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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65,
+No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 14, 2013 [EBook #44183]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Library of Early Journals.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+
+
+
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  Edinburgh
+
+  MAGAZINE.
+
+  VOL. LXV.
+
+  JANUARY--JUNE, 1849.
+
+  [Illustration: Buchanan]
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH;
+
+  AND
+
+  37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  1849.
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+  NO. CCCXCIX.      JANUARY, 1849.      VOL. LXV.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS,                    1
+
+  FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS,           20
+
+  THE CAXTONS. PART IX.,                     33
+
+  THE WHITE NILE,                            47
+
+  ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN,                  63
+
+  THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED,                  81
+
+  THE SWORD OF HONOUR: A TALE OF 1787,       98
+
+  MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE,            112
+
+
+  EDINBURGH:
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
+  AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._
+
+  SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
+
+  PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE
+
+  NO. CCCXCIX.        JANUARY, 1849.           VOL. LXV.
+
+
+
+
+THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS.
+
+
+"No great state," says Hannibal, "can long remain quiet: if it
+ceases to have enemies abroad, it will find them at home--as
+powerful bodies resist all external attacks, but are wasted away
+by their own internal strength."[1] What a commentary on the
+words of the Carthaginian hero does the last year--THE YEAR OF
+REVOLUTIONS,--afford! What enthusiasm has it witnessed, what
+efforts engendered, what illusions dispelled, what misery produced!
+How bitterly have nations, as well as individuals, within its
+short bounds, learned wisdom by suffering--how many lessons has
+experience taught--how much agony has wickedness brought in its
+train. Among the foremost in all the periods of history, this
+memorable year will ever stand forth, a subject of undying interest
+to succeeding generations, a lasting beacon to mankind amidst the
+folly or insanity of future times. To it the young and the ardent
+will for ever turn, for the most singular scenes of social strife,
+the most thrilling incidents of private suffering: to it the aged
+will point as the most striking warning of the desperate effects of
+general delusion, the most unanswerable demonstration of the moral
+government of the world.
+
+  [1] "Nulla magna civitas diu quiescere potest si foris hostem non
+  habet, _domi invenit_--ut prævalida corpora ab extremis causis tuta
+  videntur, sed suis ipsa viribas onerantur. Tantum, nimirum, ex
+  publicis malis sentimus, quantum ad res privatas pertmet; nec in eis
+  quicquam aerius, quam pecuniæ damnun, stimulat."--LIVY, xxx. 44.
+
+That God will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children was
+proclaimed to the Israelites amidst the thunders of Mount Sinai,
+and has been felt by every succeeding generation of men. But
+it is not now upon the third or the fourth generation that the
+punishment of transgression falls--it is felt in its full bitterness
+by the transgressors themselves. The extension of knowledge, the
+diffusion of education, the art of printing, the increased rapidity
+of travelling, the long duration of peace in consequence of the
+exhaustion of former wars, have so accelerated the march of events,
+that what was slowly effected in former times, daring several
+successive generations, by the gradual development of national
+passions, is now at once brought to maturity by the fervent spirit
+which is generally awakened, and the vehement passions which are
+everywhere brought into action.
+
+Everything now goes on at the gallop. There is a railway speed in
+the stirring of the mind, not less than in the movement of the
+bodies of men. The social and political passions have acquired
+such intensity, and been so widely diffused, that their inevitable
+results are almost immediately produced. The period of seed-time and
+harvest has become as short in political as it is in agricultural
+labour. A single year brings its appropriate fruits to maturity in
+the moral as in the physical world. Eighty years elapsed in Rome
+from the time when the political passions were first stirred by
+Tiberius Gracchus, before its unruly citizens were finally subdued
+by the art, or decimated by the cruelty of Octavius. England
+underwent six years of civil war and suffering, before the ambition
+and madness of the Long Parliament were expelled by the purge of
+Pride, or crushed by the sword of Cromwell: twelve years elapsed
+between the convocation of the States-general in 1789, and the
+extinction of the license of the French Revolution by the arm of
+Napoleon. But, on this occasion, in one year, all, in the meantime
+at least, has been accomplished. Ere the leaves, which unfolded
+in spring amidst the overthrow of thrones, and the transports of
+revolutionists over the world, had fallen in autumn, the passions
+which had convulsed mankind were crushed for the time, and the
+triumphs of democracy were arrested. A terrible reaction had set in;
+experience of suffering had done its work; and swift as the shades
+of night before the rays of the ascending sun, had disappeared
+the ferment of revolution before the aroused indignation of the
+uncorrupted part of mankind. The same passions may again arise; the
+same delusions again spread, as sin springs up afresh in successive
+generations of men; but we know the result. They will, like the ways
+of the unrighteous, be again crushed.
+
+So rapid was the succession of revolutions, when the tempest
+assailed the world last spring, that no human power seemed capable
+of arresting it; and the thoughtful looked on in mournful and
+impotent silence, as they would have done on the decay of nature
+or the ruin of the world. The Pope began the career of innovation:
+decrees of change issued from the Vatican; and men beheld with
+amazement the prodigy of the Supreme Pontiff--the head of the
+unchangeable Church--standing forth as the leader of political
+reform. Naples quickly caught the flame: a Sicilian revolution
+threatened to sever one-half of their dominions from the Neapolitan
+Bourbon; and internal revolt seemed to render his authority merely
+nominal in his own metropolis. Paris, the cradle in every age of
+new ideas, and the centre of revolutionary action, next felt the
+shock: a reform banquet was prepared as the signal for assembling
+the democratic forces; the national guard, as usual, failed at the
+decisive moment: the King of the Barricades quailed before the
+power which had created him; the Orleans dynasty was overthrown,
+and France delivered over to the dreams of the Socialists and the
+ferocity of the Red Republicans. Prussia soon shared the madness:
+the population of Berlin, all trained to arms, according to the
+custom of that country, rose against the government; the king had
+not energy enough to permit his faithful troops to act with the
+vigour requisite to uphold the throne against such assailants, and
+the monarchy of Frederick the Great was overthrown. Austria, even,
+could not withstand the contagion: neither its proud nobility, nor
+its light-hearted sensual people, nor its colossal army, nor its
+centuries of glory, could maintain the throne in its moment of
+peril. The Emperor was weak, the citizens of Vienna were infatuated;
+and an insurrection, headed by the boys at the university and the
+haberdashers' apprentices in the streets, overturned the imperial
+government, and drove the Emperor to seek refuge in the Tyrol. All
+Germany caught the flame: the dreams of a few hot-headed enthusiasts
+and professors seemed to prevail alike over the dictates of wisdom
+and the lessons of experience; and, amidst the transports of
+millions the chimera or German unity seemed about to be realised by
+the sacrifice of all its means of independence. The balance of power
+in Europe appeared irrevocably destroyed by the breaking up of its
+central and most important powers,--and England, in the midst of the
+general ruin, seemed rocking to its foundation. The Chartists were
+in raptures, the Irish rebels in ecstasy: threatening meetings were
+held in every town in Great Britain; armed clubs were organised in
+the whole south and west of Ireland; revolution was openly talked of
+in both islands, and the close of harvest announced as the time when
+the British empire was to be broken up, and Anglian and Hibernian
+republics established, in close alliance with the great parent
+democracy in France. Amidst such extraordinary and unprecedented
+convulsions, it was with difficulty that a few courageous or
+far-seeing minds preserved their equilibrium; and even those who
+were least disposed to despair of the fortunes of the species, could
+see no end to the succession of disasters with which the world
+was menaced but in a great exertion of the renovating powers of
+nature, similar to that predicted, in a similar catastrophe, for the
+material world, by the imagination of the poet.
+
+    "Roll on, ye stars! exult in youthful prime,
+     Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time!
+     Near and more near your beaming cars approach,
+     And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach.
+     Flowers of the sky! ye, too, to Fate must yield,
+     Frail as your silken sisters of the field;
+     Star after star, from heaven's high arch shall rush,
+     Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush;
+     Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall,
+     And Dark, and Night, and Chaos, mingle all;
+     Till, o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,
+     Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,
+     Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
+     And soars and shines, another and the same."[2]
+
+  [2] DARWIN, _Botanic Garden_.
+
+But the destiny of man, not less than that of the material world,
+is balanced action and reaction, not restoration from ruin. Order
+is preserved in a way which the imagination of the poet could
+not have conceived. Even in the brief space which has elapsed
+since the convulsions began in Italy in January last, the reality
+and ceaseless action of the preserving laws of nature have been
+demonstrated. The balance is preserved in social life by contending
+passions and interests, as in the physical world by opposite
+forces, under circumstances when, to all human appearance, remedy
+is impossible and hope extinguished. The orbit of nations is traced
+out by the Wisdom of Providence not less clearly than that of the
+planets; there are centripetal and centrifugal forces in the moral
+as well as in the material world. As much as the vehement passions,
+the selfish desires, the inexperienced zeal, the expanding energy,
+the rapacious indigence, the mingled virtues and vices of man, lead
+at stated periods to the explosions of revolution,--do the desire
+of tranquillity, the interests of property, the horror at cruelty,
+the lessons of experience, the force of religion, the bitterness of
+suffering, reinduce the desire of order, and restore the influence
+of its organ, government. If we contemplate the awful force of the
+expansive powers which, issuing from the great mass of central heat,
+find vent in the fiery channels of the volcano, and have so often
+rent asunder the solid crust of the earth, we may well tremble to
+think that we stand suspended, as it were, over such an abyss,
+and that at no great distance beneath our feet the elements of
+universal conflagration are to be found.[3] But, strong as are the
+expansive powers of nature, the coercive are still stronger. The
+ocean exists to bridle with its weight the fiery gulf; the arch of
+the earth has been solidly constructed by its Divine architect; and
+the only traces we now discover, in most parts of this globe, of
+the yet raging war of the elements, are the twisted strata, which
+mark, as it were, the former writhings of matter in the terrible
+grasp of its tormentors, or the splintered pinnacles of mountains,
+which add beauty to the landscape, or the smiling plains, which
+bring happiness to the abodes of man. It is the same in the moral
+world. Action and reaction are the law of mind as well as matter,
+and the equilibrium of social life is preserved by the opposite
+tendency of the interests which are brought into collision, and
+the counter-acting force of the passions which are successively
+awakened by the very convulsions which seem to menace society with
+dissolution.
+
+  [3] "Thirty-five miles below the surface of the earth, the central
+  heat is everywhere so great, that granite itself is held in
+  fusion."--HUMBOLDT, _Cosmos_, i. 273.
+
+A year has not elapsed since the revolutionary earthquake began to
+heave in Italy, since the volcano burst forth in Paris; and how
+marvellous is the change which already has taken place in the state
+of Europe! The star of Austria, at first defeated, and apparently
+about to be extinguished in Italy, is again in the ascendant.
+Refluent from the Mincio to the Ticino, her armies have again
+entered Milan,--the revolutionary usurpation of Charles Emanuel has
+been checked almost as soon as it commenced; and the revolutionary
+rabble of Lombardy and Tuscany has fled, as it was wont, before
+the bayonets of Germany. Radetzky has extinguished revolution in
+northern Italy. If it still lingers in the south of the peninsula,
+it is only because the strange and tortuous policy of France and
+England has interfered to arrest the victorious arms of Naples
+on the Sicilian shores. Paris has been the theatre of a dreadful
+struggle, blood has flowed in torrents in its streets, slaughter
+unheard-of stained its pavements, but order has in the end prevailed
+over anarchy. A dynasty has been subverted, but the Red Republicans
+have been defeated, more generals have perished in a conflict of
+three days than at Waterloo; but the Faubourg St Antoine has been
+subdued, the socialists have been overthrown, the state of siege
+has been proclaimed; and, amidst universal suffering, anguish, and
+woe, with three hundred thousand persons out of employment in Paris,
+and a deficit of £20,000,000 in the income of the year, the dreams
+of equality have disappeared in the reality of military despotism.
+It is immaterial whether the head of the government is called a
+president, a dictator, or an emperor--whether the civic crown is
+worn by a Napoleon or a Cavaignac--in either case the ascendant of
+the army is established, and France, after a brief struggle for a
+constitutional monarchy, has terminated, like ancient Rome, in an
+elective military despotism.
+
+Frankfort has been disgraced by frightful atrocities. The chief seat
+of German unity and freedom has been stained by cruelties which
+find a parallel only in the inhuman usages of the American savages;
+but the terrible lesson has not been read in vain. It produced a
+reaction over the world; it opened the eyes of men to the real
+tendency and abominable iniquity of the votaries of revolution in
+Germany; and to the sufferings of the martyrs of revolutionary
+tortures on the banks of the Maine, the subsequent overthrow of
+anarchy in Vienna and Berlin is in a great degree to be ascribed.
+They roused the vacillating cabinets of Austria and Prussia--they
+sharpened the swords of Windischgratz and Jellachich--they nerved
+the souls and strengthened the arms of Brandenberg and Wrangel--they
+awakened anew the chord of honour and loyalty in the Fatherland.
+The national airs have been again heard in Berlin; Vienna has been
+regained after a desperate conflict; the state of siege has been
+proclaimed in both capitals; and order re-established in both
+monarchies, amidst an amount of private suffering and general
+misery--the necessary result of revolutions--which absolutely
+sickens the heart to contemplate. England has emerged comparatively
+unscathed from the strife; her time-honoured institutions have
+been preserved, her monarchy saved amidst the crash of nations.
+Queen Victoria is still upon the throne; our mixed constitution
+is intact; the dreams of the Chartists have been dispelled; the
+rebellion of the Irish rendered ridiculous; the loyalty of the
+great body of the people in Great Britain made manifest. The period
+of immediate danger is over; for the attack of the populace is
+like the spring of a wild beast--if the first onset fails, the
+savage animal slinks away into its den. General suffering indeed
+prevails, industry languishes, credit is all but destroyed, a woful
+deficiency of exports has taken place--but that is the inevitable
+result of popular commotions; and we are suffering, in part at
+least, under the effects of the insanity of nations less free and
+more inexperienced than ourselves. Though last, not least in the
+political lessons of this marvellous year, the papal government
+has been subverted--a second Rienzi has appeared in Rome; and the
+Supreme Pontiff, _who began the movement_, now a fugitive from his
+dominions, has exhibited a memorable warning to future ages, of the
+peril of commencing reforms in high places, and the impossibility
+of reconciling the Roman Catholic religion with political
+innovation.
+
+But let it not be imagined that, because the immediate danger is
+over, and because military power has, after a fierce struggle,
+prevailed in the principal capitals of Europe, that therefore the
+ultimate peril is past, and that men have only to sit down, under
+the shadow of their fig-tree, to cultivate the arts and enjoy the
+blessings of peace. Such is not the destiny of man in any, least of
+all in a revolutionary age. We are rather on the verge of an era
+similar to that deplored by the poet:--
+
+    "Bella per Emathios plusquam civilia campos,
+     Jusque datum sceleri canimus, populumque potentem
+     In sua victrici conversum viscera dextrâ;
+     Cognatasque acies; et rupto f[oe]dera regni
+     Certatum totis concussi viribus orbis,
+     In commune nefas."[4]
+
+  [4] LUCAN, i. 1-6.
+
+Who can tell the immeasurable extent of misery and wretchedness,
+of destruction of property among the rich, and ruin of industry
+among the poor, that must take place before the fierce passions,
+now so generally awakened, are allayed--before the visions of a
+virtuous republic by Lamartine, or the dreams of communism by
+Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin, or the insane ideas of the Frankfort
+enthusiasts have ceased to move mankind? The fire they have let
+loose will burn fiercely for centuries; it will alter the destiny
+of nations for ages; it will neither be quenched, like ordinary
+flames, by water, nor subdued, like the Greek fire, by vinegar:
+blood alone will extinguish its fury. The coming convulsions may
+well be prefigured from the past, as they have been recently drawn
+by the hand of a master:--"All around us, the world is convulsed
+by the agonies of great nations; governments which lately seemed
+likely to stand during ages, have been on a sudden shaken and
+overthrown. The proudest capitals of western Europe have streamed
+with civil blood. All evil passions--the thirst of gain and the
+thirst of vengeance--the antipathy of class to class, of race to
+race--have broken loose from the control of divine and human laws.
+Fear and anxiety have clouded the faces, and depressed the hearts
+of millions; trade has been suspended, and industry paralysed;
+the rich have become poor, and the poor poorer. Doctrines hostile
+to all sciences, to all arts, to all industry, to all domestic
+charity--doctrines which, if carried into effect, would in thirty
+years undo all that thirty centuries have done for mankind, and
+would make the fairest provinces of France or Germany as savage
+as Guiana or Patagonia--have been avowed from the tribune, and
+defended by the sword. Europe has been threatened with subjugation
+by barbarians, compared with whom the barbarians who marched under
+Attila or Alboin were enlightened and humane. The truest friends of
+the people have with deep sorrow owned, that interests more precious
+than any political privileges were in jeopardy, and that it might be
+necessary to sacrifice even liberty to save civilisation."[5]
+
+  [5] MACAULAY's _History of England_, vol. ii. p. 669.
+
+It is now just a year since Mr Cobden announced, to an admiring
+and believing audience at Manchester, that the age of warfare
+had ceased; that the contests of nations had passed, like the
+age of the mastodon and the mammoth; that the steam-engine had
+caused the arms to drop from her hands, and the interests of free
+trade extinguished the rivalries of nations; and that nothing now
+remained but to sell our ships of war, disband our troops, cut
+twenty millions off our taxation, and set ourselves unanimously to
+the great work of cheapening everything, and underselling foreign
+competitors in the market of the world. Scarcely were the words
+spoken, when conflicts more dire, battles more bloody, dissensions
+more inextinguishable than had ever arisen from the rivalry of
+kings, or the ambition of ministers, broke out in almost every
+country of Europe. The social supplanted the national passions.
+Within the bosom of society itself, the volcano had burst forth. It
+was no longer general that was matched against general, as in the
+wars of Marlborough, nor nation that rose up against nation, as in
+those of Napoleon. The desire of robbery, the love of dominion, the
+lust of conquest, the passion for plunder, were directed to domestic
+acquisitions. Human iniquity reappeared in worse, because less
+suspected and more delusive colours. Robbery assumed the guise of
+philanthropy; spoliation was attempted, under colour of law; plunder
+was systematically set about, by means of legislative enactments.
+Revolution resumed its old policy--that of rousing the passions by
+the language of virtue, and directing them to the purposes of vice.
+The original devil was expelled; but straightway he returned with
+seven other devils, and the last state of the man was worse than the
+first. Society was armed against itself; the devastating passions
+burned in its own bosom; class rose against class, race against
+race, interest against interest. Capital fancied its interest was
+to be promoted by grinding down labour; labour, that its rights
+extended to the spoliation of capital. A more attractive object
+than the reduction of a city, or the conquest of a province, was
+presented to indigent cupidity. Easier conquests than over rival
+industry were anticipated by moneyed selfishness. The spoliation of
+the rich at their own door--the division of the property of which
+they were jealous, became the dream of popular ambition; the beating
+down of their own labourers by free-trade, the forcible reduction
+of prices by a contraction of the currency--the great object of the
+commercial aristocracy. War reassumed its pristine ferocity. In the
+nineteenth century, the ruthless maxim--_Væ victis!_ became the
+war-cry on both sides in the terrible civil war which burst forth in
+an age of general philanthropy. It may be conceived what passions
+must have been awakened, what terrors inspired, what indignation
+aroused by such projects. But though we have seen the commencement
+of the _era of social conflicts_, is there any man now alive who is
+likely to see its end?
+
+Experience has now completely demonstrated the wisdom of the Allied
+powers, who placed the lawful monarchs of France on the throne in
+1815, and the enormous error of the liberal party in France, which
+conspired with the republicans to overthrow the Bourbon dynasty in
+1830. That fatal step has bequeathed a host of evils to Europe: it
+has loosened the authority of government in all countries; it has
+put the very existence of freedom in peril by the enormity of the
+calamities which it has brought in its train. All parties in France
+are now agreed that the period of the Restoration was the happiest,
+and the least corrupted, that has been known since the first
+Revolution. The republicans of the present day tell us, with a sigh,
+that the average budgets of the three last years of Charles X. were
+900,000,000 francs, (£36,000,000;) that the expenditure was raised
+by Louis Philippe at once to 1500,000,000 francs, (£60,000,000;)
+and that under the Republic it will exceed 1800,000,000 francs,
+(£72,000,000.) There can be no doubt of the fact; and there can
+be as little, that if the Red Republicans had succeeded in the
+insurrection of June last, the annual expenditure would have
+increased to £100,000,000--or rather, a universal spoliation of
+property would have ensued. Louis Blanc has given the world, in
+his powerful historical work, a graphic picture of the universal
+corruption, selfishness, and immorality, in public and private
+life, which pervaded France during the reign of Louis Philippe.[6]
+Though drawn by the hand of a partisan, there can be no doubt that
+the picture is too faithful in most of its details, and exhibits
+an awful proof of the effects of a successful revolution. But the
+misery which Louis Blanc has so ably depicted, the corruptions he
+has brought to light, under the revolutionary monarchy, have been
+multiplied fourfold by those which have prevailed during the last
+year in the republic established by Louis Blanc, himself!
+
+  [6] LOUIS BLANC, _Histoire de Dix Ans de Louis Philippe_, iii. 321,
+  _et seq._
+
+Paris, ever since the suppression of the great insurrection in
+June last, has been in such a state, that it is the most utter
+mockery to call it freedom. In truth, it is nothing but the most
+unmitigated military despotism. A huge statue of liberty is placed
+in the National Assembly; but at every six paces bayonets are to be
+seen, to remind the bystanders of the rule of the sword. "Liberté,
+Egalité, Fraternité," meet the eye at every turn in the streets; but
+the Champs Elysées, the Place de Grève, the Carrousel, and Place
+Vendôme, are crowded with soldiers; and the Champ de Mars is white
+with tents, to cover part of the 40,000 regular troops which form
+the ordinary garrison of Paris. Universal freedom of discussion has
+been proclaimed by the constitution; but dozens of journals have
+been suppressed by the authority of the dictator; and imprisonment
+notoriously hangs over the head of every one who indulges in the
+freedom of discussion, which in England and America is universal.
+The state of siege has been raised, after having continued four
+months; but the military preparations for _another siege_ continue
+with unabated vigour on both sides. The constitution has been
+adopted by a great majority in the Assembly; but the forts are all
+armed, and prepared to rain down the tempest of death on the devoted
+city. Universal suffrage is established; but menacing crowds are in
+the streets, threatening any one who votes against their favourite
+candidates. The Faubourg St Antoine, during the late election, was
+in a frightful state of agitation; infantry, cavalry, and artillery,
+were traversing the streets in all directions; and conflicts not
+less bloody than those of June last were anticipated in the struggle
+for the presidency, and prevented only by the presence of _ninety
+thousand soldiers_ in the capital: a force greater than that
+which fought on either side at Austerlitz or Jena. It is evident
+that republican institutions, in such a state of society, are a
+mere name; and that supreme despotic power is really invested in
+France, as in ancient Rome under the emperors, in the nominee of a
+victorious body of soldiery. The Prætorian guards will dispose of
+the French as they did of the Roman diadem; and ere long, gratuities
+to the troops will perhaps be the passport to power in Paris, as
+they were in the Eternal City.
+
+Nor have the social evils, which in France have followed in the
+wake of successful revolution, been less deplorable than the entire
+destruction of the rights of freemen and security of property which
+has ensued. To show that this statement is not overcharged, we
+extract from a noted liberal journal of Paris, _La Reforme_, of
+November 17, 1848, the following statement:--
+
+     "Property, manufactures, and commerce are utterly destroyed in
+     Paris. Of the population of that great city, the capital of
+     France, there are 300,000 individuals wanting the necessaries
+     of life. One half at least of those earned from 3f. to 5f. a
+     day previous to the revolution, and occupied a number of houses
+     in the faubourgs. The proprietors of those houses receiving no
+     rent, and having taxes and other charges to pay, are reduced
+     to nearly as deep distress as their tenants. In the centre of
+     Paris, the same distress exists under another form. The large
+     and sumptuous apartments of the fashionable quarters were
+     occupied before the revolution by wealthy proprietors, or by
+     persons holding lucrative employments in the public offices,
+     or by extensive manufacturers, but nearly all those have
+     disappeared, and the few who remain have insisted upon such a
+     reduction of rent that the proprietor does not receive one-half
+     of the amount to which he is entitled. Should a proprietor of
+     house property endeavour to raise a sum of money by a first
+     mortgage, to defray his most urgent expenses, he finds it
+     impossible to do so, even at a most exorbitant rate of interest.
+     Those who possess ready money refuse to part with it, either
+     through fear, or because they expect to purchase house property
+     when it must be sold at 50 per cent less than the value."--_La
+     Reforme_, November 17, 1848.
+
+It is certainly a most remarkable thing, in the history of the
+aberrations of the human mind, that a system of policy which has
+produced, and is producing, such disastrous results--and, above
+all, which is inflicting such deadly and irreparable wounds on
+the interests of the poor, and the cause of freedom throughout
+the world--should have been, during the last eighteen years, the
+object of unceasing eulogy by the liberal party on both sides of the
+Channel; and that the present disastrous state of affairs, both in
+this country and on the Continent, is nothing more than the natural
+and inevitable result of the principles that party has everywhere
+laboured to establish. The revolution of 1830 was hailed with
+enthusiasm in this country by the whole liberal party: the Irish are
+not more enamoured now of the revolution of 1848, than the Whigs
+were, eighteen years ago, of that of 1830. The liberal government
+of England did all in their power to spread far and wide the
+glorious example. Flanders was attacked--an English fleet and French
+army besieged Antwerp; and, by a coalition of the two powers, a
+revolutionary throne was established in Belgium, and the king of the
+Netherlands prevented from re-establishing the kingdom guaranteed
+to him by all the powers of Europe. The Quadruple Alliance was
+formed to revolutionise Spain and Portugal; a sanguinary civil
+war was nourished for long in both kingdoms; and at length, after
+years of frightful warfare, the legitimate monarch, and legal order
+of succession, were set aside in both countries; queens were put
+on the thrones of both instead of kings, and England enjoyed the
+satisfaction, for the diffusion of her revolutionary propagandism,
+of destroying the securities provided for the liberties of Europe by
+the treaty of Utrecht, and preparing a Spanish princess for the hand
+of a Bourbon prince.
+
+Not content with this memorable and politic step, and even after
+the recent disasters of France were actually before their eyes, our
+rulers were so enamoured of revolutions, that they could not refrain
+from encouraging it in every _small_ state within their reach.
+Lord Palmerston counseled the Pope, in a too celebrated letter, to
+plunge into the career which has terminated so fatally for himself
+and for Italy. Admiral Parker long prevented the Neapolitan force
+from embarking for Sicily, to do there what Lord Hardinge was nearly
+at the same time sent to do in Ireland. We beheld the Imperial
+standards with complacency driven behind the Mincio; but no sooner
+did Radetzky disperse the revolutionary army, and advance to Milan,
+than British and French diplomacy interfered to arrest his march,
+and save their revolutionary protégé, the King of Piedmont, from the
+chastisement which his perfidious attack on Austria in the moment of
+her distress merited. The Ministerial journals are never weary of
+referring to the revolutions on the Continent as the cause of all
+the distress which has prevailed in England, since they broke out
+in last spring: they forget that it was England herself which first
+unfurled the standard of revolution, and that, if we are suffering
+under its effects, it is under the effects of our own measures and
+policy.
+
+Strange and unaccountable as this perverted and diseased state
+of opinion, in a large part of the people of this country,
+undoubtedly is, it is easily explained when the state of society,
+and the channel into which political contests have run, are taken
+into consideration. In truth, our present errors are the direct
+consequence of our former wisdom; our present weakness, of our
+former strength; our present misery, of our former prosperity.
+
+In the feudal ages, and over the whole Asiatic world at the present
+time, the contests of parties are carried on for _individuals_. No
+change of national policy, or of the system of internal government,
+is contemplated on either side. It is for one prince or another
+prince, for one sultaun or another sultaun, that men draw their
+swords. "Under which King, Bezonian?--speak or die!" is there
+the watch-word of all civil conflict. It was the same in this
+country during the feudal ages, and down to a very recent period.
+No man in the civil wars between Stephen and Henry II., or of the
+Plantagenet princes, or in the wars of the Roses, contemplated or
+desired any change of government or policy in the conflict in which
+they were engaged. The one party struck for the Red, the other for
+the White Rose. Great civil and social interests were at issue in
+the conflict; but the people cared little or nothing for these.
+The contest between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians was a great
+feud between two clans which divided the state; and the attachment
+to their chiefs was the blind devotion of the Highlanders to the
+Pretender.
+
+The Reformation, which first brought the dearest objects of thought
+and interest home to all classes, made a great change in this
+respect, and substituted in large proportion general questions for
+the adherence to particular men, or fidelity to particular families.
+Still, however, the old and natural instinct of the human race to
+attach themselves to men, not things, continued, in a great degree,
+to influence the minds of the people, and as many buckled on their
+armour for the man as the cause. The old Cavaliers, who periled
+life and lands in defence of Charles I., were as much influenced
+by attachment to the dignified monarch, who is immortalised in the
+canvass of Vandyke, as by the feelings of hereditary loyalty; and
+the iron bands which overthrew their ranks at Marston Moor, were as
+devoted to Cromwell as the tenth legion to Cæsar, or the Old Guard
+to Napoleon. In truth, such individual influences are so strongly
+founded in human nature, that they will continue to the end of the
+world, from whatever cause a contest may have arisen, as soon as
+it has continued for a certain time, and will always stand forth
+in prominent importance when a social has turned into a military
+conflict, and the perils and animosities of war have endeared their
+leaders to the soldiers on either side. The Vendeans soon became
+devoted to Henri Larochjaquelein, the Republicans to Napoleon;
+and in our own times, the great social conflict of the nineteenth
+century has been determined by the fidelity of the Austrian
+soldiers to Radetzky, of the French to Cavaignac, of the German to
+Windischgratz.
+
+But in the British empire, for a century past, it has been
+thoroughly understood, by men of sense of all parties, that a change
+of dynasty is out of the question, and that there is no reform worth
+contending for in the state, which is not to be effected by the
+means which the constitution itself has provided. This conviction,
+long impressed upon the nation, and interwoven as it were with the
+very framework of the British mind, having come to coincide with the
+passions incident to party divisions in a free state, has in process
+of time produced the strange and tortuous policy which, for above a
+quarter of a century, has now been followed in this country by the
+government, and lauded to the skies by the whole liberal party on
+the Continent. Deprived of the watchwords of men, the parties have
+come to assume those of things. Organic or social change have become
+the war-cry of faction, instead of change of dynasty. The nation is
+no longer drenched with blood by armies fighting for the Red or the
+White Rose, by parties striving for the mastery between the Stuart
+and Hanover families, but it was not less thoroughly divided by
+the cry of "The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill,"
+at one time, and that of "Free-trade and cheap corn" at another.
+Social change, alterations of policy, have thus come to be the great
+objects which divide the nation; and, as it is ever the policy of
+Opposition to represent the conduct of Government as erroneous,
+it follows, as a necessary consequence, that the main efforts of
+the party opposed to administration always have been, since the
+suppression of the Rebellion in 1745, to effect, when in opposition,
+a change in general opinion, and, when in power, to carry that
+change into effect by a change of policy. The old law of nature
+is still in operation. Action and reaction rule mankind; and in
+the efforts of parties mutually to supplant each other in power, a
+foundation is laid for an entire change of policy at stated periods,
+and an alteration, as great as from night to day, in the opinions
+and policy of the ruling party in the same state at different times.
+
+The old policy of England--that policy under which, in the words
+of Macaulay, "The authority of law and the security of property
+were found to be compatible with a liberty of discussion and
+of individual action never known before; under which form, the
+auspicious union of order and freedom, sprang a prosperity of which
+the annals of human affairs had furnished no example; under which
+our country, from a state of ignominious vassalage, rapidly rose to
+the place of umpire among European powers; under which her opulence
+and martial glory grew together; under which, by wise and resolute
+good faith, was gradually established a public credit, fruitful
+of marvels which, to the statesmen of any former age, would have
+appeared incredible; under which a gigantic commerce gave birth to
+a maritime power, compared with which every other maritime power,
+ancient or modern, sinks into insignificance; under which Scotland,
+after ages of enmity, was at length united to England, not mere by
+legal bonds, but by indissoluble ties of interest and affection;
+under which, in America, the British colonies rapidly became far
+mightier and wealthier than the realms which Cortes and Pizarro
+added to the dominions of Charles V.; under which, in Asia, British
+adventurers founded an empire not less splendid, and more durable,
+than that of Alexander,"[7]--was not the policy of any particular
+party or section of the community, and thence its long duration and
+unexampled success.
+
+  [7] MACAULAY's _History_, i. 1-2.
+
+It was not introduced--it grew. Like the old constitution, of which
+it was the emanation, it arose from the wants and necessities of
+all classes of men during a long series of ages. It was first
+proclaimed in energetic terms by the vigour of Cromwell; the cry of
+the national representatives for markets to native industry, of the
+merchants, for protection to their ships, produced the Navigation
+Laws, and laid the foundation of the colonial empire of England.
+Amidst all his _insouciance_ and folly in the drawing-room of the
+Duchess of Portsmouth, and the boudoirs of the Duchess of Cleveland,
+it was steadily pursued by Charles II. James II. did not lose sight
+of this same system, amidst all his infatuation and cruelty; when
+directing the campaign of Jeffreys in the west, he was as steadily
+bent on upholding and extending the navy as when, amidst the
+thunders of war, he combated de Ruyter and van Tromp on the coast
+of Holland. William III., Anne, and the Georges, pursued the same
+system. It directed the policy of Somers and Godolphin; it ruled the
+diplomacy of Walpole and Chatham; it guided the measures of Bute
+and North; it directed the genius of Pitt and Fox. It was for it
+that Marlborough conquered, and Wolfe fell; that Blake combated, and
+Hawke destroyed; that Nelson launched the thunderbolt of war, and
+Wellington carried the British standard to Madrid and Paris.
+
+It was the peculiar structure of the English constitution, during
+this century and a half of prosperity and glory, that produced so
+remarkable a uniformity in the objects of the national policy. These
+objects were pursued alike by the Republicans and the Royalists; by
+the Roundheads and the Cavaliers; by the Whigs, during the seventy
+years of their rule that followed the Revolution, and the Tories,
+during the sixty years that succeeded the accession of George III.
+The policy was that of _protection to all the national interests,
+whether landed, commercial, colonial, or manufacturing_. Under this
+system they all grew and prospered, _alike and abreast_, in the
+marvellous manner which the pencil of Macaulay has sketched in the
+opening of his History. It was hard to say whether agriculture,
+manufactures, colonies, or shipping throve and prospered most
+during that unique period. The world had never seen anything like
+it before: it is doubtful if it will ever see anything like it
+again. Under its shelter, the various interests of the empire were
+knit together in so close a manner, that they not only all grew
+and prospered together, but it was universally felt that their
+interests were entirely dependent on each other. The toast "The
+plough, the loom, and the sail," was drunk with as much enthusiasm
+in the farmers' club as in the merchant's saloon. As varied as the
+interests with which they were charged, the policy of government was
+yet perfectly steady in following out one principle--the protection
+of the _productive classes_, whether by land or water, whether at
+home or abroad.
+
+The legislature represented and embodied all these interests, and
+carried out this policy. It gave them a stability and consistency
+which had never been seen in the world before. Nominally the
+representatives of certain towns and counties in the British
+islands, the House of Commons gradually became really the
+representatives of the varied interests of the whole British empire.
+The nomination boroughs afforded an inlet alike to native talent
+and foreign interests. Gatton and Old Sarum, or similar close
+boroughs, afforded an entrance to the legislature, not only to the
+genius of Pitt and Fox, of Burke and Sheridan, but to the wealth
+of Jamaica, the rising energy of Canada, the aged civilisation of
+Hindostan. Experienced protection reconciled all interests to a
+government under which all prospered; mutual dependence made all
+sensible of the necessity of common unanimity. The statute-book
+and national treaties, from the Revolution in 1688 to the close
+of the war with Napoleon in 1815, exhibit the most decisive proof
+of the working of these varied, but not conflicting interests, in
+the national councils. If you contemplate the general protection
+afforded to agriculture and the landed interest, you would imagine
+the House of Commons had been entirely composed of squires. If you
+examine the innumerable enactments, fiscal and prohibitory, for the
+protection of manufactures, you would suppose it had been entirely
+under the government of manufacturers. If you contemplate the steady
+protection invariably given to the mercantile navy, you would
+suppose it had been chiefly directed by shipowners. If you cast your
+eyes on the protection constantly given by discriminating fiscal
+duties to colonial industry, and the vast efforts made, both by sea
+and land, in the field and in the cabinet, to encourage and extend
+our colonial dependencies, you would conclude, not only that they
+were represented, but that their representatives had a majority in
+the legislature.
+
+The reason of this prodigy was, that all interests had, in the
+course of ages, and the silent effects of time, worked their
+way into the legislature, and all enjoyed in fair proportion a
+reasonable influence on government. Human wisdom could no more _ab
+ante_ have framed such a system, than it could have framed the
+British constitution. By accident, or rather the good providence
+of God, it grew up from the wants of men during a series of
+generations; and its effects appeared in this, that--except in the
+cases of the American war, where unfortunate circumstances produced
+a departure from the system; of the Irish Celts, whom it seems
+impracticable to amalgamate with Saxon institutions; and of the
+Scottish Highlanders, whom chivalrous honour for a short period
+alienated from the established government--unanimity unprecedented
+during the whole period pervaded the British empire. All foreign
+colonies were desirous to be admitted into the great protecting
+confederacy; the French and Dutch planters in secret prayed for
+the defeat of their defenders when the standard of St George
+approached their shores. The Hindoos, with heroic constancy, alike
+in prosperous and adverse fortune, maintained their fidelity: Canada
+stood firm during the most dangerous crisis of our history; and the
+flame of loyalty burned as steadily on the banks of the St Lawrence,
+on the mountains of Jamaica, and on the shores of the Ganges, as in
+the crowded emporiums of London, or the smiling fields of Yorkshire.
+
+But there is a limit imposed by nature to all earthly things.
+The growth of empires is restrained, after they have reached a
+certain stature, by laws as certain as those which arrest that of
+individuals. If a state does not find the causes of its ruin in
+foreign disaster, it will inevitably find it in internal opinion.
+This arises so naturally and evidently from the constitution of the
+human mind, that it may be regarded as a fixed law of nature in all
+countries where intellectual activity has been called forth, and
+as one of the most powerful agents in the government, by supreme
+Wisdom, of human affairs. This principle is to be found in the
+tendency of _original_ thought to differ from the current opinion
+with which it is surrounded, and of party ambition to decry the
+system of those by whom it is excluded from power.
+
+Universally it will be found that the greatest exertions of human
+intellect have been made in _direct opposition_ to the current of
+general opinion; and that public thought in one age is in general
+but the echo of solitary meditation in that which has preceded
+it. Illustrations of this crowd on the reflecting mind from every
+period of history. The instances of Luther standing forth alone to
+shake down, Samson-like, the pillar of the corrupted Romish faith;
+of Bacon's opening, amid all the despotism of the Aristotelian
+philosophy, his inductive philosophy; of Galileo maintaining the
+motion of the earth even when surrounded by the terrors of the
+Italian Inquisition; of Copernicus asserting the true system of
+the heavens in opposition to the belief of two thousand years;
+of Malthus bringing forward the paradox of the danger of human
+increase in opposition to the previous general opinion of mankind;
+of Voltaire combating alone the giant power of the Roman Catholic
+hierarchy; of Rousseau running a course against the whole ideas
+of his age--will immediately occur to every reader. Many of these
+great men adopted erroneous opinions, and, in consequence, did as
+much evil to their own or the next age as others did good; but they
+were all characterised by one mark. Their opinions were _original_,
+and directly adverse to public opinion around them. The close of
+the nineteenth century was no exception to the general principle.
+Following out those doctrines of freedom from restraint of every
+kind, which in France had arisen from the natural resistance of
+men to the numerous fetters of the monarchy, and which had been
+brought forward by Turgot and the Economists, in the boudoirs of
+Madame Pompadour and the coteries of Paris,--Adam Smith broached the
+principle of Free Trade, with the exceptions of grain and shipping.
+The first he excepted, because it was essential to national
+subsistence; the second, because it was the pillar of national
+defence. The new philosophy was ardently embraced by the liberal
+party, who, chagrined by long exclusion from office, were rejoiced
+to find a tangible and plausible ground whereon to attack the whole
+existing system of government. From them it gradually extended to
+nearly all the ardent part of the community, ever eager to embrace
+doctrines at variance with previous and vulgar belief, and not yet
+enlightened by experience as to the effect of the new system. It was
+soon discovered that for a century and a half we had been proceeding
+on false principles. The whole policy of government since the days
+of Cromwell had been erroneous; in politics, in social government,
+in diplomacy, in the colonies, in war, in peace, at home and abroad,
+we had been running blindfold to destruction. True, we had become
+great, and glorious, and free under this abominable system; true, it
+had been accompanied by a growth of national strength, and an amount
+of national happiness, unparalleled in any former age or country;
+but that was all by accident. Philosophy had marked it with the
+sign of reprobation--prosperity had poured upon us by chance in the
+midst of universal misgovernment. By all the rules of calculation
+we should have been destroyed, though, strange to say, no symptoms
+of destruction had yet appeared amongst us. According to every
+principle of philosophy, the patient should long ago have been dead
+of the mortal disease under which he laboured: the only provoking
+thing was, that he was still walking about in robust and florid
+health.
+
+Circumstances occurred at the same time, early in this century,
+which had the most powerful effect in exasperating the Opposition
+party throughout the country, and inducing them to embrace,
+universally and ardently, the new philosophy, which condemned in
+such unmeasured terms the whole system of government pursued by
+their antagonists. For half a century, since the long dominion of
+the Whigs was terminated in 1761 by George III., the Tories had
+been, with the exception of a few months, constantly in office.
+Though their system of government in religion, in social affairs,
+in foreign relations, was nothing but a continuation of that which
+the Whigs had introduced, and according to which the government had
+been conducted from 1688 to 1760, yet, in the ardour of their zeal
+for the overthrow of their adversaries, the liberal party embraced
+on every point the opposite side. The descendants of Lord Russel
+became the advocates of Roman Catholic emancipation; the followers
+of Marlborough and Godolphin, the partisans of submission to France;
+the successors of Walpole and Chatham, the advocates of free trade
+and colonial neglect. These feelings, embraced from the influence of
+a determination to find fault with government in every particular,
+were worked up to the highest pitch by the glorious result of the
+war with France, and the apparently interminable lease of power
+acquired by their adversaries from the overthrow of Napoleon. That
+memorable event, so opposite to that which they had all so long
+in public predicted, so entirely the reverse of that which many
+had in secret wished, produced a profound impression on the Whig
+party. Their feelings were only the more acute, that, amidst the
+tumult of national exultation, they were forced to suppress them,
+and to wear the countenance of satisfaction, when the bitterness of
+disappointment was in their hearts. To the extreme asperity of these
+feelings, and the universal twist which they gave to the minds of
+the whole liberal party in Great Britain, the subsequent general
+change in their political principles is to be ascribed; and, in the
+practical application of these principles, the real cause of our
+present distressed condition is to be found.
+
+While one set of causes thus prepared, in the triumph of
+Conservative and protective principles, the strongest possible
+reaction against them, and prognosticated, at no distant period,
+their general banishment from popular thought, another, and a
+not less powerful set, flowing from the same cause, gave these
+principles the means of acquiring a political supremacy, and ruling
+the government of the state. The old policy of England, it has
+been already observed, for a hundred and fifty years, had been to
+take care of the producers, and let the consumers take care of
+themselves. Such had been the effects of this protective policy,
+that, before the close of the Revolutionary war, during which it
+received its full development, the producing classes, both in town
+and country, had become so rich and powerful, that it was easy
+to see they would ere long give a preponderance to urban over
+rural industry. The vast flood of agricultural riches poured for
+expenditure into towns; that of the manufacturers and merchants
+seldom left it. The great manufacturing and mercantile places,
+during a century, had advanced in population tenfold, in wealth
+thirty-fold. The result of this change was very curious, and in
+the highest degree important. Under the _shadow of protection_ to
+industry in all its branches, riches, both in town and country, had
+increased so prodigiously, that the holders of it had _acquired
+a preponderance over the classes in the state yet engaged in the
+toilsome and hazardous work of production_. The owners of realised
+capital had become so numerous and weighty, from the beneficial
+effects of the protective system under which the country had so long
+flourished, that they formed an important _class apart, which began
+to look to its separate interests_. The consumers had become so
+numerous and affluent, that they were enabled to bid defiance to the
+producers. The maxim became prevalent, "Take care of the consumer,
+and let the producer take care of himself." Thence the clamour for
+free trade. Having passed the labour of production, during which
+they, or their fathers, had strenuously supported the protective
+principles, by which they were making their money, the next thing
+was to support the opposite principles, by which the value of the
+_made money might be augmented_. This was to be done by free trade
+and a contracted currency. Having made millions by protection, the
+object now was to add a half to every million by raising its value.
+The way to do this seemed to be by cheapening the price of every
+other article, and raising the price of money: in other words, the
+system of cheapening everything without reference to its effect on
+the interests of production.
+
+Parliamentary reform, for which the Whigs, disappointed by long
+exclusion from office, laboured strenuously, in conjunction with
+the commercial and moneyed classes, enriched by protection, gave
+them the means of carrying both objects into execution, because
+it made two-thirds of the House of Commons the representatives of
+burghs. The cry of cheap bread was seductive to all classes in
+towns:--to the employer, because it opened the prospect of reducing
+the price of labour, and to the operative, because it presents that
+of lowering that of provisions. To these two objects, accordingly,
+of raising the value of money and lowering the remuneration of
+industry, the Reform parliament, the organ of the moneyed interest
+and consuming classes, has, through all the changes of party, been
+perfectly steady. It is no wonder it has been so, for it was the
+first-born of those interests. Twenty years before the cry for
+reform convulsed the nation--in 1810--the Bullion Committee brought
+forward the principle of a metallic, and, consequently, a contracted
+currency; and they recommended its adoption in the very crisis of
+the war, when Wellington lay at Torres Vedras, and when the monetary
+crisis to which it must have led would have made us a province of
+France. Reform was the consequence of the change in the currency,
+not its cause. The whole time from 1819 to 1831, with the exception
+of 1824 and 1825, was one uninterrupted period of suffering. Such
+was the misery it produced that the minds of men were prepared
+for any change. A chaos of unanimity was produced by a chaos of
+suffering.
+
+Thus, by a singular and most interesting chain of causes and
+effects, it was the triumph of Conservative and protective
+principles in the latter years of the war, and the entire
+demonstration thus afforded of their justice and expedience,
+which was the immediate cause of their subsequent abandonment,
+and all the misery which has thence arisen, and with which we
+are still everywhere surrounded. For it at once turned all the
+intellectual energies of the great liberal party to oppose, in
+every particular, the system by which their opponents had been
+glorified, and concentrated all the energies of the now powerful
+moneyed classes to swell, by a change of policy, the fortunes on
+which their consequence depended, and which had arisen from the
+long prevalence of the opposite system. For such is the tendency to
+action and reaction, in all vigorous and intellectual communities,
+that truth itself is for long no security against their occurrence.
+On the contrary, so vehement are the passions excited by a great
+and lasting triumph of one party, even though in the right, that
+the victory of truth, whether in politics or religion, is often
+the immediate cause of the subsequent triumph of error. The great
+Roman Catholic reaction against the Reformation, which Ranke has so
+clearly elucidated, and Macaulay has so powerfully illustrated, has
+its exact counterpart in the great political reaction of the Whig
+party, of which Macaulay is himself the brightest ornament.
+
+That this is the true explanation of the strange and tortuous
+policy, both in domestic and foreign affairs, under which the
+nation has so long suffered, is apparent on the slightest survey of
+political affairs in the last and present century.
+
+The old principle of the English constitution, which had worked
+itself into existence, or grown up from the necessities of men,
+during a long course of years, was, that the whole _interests_ of
+the state should be represented, and that the House of Commons
+was the assembly in which the representatives of all those varied
+interests were to be found. For the admission of these varied
+interests, a varied system of electoral qualifications, admitting
+all interests, noble, mercantile, industrial, popular, landed, and
+colonial, was indispensable. In the old House of Commons, all these
+classes found a place for their representatives, and thence the
+commercial protection it afforded to industry. According to the new
+system, a vast majority of seats was to be allotted to _one class
+only_, the householders and shopkeepers of towns. That class was the
+moneyed and consuming class; and thence the whole subsequent course
+of British policy, which has been to sacrifice everything to their
+interests.
+
+The old maxim of government, alike with Whigs and Tories, was, that
+native industry of all sorts, and especially agricultural industry,
+was to be protected, and that foreign competition was to be admitted
+only in so far as was not inconsistent with this primary object.
+The new philosophy taught, and the modern liberals carried into
+execution, a different principle. They went on the maxim that the
+interests of the consumers alone were to be considered: that to
+cheapen everything was the great object; and that it mattered not
+how severely the producers of articles suffered, provided those
+who purchased them were enabled to do so at a reduced rate. This
+policy, long lauded in abstract writings and reviews, was at length
+carried into execution by Sir R. Peel, by the tariff of 1842 and
+the free-trade measures of 1846.
+
+To protect and extend our colonial dependencies was the great object
+of British policy, alike with Whigs and Tories, from the time of
+Cromwell to the fall of Napoleon. In them, it was thought our
+manufacturers would find a lasting and rapidly increasing market for
+their produce, which would, in the end, enable us equally to defy
+the hostility, and withstand the rivalry of foreign states. The new
+school held that this was an antiquated prejudice: that colonies
+were a burden rather than a blessing to the mother country: that the
+independence of America was the greatest blessing that ever befell
+Great Britain; and that, provided we could buy colonial produce a
+little cheaper, it signified nothing though our colonies perished by
+the want of remuneration for their industry, or were led to revolt
+from exasperation at the cruel and unnatural conduct of the mother
+country.
+
+The navy was regarded by all our statesmen, without exception, from
+Cromwell to Pitt, as the main security of the British empire; its
+bulwark in war; the bridge which united its far-distant provinces
+during peace. To feed it with skilled seamen, the Navigation
+Laws were upheld even by Adam Smith and the first free-traders,
+as the wisest enactments which were to be found in the British
+statute-book. But here, too, it was discovered that our ancestors
+had been in error: the system under which had flourished for two
+centuries the greatest naval power that ever existed, was found to
+have been an entire mistake; and provided freights could be had ten
+per cent cheaper, it was of no consequence though the fleets of
+France and Russia blockaded the Thames and Mersey, and two-thirds of
+our trade was carried on in foreign bottoms.
+
+To provide a CURRENCY equal to the wants of the nation, and
+capable of growth in proportion to the amount of their numbers
+and transactions, was one main object of the old policy of Great
+Britain. Thence the establishment of banks in such numbers in
+every part of the empire during the eighteenth century, and the
+introduction of the suspension of the obligation to pay in gold in
+1797, when the necessities of war had drained nearly all that part
+of the currency out of the country, and it was evident that, unless
+a substitute for it in sufficient quantities was provided, the
+nation itself, and all the individuals in it, would speedily become
+bankrupt. The marvels of British finance from that time till 1815,
+which excited the deserved astonishment of the whole world, had no
+effect in convincing the impassioned opponents of Mr Pitt, that
+this was the true system adapted for that or any similar crisis. On
+the contrary, it left no doubt in their minds that it was entirely
+wrong. The whole philosophers and liberal school of politicians
+discovered that the very opposite was the right principle; that
+gold, the most variable in price and evanescent, because the
+most desired and portable of earthly things, was the only safe
+foundation for a currency; that paper was worthless and perilous,
+unless in so far as it could be instantly converted into that
+incomparable metal; and that, consequently, the more the precious
+metals were withdrawn from the country, by the necessities of war
+or the effects of adverse exchanges, the more the paper circulation
+should be contracted. If the last sovereign went out, they held
+it clear the last note should be drawn in. The new system was
+brought into practice by Sir R. Peel, by the acts of 1844 and 1845,
+simultaneously with a vast importation of grain under the free-trade
+system--and we know the consequence. We were speedily near our last
+sovereign and last note also.
+
+To establish a sinking fund, which should secure to the nation
+during peace the means of discharging the debt contracted amidst
+the necessities of war, was one of the greatest objects of the old
+English policy, which was supported with equal earnestness by Mr
+Pitt and Mr Fox, by Mr Addington and Lord Henry Petty. So steadily
+was this admirable system adhered to through all the dangers
+and necessities of the war, that we had a clear sinking fund of
+£15,000,000 a-year, when the contest terminated in 1815, which, if
+kept up at that amount, from the indirect taxes from which it was
+levied during peace, would, beyond all question, as the loans had
+ceased, have discharged the whole debt by the year 1845. But the
+liberals soon discovered that this was the greatest of all errors:
+it was all a delusion; the mathematical demonstration, on which it
+was founded, was a fallacy; and the only wisdom was to repeal the
+indirect taxes, from which the sinking fund was maintained, and
+leave posterity to dispose of the debt as they best could, without
+any fund for its discharge. This system was gradually carried into
+effect by the successive repeal of the indirect taxes by different
+administrations; until at length, after thirty-three years of peace,
+we have, instead of the surplus of fifteen millions bequeathed to us
+by the war, an average _deficit_ of fifteen hundred thousand pounds;
+and the debt, after the longest peace recorded in British history,
+has undergone scarcely any diminution.
+
+Indirect taxation was the main basis of the British finance in
+old times--equally when directed by the Whigs as the Tories.
+Direct taxes were a last and painful resource, to be reserved for
+a period during war, when it had become absolutely unavoidable.
+So efficacious was this system proved to be by the event, when
+acting on a nation enjoying protected industry, and an adequate and
+irremovable currency, that, before the end of the war, £72,000,000
+was, amidst universal prosperity, with ease raised from eighteen
+millions of people in Great Britain and Ireland. This astonishing
+result, unparalleled in the previous history of the world, had no
+influence in convincing the modern liberals that the system which
+produced it was right. On the contrary, it left no doubt in their
+minds that it was entirely wrong. They introduced the opposite
+system: in twenty-five years, they repealed £40,000,000 of indirect
+taxes; and they reintroduced the income tax as a permanent burden
+during peace. We see the result. The sinking fund has disappeared;
+the income tax is fixed about our necks; a deficit of from a million
+and a half to two millions annually incurred; and it is now more
+difficult to extract fifty-two millions annually from twenty-nine
+millions of souls, than, at the close of the war, it was to raise
+seventy-two millions from eighteen millions of inhabitants.
+
+To discourage revolution, both abroad and at home, and enable
+industry, in peace and tranquillity, to reap the fruits of its
+toil, was the grand object of the great contest which Pitt's wisdom
+bequeathed to his successors, and Wellington's arm brought to a
+glorious termination. This, however, was ere long discovered to be
+the greatest error of all. England, it was found out, had a decided
+interest in promoting the cause of revolution all over the world.
+So enamoured did we soon become of the propagandist mania, that we
+pursued it in direct opposition to our planned national interests,
+and with the entire abrogation of our whole previous policy, for
+which we had engaged in the greatest and most costly wars, alike
+under Whig and Tory administrations. We supported revolutions in
+the South American states, though thereby we reduced to a half of
+its former amount the supply of the precious metals throughout the
+globe; and, in consequence, increased immensely the embarrassment
+which a contracted paper currency had brought upon the nation:
+we supported revolution in Belgium, though thereby we brought
+the tricolor standard down to Antwerp, and surrendered to French
+influence the barrier fortresses won by the victories of Marlborough
+and Wellington: we supported it during four years of carnage and
+atrocity in Spain, though thereby we undid the work of our own
+hands, in the treaty of Utrecht, surrendered the whole objects
+gained by the War of the Succession, and placed the female line upon
+the throne, as if to invite the French princes to come and carry off
+the glittering prize: we supported revolutions in Sicily and Italy,
+though thereby we gave such a blow to our export trade, that it sank
+£1,400,000 in the single month of last May, and above £5,000,000 in
+the course of the year 1848.
+
+To abolish the slave trade was one of the objects which Whigs and
+Tories had most at heart in the latter years of the old system;
+and in that great and glorious contest Mr Pitt, Mr Fox, and Mr
+Wilberforce stood side by side. But this object, so important
+in its results, so interesting to humanity from its tendency to
+alleviate human suffering, ere long yielded to the enlightened
+views of modern liberals. It was discovered that it was much more
+important to cheapen sugar _for a time_[8] than to rescue the
+African race from perdition. Free trade in sugar was introduced,
+although it was demonstrated, and, indeed, confessed, that the
+effect of it would be to ruin all the free-labour colonies,
+and throw the supply of the world into the hands of the slave
+states. Provided, for a few years, you succeeded in reducing the
+average retail price of sugar a penny a pound, it was deemed of
+no consequence though we extinguished the growth of free-labour
+sugar--destroyed colonies in which a hundred millions of British
+capital were invested, and doubled the slave trade in extent, and
+quadrupled it in horror, throughout the globe.
+
+  [8] Observe, _for a time_! We shall see anon what the price of
+  sugar will be when the English colonies are destroyed and the slave
+  plantations have the monopoly of the market in their hands.
+
+It had been the constant policy of the British government, under all
+administrations, for above a century and a half, to endeavour to
+reclaim the Irish population by introducing among them colonies of
+English who might teach them industry, and Protestant missionaries
+who might reclaim them from barbarism. The Irish landlords and
+boroughs were the outposts of civilisation among a race of savages;
+the Irish Church the station of Christianity amidst the darkness
+of Romish slavery. So effectual was this system, and so perfectly
+adapted to the character of the Celtic race--capable of great
+things when led by others, but utterly unfit for self-government,
+and incapable of improvement when left to itself,--that even in
+the ruthless hands of Cromwell, yet reeking with the slaughter of
+stormed cities, it soon spread a degree of prosperity through the
+country then unknown, and rarely if ever since equalled in that
+ill-starred land.[9] But the experience of the utter futility of
+all attempts, during a century and a half, to leave the native
+Irish Celts to themselves or their own direction, had no effect
+whatever in convincing our modern liberals that they were incapable
+of self-direction, and would only be ruined by Saxon institutions.
+On the contrary, it left no doubt in their minds that the absence
+of self-government was the sole cause of the wretchedness of the
+country, and that nothing was wanting but an entire participation in
+the privileges of British subjects, to render them as industrious,
+prosperous, and loyal as the yeomen of Kent or Surrey. In pursuance
+of those principles, Catholic Emancipation was granted: the Whigs
+had effected one revolution in 1688, by coalescing with the whole
+Tories to exclude the Catholics from the government; they brought
+about another revolution, in 1829, by coalescing with a section
+of the Tories to bring them in. In furtherance of the new system,
+so plausible in theory, so dangerous in practice, of extending to
+all men, of all races, and in all stages of political advancement,
+the same privileges, the liberals successively gave the Irish
+the command of their boroughs, the abridgment of the Protestant
+Church, and the abolition of tithes as a burden on the tenant.
+They encouraged agitation, allowed treason to be openly spoken in
+every part of the country, and winked at monster meetings, till
+the community was wellnigh thrown into convulsions. Meanwhile,
+agriculture was neglected--industry disappeared--capital was
+scared away. The land was run out, and became unfit for anything
+but lazy-beds of potatoes. The people became agitators, not
+cultivators: they were always running about to meetings--not
+frequenting fairs. The potato-blight fell on a country thus prepared
+for ruin, and the unparalleled misery of 1847, and the rebellion of
+1848, were the consequence.
+
+  [9] "Cromwell supplied the void made by his conquering sword,
+  by pouring in numerous colonies of the Anglo-Saxon blood and of
+  the Calvinistic faith. Strange to say, under that iron rule the
+  conquered country began to wear an outward face of prosperity.
+  Districts, which had recently been as wild as those where the
+  first white settlers of Connecticut were contending with the
+  Red Men, _were in a few years transformed into the likeness of
+  Kent and Norfolk_. New buildings, roads, and plantations were
+  everywhere begun. The rent of estates rose fast: and some of the
+  English landowners began to complain that they were met in every
+  market by the products of Ireland, and to clamour for protecting
+  laws."--MACAULAY'S _History_, i., 130.
+
+It would be easy to carry these illustrations farther, and to trace
+the working of the principles we have mentioned through the whole
+modern system of government in Great Britain. Enough has been
+said to show that the system is neither founded on the principles
+contended for by the old Whigs, nor on any appreciation of, or
+attention to, the national interests, or the dictates of experience
+in any respect. It has arisen entirely from a blind desire of
+change, and an opposition to the old system of government, whether
+of Whig or Tory origin, and a selfish thirst for aggrandisement on
+the part of the moneyed and commercial classes, whom that system
+had elevated to riches and power. Experience was not disregarded
+by this school of politicians; on the contrary, it was sedulously
+attended to, its lessons carefully marked. But it was considered
+as a beacon to be avoided, not a light to be followed. Against its
+conclusions the whole weight of declamation and shafts of irony
+were directed. It had been the _cri de guerre_ of their enemies,
+the standard of Mr Pitt's policy; therefore the opposite system
+was to be inscribed on their banners. It was the ruling principle
+of their political opponents; and, worst of all, it was the system
+which, though it had raised the country to power and greatness, had
+for twenty years excluded themselves from power. Thence the modern
+system, under which the nation has suffered, and is suffering, such
+incalculable misfortunes. It has been said, by an enlightened Whig
+of the old school, that "this age appears to be one in which _every
+conceivable folly_ must be believed and _reduced to practice_ before
+it is abandoned." It is really so; and the reason is, it is an age
+in which the former system of government, founded on experience and
+brought about by necessity, has been supplanted by one based on a
+systematic and invariable determination to change the old system in
+every particular. The liberals, whether factious or moneyed, of the
+new school, flattered themselves they were making great advances in
+political science, when they were merely yielding to the same spirit
+which made the Calvinists stand up when they prayed, because all
+the world before them had knelt down, and sit still during psalms,
+because the Roman Catholics had stood up.
+
+But truth is great, and will prevail; experience is its test,
+and is perpetually contradicting the theories of man. The year
+1848 has been no exception to the maxims of Tacitus and Burke.
+Dreadful indeed in suffering, appalling in form, are the lessons
+which it has read to mankind! Ten months have not elapsed, since,
+by a well-concerted urban tumult, seconded by the treachery of
+the national guard, the throne of the Barricades was overturned
+in France--and what do we already see on the continent of Europe?
+Vienna petitioning for a _continuation_ of the state of siege, as
+the only security against the tyranny of democracy: Berlin hailing
+with rapture the dissolution of the Assembly, and reappearance
+of the king in the capital: Milan restored to the sway of the
+Austrians: France seeking, in the _quasi_ imperial crown of Prince
+Louis Napoleon, with 90,000 soldiers in its capital, a refuge from
+the insupportable evils of a democratic republic. The year 1848 has
+added another to the numerous proofs which history affords, that
+popular convulsions, from whatever cause arising, can terminate
+only in the rule of the sword; but it has taught two other lessons
+of incalculable importance to the present and future tranquillity
+of mankind. These are, that soldiers who in civil convulsions
+fraternise with the insurgents, and violate their oaths, are the
+_worst enemies_ of the people, for they inevitably induce a military
+despotism, which extinguishes all hopes of freedom. The other is,
+that the institution of a national guard is in troubled times of all
+others the most absurd; and that, to put arms into the hands of the
+people, when warmed by revolutionary passions, is only to light the
+torch of civil discord with your own hand, and hand over the country
+to anarchy, ruin, and slavery.
+
+Nor has the year been less fruitful of civil premonitions or lessons
+of the last importance to the future tranquillity and prosperity of
+Great Britain. Numerous popular delusions have been dispelled during
+that period. The dreams of Irish independence have been broken;
+English Chartism has been crushed. The revolutionists see that the
+people of Great Britain are not disposed to yield their property
+to the spoiler, their throats to the murderer, their homes to the
+incendiary. Free trade and a fettered currency have brought forth
+their natural fruits--national embarrassment, general suffering,
+popular misery. One half of the wealth of our manufacturing towns
+has been destroyed since the new system began. Two years of free
+trade and a contracted currency have undone nearly all that twenty
+years of protection and a sufficient currency had done. The great
+mercantile class have suffered so dreadfully under the effect of
+their own measures, that their power for good or for evil has
+been essentially abridged. The colossus which, for a quarter of a
+century, has bestrode the nation, has been shaken by the earthquake
+which itself had prepared. Abroad and at home, in peace and in
+war, delusion has brought forth suffering. The year of revolutions
+has been the NINTH OF THERMIDOR, OF LIBERAL PRINCIPLES, for it has
+brought them to the test of experience.
+
+
+
+
+FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS.
+
+
+The extraordinary deficiency recently exhibited by a great
+Continental nation in two qualities eminently prized by
+Englishmen--in common consistency, namely, and in common sense--has
+cast into the shade all previous shortcomings of the kind, making
+them appear remote and trivial. A people of serfs, ruled for
+centuries with an iron rod, pillaged for their masters' profit,
+and lashed at the slightest murmur, were excusable if, on sudden
+emancipation from such galling thraldom, their joyful gambols
+exceeded the limits prescribed by public decorum, and by a due
+regard to their own future prosperity. They might be forgiven
+for dancing round maypoles, and dreaming of social perfection.
+It would not be wonderful if they had difficulty in immediately
+replacing their expelled tyrants by a capable and stable government,
+and if their brief exhilaration were succeeded by a period of
+disorganisation and weakness. Such allowances cannot be made for the
+mad capers of republican France. The deliverance is inadequate to
+account for the ensuing delirium. The grievances swept away by the
+February revolution, and which patience, prudence, and moderation,
+could not have failed ultimately to remove--as thoroughly, if less
+rapidly--were not so terrible as to justify lunacy upon redress.
+Nevertheless, since then, the absurdities committed by France, or
+at least by Paris, are scarcely explicable save on the supposition
+of temporary aberration of intellect. Unimaginative persons have
+difficulty in realising the panorama of events, alternately
+sanguinary and grotesque, lamentable and ludicrous, spread over the
+last ten months. Europe--the portion of it, that is to say, which
+has not been bitten by the same rabid and mischievous demon--has
+looked on, in utter astonishment, at the painful spectacle of a
+leader of its civilisation galloping, with Folly on its crupper,
+after mad theories and empty names, and riding down, in the furious
+chase, its own prosperity and respectability.
+
+We repeat, then, that these great follies of to-day eclipse the
+minor ones of yesterday. When we see France destroying, in a few
+weeks, her commerce and her credit, and doing herself more harm
+than as many years will repair, we overlook the fact, that for
+upwards of fifteen years she has annually squandered from three
+to five millions sterling upon an unproductive colony in North
+Africa. France used not to be petty in her wars, or paltry in her
+enterprises. If she was sometimes quarrelsome and aggressive,
+she was wont at least to fasten on foes worthy of her power and
+resources. Since 1830 she has derogated in this particular. A
+complication of causes--the most prominent being the vanity
+characteristic of the nation, the crooked policy of the sovereign,
+and the morbid love of fighting bequeathed by the warlike period of
+the Empire--has kept France engaged in a costly and discreditable
+contest, whose most triumphant results could be but inglorious,
+and in which she has decimated her best troops, and deteriorated
+her ancient fame, whilst pursuing, with unworthy ferocity and
+ruthlessness, a feeble and inoffensive foe. This is no partial or
+malicious view of the character of the Algerine war. Deliberately,
+and after due reflection, we repeat, that France has gravely
+compromised in Africa her reputation as a chivalrous and clement
+nation, and that she no longer can claim--as once she was wont to
+do--to be as humane in victory as she is valiant in the fight. For
+proof of this we need seek no further than in the speeches and
+despatches of French generals, of men who themselves have served
+and commanded in Africa. We will judge France by the voices of her
+own sons, of those she has selected as worthiest to govern her
+half-conquered colony, and to marshal her legions against a handful
+of Arabs. More than one of these officers testify, voluntarily or
+unwittingly, to the barbarity of the system pursued in Africa. What
+said General Castellane, in his well-known speech in the Chamber
+of Peers, on the 4th July 1845? "We have reduced the country by an
+arsenal of axes and phosphorus matches. The trees were cut down,
+the crops were burned, and soon the mastery was obtained of a
+population reduced to famine and despair." And elsewhere in the same
+speech: "Few soldiers perish by the hand of the enemy in this war--a
+sort of _man-hunt_ on a large scale, in which the Arabs, ignorant
+of European tactics, having no cannon-balls to exchange against
+ours, do not fight with equal arms." Monsieur A. Desjobert, long a
+deputy for the department of the Lower Seine, is the author of a
+volume, and of several pamphlets, upon the Algerine question. In the
+most recent of these we find the following remarkable note:--"In
+February 1837, General Bugeaud said to the Arabs, 'You shall not
+plough, you shall not sow, nor lead your cattle to the pasture,
+without our permission.' Later, he gives the following definition
+of a razzia: 'A sudden irruption, having for its object to surprise
+the tribes, in order to kill the men, and to carry off the women,
+children, and cattle.' In 1844, he completes this theory, by saying
+to the Kabyles, 'I will penetrate into your mountains, I will burn
+your villages and your crops, I will cut down your fruit-trees.'
+(Proclamation of the 30th March.) In 1846, rendering an account of
+his operations against Abd-el-Kader, he says to the authorities of
+Algiers, 'The power of Abd-el-Kader consists in the resources of
+the tribes; hence, to ruin his power, we must first ruin the Arabs;
+therefore have we burned much, destroyed much.' (From the _Akhbar_
+newspaper of February 1846.)" These are significant passages in the
+mouth of a general-in-chief. Presently, when we come to details,
+we shall show they were not thrown away upon his subordinates.
+The extermination of the Arabs was always the real aim of Marshal
+Bugeaud; he took little pains to cloak his system, and is too
+great a blunderer to have succeeded, had he taken more. A man of
+greater presumption than capacity, his audacity, obstinacy, and
+unscrupulousness knew no bounds. Before this African _man-hunt_, as
+M. Castellane calls it, he was unknown, except as the Duchess de
+Berry's jailer, as the slayer of poor Dulong, and as a turbulent
+debater, whose noisy declamation, and occasional offences against
+the French language, were a standing joke with the newspapers. A
+few years elapse, and we find him opposing his stubborn will to
+that of Soult, then minister at war, and successfully thwarting
+Napoleon's old lieutenant. This he was enabled to do mainly by the
+position he had made himself in Africa. He had ridden into power and
+importance on the shoulders of the persecuted Arabs, by a system of
+razzias and village-burning, of wholesale slaughter and relentless
+oppression. Brighter far were the laurels gathered by the lieutenant
+of the Empire, than those plucked by Louis Philippe's marshal
+amidst the ashes of Bedouin douars and the corpses of miserable
+Mussulmans, slain in defence of their scanty birthright, of their
+tents, their flocks, and the free range of the desert. Poor was
+the defence they could make against their skilful and disciplined
+invaders; slight the loss they could inflict in requital of the
+heavy one they suffered. Again we are obliged to M. Desjobert for
+statistics, gathered from reports to the Commission of Credits, and
+from Marshal Bugeaud's own bulletins. From these we learn that the
+loss in battle of the French armies, during the first ten years
+of the occupation of Algeria, was an average of one hundred and
+forty men per annum. In the four following years, eight hundred
+and eighty-five men perished. The capture of Constantine cost one
+hundred men, the much-vaunted affair of the Smala _nine_, the battle
+of Isly TWENTY-SEVEN! We well remember, for we chanced to be in
+Paris at the time, the stir produced in that excitable capital by
+the battle of Isly. No one, unacquainted with the facts, would have
+doubted that the victory was over a most valiant and formidable
+foe. People's mouths were filled with this revival of the military
+glories of Gaul. Newspapers and picture-shops, poets and painters,
+combined to celebrate the exploit and sound the victors' praise.
+One engraving _de circonstance_, we remember, represented a sturdy
+French foot-soldier, trampling, like Gulliver, a host of Lilliputian
+Moors, and carrying a score of them over his shoulder, spitted
+on his bayonet. "Out of my way!" was the inscription beneath the
+print--"_Les Français seront toujours les Français._" Horace
+Vernet, colourist, by special appointment, to the African campaign,
+pictorial chronicler of the heroic feats of the house militant of
+Orleans, prepared his best brushes, and stretched his broadest
+canvass, to immortalise the marshal and his men. After a few days,
+two dingy tents and an enormous umbrella were exhibited in the
+gardens of the Tuileries; these were trophies of the fight--the
+private property of Mohammed-Abderrhaman, the vanquished prince of
+Morocco, the real merit of whose conquerors was about as great as
+that of an active tiger who gloriously scatters a numerous flock
+of sheep. From one of several books relating to Algeria, now upon
+our table, we will take a French officer's account of the affair of
+Isly. The story of Escoffier, a trumpeter who generously resigned
+his horse to his dismounted captain, himself falling into the hands
+of the Arabs, whose prisoner he remained for about eighteen months,
+is told by M. Alby, an officer of the African army. Although a
+little vivid in the colouring, and comprising two or three very
+tough "yarns,"--due, we apprehend, to the imagination of trumpeter
+or author--its historical portion professes to be, and probably is,
+correct; and, at any rate, there can be no reason for suspecting
+the writer of depreciating his countrymen's achievements, and
+understating their merits. The account of the battle, or rather of
+the chase, for fighting there was none, is given by a deserter from
+the Spahis, who, after the defeat of the Moors, joined Abd-el-Kader.
+The Emir and his Arabs took no part in the affair.[10]
+
+  [10] _A Campaign in the Kabylie._ By DAWSON BORRER, F.R.G.S., &c.
+  London, 1848.
+
+  _La Kabylie._ Par un Colon. Paris, 1846.
+
+  _La Captivité du Trompette Escoffier._ Par ERNEST ALBY. 2 vols.
+  Brussels, 1848.
+
+"I deserted, with several of my comrades, during the night-march
+stolen by the French upon the Moors. We sought the emperor's son
+in his camp, and informed him of the movement making by the French
+column. The emperor's son had our horses taken away, and gave orders
+not to lose sight of us. Then he said to us:--
+
+"'Let them come, those dogs of Christians; they are but thirteen
+thousand strong, and we a hundred and sixty thousand: we will
+receive them well.'
+
+"The day was well advanced before the Moors perceived the French.
+Then the emperor's son ordered his horsemen to mount and advance.
+The French marched in a square. They unmasked their artillery, and
+the guns sent their deadly charge of grape into the ranks of the
+Moors, who immediately took to flight, and the French had nothing to
+do but to sabre them."
+
+"The Moors," says M. Alby, "had fine horses and good sabres; but
+their muskets were bad; and the men, softened by centuries of peace
+and prosperity, smoking keef[11] and eating copiously, might be
+expected to run, as they did, at the first cannon-shot."
+
+  [11] The Moors smoke the leaves of hemp instead of tobacco. This
+  _keef_, as it is called, easily intoxicates, and renders the
+  head giddy. Abd-el-Kader forbade the use of it, and if one of
+  his soldiers was caught smoking keef, he received the bastinado.
+  _Captivité d'Escoffier_, vol. i. p. 221.
+
+It is hard to understand how the loss of the French should have
+amounted to even the twenty-seven men at which it is stated in their
+general's bulletin. Did M. Bugeaud, unwilling to admit the facility
+of his triumph, slay the score and seven with his goosequill? But
+if the victory was easily won, on the other hand, it was largely
+rewarded. For having driven before him, by the very first volley
+from his guns, a horde of overfed barbarians, enervated by sloth
+and narcotics, and total strangers to the tactics of civilised
+warfare, the marshal was created a duke! Shade of Napoleon! whether
+proudly lingering within the trophy-clad walls of the Invalides,
+or passing in spectral review the dead of Austerlitz and Borodino,
+suspend your lonely walk, curb your shadowy charger, and contemplate
+this pitiable spectacle! You, too, gave dukedoms, and lavished even
+crowns, but you gave them for services worth the naming. Ney and the
+Moskwa, Massena and Essling, Lannes and Montebello, are words that
+bear the coupling, and grace a coronet. The names of the places,
+although all three recall brilliant victories, are far less glorious
+in their associations than the names of the men. But Bugeaud and
+Isly! What can we say of them? Truly, thus much--they, too, are
+worthy of each other.
+
+When reviewing, about two years ago, Captain Kennedy's narrative of
+travel and adventure in Algeria, we regretted he did not speak out
+about the mode of carrying on the war, and about the prospects of
+Algerine colonisation; and we hinted a suspicion that the amenities
+of French military hospitality, largely extended to a British
+fellow-soldier, had induced him, if not exactly to cloak, at least
+to shun laying bare, the errors and mishaps of his entertainers.
+We cannot make the same complaint of the very pretty book, rich in
+vignettes and cream-colour, entitled, _A Campaign in the Kabylie_.
+Mr Borrer, whom the Cockneys, contemptuous of terminations, will
+assuredly confound with his great gipsy cotemporary, George Borrow
+of the Bible, has, like Captain Kennedy, dipped his spoon in French
+messes. He has ridden with their regiments, and sat at their board,
+and been quartered with their officers, and received kindness and
+good treatment on all hands; and therefore any thing that could
+be construed into malicious comment would come with an ill grace
+from his pen. But it were exaggerated delicacy to abstain from
+stating facts, and these he gives in all their nakedness; generally,
+however, allowing them to speak for themselves, and adding little
+in the way of remark or opinion. In pursuance of this system, he
+relates the most horrible instances of outrage and cruelty with a
+matter-of-fact coolness, and an absence alike of blame and sympathy,
+that may give an unfavourable notion of his heart, to those who do
+not accept our lenient interpretation of his cold-blooded style. The
+traits he sets down, and which are no more than will be found in
+many French narratives, despatches, and bulletins, show how well the
+Franco-African army carry out the merciful maxims of Bugeaud.
+
+Mr Borrer, a geographer and antiquary, passed seventeen months in
+Algeria; and during his residence there, in May 1846, a column of
+eight thousand French troops, commanded by the Duke of Isly in
+person, marched against the Kabyles, "that mysterious, bare-headed,
+leathern-aproned race, whose chief accomplishment was said to
+be that of being 'crack-shots,' their chief art that of neatly
+roasting their prisoners alive, and their chief virtue that of
+loving their homes." It may interest the reader to hear a rather
+more explicit account of this singular people, who dwell in the
+mountains that traverse Algeria from Tunis to Morocco--an irregular
+domain, whose limits it is difficult exactly to define in words.
+The Kabyles are, in fact, the highlanders of North Africa, and they
+hold themselves aloof from the Arabs and Europeans that surround
+them. Concerning them, we find some diversity in the statements
+of Mr Borrer, and of an anonymous Colonist, twelve years resident
+at Bougie, whose pamphlet is before us. Of the two, the Frenchman
+gives them the best character, but both agree as to their industry
+and intelligence, their frugality and skill in agriculture. They
+are not nomadic like the Arabs, but live in villages, till the
+land, and tend flocks. Dwelling in the mountains, they have few
+horses, and fight chiefly on foot. Divided into many tribes, they
+are constantly quarreling and fighting amongst themselves, but
+they forget their feuds and quickly unite to repel a foreign foe.
+"Predisposed by his character," says the Colonist, "to draw near
+to civilisation, the Kabyle attaches himself sincerely to the
+civilised man when circumstances establish a friendly connexion
+between them. He is still inclined to certain vices inherent in
+the savage: but of all the Africans, he is the best disposed to
+live in friendship and harmony with us, which he will do when
+he shall find himself in permanent contact with the European
+population." This is not the general opinion, and it differs widely
+from that expressed by Mr Borrer. But the Colonist had his own
+views, perhaps his own interests, to further. He wrote some months
+previous to the expedition which Mr Borrer accompanied, and which
+was then not likely to take place, and he strongly advocated its
+propriety--admitting, however, that public opinion in France was
+greatly opposed to a military incursion into Kabylia. Himself
+established at Bougie, of course in some description of commerce,
+the necessity of roads connecting the coast and the interior was to
+him quite evident. A good many of his countrymen, whose personal
+benefit was not so likely to be promoted by causeway-cutting in
+Algeria, strongly deprecated any sort of road-making that was likely
+to bring on war with the Kabyles. France began to think she was
+paying too dear for her whistle. She looked back to the early days
+of the Orleans dynasty, when Marshal Clausel promised to found a
+rich and powerful colony with only 10,000 men. She glanced at the
+pages of the _Moniteur_ of 1837, and there she found words uttered
+by the great Bugeaud in the Chamber of Deputies. "Forty-five
+thousand men and one good campaign," said the white-headed
+warrior, as the Arabs call him, "and in six months the country
+is pacified, and you may reduce the army to twenty thousand men,
+to be paid by imposts levied on the colony, consequently costing
+France nothing." Words, and nothing more--mere wind; the greatest
+_bosh_ that ever was uttered, even by Bugeaud, who is proverbial
+for dealing largely in that flatulent commodity. Nine years passed
+away, and the Commission of the Budget "deplored a situation which
+compelled France to maintain an army of more than 100,000 men upon
+that African territory." (Report of M. Bignon of the 15th April
+1846, p. 237.) Bugeaud himself had mightily changed his tone, and
+declared that, to keep Algiers, as large an army would be essential
+as had been required to conquer it. Lamoricière, a great authority
+in such matters, confirmed the opinion of his senior. Monsieur
+Desjobert, and a variety of pamphleteers and newspaper writers,
+attacked, with argument, ridicule, and statistics, the party known
+as the _Algérophiles_, who made light of difficulties, scoffed
+at expense, and predicted the prosperity and splendour of French
+Africa. Algeria, according to them, was to become the brightest
+gem in the citizen-crown of France. These sanguine gentlemen were
+met with facts and figures. During 1846, said the anti-Algerines,
+your precious colony will have cost France 125,000,000 of francs.
+And they proved it in black and white. There was little chance
+of the expense being less in following years. Then came the loss
+of men. In 1840, said M. Desjobert, giving chapter and verse for
+his statements, 9567 men perished in the African hospitals, out
+of an effective army of 63,000. Add those invalids who died in
+French hospitals, or in their homes, from the results of African
+campaigning, and the total loss is moderately stated at 11,000 men,
+or more than one-sixth of the whole force employed. Out of these,
+only 227 died in action. The thing seemed hopeless and endless.
+What do we get for our money? was the cry. What is our compensation
+for the decimation of our young men? France can better employ her
+sons, than in sending them to perish by African fevers. What do we
+gain by all this expenditure of gold and blood?--The unreasonable
+mortals! Had they not gained a Duke of Isly and a Moorish pavilion?
+M. Desjobert surely forgets these inestimable acquisitions when he
+asks and answers the question--"What remains of all our victories? A
+thousand bulletins, and Horace Vernet's big pictures."
+
+"How many times," says the same writer, "has not the subjection of
+the Arabs been proclaimed! In 1844, General Bugeaud gains the battle
+of Isly. Are the Arabs subdued?
+
+"When the Arabs appear before the judges who dispose of life and
+death, they confess their faith, and proclaim their hatred of us;
+and when we are simple enough to tell them that some of their race
+are devoted to us, they reply, 'Those lie to you, through fear, or
+for their own interest; and as often as a scheriff shall come whom
+they believe able to conquer you, they will follow him, even into
+the streets of Algiers.' (Examination of Bou Maza's brother, 12th
+November 1845.) Thus spoke the chief. The common Arab had already
+said to the Christian, "If my head and thine were boiled in the same
+vessel, my broth would separate itself from thy broth."
+
+This was discouraging to those who had dreamed of the taming of the
+Arab; and the more sanguinary mooted ideas of extermination. Such a
+project, clearly written down, and printed, and placed on Parisian
+breakfast tables, might be startling; in Algeria it had long been
+put in practice. What said General Duvivier in his _Solution de
+la Question d'Algérie_, p. 285? "For eleven years they have razed
+buildings, burned crops, destroyed trees, massacred men, women,
+and children, with a still-increasing fury." We have already shown
+that this work of extermination was not carried on with perfect
+impunity. Here is further confirmation of the fact. "Every Arab
+killed," says M. Leblanc de Prébois, another officer, who wrote on
+the Algerian war, and wrote from personal experience, "costs us the
+death of thirty-three men, and 150,000 francs." Supposing a vast
+deal of exaggeration in this statement, the balance still remains
+ugly against the French, for whom there is evidently very little
+difference between catching an Arab and catching a Tartar. Whilst
+upon the subject of extermination, Mr Borrer gives an opinion more
+decidedly unfavourable to his French friends than is expressed in
+any other part of his book. His estimate of Kabyle virtues differs
+considerably, it will be observed, from that of the Colonist, and of
+the two is much nearest the truth.
+
+"The abominable vices and debaucheries of the Kabyle race, the
+inhuman barbarities they are continually guilty of towards such
+as may be cast by tempest, or other misfortune, upon their rugged
+shores; the atrocious cruelties and refined tortures they, in common
+with the Arab, delight in exercising upon any such enemies as may
+be so unhappy as to fall alive into their hands, must render the
+hearts of those acquainted with this people perfectly callous as
+to what misfortunes may befall them or their country; and many
+may think that, as far as the advancement of civilisation is
+concerned, the wiping off of the Kabyle and Arab races of Northern
+Africa from the face of the earth, would be the greatest boon to
+humanity. Though, however, they may be fraught with all the vices
+of the Canaanitish tribes of old, yet the command, 'Go ye after
+him through the city and smite; let not your eye spare, neither
+have ye pity; slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little
+children, and women,' is not justifiably issued at the pleasure of
+man; and we can but lament to see a great and gallant nation engaged
+in a warfare exasperating both parties to indulge in sanguinary
+atrocities,--atrocities to be attributed on one side to the
+barbarous and savage state of those having recourse to them; but on
+the other, proceeding only from a thirst for retaliation and bloody
+revenge, unworthy of those enjoying a high position as a civilised
+people. War is, as we all know, ever productive of horrors: but such
+horrors may be greatly restrained and diminished by the exertions
+and example of those in command."
+
+The hoary-headed hero of Isly is not the man to make the exertion,
+or set the example. At the beginning of 1847, rumours of a projected
+inroad amongst the Kabyles caused uneasiness and dissatisfaction
+in Algeria, when such a movement was highly unpopular, as likely
+to lead to a long and expensive war. The "Commission of Credits,"
+a board appointed by the French Chamber for the particular
+investigation and regulation of Algerine affairs, applied to the
+minister of war to know if the rumours were well founded. The
+minister confessed they were; adding, however, that the expedition
+would be quite peaceable; but at the same time laying before the
+commission letters from Bugeaud, "expressing regret that force of
+arms was not to be resorted to more than was absolutely necessary,
+the submission of the aborigines being never certain _until powder
+had spoken_." The marshal evidently "felt like fighting." The
+Commission protested; the minister rebuked them, bidding them mind
+their credits, and not meddle with the royal prerogative. Thus
+unjustly snubbed--for they certainly were minding their credits,
+by opposing increase of expenditure--the Commission were mute, one
+of the members merely observing, by way of a last shot, that it
+was easier to refuse to listen than to reply satisfactorily. In
+France, public opinion, the Chamber of Deputies, and Marshal Soult,
+had, on various occasions, declared against attacking the Kabyles.
+"Nevertheless, a proclamation was issued by Marshal Bugeaud to
+the inhabitants of the Kabylie, to warn them that the French army
+was upon the point of entering their territory, 'to cleanse it of
+those adventurers who there preached the war against France.' The
+proclamation then went on to state, that the marshal had no desire
+to fight with them, or to devastate their property; but that, if
+there were amongst them any who wished for war, they would find
+him ready to accept it." If a hard-favoured stranger, armed with a
+horsewhip, walked uninvited into M. Bugeaud's private residence,
+loudly proclaiming he would thrash nobody unless provoked, the
+marshal would be likely to resist the intrusion. The Kabyles,
+doubtless, thought his advance into their territory an equally
+unjustifiable proceeding. As to the pretext of "the adventurers who
+preached war," it was unfounded and ridiculous. Such propagandists
+have never been listened to in Kabylia. "The voice of the Emir
+Abd-el-Kader himself," says the Colonist, "would not obtain a
+hearing. Did he not go in person, in 1839, when preparing to break
+his treaty of peace with us, and preach the holy war? Did he not
+traverse the valley of the Souman, from one end to the other,
+to recruit combatants? And what did he obtain from the Kabyles?
+Hospitality for a few days, coupled with the formal invitation to
+evacuate the country as soon as possible. Did he succeed better
+when he lately again tried to raise Kabylia against us?" Mr Borrer
+confirms this. Marshal Bugeaud himself had said in the Chamber of
+Deputies, "The Kabyles are neither aggressive nor hostile; they
+defend themselves vigorously when intruded upon, but they do not
+attack." The marshal, whose whole public life has been full of
+contradictions, was the first to intrude upon them, although but
+a very few years had elapsed since he said in a pamphlet, "The
+Kabyles are numerous and very warlike; they have villages, and their
+agriculture is sedentary; already there is too little land to supply
+their wants; there is no room, therefore, for Europeans in the
+mountains of Kabylia, and they would cut a very poor figure there."
+This last prophetic sentence was realised by M. Bugeaud himself, who
+certainly made no very brilliant appearance when, forgetting his
+former theory, he hazarded himself in May 1847, at the head of eight
+thousand men, and with Mr Borrer in his train, amongst the hardy
+mountaineers of Kabylia.
+
+Hereabouts Mr Borrer quotes, in French, the statement of a member of
+the Commission already referred to. It is worth extracting, as fully
+confirming our conviction that the conduct of France in Algeria
+has been throughout characterised by an utter want of judgment and
+justice. "The native towns have been invaded, ruined, sacked, by
+our administration, more even than by our arms. In time of peace,
+a great number of private estates have been ravaged and destroyed.
+A multitude of title-deeds delivered to us for verification have
+never been restored. Even in the environs of Algiers, fertile
+lands have been taken from the Arabs and given to Europeans, who,
+unable or unwilling to cultivate their new possessions, have
+farmed them out to their former owners, who have thus become the
+mere stewards of the inheritance of their fathers. Elsewhere,
+tribes, or fractions of tribes, not hostile to us, but who, on the
+contrary, had fought for us, have been driven from their territory.
+Conditions have been accepted from them, and not kept--indemnities
+promised, and never paid--until we have compromised our honour even
+more than their interests." Such a statement, proceeding from a
+Frenchman--from one, too, delegated by his government, to examine
+the state of the colony--is quite conclusive as to administrative
+proceedings in Algeria. It would be superfluous and impertinent to
+add another line of evidence. A comment may be appropriate. "Is it
+not Montesquieu," says Mr Borrer, "in his _Esprit des Lois_, who
+observes--'The right of conquest, though a necessary and legitimate
+right, is an unhappy one, bequeathing to the conqueror a heavy debt
+to humanity, only to be acquitted by repairing, as far as possible,
+those evils of which he has been the cause'?--and Montesquieu was a
+wise man, and a Frenchman!"
+
+Dismissing this branch of the subject, let us see how the Duke
+of Isly made "the powder speak" in Kabylia, and try our hand
+at a rough sketch, taking the loan of Mr Borrer's colours. A
+strong body of French troops--the 8000 have been increased, since
+departure, by several battalions and some spahis--are encamped in
+a rich valley, cutting down the unripe wheat for the use of their
+horses, whilst, from the surrounding heights, the Kabyles gloomily
+watch the unscrupulous foragers. "Now 'soft-winged evening,'" as
+Mr Dawson Borrer poetically expresses himself, "hovers o'er the
+scene, chasing from woodlands and sand-rock heights the gilded
+tints of the setting sun." In other words, it gets dark--and shots
+are heard. The natives, vexed at the liberties taken with their
+crops, harass the outposts. Their bad powder and overloaded guns
+have no chance against French muskets. "In the name of the Prophet,
+HEADS!" Bugeaud the Merciful pays for them ten francs a-piece. Four
+are presented to him before breakfast. The premium is to make the
+soldiers alert against horse-stealers. Ten francs being a little
+fortune to a French soldier, whose pay in hard cash is two or three
+farthings a-day, Mr Borrer suspects the heads are sometimes taken
+from shoulders where they have a right to remain. An Arab is always
+an Arab, whether a horse-stealer or a mere idler. But no matter--a
+few more or less. Day returns; the column marches; the Kabyles
+show little of the intrepidity, in defence of their hearths and
+altars, attributed to them by M. Bugeaud and others. Their horsemen
+fly before a platoon of French cavalry; the infantry limit their
+offensive operations to cowardly long shots at the rear-guard. Four
+venerable elders bring two yoked oxen in token of submission. In
+general, the inhabitants have disappeared. Their deserted towns
+appear, in the distance, by no means inferior to many French and
+Italian villages. The marshal will not permit exploring parties
+for fear of ambuscade. Night arrives, and passes without incident
+of note. At three in the morning, the camp is aroused by hideous
+yells. A sentinel has fired at a horse-thief and broken his leg,
+and now, mindful of the ten francs, tries to cut off the head of
+the wounded man, who objects and screams. A bayonet-thrust stops
+his mouth, and the _bill on Bugeaud_ is duly severed. The next day
+is passed in skirmishing with the Beni-Abbez, the most numerous
+tribe of the valley of the Souman, but not a very warlike one--so
+says the Colonist; and, indeed, they offer but slight resistance,
+although they, or some other tribes, make a firm and determined
+attack upon the French outposts in the course of that night. There
+is more smoke than bloodshed; but the Kabyles show considerable
+pluck, burn a prodigious number of cartridges, and make no doubt
+they have nearly "rubbed out" the Christians; in which particular
+they are rather mistaken--the French, not choosing to leave their
+camp, having quietly lain down, and allowed the Berber lead to fly
+over them. At last the assailants' ammunition runs low, and they
+retire, leaving a sprinkling of dead. Mr Borrer quotes the Koran.
+"'Those of our brothers who fall in defence of the true faith,
+are not dead, but live invisible, receiving their nourriture from
+the hand of the Most High,' says the Prophet." _Nourriture_ is
+not quite English, at least with that orthography; but no matter
+for Mr Borrer's Gallicisms, which are many. We rush with him into
+the Kabyle fire. Here he sits, halted amongst the olive-trees,
+philosophically lighting his pipe, the bullets whistling about his
+ears, whilst he admires the _sang froid_ of a pretty _vivandière_,
+seated astride upon her horse, and jesting at the danger. The column
+advances--the Kabyles retreat, fighting, pursued by the French
+shells, which they hold in particular horror, and call the howitzer
+the _twice-firing cannon_. The object of the advance is to destroy
+the towns and villages of the Beni-Abbez, the night-attack upon his
+bivouac affording the marshal a pretext. The villages are surrounded
+with stiff walls of stones and mud, crowned with strong thorny
+fences, and having hedges of prickly pear growing at their base; and
+the gaunt burnoosed warriors make good fight through loop-holes and
+from the terraces of their houses. But resistance is soon overcome,
+and the narrow streets are crowded with Frenchmen, ravishing,
+massacring, plundering; no regard to sex or age; outrage for every
+woman--the edge of the sword for all.
+
+"Upon the floor of one of the chambers lay a little girl of twelve
+or fourteen years of age, weltering in gore, and in the agonies of
+death: an accursed ruffian thrust his bayonet into her. God will
+requite him.... When the soldiers had ransacked the dwellings, and
+smashed to atoms all they could not carry off, or did not think
+worth seizing as spoil, they heaped the remnants and the mattings
+together and fired them. As I was hastily traversing the streets
+to regain the outside of the village, disgusted with the horrors I
+witnessed, flames burst forth on all sides, and torrents of fire
+came swiftly gliding down the thoroughfares, for the flames had
+gained the oil. An instant I turned--the fearful doom of the poor
+concealed child and the decrepid mother flashing on my mind. It was
+too late.... The unfortunate Kabyle child was doubtless consumed
+with her aged parent. How many others may have shared her fate!"
+
+At noon, the atmosphere is laden with smoke arising from the
+numerous burning villages. From one spot nine may be counted,
+wrapped in flames. There is merry-making in the French camp.
+Innumerable goatskins, full of milk, butter, figs, and flour, are
+produced and opened. Some are consumed; more are squandered and
+strewn upon the ground. Let the Kabyle dogs starve! Have they not
+audaciously levelled their long guns at the white-headed warrior
+and his followers, who asked nothing but submission, free passage
+through the country, corn-fields for their horses, and the fat
+of the land for themselves? But stay--there is still a town to
+take, the last, the strongest, the refuge of the women and of the
+aged. Its defence is resolute, but at last it falls. "Ravished,
+murdered, burnt, hardly a child escaped to tell the tale. A few of
+the women fled to the ravines around the village; but troops swept
+the brushwood; and the stripped and mangled bodies of females might
+there be seen.... One vast sheet of flame crowned the height, which
+an hour or two before was ornamented with an extensive and opulent
+village, crowded with inhabitants. It seemed to have been the very
+emporium of commerce of the Beni-Abbez; fabrics of gunpowder, of
+arms, of haïks, burnooses, and different stuffs, were there. The
+streets boasted of numerous shops of workers in silver, workers in
+cord, venders of silk, &c." All this the soldiers pillaged, or the
+fire devoured; then the insatiable flames gained the corn and olive
+trees, and converted a smiling and prosperous district into a black
+and barren waste. Bugeaud looked on and pronounced it good, and
+his men declared the country "well cleaned out," and vaunted their
+deeds of rapine and violence. "I heard two ruffians relating, with
+great gusto, how many young girls had been burned in one house,
+after being abused by their brutal comrades and themselves." Out
+of consideration for his readers, Mr Borrer says, he writes down
+but the least shocking of the crimes and atrocities he that day
+witnessed. We have no inclination to transcribe a tithe of the
+horrors he records, and at sight of which, he assures us, the blood
+of many a gallant French officer boiled in his veins. He mentions
+no attempt on the part of these compassionate officers to curb the
+ferocity of their men, who had not the excuse of previous severe
+sufferings, of a long and obstinate resistance, and of the loss of
+many of their comrades, to allege in extenuation of their savage
+violence. History teaches us that, in certain circumstances, as,
+for instance, after protracted sieges, great exposure, and a long
+and bloody fight, soldiers of all nations are liable to forget
+discipline, and, maddened by fury, by suffering and excitement, to
+despise the admonitions and reprimands of the chiefs--nay, even
+to turn their weapons against those whom for years they have been
+accustomed to respect and implicitly obey. But there is no such
+excuse in the instance before us. A pleasant military promenade
+through a rich country, fine weather, abundant rations, and just
+enough skirmishing to give zest to the whole affair, whose fighting
+part was exceeding brief, as might be expected, when French bayonets
+and artillery were opposed to the clumsy guns and irregular tactics
+of the Beni-Abbez--we find nothing in this picture to extenuate
+the horrible cruelties enacted by the conquerors after their
+easily achieved victory. Their whole loss, according to their
+marshal's bulletin, amounted to fifty-seven killed and wounded.
+This included the loss in the night-attack on the camp. In fact,
+it was mere child's play for the disciplined French soldiery; and
+Mr Borrer virtually admits this, by applying to the affair General
+Castellane's expression of a _man-hunt_. He then, with no good
+grace, endeavours to find an excuse for his campaigning comrades.
+"The ranks of the French army in Africa are composed, in great
+measure, of the very scum of France." They have condemned regiments
+in Africa, certainly; the Foreign Legion are reckless and reprobate
+enough; we dare say the Zouaves, a mixed corps of wild Frenchmen and
+tamed Arabs, are neither tender nor scrupulous; but these form a
+very small portion of the hundred thousand French troops in Africa,
+and there is little picking and choosing amongst the line regiments,
+who take their turn of service pretty regularly, neither is there
+reason for considering the men who go to Algeria to be greater
+scamps than those who remain in France. So this will not do, Mr
+Borrer: try another tack. "The only sort of excuse for the horrors
+committed by the soldiery in Algeria, is their untamed passions,
+and the fire added to their natural ferocity by the atrocious
+cruelties so often committed by the Arabs upon their comrades in
+arms, who have been so unhappy as to fall into their power." This
+is more plausible, although it is a query who began the system of
+murderous reprisals. Arab treatment of prisoners is not mild. On the
+evening of the 1st June, some men straggled from the French bivouac,
+and were captured. "It was said that from one of the outposts the
+Kabyles were seen busily engaged, in roasting their victims before
+a large fire upon a neighbouring slope; but whether this was a fact
+or not, I never learned." It was possibly true. Escoffier tells
+us how one of his fellow-prisoners, a Jew named Wolf, who fell
+into the hands of Moorish shepherds, was thrown upon a blazing
+pile of faggots; and although we suspect the brave trumpeter, or
+his historian, of occasional exaggeration, there are grounds for
+crediting the authenticity of this statement. As to Mr Borrer, he
+guarantees nothing but what he sees with his own eyes, the camp
+being, he says, full of _blagueurs_, or tellers of white lies. The
+inventions of these mendacious gentry are not always as innocent
+as he appears to think them. Imaginary cruelties, attributed to
+an enemy, are very apt to impose upon credulous soldiers, and to
+stimulate them to unnecessary bloodshed, and to acts of lawless
+revenge. Many a village has been burned, and many an inoffensive
+peasant sabred, on the strength of such lying fabrications. In
+Africa especially, where the _lex talionis_ seems fully recognised,
+and its enforcement confided to the first straggler who chooses to
+fire a house or stick an Arab, the _blagueurs_ should be handed
+over, in our opinion, to summary punishment. On the advance of the
+French column, a soldier or two, straying from the bivouac to bathe
+or fish, had here and there been shot by the lurking Kabyles. On its
+return, "I was somewhat surprised," Mr Borrer remarks, "to observe,
+in the wake of the column, flames bursting forth from the gourbies
+(villages) left in our rear. It was well known that the tribe upon
+whose territory we were riding had submitted, and that their sheikh
+was even riding at the head of the column." None could explain the
+firing of the villages. The sheikh, indignant at the treachery of
+the French, set spurs to his mare, and was off like the wind. The
+conflagration was traced to soldiers of the rear-guard, desirous
+to revenge their comrades, picked off on the previous march. We
+are not told that the crime was brought home to the perpetrators,
+or visited upon them. If it was, Mr Borrer makes no mention of the
+fact, but passes on, as if the burning of a few villages were a
+trifle scarce worth notice. How were the Kabyles to distinguish
+between the acts of the private soldier and of the epauleted
+chief? Their submission had just been accepted, and friendly words
+spoken to them: their sheikh rode beside the gray-haired leader
+of the Christians, and marked the apparent subordination of the
+white-faced soldiery. Suddenly a gross violation occurred of the
+amicable understanding so recently come to. How persuade them that
+the submissive and disciplined soldiers they saw around them would
+venture such breach of faith without the sanction or connivance of
+their commander? The offence is that of an insignificant sentinel,
+but the dirt falls upon the beard of Bugeaud; and confidence in the
+promises of the lying European is thoroughly and for ever destroyed.
+
+A colony, whose mode of acquisition and of government, up to the
+present time, reflects so little credit upon French arms and
+administrators, ought certainly to yield pecuniary results or
+advantages of some kind, which, in a mercenary point of view, might
+balance the account. France surely did not place her reputation
+for humanity and justice in the hands of Marshal Bugeaud and of
+others of his stamp, without anticipating some sort of compensation
+for its probable deterioration. Such expectations have hitherto
+been wholly unfulfilled; and we really see little chance of their
+probable or speedy realisation. The colony is as unpromising, as
+the colonists are inapt to improve it. The fact is, the work of
+colonisation has not begun. The French are utterly at a loss how to
+set about it. All kinds of systems have been proposed. Bugeaud has
+had his--that of military colonisation, which he maintained, with
+characteristic stubbornness, in the teeth of public opinion, of the
+French government, of common sense, and even of possibility. He
+proposed to take, during ten years, one hundred and twenty thousand
+recruits from the conscription, and to settle them in Africa, with
+their wives. He estimated the expense of this scheme at twelve
+millions sterling. His opponents stated its probable cost at four
+times that sum. Whichever estimate was correct, it is not worth
+while examining the plan, which for a moment was entertained by a
+government commission, but has since been completely abandoned.
+It presupposes an extraordinary and arbitrary stretch of power
+on the part of the government that should adopt such a system
+of compulsory colonisation. We are surprised to find Mr Borrer
+inclined to favour the exploded plan. General Lamoricière (the
+terrible _Bour-à-boi_ of the Arabs,[12]) proposed to give premiums
+to agriculturists settling in Algeria, at the rate of twenty-five
+per cent of their expenses of clearing, irrigation, construction,
+and plantation. But M. Lamoricière--a very practical man indeed,
+with his sabre in his fist, and at the head of his Zouaves--is a
+shallow theorist in matters of colonisation. The staff of surveyors,
+valuers, and referees essential to carry out his project, would
+alone have been a heavy additional charge on the unprofitable
+colony. "M. Lamoricière," says M. Desjobert, "was one of the warmest
+advocates of the occupation of Bougie," (a seaport of Kabylie,)
+"and partly directed, in 1833, that fatal expedition." (Fatal, M.
+Desjobert means, by reason of its subsequent cost in men and money.
+The town was taken by a small force on the 29th September 1833.)
+"The soldiers were then told that their mission was agricultural
+rather than military, that they would have to handle the pick and
+the spade more frequently than the musket. The unfortunates have
+certainly handled pick and spade; but it was to dig in that immense
+cemetery which, each day, swallows up their comrades. Already,
+in 1836, General d'Erlon, ex-governor of Algiers, demanded the
+evacuation of Bougie, which had devoured, in three years, three
+thousand men and seven millions of francs." The demand was not
+complied with, and Bougie has continued to consume more than its
+quota of the six thousand men at which M. Desjobert estimates the
+average annual loss, by disease alone, of the African army. Bougie
+has not flourished under the tricolor. In former times a city of
+great riches and importance, it still contained several thousand
+inhabitants when taken by the French. At the period of Mr Borrer's
+visit, it reckoned a population of five hundred, exclusive of the
+garrison of twelve hundred men. To return, however, to the systems
+of colonisation. When the generals had had their say, it was the
+turn of the commissions; the commission of Africa, that of the
+Chamber of Deputies, &c. There was no lack of projects; but none of
+them answered. The colonial policy of the Orleans government was
+eminently short-sighted. This is strikingly shown in Mr Borrer's
+14th chapter, "A Word upon the Colony." Of the fertile plain
+of the Metidja, containing about a million and a half acres of
+arable and pasture land, a very small portion is cultivated. The
+French found a garden; they have made a desert. "Before the French
+occupation, vast tracts which now lie waste, sacrificed to palmetta
+and squills, were cultivated by the Arabs, who grew far more corn
+than was required for their own consumption; whereas now, they grow
+barely sufficient: the consequence of which is, that the price of
+corn is enormous in Algeria at present." Land is cheap enough, but
+labour is dear, because the necessaries of life are so. Instead of
+making Algiers a free port, protection to French manufactures is
+the order of the day, and this has driven Arab commerce to Tunis
+and Morocco. Rivalry with England--the feverish desire for colonies
+and for the supremacy of the seas--must unquestionably be ranked
+amongst the motives of the tenacious retention of such an expensive
+possession as Algeria. And now the odious English cottons are
+an obstacle to the prosperity of the colony. To sell a few more
+bales of French calicoes and crates of French hardware, the wise
+men at Paris put an effectual check upon the progress of African
+agriculture. Here, if anywhere, free-trade might be introduced
+with advantage; in common necessaries, at any rate, and for a few
+years, till the country became peopled, and the colonists had
+overcome the first difficulties of their position. It would make
+very little difference to Rouen and Lyons, whilst to the settlers
+it would practically work more good than would have been done them
+by M. Lamoricière's _subvention_, supposing this to have been
+adopted, and that the heavily-taxed agriculturist of France--in
+many parts of which country land pays but two and a half or three
+per cent--had consented to pay additional imposts for the benefit
+of the agriculturist of Algeria. In the beginning, the notion of
+the French government was, that its new conquest would colonise
+itself unassisted; that there would be a natural and steady flow
+of emigrants from the mother country. In any case this expectation
+would probably have proved fallacious--at least it would never have
+been realised to the extent anticipated; but the small encouragement
+given to such emigration, rendered it utterly abortive. The
+"stream" of settlers proved a mere dribble. Security and justice,
+Mr Thiers said, were all that France owed her colony. Even these
+two things were not obtained, in the full sense of the words. The
+centralisation system weighed upon Algeria. Everything was referred
+to Paris. Hence interminable correspondence, and delays innumerable.
+In the year 1846, Mr Borrer says, twenty-four thousand despatches
+were received by the civil administration from the chief _bureau_
+in the French capital, in exchange for twenty-eight thousand sent.
+Instead of imparting all possible celerity to the administrative
+forms requisite to the establishment of emigrants, these must
+often wait a year or more before they are put in possession of
+the land granted. Meanwhile they expend their resources, and are
+enervated by idleness and disease. The climate of North Africa
+is ill-adapted to French constitutions. M. Desjobert has already
+told us the average loss of the army, and General Duvivier, in
+his _Solution de la Question d'Algérie_, fully corroborated his
+statements. "A man," said the general, "whose constitution is not
+in harmony with the climate of Africa, never adapts himself to it;
+he suffers, wastes away, and dies. The expression, that a mass of
+men who have been for some time in Africa have become inured to
+the climate, is inexact. They have not become inured to it; they
+have been _decimated by death_. _The climate is a great sieve,
+which allows a rapid passage to everything that is not of a certain
+force._" Supposing 100,000 men sent from France to Algeria for six
+years' service. At the end of that time, their loss by disease
+alone, at the rate of six per cent--proved by M. Desjobert to be
+the annual average--would amount to upwards of 30,000, or to more
+than three-tenths of the whole. The emigrants fare no better.
+"They look for milk and honey," says Borrer: "they find palmetta
+and disease. The villages scattered about the Sahel or Massif of
+Algiers (a high ground at the back of the city, forming a rampart
+between the Metidja and the Mediterranean) are, with one or two
+exceptions, a type of desolation. Perched upon the most arid spots,
+distant from water, the poor tenants lie sweltering between sun
+and sirocco." A Mississippi swamp must be as eligible "squatting"
+ground as this--Arabs instead of alligators, and the Algerine fever
+in place of Yellow Jack. "At the gates of Algiers, in the villages
+of the Sahel," said the "_Algérie_" newspaper of the 22d December
+1845, "the colonists desert, driven away by hunger. If any remain,
+it is because they have no strength to move. In the plain of the
+Metidja, the misery and desolation are greater still. At Fondouck,
+in the last five months, 120 persons have died, out of a population
+of 280." The reporter to the Commission of the French budget of 1837
+(Monsieur Bignon) admitted that "the results of the colonisation are
+almost negative." He could not obtain, he said, an estimate of the
+agricultural population. At the same period, an Algiers newspaper
+(_La France Algérienne_) estimated the European agriculturists at
+7000, two-thirds of whom were mere market-gardeners.
+
+  [12] "General Lamoricière habitually carries a stick. This has
+  procured him, from the Arabs, the name of the _Père-au-bâton_, (the
+  father with the stick:) _Bour-à-boi_. One of his orderly officers,
+  my friend and comrade Captain Bentzman, gives _Araouah_ as the
+  proper orthography of _Bour-à-boi_. We have followed Escoffier's
+  pronunciation."--_Captivité d'Escoffier_, vol. i. p. 30.
+
+It is unnecessary to multiply proofs; and we will here conclude this
+imperfect sketch of Franco-African colonisation, of its crimes, its
+errors, and its cost, by extracting a rather remarkable passage
+from a writer we have more than once referred to, and who, although
+perhaps disposed to view things in Algeria upon the black side, is
+yet deserving of credit, as well by his position as by reason of his
+painstaking research and, so far as we have verified them, accurate
+statistics.
+
+"The colonists cannot deny," says Monsieur Desjobert in his _Algérie
+en_ 1846, "and they admit:
+
+"1º. That Europe alone maintains the 200,000 Europeans in Algeria.
+In 1846 we are compelled to repeat what General Bernard, minister
+of war, said in 1838: 'Algeria resembles a naked rock, which it is
+necessary to supply with everything, except air and water.'
+
+"2º. That so long as we remain in this precarious situation, a naval
+war, by interrupting the communications, would compromise the safety
+of our army. In 1846 we repeat M. Thiers' words, uttered in 1837:
+'If war surprises you in the state of indecision in which you are, I
+say that the disgraceful evacuation of Africa will be inevitable.'
+
+"M. Thiers did not speak the whole truth when he talked of
+evacuation. In such an extremity, evacuation would be impossible.
+Our army would perish of misery, and its remnant would fall into the
+hands of the enemy."
+
+Another enemy than the Arabs is here evidently pointed at; that
+possible foe is now a friend to France, and we trust will long
+remain so. But on many accounts the sentences we have just quoted
+are significant, as proceeding from the pen of a French deputy. They
+need no comment, and we shall offer none. We wait with interest to
+see if France's African colony prospers better under the Republic of
+1848 than it did under the Monarchy of 1830.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAXTONS.
+
+
+PART IX.--CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+And my father pushed aside his books.
+
+O young reader, whoever thou art,--or reader, at least, who hast
+been young,--canst thou not remember some time when, with thy wild
+troubles and sorrows as yet borne in secret, thou hast come back
+from that hard, stern world which opens on thee when thou puttest
+thy foot out of the threshold of home--come back to the four quiet
+walls, wherein thine elders sit in peace--and seen, with a sort of
+sad amaze, how calm and undisturbed all is there? That generation
+which has gone before thee in the path of the passions--the
+generation of thy parents--(not so many years, perchance, remote
+from thine own)--how immovably far off, in its still repose, it
+seems from thy turbulent youth! It has in it a stillness as of a
+classic age, antique as the statues of the Greeks. That tranquil
+monotony of routine into which those lives that preceded thee have
+merged--the occupations that they have found sufficing for their
+happiness, by the fireside--in the armchair and corner appropriated
+to each--how strangely they contrast thine own feverish excitement!
+And they make room for thee, and bid thee welcome, and then resettle
+to their hushed pursuits, as if nothing had happened! Nothing had
+happened! while in thy heart, perhaps, the whole world seems to have
+shot from its axis, all the elements to be at war! And you sit down,
+crushed by that quiet happiness which you can share no more, and
+smile mechanically, and look into the fire; and, ten to one, you say
+nothing till the time comes for bed, and you take up your candle,
+and creep miserably to your lonely room.
+
+Now, if in a stage coach in the depth of winter, when three
+passengers are warm and snug, a fourth, all besnowed and frozen,
+descends from the outside and takes place amongst them, straightway
+all the three passengers shift their places, uneasily pull up their
+cloak collars, re-arrange their "comforters," feel indignantly
+a sensible loss of caloric--the intruder has at least made a
+sensation. But if you had all the snows of the Grampians in your
+heart, you might enter unnoticed: take care not to tread on the
+toes of your opposite neighbour, and not a soul is disturbed, not a
+"comforter" stirs an inch! I had not slept a wink, I had not even
+laid down all that night--the night in which I had said farewell
+to Fanny Trevanion--and the next morning, when the sun rose, I
+wandered out--where I know not. I have a dim recollection of long,
+gray, solitary streets--of the river, that seemed flowing in dull
+silence, away, far away, into some invisible eternity--trees and
+turf, and the gay voices of children. I must have gone from one end
+of the great Babel to the other: but my memory only became clear
+and distinct when I knocked, somewhere before noon, at the door of
+my father's house, and, passing heavily up the stairs, came into
+the drawing-room, which was the rendezvous of the little family;
+for, since we had been in London, my father had ceased to have his
+study apart, and contented himself with what he called "a corner"--a
+corner wide enough to contain two tables and a dumb waiter, with
+chairs _à discretion_ all littered with books. On the opposite side
+of this capacious corner sat my uncle, now nearly convalescent, and
+he was jotting down, in his stiff military hand, certain figures in
+a little red account-book--for you know already that my uncle Roland
+was, in his expenses, the most methodical of men.
+
+My father's face was more benign than usual, for, before him lay a
+proof--the first proof of his first work--his one work--the Great
+Book! Yes! it had positively found a press. And the first proof of
+your first work--ask any author what _that_ is! My mother was out,
+with the faithful Mrs Primmins, shopping or marketing no doubt;
+so, while the brothers were thus engaged, it was natural that my
+entrance should not make as much noise as if it had been a bomb,
+or a singer, or a clap of thunder, or the last "great novel of
+the season," or anything else that made a noise in those days. For
+what makes a noise now? Now, when the most astonishing thing of all
+is in our easy familiarity with things astounding--when we say,
+listlessly, "Another revolution at Paris," or, "By the bye, there
+is the deuce to do at Vienna!"--when De Joinville is catching fish
+in the ponds at Claremont, and you hardly turn back to look at
+Metternich on the pier at Brighton!
+
+My uncle nodded, and growled indistinctly; my father--
+
+"Put aside his books; you have told us that already."
+
+Sir, you are very much mistaken, he did not put aside his books, for
+he was not engaged in them--he was reading his proof. And he smiled,
+and pointed to it (the proof I mean) pathetically, and with a kind
+of humour, as much as to say--"What can you expect, Pisistratus?--my
+new baby! in short clothes--or long primer, which is all the same
+thing!"
+
+I took a chair between the two, and looked first at one, then at
+the other, and--heaven forgive me!--I felt a rebellious, ungrateful
+spite against both. The bitterness of my soul must have been deep
+indeed to have overflowed in that direction, but it did. The grief
+of youth is an abominable egotist, and that is the truth. I got up
+from the chair, and walked towards the window; it was open, and
+outside the window was Mrs Primmins' canary, in its cage. London
+air had agreed with it, and it was singing lustily. Now, when the
+canary saw me standing opposite to its cage, and regarding it
+seriously, and, I have no doubt, with a very sombre aspect, the
+creature stopped short, and hung its head on one side, looking at
+me obliquely and suspiciously. Finding that I did it no harm, it
+began to hazard a few broken notes, timidly and interrogatively, as
+it were, pausing between each; and at length, as I made no reply,
+it evidently thought it had solved the doubt, and ascertained that
+I was more to be pitied than feared--for it stole gradually into
+so soft and silvery a strain that, I verily believe, it did it on
+purpose to comfort me!--me, its old friend, whom it had unjustly
+suspected. Never did any music touch me so home as did that long,
+plaintive cadence. And when the bird ceased, it perched itself close
+to the bars of the cage, and looked at me steadily with its bright
+intelligent eyes. I felt mine water, and I turned back and stood
+in the centre of the room, irresolute what to do, where to go. My
+father had done with the proof, and was deep in his folios. Roland
+had clasped his red account book, restored it to his pocket, wiped
+his pen carefully, and now watched me from under his great beetle
+brows. Suddenly he rose, and, stamping on the hearth with his cork
+leg, exclaimed, "Look up from those cursed books, brother Austin!
+What is there in that lad's face? Construe _that_, if you can!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+And my father pushed aside his books, and rose hastily. He took off
+his spectacles, and rubbed them mechanically, but he said nothing;
+and my uncle, staring at him for a moment, in surprise at his
+silence, burst out,--
+
+"Oh! I see--he has been getting into some scrape, and you are angry!
+Fie! young blood will have its way, Austin--it will. I don't blame
+that--it is only when--come here, Sisty! Zounds! man, come here."
+
+My father gently brushed off the captain's hand, and, advancing
+towards me, opened his arms. The next moment I was sobbing on his
+breast.
+
+"But what is the matter?" cried Captain Roland, "will nobody
+say what is the matter? Money, I suppose--money, you confounded
+extravagant young dog. Luckily you have got an uncle who has more
+than he knows what to do with. How much?--fifty?--a hundred? two
+hundred? How can I write the cheque, if you'll not speak?"
+
+"Hush, brother! it is no money you can give that will set this
+right. My poor boy! have I guessed truly? Did I guess truly the
+other evening, when--"
+
+"Yes, sir, yes! I have been so wretched. But I am better now--I can
+tell you all."
+
+My uncle moved slowly towards the door: his fine sense of delicacy
+made him think that even he was out of place in the confidence
+between son and father.
+
+"No, uncle," I said, holding out my hand to him, "stay; you too can
+advise me--strengthen me. I have kept my honour yet--help me to keep
+it still."
+
+At the sound of the word honour Captain Roland stood mute, and
+raised his head quickly.
+
+So I told all--incoherently enough at first, but clearly and
+manfully as I went on. Now I know that it is not the custom of
+lovers to confide in fathers and uncles. Judging by those mirrors
+of life, plays and novels, they choose better;--valets and
+chambermaids, and friends whom they have picked up in the street,
+as I had picked up poor Francis Vivian--to these they make clean
+breasts of their troubles. But fathers and uncles--to them they are
+close, impregnable, "buttoned to the chin." The Caxtons were an
+eccentric family, and never did anything like other people. When I
+had ended, I lifted my eyes, and said pleadingly, "Now, tell me, is
+there no hope--none?"
+
+"Why should there be none?" cried Captain Roland hastily--"the De
+Caxtons are as good a family as the Trevanions; and as for yourself,
+all I will say is, that the young lady might choose worse for her
+own happiness."
+
+I wrung my uncles hand, and turned to my father in anxious fear--for
+I knew that, in spite of his secluded habits, few men ever formed
+a sounder judgment on worldly matters, when he was fairly drawn to
+look at them. A thing wonderful is that plain wisdom which scholars
+and poets often have for others, though they rarely deign to use it
+for themselves. And how on earth do they get at it? I looked at my
+father, and the vague hope Roland had excited fell as I looked.
+
+"Brother," said he slowly, and shaking his head, "the world, which
+gives codes and laws to those who live in it, does not care much for
+a pedigree, unless it goes with a title-deed to estates."
+
+"Trevanion was not richer than Pisistratus when he married Lady
+Ellinor," said my uncle.
+
+"True; but Lady Ellinor was not then an heiress, and her father
+viewed these matters as no other peer in England perhaps would.
+As for Trevanion himself, I dare say he has no prejudices about
+station, but he is strong in common sense. He values himself on
+being a practical man. It would be folly to talk to him of love, and
+the affections of youth. He would see in the son of Austin Caxton,
+living on the interest of some fifteen or sixteen thousand pounds,
+such a match for his daughter as no prudent man in his position
+could approve. And as for Lady Ellinor"--
+
+"She owes us much, Austin!" exclaimed Roland, his face darkening.
+
+"Lady Ellinor is now what, if we had known her better, she promised
+always to be--the ambitious, brilliant, scheming woman of the world.
+Is it not so, Pisistratus?"
+
+I said nothing. I felt too much.
+
+"And does the girl like you?--but I think it is clear she does!"
+exclaimed Roland. "Fate--fate; it has been a fatal family to us!
+Zounds, Austin, it was your fault. Why did you let him go there?"
+
+"My son is now a man--at least in heart, if not in years--can man
+be shut from danger and trial? They found me in the old parsonage,
+brother!" said my father mildly.
+
+My uncle walked, or rather stumped, three times up and down the
+room; and he then stopped short, folded his arms, and came to a
+decision--
+
+"If the girl likes you, your duty is doubly clear--you can't take
+advantage of it. You have done right to leave the house, for the
+temptation might be too strong."
+
+"But what excuse shall I make to Mr Trevanion?" said I feebly--"what
+story can I invent? So careless as he is while he trusts, so
+penetrating if he once suspects, he will see through all my
+subterfuges, and--and--"
+
+"It is as plain as a pike-staff," said my uncle abruptly--"and
+there need be no subterfuge in the matter. 'I must leave you, Mr
+Trevanion.' 'Why?' says he. 'Don't ask me.' He insists. 'Well then,
+sir, if you must know, I love your daughter. I have nothing--she
+is a great heiress. You will not approve of that love, and
+therefore I leave you!' That is the course that becomes an English
+gentleman--eh, Austin?"
+
+"You are never wrong when your instincts speak, Roland," said my
+father. "Can you say this, Pisistratus, or shall I say it for you?"
+
+"Let him say it himself," said Roland; "and let him judge himself of
+the answer. He is young, he is clever, he may make a figure in the
+world. Trevanion _may_ answer, 'Win the lady after you have won the
+laurel, like the knights of old.' At all events, you will hear the
+worst."
+
+"I will go," said I, firmly; and I took my hat, and left the room.
+As I was passing the landing-place, a light step stole down the
+upper flight of stairs, and a little hand seized my own. I turned
+quickly, and met the full, dark, seriously sweet eyes of my cousin
+Blanche.
+
+"Don't go away yet, Sisty," said she coaxingly. "I have been waiting
+for you, for I heard your voice, and did not like to come in and
+disturb you."
+
+"And why did you wait for me, my little Blanche?"
+
+"Why! only to see you. But your eyes are red. Oh, cousin!"--and,
+before I was aware of her childish impulse, she had sprung to my
+neck and kissed me. Now Blanche was not like most children, and
+was very sparing of her caresses. So it was out of the deeps of
+a kind heart that that kiss came. I returned it without a word;
+and, putting her down gently, ran down the stairs, and was in the
+streets. But I had not got far before I heard my father's voice; and
+he came up, and, hooking his arm into mine, said, "Are there not
+two of us that suffer?--let us be together!" I pressed his arm, and
+we walked on in silence. But when we were near Trevanion's house,
+I said hesitatingly, "Would it not be better, sir, that I went in
+alone. If there is to be an explanation between Mr Trevanion and
+myself, would it not seem as if your presence implied either a
+request to him that would lower us both, or a doubt of me that--"
+
+"You will go in alone, of course: I will wait for you--"
+
+"Not in the streets--oh no, father," cried I, touched inexpressibly.
+For all this was so unlike my father's habits, that I felt remorse
+to have so communicated my young griefs to the calm dignity of his
+serene life.
+
+"My son, you do not know how I love you. I have only known it myself
+lately. Look you, I am living in you now, my first-born; not in my
+other son--the great book: I must have my way. Go in; that is the
+door, is it not?"
+
+I pressed my father's hand, and I felt then, that, while that hand
+could reply to mine, even the loss of Fanny Trevanion could not
+leave the world a blank. How much we have before us in life, while
+we retain our parents! How much to strive and to hope for! What a
+motive in the conquest of our sorrow--that they may not sorrow with
+us!
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+I entered Trevanion's study. It was an hour in which he was rarely
+at home, but I had not thought of that; and I saw without surprise
+that, contrary to his custom, he was in his armchair, reading one of
+his favourite classic authors, instead of being in some committee
+room of the House of Commons.
+
+"A pretty fellow you are," said he, looking up, "to leave me
+all the morning, without rhyme or reason. And my committee is
+postponed--chairman ill--people who get ill should not go into the
+House of Commons. So here I am, looking into Propertius: Parr is
+right; not so elegant a writer as Tibullus. But what the deuce are
+you about?--why don't you sit down? Humph! you look grave--you have
+something to say,--say it!"
+
+And, putting down Propertius, the acute, sharp face of Trevanion
+instantly became earnest and attentive.
+
+"My dear Mr Trevanion," said I, with as much steadiness as I could
+assume, "you have been most kind to me; and, out of my own family,
+there is no man I love and respect more."
+
+TREVANION.--Humph! What's all this! (_In an under tone_)--Am I going
+to be taken in?
+
+PISISTRATUS.--Do not think me ungrateful, then, when I say I come to
+resign my office--to leave the house where I have been so happy.
+
+TREVANION.--Leave the house!--Pooh!--I have overtasked you. I
+will be more merciful in future. You must forgive a political
+economist--it is the fault of my sect to look upon men as machines.
+
+PISISTRATUS--(_smiling faintly_.)--No, indeed--that is not it! I
+have nothing to complain of--nothing I could wish altered--could I
+stay.
+
+TREVANION (_examining me thoughtfully_.)--And does your father
+approve of your leaving me thus?
+
+PISISTRATUS--Yes, fully.
+
+TREVANION (_musing a moment_.)--I see, he would send you to the
+University, make you a book-worm like himself: pooh! that will not
+do--you will never become wholly a man of books,--it is not in you.
+Young man, though I may seem careless, I read characters, when I
+please it, pretty quickly. You do wrong to leave me; you are made
+for the great world--I can open to you a high career. I wish to do
+so! Lady Ellinor wishes it--nay, insists on it--for your father's
+sake as well as yours. I never ask a favour from ministers, and I
+never will. But (here Trevanion rose suddenly, and, with an erect
+mien and a quick gesture of his arm, he added)--but a minister
+himself can dispose as he pleases of his patronage. Look you, it
+is a secret yet, and I trust to your honour. But, before the year
+is out, I must be in the cabinet. Stay with me, I guarantee your
+fortunes--three months ago I would not have said that. By-and-by
+I will open parliament for you--you are not of age yet--work till
+then. And now sit down and write my letters--a sad arrear!"
+
+"My dear, dear Mr Trevanion!" said I, so affected that I could
+scarcely speak, and seizing his hand, which I pressed between
+both mine--"I dare not thank you--I cannot! But you don't know my
+heart--it is not ambition. No! if I could but stay here on the same
+terms for ever--_here_--(looking ruefully on that spot where Fanny
+had stood the night before,) but it is impossible! If you knew all,
+you would be the first to bid me go!"
+
+"You are in debt," said the man of the world, coldly. "Bad, very
+bad--still--"
+
+"No, sir; no! worse--"
+
+"Hardly possible to be worse, young man--hardly! But, just as you
+will; you leave me, and will not say why. Good-by. Why do you
+linger? shake hands, and go!"
+
+"I cannot leave you thus: I--I--sir, the truth shall out. I am rash
+and mad enough not to see Miss Trevanion without forgetting that I
+am poor, and--"
+
+"Ha!" interrupted Trevanion softly, and growing pale, "this is a
+misfortune indeed! And I, who talked of reading characters! Truly,
+truly, we would-be practical men are fools--fools! And you have made
+love to my daughter!"
+
+"Sir! Mr Trevanion! I--no--never, never so base! In your house,
+trusted by you,--how could you think it? I dared, it may be, to
+love--at all events, to feel that I could not be insensible to a
+temptation too strong for me. But to say it to your daughter--to ask
+love in return--I would as soon have broken open your desk! Frankly
+I tell you my folly: it is a folly, not a disgrace."
+
+Trevanion came up to me abruptly, as I leant against the book-case,
+and, grasping my hand with a cordial kindness, said,--"Pardon me!
+You have behaved as your father's son should--I envy him such a son!
+Now, listen to me--I cannot give you my daughter--"
+
+"Believe me, sir, I never--"
+
+"Tut, listen! I cannot give you my daughter. I say nothing of
+inequality--all gentlemen are equal; and if not, all impertinent
+affectation of superiority, in such a case, would come ill from
+one who owes his own fortune to his wife! But, as it is, I have a
+stake in the world, won not by fortune only, but the labour of a
+life, the suppression of half my nature--the drudging, squaring,
+taming down--all that made the glory and joy of my youth--to be
+that hard matter-of-fact thing which the English world expect in
+a--_statesman_! This station has gradually opened into its natural
+result--power! I tell you I shall soon have high office in the
+administration: I hope to render great services to England--for we
+English politicians, whatever the mob and the press say of us, are
+not selfish placehunters. I refused office, as high as I look for
+now, ten years ago. We believe in our opinions, and we hail the
+power that may carry them into effect. In this cabinet I shall have
+enemies. Oh, don't think we leave jealousy behind us, at the doors
+of Downing Street! I shall be one of a minority. I know well what
+must happen: like all men in power, I must strengthen myself by
+other heads and hands than my own. My daughter should bring to me
+the alliance of that house in England which is most necessary to me.
+My life falls to the ground, like a house of cards, if I waste--I
+do not say on you, but on men of ten times your fortune (whatever
+that be,)--the means of strength which are at my disposal in the
+hand of Fanny Trevanion. To this end I have looked; but to this end
+her mother has schemed--for these household matters are within a
+man's hopes, but belong to a woman's policy. So much for us. But
+for you, my dear, and frank, and high-souled young friend--for you,
+if I were not Fanny's father--if I were your nearest relation, and
+Fanny could be had for the asking, with all her princely dower, (for
+it is princely,)--for you I should say, fly from a load upon the
+heart, on the genius, the energy, the pride, and the spirit, which
+not one man in ten thousand can bear; fly from the curse of owing
+every thing to a wife!--it is a reversal of all natural position, it
+is a blow to all the manhood within us. You know not what it is: I
+do! My wife's fortune came not till after marriage--so far, so well;
+it saved my reputation from the charge of fortune-hunting. But, I
+tell you fairly, that if it had never come at all, I should be a
+prouder, and a greater, and a happier man than I have ever been,
+or ever can be, with all its advantages; it has been a millstone
+round my neck. And yet Ellinor has never breathed a word that could
+wound my pride. Would her daughter be as forbearing? Much as I love
+Fanny, I doubt if she has the great heart of her mother. You look
+incredulous;--naturally. Oh, you think I shall sacrifice my child's
+happiness to a politician's ambition! Folly of youth! Fanny would be
+wretched with you. She might not think so now; she would five years
+hence! Fanny will make an admirable duchess, countess, great lady;
+but wife to a man who owes all to her!--no, no, don't dream it! I
+shall not sacrifice her happiness, depend on it. I speak plainly, as
+man to man--man of the world to a man just entering it--but still
+man to man! What say you?"
+
+"I will think over all you tell me. I know that you are speaking to
+me most generously--as a father would. Now let me go, and may God
+keep you and yours!"
+
+"Go--I return your blessing--go! I don't insult you now with offers
+of service; but, remember, you have a right to command them--in all
+ways, in all times. Stop!--take this comfort away with you--a sorry
+comfort now, a great one hereafter. In a position that might have
+moved anger, scorn, pity, you have made a barren-hearted man honour
+and admire you. You, a boy, have made me, with my gray hairs, think
+better of the whole world: tell your father that."
+
+I closed the door, and stole out softly--softly. But when I got into
+the hall, Fanny suddenly opened the door of the breakfast parlour,
+and seemed, by her look, her gesture, to invite me in. Her face was
+very pale, and there were traces of tears on the heavy lids.
+
+I stood still a moment, and my heart beat violently. I then muttered
+something inarticulately, and, bowing low, hastened to the door.
+
+I thought, but my ears might deceive me, that I heard my name
+pronounced; but fortunately the tall porter started from his
+newspaper and his leather chair, and the entrance stood open. I
+joined my father.
+
+"It is all over," said I, with a resolute smile. "And now, my
+dear father, I feel how grateful I should be for all that your
+lessons--your life--have, taught me;--for, believe me, I am not
+unhappy."
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+We came back to my father's house, and on the stairs we met my
+mother, whom Roland's grave looks, and her Austin's strange absence,
+had alarmed. My father quietly led the way to a little room, which
+my mother had appropriated to Blanche and herself; and then, placing
+my hand in that which had helped his own steps from the stony path,
+down the quiet vales of life, he said to me,--"Nature gives you here
+the soother;"--and, so saying, he left the room.
+
+And it was true, O my mother! that in thy simple loving breast
+nature did place the deep wells of comfort! We come to men for
+philosophy--to women for consolation. And the thousand weaknesses
+and regrets--the sharp sands of the minutiæ that make up
+_sorrow_--all these, which I could have betrayed to no _man_--not
+even to him, the dearest and tenderest of all men--I showed without
+shame to thee! And thy tears, that fell on my cheek, had the balm
+of Araby; and my heart, at length, lay lulled and soothed under thy
+moist gentle eyes.
+
+I made an effort, and joined the little circle at dinner; and
+I felt grateful that no violent attempt was made to raise my
+spirits--nothing but affection, more subdued, and soft, and
+tranquil. Even little Blanche, as if by the intuition of sympathy,
+ceased her babble, and seemed to hush her footstep as she crept
+to my side. But after dinner, when we had reassembled in the
+drawing-room, and the lights shone bright, and the curtains were
+let down--and only the quick roll of some passing wheels reminded
+us that there was a world without--my father began to talk. He had
+laid aside all his work; the younger, but less perishable child was
+forgotten,--and my father began to talk.
+
+"It is," said he musingly, "a well-known thing, that particular
+drugs or herbs suit the body according to its particular diseases.
+When we are ill, we don't open our medicinechest at random, and take
+out any powder or phial that comes to hand. The skilful doctor is he
+who adjusts the dose to the malady."
+
+"Of that there can be no doubt," quoth Captain Roland. "I remember
+a notable instance of the justice of what you say. When I was in
+Spain, both my horse and I fell ill at the same time; a dose was
+sent for each; and, by some infernal mistake, I swallowed the
+horse's physic, and the horse, poor thing, swallowed mine!"
+
+"And what was the result?" asked my father.
+
+"The horse died!", answered Roland mournfully--"a valuable
+beast--bright bay, with a star!"
+
+"And you?"
+
+"Why, the doctor said it ought to have killed me; but it took a
+great deal more than a paltry bottle of physic to kill a man in my
+regiment."
+
+"Nevertheless, we arrive at the same conclusion," pursued my
+father,--"I with my theory, you with your experience,--that the
+physic we take must not be chosen hap-hazard; and that a mistake
+in the bottle may kill a horse. But when we come to the medicine
+for the mind, how little do we think of the golden rule which
+common-sense applies to the body."
+
+"Anon," said the Captain, "what medicine is there for the mind?
+Shakspeare has said something on that subject, which, if I recollect
+right, implies that there is no ministering to a mind diseased."
+
+"I think not, brother; he only said physic (meaning boluses and
+black draughts) would not do it. And Shakspeare was the last man
+to find fault with his own art; for, verily, he has been a great
+physician to the mind."
+
+"Ah! I take you now, brother,--books again! So you think that,
+when a man breaks his heart, or loses his fortune, or his
+daughter--(Blanche, child, come here)--that you have only to clap
+a plaster of print on the sore place, and all is well. I wish you
+would find me such a cure."
+
+"Will you try it?"
+
+"If it is not Greek," said my uncle.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+MY FATHER'S CROTCHET ON THE HYGEIENIC CHEMISTRY OF BOOKS.
+
+"If," said my father--and here his hand was deep in his
+waistcoat--"if we accept the authority of Diodorus, as to the
+inscription on the great Egyptian library--and I don't see why
+Diodorus should not be as near the mark as any one else?" added my
+father interrogatively, turning round.
+
+My mother thought herself the person addressed, and nodded her
+gracious assent to the authority of Diodorus. His opinion thus
+fortified, my father continued,--"If, I say, we accept the authority
+of Diodorus, the inscription on the Egyptian library was--'The
+Medicine of the Mind.' Now, that phrase has become notoriously trite
+and hackneyed, and people repeat vaguely that books are the medicine
+of the mind. Yes; but to apply the medicine is the thing!"
+
+"So you have told us at least twice before, brother," quoth the
+Captain, bluffly. "And what Diodorus has to do with it, I know no
+more than the man of the moon."
+
+"I shall never get on at this rate," said my father, in a tone
+between reproach and entreaty.
+
+"Be good children, Roland and Blanche both," said my mother,
+stopping from her work, and holding up her needle threateningly--and
+indeed inflicting a slight puncture upon the Captain's shoulder.
+
+"Rem _acu_ tetigisti, my dear," said my father, borrowing Cicero's
+pun on the occasion.[13] "And now we shall go upon velvet. I say,
+then, that books, taken indiscriminately, are no cure to the
+diseases and afflictions of the mind. There is a world of science
+necessary in the taking them. I have known some people in great
+sorrow fly to a novel, or the last light book in fashion. One
+might as well take a rose-draught for the plague! Light reading
+does not do when the heart is really heavy. I am told that Goethe,
+when he lost his son, took to study a science that was new to
+him. Ah! Goethe was a physician who knew what he was about. In a
+great grief like that, you cannot tickle and divert the mind; you
+must wrench it away, abstract, absorb--bury it in an abyss, hurry
+it into a labyrinth. Therefore, for the irremediable sorrows of
+middle life and old age, I recommend a strict chronic, course of
+science and hard reasoning--Counter-irritation. Bring the brain to
+act upon the heart! If science is too much against the grain, (for
+we have not all got mathematical heads,) something in the reach
+of the humblest understanding, but sufficiently searching to the
+highest--a new language--Greek, Arabic, Scandinavian, Chinese, or
+Welch! For the loss of fortune, the dose should be applied less
+directly to the understanding.--I would administer something elegant
+and cordial. For as the heart is crushed and lacerated by a loss in
+the affections, so it is rather the head that aches and suffers by
+the loss of money. Here we find the higher class of poets a very
+valuable remedy. For observe, that poets of the grander and more
+comprehensive kind of genius have in them two separate men, quite
+distinct from each other--the imaginative man, and the practical,
+circumstantial man; and it is the happy mixture of these that suits
+diseases of the mind, half imaginative and half practical. There
+is Homer, now lost with the gods, now at home with the homeliest,
+the very 'poet of circumstance,' as Gray has finely called him; and
+yet with imagination enough to seduce and coax the dullest into
+forgetting, for a while, that little spot on his desk which his
+banker's book can cover. There is Virgil, far below him, indeed.
+
+  [13] Cicero's joke on a senator who was the son of a tailor--"Thou
+  hast touched the thing sharply;" (or with a needle--_acu_.)
+
+                    --'Virgil the wise,
+    Whose verse walks highest, but not flies.'
+
+as Cowley expresses it. But Virgil still has genius enough to
+be two men--to lead you into the fields, not only to listen to
+the pastoral reed, and to hear the bees hum, but to note how you
+can make the most of the glebe and the vineyard. There is Horace,
+charming man of the world, who will condole with you feelingly
+on the loss of your fortune, and by no means undervalue the good
+things of this life; but who will yet show you that a man may be
+happy with a _vile modicum_, or _parva rura_. There is Shakspeare,
+who, above all poets, is the mysterious dual of hard sense and
+empyreal fancy--and a great many more, whom I need not name; but
+who, if you take to them gently and quietly, will not, like your
+mere philosopher, your unreasonable stoic, tell you that you have
+lost nothing; but who will insensibly steal you out of this world,
+with its losses and crosses, and slip you into another world, before
+you know where you are!--a world where you are just as welcome,
+though you carry no more earth of your lost acres with you than
+covers the sole of your shoe. Then, for hypochondria and satiety,
+what is better than a brisk alterative course of travels--especially
+early, out of the way, marvellous, legendary travels! How they
+freshen up the spirits! How they take you out of the humdrum yawning
+state you are in. See, with Herodotus, young Greece spring up into
+life; or note with him how already the wondrous old Orient world
+is crumbling into giant decay; or go with Carpini and Rubruquis to
+Tartary, meet 'the carts of Zagathai laden with houses, and think
+that a great city is travelling towards you.'[14] Gaze on that
+vast wild empire of the Tartar, where the descendants of Jenghis
+'multiply and disperse over the immense waste desert, which is as
+boundless as the ocean.' Sail with the early northern discoverers,
+and penetrate to the heart of winter, among sea-serpents and bears,
+and tusked morses, with the faces of men. Then, what think you of
+Columbus, and the stern soul of Cortes, and the kingdom of Mexico,
+and the strange gold city of the Peruvians, with that audacious
+brute Pizarro? and the Polynesians, just for all the world like
+the ancient Britons? and the American Indians, and the South-Sea
+Islanders? how petulant, and young, and adventurous, and frisky your
+hypochondriac must get upon a regimen like that! Then, for that
+vice of the mind which I call sectarianism--not in the religious
+sense of the word, but little, narrow prejudices, that make you
+hate your next-door neighbour, because he has his eggs roasted
+when you have yours boiled; and gossiping and prying into people's
+affairs, and back-biting, and thinking heaven and earth are coming
+together, if some broom touch a cobweb that you have let grow over
+the window-sill of your brains--what like a large and generous,
+mildly aperient (I beg your pardon, my dear) course of history! How
+it clears away all the fumes of the head!--better than the hellebore
+with which the old leeches of the middle ages purged the cerebellum.
+There, amidst all that great whirl and _sturmbad_ (storm-bath), as
+the Germans say, of kingdoms and empires, and races and ages, how
+your mind enlarges beyond that little, feverish animosity to John
+Styles; or that unfortunate prepossession of yours, that all the
+world is interested in your grievances against Tom Stokes and his
+wife!
+
+  [14] RUBRUQUIS, sect. xii.
+
+"I can only touch, you see, on a few ingredients in this magnificent
+pharmacy--its resources are boundless, but require the nicest
+discretion. I remember to have cured a disconsolate widower, who
+obstinately refused every other medicament, by a strict course of
+geology. I dipped him deep into gneiss and mica schist. Amidst the
+first strata, I suffered the watery action to expend itself upon
+cooling crystallised masses; and, by the time I had got him into
+the tertiary period, amongst the transition chalks of Maestricht,
+and the conchiferous marls of Gosau, he was ready for a new wife.
+Kitty, my dear! it is no laughing matter. I made no less notable
+a cure of a young scholar at Cambridge, who was meant for the
+church, when he suddenly caught a cold fit of freethinking, with
+great shiverings, from wading over his depth in Spinosa. None of
+the divines, whom I first tried, did him the least good in that
+state; so I turned over a new leaf, and doctored him gently upon the
+chapters of faith in Abraham Tucker's book, (you should read, it,
+Sisty;) then I threw in strong doses of Fichté; after that I put him
+on the Scotch metaphysicians, with plunge baths into certain German
+transcendentalists; and having convinced him that faith is not an
+unphilosophical state of mind, and that he might believe without
+compromising his understanding--for he was mightily conceited on
+that score--I threw in my divines, which he was now fit to digest;
+and his theological constitution, since then, has become so robust,
+that he has eaten up two livings and a deanery! In fact, I have
+a plan for a library that, instead of heading its compartments,
+'Philology, Natural Science, Poetry,' &c., one shall head them
+according to the diseases for which they are severally good, bodily
+and mental--up from a dire calamity, or the pangs of the gout, down
+to a fit of the spleen, or a slight catarrh; for which last your
+light reading comes in with a whey posset and barley-water. But,"
+continued my father more gravely, "when some one sorrow, that is
+yet reparable, gets hold of your mind like a monomania--when you
+think, because heaven has denied you this or that, on which you had
+set your heart, that all your life must be a blank--oh, then diet
+yourself well on biography--the biography of good and great men.
+See how little a space one sorrow really makes in life. See scarce
+a page, perhaps, given to some grief similar to your own; and how
+triumphantly the life sails on, beyond it! You thought the wing was
+broken!--Tut-tut--it was but a bruised feather! See what life leaves
+behind it, when all is, done!--a summary of positive facts far out
+of the region of sorrow and suffering, linking themselves with the
+being of the world. Yes, biography is the medicine here! Roland, you
+said you would try my prescription--here it is,"--and my father took
+up a book, and reached it to the Captain.
+
+My uncle looked over it--_Life of the Reverend Robert Hall_.
+"Brother, he was a Dissenter, and, thank heaven, I am a
+church-and-state man, back and bone!"
+
+"Robert Hall was a brave man, and a true soldier under the great
+commander," said my father artfully.
+
+The Captain mechanically carried his forefinger to his forehead in
+military fashion, and saluted the book respectfully.
+
+"I have another copy for you, Pisistratus--that is mine which I have
+lent Roland. This, which I bought for you to-day, you will keep."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said I listlessly, not seeing what great good the
+_Life of Robert Hall_ could do me, or why the same medicine should
+suit the old weatherbeaten uncle, and the nephew yet in his teens.
+
+"I have said nothing," resumed my father, slightly bowing his broad
+temples, "of the Book of Books, for that is the _lignum vitæ_, the
+cardinal medicine for all. These are but the subsidiaries: for,
+as you may remember, my dear Kitty, that I have said before--we
+can never keep the system quite right unless we place just in the
+centre of the great ganglionic system, whence the nerves carry its
+influence gently and smoothly through the whole frame--THE SAFFRON
+BAG!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+After breakfast the next morning, I took my hat to go out, when my
+father, looking at me, and seeing by my countenance that I had not
+slept, said gently--
+
+"My dear Pisistratus, you have not tried my medicine yet."
+
+"What medicine, sir?"
+
+"Robert Hall."
+
+"No, indeed, not yet," said I, smiling.
+
+"Do so, my son, before you go out; depend on it, you will enjoy your
+walk more."
+
+I confess that it was, with some reluctance I obeyed. I went back to
+my own room, and sate resolutely down to my task. Are there any of
+you, my readers, who have not read the _Life of Robert Hall_? If so,
+in the words of the great Captain Cuttle, "When found, make a note
+of it." Never mind what your theological opinion is--Episcopalian,
+Presbyterian, Baptist, Pædobaptist, Independent, Quaker, Unitarian,
+Philosopher, Freethinker--send for Robert Hall! Yea, if there exist
+yet on earth descendants of the arch-heresies, which made such a
+noise in their day--men who believe with Saturnians that the world
+was made by seven angels; or with Basilides, that there are as many
+heavens as there are days in the year; or with the Nicolaitanes,
+that men ought to have their wives in common, (plenty of that sect
+still, especially in the Red Republic;) or with their successors,
+the Gnostics, who believed in Jaldaboath; or with the Carpacratians,
+that the world was made by the devil; or with the Cerinthians, and
+Ebionites, and Nazarites, (which last discovered that the name of
+Noah's wife was Ouria, and that she set the ark on fire;) or with
+the Valentinians, who taught that there were thirty Æones, ages, or
+worlds, born out of Profundity, (Bathos,) male, and Silence, female;
+or with the Marcites, Colarbasii, and Heracleonites, (who still
+kept up that bother about Æones, Mr Profundity, and Mrs Silence;)
+or with the Ophites, who are said to have worshipped the serpent;
+or the Cainites, who ingeniously found out a reason for honouring
+Judas, because he foresaw what good would come to men by betraying
+our Saviour; or with the Sethites, who made Seth a part of the
+Divine substance; or with the Archonticks, Ascothyptæ, Cerdonians,
+Marcionites, the disciples of Apelles, and Severus, (the last was
+a teetotaller, and said wine was begot by Satan!) or of Tatian,
+who thought all the descendants of Adam were irretrievably damned
+except themselves, (some of those Tatiani are certainly extant!) or
+the Cataphrygians, who were also called Tascodragitæ, because they
+thrust their forefingers up their nostrils to show their devotion;
+or the Pepuzians, Quintilians, and Artotyrites; or--but no matter.
+If I go through all the follies of men in search of the truth, I
+shall never get to the end of my chapter, or back to Robert Hall:
+whatever, then, thou art, orthodox or heterodox, send for the _Life
+of Robert Hall_. It is the life of a man that it does good to
+manhood itself to contemplate.
+
+I had finished the biography, which is not long, and was musing over
+it, when I heard the Captain's cork-leg upon the stairs. I opened
+the door for him, and he entered, book in hand, as I, also book in
+hand, stood ready to receive him.
+
+"Well, sir," said Roland, seating himself, "has the prescription
+done you any good?"
+
+"Yes, uncle--great."
+
+"And me too. By Jupiter, Sisty, that same Hall was a fine fellow! I
+wonder if the medicine has gone through the same channels in both?
+Tell me, first, how it has affected you."
+
+"_Imprimis_, then, my dear uncle, I fancy that a book like this must
+do good to all who live in the world in the ordinary manner, by
+admitting us into a circle of life of which I suspect we think but
+little. Here is a man connecting himself directly with a heavenly
+purpose, and cultivating considerable faculties to that one end;
+seeking to accomplish his soul as far as he can, that he may do
+most good on earth, and take a higher existence up to heaven; a man
+intent upon a sublime and spiritual duty: in short, living as it
+were in it, and so filled with the consciousness of immortality,
+and so strong in the link between God and man, that, without any
+affected stoicism, without being insensible to pain--rather,
+perhaps, from a nervous temperament, acutely feeling it--he yet
+has a happiness wholly independent of it. It is impossible not to
+be thrilled with an admiration that elevates while it awes you, in
+reading that solemn 'Dedication of himself to God.' This offering of
+'soul and body, time, health, reputation, talents,' to the divine
+and invisible Principle of Good, calls us suddenly to contemplate
+the selfishness of our own views and hopes, and awakens us from the
+egotism that exacts all and resigns nothing.
+
+"But this book has mostly struck upon the chord in my own heart,
+in that characteristic which my father indicated as belonging to
+all biography. Here is a life of remarkable _fulness_, great study,
+great thought, and great action; and yet," said I, colouring,
+"how small a place those feelings, which have tyrannised over me,
+and made all else seem blank and void, hold in that life. It is
+not as if the man were a cold and hard ascetic; it is easy to see
+in him not only remarkable tenderness and warm affections, but
+strong self-will, and the passion of all vigorous natures. Yes, I
+understand better now what existence in a true man should be."
+
+"All that is very well said," quoth the Captain, "but it did not
+strike me. What I have seen in this book is courage. Here is a
+poor creature rolling on the carpet with agony; from childhood to
+death tortured by a mysterious incurable malady--a malady that is
+described as 'an internal apparatus of torture;' and who does, by
+his heroism, more than _bear_ it--he puts it out of power to affect
+him; and though (here is the passage) 'his appointment by day and by
+night was incessant pain, yet high enjoyment was, notwithstanding,
+the law of his existence.' Robert Hall reads me a lesson--me, an old
+soldier, who thought myself above taking lessons--in courage, at
+least. And, as I came to that passage when, in the sharp paroxysms
+before death, he says, 'I have not complained, have I, sir?--and
+I won't complain,'--when I came to that passage I started up, and
+cried, 'Roland de Caxton, thou hast been a coward! and, an thou
+hadst had thy deserts, thou hadst been cashiered, broken, and
+drummed out of the regiment long ago!"
+
+"After all, then, my father was not so wrong--he placed his guns
+right, and fired a good shot."
+
+"He must have been from 6° to 9° above the crest of the parapet,"
+said my uncle, thoughtfully--"which, I take it, is the best
+elevation, both for shot and shells, in enfilading a work."
+
+"What say you, then, Captain? up with our knapsacks, and on with the
+march!"
+
+"Right about--face!" cried my uncle, as erect as a column.
+
+"No looking back, if we can help it."
+
+"Full in the front of the enemy--'Up, guards, and at 'em!'"
+
+"'England expects every man to do his duty!"'
+
+"Cypress or laurel!" cried my uncle, waving the book over his head.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+I went out--and to see Francis Vivian; for, on leaving Mr Trevanion,
+I was not without anxiety for my new friend's future provision.
+But Vivian was from home, and I strolled from his lodgings, into
+the suburbs on the other side of the river, and began to meditate
+seriously on the best course now to pursue. In quitting my present
+occupations, I resigned prospects far more brilliant, and fortunes
+far more rapid than I could ever hope to realise in any other
+entrance into life. But I felt the necessity, if I desired to keep
+steadfast to that more healthful frame of mind I had obtained,
+of some manly and continuous labour--some earnest employment.
+My thoughts flew back to the university; and the quiet of its
+cloisters--which, until I had been blinded by the glare of the
+London world, and grief had somewhat dulled the edge of my quick
+desires and hopes, had seemed to me cheerless and unaltering--took
+an inviting aspect. They presented what I needed most--a new scene,
+a new arena, a partial return into boyhood; repose for passions
+prematurely raised; activity for the reasoning powers in fresh
+directions. I had not lost my time in London: I had kept up, if not
+studies purely classical, at least the habits of application; I had
+sharpened my general comprehension, and augmented my resources.
+Accordingly, when I returned home, I resolved to speak to my father.
+But I found he had forestalled me; and, on entering, my mother drew
+me up stairs into her room, with a smile kindled by my smile, and
+told me that she and her Austin had been thinking that it was best
+that I should leave London as soon as possible; that my father
+found he could now dispense with the library of the Museum for some
+months; that the time for which they had taken their lodgings would
+be up in a few days; that the summer was far advanced, town odious,
+the country beautiful--in a word, we were to go home. There I could
+prepare myself for Cambridge, till the long vacation was over; and,
+my mother added hesitatingly, and with a prefatory caution to
+spare my health, that my father, whose income could ill afford the
+requisite allowance to me, counted on my soon lightening his burden,
+by getting a scholarship. I felt how much provident kindness there
+was in all this--even in that hint of a scholarship, which was meant
+to rouse my faculties, and spur me, by affectionate incentives, to a
+new ambition. I was not less delighted than grateful.
+
+"But poor Roland," said I, "and little Blanche--will they come with
+us?"
+
+"I fear not," said my mother, "for Roland is anxious to get back to
+his tower; and, in a day or two, he will be well enough to move."
+
+"Do you not think, my dear mother, that, somehow or other, this lost
+son of his had something to do with his illness,--that the illness
+was as much mental as physical?"
+
+"I have no doubt of it, Sisty. What a sad, bad heart that young man
+must have!"
+
+"My uncle seems to have abandoned all hope of finding him in London;
+otherwise, ill as he has been, I am sure we could not have kept him
+at home. So he goes back to the old tower. Poor man, he must be dull
+enough there!--we must contrive to pay him a visit. Does Blanche
+ever speak of her brother?"
+
+"No, for it seems they were not brought up much together--at all
+events, she does not remember him. How lovely she is! Her mother
+must surely have been very handsome."
+
+"She is a pretty child, certainly, though in a strange style of
+beauty--such immense eyes!--and affectionate, and loves Roland as
+she ought."
+
+And here the conversation dropped.
+
+Our plans being thus decided, it was necessary that I should lose no
+time in seeing Vivian, and making some arrangement for the future.
+His manner had lost so much of its abruptness, that I thought I
+could venture to recommend him personally to Trevanion; and I knew,
+after what had passed, that Trevanion would make a point to oblige
+me. I resolved to consult my father about it. As yet I had either
+never forced, or never made the opportunity to talk to my father
+on the subject, he had been so occupied; and, if he had proposed
+to see my new friend, what answer could I have made, in the teeth
+of Vivian's cynic objections? However, as we were now going away,
+that last consideration ceased to be of importance; and, for the
+first, the student had not yet entirely settled back to his books. I
+therefore watched the time when my father walked down to the Museum,
+and, slipping my arm in his, I told him, briefly and rapidly, as
+we went along, how I had formed this strange acquaintance, and how
+I was now situated. The story did not interest my father quite as
+much as I expected, and he did not understand all the complexities
+of Vivian's character--how could he?--for he answered briefly, "I
+should think that, for a young man, apparently without a sixpence,
+and whose education seems so imperfect, any resource in Trevanion
+must be most temporary and uncertain. Speak to your uncle Jack--he
+can find him some place, I have no doubt--perhaps a readership in
+a printer's office, or a reporter's place on some journal, if he
+is fit for it. But if you want to steady him, let it be something
+regular."
+
+Therewith my father dismissed the matter, and vanished through the
+gates of the Museum.--Readership to a printer, reportership on a
+journal, for a young gentleman with the high notions and arrogant
+vanity of Francis Vivian--his ambition already soaring far beyond
+kid gloves and a cabriolet! The idea was hopeless; and, perplexed
+and doubtful, I took my way to Vivian's lodgings. I found him at
+home, and unemployed, standing by his window, with folded arms, and
+in a state of such reverie that he was not aware of my entrance till
+I had touched him on the shoulder.
+
+"Ha!" said he then, with one of his short, quick, impatient sighs,
+"I thought you had given me up, and forgotten me--but you look pale
+and harassed. I could almost think you had grown thinner within the
+last few days."
+
+"Oh! never mind me, Vivian: I have come to speak of yourself.
+I have left Trevanion; it is settled that I should go to the
+university--and we all quit town in a few days."
+
+"In a few days!--all!--who are all?"
+
+"My family--father, mother, uncle cousin, and myself. But, my dear
+fellow, now let us think seriously what is best to be done for you?
+I can present you to Trevanion."
+
+"Ha!"
+
+"But Trevanion is a hard, though an excellent man; and, moreover, as
+he is always changing the subjects that engross him, in a month or
+so, he may have nothing to give you. You said you would work--will
+you consent not to complain if the work cannot be done in kid
+gloves? Young men who have risen high in the world have begun, it
+is well known, as reporters to the press. It is a situation of
+respectability, and in request, and not easy to obtain, I fancy; but
+still--"
+
+Vivian interrupted me hastily--
+
+"Thank you a thousand times! but what you say confirms a resolution
+I had taken before you came. I shall make it up with my family, and
+return home."
+
+"Oh! I am so really glad. How wise in you!"
+
+Vivian turned away his head abruptly--
+
+"Your pictures of family life and domestic peace, you see," he said,
+"seduced me more than you thought. When do you leave town?"
+
+"Why, I believe, early next week."
+
+"So soon!" said Vivian, thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps I may ask you
+yet to introduce me to Mr Trevanion; for--who knows?--my family and
+I may fall out again. But I will consider. I think I have heard you
+say that this Trevanion is a very old friend of your father's, or
+uncle's?"
+
+"He, or rather Lady Ellinor, is an old friend of both."
+
+"And therefore would listen to your recommendations of me. But
+perhaps I may not need them. So you have left--left of your own
+accord--a situation that seemed more enjoyable, I should think, than
+rooms in a college;--left--why did you leave?"
+
+And Vivian fixed his bright eyes, full and piercingly, on mine.
+
+"It was only for a time, for a trial, that I was there," said I,
+evasively: "out at nurse, as it were, till the Alma Mater opened her
+arms--_alma_ indeed she ought to be to my father's son."
+
+Vivian looked unsatisfied with my explanation, but did not question
+me farther. He himself was the first to turn the conversation, and
+he did this with more affectionate cordiality than was common to
+him. He inquired into our general plans, into the probabilities of
+our return to town, and drew from me a description of our rural
+Tusculum. He was quiet and subdued; and once or twice I thought
+there was a moisture in those luminous eyes. We parted with more
+of the unreserve and fondness of youthful friendship--at least on
+my part, and seemingly on his--than had yet endeared our singular
+intimacy; for the cement of cordial attachment had been wanting to
+an intercourse in which one party refused all confidence, and the
+other mingled distrust and fear with keen interest and compassionate
+admiration.
+
+That evening, before lights were brought in, my father, turning to
+me, abruptly asked if I had seen my friend, and what he was about to
+do?
+
+"He thinks of returning to his family," said I.
+
+Roland, who had seemed dozing, winced uneasily.
+
+"Who returns to his family?" asked the Captain.
+
+"Why, you must know," said my father, "that Sisty has fished up
+a friend of whom he can give no account that would satisfy a
+policeman, and whose fortunes he thinks himself under the necessity
+of protecting. You are very lucky that he has not picked your
+pockets, Sisty; but I daresay he has? What's his name?"
+
+"Vivian," said I--"Francis Vivian."
+
+"A good name, and a Cornish," said my father. "Some derive it from
+the Romans--Vivianus; others from a Celtic word, which means"--
+
+"Vivian!" interrupted Roland--"Vivian!--I wonder if it be the son of
+Colonel Vivian?"
+
+"He is certainly a gentleman's son," said I; "but he never told me
+what his family and connexions were."
+
+"Vivian," repeated my uncle--"poor Colonel Vivian. So the young man
+is going to his father. I have no doubt it is the same. Ah!"--
+
+"What do you know of Colonel Vivian, or his son?" said I. "Pray,
+tell me, I am so interested in this young man."
+
+"I know nothing of either, except by gossip," said my uncle,
+moodily. "I did hear that Colonel Vivian, an excellent officer,
+and honourable man, had been in--in--(Roland's voice faltered)--in
+great grief about his son, whom, a mere boy, he had prevented from
+some improper marriage, and who had run away and left him--it was
+supposed for America. The story affected me at the time," added my
+uncle, trying to speak calmly.
+
+We were all silent, for we felt why Roland was so disturbed, and why
+Colonel Vivian's grief should have touched him home. Similarity in
+affliction makes us brothers even to the unknown.
+
+"You say he is going home to his family--I am heartily glad of it!"
+said the envying old soldier, gallantly.
+
+The lights came in then, and, two minutes after, uncle Roland and I
+were nestled close to each other, side by side; and I was reading
+over his shoulder, and his finger was silently resting on that
+passage that had so struck him--"I have not complained--have I,
+sir?--and I won't complain!"
+
+
+
+
+THE WHITE NILE.[15]
+
+  [15] _Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des Weissen Nil_,
+  (1840-1841,) von FERDINAND WERNE. Mit einem Vorwort von CARL RITTER.
+  Berlin, 1848.
+
+
+Fifty years since, the book before us would have earned for its
+author the sneers of critics and the reputation of a Munchausen:
+at the present more tolerant and more enlightened day, it not only
+obtains credit, but excites well-merited admiration of the writer's
+enterprise, energy, and perseverance. "The rich contents and great
+originality of the following work," says Professor Carl Ritter,
+in his preface to Mr Werne's narrative, "will escape no one who
+bestows a glance, however hasty, upon its pages. It gives vivid and
+life-like pictures of tribes and territories previously unvisited,
+and is welcome as a most acceptable addition to our literature of
+travel, often so monotonous." We quite coincide with the learned
+professor, whose laudatory and long-winded sentences we have thus
+freely rendered. His friend, Mr Ferdinand Werne, has made good
+use of his opportunities, and has produced a very interesting and
+praiseworthy book.
+
+It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remind the reader, that the
+river Nile is formed of two confluent streams, the Blue and the
+White, whose junction is in South Nubia, between 15° and 16° of
+North Latitude. The source of the Blue Nile was ascertained by
+Bruce, and by subsequent travellers, to be in the mountains of
+Abyssinia; but the course of the other branch, which is by far the
+longest, had been followed, until very lately, only as far south
+as 10° or 11° N. L. Even now the river has not been traced to its
+origin, although Mr Werne and his companions penetrated to 4° N.
+L. Further they could not go, owing to the rapid subsidence of the
+waters. The expedition had been delayed six weeks by the culpable
+dilatoriness of one of its members; and this was fatal to the
+realisation of its object.
+
+We can conceive few things more exciting than such a voyage as Mr
+Werne has accomplished and recorded. Starting from the outposts of
+civilisation, he sailed into the very heart of Africa, up a stream
+whose upper waters were then for the first time furrowed by vessels
+larger than a savage's canoe--a stream of such gigantic proportions,
+that its width, at a thousand miles from the sea, gave it the
+aspect of a lake rather than of a river. The brute creation were in
+proportion with the magnitude of the water-course. The hippopotamus
+reared his huge snout above the surface, and wallowed in the gullies
+that on either hand run down to the stream; enormous crocodiles
+gaped along the shore; elephants played in herds upon the pastures;
+the tall giraffe amongst the lofty palms; snakes thick as trees lay
+coiled in the slimy swamps; and ant-hills, ten feet high, towered
+above the rushes. Along the thickly-peopled banks hordes of savages
+showed themselves, gazing in wonder at the strange ships, and making
+ambiguous gestures, variously construed by the adventurers as
+signs of friendship or hostility. Alternately sailing and towing,
+as the wind served or not; constantly in sight of natives, but
+rarely communicating with them; often cut off for days from land by
+interminable fields of tangled weeds,--the expedition pursued its
+course through innumerable perils, guaranteed from most of them by
+the liquid rampart on which it floated. Lions looked hungry, and
+savages shook their spears, but neither showed a disposition to swim
+off and board the flotilla.
+
+The cause of science has countless obligations to the cupidity of
+potentates and adventurers. May it not be part of the scheme of
+Providence, that gold is placed in the most remote and barbarous
+regions, as a magnet to draw thither the children of civilisation?
+The expedition shared in by Mr Werne is an argument in favour
+of the hypothesis. It originated in appetite for lucre, not in
+thirst for knowledge. Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt, finding the
+lands within his control unable to meet his lavish expenditure and
+constant cry for gold, projected working mines supposed to exist
+in the districts of Kordovan and Fazogl. At heavy cost he procured
+Austrian miners from Trieste, a portion of whom proceeded in 1836
+to the land of promise, to open those veins of gold whence it was
+reported the old Venetian ducats had been extracted. Already, in
+imagination, the viceroy beheld an ingot-laden fleet sailing merrily
+down the Nile. He was disappointed in his glowing expectations.
+Russegger, the German chief of the expedition, pocketed the pay of
+a Bey, ate and drank in conformity with his rank, rambled about the
+country, and wrote a book for the amusement and Information of his
+countrymen. Then he demanded thirty thousand dollars to begin the
+works. An Italian, who had accompanied him, offered to do it for
+less; mistrust and disputes arose, and at last their employer would
+rely on neither of them, but resolved to go and see for himself.
+This was in the autumn of 1838; and it might well be that the old
+fox was not sorry to get out of the way of certain diplomatic
+personages at Alexandria, and thus to postpone for a while his reply
+to troublesome inquiries and demands.
+
+"It was on the 15th October 1838," Mr Werne says, "that I--for some
+time past an anchorite in the wilderness by Tura, and just returned
+from a hunt in the ruins of Memphis--saw, from the left shore of
+the Nile, the Abu Dagn, (Father of the Beard,) as Mohammed Ali was
+designated to me by a Fellah standing by, steam past in his yacht,
+in the direction of those regions to which I would then so gladly
+have proceeded. Already in Alexandria I had gathered, over a glass
+of wine, from frigate-captain Achmet, (a Swiss, named Baumgartner,)
+the secret plan of the expedition to the White Stream, (Bach'r el
+Abiat,) and I had made every effort to obtain leave to join it,
+but in vain, because, as a Christian, my discretion was not to be
+depended upon."
+
+The Swiss, whom some odd caprice of fate, here unexplained, had
+converted into an Egyptian naval captain, and to whom the scientific
+duties of the expedition were confided, died in the following
+spring, and his place was taken by Captain Selim. Mr Werne and his
+brother, who had long ardently desired to accompany one of these
+expeditions up the Nile, were greatly discouraged at this change,
+which they looked upon as destructive to their hopes. At the town
+of Chartum, at the confluence of the White and Blue streams, they
+witnessed, in the month of November 1839, the departure of the first
+flotilla; and, although sick and weak, from the effects of the
+climate, their hearts were wrung with regret at being left behind.
+This expedition got no further than 6° 35' N. L.; although, either
+from mistakes in their astronomical reckoning or wishing to give
+themselves more importance, and not anticipating that others would
+soon follow to check their statements, they pretended to have gone
+three degrees further south. But Mehemet Ali, not satisfied with the
+result of their voyage, immediately ordered a second expedition to
+be fitted out. Mr Werne, who is a most adventurous person, had been
+for several months in the Taka country, in a district previously
+untrodden by Europeans, with an army commanded by Achmet Bascha,
+governor-general of Sudan, who was operating against some rebellious
+tribes. Here news reached him of the projected expedition; and, to
+his great joy, he obtained from Achmet permission to accompany it in
+the quality of passenger. His brother, then body-physician to the
+Bascha, could not be spared, by reason of the great mortality in the
+camp.
