and entertainment +were given by the army, to Prince Louis Napoleon. It is said, that +one hundred and sixty thousand dollars were expended in canopying +the vast court yard of the Ecole Militaire, and in decorating it for +this occasion. Fifteen thousand guests were invited. The scene of +brilliance and splendor, no pen can describe. About half-past twelve +o'clock the President entered upon an elevated platform, accompanied +by the foreign ministers and the members of his court. But not one +single voice even shouted a welcome. He remained a couple of hours +conversing with those around him, and then bowing to the enormous +throng of those whose invited guest he was, retired. One man, by my +side, shouted in a clear, shrill voice which filled the vast +saloons, "Vive l'Empereur," two others promptly responded, "Vive +_Napoleon_." No other acclaim was heard. + +The prospect of France is gloomy. Such a government as the present +can not be popular. No other seems possible. No one seems to expect +that the government can last for many years. And yet a change is +dreaded. Rich men are transferring their property to England and +America. Never did I love my own country as now. Never did I +appreciate as now, the rich legacy we have inherited from our +fathers. The hope of the world is centred in America. We must let +Europe alone. To mortal vision her case is hopeless. We must +cultivate our country, spread over our land, virtue and +intelligence, and freedom; and welcome to peaceful homes in the new +world, all who can escape from the taxation and despotism of the +old. In half a century from now, the United States will be the most +powerful nation upon which our sun has ever shone. Then we can speak +with a voice that shall be heard. Our advice will have the +efficiency of commands. Europe now has apparently but to choose +between the evils of despotism, and the evils of anarchy. And still +it is undeniable that the progress, though slow and painful is +steadily onward toward popular liberty. + +In this paper I have but commenced the description of the Palaces of +France. In a subsequent number I may continue the subject. + + + + +A LEAF FROM A TRAVELER'S NOTE-BOOK. + +BY MAUNSELL B. FIELD. + + +"Another flask of Orvieto, Gaetano, and tell the vetturino that we +start to-morrow morning, punctually at six," exclaimed one of three +foreigners, seated around a table, in the smokiest corner of the +"_Lepre_"--the artist-haunt of the _Via Condotti_. + +The speaker was a plain looking French gentleman, who, under the +simplest exterior, concealed the most admirable mind and the highest +personal qualities. A Provincial by birth, a Parisian by education, +and a cosmopolite by travel, he united all the peculiar sagacity of +his nation with that more dignified tone of character so rarely met +with in his countrymen. Descended from a family of Lorraine, who had +inherited the magistracy for centuries, and who, ruined at the +emigration, had only partially recovered their fortunes at the +restoration, our friend (_ours_, at least, reader) found himself, on +attaining his majority, possessed of a sufficient competency to +enable him to travel in a moderate way, so long as the taste should +continue. And here he had been residing in Rome a twelvemonth (not +_rushing through_ it with cis-Atlantic steam-power), studying art +with devotion, and living the intense life of Italian existence. His +companions at the moment our recital commences, were an old +Hollander, who had emerged from commerce into philosophy (no very +usual exit!) and myself, whom chance had made a lounger in European +capitals--a pilgrim from both Mecca and Jerusalem--and a connoisseur +in every vintage from Burgundy to Xeres. + +Carnival, with its fantastic follies, when the most constitutionally +sedate by a species of frenzied reaction become the most reckless in +absurdity, was past. Holy Week, with its gorgeous ecclesiastical +mummery--its magnificent fire-works, and its still more magnificent +illumination was likewise gone. Nearly all the travelers who had +been spending the winter in Rome, including the two thousand English +faces which, from their constant repetition at every public place, +seemed at least two hundred thousand, had disappeared. Our own party +had lingered after the rest, loath to leave, perhaps forever, the +most fascinating city in the world to an intelligent mind. But at +last we too, had determined to go, and our destination was Naples. + +That very afternoon we had taken one of the tumble-down carriages, +which station on the _Piazza di Spagna_, to make a farewell _giro_ +through the Forum. Leaving Rome is not like leaving any other town. +Associations dating from early childhood, and linking the present +with the past, make familiar, before they are known, objects in +themselves so intrinsically interesting and beautiful, that the +strongest attachment is sure to follow a first actual acquaintance +with them. And when that acquaintance has been by daily intercourse +matured, it is hard to give it up. + +The weather was delicious. And as our crazy vehicle rattled over the +disjointed pavement of the Appian way, among sandaled monks, +lounging Jesuits, and herdsmen from the Campagna, a heart-sickness +came over us which, in the instance of one, at least, of the party, +has since settled down into a chronic _mal du pays_. + +We had been taking our last meal at the "_Trattoria Lepre_," where +we had so often, after a hard day's work, feasted upon _cignale_ +(wild boar), or something purporting so to be, surrounded by the +bearded _pensionnaires_ of all the academies. + +Our Figaro-like attendant, who had served us daily for so many +months, was more than commonly officious in the consciousness that +the next morning we proposed to start for Naples. And, in fact, on +the succeeding day at an early hour, an antediluvian vehicle, +with chains and baskets slung beneath, drawn by three wild +uncouth-looking animals, under the guidance of a good-for-nothing, +half-bandit Trasteverino, in a conical hat and unwashed lineaments, +might be seen emerging from the _Porta San Giovanni_, with their +three _Excellenzas_ in the inside. + +The hearts of all three were too full for utterance--several miles +we jogged on in silence, straining our eyes with last glimpses of +St. Peter's, the Pantheon, and St. John Lateran. + +At Albano we proposed to breakfast; and, while the meal was being +prepared and the horses being refreshed, we started for a walk to +the Lake, familiar to all the party from previous visits. + +As we were seated on the bank, cigars in mouth, and as moody as +might be, the Frenchman first endeavored to turn the current of our +thoughts by speaking of Naples, which he alone of us knew. The +effort was not particularly successful. But the Frenchman promised +that when we resumed our journey, he would tell us a Neapolitan +story, the effect of which, he hoped, would be to raise our spirits. + +After returning to the inn, and breakfasting upon those mysterious +Italian cutlets, the thick breading upon which defies all +satisfactory investigation into their original material, we resumed +our journey. + +Legs dovetailed, and cigars relighted, the Frenchman thus commenced +the story of + + +CARLO CARRERA. + +The summer before last, after a shocking soaking in crossing the +Apennines, I contracted one of those miserable fevers that nature +seems to exact as a toll from unfortunate Trans-Alpines for a +summer's residence in Italy. I had no faith in Italian doctors, and +as there was no medical man from my own country in Florence, I was +persuaded to call in Doctor Playfair a Scotch physician, long +domiciled in Italy, and as I afterwards discovered, both a skillful +practitioner and a charming companion. I was kept kicking my heels +against the footboard in all some six weeks, and when I had become +sufficiently convalescent to sit up, the doctor used to make me long +and friendly visits. In these visits he kept me posted up with all +the chit-chat of the town; and upon one occasion related to me, +better than I can tell it, the following story, of the truth of +which (in all seriousness), he was perfectly satisfied, having heard +it from the mouth of one of the parties concerned. + +"Do throw some _bajocchi_ to those clamorous natives, my dear +Republican, that I may proceed with my story in peace." + +Well, then, to give you a little preliminary history--don't be +alarmed--a very little. The liberal government established in Naples +in the winter of 1820-21, on the basis of the Spanish Cortes of +1812, was destined to a speedy dissolution. The despotic powers of +the Continent, at the instigation of Austria, refused to enter into +diplomatic relations with a kingdom which had adopted the +representative system, after an explicit and formal engagement to +maintain the institutions of absolutism. An armed intervention was +decided upon at the Congress of Laybach, with the full consent and +approbation of Ferdinand I., who treacherously abandoned the cause +of his subjects. It was agreed to send an Austrian army, backed by a +Russian one, into the Neapolitan dominions, for the purpose of +putting down the Carbornari and other insurgents who, to the number +of one hundred and fifty thousand men, badly armed, badly clothed, +and badly disciplined, had assembled under the command of that +notorious adventurer, Guiliemo Pepe, for the protection of those +feebly secured liberties which had resulted to their country from +the Sicilian revolution of the previous summer. This foreign force +was to be maintained entirely at the expense of Ferdinand, and to +remain in his kingdom, if necessary, for three years. The feeble +resistance offered by the patriots to the invading forces--their +defeat at the very outset--and their subsequent flight and +disbandment--constitute one of those disgraceful denouements so +common to Italian attempts at political regeneration. + +"By all the storks in Holland," exclaimed the Dutchman, "cut short +your story--I see nothing in it particularly enlivening." + +"_Badinage à part_," resumed the Frenchman, "I have done in a word." + +After the disastrous engagement of March 7, at Rieti, and the +restoration of the old government, the patriot forces were scattered +over the country; and as has too often been the case in southern +Europe upon the discomfiture of a revolutionary party, many bands of +banditti were formed from the disorganized remnants of the defeated +army. For a long time the whole of the kingdom, particularly the +Calabrias, was infested by robber gangs, whose boldness only +equaled their necessities. Most of these banditti were hunted down +and transferred to the galleys. The Neapolitan police has at all +times been active in the suppression of disorders known or suspected +to have a political origin. Fear of a revolution has ever been a +more powerful incentive to the government than respect for justice +or love of order; and "_Napoli la Fidelissima_" has so far reserved +the name, and inspired such confidence in the not particularly +intellectual sovereign who now sits on the throne, that the last +time that I was there, his Majesty was in the habit of parading his +bewhiskered legions through the streets of his capital, completely +equipped at all points--except that they were unarmed! + +And now for the story. + +Among the most notorious of the banditti chieftains was one Carlo +Carrera. This person, who had been a subaltern officer, succeeded +for a long time, with some thirty followers, in defying the attempts +of the police to capture him. Driven from hold to hold, and from +fastness to fastness, he had finally been pursued to the +neighborhood of Naples. Here the gendarmes of the government were +satisfied that he was so surrounded as soon to be compelled to +surrender at discretion. This was late in the following winter. + +About this time his Britannic Majesty's frigate "Tagus," commanded +by Captain, now Vice-Admiral, Sir George Dundas, was cruising in the +Mediterranean. In the month of February Sir George anchored in the +bay of Naples, with the intention of remaining there some weeks. It +happened that another officer in his Majesty's navy, Captain, now +Vice-Admiral, Sir Edward Owen, was wintering at Naples for the +benefit of his health, accompanied by his wife and her sister, Miss +V----, a young lady of extraordinary beauty and accomplishments. Sir +George and Sir Edward were old friends. They had been together in +the same ship as captain and first-lieutenant on the African +station, and their accidental meeting when equals in rank was as +cordial as it was unexpected. + +A few days after the arrival of the frigate, a pic-nic excursion to +the shores of Lake Agnano was proposed. The party was to consist of +the persons of whom I have just been speaking, together with a few +other English friends, chiefly gentlemen from the embassy. +Accordingly they set off on one of those delightful mornings which +are of themselves almost sufficient to make strangers exclaim with +the enthusiastic Neapolitans, "_Vedi Napoli e poi mori!_" The +surpassing loveliness of the scene, its perfect repose with so many +elements of action, brought to the soul such a luxurious sense of +passive enjoyment, that it seemed like the echo of all experienced +happiness. I can not say if the _Strada Nuova_, in all its present +paved perfection, then existed; but there must have been some sort +of a road following the indentations of that lovely shore. + +I have traced from Genoa to Nice the far-famed windings of the +Maritime Alps--I have sailed along the glittering shores of the +Bosphorus--I have admired the boasted site of the Lusitanian +capital--and yet I feel, as all travelers must feel, that the +combined charms of all these would fail to make another Naples. + +Far out before them lay the fair island of Capri, like a sea +goddess, with arms outstretched to receive the playful waters of the +Mediterranean. Behind, Vesuvius rose majestically, the blue smoke +lazily curling from its summit, as peaceful as if it had only been +placed there as an accessory to the beauty of the scene; and further +on, as they turned the promontory, lay the bright islets of Nisita +and Procida, so fantastic in their shapes and so romantic in their +outlines. + +On reaching the shore of Lake Agnano, our travelers left their +carriage near the villa of Lucullus. Of course they suffocated +themselves, according to the approved habit of tourists, in the +vapor baths of San Germano--and according to the same approved +habit, devoted an unfortunate dog to temporary strangulation in the +mephitic air of the _Grotta del cane_. After doing up the lions of +the neighborhood, our friends seated themselves near the shore, to +partake of the cold fowls and champagne, of which ample provision +had been made for the excursion. + +"I should have preferred the native _Lachrymæ Christi_ to +champagne," interrupted the Dutchman, "if the usual quality compares +with that of some I once drank at Rotterdam." + +The repast finished, resumed the Frenchman, most of the party +strolled off to the other extremity of the lake--until after a short +time no one was left but Miss V----, who was amusing herself by +making a sketch of the landscape. What a pity that the women of +other nations are so rarely accomplished in drawing, while the +English ladies are almost universally so! + +Well then, our fair heroine for the moment, had got on most +industriously with her work, when suddenly, on raising her eyes from +her paper to a stack of decayed vines, she was disagreeably +surprised at finding a pair of questionable optics leveled upon her. +Retaining her composure of manner, she continued tranquilly her +occupation, until she had time to remark that the intruder was +accompanied by at least a dozen companions. At this moment the +personage whom she had first seen, quietly left his place of partial +concealment, walked up to the astonished lady, folded his arms, and +stationed himself behind her back. He was a large, heavy, +good-looking person--but the circumstances under which he presented +himself, rather than any peculiarity in his appearance, caused Miss +V---- to suspect the honesty of his profession. + +"Indeed you are making an uncommonly pretty picture there, if you +will permit me to say so," remarked the stranger. + +"I am glad you like it," replied the young lady. "I think, however, +that it would be vastly improved, if you would permit me to sketch +your figure in the foreground." + +"Nothing would flatter me more. But, cara signorina, my present +object is a much less romantic one than sitting for my portrait to +so fair an artist. Will you allow me to gather up for myself and my +half famished friends, the fragments of your recent meal?" + +"You are quite welcome to them, I assure you." + +The dialogue had proceeded thus far when it was interrupted by the +return, to the no small satisfaction of one of the party at least, +of the two English officers and some others of the stragglers. + +The stranger, in no way disconcerted, turned to Sir Edward Owen, and +said, + +"I believe that I have the honor of addressing his Excellency, the +commander of the British frigate in the harbor." + +"Excuse me," said Sir George Dundas, "I am that person." + +"Sono il servitore di Vostra Excellenza. The young lady whom I found +here has given me permission to make use of the food that has been +left by your party. But if your Excellency, and you, sir," +addressing the other officer, "will grant me the favor of a moment's +private conversation, you will increase the obligation already +conferred." + +The three, thereupon, retired to a short distance from the rest of +the company, when the stranger resumed: + +"If your Excellencies have been in this poor country long enough, +you must have heard speak of one Carlo Carrera. You may or you may +not be surprised to hear that I am he--and that my followers are not +far off. I have no desire to inconvenience your Excellencies, your +friends, or, least of all, the ladies who accompany you, and shall, +therefore, be but too happy to release you at once--I say _release_, +for you are in my power--upon the single condition, however, that +you two gentlemen give me your word of honor that you will both, or +either of you, come to me whenever or wherever I shall send for you +during the next two weeks--and that you will not speak of this +conversation to any one." + +Disposed at all hazards to extricate the ladies from any thing like +an adventure, our travelers willingly entered into the required +engagement, and, with a mutual "_a rivederla_," the two parties +separated. + +Our English friends returned to Naples, amused at the singular +episode to their excursion, and rather disposed to admire the +gallant behavior of the intruder than to regard him with any +unfavorable sentiments. + +Some three days after this, as Sir George Dundas was strolling about +nightfall in the Villa Reale, a person in the dress of a priest +approached him, and beckoned him to follow. Leading the officer into +an obscure corner behind one of the numerous statues, the stranger +informed him that he came from the bandit of Lake Agnano, and that +he was directed to request him to be at seven o'clock that evening +in front of the Filomarini Chapel, in the Church of the Santissimi +Apostoli. + +The gallant captain did not hesitate to obey. At the appointed hour, +on entering the church and advancing to the indicated chapel, he +found before it what appeared to be an old woman on her knees, +engaged in the deepest devotion. At a sign from the pretended +worshiper, the captain fell upon his knees at her side. The old +crone briefly whispered to him, that it was known to Carrera that +his Excellency was invited to a ball at the British Embassy the next +evening--that he must by no means fail to go--but that at midnight +precisely he must leave the ball-room, return home, remove his +uniform, put on a plain citizen's dress, and be at the door of the +same church at one o'clock in the morning. + +After these directions the old woman resumed her devotions, and the +captain left the church, his curiosity considerably excited by the +adventurous turn that things were taking. His brother officer, to +whom he related the particulars of the meeting at the Villa Reale, +and of the interview in the church, strongly urged him to fulfill +the promise which he had made at Lake Agnano, and to follow to the +letter the mysterious instructions which he had received. + +Of course, the ball at the British Embassy on the following evening +was graced by the presence of nearly all the distinguished +foreigners in town. The English wintered at Naples at that time in +almost as large numbers as they do at present; and in all matters of +gayety and festivity, display and luxury, they as far exceeded the +Italians as they now do. It is a curious circumstance, which both of +you must have had occasion to remark, that the English, so rigid and +austere at home, when transplanted south of the Alps, surpass the +natives themselves in license and frivolity. + +Our captain was of course there, and at an early hour. After +mingling freely in the gayeties of the evening, at midnight +precisely he withdrew from the ball-room, _sans congé_, and hastened +to his apartments. Changing his dress, and arming himself with a +brace of pistols, he hurried to the Church of the Apostoli. In his +excess of punctuality, he arrived too early at the rendezvous; and +it was only after the expiration of some twenty minutes, that he was +joined by the withered messenger before employed to summon him. +Bidding him follow her, the old woman led the way with an activity +little to have been expected in one apparently so feeble. Turning +down the _Chiaja_, they followed the course of the bay a weary way +beyond the grotto of _Posilipo_. The captain was already tolerably +exhausted when the guide turned off abruptly to the right, and +commenced the ascent of one of those vine-clad hills which border +the road. The hill was thickly planted with the vine, so that their +progress was both difficult and fatiguing. + +They had been toiling upward more than an half hour since leaving +the highway, and the patience of Sir George was all but exhausted, +when on a sudden they came to one of those huts constructed of +interlaced boughs, which are temporarily used by the vine-dressers +in the south of Italy. The entrance was closed by a plaited mat of +leaves and stalks. Raising this mat, the old woman entered, +followed by her companion. + +The hut was dimly lighted by a small lantern. Closing the entrance +as securely as the nature of the fastening would permit, the +pretended old woman threw off her disguise and disclosed the +well-remembered features of the courteous bandit of Lake Agnano. + +Thanking his guest for the punctuality with which he had kept his +appointment, Carrera motioned him to follow him to the further +extremity of the hut. Taking the lantern in his hand, and stooping, +the Italian raised a square slab of stone, which either from the +skill with which it was adjusted or from the partial obscurity which +surrounded him, had escaped Sir George's eye. As he did this a flood +of light poured into the hut. Descending by a flight of a dozen or +more steps, followed by the robber chieftain, who drew back the +stone after them, the captain found himself in one of those spacious +catacombs so common in the neighborhood of Naples. Seated around a +table were a score or more of as fierce looking vagabonds as the +imagination could paint, who all rose to their feet as their leader +entered with his guest, saluting both with that propriety of address +so peculiar to the lower classes of Italians and Spaniards. + +When all were seated, Carrera turned to the Englishman, and said, + +"Your Excellency will readily suppose that I had a peculiar motive +for desiring an interview. God knows that I was not brought up to +wrong and violence--but evil times have sadly changed the current of +my life. A poor soldier, I have become a poorer brigand--at least in +these latter days, when hunted like a wild beast I am at last +enveloped in the toils of my pursuers, egress from which is now +impossible by my own unaided efforts. I have no particular claim +upon your excellency's sympathy, but I have thought that mere pity +might induce you to receive me and my followers on board your +frigate, and transport us to some place of safety beyond the limits +of unhappy Italy." + +Here the astonished Englishman sprang to his feet, protesting that +his position as a British officer prevented him from entertaining +for a moment so extraordinary a proposition. + +"Your Excellency will permit me, with all respect, to observe," +Carrera resumed, "that I have treated you and yours generously. Do +not compel me to regret that I have done so; and do not force me to +add another to the acts of violence which already stain my hands. +Your Excellency knows too many of our secrets; we could not, +consistently with our own safety, permit you to exist otherwise than +as a friend." + +The discussion was long. The robbers pleaded hard, pledging +themselves not to disgrace the captain's generosity, if he would +consent to save them. Sir George could not prevent himself from +somewhat sympathizing with these unfortunate men, who had been +driven to the irregular life they led as much by the viciousness of +the government under which they lived as by any evil propensities +of their own. It is not at all probable that the threat had any +thing to do with his decision, but certain it is, that the dialogue +terminated by a conditional promise on his part to yield to their +request. + +"If your Excellency will send a boat to a spot on the shore, +directly opposite where we now are, to-morrow, at midnight, it will +be easy for us to dispatch the sentinel and jump aboard," continued +Carrera. + +"I will send the boat," answered the Englishman, "but will under no +circumstances consent to any bloodshed. You forget your own +recently-expressed scruples on the same subject." + +It was finally decided that the boat should be sent--that the +captain should arrange some plan to divert the attention of the +sentinel--and that to their rescuer alone should be left the choice +of their destination. + +Matters being thus arranged, Carrera resumed his disguise, and +conducted his guest homeward as far as the outskirts of the town. + +The following night at the appointed hour, a boat with muffled oars +silently approached the designated spot. An officer, wrapped in a +boat cloak was seated in the stern. As the boat drew near the shore, +the sentinel presented his musket, and challenged the party. The +officer, with an under-toned "_Amici_," sprang to the beach. + +A few hundred yards from the spot where the landing had been +effected, stood an isolated house with a low verandah. The officer, +slipping a scudo into the sentinel's hand, told him that he was come +for the purpose of carrying off a young girl residing in that house, +and begged him to assist him by making a clatter on the door at the +opposite side, so as to divert the attention of the parents while he +received his inamorata from the verandah. The credulous Neapolitan +was delighted to have an opportunity to earn a scudo by so easy a +service. + +The moment that he disappeared, Carrera and his band rushed to the +boat. A few powerful strokes of the oars and they were out of the +reach of musket-shot before the bewildered sentry could understand +that in some way or other his credulity had been imposed upon. + +That night the "Tagus" weighed anchor for Malta. The port of +destination was reached after a short and prosperous voyage. Sir +George remained there only sufficiently long to discharge his +precious cargo, who left him, as may be imagined, with protestations +of eternal gratitude. + +The fact that the frigate was on a cruise prevented any particular +surprise at her sudden disappearance from the waters of Naples. And +when she returned to her anchorage after a short absence, even the +party to the pic-nic were far from conjecturing that there was any +connection between her last excursion and the adventure of Lake +Agnano. + +Carrera and his band enlisted in a body into one of the Maltese +regiments. A year or two later, becoming dissatisfied, they passed +over into Albania, and took service with Ali Pasha. + +Some seven years after these events, Sir George Dundas was again at +Naples. As he was lounging one day in the Villa Reale, a tall and +noble-looking man, whose countenance seemed familiar, approached +him. Shaking him warmly by the hand, the stranger whispered in his +ear, + + "_Il suo servitore Carrera!_" + +And thus ends the Frenchman's story. + + + + +ALL BAGGAGE AT THE RISK OF THE OWNER. + +A STORY OF THE WATERING-PLACES. + + "Water, water, every where, + And not a drop to drink!" + + +I could never understand why we call our summer resorts +_Watering-Places_. I am but an individual, quite anonymous, as you +see, and only graduated this summer, yet I have "known life," and +there was no fool of an elephant in our college town, and other +towns and cities where I have passed vacations. Now, if there have +been any little anti-Maine-Law episodes in my life, they have been +my occasional weeks at the Watering-Places. + +It was only this summer, as I was going down the Biddle staircase at +Niagara, that Keanne, who was just behind me, asked quietly, and in +a wondering tone, "Why do cobblers drive the briskest trade of all, +from Nahant to Niagara?" I was dizzy with winding down the spiral +stairs, and gave some philosophical explanation, showing up my +political economy. But when in the evening, at the hotel, he invited +me to accompany him in an inquiry into the statistics of cobblers, I +understood him better. + +So far from being Watering-Places, it is clear that there is not +only a spiritual but a sentimental intoxication at all these +pleasant retreats. There is universal exhilaration. Youth, beauty, +summer, money, and moonlight conspire to make water, or any thing of +which water is a type, utterly incredible. There is no practical +joke like that of asking a man if he came to Saratoga to drink the +waters. Every man justly feels insulted by such a suspicion. "Am I +an invalid, sir? Have I the air of disease, I should like to know?" +responds Brummell, fiercely, as he turns suddenly round from tying +his cravat, upon which he has lavished all his genius, and with +which he hoped to achieve successes. "Do I look weak, sir? Why the +deuce should you think I came to Saratoga to drink the waters?" + +At Niagara it is different. There you naturally speak of water--over +your champagne or chambertin at dinner; and at evening you take a +little tipple to protect yourself against the night air as you step +out to survey the moonlight effects of the cataract. You came +professedly to see the water. There is nothing else to see or do +there, but to look at the falls, eat dinner, drink cobblers, and +smoke. If you have any doubt upon this point, run up in the train +and see. I think you will find people doing those things and nothing +else. I am not sure, indeed, but you will find some young ladies +upon the piazza overhanging the rapids, rapt and fascinated by the +delirious dance of the water beneath, who add a more alluring terror +to the weird awe that the cataract inspires, by wild tales of ghosts +and midnight marvels, which, haply, some recent graduate more +frightfully emphasizes by the ready coinage of his brain. + +No, it is a melancholy misnomer. To call these gay summer courts of +Bacchus and Venus Watering-Places, is like the delightful mummery of +the pastoral revels of the king in the old Italian romance, who +attired himself as an abbot, and all his rollicking court as monks +and nuns, and shaping his pavilion into the semblance of a +monastery, stole, from contrast, a sharper edge for pleasure. + +I must laugh when you call Saratoga, for instance, a Watering-Place; +because there, this very summer, I was intoxicated with that elixir +of life, which young men do not name, and which old men call love. +Let me tell you the story; for, if your eye chances to fall upon +this page while you are loitering at one of those pleasant places, +you can see in mine your own experience, and understand why Homer is +so intelligible to you. Are you not all the time in the midst of an +Iliad? That stately woman who is now passing along the piazza is +beautiful Helen, although she is called Mrs. Bigge in these +degenerate days, and Bigge himself is really the Menelaus of the old +Trojan story, although he deals now in cotton. Paris, of course, is +an habitué of Saratoga in the season, goes to Newport in the middle +of August, and always wears a mustache. But Paris is not so +dangerous to the connubial felicity of Menelaus Bigge, as he was in +the gay Grecian days. + +Now what I say is this, that you who are swimming down the current +of the summer at a Watering-Place, are really surrounded by the +identical material out of which Homer spun his Iliad--yes, and +Shakspeare his glowing and odorous Romeo and Juliet--only it goes by +different names at Saratoga, Newport, and Niagara. And to point the +truth of what I say, I shall tell you my little story, illustrative +of summer life, and shall leave your wit to define the difference +between my experience and yours. It is of the simplest kind, mark +you, and "as easy as lying." + +I left college, in the early summer, flushed with the honors of the +valedictory. It was in one of those quiet college towns which are +the pleasantest spots in New England, that I had won and worn my +laurels. After four years--so long in passing, such a swift line of +light when passed--the eagerly-expected commencement day arrived. It +was the greatest day in the year in that village, and I was the +greatest man of the day. + +Ah! I shall always see the gathering groups of students and +alumni upon the college lawn, in the "ambrosial darkness" of +broad-branching elms. I can yet feel the warm sunshine of that quiet +day--and see our important rustling about in the black silk +graduating gowns--I, chiefest of all, and pointed out, to the +classes just entered, as the valedictorian, saluted as I passed by +the homage of their admiring glances. Then winding down the broad +street, over which the trees arched, and which they walled with +green, again my heart dilates upon the swelling music, that pealed +in front of the procession, while all the town made holiday, and +clustered under the trees to see us pass. I hear still chiming, and +a little muffled even now, through memory, the sweet church bell +that rang gayly and festally, not solemnly, that day--and how shall +I forget the choking and exquisite delight and excitement with +which, in the mingled confusion of ringing bell and clanging martial +instruments, we passed from the warm, bright sunshine without, into +the cool interior of the church. As we entered, the great organ +aroused from its majestic silence, and drowned bell and band in its +triumphant torrent of sound, while, to my excited fancy, the church +seemed swaying in the music, it was so crowded with women, in light +summer muslins, bending forward, and whispering, and waving fans. +The rattling of pew-doors--the busy importance of the "Professor of +Elocution and Belles-Lettres"--the dying strains of the organ--the +brief silence--the rustling rising to hear the President's +prayer--it is all as distinct in my mind as in yours, my young +friend fresh from college, and "watering" for your first season. + +Then, when the long list was called, and the degrees had been +conferred, came my turn--"the valedictory addresses." In that +moment, as I gathered my gown around me and ascended the platform, I +did not envy Demosthenes nor Cicero, nor believe that a sweeter +triumph was ever won. That soft, country summer-day, and I the focus +of a thousand enthusiastic eyes to which the low words of farewell I +spoke to my companions, brought a sympathetic moisture--that is a +picture which must burn forever, illuminating life. The first +palpable and visible evidence of your power over others is that +penetrating aroma of success--sweeter than success itself--which +comes only once, and only for a moment, but for that single moment +is a dream made real. The memory of that day makes June in my mind +forever. + +You see I am growing garrulous, and do not come to Saratoga by +steam. But I did come, fresh from that triumph, and full of it. I +had been the greatest man of the greatest day in a town not five +hundred miles away, and could not but feel that my fame must have +excited Saratoga. With what modest trembling I wrote my name in the +office-book. The man scarcely looked at it, but wrote a number +against it, shouted to the porter to take Mr. ----'s (excuse my +name) luggage to No. 310, and I mechanically followed that +functionary, and observed that not a single loiterer in the office +raised his head at my name. + +But worse than that, the name seemed to be of no consequence. I was +no longer Mr. ---- with "the valedictory addresses," &c, &c. +(including the thousand eyes). I was merely No. 310--and you too +have already observed, I am sure, wherever you are passing the +summer, that you are not an individual at a Watering-Place. You lose +your personal identity in a great summer hotel, as you would in a +penitentiary; you are No. this or No. that. It is No. 310 who wishes +his Champagne frappé. It is No. 310 who wishes his card taken to No. +320. It is No. 310 who goes in the morning, pays his bill, and +hears, as the porter slings on his luggage and takes his shilling, +"put No. 310 in order." + +This is one of the humiliating aspects of Watering-Place life. You +are one of a mass, and distinguished by your number. Yet you can +never know the mortifying ignominy of such treatment until it comes +directly upon the glory of a commencement, at which you have +absorbed all other individuality into yourself. + +I reached Saratoga and came down to dinner. I could not help +laughing at the important procession of negro-waiters stamping in +with the different courses, and concentrating attention upon their +movements. I felt then, instinctively, how it is the last degree of +vulgarity--that the serving at table instead of being noiseless as +the wind that blows the ship along, is the chief spectacle and +amusement at dinner. Dinner at Saratoga, or Newport, or Niagara is a +grand military movement of black waiters, who advance, halt, load, +present, and fire their dishes, and in which the elegant ladies and +the elegant gentlemen are merely lay-figures, upon which the African +army exercise their skill by not hitting or spilling. For the first +days of my residence it was a quiet enjoyment to me to see with what +elaborate care the fine ladies and gentlemen arrayed themselves to +play their inferior parts at dinner. The chief actors in the +ceremony--the negro waiters--ran, a moment before the last bell, to +put on clean white jackets and when the bell rang, and the puppets +were seated--fancying, with charming naïveté, that they were the +principle objects of the feast--then thundered in the sable host and +deployed right and left, tramping like the ghost in Don Giovanni, +thumping, clashing, rattling, and all thought of elegance or +propriety was lost in the universal tumult. + +People who submit to this, consider themselves elegant. But what if +in their own houses and dining-rooms there should be this "alarum, +enter an army," as the old play-books say, whenever they entertained +their friends at dinner. + +I was lonely at first. Nothing is so solitary as a gay and crowded +Watering-Place, where you have few friends. The excessive hilarity +of others emphasizes your own quiet and solitude. And especially at +Saratoga, where there is no resource but the company. You must bowl, +or promenade the piazza, or flirt, with the women. You must drink, +smoke, chat, and game a little with the men. But if you know neither +women nor men, and have no prospect of knowing them, then take the +next train to Lake George. + +It is very different elsewhere. At Newport, for instance, if you are +only No. 310 at your hotel and nothing more; if you know no one, and +have to drink your wine, and smoke, and listen to the music alone, +you have only to leap into your saddle, gallop to the beach, and as +you pace along the margin of the sea, that will laugh with you at +the frivolities you have left behind--will sometimes howl harsh +scorn upon the butterflies, who are not worth it, and who do not +deserve it--and the Atlantic will be to you lover, counselor, and +sweet society. + +Toward the end of my first Saratoga week, I met an old college +friend. It was my old chum, Herbert, from the South. Herbert, who, +over many a midnight glass and wasting weed, had leaned out of my +window in the moonlight, and recited those burning lines of Byron +which all students do recite to that degree, that I have often +wondered what students did, in romantic moonlights, before Byron was +born. In those midnight recitals Herbert used often to stop, and say +to me: + +"I wonder if you would like my sister?" + +Her name was not mentioned, but Herbert was so handsome in the +southern style; he was so picturesque, and manly, and graceful--a +kind of Sidney and Bayard--that I was sure his sister was not less +than Amy Robsart, or Lucy of Lammermoor, or perhaps Zuleika. + +Toward the close of our course, we were one day sauntering beyond +the little college-town, and dreaming dreams of that Future which, +to every ambitious young man, seems a stately palace waiting to be +royally possessed by him, when Herbert, who really loved me, said: + +"I wish you knew Lulu." + +"I wish I did know Lulu." + +And that was all we ever said about it. + +When we met at Saratoga it was a pleasant surprise to both, and +doubly so to me, for I was sadly bored by my want of acquaintances. +We fell into an earnest conversation, in the midst of which Herbert +suddenly said: + +"Ah! there, I must run and join Lulu!" and left me. + +Who has not had just this experience, or a similar one, at any +Watering-Place? One day you suddenly discover that some certain +person has arrived; and when you go to your room to dress for +dinner, your boots look splayed--your waistcoats are not the +thing--your coat isn't half as handsome as other coats--and you +spoil all your cravats in your nervous efforts to tie them +exquisitely. You get dressed, however, and descend to dinner, giving +yourself a Vivian Grey-ish air--a combination of the coxcomb, the +poet, and the politician--and yet wonder why your hands seem so +large, and why you do not feel at your ease, although every thing is +the same as yesterday, except that Lulu has arrived. + +And there she sits! + +So sat Lulu, Herbert's sister, cool in light muslin, as if that +sultry summer day she were Undine draped in mist. She had the +self-possession, which many children have, and which greatly +differs from the elaborate _sang froid_ of elegant manners. There +was no haughty reserve, no cold unconsciousness, as if the world +were not worth her treading. But when Herbert nodded to me--and I, +knowing that she was about to look at me, involuntarily put forward +the poet-aspect of Vivian--she turned and looked toward me earnestly +and unaffectedly for a few moments, while I played with a +sweet-bread, and looked abstracted. It is a pity that we men make +such fools of ourselves when we are in the callow state! Lulu turned +back and said something to Herbert; of course, it was telling him +her first impression of me! Do you think I wished to hear it? + +She was not tall nor superb: her face was very changeful and +singularly interesting. I watched her during dinner, and such were +my impressions. If they were wrong, it was the fault of my +perceptions. + +We met upon the piazza after dinner while the beautifully-dressed +throng was promenading, and the band was playing. It was an Arcadian +moment and scene. + +"Lulu, this is my friend, Mr. ----, of whom I have spoken to you so +often." + +Herbert remained but a moment. I offered my arm to his sister, and +we moved with the throng. The whole world seemed a festival. The day +was golden--the music swelled in those long, delicious chords, which +imparadise the moment, and make life poetry. In that strain, and +with that feeling, our acquaintance commenced. It was Lulu's first +summer at a Watering-Place (at least she said so); it was my first, +too, at a Watering-Place--but not my first at a flirtation, thought +I, loftily. She had all the cordial freshness of a Southern girl, +with that geniality of manner which, without being in the least +degree familiar, is confiding and friendly, and which to us, +reserved and suspicious Northerners, appears the evidence of the +complete triumph we have achieved, until we see that it is a general +and not a particular manner. + +The band played on: the music seemed only to make more melodious and +expressive all that we said. At intervals, we stopped and leaned +upon the railing by a column wreathed with a flowering vine, and +Lulu's eye seeking the fairest blossom, found it, and her hand +placed it in mine. I forgot commencement-day, and the glory of the +valedictory. Lulu's eyes were more inspiring than the enthusiastic +thousand in the church; and the remembered bursts of the band that +day were lost in the low whispers of the girl upon my arm. I do not +remember what we said. I did not mean to flirt, in the usual sense +of that word (men at a Watering-Place never do). It was an +intoxication most fatal of all, and which no Maine law can avert. + +Herbert joined us later in the afternoon, and proposed a drive; he +was anxious to show me his horses. We parted to meet at the door. +Lulu gently detached her arm from mine; said gayly, "Au revoir, +bientôt!" as she turned away; and I bounded into the hall, sprang +up-stairs into my room, and sat down, stone-still, upon a chair. + +I looked fixedly upon the floor, and remained perfectly motionless +for five minutes. I was lost in a luxury of happiness! Without a +profession, without a fortune, I felt myself irresistibly drawn +toward this girl;--and the very fascination lay here, that I knew, +however wild and wonderful a feeling I might indulge, it was all +hopeless. We should enjoy a week of supreme happiness--suffer in +parting--and presently be solaced, and enjoy other weeks of supreme +felicity with other Lulus! + +My young friends of the Watering-Places, deny having had just such +an emotion and "course of thought," if you dare! + +We drove to the lake, and the whole world of Saratoga with us. +Herbert's new bays sped neatly along--he driving in front, Lulu and +I chatting behind. Arrived at the lake, we sauntered down the steep +slope to the beach. We stepped into a boat and drifted out upon the +water. It was still and gleaming in the late afternoon; and the +pensive tranquillity of evening was gathering before we returned. We +sang those passionate, desperate love-songs which young people +always sing when they are happiest and most sentimental. So rapidly +had we advanced--for a Watering-Place is the very hot-bed of +romance--that I dropped my hand idly upon Lulu's; and finding that +hers was not withdrawn, gradually and gently clasped it in mine. So, +hand-in-hand, we sang, floating homeward in the golden twilight. + +There was a dance in the evening at the hotel. Lulu was to dance +with me, of course, the first set, and as many waltzes as I chose. +She was so sparkling, so evidently happy, that I observed the New +York belles, to whom happiness is an inexplicable word, scanned her +with an air of lofty wonder and elegant disdain. But Lulu was so +genuinely graceful and charming; she remained so quietly superior in +her simplicity to the assuming _hauteur_ of the metropolitan misses, +that I kept myself in perfect good-humor, and did not feel myself at +all humbled in the eyes of the Young America of that city, because I +was the cavalier of the unique Southerner. So far did this go, that +in my desire to revenge myself upon the New Yorkers, I resolved to +increase their chagrin by praising Lulu to the chief belle of the +set. + +To her I was introduced. A New York belle at a Watering-Place! +"There's a divinity doth hedge her," and a mystery too. She looked +at me with supreme indifference as I advanced to the ordeal of +presentation, evidently measuring my claims upon her consideration +by the general aspect of my outer man. I moved with a certain pride, +because although I felt awkward before the glance of Lulu, I was +entirely self-possessed in the consciousness of unexceptionable +attire before the unmeaning stare of the fashionable _parvenue_. You +see I do get a little warm in speaking of her, and yet I was as cool +as an autumn morning, when I made my bow, and requested her hand +for the next set. + +We danced _vis-a-vis_ to Lulu. My partner swung her head around upon +her neck, as none but Juno or Minerva should venture to do, and +looked at the other _personal_ of the quadrille, to see if she were +in a perfectly safe set. I ventured a brief remark upon nothing--the +weather, probably. The Queen of the Cannibal Islands bent +majestically in a monosyllabic response. + +"It is very warm to-night," continued I. + +"Yes, very warm," she responded. + +"You have been long here?" + +"Two weeks." + +"Probably you came from Niagara?" + +"No, from Sharon." + +"Shall you go to Lake George?" + +"No, we go to Newport." + +There I paused, and fondled my handkerchief, while the impassible +lady relapsed into her magnificent silence, and offered no hope of +any conversation in any direction. But I would not be balked of my +object, and determined that if the living stream did run "quick +below," the glaring polish of ice which these "fine manners" +presented, my remark should be an Artesian bore to it. + +"How handsome our _vis-a-vis_ is?" said I. + +My stately lady said nothing, but tossed her head slightly, without +changing her expression, except to make it more pointedly frigid, in +a reply which was a most vociferous negative, petrified by +politeness into ungracious assent. + +"She is what Lucia of Lammermoor might have been before she was +unhappy," continued I, plunging directly off into the sea of +trouble. + +"Ah! I don't know Miss Lammermoor," responded my partner, with +_sang-froid_. + +I am conscious that I winced at this. A New York belle, hedged with +divinity and awfulness, &c, _not know Miss Lammermoor_. Such stately +_naïveté_ of ignorance drew a smile into my eyes, and I concluded to +follow the scent. + +"You misunderstand me," said I. "I was speaking of Scott's +Lucia--the Waverley novel, you know." + +"Waverley, Waverley," replied my Cannibal Queen, who moved her head +like Juno, but this time lisping and somewhat confused, as if she +knew that, by the mention of books, we were possibly nearing the +verge of sentiment. "Waverley--I don't know what you mean: you're +too deep for me." + +I was silent for that moment, and sat a mirthful Marius, among the +ruins of my proud idea of a metropolitan belle. Had she not +exquisitely perfected my revenge? Could the contrast of my next +dance with Lulu have been pointed with more diamond distinctness +than by the unweeting lady, whom I watched afterward, with my eyes +swimming in laughter, as she glided, passionlessly, without smiling, +without grace, without life--like a statue clad in muslin, over +grass-cloth, around the hall. Once again, during the evening, I went +to her and said: + +"How graceful that Baltimore lady is." + +"The Baltimore ladies may have what you call grace and ease," said +she, with the same delicious hauteur, "and the Boston ladies are +very 'strong-minded,'" she continued, in a tone intended for +consuming satire, the more unhappy that it was clear she could make +no claim to either of the qualities--"but the New York women have +_air_," she concluded, and sailed away with what "might be air," +said Herbert, who heard her remark, "but certainly very bad air." + +Learn from this passage of my experience, beloved reader, you who +are for the first time encountering that Sphinx, a New York belle, +that she is not terrible. You shall find her irreproachable in +_tournure_, but it is no more exclusively beautiful or admirable, +than New York is exclusively the fine city of the country. I am a +young man, of course, and inexperienced; but I prefer that lovely +languor of the Southern manners, which is expressed in the +negligence, and sometimes even grotesqueness of dress, to the vapid +superciliousness, which is equally expressed in the coarse grass +cloth that imparts the adorable _Je ne sais quoi_ of _style_. "It is +truly amusing," Herbert says, who has been a far traveler, "to see +these nice New Yorkers assuming that the whole country outside their +city is provincial." A Parisian lady who should affect to treat a +Florentine as a provincial, would be exiled by derision from social +consideration. Fair dames of New York, I am but an anonymous +valedictorian; yet why not make your beauty more beautiful, by that +courtesy which is loftier than disdain, and superior to +superciliousness? + +Ah, well! it was an aromatic evening. Disraeli says that Ferdinand +Armine had a Sicilian conversation with Henrietta Temple, in the +conservatory. You know how it ended, and they knew how it would +end,--they were married. But if Ferdinand had plunged into that +abyss of excitement, knowing that however Sicilian his conversation +might be, it would all end in a bachelor's quarters, with Henrietta +as a lay figure of memory, which he might amuse himself in draping +with a myriad rainbow fancies--if he had known this, ought he to +have advanced farther in the divine darkness of that prospect? Ought +he not to have said, "Dear Miss Temple, my emotions are waxing +serious, and I am afraid of them, and will retire." + +You will say, "certainly," of course. We all say, "certainly," when +we read or talk about it quietly. Young men at Saratoga and Newport +say, "certainly," over their cigars. But when the weed is whiffed +away, they dress for conquest, and draw upon the Future for the +consequences. Unhappily, the Future is perfectly "good," and always +settles to the utmost copper. + +At least, so Herbert says, and he is older than I am. I only +know--in fact, I only cared, that the evening fled away like a +sky-lark singing up to the sun at daybreak--(that was a much +applauded sentence in my valedictory). I deliberately cut every +cable of remorse that might have held me to the "ingenuous course," +as it is called, and drove out into the shoreless sea of enjoyment. +I revelled in Lulu's beauty, in her grace, in her thousand nameless +charms. I was naturally sorry for her. I knew her young affections +would "run to waste, and water but the desert." But if a girl will +do so! Summer and the midsummer sun shone in a cloudless sky. There +was nothing to do but live and love, and Lulu and I did nothing +else. Through the motley aspects of Watering-Place existence, our +life shot like a golden thread, embroidering it with beauty. We +strolled on the piazza at morning and evening. During the forenoon +we sat in the parlor, and Lulu worked a bag or a purse, and I sat by +her, gossiping that gossip which is evanescent as foam upon +champagne--yes, and as odorous and piercing, for the moment it +lasts. We only parted to dress for dinner. I relinquished the Vivian +Grey style, and returned to my own. Every day Lulu was more +exquisitely dressed, and when the band played, after dinner, and the +sunlight lay, golden-green, upon the smooth, thick turf, our +conversation was inspired by the music, as on the first day, which +seemed to me centuries ago, so natural and essential to my life had +Lulu become. Toward sunset we drove to the lake. Sometimes in a +narrow little wagon, not quite wide enough for two, and in which I +sat overdrifted by the azure mist of the dress she wore--nor ever +dreaming of the Autumn or the morrow; and sometimes with Herbert and +his new horses. + +Young America sipping cobblers, and roving about in very loose and +immoral coats, voted it "a case." The elderly ladies thought it a +"shocking flirtation." The old gentlemen who smoke cigars in the +easy chairs under the cool colonnade, watched the course of events +through the slow curling clouds of tobacco, and looked at me, when I +passed them, as if I were juvenile for a Lothario; while the great +dancing, bowling, driving, flirting, and fooling mass of the +Saratoga population thought it all natural and highly improper. + +It is astonishing to recur to an acquaintance which has become a +large and luminous part of your life, and discover that it lasted a +week. It is saddening to sit among the withered rose-leaves of a +summer, and remember that each rose in its prime seemed the sweetest +of roses. The old ladies called it "shocking," and the young ladies +sigh that it is "heartless," and the many condemn, while the few +wrap themselves in scornful pride at the criminal fickleness of men. + +One such I met on a quiet Sunday morning when Lulu had just left me +to go and read to her mother. + +"You are a vain coxcomb," was the promising prelude of my friend's +conversation. But she _was_ a friend, so I did not frown nor play +that I was offended. + +"Why a coxcomb?" + +"Because you are flirting with that girl merely for your own +amusement. You know perfectly well that she loves you, and you know +equally well that you mean nothing. You are a flippant, shallow +Arthur Pendennis--" + +"_Pas trop vite._ If I meet a pleasant person in a pleasant place, +and we like each other, I, for my part, will follow the whim of the +hour. I will live while I live--provided, always, that I injure no +other person in following that plan--and in every fairly supposable +case of this kind the game is equal. Good morning." + +Now you will say that I was afraid to continue the argument, and +that I felt self-convicted of folly. Not at all; but I chanced to +see Lulu returning, and I strolled down the piazza to meet her. + +She was flushed, and tears were ill-concealed in her eyes. Her +mother had apprised her that she was to leave in the morning. It was +all over. + +I did not dare to trust my tongue, but seized her hand a moment, and +then ran for my life--literally for my life. Reaching my room I sat +down in my chair again, and stared upon the floor. I loved Lulu more +than any woman in the world. Yet I remembered precisely similar +occasions before, when I felt as if the sun and life were departing +when certain persons left my side, and I therefore could not trust +my emotion, and run back again and swear absolute and eternal +fidelity. You think I was a great fool, and destitute of feeling, +and better not venture any more into general female society. Perhaps +so. But it was written upon my consciousness suddenly and +dazzlingly, as the mystic words upon Nebuchadnezzar's hall, that +this, though sweet and absorbing, was but a summer fancy--offspring +of sunshine, flowers, and music--not the permanent reality which all +men seek in love. It was one of the characteristic charms of the +summer life. It made the weeks a pleasant Masque of Truth--a +paraphrase of the poetry of Love. I would not avoid it. I would not +fail to sail among the isles of Greece, though but for a summer +day--though Memory might forever yearningly revert to that +delight--conscious of no dishonor, of no more selfishness than in +enjoying a day or a flower--exposed to all the risks to which my +partner in the delirious and delicious game was exposed. + +We met at dinner. We strolled after dinner, and I felt the trembling +of the arm within mine, as we spoke of travel, of Niagara, of +Newport, and of parting. "Lulu," said I, "the pleasure of a +Watering-Place is the meeting with a thousand friends whom we never +saw before, and shall never see again." + +That was the way I began. + +"We meet here, Lulu, like travelers upon a mountain-top, one coming +from the clear, green north, another from the sun-loved south; and +we sit together for an hour talking, each of his own, and each story +by its strangeness fascinating the other hearer. Then we rise, say +farewell, and each pursues his journey alone, yet never forgetting +that meeting on the mountain, and the sweet discourse that charmed +the hours." + +I found myself again delivering valedictory addresses, and to an +audience more moved than the first. + +Yet who would not have had the day upon the mountain! Who would not +once have seen Helen, though he might never see her more? Who would +not wish to prove by a thousand-fold experience Shelley's lines-- + + "True love in this differs from gold to clay, + That to divide is not to take away." + +Lulu said nothing, and we walked silently on. + +"I hate the very name Watering-Place," said she, at length. + +I did not ask her why. + +When the full moonlight came, we went to the ball-room. It is the +way they treat moonlights at a Watering-Place. + +"Yes," said Lulu, "let us die royally, wreathed with flowers." + +And she smiled as she said it. Why did she smile? It was just as we +parted, and mark the result. The moment I suspected that the +flirtation was not all on one side, I discovered--beloved budding +Flirt, male or female, of this summer, you will also discover the +same thing in similar cases--that I was seriously in love. Now that +I fancied there was no reason to blind my eyes to the fact, I stared +directly upon it. + +We went into the hall. It was a wild and melancholy dance that we +danced. There was a frenzy in my movements, for I knew that I was +clasping for the last time the woman for whom my admiring and tender +compassion was by her revelation of superiority to loving me, +suddenly kindled into devotion! She was very beautiful--at least, +she was so to me, and I could not but mark a kind of triumph in her +air, which did not much perplex, but overwhelmed me. At length she +proposed stepping out upon the piazza, and then we walked in the +cool moonlight while I poured out to her the overflowing enthusiasm +of my passion. Lulu listened patiently, and then she said: + +"My good friend (fancy such a beginning in answer to a declaration), +you have much to learn. I thought from what you said this afternoon +that you were profoundly acquainted with the mystery of +Watering-Place life. You remember you delivered a very polished +disquisition on the subject to me--to a woman who, you had every +reason to suppose, was deeply in love with you. My good sir, a +Watering-Place passion, you ought to know, is an affair of sunshine, +music, and flowers. We meet upon a mountain-top, and enjoy +ourselves, then part with longing and regret." + +Here she paused a moment, and my knees smote together. + +"You are a very young man, with very much to learn, and if you mean +to make the tour of the Watering-Places during this or any summer, +you must understand this; and, as Herbert tells me you were a very +moving valedictorian this year, this shall be my moving valedictory +to you, for I leave to-morrow--in all summer encounters of the heart +or head, at any of the leisure resorts where there is nothing to do +but to do nothing, never forget that _all baggage is at the risk of +the owner_." + +And so saying, Lulu slipped her arm from mine, glided up the stairs +into the hall, and the next moment was floating down the room to a +fragrant strain of Strauss. + +I, young reader, remained a few moments bewildered in the moonlight, +and the next morning naturally left Saratoga. I am meditating +whether to go to Newport; but I am sure Lulu is there. Let me advise +you, meanwhile, to beware, let me urge you to adapt the old proverb +to the meridian of a Watering-Place by reversing it--that "whoever +goes out to find a kingdom may return an ass." + + + + +THE MIDNIGHT MASS. + +AN EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF TERROR. + + +About eight o'clock on the night of the 22d of January, 1793, while +the Reign of Terror was still at its height in Paris, an old woman +descended the rapid eminence in that city, which terminates before +the Church of St. Laurent. The snow had fallen so heavily during the +whole day, that the sound of footsteps was scarcely audible. The +streets were deserted; and the fear that silence naturally inspires, +was increased by the general terror which then assailed France. The +old woman passed on her way, without perceiving a living soul in the +streets; her feeble sight preventing her from observing in the +distance, by the lamp-light, several foot passengers, who flitted +like shadows over the vast space of the Faubourg, through which she +was proceeding. She walked on courageously through the solitude, as +if her age were a talisman which could shield her from every +calamity. No sooner, however, had she passed the Rue des Morts, than +she thought she heard the firm and heavy footsteps of a man walking +behind her. It struck her that she had not heard this sound for the +first time. Trembling at the idea of being followed, she quickened +her pace, in order to confirm her suspicions by the rays of light +which proceeded from an adjacent shop. As soon as she had reached +it, she abruptly turned her head, and perceived, through the fog, +the outline of a human form. This indistinct vision was enough: she +shuddered violently the moment she saw it--doubting not that the +stranger had followed her from the moment she had quitted home. But +the desire to escape from a spy soon renewed her courage, and she +quickened her pace, vainly thinking that, by such means, she could +escape from a man necessarily much more active than herself. + +After running for some minutes, she arrived at a pastry-cook's +shop--entered--and sank, rather than sat down, on a chair which +stood before the counter. The moment she raised the latch of the +door, a woman in the shop looked quickly through the windows toward +the street; and, observing the old lady, immediately opened a +drawer in the counter, as if to take out something which she had to +deliver to her. Not only did the gestures and expression of the +young woman show her desire to be quickly relieved of the new-comer, +as of a person whom it was not safe to welcome; but she also let +slip a few words of impatience at finding the drawer empty. +Regardless of the old lady's presence, she unceremoniously quitted +the counter, retired to an inner apartment, and called her husband, +who at once obeyed the summons. + +"Where have you placed the--?" inquired she, with a mysterious air, +glancing toward the visitor, instead of finishing the sentence. + +Although the pastry-cook could only perceive the large hood of black +silk, ornamented with bows of violet-colored ribbon, which formed +the old lady's head-dress, he at once cast a significant look at his +wife, as much as to say, "Could you think me careless enough to +leave what you ask for, in such a place as the shop!" and then +hurriedly disappeared. + +Surprised at the silence and immobility of the stranger lady, the +young woman approached her; and, on beholding her face, experienced +a feeling of compassion--perhaps, we may add, a feeling of curiosity +as well. + +Although the complexion of the old lady was naturally colorless, +like that of one long accustomed to secret austerities, it was easy +to see that a recent emotion had cast over it an additional +paleness. Her head-dress was so disposed as completely to hide her +hair; and thereby to give her face an appearance of religious +severity. At the time of which we write, the manners and habits of +people of quality were so different from those of the lower classes, +that it was easy to identify a person of distinction from outward +appearance alone. Accordingly, the pastry-cook's wife at once +discovered that the strange visitor was an ex-aristocrat--or, as we +should now express it, "a born lady." + +"Madame!" she exclaimed, respectfully, forgetting, at the moment, +that this, like all other titles, was now proscribed under the +Republic. + +The old lady made no answer, but fixed her eyes steadfastly on the +shop windows, as if they disclosed some object that terrified her. + +"What is the matter with you, citizen?" asked the pastry-cook, who +made his appearance at this moment, and disturbed her reverie by +handing her a small pasteboard box, wrapped up in blue paper. + +"Nothing, nothing, my good friends," she replied, softly. While +speaking, she looked gratefully at the pastry-cook; then, observing +on his head the revolutionary red cap, she abruptly exclaimed: "You +are a Republican! you have betrayed me!" + +The pastry-cook and his wife indignantly disclaimed the imputation +by a gesture. The old lady blushed as she noticed it--perhaps with +shame, at having suspected them--perhaps with pleasure, at finding +them trustworthy. + +"Pardon me," said she, with child-like gentleness, drawing from her +pocket a louis d'or. "There," she continued, "there is the +stipulated price." + +There is a poverty which the poor alone can discover. The +pastry-cook and his wife felt the same conviction as they looked at +each other--it was perhaps the last louis d'or which the old lady +possessed. When she offered the coin her hand trembled: she had +gazed upon it with some sorrow, but with no avarice; and yet, in +giving it, she seemed to be fully aware that she was making a +sacrifice. The shop-keepers, equally moved by pity and interest, +began by comforting their consciences with civil words. + +"You seem rather poorly, citizen," said the pastry-cook. + +"Would you like to take any refreshment, madame?" interrupted his +wife. + +"We have some excellent soup," continued the husband. + +"The cold has perhaps affected you, madame," resumed the young +woman; "pray, step in, and sit and warm yourself by our fire." + +"We may be Republicans," observed the pastry-cook; "but the devil is +not always so black as he is painted." + +Encouraged by the kind words addressed to her by the shop-keepers, +the old lady confessed that she had been followed by a strange man, +and that she was afraid to return home by herself. + +"Is that all?" replied the valiant pastry-cook. "I'll be ready to go +home with you in a minute, citizen." + +He gave the louis d'or to his wife, and then--animated by that sort +of gratitude which all tradesmen feel at receiving a large price for +an article of little value--hastened to put on his National Guard's +uniform, and soon appeared in complete military array. In the mean +while, however, his wife had found time to reflect; and in her case, +as in many others, reflection closed the open hand of charity. +Apprehensive that her husband might be mixed up in some +misadventure, she tried hard to detain him; but, strong in his +benevolent impulse, the honest fellow persisted in offering himself +as the old lady's escort. + +"Do you imagine, madame, that the man you are so much afraid of, is +still waiting outside the shop?" asked the young woman. + +"I feel certain of it," replied the lady. + +"Suppose he should be a spy! Suppose the whole affair should be a +conspiracy! Don't go! Get back the box we gave her." These words +whispered to the pastry-cook by his wife, had the effect of cooling +his courage with extraordinary rapidity. + +"I'll just say two words to that mysterious personage outside, and +relieve you of all annoyance immediately," said he, hastily quitting +the shop. + +The old lady, passive as a child, and half-bewildered, reseated +herself. + +The pastry-cook was not long before he returned. His face, which was +naturally ruddy, had turned quite pale; he was so panic-stricken, +that his legs trembled under him, and his eyes rolled like the eyes +of a drunken man. + +"Are you trying to get our throats cut for us, you rascally +aristocrat?" cried he, furiously. "Do you think you can make _me_ +the tool of a conspiracy? Quick! show us your heels! and never let +us see your face again!" + +So saying, he endeavored to snatch away the box, which the old lady +had placed in her pocket. No sooner, however, had his hands touched +her dress, than, preferring any perils in the street to losing the +treasure for which she had just paid so large a price, she darted +with the activity of youth toward the door, opened it violently, and +disappeared in a moment from the eyes of the bewildered shopkeepers. + +Upon gaining the street again, she walked at her utmost speed; but +her strength soon failed, when she heard the spy who had so +remorselessly followed her, crunching the snow under his heavy +tread. She involuntarily stopped short: the man stopped short too! +At first, her terror prevented her from speaking, or looking round +at him; but it is in the nature of us all--even of the most +infirm--to relapse into comparative calm immediately after violent +agitation; for, though our feelings may be unbounded, the organs +which express them have their limits. Accordingly, the old lady, +finding that she experienced no particular annoyance from her +imaginary persecutor, willingly tried to convince herself that he +might be a secret friend, resolved at all hazards to protect her. +She reconsidered the circumstances which had attended the stranger's +appearance, and soon contrived to persuade herself that his object +in following her, was much more likely to be a good than an evil +one. + +Forgetful, therefore, of the fear with which he had inspired the +pastry-cook, she now went on her way with greater confidence. After +a walk of half an hour, she arrived at a house situated at the +corner of a street leading to the Barrière Pantin--even at the +present day, the most deserted locality in all Paris. A cold +northeasterly wind whistled sharply across the few houses, or rather +tenements, scattered about this almost uninhabited region. The place +seemed, from its utter desolation, the natural asylum of penury and +despair. + +The stranger, who still resolutely dogged the poor old lady's steps, +seemed struck with the scene on which his eyes now rested. He +stopped--erect, thoughtful, and hesitating--his figure feebly +lighted by a lamp, the uncertain rays of which scarcely penetrated +the fog. Fear had quickened the old lady's eyes. She now thought she +perceived something sinister in the features of the stranger. All +her former terrors returned and she took advantage of the man's +temporary indecision, to steal away in the darkness toward the door +of a solitary house. She pressed a spring under the latch, and +disappeared with the rapidity of a phantom. + +The stranger, still standing motionless, contemplated the house, +which bore the same appearance of misery as the rest of the +Faubourg. Built of irregular stones, and stuccoed with yellowish +plaster, it seemed, from the wide cracks in the walls, as if a +strong gust of wind would bring the crazy building to the ground. +The roof, formed of brown tiles, long since covered with moss, was +so sunk in several places that it threatened to give way under the +weight of snow which now lay upon it. Each story had three windows, +the frames of which, rotted with damp and disjointed by the heat of +the sun, showed how bitterly the cold must penetrate into the +apartments. The comfortless, isolated dwelling resembled some old +tower which Time had forgotten to destroy. One faint light glimmered +from the windows of the gable in which the top of the building +terminated; the remainder of the house was plunged in the deepest +obscurity. + +Meanwhile, the old woman ascended with some difficulty a rude and +dilapidated flight of stairs, assisting herself by a rope, which +supplied the place of bannisters. She knocked mysteriously at the +door of one of the rooms situated on the garret-floor, was quickly +let in by an old man, and then sank down feebly into a chair which +he presented to her. + +"Hide yourself! Hide yourself!" she exclaimed. "Seldom as we venture +out, our steps have been traced; our proceedings are known!" + +"What is the matter?" asked another old woman, seated near the fire. + +"The man whom we have seen loitering about the house since +yesterday, has followed me this evening," she replied. + +At these words, the three inmates of the miserable abode looked +on each other in silent terror. The old man was the least +agitated--perhaps for the very reason that his danger was really the +greatest. When tried by heavy affliction, or threatened by bitter +persecution, the first principle of a courageous man is, at all +times, to contemplate calmly the sacrifice of himself for the safety +of others. The expression in the faces of his two companions showed +plainly, as they looked on the old man, that _he_ was the sole +object of their most vigilant solicitude. + +"Let us not distrust the goodness of God, my sisters," said he, in +grave, reassuring tones. "We sang His praises even in the midst of +the slaughter that raged through our Convent. If it was His +good-will that I should be saved from the fearful butchery committed +in that holy place by the Republicans, it was no doubt to reserve me +for another destiny, which I must accept without a murmur. God +watches over His chosen, and disposes of them as seems best to His +good-will. Think of yourselves, my sisters--think not of me!" + +"Impossible!" said one of the women. "What are _our_ lives--the +lives of two poor nuns--in comparison with _yours_; in comparison +with the life of a priest?" + +"Here, father," said the old nun, who had just returned; "here are +the consecrated wafers of which you sent me in search." She handed +him the box which she had received from the pastry-cook. + +"Hark!" cried the other nun; "I hear footsteps coming up-stairs." + +They all listened intently. The noise of footsteps ceased. + +"Do not alarm yourselves," said the priest. "Whatever happens, I +have already engaged a person, on whose fidelity we can depend, to +escort you in safety over the frontier; to rescue you from the +martyrdom which the ferocious will of Robespierre and his coadjutors +of the Reign of Terror would decree against every servant of the +church." + +"Do _you_ not mean to accompany us?" asked the two nuns, +affrightedly. + +"_My_ place, sisters, is with the martyrs--not with the saved," said +the old priest, calmly. + +"Hark! the steps on the staircase!