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diff --git a/43929-8.txt b/43929-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 41f5434..0000000 --- a/43929-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11113 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Collector, by Henry T. Tuckerman - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Collector - Essays on Books, Newspapers, Pictures, Inns, Authors, - Doctors, Holidays, Actors, Preachers - -Author: Henry T. Tuckerman - -Release Date: October 11, 2013 [EBook #43929] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COLLECTOR *** - - - - -Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE COLLECTOR. - - - - - THE COLLECTOR - - _ESSAYS ON_ - - BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, PICTURES, INNS, AUTHORS, - DOCTORS, HOLIDAYS, ACTORS, PREACHERS. - - - BY HENRY T. TUCKERMAN. - - - [Illustration] - - - WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DR. DORAN, - _Author of "Table Traits," "Monarchs Retired - from Business," "History of Court Fools," - "Their Majesties' Servants," &c. &c._ - - - LONDON: - JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY. - - (_All Rights Reserved._) - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - INTRODUCTION BY DR. DORAN 1 - - INNS 29 - - AUTHORS 65 - - PICTURES 95 - - DOCTORS 120 - - HOLIDAYS 143 - - LAWYERS 176 - - SEPULCHRES 203 - - ACTORS 221 - - NEWSPAPERS 246 - - PREACHERS 280 - - STATUES 308 - - BRIDGES 325 - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - -It was one of the conclusions arrived at by Adelung, that the same -language would not maintain itself beyond the limit of a hundred and fifty -thousand square miles; but by means of books the limits of the world alone -are the limits within which language and the enjoyment of it can be -confined. Letters waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole, and printed volumes -carry thoughts that breathe and words that burn over the great oceans from -one quarter of the world to another. - -Such a volume is the one now in the hand of the reader. It is freighted -with a dozen pleasant papers or essays, the subjects of which are not -confined to America exclusively. They furnish us with text, and afford -opportunity for illustrative comment. - -Profiting by this opportunity, let me commence by observing, in reference -to the opening essay, that the inns and taverns of London underwent a -great change after the death of James the First. The rights of honest -topers were suppressed by his son King Charles, who, for the poor fee of -an annual three pounds sterling, granted licences to tavern-keepers to -sell wines at what prices they pleased, in spite of all statutes to the -contrary! You may fancy how flushed the face of a thirsty Cockney might -become, who, on putting down his eightpence for a quart of claret, was -told by Francis, the drawer, that the price was a full quarter noble, or -'one-and-eightpence'! - -Lord Goring, who issued these licences, pocketed a respectable amount of -fees in return. By statute, London had authority only for the -establishment of forty taverns. But what did roystering George Goring care -for statute, since the king gave him licence to ride over it? Taverns -multiplied accordingly, not only in the city but in those 'suburbs,' as -they were once called, fragrant Drury Lane and refined 'Convent Garden.' -With competition came lower prices, however, and the throats of the -Londoners were refreshed, while their purses were not so speedily -lightened. - -Jolly places they became again; but when they not only increased all over -the town, but took to 'victualling,' as it was termed, as well as -'liquoring,' the authorities began to inquire into the matter. With the -claret that was drunk, a corresponding amount of venison was eaten. At the -same time the king's bucks began to disappear, and suspicion arose that -gentlemen in taverns dined off his sacred majesty's deer! A watch was set -to prevent such felonious fare being carried into London from any of the -royal parks, chases, or forests. Still haunches smoked on the boards of -those naughty victualling taverns, and haughty Cockneys, 'greatly daring, -dined'! The stolen bucks were smuggled in over Bow Bridge; and not till -that passage was occupied by representatives of legal authority did the -venison intended for the court cease to find its way into the city. - -The drama at this time lingered about Blackfriars and the Bankside. -Bacchus emigrated westward, before Thespis. In 1633, in 'Convent Garden' -and the 'little lane' adjacent, which had then just begun to be called -Russell Street, there were not less than eight taverns and twenty -alehouses. This was thought to be so much beyond the requirements of the -public thirst, that an order was issued to reduce the number of taverns to -two and the alehouses to four. The suburban public cried out against the -drinking privileges of the city, where claret was tapped in taverns and -ale ran from the spigot from before breakfast till after supper-time. The -Council directed the attention of the Lord Mayor thereto, and in 1633 -inquiry was made as to how many taverns had been newly opened since the -year 1612. The reply was, 'sixty and one.' In the return it is pleasant to -read of the 'Boar's Head,' as 'an ancient tavern.' Teetotallers will, -perhaps, entertain due regard for 'Bagsishaw Ward,' as being the only one -in the city described as having 'never a tavern within that ward.' But, -then, Basing Hall, or Bagsishaw Ward, was of such small extent as to be -rather contemptuously spoken of by Stowe himself, who calls it 'a small -thing consisting of one street.' - -An inhabitant of this ward had, therefore, only to step into the next -street if he wanted a stoup of Bordeaux or a flagon of ale. If he swore -over his liquor he was liable to the penalty of a shilling; and if he went -on his way home noisily, with more claret under his belt than he well knew -how to carry, he might be mulcted of a crown. These fines were distributed -among the poor, so that the more drinking and profanity abounded, the -better for those poor. To be blasphemous was to be on one of the blessed -paths of charity. City chronicles tell of one Richard Dixon, who, having -more of an eccentric compassion for the distressed than regard for -propriety, swallowed his claret, swore a score of oaths, and deposited -twenty shillings with the town clerk for London paupers. - -Sober people in the city, however, complained of the increasing number of -inns and taverns. Orders were issued accordingly, and a Boniface here and -there took down his bush at the beginning of the week, but hung it up -again before Saturday. The temperance party furnished a list of 211 -taverns, new and old, in the city, in October, 1633. At that time -Shakspeare's and Washington Irving's 'Boar's Head,' in Eastcheap, was kept -by one William Leedes, 'not by any licence from the king's majesty,' but -'as a freeman.' Will Leedes may well have seen Shakspeare, who had not -then been dead a score of years; and we may fancy mine host's guests -discussing the second edition of the _Folio_, which had then been out of -the press not much above twelve months. - -In spite of the law for the suppression of certain taverns, these remained -open, and new inns were built. The fashion and delicacy of Drury Lane were -deeply affected by the threatened building of a tavern in that refined -locality, in addition to eleven already existing there. The master of his -majesty's tents, one Thomas Jones, resided in Drury Lane, and he -petitioned the Council to prohibit the above building, as being to the -great prejudice of the royal tent-master 'and other neighbours, being men -of eminent quality.' - -The greatest blow at the old taverns was the prohibition of -'victualling.' Tavern-keepers beset the king for licences to cook and -retail meat, 'it being,' says one petition, 'a thing much desired by -noblemen and gentlemen of the best rank, and others (for the which, if -they please, they may also contract beforehand, as the custom is in other -countries), there being no other place fit for them to eat in the city.' -This was in Cheapside; but there was also Will Mead's house in Bread -Street. It had ever been resorted to by citizens and foreigners, on -account of its famous fish dinners. The company had always been -'well-affected,' of the very best quality, too; gentlefolk, who conformed -themselves to the laws made for eating fish upon days appointed. If Will -Mead be not permitted to vend his Lenten fare, then he is 'deprived of his -best way of subsistence, having applied himself and bred up many servants -only for the dressing of fish.' As licence had been given to two vintners -to 'dress and vent flesh,' Will prays for similar licence to dress and -vend fish also. Will was landlord of that very 'Mermaid' of which Mr. -Tuckerman speaks in his first essay--the 'Mermaid' of Ben Jonson, who had -then just closed his dramatic career with _Love's Welcome_--the 'Mermaid' -which, some thirty years earlier, had been kept by the poet's namesake, -Johnson, and which had been a 'Mermaid,' where men of quality took their -wine, as early at least as the time when the Houses of York and Lancaster -were at bloody strife for the crown of 'this our England.' - -But, occasionally, men of quality died as well as drank in a London inn. I -am not sure that it was not in this very 'Mermaid' that Richard de Grey, -the sixth Lord Grey of Ruthyn, died, in 1523, an utterly penniless -gambler. His son Henry, from poverty, never assumed any title of honour; -and it was not until the time of his great-grandson, Reginald, that the -honour and fortune were restored of a family of which the present Baroness -Grey de Ruthyn is the representative. - -Those old inns had their tragic as well as their gayer aspects. A man was -as likely to die poisoned as ruined by gaming in some of them. For -example, in 1635 eighteen pipes of white wine, belonging to Peter van -Paine, a foreigner, were seized, and Lord Mayor Parkhurst wrote to the -Council that 'in eight of them were found eight bundles of weeds, in four -some quantities of sulphur, in another a whole piece of match, besides in -every cask a kind of gravel mixture, by which mixtures the wines are -conceived to be very unwholesome, and of the like nature with those which -were formerly destroyed.' Peter van Paine must have dealt in a compound of -the quality of modern Hamburg sherry, a compound that would have been -deeply declined by the poorest of those authors who form the subject of -the second essay. - - * * * * * - -Poor Authors! Against no class of men have the acutely-pointed shafts of -satire been more frequently darted. Congreve, who had so little cause to -be ashamed of the name, yet persistently rejected the honour of being -supposed to be one of the brotherhood. When Voltaire visited him, the -French writer expressly stated that the compliment was addressed to the -_author_, and not to merely Mr. Congreve. The latter remarked that he was -a 'gentleman,' and not an _author_. Whereupon the polite Frenchman -rejoined that if Congreve had been only a gentleman, he, the French -author, would never have thought of calling upon him at all. - -A wicked wit, some hundred and odd years ago, made the early pages of -_Sylvanus Urban_ lively by inventing a census of surviving English -authors. These he set down in round numbers at three thousand, who had -produced in the preceding year, of abortive works, 7,000; born dead, -3,000; and not one that survived the year itself. Three hundred and twenty -perished by sudden death, and a few thousands went to line trunks, make -sky-rocket cases, hold pies, or were consumed by worms. One thousand of -these literary gentlemen are said to have died of lunacy, a rather greater -number were 'starved,' seventeen were hanged, fifteen committed suicide, -five pastoral poets died of fistula, others in various ways; while a -difference was suggested as to the diet, lives, and deaths of aldermen and -authors in a _zero_, indicating the number of writers who died of -'surfeit.' - -Perhaps one of the most singular reasons for founding a periodical, and -undertaking much of the authorship and editorship, presents itself in the -case of the celebrated French physician, Théophraste Renaudet. He had a -number of nervous, anxious, restless patients, who required little more -than to have their minds drawn from the unprofitable occupation of -dwelling upon the condition of the body. The great doctor did not wish -that the thoughts of his patients should be allowed to dwell very much -upon anything. Books of science, politics, or polemical theology, were not -at all what he required. The romances of the day were stilted, pompous -things, quite as difficult for invalids to read as any of the inflated -treatises on scientific, political, and theological subjects. Renaudet -may be said to have been a pupil of the philosophical school of Hippias. -That self-reliant teacher of Elis maintained that a portion at least of -manly virtue consisted in being able to dispense with the assistance of -other men. Hippias never allowed any man to help him in any matter wherein -he could help himself. He was accordingly his own tailor, shoemaker, -hairdresser, laundress, and cook! How the philosopher looked when he went -abroad, or how he fared when he dined at home, it is at once awful and -amusing to think of! Renaudet did not go quite so far as the Elian; but in -case of his patients failing to find help in others, he took the matter -into his own hands, and founded the _Gazette de France_. It was better, if -not for himself, at least for his patients, than if he had discovered a -new remedy for prevalent diseases. Those pleasant little paragraphs of -news were as so many pleasant fillips to the lazy intelligences of the -nervous. Those fresh supplies of little scandals were as fresh pinches of -rappee to the arid nostril all athirst for dust. Those brief hints and -innuendoes were as gentle titillations, not strong enough to exhaust, but -just sufficient to exhilarate, refresh, and strengthen. Nervous patients -recovered, many who might otherwise have become so did not fall ill, and -every one was delighted with Renaudet's attempt at authorship except his -fellow-practitioners, the most of whom then lived upon the nerves of the -fashionable public. - -Renaudet's authorship had a benevolent and unselfish motive. As an example -of audacity in the same line, I know nothing that can compare with a -circumstance which occurred in the middle of the last century. There was -at that time in Oxford an honest watchmaker, named Greene. He was a great -reader and a great admirer of Milton; but, like the artist who had just -finished a painting on a signboard, and contemplated his performance with -a commiserating thought of Titian, and the complacent cry of '_Poor little -Tit!_' so the Oxford watchmaker tapped his forehead, like poor André -Chenier before execution, and thought he had 'something _there_' beyond -any possession that could be boasted of by mortal sons of song. -Accordingly, Greene published a specimen of a new version of _Paradise -Lost_, in blank verse of the watchmaker's own adaptation, 'by which,' he -modestly remarked, 'that amazing work is brought somewhat nearer the -summit of perfection.' Poor Greene's 'summit of perfection' might lead one -to believe that his ideas of improvement were not directed towards Milton -only, but that he wished to give a new version to the old joke, the point -of which lay in 'the height of acme'! - -It is a singular fact that one of the best literal renderings of Milton -into a foreign language is one into French by Jean de Diur. It is lineal, -metaphrastic, and literal; consequently you have, as it were, the words of -the song, but only faint, or rather no echoes of the music. Nevertheless, -the patience and conscientiousness of the translator are to be seen in the -fidelity with which he has interpreted the significance of the terms. - -Another original phase of authorship may be here recorded, since it is in -connection with Milton. While the Oxford watchmaker was carrying _Paradise -Lost_ to the summit of perfection by his improvements, Landor was carrying -through the press his Essay on _Milton's Use and Imitation of the -Moderns_. The author described the attempt as one hitherto never made in -prose or rhyme. The method by which he sought to prove his case against -Milton was by naming certain authors whom he supposed the poet to have -consulted, and then giving quotations from them to expose Milton's -plagiarisms. The case startled the world only for a while. Competent -defenders of Milton's authorship arose, and they proved that Milton had -not plagiarised from the sources named by Landor, but that the latter had -forged his quotations in order to traduce Milton! The discovery made every -one eager to avoid Landor as a rogue, and to possess his book as a -curiosity. - -A French author flung _his_ poisoned dart also at Milton. Voltaire accused -him of taking his epic from an old Italian mystery, the _Adamo_, by -Andréivi. But Milton has had gallant champions in French authors, too. -Their judgment is, that if Milton created his great epic out of the chaos -of the old mystery, he, in a certain sense, resembled the Creator, who, -out of brute clay, created man in the image of the Creator himself. - -Cædmon, in Anglo-Saxon, and St. Avitus, in Latin, likewise treated of the -Creation and the Fall, long before Milton. But, as another French author, -M. Guizot, has remarked, 'It is of little importance to Milton's glory -whether he was acquainted with them or not. He was one of those who -imitate when they please, for they invent when they choose, and they -invent even while imitating.' True authorship could not be more happily -defined than under those words; and they may be applied in reference to -another attempt to question Milton's originality, in the statement that he -founded his epic on the old drama _Adamo Caduto_, by Salandra. Moreover, -there is nothing more in common between Milton and his predecessors than -that he selected a subject which _they_ had sung before him. _Their_ -tune is on an oaten reed; but Milton sits down to the organ, and billows -of sound roll forth to awe and enchant the world. - -In our own country Milton made but 'slow way,' not merely with the general -but with the educated public. Dryden supposed he wrote _Paradise Lost_ in -blank verse because he was unable to do it in rhyme! Johnson depreciated -him by asserting that if he could cut a colossus out of the rock he could -not carve heads upon cherry-stones; as if Milton's briefer poems and -sonnets were unworthy of the author of the great epic! Hannah More united -with Johnson, not only in thinking these briefer poems bad, but in -critically examining _why_ they were so! But there is no end to the -vagaries of authors when judging of other writers. Dryden, in his Essay on -Dramatic Poetry, makes Shakspeare the Homer and Johnson the Virgil of -dramatic composition; but, in his _Defence of the Epilogue to the Conquest -of Granada_, he informs us that Shakspeare abounds in solecisms and -nonsense, in lameness of plot, meanness of writing, in comedy that cannot -raise mirth, and tragedy that cannot excite sympathy; and, most wonderful -of all, placing Shakspeare on a level with Fletcher, he says: 'Had they -lived now they would doubtless have written more correctly'! If you would -know to what correct level Dryden thought Shakspeare might have been -brought, had he had the good luck to live later, the knowledge is -vouchsafed in the assertion that 'the well placing of words for the -sweetness of pronunciation was not known till Mr. Waller introduced it.' -This is quite as bad as the criticism of Addison, who bracketed Lee and -Shakspeare together, accused them of a spurious sublimity, and gave it as -his opinion that 'in those authors the affectation of greatness often -hurts the perspicuity of style'! - -These great literary artists understood Shakspeare so indifferently, that -they were unable to picture him truly to themselves or to represent him -naturally to others. Milton called sweetest Shakspeare 'Fancy's child.' -Dryden says his Fancy limped; and Addison hints that his sublimity -rendered him obscure! - - * * * * * - -Perhaps some among us may be inclined to smile at Mr. Tuckerman's -allusion, in his chapter on PICTURES, to a portrait of 'an American -matronly belle of the days of Washington, by Stewart, which represents the -type of mingled self-reliance and womanly loveliness that has made the -ladies of our Republican court so memorably attractive.' Of the attraction -of the ladies there can be no doubt, but can a Republic care to pride -itself on such an institution as a 'court'? La Rochefoucauld said very -well of royal courts in Europe that they did not render those that tarried -in them happy, but that they prevented those who _had_ tarried at them -from being happy elsewhere. It may be added that there is only one royal -court on record where every one was equal, and that was the proverbially -celebrated 'Cours du Roi Pétaut.' But the equality there led to -inextricable confusion, because every one wished to command and no one -cared to obey. Now, the court of King Pétaut has very much extended -itself. So wide, indeed, are its limits that it may be said to embrace all -society, which has become a grand court where dissimulation and distrust, -splendour without and anxieties within, abundantly prevail. Some one has -compared that tremendous institution called 'Society,' as well as courts -generally, to those magnificent, ill-regulated, gilt clocks to be seen in -France. The exterior is dazzling with beauty, but inside everything is -going wrong. - -Among old court fashions of the last century was one of having a portrait -of the eye. Of course this was only of ladies' eyes--eyes that slew the -peace of mortal man,--and the counterfeit presentiment of one of which was -held to be a solace to the memory and a stimulant to hope. Lovers carried -about with them the figure of one of the (presumed) two eyes of their -respective ladies. There was an affected modesty in this fashion; and, if -I may so speak, the mode most prevailed when modesty, or a decent reserve -which might pass for it, was least in fashion. - -It has been a disputed question whether painting or poetry was the earlier -born. It would be as difficult to determine whether Calliope wrote heroic -songs before Clio painted heroic deeds. Probably poetry, which preceded -prose in the early festive ceremonies of the human race (bards sang of -high deeds before less gifted men made long speeches about them), was -earlier than painting. The actions of heroes were first fixed on the -artist's imagination by the songs of the bards and the praise of orators. -But there is a prettier theory touching the origin of portrait-painting, -in the story of the youth who drew the outline of the one face he loved by -tracing with charcoal its shadow on the wall, purposely disposed to enable -him to display this primitive effort of art and of affection. - -As we may not take all portraits of our ancestors for _veræ effigies_, so -are the portraits of more modern heroes not to be accepted without due -reserve. There was, for instance, a series of _Lives of the British -Admirals_, with illustrative portraits, and Charles Lamb sat for them -_all_! - -Desmahis says, rather saucily, of the ladies (but they must have been -those of his time, and not the general sex), that when they go to have -their portraits taken they wish the artist to be faithless and the -portrait to be a likeness! Steele has similar satire. Clerimont, in the -_Tender Husband_, says that his fancy is utterly exhausted with inventing -faces for his sitters. 'I gave my Lady Scornwell,' he says, 'the choice of -a dozen frowns before she found one to her liking.' I suppose in these -days the fair are not so exacting. In the very ancient days noble sitters -were even more so. It was death to the painter, as well as to his -reputation, if he failed to please a Roman emperor. I shudder when I think -of the artist who received a commission to paint a full-length of Nero. It -was more than life size; it was a hundred and twenty feet high! and there -was possible death in every inch of it. - -Michael Angelo had a good idea of the simple dignity of an artist. On -being told of one who painted pictures with his fingers, 'The simpleton,' -said he; 'he had better keep to his pencils.' A picture painted without -pencils is, however, not so curious a fact as publishing a book that never -was written. Mr. Tuckerman's volume reminds me of another set of essays, -which were published in 1844, called _Colloquies Desultory, but chiefly -upon Poetry and Poets_. It is a very agreeable volume of 250 pages, but -not a word of it was really ever written. The clever printer and -publisher, Mr. Lordan of Romsey, set up the types as fast as he mentally -composed the book; and the latter is highly creditable to the author, who, -however, never _wrote_ it! Lord Palmerston respected this ingenious man; -and collectors of singular books keep a good look out for a work that was -published before the author penned a word of it. - - * * * * * - -The next curiosity to an author who did not write his own book, passing -over the authors who really _did_ write books by other people, is, -perhaps, the physician who scorned to take fees. Mr. Tuckerman has pretty -well exhausted the subject of DOCTORS. Let me notice how few of them -resemble those proto-Christian physicians, Cosmas and Damian, who won the -glorious name of _Anargyri_, or the 'feeless,' because out of their -abundant charity they gave 'advice gratis,' which, it must be said, is a -commodity often worth the price it costs when you get it for nothing. - -Those last-named amiable physicians were Arabians by birth, and among -those people some curious ideas still prevail touching the relations -between medical men and patients. When the late Dr. Hogg was travelling -with Lamartine in the East, it was the physician's happiness to cure, of a -very horrible disease, a poor and pious Arab who had been reduced almost -to despair. The cure was slow, but at last it was perfect; and the -gratitude of the Arab to God, the Prophet, and Dr. Hogg was beyond all -bounds. The convalescent waited on his mortal benefactor, and told him -that he was the greatest of the wonders of the world. The _medico_, -fancying the grateful fellow might embarrass himself by overstraining his -means, in order to evince his gratitude, told him that all had been done -for the love of God and the good of a fellow-creature, and that nothing -more was to be said about it. But the Arab had much more to say about it. -'God,' he remarked, 'had conferred upon the Christian doctor a power -beyond that possessed by any other man. The Prophet had permitted him to -find a remedy for the maladies which had beset one of the faithful. -Gratitude, taking the form of cash payment, was therefore indispensable.' -'I need no payment,' said the doctor. 'Just so, Effendi,' replied the -countryman of Cosmas and Damian; 'it is so, I understand it. But the chief -of doctors will not be ungrateful for the power he has been permitted to -exercise. Behold the servant whom he has been allowed to make whole. Let -the Effendi show his thankfulness by bestowing on his servant _bakshish_.' -Between these two extremes of physicians altogether declining fees, and -patients requesting them from physicians as testimonies of gratitude for -cure almost miraculously wrought, modern practice has established itself -on a pretty good basis. But the old theory, yet not the old reality as to -fees, still exists. The _honorarium_ is slipped into the physician's hand -with an air of there being nothing in it, and that unworldly person often -_looks_ like Cosmas and Damian, as if he had taken nothing by it. - -A question of health connects itself closely with the subject of the next -essay, on HOLIDAYS. Many a soldier in the noble army of workers owes much -of his health to the keeping of holidays. Mr. Tuckerman regrets that his -country does not take rest and rejoice on some common national holiday at -least once a year. Now, all Christian nations have one that they may -celebrate once a week. But some among us are doing their conscientious -best to turn the joyous festival into a gloomy fast. God granted the -day, but some among us misinterpret the meaning of the grant, obstruct -rest and enjoyment, and only change one sort of labour for another. Let -all the nation go up and praise the Lord; but, for - - 'Other things mild Heav'n a time ordains, - And disapproves that care, though wise in show, - That with superfluous burden loads the day, - And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.' - -The making of a holiday rendered famous for ever a philosopher whose -reputation would not have spread so widely through his philosophy. When -Anaxagoras was dying he was asked if he had any particular desire that -should be fulfilled. 'Ay,' said the Clazomenian, 'on the anniversary of my -death let all the boys have a holiday.' Thence arose the _Anaxagorica_, -festivals in which the boys rejoiced, not that Anaxagoras had died on that -day, but that he had lived during many years of usefulness before it. Mr. -Bright never shook the faith of his own followers so much as when he voted -against the shortening of the hours of labour of women and children in the -cotton mills. The contrast between the ancient and the modern philosopher -is not to the disadvantage of the heathen. But there are some persons who -are averse to much leisure time on working-days, and to any air of -enjoyment on Sundays. A Scotchman, who had gone back to his country after -a long absence, declared after going to kirk that the whole kingdom was on -the road to perdition. 'The people,' he said, 'used to be reserved and -solemn on the Sabbath, but now they look as happy on that day as on any -other.' - - * * * * * - -With regard to what is asserted in this volume respecting the judicial and -legal excellence of modern times compared with a past period, the -assertion cannot be admitted without a certain reserve. We may look back -at those old Brehon laws which St. Patrick himself could not amend or even -make more clear, when he attempted to be for them what Coke afterwards was -upon Lyttleton. For instance, if a Brehon judge were to utter an -absurdity--were he, for instance, to say that he was inclined to believe -in the folly of a criminal, which folly had led to crime, and were the -judge to inflict a ridiculously light sentence in consequence, the 'truth -of nature,' as the phrase then ran, would have been violated, and a blotch -would fix itself on the face of the judge for ever! - -One might reasonably suppose that no Brehon judge ever exposed himself to -be twice so branded. But human nature is as weak as it is perverse. We -read in the ancient laws of Ireland of a certain Sencha Mac Aililla, who, -the more he was 'blotched,' the wickeder he grew. He seemed to defy the -brand, as others have defied public opinion. He did not care what the law -was. When he had to administer it between a member of his own tribe and -one of another clan, he would decide in favour of his own 'country,' as he -called it, irrespective of law and justice. This exemplary Sencha used to -retire from the judgment-seat daily with three additional fiery blotches -to those he bore the day previous. The monster became so ugly that he was -fain at last to withdraw from the public gaze. - -It was the same with the lawyers in those felicitous times. If one -ventured upon a 'Scotch insinuation,' such as deliberately accusing a -witness of forgery, and, on the accusation being immediately shown to be -groundless, pleading that the charge was simply an 'insinuation,' -perfectly professional, on the Brehon nose of such an unworthy lawyer a -carbuncle would establish itself, like a light on a disagreeable object to -help you to avoid it. A Brehon lawyer never even played with a lie but a -pimple started on his tongue and checked his speech. If a Brehon judge -were addicted to the wine-cup, it was as much as his nose, or at least the -end of it, was worth to potter about excess, from the bench. If he lived -an unclean life, and then judicially talked solemn sham to the ignorant -and immoral, a burning St. Anthony's fire, or whatever name it was called -before St. Anthony, overspread his face, and never left it. Nay, there is -record of unjust kings and judges laughing at the commission of crime till -their mouths extended from ear to ear, and remained so for ever after. - -It must have been _then_ that divine Astræa bandaged her eyes. Were she to -open them now and glance over the world, she would behold bench and bar -unstained by a blush. Nevertheless, a sigh may be permitted for the good -old Brehon times, when wicked lawyers blushed in spite of themselves. - - * * * * * - -In many respects those old times, or their customs, have not so completely -passed away as might be generally thought. In connection with Mr. -Tuckerman's next subject of SEPULCHRES, I may notice those military -funerals at which the horse of the dead rider follows his master to the -grave. There is now no significance in such a matter; but it was once of -very stern reality, and not a mere form. It is now simply a relic of the -times when the steed was slain at the side of the tomb of his defunct -master, a tomb which the horse was destined to share with the departed -soldier. The faithful horse, like the Indian's dog, was to keep him -company in the fields beyond the waters of oblivion. It was a pagan -ceremony, but it did not finally go out till somewhat late in the -Christian era--in fact, not till towards the close of the last century. On -the 13th of February, 1781, there was a military burial at Treves. A -cavalry general, in the service of the Palatinate, a Teutonic knight, and -commander of Lorraine, named Frederick Kasimir, was then and there buried -according to the rites of the Order of Chivalry, of which he was a member. -As soon as the coffin was lowered into the grave, the general's horse was -led up by the officer who had had it in charge during the funeral -procession. An official then advanced, and, by a skilful sweep of a sharp -hunting-knife across the animal's throat, stretched him dead, after which -the dead horse was thrown into the grave on the top of the coffin. It was -a hideous ceremonial, the origin of which dates from the days when -skeleton knights were supposed to require skeleton chargers. The above was -the last occasion on which such a ceremony was performed. The favourite -horse that followed the Duke of Wellington's funeral car, the caparisoned -steed that was but yesterday led after the bier of the dragoon who used to -mount him, were but formalities, the meaning of which is for the most part -forgotten. - -There was a period when a grave and much ceremony were thus afforded to -brutes, but when also the grave 'was begrudgingly allowed,' and all -ceremony denied, to men. I allude to the ACTORS, which pleasant -brotherhood forms the subject of Mr. Tuckerman's next essay. This has been -especially the case in France. Thence some erroneously suppose that actors -were excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church; whereas the -ecclesiastical authorities at Rome especially protected the Italian -players in Paris from the ban proclaimed by the Gallican bishops against -actors and actresses. In England there has been more liberality of feeling -towards the players. These have had individual clerical enemies, from -Archbishop Grindal down to Dean Close; but they have also had as many -friends, from Archbishop Bancroft down to the present Archbishop of -Dublin, who, amidst groups of actors and a large general public, in -Stratford Church, at the last Shakspeare centenary, gave expression to -wise and loving testimony in behalf of that poor player on whom God -conferred the gifts that made of him the foremost poet of the entire -world. - -As between plaintiff and defendant, the opposite cases were succinctly -stated by Dean Close and Mr. Buckstone. The Dean once denounced the -brethren of the drama generally as wicked people. Mr. Buckstone simply -replied that, while there was no crime subject to capital punishment but -that a clergyman had suffered for it, there was no instance of an actor -ever having been hanged for any crime. This is not quite correct, but the -rare exception testifies to the general rule. _One_ actor has been hanged, -and two or three, richly deserved to be; but, speaking generally, they -have been distinguished for the good observance of prudence and the -excellent practice of charity. Lord Southampton described the players at -the 'Blackfriars' as 'married men and of reputation.' Even in Grindal's -days, though there were some among them of equivocal conduct and -character, they were designated as 'those grave and sober actors.' -Burbage's fortune is a proof of their thrift; Alleyn's noble bequests are -so many proofs of his godlike charity. In every path of his life, from St. -Botolph's, Bishopsgate, down to Dulwich College, he has left proofs of a -benevolence which still brings enjoyment to numberless legatees. Alleyn's -letters afford us a glance into the household of a player of the -seventeenth century, and they show that the house was well kept, and that -a spirit of piety sanctified it. So of Betterton; his hand and his heart -were open and liberal. What were Quinn's faults in the light of his -delicate and profuse charity? The same question might be asked in -reference to many other actors. They have not only shown, as the _Tatler_ -once said of his dramatic contemporaries, a wonderful benevolence towards -the interests and necessities of each other, but towards those of all who -needed succour. They have played equally well in this respect on and off -the stage, and all that need be added in regard to them may be said in the -quaint words of Sir Thomas Overbury, who remarks: 'I value a worthy actor -by the corruption of some few of the quality, as I would do gold in the -ore; I should not mind the dross, but the purity of the metal.' - -Theatrical criticism in early days found no place in our newspapers. Even -as late as the first appearance of Sprangor Barry, in 'Othello' (A.D. -1746), the journalist only recorded the fact, adding, as a sort of -critical notice, that the gentleman got as much applause as could be -expected! - -An essay on NEWSPAPERS might extend to a folio volume. They have all been -founded on the insatiable appetite that humanity has to know what has -happened to its fellows. The difference is not so great between the -earliest and the latest samples of newspapers. The 'leading article,' -which so often misleads, is comparatively of modern origin; but the Roman -_Acta Diurna_ may be said to correspond with our reports and general -intelligence, chronicling human errors, heroism, and rascality, pillorying -the names of young fellows who had quaffed too deeply of the Falernian, -and noting how the fine imposed on a felonious butcher who gave short -weight was to be devoted to the building of a chapel in the temple of -Tellus for the propagation of the gospel of that deity, and the -reformation of light weights. - -If the subject of newspapers _could_ be exhausted in a single essay, it -has been done by Mr. Tuckerman. Of journalism generally, a very summary -phrase of Southey's renders a rather acrid judgment. He had been alluding -to the fact of Marchmont Needham having published the _Mercurius -Britannicus_ for the Parliament, the _Mercurius Pregmaticus_ in the king's -interest, and the _Mercurius Politicus_ in support of Oliver. His -consequent remark was that 'journalists in that age had about as much -probity as in this.' But these _Mercurii_ were something like the -_Moniteur_, the official paper of the predominant power for the time -being. In the latter, 'His Imperial Majesty Napoleon' of one day was 'the -Corsican usurper' of the next. One man may have written both phrases, but -two governments uttered them. The writer was a part of the pen used by a -couple of superior officials, each of whom employed the pen to express -antagonistic sentiments. - -There was once a period when the office now performed by a journalist was -occasionally undertaken by the preacher. We learn from old chroniclers -that scarcely an event which very closely affected the public ever took -place without its being shadowed forth from the pulpit. Rufus was in all -probability _not_ slain by Sir Walter Tyrrel; but that he was -treacherously slain cannot be disputed, if the record be true that God's -vengeance against the wicked in high places was a theme very much dwelt -upon by the popular preachers of the day--men who addressed themselves to -the judgments, impulses, and prejudices of the people. In the reign of the -second Edward, contemporary events were employed for illustrative purposes -from the pulpit. The putting away of the king was discussed there under -similitudes, as a matter in a solemn national crisis might now be weighed -and examined more openly in an eloquent leader. The pulpit at Paul's Cross -alone would furnish a thousand illustrations of how the preacher could -deftly mingle politics with religion. Patriotism was then stimulated, in a -time of approaching war, by the priest reciting the 'bede roll' of the -king's enemies, and solemnly cursing every one of them, amidst the popular -acclamation. Church and State met and shook hands, sometimes with a mask -on the face of each, at the trysting-place of Paul's Cross. - -But there may be sermons efficiently delivered from other places besides -pulpits. 'Sermons in stones' formed a poet's phrase, which led to another -rendering of the sentiment included in it by a modern poetess. Mrs. -Browning, in her sonnet on Power's Greek Slave, sees a purpose as well as -a beauty in it, and she exclaims-- - - 'Appeal, fair stone, - From God's pure height of beauty, against man's wrong; - Catch up in thy divine face not alone - East griefs but West, and strike and shame the strong - By thunders of white silence, overthrown.' - -The image, indeed, is rather a bold one, reminding us of the soliloquy in -a French tragedy, commencing with the observation--'_Quel silence se fait -entendre_.' - -While directing attention to Mr. Tuckerman's pleasant paper on STATUES, it -may be worth while recording that under the Christian era sculpture was -first employed by a woman, under the influence of gratitude for a -manifestation of the divine mercy. The story is, indeed, only traditional, -but it is ancient, and comes down to us through Eusebius. According to -that historian the woman of Paneas, after having been cured of her -disease, as mentioned in the Gospels, returned to her native place and set -up in one of the streets there an image of the Saviour, with the figure of -herself in the act of adoration. This group of statuary (the material, -indeed, is not mentioned, and the word _image_ sometimes implies -_picture_) was the progenitor of all the effigies of God and the saints -that have since been erected in public highways in order to stimulate the -religious fervour of the passers by. If that alleged proto-group did not -exactly effect this, the story of the grateful woman and her statuary led -to the same result. It _may_ be a mere legend; but even then the legend -itself was in such case invented for the purpose of bringing about the -adoption of the fashion of setting up images challenging the reverence of -all who looked on them, and it was afterwards appealed to as authority, -alike for the fashion and the observance. - -Nowhere have statues been erected with greater effect than on BRIDGES. -They who remember the bridge at Prague, over the Moldau, with the statues -and groups of saints, St. John Neoponuck towering over all, will confirm -this fact. The fashion has not been followed in our own country, where -there are some relics, however, of bridge architecture said to be as old -as the days of the Britons. Such are rather fondly said to be the small -red stone arches spanning the streams in some of the Cornish valleys. We -may rest more satisfied, however, with the triangular bridge at Croyland, -which was completed in the year after the island was first called England, -namely, A.D. 830. Whether we can, in the days of Queen Victoria, detect in -the structure any of the stones the laying of which was watched by the -curious Lincolnshire folk in the reign of King Egbert, may be reasonably -doubted. The foundations rather than the superstructure of the original -bridge alone remain. This bridge was of great importance to the monastery -of Croyland, but indeed as much may be said of all bridges and their -vicinities. To build them was a holy work. The title of 'Pontifex' -belonged to the highest of the sacred classes of Rome. 'Pontifex Maximus' -is a designation which the pope himself inherits from the Roman emperors, -and 'Pontificum Coenæ' is a phrase by which we learn from Horace that the -sacred successors of those who erected the Sublician bridge were persons -who, with some care for the souls and well-being of the people, had a -special regard for their own bodies. - -Perhaps it was because of this connection between holy men and bridges -that in early English times the keeping of our bridges and of the roads -leading to them was intrusted to hermits, who were in fact the original -toll-takers and turnpike-keepers in England. Old London Bridge, which was -commenced in 1176 and finished in 1209, which was the only bridge at -London over the Thames till that of Westminster was opened in 1738, and -which lasted till the new bridge was inaugurated in 1831 by William the -Fourth, was the work of a holy Pontifex, Peter Colechurch, chaplain of -St. Mary's in the Poultry. The architect found fitting burial place in the -crypt of the chapel of St. Thomas, which stood in the centre of the bridge -itself. Thus the London Bridge which Peter built became his sepulchre and -monument when Peter died. - -But it is time that I should be at least as silent as Peter himself, since -Mr. Tuckerman is ready and the stage prepared. The first little piece is -played out, and the curtain now rises to a better sustained drama and to a -finished actor--_Plaudite!_ - -J. DORAN. - - - - -INNS. - - 'Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, - Whate'er his fortunes may have been, - Must sigh to think how oft he's found - Life's warmest welcome at an inn.' - SHENSTONE. - - -The old, legitimate, delightful idea of an Inn is becoming obsolete; like -so many other traditional blessings, it has been sacrificed to the genius -of locomotion. The rapidity with which distance is consumed obviates the -need that so long existed of by-way retreats and halting-places. A hearty -meal or a few hours' sleep, caught between the arrival of the trains, is -all the railway traveller requires; and the modern habit of moving in -caravans has infinitely lessened the romantic probabilities and -comfortable realities of a journey: the rural alehouse and picturesque -hostel now exist chiefly in the domain of memory; crowds, haste, and -ostentation triumph here over privacy and rational enjoyment, as in nearly -all the arrangements of modern society. Old Walton would discover now but -few of the secluded inns that refreshed him on his piscatorial excursions; -the ancient ballads on the wall have given place to French paper; the -scent of lavender no longer makes the linen fragrant; instead of the -crackle of the open wood-fire, we have the dingy coal-smoke, and -exhalations of a stove; and green blinds usurp the place of the snowy -curtains. Not only these material details, but the social character of -the inn is sadly changed. Few hosts can find time to gossip; the clubs -have withdrawn the wits; the excitement of a stage-coach arrival is no -more; and a poet might travel a thousand leagues without finding a -romantic 'maid of the inn,' such as Southey has immortalized. Jollity, -freedom, and comfort are no longer inevitably associated with the name; -the world has become a vast procession that scorns to linger on its route, -and has almost forgotten how to enjoy. Thanks, however, to the -conservative spell of literature, we can yet appreciate, in imagination at -least, the good old English inn. Goldsmith's Village Alehouse has -daguerreotyped its humble species, while Dr. Johnson's evenings at the -'Mitre' keep vivid the charm of its metropolitan fame. Indeed, it is quite -impossible to imagine what British authors would have done without the -solace and inspiration of the inn. Addison fled thither from domestic -annoyance; Dryden's chair at 'Will's' was an oracular throne; when hard -pressed, Steele and Savage sought refuge in a tavern, and wrote pamphlets -for a dinner; Farquhar found there his best comic material; Sterne opens -his _Sentimental Journey_ with his landlord, Monsieur Dessein, Calais, and -his inn-yard; Shenstone confessed he found 'life's warmest welcome at an -inn;' Sheridan's convivial brilliancy shone there with peculiar lustre; -Hazlitt relished Congreve anew, reading him in the shady windows of a -village inn after a long walk; even an old Almanac, or Annual Register, -will acquire an interest under such circumstances; and a dog-eared copy of -the _Seasons_ found in such a place induced Coleridge to exclaim, 'This is -fame!' while Byron exulted when informed that a well-thumbed volume of the -_English Bards_ had been seen, soon after its publication, at a little -hostel in Albany. Elia's quaint anecdote of the Quakers when they all ate -supper without paying for it, and Irving's 'Stout Gentleman,' are -incidents which could only have been suggested by a country inn; and as -to the novelists, from Smollett and Fielding to Scott and Dickens, the -most characteristic scenes occur on this vantage-ground, where the strict -unities of life are temporarily discarded, and its zest miraculously -quickened by fatigue, hunger, a kind of infinite possibility of events, a -singular mood of adventure and pastime, nowhere else in civilized lands so -readily induced. It is, therefore, by instinct that these enchanting -chroniclers lead us thither, from old Chaucer to our own Longfellow. Gil -Bias acquired his first lesson in a knowledge of the world, by his -encounter with the parasite at the inn of Panafleur; and Don Quixote's -enthusiasm always reaches a climax at these places of wayside sojourn. The -'Black Bull,' at Islington, is said to have been Sir Walter Raleigh's -mansion; 'Dolly's Chop-House' is dear to authors for the sake of Goldsmith -and his friends, who used to go there on their way to and from Paternoster -Row. At the 'Salutation and Cat,' Smithfield, Coleridge and Lamb held -memorable converse; and Steele often dated his _Tatlers_ from the -'Trumpet.' How appropriate for Voltaire to have lodged, in London, at the -'White Peruke'! Spenser died at an inn in King Street, Westminster, on his -return from Ireland. At the 'Red Horse,' Stratford, is the 'Irving room,' -precious to the American traveller; and how renowned have sweet Anne Page -and jolly Falstaff made the very name of the 'Garter Inn'! In the East a -monastery, in the Desert a tent, on the Nile a boat, a _hacienda_ in South -America, a _kiosk_ in Turkey, a _caffé_ in Italy, but in Britain an inn, -is the pilgrim's home, and one not less characteristic. The subject, as -suggestive of the philosophy of civilization, is worth investigation. - -In England and in towns of Anglo-Saxon origin, where the economies of life -have a natural sway, we find inns representative; in London, especially, a -glance at the parlour wall reveals the class to whose convenience the -tavern is dedicated: in one the portraits of actors, in another scenes in -the ring and on the racecourse; here the countenance of a leading -merchant, and there a military effigy, suggest the vocation of those who -chiefly frequent the inn. Nor are local features less certain to find -recognition: a view of the nearest nobleman's estate, or his portrait, -ornaments the sitting-room; and the observant eye can always discover an -historical hint at these public resorts. Heywood, the dramatist, aptly -specified this representative character of inns:-- - - 'The gentry to the King's Head, - The nobles to the Crown, - The knights unto the Golden Fleece, - And to the Plough the clown; - The churchman to the Mitre, - The shepherd to the Star, - The gardener hies him to the Rose, - To the Drum the man of war; - To the Feathers, ladies, you; the Globe - The seamen do not scorn; - The usurer to the Devil, and - The townsman to the Horn; - The huntsman to the White Hart, - To the Ship the merchants go, - But you that do the Muses love - The sign called River Po; - The bankrupt to the World's End, - The fool to the Fortune hie, - Unto the Mouth the oyster-wife, - The fiddler to the Pie; - - * * * * - - The drunkard to the Vine, - The beggar to the Bush, then meet - And with Sir Humphrey dine.' - -Inn signs are indeed historical landmarks: in the Middle Ages, the 'Cross -Keys,' the 'Three Kings,' and 'St. Francis,' abounded; the Puritans -substituted for 'Angel and Lady,' the 'Soldier and Citizen;' the -'Saracen's Head' was a device of the Crusades; and before the 'Coach and -Horses' was the sign of the 'Packhorse,' indicative of the days of -equestrian travel. Many current anecdotes attest the virtue of an old, and -the hazards of a new inn sign; as when the loyal host substituted the head -of George the Fourth for the ancient ass, which latter effigy being -successfully adopted by a neighbouring innkeeper, his discomfited rival -had inscribed under the royal effigy, 'This is the real ass.' Thackeray -cites an inn sign as illustrative of Scotch egotism: 'In Cupar-Fife,' he -writes, 'there's a little inn called the "Battle of Waterloo," and what do -you think the sign is? The "Battle of Waterloo" is _one_ broad Scotchman -laying about him with a broadsword.' - -The coffee-room of the best class of English inns, carpeted and curtained, -the dark rich hue of the old mahogany, the ancient plate, the four-post -bed, the sirloin or mutton joint, the tea, muffins, Cheshire and Stilton, -the ale, the coal-fire, and _The Times_, form an epitome of England; and -it is only requisite to ponder well the associations and history of each -of these items, to arrive at what is essential in English history and -character. The impassable divisions of society are shown in the difference -between the 'commercial' and the 'coffee-room;' the time-worn aspect of -the furniture is eloquent of conservatism; the richness of the meats and -strength of the ale explain the bone and sinew of the race; the tea is -fragrant with Cowper's memory, and suggestive of East India conquests; the -cheese proclaims a thrifty agriculture, the bed and draperies comfort, the -coal-fire manufactures; while _The Times_ is the chart of English -enterprise, division of labour, wealth, self-esteem, politics, trade, -court-life, 'inaccessibility to ideas,' and bullyism. - -The national subserviency to rank is as plainly evinced by the plates on -chamber-doors at the provincial inns, setting forth that therein on a -memorable night slept a certain scion of nobility. And from the visitor at -the great house of a neighbourhood, when sojourning at the inn thereof, is -expected a double fee. As an instance of the inappropriate, of that stolid -insensibility to taste and tact which belongs to the nation, consider the -English waiter. His costume is that of a clergyman, or a gentleman dressed -for company, and in ridiculous contrast with his menial obeisance; perhaps -it is the self-importance nourished by this costume which renders him such -a machine, incapable of an idea beyond the routine of handing a dish and -receiving a sixpence. - -Old Hobson, whose name is proverbially familiar, went with his wain from -Cambridge to the 'Bull Inn,' Bishopsgate Street, London. 'Clement's Inn' -tavern was the scene of that memorable dialogue between Shallow and Sir -John; at the 'Cock,' in Bond Street, Sir Charles Sedley got scandalously -drunk. 'Will's Coffee-house' was formerly called the 'Rose;' hence the -line-- - - 'Supper and friends expect me at the Rose.' - -'Button's,' so long frequented by the wits of Queen Anne's time, was kept -by a former servant of Lady Warwick; and there the author of _Cato_ -fraternized with Garth, Armstrong, and other contemporary writers. Ben -Jonson held his club at the 'Devil Tavern,' and Shakspeare and Beaumont -used to meet him at the 'Mermaid;' the same inn is spoken of by Pope, and -Swift writes 'Stella' of his dinner there. Beaumont thus reveals to Ben -Jonson their convivial talk:-- - - 'What things have we seen - Done at the "Mermaid"! heard words that have been - So nimble and so full of subtle fire, - As if that every one from whom they came - Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, - And had resolved to live a fool the rest - Of his dull life.' - -The author of _Peter Wilkins_ was a frequent visitor at an hostel near -Clifford's Inn, and Dr. Johnson frequented all the taverns in Fleet -Street. Old Slaughter's coffee-house, in St. Martin's Lane, was the -favourite resort of Hogarth; the house where Jeremy Taylor was born is -now an inn; and Prior's uncle kept an inn in London, where the poet was -seen, when a boy, reading Horace. This incident is made use of by Johnson, -in his _Lives of the Poets_, in a very caustic manner; for, after relating -it, he observes of Prior, that 'in his private relaxations he revived the -tavern, and in his amorous pedantry he exhibited the college.' - -There is no city in Europe where an imaginative mood can be so -indefinitely prolonged as at Venice; and in the early summer, the -traveller, after gliding about all day in a gondola, and thinking of -Barbarossa, Faliero, Titian, and the creations of Shakspeare, Otway, -Byron, and Cooper, at evening, from under the arches of St. Mark's Square, -watches the picturesque, and sometimes mysterious figures, and then, -between moss-grown palaces and over lone canals, returns to his _locanda_ -to find its aspect perfectly in accordance with his reverie; at least, -such was my experience at the 'Golden Lion.' The immense _salle-à-manger_ -was dimly lighted, and the table for two or three guests set in a corner -and half surrounded by a screen; when I raised my eyes from my first -dinner there, they fell on a large painting of the Death of Seneca, a -print of which had been familiar to my childhood; and thus memory was ever -invoked in Venice, and her dissolving views reflected in the mirror of the -mind, unbroken by the interruptions from passing life that elsewhere -render them so brief. The mere fact of disembarking at the weedy steps, -the utter silence of the canal, invaded only by the plash of the -gondolier's oar, or his warning cry at the angle, the tessellated pavement -and quaintly-carved furniture of the bedroom, and a certain noiseless step -and secretive gravity observable in the attendants, render the Venetian -inn memorable and distinct in reminiscence, and in perfect harmony with -the place and its associations. - -During the late revolutionary era in Europe, the inn tables of Germany -afforded the most reliable index of political opinion; the free discussion -which was there indulged brought out every variety of sentiment and -theory, as it included all classes, with a due sprinkling of foreigners. -From the old novel to the new farce, indeed, the extremes of public -opinion and the average tone of manners, the laughable _contre-temps_ and -the delightful adventure, are made to reveal themselves at inns, so that -political sects and all vocations are identified with them. To Rip Van -Winkle, the most astonishing change he discovered in his native village, -after his long nap, was the substitution of Washington's likeness for that -of King George on the tavern sign. - -The dark staircase, rising from the mule stable of a _posada_, the bare -chambers, wool-knotted mattresses, odour of garlic, and vegetables -swimming in oil, are items of the Spanish inn not likely to be forgotten -by the epicurean traveller. But good beds and excellent chocolate are to -be found at the most uninviting Spanish inns; and the imaginative -traveller enjoys the privilege of sojourning at the very one where Don -Quixote was knighted. In highly-civilized lands, inns have not only a -national, but a professional character; the sign, the pictures on the -wall, and the company, have a certain individuality,--marine in sailors' -inns, pugilistic in sporting ones, and picturesque in those haunted by -artists; the lines of demarcation are as visible as those which separate -newspapers and shops; in the grand division of labour that signalizes -modern life, the inn also has thus become an organ and a symbol. Even -their mottoes and symbols give traditional suggestions, or emblazon phases -of opinion; natural history has been exhausted in supplying effigies; -mythology has yielded up all her deities and institutions; heroes and -localities are kept fresh in the traveller's imagination by their -association with 'creature comforts.' Thus he dreams of Cromwell at the -'Tumble-down Dick,' and of the Stuarts at the 'King Charles in the Oak,' -the days of chivalry at the 'Star and Garter' or the 'Croix de Malta,' of -brilliant campaigns at the 'Wagram and Montmorency,' of woman's love at -the 'Petrarch and Laura,' and of man's at the 'Freemasons' Tavern.'[1] - -My host at Ravenna had been Byron's purveyor during the poet's residence -there; and he was never weary of descanting upon his character and the -incidents of his sojourn; in fact, upon discovering my interest in the -subject, he forgot the landlord in the _cicerone_, and gave no small part -of a day to accompanying me to the haunts of the bard. Our first visit was -to the Guiccioli Palace, and here he described his lordship's dinners with -the precision and enthusiasm of an antiquarian certifying a document or -medal; then he took me to the Pine Forest, and pointed out the track where -Byron used to wheel his horse at full gallop, and discharge his pistol at -a bottle placed on a stump--exercises preparatory to his Grecian campaign. -At a particular flagstone, in the main street, my guide suddenly paused; -'Signore,' said he 'just as milord had reached this spot one evening, he -heard the report of a musket, and saw an officer fall a few rods in -advance; dismounting, he rushed to his side, and found him to be a -familiar acquaintance, an agent of the government, who had thus become the -victim to private vengeance. Byron had him conveyed to his own apartment -and placed on a bed, where in half an hour he expired. This event made a -deep impression on his mind; he was dispirited for a week, and wrote a -description of death from a shot, which you will find in his poems, -derived from this scene.' With such local anecdotes my Byronic host -entertained me so well, that the departed bard ever since has seemed to -live in my remembrance rather than my fancy. - -Whoever has eaten trout caught in the Arno at the little inn at Tivoli, or -been detained by stress of weather in that of Albano, will not forget the -evidences the walls of both exhibit that rollicking artists have felt at -home there. Such heads and landscapes, caricatures and grotesque animals, -as are there improvised, baffle description. - -A well is the inn of the desert. 'The dragoman usually looks out for some -place of shelter,' says the author of _Over the Lebanon to Balbek_; 'the -shadow of a ruin or the covering of a grove of fig-trees is the most -common, and, if possible, near a well or stream. The first of all -considerations is to reach a spot where you can get water; so that -throughout the East the well answers to the old English "Half-way House," -and road-side "Accommodation for Man and Beast," which gave their cheerful -welcome to the "Tally Ho" and "Red Rover" that flourished before this age -of iron.' - -The pedestrian in Wales sometimes encounters a snug and -beautifully-situated hostel (perhaps the 'Angler's Rest'), where five -minutes beside the parlour fire, and a chat with the landlady or her -pretty daughter, give him so complete a home feeling that it is with -painful reluctance he again straps on his knapsack; at liberty to muse by -the ever-singing tea-kettle if the weather is unpropitious, stroll out in -view of a noble mountain or a fairy lake in the warm sunset, or hear the -news from the last wayfarer in the travellers' room; and there is thus -mingled a sense of personal independence, comfort, and solitude, which is -rarely experienced even in the most favoured domain of hospitality. An -equally winsome but more romantic charm holds the roaming artist who stops -at Albano or Volterra, where the dreamy _campagna_ or Etruscan ruins -alternate with groups of sunburnt _contadini_, lighted up by the -charcoal's glow in a way to fascinate Salvator, before his contented gaze; -his portfolio fills up with miraculous rapidity; and the still life is -agreeably varied by the scenic costumes and figures which grace the -vintage or a _festa_. Some humble Champollion could easily add to the -curiosities of literature by a volume gleaned among inn inscriptions--from -the marble tablet announcing the sojourn of a royal personage, to the rude -caricature on the whitewashed wall, and the sentimental couplet on the -window-pane; to say nothing of the albums which enshrine so many tributes -to Etna and the White Mountains--the heirlooms of Abbaté, the famous -_padrone_ of Catania, and Crawford of the Notch. - -Sicily is famous for the absence of inns, and the intolerable discomfort -of those that do exist; but mine host of Catania was the prince of -landlords. A fine specimen of manly beauty, and with the manners of a -gentleman, he seemed to think his guests entitled to all the courtesy -which should follow an invitation; he made formal calls upon them, and -gave sage advice as to the best way to pass the time; fitted them out with -hospitable skill and experienced counsels for the ascent of Etna, and -brought home choice game from his hunting excursions, as a present to the -'stranger within his gates.' His discourse, too, was of the most bland and -entertaining description; he was 'a fellow of infinite wit, of most -excellent fancy;' and these ministrations derived a memorable charm from a -certain gracefulness and winsome cordiality. No wonder his scrap-book is -filled with eulogiums, and that the traveller in Sicily, by the mere -force of contrast, records in hyperboles the merits of the 'Corona d'Oro.' -Alas for the mutability of inns and their worthy hosts! Abbaté was killed -by an accidental shot, during an _émeute_ in Catania, in 1848. - -The waxed floor, light curtains, and gay paper of a Parisian bedroom, -however cheerful, are the reverse of snug; but in the provincial inns of -the Continent, with less of comfort there is often more historical -interest than in those of England; the stone staircases and floors, and -the scanty furniture are forlorn; and the exuberance of the host's -civility is often in ludicrous contrast with the poverty of his larder. An -hour or two in the dreary _salle-à-manger_ of a provincial French inn on a -rainy day is the acme of a _voyageur's_ depression. The _restaurant_ and -_café_ have superseded the French inns, of whose gastronomic renown and -scenes of intrigue and violence we read in Dumas's historical novels; -romance and tragedy, the convivial and the culinary associations, are -equally prominent. 'Suburban _cabarets_,' observes a popular writer, 'were -long dangerous rendezvous for Parisians;' before and during the Grand -Monarque's reign the French taverns were representative, the army, court, -men of letters, and even ecclesiastics having their favourite haunt: -Molière went to the 'Croix de Lorraine,' and Racine to the 'Mouton Blanc;' -the actors met at 'Les Deux Faisans;' one of the last of the old-school -Parisian landladies--she who kept the 'Maison Rouge'--is celebrated in -Béranger's _Madame Gregoire_; Ravaillac went from a tavern to assassinate -Henry the Fourth; and fashionable orgies were carried on in the 'Temple -Cellars.' It is not uncommon to find ourselves in a friar's dormitory, the -large hotels in the minor towns having frequently been erected as -convents; and in Italy, such an inn as that of Terracina, with its legends -of banditti and its romantic site, the waves of the Mediterranean moaning -under its lofty windows, infallibly recalls Mrs. Radcliffe. In the cities -many of the hotels are palaces where noble families have dwelt for -centuries, and about them are perceptible the traces of decayed -magnificence and the spell of traditional glory and crime. To an -imaginative traveller these fanciful attractions often compensate for the -absence of substantial merit, and there is something mysterious and -winsome in the obsolete architecture and fallen grandeur of these -edifices;--huge shadows glide along the high cornices, the mouldy frescoes -look as if they had witnessed strange vicissitudes, and the imagination -readily wanders through a series of wonderful experiences of which these -old _palazzi_ have been the scene. Here, as elsewhere in the land, it is -the romantic element, the charm of antiquity, that is the redeeming -feature. For picturesque beauty of situation, neatness, and rural comfort, -some of the inns of Switzerland are the most delightful on the Continent, -inviting the stranger to linger amid the clear, fresh, and glorious -landscape, and relish the sweet butter, white bread, and unrivalled honey -and eggs, served so neatly every morning by a fair mountaineer with snowy -cap and gay bodice. - -I am a lover of the woods, and sometimes cross the bay, with a friend, to -Long Island, and pass a few hours in the strip of forest that protected -our fugitive army at the Battle of Flatbush; there are devious and shadowy -paths intersecting it, and in spring and autumn the wild flowers, radiant -leaves, and balmy stillness cheer the mind and senses, fresh from the dust -and bustle of the city. Often after one of these woodland excursions we -have emerged upon a quiet road, with farm-houses at long intervals, and -orchards and grain-fields adjacent, and followed its course to a village, -whose gable-roofed domicile and ancient graveyard indicate an old -settlement; and here is a little inn which recalls our idea of the -primitive English alehouse. It has a little Dutch porch, a sunny garden, -the liquor is served from the square bottles of Holland, the back parlour -is retired and neat, and the landlady sits all day in the window at her -sewing, and, when a little acquainted, will tell you all about the -love-affairs of the village; the cheese and sour-krout at dinner suggest a -Flemish origin. - -The old sign that hangs at the road-side was brought to this country by an -English publican, when the fine arts were supposed to be at so low a stage -as to furnish no Dick Tinto equal to such an achievement. It represents -the arms of Great Britain, and doubtless beguiled many a trooper of his -Majesty when Long Island was occupied by the English; no sooner, however, -had they retreated, than the republican villagers forced the landlord to -have an American eagle painted above the king's escutcheon. Indeed, it is -characteristic of inns that they perpetuate local associations: put your -head into an Italian boarding-house in New York, and the garlic, macaroni, -and red wine lead you to think yourself at Naples; the snuff, dominoes, -and gazettes mark a French _café_ all the world over; in Montreal you wake -up in a room like that you occupied at Marseilles; and at Halifax the malt -liquor is as English as the currency. - -'The sports of the inn yards' are noted often in the memoirs of -Elizabeth's reign. In a late biography of Lord Bacon, his brother Anthony -is spoken of as 'having taken a house in Bishopsgate Street, near the -famous "Ball Inn," where plays are performed before cits and gentlemen, -very much to the delight of Essex and his jovial crew.' And in allusion to -the Earl's conspiracy, the lower class of inns then and there are thus -described: 'From kens like the "Hart's Horn" and the "Shipwreck Tavern," -haunts of the vilest refuse of a great city, the spawn of hells and stews, -the vomit of Italian cloisters and Belgian camps, Blount, long familiar -with the agents of disorder, unkennels in the Earl's name a pack of needy -ruffians eager for any device that seems to promise pay to their greed or -licence to their lust.' It has been justly remarked by Letitia Landon, -that 'after all, the English hostel owes much of its charm to Chaucer; our -associations are of his haunting pictures--his delicate prioress, his -comely young squire, with their pleasant interchange of tale and legend:' -still less remote and more personal associations endear and identify these -landmarks of travel and sojourn in Great Britain. Scarcely a pleasant -record of life or manners, during the last century, is destitute of one of -these memorable resorts. Addison frequented the 'White Horn,' at the end -of Holland House Lane. When Sir Walter Scott visited Wordsworth, he daily -strolled to the 'Swan,' beyond Grasmere, to atone for the plain fare of -the bard's cottage. 'We four,' naïvely writes the Rev. Archibald Carlyle, -speaking of his literary comrades, 'frequently resorted to a small tavern -at the corner of Cockspur Street, the "Golden Ball," where we had a frugal -supper and a little punch, as the finances of none of the company were in -very good order; but we had rich enough conversation on literary subjects, -enlivened by Smollett's agreeable stories, which he told with peculiar -grace.' And his more than clerical zest for such a rendezvous is apparent -in his notice of another favourite inn: 'It was during this assembly that -the inn at the lower end of the West Bow got into some credit, and was -called the "Diversorium." Thomas Nicholson was the man's name, and his -wife's Nelly Douglas. Nelly was handsome, Thomas a rattling fellow.' Here -often met Robertson the historian, Horne the dramatist, Hume, Jardine, and -other notable men of the Scotch metropolis. To facilitate their -intercourse when in London, they also 'established a club at a -coffee-house in Saville Row, and dined together daily at three with -Wedderburn and Jack Dalrymple.' By the same candid autobiographer we are -informed that, at a tavern 'in Fleet Street, a physicians' club met, had -original papers laid before them, and always waited supper for Dr. -Armstrong to order.' These casual allusions indicate the essential -convenience and social importance of the inn, before clubs had superseded -them in Britain, and _cafés_ on the Continent. A writer, whose _Itinerary_ -is dated 1617, thus describes entertainment at the English inns of his -day: 'As soone as a passenger comes to an inne, the servants run to him, -and one takes his horse and walkes him about till he is cool, then rubs -him down and gives him feed; another servant gives the passenger his -private chamber, and kindles his fire; the third pulls off his bootes and -makes them cleane; then the host and hostess visit him, and if he will -eate with the hoste, or at a common table with the others, his meale will -cost him sixpence, or, in some places, fourpence; but if he will eate in -his own chamber, he commands what meat he will, according to his appetite; -yea, the kitchen is open to him to order the meat to be dressed as he -likes beste. After having eaten what he pleases, he may with credit set by -a part for next day's breakfast. His bill will then be written for him, -and should he object to any charge, the host is ready to alter it.' An -Italian nobleman of our own day,[2] his appreciation of free discussion -quickened by political exile, was much impressed with the influence and -agency of the English inn in public affairs. 'Taverns,' he writes, 'are -the forum of the English; it was here that arose the triumph of Burdett -when he left the Tower, and the curses of Castlereagh when he descended -into the tomb; it is here that begins the censure or the approval of a new -law.' - -Charles Lamb delighted to smoke his pipe at the old 'Queen's Head,' and to -quaff ale from the tankard presented by one Master Cranch (a choice -spirit) to a former host, and in the old oak-parlour where tradition says -'the gallant Raleigh received full souse in his face the contents of a -jolly black-jack from an affrighted clown, who, seeing clouds of tobacco -smoke curling from the knight's mouth and nose, thought he was all on -fire.' - -'A relic of old London is fast disappearing,' says a journal of that -city--'the "Blue Boar Inn," or the "George and Blue Boar," as it came to -be called later, in Holborn. For more than two hundred years this was one -of the famous coaching-houses, where stages arrived from the Northern and -Midland counties. It is more famous still as being the place--if Lord -Orrery's chaplain, Morrice, may be credited--where Cromwell and Ireton, -disguised as troopers, cut from the saddle-flap of a messenger a letter -which they knew to be there, from Charles the First to Henrietta Maria.' - -The 'Peacock,' at Matlock on the Derwent, was long the chosen resort of -artists, botanists, geologists, lawyers, and anglers; and perhaps at no -rural English inn of modern times has there been more varied and gifted -society than occasionally convened in this romantic district, under its -roof. - -The 'Hotel Gibbon,' at Lausanne, suggests to one familiar with English -literature the life of that historian, so naïvely described by himself, -and keeps alive the associations of his elaborate work in the scene of its -production; and nightly colloquies, that are embalmed and embodied in -genial literature, immortalize the 'sky-blue parlour' at Ambrose's -'Edinburgh Tavern.' - -Few historical novelists have more completely mastered the details of -costume, architecture, and social habits in the old times of England, than -James; and his description of the inns of Queen Anne's day is as elaborate -as it is complete: 'Landlords in England at that time--I mean, of course, -in country towns--were very different in many respects, and of a different -class, from what they are at present. In the first place, they were not -fine gentlemen; in the next place, they were not discharged -_valets-de-chambre_ or butlers, who, having cheated their masters -handsomely, and perhaps laid them under contribution in many ways, retire -to enjoy the fat things at their ease in their native town. Then, again, -they were on terms of familiar intercourse with two or three classes, -completely separate and distinct from each other--a sort of connecting -link between them. At their door, the justice of the peace, the knight of -the shire, the great man of the neighbourhood, dismounted from his horse, -and had his chat with mine host. There came the village lawyer, when he -gained a cause, or won a large fee, or had been paid a long bill, to -indulge in his pint of sherry, and gossiped as he drank it of all the -affairs of his clients. There sneaked in the doctor to get his glass of -_eau-de-vie_, or plague-water, or _aqua mirabilis_, or strong spirits, in -short, of any other denomination, and tell little dirty anecdotes of his -cases and his patients. There the alderman, the wealthy shopkeeper, and -the small proprietor, or the large farmer, came to take his cheerful cup -on Saturdays, or on market-day. But, besides these, the inn was the -resort--though approached by another door--of a lower and a poorer class, -with whom the landlord was still upon as good terms as with the others. -The wagoner, the carter, the lawyer's and the banker's clerk, the shopman, -the porter even, all came there; the landlord was civil, and familiar, and -chatty with them all.' - -Geoffrey Crayon's 'Shakspearian Research' culminated at the 'Boar Head,' -Eastcheap; his story of the 'Spectre Bridegroom' was appropriately related -in the kitchen of the 'Pomme d'Or,' in the Netherlands; and he makes Rip's -congenial retreat from his virago spouse, the 'coin of vantage' in front -of the village inn. Irving's own appreciation of these vagabond shrines -and accidental homes is emphatic; he commends the 'honest bursts of -laughter in which a man indulges in that temple of true liberty, an inn,' -and quotes zestfully the maxim that 'a tavern is the rendezvous, the -exchange, the staple of good fellows.' His personal testimony is -characteristic: 'To a homeless man there is a momentary feeling of -independence, as he stretches himself before an inn fire: the arm-chair is -his throne, the poker is his sceptre, and the little parlour his -undisputed empire.' How little did the modest author imagine, when he thus -wrote, that the poker with which he stirred the fire in the parlour-grate -of the 'Red Lion' would become a sacred literary relic wherewith his -partial countrymen are beguiled of extra fees, while the bard of Avon and -the gentleman of Sunnyside mingle in the reverie of fond reminiscence. - -'I went by an indirect route to Lichfield,' writes Hawthorne, in his -English sketches, 'and put up at the "Black Swan." Had I known where to -find it, I would rather have established myself at the inn kept by Mr. -Boniface, and so famous for its ale in Farquhar's time.' Gossip and -gaiety, the poor man's arena and the 'breathing-time of day' of genius, -thus give to the inn a kind of humane scope. Beethoven, wearied of his -palace-home and courtly patronage, and the 'stately houses open to him in -town and country, often forsook all for solitude in obscure inns, escaping -from all conventionalities to be alone with himself.' '_Nous voyons_,' -says Brillat-Savarin, '_que les villageois font toutes les affaires au -cabaret_;' Rousseau delighted in the frugal liberty thereof; and the last -days of Elia are associated with the inn which was the goal of his daily -promenade. 'After Isola married,' writes one of his friends, 'and Mary was -infirm, he took his lonely walk along the London road, as far as the "Bell -of Edmonton;" and one day tripped over a stone and slightly wounded his -forehead; erysipelas set in, and he died.' Somewhat of the attractiveness -of the inn to the philosopher is that its temporary and casual shelter and -solace accord with the counsel of Sydney Smith, 'to take short views,' and -Goëthe's, to 'cast ourselves into the sea of accidents;' and a less -amiable reason for the partiality has been suggested in 'the wide -capability of finding fault which an inn affords.' A genial picture of one -is thus drawn by a modern poet:-- - - 'This cosy hostelrie a visit craves; - Here will I sit awhile, - And watch the heavenly sunshine smile - Upon the village graves. - Strange is this little room in which I wait, - With its old table, rough with rustic names. - 'Tis summer now; instead of blinking flames, - Sweet-smelling ferns are hanging o'er the grate. - With curious eyes I pore - Upon the mantel-piece, with precious wares; - Glazed Scripture prints, in black, lugubrious frames, - Filled with old Bible lore: - The whale is casting Jonah on the shore; - Pharaoh is drowning in the curly wave; - And to Elijah, sitting at his cave, - The hospitable ravens fly in pairs, - Celestial food within their horny beaks; - On a slim David, with great pinky cheeks, - A towered Goliath stares. - Here will I sit at peace, - While, piercing through the window's ivy veil, - A slip of sunshine smites the amber ale; - And as the wreaths of fragrant smoke increase, - I'll read the letter which came down to-day.'[3] - -As a contrast to this, take Longfellow's 'Wayside Inn,' at Sudbury, -Massachusetts:-- - - 'As ancient is this hostelry - As any in the land may be, - Built in the old colonial day, - When men lived in a grander way, - With ampler hospitality; - A kind of old Hobgoblin hall, - Now somewhat fallen to decay, - With weather-stains upon the wall, - And stairways worn, and crazy doors, - And creaking and uneven floors, - And chimneys huge and tiled and tall. - A region of repose it seems, - A place of slumber and of dreams, - Remote among the wooded hills!' - -The facilities of modern travel and its vast increase, while they have -modified the characteristic features of the inn, have given it new -economical importance; and, not long since, the American hotel-system was -earnestly discussed in the English and French journals, as a substitute -for the European: the method by which all the wants of the traveller are -supplied at an established price per diem, instead of the details of -expense and the grades of accommodation in vogue abroad. In Paris, London, -some of the West India Islands, and elsewhere, the American hotel has, in -a measure, succeeded. But it is in its historical and social aspect that -we find the interest of the subject; as regards convenience, economy, and -comfort, the question can perhaps only be met in an eclectic spirit, each -country having its own merits and demerits as regards the provision for -public entertainment of man and beast. The inns of Switzerland will bear -the test of reminiscence better than those of any other part of the -Continent; the solitary system of the English inn is objectionable; -discomfort is proverbial in Havannah hotels; the garden-tables and music -in the German hostels are pleasant social features; and, with all their -frugal resources, the farm-stations in Norway boast the charm of a candid -and _naïve_ hospitality which sweetens the humble porridge of the weary -traveller. 'It is scarcely credible,' says an 'unprotected female,' in her -record of travel there, 'that such pre-adamite simplicity of heart still -exists on earth.' In pictures and diaries, the German landlord is always -light-haired, and holds a beer tankard; and the hotels in the British West -Indies, according to a recent traveller, are always kept by 'fat, -middle-aged, coloured ladies, who have no husbands.' Rose, writing to -Hallam from Italy, hints the union of romantic and classical associations -which some of the inns conserve and inspire; that of 'Civita Castellana,' -he remarks, 'is on the classic route from Rome to Florence, and is a type -of the large Italian inns, such as one finds in romances: balconies, -terraces, flowers of the south, large courts open for -post-chaises--nothing is wanting.' When Heine visited Germany, he tells us -how the conservative habits of his fatherland newly impressed him in the -familiar and old-fashioned dishes, 'sour-krout, stuffed chestnuts in -green cabbages, stockfish swimming in butter, eggs and bloaters, sausages, -fieldfares, roasted angels with apple-sauce, and goose.' - -In mediæval times, in that part of Europe, from the isolation of inns they -were emphatically the places to find an epitome of the age--soldiers, -monks, noblemen, and peasants surrounded the same stove, shared the -contents of the same pot, and often the straw which formed their common -bed; the proverb was, 'Inns are not built for one.' The salutations, -benisons, and curses; the motley guests, the lack of privacy, the -_trinkgeld_ and stirrup-cup, the murders and amours, the converse and -precautions, the orgies and charities thereof; were each and all -characteristic of the unsettled state of society, the diversities of rank, -the common necessities, and the priestly, military, and boorish elements -of life and manners. But the rarity of any public-house, as we understand -the term, is more characteristic of those times than the incongruous -elements therein occasionally exhibited. 