+
+At Chartum the waters were high, the wind was favourable, and all
+was ready for a start early in October, but for the non-appearance
+of two French engineers, who lingered six weeks in Korusko, under
+one pretext or other, but in reality, M. Werne affirms, because
+one of them, Arnaud by name, who has since written an account of
+the expedition, was desirous to prolong the receipt of his pay
+as _bimbaschi_, or major, which rank he temporarily held in the
+Egyptian service. At last he and his companion, Sabatier, arrived:
+on the 23rd November 1840 a start was made; and, on that day Mr
+Werne began a journal, regularly kept, and most minute in its
+details, which he continued till the 22d April 1841, the date of
+his return to Chartum. He commences by stating the composition
+of the expedition. "It consists of four dahabies from Kahira,
+(vessels with two masts and with cabins, about a hundred feet
+long, and twelve to fifteen broad,) each with two cannon; three
+dahabies from Chartum, one of which has also two guns; then two
+kaias, one-masted vessels, to carry goods, and a sàndal, or skiff,
+for intercommunication; the crews are composed of two hundred and
+fifty soldiers, (Negroes, Egyptians, and Surians,) and a hundred
+and twenty sailors and boatmen from Alexandria, Nubia, and the
+land of Sudàn." Soliman Kaschef (a Circassian of considerable
+energy and courage, who, like Mr Werne himself, was protected by
+Achmet Bascha) commanded the troops. Captain Selim had charge of
+the ships, and a sort of general direction of the expedition, of
+which, however, Soliman was the virtual chief; the second captain
+was Feizulla Effendi of Constantinople; the other officers were
+two Kurds, a Russian, an Albanian, and a Persian. Of Europeans,
+there were the two Frenchmen, already mentioned, as engineers; a
+third, named Thibaut, as collector; and Mr Werne, as an independent
+passenger at his own charges. The ships were to follow each other
+in two lines, one led by Soliman, the other by Selim; but this
+order of sailing was abandoned the very first day; and so, indeed,
+was nearly all order of every kind. Each man sailed his bark as he
+pleased, without nautical skill or unity of movement; and, as to
+one general and energetic supervision of the whole flotilla and
+its progress, no one dreamed of such a thing. Mr Werne indulged in
+gloomy reflections as to the probable results of an enterprise, at
+whose very outset such want of zeal and discipline was displayed.
+It does not appear to have struck him that not the least of his
+dangers upon the strange voyage he had so eagerly undertaken, was
+from his shipmates, many of them bigoted Mahometans and reckless,
+ferocious fellows, ready with the knife, and who would have thought
+little of burthening their conscience with so small a matter as a
+Christian's blood. He is evidently a cool, courageous man, prompt
+in action; and his knowledge of the slavish, treacherous character
+of the people he had to deal with, doubtless taught him the best
+line of conduct to pursue with them. This, as appears from various
+passages of his journal, was the rough and ready style--a blow
+for the slightest impertinence, and his arms, which he well knew
+how to use, always at hand. He did not scruple to interfere when
+he saw cruelty or oppression practised, and soon he made himself
+respected, if not feared, by all on board; so much so, that
+Feizulla, the captain of the vessel in which he sailed, a drunken
+old Turk, who passed his time in drinking spirits and mending his
+own clothes, appointed him his _locum tenens_ during his occasional
+absences on shore. During his five months' voyage, Mr Werne had
+a fine opportunity of studying the peculiarities of the different
+nations with individuals of which he sailed; and, although his long
+residence in Africa and the East had made him regard such matters
+with comparative indifference, the occasional glimpses he gives
+of Turkish and Egyptian habits are amongst the most interesting
+passages in his book. Already, on the third day of the voyage, the
+expiration of the Rhamadan, or fasting month, and the setting in
+of the little feast of Bairam, gave rise to a singular scene. The
+flotilla was passing through the country governed by Achmet Bascha,
+in which Soliman was a man of great importance. By his desire, a
+herd of oxen and a large flock of sheep were driven down to the
+shore, for the use of the expedition. The preference was for the
+mutton, the beef in those regions being usually tough and coarse,
+and consequently despised by the Turks. "This quality of the meat
+is owing to the nature of the fodder, the tender grass and herbs of
+our marsh-lands and pastures being here unknown--and to the climate,
+which hardens the animal texture, a fact perceived by the surgeon
+when operating upon the human body. Our Arabs, who, like the Greeks
+and Jews, born butchers and flayers, know no mercy with beasts or
+men, fell upon the unfortunate animals, hamstrung them in all haste,
+to obviate any chance of resumption of the gift, and the hecatomb
+sank upon the ground, pitiful to behold. During the flaying and
+quartering, every man tried to secrete a sippet of meat, cutting it
+off by stealth, or stealing it from the back of the bearers. These
+coveted morsels were stuck upon skewers, broiled at the nearest
+watch-fire, and ravenously devoured, to prepare the stomach for
+the approaching banquet. Although they know how to cook the liver
+excellently well, upon this occasion they preferred eating it raw,
+cut up in a wooden dish, and with the gall of the slaughtered beast
+poured over it. Thus prepared, and eaten with salt and pepper, it
+has much the flavour of a good raw beefsteak." The celebration of
+the Bairam was a scene of gluttony and gross revelry. Arrack was
+served out instead of the customary ration of coffee; and many a
+Mussulman drank more than did him good, or than the Prophet's law
+allows. In the night, Captain Feizulla tumbled out of bed; and,
+having spoiled his subordinates by over-indulgence, not one of
+them stirred to his assistance. Mr Werne picked him up, found him
+in an epileptic fit, and learned, with no great pleasure, Feizulla
+being his cabin-mate, that the thirsty skipper was subject to such
+attacks. He foresaw a comfortless voyage on board the narrow bark,
+and with such queer companions; but the daily increasing interest of
+the scenery and surrounding objects again distracted his thoughts
+from considerations of personal ease. He had greater difficulty
+in reconciling himself to the negligence and indolence of his
+associates. So long as food was abundant and work scanty, all went
+well enough; but when liquor ran low, and the flesh-pots of Egypt
+were empty, grumbling began, and the thoughts of the majority were
+fixed upon a speedy return. Their chiefs set them a poor example.
+Soliman Kaschef lay in bed till an hour after sunrise, and the
+signal to sail could not be given till he awoke; and Feizulla, when
+his and Mr Werne's stock of brandy was out, passed one half his
+time in distilling spirits from stale dates, and the other moiety
+in getting intoxicated on the turbid extract thus obtained. Then
+the officers had female slaves on board; and there was a licensed
+jester, Abu Haschis, who supplied the expedition with buffoonery
+and ribaldry; and the most odious practices prevailed amongst the
+crews; for further details concerning all which matters we refer the
+curious to Mr Werne himself. A more singularly composed expedition
+was perhaps never fitted out, nor one less adapted effectually to
+perform the services required of it. Cleanliness and sobriety, so
+incumbent upon men cooped up in small craft, in a climate teeming
+with pestilence and vermin, were little regarded; and subordination
+and vigilance, essential to safety amidst the perils of an unknown
+navigation, and in the close vicinity of hostile savages, were
+utterly neglected,--at first to the great uneasiness of Mr Werne.
+But after a while, seeing no chance of amendment, and having no
+power to rebuke or correct deficiencies, he repeated the eternal
+_Allah Kerim!_ (God is merciful) of his fatalist shipmates, and
+slept soundly, when the musquitos permitted, under the good guard of
+Providence.
+
+On the 29th November, the expedition passed the limit of
+Turco-Egyptian domination. The land it had now reached paid no
+tribute. "All slaves," was the reply of Turks and Arabs to Mr
+Werne's inquiry who the inhabitants were. "I could not help
+laughing, and proving to them, to their great vexation, that these
+men were free, and much less slaves than themselves; that before
+making slaves of them, they must first make them prisoners, a
+process for which they had no particular fancy,--admitting, with
+much _naiveté_, that the 'slaves' hereabout were both numerous
+and brave. This contemptuously spoken _Kulo Abit_, (All slaves,)
+is about equivalent to the 'barbarian' of the ancients--the same
+classical word the modern Greeks have learned out of foreign
+school-books."
+
+"The trees and branches preventing our vessels from lying alongside
+the bank, I had myself carried through the water, to examine the
+country and get some shooting. But I could not make up my mind to
+use my gun, the only animals to aim at being large, long-tailed,
+silver-gray apes. I had shot one on a former occasion, and the brute
+had greatly excited my compassion by his resemblance to a human
+being, and by his piteous gestures. M. Arnaud, on the contrary, took
+particular pleasure in making the repeated observation that, on the
+approach of death, the gums of these beasts turn white, like those
+of a dying man. They live in families of several hundreds together,
+and their territory is very circumscribed, even in the forest, as
+I myself subsequently ascertained. Although fearful of water, and
+swimming unwillingly, they always fled to the branches overhanging
+the river, and not unfrequently fell in. When this occurred, their
+first care on emerging was to wipe the water from their faces and
+ears. However imminent their danger, only when this operation was
+completed did they again climb the trees. Such a monkey republic
+is really a droll enough sight; its members alternately fighting
+and caressing each other, combing and vermin-hunting, stealing and
+boxing each other's ears, and, in the midst of all these important
+occupations, running down every moment to drink, but contenting
+themselves with a single draught, for fear of becoming a mouthful
+for the watchful crocodile. The tame monkeys on board our vessels
+turned restless at sight of the joyous vagabond life of their
+brethren in the bush. First-lieutenant Hussein Aga, of Kurdistan,
+lay alongside us, and was in raptures with his monkey, shouting over
+to me: '_Schuf! el naùti taïb!_' (See! the clever sailor!)--meaning
+his pet ape, which ran about the rigging like mad, hanging on by
+the ropes, and looking over the bulwarks into the water; until at
+last he jumped on the back of a sailor who was wading on shore with
+dirty linen to wash, and thence made a spring upon land to visit
+his relations, compared to whom, however, he was a mere dwarf.
+Overboard went the long Kurd, with his gun, to shoot the deserter;
+but doubtless the little seaman, in his capacity of Turkish slave,
+and on account of his diminutive figure, met a bad reception, for
+Hussein was no sooner under the trees than his monkey dropped upon
+his head. He came to visit me afterwards, brought his 'naùti taïb'
+with him, and told me, what I had often heard before, how apes were
+formerly men, whom God had cursed. It really is written in the Koran
+that God and the prophet David had turned into monkeys the Jews who
+did not keep the Sabbath holy. Therefore a good Moslem will seldom
+kill or injure a monkey. Emin Bey of Fazogl was an exception to this
+rule. Sitting at table with an Italian, and about to thrust into
+his mouth a fragment of roast meat, his monkey snatched it from
+between his thumb and fingers. Whereupon the Bey quietly ordered
+the robber's hand to be cut off, which was instantly done. The poor
+monkey came to his cruel master and showed him, with his peculiarly
+doleful whine, the stump of his fore-paw. The Bey gave orders to
+kill him, but the Italian begged him as a gift. Soon afterwards
+the foolish brute came into my possession, and, on my journey back
+to Egypt, contributed almost as much to cheer me, as did the filial
+attentions of my freed man Hagar, whom my brother had received as a
+present, and had bequeathed to me. My servants would not believe but
+that the monkey was a transformed _gabir_, or caravan guide, since
+even in the desert he was always in front and upon the right road,
+availing himself of every rock and hillock to look about him, until
+the birds of prey again drove him under the camels, to complain
+to me with his 'Oehm-oehm;' which was also his custom when he had
+been beaten in my absence by the servants, whose merissa (a sort of
+spirit) he would steal and drink till he could neither go nor stand."
+
+During this halt, and whilst rambling along the bank, picking up
+river-oysters and tracing the monstrous footsteps of hippopotami,
+Mr Werne nearly walked into the jaws of the largest crocodile he
+had ever seen. His Turkish servant, Sale, who attended him on such
+occasions and carried his rifle, was not at hand, and he was glad
+to beat a retreat, discharging one of his barrels, both of which
+were laden with shot only, in the monster's face. On being scolded
+for his absence, Sale very coolly replied, that it was not safe so
+near shore; for that several times it had occurred to him, whilst
+gazing up in the trees at the birds and monkeys, to find himself,
+on a sudden, face to face with a crocodile, which stared at him
+like a ghost, (Scheitan, Satan,) and which he dared not shoot, lest
+he should slay his own father. Amongst the numerous Mahommedan
+superstitions, there is a common belief in the transformation,
+by witches and sorcerers, of men into beasts, especially into
+crocodiles and hippopotami.
+
+"Towards evening, cartridges were served out and muskets loaded,
+for we were now in a hostile country. The powder-magazine stood
+open, and lighted pipes passed to and fro over the hatchway. _Allah
+Kerim!_ I do my best to rouse my captain from his indolence, by
+drawing constant comparisons with the English sea-service; then I
+fall asleep myself whilst the powder is being distributed, and,
+waking early in the morning, find the magazine still open, and the
+sentry, whose duty it is to give an alarm should the water in the
+hold increase overmuch, fast asleep, with his tobacco-pipe in his
+hand and his musket in his lap. Feizulla Capitan begged me not to
+report the poor devil." This being a fair specimen of the prudence
+and discipline observed during the whole voyage, it is really
+surprising that Mr Werne ever returned to write its history, and
+that his corpse--drowned, blown up, or with a knife between the
+ribs--has not long since been resolved into the elements through
+the medium of a Nile crocodile. The next day the merciful Feizulla,
+whose kindness must have sprung from a fellow-feeling, got mad-drunk
+at a merry-making on an island, and had to be brought by force on
+board his ship. He seemed disposed to "run amuck;" grasped at sabre
+and pistols, and put his people in fear of their lives, until Mr
+Werne seized him neck and heels, threw him on his bed, and held
+him there whilst he struggled himself weary and fell asleep. The
+ship's company were loud in praise and admiration of Mr Werne, who,
+however, was not quite easy as to the possible results of his bold
+interference. "Only yesterday, I incurred the hatred of the roughest
+of our Egyptian sailors, as he sat with another at the hand-mill,
+and repeatedly applied to his companion the word _Nasrani_,
+(Christian,) using it as a term of insult, until the whole crew
+came and looked down into the cabin where I sat, and laughed--the
+captain not being on board at the time. At last I lost my patience,
+jumped up, and dealt the fellow a severe blow with my fist. In his
+fanatical horror at being struck by a Christian, he tried to throw
+himself overboard, and vowed revenge, which my servants told me.
+Now, whilst Feizulla Capitan lies senseless, I see from my bed this
+tall sailor leave the fore-part of the ship and approach our cabin,
+his comrades following him with their eyes. From a fanatic, who
+might put his own construction upon my recent friendly constraint
+of Captain Feizulla, and might convert it into a pretext, I had
+everything to apprehend. But he paused at the door, apologised, and
+thanked me for not having reported him to his commander. He then
+kissed my right hand, whilst in my left I held a pistol concealed
+under the blanket."
+
+Dangers, annoyances, and squabbles did not prevent Mr Werne
+from writing up his log, and making minute observations of
+the surrounding scenery. This was of ever-varying character.
+Thickly-wooded banks were succeeded by a sea of grass, its
+monotony unvaried by a single bush. Then came a crowd of islands,
+composed of water-plants, knit together by creepers and parasites,
+and alternately anchored to the shore, or floating slowly down
+the stream, whose sluggish current was often imperceptible. The
+extraordinary freshness and luxuriance of the vegetable creation
+in that region of combined heat and moisture, excited Mr Werne's
+enthusiastic admiration. At times he saw himself surrounded by a
+vast tapestry of flowers, waving for miles in every direction, and
+of countless varieties of tint and form. Upon land were bowers
+and hills of blossom, groves of dark mimosa and gold-gleaming
+tamarind; upon the water and swamps, interminable carpets of lilac
+convolvulus, water-lilies, flowering-reeds, and red, blue, and white
+lotus. The ambak tree, with its large yellow flowers and acacia-like
+leaf, rose fifteen feet and more above the surface of the water out
+of which it grew. This singular plant, a sort of link between the
+forest-tree and the reed of the marshes, has its root in the bed of
+the Nile, with which it each year rises, surpassing it in swiftness
+of growth. Its stem is of a soft spungy nature, more like the pith
+of a tree than like wood, but having, nevertheless, a pith of its
+own. The lotus was one of the most striking features in these scenes
+of floral magnificence; its brilliant white flower, which opens as
+the sun rises, and closes when it sets, beaming, like a double lily,
+in the shade it prefers. Mr Werne made the interesting observation,
+that this beautiful flower, where it had not some kind of shelter,
+closed when the sun approached the zenith, as though unable to
+endure the too ardent rays of the luminary that called it into life.
+Details of this kind, and fragments of eloquent description of the
+gorgeous scenery of the Nile banks, occur frequently in the earlier
+part of the "Expedition," during which there was little intercourse
+with the natives, who were either hostile, uninteresting, or
+concealed. Amongst other reasons for not remaining long near shore,
+and especially for not anchoring there at night, was the torture the
+voyagers experienced from gnats, camel-flies, and small wasps, which
+not only forbade sleep, but rendered it almost impossible to eat and
+drink. To escape this worse than Egyptian plague, the vessels lay in
+the middle of the river, which, for some time after their departure,
+was often three or four miles across. When the breeze was fresh,
+there was some relief from insect persecution, but a lull made the
+attacks insupportable. Doubtless a European complexion encouraged
+these. Our German lifts up his voice in agony and malediction.
+
+"The 10th December.--A dead calm all night. Gnats!!! No use creeping
+under the bed-clothes, at risk of stifling with heat, compelled as
+one is by their penetrating sting to go to bed dressed. Leave only a
+little hole to breathe at, and in they pour, attacking lips, nose,
+and ears, and forcing themselves into the throat--thus provoking a
+cough which is torture, since, at each inspiration, a fresh swarm
+finds its way into the gullet. They penetrate to the most sensitive
+part of the body, creeping in, like ants, at the smallest aperture.
+In the morning my bed contained thousands of the small demons which
+I had crushed and smothered by the perpetual rolling about of my
+martyred body. As I had forgotten to bring a musquito net from
+Chartum, there was nothing for it but submission. Neither had I
+thought of providing myself with leather gloves, unbearable in that
+hot climate, but which here, upon the Nile, would have been by far
+the lesser evil, since I was compelled to have a servant opposite to
+me at supper-time, waving a huge fan so close under my nose, that it
+was necessary to watch my opportunity to get the food to my mouth.
+One could not smoke one's pipe in peace, even though keeping one's
+hands wrapped in a woollen burnous, for the vermin stung through
+this, and crept up under it from the ground. The black and coloured
+men on board were equally ill-treated; and all night long the word
+'_Baùda_' resounded through the ship, with an accompaniment of
+curses and flapping of cloths. The _baùda_ resemble our long-legged
+gnats, but have a longer proboscis, with which they bore through a
+triple fold of strong linen. Their head is blue, their back tawny,
+and their legs are covered with white specks like small pearls,
+Another sort has short, strong legs, a thick brown body, a red
+head, and posteriors of varying hues." These parti-coloured and
+persevering bloodsuckers caused boils by the severity of their
+sting, and so exhausted the sailors by depriving them of sleep,
+that the ships could hardly be worked. Bitterly and frequently does
+Mr Werne recur to his sufferings from their ruthless attacks. At
+last a strange auxiliary came to his relief. On Christmas-day he
+writes:--"For the last two nights we have been greatly disturbed by
+the gnats, but a small cat, which I have not yet seen by daylight,
+seems to find particular pleasure in licking my face, pulling my
+beard, and purring continually, thus keeping off the insects.
+Generally the cats in Bellet-Sudan are of a very wild and fierce
+nature, which seems the result of their indifferent treatment by the
+inhabitants. They walk into the poultry-houses and carry off the
+strongest fowls, but care little for rats and mice. The Barabras,
+especially those of Dongola, often eat them; not so the Arabs,
+who spare them persecution--the cat having been one of Mahomet's
+favourite animals--but who, at the same time, hold them unclean."
+
+There is assuredly no river in the world whose banks, for so great
+a distance, are so thickly peopled as those of the Nile. Day after
+day the expedition passed an unbroken succession of populous
+villages, until Mr Werne wondered whence the inhabitants drew
+their nourishment, and a sapient officer from Kurdistan opined the
+Schilluks to be a greater nation than the French. But what people,
+and what habitations! The former scarce a degree above the brute,
+the latter resembling dog-kennels, or more frequently thatched
+bee-hives, with a round hole in the side, through which the inmates
+creep. Stark-naked, these savages lay in the high grass, whose
+seed forms part of their food, and gibbered and beckoned to the
+passing Turks, who, for the most part, disregarded their gestures
+of amity and invitation, shrewdly suspecting that their intentions
+were treacherous and their lances hidden in the herbage. Wild rice,
+fruits, and seeds, are eaten by these tribes, (the Schilluks,
+Dinkas, and others,) who have also herds of cattle--oxen, sheep, and
+goats, and who do not despise a hippopotamus chop or a crocodile
+cutlet. Where the land is unproductive, fish is the chief article
+of food. They have no horses or camels, and when they steal one of
+these animals from the Turks, they do not kill it, probably not
+liking its flesh, but they put out its eyes as a punishment for
+having brought the enemy into their country. In one hour Mr Werne
+counted seventeen villages, large or small; and Soliman Kaschef
+assured him the Schilluks numbered two millions of souls, although
+it is hard to say how he obtained the census. The _Bando_ or king,
+although dwelling only two or three leagues from the river, did
+not show himself. He mistrusted the Turks, and all night the great
+war-drum was heard to beat. His savage majesty was quite right to be
+on his guard. "I am well persuaded," says Mr Werne, "that if Soliman
+Kaschef had once got the dreaded Bando of the Schilluks on board,
+he would have sailed away with him. I read that in his face when
+he was told the Bando would not appear. And gladly as I would have
+seen this negro sovereign, I rejoiced that his caution frustrated
+the projected shameful treachery. He had no particular grounds for
+welcoming the Musselmans, those sworn foes of his people. Shortly
+before our departure, he had sent three ambassadors to Chartum, to
+put him on a friendly footing with the Turks, and so to check the
+marauding expeditions of his Arab neighbours, of Soliman Kaschef
+amongst the rest. The three Schilluks, who could not speak Arabic,
+were treated in the Divan with customary contempt as _Abit_,
+(slaves) and were handed over like common men to the care of Sheikh
+el Bellet of Chartum. The Sheikh, who receives no pay, and performs
+the duties of his office out of fear rather than for the sake of the
+honour, showed them such excellent hospitality, that they came to
+us Franks and begged a few piastres to buy bread and spirits." On
+Mr Werne's representations to the Effendi, or chief man at Chartum,
+dresses of honour (the customary presents) were prepared for them,
+but they departed stealthily by night; and their master, the Bando,
+was very indignant on learning the treatment they had received.
+
+A vast green meadow, a sort of elephant pasture, separates the
+Schilluks from their neighbours the Jengähs, concerning whom Mr
+Werne obtained some particulars from a Tschauss or sergeant,
+named Marian of Mount Habila, the son of the Mak or King of the
+mountains of Nuba. His father had been vanquished and murdered by
+the Turks, and he had been made a slave. This sergeant-prince was
+of middle height, with a black tatooed countenance, and with ten
+holes in each ear, out of which his captors had taken the gold
+rings. He was a sensible, well-behaved man, and had been thirteen
+years in the service, but was hopeless of promotion, having none to
+recommend him. Besides this man, there were two Dinkas and a Jengäh
+on board; but from them it was impossible to extract information
+with respect to the manners and usages of their countrymen.
+They held it treachery to divulge such particulars. Many of the
+soldiers and sailors composing the expedition being natives of the
+countries through which it sailed, apprehensions of desertion were
+entertained, and partially realised. On the 30th December, whilst
+passing through the friendly land of the Keks, everybody slept on
+shore, and in the night sixteen men on guard deserted. They were
+from the distant country of Nuba, (a district of Nubia,) which it
+seemed scarcely possible they should ever reach, with their scanty
+store of ammunition, and exposed to the assaults of hunger, thirst,
+and hostile tribes. Hussein Aga went after them with fifty ferocious
+Egyptians, likely to show little mercy to the runaways, with whom,
+however, they could not come up. And suddenly the drums beat to call
+all hands on board, for there was a report that all the negroes
+were planning escape. During this halt Mr Werne made ornithological
+observations, ascertaining, amongst other things, the species of
+certain white birds, which he had observed sitting impudently upon
+the backs of the elephants, picking the vermin from their thick
+hides, as crows do in Europe from the backs of pigs. The elephants
+evidently disapproved the operation, and lashed with their trunks
+at their tormentors, who then flew away, but instantly returned to
+recommence what Mr Werne calls their "dry fishing." These birds
+proved to be small herons. Shortly before this, a large pelican
+had been shot, and its crop was found to contain twenty-four fresh
+fish, the size of herrings. Its gluttony had caused its death, the
+weight it carried impeding its flight. Prodigious swarms of birds
+and water-fowl find their nourishment in the White Stream, and upon
+its swampy banks. In some places the trees were white with their
+excrements, whose accumulation destroyed vegetable life. There is no
+lack of nourishment for the feathered tribes--water and earth are
+prolific of vermin. Millions of glow-worms glimmer in the rushes,
+the air resounds with the shrill cry of myriads of grasshoppers,
+and with the croaking of countless frogs. But for the birds, which
+act as scavengers and vermin-destroyers, those shores would be
+uninhabitable. The scorching sun fecundates the sluggish waters
+and rank fat marsh, causing a never-ceasing birth of reptiles and
+insects. Monstrous fish and snakes of all sizes abound. Concerning
+the latter, the Arabs have strange superstitions. They consider them
+in some sort supernatural beings, having a king, Shach Maran by
+name, who is supposed to dwell in Turkish Kurdistan, not far from
+Adana, where two villages are exempted from tribute on condition of
+supplying the snakes with milk. Abdul-Elliab, a Kurd officer of the
+expedition, had himself offered the milk-sacrifice to the snakes;
+and he swore that he had seen their king, or at any rate one of his
+_Wokils_, or vicegerents, of whom his serpentine majesty has many.
+He had no sooner poured his milky offering into one of the marble
+basins nature has there hollowed out, than a great snake, with long
+hair upon its head, stepped out of a hole in the rocks and drank.
+It then retired, without, as in some other instances, speaking to
+the sacrificer, a taciturnity contritely attributed by the latter
+to his not having yet entirely abjured strong drinks. Two other
+Kurds vouched for the truth of this statement, adding, that the
+_Maran_ had a human face, for that otherwise he could not speak,
+and that he never showed himself except to a sultan or to a very
+holy man. To the latter character the said Abdul-Elliab had great
+pretensions, and his bigotry, hypocrisy, and constant quotations
+from the Koran procured him from his irreverent shipmates, from Mr
+Werne amongst the number, the nickname of the _Paradise-Stormer_,
+it being manifest that he reckoned on taking by assault the blessed
+abode promised by Mahomet to the faithful. Pending his admission to
+the society of the houris, he solaced himself with that of a young
+female slave, who often experienced cruel treatment at the hands of
+her saintly master. Having one day committed the heinous offence of
+preparing _merissa_, a strong drink made from corn, for part of the
+crew, the Kurd, formerly, according to his own admission, a stanch
+toper, beat her with a thong as she knelt half-naked upon the deck.
+"As he did not attend to my calls from the cabin," says Mr Werne,
+"but continued striking her so furiously as to cut the skin and
+draw streams of blood, I jumped out, and pulled him backwards, so
+that his legs flew up in the air. He sprang to his feet, retreated
+to the bulwark of the ship, drew his sabre, and shouted, with a
+menacing countenance, 'Effendi!' instead of calling me Kawagi,
+which signifies a merchant, and is the usual title for a Frank. I
+had no sooner returned to the cabin than he seized his slave to
+throw her overboard, whereupon I caught up my double-barrel and
+levelled at him, calling out, '_Ana oedrup!_' (I fire.) Thereupon
+he let the girl go, and with a pallid countenance protested she was
+his property, and he could do as he liked with her. Subsequently
+he complained of me to the commandant, who, knowing his malicious
+and hypocritical character, sent him on board the skiff, to the
+great delight of the whole flotilla. On our return to Chartum,
+he was cringing enough to ask my pardon, and to want to kiss my
+hand, (although he was then a captain) because he saw that the
+Bascha distinguished me. A few days previously to this squabble,
+I had gained the affection and confidence of our black soldiers,
+one of whom, a Tokruri or pilgrim from Darfur, had quarrelled with
+an Arab, and wounded him with his knife. He jumped overboard to
+drown himself, and, being unable to swim, had nearly accomplished
+his object, when he drifted to our ship and was lifted on board.
+They wanted to make him stand on his head, but I had him laid
+horizontally upon his side, and began to rub him with a woollen
+cloth, but at first could get no one to help me because he was an
+_Abit_, a slave, until I threatened the captain he should be made
+to pay the Bascha for the loss of his soldier. After long-continued
+rubbing, the Tokruri gave signs of life, and they raised him into
+a sitting posture, whilst his head still hung down. One of the
+soldiers, who, as a Faki, pretended to be a sort of awaker of the
+dead, seized him from behind under the arms, lifted him, and let him
+fall thrice violently upon his hinder end, shouting in his ear at
+the same time passages from the Koran, to which the Tokruri at last
+replied by similar quotations. The superstition of these people is
+so gross, that they believe such a pilgrim may be completely and
+thoroughly drowned, and yet retain power to float to any part of the
+shore he pleases, and, once on dry land, to resume his vitality."
+
+A credulous traveller would have been misled by some of the strange
+fables put forward, with great plausibility, by these Arabs and
+other semi-savages, who have, moreover, a strong tendency to
+exaggerate, and who, perceiving the avidity with which Mr Werne
+investigated the animal and vegetable world around him, and his
+desire for rare and curious specimens, occasionally got up a lie
+for his benefit. Although kept awake many nights by the merciless
+midges, his zeal for science would not suffer him to sleep in the
+day, because he had no one he could trust to note the windings of
+the river. One sultry noon, however, when the Arab rowers were
+lazily impelling the craft against unfavourable breezes, and the
+stream was straight for a long distance ahead, he indulged in a
+siesta, during which visions of a happy German home hovered above
+his pillow. On awaking, bathed in perspiration, to the dismal
+realities of the pestilential Bach'r el Abiat, of incessant gnats
+and barbarian society, his Arab companions had a yarn cut and dried
+for him. During my sleep they had seen a swimming-bird as large as
+a young camel, with a straight beak like a pelican, but without a
+crop; they had not shot it for fear of awaking me, and because they
+had no doubt of meeting with some more of these unknown birds. No
+others appeared, and Mr Werne noted the camel-bird as an Egyptian
+lie, not as a natural curiosity.
+
+A month's sail carried the expedition into the land of the Keks,
+a numerous, but not a very prosperous tribe. Their _tokuls_ or
+huts were entirely of straw, walls as well as roof. The men were
+quite naked, and of a bluish-gray colour, from the slime of the
+Nile, with which they smear themselves as a protection against the
+gnats. "There was something melancholy in the way in which those
+poor creatures raised their hands above their heads, and let them
+slowly fall, by manner of greeting. They had ivory rings upon their
+arms, and one of them turned towards his hut, as if inviting us
+in. Another stood apart, lifted his arms, and danced round in a
+circle. A Dinka on board, who is acquainted with their language,
+said they wanted us to give them durra, (a sort of corn,) and
+that their cows were far away and would not return till evening.
+This Dinka positively asserted, as did also Marian, that the Keks
+kill no animal, but live entirely on grain and milk. I could not
+ascertain, with certainty, whether this respect for brute life
+extended itself to game and fish, but it is universally affirmed
+that they eat cattle that die a natural death. This is done to some
+extent in the land of Sudan, although not by the genuine Arabs:
+it is against the Koran to eat a beast even that has been slain
+by a bullet, unless its throat has been cut whilst it yet lived,
+to let the prohibited blood escape. At Chartum I saw, one morning
+early, two dead camels lying on a public square; men cut off great
+pieces to roast, and the dogs looked on longingly. I myself, with
+Dr Fischer and Pruner, helped to consume, in Kahira, a roasted
+fragment of Clot Bey's beautiful giraffe, which had eaten too much
+white clover. The meat was very tender, and of tolerably fine grain.
+The tongue was quite a delicacy. On the other hand, I never could
+stomach the coarse-grained flesh of camels, even of the young ones."
+Africa is the land of strong stomachs. The Arabs, when on short
+rations, eat locusts; and some of the negro tribes devour the fruit
+of the elephant-tree, an abominable species of pumpkin, coveted by
+elephants, but rejected even by Arabs, and which Mr Werne found
+wholly impracticable, although his general rule was to try all the
+productions of the country. His gastronomical experiments are often
+connected with curious details of the animals upon which he tried
+his teeth. On the 12th January, whilst suffering from an attack of
+Nile-fever, which left him scarcely strength enough to post up his
+journal, he heard a shot, and was informed that Soliman Kaschef had
+killed with a single bullet a large crocodile, as it lay basking on
+a sandy promontory of the bank. The Circassian made a present of the
+skin to M. Arnaud, an excellent excuse for an hour's pause, that
+the Frenchman might get possession of the scaly trophy. Upon such
+trifling pretexts was the valuable time of the expedition frittered
+away. "Having enough of other meat at that moment, the people
+neglected cutting off the tail for food. My servants, however, who
+knew that I had already tasted that sort of meat at Chartum, and
+that at Taka I had eaten part of a snake, prepared for me by a
+dervish, brought me a slice of the crocodile. Even had I been in
+health, I could not have touched it, on account of the strong smell
+of musk it exhaled; but, ill as I was, they were obliged to throw
+it overboard immediately. When first I was in crocodile countries,
+it was incomprehensible to me how the boatmen scented from afar
+the presence of these creatures; but on my journey from Kahira to
+Sennaar, when they offered me in Korusko a young one for sale, I
+found my own olfactories had become very sensitive to the peculiar
+odour. When we entered the Blue Stream, I could smell the crocodiles
+six hundred paces off, before I had seen them. The glands,
+containing a secretion resembling musk, are situated in the hinder
+part of the animal, as in the civet cats of Bellet Sudan, which are
+kept in cages for the collection of the perfume."
+
+As the travellers ascended the river, their intercourse with the
+natives became much more frequent, inasmuch as these, more remote
+from Egyptian aggression, had less ground for mistrustful and
+hostile feelings. Captain Selim had a stock of coloured shirts,
+and an immense bale of beads, with which he might have purchased
+the cattle, villages, goods and chattels, and even the bodies, of
+an entire tribe, had he been so disposed. The value attached by
+the savages of the White Stream to the most worthless objects of
+European manufacture, enabled Mr Werne to obtain, in exchange for
+a few glass beads, a large collection of their arms, ornaments,
+household utensils, &c., now to be seen in the Royal Museum at
+Berlin. The stolid simplicity of the natives of those regions
+exceeds belief. One can hardly make up one's mind to consider them
+as men. Even as the _ambak_ seems the link between useful timber
+and worthless rushes, so does the Kek appear to partake as much
+of brute as of human nature. He has at least as much affinity
+with the big gray ape, whose dying agonies excited Mr Werne's
+compassion at the commencement of his voyage, as with the civilised
+and intellectual man who describes their strange appearance and
+manners. A Kek, who had been sleeping in the ashes of a fire, a
+common practice with that tribe, was found standing upon the shore
+by some of the crew, who brought him on board Selim's vessel.
+"Bending his body forward in an awkward ape-like manner, intended
+perhaps to express submission, he approached the cabin, and, on
+finding himself near it, dropped upon his knees and crept forward
+upon them, uttering, in his gibberish, repeated exclamations of
+greeting and wonderment. He had numerous holes through the rims
+of his ears, which contained, however, no other ornament than one
+little bar. They threw strings of beads over his neck, and there
+was no end to his joy; he jumped and rolled upon the deck, kissed
+the planks, doubled himself up, extended his hands over all our
+heads, as if blessing us, and then began to sing. He was an angular,
+high-shouldered figure, about thirty years of age. His attitude
+and gestures were very constrained, which arose, perhaps, from the
+novelty of his situation; his back was bent, big head hung forward,
+his long legs, almost calf-less, were as if broken at the knees; in
+his whole person, in short, he resembled an orang-outang. He was
+perfectly naked, and his sole ornaments consisted of leathern rings
+upon the right arm. How low a grade of humanity is this! The poor
+natural touches one with his childish joy, in which he is assuredly
+happier than any of us. By the help of the Dinka interpreter, he is
+instructed to tell his countrymen they have no reason to retreat
+before such _honest_ people as those who man the flotilla. Kneeling,
+jumping, creeping, kissing the ground, he is then led away by the
+hand like a child, and would assuredly take all he has seen for a
+dream, but for the beads he bears with him." Many of these tribes
+are composed of men of gigantic stature. On the 7th January, Mr
+Werne, being on shore, would have measured some of the taller
+savages, but they objected. He then gave his servants long reeds
+and bade them stand beside the natives, thus ascertaining their
+average height to be from six to seven Rhenish feet. The Egyptians
+and Europeans looked like pigmies beside them. The women were in
+proportion with the men. Mr Werne tells of one lady who looked clear
+away over his head, although he describes himself as above the
+middle height.
+
+At this date, (7th January) the flotilla reached a large lake, or
+inlet of the river, near to which a host of elephants grazed, and
+a multitude of light-brown antelopes stood still and stared at the
+intruders. The sight of the antelopes, which were of a species
+called _ariel_, whose flesh is particularly well-flavoured, was
+too much for Soliman Kaschef to resist. There was no wind; he gave
+orders to cease towing, and went on shore to shoot his supper. The
+antelopes retreated when the ships grated against the bank; and as
+the rush-jungle was by no means safe, beasts of prey being wont to
+hide there to catch the antelopes as they go to water at sunset,
+a few soldiers were sent forward to clear the way. Nevertheless,
+"on our return from the chase, during which not a single shot
+was fired, we lost two _báltaschi_, (carpenters or sappers,) and
+all our signals were insufficient to bring them back. They were
+Egyptians, steady fellows, and most unlikely to desert; but their
+comrades did not trouble themselves to look for them, shrugged their
+shoulders, and supposed they had been devoured by the _assad_ or
+the _nimr_--the lion or tiger. The word _nimr_ is here improperly
+applied, there being no tigers in Africa, but it is the general term
+for panthers and leopards." Here, at four-and-twenty degrees of
+latitude south of Alexandria, this extraordinary river was nearly
+four hundred paces wide. Mr Werne speculates on the origin of this
+astonishing water-course, and doubts the possibility that the
+springs of the White Stream supply the innumerable lakes and creeks,
+and the immense tracts of marsh contiguous to it; that, too, under
+an African sun, which acts as a powerful and constant pump upon the
+immense liquid surface. When he started on his voyage, the annual
+rains had long terminated. What tremendous springs those must be,
+that could keep this vast watery territory full and overflowing!
+Then the sluggishness of the current is another puzzle. Were the
+Nile _one_ stream, Mr Werne observes--referring, of course, to the
+White Nile--it must flow faster than it does. And he concludes
+it to have tributaries, which, owing to the level nature of the
+ground, and to the resistance of the main stream, stagnate to a
+certain extent, rising and falling with the river, and contributing
+powerfully to its nourishment. But the notion of exploring all
+these watery intricacies with a flotilla of heavy-sailing barges,
+manned by lazy Turks and Arabs, and commanded by men who care more
+for getting drunk on arrack and going a-birding, than for the great
+results activity and intelligence might obtain, is essentially
+absurd. The proper squadron to explore the Bach'r el Abiat, through
+the continued windings, and up the numerous inlets depicted in
+Mr Mahlmann's map, is one consisting of three small steamers,
+drawing very little water, with steady well-disciplined English
+crews, accustomed to hot climates, and commanded by experienced and
+scientific officers. With the strongest interest should we watch
+the departure and anticipate the return of such an expedition as
+this. "Much might be done by a steam-boat," says Mr Werne; who then
+enumerates the obstacles to its employment. To bring it over the
+cataracts of the Nile, (below the junction of the Blue and White
+Streams,) it would be necessary to take the paddles entirely out,
+that it might be dragged up with ropes, like a sailing vessel.
+Or else it might be built at Chartum, but for the want of proper
+wood; the sunt-tree timber, although very strong, being exceedingly
+brittle and ill-adapted for ship-building. The greatest difficulty
+would be the fuel--the establishment and guard of coal stores; and
+as to burning charcoal, although the lower portion of the White
+Stream has forests enough, they are wanting on its middle and
+upper banks; to say nothing of the loss of time in felling and
+preparing the wood, of the danger of attacks from natives, &c., &c.
+If some of these difficulties are really formidable, others, on
+the contrary, might easily be overcome, and none are insuperable.
+Mr Werne hardly makes sufficient allowance for the difference
+between Soliman Kaschef and a European naval officer, who would
+turn to profit the hours and days the gallant Circassian spent in
+antelope-shooting, in laughing at Abu Haschis the jester, and in a
+sort of travelling seraglio he had arranged in his inner cabin, a
+dark nook with closely-shut jalousies, that served as prison to an
+unfortunate slave-girl, who lay all day upon a carpet, with scarcely
+space to turn herself, guarded by a eunuch. Not a glimpse of the
+country did the poor thing obtain during the whole of the voyage;
+and, even veiled, she was forbidden to go on deck. Besides these
+oriental relaxations, an occasional practical joke beguiled for the
+commodore the tedium of the voyage. Feizulla, the tailor-captain,
+whose strange passion for thimble and thread made him frequently
+neglect his nautical duties, chanced one day to bring to before his
+superior gave the signal. "Soliman Kaschef had no sooner observed
+this than he fired a couple of shots at Feizulla Capitan, so
+that I myself, standing before the cabin door, heard the bullets
+whistle. Feizulla, did not stir, although both he and the sailors
+in the rigging afterwards affirmed that the balls went within a
+hand's-breadth of his head: he merely said, '_Malesch--hue billab_,'
+(It is nothing--he jests;) and he shot twice in return, pointing
+the gun in the opposite direction, that Soliman might understand
+he took the friendly greeting as a Turkish joke, and that he, as a
+bad shot, dared not level at him." Soliman, on the other hand, was
+far too good a shot for such a sharp jest to be pleasant. The Turks
+account themselves the best marksmen and horsemen in the world, and
+are never weary of vaunting their prowess. Mr Werne says he saw an
+Arnaut of Soliman's shoot a running hare with a single ball, which
+entered in the animal's rear, and came out in front. And it was a
+common practice, during the voyage, to bring down the fruit from
+lofty trees by cutting the twigs with bullets. All these pastimes,
+however retarded the progress of the expedition. The wind was
+frequently light or unfavourable, and the lazy Africans made little
+way with the towing rope. Then a convenient place would often tempt
+to a premature halt; and, notwithstanding Soliman's sharp practice
+with poor Feizulla, if a leading member of the party felt lazily
+disposed, inclined for a hunting-party, or for a visit to a negro
+village, he seldom had much difficulty in bringing the flotilla to
+an anchor. In a straight line from north to south, the expedition
+traversed, between its departure from Chartum and its return
+thither, about sixteen hundred miles. It is difficult to calculate
+the distance gone over; and probably Mr Werne himself would be
+puzzled exactly to estimate it; but adding 20 per cent for windings,
+obliquities, and digressions, (a very liberal allowance,) we get a
+total of nearly two thousand miles, accomplished in five months,
+including stoppages, being at the very moderate rate of about 13
+miles a day. And this, we must remember, was on no rapid stream, but
+up a river, whose current, rarely faster than one mile in an hour,
+was more frequently only half a mile, and sometimes was so feeble
+that it could not be ascertained. The result is not surprising,
+bearing in mind the quality of ships, crews, and commanders: but
+write "British" for "Egyptians," and the tale would be rather
+different.
+
+The upshot of this ill-conducted expedition was its arrival in the
+kingdom of Bari, whose capital city, Pelenja, is situated in 4° N.
+L., and which is inhabited by an exceedingly numerous nation of tall
+and powerful build; the men six and a-half to seven French feet in
+height--equal to seven and seven and a-half English feet--athletic,
+well-proportioned, and, although black, with nothing of the usual
+negro character in their features. The men go naked, with the
+exception of sandals and ornaments; the woman wear leathern aprons.
+They cultivate tobacco and different kinds of grain: from the
+iron found in their mountains they manufacture weapons and other
+implements, and barter them with other tribes. They breed cattle
+and poultry, and are addicted to the chase. About fifteen hundred
+of these blacks came down to the shore, armed to the teeth--a sight
+that inspired the Turks with some uneasiness, although they had
+several of their chiefs on board the flotilla, besides which, the
+frank cordiality and good-humoured intelligent countenances of the
+men of Bari forbade the idea of hostile aggression. "It had been
+a fine opportunity for a painter or sculptor to delineate these
+colossal figures, admirably proportioned, no fat, all muscle, and
+magnificently limbed. None of them have beards, and it would seem
+they use a cosmetic to extirpate them. Captain Selim, whose chin
+was smooth-shaven, pleased them far better than the long-bearded
+Soliman Kaschef; and when the latter showed them his breast,
+covered with a fell of hair, they exhibited a sort of disgust,
+as at something more appropriate to a beast than to a man." Like
+most of the tribes on the banks of the White Nile, they extract
+the four lower incisors, a custom for which Mr Werne is greatly
+puzzled to account, and concerning which he hazards many ingenious
+conjectures. Amongst the ape-like Keks and Dinkas, he fancied it to
+originate in a desire to distinguish themselves from the beasts of
+the field--to which they in so many respects assimilate; but he was
+shaken in this opinion, on finding the practice to prevail amongst
+the intelligent Bari, who need no such mark to establish their
+difference from the brute creation. The Dinkas on board confirmed
+his first hypothesis, saying that the teeth are taken out that they
+may not resemble the jackass--which in many other respects they
+certainly do. The Turks take it to be a rite equivalent to Mahomedan
+circumcision, or to Christian baptism. The Arabs have a much more
+extravagant supposition, which we refrain from stating, the more so
+as Mr Werne discredits it. He suggests the possibility of its being
+an act of incorporation in a great Ethiopian nation, divided into
+many tribes. The operation is performed at the age of puberty; it is
+unaccompanied by any particular ceremonies; and women as well as men
+undergo it. Its motive still remains a matter of doubt to Mr Werne.
+
+Before Lakono, sultan of the Bari, and his favourite sultana Ischok,
+an ordinary-looking lady with two leathern aprons and a shaven head,
+came on board Selim's vessel, the Turks made repeated attempts to
+obtain information from some of the Sheiks concerning the gold
+mines, whose discovery was the main object of the expedition. A
+sensible sort of negro, one Lombé, replied to their questions, and
+extinguished their hopes. There was not even copper, he said, in the
+land of the Bari, although it was brought thither from a remoter
+country, and Lakono had several specimens of it in his treasury. On
+a gold bar being shown to him, he took it for copper, whence it was
+inferred that the two metals were blended in the specimens possessed
+by the sultan, and that the mountains of the copper country also
+yielded the more precious ore. This country, however, lay many days'
+journey distant from the Nile, and, had it even bordered on the
+river, there would have been no possibility of reaching it. At a
+very short distance above Palenja, the expedition encountered a bar
+of rocks thrown across the stream. And although Mr Werne hints the
+possibility of having tried the passage, the Turks were sick of the
+voyage and were heartily glad to turn back. At the period of the
+floods the river rises eighteen feet; and there then could be no
+difficulty in surmounting the barrier. Now the waters were falling
+fast. The six weeks lost by Arnaud's fault were again bitterly
+deplored by the adventurous German--the only one of the party
+who really desired to proceed. Twenty days sooner, and the rocks
+could neither have hindered an advance nor afforded pretext for a
+retreat. To Mr Werne's proposal, that they should wait two months
+where they were, when the setting in of the rains would obviate
+the difficulty, a deaf ear was turned--an insufficient stock of
+provisions was objected; and although the flotilla had been stored
+for a ten months' voyage, and had then been little more than two
+months absent from Chartum, the wastefulness that had prevailed gave
+some validity to the objection. One-and-twenty guns were fired, as
+a farewell salute to the beautiful country Mr Werne would so gladly
+have explored, and which, he is fully convinced, contains so much of
+interest; and the sluggish Egyptian barks retraced their course down
+stream.
+
+It is proper here to note a shrewd conjecture of Mr Werne's,
+that above the point reached by himself and his companions, the
+difficulties of ascending the river would greatly and rapidly
+increase. The bed becomes rocky, and the Bach'r el Abiat, assuming
+in some measure the character of a mountain stream, augments the
+rapidity of its current: so much so, that Mr Werne insists on the
+necessity of a strong north wind, believing that towing, however
+willingly and vigorously attempted, would be found unavailing. This
+is another strong argument in favour of employing steamboats.
+
+Although the narrative of the homeward voyage is by no means
+uninteresting, and contains details of the river's course valuable
+to the geographer and to the future explorer, it has not the
+attraction of the up-stream narrative. The freshness is worn off;
+the waters sink, and the writer's spirits seem disposed to follow
+their example; there is all the difference between attack and
+retreat--between a cheerful and hopeful advance, and a retrograde
+movement before the work is half done. But, vexed as an enthusiastic
+and intrepid man might naturally feel at seeing his hopes frustrated
+by the indolent indifference of his companions, Mr Werne could
+hardly deem his five months thrown away. We are quite sure those
+who read his book will be of opinion that the time was most
+industriously and profitably employed.
+
+A sorrowful welcome awaited our traveller, after his painful and
+fatiguing voyage. There dwelt at Chartum a renegade physician, a
+Palermitan named Pasquali, whose Turkish name was Soliman Effendi,
+and who was notorious as a poisoner, and for the unscrupulous
+promptness with which he removed persons in the slightest degree
+unpleasing to himself or to his patron Achmet Bascha. In Arabia, it
+was currently believed, he had once poisoned thirty-three soldiers,
+with the sole view of bringing odium upon the physician and
+apothecary, two Frenchmen, who attended them. In Chartum he was well
+known to have committed various murders.
+
+"Although this man," says Mr Werne, "was most friendly and sociable
+with me, I had everything to fear from him on account of my brother,
+by whom the Bascha had declared his intention of replacing him in
+the post of medical inspector of Bellet-Sudàn. It was therefore in
+the most solemn earnest that I threatened him with death, if upon
+my return I found my brother dead, and learned that they had come
+at all in contact. '_Dio guarde, che affronto!_' was his reply;
+and he quietly drank off his glass of rum, the same affront having
+already been offered him in the Bascha's divan; the reference being
+naturally to the poisonings laid to his charge in Arabia and here."
+
+At Chartum Mr Werne found his brother alive, but on the eleventh
+day after his return he died in his arms. The renegade had had no
+occasion to employ his venomous drugs; the work had been done as
+surely by the fatal influence of the noxious climate.
+
+
+
+
+ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN.
+
+
+The accomplishments brought back by our grandfathers from the
+Continent to grace the drawing-rooms of May Fair, or enliven the
+solitudes of Yorkshire, were a favourite subject for satirists, some
+"sixty years since." Admitting the descriptions to be correct, it
+must be remembered that the grand tour had become at once monotonous
+and deleterious,--from Calais to Paris, from Paris to Geneva,
+from Geneva to Milan, from Milan to Florence, thence to Rome, and
+thence to Naples, the English "my lord," with his bear-leader,
+was conducted with regularity, if not with speed; and the same
+course of sights and society was prescribed for, and taken by,
+generation after generation of Oxonians and Cantabs. Then, again,
+the Middle Ages, with their countless graceful vestiges, their
+magnificent architecture, which even archaic Evelyn thought and
+called "barbarous," their chivalrous customs, religious observances,
+rude yet picturesque arts, and fanciful literature, were literally
+blotted out from the note-book of the English tourist. Whatever
+was classical or modern, that was worthy of regard; but whatever
+belonged to "Europe's middle night," _that_ the descendants of
+Saxon thanes or Norman knights disdained even to look at. Even had
+there been no Pyrenees to cross, or no Bay of Biscay to encounter,
+so Gothic a country as Spain was not likely to attract to its
+dusky sierras, frequent monasteries, and mediæval towns, the fine
+gentlemen and Mohawks of those enlightened days; nor need we be
+surprised that the natural beauties of that romantic land--its
+weird mountains, primæval forests, and fertile plains, fragrant
+with orange groves, and bright with flowers of every hue, unknown
+to English gardens--remained unexplored by the countrymen of Gray
+and Goldsmith, who have put on record their marked disapprobation
+of Nature in her wildest and most sublime mood. Thus, then, it was
+that, with rare exceptions, the pleasant land of Spain was a sealed
+book to Englishmen, until the Great Captain rivalled and eclipsed
+the feats and triumphs of the Black Prince in every province of the
+Peninsula, and enabled guardsmen and hussars to admire the treasures
+of Spanish art in many a church and convent unspoiled by French
+rapacity. Nor may we deny our obligations to Gallic plunderers.
+Many a noble picture that now delights the eyes of thousands,
+exalts and purifies the taste of youthful painters, and sends,
+on the purple wings of European fame, the name of its Castilian,
+or Valencian, or Andalusian creator down the stream of time, but
+for Soult or Sebastiani, might still have continued to waste its
+sweetness on desert air. Thenceforward, in spite of brigands and
+captain-generals, rival constitutions and contending princes, have
+adventurous Englishmen been found to delight in rambling, like
+Inglis, in the footsteps of Don Quixote,--emulating the deeds of
+Peterborough, like Ranelagh and Henningsen, or throwing themselves
+into the actual life, and studying the historic manners of Spain,
+like Carnarvon and Ford. Still, though soldier and statesman,
+philosopher and littérateur, had put forth their best powers in
+writing of the country that so worthily interested them, a void was
+ever left for some new comer to fill; and right well, in his three
+handsome, elaborate, and most agreeable volumes, has Mr Stirling
+filled that void. Not one of the goodly band of Spanish painters now
+lacks a "sacred poet" to inscribe his name in the temple of fame.
+With indefatigable research, most discriminating taste, and happiest
+success, has Mr Stirling pursued and completed his pleasant labour
+of love, and presented to the world "Annals of the Artists of Spain"
+worthy--can we say more?--of recording the triumphs of El Mudo and
+El Greco, Murillo and Velasquez.[16]
+
+  [16] _Annals of the Artists of Spain._ By WILLIAM STIRLING, M. A. 3
+  vols. London: Ollivier.
+
+At least a century and a half before Holbein was limning the burly
+frame and gorgeous dress of bluff King Hal, and creating at once
+a school and an appreciation of art in England, were the early
+painters of Spain enriching their magnificent cathedrals, and
+religious houses, with pictures displaying as correct a knowledge
+of art, and as rich a tone of colour, as the works of that great
+master. There is something singular and mysterious in the contrast
+afforded by the early history of painting in the two countries.
+While in poetry, in painting on glass, in science, in manufactures,
+in architecture, England appears to have kept pace with other
+countries, in painting and in sculpture she appears always to
+have lagged far behind. Gower, Chaucer, Friar Bacon, William of
+Wyckham, Waynfleete, the unknown builders of ten thousand churches
+and convents, the manufacturers of the glass that still charms our
+eyes, and baffles the rivalry of our Willements and Wailes, at York
+and elsewhere--the illuminators of the missals and religious books,
+whose delicate fancy and lustrous tints are even now teaching our
+highborn ladies that long-forgotten art--yielded the palm to none of
+their brethren in Europe; but where and who were our contemporaneous
+painters and sculptors? In the luxurious and graceful court of
+Edward IV., who represented that art which Dello and Juan de Castro,
+under royal and ecclesiastical patronage, had carried to such
+perfection in Spain? That no English painters of any note flourished
+at that time, is evident from the silence of all historical
+documents; nor does it appear that foreign artists were induced, by
+the hope of gain or fame, to instruct our countrymen in the art to
+which the discoveries of the Van Eycks had imparted such a lustre.
+It is true that the desolating Wars of the Roses left scant time and
+means to the sovereigns and nobility of England for fostering the
+arts of peace; but still great progress was being made in nearly
+all those arts, save those of which we speak; and, if we remember
+rightly, Mr Pugin assigns the triumph of English architecture to
+this troublous epoch. Nor, although Juan I., Pedro the Cruel, and
+Juan II., were admirers and patrons of painting, was it to royal or
+noble favour that Spanish art owed its chiefest obligations. The
+church--which, after the great iconoclastic struggle of the eighth
+century, had steadily acted on the Horatian maxim,
+
+    "Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures,
+     Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus"--
+
+in Spain embraced the young and diffident art with an ardour
+and a munificence which, in its palmiest and most prosperous days,
+that art never forgot, and was never wearied of requiting. Was it so
+in England? and do we owe our lack of ancient English pictures to
+the reforming zeal of our iconoclastic reformers? Did the religious
+pictures of our Rincons, our Nuñez, and our Borgoñas, share the
+fate of the libraries that were ruthlessly destroyed by the
+ignorant myrmidons of royal rapacity? If so, it is almost certain
+that the records which bewail and denounce the fate of books and
+manuscripts, would not pass over the destruction of pictures; while
+it is still more certain that the monarch and his courtiers would
+have appropriated to themselves the pictured saints, no less than
+the holy vessels, of monastery and convent. It cannot, therefore,
+be said that the English Reformation deprived our national school
+of painting of its most munificent patrons, and most ennobling and
+purest subjects, in the destruction of the monasteries, and the
+spoliation of churches. That the Church of England, had she remained
+unreformed, might, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have
+emulated her Spanish or Italian sister in her patronage of, and
+beneficial influence upon, the arts of painting and sculpture, it
+is needless either to deny or assert; we fear there is no room for
+contending that, since the Reformation, she has in any way fostered,
+guided, or exalted either of those religious arts.
+
+In Spain, on the contrary, as Mr Stirling well points out, it was
+under the august shadow of the church that painting first raised her
+head, gained her first triumphs, executed her most glorious works,
+and is even now prolonging her miserable existence.
+
+The venerable cathedral of Toledo was, in effect, the cradle of
+Spanish painting. Founded in 1226 by St Ferdinand, it remained,
+to quote Mr Stirling's words, "for four hundred years a nucleus
+and gathering-place for genius, where artists swarmed and
+laboured like bees, and where splendid prelates--the popes of
+the Peninsula--lavished their princely revenues to make fair and
+glorious the temple of God intrusted to their care." Here Dolfin
+introduced, in 1418, painting on glass; here the brothers Rodrigues
+displayed their forceful skill as sculptors, in figures which
+still surmount the great portal of that magnificent cathedral;
+and here Rincon, the first Spanish painter who quitted the stiff
+mediæval style, loved best to execute his graceful works. Nor
+when, with the house of Austria, the genius of Spanish art quitted
+the Bourbon-governed land, did the custodians of this august
+temple forget to stimulate and reward the detestable conceits, and
+burlesque sublimities, of such artists as the depraved taste of the
+eighteenth century delighted to honour. Thus, in 1721, Narciso Tome
+erected at the back of the choir an immense marble altar-piece,
+called the Trasparente, by order of Archbishop Diego de Astorgo,
+for which he received two hundred thousand ducats; and thus, fifty
+years later, Bayeu and Maella were employed to paint in fresco
+the cloisters that had once gloried in the venerable paintings of
+Juan de Borgoña. At Toledo, then, under the auspices of the great
+Castilian queen, Isabella, may be said to have risen the Castilian
+school of art. The other great schools of Spanish painting were
+those of Andalusia, of Valencia, and that of Arragon and Catalonia;
+but, for the mass of English readers, the main interest lies in the
+two first, the schools that produced or acquired El Mudo and El
+Greco, Velasquez and Murillo. The works of the two last-mentioned
+artists are now so well known, and so highly appreciated in England,
+that we are tempted to postpone for the present any notice of that
+most delightful part of Sir Stirling's book which treats of them,
+and invite our readers to trace the course of art in that stern old
+city to which we have already referred, Toledo.
+
+Before the grave had closed upon the cold remains of Rincon, Juan de
+Borgoña had proved himself worthy of wielding the Castilian pencil,
+and, under the patronage of the great Toledan archbishop, Ximenes de
+Cisneros, produced works which still adorn the winter chapter-room
+of that cathedral. These are interesting not only as specimens of
+art, but as manifestations of the religious ἠθος of Spain at the
+commencement of the sixteenth century: let Mr Stirling describe one
+of the most remarkable of these early paintings:--"The lower end of
+the finely-proportioned, but badly-lighted room, is occupied by the
+'Last Judgment,' a large and remarkable composition. Immediately
+beneath the figure of our Lord, a hideous fiend, in the shape of a
+boar, roots a fair and reluctant woman out of her grave with his
+snout, as if she were a trufle, twining his tusks in her long amber
+locks. To the left are drawn up in a line a party of the wicked,
+each figure being the incarnation of a sin, of which the name is
+written on a label above in Gothic, letters, as 'Soberbia,' and the
+like. On their shoulders sit little malicious imps, in the likeness
+of monkeys, and round their lower limbs, flames climb and curl.
+The forms of the good and faithful, on the right, display far less
+vigour of fancy." So the good characters in modern works of fiction
+are more feebly drawn, and excite less interest, than the Rob Roys
+and Dirk Hattericks, the Conrads and the Manfreds. Nor was Toledo at
+this time wanting in the sister art of sculpture: while the Rincons,
+and Berruguete, and Borgoña, were enriching the cathedral with their
+pictures and their frescoes, Vigarny was elaborating the famous high
+altar of marble, and the stalls on the epistle side. In concluding
+his notice of Vigarny, "the first great Castilian sculptor," Mr
+Stirling gives a sketch of the style of sculpture popular in Spain.
+Like nearly all the "Cosas d'Espana," it is peculiar, and owes
+its peculiarity to the same cause that has impressed so marked a
+character on Spanish painting and Spanish pharmacopeia--religion.
+
+Let not the English lover of the fine arts, invited to view the
+masterpieces of Spanish sculpture, imagine that his eyes are to be
+feasted on the nude, though hardly indecent forms of Venuses and
+Apollos, Ganymedes and Andromedas.
+
+Beautiful, and breathing, and full of imagination, indeed, those
+Spanish statues are--"idols," as our author generally terms
+them; but the idolatry they represent or evoke is heavenly, not
+earthly--spiritual, not sensuous. Chiselled out of a block of cedar
+or lime-wood, with the most reverential care, the image of the
+Queen of Heaven enjoyed the most exquisite and delicate services of
+the rival sister arts, and, "copied from the loveliest models, was
+presented to her adorers sweetly smiling, and gloriously apparelled
+in clothing of wrought gold." But we doubt whether any Englishman
+who has not seen can understand the marvellous beauty of these
+painted wooden images. Thus Berruguete, who combined both arts in
+perfection, executed in 1539 the archbishop's throne at Toledo,
+"over which hovers an airy and graceful figure, carved in dark
+walnut, representing our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
+remarkable for its fine and floating drapery."
+
+Continuing our list of Toledan artists, "whose whole lives and
+labours lay within the shadow of that great Toledan church, whose
+genius was spent in its service, and whose names were hardly known
+beyond its walls," (vol. i. p. 150,) we come to T. Comontes, who,
+among other works for that munificent Alma Mater, executed from
+the designs of Vigarny the retablo (reredos) for the chapel "de
+los Reyes Nuevos," in 1533. It was at Toledo that El Mudo, the
+Spanish Titian, died, and at Toledo that Blas del Prado was born.
+When in 1593 the Emperor of Morocco asked that the best painter
+of Spain might be sent to his court, Philip II. appointed Blas
+del Prado to fulfil the Mussulman's artistic desires: previous to
+this, the chapter of Toledo had named him their second painter, and
+he had painted a large altar-piece, and other pictures, for their
+cathedral. But perhaps the Toledan annals of art contain no loftier
+name than that of El Greco. Domemis Theotocopuli, who, born, it is
+surmised, at Venice in 1548, is found in 1577 painting at Toledo,
+for the cathedral, his famous picture of The Parting of our Lord's
+Garment, on which he bestowed the labour of a decade, and of which
+we give Mr Stirling's picturesque description.
+
+"The august figure of the Saviour, arrayed in a red robe, occupies
+the centre of the canvass; the head, with its long dark locks, is
+superb; and the noble and beautiful countenance seems to mourn for
+the madness of them who 'knew not what they did;' his right arm
+is folded on his bosom, seemingly unconscious of the rope which
+encircles his wrist, and is violently dragged downwards by two
+executioners in front. Around and behind him appears a throng of
+priests and warriors, amongst whom the Greek himself figures as the
+centurion, in black armour. In drawing and composition, this picture
+is truly admirable, and the colouring is, on the whole, rich and
+effective--although it is here and there laid on in that spotted
+streaky manner, which afterwards became the great and prominent
+defect of El Greco's style."
+
+Summoned from the cathedral to the court, El Greco painted, by
+royal command, a large altar-piece, for the church at the Escurial,
+on the martyrdom of St Maurice; "little less extravagant and
+atrocious," says our lively author, "than the massacre it recorded."
+Neither king nor court painters could praise this performance, and
+the effect of his failure at the Escurial appears to have been
+his return to Toledo. Here, in 1584, he painted, by order of the
+Archbishop Quiroga, "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz," a picture
+then and now esteemed as his master-piece, and still to be seen
+in the church of Santo Tomé. Warm is the encomium, and eloquently
+expressed, which Mr Stirling bestows upon this gem of Toledan art.
+"The artist, or lover of art, who has once beheld it, will never,
+as he rambles among the winding streets of the ancient city, pass
+the pretty brick belfry of that church--full of horse-shoe niches
+and Moorish reticulations,--without turning aside to gaze upon
+its superb picture once more. It hangs to your left, on the wall
+opposite to the high altar. Gonzalo Ruiz, Count of Orgaz, head of
+a house famous in romance, rebuilt the fabric of the church, and
+was in all respects so religious and gracious a grandee, that,
+when he was buried in 1323, within these very walls, St Stephen and
+St Augustine came down from heaven, and laid his body in the tomb
+with their own holy hands--an incident which forms the subject of
+the picture. St Stephen, a dark-haired youth of noble countenance,
+and St Augustine, a hoary old man wearing a mitre, both of them
+arrayed in rich pontifical vestments of golden tissue, support the
+dead Count in their arms, and gently lower him into the grave,
+shrouded like a baron of Roslin 'in his iron panoply.' Nothing can
+be finer than the execution and the contrast of these three heads;
+never was the image of the peaceful death of 'the just man' more
+happily conveyed, than in the placid face and powerless form of
+the warrior: nor did Giorgione or Titian ever excel the splendid
+colouring of his black armour, rich with gold damascening. To the
+right of the picture, behind St Stephen, kneels a fair boy in a
+dark dress, perhaps the son of the Count; beyond rises the stately
+form of a gray friar; to the left, near St Augustine, stand two
+priests in gorgeous vestments, holding, the one a book, and the
+other a taper. Behind this principal group appear the noble company
+of mourners, hidalgos and old Christians all, with olive faces and
+beards of formal cut, looking on with true Castilian gravity and
+phlegm, as if the transaction were an every-day occurrence. As they
+were mostly portraits, perhaps some of the originals did actually
+stand, a few years later, with the like awe in their hearts and
+calm on their cheeks, in the royal presence-chamber, when the news
+came to court that the proud Armada of Spain had been vanquished by
+the galleys of Howard, and cast away on the rocks of the Hebrides."
+We make no apology for thus freely quoting from Mr Stirling's
+pages his description of this picture; the extract brings vividly
+before our readers at once the merits of the old Toledan painter,
+and his accomplished biographer and critic. After embellishing his
+adopted city, not only with pictures such as this, but with works of
+sculpture and architecture, and vindicating his graceful profession
+from the unsparing exactions of the tax-gatherers--a class who
+appear to have waged an unrelenting though intermittent war against
+the fine arts in Spain--he died there at a green old age in 1625,
+and was buried in the church of St Bartolemé. Even the painters
+most employed at the munificent and art-loving court of the second
+and third Philips, found time to paint for the venerable cathedral.
+Thus, in 1615, Vincencio Carducho, the Florentine, painted, with
+Eugenio Caxes, a series of frescoes in the chapel of the Sagrario;
+and thus Eugenio Caxes, leaving the works at the Pardo and Madrid,
+painted for the cathedral of Toledo the Adoration of the Magi, and
+other independent pictures.
+
+Meanwhile the school of El Greco was producing worthy fruit; from
+it, in the infancy of the seventeenth century, came forth Luis
+Tristan, an artist even now almost unknown in London and Edinburgh,
+but whose style Velasquez did not disdain to imitate, and whose
+praises he was never tired of sounding. "Born, bred, and sped"
+in Toledo, or its neighbourhood, as Morales was emphatically the
+painter of Badajoz, so may Tristan be termed the painter of Toledo.
+No foreign graces, no classical models, adorned or vitiated his
+stern Spanish style; yet, in his portrait of Archbishop Sandoval,
+he is said by Mr Stirling to have united the elaborate execution
+of Sanchez Coello with much of the spirit of Titian. And of him is
+the pleasant story recorded, that having, while yet a stripling,
+painted for the Jeronymite convent at Toledo a Last Supper, for
+which he asked two hundred ducats, and being denied payment by the
+frugal friars, he appealed with them to the arbitration of his old
+master, El Greco, who, having viewed the picture, called the young
+painter a rogue and a novice, for asking only two for a painting
+worth five hundred ducats. In the same Toledan church that contains
+the ashes of his great master, lies the Murcian Pedro Orrente,
+called by our author "the Bassano, or the Roos--the great sheep and
+cattle master of Spain:" he too was employed by the art-encouraging
+chapter, and the cathedral possessed several of his finest pictures.
+But with Tristan and Orrente the glories of Toledan art paled and
+waned; and, trusting that our readers have not been uninterested
+in following our brief sketch of the remarkable men who for four
+hundred years rendered this quaint old Gothic city famous for its
+artistic splendours, we retrace our steps, halting and perplexed
+among so many pleasant ways, blooming flowers, and brilliant bowers,
+to the magnificent, albeit gloomy Escurial, where Philip II lavished
+the wealth of his mighty empire in calling forth the most vigorous
+energies of Spanish and of foreign art.
+
+For more than thirty years did the astonished shepherds of the
+Guadaramas watch the mysterious pile growing under scaffolding alive
+with armies of workmen; and often, while the cares of the Old World
+and the New--to say nothing of that other World, which was seldom
+out of Philip's thoughts, and to which his cruel fanaticism hurried
+so many wretches before their time--might be supposed to demand
+his attention at Madrid, were they privileged to see their mighty
+monarch perched on a lofty ledge of rock, for hours, intently gazing
+upon the rising walls and towers which were to redeem his vow to St
+Laurence at the battle of Saint Quentin, and to hand down, through
+all Spanish time, the name and fame of the royal and religious
+founder. On the 23d of April 1563, the first stone of this Cyclopean
+palace was laid, under the direction of Bautiste di Toledo, at
+whose death, in 1567, the work was continued by Juan de Herrera,
+and finally perfected by Leoni (as to the interior decorations) in
+1597. Built in the quaint unshapely form of St Laurence's gridiron,
+the Escurial is doubtless open to much severe criticism; but the
+marvellous grandeur, the stern beauty, and the characteristic
+effect of the gigantic pile, must for ever enchant the eyes of all
+beholders, who are not doomed by perverse fate to look through the
+green spectacles of gentle dulness. But it is not our purpose to
+describe the Escurial; we only wish to bring before our readers the
+names and merits of a few of the Spanish artists, who found among
+its gloomy corridors or sumptuous halls niches in the temple of
+fame, and in its saturnine founder the most gracious and munificent
+of patrons. Suffice it, then, to say of the palace-convent, in Mr
+Stirling's graceful words, that "Italy was ransacked for pictures
+and statues, models and designs; the mountains of Sicily and
+Sardinia for jaspers and agates; and every sierra of Spain furnished
+its contribution of marble. Madrid, Florence, and Milan supplied
+the sculptures of the altars; Guadalajara and Cuenca, gratings
+and balconies; Saragossa the gates of brass; Toledo and the Low
+Countries, lamps, candelabra, and bells; the New World, the finer
+woods; and the Indies, both East and West, the gold and gems of the
+custodia, and the five hundred reliquaries. The tapestries were
+wrought in Flemish looms; and, for the sacerdotal vestments, there
+was scarce a nunnery in the empire, from the rich and noble orders
+of Brabant and Lombardy to the poor sisterhoods of the Apulian
+highlands, but sent an offering of needlework to the honoured
+fathers of the Escurial."
+
+We could wish to exclude from our paper all notice of the foreign
+artists, whose genius assisted in decorating the new wonder of the
+world; but how omit from any Escurialian or Philippian catalogue
+the names of Titian and Cellini, Cambiaso and Tibaldi? For seven
+long years did the great Venetian labour at his famous Last Supper,
+painted for, and placed in the refectory; and countless portraits
+by his fame-dealing pencil graced the halls and galleries of the
+Palatian convents. In addition to these, the Pardo boasted eleven of
+his portraits; among them, one of the hero Duke Emmanuel Philibert
+of Savoy, who has received a second grant of renown--let us hope
+a more lasting one[17]--from the poetic chisel of Marochetti, and
+stands now in the great square of Turin, the very impersonation of
+chivalry, horse and hero alike--κυδεί γαιῶν.
+
+  [17] All these portraits were destroyed by fire in the reign of
+  Philip III.
+
+The magnificent Florentine contributed "the matchless marble
+crucifix behind the prior's seat in the choir," of which Mr Stirling
+says--"Never was marble shaped into a sublimer image of the great
+sacrifice for man's atonement." Luca Cambiaso, the Genoese, painted
+the Martyrdom of St Laurence for the high altar of the church--a
+picture that must have been regarded, from its subject and position,
+as the first of all the Escurial's religious pictures,--besides the
+vault of the choir, and two great frescoes for the grand staircase.
+
+Pellegrino Tibaldi, a native of the Milanese, came at Philip's
+request to the Escurial in 1586. He, too, painted a Martyrdom of
+Saint Laurence for the high altar, but apparently with no better
+success than his immediate predecessor, Zuccaro, whose work his
+was to replace. But the ceiling of the library was Tibaldi's field
+of fame; on it he painted a fresco 194 feet long by 30 wide,
+which still speaks to his skill in composition and brilliancy in
+colouring. Philip rewarded him with a Milanese marquisate and one
+hundred thousand crowns.
+
+Morales, the first great devotional painter of Castile, on whom his
+admiring countrymen bestowed the soubriquet of "divine"--with more
+propriety, it must be confessed, than their descendants have shown
+in conferring it upon Arguelles--contributed but one picture to
+the court, and none to the Escurial; but in Alonzo Sanchez Coello,
+born at Benifayrô, in Valencia, we find a famous native artist
+decorating the superb walls of the new palace. While at Madrid he
+was lodged in the Treasury, a building which communicated with the
+palace by a door, of which the King kept a key; and often would the
+royal Mæcenas slip thus, unobserved by the artist, into his studio.
+Emperors and popes, kings and queens, princes and princesses, were
+alike his friends and subjects; but we are now only concerned
+to relate that, in 1582, he painted "five altar-pieces for the
+Escurial, each containing a pair of saints." Far more of interest,
+however, attaches itself to the name and memory of Juan Fernandez
+Navarete, "whose genius was no less remarkable than his infirmities,
+and whose name--El Mudo, the dumb painter--is as familiar to Europe
+as his works are unknown," (vol. i. p. 250.) Born at Logroño in
+1526, he went in his youth to Italy. Here he attracted the notice
+of Don Luis Manrique, grand-almoner to Philip, who procured him
+an invitation to Madrid. He was immediately set to work for the
+Escurial; and in 1571 four pictures, the Assumption of the Virgin,
+the Martyrdom of St James the Great, St Philip, and a Repenting St
+Jerome, were hung in the sacristy of the convent, and brought him
+five hundred ducats. In 1576 he painted, for the reception-hall of
+the convent, a large picture representing Abraham receiving the
+three Angels. "This picture," says Father Andres Ximenes, quoted
+by Mr Stirling, (vol. i. p. 255) "so appropriate to the place it
+fills, though the first of the master's works that usually meets
+the eye, might, for its excellence, be viewed the last, and is well
+worth coming many a league to see." An agreement, bearing date the
+same year, between the painter and the prior, by which the former
+covenanted to paint thirty-two large pictures for the side altars,
+is preserved by Cean Bermudez; but El Mudo unfortunately died when
+only eight of the series had been painted. On the 28th of March 1579
+this excellent and remarkable painter died in the 53d year of his
+age. A few years later, Juan Gomez painted from a design of Tibaldi
+a large picture of St Ursula, which replaced one of Cambiaso's least
+satisfactory Escurialian performances.
+
+While acres of wall and ceiling were being thus painted in fresco,
+or covered by large and fine pictures, the Escurial gave a ready
+home to the most minute of the fine arts: illuminators of missals,
+and painters of miniatures, embroiderers of vestments, and designers
+of altar-cloths, found their labours appreciated, and their
+genius called forth, no less than their more aspiring compeers.
+Fray Andrez de Leon, and Fray Martin de Palencia, enriched the
+Escurial with exquisite specimens of their skill in the arts of
+miniature-painting and illuminating; and under the direction of Fray
+Lorenzo di Monserrate, and Diego Rutiner, the conventual school of
+embroidery produced frontals and dalmatics, copes, chasubles, and
+altar-cloths, of rarest beauty and happiest designs. The goldsmiths
+and silversmiths, too, lacked not encouragement in this greatest
+of temples. Curious was the skill, and cunning the hand, which
+fashioned the tower of gold and jasper to contain the Escurial's
+holiest relique,--a muscle, singed and charred, of St Laurence--and
+no doubt that skill was nobly rewarded.
+
+In 1598, clasping to his breast the veil of Our Lady of Monserrat,
+in a little alcove hard by the church of the Escurial, died its
+grim, magnificent founder. He had witnessed the completion of his
+gigantic designs: palace and convent, there it stood--a monument
+alike of his piety and his pride, and a proof of the grandeur and
+resources of the mighty empire over which he ruled. But he appears
+to have thought with the poet--
+
+    "Weighed in the balance, hero-dust
+      Is vile as mortal clay;"
+
+for he built no stately mausoleum, merely a common vault, to
+receive the imperial dead. This omission, in 1617, Philip III.
+undertook to supply; and Giovanni Battista Crescenzi, an Italian,
+was selected as the architect. For thirty-four years did he and his
+successors labour at this royal necropolis, which when finished
+"became, under the name of the Pantheon, the most splendid chamber
+of the Escurial."--(Vol. i. p. 412.)
+
+Mr Stirling's second volume opens with a graphic account of the
+decay of Spanish power under Philip IV., and an equally graphic
+description of this, the chief architectural triumph of his long
+inglorious reign. The Pantheon was "an octagonal chamber 113 feet
+in circumference, and 38 feet in height, from the pavement to the
+centre of the domed vault. Each of its eight sides, excepting the
+two which are occupied by its entrance, and the altar, contain
+four niches and four marble urns; the walls, Corinthian pilasters,
+cornices and dome, are formed of the finest marbles of Toledo and
+Biscay, Tortosa and Genoa; and the bases, capitals, scrolls, and
+other ornaments, are of gilt bronze. Placed beneath the presbytery
+of the church, and approached by the long descent of a stately
+marble staircase, this hall of royal tombs, gleaming with gold and
+polished jasper, seems a creation of Eastern romance.... Hither
+Philip IV. would come, when melancholy--the fatal taint of his blood
+was strong upon him--to hear mass, and meditate on death, sitting in
+the niche which was shortly to receive his bones." Yet this was the
+monarch whose quick eye detected the early genius of Velasquez, and
+who bore the palm as a patron from all the princes of his house, and
+all the sovereigns of Europe. Well did the great painter repay the
+discriminating friendship of the king, and so long as Spanish art
+endures, will the features of Philip IV. be known in every European
+country; and his fair hair, melancholy mien, impassive countenance
+and cold eyes, reveal to all time the hereditary characteristics of
+the phlegmatic house of Austria.
+
+Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez was born at Seville in 1599.
+Here he entered the school of Herrera the Elder, a dashing painter,
+and a violent man, who was for ever losing alike his temper and
+his scholars. Velasquez soon left his turbulent rule for the
+gentler instruction of Francisco Pacheco. In his studio the young
+artist worked diligently, while he took lessons at the same time
+of a yet more finished artist--nature; the nature of bright,
+sunny, graceful Andalusia. Thus, while Velasquez cannot be called
+a self-taught painter, he retained to the last that freedom from
+mannerism, and that gay fidelity to nature, which so often--not in
+his case--compensate for a departure from the highest rules and
+requirements of art.
+
+While he was thus studying and painting the flowers and the fruits,
+the damsels and the beggars, of sunny Seville, there arrived in that
+beautiful city a collection of Italian and Spanish pictures. These
+exercised no small influence on the taste and style of the young
+artist; but, true to his country, and with the happy inspiration
+of genius, it was to Luis Tristan of Toledo, rather than to any
+foreign master, that he directed his chief attention; and hence the
+future chief of the Castilian school was enabled to combine with its
+merits the excellencies of both the other great divisions of Spanish
+art. At the end of five years spent in this manner, he married
+Pacheco's daughter, who witnessed all his forty years' labours and
+successes, and closed his dying eyes. At the age of twenty-three,
+Velasquez, anxious to enlarge his acquaintance with the masterpieces
+of other schools, went to Madrid; but after spending a few months
+there, and at the Escurial, he returned to Seville--soon, however,
+to be recalled at the bidding of the great minister and Mæcenas,
+Olivarez. Now, in 1623, set in the tide of favour and of fame, which
+henceforward was not to flag or ebb till the great painter lay
+stretched, out of its reach, on the cold bank of death. During this
+summer he painted the noble portrait of the king on horseback, which
+was exhibited by royal order in front of the church of San Felipe,
+and which caused the all-powerful Count-duke to exclaim, that until
+now his majesty had never been painted. Charmed and delighted with
+the picture and the painter, Philip declared no other artist should
+in future paint his royal face; and Mr Stirling maliciously adds
+that "this resolution he kept far more religiously than his marriage
+vows, for he appears to have departed from it during the life-time
+of his chosen artist, in favour only of Rubens and Crayer." (Vol.
+ii. p. 592.) On the 31st of October 1623, Velasquez was formally
+appointed painter in ordinary to the king, and in 1626 was provided
+with apartments in the Treasury. To this period Mr Stirling assigns
+his best likeness of the equestrian monarch, of which he says--"Far
+more pleasing than any other representation of the man, it is also
+one of the finest portraits in the world. The king is in the glow
+of youth and health, and in the full enjoyment of his fine horse,
+and the breeze blowing freshly from the distant hills; he wears dark
+armour, over which flutters a crimson scarf; a hat with black plumes
+covers his head, and his right hand grasps a truncheon."--(P. 595.)
+
+In 1628, Velasquez had the pleasure of showing Rubens, who had come
+to Madrid as envoy from the Low Countries, the galleries of that
+city, and the wonders of the Escurial; and, following the advice
+of that mighty master, he visited Italy the next year. On that
+painter-producing soil, his steps were first turned to the city of
+Titian; but the sun of art was going down over the quays and palaces
+of once glorious Venice, and, hurrying through Ferrara and Bologna,
+the eager pilgrim soon reached Rome. In this metropolis of religion,
+learning, and art, the young Spaniard spent many a pleasant and
+profitable month: nor, while feasting his eyes and storing his
+memory with "its thousand forms of beauty and delight," did he allow
+his pencil a perfect holiday. The Forge of Vulcan and Joseph's Coat
+were painted in the Eternal City. After a few weeks at Naples, he
+returned to Madrid in the spring of 1631. Portrait-painting for his
+royal patron, who would visit his studio every day, and sit there
+long hours, seems to have been now his main occupation; and now
+was he able to requite the friendly aid he had received from the
+Count-duke of Olivarez, whose image remains reflected on the stream
+of time, not after the hideous caricature of Le Sage, but as limned
+by the truthful--albeit grace-conferring--pencil of Velasquez.
+
+In 1639, leaving king and courtiers, lords and ladies, and soaring
+above the earth on which he had made his step so sure, Velasquez
+aspired to the grandest theme of poet, moralist, or painter, and
+nobly did his genius justify the flight. His Crucifixion is one
+of the sublimest representations conceived by the intellect, and
+portrayed by the hand of man, of that stupendous event. "Unrelieved
+by the usual dim landscape, or lowering clouds, the cross in this
+picture has no footing upon earth, but is placed on a plain dark
+ground, like an ivory carving on its velvet pall. Never was that
+great agony more powerfully depicted. The head of our Lord drops
+on his right shoulder, over which falls a mass of dark hair, while
+drops of blood trickle from his thorn-pierced brows. The anatomy of
+the naked body and limbs is executed with as much precision as in
+Cellini's marble, which may have served Velasquez as a model; and
+the linen cloth wrapped about the loins, and even the fir-wood of
+the cross, display his accurate attention to the smallest details of
+a great subject."--(Vol. ii. p. 619.) This masterpiece now hangs in
+the Royal Gallery of Spain at Madrid.
+
+The all-powerful Olivarez underwent, in 1643, the fate of most
+favourites, and experienced the doom denounced by the great English
+satirist on "power too great to keep, or to resign." He had declared
+his intention of making one Julianillo, an illegitimate child of no
+one exactly knew who, his heir; had married him to the daughter of
+the Constable of Castile, decked him with titles and honours, and
+proposed to make him governor of the heir-apparent. The pencil of
+Velasquez was employed to hand down to posterity the features of
+this low-born cause of his great patron's downfall, and the portrait
+of the ex-ballad singer in the streets of Madrid now graces the
+collection of Bridgewater House. The disgrace of Olivarez served to
+test the fine character of Velasquez, who not only sorrowed over his
+patron's misfortunes, but had the courage to visit the disgraced
+statesman in his retirement.
+
+The triumphal entrance of Philip IV. into Lerida, the surrender of
+Breda, and portraits of the royal family, exercised the invention
+and pencil of Velasquez till the year 1648, when he was sent by
+the king on a roving mission into Italy--not to teach the puzzled
+sovereigns the mysterious privileges of self-government, but to
+collect such works of art as his fine taste might think worthy of
+transportation to Madrid. Landing at Genoa, he found himself in
+presence of a troop of Vandyck's gallant nobles: hence he went to
+Milan, Padua, and Venice. At the latter city he purchased for his
+royal master two or three pictures of Tintoret's, and the Venus and
+Adonis of Paul Veronese. But Rome, as in his previous visit, was the
+chief object of his pilgrimage. Innocent X. welcomed him gladly,
+and commanded him to paint, not only his own coarse features, but
+the more delicate ones of Donna Olympia, his "sister-in-law and
+mistress." So, at least, says our author; for the sake of religion
+and human nature, we hope he is mistaken. For more than a year did
+Velasquez sojourn in Rome, purchasing works of art, and enjoying
+the society of Bernini and Nicolas Poussin, Pietro da Cortona and
+Algardi. "It would be pleasing, were it possible, to draw aside
+the dark curtain of centuries, and follow him into the palaces and
+studios--to see him standing by while Claude painted, or Algardi
+modelled, (enjoying the hospitalities of Bentivoglio, perhaps in
+that fair hall glorious with Guido's recent fresco of Aurora)--or
+mingling in the group that accompanied Poussin in his evening walks
+on the terrace of Trinità de Monte."--(Vol. ii. p. 643.) Meanwhile
+the king was impatiently waiting his return, and at last insisted
+upon its being no further delayed; so in 1651 the soil of Spain was
+once more trod by her greatest painter. Five years later, Velasquez
+produced his extraordinary picture, Las Meniñas--the Maids of
+Honour, extraordinary alike in the composition, and in the skill
+displayed by the painter in overcoming its many difficulties. Dwarfs
+and maids of honour, hounds and children, lords and ladies, pictures
+and furniture, are all introduced into this remarkable picture, with
+such success as to make many judges pronounce it to be Velasquez's
+masterpiece, and Luca Giordano to christen it "the theology of
+painting."
+
+The Escurial, from whose galleries and cloisters we have been thus
+lured by the greater glory of Velasquez, in 1656 demanded his
+presence to arrange a large collection of pictures, forty-one of
+which came from the dispersed and abused collection of the only
+real lover of the fine arts who has sat on England's throne--that
+martyr-monarch whom the pencil of Vandyck, and the pens of Lovelace,
+Montrose, and Clarendon, have immortalised, though their swords
+and counsels failed to preserve his life and crown. In 1659 the
+cross of Santiago was formally conferred on this "king of painters,
+and painter of kings;" and on St Prosper's day, in the Church of
+the Carbonera, he was installed knight of that illustrious order,
+the noblest grandees of Spain assisting at the solemn ceremonial.
+The famous meeting on the Isle of Pheasants, so full of historic
+interest, between the crowns and courts of Spain and France,
+to celebrate the nuptials of Louis XIV. and Maria Theresa, was
+destined to acquire an additional though melancholy fame, as the
+last appearance of the great painter in public, and the possible
+proximate cause of his death. To him, as aposentador-mayor, were
+confided all the decorations and arrangements of this costly and
+fatiguing pageant: he was also to find lodging on the road for
+the king and the court; and some idea of the magnitude of his
+official cares may be derived from the fact, that three thousand
+five hundred mules, eighty-two horses, seventy coaches, and seventy
+baggage-waggons, formed the train that followed the monarch out of
+Madrid. On the 28th of June the court returned to Madrid, and on the
+6th of August its inimitable painter expired.
+
+The merits of Velasquez are now generally appreciated in England;
+and the popular voice would, we think, ratify the enthusiastic yet
+sober dictum of Wilkie, "In painting an intelligent portrait he
+is nearly unrivalled." Yet we have seen how he could rise to the
+highest subject of mortal imagination in the Crucifixion; and the
+one solitary naked Venus, which Spanish art in four hundred years
+produced, is his. Mr Stirling, though he mentions this picture
+in the body of his book, assigns it no place in his valuable and
+laboriously compiled catalogue, probably because he was unable to
+trace its later adventures. Brought to England in 1814, and sold
+for £500 to Mr Morritt, it still remains the gem of the library
+at Rokeby. Long may the Spanish queen of love preside over the
+beautiful bowers of that now classic retreat! We sum up our notice
+of Velasquez in Mr Stirling's words:--"No artist ever followed
+nature with more catholic fidelity; his cavaliers are as natural
+as his boors; he neither refined the vulgar, nor vulgarised
+the refined.... We know the persons of Philip IV. and Olivarez
+as familiarly as if we had paced the avenues of the Pardo with
+Digby and Howell, and perhaps we think more favourably of their
+characters. In the portraits of the monarch and the minister,
+
+    'The bounding steeds they pompously bestride,
+    Share with their lords the pleasure and the pride,'
+
+and enable us to judge of the Cordovese horse of that day, as
+accurately as if we had lived with the horse-breeding Carthusians of
+the Betis. And this painter of kings and horses has been compared,
+as a painter of landscapes, to Claude; as a painter of low life,
+to Teniers: his fruit-pieces equal those of Sanchez Cotan or Van
+Kessel; his poultry might contest the prize with the fowls of
+Hondekooter on their own dunghill; and his dogs might do battle with
+the dogs of Sneyders."--(Vol. ii. p. 686.)
+
+While Velasquez, at the height of his glory, was painting his
+magnificent Crucifixion, a young lad was displaying hasty sketches
+and immature daubs to the venders of old clothes, pots, and
+vegetables, the gipsies and mendicant friars that frequented the
+Feria, or weekly fair held in the market-place of All Saints, in
+the beautiful and religious city of Seville. This was Bartolemè
+Estevan Murillo, who, having studied for some time under Juan
+del Castillo, on that master's removal to Cadiz in 1640, betook
+himself to this popular resource of all needy Sevillian painters.
+Struck, however, by the great improvement which travel had wrought
+in the style of Pedro de Moya, who revisited Seville in 1642, the
+young painter scraped up money sufficient to carry him to Madrid,
+and, as he hoped, to Rome. But the kindness of Velasquez provided
+him a lodging in his own house, and opened the galleries of the
+Alcazar and the Escurial to his view. Here he pursued his studies
+unremittingly, and, as he thought, with a success that excused the
+trouble and expense of an Italian pilgrimage. Returning, therefore,
+in 1645 to Seville, he commenced that career which led him, among
+the painters of Spain, to European renown, second only to that of
+Velasquez. The Franciscans of his native city have the credit of
+first employing his young genius, and the eleven large pictures
+with which he adorned their convent-walls at once established his
+reputation and success. These were painted in what is technically
+called his first or cold style; this was changed before 1650 into
+his second, or warm style, which in its turn yielded to his last,
+or vapoury style. So warm, indeed, had his colouring become, that
+a Spanish critic, in the nervous phraseology of Spain, declared
+his flesh-tints were now painted with blood and milk. In this style
+did he paint for the chapter The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, in
+which the ladies of Seville admired and envied the roundness of a
+ministering maiden's naked arm; and a large picture of St Anthony
+of Padua, which still adorns the walls of the cathedral baptistery.
+Of this famous gem some curious stories are told: Don Fernando
+Farfan, for instance, relates that birds had been seen attempting
+to perch upon some lilies in a vase by the side of the kneeling
+saint; and Monsieur Viardot (_Musées d'Espagne_, p. 146) informs us
+that a reverend canon, who showed him the picture, recounted how
+that, in 1813, the Duke of Wellington offered to purchase it for as
+many gold onzas as would cover its surface; while, in 1843, Captain
+Widdrington was assured that a lord had expressed his readiness
+to give £40,000 for the bird-deluding picture. The belief in the
+gullibility of travellers is truly remarkable and wide-spread; thus,
+at Genoa, in 1839, our excellent cicerone gratified us with the
+information, that, sixteen years before, the English Duke Balfour
+had in vain offered £1600 for Canova's beautiful basso-relievo of
+the Virgin Clasping the Corpse of our Saviour, which graces the
+ugly church of the poor-house in that superb city. In 1658, Murillo
+laboured to establish a public academy of art; and, in spite of the
+jealousies and contentions of rival artists, on the 1st of January
+1660, he witnessed its inauguration. The rules were few and simple;
+but the declaration to be signed by each member on admission would
+rather astonish the directors of the Royal Academy in London. We
+would recommend it to the consideration of those Protestant divines
+who are so anxious to devise a new test of heresy in the Church
+of England: thus it ran--"Praised be the most holy sacrament, and
+the pure conception of Our Lady." Nothing, perhaps, can show more
+strongly the immense influence religion exercised on art in Spain
+than the second clause of this declaration. It was the favourite
+dogma of Seville: for hundreds of years sermons were preached, books
+were written, pictures painted, legends recorded in honour of Our
+Lady's spotless conception; and round many a picture by Cano, or
+Vargas, or Joanes, is yet to be read the magic words that had power
+to electrify a populace,--"Sin Pecado Concebida." The institution
+thus commenced flourished for many years, and answered the generous
+expectations of its illustrious founder.
+
+The attention of the pious Don Miguel Mañara de Leca, the
+"benevolent Howard" of Seville, was attracted about 1661 to the
+pitiable state of the brotherhood of the holy charity, and its
+hospital of San Jorge: he resolved to restore it to its pristine
+glory and usefulness; and, persevering against all discouragements
+and difficulties, in less than twenty years, at an expense of
+half-a-million of ducats, he accomplished his pious design. For the
+restored church Murillo painted eleven pictures, of which eight,
+according to Mr Stirling, are the finest works of the master.
+Five of these were carried off by plundering Soult, but "the two
+colossal compositions of Moses, and the Loaves and Fishes, still
+hang beneath the cornices whence springs the dome of the church,
+"like ripe oranges on the bough where they originally budded." Long
+may they cover their native "walls, and enrich, as well as adorn,
+the institution of Mañara! In the picture of the great miracle of
+the Jewish dispensation, the Hebrew prophet stands beside the rock
+in Horeb, with hands pressed together, and uplifted eyes, thanking
+the Almighty for the stream which has just gushed forth at the
+stroke of his mysterious rod.... As a composition, this wonderful
+picture can hardly be surpassed. The rock, a huge, isolated, brown
+crag, much resembles in form, size, and colour, that which is still
+pointed out as the rock of Moses, by the Greek monks of the convent
+of St Catherine, in the real wilderness of Horeb. It forms the
+central object, rising to the top of the canvass, and dividing it
+into two unequal portions. In front of the rock, the eye at once
+singles out the erect figure of the prophet standing forward from
+the throng; and the lofty emotion of that great leader, looking with
+gratitude to heaven, is finely contrasted with the downward regards
+of the multitude, forgetful of the Giver in the anticipation or
+the enjoyment of the gift. Each head and figure is an elaborate
+study; each countenance has a distinctive character, and even of
+the sixteen vessels brought to the spring, no two are alike in
+form."--(Vol. ii. p. 859.) But Cean Bermudez, who enjoyed the
+privilege of seeing all these eight masterpieces hanging together
+in their own sacred home, preferred The Prodigal's Return, and St
+Elizabeth of Hungary--with whose touching history the eloquent
+pens of the Count Montalembert and Mr A. Phillipps have made us
+familiar--to all the rest.
+
+The Franciscan convent, without the city walls, was yet more
+fortunate than the hospital of Mañara, for it possessed upwards
+of twenty of this religious painter's works. Now, not one remains
+to dignify the ruined halls and deserted cloisters of that once
+magnificent convent: but seventeen of these pictures are preserved
+in the Seville Museum; among them Murillo's own favourite--that
+which he used to call "his own picture"--the charity of St Thomas
+of Villanueva. In 1678, Murillo painted three pictures for the
+Hospital de los Venerables, two of which, the Mystery of the
+Immaculate Conception, and St Peter Weeping, were placed in the
+chapel. "The third adorned the refectory, and presented to the
+gaze of the Venerables, during their repasts, the blessed Virgin
+enthroned on clouds, with her divine Babe, who, from a basket borne
+by angels, bestowed bread on three aged priests." These were nearly
+his last works; for the art he so loved was now about to destroy her
+favourite son: he was mounting a scaffolding to paint the higher
+parts of a great altar-piece for the Capuchin church at Cadiz,
+representing the espousals of St Catherine, when he stumbled, and
+ruptured himself so severely, as to die of the injury. On the 3d of
+April 1682, he expired in the arms of his old and faithful friend,
+Don Justino Neve, and was buried in the parish church of St. Cruz, a
+stone slab with his name, a skeleton and "Vive moriturus," marking
+the spot--until the "Vandal" French destroyed the last resting-place
+of that great painter, whose works they so unscrupulously
+appropriated. Was the last Lord of Petworth aware of this short
+epitaph, when he caused to be inscribed on the beautiful memorial to
+his ancestors which adorns St Thomas's Chapel in Petworth Church,
+the prophetic,[18] solemn words--"Mortuis moriturus?"
+
+  [18] He died the year following.
+
+We have ranked Murillo next to Velasquez: doubtless there are many
+in England who would demur to this classification; and we own there
+are charms in the style of the great religious painter, which it
+would be vain to look for in any other master. In tenderness of
+devotion, and a certain soft sublimity, his religious pictures are
+unmatched; while in colouring, Cean Bermudez most justly says--"All
+the peculiar beauties of the school of Andalusia--its happy use of
+red and brown tints, the local colours of the region, its skill in
+the management of drapery, its distant prospects of bare sierras
+and smiling vales, its clouds, light and diaphanous as in nature,
+its flowers and transparent waters, and its harmonious depth and
+richness of tone--are to be found in full perfection in the works of
+Murillo."--(Vol. ii. p. 903.) Mr Stirling draws a distinction, and
+we think with reason, between the favourite Virgin of the Immaculate
+Conception and the other Virgins of Murillo: the ἠθὸς of the former
+is far more elevated and spiritualised than that of any of the
+latter class; but, even in his most ordinary and mundane delineation
+of the sinless Mary, how sweet, and pure, and holy, as well as
+beautiful, does our Lord's mother appear! But perhaps it is as a
+painter of children that Murillo is most appreciated in England; nor
+can we wonder that such should be the case, when we remember what
+the pictures are which have thus impressed Murillo on the English
+mind. The St John Baptist with the Lamb, in the National Gallery;
+Lord Westminster's picture of the same subject; the Baroness de
+Rothschild's gem at Gunnersbury, Our Lord, the Good Shepherd, as a
+Child: Lord Wemyss's hardly inferior repetition of it; the picture
+of our Lord as a child, holding in his hands the crown of thorns,
+in the College at Glasgow; with the other pictures, in private
+collections, of our Lord and St John as children, have naturally
+made Murillo to be regarded in England as emphatically the painter
+of children: and how exquisite is his conception of the Divine Babe
+and His saintly precursor! what a sublime consciousness of power,
+what an expression of boundless love, are seen in the face of Him
+who was yet
+
+                    "a little child,
+      Taught by degrees to pray
+    By father dear, and mother mild,
+      Instructed day by day."
+
+The religious school of Spanish painting reached its acmé in
+Murillo; and, at the risk of being accounted heterodox, we must,
+in summing up his merits, express our difference from Mr Stirling
+in one respect, and decline to rank the great Sevillian after any
+of the Italian masters. Few of Murillo's drawings are known to be
+in existence. Mr Stirling gives a list of such as he has been able
+to discover, nearly all of which are at the Louvre. We believe,
+in addition to those possessed by the British Museum and Mr Ford,
+there are two in the collection at Belvoir Castle: one, a Virgin
+and Child; the other, an old man--possibly St Francis--receiving a
+flower from a naked child.
+
+After Velasquez and Murillo, it may seem almost impertinent to talk
+of the merits of other Spanish painters; yet Zurbaran and Cano,
+Ribera and Coello, demand at least a passing notice. Francisco
+de Zurbaran, often called the Caravaggio of Spain, was born in
+Estremadura in 1598. His father, observing his turn for painting,
+sent him to the school of Roelas, at Seville. Here, for nearly a
+quarter of a century, he continued painting for the magnificent
+cathedral, and the churches and religious houses of that fair city.
+About 1625, he painted, for the college of St Thomas Aquinas,
+an altar-piece, regarded by all judges as the finest of all his
+works. It represents the angelic doctor ascending into the heavens,
+where, on clouds of glory, the blessed Trinity and the Virgin wait
+to receive him; below, in mid air, sit the four doctors of the
+Church; and on the ground are kneeling the Emperor Charles V.,
+with the founder of the college, Archbishop Diego de Deza, and a
+train of ecclesiastics. Mr Stirling says of this singular picture,
+"The colouring throughout is rich and effective, and worthy the
+school of Roelas; the heads are all of them admirable studies;
+the draperies of the doctors and ecclesiastics are magnificent
+in breadth and amplitude of fold; the imperial mantle is painted
+with Venetian splendour; and the street view, receding in the
+centre of the canvass, is admirable for its atmospheric depth and
+distance."--(Vol. ii. p. 770.) In 1650, Philip IV. invited him to
+Madrid, and commanded him to paint ten pictures, representing the
+labours of Hercules, for a room at Buen-retiro. Almost numberless
+were the productions of his facile pencil, which, however, chiefly
+delighted to represent, the legends of the Carthusian cloister,
+and portray the gloomy features and sombre vestments of monks and
+friars; yet those who have seen his picture of the Virgin with the
+Infant Saviour and St John, at Stafford House, will agree with Mr
+Stirling that, "unrivalled in such subjects of dark fanaticism,
+Zurbaran could also do ample justice to the purest and most lovely
+of sacred themes."--(Vol. 11. p. 775)
+
+Alonzo Cano, born at Grenada in 1601, was, like Mrs Malaprop's
+Cerberus, "three gentlemen in one;" that is, he was a great painter,
+a great sculptor, and a great architect. As a painter, his powers
+are shown in his full-length picture of the Blessed Virgin, with
+the infant Saviour asleep on her knees, now in the Queen of Spain's
+gallery; in six large works, representing passages in the life
+of Mary Magdalene, which still adorn the great brick church of
+Getafe, a small village near Madrid; and in his famous picture of
+Our Lady of Belem, in the cathedral of Seville. Mr Stirling gives a
+beautifully-executed print of this last Madonna, which, "in serene,
+celestial beauty, is excelled by no image of the Blessed Virgin ever
+devised in Spain."--(P. 803.)
+
+Cano was, perhaps, even greater in sculpture than in painting;
+and so fond of the former art, that, when wearied of pencil and
+brush, he would call for his chisel, and work at a statue by way
+of rest to his hands. On one of these occasions, a pupil venturing
+to remark, that to substitute a mallet for a pencil was an odd sort
+of repose, was silenced by Cano's philosophical reply,--"Blockhead,
+don't you perceive that to create form and relief on a flat surface
+is a greater labour than to fashion one shape into another?" An
+image of the Blessed Virgin in the parish church at Lebrija, and
+another in the sacristy of the Grenada cathedral, are said to
+be triumphs of Spanish painted statuary.--(Vol. iii., p. 805)
+After a life of strange vicissitudes, in the course of which, on
+suspicion of having murdered his wife, he underwent the examination
+by torture, he died, honoured and beloved for his magnificent
+charities, and religious hatred of the Jews, in his native city, on
+the 3d of October 1667.
+
+The old Valencian town of Xativa claims the honour of producing
+Josè de Ribera, el Spagnoletto; but though Spain gave him birth,
+Italy gave him instruction, wealth, fame; and although in style he
+is thoroughly Spanish, we feel some difficulty in writing of him as
+belonging wholly to the Spanish school of art, so completely Italian
+was he by nurture, long residence, and in his death.
+
+Bred up in squalid penury, he appears to have looked upon the world
+as not his friend, and in his subsequent good fortunes to have
+revelled in describing with ghastly minuteness, and repulsive force,
+all "the worst ills that flesh is heir to." We well recollect the
+horror with which we gazed spell-bound on a series of his horrors
+in the Louvre--faugh! At Gosford House are a series of Franciscan
+monks, such as only a Spanish cloister could contain, painted with
+an evident fidelity to nature, and the minutest details of dress
+that is almost offensive--even the black dirt under the unwashed
+thumb nail is carefully represented by his odiously-accurate and
+powerful pencil.
+
+    "Non ragioniam di lor
+     Ma guada e passa."
+
+Had the bold buccaneers of the seventeenth century required the
+services of a painter to perpetuate the memory of their inventive
+brutality, and inconceivable atrocities, they would have found in El
+Spagnoletto an artist capable of delineating the agonies of their
+victims, and by taste and disposition not indisposed to their way of
+life. Yet in his own peculiar line he was unequalled, and his merits
+as a painter will always be recognised by every judge of art. He
+died at Naples, the scene of his triumphs, in 1656.
+
+The name of Claudio Coello is associated with the Escurial, and
+should have been introduced into the sketch we were giving of its
+artists, when the mighty reputation of Velasquez and Murillo broke
+in upon our order. He was born at Madrid about the middle of the
+seventeenth century, and studied in the school of the younger Rigi.
+In 1686 he succeeded Herrera as painter in ordinary to Charles
+II. This monarch had erected an altar in the great sacristy of
+the Escurial, to the miraculous bleeding wafer known as the Santa
+Forma; and on the death of its designer, Rigi, Coello was called
+upon to paint a picture that should serve as a veil for the host. On
+a canvass six yards high, by three wide, he executed an excellent
+work, representing the king and his court adoring the miraculous
+wafer, which is held aloft by the prior. This picture established
+his reputation, and in 1691 the chapter of Toledo, still the great
+patrons of art, appointed him painter to their cathedral. Coello was
+a most careful and painstaking painter, and his pictures, says our
+author, (vol. iii., p. 1018) "with much of Cano's grace of drawing,
+have also somewhat of the rich tones of Murillo, and the magical
+effect of Velasquez." He died, it is said, of disappointment at the
+success of his foreign rival, Luca Giordano, in 1693.
+
+With Charles II. passed away the Spanish sceptre from the house of
+Austria, nor, according to Mr Stirling, would the Genius of Painting
+remain to welcome the intrusive Bourbons:--
+
+    Old times were changed, old manners gone,
+    A stranger filled the Philips' throne;
+    And art, neglected and oppressed,
+    Wished to be with them, and at rest.
+
+But we must say that Mr Stirling, in his honest indignation against
+France and Frenchmen, has exaggerated the demerits of the Bourbon
+kings. Spanish art had been steadily declining for years before
+they, with ill-omened feet, crossed the Pyrenees. It was no Bourbon
+prince that brought Luca da Presto from Naples to teach the painters
+of Spain "how to be content with their faults, and get rid of their
+scruples;" and if the schools of Castile and Andalusia had ceased
+to produce such artists as those whose praises Mr Stirling has so
+worthily recorded, it appears scant justice to lay the blame on the
+new royal family. _Pictor nascitur, non fit_--no, not even by the
+wielders of the Spanish sceptre. In a desire to patronise art, and
+in munificence towards its possessors, Philip V., Ferdinand VI.,
+and Charles III., fell little short of their Hapsburg predecessors,
+but they had no longer the same material to work upon. The post
+which Titian had filled could find no worthier holder under Charles
+III., than Rafael Mengs, whom not only ignorant Bourbons, but the
+_conoscenti_ of Europe regarded as the mighty Venetian's equal;
+and Philip V. not only invited Hovasse, Vanloo, Procaccini, and
+other foreign artists to his court, but added the famous collection
+of marbles belonging to Christina of Sweden to those acquired by
+Velasquez, at an expense of twelve thousand doubloons. To him, also,
+is due the completion of the palace of Aranjuez, and the design
+of La Granja; nor, when fire destroyed the Alcazar, did Philip V.
+spare his diminished treasures, in raising up on its time-hallowed
+site a palace which, in Mr Stirling's own words, "in spite of its
+narrowed proportions, is still one of the largest and most imposing
+in Europe."--(Vol. iii., p. 1163.)
+
+Ferdinand VI. built, at the enormous expense of nineteen millions
+of reals the convent of nuns of the order of St Vincent de Sales,
+and employed in its decoration all the artistic talent that Spain
+then could boast of. Nor can he be blamed if that was but little;
+for if royal patronage can produce painters of merit, this monarch,
+by endowing the Academy of St Ferdinand with large revenues, and
+housing it in a palace, would have revived the glories of Spanish
+art.
+
+His successor, Charles III., an artist of some repute himself,
+sincerely loved and generously fostered the arts. While King of the
+Two Sicilies, he had dragged into the light of day the long-lost
+wonders of Herculaneum and Pompeii; and when called to the throne
+of Spain and the Indies, he manifested his sense of the obligations
+due from royalty to art, by conferring fresh privileges on the
+Academy of St Ferdinand, and founding two new academies, one in
+Valencia, the other in Mexico. If Mengs and Tiepolo, and other
+mediocrities, were the best living painters his patronage could
+discover, it is evident from his ultra-protectionist decree against
+the exportation of Murillo's, pictures, that he fully appreciated
+the works of the mighty dead; and, had his spirit animated Spanish
+officials, many a masterpiece that now mournfully, and without
+meaning, graces the Hermitage at St Petersburg, or the Louvre at
+Paris, would still be hanging over the altar, or adorning the
+refectory for which it was painted, at Seville or Toledo. Even
+Charles IV., "the drivelling tool of Godoy," was a collector of
+pictures, and founder of an academy. In his disastrous reign
+flourished Francisco Goya y Lucientes, the last Spanish painter who
+has obtained a niche in the Temple of Fame. Though portraits and
+caricatures were his forte, in that venerable museum of all that is
+beautiful in Spanish Art--the cathedral at Toledo--is to be seen a
+fine religious production of his pencil, representing the Betrayal
+of our Lord. But he loved painting at, better than for the church;
+and those who have examined and wondered at the grotesque satirical
+carvings of the stalls in the cathedral at Manchester, will be
+able to form some idea of Goya's anti-monkish caricatures. Not
+Lord Mark Kerr, when giving the rein to his exuberant fancy, ever
+devised more ludicrous or repulsive "monsters" than this strange
+successor to the religious painters of orthodox Spain. But when
+the vice, and intrigues, and imbecility of the royal knives and
+fools, whom his ready graver had exposed to popular ridicule, had
+yielded to the unsupportable tyranny of French invaders, the same
+indignant spirit that hurried the water-carriers of Madrid into
+unavailing conflict with the troops of Murat, guided his caustic
+hand against the fierce oppressors of his country; and, while
+Gilray was exciting the angry contempt of all true John Bulls at
+the impudence of the little Corsican upstart, Goya was appealing
+to his countrymen's bitter experience of the tender mercies of the
+French invaders. He died at Bordeaux in 1828. Mr Stirling closes his
+labours with a graceful tribute to those of Cean Bermudez, "the able
+and indefatigable historian of Spanish art, to whose rich harvest of
+valuable materials I have ventured to add the fruit of my own humble
+gleanings--" a deserved tribute, and most handsomely rendered. But,
+before we dismiss this pleasant theme of Spanish art, we would add
+one artist more to the catalogue of Spanish painters--albeit, that
+artist is a Bourbon!
+
+Near the little town of Azpeitia, in Biscay, stands the magnificent
+college of the Jesuits, built on the birth-place of Ignatius Loyola.
+Here, in a low room at the top of the building, are shown a piece
+of the bed in which he died, and his autograph; and here among its
+cool corridors and ever-playing fountains, in 1839, was living the
+royal painter--the Infante Don Sebastian. A strange spectacle,
+truly, did that religious house present in the summer of 1839:
+wild Biscayan soldiers and dejected Jesuits, red boynas and black
+cowls, muskets and crucifixes, oaths and benedictions, crossed and
+mingled with each other in picturesque, though profane disorder;
+and here, released from the cares of his military command, and free
+to follow the bent of his disposition, the ex-commander-in-chief
+of the Carlist forces was quietly painting altar-pieces, and
+dashing off caricatures. In the circular church which, of exquisite
+proportions, forms the centre of the vast pile, and is beautiful
+with fawn-coloured marble and gold, hung a large and well-painted
+picture of his production; and those who are curious in such matters
+may see a worse specimen of his royal highness's skill in Pietro
+di Cortona's church of St Luke at Rome. On one side of the altar
+is Canova's beautiful statue of Religion preaching; on the other
+the Spanish prince's large picture of the Crucifixion; but, alas!
+it must be owned that the inspiration which guided Velasquez to
+his conception of that sublime subject was denied to the royal
+amateur. In the academy of St Luke, adjoining the church, is a
+well-executed bust of Canova, by the Spanish sculptor Alvarez. We
+suspect that, like Goya, the Infante would do better to stick to
+caricature, in which branch of art many a pleasant story is told of
+his proficiency. Seated on a rocky plateau, which, if commanding
+a view of Bilbao and its defenders, was also exposed to their
+fire, 'tis said the royal artist would amuse himself and his staff
+with drawing the uneasy movements, and disturbed countenances, of
+some unfortunate London reporters, who, attached to the Carlist
+headquarters, were invited by the commander-in-chief to attend his
+person, and enjoy the perilous honour of his company. Be this,
+however, as it may, we think we have vindicated the claim of one
+living Bourbon prince to be admitted into the roll of Spanish
+painters in the next edition of the _Annals_.
+
+In these tumultuous days, when
+
+  "Royal heads are haunted like a maukin,"
+
+over half the Continent, and even in steady England grave
+merchants and wealthy tradesmen are counselling together on how
+little their sovereign can be clothed and fed, and all things are
+being brought to the vulgar test of _L. s. d._, it is pleasant to
+turn to the artistic annals of a once mighty empire like Spain, and
+see how uniformly, for more than five hundred years, its monarchs
+have been the patrons, always munificent, generally discriminating,
+of the fine arts--how, from the days of Isabella the Catholic, to
+those of Isabella the Innocent, the Spanish sceptre has courted,
+not disdained, the companionship of the pencil and the chisel.
+Mr Stirling has enriched his pages with many an amusing anecdote
+illustrative of this royal love of art, and suggestive, alas! of
+the painful reflection, that the future annalist of the artists of
+England will find great difficulty in scraping together half-a-dozen
+stories of a similar kind. With the one striking exception of
+Charles I., we know not who among our sovereigns can be compared,
+as a patron of art, to any of the Spanish sovereigns, from Charles
+V. of the Austrian to Charles III. of the Bourbon race. Lord Hervey
+has made notorious George II's ignorance and dislike of art. Among
+the many noble and kingly qualities of his grandson, we fear a
+love and appreciation of art may not be reckoned; and although, in
+his intercourse with men of genius, George IV. was gracious and
+generous, what can be said in favour of his taste and discernment?
+The previous life of William IV., the mature age at which he
+ascended the throne, and the troublous character of his reign,
+explain why art received but slight countenance from the court of
+the frank and noble-hearted Sailor Prince; but we turn with hope to
+the future. The recent proceedings in the Court of Chancery have
+made public a fact, already known to many, that her Majesty wields
+with skilful hand a graceful graver, and the Christmas plays acted
+at Windsor are a satisfactory proof that English art and genius are
+not exiled from England's palaces. The professors, then, of that art
+which Velasquez and Rubens, Murillo and Vandyck practised, shall yet
+see that the Crown of England is not only in ancient legal phrase,
+"the Fountain of Honour," but that it loves to direct its grateful
+streams in their honoured direction. Free was the intercourse,
+unfettered the conversation, independent the relations, between
+Titian and Charles V., Velasquez and Philip IV.; let us hope that
+Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, will yet witness a revival
+of those palmy days of English art, when Inigo Jones, and Vandyck,
+and Cowley, Waller, and Ben Jonson, shed a lustre on the art-loving
+court of England!
+
+The extracts we have given from Mr Stirling's work will have
+sufficiently shown the scope of the _Annals_, and the spirit and
+style in which they are written. There is no tedious, inflexible,
+though often unmanageable leading idea, or theory of art, running
+through these lively volumes. In the introduction, whatever is to
+be said on the philosophy of Spanish art is carefully collected,
+and the reader is thenceforward left at liberty to carry on the
+conclusions of the introduction with him in his perusal of the
+_Annals_, or to drop them at the threshold. We would, however,
+strongly recommend all who desire to appreciate Spanish art, never
+to forget that she owes all her beauty and inspiration to Spanish
+nature and Spanish religion. Remember this, O holyday tourist along
+the Andalusian coast, or more adventurous explorer of Castile and
+Estremadura, and you will not be disappointed with her productions.
+Mr Stirling has not contented himself with doing ample justice to
+the great painters, and slurring over the comparatively unknown
+artists, whose merits are in advance of their fame, but has embraced
+in his careful view the long line of Spanish artists who have
+flourished or faded in the course of nearly eight hundred years; and
+he has accomplished this difficult task, not in the plodding spirit
+of a Dryasdust, or with the curt dulness of a catalogue-monger,
+but with the discriminating good taste of an accomplished English
+gentleman, and in a style at once racy and rhetorical. There are
+whole pages in the _Annals_ as full of picturesque beauty as the
+scenes or events they describe, and of melody, as an Andalusian
+summer's eve; indeed, the vigorous fancy and genial humour of
+the author have, on some few occasions, led him to stray from
+those strict rules of ἀιδὼς, which we are old-fashioned enough
+to wish always observed. But where the charms and merits are so
+great, and so many, and the defects so few and so small, we may
+safely leave the discovery of the latter to the critical reader, and
+satisfy our conscience by expressing a hope that, when Mr Stirling
+next appears in the character of author--a period not remote, we
+sincerely trust--he will have discarded those few scentless flowers
+from his literary garden, and present us with a bouquet--
+
+    "Full of sweet buds and roses,
+     A box where sweets compacted lie."
+
+But if he never again put pen to paper, in these annals of the
+artists of Spain he has given to the reading public a work which,
+for utility of design, patience of research, and grace of language,
+merits and has won the highest honours of authorship.
+
+
+
+
+THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED.[19]
+
+  [19] _The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History, Affinities, and
+  Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other Extinct Birds of the
+  Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon._ By H. E. STRICKLAND,
+  M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean Society, &c., and
+  A. G. MELVILLE, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. One vol., royal quarto:
+  London, 1848.
+
+
+What was the Dodo? When was the Dodo? Where is the Dodo? are all
+questions, the first more especially, which it is fully more easy
+to ask than answer. Whoever has looked through books on natural
+history--for example, that noted but now scarce instructor of our
+early youth, the _Three Hundred Animals_--must have observed a
+somewhat ungainly creature, with a huge curved bill, a shortish
+neck, scarcely any wings, a plumy tuft upon the back--considerably
+on the off-side, though pretending to be a tail,--and a very
+shapeless body, extraordinarily large and round about the hinder
+end. This anomalous animal being covered with feathers, and having,
+in addition to the other attributes above referred to, only two
+legs, has been, we think justly, regarded as a bird, and has
+accordingly been named the Dodo. But why it should be so named
+is another of the many mysterious questions, which require to be
+considered in the history of this unaccountable creature. No one
+alleges, nor can we conceive it possible, that it claims kindred
+with either of the only two human beings we ever heard of who
+bore the name: "And after him (Adino the Eznite) was Eleazar the
+son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David,
+when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together
+to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away." Our only other
+human Dodo belonged to the fair sex, and was the mother of the
+famous Zoroaster, who flourished in the days of Darius Hystaspes,
+and brought back the Persians to their ancient fire-worship, from
+the adoration of the twinkling stars. The name appears to have
+been dropped by both families, as if they were somewhat ashamed of
+it; and we feel assured that of such of our readers as admit that
+Zoroaster must have had a mother of some sort, very few really
+remember now-a-days that her name was Dodo. There were no baptismal
+registers in those times; or, if such existed, they were doubtless
+consumed in the "great fire"--a sort of periodical, it may be
+providential, mode of shortening the record, which seems to occur
+from time to time in all civilised countries.
+
+But while the creature in question,--we mean the feathered
+biped--has been continuously presented to view in those "vain
+repetitions" which unfortunately form the mass of our information in
+all would-be popular works on natural history, we had actually long
+been at a stand-still in relation to its essential attributes--the
+few competent authorities who had given out their opinion upon this,
+as many thought, stereotyped absurdity, being so disagreed among
+themselves as to make confusion worse confounded. The case, indeed,
+seemed desperate; and had it not been that we always entertained a
+particular regard for old Clusius, (of whom by-and-by,) and could
+not get over the fact that a Dodo's head existed in the Ashmolean
+Museum, Oxford, and a Dodo's foot in the British Museum, London,
+we would willingly have indulged the thought that the entire Dodo
+was itself a dream. But, shaking off the cowardly indolence which
+would seek to shirk the investigation of so great a question, let us
+now inquire into a piece of ornithological biography, which seemed
+so singularly to combine the familiar with the fabulous. Thanks
+to an accomplished and persevering naturalist of our own day--one
+of the most successful and assiduous inquirers of the younger
+generation--we have now all the facts, and most of the fancies,
+laid before us in a splendid royal quarto volume, just published,
+with numerous plates, devoted to the history and illustration of
+the "Dodo and its Kindred." It was, in truth, the latter term that
+cheered our heart, and led us again towards a subject which had
+previously produced the greatest despondency; for we had always,
+though most erroneously, fancied that the great misformed lout of
+our _Three Hundred Animals_ was all alone in the wide world, unable
+to provide for himself, (and so, fortunately, without a family,)
+and had never, in truth, had either predecessors or posterity. Mr
+Strickland, however, has brought together the _disjecta membra_ of
+a family group, showing not only fathers and mothers, sisters and
+brothers, but cousins, and kindred of all degrees. Their sedate and
+somewhat sedentary mode of life is probably to be accounted for,
+not so much by their early habits as their latter end. Their legs
+are short, their wings scarcely existant, but they are prodigiously
+large and heavy in the hinder-quarters; and organs of flight would
+have been but a vain thing for safety, as they could not, in such
+wooded countries as these creatures inhabited, have been made
+commensurate with the uplifting of such solid bulk, placed so far
+behind that centre of gravity where other wings are worked. We can
+now sit down in Mr Strickland's company, to discuss the subject, not
+only tranquilly, but with a degree of cheerfulness which we have not
+felt for many a day: thanks to his kindly consideration of the Dodo
+and "its kindred."
+
+The geographical reader will remember that to the eastward of the
+great, and to ourselves nearly unknown, island of Madagascar, there
+lies a small group of islands of volcanic origin, which, though not
+exactly contiguous among themselves, are yet nearer to each other
+than to the greater island just named, and which is interposed
+between them and the coast of Southern Africa. They are named
+Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius, or the Isle of France. There is
+proof that not fewer than four distinct species of large-bodied,
+short-winged birds, of the Dodo type, were their inhabitants in
+comparatively recent times, and have now become utterly extinct. We
+say utterly, because neither proof nor vestige of their existence
+elsewhere has been at any time afforded; and the comparatively
+small extent, and now peopled state of the islands in question,
+(where they are no longer known,) make the continuous and unobserved
+existence of these birds, so conspicuous in size and slow of foot,
+impossible.
+
+Now, it is this recent and total extinction which renders the
+subject one of more than ordinary interest. Death is an admitted
+law of nature, in respect to the _individuals_ of all species.
+Geology, "dragging at each remove a lengthened chain" has shown how,
+at different and distant eras, innumerable tribes have perished
+and been supplanted, or at least replaced, by other groups of
+species, entire races, better fitted for the great climatic and
+other physical changes, which our earth's surface has undergone
+from time to time. How these changes were brought about, many,
+with more or less success, (generally less,) have tried to say.
+Organic remains--that is, the fossilised remnants of ancient
+species--sometimes indicate a long continuance of existence,
+generation after generation living in tranquillity, and finally
+sinking in a quiet grave; while other examples show a sudden and
+violent death, in tortuous and excited action, as if they had been
+almost instantaneously overwhelmed and destroyed by some great
+catastrophe.
+
+Several local extinctions of elsewhere existing species are known
+to naturalists--such as those of the beaver, the bear, and the
+wolf, which no longer occur in Great Britain, though historically
+known, as well as organically proved by recent remains, to have
+lived and died among us. Their extinction was slow and gradual,
+and resulted entirely from the inroads which the human race--that
+is, the increase of population, and the progress of agriculture
+and commerce--necessarily made upon their numbers, which thus
+became "_few_ by degrees, and beautifully less." The beaver might
+have carried on business well enough, in his own quiet way,
+although frequently incommoded by the love of peltry on the part
+of a hat-wearing people; but it is clear that no man with a small
+family, and a few respectable farm-servants, could either permit
+a large and hungry wolf to be continually peeping at midnight
+through the key-hole of the nursery, or allow a brawny bruin to
+snuff too frequently under the kitchen door, (after having hugged
+the watch-dog to death,) when the serving-maids were at supper. The
+extirpation, then, of at least two of those quondam British species
+became a work of necessity and mercy, and might have been tolerated
+even on a Sunday between sermons--especially as naturalists have it
+still in their power to study the habits of similar wild beasts, by
+no means yet extinct, in the neighbouring countries of France and
+Germany.
+
+But the death of the Dodo and its kindred is a more affecting fact,
+as involving the extinction of an entire race, root and branch, and
+proving that death is a law of the _species_, as well as of the
+individuals which compose it,--although the life of the one is so
+much more prolonged than that of the other that we can seldom obtain
+any positive proof of its extinction, except by the observance of
+geological eras. Certain other still existing species, well known
+to naturalists, may be said to be, as it were, just hovering on
+the brink of destruction. One of the largest and most remarkable
+of herbivorous animals--a species of wild cattle, the aurochs
+or European bison (_B. priscus_)--exists now only in the forest
+of Bialowicksa, from whence the Emperor of Russia has recently
+transmitted a living pair to the Zoological Society of London.
+Several kinds of birds are also evidently on their last legs. For
+example, a singular species of parrot, (_Nestor productus_,) with
+the termination of the upper mandible much attenuated, peculiar to
+Phipps's Island, near Norfolk Island, has recently ceased to exist
+there in the wild state, and is now known as a living species only
+from a few surviving specimens kept in cages, and which refuse to
+breed. The burrowing parrot from New Zealand is already on the road
+to ruin; and more than one species of that singular and wingless
+bird, called _Apteryx_, also from the last-named island, may be
+placed in the same category. Even in our own country, if the landed
+proprietors were to yield to the clamour of the Anti-Game-Law
+League, the red grouse or moor-game might cease to be, as they occur
+nowhere else on the known earth save in Britain and the Emerald Isle.
+
+The geographical distribution of animals, in general, has been
+made conformable to laws which we cannot fathom. A mysterious
+relationship exists between certain organic structures and those
+districts of the earth's surface which they inhabit. Certain
+extensive groups, in both the animal and vegetable kingdom,
+are found to be restricted to particular continents, and their
+neighbouring islands. Of some the distribution is very extensive,
+while others are totally unknown except within a limited space, such
+as some solitary isle,
+
+  "Placed far amid the melancholy main."
+
+     "In the present state of science," says Mr Strickland, "we must
+     be content to admit the existence of this law, without being
+     able to enunciate its preamble. It does _not_ imply that organic
+     distribution depends on soil and climate; for we often find a
+     perfect identity of these conditions in opposite hemispheres,
+     and in remote continents, whose faunæ and floræ are almost
+     wholly diverse. It does not imply that allied but distinct
+     organisms have been adduced, by generation or spontaneous
+     development, from the same original stock; for (to pass over
+     other objections) we find detached volcanic islets, which have
+     been ejected from beneath the ocean, (such as the Galapagos,
+     for instance,) inhabited by terrestrial forms allied to those
+     of the nearest continent, though hundreds of miles distant, and
+     evidently never connected with them. But this fact may indicate
+     that the Creator, in forming new organisms to discharge the
+     functions required from time to time by the ever vacillating
+     balance of nature, has thought fit to preserve the regularity
+     of the system by modifying the types of structure already
+     established in the adjacent localities, rather than to proceed
+     _per saltum_ by introducing forms of more foreign aspect."
+
+In conformity with this relation between geographical distribution
+and organic structure, it has been ascertained that a small portion
+of the indigenous animals and plants of the islands of Rodriguez,
+Bourbon, and the Isle of France, are either allied to or identical
+with the productions of continental Africa, a larger portion with
+those of Madagascar, while certain species are altogether peculiar
+to the insular group above named.
+
+     "And as these three islands form a detached cluster, as compared
+     to other lands, so do we find in them a peculiar group of birds,
+     specifically different in each island, yet allied together in
+     their general characters, and remarkably isolated from any
+     known forms in other parts of the world. These birds were of
+     large size and grotesque proportions, the wings too short and
+     feeble for flight, the plumage loose and decomposed, and the
+     general aspect suggestive of gigantic immaturity. Their history
+     is as remarkable as their origin. About two centuries ago,
+     their native isles were first colonised by man, by whom these
+     strange creatures were speedily exterminated. So rapid and so
+     complete was their extinction, that the vague descriptions given
+     of them by early navigators were long regarded as fabulous or
+     exaggerated; and these birds, almost contemporaries of our
+     great-grandfathers, became associated in the minds of many
+     persons with the griffin and the phœnix of mythological
+     antiquity."
+
+The aim and object of Mr Strickland's work is to vindicate the
+honesty of the rude voyagers of the seventeenth century; to collect
+together the scattered evidence regarding the Dodo and its kindred;
+to describe and depict the few anatomical fragments which are still
+extant of those lost species; to invite scientific travellers to
+further and more minute research; and to infer, from the authentic
+data, now in hand, the probable rank and position of these creatures
+in the scale of nature. We think he has achieved his object very
+admirably, and has produced one of the best and most interesting
+monographs with which it is our fortune to be acquainted.
+
+So far as we can see, the extension of man's more immediate
+influence and agency is the sole cause of the disappearance of
+species in modern times--at least we have no proof that any of these
+species have perished by what can be called a catastrophe: this is
+well exemplified by what we now know of the Dodo and its kindred.
+
+The islands of Mauritius and Bourbon were discovered in the
+sixteenth century, (authorities differ as to the precise period,
+which they vary from 1502 to 1545,) by Pedro Mascaregnas, a
+Portuguese, who named the latter after himself; while he called
+the former Cerne, a term applied by Pliny to an island in another
+quarter. Of this Cerne nothing definite was ascertained till the
+year 1598, when the Dutch, under Jacob Cornelius Neck, finding it
+uninhabited, took possession, and changed its name to Mauritius. In
+the narrative of the voyage, of which there are several accounts in
+different tongues, we find the following notice:--
+
+     "This island, besides being very fertile in terrestrial
+     products, feeds vast numbers of birds, such as turtle-doves,
+     which occur in such plenty that three of our men sometimes
+     captured one hundred and fifty in half a day, and might easily
+     have taken more by hand, or killed them with sticks, if we
+     had not been overloaded with the burden of them. Grey parrots
+     are also common there, and other birds, besides a large kind
+     bigger than our swans, with large heads, half of which is
+     covered with skin like a hood. These birds want wings, in
+     place of which are three or four thickish feathers. The tail
+     consists of a few slender curved feathers of a gray colour. We
+     called them _Walckvogel_, for this reason, that, the longer
+     they were boiled, the tougher and more uneatable they became.
+     Their stomachs, however, and breasts, were easy to masticate.
+     Another reason for the name was that we had an abundance of
+     turtle-doves, of a much sweeter and more agreeable flavour."--De
+     Bry's _India Orientalis_, (1601,) pars v. p. 7.
+
+These walckvogel were the birds soon afterwards called Dodos. The
+description given by Clusius, in his _Exotica_, (1605,) is chiefly
+taken from one of the published accounts of Van Neck's voyage, but
+he adds the following notice, as from personal observation:--
+
+     "After I had written down the history of this bird as well
+     as I could, I happened to see in the house of Peter Pauwius,
+     Professor of Medicine in the University of Leyden, a leg cut off
+     at the knee, and recently brought from the Mauritius. It was
+     not very long, but rather exceeded four inches from the knee
+     to the bend of the foot. Its thickness, however, was great,
+     being nearly four inches in circumference; and it was covered
+     with numerous scales, which in front were wider and yellow, but
+     smaller and dusky behind. The upper part of the toes was also
+     furnished with single broad scales, while the lower part was
+     wholly callous. The toes were rather short for so thick a leg:
+     the claws were all thick, hard, black, less than an inch long;
+     but the claw of the hind toe was longer than the rest, and
+     exceeded an inch."
+
+A Dutch navigator, Heemskerk, remained nearly three months in the
+Mauritius, on his homeward voyage in 1602; and in a published
+journal kept by Reyer Cornelisz, we read of _Wallichvogels_, and
+a variety of other game. One of Heemskerk's captains, Willem van
+West-Zanen by name, also left a journal--apparently not published
+until 1648--at which time it was edited in an enlarged form by H.
+Soeteboom. We there find repeated mention of _Dod-aarsen_ or Dodos;
+and the sailors seem to have actually revelled in these birds,
+without suffering from surfeit or nausea like Van Neck's crew. As
+this tract is very rare, and has never appeared in an English form,
+we shall avail ourselves of Mr Strickland's translation of a few
+passages bearing on the subject in question:--
+
+     "The sailors went out every day to hunt for birds and other
+     game, such as they could find on land, while they became less
+     active with their nets, hooks, and other fishing-tackle. No
+     quadrupeds occur there except cats, though our countrymen have
+     subsequently introduced goats and swine. The herons were less
+     tame than the other birds, and were difficult to procure,
+     owing to their flying amongst the thick branches of the trees.
+     They also caught birds which some name _Dod-aarsen_, others
+     _Dronten_. When Jacob Van Neck was here, these birds were called
+     _Wallich-vogels_, because even a long boiling would scarcely
+     make them tender, but they remained tough and hard, with the
+     exception of the breast and belly, which were very good; and
+     also because, from the abundance of turtle-doves which the men
+     procured, they became disgusted with dodos. The figure of these
+     birds is given in the accompanying plate: they have great heads,
+     with hoods thereon; they are without wings or tail, and have
+     only little winglets on their sides, and four or five feathers
+     behind, more elevated than the rest; they have beaks and feet,
+     and commonly, in the stomach, a stone the size of a fist....
+
+     "The dodos, with their round sterns, (for they were well
+     fattened,) were also obliged to turn tail; everything that could
+     move was in a bustle; and the fish, which had lived in peace for
+     many a year, were pursued into the deepest water-pools....
+
+     "On the 25th July, William and his sailors brought some dodos,
+     which were very fat; the whole crew made an ample meal from
+     three or four of them, and a portion remained over.... They
+     sent on board smoked fish, salted dodos, land-tortoises, and
+     other game, which supply was very acceptable. They were busy
+     for some days bringing provisions to the ship. On the 4th of
+     August, William's men brought fifty large birds on board the
+     _Bruyn-Vis_; among them were twenty-four or twenty-five dodos,
+     so large and heavy, that they could not eat any two of them for
+     dinner, and all that remained over was salted.
+
+     "Another day, Hoogeven (William's supercargo) set out from the
+     tent with four seamen, provided with sticks, nets, muskets, and
+     other necessaries for hunting. They climbed up mountain and
+     hill, roamed through forest and valley, and, during the three
+     days that they were out, they captured another half-hundred
+     of birds, including a matter of twenty dodos, all which they
+     brought on board and salted. Thus were they, and the other crews
+     in the fleet, occupied in fowling and fishing."
+
+In regard to the appellations of these birds, it is not altogether
+easy to determine the precise date at which the synonymous term
+_Dodars_, from which our name of Dodo is by some derived, was
+introduced. It seems first to occur in the journal of Willem van
+West-Zanen; but that journal, though written in 1603, appears to
+have remained unpublished till 1648, and the name may have been
+an interpolation by his editor, Soeteboom. Matelief's Journal,
+also, which makes mention of _Dodaersen_, otherwise _Dronten_, was
+written in 1606, and Van der Hagen's in 1607; but Mr Strickland has
+been unable to find an edition of either work of earlier date than
+1646, and so the occurrence of these words may be likewise due to
+the officiousness of editors. Perhaps the earliest use of the word
+Dodars may date from the publication of Verhuffen's voyage, (1613,)
+where, however, it occurs under the corrupt form of _Totersten_.
+There seems little doubt that the name of Dodo is derived from
+the Dutch root, _Dodoor_, which signifies _sluggard_, and is
+appropriate to the leisurely gait and heavy aspect of the creatures
+in question. Dodars is probably a homely or familiar phrase among
+Dutch sailors, and may be regarded as more expressive than elegant.
+Our own Sir Thomas Herbert was the first to use the name of Dodo
+in its modern form, and he tells us that it is a Portuguese word.
+_Doudo_, in that language, certainly signifies "foolish," or
+"simple," and might have been well applied to the unwary habits
+and defenceless condition of these almost wingless and totally
+inexperienced species; but, as none of the Portuguese voyagers seem
+to have mentioned the Dodo by any name whatever, nor even to have
+visited the Mauritius, after their first discovery of the island by
+Pedro Mascaregnas already named, it appears far more probable that
+Dodars is a genuine Dutch term, altered, and it may be amended, by
+Sir Thomas Herbert, to suit his own philological fancies.
+
+The Dutch, indeed, seem to have been inspired with a genuine love
+of Dodos, and never allowed even the cooing of the delicately
+tender turtle-doves to prevent their laying in an ample store of
+the more solid, if less sentimental species. Thus, Van der Hagen,
+who commanded two ships which remained for some weeks at the
+Mauritius in 1607, not only feasted his crews on great abundance of
+"tortoises, _dodars_, gray parroquets, and other game," but salted
+large quantities, for consumption during the voyage. Verhuffen
+touched at the same island in 1611, and it is in his narrative
+(published at Frankfort in 1613) that Dodos are called _Totersten_.
+He describes them as having--
+
+     "A skin like a monk's cowl on the head, and no wings; but, in
+     place of them, about five or six yellow feathers: likewise, in
+     place of a tail, are four or five crested feathers. In colour
+     they are gray; men call them _Totersten_ or _Walckvögel_;
+     they occur there in great plenty, insomuch that the Dutch
+     daily caught and ate many of them. For not only these, but in
+     general all the birds there, are so tame that they killed the
+     turtle-doves, as well as the other wild pigeons and parrots,
+     with sticks, and caught them by the hand. They also captured the
+     totersten or walckvögel with their hands; but were obliged to
+     take good care that these birds did not bite them on the arms or
+     legs with their beaks, which are very strong, thick, and hooked;
+     for they are wont to bite desperately hard."
+
+We are glad to be informed, by the above, of this attempt at
+independence, or something at least approaching to the defensive
+system. It forms an additional title, on the part of the Dodo, to be
+regarded, at all events by the Dutch _cuisiniers_, as "_une pièce de
+resistance_."
+
+Sir Thomas Herbert, already named, visited the Mauritius in 1627,
+and found it still uninhabited by man. In his _Relation of some
+yeares' Travaile_, which, for the amusement of his later years, he
+seems to have repeatedly rewritten for various editions, extending
+from 1634 to 1677, he both figures and describes our fat friend. His
+narration is as follows:--
+
+     "The dodo, a bird the Dutch call walckvögel or dod-eersen:
+     her body is round and fat, which occasions the slow pace, or
+     that her corpulencie; and so great as few of them weigh less
+     than fifty pound; meat it is with some, but better to the eye
+     than stomach, such as only a strong appetite can vanquish; but
+     otherwise, through its oyliness, it cannot chuse but quickly
+     cloy and nauseate the stomach, being indeed more pleasurable to
+     look than feed upon. It is of a melancholy visage, as sensible
+     of nature's injury in framing so massie a body to be directed
+     by complimental wings, such indeed as are unable to hoise her
+     from the ground, serving only to rank her amongst birds. Her
+     head is variously drest; for one half is hooded with down of a
+     dark colour, the other half naked, and of a white hue, as if
+     lawn were drawn over it; her bill hooks and bends downwards; the
+     thrill or breathing-place is in the midst, from which part to
+     the end the colour is of a light green, mixt with pale yellow;
+     her eyes are round and bright, and instead of feathers has a
+     most fine down; her train (like to a China beard) is no more
+     than three or four short feathers; her leggs are thick and
+     black; her talons great; her stomach fiery, so that as she can
+     easily digest stones; in that and shape not a little resembling
+     the ostrich."--(P. 383.)
+
+François Cauche, an account of whose voyage, made in 1638, is
+published in the _Relations Véritables et Curieuses de l'Isle de
+Madagascar_, (Paris, 1651) states that he saw in the Mauritius birds
+called Oiseaux de Nazaret, larger than a swan, covered with black
+down, with crested feathers on the rump, "as many in number as the
+bird is years old." In place of wings there are some black curved
+feathers, without webs. The cry is like that of a gosling.
+
+     "They only lay one egg, which is white, the _size of a halfpenny
+     roll_; by the side of which they place a white stone, of the
+     dimensions of a hen's egg. They lay on grass, which they
+     collect, and make their nests in the forests; if one kills the
+     young one, a gray stone is found in the gizzard. We call them
+     Oiseaux de Nazaret. The fat is excellent to give ease to the
+     muscles and nerves."
+
+Here let us pause a moment, to consider what was the probable size
+of a halfpenny roll in the year 1638. How many vast and various
+elements must be taken to account in calculating the dimensions
+of that "_pain d'un sol!_" Macculloch, Cobden, Joseph Hume, come
+over and help us in this our hour of _knead_! Was corn high or
+low? were wages up or down? were bakers honest or dishonest? was
+there a fixed measure of quantity for these our matutinal baps? Did
+town-councils regulate their weight and quality, or was conscience
+left controller, from the quartern loaf downwards to the smallest
+form assumed by yeast and flour?
+
+  "Tell me where was fancy bread?"
+
+Does no one know precisely what was the size of a halfpenny roll in
+the year 1638? In that case, we shall not mention the dimensions of
+the Dodo's egg.
+
+There is no doubt that the bird recorded by Cauche was the true
+Dodo, although it is probable that he either described it from
+memory, or confused it with the descriptions then current of the
+cassowary. Thus he adds that the legs were of considerable length,
+that it had only three toes, and no tongue--characters (with the
+exception of the last, inapplicable, of course, to either kind)
+which truly indicate the latter species. This name of "bird of
+Nazareth" has, moreover, given rise to a false or phantom species,
+called _Didus Nazarenus_ in systematic works, and is supposed to
+have been derived from the small island or sandbank of Nazareth, to
+the north-east of Madagascar. Now Dr Hamel has recently rendered it
+probable that no such island or sandbank is in existence, and so we
+need not seek for its inhabitants: at all events, there is no such
+bird as the Nazarene Dodo--_Didus Nazarenus_.
+
+The next piece of evidence regarding the Dodo is highly interesting
+and important, as it shows that, at least in one instance, this
+extraordinary bird was transported alive to Europe, and exhibited in
+our own country. In a manuscript preserved in the British Museum,
+Sir Hamon Lestrange, the father of the more celebrated Sir Roger,
+in a commentary on Brown's _Vulgar Errors_, and _apropos_ of the
+ostrich, records as follows:--
+
+     "About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a
+     strange fowle hong out upon a cloth, and myselfe, with one or
+     two more then in company, went in to see it. It was kept in a
+     chamber, and was a great fowle somewhat bigger than the largest
+     turkey-cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker,
+     and of a more erect shape; coloured before like the breast of a
+     young cock fesan, and, on the back, of dunn or deare coulour.
+     The keeper called it a Dodo; and in the end of a chimney in
+     the chamber there lay a heape of large pebble stones, whereof
+     hee gave it many in our sight, some as bigg as nutmegs, and
+     the keeper told us she eats them, (conducing to digestion);
+     and though I remember not how farr the keeper was questioned
+     therein, yet I am confident that afterwards shee cast them all
+     againe."
+
+It is curious that no confirmation can be obtained of this
+exhibition from contemporary authorities. The period was prolific
+in pamphlets and broadsides, but political excitement probably
+engrossed the minds of the majority, and rendered them careless
+of the wonders of nature. Yet the individual in question may in
+all likelihood be traced down to the present day, and portions of
+it seen and handled by the existing generation. In Tradescant's
+catalogue of his "_Collection of Rarities preserved at South
+Lambeth, near London_," 1656, we find an entry--"Dodar from the
+island Mauritius; it is not able to flie, being so big." It is
+enumerated under the head of "Whole birds;" and Willughby, whose
+_Ornithologia_ appeared in 1676, says of the Dodo, "Exuvias hujusce
+avis vidimus in museo Tradescantiano." The same specimen is
+alluded to by Llhwyd in 1684, and by Hyde in 1700,--having passed,
+meanwhile, into the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, with the rest of
+the Tradescantian collection. As Tradescant was the most noted
+collector of things natural in his day, and there were few, if
+any, to enter into competition with him, it may be well supposed
+that such a _rara avis_ as a living Dodo would attract his close
+attention, and that it would, in all probability, find its way into
+his cabinet on its decease. It may, therefore, be inferred that the
+same individual which was exhibited in London, and described by
+Lestrange in 1638, is that recorded as a stuffed specimen in the
+catalogue of Tradescant's Museum, (1656,) and bequeathed by him,
+with his other curiosities, to Elias Ashmole, the munificent founder
+of the still existing museum at Oxford.
+
+The considerate reader will not unnaturally ask, Where is now that
+last of Dodos? and echo answers, Where? Alas! it was destroyed, "by
+order of the Visitors," in 1755. The following is the evidence of
+that destruction, as given by Mr J. S. Duncan in the 3d volume of
+the _Zoological Journal_, p. 559:--
+
+     "In the Ashmolean Catalogue, made by Ed. Llhwyd, musei
+     procustos, 1684, (Plott being then keeper,) the entry of the
+     bird is 'No. 29, Gallus gallinaceus peregrinus Clusii,' &c. In a
+     catalogue made subsequently to 1755, it is stated, 'The numbers
+     from 5 to 46, being decayed, were ordered to be removed at a
+     meeting of the majority of the Visitors, Jan. 8, 1755.' Among
+     these, of course, was included the Dodo, its number being 29.
+     This is further shown by a new catalogue, completed in 1756, in
+     which the order of the Visitors is recorded as follows:--'Illa
+     quibus nullus in margine assignatur numerus, a Musæo subducta
+     sunt cimelia, annuentibus Vice-Cancellario aliisque Curatoribus
+     ad ea lustranda convocatis, die Januarii 8vo, A.D. 1755.' The
+     Dodo is one of those which are here without the number."
+
+By some lucky accident, however, a small portion of "this last
+descendant of an ancient race," as Mr Strickland terms it, escaped
+the clutches of the destroyers. "The head and one of the feet were
+saved from the flames, and are still preserved in the Ashmolean
+Museum."[20]
+
+  [20] The scientific value of these remnants, Mr Strickland informs
+  us, has been lately much increased by skilful dissection. Dr Acland,
+  the lecturer in anatomy, has divided the skin of the cranium down
+  the mesial line, and, by removing it from the left side, the entire
+  osteological structure of this extraordinary skull is exposed
+  to view, while on the other side the external covering remains
+  undisturbed. The solitary foot was formerly covered by decomposed
+  integuments, and presented few external characters. These have
+  been removed by Dr Kidd, the professor of medicine, who has made
+  an interesting preparation of both the osseous and tendinous
+  structures.--See _The Dodo and its Kindred_, p. 33.
+
+Let us now retrace our steps, for the sake of taking up, very
+briefly, the history of the other known remnants of this now
+extinct species. Among the printed books of the Ashmolean Museum,
+there is a small tract, of which the second edition (the first is
+without date) is entitled, "A Catalogue of many natural rarities,
+with great industry, cost, and thirty years' travel in foreign
+countries, collected by Robert Hubert, _alias_ Forges, gent. and
+sworn servant to his majesty; and daily to be seen at the place
+formerly called the Music House, near the west end of St Paul's
+Church," 12mo, London, 1665. At page 11 is the following entry:--"A
+legge of a Dodo, a great heavy bird that cannot fly: it is a bird
+of the Maurcius island." This specimen is supposed to be that which
+afterwards passed into the possession of the Royal Society, is
+recorded in their catalogue of _Natural and Artificial Curiosities_,
+published by Grew in 1681, and is now in the British Museum. It is
+somewhat larger than the Ashmolean foot, and, from its excellent
+state of preservation, finely exhibits the external characters of
+the toes and tarsus.
+
+In Olearus's catalogue of the museum at Gottorf, (the seat of the
+Dukes of Schleswig, and recently a less easy one than we have known
+it,) of which the first edition was published in 1666, there is the
+following notice of a Dodo's head:--
+
+     "No. 5 is the head of a foreign bird, which Clusius names
+     _Gallus peregrinus_, Mirenberg _Cygnus cucullatus_, and the
+     Dutch walghvögel, from the disgust which they are said to have
+     taken to its hard flesh. The Dutch seem to have first discovered
+     this bird in the island of Mauritius; and it is stated to have
+     no wings, but in place of them two winglets, like the emeu and
+     the penguins."--(P. 25.)
+
+This specimen, after having been disregarded, if not forgotten,
+for nearly two centuries, was lately re-discovered, by Professor
+C. Reinhardt, amongst a mass of ancient rubbish, and is now in the
+public museum of Copenhagen, where it was examined by Mr Strickland
+two years ago.[21] The integumentary portions have been all removed,
+but it exhibits the same osteological characters as the Oxford head,
+though less perfect, the base of the occiput being absent. It is of
+somewhat smaller size.
+
+  [21] The collection of the Dukes of Schleswig was removed about the
+  year 1720, by Frederic IV., from Gottorf to Copenhagen, where it
+  is now incorporated with the Royal "Kunstkammer" of that northern
+  capital.
+
+The remnants now noticed--three heads and two feet--are the only
+ascertained existing portions of the famous Dodo; a bird which,
+as we have seen in the preceding extracts, might have been well
+enough known to such of our great great-grandfathers as were in the
+sea-faring line.
+
+But when did the last Dodo die? We cannot answer that question
+articulately, as to the very year, still less as to the season, or
+time of day--and we believe that no intimations of the event were
+sent to the kindred; but we do not hesitate to state our belief
+that that affecting occurrence or bereavement took place some time
+subsequent to the summer of 1681, and prior to 1693. The latest
+evidence of the existence of Dodos in the Mauritius is contained
+in a manuscript of the British Museum, entitled "A coppey of Mr
+Benj. Harry's Journall when he was chief mate of the Shippe Berkley
+Castle, Captn. Wm. Talbot commander, on voyage to the Coste and Bay,
+1679, which voyage they wintered at the Maurrisshes." On the return
+from India, being unable to weather the Cape of Good Hope, they
+determined to make for "the Marushes," the 4th June 1681. They saw
+the land on the 3d July, and on the 11th they began to build huts,
+and with much labour spread out their cargo to dry:--
+
+     "Now, having a little respitt, I will make a little description
+     of the island, first of its producks, then of its parts; ffirst,
+     of winged and feathered ffowle, the less passant are _Dodos,
+     whose fflesh is very hard_, a small sort of Gees, reasonably
+     good Teele, Cuckoes, Pasca fflemingos, Turtle Doves, large
+     Batts, many small birds which are good.... Heer are many wild
+     hoggs and land-turtle which are very good, other small creators
+     on the Land, as Scorpions and Musketoes, these in small numbers,
+     Batts and ffleys a multitude, Munkeys of various sorts."
+
+After this all historical evidence of the existence of the Dodo
+ceases, although we cannot doubt that they continued for yet a
+few years. The Dutch first colonised the Mauritius in 1644. The
+island is not above forty miles in length; and although, when first
+discovered, it was found clothed with dense forests of palms, and
+various other trees--among whose columnar stems and leafy umbrage
+the native creatures might find a safe abode, with food and
+shelter--how speedily would not the improvident rapacity of hungry
+colonists, or of reckless fresh-flesh-bereaved mariners, diminish
+the numbers of a large and heavy-bodied bird, of powerless wing
+and slow of foot, and useful, moreover, in the way of culinary
+consumption. Mr Strickland is of opinion that their destruction
+would be further hastened, or might be mainly caused, by the dogs,
+cats, and swine which accompany man in his migrations, and become
+themselves emancipated in the forests. All these creatures are more
+or less carnivorous, and are fond of eggs and young birds; and as
+the Dodo is said to have hatched only one egg at a time, a single
+savage mouthful might suffice to destroy the hope of a family for
+many a day.
+
+That the destruction of Dodos was completed by 1693, Mr Strickland
+thinks may be inferred from the narrative of Leguat, who, in
+that year, remained several months in the Mauritius, and, while
+enumerating its animal productions at considerable length, makes no
+mention whatever of the bird in question. He adds,--"L'isle était
+autrefois toute remplie d'oyes et de canards sauvages; de poules
+d'eau, de gelinottes, de tortues de mer et de terre, _mais tout cela
+est devenue fort rare_." And, while referring to the "hogs of the
+China kind," he states that these beasts do a great deal of damage,
+by devouring all the young animals they can catch. It is thus
+sufficiently evident that civilisation was making aggressive inroads
+on the natural state of the Mauritius even in 1693.
+
+The Dutch evacuated the island in 1712, and were succeeded by the
+French, who colonised it under the name of Isle de France; and this
+change in the population no doubt accounts for the almost entire
+absence of any traditionary knowledge of this remarkable bird among
+the later inhabitants. Baron Grant lived in the Mauritius for twenty
+years from 1740; and his son, who compiled his papers into a history
+of the island, states that no trace of such a bird was to be found
+at that time. In the _Observations sur la Physique_ for the year
+1778, there is a negative notice, by M. Morel, of the Dodo and its
+kindred. "Ces oiseaux, si bien décrits dans le tome 2 de l'Histoire
+des Oiseaux de M. le Comte de Buffon, n'ont jamais été vus aux Isles
+de France, &c., depuis plus de 60 ans que ces parages sont habités
+et visités par des colonies Françoises. Les plus anciens habitans
+assurent tous que ces oiseaux monstrueux leur ont toujours été
+inconnus." M. Bory St Vincent, who visited the Mauritius and Bourbon
+in 1801, and has given us an account of the physical features of
+those islands in his "Voyage," assures us (vol. ii. p. 306) that he
+instituted all possible inquiries regarding the Dodo (or Dronte) and
+its kindred, without being able to pick up the slightest information
+on the subject; and although he advertised "une grande recompense a
+qui pourrait lui donner la moindre indice de l'ancienne existence
+de cet oiseau, un silence universel a prouvé que le souvenir même
+du Dronte était perdu parmi les créoles." De Blainville informs us,
+(_Nouv. Ann. Mus._ iv. 31,) that the subject was discussed at a
+public dinner at the Mauritius in 1816, where were present several
+persons from seventy to ninety years of age, none of whom had any
+knowledge of any Dodo, either from recollection or tradition.
+Finally, Mr J. V. Thompson, who resided for some years in Mauritius
+prior to 1816, states, (_Mag. of Nat. Hist._, ii. 443,) that no more
+traces could then be found of the Dodo than of the truth of the tale
+of Paul and Virginia.
+
+But the historical evidence already adduced, as to the former
+existence of this bird, is confirmed in a very interesting manner
+by what may be called the pictorial proof. Besides the rude
+delineations given by the earlier voyagers, there are several old
+oil-paintings of the Dodo still extant, by skilful artists, who had
+no other object in view than to represent with accuracy the forms
+before them. These paintings are five in number, whereof one is
+anonymous; three bear the name of Roland Savery, an eminent Dutch
+animal-painter of the early portion of the seventeenth century, and
+one is by John Savery, Roland's nephew.
+
+The first of these is the best known, and is that from which the
+figure of the Dodo, in all modern compilations of ornithology,
+has been copied. It once belonged to George Edwards, who, in his
+work on birds, (vi. 294,) tells us, that "the original picture was
+drawn in Holland _from the living bird_, brought from St Maurice's
+island in the East Indies, in the early times of the discovery of
+the Indies by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. It was the property
+of the late Sir H. Sloane to the time of his death, and afterwards
+becoming my property. I deposited it in the British Museum as a
+great curiosity. The above history of the picture I had from Sir H.
+Sloane, and the late Dr Mortimer, secretary to the Royal Society."
+It is still preserved in the place to which Edwards had consigned
+it, and may be seen in the bird gallery, along with the actual foot
+already mentioned. Although without name or date, the similarity
+both of design and execution, leads to the conclusion that it was by
+one or other of the Saverys. It may be seen engraved in the _Penny
+Cyclopædia_, in illustration of Mr Broderip's article _Dodo_ in that
+work.
+
+The second painting, one of Roland Savery's, is in the royal
+collection at the Hague, and may be regarded as a _chef-d'Å“uvre_.
+It represents Orpheus charming the creation, and we there behold the
+Dodo spell-bound with his other mute companions. All the ordinary
+creatures there shown are depicted with the greatest truthfulness;
+and why should the artist, delighting, as he seems to have done, in
+tracing the most delicate features of familiar nature, have marred
+the beautiful consistency of his design by introducing a feigned,
+or even an exaggerated representation? We may here adduce the
+invaluable evidence of Professor Owen.
+
+     "While at the Hague, in the summer of 1838, I was much struck
+     with the minuteness and accuracy with which the exotic species
+     of animals had been painted by Savery and Breughel, in such
+     subjects as Orpheus charming the Beasts, &c., in which scope
+     was allowed for grouping together a great variety of animals.
+     Understanding that the celebrated menagerie of Prince Maurice
+     had afforded the living models to these artists, I sat down
+     one day before Savery's Orpheus and the Beasts, to make a list
+     of the species, which the picture sufficiently evinced that
+     the artist had had the opportunity to study alive. Judge of my
+     surprise and pleasure in detecting, in a dark corner of the
+     picture, (which is badly hung between two windows,) the _Dodo_,
+     beautifully finished, showing for example, though but three
+     inches long, the auricular circle of feathers, the scutation
+     of the tarsi, and the loose structure of the caudal plumes. In
+     the number and proportions of the toes, and in general form, it
+     accords with Edwards' oil-painting in the British Museum; and I
+     conclude that the miniature must have been copied from the study
+     of a living bird, which, it is most probable, formed part of
+     the Mauritian menagerie. The bird is standing in profile with a
+     lizard at its feet."--_Penny Cyclopædia_, xxiii. p. 143.
+
+Mr Strickland, in 1845, made a search through the Royal Gallery of
+Berlin, which was known to contain several of Savery's pictures.
+Among them, we are happy to say that he found one representing
+the Dodo, with numerous other animals, "in Paradise!" It was very
+conformable with the figure last mentioned; but what renders this,
+our third portrait, of peculiar interest, is, that it affords
+a date--the words "Roelandt Savery fe. 1626," being inscribed
+on one corner. As the artist was born in 1576, he must have
+been twenty-three years old when Van Neck's expedition returned
+to Holland; and as we are told by De Bry, in reference to the
+Mauritius, that "aliæ ibidem aves visæ sunt, quas walkvogel Batavi
+nominarunt, et _unam secum in Hollandiam importarunt_," it is quite
+possible that the portrait of this individual may have been taken at
+the time, and afterwards recopied, both by himself and his nephew,
+in their later pictures. Professor Owen leans to the belief that
+Prince Maurice's collection afforded the living prototype,--an
+opinion so far strengthened by Edwards's tradition, that the
+painting in the British Museum was drawn in Holland from a "living
+bird." Either view is preferable to Dr Hamel's suggestion, that
+Savery's representation was taken from the Dodo exhibited in London,
+as that individual was seen alive by Sir Hamon Lestrange in 1638,
+and must therefore (by no means a likely occurrence) have lived, in
+the event supposed, at least twelve years in captivity.
+
+Very recently Dr J. J. de Tchudi, the well-known Peruvian traveller,
+transmitted to Mr Strickland an exact copy of another figure of
+the Dodo, which forms part of a picture in the imperial collection
+of the Belvedere at Vienna--by no means a safe location, in these
+tempestuous times, for the treasures of either art or nature. But we
+trust that Prince Windischgratz and the hanging committee will now
+see that all is right, and that General Bem has not been allowed to
+carry off this drawing of the Dodo in his carpet-bag. It is dated
+1628.
+
+     "There are two circumstances," says Mr Strickland, "which give
+     an especial interest to this painting. First, the novelty of
+     attitude in the Dodo, exhibiting an activity of character which
+     corroborates the supposition that the artist had living model
+     before him, and contrasting strongly with the aspect of passive
+     stolidity in the other pictures. And, secondly, the Dodo is
+     represented as watching, apparently with hungry looks, the
+     merry wriggling of an eel in the water! Are we hence to infer
+     that the Dodo fed upon eels? The advocates of the Raptorial
+     affinities of the Dodo, of whom we shall soon speak, will
+     doubtless reply in the affirmative; but, as I hope shortly
+     to demonstrate that it belongs to a family of birds all the
+     other members of which are frugivorous, I can only regard the
+     introduction of the eel as a pictorial license. In this, as
+     in all his other paintings, Savery brought into juxtaposition
+     animals from all countries, without regarding geographical
+     distribution. His delineations of birds and beasts were
+     wonderfully exact, but his knowledge of natural history probably
+     went no further; and although the Dodo is certainly _looking at_
+     the eel, yet we have no proof that he is going to _eat_ it. The
+     mere collocation of animals in an artistic composition, cannot
+     be accepted as evidence against the positive truths revealed by
+     comparative anatomy."--(P. 30.)
+
+The fifth and last old painting of the Dodo, is that now in the
+Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and presented to it by Mr Darby in 1813.
+Nothing is known of its previous history. It is the work of John
+Savery, the nephew of Roland, and is dated 1651. Its most peculiar
+character is the colossal scale on which it has been designed,--the
+Dodo of this canvass standing about three feet and a half in height.
+
+     "It is difficult," observes our author, "to assign a motive to
+     the artist for thus magnifying an object already sufficiently
+     uncouth in appearance. Were it not for the discrepancy of
+     dates, I should have conjectured that this was the identical
+     "picture of a strange fowle hong out upon a cloth," which
+     attracted the notice of Sir Hamon Lestrange and his friends, as
+     they "walked London streets" in 1638; the delineations used by
+     showmen being in general more remarkable for attractiveness than
+     veracity."--(P. 31.)
+
+We have now exhibited the leading facts which establish both the
+existence and extinction of this extraordinary bird: the existence,
+proved by the recorded testimony of the earlier navigators, the few
+but peculiar portions of structure which still remain among us, and
+the _vera effigies_ handed down by artists coeval with the period in
+which the Dodo lived: the non-existence, deduced from the general
+progress of events, and the absence of all knowledge of the species
+since the close of the seventeenth century, although the natural
+productions of the Mauritius are, in other respects, much better
+known to us now than then. Why any particular creature should have
+been so formed as to be unable to resist the progress of _humanity_,
+and should in consequence have died, it is not for us to say. "There
+are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our
+philosophy;" and of this we may feel assured, that if, as we doubt
+not, the Dodo is extinct, then it has served its end, whatever that
+might be.
+
+There is nothing imperfect in the productions of nature, although
+there are many organisms in which certain forms and faculties are
+less developed than in others. There are certainly, in particular
+groups, such things as rudimentary organs, which belong, as it were,
+not so much to the individual species, as to the general system
+which prevails in the larger and more comprehensive class to which
+such species belong; and in the majority of which these organs
+fulfil a frequent and obvious function, and so are very properly
+regarded as indispensable to the wellbeing of such as use them.
+But there are many examples in animal life which indicate that
+particular parts of structure remain, in certain species, for ever
+in an undeveloped state. In respect to teeth, for instance, the
+Greenland whale may be regarded as a _permanent suckling_; for that
+huge creature having no occasion for these organs, they never pierce
+the gums, although in early life they are distinctly traceable in
+the dental groove of the jaws. So the Dodo was a kind of _permanent
+nestling_, covered with down instead of feathers, and with wings
+and tail (the oars and rudder of all aërial voyagers) so short and
+feeble as to be altogether inefficient for the purposes of flight.
+Why should such things be? We cannot say. Can any one say why they
+should not be? The question is both wide and deep, and they are
+most likely to plunge into it who can neither dive nor swim. We
+agree with Mr Strickland, that these apparently anomalous facts
+are, in reality, indications of laws which the great Creator has
+been pleased to form and follow in the construction of organised
+beings,--inscriptions in an unknown hieroglyphic, which we may rest
+assured must have a meaning, but of which we have as yet scarcely
+learned the alphabet. "There appear, however, reasonable grounds for
+believing that the Creator has assigned to each class of animals a
+definite type or structure, from which He has never departed, even
+in the most exceptional or eccentric modifications of form."
+
+As to the true position of the Dodo in systematic ornithology,
+various opinions have been emitted by various men. The majority seem
+to have placed it in the great Rasorial or Gallinaceous order, as a
+component part of the family _Struthionidæ_, or ostrich tribe.
+
+     "The bird in question," says Mr Vigors, "from every account
+     which we have of its economy, and from the appearance of
+     its head and foot, is decidedly gallinaceous; and, from the
+     insufficiency of its wings for the purposes of flight, it may
+     with equal certainty be pronounced to be of the _Struthious_
+     structure. But the foot has a strong hind-toe, and, with the
+     exception of its being more robust, in which character it still
+     adheres to the Struthionidæ, it corresponds to the Linnæan genus
+     _Crax_, that commences the succeeding family. The bird thus
+     becomes osculant, and forms a strong point of junction between
+     those two contiguous groups."--_Linn. Trans._ xiv. 484.
+
+M. de Blainville (in _Nouv. Ann. du Mus._ iv. 24,) contests this
+opinion by various arguments, which we cannot here report, and
+concludes that the Dodo is a raptorial bird, allied to the vultures.
+Mr Broderip, in his article before referred to, sums up the
+discussion as follows:--
+
+     "If the picture in the British Museum, and the cut in Bontius,
+     be faithful representations of a creature then living, to make
+     such a bird of prey--a vulture, in the ordinary acceptation
+     of the term--would be to set all the usual laws of adaptation
+     at defiance. A vulture without wings! How was it to be fed?
+     And not only without wings, but necessarily slow and heavy in
+     progression on its clumsy feet. The _Vulturidæ_ are, as we
+     know, among the most active agents for removing the decomposing
+     animal remains in tropical and inter-tropical climates, and they
+     are provided with a prodigal development of wing, to waft them
+     speedily to the spot tainted by the corrupt incumbrance. But no
+     such powers of wing would be required by a bird appointed to
+     clear away the decaying and decomposing masses of a luxuriant
+     tropical vegetation--a kind of vulture for vegetable impurities,
+     so to speak--and such an office would not be by any means
+     inconsistent with comparative slowness of pedestrian motion."
+
+Professor Owen, doubtless one of our greatest authorities, inclines
+towards an affinity with the vultures, and considers the Dodo as an
+extremely modified form of the raptorial order.
+
+     "Devoid of the power of flight, it could have had small chance
+     of obtaining food by preying upon the members of its own class;
+     and, if it did not exclusively subsist on dead and decaying
+     organised matter, it most probably restricted its attacks to
+     the class of reptiles, and to the littoral fishes, _Crustacea_,
+     &c., which its well-developed back-toe and claw would enable it
+     to seize, and hold with a firm gripe."--_Transactions of the
+     Zoological Society_, iii. p. 331.
+
+We confess that, setting aside various other unconformable features
+in the structure of the Dodo, the fact, testified by various
+authorities, of its swallowing stones, and having stones in its
+gizzard, for the mechanical triturition of its food, (a peculiarity
+unknown among the raptorial order,) is sufficient to bar the
+above view, supported though it be by the opinion of our most
+distinguished living anatomist.
+
+In a recent memoir by Professor J. F. Brandt (of which an abstract
+is given in the _Bulletin de la Class. Phys. de l'Acad. Imp. de St
+Petersburg_, vol. viii. No. 3) we have the following statement:--
+
+     "The Dodo, a bird provided with divided toes and cursorial feet,
+     is best classed in the order of the Waders, among which it
+     appears, from its many peculiarities, (most of which, however,
+     are quite referable to forms in this order,) to be an anomalous
+     link connecting several groups,--a link which, for the reasons
+     above given, inclines towards the ostriches, and especially also
+     towards the pigeons."
+
+We doubt the direct affinity to any species of the grallatorial
+order, an order which contains the cursorial or swift-running birds,
+very dissimilar in their prevailing habits to anything we know of
+the sluggish and sedentary Dodo. Professor Brandt may be regarded
+as having mistaken analogy for affinity; and, in Mr Strickland's
+opinion, he has in this instance wandered from the true method
+of investigation, in his anxiety to discover a link connecting
+dissevered groups.