--the heavy steps we heard +before!" cried the women. + +This time it was easy to distinguish, in the midst of the silence of +night, the echoing sound of footsteps on the stone stairs. The nuns, +as they heard it approach nearer and nearer, forced the priest into +a recess at one end of the room, closed the door, and hurriedly +heaped some old clothes against it. The moment after, they were +startled by three distinct knocks at the outer door. + +The person who demanded admittance appeared to interpret the +terrified silence which had seized the nuns on hearing his knock, +into a signal to enter. He opened the door himself, and the +affrighted women immediately recognized him as the man whom they had +detected watching the house--the spy who had watched one of them +through the streets that night. + +The stranger was tall and robust, but there was nothing in his +features or general appearance to denote that he was a dangerous +man. Without attempting to break the silence, he slowly looked round +the room. Two bundles of straw, strewn upon boards, served as a bed +for the two nuns. In the centre of the room was a table, on which +were placed a copper-candlestick, some plates, three knives, and a +loaf of bread. There was but a small fire in the grate, and the +scanty supply of wood piled near it, plainly showed the poverty of +the inmates. The old walls, which at some distant period had been +painted, indicated the miserable state of the roof, by the patches +of brown streaked across them by the rain, which had filtered, drop +by drop, through the ceiling. A sacred relic, saved probably from +the pillage of the convent to which the two nuns and the priest had +been attached, was placed on the chimney-piece. Three chairs, two +boxes, and an old chest-of-drawers completed the furniture of the +apartment. + +At one corner near the mantle-shelf, a door had been constructed +which indicated that there was a second room in that direction. + +An expression of pity appeared on the countenance of the stranger, +as his eyes fell on the two nuns, after having surveyed their +wretched apartment. He was the first to break the strange silence +that had hitherto prevailed, by addressing the two poor creatures +before him in such tones of kindness as were best adapted to the +nervous terror under which they were evidently suffering. + +"Citizens!" he began, "I do not come to you as an enemy." He stopped +for a moment, and then continued: "If any misfortune has befallen +you, rest assured that I am not the cause of it. My only object here +is to ask a great favor of you." + +The nuns still kept silence. + +"If my presence causes you any anxiety," he went on, "tell me so at +once, and I will depart; but, believe me, I am really devoted to +your interests; and if there is any thing in which I can befriend +you, you may confide in me without fear. I am, perhaps, the only man +in Paris whom the law can not assail, now that the kings of France +are no more." + +There was such a tone of sincerity in these words, as he spoke them, +that Sister Agatha (the nun to whom the reader was introduced at the +outset of this narrative, and whose manners exhibited all the court +refinement of the old school) instinctively pointed to one of the +chairs, as if to request the stranger to be seated. His expression +showed a mixture of satisfaction and melancholy, as he acknowledged +this little attention, of which he did not take advantage until the +nuns had first seated themselves. + +"You have given an asylum here," continued he, "to a venerable +priest, who has miraculously escaped from massacre at a Carmelite +convent." + +"Are you the person," asked Sister Agatha, eagerly, "appointed to +protect our flight from--?" + +"I am not the person whom you expected to see," he replied, calmly. + +"I assure you, sir," interrupted the other nun, anxiously, "that we +have no priest here; we have not, indeed." + +"You had better be a little more careful about appearances on a +future occasion," he replied, gently, taking from the table a Latin +breviary. "May I ask if you are both in the habit of reading the +Latin language?" he inquired, with a slight inflexion of sarcasm in +his voice. + +No answer was returned. Observing the anguish depicted on the +countenance of the nuns, the trembling of their limbs, the tears +that filled their eyes, the stranger began to fear that he had gone +too far. + +"Compose yourselves," he continued, frankly. "For three days I have +been acquainted with the state of distress in which you are living. +I know your names, and the name of the venerable priest whom you are +concealing. It is--" + +"Hush! do not speak it," cried Sister Agatha, placing her finger on +her lips. + +"I have now said enough," he went on, "to show that if I had +conceived the base design of betraying you, I could have +accomplished my object before now." + +On the utterance of these words, the priest, who had heard all that +had passed, left his hiding-place, and appeared in the room. + +"I can not believe, sir," said he, "that you are leagued with my +persecutors; and I therefore willingly confide in you. What do you +require of me?" + +The noble confidence of the priest--the saint-like purity expressed +in his features--must have struck even an assassin with respect. The +mysterious personage who had intruded on the scene of misery and +resignation which the garret presented, looked silently for a moment +on the three beings before him, and then, in tones of secrecy, thus +addressed the priest: + +"Father, I come to entreat you to celebrate a mortuary mass for the +repose of the soul of--of a--of a person whose life the laws once +held sacred, but whose corpse will never rest in holy ground." + +An involuntary shudder seized the priest, as he guessed the hidden +meaning in these words. The nuns unable to imagine what person was +indicated by the stranger, looked on him with equal curiosity and +alarm. + +"Your wish shall be granted," said the priest, in low, awe-struck +tones. "Return to this place at midnight, and you will find me ready +to celebrate the only funeral service which the church can offer in +expiation of the crime to which I understand you to allude." + +The stranger trembled violently for a moment, then composed himself, +respectfully saluted the priest and the two nuns, and departed +without uttering a word. + +About two hours afterward, a soft knock at the outer door announced +the mysterious visitor's return. He was admitted by Sister Agatha, +who conducted him into the second apartment of their modest retreat, +where every thing had been prepared for the midnight mass. Near the +fire-place the nuns had placed their old chest of drawers, the +clumsy workmanship of which was concealed under a rich altar-cloth +of green velvet. A large crucifix, formed of ivory and ebony was +hung against the bare plaster wall. Four small tapers, fixed by +sealing-wax on the temporary altar, threw a faint and mysterious +gleam over the crucifix, but hardly penetrated to any other part of +the walls of the room. Thus almost exclusively confined to the +sacred objects immediately above and around it, the glow from the +tapers looked like a light falling from heaven itself on that +unadorned and unpretending altar. The floor of the room was damp. +The miserable roof, sloping on either side, was pierced with rents, +through which the cold night air penetrated into the rooms. Nothing +could be less magnificent, and yet nothing could be more truly +solemn than the manner in which the preliminaries of the funeral +ceremony had been arranged. A deep, dread silence, through which the +slightest noise in the street could be heard, added to the dreary +grandeur of the midnight scene--a grandeur majestically expressed by +the contrast between the homeliness of the temporary church, and the +solemnity of the service to which it was now devoted. On each side +of the altar, the two aged women kneeling on the tiled floor, +unmindful of its deadly dampness, were praying in concert with the +priest, who, clothed in his sacerdotal robes, raised on high a +golden chalice, adorned with precious stones, the most sacred of the +few relics saved from the pillage of the Carmelite Convent. + +The stranger, approaching after an interval, knelt reverently +between the two nuns. As he looked up toward the crucifix, he saw, +for the first time, that a piece of black crape was attached to it. +On beholding this simple sign of mourning, terrible recollections +appeared to be awakened within him; the big drops of agony started +thick and fast on his massive brow. + +Gradually, as the four actors in this solemn scene still fervently +prayed together, their souls began to sympathize the one with the +other, blending in one common feeling of religious awe. Awful, in +truth, was the service in which they were now secretly engaged! +Beneath that mouldering roof, those four Christians were then +interceding with Heaven for the soul of a martyred King of France; +performing, at the peril of their lives, in those days of anarchy +and terror, a funeral service for that hapless Louis the Sixteenth, +who died on the scaffold, who was buried without a coffin or a +shroud! It was, in them, the purest of all acts of devotion--the +purest, from its disinterestedness, from its courageous fidelity. +The last relics of the loyalty of France were collected in that poor +room, enshrined in the prayers of a priest and two aged women. +Perhaps, too, the dark spirit of the Revolution was present there as +well, impersonated by the stranger, whose face, while he knelt +before the altar, betrayed an expression of the most poignant +remorse. + +The most gorgeous mass ever celebrated in the gorgeous Cathedral of +St. Peter, at Rome, could not have expressed the sincere feeling of +prayer so nobly as it was now expressed, by those four persons, +under that lowly roof! + +There was one moment, during the progress of the service, at which +the nuns detected that tears were trickling fast over the stranger's +cheeks. It was when the Pater Noster was said. + +On the termination of the midnight mass, the priest made a sign to +the two nuns, who immediately left the room. As soon as they were +alone, he thus addressed the stranger: + +"My son, if you have imbrued your hands in the blood of the martyred +king, confide in me, and in my sacred office. Repentance so deep and +sincere as yours appears to be, may efface even the crime of +regicide in the eyes of God." + +"Holy father," replied the other, in trembling accents, "no man is +less guilty than I am of shedding the king's blood." + +"I would fain believe you," answered the priest. He paused for a +moment as he said this, looked steadfastly on the penitent man +before him, and then continued: + +"But remember, my son, you can not be absolved of the crime of +regicide, because you have not co-operated in it. Those who had the +power of defending their king, and who, having that power, still +left the sword in the scabbard, will be called to render a heavy +account at the day of judgment, before the King of kings; yes, a +heavy and an awful account indeed! for, in remaining passive, they +became the involuntary accomplices of the worst of murders." + +"Do you think then, father," murmured the stranger, deeply abashed, +"that all indirect participations are visited with punishment? Is +the soldier guilty of the death of Louis who obeyed the order to +guard the scaffold?" + +The priest hesitated. + +"I should be ashamed," continued the other, betraying by his +expression some satisfaction at the dilemma in which he had placed +the old man--"I should be ashamed of offering you any pecuniary +recompense for such a funeral service as you have celebrated. It is +only possible to repay an act so noble by an offering which is +priceless. Honor me by accepting this sacred relic. The day perhaps +will come when you will understand its value." + +So saying, he presented to the priest a small box, extremely light +in weight, which the aged ecclesiastic took, as it were, +involuntarily; for he felt awed by the solemn tones in which the man +spoke as he offered it. Briefly expressing his thanks for the +mysterious present, the priest conducted his guest into the outer +room, where the two nuns remained in attendance. + +"The house you now inhabit," said the stranger, addressing the nuns +as well as the priest, "belongs to a landlord who outwardly affects +extreme republicanism, but who is at heart devoted to the royal +cause. He was formerly a huntsman in the service of one of the +Bourbons, the Prince de Condé, to whom he is indebted for all that +he possesses. So long as you remain in this house you are safer than +in any other place in France. Remain here, therefore. Persons worthy +of trust will supply all your necessities, and you will be able to +await in safety the prospect of better times. In a year from this +day, on the 21st of January, should you still remain the occupants +of this miserable abode, I will return to repeat with you the +celebration of to-night's expiatory mass." He paused abruptly, and +bowed without adding another word; then delayed a moment more, to +cast a parting look on the objects of poverty which surrounded him, +and left the room. + +To the two simple-minded nuns, the whole affair had all the interest +of a romance. Their faces displayed the most intense anxiety, the +moment the priest informed them of the mysterious gift which the +stranger had so solemnly presented to him. Sister Agatha immediately +opened the box, and discovered in it a handkerchief, made of the +finest cambric, and soiled with marks of perspiration. They unfolded +it eagerly, and then found that it was defaced in certain places +with dark stains. + +"Those stains are _blood stains_!" exclaimed the priest. + +"The handkerchief is marked with the royal crown!" cried Sister +Agatha. + +Both the nuns dropped the precious relic, marked by the King's +blood, with horror. To their simple minds, the mystery which was +attached to the stranger, now deepened fearfully. As for the priest, +from that moment he ceased, even in thought, to attempt identifying +his visitor, or discovering the means by which he had become +possessed of the royal handkerchief. + +Throughout the atrocities practiced during a year of the Reign of +Terror, the three refugees were safely guarded by the same +protecting interference, ever at work for their advantage. At first, +they received large supplies of fuel and provisions; then the two +nuns found reason to imagine that one of their own sex had become +associated with their invisible protector, for they were furnished +with the necessary linen and clothing which enabled them to go out +without attracting attention by any peculiarities of attire. Besides +this, warnings of danger constantly came to the priest in the most +unexpected manner, and always opportunely. And then, again, in spite +of the famine which at that period afflicted Paris, the inhabitants +of the garret were sure to find placed every morning at their door, +a supply of the best wheaten bread, regularly left for them by some +invisible hand. + +They could only guess that the agent of the charitable attentions +thus lavished on them, was the landlord of the house, and that the +person by whom he was employed was no other than the stranger who +had celebrated with them the funeral mass for the repose of the +King's soul. Thus, this mysterious man was regarded with especial +reverence by the priest and the nuns, whose lives for the present, +and whose hopes for the future, depended on their strange visitor. +They added to their usual prayers at night and morning, prayers for +_him_. + +At length the long-expected night of the 21st of January arrived, +and, exactly as the clock struck twelve, the sound of heavy +footsteps on the stairs announced the approach of the stranger. The +room had been carefully prepared for his reception, the altar had +been arranged, and, on this occasion, the nuns eagerly opened the +door, even before they heard the knock. + +"Welcome back again! most welcome!" cried they; "we have been most +anxiously awaiting you." + +The stranger raised his head, looked gloomily on the nuns, and made +no answer. Chilled by his cold reception of their kind greeting, +they did not venture to utter another word. He seemed to have frozen +at their hearts, in an instant, all the gratitude, all the friendly +aspirations of the long year that had passed. They now perceived but +too plainly that their visitor desired to remain a complete stranger +to them, and that they must resign all hope of ever making a friend +of him. The old priest fancied he had detected a smile on the lips +of their guest when he entered, but that smile--if it had really +appeared--vanished again the moment he observed the preparations +which had been made for his reception. He knelt to hear the funeral +mass, prayed fervently as before, and then abruptly took his +departure; briefly declining, by a few civil words, to partake of +the simple refreshment offered to him, on the expiration of the +service, by the two nuns. + +Day after day wore on, and nothing more was heard of the stranger by +the inhabitants of the garret. After the fall of Robespierre, the +church was delivered from all actual persecution, and the priest and +the nuns were free to appear publicly in Paris, without the +slightest risk of danger. One of the first expeditions undertaken by +the aged ecclesiastic led him to a perfumer's shop, kept by a man +who had formerly been one of the Court tradesmen, and who had always +remained faithful to the Royal Family. The priest, clothed once more +in his clerical dress, was standing at the shop door talking to the +perfumer, when he observed a great crowd rapidly advancing along the +street. + +"What is the matter yonder?" he inquired of the shopkeeper. + +"Nothing," replied the man carelessly, "but the cart with the +condemned criminals going to the place of execution. Nobody pities +them--and nobody ought!" + +"You are not speaking like a Christian," exclaimed the priest. "Why +not pity them?" + +"Because," answered the perfumer, "those men who are going to the +execution are the last accomplices of Robespierre. They only travel +the same fatal road which their innocent victims took before them." + +The cart with the prisoners condemned to the guillotine had by this +time arrived opposite the perfumer's shop. As the old priest looked +curiously toward the state criminals, he saw, standing erect and +undaunted among his drooping fellow prisoners, the very man at whose +desire he had twice celebrated the funeral service for the martyred +King of France! + +"Who is that standing upright in the cart?" cried the priest, +breathlessly. + +The perfumer looked in the direction indicated, and answered-- + +"THE EXECUTIONER OF LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH!" + + + + +PERSONAL HABITS AND APPEARANCE OF ROBESPIERRE. + + +Visionaries are usually slovens. They despise fashions, and imagine +that dirtiness is an attribute of genius. To do the honorable member +for Artois justice, he was above this affectation. Small and neat in +person, he always appeared in public tastefully dressed, according +to the fashion of the period--hair well combed back, frizzled, and +powdered; copious frills at the breast and wrists; a stainless white +waistcoat; light-blue coat, with metal buttons; the sash of a +representative tied round his waist; light-colored breeches, white +stockings, and shoes with silver buckles. Such was his ordinary +costume; and if we stick a rose in his button-hole, or place a +nosegay in his hand, we shall have a tolerable idea of his whole +equipment. It is said he sometimes appeared in top-boots, which is +not improbable; for this kind of boot had become fashionable among +the republicans, from a notion that as top-boots were worn by +gentlemen in England, they were allied to constitutional government. +Robespierre's features were sharp, and enlivened by bright and +deeply-sunk blue eyes. There was usually a gravity and intense +thoughtfulness in his countenance, which conveyed an idea of his +being thoroughly in earnest. Yet, his address was not unpleasing. +Unlike modern French politicians, his face was always smooth, with +no vestige of beard or whiskers. Altogether, therefore, he may be +said to have been a well-dressed, gentlemanly man, animated with +proper self-respect, and having no wish to court vulgar applause by +neglecting the decencies of polite society. + +Before entering on his public career in Paris, Robespierre had +probably formed his plans, in which, at least to outward appearance, +there was an entire negation of self. A stern incorruptibility +seemed the basis of his character; and it is quite true that no +offers from the court, no overtures from associates, had power to +tempt him. There was only one way by which he could sustain a +high-souled independence, and that was the course adopted in like +circumstances by Andrew Marvel--simple wants, rigorous economy, a +disregard of fine company, an avoidance of expensive habits. Now, +this is the curious thing in Robespierre's history. Perhaps there +was a tinge of pride in his living a life of indigence; but in +fairness it is entitled to be called an honest pride, when we +consider that the means of profusion were within his reach. On his +arrival in Paris, he procured a humble lodging in the Marais, a +populous district in the northeastern faubourgs; but it being +represented to him sometime afterward, that, as a public man, it was +unsafe to expose himself in a long walk daily to and fro from this +obscure residence, he removed to a house in the Rue St. Honoré, now +marked No. 396, opposite the Church of the Assumption. Here he found +a lodging with M. Duplay, a respectable but humble cabinet-maker, +who had become attached to the principles of the Revolution; and +here he was joined by his brother, who played an inferior part in +public affairs, and is known in history as "the Younger +Robespierre." The selection of this dwelling seems to have fallen in +with Robespierre's notions of economy; and it suited his limited +patrimony, which consisted of some rents irregularly paid by a few +small farmers of his property in Artois. These ill-paid rents, with +his salary as a representative, are said to have supported three +persons--himself, his brother, and his sister; and so straitened was +he in circumstances, that he had to borrow occasionally from his +landlord. Even with all his pinching, he did not make both ends +meet. We have it on authority, that at his death he was owing £160; +a small debt to be incurred during a residence of five years in +Paris, by a person who figured as a leader of parties; and the +insignificance of this sum attests his remarkable self-denial. + +Lamartine's account of the private life of Robespierre in the house +of the Duplays is exceedingly fascinating, and we should suppose is +founded on well-authorized facts. "The house of Duplay," he says, +"was low, and in a court surrounded by sheds filled with timber and +plants, and had almost a rustic appearance. It consisted of a parlor +opening to the court, and communicating with a sitting-room that +looked into a small garden. From the sitting-room a door led into a +small study, in which was a piano. There was a winding staircase to +the first floor, where the master of the house lived, and thence to +the apartment of Robespierre." + +Here, long acquaintance, a common table, and association for several +years, "converted the hospitality of Duplay into an attachment that +became reciprocal. The family of his landlord became a second family +to Robespierre, and while they adopted his opinions, they neither +lost the simplicity of their manners nor neglected their religious +observances. They consisted of a father, mother, a son yet a youth, +and four daughters, the eldest of whom was twenty-five, and the +youngest eighteen. Familiar with the father, filial with the mother, +paternal with the son, tender and almost brotherly with the young +girls, he inspired and felt in this small domestic circle all those +sentiments that only an ardent soul inspires and feels by spreading +abroad its sympathies. Love also attached his heart, where toil, +poverty, and retirement had fixed his life. Eléonore Duplay, the +eldest daughter of his host, inspired Robespierre with a more +serious attachment than her sisters. The feeling, rather +predilection than passion, was more reasonable on the part of +Robespierre, more ardent and simple on the part of the young girl. +This affection afforded him tenderness without torment, happiness +without excitement: it was the love adapted for a man plunged all +day in the agitation of public life--a repose of the heart after +mental fatigue. He and Eléonore lived in the same house as a +betrothed couple, not as lovers. Robespierre had demanded the young +girl's hand from her parents, and they had promised it to him. + +"'The total want of fortune,' he said, 'and the uncertainty of the +morrow, prevented him from marrying her until the destiny of France +was determined; but he only awaited the moment when the Revolution +should be concluded, in order to retire from the turmoil and strife, +marry her whom he loved, go to reside with her in Artois, on one of +the farms he had saved among the possessions of his family, and +there to mingle his obscure happiness in the common lot of his +family.' + +"The vicissitudes of the fortune, influence, and popularity of +Robespierre effected no change in his simple mode of living. The +multitude came to implore favor or life at the door of his house, +yet nothing found its way within. The private lodging of Robespierre +consisted of a low chamber, constructed in the form of a garret, +above some cart-sheds, with the window opening upon the roof. It +afforded no other prospect than the interior of a small court, +resembling a wood-store, where the sounds of the workmen's hammers +and saws constantly resounded, and which was continually traversed +by Madame Duplay and her daughters, who there performed all their +household duties. This chamber was also separated from that of the +landlord by a small room common to the family and himself. On the +other side were two rooms, likewise attics, which were inhabited, +one by the son of the master of the house, the other by Simon +Duplay, Robespierre's secretary, and the nephew of his host. + +"The chamber of the deputy contained only a wooden bedstead, covered +with blue damask ornamented with white flowers, a table, and four +straw-bottomed chairs. This apartment served him at once for a study +and dormitory. His papers, his reports, the manuscripts of his +discourses, written by himself in a regular but labored hand, and +with many marks of erasure, were placed carefully on deal-shelves +against the wall. A few chosen books were also ranged thereon. A +volume of Jean Jacques Rousseau or of Racine was generally open +upon his table, and attested his philosophical and literary +predilections." + +With a mind continually on the stretch, and concerned less or more +in all the great movements of the day, the features of this +remarkable personage "relaxed into absolute gayety when in-doors at +table, or in the evening around the wood-fire in the humble chamber +of the cabinet-maker. His evenings were all passed with the family, +in talking over the feelings of the day, the plans of the morrow, +the conspiracies of the aristocrats, the dangers of the patriots, +and the prospects of public felicity after the triumph of the +Revolution. Sometimes Robespierre, who was anxious to cultivate the +mind of his betrothed, read to the family aloud, and generally from +the tragedies of Racine. He seldom went out in the evening; but two +or three times a year he escorted Madame Duplay and her daughter to +the theatre. On other days, Robespierre retired early to his +chamber, lay down, and rose again at night to work. The innumerable +discourses he had delivered in the two national assemblies, and to +the Jacobins; the articles written for his journal while he had one; +the still more numerous manuscripts of speeches which he had +prepared, but never delivered; the studied style, so remarkable; +the indefatigable corrections marked with his pen upon the +manuscripts--attest his watchings and his determination. + +"His only relaxations were solitary walks in imitation of his model, +Jean Jacques Rousseau. His sole companion in these perambulations +was his great dog, which slept at his chamber-door, and always +followed him when he went out. This colossal animal, well known in +the district, was called Brount. Robespierre was much attached to +him, and constantly played with him. Occasionally, on a Sunday, all +the family left Paris with Robespierre; and the politician, once +more the man, amused himself with the mother, the sisters, and the +brother of Eléonore in the wood of Versailles or of Issy." Strange +contradiction! The man who is thus described as so amiable, so +gentle, so satisfied with the humble pleasures of an obscure family +circle, went forth daily on a self-imposed mission of turbulence and +terror. + + + + +THE TWO SISTERS. + + +You sometimes find in the same family, children of the same parents, +who in all respects present the most striking contrast. They not +only seem to be of different parentage, but of different races; +unlike in physical conformation, in complexion, in features, in +temperament, and in moral and intellectual qualities. They are +sometimes to be found diametrically opposed to each other in tastes, +pursuits, habits, and sympathies, though brought up under the same +parental eye, subject to the same circumstances and conditions, and +educated by the same teachers. Indeed, education does comparatively +little toward the formation of character--that is to say, in the +determination of the _individuality_ of character. It merely brings +out, or _e-duces_ that character, the germs of which are born in us, +and only want proper sunning, and warmth, and geniality, to bring +them to maturity. + +You could scarcely have imagined that Elizabeth and Jane Byfield +were in any way related to each other. They had not a feature in +common. The one was a brilliant beauty, the other was plain in the +extreme. Elizabeth had a dazzling complexion, bright, speaking eyes, +an oval face, finely turned nose and chin, a mouth as pouting as if +"a bee had stung it newly;" she was tall and lithe; taper, yet +rounded--in short, she was a regular beauty, the belle of her +neighborhood, pursued by admirers, besonneted by poetasters, +serenaded by musical amateurs, toasted by spirit-loving old fogy +bachelors, and last, but not least, she was the subject of many a +tit-bit piece of scandal among her young lady rivals in the +country-town of Barkstone. + +As for her sister Jane, with her demure, old-maidish air, her little +dumpy, thick-set figure, her _retroussé_ nose, and dingy features, +nobody bestowed a thought upon her. She had no rival, she was no +one's competitor, she offended nobody's sense of individual prowess +in grace or charms, by _her_ assumptions. Not at all. "That horrid +little fright, Jane Byfield," as some of her stylish acquaintances +would speak of her, behind her back, stood in no young lady's way. +She was very much of a house-bird, was Jane. In the evenings, while +her sister was dashing off some brilliant bravura in the +drawing-room, Jane would be seated in a corner, talking to some +person older than herself--or, perhaps you might find her in the +little back parlor, knitting or mending stockings. Not that she was +without a spice of fun in her; for, among children, she romped like +one of themselves; indeed, she was a general favorite with those who +were much younger as well as much older than herself. Yet, among +those of her own age, she never excited any admiration, except for +her dutifulness--though that, you know, is a very dull sort of +thing. Certainly, she never excited any young lady's envy, or +attracted any young gentleman's homage, like her more highly favored +sister. Indeed, by a kind of general consent, she was set down for +"a regular old maid." + +I wish I could have told my readers that Jane got married after all, +and disappointed the prophetic utterances of her friends. I am sure +that, notwithstanding her plainness, she would have made a thrifty +manager and a thorough good housewife. But, as I am relating a true +history, I can not thus indulge my readers. Jane remained single; +but her temper continued unruffled. As she did not expect, so she +was not disappointed. She preserved her cheerfulness, continued to +be useful, kept her heart warm and her head well stored--for she was +a great reader--another of her "old-maidish" habits, though, +fortunately, the practice of reading good books by young women is +now ceasing to be "singular:" readers are now of the plural number, +and every day adds to the list. + +But what of Elizabeth--the beauty? Oh, she got married--of course +she did. The beautiful are always sought after, often when they have +nothing but their beauty to recommend them. And, after all, we can +not wonder at this. Nature has so ordered it, that beauty of person +must command admirers; and, where beauty of heart and beauty of +intellect are joined together in the person of a beautiful woman, +really nothing in nature can be more charming. And so Elizabeth got +married; and a "good match" she made, as the saying is, +with a gentleman in extensive business, rather stylish, but +prosperous--likely to get on in the world, and to accumulate a +fortune. But the fortune was to make, and the business was +speculative. Those in business well know that it is not all gold +that glitters. + +The married life of the "happy pair" commenced. First one, and then +another "toddling wee thing" presented itself in the young mother's +household, and the mother's cares and responsibilities multiplied. +But, to tell the truth, Elizabeth, though a beauty, was not a very +good manager. She could sit at the head of her husband's table, and +do the honors of the house to perfection. But look into her +wardrobe, into her drawers, into her kitchen, and you would say at +once, there was the want of the managing head, and the ready hand. A +good housewife, like a good poet, is "born, not made"--_nascitur non +fit_. It's true. There are some women whom no measure of drilling +can convert into good housewives. They may lay down systems, +cultivate domesticity, study tidying, spending, house-drilling, as +an art, and yet they can not acquire it. To others it comes without +effort, without consciousness, as a kind of second nature. They are +"to the manner born." They don't know how it is themselves. Yet +their hand seems to shed abroad order, regularity, and peace, in the +household. Under their eye, and without any seeming effort on their +part, every thing falls into its proper place, and every thing is +done at its proper time. Elizabeth did not know how it was; yet, +somehow, she could not get servants like any body else (how often +imperfect management is set down to account of "bad servants!"); she +could not get things to go smoothly; there was always something +"getting across;" the house got out of order; dinners were not ready +at the right time, and then the husband grew querulous; somehow, the +rooms could not be kept very tidy, for the mistress of the household +having her hands full of children, of course she "could not attend +to every thing;" and, in short, poor Elizabeth's household was fast +getting into a state of muddle. + +Now, husbands don't like this state of things, and so, the result of +it was, that Elizabeth's husband, though not a bad-natured man, +sometimes grew cross and complaining, and the beautiful wife found +that her husband had "a temper"--as who has not? And about the same +time, the husband found that his wife was "no manager," +notwithstanding her good looks. Though his wife studied economy, yet +he discovered that, somehow, she got through a deal of money, and +yet there was little comfort got in exchange for it. Things were +evidently in a bad way, and going wrong entirely. What might have +been the end, who knows? But, happily, at this juncture, aunt Jane, +the children's pet, the "little droll old maid," appeared on the +stage; and though sisters are not supposed to be of good omen in +other sisters' houses, certainly it must be admitted that, in this +case, the "old maid" at once worked a wonderful charm. + +The quiet creature, in a few weeks, put quite a new feature on the +face of affairs. Under her eye, things seemed at once to fall into +their proper places--without the slightest "ordering," or bustling, +or noise, or palaver. Elizabeth could not make out how it was, but +sure enough Jane "had _such_ a way with her," and always had. The +positions of the sisters seemed now to be reversed. Jane was looked +up to by her sister, who no longer assumed those airs of +superiority, which, in the pride of her beauty and attractiveness, +had come so natural to her. Elizabeth had ceased to be competed for +by rival admirers; and she now discovered that the fleeting charms +of her once beautiful person could not atone for the want of those +more solid qualities which are indispensable in the house and the +home. What made Jane's presence more valuable at this juncture was, +that illness had come into the household, and, worst of all, it had +seized upon the head of the family. This is always a serious +calamity in any case; but in this case the consequences threatened +to be more serious than usual. An extensive business was +interrupted; large transactions, which only the head of the concern +himself, could adequately attend to, produced embarrassments, the +anxiety connected with which impeded a cure. All the resources of +medicine were applied; all the comfort, warmth, silence, and +attention that careful nursing could administer, were tried; and +tried in vain. The husband of Elizabeth died, and her children were +fatherless; but the fatherless are not forsaken--they are the care +of God. + +Now it was that the noble nature of aunt Jane came grandly into +view. Her sister was stricken down--swallowed up in grief. Life, for +her, had lost its charm. The world was as if left without its sun. +She was utterly overwhelmed. Even the faces of her children served +only to awaken her to a quicker sense of misery. But aunt Jane's +energies were only awakened to renewed life and vigor. To these +orphans she was now both father and mother in one. What woman can +interfere in _business_ matters without risk of censure? But Jane +interfered: she exerted herself to wind up the affairs of the +deceased; and she did so; she succeeded! There was but little left; +only enough to live upon, and that meanly. Every thing was sold +off--the grand house was broken up--and the family subsided into the +ranks of the genteel poor. Elizabeth could not bear up under such a +succession of shocks. She was not querulous, but her sorrows were +too much for her, and she fed upon them--she petted them, and they +became her masters. A few years passed, and the broken-down woman +was laid in the same grave with her husband. + +But Jane's courage never flagged. The gentle, dear, good creature, +now advancing into years, looked all manner of difficulties +courageously in the face; and she overcame them. They fled before +her resolution. Alone she bore the burden of that family of sons and +daughters not her own, but as dear to her now as if they were. What +scheming and thought she daily exercised to make the ends meet--to +give to each of them alike such an amount of school education as +would enable them "to make their way in the world," as she used to +say--can not be described. It would take a long chapter to detail +the patient industry, the frugal care, the motherly help, and the +watchful up-bringing with which she tended the helpless orphans. But +her arduous labors were all more than repaid in the end. + +It was my privilege to know this noble woman. I used occasionally to +join the little family circle in an evening, round their crackling +fire, and contribute my quota of wonderful stories to the listening +group. Aunt Jane herself, was a capital story-teller; and it was her +wont thus, of an evening, to entertain the youngsters after the +chief part of the day's work was done. She would tell the boys--John +and Edward--of those self-helping and perseverant great men who had +climbed the difficult steeps of the world, and elevated themselves +to the loftiest stations by their own energy, industry, and +self-denial. The great and the good were her heroes, and she labored +to form those young minds about her after the best and noblest +models which biographic annals could furnish. "Without goodness," +she would say--and her bright, speaking looks (plain though her +features were), with her animated and glowing expression, on such +occasions, made the lessons root themselves firmly in their young +minds and hearts--"Without goodness, my dear children, greatness is +naught--mere gilding and lacker; goodness is the real jewel in the +casket; so never forget to make that your end and aim." + +I, too, used to contribute my share toward those delightful +evenings' entertainments, and aunt Jane would draw me on to tell the +group of the adventures and life of our royal Alfred--of his +struggles, his valor, his goodness, and his greatness; of the old +contests of the Danes and the Saxons; of Harold, the last of the +Saxon kings; of William the Norman, and the troublous times which +followed the Conquest; and of the valorous life of our forefathers, +out of which the living English character, habits, and institutions +had at length been formed. And oftentimes the shadow would flit +across those young faces, by the fire's light, when they were told +of perilous adventures on the lone sea; of shipwrecked and cast-away +sailors; of the escape of Drake, and the adventures of Cook, and of +that never-ending source of wonderment and interest--the life and +wanderings of Robinson Crusoe. And there was merriment and fun, too, +mixed with the marvelous and the imaginative--stories of giants, and +fairies, and Sleeping Beauties--at which their eyes would glance +brightly in the beams of the glowing fire. Then, first one little +face, and then another, would grow heavy and listless, and their +little heads begin to nod; at which the aunt would hear, one by one, +their little petitions to their "Father which art in Heaven," and +with a soft kiss and murmured blessing, would then lay them in their +little cribs, draw the curtains, and leave them to sleep. + +But, as for the good aunt, bless you, nearly half of her work was +yet to do! There she would sit, far on into the night, till her eyes +were red and her cheeks feverish, with her weary white seam in her +hand; or, at another time, she would be mending, patching, and eking +out the clothes of the children just put to bed--for their wardrobe +was scanty, and often very far gone. Yes! poor thing! she was ready +to work her fingers to the bone for these dear fatherless young +ones, breathing so softly in the next room, and whose muttered +dreams would now and then disturb the deep stillness of the night; +when she would listen, utter a heartfelt "bless them," and then go +on with her work again. The presence of those children seemed only +to remind her of the need of more toil for their sakes. For them did +aunt Jane work by day, and work by night; for them did she ply the +brilliant needle, which, save in those gloaming hours by the +fireside, was scarcely ever out of her hand. + +Sorrowful needle! What eyes have followed thee, strained themselves +at thee, wept over thee! And what sorrow yet hangs about the +glittering, polished, silver-eyed needle! What lives hang upon it! +What toil and night-watching, what laughter and tears, what gossip +and misery, what racking pains and weary moanings has it not +witnessed! And, would you know the poetry it has inspired--then read +poor Hood's terrible wail of "The Song of the Shirt!" The friend of +the needy, the tool of the industrious, the helper of the starving, +the companion of the desolate; such is that weakest of human +instruments--the needle! It was all these to our aunt Jane! + +I can not tell you the life-long endurance and courage of that +woman; how she devoted herself to the cherishment and domestic +training of the girls, and the intellectual and industrial education +of the boys, and the correct moral culture of all the members of her +"little family," as she styled them. + +Efforts such as hers are _never_ without their reward, even in this +world; and of her better and higher reward, surely aunt Jane might +well feel assured. Her children did credit to her. Years passed, and +one by one they grew up toward maturity. The character of the aunt +proved the best recommendation for the youths. The boys got placed +out at business--one in a lawyer's office, the second in a +warehouse. I do not specify further particulars; for the boys are +now men, well-known in the world; respected, admired, and +prosperous. One of them is a barrister of the highest distinction in +his profession, and it has been said of him, that he has the heart +of a woman, and the courage of a lion. The other is a well-known +merchant, and he is cited as a model of integrity among his class. +The girls have grown into women, and are all married. With one of +these aunt Jane now enjoys, in quiet and ease, the well-earned +comforts and independence of a green old age. About her knees now +clamber a new generation--the children of her "boys and girls." + +Need I tell you how that dear old woman is revered! how her patient +toils are remembered and honored! how her nephews attribute all +their successes in life to her, to her noble example, to her tender +care, to her patient and long-suffering exertions on their behalf. +Never was aunt so honored--so beloved! She declares they will "spoil +her"--a thing she is not used to; and she often beseeches them to +have done with their acknowledgments of gratitude. But she is never +wearied of hearing them recall to memory those happy hours, by the +evening's fire-light, in the humble cottage in which I was so often +a sharer; and then her eye glistens, and a large tear of +thankfulness droops upon the lower lid, which she wipes off as of +old, and the same heartfelt benison of "Bless them," mutters on her +quivering lips. + +I should like, some day, to indulge myself in telling a long story +about that dear aunt Jane's experiences; but I am growing old and a +little maudlin myself, and after all, her life and its results are +best told in the character and the history of the children she has +so faithfully nurtured and educated. + + + + +VENTRILOQUISM. + + +The art and practice of ventriloquism, has of late years exhibited +so much improvement that it deserves and will reward a little +judicious attention directed toward its all but miraculous +phenomena, and the causes and conditions of their astonishing +display. The art is of ancient date, the peculiarity of the vocal +organs in which it originates, like other types of genius or +aptitude, having been at intervals repeated. References in Scripture +to "the familiar spirits that peep and mutter" are numerous. In the +early Christian Church the practice also was known, and a treatise +was written on it by Eustathius, Archbishop of Antioch, in Greek. +The main argument of the book is the evocation of the ghost of +Samuel. + +By the Mosaic law the Hebrews were prohibited from consulting those +who had familiar spirits. By one of such it is stated that the Witch +of Endor divined, or perhaps that she was possessed by it; for the +Hebrew _ob_ designates both those persons in whom there is a +familiar spirit, as well as those who divined by them. The plural +_oboth_ corresponds with the word ventriloquism. In the Septuagint, +it is associated with gastromancy--a mode of ancient divination, +wherein the diviner replied without moving his lips, so that the +consulter believed he actually heard the voice of a spirit; from +which circumstance, many theologians have doubted whether Samuel's +ghost really appeared, or rather whether the whole were not a +ventriloquial imposition on the superstitious credulity of Saul. We +may see in this unfortunate monarch and his successor the +distinction between true religion and false superstition; and, +indeed, in the poets and prophets generally of the Israelites, who +continually testify against the latter in all its forms. To them, to +the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Assyrians, ventriloquism was +evidently well known. By reference to Leviticus, we shall find, as +we have said, the law forbids the Hebrews to consult those having +familiar spirits. The prophet Isaiah also draws an illustration from +the kind of voice heard in a case of divination. "Thou shalt be +brought down, shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be +low out of the dust; thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar +spirit out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the +dust." It is curious that the Mormons quote this text as prophetic +of the discovery of their Sacred Book. In the Acts, Paul is +described as depriving a young woman of a familiar spirit, in the +city of Philippi in Macedonia;--she is announced as "a certain +damsel possessed with a spirit of divination, which brought her +master much gain by sooth-saying." There is also that well-known +tale in Plutarch, which is so impressive even to this day on the +Christian imagination--the story we mean, of Epitherses, who, having +embarked for Italy in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, suddenly heard a +voice from the shore, while becalmed one evening before the +Paxe--two small islands in the Ionian sea, which lie between Corcyra +and Leucadia; such voice addressing Thamus, a pilot, and an Egyptian +by birth, who refused to answer till he received the third summons, +whereupon it said, "When thou art come to the Palodes, proclaim +aloud that the great Pan is dead!" It is added, that "the passengers +were all amazed; but their amazement gave place to the most alarming +emotions, when, on arriving at the specified place, Thamus stood in +the stern of the vessel, and proclaimed what he had been commanded +to announce." St. Chrysostom and the early fathers mention +divination by a familiar spirit as practiced in their day; and the +practice is still common in the East; as it is also among the +Esquimaux. As to the treatise of Eustathius, the good bishop's +notion was that the Witch of Endor was really possessed of a demon; +whose deception the vision was, being produced by supernatural +agency, not, as cited in the Septuagint, by Engastrimism, or +Ventriloquy. + +In the nineteenth century, we are told by Sir David Brewster, that +ventriloquists made great additions to their art. The performances, +he says, of Fitzjames and Alexandré were far superior to those of +their predecessors. "Besides the art of speaking by the muscles of +the throat and the abdomen, without moving those of the face, these +artists had not only studied, with great diligence and success, the +modifications which sounds of all kinds undergo from distance, +obstructions, and other causes, but had acquired the art of +imitating them in the highest perfection. The ventriloquist was +therefore able to carry on a dialogue in which the _dramatis voces_, +as they may be called, were numerous; and, when on the outside of an +apartment, could personate a mob with its infinite variety of noise +and vociferation. Their influence over the minds of an audience was +still further extended by a singular power which they had obtained +over the muscles of the body. Fitzjames actually succeeded in making +the opposite or corresponding muscles act differently from each +other; and while one side of his face was merry and laughing, the +other side was full of sorrow and tears. At one time, he was tall, +and thin, and melancholy, and after passing behind a screen, he came +out bloated with obesity and staggering with fullness. M. Alexandré +possessed the same power over his face and figure, and so striking +was the contrast between two of these forms, that an excellent +sculptor (M. Joseph) has perpetuated them in marble. This new +acquirement of the ventriloquist of the nineteenth century, enabled +him in his own single person, and with his own single voice, to +represent a dramatic composition which would formerly have required +the assistance of several actors. Although only one character in +the piece could be seen at the same time, yet they all appeared +during its performance; and the change of face and figure on the +part of the ventriloquist was so perfect that his personal identity +could not be recognized in the _dramatis personæ_. This deception +was rendered still more complete by a particular construction of the +costumes, which enabled the performer to appear in a new character, +after an interval so short that the audience necessarily believed +that it was another person." + +Some amusing anecdotes may be gathered, illustrative of +ventriloquism. + +One M. St. Gille, a ventriloquist of France, had once occasion to +shelter himself from a sudden storm in a monastery in the +neighborhood of Avranche. The monks were at the time in deep sorrow +for the loss of an esteemed member of their fraternity, whom they +had recently buried. While lamenting over the tomb of their departed +brother the slight honors which had been paid to his memory, a +mysterious voice was heard to issue from the vaults of the church, +bewailing the condition of the deceased in purgatory, and reproving +the monks in melancholy tones for their want of zeal and reverence +for departed worth. Tidings of the event flew abroad; and quickly +brought the inhabitants to the spot. The miraculous speaker still +renewed his lamentations and reproaches; whereupon the monks fell on +their faces, and vowed to repair their neglect. They then chanted a +_De profundis_, and at intervals the ghostly voice of the deceased +friar expressed his satisfaction. + +One Louis Brabant turned his ventriloquial talent to profitable +account. Rejected by the parents of an heiress as an unsuitable +match for their daughter, Louis, on the death of the father, paid a +visit to the widow, during which the voice of her deceased husband +was all at once heard thus to address her: "Give my daughter in +marriage to Louis Brabant:--he is a man of fortune and character, +and I endure the pains of purgatory for having refused her to him. +Obey this admonition, and give repose to the soul of your departed +husband." Of course, the widow complied; but Brabant's difficulties +were not yet all overcome. He wanted money to defray the wedding +expenses, and resolved to work on the fears of an old usurer, a M. +Cornu, of Lyons. Having obtained an evening interview, he contrived +to turn the conversation on departed spirits and ghosts. During an +interval of silence, the voice of the miser's deceased father was +heard, complaining of his situation in purgatory, and calling loudly +upon his son to rescue him from his sufferings, by enabling Brabant +to redeem the Christians at that time enslaved by the Turks. Not +succeeding on the first occasion, Brabant was compelled to make a +second visit to the miser, when he took care to enlist not only his +father but all his deceased relations in the appeal; and in this way +he obtained a thousand crowns. + +There have been few female ventriloquists. Effects produced by the +female organs of speech have always manifested a deficiency of +power. The artificial voices have been few in number, and those +imperfectly defined. A woman at Amsterdam possessed considerable +powers in this way. Conrad Amman, a Dutch doctor in medicine, who +published a Latin treatise at Amsterdam in 1700, observes of her, +that the effects she exhibited were produced by a sort of swallowing +of the words, or forcing them to retrograde, as it were, by the +trachea, by speaking during the inspiration of the breath, and not, +as in ordinary speech, during expiration. The same writer notices +also the performances of the famous Casimir Schreckenstein. + +Different professors of ventriloquism have given different accounts +of the manner in which they succeeded in producing their illusions. +Baron Mengen, one of the household of Prince Lichtenstein, at +Vienna, said that it consisted in a passion for counterfeiting the +cries of animals and the voices of different persons. M. St. Gille +referred his art to mimicry; and the French Academy, combining these +views, defines the art as consisting in an accurate imitation of any +given sound as it reaches the ear. Scientific solutions are various. +Mr. Nicholson thought that artists in this line, by continual +practice from childhood, acquire the power of speaking during +inspiration with the same articulation as the ordinary voice, which +is formed by expiration. M. Richerand declares that every time a +professor exhibits his vocal peculiarities, he suffers distension in +the epigastric region; and supposes that the mechanism of the art +consists in a slow, gradual expiration, drawn in such a way, that +the artist either makes use of the influence exerted by volition +over the parietes of the thorax, or that he keeps the epiglottis +down by the base of the tongue, the apex of which is not carried +beyond the dental arches. He observes, that ventriloquists possess +the power of making an exceedingly strong inspiration just before +the long expiration, and thus convey into the lungs an immense +quantity of air, by the artistical management of the egress of which +they produce such astonishing effects upon the hearing and +imagination of their auditors. + +The theory propounded by Mr. Gough in the "Manchester Memoir," on +the principle of reverberated sound, is untenable, because +ventriloquism on that theory would be impossible in a crowded +theatre, which admits not of the predicated echoes. Mr. Love, in his +account of himself, asserts a natural aptitude, a physical +predisposition of the vocal organs; which, in his case, discovered +itself as early as the age of ten, and gradually improved with +practice, without any artistic study whatever. He states that not +only his pure ventriloquisms, but nearly all his lighter vocal +imitations of miscellaneous sounds, were executed in the first +instance on the spur of the moment, and without any pre-meditation. +The artist must evidently possess great flexibility of larynx and +tongue. Polyphony, according to our modern professor, is produced +by compression of the muscles of the chest, and is an act entirely +different from any species of vocal deception or modulation. There +is no method, he tells us, of manufacturing true ventriloquists. +Nature must have commenced the operation, by placing at the artist's +disposal a certain quality of voice adapted for the purpose, as the +raw material to work upon. It is like a fine ear or voice for +singing--the gift of Nature. It follows, therefore, that an expert +polyphonist must be as rare a personage as any other man of genius +in any particular art. + + + + +THE INCENDIARY. + +FROM THE REMINISCENCES OF AN ATTORNEY. + + +I knew James Dutton, as I shall call him, at an early period of +life, when my present scanty locks of iron-gray were thick and dark, +my now pale and furrowed cheeks were fresh and ruddy, like his own. +Time, circumstance, and natural bent of mind, have done their work +on both of us; and if his course of life has been less equable than +mine, it has been chiefly so because the original impulse, the first +start on the great journey, upon which so much depends, was directed +by wiser heads in my case than in his. We were school-fellows for a +considerable time; and if I acquired--as I certainly did--a larger +stock of knowledge than he, it was by no means from any superior +capacity on my part, but that his mind was bent on other pursuits. +He was a born Nimrod, and his father encouraged this propensity from +the earliest moment that his darling and only son could sit a pony +or handle a light fowling-piece. Dutton, senior, was one of a then +large class of persons, whom Cobbett used to call bull-frog farmers; +men who, finding themselves daily increasing in wealth by the +operation of circumstances, they neither created nor could insure or +control--namely, a rapidly increasing manufacturing population, and +tremendous war-prices for their produce--acted as if the +chance-blown prosperity they enjoyed was the result of their own +forethought, skill, and energy, and therefore, humanly speaking, +indestructible. James Dutton was, consequently, denied nothing--not +even the luxury of neglecting his own education; and he availed +himself of the lamentable privilege to a great extent. It was, +however, a remarkable feature in the lad's character, that whatever +he himself deemed essential should be done, no amount of indulgence, +no love of sport or dissipation, could divert him from thoroughly +accomplishing. Thus he saw clearly, that even in the life--that of a +sportsman-farmer he had chalked out for himself, it was +indispensably necessary that a certain quantum of educational power +should be attained; and so he really acquired a knowledge of +reading, writing, and spelling, and then withdrew from school to +more congenial avocations. + +I frequently met James Dutton in after-years; but some nine or ten +months had passed since I had last seen him, when I was directed by +the chief partner in the firm to which Flint and I subsequently +succeeded, to take coach for Romford, Essex, in order to ascertain +from a witness there what kind of evidence we might expect him to +give in a trial to come off in the then Hilary term at Westminster +Hall. It was the first week in January: the weather was bitterly +cold; and I experienced an intense satisfaction when, after +dispatching the business I had come upon, I found myself in the long +dining-room of the chief market-inn, where two blazing fires shed a +ruddy, cheerful light over the snow-white damask table-cloth, bright +glasses, decanters, and other preparatives for the farmers' +market-dinner. Prices had ruled high that day; wheat had reached £30 +a load; and the numerous groups of hearty, stalwart yeomen present +were in high glee, crowing and exulting alike over their full +pockets and the news--of which the papers were just then full--of +the burning of Moscow, and the flight and ruin of Bonaparte's army. +James Dutton was in the room, but not, I observed, in his usual flow +of animal spirits. The crape round his hat might, I thought, account +for that, and as he did not see me, I accosted him with an inquiry +after his health, and the reason of his being in mourning. He +received me very cordially, and in an instant cast off the +abstracted manner I had noticed. His father, he informed me, was +gone--had died about seven months previously, and he was alone now +at Ash Farm--why didn't I run down there to see him sometimes, &c.? +Our conversation was interrupted by a summons to dinner, very +cheerfully complied with; and we both--at least I can answer for +myself--did ample justice to a more than usually capital dinner, +even in those capital old market-dinner times. We were very jolly +afterward, and amazingly triumphant over the frost-bitten, +snow-buried soldier-banditti that had so long lorded it over +continental Europe. Dutton did not partake of the general hilarity. +There was a sneer upon his lip during the whole time, which, +however, found no expression in words. + +"How quiet you are, James Dutton!" cried a loud voice from out the +dense smoke-cloud that by this time completely enveloped us. On +looking toward the spot from whence the ringing tones came, a jolly, +round face--like the sun as seen through a London fog--gleamed redly +dull from out the thick and choking atmosphere. + +"Every body," rejoined Dutton, "hasn't had the luck to sell two +hundred quarters of wheat at to-day's price, as you have, Tom +Southall." + +"That's true, my boy," returned Master Southall, sending, in the +plentitude of his satisfaction, a jet of smoke toward us with +astonishing force. "And, I say, Jem, I'll tell 'ee what I'll do; +I'll clap on ten guineas more upon what I offered for the brown +mare." + +"Done! She's yours, Tom, then, for ninety guineas!" + +"Gie's your hand upon it!" cried Tom Southall, jumping up from his +chair, and stretching a fist as big as a leg of mutton--well, say +lamb--over the table. "And here--here," he added, with an exultant +chuckle, as he extricated a swollen canvas-bag from his +pocket--"here's the dibs at once." + +This transaction excited a great deal of surprise at our part of the +table; and Dutton was rigorously cross-questioned as to his reason +for parting with his favorite hunting mare. + +"The truth is, friends," said Dutton at last, "I mean to give up +farming, and--" + +"Gie up farmin'!" broke in half-a-dozen voices. "Lord!" + +"Yes; I don't like it. I shall buy a commission in the army. +There'll be a chance against Boney, now; and it's a life I'm fit +for." + +The farmers looked completely agape at this announcement; but making +nothing of it, after silently staring at Dutton and each other, with +their pipes in their hands and not in their mouths, till they had +gone out, stretched their heads simultaneously across the table +toward the candles, relit their pipes, and smoked on as before. + +"Then, perhaps, Mr. Dutton," said a young man in a smartly-cut +velveteen coat with mother-of-pearl buttons, who had hastily left +his seat farther down the table--"perhaps you will sell the double +Manton, and Fanny and Slut?" + +"Yes; at a price." + +Prices were named; I forget now the exact sums, but enormous prices, +I thought, for the gun and the dogs, Fanny and Slut. The bargain was +eagerly concluded, and the money paid at once. Possibly the buyer +had a vague notion, that a portion of the vender's skill might come +to him with his purchases. + +"You be in 'arnest, then, in this fool's business, James Dutton," +observed a farmer, gravely. "I be sorry for thee; but as I s'pose +the lease of Ash Farm will be parted with; why--John, waiter, tell +Master Hurst at the top of the table yonder, to come this way." + +Master Hurst, a well-to-do, highly respectable-looking, and rather +elderly man, came in obedience to the summons, and after a few words +in an under-tone with the friend that had sent for him, said, "Is +this true, James Dutton?" + +"It is true that the lease and stock of Ash Farm are to be sold--at +a price. You, I believe, are in want of such a concern for the young +couple just married." + +"Well, I don't say I might not be a customer, if the price were +reasonable." + +"Let us step into a private room, then," said Dutton, rising. "This +is not a place for business of that kind. Sharp," he added, _sotto +voce_, "come with us; I may want you." + +I had listened to all this with a kind of stupid wonderment, and I +now, mechanically, as it were, got up and accompanied the party to +another room. + +The matter was soon settled. Five hundred pounds for the lease--ten +years unexpired--of Ash Farm, about eleven hundred acres, and the +stock and implements; the plowing, sowing, &c., already performed, +to be paid for at a valuation based on present prices. I drew out +the agreement in form, it was signed in duplicate, a large sum was +paid down as deposit, and Mr. Hurst with his friend withdrew. + +"Well," I said, taking a glass of port from a bottle Dutton had just +ordered in--"here's fortune in your new career; but, as I am a +living man, I can't understand what you can be thinking about." + +"You haven't read the newspapers?" + +"O yes, I have! Victory! Glory! March to Paris! and all that sort of +thing. Very fine, I dare say; but rubbish, moonshine, I call it, if +purchased by the abandonment of the useful, comfortable, joyous life +of a prosperous yeoman." + +"Is that all you have seen in the papers?" + +"Not much else. What, besides, have you found in them?" + +"Wheat, at ten or eleven pounds a load--less perhaps--other produce +in proportion." + +"Ha!" + +"I see farther, Sharp, than you bookmen do, in some matters. Boney's +done for; that to me is quite plain, and earlier than I thought +likely; although I, of course, as well as every other man +with a head instead of a turnip on his shoulders, knew such a +raw-head-and-bloody-bones as that must sooner or later come to the +dogs. And as I also know what agricultural prices were _before_ the +war, I can calculate without the aid of vulgar fractions, which, +by-the-by, I never reached, what they'll be when it's over, and the +thundering expenditure now going on is stopped. In two or three +weeks, people generally will get a dim notion of all this; and I +sell, therefore, while I can, at top prices." + +The shrewdness of the calculation struck me at once. + +"You will take another farm when one can be had on easier terms than +now, I suppose?" + +"Yes; if I can manage it. And I _will_ manage it. Between ourselves, +after all the old man's debts are paid, I shall only have about nine +or ten hundred pounds to the good, even by selling at the present +tremendous rates; so it was time, you see, I pulled up, and rubbed +the fog out of my eyes a bit. And hark ye, Master Sharp!" he added, +as we rose and shook hands with each other--"I have now done +_playing_ with the world--it's a place of work and business; and +I'll do my share of it so effectually, that my children, if I have +any, shall, if I do not, reach the class of landed gentry; and this +you'll find, for all your sneering, will come about all the more +easily that neither they nor their father will be encumbered with +much educational lumber. Good-by." + +I did not again see my old school-fellow till the change he had +predicted had thoroughly come to pass. Farms were every where to +let, and a general cry to parliament for aid rang through the land. +Dutton called at the office upon business, accompanied by a young +woman of remarkable personal comeliness, but, as a very few +sentences betrayed, little or no education in the conventional sense +of the word. She was the daughter of a farmer, whom--it was no fault +of hers--a change of times had not found in a better condition for +weathering them.