'There seems,' says an ancient -historian, 'to have been no inns or houses of entertainment for the -reception of travellers during the middle ages. This is a proof of the -little intercourse which took place between different nations. The duty of -hospitality was so necessary in that state of society, that it was -enforced by statutes; it abounded, and secured the stranger a kind -reception under any roof where he chose to take shelter.'[4] - -On first entering an inn at Havre-de-Grace, I found the landlady taking -leave of the captain of an American packet ship. He had paid his bill, not -without some remonstrance, and his smiling hostess, with true French tact, -was now in the act of bidding so pleasing a farewell as would lure him to -take up his quarters there on the return voyage. She had purchased at the -market a handsome bouquet, and tied it up jauntily with ribbons. The ruddy -sea-dog face of the captain was half turned aside with a look of -impatience at the idea of being inveigled into good-nature after her -extortion; but she, not a whit discouraged, held her flowers up to him, -and smiling, with her fair hand on his rough dread-naught overcoat, turned -full to his eye a sprig of yellow blossom, and with irresistible _naïveté_ -whispered,--'_Mon cher Capitaine, c'est immortel comme mon attachement -pour vous_.' It was a little scene worthy of Sterne, and brought the -agreeableness and the imposition of the innkeepers of the Continent at -once before me. One evening, in Florence, I was sent for by a countryman, -who lodged at the most famous hotel in that city, and found him -perambulating his apartment under strong excitement of mind. He told me, -with much emotion, that the last time he had visited Florence was twenty -years before, with his young and beautiful wife. The belle of the season -that winter was the Marchesa ----. She gave a magnificent ball, and in the -midst of the festivities took the young American couple into her boudoir, -and sung to them with her harp. Her vocal talent was celebrated, but it -was a rare favour to hear her, and this attention was prized accordingly. -'You know,' added my friend, 'that I came abroad to recover the health -which grief at my wife's death so seriously impaired; and you know how -unavailing has proved the experiment. On my arrival here I inquired for -the best inn, and was directed hither; upon entering this chamber, which -was assigned me, something in the frescoes and tiles struck me as -familiar; they awoke the most vivid associations, and at last I remembered -that this is the very room to which the beautiful Marchesa brought us to -hear her sing on that memorable evening; the family are dispersed, and her -palace is rented for an hotel; hence this coincidence.' - -Among the minor local associations to be enjoyed at Rome, not the least -common and suggestive are those which belong to the old 'Bear Inn,' where -Montaigne lodged. Not only the vicissitudes but the present fortunes of -European towns are indicated by the inns. I arrived at ancient Syracuse at -sunset on a spring afternoon, and dismounted at an inn that looked like an -episcopal residence or government house, so lofty and broad were the -dimensions of the edifice; but not a person was visible in the spacious -court, and as I wandered up the staircases and along the corridors, no -sound but the echo of my steps was audible. At length a meagre attendant -emerged from an obscure chamber, and explained that this grand pile was -erected in anticipation of the American squadron in the Mediterranean -making their winter quarters in the harbour of Syracuse: a project -abandoned at the earnest request of the King of Naples, who dreaded the -example of a republican marine in his realm; and then so rarely did a -visitor appear, that the poor lonely waiter was thrown into a fit of -surprise, from which he did not recover during my stay. - -To the stranger, no more characteristic evidence of our material -prosperity and gregarious habits can be imagined than that afforded by the -large, showy, and thronged hotels of our principal cities. They are -epitomes of the whole country; at a glance they reveal the era of -upholstery, the love of ostentation, the tendency to live in herds, and -the absence of a subdued and harmonious tone of life and manners. The -large mirrors and bright carpets which decorate these resorts are entirely -incongruous--the brilliancy of the sunshine and the stimulating nature of -the climate demand within doors a predominance of neutral tints to relieve -and freshen the eye and nerves. It is characteristic of that devotion to -the immediate which De Tocqueville ascribes to republican institutions, -that these extravagant and gregarious establishments in our country are so -often named after living celebrities in the mercantile, literary, and -political world. This custom gives those who enjoy this distinction while -living 'the freedom of the house.' It greatly amused the friends of our -modest Geoffery Crayon, when, encouraged by his affectionate kinswoman -and his friend Kennedy to 'travel on his capital,' under the pressure of -necessity he once thus desperately claimed the privileges of his honoured -name, wherefrom his sensitive nature habitually shrunk. 'I arrived in town -safe,' he writes from New York to his niece, 'and proceeded to the "Irving -House," where I asked for a room. What party had I with me? None. Had I -not a lady with me? No; I was alone. I saw my chance was a bad one, and I -feared to be put in a dungeon as I was on a former occasion. I bethought -myself of your advice; and so, when the book was presented to me, wrote my -name at full length--"from Sunnyside." I was ushered into an apartment on -the first floor, furnished with rosewood, yellow damask, and pier-glasses, -with a bed large enough for an alderman and his wife, a bath-room -adjoining. In a word, I was accommodated completely _en prince_. The negro -waiters all call me by name, and vie with each other in waiting on me. The -chambermaid has been at uncommon pains to put my room in first-rate order; -and if she had been pretty, I absolutely should have kissed her; but as -she was not, I shall reward her in sordid coin. Henceforth I abjure all -modesty with hotel-keepers, and will get as much for my name as it will -fetch. Kennedy calls it travelling on one's capital.' - -The extravagant scale upon which these establishments are conducted is -another national feature, at once indicating the comparative ease with -which money is acquired in the New World, and the passion that exists here -for keeping up appearances. It would be useful to investigate the -influence of hotel life in this country upon manners: whatever may be the -result as to the coarser sex, its effect upon women and children is -lamentable--lowering the tone, compromising the taste, and yielding -incessant and promiscuous excitement to the love of admiration; the change -in the very nature of young girls, thus exposed to an indiscriminate -crowd, is rapid and complete; modesty and refinement are soon lost in -over-consciousness and moral hardihood. But, perhaps, the most singular -trait in the American hotel is the deference paid to the landlord: instead -of being the servant of the public, he is apparently the master; and a -traveller who makes the now rapid transition from a New York to a -Liverpool hotel, might think himself among a different race; the courteous -devotion, almost subserviency, in the one case, being in total contrast -with the nonchalance and even despotism of the other. The prosperous -security of the host with us, and the dependence of his guest for any -choice of accommodation, is doubtless the most obvious reason for this -anomaly; but it is also, in a degree at least, to be referred to the -familiarity with which even gentlemen treat the innkeepers. To use a -vulgar phrase, they descend to curry favour and minister to the -self-esteem of a class of men in whom it is already pampered beyond -endurable bounds. No formula of republican equality justifies this -behaviour; and it usually reacts unfavourably for the self-respect of the -individual. Some foreigner remarked, with as much truth as irony, that our -aristocracy consisted of hotel-keepers and steamboat captains; and -appearances certainly warrant the sarcasm. It was not always thus. When -Washington lodged at the old Walton Mansion-house, which had been -converted to an inn, the old negro who kept it was the ideal of a host; an -air of dignity as well as comfort pervaded the house; through the open -upper half of the broad door played the sunshine upon the sanded -threshold; at the head of the long easy staircase ticked the old-fashioned -clock; full-length portraits, by Copley, graced the parlour wall; the old -Dutch stoop looked the emblem of hospitality; no angular figures were -ranged to squirt tobacco-juice; no pert clerks lorded it from behind a -mahogany barricade; but the glow of the windows at night, the alacrity of -the sedate waiter, the few but respectable guests, and the prolonged -meals, of which but two or three partook, gave to the inn the character of -a home. Lafayette wrote to his wife in 1777, while descanting with -enthusiasm upon the simplicity of manners in this country: 'The very inns -are different from those in Europe; the host and hostess sit at table with -you, and do the honours of a comfortable meal; and, on going away, you pay -your fare without higgling.' An English traveller, who visited this -country soon after the Revolutionary War, speaks of the 'uncomplying -temper of the landlords of the country inns in America.' 'They will not,' -says another, 'bear the treatment we too often give ours at home. They -feel themselves in some degree independent of travellers, as all of them -have other occupations to follow; nor will they put themselves into a -bustle on your account; but with good language they are very civil, and -will accommodate you as well as they can. The general custom of having two -or three beds in a room, to be sure, is very disagreeable; it arises from -the great increase of travelling within the last few years, and the -smallness of their houses, which were not built for houses of -entertainment.' - -It is a most significant indication of our devotion to the external, that -ovations at which the legislators of the land discourse, and eulogies that -fill the columns of the best journals, celebrate the opening of a new -tavern, or the retirement of a publican. The confined and altitudinous -cells into which so many of the complacent victims of these potentates are -stowed, and their habits of subserviency to the rules of the house which -are perked up on their chamber-walls, induced a Sicilian friend of mine to -complain that sojourners at inns in this land of liberty were treated like -friars. The gorgeous luxury of the metropolitan inns is reversed in the -small towns, where, without the picturesque situation, we often find the -discomfort of the Continent. - -Under date of March 4, 1634, John Winthrop, first governor of -Massachusetts, records in his journal: 'Samuel Cole set up the first house -of common entertainment' in Boston. According to the famous literary ruse -of Irving and Wirt, Knickerbocker's facetious history and the _Letters of -a British Spy_ were found in the inn-chamber of a departed traveller. Of -old, the American inn, or tavern as it was called, subserved a great -variety of purposes. One of New England's local historians says:-- - -'The taverns of olden time were the places of resort for gentlemen; and -one consequence was, good suppers and deep drinking. They also performed -the office of newspapers. The names posted on the several tavern-doors -were a sufficient notice for jurors. Saturday afternoon was the time when -men came from all quarters of the town to see and hear all they could at -the tavern, where politics and theology, trade, barter, and taxes, were -all mixed up together over hot flip and strong toddy. - -'The taverns served also as places for marketing. During most of the -winter they were filled every night with farmers, who had brought their -pork, butter, grain, seeds, and poultry to market. Most families supplied -themselves through these opportunities, and purchased the best articles at -moderate prices. - -'Landlords could not grow rich very fast on country custom. The travelling -farmer brought all his food for himself in a box, and that for his horse -in a bag. He therefore paid only twelve cents for his bed, and as much for -horse-keeping. It was not uncommon to have six days' expenses amount only -to two dollars. Auctions, theatricals, legerdemain, caucuses, military -drills, balls, and dancing-schools, all came in place at the tavern. -Especially, sleigh-riding parties found them convenient.'[5] - -'You will not go into one,' wrote Brissot in 1788, 'without meeting with -neatness, decency, and dignity. The table is served by a maiden, -well-dressed and pretty, by a pleasant mother whose age has not effaced -the agreeableness of her features, and by men who have that air of -respectability which is inspired by the idea of equality, and are not -ignoble and base, like the greater part of our own tavern-keepers.' In -1792, Wansey, the commercial traveller already cited, tells us he lodged -at the 'Bunch of Grapes,' in Boston, and paid five shillings a day, -including a pint of Madeira. He had an interview with Citizen Genet and -Dr. Priestley at the 'Tontine,' near the Battery in New York; and saw -Frenchmen with tricolour cockades at the 'Indian Queen,' on the Boston -road;--trivial data for his journal then, and yet now suggestive of the -political and economical condition of the land, whereof even tavern bills -and company are no inadequate test. A sagacious reminiscent informs us -that 'the taverns of Boston were the original business exchanges: they -combined the Counting-house, the Exchange-office, the Reading-room, and -the Bank; each represented a locality. To the "Lamb Tavern," called by the -sailors "sheep's baby," people went to "see a man from Dedham"--it was the -resort of Norfolk County; the old "Eastern Stage-house," in Ann Street, -was frequented by "down-easters," captains of vessels, formerly from the -Penobscot and Kennebec; there were to be seen groups of sturdy men seated -round an enormous fireplace, chalking down the price of bark and lumber, -and skippers bringing in a vagrant tarpaulin to "sign the articles." To -the "Exchange Coffee-house" resorted the nabobs of Essex County; here -those aristocratic eastern towns, Newburyport and Portsmouth, were -represented by shipowners and shipbuilders, merchants of the first class. -Dealers in butter and cheese went to the "City Tavern," in Brattle -Street--a favourite sojourn of "members of the General Court,"--its -court-yard crowded with teams loaded with the best pork from Vermont and -Western Massachusetts, and the "wooden notions" of Yankee rustics. The -last of the old Boston taverns was the once famous "Elm-street House," a -rendezvous of stage-coaches, teams, and transient boarders, which was kept -up in the old style until fairly drawn from the field by "modern -improvements."' Indeed, this slight mention of the functions and fortunes -of inns in the New England metropolis hints, more than a volume of -statistics, the progress of her growth and the cause of her social -transitions; locomotion has completely done away with the local affinities -of the past, and emigration modified the individuality of class and -character which of old gave such special interest to the inn; we are too -gregarious, luxurious, and hurried to indulge in these primitive -expedients. - -At the old 'Raleigh Tavern,' in Virginia--not long since destroyed by -fire,--Patrick Henry lodged when he made his memorable _début_, as a -patriotic orator, in the House of Burgesses; and it was in a chamber of -this inn that he prepared his speeches, and that the great leading men of -the Revolution, in that State, assembled to consult. Some of the inns in -Canada are named after the Indian chiefs mentioned in the earliest records -of exploration by Cartier. At the 'Frauncis Tavern,' in New York, -Washington took leave of his officers, and the 'Social Club,' still famous -in the annals of the city, met. Military men appreciate good inns; -Washington wrote to Frauncis, and Lafayette praised him. One of the latest -of memorable associations connected with the inns of New York, is that -which identifies the 'City Hotel' with the naval victories of the last war -with England. No one who listened to the musical voice of the late Ogden -Hoffman, as he related to the St. Nicholas Society at their annual banquet -his personal memories of that favourite hotel, will fail to realize the -possible dramatic and romantic interest which may attach to such a resort, -even in our unromantic times and in the heart of a commercial city. -Visions of naval heroes, of belles in the dance, witty coteries and -distinguished strangers, political crises and social triumphs, flitted -vividly before the mind as the genial reminiscent called up the men, -women, _fêtes_, and follies there known. A recent English traveller in -the United States, in alluding to the resemblance he discovered to what -was familiar at home, speaks of one relic which has caught the eye of few -as suggestive of the old country. 'There is,' he observes, 'in Baltimore -an old inn, with an old sign, standing at the corner of Eutaw and Franklin -streets, just such as may still be seen in the towns of Somersetshire; and -before it are to be seen old wagons, covered and soiled and battered, -about to return from the city to the country, just as the wagons do in our -own agricultural counties.'[6] - -How near to us the record of 'baiting at an inn' brings the renowned! -'After dinner,' writes Washington in the diary of his second visit to New -England, 'through frequent showers we proceeded to the tavern of a Mrs. -Haviland, at Rye, who keeps a very neat and decent inn.' Mendelssohn, -ideal as was his tone of mind, wrote zestfully to his sister:--'A neat, -civil Frenchwoman keeps the inn on the summit of the Simplon; and it would -not be easy to describe the sensation of satisfaction caused by its -thrifty cleanliness, which is nowhere to be found in Italy.' Lockhart, -when an assiduous Oxford scholar, found his choicest recreation in 'a -quiet row on the river, and a fish-dinner at Godstow;' and there is not -one of his surviving associates, says his biographer, 'who fails to look -back at this moment, with melancholy pleasure, on the brilliant wit, the -merry song, and the grave discussion which gave to the sanded parlour of -the village alehouse the air of the Palæstra at Tusculum, or the Amaltheum -of Cumæ.' - -It is impossible to conceive any house of entertainment more dreary than -some of the stage-houses, as they were called in New England; the bar-room -with an odour of stale rum, the parlour with its everlasting sampler over -the fireplace, weeping willow, tombstone, and inscription; the peacock's -feathers or asparagus boughs in the chimney, as if in cheerful mockery; -the looking-glass that reflects every feature awry, the cross-lights of -the windows, inquisitive loungers, pie-crust like leather, and cheese of -mollified oak,--all defied both the senses and digestion, and made the -crack of the coachman's whip a joyful alarum. - -The inns near famous localities identify themselves to the memory with the -most attractive objects of travel; thus the inn, so rural and neat, at -Edensor, with the marvels of Chatsworth; the 'Red Horse,' at -Stratford-on-Avon, with Shakspeare's tomb; and the 'Nag's Head,' at -Uttoxeter, with Johnson's penance. It was while 'waiting for the train,' -at an inn of Coventry, that Tennyson so gracefully paraphrased the legend -of Godiva; and the sign of the 'Flitch' is associated with the famous -bequest of the traditional patron of conjugal harmony. 'A wayside inn at -which we tarried, in Derbyshire, I fancied must have sheltered Moreland or -Gainsborough, when caught in the rain, while sketching in that region. The -landlady had grenadier proportions and red cheeks; a few peasants were -drinking ale beneath a roof whence depended flitches of bacon, and with -the frocks, the yellow hair, and the full, ruddy features we see in their -pictures; the windows of the best room had little diamond-shaped panes, in -which sprigs of holly were stuck. There were several ancient engravings in -quaint-looking frames on the wall; the chairs and desk were of dark-veined -wood that shone with the polish of many a year's friction; a great fire -blazed in the chimney, and the liquor was served in vessels only seen on -this other side of the water, in venerable prints. It was an hostel where -you would not be surprised to hear the crack of Tony Lumpkin's whip, or to -see the Vicar of Wakefield rush in, in search of Olivia--an alehouse that, -you knew at once, had often given "an hour's importance to the poor man's -heart," and where Parson Adams or Squire Western would have felt -themselves entirely at home.'[7] - -Goldsmith has genially celebrated the humble, rustic inn in the _Deserted -Village_, and his own habits confirmed the early predilection. 'His -favourite festivity,' says one of his biographers, 'his holiday of -holidays, was to have three or four intimate friends to breakfast with him -at ten, to start at eleven for a walk through the fields to Highbury Barn, -where they dined at an ordinary, frequented by authors, templars, and -retired citizens, for tenpence a head; to return at six to "White's," -Conduit Street, and to end the evening with a supper at the "Grecian," or -"Temple Exchange Coffee-house." The whole of the expense of the day's -_fête_ never exceeded a crown, for which the party obtained "good air, -good living, and good conversation."' 'He, Goldsmith, however,' adds -Foster, 'would leave a tavern if his jokes were not rewarded with a roar.' -One of Ben Jonson's best comedies is the _New Inn_, and Southey's most -popular ballad is _Mary of the Inn_. Chaucer makes his Canterbury pilgrims -set out from an inn at Southwark. We all remember the inns described by -Scott. Elliston's 'larks' at the 'White Hart' and 'Red Cow' were comical -episodes, that read like a _vaudeville_. _She Stoops to Conquer_, -_L'Auberge Pleine_, and _The Double-bedded Room_, are a few of the -countless standard plays of which an inn is the scene. 'What befell them -at the Inn,' is the heading of Don Quixote's best chapters, for the knight -always mistook inns for castles. Grammont's adventures frequently boast -the same scene, and it was 'in the worst room of the worst inn' that the -accomplished, and dissolute Villiers died. Foote frequented the 'Bedford' -in Covent Garden, and old Macklin doffed the buskin for the apron and -carver. Philosophers, from Horace at the inn of Brundusium, to Montaigne -noting the furniture, dishes, and prices at the inns where he rested on -his journey into Italy, have found this a most suggestive and -characteristic theme. - -In German university towns, the professors frequent the 'Hereditary -Prince,' or some other inn, at evening, to drink beer, smoke pipes, and -discuss metaphysics. The jocose reproof which Lamb administers to the -sentimental donor of _Coelebs_ was-- - - 'If ever I marry a wife, - I'll marry a landlord's daughter, - And sit in the bar all day, - And drink cold brandy and water.' - -Quaintly pious is the allusion of John Winthrop, in a letter--more than -two centuries old--to his father, the first governor of Massachusetts, -when the project of immigration was about to be realized: 'For the -business of New England, I can say no other thing but that I believe -confidently that the whole disposition thereof is from the Lord; and, for -myself, I have seen so much of the vanity of the world, that I esteem no -more of the diversities of countries than as so many inns, whereof the -traveller that hath lodged in the best or in the worst findeth no -difference when he cometh to his journey's end.'[8] - -It has been said of Socrates that he 'looked upon himself as a traveller -who halts at the public inn of the Earth.' 'Was I in a condition to -stipulate with death,' writes Sterne, 'I should certainly declare against -submitting to it before my friends, and therefore I never seriously think -upon the mode and the manner of this great catastrophe, but I constantly -draw the curtain across it with this wish, that the Disposer of all things -may so order it, that it happen not to me in my own house, but rather in -some decent inn.' Aaron Burr realized in a forlorn manner Yorick's desire -when, after years of social ostracism, he expired at a tavern on Staten -Island. - -The beautiful significance of the first incident in the life of Christ is -seldom realized, offering, as it does, so wonderful and affecting a -contrast between the humblest mortal vicissitudes in the outward -circumstances of birth and the highest glory of a spiritual advent: they -'laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.' It -was to an inn that the Good Samaritan carried the traveller who had -'fallen among thieves.' Joseph's brethren rested at an inn on their way to -Egypt; and it was at the 'Three Taverns,' in the suburbs of Rome, that -Paul was met by the brethren. Venerable as are these allusions in sacred -history, the visible token of the antiquity of inns that strikes our -imagination most vividly is the wine-stains on the marble counter in -Pompeii. - -Falstaff absolutely requires the frame of an inn to make his portrait -intelligible, with the buxom figure of Mrs. Quickly in the background; and -it may safely be asserted that no public house of entertainment has -afforded such world-wide mirth as the 'Boar's Head,' Eastcheap. The freaks -of Tony Lumpkin have their natural scope at an alehouse; and Goldoni's -_Locandiera_ is a fine colloquial piece of real life; even the most -eloquent of England's historians cites the superior inns that existed in -the range of travel there, during the early part of the seventeenth -century, as a reliable evidence of the prosperity and civil advancement of -the nation. These inns are, in fact, the original retreats for 'freedom -and comfort,' whence our pleasant ideas on the subject are derived; they -still exist in some of the rural districts of the kingdom; and the -cleanliness, good fare, and retirement of the old-fashioned English inn, -as well as the freshness and urbanity of the host, wholly justify their -renown. The exigencies of the climate, and the domestic habits of the -people, explain this superiority; where so much enjoyment is sought within -doors, and the national character is reserved and individual, better -provision is naturally made both for the physical well-being and the -privacy of the wayfarer than is required under less inclement skies, and -among a more vivacious and social race. - -A most characteristic note of Boswell's is that which records his idol's -hearty encomiums on a tavern, while dining at one in London. Both the man -and the place then combined to realize the perfection of the idea, for -that dim and multitudinous city invites to secluded conviviality; and that -irritable, dogmatic, yet epicurean sage required the liberty of speech, an -absolute deference, and the solid physical comforts so easily obtained at -a London tavern. There he could make 'inarticulate, animal noises over his -food' without restraint; there he could bring only such companions as -would bear to be contradicted, and there he could refresh body and mind -without fear of intrusion from a printer's devil or needy author. Bores -and duns away, a good listener by, surrounded with pleasant viands and a -cheerful blaze, a man so organized and situated might, without -extravagance, call a tavern-chair the throne of human felicity, and quote -Shenstone's praise of inns with rapture. Beneath this jovial appreciation, -however, there lurks a sad inference; it argues a homeless lot, for lonely -or ungenial must be the residence, contrast with which renders an inn so -attractive; and we must bear in mind that the winsome aspect they wear in -English literature is based on their casual and temporary enjoyment; it is -as recreative, not abiding places, that they are usually introduced; and, -in an imaginative point of view, our sense of the appropriate is gratified -by these landmarks of our precarious destiny, for we are but 'pilgrims and -sojourners on the earth.' Jeremy Taylor compared human life to an inn, and -Archbishop Leighton used to say he would prefer to die in one. - - - - -AUTHORS. - - 'High is our calling, friend! Creative Art, - Whether the instrument of words she use, - Or pencil pregnant with ethereal hues, - Demands the service of a mind and heart, - Though sensitive, yet in their weakest part - Heroically fashioned--to infuse - Faith in the whispers of the lonely muse, - While the whole world seems adverse to desert.' - WORDSWORTH. - - -Some of the fondest illusions of our student-life and companionship were -based on literary fame. The only individuals, of the male gender, who then -seemed to us (indiscriminate and mutual lovers of literature) worthy of -admiration and sympathy, were authors. Our ideal of felicity was the -consciousness of distributing ideas of vital significance, and causing -multitudes to share a sentiment born in a lonely heart. The most real and -permanent sway of which man is capable we imagined that of ruling and -cheering the minds of others through the medium of literature. Our herbals -were made up of flowers from the graves of authors; their signatures were -our only autographs. The visions that haunted us were little else than a -boundless panorama that displayed scenes in their lives. We used -continually to see, in fancy, Petrarch beside a fountain, under a laurel, -with the sweet _penseroso_-look visible in his portraits; Dante in the -corridor of a monastery, his palm laid on a friar's breast, and his stern -features softened as he craved the only blessing life retained for -him--_peace_; rustic Burns, with his dark eye proudly meeting the curious -stare of an Edinburgh coterie; Camoens breasting the waves with the -_Lusiad_ between his teeth; Johnson appalling Boswell with his emphatic -'_Sir_;' Milton--his head like that of a saint encircled with rays--seated -at the organ; Shakspeare walking serenely, and with a benign and majestic -countenance, beside the Avon; Steele jocosely presiding at table with -liveried bailiffs to pass the dishes; the bright face of Pope looming up -from his deformed body in the cool twilight of a grotto; Voltaire's sneer -withering an auditor through a cloud of snuff; Molière reading his new -comedy to the old woman; Landor standing in the ilex path of a Tuscan -villa; Savage asleep on a bulk at midnight, in one of the London parks; -Dryden seated in oracular dignity in his coffee-house arm-chair; -Metastasio comparing notes with a handsome _prima donna_ at Vienna; -Alfieri with a magnificent steed in the midst of the Alps; Swift stealing -an interview with Miss Johnson, or chuckling over a chapter of _Gulliver_; -the funeral pyre of Shelley lighting up a solitary crag on the shores of -the Mediterranean; and Byron, with marble brow and rolling eye, guiding -the helm of a storm-tossed boat on the Lake of Geneva! Such were a few -only of the _tableaux_ that haunted our imagination. We echoed heartily -Akenside's protest against the sermon on Glory: - - 'Come, then, tell me, sage divine, - Is it an offence to own - That our bosoms e'er incline - Towards immortal glory's throne? - For with me nor pomp nor pleasure, - Bourbon's might, Braganza's treasure, - So can fancy's dream rejoice, - So conciliate reason's choice, - As one approving word of her impartial voice. - - 'If to spurn at noble praise - Be the passport to thy heaven; - Follow thou those gloomy ways; - No such law to me was given; - Nor, I trust, shall I deplore me, - Faring like my friends before me; - Nor a holier place desire - Than Timoleon's arms acquire, - And Tully's curule chair, and Milton's golden lyre.' - -In our passion for native authors we revered the memory of Brockden Brown, -and detected in his romantic studies the germs of the supernatural school -of fiction; we nearly suffocated ourselves in the crowded gallery of the -old church at Cambridge, listening to Sprague's _Phi Beta Kappa_ poem; and -often watched the spiritual figure of the 'Idle Man,' and gazed on the -white locks of our venerable painter, with his 'Monaldi' and 'Paint King' -vividly remembered. We wearied an old friend of Brainard's by making him -repeat anecdotes of the poet; and have spent hours in the French -coffee-house which Halleck once frequented, eliciting from him criticisms, -anecdotes, or recitations of Campbell. New Haven people that came in our -way were obliged to tell all they could remember of the vagaries of -Percival, and the elegant hospitality of Hillhouse. We have followed Judge -Hopkinson through the rectangular streets of his native metropolis, with -the tune of _Hail, Columbia!_ humming in our ears; and kept a curious eye -on Howard Payne through a whole evening party, fondly cognizant of _Sweet -Home_. Beaumont and Fletcher were our Damon and Pythias. The memorable -occurrence of our childhood was the advent of a new Waverley novel, and of -our youth a fresh _Edinburgh Review_. We loved plum-colour because poor -Goldy was vain of his coat of that hue; and champagne, partly because -Schiller used to drink it when writing; we saved orange-peel because the -author of _The Rambler_ liked it; and put ourselves on a course of -tar-water, in imitation of Berkeley. Roast pig had a double relish for us -after we had read Elia's dissertation thereon. We associated goldfish and -china jars with Gray, skulls with Dr. Young, the leap of a sturgeon in the -Hudson with Drake's 'Culprit Fay,' pine-trees with Ossian, stained-glass -windows with Keats (who set one in an immortal verse), fortifications with -Uncle Toby, literary breakfasts with Rogers, waterfowl with Bryant, -foundlings with Rousseau, letter-writing with Madame de Sévigné, bread and -butter with the author of _Werther_, daisies with Burns, and primroses -with Wordsworth. Mrs. Thrale's acceptance of Piozzi was a serious trouble -to our minds; and whether 'little Burney' would be happy after her -marriage with the noble _emigré_ was a problem that made us really anxious -until the second part of her _Diary_ was procurable and relieved our -solicitude. An unpatriotic antipathy to the Pilgrim Fathers was quelled by -the melodious pæan of Mrs. Hemans; and we kept vigils before a portrait of -Mrs. Norton, at an artist's studio, with a chivalric desire to avenge her -wrongs. - -This enthusiasm for authors was not altogether the result of a literary -idiosyncrasy or local influences; it grew out of a consciousness of -personal obligation. Mrs. Radcliffe, Miss Porter, and Maturin were the -clandestine intimates of childhood; the English poets became the -confidants of youthful sentiment, which met but a cool reception from -those by whom we were surrounded; and when judgment was enough matured to -discriminate the charms of style, a new world opened under the guidance of -Mackenzie and Sterne, Lady Montagu and Sir Thomas Browne. Books are -endeared, like people, by the force of circumstances; ideal tendencies, a -spirit of inquiry, a thirst for sympathy, will often drive minds whose -environment is uncongenial to seek therein what is elsewhere denied; and -when in early life this resource becomes habitual, it is not surprising -that a deep personal feeling should be gradually engendered, and that we -should come to regard favourite authors as the most reliable and dearest -of our companions; and this without an inkling of pedantry or a title to -scholarship, but from a thoroughly human impulse intellectually -vindicating itself. To such a pitch did the feeling once possess us that -we resented any imputation cast upon our chosen authors as if they were -actual friends. We honoured the critic that defended Bacon from the charge -of meanness, and longed to applaud his prowess; we disliked to admit the -evidence that Johnson was dogmatic, and ascribed his arrogance to a kind -of excusable horse-play; we contended that Thomson was not lazy, but -encouraged ease to escape ambition; we grew very warm if any one really -believed Shelley an atheist, and argued that his faith transcended that of -the majority of so-called Christians; we never would admit that Sterne was -heartless, or Moore a toady. We could have embraced Dr. Madden after -reading his _Infirmities of Genius_, and thought the most brave of -Sidney's deeds his _Defence of Poesy_. How we longed to go a-fishing with -Walton, to walk in Cowley's garden, to see Roscoe's library, to hear -Coleridge talk, to feel the grasp of Burns's hand, to drink whisky with -John Wilson, to pat Scott's dogs, to go to the theatre with Lamb, to -listen to D'Israeli the elder's anecdotes, to look on the lakes of -Westmoreland at the side of Wordsworth, and to ride through 'our village' -in Miss Mitford's pony chaise! - -The first time we saw an author was an epoch. It was in a church. Some one -whispered, just as the sermon began, that a lady in the next pew was the -writer of a moral tale then rated high in our little circle. We did -nothing the rest of the service but watch and speculate upon this, to us, -wonderful personage. We were disappointed at her every-day look and -attire; there was no fine frenzy in eye or gesture; there she sat, for all -the world like any other lady--mild, quiet, and attentive. We were -somewhat consoled by noting the extreme paleness of her complexion, and a -kind of abstraction in her gaze. Her habiliments were dark and faded; in -fact, as we afterward discovered, she was poor, and her book had been -printed by subscription. Thenceforth, for a long time, we imagined all -female authors were dressed in black, looked pensive, and had no colour. -This illusion, however, was banished, some years later, when we were taken -to a literary _soirée_ where all the female authors were fat, dressed in a -variety of colours, and, instead of being melancholy, had an overwhelming -vivacity that made us realize how the type had changed. By degrees we -became enlightened, and our authormania cooled. In the first place, we -were shocked by seeing a pathetic writer, whose universal tribute was -tears, in a flashy vest; then we encountered a psychologist, whose forte -was sublimity, enacting the part of a mendicant; it was our misfortune to -conduct a bard, whose highly-imaginative strain had often roused our -aspirations, home from a party in a state of inebriety; one author we were -prepared to love turned out a disagreeable egotist; another wearied us by -the exactions of his vanity; a third repelled by intense affectation, and -a fourth by the bitterness of his comments; one, who had written only the -most refined sentiment, proved, upon acquaintance, an acute Yankee; one, -who had sung the beauty of nature, we found to be an inveterate dandy; and -another, whose expressed ideas betokened excess of delicacy, grossly -violated the ordinary instincts of gentle blood. - -On one of our earliest visits to ------, the illusive charm attached to -the idea of a female author became, indeed, changed to a horror from which -we have never wholly recovered. We were requested to escort a lady to what -we understood was an ordinary social gathering. After entering a rather -small and somewhat obscure drawing-room, saluting the hostess, and taking -the proffered seat, we were struck with the formal arrangement of the -company. They formed an unbroken row along the walls of the room, except -at one end, at which stood a table surmounted by an astral lamp; and in an -arm-chair beside it, in studied attitude, like one _poséd_ for a -daguerreotype, sat a woman of masculine proportions, coarse features, and -hair between yellow and red, which fell in unkempt masses down each side -of her broad face. She was clad in white muslin of an antiquated fashion. -We noticed that the guests cast looks, partly of curiosity, partly of -uneasiness, upon this Herculean female, who rolled her eyes occasionally, -and smiled on us all with a kind of complacent pity. We ventured, amidst -the silence, to ask our neighbour the name of the gigantic unknown. She -appeared extremely surprised at the very natural question. 'Why, don't you -know? We're invited here to meet her, and, I assure you, it is a rare -privilege. That is Mrs. Jones, the celebrated author of the _Affianced -One_!' At this moment a brisk little woman in the corner, with accents -slightly tremulous, and a manner intended to be very _nonchalant_, broke -the uncomfortable hush of the room. 'My dear Mrs. Jones,' said she, 'as -one of your earliest and most fervent admirers, allow me to inquire if -your health does not suffer from the intense state of feeling in which you -evidently write?' The Amazonian novelist sighed--it was funny to see that -operation on so large a scale,--and then, in a voice so like the rougher -sex that we began to think she was a man in disguise, replied: 'When I -reach the catastrophe of my stories, it is not uncommon for me to faint -dead away; and, as I always write in a room by myself, it has happened -more than once that I have been found stretched, miserable and cold, on -the floor, with a pen grasped in my fingers, and the carpet littered with -manuscript blotted with tears!' The Siddonian pathos of this announcement -sent a thrill round the circle; glances of admiration and pity were thrown -upon the self-immolated victim at the shrine of letters, and other -inquiries were adventured, which elicited equally impressive replies, -until the psychological throes of authorship--particularly in the female -gender--assumed the aspect of an experience combined of epilepsy and -nightmare. The tragic egotism of these revelations at length overcame our -patience; and, leaving our fair companion to another's escort, we slipped -out of the room. A thunder-storm had arisen; the rain was pouring down in -torrents; upon the door-steps we encountered a very pale, thin, little -man, with an umbrella under his arm and a pair of overshoes in his hands. -As we passed, he addressed us in a very meek and frightened voice: -'Please, sirs, is there a party here?' 'Yes.' 'Please, sirs, is the -celebrated Mrs. Jones here?' 'Yes.' 'Please, sirs, do you think I could -step into the entry? I'm Mr. Jones!' - -Hastening to our lodgings in another metropolis at twilight, we passed a -dwarf standing on a threshold, who leaped down and caught us by the arm, -eagerly pronouncing our name, and requesting a moment's interview. He led -the way to a little room lighted by a single candle, closed the door, and, -with a quivering impatience of gesture, introduced himself. We remembered -his name at once. He was the author of a feeble imitation of Pope. We -never beheld such an ogre. His little green eyes, ape-like limbs, and -expression indicative of sensitiveness and conceit, in that lone and dusky -cabinet, were appalling. From a cupboard he took down what we supposed to -be a ledger, and, placing it on the table, gave an emphatic slap to the -worn brown cover. 'There,' said he, 'is garnered the labour of years. I -have heard of your enthusiasm for authors, and I will read you specimens -of a poem destined to see the light a twelvemonth hence. Listen!' It was -an epic in blank verse--dreary, monotonous, and verbose. His recitation -was like the refrain of a bull-frog; it grated on the ear and made the -nerves shrink. The candle burned thick; the air seemed mephitic, and in a -little while we were oppressed and fevered as by a glamour cast over our -brain; we looked toward the door and moved uneasily; the green eye was -cast fiercely up from the page, and the tone of the deformed became -malicious. We had heard of his vindictive spirit, and felt as if in the -cave of an imp spellbound and helpless. The complacent hardihood with -which he read on made us inwardly frantic. We thought of the fair being -who waited for us at a neighbouring fireside, of the free air we had -quitted, and we writhed under the infliction. Hours passed; a numb, -half-unconscious sense of misery stole over us, and still the little demon -glared and spouted. 'Words, words, words'--how detestable seemed they -then! At last, in a fit of desperation, we clapped our hand to our -forehead, and murmuring something about a congestive tendency, sprang up, -ran through the hall and out at the door, and looking back, after hurrying -on a few yards, beheld the dwarf, with his enormous book clasped to his -heart, gazing after us with the implacable look of a disappointed savage. - -Literature is no more regulated by accident than nature; lucky hits and -the tricks of pencraft are as temporary as all other artificial -expedients. The authors truly remembered and loved are _men_ in the best -sense of the term; the human, the individual informs and stamps their -books with an image or an effluence not born of will or mere ingenuity, -but emanating from the soul; and this is the quality that endears and -perpetuates their fame. Hence Goldsmith is beloved, Milton reverenced, and -the grave of Burns a 'Mecca of the mind.' At the commencement of the last -century there appeared in the _London Gazette_ the offer of a reward of -fifty pounds for the discovery of a certain person thus described: 'A -middle-sized, spare man, about forty years of age, of a brown complexion -and dark brown hair, though he wears a wig, having a hooked nose, a sharp -chin, gray eyes, and a large mouth.' This was Daniel Defoe, the victim of -partisan injustice, for whose rights every schoolboy would fight now, out -of sheer gratitude to the author of _Robinson Crusoe_. Let the writers who -debase authorship into a perversion of history, a sickly medium for -egotistical rhetoric, a gross theft of antecedent labours, a base vehicle -for spite, or a mechanical knack of book-making, realize that they are -foredoomed to contempt, and that character is as little disguised by types -as by costume. The genuine author is recognized at once; his integrity is -self-evident. - -It was sunset on the Arno. Far down the river, over mountain ranges where -snow yet lingered, a warm tint, half rose and half amethyst, glowed along -the horizon; beside the low parapet that bordered the street people were -loitering back from their afternoon promenade at the Cascine: here a -priest, there a soldier, now an Englishman on horseback, and then a -bearded artist; sometimes an oval-faced _contadina_, the broad brim of -whose finely-woven straw hat flapped over his eyes of mellow jet; and -again a trig nurse, with Saxon ringlets, dragging a petulant urchin along; -and over all these groups and figures was shed the beautiful smile of -parting day; and by them, under graceful bridges, flowed the turbid -stream, its volume doubled by the spring freshets. I surveyed the panorama -from an overhanging balcony, where I stood awaiting the appearance of a -friend upon whom I had called. Hearing a movement behind, I stepped back -into the _salon_, and found a middle-aged gentleman seated on a divan near -the window. We exchanged salutations and began to converse. He alluded, in -unexceptionable English, to the beauty of the hour. 'I came here from -Geneva,' he said. 'There I work--in Italy I recreate; and it is wonderful -how this country ministers to intellectual repose, even by the very -associations it excites. We feel a dream-like relation with the past, and -enter readily, for a time, into the _dolce-farniente_ spirit of the -people; and then return to task-work invigorated and with new zest.' There -was a bland, self-possessed, and paternal look about this chance -acquaintance that insensibly won my confidence and respect. He was the -image of a wise and serene maturity. His ample brow, his strong physique, -his affable manner, and kindly eye, suggested experience, intelligence, -and benignity. I was certain that he was a philosopher of some kind, and -fancied him an optimist; but the utter absence of pretension and the -simple candour of his address gave no hint of a man of renown. -Accordingly, I soon found myself engaged in a most pleasant, and to me -instructive colloquy. Following up the hint he had thrown out, I spoke of -the difficulty of combining mental toil with health--reverting in my own -mind to our American race of scholars, a majority of whom are confirmed -invalids. 'Ah!' said he, 'there is vast error on this subject. Be assured -that we were intended for intellectual labour, and that there is a way of -making it subservient to health. I will tell you a few rules founded on -experience. Vary the kind of work--let it be research one hour, meditation -another; collation to-day, and revision to-morrow. Do this on system; give -the first part of the day to the hardest study, the afternoon to exercise, -and the evening to social intercourse; let the mind be tasked when the -brain is most vigorous--that is, after sleep; and woo the latter blessing, -not in the feverish hour of thought and emotion, but after the gentle -exercise of the mind, which comes from pastime and friendliness.' I looked -at the hale, contented face of the speaker, about whom no sign of nervous -irritability or exhaustion was discoverable, and asked myself what -experience of mental toil could have led him to such inferences. He looked -like a temperate country gentleman, or unambitious and well-to-do citizen. -He then spoke of the changes he observed upon each successive visit to -Italy, of the climate of Switzerland, and the society of Geneva; then he -referred to America, divining at once that it was my country, and -exhibiting entire familiarity with all that had been accomplished there in -literature. He betrayed a keen sense of enjoyment, recognized a genial -influence in the scene before us, and gradually infected me with that -agreeable feeling only to be derived from what poor Cowper used to call -'comfortable people.' I led him to speak of his own method of life, which -was one of the most philosophical order. He considered occasional travel -and prudent habits the best _hygiène_ for a man of sedentary pursuits; and -the great secret both of health and successful industry the absolute -yielding up of one's consciousness to the business and the diversion of -the hour--never permitting the one to infringe in the least degree upon -the other. I felt an instinctive respect toward him, but at the same time -entirely at home in his company; the gentleman and the scholar appeared to -me admirably fused in, without overlaying, the man. Presently the friend -we mutually expected came in, and introduced me to Sismondi. I was fresh -from his _Italian Republics_ and _Literature of the South of Europe_, and -he realized my ideal of a humane and earnest historian. - -Quite in contrast with this tranquil and robust votary of letters was the -appearance and manner of Silvio Pellico. No one who has ever read the -chronicle of his imprisonments can forget the gentle and aspiring nature -just blooming into poetic development, which, by the relentless fiat of -Austrian tyranny, was cut off in a moment from home, intelligent -companionship, and graceful activity, and subjected to the loneliness, -privation, and torments of long and solitary confinement; nor is the -spirit in which he met the bitter reverse less memorable than its tragic -detail--recorded with so much simplicity, and borne with such loving -faith. When I arrived in Turin he was still an object of espionage, and it -was needful to seek him with caution. Agreeably to instructions previously -received, I went to a _café_ near the Strada Alfieri, just at nightfall, -and watched for the arrival of an _abbé_ remarkable for his manly beauty. -I handed him the card of a mutual friend, and made known my wishes. The -next day he conducted me through several arcades, and by many a group of -noble-looking Piedmontese soldiers, to a gateway, thence up a long flight -of steps to a door, at which he gave a significant knock. In a few moments -it was quietly opened. He whispered to the old _serva_, and we tarried in -an ante-chamber until a diminutive figure in black appeared, who received -me with a pensive kindliness that, to one acquainted with _Le Mie -Prigioni_, was fraught with pathos. I beheld in the pallor of that mild -face and expanded brow, and the purblind eyes, the blight of a dungeon. -His manner was subdued and nervous, and his very tones melancholy. I was -unprepared to find, after years of liberty, the effects of his experience -so visible, and felt almost guilty of profane curiosity in having thus -intruded upon his cherished seclusion. I had known other victims of the -same infernal tyranny; but they were men of sterner mould, who had -resisted their cruel fate by the force of will rather than the patience of -resignation. Pellico's very delicacy of organization barbed the arrows of -persecution; and when at length he was released, loneliness, hope -deferred, and mental torture had crushed the energy of his nature. The -sweetness of his autobiography was but the fragrance of the trampled -flower--too unelastic ever again to rise up in its early beauty. A smile -lighted up his brooding expression when I told him of the deep sympathy -his book had excited in America, and he grasped my hand with momentary -ardour; but the man too plainly reflected the martyr. The stifling air he -breathed under the leads of Venice and the damps of his Spielberg cell -seemed yet to weigh upon his soul; no glimmer of the patriotic fire which -beams from Francesca da Rimini, no ray of the vivacious observation that -beguiled his solitude and quickened his pen, redeemed the hopeless air of -the captive poet; the shadow of the power he had braved yet lay on his -form and face; and only the solace of filial love and the consolations of -religion gave hope to his existence. - -That is but a vulgar idea of authorship which estimates its worth by the -caprices of fashion or the prestige of immediate success. Like art, its -value is intrinsic. There are books, as there are pictures, which do not -catch the thoughtless eye; and yet are the gems of the virtuoso, the -oracles of the philosopher, and the consolations of the poet. We love -authors, as we love individuals, according to our latent affinities; and -the extent of the popular appreciation is no more a standard to us than -the world's estimate of our friend, whose nature we have tested by -faithful companionship and sympathetic intercourse. He who has not the -mental independence to be loyal to his own intellectual benefactors is as -much a heathen as one who repudiates his natural kin. Indeed, an honest -soul clings more tenaciously to neglected merit in authors as in men; -there is a chivalry of taste as of manners. Doubtless Lamb's zest for the -old English dramatists, Addison's admiration of Milton's poetry, and -Carlyle's devotion to German favourites, were all the more earnest and -keen because they were ignored by their neighbours. In the library, an -original mind is conscious of special and comparatively obscure friends; -as the lover of nature has his pet flower, and the lover of art his -favourite old master. It is well to obey these decided idiosyncrasies. -They point, like the divining-rod, to hidden streams peculiarly adapted to -our refreshment. I knew an old merchant that read no book except Boswell's -_Johnson_, and a black and hump-backed cook whose only imaginative feast -was the _Arabian Nights_. - -No one really can, indeed, love authors as a class without a catholic -taste. If thus equipped, how inexhaustible the field! He is independent of -the world. Is he retrospective in mood? Plutarch will array before him a -procession of heroes and sages. Does he yearn for conviviality? Fielding -will take him to a jolly tavern. Is he eager for intellectual communion? -Landor is at hand with a choice of 'imaginary conversations.' Would he -exercise causality? Bishop Butler will put to the test his power of -reasoning. Is he in need of a little gossip by way of recreation? Horace -Walpole will amuse by the hour. Is the society of a sensible woman wanted? -Call in Maria Edgeworth or Jane Austin. Is the bitterness of a jilted -lover in his heart? _Locksley Hall_ will relieve it. Would he stroll in -the forest? Evelyn or Bryant will take him there in a moment. By the -sea-shore? Crabbe and Byron are sympathetic guides. Are his thoughts -comprehensive and inclined for the generalities of literature? Open De -Staël or Hallam. - -The relation of authorship to society varies with political influences and -average culture. The class of degraded penwrights so often alluded to by -Fielding, the ferocious quarrels recorded of and by Pope and Johnson with -critics and publishers, are phases of literary life, which, if not -extinct, have become essentially modified with the progress of -civilization. Yet a quite recent quarterly reviewer speaks of this class -of men as 'a kind of ticket-of-leave lunatics;' and modern experiences, if -less dark than old annals of Grub Street, include some quite as remarkable -instances of reckless extravagance in prosperity and barbarous neglect in -adversity. The Bohemian class is confined to no epoch or country. Yet -charming is the group of authors that illustrate and signalize every -period of British history--an intellectual alleviation to the monotony of -fashionable, and the rancour of political life. Every era of French -government also has its brilliant _salon_ of philosophers and poets. Mrs. -Carter and Mrs. Montagu assembled, in their day, as exclusive a coterie as -used to cluster about Dryden's chair, dine with Sir Joshua Reynolds, keep -Burns's birthday at Edinburgh with Scott at the head of the table, rally -at Jeffrey's call, dispute with Hume, chat over Rogers's breakfast, -fraternize with the lakers at Keswick and Grasmere, or pass an evening -with Lamb. From the days of Shakspeare to those of Evelyn and Sydney -Smith, from La Fontaine to Lamartine, from Klopstock to Goëthe, and from -Mather to Channing, every cultivated city abroad and at home has boasted -its author circle, to which kindred tastes ever revert with zest, and -whose traditions as well as 'works' prolong a spell more refined and -memorable than any other social prestige. Weimar, Bordeaux, Florence, -Edinburgh, and Boston, as well as London and Paris, are thus consecrated -by reminiscences of Goëthe, Schiller, Montaigne, Alfieri, Wilson, -Mackenzie, some Concord Sage, or Spanish Historian, some Autocrat, Wizard -of the North, or Ettrick Shepherd of the pen. To have seen Niccolini on -the 'Lung' Arno; Elizabeth Browning at a Casa Guidi window; Rossini, the -historical novelist, at a bookstore in Pisa; Hillhouse under the New Haven -elms; Hawthorne at the Athenæum; Elia at his India-house desk; poor Heine -on his 'mattress grave,' or Freiligrath at his bank-counter, requires but -the perspective of time to be as impressive or winsome an experience as -the first survivors of Pope, Chatterton, Milton, or Burke realized in -rehearsing their personal cognizance of these famous authors. Such is the -instinctive attraction of congenial or eminent authorship. If this subject -were nomenclated and analyzed in the naturalistic way, there is scarcely a -sphere of humanity or a form of character which might not be identified -with or illustrated by authorship; the mad, the mendicant, the -charlatan--combative, contemplative, heroic, and sybarite,--are but a few -of the varieties which literary biography reveals. Their amours, diseases, -profits, calamities, triumphs, quarrels, personal tastes and habits, -domestic life, and most individual traits and fortunes, have been minutely -recorded, so as to form, on the whole, the best and most accessible -psychological cabinet for the student of human nature. Of no other class -of men and women with whom we never had personal acquaintance, do we know -so many details; Chatterton's despair, Young's skull-light, Milton's -organ, Berkeley's tar-water, Coleridge's opium, Swift's lady-loves, -Cowper's hymns and hares, Rogers's table-talk, Scott's dogs, Steele's -debts, Lamb's folios, are as familiar to us as if they appertained to some -neighbour or kinsman. The prisons of Cervantes, Raleigh, Pellico, Hunt, -and Montgomery, have a pathetic charm which no other record of captivity -boasts. Even the self-delusions of authors awaken a considerate interest; -the mistaken judgment of Petrarch and Milton, in regard to the comparative -merit of their writings; and the exaggerated estimate of their own verses -by such able statesmen as Frederic and Richelieu, tend to enhance the -mysteries of the craft and sanction its illusions. But it must be -confessed that the romance of authorship is fast disappearing in its -reality; so numerous have become the votaries of a once rare pursuit, so -common the renown, so universal the practice, that the individual and -characteristic, the curious and interesting elements thereof, are more and -more merged in the commonplace and familiar. - -A distinction has often been insisted on between the critical and the -creative in literature; but modern criticism, in its best development, is -essentially reproductive; so intimate, deep, and affluent is its dealing -with authors, that they often are restored in all their vital worth; and -the process has endeared such writers as Lamb, Hazlitt, Carlyle, Arnold, -and St. Beuve, as true intellectual benefactors. Such philosophical and -æsthetic interpreters of authorship have engendered an eclectic -appreciation and enjoyment of authors, and made us what Allston calls -'wide likers.' Hence the prevalence and promise of what may be called a -cosmopolitan, in distinction to a provincial taste, whereby we learn to -value the greatest diversities of style, subject, and character in -literature. Fastidious and severely disciplined minds, indeed, coldly -ignore certain authors, and warmly espouse others; but to a spirit at once -generous and cultivated, sympathetic and intelligent, though a special -charm will invest favourite authors, all of the fraternity who are genuine -have a recognized claim to grateful recognition; and even the unequal and -incongruous development of modern English literature, incident to the -absence of what Matthew Arnold calls 'any centre of intelligent and urbane -spirit,' like the French Academy. Desirable as such a discipline and -standard is in quelling eccentricity and incorrectness, the free and -energetic development, the honest, though sometimes rude, exercise of -authorship in our vernacular, is no small compensation. We confess a -partiality for the richly-diversified phases of mental life thus -induced--an eclectic relish for the varieties of national and personal -characteristics. The artistic French, the meditative German, the practical -English writers, have each their attraction and use; the desultory style -of Richter, the quaint individuality of Lamb, the verbose dignity of -Johnson, the mosaic finish of Gray, the grotesque eloquence of Carlyle, -the flowing rhetoric of Macaulay, Wordsworth's pastoral isolation, Scott's -feudal enthusiasm, Byron's intense consciousness, Shelley's disinterested -idealism, the homely images of Crabbe, and the sensuous luxury of Keats, -are all, in their way and at times, accordant with our mental wants, -congenial to our receptive moods. Why should not we tolerate and enjoy the -various elements of literature as fully and fondly as those of nature and -society? Does it not argue a narrowness of mind inconsistent with genuine -intellectual and moral health to perversely confine our appreciation of -authorship to certain schools, forms, and individuals? Are not the -philosophical, the piquant, the earnest, the playful, the solemn, gay, -impressive, winsome, acute, wise, and humorous traits and triumphs of -written thought as legitimate, in their infinite variety, as means of -human culture, discipline, and pleasure, as the myriad tints and tones of -nature, and the diversities of character and manners? A true lover of -authors will not only find something to enjoy and appropriate in the most -diverse forms of expression and qualities of genius, both in the -literature of power and in that of knowledge as finely discriminated by De -Quincey; but will separate the inspired and the journeyman work of each -author, and do justice to what is genuine while repudiating the -conventional. If what Goëthe maintained is literally true, and genuine -authorship is the reflex of consciousness upon outward life, then all its -spontaneous products must have a vital element of human life, love, and -truth, more or less congenial to all readers of candid, clear, and humane -instincts: for we agree with a liberal and acute critic, when he says that -the gift of literary genius 'lies in the faculty of being happily inspired -by a certain intellectual and spiritual atmosphere--by a certain order of -ideas; of dealing divinely with these ideas, presenting them in the most -effective and attractive combinations, making beautiful works of them.' - -It is a new and glorious era in our experience of books when the vital -significance of authorship is heartily realized; dilletantism, excusable -in the novice, gives place to the worship of truth. To write for the mere -sake of writing, to amuse with the pen, becomes in our estimation what it -is--a thing of less interest than the most simple and familiar phenomena -of nature. As life reveals itself, and character matures, we long, above -all, for reality; we perceive that growth is our welfare, and that -earnestness, faith, and new truth are the only joy of a manly intellect. -Then we read to nerve our moral energies, to extend the scope of -perception, and to deepen the experience of the soul: the butterflies of -literature allure no longer; the imitators we pass by; but the deep -thinkers, the original, the brave, lead us on to explore, analyze, and -conquer. 'Literature,' says Schlegel, 'according to the spirit in which it -is pursued, is an infamy, a pastime, a dry labour, a handicraft, an art, a -science, a virtue;' and this diversity is true, not only of authors in -general, but sometimes of the same individual. Many a poet, whose early -utterance was inspired, has degenerated into a hack, a truckster, and a -mercenary penman; and many a youthful dabbler in letters, by some deep -experience, has been matured into the bold advocate or heroic pioneer in -the world of thought. - -We soon learn heartily to sympathize with one of the unfortunate originals -of Goëthe's _Werther_, and declare with him,--'I have resolved in future -to take good care how I write anything to an author, save what all the -world may see;' only extending the prudential resolve to -conversation,--for whatever advance has been made in refinement in the use -of language, in the abuse of confidence modern writers are so destitute of -scruples, that the sanctities of life and social intercourse have no -greater or more profane intruder than the author. - -Nor is the 'heart of courtesy' the only high quality risked by the -vocation; it almost seems, in vain and unchivalric natures, to sap manhood -itself. Some one has said,--'The man who has learned to read has lost one -portion of his courage; if he writes verses, he has lost a double -portion.' There is a fatal fluency, an arrogant expressiveness, whereby -the robust and honest material of character is, as it were, evaporated in -words; for nothing characterizes the genuine author more than a reticent -tone, an integrity of utterance, which makes it apparent that his -authorship, instead of a graft, is a growth of his best humanity. So -proverbial is the social barrenness of the craft, in its average -conventional scope, that a facetious Florentine barber, in one of the best -of modern historical novels, _Romola_, is quite appropriately made to -say,--'I am sorely afraid that the good wine of my understanding is going -to run off at the spigot of authorship, and I shall be left an empty cask, -with an odour of dregs, like many other incomparable geniuses of my -acquaintance.' All meanness is disenchanting; but selfish economy of -intellectual treasures, and egotistical insensibility to the merit of -others, not only robs the author of all sympathetic charm, but almost -invariably signalizes his essential mediocrity or unfounded pretensions. - -Under the two diverse aspects of an inspiration and a career, authorship -thus offers the extremes of attraction and antagonism to candid and -earnest souls; if the spontaneous gift and charm of the former are justly -endeared to all lovers of humanity, the artificial conditions, worldly -motives, and forced relations of the latter, often dispel the illusions -of fame in the realities of vulgar notoriety and mercenary zeal. We can -well understand how a reverent, delicate, and true nature, like Maurice de -Guèrin, shrinks from professional authorship, when the original beauty and -truth of his utterances led his friends to urge that vocation upon him: -'The literary career,' he writes, 'seems to me unreal, both in its own -essence and in the rewards one seeks from it; and, therefore, fatally -marred by a secret absurdity.' - -At this moment our vernacular is the only tongue in which men can express -themselves fearlessly; it appropriately enshrines the literature of -freedom. We seldom realize this noble distinction of the English language. -I was half-asleep one afternoon, in the cabin of a steamer in the Bay of -Naples, when suddenly the violent pitching of the vessel ceased, and I -hastened on deck to learn the reason of the change, and found, to my -surprise, that we were returning into the harbour, the captain having -decided that it was too great a risk to venture to sea in such a gale. -Pleasant as was the transition from tossing waves to smooth water, every -traveller in that region who has gone through the business of a -departure--the passport signatures, the tussle with porters, drivers, and -boatmen, the leave-takings, packing-ups, directions at post-office and -banker's, an embarkation in the midst of cries, rushings to and fro, -disputes for gratuities, beggars, missing baggage, attempts to secure a -berth, wringing of hands, waving of handkerchiefs, and, it may be, -embraces at parting,--every traveller, cognizant of this experience, will -understand how vexatious it was, within an hour after this tantalizing -process, to find one's self, in travelling costume, once more in the city -for the afternoon, with no lodging, no appointment, and no sight-seeing to -do. I was not long in resolving to visit once more my old dining-place, -the '_Corona di Ferro_.' At the opposite table to that at which I was -seated, appeared a handsome young man, with a dark, intelligent eye, and a -bearing indicative of spirit and courtesy. Seeing me hesitate over the -_carte_, he suggested a dish which had proved _molto buono_ that day, and -having followed the kindly counsel, we engaged in a desultory chat about -the weather, the opera, the last news from France, &c., and by the time -dessert came on, had established quite a pleasant understanding. At length -he made an inquiry based upon the idea that he was addressing an -Englishman. I corrected the error, and his politeness at once warmed into -enthusiasm at the discovery that he was talking with an American. After -dinner he invited me to his apartments. I found the sitting-room adorned -with pictures and littered with books. Having ordered coffee, we were soon -engaged in a serious discussion of literary subjects, in which my new -friend proved a tasteful votary. He wished for a definite statement as to -the extent of the liberty of the press in the United States. I explained -it; and he became highly excited, paced the room, quoted Alfieri, sighed, -pressed his brow, and at length flung himself into a chair, declaring -that, if it were not for kindred who had claims upon him, he would -emigrate at once to America. To account for his feelings, he showed me a -pile of MSS., the publication of which had been prohibited by the -government censors on account of their liberal sentiment. He then -exhibited several beautiful poems founded on scientific truths, yet -mystically involving great and humane principles--a _ruse_ he had been -compelled to resort to in order to express publicly his opinions. As I -recognized the evidences of genius, watched his chafed mood, and noted his -manly spirit, I felt deeply the crushing influence of despotism upon -authorship, and realized the natural antagonism between poets and kings. - -There is no greater fallacy than that involved in the notion of an -essential diversity between an author and his books. Professed opinions do -not reveal the truth of character, but unconscious phases of style, habits -of thought, and tones of expression, like what is called natural -language, make us thoroughly acquainted with the man. Is not Jeremy -Taylor's religious sentiment manifest in the very method of his utterance? -Can we not see at a glance the improvidence and the fascination of -Sheridan in the tenor of his plays? Who would not avouch the honesty of -John L. Stephens after reading his travels? What reverent heart is not -magnetized by the genuineness of devotion in Watts, however crudely -expressed? Is not prudence signified in the very style of Franklin? Are we -not braced with the self-confident frankness of Cooper in the spirit as -well as the characters of his nautical and forest tales? Critics betray -their arrogant temper under the most courteous phrases; a gentleman is -still a gentleman, and a puppy a puppy, on paper as in life; the sham and -the true are equally discernible in print and in society. Montaigne -exhibits his worldly wisdom as plainly in his essays as he ever did in his -acts. It is not, therefore, the insidious but the obvious perils of -authorship that threaten the novice. Lamentable is it to see mediocre men -take up as a vocation either literature or art, for in both a certain -amount of _character_ alone insures respectability; and this is less -requisite in pursuits that do not so openly challenge observation. - -One day, I was told a gentleman had called and waited for me in the -drawing-room. As I entered, he was gazing from the window in the shadow of -a damask curtain, which threw a warm tint upon as strongly moulded a face -as I remembered to have seen in one so young. His forehead was compactly -rounded, his hair curly and raven, and his eye dark and luminous. As I -approached, he handed me a note of introduction from a friend, refused the -proffered seat, and wore so earnest and grave an expression that I almost -thought he was the bearer of a challenge. 'Sir,' he began, 'I have come to -you for sympathy in a great undertaking. I wish to be cheered in a -mission, encouraged in a career, advised in an experiment.' There was a -certain wildness in the manner of this sententious address which breathed -of an excited fancy. I expressed a willingness to aid him to the extent of -my humble ability. He drew a thick packet from his coat, and proceeded: 'I -am a native of a little village in a neighbouring State. My father is an -agriculturist, and has endeavoured to render me content with that lot; but -there is something _here_'--and he laid a large red hand on his capacious -breast--'that rebels against the decree. I aspire to the honours of -literature. I long to utter myself to the world. Here is a tragedy and -some lyrics; and I have come to town to test my fortune as an author.' I -saw that he was an enthusiast, and calmly pointed out the obstacles to -success. He became impatient. I enlarged on the healthfulness and wisdom -of a country life, on the precarious subsistence incident to pencraft. His -eye flashed with anger. I urged him to consider well the risk he incurred, -the danger of failure, the advantages of a reliable vocation, the comfort -of an independent though secluded existence. He advanced toward me with an -indignant stride. 'Sir,' he exclaimed, 'I have been misinformed; you are -not the man I took you for; farewell, for ever!' and he rushed from the -house. Six months had elapsed, and I was sitting over a book in my quiet -room one day, when a terrific knock at the door aroused me, and an instant -after the stranger entered and impetuously grasped my hand. 'Sir--my dear -friend, I mean,'--he said, 'I have done you injustice, and I have come to -apologize. For a month after my former interview, I passed a feverish -novitiate, hawking my manuscripts around, deceived by plausible members of -the trade, snubbed by managers, frozen out of the sanctums of editors, -yawned at by casual audiences, baffled at every turn, until worn out, -mortified, and despairing, I went home. The feel of the turf, the breath -of the wind, the lowing of the kine, the very scent of hay was refreshing. -I thought over your counsel, and found it true. I now farm the paternal -acres on shares, write verses during the long winter evenings, lead the -choir on Sundays, am to marry the pride of the village next week, and am -here to beg your pardon, and invite you to my wedding.' - -The delectable quality of authorship is its impersonality. Consider a -moment the privilege and the immunity. If we address a multitude or an -individual, the impression may be pleasing or wearisome, but courtesy -requires that it be endured with equanimity. A book is unobtrusive, -silent, objective. It can be taken up or let alone. In it, if genuine, -there is a thought that craves hospitality to be caught in a favourable -mood, as the fallow hillock receives the seed borne on the vagrant wind. -It may take root, and the originator thereof has unconsciously given birth -to an undying impulse or yielded spiritual refreshment. The whole process -is like that of nature,--unostentatious, benign, and of inestimable -benefit; and yet how latent, beyond observation, secreted in -consciousness! All power of expression--whether by means of pen, colour, -or chisel,--all artistic development, is but a new vocabulary that reveals -character. The author and the artist differ from their less gifted fellows -simply in this--that they have more language; the endowment does not -change their natures; if coarse, artificial, vain,--if brave, truthful, or -shallow,--they thus appear in books and marble, or on canvas; and hence it -is that character is the true gauge of authorship, and wins or repels -confidence, respect, and love, in the same proportion as do living men. -'By their fruit shall ye know them.' Therefore authors themselves most -effectually disenchant readers. They are disloyal to their high mission; -they compromise their own ideal, write gossip instead of truth, describe -themselves instead of nature, dip their pens in the venom of malevolence, -corrupt their style with vulgarity, keep no faith with aspiration, truckle -to power and interest, and so bring their vocation itself into merited -disdain. - -How charming, on the other hand, is the spontaneous bard, who sings from -an overflowing and musical nature! There is a court in one of the most -populous quarters of London which rejoices in the name of Spring Gardens. -Doubtless the spot, at one time, was a rural domain; at present, a few -trees peering over a wall, and a retired and quaint look about some of the -brick domiciles that line the street, alone justify the pleasant name it -bears. In one of these houses is the office of the Commissioners of -Lunacy; and there, one winter morning, I had the satisfaction of a brief -_tête-à-tête_ with Procter. His plainly-cut frock-coat, long and black, -his white hair and quiet bearing, made him appear a curate such as -Goldsmith portrayed. It is a curious vocation for a poet--that of testing -the wits of people suspected of being out of their mind,--and a painful -one for a sensitive nature, to inspect the asylums devoted to their use. -But I remembered that Procter's early taste drew him into intimate love -and recognition of the old English dramatists, whose natural element was -the terrible in human passion and woe; I considered the profound -tenderness of his muse, and I felt that even the tragic scenes it was his -duty to witness and to study, were not without a certain sad affinity with -genius. Kean visited madhouses to perfect his conception of Lear; and he -who sings of human weal and sorrow is taught to deepen and hallow his -strain by the misery as well as the amenities of his life. The heart of -courtesy, the mood of aspiration, have not been quelled in Procter by the -stern professional business which is his daily task. They loomed up even -in that dusky office, and kept faith with my previous ideal; but it was -especially in the poet's eye that I read the spirit of his muse; ineffably -mild and tender is its expression, deepening under the influence of -emotion like the tremulous cadence of music that is born of sentiment. I -saw there the soul that dictated 'How many summers, love, hast thou been -mine?' 'Send down thy pitying angel, God!' and so many other lays of -affection endeared to all who can appreciate the genuine lyrics of the -heart identified with the name of Barry Cornwall. - -With all its occasional disenchantment, my love of authors imparted a -singular charm to the experience of travel; the lapse of time and new -localities united then to revive the dreams of youth. What a new grace the -first view of the hills of Spain derived from the memory of Cervantes, and -the gleanings in that romantic field of Lockhart and Irving; how rife with -associations was the dreary night-ride beyond Terracina, near the scene of -Cicero's murder; and what an intense life awoke in desolate Ravenna, at -the sight of Dante's tomb! The rustling of dry reeds in the gardens of -Sallust had an eloquent significance; the figures on Alfieri's monument, -in Santa Croce, seemed to breathe in the twilight; the rosemary plucked in -Rousseau's old garden at Montmorency had a scent of fragrant memory; in -the _cafés_ at Venice, Goldoni's characters appeared to be talking, and -Byron's image floated on her waters like a sculptor's dream; in the -Florentine villa Boccacio's spirit lingered; in the Cenci palace Shelley's -deep eyes glistened; in the shade of the pyramid of Cestus the muse of -Keats scattered flowers; on the shores of Como hovered the creations of -Manzoni, and a cliff in Brittany rose like a cenotaph to Chateaubriand; -while the cadence of Virgil's line chimed with the lapsing wave on the -beach at Naples. I thought, at Lausanne, of Gibbon's last touch to the -_Rise and Fall_, and his reverie that night; sought the tablet that covers -Parnell's dust at Chester, craved Montgomery's blessing at Sheffield, -looked for Sterne's monk at Calais, and beheld the crown on Tasso's cold -temples beneath the cypresses of St. Onofrio. Defoe lighted up gloomy -Cripplegate, Addison walked in the groves of Oxford, Johnson threaded the -crowd in Fleet Street, and Milton's touch seemed to wake the organ-keys of -St. Giles. But it is not requisite to wander from home for such -experiences. - -It was a delicious morning in June. I had passed the previous night at a -village on the Hudson; a violent thunder-storm just before dawn had laid -the dust, freshened the leaves, and purified as well as cooled the sultry -air. Attracted by the sweet breath and vivid tints of the landscape, I -determined to walk to a steamboat-landing four miles off, and on my way -make a long-meditated visit to Sunnyside. Taking an umbrageous path that -wound through a shady lane, I sauntered along, sometimes in view of the -crystal expanse of Tappan Zee, sometimes catching a glimpse of the hoary -and tufted Palisades, and again pausing under a majestic elm on whose -pendent spray a yellow-bird chirped and swung, or from whose dense green -canopy a locust trilled its drowsy note. The breeze was scented with -clover and woodbine; sleek cattle grazed in the meadows; amber clouds -flecked a heaven of azure; fields of grain waved like a shoreless lake of -plumes; the maize stood thick and tasselled; the lofty chestnuts shook -their feathery bloom; now and then a solitary crow hovered above, or a -brown robin hopped cheerily by the wayside. It was one of those clear, -serene, luxurious days of early summer which, in our capricious climate, -occasionally unite the gorgeous hues of the Orient with the balm and the -softness of Italy; pearly outlines stretched along the hills, the broad -river gleamed in sunshine, and every shade of emerald flashed or deepened -over the wide groves and teeming farms. As I drew near to Irving's -cottage, the bees were contentedly humming round the locusts, and the -ivy-leaves that clustered thickly about the old gables were dripping with -the tears of night; every bugle of the honeysuckle was a delicate censer, -and the turf and hedge wore their brightest colours; even the old -weathercock, trophy of an ancient colonial Stadt-house, dazzled the eye as -it caught the lateral rays of the sun; the fowls strutted about with -unwonted complacency, and the house-dog bounded through the beaded grass -as if exhilarated by the scene. On the veranda that overlooks the river, -from which it is divided by a little grove, sat our favourite author, with -a book on his knee, the embodiment of thoughtful content. His home looked -the symbol of his genius, and his expression the reflex of his life. They -harmonized with a rare completeness, and fulfilled to the heart the -picture which imagination had drawn. Here was no castle in the air, but a -realized daydream. Sleepy Hollow was at hand; an English cottage, like -that to which poor Leslie brought his angel wife; a Dutch roof such as -covered Van Tassell's memorable feast; the stream up which floated the -incorrigible Dolph; the mountain range whose echoes resounded with the -mysterious bowls, and where Rip took his long nap--all identified with the -author's virgin fame,--gave the vital interest of charming association to -the silent grace of nature; and, above all, the originator of the spell -was there, as genial, humorous, and imaginative, as if he had never -wandered from the primal haunts of his childhood and his fame. That he had -done so, and to good purpose, however, was evident in his conversation. -News had just arrived of a new French _émeute_, and that led us to speak -of the first Revolution; and Irving gave some impressive reminiscences of -his visits to the localities of Paris which are identified with those -scenes of violence and blood. He recurred to them with keen sensibility -and in graphic details. It was delightful thus to commune with a man whose -name was associated with my first conscious relish of native authorship, -and detect the same moral zest and picturesque insight in his talk which -so long ago had endeared his writings. I felt anew the conservative power -of a love of nature and an artistic organization; they had kept thus fresh -the sympathies, and thus enjoyable the mind. Retirement was as grateful -now as when he sought it as a juvenile dreamer; the noble river won as -fond a glance as when first explored as a truant urchin; and the kindly -spirit beamed as truly in his smile as when he mused in the Alhambra, or -walked to Melrose with Scott for a _cicerone_. My authormania revived in -all its original fervour; here were the mellow hues on the picture that -beguiled my boyhood; and the man, the scene, and the author blended in a -graceful unity of effect, without a single incongruity. - - - - -PICTURES. - - 'Look on this picture, and on this.'