+
+What then is, or rather was, the Dodo? The majority of inquirers
+have no doubt been influenced, though unconsciously, by its colossal
+size, and have consequently sought its actual analogies only among
+such huge species as the ostrich, the vulture, and the albatross.
+But the range in each order is often enormous, as, for example,
+between the _Falco cærulescens_, or finch falcon of Bengal, an
+accipitrine bird not bigger than a sparrow, and an eagle of the
+largest size; or between the swallow-like stormy petrel and the
+gigantic pelican of the wilderness. It appears that Professor J.
+T. Rheinhardt of Copenhagen, who rediscovered the cranium of the
+Gottorf Museum, was the first to indicate the direct relationship of
+the Dodo to the _pigeons_. He has recently been engaged in a voyage
+round the world, but it is known that, before he left Copenhagen in
+1845, he had called the attention of his correspondents, both in
+Sweden and Denmark, to "the striking affinity which exists between
+this extinct bird and the pigeons, especially the Trerons." The
+Columbine view is that taken up, and so admirably illustrated, by
+Mr Strickland, the most recent as well as the best biographer of
+the Dodo. He refers to the great strength and curvature of bill
+exhibited by several groups of the tropical fruit-eating pigeons,
+and adds:
+
+     "If we now regard the Dodo as an extreme modification, not of
+     the vultures, but of those vulture-like frugivorous pigeons,
+     we shall, I think, class it in a group whose characters are
+     far more consistent with what we know of its structure and
+     habits. There is no _a priori_ reason why a pigeon should not
+     be so modified, in conformity with external circumstances,
+     as to be incapable of flight, just as we see a grallatorial
+     bird modified into an ostrich, and a diver into a penguin. Now
+     we are told that Mauritius, an island forty miles in length,
+     and about one hundred miles from the nearest land, was, when
+     discovered, clothed with dense forests of palms and various
+     other trees. A bird adapted to feed on the fruits produced by
+     these forests would, in that equable climate, have no occasion
+     to migrate to distant lands; it would revel in the perpetual
+     luxuries of tropical vegetation, and would have but little need
+     of locomotion. Why then should it have the means of flying? Such
+     a bird might wander from tree to tree, tearing with its powerful
+     beak the fruits which strewed the ground, and digesting their
+     stony kernels with its powerful gizzard, enjoying tranquillity
+     and abundance, until the arrival of man destroyed the balance
+     of animal life, and put a term to its existence. Such, in my
+     opinion, was the Dodo,--a colossal, brevipennate, frugivorous
+     pigeon."--(P. 40.)
+
+For the various osteological and other details by which the
+Columbine character of the Dodo is maintained, and as we think
+established, we must refer our readers to Mr Strickland's
+volume,[22] where those parts of the subject are very skilfully
+worked out by his able coadjutor, Dr Melville.
+
+  [22] In regard to the figures by which it is illustrated, we beg
+  to call attention very specially to Plates VIII. and IX., as the
+  most beautiful examples of the lithographic art, applied to natural
+  history, which we have yet seen executed in this country.
+
+We shall now proceed to notice certain other extinct species
+which form the dead relations of the Dodo, just as the pigeons
+continue to represent the tribe from which they have departed. The
+island Rodriguez, placed about three hundred miles eastward of the
+Mauritius, though not more than fifteen miles long by six broad,
+possessed in modern times a peculiar bird, also without effective
+wings, and in several other respects resembling the Dodo. It was
+named _Solitaire_ by the early voyagers, and forms the species
+_Didus solitarius_ of systematic writers. The small island in
+question seems to have remained in a desert and unpeopled state
+until 1691, when a party of French Protestant refugees settled
+upon it, and remained for a couple of years. The Solitaire is thus
+described by their commander, Francois Leguat, who (in his _Voyage
+et Avantures_, 1708) has given us an interesting account both of
+his own doings in general, and of this species in particular.
+
+     "Of all the birds in the island, the most remarkable is that
+     which goes by the name of the _Solitary_, because it is very
+     seldom seen in company, though there are abundance of them. The
+     feathers of the male are of a brown-gray colour, the feet and
+     beak are like a turkey's, but a little more crooked. They have
+     scarce any tail, but their hind part, covered with feathers,
+     is roundish like the crupper of a horse: they are taller
+     than turkeys; their neck is straight, and a little longer in
+     proportion than a turkey's, when it lifts up its head. Its eye
+     is black and lively, and its head without comb or cap. They
+     never fly; their wings are too little to support the weight of
+     their bodies; they serve only to beat themselves, and to flutter
+     when they call one another. They will whirl about for twenty or
+     thirty times together on the same side, during the space of four
+     or five minutes. The motion of their wings makes then a noise
+     very much like that of a rattle, and one may hear it two hundred
+     paces off. The bone of their wing grows greater towards the
+     extremity, and forms a little round mass under the feathers, as
+     big as a musket-ball. That and its beak are the chief defence of
+     this bird. 'Tis very hard to catch it in the woods, but easier
+     in open places, because we run faster than they, and sometimes
+     we approach them without much trouble. From March to September
+     they are extremely fat, and taste admirably well, especially
+     while they are young; some of the males weigh forty-five pounds.
+
+     "The females" continues our enamoured author, "are wonderfully
+     beautiful, some fair, some brown,--I call them fair, because
+     they are of the colour of fair hair. They have a sort of peak
+     like a widow's upon their beak, which is of a dun colour. No
+     one feather is straggling from the other all over their bodies,
+     they being very careful to adjust themselves, and make them all
+     even with their beaks. The feathers on their thighs are round
+     like shells at the end, and, being there very thick, have an
+     agreeable effect. They have two risings on their crops, and the
+     feathers are whiter there than the rest, which lively represents
+     the fair neck of a beautiful woman. They walk with so much
+     stateliness and good grace, that one cannot help admiring and
+     loving them; by which means their fine mien often saves their
+     lives. Though these birds will sometimes very familiarly come
+     up near enough to one, when we do not run after them, yet they
+     will never grow tame. As soon as they are caught they shed
+     tears without crying, and refuse all manner of meat till they
+     die."--(P. 71.)
+
+Their natural food is the fruit of a species of plantain. When these
+birds are about to build, they select a clean place, and then gather
+together a quantity of palm-leaves, which they heap up about a foot
+and a half high, and there they sit. They never lay but one egg,
+which greatly exceeds that of a goose. Some days after the young
+one has left the nest, a company of thirty or forty grown-up birds
+brings another young one to it; and the new-fledged bird, with its
+father and mother, joining with the band, they all march away to
+some by-place.
+
+     "We frequently followed them," says Leguat, "and found that
+     afterwards the old ones went each their way alone, or in
+     couples, and left the two young ones together, and this we
+     called a _marriage_. This particularity has something in it
+     which looks a little fabulous; nevertheless what I say is
+     sincere truth, and what I have more than once observed with care
+     and pleasure."
+
+Leguat gives a figure of this singular bird, which in his plate has
+somewhat of the air and aspect of a Christmas goose, although, of
+course, it wants the web-feet. Its neck and legs are proportionally
+longer than those parts of the Dodo, and give it more of a
+_struthious_ appearance: but the existing osteological evidence is
+sufficient to show that it was closely allied to that bird, and
+shared with it in some peculiar affinities to the pigeon tribe. It
+is curious that, although Rodriguez is a British settlement, we
+have scarcely any information regarding it beyond what is to be
+found in the work last quoted, and all that we have since learned
+of the Solitary is that it has become extinct. Of late years Mr
+Telfair made inquiries of one of the colonists, who assured him
+that no such bird now existed on the island; and the same negative
+result was obtained by Mr Higgins, a Liverpool gentleman, who, after
+suffering shipwreck on Rodriguez, resided there for a couple of
+months. As far back as 1789, some bones incrusted by a stalagmite,
+and erroneously supposed to belong to the Dodo, were found in a cave
+in Rodriguez by a M. Labistour. They afterwards found their way to
+Paris, where they may still be seen. We are informed (_Proceedings
+of the Zoological Society_, Part I. p. 31) that Col. Dawkins
+recently visited these caverns, and dug without finding any thing
+but a small bone. But M. Eudes succeeded in disinterring various
+bones, among others those of a large species of bird no longer found
+alive upon the island. He adds that the Dutch, who first landed at
+Rodriguez, left cats there to destroy the rats, which annoyed them.
+These cats are now so numerous as to prove very destructive to the
+poultry, and he thinks it probable that these feline wanderers
+may have extirpated the bird in question, by devouring the young
+ones as soon as they were hatched,--a destruction which may have
+been effected even before the island became inhabited by the human
+race. Be that as it may, Mr Telfair sent collections of the bones
+to this country, one of which may be seen in the museum of the
+Andersonian Institution, Glasgow. Mr Strickland mourns over the loss
+or disappearance of those transmitted to the Zoological Society
+of London. We have been informed within these few days that, like
+the head of the Danish Dodo, they have been rediscovered, lying
+in a stable or other outhouse, in the vicinity of the museum of
+that Society. Both the Glasgow specimens, and those in Paris, have
+been carefully examined and compared by Mr Strickland, and their
+Columbine characters are minutely described by his skilful and
+accurate coadjutor, Dr Melville, in the second portion of his work.
+Mr S. very properly regards certain peculiarities, alluded to by
+Leguat, such as the feeding on dates or plantains, as confirmatory
+of his view of the natural affinities already mentioned.
+
+So much for the Solitaire of Rodriguez and its affinities.[23]
+A singular fact, however, remains to be yet attended to in this
+insular group. The volcanic island of Bourbon seems also to have
+contained _brevi-pennate_ birds, whose inability to fly has likewise
+led to their extinction. This island, which lies about a hundred
+miles south-west of Mauritius, was discovered contemporaneously by
+Pedro de Mascaregnas, in the sixteenth century. The earliest notice
+which concerns our present inquiry, is by Captain Castleton, who
+visited Bourbon in 1613. In the narrative, as given by Purchas, we
+read as follows:--
+
+     "There is store of land-fowl, both small and great, plentie of
+     doves, great parrats, and suchlike, and a great fowl of the
+     bignesse of a turkie, very fat, and so short-winged that they
+     cannot flie, beeing white, and in a manner tame; and so are all
+     other fowles, as having not been troubled nor feared with shot.
+     Our men did beat them down with sticks and stones."--(Ed. 1625,
+     vol. i. p. 331.)
+
+  [23] The companions of Vasco de Gama had, at an earlier period,
+  applied the name of _Solitaires_ to certain birds found in an
+  island near the Cape of Good Hope; but these must not be confounded
+  with those of the Didine group above referred to. They were, in
+  fact, penguins, and their wings were somewhat vaguely compared
+  to those of bats, by reason of the peculiar scaly or undeveloped
+  state of the feathers in these birds. Dr Hamel has shown that the
+  term _Solitaires_, as employed by the Portuguese sailors, was a
+  corruption of _sotilicairos_, an alleged Hottentot word, of which
+  we do not profess to know the meaning, being rather rusted in that
+  tongue. We know, however, that penguins are particularly gregarious,
+  and, therefore, by no means solitary, although they may be extremely
+  _sotilicairious_ for anything we can say to the contrary.
+
+Bontekoe van Hoorn, a Dutch voyager, spent twenty-one days in
+Bourbon in 1618, and found the island to abound in pigeons, parrots,
+and other species, among which "there were also _Dod-eersen_, which
+have small wings; and so far from being able to fly, they were so
+fat that they could scarcely walk, and when they tried to run, they
+dragged their under side along the ground." There is no reason to
+suppose that these birds were actual Dodos, of the existence of
+which in Bourbon there is not the slightest proof. That Bontekoe's
+account was compiled from recollection rather than from any journal
+written at the time, is almost certain from this tragical fact,
+that his ship was afterwards blown up, and he himself was the sole
+survivor. There is no likelihood that he preserved his papers any
+more than his portmanteau, and he no doubt wrote from remembrance of
+a large _brevipennate_ bird, whose indolent and unfearing tameness
+rendered it an easy prey. Knowing that a bird of a somewhat similar
+nature inhabited the neighbouring island, he took it for the same,
+and called it Dodo, by a corresponding term.
+
+A Frenchman of the name of Carré visited Bourbon in 1668, and in his
+_Voyages des Indes Orientales_, he states as follows:--
+
+     "I have seen a kind of bird which I have not found elsewhere; it
+     is that which the inhabitants call the _oiseau solitaire_, for
+     in fact it loves solitude, and only frequents the most secluded
+     places. One never sees two or more of them together, they are
+     always alone. It is not unlike a turkey, were it not that its
+     legs are longer. The beauty of its plumage is delightful to
+     behold. The flesh is exquisite; it forms one of the best dishes
+     in this country, and might form a dainty at our tables. We
+     wished to keep two of these birds to send to France and present
+     them to his Majesty, but, as soon as they were on board ship,
+     they died of melancholy, having refused to eat or drink."--(Vol.
+     i. p. 12.)
+
+Almost immediately after M. Carré's visit, a French colony was sent
+from Madagascar to Bourbon, under the superintendence of M. de la
+Haye. A certain Sieur D. B. (for this is all that is known of his
+name or designation) was one of the party, and has left a narrative
+of the expedition in an unpublished journal, acquired by Mr Telfair,
+and presented by him to the Zoological Society of London. Besides
+confirming the accounts given by preceding writers, this unknown
+author affords a conclusive proof that a second species of the
+same group inhabited the Island of Bourbon. We are indebted to Mr
+Strickland for the original passages and the following translation:--
+
+     1. "_Solitaires._--These birds are so called because they always
+     go alone. They are the size of a large goose, and are white,
+     with the tips of the wings and the tail black. The tail-feathers
+     resemble those of an ostrich; the neck is long, and the beak
+     is like that of a woodcock, but larger; the legs and feet like
+     those of turkeys."
+
+     2. "_Oiseaux bleus_, the size of _Solitaires_, have the plumage
+     wholly blue, the beak and feet red, resembling the feet of a
+     hen. They do not fly, but they run extremely fast, so that a dog
+     can hardly overtake them; they are very good eating."
+
+There is proof that one or other of these singular and now unknown
+birds existed in Bourbon, at least till toward the middle of the
+last century. M. Billiard, who resided there between 1817 and 1820,
+states (in his _Voyages aux Colonies Orientales_) that, at the time
+of the first colonisation of the island, "the woods were filled with
+birds which were not alarmed at the approach of man. Among them was
+the _Dodo_ or _Solitaire_, which was pursued on foot: they were
+still to be seen in the time of M. de la Bourdonnaye, who sent a
+specimen, as a curiosity, to one of the directors of the company."
+As the gentleman last named was governor of the Isles of France and
+Bourbon from 1735 to 1746, these birds, Mr Strickland observes,
+_must_ have survived to the former, and _may_ have continued to the
+latter date at least. But when M. Bory St Vincent made a careful
+survey of the island in 1801, no such species were to be found. The
+description of the bill and plumage shows that they were not genuine
+Dodos, but merely entitled to be classed among their kindred. Not a
+vestige of their remains is in the hands of naturalists, either in
+this or any other country.
+
+We have now finished, under Mr Strickland's guidance, our exposition
+of this curious group. The restriction, at any time, of such large
+birds to islands of so small a size, is certainly singular. We
+cannot, however, say what peculiar and unknown geological changes
+these islands may have undergone, by which their extent has been
+diminished, or their inter-connexion destroyed. Volcanic groups,
+such as those in question, are no doubt generally of less ancient
+origin than most others; but it is by no means unlikely that these
+islands of Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius, may once have formed
+a united group, or much more expanded mass of terra firma than they
+now exhibit; and that, by their partial submergence and separation,
+the dominions of the Dodo and its kindred have, like those of many
+other heavy chieftains of high degree, been greatly diminished and
+laid low. But into this question of ancient boundaries we cannot now
+enter.
+
+How pleasant, on some resplendent summer evening, in such a
+delicious clime as that of the Mauritius, the sun slowly sinking
+amid a gorgeous blaze of light, and gilding in green and gold the
+spreading summits of the towering palms,--the murmuring sea sending
+its refreshing vesper-breathings through all the "pillared shades"
+which stretch along that glittering shore,--how pleasant, we say,
+for wearied man to sit in leafy umbrage, and sup on Dodos and their
+kindred! Alas! we shall never see such days again.
+
+Dr Hamel, as native of a northern country, is fond of animal food,
+and has his senses, naturally sharp enough, so whetted thereby, that
+he becomes "sagacious of his _quarry_ from afar." He judiciously
+observes, in his recent memoir, (_Der Dodo_, &c.,) that in Leguat's
+map the place is accurately indicated where the common kitchen of
+the settlers stood, and where the great tree grew under which they
+used to sit, on a bench, to take their meals. Both tree and bench
+are marked upon the map. "At these two spots," says Dr Hamel, "it is
+probable that the bones of a complete skeleton of Leguat's solitaire
+might be collected; those of the head and feet on the site of the
+kitchen, and the sternum and other bones on that of the tree."
+
+     "I feel confident," says Mr Strickland, "that if active
+     naturalists would make a series of excavations in the alluvial
+     deposits, in the beds of streams, and amid the ruins of old
+     institutions in Mauritius, Bourbon, and Rodriguez, he would
+     speedily discover the remains of the dodo, the two 'solitaires,'
+     or the 'oiseau bleu.' But I would especially direct attention
+     to the caves with which these volcanic islands abound. The
+     chief agents in the destruction of the brevipennate birds were
+     probably the runaway negroes, who for many years infested
+     the primeval forests of these islands, and inhabited the
+     caverns, where they would doubtless leave the scattered bones
+     of the animals on which they fed. Here, then, may we more
+     especially hope to find the osseous remains of these remarkable
+     animals."--(P. 61.)
+
+
+
+
+THE SWORD OF HONOUR.
+
+A TALE OF 1787.
+
+
+Any old directory of the latter half of the last century will still
+show, to the curious in such matters, the address of Messrs. Hope
+and Bullion, merchants and general dealers at No. 4, in a certain
+high and narrow street in the city of London. Not that this, in
+itself, is a very valuable part of history; but to those who look
+up at the dirty windows of the house as it now stands, and compare
+the narrow pavement and cit-like appearance of the whole locality
+with the splendours of Oxford Square or Stanhope Place, where the
+business occupant of the premises has now his residence, it will be
+a subject of doubt, if not of unbelief, that Mr Bullion--who dwelt
+in the upper portions of the building--was as happy, and nearly as
+proud, as his successor at the present time. Yet so it is; and,
+without making invidious comparisons with the distinguished-looking
+lady who does the honours of the mansion in Oxford Square--her
+father was a sugar baker, and lived in a magnificent country house
+at Mussel hill. I will venture to state, that Mr Bullion had great
+reason to be satisfied with the manners and appearance of the young
+person who presided at his festive board. Such a rich laugh, and
+such a sweet voice, were heard in no other house in the town. And
+as to her face and figure, the only dispute among painters and
+sculptors was, whether the ever-varying expression of her features
+did not constitute her the true property of the Reynoldses and
+Romneys,--or the ever-exquisite moulding of her shape did not bring
+her within the province of the severer art. At the same time it must
+be confessed, that the subject of these disputes took no interest
+either in brush or chisel. A bright, happy, clever creature--but no
+judge of sciences and arts--was Louise Bullion. Books she had read
+a few, and music she had studied a little; yet, with her slender
+knowledge of the circulating library, she talked more pleasantly
+than Madame de Staël, and sang so sweetly, so naturally, and so
+truly, that Mrs Billington was a fool to her. She was a parlour
+Jenny Lind. But Mrs Billington was not the only person who was a
+fool to her. Oh no!--that sort of insanity was epidemic, and seized
+on all that came near her. Even Mr Cocker the book-keeper--a little
+man of upwards of fifty, who was so simple, and knew so little of
+anything but arithmetic, that he always considered himself, and was
+considered by the people, a boy just getting on in his teens--even
+Mr Cocker was a fool to her too. For when he was invited to tea,
+and had his cups sweetened by her hand, and his whole heart turned,
+by some of her pathetic ballads, into something so soft and oily
+that it must have been just like one of the muffins she laid on his
+plate, he used to go away with a very confused idea of cube roots,
+and get into the most extraordinary puzzles in the rule of three.
+Miss Louise, he said, would never go out of his head; whereas she
+had never once got into it, having established her quarters very
+comfortably in another place a little lower down, just inside of
+the brass buttons on his left breast; and yet the poor old fellow
+went down to his grave without the remotest suspicion that he had
+ever been in love. The people used to say that his perplexities, on
+those occasions, were principally remarkable after supper--for an
+invitation to tea, in those hospitable times, included an afterpiece
+in the shape of some roaring hot dishes, and various bowls of a
+stout and jovial beverage, whose place, I beg to say, is poorly
+supplied by any conceivable quantity of negus and jellies! Yes,
+the people used to say that Cocker's difficulties in calculation
+arose from other causes than his admiration of Miss Louise and her
+songs; but this was a calumny--and, in fact, any few extra glasses
+he took were for the express purpose of clearing his head, after it
+had got bewildered by her smiles and music; and therefore how could
+they possibly be the cause of his bewilderment? I repeat that Mr
+Cocker was afflicted by the universal disease, and would have died
+with the greatest happiness to give her a moment's satisfaction.
+And so would all the clerks, except one, who was very short-sighted
+and remarkably deaf, and who was afterwards tried on suspicion of
+having poisoned his wife; and so would her aunt, Miss Lucretia
+Smith, though her kindness was so wonderfully disguised that the
+whole world would have been justified in considering it harshness
+and ill-nature. It was only her way of bestowing it--as if you were
+to pour out sugar from a vinegar cruet; and a good old, fussy,
+scolding, grumbling, advising, tormenting, and very loving lady was
+Miss Lucretia Smith--very loving, I say, not only of her niece, and
+her brother-in-law, but of anybody that would agree to be loved.
+Traditions existed that, in her youth, she had been a tremendous
+creature for enthusiasms and romances; that she had flirted with all
+the officers of the city militia, from the colonel downwards, and
+with all the Lord Mayors' chaplains for an infinite series of years;
+and that, though nothing came of all her praiseworthy efforts, time
+had had a strengthening instead of a weakening effect on all these
+passages--till now, in her fifty-third year, she actually believed
+she had been in love with them all, and on the point of marriage
+with more than half.
+
+And this constituted the whole of Mr Bullion's establishment--at
+least all his establishment which was regularly on the books;
+but there was a young man so constantly in the house--so much at
+home there--so welcome when he came, so wondered at when he staid
+away--in short, so much one of the family, that I will only say, if
+he was not considered a member of it, he ought to have been. For
+what, I pray you, constitutes membership, if intimacy, kindness,
+perpetual presence, and filial and fraternal affection--filial to
+the old man, fraternal to the young lady--do not constitute it?
+You might have sworn till doomsday, but Mr Cecil Hope would never
+have believed that his home was anywhere but at No. 4. Nay, when,
+by some accident, he found himself for a day in a very pretty, very
+tasteful, and very spacious house he had in Hertfordshire, with
+a ring-fence of fourteen hundred acres round it, he felt quite
+disconsolate, and as if he were in a strange place. The estate
+had been bought, the house had been built--as the money had been
+acquired, by his father, who was no less a person than the senior
+partner in the firm of Hope and Bullion, but had withdrawn his
+capital from the trade, laid it out in land, superintended the
+erection of his mansion, pined for his mercantile activities, and
+died in three years of having nothing to do. So Cecil was rich
+and unencumbered; he was also as handsome as the Apollo, who,
+they say, would be a very vulgar-looking fellow if he dressed
+like a Christian; and he (not the Apollo, but Cecil Hope) was
+four-and-twenty years of age, five feet eleven in height, and
+as pleasant a fellow as it is possible to conceive. So you may
+guess whether or not he was in love with Louise. Of course he
+was,--haven't I said he was a young man of some sense, and for whom
+I have a regard? He adored her. And now you will, perhaps, be asking
+if the admiration was returned--and that is one of the occasions on
+which an impertinent reader has a great advantage over the best and
+cunningest of authors. They can ask such impudent questions,--which
+they would not dare to do unless under the protection and in the
+sanctuary, as it were, of print, and look so amazingly knowing while
+pausing for a reply, that I have no patience with the fellows at
+all; and, in answer to their demand whether Louise returned the
+love of Cecil Hope, I will only say this--I will see them hanged
+first, before I gratify their curiosity. Indeed, how could I hold
+up my head in any decent society again, if I were to commit such
+a breach of confidence as that? Imagine me confessing that she
+looked always fifty times happier in his presence than when he was
+away--imagine me confessing that her heart beat many thumps quicker
+when anybody mentioned his name--imagine me, I say, confessing
+all this, and fifty things more, and then calling myself a man of
+honour and discretion! No: I say again I will see the reader hanged
+first, before I will answer his insolent question; so let that be
+an understood thing between us, that I will never reveal any secret
+with which a young lady is kind enough to intrust me.
+
+And this, I think, is a catalogue of all the household above the
+good old warehouse. Ah! no,--there is the excellent Mr Bullion
+himself. He is now sixty; he has white hair, a noble, even a
+_distingué_ figure: look into any page of any fashionable novel of
+any year, for an explanation of what that means. On the present
+occasion, you would perhaps conclude that the long-backed,
+wide-tailed blue coat, the low-flapped waistcoat, tight-fitting
+knee-br--ch--s, white cotton stockings in-doors, long gaiters out,
+with bright-buckled square-toed shoes, may be a little inconsistent
+with the epithet _distingué_. But this is a vulgar error, and
+would argue that nobody could look _distingué_ without lace and
+brocade. Now, only imagine Mr Bullion in a court-dress, with a
+silk bag floating over his shoulder, to tie up long tresses which
+have disappeared from his head for many years; a diamond-hilted
+rapier that probably has no blade, and all the other portions of
+that graceful and easy style of habiliment,--dress him in this way,
+and look at him bowing gracefully by means of his three-cornered
+hat, and you will surely grant he would be a _distingué_ figure
+then,--and why not in his blue coat and smalls?
+
+But _distingué_-looking men, even in court-dresses, may be great
+rascals, and even considerable fools. Then was Mr Bullion a
+rascal?--no. A fool?--no. In short, he was one of the best of men,
+and could have been recognised during his life, if any one had
+described him in the words of his epitaph.
+
+Well,--we must get on. Day after day, for several months before
+the date we have got to, a sort of mystery seemed to grow deeper
+and deeper on the benevolent features of the father of Louise.
+Something--nobody could tell what--had lifted him out of his
+ordinary self. He dropt dark hints of some great change that was
+shortly to take place in the position of the family: he even
+took many opportunities of lecturing Cecil Hope on the miseries
+of ill-assorted marriages, particularly where the lady was of a
+family immeasurably superior to the man's. Miss Smith thought he was
+going to be made Lord Mayor; Cecil Hope supposed he was about to be
+appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer; and Louise thought he was
+growing silly, and took no notice of all the airs he put on, and the
+depreciatory observations he made on the rank of a country squire.
+As to Mr Cocker, he was already fully persuaded that his master was
+the greatest man in the world, and, if he had started for king,
+would have voted him to the throne without a moment's hesitation.
+At last the origin of all these proceedings on the part of Mr
+Bullion began to be suspected. A little dark man, with the brightest
+possible eyes, shrouded in a great cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat
+carefully drawn over his brows, and just showing to the affrighted
+maid who opened the door the aforesaid eyes, fixed on her with such
+an expression of inquiry that they fully supplied the difficulty
+he experienced in asking for Mr Bullion in words,--for he was a
+foreigner, not much gifted with the graces of English pronunciation.
+This little dark and inquisitive man came to the house two or
+three times a-week, and spent several hours in close consultation
+with Mr Bullion. On emerging from these councils, it was easy to
+see, by that gentleman's countenance, whether the affair, whatever
+it was, was in a prosperous condition or not. Sometimes he came
+into the supper-room gloomy and silent, sometimes tripping in
+like a sexagenarian Taglioni, and humming a French song,--for his
+knowledge of that language was extraordinary,--and his whole idea
+of a daughter's education seemed to be, to make her acquire the
+true Parisian accent, and to read Molière and Corneille. So Louise,
+to gratify the whim of her father, had made herself perfect in
+the language, and could have entered into a correspondence with
+Madame de Sevigné without a single false concord, or a mistake in
+spelling. Who could this little man be, who had such influence
+on her father's spirits? They watched him, but could see nothing
+but the dark cloak and slouched hat, which disappeared down some
+side street, and would have puzzled one of the detective police to
+keep them in view. Her thoughts rested almost constantly on this
+subject. Even at church--for they were regular church-goers, and
+very decided Protestants, as far as their religious feelings could
+be shown in hating the devil and the Pope--she used to watch her
+father's face, but could read nothing there but a quiet devotion
+during the prayers, and an amiable condescension while listening to
+the sermon. Rustlings of papers as the little visitor slipt along
+the passage, revealed the fact that there were various documents
+required in their consultations; and on one particular occasion,
+after an interview of unusual duration, Mr Bullion accompanied his
+mysterious guest to the door, and was overheard, by the conclave
+who were assembled in the little parlour for supper, very warm in
+his protestations of obligation for the trouble he had taken, and
+concluding with these remarkable words--"Assure his Excellency of
+my highest consideration, and that I shall not lose a moment in
+throwing myself at the feet of the King." Louise looked at Cecil on
+hearing these words; and as Cecil would probably have been looking
+at Louise, whether he had heard these words or not, their eyes
+met with an expression of great bewilderment and surprise,--the
+said bewilderment being by no means diminished when his visitor
+replied--"His Excellency kisses your hands, and I leave your
+Lordship in the holy keeping of the saints."
+
+"Papa is rather flighty--don't you think so, Cecil?" said Louise.
+
+"Both mad," answered that gentleman with a shake of the head.
+
+"Mr Bullion is going to be Lord Mayor," said Miss Lucretia, with
+a vivid remembrance of the flirtations and grandeurs of the
+Mansion-house.
+
+Mr Cocker said nothing aloud, and was sorely puzzled for a long
+time, but ended with a confused notion, derived principally from the
+protection of the saints, that his patron was likely to be Pope.
+All, however, sank into a gaping silence of anticipation, when
+Mr Bullion, after shutting the door, as soon as his visitor had
+departed, began to whistle Malbrook, and came into the supper-room.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"Enjoy yourselves, _mes enfants_," said the old gentleman; "I have
+not kept you waiting, I hope. Miss Smith, I kiss your hand--_ma
+fille, embrassemoi_."
+
+"What's the matter with you, papa?" replied the young lady, and not
+complying with the request; "you speak as if you were a foreigner.
+Have you forgotten your mother-tongue?"
+
+And certainly it was not difficult to perceive that there was an
+unusual tone assumed by Mr Bullion, with the slightest possible
+broken English admitted into his language.
+
+"My mother-tongue?" said the senior. "Bah! 'tis not the time yet--I
+have not forgot it--not quite--but kiss me, Louise."
+
+"Well, since you speak like a Christian, I won't refuse; but do be a
+good, kind, communicative old man, and tell us what has kept you so
+long. Do tell us who that hideous man is."
+
+"Hideous, my dear!--'tis plain you never saw him."
+
+"He's like the bravo of Venice," said Louise; "isn't he, Cecil?"
+
+"He's more like Guy Faux," said the gentleman appealed to.
+
+"He's like a gipsy fortune-teller," continued Miss Smith.
+
+"Uncommon like a 'ousebreaker," chimed in Mr Cocker: "I never see
+such a rascally-looking countenance."
+
+"Are you aware, all this time, that you are giving these
+descriptions of a friend of mine,--a most learned, lofty,
+reverend--but, pshaw! what nonsense it is, getting angry with folks
+like you. Eagles should fight with eagles."
+
+But the lofty assumptions of Mr Bullion made no impression on his
+audience. One word, however, had stuck in the tympanum of Miss
+Smith's ear, and was beating a tremendous tattoo in her heart--
+
+"Reverend, did you say, brother-in-law. If that little man is
+reverend, mark my words. I know very well what he's after. If we're
+not all spirited off to the Disquisition in Spain, I wish I may
+never be marr--I mean--saved."
+
+"Nonsense, aunt," said Louise. "You're not going to turn Dissenter,
+father?"
+
+"Better that than be a Papist, anyhow," sulked out Lucretia.
+
+"Miss Smith," said Mr Bullion, "have the kindness, madam, to make
+no observation on what I do, or what friends I visit or receive in
+this house. If the gentleman who has now left me were a Mahommedan,
+he should be sacred from your impertinent remarks. Give me another
+potato, and hold your tongue."
+
+"To you, Mr Hope," continued the senior, "and to you, Mr Cocker,
+and to you, Miss Lucretia, who are unmixed plebeians from your
+remotest known ancestry, it may appear surprising that a man so
+willingly undertakes the onerous duties entailed on him by his lofty
+extraction, as to surrender the peace and contentment which he feels
+to be the fitter accompaniments of your humble yet comfortable
+position. For my daughter and me far other things are in store--we
+sit on the mountain-top exposed to the tempest, though glorified by
+the sunshine, and look without regret to the contemptible safety
+and inglorious ease of the inhabitants of the vale. Take a glass of
+wine, Mr Cocker. I shall always look on you with favour."
+
+Mr Cocker took the glass as ordered, and supposed his patron was
+repeating a passage out of Enfield's _Speaker_. "Fine language,
+sir, very fine language, indeed! particular that about sunshine on
+the mountains. A remarkable clever man, Mr Enfield; and I can say
+Ossian's Address to the Sun myself."
+
+But in the mean time Louisa walked round the table, and laid hold of
+her father's hand, and putting her finger on his pulse, looked with
+a face full of wisdom, while she counted the beats; and giving a
+satisfied shake of the head, resumed her seat.
+
+"A day or two's quiet will do, without a strait waistcoat," she
+said; "but I will certainly tell the porter never to admit that
+slouch-faced muffled-up impostor, who puts such nonsense into his
+head."
+
+But at this moment a violent pull at the bell startled them all.
+When the door was opened a voice was heard in the hall which said,
+"Pour un instant, Monseigneur;" whereupon Mr Bullion started up,
+and replying, "Oui, mon père," hurried out of the room, and left his
+party in more blank amazement than before.
+
+The surmises, the exclamations, the whispers and suspicions that
+passed from one to the other, it is needless to record; it will
+suffice to say that, after an animated conversation with the
+mysterious visitor, Mr Bullion once more joined the circle and said,
+"You will be ready, all of you, to start for France to-morrow. I
+have business of importance that calls for my presence in Tours. Say
+not a word, but obey."
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+So, in a week, they were all comfortably settled in a hotel at Tours.
+
+Mr Bullion was sitting in the parlour, apparently in deep and
+pleasant contemplation; for the corners of his mouth were
+involuntarily turned up, and he inspected the calf of his leg with
+self-satisfied admiration. Mr Cocker was on a chair in the corner,
+probably multiplying the squares in the table-cover by the flowers
+in the paper.
+
+"How do you like France, Mr Cocker?" said Mr Bullion.
+
+"Not at all, sir; the folks has no sense; and no wonder we always
+wallop them by sea or land."
+
+"Hem! Must I remind you, sir, that this is _my_ country; that the
+French are my countrymen; and that you by no means wallop them
+either by sea or land."
+
+"_You_ French! _you_ Frenchman!" replied Mr Cocker; "that _is_
+a joke! Bullion ain't altogether a French name, I think? No,
+no; it smells of the bank; _it_ does. You ain't one of the
+_parlevous_--_you_ ain't, that's certain."
+
+"How often have I to order you, sir, not to doubt my word?" said Mr
+Bullion; and emphacised his speech with a form of expression that is
+generally considered a clencher.
+
+"There! there!" cried Cocker, triumphant; "I told you so. Is there
+ever a Frenchman could swear like that? They ain't Christians enough
+to give such a jolly hearty curse as yourn; so you see, sir, it's no
+go to pass yourself off for a _Mounseer_."
+
+"Leave the room, sir, and send Mr Hope to me at once!"
+
+Cocker obeyed, puzzled more and more at the fancy his master was
+possessed with to deny his country.
+
+"It would, perhaps, have been wiser," thought Mr Bullion, "to
+have left the plebeian fools at home till everything was formally
+completed; but still, nothing, I suppose, would have satisfied them
+but the evidence of their own eyes."
+
+"Mr Hope," he said, as that young gentleman entered the room, "sit
+down beside me; nay, no ceremony, I shall always treat you with
+condescension and regard."
+
+"You are very good, sir."
+
+"I am, sir; and I trust your conduct will continue such as to
+justify me in remaining so. You may have observed, Mr Hope, a change
+in my manner for some time past. You can't have been fool enough,
+like Miss Smith and Mr Cocker, to doubt the reality of the fact I
+stated, namely, that I am French by birth,--did you doubt it, sir?"
+
+"Why, sir,--in fact--since you insist on an answer--"
+
+"I see you did. Well, sir, I pity and pardon you. I will tell you
+the whole tale, and then you will see that some alteration must take
+place in our respective positions. In the neighbourhood of this
+good city of Tours I was born. My father was chief of the younger
+branch of one of the noblest houses in France,--the De Bouillons
+of Chateau d'Or. He was wild, gay, thoughtless, and fell into
+disgrace at court. He was imprisoned in the Bastille; his estates
+confiscated; his name expunged from the book of nobility; and he
+died poor, forgotten, and blackened in name and fame. I was fifteen
+at the time. I took my father's sword into the Town Hall; I gave
+it in solemn charge to the authorities, and vowed that when I had
+succeeded in wiping off the blot from my father's name, and getting
+it restored to its former rank, I would reclaim it at their hands,
+and assume the state and dignity to which my birth entitled me. I
+went to England; your father, my good Cecil, took me by the hand:
+porter, clerk, partner, friend,--I rose through all the gradations
+of the office; and when he died, he left me the highest trust he
+could repose in anyone,--the guardianship of his son."
+
+"I know sir,--and if I have never sufficiently thanked you for your
+care--"
+
+"Not that--no, no--I'm satisfied, my dear boy--and Louise--the
+Lady Louise I must now call her--change of rank--duties of lofty
+sphere--former friends--ill arranged engagements--" continued the
+new-formed magnate in confusion, blurting out unconnected words,
+that showed the train of his thoughts without expressing them
+distinctly; while Mr Hope sat in amazement at what he had heard, but
+no longer doubting the reality of what was said.
+
+"Well, sir?" he inquired.
+
+"I changed my name with my country, though retaining as much of the
+sound of it as I could; and Louis Bullion was a complete disguise
+for the expatriated Marquis de Bouillon de Chateau d'Or. I married
+Miss Smith, and lost her shortly after Louise's birth. For years
+I have been in treaty with the French ambassador through his
+almoner, the Abbé, whose visits you thought so mysterious. At last
+I succeeded, and to-morrow I claim my father's sword, resume the
+hereditary titles of my house, and take my honoured place among the
+peers and paladins of France."
+
+"And have you informed Louise?"--inquired Cecil.
+
+"Lady Louise," interrupted Mr Bullion.
+
+"Of this change in her position?"
+
+"Why, my dear Cecil, to tell you truth--it's not an easy matter to
+get her to understand my meaning. Yesterday I attempted to explain
+the thing, exactly as I have done to you; but instead of taking it
+seriously, she began with one of her provoking chuckles, and chucked
+me under the chin, and called me Marquy-darky. In fact, I wish the
+explanation to come from you."
+
+"I feel myself very unfit for the task," said the young man, who
+foresaw that this altered situation might interfere with certain
+plans of his own. "I hope you will excuse me; you can tell her the
+whole affair yourself, for here she comes."
+
+And the young lady accordingly made her appearance. After looking at
+them for some time--
+
+"What are you all so doleful about?" she began. "Has papa bitten
+you too, Cecil? Pray don't be a duke--it makes people so very
+ridiculous."
+
+"Miss Louise--mademoiselle, I ought to say," said Mr Bullion, "I
+have communicated certain facts to Cecil Hope."
+
+"Which he doesn't believe--do you, Cecil?" interposed the daughter.
+
+"He does believe them, and I beg you will believe them too. They are
+simply, that I am a nobleman of the highest rank, and you are my
+right honourable daughter."
+
+"Oh, indeed! and how was our cousin Spain when you heard from
+Madrid?--our uncle Austria, was he quite well?--was George of
+England recovered of the gout?--and above all, how was uncle Smith,
+the shipowner of Wapping?"
+
+"Girl! you will drive me mad," replied the Marquis, "with your
+Smiths and Wappings. I tell you, what I have said is really the
+case, and to-morrow you will see the inauguration with your own
+eyes. Meantime, I must dress, to receive a deputation of the
+nobility of the province, who come to congratulate me on my arrival."
+
+"Oh, what's this I hear," exclaimed Miss Smith, rushing into the
+room, "are you a real marquis, Mr Bullion?"
+
+"Yes, madam, I have that honour."
+
+"And does the marriage with my sister stand good?"
+
+"To be sure, madam."
+
+"Then, I'm very glad of it. Oh how delightful!--to be my Lord this,
+my Lady that. I am always devoted to the aristockicy; and now, only
+to think I am one of them myself."
+
+"How can you be so foolish, aunt?--I'm ashamed of you," said Louise;
+"what terrible things you were telling me, an hour ago, of the
+wickedness of the nobility?"
+
+"Miss Smith, though she does not express herself in very correct
+language, has more sensible ideas on this subject than you," said
+the marquis, looking severely at his daughter, who was looking, from
+time to time, with a malicious smile at the woe-begone countenance
+of Cecil Hope. "Remember, madam, who it is you are," continued the
+senior.
+
+"La, papa! don't talk such nonsense," replied the irreverent
+daughter. "Do you think I am eighteen years of age, and don't know
+perfectly well who and what I am?"
+
+"Three of your ancestors, madam, were Constables of France."
+
+"That's nothing to boast of," returned Louise; "no, not if they had
+been inspectors of police."
+
+"You are incorrigible, girl, and have not sense enough to have a
+proper feeling of family pride."
+
+"Haven't I? Am I not proud of all the stories uncle David tells
+us of his courage, when he was mate of an Indiaman? and aunt
+Jenkison--don't you remember, sir, how she dined with us at
+Christmas, and had to walk in pattens through the snow, and tumbled
+in Cheapside?"
+
+A laugh began to form itself round the eyes of the French magnate,
+which made his countenance uncommonly like what it used to be when
+it was that of an English merchant. Louise saw her success, and
+proceeded.
+
+"And how you said, when the poor old lady was brought home in a
+chair, that it was the punch that did it?"
+
+"He, he! and so it was. Didn't I caution her, all the time, that it
+was old Jamaica rum?" broke out the father; but checked himself, as
+if he were guilty of some indecorum.
+
+"And don't you remember how we all attended the launch of uncle
+Peter's ship, the Hope's Return? Ah, they were happy days, father!
+weren't they?"
+
+"No, madam; no--vulgar, miserable days: forget them as quick as you
+can. I tell you, when you resume your proper sphere, every eye will
+be turned to your beauty: nobles will be dying at your feet."
+
+"I trust not, sir," hurriedly burst in Mr Hope. "I don't see what
+right any nobles will have to be dying at Louise's feet."
+
+"Don't you, sir?" said Louise. "Indeed! I beg to tell you, that as
+many as choose shall die at my feet. I'll trouble you, Mr Hope,
+not to interfere with the taste of any nobleman who has a fancy to
+so queer a place for his death-bed." But while she said this, she
+tapped him so playfully with her little white hand, and looked at
+him so kindly with her beautiful blue eyes, that the young gentleman
+seemed greatly reassured; and in a few minutes, as if tired of the
+conversation, betook himself to the other room.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Suddenly a great noise was heard in the street, and interrupted the
+lectures of father and aunt on the dignity of position and the pride
+of birth. Miss Lucretia and Louise ran to the window, and saw a
+cavalcade of carriages, with outriders, and footmen on the rumble,
+and all the stately accompaniments of the old-fashioned family
+coach, which, after a slow progress along the causeway, stopped at
+the hotel door.
+
+"My friends! my noble friends!" exclaimed the marquis; "and I in
+this miserable dress!"
+
+"The noble men! the salts of the earth!" equally exclaimed Miss
+Smith; "and I in my morning gownd!"
+
+Saying this, she hastily fled into her bed-room, which, according to
+the fashion of French houses, opened on the sitting-room, and left
+the father and Louise alone.
+
+The father certainly was in no fitting costume for the dignity
+of his new character. He was dressed according to the fashion of
+the respectable London trader of his time--a very fitting figure
+for 'Change, but not appropriate to the Marquis de Bouillon de
+Chateau d'Or. Nor, in fact, was his disposition much more fitted
+for his exalted position than his clothes. To all intents and
+purposes, he was a true John Bull: proud of his efforts to attain
+wealth--proud of his success--proud of the freedom of his adopted
+land--and, in his secret heart, thinking an English merchant
+several hundred degrees superior in usefulness and worth to all the
+marquises that ever lived on the smiles of the Grand Monarque. The
+struggle, therefore, that went on within him was the most ludicrous
+possible. To his family and friends he presented that phase of his
+individuality that set his nobility in front; to the French nobles,
+on the other hand, he was inclined to show only so much of himself
+as presented the man of bills and invoices; and in both conditions,
+by a wonderful process of reasoning, in which we are all adepts,
+considered himself raised above the individuals he addressed.
+
+"Did they see you at the window?" he said, in some trepidation,
+while the visitors were descending from their coaches.
+
+"To be sure," replied Louise; "and impudent-looking men they were."
+
+"Ah! that's a pity. Do, for heaven's sake, my dear, just slip in
+beside your aunt. They are a very gay polite people, the nobles of
+France--"
+
+"Well; and what then?"
+
+"And they might take ways of showing it, we are not used to in
+England. Do hide yourself, my dear--there, that's a good girl."
+And just as he had succeeded in pushing her into the bedroom, and
+begged her to lock herself in, the landlord of the hotel ushered
+four or five noblemen into the apartment, as visitors to the
+Marquis de Bouillon. The eldest of the strangers--about forty years
+old--bespangled with jewels, and ornamented with two or three stars
+and ribbons, looked with some surprise on the plainly drest and
+citizen-mannered man, who came forward to welcome them.
+
+"We came to pay our compliments to my lord the Marquis de Bouillon
+de Chateau d'Or."
+
+"And very glad he is to see you, gentlemen," said their host.
+
+"You?--impossible! He speaks with an English accent."
+
+"An impostor!" replied another of the nobles, to whom the last
+sentence had been addressed in a whisper."
+
+"I am, indeed,--and truly glad to make your acquaintance, I assure
+you."
+
+"Well," resumed the Frenchman, "let me present to you the Viscount
+de Lanoy--the Baron Beauvilliers--the Marquis de Croissy--for
+myself, I'm Duc de Vieuxchateau."
+
+"Sit down, gentlemen--I beg," said De Bouillon, after bowing to the
+personages named. "A charming place this Tours, and I'm very glad to
+see you--fine weather, gentlemen."
+
+"I trust you have come with the intention of residing among us. Your
+estates, I conclude, are restored along with your titles."
+
+"No, gentlemen, they're not. But we may manage to buy some of them
+back again. How's land here?"
+
+"Land?" inquired the duke, rather bewildered with the question.
+
+"Yes--how is it, as to rent? How much an acre?"
+
+"'Pon my word, I don't know. When I want money I tell the steward,
+and the people--the--serfs, I suppose, they are--who hold the plough
+and manage the land--give him some, and he brings it to me."
+
+"Oh! but you don't know how many years' purchase it's worth?"
+
+To this there was no answer--statistics, at that time, not being a
+favourite study in France.
+
+"But, marquis," inquired another, "hasn't the King restored you your
+manorial rights--your _droits de seigneur_?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then what's the use of land without them?" was the very pertinent
+rejoinder.
+
+"What are they, sir?" inquired the marquis.
+
+"Why, if a tenant of yours has a pretty daughter," said one.
+
+"Or a wife," said another.
+
+"Or even a niece," said a third.
+
+"Well, sir, what then? I don't take."
+
+"Oh, you're a wag, marquis!" replied the duke. "Didn't I see, as we
+stopt before your window, a countenance radiant with beauty?"
+
+"Eyes like stars," chimed in another.
+
+"Cheeks like roses. Aha! Monsieur le Marquis--who was it?--come!"
+
+"Why, that,--oh, that,--that's a young lady under my protection,
+gentlemen; and I must beg you to change the conversation."
+
+"Indeed! you're a lucky fellow! The old fool mustn't be allowed to
+keep such beauty to himself."
+
+"Certainly not," returned the vicomte, also in a whisper.
+
+"Lucky!" said De Bouillon--"yes, gentlemen, I am lucky. If you knew
+all, you would think so, I'm sure."
+
+"She loves you, then, old simpleton?"
+
+"I think she does--I know she does--"
+
+"May we not ask the honour of being presented?"
+
+"Some other time, gentlemen--not now--she's not here--she's gone out
+for a walk."
+
+"Impossible, my dear lord; we must have met her as we came up
+stairs."
+
+"She has a headache--she's gone to lie down for a few minutes," said
+the marquis, getting more and more anxious to keep Louise from the
+intrusion of his visitors.
+
+"I have an excellent cure for headaches of all kinds," exclaimed
+the baron, and proceeded towards the bed-room door. The Marquis de
+Bouillon, however, put himself between; but the duke and vicomte
+pulled him aside, and the baron began to rat-tat on the door.
+
+"Come forth, madam!" he began, "we are dying for a sight of your
+angelic charms. De Bouillon begs you to honour us with your
+presence. Hark, she's coming!" he added, and drew back as he heard
+the bolt withdrawn on the other side.
+
+"Stay where you are! don't come out!" shouted De Bouillon, still in
+the hands of his friends. "I charge you, don't move a step!" But his
+injunctions were vain; the door opened, and, sailing majestically
+into the room, drest out in hoop and furbelow, and waving her fan
+affectedly before her face, appeared Miss Lucretia Smith--
+
+"Did you visit to see me, gentlemen? I'm always delighted to see any
+one as is civil enough to give us a forenoon call."
+
+The French nobles, however, felt their ardour damped to an
+extraordinary degree, and replied by a series of the most respectful
+salaams.
+
+"Profound veneration," "deepest reverence," and other expressions
+of the same kind, were muttered by each of the visiters; and in a
+short time they succeeded, in spite of Miss Lucretia's reiterated
+invitations, in bowing themselves out of the room. They were
+accompanied by the marquis to their carriages, while Miss Smith was
+gazing after them, astonished, more than pleased, at the wonderful
+politeness of their manner. Louise slipt out of the bed-room, and
+slapt her astonished aunt upon the shoulder--
+
+"You've done it, aunt!--you've done it now! A word from you recalls
+these foreigners to their senses."
+
+"It gives me a high opinion," replied Miss Smith, "of them French.
+They stand in perfect awe of dignity and virtue."
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Great were the discussions, all that day, among the English party in
+the hotel--the father concealing his disappointment at the behaviour
+of his fellow nobles, under an exaggerated admiration of rank, and
+all its attributes; Louise professing to chime in with her father's
+ideas, for the pleasant purpose of vexing Cecil Hope; Mr Cocker
+still persuading himself the Frenchmanship of his old master was a
+little bit of acting that would end as soon as the curtain fell; and
+Miss Lucretia devising means of making up for her failures with so
+many curates, by catching a veritable duke. With the next morning
+new occupations began. The marquis, dressed in the fantastic apparel
+of a French courtier, exchanged compliments with his daughter,
+who was also magnificently attired, to do honour to the occasion.
+Mr Hope tried in vain to get her to sink from the lofty style she
+assumed, and had strong thoughts of setting off for Hertfordshire,
+and marrying a farmer's daughter out of revenge. The father was so
+carried away by family pride, and the daughter enjoyed the change
+in her rank so heartily, that there seemed no room in the heart
+of either for so prosaic a being as a plain English squire. And
+yet, every now and then, there gleamed from the corner of Louise's
+eye, or stole out in a merry tone of her voice, the old familiar
+feeling, so that he could not altogether give way to despair, but
+waited in patience what the chapter of accidents might bring. At
+one o'clock the marquis set off for the town-hall, where he was to
+go through the ceremony of reclaiming his father's sword, and have
+the blot on the scutcheon formally removed; after which he was to
+entertain the town authorities, and the neighbouring nobility, at
+dinner; the evening to conclude with a ball, in the preparation for
+which the ladies were to be left at home. Mr Hope accompanied him
+to the door of the town-hall,--but there he professed to find his
+feelings overpowered, and declined to witness the ceremony that,
+he said, broke the connexion which had existed so long between the
+names of Hope and Bullion; but, ere he could return to the hotel,
+several things had occurred that had a material influence on his
+prospects, and these we must now proceed to relate. Miss Lucretia
+Smith continued her oratory in the ears of her devoted niece after
+the gentlemen had gone, the burden thereof consisting, principally,
+in a comparison between the nobles of France and the shopocracy
+of London,--till that young lady betook herself to the bedroom
+window already mentioned, to watch for Cecil's return. She had
+not been long at her watch-post, when a carriage, with the blinds
+drawn up, and escorted by seven or eight armed men, with masks on
+their faces, pulled up at the door. Of this she took no particular
+notice, but kept looking attentively down the street. But, a minute
+or two after the closed carriage drove under the _porte cochère_,
+a young gentleman was ushered into the presence of Miss Smith, and
+was, by that young lady, received with the highest _empressement_
+possible. She had only had time to improve her toilette by putting
+on Louise's shawl and bonnet, which happened to be lying on a chair;
+and, in spite of the shortness of the view she had had of him the
+day before, she immediately recognised him as one of her brother's
+visiters, the Baron Beauvilliers.
+
+"Permit me, madam," he said, in very good English, "to apologise for
+my intrusion, but I have the authority of my friend De Bouillon to
+consider myself here at home."
+
+"Oh, sir, you are certainly the politest nation on the face of the
+earth, you French--that I must say; but I may trust, I hope, to
+the honour of a gent like you? You won't be rude to an unoffended
+female? for there ain't a soul in the 'ouse that could give me the
+least assistance."
+
+The baron bowed in a very assuring manner, and, taking a seat beside
+her, "May I make bold, madam, to ask who the tawdry silly-looking
+young person is who resides under De Bouillon's protection?"
+
+"Sir--under Mr Bull--I mean, under the marquee's protection? I don't
+understand you."
+
+"Exactly as I suspected. I guessed, from the dignity of your
+appearance, that such an infamous proceeding was entirely unknown
+to you. Command my services, madam, in any way you can make them
+available. Let me deliver you from the scandal of being in the same
+house with a person of that description."
+
+"Oh, sir!" replied Miss Smith, "you are certainly most obliging.
+When we are a little better acquainted perhaps--in a few days,
+or even in one--I shall be happy to accept your offer; but, la!
+what will my brother-in-law say if I accept a gentleman's offer at
+minute's notice?"
+
+Miss Smith accompanied this speech with various blushes and pauses,
+betokening the extent of her modest reluctance; but the baron either
+did not perceive the mistake she had made, or did not think it worth
+while to notice it.
+
+"I will convey the destroyer of your peace away from your sight.
+Show me only the room she is in. And consider, madam, that you will
+make me the proudest of men by allowing me to be your knight and
+champion on this occasion."
+
+"Really, sir, I can't say at present where the gipsy can be.
+Brother-in-law has been very sly; but if I can possibly ferret her
+out, won't I send her on her travels? Wait but a minute, sir: I'll
+come to you the moment she can be found."
+
+But the baron determined to accompany her in her search, and
+together they left the room, two active members of the Society for
+the Suppression of Vice. Louise had heard the noise of voices,
+without distinguishing or attending to what was said, but a low and
+hurried tap at the door now attracted her notice.
+
+"Miss Louise--ma'am--for heaven's sake, come out!" said the voice of
+Mr Cocker through the key-hole; "for here's a whole regiment of them
+French, and they wants to run away with YOU."
+
+"With me, Cocker!" exclaimed Louise, coming into the parlour. "What
+is it you mean?"
+
+"What I say, miss--and your aunt is as bad as any on 'em. She's
+searching the house, at this moment, to give you tip into their
+hands. She can't refuse nothing to them noblesse, as she calls 'em.
+The gentleman has gone down to the court-yard to see that nobody
+escapes, and here we are, like mice in a trap."
+
+"Go for Cecil, Cocker; leave me to myself," said Louise--her
+features dilating into tiger-like beauty, with rage and
+self-confidence. "Go, I tell you--you'll find him returning from the
+town-hall--and bid him lose not a moment in coming to my help." She
+waved Mr Cocker impatiently from her, and returned for a moment into
+the bed-room.
+
+"Madam, hist! I beg you will be quick!" exclaimed the baron,
+entering the parlour; "I can't wait much longer. What a detestable
+old fool it is!" he went on, in a lower voice; "she might have
+found the girl long ere this. "Well, well, have you found her?" he
+continued, addressing Louise, who issued from the bed-room in some
+of the apparel of her aunt, and assuming as nearly as she could the
+airs and graces of that individual. "Tell me, madam, where she is."
+
+"La! sir, how is one to find out these things in a moment--besides,
+they ain't quite proper subjects for a young lady to be concerned
+with," replied Louise, keeping her bashful cheek from the sight of
+the baron with her enormous fan.
+
+"Then, madam, point with that lovely finger of yours, and I shall
+make the discovery myself."
+
+Louise pointed, as required, to the gallery, along which, at that
+moment, her quick eye caught the step of Miss Lucretia; and the
+baron, going to the door, gave directions to his attendants to seize
+the lady, and carry her without loss of time to the Parc d'Amour,
+a hotel on the outskirts of Tours. He then closed the door, and
+listened--no less than did Louise--to the execution of his commands.
+
+"There, madam," he said, as the scuffle of seizure and a very faint
+scream were heard, "they've got her! Your pure presence shall never
+more be polluted by her society. A naughty man old De Bouillon, and
+unaccustomed to the strict morality of France. Adieu!"
+
+"Adieu, sir!" said Louise; but there was a tone in her voice, or
+something in her manner, that called the attention of her visitor.
+He went up to her, laid his hand upon the fan, and revealed before
+him, beautiful from alarm and indignation, was the face of Louise de
+Bouillon! "So, madam! this was an excellent device, but I have more
+assistance at hand. Ho! Pierre! François!" he began to call. "I have
+another carriage in the yard--you sha'nt escape me so."
+
+"Stop, sir!" exclaimed Louise, and placed herself between him and
+the door. "These are not the arts of wooing we are used to in
+England. I expected more softness and persuasion."
+
+"Alas, madam, 'tis only the shortness of the opportunity that
+prevents me from making a thousand protestations. But, after all,
+what is the use of them? Ho! François!"
+
+As he said this, he approached nearer to Louise, and even laid his
+hand upon her arm. But with the quickness of lightning, she made
+a dart at the diamond-covered hilt of her assailant's sword, and
+pulling it from the sheath, stood with the glittering point within
+an inch of the Frenchman's eyes.
+
+"Back, back!" she cried, "or you are a dead man--or frog--or
+monkey--or whatever you are!"
+
+Each of these names was accompanied with a step in advance; and
+there was too savage a lustre in her look to allow the unfortunate
+baron to doubt for a moment that his life was in the highest peril.
+
+"Madam," he expostulated, "do be careful--'tis sharp as a needle."
+
+"Back, back!" she continued, advancing with each word upon his
+retreating steps--"you thread-paper--you doll-at-a-fair--you stuffed
+cockatoo--back, back!" And on arriving at the bed-room door, she
+gave a prodigiously powerful lunge in advance, and drove her victim
+fairly into the room, and, with an exclamation of pride and triumph,
+locked him in. But, exhausted with the excitement, she had only time
+to lay the sword on the table, wave the key three times round her
+head in sign of victory, and fall fainting into the arms of Cecil
+Hope, who at that moment rushed into the room.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The ceremony in the town-hall passed off with the greatest _éclât_;
+and the dinner was probably thought the finest part of the day's
+entertainment by all but the newly re-established noble himself.
+Flushed with the glories of the proceeding, and also with the wine
+he had swallowed to his own health and happiness, he sallied forth
+with his friends of the preceding day--except, of course, the
+Baron Beauvilliers--and, as he himself expressed it, was awake for
+anything, up to any lark.
+
+"A lark, says my lord?" inquired the Duke de Vieuxchateau.
+
+"Ay," replied the marquis, "if it's as big as a turkey, all the
+better. That champaign is excellent tipple, and would be cheap at
+eighty-four shillings per dozen."
+
+The French nobles did not quite understand their companion's
+phraseology, but were quite willing to join him in any extravagance.
+
+"What shall we do?" cried one; "shall we break open the jail?"
+
+"No," said De Bouillon: "hang it! that's a serious matter. But I'll
+tell you what, I've no objection to knock down a charley."
+
+"No, no! let's go to _Rouge et Noir_."
+
+"Boys, boys!" at last exclaimed the Vicomte de Lanoy, "I'll tell
+you what we shall do,--Beauvilliers told me that, while we were all
+engaged at the dinner, he was going to seize a beautiful creature,
+and carry her off to the Parc d'Amour."
+
+"Wrong, decidedly wrong!" said De Bouillon at this proposition. "Who
+is she?"
+
+"Why, the companion, you understand, of an old twaddling fool, who
+has no right to so much beauty. Beauvilliers did not tell me his
+name, but 'tis only one of the _bourgeoisie_, and we surely have a
+right to do as we like with _them_."
+
+"Ah yes! of course," replied De Bouillon, "I did not think of that.
+What then?"
+
+"Why, sir, we shall play as good a trick on Beauvilliers as he
+designed for the ancient gentleman. Let's get there before him, and
+carry her from him!"
+
+"Agreed, agreed!"
+
+"No, no, I must declare off," said the marquis. "'Tis a bad business
+altogether, and this would make it worse."
+
+"But who is to carry the lady?" inquired the duke, without attending
+to the scruples of his friend.
+
+"Toss for it," suggested the vicomte. A louis was thrown into the
+air. "Heads! heads!" cried the nobleman. "Tails!" said De Bouillon.
+
+"'Tis tails!" exclaimed the vicomte. "Marquis, the chance is
+yours--you've won."
+
+"Oh! have I?" replied the unwilling favourite of fortune; "I've won,
+have I?"
+
+"You don't seem overpleased with your good luck," said the duke;
+"give me your chance, and I shall know how to make better use of it."
+
+"No, gentlemen, I'll manage this affair myself."
+
+"Come on, then!--_vive la joie!_"--and with great joviality they
+pursued their way to the Parc d'Amour.
+
+But they had been preceded in their journey to that hostelry by
+Louise, attended by Cecil Hope and Mr Cocker. By the administration
+of a douceur to the waiter, they obtained an _entrée_ to the
+apartment designed for the baron and his prey, and had scarcely time
+to ensconce themselves behind the window-curtain, when Miss Lucretia
+was escorted into the room. There were no symptoms of any violent
+resistance to her captors having been offered, and she took her seat
+on the sofa without any perceptible alarm.
+
+"Well, them's curious people, them French!" she soliloquised when
+the men had left her. "If that 'ere baron fell in love with a body,
+couldn't he say so without all that rigmarole about Mr Bullion's
+behaviour, and pulling a body nearly to pieces? I'm sure if he had
+axed me in a civil way, I wouldn't have said no. But, lawkins! here
+he comes."
+
+So saying, she enveloped herself in Louise's shawl, and pulled
+Louise's bonnet farther on her face, and prepared to enact the part
+of an offended, yet not altogether unforgiving beauty. But the
+door, on being slowly opened, presented, not the countenance of the
+baron, but the anxious face of Mr Bullion himself. The three French
+nobles pushed him forward. "Go on," they said; "make the best use
+of your eloquence. We will watch here, and guard the door against
+Beauvilliers himself."
+
+The marquis, now thoroughly sobered, slowly advanced: "If I can save
+this poor creature from the insolence of those _roués_, it will be
+well worth the suffering it has cost. Trust to me, madam," he said,
+in a very gentle voice, to the lady: "I will not suffer you to be
+insulted while I live. Come with me, madam, and you shall not be
+interrupted by ever a French profligate alive." On looking closely
+at the still silent lady on the sofa, he was startled at recognising
+a dress with which he was well acquainted.
+
+"In the name of heaven!" he said, "I adjure you to tell me who you
+are. Are you--is it possible--can you be my Louise!"
+
+"No, Mr Bullion," replied Miss Lucretia, lifting up the veil,
+and turning round to the trembling old man. "And I must say I'm
+considerably surprised to find you in a situation like this."
+
+"And you, madam--yourself--how came you here?"
+
+"A young gentleman--nobleman, I should say--ran off with me here,
+and I expected him every minute when you came in."
+
+"And Louise?" inquired the father, in an agitated voice--"when did
+you leave her? Oh! my folly to let her a moment out of my sight!--to
+reject Cecil Hope!--to bedizen myself in this ridiculous fashion!
+Where, oh where is Louise?"
+
+"Here, sir," exclaimed that lady, coming forward from behind the
+window-curtain.
+
+"And safe? Ah! but I need not ask. I see two honest Englishmen by
+your side."
+
+"And one of them, sir, says he'll never leave it," said Louise.
+
+"Stop a moment," replied the marquis. "Ho! gentlemen, come in."
+
+At his request his companions entered the room.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the marquis, "when I determined to reclaim my
+father's sword, I expected to find it bright as Bayard's, and
+unstained with infamy or dishonour. When I wished to resume my
+title, I hoped to find it a sign of the heroic virtues of my
+ancestors, but not a cloak for falsehood and vice. I warn you,
+sirs, your proceedings will be fatal to your order, and to your
+country. For myself, I care not for this sword,"--he threw it on
+the ground--"this filagree I despise,"--he took off his star and
+ribbon--"and I advise you to leave this chamber as fast as you can
+find it convenient."
+
+The French nobles obeyed.
+
+"Here, Cocker! off with all this silk and satin; get me my gaiters
+and flaxen wig; and, please Heaven, one week will see us in the
+little room above the warehouse."
+
+"Preparing, sir, to move into Hertfordshire?" inquired Louise,
+leaning on Cecil's arm.
+
+"Ay, my child; and, in remembrance of this adventure, we shall hang
+up among the pictures in the hall,
+
+  THE SWORD OF HONOUR."
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE.[24]
+
+  [24] _Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of Grange, Knight_,
+  &c. &c. WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London.
+
+
+It must be allowed that a perusal of Scottish history betrays more
+anomalies than are to be found in the character of almost any other
+people. It is not without reason that our southern neighbours
+complain of the difficulty of thoroughly understanding our national
+idiosyncrasy. At one time we appear to be the most peaceable race
+upon the surface of the earth--quiet, patient, and enduring;
+stubborn, perhaps, if interfered with, but, if let alone, in no way
+anxious to pick a quarrel. Take us in another mood, and gunpowder is
+not more inflammable. We are ready to go to the death, for a cause
+about which an Englishman would not trouble himself; and amongst
+ourselves, we divide into factions, debate, squabble, and fight with
+an inveteracy far more than commensurate with the importance of the
+quarrel. Sometimes we seem to have no romance; at other times we are
+perfect Quixotes. The amalgamated blood of the Saxon and the Celt
+seems, even in its union, to display the characteristics of either
+race. We rush into extremes: one day we appear over-cautious, and on
+the next, the _perfervidum ingenium Scotorum_ prevails.
+
+If these remarks be true as applied to the present times, they
+become still more conspicuous when we regard the troublous days of
+our ancestors. At one era, as in the reign of David I., we find
+the Scottish nation engaged, heart and soul, in one peculiar phase
+of religious excitement. Cathedrals and abbeys are starting up in
+every town. All that infant art can do--and yet, why call it infant,
+since, in architecture at least, it has never reached a higher
+maturity?--is lavished upon the structure of our fanes. Melrose, and
+Jedburgh, and Holyrood, and a hundred more magnificent edifices,
+rise up like exhalations throughout a poor and barren country; the
+people are proud in their faith, and perhaps even prouder in the
+actual splendour of their altars. A few centuries roll by, and we
+find the same nation deliberately undoing and demolishing the works
+of their forefathers. Hewn stone and carved cornices, tracery,
+mullions, and buttresses, have now become abominations in their
+sight. Not only must the relics of the saints be scattered to the
+winds of heaven, and their images ground into dust, but every church
+in which these were deposited or displayed, must be dismantled as
+the receptacle of pollution. The hammer swings again, but not with
+the same pious purpose as of yore. Once it was used to build; now
+it is heaved to destroy. Aisle and archway echo to the thunder of
+its strokes, and, amidst a roar of iconoclastic wrath, the venerable
+edifice goes down. Another short lapse of time, and we are lamenting
+the violence of the past, and striving to prop, patch up, and
+rebuild what little remnant has been spared of the older works of
+devotion.
+
+The same anomalies will be found if we turn from the ecclesiastical
+to the political picture. Sometimes there is a spirit of loyalty
+manifested, for which it would be difficult to find a parallel. The
+whole nation gathers round the person of James IV.; and earl and
+yeoman, lord and peasant, chief and vassal, lay down their lives
+at Flodden for their king. His successor James V., in no respect
+unworthy of his crown, dies of a broken heart, deserted by his peers
+and their retainers. The unfortunate Mary, welcomed to her country
+with acclamation, is made the victim of the basest intrigues, and
+forced to seek shelter, and find death in the dominions of her
+treacherous enemy. The divine right, in its widest meaning and
+acceptation, is formally recognised by the Scottish estates as the
+attribute of James VII.; three years afterwards, a new convention
+is prompt to recognise an alien. Half a century further on, we are
+found offering the gage of battle to England in support of the
+exiled family.
+
+This singular variety of mood, of which the foregoing are a
+few instances, is no doubt partly attributable to the peculiar
+relationship which existed between the crown and the principal
+nobility. The latter were not cousins by courtesy only--they were
+intimately connected with the royal family, and some of them were
+near the succession. Hence arose jealousy amongst themselves, a
+system of feud and intrigue, which was perpetuated for centuries,
+and a constant effort, on the part of one or other of the
+conflicting magnates, to gain possession and keep custody of the
+royal person, whenever minority or weakness appeared to favour the
+attempt. But we cannot help thinking, that the disposition of the
+people ought also to be taken into account. Fierce when thwarted,
+and with a memory keenly retentive of injury, the Scotsman is in
+reality a much more impulsive being than his southern neighbour. His
+sense of justice and order is not so strongly developed, but his
+passion glows with a fire all the more intense because to outward
+appearance it is smothered. His ideas of social duty are different
+from those of the Englishman. Kindred is a closer tie--identity of
+name and family is a bond of singular union. Clanship, in the broad
+acceptation of the word, has died out for all practical purposes;
+chieftainship is still a recognised and a living principle. The
+feudal times, though gone, have left their traces on the national
+character. Little as baronial sway, too often tantamount to sheer
+oppression, can have contributed towards the happiness of the
+people, we still recur to the history of these troublous days with a
+relish and fondness which can hardly be explained, save through some
+undefined and subtle sympathy of inheritance. Though the objects for
+which they contended are now mere phantoms of speculation we yet
+continue to feel and to speak as if we were partisans of the cause
+of our ancestors, and to contest old points with as much ardour as
+though they were new ones of living interest to ourselves.
+
+We have been led into this strain of thought by the perusal of a
+work, strictly authentic as a history, and yet as absorbing in
+interest as the most coloured and glowing romance. Sir William
+Kirkaldy of Grange, the subject of these Memoirs, played a most
+conspicuous part in the long and intricate struggles which convulsed
+Scotland, from the death of James V. until the latter part of the
+reign of Queen Mary. Foremost in battle and in council, we find his
+name prominently connected with every leading event of the period,
+and his influence and example held in higher estimation than those
+of noblemen who were greatly his superiors in rank, following,
+and fortune. In fact, Kirkaldy achieved, by his own talent and
+indomitable valour, a higher reputation, and exercised, for a time,
+a greater influence over the destinies of the nation, than was ever
+before possessed by a private Scottish gentleman, with the glorious
+exception of Wallace. In an age when the sword was the sole arbiter
+of public contest and of private quarrel, it was a proud distinction
+to be reputed, not only at home but abroad--not only by the voice of
+Scotland, but by that of England and France--the best and bravest
+soldier, and the most accomplished cavalier of his time. Mixed up in
+the pages of general history, too often turbidly and incoherently
+written, the Knight of Grange may not be estimated, in the scale of
+importance, at the level of such personages as the subtle Moray, or
+the vindictive and treacherous Morton: viewed as all individual,
+through the medium of these truthful and most fascinating memoirs,
+he will be found at least their equal as a leader and a politician,
+and far their superior as a generous and heroic man.
+
+His father, Sir James Kirkaldy, was a person of no mean family or
+reputation. He occupied, for a considerable time, the office of Lord
+High Treasurer of Scotland, and, according to our author--
+
+     "Enjoyed, in a very high degree, the favour and confidence of
+     King James V.; and though innumerable efforts were made by his
+     mortal foe Cardinal Beatoun, and others, to bring him into
+     disgrace as a promoter of the Reformation, they all proved
+     ineffectual, and the wary old baron maintained his influence to
+     the last."
+
+Old Sir James seems to have been one of those individuals with whom
+it is neither safe nor pleasant to differ in opinion. According
+to his brother-in-law, Sir James Melville of Halhill, he was "a
+stoute man, who always offered, by single combate, and at point of
+the sword, to maintain whatever he said;" a testimonial which, we
+observe, has been most fitly selected as the motto of this book, the
+son having been quite as much addicted to the wager of battle as the
+father; nor, though a strenuous supporter of the Reformation, does
+he appear to have imbibed much of that meekness which is inculcated
+by holy writ. He was not the sort of man whom John Bright would have
+selected to second a motion at a Peace Congress; indeed, the mere
+sight of him would have caused the voice of Elihu Burritt to subside
+into a quaver of dismay. Cardinal Beatoun, that proud and licentious
+prelate, to whose tragical end we shall presently have occasion to
+advert, was the personal and bitter enemy of the Treasurer, as he
+was of every other independent Scotsman who would not truckle to his
+power. But James V., though at times too facile, would not allow
+himself to be persuaded into so dangerous an act as countenancing
+prosecutions for heresy against any of his martial subjects; and,
+so long as he lived, the over-weening bigotry and arrogance of
+the priesthood were held in check. But other troubles brought the
+good king to an untimely end. James had mortally offended some of
+his turbulent nobles, by causing the authority of the law to be
+vindicated without respect to rank or person. He had deservedly won
+for himself the title of King of the Commons; and was, in fact, even
+in that early age, bent upon a thorough reform of the abuses of
+the feudal system. But he had proud, jealous, and stubborn men to
+deal with. They saw, not without apprehension for their own fate,
+that title and birth were no longer accepted as palliatives of
+sedition and crime; that the inroads, disturbances, and harryings
+which they and their fathers had practised, were now regarded with
+detestation by the crown, and threatened with merited punishment.
+Some strong but necessary examples made them quail for their future
+supremacy, and discontent soon ripened into something like absolute
+treason. Add to this, that for a long time the nobility of Scotland
+had fixed a covetous eye upon the great possessions of the church.
+In no country of Europe, considering its extent and comparative
+wealth, was the church better endowed than in Scotland; and the
+endeavours of the monks, who, with all their faults, were not blind
+to the advantages derivable from the arts of peace, had greatly
+raised their property in point of value. The confiscations which
+had taken place in Protestantised England, whereof Woburn Abbey may
+be cited as a notable example, had aroused to the fullest extent
+the cupidity of the rapacious nobles. They longed to see the day
+when, unsupported by the regal power, the church lands in Scotland
+could be annexed by each iron-handed baron to his own domain; when,
+at the head of their armed and dissolute jackmen, they could oust
+the feeble possessors of the soil from the heritages they had so
+long enjoyed as a corporation, and enrich themselves by plundering
+the consecrated stores of the abbeys. These were the feelings
+and desires which led most of them to lend a willing ear to the
+preaching of the fathers of the Reformation. They were desirous, not
+only of lessening the royal authority, but of transferring the whole
+property of the clergy to themselves; and this double object led to
+a combination which resulted in the passive defeat of the Scottish
+army at Solway Moss.
+
+Poor King James could not bear up against the shock of this shameful
+desertion. Mr Tytler thus describes his latter moments:--
+
+     "When in this state, intelligence was brought him that his queen
+     had given birth to a daughter. At another time it would have
+     been happy news; but now, it seemed to the poor monarch the
+     last drop of bitterness which was reserved for him. Both his
+     sons were dead. Had this child been a boy, a ray of hope, he
+     seemed to feel, might yet have visited his heart; he received
+     the messenger and was informed of that event without welcome
+     or almost recognition; but wandering back in his thoughts to
+     the time when the daughter of Bruce brought to his ancestor
+     the dowry of the kingdom, observed with melancholy emphasis,
+     'It came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass.' A few of
+     his most favoured friends and counsellers stood around his
+     couch; the monarch stretched out his hand for them to kiss; and
+     regarding them for some moments with a look of great sweetness
+     and placidity, turned himself upon the pillow and expired. He
+     died 13th December 1542, in the thirty-first year of his age,
+     and the twenty-ninth of his reign; leaving an only daughter,
+     Mary, an infant of six days old, who succeeded to the crown."
+
+Amongst those who stood around that memorable deathbed were the
+Lord High Treasurer, young William Kirkaldy his son, and Cardinal
+Beatoun. There was peace for a moment over the body of the anointed
+dead!
+
+But even the death of a king makes a light impression on this busy
+and intriguing world. The struggle for mastery now commenced in
+right earnest--for the only wall which had hitherto separated the
+contending factions of the nobility and the clergy had given way.
+Beatoun and Arran were both candidates for the regency, which the
+latter succeeded in gaining; and, after a temporary alienation,
+these two combined against an influence which began to show itself
+in a threatening form. Henry VIII. of England considered this an
+excellent opportunity for carrying out those designs against the
+independence of the northern country, which had been entertained
+by several of his predecessors; and for that purpose he proposed
+to negotiate a marriage between his son Edward and the Princess
+Mary. Such an alliance was of course decidedly opposed to the views
+of the Catholic party in Scotland, and, moreover, was calculated
+to excite the utmost jealousy of the Scottish people, who well
+understood the true but recondite motive of the proposal. So long as
+Beatoun, whose interest was identified with that of France, existed,
+Henry was fully aware that his scheme never could be carried into
+execution; and accordingly, with that entire want of principle which
+he exhibited on every occasion, he took advantage of their position
+to tamper with the Scottish barons who had been made prisoners at
+Solway Moss. In this he so far succeeded, that a regular conspiracy
+was entered into for the destruction of the cardinal, and only
+defeated by his extreme sagacity and caution. It will be seen
+hereafter that the cardinal did not fall a victim to this dastardly
+English plot, but to private revenge, no doubt augmented and
+inflamed by the consideration of his arrogance and cruelty.
+
+Beatoun, one of the most able and also dissolute men of his day,
+was a younger son of the Laird of Balfour--yet had, notwithstanding
+every disadvantage, contrived very early to attain his high
+position. He was hated, not only by the nobility, but by the
+lesser barons, from whose own ranks he had risen, on account of
+his intolerable pride, his rapacity, and the unscrupulous manner
+in which he chose to exercise his power. Among the barons of Fife,
+always a disunited and wrangling county, he had few adherents: and
+with the Kirkaldys, and their relatives, the Melvilles, he had an
+especial quarrel. Shortly after the death of James, the Treasurer
+was dismissed from his office, an affront which the "stoute man"
+was not likely to forget; and his son, then a mere youth, seems to
+have participated in his feelings. But the cruelty of Beatoun was
+at least the nominal cause which led to his destruction. Wishart,
+the famous Reforming preacher, had fallen into the hands of the
+cardinal, and was confined in his castle of St Andrews, of which our
+author gives us the following faithful sketch:--
+
+     "On the rocky shore, to the northward of the venerable city of
+     St Andrews, stand the ruins of the ancient Episcopal palace, in
+     other years the residence of the primates of Scotland. Those
+     weatherbeaten remains, now pointed out to visitors by the
+     ciceroni of the place, present only the fragments of an edifice
+     erected by Archbishop Hamilton, the successor of Cardinal
+     Beatoun, and are somewhat in the style of an antique Scottish
+     manor-house; but very different was the aspect of that vast
+     bastille which had the proud cardinal for lord, and contained
+     within its massive walls all the appurtenances requisite for
+     ecclesiastical tyranny, epicurean luxury, lordly grandeur,
+     and military defence--at once a fortress, a monastery, an
+     inquisition, and a palace.
+
+     "The sea-mews and cormorants screaming among the wave-beaten
+     rocks and bare walls now crumbling on that bleak promontory,
+     and echoing only to drenching surf, as it rolls up the rough
+     shelving shore, impart a peculiarly desolate effect to the
+     grassy ruins, worn with the blasts of the German Ocean, gray
+     with the storms of winter, and the damp mists of March and
+     April--an effect that is greatly increased by the venerable
+     aspect of the dark and old ecclesiastical city to the southward,
+     decaying, deserted, isolated, and forgotten, with its
+     magnificent cathedral, once one of the finest gothic structures
+     in the world, but now, shattered by the hands of man and time,
+     passing rapidly away. Of the grand spire which arose from the
+     cross, and of its five lofty towers, little more than the
+     foundations can now be traced, while a wilderness of ruins on
+     every hand attest the departed splendours of St Andrews."
+
+George Wishart, the unhappy preacher, was burned before the Castle
+on the 28th March 1545, under circumstances of peculiar barbarity.
+We refer to the book for a proper description of the death-scene of
+the Martyr, whose sufferings were calmly witnessed by the ruthless
+and implacable Cardinal. But the avenger of blood was at hand, in
+the person of Norman Leslie, Master of Rothes. This young man,
+who was of a most fiery and intractable spirit, had some personal
+dispute with the cardinal, whom he accused of having attempted to
+defraud him of an estate. High words followed, and Norman rode off
+in wrath to the house of his uncle, John Leslie of Parkhill, a moody
+and determined Reformer, who had already vowed bloody vengeance for
+the execution of the unfortunate Wishart. Finding him apt for any
+enterprise, Norman instantly despatched messengers to the Kirkaldys
+of Grange, the Melvilles of Raith and Carnbee, and to Carmichael of
+Kilmadie, desiring them to meet for an enterprise of great weight
+and importance; and the summons having been responded to, these few
+men determined to rid the country of one whom they considered a
+murderer and an oppressor.
+
+The manner in which this act of terrible retribution was executed
+is too well known to the student of history to require repetition.
+Suffice it to say that, by a _coup-de-main_, sixteen armed men made
+themselves masters of the castle of St Andrews, overpowered and
+dispersed the retainers of the cardinal, and quenched the existence
+of that haughty prelate in his blood. William Kirkaldy was not the
+slayer, but, as an accomplice, he must bear whatever load of odium
+is cast upon the perpetrators of the deed. We cannot help thinking
+that our author exhibits an unnecessary degree of horror in this
+instance. Far be it from us to palliate bloodshed, in any age or
+under any provocation: neither do we agree with John Knox, that the
+extermination of Beatoun was a "godly fact." But we doubt whether it
+can be called a murder. In the first place, old Kirkaldy knew, on
+the authority of James V., that a list of three hundred and sixty
+names, including his own and those of his most immediate friends,
+had been made out by the cardinal, as a catalogue of victims who
+were to be burned for heresy. This contemplated atrocity, far worse
+than the massacre of St Bartholomew, might not, indeed, have been
+carried into effect, even on account of its magnitude; but the
+mere knowledge that it had been planned, was enough to justify the
+Kirkaldys, and those marked out for impeachment, in considering
+Beatoun as their mortal foe. That the cardinal never departed from
+his bloody design, is apparent from the fact, that, after his death,
+a paper was found in his repositories, ordaining that "Norman
+Leslie, sheriff of Fife, John Leslie, father's brother to Norman,
+the Lairds of Grange, _elder and younger_, Sir James Learmonth of
+Dairsie, and the Laird of Raith, should either have been slain or
+else taken." The law at that period could afford no security against
+such a design, so that Beatoun's assassination may have been an act
+of necessary self-defence, which it would be extremely difficult to
+blame. As to the sacrilege, we cannot regard that as an aggravation.
+If a prelate of the Roman Church, like Beatoun, chose to make
+himself notorious to the world by the number and scandal of his
+profligacies; if, with a carnality and disregard of appearances not
+often exhibited by laymen, he turned his palace into a seraglio; and
+if his mistress was actually surprised, at the time of the attack,
+in the act of escaping from his bedchamber,--great allowance must
+be made for the obtuseness of the men who could not understand the
+relevancy of the plea of priesthood which he offered, in order that
+his holy calling might shield him from secular consequences. But
+further, is the fate of Wishart to go for nothing? Setting the
+natural influences of bigotry aside, and with every consideration
+for the zeal which could hurry even so good a man as Sir Thomas More
+to express, in words at least, a desire to see the faggot and the
+stake in full operation--what shall we say to the individual who
+could calmly issue his infernal orders, and, in the full pomp of
+ecclesiastical vanity, become a pleased spectator of the sufferings
+of a human being, undergoing the most hideous of all imaginable
+deaths? Truly this, that the brute deserved to die in return; and
+that we, at all events, shall not stigmatise those who killed him as
+guilty of murder. Poor old Sharpe was murdered, if ever man was, in
+a hideous and atrocious manner; but as for Beatoun, he deserved to
+die, and his death was invested with a sort of judicial sanction,
+having been perpetrated in presence of the sheriff of the bounds.
+
+The tidings of this act of vengeance spread, not only through
+Scotland, but through Europe, like wildfire. According as men
+differed in religious faith, they spoke of it either with horror or
+exultation. Even the most moderate of the reforming party were slow
+to blame the deed which freed them from a bloody persecutor; and Sir
+David Lindesay of the Mount, the witty and satirical scholar, did
+not characterise it more severely than as expressed in the following
+verses:--
+
+    "As for the cardinal, I grant
+     He was the man we well might want;
+         God will forgive it soon.
+     But of a truth, the sooth to say,
+     Although the loon be well away,
+         The deed was _foully done_."
+
+Meanwhile the conspirators had conceived the daring scheme of
+holding the castle of St Andrews against all comers, and of setting
+the authority of the regent at defiance. They calculated upon
+receiving support from England, in case France thought fit to
+interfere; and perhaps they imagined that a steady resistance on
+their part might excite general insurrection in Scotland. Besides
+this, they had retained in custody the son and heir of the Regent
+Arran, whom they had found in the castle, and who was a valuable
+hostage in their hands. The force they could command was not great.
+Amongst others, John Knox joined them with his three pupils; several
+Fife barons espoused their cause; and altogether they mustered
+about one hundred and fifty armed men. This was a small body, but
+the defences of the place were more than usually complete, and they
+were well munimented with artillery. Accordingly, though formally
+summoned, they peremptorily refused to surrender.
+
+John Knox, when he entered the castle, was probably under the
+impression that he was joining a company of men, serious in their
+deportment, rigid in their conversation, and self-denying in their
+habits. If so, he must very soon have discovered his mistake. The
+young Reforming gentry were not one whit more scrupulous than
+their Catholic coevals: Norman Leslie, though brave as steel, was
+a thorough-paced desperado; and, from the account given by our
+author of the doings at St Andrews, it may easily be understood how
+uncongenial such quarters must have been to the stern and ascetic
+Reformer.
+
+Arran had probably no intention of pushing matters to extremity,
+though compelled, for appearance' sake, to invest the fortress.
+After a siege of three weeks it remained unreduced; and a pestilence
+which broke out in the town of St Andrews, afforded the regent a
+pretext for agreeing to an armistice. Hitherto the conspirators had
+received the countenance and support of Henry VIII., who remitted
+them large sums from time to time, and promised even more active
+assistance. But this never arrived. Death at last put a stop to
+the bereavements of this unconscionable widower; and thereupon the
+French court despatched a fleet of one-and-twenty vessels of war,
+under the command of Leon Strozzio--a famous Florentine noble,
+who had risen in the Order of the Hospital to the rank of Prior
+of Capua--for the purpose of reducing the stubborn stronghold of
+heresy. Strozzio's name was so well known as that of a most skilful
+commander and tactician, and the weight of the ordnance he brought
+with him was so great, that the besieged had no hope of escaping
+this time; yet, on being summoned, they replied, with the most
+undaunted bravery, that they would defend the castle against the
+united powers of Scotland, England, and France. With such resolute
+characters as these, it was no use to parley further; and the Prior
+accordingly set about his task with a dexterity which put to shame
+the feeble tactics of Arran.
+
+     "By sea and land the siege was pressed with great fury. From the
+     ramparts of the Abbey Church, from the college, and other places
+     in the adjoining streets, the French and Scottish cannoneers
+     maintained a perpetual cannonade upon the castle. Those soldiers
+     who manned the steeples and St Salvador's tower occupied such
+     an elevation, that, by depressing their cannon, they shot down
+     into the inner quadrangle of the castle, the pavement of which
+     could be seen dabbled with the blood of the garrison; and, to
+     aggravate the increasing distress of the latter, the pestilence
+     found its way among them--many died, and all were dismayed.
+     Walter Melville, one of their bravest leaders, fell deadly sick;
+     while watching, warding, and scanty fare, were rapidly wearing
+     out the rest; and John Knox dinned continually in their ears,
+     that their present perils were the just reward of their former
+     corrupt lives and licentiousness, and reliance on England rather
+     than Heaven.
+
+     "'For the first twenty days of this siege,' said he, 'ye
+     prospered bravely: but when ye triumphed at your victory, I
+     lamented, and ever said that ye saw not what I saw. When ye
+     boasted of the thickness of your walls, I said they would be
+     but as egg-shells: when ye vaunted, England will rescue us--I
+     said, ye shall not see it; but ye shall be delivered into your
+     enemies' hands, and carried afar off into a strange country.'
+
+     "This gloomy prophesying was but cold comfort for those whom his
+     precepts and exhortations had urged to rebellion, to outlawry,
+     and to bloodshed; but their affairs were fast approaching a
+     crisis."
+
+If John Knox showed little judgment in adopting this tone of
+vaticination, he is, at all events, entitled to some credit for his
+courage--since Norman Leslie possessed a temper which it was rather
+dangerous to aggravate, and must sometimes have been sorely tempted
+to toss the querulous Reformer into the sea.
+
+The garrison finally surrendered to Leon Strozzio, but not until
+battlement and wall had been breached, and an escalade rendered
+practicable.
+
+The prisoners, including William Kirkaldy, were conveyed to France,
+and there subjected to treatment which varied according to their
+station. Those of knightly rank were incarcerated in separate
+fortresses; the remainder were chained to oars in the galleys on
+the Loire. John Knox was one of those who were forced to undergo
+this ignominious punishment; and we quite agree with our author in
+holding that, "it is not probable, that the lash of the tax-master
+increased his goodwill towards popery."
+
+William Kirkaldy was shut up in the great castle of Mont Saint
+Michel, along with Norman Leslie, his uncle of Parkhill, and Peter
+Carmichael of Kilmadie. But, however strong the fortress, it
+was imprudent in their gaolers to lodge four such fiery spirits
+together. They resolved to break prison; and did so, having, by an
+ingenious ruse, succeeded in overpowering the garrison, and, after
+some vicissitudes and wanderings, made good their escape to England.
+
+After this event there is a blank of some years, during which we
+hear little of Kirkaldy. It is, however, an important period in
+northern history, for it includes the battle of Pinkie, the removal
+of the child, Queen Mary, to France, and her betrothment to the
+Dauphin. Kirkaldy seems not to have arrived in England until the
+death of Edward VI., when the Romanist party attained a temporary
+ascendency. We next find him in the service of Henry II. of France,
+engaged in the wars between that monarch and the Emperor Charles V.
+In these campaigns, says our author, by his bravery and conduct, he
+soon attained that eminent distinction and reputation, as a skilful
+and gallant soldier, which ceased only with his life.
+
+Kirkaldy was not the only member of the stout garrison of St Andrews
+who found employment in the French service. Singularly enough,
+Norman Leslie, the head of the conspirators, had also a command, and
+was in high favour with the famous Constable Anne de Montmorencie.
+His death, which occurred the day before the battle of Renti, is
+thus graphically recounted in the Memoirs, and is a picture worth
+preserving:--
+
+     "The day before the battle, the constable, perceiving by the
+     manœuvres of the Spanish troops that Charles meant to take
+     possession of certain heights, which sloped abruptly down to
+     the camp or bivouac of the French, sent up Leslie's Scottish
+     lances and other horsemen to skirmish with these Imperialists,
+     and drive them back. Melville, his fellow-soldier, thus
+     describes him:--In view of the whole French army, the Master
+     of Rothes, 'with thirty Scotsmen, rode up the hill upon a fair
+     gray gelding. He had, above his coat of black velvet, his coat
+     of armour, with two broad white crosses, one before and the
+     other behind, with sleeves of mail, and a red bonnet upon his
+     head, whereby he was seen and known afar off by the constable,
+     the Duke d'Enghien, and the Prince of Condé.' His party was
+     diminished to seven by the time he came within lance-length of
+     the Imperialists, who were sixty in number; but he burst upon
+     them with the force of a thunderbolt, escaping the fire of their
+     hand-culverins, which they discharged incessantly against him.
+     He struck five from their saddles with his long lance, before it
+     broke into splinters; then, drawing his sword, he rushed again
+     and again among them, with the heedless bravery for which he had
+     ever been distinguished. At the critical moment of this unequal
+     contest, of seven Scottish knights against sixty Spaniards, a
+     troop of Imperial spearmen were hastily riding along the hill to
+     join in the encounter. By this time Leslie had received several
+     bullets in his person; and, finding himself unable to continue
+     the conflict longer, he dashed spurs into his horse, galloped
+     back to the constable, and fell, faint and exhausted, from his
+     saddle, with the blood pouring through his burnished armour on
+     the turf.
+
+     "By the king's desire he was immediately borne to the royal
+     tent, where the Duke d'Enghien and Prince Louis of Condé
+     remarked to Henry, that 'Hector of Troy had not behaved more
+     valiantly than Norman Leslie.'
+
+     "So highly did that brave prince value Norman Leslie, and so
+     greatly did he deplore his death, that all the survivors of his
+     Scottish troop of lances were, under Crichton of Brunstane,
+     sent back to their own country, laden with rewards and honours;
+     and, by his influence, such as were exiles were restored by the
+     regent to their estates and possessions, as a recompense for
+     their valour on the frontiers of Flanders."
+
+Kirkaldy seems to have remained in France until the unfortunate
+death of Henry II., who was accidentally killed in a tournament.
+The estimation in which he was held, after his achievements in the
+wars of Picardy, may be learned from the following contemporary
+testimony:--
+
+"I heard Henry II.," Melville states, "point unto him and
+say--'Yonder is one of the most valiant men of our age.'" And the
+same writer mentions "that the proud old Montmorencie, the great
+constable of France, treated the exiled Kirkaldy with such deference
+that he never addressed him with his head covered." This was high
+tribute, when paid to a soldier then under thirty years of age.
+
+Ten years after he had been conveyed a prisoner from St Andrews on
+board the French galley, Kirkaldy returned to Scotland, but not to
+repose under the laurels he had already won. Soon after this we find
+him married, in possession, through the death of his father, of his
+ancestral estates, the intimate friend of Maitland of Lethington and
+of Lord James, afterwards the Regent Moray, and a stanch supporter
+of the Lords of the Congregation. This period furnishes to us one
+of the most melancholy chapters of Scottish history. Mary of Guise,
+the queen-regent, on the one hand, was resolute to put down the
+growing heresy; on the other, the landed nobility were determined to
+overthrow the Catholic church. Knox, who had by this time returned
+from France, and other Reformed preachers, did their utmost to fan
+the flame; and the result was that melancholy work of incendiarism
+and ruin, which men of all parties must bitterly deplore. Then came
+the French auxiliaries under D'Oisel, wasting the land, ravaging the
+estates of the Protestants, and burning their houses and villages;
+a savage mode of warfare, from which Kirkaldy suffered much--Fife
+having been pillaged from one end to the other--but for which he
+exacted an ample vengeance. The details of this partisan warfare are
+given with much minuteness, but great spirit, by the chronicler; and
+it did not cease until the death of Mary of Guise.
+
+A new victim was now to be offered to the distempered spirit of the
+age: on the 19th August 1561, the young Queen Mary arrived at Leith.
+She was then in the nineteenth year of her age, and endowed with
+all that surpassing loveliness which was at once her dower and her
+misfortune. Her arrival was dreaded by the preachers, who detested
+the school in which she had been educated, and the influence she
+might be enabled to exercise; but the great mass of the people
+hailed her coming with acclamations of unfeigned delight:--
+
+     "Despite the efforts of these dark-browed Reformers, agitated
+     by the memory of her good and gallant father,--the king of
+     the poor--by that of her thirteen years' absence from them,
+     and stirred by that inborn spirit of loyalty which the Scots
+     possessed in so intense a degree, the people received their
+     beautiful queen with the utmost enthusiasm, and outvied each
+     other in her praise.
+
+     "Her mother's dying advice to secure the support of the
+     Protestants, and to cultivate the friendship of their leaders,
+     particularly Maitland of Lethington and 'Kirkaldy of Grange,
+     whom the Constable de Montmorencie had named the first soldier
+     in Europe,' had been faithfully conveyed to Mary in France by
+     the handsome young Count de Martigues, the Sieur de la Brosse,
+     the Bishop of Amiens, and others, who had witnessed the last
+     moments of that dearly-loved mother in the castle of Edinburgh;
+     and Mary treasured that advice in her heart--but it availed her
+     not."
+
+Hurried on by her evil destiny, and persecuted by intrigues which
+had their origin in the fertile brain of Elizabeth, Mary determined
+to bestow her hand upon Darnley, a weak, dissolute, and foolish
+boy, whose only recommendations were his birth and his personal
+beauty. Such a marriage never could, under any circumstances, have
+proved a happy one. At that juncture it was peculiarly unfortunate,
+as it roused the jealousy of the house of Hamilton against that
+of Lennox; and was further bitterly opposed by Moray, a cold,
+calculating, selfish man, who concealed, under an appearance of
+zeal for the Protestant faith, the most restless, unnatural, and
+insatiable ambition. Talents he did possess, and of no ordinary
+kind: above all, he was gifted with the faculty of imposing upon men
+more open and honourable than himself. Knox was a mere tool in his
+hands: Kirkaldy of Grange regarded him as a pattern of wisdom. For
+years, this straightforward soldier surrendered his judgment to the
+hypocrite, and, unfortunately, did not detect his mistake until the
+Queen was involved in a mesh from which extrication was impossible.
+Moray's first attempt at rebellion proved an arrant failure: the
+people refused to join his standard, and he, with the other leading
+insurgents, was compelled to seek refuge in England.
+
+All might have gone well but for the folly of the idiot Darnley.
+No long period of domestic intercourse was requisite to convince
+the unfortunate Queen that she had thrown away her affections,
+and bestowed her hand upon an individual totally incapable of
+appreciating the one, and utterly unworthy of the other. Darnley
+was a low-minded, fickle, and imperious fool--vicious as a colt,
+capricious as a monkey, and stubborn as an Andalusian mule. Instead
+of showing the slightest gratitude to his wife and mistress, for
+the preference which had raised him from obscurity to a position
+for which kings were suitors, he repaid the vast boon by a series
+of petty and unmanly persecutions. He aimed to be not only
+prince-consort, but master; and because this was denied him, he
+threw himself precipitately into the counsels of the enemies of
+Mary. It was not difficult to sow the seeds of jealousy in a mind so
+well prepared to receive them; and Riccio, the Italian secretary,
+was marked out by Ruthven and Morton, the secret adherents of
+Moray, as the victim. Even this scheme, though backed by Darnley,
+might have miscarried, had not Mary been driven into an act which
+roused, while it almost justified, the worst fears of the Protestant
+party in Scotland. This was her adhesion to the celebrated Roman
+Catholic League, arising from a coalition which had been concluded
+between France, Spain, and the Emperor, for the destruction of
+the Protestant cause in Europe. "It was," says Tytler, "a design
+worthy of the dark and unscrupulous politicians by whom it had been
+planned--Catherine of Medicis and the Duke of Alva. In the summer
+of the preceding year, the queen-dowager of France and Alva had met
+at Bayonne, during a progress in which she conducted her youthful
+son and sovereign, Charles IX., through the southern provinces of
+his kingdom; and there, whilst the court was dissolved in pleasure,
+those secret conferences were held which issued in the resolution
+that toleration must be at an end, and that the only safety for
+the Roman Catholic faith was the extermination of its enemies." To
+this document, Mary, at the instigation of Riccio, who was in the
+interest of Rome, and who really possessed considerable influence
+with his mistress, affixed her signature. The bond was abortive for
+its ostensible purposes, but it was the death-warrant of the Italian
+secretary, and ultimately of the Queen.
+
+It is not our province to usurp the functions of the historian, and
+therefore we pass willingly over that intricate portion of history
+which ends with the murder of Darnley. It was notoriously the
+work of Bothwell, but not his alone, for Lethington, Huntly, and
+Argyle, were also deeply implicated. Bothwell now stands forward
+as a prominent character of the age. He was a bold, reckless,
+desperate adventurer, with little to recommend him save personal
+daring, and a fidelity to his mistress which hitherto had remained
+unshaken. Lethington, in all probability, merely regarded him as an
+instrument, but Bothwell had a higher aim. With daring ambition, he
+aimed at the possession of the person of Mary, and actually achieved
+his purpose.
+
+This unhappy and most unequal union roused the ire of the Scottish
+nobles. Even such of them as, intimidated by the reckless character
+of Bothwell, had sworn to defend him if impeached for the slaughter,
+and had recommended him as a fitting match for Mary, now took
+up arms, under the pretext that he had violently abducted their
+sovereign. We fear it cannot be asserted with truth that much
+violence was used. Poor Queen Mary had found, by bitter experience,
+that she could hardly depend upon one of her principal subjects.
+Darnley, Moray, Morton, Lethington, and Arran, each had betrayed
+her in turn; everywhere her steps were surrounded by a net of the
+blackest treachery: not one true heart seemed left to beat with
+loyalty for its Queen. Elizabeth, with fiendish malice, was goading
+on her subjects to rebellion. The Queen of England had determined to
+ruin the power of her sister monarch; the elderly withered spinster
+detested the young and blooming mother. Why, then, should it be
+matter of great marvel to those who know the acuteness of female
+sensibility, if, in the hour of desertion and desolation, Mary
+should have allowed the weakness of the woman to overcome the pride
+of the sovereign, and should have opposed but feeble resistance to
+the advances of the only man who hitherto had remained stanch to her
+cause, and whose arm seemed strong enough to insure her personal
+protection? It is not the first time that a daring villain has been
+taken for a hero by a distressed and persecuted woman.
+
+But Bothwell had no friends. The whole of the nobles were against
+him; and the Commons, studiously taught to believe that Mary was a
+consenting party to Darnley's death, were hostile to their Queen.
+Kirkaldy, at the instance of Moray, came over from his patrimonial
+estates to join the confederates, and his first feat in arms was
+an attack on Borthwick Castle, from which Bothwell and the Queen
+escaped with the utmost difficulty. Then came the action, if such
+it can be called, of Carberry Hill, when Bothwell challenged his
+accusers to single combat--a defiance which was accepted by Lord
+Lindesay of the Byres, but prevented from being brought to the test
+of combat by the voluntary submission of the Queen. Seeing that her
+forces were utterly inadequate to oppose those of the assembled
+nobles, she sent for Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange, as a knight
+in whose honour she could thoroughly confide, and, after a long
+interview, agreed to pass over to the troops of the confederates,
+provided they would again acknowledge and obey her as their
+sovereign. This being promised, she took her last leave of Bothwell,
+and her first step on the road which ultimately brought her to
+Lochleven.
+
+We must refer our readers to the volume for the spirited account
+of these events, and of the expedition undertaken by Kirkaldy in
+pursuit of Bothwell, his narrow escapes, and sea-fights among the
+shores of Shetland, and the capture of the fugitive's vessel on the
+coast of Norway. Neither will our space permit us to dwell upon the
+particulars of the battle of Langside, that last action hazarded
+and lost by the adherents of Queen Mary, just after her escape from
+Lochleven, and before she quitted the Scottish soil for ever. But
+for the tactics of Kirkaldy, the issue of that fight might have been
+different; and deeply is it to be regretted that, before that time,
+the eyes of the Knight of Grange had not been opened to the perfidy
+of Moray, whom he loved too trustingly, and served far too well. It
+was only after Mary was in the power of Elizabeth that he knew how
+much she had been betrayed.
+
+Under the regency of Moray, Kirkaldy held the post of governor of
+the castle of Edinburgh, and retained it until the fortress went
+down before the battery of the English cannon.
+
+He was also elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh--a dignity which,
+before that time, had been held by the highest nobles of the
+land, but which has since deteriorated under the influence of the
+Union, and bungled acts of corporation. He was in this position
+when he seems first to have perceived that the queen had been made
+the victim of a deep-laid plot of treachery--that Moray was the
+arch-conspirator--and that he, along with other men, who wished
+well both to their country and their sovereign, had been used as
+instruments for his own advancement by the false and unscrupulous
+statesman. The arrest of Chatelherault and of Lord Herries, both of
+them declared partisans of Mary, and their committal to the castle
+of Edinburgh, a measure against which Kirkaldy remonstrated, was the
+earliest act which aroused his suspicions:--
+
+     "Upon this, Mr John Wood, a pious friend of the regent's,
+     observed to Kirkaldy, in the true spirit of his party,--
+
+     "'I marvel, sir, that you are offended at these two being
+     committed to ward; for how shall _we_, who are the defenders of
+     my lord regent, get rewards but by the ruin of such men?'
+
+     "'Ha!' rejoined Kirkaldy sternly, 'is that your holiness? I see
+     naught among ye but envy, greed, and ambition, whereby ye will
+     wreck a good regent and ruin the realm!'--a retort which made
+     him many enemies among the train of Moray."
+
+But another event, which occurred soon afterwards, left no doubt in
+the mind of Kirkaldy as to the nature of Moray's policy. Maitland of
+Lethington, unquestionably the ablest Scottish diplomatist of his
+time, but unstable and shifting, as diplomatists often are, had seen
+cause to adopt very different views from those which he formerly
+professed. Whilst Mary was in power, he had too often thrown the
+weight of his influence and council against her: no sooner was
+she a fugitive and prisoner, than his loyalty appeared to revive.
+It is impossible now to say whether he was touched with remorse;
+whether, on reflection, he became convinced that he had not acted
+the part of a patriotic Scotsman; or whether he was merely led,
+through excitement, to launch himself into a new sea of political
+intrigue. This, at least, is certain, that he applied himself, heart
+and soul, to baffle the machinations of Elizabeth, and to deliver
+the unhappy Mary from the toils in which she was involved. It was
+Lethington who conceived the project of restoring Mary to liberty,
+by bringing about a marriage between her and the Duke of Norfolk;
+and the knowledge of his zeal on that occasion incensed Elizabeth
+to the utmost. That vindictive queen, who had always found Moray
+most ready to obey her wishes, opened a negotiation with him for
+the destruction of his former friend; and the regent, not daring to
+thwart her, took measures to have Maitland charged, through a third
+party, of direct participation in the death of Darnley, whereupon
+his arrest followed.
+
+Kirkaldy, who loved Maitland, would not allow this manœuvre to
+pass unnoticed. He remonstrated with the regent for taking such a
+step; but Moray coldly informed him, that it was out of his power to
+save Lethington from prison. The blunt soldier, on receiving this
+reply, sent back a message, demanding that the same charge should
+be preferred against the Earl of Morton and Archibald Douglas; and
+he did more--for, Maitland having been detained a prisoner in the
+town of Edinburgh, under custody of Lord Home, Kirkaldy despatched
+at night a party of the garrison, and, by means of a counterfeited
+order, got possession of the statesman's person, and brought him to
+the castle, where Chatelherault and Herries were already residing
+as guests. Next morning, to the consternation of Moray, a trumpeter
+appeared at the cross, demanding, in name of Kirkaldy, that process
+for regicide should instantly be commenced against Morton and
+Douglas; and, says our author,--
+
+     "Remembering the precepts of the stout old knight his father,
+     who always offered 'the single combate' in maintenance of his
+     assertions, he offered himself, body for body, to fight Douglas
+     on foot or horseback; while his prisoner, the Lord Herries,
+     sent, as a peer of the realm, a similar cartel to the Earl of
+     Morton. The challenges bore, 'that they were in the council, and
+     consequently art and part in the king's murder.'
+
+In vain did Moray try to wheedle Kirkaldy from his stronghold--in
+vain did the revengeful Morton lay plots and bribe assassins. The
+castle of Edinburgh had become the rallying point for those who
+loved their queen. An attempt was made to oust Kirkaldy from the
+provostship; but the stout burghers, proud of their martial head,
+turned a deaf ear to the insidious suggestions of the regent. Yet
+still the banner of King James floated upon the walls of the castle,
+nor was the authority of Mary again proclaimed by sound of trumpet
+until after the shot of the injured Bothwellhaugh struck down the
+false and dangerous Moray in the street of Linlithgow. Then the
+whole faction of Chatelherault, the whole race of Hamilton, rose in
+arms, and prepared to place themselves under the guidance of Sir
+William Kirkaldy. The following is, we think, a noble trait in the
+character of the man:--
+
+     "The latter mourned deeply the untimely fate of Moray: they
+     had been old comrades in the field, stanch friends in many a
+     rough political broil; and though they had quarrelled of late,
+     he had too much of the frankness of his profession to maintain
+     hostility to the dead, and so came to see him laid in his last
+     resting-place. Eight lords bore the body up St Anthony's lofty
+     aisle, in the great cathedral of St Giles; Kirkaldy preceded it,
+     bearing the paternal banner of Moray with the royal arms; the
+     Laird of Cleish, who bore the coat of armour, walked beside him.
+     Knox prayed solemnly and earnestly as the body was lowered into
+     the dust; a splendid tomb was erected over his remains, and long
+     marked the spot where they lay."
+
+Lennox succeeded Moray as regent of Scotland, but no salute
+from the guns of the grim old fortress of Edinburgh greeted his
+inauguration. Henceforward Kirkaldy had no common cause with
+the confederates. Maitland had revealed to him the whole hidden
+machinery of treason, the scandalous complexity of intrigues, by
+which he had been made a dupe. He now saw that neither religion nor
+patriotism, but simply selfishness and ambition, had actuated the
+nobles in rebelling against their lawful sovereign, and that those
+very acts which they fixed upon as apologies for their treason,
+were in fact the direct consequences of their own deliberate guilt.
+If any further corroboration of their baseness had been required
+in order to satisfy the mind of Kirkaldy, it was afforded by
+Morton, who, notwithstanding the defiance so lately hurled at him
+from the castle, solicited, with a meanness and audacity almost
+incredible, the assistance of the governor to drive Lennox out of
+the kingdom, and procure his own acknowledgement as regent instead.
+It is needless to say that his application was refused with scorn.
+Kirkaldy now began to doubt the sincerity of Knox, who, although
+with no selfish motive, had been deeply implicated in the cruel
+plots of the time; some sharp correspondence took place, and the
+veteran Reformer was pleased to denounce his former pupil from the
+pulpit.
+
+Edinburgh now was made to suffer the inconveniences to which every
+city threatened with a siege is exposed. The burghers began to
+grumble against their provost, who, on one occasion, sent a party to
+rescue a prisoner from the Tolbooth, and who always preferred the
+character of military governor to that of civic magistrate. Knox
+thundered at him every Sabbath, and doubtless contributed largely
+to increase the differences between him and the uneasy citizens.
+The later might well be pardoned for their apprehensions. Not only
+were they commanded by the castle guns, but Kirkaldy, as if to show
+them what they might expect in ease of difference of political
+sentiment,--
+
+     "Hoisted cannon to the summit of St Giles's lofty spire, which
+     rises in the middle of the central hill on which the city
+     stands, and commands a view of it in every direction. He placed
+     the artillery on the stone bartizan beneath the flying arches
+     of the imperial crown that surmounts the tower, and thus turned
+     the cathedral into a garrison, to the great annoyance of Knox
+     and the citizens. The latter were also compelled, at their own
+     expense, to maintain the hundred harquebussiers of Captain
+     Melville, who were billeted in the Castlehill Street, for the
+     queen's service; and thus, amid preparations for war, closed the
+     year 1570."
+
+We may fairly suppose, that the cannon of the governor were more
+obnoxious than a modern annuity-tax can possibly be; yet no citizen
+seemed desirous of coming forward as a candidate for the crown of
+martyrdom. The bailies very quietly and very properly succumbed to
+the provost.
+
+It must be acknowledged that Edinburgh was, in those days, no
+pleasant place of residence.
+
+Next, to the alarm of the citizens, came a mock fight and the roar
+of cannon, intended to accustom the garrison to siege and war,
+which latter calamity speedily commenced in earnest. No possible
+precaution was omitted by Kirkaldy, whose situation was eminently
+critical; and he had received a terrible warning. On the last day
+of truce, the strong castle of Dumbarton was taken by surprise by
+a party under Captain Crawford of Jordanhill. Lord Fleming was
+fortunate enough to effect his escape, but Hamilton, archbishop of
+St Andrews, was made prisoner, and immediately hanged by Lennox over
+Stirling bridge. An archbishopric never was a comfortable tenure in
+Scotland.
+
+Lennox and Morton now drew together. The former from Linlithgow, and
+the latter from Dalkeith, advanced against the city, then occupied
+by the Hamiltons: skirmishes went on under the walls and on the
+Boroughmuir, and the unfortunate citizens were nearly driven to
+distraction. The following dispositions of Provost Kirkaldy were by
+no means calculated to restore a feeling of confidence, or to better
+the prospects of trade:--
+
+     "He loop-holed the spacious vaults of the great cathedral, for
+     the purpose of sweeping with musketry its steep church-yard to
+     the south, the broad Lawnmarket to the west, and High Street to
+     the eastward; while his cannon from the spire commanded the long
+     line of street called the Canongate--even to the battlements of
+     the palace porch. He seized the ports of the city, placed guards
+     of his soldiers upon them, and retained the keys in his own
+     hands. He ordered a rampart and ditch to be formed at the Butter
+     Tron, for the additional defence of the castle; and another
+     for the same purpose at the head of the West Bow, a steep and
+     winding street of most picturesque aspect. His soldiers pillaged
+     the house of the regent, whose movables and valuables they
+     carried off; he broke into the Tolbooth and council-chamber,
+     drove forth the scribes and councillors, and finally deposed
+     the whole bench of magistrates, installing in the civic chair
+     the daring chief of Fermhirst, (who had now become the husband
+     of his daughter Janet, a young girl barely sixteen;) while a
+     council composed of his mosstrooping vassals, clad in their iron
+     jacks, steel caps, calivers, and two-handed whingers, officiated
+     as bailies, in lieu of the douce, paunchy, and well-fed
+     burgesses of the Craims and Luckenbooths."
+
+The Blue Blanket of Edinburgh--that banner which, according to
+tradition, waved victoriously on the ramparts of Acre--had fallen
+into singular custody! John Knox again fled, for in truth his life
+was in danger. Kirkaldy, notwithstanding their differences, exerted
+his authority to the utmost to protect him, but the Hamiltons
+detested his very name; and one night a bullet fired through his
+window, was taken as a significant hint that his absence from the
+metropolis would be convenient. Scandal, even in those times, was
+rife in Edinburgh; for we are told that--
+
+     "John Low, a carrier of letters to St Andrews, being in the
+     'Castell of Edinburgh, the Ladie Home would neids threip in his
+     face, that Johne Knox was banist the toune, because in his yard
+     he had raisit some _sanctis_, amangis whome their came up the
+     devill with hornes, which when his servant Richart saw he ran
+     wud, and so deid.'"
+
+It is hardly credible, but it is a fact, that a meeting of the
+Estates of Scotland, called by Lennox, was held in Edinburgh at
+this very juncture. Kirkaldy occupied the upper part of the town,
+whilst the lower was in the hands of the regent, protected, or
+rather covered, by a battery which Morton had erected upon the
+"Doo Craig," that bluff black precipice to the south of the Calton
+Hill. The meeting, however, was a short one. "Mons Meg" and her
+marrows belched forth fire and shot upon the town, and the scared
+representatives fled, in terror of the falling ruins. A sortie from
+the castle was made, and the place of assembly burned.
+
+Kirkaldy now summoned and actually held a parliament, in name of
+Queen Mary, in Edinburgh. The possession of the Regalia gave this
+assembly a show of legality at least equivalent to that pertaining
+to its rival, the _Black Parliament_, which was then sitting at
+Stirling.
+
+We must refer to the work itself for the details of the martial
+exploits which followed. So very vividly and picturesquely are the
+scenes described, that, in reading of them, the images arise to
+our mind with that distinctness which constitutes the principal
+charm of the splendid romances of Scott. We accompany, with the
+deepest personal interest, the gallant Captain Melville and his
+harquebussiers, on his expedition to dislodge grim Morton from
+his Lion's Den at Dalkeith--we follow fiery Claud Hamilton in his
+attack upon the Black Parliament at Stirling, when Lennox met his
+death, and Morton, driven by the flames from his burning mansion,
+surrendered his sword to Buccleugh--and, amidst the din and uproar
+of the Douglas wars, we hear the cannon on the bastion of Edinburgh
+castle battering to ruin the gray towers of Merchiston.
+
+The career of Kirkaldy was rapidly drawing towards its close.
+During the life of Mar, who succeeded Lennox in the regency, the
+brave governor succeeded in maintaining possession not only of the
+castle, but of the city of Edinburgh, in spite of all opposition.
+But Morton, the next regent, was a still more formidable foe. The
+hatred between this man and Kirkaldy was mutual, and it was of the
+most deadly kind. And no wonder. Morton, as profligate as cruel, had
+seduced the fair and false Helen Leslie, wife of Sir James Kirkaldy,
+the gallant brother of the governor, and thereby inflicted the
+worst wound on the honour of an ancient family. A more awful story
+than the betrayal of her husband, and the seizure of his castle of
+Blackness, through the treachery of this wretched woman, is not to
+be found in modern history. Tarpeia alone is her rival in infamy,
+and the end of both was the same. The virulence of hereditary feud
+is a marked feature in our Scottish annals; but no sentiment of the
+kind could have kindled such a flame of enmity as burned between
+Morton and Kirkaldy. From the hour when the former obtained the
+regency, the war became one of extermination.
+
+Morton, it must be owned, showed much diplomatic skill in his
+arrangements. His first step was to negotiate separately with the
+country party of the loyalists, so as to detach them from Kirkaldy;
+and in this he perfectly succeeded. The leading nobles, Huntley
+and Argyle, were wearied with the war; Chatelherault, whom we have
+already known as Arran, was broken down by age and infirmities; and
+even those who had been the keenest partisans of the queen, Herries
+and Seton, were not disinclined to transfer their allegiance to
+her son. The treaty of Perth left Kirkaldy with no other adherents
+save Lord Home, the Melvilles, Maitland, and his garrison. The city
+had revolted, and was now under the provostship of fierce old Lord
+Lindesay of the Byres, who was determined to humble his predecessor.
+Save the castle rock of Edinburgh, and the hardy band that held it,
+all Scotland had submitted to Morton.
+
+Killigrew, the English ambassador, advised him to yield. "No!"
+replied Kirkaldy. "Though my friends have forsaken me, and the city
+of Edinburgh hath done so too, yet I will defend this castle to the
+last!" The man whom Moray thought a tool, had expanded to the bulk
+of a hero.
+
+Meantime, English engineers were occupied in estimating the
+capabilities of the castle as a place of defence. They reported
+that, with sufficient artillery, it might be reduced in twenty days;
+and, accordingly, Morton determined to besiege it so soon as the
+period of truce agreed on by the treaty of Perth should expire.
+Kirkaldy was not less resolute to maintain it.
+
+At six o'clock, on the morning of 1st January 1573, a warning gun
+from the castle announced that the treaty had expired, and the
+standard of the Queen was unfurled on the highest tower, amidst the
+acclamations of the garrison. Four-and-twenty hours previously,
+Kirkaldy had issued a proclamation, warning all loyal subjects of
+the Queen to depart forthwith from the city; and terrible indeed was
+the situation of those who neglected that seasonable warning. Morton
+began the attack; and it was answered by an incessant discharge from
+the batteries upon the town.
+
+Civil war had assumed its worst form. By day the cannon thundered;
+at night the garrison made sorties, and fired the city: all was
+wrack and ruin. Morton, bursting with fury, found that, unassisted,
+he could not conquer Grange.
+
+English aid was asked from, and given by, the unscrupulous
+Elizabeth. Drury, who had helped Morton in his dishonourable treason
+at Restalrig, marched into Scotland with the English standard
+displayed, bringing with him fifteen hundred harquebussiers, one
+hundred and fifty pikemen, and a numerous troop of gentlemen
+volunteers; while the train of cannon and baggage came round by sea
+to Leith, where a fleet of English ships cruised, to cut off all
+succour from the Continent.
+
+The English summons to surrender was treated by Kirkaldy with scorn.
+Up went a scarlet banner, significant of death and defiance, on
+the great tower of King David. Indomitable, as in the days of his
+early youth, when the confederates of St Andrews defied the universe
+in arms, the Scottish champion looked calmly from his rock on the
+preparations for the terrible assault.
+
+Five batteries were erected around the castle, but not with
+impunity. The cannon of Kirkaldy mowed down the pioneers when
+engaged in their trenching operations; and it was not until Trinity
+Sunday, the 17th of May, that the besiegers opened their fire.
+
+     "At two o'clock in the afternoon, the five batteries opened a
+     simultaneous discharge upon the walls of the castle. Bravely
+     and briskly its cannoneers replied to them, and deep-mouthed
+     Mons Meg, with her vast bullets of black whin, the thundering
+     carthouns, basilisks, serpents, and culverins, amid fire
+     and smoke, belched their missiles from the old gray towers,
+     showering balls of iron, lead, and stone at the batteries;
+     while the incessant ringing of several thousand harquebusses,
+     calivers, and wheel-lock petronels, added to the din of the
+     double cannonade. From the calibre of the great Mons Meg, which
+     yet frowns _en barbe_ over the ramparts, one may easily imagine
+     the dismay her enormous bullets must have caused in the trenches
+     so far below her.
+
+     "For ten days the furious cannonade continued, on both sides,
+     without a moment's cessation. On the 19th, three towers were
+     demolished, and enormous gaps appeared in the curtain walls;
+     many of the castle guns were dismounted, and destroyed by the
+     falling of the ancient masonry: a shot struck one of the largest
+     culverins fairly on the muzzle, shattering it to pieces, and
+     scattering the splinters around those who stood near. A very
+     heavy battery was discharged against King David's Tower, a great
+     square bastel-house, the walls of which were dark with the lapse
+     of four centuries. On the 23d, a great gap had been beaten in
+     its northern side, revealing the arched hall within; and as the
+     vast old tower, with its cannon, its steel-clad defenders, and
+     the red flag of defiance still waving above its machicolated
+     bartizan, sank with a mighty crash to shapeless ruin, the wild
+     shriek raised by the females in the castle, and the roar of the
+     masonry rolling like thunder down the perpendicular rocks, were
+     distinctly heard at the distant English camp."
+
+One hundred and fifty men constituted the whole force which Kirkaldy
+could muster when he commenced his desperate defence. Ten times
+that number would scarcely have sufficed to maintain an adequate
+resistance; but high heroic valour in the face of death is
+insensible to any odds. After a vigorous resistance, the besiegers
+succeeded in gaining possession of the Spur or blockhouse--an outer
+work which was constructed between the fortress and the town; but an
+attempt to scale the rock on the west side utterly failed.
+
+The blockade had for some time been so strict, that the garrison
+began to suffer from want of provisions; but their sorest privation
+was the loss of water. Although there are large and deep wells in
+the Castle of Edinburgh, a remarkable peculiarity renders them
+useless in the time of siege. To this day, whenever the cannon are
+fired, the water deserts the wells, oozing out of some fissures at
+the bottom of the rock. There is, however, a lower spring on the
+north side, called St Margaret's Well, and from this the garrison
+for a time obtained a scanty supply. Under cloud of night a soldier
+was let down by a rope from the fortifications, and in this manner
+the wholesome element was drawn. This circumstance became known to
+the besiegers; and they, with diabolical cruelty, had recourse to
+the expedient of poisoning the well, and permitted the nocturnal
+visitor to draw the deadly liquid without molestation. The
+consequences, of course, were fearful. Many expired in great agony;
+and those whose strength enabled them to throw off the more active
+effects of the poison, were so enfeebled that they could hardly work
+the heavy cannon, or support the fatigue of watching day and night
+upon the battlements.
+
+     "Maddened by the miseries they underwent, and rendered desperate
+     by all hopes of escape from torture and death being utterly cut
+     off, a frenzy seized the soldiers; they broke into a dangerous
+     mutiny, and threatened to hang Lethington over the walls, as
+     being the primary cause of all these dangers, from the great
+     influence he exercised over Kirkaldy, their governor. But
+     even now, when amid the sick, the dying, and the dead, and
+     the mutinous--surrounded by crumbling ramparts and dismounted
+     cannon, among which the shot of the besiegers were rebounding
+     every instant--with the lives, honour, and safety of his wife,
+     his brother, and numerous brave and faithful friends depending
+     on his efforts and example, the heart of the brave governor
+     appears never to have quailed even for an instant!"
+
+At length, as further resistance was useless, and as certain
+movements on the part of the enemy indicated their intention of
+proceeding to storm the castle by the breach which had been effected
+on the eastern side, Kirkaldy requested an interview with his old
+fellow-soldier Drury, the Marshal of Berwick. This being acceded to,
+the governor and his uncle, "Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie,
+were lowered over the ruins by cords, as there was no other mode
+of egress, the flight of forty steps being completely buried in
+the same ruin which had choked up the archways, and hidden both
+gates and portcullis. The Castlehill, at that time, says Melville
+of Kilrenny, in his Diary, was covered with stones, 'rinning like a
+sandie bray;' but behind the breaches were the men-at-arms drawn up
+in firm array, with their pikes and helmets gleaming in the setting
+sun."
+
+Kirkaldy's requests were not unreasonable. He asked to have security
+for the lives and property of those in the garrison, to have leave
+for Lord Home and Maitland of Lethington to retire to England, and,
+for himself, permission to live unmolested at the estate in Fife.
+Drury might have consented, but Morton was obdurate. The thought of
+having his enemy unconditionally in his hands, and the prospect of
+a revenge delicious to his savage and unrelenting nature, made him
+deaf to all applications; and the only terms he would grant were
+these,--
+
+     "That if the soldiers marched forth without their armour, and
+     submitted to his clemency, he would grant them their lives; but
+     there were ten persons who must yield _unconditionally_ to him,
+     and whose fate he would leave to the decision of their umpire,
+     Elizabeth. The unfortunate exceptions were--the governor, Sir
+     James Kirkaldy, Lethington, Alexander Lord Home, the Bishop
+     of Dunkeld, Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie, Logan of
+     Restalrig, Alexander Crichton of Drylaw, Pitarrow the constable,
+     and Patrick Wishart.
+
+Kirkaldy returned to the castle, resolved to die in the breach, but
+by this time the mutiny had begun. The soldiers insisted upon a
+surrender even more clamorously than before, and several of them
+took the opportunity of clambering over the ruins and deserting. It
+would have been madness under such circumstances to hold out; yet
+still Kirkaldy, jealous of his country's honour, could not brook the
+idea of handing over the citadel of Scotland's metropolis to the
+English.
+
+     "Therefore, when compelled to adopt the expedient (which is
+     supposed to have originated in Lethington's fertile brain) of
+     admitting a party of the besiegers within the outworks, or
+     at least close to the walls, he sent privately in the night
+     a message to Hume and Jordanhill, to march their Scottish
+     companies between the English batteries and the fortress, lest
+     the old bands of Drury should have the honour of entering first."
+
+Next morning he came forth, and surrendered his sword to Drury, who
+gave him the most solemn assurances that he should be restored to
+his estates and liberty at the intercession of the Queen of England,
+and that all his adherents should be pardoned.
+
+Drury, probably, was in earnest, but he had either overstepped his
+commission, or misinterpreted the mind of his mistress. Morton had
+most basely handed over to Elizabeth the person of the fugitive Earl
+of Northumberland, whom she hurried to the block, nor could she well
+refuse to the Scottish regent a similar favour in return. Morton
+asked for the disposal of the prisoners, and the gift was readily
+granted.
+
+Three of them were to die: for these there was no mercy. One,
+William, Maitland of Lethington, disappointed the executioner by
+swallowing poison, a draught more potent than that drawn from the
+well of St. Margaret. The vengeance of Morton long kept his body
+from the decencies of the grave. Of the two Kirkaldys, one was
+the rival of the regent, who had foully wronged the other, and,
+therefore, their doom was sealed.
+
+One hundred barons and gentlemen of rank and fortune, kinsmen to
+the gallant Kirkaldy, offered, in exchange for his life, to bind
+themselves by bond of manrent, as vassals to the house of Morton
+for ever: money, jewels, lands, were tendered to the regent; but
+all in vain. Nothing could induce him to depart from his revenge.
+Nor were others wanting to urge on the execution. The Reformed
+preachers, remembering the dying message of Knox, were clamorous for
+the realisation of the prophecy through his death; the burghers, who
+had suffered so much from his obstinate defence, shouted for his
+execution; only stout old Lord Lindesay, fierce as he was, had the
+magnanimity to plead on behalf of the unfortunate soldier.
+
+Then came the scaffold and the doom. Those who are conversant
+with Scottish history cannot but be impressed with the remarkable
+resemblance between the last closing scene of Kirkaldy, as related
+in this work, and that of Montrose, which was exhibited on the same
+spot, in another and a later age.
+
+So died this remarkable man, the last of Queen Mary's adherents. If,
+in the course of his career, we can trace out some inconsistencies,
+it is but fair to his memory to reflect how early he was thrown upon
+the troubled ocean of politics, and how difficult it must have been,
+in such an age of conflicting opinions and desperate intrigue, to
+maintain a tangible principle. Kirkaldy seems to have selected Moray
+as his guide--not penetrating certainly, at the time, the selfish
+disposition of the man. But the instant he perceived that his own
+aggrandisement, and not the welfare of Scotland, was the object of
+the designing Earl, Grange drew off from his side, and valorously
+upheld the cause of his injured and exiled sovereign.
+
+We now take leave of a work which, we are convinced, will prove of
+deep and thrilling interest to every Scotsman. It is seldom indeed
+that we find history so written--in a style at once vigorous,
+perspicuous, and picturesque. The author's heart is thoroughly with
+his subject; and he exhibits, ever and anon, flashes of the old
+Scottish spirit, which we are glad to believe has not decayed from
+the land.
+
+
+_Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as
+printed.
+
+Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
+the missing quote should be placed.
+
+The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
+transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
+
+The transcriber has supplied footnote anchors for the following
+footnotes:
+
+Page 20: Footnote 10 _A Campaign in the Kabylie._ By DAWSON BORRER,
+F.R.G.S., &c. London, 1848.
+
+Page 47: Footnote 15 _Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des
+Weissen Nil_, (1840-1841,) von FERDINAND WERNE. Mit einem Vorwort
+von CARL RITTER. Berlin, 1848. _La Kabylie._ Par un Colon. Paris,
+1846.
+
+_La Captivité du Trompette Escoffier._ Par ERNEST ALBY. 2 vols.
+Brussels, 1848."
+
+Page 63: Footnote 16 _Annals of the Artists of Spain._ By WILLIAM
+STIRLING, M. A. 3 vols. London: Ollivier.
+
+Page 81: Footnote 19 _The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History,
+Affinities, and Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other Extinct
+Birds of the Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon._ By H.
+E. STRICKLAND, M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean
+Society, &c., and A. G. MELVILLE, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. . One
+vol., royal quarto: London, 1848.
+
+Page 112: Footnote 24 _Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of
+Grange, Knight, &c. &c._ WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+65, No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
+
+***** This file should be named 44183-0.txt or 44183-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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diff --git a/old/44183-0.zip b/old/44183-0.zip
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65,
+No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 14, 2013 [EBook #44183]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Library of Early Journals.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+Text enclosed by equal signs is Greek transliteration (=kydei gaiô=).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+
+
+
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  Edinburgh
+
+  MAGAZINE.
+
+  VOL. LXV.
+
+  JANUARY--JUNE, 1849.
+
+  [Illustration: Buchanan]
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH;
+
+  AND
+
+  37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  1849.
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+  NO. CCCXCIX.      JANUARY, 1849.      VOL. LXV.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS,                    1
+
+  FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS,           20
+
+  THE CAXTONS. PART IX.,                     33
+
+  THE WHITE NILE,                            47
+
+  ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN,                  63
+
+  THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED,                  81
+
+  THE SWORD OF HONOUR: A TALE OF 1787,       98
+
+  MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE,            112
+
+
+  EDINBURGH:
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
+  AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._
+
+  SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
+
+  PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE
+
+  NO. CCCXCIX.        JANUARY, 1849.           VOL. LXV.
+
+
+
+
+THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS.
+
+
+"No great state," says Hannibal, "can long remain quiet: if it
+ceases to have enemies abroad, it will find them at home--as
+powerful bodies resist all external attacks, but are wasted away
+by their own internal strength."[1] What a commentary on the
+words of the Carthaginian hero does the last year--THE YEAR OF
+REVOLUTIONS,--afford! What enthusiasm has it witnessed, what
+efforts engendered, what illusions dispelled, what misery produced!
+How bitterly have nations, as well as individuals, within its
+short bounds, learned wisdom by suffering--how many lessons has
+experience taught--how much agony has wickedness brought in its
+train. Among the foremost in all the periods of history, this
+memorable year will ever stand forth, a subject of undying interest
+to succeeding generations, a lasting beacon to mankind amidst the
+folly or insanity of future times. To it the young and the ardent
+will for ever turn, for the most singular scenes of social strife,
+the most thrilling incidents of private suffering: to it the aged
+will point as the most striking warning of the desperate effects of
+general delusion, the most unanswerable demonstration of the moral
+government of the world.
+
+  [1] "Nulla magna civitas diu quiescere potest si foris hostem non
+  habet, _domi invenit_--ut prævalida corpora ab extremis causis tuta
+  videntur, sed suis ipsa viribas onerantur. Tantum, nimirum, ex
+  publicis malis sentimus, quantum ad res privatas pertmet; nec in eis
+  quicquam aerius, quam pecuniæ damnun, stimulat."--LIVY, xxx. 44.
+
+That God will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children was
+proclaimed to the Israelites amidst the thunders of Mount Sinai,
+and has been felt by every succeeding generation of men. But
+it is not now upon the third or the fourth generation that the
+punishment of transgression falls--it is felt in its full bitterness
+by the transgressors themselves. The extension of knowledge, the
+diffusion of education, the art of printing, the increased rapidity
+of travelling, the long duration of peace in consequence of the
+exhaustion of former wars, have so accelerated the march of events,
+that what was slowly effected in former times, daring several
+successive generations, by the gradual development of national
+passions, is now at once brought to maturity by the fervent spirit
+which is generally awakened, and the vehement passions which are
+everywhere brought into action.
+
+Everything now goes on at the gallop. There is a railway speed in
+the stirring of the mind, not less than in the movement of the
+bodies of men. The social and political passions have acquired
+such intensity, and been so widely diffused, that their inevitable
+results are almost immediately produced. The period of seed-time and
+harvest has become as short in political as it is in agricultural
+labour. A single year brings its appropriate fruits to maturity in
+the moral as in the physical world. Eighty years elapsed in Rome
+from the time when the political passions were first stirred by
+Tiberius Gracchus, before its unruly citizens were finally subdued
+by the art, or decimated by the cruelty of Octavius. England
+underwent six years of civil war and suffering, before the ambition
+and madness of the Long Parliament were expelled by the purge of
+Pride, or crushed by the sword of Cromwell: twelve years elapsed
+between the convocation of the States-general in 1789, and the
+extinction of the license of the French Revolution by the arm of
+Napoleon. But, on this occasion, in one year, all, in the meantime
+at least, has been accomplished. Ere the leaves, which unfolded
+in spring amidst the overthrow of thrones, and the transports of
+revolutionists over the world, had fallen in autumn, the passions
+which had convulsed mankind were crushed for the time, and the
+triumphs of democracy were arrested. A terrible reaction had set in;
+experience of suffering had done its work; and swift as the shades
+of night before the rays of the ascending sun, had disappeared
+the ferment of revolution before the aroused indignation of the
+uncorrupted part of mankind. The same passions may again arise; the
+same delusions again spread, as sin springs up afresh in successive
+generations of men; but we know the result. They will, like the ways
+of the unrighteous, be again crushed.
+
+So rapid was the succession of revolutions, when the tempest
+assailed the world last spring, that no human power seemed capable
+of arresting it; and the thoughtful looked on in mournful and
+impotent silence, as they would have done on the decay of nature
+or the ruin of the world. The Pope began the career of innovation:
+decrees of change issued from the Vatican; and men beheld with
+amazement the prodigy of the Supreme Pontiff--the head of the
+unchangeable Church--standing forth as the leader of political
+reform. Naples quickly caught the flame: a Sicilian revolution
+threatened to sever one-half of their dominions from the Neapolitan
+Bourbon; and internal revolt seemed to render his authority merely
+nominal in his own metropolis. Paris, the cradle in every age of
+new ideas, and the centre of revolutionary action, next felt the
+shock: a reform banquet was prepared as the signal for assembling
+the democratic forces; the national guard, as usual, failed at the
+decisive moment: the King of the Barricades quailed before the
+power which had created him; the Orleans dynasty was overthrown,
+and France delivered over to the dreams of the Socialists and the
+ferocity of the Red Republicans. Prussia soon shared the madness:
+the population of Berlin, all trained to arms, according to the
+custom of that country, rose against the government; the king had
+not energy enough to permit his faithful troops to act with the
+vigour requisite to uphold the throne against such assailants, and
+the monarchy of Frederick the Great was overthrown. Austria, even,
+could not withstand the contagion: neither its proud nobility, nor
+its light-hearted sensual people, nor its colossal army, nor its
+centuries of glory, could maintain the throne in its moment of
+peril. The Emperor was weak, the citizens of Vienna were infatuated;
+and an insurrection, headed by the boys at the university and the
+haberdashers' apprentices in the streets, overturned the imperial
+government, and drove the Emperor to seek refuge in the Tyrol. All
+Germany caught the flame: the dreams of a few hot-headed enthusiasts
+and professors seemed to prevail alike over the dictates of wisdom
+and the lessons of experience; and, amidst the transports of
+millions the chimera or German unity seemed about to be realised by
+the sacrifice of all its means of independence. The balance of power
+in Europe appeared irrevocably destroyed by the breaking up of its
+central and most important powers,--and England, in the midst of the
+general ruin, seemed rocking to its foundation. The Chartists were
+in raptures, the Irish rebels in ecstasy: threatening meetings were
+held in every town in Great Britain; armed clubs were organised in
+the whole south and west of Ireland; revolution was openly talked of
+in both islands, and the close of harvest announced as the time when
+the British empire was to be broken up, and Anglian and Hibernian
+republics established, in close alliance with the great parent
+democracy in France. Amidst such extraordinary and unprecedented
+convulsions, it was with difficulty that a few courageous or
+far-seeing minds preserved their equilibrium; and even those who
+were least disposed to despair of the fortunes of the species, could
+see no end to the succession of disasters with which the world
+was menaced but in a great exertion of the renovating powers of
+nature, similar to that predicted, in a similar catastrophe, for the
+material world, by the imagination of the poet.
+
+    "Roll on, ye stars! exult in youthful prime,
+     Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time!
+     Near and more near your beaming cars approach,
+     And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach.
+     Flowers of the sky! ye, too, to Fate must yield,
+     Frail as your silken sisters of the field;
+     Star after star, from heaven's high arch shall rush,
+     Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush;
+     Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall,
+     And Dark, and Night, and Chaos, mingle all;
+     Till, o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,
+     Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,
+     Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
+     And soars and shines, another and the same."[2]
+
+  [2] DARWIN, _Botanic Garden_.
+
+But the destiny of man, not less than that of the material world,
+is balanced action and reaction, not restoration from ruin. Order
+is preserved in a way which the imagination of the poet could
+not have conceived. Even in the brief space which has elapsed
+since the convulsions began in Italy in January last, the reality
+and ceaseless action of the preserving laws of nature have been
+demonstrated. The balance is preserved in social life by contending
+passions and interests, as in the physical world by opposite
+forces, under circumstances when, to all human appearance, remedy
+is impossible and hope extinguished. The orbit of nations is traced
+out by the Wisdom of Providence not less clearly than that of the
+planets; there are centripetal and centrifugal forces in the moral
+as well as in the material world. As much as the vehement passions,
+the selfish desires, the inexperienced zeal, the expanding energy,
+the rapacious indigence, the mingled virtues and vices of man, lead
+at stated periods to the explosions of revolution,--do the desire
+of tranquillity, the interests of property, the horror at cruelty,
+the lessons of experience, the force of religion, the bitterness of
+suffering, reinduce the desire of order, and restore the influence
+of its organ, government. If we contemplate the awful force of the
+expansive powers which, issuing from the great mass of central heat,
+find vent in the fiery channels of the volcano, and have so often
+rent asunder the solid crust of the earth, we may well tremble to
+think that we stand suspended, as it were, over such an abyss,
+and that at no great distance beneath our feet the elements of
+universal conflagration are to be found.[3] But, strong as are the
+expansive powers of nature, the coercive are still stronger. The
+ocean exists to bridle with its weight the fiery gulf; the arch of
+the earth has been solidly constructed by its Divine architect; and
+the only traces we now discover, in most parts of this globe, of
+the yet raging war of the elements, are the twisted strata, which
+mark, as it were, the former writhings of matter in the terrible
+grasp of its tormentors, or the splintered pinnacles of mountains,
+which add beauty to the landscape, or the smiling plains, which
+bring happiness to the abodes of man. It is the same in the moral
+world. Action and reaction are the law of mind as well as matter,
+and the equilibrium of social life is preserved by the opposite
+tendency of the interests which are brought into collision, and
+the counter-acting force of the passions which are successively
+awakened by the very convulsions which seem to menace society with
+dissolution.
+
+  [3] "Thirty-five miles below the surface of the earth, the central
+  heat is everywhere so great, that granite itself is held in
+  fusion."--HUMBOLDT, _Cosmos_, i. 273.
+
+A year has not elapsed since the revolutionary earthquake began to
+heave in Italy, since the volcano burst forth in Paris; and how
+marvellous is the change which already has taken place in the state
+of Europe! The star of Austria, at first defeated, and apparently
+about to be extinguished in Italy, is again in the ascendant.
+Refluent from the Mincio to the Ticino, her armies have again
+entered Milan,--the revolutionary usurpation of Charles Emanuel has
+been checked almost as soon as it commenced; and the revolutionary
+rabble of Lombardy and Tuscany has fled, as it was wont, before
+the bayonets of Germany. Radetzky has extinguished revolution in
+northern Italy. If it still lingers in the south of the peninsula,
+it is only because the strange and tortuous policy of France and
+England has interfered to arrest the victorious arms of Naples
+on the Sicilian shores. Paris has been the theatre of a dreadful
+struggle, blood has flowed in torrents in its streets, slaughter
+unheard-of stained its pavements, but order has in the end prevailed
+over anarchy. A dynasty has been subverted, but the Red Republicans
+have been defeated, more generals have perished in a conflict of
+three days than at Waterloo; but the Faubourg St Antoine has been
+subdued, the socialists have been overthrown, the state of siege
+has been proclaimed; and, amidst universal suffering, anguish, and
+woe, with three hundred thousand persons out of employment in Paris,
+and a deficit of £20,000,000 in the income of the year, the dreams
+of equality have disappeared in the reality of military despotism.
+It is immaterial whether the head of the government is called a
+president, a dictator, or an emperor--whether the civic crown is
+worn by a Napoleon or a Cavaignac--in either case the ascendant of
+the army is established, and France, after a brief struggle for a
+constitutional monarchy, has terminated, like ancient Rome, in an
+elective military despotism.
+
+Frankfort has been disgraced by frightful atrocities. The chief seat
+of German unity and freedom has been stained by cruelties which
+find a parallel only in the inhuman usages of the American savages;
+but the terrible lesson has not been read in vain. It produced a
+reaction over the world; it opened the eyes of men to the real
+tendency and abominable iniquity of the votaries of revolution in
+Germany; and to the sufferings of the martyrs of revolutionary
+tortures on the banks of the Maine, the subsequent overthrow of
+anarchy in Vienna and Berlin is in a great degree to be ascribed.
+They roused the vacillating cabinets of Austria and Prussia--they
+sharpened the swords of Windischgratz and Jellachich--they nerved
+the souls and strengthened the arms of Brandenberg and Wrangel--they
+awakened anew the chord of honour and loyalty in the Fatherland.
+The national airs have been again heard in Berlin; Vienna has been
+regained after a desperate conflict; the state of siege has been
+proclaimed in both capitals; and order re-established in both
+monarchies, amidst an amount of private suffering and general
+misery--the necessary result of revolutions--which absolutely
+sickens the heart to contemplate. England has emerged comparatively
+unscathed from the strife; her time-honoured institutions have
+been preserved, her monarchy saved amidst the crash of nations.
+Queen Victoria is still upon the throne; our mixed constitution
+is intact; the dreams of the Chartists have been dispelled; the
+rebellion of the Irish rendered ridiculous; the loyalty of the
+great body of the people in Great Britain made manifest. The period
+of immediate danger is over; for the attack of the populace is
+like the spring of a wild beast--if the first onset fails, the
+savage animal slinks away into its den. General suffering indeed
+prevails, industry languishes, credit is all but destroyed, a woful
+deficiency of exports has taken place--but that is the inevitable
+result of popular commotions; and we are suffering, in part at
+least, under the effects of the insanity of nations less free and
+more inexperienced than ourselves. Though last, not least in the
+political lessons of this marvellous year, the papal government
+has been subverted--a second Rienzi has appeared in Rome; and the
+Supreme Pontiff, _who began the movement_, now a fugitive from his
+dominions, has exhibited a memorable warning to future ages, of the
+peril of commencing reforms in high places, and the impossibility
+of reconciling the Roman Catholic religion with political
+innovation.
+
+But let it not be imagined that, because the immediate danger is
+over, and because military power has, after a fierce struggle,
+prevailed in the principal capitals of Europe, that therefore the
+ultimate peril is past, and that men have only to sit down, under
+the shadow of their fig-tree, to cultivate the arts and enjoy the
+blessings of peace. Such is not the destiny of man in any, least of
+all in a revolutionary age. We are rather on the verge of an era
+similar to that deplored by the poet:--
+
+    "Bella per Emathios plusquam civilia campos,
+     Jusque datum sceleri canimus, populumque potentem
+     In sua victrici conversum viscera dextrâ;
+     Cognatasque acies; et rupto foedera regni
+     Certatum totis concussi viribus orbis,
+     In commune nefas."[4]
+
+  [4] LUCAN, i. 1-6.
+
+Who can tell the immeasurable extent of misery and wretchedness,
+of destruction of property among the rich, and ruin of industry
+among the poor, that must take place before the fierce passions,
+now so generally awakened, are allayed--before the visions of a
+virtuous republic by Lamartine, or the dreams of communism by
+Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin, or the insane ideas of the Frankfort
+enthusiasts have ceased to move mankind? The fire they have let
+loose will burn fiercely for centuries; it will alter the destiny
+of nations for ages; it will neither be quenched, like ordinary
+flames, by water, nor subdued, like the Greek fire, by vinegar:
+blood alone will extinguish its fury. The coming convulsions may
+well be prefigured from the past, as they have been recently drawn
+by the hand of a master:--"All around us, the world is convulsed
+by the agonies of great nations; governments which lately seemed
+likely to stand during ages, have been on a sudden shaken and
+overthrown. The proudest capitals of western Europe have streamed
+with civil blood. All evil passions--the thirst of gain and the
+thirst of vengeance--the antipathy of class to class, of race to
+race--have broken loose from the control of divine and human laws.
+Fear and anxiety have clouded the faces, and depressed the hearts
+of millions; trade has been suspended, and industry paralysed;
+the rich have become poor, and the poor poorer. Doctrines hostile
+to all sciences, to all arts, to all industry, to all domestic
+charity--doctrines which, if carried into effect, would in thirty
+years undo all that thirty centuries have done for mankind, and
+would make the fairest provinces of France or Germany as savage
+as Guiana or Patagonia--have been avowed from the tribune, and
+defended by the sword. Europe has been threatened with subjugation
+by barbarians, compared with whom the barbarians who marched under
+Attila or Alboin were enlightened and humane. The truest friends of
+the people have with deep sorrow owned, that interests more precious
+than any political privileges were in jeopardy, and that it might be
+necessary to sacrifice even liberty to save civilisation."[5]
+
+  [5] MACAULAY's _History of England_, vol. ii. p. 669.
+
+It is now just a year since Mr Cobden announced, to an admiring
+and believing audience at Manchester, that the age of warfare
+had ceased; that the contests of nations had passed, like the
+age of the mastodon and the mammoth; that the steam-engine had
+caused the arms to drop from her hands, and the interests of free
+trade extinguished the rivalries of nations; and that nothing now
+remained but to sell our ships of war, disband our troops, cut
+twenty millions off our taxation, and set ourselves unanimously to
+the great work of cheapening everything, and underselling foreign
+competitors in the market of the world. Scarcely were the words
+spoken, when conflicts more dire, battles more bloody, dissensions
+more inextinguishable than had ever arisen from the rivalry of
+kings, or the ambition of ministers, broke out in almost every
+country of Europe. The social supplanted the national passions.
+Within the bosom of society itself, the volcano had burst forth. It
+was no longer general that was matched against general, as in the
+wars of Marlborough, nor nation that rose up against nation, as in
+those of Napoleon. The desire of robbery, the love of dominion, the
+lust of conquest, the passion for plunder, were directed to domestic
+acquisitions. Human iniquity reappeared in worse, because less
+suspected and more delusive colours. Robbery assumed the guise of
+philanthropy; spoliation was attempted, under colour of law; plunder
+was systematically set about, by means of legislative enactments.
+Revolution resumed its old policy--that of rousing the passions by
+the language of virtue, and directing them to the purposes of vice.
+The original devil was expelled; but straightway he returned with
+seven other devils, and the last state of the man was worse than the
+first. Society was armed against itself; the devastating passions
+burned in its own bosom; class rose against class, race against
+race, interest against interest. Capital fancied its interest was
+to be promoted by grinding down labour; labour, that its rights
+extended to the spoliation of capital. A more attractive object
+than the reduction of a city, or the conquest of a province, was
+presented to indigent cupidity. Easier conquests than over rival
+industry were anticipated by moneyed selfishness. The spoliation of
+the rich at their own door--the division of the property of which
+they were jealous, became the dream of popular ambition; the beating
+down of their own labourers by free-trade, the forcible reduction
+of prices by a contraction of the currency--the great object of the
+commercial aristocracy. War reassumed its pristine ferocity. In the
+nineteenth century, the ruthless maxim--_Væ victis!_ became the
+war-cry on both sides in the terrible civil war which burst forth in
+an age of general philanthropy. It may be conceived what passions
+must have been awakened, what terrors inspired, what indignation
+aroused by such projects. But though we have seen the commencement
+of the _era of social conflicts_, is there any man now alive who is
+likely to see its end?
+
+Experience has now completely demonstrated the wisdom of the Allied
+powers, who placed the lawful monarchs of France on the throne in
+1815, and the enormous error of the liberal party in France, which
+conspired with the republicans to overthrow the Bourbon dynasty in
+1830. That fatal step has bequeathed a host of evils to Europe: it
+has loosened the authority of government in all countries; it has
+put the very existence of freedom in peril by the enormity of the
+calamities which it has brought in its train. All parties in France
+are now agreed that the period of the Restoration was the happiest,
+and the least corrupted, that has been known since the first
+Revolution. The republicans of the present day tell us, with a sigh,
+that the average budgets of the three last years of Charles X. were
+900,000,000 francs, (£36,000,000;) that the expenditure was raised
+by Louis Philippe at once to 1500,000,000 francs, (£60,000,000;)
+and that under the Republic it will exceed 1800,000,000 francs,
+(£72,000,000.) There can be no doubt of the fact; and there can
+be as little, that if the Red Republicans had succeeded in the
+insurrection of June last, the annual expenditure would have
+increased to £100,000,000--or rather, a universal spoliation of
+property would have ensued. Louis Blanc has given the world, in
+his powerful historical work, a graphic picture of the universal
+corruption, selfishness, and immorality, in public and private
+life, which pervaded France during the reign of Louis Philippe.[6]
+Though drawn by the hand of a partisan, there can be no doubt that
+the picture is too faithful in most of its details, and exhibits
+an awful proof of the effects of a successful revolution. But the
+misery which Louis Blanc has so ably depicted, the corruptions he
+has brought to light, under the revolutionary monarchy, have been
+multiplied fourfold by those which have prevailed during the last
+year in the republic established by Louis Blanc, himself!
+
+  [6] LOUIS BLANC, _Histoire de Dix Ans de Louis Philippe_, iii. 321,
+  _et seq._
+
+Paris, ever since the suppression of the great insurrection in
+June last, has been in such a state, that it is the most utter
+mockery to call it freedom. In truth, it is nothing but the most
+unmitigated military despotism. A huge statue of liberty is placed
+in the National Assembly; but at every six paces bayonets are to be
+seen, to remind the bystanders of the rule of the sword. "Liberté,
+Egalité, Fraternité," meet the eye at every turn in the streets; but
+the Champs Elysées, the Place de Grève, the Carrousel, and Place
+Vendôme, are crowded with soldiers; and the Champ de Mars is white
+with tents, to cover part of the 40,000 regular troops which form
+the ordinary garrison of Paris. Universal freedom of discussion has
+been proclaimed by the constitution; but dozens of journals have
+been suppressed by the authority of the dictator; and imprisonment
+notoriously hangs over the head of every one who indulges in the
+freedom of discussion, which in England and America is universal.
+The state of siege has been raised, after having continued four
+months; but the military preparations for _another siege_ continue
+with unabated vigour on both sides. The constitution has been
+adopted by a great majority in the Assembly; but the forts are all
+armed, and prepared to rain down the tempest of death on the devoted
+city. Universal suffrage is established; but menacing crowds are in
+the streets, threatening any one who votes against their favourite
+candidates. The Faubourg St Antoine, during the late election, was
+in a frightful state of agitation; infantry, cavalry, and artillery,
+were traversing the streets in all directions; and conflicts not
+less bloody than those of June last were anticipated in the struggle
+for the presidency, and prevented only by the presence of _ninety
+thousand soldiers_ in the capital: a force greater than that
+which fought on either side at Austerlitz or Jena. It is evident
+that republican institutions, in such a state of society, are a
+mere name; and that supreme despotic power is really invested in
+France, as in ancient Rome under the emperors, in the nominee of a
+victorious body of soldiery. The Prætorian guards will dispose of
+the French as they did of the Roman diadem; and ere long, gratuities
+to the troops will perhaps be the passport to power in Paris, as
+they were in the Eternal City.
+
+Nor have the social evils, which in France have followed in the
+wake of successful revolution, been less deplorable than the entire
+destruction of the rights of freemen and security of property which
+has ensued. To show that this statement is not overcharged, we
+extract from a noted liberal journal of Paris, _La Reforme_, of
+November 17, 1848, the following statement:--
+
+     "Property, manufactures, and commerce are utterly destroyed in
+     Paris. Of the population of that great city, the capital of
+     France, there are 300,000 individuals wanting the necessaries
+     of life. One half at least of those earned from 3f. to 5f. a
+     day previous to the revolution, and occupied a number of houses
+     in the faubourgs. The proprietors of those houses receiving no
+     rent, and having taxes and other charges to pay, are reduced
+     to nearly as deep distress as their tenants. In the centre of
+     Paris, the same distress exists under another form. The large
+     and sumptuous apartments of the fashionable quarters were
+     occupied before the revolution by wealthy proprietors, or by
+     persons holding lucrative employments in the public offices,
+     or by extensive manufacturers, but nearly all those have
+     disappeared, and the few who remain have insisted upon such a
+     reduction of rent that the proprietor does not receive one-half
+     of the amount to which he is entitled. Should a proprietor of
+     house property endeavour to raise a sum of money by a first
+     mortgage, to defray his most urgent expenses, he finds it
+     impossible to do so, even at a most exorbitant rate of interest.
+     Those who possess ready money refuse to part with it, either
+     through fear, or because they expect to purchase house property
+     when it must be sold at 50 per cent less than the value."--_La
+     Reforme_, November 17, 1848.
+
+It is certainly a most remarkable thing, in the history of the
+aberrations of the human mind, that a system of policy which has
+produced, and is producing, such disastrous results--and, above
+all, which is inflicting such deadly and irreparable wounds on
+the interests of the poor, and the cause of freedom throughout
+the world--should have been, during the last eighteen years, the
+object of unceasing eulogy by the liberal party on both sides of the
+Channel; and that the present disastrous state of affairs, both in
+this country and on the Continent, is nothing more than the natural
+and inevitable result of the principles that party has everywhere
+laboured to establish. The revolution of 1830 was hailed with
+enthusiasm in this country by the whole liberal party: the Irish are
+not more enamoured now of the revolution of 1848, than the Whigs
+were, eighteen years ago, of that of 1830. The liberal government
+of England did all in their power to spread far and wide the
+glorious example. Flanders was attacked--an English fleet and French
+army besieged Antwerp; and, by a coalition of the two powers, a
+revolutionary throne was established in Belgium, and the king of the
+Netherlands prevented from re-establishing the kingdom guaranteed
+to him by all the powers of Europe. The Quadruple Alliance was
+formed to revolutionise Spain and Portugal; a sanguinary civil
+war was nourished for long in both kingdoms; and at length, after
+years of frightful warfare, the legitimate monarch, and legal order
+of succession, were set aside in both countries; queens were put
+on the thrones of both instead of kings, and England enjoyed the
+satisfaction, for the diffusion of her revolutionary propagandism,
+of destroying the securities provided for the liberties of Europe by
+the treaty of Utrecht, and preparing a Spanish princess for the hand
+of a Bourbon prince.
+
+Not content with this memorable and politic step, and even after
+the recent disasters of France were actually before their eyes, our
+rulers were so enamoured of revolutions, that they could not refrain
+from encouraging it in every _small_ state within their reach.
+Lord Palmerston counseled the Pope, in a too celebrated letter, to
+plunge into the career which has terminated so fatally for himself
+and for Italy. Admiral Parker long prevented the Neapolitan force
+from embarking for Sicily, to do there what Lord Hardinge was nearly
+at the same time sent to do in Ireland. We beheld the Imperial
+standards with complacency driven behind the Mincio; but no sooner
+did Radetzky disperse the revolutionary army, and advance to Milan,
+than British and French diplomacy interfered to arrest his march,
+and save their revolutionary protégé, the King of Piedmont, from the
+chastisement which his perfidious attack on Austria in the moment of
+her distress merited. The Ministerial journals are never weary of
+referring to the revolutions on the Continent as the cause of all
+the distress which has prevailed in England, since they broke out
+in last spring: they forget that it was England herself which first
+unfurled the standard of revolution, and that, if we are suffering
+under its effects, it is under the effects of our own measures and
+policy.
+
+Strange and unaccountable as this perverted and diseased state
+of opinion, in a large part of the people of this country,
+undoubtedly is, it is easily explained when the state of society,
+and the channel into which political contests have run, are taken
+into consideration. In truth, our present errors are the direct
+consequence of our former wisdom; our present weakness, of our
+former strength; our present misery, of our former prosperity.
+
+In the feudal ages, and over the whole Asiatic world at the present
+time, the contests of parties are carried on for _individuals_. No
+change of national policy, or of the system of internal government,
+is contemplated on either side. It is for one prince or another
+prince, for one sultaun or another sultaun, that men draw their
+swords. "Under which King, Bezonian?--speak or die!" is there
+the watch-word of all civil conflict. It was the same in this
+country during the feudal ages, and down to a very recent period.
+No man in the civil wars between Stephen and Henry II., or of the
+Plantagenet princes, or in the wars of the Roses, contemplated or
+desired any change of government or policy in the conflict in which
+they were engaged. The one party struck for the Red, the other for
+the White Rose. Great civil and social interests were at issue in
+the conflict; but the people cared little or nothing for these.
+The contest between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians was a great
+feud between two clans which divided the state; and the attachment
+to their chiefs was the blind devotion of the Highlanders to the
+Pretender.
+
+The Reformation, which first brought the dearest objects of thought
+and interest home to all classes, made a great change in this
+respect, and substituted in large proportion general questions for
+the adherence to particular men, or fidelity to particular families.
+Still, however, the old and natural instinct of the human race to
+attach themselves to men, not things, continued, in a great degree,
+to influence the minds of the people, and as many buckled on their
+armour for the man as the cause. The old Cavaliers, who periled
+life and lands in defence of Charles I., were as much influenced
+by attachment to the dignified monarch, who is immortalised in the
+canvass of Vandyke, as by the feelings of hereditary loyalty; and
+the iron bands which overthrew their ranks at Marston Moor, were as
+devoted to Cromwell as the tenth legion to Cæsar, or the Old Guard
+to Napoleon. In truth, such individual influences are so strongly
+founded in human nature, that they will continue to the end of the
+world, from whatever cause a contest may have arisen, as soon as
+it has continued for a certain time, and will always stand forth
+in prominent importance when a social has turned into a military
+conflict, and the perils and animosities of war have endeared their
+leaders to the soldiers on either side. The Vendeans soon became
+devoted to Henri Larochjaquelein, the Republicans to Napoleon;
+and in our own times, the great social conflict of the nineteenth
+century has been determined by the fidelity of the Austrian
+soldiers to Radetzky, of the French to Cavaignac, of the German to
+Windischgratz.
+
+But in the British empire, for a century past, it has been
+thoroughly understood, by men of sense of all parties, that a change
+of dynasty is out of the question, and that there is no reform worth
+contending for in the state, which is not to be effected by the
+means which the constitution itself has provided. This conviction,
+long impressed upon the nation, and interwoven as it were with the
+very framework of the British mind, having come to coincide with the
+passions incident to party divisions in a free state, has in process
+of time produced the strange and tortuous policy which, for above a
+quarter of a century, has now been followed in this country by the
+government, and lauded to the skies by the whole liberal party on
+the Continent. Deprived of the watchwords of men, the parties have
+come to assume those of things. Organic or social change have become
+the war-cry of faction, instead of change of dynasty. The nation is
+no longer drenched with blood by armies fighting for the Red or the
+White Rose, by parties striving for the mastery between the Stuart
+and Hanover families, but it was not less thoroughly divided by
+the cry of "The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill,"
+at one time, and that of "Free-trade and cheap corn" at another.
+Social change, alterations of policy, have thus come to be the great
+objects which divide the nation; and, as it is ever the policy of
+Opposition to represent the conduct of Government as erroneous,
+it follows, as a necessary consequence, that the main efforts of
+the party opposed to administration always have been, since the
+suppression of the Rebellion in 1745, to effect, when in opposition,
+a change in general opinion, and, when in power, to carry that
+change into effect by a change of policy. The old law of nature
+is still in operation. Action and reaction rule mankind; and in
+the efforts of parties mutually to supplant each other in power, a
+foundation is laid for an entire change of policy at stated periods,
+and an alteration, as great as from night to day, in the opinions
+and policy of the ruling party in the same state at different times.
+
+The old policy of England--that policy under which, in the words
+of Macaulay, "The authority of law and the security of property
+were found to be compatible with a liberty of discussion and
+of individual action never known before; under which form, the
+auspicious union of order and freedom, sprang a prosperity of which
+the annals of human affairs had furnished no example; under which
+our country, from a state of ignominious vassalage, rapidly rose to
+the place of umpire among European powers; under which her opulence
+and martial glory grew together; under which, by wise and resolute
+good faith, was gradually established a public credit, fruitful
+of marvels which, to the statesmen of any former age, would have
+appeared incredible; under which a gigantic commerce gave birth to
+a maritime power, compared with which every other maritime power,
+ancient or modern, sinks into insignificance; under which Scotland,
+after ages of enmity, was at length united to England, not mere by
+legal bonds, but by indissoluble ties of interest and affection;
+under which, in America, the British colonies rapidly became far
+mightier and wealthier than the realms which Cortes and Pizarro
+added to the dominions of Charles V.; under which, in Asia, British
+adventurers founded an empire not less splendid, and more durable,
+than that of Alexander,"[7]--was not the policy of any particular
+party or section of the community, and thence its long duration and
+unexampled success.
+
+  [7] MACAULAY's _History_, i. 1-2.
+
+It was not introduced--it grew. Like the old constitution, of which
+it was the emanation, it arose from the wants and necessities of
+all classes of men during a long series of ages. It was first
+proclaimed in energetic terms by the vigour of Cromwell; the cry of
+the national representatives for markets to native industry, of the
+merchants, for protection to their ships, produced the Navigation
+Laws, and laid the foundation of the colonial empire of England.
+Amidst all his _insouciance_ and folly in the drawing-room of the
+Duchess of Portsmouth, and the boudoirs of the Duchess of Cleveland,
+it was steadily pursued by Charles II. James II. did not lose sight
+of this same system, amidst all his infatuation and cruelty; when
+directing the campaign of Jeffreys in the west, he was as steadily
+bent on upholding and extending the navy as when, amidst the
+thunders of war, he combated de Ruyter and van Tromp on the coast
+of Holland. William III., Anne, and the Georges, pursued the same
+system. It directed the policy of Somers and Godolphin; it ruled the
+diplomacy of Walpole and Chatham; it guided the measures of Bute
+and North; it directed the genius of Pitt and Fox. It was for it
+that Marlborough conquered, and Wolfe fell; that Blake combated, and
+Hawke destroyed; that Nelson launched the thunderbolt of war, and
+Wellington carried the British standard to Madrid and Paris.
+
+It was the peculiar structure of the English constitution, during
+this century and a half of prosperity and glory, that produced so
+remarkable a uniformity in the objects of the national policy. These
+objects were pursued alike by the Republicans and the Royalists; by
+the Roundheads and the Cavaliers; by the Whigs, during the seventy
+years of their rule that followed the Revolution, and the Tories,
+during the sixty years that succeeded the accession of George III.
+The policy was that of _protection to all the national interests,
+whether landed, commercial, colonial, or manufacturing_. Under this
+system they all grew and prospered, _alike and abreast_, in the
+marvellous manner which the pencil of Macaulay has sketched in the
+opening of his History. It was hard to say whether agriculture,
+manufactures, colonies, or shipping throve and prospered most
+during that unique period. The world had never seen anything like
+it before: it is doubtful if it will ever see anything like it
+again. Under its shelter, the various interests of the empire were
+knit together in so close a manner, that they not only all grew
+and prospered together, but it was universally felt that their
+interests were entirely dependent on each other. The toast "The
+plough, the loom, and the sail," was drunk with as much enthusiasm
+in the farmers' club as in the merchant's saloon. As varied as the
+interests with which they were charged, the policy of government was
+yet perfectly steady in following out one principle--the protection
+of the _productive classes_, whether by land or water, whether at
+home or abroad.
+
+The legislature represented and embodied all these interests, and
+carried out this policy. It gave them a stability and consistency
+which had never been seen in the world before. Nominally the
+representatives of certain towns and counties in the British
+islands, the House of Commons gradually became really the
+representatives of the varied interests of the whole British empire.
+The nomination boroughs afforded an inlet alike to native talent
+and foreign interests. Gatton and Old Sarum, or similar close
+boroughs, afforded an entrance to the legislature, not only to the
+genius of Pitt and Fox, of Burke and Sheridan, but to the wealth
+of Jamaica, the rising energy of Canada, the aged civilisation of
+Hindostan. Experienced protection reconciled all interests to a
+government under which all prospered; mutual dependence made all
+sensible of the necessity of common unanimity. The statute-book
+and national treaties, from the Revolution in 1688 to the close
+of the war with Napoleon in 1815, exhibit the most decisive proof
+of the working of these varied, but not conflicting interests, in
+the national councils. If you contemplate the general protection
+afforded to agriculture and the landed interest, you would imagine
+the House of Commons had been entirely composed of squires. If you
+examine the innumerable enactments, fiscal and prohibitory, for the
+protection of manufactures, you would suppose it had been entirely
+under the government of manufacturers. If you contemplate the steady
+protection invariably given to the mercantile navy, you would
+suppose it had been chiefly directed by shipowners. If you cast your
+eyes on the protection constantly given by discriminating fiscal
+duties to colonial industry, and the vast efforts made, both by sea
+and land, in the field and in the cabinet, to encourage and extend
+our colonial dependencies, you would conclude, not only that they
+were represented, but that their representatives had a majority in
+the legislature.
+
+The reason of this prodigy was, that all interests had, in the
+course of ages, and the silent effects of time, worked their
+way into the legislature, and all enjoyed in fair proportion a
+reasonable influence on government. Human wisdom could no more _ab
+ante_ have framed such a system, than it could have framed the
+British constitution. By accident, or rather the good providence
+of God, it grew up from the wants of men during a series of
+generations; and its effects appeared in this, that--except in the
+cases of the American war, where unfortunate circumstances produced
+a departure from the system; of the Irish Celts, whom it seems
+impracticable to amalgamate with Saxon institutions; and of the
+Scottish Highlanders, whom chivalrous honour for a short period
+alienated from the established government--unanimity unprecedented
+during the whole period pervaded the British empire. All foreign
+colonies were desirous to be admitted into the great protecting
+confederacy; the French and Dutch planters in secret prayed for
+the defeat of their defenders when the standard of St George
+approached their shores. The Hindoos, with heroic constancy, alike
+in prosperous and adverse fortune, maintained their fidelity: Canada
+stood firm during the most dangerous crisis of our history; and the
+flame of loyalty burned as steadily on the banks of the St Lawrence,
+on the mountains of Jamaica, and on the shores of the Ganges, as in
+the crowded emporiums of London, or the smiling fields of Yorkshire.
+
+But there is a limit imposed by nature to all earthly things.
+The growth of empires is restrained, after they have reached a
+certain stature, by laws as certain as those which arrest that of
+individuals. If a state does not find the causes of its ruin in
+foreign disaster, it will inevitably find it in internal opinion.