--Anne Mosley, in fact, was a thoroughly +industrious, clever farm economist. The instant Dutton had secured +an eligible farm, at his own price and conditions, he married her; +and now, on the third day after the wedding, he had brought me the +draft of his lease for examination. + +"You are not afraid, then," I remarked, "of taking a farm in these +bad times?" + +"Not I--at a price. We mean to _rough_ it, Mr. Sharp," he added +gayly. "And, let me tell you, that those who will stoop to do +that--I mean, take their coats off, tuck up their sleeves, and fling +appearances to the winds--may, and will, if they understand their +business, and have got their heads screwed on right, do better here +than in any of the uncleared countries they talk so much about. You +know what I told you down at Romford. Well, we'll manage that before +our hair is gray, depend upon it, bad as the times may be--won't we, +Nance?" + +"We'll try, Jem," was the smiling response. + +They left the draft for examination. It was found to be correctly +drawn. Two or three days afterward, the deeds were executed, and +James Dutton was placed in possession. The farm, a capital one, was +in Essex. + +His hopes were fully realized as to money-making, at all events. He +and his wife rose early, sat up late, ate the bread of carefulness, +and altogether displayed such persevering energy, that only about +six or seven years had passed before the Duttons were accounted a +rich and prosperous family. They had one child only--a daughter. The +mother, Mrs. Dutton, died when this child was about twelve years of +age; and Anne Dutton became more than ever the apple of her father's +eye. The business of the farm went steadily on in its accustomed +track; each succeeding year found James Dutton growing in +wealth and importance; and his daughter in sparkling, catching +comeliness--although certainly not in the refinement of manner which +gives a quickening life and grace to personal symmetry and beauty. +James Dutton remained firm in his theory of the worthlessness of +education beyond what, in a narrow acceptation of the term, was +absolutely "necessary;" and Anne Dutton, although now heiress to +very considerable wealth, knew only how to read, write, spell, cast +accounts, and superintend the home-business of the farm. I saw a +great deal of the Duttons about this time, my brother-in-law, +Elsworthy and his wife having taken up their abode within about half +a mile of James Dutton's dwelling-house; and I ventured once or +twice to remonstrate with the prosperous farmer upon the positive +danger, with reference to his ambitious views, of not at least so +far cultivating the intellect and taste of so attractive a maiden as +his daughter, that sympathy on her part with the rude, unlettered +clowns, with whom she necessarily came so much in contact, should be +impossible. He laughed my hints to scorn. "It is idleness--idleness +alone," he said, "that puts love-fancies into girls' heads. +Novel-reading, jingling at a piano-forte--merely other names for +idleness--these are the parents of such follies. Anne Dutton, as +mistress of this establishment, has her time fully and usefully +occupied; and when the time comes, not far distant now, to establish +her in marriage, she will wed into a family I wot of; and the +Romford prophecy of which you remind me will be realized, in great +part at least." + +He found, too late, his error. He hastily entered the office one +morning, and although it was only five or six weeks since I had last +seen him, the change in his then florid, prideful features was so +striking and painful, as to cause me to fairly leap upon my feet +with surprise. + +"Good Heavens, Dutton!" I exclaimed, "What is the matter? What has +happened?" + +"Nothing has happened, Mr. Sharp," he replied, "but what you +predicted, and which, had I not been the most conceited dolt in +existence, I too, must have foreseen. You know that good-looking, +idle, and, I fear, irreclaimable young fellow, George Hamblin?" + +"I have seen him once or twice. Has he not brought his father to the +verge of a work-house by low dissipation and extravagance?" + +"Yes. Well, he is an accepted suitor for Anne Dutton's hand. No +wonder that you start. She fancies herself hopelessly in love with +him--Nay, Sharp, hear me out. I have tried expostulation, threats, +entreaties, locking her up; but it's useless. I shall kill the silly +fool if I persist, and I have at length consented to the marriage; +for I can not see her die." I began remonstrating upon the folly of +yielding consent to so ruinous a marriage, on account of a few tears +and hysterics, but Dutton stopped me peremptorily. + +"It is useless talking," he said. "The die is cast; I have given my +word. You would hardly recognize her, she is so altered. I did not +know before," added the strong, stern man, with trembling voice and +glistening eyes, "that she was so inextricably twined about my +heart--my life!" It is difficult to estimate the bitterness of such +a disappointment to a proud, aspiring man like Dutton. I pitied him +sincerely, mistaken, if not blameworthy, as he had been. + +"I have only myself to blame," he presently resumed. "A girl of +cultivated taste and mind could not have bestowed a second +thought on George Hamblin. But let's to business. I wish the +marriage-settlement, and my will, to be so drawn, that every +farthing received from me during my life, and after my death, shall +be hers, and hers only; and so strictly and entirely secured, that +she shall be without power to yield control over the slightest +portion of it, should she be so minded." I took down his +instructions, and the necessary deeds were drawn in accordance with +them. When the day for signing arrived, the bridegroom-elect +demurred at first to the stringency of the provisions of the +marriage-contract; but as upon this point, Mr. Dutton was found to +be inflexible, the handsome, illiterate clown--he was little +better--gave up his scruples, the more readily as a life of assured +idleness lay before him, from the virtual control he was sure to +have over his wife's income. These were the thoughts which passed +across his mind, I was quite sure, as taking the pen awkwardly in +his hand, he affixed _his mark_ to the marriage-deed. I reddened +with shame, and the smothered groan which at the moment smote +faintly on my ear, again brokenly confessed the miserable folly of +the father in not having placed his beautiful child beyond all +possibility of mental contact or communion with such a person. The +marriage was shortly afterward solemnized, but I did not wait to +witness the ceremony. + +The husband's promised good-behavior did not long endure; ere two +months of wedded life were past, he had fallen again into his old +habits; and the wife, bitterly repentant of her folly, was fain to +confess, that nothing but dread of her father's vengeance saved her +from positive ill usage. It was altogether a wretched, unfortunate +affair; and the intelligence--sad in itself--which reached me about +a twelvemonth after the marriage, that the young mother had died in +childbirth of her first-born, a girl, appeared to me rather a matter +of rejoicing than of sorrow or regret. The shock to poor Dutton was, +I understood, overwhelming for a time, and fears were entertained +for his intellects. He recovered, however, and took charge of his +grandchild, the father very willingly resigning the onerous burden. + +My brother-in-law left James Dutton's neighborhood for a distant +part of the country about this period, and I saw nothing of the +bereaved father for about five years, save only at two business +interviews. The business upon which I had seen him, was the +alteration of his will, by which all he might die possessed of was +bequeathed to his darling Annie. His health, I was glad to find, was +quite restored; and although now fifty years of age, the bright +light of his young days sparkled once more in his keen glance. His +youth was, he said, renewed in little Annie. He could even bear to +speak, though still with remorseful emotion, of his own lost child. +"No fear, Sharp," he said, "that I make that terrible mistake again. +Annie will fall in love, please God, with no unlettered, soulless +booby! Her mind shall be elevated, beautiful, and pure as her +person--she is the image of her mother--promises to be charming and +attractive. You must come and see her." I promised to do so; and he +went his way. At one of these interviews--the first it must have +been--I made a chance inquiry for his son-in-law, Hamblin. As the +name passed my lips, a look of hate and rage flashed out of his +burning eyes. I did not utter another word, nor did he; and we +separated in silence. + +It was evening, and I was returning in a gig from a rather long +journey into the country, when I called, in redemption of my +promise, upon James Dutton. Annie was really, I found, an engaging +pretty, blue-eyed, golden-haired child; and I was not so much +surprised at her grandfather's doting fondness--a fondness entirely +reciprocated, it seemed, by the little girl. It struck me, albeit, +that it was a perilous thing for a man of Dutton's vehement, fiery +nature to stake again, as he evidently had done, his all of life and +happiness upon one frail existence. An illustration of my thought or +fear occurred just after we had finished tea. A knock was heard at +the outer door, and presently a man's voice, in quarreling, drunken +remonstrance with the servant who opened it. The same deadly scowl I +had seen sweep over Dutton's countenance upon the mention of +Hamblin's name, again gleamed darkly there; and finding, after a +moment or two, that the intruder would not be denied, the master of +the house gently removed Annie from his knee, and strode out of the +room. + +"Follow grandpapa," whispered Mrs. Rivers, a highly respectable +widow of about forty years of age, whom Mr. Dutton had engaged at a +high salary to superintend Annie's education. The child went out, +and Mrs. Rivers, addressing me, said in a low voice: "Her presence +will prevent violence; but it is a sad affair." She then informed me +that Hamblin, to whom Mr. Dutton allowed a hundred a year, having +become aware of the grandfather's extreme fondness for Annie, +systematically worked that knowledge for his own sordid ends, and +preluded every fresh attack upon Mr. Dutton's purse by a threat to +reclaim the child. "It is not the money," remarked Mrs. Rivers in +conclusion, "that Mr. Dutton cares so much for, but the thought that +he holds Annie by the sufferance of that wretched man, goads him at +times almost to insanity." + +"Would not the fellow waive his claim for a settled increase of his +annuity?" + +"No; that has been offered to the extent of three hundred a year; +but Hamblin refuses, partly from the pleasure of keeping such a man +as Mr. Dutton in his power, partly because he knows that the last +shilling would be parted with rather than the child. It is a very +unfortunate business, and I often fear will terminate badly." The +loud but indistinct wrangling without ceased after a while, and I +heard a key turn stiffly in a lock. "The usual conclusion of these +scenes," said Mrs. Rivers. "Another draft upon his strong-box will +purchase Mr. Dutton a respite as long as the money lasts." I could +hardly look at James Dutton when he re-entered the room. There was +that in his countenance which I do not like to read in the faces of +my friends. He was silent for several minutes; at last he said +quickly, sternly: "Is there no instrument, Mr. Sharp, in all the +enginery of law, that can defeat a worthless villain's legal claim +to his child?" + +"None; except, perhaps, a commission of lunacy, or--" + +"Tush! tush!" interrupted Dutton; "the fellow has no wits to lose. +That being so--But let us talk of something else." We did so, but +on his part very incoherently, and I soon bade him good-night. + +This was December, and it was in February the following year that +Dutton again called at our place of business. There was a strange, +stern, iron meaning in his face. "I am in a great hurry," he said, +"and I have only called to say, that I shall be glad if you will run +over to the farm to-morrow on a matter of business. You have seen, +perhaps, in the paper, that my dwelling-house took fire the night +before last. You have not? Well, it is upon that I would consult +you. Will you come?" I agreed to do so, and he withdrew. + +The fire had not, I found, done much injury. It had commenced in a +kind of miscellaneous store-room; but the origin of the fire +appeared to me, as it did to the police-officers that had been +summoned, perfectly unaccountable. "Had it not been discovered in +time, and extinguished," I observed to Mrs. Rivers, "you would all +have been burned in your beds." + +"Why, no," replied that lady, with some strangeness of manner. "On +the night of the fire, Annie and I slept at Mr. Elsworthy's" (I have +omitted to notice, that my brother-in-law and family had returned to +their old residence), "and Mr. Dutton remained in London, whither he +had gone to see the play." + +"But the servants might have perished?" + +"No. A whim, apparently, has lately seized Mr. Dutton, that no +servant or laborer shall sleep under the same roof with himself; and +those new outhouses, where their bedrooms are placed, are, you see, +completely detached, and are indeed, as regards this dwelling, made +fire-proof." + +At this moment Mr. Dutton appeared, and interrupted our +conversation. He took me aside. "Well," he said, "to what conclusion +have you come? The work of an incendiary, is it not? Somebody too, +that knows I am not insured--" + +"Not insured!" + +"No; not for this dwelling-house. I did not renew the policy some +months ago." + +"Then," I jestingly remarked, "you, at all events, are safe from any +accusation of having set fire to your premises with the intent to +defraud the insurers." + +"To be sure--to be sure, I am," he rejoined with quick earnestness, +as if taking my remark seriously. "That is quite certain. Some one, +I am pretty sure, it must be," he presently added, "that owes me a +grudge--with whom I have quarreled, eh?" + +"It may be so, certainly." + +"It _must_ be so. And what, Mr. Sharp, is the highest penalty for +the crime of incendiarism?" + +"By the recent change in the law, transportation only; unless, +indeed, loss of human life occur in consequence of the felonious +act; in which case, the English law construes the offense to be +willful murder, although the incendiary may not have intended the +death or injury of any person." + +"I see. But here there could have been no loss of life." + +"There might have been, had not you, Mrs. Rivers, and Annie, chanced +to sleep out of the house." + +"True--true--a diabolical villain, no doubt. But we'll ferret him +out yet. You are a keen hand, Mr. Sharp, and will assist, I know. +Yes, yes--it's some fellow that hates me--that I perhaps hate and +loathe--" he added with sudden gnashing fierceness, and striking his +hand with furious violence on the table--"as I do a spotted toad!" + +I hardly recognized James Dutton in this fitful, disjointed talk, +and as there was really nothing to be done or to be inquired into, I +soon went away. + +"Only one week's interval," I hastily remarked to Mr. Flint, one +morning after glancing at the newspaper, "and another fire at +Dutton's farm-house!" + +"The deuce! He is in the luck of it, apparently," replied Flint, +without looking up from his employment. My partner knew Dutton only +by sight. + +The following morning, I received a note from Mrs. Rivers. She +wished to see me immediately on a matter of great importance. I +hastened to Mr. Dutton's, and found, on arriving there, that George +Hamblin was in custody, and undergoing an examination, at no great +distance off, before two county magistrates, on the charge of having +fired Mr. Dutton's premises. The chief evidence was, that Hamblin +had been seen lurking about the place just before the flames broke +out, and that near the window where an incendiary might have entered +there were found portions of several lucifer matches, of a +particular make, and corresponding to a number found in Hamblin's +bedroom. To this Hamblin replied, that he had come to the house by +Mr. Dutton's invitation, but found nobody there. This however, was +vehemently denied by Mr. Dutton. He had made no appointment with +Hamblin to meet at his (Dutton's) house. How should he, purposing as +he did to be in London at the time? With respect to the lucifer +matches, Hamblin said he had purchased them of a mendicant, and that +Mr. Dutton saw him do so. This also was denied. It was further +proved, that Hamblin, when in drink, had often said he would ruin +Dutton before he died. Finally, the magistrates, though with some +hesitation, decided that there was hardly sufficient evidence to +warrant them in committing the prisoner for trial, and he was +discharged, much to the rage and indignation of the prosecutor. + +Subsequently, Mrs. Rivers and I had a long private conference. She +and the child had again slept at Elsworthy's on the night of the +fire, and Dutton in London. "His excuse is," said Mrs. Rivers, "that +he can not permit us to sleep here unprotected by his presence." We +both arrived at the same conclusion, and at last agreed upon what +should be done--attempted rather--and that without delay. + +Just before taking leave of Mr. Dutton, who was in an exceedingly +excited state, I said: "By-the-by, Dutton, you have promised to dine +with me on some early day. Let it be next Tuesday. I shall have one +or two bachelor friends, and we can give you a shake-down for the +night." + +"Next Tuesday?" said he quickly. "At what hour do you dine?" + +"At six. Not a half-moment later." + +"Good! I will be with you." We then shook hands, and parted. + +The dinner would have been without interest to me, had not a note +previously arrived from Mrs. Rivers, stating that she and Annie were +again to sleep that night at Elsworthy's. This promised results. + +James Dutton, who rode into town, was punctual, and, as always of +late, flurried, excited, nervous--not, in fact, it appeared to me, +precisely in his right mind. The dinner passed off as dinners +usually do, and the after-proceedings went on very comfortably till +about half-past nine o'clock, when Dutton's perturbation, increased +perhaps by the considerable quantity of wine he had swallowed, not +drunk, became, it was apparent to every body, almost uncontrollable. +He rose--purposeless it seemed--sat down again--drew out his watch +almost every minute, and answered remarks addressed to him in the +wildest manner. The decisive moment was, I saw, arrived, and at a +gesture of mine, Elsworthy, who was in my confidence, addressed +Dutton. "By the way, Dutton, about Mrs. Rivers and Annie. I forgot +to tell you of it before." + +The restless man was on his feet in an instant, and glaring with +fiery eagerness at the speaker. + +"What! what!" he cried with explosive quickness--"what about Annie? +Death and fury!--speak! will you?" + +"Don't alarm yourself, my good fellow. It's nothing of consequence. +You brought Annie and her governess, about an hour before I started, +to sleep at our house--" + +"Yes--yes," gasped Dutton, white as death, and every fibre of his +body shaking with terrible dread. "Yes--well, well, go on. Thunder +and lightning! out with it, will you?" + +"Unfortunately, two female cousins arrived soon after you went away, +and I was obliged to escort Annie and Mrs. Rivers home again." A +wild shriek--yell is perhaps the more appropriate expression--burst +from the conscience and fear-stricken man. Another instant, and he +had torn his watch from the fob, glanced at it with dilated eyes, +dashed it on the table, and was rushing madly toward the door, +vainly withstood by Elsworthy, who feared we had gone too far. + +"Out of the way!" screamed the madman. "Let go, or I'll dash +you to atoms!" Suiting the action to the threat, he hurled my +brother-in-law against the wall with stunning force, and rushed on, +shouting incoherently: "My horse! There is time yet! Tom Edwards, +my horse!" + +Tom Edwards was luckily at hand, and although mightily surprised at +the sudden uproar, which he attributed to Mr. Dutton being in drink, +mechanically assisted to saddle, bridle, and bring out the roan +mare; and before I could reach the stables, Dutton's foot was in the +stirrup. I shouted "Stop," as loudly as I could, but the excited +horseman did not heed, perhaps not hear me: and away he went, at a +tremendous speed, hatless, and his long gray-tinted hair streaming +in the wind. It was absolutely necessary to follow. I therefore +directed Elsworthy's horse, a much swifter and more peaceful animal +than Dutton's, to be brought out; and as soon as I got into the high +country road, I too dashed along at a rate much too headlong to be +altogether pleasant. The evening was clear and bright, and I now and +then caught a distant sight of Dutton, who was going at a frantic +pace across the country, and putting his horse at leaps that no man +in his senses would have attempted. I kept the high-road, and we had +thus ridden about half an hour perhaps, when a bright flame about a +mile distant, as the crow flies, shot suddenly forth, strongly +relieved against a mass of dark wood just beyond it. I knew it to be +Dutton's house, even without the confirmation given by the frenzied +shout which at the same moment arose on my left hand. It was from +Dutton. His horse had been _staked_, in an effort to clear a high +fence, and he was hurrying desperately along on foot. I tried to +make him hear me, or to reach him, but found I could do neither: his +own wild cries and imprecations drowned my voice, and there were +impassable fences between the high-road and the fields across which +he madly hasted. + +The flames were swift this time, and defied the efforts of the +servants and husbandmen who had come to the rescue, to stay, much +less to quell them. Eagerly as I rode, Dutton arrived before the +blazing pile at nearly the same moment as myself, and even as he +fiercely struggled with two or three men, who strove by main force +to prevent him from rushing into the flames, only to meet with +certain death, the roof and floors of the building fell in with a +sudden crash. He believed that all was over with the child, and +again hurling forth the wild despairing cry I had twice before heard +that evening, he fell down, as if smitten by lightning, upon the +hard, frosty road. + +It was many days ere the unhappy, sinful man recovered his senses, +many weeks before he was restored to his accustomed health. Very +cautiously had the intelligence been communicated to him, that Annie +had not met the terrible fate, the image of which had incessantly +pursued him through his fevered dreams. He was a deeply grateful, +and, I believe, a penitent and altogether changed man. He purchased, +through my agency, a valuable farm in a distant county, in order to +be out of the way, not only of Hamblin, on whom he settled two +hundred a year, but of others, myself included, who knew or +suspected him of the foul intention he had conceived against his +son-in-law, and which, but for Mrs. Rivers, would, on the last +occasion, have been in all probability successful, so cunningly had +the evidence of circumstances been devised. "I have been," said +James Dutton to me at the last interview I had with him, "all my +life an overweening, self-confident fool. At Romford, I boasted to +you that my children should ally themselves with the landed gentry +of the country, and see the result! The future, please God, shall +find me in my duty--mindful only of that, and content, while so +acting, with whatever shall befall me or mine." + +Dutton continues to prosper in the world; Hamblin died several years +ago of delirium tremens; and Annie, I hear, _will_ in all +probability marry into the squirearchy of the country. All this is +not perhaps what is called poetical justice, but my experience has +been with the actual, not the ideal world. + + + + +BLEAK HOUSE.[7] + +BY CHARLES DICKENS. + + +CHAPTER XIV.--DEPORTMENT + +Richard left us on the very next evening, to begin his new career, +and committed Ada to my charge with great love for her, and great +trust in me. It touched me then to reflect, and it touches me now, +more nearly, to remember (having what I have to tell) how they both +thought of me, even at that engrossing time. I was a part of all +their plans, for the present and the future. I was to write to +Richard once a week, making my faithful report of Ada, who was to +write to him every alternate day. I was to be informed, under his +own hand, of all his labors and successes; I was to observe how +resolute and persevering he would be; I was to be Ada's bridesmaid +when they were married; I was to live with them afterward; I was to +keep all the keys of their house; I was to be made happy forever and +a day. + +"And if the suit _should_ make us rich, Esther--which it may, you +know!" said Richard, to crown all. + +A shade crossed Ada's face. + +"My dearest Ada," asked Richard, pausing, "why not?" + +"It had better declare us poor at once," said Ada. + +"O! I don't know about that," returned Richard; "but at all events, +it won't declare any thing at once. It hasn't declared any thing in +Heaven knows how many years." + +"Too true," said Ada. + +"Yes, but," urged Richard, answering what her look suggested rather +than her words, "the longer it goes on, dear cousin, the nearer it +must be to a settlement one way or other. Now, is not that +reasonable?" + +"You know best, Richard. But I am afraid if we trust to it, it will +make us unhappy." + +"But, my Ada, we are not going to trust to it!" cried Richard, +gayly. "We know it better than to trust to it. We only say that if +it _should_ make us rich, we have no constitutional objection to +being rich. The Court is, by solemn settlement of law, our grim old +guardian, and we are to suppose that what it gives us (when it gives +us any thing) is our right. It is not necessary to quarrel with our +right." + +"No," said Ada, "but it may be better to forget all about it." + +"Well, well!" cried Richard, "then we will forget all about it! We +consign the whole thing to oblivion. Dame Durden puts on her +approving face, and it's done!" + +"Dame Durden's approving face," said I, looking out of the box in +which I was packing his books, "was not very visible when you called +it by that name; but it does approve, and she thinks you can't do +better." + +So, Richard said there was an end of it--and immediately began, on +no other foundation, to build as many castles in the air as would +man the great wall of China. He went away in high spirits. Ada and +I, prepared to miss him very much, commenced our quieter career. + +On our arrival in London, we had called with Mr. Jarndyce at Mrs. +Jellyby's, but had not been so fortunate as to find her at home. It +appeared that she had gone somewhere, to a tea-drinking, and had +taken Miss Jellyby with her. Besides the tea-drinking, there was to +be some considerable speech-making and letter-writing on the general +merits of the cultivation of coffee, conjointly with natives, at the +Settlement of Borrioboola Gha. All this involved, no doubt, +sufficient active exercise of pen and ink, to make her daughter's +part in the proceedings, any thing but a holiday. + +It being, now, beyond the time appointed for Mrs. Jellyby's return, +we called again. She was in town, but not at home, having gone to +Mile End, directly after breakfast, on some Borrioboolan business, +arising out of a Society called the East London Branch Aid +Ramification. As I had not seen Peepy on the occasion of our last +call (when he was not to be found any where, and when the cook +rather thought he must have strolled away with the dustman's cart) I +now inquired for him again. The oyster shells he had been building a +house with, were still in the passage, but he was nowhere +discoverable, and the cook supposed that he had "gone after the +sheep." When we repeated, with some surprise, "The sheep?" she said, +O yes, on market days he sometimes followed them quite out of town, +and came back in such a state as never was! + +I was sitting at the window with my Guardian, on the following +morning, and Ada was busy writing--of course to Richard--when Miss +Jellyby was announced, and entered, leading the identical Peepy, +whom she had made some endeavors to render presentable, by wiping +the dirt into corners of his face and hands, and making his hair +very wet, and then violently frizzling it with her fingers. Every +thing the dear child wore, was either too large for him or too +small. Among his other contradictory decorations he had the hat of a +Bishop, and the little gloves of a baby. His boots were, on a small +scale, the boots of a plowman: while his legs, so crossed and +recrossed with scratches that they looked like maps, were bare, +below a very short pair of plaid drawers, finished off with two +frills of perfectly different patterns. The deficient buttons on his +plaid frock had evidently been supplied from one of Mr. Jellyby's +coats, they were so extremely brazen and so much too large. Most +extraordinary specimens of needlework appeared on several parts of +his dress, where it had been hastily mended; and I recognized the +same hand on Miss Jellyby's. She was, however, unaccountably +improved in her appearance, and looked very pretty. She was +conscious of poor little Peepy being but a failure, after all her +trouble, and she showed it as she came in, by the way in which she +glanced, first at him, and then at us. + +"O dear me!" said my Guardian, "Due East!" + +Ada and I gave her a cordial welcome, and presented her to Mr. +Jarndyce; to whom she said, as she sat down: + +"Ma's compliments, and she hopes you'll excuse her, because she's +correcting proofs of the plan. She's going to put out five thousand +new circulars, and she knows you'll be interested to hear that. I +have brought one of them with me. Ma's compliments." With which she +presented it sulkily enough. + +"Thank you," said my Guardian. "I am much obliged to Mrs. Jellyby. O +dear me! This is a very trying wind!" + +We were busy with Peepy; taking off his clerical hat; asking him if +he remembered us; and so on. Peepy retired behind his elbow at +first, but relented at the sight of sponge-cake, and allowed me to +take him on my lap, where he sat munching quietly. Mr. Jarndyce then +withdrawing into the temporary Growlery, Miss Jellyby opened a +conversation with her usual abruptness. + +"We are going on just as bad as ever in Thavies Inn," said she. "I +have no peace of my life. Talk of Africa! I couldn't be worse off if +I was a what's-his-name-man and a brother!" + +I tried to say something soothing. + +"O, it's of no use, Miss Summerson," exclaimed Miss Jellyby, "though +I thank you for the kind intention all the same. I know how I am +used, and I am not to be talked over. You wouldn't be talked over, +if you were used so. Peepy, go and play at Wild Beasts under the +piano!" + +"I shan't!" said Peepy. + +"Very well, you ungrateful, naughty, hard-hearted boy!" returned +Miss Jellyby, with tears in her eyes. "I'll never take pains to +dress you any more." + +"Yes, I will go, Caddy!" cried Peepy, who was really a good child, +and who was so moved by his sister's vexation that he went at once. + +"It seems a little thing to cry about," said poor Miss Jellyby, +apologetically, "but I am quite worn out. I was directing the new +circulars till two this morning. I detest the whole thing so, that +that alone makes my head ache till I can't see out of my eyes. And +look at that poor unfortunate child. Was there ever such a fright as +he is!" + +Peepy, happily unconscious of the defects in his appearance, sat on +the carpet behind one of the legs of the piano, looking calmly out +of his den at us, while he ate his cake. + +"I have sent him to the other end of the room," observed Miss +Jellyby, drawing her chair nearer ours, "because I don't want him to +hear the conversation. Those little things are so sharp! I was going +to say, we really are going on worse than ever. Pa will be a +bankrupt before long, and then I hope Ma will be satisfied. There'll +be nobody but Ma to thank for it." + +We said we hoped Mr. Jellyby's affairs were not in so bad a state as +that. + +"It's of no use hoping, though it's very kind of you!" returned Miss +Jellyby, shaking her head. "Pa told me, only yesterday morning (and +dreadfully unhappy he is), that he couldn't weather the storm. I +should be surprised if he could. When all our tradesmen send into +our house any stuff they like, and the servants do what they like +with it, and I have no time to improve things if I knew how, and Ma +don't care about any thing, I should like to make out how Pa _is_ to +weather the storm. I declare if I was Pa, I'd run away!" + +"My dear!" said I, smiling. "Your papa, no doubt, considers his +family." + +"O yes, his family is all very fine, Miss Summerson," replied Miss +Jellyby; "but what comfort is his family to him? His family is +nothing but bills, dirt, waste, noise, tumbles down stairs, +confusion, and wretchedness. His scrambling home, from week's-end to +week's-end, is like one great washing-day--only nothing's washed!" + +Miss Jellyby tapped her foot upon the floor, and wiped her eyes. + +"I am sure I pity Pa to that degree," she said, "and am so angry +with Ma, that I can't find words to express myself! However, I am +not going to bear it, I am determined. I won't be a slave all my +life, and I won't submit to be proposed to by Mr. Quale. A pretty +thing, indeed, to marry a Philanthropist! As if I hadn't had enough +of _that_!" said poor Miss Jellyby. + +I must confess that I could not help feeling rather angry with Mrs. +Jellyby, myself; seeing and hearing this neglected girl, and knowing +how much of bitterly satirical truth there was in what she said. + +"If it wasn't that we had been intimate when you stopped at our +house," pursued Miss Jellyby, "I should have been ashamed to come +here to-day, for I know what a figure I must seem to you two. But, +as it is, I made up my mind to call: especially as I am not likely +to see you again, the next time you come to town." + +She said this with such great significance that Ada and I glanced at +one another, foreseeing something more. + +"No!" said Miss Jellyby, shaking her head. "Not at all likely! I +know I may trust you two. I am sure you won't betray me. I am +engaged." + +"Without their knowledge at home?" said I. + +"Why, good gracious me, Miss Summerson," she returned, justifying +herself in a fretful but not angry manner, "how can it be otherwise? +You know what Ma is--and I needn't make poor Pa more miserable by +telling _him_." + +"But would it not be adding to his unhappiness, to marry without his +knowledge or consent, my dear?" said I. + +"No," said Miss Jellyby, softening. "I hope not. I should try to +make him happy and comfortable when he came to see me; and Peepy and +the others should take it in turns to come and stay with me; and +they should have some care taken of them, then." + +There was a good deal of affection in poor Caddy. She softened more +and more while saying this, and cried so much over the unwonted +little home-picture she had raised in her mind, that Peepy, in his +cave under the piano, was touched, and turned himself over on his +back with loud lamentations. It was not until I had brought him to +kiss his sister, and had restored him to his place in my lap, and +had shown him that Caddy was laughing (she laughed expressly for the +purpose), that we could recall his peace of mind; even then, it was +for some time conditional on his taking us in turns by the chin, and +smoothing our faces all over with his hand. At last, as his spirits +were not yet equal to the piano, we put him on a chair to look out +of window; and Miss Jellyby, holding him by one leg, resumed her +confidence. + +"It began in your coming to our house," she said. + +We naturally asked how? + +"I felt I was so awkward," she replied, "that I made up my mind to +be improved in that respect, at all events, and to learn to dance. I +told Ma I was ashamed of myself, and I must be taught to dance. Ma +looked at me in that provoking way of hers, as if I wasn't in sight; +but, I was quite determined to be taught to dance, and so I went to +Mr. Turveydrop's Academy in Newman Street." + +"And was it there, my dear----" I began. + +"Yes, it was there," said Caddy, "and I am engaged to Mr. +Turveydrop. There are two Mr. Turveydrops, father and son. My Mr. +Turveydrop is the son, of course. I only wish I had been better +brought up, and was likely to make him a better wife; for I am very +fond of him." + +"I am sorry to hear this," said I, "I must confess." + +"I don't know why you should be sorry," she retorted, a little +anxiously, "but I am engaged to Mr. Turveydrop, whether or no, and +he is very fond of me. It's a secret as yet, even on his side, +because old Mr. Turveydrop has a share in the connection, and it +might break his heart, or give him some other shock, if he was told +of it abruptly. Old Mr. Turveydrop is a very gentlemanly man, +indeed--very gentlemanly." + +"Does his wife know of it?" asked Ada. + +"Old Mr. Turveydrop's wife, Miss Clare?" returned Miss Jellyby, +opening her eyes. "There's no such person. He is a widower." + +We were here interrupted by Peepy, whose leg had undergone so much +on account of his sister's unconsciously jerking it, like a +bell-rope, whenever she was emphatic, that the afflicted child now +bemoaned his sufferings with a very low-spirited noise. As he +appealed to me for compassion, and as I was only a listener, I +undertook to hold him. Miss Jellyby proceeded, after begging Peepy's +pardon with a kiss, and assuring him that she hadn't meant to do it. + +"That's the state of the case," said Caddy. "If I ever blame myself, +I still think it's Ma's fault. We are to be married whenever we can, +and then I shall go to Pa at the office, and write to Ma. It won't +much agitate Ma: I am only pen and ink to _her_. One great comfort +is," said Caddy, with a sob, "that I shall never hear of Africa +after I am married. Young Mr. Turveydrop hates it for my sake; and +if old Mr. Turveydrop knows there is such a place, it's as much as +he does." + +"It was he who was very gentlemanly, I think?" said I. + +"Very gentlemanly, indeed," said Caddy. "He is celebrated, almost +every where, for his Deportment." + +"Does he teach?" asked Ada. + +"No, he don't teach any thing in particular," replied Caddy. "But +his Deportment is beautiful." + +Caddy went on to say, with considerable hesitation and reluctance, +that there was one thing more she wished us to know, and felt we +ought to know, and which, she hoped, would not offend us. It was, +that she had improved her acquaintance with Miss Flite, the little +crazy old lady; and that she frequently went there early in the +morning, and met her lover for a few minutes before breakfast--only +for a few minutes. "_I_ go there, at other times," said Caddy, "but +Prince does not come then. Young Mr. Turveydrop's name is Prince; I +wish it wasn't, because it sounds like a dog, but of course he +didn't christen himself. Old Mr. Turveydrop had him christened +Prince, in remembrance of the Prince Regent. Old Mr. Turveydrop +adored the Prince Regent on account of his Deportment. I hope you +won't think the worse of me for having made these little +appointments at Miss Flite's, where I first went with you; because I +like the poor thing for her own sake, and I believe she likes me. If +you could see young Mr. Turveydrop, I am sure you would think well +of him--at least, I am sure you couldn't possibly think any ill of +him. I am going there now, for my lesson. I couldn't ask you to go +with me, Miss Summerson; but if you would," said Caddy, who had +said all this, earnestly and tremblingly, "I should be very +glad--very glad." + +It happened that we had arranged with my Guardian to go to Miss +Flite's that day. We had told him of our former visit, and our +account had interested him; but something had always happened to +prevent our going there again. As I trusted that I might have +sufficient influence with Miss Jellyby to prevent her taking any +very rash step, if I fully accepted the confidence she was so +willing to place in me, poor girl, I proposed that she, and I, and +Peepy, should go to the Academy, and afterward meet my guardian and +Ada at Miss Flite's--whose name I now learnt for the first time. +This was on condition that Miss Jellyby and Peepy should come back +with us to dinner. The last article of the agreement being joyfully +acceded to by both, we smartened Peepy up a little, with the +assistance of a few pins, some soap and water, and a hair-brush; and +went out: bending our steps toward Newman Street, which was very +near. + +I found the academy established in a sufficiently dingy house at the +corner of an arch-way, with busts in all the staircase windows. In +the same house there were also established, as I gathered from the +plates on the door, a drawing-master, a coal-merchant (there was, +certainly, no room for his coals), and a lithographic artist. On the +plate which, in size and situation, took precedence of all the rest, +I read, MR. TURVEYDROP. The door was open, and the hall was blocked +up by a grand piano, a harp, and several other musical instruments +in cases, all in progress of removal, and all looking rakish in the +daylight. Miss Jellyby informed me that the academy had been lent, +last night, for a concert. + +We went up-stairs--it had been quite a fine house once, when it was +any body's business to keep it clean and fresh, and nobody's +business to smoke in it all day--and into Mr. Turveydrop's great +room, which was built out into a mews at the back, and was lighted +by a skylight. It was a bare, resounding room, smelling of stables; +with cane forms along the walls; and the walls ornamented at regular +intervals with painted lyres, and little cut-glass branches for +candles, which seemed to be shedding their old-fashioned drops as +other branches might shed autumn leaves. Several young lady pupils, +ranging from thirteen or fourteen years of age to two or three and +twenty, were assembled; and I was looking among them for their +instructor, when Caddy, pinching my arm, repeated the ceremony of +introduction. "Miss Summerson, Mr. Prince Turveydrop!" + +[Illustration: THE DANCING SCHOOL.] + +I courtesied to a little blue-eyed fair man of youthful appearance, +with flaxen hair parted in the middle, and curling at the ends all +round his head. He had a little fiddle, which we used to call at +school a kit, under his left arm, and its little bow in the same +hand. His little dancing-shoes were particularly diminutive, and he +had a little innocent, feminine manner, which not only appealed to +me in an amiable way, but made this singular effect upon me: that +I received the impression that he was like his mother, and that his +mother had not been much considered or well used. + +"I am very happy to see Miss Jellyby's friend," he said, bowing low +to me. "I began to fear," with timid tenderness, "as it was past the +usual time, that Miss Jellyby was not coming." + +"I beg you will have the goodness to attribute that to me, who have +detained her, and to receive my excuses, sir," said I. + +"O dear!" said he. + +"And pray," I entreated, "do not allow me to be the cause of any +more delay." + +With that apology I withdrew to a seat between Peepy (who, being +well used to it, had already climbed into a corner-place), and an +old lady of a censorious countenance, whose two nieces were in the +class, and who was very indignant with Peepy's boots. Prince +Turveydrop then tinkled the strings of his kit with his fingers, and +the young ladies stood up to dance. Just then, there appeared from a +side-door, old Mr. Turveydrop, in the full lustre of his Deportment. + +He was a fat old gentleman with a false complexion, false teeth, +false whiskers, and a wig. He had a fur collar, and he had a padded +breast to his coat, which only wanted a star or a broad blue ribbon +to be complete. He was pinched in and swelled out, and got up, and +strapped down, as much as he could possibly bear. He had such a +neck-cloth on (puffing his very eyes out of their natural shape), +and his chin and even his ears so sunk into it, that it seemed as +though he must inevitably double up, if it were cast loose. He had, +under his arm, a hat of great size and weight, shelving downward +from the crown to the brim; and in his hand a pair of white gloves, +with which he flapped it, as he stood poised on one leg, in a +high-shouldered, round-elbowed state of elegance not to be +surpassed. He had a cane, he had an eye-glass, he had a snuff-box, +he had rings, he had wristbands, he had every thing but any touch of +nature; he was not like youth, he was not like age, he was like +nothing in the world but a model of Deportment. + +"Father! A visitor. Miss Jellyby's friend, Miss Summerson." + +"Distinguished," said Mr. Turveydrop, "by Miss Summerson's +presence." As he bowed to me in that tight state, I almost believed +I saw creases come into the whites of his eyes. + +"My father," said the son, aside to me, with quite an affecting +belief in him, "is a celebrated character. My father is greatly +admired." + +"Go on, Prince! Go on!" said Mr. Turveydrop, standing with his back +to the fire, and waving his gloves condescendingly. "Go on, my son!" + +At this command, or by this gracious permission, the lesson went on. +Prince Turveydrop, sometimes, played the kit, dancing; sometimes +played the piano, standing; sometimes hummed the tune with what +little breath he could spare, while he set a pupil right; always +conscientiously moved with the least proficient through every step +and every part of the figure; and never rested for an instant. His +distinguished father did nothing whatever, but stand before the +fire, a model of Deportment. + +"And he never does any thing else," said the old lady of the +censorious countenance. "Yet, would you believe that it's _his_ name +on the door-plate?" + +"His son's name is the same, you know," said I. + +"He wouldn't let his son have any name, if he could take it from +him," returned the old lady. "Look at the son's dress!" It certainly +was plain--threadbare--almost shabby. "Yet the father must be +garnished and tricked out," said the old lady, "because of his +Deportment. I'd deport him! Transport him would be better!" + +I felt curious to know more, concerning this person. I asked, "Does +he give lessons in Deportment, now?" + +"Now!" returned the old lady, shortly. "Never did." + +After a moment's consideration, I suggested that perhaps fencing had +been his accomplishment. + +"I don't believe he can fence at all, ma'am," said the old lady. + +I looked surprised and inquisitive. The old lady, becoming more and +more incensed against the Master of Deportment as she dwelt upon the +subject, gave me some particulars of his career, with strong +assurances that they were mildly stated. + +He had married a meek little dancing-mistress, with a tolerable +connection (having never in his life before done any thing but +deport himself), and had worked her to death, or had, at the best, +suffered her to work herself to death, to maintain him in those +expenses which were indispensable to his position. At once to +exhibit his Deportment to the best models, and to keep the best +models constantly before himself, he had found it necessary to +frequent all public places of fashionable and lounging resort; to be +seen at Brighton and elsewhere at fashionable times, and to lead an +idle life in the very best clothes. To enable him to do this, the +affectionate little dancing-mistress had toiled and labored, and +would have toiled and labored to that hour, if her strength had +lasted so long. For, the mainspring of the story was, that, in spite +of the man's absorbing selfishness, his wife (overpowered by his +Deportment) had, to the last, believed in him, and had, on her +death-bed in the most moving terms, confided him to their son as one +who had an inextinguishable claim upon him, and whom he could never +regard with too much pride and deference. The son, inheriting his +mother's belief, and having the Deportment always before him, had +lived and grown in the same faith, and now, at thirty years of age, +worked for his father twelve hours a day, and looked up to him with +veneration on the old imaginary pinnacle. + +"The airs the fellow gives himself!" said my informant, shaking her +head at old Mr. Turveydrop with speechless indignation, as he drew +on his tight gloves; of course unconscious of the homage she was +rendering. "He fully believes he is one of the aristocracy! And he +is so condescending to the son he so egregiously deludes, that you +might suppose him the most virtuous of parents. O!" said the old +lady, apostrophizing him with infinite vehemence, "I could bite +you!" + +I could not help being amused, though I heard the old lady out with +feelings of real concern. It was difficult to doubt her, with the +father and son before me. What I might have thought of them without +the old lady's account, or what I might have thought of the old +lady's account without them, I can not say. There was a fitness of +things in the whole that carried conviction with it. + +My eyes were yet wandering, from young Mr. Turveydrop working so +hard to old Mr. Turveydrop deporting himself so beautifully, when +the latter came ambling up to me, and entered into conversation. + +He asked me, first of all, whether I conferred a charm and a +distinction on London by residing in it? I did not think it +necessary to reply that I was perfectly aware I should not do that, +in any case, but merely told him where I did reside. + +"A lady so graceful and accomplished," he said, kissing his right +glove, and afterward extending it toward the pupils, "will +look leniently on the deficiencies here. We do our best to +polish--polish--polish!" + +He sat down beside me; taking some pains to sit on the form, I +thought, in imitation of the print of his illustrious model on the +sofa. And really he did look very like it. + +"To polish--polish--polish!" he repeated, taking a pinch of snuff, +and gently fluttering his fingers. "But we are not--if I may say so, +to one formed to be graceful both by Nature and Art;" with the +high-shouldered bow, which it seemed impossible for him to make +without lifting up his eyebrows and shutting his eyes--"we are not +what we used to be in point of Deportment." + +"Are we not, sir?" said I. + +"We have degenerated," he returned, shaking his head, which he could +do, to a very limited extent, in his cravat. "A leveling age is not +favorable to Deportment. It develops vulgarity. Perhaps I speak with +some little partiality. It may not be for me to say that I have been +called, for some years now, Gentleman Turveydrop; or that His Royal +Highness the Prince Regent did me the honor to inquire, on my +removing my hat as he drove out of the Pavilion at Brighton (that +fine building), 'Who is he? Who the Devil is he? Why don't I know +him? Why hasn't he thirty thousand a year?' But these are little +matters of anecdote--the general property, ma'am--still repeated, +occasionally among the upper classes." + +"Indeed?" said I. + +He replied with the high-shouldered bow. "Where what is left among +us of Deportment," he added, "still lingers. England--alas, my +country!--has degenerated very much, and is degenerating every day. +She has not many gentlemen left. We are few. I see nothing to +succeed us, but a race of weavers." + +"One might hope that the race of gentlemen would be perpetuated +here," said I. + +"You are very good," he smiled, with the high-shouldered bow again. +"You flatter me. But, no--no! I have never been able to imbue my +poor boy with that part of his art. Heaven forbid that I should +disparage my dear child, but he has--no Deportment." + +"He appears to be an excellent master," I observed. + +"Understand me, my dear madam, he is an excellent master. All that +can be acquired, he has acquired. All that can be imparted, he can +impart. But there _are_ things"--he took another pinch of snuff and +made the bow again, as if to add, "this kind of thing, for +instance." + +I glanced toward the centre of the room, where Miss Jellyby's lover, +now engaged with single pupils, was undergoing greater drudgery than +ever. + +"My amiable child," murmured Mr. Turveydrop, adjusting his cravat. + +"Your son is indefatigable," said I. + +"It is my reward," said Mr. Turveydrop, "to hear you say so. In some +respects, he treads in the footsteps of his sainted mother. She was +a devoted creature. But Wooman, lovely Wooman," said Mr. Turveydrop, +with very disagreeable gallantry, "what a sex you are!" + +I rose and joined Miss Jellyby, who was, by this time, putting on +her bonnet. The time allotted to a lesson having fully elapsed, +there was a general putting on of bonnets. When Miss Jellyby and the +unfortunate Prince found an opportunity to become betrothed I don't +know, but they certainly found none, on this occasion, to exchange a +dozen words. + +"My dear," said Mr. Turveydrop benignly to his son, "do you know the +hour?" + +"No, father." The son had no watch. The father had a handsome gold +one, which he pulled out, with an air that was an example to +mankind. + +"My son," said he, "it's two o'clock. Recollect your school at +Kensington at three." + +"That's time enough for me, father," said Prince. "I can take a +morsel of dinner, standing, and be off." + +"My dear boy," returned his father, "you must be very quick. You +will find the cold mutton on the table." + +"Thank you, father. Are _you_ off now, father?" + +"Yes, my dear. I suppose," said Mr. Turveydrop, shutting his eyes +and lifting up his shoulders, with modest consciousness, "that I +must show myself, as usual, about town." + +"You had better dine out comfortably, somewhere," said his son. + +"My dear child, I intend to. I shall take my little meal, I think, +at the French house, in the Opera Colonnade." + +"That's right. Good-by, father!" said Prince, shaking hands. + +"Good-by, my son. Bless you!" + +Mr. Turveydrop said this in quite a pious manner, and it seemed to +do his son good; who, in parting from him, was so pleased with him, +so dutiful to him, and so proud of him, that I almost felt as if it +were an unkindness to the younger man not to be able to believe +implicitly in the elder. The few moments that were occupied by +Prince in taking leave of us (and particularly of one of us, as I +saw, being in the secret), enhanced my favorable impression of his +almost childish character. I felt a liking for him, and a compassion +for him, as he put his little kit in his pocket--and with it his +desire to stay a little while with Caddy--and went away +good-humoredly to his cold mutton and his school at Kensington, that +made me scarcely less irate with his father than the censorious old +lady. + +The father opened the room door for us, and bowed us out, in a +manner, I must acknowledge, worthy of his shining original. In the +same style he presently passed us on the other side of the street, +on his way to the aristocratic part of the town, where he was going +to show himself among the few other gentlemen left. For some +moments, I was so lost in reconsidering what I had heard and seen in +Newman Street, that I was quite unable to talk to Caddy, or even to +fix my attention on what she said to me; especially, when I began to +inquire in my mind whether there were, or ever had been, any other +gentlemen, not in the dancing profession, who lived and founded a +reputation entirely on their Deportment. This became so bewildering, +and suggested the possibility of so many Mr. Turveydrops, that I +said, "Esther, you must make up your mind to abandon this subject +altogether, and attend to Caddy." I accordingly did so, and we +chatted all the rest of the way to Lincoln's Inn. + +Caddy told me that her lover's education had been so neglected, that +it was not always easy to read his notes. She said, if he were not +so anxious about his spelling, and took less pains to make it clear, +he would do better; but he put so many unnecessary letters into +short words, that they sometimes quite lost their English +appearance. "He does it with the best intentions," observed Caddy, +"but it hasn't the effect he means, poor fellow!" Caddy then went on +to reason, how could he be expected to be a scholar, when he had +passed his whole life in the dancing-school, and had done nothing +but teach and fag, fag and teach, morning, noon, and night! And what +did it matter? She could write letters enough for both, as she knew +to her cost, and it was far better for him to be amiable than +learned. "Besides, it's not as if I was an accomplished girl who had +any right to give herself airs," said Caddy. "I know little enough, +I am sure, thanks to Ma!" + +"There's another thing I want to tell you, now we are alone," +continued Caddy, "which I should not have liked to mention unless +you had seen Prince, Miss Summerson. You know what a house ours is. +It's of no use my trying to learn any thing that it would be useful +for Prince's wife to know, in our house. We live in such a state of +muddle that it's impossible, and I have only been more disheartened +whenever I have tried. So, I get a little practice with--who do you +think? Poor Miss Flite! Early in the morning, I help her to tidy her +room, and clean her birds; and I make her cup of coffee for her (of +course she taught me), and I have learnt to make it so well that +Prince says it's the very best coffee he ever tasted, and would +quite delight old Mr. Turveydrop, who is very particular indeed +about his coffee. I can make little puddings too; and I know how to +buy neck of mutton, and tea, and sugar, and butter, and a good many +housekeeping things. I am not clever at my needle, yet," said Caddy, +glancing at the repairs on Peepy's frock, "but perhaps I shall +improve. And since I have been engaged to Prince, and have been +doing all this, I have felt better-tempered, I hope, and more +forgiving to Ma. It rather put me out, at first this morning, to see +you and Miss Clare looking so neat and pretty, and to feel +ashamed of Peepy and myself too; but on the whole, I hope I am +better-tempered than I was, and more forgiving to Ma." + +The poor girl, trying so hard, said it from her heart, and touched +mine. "Caddy, my love," I replied, "I begin to have a great +affection for you, and I hope we shall become friends." "Oh, do +you?" cried Caddy; "how happy that would make me!" "My dear Caddy," +said I, "let us be friends from this time, and let us often have a +chat about these matters, and try to find the right way through +them." Caddy was overjoyed. I said every thing I could, in my +old-fashioned way, to comfort and encourage her; and I would not +have objected to old Mr. Turveydrop, that day, for any smaller +consideration than a settlement on his daughter-in-law. + +By this time, we were come to Mr. Krook's, whose private door stood +open. There was a bill, pasted on the door-post, announcing a room +to let on the second floor. It reminded Caddy to tell me as we +proceeded up-stairs, that there had been a sudden death there, and +an inquest; and that our little friend had been ill of the fright. +The door and window of the vacant room being open, we looked in. It +was the room with the dark door, to which Miss Flite had secretly +directed my attention when I was last in the house. A sad and +desolate place it was; a gloomy, sorrowful place, that gave me a +strange sensation of mournfulness and even dread. "You look pale," +said Caddy, when we came out, "and cold!" I felt as if the room had +chilled me. + +We had walked slowly, while we were talking; and my Guardian and Ada +were here before us. We found them in Miss Flite's garret. They were +looking at the birds, while a medical gentleman who was so good as +to attend Miss Flite with much solicitude and compassion, spoke with +her cheerfully by the fire. + +"I have finished my professional visit," he said, coming forward. +"Miss Flite is much better, and may appear in court (as her mind is +set upon it) to-morrow. She has been greatly missed there, I +understand." + +Miss Flite received the compliment with complacency, and dropped a +general courtesy to us. + +"Honored, indeed," said she, "by another visit from the Wards in +Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy to receive Jarndyce of Bleak House beneath my +humble roof!" with a special courtesy. "Fitz-Jarndyce, my dear;" she +had bestowed that name on Caddy, it appeared, and always called her +by it; "a double welcome!" + +"Has she been very ill?" asked Mr. Jarndyce of the gentleman whom we +had found in attendance on her. She answered for herself directly, +though he had put the question in a whisper. + +"O, decidedly unwell! O, very unwell indeed," she said, +confidentially. "Not pain, you know--trouble. Not bodily so much as +nervous, nervous! The truth is," in a subdued voice and trembling, +"we have had death here. There was poison in the house. I am very +susceptible to such horrid things. It frightened me. Only Mr. +Woodcourt knows how much. My physician, Mr. Woodcourt!" with +great stateliness. "The Wards in Jarndyce--Jarndyce of Bleak +House--Fitz-Jarndyce!" + +"Miss Flite," said Mr. Woodcourt, in a grave, kind voice as if he +were appealing to her while speaking to us; and laying his hand +gently on her arm; "Miss Flite describes her illness with her usual +accuracy. She was alarmed by an occurrence in the house which might +have alarmed a stronger person, and was made ill by the distress and +agitation. She brought me here in the first hurry of the discovery, +though too late for me to be of any use to the unfortunate man. I +have compensated myself for that disappointment by coming here +since, and being of small use to her." + +"The kindest physician in the college," whispered Miss Flite to me. +"I expect a Judgment. On the day of Judgment. And shall then confer +estates." + +"She will be as well, in a day or two," said Mr. Woodcourt, looking +at her with an observant smile, "as she ever will be. In other +words, quite well, of course. Have you heard of her good fortune?" + +"Most extraordinary!" said Miss Flite, smiling brightly. "You never +heard of such a thing, my dear! Every Saturday, Conversation Kenge, +or Guppy (clerk to Conversation K.), places in my hand a paper of +shillings. Shillings. I assure you! Always the same number in the +paper. Always one for every day in the week. Now you know, really! +So well-timed, is it not? Ye-es! From whence do these papers come, +you say? That is the great question. Naturally. Shall I tell you +what _I_ think? _I_ think," said Miss Flite, drawing herself back +with a very shrewd look, and shaking her right forefinger in a most +significant manner, "that the Lord Chancellor, aware of the length +of time during which the Great Seal has been open (for it has been +open a long time!) forwards them. Until the Judgment I expect, is +given. Now that's very creditable, you know. To confess in that way +that he _is_ a little slow for human life. So delicate! Attending +Court the other day--I attend it regularly--with my documents--I +taxed him with it, and he almost confessed. That is, I smiled at him +from my bench, and _he_ smiled at me from his bench. But it's great +good fortune, is it not? And Fitz-Jarndyce lays the money out for me +to great advantage. O, I assure you to the greatest advantage!" + +I congratulated her (as she addressed herself to me) upon this +fortunate addition to her income, and wished her a long continuance +of it. I did not speculate upon the source from which it came, or +wonder whose humanity was so considerate. My Guardian stood before +me, contemplating the birds, and I had no need to look beyond him. + +"And what do you call these little fellows, ma'am?" said he in his +pleasant voice. "Have they any names?" + +"I can answer for Miss Flite that they have," said I, "for she +promised to tell us what they were. Ada remembers?" + +Ada remembered very well. + +"Did I?" said Miss Flite.--"Who's that at my door? What are you +listening at my door for, Krook?" + +The old man of the house, pushing it open before him, appeared there +with his fur-cap in his hand, and his cat at his heels. + +"_I_ warn't listening, Miss Flite," he said. "I was going to give a +rap with my knuckles, only you're so quick!" + +"Make your cat go down. Drive her away!" the old lady angrily +exclaimed. + +"Bah, bah!--There ain't no danger, gentle-folks," said Mr. Krook, +looking slowly and sharply from one to another, until he had looked +at all of us; "she'd never offer at the birds when I was here, +unless I told her to do it." + +"You will excuse my landlord," said the old lady with a dignified +air. "M, quite M! What do you want, Krook, when I have company?" + +"Hi!" said the old man. "You know I am the Chancellor." + +"Well?" returned Miss Flite. "What of that?" + +"For the Chancellor," said the old man, with a chuckle, "not to be +acquainted with a Jarndyce is queer, ain't it, Miss Flite? Mightn't +I take the liberty?--Your servant, sir. I know Jarndyce and Jarndyce +a'most as well as you do, sir. I knowed old Squire Tom, sir. I never +to my knowledge see you afore though, not even in court. Yet, I go +there a mortal sight of times in the course of the year, taking one +day with another." + +"I never go there," said Mr. Jarndyce (which he never did on any +consideration). "I would sooner go--somewhere else." + +"Would you though?" returned Krook, grinning. "You're bearing hard +upon my noble and learned brother in your meaning, sir; though, +perhaps, it is but nat'ral in a Jarndyce. The burnt child, sir! +What, you're looking at my lodger's birds, Mr. Jarndyce?" The old +man had come by little and little into the room, until he now +touched my Guardian with his elbow, and looked close up into his +face with his spectacled eyes. "It's one of her strange ways, that +she'll never tell the names of these birds if she can help it, +though she named 'em all." This was in a whisper. "Shall I run 'em +over, Flite?" he asked aloud, winking at us and pointing at her as +she turned away, affecting to sweep the grate. + +"If you like," she answered hurriedly. + +The old man, looking up at the cages, after another look at us, went +through the list. + +"Hope, Joy, Youth, Peace, Rest, Life, Dust, Ashes, Waste, Want, +Ruin, Despair, Madness, Death, Cunning, Folly, Words, Wigs, Rags, +Sheepskin, Plunder, Precedent, Jargon, Gammon, and Spinach. That's +the whole collection," said the old man, "all cooped up together, by +my noble and learned brother. + +"This is a bitter wind!" muttered my Guardian. + +"When my noble and learned brother gives his Judgment, they're to be +let go free," said Krook, winking at us again. "And then," he added, +whispering and grinning, "if that ever was to happen--which it +won't--the birds that have never been caged would kill 'em." + +"If ever the wind was in the east," said my Guardian, pretending to +look out of the window for a weathercock, "I think it's there +to-day!" + +We found it very difficult to get away from the house. It was not +Miss Flite who detained us; she was as reasonable a little creature +in consulting the convenience of others, as there possibly could be. +It was Mr. Krook. He seemed unable to detach himself from Mr. +Jarndyce. If he had been linked to him, he could hardly have +attended him more closely. He proposed to show us his Court of +Chancery, and all the strange medley it contained; during the whole +of our inspection (prolonged by himself) he kept close to Mr. +Jarndyce, and sometimes detained him, under one pretense or other, +until we had passed on, as if he were tormented by an inclination to +enter upon some secret subject, which he could not make up his mind +to approach. I can not imagine a countenance and manner more +singularly expressive of caution and indecision, and a perpetual +impulse to do something he could not resolve to venture on, than Mr. +Krook's was, that day. His watchfulness of my Guardian was +incessant. He rarely removed his eyes from his face. If he went on +beside him, he observed him with the slyness of an old white fox. If +he went before, he looked back. When we stood still, he got opposite +to him, and drawing his hand across and across his open mouth with +a curious expression of a sense of power, and turning up his eyes, +and lowering his gray eyebrows until they appeared to be shut, +seemed to scan every lineament of his face. + +At last, having been (always attended by the cat) all over the +house, and having seen the whole stock of miscellaneous lumber, +which was certainly curious, we came into the back part of the shop. +Here, on the head of an empty barrel stood on end, were an +ink-bottle, some old stumps of pens, and some dirty playbills; and +against the wall were pasted several large printed alphabets in +several plain hands. + +"What are you doing here?" asked my Guardian. + +"Trying to learn myself to read and write," said Krook. + +"And how do you get on?" + +"Slow. Bad," returned the old man, impatiently. "It's hard at my +time of life." + +"It would be easier to be taught by some one," said my Guardian. + +"Ay, but they might teach me wrong!" returned the old man, with a +wonderfully suspicious flash of his eye. "I don't know what I may +have lost, by not being learned afore. I wouldn't like to lose any +thing by being learned wrong now." + +"Wrong?" said my Guardian, with his good-humored smile. "Who do you +suppose would teach you wrong?" + +"I don't know, Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House!" replied the old man, +turning up his spectacles on his forehead, and rubbing his hands. "I +don't suppose as any body would--but I'd rather trust my own self +than another!" + +These answers, and his manner, were strange enough to cause my +Guardian to inquire of Mr. Woodcourt, as we all walked across +Lincoln's Inn together, whether Mr. Krook were really, as his lodger +represented him, deranged? The young surgeon replied, no, he had +seen no reason to think so. He was exceedingly distrustful, as +ignorance usually was, and he was always more or less under the +influence of raw gin: of which he drank great quantities, and of +which he and his back shop, as we might have observed, smelt +strongly; but he did not think him mad, as yet. + +On our way home, I so conciliated Peepy's affections by buying him a +windmill and two flour-sacks, that he would suffer nobody else to +take off his hat and gloves, and would sit nowhere at dinner but at +my side. Caddy sat upon the other side of me, next to Ada, to whom +we imparted the whole history of the engagement as soon as we got +back. We made much of Caddy, and Peepy too; and Caddy brightened +exceedingly; and my Guardian was as merry as we were; and we were +all very happy indeed; until Caddy went home at night in a +hackney-coach, with Peepy fast asleep, but holding tight to the +windmill. + +I have forgotten to mention--at least I have not mentioned--that +Mr. Woodcourt was the same dark young surgeon whom we had met at Mr. +Badger's. Or, that Mr. Jarndyce invited him to dinner that day. Or, +that he came. Or, that when they were all gone, and I said to Ada, +"Now, my darling, let us have a little talk about Richard!" Ada +laughed, and said-- + +But, I don't think it matters what my darling said. She was always +merry. + + +CHAPTER XV.--BELL YARD. + +While we were in London, Mr. Jarndyce was constantly beset by the +crowd of excitable ladies and gentlemen whose proceedings had so +much astonished us. Mr. Quale, who presented himself soon after our +arrival, was in all such excitements. He seemed to project those two +shining knobs of temples of his into every thing that went on, and +to brush his hair farther and farther back, until the very roots +were almost ready to fly out of his head in inappeasable +philanthropy. All objects were alike to him, but he was always +particularly ready for any thing in the way of a testimonial to any +one. His great power seemed to be his power of indiscriminate +admiration. He would sit, for any length of time, with the utmost +enjoyment, bathing his temples in the light of any order of +luminary. Having first seen him perfectly swallowed up in admiration +of Mrs. Jellyby, I had supposed her to be the absorbing object of +his devotion. I soon discovered my mistake, and found him to be +train-bearer and organ-blower to a whole procession of people. + +Mrs. Pardiggle came one day for a subscription to something--and +with her, Mr. Quale. Whatever Mrs. Pardiggle said, Mr. Quale +repeated to us; and just as he had drawn Mrs. Jellyby out, he drew +Mrs. Pardiggle out. Mrs. Pardiggle wrote a letter of introduction to +my Guardian, in behalf of her eloquent friend, Mr. Gusher. With Mr. +Gusher, appeared Mr. Quale again. Mr. Gusher, being a flabby +gentleman with a moist surface, and eyes so much too small for his +moon of a face that they seemed to have been originally made for +somebody else, was not at first sight prepossessing; yet, he was +scarcely seated, before Mr. Quale asked Ada and me, not inaudibly, +whether he was not a great creature--which he certainly was, +flabbily speaking; though Mr. Quale meant in intellectual +beauty--and whether we were not struck by his massive configuration +of brow? In short, we heard of a great many missions of various +sorts, among this set of people; but, nothing respecting them was +half so clear to us, as that it was Mr. Quale's mission to be in +ecstasies with everybody else's mission, and that it was the most +popular mission of all. + +Mr. Jarndyce had fallen into this company, in the tenderness of his +heart and his earnest desire to do all the good in his power; but, +that he felt it to be too often an unsatisfactory company, where +benevolence took spasmodic forms; where charity was assumed, as a +regular uniform, by loud professors and speculators in cheap +notoriety, vehement in profession, restless and vain in action, +servile in the last degree of meanness to the great, adulatory of +one another, and intolerable to those who were anxious quietly to +help the weak from falling, rather than with a great deal of bluster +and self-laudation to raise them up a little way when they were +down; he plainly told us. When a testimonial was originated to Mr. +Quale, by Mr. Gusher (who had already got one, originated by Mr. +Quale), and when Mr. Gusher spoke for an hour and a half on the +subject to a meeting, including two charity schools of small boys +and girls, who were specially reminded of the widow's mite, and +requested to come forward with half-pence and be acceptable +sacrifices; I think the wind was in the east for three whole weeks. + +I mention this, because I am coming to Mr. Skimpole again. It seemed +to me that his off-hand professions of childishness and carelessness +were a great relief to my Guardian, by contrast with such things, +and were the more readily believed in; since, to find one perfectly +undesigning and candid man, among many opposites, could not fail to +give him pleasure. I should be sorry to imply that Mr. Skimpole +divined this, and was politic: I really never understood him well +enough to know. What he was to my Guardian, he certainly was to the +rest of the world. + +He had not been very well; and thus, though he lived in London, we +had seen nothing of him until now. He appeared one morning, in his +usual agreeable way, and as full of pleasant spirits as ever. + +Well, he said, here he was! He had been bilious, but rich men were +often bilious, and therefore he had been persuading himself that he +was a man of property. So he was, in a certain point of view--in his +expansive intentions. He had been enriching his medical attendant in +the most lavish manner. He had always doubled, and sometimes +quadrupled, his fees. He had said to the doctor, "Now my dear +doctor, it is quite a delusion on your part to suppose that you +attend me for nothing. I am overwhelming you with money--in my +expansive intentions--if you only knew it!" And really (he said) he +meant it to that degree, that he thought it much the same as doing +it. If he had had those bits of metal or thin paper to which mankind +attached so much importance, to put in the doctor's hand, he would +have put them in the doctor's hand. Not having them, he substituted +the will for the deed. Very well! If he really meant it--if his will +were genuine and real: which it was--it appeared to him that it was +the same as coin, and canceled the obligation. + +"It may be, partly, because I know nothing of the value of money," +said Mr. Skimpole, "but I often feel this. It seems so reasonable! +My butcher says to me, he wants that little bill. It's a part of the +pleasant unconscious poetry of the man's nature, that he always +calls it a 'little' bill--to make the payment appear easy to both of +us. I reply to the butcher, My good friend, if you knew it, you are +paid. You haven't had the trouble of coming to ask for the little +bill. You are paid. I mean it." + +"But suppose," said my Guardian, laughing, "he had meant the meat in +the bill, instead of providing it?" + +"My dear Jarndyce," he returned, "you surprise me. You take the +butcher's position. A butcher I once dealt with, occupied that very +ground. Says he, 'Sir, why did you eat spring lamb at eighteen pence +a pound?' 