--HAMLET. - - -It is not surprising that pictures, with all their attraction for eye and -mind, are, to many honest and intelligent people, too much of a riddle to -be altogether pleasant. What with the oracular dicta of self-constituted -arbiters of taste, the discrepancies of popular writers on art, the jargon -of connoisseurship, the vagaries of fashion, the endless theories about -colour, style, chiaro-oscuro composition, design, imitation, nature, -schools, painting has become rather a subject for the gratification of -vanity and the exercise of pedantic dogmatism, than a genuine source of -enjoyment and culture, of sympathy and satisfaction,--like music, -literature, scenery, and other recognized intellectual recreations. In -these latter spheres it is not thought presumptuous to assert and enjoy -individual taste; the least independent talkers will bravely advocate -their favourite composer, describe the landscape which has charmed or the -book which has interested them; but when a picture is the subject of -discussion, few have the moral courage to say what they think; there is a -self-distrust of one's own impressions, and even convictions, in regard to -what is represented on canvas, that never intervenes between thought and -expression where ideas or sentiments are embodied in writing or in melody. -Nor is this to be ascribed wholly to the technicalities of pictorial art, -in which so few are deeply versed, but in a great measure to the -incongruous and irrelevant associations which have gradually overlaid and -mystified a subject in itself as open to the perception of a candid mind -and healthy senses as any other department of human knowledge. Half the -want of appreciation of pictures arises from ignorance, not of the -principles of art, but of the elements of nature. Good observers are rare. -The peasant's criticism upon Moreland's 'Farmyard'--that three pigs never -eat together without one foot at least in the trough--was a strict -inference from personal knowledge of the habits of the animal; so the -surgeon found a head of the Baptist untrue, because the skin was not -withdrawn somewhat from the line of decollation. These and similar -instances show that some knowledge of or interest in the thing represented -is essential to the appreciation of pictures. Soldiers and their wives -crowded around Wilkie's 'Chelsea Pensioners,'[9] when first exhibited; -French soldiers enjoy the minutiæ of Vernet's battle-pieces; a lover can -judge of his betrothed's miniature; and the most unrefined sportsman will -point out the niceties of breed in one of Landseer's dogs. To the want of -correspondence so frequent between the subject of a picture and the -observer's experience may, therefore, be attributed no small degree of the -prevalent want of sympathy and confident judgment. 'Gang into an -exhibition,' says the Ettrick Shepherd, 'and only look at a crowd o' -Cockneys, some with specs and some wi' quizzing-glasses, and faces without -ae grain o' meaning in them o' ony kind whatsomever, a' glowering, -perhaps, at a picture o' one o' nature's maist fearfu' or magnificent -warks! What, I ask, could a Prince's Street maister or missy ken o' sic a -wark mair than a red deer wad ken o' the inside o' George's Street -Assembly-rooms?' - -The incidental associations of pictures link them to history, tradition, -and human character, in a manner which indefinitely enhances their -suggestiveness. Horace Walpole wove a standard collection of anecdotes -from the lives and works of painters. The frescoes of St. Mark's, at -Florence, have a peculiar significance to the spectator familiar with Fra -Angelico's life. One of the most pathetic and beautiful tragedies in -modern literature is that which a Danish poet elaborated from Correggio's -artist career. Lamb's great treasure was a print from Da Vinci, which he -called 'My Beauty,' and its exhibition to a literal Scotchman gave rise to -one of the richest jokes in Elia's record. The pen-drawing Andre made of -himself, the night before his execution--the curtain painted in the space -where Faliero's portrait should have been, in the ducal palace at Venice, -and the head of Dante, discovered by Mr. Kirkup, on the wall of the -Bargello, at Florence--convey impressions far beyond the mere lines and -hues they exhibit; each is a drama, a destiny. And the hard but true -lineaments of Holbein, the aërial grace of Malbone's 'Hours,' Albert -Durer's mediæval sanctities, Overbeck's conservative self-devotion, a -market-place by Ostade, Reynolds's 'Strawberry Girl,' one of Copley's -colonial grandees in a New England farmer's parlour, a cabinet gem by -Greuze, a dog or sheep of Landseer's, the misty depths of Turner's -'Carthage,' Domenichino's 'Sibyl,' Claude's 'Sunset,' or Allston's -'Rosalie'--how much of eras in art, events in history, national tastes, -and varieties of genius, do they each foreshadow and embalm! Even when no -special beauty or skill is manifest, the character of features transmitted -by pictorial art, their antiquity or historical significance, often lends -a mystery and meaning to the effigies of humanity. In the carved faces of -old German church choirs and altars, the existent facial peculiarities of -race are curiously evident; a Grecian life breathes from many a profile -in the Elgin marbles, and a sacred marvel invests the exhumed giants of -Nineveh; in the cartoons of Raphael, and the old Gobelin tapestries, are -hints of what is essential in the progress and the triumphs of painting. -Considered as a language, how definitely is the style of painters -associated with special forms of character and spheres of life! 'There -certainly never was a painter,' says a traveller in Spain of Murillo, -'who, without much imagination, and telling no story, could yet vision his -eyes with such pure love, and make lips so parting with prayer, as -Murillo; himself a father, he loved to paint the child-Saviour in -conjunction with thin-faced saints.' It is this variety of human -experience, typified and illustrated on canvas, that forms our chief -obligations to the artist; through him our perception of and acquaintance -with our race--its individuality and career, its phases and aspects--are -indefinitely enlarged. 'The greatest benefit,' says a late writer, 'we owe -to the artist, whether painter, poet, or novelist, is the _extension of -our sympathies_. Art is the nearest thing to life; it is a mode of -amplifying our experience and extending our contact with our -fellow-creatures beyond the bounds of our personal lot.' - -'A room with pictures in it, and a room without pictures,' says an -æsthetic essayist, 'differ by nearly as much as a room with windows and a -room without windows. Nothing, we think, is more melancholy, particularly -to a person who has to pass much time in his room, than blank walls with -nothing on them; for pictures are loopholes of escape to the soul, leading -it to other spheres. It is such an inexpressible relief to the person -engaged in writing, or even reading, on looking up, not to have his line -of vision chopped square off by an odious white wall, but to find his soul -escaping, as it were, through the frame of an exquisite picture, to other -beautiful and perhaps idyllic scenes, where the fancy for a moment may -revel, refreshed and delighted. Is it winter in your world? Perhaps it is -summer in the picture; what a charming momentary change and contrast! And -thus pictures are consolers of loneliness; they are a sweet flattery to -the soul; they are a relief to the jaded mind; they are windows to the -imprisoned thought; they are books; they are histories and sermons--which -we can read without the trouble of turning over the leaves.' - -The effect of a picture is increased by isolation and surprise. I never -realized the physiognomical traits of Madame de Maintenon until her -portrait was encountered in a solitary country-house, of whose -drawing-room it was the sole ornament; and the romance of a miniature by -Malbone first came home to me when an ancient dame, in the costume of the -last century, with trembling fingers drew one of her husband from an -antique cabinet, and descanted on the manly beauty of the deceased -original, and the graceful genius of the young and lamented artist. -Hazlitt wrote an ingenious essay on _A Portrait by Vandyke_, which gives -us an adequate idea of what such a masterpiece is to the eye and mind of -genuine artistic perception and sympathy. Few sensations, or rather -sentiments, are more inextricably made up of pleasure and sadness than -that with which we contemplate (as is not infrequent in some old gallery -of Europe) a portrait which deeply interests or powerfully attracts us, -and whose history is irrevocably lost. A better homily on the evanescence -of human love and fame can scarcely be imagined: a face alive with moral -personality and human charms, such as win and warm our stranger eyes; yet -the name, subject, artist, owner, all lost in oblivion! To pause before an -interesting but 'unknown portrait' is to read an elegy as pathetic as -Gray's. - -The mechanical processes by which nature is so closely imitated, and the -increase of which during the last few years is one of the most remarkable -facts in science, may, at the first glance, appear to have lessened the -marvellous in art, by making available to all the exact representation of -still-life. But, when duly considered, the effect is precisely the -reverse; for exactly in proportion as we become familiar with the -mechanical production of the similitudes of natural and artificial -objects, do we instinctively demand higher powers of conception, greater -spiritual expression in the artist. The discovery of Daguerre and its -numerous improvements, and the unrivalled precision attained by -photography, render exact imitation no longer a miracle of crayon or -palette; these must now create as well as reflect, invent and harmonize as -well as copy, bring out the soul of the individual and of the landscape, -or their achievements will be neglected in favour of the fac-similes -obtainable through sunshine and chemistry. The best photographs of -architecture, statuary, ruins, and, in some cases, of celebrated pictures, -are satisfactory to a degree which has banished mediocre sketches, and -even minutely-finished but literal pictures. Specimens of what is called -'Nature-printing,' which gives an impression directly from the veined -stone, the branching fern, or the sea-moss, are so true to the details as -to answer a scientific purpose; natural objects are thus lithographed -without the intervention of pencil or ink. And these several discoveries -have placed the results of mere imitative art within reach of the mass; in -other words, her prose language--that which mechanical science can -utter--is so universal, that her poetry--that which must be conceived and -expressed through individual genius, the emanation of the soul--is more -distinctly recognized and absolutely demanded from the artist, in order to -vindicate his claim to that title, than ever before. - -Perhaps, indeed, the scope which painting offers to experimental, -individual, and prescriptive taste, the loyalty it invokes from the -conservative, the 'infinite possibilities' it offers to the imaginative, -the intimacy it promotes with nature and character, are the cause of so -much originality and attractiveness in its votaries. The lives of -painters abound in the characteristic, the adventurous, and the romantic. -Open Vasari, Walpole, or Cunningham, at random, and one is sure to light -upon something odd, genial, or exciting. One of the most popular novelists -of our day assured me that, in his opinion, the richest unworked vein for -his craft, available in these days of civilized uniformity, is artist-life -at Rome, to one thoroughly cognizant of its humours and aspirations, its -interiors and vagrancies, its self-denials and its resources. I have -sometimes imagined what a story the old white dog, who so long frequented -the 'Lepri' and the 'Caffé Greco,' and attached himself so capriciously to -the brother artists of his deceased master, could have told, if blessed -with memory and language. He had tasted the freedom and the zest of -artist-life in Rome, and scorned to follow trader or king. He preferred -the odour of canvas and oil to that of conservatories, and had more frolic -and dainty morsels at an _al fresco_ of the painters, in the Campagna, -than the kitchen of an Italian prince could furnish. His very name -betokened good cheer, and was pronounced after the manner of the pert -waiters who complacently enunciate a few words of English. _Bif-steck_ was -a privileged dog; and though occasionally made the subject of a practical -joke, taught absurd tricks, sent on fools' errands, and his white coat -painted like a zebra, these were but casual troubles; he was a sensible -dog to despise them, when he could enjoy such quaint companionship, behold -such experiments in colour and drawing, serve as a model himself, and go -on delicious sketching excursions to Albano and Tivoli, besides inhaling -tobacco-smoke and hearing stale jests and love soliloquies _ad infinitum_. -I am of _Bif-steck's_ opinion. There is no such true, earnest, humorous, -and individual life, in these days of high civilization, as that of your -genuine painter; impoverished as it often is, baffled in its aspirations, -unregarded by the material and the worldly, it often rears and keeps pure -bright, genial natures whose contact brings back the dreams of youth. It -is pleasant, too, to realize, in a great commercial city, that man 'does -not live by bread alone,' that fun is better than furniture, and a private -resource of nature more prolific of enjoyment than financial investments. -It is rare comfort here, in the land of bustle and sunshine, to sit in a -tempered light and hear a man sing or improvise stories over his work; to -behold once more vagaries of costume; to let the eye rest upon pictorial -fragments of Italy--the 'old familiar faces' of Roman models, the endeared -outlines of Apennine hills, the _contadina_ bodice and the brigand hat, -until these objects revive to the heart all the romance of travel. - -Vernet's sympathies were excited by the misfortunes of a worthy tradesman -of Marseilles, and he attended the sheriff's auction at the bankrupt's -house, where, among the crowd, he recognized a would-be _connoisseur_ in -art, of ample wealth. The painter fixed his eyes upon a dim and mediocre -picture on the wall, and bid fifteen francs; immediately the rich amateur -scented a prize; a long contest ensued, and at length the picture was -knocked off to Vernet's antagonist for so large a sum that the honest -bankrupt was enabled to pay his creditors in full, and recommence business -with a handsome capital. With the progress of civilization pictures have -grown in permanent market value. A Quaker who incurred the reproach of his -brethren for securing a Wouverman for a large sum, was excused for this -'vanity' by his shrewd friends, when he demonstrated to them that he had -made an excellent investment. Literature affords many illustrations of the -romance of the pictorial art, of which, among our own authors, Allston and -Hawthorne have given memorable examples in _Monaldi_ and _Twice-told -Tales_. Unknown portraits have inspired the most attractive conjectures, -and about the best known and most fascinating hover an atmosphere of -intensely personal interest or historical association. Vasari, Mrs. -Jameson, Hazlitt, and other art-writers have elaborated the most -delectable facts and fancies from this vast individual sphere of the -picturesque. - -The technicalities of art, its refinements of style, its absolute -significance, are, indeed, as dependent for appreciation on a special -endowment as are mathematics; but the general and incidental associations, -in which is involved a world of poetry, may be enjoyed to the full extent -by those whose perception of form, sense of colour, and knowledge of the -principles of sculpture, painting, music, and architecture are notably -deficient. It is a law of life and nature, that truth and beauty, -adequately represented, create and diffuse a limitless element of wisdom -and pleasure. Such memorials are talismanic, and their influence is felt -in all the higher and more permanent spheres of thought and emotion; they -are the gracious landmarks that guide humanity above the commonplace and -the material, along the 'line of infinite desires.' Art, in its broad and -permanent meaning, is a language--the language of sentiment, of character, -of national impulse, of individual genius; and for this reason it bears a -lesson, a charm, or a sanction to all--even to those least versed in its -rules, and least alive to its special triumphs. Sir Walter Scott was no -amateur, yet, through his reverence for ancestry and his local -attachments, portraiture and architecture had for him a romantic interest. -Sydney Smith was impatient of galleries when he could talk with men and -women, and made a practical joke of buying pictures; yet Newton and Leslie -elicited his best humour. Talfourd cared little and knew less of the -treasures of the Louvre, but lingered there because it had been his friend -Hazlitt's Elysium. Indeed, there are constantly blended associations in -the history of English authors and artists; Reynolds is identified with -Johnson and Goldsmith, Smibert with Berkeley, Barry with Burke, Constable -and Wilkie with Sir George Beaumont, Haydon with Wordsworth, and Leslie -with Irving. The painters depict their friends of the pen, the latter -celebrate in verse or prose the artist's triumphs, and both intermingle -thought and sympathy; and from this contact of select intelligences, of -diverse vocation, has resulted the choicest wit and the most genial -companionship. If from special we turn to general associations, from -biography to history, the same prolific affinities are evident, whereby -the artist becomes an interpreter of life, and casts the halo of romance -over the stern features of reality. Hampton Court is the almost breathing -society of Charles the Second's reign; the Bodleian Gallery is vivid with -Britain's past intellectual life; the history of France is pictured on the -walls of Versailles; the luxury of colour bred by the sunsets of the -Euganean hills, the waters of the Adriatic, the marbles of San Marco, and -the skies and atmosphere of Venice, are radiant on the canvas of Titian, -Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese; Michael Angelo has embodied the soul of his -era, and the loftiest spirit of his country; Salvator typified the -half-savage picturesqueness, Claude the atmospheric enchantments, Carlo -Dolce the effeminate grace, Titian the voluptuous energy, Guido the placid -self-possession, and Raphael and Correggio the religious sentiment of -Italy; Watteau put on canvas the _fête champêtre_; the peasant life of -Spain is pictured by Murillo, her asceticism by the old religious limners; -what English rustics were before steam and railroads, Gainsborough and -Moreland reveal; Wilkie has permanently symbolized Scotch shrewdness and -domesticity, and Lawrence framed and fixed the elegant shapes of a London -drawing-room; and each of these is a normal type and suggestive exemplar -to the imagination, a chapter of romance, a sequestration and initial -token of the characteristic and the historical, either of what has become -traditional or what is for ever true. - -The indirect service good artists have rendered by educating observation -has yet to be acknowledged. The Venetian painters cannot be even -superficially regarded, without developing the sense of colour; nor the -Roman, without enlarging our cognizance of expression; nor the English, -without refining our perception of the evanescent effects in scenery. -Raphael has made infantile grace obvious to unmaternal eyes; Turner opened -to many a preoccupied vision the wonders of atmosphere; Constable guided -our perception of the casual phenomena of wind; Landseer, that of the -natural language of the brute creation; Lely, of the coiffure; Michael -Angelo, of physical grandeur; Rolfe, of fish; Gerard Dow, of water; Cuyp, -of meadows; Cooper, of cattle; Stanfield, of the sea; and so on through -every department of pictorial art. Insensibly these quiet but persuasive -teachers have made every phase and object of the material world -interesting, environed them with more or less of romance, by such -revelations of their latent beauty and meaning; so that, thus instructed, -the sunset and the pastoral landscape, the moss-grown arch and the craggy -seaside, the twilight grove and the swaying cornfield, an old mill, a -peasant, light and shade, form and feature, perspective and anatomy, a -smile, a gesture, a cloud, a waterfall, weather-stains, leaves, -deer--every object in nature, and every impress of the elements, speaks -more distinctly to the eye, and more effectively to the imagination. - -The vicissitudes which sometimes attend a picture or statue furnish no -inadequate materials for narrative interest. Amateur collectors can unfold -a tale in reference to their best acquisitions which outvies fiction. -Beckford's table-talk abounded in such reminiscences. An American artist, -who had resided long in Italy, and made a study of old pictures, caught -sight at a shop window in New Orleans of an 'Ecce Homo' so pathetic in -expression as to arrest his steps and engross his attention. Upon inquiry, -he learned that it had been purchased of a soldier fresh from Mexico, -after the late war between that country and the United States; he bought -it for a trifle, carried it to Europe, and soon authenticated it as an -original Guercino, painted for the royal chapel in Madrid, and sent -thence by the government to a church in Mexico, whence, after centuries, -it had found its way, through the accidents of war, to a pawnbroker's shop -in Louisiana. A lady in one of our eastern cities, wishing to possess, as -a memorial, some article which had belonged to a deceased neighbour, and -not having the means, at the public sale of her effects, to bid for an -expensive piece of furniture, contented herself with buying for a few -shillings a familiar chimney-screen. One day she discovered a glistening -surface under the flowered paper which covered it, and when this was torn -away, there stood revealed a picture of 'Jacob and Rachel at the Well,' by -Paul Veronese; doubtless thus concealed with a view to its secret removal -during the first French Revolution. The missing Charles First of Velasquez -was lately exhibited in this country, and the account its possessor gives -of the mode of its discovery and the obstacles which attended the -establishment of its legal ownership in England is a remarkable -illustration both of the tact of the connoisseur and the mysteries of -jurisprudence.[10] - -Political vicissitudes not only cause pictures to emigrate like their -owners, but to change their costume--if we may so call a frame,--with -equal celerity: that which now encloses Peale's Washington, at Princeton, -once held the portrait of George the Third; and there is an elaborate old -frame which holds the likeness of a New England poet's grandfather whence -was hurriedly taken the portrait of Governor Hutchinson, in anticipation -of a domiciliary visit from the 'Sons of Liberty.' - -There is scarcely, indeed, an artist or a patron of art, of any eminence, -who has not his own 'story of a picture.' Like all things of beauty and of -fame, the very desire of possession which a painting excites, and the -interest it awakens, give rise to some costly sacrifice, or incidental -circumstance, which associates the prize with human fortune and sentiment. - -A friend of mine, in exploring the more humble class of boarding-houses in -one of our large commercial towns, in search of an unfortunate relation, -found himself, while expecting the landlady, absorbed in a portrait on the -walls of a dingy back parlour. The furniture was of the most common -description. A few smutched and faded annuals, half-covered with dust, lay -on the centre-table, beside an old-fashioned astral lamp, a cracked -porcelain vase of wax-flowers, a yellow satin pincushion embroidered with -tarnished gold-lace, and an album of venerable hue filled with hyperbolic -apostrophes to the charms of some ancient beauty; which, with the -dilapidated window-curtains, the obsolete sideboard, the wooden effigy of -a red-faced man with a spyglass under his arm, and the cracked alabaster -clock-case on the mantel, all bespoke an impoverished establishment, so -devoid of taste that the beautiful and artistic portrait seemed to have -found its way there by a miracle. It represented a young and _spirituelle_ -woman, in the costume, so elegant in material and formal in mode, which -Copley has immortalized; in this instance, however, there was a French -look about the coiffure and robe. The eyes were bright with intelligence -chastened by sentiment, the features at once delicate and spirited; and -altogether the picture was one of those visions of blended youth, grace, -sweetness, and intellect, from which the fancy instinctively infers a tale -of love, genius, or sorrow, according to the mood of the spectator. -Subdued by his melancholy errand, and discouraged by a long and vain -search, my friend, whose imagination was quite as excitable as his taste -was correct, soon wove a romance around the picture. It was evidently not -the work of a novice; it was as much out of place in this obscure and -inelegant domicile, as a diamond set in filigree, or a rose among pigweed. -How came it there? who was the original? what her history and her fate? -Her parentage and her nurture must have been refined; she must have -inspired love in the chivalric; perchance this was the last relic of an -illustrious exile, the last memorial of a princely house. - -This reverie of conjecture was interrupted by the entrance of the -landlady. My friend had almost forgotten the object of his visit; and when -his anxious inquiries proved vain, he drew the loquacious hostess into -general conversation, in order to elicit the mystery of the beautiful -portrait. She was a robust, gray-haired woman, with whose constitutional -good-nature care had waged a long and partially successful war. That -indescribable air which speaks of better days was visible at a glance; the -remnants of bygone gentility were obvious in her dress; she had the -peculiar manner of one who had enjoyed social consideration; and her -language indicated familiarity with cultivated society; yet the anxious -expression habitual to her countenance, and the bustling air of her -vocation which quickly succeeded conversational repose, hinted but too -plainly straitened circumstances and daily toil. But what struck her -present curious visitor more than these casual traits were the remains of -great beauty in the still lovely contour of the face, the refined lines of -her mouth, and the depth and varied play of the eyes. He was both -sympathetic and ingenious, and ere long gained the confidence of his -auditor. The unfeigned interest and the true perception he manifested in -speaking of the portrait rendered him, in its owner's estimation, worthy -to know the story his own intuition had so nearly divined. The original -was Theodosia, the daughter of Aaron Burr. His affection for her was the -redeeming fact of his career and character. Both were anomalous in our -history. In an era remarkable for patriotic self-sacrifice, he became -infamous for treasonable ambition; among a phalanx of statesmen -illustrious for directness and integrity, he pursued the tortuous path of -perfidious intrigue; in a community where the sanctities of domestic life -were unusually revered, he bore the stigma of unscrupulous libertinism. -With the blood of his gallant adversary and his country's idol on his -hands, the penalties of debt and treason hanging over him, the fertility -of an acute intellect wasted on vain expedients--an outlaw, an adventurer, -a plausible reasoner with one sex and fascinating betrayer of the other, -poor, bereaved, contemned,--one holy, loyal sentiment lingered in his -perverted soul--love for the fair, gifted, gentle being who called him -father. The only disinterested sympathy his letters breathe is for her; -and the feeling and sense of duty they manifest offer a remarkable -contrast to the parallel record of a life of unprincipled schemes, misused -talents, and heartless amours. As if to complete the tragic antithesis of -destiny, the beloved and gifted woman who thus shed an angelic ray upon -that dark career was, soon after her father's return from Europe, lost in -a storm at sea, while on her way to visit him, thus meeting a fate which, -even at this distance of time, is remembered with pity. Her wretched -father bore with him, in all his wanderings and through all his remorseful -exile, her picture--emblem of filial love, of all that is beautiful in the -ministry of woman, and all that is terrible in human fate. At length he -lay dangerously ill in a garret. He had parted with one after another of -his articles of raiment, books, and trinkets, to defray the expenses of a -long illness; Theodosia's picture alone remained; it hung beside him--the -one talisman of irreproachable memory, of spotless love, and of undying -sorrow; he resolved to die with this sweet relic of the loved and lost in -his possession; there his sacrifices ended. Life seemed slowly ebbing; -the unpaid physician lagged in his visits; the importunate landlord -threatened to send this once dreaded partisan, favoured guest, and -successful lover to the almshouse; when, as if the spell of woman's -affection were spiritually magnetic, one of the deserted old man's early -victims--no other than she who spoke--accidentally heard of his extremity, -and, forgetting her wrongs, urged by compassion and her remembrance of the -past, sought her betrayer, provided for his wants, and rescued him from -impending dissolution. In grateful recognition of her Christian kindness, -he gave her all he had to bestow--Theodosia's portrait. - -The indiscriminate disparagement of the old masters which has so long been -the paradox of Ruskin's beautiful rhetoric, Haydon's suicidal devotion to -the 'grand style,' Mrs. Jameson's gracious exposition of religious art, -and the extravagant encomiums which the fashionable painter of the hour -elicits from accredited critical journals, indicate the antagonistic -theories and tastes that prevail; and yet these are all authentic and -recognized oracles of artistic knowledge--all more or less true; and yet, -in a comparative view, offering such violent contrasts as to baffle and -discourage a novice in search of the legitimate picturesque. - -So thoroughly identified with the possibility and probability of deception -is the very name of a picture-dealer, that to the multitude an 'Old -Master' is a bugbear;--the tricks of this trade form a staple of Paris -correspondents and travelled _raconteurs_. The details of manufacture in -perhaps this most lucrative branch of spurious traffic are patent; and, -although the legitimate products of world-renowned painters are -authenticated and on record, scarcely a month passes without some -extensive fraud. The amateur in literature, sculpture, and music, is -comparatively free from this perpetual danger; the sense of mystery does -not baffle his enthusiasm; and while the pictorial votary or victim is -disputing about an 'Andrea del Sarto,' or a 'Teniers,' or bewildered by -the conflicting theories of rival artists in regard to colour, tone, -composition, foreshortening, chiaro-oscuro, &c., he enjoys, without -misgiving, the _noi ci darem_ of Mozart, revels over the faded leaves of -his first edition of a classic, or discourses fluently about the line of -beauty in his copy of a Greek statue. 'God Almighty's daylight,' wrote -Constable, 'is enjoyed by all mankind, excepting only the lovers of old -dirty canvas, perished pictures at a thousand guineas each, cart-grease, -tar, and snuff of candle.' The practical lesson derivable from these -anomalous results of 'Pictures' is that we should rely upon our individual -impressions, enjoy what appeals gratefully to our consciousness, repudiate -hackneyed and conventional terms, judgments, and affectations, and boldly -declare with the poet, before the picture which enchants us,-- - - 'I leave to learned fingers and wise hands - The artist and his ape, to teach and tell - How well his connoisseurship understands - The graceful bend and the voluptuous swell: - Let these describe the indescribable; - I would not their vile breath should crisp the stream - Wherein that image shall for ever dwell; - The unruffled mirror of the loveliest dream - That ever left the sky on the deep soul to beam.' - -There are heads of men and women delineated hundreds of years ago, so knit -into the mystic web of memory and imagination, so familiar through -engravings, cameos, and other reproductive forms of art, and so identified -with tragic experience, ideal aspiration, or heroic deeds, that the first -view of the originals is an epoch in life; we seem to behold them down a -limitless vista of time, and they appeal to our consciousness like the -faces of the long-loved, long-lost, and suddenly restored. It is as if we -had entered a spiritual realm, and were greeted by the vanished idols of -the heart, or the 'beings of the mind and not of clay,' once arbiters of -destiny and oracles of genius. Beatrice Cenci, through soulful eyes, -infinitely deepened by a life of tears dried up by the fever of intense -anguish, looks the incarnation of beauty and woe--beauty we have adored in -dreams, woe we have realized through sympathy. With the first sight of -that alabaster skin, those lips quivering with pain, those golden locks, -the theme of poets, that corpse-like headband; the fragility, the fervour, -the sensibility, and the chaste, ineffable grace; above all, the soulful -world of terror, pity, and meekness in the lustrous and melancholy orbs, -how familiar, yet how new, how pathetic, yet sublime! The hoary wretch who -called her child, seems lurking somewhere in that hushed and sombre -palace; the brother whose fair brow was lacerated by parental violence; -the resigned mother, the infernal banquet, the prison, the tribunal, the -bloody axe, flit with fearful distinctness between our entranced vision -and the picture; for tradition, local association, Shelley's muse, the -secret pen of the annalist, and the pencil of Guido, combine to make -absolutely real an unparalleled story of loveliness and persecution, -maidenhood and martyrdom. It is but recently that the true history of this -picture has been authenticated. According to Guerazzi, who has minutely -explored contemporary archives, the 'study' from which it was painted, -Ubaldo Ubaldini made from memory, to console his sister for the loss of -Beatrice. He was one of the many artists who loved the beautiful victim, -with the passion of youth and the fancy of a painter; one of the -courageous but inadequate band who conspired to rescue her at the -scaffold;[11] and it was long believed that he died of indignant grief -after the catastrophe. Imagine him with the shadow of that mighty sorrow -upon his soul, his hand inspired by tender recollection, secluded with her -image stamped on his broken heart, and patiently reproducing those -delicate features and that anguished expression--his last offering to her -he so quickly followed into the valley of death! His 'study' fell into the -hands of Maffei Barberini, and furnished Guido Reni the materials for -this, his most effective and endeared creation. Its marvellous, almost -magnetic expression, doubtless gave rise to the belief, so long current, -that he sketched Beatrice on her way to execution; but the later -explanation is more accordant with probability and more satisfactory to -the mind, for such a work requires for the conditions of success both the -inspiration of love and the aptitude of skill. Ubaldini furnished one, and -Guido the other. - -Many travellers, especially women, have expressed great disappointment -with the 'Fornarina.' They cannot associate a figure so much the reverse -of ethereal, and charms so robust, with the refined taste and delicate -person of Raffaelo. But such objections are founded on an imaginative not -philosophic theory of love. There never was a genuine artist who, in -matters of feeling, was not a child of Nature; and we have but to -recognize the idiosyncrasies of poet and painter to find a key to their -human affinities. What a peculiar interest we feel in the objects of love -whose affection cheered, and whose sympathy inspired those products of pen -and pencil, which have become part of our mental being! I have seen a -crowd of half-bashful and wholly intent English girls watch the carriage -which contained the obese, yet still fair-haired Countess, whose youthful -charms so long made Byron a methodical hermit at Ravenna; and the -respectable matron who, as a child, was deemed by sentimentalists in -Germany and her own exaggerated fancy the object of Goëthe's senile -passion, was long courted on that account, at tea-drinkings, by foreign -visitors enamoured of _Faust_ and _Wilhelm Meister_. Still more natural is -the sentiment which lures us to earnest acquaintance with the countenance, -on which he who gave an angelic semblance to maternity and caught the most -gracious aspect of childhood used to gaze with rapture; the eye that -responded to his glance, the smile that penetrated his heart, and were -fixed on his canvas. The impression which the 'Fornarina' of the Tribune -instantly gives, is that of genuine womanhood: there is generosity, a -repose, a world of latent emotion, an exuberance of sympathetic power, in -the full impassioned eye, the broad symmetrical bosom, the rich olive -tint; it is precisely the woman to harmonize by her simple presence, and -to soothe or exalt by her spontaneous love, the mood of a man of nervous -organization and ardent temper. There is a tranquil self-possession in the -face and figure which the sensitive and excitable artist especially finds -refreshing--a candid nature such as alone can inspire such a man's -confidence, a majestic simplicity peculiar to the best type of Roman -women, more delightful to the over-tasked brain and sensibilities than the -highest culture of an artificial kind; and there is the fresh, -unperverted, richly-developed, harmoniously-united heart and physique, -which, notwithstanding the modern standard of female charms, is the -normal and the essential basis of honest, natural affinity. I could never -turn, in the Florence Gallery, from the pale, delicately-rounded, ideal -brow, the almost pleading eye, and the cherubic lips of Raffaelo, instinct -with the needs as well as the immortal longings of genius, to the mellow, -calm, self-sustained, and healthful 'Fornarina,' without fancying the -support, the rest, the inexhaustible comfort--in Othello's sense of that -expressive word--which the sensitive artist could find in the cheerful -baker's daughter, the irritable seeker in the serene and satisfied woman, -the delicate in the strong, the gentle in the hearty, the ideal in the -real, the poetic in the practical, the spiritual in the human; and I -contemplated her noble contour, her contented smile, her beaming cheek, -and eye undeepened by the experience that withers as it teaches--yet -soulful with latent emotion, with an ever-increasing sense of her native -claims to Raphael's love. - -Musical organizations are especially sensitive to the pictorial spell; the -letters of Mendelssohn indicate how it influenced his development. Writing -from Venice of church services he attended, he says:--'Nothing impressed -me with more solemn awe than when, on the very spot for which they were -originally created, the "Presentation of Mary and the Child in the -Temple," "The Assumption of the Virgin," "The Entombment of Christ," and -"The Martyrdom of St. Peter," in all their grandeur, gradually steal forth -out of the darkness in which the long lapse of time has veiled them. Often -I feel a musical inspiration, and since I came here have been busily -engaged in composition.' And from Florence he writes:--'There is a small -picture here which I discovered for myself. It is by Fra Bartolomeo, who -must have been a man of most devout, tender, and earnest spirit. The -figures are finished in the most exquisite and consummate manner. You can -see in the picture itself that the pious master has taken delight in -painting it, and in finishing the most minute details, probably with a -view of giving it away to gratify some friend; we feel as if the painter -belonged to it, and still ought to be sitting before his work, or had this -moment left.' This personal magnetism about pictures is an authentic -evidence of their vital relation to character, and it is felt often in an -incredible way by the imaginative and susceptible. The same gifted and -generous composer, who thus wrote of Titian and Fra Bartolomeo, speaks of -the impression he received from Raphael's portrait by himself:--'Youthful, -pale, delicate, and with such inward aspirations, such longing and -wistfulness in the mouth and eyes, that it is as if you could see into his -very soul; that he cannot succeed in expressing all that he sees and -feels, and is thus impelled to go forward, and that he must die an early -death;--all this is written on his mournful, suffering, yet fervid -countenance.' - -Vandyke's portraits of Charles the First impress the spectator with regal -fanaticism, and a tragic destiny, more than some of the written histories -of his reign. The exquisite hands of Leonardo's 'Gioconde' are as eloquent -of feminine grace and sensibility as the most elaborate description. -Correggio's 'Magdalen,' in the remorseful _abandon_ and beautiful sadness -of its expression, reveals her who 'loved much,' repented, and was -forgiven. Giovanni di Medici, in the Uffizzi Gallery, fulfils to the -imagination the ideal of mediæval Italian soldiership. Stuart's -'Washington' embodies the serene conscience, the self-control, the humane -dignity and birthright of command, which consecrate our peerless chief; -and Delaroche's 'Napoleon Crossing the Alps' perpetuates the intense -purpose and insatiable ambition that won so many battles and died of -anxiety on an ocean-rock. Such instances, which might easily be -multiplied, prove how a single department of art, and that the least -estimated, is allied to history, patriotism, and sentiment, and capable of -touching their secret springs and unveiling their limitless perspective at -a glance. Guercino's 'Hagar' is a biblical poem. Hamlet's filial -reproaches borrow their keenest sting from two 'counterfeit presentments,' -and Trumbull's faithful and assiduous pencil has transmitted the -individualities of our Revolutionary drama. And thus the art of -portraiture, even in its general relations, may become, through -illustrious subjects and rare fidelity, the romance which association of -ideas breeds from reality. - -I was never more impressed with the absolute line of demarcation between -the imitative and the inventive, even in the lighter processes of art, -than when examining the graphic series of illustrations of _The Wandering -Jew_. Nature is represented under all forms--the woods, the desert, the -ocean, caves, meadows, and skies; and these fixed elemental features might -be well reflected by mechanical aids, photographed or reproduced through -chemical and optical means; but the true meaning of each picture consisted -in the ever-present shadow pursuing the Wanderer--the form of the Holy One -bowed under his cross: it glimmered in the water, was stamped on the rock, -outlined in the gnarled forest branches, pencilled in the floating vapour, -reflected in the ice-mirrored lake, with a latent and inevitable yet -unobtrusive and apparently accidental omni-presence, as if wrought into -the texture of nature through the creative anguish of conscience--which -emphatically announced an intelligence far beyond all mechanical art, and -interfused the material with the abstract, the imaginative, and the human, -as only genius can. The same thing is evinced by comparing the best -photographs of architecture, figures, or landscapes with the sketch-book -of a genuine artist; in certain points there will be found a special -intelligence and feeling which transcend the most remarkable imitative -truth. How much of this is suggested, for instance, by the mere catalogue -of an album on the table at a Parisian _soirée_: fleurs de Redonté, -chevaux de Carl Vernet, Bedouins d'Horace, aquarelles de Ciceri, petit -paysages de Géniole, caricatures de Grandville et de Monnier, beaux -brigands de Schnetz--'tous chéfs d'oeuvre au petit pied.' - -A portrait of little Fritz drumming, in the Berlin Gallery, Carlyle hails, -in his _Life of Frederick the Great_, as 'one tiny islet of reality amid -the shoreless sea of fantasms, Flaying of Bartholomews, Rape of Europas,' -&c. Napoleon was delighted to remember that his mother reclined on -tapestry representing the heroes of the _Iliad_, when she brought him into -the world. - -For how long and with what vividness are certain pictures associated with -localities. Gainsborough's 'Blue Boy,' and Reynolds's 'Strawberry Girl,' -are among the salient retrospective images of the English school at the -Manchester Exhibition. We think of Correggio with Parma, Perugino with -Perugia, Fra Angelico with Florence, Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' and -Guercino's 'Hagar' with Milan, Murillo with Seville, Vandyke with Madrid, -Rubens with Antwerp, Watteau with Paris, and Paul Potter's 'Bull' with the -Hague. - -The Dutch school, in a philosophical estimate, is but the compensation -afforded by the romance of art for its deficiency in nature; the element -of the picturesque not found in mountains, forests, and cataracts, the -lowland painters wrought from flowers and firesides; the radiant tulips -and exquisite interiors, the humble but characteristic in life and -manners. To seize upon individuality is the conservative tact of both -painter and poet; whoever does this effectively contributes to the world's -gallery of historical portraits, and keeps before the living the faces, -costume, and actions of bygone races and heroes. Catlin's aboriginal -portraits introduced the American native tribes to Europe; a naturalist -abroad has but to turn over Audubon's portfolio to become intimately -acquainted with every bird whose plumage or song makes beautiful our -woodlands and seashore; the traveller who rests an hour at Perugia may -trace on the walls of a church the original, crude, yet pious expression -which Raphael developed into angelic beauty. Vernet has, by the very -multiplicity of his battle-pieces, signalized on canvas the military -genius of the French nation; the faith which so distinguishes the -fifteenth from the speculation of the eighteenth century is manifest to us -most eloquently in the masterpieces of religious art which yet remain in -peerless beauty to attest the holy convictions that inspired them; and all -that is peculiar in Grecian culture has found no exponent like the statues -of her divinities. Hogarth preceded Crabbe and Dickens in making palpable -the shadows of want, crime, and luxury. The Italian satirist, who endowed -animals with speech and made them represent the absurdities of humanity, -hinted their possible significance less than Landseer who individualized -their most salient traits, or Kaulbach who revealed the brute creation in -the highest intuitive expression. There is a piquant rustic beauty by -Greuze, which embodies and embalms, in its exquisite suggestiveness, the -special claim of naïve brightness and grace that belongs almost -exclusively to French lovable women; and there is a portrait of an -American matronly belle of the days of Washington, by Stuart, which -represents the type of mingled self-reliance and womanly loveliness that -has made the ladies of our Republican court so memorably attractive. - - - - -DOCTORS. - - 'Throw physic to the dogs.'--MACBETH. - - 'Friend of my life, which did not you prolong, - The world had wanted many an idle song.'--POPE. - - -In the moving panoramas of cities are to be seen certain vehicles of all -degrees of locomotive beauty and convenience, from the glossy and -silver-knobbed carriage with its prancing grays, to the bacheloric-looking -sulky with its one gaunt horse, in which are seated gentlemen of a learned -and professional aspect, usually wearing spectacles, and always an air of -intense respectability, or of contemplation and seriousness. They -recognize numerous acquaintances as they pass with a peculiar smile and -nod, and are usually accompanied by 'a little man-boy to hold the horse,' -as the French cook in the play defines a _tigre_. These mysterious -personages rejoice in the title of Doctor--once a very distinctive -appellation, but now as common as authorship and travelling. A moralist, -watching them gliding by amid fashionable equipages, crowded omnibuses, -hasty pedestrians, and all the phenomena of life in a metropolis, would -find a striking contrast between the rushing tide around and the hushed -rooms they enter. To how many their visit is the one daily event that -breaks in upon the monotony of illness and confinement; how many eyes -watch them with eager suspense, and listen to their opinion as the fiat -of destiny; how many feverishly expect their coming, shrink from their -polished steel, rejoice in their cheering ministrations, or dread their -long bills! 'The Doctor!'--a word that stirs the extremest moods, despair -and jollity! - -There is no profession which depends so much for its efficiency on -personal traits as that of medicine; for the utility of technical -knowledge here is derived from individual judgment, tact, and sympathy. In -other words, the physician has to deal with an unknown element. Between -the specific ailment and the remedy there are peculiarities of -constitution, the influence of circumstances, and the laws of nature to be -considered; so that although the medical adviser may be thoroughly versed -in physiology, the materia medica, and the symptoms of disease, if he -possess not the discrimination, the observant skill, and the reflective -power to apply his learning wisely, it is comparatively unavailing. The -aim of the divine and the attorney, however impeded by obstacles, is -reached by a more direct course; logic, eloquence, and zeal, united to -professional attainment, will insure success in law and divinity; but in -physic, certain other qualities in the man are requisite to give scope to -the professor. Hence we associate a certain originality with the idea of a -doctor; are apt to regard the vocation at the two extremes of superiority -and pretension, and justly estimate the individuals of the class according -to their capacity of insight and their principles of action, rather than -by their mere acquisitions or rank as teachers. The uncertainty of -medicine, as a practical art, thus induces a stronger reliance on -individual endowments than is the case in any other liberal pursuit. - -A philosophical history of the art of healing would be not less curious -than suggestive. The absurd theories which checked its progress for -centuries, the secrets hoarded by Egyptian priests, the union of medical -knowledge with ancient systems of philosophy, the epoch of Galen, the -Arabian and Salerno schools, the reformation of Paracelsus, the brilliant -discoveries which, at long intervals, illumined the track of the science, -and the enlightened principles now realized--if fully discussed--would -form an extraordinary chapter in the biography of man. Herein, as with -other vocations, modern division of labour has concentrated professional -aptitudes. 'L' affluence des postulants,' says Balzac, 'a forcé la -médecine a se diviser en catégories; il y a le médecin qui professe, le -médecin politique et le médecin militant et la cinquième divisions, celle -des docteurs qui vendent des remèdes.' - -St. Luke and the Good Samaritan are yet the favourite signs of -apothecaries, confirming the original charity of the art; and in the south -of Europe may still be seen over the barbers' shops the effigy of a human -arm spouting blood from an open vein--an indication of the once universal -custom of periodical depletion. It is now acknowledged that diverse -climates require modified treatment of the same disease; that nervous -susceptibility is far greater in one latitude than another, and that -habits of life essentially individualize the constitution. Indeed, the -widest difference exists in the relation of persons to the doctor; some -never see him, and others must have a consultation upon the most trifling -ailment,--so great is the dependence which can be had upon nature, and so -extreme both the faith and the scepticism which exist in regard to -curative science. - -Popular literature is full of hits at the profession. 'Le barbier fait -plus de la moitié d' un médecin,' says Molière, who, in _La Malade -Imaginaire_, has so acutely given the current philosophy of the subject by -satirizing the pedantry and charlatanism of the doctors of his day; 'Nous -voyons que, dans la maladie tout le monde a recours aux médecins;--c'est -une marque de la faiblesse humaine et non pas de la vérité de leur art;' -and of all ailments the hardest to cure is 'la maladie des médecins.' -Imagination has been called by a German philosopher 'the mediatrix, the -nurse, the mover of all the several parts of our spiritual organism.' 'I -have the worst luck of any physician under the cope of heaven,' complains -Sancho Panza; 'other doctors kill their patients, and are paid for it too, -and yet they are at no further trouble than scrawling two or three cramp -words for some physical slip-slop, which the apothecaries are at all the -pains to make up.' - -It would seem, indeed, as if the advance of science improved medical -practice negatively--that is, by inducing what in politics has been called -a masterly inactivity; and there is no doubt that no small degree of the -success attending Hahnemann's theory is to be attributed to the -comparative abstinence it inculcates in the use of remedial agents. The -fact is a significant one, as indicative of the want of positive science -in the healing art; and the consequent wisdom of leaving to nature, as far -as possible, the restorative process. Indeed, to assist nature is -acknowledged, by just observers, to be the only wise course; and this -brings us to the inference that a good physician is necessarily a -philosopher; it is incumbent on him, of all men, to exercise the inductive -faculty; he must possess good causality, not only to reason justly on -individual cases, but to apply the progress of science to the exigencies -of disease. It is related of Bixio that such was his zeal for science, -having long wished to ascertain whether a man instinctively turns when -wounded in a vital part, asked his adversary in a duel to aim at one, and, -although fatally hurt, exclaimed with ardour, as he involuntarily spun -round--'It is true, they do turn!' - -The comparatively slow accumulation of scientific truth in regard to the -treatment of disease, is illustrated by the fact that not until the lapse -of two thousand years after medicine had assumed the rank of a science, -under the auspices of Hippocrates, was the circulation of the blood -discovered--an era in its history. The fiery discussion of the efficacy of -inoculation, and its gradual introduction, is another significant -evidence of the same general truth. But in our own day the rapid and -valuable developments of chemistry have, in a measure, reversed the -picture. Numerous alleviating and curative agents have been discovered; -the gas of poisonous acids is found to eradicate, in many cases, the most -fatal diseases of the eye; heat, more penetrating than can be created by -other means, is eliminated from carbon in an aëriform state, passes -through the cuticle without leaving a mark on its surface, and restores -aching nerves or exhausted vitality. Vegetable and mineral substances are -refined, analyzed, and combined with a skill never before imagined; opium -yields morphine, and Peruvian bark quinine, and all the known salubrious -elements are thus rendered infinitely subservient to the healing art. -Chloroform is one of the most beneficent of these new agents; and has -exorcised the demon of physical pain by a magical charm, without -violating, in judicious hands, the integrity of nature. - -There is a secret of curative art in which consists the genius of healing; -it is that union of sympathy with intelligence, and of moral energy with -magnetic gifts, whereby the tides of life are swayed, and one 'can -minister to a mind diseased.' Fortunate is the patient who is attended by -one thus endowed; but such are usually found out of the professional -circle;--they are referees ordained by nature to settle the difficulties -of inferior spirits; the arbiters recognized by instinct who soothe anger, -reconcile doubt, amuse, elevate, and console, by a kind of moral alchemy; -and potent coadjutors are they to the material aids of merely technical -physicians. 'Who dare say,' asks Rénan, in allusion to the calming and -purifying influence of Jesus, 'that in many cases, and apart from injuries -of a dreaded character, the contact of an exquisite person is not worth -all the resources of pharmacy?' 'It was agony to me,' wrote Hahnemann, 'to -walk in darkness, with no other light than could be derived from books.' -One of his opponents, from this confession, infers the fallacy of his -system; 'the conviction,' he observes, 'is irresistibly forced upon us -that he was not a _born physician_.' If our ancestors were less -enlightened in regard to _hygiène_, and if their physicians were less -scrupulous in tampering with the functions of nature, they had one signal -advantage over us in escaping the inhuman comments, made after every fatal -issue, on the practice and the treatment adopted--no matter with how much -conscientious intelligence. We not only suffer the pangs of bereavement, -but the reproaches of devotees of each school of medicine and of rival -doctors, of having by an unwise choice sacrificed the life for which we -would have cheerfully resigned our own! Somewhat of this occult healing -force might have been read in the serene countenance of Dr. Physic, of -Philadelphia; it predominated in the benevolent founder of the Insane -Asylum of Palermo, who learned from an attack of mental disorder how to -feel for, and minister to, those thus afflicted. The late Preissnitz, of -Graefenberg, seems to have enjoyed the gift which is as truly Nature's -indication of an aptitude for the art, as a sense of beauty in the poet. -But this principle is 'caviare to the general.' - -Medicine has lost much of its inherent dignity by the same element, in -modern times, that has degraded art, letters, and society--the spirit of -trade. This agency encourages motives, justifies means, and leads to ends -wholly at variance with high tone and with truth. The gentleman, the -philosopher, the man of honour, and with them that keystone in the arch of -character--self-respect, are wholly compromised in the process of sinking -a liberal art into a common trade. In the economy of modern society, -however, the physician has acquired a new influence; he has gained upon -the monopoly of the priest: for while the spirit of inquiry, by trenching -on the mysterious prerogatives which superstition once accorded, has -retrenched the latter's functions, the same agency, by extending the -domain of science and rendering its claims popular, has enlarged the -sphere of the other profession. To an extent, therefore, never before -known, the doctor fills the office of confessor; his visits yield -agreeable excitement to women with whom he gossips and sympathizes; -admitted by the very exigency of the case to entire confidence, often -revered as a counsellor and friend, as well as relied on as a healer, not -infrequently he becomes the oracle of a household. Privileges like these, -when used with benevolence and integrity, are doubtless honourable to both -parties, and become occasions for the exercise of the noblest service and -the highest sentiments of our nature; while, on the other hand, they are -liable to the grossest abuse, where elevation of character and gentlemanly -instincts are wanting. Accordingly there has sprung into existence, in our -day, a personage best designated as the medical Jesuit; whose real -vocation, as well as the process by which he acquires supremacy, fully -justifies the appellation. Like his religious prototype, he operates -through the female branches, who, in their turn, control the heads of -families; and the extent to which the domestic arrangements, the social -relations, and even the opinions of individuals are thus regulated, is -truly surprising. 'Women,' says Mrs. Jameson, 'are inclined to fall in -love with priests and physicians, because of the help and comfort they -derive from both in perilous moral and physical maladies. They believe in -the presence of real pity, real sympathy, where the look and tone of each -have become merely habitual and conventional, I may say professional.' Yet -a popular novelist, in his ideal portrait of the physician, justly claims -superiority to impulse and casual sympathy as an essential requisite to -success. 'He must enter the room a calm intelligencer. He is disabled for -his mission if he suffer aught to obscure the keen glance of his -science.'[12] - -The natural history of the doctor has not yet been written, but the -classes are easily nomenclated; we have all known the humorous, the -urbane, the oracular, the facetious, the brusque, the elegant, the shrewd, -the exquisite, the burly, the bold, and the fastidious; and the character -of people may be inferred by their choice of each species. Those in whom -taste predominates over intellect, will select a physician, for his -agreeable personal qualities; while such as value essential traits, will -compromise with the roughest exterior and the least flattering address for -the sake of genuine skill and a vigorous and honest mind. As a general -rule, in large cities, vanity seems to rule the selection; and it is a -lamentable view of human nature to see the blind preference given to -plausible but shallow men, whose smooth tongues or gallant air win them -suffrages denied to good sense and candid intercourse. The most detestable -genus is that we have described under the name of medical Jesuits; next in -annoyance are the precisians; the most harmless of the weaker order are -the gossips; and there is often little to choose in point of risk to 'the -house of life' between the very timid and the dare-devils; in a great -exigency the former, and in an ordinary case the latter are equally to be -shunned. In the _Horæ Subsecivæ_ of Dr. John Brown, we find some apt and -needed counsel to the aspirants for medical success:--'The young doctor -must have for his main faculty, _sense_; but all will not do if Genius is -not there; such a special therapeutic gift had Hippocrates, Sydenham, -Pott, Purcell, John Hunter, Delpech, Dupuytren, Kellie, Cheyne, Baillie, -and Abercrombie. Moreover, let me tell you, my young doctor friends, that -a cheerful face and step and neckcloth and buttonhole, and an occasional -hearty and kindly joke, and the power of executing and setting a-going a -good laugh, are stock in our trade not to be despised.' Brillat Savarin -declares, doctors easily become gourmands because so well received. - -In Paris, Edinburgh, and Philadelphia, all the world over, the medical -student is an exceptional character. Their pranks are patent: the rough -ones like to kick up rows, and the more quiet are unique at practical -jokes. Bob Sawyer is a typical hero. If, like the portrait-painter, -doctors are often the playthings of fortune in cities, where the arbitrary -whims of fashion decree success; in the country their true worth is more -apt to find appreciation, and the individualities of character having free -scope, quite original children of Apollo are the result. The name of -Hopkins is still memorable in the region where he practised, as one of the -literary clique of which Humphries, Dwight, and Barlow were members. Dr. -Osborn, of Sandwich, Mass., wrote the popular whaling-song yet in vogue -among Nantucketers. Dr. Holyoke, of Salem, is renowned as a beautiful -instance of longevity; and the wit of Dr. Spring was proverbial in Boston. -The best example of a medical philosopher, in our annals, is that of Dr. -Rush, of Philadelphia; he reformed the system of practice; first treated -yellow fever successfully, made climate a special study, and, like Burke, -laid every one he encountered under contribution for facts. His life of -seventy years was passed in ardent investigation. It is remarkable that -the first martyr to American liberty was a physician; and, before he fell, -Warren eloquently avowed his principles, like Körner in Germany, rousing -the spirit of his countrymen, and then consecrating his sentiments with -his blood. Boylston, the ancestral portraits of whose family are among the -best of Copley's American works, nearly fell a victim to public -indignation for his zealous and intelligent advocacy of inoculation, and -natural science owes a debt to Barton, Morton, and De Kay, which is -acknowledged both at home and abroad. A French doctor has noted the -historical importance of his _confrères_, and tells us Hamond was Racine's -master, Lestocq helped to elevate Catharine to the Russian throne, Haller -was a poet and romancer, Cuvier was the greatest naturalist of his age, -and Murat was a doctor. French _médecins_ have figured in the Chamber and -on the Boulevards. - -If by virtue of the philosophic instinct and liberal tastes the doctor is -thus allied to belles-lettres, he is allured into the domain of science by -a still more direct sympathy. To how many has the study of the materia -medica, and the culling of simples, proved the occasion of botanical -research; and hence, by an easy transition, of exploring the entire field -of natural science. Thus Davy was beguiled into chemical investigation; -and Abercrombie, by the vestibule of physiological knowledge, sought the -clue to mental philosophy; while Spurzheim and Combe ministered to a great -charity by clearly explaining to the masses the natural laws of human -well-being. It is an evidence of the sagacity of the Russian Peter, that -he sought an interview with Boerhaäve; for by these varied links of -general utility the medical office enters into every branch of social -economy, and is only narrowed and shorn of dignity by the limited views or -inadequate endowments of its votaries. The Jewish physician preserved and -transmitted much of the learning of the world, after the fall of the -Alexandrian school.[13] Life-insurance and quarantines have become such -grave interests, that through them the responsibility of the physician to -society is manifest to all; that to individuals is only partially -recognized. How Cowper and Byron suffered for wise medical advice, and -what ameliorations in states of mind and moral conditions have been -induced by the now widely-extended knowledge of hygienic laws! Charles -Lamb reasons wisely as well as quaintly in this wise:--'You are too -apprehensive of your complaint. The best way in these cases is to keep -yourself as ignorant as the world was before Galen, of the entire -construction of the animal man; not to be conscious of a midriff; to hold -kidneys to be an agreeable fiction; to account the circulation of the -blood an idle whim of Harvey's; to acknowledge no mechanism not visible. -For once fix the seat of your disorder, and your fancies flux into it like -bad humours. Above all, take exercise, and avoid tampering with the hard -terms of art. Desks are not deadly. It is the mind, and not the limbs, -that taints by long sitting. Think of the patience of the tailors; think -how long the Lord Chancellor sits; think of the brooding hen.' - -In literature the doctor figures with a genial dignity; he has affinities -with genius, and a life-estate in the kingdom of letters: witness Garth's -poem of _The Dispensary_; Akenside's _Pleasures of the Imagination_; -Armstrong's _Art of Health_; Cowley's verses, Sprat's life of him, and -Currie's of Burns; Beattie's _Minstrel_; Darwin's _Botanic Garden_; -Moore's _Travels in Italy_; Zimmerman's _Solitude_; Goldsmith's _Vicar_ -and _Village_; Aikin's _Criticisms_; Joanna Baillie's gifted brother, and -Lady Morgan's learned husband. Burke found health at the house of the -benign Dr. Nugent, of Bath, at the outset of his career, and married the -daughter of his medical friend. 'Les médecins sont souvent tout a la fois -conseillors, arbitres et magistrats au sein des familles.' The best -occasional verses of Dr. Johnson are those that commend the humble virtues -of Levett, the apothecary.[14] Dr. Lettson wrote the life of Carver, the -American traveller, and his account of that adventurous unfortunate led -to the establishment of the Literary Fund Society. Among the graves near -Archibald Carlyle's old church at Inveresk, where that handsome clerical -and convivial gossip is buried, is that of the sweet versifier, beloved as -the 'Delta' of Blackwood, Dr. Moir, who so genially united the domestic -lyrist and the good doctor; a Delta framed in bay adorns the pedestal of -his monument. Rousseau, an invalid of morbid sensibility, recognizes the -professional superiority of the physician as a social agent:--'Par tous le -pays ce sont les hommes les plus véritablement utiles et savants.' The -_Médecin de Campagne_ of Balzac, and the _Dr. Antonio_ of Ruffini, are -elaborate and charming illustrations of this testimony of the author of -_Emile_. What a curious chapter would be added to the _Diary of a -Physician_, had Cabanis kept a record of his interviews with those two -illustrious patients--Mirabeau and Condorcet. The social affinities of the -doctor prove indirectly what we before suggested, that it is in the -character more than in the learning, in the mind rather than the technical -knowledge, that medical success lies. One of the shrewdest of the -profession, Abernethy, declared thereof,--'I have observed, in my -profession, that the greatest men were not mere readers, but the men who -reflected, who observed, who fairly thought out an idea.' Almost intuitive -is the venerable traditional ideal of the physician; among the aborigines -of this continent, the 'medicine man' was revered as nearest to the 'Great -Spirit.' 'I hold physicians,' said Dr. Parr, 'to be the most enlightened -professional persons in the whole circle of human arts and sciences.' In -our own day, Lever's Irish novels, and in our own country the writings of -Drake, Mitchell, Holmes, Bigelow, Francis, and others, indicate the -literary claims of the profession. Think of Arbuthnot beside Pope's -sick-bed, and the latter's apostrophe:-- - - 'Friend of my life, which did not you prolong, - The world had wanted many an idle song;' - -of Garth ministering to Johnson, and Rush philosophizing, with Dr. -Franklin, and the friendship of Pope and Cheselden. Bell's comments on -art, Colden's _Letters to Linnæus_, and Thatcher's _Military Journal_, are -attractive proofs of that liberal tendency which leads the physician -beyond the limits of his profession into the field of philosophical -research. The bequest of Sir Hans Sloane was the nucleus of the British -Museum. We all have a kind of affection for Dr. Slop, who, drawn from Dr. -Burton, of York--a cruel, instrumental obstetrician,--is the type of an -almost obsolete class, as the doctor in _Macbeth_ is of the sapient -pretender of all time. As to ideal doctors, how real to our minds is that -Wordsworthean myth Dr. Fell, the physician of Sancho Panza, and the Purgon -of Molière; while Dulcamara is a permanent type of the clever quack, Dr. -Bartolo of the solemn professor, and Sangrado of the merciless -phlebotomist. To think it 'more honourable to fail according to rule than -to succeed by innovation,' is a satire of no local significance, but the -constant creed of the medical pedant. Satirized years ago by the French -comic dramatist, the profession was caricatured the other day by a young -disciple of Esculapius, who in a clever drawing represented the votary of -homoeopathy with a little globule between thumb and finger, engaged in a -kind of airy swallowing; the allopathic patient in an easy-chair is making -wry faces over a large spoonful of physic; the believer in hydropathy sits -forlorn and shivering in a sitz-bath, with a large goblet of water raised -to his lips; while the Thomsonian victim is writhing and nauseating in -anguish; and in the midst a skeleton, with a syringe for a baton, is -dancing in a transport of infernal joy. Southey took a wise advantage of -the popular idea of a doctor, in the genial and speculative phase of the -character, when he gave the title to his last rambling, erudite, quaint, -and charming production. Men of letters accordingly are wont to fraternize -with the best of the profession; and there has always been a reciprocal -interchange between them, both of affection and wit. Thus Halleck tells -us, in _Fanny_,-- - - 'In Physic, we have Francis and M'Neven, - Famed for long heads, short lectures, and long bills; - And Quackenboss and others, who from heaven - Were rained upon us in a shower of pills; - They'd beat the deathless Esculapius hollow, - And make a starveling druggist of Apollo.' - -The record of our surgeons in the war for the Union is alike honourable to -their patriotism, humanity, and skill. - -Popular writers have indicated the claims and character of the profession, -not only in a dramatic or anecdotal way, but by personal testimony and -observation; and those who have had the best opportunities, and are -endowed with liberal sympathies, warmly recognize the possible usefulness -and probable benevolence of a class of men more often satirized than sung. -The privations and toil incident to country practice half a century ago -are scarcely imagined now. Sir Walter Scott tells us,--'I have heard the -celebrated traveller Mungo Park, who had experienced both courses of life, -rather give the preference to travelling as a discoverer in Africa, than -to wandering by night and day the wilds of his native land in the capacity -of a country practitioner.' Dr. Johnson, a livelong invalid, and not apt -to overlook professional foibles, gives a high average character to the -doctor. 'Whether,' he observes, 'what Sir William Temple says be true, -that the physicians have more learning than the other faculties, I will -not stay to inquire; but I believe every man has found in physicians great -liberality and dignity of sentiment, very prompt effusion of beneficence, -and willingness to exert a lucrative art where there is no hope of lucre.' - -It is a nervous process to undergo the examination of a Parisian medical -professor of the first class. Auscultation was first introduced by one of -them, Laennec, and diagnosis is their chief art. In their hands the -stethoscope is a divining-rod. So reliable is their insight, that they -seem to read the internal organism as through a glass; and one feels under -Louis's inspection as if awaiting sentence. The laws of disease have been -thoroughly studied in the hospitals of Paris, and the philosophy of -symptoms is there understood by the medical _savans_ with the certainty of -a natural science, but the knowledge and application of remedies is by no -means advanced in equal proportion. Accordingly, the perfection of modern -skill in the art seems to result from an education in the French schools, -combined with experience in English practice; thorough acquaintance with -physiology, and habits of acute observation and accurate deduction, are -thus united to executive tact and ability. And similar eclectic traits of -character are desirable in the physician, especially the union of solidity -of mind with agreeableness of manner; for in no vocation is there so often -demanded the blending of the _fortiter in re_ with the _suaviter in modo_. - -The absence of faith in positive remedies that obtains in Europe is very -striking to an American visitor, because it offers so absolute a contrast -to the system pursued at home. I attended the funeral of a countryman a -few days after reaching Paris, and on our way to Père la Chaise his case -and treatment were fully discussed; his disease was typhus fever. Previous -to delirium he had designated a physician, a celebrated professor, who -only prescribed _gomme syrop_. For a week I travelled with a Dominican -friar, who had so high a fever that in America he would have been -confined to his bed; he took no nourishment all the time but a plate of -thin soup once a day, and when we reached our destination he was -convalescent. Abstinence and repose are appreciated on the Continent as -remedial agencies; but they are contrary to the genius of our people, who -regard active enterprise as no less desirable in a doctor than a steamboat -captain. - -Veteran practitioners have demonstrated that certain diseases are -self-limited, that the art of treating diseases is still 'a conjectural -study,' and avowed the conviction that 'the amount of death and disaster -in the world would be less if all disease were left to itself, than it now -is under the multiform, reckless, and contradictory modes of practice.' A -conscientious student, of high personal character, entered upon the -profession with enthusiastic faith; experience in the use of remedies made -him sceptical, and he resorted to evasion by giving water only under -various pretexts and names. His success was so much greater than that of -his brethren, that he felt bound to reveal the ruse; but continued -thenceforth to assert that, all things being equal, more patients would -survive, if properly guarded and nourished, without medicine than with. - -The influence of the mind upon the body is, in some instances, so great, -that it accounts for that identity of superstition and medicine which is -one of the most remarkable traits in the history of the science. Sir -Walter Raleigh's cordial was as famous in its day as Mrs. Trulbery's water -praised by Sir Roger de Coverley. In Egypt, old practitioners cure with -amulets and charms; among the Tartars they swallow the name of the remedy -with perfect faith; and from the Puritan horseshoe to keep off witchcraft, -to Perkins' tractors to annihilate rheumatism, the history of medical -delusions is rife with imaginary triumphs. As late as the seventeenth -century, when Arabian precepts and the Jewish leech of chivalric times had -disappeared, when the square cap and falling beards had given place to -the wig and cane, in some places the mystic emblems of skull, stuffed -lizards, pickled fetus, and alembic gave a necromantic air to the doctor's -sanctum. - -The unknown is the source of the marvellous, and the relation between a -disease and its cure is less obvious to the common understanding than that -between the evidence and the verdict in a law case, or religious faith and -its public ministration in the office of priest. The imagination has room -to act, and the sense of wonder is naturally excited, when, by the agency -of some drug, mechanical apparatus, or mystic rite, it is attempted to -relieve human suffering and dispel infirmity. Hence the most enlightened -minds are apt to yield to credulity in this sphere, much to the annoyance -of the 'regular faculty,' who complain with reason that quackery, whether -in the form of popular specifics or the person of a charlatan, derives its -main support from men of civic and professional reputation. Think of Dr. -Johnson, in his infancy, being touched for king's evil by Queen Anne, in -accordance with a belief in its sovereign efficiency, unquestioned for -centuries. Sir Kenelm Digby was as much celebrated in his day for his -recipe for a sympathetic powder, which he obtained from an Italian friar, -as for his beautiful wife or his naval victory; and the good Bishop -Berkeley gave as much zeal to the _Treatise on the Virtues of Tar-water_ -as to that on the _Immateriality of the Universe_. - -Shakspeare has drawn a quack doctor to the life in Caius, the French -physician, in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, and uttered an impressive -protest against the tribe in _All's Well that Ends Well_:-- - - '_King._ But may not be so credulous of cure, - When our most learned doctors leave us; and - The congregated college have concluded - That labouring art can never ransom nature - From her inaidable estate: I say we must not - So stain our judgment, or corrupt our hope, - To prostitute our past-cure malady - To empirics; or to dissever so - Our great self and our credit, to esteem - A senseless help, when help past sense we deem.' - -An American member of the medical profession[15] has traced in the great -bard of nature a minute knowledge of the healing art, citing his various -allusions to diseases and their remedies. Thus we have in Coriolanus the -'post-prandial temper of a robust man,' and the physiology of madness in -Hamlet and Lear. The wasting effects of love, melancholy, the processes of -digestion, respiration, circulation of the blood, infusion of humours, -effects of passions on the body, of slow and swift poisons, insomnia, -dropsy, and other phenomena described with accuracy. Cæsar's fever in -Spain, Gratiano's warning, 'creep into a jaundice by being peevish;' the -physical effects of sensualism in Antony and Cleopatra, the external signs -of sudden death from natural causes in Henry VI., and summary of diseases -in Troilus and Cressida, are described with professional truth. How -memorable his Apothecary's portrait! while the medical critic assures us -that, in a passage in _Midsummer-Night's Dream_, the 'accessories of a -sickly season are poetically described,' and that Falstaff admirably -satirizes the 'ambiguities of professional opinion,' while, in Mrs. -Quickly's description of his death, and the dying scene of Cardinal -Beaufort, as well as the senility of Lear, the mellow virility of old -Adam, the 'thick-coming fancies' of remorse, and Ophelia's -aberration--every minute touch in the memorable picture of 'a mind -diseased'--indicate a profound insight, and suggest, as no other poet can, -how intimately and universally the 'ills that flesh is heir to,' and the -vocation of those who minister to health, are woven into the web of human -destiny and the scenes of human life. Who has so sweetly celebrated -'Nature's sweet restorer' and the 'healing touch'? or more emphatically -declared, 'when the mind's free the body's delicate,' and-- - - 'We are not ourselves - When nature, being oppressed, commands - The mind to suffer with the body.' - -The memoirs of celebrated men abound with physiological interest; their -eminence brings out facts which serve to vindicate impressively the phases -of medical experience, and the relation of the soul to its tabernacle. -Madden's _Infirmities of Genius_ is a book which suggests an infinite -charity, as well as exposes the fatal effects of neglecting natural laws. -Lord Byron used to declare that a dose of salts exhilarated him more than -wine. Shelley was a devoted vegetarian. Cowper spoke from experience when -he sang the praises of the cups 'that cheer but not inebriate.' Johnson -had faith in the sanative quality of dried orange-peel. When Dr. Spurzheim -was first visited by the physicians in his last illness, he told them to -allow for the habitual irregularity of his pulse, which had intermitted -ever since the death of his wife. George Combe used to tell a capital -story, in his lectures, of the manner in which a pious Scotch lady made -her grandson pass Sunday, whereby, while outwardly keeping the Sabbath, he -violated all the rules of health. Two of the most characteristic books in -British literature are Greene's poem of the _Spleen_, and Dr. Cheyne's -_English Malady_; and another is the history of the _Gold-headed Cane_, or -rather of the five doctors that successively owned it. The cane, indeed, -was ever an indispensable symbol of medical authority. The story of Dr. -Radcliffe's illustrates its modern significance; but the association of -the walking-staff and the doctor comes down to us from mediæval times. 'He -smelt his cane,' in the old ballads, is a phrase suggestive of a then -common expedient; the head of the physician's cane was filled with -disinfectant herbs, the odour of which the owner inhaled when exposed to -miasma. Even at this day, in some of the provincial towns in Italy, we -encounter the doctor in the pharmacist's shop, awaiting patients,--his -dress and manner such as are reproduced in the comic drama, while the -quack of the Piazza is recognized on the operatic stage. - -How unprofessional medicine is becoming may be seen in current literature, -when De Quincey's metaphysical account of the effects of opium, and -Bulwer's fascinating plea for the Water-Cure, are ranked as light reading. -To the lover of the old English prose-writers there is no more endeared -name than Sir Thomas Browne, and his _Religio Medici_ and quaint tracts -are among the choicest gifts for which philosophy is indebted to the -profession; while the classical student owes to Dr. Middleton a _Life of -Cicero_. The vivacious Lady Montagu is most gratefully remembered for her -philanthropic efforts in behalf of inoculation for smallpox; and our -Brockden Brown has described the phenomena of an epidemic, in one of his -novels, with more insight though less horror than Defoe. - -It is in pestilence and after battle that the doctor sometimes rises to -the moral sublime, in his disinterested and unwearied devotion to others. -It must, however, be confessed that, notwithstanding these incidental -laurels, the authority of the profession has so declined, the _malades -imaginaires_ so increased with civilization, and the privileges of the -faculty been so encroached upon by what is called 'progress,' that a -doctor of the old school would scorn to tolerate the fallen dignity of a -title that once rendered his intercourse with society oracular, and -authorized him with impunity to whip a king, as in the case of Dr. Willis -and George the Third. - -'The philosophy of medicine, I imagine,' observed Dr. Arnold, 'is zero; -our practice is empirical, and seems hardly more than a course of -guessing, more or less happy.' None have been more sceptical than -physicians themselves in regard to their own science: Broussais calls it -illusory, like astrology; and Bichat declares 'it is, in respect to its -principles, taken from most of our _materia medicas_, impracticable for a -sensible man; an incoherent assemblage of incoherent opinions, it is, -perhaps, of all the physiological sciences, the one which shows plainest -the contradictions and wanderings of the human mind.' Montaigne used to -beseech his friends that, if he fell ill, they would let him get a little -stronger before sending for the doctor. Louis XIV., who was a slave to his -physicians, asked Molière what he did for his doctor. 