+This arises so naturally and evidently from the constitution of the
+human mind, that it may be regarded as a fixed law of nature in all
+countries where intellectual activity has been called forth, and
+as one of the most powerful agents in the government, by supreme
+Wisdom, of human affairs. This principle is to be found in the
+tendency of _original_ thought to differ from the current opinion
+with which it is surrounded, and of party ambition to decry the
+system of those by whom it is excluded from power.
+
+Universally it will be found that the greatest exertions of human
+intellect have been made in _direct opposition_ to the current of
+general opinion; and that public thought in one age is in general
+but the echo of solitary meditation in that which has preceded
+it. Illustrations of this crowd on the reflecting mind from every
+period of history. The instances of Luther standing forth alone to
+shake down, Samson-like, the pillar of the corrupted Romish faith;
+of Bacon's opening, amid all the despotism of the Aristotelian
+philosophy, his inductive philosophy; of Galileo maintaining the
+motion of the earth even when surrounded by the terrors of the
+Italian Inquisition; of Copernicus asserting the true system of
+the heavens in opposition to the belief of two thousand years;
+of Malthus bringing forward the paradox of the danger of human
+increase in opposition to the previous general opinion of mankind;
+of Voltaire combating alone the giant power of the Roman Catholic
+hierarchy; of Rousseau running a course against the whole ideas
+of his age--will immediately occur to every reader. Many of these
+great men adopted erroneous opinions, and, in consequence, did as
+much evil to their own or the next age as others did good; but they
+were all characterised by one mark. Their opinions were _original_,
+and directly adverse to public opinion around them. The close of
+the nineteenth century was no exception to the general principle.
+Following out those doctrines of freedom from restraint of every
+kind, which in France had arisen from the natural resistance of
+men to the numerous fetters of the monarchy, and which had been
+brought forward by Turgot and the Economists, in the boudoirs of
+Madame Pompadour and the coteries of Paris,--Adam Smith broached the
+principle of Free Trade, with the exceptions of grain and shipping.
+The first he excepted, because it was essential to national
+subsistence; the second, because it was the pillar of national
+defence. The new philosophy was ardently embraced by the liberal
+party, who, chagrined by long exclusion from office, were rejoiced
+to find a tangible and plausible ground whereon to attack the whole
+existing system of government. From them it gradually extended to
+nearly all the ardent part of the community, ever eager to embrace
+doctrines at variance with previous and vulgar belief, and not yet
+enlightened by experience as to the effect of the new system. It was
+soon discovered that for a century and a half we had been proceeding
+on false principles. The whole policy of government since the days
+of Cromwell had been erroneous; in politics, in social government,
+in diplomacy, in the colonies, in war, in peace, at home and abroad,
+we had been running blindfold to destruction. True, we had become
+great, and glorious, and free under this abominable system; true, it
+had been accompanied by a growth of national strength, and an amount
+of national happiness, unparalleled in any former age or country;
+but that was all by accident. Philosophy had marked it with the
+sign of reprobation--prosperity had poured upon us by chance in the
+midst of universal misgovernment. By all the rules of calculation
+we should have been destroyed, though, strange to say, no symptoms
+of destruction had yet appeared amongst us. According to every
+principle of philosophy, the patient should long ago have been dead
+of the mortal disease under which he laboured: the only provoking
+thing was, that he was still walking about in robust and florid
+health.
+
+Circumstances occurred at the same time, early in this century,
+which had the most powerful effect in exasperating the Opposition
+party throughout the country, and inducing them to embrace,
+universally and ardently, the new philosophy, which condemned in
+such unmeasured terms the whole system of government pursued by
+their antagonists. For half a century, since the long dominion of
+the Whigs was terminated in 1761 by George III., the Tories had
+been, with the exception of a few months, constantly in office.
+Though their system of government in religion, in social affairs,
+in foreign relations, was nothing but a continuation of that which
+the Whigs had introduced, and according to which the government had
+been conducted from 1688 to 1760, yet, in the ardour of their zeal
+for the overthrow of their adversaries, the liberal party embraced
+on every point the opposite side. The descendants of Lord Russel
+became the advocates of Roman Catholic emancipation; the followers
+of Marlborough and Godolphin, the partisans of submission to France;
+the successors of Walpole and Chatham, the advocates of free trade
+and colonial neglect. These feelings, embraced from the influence of
+a determination to find fault with government in every particular,
+were worked up to the highest pitch by the glorious result of the
+war with France, and the apparently interminable lease of power
+acquired by their adversaries from the overthrow of Napoleon. That
+memorable event, so opposite to that which they had all so long
+in public predicted, so entirely the reverse of that which many
+had in secret wished, produced a profound impression on the Whig
+party. Their feelings were only the more acute, that, amidst the
+tumult of national exultation, they were forced to suppress them,
+and to wear the countenance of satisfaction, when the bitterness of
+disappointment was in their hearts. To the extreme asperity of these
+feelings, and the universal twist which they gave to the minds of
+the whole liberal party in Great Britain, the subsequent general
+change in their political principles is to be ascribed; and, in the
+practical application of these principles, the real cause of our
+present distressed condition is to be found.
+
+While one set of causes thus prepared, in the triumph of
+Conservative and protective principles, the strongest possible
+reaction against them, and prognosticated, at no distant period,
+their general banishment from popular thought, another, and a
+not less powerful set, flowing from the same cause, gave these
+principles the means of acquiring a political supremacy, and ruling
+the government of the state. The old policy of England, it has
+been already observed, for a hundred and fifty years, had been to
+take care of the producers, and let the consumers take care of
+themselves. Such had been the effects of this protective policy,
+that, before the close of the Revolutionary war, during which it
+received its full development, the producing classes, both in town
+and country, had become so rich and powerful, that it was easy
+to see they would ere long give a preponderance to urban over
+rural industry. The vast flood of agricultural riches poured for
+expenditure into towns; that of the manufacturers and merchants
+seldom left it. The great manufacturing and mercantile places,
+during a century, had advanced in population tenfold, in wealth
+thirty-fold. The result of this change was very curious, and in
+the highest degree important. Under the _shadow of protection_ to
+industry in all its branches, riches, both in town and country, had
+increased so prodigiously, that the holders of it had _acquired
+a preponderance over the classes in the state yet engaged in the
+toilsome and hazardous work of production_. The owners of realised
+capital had become so numerous and weighty, from the beneficial
+effects of the protective system under which the country had so long
+flourished, that they formed an important _class apart, which began
+to look to its separate interests_. The consumers had become so
+numerous and affluent, that they were enabled to bid defiance to the
+producers. The maxim became prevalent, "Take care of the consumer,
+and let the producer take care of himself." Thence the clamour for
+free trade. Having passed the labour of production, during which
+they, or their fathers, had strenuously supported the protective
+principles, by which they were making their money, the next thing
+was to support the opposite principles, by which the value of the
+_made money might be augmented_. This was to be done by free trade
+and a contracted currency. Having made millions by protection, the
+object now was to add a half to every million by raising its value.
+The way to do this seemed to be by cheapening the price of every
+other article, and raising the price of money: in other words, the
+system of cheapening everything without reference to its effect on
+the interests of production.
+
+Parliamentary reform, for which the Whigs, disappointed by long
+exclusion from office, laboured strenuously, in conjunction with
+the commercial and moneyed classes, enriched by protection, gave
+them the means of carrying both objects into execution, because
+it made two-thirds of the House of Commons the representatives of
+burghs. The cry of cheap bread was seductive to all classes in
+towns:--to the employer, because it opened the prospect of reducing
+the price of labour, and to the operative, because it presents that
+of lowering that of provisions. To these two objects, accordingly,
+of raising the value of money and lowering the remuneration of
+industry, the Reform parliament, the organ of the moneyed interest
+and consuming classes, has, through all the changes of party, been
+perfectly steady. It is no wonder it has been so, for it was the
+first-born of those interests. Twenty years before the cry for
+reform convulsed the nation--in 1810--the Bullion Committee brought
+forward the principle of a metallic, and, consequently, a contracted
+currency; and they recommended its adoption in the very crisis of
+the war, when Wellington lay at Torres Vedras, and when the monetary
+crisis to which it must have led would have made us a province of
+France. Reform was the consequence of the change in the currency,
+not its cause. The whole time from 1819 to 1831, with the exception
+of 1824 and 1825, was one uninterrupted period of suffering. Such
+was the misery it produced that the minds of men were prepared
+for any change. A chaos of unanimity was produced by a chaos of
+suffering.
+
+Thus, by a singular and most interesting chain of causes and
+effects, it was the triumph of Conservative and protective
+principles in the latter years of the war, and the entire
+demonstration thus afforded of their justice and expedience,
+which was the immediate cause of their subsequent abandonment,
+and all the misery which has thence arisen, and with which we
+are still everywhere surrounded. For it at once turned all the
+intellectual energies of the great liberal party to oppose, in
+every particular, the system by which their opponents had been
+glorified, and concentrated all the energies of the now powerful
+moneyed classes to swell, by a change of policy, the fortunes on
+which their consequence depended, and which had arisen from the
+long prevalence of the opposite system. For such is the tendency to
+action and reaction, in all vigorous and intellectual communities,
+that truth itself is for long no security against their occurrence.
+On the contrary, so vehement are the passions excited by a great
+and lasting triumph of one party, even though in the right, that
+the victory of truth, whether in politics or religion, is often
+the immediate cause of the subsequent triumph of error. The great
+Roman Catholic reaction against the Reformation, which Ranke has so
+clearly elucidated, and Macaulay has so powerfully illustrated, has
+its exact counterpart in the great political reaction of the Whig
+party, of which Macaulay is himself the brightest ornament.
+
+That this is the true explanation of the strange and tortuous
+policy, both in domestic and foreign affairs, under which the
+nation has so long suffered, is apparent on the slightest survey of
+political affairs in the last and present century.
+
+The old principle of the English constitution, which had worked
+itself into existence, or grown up from the necessities of men,
+during a long course of years, was, that the whole _interests_ of
+the state should be represented, and that the House of Commons
+was the assembly in which the representatives of all those varied
+interests were to be found. For the admission of these varied
+interests, a varied system of electoral qualifications, admitting
+all interests, noble, mercantile, industrial, popular, landed, and
+colonial, was indispensable. In the old House of Commons, all these
+classes found a place for their representatives, and thence the
+commercial protection it afforded to industry. According to the new
+system, a vast majority of seats was to be allotted to _one class
+only_, the householders and shopkeepers of towns. That class was the
+moneyed and consuming class; and thence the whole subsequent course
+of British policy, which has been to sacrifice everything to their
+interests.
+
+The old maxim of government, alike with Whigs and Tories, was, that
+native industry of all sorts, and especially agricultural industry,
+was to be protected, and that foreign competition was to be admitted
+only in so far as was not inconsistent with this primary object.
+The new philosophy taught, and the modern liberals carried into
+execution, a different principle. They went on the maxim that the
+interests of the consumers alone were to be considered: that to
+cheapen everything was the great object; and that it mattered not
+how severely the producers of articles suffered, provided those
+who purchased them were enabled to do so at a reduced rate. This
+policy, long lauded in abstract writings and reviews, was at length
+carried into execution by Sir R. Peel, by the tariff of 1842 and
+the free-trade measures of 1846.
+
+To protect and extend our colonial dependencies was the great object
+of British policy, alike with Whigs and Tories, from the time of
+Cromwell to the fall of Napoleon. In them, it was thought our
+manufacturers would find a lasting and rapidly increasing market for
+their produce, which would, in the end, enable us equally to defy
+the hostility, and withstand the rivalry of foreign states. The new
+school held that this was an antiquated prejudice: that colonies
+were a burden rather than a blessing to the mother country: that the
+independence of America was the greatest blessing that ever befell
+Great Britain; and that, provided we could buy colonial produce a
+little cheaper, it signified nothing though our colonies perished by
+the want of remuneration for their industry, or were led to revolt
+from exasperation at the cruel and unnatural conduct of the mother
+country.
+
+The navy was regarded by all our statesmen, without exception, from
+Cromwell to Pitt, as the main security of the British empire; its
+bulwark in war; the bridge which united its far-distant provinces
+during peace. To feed it with skilled seamen, the Navigation
+Laws were upheld even by Adam Smith and the first free-traders,
+as the wisest enactments which were to be found in the British
+statute-book. But here, too, it was discovered that our ancestors
+had been in error: the system under which had flourished for two
+centuries the greatest naval power that ever existed, was found to
+have been an entire mistake; and provided freights could be had ten
+per cent cheaper, it was of no consequence though the fleets of
+France and Russia blockaded the Thames and Mersey, and two-thirds of
+our trade was carried on in foreign bottoms.
+
+To provide a CURRENCY equal to the wants of the nation, and
+capable of growth in proportion to the amount of their numbers
+and transactions, was one main object of the old policy of Great
+Britain. Thence the establishment of banks in such numbers in
+every part of the empire during the eighteenth century, and the
+introduction of the suspension of the obligation to pay in gold in
+1797, when the necessities of war had drained nearly all that part
+of the currency out of the country, and it was evident that, unless
+a substitute for it in sufficient quantities was provided, the
+nation itself, and all the individuals in it, would speedily become
+bankrupt. The marvels of British finance from that time till 1815,
+which excited the deserved astonishment of the whole world, had no
+effect in convincing the impassioned opponents of Mr Pitt, that
+this was the true system adapted for that or any similar crisis. On
+the contrary, it left no doubt in their minds that it was entirely
+wrong. The whole philosophers and liberal school of politicians
+discovered that the very opposite was the right principle; that
+gold, the most variable in price and evanescent, because the
+most desired and portable of earthly things, was the only safe
+foundation for a currency; that paper was worthless and perilous,
+unless in so far as it could be instantly converted into that
+incomparable metal; and that, consequently, the more the precious
+metals were withdrawn from the country, by the necessities of war
+or the effects of adverse exchanges, the more the paper circulation
+should be contracted. If the last sovereign went out, they held
+it clear the last note should be drawn in. The new system was
+brought into practice by Sir R. Peel, by the acts of 1844 and 1845,
+simultaneously with a vast importation of grain under the free-trade
+system--and we know the consequence. We were speedily near our last
+sovereign and last note also.
+
+To establish a sinking fund, which should secure to the nation
+during peace the means of discharging the debt contracted amidst
+the necessities of war, was one of the greatest objects of the old
+English policy, which was supported with equal earnestness by Mr
+Pitt and Mr Fox, by Mr Addington and Lord Henry Petty. So steadily
+was this admirable system adhered to through all the dangers
+and necessities of the war, that we had a clear sinking fund of
+£15,000,000 a-year, when the contest terminated in 1815, which, if
+kept up at that amount, from the indirect taxes from which it was
+levied during peace, would, beyond all question, as the loans had
+ceased, have discharged the whole debt by the year 1845. But the
+liberals soon discovered that this was the greatest of all errors:
+it was all a delusion; the mathematical demonstration, on which it
+was founded, was a fallacy; and the only wisdom was to repeal the
+indirect taxes, from which the sinking fund was maintained, and
+leave posterity to dispose of the debt as they best could, without
+any fund for its discharge. This system was gradually carried into
+effect by the successive repeal of the indirect taxes by different
+administrations; until at length, after thirty-three years of peace,
+we have, instead of the surplus of fifteen millions bequeathed to us
+by the war, an average _deficit_ of fifteen hundred thousand pounds;
+and the debt, after the longest peace recorded in British history,
+has undergone scarcely any diminution.
+
+Indirect taxation was the main basis of the British finance in
+old times--equally when directed by the Whigs as the Tories.
+Direct taxes were a last and painful resource, to be reserved for
+a period during war, when it had become absolutely unavoidable.
+So efficacious was this system proved to be by the event, when
+acting on a nation enjoying protected industry, and an adequate and
+irremovable currency, that, before the end of the war, £72,000,000
+was, amidst universal prosperity, with ease raised from eighteen
+millions of people in Great Britain and Ireland. This astonishing
+result, unparalleled in the previous history of the world, had no
+influence in convincing the modern liberals that the system which
+produced it was right. On the contrary, it left no doubt in their
+minds that it was entirely wrong. They introduced the opposite
+system: in twenty-five years, they repealed £40,000,000 of indirect
+taxes; and they reintroduced the income tax as a permanent burden
+during peace. We see the result. The sinking fund has disappeared;
+the income tax is fixed about our necks; a deficit of from a million
+and a half to two millions annually incurred; and it is now more
+difficult to extract fifty-two millions annually from twenty-nine
+millions of souls, than, at the close of the war, it was to raise
+seventy-two millions from eighteen millions of inhabitants.
+
+To discourage revolution, both abroad and at home, and enable
+industry, in peace and tranquillity, to reap the fruits of its
+toil, was the grand object of the great contest which Pitt's wisdom
+bequeathed to his successors, and Wellington's arm brought to a
+glorious termination. This, however, was ere long discovered to be
+the greatest error of all. England, it was found out, had a decided
+interest in promoting the cause of revolution all over the world.
+So enamoured did we soon become of the propagandist mania, that we
+pursued it in direct opposition to our planned national interests,
+and with the entire abrogation of our whole previous policy, for
+which we had engaged in the greatest and most costly wars, alike
+under Whig and Tory administrations. We supported revolutions in
+the South American states, though thereby we reduced to a half of
+its former amount the supply of the precious metals throughout the
+globe; and, in consequence, increased immensely the embarrassment
+which a contracted paper currency had brought upon the nation:
+we supported revolution in Belgium, though thereby we brought
+the tricolor standard down to Antwerp, and surrendered to French
+influence the barrier fortresses won by the victories of Marlborough
+and Wellington: we supported it during four years of carnage and
+atrocity in Spain, though thereby we undid the work of our own
+hands, in the treaty of Utrecht, surrendered the whole objects
+gained by the War of the Succession, and placed the female line upon
+the throne, as if to invite the French princes to come and carry off
+the glittering prize: we supported revolutions in Sicily and Italy,
+though thereby we gave such a blow to our export trade, that it sank
+£1,400,000 in the single month of last May, and above £5,000,000 in
+the course of the year 1848.
+
+To abolish the slave trade was one of the objects which Whigs and
+Tories had most at heart in the latter years of the old system;
+and in that great and glorious contest Mr Pitt, Mr Fox, and Mr
+Wilberforce stood side by side. But this object, so important
+in its results, so interesting to humanity from its tendency to
+alleviate human suffering, ere long yielded to the enlightened
+views of modern liberals. It was discovered that it was much more
+important to cheapen sugar _for a time_[8] than to rescue the
+African race from perdition. Free trade in sugar was introduced,
+although it was demonstrated, and, indeed, confessed, that the
+effect of it would be to ruin all the free-labour colonies,
+and throw the supply of the world into the hands of the slave
+states. Provided, for a few years, you succeeded in reducing the
+average retail price of sugar a penny a pound, it was deemed of
+no consequence though we extinguished the growth of free-labour
+sugar--destroyed colonies in which a hundred millions of British
+capital were invested, and doubled the slave trade in extent, and
+quadrupled it in horror, throughout the globe.
+
+  [8] Observe, _for a time_! We shall see anon what the price of
+  sugar will be when the English colonies are destroyed and the slave
+  plantations have the monopoly of the market in their hands.
+
+It had been the constant policy of the British government, under all
+administrations, for above a century and a half, to endeavour to
+reclaim the Irish population by introducing among them colonies of
+English who might teach them industry, and Protestant missionaries
+who might reclaim them from barbarism. The Irish landlords and
+boroughs were the outposts of civilisation among a race of savages;
+the Irish Church the station of Christianity amidst the darkness
+of Romish slavery. So effectual was this system, and so perfectly
+adapted to the character of the Celtic race--capable of great
+things when led by others, but utterly unfit for self-government,
+and incapable of improvement when left to itself,--that even in
+the ruthless hands of Cromwell, yet reeking with the slaughter of
+stormed cities, it soon spread a degree of prosperity through the
+country then unknown, and rarely if ever since equalled in that
+ill-starred land.[9] But the experience of the utter futility of
+all attempts, during a century and a half, to leave the native
+Irish Celts to themselves or their own direction, had no effect
+whatever in convincing our modern liberals that they were incapable
+of self-direction, and would only be ruined by Saxon institutions.
+On the contrary, it left no doubt in their minds that the absence
+of self-government was the sole cause of the wretchedness of the
+country, and that nothing was wanting but an entire participation in
+the privileges of British subjects, to render them as industrious,
+prosperous, and loyal as the yeomen of Kent or Surrey. In pursuance
+of those principles, Catholic Emancipation was granted: the Whigs
+had effected one revolution in 1688, by coalescing with the whole
+Tories to exclude the Catholics from the government; they brought
+about another revolution, in 1829, by coalescing with a section
+of the Tories to bring them in. In furtherance of the new system,
+so plausible in theory, so dangerous in practice, of extending to
+all men, of all races, and in all stages of political advancement,
+the same privileges, the liberals successively gave the Irish
+the command of their boroughs, the abridgment of the Protestant
+Church, and the abolition of tithes as a burden on the tenant.
+They encouraged agitation, allowed treason to be openly spoken in
+every part of the country, and winked at monster meetings, till
+the community was wellnigh thrown into convulsions. Meanwhile,
+agriculture was neglected--industry disappeared--capital was
+scared away. The land was run out, and became unfit for anything
+but lazy-beds of potatoes. The people became agitators, not
+cultivators: they were always running about to meetings--not
+frequenting fairs. The potato-blight fell on a country thus prepared
+for ruin, and the unparalleled misery of 1847, and the rebellion of
+1848, were the consequence.
+
+  [9] "Cromwell supplied the void made by his conquering sword,
+  by pouring in numerous colonies of the Anglo-Saxon blood and of
+  the Calvinistic faith. Strange to say, under that iron rule the
+  conquered country began to wear an outward face of prosperity.
+  Districts, which had recently been as wild as those where the
+  first white settlers of Connecticut were contending with the
+  Red Men, _were in a few years transformed into the likeness of
+  Kent and Norfolk_. New buildings, roads, and plantations were
+  everywhere begun. The rent of estates rose fast: and some of the
+  English landowners began to complain that they were met in every
+  market by the products of Ireland, and to clamour for protecting
+  laws."--MACAULAY'S _History_, i., 130.
+
+It would be easy to carry these illustrations farther, and to trace
+the working of the principles we have mentioned through the whole
+modern system of government in Great Britain. Enough has been
+said to show that the system is neither founded on the principles
+contended for by the old Whigs, nor on any appreciation of, or
+attention to, the national interests, or the dictates of experience
+in any respect. It has arisen entirely from a blind desire of
+change, and an opposition to the old system of government, whether
+of Whig or Tory origin, and a selfish thirst for aggrandisement on
+the part of the moneyed and commercial classes, whom that system
+had elevated to riches and power. Experience was not disregarded
+by this school of politicians; on the contrary, it was sedulously
+attended to, its lessons carefully marked. But it was considered
+as a beacon to be avoided, not a light to be followed. Against its
+conclusions the whole weight of declamation and shafts of irony
+were directed. It had been the _cri de guerre_ of their enemies,
+the standard of Mr Pitt's policy; therefore the opposite system
+was to be inscribed on their banners. It was the ruling principle
+of their political opponents; and, worst of all, it was the system
+which, though it had raised the country to power and greatness, had
+for twenty years excluded themselves from power. Thence the modern
+system, under which the nation has suffered, and is suffering, such
+incalculable misfortunes. It has been said, by an enlightened Whig
+of the old school, that "this age appears to be one in which _every
+conceivable folly_ must be believed and _reduced to practice_ before
+it is abandoned." It is really so; and the reason is, it is an age
+in which the former system of government, founded on experience and
+brought about by necessity, has been supplanted by one based on a
+systematic and invariable determination to change the old system in
+every particular. The liberals, whether factious or moneyed, of the
+new school, flattered themselves they were making great advances in
+political science, when they were merely yielding to the same spirit
+which made the Calvinists stand up when they prayed, because all
+the world before them had knelt down, and sit still during psalms,
+because the Roman Catholics had stood up.
+
+But truth is great, and will prevail; experience is its test,
+and is perpetually contradicting the theories of man. The year
+1848 has been no exception to the maxims of Tacitus and Burke.
+Dreadful indeed in suffering, appalling in form, are the lessons
+which it has read to mankind! Ten months have not elapsed, since,
+by a well-concerted urban tumult, seconded by the treachery of
+the national guard, the throne of the Barricades was overturned
+in France--and what do we already see on the continent of Europe?
+Vienna petitioning for a _continuation_ of the state of siege, as
+the only security against the tyranny of democracy: Berlin hailing
+with rapture the dissolution of the Assembly, and reappearance
+of the king in the capital: Milan restored to the sway of the
+Austrians: France seeking, in the _quasi_ imperial crown of Prince
+Louis Napoleon, with 90,000 soldiers in its capital, a refuge from
+the insupportable evils of a democratic republic. The year 1848 has
+added another to the numerous proofs which history affords, that
+popular convulsions, from whatever cause arising, can terminate
+only in the rule of the sword; but it has taught two other lessons
+of incalculable importance to the present and future tranquillity
+of mankind. These are, that soldiers who in civil convulsions
+fraternise with the insurgents, and violate their oaths, are the
+_worst enemies_ of the people, for they inevitably induce a military
+despotism, which extinguishes all hopes of freedom. The other is,
+that the institution of a national guard is in troubled times of all
+others the most absurd; and that, to put arms into the hands of the
+people, when warmed by revolutionary passions, is only to light the
+torch of civil discord with your own hand, and hand over the country
+to anarchy, ruin, and slavery.
+
+Nor has the year been less fruitful of civil premonitions or lessons
+of the last importance to the future tranquillity and prosperity of
+Great Britain. Numerous popular delusions have been dispelled during
+that period. The dreams of Irish independence have been broken;
+English Chartism has been crushed. The revolutionists see that the
+people of Great Britain are not disposed to yield their property
+to the spoiler, their throats to the murderer, their homes to the
+incendiary. Free trade and a fettered currency have brought forth
+their natural fruits--national embarrassment, general suffering,
+popular misery. One half of the wealth of our manufacturing towns
+has been destroyed since the new system began. Two years of free
+trade and a contracted currency have undone nearly all that twenty
+years of protection and a sufficient currency had done. The great
+mercantile class have suffered so dreadfully under the effect of
+their own measures, that their power for good or for evil has
+been essentially abridged. The colossus which, for a quarter of a
+century, has bestrode the nation, has been shaken by the earthquake
+which itself had prepared. Abroad and at home, in peace and in
+war, delusion has brought forth suffering. The year of revolutions
+has been the NINTH OF THERMIDOR, OF LIBERAL PRINCIPLES, for it has
+brought them to the test of experience.
+
+
+
+
+FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS.
+
+
+The extraordinary deficiency recently exhibited by a great
+Continental nation in two qualities eminently prized by
+Englishmen--in common consistency, namely, and in common sense--has
+cast into the shade all previous shortcomings of the kind, making
+them appear remote and trivial. A people of serfs, ruled for
+centuries with an iron rod, pillaged for their masters' profit,
+and lashed at the slightest murmur, were excusable if, on sudden
+emancipation from such galling thraldom, their joyful gambols
+exceeded the limits prescribed by public decorum, and by a due
+regard to their own future prosperity. They might be forgiven
+for dancing round maypoles, and dreaming of social perfection.
+It would not be wonderful if they had difficulty in immediately
+replacing their expelled tyrants by a capable and stable government,
+and if their brief exhilaration were succeeded by a period of
+disorganisation and weakness. Such allowances cannot be made for the
+mad capers of republican France. The deliverance is inadequate to
+account for the ensuing delirium. The grievances swept away by the
+February revolution, and which patience, prudence, and moderation,
+could not have failed ultimately to remove--as thoroughly, if less
+rapidly--were not so terrible as to justify lunacy upon redress.
+Nevertheless, since then, the absurdities committed by France, or
+at least by Paris, are scarcely explicable save on the supposition
+of temporary aberration of intellect. Unimaginative persons have
+difficulty in realising the panorama of events, alternately
+sanguinary and grotesque, lamentable and ludicrous, spread over the
+last ten months. Europe--the portion of it, that is to say, which
+has not been bitten by the same rabid and mischievous demon--has
+looked on, in utter astonishment, at the painful spectacle of a
+leader of its civilisation galloping, with Folly on its crupper,
+after mad theories and empty names, and riding down, in the furious
+chase, its own prosperity and respectability.
+
+We repeat, then, that these great follies of to-day eclipse the
+minor ones of yesterday. When we see France destroying, in a few
+weeks, her commerce and her credit, and doing herself more harm
+than as many years will repair, we overlook the fact, that for
+upwards of fifteen years she has annually squandered from three
+to five millions sterling upon an unproductive colony in North
+Africa. France used not to be petty in her wars, or paltry in her
+enterprises. If she was sometimes quarrelsome and aggressive,
+she was wont at least to fasten on foes worthy of her power and
+resources. Since 1830 she has derogated in this particular. A
+complication of causes--the most prominent being the vanity
+characteristic of the nation, the crooked policy of the sovereign,
+and the morbid love of fighting bequeathed by the warlike period of
+the Empire--has kept France engaged in a costly and discreditable
+contest, whose most triumphant results could be but inglorious,
+and in which she has decimated her best troops, and deteriorated
+her ancient fame, whilst pursuing, with unworthy ferocity and
+ruthlessness, a feeble and inoffensive foe. This is no partial or
+malicious view of the character of the Algerine war. Deliberately,
+and after due reflection, we repeat, that France has gravely
+compromised in Africa her reputation as a chivalrous and clement
+nation, and that she no longer can claim--as once she was wont to
+do--to be as humane in victory as she is valiant in the fight. For
+proof of this we need seek no further than in the speeches and
+despatches of French generals, of men who themselves have served
+and commanded in Africa. We will judge France by the voices of her
+own sons, of those she has selected as worthiest to govern her
+half-conquered colony, and to marshal her legions against a handful
+of Arabs. More than one of these officers testify, voluntarily or
+unwittingly, to the barbarity of the system pursued in Africa. What
+said General Castellane, in his well-known speech in the Chamber
+of Peers, on the 4th July 1845? "We have reduced the country by an
+arsenal of axes and phosphorus matches. The trees were cut down,
+the crops were burned, and soon the mastery was obtained of a
+population reduced to famine and despair." And elsewhere in the same
+speech: "Few soldiers perish by the hand of the enemy in this war--a
+sort of _man-hunt_ on a large scale, in which the Arabs, ignorant
+of European tactics, having no cannon-balls to exchange against
+ours, do not fight with equal arms." Monsieur A. Desjobert, long a
+deputy for the department of the Lower Seine, is the author of a
+volume, and of several pamphlets, upon the Algerine question. In the
+most recent of these we find the following remarkable note:--"In
+February 1837, General Bugeaud said to the Arabs, 'You shall not
+plough, you shall not sow, nor lead your cattle to the pasture,
+without our permission.' Later, he gives the following definition
+of a razzia: 'A sudden irruption, having for its object to surprise
+the tribes, in order to kill the men, and to carry off the women,
+children, and cattle.' In 1844, he completes this theory, by saying
+to the Kabyles, 'I will penetrate into your mountains, I will burn
+your villages and your crops, I will cut down your fruit-trees.'
+(Proclamation of the 30th March.) In 1846, rendering an account of
+his operations against Abd-el-Kader, he says to the authorities of
+Algiers, 'The power of Abd-el-Kader consists in the resources of
+the tribes; hence, to ruin his power, we must first ruin the Arabs;
+therefore have we burned much, destroyed much.' (From the _Akhbar_
+newspaper of February 1846.)" These are significant passages in the
+mouth of a general-in-chief. Presently, when we come to details,
+we shall show they were not thrown away upon his subordinates.
+The extermination of the Arabs was always the real aim of Marshal
+Bugeaud; he took little pains to cloak his system, and is too
+great a blunderer to have succeeded, had he taken more. A man of
+greater presumption than capacity, his audacity, obstinacy, and
+unscrupulousness knew no bounds. Before this African _man-hunt_, as
+M. Castellane calls it, he was unknown, except as the Duchess de
+Berry's jailer, as the slayer of poor Dulong, and as a turbulent
+debater, whose noisy declamation, and occasional offences against
+the French language, were a standing joke with the newspapers. A
+few years elapse, and we find him opposing his stubborn will to
+that of Soult, then minister at war, and successfully thwarting
+Napoleon's old lieutenant. This he was enabled to do mainly by the
+position he had made himself in Africa. He had ridden into power and
+importance on the shoulders of the persecuted Arabs, by a system of
+razzias and village-burning, of wholesale slaughter and relentless
+oppression. Brighter far were the laurels gathered by the lieutenant
+of the Empire, than those plucked by Louis Philippe's marshal
+amidst the ashes of Bedouin douars and the corpses of miserable
+Mussulmans, slain in defence of their scanty birthright, of their
+tents, their flocks, and the free range of the desert. Poor was
+the defence they could make against their skilful and disciplined
+invaders; slight the loss they could inflict in requital of the
+heavy one they suffered. Again we are obliged to M. Desjobert for
+statistics, gathered from reports to the Commission of Credits, and
+from Marshal Bugeaud's own bulletins. From these we learn that the
+loss in battle of the French armies, during the first ten years
+of the occupation of Algeria, was an average of one hundred and
+forty men per annum. In the four following years, eight hundred
+and eighty-five men perished. The capture of Constantine cost one
+hundred men, the much-vaunted affair of the Smala _nine_, the battle
+of Isly TWENTY-SEVEN! We well remember, for we chanced to be in
+Paris at the time, the stir produced in that excitable capital by
+the battle of Isly. No one, unacquainted with the facts, would have
+doubted that the victory was over a most valiant and formidable
+foe. People's mouths were filled with this revival of the military
+glories of Gaul. Newspapers and picture-shops, poets and painters,
+combined to celebrate the exploit and sound the victors' praise.
+One engraving _de circonstance_, we remember, represented a sturdy
+French foot-soldier, trampling, like Gulliver, a host of Lilliputian
+Moors, and carrying a score of them over his shoulder, spitted
+on his bayonet. "Out of my way!" was the inscription beneath the
+print--"_Les Français seront toujours les Français._" Horace
+Vernet, colourist, by special appointment, to the African campaign,
+pictorial chronicler of the heroic feats of the house militant of
+Orleans, prepared his best brushes, and stretched his broadest
+canvass, to immortalise the marshal and his men. After a few days,
+two dingy tents and an enormous umbrella were exhibited in the
+gardens of the Tuileries; these were trophies of the fight--the
+private property of Mohammed-Abderrhaman, the vanquished prince of
+Morocco, the real merit of whose conquerors was about as great as
+that of an active tiger who gloriously scatters a numerous flock
+of sheep. From one of several books relating to Algeria, now upon
+our table, we will take a French officer's account of the affair of
+Isly. The story of Escoffier, a trumpeter who generously resigned
+his horse to his dismounted captain, himself falling into the hands
+of the Arabs, whose prisoner he remained for about eighteen months,
+is told by M. Alby, an officer of the African army. Although a
+little vivid in the colouring, and comprising two or three very
+tough "yarns,"--due, we apprehend, to the imagination of trumpeter
+or author--its historical portion professes to be, and probably is,
+correct; and, at any rate, there can be no reason for suspecting
+the writer of depreciating his countrymen's achievements, and
+understating their merits. The account of the battle, or rather of
+the chase, for fighting there was none, is given by a deserter from
+the Spahis, who, after the defeat of the Moors, joined Abd-el-Kader.
+The Emir and his Arabs took no part in the affair.[10]
+
+  [10] _A Campaign in the Kabylie._ By DAWSON BORRER, F.R.G.S., &c.
+  London, 1848.
+
+  _La Kabylie._ Par un Colon. Paris, 1846.
+
+  _La Captivité du Trompette Escoffier._ Par ERNEST ALBY. 2 vols.
+  Brussels, 1848.
+
+"I deserted, with several of my comrades, during the night-march
+stolen by the French upon the Moors. We sought the emperor's son
+in his camp, and informed him of the movement making by the French
+column. The emperor's son had our horses taken away, and gave orders
+not to lose sight of us. Then he said to us:--
+
+"'Let them come, those dogs of Christians; they are but thirteen
+thousand strong, and we a hundred and sixty thousand: we will
+receive them well.'
+
+"The day was well advanced before the Moors perceived the French.
+Then the emperor's son ordered his horsemen to mount and advance.
+The French marched in a square. They unmasked their artillery, and
+the guns sent their deadly charge of grape into the ranks of the
+Moors, who immediately took to flight, and the French had nothing to
+do but to sabre them."
+
+"The Moors," says M. Alby, "had fine horses and good sabres; but
+their muskets were bad; and the men, softened by centuries of peace
+and prosperity, smoking keef[11] and eating copiously, might be
+expected to run, as they did, at the first cannon-shot."
+
+  [11] The Moors smoke the leaves of hemp instead of tobacco. This
+  _keef_, as it is called, easily intoxicates, and renders the
+  head giddy. Abd-el-Kader forbade the use of it, and if one of
+  his soldiers was caught smoking keef, he received the bastinado.
+  _Captivité d'Escoffier_, vol. i. p. 221.
+
+It is hard to understand how the loss of the French should have
+amounted to even the twenty-seven men at which it is stated in their
+general's bulletin. Did M. Bugeaud, unwilling to admit the facility
+of his triumph, slay the score and seven with his goosequill? But
+if the victory was easily won, on the other hand, it was largely
+rewarded. For having driven before him, by the very first volley
+from his guns, a horde of overfed barbarians, enervated by sloth
+and narcotics, and total strangers to the tactics of civilised
+warfare, the marshal was created a duke! Shade of Napoleon! whether
+proudly lingering within the trophy-clad walls of the Invalides,
+or passing in spectral review the dead of Austerlitz and Borodino,
+suspend your lonely walk, curb your shadowy charger, and contemplate
+this pitiable spectacle! You, too, gave dukedoms, and lavished even
+crowns, but you gave them for services worth the naming. Ney and the
+Moskwa, Massena and Essling, Lannes and Montebello, are words that
+bear the coupling, and grace a coronet. The names of the places,
+although all three recall brilliant victories, are far less glorious
+in their associations than the names of the men. But Bugeaud and
+Isly! What can we say of them? Truly, thus much--they, too, are
+worthy of each other.
+
+When reviewing, about two years ago, Captain Kennedy's narrative of
+travel and adventure in Algeria, we regretted he did not speak out
+about the mode of carrying on the war, and about the prospects of
+Algerine colonisation; and we hinted a suspicion that the amenities
+of French military hospitality, largely extended to a British
+fellow-soldier, had induced him, if not exactly to cloak, at least
+to shun laying bare, the errors and mishaps of his entertainers.
+We cannot make the same complaint of the very pretty book, rich in
+vignettes and cream-colour, entitled, _A Campaign in the Kabylie_.
+Mr Borrer, whom the Cockneys, contemptuous of terminations, will
+assuredly confound with his great gipsy cotemporary, George Borrow
+of the Bible, has, like Captain Kennedy, dipped his spoon in French
+messes. He has ridden with their regiments, and sat at their board,
+and been quartered with their officers, and received kindness and
+good treatment on all hands; and therefore any thing that could
+be construed into malicious comment would come with an ill grace
+from his pen. But it were exaggerated delicacy to abstain from
+stating facts, and these he gives in all their nakedness; generally,
+however, allowing them to speak for themselves, and adding little
+in the way of remark or opinion. In pursuance of this system, he
+relates the most horrible instances of outrage and cruelty with a
+matter-of-fact coolness, and an absence alike of blame and sympathy,
+that may give an unfavourable notion of his heart, to those who do
+not accept our lenient interpretation of his cold-blooded style. The
+traits he sets down, and which are no more than will be found in
+many French narratives, despatches, and bulletins, show how well the
+Franco-African army carry out the merciful maxims of Bugeaud.
+
+Mr Borrer, a geographer and antiquary, passed seventeen months in
+Algeria; and during his residence there, in May 1846, a column of
+eight thousand French troops, commanded by the Duke of Isly in
+person, marched against the Kabyles, "that mysterious, bare-headed,
+leathern-aproned race, whose chief accomplishment was said to
+be that of being 'crack-shots,' their chief art that of neatly
+roasting their prisoners alive, and their chief virtue that of
+loving their homes." It may interest the reader to hear a rather
+more explicit account of this singular people, who dwell in the
+mountains that traverse Algeria from Tunis to Morocco--an irregular
+domain, whose limits it is difficult exactly to define in words.
+The Kabyles are, in fact, the highlanders of North Africa, and they
+hold themselves aloof from the Arabs and Europeans that surround
+them. Concerning them, we find some diversity in the statements
+of Mr Borrer, and of an anonymous Colonist, twelve years resident
+at Bougie, whose pamphlet is before us. Of the two, the Frenchman
+gives them the best character, but both agree as to their industry
+and intelligence, their frugality and skill in agriculture. They
+are not nomadic like the Arabs, but live in villages, till the
+land, and tend flocks. Dwelling in the mountains, they have few
+horses, and fight chiefly on foot. Divided into many tribes, they
+are constantly quarreling and fighting amongst themselves, but
+they forget their feuds and quickly unite to repel a foreign foe.
+"Predisposed by his character," says the Colonist, "to draw near
+to civilisation, the Kabyle attaches himself sincerely to the
+civilised man when circumstances establish a friendly connexion
+between them. He is still inclined to certain vices inherent in
+the savage: but of all the Africans, he is the best disposed to
+live in friendship and harmony with us, which he will do when
+he shall find himself in permanent contact with the European
+population." This is not the general opinion, and it differs widely
+from that expressed by Mr Borrer. But the Colonist had his own
+views, perhaps his own interests, to further. He wrote some months
+previous to the expedition which Mr Borrer accompanied, and which
+was then not likely to take place, and he strongly advocated its
+propriety--admitting, however, that public opinion in France was
+greatly opposed to a military incursion into Kabylia. Himself
+established at Bougie, of course in some description of commerce,
+the necessity of roads connecting the coast and the interior was to
+him quite evident. A good many of his countrymen, whose personal
+benefit was not so likely to be promoted by causeway-cutting in
+Algeria, strongly deprecated any sort of road-making that was likely
+to bring on war with the Kabyles. France began to think she was
+paying too dear for her whistle. She looked back to the early days
+of the Orleans dynasty, when Marshal Clausel promised to found a
+rich and powerful colony with only 10,000 men. She glanced at the
+pages of the _Moniteur_ of 1837, and there she found words uttered
+by the great Bugeaud in the Chamber of Deputies. "Forty-five
+thousand men and one good campaign," said the white-headed
+warrior, as the Arabs call him, "and in six months the country
+is pacified, and you may reduce the army to twenty thousand men,
+to be paid by imposts levied on the colony, consequently costing
+France nothing." Words, and nothing more--mere wind; the greatest
+_bosh_ that ever was uttered, even by Bugeaud, who is proverbial
+for dealing largely in that flatulent commodity. Nine years passed
+away, and the Commission of the Budget "deplored a situation which
+compelled France to maintain an army of more than 100,000 men upon
+that African territory." (Report of M. Bignon of the 15th April
+1846, p. 237.) Bugeaud himself had mightily changed his tone, and
+declared that, to keep Algiers, as large an army would be essential
+as had been required to conquer it. Lamoricière, a great authority
+in such matters, confirmed the opinion of his senior. Monsieur
+Desjobert, and a variety of pamphleteers and newspaper writers,
+attacked, with argument, ridicule, and statistics, the party known
+as the _Algérophiles_, who made light of difficulties, scoffed
+at expense, and predicted the prosperity and splendour of French
+Africa. Algeria, according to them, was to become the brightest
+gem in the citizen-crown of France. These sanguine gentlemen were
+met with facts and figures. During 1846, said the anti-Algerines,
+your precious colony will have cost France 125,000,000 of francs.
+And they proved it in black and white. There was little chance
+of the expense being less in following years. Then came the loss
+of men. In 1840, said M. Desjobert, giving chapter and verse for
+his statements, 9567 men perished in the African hospitals, out
+of an effective army of 63,000. Add those invalids who died in
+French hospitals, or in their homes, from the results of African
+campaigning, and the total loss is moderately stated at 11,000 men,
+or more than one-sixth of the whole force employed. Out of these,
+only 227 died in action. The thing seemed hopeless and endless.
+What do we get for our money? was the cry. What is our compensation
+for the decimation of our young men? France can better employ her
+sons, than in sending them to perish by African fevers. What do we
+gain by all this expenditure of gold and blood?--The unreasonable
+mortals! Had they not gained a Duke of Isly and a Moorish pavilion?
+M. Desjobert surely forgets these inestimable acquisitions when he
+asks and answers the question--"What remains of all our victories? A
+thousand bulletins, and Horace Vernet's big pictures."
+
+"How many times," says the same writer, "has not the subjection of
+the Arabs been proclaimed! In 1844, General Bugeaud gains the battle
+of Isly. Are the Arabs subdued?
+
+"When the Arabs appear before the judges who dispose of life and
+death, they confess their faith, and proclaim their hatred of us;
+and when we are simple enough to tell them that some of their race
+are devoted to us, they reply, 'Those lie to you, through fear, or
+for their own interest; and as often as a scheriff shall come whom
+they believe able to conquer you, they will follow him, even into
+the streets of Algiers.' (Examination of Bou Maza's brother, 12th
+November 1845.) Thus spoke the chief. The common Arab had already
+said to the Christian, "If my head and thine were boiled in the same
+vessel, my broth would separate itself from thy broth."
+
+This was discouraging to those who had dreamed of the taming of the
+Arab; and the more sanguinary mooted ideas of extermination. Such a
+project, clearly written down, and printed, and placed on Parisian
+breakfast tables, might be startling; in Algeria it had long been
+put in practice. What said General Duvivier in his _Solution de
+la Question d'Algérie_, p. 285? "For eleven years they have razed
+buildings, burned crops, destroyed trees, massacred men, women,
+and children, with a still-increasing fury." We have already shown
+that this work of extermination was not carried on with perfect
+impunity. Here is further confirmation of the fact. "Every Arab
+killed," says M. Leblanc de Prébois, another officer, who wrote on
+the Algerian war, and wrote from personal experience, "costs us the
+death of thirty-three men, and 150,000 francs." Supposing a vast
+deal of exaggeration in this statement, the balance still remains
+ugly against the French, for whom there is evidently very little
+difference between catching an Arab and catching a Tartar. Whilst
+upon the subject of extermination, Mr Borrer gives an opinion more
+decidedly unfavourable to his French friends than is expressed in
+any other part of his book. His estimate of Kabyle virtues differs
+considerably, it will be observed, from that of the Colonist, and of
+the two is much nearest the truth.
+
+"The abominable vices and debaucheries of the Kabyle race, the
+inhuman barbarities they are continually guilty of towards such
+as may be cast by tempest, or other misfortune, upon their rugged
+shores; the atrocious cruelties and refined tortures they, in common
+with the Arab, delight in exercising upon any such enemies as may
+be so unhappy as to fall alive into their hands, must render the
+hearts of those acquainted with this people perfectly callous as
+to what misfortunes may befall them or their country; and many
+may think that, as far as the advancement of civilisation is
+concerned, the wiping off of the Kabyle and Arab races of Northern
+Africa from the face of the earth, would be the greatest boon to
+humanity. Though, however, they may be fraught with all the vices
+of the Canaanitish tribes of old, yet the command, 'Go ye after
+him through the city and smite; let not your eye spare, neither
+have ye pity; slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little
+children, and women,' is not justifiably issued at the pleasure of
+man; and we can but lament to see a great and gallant nation engaged
+in a warfare exasperating both parties to indulge in sanguinary
+atrocities,--atrocities to be attributed on one side to the
+barbarous and savage state of those having recourse to them; but on
+the other, proceeding only from a thirst for retaliation and bloody
+revenge, unworthy of those enjoying a high position as a civilised
+people. War is, as we all know, ever productive of horrors: but such
+horrors may be greatly restrained and diminished by the exertions
+and example of those in command."
+
+The hoary-headed hero of Isly is not the man to make the exertion,
+or set the example. At the beginning of 1847, rumours of a projected
+inroad amongst the Kabyles caused uneasiness and dissatisfaction
+in Algeria, when such a movement was highly unpopular, as likely
+to lead to a long and expensive war. The "Commission of Credits,"
+a board appointed by the French Chamber for the particular
+investigation and regulation of Algerine affairs, applied to the
+minister of war to know if the rumours were well founded. The
+minister confessed they were; adding, however, that the expedition
+would be quite peaceable; but at the same time laying before the
+commission letters from Bugeaud, "expressing regret that force of
+arms was not to be resorted to more than was absolutely necessary,
+the submission of the aborigines being never certain _until powder
+had spoken_." The marshal evidently "felt like fighting." The
+Commission protested; the minister rebuked them, bidding them mind
+their credits, and not meddle with the royal prerogative. Thus
+unjustly snubbed--for they certainly were minding their credits,
+by opposing increase of expenditure--the Commission were mute, one
+of the members merely observing, by way of a last shot, that it
+was easier to refuse to listen than to reply satisfactorily. In
+France, public opinion, the Chamber of Deputies, and Marshal Soult,
+had, on various occasions, declared against attacking the Kabyles.
+"Nevertheless, a proclamation was issued by Marshal Bugeaud to
+the inhabitants of the Kabylie, to warn them that the French army
+was upon the point of entering their territory, 'to cleanse it of
+those adventurers who there preached the war against France.' The
+proclamation then went on to state, that the marshal had no desire
+to fight with them, or to devastate their property; but that, if
+there were amongst them any who wished for war, they would find
+him ready to accept it." If a hard-favoured stranger, armed with a
+horsewhip, walked uninvited into M. Bugeaud's private residence,
+loudly proclaiming he would thrash nobody unless provoked, the
+marshal would be likely to resist the intrusion. The Kabyles,
+doubtless, thought his advance into their territory an equally
+unjustifiable proceeding. As to the pretext of "the adventurers who
+preached war," it was unfounded and ridiculous. Such propagandists
+have never been listened to in Kabylia. "The voice of the Emir
+Abd-el-Kader himself," says the Colonist, "would not obtain a
+hearing. Did he not go in person, in 1839, when preparing to break
+his treaty of peace with us, and preach the holy war? Did he not
+traverse the valley of the Souman, from one end to the other,
+to recruit combatants? And what did he obtain from the Kabyles?
+Hospitality for a few days, coupled with the formal invitation to
+evacuate the country as soon as possible. Did he succeed better
+when he lately again tried to raise Kabylia against us?" Mr Borrer
+confirms this. Marshal Bugeaud himself had said in the Chamber of
+Deputies, "The Kabyles are neither aggressive nor hostile; they
+defend themselves vigorously when intruded upon, but they do not
+attack." The marshal, whose whole public life has been full of
+contradictions, was the first to intrude upon them, although but
+a very few years had elapsed since he said in a pamphlet, "The
+Kabyles are numerous and very warlike; they have villages, and their
+agriculture is sedentary; already there is too little land to supply
+their wants; there is no room, therefore, for Europeans in the
+mountains of Kabylia, and they would cut a very poor figure there."
+This last prophetic sentence was realised by M. Bugeaud himself, who
+certainly made no very brilliant appearance when, forgetting his
+former theory, he hazarded himself in May 1847, at the head of eight
+thousand men, and with Mr Borrer in his train, amongst the hardy
+mountaineers of Kabylia.
+
+Hereabouts Mr Borrer quotes, in French, the statement of a member of
+the Commission already referred to. It is worth extracting, as fully
+confirming our conviction that the conduct of France in Algeria
+has been throughout characterised by an utter want of judgment and
+justice. "The native towns have been invaded, ruined, sacked, by
+our administration, more even than by our arms. In time of peace,
+a great number of private estates have been ravaged and destroyed.
+A multitude of title-deeds delivered to us for verification have
+never been restored. Even in the environs of Algiers, fertile
+lands have been taken from the Arabs and given to Europeans, who,
+unable or unwilling to cultivate their new possessions, have
+farmed them out to their former owners, who have thus become the
+mere stewards of the inheritance of their fathers. Elsewhere,
+tribes, or fractions of tribes, not hostile to us, but who, on the
+contrary, had fought for us, have been driven from their territory.
+Conditions have been accepted from them, and not kept--indemnities
+promised, and never paid--until we have compromised our honour even
+more than their interests." Such a statement, proceeding from a
+Frenchman--from one, too, delegated by his government, to examine
+the state of the colony--is quite conclusive as to administrative
+proceedings in Algeria. It would be superfluous and impertinent to
+add another line of evidence. A comment may be appropriate. "Is it
+not Montesquieu," says Mr Borrer, "in his _Esprit des Lois_, who
+observes--'The right of conquest, though a necessary and legitimate
+right, is an unhappy one, bequeathing to the conqueror a heavy debt
+to humanity, only to be acquitted by repairing, as far as possible,
+those evils of which he has been the cause'?--and Montesquieu was a
+wise man, and a Frenchman!"
+
+Dismissing this branch of the subject, let us see how the Duke
+of Isly made "the powder speak" in Kabylia, and try our hand
+at a rough sketch, taking the loan of Mr Borrer's colours. A
+strong body of French troops--the 8000 have been increased, since
+departure, by several battalions and some spahis--are encamped in
+a rich valley, cutting down the unripe wheat for the use of their
+horses, whilst, from the surrounding heights, the Kabyles gloomily
+watch the unscrupulous foragers. "Now 'soft-winged evening,'" as
+Mr Dawson Borrer poetically expresses himself, "hovers o'er the
+scene, chasing from woodlands and sand-rock heights the gilded
+tints of the setting sun." In other words, it gets dark--and shots
+are heard. The natives, vexed at the liberties taken with their
+crops, harass the outposts. Their bad powder and overloaded guns
+have no chance against French muskets. "In the name of the Prophet,
+HEADS!" Bugeaud the Merciful pays for them ten francs a-piece. Four
+are presented to him before breakfast. The premium is to make the
+soldiers alert against horse-stealers. Ten francs being a little
+fortune to a French soldier, whose pay in hard cash is two or three
+farthings a-day, Mr Borrer suspects the heads are sometimes taken
+from shoulders where they have a right to remain. An Arab is always
+an Arab, whether a horse-stealer or a mere idler. But no matter--a
+few more or less. Day returns; the column marches; the Kabyles
+show little of the intrepidity, in defence of their hearths and
+altars, attributed to them by M. Bugeaud and others. Their horsemen
+fly before a platoon of French cavalry; the infantry limit their
+offensive operations to cowardly long shots at the rear-guard. Four
+venerable elders bring two yoked oxen in token of submission. In
+general, the inhabitants have disappeared. Their deserted towns
+appear, in the distance, by no means inferior to many French and
+Italian villages. The marshal will not permit exploring parties
+for fear of ambuscade. Night arrives, and passes without incident
+of note. At three in the morning, the camp is aroused by hideous
+yells. A sentinel has fired at a horse-thief and broken his leg,
+and now, mindful of the ten francs, tries to cut off the head of
+the wounded man, who objects and screams. A bayonet-thrust stops
+his mouth, and the _bill on Bugeaud_ is duly severed. The next day
+is passed in skirmishing with the Beni-Abbez, the most numerous
+tribe of the valley of the Souman, but not a very warlike one--so
+says the Colonist; and, indeed, they offer but slight resistance,
+although they, or some other tribes, make a firm and determined
+attack upon the French outposts in the course of that night. There
+is more smoke than bloodshed; but the Kabyles show considerable
+pluck, burn a prodigious number of cartridges, and make no doubt
+they have nearly "rubbed out" the Christians; in which particular
+they are rather mistaken--the French, not choosing to leave their
+camp, having quietly lain down, and allowed the Berber lead to fly
+over them. At last the assailants' ammunition runs low, and they
+retire, leaving a sprinkling of dead. Mr Borrer quotes the Koran.
+"'Those of our brothers who fall in defence of the true faith,
+are not dead, but live invisible, receiving their nourriture from
+the hand of the Most High,' says the Prophet." _Nourriture_ is
+not quite English, at least with that orthography; but no matter
+for Mr Borrer's Gallicisms, which are many. We rush with him into
+the Kabyle fire. Here he sits, halted amongst the olive-trees,
+philosophically lighting his pipe, the bullets whistling about his
+ears, whilst he admires the _sang froid_ of a pretty _vivandière_,
+seated astride upon her horse, and jesting at the danger. The column
+advances--the Kabyles retreat, fighting, pursued by the French
+shells, which they hold in particular horror, and call the howitzer
+the _twice-firing cannon_. The object of the advance is to destroy
+the towns and villages of the Beni-Abbez, the night-attack upon his
+bivouac affording the marshal a pretext. The villages are surrounded
+with stiff walls of stones and mud, crowned with strong thorny
+fences, and having hedges of prickly pear growing at their base; and
+the gaunt burnoosed warriors make good fight through loop-holes and
+from the terraces of their houses. But resistance is soon overcome,
+and the narrow streets are crowded with Frenchmen, ravishing,
+massacring, plundering; no regard to sex or age; outrage for every
+woman--the edge of the sword for all.
+
+"Upon the floor of one of the chambers lay a little girl of twelve
+or fourteen years of age, weltering in gore, and in the agonies of
+death: an accursed ruffian thrust his bayonet into her. God will
+requite him.... When the soldiers had ransacked the dwellings, and
+smashed to atoms all they could not carry off, or did not think
+worth seizing as spoil, they heaped the remnants and the mattings
+together and fired them. As I was hastily traversing the streets
+to regain the outside of the village, disgusted with the horrors I
+witnessed, flames burst forth on all sides, and torrents of fire
+came swiftly gliding down the thoroughfares, for the flames had
+gained the oil. An instant I turned--the fearful doom of the poor
+concealed child and the decrepid mother flashing on my mind. It was
+too late.... The unfortunate Kabyle child was doubtless consumed
+with her aged parent. How many others may have shared her fate!"
+
+At noon, the atmosphere is laden with smoke arising from the
+numerous burning villages. From one spot nine may be counted,
+wrapped in flames. There is merry-making in the French camp.
+Innumerable goatskins, full of milk, butter, figs, and flour, are
+produced and opened. Some are consumed; more are squandered and
+strewn upon the ground. Let the Kabyle dogs starve! Have they not
+audaciously levelled their long guns at the white-headed warrior
+and his followers, who asked nothing but submission, free passage
+through the country, corn-fields for their horses, and the fat
+of the land for themselves? But stay--there is still a town to
+take, the last, the strongest, the refuge of the women and of the
+aged. Its defence is resolute, but at last it falls. "Ravished,
+murdered, burnt, hardly a child escaped to tell the tale. A few of
+the women fled to the ravines around the village; but troops swept
+the brushwood; and the stripped and mangled bodies of females might
+there be seen.... One vast sheet of flame crowned the height, which
+an hour or two before was ornamented with an extensive and opulent
+village, crowded with inhabitants. It seemed to have been the very
+emporium of commerce of the Beni-Abbez; fabrics of gunpowder, of
+arms, of haïks, burnooses, and different stuffs, were there. The
+streets boasted of numerous shops of workers in silver, workers in
+cord, venders of silk, &c." All this the soldiers pillaged, or the
+fire devoured; then the insatiable flames gained the corn and olive
+trees, and converted a smiling and prosperous district into a black
+and barren waste. Bugeaud looked on and pronounced it good, and
+his men declared the country "well cleaned out," and vaunted their
+deeds of rapine and violence. "I heard two ruffians relating, with
+great gusto, how many young girls had been burned in one house,
+after being abused by their brutal comrades and themselves." Out
+of consideration for his readers, Mr Borrer says, he writes down
+but the least shocking of the crimes and atrocities he that day
+witnessed. We have no inclination to transcribe a tithe of the
+horrors he records, and at sight of which, he assures us, the blood
+of many a gallant French officer boiled in his veins. He mentions
+no attempt on the part of these compassionate officers to curb the
+ferocity of their men, who had not the excuse of previous severe
+sufferings, of a long and obstinate resistance, and of the loss of
+many of their comrades, to allege in extenuation of their savage
+violence. History teaches us that, in certain circumstances, as,
+for instance, after protracted sieges, great exposure, and a long
+and bloody fight, soldiers of all nations are liable to forget
+discipline, and, maddened by fury, by suffering and excitement, to
+despise the admonitions and reprimands of the chiefs--nay, even
+to turn their weapons against those whom for years they have been
+accustomed to respect and implicitly obey. But there is no such
+excuse in the instance before us. A pleasant military promenade
+through a rich country, fine weather, abundant rations, and just
+enough skirmishing to give zest to the whole affair, whose fighting
+part was exceeding brief, as might be expected, when French bayonets
+and artillery were opposed to the clumsy guns and irregular tactics
+of the Beni-Abbez--we find nothing in this picture to extenuate
+the horrible cruelties enacted by the conquerors after their
+easily achieved victory. Their whole loss, according to their
+marshal's bulletin, amounted to fifty-seven killed and wounded.
+This included the loss in the night-attack on the camp. In fact,
+it was mere child's play for the disciplined French soldiery; and
+Mr Borrer virtually admits this, by applying to the affair General
+Castellane's expression of a _man-hunt_. He then, with no good
+grace, endeavours to find an excuse for his campaigning comrades.
+"The ranks of the French army in Africa are composed, in great
+measure, of the very scum of France." They have condemned regiments
+in Africa, certainly; the Foreign Legion are reckless and reprobate
+enough; we dare say the Zouaves, a mixed corps of wild Frenchmen and
+tamed Arabs, are neither tender nor scrupulous; but these form a
+very small portion of the hundred thousand French troops in Africa,
+and there is little picking and choosing amongst the line regiments,
+who take their turn of service pretty regularly, neither is there
+reason for considering the men who go to Algeria to be greater
+scamps than those who remain in France. So this will not do, Mr
+Borrer: try another tack. "The only sort of excuse for the horrors
+committed by the soldiery in Algeria, is their untamed passions,
+and the fire added to their natural ferocity by the atrocious
+cruelties so often committed by the Arabs upon their comrades in
+arms, who have been so unhappy as to fall into their power." This
+is more plausible, although it is a query who began the system of
+murderous reprisals. Arab treatment of prisoners is not mild. On the
+evening of the 1st June, some men straggled from the French bivouac,
+and were captured. "It was said that from one of the outposts the
+Kabyles were seen busily engaged, in roasting their victims before
+a large fire upon a neighbouring slope; but whether this was a fact
+or not, I never learned." It was possibly true. Escoffier tells
+us how one of his fellow-prisoners, a Jew named Wolf, who fell
+into the hands of Moorish shepherds, was thrown upon a blazing
+pile of faggots; and although we suspect the brave trumpeter, or
+his historian, of occasional exaggeration, there are grounds for
+crediting the authenticity of this statement. As to Mr Borrer, he
+guarantees nothing but what he sees with his own eyes, the camp
+being, he says, full of _blagueurs_, or tellers of white lies. The
+inventions of these mendacious gentry are not always as innocent
+as he appears to think them. Imaginary cruelties, attributed to
+an enemy, are very apt to impose upon credulous soldiers, and to
+stimulate them to unnecessary bloodshed, and to acts of lawless
+revenge. Many a village has been burned, and many an inoffensive
+peasant sabred, on the strength of such lying fabrications. In
+Africa especially, where the _lex talionis_ seems fully recognised,
+and its enforcement confided to the first straggler who chooses to
+fire a house or stick an Arab, the _blagueurs_ should be handed
+over, in our opinion, to summary punishment. On the advance of the
+French column, a soldier or two, straying from the bivouac to bathe
+or fish, had here and there been shot by the lurking Kabyles. On its
+return, "I was somewhat surprised," Mr Borrer remarks, "to observe,
+in the wake of the column, flames bursting forth from the gourbies
+(villages) left in our rear. It was well known that the tribe upon
+whose territory we were riding had submitted, and that their sheikh
+was even riding at the head of the column." None could explain the
+firing of the villages. The sheikh, indignant at the treachery of
+the French, set spurs to his mare, and was off like the wind. The
+conflagration was traced to soldiers of the rear-guard, desirous
+to revenge their comrades, picked off on the previous march. We
+are not told that the crime was brought home to the perpetrators,
+or visited upon them. If it was, Mr Borrer makes no mention of the
+fact, but passes on, as if the burning of a few villages were a
+trifle scarce worth notice. How were the Kabyles to distinguish
+between the acts of the private soldier and of the epauleted
+chief? Their submission had just been accepted, and friendly words
+spoken to them: their sheikh rode beside the gray-haired leader
+of the Christians, and marked the apparent subordination of the
+white-faced soldiery. Suddenly a gross violation occurred of the
+amicable understanding so recently come to. How persuade them that
+the submissive and disciplined soldiers they saw around them would
+venture such breach of faith without the sanction or connivance of
+their commander? The offence is that of an insignificant sentinel,
+but the dirt falls upon the beard of Bugeaud; and confidence in the
+promises of the lying European is thoroughly and for ever destroyed.
+
+A colony, whose mode of acquisition and of government, up to the
+present time, reflects so little credit upon French arms and
+administrators, ought certainly to yield pecuniary results or
+advantages of some kind, which, in a mercenary point of view, might
+balance the account. France surely did not place her reputation
+for humanity and justice in the hands of Marshal Bugeaud and of
+others of his stamp, without anticipating some sort of compensation
+for its probable deterioration. Such expectations have hitherto
+been wholly unfulfilled; and we really see little chance of their
+probable or speedy realisation. The colony is as unpromising, as
+the colonists are inapt to improve it. The fact is, the work of
+colonisation has not begun. The French are utterly at a loss how to
+set about it. All kinds of systems have been proposed. Bugeaud has
+had his--that of military colonisation, which he maintained, with
+characteristic stubbornness, in the teeth of public opinion, of the
+French government, of common sense, and even of possibility. He
+proposed to take, during ten years, one hundred and twenty thousand
+recruits from the conscription, and to settle them in Africa, with
+their wives. He estimated the expense of this scheme at twelve
+millions sterling. His opponents stated its probable cost at four
+times that sum. Whichever estimate was correct, it is not worth
+while examining the plan, which for a moment was entertained by a
+government commission, but has since been completely abandoned.
+It presupposes an extraordinary and arbitrary stretch of power
+on the part of the government that should adopt such a system
+of compulsory colonisation. We are surprised to find Mr Borrer
+inclined to favour the exploded plan. General Lamoricière (the
+terrible _Bour-à-boi_ of the Arabs,[12]) proposed to give premiums
+to agriculturists settling in Algeria, at the rate of twenty-five
+per cent of their expenses of clearing, irrigation, construction,
+and plantation. But M. Lamoricière--a very practical man indeed,
+with his sabre in his fist, and at the head of his Zouaves--is a
+shallow theorist in matters of colonisation. The staff of surveyors,
+valuers, and referees essential to carry out his project, would
+alone have been a heavy additional charge on the unprofitable
+colony. "M. Lamoricière," says M. Desjobert, "was one of the warmest
+advocates of the occupation of Bougie," (a seaport of Kabylie,)
+"and partly directed, in 1833, that fatal expedition." (Fatal, M.
+Desjobert means, by reason of its subsequent cost in men and money.
+The town was taken by a small force on the 29th September 1833.)
+"The soldiers were then told that their mission was agricultural
+rather than military, that they would have to handle the pick and
+the spade more frequently than the musket. The unfortunates have
+certainly handled pick and spade; but it was to dig in that immense
+cemetery which, each day, swallows up their comrades. Already,
+in 1836, General d'Erlon, ex-governor of Algiers, demanded the
+evacuation of Bougie, which had devoured, in three years, three
+thousand men and seven millions of francs." The demand was not
+complied with, and Bougie has continued to consume more than its
+quota of the six thousand men at which M. Desjobert estimates the
+average annual loss, by disease alone, of the African army. Bougie
+has not flourished under the tricolor. In former times a city of
+great riches and importance, it still contained several thousand
+inhabitants when taken by the French. At the period of Mr Borrer's
+visit, it reckoned a population of five hundred, exclusive of the
+garrison of twelve hundred men. To return, however, to the systems
+of colonisation. When the generals had had their say, it was the
+turn of the commissions; the commission of Africa, that of the
+Chamber of Deputies, &c. There was no lack of projects; but none of
+them answered. The colonial policy of the Orleans government was
+eminently short-sighted. This is strikingly shown in Mr Borrer's
+14th chapter, "A Word upon the Colony." Of the fertile plain
+of the Metidja, containing about a million and a half acres of
+arable and pasture land, a very small portion is cultivated. The
+French found a garden; they have made a desert. "Before the French
+occupation, vast tracts which now lie waste, sacrificed to palmetta
+and squills, were cultivated by the Arabs, who grew far more corn
+than was required for their own consumption; whereas now, they grow
+barely sufficient: the consequence of which is, that the price of
+corn is enormous in Algeria at present." Land is cheap enough, but
+labour is dear, because the necessaries of life are so. Instead of
+making Algiers a free port, protection to French manufactures is
+the order of the day, and this has driven Arab commerce to Tunis
+and Morocco. Rivalry with England--the feverish desire for colonies
+and for the supremacy of the seas--must unquestionably be ranked
+amongst the motives of the tenacious retention of such an expensive
+possession as Algeria. And now the odious English cottons are
+an obstacle to the prosperity of the colony. To sell a few more
+bales of French calicoes and crates of French hardware, the wise
+men at Paris put an effectual check upon the progress of African
+agriculture. Here, if anywhere, free-trade might be introduced
+with advantage; in common necessaries, at any rate, and for a few
+years, till the country became peopled, and the colonists had
+overcome the first difficulties of their position. It would make
+very little difference to Rouen and Lyons, whilst to the settlers
+it would practically work more good than would have been done them
+by M. Lamoricière's _subvention_, supposing this to have been
+adopted, and that the heavily-taxed agriculturist of France--in
+many parts of which country land pays but two and a half or three
+per cent--had consented to pay additional imposts for the benefit
+of the agriculturist of Algeria. In the beginning, the notion of
+the French government was, that its new conquest would colonise
+itself unassisted; that there would be a natural and steady flow
+of emigrants from the mother country. In any case this expectation
+would probably have proved fallacious--at least it would never have
+been realised to the extent anticipated; but the small encouragement
+given to such emigration, rendered it utterly abortive. The
+"stream" of settlers proved a mere dribble. Security and justice,
+Mr Thiers said, were all that France owed her colony. Even these
+two things were not obtained, in the full sense of the words. The
+centralisation system weighed upon Algeria. Everything was referred
+to Paris. Hence interminable correspondence, and delays innumerable.
+In the year 1846, Mr Borrer says, twenty-four thousand despatches
+were received by the civil administration from the chief _bureau_
+in the French capital, in exchange for twenty-eight thousand sent.
+Instead of imparting all possible celerity to the administrative
+forms requisite to the establishment of emigrants, these must
+often wait a year or more before they are put in possession of
+the land granted. Meanwhile they expend their resources, and are
+enervated by idleness and disease. The climate of North Africa
+is ill-adapted to French constitutions. M. Desjobert has already
+told us the average loss of the army, and General Duvivier, in
+his _Solution de la Question d'Algérie_, fully corroborated his
+statements. "A man," said the general, "whose constitution is not
+in harmony with the climate of Africa, never adapts himself to it;
+he suffers, wastes away, and dies. The expression, that a mass of
+men who have been for some time in Africa have become inured to
+the climate, is inexact. They have not become inured to it; they
+have been _decimated by death_. _The climate is a great sieve,
+which allows a rapid passage to everything that is not of a certain
+force._" Supposing 100,000 men sent from France to Algeria for six
+years' service. At the end of that time, their loss by disease
+alone, at the rate of six per cent--proved by M. Desjobert to be
+the annual average--would amount to upwards of 30,000, or to more
+than three-tenths of the whole. The emigrants fare no better.
+"They look for milk and honey," says Borrer: "they find palmetta
+and disease. The villages scattered about the Sahel or Massif of
+Algiers (a high ground at the back of the city, forming a rampart
+between the Metidja and the Mediterranean) are, with one or two
+exceptions, a type of desolation. Perched upon the most arid spots,
+distant from water, the poor tenants lie sweltering between sun
+and sirocco." A Mississippi swamp must be as eligible "squatting"
+ground as this--Arabs instead of alligators, and the Algerine fever
+in place of Yellow Jack. "At the gates of Algiers, in the villages
+of the Sahel," said the "_Algérie_" newspaper of the 22d December
+1845, "the colonists desert, driven away by hunger. If any remain,
+it is because they have no strength to move. In the plain of the
+Metidja, the misery and desolation are greater still. At Fondouck,
+in the last five months, 120 persons have died, out of a population
+of 280." The reporter to the Commission of the French budget of 1837
+(Monsieur Bignon) admitted that "the results of the colonisation are
+almost negative." He could not obtain, he said, an estimate of the
+agricultural population. At the same period, an Algiers newspaper
+(_La France Algérienne_) estimated the European agriculturists at
+7000, two-thirds of whom were mere market-gardeners.
+
+  [12] "General Lamoricière habitually carries a stick. This has
+  procured him, from the Arabs, the name of the _Père-au-bâton_, (the
+  father with the stick:) _Bour-à-boi_. One of his orderly officers,
+  my friend and comrade Captain Bentzman, gives _Araouah_ as the
+  proper orthography of _Bour-à-boi_. We have followed Escoffier's
+  pronunciation."--_Captivité d'Escoffier_, vol. i. p. 30.
+
+It is unnecessary to multiply proofs; and we will here conclude this
+imperfect sketch of Franco-African colonisation, of its crimes, its
+errors, and its cost, by extracting a rather remarkable passage
+from a writer we have more than once referred to, and who, although
+perhaps disposed to view things in Algeria upon the black side, is
+yet deserving of credit, as well by his position as by reason of his
+painstaking research and, so far as we have verified them, accurate
+statistics.
+
+"The colonists cannot deny," says Monsieur Desjobert in his _Algérie
+en_ 1846, "and they admit:
+
+"1º. That Europe alone maintains the 200,000 Europeans in Algeria.
+In 1846 we are compelled to repeat what General Bernard, minister
+of war, said in 1838: 'Algeria resembles a naked rock, which it is
+necessary to supply with everything, except air and water.'
+
+"2º. That so long as we remain in this precarious situation, a naval
+war, by interrupting the communications, would compromise the safety
+of our army. In 1846 we repeat M. Thiers' words, uttered in 1837:
+'If war surprises you in the state of indecision in which you are, I
+say that the disgraceful evacuation of Africa will be inevitable.'
+
+"M. Thiers did not speak the whole truth when he talked of
+evacuation. In such an extremity, evacuation would be impossible.
+Our army would perish of misery, and its remnant would fall into the
+hands of the enemy."
+
+Another enemy than the Arabs is here evidently pointed at; that
+possible foe is now a friend to France, and we trust will long
+remain so. But on many accounts the sentences we have just quoted
+are significant, as proceeding from the pen of a French deputy. They
+need no comment, and we shall offer none. We wait with interest to
+see if France's African colony prospers better under the Republic of
+1848 than it did under the Monarchy of 1830.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAXTONS.
+
+
+PART IX.--CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+And my father pushed aside his books.
+
+O young reader, whoever thou art,--or reader, at least, who hast
+been young,--canst thou not remember some time when, with thy wild
+troubles and sorrows as yet borne in secret, thou hast come back
+from that hard, stern world which opens on thee when thou puttest
+thy foot out of the threshold of home--come back to the four quiet
+walls, wherein thine elders sit in peace--and seen, with a sort of
+sad amaze, how calm and undisturbed all is there? That generation
+which has gone before thee in the path of the passions--the
+generation of thy parents--(not so many years, perchance, remote
+from thine own)--how immovably far off, in its still repose, it
+seems from thy turbulent youth! It has in it a stillness as of a
+classic age, antique as the statues of the Greeks. That tranquil
+monotony of routine into which those lives that preceded thee have
+merged--the occupations that they have found sufficing for their
+happiness, by the fireside--in the armchair and corner appropriated
+to each--how strangely they contrast thine own feverish excitement!
+And they make room for thee, and bid thee welcome, and then resettle
+to their hushed pursuits, as if nothing had happened! Nothing had
+happened! while in thy heart, perhaps, the whole world seems to have
+shot from its axis, all the elements to be at war! And you sit down,
+crushed by that quiet happiness which you can share no more, and
+smile mechanically, and look into the fire; and, ten to one, you say
+nothing till the time comes for bed, and you take up your candle,
+and creep miserably to your lonely room.
+
+Now, if in a stage coach in the depth of winter, when three
+passengers are warm and snug, a fourth, all besnowed and frozen,
+descends from the outside and takes place amongst them, straightway
+all the three passengers shift their places, uneasily pull up their
+cloak collars, re-arrange their "comforters," feel indignantly
+a sensible loss of caloric--the intruder has at least made a
+sensation. But if you had all the snows of the Grampians in your
+heart, you might enter unnoticed: take care not to tread on the
+toes of your opposite neighbour, and not a soul is disturbed, not a
+"comforter" stirs an inch! I had not slept a wink, I had not even
+laid down all that night--the night in which I had said farewell
+to Fanny Trevanion--and the next morning, when the sun rose, I
+wandered out--where I know not. I have a dim recollection of long,
+gray, solitary streets--of the river, that seemed flowing in dull
+silence, away, far away, into some invisible eternity--trees and
+turf, and the gay voices of children. I must have gone from one end
+of the great Babel to the other: but my memory only became clear
+and distinct when I knocked, somewhere before noon, at the door of
+my father's house, and, passing heavily up the stairs, came into
+the drawing-room, which was the rendezvous of the little family;
+for, since we had been in London, my father had ceased to have his
+study apart, and contented himself with what he called "a corner"--a
+corner wide enough to contain two tables and a dumb waiter, with
+chairs _à discretion_ all littered with books. On the opposite side
+of this capacious corner sat my uncle, now nearly convalescent, and
+he was jotting down, in his stiff military hand, certain figures in
+a little red account-book--for you know already that my uncle Roland
+was, in his expenses, the most methodical of men.
+
+My father's face was more benign than usual, for, before him lay a
+proof--the first proof of his first work--his one work--the Great
+Book! Yes! it had positively found a press. And the first proof of
+your first work--ask any author what _that_ is! My mother was out,
+with the faithful Mrs Primmins, shopping or marketing no doubt;
+so, while the brothers were thus engaged, it was natural that my
+entrance should not make as much noise as if it had been a bomb,
+or a singer, or a clap of thunder, or the last "great novel of
+the season," or anything else that made a noise in those days. For
+what makes a noise now? Now, when the most astonishing thing of all
+is in our easy familiarity with things astounding--when we say,
+listlessly, "Another revolution at Paris," or, "By the bye, there
+is the deuce to do at Vienna!"--when De Joinville is catching fish
+in the ponds at Claremont, and you hardly turn back to look at
+Metternich on the pier at Brighton!
+
+My uncle nodded, and growled indistinctly; my father--
+
+"Put aside his books; you have told us that already."
+
+Sir, you are very much mistaken, he did not put aside his books, for
+he was not engaged in them--he was reading his proof. And he smiled,
+and pointed to it (the proof I mean) pathetically, and with a kind
+of humour, as much as to say--"What can you expect, Pisistratus?--my
+new baby! in short clothes--or long primer, which is all the same
+thing!"
+
+I took a chair between the two, and looked first at one, then at
+the other, and--heaven forgive me!--I felt a rebellious, ungrateful
+spite against both. The bitterness of my soul must have been deep
+indeed to have overflowed in that direction, but it did. The grief
+of youth is an abominable egotist, and that is the truth. I got up
+from the chair, and walked towards the window; it was open, and
+outside the window was Mrs Primmins' canary, in its cage. London
+air had agreed with it, and it was singing lustily. Now, when the
+canary saw me standing opposite to its cage, and regarding it
+seriously, and, I have no doubt, with a very sombre aspect, the
+creature stopped short, and hung its head on one side, looking at
+me obliquely and suspiciously. Finding that I did it no harm, it
+began to hazard a few broken notes, timidly and interrogatively, as
+it were, pausing between each; and at length, as I made no reply,
+it evidently thought it had solved the doubt, and ascertained that
+I was more to be pitied than feared--for it stole gradually into
+so soft and silvery a strain that, I verily believe, it did it on
+purpose to comfort me!--me, its old friend, whom it had unjustly
+suspected. Never did any music touch me so home as did that long,
+plaintive cadence. And when the bird ceased, it perched itself close
+to the bars of the cage, and looked at me steadily with its bright
+intelligent eyes. I felt mine water, and I turned back and stood
+in the centre of the room, irresolute what to do, where to go. My
+father had done with the proof, and was deep in his folios. Roland
+had clasped his red account book, restored it to his pocket, wiped
+his pen carefully, and now watched me from under his great beetle
+brows. Suddenly he rose, and, stamping on the hearth with his cork
+leg, exclaimed, "Look up from those cursed books, brother Austin!
+What is there in that lad's face? Construe _that_, if you can!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+And my father pushed aside his books, and rose hastily. He took off
+his spectacles, and rubbed them mechanically, but he said nothing;
+and my uncle, staring at him for a moment, in surprise at his
+silence, burst out,--
+
+"Oh! I see--he has been getting into some scrape, and you are angry!
+Fie! young blood will have its way, Austin--it will. I don't blame
+that--it is only when--come here, Sisty! Zounds! man, come here."
+
+My father gently brushed off the captain's hand, and, advancing
+towards me, opened his arms. The next moment I was sobbing on his
+breast.
+
+"But what is the matter?" cried Captain Roland, "will nobody
+say what is the matter? Money, I suppose--money, you confounded
+extravagant young dog. Luckily you have got an uncle who has more
+than he knows what to do with. How much?--fifty?--a hundred? two
+hundred? How can I write the cheque, if you'll not speak?"
+
+"Hush, brother! it is no money you can give that will set this
+right. My poor boy! have I guessed truly? Did I guess truly the
+other evening, when--"
+
+"Yes, sir, yes! I have been so wretched. But I am better now--I can
+tell you all."
+
+My uncle moved slowly towards the door: his fine sense of delicacy
+made him think that even he was out of place in the confidence
+between son and father.
+
+"No, uncle," I said, holding out my hand to him, "stay; you too can
+advise me--strengthen me. I have kept my honour yet--help me to keep
+it still."
+
+At the sound of the word honour Captain Roland stood mute, and
+raised his head quickly.
+
+So I told all--incoherently enough at first, but clearly and
+manfully as I went on. Now I know that it is not the custom of
+lovers to confide in fathers and uncles. Judging by those mirrors
+of life, plays and novels, they choose better;--valets and
+chambermaids, and friends whom they have picked up in the street,
+as I had picked up poor Francis Vivian--to these they make clean
+breasts of their troubles. But fathers and uncles--to them they are
+close, impregnable, "buttoned to the chin." The Caxtons were an
+eccentric family, and never did anything like other people. When I
+had ended, I lifted my eyes, and said pleadingly, "Now, tell me, is
+there no hope--none?"
+
+"Why should there be none?" cried Captain Roland hastily--"the De
+Caxtons are as good a family as the Trevanions; and as for yourself,
+all I will say is, that the young lady might choose worse for her
+own happiness."
+
+I wrung my uncles hand, and turned to my father in anxious fear--for
+I knew that, in spite of his secluded habits, few men ever formed
+a sounder judgment on worldly matters, when he was fairly drawn to
+look at them. A thing wonderful is that plain wisdom which scholars
+and poets often have for others, though they rarely deign to use it
+for themselves. And how on earth do they get at it? I looked at my
+father, and the vague hope Roland had excited fell as I looked.
+
+"Brother," said he slowly, and shaking his head, "the world, which
+gives codes and laws to those who live in it, does not care much for
+a pedigree, unless it goes with a title-deed to estates."
+
+"Trevanion was not richer than Pisistratus when he married Lady
+Ellinor," said my uncle.
+
+"True; but Lady Ellinor was not then an heiress, and her father
+viewed these matters as no other peer in England perhaps would.
+As for Trevanion himself, I dare say he has no prejudices about
+station, but he is strong in common sense. He values himself on
+being a practical man. It would be folly to talk to him of love, and
+the affections of youth. He would see in the son of Austin Caxton,
+living on the interest of some fifteen or sixteen thousand pounds,
+such a match for his daughter as no prudent man in his position
+could approve. And as for Lady Ellinor"--
+
+"She owes us much, Austin!" exclaimed Roland, his face darkening.
+
+"Lady Ellinor is now what, if we had known her better, she promised
+always to be--the ambitious, brilliant, scheming woman of the world.
+Is it not so, Pisistratus?"
+
+I said nothing. I felt too much.
+
+"And does the girl like you?--but I think it is clear she does!"
+exclaimed Roland. "Fate--fate; it has been a fatal family to us!
+Zounds, Austin, it was your fault. Why did you let him go there?"
+
+"My son is now a man--at least in heart, if not in years--can man
+be shut from danger and trial? They found me in the old parsonage,
+brother!" said my father mildly.
+
+My uncle walked, or rather stumped, three times up and down the
+room; and he then stopped short, folded his arms, and came to a
+decision--
+
+"If the girl likes you, your duty is doubly clear--you can't take
+advantage of it. You have done right to leave the house, for the
+temptation might be too strong."
+
+"But what excuse shall I make to Mr Trevanion?" said I feebly--"what
+story can I invent? So careless as he is while he trusts, so
+penetrating if he once suspects, he will see through all my
+subterfuges, and--and--"
+
+"It is as plain as a pike-staff," said my uncle abruptly--"and
+there need be no subterfuge in the matter. 'I must leave you, Mr
+Trevanion.' 'Why?' says he. 'Don't ask me.' He insists. 'Well then,
+sir, if you must know, I love your daughter. I have nothing--she
+is a great heiress. You will not approve of that love, and
+therefore I leave you!' That is the course that becomes an English
+gentleman--eh, Austin?"
+
+"You are never wrong when your instincts speak, Roland," said my
+father. "Can you say this, Pisistratus, or shall I say it for you?"
+
+"Let him say it himself," said Roland; "and let him judge himself of
+the answer. He is young, he is clever, he may make a figure in the
+world. Trevanion _may_ answer, 'Win the lady after you have won the
+laurel, like the knights of old.' At all events, you will hear the
+worst."
+
+"I will go," said I, firmly; and I took my hat, and left the room.
+As I was passing the landing-place, a light step stole down the
+upper flight of stairs, and a little hand seized my own. I turned
+quickly, and met the full, dark, seriously sweet eyes of my cousin
+Blanche.
+
+"Don't go away yet, Sisty," said she coaxingly. "I have been waiting
+for you, for I heard your voice, and did not like to come in and
+disturb you."
+
+"And why did you wait for me, my little Blanche?"
+
+"Why! only to see you. But your eyes are red. Oh, cousin!"--and,
+before I was aware of her childish impulse, she had sprung to my
+neck and kissed me. Now Blanche was not like most children, and
+was very sparing of her caresses. So it was out of the deeps of
+a kind heart that that kiss came. I returned it without a word;
+and, putting her down gently, ran down the stairs, and was in the
+streets. But I had not got far before I heard my father's voice; and
+he came up, and, hooking his arm into mine, said, "Are there not
+two of us that suffer?--let us be together!" I pressed his arm, and
+we walked on in silence. But when we were near Trevanion's house,
+I said hesitatingly, "Would it not be better, sir, that I went in
+alone. If there is to be an explanation between Mr Trevanion and
+myself, would it not seem as if your presence implied either a
+request to him that would lower us both, or a doubt of me that--"
+
+"You will go in alone, of course: I will wait for you--"
+
+"Not in the streets--oh no, father," cried I, touched inexpressibly.
+For all this was so unlike my father's habits, that I felt remorse
+to have so communicated my young griefs to the calm dignity of his
+serene life.
+
+"My son, you do not know how I love you. I have only known it myself
+lately. Look you, I am living in you now, my first-born; not in my
+other son--the great book: I must have my way. Go in; that is the
+door, is it not?"
+
+I pressed my father's hand, and I felt then, that, while that hand
+could reply to mine, even the loss of Fanny Trevanion could not
+leave the world a blank. How much we have before us in life, while
+we retain our parents! How much to strive and to hope for! What a
+motive in the conquest of our sorrow--that they may not sorrow with
+us!
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+I entered Trevanion's study. It was an hour in which he was rarely
+at home, but I had not thought of that; and I saw without surprise
+that, contrary to his custom, he was in his armchair, reading one of
+his favourite classic authors, instead of being in some committee
+room of the House of Commons.
+
+"A pretty fellow you are," said he, looking up, "to leave me
+all the morning, without rhyme or reason. And my committee is
+postponed--chairman ill--people who get ill should not go into the
+House of Commons. So here I am, looking into Propertius: Parr is
+right; not so elegant a writer as Tibullus. But what the deuce are
+you about?--why don't you sit down? Humph! you look grave--you have
+something to say,--say it!"
+
+And, putting down Propertius, the acute, sharp face of Trevanion
+instantly became earnest and attentive.
+
+"My dear Mr Trevanion," said I, with as much steadiness as I could
+assume, "you have been most kind to me; and, out of my own family,
+there is no man I love and respect more."
+
+TREVANION.--Humph! What's all this! (_In an under tone_)--Am I going
+to be taken in?
+
+PISISTRATUS.--Do not think me ungrateful, then, when I say I come to
+resign my office--to leave the house where I have been so happy.
+
+TREVANION.--Leave the house!--Pooh!--I have overtasked you. I
+will be more merciful in future. You must forgive a political
+economist--it is the fault of my sect to look upon men as machines.
+
+PISISTRATUS--(_smiling faintly_.)--No, indeed--that is not it! I
+have nothing to complain of--nothing I could wish altered--could I
+stay.
+
+TREVANION (_examining me thoughtfully_.)--And does your father
+approve of your leaving me thus?
+
+PISISTRATUS--Yes, fully.
+
+TREVANION (_musing a moment_.)--I see, he would send you to the
+University, make you a book-worm like himself: pooh! that will not
+do--you will never become wholly a man of books,--it is not in you.
+Young man, though I may seem careless, I read characters, when I
+please it, pretty quickly. You do wrong to leave me; you are made
+for the great world--I can open to you a high career. I wish to do
+so! Lady Ellinor wishes it--nay, insists on it--for your father's
+sake as well as yours. I never ask a favour from ministers, and I
+never will. But (here Trevanion rose suddenly, and, with an erect
+mien and a quick gesture of his arm, he added)--but a minister
+himself can dispose as he pleases of his patronage. Look you, it
+is a secret yet, and I trust to your honour. But, before the year
+is out, I must be in the cabinet. Stay with me, I guarantee your
+fortunes--three months ago I would not have said that. By-and-by
+I will open parliament for you--you are not of age yet--work till
+then. And now sit down and write my letters--a sad arrear!"
+
+"My dear, dear Mr Trevanion!" said I, so affected that I could
+scarcely speak, and seizing his hand, which I pressed between
+both mine--"I dare not thank you--I cannot! But you don't know my
+heart--it is not ambition. No! if I could but stay here on the same
+terms for ever--_here_--(looking ruefully on that spot where Fanny
+had stood the night before,) but it is impossible! If you knew all,
+you would be the first to bid me go!"
+
+"You are in debt," said the man of the world, coldly. "Bad, very
+bad--still--"
+
+"No, sir; no! worse--"
+
+"Hardly possible to be worse, young man--hardly! But, just as you
+will; you leave me, and will not say why. Good-by. Why do you
+linger? shake hands, and go!"
+
+"I cannot leave you thus: I--I--sir, the truth shall out. I am rash
+and mad enough not to see Miss Trevanion without forgetting that I
+am poor, and--"
+
+"Ha!" interrupted Trevanion softly, and growing pale, "this is a
+misfortune indeed! And I, who talked of reading characters! Truly,
+truly, we would-be practical men are fools--fools! And you have made
+love to my daughter!"
+
+"Sir! Mr Trevanion! I--no--never, never so base! In your house,
+trusted by you,--how could you think it? I dared, it may be, to
+love--at all events, to feel that I could not be insensible to a
+temptation too strong for me. But to say it to your daughter--to ask
+love in return--I would as soon have broken open your desk! Frankly
+I tell you my folly: it is a folly, not a disgrace."
+
+Trevanion came up to me abruptly, as I leant against the book-case,
+and, grasping my hand with a cordial kindness, said,--"Pardon me!
+You have behaved as your father's son should--I envy him such a son!
+Now, listen to me--I cannot give you my daughter--"
+
+"Believe me, sir, I never--"
+
+"Tut, listen! I cannot give you my daughter. I say nothing of
+inequality--all gentlemen are equal; and if not, all impertinent
+affectation of superiority, in such a case, would come ill from
+one who owes his own fortune to his wife! But, as it is, I have a
+stake in the world, won not by fortune only, but the labour of a
+life, the suppression of half my nature--the drudging, squaring,
+taming down--all that made the glory and joy of my youth--to be
+that hard matter-of-fact thing which the English world expect in
+a--_statesman_! This station has gradually opened into its natural
+result--power! I tell you I shall soon have high office in the
+administration: I hope to render great services to England--for we
+English politicians, whatever the mob and the press say of us, are
+not selfish placehunters. I refused office, as high as I look for
+now, ten years ago. We believe in our opinions, and we hail the
+power that may carry them into effect. In this cabinet I shall have
+enemies. Oh, don't think we leave jealousy behind us, at the doors
+of Downing Street! I shall be one of a minority. I know well what
+must happen: like all men in power, I must strengthen myself by
+other heads and hands than my own. My daughter should bring to me
+the alliance of that house in England which is most necessary to me.
+My life falls to the ground, like a house of cards, if I waste--I
+do not say on you, but on men of ten times your fortune (whatever
+that be,)--the means of strength which are at my disposal in the
+hand of Fanny Trevanion. To this end I have looked; but to this end
+her mother has schemed--for these household matters are within a
+man's hopes, but belong to a woman's policy. So much for us. But
+for you, my dear, and frank, and high-souled young friend--for you,
+if I were not Fanny's father--if I were your nearest relation, and
+Fanny could be had for the asking, with all her princely dower, (for
+it is princely,)--for you I should say, fly from a load upon the
+heart, on the genius, the energy, the pride, and the spirit, which
+not one man in ten thousand can bear; fly from the curse of owing
+every thing to a wife!--it is a reversal of all natural position, it
+is a blow to all the manhood within us. You know not what it is: I
+do! My wife's fortune came not till after marriage--so far, so well;
+it saved my reputation from the charge of fortune-hunting. But, I
+tell you fairly, that if it had never come at all, I should be a
+prouder, and a greater, and a happier man than I have ever been,
+or ever can be, with all its advantages; it has been a millstone
+round my neck. And yet Ellinor has never breathed a word that could
+wound my pride. Would her daughter be as forbearing? Much as I love
+Fanny, I doubt if she has the great heart of her mother. You look
+incredulous;--naturally. Oh, you think I shall sacrifice my child's
+happiness to a politician's ambition! Folly of youth! Fanny would be
+wretched with you. She might not think so now; she would five years
+hence! Fanny will make an admirable duchess, countess, great lady;
+but wife to a man who owes all to her!--no, no, don't dream it! I
+shall not sacrifice her happiness, depend on it. I speak plainly, as
+man to man--man of the world to a man just entering it--but still
+man to man! What say you?"
+
+"I will think over all you tell me. I know that you are speaking to
+me most generously--as a father would. Now let me go, and may God
+keep you and yours!"
+
+"Go--I return your blessing--go! I don't insult you now with offers
+of service; but, remember, you have a right to command them--in all
+ways, in all times. Stop!--take this comfort away with you--a sorry
+comfort now, a great one hereafter. In a position that might have
+moved anger, scorn, pity, you have made a barren-hearted man honour
+and admire you. You, a boy, have made me, with my gray hairs, think
+better of the whole world: tell your father that."
+
+I closed the door, and stole out softly--softly. But when I got into
+the hall, Fanny suddenly opened the door of the breakfast parlour,
+and seemed, by her look, her gesture, to invite me in. Her face was
+very pale, and there were traces of tears on the heavy lids.
+
+I stood still a moment, and my heart beat violently. I then muttered
+something inarticulately, and, bowing low, hastened to the door.
+
+I thought, but my ears might deceive me, that I heard my name
+pronounced; but fortunately the tall porter started from his
+newspaper and his leather chair, and the entrance stood open. I
+joined my father.
+
+"It is all over," said I, with a resolute smile. "And now, my
+dear father, I feel how grateful I should be for all that your
+lessons--your life--have, taught me;--for, believe me, I am not
+unhappy."
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+We came back to my father's house, and on the stairs we met my
+mother, whom Roland's grave looks, and her Austin's strange absence,
+had alarmed. My father quietly led the way to a little room, which
+my mother had appropriated to Blanche and herself; and then, placing
+my hand in that which had helped his own steps from the stony path,
+down the quiet vales of life, he said to me,--"Nature gives you here
+the soother;"--and, so saying, he left the room.
+
+And it was true, O my mother! that in thy simple loving breast
+nature did place the deep wells of comfort! We come to men for
+philosophy--to women for consolation. And the thousand weaknesses
+and regrets--the sharp sands of the minutiæ that make up
+_sorrow_--all these, which I could have betrayed to no _man_--not
+even to him, the dearest and tenderest of all men--I showed without
+shame to thee! And thy tears, that fell on my cheek, had the balm
+of Araby; and my heart, at length, lay lulled and soothed under thy
+moist gentle eyes.
+
+I made an effort, and joined the little circle at dinner; and
+I felt grateful that no violent attempt was made to raise my
+spirits--nothing but affection, more subdued, and soft, and
+tranquil. Even little Blanche, as if by the intuition of sympathy,
+ceased her babble, and seemed to hush her footstep as she crept
+to my side. But after dinner, when we had reassembled in the
+drawing-room, and the lights shone bright, and the curtains were
+let down--and only the quick roll of some passing wheels reminded
+us that there was a world without--my father began to talk. He had
+laid aside all his work; the younger, but less perishable child was
+forgotten,--and my father began to talk.
+
+"It is," said he musingly, "a well-known thing, that particular
+drugs or herbs suit the body according to its particular diseases.
+When we are ill, we don't open our medicinechest at random, and take
+out any powder or phial that comes to hand. The skilful doctor is he
+who adjusts the dose to the malady."
+
+"Of that there can be no doubt," quoth Captain Roland. "I remember
+a notable instance of the justice of what you say. When I was in
+Spain, both my horse and I fell ill at the same time; a dose was
+sent for each; and, by some infernal mistake, I swallowed the
+horse's physic, and the horse, poor thing, swallowed mine!"
+
+"And what was the result?" asked my father.
+
+"The horse died!", answered Roland mournfully--"a valuable
+beast--bright bay, with a star!"
+
+"And you?"
+
+"Why, the doctor said it ought to have killed me; but it took a
+great deal more than a paltry bottle of physic to kill a man in my
+regiment."
+
+"Nevertheless, we arrive at the same conclusion," pursued my
+father,--"I with my theory, you with your experience,--that the
+physic we take must not be chosen hap-hazard; and that a mistake
+in the bottle may kill a horse. But when we come to the medicine
+for the mind, how little do we think of the golden rule which
+common-sense applies to the body."
+
+"Anon," said the Captain, "what medicine is there for the mind?
+Shakspeare has said something on that subject, which, if I recollect
+right, implies that there is no ministering to a mind diseased."
+
+"I think not, brother; he only said physic (meaning boluses and
+black draughts) would not do it. And Shakspeare was the last man
+to find fault with his own art; for, verily, he has been a great
+physician to the mind."
+
+"Ah! I take you now, brother,--books again! So you think that,
+when a man breaks his heart, or loses his fortune, or his
+daughter--(Blanche, child, come here)--that you have only to clap
+a plaster of print on the sore place, and all is well. I wish you
+would find me such a cure."
+
+"Will you try it?"
+
+"If it is not Greek," said my uncle.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+MY FATHER'S CROTCHET ON THE HYGEIENIC CHEMISTRY OF BOOKS.
+
+"If," said my father--and here his hand was deep in his
+waistcoat--"if we accept the authority of Diodorus, as to the
+inscription on the great Egyptian library--and I don't see why
+Diodorus should not be as near the mark as any one else?" added my
+father interrogatively, turning round.
+
+My mother thought herself the person addressed, and nodded her
+gracious assent to the authority of Diodorus. His opinion thus
+fortified, my father continued,--"If, I say, we accept the authority
+of Diodorus, the inscription on the Egyptian library was--'The
+Medicine of the Mind.' Now, that phrase has become notoriously trite
+and hackneyed, and people repeat vaguely that books are the medicine
+of the mind. Yes; but to apply the medicine is the thing!"
+
+"So you have told us at least twice before, brother," quoth the
+Captain, bluffly. "And what Diodorus has to do with it, I know no
+more than the man of the moon."
+
+"I shall never get on at this rate," said my father, in a tone
+between reproach and entreaty.
+
+"Be good children, Roland and Blanche both," said my mother,
+stopping from her work, and holding up her needle threateningly--and
+indeed inflicting a slight puncture upon the Captain's shoulder.
+
+"Rem _acu_ tetigisti, my dear," said my father, borrowing Cicero's
+pun on the occasion.[13] "And now we shall go upon velvet. I say,
+then, that books, taken indiscriminately, are no cure to the
+diseases and afflictions of the mind. There is a world of science
+necessary in the taking them. I have known some people in great
+sorrow fly to a novel, or the last light book in fashion. One
+might as well take a rose-draught for the plague! Light reading
+does not do when the heart is really heavy. I am told that Goethe,
+when he lost his son, took to study a science that was new to
+him. Ah! Goethe was a physician who knew what he was about. In a
+great grief like that, you cannot tickle and divert the mind; you
+must wrench it away, abstract, absorb--bury it in an abyss, hurry
+it into a labyrinth. Therefore, for the irremediable sorrows of
+middle life and old age, I recommend a strict chronic, course of
+science and hard reasoning--Counter-irritation. Bring the brain to
+act upon the heart! If science is too much against the grain, (for
+we have not all got mathematical heads,) something in the reach
+of the humblest understanding, but sufficiently searching to the
+highest--a new language--Greek, Arabic, Scandinavian, Chinese, or
+Welch! For the loss of fortune, the dose should be applied less
+directly to the understanding.--I would administer something elegant
+and cordial. For as the heart is crushed and lacerated by a loss in
+the affections, so it is rather the head that aches and suffers by
+the loss of money. Here we find the higher class of poets a very
+valuable remedy. For observe, that poets of the grander and more
+comprehensive kind of genius have in them two separate men, quite
+distinct from each other--the imaginative man, and the practical,
+circumstantial man; and it is the happy mixture of these that suits
+diseases of the mind, half imaginative and half practical. There
+is Homer, now lost with the gods, now at home with the homeliest,
+the very 'poet of circumstance,' as Gray has finely called him; and
+yet with imagination enough to seduce and coax the dullest into
+forgetting, for a while, that little spot on his desk which his
+banker's book can cover. There is Virgil, far below him, indeed.
+
+  [13] Cicero's joke on a senator who was the son of a tailor--"Thou
+  hast touched the thing sharply;" (or with a needle--_acu_.)
+
+                    --'Virgil the wise,
+    Whose verse walks highest, but not flies.'
+
+as Cowley expresses it. But Virgil still has genius enough to
+be two men--to lead you into the fields, not only to listen to
+the pastoral reed, and to hear the bees hum, but to note how you
+can make the most of the glebe and the vineyard. There is Horace,
+charming man of the world, who will condole with you feelingly
+on the loss of your fortune, and by no means undervalue the good
+things of this life; but who will yet show you that a man may be
+happy with a _vile modicum_, or _parva rura_. There is Shakspeare,
+who, above all poets, is the mysterious dual of hard sense and
+empyreal fancy--and a great many more, whom I need not name; but
+who, if you take to them gently and quietly, will not, like your
+mere philosopher, your unreasonable stoic, tell you that you have
+lost nothing; but who will insensibly steal you out of this world,
+with its losses and crosses, and slip you into another world, before
+you know where you are!--a world where you are just as welcome,
+though you carry no more earth of your lost acres with you than
+covers the sole of your shoe. Then, for hypochondria and satiety,
+what is better than a brisk alterative course of travels--especially
+early, out of the way, marvellous, legendary travels! How they
+freshen up the spirits! How they take you out of the humdrum yawning
+state you are in. See, with Herodotus, young Greece spring up into
+life; or note with him how already the wondrous old Orient world
+is crumbling into giant decay; or go with Carpini and Rubruquis to
+Tartary, meet 'the carts of Zagathai laden with houses, and think
+that a great city is travelling towards you.'[14] Gaze on that
+vast wild empire of the Tartar, where the descendants of Jenghis
+'multiply and disperse over the immense waste desert, which is as
+boundless as the ocean.' Sail with the early northern discoverers,
+and penetrate to the heart of winter, among sea-serpents and bears,
+and tusked morses, with the faces of men. Then, what think you of
+Columbus, and the stern soul of Cortes, and the kingdom of Mexico,
+and the strange gold city of the Peruvians, with that audacious
+brute Pizarro? and the Polynesians, just for all the world like
+the ancient Britons? and the American Indians, and the South-Sea
+Islanders? how petulant, and young, and adventurous, and frisky your
+hypochondriac must get upon a regimen like that! Then, for that
+vice of the mind which I call sectarianism--not in the religious
+sense of the word, but little, narrow prejudices, that make you
+hate your next-door neighbour, because he has his eggs roasted
+when you have yours boiled; and gossiping and prying into people's
+affairs, and back-biting, and thinking heaven and earth are coming
+together, if some broom touch a cobweb that you have let grow over
+the window-sill of your brains--what like a large and generous,
+mildly aperient (I beg your pardon, my dear) course of history! How
+it clears away all the fumes of the head!--better than the hellebore
+with which the old leeches of the middle ages purged the cerebellum.
+There, amidst all that great whirl and _sturmbad_ (storm-bath), as
+the Germans say, of kingdoms and empires, and races and ages, how
+your mind enlarges beyond that little, feverish animosity to John
+Styles; or that unfortunate prepossession of yours, that all the
+world is interested in your grievances against Tom Stokes and his
+wife!
+
+  [14] RUBRUQUIS, sect. xii.
+
+"I can only touch, you see, on a few ingredients in this magnificent
+pharmacy--its resources are boundless, but require the nicest
+discretion. I remember to have cured a disconsolate widower, who
+obstinately refused every other medicament, by a strict course of
+geology. I dipped him deep into gneiss and mica schist. Amidst the
+first strata, I suffered the watery action to expend itself upon
+cooling crystallised masses; and, by the time I had got him into
+the tertiary period, amongst the transition chalks of Maestricht,
+and the conchiferous marls of Gosau, he was ready for a new wife.
+Kitty, my dear! it is no laughing matter. I made no less notable
+a cure of a young scholar at Cambridge, who was meant for the
+church, when he suddenly caught a cold fit of freethinking, with
+great shiverings, from wading over his depth in Spinosa. None of
+the divines, whom I first tried, did him the least good in that
+state; so I turned over a new leaf, and doctored him gently upon the
+chapters of faith in Abraham Tucker's book, (you should read, it,
+Sisty;) then I threw in strong doses of Fichté; after that I put him
+on the Scotch metaphysicians, with plunge baths into certain German
+transcendentalists; and having convinced him that faith is not an
+unphilosophical state of mind, and that he might believe without
+compromising his understanding--for he was mightily conceited on
+that score--I threw in my divines, which he was now fit to digest;
+and his theological constitution, since then, has become so robust,
+that he has eaten up two livings and a deanery! In fact, I have
+a plan for a library that, instead of heading its compartments,
+'Philology, Natural Science, Poetry,' &c., one shall head them
+according to the diseases for which they are severally good, bodily
+and mental--up from a dire calamity, or the pangs of the gout, down
+to a fit of the spleen, or a slight catarrh; for which last your
+light reading comes in with a whey posset and barley-water. But,"
+continued my father more gravely, "when some one sorrow, that is
+yet reparable, gets hold of your mind like a monomania--when you
+think, because heaven has denied you this or that, on which you had
+set your heart, that all your life must be a blank--oh, then diet
+yourself well on biography--the biography of good and great men.
+See how little a space one sorrow really makes in life. See scarce
+a page, perhaps, given to some grief similar to your own; and how
+triumphantly the life sails on, beyond it! You thought the wing was
+broken!--Tut-tut--it was but a bruised feather! See what life leaves
+behind it, when all is, done!--a summary of positive facts far out
+of the region of sorrow and suffering, linking themselves with the
+being of the world. Yes, biography is the medicine here! Roland, you
+said you would try my prescription--here it is,"--and my father took
+up a book, and reached it to the Captain.
+
+My uncle looked over it--_Life of the Reverend Robert Hall_.
+"Brother, he was a Dissenter, and, thank heaven, I am a
+church-and-state man, back and bone!"
+
+"Robert Hall was a brave man, and a true soldier under the great
+commander," said my father artfully.
+
+The Captain mechanically carried his forefinger to his forehead in
+military fashion, and saluted the book respectfully.
+
+"I have another copy for you, Pisistratus--that is mine which I have
+lent Roland. This, which I bought for you to-day, you will keep."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said I listlessly, not seeing what great good the
+_Life of Robert Hall_ could do me, or why the same medicine should
+suit the old weatherbeaten uncle, and the nephew yet in his teens.
+
+"I have said nothing," resumed my father, slightly bowing his broad
+temples, "of the Book of Books, for that is the _lignum vitæ_, the
+cardinal medicine for all. These are but the subsidiaries: for,
+as you may remember, my dear Kitty, that I have said before--we
+can never keep the system quite right unless we place just in the
+centre of the great ganglionic system, whence the nerves carry its
+influence gently and smoothly through the whole frame--THE SAFFRON
+BAG!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+After breakfast the next morning, I took my hat to go out, when my
+father, looking at me, and seeing by my countenance that I had not
+slept, said gently--
+
+"My dear Pisistratus, you have not tried my medicine yet."
+
+"What medicine, sir?"
+
+"Robert Hall."
+
+"No, indeed, not yet," said I, smiling.
+
+"Do so, my son, before you go out; depend on it, you will enjoy your
+walk more."
+
+I confess that it was, with some reluctance I obeyed. I went back to
+my own room, and sate resolutely down to my task. Are there any of
+you, my readers, who have not read the _Life of Robert Hall_? If so,
+in the words of the great Captain Cuttle, "When found, make a note
+of it." Never mind what your theological opinion is--Episcopalian,
+Presbyterian, Baptist, Pædobaptist, Independent, Quaker, Unitarian,
+Philosopher, Freethinker--send for Robert Hall! Yea, if there exist
+yet on earth descendants of the arch-heresies, which made such a
+noise in their day--men who believe with Saturnians that the world
+was made by seven angels; or with Basilides, that there are as many
+heavens as there are days in the year; or with the Nicolaitanes,
+that men ought to have their wives in common, (plenty of that sect
+still, especially in the Red Republic;) or with their successors,
+the Gnostics, who believed in Jaldaboath; or with the Carpacratians,
+that the world was made by the devil; or with the Cerinthians, and
+Ebionites, and Nazarites, (which last discovered that the name of
+Noah's wife was Ouria, and that she set the ark on fire;) or with
+the Valentinians, who taught that there were thirty Æones, ages, or
+worlds, born out of Profundity, (Bathos,) male, and Silence, female;
+or with the Marcites, Colarbasii, and Heracleonites, (who still
+kept up that bother about Æones, Mr Profundity, and Mrs Silence;)
+or with the Ophites, who are said to have worshipped the serpent;
+or the Cainites, who ingeniously found out a reason for honouring
+Judas, because he foresaw what good would come to men by betraying
+our Saviour; or with the Sethites, who made Seth a part of the
+Divine substance; or with the Archonticks, Ascothyptæ, Cerdonians,
+Marcionites, the disciples of Apelles, and Severus, (the last was
+a teetotaller, and said wine was begot by Satan!) or of Tatian,
+who thought all the descendants of Adam were irretrievably damned
+except themselves, (some of those Tatiani are certainly extant!) or
+the Cataphrygians, who were also called Tascodragitæ, because they
+thrust their forefingers up their nostrils to show their devotion;
+or the Pepuzians, Quintilians, and Artotyrites; or--but no matter.
+If I go through all the follies of men in search of the truth, I
+shall never get to the end of my chapter, or back to Robert Hall:
+whatever, then, thou art, orthodox or heterodox, send for the _Life
+of Robert Hall_. It is the life of a man that it does good to
+manhood itself to contemplate.
+
+I had finished the biography, which is not long, and was musing over
+it, when I heard the Captain's cork-leg upon the stairs. I opened
+the door for him, and he entered, book in hand, as I, also book in
+hand, stood ready to receive him.
+
+"Well, sir," said Roland, seating himself, "has the prescription
+done you any good?"
+
+"Yes, uncle--great."
+
+"And me too. By Jupiter, Sisty, that same Hall was a fine fellow! I
+wonder if the medicine has gone through the same channels in both?
+Tell me, first, how it has affected you."
+
+"_Imprimis_, then, my dear uncle, I fancy that a book like this must
+do good to all who live in the world in the ordinary manner, by
+admitting us into a circle of life of which I suspect we think but
+little. Here is a man connecting himself directly with a heavenly
+purpose, and cultivating considerable faculties to that one end;
+seeking to accomplish his soul as far as he can, that he may do
+most good on earth, and take a higher existence up to heaven; a man
+intent upon a sublime and spiritual duty: in short, living as it
+were in it, and so filled with the consciousness of immortality,
+and so strong in the link between God and man, that, without any
+affected stoicism, without being insensible to pain--rather,
+perhaps, from a nervous temperament, acutely feeling it--he yet
+has a happiness wholly independent of it. It is impossible not to
+be thrilled with an admiration that elevates while it awes you, in
+reading that solemn 'Dedication of himself to God.' This offering of
+'soul and body, time, health, reputation, talents,' to the divine
+and invisible Principle of Good, calls us suddenly to contemplate
+the selfishness of our own views and hopes, and awakens us from the
+egotism that exacts all and resigns nothing.
+
+"But this book has mostly struck upon the chord in my own heart,
+in that characteristic which my father indicated as belonging to
+all biography. Here is a life of remarkable _fulness_, great study,
+great thought, and great action; and yet," said I, colouring,
+"how small a place those feelings, which have tyrannised over me,
+and made all else seem blank and void, hold in that life. It is
+not as if the man were a cold and hard ascetic; it is easy to see
+in him not only remarkable tenderness and warm affections, but
+strong self-will, and the passion of all vigorous natures. Yes, I
+understand better now what existence in a true man should be."
+
+"All that is very well said," quoth the Captain, "but it did not
+strike me. What I have seen in this book is courage. Here is a
+poor creature rolling on the carpet with agony; from childhood to
+death tortured by a mysterious incurable malady--a malady that is
+described as 'an internal apparatus of torture;' and who does, by
+his heroism, more than _bear_ it--he puts it out of power to affect
+him; and though (here is the passage) 'his appointment by day and by
+night was incessant pain, yet high enjoyment was, notwithstanding,
+the law of his existence.' Robert Hall reads me a lesson--me, an old
+soldier, who thought myself above taking lessons--in courage, at
+least. And, as I came to that passage when, in the sharp paroxysms
+before death, he says, 'I have not complained, have I, sir?--and
+I won't complain,'--when I came to that passage I started up, and
+cried, 'Roland de Caxton, thou hast been a coward! and, an thou
+hadst had thy deserts, thou hadst been cashiered, broken, and
+drummed out of the regiment long ago!"
+
+"After all, then, my father was not so wrong--he placed his guns
+right, and fired a good shot."
+
+"He must have been from 6° to 9° above the crest of the parapet,"
+said my uncle, thoughtfully--"which, I take it, is the best
+elevation, both for shot and shells, in enfilading a work."
+
+"What say you, then, Captain? up with our knapsacks, and on with the
+march!"
+
+"Right about--face!" cried my uncle, as erect as a column.
+
+"No looking back, if we can help it."
+
+"Full in the front of the enemy--'Up, guards, and at 'em!'"
+
+"'England expects every man to do his duty!"'
+
+"Cypress or laurel!" cried my uncle, waving the book over his head.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+I went out--and to see Francis Vivian; for, on leaving Mr Trevanion,
+I was not without anxiety for my new friend's future provision.
+But Vivian was from home, and I strolled from his lodgings, into
+the suburbs on the other side of the river, and began to meditate
+seriously on the best course now to pursue. In quitting my present
+occupations, I resigned prospects far more brilliant, and fortunes
+far more rapid than I could ever hope to realise in any other
+entrance into life. But I felt the necessity, if I desired to keep
+steadfast to that more healthful frame of mind I had obtained,
+of some manly and continuous labour--some earnest employment.
+My thoughts flew back to the university; and the quiet of its
+cloisters--which, until I had been blinded by the glare of the
+London world, and grief had somewhat dulled the edge of my quick
+desires and hopes, had seemed to me cheerless and unaltering--took
+an inviting aspect. They presented what I needed most--a new scene,
+a new arena, a partial return into boyhood; repose for passions
+prematurely raised; activity for the reasoning powers in fresh
+directions. I had not lost my time in London: I had kept up, if not
+studies purely classical, at least the habits of application; I had
+sharpened my general comprehension, and augmented my resources.
+Accordingly, when I returned home, I resolved to speak to my father.
+But I found he had forestalled me; and, on entering, my mother drew
+me up stairs into her room, with a smile kindled by my smile, and
+told me that she and her Austin had been thinking that it was best
+that I should leave London as soon as possible; that my father
+found he could now dispense with the library of the Museum for some
+months; that the time for which they had taken their lodgings would
+be up in a few days; that the summer was far advanced, town odious,
+the country beautiful--in a word, we were to go home. There I could
+prepare myself for Cambridge, till the long vacation was over; and,
+my mother added hesitatingly, and with a prefatory caution to
+spare my health, that my father, whose income could ill afford the
+requisite allowance to me, counted on my soon lightening his burden,
+by getting a scholarship. I felt how much provident kindness there
+was in all this--even in that hint of a scholarship, which was meant
+to rouse my faculties, and spur me, by affectionate incentives, to a
+new ambition. I was not less delighted than grateful.
+
+"But poor Roland," said I, "and little Blanche--will they come with
+us?"
+
+"I fear not," said my mother, "for Roland is anxious to get back to
+his tower; and, in a day or two, he will be well enough to move."
+
+"Do you not think, my dear mother, that, somehow or other, this lost
+son of his had something to do with his illness,--that the illness
+was as much mental as physical?"
+
+"I have no doubt of it, Sisty. What a sad, bad heart that young man
+must have!"
+
+"My uncle seems to have abandoned all hope of finding him in London;
+otherwise, ill as he has been, I am sure we could not have kept him
+at home. So he goes back to the old tower. Poor man, he must be dull
+enough there!--we must contrive to pay him a visit. Does Blanche
+ever speak of her brother?"
+
+"No, for it seems they were not brought up much together--at all
+events, she does not remember him. How lovely she is! Her mother
+must surely have been very handsome."
+
+"She is a pretty child, certainly, though in a strange style of
+beauty--such immense eyes!--and affectionate, and loves Roland as
+she ought."
+
+And here the conversation dropped.
+
+Our plans being thus decided, it was necessary that I should lose no
+time in seeing Vivian, and making some arrangement for the future.
+His manner had lost so much of its abruptness, that I thought I
+could venture to recommend him personally to Trevanion; and I knew,
+after what had passed, that Trevanion would make a point to oblige
+me. I resolved to consult my father about it. As yet I had either
+never forced, or never made the opportunity to talk to my father
+on the subject, he had been so occupied; and, if he had proposed
+to see my new friend, what answer could I have made, in the teeth
+of Vivian's cynic objections? However, as we were now going away,
+that last consideration ceased to be of importance; and, for the
+first, the student had not yet entirely settled back to his books. I
+therefore watched the time when my father walked down to the Museum,
+and, slipping my arm in his, I told him, briefly and rapidly, as
+we went along, how I had formed this strange acquaintance, and how
+I was now situated. The story did not interest my father quite as
+much as I expected, and he did not understand all the complexities
+of Vivian's character--how could he?--for he answered briefly, "I
+should think that, for a young man, apparently without a sixpence,
+and whose education seems so imperfect, any resource in Trevanion
+must be most temporary and uncertain. Speak to your uncle Jack--he
+can find him some place, I have no doubt--perhaps a readership in
+a printer's office, or a reporter's place on some journal, if he
+is fit for it. But if you want to steady him, let it be something
+regular."
+
+Therewith my father dismissed the matter, and vanished through the
+gates of the Museum.--Readership to a printer, reportership on a
+journal, for a young gentleman with the high notions and arrogant
+vanity of Francis Vivian--his ambition already soaring far beyond
+kid gloves and a cabriolet! The idea was hopeless; and, perplexed
+and doubtful, I took my way to Vivian's lodgings. I found him at
+home, and unemployed, standing by his window, with folded arms, and
+in a state of such reverie that he was not aware of my entrance till
+I had touched him on the shoulder.
+
+"Ha!" said he then, with one of his short, quick, impatient sighs,
+"I thought you had given me up, and forgotten me--but you look pale
+and harassed. I could almost think you had grown thinner within the
+last few days."
+
+"Oh! never mind me, Vivian: I have come to speak of yourself.
+I have left Trevanion; it is settled that I should go to the
+university--and we all quit town in a few days."
+
+"In a few days!--all!--who are all?"
+
+"My family--father, mother, uncle cousin, and myself. But, my dear
+fellow, now let us think seriously what is best to be done for you?
+I can present you to Trevanion."
+
+"Ha!"
+
+"But Trevanion is a hard, though an excellent man; and, moreover, as
+he is always changing the subjects that engross him, in a month or
+so, he may have nothing to give you. You said you would work--will
+you consent not to complain if the work cannot be done in kid
+gloves? Young men who have risen high in the world have begun, it
+is well known, as reporters to the press. It is a situation of
+respectability, and in request, and not easy to obtain, I fancy; but
+still--"
+
+Vivian interrupted me hastily--
+
+"Thank you a thousand times! but what you say confirms a resolution
+I had taken before you came. I shall make it up with my family, and
+return home."
+
+"Oh! I am so really glad. How wise in you!"
+
+Vivian turned away his head abruptly--
+
+"Your pictures of family life and domestic peace, you see," he said,
+"seduced me more than you thought. When do you leave town?"
+
+"Why, I believe, early next week."
+
+"So soon!" said Vivian, thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps I may ask you
+yet to introduce me to Mr Trevanion; for--who knows?--my family and
+I may fall out again. But I will consider. I think I have heard you
+say that this Trevanion is a very old friend of your father's, or
+uncle's?"
+
+"He, or rather Lady Ellinor, is an old friend of both."
+
+"And therefore would listen to your recommendations of me. But
+perhaps I may not need them. So you have left--left of your own
+accord--a situation that seemed more enjoyable, I should think, than
+rooms in a college;--left--why did you leave?"
+
+And Vivian fixed his bright eyes, full and piercingly, on mine.
+
+"It was only for a time, for a trial, that I was there," said I,
+evasively: "out at nurse, as it were, till the Alma Mater opened her
+arms--_alma_ indeed she ought to be to my father's son."
+
+Vivian looked unsatisfied with my explanation, but did not question
+me farther. He himself was the first to turn the conversation, and
+he did this with more affectionate cordiality than was common to
+him. He inquired into our general plans, into the probabilities of
+our return to town, and drew from me a description of our rural
+Tusculum. He was quiet and subdued; and once or twice I thought
+there was a moisture in those luminous eyes. We parted with more
+of the unreserve and fondness of youthful friendship--at least on
+my part, and seemingly on his--than had yet endeared our singular
+intimacy; for the cement of cordial attachment had been wanting to
+an intercourse in which one party refused all confidence, and the
+other mingled distrust and fear with keen interest and compassionate
+admiration.
+
+That evening, before lights were brought in, my father, turning to
+me, abruptly asked if I had seen my friend, and what he was about to
+do?
+
+"He thinks of returning to his family," said I.
+
+Roland, who had seemed dozing, winced uneasily.
+
+"Who returns to his family?" asked the Captain.
+
+"Why, you must know," said my father, "that Sisty has fished up
+a friend of whom he can give no account that would satisfy a
+policeman, and whose fortunes he thinks himself under the necessity
+of protecting. You are very lucky that he has not picked your
+pockets, Sisty; but I daresay he has? What's his name?"
+
+"Vivian," said I--"Francis Vivian."
+
+"A good name, and a Cornish," said my father. "Some derive it from
+the Romans--Vivianus; others from a Celtic word, which means"--
+
+"Vivian!" interrupted Roland--"Vivian!--I wonder if it be the son of
+Colonel Vivian?"
+
+"He is certainly a gentleman's son," said I; "but he never told me
+what his family and connexions were."
+
+"Vivian," repeated my uncle--"poor Colonel Vivian. So the young man
+is going to his father. I have no doubt it is the same. Ah!"--
+
+"What do you know of Colonel Vivian, or his son?" said I. "Pray,
+tell me, I am so interested in this young man."
+
+"I know nothing of either, except by gossip," said my uncle,
+moodily. "I did hear that Colonel Vivian, an excellent officer,
+and honourable man, had been in--in--(Roland's voice faltered)--in
+great grief about his son, whom, a mere boy, he had prevented from
+some improper marriage, and who had run away and left him--it was
+supposed for America. The story affected me at the time," added my
+uncle, trying to speak calmly.
+
+We were all silent, for we felt why Roland was so disturbed, and why
+Colonel Vivian's grief should have touched him home. Similarity in
+affliction makes us brothers even to the unknown.
+
+"You say he is going home to his family--I am heartily glad of it!"
+said the envying old soldier, gallantly.
+
+The lights came in then, and, two minutes after, uncle Roland and I
+were nestled close to each other, side by side; and I was reading
+over his shoulder, and his finger was silently resting on that
+passage that had so struck him--"I have not complained--have I,
+sir?--and I won't complain!"
+
+
+
+
+THE WHITE NILE.[15]
+
+  [15] _Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des Weissen Nil_,
+  (1840-1841,) von FERDINAND WERNE. Mit einem Vorwort von CARL RITTER.
+  Berlin, 1848.
+
+
+Fifty years since, the book before us would have earned for its
+author the sneers of critics and the reputation of a Munchausen:
+at the present more tolerant and more enlightened day, it not only
+obtains credit, but excites well-merited admiration of the writer's
+enterprise, energy, and perseverance. "The rich contents and great
+originality of the following work," says Professor Carl Ritter,
+in his preface to Mr Werne's narrative, "will escape no one who
+bestows a glance, however hasty, upon its pages. It gives vivid and
+life-like pictures of tribes and territories previously unvisited,
+and is welcome as a most acceptable addition to our literature of
+travel, often so monotonous." We quite coincide with the learned
+professor, whose laudatory and long-winded sentences we have thus
+freely rendered. His friend, Mr Ferdinand Werne, has made good
+use of his opportunities, and has produced a very interesting and
+praiseworthy book.
+
+It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remind the reader, that the
+river Nile is formed of two confluent streams, the Blue and the
+White, whose junction is in South Nubia, between 15° and 16° of
+North Latitude. The source of the Blue Nile was ascertained by
+Bruce, and by subsequent travellers, to be in the mountains of
+Abyssinia; but the course of the other branch, which is by far the
+longest, had been followed, until very lately, only as far south
+as 10° or 11° N. L. Even now the river has not been traced to its
+origin, although Mr Werne and his companions penetrated to 4° N.
+L. Further they could not go, owing to the rapid subsidence of the
+waters. The expedition had been delayed six weeks by the culpable
+dilatoriness of one of its members; and this was fatal to the
+realisation of its object.
+
+We can conceive few things more exciting than such a voyage as Mr
+Werne has accomplished and recorded. Starting from the outposts of
+civilisation, he sailed into the very heart of Africa, up a stream
+whose upper waters were then for the first time furrowed by vessels
+larger than a savage's canoe--a stream of such gigantic proportions,
+that its width, at a thousand miles from the sea, gave it the
+aspect of a lake rather than of a river. The brute creation were in
+proportion with the magnitude of the water-course. The hippopotamus
+reared his huge snout above the surface, and wallowed in the gullies
+that on either hand run down to the stream; enormous crocodiles
+gaped along the shore; elephants played in herds upon the pastures;
+the tall giraffe amongst the lofty palms; snakes thick as trees lay
+coiled in the slimy swamps; and ant-hills, ten feet high, towered
+above the rushes. Along the thickly-peopled banks hordes of savages
+showed themselves, gazing in wonder at the strange ships, and making
+ambiguous gestures, variously construed by the adventurers as
+signs of friendship or hostility. Alternately sailing and towing,
+as the wind served or not; constantly in sight of natives, but
+rarely communicating with them; often cut off for days from land by
+interminable fields of tangled weeds,--the expedition pursued its
+course through innumerable perils, guaranteed from most of them by
+the liquid rampart on which it floated. Lions looked hungry, and
+savages shook their spears, but neither showed a disposition to swim
+off and board the flotilla.
+
+The cause of science has countless obligations to the cupidity of
+potentates and adventurers. May it not be part of the scheme of
+Providence, that gold is placed in the most remote and barbarous
+regions, as a magnet to draw thither the children of civilisation?
+The expedition shared in by Mr Werne is an argument in favour
+of the hypothesis. It originated in appetite for lucre, not in
+thirst for knowledge. Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt, finding the
+lands within his control unable to meet his lavish expenditure and
+constant cry for gold, projected working mines supposed to exist
+in the districts of Kordovan and Fazogl. At heavy cost he procured
+Austrian miners from Trieste, a portion of whom proceeded in 1836
+to the land of promise, to open those veins of gold whence it was
+reported the old Venetian ducats had been extracted. Already, in
+imagination, the viceroy beheld an ingot-laden fleet sailing merrily
+down the Nile. He was disappointed in his glowing expectations.
+Russegger, the German chief of the expedition, pocketed the pay of
+a Bey, ate and drank in conformity with his rank, rambled about the
+country, and wrote a book for the amusement and Information of his
+countrymen. Then he demanded thirty thousand dollars to begin the
+works. An Italian, who had accompanied him, offered to do it for
+less; mistrust and disputes arose, and at last their employer would
+rely on neither of them, but resolved to go and see for himself.
+This was in the autumn of 1838; and it might well be that the old
+fox was not sorry to get out of the way of certain diplomatic
+personages at Alexandria, and thus to postpone for a while his reply
+to troublesome inquiries and demands.
+
+"It was on the 15th October 1838," Mr Werne says, "that I--for some
+time past an anchorite in the wilderness by Tura, and just returned
+from a hunt in the ruins of Memphis--saw, from the left shore of
+the Nile, the Abu Dagn, (Father of the Beard,) as Mohammed Ali was
+designated to me by a Fellah standing by, steam past in his yacht,
+in the direction of those regions to which I would then so gladly
+have proceeded. Already in Alexandria I had gathered, over a glass
+of wine, from frigate-captain Achmet, (a Swiss, named Baumgartner,)
+the secret plan of the expedition to the White Stream, (Bach'r el
+Abiat,) and I had made every effort to obtain leave to join it,
+but in vain, because, as a Christian, my discretion was not to be
+depended upon."
+
+The Swiss, whom some odd caprice of fate, here unexplained, had
+converted into an Egyptian naval captain, and to whom the scientific
+duties of the expedition were confided, died in the following
+spring, and his place was taken by Captain Selim. Mr Werne and his
+brother, who had long ardently desired to accompany one of these
+expeditions up the Nile, were greatly discouraged at this change,
+which they looked upon as destructive to their hopes. At the town
+of Chartum, at the confluence of the White and Blue streams, they
+witnessed, in the month of November 1839, the departure of the first
+flotilla; and, although sick and weak, from the effects of the
+climate, their hearts were wrung with regret at being left behind.
+This expedition got no further than 6° 35' N. L.; although, either
+from mistakes in their astronomical reckoning or wishing to give
+themselves more importance, and not anticipating that others would
+soon follow to check their statements, they pretended to have gone
+three degrees further south. But Mehemet Ali, not satisfied with the
+result of their voyage, immediately ordered a second expedition to
+be fitted out. Mr Werne, who is a most adventurous person, had been
+for several months in the Taka country, in a district previously
+untrodden by Europeans, with an army commanded by Achmet Bascha,
+governor-general of Sudan, who was operating against some rebellious
+tribes. Here news reached him of the projected expedition; and, to
+his great joy, he obtained from Achmet permission to accompany it in
+the quality of passenger. His brother, then body-physician to the
+Bascha, could not be spared, by reason of the great mortality in the
+camp.
+
+At Chartum the waters were high, the wind was favourable, and all
+was ready for a start early in October, but for the non-appearance
+of two French engineers, who lingered six weeks in Korusko, under
+one pretext or other, but in reality, M. Werne affirms, because
+one of them, Arnaud by name, who has since written an account of
+the expedition, was desirous to prolong the receipt of his pay
+as _bimbaschi_, or major, which rank he temporarily held in the
+Egyptian service. At last he and his companion, Sabatier, arrived:
+on the 23rd November 1840 a start was made; and, on that day Mr
+Werne began a journal, regularly kept, and most minute in its
+details, which he continued till the 22d April 1841, the date of
+his return to Chartum. He commences by stating the composition
+of the expedition. "It consists of four dahabies from Kahira,
+(vessels with two masts and with cabins, about a hundred feet
+long, and twelve to fifteen broad,) each with two cannon; three
+dahabies from Chartum, one of which has also two guns; then two
+kaias, one-masted vessels, to carry goods, and a sàndal, or skiff,
+for intercommunication; the crews are composed of two hundred and
+fifty soldiers, (Negroes, Egyptians, and Surians,) and a hundred
+and twenty sailors and boatmen from Alexandria, Nubia, and the
+land of Sudàn." Soliman Kaschef (a Circassian of considerable
+energy and courage, who, like Mr Werne himself, was protected by
+Achmet Bascha) commanded the troops. Captain Selim had charge of
+the ships, and a sort of general direction of the expedition, of
+which, however, Soliman was the virtual chief; the second captain
+was Feizulla Effendi of Constantinople; the other officers were
+two Kurds, a Russian, an Albanian, and a Persian. Of Europeans,
+there were the two Frenchmen, already mentioned, as engineers; a
+third, named Thibaut, as collector; and Mr Werne, as an independent
+passenger at his own charges. The ships were to follow each other
+in two lines, one led by Soliman, the other by Selim; but this
+order of sailing was abandoned the very first day; and so, indeed,
+was nearly all order of every kind. Each man sailed his bark as he
+pleased, without nautical skill or unity of movement; and, as to
+one general and energetic supervision of the whole flotilla and
+its progress, no one dreamed of such a thing. Mr Werne indulged in
+gloomy reflections as to the probable results of an enterprise, at
+whose very outset such want of zeal and discipline was displayed.
+It does not appear to have struck him that not the least of his
+dangers upon the strange voyage he had so eagerly undertaken, was
+from his shipmates, many of them bigoted Mahometans and reckless,
+ferocious fellows, ready with the knife, and who would have thought
+little of burthening their conscience with so small a matter as a
+Christian's blood. He is evidently a cool, courageous man, prompt
+in action; and his knowledge of the slavish, treacherous character
+of the people he had to deal with, doubtless taught him the best
+line of conduct to pursue with them. This, as appears from various
+passages of his journal, was the rough and ready style--a blow
+for the slightest impertinence, and his arms, which he well knew
+how to use, always at hand. He did not scruple to interfere when
+he saw cruelty or oppression practised, and soon he made himself
+respected, if not feared, by all on board; so much so, that
+Feizulla, the captain of the vessel in which he sailed, a drunken
+old Turk, who passed his time in drinking spirits and mending his
+own clothes, appointed him his _locum tenens_ during his occasional
+absences on shore. During his five months' voyage, Mr Werne had
+a fine opportunity of studying the peculiarities of the different
+nations with individuals of which he sailed; and, although his long
+residence in Africa and the East had made him regard such matters
+with comparative indifference, the occasional glimpses he gives
+of Turkish and Egyptian habits are amongst the most interesting
+passages in his book. Already, on the third day of the voyage, the
+expiration of the Rhamadan, or fasting month, and the setting in
+of the little feast of Bairam, gave rise to a singular scene. The
+flotilla was passing through the country governed by Achmet Bascha,
+in which Soliman was a man of great importance. By his desire, a
+herd of oxen and a large flock of sheep were driven down to the
+shore, for the use of the expedition. The preference was for the
+mutton, the beef in those regions being usually tough and coarse,
+and consequently despised by the Turks. "This quality of the meat
+is owing to the nature of the fodder, the tender grass and herbs of
+our marsh-lands and pastures being here unknown--and to the climate,
+which hardens the animal texture, a fact perceived by the surgeon
+when operating upon the human body. Our Arabs, who, like the Greeks
+and Jews, born butchers and flayers, know no mercy with beasts or
+men, fell upon the unfortunate animals, hamstrung them in all haste,
+to obviate any chance of resumption of the gift, and the hecatomb
+sank upon the ground, pitiful to behold. During the flaying and
+quartering, every man tried to secrete a sippet of meat, cutting it
+off by stealth, or stealing it from the back of the bearers. These
+coveted morsels were stuck upon skewers, broiled at the nearest
+watch-fire, and ravenously devoured, to prepare the stomach for
+the approaching banquet. Although they know how to cook the liver
+excellently well, upon this occasion they preferred eating it raw,
+cut up in a wooden dish, and with the gall of the slaughtered beast
+poured over it. Thus prepared, and eaten with salt and pepper, it
+has much the flavour of a good raw beefsteak." The celebration of
+the Bairam was a scene of gluttony and gross revelry. Arrack was
+served out instead of the customary ration of coffee; and many a
+Mussulman drank more than did him good, or than the Prophet's law
+allows. In the night, Captain Feizulla tumbled out of bed; and,
+having spoiled his subordinates by over-indulgence, not one of
+them stirred to his assistance. Mr Werne picked him up, found him
+in an epileptic fit, and learned, with no great pleasure, Feizulla
+being his cabin-mate, that the thirsty skipper was subject to such
+attacks. He foresaw a comfortless voyage on board the narrow bark,
+and with such queer companions; but the daily increasing interest of
+the scenery and surrounding objects again distracted his thoughts
+from considerations of personal ease. He had greater difficulty
+in reconciling himself to the negligence and indolence of his
+associates. So long as food was abundant and work scanty, all went
+well enough; but when liquor ran low, and the flesh-pots of Egypt
+were empty, grumbling began, and the thoughts of the majority were
+fixed upon a speedy return. Their chiefs set them a poor example.
+Soliman Kaschef lay in bed till an hour after sunrise, and the
+signal to sail could not be given till he awoke; and Feizulla, when
+his and Mr Werne's stock of brandy was out, passed one half his
+time in distilling spirits from stale dates, and the other moiety
+in getting intoxicated on the turbid extract thus obtained. Then
+the officers had female slaves on board; and there was a licensed
+jester, Abu Haschis, who supplied the expedition with buffoonery
+and ribaldry; and the most odious practices prevailed amongst the
+crews; for further details concerning all which matters we refer the
+curious to Mr Werne himself. A more singularly composed expedition
+was perhaps never fitted out, nor one less adapted effectually to
+perform the services required of it. Cleanliness and sobriety, so
+incumbent upon men cooped up in small craft, in a climate teeming
+with pestilence and vermin, were little regarded; and subordination
+and vigilance, essential to safety amidst the perils of an unknown
+navigation, and in the close vicinity of hostile savages, were
+utterly neglected,--at first to the great uneasiness of Mr Werne.
+But after a while, seeing no chance of amendment, and having no
+power to rebuke or correct deficiencies, he repeated the eternal
+_Allah Kerim!_ (God is merciful) of his fatalist shipmates, and
+slept soundly, when the musquitos permitted, under the good guard of
+Providence.
+
+On the 29th November, the expedition passed the limit of
+Turco-Egyptian domination. The land it had now reached paid no
+tribute. "All slaves," was the reply of Turks and Arabs to Mr
+Werne's inquiry who the inhabitants were. "I could not help
+laughing, and proving to them, to their great vexation, that these
+men were free, and much less slaves than themselves; that before
+making slaves of them, they must first make them prisoners, a
+process for which they had no particular fancy,--admitting, with
+much _naiveté_, that the 'slaves' hereabout were both numerous
+and brave. This contemptuously spoken _Kulo Abit_, (All slaves,)
+is about equivalent to the 'barbarian' of the ancients--the same
+classical word the modern Greeks have learned out of foreign
+school-books."
+
+"The trees and branches preventing our vessels from lying alongside
+the bank, I had myself carried through the water, to examine the
+country and get some shooting. But I could not make up my mind to
+use my gun, the only animals to aim at being large, long-tailed,
+silver-gray apes. I had shot one on a former occasion, and the brute
+had greatly excited my compassion by his resemblance to a human
+being, and by his piteous gestures. M. Arnaud, on the contrary, took
+particular pleasure in making the repeated observation that, on the
+approach of death, the gums of these beasts turn white, like those
+of a dying man. They live in families of several hundreds together,
+and their territory is very circumscribed, even in the forest, as
+I myself subsequently ascertained. Although fearful of water, and
+swimming unwillingly, they always fled to the branches overhanging
+the river, and not unfrequently fell in. When this occurred, their
+first care on emerging was to wipe the water from their faces and
+ears. However imminent their danger, only when this operation was
+completed did they again climb the trees. Such a monkey republic
+is really a droll enough sight; its members alternately fighting
+and caressing each other, combing and vermin-hunting, stealing and
+boxing each other's ears, and, in the midst of all these important
+occupations, running down every moment to drink, but contenting
+themselves with a single draught, for fear of becoming a mouthful
+for the watchful crocodile. The tame monkeys on board our vessels
+turned restless at sight of the joyous vagabond life of their
+brethren in the bush. First-lieutenant Hussein Aga, of Kurdistan,
+lay alongside us, and was in raptures with his monkey, shouting over
+to me: '_Schuf! el naùti taïb!_' (See! the clever sailor!)--meaning
+his pet ape, which ran about the rigging like mad, hanging on by
+the ropes, and looking over the bulwarks into the water; until at
+last he jumped on the back of a sailor who was wading on shore with
+dirty linen to wash, and thence made a spring upon land to visit
+his relations, compared to whom, however, he was a mere dwarf.
+Overboard went the long Kurd, with his gun, to shoot the deserter;
+but doubtless the little seaman, in his capacity of Turkish slave,
+and on account of his diminutive figure, met a bad reception, for
+Hussein was no sooner under the trees than his monkey dropped upon
+his head. He came to visit me afterwards, brought his 'naùti taïb'
+with him, and told me, what I had often heard before, how apes were
+formerly men, whom God had cursed. It really is written in the Koran
+that God and the prophet David had turned into monkeys the Jews who
+did not keep the Sabbath holy. Therefore a good Moslem will seldom
+kill or injure a monkey. Emin Bey of Fazogl was an exception to this
+rule. Sitting at table with an Italian, and about to thrust into
+his mouth a fragment of roast meat, his monkey snatched it from
+between his thumb and fingers. Whereupon the Bey quietly ordered
+the robber's hand to be cut off, which was instantly done. The poor
+monkey came to his cruel master and showed him, with his peculiarly
+doleful whine, the stump of his fore-paw. The Bey gave orders to
+kill him, but the Italian begged him as a gift. Soon afterwards
+the foolish brute came into my possession, and, on my journey back
+to Egypt, contributed almost as much to cheer me, as did the filial
+attentions of my freed man Hagar, whom my brother had received as a
+present, and had bequeathed to me. My servants would not believe but
+that the monkey was a transformed _gabir_, or caravan guide, since
+even in the desert he was always in front and upon the right road,
+availing himself of every rock and hillock to look about him, until
+the birds of prey again drove him under the camels, to complain
+to me with his 'Oehm-oehm;' which was also his custom when he had
+been beaten in my absence by the servants, whose merissa (a sort of
+spirit) he would steal and drink till he could neither go nor stand."
+
+During this halt, and whilst rambling along the bank, picking up
+river-oysters and tracing the monstrous footsteps of hippopotami,
+Mr Werne nearly walked into the jaws of the largest crocodile he
+had ever seen. His Turkish servant, Sale, who attended him on such
+occasions and carried his rifle, was not at hand, and he was glad
+to beat a retreat, discharging one of his barrels, both of which
+were laden with shot only, in the monster's face. On being scolded
+for his absence, Sale very coolly replied, that it was not safe so
+near shore; for that several times it had occurred to him, whilst
+gazing up in the trees at the birds and monkeys, to find himself,
+on a sudden, face to face with a crocodile, which stared at him
+like a ghost, (Scheitan, Satan,) and which he dared not shoot, lest
+he should slay his own father. Amongst the numerous Mahommedan
+superstitions, there is a common belief in the transformation,
+by witches and sorcerers, of men into beasts, especially into
+crocodiles and hippopotami.
+
+"Towards evening, cartridges were served out and muskets loaded,
+for we were now in a hostile country. The powder-magazine stood
+open, and lighted pipes passed to and fro over the hatchway. _Allah
+Kerim!_ I do my best to rouse my captain from his indolence, by
+drawing constant comparisons with the English sea-service; then I
+fall asleep myself whilst the powder is being distributed, and,
+waking early in the morning, find the magazine still open, and the
+sentry, whose duty it is to give an alarm should the water in the
+hold increase overmuch, fast asleep, with his tobacco-pipe in his
+hand and his musket in his lap. Feizulla Capitan begged me not to
+report the poor devil." This being a fair specimen of the prudence
+and discipline observed during the whole voyage, it is really
+surprising that Mr Werne ever returned to write its history, and
+that his corpse--drowned, blown up, or with a knife between the
+ribs--has not long since been resolved into the elements through
+the medium of a Nile crocodile. The next day the merciful Feizulla,
+whose kindness must have sprung from a fellow-feeling, got mad-drunk
+at a merry-making on an island, and had to be brought by force on
+board his ship. He seemed disposed to "run amuck;" grasped at sabre
+and pistols, and put his people in fear of their lives, until Mr
+Werne seized him neck and heels, threw him on his bed, and held
+him there whilst he struggled himself weary and fell asleep. The
+ship's company were loud in praise and admiration of Mr Werne, who,
+however, was not quite easy as to the possible results of his bold
+interference. "Only yesterday, I incurred the hatred of the roughest
+of our Egyptian sailors, as he sat with another at the hand-mill,
+and repeatedly applied to his companion the word _Nasrani_,
+(Christian,) using it as a term of insult, until the whole crew
+came and looked down into the cabin where I sat, and laughed--the
+captain not being on board at the time. At last I lost my patience,
+jumped up, and dealt the fellow a severe blow with my fist. In his
+fanatical horror at being struck by a Christian, he tried to throw
+himself overboard, and vowed revenge, which my servants told me.
+Now, whilst Feizulla Capitan lies senseless, I see from my bed this
+tall sailor leave the fore-part of the ship and approach our cabin,
+his comrades following him with their eyes. From a fanatic, who
+might put his own construction upon my recent friendly constraint
+of Captain Feizulla, and might convert it into a pretext, I had
+everything to apprehend. But he paused at the door, apologised, and
+thanked me for not having reported him to his commander. He then
+kissed my right hand, whilst in my left I held a pistol concealed
+under the blanket."
+
+Dangers, annoyances, and squabbles did not prevent Mr Werne
+from writing up his log, and making minute observations of
+the surrounding scenery. This was of ever-varying character.
+Thickly-wooded banks were succeeded by a sea of grass, its
+monotony unvaried by a single bush. Then came a crowd of islands,
+composed of water-plants, knit together by creepers and parasites,
+and alternately anchored to the shore, or floating slowly down
+the stream, whose sluggish current was often imperceptible. The
+extraordinary freshness and luxuriance of the vegetable creation
+in that region of combined heat and moisture, excited Mr Werne's
+enthusiastic admiration. At times he saw himself surrounded by a
+vast tapestry of flowers, waving for miles in every direction, and
+of countless varieties of tint and form. Upon land were bowers
+and hills of blossom, groves of dark mimosa and gold-gleaming
+tamarind; upon the water and swamps, interminable carpets of lilac
+convolvulus, water-lilies, flowering-reeds, and red, blue, and white
+lotus. The ambak tree, with its large yellow flowers and acacia-like
+leaf, rose fifteen feet and more above the surface of the water out
+of which it grew. This singular plant, a sort of link between the
+forest-tree and the reed of the marshes, has its root in the bed of
+the Nile, with which it each year rises, surpassing it in swiftness
+of growth. Its stem is of a soft spungy nature, more like the pith
+of a tree than like wood, but having, nevertheless, a pith of its
+own. The lotus was one of the most striking features in these scenes
+of floral magnificence; its brilliant white flower, which opens as
+the sun rises, and closes when it sets, beaming, like a double lily,
+in the shade it prefers. Mr Werne made the interesting observation,
+that this beautiful flower, where it had not some kind of shelter,
+closed when the sun approached the zenith, as though unable to
+endure the too ardent rays of the luminary that called it into life.
+Details of this kind, and fragments of eloquent description of the
+gorgeous scenery of the Nile banks, occur frequently in the earlier
+part of the "Expedition," during which there was little intercourse
+with the natives, who were either hostile, uninteresting, or
+concealed. Amongst other reasons for not remaining long near shore,
+and especially for not anchoring there at night, was the torture the
+voyagers experienced from gnats, camel-flies, and small wasps, which
+not only forbade sleep, but rendered it almost impossible to eat and
+drink. To escape this worse than Egyptian plague, the vessels lay in
+the middle of the river, which, for some time after their departure,
+was often three or four miles across. When the breeze was fresh,
+there was some relief from insect persecution, but a lull made the
+attacks insupportable. Doubtless a European complexion encouraged
+these. Our German lifts up his voice in agony and malediction.
+
+"The 10th December.--A dead calm all night. Gnats!!! No use creeping
+under the bed-clothes, at risk of stifling with heat, compelled as
+one is by their penetrating sting to go to bed dressed. Leave only a
+little hole to breathe at, and in they pour, attacking lips, nose,
+and ears, and forcing themselves into the throat--thus provoking a
+cough which is torture, since, at each inspiration, a fresh swarm
+finds its way into the gullet. They penetrate to the most sensitive
+part of the body, creeping in, like ants, at the smallest aperture.
+In the morning my bed contained thousands of the small demons which
+I had crushed and smothered by the perpetual rolling about of my
+martyred body. As I had forgotten to bring a musquito net from
+Chartum, there was nothing for it but submission. Neither had I
+thought of providing myself with leather gloves, unbearable in that
+hot climate, but which here, upon the Nile, would have been by far
+the lesser evil, since I was compelled to have a servant opposite to
+me at supper-time, waving a huge fan so close under my nose, that it
+was necessary to watch my opportunity to get the food to my mouth.
+One could not smoke one's pipe in peace, even though keeping one's
+hands wrapped in a woollen burnous, for the vermin stung through
+this, and crept up under it from the ground. The black and coloured
+men on board were equally ill-treated; and all night long the word
+'_Baùda_' resounded through the ship, with an accompaniment of
+curses and flapping of cloths. The _baùda_ resemble our long-legged
+gnats, but have a longer proboscis, with which they bore through a
+triple fold of strong linen. Their head is blue, their back tawny,
+and their legs are covered with white specks like small pearls,
+Another sort has short, strong legs, a thick brown body, a red
+head, and posteriors of varying hues." These parti-coloured and
+persevering bloodsuckers caused boils by the severity of their
+sting, and so exhausted the sailors by depriving them of sleep,
+that the ships could hardly be worked. Bitterly and frequently does
+Mr Werne recur to his sufferings from their ruthless attacks. At
+last a strange auxiliary came to his relief. On Christmas-day he
+writes:--"For the last two nights we have been greatly disturbed by
+the gnats, but a small cat, which I have not yet seen by daylight,
+seems to find particular pleasure in licking my face, pulling my
+beard, and purring continually, thus keeping off the insects.
+Generally the cats in Bellet-Sudan are of a very wild and fierce
+nature, which seems the result of their indifferent treatment by the
+inhabitants. They walk into the poultry-houses and carry off the
+strongest fowls, but care little for rats and mice. The Barabras,
+especially those of Dongola, often eat them; not so the Arabs,
+who spare them persecution--the cat having been one of Mahomet's
+favourite animals--but who, at the same time, hold them unclean."
+
+There is assuredly no river in the world whose banks, for so great
+a distance, are so thickly peopled as those of the Nile. Day after
+day the expedition passed an unbroken succession of populous
+villages, until Mr Werne wondered whence the inhabitants drew
+their nourishment, and a sapient officer from Kurdistan opined the
+Schilluks to be a greater nation than the French. But what people,
+and what habitations! The former scarce a degree above the brute,
+the latter resembling dog-kennels, or more frequently thatched
+bee-hives, with a round hole in the side, through which the inmates
+creep. Stark-naked, these savages lay in the high grass, whose
+seed forms part of their food, and gibbered and beckoned to the
+passing Turks, who, for the most part, disregarded their gestures
+of amity and invitation, shrewdly suspecting that their intentions
+were treacherous and their lances hidden in the herbage. Wild rice,
+fruits, and seeds, are eaten by these tribes, (the Schilluks,
+Dinkas, and others,) who have also herds of cattle--oxen, sheep, and
+goats, and who do not despise a hippopotamus chop or a crocodile
+cutlet. Where the land is unproductive, fish is the chief article
+of food. They have no horses or camels, and when they steal one of
+these animals from the Turks, they do not kill it, probably not
+liking its flesh, but they put out its eyes as a punishment for
+having brought the enemy into their country. In one hour Mr Werne
+counted seventeen villages, large or small; and Soliman Kaschef
+assured him the Schilluks numbered two millions of souls, although
+it is hard to say how he obtained the census. The _Bando_ or king,
+although dwelling only two or three leagues from the river, did
+not show himself. He mistrusted the Turks, and all night the great
+war-drum was heard to beat. His savage majesty was quite right to be
+on his guard. "I am well persuaded," says Mr Werne, "that if Soliman
+Kaschef had once got the dreaded Bando of the Schilluks on board,
+he would have sailed away with him. I read that in his face when
+he was told the Bando would not appear. And gladly as I would have
+seen this negro sovereign, I rejoiced that his caution frustrated
+the projected shameful treachery. He had no particular grounds for
+welcoming the Musselmans, those sworn foes of his people. Shortly
+before our departure, he had sent three ambassadors to Chartum, to
+put him on a friendly footing with the Turks, and so to check the
+marauding expeditions of his Arab neighbours, of Soliman Kaschef
+amongst the rest. The three Schilluks, who could not speak Arabic,
+were treated in the Divan with customary contempt as _Abit_,
+(slaves) and were handed over like common men to the care of Sheikh
+el Bellet of Chartum. The Sheikh, who receives no pay, and performs
+the duties of his office out of fear rather than for the sake of the
+honour, showed them such excellent hospitality, that they came to
+us Franks and begged a few piastres to buy bread and spirits." On
+Mr Werne's representations to the Effendi, or chief man at Chartum,
+dresses of honour (the customary presents) were prepared for them,
+but they departed stealthily by night; and their master, the Bando,
+was very indignant on learning the treatment they had received.
+
+A vast green meadow, a sort of elephant pasture, separates the
+Schilluks from their neighbours the Jengähs, concerning whom Mr
+Werne obtained some particulars from a Tschauss or sergeant,
+named Marian of Mount Habila, the son of the Mak or King of the
+mountains of Nuba. His father had been vanquished and murdered by
+the Turks, and he had been made a slave. This sergeant-prince was
+of middle height, with a black tatooed countenance, and with ten
+holes in each ear, out of which his captors had taken the gold
+rings. He was a sensible, well-behaved man, and had been thirteen
+years in the service, but was hopeless of promotion, having none to
+recommend him. Besides this man, there were two Dinkas and a Jengäh
+on board; but from them it was impossible to extract information
+with respect to the manners and usages of their countrymen.
+They held it treachery to divulge such particulars. Many of the
+soldiers and sailors composing the expedition being natives of the
+countries through which it sailed, apprehensions of desertion were
+entertained, and partially realised. On the 30th December, whilst
+passing through the friendly land of the Keks, everybody slept on
+shore, and in the night sixteen men on guard deserted. They were
+from the distant country of Nuba, (a district of Nubia,) which it
+seemed scarcely possible they should ever reach, with their scanty
+store of ammunition, and exposed to the assaults of hunger, thirst,
+and hostile tribes. Hussein Aga went after them with fifty ferocious
+Egyptians, likely to show little mercy to the runaways, with whom,
+however, they could not come up. And suddenly the drums beat to call
+all hands on board, for there was a report that all the negroes
+were planning escape. During this halt Mr Werne made ornithological
+observations, ascertaining, amongst other things, the species of
+certain white birds, which he had observed sitting impudently upon
+the backs of the elephants, picking the vermin from their thick
+hides, as crows do in Europe from the backs of pigs. The elephants
+evidently disapproved the operation, and lashed with their trunks
+at their tormentors, who then flew away, but instantly returned to
+recommence what Mr Werne calls their "dry fishing." These birds
+proved to be small herons. Shortly before this, a large pelican
+had been shot, and its crop was found to contain twenty-four fresh
+fish, the size of herrings. Its gluttony had caused its death, the
+weight it carried impeding its flight. Prodigious swarms of birds
+and water-fowl find their nourishment in the White Stream, and upon
+its swampy banks. In some places the trees were white with their
+excrements, whose accumulation destroyed vegetable life. There is no
+lack of nourishment for the feathered tribes--water and earth are
+prolific of vermin. Millions of glow-worms glimmer in the rushes,
+the air resounds with the shrill cry of myriads of grasshoppers,
+and with the croaking of countless frogs. But for the birds, which
+act as scavengers and vermin-destroyers, those shores would be
+uninhabitable. The scorching sun fecundates the sluggish waters
+and rank fat marsh, causing a never-ceasing birth of reptiles and
+insects. Monstrous fish and snakes of all sizes abound. Concerning
+the latter, the Arabs have strange superstitions. They consider them
+in some sort supernatural beings, having a king, Shach Maran by
+name, who is supposed to dwell in Turkish Kurdistan, not far from
+Adana, where two villages are exempted from tribute on condition of
+supplying the snakes with milk. Abdul-Elliab, a Kurd officer of the
+expedition, had himself offered the milk-sacrifice to the snakes;
+and he swore that he had seen their king, or at any rate one of his
+_Wokils_, or vicegerents, of whom his serpentine majesty has many.
+He had no sooner poured his milky offering into one of the marble
+basins nature has there hollowed out, than a great snake, with long
+hair upon its head, stepped out of a hole in the rocks and drank.
+It then retired, without, as in some other instances, speaking to
+the sacrificer, a taciturnity contritely attributed by the latter
+to his not having yet entirely abjured strong drinks. Two other
+Kurds vouched for the truth of this statement, adding, that the
+_Maran_ had a human face, for that otherwise he could not speak,
+and that he never showed himself except to a sultan or to a very
+holy man. To the latter character the said Abdul-Elliab had great
+pretensions, and his bigotry, hypocrisy, and constant quotations
+from the Koran procured him from his irreverent shipmates, from Mr
+Werne amongst the number, the nickname of the _Paradise-Stormer_,
+it being manifest that he reckoned on taking by assault the blessed
+abode promised by Mahomet to the faithful. Pending his admission to
+the society of the houris, he solaced himself with that of a young
+female slave, who often experienced cruel treatment at the hands of
+her saintly master. Having one day committed the heinous offence of
+preparing _merissa_, a strong drink made from corn, for part of the
+crew, the Kurd, formerly, according to his own admission, a stanch
+toper, beat her with a thong as she knelt half-naked upon the deck.
+"As he did not attend to my calls from the cabin," says Mr Werne,
+"but continued striking her so furiously as to cut the skin and
+draw streams of blood, I jumped out, and pulled him backwards, so
+that his legs flew up in the air. He sprang to his feet, retreated
+to the bulwark of the ship, drew his sabre, and shouted, with a
+menacing countenance, 'Effendi!' instead of calling me Kawagi,
+which signifies a merchant, and is the usual title for a Frank. I
+had no sooner returned to the cabin than he seized his slave to
+throw her overboard, whereupon I caught up my double-barrel and
+levelled at him, calling out, '_Ana oedrup!_' (I fire.) Thereupon
+he let the girl go, and with a pallid countenance protested she was
+his property, and he could do as he liked with her. Subsequently
+he complained of me to the commandant, who, knowing his malicious
+and hypocritical character, sent him on board the skiff, to the
+great delight of the whole flotilla. On our return to Chartum,
+he was cringing enough to ask my pardon, and to want to kiss my
+hand, (although he was then a captain) because he saw that the
+Bascha distinguished me. A few days previously to this squabble,
+I had gained the affection and confidence of our black soldiers,
+one of whom, a Tokruri or pilgrim from Darfur, had quarrelled with
+an Arab, and wounded him with his knife. He jumped overboard to
+drown himself, and, being unable to swim, had nearly accomplished
+his object, when he drifted to our ship and was lifted on board.
+They wanted to make him stand on his head, but I had him laid
+horizontally upon his side, and began to rub him with a woollen
+cloth, but at first could get no one to help me because he was an
+_Abit_, a slave, until I threatened the captain he should be made
+to pay the Bascha for the loss of his soldier. After long-continued
+rubbing, the Tokruri gave signs of life, and they raised him into
+a sitting posture, whilst his head still hung down. One of the
+soldiers, who, as a Faki, pretended to be a sort of awaker of the
+dead, seized him from behind under the arms, lifted him, and let him
+fall thrice violently upon his hinder end, shouting in his ear at
+the same time passages from the Koran, to which the Tokruri at last
+replied by similar quotations. The superstition of these people is
+so gross, that they believe such a pilgrim may be completely and
+thoroughly drowned, and yet retain power to float to any part of the
+shore he pleases, and, once on dry land, to resume his vitality."
+
+A credulous traveller would have been misled by some of the strange
+fables put forward, with great plausibility, by these Arabs and
+other semi-savages, who have, moreover, a strong tendency to
+exaggerate, and who, perceiving the avidity with which Mr Werne
+investigated the animal and vegetable world around him, and his
+desire for rare and curious specimens, occasionally got up a lie
+for his benefit. Although kept awake many nights by the merciless
+midges, his zeal for science would not suffer him to sleep in the
+day, because he had no one he could trust to note the windings of
+the river. One sultry noon, however, when the Arab rowers were
+lazily impelling the craft against unfavourable breezes, and the
+stream was straight for a long distance ahead, he indulged in a
+siesta, during which visions of a happy German home hovered above
+his pillow. On awaking, bathed in perspiration, to the dismal
+realities of the pestilential Bach'r el Abiat, of incessant gnats
+and barbarian society, his Arab companions had a yarn cut and dried
+for him. During my sleep they had seen a swimming-bird as large as
+a young camel, with a straight beak like a pelican, but without a
+crop; they had not shot it for fear of awaking me, and because they
+had no doubt of meeting with some more of these unknown birds. No
+others appeared, and Mr Werne noted the camel-bird as an Egyptian
+lie, not as a natural curiosity.
+
+A month's sail carried the expedition into the land of the Keks,
+a numerous, but not a very prosperous tribe. Their _tokuls_ or
+huts were entirely of straw, walls as well as roof. The men were
+quite naked, and of a bluish-gray colour, from the slime of the
+Nile, with which they smear themselves as a protection against the
+gnats. "There was something melancholy in the way in which those
+poor creatures raised their hands above their heads, and let them
+slowly fall, by manner of greeting. They had ivory rings upon their
+arms, and one of them turned towards his hut, as if inviting us
+in. Another stood apart, lifted his arms, and danced round in a
+circle. A Dinka on board, who is acquainted with their language,
+said they wanted us to give them durra, (a sort of corn,) and
+that their cows were far away and would not return till evening.
+This Dinka positively asserted, as did also Marian, that the Keks
+kill no animal, but live entirely on grain and milk. I could not
+ascertain, with certainty, whether this respect for brute life
+extended itself to game and fish, but it is universally affirmed
+that they eat cattle that die a natural death. This is done to some
+extent in the land of Sudan, although not by the genuine Arabs:
+it is against the Koran to eat a beast even that has been slain
+by a bullet, unless its throat has been cut whilst it yet lived,
+to let the prohibited blood escape. At Chartum I saw, one morning
+early, two dead camels lying on a public square; men cut off great
+pieces to roast, and the dogs looked on longingly. I myself, with
+Dr Fischer and Pruner, helped to consume, in Kahira, a roasted
+fragment of Clot Bey's beautiful giraffe, which had eaten too much
+white clover. The meat was very tender, and of tolerably fine grain.
+The tongue was quite a delicacy. On the other hand, I never could
+stomach the coarse-grained flesh of camels, even of the young ones."
+Africa is the land of strong stomachs. The Arabs, when on short
+rations, eat locusts; and some of the negro tribes devour the fruit
+of the elephant-tree, an abominable species of pumpkin, coveted by
+elephants, but rejected even by Arabs, and which Mr Werne found
+wholly impracticable, although his general rule was to try all the
+productions of the country. His gastronomical experiments are often
+connected with curious details of the animals upon which he tried
+his teeth. On the 12th January, whilst suffering from an attack of
+Nile-fever, which left him scarcely strength enough to post up his
+journal, he heard a shot, and was informed that Soliman Kaschef had
+killed with a single bullet a large crocodile, as it lay basking on
+a sandy promontory of the bank. The Circassian made a present of the
+skin to M. Arnaud, an excellent excuse for an hour's pause, that
+the Frenchman might get possession of the scaly trophy. Upon such
+trifling pretexts was the valuable time of the expedition frittered
+away. "Having enough of other meat at that moment, the people
+neglected cutting off the tail for food. My servants, however, who
+knew that I had already tasted that sort of meat at Chartum, and
+that at Taka I had eaten part of a snake, prepared for me by a
+dervish, brought me a slice of the crocodile. Even had I been in
+health, I could not have touched it, on account of the strong smell
+of musk it exhaled; but, ill as I was, they were obliged to throw
+it overboard immediately. When first I was in crocodile countries,
+it was incomprehensible to me how the boatmen scented from afar
+the presence of these creatures; but on my journey from Kahira to
+Sennaar, when they offered me in Korusko a young one for sale, I
+found my own olfactories had become very sensitive to the peculiar
+odour. When we entered the Blue Stream, I could smell the crocodiles
+six hundred paces off, before I had seen them. The glands,
+containing a secretion resembling musk, are situated in the hinder
+part of the animal, as in the civet cats of Bellet Sudan, which are
+kept in cages for the collection of the perfume."
+
+As the travellers ascended the river, their intercourse with the
+natives became much more frequent, inasmuch as these, more remote
+from Egyptian aggression, had less ground for mistrustful and
+hostile feelings. Captain Selim had a stock of coloured shirts,
+and an immense bale of beads, with which he might have purchased
+the cattle, villages, goods and chattels, and even the bodies, of
+an entire tribe, had he been so disposed. The value attached by
+the savages of the White Stream to the most worthless objects of
+European manufacture, enabled Mr Werne to obtain, in exchange for
+a few glass beads, a large collection of their arms, ornaments,
+household utensils, &c., now to be seen in the Royal Museum at
+Berlin. The stolid simplicity of the natives of those regions
+exceeds belief. One can hardly make up one's mind to consider them
+as men. Even as the _ambak_ seems the link between useful timber
+and worthless rushes, so does the Kek appear to partake as much
+of brute as of human nature. He has at least as much affinity
+with the big gray ape, whose dying agonies excited Mr Werne's
+compassion at the commencement of his voyage, as with the civilised
+and intellectual man who describes their strange appearance and
+manners. A Kek, who had been sleeping in the ashes of a fire, a
+common practice with that tribe, was found standing upon the shore
+by some of the crew, who brought him on board Selim's vessel.
+"Bending his body forward in an awkward ape-like manner, intended
+perhaps to express submission, he approached the cabin, and, on
+finding himself near it, dropped upon his knees and crept forward
+upon them, uttering, in his gibberish, repeated exclamations of
+greeting and wonderment. He had numerous holes through the rims
+of his ears, which contained, however, no other ornament than one
+little bar. They threw strings of beads over his neck, and there
+was no end to his joy; he jumped and rolled upon the deck, kissed
+the planks, doubled himself up, extended his hands over all our
+heads, as if blessing us, and then began to sing. He was an angular,
+high-shouldered figure, about thirty years of age. His attitude
+and gestures were very constrained, which arose, perhaps, from the
+novelty of his situation; his back was bent, big head hung forward,
+his long legs, almost calf-less, were as if broken at the knees; in
+his whole person, in short, he resembled an orang-outang. He was
+perfectly naked, and his sole ornaments consisted of leathern rings
+upon the right arm. How low a grade of humanity is this! The poor
+natural touches one with his childish joy, in which he is assuredly
+happier than any of us. By the help of the Dinka interpreter, he is
+instructed to tell his countrymen they have no reason to retreat
+before such _honest_ people as those who man the flotilla. Kneeling,
+jumping, creeping, kissing the ground, he is then led away by the
+hand like a child, and would assuredly take all he has seen for a
+dream, but for the beads he bears with him." Many of these tribes
+are composed of men of gigantic stature. On the 7th January, Mr
+Werne, being on shore, would have measured some of the taller
+savages, but they objected. He then gave his servants long reeds
+and bade them stand beside the natives, thus ascertaining their
+average height to be from six to seven Rhenish feet. The Egyptians
+and Europeans looked like pigmies beside them. The women were in
+proportion with the men. Mr Werne tells of one lady who looked clear
+away over his head, although he describes himself as above the
+middle height.
+
+At this date, (7th January) the flotilla reached a large lake, or
+inlet of the river, near to which a host of elephants grazed, and
+a multitude of light-brown antelopes stood still and stared at the
+intruders. The sight of the antelopes, which were of a species
+called _ariel_, whose flesh is particularly well-flavoured, was
+too much for Soliman Kaschef to resist. There was no wind; he gave
+orders to cease towing, and went on shore to shoot his supper. The
+antelopes retreated when the ships grated against the bank; and as
+the rush-jungle was by no means safe, beasts of prey being wont to
+hide there to catch the antelopes as they go to water at sunset,
+a few soldiers were sent forward to clear the way. Nevertheless,
+"on our return from the chase, during which not a single shot
+was fired, we lost two _báltaschi_, (carpenters or sappers,) and
+all our signals were insufficient to bring them back. They were
+Egyptians, steady fellows, and most unlikely to desert; but their
+comrades did not trouble themselves to look for them, shrugged their
+shoulders, and supposed they had been devoured by the _assad_ or
+the _nimr_--the lion or tiger. The word _nimr_ is here improperly
+applied, there being no tigers in Africa, but it is the general term
+for panthers and leopards." Here, at four-and-twenty degrees of
+latitude south of Alexandria, this extraordinary river was nearly
+four hundred paces wide. Mr Werne speculates on the origin of this
+astonishing water-course, and doubts the possibility that the
+springs of the White Stream supply the innumerable lakes and creeks,
+and the immense tracts of marsh contiguous to it; that, too, under
+an African sun, which acts as a powerful and constant pump upon the
+immense liquid surface. When he started on his voyage, the annual
+rains had long terminated. What tremendous springs those must be,
+that could keep this vast watery territory full and overflowing!