'Why did I eat spring lamb at eighteen pence a pound, my +honest friend?' said I, naturally amazed by the question. 'I like +spring lamb!' This was so far convincing. 'Well, sir,' says he, 'I +wish I had meant the lamb, as you mean the money?' 'My good fellow,' +said I, 'pray let us reason like intellectual beings. How could that +be? It was impossible. You _had_ got the lamb, and I have _not_ got +the money. You couldn't really mean the lamb without sending it in, +whereas I can, and do, really mean the money without paying it?' He +had not a word. There was an end of the subject." + +"Did he take no legal proceedings?" inquired my Guardian. + +"Yes, he took legal proceedings," said Mr. Skimpole. "But in that, +he was influenced by passion; not by reason. Passion reminds me of +Boythorn. He writes me that you and the ladies have promised him a +short visit at his bachelor-house in Lincolnshire." + +"He is a great favorite with my girls," said Mr. Jarndyce, "and I +have promised for them." + +"Nature forgot to shade him off, I think?" observed Mr. Skimpole to +Ada and me. "A little too boisterous--like the sea? A little too +vehement--like a bull who has made up his mind to consider every +color scarlet? But I grant a sledge-hammering sort of merit in him!" + +I should have been surprised if those two could have thought very +highly of one another; Mr. Boythorn attaching so much importance to +many things, and Mr. Skimpole caring so little for any thing. +Besides which, I had noticed Mr. Boythorn more than once on the +point of breaking out into some strong opinion, when Mr. Skimpole +was referred to. Of course I merely joined Ada in saying that we had +been greatly pleased with him. + +"He has invited me," said Mr. Skimpole; "and if a child may trust +himself in such hands: which the present child is encouraged to do, +with the united tenderness of two angels to guard him: I shall go. +He proposes to frank me down and back again. I suppose it will cost +money? Shillings perhaps? Or pounds? Or something of that sort? +By-the-by. Coavinses. You remember our friend Coavinses, Miss +Summerson?" + +He asked me as the subject arose in his mind, in his graceful, +light-hearted manner, and without the least embarrassment. + +"O yes?" said I. + +"Coavinses has been arrested by the great Bailiff," said Mr. +Skimpole. "He will never do violence to the sunshine any more." + +It quite shocked me to hear it; for, I had already recalled, with +any thing but a serious association, the image of the man sitting on +the sofa that night, wiping his head. + +"His successor informed me of it yesterday," said Mr. Skimpole, "His +successor is in my house now--in possession, I think he calls it. He +came yesterday, on my blue-eyed daughter's birth-day. I put it to +him. 'This is unreasonable and inconvenient. If you had a blue-eyed +daughter, you wouldn't like _me_ to come, uninvited, on _her_ +birthday?' But he staid." + +Mr. Skimpole laughed at the pleasant absurdity, and lightly touched +the piano by which he was seated. + +"And he told me," he said, playing little chords where I shall put +full stops. "That Coavinses had left. Three children. No mother. And +that Coavinses' profession. Being unpopular. The rising Coavinses. +Were at a considerable disadvantage." + +Mr. Jarndyce got up, rubbing his head, and began to walk about. Mr. +Skimpole played the melody of one of Ada's favorite songs. Ada and I +both looked at Mr. Jarndyce, thinking that we knew what was passing +in his mind. + +After walking, and stopping, and several times leaving off rubbing +his head, and beginning again, my Guardian put his hand upon the +keys and stopped Mr. Skimpole's playing. "I don't like this, +Skimpole," he said, thoughtfully. + +Mr. Skimpole, who had quite forgotten the subject, looked up +surprised. + +"The man was necessary," pursued my Guardian, walking backward and +forward in the very short space between the piano and the end of the +room, and rubbing his hair up from the back of his head as if a high +east wind had blown it into that form. "If we make such men +necessary by our faults and follies, or by our want of worldly +knowledge, or by our misfortunes, we must not revenge ourselves upon +them. There was no harm in his trade. He maintained his children. +One would like to know more about this." + +"O! Coavinses?" cried Mr. Skimpole, at length perceiving what he +meant. "Nothing easier. A walk to Coavinses head-quarters, and you +can know what you will." + +Mr. Jarndyce nodded to us, who were only waiting for the signal. +"Come! We will walk that way, my dears. Why not that way, as soon as +another!" We were quickly ready, and went out. Mr. Skimpole went +with us, and quite enjoyed the expedition. It was so new and so +refreshing, he said, for him to want Coavinses, instead of Coavinses +wanting him! + +He took us, first, to Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, where there +was a house with barred windows, which he called Coavinses Castle. +On our going into the entry and ringing a bell, a very hideous boy +came out of a sort of office, and looked at us over a spiked +wicket. + +"Who did you want?" said the boy, fitting two of the spikes into his +chin. + +"There was a follower, or an officer, or something, here," said Mr. +Jarndyce, "who is dead." + +"Yes," said the boy. "Well?" + +"I want to know his name, if you please." + +"Name of Neckett," said the boy. + +"And his address?" + +"Bell Yard," said the boy. "Chandler's shop, left hand side, name of +Blinder." + +"Was he--I don't know how to shape the question," murmured my +Guardian--"industrious?" + +"Was Neckett?" said the boy. "Yes, wery much so. He was never tired +of watching. He'd sit upon a post at a street corner, eight or ten +hours at a stretch, if he undertook to do it." + +"He might have done worse," I heard my Guardian soliloquize. "He +might have undertaken to do it, and not done it. Thank you. That's +all I want." + +We left the boy, with his head on one side, and his arms on the +gate, fondling and sucking the spikes, and went back to Lincoln's +Inn, where Mr. Skimpole, who had not cared to remain nearer +Coavinses, awaited us. Then, we all went to Bell Yard: a narrow +alley, at a very short distance. We soon found the chandler's shop. +In it was a good-natured-looking old woman, with a dropsy or an +asthma, or perhaps both. + +"Neckett's children?" said she, in reply to my inquiry. "Yes, +surely, miss. Three pair, if you please. Door right opposite the top +of the stairs." And she handed me a key across the counter. + +I glanced at the key, and glanced at her; but, she took it for +granted that I knew what to do with it. As it could only be intended +for the children's door, I came out, without asking any more +questions, and led the way up the dark stairs. We went as quietly as +we could; but four of us, made some noise on the aged boards; and, +when we came to the second story, we found we had disturbed a man +who was standing there, looking out of his room. + +"Is it Gridley that's wanted?" he said, fixing his eyes on me with +an angry stare. + +"No, sir," said I, "I am going higher up." + +He looked at Ada, and at Mr. Jarndyce, and at Mr. Skimpole: fixing +the same angry stare on each in succession, as they passed and +followed me. Mr. Jarndyce gave him good-day! "Good-day!" he said, +abruptly and fiercely. He was a tall sallow man, with a care-worn +head, on which but little hair remained, a deeply-lined face, and +prominent eyes. He had a combative look; and a chafing, irritable +manner, which, associated with his figure--still large and powerful, +though evidently in its decline--rather alarmed me. He had a pen in +his hand, and, in the glimpse I caught of his room in passing, I saw +that it was covered with a litter of papers. + +Leaving him standing there, we went up to the top room. I tapped at +the door, and a little shrill voice inside said, "We are locked in. +Mrs. Blinder's got the key." + +I applied the key on hearing this, and opened the door. In a poor +room with a sloping ceiling, and containing very little furniture, +was a mite of a boy, some five or six years old, nursing and hushing +a heavy child of eighteen months. There was no fire, though the +weather was cold; both children were wrapped in some poor shawls and +tippets, as a substitute. Their clothing was not so warm, however, +but that their noses looked red and pinched, and their small figures +shrunken, as the boy walked up and down, nursing and hushing the +child, with its head on his shoulder. + +"Who has locked you up here alone?" we naturally asked. + +"Charley," said the boy, standing still to gaze at us. + +"Is Charley your brother?" + +"No. She's my sister, Charlotte. Father called her Charley." + +"Are there any more of you besides Charley?" + +"Me," said the boy "and Emma," patting the limp bonnet of the child +he was nursing. "And Charley." + +"Where is Charley now?" + +"Out a-washing," said the boy, beginning to walk up and down again, +and taking the nankeen bonnet much too near the bedstead, by trying +to gaze at us at the same time. + +We were looking at one another, and at these two children, when +there came into the room a very little girl, childish in figure but +shrewd and older-looking in the face--pretty faced too--wearing a +womanly sort of bonnet much too large for her, and drying her bare +arms on a womanly sort of apron. Her fingers were white and wrinkled +with washing, and the soap-suds were yet smoking which she wiped off +her arms. But for this, she might have been a child, playing at +washing, and imitating a poor working woman with a quick observation +of the truth. + +She had come running from some place in the neighborhood, and had +made all the haste she could. Consequently, though she was very +light, she was out of breath, and could not speak at first, as she +stood panting, and wiping her arms, and looking quietly at us. + +"O, here's Charley!" said the boy. + +The child he was nursing, stretched forth its arms, and cried out to +be taken by Charley. The little girl took it, in a womanly sort of +manner belonging to the apron and the bonnet, and stood looking at +us over the burden that clung to her most affectionately. + +"Is it possible," whispered my Guardian, as we put a chair for the +little creature, and got her to sit down with her load: the boy +keeping close to her, holding to her apron, "that this child works +for the rest? Look at this! For God's sake look at this!" + +It was a thing to look at. The three children close together, and +two of them relying solely on the third, and the third so young and +yet with an air of age and steadiness that sat so strangely on the +childish figure. + +"Charley, Charley!" said my Guardian. "How old are you?" + +"Over thirteen, sir," replied the child. + +"O! What a great age," said my Guardian. "What a great age, +Charley!" + +I can not describe the tenderness with which he spoke to her; half +playfully, yet all the more compassionately and mournfully. + +"And do you live alone here with these babies, Charley?" said my +Guardian. + +"Yes, sir," returned the child, looking up into his face with +perfect confidence, "since father died." + +"And how do you live, Charley? O! Charley," said my Guardian, +turning his face away for a moment, "how do you live?" + +"Since father died, sir, I've gone out to work. I'm out washing +to-day." + +"God help you, Charley!" said my Guardian. "You're not tall enough +to reach the tub!" + +"In pattens I am, sir," she said quickly. "I've got a high pair as +belonged to mother." + +"And when did mother die? Poor mother!" + +"Mother died, just after Emma was born," said the child, glancing at +the face upon her bosom. "Then, father said I was to be as good a +mother to her as I could. And so I tried. And so I worked at home, +and did cleaning and nursing and washing, for a long time before I +began to go out. And that's how I know how; don't you see, sir?" + +"And do you often go out?" + +"As often as I can," said Charley, opening her eyes, and smiling, +"because of earning sixpences and shillings!" + +"And do you always lock the babies up when you go out?" + +"To keep 'em safe, sir, don't you see?" said Charley. "Mrs. Blinder +comes up now and then, and Mr. Gridley comes up sometimes, and +perhaps I can run in sometimes, and they can play, you know, and Tom +ain't afraid of being locked up, are you, Tom?" + +"No-o!" said Tom, stoutly. + +"When it comes on dark, the lamps are lighted down in the court, and +they show up here quite bright--almost quite bright. Don't they, +Tom?" + +"Yes, Charley," said Tom, "almost quite bright." + +"Then he's as good as gold," said the little creature--O! in such a +motherly, womanly way! "And when Emma's tired, he puts her to bed. +And when he's tired, he goes to bed himself. And when I come home +and light the candle, and has a bit of supper, he sits up again and +has it with me. Don't you, Tom?" + +"O yes, Charley!" said Tom. "That I do!" And either in this glimpse +of the great pleasure of his life, or in gratitude and love for +Charley, who was all in all to him, he laid his face among the +scanty folds of her frock, and passed from laughing into crying. + +It was the first time since our entry, that a tear had been shed +among these children. The little orphan girl had spoken of their +father, and their mother, as if all that sorrow were subdued by the +necessity of taking courage, and by her childish importance in being +able to work, and by her bustling busy way. But, now, when Tom +cried, although she sat quite tranquil, looking quietly at us, and +did not by any movement disturb a hair of the head of either of her +little charges, I saw two silent tears fall down her face. + +I stood at the window with Ada, pretending to look at the housetops, +and the blackened stacks of chimneys, and the poor plants, and the +birds in little cages belonging to the neighbors, when I found that +Mrs. Blinder, from the shop below, had come in (perhaps it had taken +her all this time to get up-stairs) and was talking to my Guardian. + +"It's not much to forgive 'em the rent, sir," she said: "who could +take it from them!" + +"Well, well!" said my Guardian to us two. "It is enough that the +time will come when this good woman will find that it _was_ much, +and that forasmuch as she did it unto the least of these--! This +child," he added, after a few moments, "could she possibly continue +this?" + +"Really, sir, I think she might," said Mrs. Blinder, getting her +heavy breath by painful degrees. "She's as handy as it's possible to +be. Bless you, sir, the way she tended them two children, after the +mother died, was the talk of the yard! And it was a wonder to see +her with him after he was took ill, it really was! 'Mrs. Blinder,' +he said to me the very last he spoke--he was lying there--'Mrs. +Blinder, whatever my calling may have been, I see a Angel sitting in +this room last night along with my child, and I trust her to Our +Father!'" + +"He had no other calling?" said my Guardian. + +"No, sir," returned Mrs. Blinder, "he was nothing but a follerer. +When he first came to lodge here, I didn't know what he was, and I +confess that when I found out I gave him notice. It wasn't liked in +the yard. It wasn't approved by the other lodgers. It is _not_ a +genteel calling," said Mrs. Blinder, "and most people do object to +it. Mr. Gridley objected to it, very strong; and he is a good +lodger, though his temper has been hard tried." + +"So you gave him notice?" said my Guardian. + +"So I gave him notice," said Mrs. Blinder. "But really when the time +came, and I knew no other ill of him, I was in doubts. He was +punctual and diligent; he did what he had to do, sir," said Mrs. +Blinder, unconsciously fixing Mr. Skimpole with her eye; "and it's +something, in this world, even to do that." + +"So you kept him, after all?" + +"Why, I said that if he could arrange with Mr. Gridley, I could +arrange it with the other lodgers, and should not so much mind its +being liked or disliked in the yard. Mr. Gridley gave his consent +gruff--but gave it. He was always gruff with him, but he has been +kind to the children since. A person is never known till a person is +proved." + +"Have many people been kind to the children?" asked Mr. Jarndyce. + +"Upon the whole, not so bad, sir," said Mrs. Blinder, "but, +certainly not so many as would have been, if their father's calling +had been different. Mr. Coavins gave a guinea, and the follerers +made up a little purse. Some neighbors in the yard, that had always +joked and tapped their shoulders when he went by, came forward with +a little subscription, and--in general--not so bad. Similarly with +Charlotte. Some people won't employ her because she was a follerer's +child; some people that do employ her, cast it at her; some make a +merit of having her to work for them, with that and all her +drawbacks upon her: and perhaps pay her less and put upon her more. +But she's patienter than others would be, and is clever too, and +always willing, up to the full mark of her strength and over. So I +should say, in general, not so bad sir, but might be better." + +Mrs. Blinder sat down to give herself a more favorable opportunity +of recovering her breath, exhausted anew by so much talking before +it was fully restored. Mr. Jarndyce was turning to speak to us, when +his attention was attracted by the abrupt entrance into the room of +the Mr. Gridley who had been mentioned, and whom we had seen on our +way up. + +"I don't know what you may be doing here, ladies and gentlemen," he +said, as if he resented our presence, "but you'll excuse my coming +in. I don't come in, to stare about me. Well, Charley! Well, Tom! +Well, little one! How is it with us all to-day?" + +He bent over the group, in a caressing way, and clearly was regarded +as a friend by the children, though his face retained its stern +character, and his manner to us was as rude as it could be. My +Guardian noticed it, and respected it. + +"No one, surely, would come here to stare about him," he said +mildly. + +"May be so, sir, may be so," returned the other, taking Tom upon his +knee, and waving him off impatiently. "I don't want to argue with +ladies and gentlemen. I have had enough of arguing, to last one man +his life." + +"You have sufficient reason, I dare say," said Mr. Jarndyce, "for +being chafed and irritated--" + +"There again!" exclaimed the man, becoming violently angry. "I am of +a quarrelsome temper. I am irascible. I am not polite!" + +"Not very, I think." + +"Sir," said Gridley, putting down the child, and going up to him as +if he mean to strike him, "Do you know any thing of Courts of +Equity?" + +"Perhaps I do, to my sorrow." + +"To your sorrow?" said the man, pausing in his wrath. "If so, I beg +your pardon. I am not polite, I know. I beg your pardon! Sir," with +renewed violence, "I have been dragged for five-and-twenty years +over burning iron, and I have lost the habit of treading upon +velvet. Go into the Court of Chancery yonder, and ask what is one of +the standing jokes that brighten up their business sometimes, and +they will tell you that the best joke they have, is the man from +Shropshire. I," he said, beating one hand on the other passionately, +"am the man from Shropshire." + +"I believe, I and my family have also had the honor of furnishing +some entertainment in the same grave place," said my Guardian, +composedly. "You may have heard my name--Jarndyce." + +"Mr. Jarndyce," said Gridley, with a rough sort of salutation, "you +bear your wrongs more quietly than I can bear mine. More than that, +I tell you--and I tell this gentleman, and these young ladies, if +they are friends of yours--that if I took my wrongs in any other +way, I should be driven mad! It is only by resenting them, and by +revenging them in my mind, and by angrily demanding the justice I +never get, that I am able to keep my wits together. It is only +that!" he said, speaking in a homely, rustic way, and with great +vehemence. "You may tell me that I over-excite myself. I answer that +it's in my nature to do it, under wrong, and I must do it. There's +nothing between doing it, and sinking into the smiling state of the +poor little mad woman that haunts the Court. If I was once to sit +down under it, I should become imbecile." + +The passion and heat in which he was, and the manner in which his +face worked, and the violent gestures with which he accompanied what +he said, were most painful to see. + +"Mr. Jarndyce," he said, "consider my case. As true as there is a +Heaven above us, this is my case. I am one of two brothers. My +father (a farmer) made a will, and left his farm and stock, and so +forth, to my mother, for her life. After my mother's death, all was +to come to me, except a legacy of three hundred pounds that I was +then to pay my brother. My mother died. My brother, some time +afterward, claimed his legacy. I, and some of my relations, said +that he had had a part of it already, in board and lodging, and some +other things. Now, mind! That was the question, and nothing else. No +one disputed the will! no one disputed any thing but whether part of +that three hundred pounds had been already paid or not. To settle +that question, my brother filing a bill, I was obliged to go into +this accursed Chancery; I was forced there, because the law forced +me, and would let me go nowhere else. Seventeen people were made +defendants to that simple suit! It first came on, after two years. +It was then stopped for another two years, while the Master (may his +head rot off!) inquired whether I was my father's son--about which, +there was no dispute at all with any mortal creature. He then found +out, that there were not defendants enough--remember, there were +only seventeen as yet!--but, that we must have another who had been +left out; and must begin all over again. The costs at that +time--before the thing was begun!--were three times the legacy. My +brother would have given up the legacy, and joyful, to escape more +costs. My whole estate, left to me in that will of my father's, has +gone in costs. The suit still undecided, has fallen into rack, and +ruin, and despair, with every thing else--and here I stand this day! +Now, Mr. Jarndyce, in your suit there are thousands and thousands +involved where in mine there are hundreds. Is mine less hard to +bear, or is it harder to bear, when my whole living was in it, and +has been thus shamefully sucked away?" + +Mr. Jarndyce said that he condoled with him with all his heart, and +that he set up no monopoly, himself, in being unjustly treated by +this monstrous system. + +"There again!" said Mr. Gridley, with no diminution of his rage. +"The system! I am told, on all hands, it's the system. I mustn't +look to individuals. It's the system. I mustn't go into Court, and +say, 'My Lord, I beg to know this from you--is this right or wrong? +Have you the face to tell me I have received justice, and therefore +am dismissed?' My Lord knows nothing of it. He sits there to +administer the system. I mustn't go to Mr. Tulkinghorn, the +solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and say to him when he makes me +furious, by being so cool and satisfied--as they all do; for I know +they gain by it while I lose, don't I?--I mustn't say to him, I will +have something out of some one for my ruin, by fair means or foul! +_He_ is not responsible. It's the system. But if I do no violence to +any of them, here--I may! I don't know what may happen if I am +carried beyond myself at last!--I will accuse the individual workers +of that system against me, face to face, before the great eternal +bar!" + +His passion was fearful. I could not have believed in such rage +without seeing it. + +"I have done!" he said, sitting down and wiping his face. "Mr. +Jarndyce, I have done! I am violent, I know. I ought to know it. I +have been in prison for contempt of Court. I have been in prison for +threatening the solicitor. I have been in this trouble, and that +trouble, and shall be again. I am the man from Shropshire, and I +sometimes go beyond amusing them--though they have found it amusing, +too, to see me committed into custody, and brought up in custody, +and all that. It would be better for me, they tell me, if I +restrained myself. I tell them, that if I did restrain myself, I +should become imbecile. I was a good-enough-tempered man once, I +believe. People in my part of the country, say, they remember me so; +but, now, I must have this vent under my sense of injury, or nothing +could hold my wits together. 'It would be far better for you, Mr. +Gridley,' the Lord Chancellor told me last week, 'not to waste your +time here, and to stay, usefully employed, down in Shropshire.' 'My +Lord, my Lord, I know it would,' said I to him, 'and it would have +been far better for me never to have heard the name of your high +office; but, unhappily for me, I can't undo the past, and the past +drives me here!'--Besides," he added, breaking fiercely out, "I'll +shame them. To the last, I'll show myself in that court to its +shame. If I knew when I was going to die, and could be carried +there, and had a voice to speak with, I would die there, saying, +'You have brought me here, and sent me from here, many and many a +time. Now send me out, feet foremost!'" + +His countenance had, perhaps for years, become so set in its +contentious expression that it did not soften, even now when he was +quiet. + +"I came to take these babies down to my room for an hour," he said, +going to them again, "and let them play about. I didn't mean to say +all this, but it don't much signify. You're not afraid of me, Tom; +are you?" + +"No!" said Tom. "You ain't angry with _me_." + +"You are right, my child. You're going back, Charley? Ay? Come then, +little one!" He took the youngest child on his arm, where she was +willing enough to be carried. "I shouldn't wonder if we found a +gingerbread soldier down-stairs. Let's go and look for him!" + +He made his former rough salutation, which was not deficient in a +certain respect, to Mr. Jarndyce; and bowing slightly to us, went +down-stairs to his room. + +Upon that, Mr. Skimpole began to talk, for the first time since our +arrival, in his usual gay strain. He said, Well, it was really very +pleasant to see how things lazily adapted themselves to purposes. +Here was this Mr. Gridley, a man of a robust will, and surprising +energy--intellectually speaking, a sort of inharmonious +black-smith--and he could easily imagine that there Gridley was, +years ago, wandering about in life for something to expend his +superfluous combativeness upon--a sort of Young Love among the +thorns--when the Court of Chancery came in his way, and accommodated +him with the exact thing he wanted. There they were, matched ever +afterward! Otherwise he might have been a great general, blowing up +all sorts of towns, or he might have been a great politician, +dealing in all sorts of parliamentary rhetoric; but, as it was, he +and the Court of Chancery had fallen upon each other in the +pleasantest way, and nobody was much the worse, and Gridley was, so +to speak, from that hour provided for. Then look at Coavinses! How +delightfully poor Coavinses (father of these charming children) +illustrated the same principle! He, Mr. Skimpole, himself, had +sometimes repined at the existence of Coavinses. He had found +Coavinses in his way. He could have dispensed with Coavinses. There +had been times, when, if he had been a Sultan, and his Grand Vizier +had said one morning, "What does the Commander of the Faithful +require at the hands of his slave?" he might have even gone so far +as to reply, "The head of Coavinses!" But what turned out to be the +case? That, all that time, he had been giving employment to a most +deserving man; that he had been a benefactor to Coavinses; that he +had actually been enabling Coavinses to bring up these charming +children in this agreeable way, developing these social virtues! +Insomuch that his heart had just now swelled, and the tears had +come into his eyes, when he had looked round the room, and thought, +"_I_ was the great patron of Coavinses, and his little comforts were +_my_ work!" + +There was something so captivating in his light way of touching +these fantastic strings, and he was such a mirthful child by the +side of the graver childhood we had seen, that he made my Guardian +smile even as he turned toward us from a little private talk with +Mrs. Blinder. We kissed Charley, and took her down stairs with us, +and stopped outside the house to see her run away to her work. I +don't know where she was going, but we saw her run, such a little, +little creature, in her womanly bonnet and apron, through a covered +way at the bottom of the court; and melt into the city's strife and +sound, like a dew-drop in an ocean. + + +CHAPTER XVI.--TOM-ALL-ALONE'S. + +My Lady Dedlock is restless, very restless. The astonished +fashionable intelligence hardly knows where to have her. To-day, she +is at Chesney Wold; yesterday, she was at her house in town; +to-morrow, she may be abroad, for any thing the fashionable +intelligence can with confidence predict. Even Sir Leicester's +gallantry has some trouble to keep pace with her. It would have +more, but that his other faithful ally, for better and for +worse--the gout--darts into the old oak bed-chamber at Chesney Wold, +and grips him by both legs. + +Sir Leicester receives the gout as a troublesome demon, but still a +demon of the patrician order. All the Dedlocks, in the direct male +line, through a course of time during and beyond which the memory of +man goeth not to the contrary, have had the gout. It can be proved, +sir. Other men's fathers may have died of the rheumatism, or may +have taken base contagion from the tainted blood of the sick vulgar; +but, the Dedlock family have communicated something exclusive, even +to the leveling process of dying, by dying of their own family gout. +It has come down, through the illustrious line, like the plate, or +the pictures, or the place in Lincolnshire. It is among their +dignities. Sir Leicester is, perhaps, not wholly without an +impression, though he has never resolved it into words, that the +angel of death in the discharge of his necessary duties may observe +to the shades of the aristocracy, "My lords and gentlemen, I have +the honor to present to you another Dedlock, certified to have +arrived per the family gout." + +Hence, Sir Leicester yields up his family legs to the family +disorder, as if he held his name and fortune on that feudal tenure. +He feels, that for a Dedlock to be laid upon his back and +spasmodically twitched and stabbed in his extremities, is a liberty +taken somewhere; but, he thinks, "We have all yielded to this; it +belongs to us; it has, for some hundreds of years, been understood +that we are not to make the vaults in the park interesting on more +ignoble terms; and I submit myself to the compromise." + +And a goodly show he makes, lying in a flush of crimson and gold, in +the midst of the great drawing-room, before his favorite picture of +my Lady, with broad strips of sunlight shining in, down the long +perspective, through the long line of windows, and alternating with +soft reliefs of shadow. Outside, the stately oaks, rooted for ages +in the green ground which has never known plowshare, but was still a +Chase when kings rode to battle with sword and shield, and rode +a-hunting with bow and arrow; bear witness to his greatness. Inside, +his forefathers, looking on him from the walls, say, "Each of us was +a passing reality here, and left this colored shadow of himself, and +melted into remembrance as dreamy as the distant voices of the rooks +now lulling you to rest;" and bear their testimony to his greatness +too. And he is very great, this day. And woe to Boythorn, or other +daring wight, who shall presumptuously contest an inch with him! + +My Lady is at present represented, near Sir Leicester, by her +portrait. She has flitted away to town, with no intention of +remaining there, and will soon flit hither again, to the confusion +of the fashionable intelligence. The house in town is not prepared +for her reception. It is muffled and dreary. Only one Mercury in +powder, gapes disconsolate at the hall-window; and he mentioned last +night to another Mercury of his acquaintance, also accustomed to +good society, that if that sort of thing was to last--which it +couldn't, for a man of his spirits couldn't bear it, and a man of +his figure couldn't be expected to bear it--there would be no +resource for him, upon his honor, but to cut his throat! + +What connection can there be between the place in Lincolnshire, the +house in town, the Mercury in powder, and the whereabout of Jo the +outlaw with the broom, who had that distant ray of light upon him +when he swept the churchyard-step? What connection can there have +been between many people in the innumerable histories of this world, +who, from opposite sides of great gulfs, have, nevertheless, been +very curiously brought together! + +Jo sweeps his crossing all day long, unconscious of the link, if any +link there be. He sums up his mental condition, when asked a +question, by replying that he "don't know nothink." He knows that +it's hard to keep the mud off the crossing in dirty weather, and +harder still to live by doing it. Nobody taught him, even that much; +he found it out. + +Jo lives--that is to say, Jo has not yet died--in a ruinous place, +known to the like of him by the name of Tom-all-alone's. It is a +black, dilapidated street, avoided by all decent people; where the +crazy houses were seized upon, when their decay was far advanced, by +some bold vagrants, who, after establishing their own possession, +took to letting them out in lodgings. Now these tumbling tenements +contain, by night, a swarm of misery. As, on the ruined human +wretch, vermin parasites appear, so, these ruined shelters have bred +a crowd of foul existence, that crawls in and out of gaps in walls +and boards; and coils itself to sleep, in maggot numbers, where the +rain drips in; and comes and goes, fetching and carrying fever, and +sowing more evil in its every footprint than Lord Coodle, and Sir +Thomas Doodle, and the Duke of Foodle, and all the fine gentlemen in +office, down to Zoodle, shall set right in five hundred +years--though born expressly to do it. + +Twice, lately, there has been a crash and a cloud of dust, like the +springing of a mine, in Tom-all-alone's; and, each time, a house has +fallen. These accidents have made a paragraph in the newspapers, and +have filled a bed or two in the nearest hospital. The gaps remain, +and there are not unpopular lodgings among the rubbish. As +several more houses are nearly ready to go, the next crash in +Tom-all-alone's may be expected to be a good one. + +This desirable property is in Chancery, of course. It would be an +insult to the discernment of any man with half an eye, to tell him +so. Whether "Tom" is the popular representative of the original +plaintiff or defendant in Jarndyce and Jarndyce; or, whether Tom +lived here when the suit had laid the street waste, all alone, until +other settlers came to join him, or, whether the traditional title +is a comprehensive name for a retreat cut off from honest company +and put out of the pale of hope; perhaps nobody knows. Certainly, Jo +don't know. + +"For _I_ don't," says Jo, "_I_ don't know nothink." + +It must be a strange state to be like Jo! To shuffle through the +streets, unfamiliar with the shapes, and in utter darkness as to the +meaning, of those mysterious symbols, so abundant over the shops, +and at the corners of streets, and on the doors, and in the windows! +To see people read, and to see people write, and to see the postmen +deliver letters, and not to have the least idea of all that +language--to be, to every scrap of it, stone blind and dumb! It must +be very puzzling to see the good company going to the churches on +Sundays, with their books in their hands, and to think (for perhaps +Jo _does_ think, at odd times) what does it all mean, and if it +means any thing to any body, how comes it that it means nothing to +me? To be hustled, and jostled and moved on; and really to feel that +it would appear to be perfectly true that I have no business, here, +or there, or any where; and yet to be perplexed by the consideration +that I _am_ here somehow too, and every body overlooked me until I +became the creature that I am! It must be a strange state, not +merely to be told that I am scarcely human (as in the case of my +offering myself for a witness), but to feel it of my own knowledge +all my life! To see the horses, dogs, and cattle, go by me, and to +know that in ignorance I belong to them, and not to the superior +beings in my shape, whose delicacy I offend! Jo's ideas of a +Criminal Trial, or a Judge, or a Bishop, or a Government, or that +inestimable jewel to him (if he only knew it) the Constitution, +should be strange! His whole material and immaterial life is +wonderfully strange; his death, the strangest thing of all. + +Jo comes out of Tom-all-alone's, meeting the tardy morning which is +always late in getting down there, and munches his dirty bit of +bread as he comes along. His way lying through many streets, and the +houses not yet being open, he sits down to breakfast on the +door-step of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in +Foreign Parts, and gives it a brush when he has finished, as an +acknowledgment of the accommodation. He admires the size of the +edifice, and wonders what it's all about. He has no idea, poor +wretch, of the spiritual destitution of a coral reef in the Pacific, +or what it costs to look up the precious souls among the cocoa-nuts +and bread-fruit. + +He goes to his crossing, and begins to lay it out for the day. The +town awakes; the great tee-totum is set up for its daily spin and +whirl; all that unaccountable reading and writing, which has been +suspended for a few hours, recommences. Jo, and the other lower +animals, get on in the unintelligible mess as they can. It is +market-day. The blinded oxen, over-goaded, over-driven, never +guided, run into wrong places and are beaten out; and plunge, +red-eyed and foaming, at stone walls; and often sorely hurt the +innocent, and often sorely hurt themselves. Very like Jo and his +order; very, very like! + +A band of music comes and plays. Jo listens to it. So does a dog--a +drover's dog, waiting for his master outside a butcher's shop, and +evidently thinking about those sheep he has had upon his mind for +some hours, and is happily rid of. He seems perplexed respecting +three or four; can't remember where he left them; looks up and down +the street, as half expecting to see them astray; suddenly pricks up +his ears and remembers all about it. A thoroughly vagabond dog, +accustomed to low company and public-houses; a terrific dog to +sheep; ready at a whistle to scamper over their backs, and tear out +mouthfuls of their wool; but an educated, improved, developed dog, +who has been taught his duties and knows how to discharge them. He +and Jo listen to the music, probably with much the same amount of +animal satisfaction; likewise, as to awakened association, +aspiration or regret, melancholy or joyful reference to things +beyond the senses, they are probably upon a par. But, otherwise, how +far above the human listener is the brute! + +Turn that dog's descendants wild, like Jo, and in a very few years +they will so degenerate that they will lose even their bark--but not +their bite. + +The day changes as it wears itself away, and becomes dark and +drizzly. Jo fights it out, at his crossing, among the mud and +wheels, the horses, whips, and umbrellas, and gets but a scanty sum +to pay for the unsavory shelter of Tom-all-alone's. Twilight comes +on; gas begins to start up in the shops; the lamp-lighter, with his +ladder, runs along the margin of the pavement. A wretched evening +is beginning to close in. + +In his chambers, Mr. Tulkinghorn sits meditating an application to +the nearest magistrate to-morrow morning for a warrant. Gridley, a +disappointed suitor, has been here to-day, and has been alarming. We +are not to be put in bodily fear, and that ill-conditioned fellow +shall be held to bail again. From the ceiling, foreshortened +allegory, in the person of one impossible Roman upside down, points +with the arm of Samson (out of joint, and an odd one) obtrusively +toward the window. Why should Mr. Tulkinghorn, for such no reason, +look out of window? Is the hand not always pointing there? So he +does not look out of window. + +And if he did, what would it be to see a woman going by? There are +women enough in the world, Mr. Tulkinghorn thinks--too many; they +are at the bottom of all that goes wrong in it though, for the +matter of that, they create business for lawyers. What would it be +to see a woman going by, even though she were going secretly? They +are all secret. Mr. Tulkinghorn knows that, very well. + +But they are not all like the woman who now leaves him and his house +behind; between whose plain dress, and her refined manner, there is +something exceedingly inconsistent. She should be an upper servant +by her attire, yet, in her air and step, though both are hurried and +assumed--as far as she can assume in the muddy streets, which she +treads with an unaccustomed foot--she is a lady. Her face is vailed, +and still she sufficiently betrays herself to make more than one of +those who pass her look round sharply. + +She never turns her head. Lady or servant, she has a purpose in her, +and can follow it. She never turns her head, until she comes to the +crossing where Jo plies with his broom. He crosses with her, and +begs. Still, she does not turn her head until she has landed on the +other side. Then, she slightly beckons to him, and says, "Come +here!" + +Jo follows her, a pace or two, into a quiet court. + +"Are you the boy I have read of in the papers?" she asks, behind her +vail. + +"I don't know," says Jo, staring moodily at the vail, "nothink about +no papers. I don't know nothink about nothink at all." + +"Were you examined at an Inquest?" + +"I don't know nothink about no--where I was took by the beadle, do +you mean?" says Jo. "Was the boy's name at the Inkwhich, Jo?" + +"Yes." + +"That's me!" says Jo. + +"Come farther up." + +"You mean about the man?" says Jo, following. "Him as was dead?" + +"Hush! Speak in a whisper! Yes. Did he look, when he was living, so +very ill and poor!" + +"O jist!" says Jo. + +"Did he look like--not like _you_?" says the woman with abhorrence. + +"O not so bad as me," says Jo. "I'm a reg'lar one, _I_ am! You +didn't know him, did you?" + +"How dare you ask me if I knew him?" + +"No offense, my lady," says Jo, with much humility; for even he has +got at the suspicion of her being a lady. + +"I am not a lady. I am a servant." + +"You are a jolly servant!" says Jo; without the least idea of saying +any thing offensive; merely as a tribute of admiration. + +"Listen and be silent. Don't talk to me, and stand farther from me! +Can you show me all those places that were spoken of in the account +I read? The place he wrote for, the place he died at, the place +where you were taken to, and the place where he was buried? Do you +know the place where he was buried?" + +Jo answers with a nod; having also nodded as each other place was +mentioned. + +"Go before me, and show me all those dreadful places. Stop opposite +to each, and don't speak to me unless I speak to you. Don't look +back. Do what I want, and I will pay you well." + +Jo attends closely while the words are being spoken; tells them off +on his broom-handle, finding them rather hard; pauses to consider +their meaning; considers it satisfactory, and nods his ragged head. + +"I am fly," says Jo. "But fen larks, you know! Stow hooking it!" + +"What does the horrible creature mean?" exclaims the servant, +recoiling from him. + +"Stow cutting away, you know!" says Jo. + +"I don't understand you. Go on before! I will give you more money +than you ever had in your life." + +Jo screws up his mouth into a whistle, gives his ragged head a rub, +takes his broom under his arm, and leads the way; passing deftly, +with his bare feet, over the hard stones, and through the mud and +mire. + +Cook's Court. Jo stops. A pause. + +"Who lives here?" + +"Him wot give him his writing, and give me half a bull," says Jo in +a whisper, without looking over his shoulder. + +"Go on to the next." + +Krook's house. Jo stops again. A longer pause. + +"Who lives here!" + +"_He_ lived here," Jo answers as before. + +After a silence, he is asked "In which room?" + +"In the back room up there. You can see the winder from this corner. +Up there! That's where I see him stritched out. This is the public +ouse where I was took to." + +"Go on to the next!" + +It is a longer walk to the next; but, Jo relieved of his first +suspicions, sticks to the terms imposed upon him, and does not look +round. By many devious ways, reeking with offense of many kinds, +they come to the little tunnel of a court, and to the gas-lamp +(lighted now), and to the iron gate. + +"He was put there," says Jo, holding to the bars and looking in. + +"Where? O, what a scene of horror!" + +"There!" says Jo, pointing. "Over yinder. Among them piles of bones, +and close to that there kitchin winder! They put him very nigh the +top. They was obliged to stamp upon it to git it in. I could unkiver +it for you, with my broom, if the gate was open. That's why they +locks it, I s'pose," giving it a shake. "It's always locked. Look at +the rat!" cries Jo, excited. "Hi! Look! There he goes! Ho! Into the +ground!" + +The servant shrinks into a corner--into a corner of that hideous +archway, with its deadly stains contaminating her dress; and putting +out her two hands, and passionately telling him to keep away from +her, for he is loathsome to her, so remains for some moments. Jo +stands staring, and is still staring when she recovers herself. + +[Illustration: CONSECRATED GROUND.] + +"Is this place of abomination, consecrated ground?" + +"I don't know nothink of consequential ground," says Jo, still +staring. + +"Is it blessed?" + +"WHICH?" says Jo, in the last degree amazed. + +"Is it blessed?" + +"I'm blest if I know," says Jo, staring more than ever; "but I +shouldn't think it warn't. Blest?" repeats Jo, something troubled in +his mind. "It an't done it much good if it is. Blest? I should think +it was t'othered myself. But _I_ don't know nothink!" + +The servant takes as little heed of what he says, as she seems to +take of what she has said herself. She draws off her glove, to get +some money from her purse. Jo silently notices how white and small +her hand is, and what a jolly servant she must be to wear such +sparkling rings. + +She drops a piece of money in his hand, without touching it, and +shuddering as their hands approach. "Now," she adds, "show me the +spot again!" + +Joe thrusts the handle of his broom between the bars of the gate, +and, with his utmost power of elaboration, points it out. At length, +looking aside to see if he has made himself intelligible, he finds +that he is alone. + +His first proceeding is, to hold the piece of money to the +gas-light, and to be overpowered at finding that it is yellow--gold. +His next, is, to give it a one-sided bite at the edge, as a test of +its quality. His next, to put it in his mouth for safety, and to +sweep the step and passage with great care. His job done, he sets +off for Tom-all-alone's; stopping in the light of innumerable +gas-lamps to produce the piece of gold, and give it another +one-sided bite, as a re-assurance of its being genuine. + +The Mercury in powder is in no want of society to-night, for my Lady +goes to a grand dinner and three or four balls. Sir Leicester is +fidgety, down at Chesney Wold, with no better company than the gout; +he complains to Mrs. Rouncewell that the rain makes such a +monotonous pattering on the terrace, that he can't read the paper, +even by the fireside in his own snug dressing-room. + +"Sir Leicester would have done better to try the other side of the +house, my dear," says Mrs. Rouncewell to Rosa. "His dressing-room is +on my Lady's side. And in all these years I never heard the step +upon the Ghost's Walk, more distinct than it is to-night!" + + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + FOOTNOTE: + + [7] Continued from the July Number. + + + + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.[8] + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +We have seen Squire Hazeldean (proud of the contents of his +pocket-book, and his knowledge of the mercenary nature of foreign +women), set off on his visit to Beatrice di Negra. Randal, thus left +musing lone in the crowded streets, revolved with astute complacency +the probable results of Mr. Hazeldean's bluff negotiation; and, +convincing himself that one of his vistas toward Fortune was +becoming more clear and clear, he turned, with the restless activity +of some founder of destined cities in a new settlement, to lop the +boughs that cumbered and obscured the others. For truly, like a man +in a vast Columbian forest, opening entangled space, now with the +ready ax, now with the patient train, that kindles the slower fire, +this child of civilized life went toiling on against surrounding +obstacles, resolute to destroy, but ever scheming to construct. And +now Randal has reached Levy's dainty business-room, and is buried +deep in discussion how to secure to himself, at the expense of his +patron, the representation of Lansmere, and how to complete the +contract which shall reannex to his forlorn inheritance some +fragments of its ancient wealth. + +Meanwhile, Chance fought on his side in the boudoir of May Fair. The +Squire had found the Marchesa at home--briefly introduced himself +and his business--told her she was mistaken if she had fancied she +had taken in a rich heir in his son--that, thank Heaven, he could +leave his estates to his plowman, if he so pleased, but that he was +willing to do things liberally; and whatever she thought Frank was +worth, he was very ready to pay for. + +At another time Beatrice would perhaps have laughed at this strange +address; or she might, in some prouder moment, have fired up with +all a patrician's resentment and a woman's pride; but now her spirit +was crushed, her nerves shattered; the sense of her degraded +position, of her dependence on her brother, combined with her +supreme unhappiness at the loss of those dreams with which Leonard +had for a while charmed her wearied waking life--all came upon her. +She listened, pale and speechless; and the poor Squire thought he +was quietly advancing toward a favorable result, when she suddenly +burst into a passion of hysterical tears; and just at that moment +Frank himself entered the room. At the sight of his father, of +Beatrice's grief, his sense of filial duty gave way. He was maddened +by irritation--by the insult offered to the woman he loved, which a +few trembling words from her explained to him; maddened yet more by +the fear that the insult had lost her to him--warm words ensued +between son and father, to close with the peremptory command and +vehement threat of the last. + +"Come away this instant, sir! Come with me, or before the day is +over I strike you out of my will!" + +The son's answer was not to his father; he threw himself at +Beatrice's feet. + +"Forgive him--forgive us both--" + +"What! you prefer that stranger to me--to the inheritance of +Hazeldean!" cried the Squire, stamping his foot. + +"Leave your estates to whom you will; all that I care for in life is +here!" + +The Squire stood still a moment or so, gazing on his son, with a +strange bewildered marvel at the strength of that mystic passion, +which none not laboring under its fearful charm can comprehend, +which creates the sudden idol that no reason justifies, and +sacrifices to its fatal shrine alike the Past and the Future. Not +trusting himself to speak, the father drew his hand across his eyes, +and dashed away the bitter tear that sprang from a swelling +indignant heart; then he uttered an inarticulate sound, and, finding +his voice gone, moved away to the door, and left the house. + +He walked through the streets, bearing his head very erect, as a +proud man does when deeply wounded, and striving to shake off some +affection that he deems a weakness; and his trembling, nervous +fingers fumbled at the button on his coat, trying to tighten the +garment across his chest, as if to confirm a resolution that still +sought to struggle out of the revolting heart. + +Thus he went on, and the reader, perhaps, will wonder whither; and +the wonder may not lessen when he finds the Squire come to a dead +pause in Grosvenor Square, and at the portico of his "distant +brother's" stately house. + +At the Squire's brief inquiry whether Mr. Egerton was at home, the +porter summoned the groom of the chambers; and the groom of the +chambers, seeing a stranger, doubted whether his master was not +engaged, but would take in the stranger's card and see. + +"Ay, ay," muttered the Squire, "this is true relationship--my child +prefers a stranger to me. Why should I complain that I am a stranger +in a brother's house. Sir," added the Squire aloud, and very +meekly--"Sir, please to say to your master that I am William +Hazeldean." + +The servant bowed low, and without another word conducted the +visitor into the statesman's library, and announcing Mr. Hazeldean, +closed the door. + +Audley was seated at his desk, the grim iron boxes still at his +feet, but they were now closed and locked. And the ex-minister was +no longer looking over official documents; letters spread open +before him, of far different nature; in his hand there lay a long +lock of fair silken hair, on which his eyes were fixed sadly and +intently. He started at the sound of his visitor's name, and the +tread of the Squire's stalwart footstep; and mechanically thrust +into his bosom the relic of younger and warmer years, keeping his +hand to his heart, which beat loud with disease, under the light +pressure of that golden hair. + +The two brothers stood on the great man's lonely hearth, facing each +other in silence, and noting unconsciously the change made in each +during the long years in which they had never met. + +The Squire, with his portly size, his hardy, sun-burnt cheeks, the +partial baldness of his unfurrowed open forehead, looked his +full age--deep into middle life. Unmistakably he seemed the +_paterfamilias_--the husband and the father--the man of social +domestic ties. But about Audley (really some few years junior to the +Squire), despite the lines of care on his handsome face, there still +lingered the grace of youth. Men of cities retain youth longer than +those of the country--a remark which Buffon has not failed to make +and to account for. Neither did Egerton betray the air of the +married man; for ineffable solitariness seemed stamped upon the man, +whose private life had long been so stern a solitude. No ray from +the focus of Home played round that reserved, unjoyous, melancholy +brow. In a word, Audley looked still the man for whom some young +female heart might fondly sigh; and not the less because of the cold +eye and compressed lip, which challenged interest even while seeming +to repel it. + +Audley was the first to speak, and to put forth the right hand, +which he stole slowly from its place at his breast, on which the +lock of hair still stirred to and fro at the heave of the laboring +heart. "William," said he, with his rich, deep voice, "this is +kind. You are come to see me, now that men say I am fallen. The +minister you censured is no more; and you see again the brother." + +The Squire was softened at once by this address. He shook heartily +the hand tendered to him; and then, turning away his head, with an +honest conviction that Audley ascribed to him a credit which he did +not deserve, he said, "No, no, Audley; I am more selfish than you +think me. I have come--I have come to ask your advice--no, not +exactly that--your opinion. But you are busy--?" + +"Sit down, William. Old days were coming over me when you entered; +days earlier still return now--days, too, that leave no shadow when +their suns are set." + +The proud man seemed to think he had said too much. His practical +nature rebuked the poetic sentiment and phrase. He re-collected +himself, and added, more coldly, "You would ask my opinion? What on? +Some public matter--some Parliamentary bill that may affect your +property?" + +"Am I such a mean miser as that? Property--property? What does +property matter, when a man is struck down at his own hearth? +Property, indeed! But you have no child--happy brother!" + +"Ay, ay; as you say, I am a happy man; childless! Has your son +displeased you? I have heard him spoken of well, too." + +"Don't talk of him. Whether his conduct be good or ill is my +affair," resumed the poor father with a testy voice--jealous alike +of Audley's praise or blame of his rebellious son. Then he rose a +moment, and made a strong gulp as if for air; and laying his broad +brown hand on his brother's shoulder, said, "Randal Leslie tells me +you are wise--a consummate man of the world. No doubt you are +so. And Parson Dale tells me that he is sure you have warm +feelings--which I take to be a strange thing for one who has lived +so long in London, and has no wife and no child--a widower, and a +Member of Parliament--for a commercial city, too. Never smile; it is +no smiling matter with me. You know a foreign woman, called Negra or +Negro--not a blackymoor, though, by any means--at least on the +outside of her. Is she such a woman as a plain country gentleman +would like his only son to marry--ay or no?" + +"No, indeed," answered Audley, gravely, "and I trust your son will +commit no action so rash. Shall I see him or her? Speak, my dear +William. What would you have me do?" + +"Nothing; you have said enough," replied the Squire, gloomily; and +his head sank on his breast. + +Audley took his hand, and pressed it fraternally. "William," said +the statesman, "we have been long estranged; but I do not forget +that when we last met, at--at Lord Lansmere's house, and when I took +you aside, and said, 'William, if I lose this election, I must +resign all chance of public life: my affairs are embarrassed; I may +need--I would not accept money from you--I would seek a profession, +and you can help me there,' you divined my meaning, and said--'Take +orders; the Hazeldean living is just vacant. I will get some one to +hold it till you are ordained.' I do not forget that. Would that I +had thought earlier of so serene an escape from all that then +tormented me. My lot might have been far happier." + +The Squire eyed Audley with a surprise that broke forth from his +more absorbing emotions. "Happier! Why, all things have prospered +with you; and you are rich enough now; and--you shake your head. +Brother, is it possible! do you want money? Pooh, not accept money +from your mother's son!--stuff." Out came the Squire's pocket-book. +Audley put it gently aside. + +"Nay," said he, "I have enough for myself; but since you seek and +speak with me thus affectionately, I will ask you one favor. Should +I die before I can provide for my wife's kinsman, Randal Leslie, as +I could wish, will you see to his fortunes, so far as you can, +without injury to others--to your own son?" + +"My son! He _is_ provided for. He has the Casino estate--much good +may it do him. You have touched on the very matter that brought me +here. This boy, Randal Leslie, seems a praiseworthy lad, and has +Hazeldean blood in his veins. You have taken him up because he is +connected with your late wife. Why should not I take him up, too, +when his grandmother was a Hazeldean? I wanted to ask you what you +meant to do for him; for if you did not mean to provide for him, why +I will, as in duty bound. So your request comes at the right time; I +think of altering my will. I can put him into the entail, besides a +handsome legacy. You are sure he is a good lad--and it will please +you too, Audley?" + +"But not at the expense of your son. And stay, William--as to this +foolish marriage with Madame di Negra, who told you Frank meant to +take such a step?" + +"He told me himself; but it is no matter. Randal and I both did all +we could to dissuade him; and Randal advised me to come to you." + +"He has acted generously, then, our kinsman Randal--I am glad to +hear it"--said Audley, his brow somewhat clearing. "I have no +influence with this lady; but at least, I can counsel her. Do not +consider the marriage fixed because a young man desires it. Youth is +ever hot and rash." + +"Your youth never was," retorted the Squire, bluntly. "You married +well enough, I'm sure. I will say one thing for you: you have been, +to my taste, a bad politician--beg pardon--but you were always a +gentleman. You would never have disgraced your family and married +a--" + +"Hush!" interrupted Egerton, gently. "Do not make matters worse than +they are. Madame di Negra is of high birth in her own country; and +if scandal--" + +"Scandal!" cried the Squire, shrinking and turning pale. "Are you +speaking of the wife of a Hazeldean? At least, she shall never sit +by the hearth at which now sits his mother; and whatever I may do +for Frank, her children shall not succeed. No mongrel cross-breed +shall kennel in English Hazeldean. Much obliged to you, Audley, for +your good feeling--glad to have seen you; and harkye, you startled +me by that shake of your head, when I spoke of your wealth; and, +from what you say about Randal's prospects, I guess that you London +gentlemen are not so thrifty as we are. You _shall_ let me speak. I +say again, that I have some thousands quite at your service. And +though you are not a Hazeldean, still you are my mother's son; and +now that I am about to alter my will, I can as well scratch in the +name of Egerton as that of Leslie. Cheer up, cheer up; you are +younger than I am, and you have no child; so you will live longer +than I shall." + +"My dear brother," answered Audley, "believe me, I shall never live +to want your aid. And as to Leslie, add to the £5000 I mean to give +him, an equal sum in your will, and I shall feel that he has +received justice." + +Observing that the Squire, though he listened attentively, made no +ready answer, Audley turned the subject again to Frank; and with the +adroitness of a man of the world, backed by cordial sympathy in his +brother's distress, he pleaded so well Frank's lame cause, urged so +gently the wisdom of patience and delay, and the appeal to filial +feeling rather than recourse to paternal threats, that the Squire +grew molified in spite of himself, and left his brother's house a +much less angry, and less doleful man. + +Mr. Hazeldean was still in the square when he came upon Randal +himself, who was walking with a dark-whiskered, showy gentleman, +toward Egerton's house. Randal and the gentleman exchanged a hasty +whisper, and the former exclaimed, + +"What, Mr. Hazeldean, have you just left your brother's house? Is it +possible?" + +"Why, you advised me to go there, and I did. I scarcely knew what I +was about. I am very glad I did go. Hang politics! hang the landed +interest! what do I care for either now?" + +"Foiled with Madame di Negra?" asked Randal, drawing the Squire +aside. + +"Never speak of her again!" cried the Squire, fiercely. "And as to +that ungrateful boy--but I don't mean to behave harshly to him--he +shall have money enough to keep her if he likes--keep her from +coming to me--keep him, too, from counting on my death, and +borrowing post-obits on the Casino--for he'll be doing that +next--no, I hope I wrong him there; I have been too good a father +for him to count on my death already. After all," continued the +Squire, beginning to relax, "as Audley says, the marriage is not yet +made; and if the woman has taken him in, he is young, and his heart +is warm. Make yourself easy, my boy. I don't forget how kindly you +took his part; and before I do any thing rash, I'll at least take +advice with his poor mother." + +Randal gnawed his pale lip, and a momentary cloud of disappointment +passed over his face. + +"True, sir," said he, gently; "true, you must not be rash. Indeed, I +was thinking of you and poor dear Frank at the very moment I met +you. It occurred to me whether we might not make Frank's very +embarrassments a reason to induce Madame di Negra to refuse him; and +I was on my way to Mr. Egerton, in order to ask his opinion, in +company with the gentleman yonder." + +"Gentleman yonder? Why should he thrust his long nose into my family +affairs? Who the devil is he?" + +"Don't ask, sir. Pray let me act." + +But the Squire continued to eye askant the dark-whiskered personage +thus thrust between himself and his son, and who waited patiently a +few yards in the rear, carelessly readjusting the camellia in his +button-hole. + +"He looks very outlandish. Is he a foreigner, too?" asked the +Squire, at last. + +"No, not exactly. However, he knows all about Frank's +embarrassments; and--" + +"Embarrassments! what, the debt he paid for that woman? How did he +raise the money?" + +"I don't know," answered Randal; "and that is the reason I asked +Baron Levy to accompany me to Egerton's, that he might explain in +private what I have no reason--" + +"Baron Levy!" interrupted the Squire. "Levy, Levy--I have heard of a +Levy who has nearly ruined my neighbor, Thornhill--a money-lender. +Zounds! is that the man who knows my son's affairs? I'll soon learn, +sir." + +Randal caught hold of the Squire's arm: "Stop, stop; if you really +insist upon learning more about Frank's debts, you must not appeal +to Baron Levy directly, and as Frank's father; he will not answer +you. But if I present you to him as a mere acquaintance of mine, and +turn the conversation, as if carelessly, upon Frank--why, since, in +the London world, such matters are never kept secret except from the +parents of young men--I have no doubt he will talk out openly." + +"Manage it as you will," said the Squire. + +Randal took Mr. Hazeldean's arm, and joined Levy--"A friend of mine +from the country, Baron." Levy bowed profoundly, and the three +walked slowly on. + +"By-the-by," said Randal, pressing significantly upon Levy's arm, +"my friend has come to town upon the somewhat unpleasant business of +settling the debts of another--a young man of fashion--a relation of +his own. No one, sir (turning to the Squire), could so ably assist +you in such arrangements as could Baron Levy." + +BARON (modestly, and with a moralizing air).--"I have some +experience in such matters, and I hold it a duty to assist the +parents and relations of young men who, from want of reflection, +often ruin themselves for life. I hope the young gentleman in +question is not in the hands of the Jews?" + +RANDAL.--"Christians are as fond of good interest for their money as +ever the Jews can be." + +BARON.--"Granted, but they have not always so much money to lend. +The first thing, sir (addressing the Squire)--the first thing for +you to do is to buy up such of your relation's bills and notes of +hand as may be in the market. No doubt we can get them a bargain, +unless the young man is heir to some property that may soon be his +in the course of nature." + +RANDAL.--"Not soon--heaven forbid! His father is still a young +man--a fine healthy man," leaning heavily on Levy's arm; "and as to +post-obits--" + +BARON.--"Post-obits on sound security cost more to buy up, however +healthy the obstructing relative may be." + +RANDAL.--"I should hope that there are not many sons who can +calculate, in cold blood, on the death of their fathers." + +BARON.--"Ha, ha--he is young, our friend, Randal; eh, sir?" + +RANDAL.--"Well, I am not more scrupulous than others, I dare say: +and I have often been pinched hard for money, but I would go +barefoot rather than give security upon a father's grave! I can +imagine nothing more likely to destroy natural feeling, nor to +instill ingratitude and treachery into the whole character, than to +press the hand of a parent, and calculate when that hand may be +dust--than to sit down with strangers and reduce his life to the +measure of an insurance table--than to feel difficulties gathering +round one, and mutter in fashionable slang, 'But it will be all well +if the governor would but die.' And he who has accustomed himself to +the relief of post-obits must gradually harden his mind to all +this." + +The Squire groaned heavily; and had Randal proceeded another +sentence in the same strain, the Squire would have wept outright. +"But," continued Randal, altering the tone of his voice, "I think +that our young friend of whom we were talking just now, Levy, before +this gentleman joined us, has the same opinion as myself on this +head. He may accept bills, but he would never sign post-obits." + +BARON (who with the apt docility of a managed charger to the touch +of a rider's hand, had comprehended and complied with each quick +sign of Randal's).--"Pooh! the young fellow we are talking of? +Nonsense. He would not be so foolish as to give five times the +percentage he otherwise might. Not sign post-obits! Of course he has +signed one." + +RANDAL.--"Hist--you mistake, you mistake." + +SQUIRE (leaving Randal's arm and seizing Levy's).--"Were you +speaking of Frank Hazeldean?" + +BARON.--"My dear sir, excuse me; I never mention names before +strangers." + +SQUIRE.--"Strangers again! Man, I am the boy's father! Speak out, +sir," and his hand closed on Levy's arm with the strength of an +iron vice. + +BARON.--"Gently; you hurt me, sir; but I excuse your feelings. +Randal, you are to blame for leading me into this indiscretion; but +I beg to assure Mr. Hazeldean, that though his son has been a little +extravagant--" + +RANDAL.--"Owing chiefly to the arts of an abandoned woman." + +BARON.--"Of an abandoned woman; still he has shown more prudence +than you would suppose; and this very post-obit is a proof of it. A +simple act of that kind has enabled him to pay off bills that were +running on till they would have ruined even the Hazeldean estate; +whereas a charge on the reversion of the Casino--" + +SQUIRE.--"He has done it then? He has signed a post-obit?" + +RANDAL.--"No, no; Levy must be wrong." + +BARON.--"My dear Leslie, a man of Mr. Hazeldean's time of life can +not have your romantic boyish notions. He must allow that Frank has +acted in this like a lad of sense--very good head for business has +my young friend Frank! And the best thing Mr. Hazeldean can do is +quietly to buy up the post-obit, and thus he will place his son +henceforth in his own power." + +SQUIRE.--"Can I see the deed with my own eyes?" + +BARON.--"Certainly, or how could you be induced to buy it up? But on +one condition; you must not betray me to your son. And, indeed, take +my advice, and don't say a word to him on the matter." + +SQUIRE.--"Let me see it, let me see it with my own eyes. His mother +else will never believe it--nor will I." + +BARON.--"I can call on you this evening." + +SQUIRE.--"Now--now." + +BARON.--"You can spare me, Randal; and you yourself can open to Mr. +Egerton the other affair, respecting Lansmere. No time should be +lost, lest L'Estrange suggest a candidate." + +_Randal_ (whispering).--"Never mind me.--This is more important. +(Aloud)--Go with Mr. Hazeldean. My dear kind friend (to the Squire), +do not let this vex you so much. After all, it is what nine young +men out of ten would do in the same circumstances. And it is best +you should know it; you may save Frank from farther ruin, and +prevent, perhaps, this very marriage." + +"We will see," exclaimed the Squire, hastily. "Now, Mr. Levy, come." + +Levy and the Squire walked on not arm-in-arm, but side by side. +Randal proceeded to Egerton's house. + +"I am glad to see you, Leslie," said the ex-minister. "What is it I +have heard? My nephew, Frank Hazeldean, proposes to marry Madame di +Negra against his father's consent? How could you suffer him to +entertain an idea so wild? And how never confide it to me?" + +RANDAL.--"My dear Mr. Egerton, it is only to-day that I was informed +of Frank's engagement. I have already seen him, and expostulated in +vain; till then, though I knew your nephew admired Madame di Negra, +I could never suppose he harbored a serious intention." + +EGERTON.--"I must believe you, Randal. I will myself see Madame di +Negra, though I have no power, and no right, to dictate to her. I +have but little time for all such private business. The dissolution +of Parliament is so close at hand." + +RANDAL (looking down.)