'Oh, sire,' said he, -'when I am ill I send for him. He comes; we have a chat, and enjoy -ourselves. He prescribes; I don't take it,--and I am cured.' - -'There is a certain analogy,' says an agreeable writer, 'between naval and -medical men. Neither like to acknowledge the presence of danger.' On the -other hand, each patient's character as well as constitution makes a -separate demand upon his sympathy; for in cases where fortitude and -intelligence exist, perfect frankness is due, and in instances of extreme -sensibility it may prove fatal; so that the most delicate consideration is -often required to decide on the expediency of enlightening the invalid. If -it is folly to theorize in medicine, it is often sinful to flatter the -imagination for the purpose of securing temporary ease. A physician's -course, like that of men in all pursuits, is sometimes regulated by his -consciousness, and he is apt to prescribe according to his own rather than -his patient's nature; thus a fleshy doctor is inclined to bleed, and -recommend generous diet; a nervous one affects mild anodynes; a vain one -talks science; and a thin, cold-blooded, speculative one, makes safe -experiments in practice, and is habitually non-committal in speech. Almost -invariably short-necked plethoric doctors enjoy freeing the vessels of -others by copious depletion, and those more delicately organized advocate -fresh air and tonics; the one instinctively reasoning from the surplus, -and the other from the inadequate vitality of which they are respectively -conscious. I knew a doctor who scarcely ever failed to prescribe an -emetic, and the expression of his countenance indicated chronic nausea. - -Medicine enjoys no immunity from the spirit of the age. Who does not -recognize in the popularity of Hahnemann's system the influence of the -transcendental philosophy, a kind of intuitive practice analogous to the -vague terms of its disciples in literature; those little globules with the -theoretical accompaniment catch the fancy; castor-oil and the lancet are -matter-of-fact in comparison. And so with hydropathy. There is in our day -what may be called a return-to-nature school. Wordsworth is its expositor -in poetry, Fourier in social life, the Pre-Raphaelites in painting. The -newly-appreciated efficacy of water accords with this principle. It is an -elemental medicament, limpid as the style of Peter Bell, free from -admixture as the individual labour in a model community, and as directly -caught from nature as the aërial perspective of England's late scenic -limner. Even what has been considered the inevitable resort to dissection -in order to acquire anatomical knowledge, it is now pretended, has a -substitute in clairvoyance. Somewhat of truth in this spiritualizing -tendency of science there doubtless is; but fact is the basis of positive -knowledge, and the most unwarrantable of all experiments are those -involving human health. - -If the mental experience of a doctor naturally leads to philosophy, the -moral tends to make him a philanthropist. He is familiar with all the ills -that flesh is heir to. The mystery of birth, the solemnity of death, the -anxiety of disease, the devotion of faith, the agony of despair, are -phases of life daily open to his view; and their contemplation, if there -is in his nature a particle either of reflection or sensibility, must lead -to a sense of human brotherhood, excite the impulse of benevolence, and -awaken the spirit of humanity. Warren's _Diary of a Physician_ gives us an -inkling of what varieties of human experience are exposed to his gaze. -Vigils at the couch of genius and beauty, full of the stern romance of -reality, or imbued with tenderness and inspiration, are recorded in his -heart. He is admitted into sanctums where no other feet but those of -kindred enter. He becomes the inevitable auditor and spectator where no -other stranger looks or listens. Human nature, stripped of its -conventionalities, lies exposed before him; the secrets of conscience, the -aspirations of intellect, the devotedness of love, all that exalts and all -that debases the soul, he beholds in the hour of weakness, solitude, or -dismay; and hard and unthinking must he be if such lessons make no -enduring impression, and excite no comprehensive sympathies. - -'The corner-stone of health,' says a German writer, 'is to maintain our -individuality intact;' and while the hygienic reformer has lessened the -bills of mortality, personal culture has emancipated society from much of -the ignorant dependence and insalubrious habits of less enlightened -times. - - - - -HOLIDAYS. - - 'And here I must have leave, in the fulness of my soul, to regret the - abolition and doing away with altogether of those consolatory - interstices and sprinklings of freedom through the four seasons--the - _red-letter_ days, now become to all intents and purposes - _dead-letter_ days.'--CHARLES LAMB. - - -While we accord a certain historical or ethical significance to our -holidays, we also feel their casual tenure, their want of recreative rest, -of enjoyable spirit, and of cordial popular estimation; and are -irresistibly prompted to discuss their claims as one of the neglected -elements of our national life. It is an anomalous fact in our civilization -that we have no one holiday, the observance of which is unanimous. It is -an exceptional trait in our nationality that its sentiment finds no annual -occasion when the hearts of the people thrill with an identical emotion, -absorbing in patriotic instinct and mutual reminiscence all personal -interests and local prejudices. It is an unfortunate circumstance that no -American festival, absolutely consecrated and universally acknowledged, -hallows the calendar to the imagination of our people. Anniversaries -enough, we boast, of historical importance, but they are casually -observed; events of glorious memory crowd our brief annals, but they are -not consciously identified with recurring periods; universal celebrities -are included in the roll of our country's benefactors; but the dates of -their birth, services, and decease, form no saints' days for the Republic. -How often in the crises of sectional passion does the moral necessity of -a common shrine, a national feast, a place, a time, or a memory sacred to -fraternal sympathies of general observance, appal the patriotic heart with -regret, or warm it with desire! How much of sectional misunderstanding, -hatred, and barbarism culminating in a base and savage mutiny, will the -future historian trace in the last analysis to the absence of a common -sentiment and occasion of mutual pleasure and faith. Were such a nucleus -for popular enthusiasm, such a goal for a nation's pilgrimage, such a day -for reciprocal gratulation our own--a time when the oath of fealty could -be renewed at the same altar, the voice of encouragement be echoed from -every section of the Union, the memory of what has been, the appreciation -of what is, and the hope of what may be, simultaneously felt,--what a bond -of union, a motive to forbearance, and a pledge of nationality would be -secured! Were there not in us sentiments as well as appetites, reflection -as well as passion, humanity might rest content with such 'note of time' -as is marked on a sun-dial or in the almanac; but constituted as we are, a -profound and universal instinct prompts observances wherewith faith, hope, -and memory may keep register of the fleeting hours and months. In -accordance with this instinct, periodical sacrifice, song, prayer, and -banquet, in all countries and ages, have inscribed with heartfelt ceremony -the shadowy lapse of being. Without law or art, the savage thus identifies -his consciousness with the seasons and their transition; anniversaries -typifying vicissitude; the wheel of custom stops awhile; events, -convictions, reminiscences, and aspirations are personified in the -calendar; and that reason which 'looks before and after' asserts itself -under every guise, from the barbarian rite to the Christian festival, and -begets the holiday as an institution natural to man. If the ballads of a -people are the essence of its history, holidays are, on similar grounds, -the free utterance of its character; and, as such, of great interest to -the philosopher, and fraught with endearing associations to the -philanthropist. - -The spontaneous in nations as well as individuals is attractive to the eye -of philosophy, because it is eminently characteristic. The great charm of -biography is its revelation of the play of mind and the aspect of -character, when freed from conventional restraints; and in the life of -nations how inadequate are the records of diplomacy, legislation, and -war--the official and economical development--to indicate what is -instinctive and typical in character! It is when the armour of daily toil, -the insignia of office, the prosaic routine of life, are laid aside, that -what is peculiar in form and graceful in movement become evident. In the -glee or solemnity of the festival, the soul breaks forth; in the fusion of -a common idea, the heart of a country becomes freely manifest. - -Accordingly, the manner, the spirit, and the object of festal observances -are among the most significant illustrations of history. An accurate chart -of these, from the earliest time, would afford a reliable index to the -progress of humanity, and suggest a remarkable identity of natural wants, -tendencies, and aspirations. There is, for instance, a singular affinity -between the Saturnalia of the ancient and the Carnival of the modern -Romans, the sports of the ancient circus and bull-fights of Spain; while -so closely parallel, in some respects, are Druidical and Monastic vows and -fanaticism, that one of the most popular of modern Italian operas, which -revived the picturesque costume and sylvan rites of the Druids, was -threatened with prohibition, as a satire upon the Church. It would, -indeed, well repay antiquarian investigation to trace the germ of holiday -customs from the crude superstitions of barbarians, through the usages -incident to a more refined mythology, to their modified reappearance in -the Catholic temples, where Pagan rites are invested with Christian -meaning, or the statue of Jupiter transformed into St. Peter, and the -sarcophagus of a heathen becomes the font of holy baptism. Gibbon tells -us how shrewd Pope Boniface professed but to rehabilitate old customs when -he revived the secular games in Rome. Not only are traces of Pagan forms -discoverable in the modern holidays, but the mediæval taste for -exhibitions of animal courage and vigour still lives in the love of -prize-fights and horse-racing, so prevalent in England; and the ring and -the cockpit minister to the same brutal passions which of old filled the -Flavian amphitheatre with eager spectators, and gave a relish to the -ordeal of blood. In the abuses of the modern pastime we behold the relics -of barbarism; and the perpetuity of such national tastes is evident in the -combative instinct which once sustained the orders of chivalry, and in our -day has lured thousands to the destructive battle-fields of the Crimea and -Virginia. - -Not only do the social organizations devoted to popular amusements and -economies thus give the best tokens of local manners and average taste, -but they directly minister to the culture they illustrate. The gladiator, -'butchered to make a Roman holiday,' nurtured with his lifeblood and dying -agonies the ferocious propensities and military hardihood of the imperial -cohorts. The graceful posture and fine muscular display of the wrestler -and discus-player of Athens reappeared in the statues which peopled her -squares and temples. The equine beauty and swiftness exhibited at Derby -and Ascot keep alive the emulation which renders England famous for breeds -of horses, and her gentry healthful by equestrian exercise. The custom of -musical accompaniments at every German symposium has, in a great measure, -bred a nation of vocal and instrumental performers. The dance became a -versatile art in France, because it was, as it still is, the national -pastime.[16] The Circassian is expert with steed and rifle from the habit -of dexterity acquired in the festive trials of skill, excellence in which -is the qualification for leadership. The compass, flexibility, and -sweetness of the human voice, so characteristic of the people of Italy, -have been attained through ages of vocal practice in ecclesiastical and -rural festivals; and the copious melody of their language gradually arose -through the _canzoni_ of troubadours and the rhythmical feats of -_improvisatori_. The deafening clang of gongs, the blinding smoke of -chowsticks, and the dazzling light of innumerable lanterns, wherewith the -Chinese celebrate their national feasts, are to European senses the most -oppressive imaginable token of a stagnant and primitive civilization; the -festive elements of the semi-barbarism artistically represented by their -grotesque figures, ignorance of perspective, interminable alphabet, -pinched feet, bare scalps, and implacable hatred of innovation, both in -the processes and the forms of advanced taste. - -Even the aboriginal feasts of this continent were the best indication of -what the American Indians, in their palmy days, could boast of strength, -agility, and grace. Thus, from the most cultivated to the least developed -races, what is adopted and expressed in a recreative or holiday -manner--what is thus done and said, sought and felt,--the rallying-point -of popular sympathy, the occasion of the universal joy or reverence,--is a -moral fact of unique and permanent interest; on the one hand, as -illustrative of the kind and degree of civilization attained, and of the -instinctive direction of the national mind, and, on the other, as -indicative of the means and the processes whereby the wants are met and -the ideas realized, which stimulate and mould a nation's genius and faith. - -The testimony of observation accords with that of history in this regard. -The foreign scenes which haunt the memory, as popular illustrations of -character, are those of holidays. The government, literature, art, and -society of a country may be individually represented to our minds; but -when we discuss national traits, we instinctively refer to the pastimes, -the religious ceremonials, and the festivals of a people. Where has the -pugilistic hilarity of the Irish scope as at Donnybrook Fair?[17] Is a -dull parliamentary speech, or an animated debate at the racecourse, most -vivid with the spirit of English life? Market-day, and harvest-home, and -saintly anniversaries, evoke from its commonplace level the life of the -humble and the princely, and they appear before the stranger under a -genuine and characteristic guise. We associate the French, as a people, -with the rustic groups under the trees of Montmorency, or the crowds of -neatly-dressed and gay _bourgeoise_ at the _Jardin d'Hiver_,--finding in -the green grass, lights, cheap wine and comfits, a flower in the hair, a -waltz and saunter, more real pleasure than a less frugal and mercurial -people can extract from a solemn feast, garnished with extravagant -upholstery, and loaded with luxurious viands. We recall the Italians and -Spaniards by the ceaseless bells of their _festas_ vibrating in the air, -and the golden necklace and graceful _mezzano_ of the peasant's holiday; -the tinkle of guitars, the _bolero_ and processions, or the lines of stars -marking the architecture of illuminated temples, the euphonious greeting, -the light-hearted carol, the abundant fruit, the knots of flowers, the gay -jerkin and bodice, which render the urbane throng so picturesque in aspect -and childlike in enjoyment. The sadness which overhung the very idea of -Italy, considered as a political entity, exhaled like magic before the -spectacle of a Tuscan vintage. The heaps of purple and amber fruit, the -gray and pensive-eyed oxen, the reeking butts, the yellow vine-leaves -waving in the autumn sun, form studies for the pencil; but the human -interest of the scene infinitely endears its still life. Kindred and -friends, in festal array, celebrate their work, and rejoice over the -Falernian, _Lachryma Christi_, or _Vino Nostrale_, with a frank and -_naïve_ gratitude akin to the mellow smile of productive Nature: the -distance between the lord of the soil and the peasant is, for the time, -lost in a mutual and innocent triumph; they who are wont to serve become -guests; the dance and song, the compliment and repartee, the toast and the -smile, are interchanged, on the one side with artless loyalty, and on the -other with a condescension merged in graciousness. It seems as if the hand -of Nature, in yielding her annual tribute, literally imparted to prince -and peasant the touch which makes 'the whole world kin.' - -The contrast, in respect of pastime, is felt most keenly when we observe -life at home, with the impressions of the Old World fresh in our minds. We -have perhaps joined the laughing group who cluster round Punch and Judy on -the Mole of Naples; we have watched the flitting emotions on swarthy -listeners who greedily drink in the story-teller's words on the shore of -Palermo; we have made an old gondolier chant a stanza of Tasso, at sunset, -on the Adriatic; our hostess at Florence has decked the window with a -consecrated branch on Palm Sunday; we have seen the poor _contadini_ of a -Roman village sport their silver knobs and hang out their one bit of -crimson tapestry, in honour of some local saint; we have examined the last -mosaic saint exhumed from Pompeii, brilliant with festal rites, and thus, -as an element both of history and experience, of religion and domesticity, -the recreative side of life appears essential and absolute, while the -hurrying crowd, hasty salutations, and absorption in affairs around us, -seem to repudiate and ignore the inference, and to confirm the opinion of -one whose existence was divided between this country and Europe, that 'the -Americans are practical Stoics.' - -To appreciate the value of holidays merely as a conservative element of -faith, we have but to remember the Jewish festivals. Ages of dispersion, -isolation, contempt, and persecution--all that mortal agencies can effect -to chill the zeal or to discredit the traditions of the Hebrews--have -not, in the slightest degree, lessened the sanction or diminished the -observance of that festival, to keep which the Divine Founder of our -religion, nineteen centuries ago, went up to Jerusalem with his disciples. -And it is difficult to conceive a more sublime idea than is involved in -this fact. On the day of the Passover, in the Austrian banker's splendid -palace, in the miserable Ghetto of Rome, under the shadow of Syrian -mosques, in the wretched by-way hostel of Poland, at the foot of Egyptian -pyramids, beside the Holy Sepulchre, among the money-changers of Paris and -the pawnbrokers of London, along the canals of Holland, in Siberia, -Denmark, Calcutta, and New York, in every nook of the civilized world, the -Jew celebrates his holy national feast; and who can estimate how much this -and similar rites have to do with the eternal marvel of that nation's -survival? - -The conservatism inherent in traditional festivals not only binds together -and keeps intact the scattered communities of a dispersed race, but saves -from extinction many local and inherited characteristics. I was never so -impressed with this thought as on the occasion of an annual village _fête_ -in Sicily. Perhaps no territory of the same limits comprehends such a -variety of elements in the basis of its existent population as that -luxuriant and beautiful but ill-fated island. Its surface is venerable -with the architectural remains of successive races. Here a Grecian temple, -there a Saracenic dome; now a Roman fortification, again a Norman tower; -and often a mediæval ruin of some incongruous order attracts the -traveller's gaze from broad valleys rich with grain, olive-orchards, and -citron-groves, vineyards planted in decomposed lava, hedges of aloe, -meadows of wild-flowers, a torrent's arid path, a holly-crowned mountain, -a cork forest, or seaward landscape. But the more flexible materials left -by the receding tide of invasion are so blended in the physiognomies, the -customs, and the _patois_ of the inhabitants, that only nice -investigation can trace them amid the generic phenomena of nationality -now recognized as Sicilian. Yet the people of a village but a few miles -from the capital have so identified their Greek origin with the costume of -a holiday, that, as one scans their festal array, it is easy to imagine -that the unmixed blood of their classic progenitors flushes in the dark -eyes and mantles in the olive cheeks. This ancestral dress is the endeared -heirloom in the homes of the peasantry, assumed with conscious pride and -gaiety to meet the wondering eyes of neighbouring _contadini_, curious -Palermitans, and delighted strangers, who flock to the spectacle. - -The love of power is a great teacher of human instincts; and despotism, -both civil and spiritual, has, in all ages, availed itself of the natural -instinct for festivals, to multiply and enhance shows, amusements, and -holidays, in a manner which yields profitable lessons to free communities -intent on adapting the same means to nobler ends. The stated pilgrimage to -the tomb of the Prophet is an important part of the superstitious -machinery of the Mohammedan tyranny over the will and conscience; and it -is difficult to conceive now to what an extent the zeal and unity of the -early Christians were enforced by specific days of ceremonial, and by such -a hallowed goal as Jerusalem. - -Imperial authority in France is upheld by festive seductions, adapted to a -vivacious populace; and by masque balls, municipal banquets, showers of -bon-bons, and ascent of balloons, contrives to win attention from -republican discontent. Mercenary rulers of petty states, by the gift of -stars and red ribbons, and liberal contributions to the opera, obtain an -economical safeguard. The policy of the Romish Church is nowhere more -striking than in her holiday institutions, appealing to native sentiment -through pageantry, music, and impressive rites in honour of saints, -martyrs, and departed friends, to propitiate their intercession or to -endear their memories. - -While the pastimes in vogue typify the national mind, and are to serious -avocations what the efflorescence of the tree is to its fruit--a bountiful -pledge and augury of prolific energy,--it is only when kept as holidays, -set apart by law and usage, consecrated by time and sympathy, that such -observances attain their legitimate meaning; and to this end, a certain -affinity with character, a spontaneous and not conventional impulse is -essential. The Tournament, for instance, was the natural and appropriate -pastime of the age of chivalry; it fostered knightly prowess, and made -patent the twinborn inspiration of love and valour. As described in -_Ivanhoe_, it accords intimately with the spirit of the age and the -history of the times; as exhibited to the utilitarian vision and -mercantile habits of our own day, in Virginia, it comes no nearer our -associations than any theatrical pageant chosen at hap-hazard. What other -species of grown men could, in this age, enact every year, in the -neighbourhood of Rome, the scenes which make the artists' holiday? As a -profession, they retain the instincts of childhood, with little warping -from the world around. But imagine a set of mechanics or merchants -attempting such a masquerade. The invention, the fancy, the independence, -and the _abandon_ congenial with artist-life, gives unity, -picturesqueness, and grace to the pageant; and the speeches, costumes, -feasting, and drollery, are pre-eminently those of an artist's carnival. -It is indispensable that the spirit of a holiday should be native to the -scene and the people; and hence all endeavours to graft local pastimes -upon foreign communities signally fail. This is illustrated in our -immediate vicinity. The genial fellowship and exuberant hospitality with -which the first day of the year is celebrated in New York were -characteristic among the Dutch colonists, and have been transmitted to -their posterity, while the tone of New England society, though more -intellectual, is less urbane and companionable; accordingly, the few -enthusiasts who have attempted it have been unable, either by precept or -example, to make a Boston New Year's day the complete and hearty festival -which renders it _par excellence_ the holiday of the Knickerbockers. -Charitable enterprise, for several years past, in the Puritan city, has -distinguished May-day as a children's floral anniversary; but who that is -familiar with the peasant-songs that hail this advent of summer in the -south of Europe ever beheld the shivering infants and the wilted leaves, -paraded in the teeth of an east wind, without a conscious recoil from the -anomalous _fête_? The facts of habit, public sentiment, natural taste, -local association, and of climate, cannot be ignored in holiday -institutions, which, like eloquence, as defined by Webster, must spring -directly from the men, the subject, and the occasion. Any other source is -unstable and factitious. Of all affectations, those of diversion are the -least endurable; and there is no phase of social life more open to satire, -nor any that has provoked it to more legitimate purpose, than the -affectation of a taste for art, sporting, the ball-room, the bivouac, the -gymnasium, foreign travel, country life, nautical adventure, and literary -amusements; an affectation yielding, as we know, food for the most spicy -irony, from Goldoni's _Filosofo Inglese_ to Hood's cockney ruralist and -_Punch's_ amateur sportsman or verdant tourist. And what is true of -personal incongruities is only the more conspicuous in social and national -life. - -When our literary pioneer sought to waken the fraternal sentiment of his -countrymen towards their ancestral land, he described with sympathetic -zest an English Christmas in an old family mansion; and the most popular -of modern novelists can find no more potent spell whereby to excite a -charitable glow in two hemispheres than a _Christmas Carol_. In New as -well as in Old England the once absolute sway of this greatest of -Christian festivals has been checked by Puritan zeal. We must look to the -ancient ballads, obsolete plays, and musty church traditions, to ascertain -what this hallowed season was in the British islands, when wassail and the -yule-log, largess and the Lord of Misrule, the mistletoe bough, boars' -heads, holly wreaths, midnight chimes, the feast of kindred, the anthem, -the prayer, the games of children, the good cheer of the poor, -forgiveness, gratulation, worship--all that revelry hails and religion -consecrates,--made holiday in palace, manor, and cottage, throughout the -land; winter's robe of ermine everywhere vividly contrasting with -evergreen decorations, the frosty air with the warmth of household fires, -the cold sky with the incense of hospitable hearths; when King Charles -acted, Ben Jonson wrote a masque, Milton a hymn, lords and peasants -flocked to the altar, parents and children gathered round the board, and -church, home, wayside, town, and country bore witness to one mingled and -hearty sentiment of festivity. Identical in season with the Roman -Saturnalia, and the time when the Scalds let 'wildly loose their red locks -fly,' Christmas is sanctioned by all that is venerable in association as -well as tender and joyous in faith. It is deeply to be regretted that with -us its observance is almost exclusively confined to the Romanists and -Episcopalians. The sentiment of all Christian denominations is equally -identified with its commemoration, the event it celebrates being -essentially memorable alike to all who profess Christianity; and although -the forlorn description by Pepys of a Puritan Christmas will not apply to -the occasion here, its comparative neglect, which followed Bloody Mary's -reign, continues among too many of the sects that found refuge in America. -There are abundant indications that if the clergy would initiate the -movement, the laity are prepared to make Christmas among us the universal -religious holiday which every consideration of piety, domestic affection, -and traditional reverence unite to proclaim it. - -The humanities of time, if we may so designate the periods consecrated to -repose and festivity, were thoroughly appreciated by the most quaint and -genial of English essayists. The boon of leisure, the amenities of social -intercourse, the sacredness and the humours of old-fashioned holidays, -have found their most loving interpreter, in our day, in Charles Lamb. -Hear him:-- - - 'I must have leave, in the fulness of my soul, to regret the abolition - and doing away with altogether of those _consolatory interstices_ and - _sprinklings of freedom_ through the four seasons--the _red-letter_ - days, now become, to all intents and purposes, _dead-letter_ days. - There was Paul and Stephen and Barnabas, Andrew and John, men famous - in old times,--we used to keep all their days holy, as long back as - when I was at school at Christ's. I remember their effigies by the - same token, in the old Basket Prayer-book. I honoured them all, and - could almost have wept the defalcation of Iscariot, so much did we - love to keep holy memories sacred; only methought I a little grudged - at the coalition of the _better Jude_ with _Simon_--clubbing, as it - were, their sanctities together to make up one poor gaudy day between - them, as an economy unworthy of the dispensation. These were bright - visitations in a scholar's and a clerk's life,--"far off their coming - shone." I was as good as an almanac in those days.'[18] - -And who has written, like Lamb, of the forlorn pathos of the charity boy's -'objectless holiday;' of the 'most touching peal which rings out the old -year;' of 'the safety which a palpable hallucination warrants' on All -Fools'; and the 'Immortal Go-between,' St. Valentine? - -The devotion to the immediate, the thrift, the enterprise, and the -material activity which pertain to a new country, and especially to our -own, distinguish American holidays from those of the Old World. Not a few -of them are consecrated to the future, many spring from the triumphs of -the present, and nearly all hint progress rather than retrospection. We -inaugurate civil and local improvements; glorify the achievements of -mechanical skill and of social reform; pay honour by feasts, processions, -and rhetoric to public men; give a municipal ovation to a foreign patriot, -or a funeral pageant to a native statesman. Our festivals are chiefly on -occasions of economic interest. Daily toil is suspended, and gala -assemblies convene, to rejoice over the completion of an aqueduct or a -railroad, or the launching of an ocean steamer. One of the earliest of -these economical displays--in New York, memorable equally from the great -principle it initiated and the felicitous auguries of the holiday -itself--was the celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal, the first of -a series of grand internal improvements which have since advanced our -national prosperity beyond all historical precedent; and one of the last -was the grand excursion which signalized the union by railroads of the -Atlantic seacoast and the Mississippi river. The two celebrations were but -festive landmarks in one magnificent system. The enterprise initiated in -Western New York, in 1825, was consummated in Illinois, in 1854, when the -last link was riveted to the chain which binds the vast line of eastern -seacoast to the great river of the West, and the genius of communication, -so essential to our unity and prosperity, brought permanently together the -boundless harvest-fields of the interior and the mighty fleets of the -seaboard. To European eyes the sight of the thousand invited guests -conveyed from New York to the Falls of St. Anthony would yield a thrilling -impression of the scale of festal arrangements in this Republic; and were -they to scan the reports of popular anniversaries and conventions in our -journals, embracing every class and vocation, representative of every art, -trade, and interest, a conviction would inevitably arise that we are the -most social and holiday nation in the world; on the constant _qui vive_ -for any plausible excuse for public dinners, speeches, processions, songs, -toasts, and other republican divertisements. One month brings round the -anniversary banquet of the printers, when Franklin's memory is invoked and -his story rehearsed; another is marked by the annual symposium and -contributions of the Dramatic Fund; a temperance jubilee is announced -to-day, a picnic of Spiritualists to-morrow; here we encounter a long -train of Sunday scholars, and there are invited to a publishers' feast in -a 'crystal palace;' the triumph of the 'Yacht America' must be celebrated -this week, and the anniversary of Clay's birth or Webster's death the -next; a clerk delivers a poem before a Mercantile Library Association, a -mechanic addresses his fellows; exhibitions of fruit, of fowls, of cattle, -of machines, of horses, ploughing-matches, schools, and pictures, lead to -social gatherings and volunteer discourses, and make a holiday now for the -farmer and now for the artisan; so that the programme of festivals, such -as they are, is coextensive with the land and the calendar. All this -proves that there is no lack of holiday instinct among us, but it also -demonstrates that the spirit of utility, the pride of occupation, and the -ambition of success, interfuse the recreative as they do the serious life -of America. The American enters into festivity as if it were a serious -business; he cannot take pleasure naturally like the European, and is -pursued with a half-conscious remorse if he dedicates time to amusement; -so that even our holidays seem rather an ordeal to be gone through with, -than an occasion to be enjoyed. At many of these _fêtes_, too, we are -painfully conscious of interested motives, which are essentially opposed -to genuine recreation. Capital is made of amusement, as of every other -conceivable element of our national life. It is often to advertise the -stock, to introduce the breed, to gain political influence, to win -fashionable suffrages to a scheme or a product of art or industry, that -these expensive arrangements are made, these hospitalities exercised, -these guests convened. Too many of our so-called holidays are tricks of -trade; too many are exclusively utilitarian; too many consecrate external -success and material well-being; and too few are based on sentiment, -taste, and good-fellowship. In a panorama of national holidays, therefore, -instead of a crowd of gracefully-attired rustics waltzing under trees, an -enthusiastic chorus breathing as one deep voice the popular chant, ladies -veiled in _tulle_ following an imperial infant to a cathedral altar, the -garlands and maidens of Old England's May-day, or the splendid evolutions -of the continental soldiery,--we should be most aptly represented by a -fleet of steamers with crowded decks and gay pennons, sweeping through the -lofty and wooded bluffs of the Upper Mississippi, the procession of boats -and regiment of marines disembarking in the bay of Jeddo, or the old Hall, -in whose sleeping echoes lives the patriotic eloquence of the Revolution, -alive with hundreds of children invited by the city authorities to the -annual school festival; for these occasions typify the enterprise at home, -the exploration abroad, and the system of public instruction, which -constitute our specific and absolute distinction in the family of nations. -A jovial eclectic could, notwithstanding, gather traces of the partial and -isolated festivals of every race and country in America;--harvest-songs -among the German settlers of Pennsylvania, here a 'golden wedding,' there -a private grape-feast; in the South a tournament, at Hoboken a -cricket-match, and an archery club at Sunnyside; a Vienna lager-beer dance -in New York, or a vine-dressers' merry-making in Ohio. - -If from those holidays which arise from temporary causes we turn to those -which, from annual recurrence, aspire to the dignity of institutions, the -first thing which strikes us is their essentially local character. -'Pilgrim-day,' wherever kept, is a New England festival; 'Evacuation-day' -belongs to the city of New York; the anniversary of the battle of Bunker -Hill is celebrated only in Charlestown; and the victory on Lake Erie, at -Newport, where its hero resided. The events thus commemorated deserve -their eminence in our regard; and patriotic sentiment is excited and -maintained by such observances. Yet in many instances they have dwindled -to a lifeless parade, and in others have become a somewhat invidious -exaggeration of local self-complacency. The latter is the case, for -instance, with the New England Society's annual feast in the commercial -metropolis of the Union. It occasionally tries the patience and vexes the -liberal sentiment of the considerate son of New England, to hear the -reiterated laudation of her schools, her clergy, her women, her codfish, -and her granite, at the hospitable board where sits, perhaps, a venerable -Knickerbocker, conscious that the glib orators and their people have -worked themselves into all places of honour and profit, where the honest -burgomaster used to smoke the pipe of peace and comfort in his generous -portico, his children now superseded by the restless emigrants from the -Eastern States, thus boastfully tracing all that redeems and sustains the -republic to the wisdom, foresight, and moral superiority of their own -peculiar ancestry. The style of the festival is often in bad taste; there -is too little recognition of the hospitality of their adopted home, too -little respect for Manhattan blood; an exuberance of language too -conspicuously triumphant over a race which the best of comic histories -illustrates by the reign of Peter the Silent, so that, at length, a jocose -reproof was administered by the toast of a humorist present, who gave, -with irresistible nasal emphasis,--'Plymouth Rock--the Blarney-stone of -New England.' - -It is, however, an appropriate illustration of the cosmopolitan population -of New York, that every year her English, Scotch, Welsh, Irish, French, -German, and Dutch children, after their own fashion, recall their -respective national associations. In point of oratory the New England -Society carries the day, inasmuch as it usually presses into its service -some distinguished speaker from abroad; in geniality, antique customs, and -long-drawn reminiscences, the St. Nicholas excels; at St. Andrew's board -the memory of Burns is revived in song; Monsieur extols his vanished -_Republique_; Welsh harps tinkle at St. David's; 'God save the Queen' -echoes under the banner of St. George; green sprigs and uncouth garments -mark the Irish procession of St. Patrick; and the Germans multiply their -festivals by summer picnics, at which lager-beer, waltzing, and fine -instrumental music recall the gardens of Vienna. 'Thanksgiving-day' is of -Puritan origin, and was designed to combine family reunions with a -grateful recognition of the autumnal harvest. The former beautiful feature -is not as salient now as when the absence of locomotive facilities made it -a rare privilege for the scattered members of a household to come together -around the paternal hearth. The occasion has also diminished in value as -one of clerical emancipation from Sabbath themes, when the preacher could -expatiate unreproved on the questions of the day and the aspects of the -times,--that privilege being now exercised, at will, on the regular day of -weekly religious service. 'Fast-day' has also become anomalous; its -abolition or identification with Good Friday has been repeatedly -advocated; strictly speaking, its title is a misnomer, and the actual -observance of it is too partial and ineffective to have any true -significance. - -An old town on the north-eastern extremity of an island, the nearest -approach to which overland is from the southern shore of Cape Cod, was -eagerly visited annually, until within a few years, by those who delight -in primitive character and local festivals. The broad plain beyond the -town was long held in common property by the inhabitants as a -sheep-pasture. It may be that the maritime occupations of the natives, -their insular position and frugal habits, imparted, by contrast, a -singular relish to the rural episode thus secured in their lives of -hazardous toil and dreary absence, as sailors and whalemen; but it is -remarkable that amid the sands of that island flourished one of the -heartiest and most characteristic of New England festivals. Simplicity of -manners, hardihood, frankness, the genial spirit of the mariner, and the -unsophisticated energy and kindliness of the sailor's wife, gave to the -Nantucket 'Sheep-shearing' a rare and permanent freshness and charm. -Unfortunately discord, arising from the conflicting interests of these -primitive islanders, at length made it desirable to restore peace by -sacrificing the flocks--innocent provocations of this domestic feud;--the -sheep were sold, and the unique festival to which they gave occasion -vanished with them. We must turn to that most available resource, an old -newspaper, for a description of this now obsolete holiday:-- - - '_Sheep-shearing._--This patriarchal festival was celebrated on Monday - and Tuesday last, in this place, with more than ordinary interest. For - some days previous, the sheep-drivers had been busily employed in - collecting from all quarters of the island the dispersed members of - the several flocks; and committing them to the great sheepfold, about - two miles from town, preparatory to the ceremonies of ablution and - _devestment_. - - 'The principal enclosure contains three hundred acres; towards one - side of this area, and near the margin of a considerable pond, are - four or five circular fences, one within the other--like Captain - Symmes's concentric curves,--and about twenty feet apart, forming a - sort of labyrinth. Into these circuits the sheep are gradually driven, - so as to be designated by their "ear-marks," and secured for their - proper owners in sheepcotes arranged laterally, or nearly so, around - the exterior circle. Contiguous to these smaller pens, each of which - is calculated to contain about one hundred sheep, the respective - owners had erected temporary tents, wherein the operation of shearing - was usually performed. The number of hands engaged in this service may - be imagined from the fact that one gentleman is the owner of about - 1,000 sheep, another of 700, and numerous others of smaller flocks, - varying in number from three or four hundred down to a single dozen. - The business of identifying, seizing, and yarding the sheep, creates a - degree of bustle that adds no small amusement to the general activity - of the scene. The whole number of sheep and lambs brought within the - great enclosure is said to be 16,000. There are also several large - flocks commonly sheared at other parts of the island. - - 'As these are the only important holidays which the inhabitants of - Nantucket have ever been accustomed to observe, it is not to be - marvelled at that all other business should on such occasions be - suspended; and that the labours attendant thereon should be mingled - with a due share of recreation. Accordingly, the fancies of the - juvenile portion of our community are, for a long time prior to the - annual "Shearing," occupied in dreams of fun and schemes of frolic. - With the mind's eye they behold the long array of tents, surmounted - with motley banners flaunting in the breeze, and stored with tempting - titbits, candidates for money and for mastication. With the mind's ear - they distinguish the spirit-stirring screak of the fiddle, the gruff - jangling of the drum, the somniferous _smorzando_ of the jews-harp, - and the enlivening scuffle of little feet in a helter-skelter jig upon - a deal platform. And their visions, unlike those of riper mortals, are - always realized. For be it known, that independent of the preparations - made by persons actually concerned in the mechanical duties of the - day, there are erected on a rising ground in the vicinity of the - sheep-field, some twenty pole and sail-cloth edifices, furnished with - seats, and tables, and casks, and dishes, severally filled with jocund - faces, baked pigs, punch, and cakes, and surrounded with divers - savoury concomitants in the premises, courteously dispensed by the - changeful master of ceremonies, studious of custom and emulous of - cash. For the accommodation of those merry urchins and youngsters who - choose to "trip it on the light fantastic toe," a floor is laid at one - corner, over which presides some African genius of melody, brandishing - a cracked violin, and drawing most moving notes from its agonized - intestines, by dint of griping fingers and right-angled elbows. - - 'We know of no parallel for this section of the entertainment, other - than what the Boston boys were wont to denominate "Nigger - 'Lection,"--so called in contradistinction from "Artillery Election." - At the former anniversary, which is the day on which "who is Governor" - is officially announced, the blacks and blackees are permitted to - perambulate the Mall and Common, to buy gingerbread and beer with the - best of folks, and to mingle in the mysteries of pawpaw. But on the - latter day, when that grave and chivalrous corps, known as the Ancient - and Honourable Artillery Company, parade for choice of - officers,--which officers are to receive their diplomas directly from - the hands of His Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief in - open day, and in the august presence of all sorts of civil and martial - dignitaries,--why, woe to the sable imp that shall _then_ adventure - his woolly poll and tarnished cuticle within the hallowed - neighbourhood of nobility! - - 'On previous days the sheep had been collected from every quarter of - the island, driven into the great fold at Miacomet (the site of an - ancient Indian settlement, about a mile from town), selected and - identified by their respective owners, placed in separate pens, and - subjected to the somewhat arduous process of _washing_, in the large - pond contiguous. After this preparatory ablution, they were then ready - to "throw off this muddy vesture of decay" by the aid of some hundreds - of shearers, who began to ply their vocation on Monday morning, seated - in rude booths, or beneath umbrageous awnings ranged around the - circular labyrinth of enclosures, wherein the panting animals awaited - the divestment of their uncomfortable jackets. The space partially - occupied by the unshorn sheep and their contented lambs, and in other - spots exhibiting multitudes stripped of their fleece and clamorously - seeking their wandering young, presented to the eye and ear of the - stranger sights and sounds somewhat rare.' - -We have sometimes been tempted to believe that all illustrious occasions, -men, and things, in this Republic, must inevitably be profaned,--that, as -a compensatory balance to the 'greatest good of the greatest number,' -secured by democratic institutions, there must exist a sacrifice of the -hallowed, aspiring, and consecrated elements of national feeling and -achievement. If there is an anniversary which should compel respect, -excite eternal gratitude, and win unhackneyed observance, it is that of -the day when, for the first time in the world's history, the select -intelligences of a country proclaimed to the nations, with deliberate and -resolved wisdom, the principles of human equality and the right of -self-government, pledged thereto their lives, fortunes, and honour, and -consistently redeemed the heroically prophetic pledge. Subsequent events -have only deepened the significance of that act, and extended its agency; -every succeeding year has increased its moral value and its material -fruits; the career of other and less happy nations has given more and more -relief to its isolated grandeur; and not a day fraught with more hope and -glory lives in the calendar. Yet what is the actual observance, the -average estimation, it boasts among us? In our large cities, especially in -New York, 'Independence' is, by universal consent, a nuisance. It is most -auspicious to the Chinese, from increasing the importation of -fire-crackers. The municipal authorities provide for it as for a lawless -saturnalia; the fire-department dread its approach as indicative of -conflagrations; physicians, as hazardous to such unfortunate patients as -cannot be removed into the country; quiet citizens, as insufferable from -incessant detonation; the prudent, as fraught with reckless tomfoolery; -and the respectable, as desecrated by rowdyism. John Adams, when he -prophesied that the Fourth of July would be hailed, in all after-time, by -the ringing of bells, the blaze of bonfires, and the roar of cannon, was -far from intending, by this programme of Anglo-Saxon methods of popular -rejoicing, to indicate the exclusive and ultimate style of our national -holiday. On its earlier recurrence, when many of the actors in the scenes -it commemorates still lived, there was an interest and a meaning in the -ceremonies which time has lessened. Yet it is difficult to account for the -absence of all that high civilization presupposes, in the celebration of -our only holiday which can strictly be called national; and if the -sympathies of the most intelligent of our citizens could be enlisted, so -as to make the occasion a genuine patriotic jubilee--instead of a noisy -carnival, or a time for political animosity to assert itself with special -emphasis,--much would be gained on the score of rational enjoyment and -American fraternity. As it is, although the 'Hundred Boston Orators' nobly -vindicate the talent and good taste of one city in regard to this -anniversary, and is a most pleasing historical memorial of the occasion, -it cannot be denied that our usual synonyme for bombast and mere -rhetorical patriotism is 'a Fourth of July Oration,' and that Pickwickian -sentiment, pyrotechnic flashes, torpedoes, arrests, bursting cannon, -draggled flags, crowded steamboats, the retiracy of the educated and the -uproar of the multitude, make up the confused and wearisome details of -what should and might be a sacred feast, a pious memory, a hallowed -consecration, a 'Sabbath day of Freedom.' Perhaps the real zest of this -holiday is felt only abroad, when, under some remote consular flag, at the -board of private and munificent hospitality in London, or at an American -_réunion_ in the French capital, distance from home, the ties of common -nativity in a foreign land, and the contrast of uneducated masses or -despotic insignia around, with the prosperous, free, and enlightened -population of our own favoured country, to say nothing of superior festal -arrangements, render the occasion at once charming and memorable. - -One of the most noticeable features of American life to a stranger's eye -is the prevalent habit of travel; and although the incessant and huge -caravans that rush along the numerous railways which make an iron network -over this Union are, for the most part, impelled by motives of enterprise -and thrift, yet the common idea of recreation is associated with a 'trip.' -Whether the facilities or the temperament of our country, or both, be the -reason of this locomotive propensity, it is a characteristic which at once -distinguishes the American from the home-tethered German, the Paris-bound -Frenchman, and the locally-patriotic Italian. The schoolboy in vacation, -the college graduate, the bridegroom, the overtasked professional -man,--all Americans who give themselves a 'holiday,' are wont to dedicate -it to a journey. But even this resource has lost much of its original -charm from the catastrophes which have associated some of the most -beautiful scenery of the land with the most agonizing of human tragedies. -In the crystal waters of Lake George, by the picturesque banks of the -Hudson, amid the fertile valleys of the Connecticut, on the teeming -currents of Long Island Sound, have perished, often through reckless -hardihood, always by more or less reprehensible negligence, some of the -fairest and the noblest of our citizens. The statistics of these -melancholy events, which have so often appalled the public, have yet to be -written; but their moral effect may be divined by a mere glance at the -mercenary hardihood and soulless haste that mark our civilization. 'Les -dangers personnels,' says an acute writer; 'quand ils attegnent une -certaine limite, bouleversent tous les rapports et l'oublie de l'espérance -changé presque notre nature.' The zest, too, of a journey in America is -much diminished by the monotonous character of the people, and by the -gregarious habits, the rapid transits, and the business motives of the -_voyageurs_, so that it is only at the terminus that we enjoy our -pilgrimage; there the sight of a magnificent prairie or mountain range, -cataract or mammoth cave, may, indeed, vindicate our locomotive taste, and -the wonders of Nature make, for the imaginative and reverential, a -glorious holiday. - -A pleasing feature in the recreative aspect of American life is the -literary festival. It is a beautiful custom of our scholars annually to -meet amid the scenes of their academical education and renew youthful -friendships, while they listen to the orator and poet, who dwell upon -those problems of the times which challenge an intellectual solution and -identify the duties of the citizen with the offices of learning. Within -the memory of almost all, there is probably at least one of these -occasions when the interest of the performances or the circumstances of -the hour lent a memorable charm to the collegiate holiday; when, under the -shade of venerable elms that witnessed the first outpouring of mental -enthusiasm or the earliest honours of genius and attainment, they who -parted as boys meet as men, and the classic dreamer felt himself a -recognized and practical thinker for the people; when the language of -eloquent wisdom or poetic beauty came warm from lips hallowed by the -chalice of fame. Who that listened ever can forget the anniversary graced -by the chaste eloquence of Buckminster, that on which Bryant recited _The -Ages_, or Everett's musical periods welcomed Lafayette to the oldest seat -of American learning? What New England scholar, after years of -professional labour in a distant State, ever found himself once more -within the charmed precincts of his _alma mater_, and surrounded by the -companions of his youthful studies, without a thrill of happy -reminiscence? Yet even these rational opportunities for what should be a -genuine holiday to mind and heart are but casually appreciated. The sultry -period of their occurrence, the irregularity of attendance, and the -precarious quality of the 'feast of reason' provided, have caused them -gradually to lose a tenacious hold upon the affections, while there are -few _habitués_, the majority, especially those who live at a distance from -the scene, and whose presence is therefore especially desirable,--are not -loyal pilgrims to the shrine where their virgin distinction was earned and -their intellectual armour forged. To many, our literary festivals are but -technical ceremonies; to not a few, wearisome forms; associated rather -with fans, didactics, perspiration, and cold viands, than with any social -or intellectual refreshment. The 'lean annuitant' who loved to visit -'Oxford in vacation,' and fancy himself a gownsman, and the ingenious -'Opium Eater' who has recorded the enduring claims of those venerable -cloisters to the scholar's gratitude, enjoyed speculatively more of the -real luxury of academic repose and triumph than is often attained by those -who ostensibly participate in our college festivals; and seldom do her -children go up to the altars of wisdom consecrated by the pious zeal of -our ancestors, with the faithful recognition of the venerable pastor, so -long the statistical oracle of the surviving graduates, who, while his -strength sufficed, cheerily walked from his rural parish to Old Harvard, -to lead off the anniversary psalm, with genial pride and honest -self-gratulation. - -Of our purely social holidays, New Year's day, as observed in the city of -New York, bears the palm. Initiated by the hospitable instinct of the -Dutch colonists, neither the heterogeneous population which has succeeded -them, nor the annually enlarged circuit of the metropolis, has diminished -the universality or the heartiness of its observance. When the snow is -massed in the thoroughfares, and the sunshine tempers a clear, frosty -atmosphere, a more cheerful scene, on a large scale, it is impossible to -imagine. From morning to midnight, sleighs, freighted with gay companions -and drawn by handsome steeds, dash merrily along,--the tinkling of their -bells and the scarlet lining their buffalo-robes redolent of a _fête_; -the sidewalks are alive with hurrying pedestrians who exchange cordial -greetings as they pass one another; doors incessantly fly open; guests -come and go; every one looks prosperous and happy; business is totally -suspended; in warm parlours, radiant with comfort or splendid with luxury, -sit the wives, daughters, sisters, or fair favourites of these innumerable -visitors, the queens of the day; the neglects of the past are forgiven and -forgotten in the welcome of the present; kindred, friends, and -acquaintances all meet and begin the year with mutual good wishes; in -every dwelling a little feast stands ready, encompassed with smiles; and -all varieties of fortune, all degrees of intimacy, all tastes in dress, -entertainment, and manners, on this one day, are consecrated by the -liberal and kindly spirit of a social carnival. - -Of associations expressly instituted for the observance of holidays there -is no lack; of days technically devoted to festivity, in the aggregate, -our proportion equals that of older communities; and the legitimate -occasions for pastime and ceremony, social pleasure, or historical -commemoration, are as numerous as is consistent with the industrious -habits and the civic prosperity of the land. The traveller who should make -it his specialty to discover and note the ostensible merrymakings and -pageants of America would find the list neither brief nor monotonous. In -the summer he would light upon many an excursion on our beautiful lakes, -many a chowder-party to the seaside, and picnic in the grove; and in the -winter would catch the shrill echo of the skating frolic. Here, through -pillared trunks, he would behold the smoke-wreaths of the sugar-camp; -there watch laughing groups clustered round the cider-mill or hop-field; -and in woods radiant with autumnal tints, or prairies balmy with a million -flowers, would sounds of merriment announce to him the cheerful bivouac. -Nor have American holidays, even in their most primitive aspect, been -devoid of use and beauty. The once-renowned 'musters' fostered military -taste, and the cattle-shows encouraged agricultural science; with the -increase of horticultural festivals, our fruits and flowers have -constantly improved; regattas and yacht-clubs have indirectly promoted -nautical architecture; school festivals attest the superiority of our -system of popular education; family gatherings, on the large scale -observed in several instances, have induced genealogical research; -historical celebrations have led to the collection and preservation of -local archives and memorials; the Cincinnati Society annually renews the -noblest patriotic sympathies; and the genius for mechanical invention is -proclaimed by the fairs which, every October, bring together so many -trophies of skilful handiwork and husbandry, and recognize so emphatically -the dignity and scientific amelioration of labour. Yet these facts do not -invalidate the general truth that our festivals are too much tinctured -with utilitarian aims to breathe earnestness and hilarity; that they are -so specific as to represent the division rather than the social triumphs -of human toil; that they are too partial in their scope, too sectional in -their objects, and too isolated in their arrangements, to meet the claims -of popular and permanent interests. Our harvests are songless. -Reaping-machines have diminished the zest of autumn's golden largess, as -destructive inventions have lessened the miracles of chivalry. Here and -there may yet convene a quilting-party, but locomotive facilities have -deprived rural gatherings, in sparse neighbourhoods, of their marvel and -their joy; and the hilarious huskings of old chiefly survive in Barlow's -neglected verse:-- - - 'The days grow short; but though the fallen sun - To the glad swain proclaims his day's work done; - Night's pleasant shades his various tasks prolong, - And yield new subjects to my various song. - For now, the corn-house filled, the harvest home, - The invited neighbours to the _husking_ come; - A frolic scene, where work and mirth and play, - Unite their charms to chase the hours away. - Where the huge heap lies centred in the hall, - The lamp suspended from the cheerful wall, - Brown, corn-fed nymphs, and strong, hard-handed beaux, - Alternate ranged, extend in circling rows, - Assume their seats, the solid mass attack; - The dry husks rustle, and the corn-cobs crack; - The song, the laugh, alternate notes resound, - And the sweet cider trips in silence round. - The laws of husking every wight can tell, - And sure no laws he ever keeps so well: - For each red ear a general kiss he gains, - With each smut ear he smuts the luckless swains; - But when to some sweet maid a prize is cast, - Red as her lips and taper as her waist, - She walks the round and culls one favoured beau, - Who leaps the luscious tribute to bestow. - Various the sports, as are the wits and brains - Of well-pleased lasses and contending swains; - Till the vast mound of corn is swept away, - And he that gets the last ear wins the day.' - -Progress in taste and sentiment, however, is already obvious in our -recreative arrangements. There is vastly more of intellectual dignity and -permanent use in the _fêtes_ of the Lyceum than in those of the -training-days and election-jubilees which formerly were the chief holidays -of our rural population; exhibitions of flowers mark a notable advance -upon the coarse diversions of the ring and the race-ground; and, within a -few years, statues by native artists, worthy of their illustrious -subjects, have been inaugurated by public rites and noble eloquence. - -A radical cause of the inefficiency, and therefore of the indifferent -observance of our holidays, may be found in our national inadequacy of -expression, in the want of those modes of popular rejoicing and ceremonial -that win and triumph, from their intrinsic beauty. As a general truth, it -may be asserted that but two methods of representing holiday sentiment are -native to the average taste of our people,--military display and oral -discourse. These exhaust our festal resources. Our citizens have an -extraordinary facility in making occasional speeches; and the love of -soldiership is so prevalent that it is the favourite sport of children, -and all classes indulge in costly uniforms and volunteer parades. But the -language of art, which in the Old World lends such a permanent attraction -to holidays, with us hardly finds voice. Had we requiems conceived with -the eternal pathos of Mozart; harmonious embodiments of rural pastime, -like that which Beethoven caught while sitting on a style amid the subdued -murmurs of a summer evening; melodious invocations to freedom, such as -Bellini's thrilling _duo_; were a symphony as readily composed in America -as an oration; tableaux, costumes, and processions as artistically -invented here as in France; were dance and song as spontaneously -expressive as among the European peasantry; had we vast, open, magnificent -temples, free gardens, statues to crown, shrines to frequent, palatial -balconies, fields Elysian for both rich and poor, a sensibility to music, -and a sense of the appropriate and beautiful, as wide and as instinctive -as our appreciation of the useful, the practical, and the comfortable,--it -would no longer be requisite to resort exclusively to drums, fifes, -powder, substantial viands, and speechifying, to give utterance to the -common sentiment, which would find vent in tones, forms, hues, -combinations, and sympathies, that respond to the heart, through the -imagination, and conform 'the show of things to the desires of the mind.' - -Other causes of our deficient holidays are obvious. The primary are to be -found in the absorption in business and the dominion of practical habits, -both of thought and action. Enterprise holds Carnival while Poetry keeps -Lent. The facts of to-day shut out of view the perspective of time, or, at -best, lure the gaze forward with boundless expectancy. To rehearse the -fortunate achievements of the past gratifies our national egotism; but the -sensibility and meditation which consecrate historical associations find -no room amid the rush and eagerness of the passing hour. Content to point -to the heroic episode of the Revolution, to the wisdom and justice of our -Constitution, to the caravans that sweep on iron tracks over leagues of -what a few years ago was a pathless forest, to the swiftest keels and most -graceful models that traverse the ocean, to the aërial viaducts that span -dizzy heights and impetuous torrents, to the exquisite vignettes of a -limitless paper currency, to the dignified and consistent maintenance of -usurped law in younger States of the Union, and to the continually -increasing resources of its older members; we are disposed to sneer at the -childish love of amusement which beguiles the inhabitants of European -capitals, and to pity the superstition and idleness which retain, in this -enlightened age, the melodramatic church shows of Romanism. In all this -there is doubtless a certain manly intelligence; but there is also an -inauspicious moral hardihood. If, as a people, we cultivated more heartily -the social instincts and humane sentiments expressed in holiday rites, -life would be more valued, the whole nature would find congenial play, and -our taskwork and duty, our citizenship and our natural advantages, would -be adorned by gracefulness, alacrity, and repose. Quantity would not be so -grossly estimated above quality, speed above security, routine above -enjoyment. We need to win from time what is denied to us in material. -Other nations have in art a permanent and accessible refreshment, which -prevents life from being wholly prosaic; the humblest dweller on English -soil can enter a time-hallowed and beautiful cathedral; the poorest rustic -in Italy can feel the honest pride of a distinctive festal attire; the -veriest clod-hopper in Germany can soften the rigours of poverty by music; -the London apprentice may wander once a week amid the venerable beauties -of Hampton Court; and the Parisian shopkeeper may kindle pride of country -by reading the pictorial history of France at Versailles. It is not the -expensive arrangements, but the national provision, and, above all, the -personal sentiment, which makes the holiday. There was more holy rapture -in the low cadence of the hymn stealing from the Roman catacombs, where -the hunted Christians of old kept holy the Sabbath day, than there is in -the gorgeous display and complex melody under the magnificent dome of St. -Peter's. There was more of the grace of festivity in such a dance as poor -Goldsmith's flute enlivened on the banks of the Loire, than there is in -the grand ball which marks the season's climax at an American -watering-place. In public not less than private banquets, the scriptural -maxim holds true: 'Better is a dinner of herbs _where love is_.' Our -national life is too diffusive to yield the best social fruits. The extent -of territory, the nomadic habits of our people, the alternations of -climate, the vicissitudes of trade, the prevalence of spasmodic and -superficial excitements, the boundless passion for gain, the local -changes, the family separations, and the incessant fevers of opinion, -scatter the holy fire of love, reverence, self-respect, contemplation, and -faith. What a senseless boast, that the United States has thirty-five -thousand miles of railroad,[19] while England claims but ninety-two -hundred, France forty-eight hundred, if against the American overplus are -to be arrayed countless hecatombs of murdered fellow-citizens, and -desolating frauds unparalleled in the history of finance! What a mockery -the distinction of having accumulated a fortune in a few years, by -sagacity and toil, if, to complete the record, it is added that mercenary -ambition risked and lost it in as many months, or the want of self-control -and mental resources made its possession a life-long curse from _ennui_ or -tasteless extravagance! It is as a check to the whirl of inconsiderate -speculation, an antidote to the bane of material luxury, an interval in -the hurried march of executive life, that holidays should 'give us -pause,' and might prove a means of refinement and of disinterestedness. We -could thus infuse a better spirit into our work-day experience, refresh -and warm the nation's heart, and gradually concentrate what of higher -taste and more genial sympathy underlies the restless and cold tide that -hurries us onward, unmindful of the beauty and indifferent to the -sanctities with which God and Nature have invested our existence. - -Of natal anniversaries we have in our national calendar one which it would -augur well for the Republic to observe as a universal holiday. Every -sentiment of gratitude, veneration, and patriotism has already consecrated -it to the private heart; and every consideration of unity, good faith, and -American feeling designates its celebration as the most sacred civic -_fête_ of the land. Recent demonstrations in literature, art, and oratory, -indicate that the obligation and importance of keeping before the eyes, -minds, and affections of the people the memory of Washington, are -emphatically recognized by genius and popular sentiment. Within a few -years, the pen of our most endeared author, the eloquence of our most -finished orator, and the chisel of our best sculptors, have combined to -exhibit, in the most authentic and impressive forms of literary and -plastic art, the character and image of the Father of his Country. Copies -of Stuart's masterly portrait have multiplied. A monument bearing the -revered name is slowly rising at the Capital, the materials of which are -gathered from every part of the globe. One of the last and most noble -efforts to renew the waning national sentiment, ere its lapse brought on -civil war, was that of a New England scholar, patriot, and orator who, -despite the allurements of prosperity and the claims of age and long -service, traversed the length and breadth of the Republic, eloquently -expatiating on the character of Washington, retracing his spotless and -great career, and evoking his sacred memory as a talisman to quicken and -combine a people's love. With the large contributions thus secured, and -those gathered by the daughters of the Republic, the home and grave of -Washington has been redeemed as national property. Let the first homage of -a free people be paid at that shrine; and alienated fellow-citizens gather -there as at a common altar: his tomb is thus doubly hallowed. In Virginia -is a sculptured memorial of enduring beauty and historical significance. A -new and admirable biography, with all the elements of standard popularity, -makes his peerless career familiar to every citizen from the woods of -Maine to the shores of the Pacific. One effective statue already ornaments -the commercial emporium, and another is about to be erected in the city of -Boston. These, and many other signs of the times, prove that the -fanaticism of party strife has awakened the wise and loyal to a -consciousness of the inestimable value of that great example and canonized -name, as a bond of union, a conciliating memory, and a glorious watchword. -Desecrated as has been his native State by rebels against the government -he founded and the nation he inaugurated, profaned as has been his memory, -now that Peace smiles upon the land his august image will reappear to -every true, loyal, and patriotic heart with renewed authority, and -hallowed by a deeper love. The present, therefore, is a favourable moment -to institute the birthday of Washington--hitherto but partially and -ineffectually honoured--as a solemn National Festival. Around his tomb let -us annually gather; let eloquence and song, leisure and remembrance, -trophies of art, ceremonies of piety, and sentiments of gratitude and -admiration, consecrate that day with an unanimity of feeling and of rites, -which shall fuse and mould into one pervasive emotion the divided hearts -of the country, until the discordant cries of faction are lost in the -anthems of benediction and of love; and, before the august spirit of a -people's homage, sectional animosity is awed into universal reverence. - - - - -LAWYERS. - - 'To vindicate the majesty of the law.'--JUDGE'S CHARGE. - - 'Why may not this be a lawyer's skull? Why does he suffer this rude - knave to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not - tell him of his action for battery?'--HAMLET. - - -The miniature effigy of a town-crier, with a little placard on his bell, -inscribed '_Lost--a Lawyer's conscience!_' was a favourite toy for -children not many years ago; and about the same time a song was in vogue, -warbled by a whole generation of young misses, 'all about the L-A-W,' in -which that venerable profession was made the subject of a warning chant, -whose dolorous refrain, doubtless, yet lingers in many an ear. Thus early -is law associated with uncertainty and shamelessness; Messrs. Roe and Doe -become the most dreaded of apocryphal characters; red-tape the clew of an -endless labyrinth; Justice Shallow, with all his imbecility, a dangerous -personage; and human beings, even a friend, transformed by the mysterious -perspective of this anomalous element to a 'party.' The most popular of -modern novelists have found these associations sufficiently universal to -yield good material in 'dead suitors broken, heart and soul, on the wheel -of chancery;' and Flite, Gridley, and Rick, are fresh and permanent -scarecrows in the harvest-field of the law. - -From the Mosaic code, enrolled on tables of stone, to the convention which -inaugurated that of the modern conqueror of Europe, law has been a field -for the noblest triumphs and most gross perversions of the human -intellect. No profession offers such extremes of glory and shame. From the -most wretched sophistry to the grandest inference, from a quibble to a -principle, from the august minister of justice to the low pettifogger, how -great the distance; yet all are included within a common pale. - -In every social circle and family group there is an oracle--some -individual whose age, wit, or force of character, gives an intellectual -ascendency,--and there are always Bunsbys, to 'give an opinion' among the -ignorant, to which the others spontaneously defer; and thus instinctively -arises the lawgiver, sometimes ruling with the rude dogmatism of Dr. -Johnson, and at others, through the humorous good sense of Sydney Smith, -or the endearing tact of Madame Recamier. These authorities, in the sphere -of opinion and companionship, indicate how natural to human society is a -recognized head, whence emanates that controlling influence to which we -give the name of law. Like every other element of life, this loses -somewhat of its native beauty, when organized and made professional. To -every vocation there belong master-spirits who have established -precedents, and there are natural lawgivers; as in art, Michael Angelo and -Raphael; in oratory, Demosthenes; in philosophy, Bacon. The endowments of -each not only justify, but originate their authority; they interpret truth -through their superior insight and wisdom in their respective departments -of action and of thought; but of the vast number who undertake to -illustrate, maintain, or apply the laws which govern states, a small -minority are gifted for the task, or aspire to its higher functions; hence -the proverbial abuse of the profession, its few glorious ornaments, and -its herd of perverted slaves. - -From this primary condition, it is impossible for any human being to -escape; if he goes into the desert, he is still subject to the laws of -Nature, and, however retired he may live amid his race, the laws of -society press upon him at some point; if his own opinion is his law in -matters of fancy or politics, he must still obey the law of the road: in -one country the law of primogeniture; in another, that of conscription; in -one circle, a law of taste; in another, of custom; and in a third, of -privilege, reacts upon his free agency; at his club is sumptuary law; over -his game of whist, Hoyle; in his drawing-room, Chesterfield; now _l'esprit -du corps_; and, again, the claims of rank; in Maine, the liquor law; in -California, lynch law; in Paris, a _gens d'armes_; at Rome, a permission -of residence; on an English domain, the game laws; in the fields of -Connecticut, a pound; everywhere, turnpikes, sheriffs' sales, marriage -certificates, prisons, courts, passports, and policemen, thrust before the -eyes of the most peaceable and reserved cosmopolite--insignia that assure -him that law is everywhere unavoidable. His physician discourses to him of -the laws of health; his military friends, of tactics; the beaux, of -etiquette; the belles, of _la mode_; the authors, of tasteful precedents; -the reformer, of social systems; and thus all recognize and yield to some -code. - -If he have nothing to bequeath, no tax to pay, no creditor to sue, or -libeller to prosecute, he yet must walk the streets, and thereby realize -the influence or neglect of municipal law in the enjoyment of 'right of -way,' or the nausea from some neglected offal; the accidents incident to -travel in this country assure him of the slight tenure of corporate -responsibility under republican law; and the facility of divorce, the -removal of old landmarks, the incessant subdivision and dispersion of -estates, indicate that devotion to the immediate which a French -philosopher ascribes to free institutions, and which affects legal as well -as social phenomena. In a tour abroad, he discovers new majesty in the -ruins of the Forum, from their association with the ancient Roman law, -upon which modern jurisprudence is founded; and a curious interest -attaches to the picturesque beauty of Amalfi, because the Pandects were -there discovered. Westminster revives the tragic memories of the State -trials, and seems yet to echo the Oriental rhetoric that made the trial of -Hastings a Parliamentary romance. At Bologna, amid the old drooping -towers, under the pensive arcades, in the radiant silence of the -picture-gallery, comes back the traditionary beauty of the fair lecturer, -who taught the students juridical lore from behind a curtain, that her -loveliness might not bewilder the minds her words informed; and at Venice, -every dark-robed, graceful figure that glides by the porticoes of San -Marco's moonlit square, revives the noble Portia's image, and that 'same -scrubbed boy, the doctor's clerk.' - -No inconsiderable legal knowledge has been traced in Shakspeare. His -Justice Shallow and Dogberry are types of imbecile magistracy; in the -historical plays, the law of legitimacy is defined; and not a little -judicial lore is embodied in the _Merchant of Venice_ and _Taming the -Shrew_. Lord Campbell wrote a book to prove that Shakspeare, in his youth, -must have been, at least, an attorney's clerk. One of the characters in a -popular novel is made to say that he is never in company with a lawyer but -he fancies himself in a witness-box. This hit at the interrogative -propensity of the class is by no means an exaggerated view of a use to -which they are specially inclined to put conversation; and if we compare -the ordeal of inquiry to which we are thus subjected, it will be found -more thorough and better fitted to test our knowledge than that of any -other social catechism; so that, perhaps, we gain in discipline what we -lose in patience. It is to be acknowledged, also, that few men are better -stocked with ideas, or more fluent in imparting them, than well-educated -lawyers. There is often a singular zest in their anecdotes, a precision in -their statement of facts, and a dramatic style of narrative, which render -them the pleasantest of companions. In all clever coteries of which we -have any genial record, there usually figures a lawyer, as a wit, a boon -companion, an entertaining dogmatist, or an intellectual champion. In -literature, the claims and demerits of the profession are emphatically -recognized; and it is curious to note the varied inferences of -philosophers and authors. Thus, Dr. Johnson says to Boswell: 'Sir, a -lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause he -undertakes;' and 'everybody knows you are paid for affecting a warmth for -your client.' 'Justice,' observes Sydney Smith, 'is found, experimentally, -to be best promoted by the opposite efforts of practised and ingenious -men, presenting to an impartial judge the best argument for the -establishment and explanation of truth.' 'Some are allured to the trade of -law,' says Milton, 'by litigiousness and fat fees;' one authoritative -writer describes a lawyer as a man whose understanding is on the town; -another declares no man departs more from justice; Sancho Panza said his -master would prattle more than three attorneys; and Coleridge thought -that, 'upon the whole, the advocate is placed in a position unfavourable -to his moral being, and indeed to his intellect also, in its higher -powers;' while it was a maxim of Wilkes, that scoundrel and lawyer are -synonymous terms. Our pioneer _littérateur_, Brockden Brown, whose -imaginative mind revolted at the dry formalities of the law, for which he -was originally intended, defined it as 'a tissue of shreds and remnants of -a barbarous antiquity, patched by the stupidity of modern workmen into new -deformity.' 'In the study of law,' remarks the poet Gray, 'the labour is -long, and the elements dry and uninteresting, nor was there ever any one -not disgusted at the beginning.' Foote, the comic writer and actor, -feigned surprise to a farmer that attorneys were buried in the country -like other men; in town, he declared, it was the custom to place the body -in a chamber, with an open window, and it was sure to disappear during the -night, leaving a smell of brimstone. A portrait-painter assures us he is -never mistaken in a lawyer's face; the avocation is betrayed to his -observant eye by a certain _inscrutable_ expression; and Dickens has -given this not exaggerated picture of a class in the profession: -'Smoke-dried and faded, dwelling among mankind, but not consorting with -them, aged without experience of genial youth, and so long used to make -his cramped nest in holes and corners of human nature, that he has -forgotten its broader and better range.' - -A French writer defines a lawyer as 'un marchand de phrases, un fabricant -de paradoxes, qui ment pour l'argent et vend ses paroles;' and another -remarks of the profession that it is a 'vaste champ, ouvert aux ambitions -des honnêtes; une tribune offerte aux subtilités de la pensée et l'abus de -la parole;' while Arthur Helps declares that 'law affords a notable -example of loss of time, of heart, of love, of leisure. I observe,' he -adds, 'that the first Spanish colonists in America wrote home to -Government, begging them not to allow lawyers to come to the colony.'[20] -On the other hand, what an eloquent tribute to the possible actual -beneficence of law is the close of Lord Brougham's memorable speech in its -defence:-- - - 'You saw the greatest warrior of the age--conqueror of Italy, humbler - of Germany, terror of the North,--saw him account all his matchless - victories poor, compared with the triumph you are now in a condition - to win,--saw him contemn the fickleness of Fortune, while in despite - of her he could pronounce his memorable boast, "I shall go down to - posterity with the Code in my hand!" You have vanquished him in the - field; strive now to rival him in the sacred arts of peace. Outstrip - him as a lawgiver whom in arms you overcame. The lustre of the Regency - will be eclipsed by the more solid and enduring splendour of the - Reign. It was the boast of Augustus--it formed part of the glare in - which the perfidies of his earlier years were lost--that he found Rome - of brick, and left it of marble. But how much nobler will be the - Sovereign's boast, when he shall have it to say, that he found law - dear and left it cheap; found it a sealed book, left it a living - letter; found it the patrimony of the rich, left it the inheritance of - the poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression, left - it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence!' - -'Why may not this be a lawyer's skull?' muses Hamlet, in the graveyard; -'where be his quiddets now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his -tricks? Humph! this fellow might be in 's time a greater buyer of land, -with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double-vouchers, his -recoveries; and this, the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his -recoveries, to have his fine poll full of dirt! The very conveyances of -his lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have -no more?' - -The diversities of the profession in England and America are curious and -suggestive. Already is the obligation mutual; for if in the old country -there are more profound, and elaborate resources, in the new the science -has received brilliant elucidations, and its forms and processes been -simplified. There routine is apt to dwarf, and here variety to dissipate -the lawyer's ability; there he is too often a mere drudge, and here his -vocation regarded as the vestibule only of political life. In England, the -advocate's knowledge is frequently limited to his special department; and -in America, while it is less complete and accurate, he is versed in many -other subjects, and apt at many vocations. 