+Then the sluggishness of the current is another puzzle. Were the
+Nile _one_ stream, Mr Werne observes--referring, of course, to the
+White Nile--it must flow faster than it does. And he concludes
+it to have tributaries, which, owing to the level nature of the
+ground, and to the resistance of the main stream, stagnate to a
+certain extent, rising and falling with the river, and contributing
+powerfully to its nourishment. But the notion of exploring all
+these watery intricacies with a flotilla of heavy-sailing barges,
+manned by lazy Turks and Arabs, and commanded by men who care more
+for getting drunk on arrack and going a-birding, than for the great
+results activity and intelligence might obtain, is essentially
+absurd. The proper squadron to explore the Bach'r el Abiat, through
+the continued windings, and up the numerous inlets depicted in
+Mr Mahlmann's map, is one consisting of three small steamers,
+drawing very little water, with steady well-disciplined English
+crews, accustomed to hot climates, and commanded by experienced and
+scientific officers. With the strongest interest should we watch
+the departure and anticipate the return of such an expedition as
+this. "Much might be done by a steam-boat," says Mr Werne; who then
+enumerates the obstacles to its employment. To bring it over the
+cataracts of the Nile, (below the junction of the Blue and White
+Streams,) it would be necessary to take the paddles entirely out,
+that it might be dragged up with ropes, like a sailing vessel.
+Or else it might be built at Chartum, but for the want of proper
+wood; the sunt-tree timber, although very strong, being exceedingly
+brittle and ill-adapted for ship-building. The greatest difficulty
+would be the fuel--the establishment and guard of coal stores; and
+as to burning charcoal, although the lower portion of the White
+Stream has forests enough, they are wanting on its middle and
+upper banks; to say nothing of the loss of time in felling and
+preparing the wood, of the danger of attacks from natives, &c., &c.
+If some of these difficulties are really formidable, others, on
+the contrary, might easily be overcome, and none are insuperable.
+Mr Werne hardly makes sufficient allowance for the difference
+between Soliman Kaschef and a European naval officer, who would
+turn to profit the hours and days the gallant Circassian spent in
+antelope-shooting, in laughing at Abu Haschis the jester, and in a
+sort of travelling seraglio he had arranged in his inner cabin, a
+dark nook with closely-shut jalousies, that served as prison to an
+unfortunate slave-girl, who lay all day upon a carpet, with scarcely
+space to turn herself, guarded by a eunuch. Not a glimpse of the
+country did the poor thing obtain during the whole of the voyage;
+and, even veiled, she was forbidden to go on deck. Besides these
+oriental relaxations, an occasional practical joke beguiled for the
+commodore the tedium of the voyage. Feizulla, the tailor-captain,
+whose strange passion for thimble and thread made him frequently
+neglect his nautical duties, chanced one day to bring to before his
+superior gave the signal. "Soliman Kaschef had no sooner observed
+this than he fired a couple of shots at Feizulla Capitan, so
+that I myself, standing before the cabin door, heard the bullets
+whistle. Feizulla, did not stir, although both he and the sailors
+in the rigging afterwards affirmed that the balls went within a
+hand's-breadth of his head: he merely said, '_Malesch--hue billab_,'
+(It is nothing--he jests;) and he shot twice in return, pointing
+the gun in the opposite direction, that Soliman might understand
+he took the friendly greeting as a Turkish joke, and that he, as a
+bad shot, dared not level at him." Soliman, on the other hand, was
+far too good a shot for such a sharp jest to be pleasant. The Turks
+account themselves the best marksmen and horsemen in the world, and
+are never weary of vaunting their prowess. Mr Werne says he saw an
+Arnaut of Soliman's shoot a running hare with a single ball, which
+entered in the animal's rear, and came out in front. And it was a
+common practice, during the voyage, to bring down the fruit from
+lofty trees by cutting the twigs with bullets. All these pastimes,
+however retarded the progress of the expedition. The wind was
+frequently light or unfavourable, and the lazy Africans made little
+way with the towing rope. Then a convenient place would often tempt
+to a premature halt; and, notwithstanding Soliman's sharp practice
+with poor Feizulla, if a leading member of the party felt lazily
+disposed, inclined for a hunting-party, or for a visit to a negro
+village, he seldom had much difficulty in bringing the flotilla to
+an anchor. In a straight line from north to south, the expedition
+traversed, between its departure from Chartum and its return
+thither, about sixteen hundred miles. It is difficult to calculate
+the distance gone over; and probably Mr Werne himself would be
+puzzled exactly to estimate it; but adding 20 per cent for windings,
+obliquities, and digressions, (a very liberal allowance,) we get a
+total of nearly two thousand miles, accomplished in five months,
+including stoppages, being at the very moderate rate of about 13
+miles a day. And this, we must remember, was on no rapid stream, but
+up a river, whose current, rarely faster than one mile in an hour,
+was more frequently only half a mile, and sometimes was so feeble
+that it could not be ascertained. The result is not surprising,
+bearing in mind the quality of ships, crews, and commanders: but
+write "British" for "Egyptians," and the tale would be rather
+different.
+
+The upshot of this ill-conducted expedition was its arrival in the
+kingdom of Bari, whose capital city, Pelenja, is situated in 4° N.
+L., and which is inhabited by an exceedingly numerous nation of tall
+and powerful build; the men six and a-half to seven French feet in
+height--equal to seven and seven and a-half English feet--athletic,
+well-proportioned, and, although black, with nothing of the usual
+negro character in their features. The men go naked, with the
+exception of sandals and ornaments; the woman wear leathern aprons.
+They cultivate tobacco and different kinds of grain: from the
+iron found in their mountains they manufacture weapons and other
+implements, and barter them with other tribes. They breed cattle
+and poultry, and are addicted to the chase. About fifteen hundred
+of these blacks came down to the shore, armed to the teeth--a sight
+that inspired the Turks with some uneasiness, although they had
+several of their chiefs on board the flotilla, besides which, the
+frank cordiality and good-humoured intelligent countenances of the
+men of Bari forbade the idea of hostile aggression. "It had been
+a fine opportunity for a painter or sculptor to delineate these
+colossal figures, admirably proportioned, no fat, all muscle, and
+magnificently limbed. None of them have beards, and it would seem
+they use a cosmetic to extirpate them. Captain Selim, whose chin
+was smooth-shaven, pleased them far better than the long-bearded
+Soliman Kaschef; and when the latter showed them his breast,
+covered with a fell of hair, they exhibited a sort of disgust,
+as at something more appropriate to a beast than to a man." Like
+most of the tribes on the banks of the White Nile, they extract
+the four lower incisors, a custom for which Mr Werne is greatly
+puzzled to account, and concerning which he hazards many ingenious
+conjectures. Amongst the ape-like Keks and Dinkas, he fancied it to
+originate in a desire to distinguish themselves from the beasts of
+the field--to which they in so many respects assimilate; but he was
+shaken in this opinion, on finding the practice to prevail amongst
+the intelligent Bari, who need no such mark to establish their
+difference from the brute creation. The Dinkas on board confirmed
+his first hypothesis, saying that the teeth are taken out that they
+may not resemble the jackass--which in many other respects they
+certainly do. The Turks take it to be a rite equivalent to Mahomedan
+circumcision, or to Christian baptism. The Arabs have a much more
+extravagant supposition, which we refrain from stating, the more so
+as Mr Werne discredits it. He suggests the possibility of its being
+an act of incorporation in a great Ethiopian nation, divided into
+many tribes. The operation is performed at the age of puberty; it is
+unaccompanied by any particular ceremonies; and women as well as men
+undergo it. Its motive still remains a matter of doubt to Mr Werne.
+
+Before Lakono, sultan of the Bari, and his favourite sultana Ischok,
+an ordinary-looking lady with two leathern aprons and a shaven head,
+came on board Selim's vessel, the Turks made repeated attempts to
+obtain information from some of the Sheiks concerning the gold
+mines, whose discovery was the main object of the expedition. A
+sensible sort of negro, one Lombé, replied to their questions, and
+extinguished their hopes. There was not even copper, he said, in the
+land of the Bari, although it was brought thither from a remoter
+country, and Lakono had several specimens of it in his treasury. On
+a gold bar being shown to him, he took it for copper, whence it was
+inferred that the two metals were blended in the specimens possessed
+by the sultan, and that the mountains of the copper country also
+yielded the more precious ore. This country, however, lay many days'
+journey distant from the Nile, and, had it even bordered on the
+river, there would have been no possibility of reaching it. At a
+very short distance above Palenja, the expedition encountered a bar
+of rocks thrown across the stream. And although Mr Werne hints the
+possibility of having tried the passage, the Turks were sick of the
+voyage and were heartily glad to turn back. At the period of the
+floods the river rises eighteen feet; and there then could be no
+difficulty in surmounting the barrier. Now the waters were falling
+fast. The six weeks lost by Arnaud's fault were again bitterly
+deplored by the adventurous German--the only one of the party
+who really desired to proceed. Twenty days sooner, and the rocks
+could neither have hindered an advance nor afforded pretext for a
+retreat. To Mr Werne's proposal, that they should wait two months
+where they were, when the setting in of the rains would obviate
+the difficulty, a deaf ear was turned--an insufficient stock of
+provisions was objected; and although the flotilla had been stored
+for a ten months' voyage, and had then been little more than two
+months absent from Chartum, the wastefulness that had prevailed gave
+some validity to the objection. One-and-twenty guns were fired, as
+a farewell salute to the beautiful country Mr Werne would so gladly
+have explored, and which, he is fully convinced, contains so much of
+interest; and the sluggish Egyptian barks retraced their course down
+stream.
+
+It is proper here to note a shrewd conjecture of Mr Werne's,
+that above the point reached by himself and his companions, the
+difficulties of ascending the river would greatly and rapidly
+increase. The bed becomes rocky, and the Bach'r el Abiat, assuming
+in some measure the character of a mountain stream, augments the
+rapidity of its current: so much so, that Mr Werne insists on the
+necessity of a strong north wind, believing that towing, however
+willingly and vigorously attempted, would be found unavailing. This
+is another strong argument in favour of employing steamboats.
+
+Although the narrative of the homeward voyage is by no means
+uninteresting, and contains details of the river's course valuable
+to the geographer and to the future explorer, it has not the
+attraction of the up-stream narrative. The freshness is worn off;
+the waters sink, and the writer's spirits seem disposed to follow
+their example; there is all the difference between attack and
+retreat--between a cheerful and hopeful advance, and a retrograde
+movement before the work is half done. But, vexed as an enthusiastic
+and intrepid man might naturally feel at seeing his hopes frustrated
+by the indolent indifference of his companions, Mr Werne could
+hardly deem his five months thrown away. We are quite sure those
+who read his book will be of opinion that the time was most
+industriously and profitably employed.
+
+A sorrowful welcome awaited our traveller, after his painful and
+fatiguing voyage. There dwelt at Chartum a renegade physician, a
+Palermitan named Pasquali, whose Turkish name was Soliman Effendi,
+and who was notorious as a poisoner, and for the unscrupulous
+promptness with which he removed persons in the slightest degree
+unpleasing to himself or to his patron Achmet Bascha. In Arabia, it
+was currently believed, he had once poisoned thirty-three soldiers,
+with the sole view of bringing odium upon the physician and
+apothecary, two Frenchmen, who attended them. In Chartum he was well
+known to have committed various murders.
+
+"Although this man," says Mr Werne, "was most friendly and sociable
+with me, I had everything to fear from him on account of my brother,
+by whom the Bascha had declared his intention of replacing him in
+the post of medical inspector of Bellet-Sudàn. It was therefore in
+the most solemn earnest that I threatened him with death, if upon
+my return I found my brother dead, and learned that they had come
+at all in contact. '_Dio guarde, che affronto!_' was his reply;
+and he quietly drank off his glass of rum, the same affront having
+already been offered him in the Bascha's divan; the reference being
+naturally to the poisonings laid to his charge in Arabia and here."
+
+At Chartum Mr Werne found his brother alive, but on the eleventh
+day after his return he died in his arms. The renegade had had no
+occasion to employ his venomous drugs; the work had been done as
+surely by the fatal influence of the noxious climate.
+
+
+
+
+ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN.
+
+
+The accomplishments brought back by our grandfathers from the
+Continent to grace the drawing-rooms of May Fair, or enliven the
+solitudes of Yorkshire, were a favourite subject for satirists, some
+"sixty years since." Admitting the descriptions to be correct, it
+must be remembered that the grand tour had become at once monotonous
+and deleterious,--from Calais to Paris, from Paris to Geneva,
+from Geneva to Milan, from Milan to Florence, thence to Rome, and
+thence to Naples, the English "my lord," with his bear-leader,
+was conducted with regularity, if not with speed; and the same
+course of sights and society was prescribed for, and taken by,
+generation after generation of Oxonians and Cantabs. Then, again,
+the Middle Ages, with their countless graceful vestiges, their
+magnificent architecture, which even archaic Evelyn thought and
+called "barbarous," their chivalrous customs, religious observances,
+rude yet picturesque arts, and fanciful literature, were literally
+blotted out from the note-book of the English tourist. Whatever
+was classical or modern, that was worthy of regard; but whatever
+belonged to "Europe's middle night," _that_ the descendants of
+Saxon thanes or Norman knights disdained even to look at. Even had
+there been no Pyrenees to cross, or no Bay of Biscay to encounter,
+so Gothic a country as Spain was not likely to attract to its
+dusky sierras, frequent monasteries, and mediæval towns, the fine
+gentlemen and Mohawks of those enlightened days; nor need we be
+surprised that the natural beauties of that romantic land--its
+weird mountains, primæval forests, and fertile plains, fragrant
+with orange groves, and bright with flowers of every hue, unknown
+to English gardens--remained unexplored by the countrymen of Gray
+and Goldsmith, who have put on record their marked disapprobation
+of Nature in her wildest and most sublime mood. Thus, then, it was
+that, with rare exceptions, the pleasant land of Spain was a sealed
+book to Englishmen, until the Great Captain rivalled and eclipsed
+the feats and triumphs of the Black Prince in every province of the
+Peninsula, and enabled guardsmen and hussars to admire the treasures
+of Spanish art in many a church and convent unspoiled by French
+rapacity. Nor may we deny our obligations to Gallic plunderers.
+Many a noble picture that now delights the eyes of thousands,
+exalts and purifies the taste of youthful painters, and sends,
+on the purple wings of European fame, the name of its Castilian,
+or Valencian, or Andalusian creator down the stream of time, but
+for Soult or Sebastiani, might still have continued to waste its
+sweetness on desert air. Thenceforward, in spite of brigands and
+captain-generals, rival constitutions and contending princes, have
+adventurous Englishmen been found to delight in rambling, like
+Inglis, in the footsteps of Don Quixote,--emulating the deeds of
+Peterborough, like Ranelagh and Henningsen, or throwing themselves
+into the actual life, and studying the historic manners of Spain,
+like Carnarvon and Ford. Still, though soldier and statesman,
+philosopher and littérateur, had put forth their best powers in
+writing of the country that so worthily interested them, a void was
+ever left for some new comer to fill; and right well, in his three
+handsome, elaborate, and most agreeable volumes, has Mr Stirling
+filled that void. Not one of the goodly band of Spanish painters now
+lacks a "sacred poet" to inscribe his name in the temple of fame.
+With indefatigable research, most discriminating taste, and happiest
+success, has Mr Stirling pursued and completed his pleasant labour
+of love, and presented to the world "Annals of the Artists of Spain"
+worthy--can we say more?--of recording the triumphs of El Mudo and
+El Greco, Murillo and Velasquez.[16]
+
+  [16] _Annals of the Artists of Spain._ By WILLIAM STIRLING, M. A. 3
+  vols. London: Ollivier.
+
+At least a century and a half before Holbein was limning the burly
+frame and gorgeous dress of bluff King Hal, and creating at once
+a school and an appreciation of art in England, were the early
+painters of Spain enriching their magnificent cathedrals, and
+religious houses, with pictures displaying as correct a knowledge
+of art, and as rich a tone of colour, as the works of that great
+master. There is something singular and mysterious in the contrast
+afforded by the early history of painting in the two countries.
+While in poetry, in painting on glass, in science, in manufactures,
+in architecture, England appears to have kept pace with other
+countries, in painting and in sculpture she appears always to
+have lagged far behind. Gower, Chaucer, Friar Bacon, William of
+Wyckham, Waynfleete, the unknown builders of ten thousand churches
+and convents, the manufacturers of the glass that still charms our
+eyes, and baffles the rivalry of our Willements and Wailes, at York
+and elsewhere--the illuminators of the missals and religious books,
+whose delicate fancy and lustrous tints are even now teaching our
+highborn ladies that long-forgotten art--yielded the palm to none of
+their brethren in Europe; but where and who were our contemporaneous
+painters and sculptors? In the luxurious and graceful court of
+Edward IV., who represented that art which Dello and Juan de Castro,
+under royal and ecclesiastical patronage, had carried to such
+perfection in Spain? That no English painters of any note flourished
+at that time, is evident from the silence of all historical
+documents; nor does it appear that foreign artists were induced, by
+the hope of gain or fame, to instruct our countrymen in the art to
+which the discoveries of the Van Eycks had imparted such a lustre.
+It is true that the desolating Wars of the Roses left scant time and
+means to the sovereigns and nobility of England for fostering the
+arts of peace; but still great progress was being made in nearly
+all those arts, save those of which we speak; and, if we remember
+rightly, Mr Pugin assigns the triumph of English architecture to
+this troublous epoch. Nor, although Juan I., Pedro the Cruel, and
+Juan II., were admirers and patrons of painting, was it to royal or
+noble favour that Spanish art owed its chiefest obligations. The
+church--which, after the great iconoclastic struggle of the eighth
+century, had steadily acted on the Horatian maxim,
+
+    "Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures,
+     Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus"--
+
+in Spain embraced the young and diffident art with an ardour
+and a munificence which, in its palmiest and most prosperous days,
+that art never forgot, and was never wearied of requiting. Was it so
+in England? and do we owe our lack of ancient English pictures to
+the reforming zeal of our iconoclastic reformers? Did the religious
+pictures of our Rincons, our Nuñez, and our Borgoñas, share the
+fate of the libraries that were ruthlessly destroyed by the
+ignorant myrmidons of royal rapacity? If so, it is almost certain
+that the records which bewail and denounce the fate of books and
+manuscripts, would not pass over the destruction of pictures; while
+it is still more certain that the monarch and his courtiers would
+have appropriated to themselves the pictured saints, no less than
+the holy vessels, of monastery and convent. It cannot, therefore,
+be said that the English Reformation deprived our national school
+of painting of its most munificent patrons, and most ennobling and
+purest subjects, in the destruction of the monasteries, and the
+spoliation of churches. That the Church of England, had she remained
+unreformed, might, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have
+emulated her Spanish or Italian sister in her patronage of, and
+beneficial influence upon, the arts of painting and sculpture, it
+is needless either to deny or assert; we fear there is no room for
+contending that, since the Reformation, she has in any way fostered,
+guided, or exalted either of those religious arts.
+
+In Spain, on the contrary, as Mr Stirling well points out, it was
+under the august shadow of the church that painting first raised her
+head, gained her first triumphs, executed her most glorious works,
+and is even now prolonging her miserable existence.
+
+The venerable cathedral of Toledo was, in effect, the cradle of
+Spanish painting. Founded in 1226 by St Ferdinand, it remained,
+to quote Mr Stirling's words, "for four hundred years a nucleus
+and gathering-place for genius, where artists swarmed and
+laboured like bees, and where splendid prelates--the popes of
+the Peninsula--lavished their princely revenues to make fair and
+glorious the temple of God intrusted to their care." Here Dolfin
+introduced, in 1418, painting on glass; here the brothers Rodrigues
+displayed their forceful skill as sculptors, in figures which
+still surmount the great portal of that magnificent cathedral;
+and here Rincon, the first Spanish painter who quitted the stiff
+mediæval style, loved best to execute his graceful works. Nor
+when, with the house of Austria, the genius of Spanish art quitted
+the Bourbon-governed land, did the custodians of this august
+temple forget to stimulate and reward the detestable conceits, and
+burlesque sublimities, of such artists as the depraved taste of the
+eighteenth century delighted to honour. Thus, in 1721, Narciso Tome
+erected at the back of the choir an immense marble altar-piece,
+called the Trasparente, by order of Archbishop Diego de Astorgo,
+for which he received two hundred thousand ducats; and thus, fifty
+years later, Bayeu and Maella were employed to paint in fresco
+the cloisters that had once gloried in the venerable paintings of
+Juan de Borgoña. At Toledo, then, under the auspices of the great
+Castilian queen, Isabella, may be said to have risen the Castilian
+school of art. The other great schools of Spanish painting were
+those of Andalusia, of Valencia, and that of Arragon and Catalonia;
+but, for the mass of English readers, the main interest lies in the
+two first, the schools that produced or acquired El Mudo and El
+Greco, Velasquez and Murillo. The works of the two last-mentioned
+artists are now so well known, and so highly appreciated in England,
+that we are tempted to postpone for the present any notice of that
+most delightful part of Sir Stirling's book which treats of them,
+and invite our readers to trace the course of art in that stern old
+city to which we have already referred, Toledo.
+
+Before the grave had closed upon the cold remains of Rincon, Juan de
+Borgoña had proved himself worthy of wielding the Castilian pencil,
+and, under the patronage of the great Toledan archbishop, Ximenes de
+Cisneros, produced works which still adorn the winter chapter-room
+of that cathedral. These are interesting not only as specimens of
+art, but as manifestations of the religious =êthos= of Spain at the
+commencement of the sixteenth century: let Mr Stirling describe one
+of the most remarkable of these early paintings:--"The lower end of
+the finely-proportioned, but badly-lighted room, is occupied by the
+'Last Judgment,' a large and remarkable composition. Immediately
+beneath the figure of our Lord, a hideous fiend, in the shape of a
+boar, roots a fair and reluctant woman out of her grave with his
+snout, as if she were a trufle, twining his tusks in her long amber
+locks. To the left are drawn up in a line a party of the wicked,
+each figure being the incarnation of a sin, of which the name is
+written on a label above in Gothic, letters, as 'Soberbia,' and the
+like. On their shoulders sit little malicious imps, in the likeness
+of monkeys, and round their lower limbs, flames climb and curl.
+The forms of the good and faithful, on the right, display far less
+vigour of fancy." So the good characters in modern works of fiction
+are more feebly drawn, and excite less interest, than the Rob Roys
+and Dirk Hattericks, the Conrads and the Manfreds. Nor was Toledo at
+this time wanting in the sister art of sculpture: while the Rincons,
+and Berruguete, and Borgoña, were enriching the cathedral with their
+pictures and their frescoes, Vigarny was elaborating the famous high
+altar of marble, and the stalls on the epistle side. In concluding
+his notice of Vigarny, "the first great Castilian sculptor," Mr
+Stirling gives a sketch of the style of sculpture popular in Spain.
+Like nearly all the "Cosas d'Espana," it is peculiar, and owes
+its peculiarity to the same cause that has impressed so marked a
+character on Spanish painting and Spanish pharmacopeia--religion.
+
+Let not the English lover of the fine arts, invited to view the
+masterpieces of Spanish sculpture, imagine that his eyes are to be
+feasted on the nude, though hardly indecent forms of Venuses and
+Apollos, Ganymedes and Andromedas.
+
+Beautiful, and breathing, and full of imagination, indeed, those
+Spanish statues are--"idols," as our author generally terms
+them; but the idolatry they represent or evoke is heavenly, not
+earthly--spiritual, not sensuous. Chiselled out of a block of cedar
+or lime-wood, with the most reverential care, the image of the
+Queen of Heaven enjoyed the most exquisite and delicate services of
+the rival sister arts, and, "copied from the loveliest models, was
+presented to her adorers sweetly smiling, and gloriously apparelled
+in clothing of wrought gold." But we doubt whether any Englishman
+who has not seen can understand the marvellous beauty of these
+painted wooden images. Thus Berruguete, who combined both arts in
+perfection, executed in 1539 the archbishop's throne at Toledo,
+"over which hovers an airy and graceful figure, carved in dark
+walnut, representing our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
+remarkable for its fine and floating drapery."
+
+Continuing our list of Toledan artists, "whose whole lives and
+labours lay within the shadow of that great Toledan church, whose
+genius was spent in its service, and whose names were hardly known
+beyond its walls," (vol. i. p. 150,) we come to T. Comontes, who,
+among other works for that munificent Alma Mater, executed from
+the designs of Vigarny the retablo (reredos) for the chapel "de
+los Reyes Nuevos," in 1533. It was at Toledo that El Mudo, the
+Spanish Titian, died, and at Toledo that Blas del Prado was born.
+When in 1593 the Emperor of Morocco asked that the best painter
+of Spain might be sent to his court, Philip II. appointed Blas
+del Prado to fulfil the Mussulman's artistic desires: previous to
+this, the chapter of Toledo had named him their second painter, and
+he had painted a large altar-piece, and other pictures, for their
+cathedral. But perhaps the Toledan annals of art contain no loftier
+name than that of El Greco. Domemis Theotocopuli, who, born, it is
+surmised, at Venice in 1548, is found in 1577 painting at Toledo,
+for the cathedral, his famous picture of The Parting of our Lord's
+Garment, on which he bestowed the labour of a decade, and of which
+we give Mr Stirling's picturesque description.
+
+"The august figure of the Saviour, arrayed in a red robe, occupies
+the centre of the canvass; the head, with its long dark locks, is
+superb; and the noble and beautiful countenance seems to mourn for
+the madness of them who 'knew not what they did;' his right arm
+is folded on his bosom, seemingly unconscious of the rope which
+encircles his wrist, and is violently dragged downwards by two
+executioners in front. Around and behind him appears a throng of
+priests and warriors, amongst whom the Greek himself figures as the
+centurion, in black armour. In drawing and composition, this picture
+is truly admirable, and the colouring is, on the whole, rich and
+effective--although it is here and there laid on in that spotted
+streaky manner, which afterwards became the great and prominent
+defect of El Greco's style."
+
+Summoned from the cathedral to the court, El Greco painted, by
+royal command, a large altar-piece, for the church at the Escurial,
+on the martyrdom of St Maurice; "little less extravagant and
+atrocious," says our lively author, "than the massacre it recorded."
+Neither king nor court painters could praise this performance, and
+the effect of his failure at the Escurial appears to have been
+his return to Toledo. Here, in 1584, he painted, by order of the
+Archbishop Quiroga, "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz," a picture
+then and now esteemed as his master-piece, and still to be seen
+in the church of Santo Tomé. Warm is the encomium, and eloquently
+expressed, which Mr Stirling bestows upon this gem of Toledan art.
+"The artist, or lover of art, who has once beheld it, will never,
+as he rambles among the winding streets of the ancient city, pass
+the pretty brick belfry of that church--full of horse-shoe niches
+and Moorish reticulations,--without turning aside to gaze upon
+its superb picture once more. It hangs to your left, on the wall
+opposite to the high altar. Gonzalo Ruiz, Count of Orgaz, head of
+a house famous in romance, rebuilt the fabric of the church, and
+was in all respects so religious and gracious a grandee, that,
+when he was buried in 1323, within these very walls, St Stephen and
+St Augustine came down from heaven, and laid his body in the tomb
+with their own holy hands--an incident which forms the subject of
+the picture. St Stephen, a dark-haired youth of noble countenance,
+and St Augustine, a hoary old man wearing a mitre, both of them
+arrayed in rich pontifical vestments of golden tissue, support the
+dead Count in their arms, and gently lower him into the grave,
+shrouded like a baron of Roslin 'in his iron panoply.' Nothing can
+be finer than the execution and the contrast of these three heads;
+never was the image of the peaceful death of 'the just man' more
+happily conveyed, than in the placid face and powerless form of
+the warrior: nor did Giorgione or Titian ever excel the splendid
+colouring of his black armour, rich with gold damascening. To the
+right of the picture, behind St Stephen, kneels a fair boy in a
+dark dress, perhaps the son of the Count; beyond rises the stately
+form of a gray friar; to the left, near St Augustine, stand two
+priests in gorgeous vestments, holding, the one a book, and the
+other a taper. Behind this principal group appear the noble company
+of mourners, hidalgos and old Christians all, with olive faces and
+beards of formal cut, looking on with true Castilian gravity and
+phlegm, as if the transaction were an every-day occurrence. As they
+were mostly portraits, perhaps some of the originals did actually
+stand, a few years later, with the like awe in their hearts and
+calm on their cheeks, in the royal presence-chamber, when the news
+came to court that the proud Armada of Spain had been vanquished by
+the galleys of Howard, and cast away on the rocks of the Hebrides."
+We make no apology for thus freely quoting from Mr Stirling's
+pages his description of this picture; the extract brings vividly
+before our readers at once the merits of the old Toledan painter,
+and his accomplished biographer and critic. After embellishing his
+adopted city, not only with pictures such as this, but with works of
+sculpture and architecture, and vindicating his graceful profession
+from the unsparing exactions of the tax-gatherers--a class who
+appear to have waged an unrelenting though intermittent war against
+the fine arts in Spain--he died there at a green old age in 1625,
+and was buried in the church of St Bartolemé. Even the painters
+most employed at the munificent and art-loving court of the second
+and third Philips, found time to paint for the venerable cathedral.
+Thus, in 1615, Vincencio Carducho, the Florentine, painted, with
+Eugenio Caxes, a series of frescoes in the chapel of the Sagrario;
+and thus Eugenio Caxes, leaving the works at the Pardo and Madrid,
+painted for the cathedral of Toledo the Adoration of the Magi, and
+other independent pictures.
+
+Meanwhile the school of El Greco was producing worthy fruit; from
+it, in the infancy of the seventeenth century, came forth Luis
+Tristan, an artist even now almost unknown in London and Edinburgh,
+but whose style Velasquez did not disdain to imitate, and whose
+praises he was never tired of sounding. "Born, bred, and sped"
+in Toledo, or its neighbourhood, as Morales was emphatically the
+painter of Badajoz, so may Tristan be termed the painter of Toledo.
+No foreign graces, no classical models, adorned or vitiated his
+stern Spanish style; yet, in his portrait of Archbishop Sandoval,
+he is said by Mr Stirling to have united the elaborate execution
+of Sanchez Coello with much of the spirit of Titian. And of him is
+the pleasant story recorded, that having, while yet a stripling,
+painted for the Jeronymite convent at Toledo a Last Supper, for
+which he asked two hundred ducats, and being denied payment by the
+frugal friars, he appealed with them to the arbitration of his old
+master, El Greco, who, having viewed the picture, called the young
+painter a rogue and a novice, for asking only two for a painting
+worth five hundred ducats. In the same Toledan church that contains
+the ashes of his great master, lies the Murcian Pedro Orrente,
+called by our author "the Bassano, or the Roos--the great sheep and
+cattle master of Spain:" he too was employed by the art-encouraging
+chapter, and the cathedral possessed several of his finest pictures.
+But with Tristan and Orrente the glories of Toledan art paled and
+waned; and, trusting that our readers have not been uninterested
+in following our brief sketch of the remarkable men who for four
+hundred years rendered this quaint old Gothic city famous for its
+artistic splendours, we retrace our steps, halting and perplexed
+among so many pleasant ways, blooming flowers, and brilliant bowers,
+to the magnificent, albeit gloomy Escurial, where Philip II lavished
+the wealth of his mighty empire in calling forth the most vigorous
+energies of Spanish and of foreign art.
+
+For more than thirty years did the astonished shepherds of the
+Guadaramas watch the mysterious pile growing under scaffolding alive
+with armies of workmen; and often, while the cares of the Old World
+and the New--to say nothing of that other World, which was seldom
+out of Philip's thoughts, and to which his cruel fanaticism hurried
+so many wretches before their time--might be supposed to demand
+his attention at Madrid, were they privileged to see their mighty
+monarch perched on a lofty ledge of rock, for hours, intently gazing
+upon the rising walls and towers which were to redeem his vow to St
+Laurence at the battle of Saint Quentin, and to hand down, through
+all Spanish time, the name and fame of the royal and religious
+founder. On the 23d of April 1563, the first stone of this Cyclopean
+palace was laid, under the direction of Bautiste di Toledo, at
+whose death, in 1567, the work was continued by Juan de Herrera,
+and finally perfected by Leoni (as to the interior decorations) in
+1597. Built in the quaint unshapely form of St Laurence's gridiron,
+the Escurial is doubtless open to much severe criticism; but the
+marvellous grandeur, the stern beauty, and the characteristic
+effect of the gigantic pile, must for ever enchant the eyes of all
+beholders, who are not doomed by perverse fate to look through the
+green spectacles of gentle dulness. But it is not our purpose to
+describe the Escurial; we only wish to bring before our readers the
+names and merits of a few of the Spanish artists, who found among
+its gloomy corridors or sumptuous halls niches in the temple of
+fame, and in its saturnine founder the most gracious and munificent
+of patrons. Suffice it, then, to say of the palace-convent, in Mr
+Stirling's graceful words, that "Italy was ransacked for pictures
+and statues, models and designs; the mountains of Sicily and
+Sardinia for jaspers and agates; and every sierra of Spain furnished
+its contribution of marble. Madrid, Florence, and Milan supplied
+the sculptures of the altars; Guadalajara and Cuenca, gratings
+and balconies; Saragossa the gates of brass; Toledo and the Low
+Countries, lamps, candelabra, and bells; the New World, the finer
+woods; and the Indies, both East and West, the gold and gems of the
+custodia, and the five hundred reliquaries. The tapestries were
+wrought in Flemish looms; and, for the sacerdotal vestments, there
+was scarce a nunnery in the empire, from the rich and noble orders
+of Brabant and Lombardy to the poor sisterhoods of the Apulian
+highlands, but sent an offering of needlework to the honoured
+fathers of the Escurial."
+
+We could wish to exclude from our paper all notice of the foreign
+artists, whose genius assisted in decorating the new wonder of the
+world; but how omit from any Escurialian or Philippian catalogue
+the names of Titian and Cellini, Cambiaso and Tibaldi? For seven
+long years did the great Venetian labour at his famous Last Supper,
+painted for, and placed in the refectory; and countless portraits
+by his fame-dealing pencil graced the halls and galleries of the
+Palatian convents. In addition to these, the Pardo boasted eleven of
+his portraits; among them, one of the hero Duke Emmanuel Philibert
+of Savoy, who has received a second grant of renown--let us hope
+a more lasting one[17]--from the poetic chisel of Marochetti, and
+stands now in the great square of Turin, the very impersonation of
+chivalry, horse and hero alike--=kydei gaiôn=.
+
+  [17] All these portraits were destroyed by fire in the reign of
+  Philip III.
+
+The magnificent Florentine contributed "the matchless marble
+crucifix behind the prior's seat in the choir," of which Mr Stirling
+says--"Never was marble shaped into a sublimer image of the great
+sacrifice for man's atonement." Luca Cambiaso, the Genoese, painted
+the Martyrdom of St Laurence for the high altar of the church--a
+picture that must have been regarded, from its subject and position,
+as the first of all the Escurial's religious pictures,--besides the
+vault of the choir, and two great frescoes for the grand staircase.
+
+Pellegrino Tibaldi, a native of the Milanese, came at Philip's
+request to the Escurial in 1586. He, too, painted a Martyrdom of
+Saint Laurence for the high altar, but apparently with no better
+success than his immediate predecessor, Zuccaro, whose work his
+was to replace. But the ceiling of the library was Tibaldi's field
+of fame; on it he painted a fresco 194 feet long by 30 wide,
+which still speaks to his skill in composition and brilliancy in
+colouring. Philip rewarded him with a Milanese marquisate and one
+hundred thousand crowns.
+
+Morales, the first great devotional painter of Castile, on whom his
+admiring countrymen bestowed the soubriquet of "divine"--with more
+propriety, it must be confessed, than their descendants have shown
+in conferring it upon Arguelles--contributed but one picture to
+the court, and none to the Escurial; but in Alonzo Sanchez Coello,
+born at Benifayrô, in Valencia, we find a famous native artist
+decorating the superb walls of the new palace. While at Madrid he
+was lodged in the Treasury, a building which communicated with the
+palace by a door, of which the King kept a key; and often would the
+royal Mæcenas slip thus, unobserved by the artist, into his studio.
+Emperors and popes, kings and queens, princes and princesses, were
+alike his friends and subjects; but we are now only concerned
+to relate that, in 1582, he painted "five altar-pieces for the
+Escurial, each containing a pair of saints." Far more of interest,
+however, attaches itself to the name and memory of Juan Fernandez
+Navarete, "whose genius was no less remarkable than his infirmities,
+and whose name--El Mudo, the dumb painter--is as familiar to Europe
+as his works are unknown," (vol. i. p. 250.) Born at Logroño in
+1526, he went in his youth to Italy. Here he attracted the notice
+of Don Luis Manrique, grand-almoner to Philip, who procured him
+an invitation to Madrid. He was immediately set to work for the
+Escurial; and in 1571 four pictures, the Assumption of the Virgin,
+the Martyrdom of St James the Great, St Philip, and a Repenting St
+Jerome, were hung in the sacristy of the convent, and brought him
+five hundred ducats. In 1576 he painted, for the reception-hall of
+the convent, a large picture representing Abraham receiving the
+three Angels. "This picture," says Father Andres Ximenes, quoted
+by Mr Stirling, (vol. i. p. 255) "so appropriate to the place it
+fills, though the first of the master's works that usually meets
+the eye, might, for its excellence, be viewed the last, and is well
+worth coming many a league to see." An agreement, bearing date the
+same year, between the painter and the prior, by which the former
+covenanted to paint thirty-two large pictures for the side altars,
+is preserved by Cean Bermudez; but El Mudo unfortunately died when
+only eight of the series had been painted. On the 28th of March 1579
+this excellent and remarkable painter died in the 53d year of his
+age. A few years later, Juan Gomez painted from a design of Tibaldi
+a large picture of St Ursula, which replaced one of Cambiaso's least
+satisfactory Escurialian performances.
+
+While acres of wall and ceiling were being thus painted in fresco,
+or covered by large and fine pictures, the Escurial gave a ready
+home to the most minute of the fine arts: illuminators of missals,
+and painters of miniatures, embroiderers of vestments, and designers
+of altar-cloths, found their labours appreciated, and their
+genius called forth, no less than their more aspiring compeers.
+Fray Andrez de Leon, and Fray Martin de Palencia, enriched the
+Escurial with exquisite specimens of their skill in the arts of
+miniature-painting and illuminating; and under the direction of Fray
+Lorenzo di Monserrate, and Diego Rutiner, the conventual school of
+embroidery produced frontals and dalmatics, copes, chasubles, and
+altar-cloths, of rarest beauty and happiest designs. The goldsmiths
+and silversmiths, too, lacked not encouragement in this greatest
+of temples. Curious was the skill, and cunning the hand, which
+fashioned the tower of gold and jasper to contain the Escurial's
+holiest relique,--a muscle, singed and charred, of St Laurence--and
+no doubt that skill was nobly rewarded.
+
+In 1598, clasping to his breast the veil of Our Lady of Monserrat,
+in a little alcove hard by the church of the Escurial, died its
+grim, magnificent founder. He had witnessed the completion of his
+gigantic designs: palace and convent, there it stood--a monument
+alike of his piety and his pride, and a proof of the grandeur and
+resources of the mighty empire over which he ruled. But he appears
+to have thought with the poet--
+
+    "Weighed in the balance, hero-dust
+      Is vile as mortal clay;"
+
+for he built no stately mausoleum, merely a common vault, to
+receive the imperial dead. This omission, in 1617, Philip III.
+undertook to supply; and Giovanni Battista Crescenzi, an Italian,
+was selected as the architect. For thirty-four years did he and his
+successors labour at this royal necropolis, which when finished
+"became, under the name of the Pantheon, the most splendid chamber
+of the Escurial."--(Vol. i. p. 412.)
+
+Mr Stirling's second volume opens with a graphic account of the
+decay of Spanish power under Philip IV., and an equally graphic
+description of this, the chief architectural triumph of his long
+inglorious reign. The Pantheon was "an octagonal chamber 113 feet
+in circumference, and 38 feet in height, from the pavement to the
+centre of the domed vault. Each of its eight sides, excepting the
+two which are occupied by its entrance, and the altar, contain
+four niches and four marble urns; the walls, Corinthian pilasters,
+cornices and dome, are formed of the finest marbles of Toledo and
+Biscay, Tortosa and Genoa; and the bases, capitals, scrolls, and
+other ornaments, are of gilt bronze. Placed beneath the presbytery
+of the church, and approached by the long descent of a stately
+marble staircase, this hall of royal tombs, gleaming with gold and
+polished jasper, seems a creation of Eastern romance.... Hither
+Philip IV. would come, when melancholy--the fatal taint of his blood
+was strong upon him--to hear mass, and meditate on death, sitting in
+the niche which was shortly to receive his bones." Yet this was the
+monarch whose quick eye detected the early genius of Velasquez, and
+who bore the palm as a patron from all the princes of his house, and
+all the sovereigns of Europe. Well did the great painter repay the
+discriminating friendship of the king, and so long as Spanish art
+endures, will the features of Philip IV. be known in every European
+country; and his fair hair, melancholy mien, impassive countenance
+and cold eyes, reveal to all time the hereditary characteristics of
+the phlegmatic house of Austria.
+
+Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez was born at Seville in 1599.
+Here he entered the school of Herrera the Elder, a dashing painter,
+and a violent man, who was for ever losing alike his temper and
+his scholars. Velasquez soon left his turbulent rule for the
+gentler instruction of Francisco Pacheco. In his studio the young
+artist worked diligently, while he took lessons at the same time
+of a yet more finished artist--nature; the nature of bright,
+sunny, graceful Andalusia. Thus, while Velasquez cannot be called
+a self-taught painter, he retained to the last that freedom from
+mannerism, and that gay fidelity to nature, which so often--not in
+his case--compensate for a departure from the highest rules and
+requirements of art.
+
+While he was thus studying and painting the flowers and the fruits,
+the damsels and the beggars, of sunny Seville, there arrived in that
+beautiful city a collection of Italian and Spanish pictures. These
+exercised no small influence on the taste and style of the young
+artist; but, true to his country, and with the happy inspiration
+of genius, it was to Luis Tristan of Toledo, rather than to any
+foreign master, that he directed his chief attention; and hence the
+future chief of the Castilian school was enabled to combine with its
+merits the excellencies of both the other great divisions of Spanish
+art. At the end of five years spent in this manner, he married
+Pacheco's daughter, who witnessed all his forty years' labours and
+successes, and closed his dying eyes. At the age of twenty-three,
+Velasquez, anxious to enlarge his acquaintance with the masterpieces
+of other schools, went to Madrid; but after spending a few months
+there, and at the Escurial, he returned to Seville--soon, however,
+to be recalled at the bidding of the great minister and Mæcenas,
+Olivarez. Now, in 1623, set in the tide of favour and of fame, which
+henceforward was not to flag or ebb till the great painter lay
+stretched, out of its reach, on the cold bank of death. During this
+summer he painted the noble portrait of the king on horseback, which
+was exhibited by royal order in front of the church of San Felipe,
+and which caused the all-powerful Count-duke to exclaim, that until
+now his majesty had never been painted. Charmed and delighted with
+the picture and the painter, Philip declared no other artist should
+in future paint his royal face; and Mr Stirling maliciously adds
+that "this resolution he kept far more religiously than his marriage
+vows, for he appears to have departed from it during the life-time
+of his chosen artist, in favour only of Rubens and Crayer." (Vol.
+ii. p. 592.) On the 31st of October 1623, Velasquez was formally
+appointed painter in ordinary to the king, and in 1626 was provided
+with apartments in the Treasury. To this period Mr Stirling assigns
+his best likeness of the equestrian monarch, of which he says--"Far
+more pleasing than any other representation of the man, it is also
+one of the finest portraits in the world. The king is in the glow
+of youth and health, and in the full enjoyment of his fine horse,
+and the breeze blowing freshly from the distant hills; he wears dark
+armour, over which flutters a crimson scarf; a hat with black plumes
+covers his head, and his right hand grasps a truncheon."--(P. 595.)
+
+In 1628, Velasquez had the pleasure of showing Rubens, who had come
+to Madrid as envoy from the Low Countries, the galleries of that
+city, and the wonders of the Escurial; and, following the advice
+of that mighty master, he visited Italy the next year. On that
+painter-producing soil, his steps were first turned to the city of
+Titian; but the sun of art was going down over the quays and palaces
+of once glorious Venice, and, hurrying through Ferrara and Bologna,
+the eager pilgrim soon reached Rome. In this metropolis of religion,
+learning, and art, the young Spaniard spent many a pleasant and
+profitable month: nor, while feasting his eyes and storing his
+memory with "its thousand forms of beauty and delight," did he allow
+his pencil a perfect holiday. The Forge of Vulcan and Joseph's Coat
+were painted in the Eternal City. After a few weeks at Naples, he
+returned to Madrid in the spring of 1631. Portrait-painting for his
+royal patron, who would visit his studio every day, and sit there
+long hours, seems to have been now his main occupation; and now
+was he able to requite the friendly aid he had received from the
+Count-duke of Olivarez, whose image remains reflected on the stream
+of time, not after the hideous caricature of Le Sage, but as limned
+by the truthful--albeit grace-conferring--pencil of Velasquez.
+
+In 1639, leaving king and courtiers, lords and ladies, and soaring
+above the earth on which he had made his step so sure, Velasquez
+aspired to the grandest theme of poet, moralist, or painter, and
+nobly did his genius justify the flight. His Crucifixion is one
+of the sublimest representations conceived by the intellect, and
+portrayed by the hand of man, of that stupendous event. "Unrelieved
+by the usual dim landscape, or lowering clouds, the cross in this
+picture has no footing upon earth, but is placed on a plain dark
+ground, like an ivory carving on its velvet pall. Never was that
+great agony more powerfully depicted. The head of our Lord drops
+on his right shoulder, over which falls a mass of dark hair, while
+drops of blood trickle from his thorn-pierced brows. The anatomy of
+the naked body and limbs is executed with as much precision as in
+Cellini's marble, which may have served Velasquez as a model; and
+the linen cloth wrapped about the loins, and even the fir-wood of
+the cross, display his accurate attention to the smallest details of
+a great subject."--(Vol. ii. p. 619.) This masterpiece now hangs in
+the Royal Gallery of Spain at Madrid.
+
+The all-powerful Olivarez underwent, in 1643, the fate of most
+favourites, and experienced the doom denounced by the great English
+satirist on "power too great to keep, or to resign." He had declared
+his intention of making one Julianillo, an illegitimate child of no
+one exactly knew who, his heir; had married him to the daughter of
+the Constable of Castile, decked him with titles and honours, and
+proposed to make him governor of the heir-apparent. The pencil of
+Velasquez was employed to hand down to posterity the features of
+this low-born cause of his great patron's downfall, and the portrait
+of the ex-ballad singer in the streets of Madrid now graces the
+collection of Bridgewater House. The disgrace of Olivarez served to
+test the fine character of Velasquez, who not only sorrowed over his
+patron's misfortunes, but had the courage to visit the disgraced
+statesman in his retirement.
+
+The triumphal entrance of Philip IV. into Lerida, the surrender of
+Breda, and portraits of the royal family, exercised the invention
+and pencil of Velasquez till the year 1648, when he was sent by
+the king on a roving mission into Italy--not to teach the puzzled
+sovereigns the mysterious privileges of self-government, but to
+collect such works of art as his fine taste might think worthy of
+transportation to Madrid. Landing at Genoa, he found himself in
+presence of a troop of Vandyck's gallant nobles: hence he went to
+Milan, Padua, and Venice. At the latter city he purchased for his
+royal master two or three pictures of Tintoret's, and the Venus and
+Adonis of Paul Veronese. But Rome, as in his previous visit, was the
+chief object of his pilgrimage. Innocent X. welcomed him gladly,
+and commanded him to paint, not only his own coarse features, but
+the more delicate ones of Donna Olympia, his "sister-in-law and
+mistress." So, at least, says our author; for the sake of religion
+and human nature, we hope he is mistaken. For more than a year did
+Velasquez sojourn in Rome, purchasing works of art, and enjoying
+the society of Bernini and Nicolas Poussin, Pietro da Cortona and
+Algardi. "It would be pleasing, were it possible, to draw aside
+the dark curtain of centuries, and follow him into the palaces and
+studios--to see him standing by while Claude painted, or Algardi
+modelled, (enjoying the hospitalities of Bentivoglio, perhaps in
+that fair hall glorious with Guido's recent fresco of Aurora)--or
+mingling in the group that accompanied Poussin in his evening walks
+on the terrace of Trinità de Monte."--(Vol. ii. p. 643.) Meanwhile
+the king was impatiently waiting his return, and at last insisted
+upon its being no further delayed; so in 1651 the soil of Spain was
+once more trod by her greatest painter. Five years later, Velasquez
+produced his extraordinary picture, Las Meniñas--the Maids of
+Honour, extraordinary alike in the composition, and in the skill
+displayed by the painter in overcoming its many difficulties. Dwarfs
+and maids of honour, hounds and children, lords and ladies, pictures
+and furniture, are all introduced into this remarkable picture, with
+such success as to make many judges pronounce it to be Velasquez's
+masterpiece, and Luca Giordano to christen it "the theology of
+painting."
+
+The Escurial, from whose galleries and cloisters we have been thus
+lured by the greater glory of Velasquez, in 1656 demanded his
+presence to arrange a large collection of pictures, forty-one of
+which came from the dispersed and abused collection of the only
+real lover of the fine arts who has sat on England's throne--that
+martyr-monarch whom the pencil of Vandyck, and the pens of Lovelace,
+Montrose, and Clarendon, have immortalised, though their swords
+and counsels failed to preserve his life and crown. In 1659 the
+cross of Santiago was formally conferred on this "king of painters,
+and painter of kings;" and on St Prosper's day, in the Church of
+the Carbonera, he was installed knight of that illustrious order,
+the noblest grandees of Spain assisting at the solemn ceremonial.
+The famous meeting on the Isle of Pheasants, so full of historic
+interest, between the crowns and courts of Spain and France,
+to celebrate the nuptials of Louis XIV. and Maria Theresa, was
+destined to acquire an additional though melancholy fame, as the
+last appearance of the great painter in public, and the possible
+proximate cause of his death. To him, as aposentador-mayor, were
+confided all the decorations and arrangements of this costly and
+fatiguing pageant: he was also to find lodging on the road for
+the king and the court; and some idea of the magnitude of his
+official cares may be derived from the fact, that three thousand
+five hundred mules, eighty-two horses, seventy coaches, and seventy
+baggage-waggons, formed the train that followed the monarch out of
+Madrid. On the 28th of June the court returned to Madrid, and on the
+6th of August its inimitable painter expired.
+
+The merits of Velasquez are now generally appreciated in England;
+and the popular voice would, we think, ratify the enthusiastic yet
+sober dictum of Wilkie, "In painting an intelligent portrait he
+is nearly unrivalled." Yet we have seen how he could rise to the
+highest subject of mortal imagination in the Crucifixion; and the
+one solitary naked Venus, which Spanish art in four hundred years
+produced, is his. Mr Stirling, though he mentions this picture
+in the body of his book, assigns it no place in his valuable and
+laboriously compiled catalogue, probably because he was unable to
+trace its later adventures. Brought to England in 1814, and sold
+for £500 to Mr Morritt, it still remains the gem of the library
+at Rokeby. Long may the Spanish queen of love preside over the
+beautiful bowers of that now classic retreat! We sum up our notice
+of Velasquez in Mr Stirling's words:--"No artist ever followed
+nature with more catholic fidelity; his cavaliers are as natural
+as his boors; he neither refined the vulgar, nor vulgarised
+the refined.... We know the persons of Philip IV. and Olivarez
+as familiarly as if we had paced the avenues of the Pardo with
+Digby and Howell, and perhaps we think more favourably of their
+characters. In the portraits of the monarch and the minister,
+
+    'The bounding steeds they pompously bestride,
+    Share with their lords the pleasure and the pride,'
+
+and enable us to judge of the Cordovese horse of that day, as
+accurately as if we had lived with the horse-breeding Carthusians of
+the Betis. And this painter of kings and horses has been compared,
+as a painter of landscapes, to Claude; as a painter of low life,
+to Teniers: his fruit-pieces equal those of Sanchez Cotan or Van
+Kessel; his poultry might contest the prize with the fowls of
+Hondekooter on their own dunghill; and his dogs might do battle with
+the dogs of Sneyders."--(Vol. ii. p. 686.)
+
+While Velasquez, at the height of his glory, was painting his
+magnificent Crucifixion, a young lad was displaying hasty sketches
+and immature daubs to the venders of old clothes, pots, and
+vegetables, the gipsies and mendicant friars that frequented the
+Feria, or weekly fair held in the market-place of All Saints, in
+the beautiful and religious city of Seville. This was Bartolemè
+Estevan Murillo, who, having studied for some time under Juan
+del Castillo, on that master's removal to Cadiz in 1640, betook
+himself to this popular resource of all needy Sevillian painters.
+Struck, however, by the great improvement which travel had wrought
+in the style of Pedro de Moya, who revisited Seville in 1642, the
+young painter scraped up money sufficient to carry him to Madrid,
+and, as he hoped, to Rome. But the kindness of Velasquez provided
+him a lodging in his own house, and opened the galleries of the
+Alcazar and the Escurial to his view. Here he pursued his studies
+unremittingly, and, as he thought, with a success that excused the
+trouble and expense of an Italian pilgrimage. Returning, therefore,
+in 1645 to Seville, he commenced that career which led him, among
+the painters of Spain, to European renown, second only to that of
+Velasquez. The Franciscans of his native city have the credit of
+first employing his young genius, and the eleven large pictures
+with which he adorned their convent-walls at once established his
+reputation and success. These were painted in what is technically
+called his first or cold style; this was changed before 1650 into
+his second, or warm style, which in its turn yielded to his last,
+or vapoury style. So warm, indeed, had his colouring become, that
+a Spanish critic, in the nervous phraseology of Spain, declared
+his flesh-tints were now painted with blood and milk. In this style
+did he paint for the chapter The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, in
+which the ladies of Seville admired and envied the roundness of a
+ministering maiden's naked arm; and a large picture of St Anthony
+of Padua, which still adorns the walls of the cathedral baptistery.
+Of this famous gem some curious stories are told: Don Fernando
+Farfan, for instance, relates that birds had been seen attempting
+to perch upon some lilies in a vase by the side of the kneeling
+saint; and Monsieur Viardot (_Musées d'Espagne_, p. 146) informs us
+that a reverend canon, who showed him the picture, recounted how
+that, in 1813, the Duke of Wellington offered to purchase it for as
+many gold onzas as would cover its surface; while, in 1843, Captain
+Widdrington was assured that a lord had expressed his readiness
+to give £40,000 for the bird-deluding picture. The belief in the
+gullibility of travellers is truly remarkable and wide-spread; thus,
+at Genoa, in 1839, our excellent cicerone gratified us with the
+information, that, sixteen years before, the English Duke Balfour
+had in vain offered £1600 for Canova's beautiful basso-relievo of
+the Virgin Clasping the Corpse of our Saviour, which graces the
+ugly church of the poor-house in that superb city. In 1658, Murillo
+laboured to establish a public academy of art; and, in spite of the
+jealousies and contentions of rival artists, on the 1st of January
+1660, he witnessed its inauguration. The rules were few and simple;
+but the declaration to be signed by each member on admission would
+rather astonish the directors of the Royal Academy in London. We
+would recommend it to the consideration of those Protestant divines
+who are so anxious to devise a new test of heresy in the Church
+of England: thus it ran--"Praised be the most holy sacrament, and
+the pure conception of Our Lady." Nothing, perhaps, can show more
+strongly the immense influence religion exercised on art in Spain
+than the second clause of this declaration. It was the favourite
+dogma of Seville: for hundreds of years sermons were preached, books
+were written, pictures painted, legends recorded in honour of Our
+Lady's spotless conception; and round many a picture by Cano, or
+Vargas, or Joanes, is yet to be read the magic words that had power
+to electrify a populace,--"Sin Pecado Concebida." The institution
+thus commenced flourished for many years, and answered the generous
+expectations of its illustrious founder.
+
+The attention of the pious Don Miguel Mañara de Leca, the
+"benevolent Howard" of Seville, was attracted about 1661 to the
+pitiable state of the brotherhood of the holy charity, and its
+hospital of San Jorge: he resolved to restore it to its pristine
+glory and usefulness; and, persevering against all discouragements
+and difficulties, in less than twenty years, at an expense of
+half-a-million of ducats, he accomplished his pious design. For the
+restored church Murillo painted eleven pictures, of which eight,
+according to Mr Stirling, are the finest works of the master.
+Five of these were carried off by plundering Soult, but "the two
+colossal compositions of Moses, and the Loaves and Fishes, still
+hang beneath the cornices whence springs the dome of the church,
+"like ripe oranges on the bough where they originally budded." Long
+may they cover their native "walls, and enrich, as well as adorn,
+the institution of Mañara! In the picture of the great miracle of
+the Jewish dispensation, the Hebrew prophet stands beside the rock
+in Horeb, with hands pressed together, and uplifted eyes, thanking
+the Almighty for the stream which has just gushed forth at the
+stroke of his mysterious rod.... As a composition, this wonderful
+picture can hardly be surpassed. The rock, a huge, isolated, brown
+crag, much resembles in form, size, and colour, that which is still
+pointed out as the rock of Moses, by the Greek monks of the convent
+of St Catherine, in the real wilderness of Horeb. It forms the
+central object, rising to the top of the canvass, and dividing it
+into two unequal portions. In front of the rock, the eye at once
+singles out the erect figure of the prophet standing forward from
+the throng; and the lofty emotion of that great leader, looking with
+gratitude to heaven, is finely contrasted with the downward regards
+of the multitude, forgetful of the Giver in the anticipation or
+the enjoyment of the gift. Each head and figure is an elaborate
+study; each countenance has a distinctive character, and even of
+the sixteen vessels brought to the spring, no two are alike in
+form."--(Vol. ii. p. 859.) But Cean Bermudez, who enjoyed the
+privilege of seeing all these eight masterpieces hanging together
+in their own sacred home, preferred The Prodigal's Return, and St
+Elizabeth of Hungary--with whose touching history the eloquent
+pens of the Count Montalembert and Mr A. Phillipps have made us
+familiar--to all the rest.
+
+The Franciscan convent, without the city walls, was yet more
+fortunate than the hospital of Mañara, for it possessed upwards
+of twenty of this religious painter's works. Now, not one remains
+to dignify the ruined halls and deserted cloisters of that once
+magnificent convent: but seventeen of these pictures are preserved
+in the Seville Museum; among them Murillo's own favourite--that
+which he used to call "his own picture"--the charity of St Thomas
+of Villanueva. In 1678, Murillo painted three pictures for the
+Hospital de los Venerables, two of which, the Mystery of the
+Immaculate Conception, and St Peter Weeping, were placed in the
+chapel. "The third adorned the refectory, and presented to the
+gaze of the Venerables, during their repasts, the blessed Virgin
+enthroned on clouds, with her divine Babe, who, from a basket borne
+by angels, bestowed bread on three aged priests." These were nearly
+his last works; for the art he so loved was now about to destroy her
+favourite son: he was mounting a scaffolding to paint the higher
+parts of a great altar-piece for the Capuchin church at Cadiz,
+representing the espousals of St Catherine, when he stumbled, and
+ruptured himself so severely, as to die of the injury. On the 3d of
+April 1682, he expired in the arms of his old and faithful friend,
+Don Justino Neve, and was buried in the parish church of St. Cruz, a
+stone slab with his name, a skeleton and "Vive moriturus," marking
+the spot--until the "Vandal" French destroyed the last resting-place
+of that great painter, whose works they so unscrupulously
+appropriated. Was the last Lord of Petworth aware of this short
+epitaph, when he caused to be inscribed on the beautiful memorial to
+his ancestors which adorns St Thomas's Chapel in Petworth Church,
+the prophetic,[18] solemn words--"Mortuis moriturus?"
+
+  [18] He died the year following.
+
+We have ranked Murillo next to Velasquez: doubtless there are many
+in England who would demur to this classification; and we own there
+are charms in the style of the great religious painter, which it
+would be vain to look for in any other master. In tenderness of
+devotion, and a certain soft sublimity, his religious pictures are
+unmatched; while in colouring, Cean Bermudez most justly says--"All
+the peculiar beauties of the school of Andalusia--its happy use of
+red and brown tints, the local colours of the region, its skill in
+the management of drapery, its distant prospects of bare sierras
+and smiling vales, its clouds, light and diaphanous as in nature,
+its flowers and transparent waters, and its harmonious depth and
+richness of tone--are to be found in full perfection in the works of
+Murillo."--(Vol. ii. p. 903.) Mr Stirling draws a distinction, and
+we think with reason, between the favourite Virgin of the Immaculate
+Conception and the other Virgins of Murillo: the =êthos= of the
+former is far more elevated and spiritualised than that of any
+of the latter class; but, even in his most ordinary and mundane
+delineation of the sinless Mary, how sweet, and pure, and holy, as
+well as beautiful, does our Lord's mother appear! But perhaps it
+is as a painter of children that Murillo is most appreciated in
+England; nor can we wonder that such should be the case, when we
+remember what the pictures are which have thus impressed Murillo
+on the English mind. The St John Baptist with the Lamb, in the
+National Gallery; Lord Westminster's picture of the same subject;
+the Baroness de Rothschild's gem at Gunnersbury, Our Lord, the Good
+Shepherd, as a Child: Lord Wemyss's hardly inferior repetition of
+it; the picture of our Lord as a child, holding in his hands the
+crown of thorns, in the College at Glasgow; with the other pictures,
+in private collections, of our Lord and St John as children, have
+naturally made Murillo to be regarded in England as emphatically
+the painter of children: and how exquisite is his conception of the
+Divine Babe and His saintly precursor! what a sublime consciousness
+of power, what an expression of boundless love, are seen in the face
+of Him who was yet
+
+                    "a little child,
+      Taught by degrees to pray
+    By father dear, and mother mild,
+      Instructed day by day."
+
+The religious school of Spanish painting reached its acmé in
+Murillo; and, at the risk of being accounted heterodox, we must,
+in summing up his merits, express our difference from Mr Stirling
+in one respect, and decline to rank the great Sevillian after any
+of the Italian masters. Few of Murillo's drawings are known to be
+in existence. Mr Stirling gives a list of such as he has been able
+to discover, nearly all of which are at the Louvre. We believe,
+in addition to those possessed by the British Museum and Mr Ford,
+there are two in the collection at Belvoir Castle: one, a Virgin
+and Child; the other, an old man--possibly St Francis--receiving a
+flower from a naked child.
+
+After Velasquez and Murillo, it may seem almost impertinent to talk
+of the merits of other Spanish painters; yet Zurbaran and Cano,
+Ribera and Coello, demand at least a passing notice. Francisco
+de Zurbaran, often called the Caravaggio of Spain, was born in
+Estremadura in 1598. His father, observing his turn for painting,
+sent him to the school of Roelas, at Seville. Here, for nearly a
+quarter of a century, he continued painting for the magnificent
+cathedral, and the churches and religious houses of that fair city.
+About 1625, he painted, for the college of St Thomas Aquinas,
+an altar-piece, regarded by all judges as the finest of all his
+works. It represents the angelic doctor ascending into the heavens,
+where, on clouds of glory, the blessed Trinity and the Virgin wait
+to receive him; below, in mid air, sit the four doctors of the
+Church; and on the ground are kneeling the Emperor Charles V.,
+with the founder of the college, Archbishop Diego de Deza, and a
+train of ecclesiastics. Mr Stirling says of this singular picture,
+"The colouring throughout is rich and effective, and worthy the
+school of Roelas; the heads are all of them admirable studies;
+the draperies of the doctors and ecclesiastics are magnificent
+in breadth and amplitude of fold; the imperial mantle is painted
+with Venetian splendour; and the street view, receding in the
+centre of the canvass, is admirable for its atmospheric depth and
+distance."--(Vol. ii. p. 770.) In 1650, Philip IV. invited him to
+Madrid, and commanded him to paint ten pictures, representing the
+labours of Hercules, for a room at Buen-retiro. Almost numberless
+were the productions of his facile pencil, which, however, chiefly
+delighted to represent, the legends of the Carthusian cloister,
+and portray the gloomy features and sombre vestments of monks and
+friars; yet those who have seen his picture of the Virgin with the
+Infant Saviour and St John, at Stafford House, will agree with Mr
+Stirling that, "unrivalled in such subjects of dark fanaticism,
+Zurbaran could also do ample justice to the purest and most lovely
+of sacred themes."--(Vol. 11. p. 775)
+
+Alonzo Cano, born at Grenada in 1601, was, like Mrs Malaprop's
+Cerberus, "three gentlemen in one;" that is, he was a great painter,
+a great sculptor, and a great architect. As a painter, his powers
+are shown in his full-length picture of the Blessed Virgin, with
+the infant Saviour asleep on her knees, now in the Queen of Spain's
+gallery; in six large works, representing passages in the life
+of Mary Magdalene, which still adorn the great brick church of
+Getafe, a small village near Madrid; and in his famous picture of
+Our Lady of Belem, in the cathedral of Seville. Mr Stirling gives a
+beautifully-executed print of this last Madonna, which, "in serene,
+celestial beauty, is excelled by no image of the Blessed Virgin ever
+devised in Spain."--(P. 803.)
+
+Cano was, perhaps, even greater in sculpture than in painting;
+and so fond of the former art, that, when wearied of pencil and
+brush, he would call for his chisel, and work at a statue by way
+of rest to his hands. On one of these occasions, a pupil venturing
+to remark, that to substitute a mallet for a pencil was an odd sort
+of repose, was silenced by Cano's philosophical reply,--"Blockhead,
+don't you perceive that to create form and relief on a flat surface
+is a greater labour than to fashion one shape into another?" An
+image of the Blessed Virgin in the parish church at Lebrija, and
+another in the sacristy of the Grenada cathedral, are said to
+be triumphs of Spanish painted statuary.--(Vol. iii., p. 805)
+After a life of strange vicissitudes, in the course of which, on
+suspicion of having murdered his wife, he underwent the examination
+by torture, he died, honoured and beloved for his magnificent
+charities, and religious hatred of the Jews, in his native city, on
+the 3d of October 1667.
+
+The old Valencian town of Xativa claims the honour of producing
+Josè de Ribera, el Spagnoletto; but though Spain gave him birth,
+Italy gave him instruction, wealth, fame; and although in style he
+is thoroughly Spanish, we feel some difficulty in writing of him as
+belonging wholly to the Spanish school of art, so completely Italian
+was he by nurture, long residence, and in his death.
+
+Bred up in squalid penury, he appears to have looked upon the world
+as not his friend, and in his subsequent good fortunes to have
+revelled in describing with ghastly minuteness, and repulsive force,
+all "the worst ills that flesh is heir to." We well recollect the
+horror with which we gazed spell-bound on a series of his horrors
+in the Louvre--faugh! At Gosford House are a series of Franciscan
+monks, such as only a Spanish cloister could contain, painted with
+an evident fidelity to nature, and the minutest details of dress
+that is almost offensive--even the black dirt under the unwashed
+thumb nail is carefully represented by his odiously-accurate and
+powerful pencil.
+
+    "Non ragioniam di lor
+     Ma guada e passa."
+
+Had the bold buccaneers of the seventeenth century required the
+services of a painter to perpetuate the memory of their inventive
+brutality, and inconceivable atrocities, they would have found in El
+Spagnoletto an artist capable of delineating the agonies of their
+victims, and by taste and disposition not indisposed to their way of
+life. Yet in his own peculiar line he was unequalled, and his merits
+as a painter will always be recognised by every judge of art. He
+died at Naples, the scene of his triumphs, in 1656.
+
+The name of Claudio Coello is associated with the Escurial, and
+should have been introduced into the sketch we were giving of its
+artists, when the mighty reputation of Velasquez and Murillo broke
+in upon our order. He was born at Madrid about the middle of the
+seventeenth century, and studied in the school of the younger Rigi.
+In 1686 he succeeded Herrera as painter in ordinary to Charles
+II. This monarch had erected an altar in the great sacristy of
+the Escurial, to the miraculous bleeding wafer known as the Santa
+Forma; and on the death of its designer, Rigi, Coello was called
+upon to paint a picture that should serve as a veil for the host. On
+a canvass six yards high, by three wide, he executed an excellent
+work, representing the king and his court adoring the miraculous
+wafer, which is held aloft by the prior. This picture established
+his reputation, and in 1691 the chapter of Toledo, still the great
+patrons of art, appointed him painter to their cathedral. Coello was
+a most careful and painstaking painter, and his pictures, says our
+author, (vol. iii., p. 1018) "with much of Cano's grace of drawing,
+have also somewhat of the rich tones of Murillo, and the magical
+effect of Velasquez." He died, it is said, of disappointment at the
+success of his foreign rival, Luca Giordano, in 1693.
+
+With Charles II. passed away the Spanish sceptre from the house of
+Austria, nor, according to Mr Stirling, would the Genius of Painting
+remain to welcome the intrusive Bourbons:--
+
+    Old times were changed, old manners gone,
+    A stranger filled the Philips' throne;
+    And art, neglected and oppressed,
+    Wished to be with them, and at rest.
+
+But we must say that Mr Stirling, in his honest indignation against
+France and Frenchmen, has exaggerated the demerits of the Bourbon
+kings. Spanish art had been steadily declining for years before
+they, with ill-omened feet, crossed the Pyrenees. It was no Bourbon
+prince that brought Luca da Presto from Naples to teach the painters
+of Spain "how to be content with their faults, and get rid of their
+scruples;" and if the schools of Castile and Andalusia had ceased
+to produce such artists as those whose praises Mr Stirling has so
+worthily recorded, it appears scant justice to lay the blame on the
+new royal family. _Pictor nascitur, non fit_--no, not even by the
+wielders of the Spanish sceptre. In a desire to patronise art, and
+in munificence towards its possessors, Philip V., Ferdinand VI.,
+and Charles III., fell little short of their Hapsburg predecessors,
+but they had no longer the same material to work upon. The post
+which Titian had filled could find no worthier holder under Charles
+III., than Rafael Mengs, whom not only ignorant Bourbons, but the
+_conoscenti_ of Europe regarded as the mighty Venetian's equal;
+and Philip V. not only invited Hovasse, Vanloo, Procaccini, and
+other foreign artists to his court, but added the famous collection
+of marbles belonging to Christina of Sweden to those acquired by
+Velasquez, at an expense of twelve thousand doubloons. To him, also,
+is due the completion of the palace of Aranjuez, and the design
+of La Granja; nor, when fire destroyed the Alcazar, did Philip V.
+spare his diminished treasures, in raising up on its time-hallowed
+site a palace which, in Mr Stirling's own words, "in spite of its
+narrowed proportions, is still one of the largest and most imposing
+in Europe."--(Vol. iii., p. 1163.)
+
+Ferdinand VI. built, at the enormous expense of nineteen millions
+of reals the convent of nuns of the order of St Vincent de Sales,
+and employed in its decoration all the artistic talent that Spain
+then could boast of. Nor can he be blamed if that was but little;
+for if royal patronage can produce painters of merit, this monarch,
+by endowing the Academy of St Ferdinand with large revenues, and
+housing it in a palace, would have revived the glories of Spanish
+art.
+
+His successor, Charles III., an artist of some repute himself,
+sincerely loved and generously fostered the arts. While King of the
+Two Sicilies, he had dragged into the light of day the long-lost
+wonders of Herculaneum and Pompeii; and when called to the throne
+of Spain and the Indies, he manifested his sense of the obligations
+due from royalty to art, by conferring fresh privileges on the
+Academy of St Ferdinand, and founding two new academies, one in
+Valencia, the other in Mexico. If Mengs and Tiepolo, and other
+mediocrities, were the best living painters his patronage could
+discover, it is evident from his ultra-protectionist decree against
+the exportation of Murillo's, pictures, that he fully appreciated
+the works of the mighty dead; and, had his spirit animated Spanish
+officials, many a masterpiece that now mournfully, and without
+meaning, graces the Hermitage at St Petersburg, or the Louvre at
+Paris, would still be hanging over the altar, or adorning the
+refectory for which it was painted, at Seville or Toledo. Even
+Charles IV., "the drivelling tool of Godoy," was a collector of
+pictures, and founder of an academy. In his disastrous reign
+flourished Francisco Goya y Lucientes, the last Spanish painter who
+has obtained a niche in the Temple of Fame. Though portraits and
+caricatures were his forte, in that venerable museum of all that is
+beautiful in Spanish Art--the cathedral at Toledo--is to be seen a
+fine religious production of his pencil, representing the Betrayal
+of our Lord. But he loved painting at, better than for the church;
+and those who have examined and wondered at the grotesque satirical
+carvings of the stalls in the cathedral at Manchester, will be
+able to form some idea of Goya's anti-monkish caricatures. Not
+Lord Mark Kerr, when giving the rein to his exuberant fancy, ever
+devised more ludicrous or repulsive "monsters" than this strange
+successor to the religious painters of orthodox Spain. But when
+the vice, and intrigues, and imbecility of the royal knives and
+fools, whom his ready graver had exposed to popular ridicule, had
+yielded to the unsupportable tyranny of French invaders, the same
+indignant spirit that hurried the water-carriers of Madrid into
+unavailing conflict with the troops of Murat, guided his caustic
+hand against the fierce oppressors of his country; and, while
+Gilray was exciting the angry contempt of all true John Bulls at
+the impudence of the little Corsican upstart, Goya was appealing
+to his countrymen's bitter experience of the tender mercies of the
+French invaders. He died at Bordeaux in 1828. Mr Stirling closes his
+labours with a graceful tribute to those of Cean Bermudez, "the able
+and indefatigable historian of Spanish art, to whose rich harvest of
+valuable materials I have ventured to add the fruit of my own humble
+gleanings--" a deserved tribute, and most handsomely rendered. But,
+before we dismiss this pleasant theme of Spanish art, we would add
+one artist more to the catalogue of Spanish painters--albeit, that
+artist is a Bourbon!
+
+Near the little town of Azpeitia, in Biscay, stands the magnificent
+college of the Jesuits, built on the birth-place of Ignatius Loyola.
+Here, in a low room at the top of the building, are shown a piece
+of the bed in which he died, and his autograph; and here among its
+cool corridors and ever-playing fountains, in 1839, was living the
+royal painter--the Infante Don Sebastian. A strange spectacle,
+truly, did that religious house present in the summer of 1839:
+wild Biscayan soldiers and dejected Jesuits, red boynas and black
+cowls, muskets and crucifixes, oaths and benedictions, crossed and
+mingled with each other in picturesque, though profane disorder;
+and here, released from the cares of his military command, and free
+to follow the bent of his disposition, the ex-commander-in-chief
+of the Carlist forces was quietly painting altar-pieces, and
+dashing off caricatures. In the circular church which, of exquisite
+proportions, forms the centre of the vast pile, and is beautiful
+with fawn-coloured marble and gold, hung a large and well-painted
+picture of his production; and those who are curious in such matters
+may see a worse specimen of his royal highness's skill in Pietro
+di Cortona's church of St Luke at Rome. On one side of the altar
+is Canova's beautiful statue of Religion preaching; on the other
+the Spanish prince's large picture of the Crucifixion; but, alas!
+it must be owned that the inspiration which guided Velasquez to
+his conception of that sublime subject was denied to the royal
+amateur. In the academy of St Luke, adjoining the church, is a
+well-executed bust of Canova, by the Spanish sculptor Alvarez. We
+suspect that, like Goya, the Infante would do better to stick to
+caricature, in which branch of art many a pleasant story is told of
+his proficiency. Seated on a rocky plateau, which, if commanding
+a view of Bilbao and its defenders, was also exposed to their
+fire, 'tis said the royal artist would amuse himself and his staff
+with drawing the uneasy movements, and disturbed countenances, of
+some unfortunate London reporters, who, attached to the Carlist
+headquarters, were invited by the commander-in-chief to attend his
+person, and enjoy the perilous honour of his company. Be this,
+however, as it may, we think we have vindicated the claim of one
+living Bourbon prince to be admitted into the roll of Spanish
+painters in the next edition of the _Annals_.
+
+In these tumultuous days, when
+
+  "Royal heads are haunted like a maukin,"
+
+over half the Continent, and even in steady England grave
+merchants and wealthy tradesmen are counselling together on how
+little their sovereign can be clothed and fed, and all things are
+being brought to the vulgar test of _L. s. d._, it is pleasant to
+turn to the artistic annals of a once mighty empire like Spain, and
+see how uniformly, for more than five hundred years, its monarchs
+have been the patrons, always munificent, generally discriminating,
+of the fine arts--how, from the days of Isabella the Catholic, to
+those of Isabella the Innocent, the Spanish sceptre has courted,
+not disdained, the companionship of the pencil and the chisel.
+Mr Stirling has enriched his pages with many an amusing anecdote
+illustrative of this royal love of art, and suggestive, alas! of
+the painful reflection, that the future annalist of the artists of
+England will find great difficulty in scraping together half-a-dozen
+stories of a similar kind. With the one striking exception of
+Charles I., we know not who among our sovereigns can be compared,
+as a patron of art, to any of the Spanish sovereigns, from Charles
+V. of the Austrian to Charles III. of the Bourbon race. Lord Hervey
+has made notorious George II's ignorance and dislike of art. Among
+the many noble and kingly qualities of his grandson, we fear a
+love and appreciation of art may not be reckoned; and although, in
+his intercourse with men of genius, George IV. was gracious and
+generous, what can be said in favour of his taste and discernment?
+The previous life of William IV., the mature age at which he
+ascended the throne, and the troublous character of his reign,
+explain why art received but slight countenance from the court of
+the frank and noble-hearted Sailor Prince; but we turn with hope to
+the future. The recent proceedings in the Court of Chancery have
+made public a fact, already known to many, that her Majesty wields
+with skilful hand a graceful graver, and the Christmas plays acted
+at Windsor are a satisfactory proof that English art and genius are
+not exiled from England's palaces. The professors, then, of that art
+which Velasquez and Rubens, Murillo and Vandyck practised, shall yet
+see that the Crown of England is not only in ancient legal phrase,
+"the Fountain of Honour," but that it loves to direct its grateful
+streams in their honoured direction. Free was the intercourse,
+unfettered the conversation, independent the relations, between
+Titian and Charles V., Velasquez and Philip IV.; let us hope that
+Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, will yet witness a revival
+of those palmy days of English art, when Inigo Jones, and Vandyck,
+and Cowley, Waller, and Ben Jonson, shed a lustre on the art-loving
+court of England!
+
+The extracts we have given from Mr Stirling's work will have
+sufficiently shown the scope of the _Annals_, and the spirit and
+style in which they are written. There is no tedious, inflexible,
+though often unmanageable leading idea, or theory of art, running
+through these lively volumes. In the introduction, whatever is to
+be said on the philosophy of Spanish art is carefully collected,
+and the reader is thenceforward left at liberty to carry on the
+conclusions of the introduction with him in his perusal of the
+_Annals_, or to drop them at the threshold. We would, however,
+strongly recommend all who desire to appreciate Spanish art, never
+to forget that she owes all her beauty and inspiration to Spanish
+nature and Spanish religion. Remember this, O holyday tourist along
+the Andalusian coast, or more adventurous explorer of Castile and
+Estremadura, and you will not be disappointed with her productions.
+Mr Stirling has not contented himself with doing ample justice to
+the great painters, and slurring over the comparatively unknown
+artists, whose merits are in advance of their fame, but has embraced
+in his careful view the long line of Spanish artists who have
+flourished or faded in the course of nearly eight hundred years; and
+he has accomplished this difficult task, not in the plodding spirit
+of a Dryasdust, or with the curt dulness of a catalogue-monger,
+but with the discriminating good taste of an accomplished English
+gentleman, and in a style at once racy and rhetorical. There are
+whole pages in the _Annals_ as full of picturesque beauty as the
+scenes or events they describe, and of melody, as an Andalusian
+summer's eve; indeed, the vigorous fancy and genial humour of
+the author have, on some few occasions, led him to stray from
+those strict rules of =aidôs=, which we are old-fashioned enough
+to wish always observed. But where the charms and merits are so
+great, and so many, and the defects so few and so small, we may
+safely leave the discovery of the latter to the critical reader, and
+satisfy our conscience by expressing a hope that, when Mr Stirling
+next appears in the character of author--a period not remote, we
+sincerely trust--he will have discarded those few scentless flowers
+from his literary garden, and present us with a bouquet--
+
+    "Full of sweet buds and roses,
+     A box where sweets compacted lie."
+
+But if he never again put pen to paper, in these annals of the
+artists of Spain he has given to the reading public a work which,
+for utility of design, patience of research, and grace of language,
+merits and has won the highest honours of authorship.
+
+
+
+
+THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED.[19]
+
+  [19] _The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History, Affinities, and
+  Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other Extinct Birds of the
+  Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon._ By H. E. STRICKLAND,
+  M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean Society, &c., and
+  A. G. MELVILLE, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. One vol., royal quarto:
+  London, 1848.
+
+
+What was the Dodo? When was the Dodo? Where is the Dodo? are all
+questions, the first more especially, which it is fully more easy
+to ask than answer. Whoever has looked through books on natural
+history--for example, that noted but now scarce instructor of our
+early youth, the _Three Hundred Animals_--must have observed a
+somewhat ungainly creature, with a huge curved bill, a shortish
+neck, scarcely any wings, a plumy tuft upon the back--considerably
+on the off-side, though pretending to be a tail,--and a very
+shapeless body, extraordinarily large and round about the hinder
+end. This anomalous animal being covered with feathers, and having,
+in addition to the other attributes above referred to, only two
+legs, has been, we think justly, regarded as a bird, and has
+accordingly been named the Dodo. But why it should be so named
+is another of the many mysterious questions, which require to be
+considered in the history of this unaccountable creature. No one
+alleges, nor can we conceive it possible, that it claims kindred
+with either of the only two human beings we ever heard of who
+bore the name: "And after him (Adino the Eznite) was Eleazar the
+son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David,
+when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together
+to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away." Our only other
+human Dodo belonged to the fair sex, and was the mother of the
+famous Zoroaster, who flourished in the days of Darius Hystaspes,
+and brought back the Persians to their ancient fire-worship, from
+the adoration of the twinkling stars. The name appears to have
+been dropped by both families, as if they were somewhat ashamed of
+it; and we feel assured that of such of our readers as admit that
+Zoroaster must have had a mother of some sort, very few really
+remember now-a-days that her name was Dodo. There were no baptismal
+registers in those times; or, if such existed, they were doubtless
+consumed in the "great fire"--a sort of periodical, it may be
+providential, mode of shortening the record, which seems to occur
+from time to time in all civilised countries.
+
+But while the creature in question,--we mean the feathered
+biped--has been continuously presented to view in those "vain
+repetitions" which unfortunately form the mass of our information in
+all would-be popular works on natural history, we had actually long
+been at a stand-still in relation to its essential attributes--the
+few competent authorities who had given out their opinion upon this,
+as many thought, stereotyped absurdity, being so disagreed among
+themselves as to make confusion worse confounded. The case, indeed,
+seemed desperate; and had it not been that we always entertained a
+particular regard for old Clusius, (of whom by-and-by,) and could
+not get over the fact that a Dodo's head existed in the Ashmolean
+Museum, Oxford, and a Dodo's foot in the British Museum, London,
+we would willingly have indulged the thought that the entire Dodo
+was itself a dream. But, shaking off the cowardly indolence which
+would seek to shirk the investigation of so great a question, let us
+now inquire into a piece of ornithological biography, which seemed
+so singularly to combine the familiar with the fabulous. Thanks
+to an accomplished and persevering naturalist of our own day--one
+of the most successful and assiduous inquirers of the younger
+generation--we have now all the facts, and most of the fancies,
+laid before us in a splendid royal quarto volume, just published,
+with numerous plates, devoted to the history and illustration of
+the "Dodo and its Kindred." It was, in truth, the latter term that
+cheered our heart, and led us again towards a subject which had
+previously produced the greatest despondency; for we had always,
+though most erroneously, fancied that the great misformed lout of
+our _Three Hundred Animals_ was all alone in the wide world, unable
+to provide for himself, (and so, fortunately, without a family,)
+and had never, in truth, had either predecessors or posterity. Mr
+Strickland, however, has brought together the _disjecta membra_ of
+a family group, showing not only fathers and mothers, sisters and
+brothers, but cousins, and kindred of all degrees. Their sedate and
+somewhat sedentary mode of life is probably to be accounted for,
+not so much by their early habits as their latter end. Their legs
+are short, their wings scarcely existant, but they are prodigiously
+large and heavy in the hinder-quarters; and organs of flight would
+have been but a vain thing for safety, as they could not, in such
+wooded countries as these creatures inhabited, have been made
+commensurate with the uplifting of such solid bulk, placed so far
+behind that centre of gravity where other wings are worked. We can
+now sit down in Mr Strickland's company, to discuss the subject, not
+only tranquilly, but with a degree of cheerfulness which we have not
+felt for many a day: thanks to his kindly consideration of the Dodo
+and "its kindred."
+
+The geographical reader will remember that to the eastward of the
+great, and to ourselves nearly unknown, island of Madagascar, there
+lies a small group of islands of volcanic origin, which, though not
+exactly contiguous among themselves, are yet nearer to each other
+than to the greater island just named, and which is interposed
+between them and the coast of Southern Africa. They are named
+Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius, or the Isle of France. There is
+proof that not fewer than four distinct species of large-bodied,
+short-winged birds, of the Dodo type, were their inhabitants in
+comparatively recent times, and have now become utterly extinct. We
+say utterly, because neither proof nor vestige of their existence
+elsewhere has been at any time afforded; and the comparatively
+small extent, and now peopled state of the islands in question,
+(where they are no longer known,) make the continuous and unobserved
+existence of these birds, so conspicuous in size and slow of foot,
+impossible.
+
+Now, it is this recent and total extinction which renders the
+subject one of more than ordinary interest. Death is an admitted
+law of nature, in respect to the _individuals_ of all species.
+Geology, "dragging at each remove a lengthened chain" has shown how,
+at different and distant eras, innumerable tribes have perished
+and been supplanted, or at least replaced, by other groups of
+species, entire races, better fitted for the great climatic and
+other physical changes, which our earth's surface has undergone
+from time to time. How these changes were brought about, many,
+with more or less success, (generally less,) have tried to say.
+Organic remains--that is, the fossilised remnants of ancient
+species--sometimes indicate a long continuance of existence,
+generation after generation living in tranquillity, and finally
+sinking in a quiet grave; while other examples show a sudden and
+violent death, in tortuous and excited action, as if they had been
+almost instantaneously overwhelmed and destroyed by some great
+catastrophe.
+
+Several local extinctions of elsewhere existing species are known
+to naturalists--such as those of the beaver, the bear, and the
+wolf, which no longer occur in Great Britain, though historically
+known, as well as organically proved by recent remains, to have
+lived and died among us. Their extinction was slow and gradual,
+and resulted entirely from the inroads which the human race--that
+is, the increase of population, and the progress of agriculture
+and commerce--necessarily made upon their numbers, which thus
+became "_few_ by degrees, and beautifully less." The beaver might
+have carried on business well enough, in his own quiet way,
+although frequently incommoded by the love of peltry on the part
+of a hat-wearing people; but it is clear that no man with a small
+family, and a few respectable farm-servants, could either permit
+a large and hungry wolf to be continually peeping at midnight
+through the key-hole of the nursery, or allow a brawny bruin to
+snuff too frequently under the kitchen door, (after having hugged
+the watch-dog to death,) when the serving-maids were at supper. The
+extirpation, then, of at least two of those quondam British species
+became a work of necessity and mercy, and might have been tolerated
+even on a Sunday between sermons--especially as naturalists have it
+still in their power to study the habits of similar wild beasts, by
+no means yet extinct, in the neighbouring countries of France and
+Germany.
+
+But the death of the Dodo and its kindred is a more affecting fact,
+as involving the extinction of an entire race, root and branch, and
+proving that death is a law of the _species_, as well as of the
+individuals which compose it,--although the life of the one is so
+much more prolonged than that of the other that we can seldom obtain
+any positive proof of its extinction, except by the observance of
+geological eras. Certain other still existing species, well known
+to naturalists, may be said to be, as it were, just hovering on
+the brink of destruction. One of the largest and most remarkable
+of herbivorous animals--a species of wild cattle, the aurochs
+or European bison (_B. priscus_)--exists now only in the forest
+of Bialowicksa, from whence the Emperor of Russia has recently
+transmitted a living pair to the Zoological Society of London.
+Several kinds of birds are also evidently on their last legs. For
+example, a singular species of parrot, (_Nestor productus_,) with
+the termination of the upper mandible much attenuated, peculiar to
+Phipps's Island, near Norfolk Island, has recently ceased to exist
+there in the wild state, and is now known as a living species only
+from a few surviving specimens kept in cages, and which refuse to
+breed. The burrowing parrot from New Zealand is already on the road
+to ruin; and more than one species of that singular and wingless
+bird, called _Apteryx_, also from the last-named island, may be
+placed in the same category. Even in our own country, if the landed
+proprietors were to yield to the clamour of the Anti-Game-Law
+League, the red grouse or moor-game might cease to be, as they occur
+nowhere else on the known earth save in Britain and the Emerald Isle.
+
+The geographical distribution of animals, in general, has been
+made conformable to laws which we cannot fathom. A mysterious
+relationship exists between certain organic structures and those
+districts of the earth's surface which they inhabit. Certain
+extensive groups, in both the animal and vegetable kingdom,
+are found to be restricted to particular continents, and their
+neighbouring islands. Of some the distribution is very extensive,
+while others are totally unknown except within a limited space, such
+as some solitary isle,
+
+  "Placed far amid the melancholy main."
+
+     "In the present state of science," says Mr Strickland, "we must
+     be content to admit the existence of this law, without being
+     able to enunciate its preamble. It does _not_ imply that organic
+     distribution depends on soil and climate; for we often find a
+     perfect identity of these conditions in opposite hemispheres,
+     and in remote continents, whose faunæ and floræ are almost
+     wholly diverse. It does not imply that allied but distinct
+     organisms have been adduced, by generation or spontaneous
+     development, from the same original stock; for (to pass over
+     other objections) we find detached volcanic islets, which have
+     been ejected from beneath the ocean, (such as the Galapagos,
+     for instance,) inhabited by terrestrial forms allied to those
+     of the nearest continent, though hundreds of miles distant, and
+     evidently never connected with them. But this fact may indicate
+     that the Creator, in forming new organisms to discharge the
+     functions required from time to time by the ever vacillating
+     balance of nature, has thought fit to preserve the regularity
+     of the system by modifying the types of structure already
+     established in the adjacent localities, rather than to proceed
+     _per saltum_ by introducing forms of more foreign aspect."
+
+In conformity with this relation between geographical distribution
+and organic structure, it has been ascertained that a small portion
+of the indigenous animals and plants of the islands of Rodriguez,
+Bourbon, and the Isle of France, are either allied to or identical
+with the productions of continental Africa, a larger portion with
+those of Madagascar, while certain species are altogether peculiar
+to the insular group above named.
+
+     "And as these three islands form a detached cluster, as compared
+     to other lands, so do we find in them a peculiar group of birds,
+     specifically different in each island, yet allied together in
+     their general characters, and remarkably isolated from any
+     known forms in other parts of the world. These birds were of
+     large size and grotesque proportions, the wings too short and
+     feeble for flight, the plumage loose and decomposed, and the
+     general aspect suggestive of gigantic immaturity. Their history
+     is as remarkable as their origin. About two centuries ago,
+     their native isles were first colonised by man, by whom these
+     strange creatures were speedily exterminated. So rapid and so
+     complete was their extinction, that the vague descriptions given
+     of them by early navigators were long regarded as fabulous or
+     exaggerated; and these birds, almost contemporaries of our
+     great-grandfathers, became associated in the minds of many
+     persons with the griffin and the phoenix of mythological
+     antiquity."
+
+The aim and object of Mr Strickland's work is to vindicate the
+honesty of the rude voyagers of the seventeenth century; to collect
+together the scattered evidence regarding the Dodo and its kindred;
+to describe and depict the few anatomical fragments which are still
+extant of those lost species; to invite scientific travellers to
+further and more minute research; and to infer, from the authentic
+data, now in hand, the probable rank and position of these creatures
+in the scale of nature. We think he has achieved his object very
+admirably, and has produced one of the best and most interesting
+monographs with which it is our fortune to be acquainted.
+
+So far as we can see, the extension of man's more immediate
+influence and agency is the sole cause of the disappearance of
+species in modern times--at least we have no proof that any of these
+species have perished by what can be called a catastrophe: this is
+well exemplified by what we now know of the Dodo and its kindred.
+
+The islands of Mauritius and Bourbon were discovered in the
+sixteenth century, (authorities differ as to the precise period,
+which they vary from 1502 to 1545,) by Pedro Mascaregnas, a
+Portuguese, who named the latter after himself; while he called
+the former Cerne, a term applied by Pliny to an island in another
+quarter. Of this Cerne nothing definite was ascertained till the
+year 1598, when the Dutch, under Jacob Cornelius Neck, finding it
+uninhabited, took possession, and changed its name to Mauritius. In
+the narrative of the voyage, of which there are several accounts in
+different tongues, we find the following notice:--
+
+     "This island, besides being very fertile in terrestrial
+     products, feeds vast numbers of birds, such as turtle-doves,
+     which occur in such plenty that three of our men sometimes
+     captured one hundred and fifty in half a day, and might easily
+     have taken more by hand, or killed them with sticks, if we
+     had not been overloaded with the burden of them. Grey parrots
+     are also common there, and other birds, besides a large kind
+     bigger than our swans, with large heads, half of which is
+     covered with skin like a hood. These birds want wings, in
+     place of which are three or four thickish feathers. The tail
+     consists of a few slender curved feathers of a gray colour. We
+     called them _Walckvogel_, for this reason, that, the longer
+     they were boiled, the tougher and more uneatable they became.
+     Their stomachs, however, and breasts, were easy to masticate.
+     Another reason for the name was that we had an abundance of
+     turtle-doves, of a much sweeter and more agreeable flavour."--De
+     Bry's _India Orientalis_, (1601,) pars v. p. 7.
+
+These walckvogel were the birds soon afterwards called Dodos. The
+description given by Clusius, in his _Exotica_, (1605,) is chiefly
+taken from one of the published accounts of Van Neck's voyage, but
+he adds the following notice, as from personal observation:--
+
+     "After I had written down the history of this bird as well
+     as I could, I happened to see in the house of Peter Pauwius,
+     Professor of Medicine in the University of Leyden, a leg cut off
+     at the knee, and recently brought from the Mauritius. It was
+     not very long, but rather exceeded four inches from the knee
+     to the bend of the foot. Its thickness, however, was great,
+     being nearly four inches in circumference; and it was covered
+     with numerous scales, which in front were wider and yellow, but
+     smaller and dusky behind. The upper part of the toes was also
+     furnished with single broad scales, while the lower part was
+     wholly callous. The toes were rather short for so thick a leg:
+     the claws were all thick, hard, black, less than an inch long;
+     but the claw of the hind toe was longer than the rest, and
+     exceeded an inch."
+
+A Dutch navigator, Heemskerk, remained nearly three months in the
+Mauritius, on his homeward voyage in 1602; and in a published
+journal kept by Reyer Cornelisz, we read of _Wallichvogels_, and
+a variety of other game. One of Heemskerk's captains, Willem van
+West-Zanen by name, also left a journal--apparently not published
+until 1648--at which time it was edited in an enlarged form by H.
+Soeteboom. We there find repeated mention of _Dod-aarsen_ or Dodos;
+and the sailors seem to have actually revelled in these birds,
+without suffering from surfeit or nausea like Van Neck's crew. As
+this tract is very rare, and has never appeared in an English form,
+we shall avail ourselves of Mr Strickland's translation of a few
+passages bearing on the subject in question:--
+
+     "The sailors went out every day to hunt for birds and other
+     game, such as they could find on land, while they became less
+     active with their nets, hooks, and other fishing-tackle. No
+     quadrupeds occur there except cats, though our countrymen have
+     subsequently introduced goats and swine. The herons were less
+     tame than the other birds, and were difficult to procure,
+     owing to their flying amongst the thick branches of the trees.
+     They also caught birds which some name _Dod-aarsen_, others
+     _Dronten_. When Jacob Van Neck was here, these birds were called
+     _Wallich-vogels_, because even a long boiling would scarcely
+     make them tender, but they remained tough and hard, with the
+     exception of the breast and belly, which were very good; and
+     also because, from the abundance of turtle-doves which the men
+     procured, they became disgusted with dodos. The figure of these
+     birds is given in the accompanying plate: they have great heads,
+     with hoods thereon; they are without wings or tail, and have
+     only little winglets on their sides, and four or five feathers
+     behind, more elevated than the rest; they have beaks and feet,
+     and commonly, in the stomach, a stone the size of a fist....
+
+     "The dodos, with their round sterns, (for they were well
+     fattened,) were also obliged to turn tail; everything that could
+     move was in a bustle; and the fish, which had lived in peace for
+     many a year, were pursued into the deepest water-pools....
+
+     "On the 25th July, William and his sailors brought some dodos,
+     which were very fat; the whole crew made an ample meal from
+     three or four of them, and a portion remained over.... They
+     sent on board smoked fish, salted dodos, land-tortoises, and
+     other game, which supply was very acceptable. They were busy
+     for some days bringing provisions to the ship. On the 4th of
+     August, William's men brought fifty large birds on board the
+     _Bruyn-Vis_; among them were twenty-four or twenty-five dodos,
+     so large and heavy, that they could not eat any two of them for
+     dinner, and all that remained over was salted.
+
+     "Another day, Hoogeven (William's supercargo) set out from the
+     tent with four seamen, provided with sticks, nets, muskets, and
+     other necessaries for hunting. They climbed up mountain and
+     hill, roamed through forest and valley, and, during the three
+     days that they were out, they captured another half-hundred
+     of birds, including a matter of twenty dodos, all which they
+     brought on board and salted. Thus were they, and the other crews
+     in the fleet, occupied in fowling and fishing."
+
+In regard to the appellations of these birds, it is not altogether
+easy to determine the precise date at which the synonymous term
+_Dodars_, from which our name of Dodo is by some derived, was
+introduced. It seems first to occur in the journal of Willem van
+West-Zanen; but that journal, though written in 1603, appears to
+have remained unpublished till 1648, and the name may have been
+an interpolation by his editor, Soeteboom. Matelief's Journal,
+also, which makes mention of _Dodaersen_, otherwise _Dronten_, was
+written in 1606, and Van der Hagen's in 1607; but Mr Strickland has
+been unable to find an edition of either work of earlier date than
+1646, and so the occurrence of these words may be likewise due to
+the officiousness of editors. Perhaps the earliest use of the word
+Dodars may date from the publication of Verhuffen's voyage, (1613,)
+where, however, it occurs under the corrupt form of _Totersten_.
+There seems little doubt that the name of Dodo is derived from
+the Dutch root, _Dodoor_, which signifies _sluggard_, and is
+appropriate to the leisurely gait and heavy aspect of the creatures
+in question. Dodars is probably a homely or familiar phrase among
+Dutch sailors, and may be regarded as more expressive than elegant.
+Our own Sir Thomas Herbert was the first to use the name of Dodo
+in its modern form, and he tells us that it is a Portuguese word.
+_Doudo_, in that language, certainly signifies "foolish," or
+"simple," and might have been well applied to the unwary habits
+and defenceless condition of these almost wingless and totally
+inexperienced species; but, as none of the Portuguese voyagers seem
+to have mentioned the Dodo by any name whatever, nor even to have
+visited the Mauritius, after their first discovery of the island by
+Pedro Mascaregnas already named, it appears far more probable that
+Dodars is a genuine Dutch term, altered, and it may be amended, by
+Sir Thomas Herbert, to suit his own philological fancies.
+
+The Dutch, indeed, seem to have been inspired with a genuine love
+of Dodos, and never allowed even the cooing of the delicately
+tender turtle-doves to prevent their laying in an ample store of
+the more solid, if less sentimental species. Thus, Van der Hagen,
+who commanded two ships which remained for some weeks at the
+Mauritius in 1607, not only feasted his crews on great abundance of
+"tortoises, _dodars_, gray parroquets, and other game," but salted
+large quantities, for consumption during the voyage. Verhuffen
+touched at the same island in 1611, and it is in his narrative
+(published at Frankfort in 1613) that Dodos are called _Totersten_.
+He describes them as having--
+
+     "A skin like a monk's cowl on the head, and no wings; but, in
+     place of them, about five or six yellow feathers: likewise, in
+     place of a tail, are four or five crested feathers. In colour
+     they are gray; men call them _Totersten_ or _Walckvögel_;
+     they occur there in great plenty, insomuch that the Dutch
+     daily caught and ate many of them. For not only these, but in
+     general all the birds there, are so tame that they killed the
+     turtle-doves, as well as the other wild pigeons and parrots,
+     with sticks, and caught them by the hand. They also captured the
+     totersten or walckvögel with their hands; but were obliged to
+     take good care that these birds did not bite them on the arms or
+     legs with their beaks, which are very strong, thick, and hooked;
+     for they are wont to bite desperately hard."
+
+We are glad to be informed, by the above, of this attempt at
+independence, or something at least approaching to the defensive
+system. It forms an additional title, on the part of the Dodo, to be
+regarded, at all events by the Dutch _cuisiniers_, as "_une pièce de
+resistance_."
+
+Sir Thomas Herbert, already named, visited the Mauritius in 1627,
+and found it still uninhabited by man. In his _Relation of some
+yeares' Travaile_, which, for the amusement of his later years, he
+seems to have repeatedly rewritten for various editions, extending
+from 1634 to 1677, he both figures and describes our fat friend. His
+narration is as follows:--
+
+     "The dodo, a bird the Dutch call walckvögel or dod-eersen:
+     her body is round and fat, which occasions the slow pace, or
+     that her corpulencie; and so great as few of them weigh less
+     than fifty pound; meat it is with some, but better to the eye
+     than stomach, such as only a strong appetite can vanquish; but
+     otherwise, through its oyliness, it cannot chuse but quickly
+     cloy and nauseate the stomach, being indeed more pleasurable to
+     look than feed upon. It is of a melancholy visage, as sensible
+     of nature's injury in framing so massie a body to be directed
+     by complimental wings, such indeed as are unable to hoise her
+     from the ground, serving only to rank her amongst birds. Her
+     head is variously drest; for one half is hooded with down of a
+     dark colour, the other half naked, and of a white hue, as if
+     lawn were drawn over it; her bill hooks and bends downwards; the
+     thrill or breathing-place is in the midst, from which part to
+     the end the colour is of a light green, mixt with pale yellow;
+     her eyes are round and bright, and instead of feathers has a
+     most fine down; her train (like to a China beard) is no more
+     than three or four short feathers; her leggs are thick and
+     black; her talons great; her stomach fiery, so that as she can
+     easily digest stones; in that and shape not a little resembling
+     the ostrich."--(P. 383.)
+
+François Cauche, an account of whose voyage, made in 1638, is
+published in the _Relations Véritables et Curieuses de l'Isle de
+Madagascar_, (Paris, 1651) states that he saw in the Mauritius birds
+called Oiseaux de Nazaret, larger than a swan, covered with black
+down, with crested feathers on the rump, "as many in number as the
+bird is years old." In place of wings there are some black curved
+feathers, without webs. The cry is like that of a gosling.
+
+     "They only lay one egg, which is white, the _size of a halfpenny
+     roll_; by the side of which they place a white stone, of the
+     dimensions of a hen's egg. They lay on grass, which they
+     collect, and make their nests in the forests; if one kills the
+     young one, a gray stone is found in the gizzard. We call them
+     Oiseaux de Nazaret. The fat is excellent to give ease to the
+     muscles and nerves."
+
+Here let us pause a moment, to consider what was the probable size
+of a halfpenny roll in the year 1638. How many vast and various
+elements must be taken to account in calculating the dimensions
+of that "_pain d'un sol!_" Macculloch, Cobden, Joseph Hume, come
+over and help us in this our hour of _knead_! Was corn high or
+low? were wages up or down? were bakers honest or dishonest? was
+there a fixed measure of quantity for these our matutinal baps? Did
+town-councils regulate their weight and quality, or was conscience
+left controller, from the quartern loaf downwards to the smallest
+form assumed by yeast and flour?
+
+  "Tell me where was fancy bread?"
+
+Does no one know precisely what was the size of a halfpenny roll in
+the year 1638? In that case, we shall not mention the dimensions of
+the Dodo's egg.
+
+There is no doubt that the bird recorded by Cauche was the true
+Dodo, although it is probable that he either described it from
+memory, or confused it with the descriptions then current of the
+cassowary. Thus he adds that the legs were of considerable length,
+that it had only three toes, and no tongue--characters (with the
+exception of the last, inapplicable, of course, to either kind)
+which truly indicate the latter species. This name of "bird of
+Nazareth" has, moreover, given rise to a false or phantom species,
+called _Didus Nazarenus_ in systematic works, and is supposed to
+have been derived from the small island or sandbank of Nazareth, to
+the north-east of Madagascar. Now Dr Hamel has recently rendered it
+probable that no such island or sandbank is in existence, and so we
+need not seek for its inhabitants: at all events, there is no such
+bird as the Nazarene Dodo--_Didus Nazarenus_.
+
+The next piece of evidence regarding the Dodo is highly interesting
+and important, as it shows that, at least in one instance, this
+extraordinary bird was transported alive to Europe, and exhibited in
+our own country. In a manuscript preserved in the British Museum,
+Sir Hamon Lestrange, the father of the more celebrated Sir Roger,
+in a commentary on Brown's _Vulgar Errors_, and _apropos_ of the
+ostrich, records as follows:--
+
+     "About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a
+     strange fowle hong out upon a cloth, and myselfe, with one or
+     two more then in company, went in to see it. It was kept in a
+     chamber, and was a great fowle somewhat bigger than the largest
+     turkey-cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker,
+     and of a more erect shape; coloured before like the breast of a
+     young cock fesan, and, on the back, of dunn or deare coulour.
+     The keeper called it a Dodo; and in the end of a chimney in
+     the chamber there lay a heape of large pebble stones, whereof
+     hee gave it many in our sight, some as bigg as nutmegs, and
+     the keeper told us she eats them, (conducing to digestion);
+     and though I remember not how farr the keeper was questioned
+     therein, yet I am confident that afterwards shee cast them all
+     againe."
+
+It is curious that no confirmation can be obtained of this
+exhibition from contemporary authorities. The period was prolific
+in pamphlets and broadsides, but political excitement probably
+engrossed the minds of the majority, and rendered them careless
+of the wonders of nature. Yet the individual in question may in
+all likelihood be traced down to the present day, and portions of
+it seen and handled by the existing generation. In Tradescant's
+catalogue of his "_Collection of Rarities preserved at South
+Lambeth, near London_," 1656, we find an entry--"Dodar from the
+island Mauritius; it is not able to flie, being so big." It is
+enumerated under the head of "Whole birds;" and Willughby, whose
+_Ornithologia_ appeared in 1676, says of the Dodo, "Exuvias hujusce
+avis vidimus in museo Tradescantiano." The same specimen is
+alluded to by Llhwyd in 1684, and by Hyde in 1700,--having passed,
+meanwhile, into the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, with the rest of
+the Tradescantian collection. As Tradescant was the most noted
+collector of things natural in his day, and there were few, if
+any, to enter into competition with him, it may be well supposed
+that such a _rara avis_ as a living Dodo would attract his close
+attention, and that it would, in all probability, find its way into
+his cabinet on its decease. It may, therefore, be inferred that the
+same individual which was exhibited in London, and described by
+Lestrange in 1638, is that recorded as a stuffed specimen in the
+catalogue of Tradescant's Museum, (1656,) and bequeathed by him,
+with his other curiosities, to Elias Ashmole, the munificent founder
+of the still existing museum at Oxford.
+
+The considerate reader will not unnaturally ask, Where is now that
+last of Dodos? and echo answers, Where? Alas! it was destroyed, "by
+order of the Visitors," in 1755. The following is the evidence of
+that destruction, as given by Mr J. S. Duncan in the 3d volume of
+the _Zoological Journal_, p. 559:--
+
+     "In the Ashmolean Catalogue, made by Ed. Llhwyd, musei
+     procustos, 1684, (Plott being then keeper,) the entry of the
+     bird is 'No. 29, Gallus gallinaceus peregrinus Clusii,' &c. In a
+     catalogue made subsequently to 1755, it is stated, 'The numbers
+     from 5 to 46, being decayed, were ordered to be removed at a
+     meeting of the majority of the Visitors, Jan. 8, 1755.' Among
+     these, of course, was included the Dodo, its number being 29.
+     This is further shown by a new catalogue, completed in 1756, in
+     which the order of the Visitors is recorded as follows:--'Illa
+     quibus nullus in margine assignatur numerus, a Musæo subducta
+     sunt cimelia, annuentibus Vice-Cancellario aliisque Curatoribus
+     ad ea lustranda convocatis, die Januarii 8vo, A.D. 1755.' The
+     Dodo is one of those which are here without the number."
+
+By some lucky accident, however, a small portion of "this last
+descendant of an ancient race," as Mr Strickland terms it, escaped
+the clutches of the destroyers. "The head and one of the feet were
+saved from the flames, and are still preserved in the Ashmolean
+Museum."[20]
+
+  [20] The scientific value of these remnants, Mr Strickland informs
+  us, has been lately much increased by skilful dissection. Dr Acland,
+  the lecturer in anatomy, has divided the skin of the cranium down
+  the mesial line, and, by removing it from the left side, the entire
+  osteological structure of this extraordinary skull is exposed
+  to view, while on the other side the external covering remains
+  undisturbed. The solitary foot was formerly covered by decomposed
+  integuments, and presented few external characters. These have
+  been removed by Dr Kidd, the professor of medicine, who has made
+  an interesting preparation of both the osseous and tendinous
+  structures.--See _The Dodo and its Kindred_, p. 33.
+
+Let us now retrace our steps, for the sake of taking up, very
+briefly, the history of the other known remnants of this now
+extinct species. Among the printed books of the Ashmolean Museum,
+there is a small tract, of which the second edition (the first is
+without date) is entitled, "A Catalogue of many natural rarities,
+with great industry, cost, and thirty years' travel in foreign
+countries, collected by Robert Hubert, _alias_ Forges, gent. and
+sworn servant to his majesty; and daily to be seen at the place
+formerly called the Music House, near the west end of St Paul's
+Church," 12mo, London, 1665. At page 11 is the following entry:--"A
+legge of a Dodo, a great heavy bird that cannot fly: it is a bird
+of the Maurcius island." This specimen is supposed to be that which
+afterwards passed into the possession of the Royal Society, is
+recorded in their catalogue of _Natural and Artificial Curiosities_,
+published by Grew in 1681, and is now in the British Museum. It is
+somewhat larger than the Ashmolean foot, and, from its excellent
+state of preservation, finely exhibits the external characters of
+the toes and tarsus.
+
+In Olearus's catalogue of the museum at Gottorf, (the seat of the
+Dukes of Schleswig, and recently a less easy one than we have known
+it,) of which the first edition was published in 1666, there is the
+following notice of a Dodo's head:--
+
+     "No. 5 is the head of a foreign bird, which Clusius names
+     _Gallus peregrinus_, Mirenberg _Cygnus cucullatus_, and the
+     Dutch walghvögel, from the disgust which they are said to have
+     taken to its hard flesh. The Dutch seem to have first discovered
+     this bird in the island of Mauritius; and it is stated to have
+     no wings, but in place of them two winglets, like the emeu and
+     the penguins."--(P. 25.)
+
+This specimen, after having been disregarded, if not forgotten,
+for nearly two centuries, was lately re-discovered, by Professor
+C. Reinhardt, amongst a mass of ancient rubbish, and is now in the
+public museum of Copenhagen, where it was examined by Mr Strickland
+two years ago.[21] The integumentary portions have been all removed,
+but it exhibits the same osteological characters as the Oxford head,
+though less perfect, the base of the occiput being absent. It is of
+somewhat smaller size.
+
+  [21] The collection of the Dukes of Schleswig was removed about the
+  year 1720, by Frederic IV., from Gottorf to Copenhagen, where it
+  is now incorporated with the Royal "Kunstkammer" of that northern
+  capital.
+
+The remnants now noticed--three heads and two feet--are the only
+ascertained existing portions of the famous Dodo; a bird which,
+as we have seen in the preceding extracts, might have been well
+enough known to such of our great great-grandfathers as were in the
+sea-faring line.
+
+But when did the last Dodo die? We cannot answer that question
+articulately, as to the very year, still less as to the season, or
+time of day--and we believe that no intimations of the event were
+sent to the kindred; but we do not hesitate to state our belief
+that that affecting occurrence or bereavement took place some time
+subsequent to the summer of 1681, and prior to 1693. The latest
+evidence of the existence of Dodos in the Mauritius is contained
+in a manuscript of the British Museum, entitled "A coppey of Mr
+Benj. Harry's Journall when he was chief mate of the Shippe Berkley
+Castle, Captn. Wm. Talbot commander, on voyage to the Coste and Bay,
+1679, which voyage they wintered at the Maurrisshes." On the return
+from India, being unable to weather the Cape of Good Hope, they
+determined to make for "the Marushes," the 4th June 1681. They saw
+the land on the 3d July, and on the 11th they began to build huts,
+and with much labour spread out their cargo to dry:--
+
+     "Now, having a little respitt, I will make a little description
+     of the island, first of its producks, then of its parts; ffirst,
+     of winged and feathered ffowle, the less passant are _Dodos,
+     whose fflesh is very hard_, a small sort of Gees, reasonably
+     good Teele, Cuckoes, Pasca fflemingos, Turtle Doves, large
+     Batts, many small birds which are good.... Heer are many wild
+     hoggs and land-turtle which are very good, other small creators
+     on the Land, as Scorpions and Musketoes, these in small numbers,
+     Batts and ffleys a multitude, Munkeys of various sorts."
+
+After this all historical evidence of the existence of the Dodo
+ceases, although we cannot doubt that they continued for yet a
+few years. The Dutch first colonised the Mauritius in 1644. The
+island is not above forty miles in length; and although, when first
+discovered, it was found clothed with dense forests of palms, and
+various other trees--among whose columnar stems and leafy umbrage
+the native creatures might find a safe abode, with food and
+shelter--how speedily would not the improvident rapacity of hungry
+colonists, or of reckless fresh-flesh-bereaved mariners, diminish
+the numbers of a large and heavy-bodied bird, of powerless wing
+and slow of foot, and useful, moreover, in the way of culinary
+consumption. Mr Strickland is of opinion that their destruction
+would be further hastened, or might be mainly caused, by the dogs,
+cats, and swine which accompany man in his migrations, and become
+themselves emancipated in the forests. All these creatures are more
+or less carnivorous, and are fond of eggs and young birds; and as
+the Dodo is said to have hatched only one egg at a time, a single
+savage mouthful might suffice to destroy the hope of a family for
+many a day.
+
+That the destruction of Dodos was completed by 1693, Mr Strickland
+thinks may be inferred from the narrative of Leguat, who, in
+that year, remained several months in the Mauritius, and, while
+enumerating its animal productions at considerable length, makes no
+mention whatever of the bird in question. He adds,--"L'isle était
+autrefois toute remplie d'oyes et de canards sauvages; de poules
+d'eau, de gelinottes, de tortues de mer et de terre, _mais tout cela
+est devenue fort rare_." And, while referring to the "hogs of the
+China kind," he states that these beasts do a great deal of damage,
+by devouring all the young animals they can catch. It is thus
+sufficiently evident that civilisation was making aggressive inroads
+on the natural state of the Mauritius even in 1693.
+
+The Dutch evacuated the island in 1712, and were succeeded by the
+French, who colonised it under the name of Isle de France; and this
+change in the population no doubt accounts for the almost entire
+absence of any traditionary knowledge of this remarkable bird among
+the later inhabitants. Baron Grant lived in the Mauritius for twenty
+years from 1740; and his son, who compiled his papers into a history
+of the island, states that no trace of such a bird was to be found
+at that time. In the _Observations sur la Physique_ for the year
+1778, there is a negative notice, by M. Morel, of the Dodo and its
+kindred. "Ces oiseaux, si bien décrits dans le tome 2 de l'Histoire
+des Oiseaux de M. le Comte de Buffon, n'ont jamais été vus aux Isles
+de France, &c., depuis plus de 60 ans que ces parages sont habités
+et visités par des colonies Françoises. Les plus anciens habitans
+assurent tous que ces oiseaux monstrueux leur ont toujours été
+inconnus." M. Bory St Vincent, who visited the Mauritius and Bourbon
+in 1801, and has given us an account of the physical features of
+those islands in his "Voyage," assures us (vol. ii. p. 306) that he
+instituted all possible inquiries regarding the Dodo (or Dronte) and
+its kindred, without being able to pick up the slightest information
+on the subject; and although he advertised "une grande recompense a
+qui pourrait lui donner la moindre indice de l'ancienne existence
+de cet oiseau, un silence universel a prouvé que le souvenir même
+du Dronte était perdu parmi les créoles." De Blainville informs us,
+(_Nouv. Ann. Mus._ iv. 31,) that the subject was discussed at a
+public dinner at the Mauritius in 1816, where were present several
+persons from seventy to ninety years of age, none of whom had any
+knowledge of any Dodo, either from recollection or tradition.
+Finally, Mr J. V. Thompson, who resided for some years in Mauritius
+prior to 1816, states, (_Mag. of Nat. Hist._, ii. 443,) that no more
+traces could then be found of the Dodo than of the truth of the tale
+of Paul and Virginia.
+
+But the historical evidence already adduced, as to the former
+existence of this bird, is confirmed in a very interesting manner
+by what may be called the pictorial proof. Besides the rude
+delineations given by the earlier voyagers, there are several old
+oil-paintings of the Dodo still extant, by skilful artists, who had
+no other object in view than to represent with accuracy the forms
+before them. These paintings are five in number, whereof one is
+anonymous; three bear the name of Roland Savery, an eminent Dutch
+animal-painter of the early portion of the seventeenth century, and
+one is by John Savery, Roland's nephew.
+
+The first of these is the best known, and is that from which the
+figure of the Dodo, in all modern compilations of ornithology,
+has been copied. It once belonged to George Edwards, who, in his
+work on birds, (vi. 294,) tells us, that "the original picture was
+drawn in Holland _from the living bird_, brought from St Maurice's
+island in the East Indies, in the early times of the discovery of
+the Indies by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. It was the property
+of the late Sir H. Sloane to the time of his death, and afterwards
+becoming my property. I deposited it in the British Museum as a
+great curiosity. The above history of the picture I had from Sir H.
+Sloane, and the late Dr Mortimer, secretary to the Royal Society."
+It is still preserved in the place to which Edwards had consigned
+it, and may be seen in the bird gallery, along with the actual foot
+already mentioned. Although without name or date, the similarity
+both of design and execution, leads to the conclusion that it was by
+one or other of the Saverys. It may be seen engraved in the _Penny
+Cyclopædia_, in illustration of Mr Broderip's article _Dodo_ in that
+work.
+
+The second painting, one of Roland Savery's, is in the royal
+collection at the Hague, and may be regarded as a _chef-d'oeuvre_.
+It represents Orpheus charming the creation, and we there behold the
+Dodo spell-bound with his other mute companions. All the ordinary
+creatures there shown are depicted with the greatest truthfulness;
+and why should the artist, delighting, as he seems to have done, in
+tracing the most delicate features of familiar nature, have marred
+the beautiful consistency of his design by introducing a feigned,
+or even an exaggerated representation? We may here adduce the
+invaluable evidence of Professor Owen.
+
+     "While at the Hague, in the summer of 1838, I was much struck
+     with the minuteness and accuracy with which the exotic species
+     of animals had been painted by Savery and Breughel, in such
+     subjects as Orpheus charming the Beasts, &c., in which scope
+     was allowed for grouping together a great variety of animals.
+     Understanding that the celebrated menagerie of Prince Maurice
+     had afforded the living models to these artists, I sat down
+     one day before Savery's Orpheus and the Beasts, to make a list
+     of the species, which the picture sufficiently evinced that
+     the artist had had the opportunity to study alive. Judge of my
+     surprise and pleasure in detecting, in a dark corner of the
+     picture, (which is badly hung between two windows,) the _Dodo_,
+     beautifully finished, showing for example, though but three
+     inches long, the auricular circle of feathers, the scutation
+     of the tarsi, and the loose structure of the caudal plumes. In
+     the number and proportions of the toes, and in general form, it
+     accords with Edwards' oil-painting in the British Museum; and I
+     conclude that the miniature must have been copied from the study
+     of a living bird, which, it is most probable, formed part of
+     the Mauritian menagerie. The bird is standing in profile with a
+     lizard at its feet."--_Penny Cyclopædia_, xxiii. p. 143.
+
+Mr Strickland, in 1845, made a search through the Royal Gallery of
+Berlin, which was known to contain several of Savery's pictures.
+Among them, we are happy to say that he found one representing
+the Dodo, with numerous other animals, "in Paradise!" It was very
+conformable with the figure last mentioned; but what renders this,
+our third portrait, of peculiar interest, is, that it affords
+a date--the words "Roelandt Savery fe. 1626," being inscribed
+on one corner. As the artist was born in 1576, he must have
+been twenty-three years old when Van Neck's expedition returned
+to Holland; and as we are told by De Bry, in reference to the
+Mauritius, that "aliæ ibidem aves visæ sunt, quas walkvogel Batavi
+nominarunt, et _unam secum in Hollandiam importarunt_," it is quite
+possible that the portrait of this individual may have been taken at
+the time, and afterwards recopied, both by himself and his nephew,
+in their later pictures. Professor Owen leans to the belief that
+Prince Maurice's collection afforded the living prototype,--an
+opinion so far strengthened by Edwards's tradition, that the
+painting in the British Museum was drawn in Holland from a "living
+bird." Either view is preferable to Dr Hamel's suggestion, that
+Savery's representation was taken from the Dodo exhibited in London,
+as that individual was seen alive by Sir Hamon Lestrange in 1638,
+and must therefore (by no means a likely occurrence) have lived, in
+the event supposed, at least twelve years in captivity.
+
+Very recently Dr J. J. de Tchudi, the well-known Peruvian traveller,
+transmitted to Mr Strickland an exact copy of another figure of
+the Dodo, which forms part of a picture in the imperial collection
+of the Belvedere at Vienna--by no means a safe location, in these
+tempestuous times, for the treasures of either art or nature. But we
+trust that Prince Windischgratz and the hanging committee will now
+see that all is right, and that General Bem has not been allowed to
+carry off this drawing of the Dodo in his carpet-bag. It is dated
+1628.
+
+     "There are two circumstances," says Mr Strickland, "which give
+     an especial interest to this painting. First, the novelty of
+     attitude in the Dodo, exhibiting an activity of character which
+     corroborates the supposition that the artist had living model
+     before him, and contrasting strongly with the aspect of passive
+     stolidity in the other pictures. And, secondly, the Dodo is
+     represented as watching, apparently with hungry looks, the
+     merry wriggling of an eel in the water! Are we hence to infer
+     that the Dodo fed upon eels? The advocates of the Raptorial
+     affinities of the Dodo, of whom we shall soon speak, will
+     doubtless reply in the affirmative; but, as I hope shortly
+     to demonstrate that it belongs to a family of birds all the
+     other members of which are frugivorous, I can only regard the
+     introduction of the eel as a pictorial license. In this, as
+     in all his other paintings, Savery brought into juxtaposition
+     animals from all countries, without regarding geographical
+     distribution. His delineations of birds and beasts were
+     wonderfully exact, but his knowledge of natural history probably
+     went no further; and although the Dodo is certainly _looking at_
+     the eel, yet we have no proof that he is going to _eat_ it. The
+     mere collocation of animals in an artistic composition, cannot
+     be accepted as evidence against the positive truths revealed by
+     comparative anatomy."--(P. 30.)
+
+The fifth and last old painting of the Dodo, is that now in the
+Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and presented to it by Mr Darby in 1813.
+Nothing is known of its previous history. It is the work of John
+Savery, the nephew of Roland, and is dated 1651. Its most peculiar
+character is the colossal scale on which it has been designed,--the
+Dodo of this canvass standing about three feet and a half in height.
+
+     "It is difficult," observes our author, "to assign a motive to
+     the artist for thus magnifying an object already sufficiently
+     uncouth in appearance. Were it not for the discrepancy of
+     dates, I should have conjectured that this was the identical
+     "picture of a strange fowle hong out upon a cloth," which
+     attracted the notice of Sir Hamon Lestrange and his friends, as
+     they "walked London streets" in 1638; the delineations used by
+     showmen being in general more remarkable for attractiveness than
+     veracity."--(P. 31.)
+
+We have now exhibited the leading facts which establish both the
+existence and extinction of this extraordinary bird: the existence,
+proved by the recorded testimony of the earlier navigators, the few
+but peculiar portions of structure which still remain among us, and
+the _vera effigies_ handed down by artists coeval with the period in
+which the Dodo lived: the non-existence, deduced from the general
+progress of events, and the absence of all knowledge of the species
+since the close of the seventeenth century, although the natural
+productions of the Mauritius are, in other respects, much better
+known to us now than then. Why any particular creature should have
+been so formed as to be unable to resist the progress of _humanity_,
+and should in consequence have died, it is not for us to say. "There
+are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our
+philosophy;" and of this we may feel assured, that if, as we doubt
+not, the Dodo is extinct, then it has served its end, whatever that
+might be.
+
+There is nothing imperfect in the productions of nature, although
+there are many organisms in which certain forms and faculties are
+less developed than in others. There are certainly, in particular
+groups, such things as rudimentary organs, which belong, as it were,
+not so much to the individual species, as to the general system
+which prevails in the larger and more comprehensive class to which
+such species belong; and in the majority of which these organs
+fulfil a frequent and obvious function, and so are very properly
+regarded as indispensable to the wellbeing of such as use them.
+But there are many examples in animal life which indicate that
+particular parts of structure remain, in certain species, for ever
+in an undeveloped state. In respect to teeth, for instance, the
+Greenland whale may be regarded as a _permanent suckling_; for that
+huge creature having no occasion for these organs, they never pierce
+the gums, although in early life they are distinctly traceable in
+the dental groove of the jaws. So the Dodo was a kind of _permanent
+nestling_, covered with down instead of feathers, and with wings
+and tail (the oars and rudder of all aërial voyagers) so short and
+feeble as to be altogether inefficient for the purposes of flight.
+Why should such things be? We cannot say. Can any one say why they
+should not be? The question is both wide and deep, and they are
+most likely to plunge into it who can neither dive nor swim. We
+agree with Mr Strickland, that these apparently anomalous facts
+are, in reality, indications of laws which the great Creator has
+been pleased to form and follow in the construction of organised
+beings,--inscriptions in an unknown hieroglyphic, which we may rest
+assured must have a meaning, but of which we have as yet scarcely
+learned the alphabet. "There appear, however, reasonable grounds for
+believing that the Creator has assigned to each class of animals a
+definite type or structure, from which He has never departed, even
+in the most exceptional or eccentric modifications of form."
+
+As to the true position of the Dodo in systematic ornithology,
+various opinions have been emitted by various men. The majority seem
+to have placed it in the great Rasorial or Gallinaceous order, as a
+component part of the family _Struthionidæ_, or ostrich tribe.
+
+     "The bird in question," says Mr Vigors, "from every account
+     which we have of its economy, and from the appearance of
+     its head and foot, is decidedly gallinaceous; and, from the
+     insufficiency of its wings for the purposes of flight, it may
+     with equal certainty be pronounced to be of the _Struthious_
+     structure. But the foot has a strong hind-toe, and, with the
+     exception of its being more robust, in which character it still
+     adheres to the Struthionidæ, it corresponds to the Linnæan genus
+     _Crax_, that commences the succeeding family. The bird thus
+     becomes osculant, and forms a strong point of junction between
+     those two contiguous groups."--_Linn. Trans._ xiv. 484.
+
+M. de Blainville (in _Nouv. Ann. du Mus._ iv. 24,) contests this
+opinion by various arguments, which we cannot here report, and
+concludes that the Dodo is a raptorial bird, allied to the vultures.
+Mr Broderip, in his article before referred to, sums up the
+discussion as follows:--
+
+     "If the picture in the British Museum, and the cut in Bontius,
+     be faithful representations of a creature then living, to make
+     such a bird of prey--a vulture, in the ordinary acceptation
+     of the term--would be to set all the usual laws of adaptation
+     at defiance. A vulture without wings! How was it to be fed?
+     And not only without wings, but necessarily slow and heavy in
+     progression on its clumsy feet. The _Vulturidæ_ are, as we
+     know, among the most active agents for removing the decomposing
+     animal remains in tropical and inter-tropical climates, and they
+     are provided with a prodigal development of wing, to waft them
+     speedily to the spot tainted by the corrupt incumbrance. But no
+     such powers of wing would be required by a bird appointed to
+     clear away the decaying and decomposing masses of a luxuriant
+     tropical vegetation--a kind of vulture for vegetable impurities,
+     so to speak--and such an office would not be by any means
+     inconsistent with comparative slowness of pedestrian motion."
+
+Professor Owen, doubtless one of our greatest authorities, inclines
+towards an affinity with the vultures, and considers the Dodo as an
+extremely modified form of the raptorial order.
+
+     "Devoid of the power of flight, it could have had small chance
+     of obtaining food by preying upon the members of its own class;
+     and, if it did not exclusively subsist on dead and decaying
+     organised matter, it most probably restricted its attacks to
+     the class of reptiles, and to the littoral fishes, _Crustacea_,
+     &c., which its well-developed back-toe and claw would enable it
+     to seize, and hold with a firm gripe."--_Transactions of the
+     Zoological Society_, iii. p. 331.
+
+We confess that, setting aside various other unconformable features
+in the structure of the Dodo, the fact, testified by various
+authorities, of its swallowing stones, and having stones in its
+gizzard, for the mechanical triturition of its food, (a peculiarity
+unknown among the raptorial order,) is sufficient to bar the
+above view, supported though it be by the opinion of our most
+distinguished living anatomist.
+
+In a recent memoir by Professor J. F. Brandt (of which an abstract
+is given in the _Bulletin de la Class. Phys. de l'Acad. Imp. de St
+Petersburg_, vol. viii. No. 3) we have the following statement:--
+
+     "The Dodo, a bird provided with divided toes and cursorial feet,
+     is best classed in the order of the Waders, among which it
+     appears, from its many peculiarities, (most of which, however,
+     are quite referable to forms in this order,) to be an anomalous
+     link connecting several groups,--a link which, for the reasons
+     above given, inclines towards the ostriches, and especially also
+     towards the pigeons."
+
+We doubt the direct affinity to any species of the grallatorial
+order, an order which contains the cursorial or swift-running birds,
+very dissimilar in their prevailing habits to anything we know of
+the sluggish and sedentary Dodo. Professor Brandt may be regarded
+as having mistaken analogy for affinity; and, in Mr Strickland's
+opinion, he has in this instance wandered from the true method
+of investigation, in his anxiety to discover a link connecting
+dissevered groups.
+
+What then is, or rather was, the Dodo? The majority of inquirers
+have no doubt been influenced, though unconsciously, by its colossal
+size, and have consequently sought its actual analogies only among
+such huge species as the ostrich, the vulture, and the albatross.
+But the range in each order is often enormous, as, for example,
+between the _Falco cærulescens_, or finch falcon of Bengal, an
+accipitrine bird not bigger than a sparrow, and an eagle of the
+largest size; or between the swallow-like stormy petrel and the
+gigantic pelican of the wilderness. It appears that Professor J.
+T. Rheinhardt of Copenhagen, who rediscovered the cranium of the
+Gottorf Museum, was the first to indicate the direct relationship of
+the Dodo to the _pigeons_. He has recently been engaged in a voyage
+round the world, but it is known that, before he left Copenhagen in
+1845, he had called the attention of his correspondents, both in
+Sweden and Denmark, to "the striking affinity which exists between
+this extinct bird and the pigeons, especially the Trerons." The
+Columbine view is that taken up, and so admirably illustrated, by
+Mr Strickland, the most recent as well as the best biographer of
+the Dodo. He refers to the great strength and curvature of bill
+exhibited by several groups of the tropical fruit-eating pigeons,
+and adds:
+
+     "If we now regard the Dodo as an extreme modification, not of
+     the vultures, but of those vulture-like frugivorous pigeons,
+     we shall, I think, class it in a group whose characters are
+     far more consistent with what we know of its structure and
+     habits. There is no _a priori_ reason why a pigeon should not
+     be so modified, in conformity with external circumstances,
+     as to be incapable of flight, just as we see a grallatorial
+     bird modified into an ostrich, and a diver into a penguin. Now
+     we are told that Mauritius, an island forty miles in length,
+     and about one hundred miles from the nearest land, was, when
+     discovered, clothed with dense forests of palms and various
+     other trees. A bird adapted to feed on the fruits produced by
+     these forests would, in that equable climate, have no occasion
+     to migrate to distant lands; it would revel in the perpetual
+     luxuries of tropical vegetation, and would have but little need
+     of locomotion. Why then should it have the means of flying? Such
+     a bird might wander from tree to tree, tearing with its powerful
+     beak the fruits which strewed the ground, and digesting their
+     stony kernels with its powerful gizzard, enjoying tranquillity
+     and abundance, until the arrival of man destroyed the balance
+     of animal life, and put a term to its existence. Such, in my
+     opinion, was the Dodo,--a colossal, brevipennate, frugivorous
+     pigeon."--(P. 40.)
+
+For the various osteological and other details by which the
+Columbine character of the Dodo is maintained, and as we think
+established, we must refer our readers to Mr Strickland's
+volume,[22] where those parts of the subject are very skilfully
+worked out by his able coadjutor, Dr Melville.
+
+  [22] In regard to the figures by which it is illustrated, we beg
+  to call attention very specially to Plates VIII. and IX., as the
+  most beautiful examples of the lithographic art, applied to natural
+  history, which we have yet seen executed in this country.
+
+We shall now proceed to notice certain other extinct species
+which form the dead relations of the Dodo, just as the pigeons
+continue to represent the tribe from which they have departed. The
+island Rodriguez, placed about three hundred miles eastward of the
+Mauritius, though not more than fifteen miles long by six broad,
+possessed in modern times a peculiar bird, also without effective
+wings, and in several other respects resembling the Dodo. It was
+named _Solitaire_ by the early voyagers, and forms the species
+_Didus solitarius_ of systematic writers. The small island in
+question seems to have remained in a desert and unpeopled state
+until 1691, when a party of French Protestant refugees settled
+upon it, and remained for a couple of years. The Solitaire is thus
+described by their commander, Francois Leguat, who (in his _Voyage
+et Avantures_, 1708) has given us an interesting account both of
+his own doings in general, and of this species in particular.
+
+     "Of all the birds in the island, the most remarkable is that
+     which goes by the name of the _Solitary_, because it is very
+     seldom seen in company, though there are abundance of them. The
+     feathers of the male are of a brown-gray colour, the feet and
+     beak are like a turkey's, but a little more crooked. They have
+     scarce any tail, but their hind part, covered with feathers,
+     is roundish like the crupper of a horse: they are taller
+     than turkeys; their neck is straight, and a little longer in
+     proportion than a turkey's, when it lifts up its head. Its eye
+     is black and lively, and its head without comb or cap. They
+     never fly; their wings are too little to support the weight of
+     their bodies; they serve only to beat themselves, and to flutter
+     when they call one another. They will whirl about for twenty or
+     thirty times together on the same side, during the space of four
+     or five minutes. The motion of their wings makes then a noise
+     very much like that of a rattle, and one may hear it two hundred
+     paces off. The bone of their wing grows greater towards the
+     extremity, and forms a little round mass under the feathers, as
+     big as a musket-ball. That and its beak are the chief defence of
+     this bird. 'Tis very hard to catch it in the woods, but easier
+     in open places, because we run faster than they, and sometimes
+     we approach them without much trouble. From March to September
+     they are extremely fat, and taste admirably well, especially
+     while they are young; some of the males weigh forty-five pounds.
+
+     "The females" continues our enamoured author, "are wonderfully
+     beautiful, some fair, some brown,--I call them fair, because
+     they are of the colour of fair hair. They have a sort of peak
+     like a widow's upon their beak, which is of a dun colour. No
+     one feather is straggling from the other all over their bodies,
+     they being very careful to adjust themselves, and make them all
+     even with their beaks. The feathers on their thighs are round
+     like shells at the end, and, being there very thick, have an
+     agreeable effect. They have two risings on their crops, and the
+     feathers are whiter there than the rest, which lively represents
+     the fair neck of a beautiful woman. They walk with so much
+     stateliness and good grace, that one cannot help admiring and
+     loving them; by which means their fine mien often saves their
+     lives. Though these birds will sometimes very familiarly come
+     up near enough to one, when we do not run after them, yet they
+     will never grow tame. As soon as they are caught they shed
+     tears without crying, and refuse all manner of meat till they
+     die."--(P. 71.)
+
+Their natural food is the fruit of a species of plantain. When these
+birds are about to build, they select a clean place, and then gather
+together a quantity of palm-leaves, which they heap up about a foot
+and a half high, and there they sit. They never lay but one egg,
+which greatly exceeds that of a goose. Some days after the young
+one has left the nest, a company of thirty or forty grown-up birds
+brings another young one to it; and the new-fledged bird, with its
+father and mother, joining with the band, they all march away to
+some by-place.
+
+     "We frequently followed them," says Leguat, "and found that
+     afterwards the old ones went each their way alone, or in
+     couples, and left the two young ones together, and this we
+     called a _marriage_. This particularity has something in it
+     which looks a little fabulous; nevertheless what I say is
+     sincere truth, and what I have more than once observed with care
+     and pleasure."
+
+Leguat gives a figure of this singular bird, which in his plate has
+somewhat of the air and aspect of a Christmas goose, although, of
+course, it wants the web-feet. Its neck and legs are proportionally
+longer than those parts of the Dodo, and give it more of a
+_struthious_ appearance: but the existing osteological evidence is
+sufficient to show that it was closely allied to that bird, and
+shared with it in some peculiar affinities to the pigeon tribe. It
+is curious that, although Rodriguez is a British settlement, we
+have scarcely any information regarding it beyond what is to be
+found in the work last quoted, and all that we have since learned
+of the Solitary is that it has become extinct. Of late years Mr
+Telfair made inquiries of one of the colonists, who assured him
+that no such bird now existed on the island; and the same negative
+result was obtained by Mr Higgins, a Liverpool gentleman, who, after
+suffering shipwreck on Rodriguez, resided there for a couple of
+months. As far back as 1789, some bones incrusted by a stalagmite,
+and erroneously supposed to belong to the Dodo, were found in a cave
+in Rodriguez by a M. Labistour. They afterwards found their way to
+Paris, where they may still be seen. We are informed (_Proceedings
+of the Zoological Society_, Part I. p. 31) that Col. Dawkins
+recently visited these caverns, and dug without finding any thing
+but a small bone. But M. Eudes succeeded in disinterring various
+bones, among others those of a large species of bird no longer found
+alive upon the island. He adds that the Dutch, who first landed at
+Rodriguez, left cats there to destroy the rats, which annoyed them.
+These cats are now so numerous as to prove very destructive to the
+poultry, and he thinks it probable that these feline wanderers
+may have extirpated the bird in question, by devouring the young
+ones as soon as they were hatched,--a destruction which may have
+been effected even before the island became inhabited by the human
+race. Be that as it may, Mr Telfair sent collections of the bones
+to this country, one of which may be seen in the museum of the
+Andersonian Institution, Glasgow. Mr Strickland mourns over the loss
+or disappearance of those transmitted to the Zoological Society
+of London. We have been informed within these few days that, like
+the head of the Danish Dodo, they have been rediscovered, lying
+in a stable or other outhouse, in the vicinity of the museum of
+that Society. Both the Glasgow specimens, and those in Paris, have
+been carefully examined and compared by Mr Strickland, and their
+Columbine characters are minutely described by his skilful and
+accurate coadjutor, Dr Melville, in the second portion of his work.
+Mr S. very properly regards certain peculiarities, alluded to by
+Leguat, such as the feeding on dates or plantains, as confirmatory
+of his view of the natural affinities already mentioned.
+
+So much for the Solitaire of Rodriguez and its affinities.[23]
+A singular fact, however, remains to be yet attended to in this
+insular group. The volcanic island of Bourbon seems also to have
+contained _brevi-pennate_ birds, whose inability to fly has likewise
+led to their extinction. This island, which lies about a hundred
+miles south-west of Mauritius, was discovered contemporaneously by
+Pedro de Mascaregnas, in the sixteenth century. The earliest notice
+which concerns our present inquiry, is by Captain Castleton, who
+visited Bourbon in 1613. In the narrative, as given by Purchas, we
+read as follows:--
+
+     "There is store of land-fowl, both small and great, plentie of
+     doves, great parrats, and suchlike, and a great fowl of the
+     bignesse of a turkie, very fat, and so short-winged that they
+     cannot flie, beeing white, and in a manner tame; and so are all
+     other fowles, as having not been troubled nor feared with shot.
+     Our men did beat them down with sticks and stones."--(Ed. 1625,
+     vol. i. p. 331.)
+
+  [23] The companions of Vasco de Gama had, at an earlier period,
+  applied the name of _Solitaires_ to certain birds found in an
+  island near the Cape of Good Hope; but these must not be confounded
+  with those of the Didine group above referred to. They were, in
+  fact, penguins, and their wings were somewhat vaguely compared
+  to those of bats, by reason of the peculiar scaly or undeveloped
+  state of the feathers in these birds. Dr Hamel has shown that the
+  term _Solitaires_, as employed by the Portuguese sailors, was a
+  corruption of _sotilicairos_, an alleged Hottentot word, of which
+  we do not profess to know the meaning, being rather rusted in that
+  tongue. We know, however, that penguins are particularly gregarious,
+  and, therefore, by no means solitary, although they may be extremely
+  _sotilicairious_ for anything we can say to the contrary.
+
+Bontekoe van Hoorn, a Dutch voyager, spent twenty-one days in
+Bourbon in 1618, and found the island to abound in pigeons, parrots,
+and other species, among which "there were also _Dod-eersen_, which
+have small wings; and so far from being able to fly, they were so
+fat that they could scarcely walk, and when they tried to run, they
+dragged their under side along the ground." There is no reason to
+suppose that these birds were actual Dodos, of the existence of
+which in Bourbon there is not the slightest proof. That Bontekoe's
+account was compiled from recollection rather than from any journal
+written at the time, is almost certain from this tragical fact,
+that his ship was afterwards blown up, and he himself was the sole
+survivor. There is no likelihood that he preserved his papers any
+more than his portmanteau, and he no doubt wrote from remembrance of
+a large _brevipennate_ bird, whose indolent and unfearing tameness
+rendered it an easy prey. Knowing that a bird of a somewhat similar
+nature inhabited the neighbouring island, he took it for the same,
+and called it Dodo, by a corresponding term.
+
+A Frenchman of the name of Carré visited Bourbon in 1668, and in his
+_Voyages des Indes Orientales_, he states as follows:--
+
+     "I have seen a kind of bird which I have not found elsewhere; it
+     is that which the inhabitants call the _oiseau solitaire_, for
+     in fact it loves solitude, and only frequents the most secluded
+     places. One never sees two or more of them together, they are
+     always alone. It is not unlike a turkey, were it not that its
+     legs are longer. The beauty of its plumage is delightful to
+     behold. The flesh is exquisite; it forms one of the best dishes
+     in this country, and might form a dainty at our tables. We
+     wished to keep two of these birds to send to France and present
+     them to his Majesty, but, as soon as they were on board ship,
+     they died of melancholy, having refused to eat or drink."--(Vol.
+     i. p. 12.)
+
+Almost immediately after M. Carré's visit, a French colony was sent
+from Madagascar to Bourbon, under the superintendence of M. de la
+Haye. A certain Sieur D. B. (for this is all that is known of his
+name or designation) was one of the party, and has left a narrative
+of the expedition in an unpublished journal, acquired by Mr Telfair,
+and presented by him to the Zoological Society of London. Besides
+confirming the accounts given by preceding writers, this unknown
+author affords a conclusive proof that a second species of the
+same group inhabited the Island of Bourbon. We are indebted to Mr
+Strickland for the original passages and the following translation:--
+
+     1. "_Solitaires._--These birds are so called because they always
+     go alone. They are the size of a large goose, and are white,
+     with the tips of the wings and the tail black. The tail-feathers
+     resemble those of an ostrich; the neck is long, and the beak
+     is like that of a woodcock, but larger; the legs and feet like
+     those of turkeys."
+
+     2. "_Oiseaux bleus_, the size of _Solitaires_, have the plumage
+     wholly blue, the beak and feet red, resembling the feet of a
+     hen. They do not fly, but they run extremely fast, so that a dog
+     can hardly overtake them; they are very good eating."
+
+There is proof that one or other of these singular and now unknown
+birds existed in Bourbon, at least till toward the middle of the
+last century. M. Billiard, who resided there between 1817 and 1820,
+states (in his _Voyages aux Colonies Orientales_) that, at the time
+of the first colonisation of the island, "the woods were filled with
+birds which were not alarmed at the approach of man. Among them was
+the _Dodo_ or _Solitaire_, which was pursued on foot: they were
+still to be seen in the time of M. de la Bourdonnaye, who sent a
+specimen, as a curiosity, to one of the directors of the company."
+As the gentleman last named was governor of the Isles of France and
+Bourbon from 1735 to 1746, these birds, Mr Strickland observes,
+_must_ have survived to the former, and _may_ have continued to the
+latter date at least. But when M. Bory St Vincent made a careful
+survey of the island in 1801, no such species were to be found. The
+description of the bill and plumage shows that they were not genuine
+Dodos, but merely entitled to be classed among their kindred. Not a
+vestige of their remains is in the hands of naturalists, either in
+this or any other country.
+
+We have now finished, under Mr Strickland's guidance, our exposition
+of this curious group. The restriction, at any time, of such large
+birds to islands of so small a size, is certainly singular. We
+cannot, however, say what peculiar and unknown geological changes
+these islands may have undergone, by which their extent has been
+diminished, or their inter-connexion destroyed. Volcanic groups,
+such as those in question, are no doubt generally of less ancient
+origin than most others; but it is by no means unlikely that these
+islands of Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius, may once have formed
+a united group, or much more expanded mass of terra firma than they
+now exhibit; and that, by their partial submergence and separation,
+the dominions of the Dodo and its kindred have, like those of many
+other heavy chieftains of high degree, been greatly diminished and
+laid low. But into this question of ancient boundaries we cannot now
+enter.
+
+How pleasant, on some resplendent summer evening, in such a
+delicious clime as that of the Mauritius, the sun slowly sinking
+amid a gorgeous blaze of light, and gilding in green and gold the
+spreading summits of the towering palms,--the murmuring sea sending
+its refreshing vesper-breathings through all the "pillared shades"
+which stretch along that glittering shore,--how pleasant, we say,
+for wearied man to sit in leafy umbrage, and sup on Dodos and their
+kindred! Alas! we shall never see such days again.
+
+Dr Hamel, as native of a northern country, is fond of animal food,
+and has his senses, naturally sharp enough, so whetted thereby, that
+he becomes "sagacious of his _quarry_ from afar." He judiciously
+observes, in his recent memoir, (_Der Dodo_, &c.,) that in Leguat's
+map the place is accurately indicated where the common kitchen of
+the settlers stood, and where the great tree grew under which they
+used to sit, on a bench, to take their meals. Both tree and bench
+are marked upon the map. "At these two spots," says Dr Hamel, "it is
+probable that the bones of a complete skeleton of Leguat's solitaire
+might be collected; those of the head and feet on the site of the
+kitchen, and the sternum and other bones on that of the tree."
+
+     "I feel confident," says Mr Strickland, "that if active
+     naturalists would make a series of excavations in the alluvial
+     deposits, in the beds of streams, and amid the ruins of old
+     institutions in Mauritius, Bourbon, and Rodriguez, he would
+     speedily discover the remains of the dodo, the two 'solitaires,'
+     or the 'oiseau bleu.' But I would especially direct attention
+     to the caves with which these volcanic islands abound. The
+     chief agents in the destruction of the brevipennate birds were
+     probably the runaway negroes, who for many years infested
+     the primeval forests of these islands, and inhabited the
+     caverns, where they would doubtless leave the scattered bones
+     of the animals on which they fed. Here, then, may we more
+     especially hope to find the osseous remains of these remarkable
+     animals."--(P. 61.)
+
+
+
+
+THE SWORD OF HONOUR.
+
+A TALE OF 1787.
+
+
+Any old directory of the latter half of the last century will still
+show, to the curious in such matters, the address of Messrs. Hope
+and Bullion, merchants and general dealers at No. 4, in a certain
+high and narrow street in the city of London. Not that this, in
+itself, is a very valuable part of history; but to those who look
+up at the dirty windows of the house as it now stands, and compare
+the narrow pavement and cit-like appearance of the whole locality
+with the splendours of Oxford Square or Stanhope Place, where the
+business occupant of the premises has now his residence, it will be
+a subject of doubt, if not of unbelief, that Mr Bullion--who dwelt
+in the upper portions of the building--was as happy, and nearly as
+proud, as his successor at the present time. Yet so it is; and,
+without making invidious comparisons with the distinguished-looking
+lady who does the honours of the mansion in Oxford Square--her
+father was a sugar baker, and lived in a magnificent country house
+at Mussel hill. I will venture to state, that Mr Bullion had great
+reason to be satisfied with the manners and appearance of the young
+person who presided at his festive board. Such a rich laugh, and
+such a sweet voice, were heard in no other house in the town. And
+as to her face and figure, the only dispute among painters and
+sculptors was, whether the ever-varying expression of her features
+did not constitute her the true property of the Reynoldses and
+Romneys,--or the ever-exquisite moulding of her shape did not bring
+her within the province of the severer art. At the same time it must
+be confessed, that the subject of these disputes took no interest
+either in brush or chisel. A bright, happy, clever creature--but no
+judge of sciences and arts--was Louise Bullion. Books she had read
+a few, and music she had studied a little; yet, with her slender
+knowledge of the circulating library, she talked more pleasantly
+than Madame de Staël, and sang so sweetly, so naturally, and so
+truly, that Mrs Billington was a fool to her. She was a parlour
+Jenny Lind. But Mrs Billington was not the only person who was a
+fool to her. Oh no!--that sort of insanity was epidemic, and seized
+on all that came near her. Even Mr Cocker the book-keeper--a little
+man of upwards of fifty, who was so simple, and knew so little of
+anything but arithmetic, that he always considered himself, and was
+considered by the people, a boy just getting on in his teens--even
+Mr Cocker was a fool to her too. For when he was invited to tea,
+and had his cups sweetened by her hand, and his whole heart turned,
+by some of her pathetic ballads, into something so soft and oily
+that it must have been just like one of the muffins she laid on his
+plate, he used to go away with a very confused idea of cube roots,
+and get into the most extraordinary puzzles in the rule of three.
+Miss Louise, he said, would never go out of his head; whereas she
+had never once got into it, having established her quarters very
+comfortably in another place a little lower down, just inside of
+the brass buttons on his left breast; and yet the poor old fellow
+went down to his grave without the remotest suspicion that he had
+ever been in love. The people used to say that his perplexities, on
+those occasions, were principally remarkable after supper--for an
+invitation to tea, in those hospitable times, included an afterpiece
+in the shape of some roaring hot dishes, and various bowls of a
+stout and jovial beverage, whose place, I beg to say, is poorly
+supplied by any conceivable quantity of negus and jellies! Yes,
+the people used to say that Cocker's difficulties in calculation
+arose from other causes than his admiration of Miss Louise and her
+songs; but this was a calumny--and, in fact, any few extra glasses
+he took were for the express purpose of clearing his head, after it
+had got bewildered by her smiles and music; and therefore how could
+they possibly be the cause of his bewilderment? I repeat that Mr
+Cocker was afflicted by the universal disease, and would have died
+with the greatest happiness to give her a moment's satisfaction.
+And so would all the clerks, except one, who was very short-sighted
+and remarkably deaf, and who was afterwards tried on suspicion of
+having poisoned his wife; and so would her aunt, Miss Lucretia
+Smith, though her kindness was so wonderfully disguised that the
+whole world would have been justified in considering it harshness
+and ill-nature. It was only her way of bestowing it--as if you were
+to pour out sugar from a vinegar cruet; and a good old, fussy,
+scolding, grumbling, advising, tormenting, and very loving lady was
+Miss Lucretia Smith--very loving, I say, not only of her niece, and
+her brother-in-law, but of anybody that would agree to be loved.
+Traditions existed that, in her youth, she had been a tremendous
+creature for enthusiasms and romances; that she had flirted with all
+the officers of the city militia, from the colonel downwards, and
+with all the Lord Mayors' chaplains for an infinite series of years;
+and that, though nothing came of all her praiseworthy efforts, time
+had had a strengthening instead of a weakening effect on all these
+passages--till now, in her fifty-third year, she actually believed
+she had been in love with them all, and on the point of marriage
+with more than half.
+
+And this constituted the whole of Mr Bullion's establishment--at
+least all his establishment which was regularly on the books;
+but there was a young man so constantly in the house--so much at
+home there--so welcome when he came, so wondered at when he staid
+away--in short, so much one of the family, that I will only say, if
+he was not considered a member of it, he ought to have been. For
+what, I pray you, constitutes membership, if intimacy, kindness,
+perpetual presence, and filial and fraternal affection--filial to
+the old man, fraternal to the young lady--do not constitute it?
+You might have sworn till doomsday, but Mr Cecil Hope would never
+have believed that his home was anywhere but at No. 4. Nay, when,
+by some accident, he found himself for a day in a very pretty, very
+tasteful, and very spacious house he had in Hertfordshire, with
+a ring-fence of fourteen hundred acres round it, he felt quite
+disconsolate, and as if he were in a strange place. The estate
+had been bought, the house had been built--as the money had been
+acquired, by his father, who was no less a person than the senior
+partner in the firm of Hope and Bullion, but had withdrawn his
+capital from the trade, laid it out in land, superintended the
+erection of his mansion, pined for his mercantile activities, and
+died in three years of having nothing to do. So Cecil was rich
+and unencumbered; he was also as handsome as the Apollo, who,
+they say, would be a very vulgar-looking fellow if he dressed
+like a Christian; and he (not the Apollo, but Cecil Hope) was
+four-and-twenty years of age, five feet eleven in height, and
+as pleasant a fellow as it is possible to conceive. So you may
+guess whether or not he was in love with Louise. Of course he
+was,--haven't I said he was a young man of some sense, and for whom
+I have a regard? He adored her. And now you will, perhaps, be asking
+if the admiration was returned--and that is one of the occasions on
+which an impertinent reader has a great advantage over the best and
+cunningest of authors. They can ask such impudent questions,--which
+they would not dare to do unless under the protection and in the
+sanctuary, as it were, of print, and look so amazingly knowing while
+pausing for a reply, that I have no patience with the fellows at
+all; and, in answer to their demand whether Louise returned the
+love of Cecil Hope, I will only say this--I will see them hanged
+first, before I gratify their curiosity. Indeed, how could I hold
+up my head in any decent society again, if I were to commit such
+a breach of confidence as that? Imagine me confessing that she
+looked always fifty times happier in his presence than when he was
+away--imagine me confessing that her heart beat many thumps quicker
+when anybody mentioned his name--imagine me, I say, confessing
+all this, and fifty things more, and then calling myself a man of
+honour and discretion! No: I say again I will see the reader hanged
+first, before I will answer his insolent question; so let that be
+an understood thing between us, that I will never reveal any secret
+with which a young lady is kind enough to intrust me.
+
+And this, I think, is a catalogue of all the household above the
+good old warehouse. Ah! no,--there is the excellent Mr Bullion
+himself. He is now sixty; he has white hair, a noble, even a
+_distingué_ figure: look into any page of any fashionable novel of
+any year, for an explanation of what that means. On the present
+occasion, you would perhaps conclude that the long-backed,
+wide-tailed blue coat, the low-flapped waistcoat, tight-fitting
+knee-br--ch--s, white cotton stockings in-doors, long gaiters out,
+with bright-buckled square-toed shoes, may be a little inconsistent
+with the epithet _distingué_. But this is a vulgar error, and
+would argue that nobody could look _distingué_ without lace and
+brocade. Now, only imagine Mr Bullion in a court-dress, with a
+silk bag floating over his shoulder, to tie up long tresses which
+have disappeared from his head for many years; a diamond-hilted
+rapier that probably has no blade, and all the other portions of
+that graceful and easy style of habiliment,--dress him in this way,
+and look at him bowing gracefully by means of his three-cornered
+hat, and you will surely grant he would be a _distingué_ figure
+then,--and why not in his blue coat and smalls?
+
+But _distingué_-looking men, even in court-dresses, may be great
+rascals, and even considerable fools. Then was Mr Bullion a
+rascal?--no. A fool?--no. In short, he was one of the best of men,
+and could have been recognised during his life, if any one had
+described him in the words of his epitaph.
+
+Well,--we must get on. Day after day, for several months before
+the date we have got to, a sort of mystery seemed to grow deeper
+and deeper on the benevolent features of the father of Louise.
+Something--nobody could tell what--had lifted him out of his
+ordinary self. He dropt dark hints of some great change that was
+shortly to take place in the position of the family: he even
+took many opportunities of lecturing Cecil Hope on the miseries
+of ill-assorted marriages, particularly where the lady was of a
+family immeasurably superior to the man's. Miss Smith thought he was
+going to be made Lord Mayor; Cecil Hope supposed he was about to be
+appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer; and Louise thought he was
+growing silly, and took no notice of all the airs he put on, and the
+depreciatory observations he made on the rank of a country squire.
+As to Mr Cocker, he was already fully persuaded that his master was
+the greatest man in the world, and, if he had started for king,
+would have voted him to the throne without a moment's hesitation.
+At last the origin of all these proceedings on the part of Mr
+Bullion began to be suspected. A little dark man, with the brightest
+possible eyes, shrouded in a great cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat
+carefully drawn over his brows, and just showing to the affrighted
+maid who opened the door the aforesaid eyes, fixed on her with such
+an expression of inquiry that they fully supplied the difficulty
+he experienced in asking for Mr Bullion in words,--for he was a
+foreigner, not much gifted with the graces of English pronunciation.
+This little dark and inquisitive man came to the house two or
+three times a-week, and spent several hours in close consultation
+with Mr Bullion. On emerging from these councils, it was easy to
+see, by that gentleman's countenance, whether the affair, whatever
+it was, was in a prosperous condition or not. Sometimes he came
+into the supper-room gloomy and silent, sometimes tripping in
+like a sexagenarian Taglioni, and humming a French song,--for his
+knowledge of that language was extraordinary,--and his whole idea
+of a daughter's education seemed to be, to make her acquire the
+true Parisian accent, and to read Molière and Corneille. So Louise,
+to gratify the whim of her father, had made herself perfect in
+the language, and could have entered into a correspondence with
+Madame de Sevigné without a single false concord, or a mistake in
+spelling. Who could this little man be, who had such influence
+on her father's spirits? They watched him, but could see nothing
+but the dark cloak and slouched hat, which disappeared down some
+side street, and would have puzzled one of the detective police to
+keep them in view. Her thoughts rested almost constantly on this
+subject. Even at church--for they were regular church-goers, and
+very decided Protestants, as far as their religious feelings could
+be shown in hating the devil and the Pope--she used to watch her
+father's face, but could read nothing there but a quiet devotion
+during the prayers, and an amiable condescension while listening to
+the sermon. Rustlings of papers as the little visitor slipt along
+the passage, revealed the fact that there were various documents
+required in their consultations; and on one particular occasion,
+after an interview of unusual duration, Mr Bullion accompanied his
+mysterious guest to the door, and was overheard, by the conclave
+who were assembled in the little parlour for supper, very warm in
+his protestations of obligation for the trouble he had taken, and
+concluding with these remarkable words--"Assure his Excellency of
+my highest consideration, and that I shall not lose a moment in
+throwing myself at the feet of the King." Louise looked at Cecil on
+hearing these words; and as Cecil would probably have been looking
+at Louise, whether he had heard these words or not, their eyes
+met with an expression of great bewilderment and surprise,--the
+said bewilderment being by no means diminished when his visitor
+replied--"His Excellency kisses your hands, and I leave your
+Lordship in the holy keeping of the saints."
+
+"Papa is rather flighty--don't you think so, Cecil?" said Louise.
+
+"Both mad," answered that gentleman with a shake of the head.
+
+"Mr Bullion is going to be Lord Mayor," said Miss Lucretia, with
+a vivid remembrance of the flirtations and grandeurs of the
+Mansion-house.
+
+Mr Cocker said nothing aloud, and was sorely puzzled for a long
+time, but ended with a confused notion, derived principally from the
+protection of the saints, that his patron was likely to be Pope.
+All, however, sank into a gaping silence of anticipation, when
+Mr Bullion, after shutting the door, as soon as his visitor had
+departed, began to whistle Malbrook, and came into the supper-room.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"Enjoy yourselves, _mes enfants_," said the old gentleman; "I have
+not kept you waiting, I hope. Miss Smith, I kiss your hand--_ma
+fille, embrassemoi_."
+
+"What's the matter with you, papa?" replied the young lady, and not
+complying with the request; "you speak as if you were a foreigner.
+Have you forgotten your mother-tongue?"
+
+And certainly it was not difficult to perceive that there was an
+unusual tone assumed by Mr Bullion, with the slightest possible
+broken English admitted into his language.
+
+"My mother-tongue?" said the senior. "Bah! 'tis not the time yet--I
+have not forgot it--not quite--but kiss me, Louise."
+
+"Well, since you speak like a Christian, I won't refuse; but do be a
+good, kind, communicative old man, and tell us what has kept you so
+long. Do tell us who that hideous man is."
+
+"Hideous, my dear!--'tis plain you never saw him."
+
+"He's like the bravo of Venice," said Louise; "isn't he, Cecil?"
+
+"He's more like Guy Faux," said the gentleman appealed to.
+
+"He's like a gipsy fortune-teller," continued Miss Smith.
+
+"Uncommon like a 'ousebreaker," chimed in Mr Cocker: "I never see
+such a rascally-looking countenance."
+
+"Are you aware, all this time, that you are giving these
+descriptions of a friend of mine,--a most learned, lofty,
+reverend--but, pshaw! what nonsense it is, getting angry with folks
+like you. Eagles should fight with eagles."
+
+But the lofty assumptions of Mr Bullion made no impression on his
+audience. One word, however, had stuck in the tympanum of Miss
+Smith's ear, and was beating a tremendous tattoo in her heart--
+
+"Reverend, did you say, brother-in-law. If that little man is
+reverend, mark my words. I know very well what he's after. If we're
+not all spirited off to the Disquisition in Spain, I wish I may
+never be marr--I mean--saved."
+
+"Nonsense, aunt," said Louise. "You're not going to turn Dissenter,
+father?"
+
+"Better that than be a Papist, anyhow," sulked out Lucretia.
+
+"Miss Smith," said Mr Bullion, "have the kindness, madam, to make
+no observation on what I do, or what friends I visit or receive in
+this house. If the gentleman who has now left me were a Mahommedan,
+he should be sacred from your impertinent remarks. Give me another
+potato, and hold your tongue."
+
+"To you, Mr Hope," continued the senior, "and to you, Mr Cocker,
+and to you, Miss Lucretia, who are unmixed plebeians from your
+remotest known ancestry, it may appear surprising that a man so
+willingly undertakes the onerous duties entailed on him by his lofty
+extraction, as to surrender the peace and contentment which he feels
+to be the fitter accompaniments of your humble yet comfortable
+position. For my daughter and me far other things are in store--we
+sit on the mountain-top exposed to the tempest, though glorified by
+the sunshine, and look without regret to the contemptible safety
+and inglorious ease of the inhabitants of the vale. Take a glass of
+wine, Mr Cocker. I shall always look on you with favour."
+
+Mr Cocker took the glass as ordered, and supposed his patron was
+repeating a passage out of Enfield's _Speaker_. "Fine language,
+sir, very fine language, indeed! particular that about sunshine on
+the mountains. A remarkable clever man, Mr Enfield; and I can say
+Ossian's Address to the Sun myself."
+
+But in the mean time Louisa walked round the table, and laid hold of
+her father's hand, and putting her finger on his pulse, looked with
+a face full of wisdom, while she counted the beats; and giving a
+satisfied shake of the head, resumed her seat.
+
+"A day or two's quiet will do, without a strait waistcoat," she
+said; "but I will certainly tell the porter never to admit that
+slouch-faced muffled-up impostor, who puts such nonsense into his
+head."
+
+But at this moment a violent pull at the bell startled them all.
+When the door was opened a voice was heard in the hall which said,
+"Pour un instant, Monseigneur;" whereupon Mr Bullion started up,
+and replying, "Oui, mon père," hurried out of the room, and left his
+party in more blank amazement than before.
+
+The surmises, the exclamations, the whispers and suspicions that
+passed from one to the other, it is needless to record; it will
+suffice to say that, after an animated conversation with the
+mysterious visitor, Mr Bullion once more joined the circle and said,
+"You will be ready, all of you, to start for France to-morrow. I
+have business of importance that calls for my presence in Tours. Say
+not a word, but obey."
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+So, in a week, they were all comfortably settled in a hotel at Tours.
+
+Mr Bullion was sitting in the parlour, apparently in deep and
+pleasant contemplation; for the corners of his mouth were
+involuntarily turned up, and he inspected the calf of his leg with
+self-satisfied admiration. Mr Cocker was on a chair in the corner,
+probably multiplying the squares in the table-cover by the flowers
+in the paper.
+
+"How do you like France, Mr Cocker?" said Mr Bullion.
+
+"Not at all, sir; the folks has no sense; and no wonder we always
+wallop them by sea or land."
+
+"Hem! Must I remind you, sir, that this is _my_ country; that the
+French are my countrymen; and that you by no means wallop them
+either by sea or land."
+
+"_You_ French! _you_ Frenchman!" replied Mr Cocker; "that _is_
+a joke! Bullion ain't altogether a French name, I think? No,
+no; it smells of the bank; _it_ does. You ain't one of the
+_parlevous_--_you_ ain't, that's certain."
+
+"How often have I to order you, sir, not to doubt my word?" said Mr
+Bullion; and emphacised his speech with a form of expression that is
+generally considered a clencher.
+
+"There! there!" cried Cocker, triumphant; "I told you so. Is there
+ever a Frenchman could swear like that? They ain't Christians enough
+to give such a jolly hearty curse as yourn; so you see, sir, it's no
+go to pass yourself off for a _Mounseer_."
+
+"Leave the room, sir, and send Mr Hope to me at once!"
+
+Cocker obeyed, puzzled more and more at the fancy his master was
+possessed with to deny his country.
+
+"It would, perhaps, have been wiser," thought Mr Bullion, "to
+have left the plebeian fools at home till everything was formally
+completed; but still, nothing, I suppose, would have satisfied them
+but the evidence of their own eyes."
+
+"Mr Hope," he said, as that young gentleman entered the room, "sit
+down beside me; nay, no ceremony, I shall always treat you with
+condescension and regard."
+
+"You are very good, sir."
+
+"I am, sir; and I trust your conduct will continue such as to
+justify me in remaining so. You may have observed, Mr Hope, a change
+in my manner for some time past. You can't have been fool enough,
+like Miss Smith and Mr Cocker, to doubt the reality of the fact I
+stated, namely, that I am French by birth,--did you doubt it, sir?"
+
+"Why, sir,--in fact--since you insist on an answer--"
+
+"I see you did. Well, sir, I pity and pardon you. I will tell you
+the whole tale, and then you will see that some alteration must take
+place in our respective positions. In the neighbourhood of this
+good city of Tours I was born. My father was chief of the younger
+branch of one of the noblest houses in France,--the De Bouillons
+of Chateau d'Or. He was wild, gay, thoughtless, and fell into
+disgrace at court. He was imprisoned in the Bastille; his estates
+confiscated; his name expunged from the book of nobility; and he
+died poor, forgotten, and blackened in name and fame. I was fifteen
+at the time. I took my father's sword into the Town Hall; I gave
+it in solemn charge to the authorities, and vowed that when I had
+succeeded in wiping off the blot from my father's name, and getting
+it restored to its former rank, I would reclaim it at their hands,
+and assume the state and dignity to which my birth entitled me. I
+went to England; your father, my good Cecil, took me by the hand:
+porter, clerk, partner, friend,--I rose through all the gradations
+of the office; and when he died, he left me the highest trust he
+could repose in anyone,--the guardianship of his son."
+
+"I know sir,--and if I have never sufficiently thanked you for your
+care--"
+
+"Not that--no, no--I'm satisfied, my dear boy--and Louise--the
+Lady Louise I must now call her--change of rank--duties of lofty
+sphere--former friends--ill arranged engagements--" continued the
+new-formed magnate in confusion, blurting out unconnected words,
+that showed the train of his thoughts without expressing them
+distinctly; while Mr Hope sat in amazement at what he had heard, but
+no longer doubting the reality of what was said.
+
+"Well, sir?" he inquired.
+
+"I changed my name with my country, though retaining as much of the
+sound of it as I could; and Louis Bullion was a complete disguise
+for the expatriated Marquis de Bouillon de Chateau d'Or. I married
+Miss Smith, and lost her shortly after Louise's birth. For years
+I have been in treaty with the French ambassador through his
+almoner, the Abbé, whose visits you thought so mysterious. At last
+I succeeded, and to-morrow I claim my father's sword, resume the
+hereditary titles of my house, and take my honoured place among the
+peers and paladins of France."