--"It is on that subject that I wished to +speak to you, sir. You think of standing for Lansmere. Well, Baron +Levy has suggested to me an idea that I could not, of course, even +countenance, till I had spoken to you. It seems that he has some +acquaintance with the state of parties in that borough! He is +informed that it is not only as easy to bring in two of our side, as +to carry one; but that it would make your election still more safe, +not to fight single-handed against two opponents; that if canvassing +for yourself alone, you could not carry a sufficient number of +plumper votes; that split votes would go from you to one or other of +the two adversaries; that, in a word, it is necessary to pair you +with a colleague. If it really be so, you of course will learn best +from your own Committee; but should they concur in the opinion Baron +Levy has formed--do I presume too much on your kindness--to deem it +possible that you might allow me to be the second candidate on your +side? I should not say this, but that Levy told me you had some wish +to see me in Parliament, among the supporters of your policy. And +what other opportunity can occur? Here the cost of carrying two +would be scarcely more than that of carrying one. And Levy says, the +party would subscribe for my election; you, of course, would refuse +all such aid for your own; and indeed, with your great name, and +Lord Lansmere's interest, there can be little beyond the strict +legal expenses." + +As Randal spoke thus at length, he watched anxiously his patron's +reserved, unrevealing countenance. + +EGERTON (drily.)--"I will consider. You may safely leave in my hands +any matter connected with your ambition and advancement. I have +before told you I hold it a duty to do all in my power for the +kinsman of my late wife--for one whose career I undertook to +forward--for one whom honor has compelled to share in my own +political reverses." + +Here Egerton rang the bell for his hat, and gloves, and walking into +the hall, paused at the street door. There beckoning to Randal, he +said slowly, "You seem intimate with Baron Levy; I caution you +against him--a dangerous acquaintance, first to the purse, next to +the honor." + +RANDAL.--"I know it, sir; and am surprised myself at the +acquaintance that has grown up between us. Perhaps its cause is in +his respect for yourself." + +EGERTON.--"Tut." + +RANDAL.--"Whatever it be, he contrives to obtain a singular hold +over one's mind, even where, as in my case, he has no evident +interest to serve. How is this? It puzzles me!" + +EGERTON.--"For his interest, it is most secured where he suffers it +to be least evident; for his hold over the mind, it is easily +accounted for. He ever appeals to two temptations, strong with all +men--Avarice and Ambition.--Good-day." + +RANDAL.--"Are you going to Madame di Negra's? Shall I not accompany +you? Perhaps I may be able to back your own remonstrances." + +EGERTON.--"No, I shall not require you." + +RANDAL.--"I trust I shall hear the result of your interview? I feel +so much interested in it. Poor Frank!" + +Audley nodded. "Of course, of course." + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +On entering the drawing-room of Madame di Negra, the peculiar charm +which the severe Audley Egerton had been ever reputed to possess +with women, would have sensibly struck one who had hitherto seen him +chiefly in his relations with men in the business-like affairs of +life. It was a charm in strong contrast to the ordinary manners of +those who are emphatically called "Ladies' men." No artificial +smile, no conventional hollow blandness, no frivolous gossip, no +varnish either of ungenial gayety or affected grace. The charm was +in a simplicity that unbent more into kindness than it did with men. +Audley's nature, whatever its faults and defects, was essentially +masculine; and it was the sense of masculine power that gave to his +voice a music when addressing the gentler sex--a sort of indulgent +tenderness that appeared equally void of insincerity and +presumption. + +Frank had been gone about half-an-hour, and Madame di Negra was +scarcely recovered from the agitation into which she had been thrown +by the affront from the father and the pleading of the son. + +Egerton took her passive hand cordially, and seated himself by her +side. + +"My dear Marchesa," said he, "are we then likely to be near +connections? And can you seriously contemplate marriage with my +young nephew, Frank Hazeldean? You turn away. Ah, my fair friend, +there are but two inducements to a free woman to sign away her +liberty at the altar. I say a free woman, for widows are free, and +girls are not. These inducements are, first, worldly position; +secondly, love. Which of these motives can urge Madame di Negra to +marry Mr. Frank Hazeldean?" + +"There are other motives than those you speak of--the +need of protection--the sense of solitude--the curse of +dependence--gratitude for honorable affection. But you men never +know women!" + +"I grant that you are right there--we never do; neither do women +ever know men. And yet each sex contrives to dupe and to fool the +other! Listen to me. I have little acquaintance with my nephew, but +I allow he is a handsome young gentleman, with whom a handsome young +lady in her teens might fall in love in a ball-room. But you who +have known the higher order of our species--you who have received +the homage of men, whose thoughts and mind leave the small talk of +drawing-room triflers--so poor and bald--you can not look me in the +face and say that it is any passion resembling love which you feel +for my nephew. And as to position, it is right that I should inform +you that if he marry you he will have none. He may risk his +inheritance. You will receive no countenance from his parents. You +will be poor, but not free. You will not gain the independence you +seek for. The sight of a vacant, discontented face in that opposite +chair will be worse than solitude. And as to grateful affection," +added the man of the world, "it is a polite synonym for tranquil +indifference." + +"Mr. Egerton," said Beatrice, "people say you are made of bronze. +Did you ever feel the want of a home?" + +"I answer you frankly," replied the statesman, "if I had not felt +it, do you think I should have been, and that I should be to the +last, the joyless drudge of public life? Bronze though you call my +nature, it would have melted away long since like wax in the fire, +if I had sat idly down and dreamed of a _Home_!" + +"But we women," answered Beatrice, with pathos, "have no public +life, and we do idly sit down and dream. Oh," she continued, after a +short pause, and clasping her hands firmly together, "you think me +worldly, grasping, ambitious; how different my fate had been had I +known a home!--known one whom I could love and venerate--known one +whose smiles would have developed the good that was once within me, +and the fear of whose rebuking or sorrowful eye would have corrected +what is evil." + +"Yet," answered Audley, "nearly all women in the great world have +had that choice once in their lives, and nearly all have thrown it +away. How few of your rank really think of home when they marry--how +few ask to venerate as well as to love--and how many of every rank, +when the home has been really gained, have willfully lost its +shelter; some in neglectful weariness--some from a momentary doubt, +distrust, caprice--a wild fancy--a passionate fit--a trifle--a +straw--a dream! True, you women are ever dreamers. Common sense, +common earth, is above or below your comprehension." + +Both now were silent, Audley first roused himself with a quick, +writhing movement. "We two," said he, smiling half sadly, half +cynically--"we two must not longer waste time in talking sentiment. +We know both too well what life, as it has been made for us by our +faults or our misfortunes, truly is. And once again, I entreat you +to pause before you yield to the foolish suit of my foolish nephew. +Rely on it, you will either command a higher offer for your prudence +to accept; or, if you needs must sacrifice rank and fortune, you, +with your beauty and your romantic heart, will see one who, at least +for a fair holiday season (if human love allows no more), can repay +you for the sacrifice. Frank Hazeldean never can." + +Beatrice turned away to conceal the tears that rushed to her eyes. + +"Think over this well," said Audley, in the softest tone of his +mellow voice. "Do you remember that when you first came to England, +I told you that neither wedlock nor love had any lures for me. We +grew friends upon that rude avowal, and therefore I now speak to you +like some sage of old, wise because standing apart and aloof from +all the affections and ties that mislead our wisdom. Nothing but +real love--(how rare it is; has one human heart in a million ever +known it!) nothing but real love can repay us for the loss of +freedom--the cares and fears of poverty--the cold pity of the world +that we both despise and respect. And all these, and much more, +follow the step you would inconsiderately take--an imprudent +marriage." + +"Audley Egerton," said Beatrice, lifting her dark, moistened eyes, +"you grant that real love does compensate for an imprudent marriage. +You speak as if you had known such love--you! Can it be possible?" + +"Real love--I thought that I knew it once. Looking back with +remorse, I should doubt it now but for one curse that only real +love, when lost, has the power to leave evermore behind it." + +"What is that?" + +"A void here," answered Egerton, striking his heart. +"Desolation!--Adieu!" + +He rose and left the room. + +"Is it," murmured Egerton, as he pursued his way through the +streets--"is it that, as we approach death, all the first fair +feelings of young life come back to us mysteriously? Thus I have +heard, or read, that in some country of old, children scattering +flowers, preceded a funeral bier." + + +CHAPTER XV. + +And so Leonard stood beside his friend's mortal clay, and watched, +in the ineffable smile of death, the last gleam which the soul had +left there; and so, after a time, he crept back to the adjoining +room with a step as noiseless as if he had feared to disturb the +dead. Wearied as he was with watching, he had no thought of sleep. +He sate himself down by the little table, and leaned his face on his +hand, musing sorrowfully. Thus time passed. He heard the clock from +below strike the hours. In the house of death the sound of a clock +becomes so solemn. The soul that we miss has gone so far beyond the +reach of time! A cold, superstitious awe gradually stole over the +young man. He shivered, and lifted his eyes with a start, half +scornful, half defying. The moon was gone--the gray, comfortless +dawn gleamed through the casement, and carried its raw, chilling +light through the open doorway, into the death-room. And there, near +the extinguished fire, Leonard saw the solitary woman, weeping low, +and watching still. He returned to say a word of comfort--she +pressed his hand, but waved him away. He understood. She did not +wish for other comfort than her quiet relief of tears. Again, he +returned to his own chamber, and his eyes this time fell upon the +papers which he had hitherto disregarded. What made his heart stand +still, and the blood then rush so quickly through his veins? Why did +he seize upon those papers with so tremulous a hand--then lay them +down--pause, as if to nerve himself--and look so eagerly again? He +recognized the handwriting--those fair, clear characters--so +peculiar in their woman-like delicacy and grace--the same as in the +wild, pathetic poems, the sight of which had made an era in his +boyhood. From these pages the image of the mysterious Nora rose once +more before him. He felt that he was with a mother. He went back, +and closed the door gently, as if with a jealous piety, to exclude +each ruder shadow from the world of spirits, and be alone with that +mournful ghost. For a thought written in warm, sunny life, and then +suddenly rising up to us, when the hand that traced, and the heart +that cherished it, are dust, is verily as a ghost. It is a likeness +struck off of the fond human being, and surviving it. Far more +truthful than bust or portrait, it bids us see the tear flow, and +the pulse beat. What ghost can the church-yard yield to us like the +writing of the dead? + +The bulk of the papers had been once lightly sewn to each +other--they had come undone, perhaps in Burley's rude hands; but +their order was easily apparent. Leonard soon saw that they formed a +kind of journal--not, indeed, a regular diary, nor always relating +to the things of the day. There were gaps in time--no attempt at +successive narrative. Sometimes, instead of prose, a hasty burst of +verse, gushing evidently from the heart--sometimes all narrative was +left untold, and yet, as it were, epitomized, by a single burning +line--a single exclamation--of woe, or joy! Everywhere you saw +records of a nature exquisitely susceptible; and where genius +appeared, it was so artless, that you did not call it genius, but +emotion. At the outset the writer did not speak of herself in the +first person. The MS. opened with descriptions and short dialogues, +carried on by persons to whose names only initial letters were +assigned, all written in a style of simple, innocent freshness, and +breathing of purity and happiness, like a dawn of spring. Two young +persons, humbly born--a youth and a girl--the last still in +childhood, each chiefly self-taught, are wandering on Sabbath +evenings among green dewy fields, near the busy town, in which labor +awhile is still. Few words pass between them. You see at once, +though the writer does not mean to convey it, how far beyond the +scope of her male companion flies the heavenward imagination of the +girl. It is he who questions--it is she who answers; and soon there +steals upon you, as you read, the conviction that the youth loves +the girl, and loves in vain. All in this writing, though terse, is +so truthful! Leonard, in the youth, already recognizes the rude, +imperfect scholar--the village bard--Mark Fairfield. Then, there is +a gap in description--but there are short weighty sentences, which +show deepening thought, increasing years, in the writer. And though +the innocence remains, the happiness begins to be less vivid on the +page. + +Now, insensibly, Leonard finds that there is a new phase in the +writer's existence. Scenes, no longer of humble work-day rural life, +surround her. And a fairer and more dazzling image succeeds to the +companion of the Sabbath eves. This image Nora evidently loves to +paint--it is akin to her own genius--it captivates her fancy--it is +an image that she (inborn artist, and conscious of her art) feels to +belong to a brighter and higher school of the Beautiful. And yet the +virgin's heart is not awakened--no trace of the heart yet there. The +new image thus introduced is one of her own years, perhaps; nay, it +may be younger still--for it is a boy that is described, with his +profuse fair curls, and eyes new to grief, and confronting the sun +as a young eagle's; with veins so full of the wine of life, that +they overflow into every joyous whim; with nerves quiveringly alive +to the desire of glory; with the frank generous nature rash in its +laughing scorn of the world, which it has not tried. Who was this +boy, it perplexed Leonard. He feared to guess. Soon, less told than +implied, you saw that this companionship, however it chanced, brings +fear and pain on the writer. Again (as before), with Mark Fairfield, +there is love on the one side and not on the other; with her there +is affectionate, almost sisterly, interest, admiration, +gratitude--but a something of pride or of terror that keeps back +love. + +Here Leonard's interest grew intense. Were there touches by which +conjecture grew certainty; and he recognized, through the lapse of +years, the boy lover in his own generous benefactor? + +Fragments of dialogue now began to reveal the suit of an ardent +impassioned nature, and the simple wonder and strange alarm of a +listener who pitied but could not sympathize. Some great worldly +distinction of rank between the two became visible--that distinction +seemed to arm the virtue and steel the affections of the lowlier +born. Then a few sentences, half blotted out with tears, told of +wounded and humbled feelings--some one invested with authority, as +if the suitor's parent, had interfered, questioned, reproached, +counseled. And it was now evident that the suit was not one that +dishonored;--it wooed to flight, but still to marriage. + +And now these sentences grew briefer still, as with the decision of +a strong resolve. And to these there followed a passage so +exquisite, that Leonard wept unconsciously as he read. It was the +description of a visit spent at home previous to some sorrowful +departure. There rose up the glimpse of a proud and vain, but a +tender wistful mother--of a father's fonder but less thoughtful +love. And then came a quiet soothing scene between the girl and her +first village lover, ending thus--"So she put M's hand into her +sister's, and said: 'You loved me through the fancy, love her with +the heart,' and left them comprehending each other, and betrothed." + +Leonard sighed. He understood now how Mark Fairfield saw in the +homely features of his unlettered wife the reflection of the +sister's soul and face. + +A few words told the final parting--words that were a picture. +The long friendless highway, stretching on--on--toward the +remorseless city. And the doors of home opening on the desolate +thoroughfare--and the old pollard tree beside the threshold, with +the ravens wheeling round it and calling to their young. He too had +watched that threshold from the same desolate thoroughfare. He too +had heard the cry of the ravens. Then came some pages covered with +snatches of melancholy verse, or some reflections of dreamy gloom. + +The writer was in London, in the house of some highborn +patroness--that friendless shadow of a friend which the jargon of +society calls "companion." And she was looking on the bright storm +of the world as through prison bars. Poor bird, afar from the +greenwood, she had need of song--it was her last link with freedom +and nature. The patroness seems to share in her apprehensions of the +boy suitor, whose wild rash prayers the fugitive had resisted: but +to fear lest the suitor should be degraded, not the one whom he +pursues--fears an alliance ill-suited to a highborn heir. And this +kind of fear stings the writer's pride, and she grows harsh in her +judgment of him who thus causes but pain where he proffers love. +Then there is a reference to some applicant for her hand, who is +pressed upon her choice. And she is told that it is her duty so to +choose, and thus deliver a noble family from a dread that endures so +long as her hand is free. And of this fear, and of this applicant, +there breaks out a petulant yet pathetic scorn. After this, the +narrative, to judge by the dates, pauses for days and weeks, as if +the writer had grown weary and listless--suddenly to reopen in a new +strain, eloquent with hopes, and with fears never known before. The +first person was abruptly assumed--it was the living "I" that now +breathed and moved along the lines. How was this? The woman was no +more a shadow and a secret unknown to herself. She had assumed the +intense and vivid sense of individual being. And love spoke loud in +the awakened human heart. + +A personage not seen till then appeared on the page. And ever +afterward this personage was only named as "_He_," as if the one and +sole representative of all the myriads that walk the earth. The +first notice of this prominent character on the scene showed the +restless, agitated effect produced on the writer's imagination. He +was invested with a romance probably not his own. He was described +in contrast to the brilliant boy whose suit she had feared, pitied, +and now sought to shun--described with a grave and serious, but +gentle mein--a voice that imposed respect--an eye and lip that +showed collected dignity of will. Alas! the writer betrayed herself, +and the charm was in the contrast, not to the character of the +earlier lover, but her own. And now, leaving Leonard to explore and +guess his way through the gaps and chasms of the narrative, it is +time to place before the reader what the narrative alone will not +reveal to Leonard. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Nora Avenel had fled from the boyish love of Harley +L'Estrange--recommended by Lady Lansmere to a valetudinarian +relative of her own, Lady Jane Horton, as companion. But Lady +Lansmere could not believe it possible that the low-born girl could +long sustain her generous pride, and reject the ardent suit of one +who could offer to her the prospective coronet of a countess. She +continually urged upon Lady Jane the necessity of marrying Nora to +some one of rank less disproportioned to her own, and empowered the +lady to assure any such wooer of a dowry far beyond Nora's station. +Lady Jane looked around, and saw in the outskirts of her limited +social ring, a young solicitor, a peer's natural son, who was on +terms of more than business-like intimacy with the fashionable +clients whose distresses made the origin of his wealth. The young +man was handsome, well-dressed, and bland. Lady Jane invited him to +her house; and, seeing him struck dumb with the rare loveliness of +Nora, whispered the hint of the dower. The fashionable solicitor, +who afterward ripened into Baron Levy, did not need that hint; for, +though then poor, he relied on himself for fortune, and, unlike +Randal, he had warm blood in his veins. But Lady Jane's suggestions +made him sanguine of success; and when he formally proposed, and was +as formally refused, his self-love was bitterly wounded. Vanity in +Levy was a powerful passion; and with the vain, hatred is strong, +revenge is rankling. Levy retired, concealing his rage; nor did he +himself know how vindictive that rage, when it cooled into +malignancy, could become, until the arch-fiend OPPORTUNITY prompted +its indulgence and suggested its design. + +Lady Jane was at first very angry with Nora for the rejection of a +suitor whom she had presented as eligible. But the pathetic grace of +this wonderful girl had crept into her heart, and softened it even +against family prejudice; and she gradually owned to herself that +Nora was worthy of some one better than Mr. Levy. + +Now, Harley had ever believed that Nora returned his love, and that +nothing but her own sense of gratitude to his parents--her own +instincts of delicacy, made her deaf to his prayers. To do him +justice, wild and headstrong as he then was, his suit would have +ceased at once had he really deemed it persecution. Nor was his +error unnatural; for his conversation, till it had revealed his own +heart, could not fail to have dazzled and delighted the child of +genius; and her frank eyes would have shown the delight. How, at his +age, could he see the distinction between the Poetess and the Woman? +The poetess was charmed with rare promise in a soul of which the +very errors were the extravagances of richness and beauty. But the +woman--no! the woman required some nature not yet undeveloped, and +all at turbulent if brilliant strife with its own noble +elements--but a nature formed and full grown. Harley was a boy, and +Nora was one of those women who must find or fancy an Ideal that +commands and almost awes them into love. + +Harley discovered, not without difficulty, Nora's new residence. He +presented himself at Lady Jane's, and she, with grave rebuke, +forbade him the house. He found it impossible to obtain an interview +with Nora. He wrote, but he felt sure that his letters never reached +her, since they were unanswered. His young heart swelled with rage. +He dropped threats, which alarmed all the fears of Lady Lansmere, +and even the prudent apprehensions of his friend, Audley Egerton. At +the request of the mother, and equally at the wish of the son, +Audley consented to visit at Lady Jane's, and make acquaintance with +Nora. + +"I have such confidence in you," said Lady Lansmere, "that if you +once know the girl, your advice will be sure to have weight with +her. You will show her how wicked it would be to let Harley break +our hearts and degrade his station." + +"I have such confidence in you," said young Harley, "that if you +once know my Nora, you will no longer side with my mother. You will +recognize the nobility which Nature only can create--you will own +that Nora is worthy a rank more lofty than mine; and my mother so +believes in your wisdom, that if you plead in my cause, you will +convince even her." + +Audley listened to both with his intelligent, half-incredulous +smile; and wholly of the same advice as Lady Lansmere, and sincerely +anxious to save Harley from an indiscretion that his own notions led +him to regard as fatal, he resolved to examine this boasted pearl, +and to find out its flaws. Audley Egerton was then in the prime of +his earnest, resolute, ambitious youth. The stateliness of his +natural manners had then a suavity and polish which, even in later +and busier life, it never wholly lost; since, in spite of the +briefer words and the colder looks by which care and powers mark the +official man, the Minister had ever enjoyed that personal popularity +which the indefinable, external something, that wins and pleases, +can alone confer. But he had even then, as ever, that felicitous +reserve which Rochefoucault has called the "mystery of the +body"--that thin yet guardian vail which reveals but the strong +outlines of character, and excites so much of interest by provoking +so much of conjecture. To the man who is born with this reserve, +which is wholly distinct from shyness, the world gives credit for +qualities and talents beyond those that it perceives; and such +characters are attractive to others in proportion as these last are +gifted with the imagination which loves to divine the unknown. + +At the first interview, the impression which this man produced upon +Nora Avenel was profound and strange. She had heard of him before as +the one whom Harley most loved and looked up to; and she recognized +at once in his mien, his aspect, his words, the very tone of his +deep tranquil voice, the power to which woman, whatever her +intellect, never attains; and to which, therefore, she imputes a +nobility not always genuine--viz., the power of deliberate purpose, +and self-collected, serene ambition. The effect that Nora produced +on Egerton was not less sudden. He was startled by a beauty of face +and form that belonged to that rarest order, which we never behold +but once or twice in our lives. He was yet more amazed to discover +that the aristocracy of mind could bestow a grace that no +aristocracy of birth could surpass. He was prepared for a simple, +blushing village girl, and involuntarily he bowed low his proud +front at the first sight of that delicate bloom, and that exquisite +gentleness which is woman's surest passport to the respect of man. +Neither in the first, nor the second, nor the third interview, nor, +indeed, till after many interviews, could he summon up courage to +commence his mission, and allude to Harley. And when he did so at +last, his words faltered. But Nora's words were clear to him. He saw +that Harley was not loved; and a joy that he felt as guilty, darted +through his whole frame. From that interview Audley returned home +greatly agitated, and at war with himself. Often, in the course of +this story, has it been hinted that under all Egerton's external +coldness, and measured self-control, lay a nature capable of strong +and stubborn passions. Those passions broke forth then. He felt that +love had already entered into the heart, which the trust of his +friend should have sufficed to guard. + +"I will go there no more," said he, abruptly, to Harley. + +"But why?" + +"The girl does not love you. Cease then to think of her." + +Harley disbelieved him, and grew indignant. But Audley had every +worldly motive to assist his sense of honor. He was poor, though +with the reputation of wealth--deeply involved in debt--resolved to +rise in life--tenacious of his position in the world's esteem. +Against a host of counteracting influences, love fought +single-handed. Audley's was a strong nature; but, alas! in strong +natures, if resistance to temptation is of granite, so the passions +that they admit are of fire. + +Trite is the remark, that the destinies of our lives often date from +the impulses of unguarded moments. It was so with this man, to an +ordinary eye so cautious and so deliberate. Harley one day came to +him in great grief; he had heard that Nora was ill; he implored +Audley to go once more and ascertain. Audley went. Lady Jane Horton, +who was suffering under a disease which not long afterward proved +fatal, was too ill to receive him. He was shown into the room set +apart as Nora's. While waiting for her entrance, he turned +mechanically over the leaves of an album which Nora, suddenly +summoned away to attend Lady Jane, had left behind her on the +table. He saw the sketch of his own features; he read words +inscribed below it--words of such artless tenderness, and such +unhoping sorrow--words written by one who had been accustomed to +regard her genius as her sole confidant, under Heaven, to pour out +to it, as the solitary poet-heart is impelled to do, thoughts, +feelings, and confession of mystic sighs, which it would never +breathe to a living ear, and, save at such moments, scarcely +acknowledge to itself. Audley saw that he was beloved, and the +revelation, with a sudden light, consumed all the barriers between +himself and his own love. And at that moment Nora entered. She saw +him bending over the book. She uttered a cry--sprang forward--and +then sank down, covering her face with her hands. But Audley was at +her feet. He forgot his friend, his trust; he forgot ambition--he +forgot the world. It was his own cause that he pleaded--his own love +that burst forth from his lips. And when the two that day parted, +they were betrothed each to each. Alas for them, and alas for +Harley! + +And now this man, who had hitherto valued himself as the very type +of gentleman--whom all his young contemporaries had so regarded and +so revered--had to press the head of a confiding friend and bid +adieu to truth. He had to amuse, to delay, to mislead his +boy-rival--to say that he was already subduing Nora's hesitating +doubts--and that within a little time, she could be induced to +consent to forget Harley's rank, and his parent's pride, and become +his wife. And Harley believed in Egerton, without one suspicion on +the mirror of his loyal soul. + +Meanwhile Audley impatient of his own position--impatient, as strong +minds ever are, to hasten what they have once resolved--to terminate +a suspense that every interview with Harley tortured alike by +jealousy and shame--to put himself out of the reach of scruples, and +to say to himself, "Right or wrong, there is no looking back; the +deed is done;"--Audley, thus hurried on by the impetus of his own +power of will, pressed for speedy and secret nuptials--secret till +his fortunes, then wavering, were more assured--his career fairly +commenced. This was not his strongest motive, though it was one. He +shrank from the discovery of his wrong to his friend--desired to +delay the self-humiliation of such announcement, until, as he +persuaded himself, Harley's boyish passion was over--had yielded to +the new allurements that would naturally beset his way. Stifling his +conscience, Audley sought to convince himself that the day would +soon come when Harley could hear with indifference that Nora Avenel +was another's "The dream of an hour, at his age," murmured the elder +friend; "but at mine, the passion of a life!" He did not speak of +these latter motives for concealment to Nora. He felt that, to own +the extent of his treason to a friend, would lower him in her eyes. +He spoke therefore but slightingly of Harley--treated the boy's suit +as a thing past and gone. He dwelt only on reasons that compelled +self-sacrifice on his side or hers. She did not hesitate which to +choose. And so, where Nora loved, so submissively did she believe in +the superiority of the lover, that she would not pause to hear a +murmur from her own loftier nature, or question the propriety of +what he deemed wise and good. + +Abandoning prudence in this arch affair of life, Audley still +preserved his customary caution in minor details. And this indeed +was characteristic of him throughout all his career--heedless in +large things--wary in small. He would not trust Lady Jane Horton +with his secret, still less Lady Lansmere. He simply represented to +the former, that Nora was no longer safe from Harley's determined +pursuit under Lady Jane's roof, and that she had better elude the +boy's knowledge of her movements, and go quietly away for a while, +to lodge with some connection of her own. + +And so, with Lady Jane's acquiescence, Nora went first to the house +of a very distant kinswoman of her mother's, and afterward to one +that Egerton took as their bridal home, under the name of Bertram. +He arranged all that might render their marriage most free from the +chance of premature discovery. But it so happened, on the very +morning of their bridal, that one of the witnesses he selected (a +confidential servant of his own) was seized with apoplexy. +Considering, in haste, where to find a substitute, Egerton thought +of Levy, his own private solicitor, his own fashionable +money-lender, a man with whom he was then as intimate as a fine +gentleman is with the lawyer of his own age, who knows all his +affairs, and has helped from pure friendship, to make them as bad as +they are! Levy was thus suddenly summoned. Egerton, who was in great +haste, did not at first communicate to him the name of the intended +bride; but he said enough of the imprudence of the marriage, and +his reasons for secrecy, to bring on himself the strongest +remonstrances; for Levy had always reckoned on Egerton's making a +wealthy marriage, leaving to Egerton the wife, and hoping to +appropriate to himself the wealth, all in the natural course of +business. Egerton did not listen to him, but hurried him on toward +the place at which the ceremony was to be performed; and Levy +actually saw the bride, before he had learned her name. The usurer +masked his raging emotions, and fulfilled his part in the rites. His +smile, when he congratulated the bride, might have shot cold into +her heart; but her eyes were cast on the earth, seeing there but a +shadow from heaven, and her heart was blindly sheltering itself in +the bosom to which it was given evermore. She did not perceive the +smile of hate that barbed the words of joy. Nora never thought it +necessary later to tell Egerton that Levy had been a refused suitor. +Indeed, with the exquisite taste of love, she saw that such a +confidence, the idea of such a rival, would have wounded the pride +of her high-bred, well-born husband. + +And now, while Harley L'Estrange, frantic with the news that Nora +had left Lady Jane's roof, and purposely misled into wrong +directions, was seeking to trace her refuge in vain--now Egerton, in +an assumed name, in a remote quarter, far from the clubs in which +his word was oracular--far from the pursuits, whether of pastime or +toil, that had hitherto engrossed his active mind, gave himself up, +with wonder at himself, to the only vision of fairyland that ever +weighs down the watchful eyelids of hard Ambition. The world for a +while shut out, he missed it not. He knew not of it. He looked into +two loving eyes that haunted him ever after, through a stern and +arid existence, and said murmuringly, "Why, this, then, is real +happiness!" Often, often, in the solitude of other years, to repeat +to himself the same words, save that for _is_, he then murmured +_was_! And Nora, with her grand, full heart, all her luxuriant +wealth of fancy and of thought, child of light and of song, did she +then never discover that there was something comparatively narrow +and sterile in the nature to which she had linked her fate? Not +there, could ever be sympathy in feelings, brilliant and shifting as +the tints of the rainbow. When Audley pressed her heart to his own, +could he comprehend one finer throb of its beating? Was all the iron +of his mind worth one grain of the gold she had cast away in +Harley's love? + +Did Nora already discover this? Surely no. Genius feels no want, no +repining, while the heart is contented. Genius in her paused and +slumbered: it had been as the ministrant of solitude: it was needed +no more. If a woman loves deeply some one below her own grade in the +mental and spiritual orders, how often we see that she unconsciously +quits her own rank, comes meekly down to the level of the beloved, +is afraid lest he should deem her the superior--she who would not +even be the equal. Nora knew no more that she had genius; she only +knew that she had love. + +And so here, the journal which Leonard was reading changed its tone, +sinking into that quiet happiness which is but quiet because it is +so deep. This interlude in the life of a man like Audley Egerton +could never have been long; many circumstances conspired to abridge +it. His affairs were in great disorder; they were all under Levy's +management. Demands that had before slumbered, or been mildly urged, +grew menacing and clamorous. Harley, too, returned to London from +his futile researches, and looked out for Audley. Audley was forced +to leave his secret Eden, and re-appear in the common world; and +thenceforward it was only by stealth that he came to his bridal +home--a visitor, no more the inmate. But more loud and fierce grew +the demands of his creditors, now when Egerton had most need of all +which respectability, and position, and belief of pecuniary +independence can do to raise the man who has encumbered his arms, +and crippled his steps toward fortune. He was threatened with writs, +with prisons. Levy said "that to borrow more would be but larger +ruin"--shrugged his shoulders, and even recommended a voluntary +retreat to the King's Bench. "No place so good for frightening one's +creditors into compounding their claims; but why," added Levy, with +covert sneer, "why not go to young L'Estrange--a boy made to be +borrowed from?" + +Levy, who had known from Lady Jane of Harley's pursuit of Nora, had +learned already how to avenge himself on Egerton. Audley could not +apply to the friend he had betrayed. And as to other friends, no man +in town had a greater number. And no man in town knew better that he +should lose them all if he were once known to be in want of their +money. Mortified, harassed, tortured--shunning Harley--yet ever +sought by him--fearful of each knock at his door, Audley Egerton +escaped to the mortgaged remnant of his paternal estate, on which +there was a gloomy manor-house long uninhabited, and there applied a +mind, afterward renowned for its quick comprehension of business, to +the investigation of his affairs, with a view to save some wreck +from the flood that swelled momently around him. + +And now--to condense as much as possible a record that runs darkly +on into pain and sorrow--now Levy began to practice his vindictive +arts; and the arts gradually prevailed. On pretense of assisting +Egerton in the arrangement of his affairs--which he secretly +contrived, however, still more to complicate--he came down +frequently to Egerton Hall for a few hours, arriving by the mail, +and watching the effect which Nora's almost daily letters produced +on the bridegroom, irritated by the practical cares of life. He was +thus constantly at hand to instill into the mind of the ambitious +man a regret for the imprudence of hasty passion, or to embitter the +remorse which Audley felt for his treachery to L'Estrange. Thus ever +bringing before the mind of the harassed debtor images at war with +love, and with the poetry of life, he disattuned it (so to speak) +for the reception of Nora's letters, all musical as they were with +such thoughts as the most delicate fancy inspires to the most +earnest love. Egerton was one of those men who never confide their +affairs frankly to women. Nora, when she thus wrote, was wholly in +the dark as to the extent of his stern prosaic distress. And so--and +so--Levy always near--(type of the prose of life in its most cynic +form)--so, by degrees, all that redundant affluence of affection, +with its gushes of grief for his absence, prayers for his return, +sweet reproach if a post failed to bring back an answer to the +woman's yearning sighs--all this grew, to the sensible, positive man +of real life, like sickly romantic exaggeration. The bright arrows +shot too high into heaven to hit the mark set so near to the earth. +Ah! common fate of all superior natures! What treasure, and how +wildly wasted! + +"By-the-by," said Levy, one morning, as he was about to take leave +of Audley and return to town--"by-the-by, I shall be this evening in +the neighborhood of Mrs. Egerton." + +EGERTON.--"Say Mrs. Bertram!" + +LEVY.--"Ay; will she not be in want of some pecuniary supplies?" + +EGERTON.--"My wife!--not yet. I must first be wholly ruined before +she can want; and if I were so, do you think I should not be by her +side?" + +LEVY.--"I beg pardon, my dear fellow; your pride of gentleman is so +susceptible that it is hard for a lawyer not to wound it unawares. +Your wife, then, does not know the exact state of your affairs?" + +EGERTON.--"Of course not. Who would confide to a woman things in +which she could do nothing, except to tease one the more?" + +LEVY.--"True, and a poetess, too! I have prevented your finishing +your answer to Mrs. Bertram's last letter. Can I take it--it may +save a day's delay--that is, if you do not object to my calling on +her this evening." + +EGERTON (sitting down to his unfinished letter).--"Object! no!" + +LEVY (looking at his watch).--"Be quick, or I shall lose the coach." + +EGERTON (sealing the letter).--"There. And I should be obliged to +you if you _would_ call; and without alarming her as to my +circumstances, you can just say that you know I am much harassed +about important affairs at present, and so soothe the effects of my +very short answers--" + +LEVY.--"To those doubly-crossed, very long, letters--I will." + +"Poor Nora," said Egerton, sighing, "she will think this answer +brief and churlish enough. Explain my excuses kindly, so that they +will serve for the future. I really have no time, and no heart for +sentiment. The little I ever had is well-nigh worried out of me. +Still I love her fondly and deeply." + +LEVY.--"You must have done so. I never thought it in you to +sacrifice the world to a woman." + +EGERTON.--"Nor I either; but," added the strong man, conscious +of that power which rules the world infinitely more than +knowledge--conscious of tranquil courage--"but I have not sacrificed +the world yet. This right arm shall bear up her and myself too." + +LEVY.--"Well said! But in the mean while, for heaven's sake, don't +attempt to go to London, nor to leave this place; for, in that case, +I know you will be arrested, and then adieu to all hopes of +Parliament--of a career." + +Audley's haughty countenance darkened; as the dog, in his bravest +mood, turns dismayed from the stone plucked from the mire, so, when +Ambition rears itself to defy mankind, whisper "disgrace and a +jail," and, lo, crest-fallen, it slinks away! That evening Levy +called on Nora, and ingratiating himself into her favor by praise of +Egerton, with indirect humble apologetic allusions to his own former +presumption, he prepared the way to renewed visits; she was so +lonely, and she so loved to see one who was fresh from seeing +Audley--one who would talk to her of _him_! By degrees the friendly +respectful visitor thus stole into her confidence; and then, with +all his panegyrics on Audley's superior powers and gifts, he began +to dwell upon the young husband's worldly aspirations, and care for +his career; dwelt on them so as vaguely to alarm Nora--to imply +that, dear as she was, she was still but second to Ambition. His way +thus prepared, he next began to insinuate his respectful pity at her +equivocal position, dropped hints of gossip and slander, feared that +the marriage might be owned too late to preserve reputation. And +then what would be the feelings of the proud Egerton if his wife +were excluded from that world, whose opinion he so prized? +Insensibly thus he led her on to express (though timidly) her own +fear--her own natural desire, in her letters to Audley. When could +the marriage be proclaimed? Proclaimed! Audley felt that to proclaim +such a marriage, at such a moment, would be to fling away his last +cast for fame and fortune. And Harley, too--Harley still so uncured +of his frantic love. Levy was sure to be at hand when letters like +these arrived. + +And now Levy went further still in his determination to alienate +these two hearts. He contrived, by means of his various agents, to +circulate through Nora's neighborhood the very slanders at which he +had hinted. He contrived that she should be insulted when she went +abroad, outraged at home by the sneers of her own servant, and +tremble with shame at her own shadow upon her abandoned bridal +hearth. + +Just in the midst of this intolerable anguish, Levy reappeared. His +crowning hour was ripe. He intimated his knowledge of the +humiliations Nora had undergone, expressed his deep compassion, +offered to intercede with Egerton "to do her justice." He used +ambiguous phrases that shocked her ear and tortured her heart, and +thus provoked her on to demand him to explain; and then, throwing +her into a wild state of indefinite alarm, in which he obtained her +solemn promise not to divulge to Audley what he was about to +communicate, he said, with villainous hypocrisy of reluctant shame, +"that her marriage was not strictly legal; that the forms required +by the law had not been complied with; that Audley, unintentionally +or purposely, had left himself free to disown the rite and desert +the bride." While Nora stood stunned and speechless at a falsehood +which, with lawyer-like show, he contrived to make truth-like to her +inexperience, he hurried rapidly on, to reawake on her mind the +impression of Audley's pride, ambition, and respect for worldly +position. "These are your obstacles," said he; "but I think I may +induce him to repair the wrong, and right you at last." Righted at +last--oh infamy! + +Then Nora's anger burst forth. She believe such a stain on Audley's +honor! + +"But where was the honor when he betrayed his friend? Did you not +know that he was intrusted by Lord L'Estrange to plead for him. How +did he fulfill the trust?" + +Plead for L'Estrange! Nora had not been exactly aware of this. In +the sudden love preceding those sudden nuptials, so little touching +Harley (beyond Audley's first timid allusions to his suit, and her +calm and cold reply) had been spoken by either. + +Levy resumed. He dwelt fully on the trust and the breach of it, and +then said--"In Egerton's world, man holds it far more dishonor to +betray a man than to dupe a woman; and if Egerton could do the one, +why doubt that he would do the other? But do not look at me with +those indignant eyes. Put himself to the test; write to him +to say that the suspicions amid which you live have become +intolerable--that they infect even yourself, despite your +reason--that the secrecy of your nuptials, his prolonged absence, +his brief refusal, on unsatisfactory grounds, to proclaim your tie, +all distract you with a terrible doubt. Ask him, at least (if he +will not yet declare your marriage), to satisfy you that the rites +were legal." + +"I will go to him," cried Nora impetuously. + +"Go to him!--in his own house! What a scene, what a scandal! Could +he ever forgive you?" + +"At least, then, I will implore him to come here. I can not write +such horrible words; I can not--I can not--Go, go." + +Levy left her, and hastened to two or three of Audley's most +pressing creditors--men, in fact, who went entirely by Levy's own +advice. He bade them instantly surround Audley's country residence +with bailiffs. Before Egerton could reach Nora, he would thus be +lodged in a jail. These preparations made, Levy himself went down to +Audley, and arrived, as usual, an hour or two before the delivery of +the post. + +And Nora's letter came; and never was Audley's grave brow more dark +than when he read it. Still, with his usual decision, he resolved to +obey her wish--rang the bell, and ordered his servant to put up a +change of dress, and send for post-horses. + +Levy then took him aside, and led him to the window. + +"Look under yon trees. Do you see those men? They are bailiffs. This +is the true reason why I come to you to-day. You can not leave this +house." + +Egerton recoiled. "And this frantic, foolish letter at such a time," +he muttered, striking the open page, full of love in the midst of +terror, with his clenched hand. + +O Woman, Woman! if thy heart be deep, and its chords tender, beware +how thou lovest the man with whom all that plucks him from the hard +cares of the work-day world is a frenzy or a folly! He will break +thy heart, he will shatter its chords, he will trample out from its +delicate frame-work every sound that now makes musical the common +air, and swells into unison with the harps of angels. + +"She has before written to me," continued Audley, pacing the room +with angry, disordered strides, "asking me when our marriage can be +proclaimed, and I thought my replies would have satisfied any +reasonable woman. But now, now this is worse, immeasurably +worse--she actually doubts my honor! I, who have made such +sacrifices--actually doubts whether I, Audley Egerton, an English +gentleman, could have been base enough to--" + +"What?" interrupted Levy, "to deceive your friend L'Estrange? Did +not she know _that_?" + +"Sir," exclaimed Egerton, turning white. + +"Don't be angry--all's fair in love as in war; and L'Estrange will +live yet to thank you for saving him from such a _mésalliance_. But +you are seriously angry; pray, forgive me." + +With some difficulty, and much fawning, the usurer appeased the +storm he had raised in Audley's conscience. And he then heard, as if +with surprise, the true purport of Nora's letter. + +"It is beneath me to answer, much less to satisfy such a doubt," +said Audley. "I could have seen her, and a look of reproach would +have sufficed; but to put my hand to paper, and condescend to write, +'I am not a villain, and I will give you the proofs that I am +not'--never." + +"You are quite right; but let us see if we can not reconcile matters +between your pride and her feelings. Write simply this: 'All that +you ask me to say or to explain, I have instructed Levy, as my +solicitor, to say and explain for me; and you may believe him as you +would myself.'" + +"Well, the poor fool, she deserves to be punished; and I suppose +that answer will punish her more than a lengthier rebuke. My mind is +so distracted I can not judge of these trumpery woman-fears and +whims; there, I have written as you suggest. Give her all the proof +she needs, and tell her that in six months at farthest, come what +will, she shall bear the name of Egerton, as henceforth she must +share his fate." + +"Why say six months?" + +"Parliament must be dissolved before then. I shall either obtain a +seat, be secure from a jail, have won field for my energies, or--" + +"Or what?" + +"I shall renounce ambition altogether--ask my brother to assist me +toward whatever debts remain when all my property is fairly +sold--they can not be much. He has a living in his gift--the +incumbent is old, and, I hear, very ill. I can take orders." + +"Sink into a country parson!" + +"And learn content. I have tasted it already. She was _then_ by my +side. Explain all to her. This letter, I fear, is too unkind--But to +doubt me thus!" + +Levy hastily placed the letter in his pocket-book; and, for fear it +should be withdrawn, took his leave. + +And of that letter he made such use, that the day after he had given +it to Nora, she had left the house--the neighborhood; fled, and not +a trace! Of all the agonies in life, that which is most poignant and +harrowing--that which for the time most annihilates reason, and +leaves our whole organization one lacerated, mangled _heart_--is +the conviction that we have been deceived where we placed all the +trust of love. The moment the anchor snaps, the storm comes on--the +stars vanish behind the cloud. + +When Levy returned, filled with the infamous hope which had +stimulated his revenge--the hope that if he could succeed in +changing into scorn and indignation Nora's love for Audley, he might +succeed also in replacing that broken and degraded idol--his amaze +and dismay were great on hearing of her departure. For several days +he sought her traces in vain. He went to Lady Jane Horton's--Nora +had not been there. He trembled to go back to Egerton. Surely Nora +would have written to her husband, and, in spite of her promise, +revealed his own falsehood; but as days passed and not a clew was +found, he had no option but to repair to Egerton Hall, taking care +that the bailiffs still surrounded it. Audley had received no line +from Nora. The young husband was surprised and perplexed, +uneasy--but had no suspicion of the truth. + +At length Levy was forced to break to Audley the intelligence of +Nora's flight. He gave his own color to it. Doubtless she had gone +to seek her own relations, and take, by their advice, steps to make +her marriage publicly known. This idea changed Audley's first shock +into deep and stern resentment. His mind so little comprehended +Nora's, and was ever so disposed to what is called the common-sense +view of things, that he saw no other mode to account for her flight +and her silence. Odious to Egerton as such a proceeding would be, he +was far too proud to take any steps to guard against it. "Let her do +her worst," said he, coldly, masking emotion with his usual +self-command; "it will be but a nine-days' wonder to the world--a +fiercer rush of my creditors on their hunted prey--" + +"And a challenge from Lord L'Estrange." + +"So be it," answered Egerton, suddenly placing his hand at his +heart. + +"What is the matter? Are you ill?" + +"A strange sensation here. My father died of a complaint of the +heart, and I myself was once told to guard, through life, against +excess of emotion. I smiled at such a warning then. Let us sit down +to business." + +But when Levy had gone, and solitude reclosed round that Man of the +Iron Mask, there grew upon him more and more the sense of a mighty +loss, Nora's sweet loving face started from the shadows of the +forlorn walls. Her docile, yielding temper--her generous, +self-immolating spirit--came back to his memory, to refute the idea +that wronged her. His love, that had been suspended for awhile by +busy cares, but which, if without much refining sentiment, was still +the master-passion of his soul, flowed back into all his +thoughts--circumfused the very atmosphere with a fearful softening +charm. He escaped under cover of the night from the watch of the +bailiffs. He arrived in London. He himself sought every where he +could think of for his missing bride. Lady Jane Horton was confined +to her bed, dying fast--incapable even to receive and reply to his +letter. He secretly sent down to Lansmere to ascertain if Nora had +gone to her parents. She was not there. The Avenels believed her +still with Lady Jane Horton. + +He now grew most seriously alarmed; and, in the midst of that alarm, +Levy contrived that he should be arrested for debt; but he was not +detained in confinement many days. Before the disgrace got wind, the +writs were discharged--Levy baffled. He was free. Lord L'Estrange +had learned from Audley's servant what Audley would have concealed +from him out of all the world. And the generous boy--who, besides +the munificent allowance he received from the Earl, was heir to an +independent and considerable fortune of his own, when he should +obtain his majority--hastened to borrow the money and discharge all +the obligations of his friend. The benefit was conferred before +Audley knew of it, or could prevent. Then a new emotion, and perhaps +scarce less stinging than the loss of Nora, tortured the man who had +smiled at the warning of science; and the strange sensation at the +heart was felt again and again. + +And Harley, too, was still in search of Nora--would talk of nothing +but her--and looked so haggard and grief-worn. The bloom of the +boy's youth was gone. Could Audley then have said, "She you seek is +another's; your love is razed out of your life. And, for +consolation, learn that your friend has betrayed you?" Could Audley +say this? He did not dare. Which of the two suffered the most? + +And these two friends, of characters so different, were so +singularly attached to each other. Inseparable at school--thrown +together in the world, with a wealth of frank confidences between +them, accumulated since childhood. And now, in the midst of all his +own anxious sorrow, Harley still thought and planned for Egerton. +And self-accusing remorse, and all the sense of painful gratitude, +deepened Audley's affection for Harley into a devotion as to a +superior, while softening it into a reverential pity that yearned to +relieve, to atone;--but how--oh; how? + +A general election was now at hand, still no news of Nora. Levy kept +aloof from Audley, pursuing his own silent search. A seat for the +borough of Lansmere was pressed upon Audley not only by Harley, but +his parents, especially by the Countess, who tacitly ascribed to +Audley's wise counsels Nora's mysterious disappearance. + +Egerton at first resisted the thought of a new obligation to his +injured friend; but he burned to have it some day in his power to +repay at least his pecuniary debt: the sense of that debt humbled +him more than all else. Parliamentary success might at last obtain +for him some lucrative situation abroad, and thus enable him +gradually to remove this load from his heart and his honor. No other +chance of repayment appeared open to him. He accepted the offer, and +went down to Lansmere. His brother, lately married, was asked to +meet him; and there, also, was Miss Leslie the heiress, whom Lady +Lansmere secretly hoped her son Harley would admire, but who had +long since, no less secretly, given her heart to the unconscious +Egerton. + +Meanwhile, the miserable Nora, deceived by the arts and +representations of Levy--acting on the natural impulse of a heart so +susceptible to shame--flying from a home which she deemed +dishonored--flying from a lover whose power over her she knew to be +so great, that she dreaded lest he might reconcile her to dishonor +itself--had no thought save to hide herself forever from Audley's +eye. She would not go to her relations--to Lady Jane; that were to +give the clew, and invite the pursuit. An Italian lady of high rank +had visited at Lady Jane's--taken a great fancy to Nora--and the +lady's husband, having been obliged to precede her return to Italy, +had suggested the notion of engaging some companion--the lady had +spoken of this to Nora and to Lady Jane Horton, who had urged Nora +to accept the offer, elude Harley's pursuit, and go abroad for a +time. Nora then had refused;--for she then had seen Audley Egerton. + +To this Italian lady she now went, and the offer was renewed with +the most winning kindness, and grasped at in the passion of despair. +But the Italian had accepted invitations to English country houses +before she finally departed for the Continent. Meanwhile Nora took +refuge in a quiet lodging in a sequestered suburb, which an English +servant in the employment of the fair foreigner recommended. Thus +had she first came to the cottage in which Burley died. Shortly +afterward she left England with her new companion, unknown to +all--to Lady Jane as to her parents. + +All this time the poor girl was under a moral delirium--a confused +fever--haunted by dreams from which she sought to fly. Sound +physiologists agree that madness is rarest among persons of the +finest imagination. But those persons are, of all others, liable to +a temporary state of mind in which judgment sleeps--imagination +alone prevails with a dire and awful tyranny. A single idea gains +ascendency--expels all others--presents itself every where with an +intolerable blinding glare. Nora was at that time under the dread +one idea--to fly from shame! + + +(TO BE CONTINUED.) + + + FOOTNOTE: + + [8] Continued from the July Number. + + + + +HENRY CLAY. + +PERSONAL ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS, ETC. + + +We have just returned from the Park and City-Hall, and from +witnessing the long procession, "melancholy, slow," that accompanied +the remains of the "Great Commoner" and great statesman, HENRY CLAY, +to their temporary resting-place in the Governor's Room. It was not +the weeping flags at half-mast throughout the city; not the tolling +of the bells, the solemn booming of the minute-guns, nor the +plaintive strains of funereal music, which brought the tears to the +eyes of thousands, as the mournful cavalcade passed on. For here +were the lifeless limbs, the dimmed eye, the hushed voice, that +never should move, nor sparkle, nor resound in eloquent tones again! + +The last time we had seen Henry Clay was, standing in an open +barouche, on the very spot where his hearse now paused, in front of +the City-Hall. He was addressing then a vast concourse of his +fellow-citizens, who had assembled to do him honor; and never shall +we forget the exquisite grace of his gestures, the melodious tones +of his matchless voice, and the _interior look_ of his eyes--as if +he were rather spoken _from_, than _speaking_. It was an occasion +not to be forgotten. + +It is proposed, in the present article, to afford the reader some +opportunity of judging of the character and manner of Mr. Clay, both +as an orator and a man, and of his general habits, from a few +characteristic anecdotes and incidents, which have been well +authenticated heretofore, or are now for the first time communicated +to the writer. Biography, in Mr. Clay's case, has already occupied +much of the space of all our public journals; we shall, therefore, +omit particulars which are now more or less familiar to the general +reader. + +It was the remark of a distinguished Senator, that Mr. Clay's +eloquence was absolutely intangible to delineation; that the most +labored and thrilling description could not embrace it; and that, to +be understood, it must be _seen_ and _felt_. During his long public +life he enchanted millions, and no one could tell _how_ he did it. +He was _an orator by nature_. His eagle eye burned with true +patriotic ardor, or dashed indignation and defiance upon his foes, +or was suffused with tears of commiseration or of pity; and it was +because _he_ felt, that he made _others_ feel. "The clear +conception, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless +spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing +every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his +object"--_this_ was the eloquence of Henry Clay; or, rather, to +pursue the definition, "it was something greater and higher than +eloquence; it was _action_--noble, sublime, GOD-like." + +While the coffin containing all that remained of the great Orator of +Nature was being carried up the steps of the City-Hall, a by-stander +remarked, in hearing of the writer: + +Well, we never shall look upon _his_ like again. What an orator he +was! I heard him speak but once, yet that once I shall always +remember. It was a good many years ago, now. It was in the immense +car-house, or dépôt, at Syracuse. The crowd was immense; and every +eye was turned toward the platform from which he was to speak, as if +the whole crowd were but one expectant face. + +Presently he arose--tall, erect as a statue; looked familiarly +around upon the audience, as if he were in an assembly of personal +friends (as in truth he was), and began. He commenced amidst the +most breathless silence; and as he warmed up with his subject, there +was not a look of his eye, not a movement of his long, graceful +right arm, not a swaying of his body, that was not full of grace +and effect. Such a voice I never heard. It was wonderful![9] + +Once he took out his snuff-box, and, after taking a pinch of snuff, +and returning the box to his pocket, he illustrated a point which he +was making by an anecdote: + +"While I was abroad," said he, "laboring to arrange the terms of the +Treaty of Ghent, there appeared a report of the negotiations, or +letters relative thereto; and several quotations from my remarks or +letters, touching certain stipulations in the treaty, reached +Kentucky, and were read by my constituents. + +"Among them, was an odd old fellow, who went by the nickname of +'_Old Sandusky_,' and he was reading one of these letters, one +evening, at a near resort, to a small collection of the neighbors. +As he read on, he came across the sentence, 'This must be deemed a +_sine qua non_." + +"'What's a _sine qua non_?' said a half-dozen by-standers. + +"'Old Sandusky' was a little bothered at first, but his good sense +and natural shrewdness was fully equal to a 'mastery of the Latin.' + +"'_Sine--qua--non?_' said 'Old Sandusky,' repeating the question +very slowly; 'why, _Sine Qua Non_ is three islands in Passamaquoddy +Bay, and Harry Clay is the last man to give them up! 'No _Sine Qua +Non_, no treaty,' he says; and he'll stick to it!'" + +You should have seen the laughing eye, the change in the speaker's +voice and manner, said the narrator, to understand the electric +effect the story had upon the audience. + +Previous to Mr. Clay's entrance upon public life in the service of +his country, and while he was yet young in the practice of the law, +in Kentucky, the following striking incident is related of him: + +Two Germans, father and son, were indicted for murder, and were +tried for the crime. Mr. Clay was employed to defend them. The act +of killing was proved by evidence so clear and strong, that it was +considered not only a case of murder, but an exceedingly aggravated +one. The trial lasted five days, at the close of which he addressed +the jury in the most impassioned and eloquent manner; and they were +so moved by his pathetic appeals, that they rendered a verdict of +manslaughter only. After another hard day's struggle, he succeeded +in obtaining an arrest of judgment, by which his clients, in whose +case he thought there was an absence of all "malice prepense," were +set at liberty. + +They expressed their gratitude in the warmest terms to their +deliverer, in which they were joined by an old and ill-favored +female, the wife of one and the mother of the other, who adopted a +different mode, however, of tendering _her_ thanks, which was by +throwing her arms round Mr. Clay's neck, and repeatedly kissing him, +in the presence of a crowded court-room! + +Mr. Clay respected her feelings too much to repulse her; but he was +often afterward heard to say, that it was "the longest and strongest +embrace he ever encountered in his professional practice!" + +In civil suits, at this period, Mr. Clay gained almost equal +celebrity, and especially in the settlement of land claims, at that +time an important element in Western litigation. It is related of +him, at this stage of his career, that being engaged in a case which +involved immense interests, he associated with him a prominent +lawyer to whom he intrusted its management, as urgent business +demanded his absence from court. Two days were occupied in +discussing the legal points that were to govern the instructions of +the court to the jury, on every one of which his colleague was +frustrated. Mr. Clay returned, however, before a decision was +rendered, and without acquainting himself with the nature of the +testimony, or ascertaining the manner in which the discussion had +been conducted, after conferring a few moments with his associate, +he prepared and presented in a few words the form in which he wished +the instructions to be given, accompanying it with his reasons, +which were so convincing that the suit was terminated in his favor +in less than one hour after he re-entered the court-room. + +Thus early, and in a career merely professional, did Henry Clay +commence his sway over the minds of deliberative men. + +The subjoined incident, connected with Mr. Clay's style of +"stump-speaking" is related in "Mallory's Life" of our illustrious +subject. It illustrates his tact and ingenuity in seizing and +turning to good account trivial circumstances: + +Mr. Clay had been speaking for some time, when a company of +riflemen, who had been performing military exercise, attracted by +his attitude, concluded to "go and hear what the fellow had to say," +as they termed it, and accordingly drew near. They listened with +respectful attention, and evidently with deep interest, until he +closed, when one of their number, a man of about fifty years of age, +who had seen much back-wood's service, stood leaning on his rifle, +regarding the young speaker with a fixed and sagacious look. + +He was apparently the Nimrod of the company, for he exhibited every +characteristic of a "mighty hunter." He had buckskin breeches, and +hunting-shirt, coon-skin cap, black bushy beard, and a visage of the +color and texture of his bullet-pouch. At his belt hung the knife +and hatchet, and the huge, indispensable powder-horn across a breast +bare and brown as the hills he traversed in his forays, yet it +covered a brave and noble heart. + +He beckoned with his hand to Mr. Clay to approach him. + +Mr. Clay immediately complied. + +"Young man," said he, "you want to go to the Legislature, I see." + +"Why, yes," replied Mr. Clay; "yes, I _should_ like to go, since my +friends have put me up as a candidate before the people. I don't +wish to be defeated, of course; few people do." + +"Are you a good shot, young man?" asked the hunter. + +"I consider myself as good as any in the county." + +"Then you shall go: but you must give us a specimen of your skill; +we must see you shoot." + +"I never shoot any rifle but my own, and that is at home," said the +young orator. + +"No matter," quickly responded the hunter, "here's _Old Bess_; she +never failed yet in the hands of a marksman. She has put a bullet +through many a squirrel's head at a hundred yards, and day-light +through many a red-skin _twice_ that distance. If you can shoot +_any_ gun, young man, you can shoot 'Old Bess!'" + +"Very well, then," replied Mr. Clay, "put up your mark! put up your +mark!" + +The target was placed at about the distance of eighty yards, when, +with all the coolness and steadiness of an old experienced marksman, +he drew "Old Bess" to his shoulder, and fired. The bullet pierced +the target near the centre. + +"Oh, that's a chance-shot! a chance-shot!" exclaimed several of his +political opponents; "he might shoot all day, and not hit the mark +again. Let him try it over!--let him try it over!" + +"No, no," retorted Mr. Clay, "_beat that_, and _then_ I will!" + +As no one seemed disposed to make the attempt, it was considered +that he had given satisfactory proof of being, as he said, "the best +shot in the county;" and this unimportant incident gained him the +vote of every hunter and marksman in the assembly, which was +composed principally of that class of persons, as well as the +support of the same throughout the county. Mr. Clay was frequently +heard to say: "I had never before fired a rifle, and have not +since!" + +It was in turning little things like these to account, that Mr. +Clay, in the earlier period of his career, was so remarkable. Two +other instances in this kind, although not new, may be appropriately +mentioned in this connection. + +In 1805 an attempt was made to obtain the removal of the capital +from Frankfort, Kentucky. Mr. Clay, in a speech delivered at the +time, reverted to the physical appearance of the place, as +furnishing an argument in favor of the proposed removal. Frankfort +is walled in on all sides by towering, rocky precipices, and in its +general conformation, is not unlike a great pit. "It presents," said +Mr. Clay, in his remarks upon the subject, "the model of an inverted +hat. Frankfort is the body of the hat, and the lands adjacent are +the brim. To change the figure, it is Nature's great penitentiary; +and if the members would know the bodily condition of the +prisoners, let them look at those poor creatures in the gallery." + +As he said this, he directed the attention of the members of the +Legislature to some half-dozen emaciated, spectre-like specimens of +humanity, who happened to be moping about there, looking as if they +had just stolen a march from the grave-yard. On observing the eyes +of the House thus turned toward them, and aware of their ill-favored +aspect, they screened themselves with such ridiculous precipitancy +behind the pillars and railing, as to cause the most violent +laughter. This well-directed hit was successful; and the House gave +their votes in favor of the measure. + +The second instance is doubtless more familiar to the reader; but +having "spoken of guns," it may not be amiss to quote it here: + +During an excited political canvass, Mr. Clay met an old hunter, who +had previously been his devoted friend, but who now opposed him, on +the ground of "the Compensation bill." + +"Have you a good rifle, my friend?" asked Mr. Clay. + +"Yes," said the hunter. + +"Does it ever flash in the pan?" continued Mr. Clay. + +"It never did but once in the world," said the hunter, exultingly. + +"Well, what did you do with it? You didn't throw it away, did you?" + +"No; I picked the flint, tried it again, and brought down the game." + +"Have _I_ ever 'flashed,'" continued Mr. Clay, "except on the +'Compensation bill?'" + +"No, I can't say that you ever did." + +"Well, will you throw _me_ away?" said Mr. Clay. + +"No, no!" responded the huntsman, touched on the right point; "no; +_I'll pick the flint, and try you again!_" + +And ever afterward he was the unwavering friend of Mr. Clay. + +From the same authority we derive another election anecdote, which +Mr. Clay was wont to mention to his friends. In a political canvass +in Kentucky, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Pope a one-armed man, were candidates +for the same office. An Irish barber, residing at Lexington, had +always given Mr. Clay his vote, and on all occasions, when he was a +candidate for office, electioneered warmly for him. He was "Irish +all over," and was frequently in "scrapes," from which Mr. Clay +generally succeeded in rescuing him. Somebody, just before the +election took place, "came the evil eye" over him; for when asked +who he was going to vote for, he replied, "I mane to vote for the +man who can't put more nor _one hand_ into the threasury!" + +A few days after the election, the barber met Mr. Clay in Lexington, +and approaching him, began to cry, saying that he had wronged him, +and repented his ingratitude. "My wife," said he, "got round me, +blubbering, and tould me that I was _too bad_, to desert, like a +base spalpeen, me ould frind. 