'The Americans,' says Sydney -Smith, 'are the first persons who have discarded, in the administration of -justice, the tailor, and his auxiliary the barber,--two persons of endless -importance in the codes and pandects of Europe. A judge administers -justice without a calorific wig and parti-coloured gown--in a coat and -pantaloons; he is obeyed, however; and life and property are not badly -protected in the United States.' - -There can be no more striking contrast than that between the lives of the -English chancellors and the American chief justices: in the former, regal -splendour, the vicissitudes of kingcraft and succession, of religious -transition, of courts, war, the people and the nobility, lend a kind of -feudal splendour, or tragic interest, or deep intrigue, to the career of -the minister of justice; he is surrounded with the insignia of his -office; big wigs, scarlet robes, ermine mantles, the great seal, -interviews with royalty, the trappings and the awe of power invest his -person; his career is identified with the national annals; the lapse of -time and historic associations lend a mysterious interest to his name; in -the background, there is the martyrdom of Thomas à Becket, the speech of -the fallen Wolsey, the scaffold of Sir Thomas More, the inductive system -and low ambition of Bacon, and the literary fame of Clarendon. Yet, in -intellectual dignity, our young republic need not shrink from the -comparison. The Virginia stripling, who drilled regulars in a -hunting-shirt, is a high legal authority in both hemispheres. 'Where,' -says one of Marshall's intelligent eulogists, 'in English history, is the -judge whose mind was at once so enlarged and so systematic; who had so -thoroughly reduced professional science to general reason; in whose -disciplined intellect technical learning had so completely passed into -native sense?' And now that Kent's _Commentaries_ have become the -indispensable guide and reference of the entire profession, who remembers, -except with pride, that, on his first circuit, the Court was often held in -a barn, with the hayloft for a bench, a stall for a bar, and the shade of -a neighbouring apple-tree for a jury-room? The majesty of justice, the -intellectual superiority of law as a pursuit, is herein most evident; -disrobed of all external magnificence, with no lofty and venerable halls, -imposing costume, or array of officials, the law yet borrows from the -learning, the fidelity, and the genius of its votaries, essential dignity -and memorable triumphs. 'Of law, no less can be said,' grandly observes -Hooker, 'than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of -the world.' - -The most celebrated English lawyers have their American prototypes; thus, -Marshall has been compared to Lord Mansfield, Pinkney to Erskine, and Wirt -to Sheridan (who was a student of the Middle Temple, though not called to -the bar); imperfect as are such analogies, they yet indicate, with truth, -a similarity of endowment, or style of advocacy. The diverse influence of -the respective institutions of the two countries is, however, none the -less apparent because of an occasional resemblance in the genius of -eminent barristers. The genuine British lawyer is recognized, by the -technical cast of his expression and habit of mind, to a degree seldom -obvious in this country. Indeed, no small portion of the graduates of our -colleges who select the law as a pursuit, do so without any strong bias -for the profession, but with a view to the facilities it affords for -entrance into public life. Some of these aspirants thus become useful -servants of the State; a few, statesmen; but the majority, mere -politicians; and from the predominance of the latter class originate half -the errors of American legislation; for, however much profound legal -training may fit a man of ability for the higher functions of -representative government, a superficial knowledge and practice of law -renders him only an adept in chicanery and the 'gift of the gab;' and it -is easy to imagine how a mob of such adroit and ambitious -partisans--especially when brought together from the narrow sphere of -village life--may pervert the great ends of legislative action. They make -the laws according to their own interests; and there is no prospect of the -reformation demanded in juridical practice, while such a corps form the -speaking and voting majority, and act on what has been justly called the -one great principle of English law,--'_to make business for itself_.'[21] - -Two names appear on the roll of English lawyers which are identified with -the worst characteristics of the race--impious, wild, and browbeating -arrogance,--that of Jeffreys, whose ferocious persecution of those -suspected of complicity with Monmouth's Rebellion forms one of the most -scandalous chapters in the history of British courts; and Lord Thurlow, -who, in a more refined age, won the alias of Tiger, for his rudeness, -inflexibility, oaths, and ill-manners, his black brows, and audible -growls. In beautiful contrast shine forth the Law Reformers of England, -whose benign eloquence and unwearied labour mitigated the sanguinary -rigours of the criminal code, and pressed the Common Law into the service -of humanity. Romilly and Erskine have gained a renown more enduring than -that of learned and gifted advocates; their professional glory is -heightened and mellowed by the sacred cause it illustrates. - -The trial by jury and _habeas corpus_ are the grand privileges of England -and our own country; the integrity of the former has been invaded among -us, by the abuse incident to making judgeships elective, and by the -lawless spirit of the western communities; while the conviction of such -eminent criminals as Earl Ferrers, Dr. Dodd, and Fauntleroy, prove how it -has been, and is, respected by the public sentiment of England. - -'The great expense of the simplest lawsuit,' writes an English lawyer, in -a popular magazine, 'and the droll laws which force all English subjects -into a court of equity for their sole redress, in an immense number of -cases, lead, at this present day, to a very entertaining class of -practical jokes. I mean that ludicrous class, in which the joke consists -of a man's taking and keeping possession of money or other property to -which he even pretends to have no shadow of right, but which he seizes -because he knows that the whole will be swallowed up if the rightful owner -should seek to assert his claim.' The instances which are cited are rather -fitted to excite a sense of humiliation than of fun, at the cruel -injustice of a legal system which expressly organizes and protects -robbery. - -The legal treatises produced in England, in modern times, are wonderful -monuments of erudition, research, and analytical power. The intelligent -lawyer who examines Spence's two volumes on equity, does not wonder his -brain gave way when thus far advanced on his gigantic task. It is this -patient study, this complete learning, which distinguishes the English -lawyer; in point of eloquence, he is confessedly inferior to his Irish and -American brethren, as they are to him in profundity; in the careful and -persistent application of common sense to the hoarded legal acquisitions -of centuries, the great minds of the English bar stand unrivalled. It is, -indeed, the most certain professional avenue to official power. 'Rely upon -it,' says a brilliant novelist, 'the barrister's gown is the -wedding-garment to the British feast of fat things;' and Veron declares -that 'en France, mais en France seulement, un avocat est propre à tout, -tandis qu'un mèdecin n'est jugé propre à rien qu' à hanter les hôpitaux.' - -In this country, the lawyers of each State have a characteristic -reputation; the Bar of Boston, as a whole, is more English, that of the -South more Irish, in its general merits. Marshall was an exception to the -eloquent fame of American lawyers born and bred south of the Potomac; his -superiority was logical: 'aim exclusively at strength,' was his maxim; and -'close, compact, simple, but irresistible logic,' his great distinction. -Wheaton's labours in behalf of International, and Hamilton's in that of -Constitutional law, have laid the civilized world, as well as their native -country, under high and lasting obligations. - -The popular estimate of a profession is dependent on circumstances; and -this, like every other human pursuit, takes its range and tone from the -character of its votary, and the existent relation it holds to public -sentiment; not so much from what it technically demands, but from the -spirit in which it is followed, come the dignity and the shame of the law. -The erudite generalizations of Savigny belong to the most difficult and -enlarged sphere of thought, while the cunning tergiversations of the legal -adventurer identify him with sharpers and roguery. How characteristic of -Aaron Burr, that he should sarcastically define law as 'whatever is -boldly asserted and plausibly maintained.' In the first cycle of our -Republic, when a liberal education was rare, the best lawyers were -ornaments of society, and the intellectual benefactors of the country. In -that study were disciplined the chivalrous minds of Marshall, Hamilton, -Adams, Morris, and other statesmen of the Revolution. A trial, which -afforded the least scope for their remarkable powers, was attended by the -intelligent citizens with very much the same kind of interest as filled -the Athenian theatre--a mental banquet was confidently expected and deeply -enjoyed. To have a great legal reputation, then, implied all that is noble -in intellect, graceful in manner, and courteous in spirit--it bespoke the -scholar, the gentleman, and the wit, as well as the advocate. When Emmet -came hither with the _prestige_ of inherited patriotism and talents, as -well as the claims of an exile, he found men at the bar whose eloquence -rivalled the fame of Curran and Grattan. - -In Scotland, lawyers are eminently identified with social distinction and -arrangements. 'The fact of the substitution of the legal profession for -the old Scottish aristocracy,' says a late review, 'in the chief place in -Edinburgh society, is typified by the circumstance that the so-called -Parliament House, which is on the site of the ancient hall where the -Estates of the Kingdom sat when the nation made its own laws, is now the -seat of the Scottish law-courts, and the daily resort of the interpreters -of the land. The general hour of breakfast in Edinburgh is determined by -the time when the Courts open in the morning; and, dispersed through their -homes or at dinner-parties in the evening, it is the members of the legal -profession that lead the social talk.' - -The equality of free institutions was never more aptly illustrated than by -a scene which occurred in a courthouse we used to frequent, in boyhood, in -order to hear the impassioned rhetoric of a gifted criminal lawyer. A -trial of peculiar interest was to come on; the room was crowded with -spectators and officials; the judge, a venerable specimen of the stern and -dignified magistrate, took his seat; the sheriff announced the opening of -the court, and the clerk called over the names of those summoned to act as -jurors. We were startled to hear, among those of grocers, draymen, and -mechanics, the well-known name of an aristocratic millionaire. It was -thrice repeated, and no answer given. 'Has that juror been duly summoned?' -inquired the judge. 'Yes, your honour,' was the reply. 'Let two constables -instantly bring him before us,' said the magistrate. One can imagine the -vexation of the rich gentleman of leisure, when dawdling, in a flowered -_robe de chambre_, over his sumptuous breakfast, to be disturbed by those -rude minions of the law; however, there was no alternative, and he was -obliged to despatch his meal and accompany the distasteful escort. He -entered the court, where a deep silence prevailed, with a supercilious -smile and complacent air of well-bred annoyance. 'How dare you keep the -court waiting, sir?' was the indignant salutation of the judge, who, -perhaps, when last in the gentleman's company, had sipped a glass -delectable of old Madeira to his health. 'I intended to pay my fine and -not serve,' stammered the millionaire. 'And do you suppose, sir, that -wealth exonerates you from the duties of a citizen, and is any apology for -your gross incivility in thus detaining the court for over an hour? No -excuse will be accepted; either take your seat in the jury-box or stand -committed.' Through the silent crowd the luxurious man of fortune threaded -his way, and sat down between a currier and wood-merchant, with whom he -had to listen to the law and the evidence for a fortnight. - -The author of the _Lives of the English Chancellors_ refers to the usual -explanation of the origin of the term 'wool-sack,' as intended in -compliment to the staple product of the realm; and adds his own belief -that, in 'the rude simplicity of early times, a sack of wool was -frequently used as a sofa.' In the colonial era of our history, when -ceremony and etiquette ruled the public hall as well as the private -drawing-room, American judges wore the robe and wig still used in the Old -Country. These insignia of authority inspired an awe, before the era of -legal reform and of philosophical jurisprudence, which comported with the -tyrannous exercise of juridical power, when it was little more than the -medium of despotism, and when the calm reproach of Stafford was a literal -truth: 'It is better to be without laws altogether, than to persuade -ourselves that we have laws by which to regulate our conduct, and to find -that they consist only in the enmity and arbitrary will of our accusers.' - -The Conveyancer, Writer to the Signet, Attorney, Barrister, and other -divisions of the legal profession, indicate how, in this, as in other -vocations, the division of labour operates in England; while on this side -of the water, the contrary principle not only assigns to the lawyer a -degree of knowledge and aptitude in each branch of his calling, but lays -him under contribution in every political and social exigency, as an -interpreter or advocate of public sentiment; hence his remarkable -versatility and comparatively superficial attainments. In the history of -English law, the early struggles and profound acquirements of her -disciples form the salient points; while in that of America, they are to -be found rather in the primitive resources of justice and the varied -career of her ministers. With regard to the former, our many racy -descriptions of the process of Western colonization abound in remarkable -anecdotes of the unlicensed administration of justice. After the Pioneer -comes the Ranger, a kind of border police, then the Regulator, and finally -the Justice of the Peace. In the primitive communities, when a flagrant -wrong is committed, a public meeting is called, perhaps under an -oak-clump, or in a green hollow, the oldest settler is invited to the -chair, which is probably the trunk of a fallen tree; the offence is -discussed; the offender identified; volunteers scour the woods, he is -arraigned, and, if found guilty, hung, banished, or reprimanded, as the -case may be, with a despatch which is not less remarkable than the fair -hearing he is allowed, and the cool decision with which he is condemned. - -There is a peculiar kind of impudence exhibited by the lawyer--it is -sometimes called 'badgering a witness,'--and consists essentially of a -mean abuse of that power which is legally vested in judge and advocate, -whereby they can, at pleasure, insult and torment each other, and all -exposed to their queries, with impunity. It is easy to imagine the relish -with which unprofessional victims behold the mutual exercise of this legal -tyranny. A venerable Justice, in one of our cities, was remarkable for the -frequent reproofs he administered to young practitioners in his court, and -the formal harangues with which he wore out the patience of those so -unfortunate as to give testimony in his presence. On one occasion, it -happened that he was summoned as a witness, in a case to be defended by -one of the juvenile members of the bar, whom he had often called to order -with needless severity. This hopeful limb of the law was gifted with more -than a common share of the cool assurance so requisite in the profession, -and determined to improve the opportunity, to make his 'learned friend' of -the bench feel the sting he had so often inflicted. Accordingly, when his -Honour took the stand, the counsel gravely inquired his name, occupation, -place of residence, and sundry other facts of his personal history--though -all were as familiar to himself and every one present as the old church, -or main street of their native town. The queries were put in a voice and -with a manner so exactly imitated from that of the judge himself, as to -convulse the audience with laughter; every unnecessary word the hampered -witness used was reprimanded as 'beyond the question;' he was continually -adjured to 'tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth;' -his expressions were captiously objected to; he was tantalized with -repetitions and cross-questioning about the veriest trifles; and, -finally, his tormentor, with a face of the utmost gravity, pretended to -discover in the witness a levity of bearing, and equivocal replies, which -called for a lecture on 'the responsibility of an oath;' this was -delivered with a pedantic solemnity, in words, accent, and gesture so like -one of his own addresses from the bench, that judge, jury, and spectators -burst forth into irresistible peals of laughter; and the subject of this -clever retaliation lost all self-possession, grew red and pale by turns, -fumed, and at last protested, until his young adversary wound up the farce -by a threat to commit him for contempt of court. - -When Chief Justice Coleridge retired from the bench, his farewell address -deeply affected the members of the bar present: 'These are not your -severest trials,' said he, referring to the more familiar difficulties of -the profession; 'they are those which are most insidious; which beset you -in the ordinary path of your daily duty; those which spring from the -excitement of contest, from the love of intellectual display, and even -from an exaggerated sense of duty to your clients. Gentlemen--especially -my younger friends,--suffer me, without offence, to put you on your guard -against these. We can well afford to bear traditional pleasantries upon us -from without, but we cannot afford that, underlying these, there should -exist among thoughtful persons a feeling that our professional standard of -honour is questionable--that we, as advocates, will say and do in court -what we, as gentlemen, would scorn to do in the common walks of life. -Sometimes, I confess, it seems to me that we lend support to such a -feeling by the lightness with which we impute ungenerous conduct or -practices to each other. Surely no case is so sacred, no client so dear, -that ever an advocate should be called upon to barter his own -self-respect. If that be our duty, our great and glorious profession is no -calling for a gentleman.' - -The relation of law to poetry is proverbially antagonistic; and the -attempt to bind imagination to technicalities has usually proved a -hopeless experiment; and yet it is curious to note how many of the -brotherhood of song were originally destined for this profession, and how -similar their confessions are, of a struggle, a compromise, and, finally, -an abandonment of jurisprudence for the sake of the Muses. Ovid, Petrarch, -Tasso, Milton, Cowper, Ariosto, and others, are examples; Scott was -faithful awhile to a branch of the law; Blackstone's only known poem is a -_Farewell to the Muse_; Marshall and Story wooed the Nine, in their youth; -Talfourd deemed it requisite to declare, in the preface to _Ion_, that he -'left no duty for this idle trade,' and Proctor only weaves a song in the -intervals of his stern task as a Commissioner of Lunacy. With philosophy -the law is more congenial: Bacon and Mackintosh are illustrious examples -of their united pursuit. Sir Thomas More wrote verses on the wall of his -prison with a coal, and Addison compliments Somers on his poetry in his -dedication of the _Campaign_. Lord Mansfield's name appears in history a -successful competitor for the Oxford prize poem. Lyndhurst and Denham were -given to rhyme, and Sir William Jones is popularly known by his nervous -lines on _What constitutes a State?_ Lord Jeffrey is one of the most -characteristic modern examples of the union of legal and literary -success,--his taste of the latter kind having, with the aid of a -felicitous style, made him the most famous reviewer of his day, while the -mental traits of the advocate unfitted him to appreciate the ideal, as -they rendered him expert and brilliant in the discussion of rhetoric, -facts, and philosophy. - -Its connection with the most adventurous and tragic realities of life -often brings law into the sphere of the dramatic and imaginative. Popular -fiction has found in its annals all the material for profound human -interest and artistic effect. Scott's most pathetic tale, the _Heart of -Mid-Lothian_, _Ten Thousand a Year_, and _Bleak House_, are memorable -examples. The trials of Russell, Strafford, Vane, and other noble -prisoners charged with high treason, have furnished both plot and -incidents for popular novelists. Uriah Heep, Oily Gammon, and Gilbert -Glossin, are familiar types of legal villany. Thackeray's best work, -artistically speaking--_Henry Esmond_--is largely indebted to the State -Trials of Queen Anne's time for its material. Have you ever seen Portia -enacted by a woman of genius? Then has the romance of law been -impersonated for ever to your mind. That demoniac plaintiff, so memorably -represented by Kean, with his haunting expression and voice,--the noble -wife of Bassanio, uttering, in tones of musical entreaty, her immortal -plea for Mercy, and, when it failed to touch the Jew's heart of adamant, -cleaving his hope of vengeance by a subtle evasion,--the joy of Antonio, -the fiat of the judge, the merry reunion and gay bridal talk at Belmont -that night, whose moonlit gladness lives for ever in the page of -Shakspeare,--Queen Katherine's defence, and Othello's argument before -their judges, equally show how effective is a tribunal under the hand of -the poet of Nature; and every barrister of long experience can relate -episodes in his career 'stranger than fiction.' - -Although one would naturally turn to the State Trials, _Causes Célèbres_, -_Memoirs of Vidocq_, and similar works, for the dramatic materials -developed by process of law, yet, to the initiated, there is an equal fund -of interest in those researches of the profession which appear to deal -only with technicalities. How many effective situations have playwrights, -and such observers of human nature as Hogarth, drawn from, or grouped -around the formal act of making or reading a Will! There is positive -romance in the task of the Conveyancer, when he traces the title of an -estate far back through the ramifications of family history, often -bringing to light the most curious historical facts and remarkable -personal incidents. Questions of property, of heirship, of fraud, and of -divorce, involve manifold relative facts, that only require the sequence -and arrangement of literary art, to make them dramas. Perhaps no field of -character has yielded types as memorable to the writers of modern fiction -as that of the Law. Think of Balzac's diagnosis of the French statutes -regulating burial and marriage settlements, in his psychological Tales; of -Brass, Tulkinghorn, and Peyton. Libel cases vie with police reports in -unveiling the tragedy and comedy of life. That a trial involves scope for -the broadest humour, or the most facetious invention, is evident from the -Moot Court having become a permanent form of public entertainment in -London. - -No profession affords better opportunities for the study of human nature; -indeed, an acute insight of motives is a prerequisite of success; but -unfortunately it is the dark side of character, the selfish instincts, -that are most frequently displayed in litigation, and hence the exclusive -recognition of these which many a practised lawyer manifests. In its ideal -phase, among the noblest--in its possible actuality, among the lowest--of -human pursuits, we can scarcely wonder that popular sentiment and -literature exhibit such apparently irreconcilable estimates of its value -and tendencies. English lawyers of the first class are scholars and -gentlemen. Classical knowledge and familiarity with standard modern -literature are indispensable to their equipment; and such attainments are -usually conducive to a humane and refined character. In the programme -suggested by eminent lawyers for a general training for the Bar, there is, -however, an amusing diversity of opinion as to the best literary culture; -one writer recommends the Bible, another Shakspeare, one English history, -and another Joe Miller, as the best resource for apt quotation and -discipline in the art of efficient rhetoric. Coke was remarkable for his -citations from Virgil. But there is no doubt that general knowledge is an -essential advantage to the lawyer, if he understand the rare art of using -it with tact. The mere fact that the highest political distinction and -official duty are open to the lawyer, ought to incline him to liberal -studies and comprehensive acquaintance with literature, science, and -philosophy. - -How distinctly in social life the phases of the legal mind have become, is -evident from such allusion as that of a Quarterly Reviewer, who, in a -political discussion, remarks that 'Mr. Percival was only a poorish _nisi -prius_ lawyer, and there is no kind of human being so disagreeable to the -gross Tory nation;' while De Quincey, with that philosophic benignity -which sometimes inspires his weird pen, observes that 'he had often -thought that the influence of a portion of the acrid humours, which seem -an element in the human mental constitution, being drained off, as it -were, in forensic disputation, raised the lawyer above the average of -mankind, in the qualities that give enjoyment to society.' - -The trial of Aaron Burr elicited the most characteristic eloquence of Clay -and Wirt; that of Knapp, the tragic force of statement in which Webster -excelled. Emmet's address to his judges has become a charter to his -countrymen. Patrick Henry's remarkable powers of argument and appeal, -which fanned the embers of Revolutionary zeal into a flame, originally -exhibited themselves in a Virginia courthouse. And if eloquence has been -justly described as existing 'in the man, in the subject, and in the -occasion,' we can easily imagine why the legal profession affords it such -frequent and extensive scope. - -The intellectual process by which the advocate seeks his ends is -observable in the best conversation and writing. Almost all good talkers -are essentially pleaders; they espouse, defend, illustrate, or maintain a -question. Many of Lord Jeffrey's reviews are little else but special -pleadings, and Macaulay's most brilliant articles are digests executed -with taste and eloquence; the subject is first thoroughly explored, then -its presentation systematized, and afterwards stated, argued, and summed -up, after the manner of a charge or plea, with the addition of rhetorical -graces inadmissible in a legal case. There is nothing, therefore, in the -peculiar exercise of the faculties which renders law a profession apt to -pervert second-rate minds; the evil lies in the predetermined side, the -logic aforethought--if we may so say,--the interested choice and -dogmatical assumption of a certain view undertaken 'for a consideration.' -'I know some barristers,' observes Thackeray, 'who mistake you and I for -jury-boxes when they address us; but these are not your modest barristers, -not your true gentlemen.' - -The special pleading and judicial complacency of Jeffrey--in other words -his lawyer's mind--prevented his recognition of the highest and best -poetical merit. It has been said of the conversation of his circle at -Edinburgh, that it was, 'in a very great measure, made up of brilliant -disquisition, of sharp word-catching, ingenious thinking, and parrying of -dialectics, and all the quips and quiddities of bar-pleading. It was the -talk of a society to which lawyers and lecturers had, for at least a -hundred years, given the tone.'[22] - -When from the advocate we pass to the bench, and from the feed barrister -to the philosophical jurist, a new and majestic vista opens to the view. -As in literature, two great divisions mark the legal character: there is -the narrow but thoroughly-informed practitioner, and the comprehensive -judicial mind,--the first only distinguished within a limited bound of -immediate utility and respectable adherence to precedent, and the other a -pioneer in the realm of truth, a brave and original minister at the altar -of justice. Lord Brougham, in his _Sketches of English Statesmen_, has -admirably indicated these two classes. To the former he says, 'The precise -dictates of English statutes, and the dictates of English judges and -English text-writers, are the standard of justice. They are extremely -suspicious of any enlarged or general views upon so serious a subject as -law.' The second and higher order of lawyers are well described in his -portrait of Lord Grant, of whose charges he remarks: 'Forth came a strain -of clear, unbroken fluency, disposing in the most luminous order all the -facts and all the arguments in the cause; reducing into clear and simple -arrangement the most entangled masses of broken, conflicting statement; -settling one doubt by a parenthetical remark, passing over another only -more decisive that it was condensed; and giving out the whole impression -of the case upon the judge's mind,--the material view, with argument -enough to show why he so thought, and to prove him right, and without so -much reasoning as to make you forget that it was a judgment you were -hearing, and not a speech.' Do we not often find, in literature and in -life, counterparts of this picture of a judicial mind? Add to it -discovery, and we have the legal philosopher; intrepid love of right, and -we recognize the legal reformer. To this noble category belong such -lawyers as Mansfield and Marshall, Romilly, Erskine, and Webster. Genius -for the bar is as varied in its character as that for poetry or art. In -one man the gift is acuteness, in another felicity of language; here, -extraordinary perspicuity of statement; there, singular ingenuity of -argument. It is rhetoric, manner, force of purpose, a glamour that -subdues, or a charm that wins; so that no precise rules, irrespective of -individual endowments, can be laid down to secure forensic triumph. -Doubtless, however, the union of a sympathetic temperament and an -attractive manner, with logical power and native eloquence, form the ideal -equipment of the pleader. Erskine seems to have combined these qualities -in perfection, and to have woven a spell both for soul and sense. He -magnetized, physically and intellectually, his audience. 'Juries,' says -his biographer, 'declared that they felt it impossible to remove their -looks from him when he had riveted, and, as it were, fascinated them by -his first glance; and it used to be a common remark of men who observed -his motions, that they resembled those of a blood-horse.' - -The tendency to subterfuge in the less highly endowed, is but an -incidental liability; in general, law-practice seems to harden and make -sceptical the mind absorbed in its details. One can almost invariably -detect the keen look of distrust or the smile of incredulity in the -physiognomy of the barrister. Everything like sentiment, -disinterestedness, and frank demonstration, is apt to be regarded without -faith or sympathy. Most lawyers confess that they place no reliance on the -statements of their clients. If you introduce a spiritual hypothesis or a -practical view of any topic, it is treated by this class of men with -ill-concealed scorn. The habit of their minds is logical; they usually -ignore and repudiate those instincts which experience seldom reveals to -them, and observation of life in its coarser phases leads them to doubt -and contemn. But, while thus less open to the gentler and more sacred -sympathies, they often possess the distinction of manliness, of courage, -and generosity. The very process which so exclusively develops the -understanding, and makes their ideal of intellectual greatness to consist -in aptitude, subtlety, and reasoning power, tends to give a certain vigour -and alertness to the thinking faculty, and to emancipate it from morbid -influences. One of Ben Jonson's characters thus defines the lawyer:-- - - 'I oft have heard him say how he admired - Men of your law-profession, that could speak - To every cause and things mere contraries, - Till they were hoarse again, yet all be law. - That, with most quick agility, could turn - And return, make knots and undo them, - Give forked counsel, take provoking gold - On either hand,--and put it up.' - -And one of Balzac's characters says:--'Savez-vous, mon cher, qu'il existe -dans notre société trois hommes: le prêtre, le médecin, et l'homme de -justice, qui ne peuvent pas estimer le monde? Ils ont des robes noires, -peut-être parce qu'ils portent le deuil de toutes les vertus, de toutes -les illusions. _Le plus malheureux des trois est l'avoué._' When the -question at issue is purely utilitarian, and the interest discussed one of -outward and practical relations, this legal training comes into eminent -efficiency: in a word, it is applicable to affairs, but not to sentiment; -to fact, but not to abstract truth. How evanescent is often a great -lawyer's fame; often as intangible as that of a great vocalist or actor. -Even their eloquence is now rare. Great lawyers are uniformly distrustful -of rhetoric, and their power is based on knowledge. We learn from the son -and biographer of Chief Justice Parsons, that a special reason of his -eminent superiority was that accident gave him early and undisturbed -access to the best law library in America. It has been truly said, that -the eloquence of the bar has become a tradition; 'it is suspected as -impugning sense and knowledge,' and is opposed to the practical spirit of -the age. Yet the advocate, like the poet, is occasionally born, not made, -notwithstanding the maxim _orator fit_. A mind fertile in expedients, -warmed by a temperament which instinctively seizes upon, and, we had -almost said, incarnates, a cause, is a phenomenon that sometimes renders -law an inspiration instead of a dogma. Such a pleader lately lived in one -of the Eastern States. Not only the grasp of his thought, but his -elocution, announced that he had literally thrown himself into the case. -It would be more strictly correct to say that he had absorbed it. The -gesture, the eye, the tone of his voice, the quiver of the muscle, nay, -each lock of his long steel-gray hair, that he tossed back from his -dripping brow, in the excitement of his fluent harangue, seemed alive and -overflowing with the rationale and the sentiment of the cause; his -enthusiasm was real, however it may have originated; and, by identifying -himself with his client, he espoused the argument as if it were vital to -his own interest. Such instances, however, are exceptional; few are the -lawyers thus constituted. Accepting their cases objectively, and -maintaining them by formula, the usual effect is that which Burke -describes in his character of Greville: 'He was bred to the law, which is, -in my opinion, one of the first and noblest of human sciences--a science -which does more to quicken and invigorate the understanding than all other -kinds of learning put together; but it is not apt, except in persons very -happily born, to open and liberalize the mind exactly in the same -proportion.' - -Why is the poet's function the noblest? Because it is inspired, not -arbitrarily decreed by the will. Mental activity is grand and beautiful in -proportion as it is disinterested; and it is on account of the almost -inevitable forcing, by circumstances, of a lawyer's mind from the line of -honest conviction into that of determined casuistry, that the moral -objection to the pursuit is so often urged. 'The indiscriminate defence of -right and wrong,' says Junius, 'contracts the understanding while it -corrupts the heart.' Some men, in conversation, affect us as unreal. We -attach no vital interest to what they say, because the mind appears to act -wholly apart--the fusion of sense and feeling, which we call soul, is -wanting; there is no conviction, no personal sentiment, no unselfish love -of truth in what they say; and yet it may be intelligent, erudite, and -void of positive falsity--still it is mechanical; the intellect is _used_, -not _inspired_; willed to act, not moved thereto: this is the -characteristic of legal training, unmodified by the higher sentiments; it -makes intellectual machines, logical grist-mills, talkers by rote; the -rational powers, from long slavery to temporary and interested aims, seem -to have lost magnanimity; their spontaneous, genuine, and earnest action -has yielded to a conventional and predetermined habit. Yet at the other -extreme we see the most lofty and permanent intellectual results. It has -been justly said that the Code Napoleon is even now the sole embodiment -of Lord Bacon's thought--'put them (the laws) into shape, inform them with -philosophy, reduce them in bulk, give them into every man's hand. Laws are -made to guard the rights of the people, not to feed the lawyers.' - -Whoever, in the freshness of youthful emotions, has been present at the -tribunal of a free country, where the character of the judge, the -integrity of the jury, and the learning and eloquence of the advocates -have equalled the moral exigencies and the ideal dignity of the scene, and -when the case has possessed a high tragic or social interest, can never -lose the impression thus derived of the majesty of the law. No public -scene of human life can surpass it to the apprehension of a thoughtful -spectator. He seems to behold the principle of justice as it exists in the -very elements of humanity, and to stand on the primeval foundation of -civil society; the searching struggle for truth, the conscientious -application of law to evidence, the stern recital of the prosecutor, the -appeal of the defence, the constant test of inquiry, of reference to -statutes and precedents, the luminous arrangement of conflicting facts by -the judge, his impartial deductions and clear final statement, the -interval of suspense and the solemn verdict, combine to present a calm, -reflective, almost sublime exercise of the intellect and moral sentiments, -in order to conform authority to their highest dictates, which elevates -and widens the function and the glory of human life and duty. Compare with -such a picture the base mockery of justice exhibited by the Inquisition of -old, and an Austrian court-martial of our own day; the arbitrary fiat of -an Eastern official, and the murderous ordeal of the provisional bodies -that ruled during the first French revolution; and it is easy to -appreciate the identity of justly-administered law with civilization and -freedom. 'Justice,' says Webster, 'is the great interest of man on earth. -It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations -together. Wherever her temple stands, and as long as it is duly honoured, -there is a foundation for social security, general happiness, and the -improvement and progress of our race; and whoever labours on this edifice -with usefulness and distinction, whoever clears its foundations, -strengthens its pillars, adorns its entablatures, or contributes to raise -its august dome still higher in the skies, connects himself--in name, and -fame, and character--with that which is, and must be, as durable as the -frame of human society.' - - - - -SEPULCHRES. - - 'The hills, - Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the vales, - Stretching in pensive quietness between; - The venerable woods; rivers that move - In majesty, and the complaining brooks - That make the meadow green; and, poured round all, - Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste, - Are but the solemn decorations all - Of the great tomb of man.'--BRYANT. - - -The comparatively recent and widely-diffused interest in the establishment -of rural cemeteries in this country is an auspicious reaction of popular -feeling. Never did a Christian nation manifest so little conservative and -exalted sentiment, apart from its direct religious scope, as our own. This -patent defect is owing, in a measure, to the absence of the venerable, the -time-hallowed, and the contemplative in the scenes and the life of our -country; it is, however, confirmed by the busy competition, the hurried, -experimental, and ambitious spirit of the people. Local change is the -rule, not the exception; scorn of wise delay, moderation, and philosophic -content, the prevalent feeling; impatience, temerity, and self-confidence, -the characteristic impulse; houses are locomotive, church edifices turned -into post-offices, and even theatres; ancestral domains are bartered away -in the second generation; old trees bow to the axe; the very sea is -encroached upon, and landmarks are removed almost as soon as they grow -familiar; change, which is the life of Nature, seems to be regarded as not -less the vital element of what is called local improvement and prosperity; -the future is almost exclusively regarded, and the past contemned. - -If a man cites the precedents of experience, he is sneered at as a 'fogy;' -if he has a competence, he risks it in speculation; newspapers usurp the -attention once given to standard lore; the picturesque rocks of the rural -wayside are defiled by quack advertisements, the arcana of spirituality -degraded by legerdemain, the dignity of reputation sullied by partisan -brutality, the graces of social refinement abrogated by a mercenary -standard, the lofty aims of science levelled by charlatan tricks, and -independence of character sacrificed to debasing conformity; observation -is lost in locomotion, thought in action, ideality in materialism. Against -this perversion of life the sanctity of death protests, often vainly to -the general mind, but not ineffectually to the individual heart. - -When it was attempted to secure the collection of Egyptian antiquities -brought hither by Dr. Abbott, of Cairo, for a future scientific museum to -be established in New York, the representatives--commercial, professional, -and speculative--of 'Young America' scorned the bare idea of exchanging -gold for mummies, sepulchral lamps, papyrus, and ancient utensils and -inscriptions; yet, within a twelvemonth, a celebrated German philologist, -a native biblical scholar, and a lecturer on the History of Art, eagerly -availed themselves of these contemned relics to prove and illustrate their -respective subjects; and the enlightened of Gotham's utilitarian citizens -acknowledged that the trophies of the past were essential to elucidate and -confirm the wisdom of the present. It is this idolatry of the immediate -which stultifies republican perception. Offer a manuscript to a publisher, -and he instantly inquires if it relates to the questions of the day; if -not, it is almost certain to be rejected without examination. The -conservative element of social life is merged in gregarious intercourse; -the youth looks not up to age; the maiden's susceptibilities are hardened -by premature and promiscuous association; external success is glorified, -private consistency unhonoured; art becomes a trade, literature an -expedient, reform fanaticism; aspiration is chilled, romance outgrown, -life unappreciated; and all because the vista of departed time is cut off -from our theory of moral perspective, and existence itself is regarded -merely as an opportunity for instant and outward success, not a link in an -eternal chain reaching 'before and after.' - -Sentiment is the great conservative principle of society; those instincts -of patriotism, local attachment, family affection, human sympathy, -reverence for truth, age, valour, and wisdom, so often alive and conscious -in the child, and overlaid or perverted in the man,--for the culture of -which our educational systems, habitual vocations, domestic and social -life, make so little provision,--are, in the last analysis, the elements -of whatever is noble, efficient, and individual in character; in every -moral crisis we appeal to them, as the channels whereby we are linked to -God and humanity, and through which alone we can realize just views or -lawful action. In our normal condition they may not be often exhibited; -yet none the less they constitute the latent force of civil society. To -depend upon intelligence and will is, indeed, the creed of the age, and -especially of this Republic; but these powers, when unhallowed by the -primal and better instincts, react and fail of their end. It is so in -individual experience and in national affairs. The absence of the -sentiments which the pride of intellect and the brutality of self-will -thus repudiate, is the occasion of our greatest errors; to them is the -final appeal, through them the only safety; and their violation was the -precursor of base and bloody treason; their vindication but the renewal -through sacrifice of a normal and vital interest of human society. The -war for the Union has been expiatory not less than patriotic. And the -great lesson taught by these and similar errors is, that the life, the -spirit, the faith of the country had, by a long course of national -prosperity and a blind worship of outward success, become gradually but -inevitably material; so that motives of patriotism, of reverence, of -courtesy, of generous sympathy,--in a word, the sentiments, as -distinguished from the passions and the will, had ceased to be recognized -as legitimate, and the reliable springs of action and guides of life. It -was the repudiation of these which horrified Burke at the outbreak of the -French Revolution; he augured the worst from that event, at the best hour -of its triumph, because it stripped Humanity of her divine attribute of -sentiment, and left her to shiver naked in the cold light of reason and -will, unredeemed by the sense of justice, of beauty, of compassion, of -honourable pride, which under the name of chivalry he lamented as extinct. -He spoke and felt as a man whose brain was kindled by his heart, and whose -heart retained the pure impulse of these sacred instincts, and knew their -value as the medium of all truth and the basis of civil order. They were -temporarily quenched in France by the frenzy of want; they are inactive -and in abeyance here, through the gross pressure of material prosperity -and mercenary ambition. Hence whatever effectively appeals to them, and -whoever sincerely recognizes them, whether by example or precept, in a -life or a poem, through art or rhetoric, in respect for the past, love of -nature, or devotion to truth and beauty, excites our cordial sympathy. In -this age and land, no man is a greater benefactor than he who scorns the -worldly and narrow philosophy of life which degrades to a material, -unaspiring level the tone of mind and the tendency of the affections. If -he invent a character, lay out a domain, erect a statue, weave a stanza, -write a paragraph, utter a word, or chant a melody which stirs in any -breast the love of the beautiful, admiration for the heroic, or the -chastening sense of awe,--any sentiment, in truth, which partakes of -disinterestedness, and merges self 'in an idea dearer than -self,'--uplifts, expands, fortifies, intensifies, and therefore -inspires,--he is essentially and absolutely a benefactor to society, a -genuine though perhaps unrecognized champion of what is 'highest in man's -nature' against what is 'lowest in man's destiny.' And not the least -because the most universal of these higher and holier feelings is the -sentiment of Death, consecrating its symbols, guarding its relics, and -keeping fresh and sacred its memories. - -The disposition of the mortal remains was, and is, to a considerable -extent, in England, an ecclesiastical function; in Catholic lands it is a -priestly interest. Indignity to the body, after death, was one of the most -dreaded punishments of heresy and crime; to scatter human ashes to the -winds, expose the skulls of malefactors in iron gratings over city -portals, refuse interment in ground consecrated by the church, and -disinter and insult the body of an unpopular ruler, were among the -barbarous reprisals of offended power. And yet, in these same twilight -eras, in the heathen customs and the mediæval laws, under the sway of Odin -and the Franks, the sentiment of respect for the dead was acted upon in a -manner to shame the indifference and hardihood of later and more civilized -times. With the emigration to America, this sentiment looked for its legal -vindication entirely to the civic authority. With their reaction from -spiritual tyranny, our ancestors transferred this, with other social -interests, to popular legislation and private inclination. Hence the -comparatively indefinite enactments on the subject, and the need of a -uniform code, applicable to all the States, and organized so as clearly to -establish the rights both of the living and the dead, and to preserve -inviolable the choice of disposition, and the place of deposit, of human -remains. - -The practical treatment of this subject is anomalous. Amid the scenes of -horror, outraging humanity in every form, which characterized the anarchy -incident to the first dethronement of legitimate authority in France, how -startling to read, among the first decrees of the Convention, provisions -for the dead, while pitiless destruction awaited the living! And in this -country, while motives of _hygiène_ limit intermural interments, and a -higher impulse sets apart and adorns rural cemeteries, our rail-tracks -still often ruthlessly intersect the fields of the dead, and ancestral -tombs are annually broken up to make way for streets and warehouses. The -tomb of Washington was long dilapidated; the bones of Revolutionary -martyrs are neglected, and half the graveyards of the country desecrated -by indifference or misuse. The conservative piety of the Hebrews -reproaches our inconsiderate neglect, in the faithfully-tended cemetery of -their race at Newport, R. I., where not a Jew remains to gather the ashes -of his fathers, thus carefully preserved by a testamentary fund. Of late -years elaborate monuments in rural cemeteries have done much to redeem -this once proverbial neglect. They constitute the most sacred adornment of -the environs of our principal cities. - -Both the modes and places of burial have an historical significance. The -pyre of the Greeks and Romans, the embalming process of the Egyptians, the -funeral piles of Hindoo superstition, and those bark stagings, curiously -regarded by Mississippi voyagers, where Indian corpses are exposed to the -elements,--the old cross-road interment of the suicide, the inhumation of -the early patriarchs and Christians,--all symbolize eras and creeds. The -lying-in-state of the royal defunct, the sable catafalque of the Catholic -temples, the salutes over the warrior's grave, the 'Day of the Dead' -celebrated in Southern Europe, the eulogies in French cemeteries, the -sublime ritual of the Establishment, and the silent prayer of the -Friends,--requiems, processions, emblems, inscriptions, badges, and -funereal garlands,--mark faith, nation, rank, and profession at the very -gates of the sepulchre. Vain is the sceptic's sneer, useless the -utilitarian's protest; by these poor tributes the heart utters its undying -regret and its immortal prophecies, though 'mummy has become merchandise,' -and to be 'but pyramidically extant is a fallacy in duration;' for, as the -same religious philosopher[23] of Norwich declared, 'it is the heaviest -stone that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell him he is at the end of -his nature;' and, therefore, in the grim Tuscan's Hell, the souls of those -who denied their immortality when in the flesh, are shut up through -eternity in living tombs. How the idea of a local abode for the mortal -remains is hallowed to our nature, is realized in the pathos which closes -the noble and sacred life of the Hebrew lawgiver: 'And he buried him in a -valley of the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of -his sepulchre unto this day.'[24] Etruria's best relics are sepulchral -urns. Social distinctions are as obvious in the tombs of the ancients as -in their palaces: witness the Columbarium in ruins, and the fresh pit of -the plebeians; the sandy isles of the Venetian cemetery, and Pompeii's -street of tombs. Byron thought '_Implora pace_' the most affecting of -epitaphs; and the visitor at Coppet recognizes a melancholy -appropriateness, in the garden-grave of its gifted mistress. - -Natural, therefore, and human, is the consoling thought of the poet, of -the ship bringing home for burial all of earth that remains of his -lamented friend:-- - - 'I hear the noise about thy keel; - I hear the bell struck in the night; - I see the cabin-window bright; - I see the sailor at the wheel. - - 'Thou bringest the sailor to his wife, - And travelled men from foreign lands; - And letters unto trembling hands; - And thy dark freight, a vanished life. - - 'So bring him: we have idle dreams: - This look of quiet flatters thus - Our home-bred fancies; O, to us, - The fools of habit, sweeter seems - - 'To rest beneath the clover sod, - That takes the sunshine and the rains, - Or where the kneeling hamlet drains - The chalice of the grapes of God, - - 'Than if with thee the roaring wells - Should gulf him fathom deep in brine; - And hands so often clasped in mine - Should toss with tangle and with shells.'[25] - -Doubtless many of the processes adopted by blind affection and -superstitious homage, to rescue the poor human casket from destruction, -are grotesque and undesirable. Had Segato, the discoverer of a chemical -method of petrifying flesh, survived to publish the secret, it would be -chiefly for anatomical purposes that we should appreciate his invention; -there is something revolting in the artificial conservation of what, by -the law of Nature, should undergo elemental dissolution; and it is but a -senseless homage to cling to the shattered chrysalis when the winged -embryo has soared away: - - 'All' ombra de' cipressi e dentro l'urne - Confortate di pianto, è forse il sonno - Delia morte men duro?'[26] - -Nature sometimes is a conservative mother even of mortal lineaments; in -glacier or tarn, in _tuffo_ and limestone fossils, she keeps for ages the -entire relics of humanity. The fantastic array of human bones in the -Capuchin cells at Palermo and Rome; the eyeless, shrunken face of Carlo -Borromeo embedded in crystal, jewels, and silk, beneath the Milan -cathedral; the fleshless figure of old Jeremy Bentham in the raiment of -this working-day world; the thousand spicy wrappings which enfold the -exhumed mummy whose exhibition provoked Horace Smith's facetious -rhymes,--these, and such as these, poor attempts to do vain honour to our -clay, are not less repugnant to the sentiment of death, in its religious -and enlightened manifestation, than the promiscuous and careless putting -out of sight of the dead after battle and in the reign of pestilence, or -the brutal and irreverent disposal of the bodies of the poor in the -diurnal pits of the Naples Campo Santo. More accordant with our sense of -respect to what once enshrined an immortal spirit, and stood erect and -free, even in barbaric manhood, is the adjuration of the bard:-- - - 'Gather him to his grave again, - And solemnly and softly lay, - Beneath the verdure of the plain, - The warrior's scattered bones away; - The soul hath quickened every part,-- - That remnant of a martial brow, - Those ribs that held the mighty heart, - That strong arm,--strong no longer now! - Spare them, each mouldering relic spare, - Of God's own image; let them rest, - Till not a trace shall speak of where - The awful likeness was impressed.' - -Yet there are many and judicious reasons for preferring cremation to -inhumation; the prejudice against the former having doubtless originated -among the early Christians, in their respect for patriarchal entombment, -practised by the Jews, and their natural horror at any custom which -savoured of heathenism. But there is actually no religious obstacle, and, -under proper arrangement, no public inconvenience, in the burning of the -dead. It is, too, a process which singularly attracts those who would save -the remains of those they love from the possibility of desecration, and -anticipate the ultimate fate of the mortal coil 'to mix for ever with the -elements;' at all events, there can be no rational objection to the -exercise of private taste, and the gratification of personal feeling on -this point. 'I bequeath my soul to God,' said Michael Angelo, in his terse -will, 'my body to the earth, and my possessions to my nearest kin;'--and -this right to dispose of one's mortal remains appears to be instinctive; -though the indignation excited by any departure from custom would indicate -that, in popular apprehension, the privilege so rarely exercised is -illegally usurped. - -The outcry in a Western town, a few years ago, when cremation was resorted -to, at the earnest desire of a deceased wife; and the offence taken and -expressed in an Eastern city, when it became known that a distinguished -surgeon, from respect to science, had bequeathed his skeleton to a medical -college; evidence how little, among us, is recognized the right of the -living to dispose of their remains, and the extent to which popular -ignorance and individual prejudice are allowed to interfere in what good -sense and good feeling declare an especial matter of private concern. Yet -that other than the ordinary modes of disposing of human relics are not -absolutely repugnant to endearing associations, may be inferred from the -poetic interest which sanctions to the imagination the obsequies of -Shelley. Although it was from convenience that the body of that ideal -bard, so misunderstood, so humane, so 'cradled into poesy by wrong,' was -burned, yet the lover of his spiritual muse beholds in that lonely pyre, -blazing on the shores of the Mediterranean, an elemental destruction of -the material shrine of a lofty and loving soul, accordant with his -aspiring, isolated, and imaginative career.[27] - -Vain, indeed, have proved the studious precautions of Egyptians to -conserve from decay and sacrilege the relics of their dead. Not only has -'mummy become merchandise,' in the limited sense of the English moralist; -the traffic of the Jews in their gums and spices, the distribution of -their exhumed forms in museums, and the use of their cases for fuel, is -now superseded by commerce in their cerements for the manufacture of -paper; and it is a startling evidence of that human vicissitude from which -even the shrouds of ancient kings are not exempt, that recently, in one of -the new towns of this continent, a newspaper was printed on sheets made -from the imported rags of Egyptian mummies. - -Of primitive and casual landmarks, encountered on solitary moors and -hills, the cairn and the Alpine cross affect the imagination with a sense -alike of mortality and tributary sentiment, even more vividly than the -elaborate mausoleum, from the rude expedients and the solemn isolation; -while the beauty of cathedral architecture is hallowed by ancestral -monuments. Of all Scott's characters, the one that most deeply enlists our -sympathies, through that quaint pathos whereby the Past is made eloquent -both to fancy and affection, is Old Mortality renewing the -half-obliterated inscriptions on the gravestones of the Covenanters, his -white hair fluttering in the wind as he stoops to his melancholy task, and -his aged pony feeding on the grassy mounds. Even our practical Franklin -seized the first leisure from patriotic duties, on his visit to England, -in order to examine the sepulchral tablets which bear the names of his -progenitors. - -A cursory glance at the most cherished trophies of literature indicates -how deeply the sentiment of death is wrought into the mind and -imagination,--how it invests with awe, love, pity, and hope, thoughtful -and gifted spirits, inspires their art, elevates their conceptions, and -casts over life and consciousness a sacred mystery. The most finished and -suggestive piece of modern English verse is elegiac,--its theme a country -churchyard, and so instinct are its melancholy numbers with pathos and -reflection, embalmed in rhythmical music, that its lines have passed into -household words. Our national poet, who has sung of Nature in all her -characteristic phases on this continent, next to those ever-renewed -glories of the universe has found his chief inspiration in the same -reverent contemplation: _Thanatopsis_ was his first grand offering to the -Muses, and _The Disinterred Warrior_, the _Hymn to Death_, and _The Old -Man's Funeral_, are but pious variations of a strain worthy to be chanted -in the temple of humanity. Shakspeare in no instance comes nearer what is -highest in our common nature and miraculous in our experience, than when -he makes the philosophic Dane question his soul and confront mortality. -The once popular and ever-memorable _Night Thoughts_ of Young elaborate -kindred ideas in the light of Christian truth; the most quaintly eloquent -of early speculative writings in English prose is Sir Thomas Browne's -treatise on Urn-Burial. The most thoughtful and earnest of modern Italian -poems is Foscolo's _Sepolchri_; the Monody on Sir John Moore, Shelley's -Elegy on Keats, Tickell's on Addison, Byron's on Sheridan, and Tennyson's -_In Memoriam_, contain the most sincere and harmonious utterances of their -authors. Not the least affecting pages of _The Sketch Book_ are those -which describe the 'Village Funeral' and the 'Widow's Son;' and the -endeared author has marked his own sense of the local sanctity of the -grave by selecting that of his family in 'Sleepy Hollow,' in the midst of -scenes endeared by his abode and his fame. Halleck has given lyrical -immortality to the warrior's death in the cause of freedom; and -Wordsworth, in perhaps his most quoted ballad, has recorded with exquisite -simplicity childhood's unconsciousness of death; even the most analytical -of French novelists found, in the laws and ceremonial of a Parisian -interment, material for his keenest diagnosis of the scenes of life in -that marvellous capital. Hope's best descriptive powers were enlisted in -his sketch of burial-places near Constantinople, so pensively contrasting -with the more adventurous chapters of Anastasius. If in popular literature -this sentiment is so constantly appealed to, and so enshrined in the -poet's dream and the philosopher's speculation, classic and Hebrew authors -have inscribed its memorials in outlines of majestic and graceful import; -around it the picturesque and the moralizing, the vivacious and the -grandly simple expressions of the Roman, the Greek, and the Jewish writers -seem to hover with the significant plaint--heroism or faith--which invokes -us, with the voice of ages, to - - 'Pay the deep reverence taught of old, - The homage of man's heart to death; - Nor dare to trifle with the mould - Once hallowed by the Almighty's breath.' - -Perhaps there is no instance of this vague and awful interest more -memorable to the American than when he reads, on some ancient tablet in -the Old World, the burial record of his ancestors. - -The monitory and reminiscent influence of the churchyard, apart from all -personal associations, cannot, indeed, be over-estimated; doubtless in a -spirit of propriety and good taste, it is now more frequently suburban, -made attractive by trees, flowers, a wide landscape, and rural peace, and -rendered comparatively safe from desecration by distance from the -so-called march of improvement which annually changes the aspect of our -growing towns. Yet, wherever situated, the homes of the dead, when made -eloquent by art, and kept fresh by reverent care, breathe a chastening and -holy lesson, perhaps the more impressive when uttered beside the teeming -camp of life. To the traveller in Europe it is a pathetic sight to watch -the Norwegian peasants strew flowers, every Sabbath, on the graves of -their kindred, and gives a living interest to the memorials of -Scandinavian antiquity gathered in the museums, whereby, through the -weapons and drinking-cups of stone, bronze, and iron, exhumed from graves, -he traces the origin and growth of that remote civilization. And when time -has softened the most acute and bitter memories of the War for the Union, -what monument to individual prowess, what trophy of patriotic -self-sacrifice will compare, in solemn and elevating pathos, with the -impression derived from the 'national cemeteries' of the battle-field and -the hospital? As Lincoln said of Gettysburg,--'they will dedicate us -afresh to our country, to humanity, and to God.' - -When the traveller gazes on the marble effigy of the warrior at Ravenna, -and then treads the plain where Gaston de Foix fell in battle, the fixed -lineaments and obsolete armour bring home to his mind the very life of the -middle ages, solemnized by youthful heroism and early death; when he scans -the vast city beneath its smoky veil--thick with roofs and dotted with -spires,--from an elevated point of Père la Chaise, the humble and -garlanded cross, and the chiselled names of the wise and brave that -surround him, cause the parallel and inwoven mysteries of life and death -to stir the fountains of his heart with awe, and make his lips tremble -into prayer; and, familiar as is the spectacle, the more thoughtful of the -throng in New York's bustling thoroughfare will sometimes pause and cast a -salutary glance from the hurrying crowd to the monuments of the heroic -Lawrence, the eloquent Emmet, the gallant Montgomery, and the patriotic -Hamilton. Those associations which form at once the culture and the -romance of travel are identified with the same eternal sentiment. Next in -interest to the monuments of genius and character are those of death; or -rather, the inspiration of the former are everywhere consecrated by the -latter. - - 'Take the wings - Of morning, and the Barcan desert pierce, - Or lose thyself in the continuous woods - Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound - Save his own dashings,--yet the dead are there!' - -Nero dug his own grave, lest he should be denied burial, and Shakspeare -guarded his own ashes by an imprecatory epitaph; David praises the men of -Jabesh Gilead who rescue the bones of their king from the enemy. It is a -sweet custom,--that of making little excavations in sepulchral slabs to -catch the rain, that birds may be lured thither to drink and sing. The -Chinese sell themselves in order to obtain means to bury their parents. - -We enter a city of antiquity--memorable Syracuse or disinterred -Pompeii--through a street of tombs; the majestic relics of Egyptian -civilization are the cenotaphs of kings; the Escurial is Spain's -architectural elegy; Abelard's philosophy is superseded, but his love and -death live daily to the vision of the mourners who go from the gay capital -of France, to place chaplets on the graves of departed friends;[28] the -grandeurs of Westminster Abbey are sublimated by the effigies of bards and -statesmen, and the rare music of St. George's choir made solemn by the -dust of royalty; deserted Ravenna is peopled with intense life by the -creations of Dante which haunt his sepulchre; Arqua is the shrine of -affectionate pilgrims; the radiant hues and graceful shapes of Titian and -Canova become ethereal to the fancy, when viewed beside their monuments; -St. Peter's is but a magnificent apostolic tomb; and the shadow of -mortality is incarnated in Lorenzo's brooding figure in the jewelled -temple of the dead Medici. Even the dim, half-explored catacombs of Rome -yield significant testimony to the Christian's heart to-day. 'The works of -painting found within them,' well says a recent writer, 'their -construction, the inscriptions on the graves,--all unite in bearing -witness to the simplicity of the faith, the purity of the doctrine, the -strength of the feeling, the change in the lives of the vast mass of the -members of the early church of Christ.'[29] - -What resorts are Santa Croce, Mount Vernon, Saint Paul's, and Saint -Onofrio! What a goal, through ages, the Holy Sepulchre! How the dim -escutcheons sanctify cathedrals, and sunken headstones the rural cemetery! -How sacred the mystery of the Campagna hid in that 'stern round tower of -other days,' which bears the name of a Roman matron! The beautiful -sarcophagus of Scipio, the feudal crypt of Theodric, the silent soldier of -the Invalides, the mossy cone of Caius Cæstus, in whose shadow two English -poets[30] yet speak in graceful epitaphs, Thorwaldsen's grand mausoleum -at Copenhagen, composed of his own trophies,--what objects are these to -win the mind back into the lapsing ages, and upward with 'immortal -longings!' We turn from brilliant thoroughfares, alive with creatures of a -day, to catacombs obscure with the impalpable dust of bygone generations; -we pass from the vociferous piazza to the hushed and frescoed cloister, -and walk on mural tablets whose inscriptions are worn by the feet of -vanished multitudes; we steal from the cheerful highway to the field of -mounds, where a shaft, a cross, or a garland breathes of surviving -tenderness; we handle the cloudy lachrymal, quaint depository of -long-evaporated tears, or admire the sculptured urn, the casket of what -was unutterably precious, even in mortality; and thereby life is -solemnized, consciousness deepened, and we feel, above the tyrannous -present, and through the casual occupation of the hour, the 'electric -chain wherewith we're darkly bound.' 'When I look upon the tombs of the -great,' says Addison, 'every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the -epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet -with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with -compassion; when I see the tombs of the parents themselves, I consider the -vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow. When I see kings -lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by -side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and -disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little -competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several -dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred -years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be -contemporaries, and make our appearance together.' Thus perpetual is the -hymn of death, thus ubiquitous its memorials--attesting not only an -inevitable destiny, but a universal sentiment; under whatever name,--God's -Acre, Pantheon, Campo Santo, Valhalla, Potter's Field, Greenwood, or Mount -Auburn,--the last resting-place of the body, the last earthly shrine of -human love, fame, and sorrow, claims--by the pious instinct which -originates, the holy rites which consecrate, the blessed hopes which -glorify it--respect, protection, and sanctity. - -There is, indeed, no spot of earth so hallowed to the contemplative as -that which holds the ashes of an intellectual benefactor. What a grateful -tribute does the trans-atlantic pilgrim instinctively offer at the -sepulchre of Roscoe at Liverpool, of Lafayette in France, of Berkeley at -Oxford, of Burns at Alloway Kirk, and of Keats and Goldsmith,--of all the -bards, philosophers, and reformers whose conceptions warmed and exalted -his dawning intelligence, and became thereby sacred to his memory for -ever! How fruitful the hours--snatched from less serene pleasure--devoted -to Stratford, Melrose, and the Abbey! To realize the value of these -opportunities, the spirit of humanity enshrined in such 'Meccas of the -mind,' we must fancy the barrenness of earth stripped of these landmarks -of the gifted and the lost. How denuded of its most tender light would be -Olney, Stoke Pogis, the vale of Florence, the cypress groves of Rome, and -the park at Weimar, unconsecrated by the sepulchres of Cowper and Gray, -Michael Angelo, Tasso, and Schiller, whose sweet and lofty remembrance -links meadow and stream, mountain and sunset, with the thought of all that -is most pensive, beautiful, and sublime in genius and in woe. - - - - -ACTORS. - - 'All the world's a stage, - And all the men and women merely players.' - JACQUES. - - -Dramatic talent is far more common than is usually believed. In every -family where decided traits of character prevail, it is spontaneously -exhibited; and no intimate circle of friends in which a perfect mutual -understanding and entire frankness exist, can often meet without an -instinctive development of a propensity and a gift innate in all -intelligent and genial minds; either in the play of humour, in graphic -narrative, in skilful imitation, or the accidental turn of conversation, -the dramatic appears, and we have only to look and listen objectively, to -find the scene and the dialogue 'as good as a play.' Almost every -community has its self-elected buffoons, its volunteer harlequins, and its -involuntary actors, who, carried away by the spur of vanity or the -overflow of enthusiasm, vividly represent either the ludicrous, the -characteristic, or the impassioned in human nature. To the imaginative, -observant, and susceptible, 'all the world's a stage,' and men and women -'merely players;' or, rather, there are times when the aspects of society -thus impress us. There is, too, a dramatic instinct in the very -consciousness of imaginative and impassioned natures, who, to use the -words of a woman of genius, yield to 'un besoin inné qu'elles éprouvent de -dramatiser leur existence à leurs propres yeux.' A national dramatic -language has ever been recognized in the responsive vivacity of the -Italian manners, the theatrical bearing of the French, and the proud -reticence of the Spaniard; these traits are infinitely modified to the eye -of scientific observation; and are the direct and significant language of -temperament, race, and character. It is, perhaps, because the elements of -the dramatic art are thus universal, that its professors are so little -esteemed, unless of the very highest order. It is certainly true of most -of the celebrated performers that they have been unhappy, and averse to -their children adopting the vocation. - -To appreciate the significance of elocutionary art, we have but to -consider that all poetry and rhetoric need interpretation. To the -multitude, in its printed or written form, the word of genius is often as -much a sealed book as the notes of a fine musical composition to one -uninitiated as to the meaning of those occult signs of harmony. Wordsworth -gained many converts to his poetical theory by the impressive manner in -which he recited his verses, who would have remained insensible to their -worth if only the force of reasoning had been used. The popularity of many -English lyrics and dramatic scenes is owing to the emphasis given them, in -the memory, by felicitous declaimers. How different is the Church Service, -an old ballad, an oration, the sentiment of Tennyson, the chivalry of -Campbell, or the ardent gloom of Byron, when melodiously and intelligently -uttered: only those who really feel the sense or pathos of a poem, win -others adequately to receive it; and there now lie neglected heaps of -noble verse, the latent music of which has not been vocally eliminated. In -this view, the requisite combination of voice, sensibility, and -intelligence, that constitute a good elocutionist, is an endowment of -inestimable value. Lee, the dramatist, used to read his plays so -effectively that it discouraged the actors from undertaking them; and the -crowds that listen attentively to an able reader of Shakspeare, indicate -the extent of public taste for this unappreciated and rarely cultivated -accomplishment. Kean gave 'a local habitation,' in the minds of thousands, -to Shaksperian inspiration; his surviving auditors are yet haunted by his -tones; his inflections and emphasis sculptured, as it were, with a breath, -upon memory, words that had previously left only a transient impression. -Had we, in our Western civilization, a profession analogous to the -improvisatore of the South, or the story-teller of the East, to make -familiar and impressive the utterance of our poets, they need not fear -comparison with the ancient bards of the people. Tasso and Ariosto are -read to this day, in squares and on quays in Italy, to swarthy and -tattered groups, who applaud a good line as if it were a new candidate for -fame; and, notwithstanding the aversion of the highly intellectual to the -theatre, Shakspeare became domesticated in the English mind through the -interpretation of histrionic genius. It is on account of this vital -connection between literature and elocution, this absolute need of a -popular exposition of what otherwise would never penetrate the common -mind, that the decadence of the Stage is to be regretted, and the -recognition of elocution as a high, graceful, and useful art is desirable. -We have an abundance of critics; we need expositors, artists to embody in -clear, emphatic, and justly-modulated tones, the graces and the thoughts -which minstrel and philosopher have elaborated; this would awaken moral -sympathy, give a social interest to the pleasures of literature, and wing -words of truth and beauty over the world. It is in view of such an office -that the actor rises to dignity; and that such a 'great simple being' as -Mrs. Siddons was consoled, when insulted by an audience, for her -'consciousness of a humiliating vocation;' and that Kean, wayward and -dissolute, recklessly leaping the barrier of civilization, like Freneau's -Indian boy who ran from college to the woods, reappears to the fancy as a -genuine minister at the altar of humanity. Talma's life was coincident -with some of the greatest events of the century; and his social position -is a noble vindication of histrionic genius in alliance with superior -character. Associated with the literary men of his country, and befriended -by her statesmen, his reminiscences are quite as interesting as his -professional triumphs. Intimate with Chenier, David, and Danton, he was -admired and cherished by Napoleon. Like Kean his earliest attempts failed, -and like Garrick he was a reformer in his art. The philosophy of dramatic -personation as regarded by such a man has a peculiar interest. 'Acting,' -he said, 'is a complete paradox; we must possess the power of strong -feeling, or we could never command and carry with us the sympathy of a -mixed audience in a crowded theatre; but we must, at the same time, -control our sensations on the stage, for their indulgence would enfeeble -execution. The skilful actor calculates his effects beforehand; the voice, -gesture, and look which pass for inspiration, have been rehearsed a -hundred times. On the other hand, a dull, composed, phlegmatic nature can -never make a great actor.' Talma's introduction of Kemble's toga in the -Roman plays, his teaching Bonaparte to play king, according to the famous -_on-dit_, his matchless dignity and elocution, his English affinities, his -charming talk, his select circle of friends, his prosperous style of -living, and the new rank he gave his vocation, combine to endear and -elevate his memory. - -In an historical view the relation of actors to society, art, letters, and -religion, offers many curious problems: _protégés_ of the State in the -palmy days of Greece, with the purely secular interest attached to the -stage under the Romans it degenerated; yet Cicero profited by the -instructions of Roscius, and gained for him an important suit; and while -Augustus decreed that 'players were exempt from stripes,' later edicts -declared 'that no senators should enter the houses of pantomimes, and that -Roman knights should not attend them in the streets.' Excommunicated by -the Church of Rome in the middle ages, they gave vital scope and -character to Spanish literature by evoking the rich and national materials -of that extraordinary drama of which Calderon and Lope de Vega are the -permanent expositors. Its history shows how, from religious comedies to -historical and social plays, the representatives of the stage in Spain -fostered her intellectual development and only popular culture, 'until -there was hardly a village that did not possess some kind of a theatre.' -The actors at Madrid 'constituted no less than forty companies,' and -'secular comedies of a very equivocal complexion were represented in some -of the principal monasteries of the kingdom.' The conduct of the Spanish -actors, however, according to the same testimony,[31] 'did more than -anything else to endanger the privileges of the drama.' Their personal lot -seems to have been as hard as the worst of their successors; 'slaves in -Algiers were better off.' In France, political, social, and literary life -and labour are often so related to or influenced by the renowned -_artistes_ of the stage, that they figure as an inevitable element in -popular memoirs; nowhere is the influence of the profession so direct and -absolute; and while the rise of German literature and liberalism is -identified with the advent of dramatic genius and the national revival of -the theatre, in England the most distinctive and pervading glory of her -intellectual character and fame is the offspring of this form of letters -and this phase of social recreative art. The biographies of the most -celebrated and endeared authors, from Alfieri to Irving, and from Goëthe -to Wilson, indicate that dramatic entertainments, whether Italian opera or -the English stage in its prime, court-plays at Weimar, or Terry at -Edinburgh, are to them the most available recuperative and inspiring of -pastimes. - -It is alike instructive and amusing to trace the dramatic element, so -instinctive and versatile, from the natural language of races and -individuals, through social manners to its organized culmination in art; -and thus to realize its historical significance. The Greek drama has -afforded philosophical scholars the most inspiring theme whereby to -illustrate the culture of classic antiquity. In the mellifluous verses of -Metastasio, the stern emphasis of Alfieri, and the comedies of Goldoni, we -have a perfect reflection of the lyrical taste, the free aspiration, and -the colloquial geniality of the Italians. From Molière to Scribe, what -vivid and true pictures of human life and nature as modified by French -character; while the essential facts of the origin and development of the -British stage, so fully recorded by Dr. Doran, brings it into intimate and -sympathetic contact with all the phases and crises of literature, society, -and politics. In the days of the first Charles the stage 'suffered with -the throne and the church.' Around Blackfriars, Whitefriars, the Globe, -the Rose, Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and the Haymarket, crystallize the -most salient associations of court and authorship; on this vantage-ground -Puritan and Cavalier alternately triumphed; and the genius of England bore -its consummate flower in Shakspeare. Now denounced and now cherished, -to-day patronized by kings, and to-morrow denounced by clergy, the memoirs -and annals of each epoch include the fortunes and the fame of the drama as -one of the most suggestive tests of social transitions. Queen Henrietta -was 'well-affected towards plays,' while South vigorously assailed, and -Bossuet consigned their personators to the infernal regions. The -playhouses, declared a public nuisance by the Middlesex grand jury of -1700, at an earlier and later period were shrines of fashion, nurseries of -talent, and haunts of courtiers. The representative men and women of the -day were dramatic authors, actors, and actresses; each succeeding -generation of poets essayed in this arena, so that a familiar designation -of the ages is borrowed from their leading playwrights, whose works -faithfully mirror the moral tone, the social spirit, and the public -taste. In Alphra Behn's _Oronooko_, Mrs. Centlivres' _Busybody_, Addison's -_Cato_, Steele's _Tender Husband_, Dr. Young's _Revenge_, Gay's _Beggar's -Opera_, Sheridan's _School for Scandal_, Goldsmith's _She Stoops to -Conquer_, Rowe's _Jane Shore_, Farquhar's _Beaux' Stratagem_, and many -other popular plays, we have, as it were, the living voice of ideas, -passions, and sentiments which agitated or charmed the town; and the -robust, earnest individuality of the English race for ever lives in the -profound, impassioned utterance of the old dramatists, as its emasculated -tone is embodied in the comic muse of the Restoration. How vivid the -glimpses of stage influence in the memoirs and correspondence of each era, -in the art and the annals of the nation. Evelyn and Pepys note Betterton's -triumphs; Tillotson learned from him his effective elocution; Kneller -painted, and Pope loved him. The _Tatler_ comments on 'haughty George -Powell;' Jack Lacy still lives in his portrait at Hampton Court. 'The -great Mrs. Barry' is buried in Westminster cloisters; and Mrs. Pritchard's -bust looms up from among those of poets and statesmen in the Abbey, and -recalls Churchill's metrical tribute. Burke, Johnson, Walpole, and -Chesterfield, expatiate on Garrick with critical zest or personal -sympathy. Each great performer creates an epoch of taste or fashion, -feeling or fame. Betterton, Quin, Barry, Foote, Cibber, Garrick, Kemble, -Cooke, and Kean, are names whose mention brings to mind not a transient -histrionic reputation, but a reign,--a social, literary, or national -period, crowded with interesting characters, remarkable achievements, or -special traits of life and manners. Each theatre has its memorable -traditions; each school its great illustrators; audiences, criticisms, the -court, the coffee-house, the journal, derive from and impart to the -theatre a specific influence. The gallantry, the wit, the local manners, -the style of writing, the fashion, that prevail at a given period, are -associated with the stage, the annals whereof, whether in Paris, London, -or Vienna, are therefore invaluable as a reference to historian, -novelist, and artist. 