+
+"And have you informed Louise?"--inquired Cecil.
+
+"Lady Louise," interrupted Mr Bullion.
+
+"Of this change in her position?"
+
+"Why, my dear Cecil, to tell you truth--it's not an easy matter to
+get her to understand my meaning. Yesterday I attempted to explain
+the thing, exactly as I have done to you; but instead of taking it
+seriously, she began with one of her provoking chuckles, and chucked
+me under the chin, and called me Marquy-darky. In fact, I wish the
+explanation to come from you."
+
+"I feel myself very unfit for the task," said the young man, who
+foresaw that this altered situation might interfere with certain
+plans of his own. "I hope you will excuse me; you can tell her the
+whole affair yourself, for here she comes."
+
+And the young lady accordingly made her appearance. After looking at
+them for some time--
+
+"What are you all so doleful about?" she began. "Has papa bitten
+you too, Cecil? Pray don't be a duke--it makes people so very
+ridiculous."
+
+"Miss Louise--mademoiselle, I ought to say," said Mr Bullion, "I
+have communicated certain facts to Cecil Hope."
+
+"Which he doesn't believe--do you, Cecil?" interposed the daughter.
+
+"He does believe them, and I beg you will believe them too. They are
+simply, that I am a nobleman of the highest rank, and you are my
+right honourable daughter."
+
+"Oh, indeed! and how was our cousin Spain when you heard from
+Madrid?--our uncle Austria, was he quite well?--was George of
+England recovered of the gout?--and above all, how was uncle Smith,
+the shipowner of Wapping?"
+
+"Girl! you will drive me mad," replied the Marquis, "with your
+Smiths and Wappings. I tell you, what I have said is really the
+case, and to-morrow you will see the inauguration with your own
+eyes. Meantime, I must dress, to receive a deputation of the
+nobility of the province, who come to congratulate me on my arrival."
+
+"Oh, what's this I hear," exclaimed Miss Smith, rushing into the
+room, "are you a real marquis, Mr Bullion?"
+
+"Yes, madam, I have that honour."
+
+"And does the marriage with my sister stand good?"
+
+"To be sure, madam."
+
+"Then, I'm very glad of it. Oh how delightful!--to be my Lord this,
+my Lady that. I am always devoted to the aristockicy; and now, only
+to think I am one of them myself."
+
+"How can you be so foolish, aunt?--I'm ashamed of you," said Louise;
+"what terrible things you were telling me, an hour ago, of the
+wickedness of the nobility?"
+
+"Miss Smith, though she does not express herself in very correct
+language, has more sensible ideas on this subject than you," said
+the marquis, looking severely at his daughter, who was looking, from
+time to time, with a malicious smile at the woe-begone countenance
+of Cecil Hope. "Remember, madam, who it is you are," continued the
+senior.
+
+"La, papa! don't talk such nonsense," replied the irreverent
+daughter. "Do you think I am eighteen years of age, and don't know
+perfectly well who and what I am?"
+
+"Three of your ancestors, madam, were Constables of France."
+
+"That's nothing to boast of," returned Louise; "no, not if they had
+been inspectors of police."
+
+"You are incorrigible, girl, and have not sense enough to have a
+proper feeling of family pride."
+
+"Haven't I? Am I not proud of all the stories uncle David tells
+us of his courage, when he was mate of an Indiaman? and aunt
+Jenkison--don't you remember, sir, how she dined with us at
+Christmas, and had to walk in pattens through the snow, and tumbled
+in Cheapside?"
+
+A laugh began to form itself round the eyes of the French magnate,
+which made his countenance uncommonly like what it used to be when
+it was that of an English merchant. Louise saw her success, and
+proceeded.
+
+"And how you said, when the poor old lady was brought home in a
+chair, that it was the punch that did it?"
+
+"He, he! and so it was. Didn't I caution her, all the time, that it
+was old Jamaica rum?" broke out the father; but checked himself, as
+if he were guilty of some indecorum.
+
+"And don't you remember how we all attended the launch of uncle
+Peter's ship, the Hope's Return? Ah, they were happy days, father!
+weren't they?"
+
+"No, madam; no--vulgar, miserable days: forget them as quick as you
+can. I tell you, when you resume your proper sphere, every eye will
+be turned to your beauty: nobles will be dying at your feet."
+
+"I trust not, sir," hurriedly burst in Mr Hope. "I don't see what
+right any nobles will have to be dying at Louise's feet."
+
+"Don't you, sir?" said Louise. "Indeed! I beg to tell you, that as
+many as choose shall die at my feet. I'll trouble you, Mr Hope,
+not to interfere with the taste of any nobleman who has a fancy to
+so queer a place for his death-bed." But while she said this, she
+tapped him so playfully with her little white hand, and looked at
+him so kindly with her beautiful blue eyes, that the young gentleman
+seemed greatly reassured; and in a few minutes, as if tired of the
+conversation, betook himself to the other room.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Suddenly a great noise was heard in the street, and interrupted the
+lectures of father and aunt on the dignity of position and the pride
+of birth. Miss Lucretia and Louise ran to the window, and saw a
+cavalcade of carriages, with outriders, and footmen on the rumble,
+and all the stately accompaniments of the old-fashioned family
+coach, which, after a slow progress along the causeway, stopped at
+the hotel door.
+
+"My friends! my noble friends!" exclaimed the marquis; "and I in
+this miserable dress!"
+
+"The noble men! the salts of the earth!" equally exclaimed Miss
+Smith; "and I in my morning gownd!"
+
+Saying this, she hastily fled into her bed-room, which, according to
+the fashion of French houses, opened on the sitting-room, and left
+the father and Louise alone.
+
+The father certainly was in no fitting costume for the dignity
+of his new character. He was dressed according to the fashion of
+the respectable London trader of his time--a very fitting figure
+for 'Change, but not appropriate to the Marquis de Bouillon de
+Chateau d'Or. Nor, in fact, was his disposition much more fitted
+for his exalted position than his clothes. To all intents and
+purposes, he was a true John Bull: proud of his efforts to attain
+wealth--proud of his success--proud of the freedom of his adopted
+land--and, in his secret heart, thinking an English merchant
+several hundred degrees superior in usefulness and worth to all the
+marquises that ever lived on the smiles of the Grand Monarque. The
+struggle, therefore, that went on within him was the most ludicrous
+possible. To his family and friends he presented that phase of his
+individuality that set his nobility in front; to the French nobles,
+on the other hand, he was inclined to show only so much of himself
+as presented the man of bills and invoices; and in both conditions,
+by a wonderful process of reasoning, in which we are all adepts,
+considered himself raised above the individuals he addressed.
+
+"Did they see you at the window?" he said, in some trepidation,
+while the visitors were descending from their coaches.
+
+"To be sure," replied Louise; "and impudent-looking men they were."
+
+"Ah! that's a pity. Do, for heaven's sake, my dear, just slip in
+beside your aunt. They are a very gay polite people, the nobles of
+France--"
+
+"Well; and what then?"
+
+"And they might take ways of showing it, we are not used to in
+England. Do hide yourself, my dear--there, that's a good girl."
+And just as he had succeeded in pushing her into the bedroom, and
+begged her to lock herself in, the landlord of the hotel ushered
+four or five noblemen into the apartment, as visitors to the
+Marquis de Bouillon. The eldest of the strangers--about forty years
+old--bespangled with jewels, and ornamented with two or three stars
+and ribbons, looked with some surprise on the plainly drest and
+citizen-mannered man, who came forward to welcome them.
+
+"We came to pay our compliments to my lord the Marquis de Bouillon
+de Chateau d'Or."
+
+"And very glad he is to see you, gentlemen," said their host.
+
+"You?--impossible! He speaks with an English accent."
+
+"An impostor!" replied another of the nobles, to whom the last
+sentence had been addressed in a whisper."
+
+"I am, indeed,--and truly glad to make your acquaintance, I assure
+you."
+
+"Well," resumed the Frenchman, "let me present to you the Viscount
+de Lanoy--the Baron Beauvilliers--the Marquis de Croissy--for
+myself, I'm Duc de Vieuxchateau."
+
+"Sit down, gentlemen--I beg," said De Bouillon, after bowing to the
+personages named. "A charming place this Tours, and I'm very glad to
+see you--fine weather, gentlemen."
+
+"I trust you have come with the intention of residing among us. Your
+estates, I conclude, are restored along with your titles."
+
+"No, gentlemen, they're not. But we may manage to buy some of them
+back again. How's land here?"
+
+"Land?" inquired the duke, rather bewildered with the question.
+
+"Yes--how is it, as to rent? How much an acre?"
+
+"'Pon my word, I don't know. When I want money I tell the steward,
+and the people--the--serfs, I suppose, they are--who hold the plough
+and manage the land--give him some, and he brings it to me."
+
+"Oh! but you don't know how many years' purchase it's worth?"
+
+To this there was no answer--statistics, at that time, not being a
+favourite study in France.
+
+"But, marquis," inquired another, "hasn't the King restored you your
+manorial rights--your _droits de seigneur_?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then what's the use of land without them?" was the very pertinent
+rejoinder.
+
+"What are they, sir?" inquired the marquis.
+
+"Why, if a tenant of yours has a pretty daughter," said one.
+
+"Or a wife," said another.
+
+"Or even a niece," said a third.
+
+"Well, sir, what then? I don't take."
+
+"Oh, you're a wag, marquis!" replied the duke. "Didn't I see, as we
+stopt before your window, a countenance radiant with beauty?"
+
+"Eyes like stars," chimed in another.
+
+"Cheeks like roses. Aha! Monsieur le Marquis--who was it?--come!"
+
+"Why, that,--oh, that,--that's a young lady under my protection,
+gentlemen; and I must beg you to change the conversation."
+
+"Indeed! you're a lucky fellow! The old fool mustn't be allowed to
+keep such beauty to himself."
+
+"Certainly not," returned the vicomte, also in a whisper.
+
+"Lucky!" said De Bouillon--"yes, gentlemen, I am lucky. If you knew
+all, you would think so, I'm sure."
+
+"She loves you, then, old simpleton?"
+
+"I think she does--I know she does--"
+
+"May we not ask the honour of being presented?"
+
+"Some other time, gentlemen--not now--she's not here--she's gone out
+for a walk."
+
+"Impossible, my dear lord; we must have met her as we came up
+stairs."
+
+"She has a headache--she's gone to lie down for a few minutes," said
+the marquis, getting more and more anxious to keep Louise from the
+intrusion of his visitors.
+
+"I have an excellent cure for headaches of all kinds," exclaimed
+the baron, and proceeded towards the bed-room door. The Marquis de
+Bouillon, however, put himself between; but the duke and vicomte
+pulled him aside, and the baron began to rat-tat on the door.
+
+"Come forth, madam!" he began, "we are dying for a sight of your
+angelic charms. De Bouillon begs you to honour us with your
+presence. Hark, she's coming!" he added, and drew back as he heard
+the bolt withdrawn on the other side.
+
+"Stay where you are! don't come out!" shouted De Bouillon, still in
+the hands of his friends. "I charge you, don't move a step!" But his
+injunctions were vain; the door opened, and, sailing majestically
+into the room, drest out in hoop and furbelow, and waving her fan
+affectedly before her face, appeared Miss Lucretia Smith--
+
+"Did you visit to see me, gentlemen? I'm always delighted to see any
+one as is civil enough to give us a forenoon call."
+
+The French nobles, however, felt their ardour damped to an
+extraordinary degree, and replied by a series of the most respectful
+salaams.
+
+"Profound veneration," "deepest reverence," and other expressions
+of the same kind, were muttered by each of the visiters; and in a
+short time they succeeded, in spite of Miss Lucretia's reiterated
+invitations, in bowing themselves out of the room. They were
+accompanied by the marquis to their carriages, while Miss Smith was
+gazing after them, astonished, more than pleased, at the wonderful
+politeness of their manner. Louise slipt out of the bed-room, and
+slapt her astonished aunt upon the shoulder--
+
+"You've done it, aunt!--you've done it now! A word from you recalls
+these foreigners to their senses."
+
+"It gives me a high opinion," replied Miss Smith, "of them French.
+They stand in perfect awe of dignity and virtue."
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Great were the discussions, all that day, among the English party in
+the hotel--the father concealing his disappointment at the behaviour
+of his fellow nobles, under an exaggerated admiration of rank, and
+all its attributes; Louise professing to chime in with her father's
+ideas, for the pleasant purpose of vexing Cecil Hope; Mr Cocker
+still persuading himself the Frenchmanship of his old master was a
+little bit of acting that would end as soon as the curtain fell; and
+Miss Lucretia devising means of making up for her failures with so
+many curates, by catching a veritable duke. With the next morning
+new occupations began. The marquis, dressed in the fantastic apparel
+of a French courtier, exchanged compliments with his daughter,
+who was also magnificently attired, to do honour to the occasion.
+Mr Hope tried in vain to get her to sink from the lofty style she
+assumed, and had strong thoughts of setting off for Hertfordshire,
+and marrying a farmer's daughter out of revenge. The father was so
+carried away by family pride, and the daughter enjoyed the change
+in her rank so heartily, that there seemed no room in the heart
+of either for so prosaic a being as a plain English squire. And
+yet, every now and then, there gleamed from the corner of Louise's
+eye, or stole out in a merry tone of her voice, the old familiar
+feeling, so that he could not altogether give way to despair, but
+waited in patience what the chapter of accidents might bring. At
+one o'clock the marquis set off for the town-hall, where he was to
+go through the ceremony of reclaiming his father's sword, and have
+the blot on the scutcheon formally removed; after which he was to
+entertain the town authorities, and the neighbouring nobility, at
+dinner; the evening to conclude with a ball, in the preparation for
+which the ladies were to be left at home. Mr Hope accompanied him
+to the door of the town-hall,--but there he professed to find his
+feelings overpowered, and declined to witness the ceremony that,
+he said, broke the connexion which had existed so long between the
+names of Hope and Bullion; but, ere he could return to the hotel,
+several things had occurred that had a material influence on his
+prospects, and these we must now proceed to relate. Miss Lucretia
+Smith continued her oratory in the ears of her devoted niece after
+the gentlemen had gone, the burden thereof consisting, principally,
+in a comparison between the nobles of France and the shopocracy
+of London,--till that young lady betook herself to the bedroom
+window already mentioned, to watch for Cecil's return. She had
+not been long at her watch-post, when a carriage, with the blinds
+drawn up, and escorted by seven or eight armed men, with masks on
+their faces, pulled up at the door. Of this she took no particular
+notice, but kept looking attentively down the street. But, a minute
+or two after the closed carriage drove under the _porte cochère_,
+a young gentleman was ushered into the presence of Miss Smith, and
+was, by that young lady, received with the highest _empressement_
+possible. She had only had time to improve her toilette by putting
+on Louise's shawl and bonnet, which happened to be lying on a chair;
+and, in spite of the shortness of the view she had had of him the
+day before, she immediately recognised him as one of her brother's
+visiters, the Baron Beauvilliers.
+
+"Permit me, madam," he said, in very good English, "to apologise for
+my intrusion, but I have the authority of my friend De Bouillon to
+consider myself here at home."
+
+"Oh, sir, you are certainly the politest nation on the face of the
+earth, you French--that I must say; but I may trust, I hope, to
+the honour of a gent like you? You won't be rude to an unoffended
+female? for there ain't a soul in the 'ouse that could give me the
+least assistance."
+
+The baron bowed in a very assuring manner, and, taking a seat beside
+her, "May I make bold, madam, to ask who the tawdry silly-looking
+young person is who resides under De Bouillon's protection?"
+
+"Sir--under Mr Bull--I mean, under the marquee's protection? I don't
+understand you."
+
+"Exactly as I suspected. I guessed, from the dignity of your
+appearance, that such an infamous proceeding was entirely unknown
+to you. Command my services, madam, in any way you can make them
+available. Let me deliver you from the scandal of being in the same
+house with a person of that description."
+
+"Oh, sir!" replied Miss Smith, "you are certainly most obliging.
+When we are a little better acquainted perhaps--in a few days,
+or even in one--I shall be happy to accept your offer; but, la!
+what will my brother-in-law say if I accept a gentleman's offer at
+minute's notice?"
+
+Miss Smith accompanied this speech with various blushes and pauses,
+betokening the extent of her modest reluctance; but the baron either
+did not perceive the mistake she had made, or did not think it worth
+while to notice it.
+
+"I will convey the destroyer of your peace away from your sight.
+Show me only the room she is in. And consider, madam, that you will
+make me the proudest of men by allowing me to be your knight and
+champion on this occasion."
+
+"Really, sir, I can't say at present where the gipsy can be.
+Brother-in-law has been very sly; but if I can possibly ferret her
+out, won't I send her on her travels? Wait but a minute, sir: I'll
+come to you the moment she can be found."
+
+But the baron determined to accompany her in her search, and
+together they left the room, two active members of the Society for
+the Suppression of Vice. Louise had heard the noise of voices,
+without distinguishing or attending to what was said, but a low and
+hurried tap at the door now attracted her notice.
+
+"Miss Louise--ma'am--for heaven's sake, come out!" said the voice of
+Mr Cocker through the key-hole; "for here's a whole regiment of them
+French, and they wants to run away with YOU."
+
+"With me, Cocker!" exclaimed Louise, coming into the parlour. "What
+is it you mean?"
+
+"What I say, miss--and your aunt is as bad as any on 'em. She's
+searching the house, at this moment, to give you tip into their
+hands. She can't refuse nothing to them noblesse, as she calls 'em.
+The gentleman has gone down to the court-yard to see that nobody
+escapes, and here we are, like mice in a trap."
+
+"Go for Cecil, Cocker; leave me to myself," said Louise--her
+features dilating into tiger-like beauty, with rage and
+self-confidence. "Go, I tell you--you'll find him returning from the
+town-hall--and bid him lose not a moment in coming to my help." She
+waved Mr Cocker impatiently from her, and returned for a moment into
+the bed-room.
+
+"Madam, hist! I beg you will be quick!" exclaimed the baron,
+entering the parlour; "I can't wait much longer. What a detestable
+old fool it is!" he went on, in a lower voice; "she might have
+found the girl long ere this. "Well, well, have you found her?" he
+continued, addressing Louise, who issued from the bed-room in some
+of the apparel of her aunt, and assuming as nearly as she could the
+airs and graces of that individual. "Tell me, madam, where she is."
+
+"La! sir, how is one to find out these things in a moment--besides,
+they ain't quite proper subjects for a young lady to be concerned
+with," replied Louise, keeping her bashful cheek from the sight of
+the baron with her enormous fan.
+
+"Then, madam, point with that lovely finger of yours, and I shall
+make the discovery myself."
+
+Louise pointed, as required, to the gallery, along which, at that
+moment, her quick eye caught the step of Miss Lucretia; and the
+baron, going to the door, gave directions to his attendants to seize
+the lady, and carry her without loss of time to the Parc d'Amour,
+a hotel on the outskirts of Tours. He then closed the door, and
+listened--no less than did Louise--to the execution of his commands.
+
+"There, madam," he said, as the scuffle of seizure and a very faint
+scream were heard, "they've got her! Your pure presence shall never
+more be polluted by her society. A naughty man old De Bouillon, and
+unaccustomed to the strict morality of France. Adieu!"
+
+"Adieu, sir!" said Louise; but there was a tone in her voice, or
+something in her manner, that called the attention of her visitor.
+He went up to her, laid his hand upon the fan, and revealed before
+him, beautiful from alarm and indignation, was the face of Louise de
+Bouillon! "So, madam! this was an excellent device, but I have more
+assistance at hand. Ho! Pierre! François!" he began to call. "I have
+another carriage in the yard--you sha'nt escape me so."
+
+"Stop, sir!" exclaimed Louise, and placed herself between him and
+the door. "These are not the arts of wooing we are used to in
+England. I expected more softness and persuasion."
+
+"Alas, madam, 'tis only the shortness of the opportunity that
+prevents me from making a thousand protestations. But, after all,
+what is the use of them? Ho! François!"
+
+As he said this, he approached nearer to Louise, and even laid his
+hand upon her arm. But with the quickness of lightning, she made
+a dart at the diamond-covered hilt of her assailant's sword, and
+pulling it from the sheath, stood with the glittering point within
+an inch of the Frenchman's eyes.
+
+"Back, back!" she cried, "or you are a dead man--or frog--or
+monkey--or whatever you are!"
+
+Each of these names was accompanied with a step in advance; and
+there was too savage a lustre in her look to allow the unfortunate
+baron to doubt for a moment that his life was in the highest peril.
+
+"Madam," he expostulated, "do be careful--'tis sharp as a needle."
+
+"Back, back!" she continued, advancing with each word upon his
+retreating steps--"you thread-paper--you doll-at-a-fair--you stuffed
+cockatoo--back, back!" And on arriving at the bed-room door, she
+gave a prodigiously powerful lunge in advance, and drove her victim
+fairly into the room, and, with an exclamation of pride and triumph,
+locked him in. But, exhausted with the excitement, she had only time
+to lay the sword on the table, wave the key three times round her
+head in sign of victory, and fall fainting into the arms of Cecil
+Hope, who at that moment rushed into the room.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The ceremony in the town-hall passed off with the greatest _éclât_;
+and the dinner was probably thought the finest part of the day's
+entertainment by all but the newly re-established noble himself.
+Flushed with the glories of the proceeding, and also with the wine
+he had swallowed to his own health and happiness, he sallied forth
+with his friends of the preceding day--except, of course, the
+Baron Beauvilliers--and, as he himself expressed it, was awake for
+anything, up to any lark.
+
+"A lark, says my lord?" inquired the Duke de Vieuxchateau.
+
+"Ay," replied the marquis, "if it's as big as a turkey, all the
+better. That champaign is excellent tipple, and would be cheap at
+eighty-four shillings per dozen."
+
+The French nobles did not quite understand their companion's
+phraseology, but were quite willing to join him in any extravagance.
+
+"What shall we do?" cried one; "shall we break open the jail?"
+
+"No," said De Bouillon: "hang it! that's a serious matter. But I'll
+tell you what, I've no objection to knock down a charley."
+
+"No, no! let's go to _Rouge et Noir_."
+
+"Boys, boys!" at last exclaimed the Vicomte de Lanoy, "I'll tell
+you what we shall do,--Beauvilliers told me that, while we were all
+engaged at the dinner, he was going to seize a beautiful creature,
+and carry her off to the Parc d'Amour."
+
+"Wrong, decidedly wrong!" said De Bouillon at this proposition. "Who
+is she?"
+
+"Why, the companion, you understand, of an old twaddling fool, who
+has no right to so much beauty. Beauvilliers did not tell me his
+name, but 'tis only one of the _bourgeoisie_, and we surely have a
+right to do as we like with _them_."
+
+"Ah yes! of course," replied De Bouillon, "I did not think of that.
+What then?"
+
+"Why, sir, we shall play as good a trick on Beauvilliers as he
+designed for the ancient gentleman. Let's get there before him, and
+carry her from him!"
+
+"Agreed, agreed!"
+
+"No, no, I must declare off," said the marquis. "'Tis a bad business
+altogether, and this would make it worse."
+
+"But who is to carry the lady?" inquired the duke, without attending
+to the scruples of his friend.
+
+"Toss for it," suggested the vicomte. A louis was thrown into the
+air. "Heads! heads!" cried the nobleman. "Tails!" said De Bouillon.
+
+"'Tis tails!" exclaimed the vicomte. "Marquis, the chance is
+yours--you've won."
+
+"Oh! have I?" replied the unwilling favourite of fortune; "I've won,
+have I?"
+
+"You don't seem overpleased with your good luck," said the duke;
+"give me your chance, and I shall know how to make better use of it."
+
+"No, gentlemen, I'll manage this affair myself."
+
+"Come on, then!--_vive la joie!_"--and with great joviality they
+pursued their way to the Parc d'Amour.
+
+But they had been preceded in their journey to that hostelry by
+Louise, attended by Cecil Hope and Mr Cocker. By the administration
+of a douceur to the waiter, they obtained an _entrée_ to the
+apartment designed for the baron and his prey, and had scarcely time
+to ensconce themselves behind the window-curtain, when Miss Lucretia
+was escorted into the room. There were no symptoms of any violent
+resistance to her captors having been offered, and she took her seat
+on the sofa without any perceptible alarm.
+
+"Well, them's curious people, them French!" she soliloquised when
+the men had left her. "If that 'ere baron fell in love with a body,
+couldn't he say so without all that rigmarole about Mr Bullion's
+behaviour, and pulling a body nearly to pieces? I'm sure if he had
+axed me in a civil way, I wouldn't have said no. But, lawkins! here
+he comes."
+
+So saying, she enveloped herself in Louise's shawl, and pulled
+Louise's bonnet farther on her face, and prepared to enact the part
+of an offended, yet not altogether unforgiving beauty. But the
+door, on being slowly opened, presented, not the countenance of the
+baron, but the anxious face of Mr Bullion himself. The three French
+nobles pushed him forward. "Go on," they said; "make the best use
+of your eloquence. We will watch here, and guard the door against
+Beauvilliers himself."
+
+The marquis, now thoroughly sobered, slowly advanced: "If I can save
+this poor creature from the insolence of those _roués_, it will be
+well worth the suffering it has cost. Trust to me, madam," he said,
+in a very gentle voice, to the lady: "I will not suffer you to be
+insulted while I live. Come with me, madam, and you shall not be
+interrupted by ever a French profligate alive." On looking closely
+at the still silent lady on the sofa, he was startled at recognising
+a dress with which he was well acquainted.
+
+"In the name of heaven!" he said, "I adjure you to tell me who you
+are. Are you--is it possible--can you be my Louise!"
+
+"No, Mr Bullion," replied Miss Lucretia, lifting up the veil,
+and turning round to the trembling old man. "And I must say I'm
+considerably surprised to find you in a situation like this."
+
+"And you, madam--yourself--how came you here?"
+
+"A young gentleman--nobleman, I should say--ran off with me here,
+and I expected him every minute when you came in."
+
+"And Louise?" inquired the father, in an agitated voice--"when did
+you leave her? Oh! my folly to let her a moment out of my sight!--to
+reject Cecil Hope!--to bedizen myself in this ridiculous fashion!
+Where, oh where is Louise?"
+
+"Here, sir," exclaimed that lady, coming forward from behind the
+window-curtain.
+
+"And safe? Ah! but I need not ask. I see two honest Englishmen by
+your side."
+
+"And one of them, sir, says he'll never leave it," said Louise.
+
+"Stop a moment," replied the marquis. "Ho! gentlemen, come in."
+
+At his request his companions entered the room.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the marquis, "when I determined to reclaim my
+father's sword, I expected to find it bright as Bayard's, and
+unstained with infamy or dishonour. When I wished to resume my
+title, I hoped to find it a sign of the heroic virtues of my
+ancestors, but not a cloak for falsehood and vice. I warn you,
+sirs, your proceedings will be fatal to your order, and to your
+country. For myself, I care not for this sword,"--he threw it on
+the ground--"this filagree I despise,"--he took off his star and
+ribbon--"and I advise you to leave this chamber as fast as you can
+find it convenient."
+
+The French nobles obeyed.
+
+"Here, Cocker! off with all this silk and satin; get me my gaiters
+and flaxen wig; and, please Heaven, one week will see us in the
+little room above the warehouse."
+
+"Preparing, sir, to move into Hertfordshire?" inquired Louise,
+leaning on Cecil's arm.
+
+"Ay, my child; and, in remembrance of this adventure, we shall hang
+up among the pictures in the hall,
+
+  THE SWORD OF HONOUR."
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE.[24]
+
+  [24] _Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of Grange, Knight_,
+  &c. &c. WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London.
+
+
+It must be allowed that a perusal of Scottish history betrays more
+anomalies than are to be found in the character of almost any other
+people. It is not without reason that our southern neighbours
+complain of the difficulty of thoroughly understanding our national
+idiosyncrasy. At one time we appear to be the most peaceable race
+upon the surface of the earth--quiet, patient, and enduring;
+stubborn, perhaps, if interfered with, but, if let alone, in no way
+anxious to pick a quarrel. Take us in another mood, and gunpowder is
+not more inflammable. We are ready to go to the death, for a cause
+about which an Englishman would not trouble himself; and amongst
+ourselves, we divide into factions, debate, squabble, and fight with
+an inveteracy far more than commensurate with the importance of the
+quarrel. Sometimes we seem to have no romance; at other times we are
+perfect Quixotes. The amalgamated blood of the Saxon and the Celt
+seems, even in its union, to display the characteristics of either
+race. We rush into extremes: one day we appear over-cautious, and on
+the next, the _perfervidum ingenium Scotorum_ prevails.
+
+If these remarks be true as applied to the present times, they
+become still more conspicuous when we regard the troublous days of
+our ancestors. At one era, as in the reign of David I., we find
+the Scottish nation engaged, heart and soul, in one peculiar phase
+of religious excitement. Cathedrals and abbeys are starting up in
+every town. All that infant art can do--and yet, why call it infant,
+since, in architecture at least, it has never reached a higher
+maturity?--is lavished upon the structure of our fanes. Melrose, and
+Jedburgh, and Holyrood, and a hundred more magnificent edifices,
+rise up like exhalations throughout a poor and barren country; the
+people are proud in their faith, and perhaps even prouder in the
+actual splendour of their altars. A few centuries roll by, and we
+find the same nation deliberately undoing and demolishing the works
+of their forefathers. Hewn stone and carved cornices, tracery,
+mullions, and buttresses, have now become abominations in their
+sight. Not only must the relics of the saints be scattered to the
+winds of heaven, and their images ground into dust, but every church
+in which these were deposited or displayed, must be dismantled as
+the receptacle of pollution. The hammer swings again, but not with
+the same pious purpose as of yore. Once it was used to build; now
+it is heaved to destroy. Aisle and archway echo to the thunder of
+its strokes, and, amidst a roar of iconoclastic wrath, the venerable
+edifice goes down. Another short lapse of time, and we are lamenting
+the violence of the past, and striving to prop, patch up, and
+rebuild what little remnant has been spared of the older works of
+devotion.
+
+The same anomalies will be found if we turn from the ecclesiastical
+to the political picture. Sometimes there is a spirit of loyalty
+manifested, for which it would be difficult to find a parallel. The
+whole nation gathers round the person of James IV.; and earl and
+yeoman, lord and peasant, chief and vassal, lay down their lives
+at Flodden for their king. His successor James V., in no respect
+unworthy of his crown, dies of a broken heart, deserted by his peers
+and their retainers. The unfortunate Mary, welcomed to her country
+with acclamation, is made the victim of the basest intrigues, and
+forced to seek shelter, and find death in the dominions of her
+treacherous enemy. The divine right, in its widest meaning and
+acceptation, is formally recognised by the Scottish estates as the
+attribute of James VII.; three years afterwards, a new convention
+is prompt to recognise an alien. Half a century further on, we are
+found offering the gage of battle to England in support of the
+exiled family.
+
+This singular variety of mood, of which the foregoing are a
+few instances, is no doubt partly attributable to the peculiar
+relationship which existed between the crown and the principal
+nobility. The latter were not cousins by courtesy only--they were
+intimately connected with the royal family, and some of them were
+near the succession. Hence arose jealousy amongst themselves, a
+system of feud and intrigue, which was perpetuated for centuries,
+and a constant effort, on the part of one or other of the
+conflicting magnates, to gain possession and keep custody of the
+royal person, whenever minority or weakness appeared to favour the
+attempt. But we cannot help thinking, that the disposition of the
+people ought also to be taken into account. Fierce when thwarted,
+and with a memory keenly retentive of injury, the Scotsman is in
+reality a much more impulsive being than his southern neighbour. His
+sense of justice and order is not so strongly developed, but his
+passion glows with a fire all the more intense because to outward
+appearance it is smothered. His ideas of social duty are different
+from those of the Englishman. Kindred is a closer tie--identity of
+name and family is a bond of singular union. Clanship, in the broad
+acceptation of the word, has died out for all practical purposes;
+chieftainship is still a recognised and a living principle. The
+feudal times, though gone, have left their traces on the national
+character. Little as baronial sway, too often tantamount to sheer
+oppression, can have contributed towards the happiness of the
+people, we still recur to the history of these troublous days with a
+relish and fondness which can hardly be explained, save through some
+undefined and subtle sympathy of inheritance. Though the objects for
+which they contended are now mere phantoms of speculation we yet
+continue to feel and to speak as if we were partisans of the cause
+of our ancestors, and to contest old points with as much ardour as
+though they were new ones of living interest to ourselves.
+
+We have been led into this strain of thought by the perusal of a
+work, strictly authentic as a history, and yet as absorbing in
+interest as the most coloured and glowing romance. Sir William
+Kirkaldy of Grange, the subject of these Memoirs, played a most
+conspicuous part in the long and intricate struggles which convulsed
+Scotland, from the death of James V. until the latter part of the
+reign of Queen Mary. Foremost in battle and in council, we find his
+name prominently connected with every leading event of the period,
+and his influence and example held in higher estimation than those
+of noblemen who were greatly his superiors in rank, following,
+and fortune. In fact, Kirkaldy achieved, by his own talent and
+indomitable valour, a higher reputation, and exercised, for a time,
+a greater influence over the destinies of the nation, than was ever
+before possessed by a private Scottish gentleman, with the glorious
+exception of Wallace. In an age when the sword was the sole arbiter
+of public contest and of private quarrel, it was a proud distinction
+to be reputed, not only at home but abroad--not only by the voice of
+Scotland, but by that of England and France--the best and bravest
+soldier, and the most accomplished cavalier of his time. Mixed up in
+the pages of general history, too often turbidly and incoherently
+written, the Knight of Grange may not be estimated, in the scale of
+importance, at the level of such personages as the subtle Moray, or
+the vindictive and treacherous Morton: viewed as all individual,
+through the medium of these truthful and most fascinating memoirs,
+he will be found at least their equal as a leader and a politician,
+and far their superior as a generous and heroic man.
+
+His father, Sir James Kirkaldy, was a person of no mean family or
+reputation. He occupied, for a considerable time, the office of Lord
+High Treasurer of Scotland, and, according to our author--
+
+     "Enjoyed, in a very high degree, the favour and confidence of
+     King James V.; and though innumerable efforts were made by his
+     mortal foe Cardinal Beatoun, and others, to bring him into
+     disgrace as a promoter of the Reformation, they all proved
+     ineffectual, and the wary old baron maintained his influence to
+     the last."
+
+Old Sir James seems to have been one of those individuals with whom
+it is neither safe nor pleasant to differ in opinion. According
+to his brother-in-law, Sir James Melville of Halhill, he was "a
+stoute man, who always offered, by single combate, and at point of
+the sword, to maintain whatever he said;" a testimonial which, we
+observe, has been most fitly selected as the motto of this book, the
+son having been quite as much addicted to the wager of battle as the
+father; nor, though a strenuous supporter of the Reformation, does
+he appear to have imbibed much of that meekness which is inculcated
+by holy writ. He was not the sort of man whom John Bright would have
+selected to second a motion at a Peace Congress; indeed, the mere
+sight of him would have caused the voice of Elihu Burritt to subside
+into a quaver of dismay. Cardinal Beatoun, that proud and licentious
+prelate, to whose tragical end we shall presently have occasion to
+advert, was the personal and bitter enemy of the Treasurer, as he
+was of every other independent Scotsman who would not truckle to his
+power. But James V., though at times too facile, would not allow
+himself to be persuaded into so dangerous an act as countenancing
+prosecutions for heresy against any of his martial subjects; and,
+so long as he lived, the over-weening bigotry and arrogance of
+the priesthood were held in check. But other troubles brought the
+good king to an untimely end. James had mortally offended some of
+his turbulent nobles, by causing the authority of the law to be
+vindicated without respect to rank or person. He had deservedly won
+for himself the title of King of the Commons; and was, in fact, even
+in that early age, bent upon a thorough reform of the abuses of
+the feudal system. But he had proud, jealous, and stubborn men to
+deal with. They saw, not without apprehension for their own fate,
+that title and birth were no longer accepted as palliatives of
+sedition and crime; that the inroads, disturbances, and harryings
+which they and their fathers had practised, were now regarded with
+detestation by the crown, and threatened with merited punishment.
+Some strong but necessary examples made them quail for their future
+supremacy, and discontent soon ripened into something like absolute
+treason. Add to this, that for a long time the nobility of Scotland
+had fixed a covetous eye upon the great possessions of the church.
+In no country of Europe, considering its extent and comparative
+wealth, was the church better endowed than in Scotland; and the
+endeavours of the monks, who, with all their faults, were not blind
+to the advantages derivable from the arts of peace, had greatly
+raised their property in point of value. The confiscations which
+had taken place in Protestantised England, whereof Woburn Abbey may
+be cited as a notable example, had aroused to the fullest extent
+the cupidity of the rapacious nobles. They longed to see the day
+when, unsupported by the regal power, the church lands in Scotland
+could be annexed by each iron-handed baron to his own domain; when,
+at the head of their armed and dissolute jackmen, they could oust
+the feeble possessors of the soil from the heritages they had so
+long enjoyed as a corporation, and enrich themselves by plundering
+the consecrated stores of the abbeys. These were the feelings
+and desires which led most of them to lend a willing ear to the
+preaching of the fathers of the Reformation. They were desirous, not
+only of lessening the royal authority, but of transferring the whole
+property of the clergy to themselves; and this double object led to
+a combination which resulted in the passive defeat of the Scottish
+army at Solway Moss.
+
+Poor King James could not bear up against the shock of this shameful
+desertion. Mr Tytler thus describes his latter moments:--
+
+     "When in this state, intelligence was brought him that his queen
+     had given birth to a daughter. At another time it would have
+     been happy news; but now, it seemed to the poor monarch the
+     last drop of bitterness which was reserved for him. Both his
+     sons were dead. Had this child been a boy, a ray of hope, he
+     seemed to feel, might yet have visited his heart; he received
+     the messenger and was informed of that event without welcome
+     or almost recognition; but wandering back in his thoughts to
+     the time when the daughter of Bruce brought to his ancestor
+     the dowry of the kingdom, observed with melancholy emphasis,
+     'It came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass.' A few of
+     his most favoured friends and counsellers stood around his
+     couch; the monarch stretched out his hand for them to kiss; and
+     regarding them for some moments with a look of great sweetness
+     and placidity, turned himself upon the pillow and expired. He
+     died 13th December 1542, in the thirty-first year of his age,
+     and the twenty-ninth of his reign; leaving an only daughter,
+     Mary, an infant of six days old, who succeeded to the crown."
+
+Amongst those who stood around that memorable deathbed were the
+Lord High Treasurer, young William Kirkaldy his son, and Cardinal
+Beatoun. There was peace for a moment over the body of the anointed
+dead!
+
+But even the death of a king makes a light impression on this busy
+and intriguing world. The struggle for mastery now commenced in
+right earnest--for the only wall which had hitherto separated the
+contending factions of the nobility and the clergy had given way.
+Beatoun and Arran were both candidates for the regency, which the
+latter succeeded in gaining; and, after a temporary alienation,
+these two combined against an influence which began to show itself
+in a threatening form. Henry VIII. of England considered this an
+excellent opportunity for carrying out those designs against the
+independence of the northern country, which had been entertained
+by several of his predecessors; and for that purpose he proposed
+to negotiate a marriage between his son Edward and the Princess
+Mary. Such an alliance was of course decidedly opposed to the views
+of the Catholic party in Scotland, and, moreover, was calculated
+to excite the utmost jealousy of the Scottish people, who well
+understood the true but recondite motive of the proposal. So long as
+Beatoun, whose interest was identified with that of France, existed,
+Henry was fully aware that his scheme never could be carried into
+execution; and accordingly, with that entire want of principle which
+he exhibited on every occasion, he took advantage of their position
+to tamper with the Scottish barons who had been made prisoners at
+Solway Moss. In this he so far succeeded, that a regular conspiracy
+was entered into for the destruction of the cardinal, and only
+defeated by his extreme sagacity and caution. It will be seen
+hereafter that the cardinal did not fall a victim to this dastardly
+English plot, but to private revenge, no doubt augmented and
+inflamed by the consideration of his arrogance and cruelty.
+
+Beatoun, one of the most able and also dissolute men of his day,
+was a younger son of the Laird of Balfour--yet had, notwithstanding
+every disadvantage, contrived very early to attain his high
+position. He was hated, not only by the nobility, but by the
+lesser barons, from whose own ranks he had risen, on account of
+his intolerable pride, his rapacity, and the unscrupulous manner
+in which he chose to exercise his power. Among the barons of Fife,
+always a disunited and wrangling county, he had few adherents: and
+with the Kirkaldys, and their relatives, the Melvilles, he had an
+especial quarrel. Shortly after the death of James, the Treasurer
+was dismissed from his office, an affront which the "stoute man"
+was not likely to forget; and his son, then a mere youth, seems to
+have participated in his feelings. But the cruelty of Beatoun was
+at least the nominal cause which led to his destruction. Wishart,
+the famous Reforming preacher, had fallen into the hands of the
+cardinal, and was confined in his castle of St Andrews, of which our
+author gives us the following faithful sketch:--
+
+     "On the rocky shore, to the northward of the venerable city of
+     St Andrews, stand the ruins of the ancient Episcopal palace, in
+     other years the residence of the primates of Scotland. Those
+     weatherbeaten remains, now pointed out to visitors by the
+     ciceroni of the place, present only the fragments of an edifice
+     erected by Archbishop Hamilton, the successor of Cardinal
+     Beatoun, and are somewhat in the style of an antique Scottish
+     manor-house; but very different was the aspect of that vast
+     bastille which had the proud cardinal for lord, and contained
+     within its massive walls all the appurtenances requisite for
+     ecclesiastical tyranny, epicurean luxury, lordly grandeur,
+     and military defence--at once a fortress, a monastery, an
+     inquisition, and a palace.
+
+     "The sea-mews and cormorants screaming among the wave-beaten
+     rocks and bare walls now crumbling on that bleak promontory,
+     and echoing only to drenching surf, as it rolls up the rough
+     shelving shore, impart a peculiarly desolate effect to the
+     grassy ruins, worn with the blasts of the German Ocean, gray
+     with the storms of winter, and the damp mists of March and
+     April--an effect that is greatly increased by the venerable
+     aspect of the dark and old ecclesiastical city to the southward,
+     decaying, deserted, isolated, and forgotten, with its
+     magnificent cathedral, once one of the finest gothic structures
+     in the world, but now, shattered by the hands of man and time,
+     passing rapidly away. Of the grand spire which arose from the
+     cross, and of its five lofty towers, little more than the
+     foundations can now be traced, while a wilderness of ruins on
+     every hand attest the departed splendours of St Andrews."
+
+George Wishart, the unhappy preacher, was burned before the Castle
+on the 28th March 1545, under circumstances of peculiar barbarity.
+We refer to the book for a proper description of the death-scene of
+the Martyr, whose sufferings were calmly witnessed by the ruthless
+and implacable Cardinal. But the avenger of blood was at hand, in
+the person of Norman Leslie, Master of Rothes. This young man,
+who was of a most fiery and intractable spirit, had some personal
+dispute with the cardinal, whom he accused of having attempted to
+defraud him of an estate. High words followed, and Norman rode off
+in wrath to the house of his uncle, John Leslie of Parkhill, a moody
+and determined Reformer, who had already vowed bloody vengeance for
+the execution of the unfortunate Wishart. Finding him apt for any
+enterprise, Norman instantly despatched messengers to the Kirkaldys
+of Grange, the Melvilles of Raith and Carnbee, and to Carmichael of
+Kilmadie, desiring them to meet for an enterprise of great weight
+and importance; and the summons having been responded to, these few
+men determined to rid the country of one whom they considered a
+murderer and an oppressor.
+
+The manner in which this act of terrible retribution was executed
+is too well known to the student of history to require repetition.
+Suffice it to say that, by a _coup-de-main_, sixteen armed men made
+themselves masters of the castle of St Andrews, overpowered and
+dispersed the retainers of the cardinal, and quenched the existence
+of that haughty prelate in his blood. William Kirkaldy was not the
+slayer, but, as an accomplice, he must bear whatever load of odium
+is cast upon the perpetrators of the deed. We cannot help thinking
+that our author exhibits an unnecessary degree of horror in this
+instance. Far be it from us to palliate bloodshed, in any age or
+under any provocation: neither do we agree with John Knox, that the
+extermination of Beatoun was a "godly fact." But we doubt whether it
+can be called a murder. In the first place, old Kirkaldy knew, on
+the authority of James V., that a list of three hundred and sixty
+names, including his own and those of his most immediate friends,
+had been made out by the cardinal, as a catalogue of victims who
+were to be burned for heresy. This contemplated atrocity, far worse
+than the massacre of St Bartholomew, might not, indeed, have been
+carried into effect, even on account of its magnitude; but the
+mere knowledge that it had been planned, was enough to justify the
+Kirkaldys, and those marked out for impeachment, in considering
+Beatoun as their mortal foe. That the cardinal never departed from
+his bloody design, is apparent from the fact, that, after his death,
+a paper was found in his repositories, ordaining that "Norman
+Leslie, sheriff of Fife, John Leslie, father's brother to Norman,
+the Lairds of Grange, _elder and younger_, Sir James Learmonth of
+Dairsie, and the Laird of Raith, should either have been slain or
+else taken." The law at that period could afford no security against
+such a design, so that Beatoun's assassination may have been an act
+of necessary self-defence, which it would be extremely difficult to
+blame. As to the sacrilege, we cannot regard that as an aggravation.
+If a prelate of the Roman Church, like Beatoun, chose to make
+himself notorious to the world by the number and scandal of his
+profligacies; if, with a carnality and disregard of appearances not
+often exhibited by laymen, he turned his palace into a seraglio; and
+if his mistress was actually surprised, at the time of the attack,
+in the act of escaping from his bedchamber,--great allowance must
+be made for the obtuseness of the men who could not understand the
+relevancy of the plea of priesthood which he offered, in order that
+his holy calling might shield him from secular consequences. But
+further, is the fate of Wishart to go for nothing? Setting the
+natural influences of bigotry aside, and with every consideration
+for the zeal which could hurry even so good a man as Sir Thomas More
+to express, in words at least, a desire to see the faggot and the
+stake in full operation--what shall we say to the individual who
+could calmly issue his infernal orders, and, in the full pomp of
+ecclesiastical vanity, become a pleased spectator of the sufferings
+of a human being, undergoing the most hideous of all imaginable
+deaths? Truly this, that the brute deserved to die in return; and
+that we, at all events, shall not stigmatise those who killed him as
+guilty of murder. Poor old Sharpe was murdered, if ever man was, in
+a hideous and atrocious manner; but as for Beatoun, he deserved to
+die, and his death was invested with a sort of judicial sanction,
+having been perpetrated in presence of the sheriff of the bounds.
+
+The tidings of this act of vengeance spread, not only through
+Scotland, but through Europe, like wildfire. According as men
+differed in religious faith, they spoke of it either with horror or
+exultation. Even the most moderate of the reforming party were slow
+to blame the deed which freed them from a bloody persecutor; and Sir
+David Lindesay of the Mount, the witty and satirical scholar, did
+not characterise it more severely than as expressed in the following
+verses:--
+
+    "As for the cardinal, I grant
+     He was the man we well might want;
+         God will forgive it soon.
+     But of a truth, the sooth to say,
+     Although the loon be well away,
+         The deed was _foully done_."
+
+Meanwhile the conspirators had conceived the daring scheme of
+holding the castle of St Andrews against all comers, and of setting
+the authority of the regent at defiance. They calculated upon
+receiving support from England, in case France thought fit to
+interfere; and perhaps they imagined that a steady resistance on
+their part might excite general insurrection in Scotland. Besides
+this, they had retained in custody the son and heir of the Regent
+Arran, whom they had found in the castle, and who was a valuable
+hostage in their hands. The force they could command was not great.
+Amongst others, John Knox joined them with his three pupils; several
+Fife barons espoused their cause; and altogether they mustered
+about one hundred and fifty armed men. This was a small body, but
+the defences of the place were more than usually complete, and they
+were well munimented with artillery. Accordingly, though formally
+summoned, they peremptorily refused to surrender.
+
+John Knox, when he entered the castle, was probably under the
+impression that he was joining a company of men, serious in their
+deportment, rigid in their conversation, and self-denying in their
+habits. If so, he must very soon have discovered his mistake. The
+young Reforming gentry were not one whit more scrupulous than
+their Catholic coevals: Norman Leslie, though brave as steel, was
+a thorough-paced desperado; and, from the account given by our
+author of the doings at St Andrews, it may easily be understood how
+uncongenial such quarters must have been to the stern and ascetic
+Reformer.
+
+Arran had probably no intention of pushing matters to extremity,
+though compelled, for appearance' sake, to invest the fortress.
+After a siege of three weeks it remained unreduced; and a pestilence
+which broke out in the town of St Andrews, afforded the regent a
+pretext for agreeing to an armistice. Hitherto the conspirators had
+received the countenance and support of Henry VIII., who remitted
+them large sums from time to time, and promised even more active
+assistance. But this never arrived. Death at last put a stop to
+the bereavements of this unconscionable widower; and thereupon the
+French court despatched a fleet of one-and-twenty vessels of war,
+under the command of Leon Strozzio--a famous Florentine noble,
+who had risen in the Order of the Hospital to the rank of Prior
+of Capua--for the purpose of reducing the stubborn stronghold of
+heresy. Strozzio's name was so well known as that of a most skilful
+commander and tactician, and the weight of the ordnance he brought
+with him was so great, that the besieged had no hope of escaping
+this time; yet, on being summoned, they replied, with the most
+undaunted bravery, that they would defend the castle against the
+united powers of Scotland, England, and France. With such resolute
+characters as these, it was no use to parley further; and the Prior
+accordingly set about his task with a dexterity which put to shame
+the feeble tactics of Arran.
+
+     "By sea and land the siege was pressed with great fury. From the
+     ramparts of the Abbey Church, from the college, and other places
+     in the adjoining streets, the French and Scottish cannoneers
+     maintained a perpetual cannonade upon the castle. Those soldiers
+     who manned the steeples and St Salvador's tower occupied such
+     an elevation, that, by depressing their cannon, they shot down
+     into the inner quadrangle of the castle, the pavement of which
+     could be seen dabbled with the blood of the garrison; and, to
+     aggravate the increasing distress of the latter, the pestilence
+     found its way among them--many died, and all were dismayed.
+     Walter Melville, one of their bravest leaders, fell deadly sick;
+     while watching, warding, and scanty fare, were rapidly wearing
+     out the rest; and John Knox dinned continually in their ears,
+     that their present perils were the just reward of their former
+     corrupt lives and licentiousness, and reliance on England rather
+     than Heaven.
+
+     "'For the first twenty days of this siege,' said he, 'ye
+     prospered bravely: but when ye triumphed at your victory, I
+     lamented, and ever said that ye saw not what I saw. When ye
+     boasted of the thickness of your walls, I said they would be
+     but as egg-shells: when ye vaunted, England will rescue us--I
+     said, ye shall not see it; but ye shall be delivered into your
+     enemies' hands, and carried afar off into a strange country.'
+
+     "This gloomy prophesying was but cold comfort for those whom his
+     precepts and exhortations had urged to rebellion, to outlawry,
+     and to bloodshed; but their affairs were fast approaching a
+     crisis."
+
+If John Knox showed little judgment in adopting this tone of
+vaticination, he is, at all events, entitled to some credit for his
+courage--since Norman Leslie possessed a temper which it was rather
+dangerous to aggravate, and must sometimes have been sorely tempted
+to toss the querulous Reformer into the sea.
+
+The garrison finally surrendered to Leon Strozzio, but not until
+battlement and wall had been breached, and an escalade rendered
+practicable.
+
+The prisoners, including William Kirkaldy, were conveyed to France,
+and there subjected to treatment which varied according to their
+station. Those of knightly rank were incarcerated in separate
+fortresses; the remainder were chained to oars in the galleys on
+the Loire. John Knox was one of those who were forced to undergo
+this ignominious punishment; and we quite agree with our author in
+holding that, "it is not probable, that the lash of the tax-master
+increased his goodwill towards popery."
+
+William Kirkaldy was shut up in the great castle of Mont Saint
+Michel, along with Norman Leslie, his uncle of Parkhill, and Peter
+Carmichael of Kilmadie. But, however strong the fortress, it
+was imprudent in their gaolers to lodge four such fiery spirits
+together. They resolved to break prison; and did so, having, by an
+ingenious ruse, succeeded in overpowering the garrison, and, after
+some vicissitudes and wanderings, made good their escape to England.
+
+After this event there is a blank of some years, during which we
+hear little of Kirkaldy. It is, however, an important period in
+northern history, for it includes the battle of Pinkie, the removal
+of the child, Queen Mary, to France, and her betrothment to the
+Dauphin. Kirkaldy seems not to have arrived in England until the
+death of Edward VI., when the Romanist party attained a temporary
+ascendency. We next find him in the service of Henry II. of France,
+engaged in the wars between that monarch and the Emperor Charles V.
+In these campaigns, says our author, by his bravery and conduct, he
+soon attained that eminent distinction and reputation, as a skilful
+and gallant soldier, which ceased only with his life.
+
+Kirkaldy was not the only member of the stout garrison of St Andrews
+who found employment in the French service. Singularly enough,
+Norman Leslie, the head of the conspirators, had also a command, and
+was in high favour with the famous Constable Anne de Montmorencie.
+His death, which occurred the day before the battle of Renti, is
+thus graphically recounted in the Memoirs, and is a picture worth
+preserving:--
+
+     "The day before the battle, the constable, perceiving by the
+     manoeuvres of the Spanish troops that Charles meant to take
+     possession of certain heights, which sloped abruptly down to
+     the camp or bivouac of the French, sent up Leslie's Scottish
+     lances and other horsemen to skirmish with these Imperialists,
+     and drive them back. Melville, his fellow-soldier, thus
+     describes him:--In view of the whole French army, the Master
+     of Rothes, 'with thirty Scotsmen, rode up the hill upon a fair
+     gray gelding. He had, above his coat of black velvet, his coat
+     of armour, with two broad white crosses, one before and the
+     other behind, with sleeves of mail, and a red bonnet upon his
+     head, whereby he was seen and known afar off by the constable,
+     the Duke d'Enghien, and the Prince of Condé.' His party was
+     diminished to seven by the time he came within lance-length of
+     the Imperialists, who were sixty in number; but he burst upon
+     them with the force of a thunderbolt, escaping the fire of their
+     hand-culverins, which they discharged incessantly against him.
+     He struck five from their saddles with his long lance, before it
+     broke into splinters; then, drawing his sword, he rushed again
+     and again among them, with the heedless bravery for which he had
+     ever been distinguished. At the critical moment of this unequal
+     contest, of seven Scottish knights against sixty Spaniards, a
+     troop of Imperial spearmen were hastily riding along the hill to
+     join in the encounter. By this time Leslie had received several
+     bullets in his person; and, finding himself unable to continue
+     the conflict longer, he dashed spurs into his horse, galloped
+     back to the constable, and fell, faint and exhausted, from his
+     saddle, with the blood pouring through his burnished armour on
+     the turf.
+
+     "By the king's desire he was immediately borne to the royal
+     tent, where the Duke d'Enghien and Prince Louis of Condé
+     remarked to Henry, that 'Hector of Troy had not behaved more
+     valiantly than Norman Leslie.'
+
+     "So highly did that brave prince value Norman Leslie, and so
+     greatly did he deplore his death, that all the survivors of his
+     Scottish troop of lances were, under Crichton of Brunstane,
+     sent back to their own country, laden with rewards and honours;
+     and, by his influence, such as were exiles were restored by the
+     regent to their estates and possessions, as a recompense for
+     their valour on the frontiers of Flanders."
+
+Kirkaldy seems to have remained in France until the unfortunate
+death of Henry II., who was accidentally killed in a tournament.
+The estimation in which he was held, after his achievements in the
+wars of Picardy, may be learned from the following contemporary
+testimony:--
+
+"I heard Henry II.," Melville states, "point unto him and
+say--'Yonder is one of the most valiant men of our age.'" And the
+same writer mentions "that the proud old Montmorencie, the great
+constable of France, treated the exiled Kirkaldy with such deference
+that he never addressed him with his head covered." This was high
+tribute, when paid to a soldier then under thirty years of age.
+
+Ten years after he had been conveyed a prisoner from St Andrews on
+board the French galley, Kirkaldy returned to Scotland, but not to
+repose under the laurels he had already won. Soon after this we find
+him married, in possession, through the death of his father, of his
+ancestral estates, the intimate friend of Maitland of Lethington and
+of Lord James, afterwards the Regent Moray, and a stanch supporter
+of the Lords of the Congregation. This period furnishes to us one
+of the most melancholy chapters of Scottish history. Mary of Guise,
+the queen-regent, on the one hand, was resolute to put down the
+growing heresy; on the other, the landed nobility were determined to
+overthrow the Catholic church. Knox, who had by this time returned
+from France, and other Reformed preachers, did their utmost to fan
+the flame; and the result was that melancholy work of incendiarism
+and ruin, which men of all parties must bitterly deplore. Then came
+the French auxiliaries under D'Oisel, wasting the land, ravaging the
+estates of the Protestants, and burning their houses and villages;
+a savage mode of warfare, from which Kirkaldy suffered much--Fife
+having been pillaged from one end to the other--but for which he
+exacted an ample vengeance. The details of this partisan warfare are
+given with much minuteness, but great spirit, by the chronicler; and
+it did not cease until the death of Mary of Guise.
+
+A new victim was now to be offered to the distempered spirit of the
+age: on the 19th August 1561, the young Queen Mary arrived at Leith.
+She was then in the nineteenth year of her age, and endowed with
+all that surpassing loveliness which was at once her dower and her
+misfortune. Her arrival was dreaded by the preachers, who detested
+the school in which she had been educated, and the influence she
+might be enabled to exercise; but the great mass of the people
+hailed her coming with acclamations of unfeigned delight:--
+
+     "Despite the efforts of these dark-browed Reformers, agitated
+     by the memory of her good and gallant father,--the king of
+     the poor--by that of her thirteen years' absence from them,
+     and stirred by that inborn spirit of loyalty which the Scots
+     possessed in so intense a degree, the people received their
+     beautiful queen with the utmost enthusiasm, and outvied each
+     other in her praise.
+
+     "Her mother's dying advice to secure the support of the
+     Protestants, and to cultivate the friendship of their leaders,
+     particularly Maitland of Lethington and 'Kirkaldy of Grange,
+     whom the Constable de Montmorencie had named the first soldier
+     in Europe,' had been faithfully conveyed to Mary in France by
+     the handsome young Count de Martigues, the Sieur de la Brosse,
+     the Bishop of Amiens, and others, who had witnessed the last
+     moments of that dearly-loved mother in the castle of Edinburgh;
+     and Mary treasured that advice in her heart--but it availed her
+     not."
+
+Hurried on by her evil destiny, and persecuted by intrigues which
+had their origin in the fertile brain of Elizabeth, Mary determined
+to bestow her hand upon Darnley, a weak, dissolute, and foolish
+boy, whose only recommendations were his birth and his personal
+beauty. Such a marriage never could, under any circumstances, have
+proved a happy one. At that juncture it was peculiarly unfortunate,
+as it roused the jealousy of the house of Hamilton against that
+of Lennox; and was further bitterly opposed by Moray, a cold,
+calculating, selfish man, who concealed, under an appearance of
+zeal for the Protestant faith, the most restless, unnatural, and
+insatiable ambition. Talents he did possess, and of no ordinary
+kind: above all, he was gifted with the faculty of imposing upon men
+more open and honourable than himself. Knox was a mere tool in his
+hands: Kirkaldy of Grange regarded him as a pattern of wisdom. For
+years, this straightforward soldier surrendered his judgment to the
+hypocrite, and, unfortunately, did not detect his mistake until the
+Queen was involved in a mesh from which extrication was impossible.
+Moray's first attempt at rebellion proved an arrant failure: the
+people refused to join his standard, and he, with the other leading
+insurgents, was compelled to seek refuge in England.
+
+All might have gone well but for the folly of the idiot Darnley.
+No long period of domestic intercourse was requisite to convince
+the unfortunate Queen that she had thrown away her affections,
+and bestowed her hand upon an individual totally incapable of
+appreciating the one, and utterly unworthy of the other. Darnley
+was a low-minded, fickle, and imperious fool--vicious as a colt,
+capricious as a monkey, and stubborn as an Andalusian mule. Instead
+of showing the slightest gratitude to his wife and mistress, for
+the preference which had raised him from obscurity to a position
+for which kings were suitors, he repaid the vast boon by a series
+of petty and unmanly persecutions. He aimed to be not only
+prince-consort, but master; and because this was denied him, he
+threw himself precipitately into the counsels of the enemies of
+Mary. It was not difficult to sow the seeds of jealousy in a mind so
+well prepared to receive them; and Riccio, the Italian secretary,
+was marked out by Ruthven and Morton, the secret adherents of
+Moray, as the victim. Even this scheme, though backed by Darnley,
+might have miscarried, had not Mary been driven into an act which
+roused, while it almost justified, the worst fears of the Protestant
+party in Scotland. This was her adhesion to the celebrated Roman
+Catholic League, arising from a coalition which had been concluded
+between France, Spain, and the Emperor, for the destruction of
+the Protestant cause in Europe. "It was," says Tytler, "a design
+worthy of the dark and unscrupulous politicians by whom it had been
+planned--Catherine of Medicis and the Duke of Alva. In the summer
+of the preceding year, the queen-dowager of France and Alva had met
+at Bayonne, during a progress in which she conducted her youthful
+son and sovereign, Charles IX., through the southern provinces of
+his kingdom; and there, whilst the court was dissolved in pleasure,
+those secret conferences were held which issued in the resolution
+that toleration must be at an end, and that the only safety for
+the Roman Catholic faith was the extermination of its enemies." To
+this document, Mary, at the instigation of Riccio, who was in the
+interest of Rome, and who really possessed considerable influence
+with his mistress, affixed her signature. The bond was abortive for
+its ostensible purposes, but it was the death-warrant of the Italian
+secretary, and ultimately of the Queen.
+
+It is not our province to usurp the functions of the historian, and
+therefore we pass willingly over that intricate portion of history
+which ends with the murder of Darnley. It was notoriously the
+work of Bothwell, but not his alone, for Lethington, Huntly, and
+Argyle, were also deeply implicated. Bothwell now stands forward
+as a prominent character of the age. He was a bold, reckless,
+desperate adventurer, with little to recommend him save personal
+daring, and a fidelity to his mistress which hitherto had remained
+unshaken. Lethington, in all probability, merely regarded him as an
+instrument, but Bothwell had a higher aim. With daring ambition, he
+aimed at the possession of the person of Mary, and actually achieved
+his purpose.
+
+This unhappy and most unequal union roused the ire of the Scottish
+nobles. Even such of them as, intimidated by the reckless character
+of Bothwell, had sworn to defend him if impeached for the slaughter,
+and had recommended him as a fitting match for Mary, now took
+up arms, under the pretext that he had violently abducted their
+sovereign. We fear it cannot be asserted with truth that much
+violence was used. Poor Queen Mary had found, by bitter experience,
+that she could hardly depend upon one of her principal subjects.
+Darnley, Moray, Morton, Lethington, and Arran, each had betrayed
+her in turn; everywhere her steps were surrounded by a net of the
+blackest treachery: not one true heart seemed left to beat with
+loyalty for its Queen. Elizabeth, with fiendish malice, was goading
+on her subjects to rebellion. The Queen of England had determined to
+ruin the power of her sister monarch; the elderly withered spinster
+detested the young and blooming mother. Why, then, should it be
+matter of great marvel to those who know the acuteness of female
+sensibility, if, in the hour of desertion and desolation, Mary
+should have allowed the weakness of the woman to overcome the pride
+of the sovereign, and should have opposed but feeble resistance to
+the advances of the only man who hitherto had remained stanch to her
+cause, and whose arm seemed strong enough to insure her personal
+protection? It is not the first time that a daring villain has been
+taken for a hero by a distressed and persecuted woman.
+
+But Bothwell had no friends. The whole of the nobles were against
+him; and the Commons, studiously taught to believe that Mary was a
+consenting party to Darnley's death, were hostile to their Queen.
+Kirkaldy, at the instance of Moray, came over from his patrimonial
+estates to join the confederates, and his first feat in arms was
+an attack on Borthwick Castle, from which Bothwell and the Queen
+escaped with the utmost difficulty. Then came the action, if such
+it can be called, of Carberry Hill, when Bothwell challenged his
+accusers to single combat--a defiance which was accepted by Lord
+Lindesay of the Byres, but prevented from being brought to the test
+of combat by the voluntary submission of the Queen. Seeing that her
+forces were utterly inadequate to oppose those of the assembled
+nobles, she sent for Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange, as a knight
+in whose honour she could thoroughly confide, and, after a long
+interview, agreed to pass over to the troops of the confederates,
+provided they would again acknowledge and obey her as their
+sovereign. This being promised, she took her last leave of Bothwell,
+and her first step on the road which ultimately brought her to
+Lochleven.
+
+We must refer our readers to the volume for the spirited account
+of these events, and of the expedition undertaken by Kirkaldy in
+pursuit of Bothwell, his narrow escapes, and sea-fights among the
+shores of Shetland, and the capture of the fugitive's vessel on the
+coast of Norway. Neither will our space permit us to dwell upon the
+particulars of the battle of Langside, that last action hazarded
+and lost by the adherents of Queen Mary, just after her escape from
+Lochleven, and before she quitted the Scottish soil for ever. But
+for the tactics of Kirkaldy, the issue of that fight might have been
+different; and deeply is it to be regretted that, before that time,
+the eyes of the Knight of Grange had not been opened to the perfidy
+of Moray, whom he loved too trustingly, and served far too well. It
+was only after Mary was in the power of Elizabeth that he knew how
+much she had been betrayed.
+
+Under the regency of Moray, Kirkaldy held the post of governor of
+the castle of Edinburgh, and retained it until the fortress went
+down before the battery of the English cannon.
+
+He was also elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh--a dignity which,
+before that time, had been held by the highest nobles of the
+land, but which has since deteriorated under the influence of the
+Union, and bungled acts of corporation. He was in this position
+when he seems first to have perceived that the queen had been made
+the victim of a deep-laid plot of treachery--that Moray was the
+arch-conspirator--and that he, along with other men, who wished
+well both to their country and their sovereign, had been used as
+instruments for his own advancement by the false and unscrupulous
+statesman. The arrest of Chatelherault and of Lord Herries, both of
+them declared partisans of Mary, and their committal to the castle
+of Edinburgh, a measure against which Kirkaldy remonstrated, was the
+earliest act which aroused his suspicions:--
+
+     "Upon this, Mr John Wood, a pious friend of the regent's,
+     observed to Kirkaldy, in the true spirit of his party,--
+
+     "'I marvel, sir, that you are offended at these two being
+     committed to ward; for how shall _we_, who are the defenders of
+     my lord regent, get rewards but by the ruin of such men?'
+
+     "'Ha!' rejoined Kirkaldy sternly, 'is that your holiness? I see
+     naught among ye but envy, greed, and ambition, whereby ye will
+     wreck a good regent and ruin the realm!'--a retort which made
+     him many enemies among the train of Moray."
+
+But another event, which occurred soon afterwards, left no doubt in
+the mind of Kirkaldy as to the nature of Moray's policy. Maitland of
+Lethington, unquestionably the ablest Scottish diplomatist of his
+time, but unstable and shifting, as diplomatists often are, had seen
+cause to adopt very different views from those which he formerly
+professed. Whilst Mary was in power, he had too often thrown the
+weight of his influence and council against her: no sooner was
+she a fugitive and prisoner, than his loyalty appeared to revive.
+It is impossible now to say whether he was touched with remorse;
+whether, on reflection, he became convinced that he had not acted
+the part of a patriotic Scotsman; or whether he was merely led,
+through excitement, to launch himself into a new sea of political
+intrigue. This, at least, is certain, that he applied himself, heart
+and soul, to baffle the machinations of Elizabeth, and to deliver
+the unhappy Mary from the toils in which she was involved. It was
+Lethington who conceived the project of restoring Mary to liberty,
+by bringing about a marriage between her and the Duke of Norfolk;
+and the knowledge of his zeal on that occasion incensed Elizabeth
+to the utmost. That vindictive queen, who had always found Moray
+most ready to obey her wishes, opened a negotiation with him for
+the destruction of his former friend; and the regent, not daring to
+thwart her, took measures to have Maitland charged, through a third
+party, of direct participation in the death of Darnley, whereupon
+his arrest followed.
+
+Kirkaldy, who loved Maitland, would not allow this manoeuvre to
+pass unnoticed. He remonstrated with the regent for taking such a
+step; but Moray coldly informed him, that it was out of his power to
+save Lethington from prison. The blunt soldier, on receiving this
+reply, sent back a message, demanding that the same charge should
+be preferred against the Earl of Morton and Archibald Douglas; and
+he did more--for, Maitland having been detained a prisoner in the
+town of Edinburgh, under custody of Lord Home, Kirkaldy despatched
+at night a party of the garrison, and, by means of a counterfeited
+order, got possession of the statesman's person, and brought him to
+the castle, where Chatelherault and Herries were already residing
+as guests. Next morning, to the consternation of Moray, a trumpeter
+appeared at the cross, demanding, in name of Kirkaldy, that process
+for regicide should instantly be commenced against Morton and
+Douglas; and, says our author,--
+
+     "Remembering the precepts of the stout old knight his father,
+     who always offered 'the single combate' in maintenance of his
+     assertions, he offered himself, body for body, to fight Douglas
+     on foot or horseback; while his prisoner, the Lord Herries,
+     sent, as a peer of the realm, a similar cartel to the Earl of
+     Morton. The challenges bore, 'that they were in the council, and
+     consequently art and part in the king's murder.'
+
+In vain did Moray try to wheedle Kirkaldy from his stronghold--in
+vain did the revengeful Morton lay plots and bribe assassins. The
+castle of Edinburgh had become the rallying point for those who
+loved their queen. An attempt was made to oust Kirkaldy from the
+provostship; but the stout burghers, proud of their martial head,
+turned a deaf ear to the insidious suggestions of the regent. Yet
+still the banner of King James floated upon the walls of the castle,
+nor was the authority of Mary again proclaimed by sound of trumpet
+until after the shot of the injured Bothwellhaugh struck down the
+false and dangerous Moray in the street of Linlithgow. Then the
+whole faction of Chatelherault, the whole race of Hamilton, rose in
+arms, and prepared to place themselves under the guidance of Sir
+William Kirkaldy. The following is, we think, a noble trait in the
+character of the man:--
+
+     "The latter mourned deeply the untimely fate of Moray: they
+     had been old comrades in the field, stanch friends in many a
+     rough political broil; and though they had quarrelled of late,
+     he had too much of the frankness of his profession to maintain
+     hostility to the dead, and so came to see him laid in his last
+     resting-place. Eight lords bore the body up St Anthony's lofty
+     aisle, in the great cathedral of St Giles; Kirkaldy preceded it,
+     bearing the paternal banner of Moray with the royal arms; the
+     Laird of Cleish, who bore the coat of armour, walked beside him.
+     Knox prayed solemnly and earnestly as the body was lowered into
+     the dust; a splendid tomb was erected over his remains, and long
+     marked the spot where they lay."
+
+Lennox succeeded Moray as regent of Scotland, but no salute
+from the guns of the grim old fortress of Edinburgh greeted his
+inauguration. Henceforward Kirkaldy had no common cause with
+the confederates. Maitland had revealed to him the whole hidden
+machinery of treason, the scandalous complexity of intrigues, by
+which he had been made a dupe. He now saw that neither religion nor
+patriotism, but simply selfishness and ambition, had actuated the
+nobles in rebelling against their lawful sovereign, and that those
+very acts which they fixed upon as apologies for their treason,
+were in fact the direct consequences of their own deliberate guilt.
+If any further corroboration of their baseness had been required
+in order to satisfy the mind of Kirkaldy, it was afforded by
+Morton, who, notwithstanding the defiance so lately hurled at him
+from the castle, solicited, with a meanness and audacity almost
+incredible, the assistance of the governor to drive Lennox out of
+the kingdom, and procure his own acknowledgement as regent instead.
+It is needless to say that his application was refused with scorn.
+Kirkaldy now began to doubt the sincerity of Knox, who, although
+with no selfish motive, had been deeply implicated in the cruel
+plots of the time; some sharp correspondence took place, and the
+veteran Reformer was pleased to denounce his former pupil from the
+pulpit.
+
+Edinburgh now was made to suffer the inconveniences to which every
+city threatened with a siege is exposed. The burghers began to
+grumble against their provost, who, on one occasion, sent a party to
+rescue a prisoner from the Tolbooth, and who always preferred the
+character of military governor to that of civic magistrate. Knox
+thundered at him every Sabbath, and doubtless contributed largely
+to increase the differences between him and the uneasy citizens.
+The later might well be pardoned for their apprehensions. Not only
+were they commanded by the castle guns, but Kirkaldy, as if to show
+them what they might expect in ease of difference of political
+sentiment,--
+
+     "Hoisted cannon to the summit of St Giles's lofty spire, which
+     rises in the middle of the central hill on which the city
+     stands, and commands a view of it in every direction. He placed
+     the artillery on the stone bartizan beneath the flying arches
+     of the imperial crown that surmounts the tower, and thus turned
+     the cathedral into a garrison, to the great annoyance of Knox
+     and the citizens. The latter were also compelled, at their own
+     expense, to maintain the hundred harquebussiers of Captain
+     Melville, who were billeted in the Castlehill Street, for the
+     queen's service; and thus, amid preparations for war, closed the
+     year 1570."
+
+We may fairly suppose, that the cannon of the governor were more
+obnoxious than a modern annuity-tax can possibly be; yet no citizen
+seemed desirous of coming forward as a candidate for the crown of
+martyrdom. The bailies very quietly and very properly succumbed to
+the provost.
+
+It must be acknowledged that Edinburgh was, in those days, no
+pleasant place of residence.
+
+Next, to the alarm of the citizens, came a mock fight and the roar
+of cannon, intended to accustom the garrison to siege and war,
+which latter calamity speedily commenced in earnest. No possible
+precaution was omitted by Kirkaldy, whose situation was eminently
+critical; and he had received a terrible warning. On the last day
+of truce, the strong castle of Dumbarton was taken by surprise by
+a party under Captain Crawford of Jordanhill. Lord Fleming was
+fortunate enough to effect his escape, but Hamilton, archbishop of
+St Andrews, was made prisoner, and immediately hanged by Lennox over
+Stirling bridge. An archbishopric never was a comfortable tenure in
+Scotland.
+
+Lennox and Morton now drew together. The former from Linlithgow, and
+the latter from Dalkeith, advanced against the city, then occupied
+by the Hamiltons: skirmishes went on under the walls and on the
+Boroughmuir, and the unfortunate citizens were nearly driven to
+distraction. The following dispositions of Provost Kirkaldy were by
+no means calculated to restore a feeling of confidence, or to better
+the prospects of trade:--
+
+     "He loop-holed the spacious vaults of the great cathedral, for
+     the purpose of sweeping with musketry its steep church-yard to
+     the south, the broad Lawnmarket to the west, and High Street to
+     the eastward; while his cannon from the spire commanded the long
+     line of street called the Canongate--even to the battlements of
+     the palace porch. He seized the ports of the city, placed guards
+     of his soldiers upon them, and retained the keys in his own
+     hands. He ordered a rampart and ditch to be formed at the Butter
+     Tron, for the additional defence of the castle; and another
+     for the same purpose at the head of the West Bow, a steep and
+     winding street of most picturesque aspect. His soldiers pillaged
+     the house of the regent, whose movables and valuables they
+     carried off; he broke into the Tolbooth and council-chamber,
+     drove forth the scribes and councillors, and finally deposed
+     the whole bench of magistrates, installing in the civic chair
+     the daring chief of Fermhirst, (who had now become the husband
+     of his daughter Janet, a young girl barely sixteen;) while a
+     council composed of his mosstrooping vassals, clad in their iron
+     jacks, steel caps, calivers, and two-handed whingers, officiated
+     as bailies, in lieu of the douce, paunchy, and well-fed
+     burgesses of the Craims and Luckenbooths."
+
+The Blue Blanket of Edinburgh--that banner which, according to
+tradition, waved victoriously on the ramparts of Acre--had fallen
+into singular custody! John Knox again fled, for in truth his life
+was in danger. Kirkaldy, notwithstanding their differences, exerted
+his authority to the utmost to protect him, but the Hamiltons
+detested his very name; and one night a bullet fired through his
+window, was taken as a significant hint that his absence from the
+metropolis would be convenient. Scandal, even in those times, was
+rife in Edinburgh; for we are told that--
+
+     "John Low, a carrier of letters to St Andrews, being in the
+     'Castell of Edinburgh, the Ladie Home would neids threip in his
+     face, that Johne Knox was banist the toune, because in his yard
+     he had raisit some _sanctis_, amangis whome their came up the
+     devill with hornes, which when his servant Richart saw he ran
+     wud, and so deid.'"
+
+It is hardly credible, but it is a fact, that a meeting of the
+Estates of Scotland, called by Lennox, was held in Edinburgh at
+this very juncture. Kirkaldy occupied the upper part of the town,
+whilst the lower was in the hands of the regent, protected, or
+rather covered, by a battery which Morton had erected upon the
+"Doo Craig," that bluff black precipice to the south of the Calton
+Hill. The meeting, however, was a short one. "Mons Meg" and her
+marrows belched forth fire and shot upon the town, and the scared
+representatives fled, in terror of the falling ruins. A sortie from
+the castle was made, and the place of assembly burned.
+
+Kirkaldy now summoned and actually held a parliament, in name of
+Queen Mary, in Edinburgh. The possession of the Regalia gave this
+assembly a show of legality at least equivalent to that pertaining
+to its rival, the _Black Parliament_, which was then sitting at
+Stirling.
+
+We must refer to the work itself for the details of the martial
+exploits which followed. So very vividly and picturesquely are the
+scenes described, that, in reading of them, the images arise to
+our mind with that distinctness which constitutes the principal
+charm of the splendid romances of Scott. We accompany, with the
+deepest personal interest, the gallant Captain Melville and his
+harquebussiers, on his expedition to dislodge grim Morton from
+his Lion's Den at Dalkeith--we follow fiery Claud Hamilton in his
+attack upon the Black Parliament at Stirling, when Lennox met his
+death, and Morton, driven by the flames from his burning mansion,
+surrendered his sword to Buccleugh--and, amidst the din and uproar
+of the Douglas wars, we hear the cannon on the bastion of Edinburgh
+castle battering to ruin the gray towers of Merchiston.
+
+The career of Kirkaldy was rapidly drawing towards its close.
+During the life of Mar, who succeeded Lennox in the regency, the
+brave governor succeeded in maintaining possession not only of the
+castle, but of the city of Edinburgh, in spite of all opposition.
+But Morton, the next regent, was a still more formidable foe. The
+hatred between this man and Kirkaldy was mutual, and it was of the
+most deadly kind. And no wonder. Morton, as profligate as cruel, had
+seduced the fair and false Helen Leslie, wife of Sir James Kirkaldy,
+the gallant brother of the governor, and thereby inflicted the
+worst wound on the honour of an ancient family. A more awful story
+than the betrayal of her husband, and the seizure of his castle of
+Blackness, through the treachery of this wretched woman, is not to
+be found in modern history. Tarpeia alone is her rival in infamy,
+and the end of both was the same. The virulence of hereditary feud
+is a marked feature in our Scottish annals; but no sentiment of the
+kind could have kindled such a flame of enmity as burned between
+Morton and Kirkaldy. From the hour when the former obtained the
+regency, the war became one of extermination.
+
+Morton, it must be owned, showed much diplomatic skill in his
+arrangements. His first step was to negotiate separately with the
+country party of the loyalists, so as to detach them from Kirkaldy;
+and in this he perfectly succeeded. The leading nobles, Huntley
+and Argyle, were wearied with the war; Chatelherault, whom we have
+already known as Arran, was broken down by age and infirmities; and
+even those who had been the keenest partisans of the queen, Herries
+and Seton, were not disinclined to transfer their allegiance to
+her son. The treaty of Perth left Kirkaldy with no other adherents
+save Lord Home, the Melvilles, Maitland, and his garrison. The city
+had revolted, and was now under the provostship of fierce old Lord
+Lindesay of the Byres, who was determined to humble his predecessor.
+Save the castle rock of Edinburgh, and the hardy band that held it,
+all Scotland had submitted to Morton.
+
+Killigrew, the English ambassador, advised him to yield. "No!"
+replied Kirkaldy. "Though my friends have forsaken me, and the city
+of Edinburgh hath done so too, yet I will defend this castle to the
+last!" The man whom Moray thought a tool, had expanded to the bulk
+of a hero.
+
+Meantime, English engineers were occupied in estimating the
+capabilities of the castle as a place of defence. They reported
+that, with sufficient artillery, it might be reduced in twenty days;
+and, accordingly, Morton determined to besiege it so soon as the
+period of truce agreed on by the treaty of Perth should expire.
+Kirkaldy was not less resolute to maintain it.
+
+At six o'clock, on the morning of 1st January 1573, a warning gun
+from the castle announced that the treaty had expired, and the
+standard of the Queen was unfurled on the highest tower, amidst the
+acclamations of the garrison. Four-and-twenty hours previously,
+Kirkaldy had issued a proclamation, warning all loyal subjects of
+the Queen to depart forthwith from the city; and terrible indeed was
+the situation of those who neglected that seasonable warning. Morton
+began the attack; and it was answered by an incessant discharge from
+the batteries upon the town.
+
+Civil war had assumed its worst form. By day the cannon thundered;
+at night the garrison made sorties, and fired the city: all was
+wrack and ruin. Morton, bursting with fury, found that, unassisted,
+he could not conquer Grange.
+
+English aid was asked from, and given by, the unscrupulous
+Elizabeth. Drury, who had helped Morton in his dishonourable treason
+at Restalrig, marched into Scotland with the English standard
+displayed, bringing with him fifteen hundred harquebussiers, one
+hundred and fifty pikemen, and a numerous troop of gentlemen
+volunteers; while the train of cannon and baggage came round by sea
+to Leith, where a fleet of English ships cruised, to cut off all
+succour from the Continent.
+
+The English summons to surrender was treated by Kirkaldy with scorn.
+Up went a scarlet banner, significant of death and defiance, on
+the great tower of King David. Indomitable, as in the days of his
+early youth, when the confederates of St Andrews defied the universe
+in arms, the Scottish champion looked calmly from his rock on the
+preparations for the terrible assault.
+
+Five batteries were erected around the castle, but not with
+impunity. The cannon of Kirkaldy mowed down the pioneers when
+engaged in their trenching operations; and it was not until Trinity
+Sunday, the 17th of May, that the besiegers opened their fire.
+
+     "At two o'clock in the afternoon, the five batteries opened a
+     simultaneous discharge upon the walls of the castle. Bravely
+     and briskly its cannoneers replied to them, and deep-mouthed
+     Mons Meg, with her vast bullets of black whin, the thundering
+     carthouns, basilisks, serpents, and culverins, amid fire
+     and smoke, belched their missiles from the old gray towers,
+     showering balls of iron, lead, and stone at the batteries;
+     while the incessant ringing of several thousand harquebusses,
+     calivers, and wheel-lock petronels, added to the din of the
+     double cannonade. From the calibre of the great Mons Meg, which
+     yet frowns _en barbe_ over the ramparts, one may easily imagine
+     the dismay her enormous bullets must have caused in the trenches
+     so far below her.
+
+     "For ten days the furious cannonade continued, on both sides,
+     without a moment's cessation. On the 19th, three towers were
+     demolished, and enormous gaps appeared in the curtain walls;
+     many of the castle guns were dismounted, and destroyed by the
+     falling of the ancient masonry: a shot struck one of the largest
+     culverins fairly on the muzzle, shattering it to pieces, and
+     scattering the splinters around those who stood near. A very
+     heavy battery was discharged against King David's Tower, a great
+     square bastel-house, the walls of which were dark with the lapse
+     of four centuries. On the 23d, a great gap had been beaten in
+     its northern side, revealing the arched hall within; and as the
+     vast old tower, with its cannon, its steel-clad defenders, and
+     the red flag of defiance still waving above its machicolated
+     bartizan, sank with a mighty crash to shapeless ruin, the wild
+     shriek raised by the females in the castle, and the roar of the
+     masonry rolling like thunder down the perpendicular rocks, were
+     distinctly heard at the distant English camp."
+
+One hundred and fifty men constituted the whole force which Kirkaldy
+could muster when he commenced his desperate defence. Ten times
+that number would scarcely have sufficed to maintain an adequate
+resistance; but high heroic valour in the face of death is
+insensible to any odds. After a vigorous resistance, the besiegers
+succeeded in gaining possession of the Spur or blockhouse--an outer
+work which was constructed between the fortress and the town; but an
+attempt to scale the rock on the west side utterly failed.
+
+The blockade had for some time been so strict, that the garrison
+began to suffer from want of provisions; but their sorest privation
+was the loss of water. Although there are large and deep wells in
+the Castle of Edinburgh, a remarkable peculiarity renders them
+useless in the time of siege. To this day, whenever the cannon are
+fired, the water deserts the wells, oozing out of some fissures at
+the bottom of the rock. There is, however, a lower spring on the
+north side, called St Margaret's Well, and from this the garrison
+for a time obtained a scanty supply. Under cloud of night a soldier
+was let down by a rope from the fortifications, and in this manner
+the wholesome element was drawn. This circumstance became known to
+the besiegers; and they, with diabolical cruelty, had recourse to
+the expedient of poisoning the well, and permitted the nocturnal
+visitor to draw the deadly liquid without molestation. The
+consequences, of course, were fearful. Many expired in great agony;
+and those whose strength enabled them to throw off the more active
+effects of the poison, were so enfeebled that they could hardly work
+the heavy cannon, or support the fatigue of watching day and night
+upon the battlements.
+
+     "Maddened by the miseries they underwent, and rendered desperate
+     by all hopes of escape from torture and death being utterly cut
+     off, a frenzy seized the soldiers; they broke into a dangerous
+     mutiny, and threatened to hang Lethington over the walls, as
+     being the primary cause of all these dangers, from the great
+     influence he exercised over Kirkaldy, their governor. But
+     even now, when amid the sick, the dying, and the dead, and
+     the mutinous--surrounded by crumbling ramparts and dismounted
+     cannon, among which the shot of the besiegers were rebounding
+     every instant--with the lives, honour, and safety of his wife,
+     his brother, and numerous brave and faithful friends depending
+     on his efforts and example, the heart of the brave governor
+     appears never to have quailed even for an instant!"
+
+At length, as further resistance was useless, and as certain
+movements on the part of the enemy indicated their intention of
+proceeding to storm the castle by the breach which had been effected
+on the eastern side, Kirkaldy requested an interview with his old
+fellow-soldier Drury, the Marshal of Berwick. This being acceded to,
+the governor and his uncle, "Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie,
+were lowered over the ruins by cords, as there was no other mode
+of egress, the flight of forty steps being completely buried in
+the same ruin which had choked up the archways, and hidden both
+gates and portcullis. The Castlehill, at that time, says Melville
+of Kilrenny, in his Diary, was covered with stones, 'rinning like a
+sandie bray;' but behind the breaches were the men-at-arms drawn up
+in firm array, with their pikes and helmets gleaming in the setting
+sun."
+
+Kirkaldy's requests were not unreasonable. He asked to have security
+for the lives and property of those in the garrison, to have leave
+for Lord Home and Maitland of Lethington to retire to England, and,
+for himself, permission to live unmolested at the estate in Fife.
+Drury might have consented, but Morton was obdurate. The thought of
+having his enemy unconditionally in his hands, and the prospect of
+a revenge delicious to his savage and unrelenting nature, made him
+deaf to all applications; and the only terms he would grant were
+these,--
+
+     "That if the soldiers marched forth without their armour, and
+     submitted to his clemency, he would grant them their lives; but
+     there were ten persons who must yield _unconditionally_ to him,
+     and whose fate he would leave to the decision of their umpire,
+     Elizabeth. The unfortunate exceptions were--the governor, Sir
+     James Kirkaldy, Lethington, Alexander Lord Home, the Bishop
+     of Dunkeld, Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie, Logan of
+     Restalrig, Alexander Crichton of Drylaw, Pitarrow the constable,
+     and Patrick Wishart.
+
+Kirkaldy returned to the castle, resolved to die in the breach, but
+by this time the mutiny had begun. The soldiers insisted upon a
+surrender even more clamorously than before, and several of them
+took the opportunity of clambering over the ruins and deserting. It
+would have been madness under such circumstances to hold out; yet
+still Kirkaldy, jealous of his country's honour, could not brook the
+idea of handing over the citadel of Scotland's metropolis to the
+English.
+
+     "Therefore, when compelled to adopt the expedient (which is
+     supposed to have originated in Lethington's fertile brain) of
+     admitting a party of the besiegers within the outworks, or
+     at least close to the walls, he sent privately in the night
+     a message to Hume and Jordanhill, to march their Scottish
+     companies between the English batteries and the fortress, lest
+     the old bands of Drury should have the honour of entering first."
+
+Next morning he came forth, and surrendered his sword to Drury, who
+gave him the most solemn assurances that he should be restored to
+his estates and liberty at the intercession of the Queen of England,
+and that all his adherents should be pardoned.
+
+Drury, probably, was in earnest, but he had either overstepped his
+commission, or misinterpreted the mind of his mistress. Morton had
+most basely handed over to Elizabeth the person of the fugitive Earl
+of Northumberland, whom she hurried to the block, nor could she well
+refuse to the Scottish regent a similar favour in return. Morton
+asked for the disposal of the prisoners, and the gift was readily
+granted.
+
+Three of them were to die: for these there was no mercy. One,
+William, Maitland of Lethington, disappointed the executioner by
+swallowing poison, a draught more potent than that drawn from the
+well of St. Margaret. The vengeance of Morton long kept his body
+from the decencies of the grave. Of the two Kirkaldys, one was
+the rival of the regent, who had foully wronged the other, and,
+therefore, their doom was sealed.
+
+One hundred barons and gentlemen of rank and fortune, kinsmen to
+the gallant Kirkaldy, offered, in exchange for his life, to bind
+themselves by bond of manrent, as vassals to the house of Morton
+for ever: money, jewels, lands, were tendered to the regent; but
+all in vain. Nothing could induce him to depart from his revenge.
+Nor were others wanting to urge on the execution. The Reformed
+preachers, remembering the dying message of Knox, were clamorous for
+the realisation of the prophecy through his death; the burghers, who
+had suffered so much from his obstinate defence, shouted for his
+execution; only stout old Lord Lindesay, fierce as he was, had the
+magnanimity to plead on behalf of the unfortunate soldier.
+
+Then came the scaffold and the doom. Those who are conversant
+with Scottish history cannot but be impressed with the remarkable
+resemblance between the last closing scene of Kirkaldy, as related
+in this work, and that of Montrose, which was exhibited on the same
+spot, in another and a later age.
+
+So died this remarkable man, the last of Queen Mary's adherents. If,
+in the course of his career, we can trace out some inconsistencies,
+it is but fair to his memory to reflect how early he was thrown upon
+the troubled ocean of politics, and how difficult it must have been,
+in such an age of conflicting opinions and desperate intrigue, to
+maintain a tangible principle. Kirkaldy seems to have selected Moray
+as his guide--not penetrating certainly, at the time, the selfish
+disposition of the man. But the instant he perceived that his own
+aggrandisement, and not the welfare of Scotland, was the object of
+the designing Earl, Grange drew off from his side, and valorously
+upheld the cause of his injured and exiled sovereign.
+
+We now take leave of a work which, we are convinced, will prove of
+deep and thrilling interest to every Scotsman. It is seldom indeed
+that we find history so written--in a style at once vigorous,
+perspicuous, and picturesque. The author's heart is thoroughly with
+his subject; and he exhibits, ever and anon, flashes of the old
+Scottish spirit, which we are glad to believe has not decayed from
+the land.
+
+
+_Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as
+printed.
+
+Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
+the missing quote should be placed.
+
+The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
+transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
+
+The transcriber has supplied footnote anchors for the following
+footnotes:
+
+Page 20: Footnote 10 _A Campaign in the Kabylie._ By DAWSON BORRER,
+F.R.G.S., &c. London, 1848.
+
+Page 47: Footnote 15 _Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des
+Weissen Nil_, (1840-1841,) von FERDINAND WERNE. Mit einem Vorwort
+von CARL RITTER. Berlin, 1848. _La Kabylie._ Par un Colon. Paris,
+1846.
+
+_La Captivité du Trompette Escoffier._ Par ERNEST ALBY. 2 vols.
+Brussels, 1848."
+
+Page 63: Footnote 16 _Annals of the Artists of Spain._ By WILLIAM
+STIRLING, M. A. 3 vols. London: Ollivier.
+
+Page 81: Footnote 19 _The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History,
+Affinities, and Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other Extinct
+Birds of the Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon._ By H.
+E. STRICKLAND, M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean
+Society, &c., and A. G. MELVILLE, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. . One
+vol., royal quarto: London, 1848.
+
+Page 112: Footnote 24 _Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of
+Grange, Knight, &c. &c._ WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+65, No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No 399, January 1849, by Various.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65,
+No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 14, 2013 [EBook #44183]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Library of Early Journals.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+<p class="center">
+BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<h1>
+BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+
+<span class="oldenglish">Edinburgh</span><br />
+
+MAGAZINE.</h1>
+
+
+<p class="center">
+VOL. LXV.</p>
+
+<p class="center space-above">JANUARY&mdash;JUNE, 1849.</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 125px;">
+<img src="images/buchanan.jpg" width="125" height="142" alt="Buchanan" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center space-above">
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD &amp; SONS, EDINBURGH;<br />
+<br />
+<small>AND</small><br />
+<br />
+37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br />
+
+1849.
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center b15">BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</p>
+
+<p class="center space-above">
+<span class="smcap">No.</span> CCCXCIX.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JANUARY, 1849.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Vol.</span> LXV.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents">
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Year of Revolutions</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">French Conquerors and Colonists</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Caxtons. Part IX.</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The White Nile</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Art and Artists in Spain</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Dodo and its Kindred</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Sword of Honour: a Tale of 1787</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Memoirs of Kirkaldy of Grange</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p class="center space-above">
+EDINBURGH:<br />
+
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;<br />
+AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br />
+
+<em>To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed.</em><br />
+
+SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.<br />
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+<small>PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH</small>.
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center b15">BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</p>
+
+<p class="center space-above">
+<span class="smcap">No.</span> CCCXCIX.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JANUARY, 1849.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Vol.</span> LXV.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"No great state," says Hannibal,
+"can long remain quiet: if it ceases
+to have enemies abroad, it will find
+them at home&mdash;as powerful bodies
+resist all external attacks, but are
+wasted away by their own internal
+strength."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> What a commentary on
+the words of the Carthaginian hero
+does the last year&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Year of
+Revolutions</span>,&mdash;afford! What enthusiasm
+has it witnessed, what efforts
+engendered, what illusions dispelled,
+what misery produced! How bitterly
+have nations, as well as individuals,
+within its short bounds, learned wisdom
+by suffering&mdash;how many lessons has
+experience taught&mdash;how much agony
+has wickedness brought in its train.
+Among the foremost in all the periods
+of history, this memorable year will
+ever stand forth, a subject of undying
+interest to succeeding generations, a
+lasting beacon to mankind amidst the
+folly or insanity of future times. To
+it the young and the ardent will for
+ever turn, for the most singular
+scenes of social strife, the most
+thrilling incidents of private suffering:
+to it the aged will point as the most
+striking warning of the desperate
+effects of general delusion, the most
+unanswerable demonstration of the
+moral government of the world.</p>
+
+<p>That God will visit the sins of the
+fathers upon the children was proclaimed
+to the Israelites amidst the
+thunders of Mount Sinai, and has been
+felt by every succeeding generation of
+men. But it is not now upon the third
+or the fourth generation that the punishment
+of transgression falls&mdash;it is
+felt in its full bitterness by the transgressors
+themselves. The extension
+of knowledge, the diffusion of education,
+the art of printing, the increased
+rapidity of travelling, the long duration
+of peace in consequence of the
+exhaustion of former wars, have so
+accelerated the march of events, that
+what was slowly effected in former
+times, daring several successive generations,
+by the gradual development
+of national passions, is now at once
+brought to maturity by the fervent
+spirit which is generally awakened,
+and the vehement passions which are
+everywhere brought into action.</p>
+
+<p>Everything now goes on at the
+gallop. There is a railway speed in
+the stirring of the mind, not less than
+in the movement of the bodies of
+men. The social and political passions
+have acquired such intensity,
+and been so widely diffused, that
+their inevitable results are almost
+immediately produced. The period
+of seed-time and harvest has become
+as short in political as it is in agricultural
+labour. A single year brings its
+appropriate fruits to maturity in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+moral as in the physical world.
+Eighty years elapsed in Rome from
+the time when the political passions
+were first stirred by Tiberius Gracchus,
+before its unruly citizens were
+finally subdued by the art, or decimated
+by the cruelty of Octavius.
+England underwent six years of civil
+war and suffering, before the ambition
+and madness of the Long Parliament
+were expelled by the purge of Pride,
+or crushed by the sword of Cromwell:
+twelve years elapsed between the convocation
+of the States-general in 1789,
+and the extinction of the license
+of the French Revolution by the
+arm of Napoleon. But, on this occasion,
+in one year, all, in the meantime
+at least, has been accomplished.
+Ere the leaves, which unfolded in
+spring amidst the overthrow of
+thrones, and the transports of revolutionists
+over the world, had fallen
+in autumn, the passions which had
+convulsed mankind were crushed for
+the time, and the triumphs of democracy
+were arrested. A terrible
+reaction had set in; experience of suffering
+had done its work; and swift as
+the shades of night before the rays of
+the ascending sun, had disappeared
+the ferment of revolution before the
+aroused indignation of the uncorrupted
+part of mankind. The same passions
+may again arise; the same delusions
+again spread, as sin springs up afresh
+in successive generations of men; but
+we know the result. They will, like
+the ways of the unrighteous, be again
+crushed.</p>
+
+<p>So rapid was the succession of revolutions,
+when the tempest assailed
+the world last spring, that no human
+power seemed capable of arresting it;
+and the thoughtful looked on in mournful
+and impotent silence, as they would
+have done on the decay of nature or
+the ruin of the world. The Pope
+began the career of innovation: decrees
+of change issued from the Vatican;
+and men beheld with amazement
+the prodigy of the Supreme Pontiff&mdash;the
+head of the unchangeable Church&mdash;standing
+forth as the leader of political reform.
+Naples quickly caught
+the flame: a Sicilian revolution
+threatened to sever one-half of their
+dominions from the Neapolitan Bourbon;
+and internal revolt seemed to
+render his authority merely nominal
+in his own metropolis. Paris, the
+cradle in every age of new ideas, and
+the centre of revolutionary action,
+next felt the shock: a reform banquet
+was prepared as the signal for assembling
+the democratic forces; the
+national guard, as usual, failed at the
+decisive moment: the King of the
+Barricades quailed before the power
+which had created him; the Orleans
+dynasty was overthrown, and France
+delivered over to the dreams of the
+Socialists and the ferocity of the Red
+Republicans. Prussia soon shared the
+madness: the population of Berlin, all
+trained to arms, according to the custom
+of that country, rose against the
+government; the king had not energy
+enough to permit his faithful troops to
+act with the vigour requisite to uphold
+the throne against such assailants,
+and the monarchy of Frederick
+the Great was overthrown. Austria,
+even, could not withstand the contagion:
+neither its proud nobility, nor
+its light-hearted sensual people, nor
+its colossal army, nor its centuries of
+glory, could maintain the throne in
+its moment of peril. The Emperor was
+weak, the citizens of Vienna were infatuated;
+and an insurrection, headed
+by the boys at the university and the
+haberdashers' apprentices in the streets,
+overturned the imperial government,
+and drove the Emperor to seek refuge
+in the Tyrol. All Germany caught
+the flame: the dreams of a few hot-headed
+enthusiasts and professors
+seemed to prevail alike over the dictates
+of wisdom and the lessons of
+experience; and, amidst the transports
+of millions the chimera or
+German unity seemed about to be
+realised by the sacrifice of all its means
+of independence. The balance of
+power in Europe appeared irrevocably
+destroyed by the breaking
+up of its central and most important
+powers,&mdash;and England, in the
+midst of the general ruin, seemed
+rocking to its foundation. The Chartists
+were in raptures, the Irish rebels
+in ecstasy: threatening meetings
+were held in every town in Great
+Britain; armed clubs were organised
+in the whole south and west of Ireland;
+revolution was openly talked of
+in both islands, and the close of harvest
+announced as the time when the British
+empire was to be broken up, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+Anglian and Hibernian republics established,
+in close alliance with the great
+parent democracy in France. Amidst
+such extraordinary and unprecedented
+convulsions, it was with difficulty that
+a few courageous or far-seeing minds
+preserved their equilibrium; and even
+those who were least disposed to
+despair of the fortunes of the species,
+could see no end to the succession of
+disasters with which the world was
+menaced but in a great exertion of
+the renovating powers of nature,
+similar to that predicted, in a similar
+catastrophe, for the material world,
+by the imagination of the poet.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Roll on, ye stars! exult in youthful prime,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time!<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Near and more near your beaming cars approach,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach.<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Flowers of the sky! ye, too, to Fate must yield,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Frail as your silken sisters of the field;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Star after star, from heaven's high arch shall rush,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">And Dark, and Night, and Chaos, mingle all;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Till, o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">And soars and shines, another and the same."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But the destiny of man, not less than
+that of the material world, is balanced
+action and reaction, not restoration
+from ruin. Order is preserved in a
+way which the imagination of the
+poet could not have conceived. Even
+in the brief space which has elapsed
+since the convulsions began in Italy
+in January last, the reality and ceaseless
+action of the preserving laws of
+nature have been demonstrated. The
+balance is preserved in social life by
+contending passions and interests, as in
+the physical world by opposite forces,
+under circumstances when, to all
+human appearance, remedy is impossible
+and hope extinguished. The
+orbit of nations is traced out by the
+Wisdom of Providence not less clearly
+than that of the planets; there are
+centripetal and centrifugal forces in
+the moral as well as in the material
+world. As much as the vehement
+passions, the selfish desires, the inexperienced
+zeal, the expanding
+energy, the rapacious indigence, the
+mingled virtues and vices of man,
+lead at stated periods to the explosions
+of revolution,&mdash;do the desire of tranquillity,
+the interests of property,
+the horror at cruelty, the lessons of
+experience, the force of religion, the
+bitterness of suffering, reinduce the
+desire of order, and restore the influence
+of its organ, government. If we
+contemplate the awful force of the
+expansive powers which, issuing from
+the great mass of central heat, find
+vent in the fiery channels of the volcano,
+and have so often rent asunder
+the solid crust of the earth, we may
+well tremble to think that we stand
+suspended, as it were, over such an
+abyss, and that at no great distance
+beneath our feet the elements of universal
+conflagration are to be found.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+But, strong as are the expansive
+powers of nature, the coercive are
+still stronger. The ocean exists to
+bridle with its weight the fiery gulf;
+the arch of the earth has been solidly
+constructed by its Divine architect;
+and the only traces we now discover,
+in most parts of this globe, of the yet
+raging war of the elements, are the
+twisted strata, which mark, as it were,
+the former writhings of matter in the
+terrible grasp of its tormentors, or
+the splintered pinnacles of mountains,
+which add beauty to the landscape,
+or the smiling plains, which bring happiness
+to the abodes of man. It is
+the same in the moral world. Action
+and reaction are the law of mind as
+well as matter, and the equilibrium of
+social life is preserved by the opposite
+tendency of the interests which are
+brought into collision, and the counter-acting
+force of the passions which are
+successively awakened by the very
+convulsions which seem to menace
+society with dissolution.</p>
+
+<p>A year has not elapsed since the
+revolutionary earthquake began to
+heave in Italy, since the volcano
+burst forth in Paris; and how marvellous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+is the change which already has
+taken place in the state of Europe!
+The star of Austria, at first defeated,
+and apparently about to be extinguished
+in Italy, is again in the
+ascendant. Refluent from the Mincio
+to the Ticino, her armies have again
+entered Milan,&mdash;the revolutionary
+usurpation of Charles Emanuel has
+been checked almost as soon as it
+commenced; and the revolutionary
+rabble of Lombardy and Tuscany
+has fled, as it was wont, before
+the bayonets of Germany. Radetzky
+has extinguished revolution
+in northern Italy. If it still lingers
+in the south of the peninsula, it is
+only because the strange and tortuous
+policy of France and England has
+interfered to arrest the victorious
+arms of Naples on the Sicilian shores.
+Paris has been the theatre of a dreadful
+struggle, blood has flowed in torrents
+in its streets, slaughter unheard-of
+stained its pavements, but order
+has in the end prevailed over anarchy.
+A dynasty has been subverted, but
+the Red Republicans have been
+defeated, more generals have perished
+in a conflict of three days than
+at Waterloo; but the Faubourg
+St Antoine has been subdued, the
+socialists have been overthrown,
+the state of siege has been proclaimed;
+and, amidst universal suffering,
+anguish, and woe, with
+three hundred thousand persons out
+of employment in Paris, and a deficit
+of £20,000,000 in the income of
+the year, the dreams of equality have
+disappeared in the reality of military
+despotism. It is immaterial whether
+the head of the government is called
+a president, a dictator, or an emperor&mdash;whether
+the civic crown is worn by a
+Napoleon or a Cavaignac&mdash;in either
+case the ascendant of the army is
+established, and France, after a brief
+struggle for a constitutional monarchy,
+has terminated, like ancient Rome, in
+an elective military despotism.</p>
+
+<p>Frankfort has been disgraced by
+frightful atrocities. The chief seat
+of German unity and freedom has
+been stained by cruelties which find a
+parallel only in the inhuman usages of
+the American savages; but the terrible
+lesson has not been read in vain. It
+produced a reaction over the world;
+it opened the eyes of men to the real
+tendency and abominable iniquity of
+the votaries of revolution in Germany;
+and to the sufferings of the martyrs
+of revolutionary tortures on the banks
+of the Maine, the subsequent overthrow
+of anarchy in Vienna and
+Berlin is in a great degree to be
+ascribed. They roused the vacillating
+cabinets of Austria and Prussia&mdash;they
+sharpened the swords of Windischgratz
+and Jellachich&mdash;they nerved
+the souls and strengthened the arms
+of Brandenberg and Wrangel&mdash;they
+awakened anew the chord of honour
+and loyalty in the Fatherland. The
+national airs have been again heard
+in Berlin; Vienna has been regained
+after a desperate conflict; the state
+of siege has been proclaimed in both
+capitals; and order re-established in
+both monarchies, amidst an amount
+of private suffering and general
+misery&mdash;the necessary result of revolutions&mdash;which
+absolutely sickens the
+heart to contemplate. England has
+emerged comparatively unscathed
+from the strife; her time-honoured
+institutions have been preserved, her
+monarchy saved amidst the crash of
+nations. Queen Victoria is still upon
+the throne; our mixed constitution
+is intact; the dreams of the Chartists
+have been dispelled; the rebellion of
+the Irish rendered ridiculous; the
+loyalty of the great body of the people
+in Great Britain made manifest.
+The period of immediate danger is
+over; for the attack of the populace
+is like the spring of a wild beast&mdash;if
+the first onset fails, the savage animal
+slinks away into its den. General
+suffering indeed prevails, industry
+languishes, credit is all but destroyed,
+a woful deficiency of exports has
+taken place&mdash;but that is the inevitable
+result of popular commotions;
+and we are suffering, in part at
+least, under the effects of the insanity
+of nations less free and more
+inexperienced than ourselves. Though
+last, not least in the political lessons
+of this marvellous year, the papal
+government has been subverted&mdash;a
+second Rienzi has appeared in Rome;
+and the Supreme Pontiff, <em>who began
+the movement</em>, now a fugitive from his
+dominions, has exhibited a memorable
+warning to future ages, of the
+peril of commencing reforms in
+high places, and the impossibility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+reconciling the Roman Catholic religion
+with political innovation.</p>
+
+<p>But let it not be imagined that,
+because the immediate danger is over,
+and because military power has, after
+a fierce struggle, prevailed in the
+principal capitals of Europe, that
+therefore the ultimate peril is past,
+and that men have only to sit down,
+under the shadow of their fig-tree, to
+cultivate the arts and enjoy the
+blessings of peace. Such is not the
+destiny of man in any, least of all
+in a revolutionary age. We are rather
+on the verge of an era similar to that
+deplored by the poet:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Bella per Emathios plusquam civilia campos,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Jusque datum sceleri canimus, populumque potentem<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">In sua victrici conversum viscera dextrâ;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Cognatasque acies; et rupto f&oelig;dera regni<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Certatum totis concussi viribus orbis,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">In commune nefas."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Who can tell the immeasurable
+extent of misery and wretchedness,
+of destruction of property among the
+rich, and ruin of industry among the
+poor, that must take place before the
+fierce passions, now so generally
+awakened, are allayed&mdash;before the
+visions of a virtuous republic by
+Lamartine, or the dreams of communism
+by Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin,
+or the insane ideas of the
+Frankfort enthusiasts have ceased to
+move mankind? The fire they have
+let loose will burn fiercely for centuries;
+it will alter the destiny of nations for
+ages; it will neither be quenched, like
+ordinary flames, by water, nor subdued,
+like the Greek fire, by vinegar:
+blood alone will extinguish
+its fury. The coming convulsions
+may well be prefigured from the past,
+as they have been recently drawn by
+the hand of a master:&mdash;"All around
+us, the world is convulsed by the
+agonies of great nations; governments
+which lately seemed likely to
+stand during ages, have been on a
+sudden shaken and overthrown. The
+proudest capitals of western Europe
+have streamed with civil blood. All
+evil passions&mdash;the thirst of gain and
+the thirst of vengeance&mdash;the antipathy
+of class to class, of race to race&mdash;have
+broken loose from the control of
+divine and human laws. Fear and
+anxiety have clouded the faces, and
+depressed the hearts of millions;
+trade has been suspended, and industry
+paralysed; the rich have
+become poor, and the poor poorer.
+Doctrines hostile to all sciences, to
+all arts, to all industry, to all domestic
+charity&mdash;doctrines which, if carried
+into effect, would in thirty years undo
+all that thirty centuries have done for
+mankind, and would make the fairest
+provinces of France or Germany as
+savage as Guiana or Patagonia&mdash;have
+been avowed from the tribune, and
+defended by the sword. Europe has
+been threatened with subjugation by
+barbarians, compared with whom the
+barbarians who marched under Attila
+or Alboin were enlightened and
+humane. The truest friends of the
+people have with deep sorrow owned,
+that interests more precious than any
+political privileges were in jeopardy,
+and that it might be necessary to sacrifice
+even liberty to save civilisation."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is now just a year since Mr Cobden
+announced, to an admiring and
+believing audience at Manchester,
+that the age of warfare had ceased;
+that the contests of nations had
+passed, like the age of the mastodon
+and the mammoth; that the steam-engine
+had caused the arms to drop
+from her hands, and the interests of
+free trade extinguished the rivalries
+of nations; and that nothing now
+remained but to sell our ships of war,
+disband our troops, cut twenty millions
+off our taxation, and set ourselves
+unanimously to the great
+work of cheapening everything, and
+underselling foreign competitors in
+the market of the world. Scarcely
+were the words spoken, when conflicts
+more dire, battles more bloody,
+dissensions more inextinguishable
+than had ever arisen from the rivalry
+of kings, or the ambition of ministers,
+broke out in almost every country of
+Europe. The social supplanted the
+national passions. Within the bosom
+of society itself, the volcano had
+burst forth. It was no longer general
+that was matched against general, as
+in the wars of Marlborough, nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+nation that rose up against nation, as
+in those of Napoleon. The desire of
+robbery, the love of dominion, the
+lust of conquest, the passion for plunder,
+were directed to domestic acquisitions.
+Human iniquity reappeared
+in worse, because less suspected and
+more delusive colours. Robbery assumed
+the guise of philanthropy;
+spoliation was attempted, under colour
+of law; plunder was systematically
+set about, by means of legislative
+enactments. Revolution resumed its
+old policy&mdash;that of rousing the passions
+by the language of virtue, and
+directing them to the purposes of vice.
+The original devil was expelled; but
+straightway he returned with seven
+other devils, and the last state of the
+man was worse than the first. Society
+was armed against itself; the devastating
+passions burned in its own
+bosom; class rose against class,
+race against race, interest against
+interest. Capital fancied its interest
+was to be promoted by grinding down
+labour; labour, that its rights extended
+to the spoliation of capital. A
+more attractive object than the reduction
+of a city, or the conquest of a
+province, was presented to indigent
+cupidity. Easier conquests than over
+rival industry were anticipated by
+moneyed selfishness. The spoliation
+of the rich at their own door&mdash;the
+division of the property of which they
+were jealous, became the dream of
+popular ambition; the beating down
+of their own labourers by free-trade,
+the forcible reduction of prices by
+a contraction of the currency&mdash;the
+great object of the commercial aristocracy.
+War reassumed its pristine
+ferocity. In the nineteenth century,
+the ruthless maxim&mdash;<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Væ victis!</i>
+became the war-cry on both sides in
+the terrible civil war which burst
+forth in an age of general philanthropy.
+It may be conceived what passions
+must have been awakened, what
+terrors inspired, what indignation
+aroused by such projects. But though
+we have seen the commencement of
+the <em>era of social conflicts</em>, is there any
+man now alive who is likely to see
+its end?</p>
+
+<p>Experience has now completely demonstrated
+the wisdom of the Allied
+powers, who placed the lawful monarchs
+of France on the throne in 1815,
+and the enormous error of the liberal
+party in France, which conspired with
+the republicans to overthrow the
+Bourbon dynasty in 1830. That fatal
+step has bequeathed a host of evils to
+Europe: it has loosened the authority
+of government in all countries; it has
+put the very existence of freedom in
+peril by the enormity of the calamities
+which it has brought in its train. All
+parties in France are now agreed
+that the period of the Restoration
+was the happiest, and the least corrupted,
+that has been known since
+the first Revolution. The republicans
+of the present day tell us, with a
+sigh, that the average budgets of the
+three last years of Charles X. were
+900,000,000 francs, (£36,000,000;)
+that the expenditure was raised by
+Louis Philippe at once to 1500,000,000
+francs, (£60,000,000;) and that
+under the Republic it will exceed
+1800,000,000 francs, (£72,000,000.)
+There can be no doubt of the fact;
+and there can be as little, that if the
+Red Republicans had succeeded in the
+insurrection of June last, the annual
+expenditure would have increased to
+£100,000,000&mdash;or rather, a universal
+spoliation of property would have ensued.
+Louis Blanc has given the
+world, in his powerful historical work,
+a graphic picture of the universal corruption,
+selfishness, and immorality,
+in public and private life, which pervaded
+France during the reign of
+Louis Philippe.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Though drawn by
+the hand of a partisan, there can be
+no doubt that the picture is too faithful
+in most of its details, and exhibits
+an awful proof of the effects of a successful
+revolution. But the misery
+which Louis Blanc has so ably depicted,
+the corruptions he has brought to
+light, under the revolutionary monarchy,
+have been multiplied fourfold by
+those which have prevailed during the
+last year in the republic established
+by Louis Blanc, himself!</p>
+
+<p>Paris, ever since the suppression of
+the great insurrection in June last,
+has been in such a state, that it is the
+most utter mockery to call it freedom.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+In truth, it is nothing but the most
+unmitigated military despotism. A
+huge statue of liberty is placed in the
+National Assembly; but at every six
+paces bayonets are to be seen, to remind
+the bystanders of the rule of the
+sword. "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité,"
+meet the eye at every turn in the
+streets; but the Champs Elysées, the
+Place de Grève, the Carrousel, and
+Place Vendôme, are crowded with
+soldiers; and the Champ de Mars is
+white with tents, to cover part of the
+40,000 regular troops which form the
+ordinary garrison of Paris. Universal
+freedom of discussion has been proclaimed
+by the constitution; but
+dozens of journals have been suppressed
+by the authority of the dictator;
+and imprisonment notoriously hangs
+over the head of every one who indulges
+in the freedom of discussion,
+which in England and America is universal.
+The state of siege has been
+raised, after having continued four
+months; but the military preparations
+for <em>another siege</em> continue with unabated
+vigour on both sides. The constitution
+has been adopted by a great
+majority in the Assembly; but the
+forts are all armed, and prepared to
+rain down the tempest of death on the
+devoted city. Universal suffrage is
+established; but menacing crowds are
+in the streets, threatening any one
+who votes against their favourite candidates.
+The Faubourg St Antoine,
+during the late election, was in a
+frightful state of agitation; infantry,
+cavalry, and artillery, were traversing
+the streets in all directions; and
+conflicts not less bloody than those of
+June last were anticipated in the
+struggle for the presidency, and prevented
+only by the presence of <em>ninety
+thousand soldiers</em> in the capital: a force
+greater than that which fought on either
+side at Austerlitz or Jena. It is evident
+that republican institutions, in such a
+state of society, are a mere name; and
+that supreme despotic power is really
+invested in France, as in ancient
+Rome under the emperors, in the nominee
+of a victorious body of soldiery.
+The Prætorian guards will dispose of
+the French as they did of the Roman
+diadem; and ere long, gratuities to
+the troops will perhaps be the passport
+to power in Paris, as they were
+in the Eternal City.</p>
+
+<p>Nor have the social evils, which in
+France have followed in the wake of
+successful revolution, been less deplorable
+than the entire destruction of
+the rights of freemen and security of
+property which has ensued. To show
+that this statement is not overcharged,
+we extract from a noted liberal journal
+of Paris, <cite>La Reforme</cite>, of November
+17, 1848, the following statement:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Property, manufactures, and commerce
+are utterly destroyed in Paris.
+Of the population of that great city, the
+capital of France, there are 300,000 individuals
+wanting the necessaries of life.
+One half at least of those earned from
+3f. to 5f. a day previous to the revolution,
+and occupied a number of houses
+in the faubourgs. The proprietors of
+those houses receiving no rent, and having
+taxes and other charges to pay, are
+reduced to nearly as deep distress as
+their tenants. In the centre of Paris,
+the same distress exists under another
+form. The large and sumptuous apartments
+of the fashionable quarters were
+occupied before the revolution by wealthy
+proprietors, or by persons holding lucrative
+employments in the public offices,
+or by extensive manufacturers, but nearly
+all those have disappeared, and the few
+who remain have insisted upon such a
+reduction of rent that the proprietor
+does not receive one-half of the amount
+to which he is entitled. Should a proprietor
+of house property endeavour to
+raise a sum of money by a first mortgage,
+to defray his most urgent expenses, he
+finds it impossible to do so, even at a most
+exorbitant rate of interest. Those who
+possess ready money refuse to part with
+it, either through fear, or because they
+expect to purchase house property when
+it must be sold at 50 per cent less than
+the value."&mdash;<cite>La Reforme</cite>, November 17,
+1848.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is certainly a most remarkable
+thing, in the history of the aberrations
+of the human mind, that a system
+of policy which has produced,
+and is producing, such disastrous results&mdash;and,
+above all, which is inflicting
+such deadly and irreparable wounds
+on the interests of the poor, and the
+cause of freedom throughout the
+world&mdash;should have been, during the
+last eighteen years, the object of unceasing
+eulogy by the liberal party on
+both sides of the Channel; and that
+the present disastrous state of affairs,
+both in this country and on the Continent,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+is nothing more than the natural
+and inevitable result of the
+principles that party has everywhere
+laboured to establish. The revolution
+of 1830 was hailed with enthusiasm
+in this country by the whole liberal
+party: the Irish are not more enamoured
+now of the revolution of 1848,
+than the Whigs were, eighteen years
+ago, of that of 1830. The liberal
+government of England did all in
+their power to spread far and wide
+the glorious example. Flanders was
+attacked&mdash;an English fleet and French
+army besieged Antwerp; and, by a
+coalition of the two powers, a revolutionary
+throne was established in
+Belgium, and the king of the Netherlands
+prevented from re-establishing
+the kingdom guaranteed to him by
+all the powers of Europe. The Quadruple
+Alliance was formed to revolutionise
+Spain and Portugal; a sanguinary
+civil war was nourished for
+long in both kingdoms; and at length,
+after years of frightful warfare, the
+legitimate monarch, and legal order
+of succession, were set aside in both
+countries; queens were put on the
+thrones of both instead of kings, and
+England enjoyed the satisfaction, for
+the diffusion of her revolutionary propagandism,
+of destroying the securities
+provided for the liberties of Europe
+by the treaty of Utrecht, and preparing
+a Spanish princess for the
+hand of a Bourbon prince.</p>
+
+<p>Not content with this memorable
+and politic step, and even after the
+recent disasters of France were actually
+before their eyes, our rulers were
+so enamoured of revolutions, that they
+could not refrain from encouraging
+it in every <em>small</em> state within their
+reach. Lord Palmerston counseled
+the Pope, in a too celebrated letter, to
+plunge into the career which has terminated
+so fatally for himself and for
+Italy. Admiral Parker long prevented
+the Neapolitan force from embarking
+for Sicily, to do there what Lord
+Hardinge was nearly at the same time
+sent to do in Ireland. We beheld the
+Imperial standards with complacency
+driven behind the Mincio; but no
+sooner did Radetzky disperse the revolutionary
+army, and advance to
+Milan, than British and French diplomacy
+interfered to arrest his march,
+and save their revolutionary protégé,
+the King of Piedmont, from the chastisement
+which his perfidious attack on
+Austria in the moment of her distress
+merited. The Ministerial journals are
+never weary of referring to the revolutions
+on the Continent as the cause
+of all the distress which has prevailed
+in England, since they broke out in
+last spring: they forget that it was
+England herself which first unfurled
+the standard of revolution, and that,
+if we are suffering under its effects,
+it is under the effects of our own
+measures and policy.</p>
+
+<p>Strange and unaccountable as this
+perverted and diseased state of opinion,
+in a large part of the people of this
+country, undoubtedly is, it is easily
+explained when the state of society,
+and the channel into which political
+contests have run, are taken into consideration.
+In truth, our present
+errors are the direct consequence of
+our former wisdom; our present weakness,
+of our former strength; our present
+misery, of our former prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>In the feudal ages, and over the
+whole Asiatic world at the present
+time, the contests of parties are carried
+on for <em>individuals</em>. No change of national
+policy, or of the system of internal
+government, is contemplated on
+either side. It is for one prince or
+another prince, for one sultaun or
+another sultaun, that men draw their
+swords. "Under which King, Bezonian?&mdash;speak
+or die!" is there the watch-word
+of all civil conflict. It was the
+same in this country during the feudal
+ages, and down to a very recent period.
+No man in the civil wars between
+Stephen and Henry II., or of the Plantagenet
+princes, or in the wars of the
+Roses, contemplated or desired any
+change of government or policy in
+the conflict in which they were engaged.
+The one party struck for the
+Red, the other for the White Rose.
+Great civil and social interests were
+at issue in the conflict; but the people
+cared little or nothing for these. The
+contest between the Yorkists and the
+Lancastrians was a great feud between
+two clans which divided the
+state; and the attachment to their
+chiefs was the blind devotion of the
+Highlanders to the Pretender.</p>
+
+<p>The Reformation, which first
+brought the dearest objects of thought
+and interest home to all classes, made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+a great change in this respect, and
+substituted in large proportion general
+questions for the adherence to particular
+men, or fidelity to particular
+families. Still, however, the old and
+natural instinct of the human race to
+attach themselves to men, not things,
+continued, in a great degree, to influence
+the minds of the people, and as
+many buckled on their armour for the
+man as the cause. The old Cavaliers,
+who periled life and lands in defence
+of Charles I., were as much influenced
+by attachment to the dignified monarch,
+who is immortalised in the canvass
+of Vandyke, as by the feelings of
+hereditary loyalty; and the iron bands
+which overthrew their ranks at Marston
+Moor, were as devoted to Cromwell
+as the tenth legion to Cæsar,
+or the Old Guard to Napoleon. In
+truth, such individual influences are
+so strongly founded in human nature,
+that they will continue to the end of
+the world, from whatever cause a
+contest may have arisen, as soon as
+it has continued for a certain time, and
+will always stand forth in prominent
+importance when a social has turned
+into a military conflict, and the perils
+and animosities of war have endeared
+their leaders to the soldiers on either
+side. The Vendeans soon became devoted
+to Henri Larochjaquelein, the
+Republicans to Napoleon; and in our
+own times, the great social conflict of
+the nineteenth century has been determined
+by the fidelity of the
+Austrian soldiers to Radetzky, of the
+French to Cavaignac, of the German
+to Windischgratz.</p>
+
+<p>But in the British empire, for a century
+past, it has been thoroughly
+understood, by men of sense of all
+parties, that a change of dynasty is
+out of the question, and that there is
+no reform worth contending for in the
+state, which is not to be effected by
+the means which the constitution
+itself has provided. This conviction,
+long impressed upon the nation,
+and interwoven as it were with the
+very framework of the British mind,
+having come to coincide with the
+passions incident to party divisions in
+a free state, has in process of time
+produced the strange and tortuous
+policy which, for above a quarter of a
+century, has now been followed in this
+country by the government, and lauded
+to the skies by the whole liberal party
+on the Continent. Deprived of the
+watchwords of men, the parties have
+come to assume those of things. Organic
+or social change have become
+the war-cry of faction, instead of change
+of dynasty. The nation is no longer
+drenched with blood by armies fighting
+for the Red or the White Rose, by
+parties striving for the mastery between
+the Stuart and Hanover families,
+but it was not less thoroughly divided
+by the cry of "The bill, the whole
+bill, and nothing but the bill," at one
+time, and that of "Free-trade and
+cheap corn" at another. Social change,
+alterations of policy, have thus come
+to be the great objects which divide
+the nation; and, as it is ever the
+policy of Opposition to represent the
+conduct of Government as erroneous,
+it follows, as a necessary consequence,
+that the main efforts of the party
+opposed to administration always have
+been, since the suppression of the
+Rebellion in 1745, to effect, when in
+opposition, a change in general opinion,
+and, when in power, to carry that
+change into effect by a change of policy.
+The old law of nature is still in operation.
+Action and reaction rule mankind;
+and in the efforts of parties
+mutually to supplant each other in
+power, a foundation is laid for an
+entire change of policy at stated
+periods, and an alteration, as great as
+from night to day, in the opinions and
+policy of the ruling party in the same
+state at different times.</p>
+
+<p>The old policy of England&mdash;that
+policy under which, in the words of
+Macaulay, "The authority of law and
+the security of property were found to
+be compatible with a liberty of discussion
+and of individual action never
+known before; under which form, the
+auspicious union of order and freedom,
+sprang a prosperity of which the
+annals of human affairs had furnished
+no example; under which our country,
+from a state of ignominious vassalage,
+rapidly rose to the place of umpire
+among European powers; under which
+her opulence and martial glory grew
+together; under which, by wise and
+resolute good faith, was gradually
+established a public credit, fruitful of
+marvels which, to the statesmen of
+any former age, would have appeared
+incredible; under which a gigantic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+commerce gave birth to a maritime
+power, compared with which every
+other maritime power, ancient or modern,
+sinks into insignificance; under
+which Scotland, after ages of enmity,
+was at length united to England, not
+mere by legal bonds, but by indissoluble
+ties of interest and affection;
+under which, in America, the British
+colonies rapidly became far mightier
+and wealthier than the realms which
+Cortes and Pizarro added to the dominions
+of Charles V.; under which, in
+Asia, British adventurers founded an
+empire not less splendid, and more
+durable, than that of Alexander,"<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>&mdash;was
+not the policy of any particular
+party or section of the community,
+and thence its long duration and unexampled
+success.</p>
+
+<p>It was not introduced&mdash;it grew.
+Like the old constitution, of which it
+was the emanation, it arose from the
+wants and necessities of all classes of
+men during a long series of ages. It
+was first proclaimed in energetic terms
+by the vigour of Cromwell; the cry
+of the national representatives for
+markets to native industry, of the
+merchants, for protection to their
+ships, produced the Navigation Laws,
+and laid the foundation of the colonial
+empire of England. Amidst all his
+<em>insouciance</em> and folly in the drawing-room
+of the Duchess of Portsmouth,
+and the boudoirs of the Duchess of
+Cleveland, it was steadily pursued by
+Charles II. James II. did not lose sight
+of this same system, amidst all his
+infatuation and cruelty; when directing
+the campaign of Jeffreys in the
+west, he was as steadily bent on
+upholding and extending the navy as
+when, amidst the thunders of war, he
+combated de Ruyter and van Tromp
+on the coast of Holland. William III.,
+Anne, and the Georges, pursued the
+same system. It directed the policy
+of Somers and Godolphin; it ruled the
+diplomacy of Walpole and Chatham;
+it guided the measures of Bute and
+North; it directed the genius of Pitt
+and Fox. It was for it that Marlborough
+conquered, and Wolfe fell;
+that Blake combated, and Hawke
+destroyed; that Nelson launched the
+thunderbolt of war, and Wellington
+carried the British standard to Madrid
+and Paris.</p>
+
+<p>It was the peculiar structure of the
+English constitution, during this century
+and a half of prosperity and glory,
+that produced so remarkable a uniformity
+in the objects of the national policy.
+These objects were pursued alike
+by the Republicans and the Royalists;
+by the Roundheads and the Cavaliers;
+by the Whigs, during the seventy years
+of their rule that followed the Revolution,
+and the Tories, during the
+sixty years that succeeded the accession
+of George III. The policy was
+that of <em>protection to all the national
+interests, whether landed, commercial,
+colonial, or manufacturing</em>. Under this
+system they all grew and prospered,
+<em>alike and abreast</em>, in the marvellous
+manner which the pencil of Macaulay
+has sketched in the opening of his
+History. It was hard to say whether
+agriculture, manufactures, colonies, or
+shipping throve and prospered most
+during that unique period. The
+world had never seen anything like it
+before: it is doubtful if it will ever
+see anything like it again. Under its
+shelter, the various interests of the empire
+were knit together in so close a
+manner, that they not only all grew and
+prospered together, but it was universally
+felt that their interests were
+entirely dependent on each other. The
+toast "The plough, the loom, and the
+sail," was drunk with as much enthusiasm
+in the farmers' club as in the
+merchant's saloon. As varied as the
+interests with which they were charged,
+the policy of government was yet
+perfectly steady in following out one
+principle&mdash;the protection of the <em>productive
+classes</em>, whether by land or
+water, whether at home or abroad.</p>
+
+<p>The legislature represented and
+embodied all these interests, and carried
+out this policy. It gave them a
+stability and consistency which had
+never been seen in the world before.
+Nominally the representatives of certain
+towns and counties in the British
+islands, the House of Commons gradually
+became really the representatives
+of the varied interests of the
+whole British empire. The nomination
+boroughs afforded an inlet alike<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+to native talent and foreign interests.
+Gatton and Old Sarum, or similar
+close boroughs, afforded an entrance
+to the legislature, not only to the genius
+of Pitt and Fox, of Burke and Sheridan,
+but to the wealth of Jamaica,
+the rising energy of Canada, the aged
+civilisation of Hindostan. Experienced
+protection reconciled all interests
+to a government under which all prospered;
+mutual dependence made all
+sensible of the necessity of common
+unanimity. The statute-book and
+national treaties, from the Revolution
+in 1688 to the close of the war with
+Napoleon in 1815, exhibit the most
+decisive proof of the working of these
+varied, but not conflicting interests, in
+the national councils. If you contemplate
+the general protection
+afforded to agriculture and the landed
+interest, you would imagine the House
+of Commons had been entirely composed
+of squires. If you examine the
+innumerable enactments, fiscal and
+prohibitory, for the protection of
+manufactures, you would suppose it
+had been entirely under the government
+of manufacturers. If you contemplate
+the steady protection invariably
+given to the mercantile navy,
+you would suppose it had been chiefly
+directed by shipowners. If you cast
+your eyes on the protection constantly
+given by discriminating fiscal duties
+to colonial industry, and the vast
+efforts made, both by sea and land, in
+the field and in the cabinet, to encourage
+and extend our colonial dependencies,
+you would conclude, not
+only that they were represented, but
+that their representatives had a majority
+in the legislature.</p>
+
+<p>The reason of this prodigy was, that
+all interests had, in the course of ages,
+and the silent effects of time, worked
+their way into the legislature, and all
+enjoyed in fair proportion a reasonable
+influence on government. Human
+wisdom could no more <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ab ante</i> have
+framed such a system, than it could
+have framed the British constitution.
+By accident, or rather the good providence
+of God, it grew up from the
+wants of men during a series of generations;
+and its effects appeared in
+this, that&mdash;except in the cases of the
+American war, where unfortunate
+circumstances produced a departure
+from the system; of the Irish Celts,
+whom it seems impracticable to amalgamate
+with Saxon institutions; and
+of the Scottish Highlanders, whom
+chivalrous honour for a short period
+alienated from the established government&mdash;unanimity
+unprecedented during
+the whole period pervaded the
+British empire. All foreign colonies
+were desirous to be admitted into the
+great protecting confederacy; the
+French and Dutch planters in secret
+prayed for the defeat of their defenders
+when the standard of St George approached
+their shores. The Hindoos,
+with heroic constancy, alike in prosperous
+and adverse fortune, maintained
+their fidelity: Canada stood
+firm during the most dangerous crisis
+of our history; and the flame of
+loyalty burned as steadily on the
+banks of the St Lawrence, on the
+mountains of Jamaica, and on the
+shores of the Ganges, as in the crowded
+emporiums of London, or the smiling
+fields of Yorkshire.</p>
+
+<p>But there is a limit imposed by nature
+to all earthly things. The growth of
+empires is restrained, after they have
+reached a certain stature, by laws as
+certain as those which arrest that of individuals.
+If a state does not find the
+causes of its ruin in foreign disaster,
+it will inevitably find it in internal
+opinion. This arises so naturally and
+evidently from the constitution of the
+human mind, that it may be regarded
+as a fixed law of nature in all countries
+where intellectual activity has
+been called forth, and as one of the
+most powerful agents in the government,
+by supreme Wisdom, of human
+affairs. This principle is to be found
+in the tendency of <em>original</em> thought to
+differ from the current opinion with
+which it is surrounded, and of party
+ambition to decry the system of those
+by whom it is excluded from power.</p>
+
+<p>Universally it will be found that
+the greatest exertions of human intellect
+have been made in <em>direct opposition</em>
+to the current of general opinion;
+and that public thought in one age is
+in general but the echo of solitary
+meditation in that which has preceded
+it. Illustrations of this crowd on the
+reflecting mind from every period of
+history. The instances of Luther
+standing forth alone to shake down,
+Samson-like, the pillar of the corrupted
+Romish faith; of Bacon's opening,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+amid all the despotism of the Aristotelian
+philosophy, his inductive philosophy;
+of Galileo maintaining the
+motion of the earth even when surrounded
+by the terrors of the Italian
+Inquisition; of Copernicus asserting
+the true system of the heavens in opposition
+to the belief of two thousand
+years; of Malthus bringing forward
+the paradox of the danger of human
+increase in opposition to the previous
+general opinion of mankind; of Voltaire
+combating alone the giant power
+of the Roman Catholic hierarchy; of
+Rousseau running a course against the
+whole ideas of his age&mdash;will immediately
+occur to every reader. Many
+of these great men adopted erroneous
+opinions, and, in consequence, did as
+much evil to their own or the next age
+as others did good; but they were all
+characterised by one mark. Their
+opinions were <em>original</em>, and directly
+adverse to public opinion around them.
+The close of the nineteenth century was
+no exception to the general principle.
+Following out those doctrines of freedom
+from restraint of every kind,
+which in France had arisen from the
+natural resistance of men to the numerous
+fetters of the monarchy, and
+which had been brought forward by
+Turgot and the Economists, in the
+boudoirs of Madame Pompadour
+and the coteries of Paris,&mdash;Adam
+Smith broached the principle of Free
+Trade, with the exceptions of grain
+and shipping. The first he excepted,
+because it was essential to national
+subsistence; the second, because it
+was the pillar of national defence.
+The new philosophy was ardently
+embraced by the liberal party, who,
+chagrined by long exclusion from
+office, were rejoiced to find a tangible
+and plausible ground whereon to attack
+the whole existing system of
+government. From them it gradually
+extended to nearly all the ardent
+part of the community, ever eager to
+embrace doctrines at variance with
+previous and vulgar belief, and not yet
+enlightened by experience as to the
+effect of the new system. It was
+soon discovered that for a century and
+a half we had been proceeding on false
+principles. The whole policy of government
+since the days of Cromwell
+had been erroneous; in politics, in
+social government, in diplomacy, in
+the colonies, in war, in peace, at home
+and abroad, we had been running
+blindfold to destruction. True, we had
+become great, and glorious, and free
+under this abominable system; true,
+it had been accompanied by a growth
+of national strength, and an amount
+of national happiness, unparalleled in
+any former age or country; but that
+was all by accident. Philosophy had
+marked it with the sign of reprobation&mdash;prosperity
+had poured upon us
+by chance in the midst of universal
+misgovernment. By all the rules of
+calculation we should have been destroyed,
+though, strange to say, no
+symptoms of destruction had yet
+appeared amongst us. According to
+every principle of philosophy, the
+patient should long ago have been
+dead of the mortal disease under which
+he laboured: the only provoking
+thing was, that he was still walking
+about in robust and florid health.</p>
+
+<p>Circumstances occurred at the same
+time, early in this century, which had
+the most powerful effect in exasperating
+the Opposition party throughout
+the country, and inducing them to
+embrace, universally and ardently, the
+new philosophy, which condemned in
+such unmeasured terms the whole system
+of government pursued by their
+antagonists. For half a century, since
+the long dominion of the Whigs was
+terminated in 1761 by George III.,
+the Tories had been, with the exception
+of a few months, constantly in
+office. Though their system of government
+in religion, in social affairs,
+in foreign relations, was nothing but
+a continuation of that which the Whigs
+had introduced, and according to which
+the government had been conducted
+from 1688 to 1760, yet, in the ardour
+of their zeal for the overthrow of their
+adversaries, the liberal party embraced
+on every point the opposite side. The
+descendants of Lord Russel became
+the advocates of Roman Catholic
+emancipation; the followers of Marlborough
+and Godolphin, the partisans
+of submission to France; the successors
+of Walpole and Chatham, the
+advocates of free trade and colonial
+neglect. These feelings, embraced
+from the influence of a determination
+to find fault with government in every
+particular, were worked up to the
+highest pitch by the glorious result of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+the war with France, and the apparently
+interminable lease of power acquired
+by their adversaries from the
+overthrow of Napoleon. That memorable
+event, so opposite to that which
+they had all so long in public predicted,
+so entirely the reverse of that
+which many had in secret wished,
+produced a profound impression on
+the Whig party. Their feelings were
+only the more acute, that, amidst the
+tumult of national exultation, they
+were forced to suppress them, and to
+wear the countenance of satisfaction,
+when the bitterness of disappointment
+was in their hearts. To the extreme
+asperity of these feelings, and the universal
+twist which they gave to the
+minds of the whole liberal party in
+Great Britain, the subsequent general
+change in their political principles
+is to be ascribed; and, in the practical
+application of these principles, the
+real cause of our present distressed
+condition is to be found.</p>
+
+<p>While one set of causes thus prepared,
+in the triumph of Conservative
+and protective principles, the strongest
+possible reaction against them, and
+prognosticated, at no distant period,
+their general banishment from popular
+thought, another, and a not less powerful
+set, flowing from the same cause,
+gave these principles the means of
+acquiring a political supremacy, and
+ruling the government of the state.
+The old policy of England, it has been
+already observed, for a hundred and
+fifty years, had been to take care of the
+producers, and let the consumers take
+care of themselves. Such had been
+the effects of this protective policy,
+that, before the close of the Revolutionary
+war, during which it received its
+full development, the producing classes,
+both in town and country, had become
+so rich and powerful, that it was easy
+to see they would ere long give a
+preponderance to urban over rural
+industry. The vast flood of agricultural
+riches poured for expenditure
+into towns; that of the manufacturers
+and merchants seldom left it. The
+great manufacturing and mercantile
+places, during a century, had advanced
+in population tenfold, in wealth thirty-fold.
+The result of this change was
+very curious, and in the highest degree
+important. Under the <em>shadow of protection</em>
+to industry in all its branches,
+riches, both in town and country, had
+increased so prodigiously, that the
+holders of it had <em>acquired a preponderance
+over the classes in the state
+yet engaged in the toilsome and hazardous
+work of production</em>. The owners
+of realised capital had become so
+numerous and weighty, from the beneficial
+effects of the protective system
+under which the country had so long
+flourished, that they formed an important
+<em>class apart, which began to look
+to its separate interests</em>. The consumers
+had become so numerous and
+affluent, that they were enabled to
+bid defiance to the producers. The
+maxim became prevalent, "Take care
+of the consumer, and let the producer
+take care of himself." Thence the
+clamour for free trade. Having passed
+the labour of production, during which
+they, or their fathers, had strenuously
+supported the protective principles, by
+which they were making their money,
+the next thing was to support the
+opposite principles, by which the value
+of the <em>made money might be augmented</em>.
+This was to be done by free trade and
+a contracted currency. Having made
+millions by protection, the object now
+was to add a half to every million
+by raising its value. The way to
+do this seemed to be by cheapening
+the price of every other article, and
+raising the price of money: in other
+words, the system of cheapening
+everything without reference to its
+effect on the interests of production.</p>
+
+<p>Parliamentary reform, for which
+the Whigs, disappointed by long
+exclusion from office, laboured strenuously,
+in conjunction with the commercial
+and moneyed classes, enriched
+by protection, gave them the means of
+carrying both objects into execution,
+because it made two-thirds of the
+House of Commons the representatives
+of burghs. The cry of cheap
+bread was seductive to all classes in
+towns:&mdash;to the employer, because it
+opened the prospect of reducing the
+price of labour, and to the operative,
+because it presents that of lowering that
+of provisions. To these two objects,
+accordingly, of raising the value of
+money and lowering the remuneration
+of industry, the Reform parliament,
+the organ of the moneyed interest
+and consuming classes, has,
+through all the changes of party, been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+perfectly steady. It is no wonder it
+has been so, for it was the first-born
+of those interests. Twenty years before
+the cry for reform convulsed the
+nation&mdash;in 1810&mdash;the Bullion Committee
+brought forward the principle of
+a metallic, and, consequently, a contracted
+currency; and they recommended
+its adoption in the very crisis of the
+war, when Wellington lay at Torres
+Vedras, and when the monetary crisis
+to which it must have led would have
+made us a province of France. Reform
+was the consequence of the
+change in the currency, not its cause.
+The whole time from 1819 to 1831,
+with the exception of 1824 and 1825,
+was one uninterrupted period of suffering.
+Such was the misery it produced
+that the minds of men were prepared
+for any change. A chaos of unanimity
+was produced by a chaos of
+suffering.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, by a singular and most interesting
+chain of causes and effects, it
+was the triumph of Conservative and
+protective principles in the latter years
+of the war, and the entire demonstration
+thus afforded of their justice and
+expedience, which was the immediate
+cause of their subsequent abandonment,
+and all the misery which
+has thence arisen, and with which we
+are still everywhere surrounded. For
+it at once turned all the intellectual
+energies of the great liberal party to
+oppose, in every particular, the system
+by which their opponents had been
+glorified, and concentrated all the
+energies of the now powerful moneyed
+classes to swell, by a change of policy,
+the fortunes on which their consequence
+depended, and which had
+arisen from the long prevalence of the
+opposite system. For such is the tendency
+to action and reaction, in all
+vigorous and intellectual communities,
+that truth itself is for long no security
+against their occurrence. On the contrary,
+so vehement are the passions
+excited by a great and lasting triumph
+of one party, even though in the right,
+that the victory of truth, whether in
+politics or religion, is often the immediate
+cause of the subsequent triumph
+of error. The great Roman Catholic
+reaction against the Reformation,
+which Ranke has so clearly
+elucidated, and Macaulay has so
+powerfully illustrated, has its exact
+counterpart in the great political reaction
+of the Whig party, of which
+Macaulay is himself the brightest ornament.</p>
+
+<p>That this is the true explanation
+of the strange and tortuous policy, both
+in domestic and foreign affairs, under
+which the nation has so long suffered,
+is apparent on the slightest survey of
+political affairs in the last and present
+century.</p>
+
+<p>The old principle of the English constitution,
+which had worked itself into
+existence, or grown up from the necessities
+of men, during a long course of
+years, was, that the whole <em>interests</em> of the
+state should be represented, and that the
+House of Commons was the assembly
+in which the representatives of all
+those varied interests were to be found.
+For the admission of these varied
+interests, a varied system of electoral
+qualifications, admitting all interests,
+noble, mercantile, industrial, popular,
+landed, and colonial, was indispensable.
+In the old House of Commons,
+all these classes found a
+place for their representatives, and
+thence the commercial protection it
+afforded to industry. According to
+the new system, a vast majority of
+seats was to be allotted to <em>one class
+only</em>, the householders and shopkeepers
+of towns. That class was the
+moneyed and consuming class; and
+thence the whole subsequent course of
+British policy, which has been to
+sacrifice everything to their interests.</p>
+
+<p>The old maxim of government, alike
+with Whigs and Tories, was, that
+native industry of all sorts, and especially
+agricultural industry, was to
+be protected, and that foreign competition
+was to be admitted only in
+so far as was not inconsistent with this
+primary object. The new philosophy
+taught, and the modern liberals carried
+into execution, a different principle.
+They went on the maxim that the interests
+of the consumers alone were to be
+considered: that to cheapen everything
+was the great object; and that it
+mattered not how severely the producers
+of articles suffered, provided
+those who purchased them were enabled
+to do so at a reduced rate. This
+policy, long lauded in abstract writings
+and reviews, was at length carried
+into execution by Sir R. Peel, by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+tariff of 1842 and the free-trade measures
+of 1846.</p>
+
+<p>To protect and extend our colonial
+dependencies was the great object of
+British policy, alike with Whigs and
+Tories, from the time of Cromwell to
+the fall of Napoleon. In them, it was
+thought our manufacturers would find
+a lasting and rapidly increasing market
+for their produce, which would, in
+the end, enable us equally to defy the
+hostility, and withstand the rivalry
+of foreign states. The new school
+held that this was an antiquated prejudice:
+that colonies were a burden
+rather than a blessing to the mother
+country: that the independence of
+America was the greatest blessing
+that ever befell Great Britain; and
+that, provided we could buy colonial
+produce a little cheaper, it signified
+nothing though our colonies perished
+by the want of remuneration for
+their industry, or were led to revolt
+from exasperation at the cruel and unnatural
+conduct of the mother country.</p>
+
+<p>The navy was regarded by all our
+statesmen, without exception, from
+Cromwell to Pitt, as the main security
+of the British empire; its bulwark in
+war; the bridge which united its far-distant
+provinces during peace. To
+feed it with skilled seamen, the Navigation
+Laws were upheld even by
+Adam Smith and the first free-traders,
+as the wisest enactments which were
+to be found in the British statute-book.
+But here, too, it was discovered
+that our ancestors had been in error:
+the system under which had flourished
+for two centuries the greatest naval
+power that ever existed, was found to
+have been an entire mistake; and provided
+freights could be had ten per cent
+cheaper, it was of no consequence
+though the fleets of France and Russia
+blockaded the Thames and Mersey,
+and two-thirds of our trade was carried
+on in foreign bottoms.</p>
+
+<p>To provide a <small>CURRENCY</small> equal to
+the wants of the nation, and capable
+of growth in proportion to the
+amount of their numbers and transactions,
+was one main object of the
+old policy of Great Britain. Thence
+the establishment of banks in such
+numbers in every part of the empire
+during the eighteenth century, and
+the introduction of the suspension of
+the obligation to pay in gold in 1797,
+when the necessities of war had
+drained nearly all that part of the
+currency out of the country, and it
+was evident that, unless a substitute
+for it in sufficient quantities was provided,
+the nation itself, and all the
+individuals in it, would speedily become
+bankrupt. The marvels of
+British finance from that time till
+1815, which excited the deserved
+astonishment of the whole world, had
+no effect in convincing the impassioned
+opponents of Mr Pitt, that this
+was the true system adapted for that
+or any similar crisis. On the contrary,
+it left no doubt in their minds
+that it was entirely wrong. The
+whole philosophers and liberal school
+of politicians discovered that the very
+opposite was the right principle;
+that gold, the most variable in price
+and evanescent, because the most
+desired and portable of earthly
+things, was the only safe foundation
+for a currency; that paper was worthless
+and perilous, unless in so far as
+it could be instantly converted into
+that incomparable metal; and that,
+consequently, the more the precious
+metals were withdrawn from the
+country, by the necessities of war or
+the effects of adverse exchanges, the
+more the paper circulation should be
+contracted. If the last sovereign
+went out, they held it clear the last
+note should be drawn in. The new
+system was brought into practice
+by Sir R. Peel, by the acts of 1844
+and 1845, simultaneously with a vast
+importation of grain under the free-trade
+system&mdash;and we know the consequence.
+We were speedily near
+our last sovereign and last note also.</p>
+
+<p>To establish a sinking fund, which
+should secure to the nation during
+peace the means of discharging the
+debt contracted amidst the necessities
+of war, was one of the greatest
+objects of the old English policy,
+which was supported with equal
+earnestness by Mr Pitt and Mr Fox,
+by Mr Addington and Lord Henry
+Petty. So steadily was this admirable
+system adhered to through all the
+dangers and necessities of the war,
+that we had a clear sinking fund of
+£15,000,000 a-year, when the contest
+terminated in 1815, which, if kept up
+at that amount, from the indirect taxes
+from which it was levied during peace,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+would, beyond all question, as the
+loans had ceased, have discharged
+the whole debt by the year 1845.
+But the liberals soon discovered that
+this was the greatest of all errors:
+it was all a delusion; the mathematical
+demonstration, on which it was
+founded, was a fallacy; and the only
+wisdom was to repeal the indirect
+taxes, from which the sinking fund
+was maintained, and leave posterity
+to dispose of the debt as they best
+could, without any fund for its discharge.
+This system was gradually
+carried into effect by the successive
+repeal of the indirect taxes by different
+administrations; until at length,
+after thirty-three years of peace, we
+have, instead of the surplus of fifteen
+millions bequeathed to us by the war,
+an average <em>deficit</em> of fifteen hundred
+thousand pounds; and the debt, after
+the longest peace recorded in British
+history, has undergone scarcely any
+diminution.</p>
+
+<p>Indirect taxation was the main
+basis of the British finance in old
+times&mdash;equally when directed by the
+Whigs as the Tories. Direct taxes
+were a last and painful resource, to
+be reserved for a period during war,
+when it had become absolutely unavoidable.
+So efficacious was this
+system proved to be by the event,
+when acting on a nation enjoying protected
+industry, and an adequate and
+irremovable currency, that, before
+the end of the war, £72,000,000 was,
+amidst universal prosperity, with ease
+raised from eighteen millions of people
+in Great Britain and Ireland. This
+astonishing result, unparalleled in the
+previous history of the world, had no
+influence in convincing the modern
+liberals that the system which produced
+it was right. On the contrary,
+it left no doubt in their minds that it
+was entirely wrong. They introduced
+the opposite system: in twenty-five
+years, they repealed £40,000,000 of
+indirect taxes; and they reintroduced
+the income tax as a permanent burden
+during peace. We see the result.
+The sinking fund has disappeared;
+the income tax is fixed about our
+necks; a deficit of from a million and
+a half to two millions annually incurred;
+and it is now more difficult to
+extract fifty-two millions annually
+from twenty-nine millions of souls,
+than, at the close of the war, it was
+to raise seventy-two millions from
+eighteen millions of inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>To discourage revolution, both
+abroad and at home, and enable industry,
+in peace and tranquillity, to
+reap the fruits of its toil, was the
+grand object of the great contest
+which Pitt's wisdom bequeathed to
+his successors, and Wellington's arm
+brought to a glorious termination.
+This, however, was ere long discovered
+to be the greatest error of all. England,
+it was found out, had a decided
+interest in promoting the cause of
+revolution all over the world. So
+enamoured did we soon become of the
+propagandist mania, that we pursued
+it in direct opposition to our planned
+national interests, and with the entire
+abrogation of our whole previous
+policy, for which we had engaged in
+the greatest and most costly wars,
+alike under Whig and Tory administrations.
+We supported revolutions
+in the South American states, though
+thereby we reduced to a half of its
+former amount the supply of the precious
+metals throughout the globe;
+and, in consequence, increased immensely
+the embarrassment which a
+contracted paper currency had brought
+upon the nation: we supported revolution
+in Belgium, though thereby we
+brought the tricolor standard down to
+Antwerp, and surrendered to French
+influence the barrier fortresses won by
+the victories of Marlborough and
+Wellington: we supported it during
+four years of carnage and atrocity in
+Spain, though thereby we undid the
+work of our own hands, in the treaty
+of Utrecht, surrendered the whole
+objects gained by the War of the Succession,
+and placed the female line upon
+the throne, as if to invite the French
+princes to come and carry off the glittering
+prize: we supported revolutions
+in Sicily and Italy, though thereby
+we gave such a blow to our export
+trade, that it sank £1,400,000 in the
+single month of last May, and above
+£5,000,000 in the course of the year
+1848.</p>
+
+<p>To abolish the slave trade was one
+of the objects which Whigs and Tories
+had most at heart in the latter years
+of the old system; and in that great
+and glorious contest Mr Pitt, Mr Fox,
+and Mr Wilberforce stood side by side.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+But this object, so important in its
+results, so interesting to humanity
+from its tendency to alleviate human
+suffering, ere long yielded to the
+enlightened views of modern liberals.
+It was discovered that it was much
+more important to cheapen sugar <em>for
+a time</em><a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> than to rescue the African
+race from perdition. Free trade in
+sugar was introduced, although it
+was demonstrated, and, indeed, confessed,
+that the effect of it would be
+to ruin all the free-labour colonies, and
+throw the supply of the world into the
+hands of the slave states. Provided,
+for a few years, you succeeded in
+reducing the average retail price of
+sugar a penny a pound, it was deemed
+of no consequence though we extinguished
+the growth of free-labour
+sugar&mdash;destroyed colonies in which
+a hundred millions of British capital
+were invested, and doubled the
+slave trade in extent, and quadrupled
+it in horror, throughout the globe.</p>
+
+<p>It had been the constant policy of
+the British government, under all
+administrations, for above a century
+and a half, to endeavour to reclaim the
+Irish population by introducing among
+them colonies of English who might
+teach them industry, and Protestant
+missionaries who might reclaim them
+from barbarism. The Irish landlords
+and boroughs were the outposts of
+civilisation among a race of savages;
+the Irish Church the station of Christianity
+amidst the darkness of Romish
+slavery. So effectual was this system,
+and so perfectly adapted to the character
+of the Celtic race&mdash;capable of
+great things when led by others, but
+utterly unfit for self-government, and
+incapable of improvement when left to
+itself,&mdash;that even in the ruthless hands
+of Cromwell, yet reeking with the
+slaughter of stormed cities, it soon
+spread a degree of prosperity through
+the country then unknown, and rarely
+if ever since equalled in that ill-starred
+land.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> But the experience of the
+utter futility of all attempts, during a
+century and a half, to leave the native
+Irish Celts to themselves or their own
+direction, had no effect whatever in
+convincing our modern liberals that
+they were incapable of self-direction,
+and would only be ruined by Saxon
+institutions. On the contrary, it left
+no doubt in their minds that the absence
+of self-government was the sole cause
+of the wretchedness of the country,
+and that nothing was wanting but an
+entire participation in the privileges
+of British subjects, to render them as
+industrious, prosperous, and loyal as
+the yeomen of Kent or Surrey. In pursuance
+of those principles, Catholic
+Emancipation was granted: the Whigs
+had effected one revolution in 1688, by
+coalescing with the whole Tories to
+exclude the Catholics from the government;
+they brought about another
+revolution, in 1829, by coalescing with
+a section of the Tories to bring them
+in. In furtherance of the new system,
+so plausible in theory, so dangerous in
+practice, of extending to all men, of
+all races, and in all stages of political
+advancement, the same privileges, the
+liberals successively gave the Irish
+the command of their boroughs, the
+abridgment of the Protestant Church,
+and the abolition of tithes as a burden
+on the tenant. They encouraged
+agitation, allowed treason to be openly
+spoken in every part of the country,
+and winked at monster meetings, till
+the community was wellnigh thrown
+into convulsions. Meanwhile, agriculture
+was neglected&mdash;industry disappeared&mdash;capital
+was scared away.
+The land was run out, and became
+unfit for anything but lazy-beds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+potatoes. The people became agitators,
+not cultivators: they were always
+running about to meetings&mdash;not frequenting
+fairs. The potato-blight fell
+on a country thus prepared for ruin,
+and the unparalleled misery of 1847,
+and the rebellion of 1848, were the
+consequence.</p>
+
+<p>It would be easy to carry these illustrations
+farther, and to trace the
+working of the principles we have
+mentioned through the whole modern
+system of government in Great Britain.
+Enough has been said to show that
+the system is neither founded on the
+principles contended for by the old
+Whigs, nor on any appreciation of,
+or attention to, the national interests,
+or the dictates of experience in any
+respect. It has arisen entirely from
+a blind desire of change, and an opposition
+to the old system of government,
+whether of Whig or Tory origin, and
+a selfish thirst for aggrandisement on
+the part of the moneyed and commercial
+classes, whom that system had elevated
+to riches and power. Experience
+was not disregarded by this
+school of politicians; on the contrary,
+it was sedulously attended to, its
+lessons carefully marked. But it was
+considered as a beacon to be avoided,
+not a light to be followed. Against
+its conclusions the whole weight of
+declamation and shafts of irony were
+directed. It had been the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">cri de
+guerre</i> of their enemies, the standard of
+Mr Pitt's policy; therefore the opposite
+system was to be inscribed on their
+banners. It was the ruling principle of
+their political opponents; and, worst of
+all, it was the system which, though it
+had raised the country to power and
+greatness, had for twenty years excluded
+themselves from power. Thence
+the modern system, under which the
+nation has suffered, and is suffering,
+such incalculable misfortunes. It has
+been said, by an enlightened Whig of
+the old school, that "this age appears
+to be one in which <em>every conceivable
+folly</em> must be believed and <em>reduced to
+practice</em> before it is abandoned." It
+is really so; and the reason is, it is an
+age in which the former system of
+government, founded on experience
+and brought about by necessity, has
+been supplanted by one based on a
+systematic and invariable determination
+to change the old system in every
+particular. The liberals, whether
+factious or moneyed, of the new school,
+flattered themselves they were making
+great advances in political science,
+when they were merely yielding to
+the same spirit which made the Calvinists
+stand up when they prayed,
+because all the world before them had
+knelt down, and sit still during psalms,
+because the Roman Catholics had
+stood up.</p>
+
+<p>But truth is great, and will prevail;
+experience is its test, and is perpetually
+contradicting the theories of man.
+The year 1848 has been no exception
+to the maxims of Tacitus and Burke.
+Dreadful indeed in suffering, appalling
+in form, are the lessons which
+it has read to mankind! Ten months
+have not elapsed, since, by a well-concerted
+urban tumult, seconded by the
+treachery of the national guard, the
+throne of the Barricades was overturned
+in France&mdash;and what do we
+already see on the continent of
+Europe? Vienna petitioning for a
+<em>continuation</em> of the state of siege, as
+the only security against the tyranny
+of democracy: Berlin hailing with rapture
+the dissolution of the Assembly,
+and reappearance of the king in the
+capital: Milan restored to the sway of
+the Austrians: France seeking, in the
+<em>quasi</em> imperial crown of Prince Louis
+Napoleon, with 90,000 soldiers in its
+capital, a refuge from the insupportable
+evils of a democratic republic.
+The year 1848 has added another to
+the numerous proofs which history
+affords, that popular convulsions, from
+whatever cause arising, can terminate
+only in the rule of the sword; but it has
+taught two other lessons of incalculable
+importance to the present and future
+tranquillity of mankind. These are,
+that soldiers who in civil convulsions
+fraternise with the insurgents, and
+violate their oaths, are the <em>worst enemies</em>
+of the people, for they inevitably
+induce a military despotism, which
+extinguishes all hopes of freedom.
+The other is, that the institution of a
+national guard is in troubled times of
+all others the most absurd; and that,
+to put arms into the hands of the
+people, when warmed by revolutionary
+passions, is only to light the torch of
+civil discord with your own hand, and
+hand over the country to anarchy,
+ruin, and slavery.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nor has the year been less fruitful
+of civil premonitions or lessons
+of the last importance to the future
+tranquillity and prosperity of Great
+Britain. Numerous popular delusions
+have been dispelled during that period.
+The dreams of Irish independence
+have been broken; English Chartism
+has been crushed. The revolutionists
+see that the people of Great Britain
+are not disposed to yield their property
+to the spoiler, their throats to the murderer,
+their homes to the incendiary.
+Free trade and a fettered currency have
+brought forth their natural fruits&mdash;national
+embarrassment, general suffering,
+popular misery. One half of
+the wealth of our manufacturing towns
+has been destroyed since the new system
+began. Two years of free trade
+and a contracted currency have undone
+nearly all that twenty years of
+protection and a sufficient currency
+had done. The great mercantile class
+have suffered so dreadfully under the
+effect of their own measures, that their
+power for good or for evil has been
+essentially abridged. The colossus
+which, for a quarter of a century, has
+bestrode the nation, has been shaken
+by the earthquake which itself had
+prepared. Abroad and at home, in
+peace and in war, delusion has brought
+forth suffering. The year of revolutions
+has been the <span class="smcap">Ninth of Thermidor,
+of liberal principles</span>, for
+it has brought them to the test of
+experience.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The extraordinary deficiency recently
+exhibited by a great Continental
+nation in two qualities eminently
+prized by Englishmen&mdash;in common
+consistency, namely, and in common
+sense&mdash;has cast into the shade all previous
+shortcomings of the kind, making
+them appear remote and trivial.
+A people of serfs, ruled for centuries
+with an iron rod, pillaged for their
+masters' profit, and lashed at the
+slightest murmur, were excusable if,
+on sudden emancipation from such
+galling thraldom, their joyful gambols
+exceeded the limits prescribed by public
+decorum, and by a due regard to
+their own future prosperity. They
+might be forgiven for dancing round
+maypoles, and dreaming of social perfection.
+It would not be wonderful
+if they had difficulty in immediately
+replacing their expelled tyrants by a
+capable and stable government, and
+if their brief exhilaration were succeeded
+by a period of disorganisation
+and weakness. Such allowances cannot
+be made for the mad capers of
+republican France. The deliverance
+is inadequate to account for the ensuing
+delirium. The grievances swept
+away by the February revolution, and
+which patience, prudence, and moderation,
+could not have failed ultimately
+to remove&mdash;as thoroughly, if less
+rapidly&mdash;were not so terrible as to justify
+lunacy upon redress. Nevertheless,
+since then, the absurdities committed
+by France, or at least by Paris,
+are scarcely explicable save on the
+supposition of temporary aberration
+of intellect. Unimaginative persons
+have difficulty in realising the panorama
+of events, alternately sanguinary
+and grotesque, lamentable and
+ludicrous, spread over the last ten
+months. Europe&mdash;the portion of
+it, that is to say, which has not been
+bitten by the same rabid and mischievous
+demon&mdash;has looked on, in
+utter astonishment, at the painful
+spectacle of a leader of its civilisation
+galloping, with Folly on its crupper,
+after mad theories and empty names,
+and riding down, in the furious chase,
+its own prosperity and respectability.</p>
+
+<p>We repeat, then, that these great
+follies of to-day eclipse the minor ones
+of yesterday. When we see France
+destroying, in a few weeks, her commerce
+and her credit, and doing herself
+more harm than as many years
+will repair, we overlook the fact, that
+for upwards of fifteen years she has
+annually squandered from three to five
+millions sterling upon an unproductive
+colony in North Africa. France
+used not to be petty in her wars, or
+paltry in her enterprises. If she was
+sometimes quarrelsome and aggressive,
+she was wont at least to fasten
+on foes worthy of her power and resources.
+Since 1830 she has derogated
+in this particular. A complication
+of causes&mdash;the most prominent
+being the vanity characteristic of
+the nation, the crooked policy of
+the sovereign, and the morbid love of
+fighting bequeathed by the warlike
+period of the Empire&mdash;has kept France
+engaged in a costly and discreditable
+contest, whose most triumphant results
+could be but inglorious, and in
+which she has decimated her best
+troops, and deteriorated her ancient
+fame, whilst pursuing, with unworthy
+ferocity and ruthlessness, a feeble and
+inoffensive foe. This is no partial or
+malicious view of the character of the
+Algerine war. Deliberately, and after
+due reflection, we repeat, that France
+has gravely compromised in Africa
+her reputation as a chivalrous and
+clement nation, and that she no
+longer can claim&mdash;as once she was
+wont to do&mdash;to be as humane in victory
+as she is valiant in the fight.
+For proof of this we need seek no
+further than in the speeches and
+despatches of French generals, of men
+who themselves have served and
+commanded in Africa. We will judge
+France by the voices of her own sons,
+of those she has selected as worthiest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+to govern her half-conquered colony,
+and to marshal her legions against a
+handful of Arabs. More than one of
+these officers testify, voluntarily or
+unwittingly, to the barbarity of the
+system pursued in Africa. What
+said General Castellane, in his well-known
+speech in the Chamber of
+Peers, on the 4th July 1845? "We
+have reduced the country by an
+arsenal of axes and phosphorus
+matches. The trees were cut down,
+the crops were burned, and soon the
+mastery was obtained of a population
+reduced to famine and despair." And
+elsewhere in the same speech: "Few
+soldiers perish by the hand of the
+enemy in this war&mdash;a sort of <em>man-hunt</em>
+on a large scale, in which the Arabs,
+ignorant of European tactics, having
+no cannon-balls to exchange against
+ours, do not fight with equal arms."
+Monsieur A. Desjobert, long a deputy
+for the department of the Lower Seine,
+is the author of a volume, and of several
+pamphlets, upon the Algerine question.
+In the most recent of these we
+find the following remarkable note:&mdash;"In
+February 1837, General Bugeaud
+said to the Arabs, 'You shall not
+plough, you shall not sow, nor lead
+your cattle to the pasture, without
+our permission.' Later, he gives the
+following definition of a razzia: 'A
+sudden irruption, having for its object
+to surprise the tribes, in order to kill
+the men, and to carry off the women,
+children, and cattle.' In 1844, he
+completes this theory, by saying to
+the Kabyles, 'I will penetrate into
+your mountains, I will burn your
+villages and your crops, I will cut
+down your fruit-trees.' (Proclamation
+of the 30th March.) In 1846, rendering
+an account of his operations
+against Abd-el-Kader, he says to the
+authorities of Algiers, 'The power
+of Abd-el-Kader consists in the resources
+of the tribes; hence, to ruin
+his power, we must first ruin the
+Arabs; therefore have we burned
+much, destroyed much.' (From the
+<cite>Akhbar</cite> newspaper of February 1846.)"
+These are significant passages in the
+mouth of a general-in-chief. Presently,
+when we come to details, we
+shall show they were not thrown
+away upon his subordinates. The
+extermination of the Arabs was always
+the real aim of Marshal Bugeaud;
+he took little pains to cloak his system,
+and is too great a blunderer to have
+succeeded, had he taken more. A
+man of greater presumption than
+capacity, his audacity, obstinacy, and
+unscrupulousness knew no bounds.
+Before this African <em>man-hunt</em>, as M.
+Castellane calls it, he was unknown,
+except as the Duchess de Berry's
+jailer, as the slayer of poor Dulong,
+and as a turbulent debater, whose
+noisy declamation, and occasional offences
+against the French language,
+were a standing joke with the newspapers.
+A few years elapse, and we
+find him opposing his stubborn will to
+that of Soult, then minister at war, and
+successfully thwarting Napoleon's old
+lieutenant. This he was enabled to
+do mainly by the position he had
+made himself in Africa. He had
+ridden into power and importance on
+the shoulders of the persecuted Arabs,
+by a system of razzias and village-burning,
+of wholesale slaughter and
+relentless oppression. Brighter far
+were the laurels gathered by the lieutenant
+of the Empire, than those plucked
+by Louis Philippe's marshal amidst
+the ashes of Bedouin douars and the
+corpses of miserable Mussulmans, slain
+in defence of their scanty birthright,
+of their tents, their flocks, and the
+free range of the desert. Poor was
+the defence they could make against
+their skilful and disciplined invaders;
+slight the loss they could inflict in
+requital of the heavy one they suffered.
+Again we are obliged to M.
+Desjobert for statistics, gathered from
+reports to the Commission of Credits,
+and from Marshal Bugeaud's own
+bulletins. From these we learn that
+the loss in battle of the French armies,
+during the first ten years of the occupation
+of Algeria, was an average of
+one hundred and forty men per
+annum. In the four following years,
+eight hundred and eighty-five men
+perished. The capture of Constantine
+cost one hundred men, the much-vaunted
+affair of the Smala <em>nine</em>, the
+battle of Isly <small>TWENTY-SEVEN</small>! We
+well remember, for we chanced to be
+in Paris at the time, the stir produced
+in that excitable capital by the battle
+of Isly. No one, unacquainted with
+the facts, would have doubted that
+the victory was over a most valiant
+and formidable foe. People's mouths<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+were filled with this revival of the
+military glories of Gaul. Newspapers
+and picture-shops, poets and painters,
+combined to celebrate the exploit and
+sound the victors' praise. One engraving
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">de circonstance</i>, we remember,
+represented a sturdy French foot-soldier,
+trampling, like Gulliver, a
+host of Lilliputian Moors, and carrying
+a score of them over his shoulder,
+spitted on his bayonet. "Out of my
+way!" was the inscription beneath
+the print&mdash;"<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Français seront toujours
+les Français.</i>" Horace Vernet,
+colourist, by special appointment, to
+the African campaign, pictorial chronicler
+of the heroic feats of the house
+militant of Orleans, prepared his best
+brushes, and stretched his broadest
+canvass, to immortalise the marshal
+and his men. After a few days, two
+dingy tents and an enormous umbrella
+were exhibited in the gardens of the
+Tuileries; these were trophies of the
+fight&mdash;the private property of Mohammed-Abderrhaman,
+the vanquished
+prince of Morocco, the real
+merit of whose conquerors was about
+as great as that of an active tiger
+who gloriously scatters a numerous
+flock of sheep. From one of several
+books relating to Algeria, now upon
+our table, we will take a French
+officer's account of the affair of Isly.