'Niver's the time,' says she 'when +you got in jail or in any bad fix _niver's_ the time he didn't come +and help you out. Och! bad luck to ye for not giving him your +vote!'" Mr. Clay never failed to gain his vote afterward. + +An anecdote is related of Mr. Clay, aptly illustrating his ability +to encounter opposition, in whatever manner presented. A Senator +from Connecticut had endeavored to inspire the younger members of +the Senate with a respect for him, nearly allied to awe; and to this +end was accustomed to use toward them harsh and haughty language, +but especially to make an ostentatious display of his attainments, +and his supposed superior knowledge of the subject under discussion. +Mr. Clay could ill brook his insolent looks and language, and +haughty, overbearing manner, and took occasion in his speech to hit +them off, which he did by quoting Peter Pindar's Magpie, + + "Thus have I seen a magpie in the street, + A chattering bird we often meet, + A bird for curiosity well known, + With head awry, + And cunning eye, + Peep knowingly into a marrow-bone!" + +"It would be difficult," says the biographer who relates this +circumstance, "to say which was the greater, the merriment which +this sally caused, or the chagrin of the satirized Senator." + +A striking instance of the simplicity as well as humanity of Mr. +Clay's character is given in the following authentic anecdote of +him, while a member of the House of Representatives: + +"Almost every body in Washington City will remember an old he-goat, +which formerly inhabited a livery-stable on Pennsylvania Avenue. +This animal was the most independent citizen of the metropolis. He +belonged to no party, although he frequently gave pedestrians +'striking' proofs of his adhesion to the 'leveling' principle; for, +whenever a person stopped any where in the vicinity, 'Billy' was +sure to 'make at him,' horns and all. The boys took delight in +irritating him, and frequently so annoyed him that he would 'butt' +against lamp-posts and trees, to their great amusement. + +"One day, Henry Clay was passing along the avenue, and seeing the +boys intent on worrying Billy into a fever, stopped, and with +characteristic humanity expostulated with them upon their cruelty. +The boys listened in silent awe to the eloquent appeal of the +'Luminary of the West,' but it was all Cherokee to Billy, who--the +ungrateful scamp!--arose majestically on his hind legs, and made a +desperate plunge at his friend and advocate. Mr. Clay, however, +proved too much for his horned adversary. He seized both horns of +the dilemma, and then came the 'tug of war.' The struggle was long +and doubtful. + +"'Ha!' exclaimed the statesman, 'I've got you fast, you old rascal! +I'll teach you better manners than to attack your friends! But, +boys, he continued, 'what shall I do _now_?' + +"'Why, trip up his feet, Mr. Clay.' Mr. Clay did as he was told, and +after many severe efforts brought Billy down on his side. Here he +looked at the boys imploringly, seeming to say, 'I never was in such +a fix as _this_ before!' + +"The combatants were now nearly exhausted; but the goat had the +advantage, for he was gaining breath all the while the statesman was +losing it. + +"'Boys!' exclaimed Mr. Clay, puffing and blowing, 'this is rather an +awkward business. What am I to do _next_?" + +"'Why, don't you know?' said a little fellow, making his own +preparations to run, as he spoke: 'all you've got to do is to let +go, and run like blazes!' The hint was taken at once, much to the +amusement of the boys who had been 'lectured.'" + +The collisions between Mr. Clay and Randolph in Congress and out of +it, are well known to the public. The following circumstance, +however, has seldom been quoted. When the Missouri Compromise +question was before Congress, and the fury of the contending parties +had broken down almost every barrier of order and decency, Mr. +Randolph, much excited, approaching Mr. Clay, said: + +"Mr. Speaker, I wish you would leave the House. I will follow you to +Kentucky, or any where else in the world." + +Mr. Clay regarded him with one of his most searching looks for an +instant; and then replied, in an under-tone: + +"Mr. Randolph, your proposition is an exceedingly serious one, and +demands most serious consideration. Be kind enough to call at my +room to-morrow morning, and we will deliberate over it together." + +Mr. Randolph called punctually at the moment; they talked long upon +the much-agitated subject, without coming to any agreement, and Mr. +Randolph arose to leave. + +"Mr. Randolph," said Mr. Clay, as the former was about stepping from +the house, "with your permission, I will embrace the present +occasion to observe, that your language and deportment on the floor +of the House, it has occurred to me, were rather indecorous and +ungentlemanly, on several occasions, and very annoying, indeed, to +me; for, being in the chair, I had no opportunity of replying." + +While admitting that this might, perhaps, be so, Mr. Randolph +excused it, on the ground of Mr. Clay's inattention to his remarks, +and asking for a pinch of snuff while he was addressing him, &c, &c. +Mr. Clay, in reply, said: + +"Oh, you are certainly mistaken, Mr. Randolph, if you think I do not +listen to you. I frequently turn away my head, it is true, and ask +for a pinch of snuff; still, I hear every thing you say, although I +may _seem_ to hear nothing; and, retentive as I know your memory to +be, I will wager that I can repeat as many of your speeches as you +yourself can!" + +"Well," answered Randolph, "I don't know but I _am_ mistaken; and +suppose we drop the matter, shake hands, and become good friends +again?" + +"Agreed!" said Mr. Clay, extending his hand, which was cordially +grasped by Mr. Randolph. + +During the same session, and some time before this interview, Mr. +Randolph accosted Mr. Clay with a look and manner much agitated, and +exhibited to him a letter, couched in very abusive terms, +threatening to cowhide him, &c., and asked Mr. Clay's advice as to +the course he should pursue in relation to it. + +"What caused the writer to send you such an insulting epistle, Mr. +Randolph?" asked Mr. Clay. + +"Why, I suppose," said Randolph, "it was in consequence of what I +said to him the other day." + +"What _did_ you say?" + +"Why, sir, I was standing in the vestibule of the house, when the +writer came up and introduced to me a gentleman who accompanied him; +and I asked him what right he had to introduce that man to me, and +told him that the man had just as good a right to introduce _him_ to +me; whereat he was very indignant, said I had treated him +scandalously, and turning on his heel, went away. I think that must +have made him write the letter." + +"Don't you think he was _a little out of his head_ to talk in that +way?" asked Mr. Clay. + +"Why, I've been thinking about that," said Randolph: "I _have_ some +doubts respecting his sanity." + +"Well, that being the case, would it not be the wisest course +not to bring the matter before the House? I will direct the +sergeant-at-arms to keep a sharp look-out for the man, and to cause +him to be arrested should he attempt any thing improper." + +Mr. Randolph acquiesced in this opinion, and nothing more was ever +heard of the subject. + +Another incident, touching Mr. Clay and Mr. Randolph, will be read +with interest: + +At one time Mr. Randolph, in a strain of most scorching irony, had +indulged in some personal taunts toward Mr. Clay, commiserating his +ignorance and limited education, to whom Mr. Clay thus replied: + +"Sir, the gentleman from Virginia was pleased to say, that in one +point at least he coincided with me--in an humble estimate of my +philological acquirements. Sir, I know my deficiencies. I was born +to no proud patrimonial estate from my father. I inherited only +infancy, ignorance, and indigence. I feel my defects: but, so far as +my situation in early life is concerned, I may without presumption +say, they are more my misfortune than my fault. But, however I may +deplore my inability to furnish to the gentleman a better specimen +of powers of verbal criticism, I will venture to say my regret is +not greater than the disappointment of this committee, as to the +strength of his argument." + +The particulars of the duel between Mr. Randolph and Mr. Clay may be +unknown to some of our readers. The eccentric descendant of +Pocahontas appeared on the ground in a huge morning gown. This +garment constituted such a vast circumference that the "locality of +the swarthy Senator," was at least a matter of very vague +conjecture. The parties exchanged shots, and the ball of Mr. Clay +hit the centre of the visible object, but Mr. Randolph was not +there! The latter had fired in the air, and immediately after the +exchange of shots he walked up to Mr. Clay, parted the folds of his +gown, pointed to the hole where the bullet of the former had pierced +his coat, and, in the shrillest tones of his piercing voice, +exclaimed, "Mr. Clay, you owe me a coat--you owe me a coat!" to +which Mr. Clay replied, in a voice of slow and solemn emphasis, at +the same time pointing directly at Mr. Randolph's heart, "Mr. +Randolph, I thank God that I am no _deeper_ in your debt!" + +The annexed rejoinder aptly illustrates Mr. Clay's readiness at +repartee: + +At the time of the passage of the tariff-bill, as the house was +about adjourning, a friend of the bill observed to Mr. Clay, "We +have done pretty well to-day." "Very well, indeed," rejoined Mr. +Clay--"_very_ well: we made a good stand, considering we lost both +our _Feet_;" alluding to Mr. Foote of New York, and Mr. Foot of +Connecticut, both having opposed the bill, although it was +confidently expected, a short time previous, that both would support +it. + +After the nomination of General Taylor as a candidate for the +Presidency, made by the Whig Convention at Philadelphia, in June, +1848, many of the friends of Mr. Clay were greatly dissatisfied, not +to say exasperated, by what they deemed an abandonment of principle, +and unfairness in the proceedings of that body: meetings were held +in this city, at which delegates from the northern and western parts +of this State and from the State of New Jersey attended, and various +arrangements, preliminary to placing Mr. Clay again in nomination +for that office, were made, and perfected. These steps were not +concealed, and many of the friends of General Taylor were so +uncharitable as to avow their belief that this dissatisfaction was +fostered and encouraged by Mr. Clay himself. The following extract +from a letter written to a friend in this city,[10] one who had from +the beginning opposed the movement, will exhibit Mr. Clay's true +sentiments on that subject: + + "ASHLAND, _16th October, 1848_. + + "MY DEAR SIR--I duly received your obliging letter of the + 5th instant, and I have perused it with the greatest + satisfaction. + + "The vivid picture which you have drawn of the enthusiastic + attachment, the unbounded confidence, and the entire + devotion of my warm-hearted friends in the city of New York, + has filled me with the liveliest emotions of gratitude. + + "There was but one more proof wanting of their goodness, to + complete and perpetuate my great obligations to them, and + that they have kindly given, in deference to my anxious + wishes; it was, not to insist upon the use of my name as a + candidate for the Presidency, after the promulgation of my + desire to the contrary." + +In another letter, to the same party, written a few weeks earlier, +occurs the following touching passage, indicating his sense of the +oppressive loneliness with which he was then surrounded. Referring +to the recent departure of his son James on his mission to Portugal, +accompanied by his family, he says: + + "If they had, as I hope, a prosperous voyage, they will have + arrived at Liverpool about the same day that I reached home. + My separation from them, probably for a length of time, the + uncertainty of life rendering it not unlikely that I may + never see them again, and the deep and affectionate interest + I take in their welfare and happiness, has been extremely + painful. + + "I find myself now, toward the close of my life, in one + respect, in a condition similar to that with which I began + it. Mrs. Clay and I commenced it alone: and after having had + eleven children, of whom four only remain, our youngest son + is the sole white person residing with us." + +We are indebted to the same obliging gentleman from whom we derive +the foregoing, for the following graphic description of a visit paid +to Mr. Clay in his sick chamber at Washington: + +"On Monday, the first of March last, at about one o'clock, at the +National Hotel, Washington, having sent in my name, Mr. Clay kindly +admitted me to his room. I found it darkened by heavy closed +curtains, and the sufferer seated in an easy chair at the remote +end, near a moderate coal-fire. I approached him rapidly, and, +taking his extended soft hand and attenuated fingers, said, 'My dear +sir, I am most honored and gratified by this privilege of being +again permitted to renew to you, personally, the expression of my +unabated attachment and reverence.' + +"'But, my dear sir,' he playfully answered, 'you have a very cold +hand to convey these sentiments to an invalid such as I am. Come, +draw up a chair, and sit near me; I am compelled to use my voice but +little, and very carefully.' + +"Doing as he desired, I expressed my deep regret that he was still +confined to a sick room, and added, that I hoped the return of +spring, and the early recurrence of warmer weather would mitigate +his more urgent symptoms, and enable him again to visit the Senate +Chamber. + +"'Sir,' said he, 'these are the kind wishes of a friend, but that +hope does not commend itself to my judgment. You may remember that +last year I visited the Havanna, in the expectation that its +remarkably genial and mild climate would benefit me--but I found no +relief; thence to New Orleans, a favorite resort of mine, with no +better result. I even became impatient for the return of autumn, +thinking that possibly its clear bracing atmosphere at Ashland might +lessen my distressing cough; but sir, the Havanna, New Orleans, and +Ashland have all failed to bring me any perceptible benefit.' + +"'May I ask, my dear sir, what part of the twenty-four hours are you +most comfortable?' + +"'Fortunately, sir, _very_ fortunately--I should add, +_mercifully_--during the night. Then, I am singularly placid and +composed: I am very wakeful, and during the earlier part of it my +thoughts take a wide range, but I lie most tranquilly, without any +sensation of weariness, or nervous excitement, and toward day fall +into a quiet and undisturbed sleep; this continues to a late hour in +the morning, when I rise and breakfast about ten o'clock. +Subsequently my cough for an hour or two, is very exhausting. After +one o'clock, and during the evening, I am tolerably free of it, and +during this period, I see a few of my close personal friends. And +thus passes the twenty-four hours.' + +"'I was grieved to learn, through the public prints, that Mrs. Clay +has been ill; may I hope that she is better?' + +"'She has been sick; indeed, at one time, I was much alarmed at her +situation; but I thank GOD,' (_with deep emotion_,) 'she is quite +recovered.' + +"'I almost expected the gratification of meeting your son James and +his wife here.' + +"'No, sir; you may remember that I once told you that he had made a +very fortunate investment in the suburbs of St. Louis. This property +has become valuable, and requires his attention and management: he +has removed thither with his family. It's a long way off, and I +would not have them make a winter journey here; beside, I have every +comfort and attention that a sick man can require. My apartments, as +you perceive, are far removed from the noise and bustle of the +house; and I am surrounded by warm and anxious friends, ever seeking +to anticipate my wishes.' + +"During this brief conversation--in which we were quite alone--Mr. +Clay had several paroxysms of coughing. Once he rose and walked +across the room to a spittoon. The most careful use of his voice +seemed greatly and constantly to irritate his lungs. I could not +prolong the interview, though thoroughly impressed with the +belief--since mournfully verified--that it would be the last. + +"I rose, took my leave, invoking God's blessing on him; and, as in +the presence of Royalty, bowed myself out of the room backward. + +"On rising from his seat, as above remarked, he stood as erect and +commanding as ever; and while sitting in close proximity to him, his +burning eye fixed intently upon me, it seemed as if rays of light +were emitted from each. This phenomenon is not unusual in +consumptive patients, the extraordinary brilliancy of the eye being +often remarked; but in Mr. Clay's case it was so intense as to make +me almost nervous, partaking as it did of the supernatural. + +"I have thus given you the arrangement, and very nearly the precise +words,[11] of this my last interview with one of the greatest men of +the age. It was altogether a scene to be remembered--a sick room, +with the thoughts of a nation daily directed to it! It is full of +pathos, and approaches the sublime." + +The day previous to the call and conversation above described, the +Editor of the _Knickerbocker Magazine_ saw Mr. Clay in the street at +Washington, and thus mentions the fact in the "Gossip" of his April +Number: "Passing the National Hotel at two o'clock, on this bright +and cloudless warm Sunday, we saw a tall figure, clad in a blue +cloak, attended only by a lady and child, enter a carriage before +the door. Once seen, it was a face never to be forgotten. It was +Henry Clay. That eagle-eye was not dimmed, although the great +statesman's force was abated. We raised our hat, and bowed our +reverence and admiration. Our salutation was gracefully returned, +and the carriage was driven away. + +"As we walked on, to keep an engagement to dine, we thought of the +late words of that eminent patriot: 'If the days of my usefulness, +as I have too much reason to fear, be indeed passed, I desire not to +linger an impotent spectator of the oft-scanned field of life. I +have never looked upon old age, deprived of the faculty of +enjoyment, of intellectual perceptions and energies, with any +sympathy; and for such I think the day of fate can not arrive too +soon.' One can hardly choose but drop a tear over such a remark from +such a man." + +Thus "broken with the storms of state," and scathed with many a +fiery conflict, Henry Clay gradually descended toward the tomb. +"During this period," says one of his Kentucky colleagues, "he +conversed much and cheerfully with his friends, and took great +interest in public affairs. While he did not expect a restoration to +health, he cherished the hope that the mild season of spring would +bring him strength enough to return to Ashland, that he might die in +the bosom of his family. But, alas! spring, that brings life to all +Nature, brought no life nor hope to him. After the month of March, +his vital powers rapidly wasted, and for weeks he lay patiently +awaiting the stroke of death. The approach of the destroyer had no +terror for him. No clouds overhung his future. He met his end with +composure, and his pathway to the grave was lightened by the +immortal hopes which spring from the Christian faith. Not long +before his death, having just returned from Kentucky, I bore to him +a token of affection from his excellent wife. Never can I forget his +appearance, his manner, or his words. After speaking of his family +and his country, he changed the conversation to his own fortune, +and, looking on me with his fine eyes undimmed, and his voice full +of its original compass and melody, he said: 'I am not afraid to +die, sir; I have hope, faith, and some confidence: I do not think +any man can be entirely certain in regard to his future state, but I +have an abiding trust in the merits and mediation of our Saviour.'" + +"On the evening previous to his departure," writes his excellent +pastor and faithful attendant, Rev. Dr. Butler, "sitting an hour in +silence by his side, I could not but realize--when I heard him in +the slight wanderings of his mind, to other days and other scenes, +murmuring the words, 'My mother, mother, mother!' and saying, 'My +dear wife!' as if she were present. I could not but realize then, +and rejoiced to think, how near was the blessed re-union of his +weary heart with the loved dead, and the living who must soon +follow him to his rest, whose spirits even then seemed to visit and +to cheer his memory and his hope." + +Mr. Clay's countenance immediately after death looked like an +antique cast. His features seemed to be perfectly classical; and the +repose of all the muscles gave the lifeless body a quiet majesty, +seldom reached by living human being. His last request was that his +body might be buried, not in Washington, but in his own family vault +in his beloved Kentucky, by the side of his relations and friends. +May he rest in peace in his honored grave! + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [9] A gentleman, after hearing one of Mr. Clay's magnificent + performances in the Senate, thus describes him: "Every + muscle of the orator's face was at work. His whole body + seemed agitated, as if each part was instinct with a + separate life; and his small white hand, with its blue veins + apparently distended almost to bursting, moved gracefully, + but with all the energy of rapid and vehement gesture. The + appearance of the speaker seemed that of a pure intellect, + wrought up to its mightiest energies, and brightly shining + through the thin and transparent vail of flesh that invested + it." It is much to be lamented that no painting exists of + the departed statesman that really does him justice. What a + treasure to the country, and to the friends of the "Great + Commoner," would be a portrait, at this time, from the + faithful and glowing pencil of our pre-eminent artist, + Elliott! But it is now "too late". + + [10] NICHOLAS DEAN, Esq., President of the Croton Aqueduct + Board, a life-long friend of Mr. Clay. + + [11] They were reduced to writing immediately afterward. + + + + +A DUEL IN 1830. + + +I had just arrived at Marseilles with the diligence, in which three +young men, apparently merchants or commercial travelers, were the +companions of my journey. They came from Paris, and were +enthusiastic about the events which had lately happened there, and +in which they boasted of having taken part. I was, for my part, +quiet and reserved; for I thought it much better, at a time of such +political excitement in the south of France, where party passions +always rise so high, to do nothing that would attract attention; and +my three fellow-travelers no doubt looked on me as a plain, +common-place seaman, who had been to the luxurious metropolis for +his pleasure or on business. My presence, it seemed, did not +incommode them, for they talked on as if I had not been there. Two +of them were gay, merry, but rather coarse boon-companions; the +third, an elegant youth, blooming and tall, with luxuriant black +curling hair, and dark soft eyes. In the hotel where we dined, and +where I sat a little distance off, smoking my cigar, the +conversation turned on various love-adventures, and the young man, +whom they called Alfred, showed his comrades a packet of delicately +perfumed letters, and a superb lock of beautiful fair hair. + +He told them that in the days of July he had been slightly wounded, +and that his only fear, while he lay on the ground, was, that if he +died, some mischance might prevent Clotilde from weeping over his +grave. "But now all is well," he continued. "I am going to fetch a +nice little sum from my uncle at Marseilles, who is just at this +moment in good-humor, on account of the discomfiture of the Jesuits +and the Bourbons. In my character of one of the heroes of July, he +will forgive me all my present and past follies: I shall pass an +examination at Paris, and then settle down in quiet, and live +happily with my Clotilde." Thus they talked together; and by-and-by +we parted in the court-yard of the coach-office. + +Close by was a brilliantly-illumined coffee-house. I entered, and +seated myself at a little table, in a distant corner of the room. +Two persons only were still in the saloon, in an opposite corner, +and before them stood two glasses of brandy. One was an elderly, +stately, and portly gentleman, with dark-red face, and dressed in a +quiet colored suit; it was easy to perceive that he was a clergyman. +But the appearance of the other was very striking. He could not be +far from sixty years of age, was tall and thin, and his gray, indeed +almost white hair, which, however, rose from his head in luxurious +fullness, gave to his pale countenance a peculiar expression that +made one feel uncomfortable. The brawny neck was almost bare; a +simple, carelessly-knotted black kerchief alone encircled it; thick, +silver-gray whiskers met together at his chin; a blue frock-coat, +pantaloons of the same color, silk stockings, shoes with thick +soles, and a dazzlingly-white waistcoat and linen, completed his +equipment. A thick stick leant in one corner, and his broad-brimmed +hat hung against the wall. There was a certain convulsive twitching +of the thin lips of this person, which was very remarkable; and +there seemed, when he looked fixedly, to be a smouldering fire in +his large, glassy, grayish-blue eyes. He was, it was evident, a +seaman like myself--a strong oak that fate had shaped into a mast, +over which many a storm had blustered, but which had been too tough +to be shivered, and still defied the tempest and the lightning. +There lay a gloomy resignation as well as a wild fanaticism in those +features. The large bony hand, with its immense fingers, was spread +out or clenched, according to the turn which the conversation with +the clergyman took. Suddenly he stepped up to me. I was reading a +royalist newspaper. He lighted his cigar. + +"You are right, sir; you are quite right not to read those infamous +Jacobin journals." I looked up, and gave no answer. He continued: "A +sailor?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And have seen service?" + +"Yes." + +"You are still in active service?" + +"No." And then, to my great satisfaction, for my patience was +well-nigh exhausted, the examination was brought to a conclusion. + +Just then, an evil destiny led my three young fellow-travelers into +the room. They soon seated themselves at a table, and drank some +glasses of champagne to Clotilde's health. All went on well; but +when they began to sing the _Marseillaise_ and the _Parisienne_, the +face of the gray man began to twitch, and it was evident a storm was +brewing. Calling to the waiter, he said with a loud voice, "Tell +those blackguards yonder not to annoy me with their low songs!" + +The young men sprang up in a fury, and asked if it was to them he +alluded. + +"Whom else should I mean," said the gray man, with a contemptuous +sneer. + +"But we may drink and sing if we like, and to whom we like," said +the young man. "_Vive la République et vive Clotilde!_" + +"One as blackguardly as the other!" cried the gray-beard tauntingly; +and a wine-glass, that flew at his head from the hand of the +dark-haired youth, was the immediate rejoinder. Slowly wiping his +forehead, which bled and dripped with the spilled wine, the old man +said quite quietly "To-morrow, at the Cap Verd!" and seated himself +again with the most perfect composure. + +The young man expressed his determination to take the matter on +himself; that he alone would settle the quarrel, and promised to +appear on the morrow at the appointed time. They then all departed +noisily. The old man rose quietly, and turning to me, said: "Sir, +you have been witness to the insult; be witness also to the +satisfaction. Here is my address: I shall expect you at five +o'clock. Good-night, Monsieur l'Abbé! To-morrow, there will be one +Jacobin less, and one lost soul the more. Good-night!" and taking +his hat and stick, he departed. His companion the abbé followed soon +after. + +I now learned the history of this singular man. He was descended +from a good family of Marseilles. Destined for the navy while still +young, he was sent on board ship before the Revolution, and while +yet of tender years. Later, he was taken prisoner; and after many +strange adventures, returned in 1793 to France: was about to marry, +but having been mixed up with the disturbances at Toulon, managed to +escape by a miracle to England; and learned before long that his +father, mother, one brother, a sister of sixteen years of age, and +his betrothed, had all been led to the guillotine to the tune of the +_Marseillaise_. Thirst for revenge, revenge on the detested +Jacobins, was now his sole aim. For a long time he roved about in +the Indian seas, sometimes as a privateer, at others as a +slave-dealer; and was said to have caused the tri-colored flag much +damage, while he acquired a considerable fortune for himself. With +the return of the Bourbons, he came back to France, and settled at +Marseilles. He lived, however, very retired, and employed his large +fortune solely for the poor, for distressed seamen, and for the +clergy. Alms and masses were his only objects of expense. It may +easily be believed, that he acquired no small degree of popularity +among the lower classes and the clergy. But, strangely enough, when +not at church, he spent his time with the most celebrated +fencing-masters, and had acquired in the use of the pistol and the +sword a dexterity that was hardly to be paralleled. In the year +1815, when the royalist reaction broke out in La Vendee, he roved +about for a long time at the head of a band of followers. When at +last this opportunity of cooling his rage was taken from him by the +return of order, he looked out for some victim who was known to him +by his revolutionary principles, and sought to provoke him to +combat. The younger, the richer, the happier the chosen victim was, +the more desirable did he seem. The landlord told me he himself knew +of seven young persons who had fallen before his redoubted sword. + +The next morning at five o'clock, I was at the house of this +singular character. He lived on the ground-floor, in a small simple +room, where, excepting a large crucifix, and a picture covered with +black crape, with the date, 1794, under it, the only ornaments were +some nautical instruments, a trombone, and a human skull. The +picture was the portrait of his guillotined bride; it remained +always vailed, excepting only when he had slaked his revenge with +blood; then he uncovered it for eight days, and indulged himself in +the sight. The skull was that of his mother. His bed consisted of +the usual hammock slung from the ceiling. When I entered, he was at +his devotions, and a little negro brought me meanwhile a cup of +chocolate and a cigar. When he had risen from his knees, he saluted +me in a friendly manner, as if we were merely going for a morning +walk together; afterward he opened a closet, took out of it a case +with a pair of English pistols, and a couple of excellent swords, +which I put under my arm; and thus provided, we proceeded along the +quay toward the port. The boatmen seemed all to know him: "Peter, +your boat!" He seated himself in the stern. + +"You will have the goodness to row," he said; "I will take the +tiller, so that my hand may not become unsteady." + +I took off my coat, rowed away briskly, and as the wind was +favorable, we hoisted a sail, and soon reached Cap Verd. We could +remark from afar our three young men, who were sitting at breakfast +in a garden, not far from the shore. This was the garden of a +_restaurateur_, and was the favorite resort of the inhabitants of +Marseilles. Here you find excellent fish; and also, in high +perfection, the famous _bollenbresse_, a national dish in Provence, +as celebrated as the _olla podrida_ of Spain. How many a +love-meeting has occurred in this place! But this time it was not +Love that brought the parties together, but Hate, his step-brother; +and in Provence the one is as ardent, quick, and impatient as the +other. + +My business was soon accomplished. It consisted in asking the young +men what weapons they chose, and with which of them the duel +was to be fought. The dark-haired youth--his name was M---- +L----,--insisted that he alone should settle the business, and his +friends were obliged to give their word not to interfere. + +"You are too stout," he said to the one, pointing to his portly +figure; "and you"--to the other--"are going to be married; besides, +I am a first-rate hand with the sword. However, I will not take +advantage of my youth and strength, but will choose the pistol, +unless the gentleman yonder prefers the sword." + +A movement of convulsive joy animated the face of my old captain: +"The sword is the weapon of the French gentleman," he said; "I shall +be happy to die with it in my hand." + +"Be it so. But your age?" + +"Never mind; make haste, and _en garde_." + +It was a strange sight: the handsome young man on one side, +overbearing confidence in his look, with his youthful form, full of +grace and suppleness; and opposite him that long figure, half +naked--for his blue shirt was furled up from his sinewy arm, and his +broad, scarred breast was entirely bare. In the old man, every sinew +was like iron wire: his whole weight resting on his left hip, the +long arm--on which, in sailor fashion, a red cross, three lilies, +and other marks, were tattooed--held out before him, and the +cunning, murderous gaze riveted on his adversary. + +"'Twill be but a mere scratch," said one of the three friends to me. +I made no reply, but was convinced beforehand that my captain, who +was an old practitioner, would treat the matter more seriously. +Young L----, whose perfumed coat was lying near, appeared to me to +be already given over to corruption. He began the attack, advancing +quickly. This confirmed me in my opinion; for although he might be a +practiced fencer in the schools, this was proof that he could not +frequently have been engaged in serious combat, or he would not have +rushed forward so incautiously against an adversary whom he did not +as yet know. His opponent profited by his ardor, and retired step by +step, and at first only with an occasional ward and half thrust. +Young L----, getting hotter and hotter, grew flurried; while every +ward of his adversary proclaimed, by its force and exactness, the +master of the art of fence. At length the young man made a lunge; +the captain parried it with a powerful movement, and, before L---- +could recover his position, made a thrust in return, his whole body +falling forward as he did so, exactly like a picture at the Académie +des Armes--"the hand elevated, the leg stretched out"--and his sword +went through his antagonist, for nearly half its length, just under +the shoulder. The captain made an almost imperceptible turn with his +hand, and in an instant was again _en garde_. L---- felt himself +wounded; he let his sword fall, while with his other hand he pressed +his side; his eyes grew dim, and he sank into the arms of his +friends. The captain wiped his sword carefully, gave it to me, and +dressed himself with the most perfect composure. "I have the honor +to wish you good-morning, gentlemen: had you not sung yesterday, you +would not have had to weep to-day;" and thus saying, he went toward +his boat. "'Tis the seventeenth!" he murmured; "but this was easy +work--a mere greenhorn from the fencing-schools of Paris. 'Twas a +very different thing when I had to do with the old Bonapartist +officers, those brigands of the Loire." But it is quite impossible +to translate into another language the fierce energy of this speech. +Arrived at the port, he threw the boatman a few pieces of silver, +saying: "Here, Peter; here's something for you." + +"Another requiem and a mass for a departed soul, at the church of +St. Géneviève--is it not so, captain? But that is a matter of +course." And soon after we reached the dwelling of the captain. + +The little negro brought us a cold pasty, oysters, and two bottles +of _vin d'Artois_. "Such a walk betimes gives an appetite," said the +captain, gayly. "How strangely things fall out!" he continued, in a +serious tone. "I have long wished to draw the crape-vail from before +that picture, for you must know I only deem myself worthy to do so +when I have sent some Jacobin or Bonapartist into the other world, +to crave pardon from that murdered angel; and so I went yesterday to +the coffee-house with my old friend the abbé, whom I knew ever since +he was field-preacher to the Chouans, in the hope of finding a +victim for the sacrifice among the readers of the liberal journals. +The confounded waiters, however, betray my intention; and when I am +there, nobody will ask for a radical paper. When you appeared, my +worthy friend, I at first thought I had found the right man, and I +was impatient--for I had been waiting for more than three hours for +a reader of the 'National' or of 'Figaro.' How glad I am that I at +once discovered you to be no friend of such infamous papers! How +grieved should I be, if I had had to do with you instead of with +that young fellow!" For my part, I was in no mood even for +self-felicitations. At that time, I was a reckless young fellow, +going through the conventionalisms of society without a thought; but +the event of the morning had made even me reflect. + +"Do you think he will die, captain?" I asked. "Is the wound mortal?" + +"For certain!" he replied, with a slight smile. "I have a knack--of +course for Jacobins and Bonapartists only--when I thrust _en +quarte_, to draw out the sword by an imperceptible movement of the +hand, _en tierce_, or _vice versâ_, according to circumstances; and +thus the blade turns in the wound--_and that kills_; for the lung is +injured, and mortification is sure to follow." + +On returning to my hotel, where L---- also was staying, I met the +physician, who had just visited him. He gave up all hope. The +captain spoke truly, for the slight movement of the hand and the +turn of the blade had accomplished their aim, and the lung was +injured beyond the power of cure. The next morning early, L---- +died. I went to the captain, who was returning home with the abbé. +"The abbé has just been to read a mass for him," he said; "it is a +benefit which, on such occasions, I am willing he should +enjoy--more, however, from friendship for him, than out of pity for +the accursed soul of a Jacobin, which in my eyes is worth less than +a dog's! But walk in, sir." + +The picture, a wonderfully lovely maidenly face, with rich curls +falling around it, and in the costume of the last ten years of the +preceding century, was now unvailed. A good breakfast, like that of +yesterday, stood on the table. With a moistened eye, and, turning to +the portrait, he said: "Thérèse, to thy memory!" and emptied his +glass at a draught. Surprised and moved, I quitted the strange man. +On the stairs of the hotel I met the coffin, which was just being +carried up for L----; and I thought to myself: "Poor Clotilde! you +will not be able to weep over his grave." + + + + +Monthly Record of Current Events. + + +THE UNITED STATES. + +Our last Monthly Record reported the proceedings of the Democratic +National Convention held at Baltimore on the 1st of June. On the +16th of the same month, the Whig National Convention met at the same +place, and was permanently organized by the election of Hon. John G. +Chapman, of Maryland, President, with thirty-one Vice-Presidents and +thirteen Secretaries. Two days were occupied in preliminary +business, part of which was the investigation of the right to +several contested seats from the States of Vermont and New York. On +the third day, a committee, consisting of one from each State, +selected by the delegation thereof, was appointed to report a series +of resolutions for the action of the Convention. The resolutions +were reported at the ensuing session, on the same day, by Hon. +George Ashmun, of Massachusetts. They set forth that the Government +of the United States is one of limited powers, all powers not +expressly granted, or necessarily implied by the Constitution, being +reserved to the States or the people;--that while struggling freedom +every where has the warmest sympathy of the Whig party, our true +mission as a Republic is not to propagate our opinions, or to impose +on other countries our form of government by artifice or force, but +to teach by our example, and to show by our success, moderation, and +justice, the blessings of self-government and the advantage of free +institutions;--that revenue ought to be raised by duties on imports +laid with a just discrimination, whereby suitable encouragement may +be afforded to American Industry;--that Congress has power to open +and repair harbors, and remove obstructions from navigable rivers, +whenever such improvements are necessary for the common defense and +for the protection and facility of commerce with foreign nations or +among the States;--that the Compromise acts, including the fugitive +slave law, are received and acquiesced in as a final settlement, in +principle and substance, of the dangerous and exciting questions +which they embrace; that the Whig party will maintain them, and +insist upon their strict enforcement until time and experience shall +demonstrate the necessity of further legislation, to guard against +their evasion or abuse, not impairing their present efficiency; and +that all further agitation of the questions thus settled is +deprecated as dangerous to our peace; and all efforts to continue or +renew that agitation, whenever, wherever, or however the attempt may +be made, will be discountenanced.--These resolutions, after some +discussion, were adopted by a vote of 227 yeas, and 66 nays. +Ballotings for a Presidential candidate were then commenced, and +continued until Monday, the fifth day of the session. There were 396 +electoral votes represented in Convention, which made 149 (a +majority) essential to a choice. Upon the first ballot, President +Fillmore received 133, General Scott 131, and Daniel Webster 29 +votes; and for fifty ballotings this was nearly the relative number +of votes received by each. On the fifty-third ballot, General Scott +receiving 159 votes, Mr. Fillmore 112, and Mr. Webster 21, the +former was declared to have been duly nominated, and that nomination +was made unanimous. Hon. WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, of North Carolina, was +then nominated on the second ballot for Vice-President; and +resolutions were adopted complimentary to Mr. Fillmore and Mr. +Webster; after which the Convention adjourned. + +In reply to a communication from the President of the Convention, +apprising him of his nomination, General Scott has written a letter, +dated June 24th, declaring that he "accepts it with the resolutions +annexed." He adds, that if elected, he shall recommend or approve of +"such measures as shall secure an early settlement of the public +domain favorable to actual settlers, but consistent, nevertheless, +with a due regard to the equal rights of the whole American people +in that vast national inheritance;"--and also of an amendment to our +Naturalization laws, "giving to all foreigners the right of +citizenship who shall faithfully serve, in time of war, one year on +board of our public ships, or in our land-forces, regular or +volunteer, on their receiving an honorable discharge from the +service." He adds, that he should not tolerate any sedition, +disorder, faction, or resistance to the law or the Union on any +pretext, in any part of the land; and that his leading aim would be +"to advance the greatness and happiness of this Republic, and thus +to cherish and encourage the cause of constitutional liberty +throughout the world." Mr. Graham also accepted his nomination, with +a cordial approval of the declarations made in the resolutions +adopted by the Convention.----Since the adjournment of the +Convention, a letter from President Fillmore, addressed to that +body, has been published. It was intrusted to the care of Mr. +Babcock, the delegate in Convention from the Erie, N. Y., district, +in which Mr. Fillmore resides; and he was authorized to present it, +and withdraw Mr. Fillmore's name as a candidate whenever he should +think it proper to do so. In this letter, Mr. Fillmore refers to the +circumstances of embarrassment under which he entered upon the +duties of the Presidency, and says that he at once determined within +himself to decline a re-election, and to make that decision public. +From doing so, however, he was at that time, as well as +subsequently, dissuaded by the earnest remonstrances of friends. He +expresses the hope that the Convention may be able to unite in +nominating some one who, if elected, may be more successful in +retaining the confidence of the party than he has been;--he had +endeavored faithfully to discharge his duty to the country, and in +the consciousness of having acted from upright motives and according +to his best judgment, for the public good, he was quite willing to +have sacrificed himself for the sake of his country. + +The death of HENRY CLAY has been the most marked event of the month. +He expired at Washington, on Tuesday, June 29, after a protracted +illness, and at the advanced age of 75 years. His decease was +announced in eloquent and appropriate terms in both branches of +Congress, and general demonstrations of regard for his memory and +regret at his loss took place throughout the country. His history is +already so familiar to the American public, that we add nothing here +to the notice given of him in another part of this Magazine. His +remains were taken to Lexington, Ky., for interment. + +The proceedings of Congress since our last Record have not been of +special importance. In the Senate on the 28th of June a +communication was received from the President communicating part of +the correspondence had with the Austrian government concerning the +imprisonment of Mr. C. L. Brace. The principal document was a letter +from Prince Schwarzenberg, stating that Mr. Brace was found to have +been the bearer of important papers from Hungarian fugitives in +America to persons in Hungary very much suspected, and also to have +had in his possession inflammatory and treasonable pamphlets; and +that his imprisonment was therefore fully justified. A letter from +Mr. Webster to the American Chargé at Vienna, in regard to Chevalier +Hulsemann's complaints of the U. S. government, has been also +submitted to the Senate. Mr. W. says that notwithstanding his long +residence in this country Mr. Hulsemann seems to have yet to learn +that no foreign government, or its representative, can take just +offense at any thing which an officer of this government may say in +his private capacity; and that a Chargé d'Affairs can only hold +intercourse with this government through the Department of State. +Mr. W. declines to take any notice of the specific subjects of +complaint presented by Mr. H.----In the House of Representatives the +only important action taken has been the passage of a bill providing +for the donation to the several States, for purposes of education +and internal improvement, of large tracts of the public domain. Each +of the old States receives one hundred and fifty thousand acres for +each Senator and Representative in the present Congress: to the new +States the portions awarded are still larger. The bill was passed in +the House on the 26th of June by a vote of ayes 96, nays 86. The +bill was presented by Mr. Bennett of New York, and is regarded as +important, inasmuch as it secures to the old States a much larger +participation in the public lands than they have hitherto seemed +likely to obtain. + +A National Agricultural Convention was held at Washington on the +24th of June, of which Marshall Wilder of Massachusetts was elected +President. It was decided to form a National Agricultural Society, +to hold yearly meetings at Washington.----The Supreme Court in New +York on the 11th of June pronounced a judgment, by a majority, +declaring the American Art-Union to be a lottery within the +prohibition of the Constitution of the State, and that it was +therefore illegal. An appeal has been taken by the Managers to the +Court of Appeals, where it has been argued, but no decision has yet +been given.----Madame Alboni, the celebrated contralto singer, +arrived in New York early in June and has given two successful +concerts.----Governor Kossuth delivered an address in New York on +the 21st of June upon the future of nations, insisting that it was +the duty of the United States to establish, what the world has not +yet seen, a national policy resting upon Christian principles as its +basis. He urged the cause of his country upon public attention, and +declared his mission to the United States to be closed. On the 23d +he delivered a farewell address to the German citizens of New York, +in which he spoke at length of the relations of Germany to the cause +of European freedom and of the duty of the German citizens of the +United States to exert an influence upon the American government +favorable to the protection of liberty throughout the world. It is +stated that his aggregate receipts of money in this country have +been somewhat less than one hundred thousand dollars. + +In Texas, a company of dragoons, under Lieutenant Haven, has had a +skirmish with the Camanche Indians, from whom four captive children +and thirty-eight stolen horses were recovered. About the 1st of June +a family, consisting of a father, mother, and six children, while +encamped at La Mina, were attacked by a party of Camanches, and all +killed except the father and one daughter, who were severely +wounded, and two young children who were rescued. A few days +previous a party of five Californians were all killed by Mexicans +near San Fernando. On the evening of the 10th of May seven Americans +were attacked by a gang of about forty Mexicans and Indians, at a +lake called Campacuas, and five of them were killed. A good deal of +excitement prevailed in consequence of these repeated outrages, and +of the failure of the General Government to provide properly for the +protection of the parties.----Early in June, as the U. S. steamer +Camanche was ascending the Rio Bravo, five persons landed from her +and killed a cow, when the owner came forward and demanded payment. +This was refused with insults, and the marauders returned on board. +The steamer continued her voyage, and the pilot soon saw a party of +men approaching the bank, and fired upon them. They soon after +returned the fire, wounding two of the passengers, one being the +deputy-collector of the Custom-house of Rio Grande, and the other +his son. + +From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 1st of June. +There is no political news of interest. A party of seventy-four +Frenchmen left California last fall for Sonora in Mexico, +accompanied by one American, named Moore. Mr. M. had returned to San +Francisco with intelligence that the party had been favorably +received by the Mexican authorities, who had bestowed upon them a +grant of three leagues of land near Carcospa, at the head of the +Santa Cruz valley, on condition that they should cultivate it for +ten years without selling it, and should not permit any Americans to +settle among them. They had also received from the Mexican +government horses, farming utensils, provisions, and other +necessaries, with permission to have five hundred of their +countrymen join them. They were intending soon to begin working the +rich mines in that neighborhood. Mr. Moore had been compelled by +threats and force to leave them. On his way back he met at Guyamas a +party of twelve who had been driven back, while going to California, +by Indians. While on their way to Sonora, they had fallen in with a +settlement of seventy-five Frenchmen, who treated them with great +harshness, and would have killed them but for the protection of the +Mexican authorities. This hostility between the French and American +settlers in California is ascribed to difficulties which occurred in +the mines between them. The Mexicans, whose hatred of the Americans +in that part of the country seems to be steadily increasing, have +taken advantage of these dissensions, and encourage the French in +their hostility to the Americans.----Previous to its adjournment, +which took place on the 5th of May, the Legislature passed an act to +take the census of the State before the 1st of November.----The +feeling of hostility to the Chinese settlers in California seems to +be increasing. Public meetings had been held in various quarters, +urging their removal, and Committees of Correspondence had been +formed to concert measures for effecting this object. It appears +from official reports that the whole number of Chinamen who had +arrived at San Francisco, from February, 1848, to May, 1852, was +11,953, and that of these only 167 had returned or died. Of the +whole number arrived only seven were women.--Nine missionaries of +the Methodist Episcopal Church had recently arrived, intending to +labor in California and Oregon.--The intelligence from the mines +continued to be highly encouraging. The weather was favorable; the +deposits continued to yield abundantly, and labor was generally well +rewarded. + +From the SANDWICH ISLANDS our intelligence is to the 18th of May. +The session of the Hawaiian Parliament was opened on the 13th of +April. The opening speech of the King sets forth that the foreign +relations of the island are of a friendly character, except so far +as regards France, from the government of which no response has been +received as yet to propositions on the part of Hawaii. He states +that the peace of his dominions has been threatened by an invasion +of private adventurers from California; but that an appeal to the +United States Commissioner, promptly acted upon by Captain Gardner, +of the U. S. ship Vandalia, tranquilized the public mind. He had +taken steps to organize a military force for the future defense of +the island. In the Upper House the draft of a new Constitution had +been reported, and was under discussion. In the other House steps +had been taken to contradict the report that the islands desired +annexation to the United States. + +From NEW MEXICO we learn that Colonel Sumner had removed his +head-quarters to Santa Fé, in order to give more effective military +support to the government. Governor Calhoun had left the country for +a visit to Washington, and died on the way: the government was thus +virtually in the hands of Colonel Sumner. The Indians and Mexicans +continued to be troublesome. + +From UTAH our advices are to May 1st. Brigham Young had been again +elected President. The receipts at the tithing office from November, +1848, to March, 1852, were $244,747, mostly in property; in loans, +&c., $145,513; the expenditures were $353,765--leaving a balance of +$36,495. Missionaries were appointed at the General Conference to +Italy, Calcutta, and England. Edward Hunter was ordained presiding +bishop of the whole church: sixty-seven priests were ordained. The +Report speaks of the church and settlements as being in a highly +flourishing condition. + + +MEXICO. + +We have intelligence from Mexico to the 5th of June. Political +affairs seem to be in a confused and unpromising condition. Previous +to the adjournment of the present Congress the Cabinet addressed a +note to the Chamber of Deputies, asking them to take some decided +step whereby to rescue the government from the difficult position in +which it will be placed, without power or resources, and to save the +nation from the necessary consequences of such a crisis. It was +suggested that the government might be authorized to take, in +connection with committees to be appointed by the Chamber, the +resolutions necessary--such resolutions to be executed under the +responsibility of the Ministry. This note was referred to a +committee, which almost immediately reported that there was no +reason why this demand for extraordinary powers should be granted. +This report was adopted by a vote of 74 to 13. Congress adjourned on +the 21st of May. The President's Address referred to the critical +circumstances in which the country was placed when the Congress +first met, which made it to be feared that its mission would be only +the saddest duty reserved to man on earth, that of assisting at the +burial of his country. The flame of war still blazed upon their +frontier: negotiations designed to facilitate means of communication +which would make Mexico the centre of the commercial world, had +terminated in a manner to render possible a renewal of that war; and +the commercial crisis had reached a development which threatened the +domestic peace and the foreign alliances of the country. There was a +daily increase in the deficit; distrust prevailed between the +different departments; the country was fatigued by its convulsions +and disorders, and weakened by its dissensions; and it seemed +impossible to prolong the existence of the government. How the +country had been rescued from such perils it was not easy to say, +unless it were by the special aid and protection of Providence. +Guided by its convictions and sustained by its hope, the government +had employed all the means at its disposal, and would still endeavor +to draw all possible benefit from its resources, stopping only when +those resources should arrest its action. Fearing that this event +might speedily happen, a simplification of the powers of the +Legislature, during its vacation, had been proposed, instead of +leaving all to the exercise of a discretionary power by the +Executive. To this, however, the Legislature had not assented: and, +consequently, the government considering its responsibility +protected for the future, would spare no means or sacrifices to +fulfill its difficult and delicate mission. To this address the Vice +President of the Chamber replied, sketching the labors of the +session, and saying that the legislative donation of the +extraordinary powers demanded, could not have been granted without a +violation of the Constitution--a fact with which the Executive +should be deeply impressed. The means made use of up to the present +time would be sufficient, if applied with care. The Legislature +hoped, as much as it desired, that such would be the case. Great +anxiety was felt as to the nature of the measures which the +government would adopt: the general expectation seemed to be that +the President Arista would take the whole government into his own +hands, and the suggestion was received with a good deal of favor. It +was rumored that the aid of the United States had been sought for +such an attempt--to be given in the shape of six millions of +dollars, in return for abrogating that clause of the treaty which +requires them to protect the Mexican frontier from the Indians. +This, however, is mere conjecture as yet.----Serious difficulties +have arisen between the Mexican authorities and the American Consul, +Mr. F. W. Rice, at Acapulco. Mr. Rice sold the propeller Stockton, +for wages due to her hands: she was bid off by Mr. Snyder, the chief +engineer, at $3000 cash down, and $8500 within twenty-four hours +after the sale. He asked and obtained two delays in making the first +payment; and finally said he could not pay it until the next day. +Upon this Mr. Rice again advertised the vessel for sale, on his +account: she was sold to Capt. Triton, of Panama, for $4250. Mr. +Snyder then applied to the Mexican court, and the judge went on +board, broke the Consular seals, took possession of the vessel, and +advertised her again for sale. Mr. Rice proclaimed the sale illegal, +and protested against it, and, further, prevented Mr. Snyder +forcibly from tearing down his posted protest. At the day of sale no +bidders appeared. The Mexican authorities then arrested Mr. Rice, +and committed him to prison, where he remained at the latest dates. +Proper representations have of course been made to the U. S. +government, and the matter will doubtless receive proper +attention.----An encounter had taken place in Sonora, between a +party of 300 Indians and a detachment of regular Mexican troops and +National Guards. The latter were forced to retreat.----Gen. Mejia; +who acquired some distinction during the late war, died recently in +the city of Mexico, and Gen. Michelena, at Morelia.----The refusal +of Congress to admit foreign flour, free of duty, had created a good +deal of feeling in those districts where the want of it is most +severely felt. In Vera Cruz, a large public meeting was held, at +which it was determined to request the local authorities to send +for a supply of flour, without regard to the law.----The State of +Durango is in a melancholy condition: hunger, pestilence, and +continued incursions of the Indians, have rendered it nearly +desolate.----Four of the revolutionists under Caravajal, captured by +the Mexicans, were executed by Gen. Avalos, at Matamoras, in June: +two of them were Americans. + + +SOUTH AMERICA. + +There is no intelligence of special interest from any of the South +American States. From _Buenos Ayres_, our dates are to the 15th of +May, when every thing was quiet, and political affairs were in a +promising condition. The new Legislature met on the 1st, and +resolutions had been introduced tendering public thanks to General +Urquiza for having delivered the country from tyranny. He had been +invested with complete control of the foreign relations, and the +affairs of peace and war. Don Lopez was elected Governor of the +province of Buenos Ayres on the 13th, receiving 33 of the 38 votes +in the Legislative Chamber. The choice gives universal satisfaction +to the friends of the new order of things. The Governors of all the +provinces were to meet at Santa Fé on the 29th, to determine upon +the form of a Central Government. General Urquiza was to meet them +in Convention there, and it is stated that he was to be accompanied +by Mr. Pendleton, the United States Chargé, whose aid had been +asked, especially in explaining in Convention the nature and working +of American institutions.----At _Rio Janeiro_ a dissolution of the +Cabinet was anticipated. Great dissatisfaction was felt at certain +treaties recently concluded with Montevideo, and at the +correspondence of Mr. Hudson, the late English Minister, upon the +Slave Trade, which had been lately published in London.----From +_Ecuador_ there is nothing new. Flores still remained at Puna, below +Guayaquil, with his forces.----In _Chili_ there was a slight attempt +at insurrection in the garrison at Trospunta, but it was soon put +down. Six persons implicated in previous revolts were executed at +Copiapo on the 22d of May. + + +GREAT BRITAIN. + +Public attention in England has been to a very considerable extent +engrossed by the approaching elections. The Ministry maintain rigid +silence as to the policy they intend to pursue though it is of +course impossible to avoid incidental indications of their +sentiments and purposes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. +Disraeli, has issued an address to his constituents, which shows +even more distinctly than his financial _exposé_, of which we gave a +summary last month, that the cause of Protection is, in his +judgment, well-nigh obsolete. In that address he states that the +time has gone by when the injuries which the great producing +interests have sustained from the Free Trade policy of 1846, can be +alleviated or removed by a recurrence to laws which existed before +that time:--"The spirit of the age," he says, "tends to free +intercourse, and no statesman can disregard with impunity the genius +of the epoch in which he lives." It is, however, the intention of +the Ministry to recommend such measures as shall tend to relieve the +producer from the unequal competition he is now compelled to wage, +and the possibility of doing this by a revision and reduction of +taxation, seems to loom in the future. Still, the Chancellor urges, +nothing useful can be done in this direction, unless the Ministry is +sustained by a powerful majority in Parliament; and he accordingly +presses the importance of electing members of the Ministerial +party.----A declaration of at least equal importance was drawn from +the Premier, the Earl of Derby, in the House of Lords, on the 24th +of May, by Earl Granville, who incidentally quoted a remark ascribed +to Lord Derby that a recurrence to the duty on corn would be found +necessary for purposes of revenue and protection. Lord Derby rose to +correct him. He had not represented it as necessary, but only as +desirable,--and whether it should be done or not, depended entirely +on the elections. But he added, that in his opinion, from what he +had since heard and learned, there certainly would not be in favor +of the imposition of a duty on foreign corn, that extensive majority +in the country without which it would not be desirable to impose +it.----Lord John Russell has issued an address to his constituents, +for a re-election, rehearsing the policy of the government while it +was under his direction, sketching the proceedings of the new +Ministry, and declaring his purpose to contend that no duty should +be imposed on the import of corn, either for revenue or protection; +and that the commercial policy of the last ten years is not an evil +to be mitigated, but a good to be extended--not an unwise or +disastrous policy which ought to be reversed, altered, or modified, +but a just and beneficial system which should be supported, +strengthened, and upheld.----The course of the Earl of Malmesbury, +the Foreign Secretary, in regard to the case of Mr. Mather, an +English subject, who had been treated with gross indignities and +serious personal injuries by officers of the Tuscan government, has +excited a good deal of attention. He had first demanded compensation +from the government as a matter of right, and, after consulting Mr. +Mather's father, had named £5000 as the sum to be paid. It seems, +however, from the official documents since published, that he +accompanied this demand with an opinion that it was exorbitant, and +named £500 as a minimum. The negotiation ended by Mr. Scarlett, the +British agent at Florence, accepting £222 as a compensation and that +as a donation from the Tuscan government--waiving the principle of +its responsibility. The matter had been brought up in Parliament, +and the Earl had felt constrained to disavow wholly Mr. Scarlett's +action.----The current debates in Parliament have been devoid of +special interest. On the 8th of June, in reply to a strong speech +from Sir James Graham, Mr. Disraeli vindicated himself from the +charge of having brought the public business into an unsatisfactory +and disgraceful condition, and made a general statement of the bills +which the government thought it necessary to press upon the +attention of Parliament. On the 7th the Militia Bill was read a +third time and passed, by 220 votes to 184.----A bill was pressed +upon the House of Lords by the Earl of Malmesbury, proposing a +Convention with France for the mutual surrender of criminals, which +was found upon examination to give to the French government very +extraordinary powers over any of its subjects in England. The list +of crimes embraced was very greatly extended--and alleged offenders +were to be surrendered upon the mere proof of their identity. All +the leading Peers spoke very strongly of the objectionable features +of the measure, and it was sent to the committee for the purpose of +receiving the material alterations required.----Fergus O'Connor has +been consigned to a lunatic asylum--his insane eccentricities having +reached a point at which it was no longer considered safe to leave +him at liberty.----Professor McDougall has been elected to fill the +chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, vacated by +the resignation of Professor Wilson.----The Irish Exhibition of +Industry was opened at Cork, with public ceremonies, in which the +Lord Lieutenant participated, on the 10th of June.----The General +Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and that of the Free Church both +commenced their sittings on the 20th of May.----The electric +telegraph has been carried across the Irish Channel, from Holyhead +to the Hill of Howth, a distance of sixty-five miles;--the mode of +accomplishing this result was by sinking a cable, as had previously +been done across the Straits of Dover.----The Queen has issued a +proclamation forbidding all Roman Catholic ceremonies, and all +appearance in Catholic vestments, except in Catholic churches or in +private houses. + + +FRANCE. + +The month has not been marked by any event of special importance in +France. The government has continued in its usual course, though +indications are apparent of impending difficulties in the near +future. The number of prominent men who refuse to take the oath of +allegiance is daily increasing, and many who have hitherto filled +places in the councils of the Departments and of the Municipalities, +have resigned them to avoid the oath. General Bedeau has sent a tart +letter to the Minister of War, conveying his refusal; and a public +subscription has been set on foot, with success, in Paris, for the +relief of General Changarnier, who has been reduced to poverty by +his firm refusal to yield to the usurpation.----The President +continues relentlessly his restriction of the press, and has +involved himself in considerable embarrassment by the extent to +which he carries it. The organs of the Legitimist party in all the +great towns have received the warnings which empower the President, +as the next step, to suppress them entirely. The Paris _Débats_ has +lately received a warning for its silence upon political subjects. +But a very singular quarrel has arisen between the President and the +_Constitutionnel_, which has been from the beginning the least +scrupulous of all his defenders. That paper contained an article +intended to influence the Belgian elections then pending, and +distinctly menacing that country with a retaliatory tariff, if its +hostility to Louis Napoleon were not abandoned, or at least +modified. The effect of the publication of this article was such, +that the Belgian Minister demanded an explanation, and was assured +that the article did not meet the approbation of the Government. +This _quasi_ disavowal was published by the Belgian press, and in +reply M. Granier de Cassagnac, the writer of the article, declared +that he had not spoken in his own name, but at the direct instance +and with the full approval of the President. The Paris _Moniteur_ +then contained an official announcement, disavowing M. de +Cassagnac's articles, and stating that "no organ can engage the +responsibility of the Government but the _Moniteur_." The +_Constitutionnel_ replied by a declaration signed by its owner, Dr. +Veron, that he still believed the original article to have been +sanctioned by the President. This brought down upon it an official +warning. Dr. Veron rejoined by expressing his regret, but adding +that the Cabinet had ordered several hundred copies of the paper +containing the articles disavowed; and this he considered _prima +facie_ evidence that they met with the approbation of the +Government. This brought upon the paper a second warning: the next +step, of course, is suppression.----The Paris Correspondents of +three of the London papers have been summoned to the department of +Police, and assured by the Director that they are hereafter to be +held personally responsible, not only for the contents of their own +letters, but for whatever the journals with which they are connected +may say, in leading articles or otherwise, concerning French +affairs. A strong effort was made by them to change this +determination, but without effect.----Girardin, in the _Presse_, +states that General Changarnier, in 1848, proposed to the +Provisional Government the military invasion of England. The General +himself has authorized the _Times_ to give the statement an explicit +contradiction.----M. Heckeren, who was sent by the French Government +to Vienna and Berlin, to ascertain more definitely the disposition +of the Northern Powers toward Louis Napoleon, had returned from his +mission, but its results had not been authoritatively made known. +The London _Times_ has, however, given what purports to be a +synopsis of the documents relating to it. From this it appears that +the allied sovereigns will connive at Louis Napoleon's usurpation of +sovereignty in France for life; but so long as one Bourbon exists +they can recognize no other person as _hereditary_ sovereign of that +country; and they hold themselves bound and justified by the +treaties of 1815 to oppose the establishment of a Bonapartist +dynasty. The three Great Northern Powers, it would seem, are +combining to resuscitate the principles of the Holy Alliance, and to +impose them upon the European system of States as the international +law, notwithstanding the events of the last two-and-twenty years +have rendered them practically obsolete. + +From the other European countries there is little intelligence +worthy of record.----In BELGIUM the elections have resulted in the +increase of the liberal members of the Chamber. An editor, +prosecuted for having libeled Louis Napoleon, has been acquitted by +a jury.----In AUSTRIA a new law has been enacted imposing rigorous +restrictions upon the press. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +The Moral Influences of the Stage is a subject which, although +earnestly discussed for centuries, still maintains all its +theoretical and practical importance. The weight of argument, we +think, has ever been with the assailants, and yet candor requires +the concession, that there have been, at times, thinking men, +serious men, may we not also say, Christian men, to be found among +the defenders of theatrical representations? On a fair statement of +the case, however, it will plainly appear, that these have ever been +the defenders of an imaginary, or hypothetical, instead of a really +existing stage. + +Never--we think we may safely say it--never has any true friend of +religion and morality been found upholding the theatre as it +actually _is_, or _was_, at any particular period. Indeed, this may +also be said of its most partial advocates. Their warmest defense is +ever coupled with the admission, that, as at present managed, it +needs some thorough and decided reform to make it, in all respects, +what it ought to be. We do not think that we ever read any thing in +advocacy of the stage without some proviso of this kind. It never +_is_--it never _was_--what it ought to be, and might be. But then +the idea is ever held forth of some future reform. We are told, for +example, what the theatre might become, if, instead of being +condemned by the more moral and religious part of the community, it +received the support of their presence, and could have the benefit +of their regulation. + +So plausible have these arguments appeared, that the experiment has +again and again been tried. Reforms have been attempted in the +characters of the plays, of the actors, and of the audiences. Good +men and good women have written expressly for the stage. Johnson and +Hannah Moore, and Young--to say nothing of Buchanan and +Addison--have contributed their services in these efforts at +expurgation, but all alike in vain. Some of these have afterward +confessed the hopelessness of the undertaking, and lamented that by +taking part in it they had given a seeming encouragement to what +they really meant to condemn. The expected reform has never +appeared. If, through great exertion, some improvement may have +manifested itself for a time, yet, sooner or later, the relapse +comes on. Nature--our human nature--will have its way. The evil +elements predominate; and the stage sinks again, until its visible +degradation once more arouses attention, and calls for some other +spasmodic effort, only to meet the same failure, and to furnish +another proof of some radical inherent vitiosity. + +Good plays may, indeed, be acted; but they will not long continue to +call forth what are styled _good audiences_--the term having +reference to numbers and pecuniary avails, rather than to moral +worth. In fact, the theatre presents its most mischievous aspect +when it claims to be a school of morals. Its advocates may talk as +they will about "holding the mirror up to Nature, showing Virtue its +own feature, Vice its own image;" but it can only remind us that +there is a cant of the play-house as well as of the conventicle, and +that Shaftsbury and his sentimental followers can "whine" as well as +Whitfield and Beecher. The common sense of mankind pronounces it at +once the worst of all hypocrisies--the hypocrisy of false sentiment +ashamed of its real name and real character. As a proof of this, we +may say that the stage has never been known in any language by any +epithet denoting instruction, either moral or otherwise. It is the +_play-house_, or house of amusement--the _theatrum_, the place for +shows, for spectacles, for pleasurable emotions through the senses +and the excitements of the sensitive nature. There may have been +periods when moral or religious instruction of some kind could, +perhaps, have been claimed as one end of dramatic representations, +but that was before there was a higher stage, a higher _pulpitum_ +divinely instituted for the moral tuition of mankind. Since that +time, the very profanity of the claim to be a "school of morals" has +only set in a stronger light the fact that, instead of elevating an +immoral community, the stage is itself ever drawn down by it into a +lower, and still lower degradation. + +We will venture the position, that no open vice is so pernicious to +the soul as what may be called a false virtue; and this furnishes +the kind of morality to which the stage is driven when it would make +the fairest show of its moral pretensions. The virtues of the stage +are not Christian virtues. If they are not Christian, they are +anti-Christian; for on this ground there can be no _via media_, no +neutrality. Who would ever think of making the moral excellences +commended in the Sermon on the Mount, or in Paul's Epistles, the +subjects of theatrical instruction? How would humility, forgiveness, +poverty of spirit, meekness, temperance, long-suffering, charity, +appear in a stage hero? In what way may they be made to minister to +the exciting, the sentimental, the melodramatic? These virtues have, +indeed, an elevation to which no stage-heroism or theatrical +affectation ever attained; but such a rising ever implies a previous +descent into the vale of personal humility, a previous lowliness of +spirit altogether out of keeping with any dramatic or merely +æsthetic representation. The Christian moralities can come upon the +stage only in the shape of caricatures, or as the hypocritical +disguise through which some Joseph Surface is placed in most +disparaging contrast with the false virtues or splendid vices the +theatre-going public most admires. + +It is equally true that the most tender emotions find no +fitting-place upon the stage. The deepest pathetic--the purest, the +most soul-healing--in other words, the pathetic of common life, can +not be _acted_ without revolting us. Hence, to fit it for the stage, +pity must be mingled with other ingredients of a more exciting or +spicy kind. It must be associated with the extravagance of love, or +stinging jealousy, or complaining madness, or some other less usual +semi-malevolent passion, which, while it adds to the theatrical +effect, actually deadens the more genial and deeper sympathies that +are demanded for the undramatic or ordinary sufferings of humanity. +We can not illustrate this thought better than by referring the +reader to that most touching story which is given in the July number +of our Magazine, and entitled, "The Mourner and the Comforter." How +rich the effect of such a tale when simply read, without any +external accompaniments!--how much richer, we might say, for the +very want of them! How its "rain of tears" mellows and fertilizes +the hard soil of the human heart! And yet how few and simple the +incidents! How undramatic the outward fictitious dress, through +which are represented emotions the most vitally real in human +nature! Like a strain of the richest, yet simplest music, in which +the accompaniment is just sufficient to call out the harmonious +relations of the melody, without marring by its artistic or dramatic +prominence the deep spiritual reality that dwells in the tones. We +appeal to every one who has read that touching narrative--how +utterly would it be spoiled by being _acted_! There might be some +theatrical effect given to the agitated scene upon the balcony, but +a vail would have to be drawn around the chamber of the mourner, and +the more than heroic friend who sits by her in the long watches of +the night. Such scenes, it may be said, are too common for the +stage--ay, and too holy for it, too. They are too pure for the +Kembles and Sinclairs ever to meddle with, and they know it, and +their audiences feel it. We decide instinctively that all _acting_ +here would be more than out of place. The very thought of theatrical +representation would seem like a profanation of the purest and +holiest affections of our nature. + +And so too of others, which, although not virtues have more of a +prudential or worldly aspect. The stage may sometimes tolerate a +temperance or an anti-gambling hero, but it is only to feed a +temporary public excitement, and the moment that excitement +manifests the first symptom of a relapse, this school of morals must +immediately follow, instead of directing the new public sentiment. +The wonder is, that any thinking man could ever expect it to be +otherwise. Every one knows that the tastes of the audience make the +law to the writer, the actor, and the manager. In this view of the +matter, we need only the application of a very few plain principles +and facts, to show how utterly hopeless must be the idea of the +moral improvement of any representation which can only be sustained +on the tenure of pleasing the largest audiences, without any regard +to the materials of which they are composed. The first of these is, +that the mass of mankind are not virtuous, they are not +intelligent--the second, that even the more virtuous portions are +worse in the midst of an applauding and condemning crowd than they +would be in other circumstances; and the third, that the evil +aspects of our humanity furnish the most exciting themes, or those +best adapted to theatrical representations. + +But the world will become better--the world is becoming better, it +may be said--and why should not the stage share in the improvement? +If the world is becoming better, it is altogether through different +and higher means. If it is becoming better, it is by the influence +of truth and grace--through the Church--upon individual souls +brought to a right view, first of all, of the individual depravity, +and thus by individual accretion, contributing to the growth of a +better public sentiment. The spirit of theatrical representations is +directly the reverse of this. It operates upon men in crowds, not as +assembled in the same space merely, but through those feelings and +influences which belong to them solely or chiefly in masses. +Deriving its aliment from the most outward public sentiment, its +tendency is ever, instead of "holding the mirror up to Nature," in +any self-revealing light, to hide men from themselves. By absorbing +the soul in exciting representations, in which the most depraved can +take a sort of abstract or sentimental interest, it causes men to +mistake this feeling for true virtue and true philanthropy, when +they may be in the lowest hell of selfishness. It may become, in +this way, more demoralizing than a display of the most revolting +vices, because it buries the individual character beneath a mass of +sentiments and emotions in which a man or a woman may luxuriate +without one feeling of penitence for their own transgressions, or +one thought of dissatisfaction with their own wretchedly diseased +moral state. + +The theatre might with far more truth and honesty be defended on the +ground of mere amusement. This is, doubtless, its most real object; +but there is an instinctive feeling in the human soul that it would +not do to trust its defense solely to such a plea. In the first +place, it may be charged with inordinate excess. Who dare justify +the spending night after night in such ceaseless pleasure-seeking? +And if there were not vast numbers who did this, our theatres could +never be supported. To say nothing here of religion, or a life to +come, the mere consideration of this world, and the poor suffering +humanity by which it is tenanted, would urgently forbid that much of +this life, or even a small portion of it, should be devoted to mere +amusement. Within a very few rods of every theatre in our city, +almost every species of misery to which man is subject is daily and +nightly experienced. How, in view of this, can any truly feeling +soul (and we mean by this a very different species of feeling from +that which is commonly generated in theatres) talk of amusing +himself? In the year 1832, during the severest prevalence of the +cholera, the theatres in New York were closed. We well remember the +impatience manifested at the event by those who claimed to represent +the theatre-going public, and with what exulting spirits they called +upon their patrons to improve the jubilee of their opening. We well +remember how freely the terms "bigot" and "sour religionist" were +applied to all who thought a further suppression of heartless +amusements was due, if only as a sorrowing tribute of respect to +suffering humanity. It was all the sheerest Pharisaism, they said, +thus to stand in the way of the innocent and rational amusements of +mankind; as though, forsooth, amusement was the great end of human +existence, and they who so impatiently claimed it actually needed +some relaxation from the arduous and unremitted exertions they had +been making for the relief of the sorrowing and toiling millions of +their race. + +But if not for _amusement_, it might be said, then for _recreation_, +which is a very different thing. The former term is used when the +end aimed at is pleasure merely, without any reference to _the +good_, as a something higher and better than _pleasurable +sensations_, sought simply because they are pleasurable, and without +regard to the spiritual health. In its contemptible French etymology +we see the very soul of the word, so far as such a word may be said +to have any soul. It is _muser_, _s'amuser_, having truly nothing to +do with _music_ or the _Muses_, but signifying to _loiter_, to +_idle_, to _kill time_. We may well doubt whether this ever can be +innocent, even in the smallest degree. Certainly, to devote to it +any considerable portion of our existence, especially in view of +what has been and is now the condition of our race, must be not only +the most heartless, but in its consequences the most damning of +sins. It is in this sense that every true philanthropist, to say +nothing of the Christian, must utter his loud amen to the +denunciation of the heathen Seneca--_Nihil est tam damnosum bonis +moribus quam in spectaculis desidere, tunc enim per voluptatem +facilius vitia surrepunt._--"Nothing is so destructive to good +morals as mere amusement, or the indolent waste of time in public +spectacles; it is through such pleasure that all vices most readily +come creeping into the soul." + +We would have our Editor's Table ever serious, ever earnest, and yet +in true harmony with all that innocent and cheerful and even +mirthful recreation, which is as necessary sometimes for the +spiritual as for the bodily health. We would avoid every appearance +of sermonizing, and yet we can not help quoting here an authority +higher than Seneca--_Vanis mundi pompis renuntio_.--"The vain pomp +of the world I renounce," is the language of the primitive form of +Christian baptism, still literally in use in one of our largest +Christian denominations, and expressed in substance by them all. Now +it can be clearly shown that this word, _pompæ_, was not used, as it +now often is, in a vague and general manner, but was employed with +special reference to public theatrical shows and representations. To +every baptized Christian, it seems to us, the argument must be +conclusive. If theatrical shows (_pompæ_) are not "the world," in +the New Testament sense, what possible earthly thing can be included +under this once most significant name? If they are not embraced in +"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," +then not only has language no fixed meaning, but even ideas +themselves have wholly changed. + +Recreation, as we have said, is something very different from +amusement. It is the _re-creating_ or renewing the overtasked mental +or bodily powers, by some relaxing and restoring exercise. It is +pleasurable, as all right things ever are; but here is the +all-important distinction--pleasure is not its _end_. The +accompanying enjoyment is only a laxative and recreative _means_ to +something higher and more ultimate, and more _real_ in human +existence; and it is only on this ground that it becomes either +rational or innocent. Amusement never can be either. + +But those who need recreation in this sense will never seek it in +the theatre. The reason presents itself at once. Experience concurs +with the _a priori_ view, derived from the very nature of the thing, +in declaring that it can never be found there. The emotions called +out in the play-house are exciting--they are exhausting--they are +dissipating. In each of these aspects they are at war with the +legitimate idea of the recreative. They stimulate but do not +invigorate. All mere pleasure-seeking has in it an element of death. +It has its ground in a morbid feeling of want which is ever rendered +still more morbid by gratification. It is the same with that which +lies at the foundation of the appetite for stimulating drinks, +except that here it affects the whole spiritual system. In a word, +the truly recreative exercises of the soul, in which pleasure is a +means and not an end, are ever attended by a sense of freedom, and +this is the best characteristic by which they are to be +distinguished from others that assume the appearance and the name. +Whatever is healthful, either to body or soul, is never enslaving. +The counterfeit passion for enjoyment, on the other hand, is ever +binding the spirit to a deeper and still deeper bondage. From the +one, the mind returns with a healthier and heartier relish to the +more arduous and serious duties of life; the other at every +repetition renders such duties more and more the objects of an ever +growing distaste and aversion. The slightest observation of the +habitual frequenters of the theatre will determine to which class of +mental exercises the influence of its representations are to be +assigned. + +But there is another thought connected with this. We find in such an +idea of the nature and end of theatrical representations the true +reason why actors and actresses never have been, and never can be +regarded as a reputable class in society. They may contribute ever +so much to our amusement, but no principle of gratitude, even if +there were any ground for so sacred a feeling, will ever bring the +very persons who use them as a means of enjoyment to recognize their +social equality. A favorite actor may now and then be toasted at a +public dinner. Grave men may sometimes manifest a public interest in +some actress who has furnished an exciting theme of newspaper +discussion, or judicial investigation. But let the higher tests be +demanded, and the instinctive feeling of our humanity manifests +itself at once. They never have been, they never will be admitted +freely to the more intimate social relations. The fashionable +frequenter of the theatre would not cordially give his daughter in +marriage to the most popular of actors; he would turn with aversion +from the thought that his son should choose for his bride the most +accomplished actress that ever called forth the rapturous plaudits +of a pleasure-maddened audience. We need not go far for the reason. +It may be partly found in the fact, or suspicion, of their generally +vicious lives. But of that, and the cause of it, in another place. +It is a different though related thought to which we would here give +prominence. With all that is pretended about the theatre being a +place of instruction, or recreation, there is an under-consciousness +that its great end is pleasurable emotion merely--in a word, +amusement. Along with this there is another suppressed consciousness +that such an end is not honorable to our humanity, and that those, +therefore, whose chief employment is to minister to it, can not be +regarded as having a high or even a reputable calling. This decision +may be called unjust, but we can not alter it, even though we fail +to discover the true ground in which it has its origin. The +distinctions exist in the very nature of things and ideas. No +theoretical fraternization can ever essentially change them. + +There are three grades of employment whose respective rank must ever +be independent of all conventionalities. Two are reputable, though +differing in degree. The third is essentially dishonorable through +all its great variety of departments. The highest place is given, +and must ever be given, to those who live for the spirit's good, or +the health of the body as conducive to it--the second to those most +useful and reputable employments that have for their end the +material well-being, in itself considered. The region of dishonor +embraces all of every class whose aim is the [Greek: hêdhy] instead +of the [Greek: hagathhon], the _pleasurable_ instead of the _good_ +or the truly _useful_, whether in respect to soul or body--all who +live to please, to gratify simply--to _amuse_ mankind--in other +words, to aid them in annihilating their precious earthly time, and +in turning away their thoughts from the great ends of their immortal +existence. The poorest mechanic, or day-laborer, who is toiling in +the lowest department of the _utile_ (or useful as we have defined +it) is of a higher rank, belongs to a more honorable class, than the +proudest play-actor that ever trod the boards of a theatre. Among +these "men and women of pleasure," there may be also numerous +varieties and degrees, from the female balancer on the tight rope to +the most fashionable danseuse; from the clown of the circus to the +Forrest or Macready of the aristocratic theatre; but the instinct of +the human consciousness recognizes in them all but one genus. They +all live to _amuse_, and such a life can not be honorable. + +It may be said, perhaps, that this dishonor should attach to those +who are _amused_ as well as to the amusers. It might be so on the +score of abstract justice; but, in fact, from the very thought there +comes an additional load of obloquy upon the condemned caste. Mere +pleasure-seeking, mere amusement, is felt to be, in itself, a +degradation of the rational nature, and a semi-conscious sense of +this finds relief by casting it upon the instruments who are +supposed to receive pecuniary emolument in place of the unavoidable +dishonor. It may be thus seen that the disrepute of actors and +actresses is no accidental disadvantage, but has an unchangeable +reason in the laws of the human consciousness. From no other cause +could have come that universal reprobation of the scenic character, +to be found in the writings of the most enlightened heathen as well +as in those of the most zealous Christian Fathers. The opinions of +Plato and Socrates on this point are most express, and Augustine +only utters the sentiment of the Classical as well as the Christian +world when he says (De Civ. Dei, 2. 14), _Adores removent a +societate civitatis--ab honoribus omnibus repellunt ho mines +scenicos_--"They remove actors from civic society--from all honors +do they repel the men of the stage." The exceptions to this only +prove the rule. The fact that in a very few cases, like those of +Garrick and Mrs. Siddons, they have barely emerged from this load of +dishonor, only shows how universal and how deep is the opprobrium. + +The stage can not be reformed. Our proof of this has, thus far, been +drawn mainly from historical experience. But such experience, like +every other legitimate induction, forces upon us the thought of some +underlying principle of evil, some inherent vitiosity which no +change of outward circumstances could be ever expected to eradicate. +In searching for this essential vice we need not indulge in any +affectation of profundity. It will be found, we think, lying nearer +the surface than is commonly imagined. Why is play-acting radically +vicious? Because, we answer, it is just what its name imports. It is +_acting_--_acting_ in the theatrical sense--acting a part--an +unreal part, in distinction from the stern verities which ever ought +to occupy this serious and earnest life of ours. We have alluded to +the heartlessness of the stage in view of the abounding sufferings +and sorrows of the world. It is a varied aspect of the same truth we +would here present. We have no right to waste upon mere amusement +the precious time that might be employed in the alleviation of so +much misery. We have no right to be _acting_, or to take delight in +seeing others _acting_, in a world where abounding insincerity, +falsehood, and disguise, are ever demanding truthfulness, and +earnestness, and reality, as the noblest and most valuable elements +in human character. Certainly there is a call upon us to avoid every +thing of even a seemingly contrary tendency, in whatever fair +disguise it may present itself, or under whatever fair name of art, +or æsthetics, or literature, it may claim our admiration. The +objection is not so much that the representation is fictitious in +itself, as its tendency to generate fictitious characters in the +actors and spectators. No sober thinking man can look round upon our +world without perceiving that its prevailing depravity is just that +which the theatre is most adapted to encourage. There is acting, +stage-acting, every where--in politics, in literature, and even in +religion. Men are playing State and playing Church. Artificialness +of character is pervading our "world of letters" to a most +demoralizing extent. We are every where living too much out of +ourselves--alternately the victims and creators of false public +sentiments under which the theatrical spirit of the times is burying +every thing real and truthful in human nature. Our morals are +theatrical; our public and social life is theatrical; our +revolutions and our sympathy with revolutions are theatrical; our +political conventions are theatrical; our philanthropy and our +reforms are theatrical. + +But we can not at present dwell upon this view in its more general +aspects. In the more immediate effect upon actors and actresses +themselves we find the radical cause of the vicious lives which have +ever characterized them as a class. Men and women who act every +character will have no character of their own. The dangerous faculty +of assuming any passion, and any supposed moral state, must, in the +end, be inconsistent with that earnestness of feeling without which +there can be neither moral nor intellectual depth. We have neither +time nor space to dwell upon those evil effects of theatrical +representations which are best known and most generally admitted. +Whoever demands proof of them may be referred to the records of our +Criminal Courts. We would rather search for the root of the evil. It +is here in the most interior idea of the drama that we find the +virus fountain from which all its poison flows, and of which what +are called the incidental evils, are but the necessary ultimate +manifestations. It is not found simply in the personation of vicious +characters, whether in the shape of heroic crime or vulgar comedy. +The radical mischief is in the fact that the theatre is the great +storehouse and seminary of _false feeling_; and all false feeling, +without the exception even of the religious (in fact, the higher the +pretension the greater the evil), is so much spiritual poison. By +this we mean an emotion and a sentimentality having no ground in any +previous healthy moral state with which they may be organically +connected. No fact is more certain than that such a seeming virtue +may be called out in the worst of men, and that instead of truly +softening and meliorating, it invariably exerts a hardening +influence, rendering the affections less capable of being aroused +to the genuine duties and genuine benevolence of real life. It is +indeed a blessed and a blissful thing to have a feeling heart; but, +then, the feeling must be real; that is, as we have defined it, +flowing from within as the legitimate product of a true, moral +organism. Better be without all feeling than have that which is the +unnatural result of artificial stimulus. Better that the soul be an +arid desert than that it should be watered by such Stygian streams, +or luxuriate in the rank Upas of such a deadly verdure. There is +evidence in abundance that a man may melt under the influence of a +theatrical sentimentality, and yet go forth to the commission of the +worst of crimes; with a freedom, too, all the greater for the +fictitious virtue under which his true character has been so +completely concealed from his own eyes. + +It might, at first, seem strange that this should be so. The +emotions of benevolence, of compassion, of patriotism, it might be +said, must be the same whatever calls them forth. But a true +analysis will show that there is not only a great but an essential +difference. In the one case feeling is the natural result of a sound +soul in direct communion with the realities of life. In the other it +is entirely artificial.--One has its ground in the reason and the +conscience; the other in the sensitive and imaginative nature. One +comes to us in the due course of things; the other we create for +ourselves. The one is ever recuperative, elevating while it humbles, +softening while it invigorates. It grows stronger and purer by +exercise. It never satiates, never exhausts, never reacts. The other +ever produces an exhaustion corresponding to the unnatural +excitement, and like every other artificial stimulus reduces the +spiritual nature to a lower state at every repetition. In short, to +use the expressive Scriptural comparisons, the one is a continual +pouring into broken cisterns; the other is like a well of _living +water_, springing up to everlasting life. Nothing is more alluringly +deceptive, and therefore more dangerous, than the cultivation of the +æsthetic nature, either to the exclusion of the moral, or by +cherishing a public sentiment that confounds them together. We +should be warned by the fact, of which history furnishes more than +one example, that a nation may be distinguished for artistic and +dramatic refinement, and yet present the most horrid contrast of +crime and cruelty. A similar view may be taken of an age noted for a +theoretical, or sentimental, or theatrical philanthropy. There is +great reason to fear that it will be followed, if not accompanied, +by one distinguished for great ferocity and recklessness of actual +human suffering. + +But to return to our analogy. It might with equal justice be +maintained, in respect to the body, that physical _strength_ is the +same, whatever the cause by which it is produced. And yet we all +know that there is a most essential difference between that vigor of +nerve and muscle which is the result of the real and natural +exercise of the healthy organism, in the performance of its +legitimate functions, and that which comes from maddening artificial +stimulants. They may appear the same for the moment; and yet we know +that the one has an element of invigorating and _re-creating_ life; +the other has the seeds of death, and brings death into the human +microcosm with all its train of physical as well as spiritual woes. + +And this suggests that idea in which we find the most interior +difference between true and false feeling. In the one the emotion is +sought for its own sake as an _end_. In the other it is the _means_ +to a higher good. One seeks to save its life and loses it. The other +loses its life and finds it. The true benevolence is unconscious of +itself as an end, and through such unconsciousness attains to +substantial satisfaction. The spurious looks to nothing but the +luxury of its own emotion, and thus continually transmutes into +poison the very aliment on which it feeds. Like Milton's incestuous +monsters, so do the matricidal pleasures of artificial sentiment. + + Into the womb + That bred them ever more return-- + +engendering, in the end, a fiercer want, and giving birth to a more +intolerable pain-- + + Hourly conceived + And hourly born with sorrow infinite. + +There, too, we find the right notion of that word which would seem +so incapable of all strict definition--we mean the much-used and +much-abused term, _sentimentalism_. It differs from true feeling in +this, that it is a _feeling to feel_--or, for the sake of feeling--a +_feeling of one's own feelings_ (if we may use the strange +expression), instead of the woes and sufferings of others, which are +not strictly the _objects_, but only the _means_ of luxurious +excitement, to this introverted state of the affections. Hence, +while true benevolence ever goes forth in the freedom of its +unconsciousness, sentimentalism is ever most egotistical, ever +turning inward to gaze upon itself, and _feel itself_, and thus ever +more in the most rigorous and ignominious bondage. + +The same position, had we time, might be taken in respect to what +may be styled false, or theatrical mirth. Even mirth, which, under +other circumstances, and when produced by other causes, might be an +innocent and healthful recreation, is here utterly spoiled, because +we know it to be all _acting_. It is all false; there is no reality +in it; there is no true merry heart there. To the right feeling, +there is even a thought of sadness in the spectacle, when we reflect +how often amid the wearisome repetition of what must be to him the +same stale buffoonery, the soul of the wretched actor may be +actually aching, and bitterly aching, beneath his comic mask. + +Our argument might, perhaps, be charged with proving too much--with +invading the sacred domain of poetry--with condemning all works of +fiction and all reading, as well as acting, of plays. We would like +to dispose of these objections if we had time. In some respects, and +to a certain extent, their validity might be candidly admitted. In +others, we might make modifications and distinctions, drawing the +line, as we think we could, in accordance with the demands of right +reason, right faith, right taste, and right morals. But the limits +of our Editorial Table do not permit; and we, therefore, leave our +readers to draw this line for themselves, believing that, in so +doing, a sound moral sense, proceeding on the tests here laid down, +will easily distinguish all healthful and recreative reading +from those inherent evils that must ever belong to dramatic +representations. + + + + +Editor's Easy Chair. + + +"Ouf! ouf!"--The French have a funny way of writing a letter, as +well as of telling a story. For instance, our friend of the +_Courrier_, whose gossip we have time and again transmuted, with +some latitude of construction into our own noon-tide sentences, +commences one of his later epistles with the exclamation, "_Ouf! +ouf!_" "And this," says he, "is the best _resumé_ that I can give +you of the situation of Paris." It is a cry of distress, and of +lassitude, breaking out from the Parisian heart, over-burdened with +plenitude of pleasure; it is the re-action of the fêtes of May. How +many things in ten days! How much dust--cannon-smoke--fire--fury--Roman +candles--thunder--melodramas--and provincials! How much +theatre-going--dining out--spent francs--_demitasses_--and ennui! + +It is no wonder that your true Parisian is troubled with the crowd +and uproar that the fêtes bring to Paris, and, above all, with the +uncouth hordes of banditti provincials. The New-Yorker or the +Philadelphian can look complacently upon the throngs that our +Eastern and Northern steamers disgorge upon the city, and upon the +thousand wagons of "Market-street;" for these, all of them, not only +bring their quota of money to his till, but they lend a voice and a +tread to the hurry and the noise in which, and by which, your +true-blooded American feels his fullest life. + +But the Parisian--living by daily, methodic, quiet, uninterrupted +indulgence of his tastes and humors--looks harshly upon the stout +wool-growers and plethoric vineyard men, who elbow him out of the +choicest seats at the Theatre of the Palais Royal, and who break +down his appreciative chuckle at a stroke of wit, with their +immoderate guffaw. Then, the dresses of these provincials are a +perpetual eye-sore to his taste. Such coats! such hats! such canes! +The very sight of them makes misery for your habitual frequenter of +the _Maison d'or_, or of the _Café Anglais_. + +Moreover, there is something in the very _insouciance_ of these +country-comers to Paris which provokes the citizen the more. What do +they care for their white bell-crowns of ten years ago? or what, for +marching and counter-marching the Boulevard, with a fat wife on one +arm, and a fat daughter on the other? What do they care for the +fashion of a dinner, as they call for a _bouillon_, followed with a +steak and onions, flanked by a melon, and wet with a deep bottle of +_Julienne premier_? + +What do they care for any _mode_, or any proprieties of the Faubourg +St. Honoré, as they leer at the dancers of the _Bal Mabil_, or roar +once and again at the clown who figures at the _Estaminet-Café_ of +the Champs Elyssées? + +In short, says our aggrieved friend, the letter-writer, they press +us, and torture us every where; they eat our bread, and drink our +wine, and tread on our toes, and crowd us from our seats, as if the +gay capital were made for them alone! Nor is the story unreal: +whoever has happened upon that mad French metropolis, in the days of +its _fête_ madness, can recall the long procession of burly and +gross provincials who swarm the streets and gardens, like the lice +in the Egypt of Pharaoh. + +In the old kingly times, when fêtes were regal, and every +Frenchman gloated at the velvet panoply, worked over with golden +_fleurs-de-lis_, as they now gloat at the columns of their +Republican journals, their love for festal-days was well hit off in +an old comedy. The shopkeeper (in the play) says to his wife, "Take +care of the shop; I am going to see the king." And the wife +presently says to the chief clerk, "Take care of the shop; I am +going to see the king." And the clerk, so soon as the good woman is +fairly out of sight, says to the _garçon_, "Take care of the shop; I +am going to see the king." And the _garçon_ enjoins upon the dog to +"take care of the shop, as he is going to see the king." And the +dog, stealing his nose out at the door, leaves all in charge of the +parroquet, and goes to see the king! + +The joke made a good laugh in those laughing days: nor is the +material for as good a joke wanting now. The prefect leaves business +with the sub-prefect, that he may go up to the Paris fête. The +sub-prefect leaves his care with some commissioner, that he may go +up to the Paris fête. And the commissioner, watching his chance, +steals away in his turn, and chalks upon the door of the prefecture, +"Gone to the fêtes of May." + +All this, to be sure, is two months old, and belonged to that +festive season of the Paris year, which goes before the summer. Now, +if report speaks true, with provincials gone home, and the booths +along the Champs Elyssées struck, and the theatric stars escaped to +Belgium, or the Springs, the Parisian is himself again. He takes his +evening drive in the Bois de Boulogne; he fishes for invitations to +Meudon, or St. Cloud; he plots a descent upon Boulogne, or Aix la +Chapelle; he studies the summer fashions from his apartments on the +Boulevard de la Madeleine; he takes his river-bath by the bridge of +the Institute; he smokes his evening cigar under the trees by the +National Circus; and he speculates vaguely upon the imperial +prospects of his President, the Prince Louis. + +Meantime, fresh English and Americans come thronging in by the +Northern road, and the Havre road, and the road from Strasbourg. +They cover every floor of every hotel and _maison garnie_ in the Rue +Rivoli. They buy up all the couriers and valets-de-place; they swarm +in the jewelry and the bronze shops of the Rue de la Paix; and they +call, in bad French, for every dish that graces the _carte du jour_ +in the restaurants of the Palais Royal. They branch off toward the +Apennines and the Alps, in flocks; and, if report speak true, the +Americans will this year outnumber upon the mountains of Switzerland +both French and German travelers. Indeed, Geneva, and Zurich, and +Lucerne, are now discussed and brought into the map of tourists, as +thoughtlessly as, ten years since, they compared the charms of the +Blue Lick and the Sharon waters. + +Look at it a moment: Ten days, under the Collins guidance, will land +a man in Liverpool. Three days more will give him a look at the +Tower, the Parks, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, and Paternoster +Row; and on the fourth he may find himself swimming in a first-class +French car, on damask cushions, at forty miles the hour from +Boulogne to Paris. Five days in the capital will show him (specially +if he is free of service-money) the palaces of Versailles, the +Louvre, the park at St. Cloud, the church of Notre Dame, the +Madeleine, the Bourse, the Dead House, a score of balls, half as +many theatres, the pick of the shops, and the great Louis himself. + +Three other summer days, allowing a ten hours' tramp over the +galleries and sombre grounds of Fontainebleau, will set him down, at +the door of "mine host" of the Hotel de l'Ecu, in the city of +Geneva, and he will brush the dews from his eyes in the morning, +within sight of the "blue, arrowy Rhone," and "placid Leman, and the +bald white peak of Mont Blanc." A Sunday in the Genevese church, +will rest his aching limbs, and give him hearing of such high +doctrine as comes from the lips of Merle d'Aubigné, and Monday will +drift him on _char-a-banc_ straight down through wooded +Sardinia--reading Coleridge's Hymn--into the marvelous valley of +Chamouny. + +There, he may take breath before he goes up upon the Sea of Ice; and +afterward he may idle, on donkeys or his own stout feet, over such +mountain passes as will make Franconia memories tame, and boat it +upon the Lake of Lucerne; and dine at the White Swan of Frankfort, +and linger at Bingen, and drink Hock at Heidelberg; and chaffer with +Jean Maria Farina at Cologne, and measure the stairs of the belfry +at Antwerp, and toss in a cockle shell of a steamer across the +straits, and lay him down in his Collins berth one month from his +landing, a fresher and fuller man--with only six weeks cloven from +his summer, and a short "five hundred" lifted from his purse. + +The very fancy of it all--so easy, and so quick-coming--makes our +blood beat in the office-chair, and tempts us strangely to fling +down the pen, and to book ourselves by the Arctic. + + * * * * * + +We happened the other day upon an old French picture of Washington, +which it may be worth while to render into passable English. It +comes from the writings of M. DE BROGLIE. + +"I urged," he says, "M. de Rochambeau to present me, and the next +day was conducted by him to dine with the great general. He +received, most graciously, a letter from my father, and gave me a +pleasant welcome. The general is about forty-nine--tall, well-made, +and of elegant proportions. His face is much more agreeable than +generally represented: notwithstanding the fatigues of the last few +years, he seems still to possess all the agility and freshness of +youth. + +"His expression is sweet and frank; his address rather cold, though +polished; his eye, somewhat pensive, is more observant than +flashing; and his look is full of dignified assurance. He guards +always a dignity of manner which forbids great familiarity, while it +seems to offend none. He seems modest, even to humility; yet he +accepts, kindly and graciously, the homage which is so freely +rendered him. His tone of voice is exceedingly low; and his +attention to what is addressed to him, so marked, as to make one +sure he has fully understood, though he should venture no reply. +Indeed this sort of circumspection is a noted trait of his +character. + +"His courage is rather calm than brilliant, and shows itself rather +in the coolness of his decision, than in the vigor with which he +battles against odds. + +"He usually dines in company with twenty or thirty of his officers; +his attention to them is most marked and courteous; and his dignity, +at table only, sometimes relapses into gayety. He lingers at dessert +for an hour or two, eating freely of nuts, and drinking wine with +his guests. I had the honor of interchanging several _toasts_ with +the general; among others, I proposed the health of the Marquis de +Lafayette. He accepted the sentiment with a very benevolent smile, +and was kind enough to offer, in turn, the health of my own family. + +"I was particularly struck with the air of respect and of admiration +with which his officers uniformly treated General Washington." + +M. de Broglie makes mention of the meeting of Washington and Gates, +after their unfortunate difference, and speaks in high praise of the +conduct of both. He furthermore suggests that the assignment of the +chief command of the army to General Greene was owing to a certain +feeling of jealousy which Washington entertained for the reputation +of Gates: a suggestion, which neither contemporaneous history, or +the relative merits of Greene and of Gates would confirm. + +It is not a little singular how greedy we become to learn the most +trivial details of the private life of the men we admire. Who would +not welcome nowadays any _bona fide_ contemporaneous account of the +meals or dress of William Shakspeare, or of Francis Bacon? And what +a jewel of a spirit that would be, who would make some pleasant +letter-writer for the Tribune, the _medium_ of communicating to us +what colored coat Shakspeare wore when he wooed Ann Hathaway, and +how much wine he drank for the modeling of Jack Falstaff! Were there +no Boswells in those days, whose spirits might be coaxed into +communicative rappings about the king of the poets? We recommend the +matter, in all sincerity, to the Misses Media. + + * * * * * + +A French court-room is not unfrequently as "good as a play:" besides +which, the Paris reporters have a dainty way of working up the +infirmities of a weak wicked man into a most captivating story. They +dramatize, even to painting the grave nod of the judge; and will +work out a farce from a mere broken bargain about an ass!--as one +may see from this trial of Léonard Vidaillon. + +Léonard Vidaillon, as brave a cooper as ever hammered a hoop, having +retired from business, bethought him of buying an equipage for his +family; but hesitated between the purchase of a pony or a donkey. + +"A pony," said he, to himself, "is a graceful little beast, genteel, +_coquet_, and gives a man a 'certain air;' but on the other hand, +your pony is rather hard to keep, and costly to equip. The donkey +takes care of himself--eats every thing--wants no comb or brush; +but, unfortunately, is neither vivacious or elegant." + +In the midst of this embarrassment, an old friend recommended to +him--a mule. With this idea flaming in his thought, Léonard ran over +all of Paris in search of a mule, and ended with finding, at the +stable of a worthy donkey-drover, a little mule of a year old--of +"fine complexion"--smaller than a horse--larger than a donkey--with +a lively eye--in short, such a charming little creature as bewitched +the cooper, and secured the sale. + +The price was a hundred francs, it being agreed that the young mule +should have gratuitous nursing of its donkey-mother for three +months; at the expiration of which time our cooper should claim his +own. + +The next scene opens in full court. + +Léonard, the defendant, is explaining. + +"Yes, your honor, I bought the mule, to be delivered at the end of +three months. At the end of three months I fell sick; I lay a-bed +twelve weeks; I drugged myself to death; I picked up on water-gruel; +I got on my legs; and the second day out I went after my little +mule." + +DONKEY-MAN (being plaintiff).--The court will observe that three +months and twelve weeks make six months. + +The Judge nods acquiescence. + +LEONARD.--Agreed. They make six months. I went then after my little +mule, a delicate creature, not larger than a large ass, that I had +picked out expressly for my little wagon. I went, as I said, to see +my little mule. And what does the man show me? A great, yellow +jackass, high in the hips, with a big belly, that would be sure to +split the shafts of my carriage! I said to him, "M. Galoupeau, this +is not my little mule, and I sha'n't pay you." + +GALOUPEAU (_plaintiff_).--And what did I say? + +LEONARD.--You swore it was my mule. + +GALOUPEAU.--I said better than that: I said I couldn't constrain the +nature of the beast, and hinder a little mule from growing large. + +LEONARD.--But mine was a blond, and yours is yellow. + +GALOUPEAU.--Simply another effect of nature! And I have seen a +little black ass foal turn white at three months old! + +LEONARD.--Do you think I have filled casks so long, not to know that +red wine is red, and white wine, white. + +GALOUPEAU.--I don't know. I don't understand the nature of wines; +but donkeys--yes. + +JUDGE (_to the defendant_).--So you refuse to take the mule? + +LEONARD.--I rather think so--a mule like a camel, and such a +ferocious character, that he came within an ace of taking my life! + +JUDGE.--You will please to make good this point of the injuries +sustained. + +LEONARD.--The thing is easy. This M. Galoupeau insisted that I +should take a look at his beast, and brought him out of the stable. +The animal made off like a mad thing, and came near killing all the +poultry. Then M. Galoupeau, who professes to know his habits, +followed him up to the bottom of the yard, spoke gently to him, and +after getting a hand upon his shoulder, called me up. As for myself, +I went up confidently. I came near the beast, and just as I was +about to reach out my hand for a gentle caress, the brute kicked me +in the stomach--such a kick!--Mon Dieu! but here, your Honor, is the +certificate--"twelve days a-bed; one hundred and fifty leeches." All +that for caressing the brute! + +GALOUPEAU.--If you were instructed, M. Léonard, in the nature of +these beasts, you would understand that they never submit to any +flattery from behind; and you know very well that you approached him +by the tail. + +Here two stable-boys were called to the stand, who testified that +Signor Léonard Vidaillon, late cooper, did approach their master's +jackass by the tail; and furthermore, that the mule (or jackass) was +ordinarily of a quiet and peaceable disposition. This being shown to +the satisfaction of the Court, and since it appeared that an +inexperience, arising out of ignorance of the nature of the beast, +had occasioned the injury to Signor Vidaillon, the case was decided +for the plaintiff. Poor Léonard was mulcted in the cost of the mule, +the costs of the suit, the cost of a hundred and fifty leeches, and +the cost of broader shafts to his family wagon. + +We have entertained our reader with this report--first, to show how +parties to a French suit plead their own cause; and next, to show +how the French reporters render the cause into writing. The story is +headed in the French journal, like a farce--"A little mule will +grow." + + * * * * * + +As for the town, in these hot days of summer, it looks slumberous. +The hundreds who peopled the up-town walks with silks and plumes, +are gone to the beach of Newport, or the shady verandas of the +"United States." Even now, we will venture the guess, there are +scores of readers running over this page under the shadow of the +Saratoga colonnades, or in view of the broad valley of the Mohawk, +who parted from us last month in some cushioned _fauteuil_ of the +New York Avenues. + +The down-town men wear an air of _ennui_, and slip uneasily through +the brick and mortar labyrinths of Maiden-lane and of John-street. +Brokers, even, long for their Sunday's recess--when they can steal +one breath of health and wideness at New Rochelle, or Rockaway. +Southerners, with nurses and children, begin to show themselves in +the neighborhood of the Union and Clarendon, and saunter through +our sunshine as if our sunshine were a bath of spring. + +Fruits meantime are ripening in all our stalls; and it takes the +edge from the sultriness of the season to wander at sunrise, through +the golden and purple show of our Washington market. Most of all, to +such as are tied, by lawyer's tape or editorial pen, to the desks of +the city, does it bring a burst of country glow to taste the +firstlings of the country's growth, and to doat upon the garden +glories of the year--as upon so many testimonial clusters, brought +back from a land of Canaan. + +And in this vein, we can not avoid noting and commending the +increasing love for flowers. Bouquets are marketable; they are +getting upon the stalls; they flank the lamb and the butter. Our +civilization is ripening into a sense of their uses and beauties. +They talk to us even now--(for a tenpenny bunch of roses is smiling +at us from our desk) of fields, fragrance, health, and wanton youth. +They take us back to the days when with urchin fingers we grappled +the butter-cup and the mountain daisy--days when we loitered by +violet banks, and loved to loiter--days when we loved the violets, +and loved to love; and they take us forward too--far forward to the +days that always seem coming, when flowers shall bless us again, and +be plucked again, and be loved again, and bloom around us, year +after year; and bloom over us, year after year! + + * * * * * + +The two great hinges of public chat are--just now--the rival +candidates, Generals Pierce and Scott; serving not only for the hot +hours of lunch under the arches of the Merchants' Exchange, but +toning the talk upon every up-bound steamer of the Hudson, and +giving their creak to the breezes of Cape May. + +Poor Generals!--that a long and a worthy life should come to such +poor end as this. To be vilified in the journals, to be calumniated +with dinner-table abuse, or with worse flattery--to have their +religion, their morals, their courage, their temper, all brought to +the question;--to have their faces fly-specked in every hot shop of +a barber--to have their grandparents, and parents all served up in +their old clothes; to have their school-boy pranks ferreted out, and +every forgotten penny pitched into their eyes; to have their wine +measured by the glass, and their tears by the tumbler; to have their +names a bye-word, and their politics a reproach--this is the honor +we show to these most worthy candidates! + + * * * * * + +As a relief to the wearisome political chat, our city has just now +been blessed with Alboni; and it is not a little curious to observe +how those critics who were coy of running riot about Jenny Lind, are +lavishing their pent-up superlatives upon the new-comer. The odium +of praising nothing, it appears, they do not desire; and seize the +first opportunity to win a reputation for generosity. The truth is, +we suspect, that Alboni is a highly cultivated singer, with a voice +of southern sweetness, and with an air of most tempered +pleasantness; but she hardly brings the _prestige_ of that wide +benevolence, noble action, and _naïve_ courtesy, which made the +world welcome Jenny as a woman, before she had risked a note. + +In comparing the two as artists, we shall not venture an opinion; +but we must confess to a strong liking for such specimen of +humanity, as makes its humanity shine through whatever art it +embraces. Such humanity sliding into song, slides through the song, +and makes the song an echo; such humanity reveling in painting, +makes the painting only a shadow on the wall. Every true artist +should be greater than his art; or else it is the art that makes +him great. + +And while we are upon this matter of song, we take the liberty of +suggesting, in behalf of plain-spoken, and simple-minded people, +that musical criticism is nowadays arraying itself in a great +brocade of words, of which the fustian only is clear to common +readers. We can readily understand that the art of music, like other +arts, should have its technicalities of expression; but we can not +understand with what propriety those technicalities should be warped +into such notices, as are written professedly for popular +entertainment and instruction. + +If, Messrs. Journalists, your musical critiques are intended solely +for the eye of connoisseurs, stick to your shady Italian; but if +they be intended for the enlightenment of such hungry outside +readers, as want to know, in plain English, how such or such a +concert went off, and in what peculiar way each artist excels, for +Heaven's sake, give us a taste again of old fashioned Saxon +expletive! He seems to us by far the greatest critic, who can carry +to the public mind the clearest and the most accurate idea of what +was sung, and of the way in which it was sung. It would seem, +however, that we are greatly mistaken; and that the palm of +excellence should lie with those, whose periods smack most +of the green-room, and cover up opinions with a profusion of +technicalities. We shall not linger here, however, lest we be +attacked in language we can not understand. + + * * * * * + +Among the novelties which have provoked their share of the boudoir +chit-chat, and which go to make our monthly digest of trifles +complete, may be reckoned the appearance of a company of trained +animals at the Astor Place Opera House. Their débût was modest and +maidenly; and could hardly have made an eddy in the talk, had not +the purveyors of that classic temple, entered an early protest +against the performance, as derogatory to the dignity of the place. + +This difficulty, and the ensuing discussions, naturally led to a +comparison of the habits of the various animals, who are accustomed +to appear in that place, whether as spectators, or as actors. What +the judicial decision may have been respecting the matter, we are +not informed. Public opinion, however, seems to favor the conclusion +that the individuals composing the monkey troup would compare well, +even on the score of dignity, with very many habitués of the house; +and that the whole monkey tribe, being quite harmless and +inoffensive, should remain, as heretofore, the subjects of Christian +toleration, whether appearing on the bench (no offense to the +Judges) or the boards. + +With this theatric note, to serve as a snapper to our long column of +gossip, we beg to yield place to that very coy lady--the Bride of +Landeck. + + +AN OLD GENTLEMAN'S LETTER. + +"THE BRIDE OF LANDECK." + +DEAR SIR--The small village of Landeck is situated in a very +beautiful spot near the river Inn, with a fine old castle to the +southeast, against the winds from which quarter it shelters the +greater part of the village--a not unnecessary screen; for easterly +winds in the Tyrol are very detestable. Indeed I know no country in +which they are any thing else, or where the old almanac lines are +not applicable-- + + "When the wind is in the east, + 'Tis neither good for man or beast." + +Some people, however, are peculiarly affected by the influence of +that wind; and they tell a story of Dr. Parr--for the truth of +which I will not vouch, but which probably has some foundation in +fact. When a young man, he is said to have had an attack of ague, +which made him dread the east wind as a pestilence. He had two +pupils at the time, gay lads, over whose conduct, as well as whose +studies, he exercised a very rigid superintendence. When they went +out to walk, Parr was almost sure to be with them, much to their +annoyance on many occasions. There were some exceptions, however; +and they remarked that these exceptions occurred when the wind was +easterly. Boys are very shrewd, and it did not escape the lads' +attention, that every day their tutor walked to the window, and +looked up at the weather-cock on the steeple of the little parish +church. Conferences were held between the young men; and a carpenter +consulted. A few days after, the wind was in the east, and the +Doctor suffered them to go out alone. The following day it was in +the east still. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, +Saturday, all easterly wind--if the weather-cock might be believed. +Sunday, Parr went to church, and shivered all day. The next week it +was just the same thing. Never was such a spell of easterly wind. +Parr was miserable. But at the end of some five weeks, a friend, and +man of the world, came to visit him, with the common salutation +of--"A fine day, Doctor!" + +"No day is a fine day, sir, with an easterly wind," said Parr, with +his usual acerbity. + +"Easterly wind?" said his visitor, walking toward the window; "I +don't think the wind is east--yes it is, indeed." + +"Ay, sir, and has been for these six weeks," answered Parr, sharply. +"I could tell it by my own sensations, without looking at the +weather-cock." + +"Why, Doctor," answered the other, "the wind was west yesterday: +that I know; and I thought it was west to-day." + +"Then you thought like a fool, sir," answered Parr. "A man who can +not tell when the wind is in the east, has no right to think at all. +Let him look at the weather-cock." + +"But the weather-cock may be rusty," answered the other; "and your +weather-cock must be rusty if it pointed to the east yesterday; for +it blew pretty smartly from the west all day." + +"Do you think I am a fool, sir: do you think I am a liar?" asked +Parr, angrily. + +"No; but you may be mistaken, Doctor," replied the other. "Even +Solomon, as you know, made a mistake sometimes; and you are mistaken +now; and the weather-cock too. Look at the clouds: they are coming +rapidly from the west. If you would take my advice, you would look +to our friend there on the top of the steeple." + +"I will, sir--I will this moment," replied Parr; and ringing the +bell violently, he ordered his servant to take the village carpenter +and a bottle of oil, and have the weather-cock examined and greased. +He and his visitor watched the whole proceeding from the window--the +bringing forth of the ladders, the making them fast with ropes, the +perilous ascent, and then the long operations which seemed much more +complicated than the mere process of greasing the rusty +weather-cock. "What can the fools be about?" said Parr. In the end, +however, the deed, whatever it was, was done; and the servant and +the carpenter descended, and came toward the house. By this time the +weather-cock had whirled round, pointing directly to the west, and +the Doctor asked eagerly, as soon as the men appeared. "Well, +sir--well: what prevented the vane from turning?" + +"A large nail, sir," answered the man. + +"I will never trust a weather-cock again," cried Parr. + +"Nor your own sensations either, Doctor," said his friend, "unless +you are very sure they are right ones; for if you pin them to a +weather-cock, there may be people who will find it for their +interest to pin the weather-cock to the post." + +The two poor pupils from that day forward lost their advantage; but +they had six weeks of fun out of it, and, like the fishes in the +Arabian tale, "were content." + +There is an old proverb, that "Fancy is as good for a fool as +physic," and I believe the saying might be carried further still; +for there is such a thing as corporeal disease, depending entirely +upon the mind; and that with very wise men too. The effect of mental +remedies we all know, even in very severe and merely muscular +diseases. Whether Doctor Parr was cured of his aguish sensations or +not, I can not tell; but I have known several instances of mental +remedies applied with success; to say nothing of having actually +seen the incident displayed by old Bunbury's caricature of a +rheumatic man enabled to jump over a high fence by the presence of a +mad bull. I will give you one instance of a complete, though +temporary cure, performed upon a young lady by what I can only +consider mental agency. One of the daughters of a Roman Catholic +family, named V----, a very beautiful and interesting girl, had +entirely lost the use of her limbs for nearly three years, and was +obliged to be fed and tended like a child. Her mind was acute and +clear, however, and as at that time the celebrated Prince Hohenloe +was performing, by his prayers, some cures which seemed miraculous, +her father entered into correspondence with him, to see if any thing +could be done for the daughter. The distance of some thousand miles +lay between the Prince and the patient; but he undertook to pray and +say mass for her on a certain day, and at a certain hour, and +directed that mass should also be celebrated in the city where she +resided, exactly at the same moment. As the longitude of the two +places was very different, a great deal of fuss was made to +ascertain the precise time. All this excited her imagination a good +deal, and at the hour appointed the whole family went to mass, +leaving her alone, and in bed. On their return they found Miss +V----, who for years had not been able to stir hand or foot, up, +dressed, and in the drawing-room. For the time, she was perfectly +cured; but I have been told that she gradually fell back into the +same state as before. + +Mental medicine does not always succeed, however; and once, in my +own case, failed entirely. When traveling in Europe, in the year +1825, I was attacked with very severe quartan fever. I was drugged +immensely between the paroxysms, and the physician conspired with my +friends to persuade me I was quite cured. They went so far as, +without my knowing it, to put forward a striking-clock that was on +the mantle-piece, and when the hour struck, at which the fit usually +seized me, without any appearance of its return, they congratulated +me on my recovery, and actually left me. Nevertheless, at the real +hour, the fever seized me again, and shook me nearly to pieces. +Neither is it that mental medicine sometimes fails; but it sometimes +operates in a most unexpected and disastrous manner; especially when +applied to mental disease; and I am rather inclined to believe, that +corporeal malady may often be best treated by mental means; mental +malady by corporeal means. + +A friend of my youth, poor Mr. S---- lost his only son, in a very +lamentable manner. He had but two children: this son and a daughter. +Both were exceedingly handsome, full of talent and kindly affection; +and the two young people were most strongly attached to each other. +Suddenly, the health of young S---- was perceived to decline. He +became grave--pale--sad--emaciated. His parents took the alarm. +Physicians were sent for. No corporeal disease of any kind could be +discovered. The doctors declared privately that there must be +something on his mind, as it is called, and his father with the +utmost kindness and tenderness, besought him to confide in him, +assuring him that if any thing within the reach of fortune or +influence could give him relief, his wishes should be accomplished, +whatever they might be. + +"You can do nothing for me, my dear father," replied the young man, +sadly; "but you deserve all my confidence, and I will not withhold +it. That which is destroying me, is want of rest. Every night, about +an hour after I lie down, a figure dressed in white, very like the +figure of my dear sister, glides into the room, and seats itself on +the right side of my bed, where it remains all night. If I am asleep +at the time of its coming, I am sure to wake, and I remain awake all +night with my eyes fixed upon it. I believe it to be a delusion; but +I can not banish it; and the moment it appears, I am completely +under its influence. This is what is killing me." + +The father reasoned with him, and took every means that could be +devised either by friends or physicians, to dispel this sad +phantasy. They gave parties; they sat up late; they changed the +scene; but it was all in vain. The figure still returned; and the +young man became more and more feeble. He was evidently dying; and +as a last resource, it was determined to have recourse to a trick to +produce a strong effect upon his mind. The plan arranged was as +follows. His sister was to dress herself in white, as he had +represented the figure to be dressed, and about the hour he +mentioned, to steal into his room, and seat herself on the other +side of the bed, opposite to the position which the phantom of his +imagination usually occupied, while the parents remained near the +door to hear the result. She undertook the task timidly; but +executed it well. Stealing in, with noiseless tread, she approached +her brother's bed-side, and by the faint moonlight, saw his eyes +fixed with an unnatural stare upon vacancy, but directed to the +other side. She seated herself without making the least noise, and +waited to see if he would turn his eyes toward her. He did not stir +in the least, however; but lay, as if petrified by the sight his +fancy presented. At length she made a slight movement to call his +attention, and her garments rustled. Instantly the young man turned +his eyes to the left, gazed at her--looked back to the right--gazed +at her again; and then exclaimed, almost with a shriek, "Good God: +there are two of them!" + +He said no more. His sister darted up to him. The father and mother +ran in with lights; but the effect had been fatal. He was gone. + +Nor is this the only case in which I have known the most detrimental +results occur from persons attempting indiscreetly to act upon the +minds of the sick while in a very feeble state. Once, indeed, the +whole medical men--and they were among the most famous of their time +in the world--belonging to one of the chief hospitals of Edinburgh, +were at fault in a similar manner. The case was this: A poor woman +of the port of Leith had married a sailor, to whom she was very +fondly attached. They had one or two children, and were in by no +means good circumstances. The man went to sea in pursuit of his +usual avocations, and at the end of two or three months intelligence +was received in Leith of the loss of the vessel with all on board. +Left in penury, with no means of supporting her children but her own +hard labor, the poor woman, who was very attractive in appearance, +was persuaded to marry a man considerably older than herself, but in +very tolerable circumstances. By him she had one child; and in the +summer of the year 1786, she was sitting on the broad, open way, +called Leith-walk, with a baby on her lap. Suddenly, she beheld her +first husband walk up the street directly toward her. The man +recognized her instantly, approached, and spoke to her. But she +neither answered nor moved. She was struck with catalepsy. In this +state she was removed to the Royal Infirmary, and her case, from the +singular circumstances attending it, excited great interest in the +medical profession in Edinburgh, which at that time numbered among +its professors the celebrated Cullen, and no less celebrated +Gregory. The tale was related to me by one of their pupils, who was +present, and who assured me that every thing was done that science +could suggest, till all the ordinary remedial means were exhausted. +The poor woman remained without speech or motion. In whatever +position the body was placed, there it remained; and the rigidity of +the muscles was such, that when the arm was extended, twenty minutes +elapsed before it fell to her side by its own weight. Death was +inevitable, unless some means could be devised of rousing the mind +to some active operation on the body. From various indications, it +was judged that the poor woman was perfectly sensible, and at a +consultation of all the first physicians of the city, the first +husband was sent for, and asked if he was willing to co-operate, in +order to give his poor wife a chance of life. He replied, with deep +feeling, that he was willing to lay down his own life, if it would +restore her: that he was perfectly satisfied with her conduct; knew +that she had acted in ignorance of his existence; and explained, +that having floated to the coast of Africa upon a piece of the +wreck, he had been unable for some years to return to his native +land, or communicate with any one therein. In these circumstances, +it was determined to act immediately. The Professors grouped +themselves round the poor woman, and the first husband was brought +suddenly to the foot of the bed, toward which her eyes were turned, +carrying the child by the second husband in his arms. A moment of +silence and suspense succeeded; but then, she who had lain for so +many days like a living corpse, rose slowly up, and stretched out +her hands toward the poor sailor. Her lips moved, and with a great +effort she exclaimed, "Oh, John, John--you know that it was nae my +fault." The effort was too much for her exhausted frame: she fell +back again immediately, and in five minutes was a corpse indeed. + +This story may have been told by others before me, for the thing was +not done in a corner. But I always repeat it, when occasion serves, +in order to warn people against an incautious use of means to which +we are accustomed to attribute less power than they really possess. + +And now, I will really go on with "The Bride of Landeck" in my next +letter.