'The Garrick fever,' we are told, 'extended to St. -Petersburg;' 'a dissenting, one-eyed jeweller,' in _George Barnwell_, -brought the domestic drama into vogue; the _Beggar's Opera_ 'made -highwaymen fashionable;' and Ross is still remembered in Edinburgh 'as the -founder of the legal stage.' - -There is this great difference between the British and the French stage, -that while the former has achieved the grandest triumphs of tragic genius, -both literary and histrionic, the comedy of the latter has proved a -permanent school of manners, of language, and of art. The patronage of the -government, and the most strict artistic methods and discipline, have -established a standard of acting through the Théâtre Français. -Accordingly, instead of one superlatively clever and a score of -inefficient performers, all the French actors and actresses work together -for a harmonious result; unity of art and of effect, exquisite finish, -scientific aptitude, graces of manner, of utterance, and of expression, -often combine to make the modern French drama the perfection of artificial -triumphs. - -The lyric drama has greatly diminished the influence and modified the -character of the stage; and its personal records and associations abound -in romantic and artistic triumphs. The rare and delicate gift of a voice -adapted to this sphere, the temperament, talent, and beauty of the queens -of song, the individuality and power of musical composition, the vast -expense and varied attractions of the Italian opera, its fashionable sway, -and the genius and social interest identified with its history, all -combine to throw a special and significant charm around its votaries and -its record. What a world of emotional and artistic meaning the very names -of Purcell, Pergolesi, Bach, Cherubini, Mozart, and Rossini, Bellini, -Donizetti, Verdi, Beethoven, Mercandante, and other eminent composers, -awakens; and how the memory of their great interpreters haunts the -imagination! Perhaps, in our material age, there is no sphere where fancy -and feeling have found such scope. From the memoirs of Alfieri to those -of our own Irving, it is evident that the most available of inspiring -recreations, for men of thought and sensibility, is the lyric drama; and -from the days of Metastasio at the court of Vienna to those of Felice -Romani's libretto of _La Norma_, words and melody have reproduced, in -vivid and vital grace, the tragic and the naïve in history, sentiment, and -life. Even around imperial careers flit the vocal victors of the hour. -Joseph of Austria, the great Frederic, and the first Napoleon, had their -authoritative or conciliatory skirmishes with a _prima donna_, or an -_impresario_; operatic alternate with diplomatic episodes. Nor is the -social charm and _prestige_ of the lyric drama less apparent in the annals -of kindred genius. At Sophia Arnould's _salon_ the illustrious writers and -statesmen of Paris gladly convened. Goëthe celebrated in verse the -eighty-third birthday of Mara. Sir Joshua painted Mrs. Billington as St. -Cecilia; and Catalani made English tars, rowing her to a frigate, weep as -she warbled the national anthem. The amours, rivalries, luxury, disasters, -adventures, courtly favour, social influence, conjugal quarrels, noble -charities, and artistic triumphs of vocalists, add a new and marvellous -chapter to the annals of dramatic character and fortunes. Lavinia Fanton's -'Polly Peachum' secured the triumph of Gay's _Beggar's Opera_, and the -heart of a duke; of kindred significance is that scene, so exceptional in -English conventional life, and well described by Dr. Burney, where -Anastasia Robinson was acknowledged by Lord Peterborough as his wife. A -cardinal and a cook were the parents of Gabrielli; Pasta's _Medea_ was an -epoch in histrionic art; Malibran's brief and brilliant career revealed -the most versatile woman, as well as original _cantatrice_ of her day; -Sontag's death was a public calamity; Catalani's marvellous vocalization -lacked pathos, because 'she had not suffered;' while Mrs. Woods gained the -same quality from a contrary experience. Madame Devrient was called the -Siddons of Germany; Jenny Lind's _naïve_ song won thousands for the -indigent; and Braham's triumphant tones in singing the triumphs of Israel, -made the audience appear to Lamb as Egyptians over whose necks the Hebrew -chanter rode. - -From the time Burbage was lessee of the Globe Theatre, and Shakspeare -performed in his own characters, the morality of an actor's profession and -the stage have been discussed; but that there is no inevitable degradation -in the theatre, is evident from the late wholly successful though -temporary revival of its glory under the auspices of Macready. By -magnificent and complete scenic arrangements, the restoration of mutilated -Shakspearian dramas, efficient companies, the reformation of the house -itself, and especially by combining with the best dramatic authors of the -day, and rigidly maintaining his own self-respect as a member of society, -Macready once more brought together the scattered elements upon which the -character and utility of the stage is based, invested it with the highest -interest, and raised it above the cavils both of severe intellectual taste -and of pure morality. For a brief period it was the centre of graceful -ministries, a high school of art, the handmaid of literature, and the -means of elevating public sentiment and refreshing the most toilsome -minds; works of real dramatic genius were elicited; latent artistic -resources suggested; and the noblest drama in the world adequately -represented. Financial difficulties, incident to the monopoly enjoyed by -patentees, soon put a stop to the laudable enterprise; but the experiment -is as memorable as it was satisfactory. Ronzi shed tears of pleasure when -she found herself the only guest at a nobleman's villa near Florence, to -which she had been invited to a _fête_ sumptuously and tastefully -arranged; it was so rare an exception to the rule of making professional -vocalists contribute to, instead of receiving private entertainment; and -it is a curious fact in the social history of theatrical characters that -the English, notwithstanding their prudery and exclusiveness, first -recognized actors and actresses of merit as companions. Miss Farren is -not the only performer married to one of the nobility. The Earl of Craven -espoused Miss Bromton; Lord Peterborough, Anastasia Robinson; a nephew of -Lord Thurlow, Miss Bolton; and Sir William Becher, Miss O'Neil. One can -readily understand how an intellectual bachelor like James Smith, -accustomed to solace himself for domestic privations by cultivating a -sympathy for the heroines of the mimic world, should lament, as he did, in -apt verse, their appropriation even by noble lovers. He closes a pathetic -record of the kind with this allusion to the union between his prime -favourite, Miss Stevens, and Lord Essex, who seems to have acted on the -advice of the author of _Matrimonial Maxims_, who says, 'If you marry an -actress, the singing-girls are the best:' - - 'Last of the dear, delightful list, - Most followed, wonder'd at, and miss'd - In Hymen's odds and evens;-- - Old Essex caged our nightingale, - And finished thy dramatic tale, - Enchanting Kitty Stevens!' - -Boswell's reason for his partiality to players and soldiers was that they -excelled 'in animation and relish of existence.' There is a striking -illustration of the personal sympathy awakened by the profession in -conflict with the judgment that condemns it, as a career, in the life of -Scott. On one of the last days of Sir Walter's life, when, in a bath-chair -at Abbotsford, he was wheeled to a shady place by Lockhart and Laidlaw, he -asked the former to read him something from Crabbe. Lockhart read the -description of the arrival of the Players at the Borough. Sir Walter -cried, 'Capital!' at the poet's sarcasms on that way of life; but asked -penitently, 'How will poor Terry endure those cuts?' and when Lockhart -reached the summing up-- - - 'Sad, happy race! soon raised and soon depressed, - Your days all past in jeopardy and jest; - Poor without prudence, with afflictions, vain, - Nor warned by misery, nor enriched by gain----' - -'Shut the book,' said Scott; 'I can't stand more of this: it will touch -Terry to the quick.' A different but significant tribute to the actual -personal worth of the profession occurs in one of those genial 'imaginary -conversations,' vital with reality of reminiscence and rhapsody, wherein -Christopher North and the Ettrick Shepherd discourse so memorably. The -conduct of Kean in appearing on the stage immediately after a scandalous -intrigue had become public, is reprobated by 'Tickler' as 'an insult to -humanity.' To which the Shepherd replies: 'What can ye expec' frae a -playactor?' 'What can I expect, James?' is the reply; 'why, look at Terry, -Young, Matthews, Charles Kemble, and your friend Vandenhoff; and then I -say that you expect good players to be good men as men go, and likewise -gentlemen.' - -This sympathy with the profession, and vivid interest in some phase or -period of the drama, is an almost universal fact in the experience of -intelligent and sensitive persons. Thackeray's picture of Pendennis -enamoured of an actress in boyhood, is typical of a common episode of -youth; if not in this form, it takes the shape of enthusiasm for a certain -actor or class of plays, or a mania defined as the condition of being -'stage-struck;' while to the philosophical as well as sympathetic of these -early votaries the literature of the drama is a perennial storehouse of -psychological data, and the most vital connecting link between written -lore and actual life--the source of the highest poetry and the most -universal human truth. - -In literary biography, the accounts of the manner in which the plays of -Goldsmith, Sheridan, Byron, Mrs. Hemans, Joanna Baillie, Procter, -Talfourd, Hunt, Lamb, and other poets, were brought on the stage,--the -reciprocal good offices of actors and authors, mutually acknowledged,--the -array of intellectual friends convened to grace the occasion, and the -anecdotes and criticism thence resulting,--form some of the most agreeable -episodes in literary biography. Farquhar, Holcraft, Mrs. Inchbald, -Knowles, and others, combined the author and actor; and it was a genial -and noble custom for distinguished writers to contribute prologues and -epilogues;--the interchange of such kindly offices gave, as we have said, -a wide and elevated social interest to the theatre, which had, in a great -measure, passed away before the advent of Kean. Besides the comparative -indifference of the public, he was obliged to contend against both the -prejudices and the refinements of taste--the one opposing all innovation -as to style, and the other repudiating the intensity and boldness of his -conceptions. - -The Spagnoletto style of Sandford, and the 'cordage' visible in old -Macklin's face, are traditional. The inimitable pathos of Miss O'Neil, the -tragic beauty of Pasta, the heroic manner of Siddons, the irresistible -humour of Matthews, and Liston's comic genius, had each their distinctive -character; they respectively individualized the art, and, if we range over -the entire gallery of histrionic celebrities, we shall find their fame -based upon as peculiar traits of excellence as that of renowned authors -and painters; and their genius consisting in some quality emphatically -their own--where imitation and art became subservient to, or illustrative -of, an idiosyncrasy. - -Impulsive genius seldom receives the credit of artistic study, and its -most effective points are often ascribed to chance inspiration. This is an -error of frequent occurrence in judging of actors; and it is one almost -perversely indulged by the bigoted opponents of the romantic or natural -school. The most effective touches, however, in Garrick, Kean, and other -eminent performers, are easily traced to careful observation or a personal -idiosyncrasy or association. In the very first instruction the latter -received in his art, recourse was had to natural sympathy in order to -perfect his imitative skill. The pathetic intonation with which, even as a -boy, he exclaimed, 'Alas, poor Yorick!' in _Hamlet_, was derived from the -manner in which he habitually spoke of an unfortunate relative who -constantly excited his commiseration; he was instructed to transfer the -tone awakened by real, to the expression of imaginary grief: his manner of -falling on his face was derived from the figure on Abercrombie's monument, -and his fighting with a weaponless arm in Richard was borrowed from the -death-scene of an officer in Spain. The play of _Bertram_, by Maturin, he -is said to have rendered memorable by a single touching benison: all who -once heard his 'God bless the child!' recall it with emotion; it was a -favourite mode of uttering his paternal tenderness at home; hence its -reality. Garrick made a study of an old crazy friend of his in order to -enact _Lear_ with truth to nature; and when Kean was playing in New York, -he accompanied his physician to Bloomingdale asylum for the express -purpose of obtaining hints for the same part, from the manner and -expression of the insane patients. Indeed, those most intimate with Kean, -in his best days, unite in the opinion that he was never surpassed for the -intense and original study of his characters; he brooded over them in the -quiet fields, observed life and nature, conversed with discerning men, and -acutely examined books and his own consciousness, for the purpose of -attaining an harmonious and artistic conception; he tried experiments in -elocution before his wife, and was in the habit of rehearsing, for hours, -without any auditor. So elaborate were his studies, that, having once -decided on a course, he never modified it without great -self-dissatisfaction; and on one occasion, when he yielded his judgment on -a special point, to please Mrs. Garrick, the inharmonious effect was -obvious to all. - -'What the bank is to the credit of the nation,' said Steele, 'the -playhouse is to its politeness and good manners.' And although this maxim -is scarcely applicable now, the instinct and the sympathy by virtue of -which the stage instructs and refines for ever obtain in humanity. Among -recent illustrations, is the genial influence of dramatic pastimes upon -the isolated and dark sojourn of ice-bound Arctic voyagers, as described -by the intrepid and philosophic Kane and his predecessors. The gallery of -human portraits, conserved even by the minor English drama, are among the -most genuine illustrations of life and character; Sir Peter Teazle and -Joseph Surface, Sir Pertinax and Tony Lumpkin, Sylvester Daggerwood and -Mawworm, are emphatic types with which we could ill dispense. One of the -remarkable intellectual phenomena of the age in which we live, however, is -the gradual encroachment of literature upon dramatic art. The best modern -characters which genius has created exist in masterpieces of fiction and -poetry; in a measure they have superseded in popular favour dramatic -ideals, except the highest and most endeared. Scott, Dickens, and their -contemporaries or successors, have given the world a new gallery of living -portraits such as of old were only to be found in the drama. Well said -Wilson, in the _Noctes_: 'I think the good novels that are published come -in place of new dramas.' The Italian opera has, by its affluent artistic -attractions, overshadowed, and in a great measure superseded, the -'legitimate drama.' Even in Italy the opportunity is comparatively rare to -enjoy fine acting apart from music and the ballet; yet there is no better -lesson for the novice in that 'soft bastard Latin' that Byron loved, than -to listen to one of Goldoni's old-fashioned colloquial plays, as, clearly -and with admirable emphasis, recited by such a company as that of which -Internari was so long the ornament; by melodious emphasis alone -commonplace maxims seemed to attain the sparkle of wit, and the mere tone -of voice is fraught with infectious merriment. From Arlechino's broad -jokes to Ristori's majestic pathos, the natural dramatic instinct and -endowments of the Italians awaken every shade and subtlety of sympathetic -feeling. - -Philosophically examined, the stage will be found a compensatory -institution, and its actual relation to society intimate or conventional, -according to the predominance of real or ideal satisfaction. Thus the free -enterprise and speculative range in America make it merely recreative; the -best Italian dramatist wrote when his country's civic life was paralyzed. -The sentiment, checked by caste and absolutism in Elizabeth's day, burst -forth in the old dramatists, and culminated, for all time, in Shakspeare; -while the memoirs of Goëthe, Schiller, and Korner indicate how near and -dear to the popular heart of their country was the art, in all its phases -and forms, wherein baffled aspirations found scope. The histrionic artists -of Germany, and the actresses of Paris, are or have been a vital element -of the social economy, impracticable and almost inconceivable to English -and Americans. _Wilhelm Meister_ is the legitimate romance of its country -and era. 'L' artiste aimée du public,' says Madame Dudevant, 'est comme un -enfant a qui l' univers est la famille;' while the affinity of the -dramatic instinct with literary culture and capability is not only evident -in the friendships between authors and actors, but in the facility with -which the former become amateur performers. Montaigne says, 'I played the -chief part in the Latin tragedies of Buchanan, Guerente, and Moret, that -were acted in our college of Guienne.' Dickens is a capital actor and -dramatic reader of his own stories; and Washington Irving, when sojourning -at Dresden, delectably enacted, in a genial family circle, Sir Charles -Rackett. - -One proof of the essential individuality of histrionic genius is, that in -every celebrated part each renowned actor seems to have excelled in a -different phrase. Garrick's Hamlet was inimitable in the words, 'I have -that within that passeth show;' while the most affecting touch of the -elder Wallack was, 'That undiscovered country, from whose bourne no -traveller returns.' Kean's first soliloquy in _Richard the Third_ is -perhaps the best preserved traditional recitation of the English stage; -and the power of contrasted intonation in the expression of feeling, -never forgotten by those who listened, was evinced in the memorable -passage in _Othello_-- - - 'Perdition catch my soul, but _I do love thee_, - And when I love thee _not_, chaos is come again.' - -His conceptions were remarkable for bold earnestness. His discordant -voice, insignificant figure, and slightly-misshaped feet, seemed to pass -miraculously away before the glowing energy of his spirit; to the -imaginative spectator he visibly expanded, and filled the stage, and -towered over the inferior actors of larger physical dimensions; his -action, expression of countenance, intelligent emphasis, and vigour of -utterance, lifted, kindled, and glorified, as it were, his merely human -attributes, and bore him, and those who gazed and listened, triumphantly -onward in a whirl of passion, a concentration of will, or a chaos of -emotion. - -As far as contemporary memoirs elucidate the subject, it is evident that -gross violations of elocutionary taste were habitual both prior to and -succeeding the time of Betterton. This actor, with remarkable physical -disadvantages, appears to have had the most decided genius--especially for -tragedy. We have no accounts of the effects of tragic personation -exceeding those recorded of Betterton; so truly did he feel the emotion -represented, that it is said his colour, breathing, accent, and looks -betrayed an incessant and absolute sympathy with the part; as Hamlet he -turned deadly pale at the sight of the ghost; and Cibber emphatically -declares that his tone, accentuation, and the whole management of his -voice were faultlessly adapted to each passage he recited. Garrick seems -first to have established a taste for the refinements of the art; his -style, compared to what had been in vogue, was singularly chaste; he -embodied the great idea of unity; and when he first appeared, his manner, -expression of countenance, inflection of voice, and whole air, instantly -revealed the character, of which he did not lose sight for a moment. The -Kemble school has been traced to Quin; but its individuality was trenched -upon vitally by Kean, although it has been, in many essential features, -renewed by the elder Vandenhoff and Macready. It is contended by its -ardent votaries that Kean sacrificed the dignity of his art--so ably -sustained by John Kemble and his renowned sister--to mere effect; that he -substituted impulse for science, and excited sympathy by powerful but -illegitimate appeals to emotion. This, however, is a narrow statement, and -like the old dispute about Racine and Shakspeare, the classic and -romantic, the natural and the artistic, resolves itself into the fact that -the principle of a division of labour is applicable to art as well as -social economy. In Cato and Coriolanus and Wolsey, the traits of Kemble -were perfectly assimilated; in the more complex part of Richard, and the -still more impetuous one of Othello, the energy, quickness, intense -expression, and infectious action of Kean were not only electrical in -their immediate effect, but appropriate in the highest degree in the view -of reflection and taste. Thus, too, Cooke as Sir Pertinax McSycophant, -Mrs. Siddons as Lady Macbeth, Cooper as Virginius, Kean as Shylock, -Macready as Werner, and Booth as Iago, made indelible, because highly -characteristic, impressions. The actor, like the author and artist, has -his _forte_--a sphere peculiarly fitted to elicit his powers and give -scope and inspiration to his genius; and it is here that we should -estimate him, and not according to a comparative and irrelevant standard. - -The lives of actors partake of the extreme alternations and varied -excitement of their profession. To the philosopher there is nothing -anomalous in the frequent contrast between the lessons of virtue they -enact and the recklessness of their habits. When we consider how much they -are the sport of fortune, and how often poverty and contempt form the -background to the picture of love, triumph, or wit, in which they figure; -and remember the constant draft upon nervous sensibility and the resources -of temperament, as well as intelligence, it is their lot to undergo, we -cannot reasonably wonder that extravagances of conduct, vagaries of habit, -and a proneness to seek pleasure in the immediate, characterize players. -'Players,' says Hazlitt, 'are the only honest hypocrites.' It is proved by -judicial statistics, that 'of all classes they are the freest from crime;' -while their charitable sympathies are proverbial; in marriage and finance, -however, they are the reverse of precisians; yet few more pleasing -examples of domestic virtue and happiness can be found than some recorded -in histrionic memoirs. A kindly but acute observer who long fraternized -with the craft, Douglas Jerrold, said of the strolling player: 'He is the -merry preacher of the noblest, grandest lessons of human thought. He is -the poet's pilgrim, and in the forlornest byways and abodes of men, calls -forth new sympathies, sheds upon the cold, dull trade of real life an hour -of poetic glory. He informs human clay with thoughts and throbbings that -refine it; and for this he was for centuries a "rogue and a vagabond," and -is, even now, a long, long day's march from the vantage-ground of -respectability.' Through the annals of the English stage there may be -traced a vein of romantic vicissitude as suggestive as any the written -drama affords:--Wilks, generous and spirited, abandoning a profitable -engagement in Dublin, with language as noble in its key as one of -Fletcher's characters, to allay the conjugal jealousy of a brother actor; -Nell Gwynn discouraged in her theatrical ambition by the manager, becoming -orange-girl to the theatre in order to be in the line of her aspirations, -which, when realized, made her the mistress of a king and the envy of -courtiers; Mountfort killed in an impromptu duel with a noble rival for -the love of Mrs. Bracegirdle; the charming Mrs. Woffington disguised as a -man, at a country ball, undeceiving the affianced of her disloyal lover; -the beautiful Miss Bellamy meditating suicide on the steps of Westminster -Bridge; Savage asleep on a street-bunk, and, three days after, the admired -guest at a lord's table; the eccentricities of Cibber's daft daughter; -Holcraft's affecting story of his boyhood, and the ludicrous -self-importance displayed in his account of his trial for treason; the -fascinating dialogue of the benevolent Mrs. Jordan with the Quaker in the -rain under a shed; Jerrold's father playing in a barn upon an estate that -was rightfully his own; and Douglas himself, the future dramatic author, -carried on the stage by Kean, as the child in Rolla. Palmer fell dead -while personating The Stranger, in consequence of the excess of sorrow -which the situation induced, he having just been stricken by a great -domestic bereavement; Williams was killed by Quin; and Mountford and Clive -murdered. Quin's memorable jokes; Cooke's lapses from more than Roman -dignity and Anglo-Saxon sense to a worse than Indian sottishness; -Grimaldi, whom Hook called 'the Garrick of Clowns,' and to whom Byron gave -a silver snuff-box, leaving buffoonery and harlequin whirls to train -pigeons, collect flies, or meet with London robbers; Matthews, after -keeping the Park audience in a roar for hours, crossing the river to -stroll in pensive thought under the trees at Hoboken; and the versatile -and admired Hodgkinson dying at a solitary tavern on the road to -Washington, amid the horrors of pestilence, and his body thrown into a -field by slaves; Booth's extraordinary fits of contemplative originality, -and the grotesque night adventures in which Kean was the leader, are but -incidental glimpses of a world in which the violent, fantastic, and -reckless instincts of human nature are wantonly displayed, yielding -curious material for the metaphysician, and ample scope for charity. An -English poet has brought together many such anecdotes of Kean--some -touching in the highest degree, some superlatively ridiculous, and others -shocking to the heart,--yet all kindled with the forlorn glory of genius, -like the scathed form of Milton's fallen angel. And what a mercurial -compound was Samuel Foote--London's great source of fun and satire for -years,--whose chance observations became proverbs, who used to find a seat -for Gray the poet, stand ruefully against the scenes to have his -artificial leg attached, and then go forward to set the house in a -roar,--as ingenious as Steele in evading 'injunctions,' who lived by his -'takings off,' over which the grave Johnson shook with merriment, and -whose 'wits' were literally his capital, whereby he realized three -fortunes! It is no wonder people frequented Macklin's ordinary when he -quitted the stage; nor that they listened until far into the night to that -'perpetual showman of the extraordinary in manners, adventure, -sentimentality, and sin'--Elliston,--whose 'I'll never call you Jack, my -boy, again,' equalled in comic zest the tragic force of Kean's 'God bless -the child,' in _Bertram_, who made life itself a comedy, and played the -'child of fortune' to the end; exuberant in vagaries, a vagabond by -instinct, celebrating the 'triumph of abstinence by excess,' and with -'eccentricity absolutely germane to his being,' yet could so perfectly -enact the 'regal style' in common life that Charles Lamb declared he -should 'repose under no inscription but one of pure Latinity.' The -_Memoirs of Grimaldi_ was the first book Dickens published, and in that -biography of a harlequin are the smiles and tears of a genuine romance. In -the perusal of such an experience we realize how directly comedy springs -from human life; the _piazzas_ of Spain and Italy, with their motley -crowds and glib dialogue, gave birth to the theatre. What a curious fact -in human nature is the relation of seeming to being in the drama. Dr. -Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury, was dining with the celebrated -Betterton, and said: 'Pray, Mr. Betterton, inform me what is the reason -you actors can affect your audiences with speaking of things imaginary as -if they were real, while we of the church speak of things real which our -congregations only receive as if they were imaginary?' 'Why, my lord,' -replied the player, 'the reason is plain. We actors speak of things -imaginary as if they were real, and you in the pulpit speak of things -real as if they were imaginary.' It has been observed that there are no -English lives worth reading except those of players, who, 'by the nature -of the case, have bidden respectability good day;' and a grave literary -critic explains on higher grounds than this _abandon_, why there is an -intrinsic charm in an actor's memoirs, when he remarks that, -'notwithstanding everything which may be said against the theatrical -profession, it certainly does require from those who pursue it a certain -quickness and liveliness of mind.' - -The very nature of the vocation is inciting to vagrant propensities and -thoughtless adventures. The English theatre originated in strollers who -performed in inn-yards; and the Greek drama is associated with the 'cart -of Thespis.' I have seen an itinerant company of Italians perform a -tragedy in the old Roman amphitheatre at Verona, on a spring afternoon, to -a hundred spectators grouped about the lower tiers of that magnificent -relic of antiquity, where gladiators once contended in the presence of -thousands. It was an impressive evidence of the universality of dramatic -taste, which, however modified by circumstances, always reasserts itself -in all nations and climes. The best historians, cognizant of this, make -the condition and influence of the theatre a subject of record; and its -phases undoubtedly mirror the characteristic in social and national life -more truly than any other institution. It was a great bone of contention -between the Puritans and Cavaliers; Macaulay finds it needful to revert to -the subject to illustrate the reign of Charles II. and the Commonwealth, -and Hildreth to mark the difference of public sentiment in New England and -the other States after the revolution. Its critical history in England -would afford a reliable scale by which to measure the rise, progress, and -lapses of civilization and public taste. Upon this arena the great -controversy between nature and art, rules and inspiration, eclecticism and -adherence to a school, which, under different names, forms an everlasting -problem to the votaries of intellectual enjoyment, was boldly fought. And -the discussion once inspired by Kemble and Kean has been renewed by the -respective advocates of Rachel and Ristori. - -The diminished influence of the stage is obvious in its comparative -isolation. 'The dramatic temperament,' observes Mrs. Kemble, 'always -exceptional in England, is becoming daily more so under the various -adverse influences of a civilization and society which fosters a genuine -dislike to exhibitions of emotion, and a cynical disbelief in the reality -of it, both necessarily depressing, first its expression, and next its -existence.' This social repudiation of the dramatic instinct undoubtedly -affects its professional development; and the stage in Great Britain, of -late years, with the exception of the lyric drama, appeals far more to the -amusing than the tragic element; the comic muse and the melodrama have -long been in the ascendant. The social character which once rendered the -stage in England a connecting link between literature and the town, -refined circles and the public at large, no longer exists; that such a -relation naturally obtains we perceive in the mutual advantages then -derived from its recognition; authors and actors, indeed, have a -reciprocal interest in the drama, while the tone of society and manners is -directly influenced by, and reflected from, the theatre; much, therefore, -of the deterioration of the latter is owing to its being in a great degree -abandoned by those whose taste, character, and personal influence alone -can redeem it from abuse and degradation; for it has been well said that -the theatre is respectable only in proportion as it is respected. A -traditional charm and intellectual dignity, as well as social -attractiveness, linger around the memory of its palmy days;--when Quin so -nobly befriended the author of _The Seasons_; when Steele was a patentee, -and Mrs. Bracegirdle inspired the best authors to write for her, and -received a legacy from Congreve; when Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith discussed -new plays and old readings with Garrick, and Mrs. Oldfield remembered poor -Savage in her will; or Sheridan vibrated between the greenroom and the -dress circle. Similar pleasing associations belong to the era of Mrs. -Siddons, when she doffed the majestic air of Lady Macbeth to mingle with -the literati of Edinburgh; and nightly saw Reynolds, Gibbon, Burke, and -Fox in the orchestra. Peg Woffington charmed Burke, and incited him to his -first successful literary effort; and Archbishop Tillotson profited by the -elocution of Butterton. We are told, in corresponding memoirs, of Kitty -Clive's 'clear laugh,' 'fair Abington with her dove-like looks,' 'charming -Mrs. Barry,' and 'womanly Mrs. Pritchard.' There is no vocation so -directly inspired by love of approbation; the stimulus of applause is an -indispensable encouragement, and popular caprice vents itself without -limit in deifying or degrading the children of Thespis. It is not to be -wondered at that diseased vanity often results from such adulation as -attends the successful actor. 'Is it possible,' asks Sir Lytton, 'that -this man--so fondled, so shouted to, so dandled by the world--can, at -bedtime, take off the whole of Macbeth with his stockings?' The old -essayists criticized the stage with efficiency; men of political fame -watched with interest over its destiny; men of genius proclaimed its -worth, and men of birth took an active part in its support and direction. -Thus encouraged and inspired, actors of the higher order felt a degree of -responsibility to the public, and indulged in aspirations that gave -elevation and significance to their art. Its evanescent triumphs, when -compared with those of letters, painting, or sculpture, have often been -lamented; Cibber is eloquently pathetic on the subject, and Campbell has -expressed the sentiment in a memorable stanza. In one respect, however, -the fragility of histrionic renown is an advantage; no species of -enjoyment from art has been made the theme of such glowing reminiscence; -as if inspired by the very consciousness that the merit they celebrated -had no permanent memorial, intelligent lovers of the drama describe, in -conversation and literature, the traits of favourite performers and the -effects they have produced, with a zest, acuteness, and enthusiasm rarely -awarded the votaries of other pursuits. What genial emphasis, even in the -traditional memory of Wilks' Sir Harry Wildair, Barry's Jaffier, Quin's -Falstaff, Henderson's Sir Giles, Yates' Shakspeare's Fools, Macklin's -Shylock, Harry Woodworth's Captain Boabdil, Cooke's McSycophant, Siddons' -Lady Macbeth, and Kean's Othello! Yet in no art is eclecticism more a -desideratum; our great actors proverbially suffer for adequate support in -the minor characters; rivalry and division of labour sadly mar the -possible perfection of the modern stage. Walpole, who was an epicurean in -his dramatic as in his social tastes, sighed for the incarnation in one -prodigy of the voice of Mrs. Cibber, the eye of Garrick, and the soul of -Mrs. Pritchard. In Cibber's eulogies upon the tragic genius of Betterton, -or the inimitable drollery of Nokes,--Hunt's genial memoirs of Jack -Bannister, Lamb's account of Munden's acting, Campbell's tribute to Mrs. -Siddons, and Barry Cornwall's description of Kean's characters,--there is -a relish and earnestness seldom devoted to the limner and the bard, who, -we feel, can speak best for themselves to posterity. Indeed, the -heartiness of appreciation manifested by literary men towards great -actors, is the result of natural affinity. There is something, too, in the -mere vocation of the latter, when efficiently realized, that excites -intellectual and personal sympathy. The actor seems a noble volunteer in -behalf of humanity,--a kind of spontaneous lay-figure upon which the -drapery of human life may be arranged at pleasure;--he is the oral -interpreter of the individual mind to the hearts of the people; and takes -upon himself the passion, wit, and sentiment of types of the race, that -all may realize their action and quality. - - - - -NEWSPAPERS. - - 'What is it but a map of busy life?'--COWPER. - - -I remember how vivid was the impression of Paris life, in its contrasts -and economy, derived from the distribution of the 'Entr' Acte' at the -Opera Comique, announcing the death of Talleyrand. Cinti Damoreau had just -warbled a _finale_ in the _Pré Aux Clercs_, and the applause had scarcely -died away, when a shower of neatly-printed gazettes were seized and -pondered. There was a minute description of the last hours of a man -associated with dynasties and diplomacy for half a century, who had been -the confidant of the Bourbons and the Bonapartes, and a few moments before -bade farewell to earth and Louis Philippe; and all these historical and -incongruous memories solemnized by death, filled up the interval of a gay -and crowded opera, and the pauses of an exquisite vocalist;--a more -bewildering consciousness of the past and present, of art and history, of -intrigue and melody, of mortality and pastime, it is difficult to imagine. - -The newspaper is not only a map but a test of the age; its history is -parallel with civilization, and each new feature introduced is significant -of political and social changes; while its tone, style, and opinions, at -any given time, indicate the spirit of the times more definitely than any -other index. If we scan, with a philosophic eye, these fugitive -emanations of the press, from their earliest date to the present hour, we -find that they not only record events, but bear indirect, and therefore -authentic, testimony to the transitions of society, the formation of -opinions, and the actual standards of public taste. Hence they are -eminently characteristic to the annalist. Compare the single diminutive -sheet which, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, formed the -London newspaper, almost wholly occupied with state papers and the -statistics of a battle in some distant region, with a copy of the present -leading Tory journal in the same latitude; the extent and variety of its -contents, the finished rhetoric of its leading articles, the scholarly -criticism, fully reported debates, thorough detail of news, foreign and -domestic, local and universal, personal and social--evince how the -resources of the world have multiplied, the refinements of life -progressed, and the intellectual demands of society risen. News, like all -other desirable things, was, at the origin of newspapers, a monopoly of -Government; the _Gazette_ a mere instrument of courts: now, the daily -journal, in free countries, is the legitimate expression of the popular -mind; its comparative liberty of utterance is the criterion of political -enfranchisement; and where entire scope is afforded, it takes as many -forms as there are sects, theories, and interests in a community. Thus, -from being a mere record it has become an expositor; from heralding royal -mandates it has grown into an advocate of individual sentiments; and -daguerreotypes civil life, in its swiftly-moving panorama, with incredible -celerity and faithfulness. The improvements in the modern journal are -chiefly owing to those in human intercourse. The steam-engine and the -electric telegraph, by rapidly concentrating the knowledge of events at -central points, give both the motive and the means of vitality and -completeness to the newspaper. A remarkable effect, however, of these -facilities is that they have diminished what may be called the personal -influence of the editor, and reduced the daily journal, in a great -measure, to its normal state--that of a dispenser of news. The success of -the newspapers, for instance, in the commercial metropolis of this -country, and also in London, is at the present day more the result of -enterprise than talent. The paper which collects the earliest and most -complete intelligence of passing events is the most successful. When these -materials of interest were not so abundant; when days and weeks elapsed -between the publication of important news, the vehicles of this evanescent -but much-desired commodity were kept alive by the individual talent and -information of editors. Their views were earnestly uttered and responded -to; and the paper was eagerly seized for the sake of its eloquence, its -argument, or its satire. It is true, indeed, that a degree of this -_prestige_ still belongs to the daily journal; but the _éclat_ of the -writer is now all but lost in the teeming interest of events; the editor, -who, in less exciting times, would have been the idolized lay-preacher or -improvisatore of the town, must content himself with judiciously compiling -new facts, vividly describing passing events, and making up from his -foreign and domestic files an entertaining summary of news. His comments -are necessarily brief; no opportunity is afforded carefully to digest the -knowledge he acquires, or to compare the occurrence of to-day with its -parallel in history. Accordingly he glances at the new book, utters his -party dictum on the last legislative act, gives a vague interpretation to -the aspects of the political horizon, and refers to the full, varied, and -interesting details of 'news,' for both the attraction and the value of -his journal. A curious effect of this modern facility in accumulating news -is that of anticipating the effect of time, or superseding the interest of -artificial excitements. So various, incessant, and impressive are the -incidents daily brought to our knowledge, so visible now is the drama of -the world's life, that we have scarcely time or inclination for illusions. -History seems enacting; changes, once the work of years, are effected in -as many months, and we are so accustomed to the wonderful that sensibility -to it is greatly diminished. Imagine the scientific discoveries, the -political revolutions, the memorable facts of the last twenty years, all -at once revealed to one of our ancestors, at the epoch when editors used -to board vessels at the wharf to glean three months' English news for -their weekly readers; when political items, marine disasters, -advertisements, and marriages, were all printed in the same column and -type, and notice was formally given that the postman would start on -horseback in a week, to convey letters a hundred miles! Compare, too, the -terse, emphatic style of the modern press to the old-fashioned prolixity, -and the practice of publishing both sides of a public question on the same -sheet, with the existent division of newspapers into specific organs; the -original extreme deference to authority with the present bold discussion -of its claims; and the even tenor of the past with the eventful present. -Each period has its advantages; and the enduring intellectual monuments of -the earlier somewhat reproach the restlessness, diffuse, and fragmentary -life of to-day. 'The patriarch of a community,' says Martineau, 'can never -be restored to the kind of importance which he possessed in the elder -societies of the world; from their prerogatives he is deposed by the -journal, whose speechless and impersonal lore coldly but effectually -supplies the wants once served by the living voice of elders, kindling -with the inspiration of the past.' - -To discover the public feeling of an epoch as well as its social economy, -historians, not less than novelists, wisely resort to a file of old -newspapers. In James Franklin's journal, commenced at Boston in 1722, and -afterwards removed to Newport, for instance, we find controversies between -the clergy and the editors of the province, discussions on the utility of -inoculation, advertisements of runaway slaves, and notices of whippings -and the pillory--all characteristic facts and landmarks of the progress -of civilization. The advanced culture of the Eastern States is evident -from the contemporaneous republication in one of their daily prints of the -poetry of Shenstone, Collins, and Goldsmith, and in another of Robertson's -History; there, too, we find Whitfield's preaching theologically analyzed, -and the manner of the _Spectator_ and _Tatler_ at once imitated. -Federalism was incarnated in the _Columbian Centinel_; and in another -organ, of the same community, at an earlier period, the contributions of -Otis and Quincy prepared the public mind gravely to assert the rights for -which the colonies were about to struggle. The financial essays of Morris -and others taught them, through a similar medium, the principles of -currency, exchange, and credit; Dennie induced, in the same way, a taste -for elegant literature; and the journals of Freneau and Bache embodied the -spirit of French political fanaticism. History, indeed, records events in -their continuity, and with reference to what precedes and follows; but the -actual state of public sentiment in regard to such exciting affairs as -Hamilton's duel, Jefferson's gunboats, Genet's mission, Perry's victory, -the Freemason's oath, the death of Washington, California gold, and -Kossuth's crusade, is most vividly reflected from the diverse reports, -opinions, and chronicles of the newspaper press. - -It is impossible to estimate the fusion of knowledge and argument brought -about by the press in free countries, whereby public sentiment is formed -and concentrated. Truth, even the most sacred, was propagated in the world -ages ago by oral and written communication; perhaps it was then more -cherished and better considered; but without modern facilities of -intercourse like the press, it is difficult to imagine how a political -organization like our own could be regulated and conserved; how universal -reputations could be so speedily created, the discoveries of science made -available to all, or charitable and economical enterprise be expanded to -their present wide issues. The establishment of prolific and cheap -journals in New York, in 1830, was an event of incalculable historical -importance. The universal interest in public affairs justifies, in this -country, the greatest editorial enterprise; while the growing value of our -journals, as means of reference, make it desirable their form should be -convenient;--the book-shape of _Niles' Register_ is one reason it is so -much consulted. The variety of talent and opinion enlisted in American -journalism, the fights and flatteries of its conductors, the alacrity and -seasonableness which is its chief ideal, are traits which absolutely -reflect the normal life of the people; the church and schoolhouse, which -inaugurate an American settlement, are instantly followed by the -newspaper; and as the antiquarian now searches the _Boston News-Letter_ or -_Pennsylvanian Gazette_ for incidents of the Revolutionary war, or -statistics of colonial trade, he will, a century hence, find in the -journals of to-day the economical questions, the social gauge, the -daguerreotyped enterprise, fillibusterism, and popular tastes of this era. - -The stagnation of business and the lapse of metropolitan fashionable life, -which so emphatically mark midsummer in America, make that wonderful chart -of life, the daily newspaper, more sought and enjoyed than at any other -time. From the merchant in his counting-room to the stranger in the -hotel-parlour, from the passenger in suburban cars and steamboats to the -teamster waiting for a job, there is observable a patience and attention -in reading newspapers such as one seldom perceives at more busy periods of -the year. And if we were to cite a single characteristic sign of the -times, as of universal import, it would be American journalism. The -avidity with which the papers are seized at watering places, the habit of -making their contents the staple of talk, and the manner in which they are -conducted in order to meet the popular demands, are facts indicative of -modern civilization which no one can ignore who would rightly appreciate -its tendency and traits. These are brought out and made conscious, to a -remarkable degree, in the leisure intervals which midsummer alone affords -to our active and busy people. - -The truth is that newspaper reading is the exclusive mental pabulum of a -vast number in this country; and to this circumstance is to be ascribed -the amount of general information, and ready, though superficial ideas, on -all kinds of subjects, which so astonish foreigners. If you converse with -your neighbour in the railway cars, or listen to the remarks at the _table -d'hôte_, hear what the farmers, mechanics, tradesmen, and gentlemen, so -gregariously locomotive now, have to say--you will find that the daily -press furnishes nine-tenths of the subject-matter and the speculative -inspiration. There never was a time or a country where this 'fourth -estate,' as it has been well called, enacted so broad and vital a -function. Every year our press has become more personal and local on the -one hand, and more comprehensive on the other. Cowper's idea of seeing -life through the 'loop-holes of retreat,' can now be realized as never -before. However sequestered may be the summer home of our citizens, they -have but to con the daily journals and know all that goes on in the great -world, with a detail as to events, persons, and places, which not only -satisfies curiosity, but imagination. Nothing is too abstract for the -discussion, or too trivial for the gossip, of the American journal. It -concentrates the record of daily life at home and abroad; and has so -encroached upon the province of the old essayists, the excitements of -fiction and the materials of history, that more or less of the literature -of each may be found in every well-conducted newspaper. - -And yet so undesirable is the unseasonable or excessive dependence upon -newspaper reading, considered with reference to high culture and refined -individuality, that, of all indirect benefits of modern travel, perhaps -none is more valuable, as a mental experience, than an Eastern tour which -cuts off the usual excitements and routine of civilized life, and -especially that intense and absolute relation with the present fostered -by the newspaper. Under the palms, on the Nile, and amid the desert, to a -thoughtful mind and sensitive organization, it is blissful and auspicious -to feel isolated awhile, not only from the busy material life of the age, -but from its chart and programme--the newspaper; and so be able to live -consciously for a season in the past, and feel the solemn spell of -solitude and antiquity. The modern deluge of journalism, it has been said, -with more truth than we can at present quite appreciate, 'bereaves life of -spirituality, disturbs and overlays individuality, and often becomes a -mania and a nuisance, to keep out of which is the only way to keep sacred. -It is a sad barbarism,' continues the same writer, 'when men yield to -every impulse from without, with no imperial dignity in the soul which -closes its apartments against the virulence of the world and from unworthy -intruders.'[32] A Swedish archæologist proves, by relics found in graves -in Europe and America, that man in the savage state makes in form, and as -far as possible in material, identical utensils and weapons; so, in -civilized nations the same abuses and traits characterize the periodical -press. Crabbe's description of the newspaper in England, eighty years ago, -finds a curious parallel in that of Sprague in America, fifty years later. - -The individual needs an organ in this age wherein and whereby he may -record or find reflected his opinions; the great evil is, that he who -directs this representative medium may be a 'landless resolute,' a -Bohemian adventurer, without convictions or interest. It is to Burke and -the opposition, who protected printers from the House of Commons in 1770, -that the 'Fourth Estate dates its birth;' and Burke was right in his -declaration--'posterity will bless this day.' Under the ancient _régime_ -one in a hundred Parisians only could read. After the Revolution, all -became interested in battles; to read the news became indispensable; -hence it has been well said:--'Napoleon a appris à lire aux Parisiennes. -Le professeur leur a coûté cher.' The biographer of Volney records that -philosopher's testimony against the newspaper as a means of popular -culture:--'L'auteur des Ruines, appelé à la chaire d'Histoire, accepté -cette charge pénible, mais qui portrait avec elle lui offrir les moyens -d'être utile: tout en enseignant l'histoire, il voulait chercher à -diminuer l'influence journalière qu'elle exerce sur les actions et les -opinions des hommes; il la regardait à juste titre comme l'une des sources -les plus fécondes de leurs préjugés et de leurs erreurs.' De Tocqueville -indicates, in a different way, his sense of the casual adaptation of the -newspaper, which he describes as 'a speech made from a window to the -chance passers-by in the street.' Among other tests which the rebellion in -the United States has thoroughly applied, is that of the press; and it is -no exaggeration to say that thereby London and Paris journalism has been -completely denuded of the _prestige_ of integrity and humanity, save as -exceptional traits. - -The deliberate protest of an eminent public man like Cobden is sufficient -proof of this fact in regard to the great British organ. He writes:--'A -tone of pre-eminent unscrupulousness in the discussion of political -questions, a contempt for the rights and feelings of others, and an -unprincipled disregard of the claims of consistency and sincerity on the -part of its writers, have long been recognized as the distinguishing -characteristics of _The Times_, and placed it in marked contrast with the -rest of the periodical press, including the penny journals of the -metropolis and the provinces. Its writers are, I believe, betrayed into -this tone mainly by their reliance on the shield of impenetrable secrecy. -No gentleman would dream of saying, under the responsibility of his -signature, what your writer said of Mr. Bright yesterday. I will not stop -to remark on the deterioration of character which follows when a man of -education and rare ability thus lowers himself, ay, even in his own eyes, -to a condition of moral cowardice. We all know the man whose fortune is -derived from _The Times_. We know its manager; its only avowed and -responsible editor--he of the semi-official correspondence with Sir -Charles Napier in the Baltic, through whose hands, though he never pen a -line himself, every slander in its leaders must pass--is as well known to -us as the chief official at the Home Office. Now the question is forced on -us whether we, who are behind the scenes, are not bound in the interests -of the uninitiated public, and as the only certain mode of abating such -outrages as this, to lift the veil and dispel the delusion by which _The -Times_ is enabled to pursue this game of secrecy to the public and -servility to the Government--a game (I purposely use the word) which -secures for its connections the corrupt advantages, while denying to the -public its own boasted benefits of the anonymous system.' - -The London _Times_ has won, and popularly confirmed for itself during the -American war for the Union, the name of 'Weathercock,' only fixed awhile -by a _trade_ wind, and veering, with shameless alacrity, at every -mercenary and malicious breath; while never before in the history of the -world has the line of demarcation between what is true and comprehensive, -and what is interested and partisan, been made so emphatically apparent to -the common mind as in the vaunts, vagaries, and vacillations of -journalism. On the other hand, one of the most remarkable evidences of the -benefit of popular education, as well as an unique contribution to the -materials of history, may be found in the letters of the soldiers of the -Union army, written from the seat of war to their kindred, and printed in -the local journals; thousands of them have been collected and arranged, -and they naïvely describe every battle as witnessed and fought by as many -individuals. Never before were such materials of history available. In -view of the great result--the elimination of vital truth by public -discussion--the expression as well as the enlightenment and discipline of -public sentiment through the press, we have ample reason to agree with -Jefferson, who declared, 'If I had to choose between a Government without -newspapers, or newspapers without a Government, I should prefer the -latter.' - -A son of Leigh Hunt, in a voluminous work entitled _The Fourth Estate_, -has written the annals of the English press;--of which Count Gurowski has -well said that it 'addresses itself to classes, but seldom, very seldom, -to the people itself, as the only national element.' The English press -mentions the name of the people, to be sure, but speaks of it only in -generalities, not in that broad and direct sense as is the case in -America. Whole districts, communities, and townships in England, as well -as on the Continent, exist without having any newspaper--any organ of -publicity. Therein England is under the influence of centralization, as -are the other European States. Almost every township and more populous -village in the free States in the Union has its organs, whose circulation -is independent, and does not interfere with that of those larger papers -published in the capitals of States, or in the larger cities. - -A philosophical and authentic history of the newspaper would, however, not -only yield the most genuine insight as to public events and the spirit of -the age, it would also reveal the most exalted and the lowest traits of -humanity. The cowardly hireling who stabs reputations--as the _bravo_ of -the middle ages did hearts--for a bribe; and the heroic defender of truth -and advocate of reform, loyal with his pen to honest conviction amid the -wiles of corruption and the ignominy of abuse--in a word, the holy -champion and the base lampooner are both represented in this field. It is -one of the conditions of its freedom, that equal rights shall be accorded -all; and the wisest men have deemed the possible evils of such latitude -more than compensated by the probable good. Perhaps our own country -affords the best opportunity to judge this question; and here we cannot -but perceive that private judgment continually modifies the influence of -the press. We speak habitually of each newspaper as the organ of its -editor; and the opinion it advances has precisely as much weight with -intelligent readers as the individual is entitled to, and no more. The -days when the cabalistic 'we' inspired awe have passed away; the venom of -a scurrilous print, and the ferocity of a partisan one, only provoke a -smile; newspapers here, instead of guiding, follow public opinion; and -they have created, by free discussion, an independent habit of thought on -the part of their readers, which renders their influence harmless when not -useful. Yet the abuses of journalism were so patent and pernicious thirty -years ago, that Hillhouse thus entered his wise protest against the -growing evil: 'Many of our faults, much of our danger, are chargeable to -_a reckless press_. No institutions or principles are spared its empiric -handling. The most sacred maxims of jurisprudence, the most unblemished -public characters, the vital points of constitutional policy and safety, -are dragged into discussion and exposed to scorn by presumptuous -scribblers, from end to end of the nation.' Printers originally issued -gazettes, and depended upon contributions for a discussion of public -affairs--news whereof they alone furnished: gradually arose the editor; -and two conditions soon became apparent as essential to his -success--prompt utterance of opinion, and constant reannouncement and -advocacy thereof. Cobbett declared the genius of journalism to consist in -_re-iteration_, upon which distinction a witty editor improved by -substituting _re-irritation_. - -As a political element, journalism has entirely changed the position of -statesmen, and seems destined to subvert the secret machinery of -diplomacy. These results grow out of the enlightenment and circulation of -thought on national questions induced by their constant public discussion -by the press; their tendency is to break up monopolies of information, to -scatter the knowledge of facts, and openly recognize great human -interests. By condensing the mists of popular feeling into clear and -powerful streams, or shooting them into luminous crystals, the judgment, -the sympathies, and the will of mankind are gradually modified. Hence, all -who represent the people are acted upon as they never could have been when -authority was less exposed to criticism, and the means of a mutual -understanding and comparison of ideas among men less organized and -effective. It has been justly observed that no danger can result from the -most seductive 'leader' on a public question, while the same sheet -contains a full report of all the facts relating to it. The pamphlet and -gazette of Addison's day, and earlier, are now combined in the newspaper. -In great exigencies, however, the immediate promulgation of facts may be a -serious national peril. An experienced American editor, and careful -observer of the phenomena of the Rebellion, thus emphatically testifies to -the possible evil of an enterprising press: 'I believe most strongly now, -that this Rebellion would have been subdued ere this, if, at the outbreak, -the Government had suppressed every daily newspaper which contained a line -or a word upon the war question, except to give the results of -engagements. Our daily journals have kept the Confederates minutely and -seasonably informed. The greater the vigilance and accuracy of these -journals, the greater their value to the enemy.' But a more significant -result than this may be found in the test which the Rebellion has proved, -not only to social and national, but to professional life, and especially -the editorial. How completely has the prestige of newspapers as organs of -opinion faded away before the facts of the hour! What poor prophets, -reasoners, historical scholars, patriots, and _men_, have some of the -conductors of the press proved! With what distrust is it now regarded; and -how does public confidence refuse any nucleus but that of individual -character. The press, therefore, as a popular organ, is unrivalled. It -now illustrates every phase, both of reform and conservatism, every -religious doctrine, scientific interest, and social tendency. Take up at -random any popular newspaper of the day, and what a variety of subjects -and scope of vision it covers, superficially indeed, but to the -philosophic mind none the less significantly; the world is therein -pictured in miniature--the world of to-day. - -Probably the most universal charm of a newspaper is the gratification it -affords to what phrenologists call the organ of eventuality. Curiosity is -a trait of human nature which belongs to every order of mind, and actuates -the infant as well as the sage. To its more common manifestations the -newspaper appeals, and indeed originated in this natural craving for -incident. In its most sympathetic degree, this feeling is the source of -the profound interest which tragedy inspires, and its lower range is the -occasion of that pleasure which gossip yields. It is a curious fact that -the same propensity should be at once the cause of the noblest and the -meanest exhibitions of character; yet the poetic impulse and reverent -inquiry of the highest scientific intelligence--intent upon exploring the -wonders of the universe--is but the exalted and ultimate development of -this love of the new and desire to penetrate the unknown. The everlasting -inquiry for news, which meets us in the street, at the hearthstone, and -even beside the bier and in the church, constantly evinces this universal -passion. How often does that commonplace question harshly salute the ear -of the reflective; what a satire it is upon the glory of the past; how it -baffles sentiment, chills enthusiasm, and checks earnestness! The avidity -with which fresh intelligence, although of no personal concern, is seized, -the eagerness with which it is circulated, and the rapidity with which it -is forgotten, are more significant of the transitory conditions of human -life than the data of the calendar or the ruins of Balbek. They prove that -we live altogether in the immediate, that our dearest associations may be -invaded by the most trivial occurrence, that the mental acquisitions of -years do not invalidate a childish love of amusement, and that the mere -impertinences of external life have a stronger hold upon our nature than -the deepest mysteries of consciousness. 'It seems,' wrote Fisher Ames, 'as -if newspaper wares were made to suit a market as much as any other. The -starers, and wonderers, and gapers engross a very large share of the -attention of all the sons of the type. I pray the whole honourable craft -to banish as many murders, and horrid accidents, and monstrous births, and -prodigies from their gazettes, by degrees, as their readers will permit; -and, by degrees, coax them back to contemplate life and manners, to -consider events with some common sense, and to study Nature where she can -be known.' On the other hand, this curiosity about what does not concern -us, is undoubtedly linked with the more generous sympathies, and is, in a -degree, prompted by them; so that philanthropy, good fellowship, and the -amenities of social life and benevolent enterprise, are more or less the -result of the natural interest we feel in the affairs of nations and those -of our neighbour. If the newspaper, therefore, considered merely as a -vehicle of general information in regard to passing events, has a tendency -to diffuse and render fragmentary our mental life; on the other hand, it -keeps the attention fixed upon something besides self, it directs the gaze -beyond a narrow circle, and brings home to the heart a sense of universal -laws, natural affinities, and progressive interests. But curiosity is not -altogether a disinterested passion; and it is amusing to see how -newspapers act upon the idiosyncrasy or the interest of readers. The -broker unfolds the damp sheet at the stock column; the merchant turns at -once to the ship-news; the spinster first reads the marriages; the -politician, legislative debates; and the author, literary criticisms; -while lovers of the marvellous, like Abernethy's patient, enjoy the -murders. To how many human propensities does the newspaper thus casually -minister! Old gentlemen are, indeed, excusable for losing their temper on -a cold morning, when kept waiting for a look into the paper by some -spelling reader; and, to a benign observer, the comfort of some poor -frequenter of a coffee-house oracularly dispensing his gleanings from the -journals, is pleasant to consider,--a cheap and harmless gratification, an -inoffensive and solacing phase of self-importance. We can easily imagine -the anxious expectancy with which the visitors at a gentleman's -country-seat in England, before the epoch of journals, awaited the -news-letter from town,--destined to pass from house to house, through an -isolated neighbourhood, and almost worn out in the process of thumbing. - -Three traditions exist to account for the origin of newspapers. The first -attributes their introduction to the custom prevalent at Venice, about the -middle of the fifteenth century, of reading the written intelligence -received from the seat of war, then waging by the Republic against Solyman -the Second, in Dalmatia, at a fixed time and place, for the benefit of all -who chose to hear. French annalists, on the other hand, trace the great -invention to a gossiping medical practitioner of Paris, who used to cheer -his patients with all the news he could gather, and, to save time, had it -written out, at intervals, and distributed among them; while an English -historian, quoted by Disraeli the elder, says, 'they commenced at the -epoch of the Spanish Armada; and that we are indebted to the wisdom of -Elizabeth and the prudence of Burleigh for the first newspaper.'[33] The -same authority conjectures that the word gazette is derived from -_gazzerótta_, a magpie, but it is usually ascribed to _gazet_, a small -coin,--the original price of a copy in Venice. One of the most startling -relics of Pompeii is the poster advertising gladiators. The oldest -newspaper in the world, according to _L'Imprimière_, is published at -Pekin. It is printed on silk, and has appeared every week for a thousand -years. Whatever the actual origin, however, it is natural to suppose that -a gradual transition from oral to written, and thence to printed news, was -the process by which the modern journal advanced towards its present -completeness. It is remarkable that the retrograde movement essential to -despotism in all interests, is obvious in the newspaper;--censorship -driving free minds from written expression, as in the recent instance of -Kossuth when advocating Hungarian progress. - -A rigid and complete analytical history of the newspaper would perhaps -afford the best illustration of the social and civic development of the -civilized world. Commencing with a mere official announcement of national -events, such as the ancient Romans daily promulgated in writing, we find -the next precursor of the public journal in that systematic correspondence -of the scholars of the middle ages, whereby erudite, philosophical, or -æsthetic ideas were regularly interchanged and diffused. From this to the -written circular, distributed among the English aristocracy, the -transition was a natural result of economical and social necessity; and -the historian of the subject in Great Britain finds in the popularity of -the ballad a still further development of the same instinct and want -expressing itself among the people. As their vital interest in civic -questions enlarged, pamphlets began to be written and circulated on the -current topics of the day; then a periodical sheet was issued containing -foreign intelligence, among the earliest specimens whereof is, _The Weekly -Newes from Italy and Germanie_, which first appeared in 1622. It is a -characteristic fact that the first two special newspaper organs that were -published in England were devoted to sporting[34] and medical -intelligence. But it was reserved for the last century to expand these -germinal experiments into what we now justly consider a great civilizing -institution. When Burke[35] began to apply philosophy to politics, and -Junius to set the example of memorable anonymous writing on public -questions, and Wilkes to battle for the liberty of the press, new and -powerful intellectual and moral elements were infused into journalism; to -these, vast mechanical improvements gave new diffusion; discussion gave -birth to systems, invention to new industrial interests, social culture to -original phases and forms of popular literary taste and talent. In -England, Hazlitt's psychological criticisms, Jerrold's local wit, -Thackeray's incisive satire, the descriptive talent of scores of -travelling reporters, and the dramatic genius of such observers as Charles -Dickens, blended their versatile attractions with the vivid chronicle of -daily news and the elaborate treatise of political essayists; while in -France, from Rousseau, Grimm, and Mirabeau, to Thiers and St. Beuve, the -journal represented the sternest political and the most finished literary -ability; from the old _Journal Etranger_, devoted to scandal, to Marat's -_Ami du Peuple_, the vicissitudes and the genius of France are enrolled in -her journalism. - -The French papers have the largest subscription, those of London the most -complete establishments, and in America they are far more numerous than in -other countries; over three thousand are now published, and their price is -about one-seventh that of the English. The tone of the American press is -usually less dignified and intellectual than that of France and England. -It has also the peculiarity of being maintained, in a great degree, by -advertisements; thus the commercial as well as the party element--both -dangerous to the elevation of the press--enter largely into its character -here. It has been said of penny-a-liners that they are to the newspaper -corps what Cossacks are to a regular army; and the activity of journalism -in Great Britain, and the detail of its enterprise, are signally evidenced -by such a class of writers, as well by the fact that in 1826, when Canning -sent British troops to Portugal, newspaper reporters went with the army--a -custom which in the Crimean, East India, and recent American war, has -given birth to such memorable correspondence. The shipping intelligence of -United States journals is more minute, the philosophical eloquence of -those of Paris more striking, and the details of court gossip and criminal -jurisprudence more full in those of London,--characteristics which -respectively mirror national traits and the existent state of society in -each latitude. The shareholders of the London _Times_ have occasionally -divided a net profit of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds--the -well-earned recompense for the complete arrangement and efficient exercise -of this greatest of modern instruments. It is not surprising that the most -renowned of writers have availed themselves of a medium so direct and -universal. Chateaubriand wrote in the _Journal des Débats_ against -Polignac; Malte-Brun contributed geographical articles to the same print; -Benjamin Constant's views were unfolded in the _Minerve Française_; -Lafitte's opinions found expression in the _Journal du Commerce_. -Lamartine's ideal of a journal is one which has 'assez de raison pour -convenir aux hommes sérieux, assez de témerité pour plaire aux hommes -légeres, assez d'excentricité pour plaire aux aventereux.' With all the -restrictions to which despotism in France has subjected the press, its -history as a whole is as Protean as Paris life, and reflects the -tendencies of national character. As early as 1650, there was a _Gazette -de Burlesque_, soon after a _Mercury Galant_; the _Journal des Débats_ is -devoted to facts and its own dignity, the _Siècle_ represents mercantile -interests, _La Presse_ is full of ideas, and has been well described as -partaking of the nature of a torrent which '_se grossit par la -resistance_.'[36] Napoleon depended on the _Moniteur_, and kept the press -low because he feared its influence more than an army. The proprietors of -the _Constitutionel_ often pay a hundred and fifty francs for a single -column. William Livingston wrote effectively, in 1752, in the _Independent -Reflector_, of New York, against Episcopal encroachments. Freedom of the -press, in America, was established by the trial of the printer Zenger. -Kossuth was a journalist while at the head of a nation. Cavour began his -public career in the same capacity, and Heine was the admirable -correspondent of leading German journals for many years. Centralization -vastly increases the influence of journalism in Paris, and its history -there is a perfect index of the successive revolutions. From Benjamin -Franklin to Walter Savage Landor, and from Junius to Jack Downing, these -vehicles of ideas have enshrined memorable individualities as well as -phases of general opinion. Jefferson, Hamilton, Rufus King, De Witt -Clinton, and Everett--all our statesmen--have been newspaper writers. - -Specimens of recorded thought from the earliest to the present time would -aptly mark the history of civilization; the writings on stone, wax, bones, -lead, palm-leaves, bark, linen, and parchment--inscribed by patient -manual toil, denoting the era when knowledge was a mystery and its -possessor a seer; illuminated chronicles and missals representing its -cloistered years;--black-letter, the transition period when it began to -expand, although still a luxury; and the newspaper, illustrating its -modern diffusion and universality. The scribe's vocation was at once -superseded by the invention of printing, and the scholar's monopoly broken -up; hence the scarcity and value of books prior to the times of Faust and -Caxton, can scarcely be appreciated by this generation. Wonderful indeed -is the contrast to the American traveller, as he muses beside the Anapus -at Syracuse, over the papyrus vegetating in its waters,--between the -scrolls of antiquity engrossed on this material, and the twenty thousand -closely-printed sheets thrown off in an hour by one of the mammoth daily -presses of his native country. This rapidity of production, however, is -almost as oblivious in its tendency as the limited copies produced by the -pen and transmitted in manuscript. It may be said of exclusive newspaper -writers and readers, with a few memorable exceptions, that their -intellectual triumphs are 'writ in water;' and melancholy is that fate -which condemns a man of real genius to the labours of a newspaper editor; -fragmentary and fugitive, though incessant, are his labours,--usually -destructive of style, and without permanent memorials; when of a political -nature, they often enlist bitter feelings and promote a knowledge of the -world calculated to indurate as well as expand the mind. A veteran French -writer for the press describes the editor's life as always '_troublée et -militante_.' An American poet,[37] whose divine art is a safeguard against -the worst evils of journalism, in a recent history of his paper, thus -speaks of the influence of the employment upon character:-- - - 'It is a vocation which gives an insight into men's motives, and - reveals by what influences masses of men are moved, but it shows the - dark, rather than the bright side of human nature; and one who is not - disposed to make due allowances for the peculiar circumstances in - which he is placed, is apt to be led by it into the mistake, that the - large majority of mankind are knaves. It fills the mind with a variety - of knowledge relating to the events of the day, but that knowledge is - apt to be superficial; since the necessity of attending to many - subjects prevents the journalist from thoroughly investigating any. In - this way it begets desultory habits of thought, disposing the mind to - be satisfied with mere glances at difficult questions, and to delight - in passing lightly from one thing to another. The style gains in - clearness and fluency, but is apt to become, in consequence of much - and hasty writing, loose, diffuse, and stuffed with local barbarisms - and the cant phrases of the day. Its worst effect is the strong - temptation which it sets before men to betray the cause of truth to - public opinion, and to fall in with what are supposed to be the views - held by a contemporaneous majority, which are sometimes perfectly - right and sometimes grossly wrong.' - -In regard to the influence of newspapers on style, it has been noted that -since their cheap issue, colloquial simplicity has vanished. 'A single -number of a London morning paper,' observes a writer in _Blackwood_ -'(which, in half a century, has expanded from the size of a dinner napkin -to that of a breakfast tablecloth, from that to a carpet, and will soon be -forced by the expansion of public business into something resembling the -mainsail of a frigate), already is equal in printed matter to a very large -octavo volume. Every old woman in the nation now reads daily a vast -miscellany, in one volume royal octavo; thus the whole artificial dialect -of books has come into play as the dialect of ordinary life. This is one -form of the evil impressed upon style by journalism; a dire monotony of -bookish idiom has stiffened all freedom of expression.'[38] As to its -effect on the _morale_, when pursued exclusively as a material interest, -one of the most acute and observant of modern French writers says:--'Le -journal, au lieu d'être un sacerdoce, est devenu un moyen pour les partis; -de moyen, il s'est fait commerce; et comme tous les commerces, il est -sans foi ni loi;' and in allusion to the French, bitterly adds, 'nous -verrons les journaux, dirigés d'abord par des hommes d'honneur, tomber -plus tard sous le gouvernement de plus médiocre, qui auront la patience et -lâcheté de gomme elastique qui manquent aux beaux genies, ou à des -epiciers qui auront de l'argent pour acheter des plumes.' Macaulay, says a -French critic, 'a conservé dans l'histoire, les habitudes qu' il avait -gagnées dans les journaux.' Journalism has proved an effective discipline -for statesmen; the late prime minister of Sardinia first dealt with public -questions in the columns of a political journal. - -But whatever facility of expression and tact in the popular exposition of -political science may be acquired by the statesman or annalist, in the -practice of journalism, there is no doubt that the worst perversions of -'English undefiled' have originated in, and been confirmed by, newspapers. -On this subject, an American writer, at once philosophical, erudite, and -liberal, who has treated of the history and influence of the English -language with remarkable insight and eloquence, emphatically testifies to -the verbal corruptions and consequent moral degradation of the newspaper -press. 'The dialect of personal vituperation,' says Marsh, 'the rhetoric -of malice in all its modifications, the Billingsgate of vulgar hate, the -art of damning with faint praise, the sneer of contemptuous irony, have -been sedulously cultivated; and, combined with a certain flippancy of -expression and ready command of a tolerably extensive vocabulary, are -enough to make the fortune of any sharp, shallow, and unprincipled -journalist who is content with the fame and the pelf.' - -The interest which belongs to newspapers, as arenas for discussion and -records of fact, is greatly marred by the abuses of the press. No more -humiliating exhibition of human passion can be imagined than printed -scurrility; and no meaner or more contemptible influence of skulking -treachery than anonymous libels. By what anomaly base spirits enact and -endure insult in this form, which public opinion and the faintest -self-respect compel them to resent when orally uttered, we have never been -able to explain. It is, however, a satire on the alleged freedom we enjoy -in this country, that any malicious poltroon, who has the means to -purchase types, may defame the character, and thereby injure the -prosperity, of any one towards whom he entertains a grudge, with -comparative impunity. Indeed, if a man comes before the public in any -shape, even in that of a benefactor, he is liable to gross personal -attacks from the press; here the shafts of envy, of party hatred, of -blackguardism and of detraction, find a covert whence they may be sped -with deadly aim and little or no chance of punishment. To realize at once -the moral grandeur and the degrading abuse of which the press is capable, -one should read Milton's discourse on the _Liberty of Unlicensed -Printing_, and then a history of cases under the law of libel. The choice -of weapons is allowed his enemy even by the inveterate duellist; but there -is this essential dishonour in the attacks of the practised writer--that -he adroitly uses an instrument which his antagonist often cannot wield. -Thus the laws of honourable warfare are basely set aside; and cowardice -often wins an ostensible triumph. The meanest threat we ever heard was -that of a popular author towards a spirited and generous but uneducated -farmer with whom he was in altercation, and who proposed a resort to -arms:--'I hold a pen that shall point the world's finger of scorn at you!' -The cheapest abuse is that which can be poured out in newspapers; and -besides the comparatively defenceless position of the assailed, if he have -no skill in pencraft, it is the more contemptible because premeditated; -the insulting word may be uttered in the heat of rage, but the slanderous -paragraph goes through the process of writing and printing;--it is, -therefore, the result of a deliberate act. The 'scar of wrath' left on the -heart by the partisan combats of the press is seldom honourable, and the -records of duels, persecutions, and street-fights, originating in libels, -is one of the most degrading, to all concerned, of any in social history. -Vituperation and invective, Billingsgate and the cant nicknames of -newspaper controversy, belong to the most unredeemed species of -blackguardism. No wounds rankle in the human bosom like those inflicted by -the press; and no agent of redress should be used with such thorough -observance of the golden rule. 'The French,' says Matthew Arnold, 'talk of -the "brutalité des journaux Anglais." What strikes them comes from the -necessary inherent tendencies of newspaper writing not being checked in -England by any centre of intelligent and urbane spirit, but rather -stimulated by coming in contact with a provincial spirit.' - -From these various capabilities and liabilities of journalism we may infer -what are the requisites of an editor. It is obvious that his intellectual -equipment should be more versatile and complete than that demanded by any -other profession. He is to interpret the events of the day, and must, of -course, be versed in the history of the past; he is to speak a universal -language, and the gifts of expression must be his chief endowment; he -exercises a mighty influence, and, therefore, judgment, self-respect, a -recognition of rights and duties, and a benevolent impulse are essential. -The _juste milieu_ between moral courage and respect for public sentiment -should be his goal. It is a significant fact that, in this country, where -there are more readers than in any other, and, at the same time, entire -freedom of the press, journals have not attained to the intellectual -standard of the best of foreign origin, nor has the profession of an -editor reached the rank it has in Europe. With a few exceptions, the -vocation has been adopted, as school-keeping used to be, as the most -available resource. Cleverness has usually been the substitute for -acquirement; loyalty to some dogma for philosophy, and glib phrases and -cant terms for style. In some memorable cases, where the London system of -a division of labour is resorted to, and the French practice of careful -rhetoric and reasoning applied to current topics, the result has -approximated to what a leading journal should be. Such names as Franklin, -Russell, Thomas, Duane, Buckingham, Walsh, Gales, Noah, King, Hoffman, and -the eminent contemporary editors of America, bear, it must be remembered, -but a very small proportion to the sum total of newspapers published in -this country; and it is the average ability and character of editors to -which we refer. Yet familiarity alone blinds us to the 'extraordinary -talent' exhibited in the journalism of our times. 