+The story of Escoffier, a trumpeter
+who generously resigned his horse to
+his dismounted captain, himself falling
+into the hands of the Arabs, whose
+prisoner he remained for about eighteen
+months, is told by M. Alby, an
+officer of the African army. Although
+a little vivid in the colouring, and
+comprising two or three very tough
+"yarns,"&mdash;due, we apprehend, to the
+imagination of trumpeter or author&mdash;its
+historical portion professes to be,
+and probably is, correct; and, at any
+rate, there can be no reason for suspecting
+the writer of depreciating his
+countrymen's achievements, and understating
+their merits. The account
+of the battle, or rather of the chase,
+for fighting there was none, is given
+by a deserter from the Spahis, who,
+after the defeat of the Moors, joined
+Abd-el-Kader. The Emir and his
+Arabs took no part in the affair.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>"I deserted, with several of my
+comrades, during the night-march
+stolen by the French upon the Moors.
+We sought the emperor's son in his
+camp, and informed him of the movement
+making by the French column.
+The emperor's son had our horses
+taken away, and gave orders not to
+lose sight of us. Then he said to us:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Let them come, those dogs of
+Christians; they are but thirteen
+thousand strong, and we a hundred
+and sixty thousand: we will receive
+them well.'</p>
+
+<p>"The day was well advanced before
+the Moors perceived the French.
+Then the emperor's son ordered his
+horsemen to mount and advance.
+The French marched in a square.
+They unmasked their artillery, and
+the guns sent their deadly charge of
+grape into the ranks of the Moors,
+who immediately took to flight, and
+the French had nothing to do but
+to sabre them."</p>
+
+<p>"The Moors," says M. Alby, "had
+fine horses and good sabres; but their
+muskets were bad; and the men,
+softened by centuries of peace and
+prosperity, smoking keef<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and eating
+copiously, might be expected to run,
+as they did, at the first cannon-shot."</p>
+
+<p>It is hard to understand how the
+loss of the French should have amounted
+to even the twenty-seven men
+at which it is stated in their general's
+bulletin. Did M. Bugeaud, unwilling
+to admit the facility of his triumph,
+slay the score and seven with his
+goosequill? But if the victory was
+easily won, on the other hand, it was
+largely rewarded. For having driven
+before him, by the very first volley
+from his guns, a horde of overfed barbarians,
+enervated by sloth and narcotics,
+and total strangers to the
+tactics of civilised warfare, the marshal
+was created a duke! Shade of
+Napoleon! whether proudly lingering
+within the trophy-clad walls of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+Invalides, or passing in spectral review
+the dead of Austerlitz and Borodino,
+suspend your lonely walk, curb
+your shadowy charger, and contemplate
+this pitiable spectacle! You,
+too, gave dukedoms, and lavished
+even crowns, but you gave them for
+services worth the naming. Ney and
+the Moskwa, Massena and Essling,
+Lannes and Montebello, are words
+that bear the coupling, and grace a
+coronet. The names of the places,
+although all three recall brilliant victories,
+are far less glorious in their
+associations than the names of the
+men. But Bugeaud and Isly!
+What can we say of them? Truly,
+thus much&mdash;they, too, are worthy of
+each other.</p>
+
+<p>When reviewing, about two years
+ago, Captain Kennedy's narrative of
+travel and adventure in Algeria,
+we regretted he did not speak out
+about the mode of carrying on the
+war, and about the prospects of Algerine
+colonisation; and we hinted a
+suspicion that the amenities of French
+military hospitality, largely extended
+to a British fellow-soldier, had induced
+him, if not exactly to cloak, at
+least to shun laying bare, the errors
+and mishaps of his entertainers. We
+cannot make the same complaint of
+the very pretty book, rich in vignettes
+and cream-colour, entitled,
+<cite>A Campaign in the Kabylie</cite>. Mr
+Borrer, whom the Cockneys, contemptuous
+of terminations, will assuredly
+confound with his great gipsy cotemporary,
+George Borrow of the Bible,
+has, like Captain Kennedy, dipped
+his spoon in French messes. He
+has ridden with their regiments, and
+sat at their board, and been quartered
+with their officers, and received kindness
+and good treatment on all hands;
+and therefore any thing that could
+be construed into malicious comment
+would come with an ill grace from his
+pen. But it were exaggerated delicacy
+to abstain from stating facts,
+and these he gives in all their nakedness;
+generally, however, allowing
+them to speak for themselves, and
+adding little in the way of remark or
+opinion. In pursuance of this system,
+he relates the most horrible instances
+of outrage and cruelty with a matter-of-fact
+coolness, and an absence alike
+of blame and sympathy, that may
+give an unfavourable notion of his
+heart, to those who do not accept our
+lenient interpretation of his cold-blooded
+style. The traits he sets down,
+and which are no more than will be
+found in many French narratives,
+despatches, and bulletins, show how
+well the Franco-African army carry
+out the merciful maxims of Bugeaud.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Borrer, a geographer and antiquary,
+passed seventeen months in
+Algeria; and during his residence
+there, in May 1846, a column of eight
+thousand French troops, commanded
+by the Duke of Isly in person, marched
+against the Kabyles, "that mysterious,
+bare-headed, leathern-aproned
+race, whose chief accomplishment was
+said to be that of being 'crack-shots,'
+their chief art that of neatly roasting
+their prisoners alive, and their chief
+virtue that of loving their homes." It
+may interest the reader to hear a rather
+more explicit account of this singular
+people, who dwell in the mountains
+that traverse Algeria from Tunis to
+Morocco&mdash;an irregular domain, whose
+limits it is difficult exactly to define in
+words. The Kabyles are, in fact, the
+highlanders of North Africa, and they
+hold themselves aloof from the Arabs
+and Europeans that surround them.
+Concerning them, we find some diversity
+in the statements of Mr Borrer,
+and of an anonymous Colonist, twelve
+years resident at Bougie, whose pamphlet
+is before us. Of the two, the
+Frenchman gives them the best character,
+but both agree as to their
+industry and intelligence, their frugality
+and skill in agriculture. They
+are not nomadic like the Arabs, but
+live in villages, till the land, and tend
+flocks. Dwelling in the mountains,
+they have few horses, and fight chiefly
+on foot. Divided into many tribes,
+they are constantly quarreling and
+fighting amongst themselves, but they
+forget their feuds and quickly unite to
+repel a foreign foe. "Predisposed by
+his character," says the Colonist, "to
+draw near to civilisation, the Kabyle
+attaches himself sincerely to the civilised
+man when circumstances establish
+a friendly connexion between them.
+He is still inclined to certain vices
+inherent in the savage: but of all the
+Africans, he is the best disposed to live
+in friendship and harmony with us,
+which he will do when he shall find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+himself in permanent contact with the
+European population." This is not
+the general opinion, and it differs
+widely from that expressed by Mr
+Borrer. But the Colonist had his own
+views, perhaps his own interests, to
+further. He wrote some months previous
+to the expedition which Mr
+Borrer accompanied, and which was
+then not likely to take place, and he
+strongly advocated its propriety&mdash;admitting,
+however, that public opinion
+in France was greatly opposed to a
+military incursion into Kabylia. Himself
+established at Bougie, of course
+in some description of commerce, the
+necessity of roads connecting the coast
+and the interior was to him quite
+evident. A good many of his countrymen,
+whose personal benefit was
+not so likely to be promoted by causeway-cutting
+in Algeria, strongly deprecated
+any sort of road-making that
+was likely to bring on war with the
+Kabyles. France began to think she
+was paying too dear for her whistle.
+She looked back to the early days of
+the Orleans dynasty, when Marshal
+Clausel promised to found a rich and
+powerful colony with only 10,000
+men. She glanced at the pages of
+the <cite>Moniteur</cite> of 1837, and there she
+found words uttered by the great
+Bugeaud in the Chamber of Deputies.
+"Forty-five thousand men and one
+good campaign," said the white-headed
+warrior, as the Arabs call him, "and
+in six months the country is pacified,
+and you may reduce the army to
+twenty thousand men, to be paid by
+imposts levied on the colony, consequently
+costing France nothing."
+Words, and nothing more&mdash;mere wind;
+the greatest <em>bosh</em> that ever was uttered,
+even by Bugeaud, who is proverbial
+for dealing largely in that flatulent
+commodity. Nine years passed away,
+and the Commission of the Budget
+"deplored a situation which compelled
+France to maintain an army of
+more than 100,000 men upon that
+African territory." (Report of M.
+Bignon of the 15th April 1846, p.
+237.) Bugeaud himself had mightily
+changed his tone, and declared that, to
+keep Algiers, as large an army would
+be essential as had been required to
+conquer it. Lamoricière, a great
+authority in such matters, confirmed
+the opinion of his senior. Monsieur
+Desjobert, and a variety of pamphleteers
+and newspaper writers, attacked,
+with argument, ridicule, and statistics,
+the party known as the <em>Algérophiles</em>,
+who made light of difficulties, scoffed
+at expense, and predicted the prosperity
+and splendour of French Africa.
+Algeria, according to them, was to
+become the brightest gem in the citizen-crown
+of France. These sanguine
+gentlemen were met with facts
+and figures. During 1846, said the
+anti-Algerines, your precious colony
+will have cost France 125,000,000 of
+francs. And they proved it in black
+and white. There was little chance
+of the expense being less in following
+years. Then came the loss of men.
+In 1840, said M. Desjobert, giving
+chapter and verse for his statements,
+9567 men perished in the African
+hospitals, out of an effective army of
+63,000. Add those invalids who died
+in French hospitals, or in their
+homes, from the results of African
+campaigning, and the total loss is
+moderately stated at 11,000 men, or
+more than one-sixth of the whole
+force employed. Out of these, only
+227 died in action. The thing seemed
+hopeless and endless. What do we
+get for our money? was the cry.
+What is our compensation for the
+decimation of our young men?
+France can better employ her sons,
+than in sending them to perish by
+African fevers. What do we gain by
+all this expenditure of gold and
+blood?&mdash;The unreasonable mortals!
+Had they not gained a Duke of Isly
+and a Moorish pavilion? M. Desjobert
+surely forgets these inestimable
+acquisitions when he asks and answers
+the question&mdash;"What remains
+of all our victories? A thousand bulletins,
+and Horace Vernet's big pictures."</p>
+
+<p>"How many times," says the same
+writer, "has not the subjection of the
+Arabs been proclaimed! In 1844,
+General Bugeaud gains the battle of
+Isly. Are the Arabs subdued?</p>
+
+<p>"When the Arabs appear before
+the judges who dispose of life and
+death, they confess their faith, and
+proclaim their hatred of us; and
+when we are simple enough to tell
+them that some of their race are devoted
+to us, they reply, 'Those lie
+to you, through fear, or for their own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+interest; and as often as a scheriff
+shall come whom they believe able to
+conquer you, they will follow him,
+even into the streets of Algiers.'
+(Examination of Bou Maza's brother,
+12th November 1845.) Thus spoke
+the chief. The common Arab had
+already said to the Christian, "If
+my head and thine were boiled in the
+same vessel, my broth would separate
+itself from thy broth."</p>
+
+<p>This was discouraging to those
+who had dreamed of the taming of the
+Arab; and the more sanguinary
+mooted ideas of extermination. Such
+a project, clearly written down, and
+printed, and placed on Parisian
+breakfast tables, might be startling; in
+Algeria it had long been put in practice.
+What said General Duvivier in
+his <cite>Solution de la Question d'Algérie</cite>,
+p. 285? "For eleven years they
+have razed buildings, burned crops,
+destroyed trees, massacred men,
+women, and children, with a still-increasing
+fury." We have already
+shown that this work of extermination
+was not carried on with perfect
+impunity. Here is further confirmation
+of the fact. "Every Arab killed,"
+says M. Leblanc de Prébois, another
+officer, who wrote on the Algerian
+war, and wrote from personal experience,
+"costs us the death of thirty-three
+men, and 150,000 francs." Supposing
+a vast deal of exaggeration in
+this statement, the balance still remains
+ugly against the French, for
+whom there is evidently very little
+difference between catching an Arab
+and catching a Tartar. Whilst upon
+the subject of extermination, Mr
+Borrer gives an opinion more decidedly
+unfavourable to his French friends
+than is expressed in any other part
+of his book. His estimate of Kabyle
+virtues differs considerably, it will be
+observed, from that of the Colonist,
+and of the two is much nearest the
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>"The abominable vices and debaucheries
+of the Kabyle race, the inhuman
+barbarities they are continually guilty
+of towards such as may be cast by
+tempest, or other misfortune, upon their
+rugged shores; the atrocious cruelties
+and refined tortures they, in common
+with the Arab, delight in exercising
+upon any such enemies as may be so
+unhappy as to fall alive into their
+hands, must render the hearts of those
+acquainted with this people perfectly
+callous as to what misfortunes may
+befall them or their country; and
+many may think that, as far as the
+advancement of civilisation is concerned,
+the wiping off of the Kabyle
+and Arab races of Northern Africa
+from the face of the earth, would be the
+greatest boon to humanity. Though,
+however, they may be fraught with
+all the vices of the Canaanitish tribes
+of old, yet the command, 'Go ye after
+him through the city and smite; let
+not your eye spare, neither have ye
+pity; slay utterly old and young, both
+maids, and little children, and women,'
+is not justifiably issued at the pleasure
+of man; and we can but lament
+to see a great and gallant nation engaged
+in a warfare exasperating both
+parties to indulge in sanguinary atrocities,&mdash;atrocities
+to be attributed on
+one side to the barbarous and savage
+state of those having recourse to them;
+but on the other, proceeding only from
+a thirst for retaliation and bloody revenge,
+unworthy of those enjoying a
+high position as a civilised people.
+War is, as we all know, ever productive
+of horrors: but such horrors may
+be greatly restrained and diminished
+by the exertions and example of those
+in command."</p>
+
+<p>The hoary-headed hero of Isly is
+not the man to make the exertion, or
+set the example. At the beginning
+of 1847, rumours of a projected inroad
+amongst the Kabyles caused uneasiness
+and dissatisfaction in Algeria,
+when such a movement was highly
+unpopular, as likely to lead to a long
+and expensive war. The "Commission
+of Credits," a board appointed by
+the French Chamber for the particular
+investigation and regulation of Algerine
+affairs, applied to the minister of
+war to know if the rumours were well
+founded. The minister confessed they
+were; adding, however, that the expedition
+would be quite peaceable; but
+at the same time laying before the
+commission letters from Bugeaud,
+"expressing regret that force of arms
+was not to be resorted to more than
+was absolutely necessary, the submission
+of the aborigines being never certain
+<em>until powder had spoken</em>." The
+marshal evidently "felt like fighting."
+The Commission protested; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+minister rebuked them, bidding them
+mind their credits, and not meddle with
+the royal prerogative. Thus unjustly
+snubbed&mdash;for they certainly were minding
+their credits, by opposing increase
+of expenditure&mdash;the Commission were
+mute, one of the members merely observing,
+by way of a last shot, that it
+was easier to refuse to listen than to
+reply satisfactorily. In France, public
+opinion, the Chamber of Deputies, and
+Marshal Soult, had, on various occasions,
+declared against attacking the
+Kabyles. "Nevertheless, a proclamation
+was issued by Marshal Bugeaud
+to the inhabitants of the Kabylie, to
+warn them that the French army was
+upon the point of entering their territory,
+'to cleanse it of those adventurers
+who there preached the war
+against France.' The proclamation
+then went on to state, that the marshal
+had no desire to fight with them, or to
+devastate their property; but that, if
+there were amongst them any who
+wished for war, they would find him
+ready to accept it." If a hard-favoured
+stranger, armed with a horsewhip,
+walked uninvited into M.
+Bugeaud's private residence, loudly
+proclaiming he would thrash nobody
+unless provoked, the marshal would
+be likely to resist the intrusion. The
+Kabyles, doubtless, thought his advance
+into their territory an equally
+unjustifiable proceeding. As to the
+pretext of "the adventurers who
+preached war," it was unfounded and
+ridiculous. Such propagandists have
+never been listened to in Kabylia.
+"The voice of the Emir Abd-el-Kader
+himself," says the Colonist, "would
+not obtain a hearing. Did he not go
+in person, in 1839, when preparing to
+break his treaty of peace with us, and
+preach the holy war? Did he not
+traverse the valley of the Souman, from
+one end to the other, to recruit combatants?
+And what did he obtain
+from the Kabyles? Hospitality for a
+few days, coupled with the formal invitation
+to evacuate the country as
+soon as possible. Did he succeed
+better when he lately again tried to
+raise Kabylia against us?" Mr Borrer
+confirms this. Marshal Bugeaud himself
+had said in the Chamber of
+Deputies, "The Kabyles are neither
+aggressive nor hostile; they defend
+themselves vigorously when intruded
+upon, but they do not attack." The
+marshal, whose whole public life has
+been full of contradictions, was the
+first to intrude upon them, although
+but a very few years had elapsed since
+he said in a pamphlet, "The Kabyles
+are numerous and very warlike; they
+have villages, and their agriculture is
+sedentary; already there is too little
+land to supply their wants; there is
+no room, therefore, for Europeans in
+the mountains of Kabylia, and they
+would cut a very poor figure there."
+This last prophetic sentence was realised
+by M. Bugeaud himself, who
+certainly made no very brilliant appearance
+when, forgetting his former
+theory, he hazarded himself in May
+1847, at the head of eight thousand
+men, and with Mr Borrer in his train,
+amongst the hardy mountaineers of
+Kabylia.</p>
+
+<p>Hereabouts Mr Borrer quotes, in
+French, the statement of a member
+of the Commission already referred
+to. It is worth extracting, as fully
+confirming our conviction that the
+conduct of France in Algeria has been
+throughout characterised by an utter
+want of judgment and justice. "The
+native towns have been invaded,
+ruined, sacked, by our administration,
+more even than by our arms. In
+time of peace, a great number of private
+estates have been ravaged and
+destroyed. A multitude of title-deeds
+delivered to us for verification have
+never been restored. Even in the
+environs of Algiers, fertile lands have
+been taken from the Arabs and given
+to Europeans, who, unable or unwilling
+to cultivate their new possessions,
+have farmed them out to their
+former owners, who have thus become
+the mere stewards of the inheritance
+of their fathers. Elsewhere,
+tribes, or fractions of tribes, not
+hostile to us, but who, on the contrary,
+had fought for us, have been
+driven from their territory. Conditions
+have been accepted from them,
+and not kept&mdash;indemnities promised,
+and never paid&mdash;until we have compromised
+our honour even more than
+their interests." Such a statement,
+proceeding from a Frenchman&mdash;from
+one, too, delegated by his government,
+to examine the state of the colony&mdash;is
+quite conclusive as to administrative
+proceedings in Algeria. It would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+be superfluous and impertinent to add
+another line of evidence. A comment
+may be appropriate. "Is it not
+Montesquieu," says Mr Borrer, "in
+his <cite>Esprit des Lois</cite>, who observes&mdash;'The
+right of conquest, though a necessary
+and legitimate right, is an
+unhappy one, bequeathing to the conqueror
+a heavy debt to humanity, only
+to be acquitted by repairing, as far as
+possible, those evils of which he has
+been the cause'?&mdash;and Montesquieu
+was a wise man, and a Frenchman!"</p>
+
+<p>Dismissing this branch of the subject,
+let us see how the Duke of Isly
+made "the powder speak" in Kabylia,
+and try our hand at a rough
+sketch, taking the loan of Mr Borrer's
+colours. A strong body of French
+troops&mdash;the 8000 have been increased,
+since departure, by several battalions
+and some spahis&mdash;are encamped in a
+rich valley, cutting down the unripe
+wheat for the use of their horses,
+whilst, from the surrounding heights,
+the Kabyles gloomily watch the unscrupulous
+foragers. "Now 'soft-winged
+evening,'" as Mr Dawson
+Borrer poetically expresses himself,
+"hovers o'er the scene, chasing from
+woodlands and sand-rock heights the
+gilded tints of the setting sun." In
+other words, it gets dark&mdash;and shots
+are heard. The natives, vexed at the
+liberties taken with their crops, harass
+the outposts. Their bad powder and
+overloaded guns have no chance
+against French muskets. "In the
+name of the Prophet, <small>HEADS</small>!" Bugeaud
+the Merciful pays for them ten
+francs a-piece. Four are presented
+to him before breakfast. The premium
+is to make the soldiers alert
+against horse-stealers. Ten francs
+being a little fortune to a French
+soldier, whose pay in hard cash is two
+or three farthings a-day, Mr Borrer
+suspects the heads are sometimes
+taken from shoulders where they have
+a right to remain. An Arab is always
+an Arab, whether a horse-stealer or a
+mere idler. But no matter&mdash;a few
+more or less. Day returns; the column
+marches; the Kabyles show
+little of the intrepidity, in defence of
+their hearths and altars, attributed to
+them by M. Bugeaud and others.
+Their horsemen fly before a platoon
+of French cavalry; the infantry limit
+their offensive operations to cowardly
+long shots at the rear-guard. Four
+venerable elders bring two yoked oxen
+in token of submission. In general,
+the inhabitants have disappeared.
+Their deserted towns appear, in the
+distance, by no means inferior to many
+French and Italian villages. The
+marshal will not permit exploring
+parties for fear of ambuscade. Night
+arrives, and passes without incident
+of note. At three in the morning,
+the camp is aroused by hideous
+yells. A sentinel has fired at a horse-thief
+and broken his leg, and now,
+mindful of the ten francs, tries to
+cut off the head of the wounded man,
+who objects and screams. A bayonet-thrust
+stops his mouth, and the <em>bill on
+Bugeaud</em> is duly severed. The next
+day is passed in skirmishing with the
+Beni-Abbez, the most numerous tribe
+of the valley of the Souman, but not
+a very warlike one&mdash;so says the
+Colonist; and, indeed, they offer but
+slight resistance, although they, or
+some other tribes, make a firm and
+determined attack upon the French
+outposts in the course of that night.
+There is more smoke than bloodshed;
+but the Kabyles show considerable
+pluck, burn a prodigious number of
+cartridges, and make no doubt they
+have nearly "rubbed out" the Christians;
+in which particular they are
+rather mistaken&mdash;the French, not
+choosing to leave their camp, having
+quietly lain down, and allowed the
+Berber lead to fly over them. At last
+the assailants' ammunition runs low,
+and they retire, leaving a sprinkling
+of dead. Mr Borrer quotes the Koran.
+"'Those of our brothers who fall in
+defence of the true faith, are not dead,
+but live invisible, receiving their nourriture
+from the hand of the Most
+High,' says the Prophet." <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nourriture</i>
+is not quite English, at least with that
+orthography; but no matter for Mr
+Borrer's Gallicisms, which are many.
+We rush with him into the Kabyle
+fire. Here he sits, halted amongst
+the olive-trees, philosophically lighting
+his pipe, the bullets whistling
+about his ears, whilst he admires the
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sang froid</i> of a pretty <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vivandière</i>,
+seated astride upon her horse, and
+jesting at the danger. The column
+advances&mdash;the Kabyles retreat, fighting,
+pursued by the French shells,
+which they hold in particular horror,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+and call the howitzer the <em>twice-firing
+cannon</em>. The object of the advance is
+to destroy the towns and villages of
+the Beni-Abbez, the night-attack upon
+his bivouac affording the marshal a
+pretext. The villages are surrounded
+with stiff walls of stones and mud,
+crowned with strong thorny fences,
+and having hedges of prickly pear
+growing at their base; and the gaunt
+burnoosed warriors make good fight
+through loop-holes and from the terraces
+of their houses. But resistance
+is soon overcome, and the narrow
+streets are crowded with Frenchmen,
+ravishing, massacring, plundering; no
+regard to sex or age; outrage for every
+woman&mdash;the edge of the sword for all.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon the floor of one of the
+chambers lay a little girl of twelve or
+fourteen years of age, weltering in
+gore, and in the agonies of death: an
+accursed ruffian thrust his bayonet
+into her. God will requite him....
+When the soldiers had ransacked the
+dwellings, and smashed to atoms all
+they could not carry off, or did not
+think worth seizing as spoil, they
+heaped the remnants and the mattings
+together and fired them. As I
+was hastily traversing the streets to
+regain the outside of the village, disgusted
+with the horrors I witnessed,
+flames burst forth on all sides, and
+torrents of fire came swiftly gliding
+down the thoroughfares, for the flames
+had gained the oil. An instant I
+turned&mdash;the fearful doom of the poor
+concealed child and the decrepid
+mother flashing on my mind. It was
+too late.... The unfortunate
+Kabyle child was doubtless consumed
+with her aged parent. How many
+others may have shared her fate!"</p>
+
+<p>At noon, the atmosphere is laden
+with smoke arising from the numerous
+burning villages. From one spot nine
+may be counted, wrapped in flames.
+There is merry-making in the French
+camp. Innumerable goatskins, full
+of milk, butter, figs, and flour, are
+produced and opened. Some are
+consumed; more are squandered and
+strewn upon the ground. Let the
+Kabyle dogs starve! Have they
+not audaciously levelled their long
+guns at the white-headed warrior
+and his followers, who asked nothing
+but submission, free passage through
+the country, corn-fields for their horses,
+and the fat of the land for themselves?
+But stay&mdash;there is still a town to take,
+the last, the strongest, the refuge of
+the women and of the aged. Its defence
+is resolute, but at last it falls. "Ravished,
+murdered, burnt, hardly a
+child escaped to tell the tale. A
+few of the women fled to the ravines
+around the village; but troops swept
+the brushwood; and the stripped and
+mangled bodies of females might there
+be seen.... One vast sheet of
+flame crowned the height, which an
+hour or two before was ornamented
+with an extensive and opulent village,
+crowded with inhabitants. It seemed
+to have been the very emporium of
+commerce of the Beni-Abbez; fabrics
+of gunpowder, of arms, of haïks,
+burnooses, and different stuffs, were
+there. The streets boasted of numerous
+shops of workers in silver,
+workers in cord, venders of silk, &amp;c."
+All this the soldiers pillaged, or the
+fire devoured; then the insatiable
+flames gained the corn and olive trees,
+and converted a smiling and prosperous
+district into a black and barren
+waste. Bugeaud looked on and pronounced
+it good, and his men declared
+the country "well cleaned out," and
+vaunted their deeds of rapine and
+violence. "I heard two ruffians
+relating, with great gusto, how many
+young girls had been burned in one
+house, after being abused by their
+brutal comrades and themselves."
+Out of consideration for his readers,
+Mr Borrer says, he writes down but
+the least shocking of the crimes and
+atrocities he that day witnessed.
+We have no inclination to transcribe a
+tithe of the horrors he records, and
+at sight of which, he assures us, the
+blood of many a gallant French officer
+boiled in his veins. He mentions no
+attempt on the part of these compassionate
+officers to curb the ferocity of
+their men, who had not the excuse of
+previous severe sufferings, of a long
+and obstinate resistance, and of the
+loss of many of their comrades, to
+allege in extenuation of their savage
+violence. History teaches us that, in
+certain circumstances, as, for instance,
+after protracted sieges, great exposure,
+and a long and bloody fight, soldiers
+of all nations are liable to forget discipline,
+and, maddened by fury, by
+suffering and excitement, to despise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+the admonitions and reprimands of
+the chiefs&mdash;nay, even to turn their
+weapons against those whom for years
+they have been accustomed to respect
+and implicitly obey. But there is no
+such excuse in the instance before
+us. A pleasant military promenade
+through a rich country, fine weather,
+abundant rations, and just enough
+skirmishing to give zest to the whole
+affair, whose fighting part was exceeding
+brief, as might be expected,
+when French bayonets and artillery
+were opposed to the clumsy guns and
+irregular tactics of the Beni-Abbez&mdash;we
+find nothing in this picture
+to extenuate the horrible cruelties
+enacted by the conquerors after their
+easily achieved victory. Their whole
+loss, according to their marshal's
+bulletin, amounted to fifty-seven killed
+and wounded. This included the loss
+in the night-attack on the camp. In
+fact, it was mere child's play for
+the disciplined French soldiery; and
+Mr Borrer virtually admits this, by applying
+to the affair General Castellane's
+expression of a <em>man-hunt</em>. He then, with
+no good grace, endeavours to find an
+excuse for his campaigning comrades.
+"The ranks of the French army in
+Africa are composed, in great measure,
+of the very scum of France."
+They have condemned regiments in
+Africa, certainly; the Foreign Legion
+are reckless and reprobate enough;
+we dare say the Zouaves, a mixed
+corps of wild Frenchmen and tamed
+Arabs, are neither tender nor scrupulous;
+but these form a very small portion
+of the hundred thousand French
+troops in Africa, and there is little
+picking and choosing amongst the line
+regiments, who take their turn of service
+pretty regularly, neither is there
+reason for considering the men who go
+to Algeria to be greater scamps than
+those who remain in France. So this
+will not do, Mr Borrer: try another
+tack. "The only sort of excuse for
+the horrors committed by the soldiery
+in Algeria, is their untamed passions,
+and the fire added to their natural
+ferocity by the atrocious cruelties so
+often committed by the Arabs upon
+their comrades in arms, who have
+been so unhappy as to fall into their
+power." This is more plausible, although
+it is a query who began the
+system of murderous reprisals. Arab
+treatment of prisoners is not mild.
+On the evening of the 1st June, some
+men straggled from the French
+bivouac, and were captured. "It
+was said that from one of the outposts
+the Kabyles were seen busily engaged,
+in roasting their victims before a large
+fire upon a neighbouring slope; but
+whether this was a fact or not, I never
+learned." It was possibly true.
+Escoffier tells us how one of his fellow-prisoners,
+a Jew named Wolf, who
+fell into the hands of Moorish shepherds,
+was thrown upon a blazing pile
+of faggots; and although we suspect
+the brave trumpeter, or his historian,
+of occasional exaggeration, there
+are grounds for crediting the authenticity
+of this statement. As to Mr
+Borrer, he guarantees nothing but
+what he sees with his own eyes, the
+camp being, he says, full of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">blagueurs</i>,
+or tellers of white lies. The inventions
+of these mendacious gentry are
+not always as innocent as he appears
+to think them. Imaginary cruelties,
+attributed to an enemy, are very apt
+to impose upon credulous soldiers, and
+to stimulate them to unnecessary
+bloodshed, and to acts of lawless
+revenge. Many a village has been
+burned, and many an inoffensive peasant
+sabred, on the strength of such
+lying fabrications. In Africa especially,
+where the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">lex talionis</i> seems
+fully recognised, and its enforcement
+confided to the first straggler who
+chooses to fire a house or stick an
+Arab, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">blagueurs</i> should be handed
+over, in our opinion, to summary
+punishment. On the advance of the
+French column, a soldier or two,
+straying from the bivouac to bathe or
+fish, had here and there been shot by
+the lurking Kabyles. On its return,
+"I was somewhat surprised," Mr
+Borrer remarks, "to observe, in the
+wake of the column, flames bursting
+forth from the gourbies (villages) left
+in our rear. It was well known that
+the tribe upon whose territory we
+were riding had submitted, and that
+their sheikh was even riding at the
+head of the column." None could explain
+the firing of the villages. The
+sheikh, indignant at the treachery of
+the French, set spurs to his mare,
+and was off like the wind. The conflagration
+was traced to soldiers of the
+rear-guard, desirous to revenge their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+comrades, picked off on the previous
+march. We are not told that the
+crime was brought home to the perpetrators,
+or visited upon them. If
+it was, Mr Borrer makes no mention
+of the fact, but passes on, as if the
+burning of a few villages were a trifle
+scarce worth notice. How were the
+Kabyles to distinguish between the
+acts of the private soldier and of the
+epauleted chief? Their submission
+had just been accepted, and friendly
+words spoken to them: their sheikh
+rode beside the gray-haired leader of
+the Christians, and marked the apparent
+subordination of the white-faced
+soldiery. Suddenly a gross violation
+occurred of the amicable understanding
+so recently come to. How persuade
+them that the submissive and
+disciplined soldiers they saw around
+them would venture such breach of
+faith without the sanction or connivance
+of their commander? The
+offence is that of an insignificant sentinel,
+but the dirt falls upon the beard
+of Bugeaud; and confidence in the
+promises of the lying European is
+thoroughly and for ever destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>A colony, whose mode of acquisition
+and of government, up to the
+present time, reflects so little credit
+upon French arms and administrators,
+ought certainly to yield pecuniary
+results or advantages of some kind,
+which, in a mercenary point of view,
+might balance the account. France
+surely did not place her reputation
+for humanity and justice in the hands
+of Marshal Bugeaud and of others of
+his stamp, without anticipating some
+sort of compensation for its probable
+deterioration. Such expectations have
+hitherto been wholly unfulfilled; and
+we really see little chance of their
+probable or speedy realisation. The
+colony is as unpromising, as the colonists
+are inapt to improve it. The
+fact is, the work of colonisation has
+not begun. The French are utterly
+at a loss how to set about it. All
+kinds of systems have been proposed.
+Bugeaud has had his&mdash;that of military
+colonisation, which he maintained,
+with characteristic stubbornness, in the
+teeth of public opinion, of the French
+government, of common sense, and
+even of possibility. He proposed to
+take, during ten years, one hundred and
+twenty thousand recruits from the conscription,
+and to settle them in Africa,
+with their wives. He estimated the
+expense of this scheme at twelve millions
+sterling. His opponents stated
+its probable cost at four times that
+sum. Whichever estimate was correct,
+it is not worth while examining
+the plan, which for a moment was
+entertained by a government commission,
+but has since been completely
+abandoned. It presupposes
+an extraordinary and arbitrary stretch
+of power on the part of the government
+that should adopt such a
+system of compulsory colonisation.
+We are surprised to find Mr Borrer
+inclined to favour the exploded plan.
+General Lamoricière (the terrible
+<i>Bour-à-boi</i> of the Arabs,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>) proposed
+to give premiums to agriculturists
+settling in Algeria, at the rate of
+twenty-five per cent of their expenses
+of clearing, irrigation, construction,
+and plantation. But M. Lamoricière&mdash;a
+very practical man indeed, with
+his sabre in his fist, and at the head
+of his Zouaves&mdash;is a shallow theorist
+in matters of colonisation. The staff
+of surveyors, valuers, and referees
+essential to carry out his project, would
+alone have been a heavy additional
+charge on the unprofitable colony.
+"M. Lamoricière," says M. Desjobert,
+"was one of the warmest advocates
+of the occupation of Bougie,"
+(a seaport of Kabylie,) "and partly
+directed, in 1833, that fatal expedition."
+(Fatal, M. Desjobert means,
+by reason of its subsequent cost in
+men and money. The town was
+taken by a small force on the 29th
+September 1833.) "The soldiers
+were then told that their mission was
+agricultural rather than military, that
+they would have to handle the pick
+and the spade more frequently than
+the musket. The unfortunates have
+certainly handled pick and spade; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+it was to dig in that immense cemetery
+which, each day, swallows up their
+comrades. Already, in 1836, General
+d'Erlon, ex-governor of Algiers, demanded
+the evacuation of Bougie,
+which had devoured, in three years,
+three thousand men and seven millions
+of francs." The demand was not
+complied with, and Bougie has continued
+to consume more than its quota
+of the six thousand men at which M.
+Desjobert estimates the average annual
+loss, by disease alone, of the
+African army. Bougie has not
+flourished under the tricolor. In former
+times a city of great riches and
+importance, it still contained several
+thousand inhabitants when taken by
+the French. At the period of Mr
+Borrer's visit, it reckoned a population
+of five hundred, exclusive of the
+garrison of twelve hundred men. To
+return, however, to the systems of
+colonisation. When the generals had
+had their say, it was the turn of the
+commissions; the commission of
+Africa, that of the Chamber of
+Deputies, &amp;c. There was no lack of
+projects; but none of them answered.
+The colonial policy of the Orleans
+government was eminently short-sighted.
+This is strikingly shown in
+Mr Borrer's 14th chapter, "A Word
+upon the Colony." Of the fertile plain
+of the Metidja, containing about a
+million and a half acres of arable and
+pasture land, a very small portion is
+cultivated. The French found a garden;
+they have made a desert. "Before
+the French occupation, vast tracts
+which now lie waste, sacrificed to
+palmetta and squills, were cultivated
+by the Arabs, who grew far more corn
+than was required for their own consumption;
+whereas now, they grow
+barely sufficient: the consequence of
+which is, that the price of corn is enormous
+in Algeria at present." Land
+is cheap enough, but labour is dear,
+because the necessaries of life are so.
+Instead of making Algiers a free port,
+protection to French manufactures is
+the order of the day, and this has
+driven Arab commerce to Tunis and
+Morocco. Rivalry with England&mdash;the
+feverish desire for colonies and for
+the supremacy of the seas&mdash;must unquestionably
+be ranked amongst the
+motives of the tenacious retention
+of such an expensive possession as
+Algeria. And now the odious English
+cottons are an obstacle to the prosperity
+of the colony. To sell a few
+more bales of French calicoes and
+crates of French hardware, the wise
+men at Paris put an effectual check
+upon the progress of African agriculture.
+Here, if anywhere, free-trade
+might be introduced with advantage;
+in common necessaries, at any rate,
+and for a few years, till the country
+became peopled, and the colonists had
+overcome the first difficulties of their
+position. It would make very little
+difference to Rouen and Lyons, whilst
+to the settlers it would practically
+work more good than would have been
+done them by M. Lamoricière's <em>subvention</em>,
+supposing this to have been
+adopted, and that the heavily-taxed
+agriculturist of France&mdash;in many parts
+of which country land pays but two
+and a half or three per cent&mdash;had
+consented to pay additional imposts for
+the benefit of the agriculturist of Algeria.
+In the beginning, the notion
+of the French government was, that
+its new conquest would colonise itself
+unassisted; that there would be a
+natural and steady flow of emigrants
+from the mother country. In any
+case this expectation would probably
+have proved fallacious&mdash;at least it
+would never have been realised to the
+extent anticipated; but the small encouragement
+given to such emigration,
+rendered it utterly abortive. The
+"stream" of settlers proved a mere
+dribble. Security and justice, Mr
+Thiers said, were all that France owed
+her colony. Even these two things
+were not obtained, in the full sense of
+the words. The centralisation system
+weighed upon Algeria. Everything
+was referred to Paris. Hence interminable
+correspondence, and delays
+innumerable. In the year 1846, Mr
+Borrer says, twenty-four thousand
+despatches were received by the civil
+administration from the chief <em>bureau</em>
+in the French capital, in exchange for
+twenty-eight thousand sent. Instead
+of imparting all possible celerity to
+the administrative forms requisite to
+the establishment of emigrants, these
+must often wait a year or more before
+they are put in possession of the land
+granted. Meanwhile they expend
+their resources, and are enervated by
+idleness and disease. The climate of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+North Africa is ill-adapted to French
+constitutions. M. Desjobert has already
+told us the average loss of the
+army, and General Duvivier, in his
+<cite>Solution de la Question d'Algérie</cite>, fully
+corroborated his statements. "A
+man," said the general, "whose constitution
+is not in harmony with the
+climate of Africa, never adapts himself
+to it; he suffers, wastes away,
+and dies. The expression, that a
+mass of men who have been for some
+time in Africa have become inured to
+the climate, is inexact. They have
+not become inured to it; they have
+been <em>decimated by death</em>. <em>The climate
+is a great sieve, which allows a rapid
+passage to everything that is not of a
+certain force.</em>" Supposing 100,000
+men sent from France to Algeria for
+six years' service. At the end of
+that time, their loss by disease alone,
+at the rate of six per cent&mdash;proved
+by M. Desjobert to be the annual
+average&mdash;would amount to upwards of
+30,000, or to more than three-tenths of
+the whole. The emigrants fare no better.
+"They look for milk and honey,"
+says Borrer: "they find palmetta and
+disease. The villages scattered about
+the Sahel or Massif of Algiers (a
+high ground at the back of the city,
+forming a rampart between the Metidja
+and the Mediterranean) are,
+with one or two exceptions, a type
+of desolation. Perched upon the
+most arid spots, distant from water,
+the poor tenants lie sweltering between
+sun and sirocco." A Mississippi
+swamp must be as eligible "squatting"
+ground as this&mdash;Arabs instead of alligators,
+and the Algerine fever in
+place of Yellow Jack. "At the gates
+of Algiers, in the villages of the
+Sahel," said the "<cite>Algérie</cite>" newspaper
+of the 22d December 1845, "the colonists
+desert, driven away by hunger.
+If any remain, it is because they
+have no strength to move. In the
+plain of the Metidja, the misery and
+desolation are greater still. At Fondouck,
+in the last five months, 120
+persons have died, out of a population
+of 280." The reporter to the
+Commission of the French budget of
+1837 (Monsieur Bignon) admitted that
+"the results of the colonisation are
+almost negative." He could not obtain,
+he said, an estimate of the
+agricultural population. At the same
+period, an Algiers newspaper (<cite>La
+France Algérienne</cite>) estimated the
+European agriculturists at 7000, two-thirds
+of whom were mere market-gardeners.</p>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to multiply proofs;
+and we will here conclude this imperfect
+sketch of Franco-African colonisation,
+of its crimes, its errors, and
+its cost, by extracting a rather remarkable
+passage from a writer we
+have more than once referred to, and
+who, although perhaps disposed to
+view things in Algeria upon the
+black side, is yet deserving of credit,
+as well by his position as by reason
+of his painstaking research and,
+so far as we have verified them, accurate
+statistics.</p>
+
+<p>"The colonists cannot deny," says
+Monsieur Desjobert in his <cite>Algérie en</cite>
+1846, "and they admit:</p>
+
+<p>"1º. That Europe alone maintains
+the 200,000 Europeans in Algeria. In
+1846 we are compelled to repeat what
+General Bernard, minister of war,
+said in 1838: 'Algeria resembles a
+naked rock, which it is necessary to
+supply with everything, except air
+and water.'</p>
+
+<p>"2º. That so long as we remain
+in this precarious situation, a naval
+war, by interrupting the communications,
+would compromise the safety of
+our army. In 1846 we repeat M.
+Thiers' words, uttered in 1837: 'If
+war surprises you in the state of
+indecision in which you are, I say that
+the disgraceful evacuation of Africa
+will be inevitable.'</p>
+
+<p>"M. Thiers did not speak the
+whole truth when he talked of evacuation.
+In such an extremity, evacuation
+would be impossible. Our
+army would perish of misery, and its
+remnant would fall into the hands of
+the enemy."</p>
+
+<p>Another enemy than the Arabs is
+here evidently pointed at; that possible
+foe is now a friend to France, and
+we trust will long remain so. But on
+many accounts the sentences we have
+just quoted are significant, as proceeding
+from the pen of a French deputy.
+They need no comment, and
+we shall offer none. We wait with
+interest to see if France's African
+colony prospers better under the Republic
+of 1848 than it did under
+the Monarchy of 1830.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE CAXTONS.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>PART IX.&mdash;CHAPTER XXXIX.</h3>
+
+<p>And my father pushed aside his books.</p>
+
+<p>O young reader, whoever thou art,&mdash;or
+reader, at least, who hast been young,&mdash;canst
+thou not remember some time
+when, with thy wild troubles and
+sorrows as yet borne in secret, thou
+hast come back from that hard, stern
+world which opens on thee when thou
+puttest thy foot out of the threshold
+of home&mdash;come back to the four quiet
+walls, wherein thine elders sit in
+peace&mdash;and seen, with a sort of sad
+amaze, how calm and undisturbed
+all is there? That generation which
+has gone before thee in the path of
+the passions&mdash;the generation of thy
+parents&mdash;(not so many years, perchance,
+remote from thine own)&mdash;how
+immovably far off, in its still repose,
+it seems from thy turbulent youth! It
+has in it a stillness as of a classic age,
+antique as the statues of the Greeks.
+That tranquil monotony of routine
+into which those lives that preceded
+thee have merged&mdash;the occupations
+that they have found sufficing for their
+happiness, by the fireside&mdash;in the armchair
+and corner appropriated to each&mdash;how
+strangely they contrast thine own
+feverish excitement! And they make
+room for thee, and bid thee welcome,
+and then resettle to their hushed pursuits,
+as if nothing had happened!
+Nothing had happened! while in thy
+heart, perhaps, the whole world seems
+to have shot from its axis, all the
+elements to be at war! And you sit
+down, crushed by that quiet happiness
+which you can share no more, and
+smile mechanically, and look into the
+fire; and, ten to one, you say nothing
+till the time comes for bed, and you
+take up your candle, and creep miserably
+to your lonely room.</p>
+
+<p>Now, if in a stage coach in the depth
+of winter, when three passengers are
+warm and snug, a fourth, all besnowed
+and frozen, descends from the outside
+and takes place amongst them,
+straightway all the three passengers
+shift their places, uneasily pull up
+their cloak collars, re-arrange their
+"comforters," feel indignantly a sensible
+loss of caloric&mdash;the intruder has
+at least made a sensation. But if
+you had all the snows of the Grampians
+in your heart, you might enter
+unnoticed: take care not to tread on
+the toes of your opposite neighbour,
+and not a soul is disturbed, not
+a "comforter" stirs an inch! I had
+not slept a wink, I had not even
+laid down all that night&mdash;the night in
+which I had said farewell to Fanny
+Trevanion&mdash;and the next morning,
+when the sun rose, I wandered out&mdash;where
+I know not. I have a dim recollection
+of long, gray, solitary streets&mdash;of
+the river, that seemed flowing in dull
+silence, away, far away, into some invisible
+eternity&mdash;trees and turf, and the
+gay voices of children. I must have
+gone from one end of the great Babel to
+the other: but my memory only became
+clear and distinct when I knocked,
+somewhere before noon, at the door
+of my father's house, and, passing
+heavily up the stairs, came into the
+drawing-room, which was the rendezvous
+of the little family; for, since
+we had been in London, my father
+had ceased to have his study apart, and
+contented himself with what he called
+"a corner"&mdash;a corner wide enough
+to contain two tables and a dumb
+waiter, with chairs <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à discretion</i> all
+littered with books. On the opposite
+side of this capacious corner sat my
+uncle, now nearly convalescent, and
+he was jotting down, in his stiff military
+hand, certain figures in a little red
+account-book&mdash;for you know already
+that my uncle Roland was, in his expenses,
+the most methodical of men.</p>
+
+<p>My father's face was more benign
+than usual, for, before him lay a proof&mdash;the
+first proof of his first work&mdash;his
+one work&mdash;the Great Book! Yes! it had
+positively found a press. And the first
+proof of your first work&mdash;ask any
+author what <em>that</em> is! My mother was
+out, with the faithful Mrs Primmins,
+shopping or marketing no doubt; so,
+while the brothers were thus engaged,
+it was natural that my entrance should
+not make as much noise as if it had
+been a bomb, or a singer, or a clap of
+thunder, or the last "great novel of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+the season," or anything else that
+made a noise in those days. For what
+makes a noise now? Now, when
+the most astonishing thing of all is
+in our easy familiarity with things
+astounding&mdash;when we say, listlessly,
+"Another revolution at Paris," or,
+"By the bye, there is the deuce to do
+at Vienna!"&mdash;when De Joinville is
+catching fish in the ponds at Claremont,
+and you hardly turn back to
+look at Metternich on the pier at
+Brighton!</p>
+
+<p>My uncle nodded, and growled indistinctly;
+my father&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Put aside his books; you have told
+us that already."</p>
+
+<p>Sir, you are very much mistaken,
+he did not put aside his books, for he
+was not engaged in them&mdash;he was
+reading his proof. And he smiled,
+and pointed to it (the proof I mean)
+pathetically, and with a kind of
+humour, as much as to say&mdash;"What
+can you expect, Pisistratus?&mdash;my new
+baby! in short clothes&mdash;or long primer,
+which is all the same thing!"</p>
+
+<p>I took a chair between the two, and
+looked first at one, then at the other,
+and&mdash;heaven forgive me!&mdash;I felt a
+rebellious, ungrateful spite against
+both. The bitterness of my soul must
+have been deep indeed to have
+overflowed in that direction, but it did.
+The grief of youth is an abominable
+egotist, and that is the truth. I got
+up from the chair, and walked towards
+the window; it was open, and outside
+the window was Mrs Primmins' canary,
+in its cage. London air had agreed
+with it, and it was singing lustily.
+Now, when the canary saw me standing
+opposite to its cage, and regarding
+it seriously, and, I have no doubt,
+with a very sombre aspect, the creature
+stopped short, and hung its head
+on one side, looking at me obliquely
+and suspiciously. Finding that I did
+it no harm, it began to hazard a few
+broken notes, timidly and interrogatively,
+as it were, pausing between
+each; and at length, as I made no
+reply, it evidently thought it had
+solved the doubt, and ascertained that
+I was more to be pitied than feared&mdash;for
+it stole gradually into so soft and
+silvery a strain that, I verily believe,
+it did it on purpose to comfort me!&mdash;me,
+its old friend, whom it had unjustly
+suspected. Never did any music
+touch me so home as did that long,
+plaintive cadence. And when the
+bird ceased, it perched itself close
+to the bars of the cage, and looked at
+me steadily with its bright intelligent
+eyes. I felt mine water, and I turned
+back and stood in the centre of the
+room, irresolute what to do, where to
+go. My father had done with the
+proof, and was deep in his folios.
+Roland had clasped his red account
+book, restored it to his pocket, wiped
+his pen carefully, and now watched
+me from under his great beetle brows.
+Suddenly he rose, and, stamping on
+the hearth with his cork leg, exclaimed,
+"Look up from those cursed books,
+brother Austin! What is there in
+that lad's face? Construe <em>that</em>, if you
+can!"</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XL.</h3>
+
+<p>And my father pushed aside his
+books, and rose hastily. He took off
+his spectacles, and rubbed them mechanically,
+but he said nothing; and
+my uncle, staring at him for a moment,
+in surprise at his silence, burst out,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I see&mdash;he has been getting
+into some scrape, and you are angry!
+Fie! young blood will have its way,
+Austin&mdash;it will. I don't blame that&mdash;it
+is only when&mdash;come here, Sisty!
+Zounds! man, come here."</p>
+
+<p>My father gently brushed off the
+captain's hand, and, advancing towards
+me, opened his arms. The next moment
+I was sobbing on his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"But what is the matter?" cried
+Captain Roland, "will nobody say
+what is the matter? Money, I suppose&mdash;money,
+you confounded extravagant
+young dog. Luckily you have got an
+uncle who has more than he knows
+what to do with. How much?&mdash;fifty?&mdash;a
+hundred? two hundred? How can I
+write the cheque, if you'll not speak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, brother! it is no money
+you can give that will set this right.
+My poor boy! have I guessed truly?
+Did I guess truly the other evening,
+when&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, yes! I have been so
+wretched. But I am better now&mdash;I
+can tell you all."</p>
+
+<p>My uncle moved slowly towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+the door: his fine sense of delicacy
+made him think that even he was out
+of place in the confidence between son
+and father.</p>
+
+<p>"No, uncle," I said, holding out
+my hand to him, "stay; you too can
+advise me&mdash;strengthen me. I have
+kept my honour yet&mdash;help me to keep
+it still."</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of the word honour
+Captain Roland stood mute, and
+raised his head quickly.</p>
+
+<p>So I told all&mdash;incoherently enough at
+first, but clearly and manfully as I
+went on. Now I know that it is not
+the custom of lovers to confide in
+fathers and uncles. Judging by those
+mirrors of life, plays and novels, they
+choose better;&mdash;valets and chambermaids,
+and friends whom they have
+picked up in the street, as I had picked
+up poor Francis Vivian&mdash;to these they
+make clean breasts of their troubles.
+But fathers and uncles&mdash;to them they
+are close, impregnable, "buttoned to
+the chin." The Caxtons were an eccentric
+family, and never did anything
+like other people. When I had ended,
+I lifted my eyes, and said pleadingly,
+"Now, tell me, is there no hope&mdash;none?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why should there be none?"
+cried Captain Roland hastily&mdash;"the
+De Caxtons are as good a family as the
+Trevanions; and as for yourself, all I
+will say is, that the young lady might
+choose worse for her own happiness."</p>
+
+<p>I wrung my uncles hand, and turned
+to my father in anxious fear&mdash;for I
+knew that, in spite of his secluded
+habits, few men ever formed a sounder
+judgment on worldly matters, when
+he was fairly drawn to look at them.
+A thing wonderful is that plain
+wisdom which scholars and poets
+often have for others, though they
+rarely deign to use it for themselves.
+And how on earth do they get at it?
+I looked at my father, and the vague
+hope Roland had excited fell as
+I looked.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," said he slowly, and
+shaking his head, "the world, which
+gives codes and laws to those who live
+in it, does not care much for a pedigree,
+unless it goes with a title-deed
+to estates."</p>
+
+<p>"Trevanion was not richer than
+Pisistratus when he married Lady
+Ellinor," said my uncle.</p>
+
+<p>"True; but Lady Ellinor was not
+then an heiress, and her father viewed
+these matters as no other peer in England
+perhaps would. As for Trevanion
+himself, I dare say he has no prejudices
+about station, but he is strong in common
+sense. He values himself on being
+a practical man. It would be folly to
+talk to him of love, and the affections
+of youth. He would see in the son of
+Austin Caxton, living on the interest
+of some fifteen or sixteen thousand
+pounds, such a match for his daughter
+as no prudent man in his position
+could approve. And as for Lady
+Ellinor"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"She owes us much, Austin!" exclaimed
+Roland, his face darkening.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Ellinor is now what, if we
+had known her better, she promised
+always to be&mdash;the ambitious, brilliant,
+scheming woman of the world. Is it
+not so, Pisistratus?"</p>
+
+<p>I said nothing. I felt too much.</p>
+
+<p>"And does the girl like you?&mdash;but
+I think it is clear she does!" exclaimed
+Roland. "Fate&mdash;fate; it has
+been a fatal family to us! Zounds,
+Austin, it was your fault. Why did
+you let him go there?"</p>
+
+<p>"My son is now a man&mdash;at least in
+heart, if not in years&mdash;can man be shut
+from danger and trial? They found
+me in the old parsonage, brother!"
+said my father mildly.</p>
+
+<p>My uncle walked, or rather stumped,
+three times up and down the room;
+and he then stopped short, folded his
+arms, and came to a decision&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If the girl likes you, your duty is
+doubly clear&mdash;you can't take advantage
+of it. You have done right to
+leave the house, for the temptation
+might be too strong."</p>
+
+<p>"But what excuse shall I make to
+Mr Trevanion?" said I feebly&mdash;"what
+story can I invent? So careless as he
+is while he trusts, so penetrating if he
+once suspects, he will see through all
+my subterfuges, and&mdash;and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is as plain as a pike-staff,"
+said my uncle abruptly&mdash;"and there
+need be no subterfuge in the matter.
+'I must leave you, Mr Trevanion.'
+'Why?' says he. 'Don't ask me.'
+He insists. 'Well then, sir, if you
+must know, I love your daughter. I
+have nothing&mdash;she is a great heiress.
+You will not approve of that love, and
+therefore I leave you!' That is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+course that becomes an English gentleman&mdash;eh,
+Austin?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are never wrong when your
+instincts speak, Roland," said my
+father. "Can you say this, Pisistratus,
+or shall I say it for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let him say it himself," said
+Roland; "and let him judge himself
+of the answer. He is young, he is
+clever, he may make a figure in the
+world. Trevanion <em>may</em> answer, 'Win
+the lady after you have won the laurel,
+like the knights of old.' At all events,
+you will hear the worst."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go," said I, firmly; and I
+took my hat, and left the room. As
+I was passing the landing-place, a
+light step stole down the upper flight
+of stairs, and a little hand seized my
+own. I turned quickly, and met the
+full, dark, seriously sweet eyes of my
+cousin Blanche.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go away yet, Sisty," said
+she coaxingly. "I have been waiting
+for you, for I heard your voice,
+and did not like to come in and disturb
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"And why did you wait for me,
+my little Blanche?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why! only to see you. But
+your eyes are red. Oh, cousin!"&mdash;and,
+before I was aware of her childish
+impulse, she had sprung to my neck
+and kissed me. Now Blanche was
+not like most children, and was very
+sparing of her caresses. So it was out
+of the deeps of a kind heart that that
+kiss came. I returned it without a
+word; and, putting her down gently,
+ran down the stairs, and was in the
+streets. But I had not got far before
+I heard my father's voice; and he
+came up, and, hooking his arm into
+mine, said, "Are there not two of us
+that suffer?&mdash;let us be together!" I
+pressed his arm, and we walked on in
+silence. But when we were near
+Trevanion's house, I said hesitatingly,
+"Would it not be better, sir, that I
+went in alone. If there is to be an
+explanation between Mr Trevanion
+and myself, would it not seem as if
+your presence implied either a request
+to him that would lower us both, or a
+doubt of me that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You will go in alone, of course:
+I will wait for you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the streets&mdash;oh no, father,"
+cried I, touched inexpressibly. For
+all this was so unlike my father's
+habits, that I felt remorse to have so
+communicated my young griefs to
+the calm dignity of his serene life.</p>
+
+<p>"My son, you do not know how I
+love you. I have only known it myself
+lately. Look you, I am living in
+you now, my first-born; not in my
+other son&mdash;the great book: I must
+have my way. Go in; that is the
+door, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>I pressed my father's hand, and I felt
+then, that, while that hand could reply
+to mine, even the loss of Fanny
+Trevanion could not leave the world
+a blank. How much we have before
+us in life, while we retain our parents!
+How much to strive and to hope for!
+What a motive in the conquest of our
+sorrow&mdash;that they may not sorrow
+with us!</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XLI.</h3>
+
+<p>I entered Trevanion's study. It was
+an hour in which he was rarely at
+home, but I had not thought of that;
+and I saw without surprise that, contrary
+to his custom, he was in his armchair,
+reading one of his favourite
+classic authors, instead of being in
+some committee room of the House of
+Commons.</p>
+
+<p>"A pretty fellow you are," said
+he, looking up, "to leave me all the
+morning, without rhyme or reason.
+And my committee is postponed&mdash;chairman
+ill&mdash;people who get ill
+should not go into the House of Commons.
+So here I am, looking into
+Propertius: Parr is right; not so
+elegant a writer as Tibullus. But
+what the deuce are you about?&mdash;why
+don't you sit down? Humph! you
+look grave&mdash;you have something to
+say,&mdash;say it!"</p>
+
+<p>And, putting down Propertius, the
+acute, sharp face of Trevanion instantly
+became earnest and attentive.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mr Trevanion," said I,
+with as much steadiness as I could
+assume, "you have been most kind to
+me; and, out of my own family, there
+is no man I love and respect more."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Trevanion</span>.&mdash;Humph! What's all
+this! (<em>In an under tone</em>)&mdash;Am I going
+to be taken in?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span>.&mdash;Do not think me
+ungrateful, then, when I say I come to
+resign my office&mdash;to leave the house
+where I have been so happy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Trevanion</span>.&mdash;Leave the house!&mdash;Pooh!&mdash;I
+have overtasked you. I
+will be more merciful in future. You
+must forgive a political economist&mdash;it
+is the fault of my sect to look upon
+men as machines.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span>&mdash;(<em>smiling faintly</em>.)&mdash;No,
+indeed&mdash;that is not it! I have
+nothing to complain of&mdash;nothing I
+could wish altered&mdash;could I stay.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Trevanion</span> (<em>examining me thoughtfully</em>.)&mdash;And
+does your father approve
+of your leaving me thus?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span>&mdash;Yes, fully.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Trevanion</span> (<em>musing a moment</em>.)&mdash;I
+see, he would send you to the University,
+make you a book-worm like
+himself: pooh! that will not do&mdash;you
+will never become wholly a man of
+books,&mdash;it is not in you. Young man,
+though I may seem careless, I read
+characters, when I please it, pretty
+quickly. You do wrong to leave me;
+you are made for the great world&mdash;I
+can open to you a high career. I wish
+to do so! Lady Ellinor wishes it&mdash;nay,
+insists on it&mdash;for your father's
+sake as well as yours. I never ask
+a favour from ministers, and I never
+will. But (here Trevanion rose suddenly,
+and, with an erect mien and a
+quick gesture of his arm, he added)&mdash;but
+a minister himself can dispose as
+he pleases of his patronage. Look
+you, it is a secret yet, and I trust to
+your honour. But, before the year is
+out, I must be in the cabinet. Stay
+with me, I guarantee your fortunes&mdash;three
+months ago I would not have
+said that. By-and-by I will open
+parliament for you&mdash;you are not of age
+yet&mdash;work till then. And now sit down
+and write my letters&mdash;a sad arrear!"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, dear Mr Trevanion!"
+said I, so affected that I could scarcely
+speak, and seizing his hand, which I
+pressed between both mine&mdash;"I dare
+not thank you&mdash;I cannot! But you
+don't know my heart&mdash;it is not ambition.
+No! if I could but stay here on
+the same terms for ever&mdash;<em>here</em>&mdash;(looking
+ruefully on that spot where Fanny
+had stood the night before,) but it is
+impossible! If you knew all, you would
+be the first to bid me go!"</p>
+
+<p>"You are in debt," said the man
+of the world, coldly. "Bad, very
+bad&mdash;still&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; no! worse&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hardly possible to be worse,
+young man&mdash;hardly! But, just as you
+will; you leave me, and will not say
+why. Good-by. Why do you linger?
+shake hands, and go!"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot leave you thus: I&mdash;I&mdash;sir,
+the truth shall out. I am rash
+and mad enough not to see Miss
+Trevanion without forgetting that I
+am poor, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" interrupted Trevanion
+softly, and growing pale, "this is
+a misfortune indeed! And I, who
+talked of reading characters! Truly,
+truly, we would-be practical men are
+fools&mdash;fools! And you have made
+love to my daughter!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir! Mr Trevanion! I&mdash;no&mdash;never,
+never so base! In your house, trusted
+by you,&mdash;how could you think it? I
+dared, it may be, to love&mdash;at all events,
+to feel that I could not be insensible
+to a temptation too strong for me.
+But to say it to your daughter&mdash;to
+ask love in return&mdash;I would as soon
+have broken open your desk! Frankly
+I tell you my folly: it is a folly, not
+a disgrace."</p>
+
+<p>Trevanion came up to me abruptly, as
+I leant against the book-case, and,
+grasping my hand with a cordial kindness,
+said,&mdash;"Pardon me! You have
+behaved as your father's son should&mdash;I
+envy him such a son! Now, listen
+to me&mdash;I cannot give you my
+daughter&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, sir, I never&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, listen! I cannot give you
+my daughter. I say nothing of inequality&mdash;all
+gentlemen are equal;
+and if not, all impertinent affectation
+of superiority, in such a case, would
+come ill from one who owes his own
+fortune to his wife! But, as it is, I
+have a stake in the world, won not
+by fortune only, but the labour of a
+life, the suppression of half my nature&mdash;the
+drudging, squaring, taming
+down&mdash;all that made the glory and
+joy of my youth&mdash;to be that hard
+matter-of-fact thing which the English
+world expect in a&mdash;<em>statesman</em>! This
+station has gradually opened into its
+natural result&mdash;power! I tell you I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+shall soon have high office in the administration:
+I hope to render great
+services to England&mdash;for we English
+politicians, whatever the mob and the
+press say of us, are not selfish placehunters.
+I refused office, as high as I
+look for now, ten years ago. We
+believe in our opinions, and we hail
+the power that may carry them into
+effect. In this cabinet I shall have
+enemies. Oh, don't think we leave
+jealousy behind us, at the doors of
+Downing Street! I shall be one of a
+minority. I know well what must
+happen: like all men in power, I must
+strengthen myself by other heads and
+hands than my own. My daughter
+should bring to me the alliance of that
+house in England which is most necessary
+to me. My life falls to the
+ground, like a house of cards, if I
+waste&mdash;I do not say on you, but on
+men of ten times your fortune (whatever
+that be,)&mdash;the means of strength
+which are at my disposal in the hand
+of Fanny Trevanion. To this end I
+have looked; but to this end her
+mother has schemed&mdash;for these
+household matters are within a man's
+hopes, but belong to a woman's policy.
+So much for us. But for you, my
+dear, and frank, and high-souled
+young friend&mdash;for you, if I were not
+Fanny's father&mdash;if I were your nearest
+relation, and Fanny could be had for
+the asking, with all her princely
+dower, (for it is princely,)&mdash;for you I
+should say, fly from a load upon the
+heart, on the genius, the energy, the
+pride, and the spirit, which not one
+man in ten thousand can bear; fly
+from the curse of owing every thing
+to a wife!&mdash;it is a reversal of all
+natural position, it is a blow to all
+the manhood within us. You know
+not what it is: I do! My wife's fortune
+came not till after marriage&mdash;so
+far, so well; it saved my reputation
+from the charge of fortune-hunting.
+But, I tell you fairly, that if it had
+never come at all, I should be a
+prouder, and a greater, and a happier
+man than I have ever been, or ever
+can be, with all its advantages; it
+has been a millstone round my neck.
+And yet Ellinor has never breathed a
+word that could wound my pride.
+Would her daughter be as forbearing?
+Much as I love Fanny, I doubt if she
+has the great heart of her mother. You
+look incredulous;&mdash;naturally. Oh,
+you think I shall sacrifice my child's
+happiness to a politician's ambition!
+Folly of youth! Fanny would be
+wretched with you. She might not
+think so now; she would five years
+hence! Fanny will make an admirable
+duchess, countess, great lady;
+but wife to a man who owes all to
+her!&mdash;no, no, don't dream it! I shall
+not sacrifice her happiness, depend
+on it. I speak plainly, as man to
+man&mdash;man of the world to a man
+just entering it&mdash;but still man to man!
+What say you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will think over all you tell me.
+I know that you are speaking to
+me most generously&mdash;as a father
+would. Now let me go, and may
+God keep you and yours!"</p>
+
+<p>"Go&mdash;I return your blessing&mdash;go!
+I don't insult you now with offers
+of service; but, remember, you have a
+right to command them&mdash;in all ways,
+in all times. Stop!&mdash;take this
+comfort away with you&mdash;a sorry
+comfort now, a great one hereafter.
+In a position that might have moved
+anger, scorn, pity, you have made
+a barren-hearted man honour and
+admire you. You, a boy, have made
+me, with my gray hairs, think better
+of the whole world: tell your father
+that."</p>
+
+<p>I closed the door, and stole out
+softly&mdash;softly. But when I got into
+the hall, Fanny suddenly opened the
+door of the breakfast parlour, and
+seemed, by her look, her gesture, to
+invite me in. Her face was very pale,
+and there were traces of tears on the
+heavy lids.</p>
+
+<p>I stood still a moment, and my
+heart beat violently. I then muttered
+something inarticulately, and, bowing
+low, hastened to the door.</p>
+
+<p>I thought, but my ears might deceive
+me, that I heard my name pronounced;
+but fortunately the tall porter
+started from his newspaper and his
+leather chair, and the entrance stood
+open. I joined my father.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all over," said I, with a resolute
+smile. "And now, my dear father,
+I feel how grateful I should be for all
+that your lessons&mdash;your life&mdash;have,
+taught me;&mdash;for, believe me, I am not
+unhappy."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XLII.</h3>
+
+<p>We came back to my father's house,
+and on the stairs we met my mother,
+whom Roland's grave looks, and her
+Austin's strange absence, had alarmed.
+My father quietly led the way to a
+little room, which my mother had
+appropriated to Blanche and herself;
+and then, placing my hand in that
+which had helped his own steps from
+the stony path, down the quiet vales
+of life, he said to me,&mdash;"Nature gives
+you here the soother;"&mdash;and, so saying,
+he left the room.</p>
+
+<p>And it was true, O my mother!
+that in thy simple loving breast
+nature did place the deep wells of
+comfort! We come to men for philosophy&mdash;to
+women for consolation. And
+the thousand weaknesses and regrets&mdash;the
+sharp sands of the minutiæ that
+make up <em>sorrow</em>&mdash;all these, which
+I could have betrayed to no <em>man</em>&mdash;not
+even to him, the dearest and tenderest
+of all men&mdash;I showed without
+shame to thee! And thy tears, that
+fell on my cheek, had the balm of
+Araby; and my heart, at length,
+lay lulled and soothed under thy moist
+gentle eyes.</p>
+
+<p>I made an effort, and joined the
+little circle at dinner; and I felt
+grateful that no violent attempt was
+made to raise my spirits&mdash;nothing but
+affection, more subdued, and soft, and
+tranquil. Even little Blanche, as if
+by the intuition of sympathy, ceased
+her babble, and seemed to hush her
+footstep as she crept to my side. But
+after dinner, when we had reassembled
+in the drawing-room, and the
+lights shone bright, and the curtains
+were let down&mdash;and only the quick
+roll of some passing wheels reminded
+us that there was a world without&mdash;my
+father began to talk. He
+had laid aside all his work; the
+younger, but less perishable child was
+forgotten,&mdash;and my father began to
+talk.</p>
+
+<p>"It is," said he musingly, "a
+well-known thing, that particular
+drugs or herbs suit the body according
+to its particular diseases. When we
+are ill, we don't open our medicinechest
+at random, and take out any
+powder or phial that comes to hand.
+The skilful doctor is he who adjusts
+the dose to the malady."</p>
+
+<p>"Of that there can be no doubt,"
+quoth Captain Roland. "I remember
+a notable instance of the justice of
+what you say. When I was in Spain,
+both my horse and I fell ill at the
+same time; a dose was sent for each;
+and, by some infernal mistake, I swallowed
+the horse's physic, and the
+horse, poor thing, swallowed mine!"</p>
+
+<p>"And what was the result?" asked
+my father.</p>
+
+<p>"The horse died!", answered Roland
+mournfully&mdash;"a valuable beast&mdash;bright
+bay, with a star!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the doctor said it ought
+to have killed me; but it took a great
+deal more than a paltry bottle of physic
+to kill a man in my regiment."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, we arrive at the
+same conclusion," pursued my father,&mdash;"I
+with my theory, you with your
+experience,&mdash;that the physic we take
+must not be chosen hap-hazard; and
+that a mistake in the bottle may kill a
+horse. But when we come to the
+medicine for the mind, how little do
+we think of the golden rule which
+common-sense applies to the body."</p>
+
+<p>"Anon," said the Captain, "what
+medicine is there for the mind? Shakspeare
+has said something on that
+subject, which, if I recollect right,
+implies that there is no ministering to
+a mind diseased."</p>
+
+<p>"I think not, brother; he only said
+physic (meaning boluses and black
+draughts) would not do it. And
+Shakspeare was the last man to find
+fault with his own art; for, verily,
+he has been a great physician to the
+mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I take you now, brother,&mdash;books
+again! So you think that, when a man
+breaks his heart, or loses his fortune,
+or his daughter&mdash;(Blanche, child, come
+here)&mdash;that you have only to clap a
+plaster of print on the sore place, and
+all is well. I wish you would find me
+such a cure."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you try it?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it is not Greek," said my uncle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XLIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>MY FATHER'S CROTCHET ON THE HYGEIENIC CHEMISTRY OF BOOKS.</h4>
+
+<p>"If," said my father&mdash;and here his
+hand was deep in his waistcoat&mdash;"if
+we accept the authority of Diodorus,
+as to the inscription on the great
+Egyptian library&mdash;and I don't see why
+Diodorus should not be as near the
+mark as any one else?" added my
+father interrogatively, turning round.</p>
+
+<p>My mother thought herself the person
+addressed, and nodded her gracious
+assent to the authority of Diodorus.
+His opinion thus fortified, my
+father continued,&mdash;"If, I say, we accept
+the authority of Diodorus, the inscription
+on the Egyptian library was&mdash;'The
+Medicine of the Mind.' Now,
+that phrase has become notoriously
+trite and hackneyed, and people repeat
+vaguely that books are the medicine
+of the mind. Yes; but to apply the
+medicine is the thing!"</p>
+
+<p>"So you have told us at least twice
+before, brother," quoth the Captain,
+bluffly. "And what Diodorus has to
+do with it, I know no more than the
+man of the moon."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never get on at this rate,"
+said my father, in a tone between reproach
+and entreaty.</p>
+
+<p>"Be good children, Roland and
+Blanche both," said my mother, stopping
+from her work, and holding up
+her needle threateningly&mdash;and indeed
+inflicting a slight puncture upon the
+Captain's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Rem <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">acu</i> tetigisti, my dear," said
+my father, borrowing Cicero's pun
+on the occasion.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> "And now we
+shall go upon velvet. I say, then,
+that books, taken indiscriminately, are
+no cure to the diseases and afflictions
+of the mind. There is a world
+of science necessary in the taking
+them. I have known some people
+in great sorrow fly to a novel, or
+the last light book in fashion. One
+might as well take a rose-draught for
+the plague! Light reading does not
+do when the heart is really heavy.
+I am told that Goethe, when he lost
+his son, took to study a science that
+was new to him. Ah! Goethe was a
+physician who knew what he was
+about. In a great grief like that, you
+cannot tickle and divert the mind;
+you must wrench it away, abstract,
+absorb&mdash;bury it in an abyss, hurry it
+into a labyrinth. Therefore, for the
+irremediable sorrows of middle life and
+old age, I recommend a strict chronic,
+course of science and hard reasoning&mdash;Counter-irritation.
+Bring the brain to
+act upon the heart! If science is too
+much against the grain, (for we have
+not all got mathematical heads,)
+something in the reach of the humblest
+understanding, but sufficiently searching
+to the highest&mdash;a new language&mdash;Greek,
+Arabic, Scandinavian, Chinese,
+or Welch! For the loss of fortune, the
+dose should be applied less directly to
+the understanding.&mdash;I would administer
+something elegant and cordial.
+For as the heart is crushed
+and lacerated by a loss in the affections,
+so it is rather the head that
+aches and suffers by the loss of money.
+Here we find the higher class of poets
+a very valuable remedy. For observe,
+that poets of the grander and more
+comprehensive kind of genius have in
+them two separate men, quite distinct
+from each other&mdash;the imaginative
+man, and the practical, circumstantial
+man; and it is the happy mixture of
+these that suits diseases of the mind,
+half imaginative and half practical.
+There is Homer, now lost with the
+gods, now at home with the homeliest,
+the very 'poet of circumstance,' as
+Gray has finely called him; and yet
+with imagination enough to seduce
+and coax the dullest into forgetting,
+for a while, that little spot on his desk
+which his banker's book can cover.
+There is Virgil, far below him, indeed.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i16">&mdash;'Virgil the wise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose verse walks highest, but not flies.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">as Cowley expresses it. But Virgil
+still has genius enough to be two
+men&mdash;to lead you into the fields,
+not only to listen to the pastoral
+reed, and to hear the bees hum,
+but to note how you can make the
+most of the glebe and the vineyard.
+There is Horace, charming man of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+world, who will condole with you
+feelingly on the loss of your fortune,
+and by no means undervalue the
+good things of this life; but who will
+yet show you that a man may be
+happy with a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">vile modicum</i>, or <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">parva
+rura</i>. There is Shakspeare, who,
+above all poets, is the mysterious
+dual of hard sense and empyreal
+fancy&mdash;and a great many more, whom
+I need not name; but who, if you
+take to them gently and quietly, will
+not, like your mere philosopher, your
+unreasonable stoic, tell you that you
+have lost nothing; but who will insensibly
+steal you out of this world,
+with its losses and crosses, and slip
+you into another world, before you
+know where you are!&mdash;a world where
+you are just as welcome, though you
+carry no more earth of your lost
+acres with you than covers the sole
+of your shoe. Then, for hypochondria
+and satiety, what is better than a
+brisk alterative course of travels&mdash;especially
+early, out of the way, marvellous,
+legendary travels! How they
+freshen up the spirits! How they take
+you out of the humdrum yawning
+state you are in. See, with Herodotus,
+young Greece spring up into life; or
+note with him how already the wondrous
+old Orient world is crumbling
+into giant decay; or go with Carpini
+and Rubruquis to Tartary, meet
+'the carts of Zagathai laden with
+houses, and think that a great city is
+travelling towards you.'<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Gaze on that
+vast wild empire of the Tartar, where
+the descendants of Jenghis 'multiply
+and disperse over the immense waste
+desert, which is as boundless as the
+ocean.' Sail with the early northern
+discoverers, and penetrate to the
+heart of winter, among sea-serpents
+and bears, and tusked morses, with
+the faces of men. Then, what think
+you of Columbus, and the stern soul
+of Cortes, and the kingdom of
+Mexico, and the strange gold city of
+the Peruvians, with that audacious
+brute Pizarro? and the Polynesians,
+just for all the world like the ancient
+Britons? and the American Indians,
+and the South-Sea Islanders? how
+petulant, and young, and adventurous,
+and frisky your hypochondriac
+must get upon a regimen like that!
+Then, for that vice of the mind which
+I call sectarianism&mdash;not in the religious
+sense of the word, but little, narrow
+prejudices, that make you hate your
+next-door neighbour, because he has
+his eggs roasted when you have
+yours boiled; and gossiping and prying
+into people's affairs, and back-biting,
+and thinking heaven and
+earth are coming together, if some
+broom touch a cobweb that you have
+let grow over the window-sill of
+your brains&mdash;what like a large and
+generous, mildly aperient (I beg
+your pardon, my dear) course of history!
+How it clears away all the
+fumes of the head!&mdash;better than the
+hellebore with which the old leeches
+of the middle ages purged the cerebellum.
+There, amidst all that great
+whirl and <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">sturmbad</i> (storm-bath), as
+the Germans say, of kingdoms and
+empires, and races and ages, how
+your mind enlarges beyond that little,
+feverish animosity to John Styles;
+or that unfortunate prepossession of
+yours, that all the world is interested
+in your grievances against Tom
+Stokes and his wife!</p>
+
+<p>"I can only touch, you see, on a few
+ingredients in this magnificent pharmacy&mdash;its
+resources are boundless,
+but require the nicest discretion. I
+remember to have cured a disconsolate
+widower, who obstinately refused
+every other medicament, by a
+strict course of geology. I dipped
+him deep into gneiss and mica schist.
+Amidst the first strata, I suffered the
+watery action to expend itself upon
+cooling crystallised masses; and, by
+the time I had got him into the tertiary
+period, amongst the transition
+chalks of Maestricht, and the conchiferous
+marls of Gosau, he was ready
+for a new wife. Kitty, my dear! it is
+no laughing matter. I made no less
+notable a cure of a young scholar at
+Cambridge, who was meant for the
+church, when he suddenly caught a
+cold fit of freethinking, with great
+shiverings, from wading over his
+depth in Spinosa. None of the
+divines, whom I first tried, did him the
+least good in that state; so I turned
+over a new leaf, and doctored him
+gently upon the chapters of faith in
+Abraham Tucker's book, (you should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+read, it, Sisty;) then I threw in strong
+doses of Fichté; after that I put him
+on the Scotch metaphysicians, with
+plunge baths into certain German transcendentalists;
+and having convinced
+him that faith is not an unphilosophical
+state of mind, and that he
+might believe without compromising
+his understanding&mdash;for he was mightily
+conceited on that score&mdash;I threw in
+my divines, which he was now fit to
+digest; and his theological constitution,
+since then, has become so robust,
+that he has eaten up two livings and a
+deanery! In fact, I have a plan for
+a library that, instead of heading its
+compartments, 'Philology, Natural
+Science, Poetry,' &amp;c., one shall head
+them according to the diseases for
+which they are severally good, bodily
+and mental&mdash;up from a dire calamity,
+or the pangs of the gout,
+down to a fit of the spleen, or a
+slight catarrh; for which last your
+light reading comes in with a whey
+posset and barley-water. But," continued
+my father more gravely, "when
+some one sorrow, that is yet reparable,
+gets hold of your mind like a
+monomania&mdash;when you think, because
+heaven has denied you this or that,
+on which you had set your heart, that
+all your life must be a blank&mdash;oh,
+then diet yourself well on biography&mdash;the
+biography of good and great
+men. See how little a space one sorrow
+really makes in life. See scarce
+a page, perhaps, given to some grief
+similar to your own; and how triumphantly
+the life sails on, beyond it!
+You thought the wing was broken!&mdash;Tut-tut&mdash;it
+was but a bruised feather!
+See what life leaves behind it, when all
+is, done!&mdash;a summary of positive facts
+far out of the region of sorrow and
+suffering, linking themselves with
+the being of the world. Yes, biography
+is the medicine here! Roland,
+you said you would try my prescription&mdash;here
+it is,"&mdash;and my father
+took up a book, and reached it to the
+Captain.</p>
+
+<p>My uncle looked over it&mdash;<cite>Life of
+the Reverend Robert Hall</cite>. "Brother,
+he was a Dissenter, and, thank heaven,
+I am a church-and-state man, back
+and bone!"</p>
+
+<p>"Robert Hall was a brave man,
+and a true soldier under the great
+commander," said my father artfully.</p>
+
+<p>The Captain mechanically carried
+his forefinger to his forehead in military
+fashion, and saluted the book
+respectfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I have another copy for you,
+Pisistratus&mdash;that is mine which I have
+lent Roland. This, which I bought
+for you to-day, you will keep."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir," said I listlessly,
+not seeing what great good the <cite>Life
+of Robert Hall</cite> could do me, or why
+the same medicine should suit the old
+weatherbeaten uncle, and the nephew
+yet in his teens.</p>
+
+<p>"I have said nothing," resumed
+my father, slightly bowing his broad
+temples, "of the Book of Books, for
+that is the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">lignum vitæ</i>, the cardinal
+medicine for all. These are but the
+subsidiaries: for, as you may remember,
+my dear Kitty, that I have said
+before&mdash;we can never keep the system
+quite right unless we place just in
+the centre of the great ganglionic
+system, whence the nerves carry its
+influence gently and smoothly through
+the whole frame&mdash;<span class="smcap">the Saffron
+Bag!</span>"</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XLIV.</h3>
+
+<p>After breakfast the next morning,
+I took my hat to go out, when my
+father, looking at me, and seeing by
+my countenance that I had not slept,
+said gently&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Pisistratus, you have
+not tried my medicine yet."</p>
+
+<p>"What medicine, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Robert Hall."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, not yet," said I, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Do so, my son, before you go out;
+depend on it, you will enjoy your walk
+more."</p>
+
+<p>I confess that it was, with some reluctance
+I obeyed. I went back to
+my own room, and sate resolutely
+down to my task. Are there any of
+you, my readers, who have not read
+the <cite>Life of Robert Hall</cite>? If so, in
+the words of the great Captain Cuttle,
+"When found, make a note of it."
+Never mind what your theological
+opinion is&mdash;Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
+Baptist, Pædobaptist, Independent,
+Quaker, Unitarian, Philosopher,
+Freethinker&mdash;send for Robert
+Hall! Yea, if there exist yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+on earth descendants of the arch-heresies,
+which made such a noise in their
+day&mdash;men who believe with Saturnians
+that the world was made by seven
+angels; or with Basilides, that there
+are as many heavens as there are days
+in the year; or with the Nicolaitanes,
+that men ought to have their wives in
+common, (plenty of that sect still,
+especially in the Red Republic;) or
+with their successors, the Gnostics,
+who believed in Jaldaboath; or with
+the Carpacratians, that the world was
+made by the devil; or with the Cerinthians,
+and Ebionites, and Nazarites,
+(which last discovered that the name
+of Noah's wife was Ouria, and that
+she set the ark on fire;) or with the
+Valentinians, who taught that there
+were thirty Æones, ages, or worlds,
+born out of Profundity, (Bathos,)
+male, and Silence, female; or with the
+Marcites, Colarbasii, and Heracleonites,
+(who still kept up that bother
+about Æones, Mr Profundity, and Mrs
+Silence;) or with the Ophites, who
+are said to have worshipped the serpent;
+or the Cainites, who ingeniously
+found out a reason for honouring
+Judas, because he foresaw what
+good would come to men by betraying
+our Saviour; or with the Sethites,
+who made Seth a part of the Divine
+substance; or with the Archonticks,
+Ascothyptæ, Cerdonians, Marcionites,
+the disciples of Apelles, and Severus,
+(the last was a teetotaller, and said wine
+was begot by Satan!) or of Tatian,
+who thought all the descendants of
+Adam were irretrievably damned except
+themselves, (some of those Tatiani
+are certainly extant!) or the
+Cataphrygians, who were also called
+Tascodragitæ, because they thrust
+their forefingers up their nostrils to
+show their devotion; or the Pepuzians,
+Quintilians, and Artotyrites; or&mdash;but
+no matter. If I go through all
+the follies of men in search of the
+truth, I shall never get to the end of
+my chapter, or back to Robert Hall:
+whatever, then, thou art, orthodox or
+heterodox, send for the <cite>Life of Robert
+Hall</cite>. It is the life of a man that it
+does good to manhood itself to contemplate.</p>
+
+<p>I had finished the biography, which
+is not long, and was musing over it,
+when I heard the Captain's cork-leg
+upon the stairs. I opened the door
+for him, and he entered, book in hand,
+as I, also book in hand, stood ready
+to receive him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," said Roland, seating
+himself, "has the prescription done
+you any good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, uncle&mdash;great."</p>
+
+<p>"And me too. By Jupiter, Sisty,
+that same Hall was a fine fellow! I
+wonder if the medicine has gone
+through the same channels in both?
+Tell me, first, how it has affected you."</p>
+
+<p>"<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Imprimis</i>, then, my dear uncle, I
+fancy that a book like this must do
+good to all who live in the world in
+the ordinary manner, by admitting us
+into a circle of life of which I suspect
+we think but little. Here is a man
+connecting himself directly with a
+heavenly purpose, and cultivating
+considerable faculties to that one end;
+seeking to accomplish his soul as far
+as he can, that he may do most good
+on earth, and take a higher existence
+up to heaven; a man intent upon a
+sublime and spiritual duty: in short,
+living as it were in it, and so filled
+with the consciousness of immortality,
+and so strong in the link between God
+and man, that, without any affected
+stoicism, without being insensible to
+pain&mdash;rather, perhaps, from a nervous
+temperament, acutely feeling it&mdash;he yet
+has a happiness wholly independent
+of it. It is impossible not to be thrilled
+with an admiration that elevates
+while it awes you, in reading that
+solemn 'Dedication of himself to
+God.' This offering of 'soul and
+body, time, health, reputation, talents,'
+to the divine and invisible
+Principle of Good, calls us suddenly to
+contemplate the selfishness of our own
+views and hopes, and awakens us from
+the egotism that exacts all and resigns
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"But this book has mostly struck
+upon the chord in my own heart, in
+that characteristic which my father
+indicated as belonging to all biography.
+Here is a life of remarkable <em>fulness</em>,
+great study, great thought, and great
+action; and yet," said I, colouring,
+"how small a place those feelings,
+which have tyrannised over me, and
+made all else seem blank and void,
+hold in that life. It is not as if the
+man were a cold and hard ascetic;
+it is easy to see in him not only
+remarkable tenderness and warm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+affections, but strong self-will, and the
+passion of all vigorous natures. Yes,
+I understand better now what existence
+in a true man should be."</p>
+
+<p>"All that is very well said," quoth
+the Captain, "but it did not strike me.
+What I have seen in this book is
+courage. Here is a poor creature
+rolling on the carpet with agony;
+from childhood to death tortured by
+a mysterious incurable malady&mdash;a
+malady that is described as 'an internal
+apparatus of torture;' and who
+does, by his heroism, more than <em>bear</em>
+it&mdash;he puts it out of power to
+affect him; and though (here is the
+passage) 'his appointment by day
+and by night was incessant pain, yet
+high enjoyment was, notwithstanding,
+the law of his existence.' Robert
+Hall reads me a lesson&mdash;me, an old
+soldier, who thought myself above
+taking lessons&mdash;in courage, at least.
+And, as I came to that passage when,
+in the sharp paroxysms before death,
+he says, 'I have not complained, have
+I, sir?&mdash;and I won't complain,'&mdash;when
+I came to that passage I started up,
+and cried, 'Roland de Caxton, thou
+hast been a coward! and, an thou
+hadst had thy deserts, thou hadst
+been cashiered, broken, and drummed
+out of the regiment long ago!"</p>
+
+<p>"After all, then, my father was
+not so wrong&mdash;he placed his guns
+right, and fired a good shot."</p>
+
+<p>"He must have been from 6° to 9°
+above the crest of the parapet," said
+my uncle, thoughtfully&mdash;"which, I
+take it, is the best elevation, both
+for shot and shells, in enfilading a
+work."</p>
+
+<p>"What say you, then, Captain? up
+with our knapsacks, and on with the
+march!"</p>
+
+<p>"Right about&mdash;face!" cried my
+uncle, as erect as a column.</p>
+
+<p>"No looking back, if we can help
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Full in the front of the enemy&mdash;'Up,
+guards, and at 'em!'"</p>
+
+<p>"'England expects every man to do
+his duty!"'</p>
+
+<p>"Cypress or laurel!" cried my
+uncle, waving the book over his head.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XLV.</h3>
+
+<p>I went out&mdash;and to see Francis
+Vivian; for, on leaving Mr Trevanion,
+I was not without anxiety for my
+new friend's future provision. But
+Vivian was from home, and I strolled
+from his lodgings, into the suburbs on
+the other side of the river, and began
+to meditate seriously on the best
+course now to pursue. In quitting my
+present occupations, I resigned prospects
+far more brilliant, and fortunes
+far more rapid than I could ever
+hope to realise in any other entrance
+into life. But I felt the necessity, if
+I desired to keep steadfast to that
+more healthful frame of mind I had
+obtained, of some manly and continuous
+labour&mdash;some earnest employment.
+My thoughts flew back to the university;
+and the quiet of its cloisters&mdash;which,
+until I had been blinded by
+the glare of the London world, and
+grief had somewhat dulled the edge of
+my quick desires and hopes, had
+seemed to me cheerless and unaltering&mdash;took
+an inviting aspect. They
+presented what I needed most&mdash;a
+new scene, a new arena, a partial
+return into boyhood; repose for
+passions prematurely raised; activity
+for the reasoning powers in fresh
+directions. I had not lost my time
+in London: I had kept up, if not
+studies purely classical, at least the
+habits of application; I had sharpened
+my general comprehension, and augmented
+my resources. Accordingly,
+when I returned home, I resolved to
+speak to my father. But I found he
+had forestalled me; and, on entering,
+my mother drew me up stairs into her
+room, with a smile kindled by my
+smile, and told me that she and her
+Austin had been thinking that it was
+best that I should leave London as
+soon as possible; that my father
+found he could now dispense with
+the library of the Museum for some
+months; that the time for which they
+had taken their lodgings would be up
+in a few days; that the summer was
+far advanced, town odious, the country
+beautiful&mdash;in a word, we were to go
+home. There I could prepare myself
+for Cambridge, till the long vacation
+was over; and, my mother added<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+hesitatingly, and with a prefatory
+caution to spare my health, that my
+father, whose income could ill afford
+the requisite allowance to me, counted
+on my soon lightening his burden,
+by getting a scholarship. I felt how
+much provident kindness there was in
+all this&mdash;even in that hint of a
+scholarship, which was meant to
+rouse my faculties, and spur me, by
+affectionate incentives, to a new ambition.
+I was not less delighted than
+grateful.</p>
+
+<p>"But poor Roland," said I, "and
+little Blanche&mdash;will they come with
+us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I fear not," said my mother, "for
+Roland is anxious to get back to his
+tower; and, in a day or two, he will
+be well enough to move."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not think, my dear
+mother, that, somehow or other, this
+lost son of his had something to do
+with his illness,&mdash;that the illness was
+as much mental as physical?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt of it, Sisty. What
+a sad, bad heart that young man must
+have!"</p>
+
+<p>"My uncle seems to have abandoned
+all hope of finding him in
+London; otherwise, ill as he has been,
+I am sure we could not have kept
+him at home. So he goes back to the
+old tower. Poor man, he must be dull
+enough there!&mdash;we must contrive to
+pay him a visit. Does Blanche ever
+speak of her brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, for it seems they were not
+brought up much together&mdash;at all
+events, she does not remember him.
+How lovely she is! Her mother must
+surely have been very handsome."</p>
+
+<p>"She is a pretty child, certainly,
+though in a strange style of beauty&mdash;such
+immense eyes!&mdash;and affectionate,
+and loves Roland as she ought."</p>
+
+<p>And here the conversation dropped.</p>
+
+<p>Our plans being thus decided, it
+was necessary that I should lose no
+time in seeing Vivian, and making
+some arrangement for the future. His
+manner had lost so much of its abruptness,
+that I thought I could venture
+to recommend him personally to
+Trevanion; and I knew, after what
+had passed, that Trevanion would
+make a point to oblige me. I resolved
+to consult my father about it.
+As yet I had either never forced, or
+never made the opportunity to talk to
+my father on the subject, he had been
+so occupied; and, if he had proposed
+to see my new friend, what answer
+could I have made, in the teeth of
+Vivian's cynic objections? However,
+as we were now going away, that last
+consideration ceased to be of importance;
+and, for the first, the student
+had not yet entirely settled back to
+his books. I therefore watched the
+time when my father walked down
+to the Museum, and, slipping my arm
+in his, I told him, briefly and rapidly,
+as we went along, how I had formed
+this strange acquaintance, and how
+I was now situated. The story did
+not interest my father quite as much
+as I expected, and he did not understand
+all the complexities of Vivian's
+character&mdash;how could he?&mdash;for he
+answered briefly, "I should think
+that, for a young man, apparently
+without a sixpence, and whose education
+seems so imperfect, any resource
+in Trevanion must be most temporary
+and uncertain. Speak to your uncle
+Jack&mdash;he can find him some place, I
+have no doubt&mdash;perhaps a readership
+in a printer's office, or a reporter's
+place on some journal, if he is fit for
+it. But if you want to steady him, let
+it be something regular."</p>
+
+<p>Therewith my father dismissed the
+matter, and vanished through the
+gates of the Museum.&mdash;Readership to
+a printer, reportership on a journal,
+for a young gentleman with the
+high notions and arrogant vanity of
+Francis Vivian&mdash;his ambition already
+soaring far beyond kid gloves and a
+cabriolet! The idea was hopeless;
+and, perplexed and doubtful, I took
+my way to Vivian's lodgings. I found
+him at home, and unemployed, standing
+by his window, with folded arms,
+and in a state of such reverie that he
+was not aware of my entrance till I
+had touched him on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" said he then, with one of
+his short, quick, impatient sighs, "I
+thought you had given me up, and
+forgotten me&mdash;but you look pale and
+harassed. I could almost think you
+had grown thinner within the last few
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! never mind me, Vivian: I
+have come to speak of yourself. I
+have left Trevanion; it is settled that
+I should go to the university&mdash;and
+we all quit town in a few days."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"In a few days!&mdash;all!&mdash;who are
+all?"</p>
+
+<p>"My family&mdash;father, mother, uncle
+cousin, and myself. But, my dear
+fellow, now let us think seriously
+what is best to be done for you? I
+can present you to Trevanion."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!"</p>
+
+<p>"But Trevanion is a hard, though
+an excellent man; and, moreover, as
+he is always changing the subjects
+that engross him, in a month or so,
+he may have nothing to give you.
+You said you would work&mdash;will you
+consent not to complain if the work
+cannot be done in kid gloves? Young
+men who have risen high in the world
+have begun, it is well known, as reporters
+to the press. It is a situation
+of respectability, and in request, and
+not easy to obtain, I fancy; but
+still&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Vivian interrupted me hastily&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you a thousand times!
+but what you say confirms a resolution
+I had taken before you came. I
+shall make it up with my family, and
+return home."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I am so really glad. How
+wise in you!"</p>
+
+<p>Vivian turned away his head abruptly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Your pictures of family life and
+domestic peace, you see," he said,
+"seduced me more than you thought.
+When do you leave town?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I believe, early next week."</p>
+
+<p>"So soon!" said Vivian, thoughtfully.
+"Well, perhaps I may ask you
+yet to introduce me to Mr Trevanion;
+for&mdash;who knows?&mdash;my family and I
+may fall out again. But I will consider.
+I think I have heard you say
+that this Trevanion is a very old
+friend of your father's, or uncle's?"</p>
+
+<p>"He, or rather Lady Ellinor, is an
+old friend of both."</p>
+
+<p>"And therefore would listen to
+your recommendations of me. But
+perhaps I may not need them. So
+you have left&mdash;left of your own accord&mdash;a
+situation that seemed more enjoyable,
+I should think, than rooms in a
+college;&mdash;left&mdash;why did you leave?"</p>
+
+<p>And Vivian fixed his bright eyes,
+full and piercingly, on mine.</p>
+
+<p>"It was only for a time, for a trial,
+that I was there," said I, evasively:
+"out at nurse, as it were, till the
+Alma Mater opened her arms&mdash;<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">alma</i>
+indeed she ought to be to my father's
+son."</p>
+
+<p>Vivian looked unsatisfied with my
+explanation, but did not question me
+farther. He himself was the first to
+turn the conversation, and he did this
+with more affectionate cordiality than
+was common to him. He inquired
+into our general plans, into the probabilities
+of our return to town, and drew
+from me a description of our rural
+Tusculum. He was quiet and subdued;
+and once or twice I thought
+there was a moisture in those luminous
+eyes. We parted with more of
+the unreserve and fondness of youthful
+friendship&mdash;at least on my part,
+and seemingly on his&mdash;than had yet
+endeared our singular intimacy; for
+the cement of cordial attachment
+had been wanting to an intercourse in
+which one party refused all confidence,
+and the other mingled distrust and
+fear with keen interest and compassionate
+admiration.</p>
+
+<p>That evening, before lights were
+brought in, my father, turning to me,
+abruptly asked if I had seen my
+friend, and what he was about to do?</p>
+
+<p>"He thinks of returning to his
+family," said I.</p>
+
+<p>Roland, who had seemed dozing,
+winced uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"Who returns to his family?"
+asked the Captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you must know," said my
+father, "that Sisty has fished up a
+friend of whom he can give no account
+that would satisfy a policeman,
+and whose fortunes he thinks himself
+under the necessity of protecting.
+You are very lucky that he has not
+picked your pockets, Sisty; but I
+daresay he has? What's his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Vivian," said I&mdash;"Francis Vivian."</p>
+
+<p>"A good name, and a Cornish,"
+said my father. "Some derive it
+from the Romans&mdash;Vivianus; others
+from a Celtic word, which means"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Vivian!" interrupted Roland&mdash;"Vivian!&mdash;I
+wonder if it be the son
+of Colonel Vivian?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is certainly a gentleman's
+son," said I; "but he never told me
+what his family and connexions were."</p>
+
+<p>"Vivian," repeated my uncle&mdash;"poor
+Colonel Vivian. So the young
+man is going to his father. I have no
+doubt it is the same. Ah!"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What do you know of Colonel
+Vivian, or his son?" said I. "Pray,
+tell me, I am so interested in this
+young man."</p>
+
+<p>"I know nothing of either, except
+by gossip," said my uncle, moodily.
+"I did hear that Colonel Vivian, an
+excellent officer, and honourable man,
+had been in&mdash;in&mdash;(Roland's voice faltered)&mdash;in
+great grief about his son,
+whom, a mere boy, he had prevented
+from some improper marriage, and
+who had run away and left him&mdash;it
+was supposed for America. The story
+affected me at the time," added my
+uncle, trying to speak calmly.</p>
+
+<p>We were all silent, for we felt why
+Roland was so disturbed, and why
+Colonel Vivian's grief should have
+touched him home. Similarity in
+affliction makes us brothers even to
+the unknown.</p>
+
+<p>"You say he is going home to his
+family&mdash;I am heartily glad of it!" said
+the envying old soldier, gallantly.</p>
+
+<p>The lights came in then, and, two
+minutes after, uncle Roland and I
+were nestled close to each other, side
+by side; and I was reading over his
+shoulder, and his finger was silently
+resting on that passage that had so
+struck him&mdash;"I have not complained&mdash;have
+I, sir?&mdash;and I won't complain!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>THE WHITE NILE.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>Fifty years since, the book before
+us would have earned for its author
+the sneers of critics and the reputation
+of a Munchausen: at the present
+more tolerant and more enlightened
+day, it not only obtains credit, but
+excites well-merited admiration of the
+writer's enterprise, energy, and perseverance.
+"The rich contents and
+great originality of the following
+work," says Professor Carl Ritter, in
+his preface to Mr Werne's narrative,
+"will escape no one who bestows a
+glance, however hasty, upon its pages.
+It gives vivid and life-like pictures
+of tribes and territories previously unvisited,
+and is welcome as a most acceptable
+addition to our literature of
+travel, often so monotonous." We
+quite coincide with the learned professor,
+whose laudatory and long-winded
+sentences we have thus freely
+rendered. His friend, Mr Ferdinand
+Werne, has made good use of his
+opportunities, and has produced a very
+interesting and praiseworthy book.</p>
+
+<p>It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to
+remind the reader, that the river Nile
+is formed of two confluent streams,
+the Blue and the White, whose junction
+is in South Nubia, between
+15° and 16° of North Latitude. The
+source of the Blue Nile was ascertained
+by Bruce, and by subsequent
+travellers, to be in the mountains
+of Abyssinia; but the course of the
+other branch, which is by far the longest,
+had been followed, until very lately, only
+as far south as 10° or 11° N. L. Even
+now the river has not been traced to
+its origin, although Mr Werne and his
+companions penetrated to 4° N. L.
+Further they could not go, owing to the
+rapid subsidence of the waters. The
+expedition had been delayed six weeks
+by the culpable dilatoriness of one of
+its members; and this was fatal to the
+realisation of its object.</p>
+
+<p>We can conceive few things more
+exciting than such a voyage as Mr
+Werne has accomplished and recorded.
+Starting from the outposts of civilisation,
+he sailed into the very heart of
+Africa, up a stream whose upper
+waters were then for the first time
+furrowed by vessels larger than a
+savage's canoe&mdash;a stream of such
+gigantic proportions, that its width, at
+a thousand miles from the sea, gave
+it the aspect of a lake rather than of
+a river. The brute creation were in
+proportion with the magnitude of the
+water-course. The hippopotamus
+reared his huge snout above the surface,
+and wallowed in the gullies that
+on either hand run down to the stream;
+enormous crocodiles gaped along the
+shore; elephants played in herds upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+the pastures; the tall giraffe
+amongst the lofty palms; snakes thick
+as trees lay coiled in the slimy swamps;
+and ant-hills, ten feet high, towered
+above the rushes. Along the thickly-peopled
+banks hordes of savages showed
+themselves, gazing in wonder at the
+strange ships, and making ambiguous
+gestures, variously construed by the
+adventurers as signs of friendship or
+hostility. Alternately sailing and
+towing, as the wind served or not;
+constantly in sight of natives, but
+rarely communicating with them; often
+cut off for days from land by interminable
+fields of tangled weeds,&mdash;the
+expedition pursued its course through
+innumerable perils, guaranteed from
+most of them by the liquid rampart
+on which it floated. Lions looked
+hungry, and savages shook their
+spears, but neither showed a disposition
+to swim off and board the flotilla.</p>
+
+<p>The cause of science has countless
+obligations to the cupidity of potentates
+and adventurers. May it not
+be part of the scheme of Providence,
+that gold is placed in the most remote
+and barbarous regions, as a magnet
+to draw thither the children of civilisation?
+The expedition shared in by
+Mr Werne is an argument in favour
+of the hypothesis. It originated in
+appetite for lucre, not in thirst for
+knowledge. Mehemet Ali, viceroy of
+Egypt, finding the lands within his
+control unable to meet his lavish expenditure
+and constant cry for gold,
+projected working mines supposed to
+exist in the districts of Kordovan and
+Fazogl. At heavy cost he procured
+Austrian miners from Trieste, a portion
+of whom proceeded in 1836 to the
+land of promise, to open those veins
+of gold whence it was reported the old
+Venetian ducats had been extracted.
+Already, in imagination, the viceroy
+beheld an ingot-laden fleet sailing
+merrily down the Nile. He was disappointed
+in his glowing expectations.
+Russegger, the German chief of the
+expedition, pocketed the pay of a Bey,
+ate and drank in conformity with his
+rank, rambled about the country, and
+wrote a book for the amusement and
+Information of his countrymen. Then
+he demanded thirty thousand dollars
+to begin the works. An Italian, who
+had accompanied him, offered to do
+it for less; mistrust and disputes arose,
+and at last their employer would rely
+on neither of them, but resolved to go
+and see for himself. This was in the
+autumn of 1838; and it might well be
+that the old fox was not sorry to get
+out of the way of certain diplomatic
+personages at Alexandria, and thus to
+postpone for a while his reply to
+troublesome inquiries and demands.</p>
+
+<p>"It was on the 15th October 1838,"
+Mr Werne says, "that I&mdash;for some
+time past an anchorite in the wilderness
+by Tura, and just returned from a
+hunt in the ruins of Memphis&mdash;saw,
+from the left shore of the Nile, the
+Abu Dagn, (Father of the Beard,) as
+Mohammed Ali was designated to me
+by a Fellah standing by, steam past
+in his yacht, in the direction of those
+regions to which I would then so
+gladly have proceeded. Already in
+Alexandria I had gathered, over a
+glass of wine, from frigate-captain
+Achmet, (a Swiss, named Baumgartner,)
+the secret plan of the expedition
+to the White Stream, (Bach'r
+el Abiat,) and I had made every effort
+to obtain leave to join it, but in vain,
+because, as a Christian, my discretion
+was not to be depended upon."</p>
+
+<p>The Swiss, whom some odd caprice
+of fate, here unexplained, had converted
+into an Egyptian naval captain,
+and to whom the scientific duties
+of the expedition were confided, died
+in the following spring, and his place
+was taken by Captain Selim. Mr
+Werne and his brother, who had long
+ardently desired to accompany one of
+these expeditions up the Nile, were
+greatly discouraged at this change,
+which they looked upon as destructive
+to their hopes. At the town of
+Chartum, at the confluence of the
+White and Blue streams, they witnessed,
+in the month of November
+1839, the departure of the first
+flotilla; and, although sick and weak,
+from the effects of the climate, their
+hearts were wrung with regret at
+being left behind. This expedition
+got no further than 6° 35' N. L.; although,
+either from mistakes in their
+astronomical reckoning or wishing to
+give themselves more importance, and
+not anticipating that others would
+soon follow to check their statements,
+they pretended to have gone three
+degrees further south. But Mehemet
+Ali, not satisfied with the result of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+their voyage, immediately ordered a
+second expedition to be fitted out.
+Mr Werne, who is a most adventurous
+person, had been for several
+months in the Taka country, in a
+district previously untrodden by
+Europeans, with an army commanded
+by Achmet Bascha, governor-general
+of Sudan, who was operating against
+some rebellious tribes. Here news
+reached him of the projected expedition;
+and, to his great joy, he obtained
+from Achmet permission to
+accompany it in the quality of passenger.
+His brother, then body-physician
+to the Bascha, could not be
+spared, by reason of the great mortality
+in the camp.</p>
+
+<p>At Chartum the waters were high,
+the wind was favourable, and all was
+ready for a start early in October, but
+for the non-appearance of two French
+engineers, who lingered six weeks in
+Korusko, under one pretext or other,
+but in reality, M. Werne affirms,
+because one of them, Arnaud by
+name, who has since written an account
+of the expedition, was desirous
+to prolong the receipt of his pay as
+<i>bimbaschi</i>, or major, which rank he
+temporarily held in the Egyptian service.
+At last he and his companion,
+Sabatier, arrived: on the 23rd November
+1840 a start was made; and, on
+that day Mr Werne began a journal,
+regularly kept, and most minute in its
+details, which he continued till the 22d
+April 1841, the date of his return to
+Chartum. He commences by stating
+the composition of the expedition.
+"It consists of four dahabies from
+Kahira, (vessels with two masts and
+with cabins, about a hundred feet long,
+and twelve to fifteen broad,) each
+with two cannon; three dahabies from
+Chartum, one of which has also two
+guns; then two kaias, one-masted
+vessels, to carry goods, and a sàndal,
+or skiff, for intercommunication; the
+crews are composed of two hundred
+and fifty soldiers, (Negroes, Egyptians,
+and Surians,) and a hundred
+and twenty sailors and boatmen from
+Alexandria, Nubia, and the land of
+Sudàn." Soliman Kaschef (a Circassian
+of considerable energy and courage,
+who, like Mr Werne himself,
+was protected by Achmet Bascha)
+commanded the troops. Captain
+Selim had charge of the ships, and a
+sort of general direction of the expedition,
+of which, however, Soliman
+was the virtual chief; the second
+captain was Feizulla Effendi of Constantinople;
+the other officers were
+two Kurds, a Russian, an Albanian,
+and a Persian. Of Europeans, there
+were the two Frenchmen, already
+mentioned, as engineers; a third,
+named Thibaut, as collector; and
+Mr Werne, as an independent passenger
+at his own charges. The
+ships were to follow each other in
+two lines, one led by Soliman, the
+other by Selim; but this order of
+sailing was abandoned the very first
+day; and so, indeed, was nearly all
+order of every kind. Each man sailed
+his bark as he pleased, without nautical
+skill or unity of movement; and,
+as to one general and energetic supervision
+of the whole flotilla and its
+progress, no one dreamed of such a
+thing. Mr Werne indulged in gloomy
+reflections as to the probable results
+of an enterprise, at whose very outset
+such want of zeal and discipline was
+displayed. It does not appear to
+have struck him that not the least
+of his dangers upon the strange voyage
+he had so eagerly undertaken,
+was from his shipmates, many of
+them bigoted Mahometans and reckless,
+ferocious fellows, ready with the
+knife, and who would have thought
+little of burthening their conscience
+with so small a matter as a Christian's
+blood. He is evidently a cool,
+courageous man, prompt in action;
+and his knowledge of the slavish,
+treacherous character of the people
+he had to deal with, doubtless taught
+him the best line of conduct to pursue
+with them. This, as appears from
+various passages of his journal, was
+the rough and ready style&mdash;a blow
+for the slightest impertinence, and his
+arms, which he well knew how to use,
+always at hand. He did not scruple
+to interfere when he saw cruelty or
+oppression practised, and soon he
+made himself respected, if not feared,
+by all on board; so much so, that
+Feizulla, the captain of the vessel in
+which he sailed, a drunken old Turk,
+who passed his time in drinking spirits
+and mending his own clothes, appointed
+him his <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">locum tenens</i> during
+his occasional absences on shore.
+During his five months' voyage, Mr<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+Werne had a fine opportunity of
+studying the peculiarities of the different
+nations with individuals of
+which he sailed; and, although his
+long residence in Africa and the East
+had made him regard such matters
+with comparative indifference, the
+occasional glimpses he gives of Turkish
+and Egyptian habits are amongst
+the most interesting passages in his
+book. Already, on the third day of
+the voyage, the expiration of the
+Rhamadan, or fasting month, and the
+setting in of the little feast of Bairam,
+gave rise to a singular scene. The
+flotilla was passing through the country
+governed by Achmet Bascha, in
+which Soliman was a man of great
+importance. By his desire, a herd of
+oxen and a large flock of sheep were
+driven down to the shore, for the use
+of the expedition. The preference
+was for the mutton, the beef in those
+regions being usually tough and coarse,
+and consequently despised by the
+Turks. "This quality of the meat is
+owing to the nature of the fodder, the
+tender grass and herbs of our marsh-lands
+and pastures being here unknown&mdash;and
+to the climate, which
+hardens the animal texture, a fact
+perceived by the surgeon when operating
+upon the human body. Our
+Arabs, who, like the Greeks and Jews,
+born butchers and flayers, know no
+mercy with beasts or men, fell upon
+the unfortunate animals, hamstrung
+them in all haste, to obviate any
+chance of resumption of the gift, and
+the hecatomb sank upon the ground,
+pitiful to behold. During the flaying
+and quartering, every man tried
+to secrete a sippet of meat, cutting
+it off by stealth, or stealing it
+from the back of the bearers. These
+coveted morsels were stuck upon
+skewers, broiled at the nearest watch-fire,
+and ravenously devoured, to prepare
+the stomach for the approaching
+banquet. Although they know how
+to cook the liver excellently well, upon
+this occasion they preferred eating it
+raw, cut up in a wooden dish, and
+with the gall of the slaughtered beast
+poured over it. Thus prepared, and
+eaten with salt and pepper, it has
+much the flavour of a good raw beefsteak."
+The celebration of the Bairam
+was a scene of gluttony and gross
+revelry. Arrack was served out instead
+of the customary ration of coffee;
+and many a Mussulman drank more
+than did him good, or than the Prophet's
+law allows. In the night, Captain
+Feizulla tumbled out of bed;
+and, having spoiled his subordinates
+by over-indulgence, not one of them
+stirred to his assistance. Mr Werne
+picked him up, found him in an epileptic
+fit, and learned, with no great
+pleasure, Feizulla being his cabin-mate,
+that the thirsty skipper was
+subject to such attacks. He foresaw
+a comfortless voyage on board the
+narrow bark, and with such queer
+companions; but the daily increasing
+interest of the scenery and surrounding
+objects again distracted his
+thoughts from considerations of personal
+ease. He had greater difficulty
+in reconciling himself to the negligence
+and indolence of his associates.
+So long as food was abundant and
+work scanty, all went well enough;
+but when liquor ran low, and the
+flesh-pots of Egypt were empty,
+grumbling began, and the thoughts of
+the majority were fixed upon a speedy
+return. Their chiefs set them a poor
+example. Soliman Kaschef lay in
+bed till an hour after sunrise, and the
+signal to sail could not be given till
+he awoke; and Feizulla, when his
+and Mr Werne's stock of brandy was
+out, passed one half his time in distilling
+spirits from stale dates, and the
+other moiety in getting intoxicated on
+the turbid extract thus obtained.
+Then the officers had female slaves on
+board; and there was a licensed
+jester, Abu Haschis, who supplied
+the expedition with buffoonery and
+ribaldry; and the most odious practices
+prevailed amongst the crews;
+for further details concerning all which
+matters we refer the curious to Mr
+Werne himself. A more singularly
+composed expedition was perhaps
+never fitted out, nor one less adapted
+effectually to perform the services required
+of it. Cleanliness and sobriety,
+so incumbent upon men cooped up in
+small craft, in a climate teeming with
+pestilence and vermin, were little regarded;
+and subordination and vigilance,
+essential to safety amidst the
+perils of an unknown navigation, and
+in the close vicinity of hostile savages,
+were utterly neglected,&mdash;at first to the
+great uneasiness of Mr Werne. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+after a while, seeing no chance of
+amendment, and having no power to
+rebuke or correct deficiencies, he repeated
+the eternal <i lang="ar" xml:lang="ar">Allah Kerim!</i> (God
+is merciful) of his fatalist shipmates,
+and slept soundly, when the musquitos
+permitted, under the good guard of
+Providence.</p>
+
+<p>On the 29th November, the expedition
+passed the limit of Turco-Egyptian
+domination. The land it
+had now reached paid no tribute.
+"All slaves," was the reply of Turks
+and Arabs to Mr Werne's inquiry who
+the inhabitants were. "I could not
+help laughing, and proving to them,
+to their great vexation, that these
+men were free, and much less slaves
+than themselves; that before making
+slaves of them, they must first make
+them prisoners, a process for which
+they had no particular fancy,&mdash;admitting,
+with much <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">naiveté</i>, that the
+'slaves' hereabout were both numerous
+and brave. This contemptuously
+spoken <i>Kulo Abit</i>, (All slaves,) is about
+equivalent to the 'barbarian' of the
+ancients&mdash;the same classical word the
+modern Greeks have learned out of
+foreign school-books."</p>
+
+<p>"The trees and branches preventing
+our vessels from lying alongside the
+bank, I had myself carried through the
+water, to examine the country and get
+some shooting. But I could not make
+up my mind to use my gun, the only
+animals to aim at being large, long-tailed,
+silver-gray apes. I had shot
+one on a former occasion, and the
+brute had greatly excited my compassion
+by his resemblance to a human
+being, and by his piteous gestures.
+M. Arnaud, on the contrary, took
+particular pleasure in making the
+repeated observation that, on the approach
+of death, the gums of these
+beasts turn white, like those of a dying
+man. They live in families of several
+hundreds together, and their territory
+is very circumscribed, even in the
+forest, as I myself subsequently ascertained.
+Although fearful of water, and
+swimming unwillingly, they always
+fled to the branches overhanging the
+river, and not unfrequently fell in.
+When this occurred, their first care
+on emerging was to wipe the water
+from their faces and ears. However
+imminent their danger, only when this
+operation was completed did they
+again climb the trees. Such a monkey
+republic is really a droll enough sight;
+its members alternately fighting and
+caressing each other, combing and
+vermin-hunting, stealing and boxing
+each other's ears, and, in the midst of
+all these important occupations, running
+down every moment to drink,
+but contenting themselves with a
+single draught, for fear of becoming a
+mouthful for the watchful crocodile.
+The tame monkeys on board our
+vessels turned restless at sight of the
+joyous vagabond life of their brethren
+in the bush. First-lieutenant Hussein
+Aga, of Kurdistan, lay alongside us,
+and was in raptures with his monkey,
+shouting over to me: '<em>Schuf! el naùti
+taïb!</em>' (See! the clever sailor!)&mdash;meaning
+his pet ape, which ran about
+the rigging like mad, hanging on by
+the ropes, and looking over the bulwarks
+into the water; until at last he
+jumped on the back of a sailor who
+was wading on shore with dirty linen
+to wash, and thence made a spring
+upon land to visit his relations, compared
+to whom, however, he was a
+mere dwarf. Overboard went the
+long Kurd, with his gun, to shoot the
+deserter; but doubtless the little
+seaman, in his capacity of Turkish
+slave, and on account of his diminutive
+figure, met a bad reception, for
+Hussein was no sooner under the trees
+than his monkey dropped upon his
+head. He came to visit me afterwards,
+brought his 'naùti ta��b' with
+him, and told me, what I had often
+heard before, how apes were formerly
+men, whom God had cursed. It
+really is written in the Koran that
+God and the prophet David had
+turned into monkeys the Jews who
+did not keep the Sabbath holy. Therefore
+a good Moslem will seldom kill
+or injure a monkey. Emin Bey of
+Fazogl was an exception to this rule.
+Sitting at table with an Italian, and
+about to thrust into his mouth a fragment
+of roast meat, his monkey
+snatched it from between his thumb
+and fingers. Whereupon the Bey
+quietly ordered the robber's hand to
+be cut off, which was instantly done.
+The poor monkey came to his cruel
+master and showed him, with his
+peculiarly doleful whine, the stump of
+his fore-paw. The Bey gave orders
+to kill him, but the Italian begged him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+as a gift. Soon afterwards the foolish
+brute came into my possession, and,
+on my journey back to Egypt, contributed
+almost as much to cheer me, as
+did the filial attentions of my freed man
+Hagar, whom my brother had received
+as a present, and had bequeathed to
+me. My servants would not believe
+but that the monkey was a transformed
+<i>gabir</i>, or caravan guide, since
+even in the desert he was always in
+front and upon the right road, availing
+himself of every rock and hillock
+to look about him, until the birds of
+prey again drove him under the camels,
+to complain to me with his 'Oehm-oehm;'
+which was also his custom
+when he had been beaten in my absence
+by the servants, whose merissa
+(a sort of spirit) he would steal and
+drink till he could neither go nor
+stand."</p>
+
+<p>During this halt, and whilst rambling
+along the bank, picking up river-oysters
+and tracing the monstrous
+footsteps of hippopotami, Mr Werne
+nearly walked into the jaws of the
+largest crocodile he had ever seen.
+His Turkish servant, Sale, who attended
+him on such occasions and
+carried his rifle, was not at hand, and
+he was glad to beat a retreat, discharging
+one of his barrels, both of
+which were laden with shot only, in
+the monster's face. On being scolded
+for his absence, Sale very coolly replied,
+that it was not safe so near
+shore; for that several times it had
+occurred to him, whilst gazing up in
+the trees at the birds and monkeys,
+to find himself, on a sudden, face to
+face with a crocodile, which stared at
+him like a ghost, (Scheitan, Satan,)
+and which he dared not shoot, lest he
+should slay his own father. Amongst
+the numerous Mahommedan superstitions,
+there is a common belief in the
+transformation, by witches and sorcerers,
+of men into beasts, especially
+into crocodiles and hippopotami.</p>
+
+<p>"Towards evening, cartridges were
+served out and muskets loaded, for we
+were now in a hostile country. The
+powder-magazine stood open, and
+lighted pipes passed to and fro over
+the hatchway. <i>Allah Kerim!</i> I do
+my best to rouse my captain from his
+indolence, by drawing constant comparisons
+with the English sea-service;
+then I fall asleep myself whilst the
+powder is being distributed, and, waking
+early in the morning, find the
+magazine still open, and the sentry,
+whose duty it is to give an alarm
+should the water in the hold increase
+overmuch, fast asleep, with his tobacco-pipe
+in his hand and his musket
+in his lap. Feizulla Capitan begged
+me not to report the poor devil." This
+being a fair specimen of the prudence
+and discipline observed during the
+whole voyage, it is really surprising
+that Mr Werne ever returned to write
+its history, and that his corpse&mdash;drowned,
+blown up, or with a knife
+between the ribs&mdash;has not long since
+been resolved into the elements through
+the medium of a Nile crocodile. The
+next day the merciful Feizulla, whose
+kindness must have sprung from a
+fellow-feeling, got mad-drunk at a
+merry-making on an island, and had
+to be brought by force on board his
+ship. He seemed disposed to "run
+amuck;" grasped at sabre and pistols,
+and put his people in fear of their
+lives, until Mr Werne seized him neck
+and heels, threw him on his bed, and
+held him there whilst he struggled
+himself weary and fell asleep. The
+ship's company were loud in praise
+and admiration of Mr Werne, who,
+however, was not quite easy as to the
+possible results of his bold interference.
+"Only yesterday, I incurred
+the hatred of the roughest of our
+Egyptian sailors, as he sat with another
+at the hand-mill, and repeatedly
+applied to his companion the word
+<i>Nasrani</i>, (Christian,) using it as a
+term of insult, until the whole crew
+came and looked down into the cabin
+where I sat, and laughed&mdash;the captain
+not being on board at the time. At
+last I lost my patience, jumped up,
+and dealt the fellow a severe blow
+with my fist. In his fanatical horror
+at being struck by a Christian, he
+tried to throw himself overboard, and
+vowed revenge, which my servants
+told me. Now, whilst Feizulla Capitan
+lies senseless, I see from my bed
+this tall sailor leave the fore-part of
+the ship and approach our cabin, his
+comrades following him with their
+eyes. From a fanatic, who might put
+his own construction upon my recent
+friendly constraint of Captain Feizulla,
+and might convert it into a pretext, I
+had everything to apprehend. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+he paused at the door, apologised, and
+thanked me for not having reported
+him to his commander. He then
+kissed my right hand, whilst in my
+left I held a pistol concealed under
+the blanket."</p>
+
+<p>Dangers, annoyances, and squabbles
+did not prevent Mr Werne from writing
+up his log, and making minute
+observations of the surrounding
+scenery. This was of ever-varying
+character. Thickly-wooded banks
+were succeeded by a sea of grass, its
+monotony unvaried by a single bush.
+Then came a crowd of islands, composed
+of water-plants, knit together
+by creepers and parasites, and alternately
+anchored to the shore, or floating
+slowly down the stream, whose
+sluggish current was often imperceptible.
+The extraordinary freshness
+and luxuriance of the vegetable creation
+in that region of combined heat
+and moisture, excited Mr Werne's
+enthusiastic admiration. At times he
+saw himself surrounded by a vast
+tapestry of flowers, waving for miles
+in every direction, and of countless
+varieties of tint and form. Upon land
+were bowers and hills of blossom,
+groves of dark mimosa and gold-gleaming
+tamarind; upon the water
+and swamps, interminable carpets of
+lilac convolvulus, water-lilies, flowering-reeds,
+and red, blue, and white
+lotus. The ambak tree, with its large
+yellow flowers and acacia-like leaf,
+rose fifteen feet and more above the
+surface of the water out of which it
+grew. This singular plant, a sort of
+link between the forest-tree and the
+reed of the marshes, has its root in
+the bed of the Nile, with which it each
+year rises, surpassing it in swiftness
+of growth. Its stem is of a soft
+spungy nature, more like the pith of
+a tree than like wood, but having,
+nevertheless, a pith of its own. The
+lotus was one of the most striking
+features in these scenes of floral magnificence;
+its brilliant white flower,
+which opens as the sun rises, and
+closes when it sets, beaming, like a
+double lily, in the shade it prefers.
+Mr Werne made the interesting observation,
+that this beautiful flower,
+where it had not some kind of shelter,
+closed when the sun approached the
+zenith, as though unable to endure
+the too ardent rays of the luminary
+that called it into life. Details of this
+kind, and fragments of eloquent description
+of the gorgeous scenery of
+the Nile banks, occur frequently in the
+earlier part of the "Expedition,"
+during which there was little intercourse
+with the natives, who were
+either hostile, uninteresting, or concealed.
+Amongst other reasons for
+not remaining long near shore, and
+especially for not anchoring there at
+night, was the torture the voyagers
+experienced from gnats, camel-flies,
+and small wasps, which not only forbade
+sleep, but rendered it almost impossible
+to eat and drink. To escape
+this worse than Egyptian plague,
+the vessels lay in the middle of the
+river, which, for some time after their
+departure, was often three or four
+miles across. When the breeze was
+fresh, there was some relief from insect
+persecution, but a lull made the
+attacks insupportable. Doubtless a
+European complexion encouraged
+these. Our German lifts up his
+voice in agony and malediction.</p>
+
+<p>"The 10th December.&mdash;A dead
+calm all night. Gnats!!! No use
+creeping under the bed-clothes, at risk
+of stifling with heat, compelled as one
+is by their penetrating sting to go to
+bed dressed. Leave only a little hole to
+breathe at, and in they pour, attacking
+lips, nose, and ears, and forcing
+themselves into the throat&mdash;thus
+provoking a cough which is torture,
+since, at each inspiration, a fresh
+swarm finds its way into the gullet.
+They penetrate to the most sensitive
+part of the body, creeping in, like
+ants, at the smallest aperture. In
+the morning my bed contained thousands
+of the small demons which I had
+crushed and smothered by the perpetual
+rolling about of my martyred
+body. As I had forgotten to bring a
+musquito net from Chartum, there
+was nothing for it but submission.
+Neither had I thought of providing
+myself with leather gloves, unbearable
+in that hot climate, but which here,
+upon the Nile, would have been by
+far the lesser evil, since I was compelled
+to have a servant opposite to
+me at supper-time, waving a huge fan
+so close under my nose, that it was
+necessary to watch my opportunity to
+get the food to my mouth. One could
+not smoke one's pipe in peace, even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+though keeping one's hands wrapped
+in a woollen burnous, for the vermin
+stung through this, and crept up under
+it from the ground. The black and
+coloured men on board were equally
+ill-treated; and all night long the word
+'<i>Baùda</i>' resounded through the ship,
+with an accompaniment of curses and
+flapping of cloths. The <i>baùda</i> resemble
+our long-legged gnats, but
+have a longer proboscis, with which
+they bore through a triple fold of
+strong linen. Their head is blue, their
+back tawny, and their legs are covered
+with white specks like small pearls,
+Another sort has short, strong legs, a
+thick brown body, a red head, and
+posteriors of varying hues." These
+parti-coloured and persevering bloodsuckers
+caused boils by the severity of
+their sting, and so exhausted the
+sailors by depriving them of sleep,
+that the ships could hardly be worked.
+Bitterly and frequently does Mr
+Werne recur to his sufferings from
+their ruthless attacks. At last a strange
+auxiliary came to his relief. On
+Christmas-day he writes:&mdash;"For the
+last two nights we have been greatly
+disturbed by the gnats, but a small
+cat, which I have not yet seen by daylight,
+seems to find particular pleasure
+in licking my face, pulling my beard,
+and purring continually, thus keeping
+off the insects. Generally the cats in
+Bellet-Sudan are of a very wild and
+fierce nature, which seems the result
+of their indifferent treatment by the
+inhabitants. They walk into the
+poultry-houses and carry off the
+strongest fowls, but care little for rats
+and mice. The Barabras, especially
+those of Dongola, often eat them; not
+so the Arabs, who spare them persecution&mdash;the
+cat having been one of Mahomet's
+favourite animals&mdash;but who,
+at the same time, hold them unclean."</p>
+
+<p>There is assuredly no river in the
+world whose banks, for so great a distance,
+are so thickly peopled as those
+of the Nile. Day after day the expedition
+passed an unbroken succession
+of populous villages, until Mr
+Werne wondered whence the inhabitants
+drew their nourishment, and a
+sapient officer from Kurdistan opined
+the Schilluks to be a greater nation
+than the French. But what people,
+and what habitations! The former
+scarce a degree above the brute, the
+latter resembling dog-kennels, or more
+frequently thatched bee-hives, with a
+round hole in the side, through which
+the inmates creep. Stark-naked, these
+savages lay in the high grass, whose
+seed forms part of their food, and gibbered
+and beckoned to the passing
+Turks, who, for the most part, disregarded
+their gestures of amity and
+invitation, shrewdly suspecting that
+their intentions were treacherous and
+their lances hidden in the herbage.
+Wild rice, fruits, and seeds, are eaten
+by these tribes, (the Schilluks, Dinkas,
+and others,) who have also herds of
+cattle&mdash;oxen, sheep, and goats, and
+who do not despise a hippopotamus
+chop or a crocodile cutlet. Where
+the land is unproductive, fish is
+the chief article of food. They have
+no horses or camels, and when they
+steal one of these animals from the
+Turks, they do not kill it, probably
+not liking its flesh, but they put out
+its eyes as a punishment for having
+brought the enemy into their country.
+In one hour Mr Werne counted seventeen
+villages, large or small; and
+Soliman Kaschef assured him the
+Schilluks numbered two millions of
+souls, although it is hard to say how
+he obtained the census. The <i>Bando</i>
+or king, although dwelling only two
+or three leagues from the river, did
+not show himself. He mistrusted the
+Turks, and all night the great war-drum
+was heard to beat. His savage
+majesty was quite right to be on his
+guard. "I am well persuaded," says
+Mr Werne, "that if Soliman Kaschef
+had once got the dreaded Bando of
+the Schilluks on board, he would have
+sailed away with him. I read that in
+his face when he was told the Bando
+would not appear. And gladly as I
+would have seen this negro sovereign,
+I rejoiced that his caution frustrated
+the projected shameful treachery. He
+had no particular grounds for welcoming
+the Musselmans, those sworn foes
+of his people. Shortly before our
+departure, he had sent three ambassadors
+to Chartum, to put him on a
+friendly footing with the Turks, and
+so to check the marauding expeditions
+of his Arab neighbours, of Soliman
+Kaschef amongst the rest. The three
+Schilluks, who could not speak Arabic,
+were treated in the Divan with customary
+contempt as <i>Abit</i>, (slaves) and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+were handed over like common men
+to the care of Sheikh el Bellet of
+Chartum. The Sheikh, who receives
+no pay, and performs the duties of
+his office out of fear rather than for
+the sake of the honour, showed them
+such excellent hospitality, that they
+came to us Franks and begged a few
+piastres to buy bread and spirits."
+On Mr Werne's representations to
+the Effendi, or chief man at Chartum,
+dresses of honour (the customary
+presents) were prepared for them, but
+they departed stealthily by night; and
+their master, the Bando, was very
+indignant on learning the treatment
+they had received.</p>
+
+<p>A vast green meadow, a sort of elephant
+pasture, separates the Schilluks
+from their neighbours the Jengähs,
+concerning whom Mr Werne obtained
+some particulars from a Tschauss or
+sergeant, named Marian of Mount
+Habila, the son of the Mak or King
+of the mountains of Nuba. His father
+had been vanquished and murdered
+by the Turks, and he had been made
+a slave. This sergeant-prince was of
+middle height, with a black tatooed
+countenance, and with ten holes in
+each ear, out of which his captors had
+taken the gold rings. He was a sensible,
+well-behaved man, and had been
+thirteen years in the service, but was
+hopeless of promotion, having none to
+recommend him. Besides this man,
+there were two Dinkas and a Jengäh
+on board; but from them it was impossible
+to extract information with
+respect to the manners and usages of
+their countrymen. They held it
+treachery to divulge such particulars.
+Many of the soldiers and sailors composing
+the expedition being natives of
+the countries through which it sailed,
+apprehensions of desertion were entertained,
+and partially realised. On
+the 30th December, whilst passing
+through the friendly land of the Keks,
+everybody slept on shore, and in the
+night sixteen men on guard deserted.
+They were from the distant country
+of Nuba, (a district of Nubia,) which
+it seemed scarcely possible they should
+ever reach, with their scanty store of
+ammunition, and exposed to the
+assaults of hunger, thirst, and hostile
+tribes. Hussein Aga went after them
+with fifty ferocious Egyptians, likely
+to show little mercy to the runaways,
+with whom, however, they could not
+come up. And suddenly the drums
+beat to call all hands on board, for
+there was a report that all the negroes
+were planning escape. During this
+halt Mr Werne made ornithological
+observations, ascertaining, amongst
+other things, the species of certain
+white birds, which he had observed
+sitting impudently upon the backs of
+the elephants, picking the vermin from
+their thick hides, as crows do in Europe
+from the backs of pigs. The elephants
+evidently disapproved the operation,
+and lashed with their trunks
+at their tormentors, who then flew
+away, but instantly returned to recommence
+what Mr Werne calls their
+"dry fishing." These birds proved
+to be small herons. Shortly before this,
+a large pelican had been shot, and its
+crop was found to contain twenty-four
+fresh fish, the size of herrings. Its
+gluttony had caused its death, the
+weight it carried impeding its flight.
+Prodigious swarms of birds and water-fowl
+find their nourishment in the
+White Stream, and upon its swampy
+banks. In some places the trees were
+white with their excrements, whose
+accumulation destroyed vegetable life.
+There is no lack of nourishment for
+the feathered tribes&mdash;water and earth
+are prolific of vermin. Millions of
+glow-worms glimmer in the rushes,
+the air resounds with the shrill cry of
+myriads of grasshoppers, and with the
+croaking of countless frogs. But for
+the birds, which act as scavengers and
+vermin-destroyers, those shores would
+be uninhabitable. The scorching sun
+fecundates the sluggish waters and
+rank fat marsh, causing a never-ceasing
+birth of reptiles and insects.
+Monstrous fish and snakes of all sizes
+abound. Concerning the latter, the
+Arabs have strange superstitions.
+They consider them in some sort supernatural
+beings, having a king,
+Shach Maran by name, who is supposed
+to dwell in Turkish Kurdistan,
+not far from Adana, where two villages
+are exempted from tribute on condition
+of supplying the snakes with
+milk. Abdul-Elliab, a Kurd officer of
+the expedition, had himself offered the
+milk-sacrifice to the snakes; and he
+swore that he had seen their king, or
+at any rate one of his <i>Wokils</i>, or vicegerents,
+of whom his serpentine majesty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+has many. He had no sooner
+poured his milky offering into one of
+the marble basins nature has there hollowed
+out, than a great snake, with
+long hair upon its head, stepped out of
+a hole in the rocks and drank. It
+then retired, without, as in some
+other instances, speaking to the sacrificer,
+a taciturnity contritely attributed
+by the latter to his not having yet
+entirely abjured strong drinks. Two
+other Kurds vouched for the truth of
+this statement, adding, that the <i>Maran</i>
+had a human face, for that otherwise
+he could not speak, and that he never
+showed himself except to a sultan or
+to a very holy man. To the latter
+character the said Abdul-Elliab had
+great pretensions, and his bigotry,
+hypocrisy, and constant quotations
+from the Koran procured him from
+his irreverent shipmates, from Mr
+Werne amongst the number, the nickname
+of the <em>Paradise-Stormer</em>, it being
+manifest that he reckoned on taking
+by assault the blessed abode promised
+by Mahomet to the faithful. Pending
+his admission to the society of the
+houris, he solaced himself with that of
+a young female slave, who often experienced
+cruel treatment at the hands
+of her saintly master. Having one
+day committed the heinous offence of
+preparing <em>merissa</em>, a strong drink made
+from corn, for part of the crew, the
+Kurd, formerly, according to his own
+admission, a stanch toper, beat her
+with a thong as she knelt half-naked
+upon the deck. "As he did not attend
+to my calls from the cabin," says Mr
+Werne, "but continued striking her
+so furiously as to cut the skin and
+draw streams of blood, I jumped out,
+and pulled him backwards, so that his
+legs flew up in the air. He sprang to
+his feet, retreated to the bulwark of
+the ship, drew his sabre, and shouted,
+with a menacing countenance,
+'Effendi!' instead of calling me
+Kawagi, which signifies a merchant,
+and is the usual title for a Frank. I
+had no sooner returned to the cabin
+than he seized his slave to throw her
+overboard, whereupon I caught up my
+double-barrel and levelled at him,
+calling out, '<i>Ana oedrup!</i>' (I fire.)
+Thereupon he let the girl go, and with
+a pallid countenance protested she was
+his property, and he could do as he
+liked with her. Subsequently he
+complained of me to the commandant,
+who, knowing his malicious and hypocritical
+character, sent him on board
+the skiff, to the great delight of the
+whole flotilla. On our return to
+Chartum, he was cringing enough to
+ask my pardon, and to want to kiss
+my hand, (although he was then a
+captain) because he saw that the
+Bascha distinguished me. A few days
+previously to this squabble, I had
+gained the affection and confidence of
+our black soldiers, one of whom, a
+Tokruri or pilgrim from Darfur, had
+quarrelled with an Arab, and wounded
+him with his knife. He jumped overboard
+to drown himself, and, being unable
+to swim, had nearly accomplished
+his object, when he drifted to our ship
+and was lifted on board. They wanted
+to make him stand on his head, but I
+had him laid horizontally upon his side,
+and began to rub him with a woollen
+cloth, but at first could get no one to
+help me because he was an <i>Abit</i>, a
+slave, until I threatened the captain
+he should be made to pay the Bascha
+for the loss of his soldier. After
+long-continued rubbing, the Tokruri
+gave signs of life, and they raised him
+into a sitting posture, whilst his head
+still hung down. One of the soldiers,
+who, as a Faki, pretended to be a sort
+of awaker of the dead, seized him from
+behind under the arms, lifted him,
+and let him fall thrice violently upon
+his hinder end, shouting in his ear at
+the same time passages from the
+Koran, to which the Tokruri at last
+replied by similar quotations. The
+superstition of these people is so gross,
+that they believe such a pilgrim may
+be completely and thoroughly drowned,
+and yet retain power to float to any
+part of the shore he pleases, and, once
+on dry land, to resume his vitality."</p>
+
+<p>A credulous traveller would have
+been misled by some of the strange
+fables put forward, with great plausibility,
+by these Arabs and other semi-savages,
+who have, moreover, a strong
+tendency to exaggerate, and who,
+perceiving the avidity with which Mr
+Werne investigated the animal and
+vegetable world around him, and his
+desire for rare and curious specimens,
+occasionally got up a lie for his benefit.
+Although kept awake many nights by
+the merciless midges, his zeal for
+science would not suffer him to sleep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+in the day, because he had no one he
+could trust to note the windings of the
+river. One sultry noon, however,
+when the Arab rowers were lazily
+impelling the craft against unfavourable
+breezes, and the stream was
+straight for a long distance ahead, he
+indulged in a siesta, during which
+visions of a happy German home
+hovered above his pillow. On awaking,
+bathed in perspiration, to the dismal
+realities of the pestilential Bach'r
+el Abiat, of incessant gnats and barbarian
+society, his Arab companions
+had a yarn cut and dried for him.
+During my sleep they had seen a
+swimming-bird as large as a young
+camel, with a straight beak like a
+pelican, but without a crop; they had
+not shot it for fear of awaking me,
+and because they had no doubt of
+meeting with some more of these unknown
+birds. No others appeared,
+and Mr Werne noted the camel-bird
+as an Egyptian lie, not as a natural
+curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>A month's sail carried the expedition
+into the land of the Keks, a
+numerous, but not a very prosperous
+tribe. Their <i>tokuls</i> or huts were entirely
+of straw, walls as well as roof.
+The men were quite naked, and of a
+bluish-gray colour, from the slime of
+the Nile, with which they smear themselves
+as a protection against the gnats.
+"There was something melancholy
+in the way in which those poor creatures
+raised their hands above their
+heads, and let them slowly fall, by
+manner of greeting. They had ivory
+rings upon their arms, and one of
+them turned towards his hut, as if inviting
+us in. Another stood apart,
+lifted his arms, and danced round in
+a circle. A Dinka on board, who is
+acquainted with their language, said
+they wanted us to give them durra, (a
+sort of corn,) and that their cows were
+far away and would not return till
+evening. This Dinka positively asserted,
+as did also Marian, that the
+Keks kill no animal, but live entirely
+on grain and milk. I could not ascertain,
+with certainty, whether this
+respect for brute life extended itself
+to game and fish, but it is universally
+affirmed that they eat cattle that die
+a natural death. This is done to some
+extent in the land of Sudan, although
+not by the genuine Arabs: it is against
+the Koran to eat a beast even that
+has been slain by a bullet, unless its
+throat has been cut whilst it yet lived,
+to let the prohibited blood escape.
+At Chartum I saw, one morning early,
+two dead camels lying on a public
+square; men cut off great pieces to
+roast, and the dogs looked on longingly.
+I myself, with Dr Fischer and
+Pruner, helped to consume, in Kahira,
+a roasted fragment of Clot Bey's
+beautiful giraffe, which had eaten too
+much white clover. The meat was
+very tender, and of tolerably fine
+grain. The tongue was quite a delicacy.
+On the other hand, I never
+could stomach the coarse-grained flesh
+of camels, even of the young ones."
+Africa is the land of strong stomachs.
+The Arabs, when on short rations,
+eat locusts; and some of the negro
+tribes devour the fruit of the elephant-tree,
+an abominable species of pumpkin,
+coveted by elephants, but rejected
+even by Arabs, and which Mr Werne
+found wholly impracticable, although
+his general rule was to try all the
+productions of the country. His gastronomical
+experiments are often connected
+with curious details of the animals
+upon which he tried his teeth.
+On the 12th January, whilst suffering
+from an attack of Nile-fever, which
+left him scarcely strength enough to
+post up his journal, he heard a shot,
+and was informed that Soliman Kaschef
+had killed with a single bullet a large
+crocodile, as it lay basking on a sandy
+promontory of the bank. The Circassian
+made a present of the
+skin to M. Arnaud, an excellent excuse
+for an hour's pause, that the
+Frenchman might get possession of
+the scaly trophy. Upon such trifling
+pretexts was the valuable time of the
+expedition frittered away. "Having
+enough of other meat at that moment,
+the people neglected cutting off the
+tail for food. My servants, however,
+who knew that I had already tasted
+that sort of meat at Chartum, and that
+at Taka I had eaten part of a snake,
+prepared for me by a dervish, brought
+me a slice of the crocodile. Even had
+I been in health, I could not have
+touched it, on account of the strong
+smell of musk it exhaled; but, ill as I
+was, they were obliged to throw it
+overboard immediately. When first
+I was in crocodile countries, it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+incomprehensible to me how the boatmen
+scented from afar the presence of
+these creatures; but on my journey
+from Kahira to Sennaar, when they
+offered me in Korusko a young one
+for sale, I found my own olfactories
+had become very sensitive to the peculiar
+odour. When we entered the
+Blue Stream, I could smell the crocodiles
+six hundred paces off, before I
+had seen them. The glands, containing
+a secretion resembling musk, are
+situated in the hinder part of the animal,
+as in the civet cats of Bellet
+Sudan, which are kept in cages for the
+collection of the perfume."</p>
+
+<p>As the travellers ascended the
+river, their intercourse with the natives
+became much more frequent, inasmuch
+as these, more remote from
+Egyptian aggression, had less ground
+for mistrustful and hostile feelings.
+Captain Selim had a stock of coloured
+shirts, and an immense bale of beads,
+with which he might have purchased
+the cattle, villages, goods and chattels,
+and even the bodies, of an entire tribe,
+had he been so disposed. The value
+attached by the savages of the White
+Stream to the most worthless objects
+of European manufacture, enabled
+Mr Werne to obtain, in exchange
+for a few glass beads, a large collection
+of their arms, ornaments,
+household utensils, &amp;c., now to be
+seen in the Royal Museum at Berlin.
+The stolid simplicity of the natives of
+those regions exceeds belief. One
+can hardly make up one's mind to
+consider them as men. Even as the
+<i>ambak</i> seems the link between useful
+timber and worthless rushes, so does
+the Kek appear to partake as much of
+brute as of human nature. He has
+at least as much affinity with the big
+gray ape, whose dying agonies excited
+Mr Werne's compassion at the
+commencement of his voyage, as with
+the civilised and intellectual man who
+describes their strange appearance and
+manners. A Kek, who had been
+sleeping in the ashes of a fire, a common
+practice with that tribe, was
+found standing upon the shore by some
+of the crew, who brought him on
+board Selim's vessel. "Bending his
+body forward in an awkward ape-like
+manner, intended perhaps to express
+submission, he approached the cabin,
+and, on finding himself near it, dropped
+upon his knees and crept forward upon
+them, uttering, in his gibberish, repeated
+exclamations of greeting and
+wonderment. He had numerous holes
+through the rims of his ears, which
+contained, however, no other ornament
+than one little bar. They threw
+strings of beads over his neck, and
+there was no end to his joy; he jumped
+and rolled upon the deck, kissed the
+planks, doubled himself up, extended
+his hands over all our heads, as if
+blessing us, and then began to sing.
+He was an angular, high-shouldered
+figure, about thirty years of age. His
+attitude and gestures were very constrained,
+which arose, perhaps, from
+the novelty of his situation; his back
+was bent, big head hung forward, his
+long legs, almost calf-less, were as if
+broken at the knees; in his whole
+person, in short, he resembled an
+orang-outang. He was perfectly
+naked, and his sole ornaments consisted
+of leathern rings upon the right
+arm. How low a grade of humanity
+is this! The poor natural touches one
+with his childish joy, in which he is
+assuredly happier than any of us. By
+the help of the Dinka interpreter, he is
+instructed to tell his countrymen they
+have no reason to retreat before such
+<em>honest</em> people as those who man the
+flotilla. Kneeling, jumping, creeping,
+kissing the ground, he is then led away
+by the hand like a child, and would
+assuredly take all he has seen for a
+dream, but for the beads he bears
+with him." Many of these tribes are
+composed of men of gigantic stature.
+On the 7th January, Mr Werne, being
+on shore, would have measured some
+of the taller savages, but they objected.
+He then gave his servants
+long reeds and bade them stand beside
+the natives, thus ascertaining their
+average height to be from six to seven
+Rhenish feet. The Egyptians and
+Europeans looked like pigmies beside
+them. The women were in proportion
+with the men. Mr Werne tells
+of one lady who looked clear away
+over his head, although he describes
+himself as above the middle height.</p>
+
+<p>At this date, (7th January) the flotilla
+reached a large lake, or inlet of
+the river, near to which a host of
+elephants grazed, and a multitude of
+light-brown antelopes stood still and
+stared at the intruders. The sight of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+the antelopes, which were of a species
+called <em>ariel</em>, whose flesh is particularly
+well-flavoured, was too much for Soliman
+Kaschef to resist. There was no
+wind; he gave orders to cease towing,
+and went on shore to shoot his supper.
+The antelopes retreated when the ships
+grated against the bank; and as the
+rush-jungle was by no means safe,
+beasts of prey being wont to hide
+there to catch the antelopes as they
+go to water at sunset, a few soldiers
+were sent forward to clear the way.
+Nevertheless, "on our return from the
+chase, during which not a single shot
+was fired, we lost two <i>báltaschi</i>, (carpenters
+or sappers,) and all our signals
+were insufficient to bring them back.
+They were Egyptians, steady fellows,
+and most unlikely to desert; but their
+comrades did not trouble themselves
+to look for them, shrugged their shoulders,
+and supposed they had been
+devoured by the <em>assad</em> or the <em>nimr</em>&mdash;the
+lion or tiger. The word <em>nimr</em> is here
+improperly applied, there being no
+tigers in Africa, but it is the general
+term for panthers and leopards." Here,
+at four-and-twenty degrees of latitude
+south of Alexandria, this extraordinary
+river was nearly four hundred
+paces wide. Mr Werne speculates on
+the origin of this astonishing water-course,
+and doubts the possibility
+that the springs of the White Stream
+supply the innumerable lakes and
+creeks, and the immense tracts of
+marsh contiguous to it; that, too, under
+an African sun, which acts as a
+powerful and constant pump upon the
+immense liquid surface. When he
+started on his voyage, the annual
+rains had long terminated. What
+tremendous springs those must be,
+that could keep this vast watery territory
+full and overflowing! Then the
+sluggishness of the current is another
+puzzle. Were the Nile <em>one</em> stream,
+Mr Werne observes&mdash;referring, of
+course, to the White Nile&mdash;it must
+flow faster than it does. And he concludes
+it to have tributaries, which,
+owing to the level nature of the
+ground, and to the resistance of the
+main stream, stagnate to a certain
+extent, rising and falling with the
+river, and contributing powerfully to
+its nourishment. But the notion of
+exploring all these watery intricacies
+with a flotilla of heavy-sailing barges,
+manned by lazy Turks and Arabs, and
+commanded by men who care more
+for getting drunk on arrack and going
+a-birding, than for the great results
+activity and intelligence might obtain,
+is essentially absurd. The proper
+squadron to explore the Bach'r el
+Abiat, through the continued windings,
+and up the numerous inlets depicted
+in Mr Mahlmann's map, is one consisting
+of three small steamers, drawing
+very little water, with steady
+well-disciplined English crews, accustomed
+to hot climates, and commanded
+by experienced and scientific officers.
+With the strongest interest should we
+watch the departure and anticipate
+the return of such an expedition as
+this. "Much might be done by a
+steam-boat," says Mr Werne; who
+then enumerates the obstacles to its
+employment. To bring it over the
+cataracts of the Nile, (below the junction
+of the Blue and White Streams,)
+it would be necessary to take the paddles
+entirely out, that it might be
+dragged up with ropes, like a sailing
+vessel. Or else it might be built at
+Chartum, but for the want of proper
+wood; the sunt-tree timber, although
+very strong, being exceedingly brittle
+and ill-adapted for ship-building.
+The greatest difficulty would be the
+fuel&mdash;the establishment and guard of
+coal stores; and as to burning charcoal,
+although the lower portion of the
+White Stream has forests enough, they
+are wanting on its middle and upper
+banks; to say nothing of the loss of
+time in felling and preparing the wood,
+of the danger of attacks from natives,
+&amp;c., &amp;c. If some of these difficulties
+are really formidable, others, on the
+contrary, might easily be overcome,
+and none are insuperable. Mr Werne
+hardly makes sufficient allowance for
+the difference between Soliman Kaschef
+and a European naval officer,
+who would turn to profit the hours
+and days the gallant Circassian spent
+in antelope-shooting, in laughing at
+Abu Haschis the jester, and in a sort
+of travelling seraglio he had arranged
+in his inner cabin, a dark nook with
+closely-shut jalousies, that served as
+prison to an unfortunate slave-girl,
+who lay all day upon a carpet, with
+scarcely space to turn herself, guarded
+by a eunuch. Not a glimpse of the
+country did the poor thing obtain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+during the whole of the voyage; and,
+even veiled, she was forbidden to go
+on deck. Besides these oriental relaxations,
+an occasional practical joke
+beguiled for the commodore the
+tedium of the voyage. Feizulla,
+the tailor-captain, whose strange
+passion for thimble and thread
+made him frequently neglect his nautical
+duties, chanced one day to bring
+to before his superior gave the signal.
+"Soliman Kaschef had no sooner observed
+this than he fired a couple of
+shots at Feizulla Capitan, so that I
+myself, standing before the cabin door,
+heard the bullets whistle. Feizulla,
+did not stir, although both he and the
+sailors in the rigging afterwards affirmed
+that the balls went within a
+hand's-breadth of his head: he merely
+said, '<i>Malesch&mdash;hue billab</i>,' (It is
+nothing&mdash;he jests;) and he shot twice
+in return, pointing the gun in the opposite
+direction, that Soliman might
+understand he took the friendly greeting
+as a Turkish joke, and that he, as
+a bad shot, dared not level at him."
+Soliman, on the other hand, was far
+too good a shot for such a sharp jest
+to be pleasant. The Turks account
+themselves the best marksmen and
+horsemen in the world, and are never
+weary of vaunting their prowess. Mr
+Werne says he saw an Arnaut of Soliman's
+shoot a running hare with a
+single ball, which entered in the animal's
+rear, and came out in front. And
+it was a common practice, during the
+voyage, to bring down the fruit from
+lofty trees by cutting the twigs with
+bullets. All these pastimes, however
+retarded the progress of the expedition.
+The wind was frequently light
+or unfavourable, and the lazy Africans
+made little way with the towing rope.
+Then a convenient place would often
+tempt to a premature halt; and, notwithstanding
+Soliman's sharp practice
+with poor Feizulla, if a leading member
+of the party felt lazily disposed,
+inclined for a hunting-party, or for a
+visit to a negro village, he seldom had
+much difficulty in bringing the flotilla
+to an anchor. In a straight line from
+north to south, the expedition traversed,
+between its departure from
+Chartum and its return thither, about
+sixteen hundred miles. It is difficult
+to calculate the distance gone over;
+and probably Mr Werne himself
+would be puzzled exactly to estimate
+it; but adding 20 per cent for windings,
+obliquities, and digressions, (a
+very liberal allowance,) we get a total
+of nearly two thousand miles, accomplished
+in five months, including stoppages,
+being at the very moderate
+rate of about 13 miles a day. And
+this, we must remember, was on no
+rapid stream, but up a river, whose
+current, rarely faster than one mile
+in an hour, was more frequently only
+half a mile, and sometimes was so
+feeble that it could not be ascertained.
+The result is not surprising, bearing
+in mind the quality of ships, crews,
+and commanders: but write "British"
+for "Egyptians," and the tale would
+be rather different.</p>
+
+<p>The upshot of this ill-conducted
+expedition was its arrival in the kingdom
+of Bari, whose capital city, Pelenja,
+is situated in 4° N. L., and which
+is inhabited by an exceedingly numerous
+nation of tall and powerful build;
+the men six and a-half to seven French
+feet in height&mdash;equal to seven and
+seven and a-half English feet&mdash;athletic,
+well-proportioned, and, although black,
+with nothing of the usual negro character
+in their features. The men go
+naked, with the exception of sandals
+and ornaments; the woman wear
+leathern aprons. They cultivate tobacco
+and different kinds of grain:
+from the iron found in their mountains
+they manufacture weapons and
+other implements, and barter them
+with other tribes. They breed cattle
+and poultry, and are addicted to the
+chase. About fifteen hundred of these
+blacks came down to the shore, armed
+to the teeth&mdash;a sight that inspired the
+Turks with some uneasiness, although
+they had several of their chiefs on
+board the flotilla, besides which, the
+frank cordiality and good-humoured
+intelligent countenances of the men of
+Bari forbade the idea of hostile aggression.
+"It had been a fine opportunity
+for a painter or sculptor
+to delineate these colossal figures,
+admirably proportioned, no fat, all
+muscle, and magnificently limbed.
+None of them have beards, and it
+would seem they use a cosmetic to
+extirpate them. Captain Selim, whose
+chin was smooth-shaven, pleased
+them far better than the long-bearded
+Soliman Kaschef; and when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+latter showed them his breast, covered
+with a fell of hair, they exhibited a
+sort of disgust, as at something more
+appropriate to a beast than to a man."
+Like most of the tribes on the banks
+of the White Nile, they extract the
+four lower incisors, a custom for which
+Mr Werne is greatly puzzled to
+account, and concerning which he
+hazards many ingenious conjectures.
+Amongst the ape-like Keks and
+Dinkas, he fancied it to originate in a
+desire to distinguish themselves from
+the beasts of the field&mdash;to which they
+in so many respects assimilate; but
+he was shaken in this opinion, on
+finding the practice to prevail amongst
+the intelligent Bari, who need no
+such mark to establish their difference
+from the brute creation. The
+Dinkas on board confirmed his first
+hypothesis, saying that the teeth are
+taken out that they may not resemble
+the jackass&mdash;which in many other
+respects they certainly do. The
+Turks take it to be a rite equivalent to
+Mahomedan circumcision, or to Christian
+baptism. The Arabs have a much
+more extravagant supposition, which
+we refrain from stating, the more so
+as Mr Werne discredits it. He suggests
+the possibility of its being an
+act of incorporation in a great Ethiopian
+nation, divided into many tribes.
+The operation is performed at the age
+of puberty; it is unaccompanied by
+any particular ceremonies; and women
+as well as men undergo it. Its
+motive still remains a matter of doubt
+to Mr Werne.</p>
+
+<p>Before Lakono, sultan of the Bari,
+and his favourite sultana Ischok, an
+ordinary-looking lady with two
+leathern aprons and a shaven head,
+came on board Selim's vessel, the
+Turks made repeated attempts to
+obtain information from some of the
+Sheiks concerning the gold mines,
+whose discovery was the main object
+of the expedition. A sensible sort of
+negro, one Lombé, replied to their
+questions, and extinguished their
+hopes. There was not even copper,
+he said, in the land of the Bari,
+although it was brought thither from
+a remoter country, and Lakono had
+several specimens of it in his treasury.
+On a gold bar being shown to him, he
+took it for copper, whence it was inferred
+that the two metals were
+blended in the specimens possessed
+by the sultan, and that the mountains
+of the copper country also yielded the
+more precious ore. This country,
+however, lay many days' journey
+distant from the Nile, and, had it even
+bordered on the river, there would
+have been no possibility of reaching
+it. At a very short distance above
+Palenja, the expedition encountered
+a bar of rocks thrown across the
+stream. And although Mr Werne
+hints the possibility of having tried
+the passage, the Turks were sick of
+the voyage and were heartily glad to
+turn back. At the period of the floods
+the river rises eighteen feet; and
+there then could be no difficulty in
+surmounting the barrier. Now the
+waters were falling fast. The six
+weeks lost by Arnaud's fault were
+again bitterly deplored by the adventurous
+German&mdash;the only one of
+the party who really desired to proceed.
+Twenty days sooner, and the
+rocks could neither have hindered an
+advance nor afforded pretext for a
+retreat. To Mr Werne's proposal,
+that they should wait two months
+where they were, when the setting
+in of the rains would obviate the
+difficulty, a deaf ear was turned&mdash;an
+insufficient stock of provisions was
+objected; and although the flotilla
+had been stored for a ten months'
+voyage, and had then been little more
+than two months absent from Chartum,
+the wastefulness that had prevailed
+gave some validity to the objection.
+One-and-twenty guns were fired,
+as a farewell salute to the beautiful
+country Mr Werne would so gladly
+have explored, and which, he is fully
+convinced, contains so much of interest;
+and the sluggish Egyptian barks
+retraced their course down stream.</p>
+
+<p>It is proper here to note a shrewd
+conjecture of Mr Werne's, that above
+the point reached by himself and his
+companions, the difficulties of ascending
+the river would greatly and rapidly
+increase. The bed becomes rocky,
+and the Bach'r el Abiat, assuming in
+some measure the character of a
+mountain stream, augments the rapidity
+of its current: so much so, that
+Mr Werne insists on the necessity of
+a strong north wind, believing that
+towing, however willingly and vigorously
+attempted, would be found unavailing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+This is another strong
+argument in favour of employing
+steamboats.</p>
+
+<p>Although the narrative of the homeward
+voyage is by no means uninteresting,
+and contains details of the
+river's course valuable to the geographer
+and to the future explorer, it has
+not the attraction of the up-stream
+narrative. The freshness is worn off;
+the waters sink, and the writer's spirits
+seem disposed to follow their example;
+there is all the difference between
+attack and retreat&mdash;between a cheerful
+and hopeful advance, and a retrograde
+movement before the work is half done.
+But, vexed as an enthusiastic and
+intrepid man might naturally feel at
+seeing his hopes frustrated by the
+indolent indifference of his companions,
+Mr Werne could hardly deem his five
+months thrown away. We are quite
+sure those who read his book will
+be of opinion that the time was
+most industriously and profitably employed.</p>
+
+<p>A sorrowful welcome awaited our
+traveller, after his painful and fatiguing
+voyage. There dwelt at Chartum a
+renegade physician, a Palermitan
+named Pasquali, whose Turkish name
+was Soliman Effendi, and who was
+notorious as a poisoner, and for the
+unscrupulous promptness with which
+he removed persons in the slightest
+degree unpleasing to himself or to his
+patron Achmet Bascha. In Arabia,
+it was currently believed, he had once
+poisoned thirty-three soldiers, with
+the sole view of bringing odium upon
+the physician and apothecary, two
+Frenchmen, who attended them. In
+Chartum he was well known to have
+committed various murders.</p>
+
+<p>"Although this man," says Mr
+Werne, "was most friendly and sociable
+with me, I had everything to
+fear from him on account of my
+brother, by whom the Bascha had
+declared his intention of replacing him
+in the post of medical inspector of
+Bellet-Sudàn. It was therefore in the
+most solemn earnest that I threatened
+him with death, if upon my return I
+found my brother dead, and learned
+that they had come at all in contact.
+'<i lang="it" xml:lang="it">Dio guarde, che affronto!</i>' was his
+reply; and he quietly drank off his
+glass of rum, the same affront having
+already been offered him in the
+Bascha's divan; the reference being
+naturally to the poisonings laid to his
+charge in Arabia and here."</p>
+
+<p>At Chartum Mr Werne found his
+brother alive, but on the eleventh day
+after his return he died in his arms.
+The renegade had had no occasion to
+employ his venomous drugs; the work
+had been done as surely by the fatal
+influence of the noxious climate.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The accomplishments brought back
+by our grandfathers from the Continent
+to grace the drawing-rooms
+of May Fair, or enliven the solitudes
+of Yorkshire, were a favourite subject
+for satirists, some "sixty years
+since." Admitting the descriptions
+to be correct, it must be remembered
+that the grand tour had become
+at once monotonous and deleterious,&mdash;from
+Calais to Paris, from Paris
+to Geneva, from Geneva to Milan,
+from Milan to Florence, thence to
+Rome, and thence to Naples, the English
+"my lord," with his bear-leader,
+was conducted with regularity,
+if not with speed; and the
+same course of sights and society was
+prescribed for, and taken by, generation
+after generation of Oxonians and
+Cantabs. Then, again, the Middle
+Ages, with their countless graceful
+vestiges, their magnificent architecture,
+which even archaic Evelyn
+thought and called "barbarous,"
+their chivalrous customs, religious
+observances, rude yet picturesque
+arts, and fanciful literature, were literally
+blotted out from the note-book
+of the English tourist. Whatever was
+classical or modern, that was worthy
+of regard; but whatever belonged to
+"Europe's middle night," <em>that</em> the
+descendants of Saxon thanes or Norman
+knights disdained even to look
+at. Even had there been no Pyrenees
+to cross, or no Bay of Biscay to encounter,
+so Gothic a country as Spain
+was not likely to attract to its dusky
+sierras, frequent monasteries, and
+mediæval towns, the fine gentlemen
+and Mohawks of those enlightened
+days; nor need we be surprised that
+the natural beauties of that romantic
+land&mdash;its weird mountains, primæval
+forests, and fertile plains, fragrant
+with orange groves, and bright with
+flowers of every hue, unknown to English
+gardens&mdash;remained unexplored
+by the countrymen of Gray and Goldsmith,
+who have put on record their
+marked disapprobation of Nature in
+her wildest and most sublime mood.
+Thus, then, it was that, with rare
+exceptions, the pleasant land of Spain
+was a sealed book to Englishmen, until
+the Great Captain rivalled and
+eclipsed the feats and triumphs of the
+Black Prince in every province of the
+Peninsula, and enabled guardsmen
+and hussars to admire the treasures of
+Spanish art in many a church and
+convent unspoiled by French rapacity.
+Nor may we deny our obligations
+to Gallic plunderers. Many a
+noble picture that now delights the
+eyes of thousands, exalts and purifies
+the taste of youthful painters, and
+sends, on the purple wings of European
+fame, the name of its Castilian, or
+Valencian, or Andalusian creator
+down the stream of time, but for
+Soult or Sebastiani, might still have
+continued to waste its sweetness on
+desert air. Thenceforward, in spite
+of brigands and captain-generals,
+rival constitutions and contending
+princes, have adventurous Englishmen
+been found to delight in rambling,
+like Inglis, in the footsteps of Don
+Quixote,&mdash;emulating the deeds of
+Peterborough, like Ranelagh and
+Henningsen, or throwing themselves
+into the actual life, and studying the
+historic manners of Spain, like Carnarvon
+and Ford. Still, though soldier
+and statesman, philosopher and
+littérateur, had put forth their best
+powers in writing of the country that
+so worthily interested them, a void
+was ever left for some new comer to
+fill; and right well, in his three handsome,
+elaborate, and most agreeable
+volumes, has Mr Stirling filled that
+void. Not one of the goodly band of
+Spanish painters now lacks a "sacred
+poet" to inscribe his name in the
+temple of fame. With indefatigable
+research, most discriminating taste,
+and happiest success, has Mr Stirling
+pursued and completed his pleasant
+labour of love, and presented to the
+world "Annals of the Artists of
+Spain" worthy&mdash;can we say more?&mdash;of
+recording the triumphs of El
+Mudo and El Greco, Murillo and
+Velasquez.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>At least a century and a half<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+before Holbein was limning the
+burly frame and gorgeous dress of
+bluff King Hal, and creating at once
+a school and an appreciation of art
+in England, were the early painters
+of Spain enriching their magnificent
+cathedrals, and religious houses, with
+pictures displaying as correct a
+knowledge of art, and as rich a tone
+of colour, as the works of that great
+master. There is something singular
+and mysterious in the contrast afforded
+by the early history of painting in the
+two countries. While in poetry, in
+painting on glass, in science, in manufactures,
+in architecture, England
+appears to have kept pace with other
+countries, in painting and in sculpture
+she appears always to have lagged
+far behind. Gower, Chaucer, Friar
+Bacon, William of Wyckham, Waynfleete,
+the unknown builders of ten
+thousand churches and convents, the
+manufacturers of the glass that still
+charms our eyes, and baffles the
+rivalry of our Willements and Wailes,
+at York and elsewhere&mdash;the illuminators
+of the missals and religious
+books, whose delicate fancy and
+lustrous tints are even now teaching
+our highborn ladies that long-forgotten
+art&mdash;yielded the palm to none of
+their brethren in Europe; but where
+and who were our contemporaneous
+painters and sculptors? In the luxurious
+and graceful court of Edward
+IV., who represented that art which
+Dello and Juan de Castro, under
+royal and ecclesiastical patronage,
+had carried to such perfection in
+Spain? That no English painters of
+any note flourished at that time, is
+evident from the silence of all historical
+documents; nor does it appear
+that foreign artists were induced, by
+the hope of gain or fame, to instruct
+our countrymen in the art to which
+the discoveries of the Van Eycks had
+imparted such a lustre. It is true
+that the desolating Wars of the Roses
+left scant time and means to the
+sovereigns and nobility of England
+for fostering the arts of peace; but
+still great progress was being made in
+nearly all those arts, save those of
+which we speak; and, if we remember
+rightly, Mr Pugin assigns the triumph
+of English architecture to this
+troublous epoch. Nor, although Juan
+I., Pedro the Cruel, and Juan II.,
+were admirers and patrons of painting,
+was it to royal or noble favour
+that Spanish art owed its chiefest
+obligations. The church&mdash;which, after
+the great iconoclastic struggle of
+the eighth century, had steadily acted
+on the Horatian maxim,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus"&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">in Spain embraced the young and
+diffident art with an ardour and a
+munificence which, in its palmiest and
+most prosperous days, that art never
+forgot, and was never wearied of
+requiting. Was it so in England?
+and do we owe our lack of ancient
+English pictures to the reforming zeal
+of our iconoclastic reformers? Did
+the religious pictures of our Rincons,
+our Nuñez, and our Borgoñas, share
+the fate of the libraries that were
+ruthlessly destroyed by the ignorant
+myrmidons of royal rapacity? If so,
+it is almost certain that the records
+which bewail and denounce the fate
+of books and manuscripts, would not
+pass over the destruction of pictures;
+while it is still more certain that the
+monarch and his courtiers would have
+appropriated to themselves the pictured
+saints, no less than the holy
+vessels, of monastery and convent.
+It cannot, therefore, be said that the
+English Reformation deprived our
+national school of painting of its most
+munificent patrons, and most ennobling
+and purest subjects, in the destruction
+of the monasteries, and the
+spoliation of churches. That the
+Church of England, had she remained
+unreformed, might, in the sixteenth
+and seventeenth centuries, have emulated
+her Spanish or Italian sister in
+her patronage of, and beneficial influence
+upon, the arts of painting and
+sculpture, it is needless either to
+deny or assert; we fear there is no
+room for contending that, since the
+Reformation, she has in any way
+fostered, guided, or exalted either of
+those religious arts.</p>
+
+<p>In Spain, on the contrary, as Mr
+Stirling well points out, it was under
+the august shadow of the church that
+painting first raised her head, gained
+her first triumphs, executed her most
+glorious works, and is even now prolonging
+her miserable existence.</p>
+
+<p>The venerable cathedral of Toledo
+was, in effect, the cradle of Spanish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+painting. Founded in 1226 by St
+Ferdinand, it remained, to quote Mr
+Stirling's words, "for four hundred
+years a nucleus and gathering-place
+for genius, where artists swarmed and
+laboured like bees, and where splendid
+prelates&mdash;the popes of the Peninsula&mdash;lavished
+their princely revenues
+to make fair and glorious the temple
+of God intrusted to their care." Here
+Dolfin introduced, in 1418, painting on
+glass; here the brothers Rodrigues
+displayed their forceful skill as sculptors,
+in figures which still surmount the
+great portal of that magnificent cathedral;
+and here Rincon, the first Spanish
+painter who quitted the stiff mediæval
+style, loved best to execute his graceful
+works. Nor when, with the house of
+Austria, the genius of Spanish art
+quitted the Bourbon-governed land,
+did the custodians of this august
+temple forget to stimulate and reward
+the detestable conceits, and burlesque
+sublimities, of such artists as the depraved
+taste of the eighteenth century
+delighted to honour. Thus, in 1721,
+Narciso Tome erected at the back of
+the choir an immense marble altar-piece,
+called the Trasparente, by order
+of Archbishop Diego de Astorgo, for
+which he received two hundred thousand
+ducats; and thus, fifty years later,
+Bayeu and Maella were employed to
+paint in fresco the cloisters that had
+once gloried in the venerable paintings
+of Juan de Borgoña. At Toledo, then,
+under the auspices of the great Castilian
+queen, Isabella, may be said to
+have risen the Castilian school of art.