--Yours faithfully, + P. + + + + +Editor's Drawer. + + +Here is a very amusing picture of that species of odd fish known as +a _Matter-of-Fact Man_: + +"I am what the old women call 'An Odd Fish.' I do nothing, under +heaven, without a motive--never. I attempt nothing unless I think +there is a probability of my succeeding. I ask no favors when I +think they won't be granted. I grant no favors when I think they are +not deserved; and finally, I don't wait upon the girls when I think +my attentions would be disagreeable. I am a matter-of-fact man--_I_ +am. I do things seriously. I once offered to attend a young lady +home--I did, seriously: that is, I meant to wait on her home if she +wanted me. She accepted my offer. I went home with her; and it has +ever since been an enigma to me whether she wanted me or not. She +took my arm, and said not a word. I bade her 'Good Night,' and she +said not a word. I met her the next day, and _I_ said not a word. I +met her again, and she gave a two-hours' talk. It struck me as +curious. She feared I was offended, she said, and couldn't for the +life of her conceive why. She begged me to explain, but didn't give +me the ghost of a chance to do it. She said she hoped I wouldn't be +offended: asked me to call: and it has ever since been a mystery to +me whether she really wanted me to call or not. + +"I once saw a lady at her window. I thought I would call. I _did_. I +inquired for the lady, and was told that she was not at home. I +expect she was. I went _away_ thinking so. I rather think so still. +I met her again. She was offended--said I had not been 'neighborly.' +She reproached me for my negligence; said she thought I had been +unkind. And I've ever since wondered whether she _was_ sorry or not. + +"A lady once said to me that she should like to be married, if she +could get a good congenial husband, who would make her happy, or at +least _try_ to. She was not difficult to please, she said. I said, 'I +should like to get married too, if I could get a wife that would try +to make me happy.' She said, 'Umph!' and looked as if she meant what +she said. She _did_. For when I asked her if she thought she could +be persuaded to marry me, she said, she'd rather be excused. I +excused her. I've often wondered _why_ I excused her. + +"A good many things of this kind have happened to me that are +doubtful, wonderful, mysterious. What, then, is it that causes doubt +and mystery to attend the ways of men? _It is the want of fact._ +This is a matter-of-fact world, and in order to act well in it, we +must deal in matter-of-fact." + + * * * * * + +Some modern author says of gambling, that it is "a magical stream, +into which, if a man once steps, and wets the sole of his foot, he +must needs keep on until he is overwhelmed." Perhaps some readers of +the "Drawer" may have heard of the officer, who, having lost all his +money at play, received assistance from a friend, on condition that +he would never after touch a pack of cards. A few weeks after, +however, he was found in an out-house drawing short and long straws +with a brother-gamester for hundreds of pounds! + +"The most singular species of gambling, however, is one which is +said to be practiced among the blacks in Cuba. Many of these stout, +hearty, good-humored fellows daily collect about the docks in +Havanna, waiting for employment, and gambling in cigars, for they +are inveterate smokers. This forms one of their most favorite +amusements. Two parties challenge each other, and each lays down, in +separate places, three or more cigars, forming a figure resembling a +triangle: they then withdraw a few paces, and eagerly watch their +respective 'piles.' The owner of the 'pile' _on which a fly first +alights_, is entitled to the whole! + +"It should be added, that a pile smeared any where with molasses, +to attract the more ready visit of the flies, was considered in the +light of 'loaded dice' among 'professional men' of a kindred stamp." + + * * * * * + +Let any man, "in populous city pent," who has left the cares, +turmoils, and annoyances of the town for a brief time behind him, +with the heated bricks and stifling airs, that make a metropolis +almost a burthen in the fierce heats of a summer solstice, say +whether or no this passage be not true, both in "letter" and in +"spirit:" + +"In the country a man's spirit is free and easy; his mind is +discharged, and at its own disposal: but in the city, the persons of +friends and acquaintances, one's own and other people's business, +foolish quarrels, ceremonious visits, impertinent discourses, and a +thousand other fopperies and diversions, steal away the greater part +of our time, and leave us no leisure for better and more necessary +employment. Great towns are but a larger sort of prison to the soul, +like cages to birds, or 'pounds' to beasts." + + * * * * * + +There is a good story told, and we believe a new one--(at least, so +far as we know, it is such, as the manuscript which records it is +from a traveled friend, in whose "hand-of-write" it has remained +long in the "Drawer")--a story of Samuel Rogers, the rich banker, +and accomplished poet of "The Pleasures of Memory:" + +Rogers arrived at Paris at noon one day in the year 18--. He found +all his countrymen prepared to attend a splendid party at +Versailles. They were all loud in expressing their regrets that he +could not accompany them. They were "very sorry"--but "the thing was +impossible:" "full court-dresses alone were admissible;" and to +obtain one _then_--why "of course it was in vain to think of it." + +Rogers listened very patiently; told them to "leave him entirely to +himself;" and added, that "he was sure he could find some amusement +somewhere." + +No sooner were they gone, than he began to dress; and within the +space of a single hour he was on the road to Versailles, fully +equipped, in a blue coat, white waistcoat, and drab pantaloons. At +the door of the splendid mansion in which the company were +assembled, his further progress was opposed by a servant whose +livery was far more showy and imposing than his own costume. + +Rogers affected the utmost astonishment at the interruption, and +made as if he would have passed on. The servant pointed to his +dress: + +"It is not _comme il faut_: you can not pass in: Monsieur must +retire." + +"Dress! dress!" exclaimed Rogers, with well-feigned surprise: "Not +pass! not enter! Why, mine is the same dress that is worn by the +_General Court_ at Boston!" + +No sooner were the words uttered, than the doors flew open, and the +obsequious valet, "booing and booing," like Sir Pertinax +Macsycophant in the play, preceded the poet, and in a loud voice +announced: + +"_Monsieur le General Court, de Boston!_" + +The amusement of the Americans in the group scarcely exceeded that +of the new-made "General" himself. + +On another occasion, Rogers relates, he was announced at a Parisian +party as "Monsieur le Mort," by a lackey, who had mistaken him for +"Tom Moore." + +Not unlike an old New-Yorker, who was announced from his card as + +"_Monsieur le Koque en Bow!_" + +His simple name was Quackenbos! + +Now that we are hearing of the manner in which foolish and +ostentatious Americans are lately representing themselves in Paris +by military titles, as if connected with the army of the United +States, perhaps "Monsieur le General Court, de Boston" may "pass +muster" with our readers. + +The implied satire, however, of the whole affair, strikes us as not +altogether without a valuable lesson for those miscalled "Americans" +who forget alike their country and themselves while abroad. + + * * * * * + +When the oxy-hydrogen microscope was first exhibited in Edinburgh, a +poor woman, whose riches could never retard her ascent to the +kingdom above, took her seat in the lecture-room where the wonders +of the instrument were shown, and which were, for the first time, to +meet her sight. A piece of lace was magnified into a salmon-net; a +flea was metamorphosed into an elephant; and other the like marvels +were performed before the eyes of the venerable dame, who sat in +silent astonishment staring open-mouthed at the disk. But when, at +length, a milliner's needle was transformed into a poplar-tree, and +confronted her with its huge eye, she could "hold in" no longer. + +"My goodness!" she exclaimed, "a camel could get through _that_! +There's some hopes for the rich folk yet!" + + * * * * * + +Legal tautology and unnecessary formulas have often been made the +theme of ridicule and satire; but we suspect that it is somewhat +unusual to find a simple "_levy_" made with such elaborate +formalities, or, more properly, "solemnities," as in the following +instance: + +The Dogberryan official laid his execution very formally upon a +saddle; and said: + +"_Saddle_, I level upon you, in the name of the State!" + +"_Bridle_, I level upon _you_, in the name of the State!" + +Then, turning to a pair of martingales, the real name of which he +did not know, he said: + +"Little forked piece of leather, I level on you, in the name of the +State!" + +"Oh, yes! oh, yes! oh, yes! Saddle, and Bridle, and little forked +piece of leather, I now _inds_ you upon this execution, and summon +you to be and appear at my sale-ground, on Saturday, the tenth of +this present month, to be executed according to law. Herein fail +not, or you will be proceeded against for contempt of the +constable!" + + * * * * * + +We find recorded in the "Drawer" two instances where ingenuity was +put in successful requisition, to obviate the necessity of "making +change," a matter of no little trouble oftentimes to tradesmen and +others. A rude fellow, while before the police-magistrate for some +misdemeanor, was fined nine dollars for eighteen oaths uttered in +defiance of official warning that each one would cost him fifty +cents. He handed a ten-dollar bill to the Justice, who was about +returning the remaining one to the delinquent, when he broke forth: + +"No, no! keep the whole, keep the whole! _I'll swear it out!_" + +And he proceeded to expend the "balance" in as round and condensed a +volley of personal denunciation as had ever saluted the ears of the +legal functionary. He then retired content. + +Something similar was the "change" given to one of our hack-drivers +by a jolly tar, who was enjoying "a sail" in a carriage up Broadway. +A mad bull, "with his spanker-boom rigged straight out abaft," or +some other animal going "at the rate of fourteen knots an hour" in +the street, attracted Jack's attention, as he rode along; and, +unable to let the large plate-glass window down, he broke it to +atoms, that he might thrust forth his head. + +"A dollar and a half for _that_!" says Jehu. + +"Vot of it?--here's the blunt," said the sailor, handing the driver +a three-dollar note. + +"I can't change it," said the latter. + +"Well, never mind!" rejoined the tar; "_this_ will make it right!" + +The sudden crash of the _other_ window told the driver in what +manner the "change" had been made! + + * * * * * + +Some bachelor-reader, pining in single-blessedness, may be induced, +by the perusal of the ensuing parody upon Romeo's description of an +apothecary, to "turn from the error of his way" of life, and both +confer and receive "reward:" + + "I do remember an old Bachelor, + And hereabout he dwells; whom late I noted + In suit of sables, with a care-worn brow, + Conning his books; and meagre were his looks; + Celibacy had worn him to the bone; + And in his silent chamber hung a coat, + The which the moths had used not less than he. + Four chairs, one table, and an old hair trunk, + Made up 'the furniture;' and on his shelves + A greasy candle-stick; a broken mug, + Two tables, and a box of old cigars; + Remnants of volumes, once in some repute, + Were thinly scattered round, to tell the eye + Of prying strangers, "_This man had no wife!_" + His tattered elbow gaped most piteously; + And ever as he turned him round; his skin + Did through his stockings peep upon the day. + Noting his gloom, unto myself I said: + 'And if a man did covet single life, + Reckless of joys that matrimony gives, + Here lives a gloomy wretch would show it him + In such most dismal colors, that the shrew, + Or slut, or idiot, or the gossip spouse, + Were each an heaven, compared to such a life!'" + +"There are always two sides to a question," the bachelor-"defendant" +may affirm, in answer to this; and possibly himself try a hand at a +contrast-parody. + + * * * * * + +There are a good many proverbs that will not stand a very close +analysis; and some one who is of this way of thinking has selected a +few examples, by way of illustration. The following are specimens: + +"_The more the merrier._"--Not so, "by a jug-full," one hand, for +example, is quite enough in a purse. + +"_He that runs fastest gets most ground._"--Not exactly; for then +footmen would get more than their masters. + +"_He runs far who never turns._"--"Not quite: he may break his neck +in a short course. + +"_No man can call again yesterday._"--Yes, he may _call_ till his +heart ache, though it may never come. + +"_He that goes softly goes safely._"--Not among thieves. + +"_Nothing hurts the stomach more than surfeiting._"--Yes; _lack_ of +meat. + +"_Nothing is hard to a willing mind._"--Surely; for every body is +willing to get money, but to many it is hard. + +"_None so blind as those that will not see._"--Yes; those who _can +not_ see. + +"_Nothing but what is good for something._"--"Nothing" isn't good +for _any_ thing. + +"_Nothing but what has an end._"--A ring hath no end; for it is +round. + +"_Money is a great comfort._"--But not when it brings a thief to the +State Prison. + +"_The world is a long journey._"--Not always; for the sun goes over +it every day. + +"_It is a great way to the bottom of the sea._"--Not at all; it is +merely "a stone's throw." + +"_A friend is best found in adversity._"--"No, sir;" for then there +are none to be found. + +"_The pride of the rich makes the labor of the poor._"--By no manner +of means. The labor of the poor makes the pride of the rich. + + * * * * * + +The following lines, accompanying a trifling present, are not an +unworthy model for those who wish to say a kind word in the most +felicitous way: + + "Not want of heart, but want of art + Hath made my gift so small; + Then, loving heart, take hearty love, + To make amends for all. + Take gift with heart, and heart with gift, + Let will supply my want; + For willing heart, nor hearty will, + Nor is, nor shall be scant." + +Please to observe how adroitly an unforced play upon words is +embodied in these eight lines. + + * * * * * + +There is "more truth than poetry" in the subjoined _Extract from a +Modern Dictionary._ + +_The Grave._--An ugly hole in the ground, which lovers and poets +very often wish they were in, but at the same time take precious +good care to keep out of. + +_Constable._--A species of snapping-turtle. + +_Modesty._--A beautiful flower, that flourishes only in secret +places. + +_Lawyer._--A learned gentleman who rescues your estate from the +hands of your opponent, and keeps it himself. + +_"My Dear."_--An expression used by man and wife at the commencement +of a quarrel. + +_"Joining Hands" in Matrimony._--A custom arising from the practice +of pugilists shaking hands before they begin to fight. + +_"Watchman."_--A man employed by the corporation to sleep in the +open air. + +_Laughter._--A singular contortion of the human countenance, when a +friend, on a rainy day, suddenly claims his umbrella. + +_Dentist._--A person who finds work for his own teeth by taking out +those of other people. + + * * * * * + +A singular anecdote of Thomas Chittenden the first Governor of the +State of Vermont, has found its way into our capacious receptacle. +"Mum," said he, one night (his usual way of addressing his wife), +"Mum, who is that stepping so softly in the kitchen?" + +It was midnight, and every soul in the house was asleep, save the +Governor and his companion. He left his bed as stealthily as he +possibly could, followed the intruder into the cellar, and, without +himself being perceived, heard him taking large pieces of pork out +of his meat-barrel, and stowing them away in a bag. + +"Who's there?" exclaimed the Governor, in a stern, stentorian voice, +as the intruder began to make preparations to "be off." + +The thief shrank back into the corner, as mute as a dead man. + +"Bring a candle, Mum!" + +The Governor's wife went for the light. + +"What are you waiting for, Mr. Robber, Thief, or whatever your +Christian-name may be?" said the Governor. + +The guilty culprit shook as if his very joints would be sundered. + +"Come, sir," continued Governor Chittenden, "fill up your sack and +be off, and don't be going round disturbing honest people so often, +when they want to be taking their repose." + +The thief, dumb-founded, now looked more frightened than ever. + +"Be quick, man," said the Governor, "fill up, sir! I shall make but +few words with you!" + +He was compelled to comply. + +"Have you got enough, now? Begone, then, in one minute! When you +have devoured this, come again in the day-time, and I'll give you +more, rather than to have my house pillaged at such an hour as this. +One thing more, let me tell you, and that is, that, as sure as fate, +if I ever have the smallest reason to suspect you of another such an +act, the law shall be put in force, and the dungeon receive another +occupant. Otherwise, you may still run at large for any thing that I +shall do." + +The man went away, and was never afterward known to commit an +immoral act. + + * * * * * + +This story is related, as a veritable fact, of a Dutch justice, +residing in the pleasant valley of the Mohawk not a thousand miles +from the city of Schenectady: + +He kept a small tavern, and was not remarkable for the acuteness of +his mental perceptions, nor would it appear was at least _one_ of +his customers much better off in the matter of "gumption." One +morning a man stepped in and bought a bottle of small-beer. He stood +talking a few minutes, and by-and-by said: + +"I am sorry I purchased this beer. I wish you would exchange it for +some crackers and cheese to the same amount." + +The simple-minded Boniface readily assented, and the man took the +plate of crackers and cheese, and ate them. As he was going out, the +old landlord hesitatingly reminded him that he hadn't _paid_ for +them. + +"Yes, I did," said the customer; "I gave you the beer for 'em." + +"Vell den, I knowsh dat; but den you haven't give me de monish for +de _beersh_." + +"But I didn't _take_ the beer: there stands the same bottle now!" + +The old tavern-keeper was astounded. He looked sedate and confused; +but all to no purpose was his laborious thinking. The case was still +a mystery. + +"Vell den," said he, at length, "I don't zee how it ish: I got de +beersh--yaäs, I _got_ de beersh; but den, same times, I got no +monish! Vell, you _keeps_ de grackers--und--gheese; but I don't want +any more o' your gustoms. You can keeps away from my davern!" + + * * * * * + +Some years ago, at the Hartford (Conn.) Retreat for the Insane, +under the excellent management of Doctor B----, a party used +occasionally to be given, to which those who are called "sane" were +also invited; and as they mingled together in conversation, +promenading, dancing, &c., it was almost impossible for a stranger +to tell "which was which." + +On one of these pleasant occasions a gentleman-visitor was "doing +the agreeable" to one of the ladies, and inquired how long she had +been in the Retreat. She told him; and he then went on to make +inquiries concerning the institution, to which she rendered very +intelligent answers; and when he asked her, "_How do you like the +Doctor?_" she gave him such assurances of her high regard for the +physician, that the stranger was entirely satisfied of the Doctor's +high popularity among his patients, and he went away without being +made aware that his partner was no other than _the Doctor's wife_! + +She tells the story herself, with great zest; and is very frequently +asked by her friends, who know the circumstances, "how she likes the +Doctor!" + + * * * * * + +A fine and quaint thought is this, of the venerable Archbishop +Leighton: + +"Riches oftentimes, if nobody take them away, make to _themselves_ +wings, and fly away; and truly, many a time the undue sparing of +them is but letting their wings grow, which makes them ready to fly +away; and the contributing a part of them to do good only clips +their wings a little, and makes them stay the longer with their +owner." + +This last consideration may perhaps be made "operative" with certain +classes of the opulent. + + * * * * * + +Is not the following anecdote of the late King of the French not +only somewhat characteristic, but indicative of a superior mind? + +Lord Brougham was dining with the King in the unceremonious manner +in which he was wont to delight to withdraw himself from the +trammels of state, and the conversation was carried on entirely as +if between two equals. His Majesty (_inter alia_) remarked: + +"I am the only sovereign now in Europe fit to fill a throne." + +Lord Brougham, somewhat staggered by this piece of egotism, muttered +out some trite compliments upon the great talent for government +which his royal entertainer had always displayed, &c., when the King +burst into a fit of laughter, and exclaimed: + +"No, no; _that_ isn't what I mean; but kings are at such a discount +in our days, that there is no knowing what may happen; and I am the +only monarch who has cleaned his own boots--and I can do it again!" + +His own reverses followed so soon after, that the "exiled Majesty of +France" must have remembered this conversation. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. P. was a dumpy little Englishwoman, with whom and her husband +we once performed the voyage of the Danube from Vienna to +Constantinople. She was essentially what the English call "a nice +person," and as adventurous a little body as ever undertook the +journey "from Cheapside to Cairo." She had left home a bride, to +winter at Naples, intending to return in the spring. But both she +and her husband had become so fascinated with travel, that they had +pushed on from Italy to Greece, and from Greece to Asia Minor. In +the latter country, they made the tour of the Seven Churches--a +pilgrimage in which it was our fortune afterward to follow them. +Upon one occasion, somewhere near Ephesus, they were fallen upon by +a lot of vagabonds, and Mr. P. got most unmercifully beaten. His +wife did not stop to calculate the damage, but whipping up her +horse, rode on some two miles further, where she awaited in safety +her discomfited lord. Upon the return of the warm season, our +friends had gone up to Ischl in the Tyrol, to spend the summer, and +when we had the pleasure of meeting them, they were "en route" for +Syria, the Desert, and Egypt. + +Mrs. P., although a most amiable woman, had a perverse prejudice +against America and the Americans. Among other things, she could not +be convinced that any thing like refinement among females could +possibly exist on this side of the Atlantic. We did our utmost to +dispel this very singular illusion, but we do not think that we ever +entirely succeeded. Upon one occasion, when we insisted upon her +giving us something more definite than mere general reasons for her +belief, she answered us in substance as follows: She had met, the +summer before, she said, at Ischl, a gentleman and his wife from New +York, who were posting in their own carriage, and traveling with all +the appendages of wealth. They were well-meaning people, she +declared, but shockingly coarse. That they were representatives of +the best class at home, she could not help assuming. Had she met +them in London or Paris, however, she said, she might have thought +them mere adventurers, come over for a ten days' trip. The lady, she +continued, used to say the most extraordinary things imaginable. +Upon one occasion, when they were walking together, they saw, coming +toward them, a gentleman of remarkably attenuated form. The +American, turning to her companion, declared that the man was so +thin, that if he were _to turn a quid of tobacco, from one cheek to +the other, he would lose his balance and fall over_. This was too +much for even our chivalry, and for the moment we surrendered at +discretion. + +Our traveling companion for the time was a young Oxonian, a +Lancashire man of family and fortune. T. C. was (good-naturedly, of +course,) almost as severe upon us Americans as was Mrs. P. One +rather chilly afternoon, he and ourselves were sitting over the fire +in the little cabin of the steamer smoking most delectable +"Latakea," when he requested us to pass him the _tongues_ (meaning +the tongs). + +"The what!" we exclaimed. + +"The tongues," he repeated. + +"Do you mean the tongs?" we asked. + +"The _tongs_! and do you call them _tongs_? Come, now, that is too +good," was his reply. + +"We _do_ call them the tongs, and we speak properly when we call +them so," we rejoined, a little nettled at his contemptuous tone; +"and, if you please, we will refer the matter for decision to Mrs. +P., but upon this condition only, that she shall be simply asked the +proper pronunciation of the word, without its being intimated to her +which of us is for _tongues_, and which for _tongs_." We accordingly +proceeded at once to submit the controversy to our fair arbitrator. +Our adversary was the spokesman, and he had hardly concluded when +Mrs. P. threw up her little fat hands, and exclaimed, as soon as the +laughter, which almost suffocated her, permitted her to do so, "Now, +you don't mean to say that you are barbarous enough to say _tongues_ +in America?" It was _our_ turn, then, to laugh, and we took +advantage of it. + + * * * * * + +A pilgrim from the back woods, who has just been awakened from a +Rip-Van-Winkleish existence of a quarter of a century by the +steam-whistle of the Erie Railroad, recently came to town to see the +sights--Barnum's anacondas and the monkeys at the Astor Place Opera +House included. Our friend, who is of a decidedly benevolent and +economical turn of mind, while walking up Broadway, hanging on our +arm, the day after his arrival, had his attention attracted to a +watering-cart which was ascending the street and spasmodically +sprinkling the pavement. Suddenly darting off from the wing of our +protection, our companion rushed after the man of Croton, at the +same time calling out to him at the top of his voice, "My friend! my +friend! your spout behind is leaking; and if you are not careful you +will lose all the water in your barrel!" + +He of the cart made no reply, but merely drawing down the lid of his +eye with his fore-finger, "went on his way rejoicing." + + * * * * * + +The following epigram was written upon a certain individual who has +rendered himself _notorious_, if not _famous_, in these parts. His +name we suppress, leaving it to the ingenuity of the reader to place +the cap upon whatever head he thinks that it will best fit: + + "'Tis said that Balaam had a beast, + The wonder of his time; + A stranger one, as strange at least, + The subject of my rhyme; + One twice as full of talk and gas, + And at the same time twice--the ass!" + + * * * * * + +Among the many good stories told of that ecclesiastical wag, Sydney +Smith, the following is one which we believe has never appeared in +print, and which we give upon the authority of a gentleman +representing himself to have been present at the occurrence. + +Mr. Smith had a son who, as is frequently the case with the +offshoots of clergymen (we suppose from a certain unexplained +antagonism in human nature)-- + + "----ne in virtue's ways did take delight, + But spent his days in riot most uncouth, + And vex'd with mirth the drowsy ear of night, + Ah, me! in sooth he was a shameless wight, + Sore given to revel and ungodly glee!" + +So _fast_ indeed was this young gentleman, that for several years he +was excluded from the parental domicile. At length, however, the +prodigal repented, and his father took him home upon his entering +into a solemn engagement to mend his ways and his manners. Shortly +after the reconciliation had taken place, Mr. Smith gave a +dinner-party, and one of his guests was Sumner, the present Bishop +of Winchester. Before dinner, the facetious clergyman took his son +aside, and endeavored to impress upon him the necessity of his +conducting himself with the utmost propriety in the distinguished +company to which he was about to be introduced. "Charles, my boy," +he said, "I intend placing you at table next to the bishop; and I +hope that you will make an effort to get up some conversation which +may prove interesting to his lordship." Charles promised faithfully +to do as his father requested. + +At the dinner the soup was swallowed with the usual gravity. In the +interval before the fish, hardly a word was spoken, and the silence +was becoming positively embarrassing, when all of a sudden, Charles +attracted the attention of all at table to himself, by asking the +dignitary upon his right if he would do him the favor to answer a +Scriptural question which had long puzzled him. Upon Doctor Sumner's +promising to give the best explanation in his power, the questioner, +with a quizzical expression of countenance, begged to be informed, +"_how long it took Nebuchadnezzar to get into condition after he +returned from grass?_" + +It is needless to say that a hearty laugh echoed this _professional +inquiry_ on every side, and how unanimously young Smith was voted a +genuine chip off the old block. + + * * * * * + +Miss C----, of the Fifth Avenue, was complaining the other day to +Mrs. F----, of Bond-street, that she could never go shopping without +taking cold, because the shops are kept open, and not closed like +the rooms of a house. Mrs. F---- thereupon dryly advised her friend +to confine her visits to Stewart's and Beck's to Sundays. + + * * * * * + +Some one says that the reason why so few borrowed books are ever +returned, is because it is so much easier to keep them than what is +in them. + + * * * * * + +The following matrimonial dialogue was accidentally overheard one +day last week on the piazza of the United States Hotel at Saratoga. + +_Wife._--"My dear, I can not, for the life of me, recollect where I +have put my pink bonnet." + +_Husband._--"Very likely. You have so many bonnets and so little +head!" + + * * * * * + +Mr. Andrew Jackson Allen, who was one of the prominent witnesses in +the recent Forrest Divorce case, is evidently an original. While +passing up the Bowery the other day, our editorial eye was attracted +by a curious sign on the east side of the street, and we crossed +over for the purpose of more conveniently reading it. It was as +follows: + + ALLEN + INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL + COSTUMER. + + FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY, DRINK FOR THE DRY, + REST FOR THE WEARY, AND TOGGERY FOR THE NAKED, + WHERE YOU CAN BLOOM OUT IF YOU PLEASE. + +And under this was a smaller sign upon which was inscribed the +following piece of Macawber-like advice: + + CHERISH HOPE + AND + TRUST TO FORTUNE. + +We take the liberty of expressing our desire that Mr. Allen may be +as fortunate (if he has not already been so) in having something +"turn up" in the end, as was the illustrious Wilkins of "hopeful" +and "trustful" memory. + + * * * * * + +Two of our lady friends were reading, the other day, Byron's +"Prisoner of Chillon." We intended to say that the one lady was +_pretending_ to read it aloud to the other lady. No woman ever has +been, now is, or ever will be, capable of listening without +interrupting. So that at the very commencement when the _reader_ +read the passage, + + "Nor grew it white + In a single night + As man's have grown from sudden fears--" + +the _readee_ interposed as follows: "_White?_ How odd, to be sure. +Well, I know nothing about men's hair; but there is our friend, Mrs. +G----, of Twelfth-street, the lady who has been just twenty-nine +years old for the last fifteen years; her husband died, you know, +last winter, at which misfortune her grief was so intense that her +hair turned completely _black_ within twenty-four hours after the +occurrence of that sad event." + +This bit of verbal annotation satisfied us, and we withdrew. + + * * * * * + +Epitaphs are notoriously hyperbolical. It is refreshing occasionally +to meet with one which is terse, business-like, and to the point. +Such an one any antiquarian may find, who has the patience to hunt +it out, upon the tombstone of a juvenile pilgrim father (in embryo) +somewhere in the New Haven graveyard. For fear that it _may_ not be +found in the first search, we give it from memory. + + "Since I so very soon was done for, + I wonder what I was begun for." + + + + +Literary Notices. + + +A new work, by GEORGE W. CURTIS (the Howadji of Oriental travel), +entitled _Lotus-Eating_, published by Harper and Brothers, is a +delightful reminiscence of Summer Rambles, describing some of the +most attractive points of American scenery, with impressions of life +at famous watering-places, and suggestive comparisons with +celebrated objects of interest in Europe. Dreamy, imaginative, +romantic, but reposing on a basis of the healthiest reality--tinged +with the richest colors of poetry, but full of shrewd observation +and mischievous humor--clothed in delicate and dainty felicities of +language--this volume is what its title indicates--the reverie of a +summer's pastime, and should be read in summer haunts, accompanied +with the music of the sea-shore or breezy hill-sides. Although +claiming no higher character than a pleasant book of light reading, +it will enhance the reputation of the author both at home and +abroad, as one of the most picturesque and original of American +writers. + +_A New Harmony and Exposition of the Gospels_, by JAMES STRONG. This +elaborate volume, intended for the popular illustration of the New +Testament, consists of a parallel and combined arrangement of the +Four Gospel Narratives, a continuous commentary with brief +additional notes, and a supplement containing several chronological +and topographical dissertations. The Harmony is constructed on a +novel plan, combining the methods of Newcome and Townsend, and +securing the conveniences of both, without the defects of either. A +continuous narrative is formed by the selection of a leading text, +while at the same time, the different narratives are preserved in +parallel columns, so that they may be examined and compared with +perfect facility. The Exposition of the text is given in the form of +a free translation of the original, in which the sense of the sacred +writers is expressed in modern phraseology, and slightly +paraphrased. This was the most delicate portion of the author's +task. The venerable simplicity of the inspired volume can seldom be +departed from, without a violation of good taste. As a general rule, +a strict adherence to the original language best preserves its +significance and beauty. This was the plan adopted by the +translators of the received version, and their admirable judgment in +this respect, is evinced by the fact that almost every modern +attempt to improve upon their labors has been a failure. No new +translations have even approached the place of the received one, in +the estimation either of the people or of scholars, while many, with +the best intentions, no doubt, on the part of their authors, present +only a painful caricature of the original. Mr. Strong has done well +in avoiding some of the most prominent faults of his predecessors. +He has generally succeeded in preserving the logical connection of +thought, which often appears in a clearer light in his paraphrase. +His explanation of passages alluding to ancient manners and customs +is highly satisfactory and valuable. But to our taste, he frequently +errs by the ambitious rhetorical language in which he has clothed +the discourses of the Great Teacher. The reverent simplicity of the +original is but poorly reproduced by the florid phrases of modern +oratory. In this way, the sacred impression produced by the +Evangelists is injured, a lower tone of feeling is substituted, and +the refined religious associations connected with their purity of +language is sacrificed to the intellectual clearness which is aimed +at by a more liberal use of rhetorical expressions than a severe and +just taste would warrant. With this exception, we regard the present +work as an important and valuable contribution to biblical +literature. It displays extensive research, various and sound +learning, and indefatigable patience. The numerous engravings with +which the volume is illustrated, are selected from the most +authentic sources, and are well adapted to throw light on the +principal localities alluded to in the text, as well as attractive +by their fine pictorial effect. We have no doubt that the labors of +the studious author will be welcomed by his fellow students of the +sacred writings, by preachers of the Gospel, and by Sunday School +teachers, no less than by the great mass of private Christians of +every persuasion, who can not consult his volume without +satisfaction and advantage. (Published by Lane and Scott.) + +A valuable manual of ecclesiastical statistics is furnished by FOX +and HOYT'S _Quadrennial Register of the Methodist Episcopal Church_, +of which the first Number has been recently published by Case, +Tiffany, and Co., Hartford. It is intended to exhibit the condition, +economy, institutions, and resources of the Methodist Episcopal +Church in this country, in a form adapted to popular use and general +reference. Among the contents of this Number, we find a complete +Report of the General Conference for 1852, a copious Church +Directory, an Abstract of the Discipline of the Church, a list of +the Seminaries of Learning and their officers, and a general view of +the various religious denominations in this country. The work +evinces a great deal of research, and the compilers have evidently +spared no pains to give it the utmost fullness of detail as well as +accuracy of statement. It does credit both to their judgment and +diligence. To the clergy of the Methodist Church it will prove an +indispensable companion in their journeys and labors. Nor is it +confined in its interest to that persuasion of Christians. Whoever +has occasion to consult an ecclesiastical directory, will find this +volume replete with useful information, arranged in a very +convenient method, and worthy of implicit reliance for its general +correctness. + +A new edition of _The Mother at Home_, by JOHN S. C. ABBOTT, with +copious additions and numerous engravings, is published by Harper +and Brothers. The favor with which this work has been universally +received by the religious public renders any exposition of its +merits a superfluous task. + +We have received the second volume of Lippincott, Grambo & Co.'s +elegant and convenient edition of _The Waverley Novels_, containing +_The Antiquary_, _The Black Dwarf_, and _Old Mortality_. With the +Introduction and Notes by Sir Walter Scott, and the beautiful style +of typography in which it is issued, this edition leaves nothing to +be desired by the most fastidious book-fancier. + +Another work in the department of historical romance, by HENRY +WILLIAM HERBERT, has been issued by Redfield. It is entitled _The +Knights of England, France, and Scotland_, and consists of "Legends +of the Norman Conquerors," "Legends of the Crusaders," "Legends of +Feudal Days," and "Legends of Scotland." Mr. Herbert has a quick +and accurate eye for the picturesque features of the romantic Past; +he pursues the study of history with the soul of the poet; and +skillfully availing himself of the most striking traditions and +incidents, has produced a series of fascinating portraitures. +Whoever would obtain a vivid idea of the social and domestic traits +of France and Great Britain in the olden time, should not fail to +read the life-like descriptions of this volume. + +_Marco Paul's Voyages and Travels_, by JACOB ABBOTT (published by +Harper and Brothers), is another series for juvenile reading from +the prolific pen of the writer, who, in his peculiar department of +composition, stands without a rival. It is Mr. Abbott's forte to +describe familiar scenes in a manner which attracts and charms every +variety of taste. He produces this effect by his remarkable keenness +of observation, the facility with which he detects the relations and +analogies of common things, his unpretending naturalness of +illustration, and his command of the racy, home-bred, idiomatic +language of daily life, never descending, however, to slang or +vulgarity. The series now issued describes the adventures of Marco +Paul in New York, on the Erie Canal, in Maine, in Vermont, in +Boston, and at the Springfield Armory. It is emphatically an +American work. No American child can read it without delight and +instruction. But it will not be confined to the juvenile library. +Presenting a vivid commentary on American society, manners, scenery, +and institutions, it has a powerful charm for readers of all ages. +It will do much to increase the great popularity of Mr. Abbott as an +instructor of the people. + +Among the valuable educational works of the past month, we notice +WOODBURY'S _Shorter Course with the German Language_, presenting the +main features of the author's larger work on a reduced scale. +(Published by Leavitt and Allen.)--KIDDLE'S _Manual of Astronomy_, +an excellent practical treatise on the elementary principles of the +science, with copious Exercises on the Use of the Globes (published +by Newman and Ivison),--and RUSSELL'S _University Speaker_, +containing an admirable selection of pieces for declamation and +recitation. (published by J. Munroe and Co.) + +_Summer Gleanings_, is the title of a book for the season by Rev. +JOHN TODD, consisting of sketches and incidents of a pastor's +vacation, adventures of forest life, legends of American history, +and tales of domestic experience. A right pleasant book it is, and +"good for the use of edifying" withal. Lively description, touching +pathos, playful humor, and useful reflection, are combined in its +pages in a manner to stimulate and reward attention. Every where it +displays a keen and vigorous mind, a genuine love of rural scenes, a +habit of acute observation, and an irrepressible taste for gayety +and good-humor, which the author wisely deems compatible with the +prevailing religious tone of his work. Among the best pieces, to our +thinking, are "The Poor Student," "The Doctor's Third Patient," and +"The Young Lamb," though all will well repay perusal. (Northampton: +Hopkins, Bridgman and Co.) + +The concluding volume of _The History of the United States_, by +RICHARD HILDRETH, is issued by Harper and Brothers, comprising the +period from the commencement of the Tenth Congress, in 1807, to the +close of the Sixteenth, in 1821. This period, including the whole of +Madison's administration, with a portion of that of Jefferson and of +Monroe, is one of the most eventful in American history, and +sustains a close relation to the existing politics of the country. +No one can expect an absolute impartiality in the historian of such +a recent epoch. Mr. Hildreth's narrative is undoubtedly colored, to +a certain degree, by his political convictions and preferences, +which, as we have seen, in the last volume, are in favor of the old +Federal party; but, he may justly challenge the merit of diligent +research in the collection of facts, and acute judgment in the +comparison and sifting of testimony, and a prevailing fairness in +the description of events. He never suffers the feelings of a +partisan to prejudice the thoroughness of his investigations; but +always remains clear, calm, philosophical, vigilant, and +imperturbable. His condensation of the debates in Congress, on +several leading points of dispute, exhibits the peculiarities of the +respective debaters in a lucid manner, and will prove of great value +for political reference. His notices of Josiah Quincy, John Quincy +Adams, Madison, Monroe, and Henry Clay, are among the topics on +which there will be wide differences of opinion; but they can not +fail to attract attention. The style of Mr. Hildreth, in the present +volume, preserves the characteristics, which we have remarked in +noticing the previous volumes. Occasionally careless, it is always +vigorous, concise, and transparent. He never indulges in any license +of the imagination, never makes a display of his skill in fine +writing, and never suffers you to mistake his meaning. Too uniform +and severe for the romance of history, it is an admirable vehicle +for the exhibition of facts, and for this reason, we believe that +Mr. Hildreth's work will prove an excellent introduction to the +study of American history. + +We congratulate the admirers of FITZ-GREENE HALLECK--and what reader +of American poetry is not his admirer--on a new edition of his +_Poetical Works_, recently issued by Redfield, containing the old +familiar and cherished pieces, with some extracts from a hitherto +unpublished poem. The fame of Halleck is identified with the +literature of his country. The least voluminous of her great poets, +few have won a more beautiful, or a more permanent reputation--a +more authentic claim to the sacred title of poet. Combining a +profuse wealth of fancy with a strong and keen intellect, he tempers +the passages in which he most freely indulges in a sweet and tender +pathos, with an elastic vigor of thought, and dries the tears which +he tempts forth, by sudden flashes of gayety, making him one of the +most uniformly piquant of modern poets. His expressions of sentiment +never fall languidly; he opens the fountains of the heart with the +master-touch of genius; his humor is as gracious and refined as it +is racy; and, abounding in local allusions, he gives such a point +and edge to their satire, that they outlive the occasions of their +application, and may be read with as much delight at the present +time as when the parties and persons whom they commemorate were in +full bloom. The terseness of Mr. Halleck's language is in admirable +harmony with his vivacity of thought and richness of fancy, and in +this respect presents a most valuable object of study for young +poets. + +_Mysteries; or, Glimpses of the Supernatural_, by C. W. ELLIOTT. +(Published by Harper and Brothers.) This is an original work, +treating of certain manifestations on the "Night-Side of Nature," in +a critico-historical tone, rather than in either a dogmatic or a +skeptical spirit. "The Salem Witchcraft," "The Cock-Lane Ghost," +"The Rochester Knockings," "The Stratford Mysteries," are some of +the weird topics on which it discourses, if not lucidly, yet +genially and quaintly. The author has evidently felt a "vocation" to +gather all the facts that have yet come to light on these odd +hallucinations, and he sets them forth with a certain grave naïveté +and mock Carlylese eloquence, which give a readable character to his +volume, in spite of the repulsiveness of its themes. Of his discreet +non-committalism we have a good specimen in the close of the chapter +on the "The Stratford Mysteries," of which the Rev. Dr. Phelps is +the chief hierophant. "Here the case must rest; we would not +willingly charge upon any one deliberate exaggeration or falsehood, +nor would any fair-minded person decide that what seems novel and +surprising is therefore false. Every sane person will appeal to the +great laws of God ever present in history and in his own +consciousness, and by these he will try the spirits, whether they be +of God or of man. The great jury of the public opinion will decide +this thing also; we have much of the evidence before us. The burden +of proof, however, rests with Dr. Phelps himself. Fortunately he is +a man of character, property, and position, and he chooses to stand +where he does; no man will hinder him if none heed him. Many +believe, but may be thankful for any help to their unbelief. Many +more will be strongly disposed to exclaim when they shall have read +through this mass of evidence--'It began with nothing, it has ended +with nothing.' _Ex nihil, nihil fit!_" + + * * * * * + +A _perfect_ and liberal scheme has been matured, for the publication +of a complete edition of the _Church Historians of England_, from +Bede to Foxe. The plan is worthy of support, and a large number of +subscribers have already enrolled their names. The terms of +publication are moderate, and the projectors give the best +guarantees of good faith. + + * * * * * + +Among recent English reprints worthy of notice are _Papers on +Literary and Philosophical Subjects_, by PATRICK C. MACDOUGALL, +Professor of Moral Philosophy in New College, Edinburgh. They are +collected from various periodicals, and appear to be published at +present with a view to the author's candidateship for the Ethical +chair in the University of Edinburgh. The Essays on Sir James +Mackintosh, Jonathan Edwards, and Dr. Chalmers display high literary +taste as well as philosophical talent. + + * * * * * + +MR. KINGSLEY, the author of _Alton Locke_, _Yeast_, and other works, +has published _Sermons on National Subjects_, which are marked by +the originality of thought and force of utterance which characterize +all this author's writings. Some of the sermons are very much above +the reach of village audiences to which they were addressed, and in +type will find a more fitting circle of intelligent admirers. There +is much, however, throughout the volume suited to instruct the minds +and improve the hearts of the humblest hearers, while the principles +brought out in regard to national duties and responsibilities, +rewards and punishments, are worthy of the attention of all +thoughtful men. + + * * * * * + +A new English translation of the _Republic of Plato_, with an +introduction, analysis, and notes, by JOHN LLEWELLYN DAVIES, M.A., +and DAVID JAMES VAUGHAN, M.A., Fellows of Trinity College, +Cambridge, is a valuable contribution to the study of classic +literature. The translation is done in a scholar-like way, and in +the analysis and introduction the editors show that they enter into +the spirit of their author as well as understand the letter of his +work, which is more than can be said of the greater number of +University translations. The text of the Zurich edition of 1847 has +been generally followed, and the German translation of Schneider +has evidently afforded guidance in the rendering of various +passages. + + * * * * * + +The Life of DAVID MACBETH MOIR, by THOMAS AIRD, says the London +Critic, is every way worthy of Mr. Aird's powers. It is written in a +calm, dignified, yet rich and poetical style. It is an offering to +the memory of dear, delightful "Delta," equally valuable from the +tenderness which dictated it, and from the intrinsic worth of the +gift. Aird and "Delta" were intimate friends. They had many +qualities in common. Both were distinguished by genuine simplicity +and sincerity of character, by a deep love for nature, for poetry, +and for "puir auld Scotland;" and by unobtrusive, heart-felt piety. +"Delta" had not equal power and originality of genius with his +friend; but his vein was more varied, clearer, smoother, and more +popular. There was, in another respect, a special fitness in Aird +becoming "Delta's" biographer. He was with him when he was attacked +by his last illness. He watched his dying bed, received his last +blessing, and last sigh. And religiously has he discharged the +office thus sadly devolved on him. + + * * * * * + +The fourth and last volume of _The Life of Chalmers_, by DR. HANNA, +is principally devoted to the connection of Chalmers with the Free +Church movement. _The Athenæum_ says: "Altogether, Dr. Hanna is to +be congratulated on the manner in which he has fulfilled the +important task on which he has now for several years been engaged. +Dr. Chalmers is a man whose life and character may well engage many +writers; but no one possessed such materials as Dr. Hanna for +writing a biography so full and detailed as was in this case +demanded. The four volumes which he has laid before the public are +not only an ample discharge of his special obligations as regards +his splendid subject, but also a much needed example of the manner +in which biographies of this kind, combining original narrative with +extracts from writings and correspondence, ought to be written." + + * * * * * + +A meeting of literary men has been held at Lansdowne House, for the +purpose of raising a fund for erecting a monument to the late Sir +James Mackintosh. The proposal for a monument was moved by Mr. T. B. +Macaulay, seconded by Lord Mahon. Mr. Hallam moved the appointment +of a committee, which was seconded by Lord Broughton, Lord Lansdowne +agreeing to act as chairman, and Sir R. H. Inglis as secretary. We +are glad to see literary men of all political parties uniting in +this tribute of honor to one of the greatest and best men of whom +his country could boast. + + * * * * * + +At the sixty-third anniversary of the Royal Literary Fund, Lord +Campbell presided effectively; and, after stating that he owed his +success in law to the fostering aid of his labors in literature, he +held out hopes that he may yet live to produce a work which shall +give him a better title to a name in literature than he has yet +earned. Pleasant speeches were made by Justice Talfourd, Mr. +Monckton Milnes, Chevalier Bunsen, Mr. Abbott Lawrence, and +especially by Mr. Thackeray, who improved the event of the coming +year of the society's existence--that Mr. Disraeli, M.P., is to be +chairman of the anniversary of 1853. The funds of the past year had +been £600 more than in any former year. + + * * * * * + +WILLIAM MACCALL in _The People_, gives the following graphic account +of his first interview with John Stirling. "Sometime in March, +1841, I was traveling by coach from Bristol to Devonport. I had for +companion part of the way a tall, thin gentleman, evidently in bad +health, but with a cheerful, gallant look which repelled pity. We +soon got into conversation. I was much impressed by his brilliant +and dashing speech, so much like a rapid succession of impetuous +cavalry charges; but I was still more impressed by his frankness, +his friendliness, his manliness. A sort of heroic geniality seemed +to hang on his very garments. We talked about German literature; +then about Carlyle. I said that the only attempt at an honest and +generous appreciation of Carlyle's genius was a recent article in +_The Westminster Review_. My companion replied, 'I wrote that +article. My name is John Sterling.' We seemed to feel a warmer +interest in each other from that moment; and, by quick instinct, we +saw that we were brothers in God's Universe, though we might never +be brought very near each other in brotherhood on earth. Sterling +left me at Exeter, and a few days after my arrival at Devonport I +received a letter, which leavens my being with new life, every time +I read it, by its singular tenderness and elevation." + + * * * * * + +The English literary journals are always suggestive, often amusing, +and sometimes not a little "verdant," as the Yankees say, in their +notices of American books. We subjoin a few of their criticisms on +recent popular works. Of _Queechy_, by ELIZABETH WETHERELL, the +_Literary Gazette_ discourses as follows: "The authoress of +'Queechy' has every quality of a good writer save one. Good feeling, +good taste, fancy, liveliness, shrewd observation of character, love +of nature, and considerable skill in the management of a story--all +these she possesses. But she has yet to learn how much brevity is +the soul of wit. Surely she must live in some most quiet nook of +'the wide, wide world,' and the greater part of her American readers +must have much of the old Dutch patience and the primitive leisure +of the days of Rip Van Winkle. Doubtless the book will have admirers +as ardent in the parlors of Boston as in the farm-houses of the far +West, who will make no complaints of prolixity, and will wish the +book longer even than it is. There is a large circle in this country +also to whom it will be faultless. The good people who take for gold +whatever glitters on the shelves of their favorite booksellers, will +be delighted with a work far superior to the dreary volumes of +commonplace which are prepared for the use of what is called 'the +religious public.' But we fear that those to whom such a book would +be the most profitable will deem 'Queechy' somewhat tiresome. The +story is too much drawn out, and many of the dialogues and +descriptions would be wonderfully improved by condensation." + + * * * * * + +The _Athenæum_ has a decent notice of CURTIS'S _Howadji in Syria_, +which by the by, has got metamorphosed into _The Wanderer in Syria_, +in the London edition. + +"It is about a year since we noticed a book of Eastern travel called +'Nile Notes'--evidently by a new writer, and evincing his possession +of various gifts and graces--warmth of imagination, power of poetic +coloring, and a quick perception of the ludicrous in character and +in incident. We assumed that an author of so much promise would be +heard of again in the literary arena; and accordingly he is now +before us as 'The Wanderer in Syria,' and has further announced a +third work under the suggestive title of 'Lotus-Eating.' 'The +Wanderer' is a continuation of the author's travels--and is divided +between the Desert, Jerusalem, and Damascus. It is in the same style +of poetic reverie and sentimental scene-painting as 'Nile +Notes,'--but it shows that Mr. Curtis has more than one string to +his harp. The characteristic of his former volume was a low, sad +monotone--the music of the Memnon, in harmony with the changeless +sunshine and stagnant life of Egypt--with the silence of its sacred +river and the sepulchral grandeur of its pyramids and buried cities. +'The Wanderer,' on the contrary, is never melancholy. There is in +him a prevailing sense of repose, but the spirit breathes easily, +and the languid hour is followed by bracing winds from Lebanon. +There is the same warm sunshine,--but the gorgeous colors and +infinite varieties of Eastern life are presented with greater +vivacity and grace. + +"Mr. CURTIS'S fault is that of Ovid--an over-lusciousness of +style--too great a fondness for color. He cloys the appetite with +sweetness. His aim as a writer should be to obtain a greater depth +and variety of manner--more of contrast in his figures. He is rich +in natural gifts, and time and study will probably develop in him +what is yet wanting of artistic skill and taste. + +"Of Mr. CURTIS'S latest work, entitled '_Lotus-Eating; a Summer +Book_,' the _Literary Gazette_ says: + +"A very cheerful and amusing, but always sensible and intelligent +companion is Mr. CURTIS. Whether on the Nile or the Hudson, on the +Broadway of New York or the Grand Canal of Venice, we have one whose +remarks are worth listening to. Not very original in his thoughts, +nor very deep in his feelings, we yet read with pleasant assent the +record of almost every thing that he thinks and feels. This new +summer book is a rough journal of a ramble in the States, but every +chapter is full of reminiscences of the old European world, and an +agreeable medley he makes of his remarks on scenery, and history, +and literature, and mankind. Mr. CURTIS is one of the most +cosmopolitan writers that America has yet produced. This light +volume is fittingly called a summer book, just such as will be read +with pleasure on the deck of a steamer, or under the cliffs of some +of our modern Baiæ. It may also teach thoughtless tourists how to +reflect on scenes through which they travel." + + * * * * * + +The question whether the honor of the authorship of the "Imitation +of Jesus Christ," a work held in the highest esteem in the Roman +Catholic church, and which has been translated into almost every +living language, belongs to John Gersen or Gesson, supposed to have +been an abbot of the order of Saint Benedict, at the beginning of +the fourteenth century, or to Thomas à Kempis, monk of the order of +Regular Canons of the monastery of Mount Saint Agnes, has given rise +to an immense deal of controversy among Catholic ecclesiastical +writers, and has set the two venerable orders of Benedictines and +Regular Canons terribly by the ears. It has just, however, been set +at rest, by the discovery of manuscripts by the Bishop of Bruges, in +the Library at Brussels, proving beyond all doubt, to his mind, that +Thomas à Kempis really was the author, and not, as the partisans of +Gersen assert, merely the copyist. The Bishop of Munster has also, +singular to relate, recently discovered old manuscripts which lead +him to the same conclusion. The manuscript of Gersen, on which his +advocates principally relied to prove that he was the author, must +therefore henceforth be considered only as a copy; it is in the +public library at Valenciennes. + +The last two numbers of the "_Leipzig Grenzboten_" contain, among +some half-dozen articles of special German interest, papers on +Görgey's Vindication, on Longfellow, and Margaret Fuller Ossoli, and +on the department of northern antiquities in the new museum at +Berlin. The German critic considers Professor Longfellow's poetry as +a cross between the "Lakers" and Shelley. Longfellow's novels remind +him of Goethe and Jean Paul Richter, and in some instances of +Hoffmann. The "Golden Legend" is of course a frantic imitation of +Goethe's "Faust." Margaret Fuller, too, is represented as an +emanation from the German mind. + + * * * * * + +We learn from the "_Vienna Gazette_" that Dr. Moritz Wagner, the +renowned naturalist and member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, +has set out on a journey across the continent of America to New +Orleans, Panama, Columbia, and Peru. Dr. Wagner, accompanied by Dr. +Charles Scherzer, who has undertaken to edit the literary portion of +the description of his travels, is expected to devote the next three +years to this expedition, and great are the hopes of the Vienna +papers as to its results. + + * * * * * + +The "_Presse_" of Vienna states that Prince Metternich possesses an +amulet which Lord Byron formerly wore round his neck. This amulet, +the inscriptions of which have been recently translated by the +celebrated Orientalist, von Hammer-Purgstall, contains a treaty +entered into "between Solomon and a she-devil," in virtue of which +no harm could happen to the person who should wear the talisman. +This treaty is written half in Turkish and half in Arabic. It +contains besides, prayers of Adam, Noah, Job, Jonah, and Abraham. +The first person who wore the amulet was Ibrahim, the son of +Mustapha, in 1763. Solomon is spoken of in the Koran as the ruler of +men and of devils. + + * * * * * + +The University of Berlin has celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of +the nomination to the degree of Doctor of M. Lichtenstein, the +celebrated naturalist, who, since the foundation of the university, +in 1810, has occupied the chair of zoology. Three busts of M. +Lichtenstein were inaugurated--one in the grand gallery of the +University, one in the Zoological Museum, and the third in the +Zoological Garden of Berlin. Baron Von Humboldt delivered a speech +to the professors and students, in which he detailed at great length +the scientific labors of M. Lichtenstein. Some days before the +ceremony, M. Lichtenstein, who is remarkable for his modesty, left +Berlin for Trieste, from whence he was to proceed to Alexandria. + + * * * * * + +Görgey's _Memoirs of the Hungarian Campaign_ have been confiscated, +and forbidden throughout Austria. Exceptions, however, are made in +favor of individuals. + + * * * * * + +This year, 1852, the Royal Academy of Sweden has caused its annual +medal to be struck to the memory of the celebrated Swedenborg, one +of its first members. The medal, which has already been distributed +to the associates, has, on the obverse, the head of Swedenborg, +with, at the top, the name, EMANUEL SWEDENBORG; and underneath, +_Nat. 1688. Den. 1772._ And on the reverse, a man in a garment +reaching to the feet, with eyes unbandaged, standing before the +temple of Isis, at the base of which the goddess is seen. Above is +the inscription: _Tantoque exsultat alumno_; and below: _Miro +naturæ investigatori socio quond. æstimatiss. Acad. reg. Scient. +Soec. MDCCCLII_. + + * * * * * + +In Sweden during the year 1851 there were 1060 books published, and +113 journals. Of the books, 182 were theological, 56 political, 123 +legal, 80 historical, 55 politico-economical and technical, 45 +educational, 40 philological, 38 medical, 31 mathematical, 22 +physical, 18 geographical, 3 æsthetical, and 3 philosophical. +Fiction and Belles-Lettres have 259; but they are mostly +translations from English, French, and German. Of these details we +are tempted to say, remarks the _Leader_, what Jean Paul's +hero says of the lists of _Errata_ he has been so many years +collecting--"Quintus Fixlein declared there were profound +conclusions to be drawn from these _Errata_; and he advised the +reader to draw them!" + + * * * * * + +Another eminent and honorable name is added to the list of victims +to the present barbarian Government of France. M. Barthélemy St. +Hilaire has refused to take the oath of allegiance--and he will +accordingly be deprived of the chair which he has long filled with +so much ability at the Collège de France. The sacrifice which M. St. +Hilaire has made to principle is the more to be honored, since he +has no private fortune, and has reached a time of life when it is +hard to begin the world anew. But the loss of his well-earned means +of subsistence is, we know, a light evil in his eyes compared to the +loss of a sphere of activity which he regarded as eminently useful +and honorable, and which he had acquired by twenty-seven years of +laborious devotion to learning and philosophy. + + * * * * * + +Among the few French books worthy of notice, says the _Leader_, let +us not forget the fourth volume of Saint Beuve's charming _Causeries +du Lundi_, just issued. The volume opens with an account of +Mirabeau's unpublished dialogues with Sophie, and some delicate +remarks by SAINTE BEUVE, in the way of commentary. There are also +admirable papers on Buffon, Madame de Scudery, M. de Bonald, Pierre +Dupont, Saint Evremont et Ninon, Duc de Lauzun, &c. Although he +becomes rather tiresome if you read much at a time, Sainte Beuve is +the best _article_ writer (in our Macaulay sense) France possesses. +With varied and extensive knowledge, a light, glancing, sensitive +mind, and a style of great _finesse_, though somewhat spoiled by +affectation, he contrives to throw a new interest round the oldest +topics; he is, moreover, an excellent critic. _Les Causeries du +Lundi_ is by far the best of his works. + + * * * * * + +Dramatic literature is lucrative in France. The statement of +finances laid before the Dramatic Society shows, that during the +years 1851-52, sums paid for pieces amount to 917,531 francs (upward +of £36,000). It would be difficult to show that English dramatists +have received as many hundreds. The sources of these payments are +thus indicated. Theatres of Paris, 705,363 francs; the provincial +theatres, 195,450 francs (or nearly eight thousand pounds; whereas +the English provinces return about eight hundred pounds a +year!)--and suburban theatres, 16,717 francs. To these details we +may add the general receipts of all the theatres in Paris during the +year--viz., six millions seven hundred and seventy-one thousand +francs, or £270,840. + + + + +Comicalities, Original and Selected. + + +[Illustration: MR. JOHN BULL'S IDEAS ON THE MUSQUITO QUESTION. + +YOUNG LADIES (_both at once_).--"Why, Mr. Bull! how terribly you +have been bitten by the Musquitoes!" + +MR. BULL (_a fresh importation_).--"I can't hunderstand 'ow it +'appened. I did hevery thing I could think of to keep them hoff. I +'ad my window hopen and a light burning hall night in my +hapartment!"] + + * * * * * + +STARVATION FOR THE DELICATE. + +That exquisite young officer, CAPTAIN GANDAW, was reading a +newspaper, when his brilliant eye lighted on the following passage +in a letter which had been written to the journal by MR. MECHI, on +the subject of "Irrigation." + + "I may be thought rather speculative when I anticipate that + within a century from this period, the sewage from our cities + and towns will follow the lines of our lines of railway, in + gigantic arterial tubes, from which diverging veins will convey + to the eager and distant farmer the very essence of the meat + and bread which he once produced at so much cost." + +"Fancy," remarked the gallant Captain, "the sewage of towns and +cities being the essence of owa bwead and meat--and of beeaw too, of +cawse, as beeaw is made from gwain! How vewy disgasting! MR. MECHI +expects that his ideas will be thought wathaw speculative.--He +flatters himself. They will only be consida'd vewy dawty. The wetch! +I shall be obliged to abjaw bwead, and confine myself to Iwish +potatoes--which are the simple productions of the awth--and avoid +all animal food but game and fish. And when fish and game are not in +season, I shall be unda the necessity of westwicting my appetite to + + "A scwip with hawbs and fwuits supplied, + And wataw fwom the spwing." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: YOUNG NEW YORK HARD UP. + +TENDER MOTHER.--"A hundred Dollars! why, what can you want a hundred +dollars so soon for?" + +YOUNG NEW YORK.--"Why, Mother, I'm deucedly hard up. I'm almost out +of Cologne and Cigars. Besides, the fellows are going to run me for +President of the St. Nicholas Club, and I must pony up my dues, and +stand the Champagne."] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: A VICTIM OF THE TENDER PASSION. + +YOUNG LADY.--"Now then, what is it that you wish to say to me that +so nearly concerns your happiness?" + +ENAMORED JUVENILE.--"Why, I love you to the verge of distraction, +and can't be happy without you! Say, dearest, only say that you will +be mine!"] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: A STRIKING EXPRESSION. + +ROGUY.--"See that girl looking at me, Poguy?" + +POGUY.--"Don't I? Why, she can't keep her eyes off you." + +ROGUY (_poking Poguy in the waistcoat_).--"What women care for, my +boy, isn't Features, but Expression!"] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: SCENE IN A FASHIONABLE LADIES' GROGGERY. + +YOUNG LADY "couldn't take any thing--only a Pine-apple Ice"--but the +ice once broken, she makes such havoc upon pies, tongue, Roman +punches, tarts, Champagne, and sundry other potables and +comestibles, as to produce a very perceptible feeling in the +Funds.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: RATHER A BAD LOOK-OUT. + +YOUNG SISTER.--"Oh, Mamma! I wish I could go to a party." + +MAMMA.--"Don't be foolish. I've told you a hundred times that you +can not go out until Flora is married. So do not allude to the +subject again, I beg. It's utterly out of the question."] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE ATTENTIVE HUSBAND IN AUGUST. + +EDWARD.--"There, Dearest, do you feel refreshed?" + +ANGELINA.--"Yes, my Love. A little more upon the left cheek, if you +please. That's much nicer than fanning one's self. Now a little +higher, on my forehead."] + + + + +Fashions for Summer. + + +[Illustration: FIGURES 1 AND 2.--BRIDE'S TOILET AND WALKING DRESS.] + +FIG. 1.--BRIDE'S TOILET.--Hair in bands very much puffed. Back hair +tied rather low; the wreath of white iris flowers, with foliage. +Behind this, and rather on one side, is the crown of orange flowers +that holds the vail, which is placed very backward, and is of plain +tulle, with a single hem. Dress of taffeta, with _bayadères_, or, +rather, velvet, with rows of velvet flowers, appearing like terry +velvet. The body, almost high behind, opens very low in front, and +is trimmed with a double plain _berthe_, that follows its cut. The +waist is lengthened in front, but not pointed. The bouquet decorates +the bottom of the body, and spreads in the form of a fan. The sleeve +pagoda-shaped, half-wide, and plain at top, terminated by two +trimmings worked like the edge of the _berthes_; a wide lace +under-sleeve covers the arm. The habit shirt is square at the top, +composed of lace, the upper row raised at the edge and four or five +other rows below. + +FIG. 2.--WALKING DRESS.--Bonnet of taffeta and blond. The brim, +high, narrow, and sitting close to the chin, is of taffeta, gathered +from the bottom of the crown to the edge; on the sides of the crown +an ornament is placed, cut rather round at the ends, and consisting +of three rows of taffeta _bouillonnes_, fastened together by a +cross-piece of taffeta. The crown is not deep, falls back, and has a +soft top. The curtain, of taffeta, cut cross-wise, is not gathered +in the seam. The blond that covers the lower part is gathered, and +ends in vandykes that hang below the curtain. A like blond is sewed +full on the cross-piece that borders the ornament, and the points +also reaching beyond the edge are fastened to those of the other +blond, so that the edge of the brim is seen through them. Toward the +bottom the blond above separates from that below, and sits full near +the edge of the ornament. A blond forming a _fanchon_ on the +_calotte_ is laid also under the other edge of the ornament. Lastly +the curtain itself is covered with blond. Inside are white roses, +mixed with bows of ribbon. Dress of taffeta. Body high, buttoning +straight up in front. Two trimmings are put up the side of the body. +These trimmings, made of bands resembling the narrow flounces, get +narrower toward the bottom. They are pinked at the edges, and +shaded. The sleeve is plain, and terminated by two trimmings, pinked +and shaded. The skirt has five flounces five inches wide, then a +sixth of eight, pinked and shaded. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 3.--BONNET.] + +FIG. 3.--DRAWN BONNET, of taffeta and blond; the brim, which is four +inches wide, is of taffeta doubled, that is, the inside and outside +are of one piece. It has several gathers. The side of crown, three +inches and a quarter wide, is of the same material, puffed at the +sides for about an inch, and there are also fourteen ribs in the +whole circuit. The top of crown is soft; a roll along the edge of +the crown. The ornaments consist of small rolls of taffeta, to which +are sewed two rows of blond three-quarters of an inch wide. These +same rolls ornament the brim, being placed on the edge, and inside +as well as outside. There are seventeen of these ornaments on the +brim, with an inch and a half of interval between them. The curtain +is trimmed in the same manner, and has ten of them. The top of crown +has five rolls, trimmed with blond. The inside is ornamented with +roses, brown foliage, and bouclettes of narrow blue ribbons mixing +with the flowers. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 4.--BONNET.] + +FIG. 4.--DRAWN BONNET of white tulle and straw-colored taffeta, +edged with a fringed _guipure_ and bouquets of Parma violets. The +taffeta trimming is disposed inside and outside the brim, in +vandykes, the points of which are nearly three inches apart. In each +space between them is a bouquet of Parma violets. The points of the +_fanchon_ lie upon the crown. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 5.--BONNET.] + +FIG. 5.--DRAWN BONNET, of tulle, blond, taffeta, and straw +trimmings, with flowers of straw and crape. The edge of the brim is +cut in fourteen scollops. The inside is puffed tulle, mixed with +blond. The scollops of the edge are continued all over the bonnet, +and are alternately tulle and white taffeta, with a straw edging. + + * * * * * + +For morning and home costume, _organdie_ muslins will be in great +favor, the bodies made in the loose jacket style, and worn either +with lace or silk waist coats. Silks, with designs woven in them for +each part of the dress, are still worn; those woven with plaided +stripe, _à-la robe_, are very stylish. + +White bodies will be worn with colored skirts they will be +beautifully embroidered, and will have a very _distinguée_ +appearance. + +Dress bodies are worn open; they have lappets or small _basquines_: +for all light materials, such as _organdie_, _tarlatane_, _barège_, +&c., the skirts will have flounces. In striped and figured silks, +the skirts are generally preferred without trimming, as it destroys +the effect and beauty of the pattern. Black lace mantillas and +shawls will receive distinguished favor; those of Chantilly lace are +very elegant. Scarf mantelets are worn low on the shoulders. + +A novelty in the form of summer mantelets has just been introduced +in Paris, where it has met with pre-eminent favor. It is called the +_mantelet echarpe_, or scarf mantelet; and it combines, as its name +implies, the effect of the scarf and mantelet. It may be made in +black or colored silk, and is frequently trimmed simply with braid +or embroidery. Sometimes the trimming consists of velvet or +_passementerie_, and sometimes of fringe and lace. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Words surrounded by _ are italicized. + +Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including variation in: +- use of accent (e.g. "Léonard" and "Leonard" in p. 413-414); +- use of hyphen (e.g. "archway" and "arch-way"); +- capitalisation (e.g. "Vice-president" and "Vice-President"). + +Pg 356, word "upon" removed from sentence "...attack upon [upon] Mr. +Dutton's purse..." + +Pg 378, sentence "(TO BE CONTINUED.)" added to the end of article. + +Pg 386, word "of" added to sentence "...the wish of the son..." + +Pg 416, word "is" removed from sentence "Here [is] is a very amusing +picture..." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. +XXVII, August 1852, Vol. V, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43368 *** |