'I'll be shot,' says -Christopher North to the shepherd, 'if Junius, were he alive now, would -set the world on the rave as he did some half century ago.' - -The rarest and most needful moral quality in an editor is magnanimity. Of -all vocations this is the one with which narrow motives and exclusive -points of view are most incompatible. It is true that the office is -self-imposed; but in its very nature is included a comprehensive tone of -mind and feeling; the editor, therefore, who pronounces judgment upon a -book, a work of art, a public man, or popular subject, according to his -personal animosities or selfish interests, annuls his own claim to the -position he occupies. If the pulpit, the medical chair, the justice's -bench, or the authority of elective office is exclusively used by an -individual for direct personal ends, for the exclusive emolument of -friends, or the gratification of private revenge, the perversion is -resented at once and indignantly by public opinion; and the same violation -of a general principle for a particular end is equally unjustifiable in -the press. Yet how many journals serve but as channels for the prejudices, -the likes and dislikes, the plans and whims of their editors; so that at -last we recognize them, not as broad and reliable expositors of great -questions and critical taste, but as mouthpieces for the spite, the -flattery, and the ambition of a single vain mortal! For such evils -Milton's arguments, for patient toleration of all kinds of printed ideas, -are the best remedy: 'Punishing wits,' he says, 'enhances their authority; -errors known, read, and collated, are of main service toward the speedy -attainment of what is truest; and though all the winds of doctrine were -let loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do -injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength.' With -all its defects, therefore, the emanations of a free press are the best -expositors of the immediate in taste, opinion, and affairs; and copies of -_The Times_, the _Court Journal_, and _Bell's Life in London_, deposited -under the corner-stone of a modern English edifice, are as authentic -memorials of the country and people as they exist to-day, as the styles of -Grecian architecture, or the characteristics of Italian painting, of -epochs in the history of art, and far more detailed, minute, and -elaborate. The complex state of society, the multitudinous aspect of life, -the progress of science, and its influence on social economy, can indeed -only be designated by such a versatile record. The miserable little -gazzettas issued in the south of Europe, containing only the diluted news -of the French journals; the spirited _feuilletons_ of the cleverest -authors of the day that appear in the latter, the enormous advertising -sheets in this country, and the able rhetoric and argument of the daily -press in Great Britain, are so many landmarks and gauges of the civic -life, the mental recreations, the prosperity, and the political -intelligence of these different countries. Although Fanny Kemble snubbed -the press-gang, ironically so called,--perhaps in this age there is no -office capable of a higher ideal standard and a more practical efficiency -combined, as that of the public writer. Let us suppose such a man endowed -with the greatest faculty of expression, learned in history and the arts, -with philosophic insight and poetical sensibility, chivalric in tone, -uniting the principles of conservatism and reform, devoted to humanity, -generous, heroic, independent, and 'clear in his great office;' and thus -furnished and inspired, waging the battle of honest opinion, a staunch -advocate of truth, stripping the mask from fanaticism and dishonesty, and -shedding pure intellectual light on the common mind;--no more noble -function can be imagined. Seldom, however, is the ideal of an editor even -approached; and hence the wisdom of an eclectic system and a division of -labour; concentrating upon the same journal the humour of one, the -statistical researches of another, the learning of a third, and the -rhetoric of a fourth, until all the needful elements are brought into -action for a common result. - -In periods of war, emigration, or catastrophes of any kind, the newspaper -becomes a chart of destiny to the heart, and is seized with overwhelming -anxiety to learn the fate of the absent and the loved; and, in times of -peace and comfort, it is the readiest pastime. What traveller does not -remember with zest the intervals of leisure he has spent, under the trees -of the Palais Royal, over a fresh gazette; or the eagerness with which, in -an Italian _café_, he has devoured _Galignani_ with his breakfast? It is -difficult to imagine how the social reforms that distinguish the age could -have been realized without the aid of newspapers; or by what other means -popular sympathy could be kindled simultaneously on both sides of the -globe. In view of such offices, we must regard the editor as a species of -modern _improvisatore_, who gathers from clubs, theatres, legislative -halls, private society, and the streets, the idea and the elemental spirit -of the hour, the topic of the day, the moral influence born of passing -events, and then concentrates and elaborates it to give forth its vital -principles and absolute significance. - -As a medium of controversy, the advantages of the newspaper are signal. In -1685, the discussion of popery in England was carried on by means of -tracts issued from the presses of Oxford, Cambridge, and London; and some -of the pamphlets of Defoe, Steele, and other popular writers, had a large -sale; but the circulation of these vehicles of argument was limited -compared to the daily journals of our day; and in order to reach the -people, controversialist and agreeable essayists, from the times of 'Sir -Roger L'Estrange' to that of 'O. P. Q.,' have wisely availed themselves of -newspapers. That they now aid rather than form public opinion, however, is -quite obvious. The implicit faith once bestowed upon editors has departed; -and no class are more pertinacious in asserting the right of private -judgment than habitual readers of journals; they derive from them -materials of discussion rather than positive inferences. Yet there are two -qualities that in Great Britain and America gain an editor permanent -admirers--good sense and an individual style. The thunder, as Carlyle -calls it, of Edward Sterling in the London _Times_, and the plain words of -Cobbett, are instances. In fact, the same qualities insure consideration -for a newspaper as for an individual; tone, manliness, grace or vigour, -full and free knowledge, wit and fancy, and the sincerity or geniality of -the editor's character, are not less recognized in his paragraphs than in -his behaviour. But as a general rule, as before suggested, in the United -States, the press is the expositor, not the herald, of opinion; the -newspapers simply mark the level of popular feeling; their criticism -seldom transcends the existent taste, and their tone is rarely elevated -above that of the majority. Between the radical and the conservative there -appears no medium; and newspapers symbolize these two extremes. In our -large cities there is always one newspaper which has a name for -respectability, of which its editors are extremely jealous; it never -startles, offends, or inspires, but pursues an even, unexceptionable -course, is praised by old people who have taken it for years, and desire -that it shall contain their obituary; its news, however, is usually stale, -its opinions timid, and its spirit behind the age. To represent the -opposite element, there is always a vigorous, speculative, and fresh-toned -newspaper, which continually utters startling things, and suggests -glorious impossibilities; it is the exponent of reform, a harbinger of -better times, and appeals to hope and fancy, rather than to memory and -reflection. Now the experienced reader will at once perceive that an -editor, worthy the name, should be an eclectic, and combine in his own -mind and work the expression of both these extremes of opinion and -sentiment; but it is found, by experiment, that a hobby is the means of -temporary success,--that a catholic temper is unappreciated, and that, in -a republic, combativeness and self-esteem are the organs to be most -profitably addressed. - -There is a very large class whose reading is confined to newspapers, and -they manifest the wisdom of Pope's maxim about the danger of a little -learning. Adopting the cant and slang phrases of the hour, and satisfied -with the hasty conjectures and partial glimpses of truth that diurnal -journals usually contain, they are at once superficial and dogmatic, full -of fragmentary ideas and oracular commonplace. If such is the natural -effect upon an undisciplined mind of exclusive newspaper reading, even the -scholar, the thinker, and the man of refined taste is exposed to mental -dissipation from the same cause. A celebrated French philosopher, recently -deceased, remarkable for severe and efficient mental labour, told an -American friend that he had not read a newspaper for four years. It is -incalculable what productiveness of mind and freshness of conception is -lost to the cultivated intellect by the habit of beginning the day with -newspapers. The brain, refreshed by sleep, is prepared to act genially in -the morning hours; and a statistical table, prepared by an able -physiologist, shows that those authors who give this period to labour, -most frequently attain longevity. Scott is a memorable example of the -healthfulness and efficiency attending the practice. If, therefore, the -student, the man of science, or the author dissipates his mental vigour, -and the nervous energy induced by a night's repose, in skimming over the -countless topics of a newspaper, he is too much in relation with things in -general to concentrate easily his thoughts: his mind has been diverted, -and his sympathies too variously excited, to readily gather around a -special theme. Those intent upon self-culture, or intellectual results, -should, therefore, make this kind of reading a pastime, and resort to it -in the intervals of more consecutive thought. There is no element of -civilization that debauches the mind of our age more than the -indiscriminate and exclusive perusal of newspapers. Only by consulting -history, by disciplining the reasoning powers in the study of philosophy, -and cherishing a true sense of the beautiful by communion with the -poets,--in a word, only by habitual reference to standard literature, can -we justly estimate the record of the hour. There must be great examples in -the mind, great principles of judgment and taste, or the immediate appeal -to these qualities is ignorantly answered; whereas, the thoughtful, -intelligent comments of an educated reader of journals upon the questions -they discuss, the precedents he brings in view, and the facts of the past -to which he refers, place the immediate in relation with the universal, -and enable us to seize upon essential truth. To depend for mental -recreation upon newspapers is a desperate resource; not to consult them is -to linger behind the age. De Tocqueville has shown that devotion to the -immediate is characteristic of republics; and this tendency is manifest in -the prevalence of newspapers in the United States. They, in a great -measure, supersede the demand for a more permanent native literature; they -foster a taste for ephemeral topics and modes of thought, and lamentably -absorb, in casual efforts, gifts and graces of mind which, under a -different order of things, would have attained not only a higher, but a -lasting development. The comparative importance of newspapers among us, as -materials of history, is evidenced by the fact that the constant -reference to their files has induced the historical societies to propose -an elaborate index to facilitate the labours of inquirers, which has been -felicitously called a diving-bell for the sea of print. A list of the -various journals now in existence would be found to include not only every -political party and religious sect in the country, but every theory of -life, every science, profession, and taste, from phrenology to dietetics, -and from medicine, war, and odd-fellowship, to literature, catholicism, -and sporting. Tribunals and punsters, not less than fashion and -chess-players, have their printed organ. What was a subordinate element, -has become an exclusive feature. 'In those days,' writes Lamb, 'every -morning-paper, as an essential retainer to its establishment, kept an -author who was bound to furnish daily a quantum of witty paragraphs at -sixpence a joke.' Now _Punch_ and _Charivari_ monopolize the fun, and -grave and gay are separately embodied. The cosmopolitan nature of the -people would as obviously appear in the number of journals issued in -foreign languages, each nation and tribe having its newspaper organ; and -an analysis of the contents, even of one popular journal for a single -year, would be found to touch the entire circle of human knowledge and -vicissitude, without penetrating to a vital cause, or expanding to a -comprehensive principle, yet affording a boundless horizon;--astronomical -phenomena, _causes célèbres_, earthquakes, the advent of a great -_cantatrice_, shipwrecks and revolutions, battles and bankruptcies, -freshets and fires, _émeutes_ and hailstorms, gold discoveries, -anniversaries, executions, Arctic expeditions, World's Fairs, the -utterance of patriots, and the acts of usurpers; all the materials of -history, the suggestions of philosophy, and the visions of poetry, in -their chaotic, elemental, and actual state. It is evident that more -excitement than truth, more food for curiosity than aid to reflection, -more vague knowledge than actual wisdom, is thus promulgated and -preserved. The harvest of the immediate is comparatively barren; and life -only proves the truth of Dr. Johnson's association of intellectual dignity -with the past and future. The individual, to be true to himself, must take -a firm stand against the encroachments of this restless, temporary, and -absorbing life of the moment represented by the newspaper; he must cleave -to Memory and Hope; he must look before and after, or his mind will be -superficial in its activity, and fruitless in its growth. - -There is no mechanical invention around which cluster such interesting -associations as that of printing; the indirect agency of the press and of -journalism is remarkable; and this is owing to the relation they bear to -the world at large, and to personal improvement. The newspaper office has -always been a nucleus for wits, politicians, and literati,--a nursery of -local genius, and a school for knowledge of the world, and criticism. In -Franklin's autobiography, the natural effect of even a mechanical -connection with the press is memorably unfolded; and scarcely a great name -in modern history is unallied with some incident or activity connected -with the daily press. Otis, Adams, Hancock, and Warren, used to meet at -the office of the _Boston Gazette_, and write essays on colonial rights in -its columns. Talleyrand and Louis Philippe frequented the sanctum of an -editor in the same town, to read the _Moniteur_ and discuss news. -Chateaubriand first heard of the king's flight from a stray newspaper -picked up in a log hut in the backwoods of America; and it sent him back -at once to the army of the Princes. Horne Tooke's _Diversions of Purley_ -were written to beguile his imprisonment occasioned by a libel; and his -trial resulted in making parliamentary reports legal. Hunt's prison-life, -for which he was indebted to his comments on the Prince-Regent in the -_Examiner_, is the most charming episode in his memoirs; and some of the -noblest flights of Erskine's eloquence arose from the defence of those -prosecuted for constructive treason based on the free expression of -opinion in regard to public questions. Jefferson thought Freneau's paper -'prevented the Constitution from galloping into a monarchy;' it was in the -columns of a daily journal that Hamilton defended the proclamation of -neutrality. It has been said that the most reliable history of the French -Revolution, and wars of the Republic, could be gleaned from the pages of -an American journal of the day, conducted by a man of political knowledge -and military aptitude, who combined from various prejudiced foreign papers -what he deemed an authentic narrative of each act in the drama; and it is -certain that the best account of the massacre and the destruction of the -tea--from which dates our Revolution--are to be found in the contemporary -newspapers. Never was contemporary history so copiously and minutely -written as in the newspaper annals of the war for the Union. In fact, the -best history thereof has been compiled by an assiduous collator from -current journalism. The history of censorship in Europe in modern times is -the history of opinion, of freedom, and of society. We felt the despotism -of the King of Naples in all its baseness, only when a writer of genius -told us, with a sigh, that he had been driven to natural history as the -only subject upon which he could expatiate in print without impediment. -Thus we see how the fate of nations and the experience of individuals are -associated with the press; and how its influence touches the whole circle -of life,--evoking genius, kindling nations, informing fugitives, and -alarming kings. - - - - -PREACHERS. - - 'It is neither the vote nor the laying on of hands that gives men the - right to preach. One's own heart is authority. If he cannot preach to - edification, he is not authorized, though all the ministers of - Christendom ordain him.' - - -Thus writes a popular preacher of the conservative sect in theology: -recognizing a spiritual fact and conviction which tempts us to analyze and -define, as a subject of natural history, the function and fame of the -preacher. The term by its derivation is the most generic word to indicate -clerical vocation; 'to say before,' to proclaim, inculcate, preach; in -other words, to be the herald and representative of truth, right, faith, -and immortal hope,--such is the basis and logical claim of the preacher's -authority, under whatever form, creed, or character. They may be divided -into the inspired, the ascetic, the jovial, the belligerent, the finical, -the shrewd, and the ingenuous. The 'oily man of God' described by Pope, -Scott's Covenanter, and Friar Tuck, the disinterested Vicar of Fielding, -Shakspeare's good friars and ambitious cardinals, Mawworm, Mrs. Inchbald's -Dorimel, the gentle hero of the Sexton's Daughter, Manzoni's Prelate and -Capuchin, and Mrs. Radcliffe's Monks, are genuine and permanent types, -only modified by circumstances. All that is subtle in artifice, all that -is relentless in the love of power, all that is exalted in spiritual -graces, all that is base in cunning, glorious in self-sacrifice, beautiful -in compassion, and noble in allegiance, has been and is manifest in the -priest. His great distinction is based upon the fact that 'the church, -rightly ministered, is the vestibule to an immortal life.' He is at once -the author of the worst tyranny and the grandest amenities of social life. -The traveller on Alpine summits blesses the name of St. Bernard, and -descends to Geneva to shudder at the bigoted ferocity of Calvin. The -picture of the good pastor in the _Deserted Village_, and Ranke's _Lives -of the Popes_, give us the two extremes of the character. The spiritual -heroism of Luther, the religious gloom of Cowper, and the cheerful -devotion of Watts, are but varied expressions of one feeling, which, -according to the frail conditions of humanity, has its healthy and its -morbid phase, its authentic and its spurious exposition, and is no more to -be confounded in its original essence with its imperfect development and -representatives, than the pure light of heaven with the accidental mediums -which colour and distort its rays. - -The _prestige_ of the clerical office is greatly diminished because many -of its prerogatives are no longer exclusive. 'When ecclesiasticism became -so weak as to be unable to regulate international affairs, and was -supplanted by diplomacy, in the castle the physician was more than a rival -for the confessor, in the town the mayor was a greater man than the -abbot.'[39] The clergy, at a former period, were the chief scholars; -learning was not less their distinction than sanctity. In every -intelligent community, this source of influence is now shared with men of -letters; and even the once peculiar office of public instruction, is now -filled by the lecturer, who takes an evening from the avocations of -business or professional life, to claim intellectual sympathy or impart -individual opinions. But the great agent in breaking up the monopoly of -the pulpit has been the press. Written has in a great measure superseded -oral thought. Half the world are readers, and the necessity of hearing no -longer exists to those desirous of knowledge. The sermons of the old -English divines abound with classical learning and comments on the times, -such as are now sought in periodical literature. In Latimer, Andrews, and -Donne, we find such hints of the prevailing manners as subsequently were -revealed by _The Spectator_. The philosophy of antiquity and the morals of -courts, the facts of distant climes, all that we now seek in popular books -and the best journals, came to the minds of our ancestors through the -discourses of preachers. American ministers, prior to and at the era of -the Revolution, were the expositors of political as well as religious -sentiments. Independent of the priestly rites, therefore, a clergyman, in -past times, represented social transitions, and ministered to intellectual -wants, for which we of this age have adequate provision otherwise; so that -the most zealous advocate of reform, doctrine, or ethical philosophy, is -no longer obliged to have recourse to the sacerdotal office, in order to -reach the public mind. This apparent diminution of the privileges of the -order, however, does not invalidate but rather simplifies its claims. In -this as in so many other functions of the social economy, progress has the -effect of reducing to its original elements the duties and the influence -of the profession. Education, once their special responsibility, and -popular enlightenment on the questions of the hour, being assumed by -others, the preacher is free to concentrate his abilities on theology and -the religious sentiment. Division of labour gives him a better opportunity -to be 'clear in his great office.' It is reduced to its normal state. -Except in isolated and newly-settled communities, there is not that -incessant appeal to his benevolence and erudition: to heal the sick, -reconcile litigants, argue civic questions, teach the elements of science, -promote charities; in a word, to be the village orator and social oracle, -are not the indispensable requisites of a clergyman's duty which they were -before the Newspaper and the Lyceum existed. He is, therefore, at liberty -to imitate the apostles of Christianity and the fathers of the church, and -bring all his power to awaken devotion and faith, and all his learning to -the defence of sacred truth. That the time and capacity of the profession -are diffused, and the sympathy of its members enlisted in behalf of other -than these aims, is, indeed, true; but this is a voluntary and not an -inevitable result, and only proves that the spirit of the age overlays -instead of being penetrated and ruled by the priestly office. - -'Civilization,' says Lamartine, 'was of the sanctuary. Kings were only -concerned with acts; ideas belonged to the priest.' And, by a singular -contradiction, with the general progress of society, the same class, as a -whole, have proved the most antagonistic to innovation even in the form of -genius, whose erratic manifestations are jealously regarded as -inconsistent with professional decorum. Hence Byron, in one of his -splenetic moods, exclaimed to Trelawney: 'When did parsons patronize -genius? If one of their black band dares to think for himself, he is -drummed out or cast aside like Sterne and Swift.' On the other hand, -venerable physicians say that the clergy are the most efficient promoters -of medical innovations; and that quackery owes its social _prestige_ in no -small degree to their countenance. - -After the Reformation, this office, as such, lost its specialty; the right -to exercise it was no longer peculiar; and in all societies and epochs, -when a great activity of the religious sentiment, or an earnest discussion -of questions of faith prevailed, men prayed, sermonized, commented on -Scripture, and mingled all the duties of the clerical vocation with their -own pursuits. Thus the English statesmen of Cromwell's time were versed in -divinity, exhorted, and published tracts in behalf of their creeds. -Theology was a popular study; and the kingdom swarmed with lay-preachers. -Sects, too, repudiated official leaders; and even among the Pilgrim -Fathers of New England, ministers betrayed a jealousy of encroachments on -the part of their unconsecrated brethren. Many Christians also recognized -spiritual gifts as the exclusive credentials of a priesthood. Church, not -less than State prerogatives were challenged by republican zeal; and the -historical authority of the order being thus openly invaded, a new and -more rational test was soon applied, and preachers, like kings, were made -amenable to the tribunal of public opinion, and obliged to rest their -claims on other than traditional or educational authority. 'On conserva,' -says Rochambeau, writing of American society at the period of the -Revolution, 'au ministre du culte le première place dans les repas -publics; il bénissoit le repas; mais ses prérogatives ne s'entendoient pas -plus loin dans la société.[40] Cet exposé,' he adds, evidently in view of -priestly corruption in France, 'doit amener naturellement des moeurs -simples et pures.'[41] 'They,' says the historian of preachers at the time -of the Revolutionary war, 'dealt in no high-sounding phrases of liberty -and equality; they went to the very foundations of society, showed what -the rights of man were, and how those rights became modified when men -gathered into communities. The profound thought and unanswerable -arguments, found in these sermons, show that the clergy were not a whit -behind the ablest statesmen of the day in their knowledge of the great -science of human government. In reading them one gets at the true pulse of -the people, and can trace the steady progress of the public sentiment. -The rebellion in New England rested on the pulpit, received its strongest -impulse, indeed its moral character, from it; the teachings of the pulpit -of Lexington caused the first blow to be struck for American -independence.' - -The tendency of all the so-called liberal professions is to limit and -pervert the development of character, by giving to knowledge a technical -shape, and to thought a prescriptive action. Conformity to a specific -method is unfavourable to original results, and organization often does -injustice to its subjects. Only the strong men, the brave, and the highly -endowed, rise above such restrictions. It is a kind of social necessity -alone which reconciles the man of scientific genius to seek the passport -of a medical diploma,--the logician to exert his mind exclusively before a -legal tribunal, and the votary of religious truth to sign a creed and -become responsible to a congregation. How constantly each breaks away from -his respective sphere to expatiate in the broad kingdom of letters! Would -Humboldt have written the _Cosmos_ had his life been confined to a -laboratory, or a round of medical practice? Would Burke have theorized in -so comprehensive a range if chained to an attorney's desk, or Sir Henry -Vane's martyrdom acquired a holier sanction from the mere title of priest? - -At the first glance, so distinct are the phases of the office that it is -difficult to realize its identity. The ideal of a village pastor like -Oberlin, self-devoted, in a secluded district, to the most pure and -benevolent enterprise,--the life of a Jesuit missionary in Canada or Peru, -who seems to incarnate the fiery zeal of the church he represents,--the -complacent bishop of the Establishment, listlessly going through a -prescribed form, and his very person embodying worldly prosperity; and the -inelegant but earnest Methodist swaying the multitude at a camp-meeting in -the wilds of America,--consider the vast contrast of the pictures: the -dark robe, lonely existence, and subtle eye of the Catholic; the simple, -friendly, conscientious toil of the poor vicar; the scholarship and good -dinners of the English bishop; the cathedral decked with the trophies of -art, and fields lit up by watch-fires; the silence of the Quaker assembly, -and the loud harangue and frantic moans of the 'revival;' the solemn -refinement of the Episcopal, the intellectual zeal of the Unitarian, and -the gorgeous rites of the Roman worship; and an uninformed spectator, to -whom each was a novelty, would imagine that a totally diverse principle -was at work. To the philosophic eye, the ceremonies, organization, -costume, rites, and even creeds of Christian sects, are but the varied -manifestations of a common instinct, more or less mingled with other human -qualities, and influenced in its development by time and place. Traced -back to its source, and separated from incidental association, we find a -natural sentiment of religion which is represented in social economy by -the preacher. Simple as was the original relation between the two, -however, in the process of time it has become so complicated that it now -requires no ordinary analytical power to divest the idea of the priest -from history, and that of religion from the church, so as to perceive both -as facts of human nature instead of parts of the machinery of civilized -life. To do this, indeed, we look inward, and derive from consciousness -the great idea of a religious sentiment; and then ask ourselves how far it -is justly represented in the institutions of the church and the persons of -her ministers. Let this process be tried by a man of high endowments, -genuine aspirations, and noble sympathies, and what is the result? -'Milton,' says Dr. Johnson, in his life of that poet, 'grew old without -any visible worship,' a phrase which, considering the superstition of the -writer, and the exalted devotional sentiment of the subject, has, to our -minds, a most pathetic significance. It tacitly admits that Milton -worshipped his Maker; it brings him before us in a venerable aspect, at -the time when he was blind, proscribed, and indigent; we recall his image -at the organ, and seem to catch the symphonies of _Paradise Lost_ and the -_Hymn on the Nativity_; and yet we are told by the greatest votary of -religious forms and profession among English literary men--one who was -oppressed by the sense of religious truth, and a slave to church -requirements, that, in his old age, the reverential bard had no 'visible -worship.' It is an admission of great moment; it is a fact infinitely -suggestive. Why did not Milton practically recognize any organized church, -or publicly enact any prescribed form? Not altogether because he had -tasted of persecution, and been driven, by the force of individual -opinion, away from popular rites; but also, and to a far greater degree, -because he had so fully experienced within himself the force and scope of -the religious sentiment, and found in its prevalent representation, not an -incitement, but a hindrance to its exercise. - -In the patriarchal age, the head of a family was its priest; and, in all -ages, the true and complete man feels a personal interest and -responsibility, a direct and entire relation to his Creator, that will not -suffer interference any more than genuine conjugal or parental ties. The -so-called progress of society has rendered its functions more complex, and -broken up this simple and natural identity between the offices of devotion -and those of paternity. It has not only made the priestly office distinct -and apart from domestic life, but shorn it of glory by the cumbrous -details of a hierarchy and badges of exclusiveness; and lessened its -sanctity by changing the grand and holy function of a spiritual medium and -expositor into a professional business and special pleading. What are -conventional preachers but the _employés_ of a sect? And so regarded, how -is it possible to rejoice 'in the plain presence of their dignity?' Called -upon by a thoroughly earnest soul in its deep perplexity and agonizing -bewilderment, what can they do but repeat the commonplaces of their -office? How instantly are they reduced to the level of other men, when -brought into contact with a human reality! The voice of true sympathy, -though from ignorant lips, the grasp of honest affection, though from -unconsecrated hands, yield more of the balm of consolation in such an -hour, because they are real, human, and therefore nearer to God, than the -technical representative of His truth. The essential mistake is, that -instead of regarding the man as something divine in essence and relation, -a perverse theology assigns that quality to the office. It is what is -grafted upon, not what is essential to, humanity, that is thus made the -nucleus of reverence and hope, whereas priesthood and manhood are -identical. The authority of the former is derived from the latter; by -virtue of being men we become priests--that is, servants--of the Most -High; and not through any miraculous anointing, laying on of hands, -courses of divinity, or rites of ordination. 'How,' says Carlyle, 'did -Christianity arise and spread abroad among men? Was it by institutions and -establishments and well-arranged systems of mechanism? Not so. On the -contrary, in all past and existing institutions for those ends, its divine -spirit has invariably been found to languish and decay. It arose in the -mystic deeps of man's soul; and spread abroad by the "preaching of the -word" by simple, altogether natural, and individual efforts; and flew like -hallowed fire from heart to heart, till all were purified and illuminated -by it.' Accordingly, if merely professional representatives of the church, -as such, hold a less influential position now than formerly, it is not -because the instinct of worship has died out in the human heart, nor -because men feel less than before the need of interpreters of the true, -the holy, and the beautiful; it is not that the mysteries of life are less -impressive, or its vicissitudes less constant, or its origin and end less -enveloped in sacred obscurity; but it is because more legitimate priests -have been found out of the church than in it; because that institution -and its ministers fail to meet adequately the wants of the religious -sentiment; and it has been discovered that the Invisible Spirit is more -easily found by the lonely seashore than in the magnificent cathedral; -that the mountain-top is an altar nearer to His throne than a chancel; and -that the rustle of forest-leaves and the moaning of the sea less disturb -the idea of His presence in the devout heart, than the monotonous chant of -the choir, or the conventional words of the preacher. We have but to -glance at the pictures of clerical life, so thickly scattered through the -memoirs and novels of the day, to realize the necessity of an eclectic -spirit in estimating the clerical character--whose highest manifestations -and most patent abuses seem entirely irrespective of sect. A Scotch -clergyman, writing, in 1763, of the society at Harrogate, 'made up of -half-pay officers and clergymen,' thus describes the latter: 'They are in -general--I mean the lower order--divided into bucks and prigs; of which -the first, though inconceivably ignorant, and sometimes indecent in their -morals, yet I held them to be most tolerable, because they were -unassuming, and had no other affectation but that of behaving themselves -like gentlemen. The other division of them, the prigs, are truly not to be -endured, for they are but half-learned, are ignorant of the world, -narrow-minded, pedantic, and overbearing.'[42] Contrast with this estimate -of a class Victor Hugo's portrait of an individual in his _Provincial -Bishop_--'Monseigneur Bienvenu,' so called, instinctively, by the people: -'The formidable spectacle of created things developed a tenderness in him; -he was always busy in finding for himself and inspiring others with the -best way of sympathizing and solacing. The universe appeared to him like -disease. He auscultated suffering everywhere. The whole world was to this -good and rare priest a permanent subject of sadness seeking to be -consoled.' - -The absolute need of separating in our minds the idea of the clerical man -as a natural development of humanity--a normal phase of character--from -the historical idea of the same personage, is at once evinced by the -immense distance between the lives, influence, and traits of the men who -have conspicuously borne the office of public religious teachers and -administrators in different sects, ages, and countries; as for instance, -Ximenes, Wolsey, Richelieu, Whitfield, Channing, George Herbert, and Dr. -Arnold; in position, habits, and relations to the world, how great the -contrast! And yet each represented to society, in a professional way, the -same principle; the former with all the pomp of hierarchal magnificence, -and all the influence of executive power, and the latter by the force of -patient usefulness, earnest simplicity, and individual moral energy. -Between Puritan and Pope, what infinite grades; between Jewish rabbi and -Scotch elder, how diverse is the traditional sanction; and how little -would a novice imagine that the bare walls and plain costume of a Friends' -meeting had the least of a common origin with the gorgeous decorations of -a minster! Thus do the passions, the tastes, and the very blood of races -and individuals modify the expression of the same instinct; worship is as -Protean in its forms as labour, diversion, _hygiène_, or any other human -need and activity. Philosophy reconciles us to the apparent incongruity, -and reveals beneath surplice, drab-coat, and silken robe, hearts that -pulsate to an identical measure. - -The best writers have recognized the clerical tone of manners as -significant of the social condition of each period. Burnet thought more -highly of his _Pastoral Care_ than of his History; and Baxter's _Reformed -Pastor_ is an indirect but keen testimony to the decadence of the clergy. -Macaulay cites Fielding's parson. Sir Roger's chaplain in the _Spectator_, -Cowper's rebuke of the 'cassocked huntsmen,' the Stiggins of Dickens, and -Honeyman of Thackeray, are but a popular reflex of that deep sense of the -abuse of a profession which is the highest evidence of its normal -estimation. And the types of the vocation seem permanent. Every era has -its Whateley, its Lammenais, and its Spurgeon--or men in the church whose -gifts, tone, and mission essentially correspond with these. When George -Herbert abandoned court for clerical aspirations, a friend protested -against his choice 'as too mean an employment;' and yet so truly did he -illustrate the spiritual grandeur of his office that the chime which -called to prayer from the humble belfry of Bemerton, was recognized by the -country people as the 'saint's bell.' It was his holiness, and not his -attachment to the ritual year, that inspired his example while living, and -embalmed his memory; lowly kindnesses were 'music to him at midnight;' -charity was 'his only perfume;' to teach the ignorant, in his estimation, -'the greatest alms;' and a day well spent, 'the bridal of the earth and -sky;' his humanity, spiritualized by Christian faith and practice, so -essentially constituted him a priest that, 'about Salisbury,' writes his -brother, 'where he lived beneficed for many years, he was little less than -sainted.' He drew an ideal from his own soul, and for his own guidance, in -the _Country Parson_. - -To the reverent mind that dares to exercise freely the prerogative of -thought, the constant blending of human infirmity with the method of -worship is painfully evident: the instinct itself, the sentiment--highest -in man--is thus 'sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;' what is -beautiful and true in the ceremonial, or the emblem, arrays itself to his -consciousness so as to intercept the holy beams that he would draw from -the altar. Let him obey the waves of accident, and pause at shrines by the -wayside; and according to circumstances will be the inspiration they -yield. Thus turning from the gay Parisian thoroughfare, at noonday, he may -pace the chaste aisles of the Madeleine, and feel his devotion stirred by -the solemn quietude, the few kneeling figures--perhaps by the dark -catafalque awaiting the dead in the centre of the spacious floor; and -then what to him is the doctrine of transubstantiation? Religious -architecture is speaking to his heart. The voices of the choristers at St. -George's Chapel, at Windsor, may touch his pious sensibility; but if his -thoughts revert to the ruddy dean, his good dinners, and indulgent life, -and the poor, toilsome vicars, which make the Establishment a reflection -of the world's diversity of condition--the pampered and the drudged; or, -if he notes the prayer that the Queen may be preserved 'in health and -_wealth_,' how sanctity ceases to invest the priest and the ritual, thus -typical of human vanity and selfishness! 'We know not,' wrote Jerrold, -'and we say it with grief, but with profound conviction of the necessity -of every man giving fullest utterance to his thoughts--we know not, in -this world of ours, in this social, out-of-door masquerade, a more dreary -shortcoming, a greater disappointment to the business and bosoms of men, -than the Established Church. Its essence is self-denial; its foundations -are in humility and poverty; its practice is self-aggrandizement and -money-getting.' Nor is the reverse of the picture, the contrast between -the high and low clergy, less inauspicious. 'A Christian bishop,' writes -Sydney Smith, 'proposes, in cold blood, to create a thousand livings of -one hundred and thirty pounds each,--to call into existence a thousand of -the most unhappy men on the face of the earth--the sons of the poor, -without hope, without the assistance of private fortune, chained to the -soil, ashamed to live with their inferiors, unfit for the society of the -better classes, and dragging about the English curse of poverty, without -the smallest hope that they can ever shake it off. Can any man of common -sense say that all these outward circumstances of the ministers of -religion have no bearing on religion itself?' On the other hand, what -divine significance to the pious soul, 'as through a zodiac moves the -ritual year,'--in the altar, the font, the choral service, the venerable -liturgy, the holy emblems and hallowed forms whereby this Church is -consecrated to the hearts of her devout children, and the reverence of -sympathetic intelligence. - -Buckle, drawing broad inference from extensive and acute research, -unmodified by sympathetic observation, wrote an historical treatise, rich -in knowledge and philosophy, to prove that Spain and Scotland owe whatever -is hopeless and hampered in their intellectual development to the tyranny -of priests and preachers. It was a special plea, but it serves to -illustrate, with comprehensive emphasis, the antagonism between -Ecclesiasticism and Christianity; for, viewed individually, as a social -phenomenon, and not the mere exponent of an organization, the preacher or -teacher of the right, advocate of the true, representative of faith, -becomes a distinct and personal character, and is identified with -humanity. It is when the man and the function coalesce, and the former -transcends and spiritualizes the latter, that, in history and in life, all -that is great and gracious in the vocation is memorably vindicated. Under -this genuine aspect, Rousseau found his ideal of happiness in the life of -a village _curé_, Chateaubriand renewed the heartfelt claims of religion -in eloquently describing its primitive and legitimate benignities. -Mediæval ecclesiasticism commenced its purifying though inadequate ordeal -through the heroism of Savonarola at Florence and Sarpi at Venice. Current -literature, indeed, continually and clearly states the problem; and -illustrates the question with a frequency and a talent which indicate how -largely it occupies the popular mind. To discriminate between the -preacher's conventional office and his spiritual endowment,--between -Christianity as a sentiment and a dogma, between the religious and the -temporal authority, between the church as an institution and a faith, is -an emphatic mission of artist and author in our age. Witness the salient -discussions of the 'Roman question,' the pleas and protests of Gallican -and Ultramontane, the conservative zeal of the Puseyite and liberal -encroachments of the progressive clergy, and the picturesque or -psychological fictions which instruct and beguile modern readers.[43] Both -literature and life in modern times, while they attest the official -decadence of the clergy, as a political and theological organization, -still more significantly vindicate their normal influence as a social -power. 'Not as in the old times,' says a philosophical historian, in -allusion to the clergy of America, 'does the layman look upon them as the -cormorants and curses of society; they are his faithful advisers, his -honoured friends, under whose suggestion and supervision are instituted -educational establishments, colleges, hospitals--whatever can be of -benefit to men in this life, or secure to them happiness in the life to -come.'[44] - -There are types of character that prophesy vocation; and we occasionally -see in families a gentle being, so disinterested, thoughtful, and above -the world in natural disposition, that he seems born to wear a surplice, -as one we can behold officiating at the altar by virtue of a certain -innate adaptation; and so there are men of strong affections, early -bereft, and thereby alienated from personal motives, and thus peculiarly -able to give an undivided heart to God and humanity; or, through a -singular moral experience, initiated more deeply than their fellows into -the arcana of truth, and hence justified in becoming her expositors. In -cases like these, a more than conventional reason for the faith that is in -them causes them to speak and act with an authority which is its own -sanction, and hence springs what is vital both in the life and the -literature of the visible church. Sacerdotal biography, the achievements -of the true reformer, the literary bequests of the genuine pulpit orator, -and the results of efficient parochial genius, attest the reality of such -characters; they are of Nature's ordaining, and sectarianism itself is -lost sight of in their universal and grateful recognition--as witness St. -Augustine, Fenelon, Luther, Wesley, Fox, and Frederick Robertson. -Landmarks in the history of our race, oases in the desert of theological -controversy, flowers in the garland of humanity, they 'vindicate the ways -of God to man,' and are the redeeming facts of ecclesiastical life. Above -the system they illustrate, beyond the limits they designate, and -providential exceptions to a general rule, we instinctively accept them as -holding a relation to the religious sentiment and the highest interests of -the world that only a profane imagination can associate with the -pretensions of the thousands who claim their fraternity. This idea of -asserting the human as consecrated and not usurped by the priestly, has -ever distinguished the veritable ecclesiastical heroes. Lammenais, when a -mere youth, was arrested for his eloquent advocacy of freedom and faith; -'we will show them,' he said of the civil tribunals, 'what kind of a _man_ -a priest is.' - -Dupuytren, the most celebrated French surgeon of his day, was destitute of -faith, and by his powerful mind and brusque hardihood overcame the -individuality of almost every one who approached him. One day a poor -_curé_ from some village near Paris called upon the great surgeon. -Dupuytren was struck with his manly beauty and noble presence, but -examined, with his usual nonchalance, the patient's neck, disfigured by a -horrible cancer. '_Avec cela, il faut mourir_,' said the surgeon. 'So I -thought,' calmly replied the priest; 'I expected the disease was fatal, -and only came to you to please my parishioners.' He then unfolded a bit of -paper and took from it a five-franc piece, which he handed to Dupuytren, -saying: 'Pardon, sir, the little fee, for we are poor.' The serene dignity -and holy self-possession of this man, about to die in the prime of his -life, impressed the stoical surgeon in spite of himself, though his manner -betrayed neither surprise nor interest. Before the _curé_ had descended -half the staircase, he was called back by a servant. 'If you choose to -try an operation,' said Dupuytren, 'go to the Hotel Dieu; I will see you -to-morrow.' 'It is my duty to make use of all means of recovery,' replied -the _curé_; 'I will go.' The next day, the surgeon cut away remorselessly -at the priest's neck, laying bare tendons and arteries. It was before the -days of chloroform, and, unsustained by any opiate, the poor _curé_ -suffered with uncomplaining heroism. He did not even wince. Dupuytren -respected his courage; and every day lingered longer at his bedside, when -making the rounds of the hospital. In a few weeks the _curé_ recovered. A -year after the operation, he made his appearance in the _salon_ of the -great professor with a neat basket containing pears and chickens. -'Monsieur,' he said, 'it is the anniversary of the day when your skill -saved my life; accept this humble gift; the pears and chickens are better -than you can find in Paris; they are of my own raising.' Each succeeding -year, on the same day of the month, the honest priest brought his grateful -offering. At length Dupuytren was taken ill, and the physicians declared -his heart diseased. He shut himself up with his favourite nephew and -refused to see his friends. One day he wrote on a slip of paper, '_Le -medécin a besoin du curé_,' and sent it to the village priest, who quickly -obeyed the summons. He remained for hours in the dying surgeon's chamber; -and when he came forth, tears were in his eyes, and Dupuytren was no more. -How easy for the imagination to fill up this outline, which is all that -was vouchsafed to Parisian gossip. - -Whoever has gone from Roman church or palace--his soul yet warm with the -radiant figures and divine expression of saints and martyrs as depicted by -the inspired hands of the Christian artists of the fifteenth century--into -the gloomy and damp catacombs, where the early disciples met in order to -enjoy 'freedom to worship God,' must have felt at once the solemn reality -and the beautiful triumph of faith, in its unperverted glow--on the one -hand nerving the believer to cheerful endurance, and on the other -kindling genius to noble toil; and, before this fresh conviction, how vain -appeared to him the mechanical rite and the cold response of conventional -worship! The truth is that the history of religion is like the history of -love; a natural and divine sentiment has been wrested into illegitimate -service; ambitious pretenders, like the wanton and the coquette, abuse to -selfish ends what should either be honourably let alone or sacredly -cherished. This process, at once so habitual and so intricate--working -through formulas, tradition, appeals to fear, the power of custom, the -imperative needs and the ignorant credulity of the multitude--has -gradually built up a partition between heaven and earth, obscured -spiritual facts, made vague and mystical the primitive relation of the -soul to the fatherhood of God, and thus induced either open scepticism or -artificial conformity. In painting, in music, in literature, in the -wonders of the universe, in the mysteries of life, and in human -consciousness, the sentiment asserts itself for ever; but to the genuine -man of to-day is allotted the ceaseless duty of keeping it apart from the -incrustations of form, the perversion of office, and the base uses of -ambition and avarice. - -The lionism of the pulpit is another desecration. London and New York must -have their fashionable preachers as well as favourite _prima donnas_, and -the phenomena attending each are the same. Intellectual amusement, -exclusiveness, the _mode_, thus become identical with that which is their -essential opposite, and the meekness and sublimity of the religious -function is utterly lost in a frivolous glare and soulless vanity. The pew -itself is a satire on existent Christianity; the very organ-airs played in -the fashionable churches, by recalling the ball-room and the theatre, are -ironical; and to these how often the elegantly-worded commonplace of the -preacher is a fit accompaniment--so well likened, by a thoughtful writer, -to shovelling sand with a pitchfork! Thank Heaven, we have perpetually -the Vicar of Wakefield and Parson Adams to keep green the memories of -that genial simplicity and honest warmth of which modern refinement has -deprived the clerical man. They, at least, were not effigies. Heroism as -embodied in Knox, scholarship in Barrow, zeal in Doddridge, holy idealism -in Taylor, sacred eloquence in Hall and Chalmers, earnest aspiration in -Channing and Robertson,--these and like instances of a fine manly -endowment, give vitality to the preacher and significance to his -ministrations. - -In a recent farce, that had a run at Paris, and caricatures English life, -the curtain rises on a deserted street, hushed and gloomy, through which -two figures at last slowly walk on tiptoe: as they approach, and one -begins to address the other, the latter, raising his finger to his lips, -whispers '_C'est Soonday_,' and both disappear: the comedy ends, however, -with a prodigious dinner of beef and beer. Absurd as such pictures of a -London Sabbath are, they yet indicate a suggestive truth, which is, that -the extreme outward observance in Protestant countries, of one day in -seven, by repudiating all pastime, is the best proof of a conscious defect -in the social representation of the religious instinct, exactly as the -festivity of continental people, on the same day, illustrates the opposite -extreme of indifference to appearances. It is probable that neither -affords a just index of the state of feeling; for domestic enjoyments in -the one case, and attendance at mass, by sincere devotees, in the other, -are facts that modify the apparent truth. It is highly probable, also, -that in this age of free inquiry and general intelligence, what has been -lost in public observance has been gained in individual sincerity. There -is not the same dependence on the preacher. Devotional sentiment is fed -from other sources. It has come to be felt and understood as never before, -that man is personally responsible, and must seek light for himself, and -repose on his own faith. Accordingly, he is comparatively unallied to -institutions, and will no longer trust for spiritual insight to a mortal -as frail and ignorant as himself. The redeeming fact is to be sought in -the existence of the sentiment itself. The sensuality of a Borgia makes -more impressive the sanctity of Fenelon; because of the artificial funeral -eulogies of Bossuet, we are more sensible to the practical efficiency of -Father Matthew; Calvin's intolerance heightens the glory of Luther's -vindication of spiritual freedom; the fanaticism of the Methodist, the -subtlety of the Jesuit, the cold rationalism of the Unitarian, the dark -bigotry of the Presbyterian, the monotonous tone of the Quaker, the -refined conservatism of the Episcopalian, and other characteristics of -sects, philosophically considered, are but the excess of a tendency which -also manifests its benign and desirable influence as an element of -Christian society. What liberal mind can reflect upon the agency of the -English Church, pregnant of abuses as it is, without feeling that she has -greatly contributed to preserve a wholesome equilibrium amid conflicting -agencies, to keep intact the dignity and hallowed associations of worship, -to calm the feverish impulses, and prolong a law of order amid chaotic -tendencies? What just observer will hesitate to award to Dissenters the -honour of imparting a vital spirit to the listless body of the Church, -renewing the sentiment of religion which had become dormant through -conventionalism and oppressive institutions, and making its divine reality -once more a conscious motive and solace to the world? How much have the -eminent preachers of liberal Christianity, in New England, done toward -enlarging the charity of sects, elevating the standard of pulpit -eloquence, and giving to the priestly office moral dignity and -intellectual force! Who that has witnessed the life-devotion of the -Sisters of Charity, in a season of pestilence, seen the tears on the -bronze cheeks of hardy mariners at the Bethel, or heard the bold protest -of the educated divine, above the voice of public opinion, at a social -crisis, pleading for principle against expediency, and has not, for the -moment at least, forgotten dogmas in grateful appreciation of the general -benefits resulting from the direct inspiration of that sentiment, which -the preacher, of whatever creed, is ordained to illustrate? Truly has it -been said, that 'it is the spirit of the soul's natural piety to alight on -whatever is beautiful and touching in every faith, and take thence its -secret draught of spiritual refreshment.' Even popular literature enforces -the argument. The lives of Fox, Wesley, Fenelon, Arnold, Chalmers, and -Channing, illustrate the same truth, that the man can sanction the priest, -the soul vindicate the office, and the reality of a sentiment reconcile or -sublimate discordant creeds. - -That good maxim of the brave English lexicographer, 'Clear your mind of -cant;' and the noble appeal of Campbell's chivalric muse, who asks-- - - 'Has Earth a clod - Where man, the image of his God, - Unscourged by Superstition's rod, - Should bend the knee?' - -have an eternal significance. We are called upon to resist formalism by as -potential reasons as those which impel to sincere devotion. It is -evidenced in the best writings of the day, that the highest in man's -nature may be linked with the most ferocious and abject. Balfour of Burley -is but the fanciful embodiment of an actual union between religious zeal -and a thirst for blood. Blanco White's memoirs indicate the possible -variations of speculative belief in an honest and ardent mind; and true -observation induced John Foster to write his able treatise on _The -Objections of Men of Taste to Evangelical Religion_. 'There is no -denying,' says a popular reviewer, 'that there is a certain stiff, tough, -clayish, agricultural, English nature, on which the _aggressive divine_ -produces a visible and good effect.' Father Marquette's adventurous -martyrdom, Pascal's metaphysical acuteness, the rude courage of John Knox, -the witch-chronicle of Mather, the magnetic power of Edward Irving, the -wit that scintillated from Sydney Smith, the poetry of Heber, the ideal -beauty of Buckminster's style, and the virtuous charm of Berkeley, prove -how the expositors of religion blend with professional life the essential -characteristics of man, and how impossible it is to divide the office we -are considering, from those qualities and conditions which belong -essentially to the race. In the face of such diversity, before such -acknowledged facts, how irrational is it to exempt the preacher from any -law either of life or character; how unphilosophical and untrue to regard -him in any other light than that of experience; and how unjust to imagine -there is any occult virtue in ceremonial systems of faith, or the accident -of vocation, whereby he derives any special authority unsustained by -personal gifts and rectitude. - -The problem we have suggested, of an antagonism between the theological -profession, the office of priest, artificially held, and the manly -instincts, has recently been illustrated by the criticisms on Carlyle's -_Life of Sterling_. In that work, it is lamented that the mental freedom -and just development of a gifted, ingenuous, and aspiring soul were -restrained and baffled by the vocation of priest; and to this view -Churchmen indignantly protest, and accuse the biographer of infidelity. It -is evident, however, that it was not religion but its formula, not truth -but an institution, which he thought hampered and narrowed the legitimate -spirit of his friend. There is that which commands profound respect in -Carlyle's recoil from the conventional; there is justice in his -indignation at the attempt to link a true, loving, brave, and progressive -mind to any wheel of social machinery. To keep apart from an organized -mode of action is the instinct of the best natures,--not from pride, but -self-respect. Of modern writers few have a better right to claim for -literature an agency more effective. The press has, indeed, in a measure, -superseded the pulpit. No intelligent observer of the signs of the times -can fail to perceive that as a means of influence, the two are at least -equal. In the pages of journals, in the verses of poets, in the favourite -books of the hour, we have homilies that teach charity and faith more -eloquently than the conventional Sunday's discourse; they come nearer to -experience; they are more the offspring of earnest conviction, and -therefore enlist popular sympathy. When we turn from such genuine -pleadings and pictures to those offered by the unspiritual preacher,--how -unreal do the last appear! It was once remarked by an auditor of a genial -man, who gave a prescriptive emphasis to his sermons, quite foreign to his -frank nature, that he seemed to feel that what he uttered was 'important -if true;' and such is the impression not a few preachers leave on the -listener's mind. If we carefully note those within the sphere of our -acquaintance, we find that many are either visibly oppressed or rendered -artificial by their profession. It seldom harmoniously blends with their -nature. They seem painfully conscious of a false relation to society, or -manfully, and it may be recklessly, put aside the character, as if it were -indeed a masquerade. Either course is a proof of incongruity; and in those -cases where our confidence and affection are spontaneously yielded, is it -not the qualities of the man that win and hold them?--his spiritual -aptitude to, and not the fact of, his vocation? - -In no profession do we find so many instances of a mistaken choice, and -this even when its duties are respectably fulfilled. The candid preacher, -when arrived at maturity, will not seldom confess with pain, that the -logical skill of the advocate, the love of representing nature of the -artist, the scientific skill of the physician, or the practical industry -of the man of affairs, constituted the natural basis of his usefulness; -and proved inadequate endowments in his actual vocation. Perhaps the great -error is in prematurely deciding on a step so responsible. To bind a -youth's interests, reputation, and opinions to the priesthood, as is -often done by the undue exercise of authority and influence, at an -impressible age, by Protestant not less than Catholic families, is a -positive wrong; and the moral courage which repudiates what was unjustly -assumed, is more deserving of honour than blame. Inefficiency, in such -cases, is proverbial: 'He talks like a parson,' said Lord Carteret of -Sherlock, 'and consequently is used to talk to people that do not mind -him.' A clergyman, in conversing with a gifted layman, used the phrase -'_born_ preacher.' 'I do not believe there is such a thing,' replied the -former, 'for it implies a born hearer, which is a being whose existence is -incompatible with my idea of the goodness of the Creator.' Occasionally we -see delightful exceptions to such an erroneous choice; men of firm yet -gentle souls, deep convictions, and sustained elevation, whose talents not -less than the spirit they are of, whose natural demeanour, habitual -temper, and constitutional sympathies, designate them for the sacred -office. We listen to their ministrations without misgiving, accept their -counsel, rise on the wings of their prayer, respond to their appeals, and -rejoice in their holiness--as a true and a blest incentive and -consolation. We ordain them with our hearts, for the idea of the preacher -is lost in that of the brother. - -In these instances, the normal conditions of the office are realized, the -boundaries of sect forgotten, and the legitimate idea of a minister to the -religious sympathies practically made apparent. Such a preacher was -Fenelon, in whose life, aspect, and writings the love of God and man were -exhibited, with such pure consistency, that his name is a spell which -invokes all that is sacred in the associations of humanity. The -blandishments of a court, the rudeness of soldiers, the ignorance of -peasants, were alike chastened by his presence. Neither persecution, high -culture, nor the gifts of fortune, for a moment disturbed his holy -self-possession. He disarmed prejudice, envy, intrigue, and violence, by -the tranquil influence of the spirit he was of. Ecclesiastical power, -ceremony, tradition, and literary fame were but the incidental accessories -of his career. The principles of Christianity and the temper of its -genuine disciple so predominated in his actions, speech, manners, -writings, and in his very tones and expression of countenance, that every -heart, by the instinct of its best affections, recognized his spiritual -authority. The man thoroughly vindicated the office; therefore the -courtier at Versailles and the rustic of Cambray held him in equal -reverence. - -In Madame Guyon, Anne Hutcheson, and Hannah More, we see the religious -sentiment and the instinct of proselytism in connection with the -idiosyncrasies of female character, rendered more affecting by its -tenderness, or losing in efficient dignity by the weakness of the sex. A -beautiful example of the natural preacher, unmodified by the paraphernalia -of the office, is given in Wirt's description of the Blind Preacher, while -its original identity with scholarship and philosophy is singularly -illustrated in the career of Abelard; and Molière's _Tartuffe_ is but the -dramatic embodiment of its extreme actual perversion at those periods when -the form, by a gradual process of social corruption, has completely -superseded the reality, and cant and hypocrisy are allowed to pass for -truth and emotion. All that is peculiar in the _modus operandi_ of sects -testifies to the constant adaptation of the office to occasion: thus the -itinerant episcopacy of the Methodists, the attractive temples of the -Catholics, the time-hallowed liturgy of the Church of England, the -immersing fonts of the Baptists, the plain language and prescriptive -uniformity of the Quakers, and the literary culture of the Unitarians, -appeal to certain tastes, feelings, or associations, which, although -independent of the religious sentiment, greatly tend to the impressiveness -of its outward manifestation upon different classes of persons. A -spiritual tendency is characteristic of Swedenborgians; an absence of the -sense of beauty is observable in the Friends; the superstitious element is -the usual trait of Romanists; conservatism prevails among Episcopalians; -and a progressive spirit and broad sympathies usually distinguish liberal -Christians. To a bigot this diversity is offensive; to a philosopher it is -the result of an inevitable and beneficent law. An American poet has aptly -described the scene which a Protestant city presents on a Sabbath morning, -when its streets are filled with the diverging streams of a population, -each moving toward its respective place of worship, in obedience to this -law of individual faith. - -The word 'skeleton' as applied to the outline of sermons is very -significant, for this is the only feature they have in common when vital; -and yet how different the manner in which they are clothed with life! -Sometimes it is logic, sometimes enthusiasm; now the eloquence of the -heart, and now the ingenuity of the head that creates the animating -principle; in one instance the beauty of style, and in another the force -of conviction or the glow of sympathy; and there are cases where only -grace of manner, melody of voice, and the magnetism of the preacher's -temperament and delivery impart to his words their effect; for every grade -of rhetorical power, from the refinements of artificial study to the gush -of irresistible feeling, has scope in the pulpit; there is no sacred charm -in that rostrum except what its occupant brings; its possible scale -includes elocutionary tricks, and the most disinterested and unconscious -utterance; mediocrity lisps there its commonplace truisms, and devotional -genius breathes its holy oracles; it is the medium of complacent formulas -as well as of inspired truth. - -The ancient philosophers and the modern essayists often apply wisdom to -life in the manner of the best sermonizers; and as Christianity has -infused its spirit into literature, this has become more apparent. Seneca -and Epictetus as moralists, and Plato in psychological speculation, -anticipated many of the sentiments that now have a religious authority. -Rousseau, in as far as he was true to humanity, Montaigne to the extent he -justly interprets the world, Bacon in the degree he indicates the -approaches to universal truth, Saint Pierre when awaking the sentiment of -beauty as revealed in Nature, Shakspeare by the memorable development of -the laws of character, Dante as the picturesque limner of the material -faith of the middle ages, Richter in his beautiful exposition of human -sentiment,--all exhibit a phase or element of the preacher, and in the -writings of Milton and Chateaubriand it breaks forth with a still more -direct emphasis. Carlyle and Coleridge, Isaac Taylor, Wordsworth, Lamb, -and many other effective modern writers, are among the most influential of -lay preachers. And this unprofessional teaching, this priesthood of -nature, has multiplied with the progress of society, so that every -community has its father confessors, its sisters of charity, its gifted -interpreters and eloquent advocates; while literature, even in forms the -most profane, continually emulates the sacred function, yielding great -lessons, exciting holy sentiment, and demonstrating pure faith. Indeed it -is characteristic of the age, that the technical is becoming merged in the -æsthetic; as culture extends, the distinctive in pursuit and office loses -its prominence. Lamb jocosely told Coleridge he never heard him do -anything but preach; and there is scarcely a favourite among the authors -of the day that, in some way, does not hallow his genius by consecrating -it to an interpretation or sentiment which, in its last analysis, is -religious. - -In these considerations may be found a partial explanation of that -diminution of individual agency in the priesthood to which we have -referred. The modern religious teachers also, as we have seen, have not -the same extent of ignorance to vanquish as the old divines. The line of -demarcation between ecclesiastical polity and Christian truth is more -evident to the multitude; and it is now felt as never before, that 'a -heart of deep sympathies solves all theological questions in the flame of -its love and justice.' Hence the comparative indifference to controversy; -and the recognition of the primal fact--so truly stated by the same -reflective writer--that 'spiritual insight, moral elevation, rich -sympathies, are the tokens whereby the divinely-ordained are -signalized.'[45] - -The practical inference is, that never before was the obligation of -personal responsibility in spiritual interests, on the part of the laity, -so apparent, nor that of a thorough integrity in the preacher. To be -'clear in his great office'--to rely on absolute gifts and essentials of -character--to cleave to simplicity and truth, and keep within the line of -honest conviction, is now his only guarantee, not only of self-respect, -but of usefulness and honour. Organization, form, tact, theological -acquirement, the _prestige_ of traditional importance, are of little -efficacy. The scientific era--the reaction to first causes--the universal -and intense demand for the real--the exposure of delusions--the test of -wide intelligence and fearless inquiry--the jealousy of mental -freedom--the multiplied sources of devotional sentiment--the earnestness -of the age--all invoke him to repudiate the machinery, the historical -badge, the conventional resources of his title--nay, to lose, if possible, -his title itself--and incarnate only the everlasting principles, laws, and -sentiments, by virtue of which alone he may hope for inspiration or claim -authority. - - - - -STATUES. - - 'And if it be Prometheus stole from Heaven - The fire which we endure, it was repaid - By him to whom the energy was given, - Which this poetic marble hath arrayed - With an eternal glory.'--BYRON. - - -There is as absolute an instinct in the human mind for the definite, the -palpable, and the emphatic, as there is for the mysterious, the versatile, -and the elusive. With some, method is a law, and taste severe in affairs, -costume, exercise, social intercourse, and faith. The simplicity, -directness, uniformity, and pure emphasis or grace of Sculpture have -analogies in literature and character; the terse despatch of a brave -soldier, the concentrated dialogue of Alfieri, some proverbs, aphorisms, -and poetic lines, that have become household words, puritanic consistency, -silent fortitude, are but so many vigorous outlines, and impress us by -virtue of the same colourless intensity as a masterpiece of the statuary. -How sculpturesque is Dante, even in metaphor, as when he writes,-- - - 'Ella non ci diceva alcuna cosa; - Ma lasciavane gir, solo guardando, - A guisa di leon quando si posa.' - -Nature, too, hints the art, when her landscape tints are covered with -snow, and the forms of tree, rock, and mountain are clearly defined by the -universal whiteness. Death, in its pale, still, fixed image,--always -solemn, sometimes beautiful,--would have inspired primeval humanity to -mould and chisel the lineaments of clay. Even New Zealanders elaborately -carve their war-clubs; and from the 'graven images' prohibited by -Decalogue as objects of worship, through the mysterious granite effigies -of ancient Egypt, the brutal anomalies in Chinese porcelain, the gay and -gilded figures on a ship's prow,--whether emblems of rude ingenuity, -tasteless caprice, retrospective sentiment, or embodiments of the highest -physical and mental culture, as in the Greek statues,--there is no art -whose origin is more instructive and progress more historically -significant. The vases of Etruria are the best evidence of her degree of -civilization; the designs of Flaxman on Wedgwood ware redeem the -economical art of England; the Bears at Berne and the Wolf in the Roman -Capitol are the most venerable local insignia; the carvings of Gibbons, in -old English manor-houses, outrival all the luxurious charms of modern -upholstery; Phidias is a more familiar element in Grecian history than -Pericles; the moral energy of the old Italian republics is more -impressively shadowed forth and conserved in the bold and vigorous -creations of Michael Angelo than in the political annals of Macchiavelli; -and it is the massive, uncouth sculptures, half buried in sylvan -vegetation, which mythically transmit the ancient people of Central -America. - -We confess a faith in, and a love for, the 'testimony of the rocks,'--not -only as interpreted by the sagacious Scotchman, as he excavated the 'old -red sandstone,' but as shaped into forms of truth, beauty, and power by -the hand of man through all generations. We love to catch a glimpse of -these silent memorials of our race, whether as Nymphs half shaded at -noonday with summer foliage in a garden, or as Heroes gleaming with -startling distinctness in the moonlit city square; as the similitudes of -illustrious men gathered in the halls of nations and crowned with a -benignant fame, or as prone effigies on sepulchres, for ever proclaiming -the calm without the respiration of slumber, so as to tempt us to exclaim, -with the enamoured gazer on the Egyptian queen, when the asp had done its -work,-- - - 'She looks like sleep, - As she would catch another Antony - In her strong _toil of grace_.' - -Although Dr. Johnson undervalued sculpture, partly because of an -inadequate sense of the beautiful, and partly from ignorance of its -greatest trophies, he expressed unqualified assent to its awe-inspiring -influence in 'the monumental caves of death,' as described by Congreve. -Sir Joshua truly declares that 'all arts address themselves to the -sensibility and imagination;' and no one thus alive to the appeal of -sculpture, will marvel that the infuriated mob spared the statues of the -Tuileries at the bloody climax of the French Revolution; that a 'love of -the antique,' knit in bonds of lifelong friendship Winckelmann and -Cardinal Albani; that among the most salient of childhood's memories -should be Memnon's image and the Colossus of Rhodes; that an imaginative -girl of exalted temperament died of love for the Apollo Belvidere, and -that Carrara should win many a pilgrimage because its quarries have -peopled earth with grace. - -To a sympathetic eye there are few more pleasing tableaux than a gifted -sculptor engaged in his work. How absorbed he is!--standing erect by the -mass of clay,--with graduated touch moulding into delicate undulations or -expressive lines the inert mass; now stepping back to see the effect, now -bending forward, almost lovingly, to add a master indentation or detach a -thin layer; and so, hour after hour, working on, every muscle in action, -each perception active, oblivious of time, happy in the gradual -approximation, under patient and thoughtful manipulation, of what was a -dense heap of earth, to a form of vital expression or beauty. - -Much has been said and written of the limits of sculpture; but it is the -sphere, rather than the art itself, which is thus bounded; and one of its -most glorious distinctions, like that of the human form and face, which -are its highest subject, is the vast possible variety within what seems, -at first thought, to be so narrow a field. That the same number and kind -of limbs and features should, under the plastic touch of genius, have -given birth to so many and totally diverse forms, memorable for ages, and -endeared to humanity, is in itself an infinite marvel, which vindicates, -as a beautiful wonder, the statuary's art from the more Protean rivalry of -pictorial skill. If we call to mind even a few of the sculptured creations -which are 'a joy for ever,' even to retrospection, haunting by their pure -individuality the temple of memory, permanently enshrined in heartfelt -admiration as illustrations of what is noble in man and woman, significant -in history, powerful in expression, or irresistible in grace,--we feel -what a world of varied interest is hinted by the very name of Sculpture. -Through it the most just and clear idea of Grecian culture is revealed. -The solemn mystery of Egyptian, and the grand scale of Assyrian, -civilization are best attested by the same trophies. How a Sphinx typifies -the land of the Pyramids and all its associations, mythological, -scientific, natural, and sacred,--its reverence for the dead, and its dim -and portentous traditions! and what a reflex of Nineveh's palmy days are -the winged lions exhumed by Layard! What more authentic tokens of mediæval -piety and patience exist than the elaborate and grotesque carvings of -Albert Dürer's day? The colossal Brahma in the temple of Elephanta, near -Bombay, is the visible acme of Asiatic superstition. And can an -illustration of the revival of art in the fifteenth century, so exuberant, -aspiring, and sublime, be imagined, to surpass the Day and Night, the -Moses, and other statues of Angelo? But such general inferences are less -impressive than the personal experience of every European traveller with -the least passion for the beautiful or reverence for genius. Is there any -sphere of observation and enjoyment, to such a one, more prolific of -individual suggestions than this so-called limited art? From the soulful -glow of expression in the inspired countenance of the Apollo, to the -womanly contours so exquisite in the armless figure of the Venus de -Milo,--from the aërial posture of John of Bologna's Mercury, to the -inimitable and firm dignity in the attitude of Aristides in the Museum of -Naples,--from the delicate lines which teach how grace can chasten nudity -in the Goddess of the Tribune at Florence, to the embodied melancholy of -Hamlet in the brooding Lorenzo of the Medici Chapel,--from the stone -despair, the frozen tears, as it were, of all bereaved maternity, in the -very bend of Niobe's body and yearning gesture, to the _abandon_ gleaming -from every muscle of the Dancing Faun,--from the stern brow of the -Knife-grinder, and the bleeding frame of the Gladiator, whereon are -written for ever the inhumanities of ancient civilization, to the -triumphant beauty, and firm, light, enjoyable aspect of Dannecker's -Ariadne,--from the unutterable joy of Cupid and Psyche's embrace, to the -grand authority of Moses,--how many separate phases of human emotion 'live -in stone'! What greater contrast to eye or imagination, in our knowledge -of facts, and in our consciousness of sentiment, can be exemplified, than -those so distinctly, memorably, and gracefully moulded in the apostolic -figures of Thorwaldsen, the Hero and Leander of Steinhaüser, the lovely -funereal monument, inspired by gratitude, which Rauch reared to Louise of -Prussia, Chantrey's Sleeping Children, Canova's Lions in St. Peter's, the -bas-reliefs of Ghiberti on the Baptistery doors at Florence, and Gibson's -Horses of the Sun? - -The last time Heine went out of doors, before succumbing to his fearful -malady, he says: 'With difficulty I dragged myself to the Louvre, and -almost sank down as I entered that magnificent hall where the ever-blessed -goddess of beauty, our beloved Lady of Milo, stands on her pedestal. At -her feet I lay long and wept so bitterly that a stone must have pitied me. -The goddess looked compassionately on me, but at the same time -disconsolately, as if she would say: Dost thou not see that I have no -arms, and thus cannot help thee?' - -Have you ever strolled from the inn at Lucerne, on a pleasant afternoon, -along the Zurich road, to the old General's garden, where stands the -colossal lion designed by Thorwaldsen, to keep fresh the brave renown of -the Swiss guard who perished in defence of the royal family of France -during the massacre of the Revolution? Carved from the massive sandstone, -the majestic animal, with the fatal spear in his side, yet loyal in his -vigil over the royal shield, is a grand image of fidelity unto death. The -stillness, the isolation, the vivid creepers festooning the rocks, the -clear mirror of the basin, into which trickle pellucid streams, reflecting -the vast proportions of the enormous lion, the veteran Swiss, who acts as -_cicerone_, the adjacent chapel with its altar-cloth wrought by one of the -fair decendants of the Bourbon king and queen for whom these victims -perished, the hour, the memories, the admixture of Nature and Art, convey -a unique impression, in absolute contrast with such white effigies, for -instance, as in the dusky precincts of Santa Croce droop over the -sepulchre of Alfieri, or with the famous bronze boar in the Mercato Nuovo -of Florence, or the ethereal loveliness of that sweet scion of the English -nobility, moulded by Chantrey in all the soft and lithe grace of -childhood, holding a contented dove to her bosom. - -Even as the subject of taste, independently of historical diversities, -sculpture presents every degree of the meretricious, the grotesque, and -the beautiful,--more emphatically, because more palpably, than is -observable in painting. The inimitable Grecian standard is an immortal -precedent; the mediæval carvings embody the rude Teutonic truthfulness; -where Canova provoked comparison with the antique, as in the Perseus and -Venus, his more gross ideal is painfully evident. How artificial seems -Bernini in contrast with Angelo! How minutely expressive are the terra -cotta images of Spain! What a climax of absurdity teases the eye in the -monstrosities in stone which draw travellers in Sicily to the eccentric -nobleman's villa, near Palermo! Who does not shrink from the French -allegory, and horrible melodrama, of Roubillac's monument to Miss -Nightingale, in Westminster Abbey? How like Horace Walpole to dote on Ann -Conway's canine groups! We actually feel sleepy as we examine the little -black marble Somnus of the Florence Gallery, and electrified with the -first sight of the Apollo, and won to sweet emotion in the presence of -Nymphs, Graces, and the Goddess of Beauty, when, shaped by the hand of -genius, they seem the ethereal types of that - - 'Common clay ta'en from the common earth, - Moulded by God and tempered by the tears - Of angels to the perfect form of woman.' - -Calm and fixed as is the natural language of Sculpture, it is the artistic -illustration of life's normal activity and character in the economy not -less than in the ideal and heroic phase. 'Our statues,' says one of the -quaint personages of Richter's _Titan_, 'are no idle, dawdling citizens, -but all drive a trade. Such as are caryates hold up houses; and heathen -water-gods labour at the public fountains, and pour out water into the -pitchers of the maidens. Such as are angels bear up baptismal vessels.' - -Yet the distinctive element in the pleasure afforded by sculpture is -tranquillity,--a quiet, contemplative delight; somewhat of awe chastens -admiration; a feeling of peace hallows sympathy; and we echo the poet's -sentiment,-- - - 'I feel a mighty calmness creep - Over my heart, which can no longer borrow - Its hues from chance or change,--those children of to-morrow.' - -It is this fixedness and placidity, conveying the impression of fate, -death, repose, or immortality, which render sculpture so congenial as -commemorative of the departed. Even quaint wooden effigies, like those in -St. Mary's Church at Chester, with the obsolete peaked beards, ruffs, and -broadswords, accord with the venerable associations of a mediæval tomb; -while marble figures, typifying Grief, Poetry, Fame, or Hope, brooding -over the lineaments of the illustrious dead, seem, of all sepulchral -decorations, the most apt and impressive. We remember, after exploring the -plain of Ravenna on an autumn day, and rehearsing the famous battle in -which the brave young Gaston de Foix fell, how the associations of the -scene and story were defined and deepened as we gazed on the sculptured -form of a recumbent knight in armour, preserved in the academy of the old -city; it seemed to bring back and stamp with brave renown for ever the -gallant soldier who so long ago perished there in battle. In Cathedral and -Parthenon, under the dome of the Invalides, in the sequestered parish -church or the rural cemetery, what image so accords with the sad reality -and the serene hope of humanity, as the adequate marble personification on -sarcophagus and beneath shrine, in mausoleum or on turf-mound? - - 'His palms enfolded on his breast, - There is no other thought express'd - But long disquiet merged in rest.' - -In truth, it is for want of comprehensive perception that we take so -readily for granted the limited scope of this glorious art. There is in -the Grecian mythology alone a remarkable variety of character and -expression, as perpetuated by the statuary; and when to her deities we add -the athletes, charioteers, and marble portraits, a realm of diverse -creations is opened. Indeed, to the average modern mind, it is the statues -of Grecian divinities that constitute the poetic charm of her history; -abstractly, we regard them with the poet:-- - - 'Their gods? what were their gods? - There's Mars, all bloody-haired; and Hercules, - Whose soul was in his sinews; Pluto, blacker - Than his own hell; Vulcan, who shook his horns - At every limp he took; great Bacchus rode - Upon a barrel; and in a cockle-shell - Neptune kept state; then Mercury was a thief; - Juno a shrew; Pallas a prude, at best; - And Venus walked the clouds in search of lovers; - Only great Jove, the lord and thunderer, - Sat in the circle of his starry power - And frowned "I will!" to all.' - -Not in their marble beauty do they thus ignobly impress us,--but calm, -fair, strong, and immortal. 'They seem,' wrote Hazlitt, 'to have no -sympathy with us, and not to want our admiration. In their faultless -excellence, they appear sufficient to themselves.' - -In the sculptor's art, more than on the historian's page, lives the most -glorious memory of the classic past. A visit to the Vatican by torchlight -endears even these poor traditional deities for ever. - - On lofty ceilings vivid frescoes glow, - Auroras beam, - The steeds of Neptune through the waters go, - Or Sibyls dream. - - As in the flickering torchlight shadows weaved - Illusions wild, - Methought Apollo's bosom slightly heaved, - And Juno smiled. - - Aërial Mercuries in bronze upspring, - Dianas fly, - And marble Cupids to the Psyches cling - Without a sigh. - -The absence of complexity in the language and intent of sculpture is -always obvious in the expositions of its votaries. In no class of men have -we found such distinct and scientific views of Art. One lovely evening in -spring we stood with Bartolini beside the corpse of a beautiful child. -Bereavement in a foreign land has a desolation of its own, and the -afflicted mother desired to carry home a statue of her loved and lost. We -conducted the sculptor to the chamber of death, that he might superintend -the casts from the body. No sooner did his eyes fall upon it, than they -glowed with admiration and filled with tears. He waved the assistants -aside, clasped his hands, and gazed spell-bound upon the dead child. Its -brow was ideal in contour, the hair of wavy gold, the cheeks of angelic -outline. 'How beautiful!' exclaimed Bartolini; and drawing us to the -bedside, with a mingled awe and intelligence, he pointed out how the -rigidity of death coincided, in this fair young creature, with the -standard of Art;--the very hands, he declared, had stiffened into lines of -beauty; and over the beautiful clay we thus learned, from the lips of a -venerable sculptor, how intimate and minute is the cognizance this noble -art takes of the language of the human form. Greenough would unfold by the -hour the exquisite relation between function and beauty, organization and -use, tracing therein a profound law and an illimitable truth. No more -genial spectacle greeted us in Rome than Thorwaldsen at his Sunday-noon -receptions;--his white hair, kindly smile, urbane manners, and -unpretending simplicity, gave an added charm to the wise and liberal -sentiments he expressed on Art, reminding us, in his frank eclecticism, of -the spirit in which Humboldt cultivated science, and Sismondi history. Nor -less indicative of this clear apprehension was the thorough solution we -have heard Powers give, over the mask taken from a dead face, of the -problem, how its living aspect was to modify its sculptured reproduction; -or the original views expressed by Palmer as to the treatment of the eyes -and hair in marble. - -Appropriate and inspiring as are statues as memorials of character, in no -department of art is there more need of a pure and just sense of the -appropriate than in the choice of subject, locality, and treatment in -statuary embellishment. Many greatly-endeared human benefactors cannot -thus be wisely or genially celebrated. Of late years there has been a -mania on the subject; and even popular sentiment recognized the -impropriety of setting up a statue in the marketplace, of pious, retiring -Izaak Walton. - -Shelley used to say that a Roman peasant is as good a judge of sculpture -as the best academician or anatomist. It is this direct appeal, this -elemental simplicity, which constitutes the great distinction and charm of -the art. There is nothing evasive and mysterious; in dealing with form and -expression through features and attitude, average observation is a -reliable test. The same English poet was right in declaring that the Greek -sculptors did not find their inspiration in the dissecting-room; yet upon -no subject has criticism displayed greater insight on the one hand and -pedantry on the other, than in the discussion of these very -_chefs-d'oeuvre_ of antiquity. While Michael Angelo was at Rome when the -Laocoön was discovered, hailed it as 'the wonder of Art,' and scholars -identified the group with a famous one described by Pliny, Canova thought -that the right arm of the father was not in its right position, and the -other restorations in the work have all been objected to. Goëthe -recognized a profound sagacity in the artist. 'If,' he wrote, 'we try to -place the bite in some different position, the whole action is changed, -and we find it impossible to conceive one more fitting; the situation of -the bite renders necessary the whole action of the limbs.' And another -critic says, 'In the group of the Laocoön, the breast is expanded and the -throat contracted to show that the agonies that convulse the frame are -borne in silence.' In striking contrast with such testimonies to the -scientific truth to Nature in Grecian Art, was the objection I once heard -an American backwoods mechanic make to this celebrated work. He asked why -the figures were seated in a row on a dry-goods box, and declared that the -serpent was not of a size to coil round so small an arm as the child's -without breaking its vertebræ. So disgusted was Titian with the critical -pedantry elicited by this group, that, in ridicule thereof, he painted a -caricature,--three monkeys writhing in the folds of a little snake. - -Few statues at Rome excite the imagination, apart from intrinsic beauty, -like that of Pompey, at whose base, tradition says, 'great Cæsar fell.' It -was discovered lying across the boundary line of two estates, and claimed -by both proprietors. Shrewd Cardinal Spada decided the head belonged to -one, and the body to another. It was decapitated, and sold in fragments -for a small sum, and by this device was added to his famous collection, by -the wily churchman. - -Yet, despite the jargon of connoisseurship, against which Byron, while -contemplating the Venus de Medici, utters so eloquent an invective, -sculpture is a grand, serene, and intelligible art,--more so than -architecture and painting,--and, as such, justly consecrated to the heroic -and the beautiful in man and history. It is pre-eminently commemorative. -How the old cities of Europe are peopled to the imagination, as well as -the eye, by the statues of their traditional rulers or illustrious -children, keeping, as it were, a warning sign, or a sublime vigil, silent, -yet expressive, in the heart of busy life and through the lapse of ages! -We could never pass Duke Cosmo's imposing effigy in the old square of -Florence, without the magnificent patronage and the despotic perfidy of -the Medicean family being revived to memory with intense local -association,--nor note the ugly mitred and cloaked papal figures, with -hands extended, in the mockery of benediction, over the beggars in the -piazzas of Romagna, without Ranke's frightful picture of church abuses -reappearing, as if to crown these brazen forms with infamy. There was -always a gleam of poetry--however sad--on the most foggy day, in the -glimpse afforded from our window, in Trafalgar Square, of that patient -horseman, Charles the Martyr. How alive old Neptune sometimes looked, by -moonlight, in Rome, as we passed his plashing fountain. And those German -poets--Goëthe, Schiller, and Jean Paul,--what to modern eyes were -Frankfort, Stuttgart, and Baireuth, unconsecrated by their endeared forms? -The most pleasant association Versailles yielded us of the Bourbon dynasty -was that inspired by Jeanne d'Arc, graceful in her marble sleep, as -sculptured by Marie d'Orléans; and the most impressive token of Napoleon's -downfall we saw in Europe was his colossal image intended for the square -of Leghorn, but thrown permanently on the sculptor's hands by the waning -of his proud star. The statue of Heber, to Christian vision, hallows -Calcutta. The Perseus of Cellini breathes of the months of artistic -suspense, inspiration, and experiment so graphically described in that -clever egotist's memoirs. One feels like blessing the grief-bowed figures -at the tomb of the Princess Charlotte, so truly do their attitudes express -our sympathy with the love and the sorrow her name excites. Would not -Sterne have felt a thrill of complacency, had he beheld his tableau of the -Widow Wadman and Uncle Toby so genially embodied by Ball Hughes? What more -spirited symbol of prosperous conquest can be imagined than the gilded -horses of St. Mark's? How natural was Michael Angelo's exclamation, -'March!' as he gazed on Donatello's San Giorgio, in the Church of San -Michele,--one mailed hand on a shield, bare head, complete armour, and the -foot advanced, like a sentinel who hears the challenge, or a knight -listening for the charge! Tenerani's Descent from the Cross, in the -Torlonia Chapel, outlives in remembrance the brilliant assemblies of that -financial house. The outlines of Flaxman, essentially statuesque, seem -alone adequate to illustrate to the eye the great mediæval poet, whose -verse seems often cut from stone in the quarries of infernal destiny. How -grandly sleep the lions of Canova at Pope Clement's tomb! - -A census of the statues of the world, past and present, would indicate an -enormous marble population: in every Greek and Roman house, temple, public -square, cemetery, these effigies abounded. According to Pliny the number -of memorable statues in Athens exceeded three thousand; the number brought -to Rome from conquered provinces was so great that the record seems -incredible; add to these the countless statues we know to have been -destroyed, the innumerable fragmentary images encountered in Italy, and -the variety of modern works--from those which people the cathedral roof to -those which adorn private galleries and favourite studios,--and the mind -is bewildered by the extent not less than the beauty of the products of -the chisel. - -We have sometimes wondered that some æsthetic philosopher has not analyzed -the vital relation of the arts to each other, and given a popular -exposition of their mutual dependence. Drawing from the antique has long -been an acknowledged initiation for the limner; and Campbell, in his terse -description of the histrionic art, says that therein 'verse ceases to be -airy thought, and sculpture to be dumb.' How much of their peculiar -effects did Talma, Kemble, and Rachel owe to the attitudes, gestures, and -drapery of the Grecian statues! Kean adopted the 'dying fall' of General -Abercrombie's figure in St. Paul's as the model of his own. Some of the -memorable scenes and votaries of the drama are directly associated with -the sculptor's art,--as, for instance, the last act of _Don Giovanni_, -wherein the expressive music of Mozart breathes a pleasing terror in -connection with the spectral nod of the marble horseman; and Shakspeare -has availed himself of this art, with beautiful wisdom, in that melting -scene where remorseful love pleads with the motionless heroine of the -_Winter's Tale_,-- - - 'Her natural posture! - Chide me, dear stone, that I may say, indeed, - Thou art Hermione; or rather thou art she, - In thy not chiding: for she was as tender - As infancy and grace.' - -Garrick imitated to the life, in _Abel Drugger_, the vacant stare peculiar -to Nollekens, the sculptor; and Colley Cibber's father was a devotee of -the chisel, and adorned Chatsworth with freestone Sea-Nymphs. - -In view of the great historical value, comparative authenticity, and -possible significance and beauty of busts, this department of sculpture -has a peculiar interest and charm. The most distinct idea we have of the -Roman emperors, even in regard to their individual characters, is derived -from their busts at the Vatican and elsewhere. The benignity of Trajan, -the animal development of Nero, and the classic vigour of young Augustus, -are best apprehended through these memorable effigies which Time has -spared and Art transmitted. And a similar permanence and distinctness of -impression associate most of our illustrious moderns with their sculptured -features; the ironical grimace of Voltaire is perpetuated by Houdon's -bust; the sympathetic intellectuality of Schiller by Dannecker's; Handel's -countenance is familiar through the elaborate chisel of Roubillac; -Nollekens moulded Sterne's delicate and unimpassioned but keen -physiognomy, and Chantrey the lofty cranium of Scott. Who has not blessed -the rude but conscientious artist who carved the head of Shakspeare, -preserved at Stratford? How quaintly appropriate to the old house in -Nuremberg is Albert Dürer's bust over the door! Our best knowledge of -Alexander Hamilton's aspect is obtained from the expressive marble head of -him by that ardent republican sculptor, Ceracchi. It was appropriate for -Mrs. Damer, the daughter of a gallant field-marshal, to portray in marble, -as heroic idols, Fox, Nelson, and Napoleon. We were never more convinced -of the intrinsic grace and solemnity of this form of 'counterfeit -presentment' than when exploring the Baciocchi _palazzo_ at Bologna. In -the centre of a circular room, lighted from above, and draped as well as -carpeted with purple, stood on a simple pedestal the bust of Napoleon's -sister, thus enshrined after death by her husband. The profound stillness, -the relief of this isolated head against a mass of dark tints, and its -consequent emphatic individuality, made the sequestered chamber seem a -holy place, where communion with the departed, so spiritually represented -by the exquisite image, appeared not only natural, but inevitable. Our -countryman, Powers, has eminently illustrated the possible excellence of -this branch of Art. In mathematical correctness of detail, unrivalled -finish of texture, and with these, in many cases, the highest -characterization, busts from his hand have an absolute artistic value, -independent of likeness, like a portrait by Vandyke or Titian. When the -subject is favourable, his achievements in this regard are memorable, and -fill the eye and mind with ideas of beauty and meaning undreamed of by -those who consider marble portraits as wholly imitative and mechanical. -Was there ever a human face which so completely reflected inward -experience and individual genius as the bust which haunts us throughout -Italy, broods over the monument in Santa Croce, gazes pensively from -library niche, seems to awe the more radiant images of boudoir and -gallery, and sternly looks melancholy reproach from the Ravenna tomb? - - 'The lips, as Cumæ's cavern close; - The cheeks, with fast and sorrow thin; - The rigid front, almost morose, - But for the patient hope within; - Declare a life whose course hath been - Unsullied still, though still severe, - Which, through the wavering days of sin, - Kept itself icy chaste and clear.' - -National characters become, as it were, household gods through the -sculptor's portrait; the duplicates of Canova's head of Napoleon seem as -appropriate in the _salons_ and shops of France, as the heads of -Washington and Franklin in America, or the antique images of Scipio -Africanus and Ceres in Sicily, and Wellington and Byron in London. - -It is to us a source of noble delight, that with these permanent trophies -of the sculptor's art may now be mingled our national fame. Twenty years -ago, the address in Murray's Guide-Book,--_Crawford, an American Sculptor, -Piazza Barberini_,--would have been unique; now that name is enrolled on -the list of the world's benefactors in the patrimony of Art. Greenough, by -his pen, his presence, and his chisel, gave an impulse to taste and -knowledge in sculpture and architecture not destined soon to pass away; no -more eloquent and original advocate of the beautiful and the true in the -higher social economies has blest our day; his Cherubs and Medora overflow -with the poetry of form; his essays are a valuable legacy of philosophic -thought. The Greek Slave of Powers was invariably surrounded by visitors -at the London World's Fair and the Manchester Exhibition. Story's -Cleopatra was the nucleus of charmed observation at Sydenham. The Pearl -Diver of Paul Akers is his own most beautiful monument. Palmer has sent -forth from his isolated studio at Albany a series of ideal busts, of a -pure type of original and exquisite beauty; and many others might be named -who have honourably illustrated an American claim to distinction in an art -eminently republican in its perpetuation of national worth, and the -identity of its highest achievements with social progress. - - - - -BRIDGES. - - 'I stood on the bridge at midnight, - As the clocks were striking the hour, - And the moon rose over the city, - Behind the dark church-tower. - And like those waters rushing - Among the wooden piers, - A flood of thoughts came o'er me, - That filled my eyes with tears.' - LONGFELLOW. - - -Instinctively, Treason, in this vast land, aimed its first blow at the -Genius of Communication,--the benign and potent means and method of -American civilization and nationality. The great problem Watt and Fulton, -Clinton and Morse, so gloriously solved, a barbaric necessity thus reduced -back to chaos; and not the least sad and significant of the bulletins -whereby the most base of civic mutinies found current record, is that -entitled _Destruction of the Bridges_; and (melancholy contrast!) -simultaneously we hear of constructive energy in the same direction, on -the Italian peninsula,--an engineer having submitted to Victor Emmanuel -proposals for throwing a bridge across the Straits of Messina, 'binding -Scylla to Charybdis, and thus clinching Italian unity with bonds of -iron.'[46] Bonds of nationality, in more than a physical sense, indeed, -are bridges; even cynical Heine found an endeared outlook to his native -Rhine on the bastion of a familiar bridge. Tennyson makes one an essential -feature of his English summer-picture, wherein for ever glows the sweet -image of the 'Gardener's Daughter;' and Bunyan found no better similitude -for Christian's passage from Time to Eternity than the 'river where there -is no bridge.' - -The primitive need, the possible genius, the science, and the sentiment of -a bridge, endear its aspect and associations beyond those of any other -economical structure. There is, indeed, something genially picturesque -about a mill, as Constable's pencil and Tennyson's muse have aptly -demonstrated; there is an artistic miracle possible in a sculptured gate, -as those of Ghiberti so elaborately evidence; science, poetry, and human -enterprise consecrate a lighthouse; sacred feelings hallow a spire, and -mediæval towers stand forth in noble relief against the sunset sky; but -around none of these familiar objects cluster the same thoroughly human -associations which make a bridge attractive to the sight and memory. In -its most remote suggestion it typifies man's primal relation to Nature, -his first instinctive effort to circumvent or avail himself of her -resources; indeed, he might take his hint of a bridge from Nature -herself,--her fallen monarchs of the forest athwart a stream, 'the -testimony of the rocks,' the curving shores, cavern roofs, and pendent -branches, and the prismatic bow in the heavens, which a poet well calls 'a -bridge to tempt the angels down.' - -A bridge of the simplest kind is often charmingly effective as a -landscape-accessory; there is a short plank one in a glen of the White -Mountains, which, seen through a vista of woodland, makes out the picture -so aptly that it is sketched by every artist who haunts the region. What -lines of grace are added to the night-view of a great city by the lights -on the bridges! What subtile principles enter into the building of such a -bridge as the Britannia, where even the metallic contraction of the -enormous tubes is provided for by supporting them on cannon-balls! How -venerable seems the most graceful of Tuscan bridges, when we remember it -was erected in the fifteenth century,--and the Rialto, when we think of -Shylock and Portia; and how signal an instance is it of the progressive -application of a true principle in science, that the contrivance whereby -the South Americans bridge the gorges of their mountains, by a pendulous -causeway of twisted osiers and bamboo,--one of which, crossed by Humboldt, -was a hundred and twenty feet long,--is identical with that which sustains -the magnificent structure over the Niagara river! The chasms and streams -thus spanned by a rope of seven strands have a fairy-like aspect. Artist -and engineer alike delight in this feature of tropical scenery. In some -cases the stone structures built by the Spaniards, and half destroyed by -earthquakes, are repaired with bamboo, and often with an effective grace. -In a bridge the arch is triumphal, both for practical and commemorative -ends. Unknown to the Greeks and Egyptians, even the ancient Romans, it is -said by modern architects, did not appreciate its true mechanical -principle, but ascribed the marvellous strength thereof to the cement -which kept intact their semicircle. In Cæsar's _Commentaries_, the bridge -transit and vigilance form no small part of military tactics,--boats and -baskets serving the same purpose in ancient and modern warfare. The church -of old originated and consecrated bridges; religion, royalty, and art -celebrate their advent; the opening of Waterloo Bridge is the subject of -one of the best pictures of a modern English painter; and Cockney visitors -to the peerless bridge of Telford still ask the guide where the Queen -stood at its inauguration. But it is when we turn from the historical and -scientific to the familiar and personal that we realize the spontaneous -interest attached to a bridge. It is as a feature of our native landscape, -the goal of habitual excursions, the rendezvous, the observatory, the -favourite haunt or transit, that it wins the gaze and the heart. There the -musing angler sits content; there the echoes of the horse's hoofs rouse to -expectancy the dozing traveller; there the glad lover dreams, and the -despairing wretch seeks a watery grave, and the song of the poet finds a -response in the universal heart,-- - - 'How often, oh, how often, - In the days that have gone by, - Have I stood on that bridge at midnight, - And gazed on the wave and sky!' - -One of the most primitive tokens of civilization is a bridge; and yet no -artificial object is more picturesquely associated with its ultimate -symbols. The fallen tree whereon the pioneer crosses a stream in the -wilderness is not more significant of human isolation than the fragmentary -arch in an ancient city of the vanished home of thousands. Thus, by its -necessity and its survival, a bridge suggests the first exigency and the -last relic of civilized life. The old explorers of our Western Continent -record the savage expedients whereby watercourses were passed,--coils of -grape-vine carried between the teeth of an aboriginal swimmer and attached -to the opposite bank, a floating log, or, in shallow streams, a series of -stepping-stones; and the most popular historian of England, when -delineating to the eye of fancy the hour of her capital's venerable decay, -can find no more impressive illustration than to make a broken arch of -London Bridge the observatory of the speculative reminiscent. - -The bridge is, accordingly, of all economical inventions, that which is -most inevitable to humanity, signalizing the first steps of man amid the -solitude of Nature, and accompanying his progress through every stage of -civic life; its crude form makes the wanderer's heart beat in the lonely -forest, as a sign of the vicinity or the track of his kind; and its -massive remains excite the reverent curiosity of the archæologist, who -seeks among the ruins of Art for trophies of a bygone race. Few -indications of Roman supremacy are more striking than the unexpected sight -of one of those bridges of solid and symmetrical masonry which the -traveller in Italy encounters, when emerging from a mountain-pass or a -squalid town upon the ancient highway. The permanent method herein -apparent suggests an energetic and pervasive race whose constructive -instinct was imperial; such an evidence of their pathway over water is as -suggestive of national power as the evanescent trail of the savage is of -his casual domain. In the bridge, as in no other structure, use combines -with beauty by an instinctive law; and the stone arch, more or less -elaborate in detail, is as essential now to the function and the grace of -a bridge, as when it was first thrown, invincible and harmonious, athwart -the rivers Cæsar's legions crossed. - -As I stood on the scattered planks which afford a precarious foothold amid -the rapids of St. Anthony, methought these frail bridges of hewn timber -accorded with the reminiscence of the missionary pioneer who discovered -and named the picturesque waters, more than an elaborate and ancient -causeway. Even those long, inelegant structures which lead the pedestrian -over our own Charles river, or the broad inlets of the adjacent bay, have -their peculiar charm as the scene of many a gorgeous autumnal sunset and -many a patient 'constitutional' walk. It is a homely but significant -proverb, 'Never find fault with the bridge that carries you safe over.' -What beautiful shadows graceful bridges cast, when the twilight deepens -and the waves are calm! How mysteriously sleep the moonbeams there! What a -suggestive vocation is a toll-keeper's! Patriarchs in this calling will -tell of methodical and eccentric characters known for years. - -Bridges have their legends. There is one in Lombardy whence a jilted lover -sprang with his faithless bride as she passed to church with her new -lover; it is yet called the 'Bridge of the Betrothed.' On the mountain -range, near Serravazza, in Tuscany, is a natural bridge which unites two -of the lofty peaks; narrow and aërial, it is believed by the peasantry to -have miraculously formed itself to give foothold to the Madonna as she -passed over the mountains, and it bears her name. An old traveller, -describing New York amusements, tells us of a favourite ride from the city -to the suburban country, and says,--'In the way there is a bridge, about -three miles distant, which you always pass as you return, called the -'Kissing Bridge,' where it is part of the etiquette to salute the lady who -has put herself under your protection.'[47] A curious lawsuit was lately -instituted by the proprietor of a menagerie who lost an elephant by a -bridge giving way beneath his unaccustomed weight; the authorities -protested against damages, as they never undertook to give safe passage to -so large an animal. - -The office of a bridge is prolific of metaphor, whereof an amusing -instance is Boswell's comparison of himself, when translating Paoli's talk -to Dr. Johnson, to a 'narrow isthmus connecting two continents.' It has -been aptly said of Dante's great poem, that, in the world of letters, it -is a mediæval bridge over that vast chasm which divides classical from -modern times. All conciliating authors bridge select severed -intelligences, and even national feeling: as Irving's writings brought -more near to each other the alienated sympathies of England and America, -and Carlyle made a trysting-place for British and German thought; as -Sydney Smith's talk threw a suspension-bridge from Conservative to -Reformer, and Lord Bacon's (in the hour of bitter alienation between Crown -and Commons) 'reconciling genius spanned the dividing stream of party.' - -How quaint, yet effective, Jean Paul's illustration of an alienated state -of human feeling, '_the drawbridge of countenances_, whereupon once the -two souls met, stood suddenly raised, high in air.' Nor less significant -is a modern historian's definition of an Englishman, as 'an island -surrounded by a misty and tumultuous sea of prejudices and hatreds, -generally unapproachable, and at all times _utterly repudiative of a -bridge_.' Pontifex Maximus has long ceased to wear the great spiritual -title whose unchallenged attribute was to bridge the chasm between earth -and heaven. What humour may be evolved from a nose-bridge, _Punch_ in his -dealings with the great Duke, and Sterne in his record of Tristram -Shandy's infancy, have notably chronicled; while the infinite delicacy of -tension in the bridge of Paganini's violin, indicates the relation thereof -to exquisite gradations of sound. 'The Mohammedans,' says Scott, 'have a -fanciful idea that the believer, in his passage to Paradise, is under the -necessity of passing barefoot over a bridge composed of red-hot iron -plates. All the pieces of paper which the Moslem has preserved during his -life, lest some holy thing being written upon them might be profaned, -arrange themselves between his feet and the burning metal, and so save him -from injury.' In the 'Vision' of Mirza, a bridge is typical of human life. -That was a ludicrous incident related of poor, obstinate, crazy George the -Third,--that encountering some boys near a bridge early one morning, he -asked them what bridge it was. 'The Bridge of Kew,' they replied; -whereupon the king proposed and gave three vociferous cheers for the -Bridge of Kew, as a newly-discovered wonder. Amusing, too, was the warm -dispute of the two errant lake poets whether a certain acutely-angular -bridge in the Alps was called great A from its resemblance to that letter, -or as the first of its kind. - -How isolated and bewildered are villagers, when, after a tempest, the news -spreads that a freshet has carried away the bridge! Every time we shake -hands we make a human bridge of courtesy or love; and that was a graceful -fancy of one of our ingenious writers to give expression to his thoughts -in _Letters from under a Bridge_. With an eye and an ear for Nature's -poetry, the gleam of lamps from a bridge, the figures that pass and repass -thereon, the rush and the lull of waters beneath, the perspective of the -arch, the weather-stains on the parapet, the sunshine and the -cloud-shadows around, are phases and sounds fraught with meaning and -mystery. - -It is an acknowledged truth in the philosophy of Art, that Beauty is the -handmaid of Use; and as the grace of the swan and the horse results from a -conformation whose _rationale_ is movement, so the pillar that supports -the roof, and the arch that spans the current, by their serviceable -fitness, wed grace of form to wise utility. The laws of architecture -illustrate this principle copiously; but in no single and familiar product -of human skill is it more striking than in bridges; if lightness, -symmetry, elegance, proportion, charm the ideal sense, not less are the -economy and adaptation of the structure impressive to the eye of science. -Perhaps the ideas of use and beauty, of convenience and taste, in no -instance coalesce more obviously; and therefore, of all human inventions, -the bridge lends the most undisputed charm to the landscape. It is one of -those symbols of humanity which spring from and are not grafted upon -Nature; it proclaims her affinity with man, and links her spontaneous -benefits with his invention and his needs; it seems to celebrate the -stream over which it rises, and to wed the wayward waters to the order and -the mystery of life. There is no hint of superfluity or impertinence in a -bridge; it blends with the wildest and the most cultivated scene with -singular aptitude, and is a feature of both rural and metropolitan -landscape that strikes the mind as essential. A striking confirmation of -this idea offers itself in a recent critic's definition of a classic style -of writing: 'A bridge,' he says, '_completes_ river landscape; it -_stiffens_ the scenery which was before too soft, too delicate, too -vegetable. Just such is the effect of pure style in literary art.'[48] The -most usual form has its counterpart in those rocky arches which flood and -fire have excavated or penned up in many picturesque regions--the segments -of caverns or the ribs of strata,--so that, without the instinctive -suggestion of the mind itself, Nature furnishes complete models of a -bridge whereon neither Art nor Science can improve. Herein the most -advanced and the most rude peoples own a common skill; bridges, of some -kind, and all adapted to their respective countries, being the familiar -invention of savage necessity and architectural genius. The explorer finds -them in Africa as well as the artist in Rome; swung, like huge hammocks of -ox-hide, over the rapid streams of South America; spanning in fragile -cane-platforms the gorges of the Andes; crossing vast chasms of the -Alleghanies with the slender iron viaduct of the American railways; and -jutting, a crumbling segment of the ancient world, over the yellow Tiber: -as familiar on the Chinese tea-caddy as on Canaletto's canvas; as -traditional a local feature of London as of Florence; as significant of -the onward march of civilization in Wales to-day as in Liguria during the -middle ages. Where men dwell and wander, and water flows, these beautiful -and enduring, or curious and casual expedients are found, as memorable -triumphs of architecture, crowned with historical associations, or as -primitive inventions that unconsciously mark the first faltering steps of -humanity in the course of empire; for, on this continent, where the French -missionary crossed the narrow log supported by his Indian convert in the -midst of a wilderness, massive stone arches shadow broad streams that flow -through populous cities; and the history of civilization may be traced -from the loose stones whereon the lone settler fords the watercourse, to -such grand, graceful, and permanent monuments of human prosperity as the -elaborate and ancient stone bridges of European capitals. - -When we look forth upon a grand or lovely scene of Nature--mountain, -river, meadow, and forest,--what a fine central object, what an harmonious -artificial feature of the picture, is a bridge, whether rustic and simple, -a mere rude passage-way over a brook, or a curve of gray stone throwing -broad shadows upon the bright surface of a river! Nor less effective is -the same object amid the crowded walls, spires, streets, and -chimney-stacks of a city. There the bridge is the least conventional -structure, the suggestive point, the favourite locality; it seems to -reunite the working-day world with the freedom of Nature; it is, perhaps, -the one spot in the dense array of edifices and thoroughfares which 'gives -us pause.' There, if anywhere, our gaze and our feet linger; people have a -relief against the sky, as they pass over it; artists look patiently -thither; lovers, the sad, the humorous, and the meditative, stop there to -observe and to muse; they lean over the parapet and watch the flowing -tide; they look thence around as from a pleasant vantage-ground. The -bridge, in populous old towns, is the rendezvous, the familiar landmark, -the traditional nucleus of the place, and perhaps the only picturesque -framework in all those marts and homes, more free, open, and suggestive of -a common lot than temple, square, or palace; for there pass and repass -noble and peasant, regal equipage and humble caravan; children plead to -stay, and veterans moralize there; the privileged beggar finds a -standing-place for charity to bless; a shrine hallows or a sentry guards, -history consecrates or art glorifies; and trade, pleasure, or battle, -perchance, lend to it the spell of fame. The dearest associations of a -life are described in one of Jean Ingelow's most elaborate poems, as -revolving around and identified with 'Four Bridges:'-- - - 'Our brattling river tumbles through the one; - The second spans a shallow, weedy brook; - Beneath the others, and beneath the sun, - Lie two long stilly pools, and on their breasts - Picture their wooden piles, encased in swallows' nests. - And round about them grows a fringe of weeds, - And then a floating crown of lily flowers, - And yet within small silver-budded weeds; - But each clear centre evermore embowers - A deeper sky, where stooping, you may see - The little minnows twirling restlessly.' - -In the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, the picturesque bridge over the Don, -with its adjacent rocks, trees, and deep, dark stream, is known as the -'brig of Balgownie.' Thomas the Rhymer uttered many prophecies about -'Balgownie's brig black wa';' and it figures among the scenes of Byron's -boyhood. Let any one recall his sojourn in a foreign city, and conjure to -his mind's eye the scenes, and prominent to his fancy, distinct to his -memory, will be the bridge. He will think of Florence as intersected by -the Arno, and with the very name of that river reappears the peerless -grace of the Ponte Santa Trinità with its moss-grown escutcheons and -aërial curves. He will recall the Pont du Gard with the vicinage of -Nismes; the Pont Neuf, at Paris, with its soldiers and priests, its -boot-blacks and grisettes, the gay streets on one side, and the studious -quarter on the other, typifies and concentrates for him the associations -of the French capital; and what a complete symbol of Venice--its canals, -its marbles, its mysterious polity, its romance of glory and woe--is a -good photograph of the Bridge of Sighs! Her history is, indeed, singularly -identified with bridges. One, as her exchange, is permanently associated -with the palmiest days of mediæval commerce; another with the darker -records of her criminal law; while on one of her bridges, Sarpi, the -'terrible friar' Paolo was waylaid and nearly killed by Papal assassins, -whence dates the most efficient protest against ecclesiastical tyranny. - -The history of Rome is written on her bridges. The Ponte Rotto is Art's -favourite trophy of her decay; two-thirds of it has disappeared; and the -last Pope has ineffectively repaired it, by a platform sustained by iron -wire: yet who that has stood thereon in the sunset, and looked from the -dome of St. Peter's to the islands projected at that hour so distinctly -from the river's surface, glanced along the flushed dwellings upon its -bank, with their intervals of green terraces; or gazed, in the other -direction, upon the Cloaca of Tarquin, Vesta's dome, and the Aventine -Hill, with its palaces, convents, vineyards, and gardens, has not felt -that the Ponte Rotto was the most suggestive observatory in the Eternal -City? The Ponte Molle brings back Constantine and his vision of the Cross; -and the statues on Sant' Angelo mutely attest the vicissitudes of -ecclesiastical eras. - -England boasts no monument of her modern victories so impressive as the -bridge named for the most memorable of them. The best view of Prague and -its people is from the long series of stone arches which span the Moldau. -The solitude and serenity of genius are rarely better realized than by -musing of Klopstock and Gessner, Lavater and Zimmermann, on the Bridge of -Rapperschwyl on the Lake of Zurich, where they dwelt and wrote or died. -From the Bridge of St. Martin we have the first view of Mont Blanc. The -Suspension Bridge at Niagara is an artificial wonder as great, in its -degree, as the natural miracle of the mighty cataract which thunders for -ever at its side; while no triumph of inventive economy could more aptly -lead the imaginative stranger into the picturesque beauties of Wales than -the extraordinary tubular bridge across the Menai Strait. The -aqueduct-bridge at Lisbon, the long causeway over Cayuga Lake in our own -country, and the bridge over the Loire at Orléans, are memorable in every -traveller's retrospect. - -But the economical and the artistic interest of bridges is often surpassed -by their historical suggestions, almost every vocation and sentiment of -humanity being intimately associated therewith. The Rialto at Venice and -the Ponte Vecchio at Florence, are identified with the financial -enterprise of the one city and the goldsmiths' skill of the other: one was -long the Exchange of the 'City of the Sea,' and still revives the image of -Shylock and the rendezvous of Antonio; while the other continues to -represent mediæval trade in the quaint little shops of jewellers and -lapidaries. One of the characteristic religious orders of that era is -identified with the ancient bridge which crosses the Rhone at Avignon, -erected by the 'Brethren of the Bridge,' a fraternity instituted in an age -of anarchy expressly to protect travellers from the bandits, whose -favourite place of attack was at the passage of rivers. The builder of the -old London Bridge, Peter Colechurch, is believed to have been attached to -this same order; he died in 1176, and was buried in a crypt of the little -chapel on the second pier, according to the habit of the fraternity. For -many years a market was held on this bridge; it was often the scene of -war; it stayed the progress of Canute's fleet; at one time destroyed by -fire, and at another carried away by ice; half ruined in one era by the -bastard Faulconbridge, and at another the watchword of civil war, when the -cry resounded, 'Cade hath gotten London Bridge!' and Wat Tyler's rebels -convened there. Elizabeth and her peerless courtiers have floated, in -luxurious barges and splendid attire, by its old piers, and the heads of -traitors rotted in the sun upon its venerable battlements. Only sixty -years ago a portion of the original structure remained;[49] it was once -covered with houses; Peter the Dutchman's famous water-wheels plashed at -its side; from the dark street and projected gables noted tavern-signs -vibrated in the wind. The exclusive thoroughfare from the city to Kent and -Surrey, what ceremonial and scenes has it not witnessed,--royal entrances -and greetings, rites under the low brown arches of the old chapel, revelry -in the convenient hostels, traffic in the crowded mart, chimes from the -quaint belfry, the tragic triumph of vindictive law in the gory heads upon -spikes! The veritable and minute history of London Bridge would illustrate -the civic and social annals of England; and romance could scarce invent a -more effective background for the varied scenes and personages such a -chronicle would exhibit than the dim local perspective, when, ere any -bridge stood there, the ferryman's daughter founded, with the tolls, a -House of Sisters, subsequently transformed into a college of priests. By a -law of Nature, thus do the elements of civilization cluster around the -place of transit; thus do the courses of the water indicate the direction -and nucleus of emigration,--from the vast lakes and mighty rivers of -America, whereby an immense continent is made available to human -intercourse, and therefore to material unity, to the point where the -Thames was earliest crossed and spanned. More special historical and -social facts may be found attached to every old bridge. In war, -especially, heroic achievement and desperate valour have often consecrated -these narrow defiles and exclusive means of advance and retreat:-- - - 'When the goodman mends his armour, - And trims his helmet's plume, - When the goodwife's shuttle merrily - Goes flashing through the loom, - With weeping and with laughter - Still is the story told, - How well Horatius kept the bridge - In the good old days of old.' - -The bridge of Darius spanned the Bosphorus,--of Xerxes, the -Hellespont,--of Cæsar, the Rhine,--and of Trajan, the Danube; while the -victorious march of Napoleon has left few traces so unexceptionably -memorable as the massive causeways of the Simplon. Cicero arrested the -bearer of letters to Catiline on the Pons Milonis, built in the time of -Sylla on the ancient Via Flaminia; and by virtue of the blazing cross -which he saw in the sky from the Ponte Molle the Christian emperor -Constantine conquered Maxentius. The Pont du Gard near Nismes, and the St. -Esprit near Lyons, were originally of Roman construction. During the war -of freedom, so admirably described by our countryman, whereby rose the -Dutch Republic, the Huguenots, at the siege of Valenciennes, we are told, -'made forays upon the monasteries for the purpose of procuring supplies, -and the broken statues of the dismantled churches were used to build a -bridge across an arm of the river, which was called, in derision, the -Bridge of Idols.' - -But a more memorable historical bridge is admirably described in another -military episode of this favourite historian,--that which Alexander of -Parma built across the Scheldt, whereby Antwerp was finally won for Philip -of Spain. Its construction was a miracle of science and courage; and it -became the scene of one of the most terrible tragedies and the most -fantastic festivals which signalize the history of that age, and -illustrate the extraordinary and momentous struggle for religious liberty -in the Netherlands. Its piers extended five hundred feet into the -stream,--connected with the shore by boats, defended by palisades, -fortified parapets, and spiked rafts; cleft and partially destroyed by the -volcanic fire-ship of Gianebelli, a Mantuan chemist and engineer, whereby -a thousand of the best troops of the Spanish army were instantly killed, -and their brave chief stunned,--when the hour of victory came to the -besiegers, it was the scene of a floral procession and Arcadian banquet, -and 'the whole extent of its surface from the Flemish to the Brabant -shore' was alive with 'war-bronzed figures crowned with flowers.' 'This -magnificent undertaking has been favourably compared with the celebrated -Rhine bridge of Julius Cæsar. When it is remembered, however, that the -Roman work was performed in summer, across a river only half as broad as -the Scheldt, free from the disturbing action of the tides, and flowing -through an unresisting country, while the whole character of the -structure, intended only to serve for the single passage of an army, was -far inferior to the massive solidity of Parma's bridge, it seems not -unreasonable to assign the superiority to the general who had surmounted -all the obstacles of a northern winter, vehement ebb and flow from the -sea, and enterprising and desperate enemies at every point.'[50] - -It was at the bridge of Pinos, where the Moors and Christians had so -fiercely battled, that Columbus, after pleading his cause in vain at the -court, hastening away with despondent steps, was overtaken by the queen's -messenger; recalled, and provided with the substantial aid that led to his -momentous discovery. It was in a pavilion in the middle of the bridge -across the Seine at Montereau, that the Dauphin, afterwards Charles the -Seventh, invited the Duke of Burgundy to meet him in colloquy; and there -the latter met his death. The Bridge of Lodi is one of the great landmarks -of Napoleon's career; and the Bridge of Concord no insignificant landmark -of the American Revolutionary War. Over the Melos at Smyrna is a bridge -which is a rendezvous for camels, and has been justly called 'the central -point of the commerce of Asia Minor.' - -We have a memorable illustration of the historic interest of bridges, in -the elaborate annals of the Pont Neuf.[51] Although in importance it has -long since been superseded by other elegant causeways, for centuries it -was the centre of Paris life,--of the trade and pastime, of the scandal -and the violences, of the shows and _émeutes_, so that the record of what -occurred there is an epitome of political and social history. It was the -rendezvous of dog-clippers and ballad-singers, of _bravi_ and gallants, of -the quack and the courtezan, of student, soldier, artist, and gossip. 'The -heart of Paris beat there,' says the historian of the Pont Neuf, 'from the -seventeenth century;' the statue of Henry IV. alone made it the nucleus of -political associations; it was alike the scene of Cellini's adventure and -Sterne's sentiment. Catherine de Medicis laid its first stone. Henry IV. -completed it; guillotines, _cafés_, and altars have signalized its -extremities or parapets. La Fronde was there inaugurated; there the -discharge of cannon proclaimed the flight of the king in '91; its pavement -was bloody with the massacres of September; the first Napoleon there first -tried his hand against the revolution; it was the scene of an Englishman's -famous bet and a parrot's famous lingo. Huguenot, royalist, priest, -executioner, _gamin_, assassin, thief, dandy, nun, hero, and -actress,--procession, tryst, ambush, faction, and farce,--murder, song, -_bon-mot_, watchword,--the tragic, the holy, and the hopeless in life, -alternate in the story of the Pont Neuf. The Countess du Barri, as a -child, 'the pretty little angel,' was a vendor there; and an old epigram -identified her career with bridges,--her birth with the Pont au Choux, her -childhood with the Pont Neuf, her triumph with the Pont Royale, and her -end with the Pont aux Dames. - -Even the fragile bridges of our own country during the Revolution, have an -historical importance in the story of war. The 'Great Bridge' across the -Elizabeth river, nine miles from Norfolk in Virginia; the floating bridge -at Ticonderoga; that which spanned Stony Brook in New Jersey; and many -others, are identified with strife or stratagem. What an effective object -in the distant landscape, to the _habitué_ of the Central Park in New -York, is the lofty bridge whereby the Croton aqueduct crosses the Harlaem -river, with its fifteen arches, its fourteen hundred feet of length, and -its span of nearly a thousand! How few of the multitude to whom King's -Bridge is a daily goal or transit, are cognizant of its historical -associations; yet the records of Manhattan Island declare that in 1692 -'His Excellency the Governor, out of great favour and good to the city,' -proposed the building of this bridge, and soon ordered that 'if Frederick -Phillipse will undertake the same, he shall have the preference of their -Majesties' grant (5th of King William and 3rd of Queen Mary), which was -subsequently confirmed to the lord of the manor of Phillipsburgh;' whereon -was born and lived Washington's first love--the beautiful Mary Phillipse. -Here was the barrier of the British, when they occupied New York Island in -the Revolution; while as far north as the Croton river extended the -neutral ground, the scene of Cooper's first American romance, the heroine -of which is this same fair but unresponsive enslaver of our peerless -chief's young affections. Here, in '75, Congress ordered a post -established to protect New York by land; two years later occurred the -sanguinary fight between the Continentals under Heath and the Hessians -under Knyphausen. The next year Cornwallis fixed his command at the same -border causeway; and in '81, when our army came near the spot to give the -French officers a view of the outposts, a brisk skirmish ensued, and a -number of our men were killed at long shot. King's Bridge was long the -rendezvous of freebooters in those unsettled times, and the rallying point -of the Cow-boys. Beautifully situated at the confluence of the Hudson and -Harlaem rivers, surrounded by high rolling hills, then thickly wooded and -crowned with forts, the region was originally selected as the site of New -Amsterdam, on account of its secure position. When Manhattan Island was -abandoned by the British in '76, Washington occupied King's Bridge as his -head-quarters. Indeed, from Trenton to Lodi, military annals have few more -fierce conflicts than those wherein the bridge of the battle-ground is -disputed; to cross one is often a declaration of war, and Rubicons abound -in history. - -There is probably no single problem, wherein the laws of science and -mechanical skill combine, which has so won the attention and challenged -the powers of inventive minds as the construction of bridges. The various -exigencies to be met, the possible triumphs to be achieved, the -experiments as to form, material, security, and grace, have been prolific -causes of inspiration and disappointment. In this branch of economy, the -mechanic and the mathematician fairly meet; and it requires a rare union -of ability in both vocations to arrive at original results in this sphere. -To invent a bridge, through the application of a scientific principle by a -novel method, is one of those projects which seem to fascinate -philosophical minds; in few have theory and practice been more completely -tested; and the history of bridges, scientifically written, would exhibit -as remarkable conflicts of opinion, trials of inventive skill, decision of -character, genius, folly, and fame, as any other chapter in the annals of -progress. How to unite security with the least inconvenience, permanence -with availability, strength with beauty,--how to adapt the structure to -the location, climate, use, and risks,--are questions which often invoke -all the science and skill of the architect, and which have increased in -difficulty with the advance of other resources and requisitions of -civilization. Whether a bridge is to cross a brook, a river, a strait, an -inlet, an arm of the sea, a canal, or a valley, are so many diverse -contingencies which modify the calculations and plans of the engineer. -Here liability to sudden freshets, there to overwhelming tides, now to the -enormous weight of railway-trains, and again to the corrosive influence of -the elements, must be taken into consideration; the navigation of waters, -the exigencies of war, the needs of a population, the respective uses of -viaduct, aqueduct, and roadway, have often to be included in the problem. -These considerations influence not only the method of construction, but -the form adopted and the material, and have given birth to bridges of -wood, brick, stone, iron, wire, and chain,--to bridges supported by piers, -to floating, suspension, and tubular structures, many of which are among -the remarkable trophies of modern science and the noblest fruits of the -arts of peace. Railways have created an entirely new species of bridge, to -enable a train to intersect a road, to cross canals in slanting -directions, to turn amid jagged precipices, and to cross arms of the sea -at a sufficient elevation not to interfere with the passage of -ships,--objects not to be accomplished by suspension-bridges because of -their oscillation, nor girder for lack of support, the desiderata being -extensive span with rigid strength, so triumphantly realized in the -tubular bridge. The day when the great Holyrood train, passing over the -Strait of Menai by this grand expedient, established the superiority of -this principle of construction, became a memorable occasion in the annals -of mechanical science, and immortalized the name of Stephenson. - -We find great national significance in the history of bridges in different -countries. Their costly and substantial grandeur in Britain accords with -the solid qualities of the race, and their elegance on the Continent with -the pervasive influence of art in Europe. It is a curious illustration of -the inferior economical and high intellectual development of Greece, that -the 'Athenians waded, when their temples were the most perfect models of -architecture;' and equally an evidence of the practical energy of the old -Romans, that their stone bridges often remain to this hour intact. Our own -incomplete civilization is manifest in the marvellous number of bridges -that annually break down, from negligent or unscientific construction; -while the indomitable enterprise of the people is no less apparent in some -of the longest, loftiest, most wonderfully constructed and sustained -bridges in the world. We have only to cross the Suspension Bridge at -Niagara, or gaze up to its aërial tracery from the river, or look forth -upon wooded ravines and down precipitous and umbrageous glens from the -Erie railway, to feel that in this, as in all other branches of mechanical -enterprise, our nation is as boldly dexterous as culpably reckless. In no -other country would so hazardous an experiment have been ventured as that -of an engineer on one of the most frequented lines of railroad in the -land, who, finding the bridge he was approaching on fire, bade the -passengers keep their seats, and dashed boldly through the flames ere the -main arch gave way! 'The vast majority of bridges in this country,' says a -recent writer, 'whether for railroads or for ordinary horse-travel, have -these elemental points:--1. Fragility. 2. Unendurably hideous ugliness. 3. -Great aptitude for catching fire. They are all built of wood, and must be -constantly patched and mended, and will rot away in a very few years. They -are enormous blots on the landscape, stretching as they do like long -unpainted boxes across the stream; like huge Saurian monsters with -ever-open jaws into which you rush, or walk, or drive, and are gobbled up -from all sight or sense of beauty. The dry timber of which they are built -will catch fire from the mere spark of a locomotive, as in the case a few -years ago of that hideous bridge which had so long insulted the Hudson -river at Troy; and which was not only burned itself, but spread the -destroying flame to the best part of the town. These bridges deface all -the valleys of our land. The Housatonic, the Mohawk, the Lehigh, the -hundreds of small yet beautiful rivers which so delightfully diversify our -country, one and all suffer by the vile wooden-bridge system which has -nothing at all to plead in extenuation of its tasteless, expensive -existence. Every bridge in this country should be deprived of its heavy -roof; and if the exigencies of engineering required side-walls, they -should be plentifully perforated with open spaces. The more recent -railroad bridges are fortunately open bridges, or "viaducts," as it is -fashionable to call them, and the traveller, as in the case of the -Starucca viaduct on the Erie road, can both admire the engineering skill -and enjoy the scenery. The Connecticut valley is terribly disfigured by -these bridges; and a traveller from New Haven to Memphremagog will be -thoroughly impressed with this fact, which is the only drawback to the -pleasure of the route.' As an instance of ingenuity in this sphere, the -bridge which crosses the Potomac creek, near Washington, deserves notice. -The hollow iron arches which support this bridge also serve as conduits to -the aqueduct which supplies the city with water. - -Amid the mass of prosaic structures in London, what a grand exception to -the architectural monotony are her bridges! How effectually they have -promoted her suburban growth! 'The English,' wrote Rose, from Italy, 'are -Hottentots in architecture except that of bridges.' Canova thought the -Waterloo Bridge the finest in Europe; and, by a strangely-tragic -coincidence, this noble and costly structure is the favourite scene of -suicidal despair, wherewith the catastrophes of modern novels and the most -pathetic of city lyrics are indissolubly associated. Westminster Bridge is -as truly the Swiss Laboyle's monument of architectural genius, fortitude, -and patience, as St. Paul's is that of Wren; there Crabbe, with his poems -in his pocket, walked to and fro in a flutter of suspense the morning -before his fortunate application to Burke; and our own Remington's -bridge-enthusiasm involves a pathetic story. At Cordova, the bridge over -the Guadalquiver is a grand relic of Moorish supremacy. The oldest bridge -in England is that of Croyland in Lincolnshire; the largest crosses the -Trent in Staffordshire. Tom Paine designed a cast-iron bridge, but the -speculation failed, and the materials were subsequently used in the -beautiful bridge over the river Wear, in Durham county. There is a segment -of a circle six hundred feet in diameter in Palmer's bridge which spans -our own Piscataqua. It is said that the first edifice of the kind which -the Romans built of stone was the Ponte Rotto--begun by the Censor -Fulvius, and finished by Scipio Africanus and Lucius Mummius. Popes Julius -III. and Gregory XIV. repaired it; so that the fragment now so valued as -a picturesque ruin symbolizes both Imperial and Ecclesiastical rule. In -striking contrast with the reminiscences of valour hinted by ancient Roman -bridges, are the ostentatious Papal inscriptions which everywhere in the -States of the Church, in elaborate Latin, announce that this Pontiff -built, or that Pontiff repaired, these structures. - -The mediæval castle-moat and drawbridge have, indeed, been transferred -from the actual world to that of fiction, history, and art, except where -preserved as memorials of antiquity; but the civil importance which from -the dawn of civilization attached to the bridge is as patent to-day as -when a Roman emperor, a feudal lord, or a monastic procession went forth -to celebrate or consecrate its advent or completion; in evidence whereof, -we have the appropriate function which made permanently memorable the late -visit of Victoria's son to her American realms, in his inauguration of the -magnificent bridge bearing her name, which is thrown across the St. -Lawrence for a distance of only sixty yards less than two English -miles,--the greatest tubular bridge in the world. When the young prince, -amid the cheers of a multitude and the grand cadence of the national -anthem, finished the Victoria Bridge by giving three blows with a mallet -to the last rivet in the central tube, he celebrated one of the oldest, -though vastly advanced, triumphs of the arts of peace, which ally the -rights of the people and the good of human society to the representatives -of law and polity. - -One may recoil with a painful sense of material incongruity, as did -Hawthorne, when contemplating the noisome suburban street where Burns -lived; but all the humane and poetical associations connected with the -long struggle sustained by him, of 'the highest in man's soul against the -lowest in man's destiny,' recur in sight of the Bridge of Doon, and the -'Twa Brigs of Ayr,' whose 'imaginary conversations' he caught and -recorded; or that other bridge which spans a glen on the Auchinleck -estate, where the rustic bard first saw the Lass of Ballochmyle. The -tender admiration which embalms the name of Keats is also blent with the -idea of a bridge. The poem which commences his earliest published volume -was suggested, according to Milnes, as he 'loitered by the gate that leads -from the battery on Hampstead Heath to the field by Caenwood;' and the -young poet told his friend Clarke that the sweet passage, 'Awhile upon -some bending planks,' came to him as he hung 'over the rail of a -foot-bridge that spanned a little brook in the last field upon entering -Edmonton.' One of Wordsworth's finest sonnets was composed on Westminster -Bridge. To the meditative pedestrian, indeed, such places lure to -quietude; the genial Country Parson, whose _Recreations_ we have recently -shared, unconsciously illustrates this, as he speaks of the privilege men -like him enjoy, when free 'to saunter forth with a delightful sense of -leisure, and know that nothing will go wrong, although he should sit down -on the mossy parapet of the little one-arched bridge that spans the -brawling mountain-stream.' On that Indian-summer day when Irving was -buried, no object of the familiar landscape, through which, without -formality, and in quiet grief, so many of the renowned and the humble -followed his remains from the village church to the rural graveyard, wore -so pensive a fitness to the eye as the simple bridge over Sleepy-Hollow -Creek, near to which Ichabod Crane encountered the headless horseman,--not -only as typical of his genius, which thus gave a local charm to the scene, -but because the country-people, in their heartfelt wish to do him honour, -had hung wreaths of laurel upon the rude planks. There are few places in -Europe where the picturesque and historical associations of a bridge more -vividly impress the spectator than Sorrento; divided from the main land by -a gorge two hundred feet deep and fifty wide, the chasm is spanned by a -bridge which rests on double arches, built by the Romans; it is the -popular rendezvous, and, beheld on coming from some adjacent -orange-garden, resembles a picture,--the men with their crimson or brown -caps, and the women with jetty hair and eyes and enormous earrings, -cluster there in the centre of the most exquisite scenery. There is a -bridge across the Adige, at Verona, which used to be opened but once a -year, on account of the risk of injury--its span being prodigious; it was -long called the 'Holiday Bridge.' In Paris the change in the names of -bridges is historically significant: in 1817 'the bridge of Austerlitz -abdicated its name,' and became the bridge of the Jardin des Plantes. The -lofty bridge of Carignano, at Genoa, owes its existence to a quarrel -between two noblemen; and it is a favourite sacrificial spot to suicides -who have repeatedly thrown themselves therefrom headlong into the Strada -Servi. - -'The Baltimore and Ohio railroad company lose two of their admirable -bridges: one at Fairmount, over the Monongahela river, and the famous one -over the Cheat river,' wrote a late reporter from the scene of war in -Virginia. 'The latter was one of the most beautiful structures in the -United States, and, being placed amid scenery of unsurpassed grandeur, it -had already become a classic spot in the guide-book of American art. It -was vandalism fit for ingrates and traitors of the lowest type to destroy -what was at once so beautiful and useful a monument of taste and science.' - -Another fine landscape effect produced by a bridge is at Spoleto, in the -Roman States; the ten brick arches that so picturesquely span the romantic -valley, have carried the water for centuries into the old city. The -magnificent bridge by which Madrid is approached, is a grand feature in -the adjacent landscape; and its striking photograph a noble souvenir of -the Spanish capital. The most awful bridge imagination ever created is -that described by Milton, whereby Satan's 'sea should find a shore:'-- - - 'Sin and Death amain - Following his track, such was the will of Heaven, - Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way - O'er the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf - Tamely endured a bridge of wond'rous length, - From hell continued, reaching th' utmost orb - Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverse - With easy intercourse pass to and fro - To tempt and punish mortals.' - -Fragments, as well as entire roadways and arches of natural bridges, are -more numerous in rocky, mountainous, and volcanic regions than is -generally supposed; the action of the water in excavating cliffs, the -segments of caverns, the accidental shapes of geological formations, often -result in structures so adapted for the use and like the shape of bridges -as to appear of artificial origin. In the States of Alabama and Kentucky, -especially, we have notable instances of these remarkable freaks of -Nature; there is one in Walker county, of the former State, which, as a -local curiosity, is unsurpassed; and one in the romantic county of -Christian, in the latter State, makes a span of seventy feet with an -altitude of thirty; while the vicinity of the famous Alabaster Mountain of -Arkansas boasts a very curious and interesting formation of this species. -Two of these natural bridges are of such vast proportions and symmetrical -structure that they rank among the wonders of the world, and have long -been the goals of pilgrimage, the shrines of travel. Their structure would -hint the requisites, and their forms the lines of beauty, desirable in -architectural prototypes. Across Cedar creek, in Rockbridge county, -Virginia, a beautiful and gigantic arch, thrown by elemental forces and -shaped by time, extends. It is a stratified arch, whence you gaze down two -hundred feet upon the flowing water; its sides are rock, nearly -perpendicular. Popular conjecture reasonably deems it the fragmentary arch -of an immense limestone cave; its loftiness imparts an aspect of -lightness, although at the centre it is nearly fifty feet thick, and so -massive is the whole that over it passes a public road, so that by -keeping in the middle one might cross unaware of the marvel. To realize -its height it must be viewed from beneath; from the side of the creek it -has a Gothic aspect; its immense walls, clad with forest-trees, its dizzy -elevation, buttress-like masses, and aërial symmetry, make this sublime -arch one of those objects which impress the imagination with grace and -grandeur all the more impressive because the mysterious work of -Nature,--eloquent of the ages, and instinct with the latent forces of the -universe. Equally remarkable, but in a diverse style, is the Giant's -Causeway, whose innumerable black stone columns rise from two to four -hundred feet above the water's edge in the county of Antrim, on the north -coast of Ireland. These basaltic pillars are for the most part pentagonal, -whose five sides are closely united, not in one conglomerate mass, but -articulated so aptly that to be traced the ball and socket must be -disjointed. - -The effect of statuary upon bridges is memorable. The Imperial statues -which line that of Berlin form an impressive array; and whoever has seen -the figures on the bridge of Sant' Angelo at Rome, when illuminated on a -Carnival night, or the statues upon Santa Trinità at Florence, bathed in -moonlight, and their outlines distinctly revealed against sky and water, -cannot but realize how harmoniously sculpture may heighten the -architecture of the bridge. More quaint than appropriate is pictorial -embellishment; a beautiful Madonna or local saint placed midway or at -either end of a bridge, especially one of mediæval form and fashion, seems -appropriate; but elaborate painting, such as one sees at Lucerne, strikes -us as more curious than desirable. The bridge which divides the town and -crosses the Reuss is covered, yet most of the pictures are -weather-stained; as no vehicles are allowed, foot-passengers can examine -them at ease. They are in triangular frames, ten feet apart; but few have -any technical merit. One series illustrates Swiss history; and the -Kapellbrücke has the pictorial life of the Saint of the town; while the -Mile Bridge exhibits a quaint and rough copy of the famous 'Dance of -Death.' - -In Switzerland what fearful ravines and foaming cascades do bridges cross! -sometimes so aërial, and overhanging such precipices, as to justify to the -imagination the name superstitiously bestowed on more than one, of the -Devil's Bridge; while from few is a more lovely effect of near water seen -than the 'arrowy Rhone,' as we gaze down upon its 'blue rushing,' beneath -the bridge at Geneva. Perhaps the varied pictorial effects of bridges, at -least in a city, are nowhere more striking than at Venice, whose five -hundred, with their mellow tint and association with palatial architecture -and streets of water, especially when revealed by the soft and radiant -hues of an Italian sunset, present outlines, shapes, colours, and -contrasts so harmonious and beautiful as to warm and haunt the imagination -while they charm the eye. It is remarkable, as an artistic fact, how -graciously these structures adapt themselves to such diverse -scenes,--equally, though variously, picturesque amid the sturdy foliage -and wild gorges of the Alps, the bustle, fog, and mast-forest of the -Thames, and the crystal atmosphere, Byzantine edifices, and silent canals -of Venice. - -Whoever has truly felt the aërial perspective of Turner has attained a -delicate sense of the pictorial significance of the bridge; for, as we -look through his floating mists, we descry, amid Nature's most evanescent -phenomena, the span, the arch, the connecting lines or masses whereby this -familiar image seems to identify itself not less with Nature than with -Art. Among the drawings which Arctic voyagers have brought home, many a -bridge of ice, enormous and symmetrical, seems to tempt adventurous feet -and to reflect a like form of fleecy cloud-land; daguerreotyped by the -frost in miniature, the same structures may be traced on the window-pane; -printed on the fossil and the strata of rock, in the veins of bark and the -lips of shells, or floating in sunbeams, an identical design appears; and, -on a summer morning, as the eye carefully roams over a lawn, how often do -the most perfect little suspension-bridges hang from spear to spear of -herbage, their filmy span embossed with glittering dewdrops![52] - - -THE END. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] 'A recent London paper advertises a genuine _thesaurus_ of ancient -tavern signs and other curiosities at auction, collected during a long -life by some curious antiquary. The catalogue covered an extensive and -unique collection for a history of ancient and modern inns, taverns, and -coffee-houses, in town and country (numbering upwards of 850 signs), -formed with unwearied diligence and vast outlay during a lifetime; and -illustrated with upwards of 2,500 ancient and modern engravings, -comprising topographical and antiquarian subjects, early views of London, -caricatures, humorous and satirical subjects, portraits of celebrities -whose names have been adopted as signs, characters remarkable for their -eccentricities, actors and actresses; others illustrating ancient sports -and pastimes, etchings, wood-cuts, and numerous others, plain and -coloured, many of great rarity; also 415 drawings in water-colours, sepia, -and pen and ink, and numerous copies from scarce engravings and old -paintings; together with extensive antiquarian, local, and biographical -notices (both printed and in MS.) on signs and their origin, merriments -and witticisms in prose and verse, tales, traditions, legends, and -remarkable incidents, singular inscriptions on tap-room windows and walls, -anecdotes of landlords, guests, visitors, writers, &c.' - -[2] Count Pecchio. - -[3] Alexander Smith. - -[4] Prescott's Robertson's _Charles Fifth_, vol. 1, p. 355. - -[5] Brooks's _History of Medford_. - -[6] A. Trollope. - -[7] _A Month in England._ - -[8] _Life and Letters of John Winthrop_, by Robert C. Winthrop, p. 306. - -[9] 'I would not,' observes Washington Irving in one of his letters, 'give -an hour's conversation with Wilkie about paintings, in his earnest but -precise and original enthusiasm, for all the enthusiasm and declamation of -the common run of amateurs and artists.' - -[10] One of the recently-discovered gems of pictorial art in Florence is -the 'coach-house picture;' so called from being a fresco on a stable-wall; -and under the head of 'Romance of a Portrait,' the London _Athenæum_ -publishes a statement which seems to show conclusively that the famous -portrait of Addison at Holland House, which has been copied and engraved -time and again, and has been mentioned as authentic by Macaulay, is in -fact not a portrait of Addison, but a portrait of Sir Andrew Fountaine, of -Narford Hall, Norfolk, vice-chamberlain to Queen Caroline, and the -successor of Sir Isaac Newton in the wardenship of the Mint. - -[11] Another current tradition is the following:--'So great was the -excitement of the Roman populace against the condemnation of Beatrice, -that on her way to the scaffold three attempts were made, by concerted -bands of young men, to rescue her from the officers' hands. On the eve of -the fatal day she sat meditating her doom so intently, that for some time -she did not notice a young man who had bribed the jailer to admit him into -the cell for the purpose of making a sketch of her. Her appearance is thus -described:--"Beatrice had risen from her miserable pallet, but, unlike the -wretched inmate of a dungeon, resembled a being from a brighter sphere. -Her large brown eyes were of liquid softness, her forehead broad and -clear, her countenance of angelic purity, mysteriously beautiful. Around -her head a fold of white muslin had been carelessly wrapped, from whence -in rich luxuriance fell her fair and waving hair. Profound sorrow and -recent bodily anguish imparted an air of touching sensibility to her -lovely features. Suddenly turning, she discovered a stranger seated with -pencil and paper in hand looking earnestly at her--it was Guido Reni. She -demanded who he was, and what he did there; the frank young artist told -his name and object, when, after a moment's hesitation, Beatrice replied, -'Signor Guido, your great name and my sad story may make my portrait -interesting, and the picture will awaken compassion if you write on one of -its angles the word _innocent_.'" Thus was birth given to an inspired -picture, which, to contemplate, is itself worth a visit to Rome; which, -once seen, haunts the memory as a supernatural mystery--as the beautiful -apparition of sublimated suffering.' - -[12] Bulwer's _Strange Story_. - -[13] 'Mohammedanism had been the patron of physical science; paganizing -Christianity not only repudiated it, but exhibited towards it sentiments -of contemptuous disdain and hatred; hence physicians were viewed by the -Church with dislike, and regarded as atheists by the people, who had been -taught that cures must be wrought by relics of martyrs and bones of -saints: for each disease there was a saint. Already it was apparent that -the Saracenic movement would aid in developing the intelligence of -barbarian Western Europe, through Hebrew physicians, in spite of the -opposition encountered from theological ideas imported from Constantinople -and Rome.'--Draper's _Intellectual Development of Europe_, p. 414. - -[14] - - 'When fainting Nature called for aid, - And hovering Death prepared the blow, - His vigorous remedy displayed - The power of Art without the show. - In Misery's darkest caverns known, - His useful help was ever nigh; - Where hopeless Anguish poured his groan, - Or lonely Want retired to die. - No summons mocked by chill delay, - No petty gains disdained by pride; - The modest wants of every day, - The toil of every day supplied.' - -[15] _Shakspeare's Medical Knowledge_, by Charles W. Stearns, M.D. New -York: D. Appleton and Co. - -[16] 'Country dances' were taught in France, in 1684, by Isaac, an -Englishman.--D. - -[17] Which has long ceased to exist. - -[18] _Essays of Elia._ - -[19] In 1860. - -[20] _Friends in Council._ - -[21] 'By the working of the apparatus for the administration of justice, -they make their profits; and their welfare depends on its being so worked -as to bring them profits, rather than on its being so worked as to -administer justice.'--_Herbert Spencer._ - -[22] Lockhart's _Life of Scott_. - -[23] Sir T. Browne. - -[24] Deut. xxxiv. 6. - -[25] Tennyson's _In Memoriam_. - -[26] _Dei Sepolchri_, di Ugo Foscolo. - -[27] A recent advocate for cremation thus suggests the process:--'On a -gentle eminence, surrounded by pleasant grounds, stands a convenient, -well-ventilated chapel, with a high spire or steeple. At the entrance, -where some of the mourners might prefer to take leave of the body, are -chambers for their accommodation. Within the edifice are seats for those -who follow the remains to the last; there is also an organ and a gallery -for choristers. In the centre of the chapel, embellished with appropriate -emblems and devices, is erected a shrine of marble, somewhat like those -which cover the ashes of the great and mighty in our old cathedrals, the -openings being filled with prepared glass. Within this--a sufficient space -intervening--is an inner shrine, covered with bright, non-radiating metal, -and within this again is a covered sarcophagus of tempered fire-clay, with -one or more longitudinal slits near the top, extending its whole length. -As soon as the body is deposited therein, sheets of flame, at an immensely -high temperature, rush through the long apertures from end to end; and -acting as a combination of a modified oxyhydrogen blowpipe, with the -reverberatory furnace, utterly and completely consume and decompose the -body in an incredibly short space of time; even the large quantity of -water it contains is decomposed by the extreme heat, and its elements, -instead of retarding, aid combustion, as is the case in fierce -conflagrations. The gaseous products of combustion are conveyed away by -flues, and means being adopted to consume anything like smoke, all that is -observed from the outside is occasionally a quivering transparent ether -floating away from the high steeple to mingle with the atmosphere.' - -[28] 'How can we reconcile this pious and faithful remembrance with the -character of a nation generally thought so frivolous and inconstant? Let -this amiable, affectionate, but slandered people send the stranger and the -traveller to this place. These carefully tended flowers, these tombs, will -speak their defence.'--_Memoir of Harriet Preble_, p. 70. - -[29] _Atlantic Monthly_, vol. ii., p. 139. - -[30] 'I am now engaged,' wrote Mr. Severn, the artist-friend who watched -over Keats in his last hours, 'on a picture of the poet's grave. The -classical story of _Endymion_ being the subject of his principal poem, I -have introduced a young shepherd sleeping against the headstone, with his -flock about him; while the moon from behind the pyramid illuminates his -figure, and serves to realize the poet's favourite theme, in the presence -of his grave. This interesting incident is not fanciful, but is what I -actually saw, one autumn evening, at Monte Tertanio, the year following -the poet's death.' - -[31] Ticknor's _Spanish Literature_. - -[32] W. L. Symonds. - -[33] 'News-letters were written by enterprising individuals in the -metropolis, and sent to rich persons who subscribed for them; and then -circulated from family to family, and doubtless enjoyed a privilege which -has not descended to their printed contemporary--the newspaper,--of never -becoming stale. Their authors compiled them from materials picked up in -the gossip of the coffee-houses.'--Draper's _History of the Intellectual -Development of Europe_, p. 509. - -[34] _Jockey's Intelligencer_, 1683. - -[35] Burke's influence upon journalism was still more direct. While -preparing for Dodsley 'An Account of the European Settlements in America,' -he was led by his researches to suggest a periodical which should -chronicle the important literary, political, and social facts of the year. -Such was the origin of the _Annual Registers_. The first volume appeared -in 1759. For several years it was edited by Burke, is still regularly -published, and has been imitated in similar publications elsewhere, having -finally initiated and established the historical element of journalism. - -[36] The following return of the numbers daily printed by the principal -Paris journals is taken from M. Didot's pamphlet on the fabrication of -paper. It may be regarded as official: _Presse_, 40,000; _Siècle_, 35,000; -_Constitutionel_, 25,000; _Moniteur_, 24,000; _Patrie_, 18,000; _Pays_, -14,000; _Débats_, 9,000; _Assemblée Nationale_, 5,000; _Univers_, 3,500; -_Union_, 3,500; _Gazette de France_, 2,500; _Gazettes de Tribunaux_, -2,500. These journals are all printed in five offices; and the quantity of -paper they annually consume amounts to more than four millions of pounds. - -[37] Bryant. - -[38] _Blackwood's Magazine_, vol. xxviii., p. 8. - -[39] Draper's _Intellectual Development of Europe_. - -[40] Dr. Sprague's _Annals of the American Pulpit_ is full of delineations -and anecdotes of prominent preachers. Their energy, zeal, and courage are -viewed in connection with their racy individual peculiarities. What some -of the Methodists had and have to endure and suffer, is indicated by a -direction from a circuit, in want of a preacher, to the Western -Conference: 'Be sure you send us a good swimmer,'--it being the duty of -the minister in that region frequently to swim wide and bridgeless streams -to keep his appointments. - -[41] _Mémoires de Rochambeau._ - -[42] Rev. Archibald Carlyle's _Autobiography_. - -[43] The _Warden_, _Barchester Towers_, and _Framley Parsonage_, by A. -Trollope; _Vincenzo_, by Ruffini; _Mademoiselle La Quintinie_, par Geo. -Sand; _La Maudit_, par L'Abbe ----; _Adam Bede_; _Chronicles of -Carlingford_, &c. - -[44] Dr. J. W. Draper. - -[45] Calvert's _Scenes and Thoughts in Europe_. - -[46] Recent Italian journals speak of a project to construct a bridge over -the Straits of Messina, to unite Sicily with the mainland. The bridge -proposed will be a suspension one, on a new system, the chains being of -cast-steel, and strong enough to support the weight of several railway -trains. - -[47] _Travels through the Middle Settlements of North America, in -1759-60._ By Rev. Andrew Burnaby. - -[48] Bagehot. - -[49] Sir Astley Cooper's nephew presented to Dr. Valentine Mott, the late -eminent New York surgeon, an elegantly-wrought case of amputating -instruments, the handles of which are made of the wood and the blades of -iron from old London Bridge, whose oak timbers were laid in 1176. - -[50] _History of the Netherlands_, vol. i., p. 182. - -[51] _Histoire du Pont Neuf_, par Edouard Fournier. - -[52] 'The invention of the Suspension Bridge, by Sir Samuel Brown, sprung -from the sight of a spider's web hanging across the path of the inventor, -observed on a morning walk, when his mind was occupied with the idea of -bridging the Tweed.' - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Collector, by Henry T. 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