+The other great schools of Spanish
+painting were those of Andalusia, of
+Valencia, and that of Arragon and
+Catalonia; but, for the mass of English
+readers, the main interest lies in
+the two first, the schools that produced
+or acquired El Mudo and El
+Greco, Velasquez and Murillo. The
+works of the two last-mentioned
+artists are now so well known, and so
+highly appreciated in England, that
+we are tempted to postpone for the
+present any notice of that most delightful
+part of Sir Stirling's book
+which treats of them, and invite our
+readers to trace the course of art in
+that stern old city to which we have
+already referred, Toledo.</p>
+
+<p>Before the grave had closed upon
+the cold remains of Rincon, Juan de
+Borgoña had proved himself worthy
+of wielding the Castilian pencil, and,
+under the patronage of the great
+Toledan archbishop, Ximenes de Cisneros,
+produced works which still
+adorn the winter chapter-room of that
+cathedral. These are interesting not
+only as specimens of art, but as manifestations
+of the religious ���������  of
+Spain at the commencement of the
+sixteenth century: let Mr Stirling
+describe one of the most remarkable
+of these early paintings:&mdash;"The lower
+end of the finely-proportioned, but
+badly-lighted room, is occupied by the
+'Last Judgment,' a large and remarkable
+composition. Immediately
+beneath the figure of our Lord, a
+hideous fiend, in the shape of a boar,
+roots a fair and reluctant woman out
+of her grave with his snout, as if she
+were a trufle, twining his tusks in her
+long amber locks. To the left are
+drawn up in a line a party of the
+wicked, each figure being the incarnation
+of a sin, of which the name is
+written on a label above in Gothic,
+letters, as <span class="oldenglish">'Soberbia</span>,' and the like.
+On their shoulders sit little malicious
+imps, in the likeness of monkeys, and
+round their lower limbs, flames climb
+and curl. The forms of the good and
+faithful, on the right, display far less
+vigour of fancy." So the good characters
+in modern works of fiction are
+more feebly drawn, and excite less
+interest, than the Rob Roys and
+Dirk Hattericks, the Conrads and
+the Manfreds. Nor was Toledo at
+this time wanting in the sister art of
+sculpture: while the Rincons, and
+Berruguete, and Borgoña, were enriching
+the cathedral with their pictures
+and their frescoes, Vigarny was
+elaborating the famous high altar of
+marble, and the stalls on the epistle
+side. In concluding his notice of
+Vigarny, "the first great Castilian
+sculptor," Mr Stirling gives a sketch
+of the style of sculpture popular in
+Spain. Like nearly all the "Cosas
+d'Espana," it is peculiar, and owes
+its peculiarity to the same cause that
+has impressed so marked a character
+on Spanish painting and Spanish
+pharmacopeia&mdash;religion.</p>
+
+<p>Let not the English lover of the
+fine arts, invited to view the masterpieces
+of Spanish sculpture, imagine
+that his eyes are to be feasted on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+nude, though hardly indecent forms of
+Venuses and Apollos, Ganymedes and
+Andromedas.</p>
+
+<p>Beautiful, and breathing, and full
+of imagination, indeed, those Spanish
+statues are&mdash;"idols," as our author
+generally terms them; but the idolatry
+they represent or evoke is heavenly,
+not earthly&mdash;spiritual, not sensuous.
+Chiselled out of a block of cedar
+or lime-wood, with the most reverential
+care, the image of the Queen of Heaven
+enjoyed the most exquisite and delicate
+services of the rival sister arts,
+and, "copied from the loveliest models,
+was presented to her adorers sweetly
+smiling, and gloriously apparelled in
+clothing of wrought gold." But we
+doubt whether any Englishman who
+has not seen can understand the
+marvellous beauty of these painted
+wooden images. Thus Berruguete,
+who combined both arts in perfection,
+executed in 1539 the archbishop's
+throne at Toledo, "over which hovers
+an airy and graceful figure, carved in
+dark walnut, representing our Lord
+on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
+remarkable for its fine and floating
+drapery."</p>
+
+<p>Continuing our list of Toledan
+artists, "whose whole lives and labours
+lay within the shadow of that
+great Toledan church, whose genius
+was spent in its service, and whose
+names were hardly known beyond its
+walls," (vol. i. p. 150,) we come to
+T. Comontes, who, among other works
+for that munificent Alma Mater, executed
+from the designs of Vigarny the
+retablo (reredos) for the chapel "de
+los Reyes Nuevos," in 1533. It was
+at Toledo that El Mudo, the Spanish
+Titian, died, and at Toledo that Blas
+del Prado was born. When in 1593
+the Emperor of Morocco asked that
+the best painter of Spain might be sent
+to his court, Philip II. appointed Blas
+del Prado to fulfil the Mussulman's
+artistic desires: previous to this, the
+chapter of Toledo had named him
+their second painter, and he had
+painted a large altar-piece, and other
+pictures, for their cathedral. But
+perhaps the Toledan annals of art
+contain no loftier name than that of
+El Greco. Domemis Theotocopuli, who,
+born, it is surmised, at Venice in 1548,
+is found in 1577 painting at Toledo, for
+the cathedral, his famous picture of
+The Parting of our Lord's Garment,
+on which he bestowed the labour of a
+decade, and of which we give Mr
+Stirling's picturesque description.</p>
+
+<p>"The august figure of the Saviour,
+arrayed in a red robe, occupies the
+centre of the canvass; the head, with
+its long dark locks, is superb; and the
+noble and beautiful countenance seems
+to mourn for the madness of them who
+'knew not what they did;' his right
+arm is folded on his bosom, seemingly
+unconscious of the rope which encircles
+his wrist, and is violently dragged
+downwards by two executioners in
+front. Around and behind him appears
+a throng of priests and warriors,
+amongst whom the Greek himself
+figures as the centurion, in black armour.
+In drawing and composition,
+this picture is truly admirable, and
+the colouring is, on the whole, rich
+and effective&mdash;although it is here and
+there laid on in that spotted streaky
+manner, which afterwards became the
+great and prominent defect of El
+Greco's style."</p>
+
+<p>Summoned from the cathedral to the
+court, El Greco painted, by royal command,
+a large altar-piece, for the church
+at the Escurial, on the martyrdom of St
+Maurice; "little less extravagant and
+atrocious," says our lively author, "than
+the massacre it recorded." Neither
+king nor court painters could praise this
+performance, and the effect of his failure
+at the Escurial appears to have been
+his return to Toledo. Here, in 1584,
+he painted, by order of the Archbishop
+Quiroga, "The Burial of the Count of
+Orgaz," a picture then and now esteemed
+as his master-piece, and still
+to be seen in the church of Santo
+Tomé. Warm is the encomium, and
+eloquently expressed, which Mr Stirling
+bestows upon this gem of Toledan
+art. "The artist, or lover of art, who
+has once beheld it, will never, as he
+rambles among the winding streets of
+the ancient city, pass the pretty brick
+belfry of that church&mdash;full of horse-shoe
+niches and Moorish reticulations,&mdash;without
+turning aside to gaze upon its
+superb picture once more. It hangs
+to your left, on the wall opposite to
+the high altar. Gonzalo Ruiz, Count
+of Orgaz, head of a house famous in
+romance, rebuilt the fabric of the
+church, and was in all respects so religious
+and gracious a grandee, that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+when he was buried in 1323, within
+these very walls, St Stephen and St
+Augustine came down from heaven, and
+laid his body in the tomb with their own
+holy hands&mdash;an incident which forms
+the subject of the picture. St Stephen,
+a dark-haired youth of noble countenance,
+and St Augustine, a hoary old
+man wearing a mitre, both of them
+arrayed in rich pontifical vestments
+of golden tissue, support the dead
+Count in their arms, and gently lower
+him into the grave, shrouded like a
+baron of Roslin 'in his iron panoply.'
+Nothing can be finer than the execution
+and the contrast of these three
+heads; never was the image of the
+peaceful death of 'the just man'
+more happily conveyed, than in the
+placid face and powerless form of the
+warrior: nor did Giorgione or Titian
+ever excel the splendid colouring of
+his black armour, rich with gold
+damascening. To the right of the
+picture, behind St Stephen, kneels a
+fair boy in a dark dress, perhaps the
+son of the Count; beyond rises the
+stately form of a gray friar; to the
+left, near St Augustine, stand two
+priests in gorgeous vestments, holding,
+the one a book, and the other a taper.
+Behind this principal group appear
+the noble company of mourners, hidalgos
+and old Christians all, with
+olive faces and beards of formal cut,
+looking on with true Castilian gravity
+and phlegm, as if the transaction were
+an every-day occurrence. As they
+were mostly portraits, perhaps some of
+the originals did actually stand, a few
+years later, with the like awe in their
+hearts and calm on their cheeks, in
+the royal presence-chamber, when the
+news came to court that the proud
+Armada of Spain had been vanquished
+by the galleys of Howard,
+and cast away on the rocks of the
+Hebrides." We make no apology for
+thus freely quoting from Mr Stirling's
+pages his description of this picture;
+the extract brings vividly before our
+readers at once the merits of the old
+Toledan painter, and his accomplished
+biographer and critic. After embellishing
+his adopted city, not only with
+pictures such as this, but with works
+of sculpture and architecture, and
+vindicating his graceful profession
+from the unsparing exactions of the
+tax-gatherers&mdash;a class who appear to
+have waged an unrelenting though
+intermittent war against the fine arts
+in Spain&mdash;he died there at a green
+old age in 1625, and was buried in
+the church of St Bartolemé. Even
+the painters most employed at the
+munificent and art-loving court of the
+second and third Philips, found time to
+paint for the venerable cathedral.
+Thus, in 1615, Vincencio Carducho,
+the Florentine, painted, with Eugenio
+Caxes, a series of frescoes in the
+chapel of the Sagrario; and thus Eugenio
+Caxes, leaving the works at the
+Pardo and Madrid, painted for the cathedral
+of Toledo the Adoration of the
+Magi, and other independent pictures.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the school of El Greco
+was producing worthy fruit; from it,
+in the infancy of the seventeenth century,
+came forth Luis Tristan, an artist
+even now almost unknown in London
+and Edinburgh, but whose style Velasquez
+did not disdain to imitate,
+and whose praises he was never tired
+of sounding. "Born, bred, and
+sped" in Toledo, or its neighbourhood,
+as Morales was emphatically the
+painter of Badajoz, so may Tristan
+be termed the painter of Toledo.
+No foreign graces, no classical models,
+adorned or vitiated his stern Spanish
+style; yet, in his portrait of Archbishop
+Sandoval, he is said by Mr
+Stirling to have united the elaborate
+execution of Sanchez Coello with
+much of the spirit of Titian. And of
+him is the pleasant story recorded,
+that having, while yet a stripling,
+painted for the Jeronymite convent at
+Toledo a Last Supper, for which he
+asked two hundred ducats, and being
+denied payment by the frugal friars, he
+appealed with them to the arbitration
+of his old master, El Greco, who, having
+viewed the picture, called the young
+painter a rogue and a novice, for
+asking only two for a painting worth
+five hundred ducats. In the same
+Toledan church that contains the ashes
+of his great master, lies the Murcian
+Pedro Orrente, called by our author
+"the Bassano, or the Roos&mdash;the
+great sheep and cattle master of
+Spain:" he too was employed by the
+art-encouraging chapter, and the cathedral
+possessed several of his finest
+pictures. But with Tristan and Orrente
+the glories of Toledan art paled
+and waned; and, trusting that our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+readers have not been uninterested in
+following our brief sketch of the remarkable
+men who for four hundred
+years rendered this quaint old Gothic
+city famous for its artistic splendours,
+we retrace our steps, halting and perplexed
+among so many pleasant ways,
+blooming flowers, and brilliant bowers,
+to the magnificent, albeit gloomy
+Escurial, where Philip II lavished
+the wealth of his mighty empire in
+calling forth the most vigorous energies
+of Spanish and of foreign art.</p>
+
+<p>For more than thirty years did the
+astonished shepherds of the Guadaramas
+watch the mysterious pile
+growing under scaffolding alive with
+armies of workmen; and often, while
+the cares of the Old World and the
+New&mdash;to say nothing of that other
+World, which was seldom out of
+Philip's thoughts, and to which his
+cruel fanaticism hurried so many
+wretches before their time&mdash;might
+be supposed to demand his attention
+at Madrid, were they privileged to
+see their mighty monarch perched
+on a lofty ledge of rock, for hours,
+intently gazing upon the rising walls
+and towers which were to redeem his
+vow to St Laurence at the battle of
+Saint Quentin, and to hand down,
+through all Spanish time, the name
+and fame of the royal and religious
+founder. On the 23d of April 1563,
+the first stone of this Cyclopean
+palace was laid, under the direction
+of Bautiste di Toledo, at whose death,
+in 1567, the work was continued by
+Juan de Herrera, and finally perfected
+by Leoni (as to the interior decorations)
+in 1597. Built in the quaint
+unshapely form of St Laurence's
+gridiron, the Escurial is doubtless
+open to much severe criticism; but
+the marvellous grandeur, the stern
+beauty, and the characteristic effect
+of the gigantic pile, must for ever
+enchant the eyes of all beholders,
+who are not doomed by perverse fate
+to look through the green spectacles
+of gentle dulness. But it is not our
+purpose to describe the Escurial; we
+only wish to bring before our readers
+the names and merits of a few of the
+Spanish artists, who found among its
+gloomy corridors or sumptuous halls
+niches in the temple of fame, and in
+its saturnine founder the most gracious
+and munificent of patrons.
+Suffice it, then, to say of the palace-convent,
+in Mr Stirling's graceful
+words, that "Italy was ransacked for
+pictures and statues, models and
+designs; the mountains of Sicily and
+Sardinia for jaspers and agates; and
+every sierra of Spain furnished its
+contribution of marble. Madrid,
+Florence, and Milan supplied the
+sculptures of the altars; Guadalajara
+and Cuenca, gratings and balconies;
+Saragossa the gates of brass; Toledo
+and the Low Countries, lamps, candelabra,
+and bells; the New World,
+the finer woods; and the Indies, both
+East and West, the gold and gems of
+the custodia, and the five hundred
+reliquaries. The tapestries were
+wrought in Flemish looms; and, for
+the sacerdotal vestments, there was
+scarce a nunnery in the empire, from
+the rich and noble orders of Brabant
+and Lombardy to the poor sisterhoods
+of the Apulian highlands, but sent
+an offering of needlework to the
+honoured fathers of the Escurial."</p>
+
+<p>We could wish to exclude from our
+paper all notice of the foreign artists,
+whose genius assisted in decorating
+the new wonder of the world; but
+how omit from any Escurialian or
+Philippian catalogue the names of
+Titian and Cellini, Cambiaso and
+Tibaldi? For seven long years did
+the great Venetian labour at his
+famous Last Supper, painted for,
+and placed in the refectory; and countless
+portraits by his fame-dealing
+pencil graced the halls and galleries
+of the Palatian convents. In addition
+to these, the Pardo boasted eleven of
+his portraits; among them, one of the
+hero Duke Emmanuel Philibert of
+Savoy, who has received a second
+grant of renown&mdash;let us hope a more
+lasting one<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>&mdash;from the poetic chisel
+of Marochetti, and stands now in the
+great square of Turin, the very impersonation
+of chivalry, horse and
+hero alike&mdash;����������� �����������.</p>
+
+<p>The magnificent Florentine contributed
+"the matchless marble crucifix
+behind the prior's seat in the
+choir," of which Mr Stirling says&mdash;"Never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+was marble shaped into a
+sublimer image of the great sacrifice
+for man's atonement." Luca Cambiaso,
+the Genoese, painted the
+Martyrdom of St Laurence for the
+high altar of the church&mdash;a picture
+that must have been regarded, from
+its subject and position, as the first of
+all the Escurial's religious pictures,&mdash;besides
+the vault of the choir, and
+two great frescoes for the grand staircase.</p>
+
+<p>Pellegrino Tibaldi, a native of the
+Milanese, came at Philip's request to
+the Escurial in 1586. He, too,
+painted a Martyrdom of Saint Laurence
+for the high altar, but apparently
+with no better success than his immediate
+predecessor, Zuccaro, whose
+work his was to replace. But the
+ceiling of the library was Tibaldi's
+field of fame; on it he painted a fresco
+194 feet long by 30 wide, which still
+speaks to his skill in composition and
+brilliancy in colouring. Philip rewarded
+him with a Milanese marquisate
+and one hundred thousand
+crowns.</p>
+
+<p>Morales, the first great devotional
+painter of Castile, on whom his admiring
+countrymen bestowed the soubriquet
+of "divine"&mdash;with more propriety,
+it must be confessed, than their
+descendants have shown in conferring
+it upon Arguelles&mdash;contributed but one
+picture to the court, and none to the
+Escurial; but in Alonzo Sanchez
+Coello, born at Benifayrô, in Valencia,
+we find a famous native artist
+decorating the superb walls of the new
+palace. While at Madrid he was
+lodged in the Treasury, a building
+which communicated with the palace
+by a door, of which the King kept a
+key; and often would the royal Mæcenas
+slip thus, unobserved by the
+artist, into his studio. Emperors and
+popes, kings and queens, princes and
+princesses, were alike his friends and
+subjects; but we are now only concerned
+to relate that, in 1582, he
+painted "five altar-pieces for the Escurial,
+each containing a pair of
+saints." Far more of interest, however,
+attaches itself to the name and
+memory of Juan Fernandez Navarete,
+"whose genius was no less remarkable
+than his infirmities, and
+whose name&mdash;El Mudo, the dumb
+painter&mdash;is as familiar to Europe as
+his works are unknown," (vol. i. p.
+250.) Born at Logroño in 1526, he
+went in his youth to Italy. Here he
+attracted the notice of Don Luis
+Manrique, grand-almoner to Philip,
+who procured him an invitation to
+Madrid. He was immediately set to
+work for the Escurial; and in 1571
+four pictures, the Assumption of the
+Virgin, the Martyrdom of St James
+the Great, St Philip, and a Repenting
+St Jerome, were hung in the
+sacristy of the convent, and brought
+him five hundred ducats. In 1576 he
+painted, for the reception-hall of the
+convent, a large picture representing
+Abraham receiving the three Angels.
+"This picture," says Father
+Andres Ximenes, quoted by Mr Stirling,
+(vol. i. p. 255) "so appropriate
+to the place it fills, though the first of
+the master's works that usually meets
+the eye, might, for its excellence, be
+viewed the last, and is well worth
+coming many a league to see." An
+agreement, bearing date the same
+year, between the painter and the
+prior, by which the former covenanted
+to paint thirty-two large pictures
+for the side altars, is preserved
+by Cean Bermudez; but El Mudo
+unfortunately died when only eight of
+the series had been painted. On the
+28th of March 1579 this excellent and
+remarkable painter died in the 53d
+year of his age. A few years later,
+Juan Gomez painted from a design of
+Tibaldi a large picture of St Ursula,
+which replaced one of Cambiaso's
+least satisfactory Escurialian performances.</p>
+
+<p>While acres of wall and ceiling were
+being thus painted in fresco, or covered
+by large and fine pictures, the Escurial
+gave a ready home to the most
+minute of the fine arts: illuminators of
+missals, and painters of miniatures,
+embroiderers of vestments, and designers
+of altar-cloths, found their
+labours appreciated, and their genius
+called forth, no less than their more
+aspiring compeers. Fray Andrez de
+Leon, and Fray Martin de Palencia,
+enriched the Escurial with exquisite
+specimens of their skill in the arts of
+miniature-painting and illuminating;
+and under the direction of Fray Lorenzo
+di Monserrate, and Diego Rutiner,
+the conventual school of embroidery
+produced frontals and dalmatics,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+copes, chasubles, and altar-cloths, of
+rarest beauty and happiest designs.
+The goldsmiths and silversmiths, too,
+lacked not encouragement in this greatest
+of temples. Curious was the skill,
+and cunning the hand, which fashioned
+the tower of gold and jasper
+to contain the Escurial's holiest relique,&mdash;a
+muscle, singed and charred, of St
+Laurence&mdash;and no doubt that skill
+was nobly rewarded.</p>
+
+<p>In 1598, clasping to his breast the
+veil of Our Lady of Monserrat, in a
+little alcove hard by the church of the
+Escurial, died its grim, magnificent
+founder. He had witnessed the completion
+of his gigantic designs: palace
+and convent, there it stood&mdash;a monument
+alike of his piety and his pride,
+and a proof of the grandeur and resources
+of the mighty empire over
+which he ruled. But he appears to
+have thought with the poet&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Weighed in the balance, hero-dust<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is vile as mortal clay;"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">for he built no stately mausoleum,
+merely a common vault, to receive the
+imperial dead. This omission, in 1617,
+Philip III. undertook to supply; and
+Giovanni Battista Crescenzi, an Italian,
+was selected as the architect.
+For thirty-four years did he and his
+successors labour at this royal necropolis,
+which when finished "became,
+under the name of the Pantheon, the
+most splendid chamber of the Escurial."&mdash;(Vol.
+i. p. 412.)</p>
+
+<p>Mr Stirling's second volume opens
+with a graphic account of the decay of
+Spanish power under Philip IV., and
+an equally graphic description of this,
+the chief architectural triumph of his
+long inglorious reign. The Pantheon
+was "an octagonal chamber 113 feet
+in circumference, and 38 feet in
+height, from the pavement to the
+centre of the domed vault. Each of
+its eight sides, excepting the two
+which are occupied by its entrance,
+and the altar, contain four niches and
+four marble urns; the walls, Corinthian
+pilasters, cornices and dome,
+are formed of the finest marbles of
+Toledo and Biscay, Tortosa and Genoa;
+and the bases, capitals, scrolls,
+and other ornaments, are of gilt bronze.
+Placed beneath the presbytery of the
+church, and approached by the long
+descent of a stately marble staircase,
+this hall of royal tombs, gleaming
+with gold and polished jasper, seems
+a creation of Eastern romance....
+Hither Philip IV. would come, when
+melancholy&mdash;the fatal taint of his
+blood was strong upon him&mdash;to hear
+mass, and meditate on death, sitting
+in the niche which was shortly to
+receive his bones." Yet this was the
+monarch whose quick eye detected
+the early genius of Velasquez, and
+who bore the palm as a patron from
+all the princes of his house, and all
+the sovereigns of Europe. Well did
+the great painter repay the discriminating
+friendship of the king, and so
+long as Spanish art endures, will the
+features of Philip IV. be known in
+every European country; and his fair
+hair, melancholy mien, impassive
+countenance and cold eyes, reveal to
+all time the hereditary characteristics
+of the phlegmatic house of Austria.</p>
+
+<p>Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez
+was born at Seville in 1599.
+Here he entered the school of Herrera
+the Elder, a dashing painter, and a
+violent man, who was for ever losing
+alike his temper and his scholars.
+Velasquez soon left his turbulent rule
+for the gentler instruction of Francisco
+Pacheco. In his studio the young
+artist worked diligently, while he took
+lessons at the same time of a yet
+more finished artist&mdash;nature; the
+nature of bright, sunny, graceful
+Andalusia. Thus, while Velasquez
+cannot be called a self-taught painter,
+he retained to the last that freedom
+from mannerism, and that gay fidelity
+to nature, which so often&mdash;not in his
+case&mdash;compensate for a departure
+from the highest rules and requirements
+of art.</p>
+
+<p>While he was thus studying and
+painting the flowers and the fruits,
+the damsels and the beggars, of sunny
+Seville, there arrived in that beautiful
+city a collection of Italian and Spanish
+pictures. These exercised no small
+influence on the taste and style of the
+young artist; but, true to his country,
+and with the happy inspiration of genius,
+it was to Luis Tristan of Toledo,
+rather than to any foreign master, that
+he directed his chief attention; and
+hence the future chief of the Castilian
+school was enabled to combine with
+its merits the excellencies of both the
+other great divisions of Spanish art.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+At the end of five years spent in this
+manner, he married Pacheco's daughter,
+who witnessed all his forty years'
+labours and successes, and closed his
+dying eyes. At the age of twenty-three,
+Velasquez, anxious to enlarge
+his acquaintance with the masterpieces
+of other schools, went to Madrid;
+but after spending a few months
+there, and at the Escurial, he returned
+to Seville&mdash;soon, however, to be recalled
+at the bidding of the great
+minister and Mæcenas, Olivarez.
+Now, in 1623, set in the tide of favour
+and of fame, which henceforward
+was not to flag or ebb till the great
+painter lay stretched, out of its reach,
+on the cold bank of death. During
+this summer he painted the noble
+portrait of the king on horseback,
+which was exhibited by royal order
+in front of the church of San Felipe,
+and which caused the all-powerful
+Count-duke to exclaim, that until
+now his majesty had never been
+painted. Charmed and delighted
+with the picture and the painter,
+Philip declared no other artist should
+in future paint his royal face; and Mr
+Stirling maliciously adds that "this
+resolution he kept far more religiously
+than his marriage vows, for he appears
+to have departed from it during the
+life-time of his chosen artist, in
+favour only of Rubens and Crayer."
+(Vol. ii. p. 592.) On the 31st of
+October 1623, Velasquez was formally
+appointed painter in ordinary to the
+king, and in 1626 was provided with
+apartments in the Treasury. To this
+period Mr Stirling assigns his best
+likeness of the equestrian monarch, of
+which he says&mdash;"Far more pleasing
+than any other representation of the
+man, it is also one of the finest portraits
+in the world. The king is in
+the glow of youth and health, and in
+the full enjoyment of his fine horse,
+and the breeze blowing freshly from
+the distant hills; he wears dark armour,
+over which flutters a crimson
+scarf; a hat with black plumes covers
+his head, and his right hand grasps a
+truncheon."&mdash;(P. 595.)</p>
+
+<p>In 1628, Velasquez had the pleasure
+of showing Rubens, who had come to
+Madrid as envoy from the Low Countries,
+the galleries of that city, and
+the wonders of the Escurial; and, following
+the advice of that mighty
+master, he visited Italy the next year.
+On that painter-producing soil, his
+steps were first turned to the city of
+Titian; but the sun of art was going
+down over the quays and palaces of
+once glorious Venice, and, hurrying
+through Ferrara and Bologna, the
+eager pilgrim soon reached Rome. In
+this metropolis of religion, learning,
+and art, the young Spaniard spent
+many a pleasant and profitable month:
+nor, while feasting his eyes and storing
+his memory with "its thousand
+forms of beauty and delight," did he
+allow his pencil a perfect holiday.
+The Forge of Vulcan and Joseph's
+Coat were painted in the
+Eternal City. After a few weeks at
+Naples, he returned to Madrid in the
+spring of 1631. Portrait-painting for
+his royal patron, who would visit his
+studio every day, and sit there long
+hours, seems to have been now his
+main occupation; and now was he able
+to requite the friendly aid he had received
+from the Count-duke of Olivarez,
+whose image remains reflected
+on the stream of time, not after the
+hideous caricature of Le Sage, but as
+limned by the truthful&mdash;albeit grace-conferring&mdash;pencil
+of Velasquez.</p>
+
+<p>In 1639, leaving king and courtiers,
+lords and ladies, and soaring above
+the earth on which he had made his
+step so sure, Velasquez aspired to the
+grandest theme of poet, moralist, or
+painter, and nobly did his genius justify
+the flight. His Crucifixion is
+one of the sublimest representations
+conceived by the intellect, and portrayed
+by the hand of man, of that
+stupendous event. "Unrelieved by
+the usual dim landscape, or lowering
+clouds, the cross in this picture has
+no footing upon earth, but is placed
+on a plain dark ground, like an ivory
+carving on its velvet pall. Never was
+that great agony more powerfully depicted.
+The head of our Lord drops
+on his right shoulder, over which falls
+a mass of dark hair, while drops of
+blood trickle from his thorn-pierced
+brows. The anatomy of the naked
+body and limbs is executed with as
+much precision as in Cellini's marble,
+which may have served Velasquez as
+a model; and the linen cloth wrapped
+about the loins, and even the fir-wood
+of the cross, display his accurate attention
+to the smallest details of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+great subject."&mdash;(Vol. ii. p. 619.)
+This masterpiece now hangs in the
+Royal Gallery of Spain at Madrid.</p>
+
+<p>The all-powerful Olivarez underwent,
+in 1643, the fate of most favourites,
+and experienced the doom denounced
+by the great English satirist
+on "power too great to keep, or to
+resign." He had declared his intention
+of making one Julianillo, an illegitimate
+child of no one exactly knew
+who, his heir; had married him to the
+daughter of the Constable of Castile,
+decked him with titles and honours,
+and proposed to make him governor of
+the heir-apparent. The pencil of
+Velasquez was employed to hand
+down to posterity the features of this
+low-born cause of his great patron's
+downfall, and the portrait of the ex-ballad
+singer in the streets of Madrid
+now graces the collection of Bridgewater
+House. The disgrace of Olivarez
+served to test the fine character
+of Velasquez, who not only sorrowed
+over his patron's misfortunes, but had
+the courage to visit the disgraced
+statesman in his retirement.</p>
+
+<p>The triumphal entrance of Philip
+IV. into Lerida, the surrender of
+Breda, and portraits of the royal
+family, exercised the invention and
+pencil of Velasquez till the year 1648,
+when he was sent by the king on a
+roving mission into Italy&mdash;not to teach
+the puzzled sovereigns the mysterious
+privileges of self-government, but to
+collect such works of art as his fine
+taste might think worthy of transportation
+to Madrid. Landing at Genoa,
+he found himself in presence of a troop
+of Vandyck's gallant nobles: hence he
+went to Milan, Padua, and Venice.
+At the latter city he purchased for his
+royal master two or three pictures of
+Tintoret's, and the Venus and Adonis
+of Paul Veronese. But Rome, as in
+his previous visit, was the chief object
+of his pilgrimage. Innocent X. welcomed
+him gladly, and commanded
+him to paint, not only his own coarse
+features, but the more delicate ones of
+Donna Olympia, his "sister-in-law
+and mistress." So, at least, says our
+author; for the sake of religion and
+human nature, we hope he is mistaken.
+For more than a year did
+Velasquez sojourn in Rome, purchasing
+works of art, and enjoying the
+society of Bernini and Nicolas Poussin,
+Pietro da Cortona and Algardi. "It
+would be pleasing, were it possible, to
+draw aside the dark curtain of centuries,
+and follow him into the palaces
+and studios&mdash;to see him standing by
+while Claude painted, or Algardi
+modelled, (enjoying the hospitalities of
+Bentivoglio, perhaps in that fair hall
+glorious with Guido's recent fresco of
+Aurora)&mdash;or mingling in the group that
+accompanied Poussin in his evening
+walks on the terrace of Trinità de
+Monte."&mdash;(Vol. ii. p. 643.) Meanwhile
+the king was impatiently waiting
+his return, and at last insisted
+upon its being no further delayed; so
+in 1651 the soil of Spain was once
+more trod by her greatest painter.
+Five years later, Velasquez produced
+his extraordinary picture, Las Meniñas&mdash;the
+Maids of Honour, extraordinary
+alike in the composition,
+and in the skill displayed by the
+painter in overcoming its many difficulties.
+Dwarfs and maids of honour,
+hounds and children, lords and ladies,
+pictures and furniture, are all introduced
+into this remarkable picture,
+with such success as to make many
+judges pronounce it to be Velasquez's
+masterpiece, and Luca Giordano to
+christen it "the theology of painting."</p>
+
+<p>The Escurial, from whose galleries
+and cloisters we have been thus lured
+by the greater glory of Velasquez, in
+1656 demanded his presence to arrange
+a large collection of pictures, forty-one
+of which came from the dispersed and
+abused collection of the only real lover
+of the fine arts who has sat on England's
+throne&mdash;that martyr-monarch
+whom the pencil of Vandyck, and the
+pens of Lovelace, Montrose, and Clarendon,
+have immortalised, though
+their swords and counsels failed to
+preserve his life and crown. In 1659
+the cross of Santiago was formally
+conferred on this "king of painters,
+and painter of kings;" and on St Prosper's
+day, in the Church of the Carbonera,
+he was installed knight of that
+illustrious order, the noblest grandees
+of Spain assisting at the solemn ceremonial.
+The famous meeting on the
+Isle of Pheasants, so full of historic
+interest, between the crowns and
+courts of Spain and France, to celebrate
+the nuptials of Louis XIV. and
+Maria Theresa, was destined to acquire
+an additional though melancholy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+fame, as the last appearance of the
+great painter in public, and the possible
+proximate cause of his death.
+To him, as aposentador-mayor, were
+confided all the decorations and arrangements
+of this costly and fatiguing
+pageant: he was also to find lodging
+on the road for the king and the
+court; and some idea of the magnitude
+of his official cares may be derived
+from the fact, that three thousand five
+hundred mules, eighty-two horses,
+seventy coaches, and seventy baggage-waggons,
+formed the train that followed
+the monarch out of Madrid.
+On the 28th of June the court returned
+to Madrid, and on the 6th of
+August its inimitable painter expired.</p>
+
+<p>The merits of Velasquez are now
+generally appreciated in England;
+and the popular voice would, we think,
+ratify the enthusiastic yet sober dictum
+of Wilkie, "In painting an intelligent
+portrait he is nearly unrivalled."
+Yet we have seen how he could rise
+to the highest subject of mortal imagination
+in the Crucifixion; and
+the one solitary naked Venus, which
+Spanish art in four hundred years
+produced, is his. Mr Stirling, though
+he mentions this picture in the body
+of his book, assigns it no place in
+his valuable and laboriously compiled
+catalogue, probably because he was
+unable to trace its later adventures.
+Brought to England in 1814, and sold
+for £500 to Mr Morritt, it still remains
+the gem of the library at Rokeby.
+Long may the Spanish queen of
+love preside over the beautiful bowers
+of that now classic retreat! We sum
+up our notice of Velasquez in Mr Stirling's
+words:&mdash;"No artist ever followed
+nature with more catholic fidelity;
+his cavaliers are as natural as
+his boors; he neither refined the vulgar,
+nor vulgarised the refined....
+We know the persons of Philip IV.
+and Olivarez as familiarly as if we
+had paced the avenues of the Pardo
+with Digby and Howell, and perhaps
+we think more favourably of their
+characters. In the portraits of the
+monarch and the minister,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'The bounding steeds they pompously bestride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Share with their lords the pleasure and the pride,'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">and enable us to judge of the Cordovese
+horse of that day, as accurately
+as if we had lived with the horse-breeding
+Carthusians of the Betis.
+And this painter of kings and horses
+has been compared, as a painter of
+landscapes, to Claude; as a painter of
+low life, to Teniers: his fruit-pieces
+equal those of Sanchez Cotan or Van
+Kessel; his poultry might contest the
+prize with the fowls of Hondekooter
+on their own dunghill; and his dogs
+might do battle with the dogs of
+Sneyders."&mdash;(Vol. ii. p. 686.)</p>
+
+<p>While Velasquez, at the height of
+his glory, was painting his magnificent
+Crucifixion, a young lad was displaying
+hasty sketches and immature
+daubs to the venders of old clothes,
+pots, and vegetables, the gipsies and
+mendicant friars that frequented the
+Feria, or weekly fair held in the
+market-place of All Saints, in the
+beautiful and religious city of Seville.
+This was Bartolemè Estevan Murillo,
+who, having studied for some time
+under Juan del Castillo, on that
+master's removal to Cadiz in 1640,
+betook himself to this popular resource
+of all needy Sevillian painters.
+Struck, however, by the great improvement
+which travel had wrought
+in the style of Pedro de Moya, who
+revisited Seville in 1642, the young
+painter scraped up money sufficient to
+carry him to Madrid, and, as he hoped,
+to Rome. But the kindness of Velasquez
+provided him a lodging in his
+own house, and opened the galleries of
+the Alcazar and the Escurial to his
+view. Here he pursued his studies
+unremittingly, and, as he thought, with
+a success that excused the trouble and
+expense of an Italian pilgrimage.
+Returning, therefore, in 1645 to Seville,
+he commenced that career which
+led him, among the painters of Spain,
+to European renown, second only to
+that of Velasquez. The Franciscans
+of his native city have the credit of
+first employing his young genius, and
+the eleven large pictures with which
+he adorned their convent-walls at
+once established his reputation and
+success. These were painted in what
+is technically called his first or cold
+style; this was changed before 1650
+into his second, or warm style,
+which in its turn yielded to his last,
+or vapoury style. So warm, indeed,
+had his colouring become, that a
+Spanish critic, in the nervous phraseology<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+of Spain, declared his flesh-tints
+were now painted with blood and
+milk. In this style did he paint
+for the chapter The Nativity of the
+Blessed Virgin, in which the ladies
+of Seville admired and envied the
+roundness of a ministering maiden's
+naked arm; and a large picture of
+St Anthony of Padua, which still
+adorns the walls of the cathedral
+baptistery. Of this famous gem some
+curious stories are told: Don Fernando
+Farfan, for instance, relates
+that birds had been seen attempting
+to perch upon some lilies in a vase by
+the side of the kneeling saint; and
+Monsieur Viardot (<cite>Musées d'Espagne</cite>,
+p. 146) informs us that a reverend
+canon, who showed him the picture,
+recounted how that, in 1813, the Duke
+of Wellington offered to purchase it
+for as many gold onzas as would
+cover its surface; while, in 1843, Captain
+Widdrington was assured that a
+lord had expressed his readiness to
+give £40,000 for the bird-deluding
+picture. The belief in the gullibility
+of travellers is truly remarkable and
+wide-spread; thus, at Genoa, in 1839,
+our excellent cicerone gratified us
+with the information, that, sixteen
+years before, the English Duke Balfour
+had in vain offered £1600 for
+Canova's beautiful basso-relievo of the
+Virgin Clasping the Corpse of our
+Saviour, which graces the ugly church
+of the poor-house in that superb city.
+In 1658, Murillo laboured to establish
+a public academy of art; and, in spite
+of the jealousies and contentions of
+rival artists, on the 1st of January
+1660, he witnessed its inauguration.
+The rules were few and simple; but
+the declaration to be signed by each
+member on admission would rather
+astonish the directors of the Royal
+Academy in London. We would recommend
+it to the consideration of
+those Protestant divines who are so
+anxious to devise a new test of heresy
+in the Church of England: thus it
+ran&mdash;"Praised be the most holy sacrament,
+and the pure conception of Our
+Lady." Nothing, perhaps, can show
+more strongly the immense influence
+religion exercised on art in Spain than
+the second clause of this declaration.
+It was the favourite dogma of Seville:
+for hundreds of years sermons were
+preached, books were written, pictures
+painted, legends recorded in honour
+of Our Lady's spotless conception;
+and round many a picture by Cano, or
+Vargas, or Joanes, is yet to be read
+the magic words that had power to
+electrify a populace,&mdash;"Sin Pecado
+Concebida." The institution thus
+commenced flourished for many years,
+and answered the generous expectations
+of its illustrious founder.</p>
+
+<p>The attention of the pious Don
+Miguel Mañara de Leca, the "benevolent
+Howard" of Seville, was attracted
+about 1661 to the pitiable state of
+the brotherhood of the holy charity,
+and its hospital of San Jorge: he
+resolved to restore it to its pristine
+glory and usefulness; and, persevering
+against all discouragements and difficulties,
+in less than twenty years, at
+an expense of half-a-million of ducats,
+he accomplished his pious design.
+For the restored church Murillo painted
+eleven pictures, of which eight,
+according to Mr Stirling, are the
+finest works of the master. Five of these
+were carried off by plundering Soult,
+but "the two colossal compositions
+of Moses, and the Loaves and Fishes,
+still hang beneath the cornices whence
+springs the dome of the church, "like
+ripe oranges on the bough where they
+originally budded." Long may they
+cover their native "walls, and enrich,
+as well as adorn, the institution of
+Mañara! In the picture of the great
+miracle of the Jewish dispensation,
+the Hebrew prophet stands beside the
+rock in Horeb, with hands pressed
+together, and uplifted eyes, thanking
+the Almighty for the stream which
+has just gushed forth at the stroke of
+his mysterious rod.... As a
+composition, this wonderful picture
+can hardly be surpassed. The rock,
+a huge, isolated, brown crag, much
+resembles in form, size, and colour,
+that which is still pointed out as the
+rock of Moses, by the Greek monks of
+the convent of St Catherine, in the
+real wilderness of Horeb. It forms
+the central object, rising to the top of
+the canvass, and dividing it into two
+unequal portions. In front of the
+rock, the eye at once singles out the
+erect figure of the prophet standing
+forward from the throng; and the lofty
+emotion of that great leader, looking
+with gratitude to heaven, is finely
+contrasted with the downward regards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+of the multitude, forgetful of the
+Giver in the anticipation or the
+enjoyment of the gift. Each head
+and figure is an elaborate study; each
+countenance has a distinctive character,
+and even of the sixteen vessels
+brought to the spring, no two are
+alike in form."&mdash;(Vol. ii. p. 859.) But
+Cean Bermudez, who enjoyed the
+privilege of seeing all these eight
+masterpieces hanging together in their
+own sacred home, preferred The
+Prodigal's Return, and St Elizabeth
+of Hungary&mdash;with whose touching
+history the eloquent pens of the Count
+Montalembert and Mr A. Phillipps
+have made us familiar&mdash;to all the
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>The Franciscan convent, without
+the city walls, was yet more fortunate
+than the hospital of Mañara, for it
+possessed upwards of twenty of this
+religious painter's works. Now, not
+one remains to dignify the ruined
+halls and deserted cloisters of that
+once magnificent convent: but seventeen
+of these pictures are preserved in
+the Seville Museum; among them
+Murillo's own favourite&mdash;that which
+he used to call "his own picture"&mdash;the
+charity of St Thomas of Villanueva.
+In 1678, Murillo painted three
+pictures for the Hospital de los Venerables,
+two of which, the Mystery
+of the Immaculate Conception, and
+St Peter Weeping, were placed in
+the chapel. "The third adorned the
+refectory, and presented to the gaze
+of the Venerables, during their repasts,
+the blessed Virgin enthroned on clouds,
+with her divine Babe, who, from a
+basket borne by angels, bestowed
+bread on three aged priests." These
+were nearly his last works; for the
+art he so loved was now about to
+destroy her favourite son: he was
+mounting a scaffolding to paint the
+higher parts of a great altar-piece for
+the Capuchin church at Cadiz, representing
+the espousals of St Catherine,
+when he stumbled, and ruptured himself
+so severely, as to die of the injury.
+On the 3d of April 1682, he expired
+in the arms of his old and faithful
+friend, Don Justino Neve, and was
+buried in the parish church of St. Cruz,
+a stone slab with his name, a skeleton
+and "Vive moriturus," marking the
+spot&mdash;until the "Vandal" French
+destroyed the last resting-place of
+that great painter, whose works they
+so unscrupulously appropriated. Was
+the last Lord of Petworth aware of
+this short epitaph, when he caused to
+be inscribed on the beautiful memorial
+to his ancestors which adorns St
+Thomas's Chapel in Petworth Church,
+the prophetic,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> solemn words&mdash;"Mortuis
+moriturus?"</p>
+
+<p>We have ranked Murillo next to
+Velasquez: doubtless there are many
+in England who would demur to this
+classification; and we own there are
+charms in the style of the great religious
+painter, which it would be vain
+to look for in any other master. In
+tenderness of devotion, and a certain
+soft sublimity, his religious pictures
+are unmatched; while in colouring,
+Cean Bermudez most justly says&mdash;"All
+the peculiar beauties of the
+school of Andalusia&mdash;its happy use of
+red and brown tints, the local colours
+of the region, its skill in the management
+of drapery, its distant prospects
+of bare sierras and smiling vales, its
+clouds, light and diaphanous as in
+nature, its flowers and transparent
+waters, and its harmonious depth and
+richness of tone&mdash;are to be found in
+full perfection in the works of Murillo."&mdash;(Vol.
+ii. p. 903.) Mr Stirling
+draws a distinction, and we think with
+reason, between the favourite Virgin
+of the Immaculate Conception and the
+other Virgins of Murillo: the ���������� of the
+former is far more elevated and spiritualised
+than that of any of the latter
+class; but, even in his most ordinary
+and mundane delineation of the sinless
+Mary, how sweet, and pure, and
+holy, as well as beautiful, does our
+Lord's mother appear! But perhaps
+it is as a painter of children that
+Murillo is most appreciated in England;
+nor can we wonder that such
+should be the case, when we remember
+what the pictures are which have thus
+impressed Murillo on the English
+mind. The St John Baptist with the
+Lamb, in the National Gallery; Lord
+Westminster's picture of the same
+subject; the Baroness de Rothschild's
+gem at Gunnersbury, Our Lord, the
+Good Shepherd, as a Child: Lord
+Wemyss's hardly inferior repetition of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+it; the picture of our Lord as a child,
+holding in his hands the crown of
+thorns, in the College at Glasgow;
+with the other pictures, in private collections,
+of our Lord and St John as
+children, have naturally made Murillo
+to be regarded in England as emphatically
+the painter of children: and
+how exquisite is his conception of the
+Divine Babe and His saintly precursor!
+what a sublime consciousness
+of power, what an expression of boundless
+love, are seen in the face of Him
+who was yet</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i16">"a little child,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Taught by degrees to pray<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By father dear, and mother mild,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Instructed day by day."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The religious school of Spanish
+painting reached its acmé in Murillo;
+and, at the risk of being accounted
+heterodox, we must, in summing up
+his merits, express our difference from
+Mr Stirling in one respect, and decline
+to rank the great Sevillian after any
+of the Italian masters. Few of Murillo's
+drawings are known to be in
+existence. Mr Stirling gives a list
+of such as he has been able to discover,
+nearly all of which are at the
+Louvre. We believe, in addition to
+those possessed by the British Museum
+and Mr Ford, there are two in
+the collection at Belvoir Castle: one,
+a Virgin and Child; the other, an old
+man&mdash;possibly St Francis&mdash;receiving
+a flower from a naked child.</p>
+
+<p>After Velasquez and Murillo, it
+may seem almost impertinent to talk of
+the merits of other Spanish painters;
+yet Zurbaran and Cano, Ribera and
+Coello, demand at least a passing
+notice. Francisco de Zurbaran, often
+called the Caravaggio of Spain, was
+born in Estremadura in 1598. His
+father, observing his turn for painting,
+sent him to the school of Roelas, at
+Seville. Here, for nearly a quarter
+of a century, he continued painting
+for the magnificent cathedral, and the
+churches and religious houses of that
+fair city. About 1625, he painted, for
+the college of St Thomas Aquinas, an
+altar-piece, regarded by all judges as
+the finest of all his works. It represents
+the angelic doctor ascending
+into the heavens, where, on clouds of
+glory, the blessed Trinity and the
+Virgin wait to receive him; below,
+in mid air, sit the four doctors of the
+Church; and on the ground are kneeling
+the Emperor Charles V., with the
+founder of the college, Archbishop
+Diego de Deza, and a train of ecclesiastics.
+Mr Stirling says of this singular
+picture, "The colouring throughout
+is rich and effective, and worthy
+the school of Roelas; the heads are
+all of them admirable studies; the
+draperies of the doctors and ecclesiastics
+are magnificent in breadth and
+amplitude of fold; the imperial mantle
+is painted with Venetian splendour;
+and the street view, receding in the
+centre of the canvass, is admirable for
+its atmospheric depth and distance."&mdash;(Vol.
+ii. p. 770.) In 1650, Philip IV.
+invited him to Madrid, and commanded
+him to paint ten pictures, representing
+the labours of Hercules,
+for a room at Buen-retiro. Almost
+numberless were the productions of
+his facile pencil, which, however,
+chiefly delighted to represent, the legends
+of the Carthusian cloister, and
+portray the gloomy features and sombre
+vestments of monks and friars; yet
+those who have seen his picture of the
+Virgin with the Infant Saviour and
+St John, at Stafford House, will agree
+with Mr Stirling that, "unrivalled in
+such subjects of dark fanaticism, Zurbaran
+could also do ample justice to
+the purest and most lovely of sacred
+themes."&mdash;(Vol. 11. p. 775)</p>
+
+<p>Alonzo Cano, born at Grenada in
+1601, was, like Mrs Malaprop's Cerberus,
+"three gentlemen in one;" that
+is, he was a great painter, a great
+sculptor, and a great architect. As a
+painter, his powers are shown in his
+full-length picture of the Blessed
+Virgin, with the infant Saviour asleep
+on her knees, now in the Queen of
+Spain's gallery; in six large works,
+representing passages in the life of
+Mary Magdalene, which still adorn
+the great brick church of Getafe, a
+small village near Madrid; and in his
+famous picture of Our Lady of Belem,
+in the cathedral of Seville. Mr Stirling
+gives a beautifully-executed print
+of this last Madonna, which, "in
+serene, celestial beauty, is excelled by
+no image of the Blessed Virgin ever
+devised in Spain."&mdash;(P. 803.)</p>
+
+<p>Cano was, perhaps, even greater in
+sculpture than in painting; and so
+fond of the former art, that, when
+wearied of pencil and brush, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+call for his chisel, and work at a statue
+by way of rest to his hands. On
+one of these occasions, a pupil venturing
+to remark, that to substitute a
+mallet for a pencil was an odd sort
+of repose, was silenced by Cano's
+philosophical reply,&mdash;"Blockhead,
+don't you perceive that to create
+form and relief on a flat surface is a
+greater labour than to fashion one
+shape into another?" An image of the
+Blessed Virgin in the parish church
+at Lebrija, and another in the sacristy
+of the Grenada cathedral, are said
+to be triumphs of Spanish painted
+statuary.&mdash;(Vol. iii., p. 805) After a
+life of strange vicissitudes, in the
+course of which, on suspicion of having
+murdered his wife, he underwent
+the examination by torture, he died,
+honoured and beloved for his magnificent
+charities, and religious hatred
+of the Jews, in his native city, on the
+3d of October 1667.</p>
+
+<p>The old Valencian town of Xativa
+claims the honour of producing Josè
+de Ribera, el Spagnoletto; but though
+Spain gave him birth, Italy gave him
+instruction, wealth, fame; and although
+in style he is thoroughly
+Spanish, we feel some difficulty in
+writing of him as belonging wholly to
+the Spanish school of art, so completely
+Italian was he by nurture,
+long residence, and in his death.</p>
+
+<p>Bred up in squalid penury, he appears
+to have looked upon the world
+as not his friend, and in his subsequent
+good fortunes to have revelled
+in describing with ghastly minuteness,
+and repulsive force, all "the
+worst ills that flesh is heir to." We
+well recollect the horror with which
+we gazed spell-bound on a series of
+his horrors in the Louvre&mdash;faugh!
+At Gosford House are a series of
+Franciscan monks, such as only a
+Spanish cloister could contain, painted
+with an evident fidelity to nature, and
+the minutest details of dress that is
+almost offensive&mdash;even the black dirt
+under the unwashed thumb nail is
+carefully represented by his odiously-accurate
+and powerful pencil.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Non ragioniam di lor<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Ma guada e passa."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Had the bold buccaneers of the
+seventeenth century required the services
+of a painter to perpetuate the
+memory of their inventive brutality,
+and inconceivable atrocities, they
+would have found in El Spagnoletto
+an artist capable of delineating the
+agonies of their victims, and by taste
+and disposition not indisposed to their
+way of life. Yet in his own peculiar
+line he was unequalled, and his merits
+as a painter will always be recognised
+by every judge of art. He died at
+Naples, the scene of his triumphs, in
+1656.</p>
+
+<p>The name of Claudio Coello is associated
+with the Escurial, and should
+have been introduced into the sketch
+we were giving of its artists, when
+the mighty reputation of Velasquez
+and Murillo broke in upon our order.
+He was born at Madrid about the
+middle of the seventeenth century,
+and studied in the school of the
+younger Rigi. In 1686 he succeeded
+Herrera as painter in ordinary
+to Charles II. This monarch had
+erected an altar in the great sacristy
+of the Escurial, to the miraculous
+bleeding wafer known as the Santa
+Forma; and on the death of its designer,
+Rigi, Coello was called upon
+to paint a picture that should serve as
+a veil for the host. On a canvass six
+yards high, by three wide, he executed
+an excellent work, representing the
+king and his court adoring the miraculous
+wafer, which is held aloft by
+the prior. This picture established
+his reputation, and in 1691 the chapter
+of Toledo, still the great patrons of
+art, appointed him painter to their
+cathedral. Coello was a most careful
+and painstaking painter, and his
+pictures, says our author, (vol. iii., p.
+1018) "with much of Cano's grace
+of drawing, have also somewhat of
+the rich tones of Murillo, and the
+magical effect of Velasquez." He
+died, it is said, of disappointment at
+the success of his foreign rival, Luca
+Giordano, in 1693.</p>
+
+<p>With Charles II. passed away the
+Spanish sceptre from the house of
+Austria, nor, according to Mr Stirling,
+would the Genius of Painting
+remain to welcome the intrusive
+Bourbons:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Old times were changed, old manners gone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A stranger filled the Philips' throne;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And art, neglected and oppressed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wished to be with them, and at rest.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But we must say that Mr Stirling,
+in his honest indignation against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+France and Frenchmen, has exaggerated
+the demerits of the Bourbon
+kings. Spanish art had been steadily
+declining for years before they, with
+ill-omened feet, crossed the Pyrenees.
+It was no Bourbon prince that
+brought Luca da Presto from Naples
+to teach the painters of Spain "how
+to be content with their faults, and
+get rid of their scruples;" and if the
+schools of Castile and Andalusia had
+ceased to produce such artists as those
+whose praises Mr Stirling has so
+worthily recorded, it appears scant
+justice to lay the blame on the new
+royal family. <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Pictor nascitur, non
+fit</i>&mdash;no, not even by the wielders of
+the Spanish sceptre. In a desire to
+patronise art, and in munificence
+towards its possessors, Philip V.,
+Ferdinand VI., and Charles III., fell
+little short of their Hapsburg predecessors,
+but they had no longer the same
+material to work upon. The post
+which Titian had filled could find no
+worthier holder under Charles III.,
+than Rafael Mengs, whom not only
+ignorant Bourbons, but the <i lang="jt" xml:lang="it">conoscenti</i>
+of Europe regarded as the mighty
+Venetian's equal; and Philip V.
+not only invited Hovasse, Vanloo,
+Procaccini, and other foreign artists
+to his court, but added the famous
+collection of marbles belonging to
+Christina of Sweden to those acquired
+by Velasquez, at an expense of
+twelve thousand doubloons. To him,
+also, is due the completion of the
+palace of Aranjuez, and the design of
+La Granja; nor, when fire destroyed
+the Alcazar, did Philip V. spare his
+diminished treasures, in raising up on
+its time-hallowed site a palace which,
+in Mr Stirling's own words, "in spite
+of its narrowed proportions, is still
+one of the largest and most imposing
+in Europe."&mdash;(Vol. iii., p. 1163.)</p>
+
+<p>Ferdinand VI. built, at the enormous
+expense of nineteen millions of
+reals the convent of nuns of the
+order of St Vincent de Sales, and
+employed in its decoration all the
+artistic talent that Spain then could
+boast of. Nor can he be blamed if
+that was but little; for if royal patronage
+can produce painters of merit,
+this monarch, by endowing the Academy
+of St Ferdinand with large
+revenues, and housing it in a palace,
+would have revived the glories of
+Spanish art.</p>
+
+<p>His successor, Charles III., an artist
+of some repute himself, sincerely
+loved and generously fostered the arts.
+While King of the Two Sicilies, he had
+dragged into the light of day the long-lost
+wonders of Herculaneum and
+Pompeii; and when called to the throne
+of Spain and the Indies, he manifested
+his sense of the obligations due
+from royalty to art, by conferring
+fresh privileges on the Academy of
+St Ferdinand, and founding two new
+academies, one in Valencia, the other
+in Mexico. If Mengs and Tiepolo,
+and other mediocrities, were the best
+living painters his patronage could discover,
+it is evident from his ultra-protectionist
+decree against the exportation
+of Murillo's, pictures, that he fully
+appreciated the works of the mighty
+dead; and, had his spirit animated
+Spanish officials, many a masterpiece
+that now mournfully, and without
+meaning, graces the Hermitage at St
+Petersburg, or the Louvre at Paris,
+would still be hanging over the altar,
+or adorning the refectory for which it
+was painted, at Seville or Toledo. Even
+Charles IV., "the drivelling tool of
+Godoy," was a collector of pictures,
+and founder of an academy. In his
+disastrous reign flourished Francisco
+Goya y Lucientes, the last Spanish
+painter who has obtained a niche in
+the Temple of Fame. Though portraits
+and caricatures were his forte,
+in that venerable museum of all that
+is beautiful in Spanish Art&mdash;the cathedral
+at Toledo&mdash;is to be seen a fine
+religious production of his pencil, representing
+the Betrayal of our Lord.
+But he loved painting at, better than
+for the church; and those who have
+examined and wondered at the grotesque
+satirical carvings of the stalls
+in the cathedral at Manchester, will
+be able to form some idea of Goya's
+anti-monkish caricatures. Not Lord
+Mark Kerr, when giving the rein
+to his exuberant fancy, ever devised
+more ludicrous or repulsive "monsters"
+than this strange successor to
+the religious painters of orthodox
+Spain. But when the vice, and intrigues,
+and imbecility of the royal
+knives and fools, whom his ready graver
+had exposed to popular ridicule, had
+yielded to the unsupportable tyranny
+of French invaders, the same indignant
+spirit that hurried the water-carriers
+of Madrid into unavailing conflict<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+with the troops of Murat, guided
+his caustic hand against the fierce
+oppressors of his country; and, while
+Gilray was exciting the angry contempt
+of all true John Bulls at the
+impudence of the little Corsican upstart,
+Goya was appealing to his
+countrymen's bitter experience of the
+tender mercies of the French invaders.
+He died at Bordeaux in 1828. Mr
+Stirling closes his labours with a
+graceful tribute to those of Cean
+Bermudez, "the able and indefatigable
+historian of Spanish art, to
+whose rich harvest of valuable materials
+I have ventured to add the fruit
+of my own humble gleanings&mdash;" a
+deserved tribute, and most handsomely
+rendered. But, before we dismiss this
+pleasant theme of Spanish art, we
+would add one artist more to the catalogue
+of Spanish painters&mdash;albeit, that
+artist is a Bourbon!</p>
+
+<p>Near the little town of Azpeitia, in
+Biscay, stands the magnificent college
+of the Jesuits, built on the birth-place
+of Ignatius Loyola. Here, in a low
+room at the top of the building, are
+shown a piece of the bed in which he
+died, and his autograph; and here
+among its cool corridors and ever-playing
+fountains, in 1839, was living
+the royal painter&mdash;the Infante Don
+Sebastian. A strange spectacle, truly,
+did that religious house present in the
+summer of 1839: wild Biscayan soldiers
+and dejected Jesuits, red boynas
+and black cowls, muskets and
+crucifixes, oaths and benedictions,
+crossed and mingled with each other
+in picturesque, though profane disorder;
+and here, released from the
+cares of his military command, and
+free to follow the bent of his disposition,
+the ex-commander-in-chief of the
+Carlist forces was quietly painting
+altar-pieces, and dashing off caricatures.
+In the circular church which,
+of exquisite proportions, forms the
+centre of the vast pile, and is beautiful
+with fawn-coloured marble and
+gold, hung a large and well-painted
+picture of his production; and those
+who are curious in such matters may
+see a worse specimen of his royal
+highness's skill in Pietro di Cortona's
+church of St Luke at Rome. On one
+side of the altar is Canova's beautiful
+statue of Religion preaching; on
+the other the Spanish prince's large
+picture of the Crucifixion; but, alas! it
+must be owned that the inspiration
+which guided Velasquez to his conception
+of that sublime subject was
+denied to the royal amateur. In the
+academy of St Luke, adjoining the
+church, is a well-executed bust of
+Canova, by the Spanish sculptor
+Alvarez. We suspect that, like Goya,
+the Infante would do better to stick to
+caricature, in which branch of art
+many a pleasant story is told of his
+proficiency. Seated on a rocky plateau,
+which, if commanding a view of Bilbao
+and its defenders, was also exposed
+to their fire, 'tis said the royal
+artist would amuse himself and his
+staff with drawing the uneasy movements,
+and disturbed countenances, of
+some unfortunate London reporters,
+who, attached to the Carlist headquarters,
+were invited by the commander-in-chief
+to attend his person,
+and enjoy the perilous honour of his
+company. Be this, however, as it may,
+we think we have vindicated the claim
+of one living Bourbon prince to be
+admitted into the roll of Spanish
+painters in the next edition of the
+<cite>Annals</cite>.</p>
+
+<p>In these tumultuous days, when</p>
+
+<p>
+"Royal heads are haunted like a maukin,"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noind">over half the Continent, and even in
+steady England grave merchants and
+wealthy tradesmen are counselling
+together on how little their sovereign
+can be clothed and fed, and all things
+are being brought to the vulgar test
+of <em>L. s. d.</em>, it is pleasant to turn to the
+artistic annals of a once mighty empire
+like Spain, and see how uniformly,
+for more than five hundred
+years, its monarchs have been the
+patrons, always munificent, generally
+discriminating, of the fine arts&mdash;how,
+from the days of Isabella the Catholic,
+to those of Isabella the Innocent, the
+Spanish sceptre has courted, not disdained,
+the companionship of the
+pencil and the chisel. Mr Stirling
+has enriched his pages with many an
+amusing anecdote illustrative of this
+royal love of art, and suggestive, alas!
+of the painful reflection, that the
+future annalist of the artists of England
+will find great difficulty in scraping
+together half-a-dozen stories of a
+similar kind. With the one striking
+exception of Charles I., we know not
+who among our sovereigns can be
+compared, as a patron of art, to any of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+the Spanish sovereigns, from Charles
+V. of the Austrian to Charles III. of the
+Bourbon race. Lord Hervey has
+made notorious George II's ignorance
+and dislike of art. Among the many
+noble and kingly qualities of his grandson,
+we fear a love and appreciation of
+art may not be reckoned; and although,
+in his intercourse with men of genius,
+George IV. was gracious and generous,
+what can be said in favour of
+his taste and discernment? The
+previous life of William IV., the mature
+age at which he ascended the
+throne, and the troublous character of
+his reign, explain why art received
+but slight countenance from the court
+of the frank and noble-hearted Sailor
+Prince; but we turn with hope to the
+future. The recent proceedings in
+the Court of Chancery have made
+public a fact, already known to many,
+that her Majesty wields with skilful
+hand a graceful graver, and the
+Christmas plays acted at Windsor are
+a satisfactory proof that English art
+and genius are not exiled from England's
+palaces. The professors, then,
+of that art which Velasquez and
+Rubens, Murillo and Vandyck practised,
+shall yet see that the Crown of
+England is not only in ancient legal
+phrase, "the Fountain of Honour,"
+but that it loves to direct its grateful
+streams in their honoured direction.
+Free was the intercourse, unfettered
+the conversation, independent the relations,
+between Titian and Charles V.,
+Velasquez and Philip IV.; let us hope
+that Buckingham Palace and Windsor
+Castle, will yet witness a revival of
+those palmy days of English art,
+when Inigo Jones, and Vandyck, and
+Cowley, Waller, and Ben Jonson, shed
+a lustre on the art-loving court of England!</p>
+
+<p>The extracts we have given from
+Mr Stirling's work will have sufficiently
+shown the scope of the
+<cite>Annals</cite>, and the spirit and style in
+which they are written. There is no
+tedious, inflexible, though often unmanageable
+leading idea, or theory of
+art, running through these lively
+volumes. In the introduction, whatever
+is to be said on the philosophy of
+Spanish art is carefully collected, and
+the reader is thenceforward left at
+liberty to carry on the conclusions of
+the introduction with him in his perusal
+of the <cite>Annals</cite>, or to drop them at
+the threshold. We would, however,
+strongly recommend all who desire to
+appreciate Spanish art, never to forget
+that she owes all her beauty and
+inspiration to Spanish nature and
+Spanish religion. Remember this, O
+holyday tourist along the Andalusian
+coast, or more adventurous explorer
+of Castile and Estremadura, and you
+will not be disappointed with her
+productions. Mr Stirling has not
+contented himself with doing ample
+justice to the great painters, and
+slurring over the comparatively unknown
+artists, whose merits are in
+advance of their fame, but has embraced
+in his careful view the long
+line of Spanish artists who have
+flourished or faded in the course of
+nearly eight hundred years; and he
+has accomplished this difficult task,
+not in the plodding spirit of a Dryasdust,
+or with the curt dulness of a
+catalogue-monger, but with the discriminating
+good taste of an accomplished
+English gentleman, and in a
+style at once racy and rhetorical.
+There are whole pages in the <cite>Annals</cite>
+as full of picturesque beauty as
+the scenes or events they describe,
+and of melody, as an Andalusian
+summer's eve; indeed, the vigorous
+fancy and genial humour of the
+author have, on some few occasions,
+led him to stray from those strict
+rules of ������������, which we are old-fashioned
+enough to wish always observed.
+But where the charms and
+merits are so great, and so many, and
+the defects so few and so small, we
+may safely leave the discovery of the
+latter to the critical reader, and
+satisfy our conscience by expressing
+a hope that, when Mr Stirling next
+appears in the character of author&mdash;a
+period not remote, we sincerely trust&mdash;he
+will have discarded those few
+scentless flowers from his literary garden,
+and present us with a bouquet&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Full of sweet buds and roses,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">A box where sweets compacted lie."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">But if he never again put pen to paper,
+in these annals of the artists of Spain
+he has given to the reading public a
+work which, for utility of design, patience
+of research, and grace of language,
+merits and has won the highest
+honours of authorship.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>What was the Dodo? When was
+the Dodo? Where is the Dodo? are
+all questions, the first more especially,
+which it is fully more easy to ask
+than answer. Whoever has looked
+through books on natural history&mdash;for
+example, that noted but now scarce
+instructor of our early youth, the
+<cite>Three Hundred Animals</cite>&mdash;must have
+observed a somewhat ungainly creature,
+with a huge curved bill, a shortish
+neck, scarcely any wings, a plumy
+tuft upon the back&mdash;considerably on
+the off-side, though pretending to be
+a tail,&mdash;and a very shapeless body,
+extraordinarily large and round about
+the hinder end. This anomalous animal
+being covered with feathers, and
+having, in addition to the other attributes
+above referred to, only two
+legs, has been, we think justly, regarded
+as a bird, and has accordingly
+been named the Dodo. But why
+it should be so named is another of
+the many mysterious questions, which
+require to be considered in the history
+of this unaccountable creature. No
+one alleges, nor can we conceive it
+possible, that it claims kindred with
+either of the only two human beings
+we ever heard of who bore the name:
+"And after him (Adino the Eznite)
+was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the
+Ahohite, one of the three mighty men
+with David, when they defied the
+Philistines that were there gathered
+together to battle, and the men of
+Israel were gone away." Our only
+other human Dodo belonged to the
+fair sex, and was the mother of the
+famous Zoroaster, who flourished in
+the days of Darius Hystaspes, and
+brought back the Persians to their
+ancient fire-worship, from the adoration
+of the twinkling stars. The
+name appears to have been dropped
+by both families, as if they were somewhat
+ashamed of it; and we feel
+assured that of such of our readers as
+admit that Zoroaster must have had a
+mother of some sort, very few really
+remember now-a-days that her name
+was Dodo. There were no baptismal
+registers in those times; or, if such existed,
+they were doubtless consumed in
+the "great fire"&mdash;a sort of periodical, it
+may be providential, mode of shortening
+the record, which seems to occur from
+time to time in all civilised countries.</p>
+
+<p>But while the creature in question,&mdash;we
+mean the feathered biped&mdash;has
+been continuously presented to view
+in those "vain repetitions" which
+unfortunately form the mass of our
+information in all would-be popular
+works on natural history, we had
+actually long been at a stand-still in
+relation to its essential attributes&mdash;the
+few competent authorities who had
+given out their opinion upon this, as
+many thought, stereotyped absurdity,
+being so disagreed among themselves
+as to make confusion worse confounded.
+The case, indeed, seemed
+desperate; and had it not been that
+we always entertained a particular
+regard for old Clusius, (of whom by-and-by,)
+and could not get over the
+fact that a Dodo's head existed in the
+Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and a
+Dodo's foot in the British Museum,
+London, we would willingly have indulged
+the thought that the entire
+Dodo was itself a dream. But, shaking
+off the cowardly indolence which
+would seek to shirk the investigation
+of so great a question, let us now inquire
+into a piece of ornithological
+biography, which seemed so singularly
+to combine the familiar with the fabulous.
+Thanks to an accomplished
+and persevering naturalist of our own
+day&mdash;one of the most successful and
+assiduous inquirers of the younger
+generation&mdash;we have now all the facts,
+and most of the fancies, laid before us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+in a splendid royal quarto volume,
+just published, with numerous plates,
+devoted to the history and illustration
+of the "Dodo and its Kindred." It
+was, in truth, the latter term that
+cheered our heart, and led us again
+towards a subject which had previously
+produced the greatest despondency;
+for we had always, though
+most erroneously, fancied that the
+great misformed lout of our <cite>Three
+Hundred Animals</cite> was all alone in the
+wide world, unable to provide for
+himself, (and so, fortunately, without
+a family,) and had never, in truth,
+had either predecessors or posterity.
+Mr Strickland, however, has brought
+together the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">disjecta membra</i> of a family
+group, showing not only fathers
+and mothers, sisters and brothers, but
+cousins, and kindred of all degrees.
+Their sedate and somewhat sedentary
+mode of life is probably to be accounted
+for, not so much by their early habits
+as their latter end. Their legs are
+short, their wings scarcely existant,
+but they are prodigiously large and
+heavy in the hinder-quarters; and
+organs of flight would have been but
+a vain thing for safety, as they could
+not, in such wooded countries as these
+creatures inhabited, have been made
+commensurate with the uplifting of
+such solid bulk, placed so far behind
+that centre of gravity where other
+wings are worked. We can now sit
+down in Mr Strickland's company, to
+discuss the subject, not only tranquilly,
+but with a degree of cheerfulness
+which we have not felt for many
+a day: thanks to his kindly consideration
+of the Dodo and "its kindred."</p>
+
+<p>The geographical reader will remember
+that to the eastward of the
+great, and to ourselves nearly unknown,
+island of Madagascar, there lies a
+small group of islands of volcanic
+origin, which, though not exactly contiguous
+among themselves, are yet
+nearer to each other than to the greater
+island just named, and which is interposed
+between them and the coast of
+Southern Africa. They are named
+Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius,
+or the Isle of France. There is proof
+that not fewer than four distinct
+species of large-bodied, short-winged
+birds, of the Dodo type, were their
+inhabitants in comparatively recent
+times, and have now become utterly
+extinct. We say utterly, because
+neither proof nor vestige of their existence
+elsewhere has been at any
+time afforded; and the comparatively
+small extent, and now peopled state
+of the islands in question, (where
+they are no longer known,) make the
+continuous and unobserved existence
+of these birds, so conspicuous in size
+and slow of foot, impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it is this recent and total
+extinction which renders the subject
+one of more than ordinary interest.
+Death is an admitted law of nature, in
+respect to the <em>individuals</em> of all species.
+Geology, "dragging at each remove a
+lengthened chain" has shown how, at
+different and distant eras, innumerable
+tribes have perished and been supplanted,
+or at least replaced, by other
+groups of species, entire races, better
+fitted for the great climatic and other
+physical changes, which our earth's
+surface has undergone from time to
+time. How these changes were
+brought about, many, with more or
+less success, (generally less,) have tried
+to say. Organic remains&mdash;that is, the
+fossilised remnants of ancient species&mdash;sometimes
+indicate a long continuance
+of existence, generation after generation
+living in tranquillity, and finally
+sinking in a quiet grave; while other
+examples show a sudden and violent
+death, in tortuous and excited action,
+as if they had been almost instantaneously
+overwhelmed and destroyed by
+some great catastrophe.</p>
+
+<p>Several local extinctions of elsewhere
+existing species are known
+to naturalists&mdash;such as those of the
+beaver, the bear, and the wolf, which
+no longer occur in Great Britain,
+though historically known, as well as
+organically proved by recent remains,
+to have lived and died among us.
+Their extinction was slow and gradual,
+and resulted entirely from the
+inroads which the human race&mdash;that
+is, the increase of population, and
+the progress of agriculture and commerce&mdash;necessarily
+made upon their
+numbers, which thus became "<em>few</em>
+by degrees, and beautifully less."
+The beaver might have carried on
+business well enough, in his own quiet
+way, although frequently incommoded
+by the love of peltry on the part of a
+hat-wearing people; but it is clear
+that no man with a small family, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+a few respectable farm-servants,
+could either permit a large and hungry
+wolf to be continually peeping at midnight
+through the key-hole of the
+nursery, or allow a brawny bruin
+to snuff too frequently under the
+kitchen door, (after having hugged
+the watch-dog to death,) when the
+serving-maids were at supper. The
+extirpation, then, of at least two of
+those quondam British species became
+a work of necessity and mercy, and
+might have been tolerated even on a
+Sunday between sermons&mdash;especially
+as naturalists have it still in their
+power to study the habits of similar
+wild beasts, by no means yet extinct,
+in the neighbouring countries of
+France and Germany.</p>
+
+<p>But the death of the Dodo and its
+kindred is a more affecting fact, as
+involving the extinction of an entire
+race, root and branch, and proving
+that death is a law of the <em>species</em>, as
+well as of the individuals which compose
+it,&mdash;although the life of the one
+is so much more prolonged than that
+of the other that we can seldom obtain
+any positive proof of its extinction,
+except by the observance of
+geological eras. Certain other still
+existing species, well known to naturalists,
+may be said to be, as it were,
+just hovering on the brink of destruction.
+One of the largest and most
+remarkable of herbivorous animals&mdash;a
+species of wild cattle, the aurochs or
+European bison (<em>B. priscus</em>)&mdash;exists
+now only in the forest of Bialowicksa,
+from whence the Emperor of Russia
+has recently transmitted a living pair
+to the Zoological Society of London.
+Several kinds of birds are also evidently
+on their last legs. For example,
+a singular species of parrot, (<em>Nestor
+productus</em>,) with the termination of
+the upper mandible much attenuated,
+peculiar to Phipps's Island, near Norfolk
+Island, has recently ceased to exist
+there in the wild state, and is now
+known as a living species only from
+a few surviving specimens kept in
+cages, and which refuse to breed. The
+burrowing parrot from New Zealand is
+already on the road to ruin; and more
+than one species of that singular and
+wingless bird, called <em>Apteryx</em>, also
+from the last-named island, may be
+placed in the same category. Even
+in our own country, if the landed proprietors
+were to yield to the clamour
+of the Anti-Game-Law League, the
+red grouse or moor-game might cease
+to be, as they occur nowhere else on
+the known earth save in Britain and
+the Emerald Isle.</p>
+
+<p>The geographical distribution of
+animals, in general, has been made
+conformable to laws which we cannot
+fathom. A mysterious relationship
+exists between certain organic structures
+and those districts of the
+earth's surface which they inhabit.
+Certain extensive groups, in both the
+animal and vegetable kingdom, are
+found to be restricted to particular
+continents, and their neighbouring
+islands. Of some the distribution
+is very extensive, while others are
+totally unknown except within a limited
+space, such as some solitary isle,</p>
+
+<p>
+"Placed far amid the melancholy main."<br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"In the present state of science," says
+Mr Strickland, "we must be content to
+admit the existence of this law, without
+being able to enunciate its preamble. It
+does <em>not</em> imply that organic distribution
+depends on soil and climate; for we
+often find a perfect identity of these
+conditions in opposite hemispheres, and
+in remote continents, whose faunæ and
+floræ are almost wholly diverse. It does
+not imply that allied but distinct organisms
+have been adduced, by generation or
+spontaneous development, from the same
+original stock; for (to pass over other
+objections) we find detached volcanic
+islets, which have been ejected from beneath
+the ocean, (such as the Galapagos,
+for instance,) inhabited by terrestrial
+forms allied to those of the nearest continent,
+though hundreds of miles distant,
+and evidently never connected with them.
+But this fact may indicate that the Creator,
+in forming new organisms to discharge
+the functions required from time to time
+by the ever vacillating balance of nature,
+has thought fit to preserve the regularity
+of the system by modifying the types of
+structure already established in the adjacent
+localities, rather than to proceed
+<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">per saltum</i> by introducing forms of more
+foreign aspect."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In conformity with this relation
+between geographical distribution and
+organic structure, it has been ascertained
+that a small portion of the indigenous
+animals and plants of the
+islands of Rodriguez, Bourbon, and
+the Isle of France, are either allied to
+or identical with the productions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+continental Africa, a larger portion
+with those of Madagascar, while certain
+species are altogether peculiar to
+the insular group above named.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"And as these three islands form a detached
+cluster, as compared to other lands,
+so do we find in them a peculiar group of
+birds, specifically different in each island,
+yet allied together in their general characters,
+and remarkably isolated from any
+known forms in other parts of the
+world. These birds were of large size and
+grotesque proportions, the wings too short
+and feeble for flight, the plumage loose
+and decomposed, and the general aspect
+suggestive of gigantic immaturity. Their
+history is as remarkable as their origin.
+About two centuries ago, their native isles
+were first colonised by man, by whom
+these strange creatures were speedily exterminated.
+So rapid and so complete
+was their extinction, that the vague descriptions
+given of them by early navigators
+were long regarded as fabulous or
+exaggerated; and these birds, almost contemporaries
+of our great-grandfathers,
+became associated in the minds of many
+persons with the griffin and the ph&oelig;nix
+of mythological antiquity."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The aim and object of Mr Strickland's
+work is to vindicate the honesty
+of the rude voyagers of the seventeenth
+century; to collect together the
+scattered evidence regarding the Dodo
+and its kindred; to describe and depict
+the few anatomical fragments
+which are still extant of those lost
+species; to invite scientific travellers
+to further and more minute research;
+and to infer, from the authentic data,
+now in hand, the probable rank and
+position of these creatures in the scale
+of nature. We think he has achieved
+his object very admirably, and has
+produced one of the best and most
+interesting monographs with which it
+is our fortune to be acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>So far as we can see, the extension
+of man's more immediate influence and
+agency is the sole cause of the disappearance
+of species in modern times&mdash;at
+least we have no proof that any
+of these species have perished by what
+can be called a catastrophe: this is
+well exemplified by what we now
+know of the Dodo and its kindred.</p>
+
+<p>The islands of Mauritius and Bourbon
+were discovered in the sixteenth
+century, (authorities differ as to the
+precise period, which they vary from
+1502 to 1545,) by Pedro Mascaregnas,
+a Portuguese, who named the latter
+after himself; while he called the former
+Cerne, a term applied by Pliny
+to an island in another quarter. Of
+this Cerne nothing definite was ascertained
+till the year 1598, when the
+Dutch, under Jacob Cornelius Neck,
+finding it uninhabited, took possession,
+and changed its name to Mauritius.
+In the narrative of the voyage, of
+which there are several accounts in
+different tongues, we find the following
+notice:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"This island, besides being very fertile
+in terrestrial products, feeds vast numbers
+of birds, such as turtle-doves, which occur
+in such plenty that three of our men
+sometimes captured one hundred and fifty
+in half a day, and might easily have
+taken more by hand, or killed them with
+sticks, if we had not been overloaded with
+the burden of them. Grey parrots are
+also common there, and other birds, besides
+a large kind bigger than our swans,
+with large heads, half of which is covered
+with skin like a hood. These birds want
+wings, in place of which are three or four
+thickish feathers. The tail consists of a
+few slender curved feathers of a gray
+colour. We called them <em>Walckvogel</em>,
+for this reason, that, the longer they were
+boiled, the tougher and more uneatable
+they became. Their stomachs, however,
+and breasts, were easy to masticate. Another
+reason for the name was that we
+had an abundance of turtle-doves, of a
+much sweeter and more agreeable flavour."&mdash;De
+Bry's <em>India Orientalis</em>, (1601,)
+pars v. p. 7.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>These walckvogel were the birds soon
+afterwards called Dodos. The description
+given by Clusius, in his <em>Exotica</em>,
+(1605,) is chiefly taken from one of
+the published accounts of Van Neck's
+voyage, but he adds the following
+notice, as from personal observation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"After I had written down the history
+of this bird as well as I could, I happened
+to see in the house of Peter Pauwius,
+Professor of Medicine in the University
+of Leyden, a leg cut off at the knee, and
+recently brought from the Mauritius. It
+was not very long, but rather exceeded
+four inches from the knee to the bend of
+the foot. Its thickness, however, was
+great, being nearly four inches in circumference;
+and it was covered with numerous
+scales, which in front were wider and
+yellow, but smaller and dusky behind.
+The upper part of the toes was also furnished
+with single broad scales, while the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+lower part was wholly callous. The toes
+were rather short for so thick a leg: the
+claws were all thick, hard, black, less
+than an inch long; but the claw of the
+hind toe was longer than the rest, and
+exceeded an inch."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A Dutch navigator, Heemskerk, remained
+nearly three months in the
+Mauritius, on his homeward voyage
+in 1602; and in a published journal
+kept by Reyer Cornelisz, we read of
+<em>Wallichvogels</em>, and a variety of other
+game. One of Heemskerk's captains,
+Willem van West-Zanen by name,
+also left a journal&mdash;apparently not
+published until 1648&mdash;at which time
+it was edited in an enlarged form by
+H. Soeteboom. We there find repeated
+mention of <em>Dod-aarsen</em> or
+Dodos; and the sailors seem to have
+actually revelled in these birds, without
+suffering from surfeit or nausea
+like Van Neck's crew. As this tract
+is very rare, and has never appeared
+in an English form, we shall avail
+ourselves of Mr Strickland's translation
+of a few passages bearing on the
+subject in question:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The sailors went out every day to
+hunt for birds and other game, such as
+they could find on land, while they became
+less active with their nets, hooks,
+and other fishing-tackle. No quadrupeds
+occur there except cats, though our
+countrymen have subsequently introduced
+goats and swine. The herons were less
+tame than the other birds, and were difficult
+to procure, owing to their flying
+amongst the thick branches of the trees.
+They also caught birds which some name
+<em>Dod-aarsen</em>, others <em>Dronten</em>. When Jacob
+Van Neck was here, these birds were called
+<em>Wallich-vogels</em>, because even a long boiling
+would scarcely make them tender,
+but they remained tough and hard, with
+the exception of the breast and belly, which
+were very good; and also because, from
+the abundance of turtle-doves which the
+men procured, they became disgusted
+with dodos. The figure of these birds is
+given in the accompanying plate: they
+have great heads, with hoods thereon;
+they are without wings or tail, and have
+only little winglets on their sides, and four
+or five feathers behind, more elevated
+than the rest; they have beaks and feet,
+and commonly, in the stomach, a stone the
+size of a fist....</p>
+
+<p>"The dodos, with their round sterns,
+(for they were well fattened,) were also
+obliged to turn tail; everything that
+could move was in a bustle; and the fish,
+which had lived in peace for many a year,
+were pursued into the deepest water-pools....</p>
+
+<p>"On the 25th July, William and his
+sailors brought some dodos, which were
+very fat; the whole crew made an ample
+meal from three or four of them, and a
+portion remained over.... They
+sent on board smoked fish, salted dodos,
+land-tortoises, and other game, which
+supply was very acceptable. They were
+busy for some days bringing provisions to
+the ship. On the 4th of August, William's
+men brought fifty large birds on board the
+<em>Bruyn-Vis</em>; among them were twenty-four
+or twenty-five dodos, so large and
+heavy, that they could not eat any two of
+them for dinner, and all that remained
+over was salted.</p>
+
+<p>"Another day, Hoogeven (William's
+supercargo) set out from the tent with
+four seamen, provided with sticks, nets,
+muskets, and other necessaries for hunting.
+They climbed up mountain and hill,
+roamed through forest and valley, and,
+during the three days that they were out,
+they captured another half-hundred of
+birds, including a matter of twenty dodos,
+all which they brought on board and
+salted. Thus were they, and the other
+crews in the fleet, occupied in fowling and
+fishing."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In regard to the appellations of these
+birds, it is not altogether easy to determine
+the precise date at which the
+synonymous term <em>Dodars</em>, from which
+our name of Dodo is by some derived,
+was introduced. It seems first to
+occur in the journal of Willem van
+West-Zanen; but that journal, though
+written in 1603, appears to have
+remained unpublished till 1648, and
+the name may have been an interpolation
+by his editor, Soeteboom.
+Matelief's Journal, also, which makes
+mention of <em>Dodaersen</em>, otherwise
+<em>Dronten</em>, was written in 1606, and
+Van der Hagen's in 1607; but Mr
+Strickland has been unable to find an
+edition of either work of earlier date
+than 1646, and so the occurrence of
+these words may be likewise due to
+the officiousness of editors. Perhaps
+the earliest use of the word Dodars
+may date from the publication of
+Verhuffen's voyage, (1613,) where,
+however, it occurs under the corrupt
+form of <em>Totersten</em>. There seems little
+doubt that the name of Dodo is derived
+from the Dutch root, <em>Dodoor</em>,
+which signifies <em>sluggard</em>, and is appropriate
+to the leisurely gait and
+heavy aspect of the creatures in question.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+Dodars is probably a homely
+or familiar phrase among Dutch
+sailors, and may be regarded as more
+expressive than elegant. Our own
+Sir Thomas Herbert was the first to
+use the name of Dodo in its modern
+form, and he tells us that it is a Portuguese
+word. <em>Doudo</em>, in that language,
+certainly signifies "foolish,"
+or "simple," and might have been
+well applied to the unwary habits
+and defenceless condition of these
+almost wingless and totally inexperienced
+species; but, as none of the
+Portuguese voyagers seem to have
+mentioned the Dodo by any name
+whatever, nor even to have visited
+the Mauritius, after their first discovery
+of the island by Pedro Mascaregnas
+already named, it appears
+far more probable that Dodars is a
+genuine Dutch term, altered, and it
+may be amended, by Sir Thomas
+Herbert, to suit his own philological
+fancies.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch, indeed, seem to have
+been inspired with a genuine love of
+Dodos, and never allowed even the
+cooing of the delicately tender turtle-doves
+to prevent their laying in an
+ample store of the more solid, if less
+sentimental species. Thus, Van der
+Hagen, who commanded two ships
+which remained for some weeks at the
+Mauritius in 1607, not only feasted
+his crews on great abundance of "tortoises,
+<em>dodars</em>, gray parroquets, and
+other game," but salted large quantities,
+for consumption during the voyage.
+Verhuffen touched at the same
+island in 1611, and it is in his narrative
+(published at Frankfort in
+1613) that Dodos are called <em>Totersten</em>.
+He describes them as having&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"A skin like a monk's cowl on the
+head, and no wings; but, in place of them,
+about five or six yellow feathers: likewise,
+in place of a tail, are four or five
+crested feathers. In colour they are
+gray; men call them <em>Totersten</em> or <em>Walckvögel</em>;
+they occur there in great plenty,
+insomuch that the Dutch daily caught
+and ate many of them. For not only
+these, but in general all the birds there,
+are so tame that they killed the turtle-doves,
+as well as the other wild pigeons
+and parrots, with sticks, and caught them
+by the hand. They also captured the
+totersten or walckvögel with their hands;
+but were obliged to take good care that
+these birds did not bite them on the arms
+or legs with their beaks, which are very
+strong, thick, and hooked; for they are
+wont to bite desperately hard."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We are glad to be informed, by the
+above, of this attempt at independence,
+or something at least approaching
+to the defensive system.
+It forms an additional title, on the
+part of the Dodo, to be regarded, at
+all events by the Dutch <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cuisiniers</i>, as
+"<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">une pièce de resistance</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas Herbert, already named,
+visited the Mauritius in 1627, and
+found it still uninhabited by man. In
+his <cite>Relation of some yeares' Travaile</cite>,
+which, for the amusement of his later
+years, he seems to have repeatedly rewritten
+for various editions, extending
+from 1634 to 1677, he both figures
+and describes our fat friend. His
+narration is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The dodo, a bird the Dutch call
+walckvögel or dod-eersen: her body is
+round and fat, which occasions the slow
+pace, or that her corpulencie; and so
+great as few of them weigh less than fifty
+pound; meat it is with some, but better
+to the eye than stomach, such as only a
+strong appetite can vanquish; but otherwise,
+through its oyliness, it cannot chuse
+but quickly cloy and nauseate the
+stomach, being indeed more pleasurable
+to look than feed upon. It is of a melancholy
+visage, as sensible of nature's
+injury in framing so massie a body to be
+directed by complimental wings, such indeed
+as are unable to hoise her from the
+ground, serving only to rank her amongst
+birds. Her head is variously drest; for
+one half is hooded with down of a dark
+colour, the other half naked, and of a white
+hue, as if lawn were drawn over it; her
+bill hooks and bends downwards; the
+thrill or breathing-place is in the midst,
+from which part to the end the colour is
+of a light green, mixt with pale yellow;
+her eyes are round and bright, and instead
+of feathers has a most fine down;
+her train (like to a China beard) is no
+more than three or four short feathers;
+her leggs are thick and black; her talons
+great; her stomach fiery, so that as she
+can easily digest stones; in that and shape
+not a little resembling the ostrich."&mdash;(P.
+383.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>François Cauche, an account of
+whose voyage, made in 1638, is published
+in the <cite>Relations Véritables et
+Curieuses de l'Isle de Madagascar</cite>,
+(Paris, 1651) states that he saw in
+the Mauritius birds called Oiseaux de
+Nazaret, larger than a swan, covered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+with black down, with crested feathers
+on the rump, "as many in number as
+the bird is years old." In place of
+wings there are some black curved
+feathers, without webs. The cry is
+like that of a gosling.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"They only lay one egg, which is white,
+the <em>size of a halfpenny roll</em>; by the side
+of which they place a white stone, of the
+dimensions of a hen's egg. They lay on
+grass, which they collect, and make their
+nests in the forests; if one kills the young
+one, a gray stone is found in the gizzard.
+We call them Oiseaux de Nazaret. The
+fat is excellent to give ease to the muscles
+and nerves."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Here let us pause a moment, to consider
+what was the probable size of a
+halfpenny roll in the year 1638.
+How many vast and various elements
+must be taken to account in calculating
+the dimensions of that "<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pain d'un
+sol!</i>" Macculloch, Cobden, Joseph
+Hume, come over and help us in this
+our hour of <em>knead</em>! Was corn high
+or low? were wages up or down?
+were bakers honest or dishonest?
+was there a fixed measure of quantity
+for these our matutinal baps?
+Did town-councils regulate their
+weight and quality, or was conscience
+left controller, from the quartern loaf
+downwards to the smallest form assumed
+by yeast and flour?</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me where was fancy bread?"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Does no one know precisely what was
+the size of a halfpenny roll in the year
+1638? In that case, we shall not
+mention the dimensions of the Dodo's
+egg.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that the bird recorded
+by Cauche was the true Dodo,
+although it is probable that he either
+described it from memory, or confused
+it with the descriptions then
+current of the cassowary. Thus he
+adds that the legs were of considerable
+length, that it had only three toes,
+and no tongue&mdash;characters (with the
+exception of the last, inapplicable, of
+course, to either kind) which truly indicate
+the latter species. This name of
+"bird of Nazareth" has, moreover,
+given rise to a false or phantom
+species, called <em>Didus Nazarenus</em> in
+systematic works, and is supposed to
+have been derived from the small
+island or sandbank of Nazareth, to
+the north-east of Madagascar. Now
+Dr Hamel has recently rendered it
+probable that no such island or sandbank
+is in existence, and so we need
+not seek for its inhabitants: at all
+events, there is no such bird as the
+Nazarene Dodo&mdash;<em>Didus Nazarenus</em>.</p>
+
+<p>The next piece of evidence regarding
+the Dodo is highly interesting and
+important, as it shows that, at least in
+one instance, this extraordinary bird
+was transported alive to Europe, and
+exhibited in our own country. In a
+manuscript preserved in the British
+Museum, Sir Hamon Lestrange, the
+father of the more celebrated Sir
+Roger, in a commentary on Brown's
+<cite>Vulgar Errors</cite>, and <em>apropos</em> of the
+ostrich, records as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"About 1638, as I walked London
+streets, I saw the picture of a strange
+fowle hong out upon a cloth, and myselfe,
+with one or two more then in company,
+went in to see it. It was kept in a chamber,
+and was a great fowle somewhat
+bigger than the largest turkey-cock, and
+so legged and footed, but stouter and
+thicker, and of a more erect shape; coloured
+before like the breast of a young
+cock fesan, and, on the back, of dunn or
+deare coulour. The keeper called it a
+Dodo; and in the end of a chimney in the
+chamber there lay a heape of large pebble
+stones, whereof hee gave it many in our
+sight, some as bigg as nutmegs, and the
+keeper told us she eats them, (conducing
+to digestion); and though I remember
+not how farr the keeper was questioned
+therein, yet I am confident that afterwards
+shee cast them all againe."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is curious that no confirmation
+can be obtained of this exhibition
+from contemporary authorities. The
+period was prolific in pamphlets
+and broadsides, but political excitement
+probably engrossed the minds of
+the majority, and rendered them careless
+of the wonders of nature. Yet
+the individual in question may in all
+likelihood be traced down to the present
+day, and portions of it seen and
+handled by the existing generation.
+In Tradescant's catalogue of his "<cite>Collection
+of Rarities preserved at South
+Lambeth, near London</cite>," 1656, we find
+an entry&mdash;"Dodar from the island
+Mauritius; it is not able to flie, being
+so big." It is enumerated under the
+head of "Whole birds;" and Willughby,
+whose <cite>Ornithologia</cite> appeared
+in 1676, says of the Dodo, "Exuvias
+hujusce avis vidimus in museo Tradescantiano."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+The same specimen is
+alluded to by Llhwyd in 1684, and by
+Hyde in 1700,&mdash;having passed, meanwhile,
+into the Ashmolean Museum, at
+Oxford, with the rest of the Tradescantian
+collection. As Tradescant was
+the most noted collector of things natural
+in his day, and there were few,
+if any, to enter into competition with
+him, it may be well supposed that
+such a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">rara avis</i> as a living Dodo would
+attract his close attention, and that it
+would, in all probability, find its way
+into his cabinet on its decease. It
+may, therefore, be inferred that the
+same individual which was exhibited
+in London, and described by Lestrange
+in 1638, is that recorded as a stuffed
+specimen in the catalogue of Tradescant's
+Museum, (1656,) and bequeathed
+by him, with his other curiosities,
+to Elias Ashmole, the munificent
+founder of the still existing museum
+at Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>The considerate reader will not unnaturally
+ask, Where is now that last
+of Dodos? and echo answers, Where?
+Alas! it was destroyed, "by order of
+the Visitors," in 1755. The following
+is the evidence of that destruction, as
+given by Mr J. S. Duncan in the
+3d volume of the <cite>Zoological Journal</cite>,
+p. 559:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"In the Ashmolean Catalogue, made
+by Ed. Llhwyd, musei procustos, 1684,
+(Plott being then keeper,) the entry of
+the bird is 'No. 29, Gallus gallinaceus
+peregrinus Clusii,' &amp;c. In a catalogue
+made subsequently to 1755, it is stated,
+'The numbers from 5 to 46, being decayed,
+were ordered to be removed at a meeting
+of the majority of the Visitors, Jan. 8,
+1755.' Among these, of course, was included
+the Dodo, its number being 29.
+This is further shown by a new catalogue,
+completed in 1756, in which the order of
+the Visitors is recorded as follows:&mdash;'Illa
+quibus nullus in margine assignatur
+numerus, a Musæo subducta sunt cimelia,
+annuentibus Vice-Cancellario aliisque Curatoribus
+ad ea lustranda convocatis, die
+Januarii 8vo, <small>A.D.</small> 1755.' The Dodo is one
+of those which are here without the number."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>By some lucky accident, however,
+a small portion of "this last descendant
+of an ancient race," as Mr
+Strickland terms it, escaped the
+clutches of the destroyers. "The
+head and one of the feet were saved
+from the flames, and are still preserved
+in the Ashmolean Museum."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>Let us now retrace our steps, for
+the sake of taking up, very briefly,
+the history of the other known remnants
+of this now extinct species.
+Among the printed books of the Ashmolean
+Museum, there is a small
+tract, of which the second edition (the
+first is without date) is entitled, "A
+Catalogue of many natural rarities,
+with great industry, cost, and thirty
+years' travel in foreign countries, collected
+by Robert Hubert, <em>alias</em> Forges,
+gent. and sworn servant to his majesty;
+and daily to be seen at the
+place formerly called the Music House,
+near the west end of St Paul's Church,"
+12mo, London, 1665. At page 11 is
+the following entry:&mdash;"A legge of a
+Dodo, a great heavy bird that cannot
+fly: it is a bird of the Maurcius
+island." This specimen is supposed
+to be that which afterwards passed
+into the possession of the Royal Society,
+is recorded in their catalogue of
+<cite>Natural and Artificial Curiosities</cite>, published
+by Grew in 1681, and is now
+in the British Museum. It is somewhat
+larger than the Ashmolean foot,
+and, from its excellent state of preservation,
+finely exhibits the external
+characters of the toes and
+tarsus.</p>
+
+<p>In Olearus's catalogue of the museum
+at Gottorf, (the seat of the
+Dukes of Schleswig, and recently a
+less easy one than we have known it,)
+of which the first edition was published
+in 1666, there is the following notice
+of a Dodo's head:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"No. 5 is the head of a foreign bird,
+which Clusius names <em>Gallus peregrinus</em>,
+Mirenberg <em>Cygnus cucullatus</em>, and the
+Dutch walghvögel, from the disgust which
+they are said to have taken to its hard
+flesh. The Dutch seem to have first discovered
+this bird in the island of Mauritius;
+and it is stated to have no wings,
+but in place of them two winglets, like
+the emeu and the penguins."&mdash;(P. 25.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This specimen, after having been
+disregarded, if not forgotten, for nearly
+two centuries, was lately re-discovered,
+by Professor C. Reinhardt, amongst
+a mass of ancient rubbish, and is now
+in the public museum of Copenhagen,
+where it was examined by Mr Strickland
+two years ago.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The integumentary
+portions have been all removed,
+but it exhibits the same
+osteological characters as the Oxford
+head, though less perfect, the base of
+the occiput being absent. It is of
+somewhat smaller size.</p>
+
+<p>The remnants now noticed&mdash;three
+heads and two feet&mdash;are the only
+ascertained existing portions of the
+famous Dodo; a bird which, as we
+have seen in the preceding extracts,
+might have been well enough known
+to such of our great great-grandfathers
+as were in the sea-faring line.</p>
+
+<p>But when did the last Dodo die?
+We cannot answer that question articulately,
+as to the very year, still less
+as to the season, or time of day&mdash;and
+we believe that no intimations of the
+event were sent to the kindred; but
+we do not hesitate to state our belief
+that that affecting occurrence or bereavement
+took place some time subsequent
+to the summer of 1681, and
+prior to 1693. The latest evidence of
+the existence of Dodos in the Mauritius
+is contained in a manuscript of
+the British Museum, entitled "A
+coppey of Mr Benj. Harry's Journall
+when he was chief mate of the Shippe
+Berkley Castle, Captn. Wm. Talbot
+commander, on voyage to the Coste
+and Bay, 1679, which voyage they
+wintered at the Maurrisshes." On
+the return from India, being unable
+to weather the Cape of Good Hope,
+they determined to make for "the
+Marushes," the 4th June 1681. They
+saw the land on the 3d July, and on
+the 11th they began to build huts,
+and with much labour spread out their
+cargo to dry:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Now, having a little respitt, I will
+make a little description of the island,
+first of its producks, then of its parts;
+ffirst, of winged and feathered ffowle, the
+less passant are <em>Dodos, whose fflesh is very
+hard</em>, a small sort of Gees, reasonably
+good Teele, Cuckoes, Pasca fflemingos,
+Turtle Doves, large Batts, many small
+birds which are good.... Heer are
+many wild hoggs and land-turtle which
+are very good, other small creators on the
+Land, as Scorpions and Musketoes, these
+in small numbers, Batts and ffleys a multitude,
+Munkeys of various sorts."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>After this all historical evidence of
+the existence of the Dodo ceases, although
+we cannot doubt that they continued
+for yet a few years. The Dutch
+first colonised the Mauritius in 1644.
+The island is not above forty miles in
+length; and although, when first discovered,
+it was found clothed with
+dense forests of palms, and various
+other trees&mdash;among whose columnar
+stems and leafy umbrage the native
+creatures might find a safe abode,
+with food and shelter&mdash;how speedily
+would not the improvident rapacity
+of hungry colonists, or of reckless
+fresh-flesh-bereaved mariners, diminish
+the numbers of a large and
+heavy-bodied bird, of powerless wing
+and slow of foot, and useful, moreover,
+in the way of culinary consumption.
+Mr Strickland is of opinion that
+their destruction would be further
+hastened, or might be mainly caused,
+by the dogs, cats, and swine which
+accompany man in his migrations,
+and become themselves emancipated
+in the forests. All these creatures are
+more or less carnivorous, and are fond
+of eggs and young birds; and as the
+Dodo is said to have hatched only one
+egg at a time, a single savage mouthful
+might suffice to destroy the hope
+of a family for many a day.</p>
+
+<p>That the destruction of Dodos was
+completed by 1693, Mr Strickland
+thinks may be inferred from the narrative
+of Leguat, who, in that year,
+remained several months in the Mauritius,
+and, while enumerating its animal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+productions at considerable length,
+makes no mention whatever of the
+bird in question. He adds,&mdash;"L'isle
+était autrefois toute remplie d'oyes et
+de canards sauvages; de poules d'eau,
+de gelinottes, de tortues de mer et de
+terre, <em>mais tout cela est devenue fort
+rare</em>." And, while referring to the
+"hogs of the China kind," he states
+that these beasts do a great deal of
+damage, by devouring all the young
+animals they can catch. It is thus sufficiently
+evident that civilisation was
+making aggressive inroads on the natural
+state of the Mauritius even in 1693.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch evacuated the island in
+1712, and were succeeded by the
+French, who colonised it under the
+name of Isle de France; and this
+change in the population no doubt
+accounts for the almost entire absence
+of any traditionary knowledge of this
+remarkable bird among the later inhabitants.
+Baron Grant lived in the
+Mauritius for twenty years from
+1740; and his son, who compiled his
+papers into a history of the island,
+states that no trace of such a bird
+was to be found at that time. In the
+<cite>Observations sur la Physique</cite> for the
+year 1778, there is a negative notice,
+by M. Morel, of the Dodo and its
+kindred. "Ces oiseaux, si bien décrits
+dans le tome 2 de l'Histoire des
+Oiseaux de M. le Comte de Buffon,
+n'ont jamais été vus aux Isles de
+France, &amp;c., depuis plus de 60 ans
+que ces parages sont habités et visités
+par des colonies Françoises. Les plus
+anciens habitans assurent tous que
+ces oiseaux monstrueux leur ont
+toujours été inconnus." M. Bory St
+Vincent, who visited the Mauritius
+and Bourbon in 1801, and has given
+us an account of the physical features
+of those islands in his "Voyage," assures
+us (vol. ii. p. 306) that he instituted
+all possible inquiries regarding
+the Dodo (or Dronte) and its kindred,
+without being able to pick up the
+slightest information on the subject;
+and although he advertised "une
+grande recompense a qui pourrait lui
+donner la moindre indice de l'ancienne
+existence de cet oiseau, un silence
+universel a prouvé que le souvenir
+même du Dronte était perdu parmi les
+créoles." De Blainville informs us,
+(<cite>Nouv. Ann. Mus.</cite> iv. 31,) that the
+subject was discussed at a public
+dinner at the Mauritius in 1816, where
+were present several persons from
+seventy to ninety years of age, none
+of whom had any knowledge of any
+Dodo, either from recollection or tradition.
+Finally, Mr J. V. Thompson,
+who resided for some years in Mauritius
+prior to 1816, states, (<cite>Mag. of
+Nat. Hist.</cite>, ii. 443,) that no more
+traces could then be found of the
+Dodo than of the truth of the tale of
+Paul and Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>But the historical evidence already
+adduced, as to the former existence of
+this bird, is confirmed in a very interesting
+manner by what may be called
+the pictorial proof. Besides the rude
+delineations given by the earlier
+voyagers, there are several old oil-paintings
+of the Dodo still extant, by
+skilful artists, who had no other object
+in view than to represent with accuracy
+the forms before them. These paintings
+are five in number, whereof one
+is anonymous; three bear the name of
+Roland Savery, an eminent Dutch
+animal-painter of the early portion of
+the seventeenth century, and one is by
+John Savery, Roland's nephew.</p>
+
+<p>The first of these is the best known,
+and is that from which the figure of
+the Dodo, in all modern compilations
+of ornithology, has been copied. It
+once belonged to George Edwards,
+who, in his work on birds, (vi. 294,)
+tells us, that "the original picture
+was drawn in Holland <em>from the living
+bird</em>, brought from St Maurice's island
+in the East Indies, in the early times
+of the discovery of the Indies by the
+way of the Cape of Good Hope. It
+was the property of the late Sir H.
+Sloane to the time of his death, and
+afterwards becoming my property. I
+deposited it in the British Museum as
+a great curiosity. The above history
+of the picture I had from Sir H. Sloane,
+and the late Dr Mortimer, secretary
+to the Royal Society." It is still preserved
+in the place to which Edwards
+had consigned it, and may be seen in
+the bird gallery, along with the actual
+foot already mentioned. Although
+without name or date, the similarity
+both of design and execution, leads to
+the conclusion that it was by one or
+other of the Saverys. It may be seen
+engraved in the <cite>Penny Cyclopædia</cite>, in
+illustration of Mr Broderip's article
+<em>Dodo</em> in that work.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The second painting, one of Roland
+Savery's, is in the royal collection at
+the Hague, and may be regarded as
+a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chef-d'&oelig;uvre</i>. It represents Orpheus
+charming the creation, and we
+there behold the Dodo spell-bound
+with his other mute companions. All
+the ordinary creatures there shown
+are depicted with the greatest truthfulness;
+and why should the artist,
+delighting, as he seems to have done,
+in tracing the most delicate features
+of familiar nature, have marred the
+beautiful consistency of his design by
+introducing a feigned, or even an
+exaggerated representation? We
+may here adduce the invaluable evidence
+of Professor Owen.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"While at the Hague, in the summer
+of 1838, I was much struck with the
+minuteness and accuracy with which the
+exotic species of animals had been
+painted by Savery and Breughel, in such
+subjects as Orpheus charming the Beasts,
+&amp;c., in which scope was allowed for
+grouping together a great variety of
+animals. Understanding that the celebrated
+menagerie of Prince Maurice had
+afforded the living models to these artists,
+I sat down one day before Savery's
+Orpheus and the Beasts, to make a list of
+the species, which the picture sufficiently
+evinced that the artist had had the opportunity
+to study alive. Judge of my surprise
+and pleasure in detecting, in a dark
+corner of the picture, (which is badly
+hung between two windows,) the <em>Dodo</em>,
+beautifully finished, showing for example,
+though but three inches long, the auricular
+circle of feathers, the scutation of
+the tarsi, and the loose structure of the
+caudal plumes. In the number and proportions
+of the toes, and in general form,
+it accords with Edwards' oil-painting in
+the British Museum; and I conclude
+that the miniature must have been copied
+from the study of a living bird, which, it
+is most probable, formed part of the
+Mauritian menagerie. The bird is standing
+in profile with a lizard at its feet."&mdash;<cite>Penny
+Cyclopædia</cite>, xxiii. p. 143.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr Strickland, in 1845, made a
+search through the Royal Gallery of
+Berlin, which was known to contain
+several of Savery's pictures. Among
+them, we are happy to say that he
+found one representing the Dodo,
+with numerous other animals, "in
+Paradise!" It was very conformable
+with the figure last mentioned; but
+what renders this, our third portrait,
+of peculiar interest, is, that it affords a
+date&mdash;the words "Roelandt Savery
+fe. 1626," being inscribed on one
+corner. As the artist was born in
+1576, he must have been twenty-three
+years old when Van Neck's expedition
+returned to Holland; and as we
+are told by De Bry, in reference to
+the Mauritius, that "aliæ ibidem
+aves visæ sunt, quas walkvogel
+Batavi nominarunt, et <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">unam secum in
+Hollandiam importarunt</i>," it is quite
+possible that the portrait of this individual
+may have been taken at the
+time, and afterwards recopied, both by
+himself and his nephew, in their later
+pictures. Professor Owen leans to
+the belief that Prince Maurice's collection
+afforded the living prototype,&mdash;an
+opinion so far strengthened by
+Edwards's tradition, that the painting
+in the British Museum was drawn in
+Holland from a "living bird." Either
+view is preferable to Dr Hamel's suggestion,
+that Savery's representation
+was taken from the Dodo exhibited
+in London, as that individual was
+seen alive by Sir Hamon Lestrange
+in 1638, and must therefore (by no
+means a likely occurrence) have lived,
+in the event supposed, at least twelve
+years in captivity.</p>
+
+<p>Very recently Dr J. J. de Tchudi,
+the well-known Peruvian traveller,
+transmitted to Mr Strickland an exact
+copy of another figure of the Dodo,
+which forms part of a picture in the
+imperial collection of the Belvedere
+at Vienna&mdash;by no means a safe location,
+in these tempestuous times, for
+the treasures of either art or nature.
+But we trust that Prince Windischgratz
+and the hanging committee will
+now see that all is right, and that
+General Bem has not been allowed to
+carry off this drawing of the Dodo in
+his carpet-bag. It is dated 1628.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"There are two circumstances," says
+Mr Strickland, "which give an especial
+interest to this painting. First, the
+novelty of attitude in the Dodo, exhibiting
+an activity of character which corroborates
+the supposition that the artist had
+living model before him, and contrasting
+strongly with the aspect of passive
+stolidity in the other pictures. And,
+secondly, the Dodo is represented as
+watching, apparently with hungry looks,
+the merry wriggling of an eel in the
+water! Are we hence to infer that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+Dodo fed upon eels? The advocates of
+the Raptorial affinities of the Dodo, of
+whom we shall soon speak, will doubtless
+reply in the affirmative; but, as I hope
+shortly to demonstrate that it belongs to
+a family of birds all the other members
+of which are frugivorous, I can only regard
+the introduction of the eel as a pictorial
+license. In this, as in all his other
+paintings, Savery brought into juxtaposition
+animals from all countries,
+without regarding geographical distribution.
+His delineations of birds and
+beasts were wonderfully exact, but his
+knowledge of natural history probably
+went no further; and although the Dodo
+is certainly <em>looking at</em> the eel, yet we have
+no proof that he is going to <em>eat</em> it. The
+mere collocation of animals in an artistic
+composition, cannot be accepted as evidence
+against the positive truths revealed
+by comparative anatomy."&mdash;(P. 30.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The fifth and last old painting of
+the Dodo, is that now in the Ashmolean
+Museum at Oxford, and presented
+to it by Mr Darby in 1813.
+Nothing is known of its previous history.
+It is the work of John Savery,
+the nephew of Roland, and is dated
+1651. Its most peculiar character is
+the colossal scale on which it has been
+designed,&mdash;the Dodo of this canvass
+standing about three feet and a half
+in height.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"It is difficult," observes our author,
+"to assign a motive to the artist for thus
+magnifying an object already sufficiently
+uncouth in appearance. Were it not for
+the discrepancy of dates, I should have
+conjectured that this was the identical
+"picture of a strange fowle hong out upon
+a cloth," which attracted the notice of
+Sir Hamon Lestrange and his friends, as
+they "walked London streets" in 1638;
+the delineations used by showmen being
+in general more remarkable for attractiveness
+than veracity."&mdash;(P. 31.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We have now exhibited the leading
+facts which establish both the existence
+and extinction of this extraordinary
+bird: the existence, proved
+by the recorded testimony of the
+earlier navigators, the few but peculiar
+portions of structure which still
+remain among us, and the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">vera
+effigies</i> handed down by artists coeval
+with the period in which the Dodo
+lived: the non-existence, deduced
+from the general progress of events,
+and the absence of all knowledge of
+the species since the close of the
+seventeenth century, although the
+natural productions of the Mauritius
+are, in other respects, much better
+known to us now than then. Why
+any particular creature should have
+been so formed as to be unable to
+resist the progress of <em>humanity</em>, and
+should in consequence have died, it is
+not for us to say. "There are more
+things in heaven and earth than are
+dreamt of in our philosophy;" and of
+this we may feel assured, that if, as
+we doubt not, the Dodo is extinct,
+then it has served its end, whatever
+that might be.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing imperfect in the
+productions of nature, although there
+are many organisms in which certain
+forms and faculties are less developed
+than in others. There are certainly,
+in particular groups, such things as
+rudimentary organs, which belong, as
+it were, not so much to the individual
+species, as to the general system
+which prevails in the larger and more
+comprehensive class to which such
+species belong; and in the majority of
+which these organs fulfil a frequent
+and obvious function, and so are very
+properly regarded as indispensable to
+the wellbeing of such as use them.
+But there are many examples in
+animal life which indicate that particular
+parts of structure remain, in certain
+species, for ever in an undeveloped
+state. In respect to teeth, for instance,
+the Greenland whale may be
+regarded as a <em>permanent suckling</em>; for
+that huge creature having no occasion
+for these organs, they never pierce
+the gums, although in early life they
+are distinctly traceable in the dental
+groove of the jaws. So the Dodo was
+a kind of <em>permanent nestling</em>, covered
+with down instead of feathers, and
+with wings and tail (the oars and
+rudder of all aërial voyagers) so short
+and feeble as to be altogether inefficient
+for the purposes of flight.
+Why should such things be? We cannot
+say. Can any one say why they
+should not be? The question is both
+wide and deep, and they are most
+likely to plunge into it who can
+neither dive nor swim. We agree
+with Mr Strickland, that these apparently
+anomalous facts are, in reality,
+indications of laws which the great
+Creator has been pleased to form and
+follow in the construction of organised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+beings,&mdash;inscriptions in an unknown
+hieroglyphic, which we may rest
+assured must have a meaning, but of
+which we have as yet scarcely learned
+the alphabet. "There appear, however,
+reasonable grounds for believing
+that the Creator has assigned to each
+class of animals a definite type or
+structure, from which He has never
+departed, even in the most exceptional
+or eccentric modifications of
+form."</p>
+
+<p>As to the true position of the Dodo
+in systematic ornithology, various
+opinions have been emitted by various
+men. The majority seem to have
+placed it in the great Rasorial or
+Gallinaceous order, as a component
+part of the family <em>Struthionidæ</em>, or
+ostrich tribe.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The bird in question," says Mr Vigors,
+"from every account which we have of
+its economy, and from the appearance of
+its head and foot, is decidedly gallinaceous;
+and, from the insufficiency of its
+wings for the purposes of flight, it may
+with equal certainty be pronounced to
+be of the <em>Struthious</em> structure. But the
+foot has a strong hind-toe, and, with the
+exception of its being more robust, in
+which character it still adheres to the
+Struthionidæ, it corresponds to the Linnæan
+genus <em>Crax</em>, that commences the
+succeeding family. The bird thus becomes
+osculant, and forms a strong point
+of junction between those two contiguous
+groups."&mdash;<cite>Linn. Trans.</cite> xiv. 484.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>M. de Blainville (in <cite>Nouv. Ann. du
+Mus.</cite> iv. 24,) contests this opinion by
+various arguments, which we cannot
+here report, and concludes that the
+Dodo is a raptorial bird, allied to the
+vultures. Mr Broderip, in his article
+before referred to, sums up the discussion
+as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"If the picture in the British Museum,
+and the cut in Bontius, be faithful representations
+of a creature then living, to
+make such a bird of prey&mdash;a vulture, in
+the ordinary acceptation of the term&mdash;would
+be to set all the usual laws of
+adaptation at defiance. A vulture without
+wings! How was it to be fed?
+And not only without wings, but necessarily
+slow and heavy in progression on
+its clumsy feet. The <em>Vulturidæ</em> are, as
+we know, among the most active agents
+for removing the decomposing animal remains
+in tropical and inter-tropical climates,
+and they are provided with a prodigal
+development of wing, to waft them
+speedily to the spot tainted by the corrupt
+incumbrance. But no such powers of
+wing would be required by a bird appointed
+to clear away the decaying and
+decomposing masses of a luxuriant tropical
+vegetation&mdash;a kind of vulture for
+vegetable impurities, so to speak&mdash;and
+such an office would not be by any means
+inconsistent with comparative slowness of
+pedestrian motion."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Professor Owen, doubtless one of
+our greatest authorities, inclines towards
+an affinity with the vultures,
+and considers the Dodo as an extremely
+modified form of the raptorial order.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Devoid of the power of flight, it could
+have had small chance of obtaining food
+by preying upon the members of its own
+class; and, if it did not exclusively subsist
+on dead and decaying organised matter,
+it most probably restricted its attacks to
+the class of reptiles, and to the littoral
+fishes, <em>Crustacea</em>, &amp;c., which its well-developed
+back-toe and claw would enable it
+to seize, and hold with a firm gripe."&mdash;<cite>Transactions
+of the Zoological Society</cite>, iii.
+p. 331.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We confess that, setting aside various
+other unconformable features in
+the structure of the Dodo, the fact,
+testified by various authorities, of its
+swallowing stones, and having stones
+in its gizzard, for the mechanical triturition
+of its food, (a peculiarity unknown
+among the raptorial order,) is
+sufficient to bar the above view, supported
+though it be by the opinion of our
+most distinguished living anatomist.</p>
+
+<p>In a recent memoir by Professor J.
+F. Brandt (of which an abstract is
+given in the <cite>Bulletin de la Class. Phys.
+de l'Acad. Imp. de St Petersburg</cite>, vol.
+viii. No. 3) we have the following
+statement:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The Dodo, a bird provided with divided
+toes and cursorial feet, is best
+classed in the order of the Waders, among
+which it appears, from its many peculiarities,
+(most of which, however, are quite
+referable to forms in this order,) to be
+an anomalous link connecting several
+groups,&mdash;a link which, for the reasons
+above given, inclines towards the ostriches,
+and especially also towards the pigeons."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We doubt the direct affinity to any
+species of the grallatorial order, an
+order which contains the cursorial or
+swift-running birds, very dissimilar in
+their prevailing habits to anything we
+know of the sluggish and sedentary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+Dodo. Professor Brandt may be regarded
+as having mistaken analogy
+for affinity; and, in Mr Strickland's
+opinion, he has in this instance wandered
+from the true method of investigation,
+in his anxiety to discover a
+link connecting dissevered groups.</p>
+
+<p>What then is, or rather was, the
+Dodo? The majority of inquirers
+have no doubt been influenced, though
+unconsciously, by its colossal size, and
+have consequently sought its actual
+analogies only among such huge species
+as the ostrich, the vulture, and the
+albatross. But the range in each
+order is often enormous, as, for example,
+between the <em>Falco cærulescens</em>,
+or finch falcon of Bengal, an accipitrine
+bird not bigger than a sparrow, and an
+eagle of the largest size; or between
+the swallow-like stormy petrel and
+the gigantic pelican of the wilderness.
+It appears that Professor J. T. Rheinhardt
+of Copenhagen, who rediscovered
+the cranium of the Gottorf
+Museum, was the first to indicate the
+direct relationship of the Dodo to the
+<em>pigeons</em>. He has recently been engaged
+in a voyage round the world,
+but it is known that, before he left
+Copenhagen in 1845, he had called
+the attention of his correspondents,
+both in Sweden and Denmark, to "the
+striking affinity which exists between
+this extinct bird and the pigeons,
+especially the Trerons." The Columbine
+view is that taken up, and so
+admirably illustrated, by Mr Strickland,
+the most recent as well as the
+best biographer of the Dodo. He refers
+to the great strength and curvature
+of bill exhibited by several
+groups of the tropical fruit-eating
+pigeons, and adds:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"If we now regard the Dodo as an
+extreme modification, not of the vultures,
+but of those vulture-like frugivorous
+pigeons, we shall, I think, class it in a
+group whose characters are far more
+consistent with what we know of its
+structure and habits. There is no <em>a
+priori</em> reason why a pigeon should not be
+so modified, in conformity with external
+circumstances, as to be incapable of flight,
+just as we see a grallatorial bird modified
+into an ostrich, and a diver into a penguin.
+Now we are told that Mauritius, an
+island forty miles in length, and about
+one hundred miles from the nearest land,
+was, when discovered, clothed with dense
+forests of palms and various other trees.
+A bird adapted to feed on the fruits produced
+by these forests would, in that
+equable climate, have no occasion to
+migrate to distant lands; it would revel
+in the perpetual luxuries of tropical vegetation,
+and would have but little need of
+locomotion. Why then should it have
+the means of flying? Such a bird might
+wander from tree to tree, tearing with its
+powerful beak the fruits which strewed
+the ground, and digesting their stony
+kernels with its powerful gizzard, enjoying
+tranquillity and abundance, until the
+arrival of man destroyed the balance of
+animal life, and put a term to its existence.
+Such, in my opinion, was the
+Dodo,&mdash;a colossal, brevipennate, frugivorous
+pigeon."&mdash;(P. 40.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>For the various osteological and
+other details by which the Columbine
+character of the Dodo is maintained,
+and as we think established, we must
+refer our readers to Mr Strickland's
+volume,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> where those parts of the
+subject are very skilfully worked out
+by his able coadjutor, Dr Melville.</p>
+
+<p>We shall now proceed to notice
+certain other extinct species which
+form the dead relations of the Dodo,
+just as the pigeons continue to represent
+the tribe from which they have
+departed. The island Rodriguez,
+placed about three hundred miles
+eastward of the Mauritius, though not
+more than fifteen miles long by six
+broad, possessed in modern times a
+peculiar bird, also without effective
+wings, and in several other respects
+resembling the Dodo. It was named
+<em>Solitaire</em> by the early voyagers, and
+forms the species <em>Didus solitarius</em> of
+systematic writers. The small island
+in question seems to have remained
+in a desert and unpeopled state until
+1691, when a party of French Protestant
+refugees settled upon it, and remained
+for a couple of years. The
+Solitaire is thus described by their
+commander, Francois Leguat, who
+(in his <cite>Voyage et Avantures</cite>, 1708) has
+given us an interesting account both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+of his own doings in general, and of
+this species in particular.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Of all the birds in the island, the
+most remarkable is that which goes by
+the name of the <em>Solitary</em>, because it is
+very seldom seen in company, though
+there are abundance of them. The
+feathers of the male are of a brown-gray
+colour, the feet and beak are like a
+turkey's, but a little more crooked.
+They have scarce any tail, but their hind
+part, covered with feathers, is roundish
+like the crupper of a horse: they are
+taller than turkeys; their neck is straight,
+and a little longer in proportion than a
+turkey's, when it lifts up its head. Its eye
+is black and lively, and its head without
+comb or cap. They never fly; their wings
+are too little to support the weight of
+their bodies; they serve only to beat
+themselves, and to flutter when they call
+one another. They will whirl about for
+twenty or thirty times together on the
+same side, during the space of four or
+five minutes. The motion of their wings
+makes then a noise very much like that of
+a rattle, and one may hear it two hundred
+paces off. The bone of their wing grows
+greater towards the extremity, and forms
+a little round mass under the feathers, as
+big as a musket-ball. That and its beak
+are the chief defence of this bird. 'Tis
+very hard to catch it in the woods, but
+easier in open places, because we run
+faster than they, and sometimes we approach
+them without much trouble. From
+March to September they are extremely
+fat, and taste admirably well, especially
+while they are young; some of the males
+weigh forty-five pounds.</p>
+
+<p>"The females" continues our enamoured
+author, "are wonderfully beautiful,
+some fair, some brown,&mdash;I call them
+fair, because they are of the colour of fair
+hair. They have a sort of peak like a
+widow's upon their beak, which is of a
+dun colour. No one feather is straggling
+from the other all over their bodies, they
+being very careful to adjust themselves,
+and make them all even with their beaks.
+The feathers on their thighs are round
+like shells at the end, and, being there
+very thick, have an agreeable effect.
+They have two risings on their crops, and
+the feathers are whiter there than the
+rest, which lively represents the fair neck
+of a beautiful woman. They walk with
+so much stateliness and good grace,
+that one cannot help admiring and loving
+them; by which means their fine mien
+often saves their lives. Though these
+birds will sometimes very familiarly come
+up near enough to one, when we do not
+run after them, yet they will never grow
+tame. As soon as they are caught they
+shed tears without crying, and refuse all
+manner of meat till they die."&mdash;(P. 71.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Their natural food is the fruit of a
+species of plantain. When these
+birds are about to build, they select a
+clean place, and then gather together
+a quantity of palm-leaves, which they
+heap up about a foot and a half high,
+and there they sit. They never lay
+but one egg, which greatly exceeds
+that of a goose. Some days after the
+young one has left the nest, a company
+of thirty or forty grown-up birds
+brings another young one to it; and
+the new-fledged bird, with its father
+and mother, joining with the band,
+they all march away to some by-place.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We frequently followed them," says
+Leguat, "and found that afterwards the
+old ones went each their way alone, or in
+couples, and left the two young ones together,
+and this we called a <em>marriage</em>.
+This particularity has something in it
+which looks a little fabulous; nevertheless
+what I say is sincere truth, and what I
+have more than once observed with care
+and pleasure."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Leguat gives a figure of this singular
+bird, which in his plate has somewhat
+of the air and aspect of a
+Christmas goose, although, of course,
+it wants the web-feet. Its neck and
+legs are proportionally longer than
+those parts of the Dodo, and give it
+more of a <em>struthious</em> appearance: but
+the existing osteological evidence is
+sufficient to show that it was closely
+allied to that bird, and shared with
+it in some peculiar affinities to the
+pigeon tribe. It is curious that,
+although Rodriguez is a British settlement,
+we have scarcely any information
+regarding it beyond what is to be
+found in the work last quoted, and all
+that we have since learned of the
+Solitary is that it has become extinct.
+Of late years Mr Telfair made inquiries
+of one of the colonists, who
+assured him that no such bird now
+existed on the island; and the same
+negative result was obtained by Mr
+Higgins, a Liverpool gentleman, who,
+after suffering shipwreck on Rodriguez,
+resided there for a couple of
+months. As far back as 1789, some
+bones incrusted by a stalagmite, and
+erroneously supposed to belong to the
+Dodo, were found in a cave in Rodriguez
+by a M. Labistour. They afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+found their way to Paris, where
+they may still be seen. We are informed
+(<cite>Proceedings of the Zoological
+Society</cite>, Part I. p. 31) that Col.
+Dawkins recently visited these caverns,
+and dug without finding any
+thing but a small bone. But M.
+Eudes succeeded in disinterring various
+bones, among others those of a
+large species of bird no longer found
+alive upon the island. He adds that
+the Dutch, who first landed at Rodriguez,
+left cats there to destroy the
+rats, which annoyed them. These
+cats are now so numerous as to prove
+very destructive to the poultry, and
+he thinks it probable that these feline
+wanderers may have extirpated the
+bird in question, by devouring the
+young ones as soon as they were
+hatched,&mdash;a destruction which may
+have been effected even before the
+island became inhabited by the human
+race. Be that as it may, Mr Telfair
+sent collections of the bones to this
+country, one of which may be seen in
+the museum of the Andersonian Institution,
+Glasgow. Mr Strickland
+mourns over the loss or disappearance
+of those transmitted to the Zoological
+Society of London. We have been
+informed within these few days that,
+like the head of the Danish Dodo,
+they have been rediscovered, lying in
+a stable or other outhouse, in the
+vicinity of the museum of that Society.
+Both the Glasgow specimens, and
+those in Paris, have been carefully
+examined and compared by Mr
+Strickland, and their Columbine characters
+are minutely described by his
+skilful and accurate coadjutor, Dr
+Melville, in the second portion of his
+work. Mr S. very properly regards
+certain peculiarities, alluded to by
+Leguat, such as the feeding on dates
+or plantains, as confirmatory of his
+view of the natural affinities already
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>So much for the Solitaire of Rodriguez
+and its affinities.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> A singular
+fact, however, remains to be yet
+attended to in this insular group.
+The volcanic island of Bourbon seems
+also to have contained <em>brevi-pennate</em>
+birds, whose inability to fly has likewise
+led to their extinction. This
+island, which lies about a hundred
+miles south-west of Mauritius, was
+discovered contemporaneously by Pedro
+de Mascaregnas, in the sixteenth
+century. The earliest notice which
+concerns our present inquiry, is by
+Captain Castleton, who visited Bourbon
+in 1613. In the narrative, as
+given by Purchas, we read as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"There is store of land-fowl, both
+small and great, plentie of doves, great
+parrats, and suchlike, and a great fowl
+of the bignesse of a turkie, very fat, and
+so short-winged that they cannot flie,
+beeing white, and in a manner tame; and
+so are all other fowles, as having not
+been troubled nor feared with shot. Our
+men did beat them down with sticks and
+stones."&mdash;(Ed. 1625, vol. i. p. 331.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Bontekoe van Hoorn, a Dutch
+voyager, spent twenty-one days in
+Bourbon in 1618, and found the island
+to abound in pigeons, parrots, and
+other species, among which "there
+were also <em>Dod-eersen</em>, which have
+small wings; and so far from being
+able to fly, they were so fat that they
+could scarcely walk, and when they
+tried to run, they dragged their under
+side along the ground." There is no
+reason to suppose that these birds
+were actual Dodos, of the existence of
+which in Bourbon there is not the
+slightest proof. That Bontekoe's account
+was compiled from recollection
+rather than from any journal written
+at the time, is almost certain from this
+tragical fact, that his ship was afterwards
+blown up, and he himself was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+the sole survivor. There is no likelihood
+that he preserved his papers any
+more than his portmanteau, and he no
+doubt wrote from remembrance of a
+large <em>brevipennate</em> bird, whose indolent
+and unfearing tameness rendered
+it an easy prey. Knowing that a bird
+of a somewhat similar nature inhabited
+the neighbouring island, he took
+it for the same, and called it Dodo, by
+a corresponding term.</p>
+
+<p>A Frenchman of the name of Carré
+visited Bourbon in 1668, and in his
+<cite>Voyages des Indes Orientales</cite>, he states
+as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I have seen a kind of bird which I
+have not found elsewhere; it is that
+which the inhabitants call the <em>oiseau solitaire</em>,
+for in fact it loves solitude, and
+only frequents the most secluded places.
+One never sees two or more of them together,
+they are always alone. It is not
+unlike a turkey, were it not that its legs
+are longer. The beauty of its plumage is
+delightful to behold. The flesh is exquisite;
+it forms one of the best dishes in
+this country, and might form a dainty at
+our tables. We wished to keep two of
+these birds to send to France and present
+them to his Majesty, but, as soon as they
+were on board ship, they died of melancholy,
+having refused to eat or drink."&mdash;(Vol.
+i. p. 12.)</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Almost immediately after M. Carré's
+visit, a French colony was sent from
+Madagascar to Bourbon, under the
+superintendence of M. de la Haye.
+A certain Sieur D. B. (for this is all
+that is known of his name or designation)
+was one of the party, and has
+left a narrative of the expedition in
+an unpublished journal, acquired by
+Mr Telfair, and presented by him to
+the Zoological Society of London.
+Besides confirming the accounts given
+by preceding writers, this unknown
+author affords a conclusive proof that
+a second species of the same group
+inhabited the Island of Bourbon. We
+are indebted to Mr Strickland for the
+original passages and the following
+translation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>1. "<em>Solitaires.</em>&mdash;These birds are so called
+because they always go alone. They are
+the size of a large goose, and are white,
+with the tips of the wings and the tail
+black. The tail-feathers resemble those
+of an ostrich; the neck is long, and the
+beak is like that of a woodcock, but larger;
+the legs and feet like those of
+turkeys."</p>
+
+<p>2. "<em>Oiseaux bleus</em>, the size of <em>Solitaires</em>,
+have the plumage wholly blue, the beak
+and feet red, resembling the feet of
+a hen. They do not fly, but they run
+extremely fast, so that a dog can hardly
+overtake them; they are very good
+eating."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>There is proof that one or other of
+these singular and now unknown
+birds existed in Bourbon, at least
+till toward the middle of the last
+century. M. Billiard, who resided
+there between 1817 and 1820, states
+(in his <cite>Voyages aux Colonies Orientales</cite>)
+that, at the time of the first
+colonisation of the island, "the woods
+were filled with birds which were not
+alarmed at the approach of man.
+Among them was the <em>Dodo</em> or <em>Solitaire</em>,
+which was pursued on foot: they were
+still to be seen in the time of M. de la
+Bourdonnaye, who sent a specimen, as
+a curiosity, to one of the directors of
+the company." As the gentleman
+last named was governor of the Isles of
+France and Bourbon from 1735 to
+1746, these birds, Mr Strickland observes,
+<em>must</em> have survived to the former,
+and <em>may</em> have continued to the
+latter date at least. But when M.
+Bory St Vincent made a careful survey
+of the island in 1801, no such
+species were to be found. The description
+of the bill and plumage
+shows that they were not genuine
+Dodos, but merely entitled to be
+classed among their kindred. Not a
+vestige of their remains is in the
+hands of naturalists, either in this or
+any other country.</p>
+
+<p>We have now finished, under Mr
+Strickland's guidance, our exposition
+of this curious group. The restriction,
+at any time, of such large birds
+to islands of so small a size, is certainly
+singular. We cannot, however,
+say what peculiar and unknown
+geological changes these islands may
+have undergone, by which their extent
+has been diminished, or their
+inter-connexion destroyed. Volcanic
+groups, such as those in question, are
+no doubt generally of less ancient
+origin than most others; but it is by no
+means unlikely that these islands of
+Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius,
+may once have formed a united group,
+or much more expanded mass of terra
+firma than they now exhibit; and
+that, by their partial submergence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+and separation, the dominions of the
+Dodo and its kindred have, like those
+of many other heavy chieftains of high
+degree, been greatly diminished and
+laid low. But into this question of
+ancient boundaries we cannot now
+enter.</p>
+
+<p>How pleasant, on some resplendent
+summer evening, in such a delicious
+clime as that of the Mauritius, the
+sun slowly sinking amid a gorgeous
+blaze of light, and gilding in green
+and gold the spreading summits of the
+towering palms,&mdash;the murmuring sea
+sending its refreshing vesper-breathings
+through all the "pillared shades"
+which stretch along that glittering
+shore,&mdash;how pleasant, we say, for
+wearied man to sit in leafy umbrage,
+and sup on Dodos and their kindred!
+Alas! we shall never see such days
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Dr Hamel, as native of a northern
+country, is fond of animal food, and
+has his senses, naturally sharp enough,
+so whetted thereby, that he becomes
+"sagacious of his <em>quarry</em> from afar."
+He judiciously observes, in his recent
+memoir, (<cite>Der Dodo</cite>, &amp;c.,) that in Leguat's
+map the place is accurately
+indicated where the common kitchen of
+the settlers stood, and where the
+great tree grew under which they used
+to sit, on a bench, to take their meals.
+Both tree and bench are marked upon
+the map. "At these two spots,"
+says Dr Hamel, "it is probable that
+the bones of a complete skeleton of
+Leguat's solitaire might be collected;
+those of the head and feet on the site
+of the kitchen, and the sternum
+and other bones on that of the tree."</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I feel confident," says Mr Strickland,
+"that if active naturalists would make a
+series of excavations in the alluvial deposits,
+in the beds of streams, and amid
+the ruins of old institutions in Mauritius,
+Bourbon, and Rodriguez, he would speedily
+discover the remains of the dodo, the two
+'solitaires,' or the 'oiseau bleu.' But
+I would especially direct attention to the
+caves with which these volcanic islands
+abound. The chief agents in the destruction
+of the brevipennate birds were probably
+the runaway negroes, who for
+many years infested the primeval forests
+of these islands, and inhabited the
+caverns, where they would doubtless
+leave the scattered bones of the animals
+on which they fed. Here, then, may we
+more especially hope to find the osseous
+remains of these remarkable animals."&mdash;(P. 61.)</p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>THE SWORD OF HONOUR.</h2>
+
+<h3>A TALE OF 1787.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Any old directory of the latter half
+of the last century will still show, to
+the curious in such matters, the address
+of Messrs. Hope and Bullion,
+merchants and general dealers at
+No. 4, in a certain high and narrow
+street in the city of London. Not
+that this, in itself, is a very valuable
+part of history; but to those who
+look up at the dirty windows of the
+house as it now stands, and compare
+the narrow pavement and cit-like appearance
+of the whole locality with
+the splendours of Oxford Square or
+Stanhope Place, where the business
+occupant of the premises has now his
+residence, it will be a subject of doubt,
+if not of unbelief, that Mr Bullion&mdash;who
+dwelt in the upper portions of
+the building&mdash;was as happy, and
+nearly as proud, as his successor at
+the present time. Yet so it is; and,
+without making invidious comparisons
+with the distinguished-looking
+lady who does the honours of the
+mansion in Oxford Square&mdash;her father
+was a sugar baker, and lived in a
+magnificent country house at Mussel
+hill. I will venture to state, that
+Mr Bullion had great reason to be
+satisfied with the manners and appearance
+of the young person who
+presided at his festive board. Such
+a rich laugh, and such a sweet voice,
+were heard in no other house in the
+town. And as to her face and figure,
+the only dispute among painters and
+sculptors was, whether the ever-varying
+expression of her features did not
+constitute her the true property of
+the Reynoldses and Romneys,&mdash;or
+the ever-exquisite moulding of her
+shape did not bring her within the
+province of the severer art. At the
+same time it must be confessed, that
+the subject of these disputes took no
+interest either in brush or chisel. A
+bright, happy, clever creature&mdash;but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+no judge of sciences and arts&mdash;was
+Louise Bullion. Books she had read
+a few, and music she had studied a
+little; yet, with her slender knowledge
+of the circulating library, she
+talked more pleasantly than Madame
+de Staël, and sang so sweetly, so
+naturally, and so truly, that Mrs
+Billington was a fool to her. She
+was a parlour Jenny Lind. But Mrs
+Billington was not the only person
+who was a fool to her. Oh no!&mdash;that
+sort of insanity was epidemic, and
+seized on all that came near her. Even
+Mr Cocker the book-keeper&mdash;a little
+man of upwards of fifty, who was so
+simple, and knew so little of anything
+but arithmetic, that he always considered
+himself, and was considered by
+the people, a boy just getting on in his
+teens&mdash;even Mr Cocker was a fool to
+her too. For when he was invited to
+tea, and had his cups sweetened by
+her hand, and his whole heart turned,
+by some of her pathetic ballads, into
+something so soft and oily that it must
+have been just like one of the muffins
+she laid on his plate, he used to go
+away with a very confused idea of
+cube roots, and get into the most extraordinary
+puzzles in the rule of
+three. Miss Louise, he said, would
+never go out of his head; whereas she
+had never once got into it, having established
+her quarters very comfortably
+in another place a little lower
+down, just inside of the brass buttons
+on his left breast; and yet the poor
+old fellow went down to his grave
+without the remotest suspicion that
+he had ever been in love. The people
+used to say that his perplexities, on
+those occasions, were principally remarkable
+after supper&mdash;for an invitation
+to tea, in those hospitable times,
+included an afterpiece in the shape of
+some roaring hot dishes, and various
+bowls of a stout and jovial beverage,
+whose place, I beg to say, is poorly
+supplied by any conceivable quantity
+of negus and jellies! Yes, the people
+used to say that Cocker's difficulties
+in calculation arose from other causes
+than his admiration of Miss Louise
+and her songs; but this was a calumny&mdash;and,
+in fact, any few extra glasses
+he took were for the express purpose
+of clearing his head, after it had got
+bewildered by her smiles and music;
+and therefore how could they possibly
+be the cause of his bewilderment? I
+repeat that Mr Cocker was afflicted
+by the universal disease, and would
+have died with the greatest happiness
+to give her a moment's satisfaction.
+And so would all the clerks, except
+one, who was very short-sighted and
+remarkably deaf, and who was afterwards
+tried on suspicion of having
+poisoned his wife; and so would her
+aunt, Miss Lucretia Smith, though
+her kindness was so wonderfully
+disguised that the whole world would
+have been justified in considering it
+harshness and ill-nature. It was only
+her way of bestowing it&mdash;as if you were
+to pour out sugar from a vinegar cruet;
+and a good old, fussy, scolding, grumbling,
+advising, tormenting, and very loving
+lady was Miss Lucretia Smith&mdash;very
+loving, I say, not only of her niece,
+and her brother-in-law, but of anybody
+that would agree to be loved.
+Traditions existed that, in her youth,
+she had been a tremendous creature
+for enthusiasms and romances; that
+she had flirted with all the officers of
+the city militia, from the colonel downwards,
+and with all the Lord Mayors'
+chaplains for an infinite series of years;
+and that, though nothing came of all
+her praiseworthy efforts, time had had
+a strengthening instead of a weakening
+effect on all these passages&mdash;till
+now, in her fifty-third year, she actually
+believed she had been in love with
+them all, and on the point of marriage
+with more than half.</p>
+
+<p>And this constituted the whole of
+Mr Bullion's establishment&mdash;at least
+all his establishment which was regularly
+on the books; but there was a
+young man so constantly in the house&mdash;so
+much at home there&mdash;so welcome
+when he came, so wondered at when
+he staid away&mdash;in short, so much one
+of the family, that I will only say, if
+he was not considered a member of it,
+he ought to have been. For what, I
+pray you, constitutes membership, if
+intimacy, kindness, perpetual presence,
+and filial and fraternal affection&mdash;filial
+to the old man, fraternal to the young
+lady&mdash;do not constitute it? You
+might have sworn till doomsday, but
+Mr Cecil Hope would never have
+believed that his home was anywhere
+but at No. 4. Nay, when, by some
+accident, he found himself for a day in
+a very pretty, very tasteful, and very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+spacious house he had in Hertfordshire,
+with a ring-fence of fourteen
+hundred acres round it, he felt quite disconsolate,
+and as if he were in a strange
+place. The estate had been bought,
+the house had been built&mdash;as the money
+had been acquired, by his father, who
+was no less a person than the senior
+partner in the firm of Hope and
+Bullion, but had withdrawn his capital
+from the trade, laid it out in land,
+superintended the erection of his
+mansion, pined for his mercantile
+activities, and died in three years of
+having nothing to do. So Cecil was
+rich and unencumbered; he was also
+as handsome as the Apollo, who, they
+say, would be a very vulgar-looking
+fellow if he dressed like a Christian;
+and he (not the Apollo, but Cecil
+Hope) was four-and-twenty years of
+age, five feet eleven in height, and
+as pleasant a fellow as it is possible
+to conceive. So you may guess
+whether or not he was in love with
+Louise. Of course he was,&mdash;haven't
+I said he was a young man of some
+sense, and for whom I have a regard?
+He adored her. And now you will,
+perhaps, be asking if the admiration
+was returned&mdash;and that is one of the
+occasions on which an impertinent
+reader has a great advantage over
+the best and cunningest of authors.
+They can ask such impudent questions,&mdash;which
+they would not dare
+to do unless under the protection
+and in the sanctuary, as it were,
+of print, and look so amazingly
+knowing while pausing for a reply,
+that I have no patience with the fellows
+at all; and, in answer to their
+demand whether Louise returned the
+love of Cecil Hope, I will only say
+this&mdash;I will see them hanged first, before
+I gratify their curiosity. Indeed,
+how could I hold up my head in any
+decent society again, if I were to commit
+such a breach of confidence as
+that? Imagine me confessing that
+she looked always fifty times happier
+in his presence than when he was
+away&mdash;imagine me confessing that
+her heart beat many thumps quicker
+when anybody mentioned his name&mdash;imagine
+me, I say, confessing all this,
+and fifty things more, and then calling
+myself a man of honour and discretion!
+No: I say again I will see
+the reader hanged first, before I will
+answer his insolent question; so let
+that be an understood thing between
+us, that I will never reveal any secret
+with which a young lady is kind enough
+to intrust me.</p>
+
+<p>And this, I think, is a catalogue of
+all the household above the good old
+warehouse. Ah! no,&mdash;there is the
+excellent Mr Bullion himself. He is
+now sixty; he has white hair, a noble,
+even a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">distingué</i> figure: look into any
+page of any fashionable novel of any
+year, for an explanation of what that
+means. On the present occasion,
+you would perhaps conclude that the
+long-backed, wide-tailed blue coat,
+the low-flapped waistcoat, tight-fitting
+knee-br&mdash;ch&mdash;s, white cotton stockings
+in-doors, long gaiters out, with
+bright-buckled square-toed shoes, may
+be a little inconsistent with the epithet
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">distingué</i>. But this is a vulgar
+error, and would argue that nobody
+could look <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">distingué</i> without lace and
+brocade. Now, only imagine Mr
+Bullion in a court-dress, with a silk
+bag floating over his shoulder, to tie
+up long tresses which have disappeared
+from his head for many years; a
+diamond-hilted rapier that probably
+has no blade, and all the other portions
+of that graceful and easy style of
+habiliment,&mdash;dress him in this way,
+and look at him bowing gracefully by
+means of his three-cornered hat, and
+you will surely grant he would be a
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">distingué</i> figure then,&mdash;and why not
+in his blue coat and smalls?</p>
+
+<p>But <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">distingué</i>-looking men, even in
+court-dresses, may be great rascals,
+and even considerable fools. Then
+was Mr Bullion a rascal?&mdash;no. A fool?&mdash;no.
+In short, he was one of the best
+of men, and could have been recognised
+during his life, if any one had
+described him in the words of his
+epitaph.</p>
+
+<p>Well,&mdash;we must get on. Day after
+day, for several months before the
+date we have got to, a sort of mystery
+seemed to grow deeper and deeper on
+the benevolent features of the father
+of Louise. Something&mdash;nobody could
+tell what&mdash;had lifted him out of his
+ordinary self. He dropt dark hints
+of some great change that was shortly
+to take place in the position of the
+family: he even took many opportunities
+of lecturing Cecil Hope on
+the miseries of ill-assorted marriages,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+particularly where the lady was of a
+family immeasurably superior to the
+man's. Miss Smith thought he was
+going to be made Lord Mayor; Cecil
+Hope supposed he was about to be appointed
+Chancellor of the Exchequer;
+and Louise thought he was growing
+silly, and took no notice of all the
+airs he put on, and the depreciatory
+observations he made on the rank of
+a country squire. As to Mr Cocker,
+he was already fully persuaded that
+his master was the greatest man in
+the world, and, if he had started for
+king, would have voted him to the
+throne without a moment's hesitation.
+At last the origin of all these proceedings
+on the part of Mr Bullion
+began to be suspected. A little dark
+man, with the brightest possible eyes,
+shrouded in a great cloak, with a
+broad-brimmed hat carefully drawn
+over his brows, and just showing to
+the affrighted maid who opened the
+door the aforesaid eyes, fixed on her
+with such an expression of inquiry
+that they fully supplied the difficulty
+he experienced in asking for Mr Bullion
+in words,&mdash;for he was a foreigner, not
+much gifted with the graces of English
+pronunciation. This little dark
+and inquisitive man came to the
+house two or three times a-week, and
+spent several hours in close consultation
+with Mr Bullion. On emerging
+from these councils, it was easy to
+see, by that gentleman's countenance,
+whether the affair, whatever it was,
+was in a prosperous condition or not.
+Sometimes he came into the supper-room
+gloomy and silent, sometimes
+tripping in like a sexagenarian
+Taglioni, and humming a French
+song,&mdash;for his knowledge of that language
+was extraordinary,&mdash;and his
+whole idea of a daughter's education
+seemed to be, to make her acquire the
+true Parisian accent, and to read
+Molière and Corneille. So Louise, to
+gratify the whim of her father, had
+made herself perfect in the language,
+and could have entered into a correspondence
+with Madame de Sevigné
+without a single false concord, or a
+mistake in spelling. Who could this
+little man be, who had such influence
+on her father's spirits? They watched
+him, but could see nothing but the
+dark cloak and slouched hat, which
+disappeared down some side street,
+and would have puzzled one of the
+detective police to keep them in view.
+Her thoughts rested almost constantly
+on this subject. Even at church&mdash;for
+they were regular church-goers,
+and very decided Protestants, as far
+as their religious feelings could be
+shown in hating the devil and the
+Pope&mdash;she used to watch her father's
+face, but could read nothing there but
+a quiet devotion during the prayers,
+and an amiable condescension while
+listening to the sermon. Rustlings of
+papers as the little visitor slipt along
+the passage, revealed the fact that
+there were various documents required
+in their consultations; and on one
+particular occasion, after an interview
+of unusual duration, Mr Bullion accompanied
+his mysterious guest to the
+door, and was overheard, by the conclave
+who were assembled in the little
+parlour for supper, very warm in his
+protestations of obligation for the
+trouble he had taken, and concluding
+with these remarkable words&mdash;"Assure
+his Excellency of my highest
+consideration, and that I shall not
+lose a moment in throwing myself at
+the feet of the King." Louise looked
+at Cecil on hearing these words; and
+as Cecil would probably have been
+looking at Louise, whether he had
+heard these words or not, their eyes
+met with an expression of great bewilderment
+and surprise,&mdash;the said
+bewilderment being by no means
+diminished when his visitor replied&mdash;"His
+Excellency kisses your hands,
+and I leave your Lordship in the holy
+keeping of the saints."</p>
+
+<p>"Papa is rather flighty&mdash;don't you
+think so, Cecil?" said Louise.</p>
+
+<p>"Both mad," answered that gentleman
+with a shake of the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Bullion is going to be Lord
+Mayor," said Miss Lucretia, with a
+vivid remembrance of the flirtations
+and grandeurs of the Mansion-house.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Cocker said nothing aloud, and
+was sorely puzzled for a long time,
+but ended with a confused notion, derived
+principally from the protection
+of the saints, that his patron was
+likely to be Pope. All, however,
+sank into a gaping silence of anticipation,
+when Mr Bullion, after shutting
+the door, as soon as his visitor
+had departed, began to whistle Malbrook,
+and came into the supper-room.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p>"Enjoy yourselves, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mes enfants</i>,"
+said the old gentleman; "I have not
+kept you waiting, I hope. Miss Smith, I
+kiss your hand&mdash;<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ma fille, embrassemoi</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with you,
+papa?" replied the young lady, and
+not complying with the request;
+"you speak as if you were a foreigner.
+Have you forgotten your mother-tongue?"</p>
+
+<p>And certainly it was not difficult to
+perceive that there was an unusual
+tone assumed by Mr Bullion, with
+the slightest possible broken English
+admitted into his language.</p>
+
+<p>"My mother-tongue?" said the
+senior. "Bah! 'tis not the time yet&mdash;I
+have not forgot it&mdash;not quite&mdash;but
+kiss me, Louise."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, since you speak like a
+Christian, I won't refuse; but do be
+a good, kind, communicative old man,
+and tell us what has kept you so long.
+Do tell us who that hideous man is."</p>
+
+<p>"Hideous, my dear!&mdash;'tis plain you
+never saw him."</p>
+
+<p>"He's like the bravo of Venice,"
+said Louise; "isn't he, Cecil?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's more like Guy Faux," said
+the gentleman appealed to.</p>
+
+<p>"He's like a gipsy fortune-teller,"
+continued Miss Smith.</p>
+
+<p>"Uncommon like a 'ousebreaker,"
+chimed in Mr Cocker: "I never see
+such a rascally-looking countenance."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you aware, all this time, that
+you are giving these descriptions of a
+friend of mine,&mdash;a most learned, lofty,
+reverend&mdash;but, pshaw! what nonsense
+it is, getting angry with folks like you.
+Eagles should fight with eagles."</p>
+
+<p>But the lofty assumptions of Mr
+Bullion made no impression on his
+audience. One word, however, had
+stuck in the tympanum of Miss Smith's
+ear, and was beating a tremendous
+tattoo in her heart&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Reverend, did you say, brother-in-law.
+If that little man is reverend,
+mark my words. I know very
+well what he's after. If we're not all
+spirited off to the Disquisition in Spain,
+I wish I may never be marr&mdash;I mean&mdash;saved."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, aunt," said Louise.
+"You're not going to turn Dissenter,
+father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Better that than be a Papist, anyhow,"
+sulked out Lucretia.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Smith," said Mr Bullion,
+"have the kindness, madam, to make
+no observation on what I do, or what
+friends I visit or receive in this house.
+If the gentleman who has now left me
+were a Mahommedan, he should be
+sacred from your impertinent remarks.
+Give me another potato, and hold
+your tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"To you, Mr Hope," continued the
+senior, "and to you, Mr Cocker, and
+to you, Miss Lucretia, who are unmixed
+plebeians from your remotest known
+ancestry, it may appear surprising
+that a man so willingly undertakes
+the onerous duties entailed on him by
+his lofty extraction, as to surrender the
+peace and contentment which he feels
+to be the fitter accompaniments of
+your humble yet comfortable position.
+For my daughter and me far other
+things are in store&mdash;we sit on the
+mountain-top exposed to the tempest,
+though glorified by the sunshine, and
+look without regret to the contemptible
+safety and inglorious ease of the
+inhabitants of the vale. Take a glass
+of wine, Mr Cocker. I shall always
+look on you with favour."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Cocker took the glass as ordered,
+and supposed his patron was repeating
+a passage out of Enfield's
+<cite>Speaker</cite>. "Fine language, sir, very
+fine language, indeed! particular that
+about sunshine on the mountains. A
+remarkable clever man, Mr Enfield;
+and I can say Ossian's Address to the
+Sun myself."</p>
+
+<p>But in the mean time Louisa walked
+round the table, and laid hold of her
+father's hand, and putting her finger
+on his pulse, looked with a face full of
+wisdom, while she counted the beats;
+and giving a satisfied shake of the
+head, resumed her seat.</p>
+
+<p>"A day or two's quiet will do,
+without a strait waistcoat," she said;
+"but I will certainly tell the porter
+never to admit that slouch-faced muffled-up
+impostor, who puts such nonsense
+into his head."</p>
+
+<p>But at this moment a violent pull
+at the bell startled them all. When
+the door was opened a voice was
+heard in the hall which said, "Pour un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+instant, Monseigneur;" whereupon Mr
+Bullion started up, and replying, "Oui,
+mon père," hurried out of the room,
+and left his party in more blank
+amazement than before.</p>
+
+<p>The surmises, the exclamations, the
+whispers and suspicions that passed
+from one to the other, it is needless to
+record; it will suffice to say that, after
+an animated conversation with the
+mysterious visitor, Mr Bullion once
+more joined the circle and said, "You
+will be ready, all of you, to start for
+France to-morrow. I have business
+of importance that calls for my presence
+in Tours. Say not a word, but
+obey."</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<p>So, in a week, they were all comfortably
+settled in a hotel at Tours.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Bullion was sitting in the parlour,
+apparently in deep and pleasant
+contemplation; for the corners of his
+mouth were involuntarily turned up,
+and he inspected the calf of his leg
+with self-satisfied admiration. Mr
+Cocker was on a chair in the corner,
+probably multiplying the squares in
+the table-cover by the flowers in the
+paper.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you like France, Mr
+Cocker?" said Mr Bullion.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, sir; the folks has no
+sense; and no wonder we always
+wallop them by sea or land."</p>
+
+<p>"Hem! Must I remind you, sir,
+that this is <em>my</em> country; that the
+French are my countrymen; and that
+you by no means wallop them either
+by sea or land."</p>
+
+<p>"<em>You</em> French! <em>you</em> Frenchman!"
+replied Mr Cocker; "that <em>is</em> a joke!
+Bullion ain't altogether a French
+name, I think? No, no; it smells of
+the bank; <em>it</em> does. You ain't one of
+the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">parlevous</i>&mdash;<em>you</em> ain't, that's certain."</p>
+
+<p>"How often have I to order you,
+sir, not to doubt my word?" said
+Mr Bullion; and emphacised his
+speech with a form of expression that
+is generally considered a clencher.</p>
+
+<p>"There! there!" cried Cocker,
+triumphant; "I told you so. Is
+there ever a Frenchman could swear
+like that? They ain't Christians
+enough to give such a jolly hearty
+curse as yourn; so you see, sir, it's
+no go to pass yourself off for a
+<em>Mounseer</em>."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave the room, sir, and send
+Mr Hope to me at once!"</p>
+
+<p>Cocker obeyed, puzzled more and
+more at the fancy his master was
+possessed with to deny his country.</p>
+
+<p>"It would, perhaps, have been wiser,"
+thought Mr Bullion, "to have left the
+plebeian fools at home till everything
+was formally completed; but still,
+nothing, I suppose, would have satisfied
+them but the evidence of their
+own eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Hope," he said, as that young
+gentleman entered the room, "sit
+down beside me; nay, no ceremony,
+I shall always treat you with condescension
+and regard."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I am, sir; and I trust your conduct
+will continue such as to justify
+me in remaining so. You may have
+observed, Mr Hope, a change in my
+manner for some time past. You can't
+have been fool enough, like Miss Smith
+and Mr Cocker, to doubt the reality
+of the fact I stated, namely, that I
+am French by birth,&mdash;did you doubt
+it, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sir,&mdash;in fact&mdash;since you insist
+on an answer&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I see you did. Well, sir, I pity
+and pardon you. I will tell you the
+whole tale, and then you will see that
+some alteration must take place in our
+respective positions. In the neighbourhood
+of this good city of Tours I
+was born. My father was chief of the
+younger branch of one of the noblest
+houses in France,&mdash;the De Bouillons
+of Chateau d'Or. He was wild, gay,
+thoughtless, and fell into disgrace at
+court. He was imprisoned in the
+Bastille; his estates confiscated; his
+name expunged from the book of
+nobility; and he died poor, forgotten,
+and blackened in name and fame. I
+was fifteen at the time. I took my
+father's sword into the Town Hall;
+I gave it in solemn charge to the authorities,
+and vowed that when I had
+succeeded in wiping off the blot from
+my father's name, and getting it restored
+to its former rank, I would
+reclaim it at their hands, and assume<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+the state and dignity to which my
+birth entitled me. I went to England;
+your father, my good Cecil,
+took me by the hand: porter, clerk,
+partner, friend,&mdash;I rose through all the
+gradations of the office; and when he
+died, he left me the highest trust he
+could repose in anyone,&mdash;the guardianship
+of his son."</p>
+
+<p>"I know sir,&mdash;and if I have never
+sufficiently thanked you for your
+care&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Not that&mdash;no, no&mdash;I'm satisfied,
+my dear boy&mdash;and Louise&mdash;the Lady
+Louise I must now call her&mdash;change
+of rank&mdash;duties of lofty sphere&mdash;former
+friends&mdash;ill arranged engagements&mdash;"
+continued the new-formed magnate
+in confusion, blurting out unconnected
+words, that showed the train of his
+thoughts without expressing them distinctly;
+while Mr Hope sat in amazement
+at what he had heard, but no
+longer doubting the reality of what
+was said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I changed my name with my
+country, though retaining as much of
+the sound of it as I could; and Louis
+Bullion was a complete disguise for
+the expatriated Marquis de Bouillon
+de Chateau d'Or. I married Miss
+Smith, and lost her shortly after
+Louise's birth. For years I have been
+in treaty with the French ambassador
+through his almoner, the Abbé, whose
+visits you thought so mysterious. At
+last I succeeded, and to-morrow I
+claim my father's sword, resume the
+hereditary titles of my house, and take
+my honoured place among the peers
+and paladins of France."</p>
+
+<p>"And have you informed Louise?"&mdash;inquired
+Cecil.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Louise," interrupted Mr
+Bullion.</p>
+
+<p>"Of this change in her position?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear Cecil, to tell you
+truth&mdash;it's not an easy matter to
+get her to understand my meaning.
+Yesterday I attempted to explain the
+thing, exactly as I have done to you;
+but instead of taking it seriously, she
+began with one of her provoking
+chuckles, and chucked me under the
+chin, and called me Marquy-darky.
+In fact, I wish the explanation to
+come from you."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel myself very unfit for the
+task," said the young man, who
+foresaw that this altered situation
+might interfere with certain plans of
+his own. "I hope you will excuse
+me; you can tell her the whole affair
+yourself, for here she comes."</p>
+
+<p>And the young lady accordingly
+made her appearance. After looking
+at them for some time&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What are you all so doleful
+about?" she began. "Has papa
+bitten you too, Cecil? Pray don't be
+a duke&mdash;it makes people so very
+ridiculous."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Louise&mdash;mademoiselle, I
+ought to say," said Mr Bullion, "I
+have communicated certain facts to
+Cecil Hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Which he doesn't believe&mdash;do you,
+Cecil?" interposed the daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"He does believe them, and I beg
+you will believe them too. They are
+simply, that I am a nobleman of the
+highest rank, and you are my right
+honourable daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed! and how was our
+cousin Spain when you heard from
+Madrid?&mdash;our uncle Austria, was he
+quite well?&mdash;was George of England
+recovered of the gout?&mdash;and above
+all, how was uncle Smith, the shipowner
+of Wapping?"</p>
+
+<p>"Girl! you will drive me mad,"
+replied the Marquis, "with your
+Smiths and Wappings. I tell you,
+what I have said is really the case,
+and to-morrow you will see the inauguration
+with your own eyes. Meantime,
+I must dress, to receive a deputation
+of the nobility of the province,
+who come to congratulate me on my
+arrival."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what's this I hear," exclaimed
+Miss Smith, rushing into the room,
+"are you a real marquis, Mr Bullion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam, I have that honour."</p>
+
+<p>"And does the marriage with my
+sister stand good?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, I'm very glad of it. Oh
+how delightful!&mdash;to be my Lord this,
+my Lady that. I am always devoted
+to the aristockicy; and now,
+only to think I am one of them
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you be so foolish, aunt?&mdash;I'm
+ashamed of you," said Louise;
+"what terrible things you were telling
+me, an hour ago, of the wickedness
+of the nobility?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Smith, though she does not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+express herself in very correct language,
+has more sensible ideas on this
+subject than you," said the marquis,
+looking severely at his daughter, who
+was looking, from time to time, with
+a malicious smile at the woe-begone
+countenance of Cecil Hope. "Remember,
+madam, who it is you are,"
+continued the senior.</p>
+
+<p>"La, papa! don't talk such nonsense,"
+replied the irreverent daughter.
+"Do you think I am eighteen
+years of age, and don't know perfectly
+well who and what I am?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three of your ancestors, madam,
+were Constables of France."</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing to boast of," returned
+Louise; "no, not if they had
+been inspectors of police."</p>
+
+<p>"You are incorrigible, girl, and
+have not sense enough to have a proper
+feeling of family pride."</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't I? Am I not proud of
+all the stories uncle David tells us of
+his courage, when he was mate of an
+Indiaman? and aunt Jenkison&mdash;don't
+you remember, sir, how she dined with
+us at Christmas, and had to walk in
+pattens through the snow, and tumbled
+in Cheapside?"</p>
+
+<p>A laugh began to form itself round
+the eyes of the French magnate, which
+made his countenance uncommonly
+like what it used to be when it was
+that of an English merchant. Louise
+saw her success, and proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"And how you said, when the poor
+old lady was brought home in a chair,
+that it was the punch that did it?"</p>
+
+<p>"He, he! and so it was. Didn't I
+caution her, all the time, that it was old
+Jamaica rum?" broke out the father;
+but checked himself, as if he were
+guilty of some indecorum.</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you remember how we
+all attended the launch of uncle Peter's
+ship, the Hope's Return? Ah, they were
+happy days, father! weren't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, madam; no&mdash;vulgar, miserable
+days: forget them as quick as
+you can. I tell you, when you resume
+your proper sphere, every eye will be
+turned to your beauty: nobles will be
+dying at your feet."</p>
+
+<p>"I trust not, sir," hurriedly burst
+in Mr Hope. "I don't see what right
+any nobles will have to be dying at
+Louise's feet."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you, sir?" said Louise.
+"Indeed! I beg to tell you, that as
+many as choose shall die at my feet.
+I'll trouble you, Mr Hope, not to interfere
+with the taste of any nobleman
+who has a fancy to so queer a place
+for his death-bed." But while she
+said this, she tapped him so playfully
+with her little white hand, and looked
+at him so kindly with her beautiful
+blue eyes, that the young gentleman
+seemed greatly reassured; and in a few
+minutes, as if tired of the conversation,
+betook himself to the other room.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<p>Suddenly a great noise was heard
+in the street, and interrupted the lectures
+of father and aunt on the dignity
+of position and the pride of birth.
+Miss Lucretia and Louise ran to
+the window, and saw a cavalcade of
+carriages, with outriders, and footmen
+on the rumble, and all the stately accompaniments
+of the old-fashioned
+family coach, which, after a slow progress
+along the causeway, stopped at
+the hotel door.</p>
+
+<p>"My friends! my noble friends!"
+exclaimed the marquis; "and I in
+this miserable dress!"</p>
+
+<p>"The noble men! the salts of the
+earth!" equally exclaimed Miss Smith;
+"and I in my morning gownd!"</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, she hastily fled into her
+bed-room, which, according to the
+fashion of French houses, opened on
+the sitting-room, and left the father
+and Louise alone.</p>
+
+<p>The father certainly was in no
+fitting costume for the dignity of his
+new character. He was dressed according
+to the fashion of the respectable
+London trader of his time&mdash;a
+very fitting figure for 'Change, but
+not appropriate to the Marquis de
+Bouillon de Chateau d'Or. Nor, in
+fact, was his disposition much more
+fitted for his exalted position than his
+clothes. To all intents and purposes,
+he was a true John Bull: proud of
+his efforts to attain wealth&mdash;proud of
+his success&mdash;proud of the freedom of
+his adopted land&mdash;and, in his secret
+heart, thinking an English merchant
+several hundred degrees superior in
+usefulness and worth to all the marquises
+that ever lived on the smiles of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+the Grand Monarque. The struggle,
+therefore, that went on within him
+was the most ludicrous possible. To
+his family and friends he presented
+that phase of his individuality that set
+his nobility in front; to the French
+nobles, on the other hand, he was inclined
+to show only so much of himself
+as presented the man of bills and
+invoices; and in both conditions, by
+a wonderful process of reasoning, in
+which we are all adepts, considered
+himself raised above the individuals
+he addressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Did they see you at the window?"
+he said, in some trepidation, while the
+visitors were descending from their
+coaches.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure," replied Louise;
+"and impudent-looking men they
+were."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that's a pity. Do, for
+heaven's sake, my dear, just slip in
+beside your aunt. They are a very gay
+polite people, the nobles of France&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well; and what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"And they might take ways of
+showing it, we are not used to in
+England. Do hide yourself, my dear&mdash;there,
+that's a good girl." And
+just as he had succeeded in pushing
+her into the bedroom, and begged her
+to lock herself in, the landlord of the
+hotel ushered four or five noblemen
+into the apartment, as visitors to the
+Marquis de Bouillon. The eldest of
+the strangers&mdash;about forty years old&mdash;bespangled
+with jewels, and ornamented
+with two or three stars and
+ribbons, looked with some surprise on
+the plainly drest and citizen-mannered
+man, who came forward to welcome
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"We came to pay our compliments
+to my lord the Marquis de Bouillon
+de Chateau d'Or."</p>
+
+<p>"And very glad he is to see you,
+gentlemen," said their host.</p>
+
+<p>"You?&mdash;impossible! He speaks
+with an English accent."</p>
+
+<p>"An impostor!" replied another of
+the nobles, to whom the last sentence
+had been addressed in a whisper."</p>
+
+<p>"I am, indeed,&mdash;and truly glad to
+make your acquaintance, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," resumed the Frenchman,
+"let me present to you the Viscount
+de Lanoy&mdash;the Baron Beauvilliers&mdash;the
+Marquis de Croissy&mdash;for myself,
+I'm Duc de Vieuxchateau."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, gentlemen&mdash;I beg," said
+De Bouillon, after bowing to the personages
+named. "A charming place
+this Tours, and I'm very glad to see
+you&mdash;fine weather, gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"I trust you have come with the
+intention of residing among us. Your
+estates, I conclude, are restored along
+with your titles."</p>
+
+<p>"No, gentlemen, they're not. But
+we may manage to buy some of them
+back again. How's land here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Land?" inquired the duke,
+rather bewildered with the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;how is it, as to rent? How
+much an acre?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Pon my word, I don't know.
+When I want money I tell the steward,
+and the people&mdash;the&mdash;serfs, I suppose,
+they are&mdash;who hold the plough and
+manage the land&mdash;give him some, and
+he brings it to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! but you don't know how
+many years' purchase it's worth?"</p>
+
+<p>To this there was no answer&mdash;statistics,
+at that time, not being a favourite
+study in France.</p>
+
+<p>"But, marquis," inquired another,
+"hasn't the King restored you your
+manorial rights&mdash;your <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">droits de seigneur</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what's the use of land without
+them?" was the very pertinent
+rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p>"What are they, sir?" inquired the
+marquis.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, if a tenant of yours has a
+pretty daughter," said one.</p>
+
+<p>"Or a wife," said another.</p>
+
+<p>"Or even a niece," said a third.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, what then? I don't take."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you're a wag, marquis!"
+replied the duke. "Didn't I see, as we
+stopt before your window, a countenance
+radiant with beauty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Eyes like stars," chimed in
+another.</p>
+
+<p>"Cheeks like roses. Aha! Monsieur
+le Marquis&mdash;who was it?&mdash;come!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that,&mdash;oh, that,&mdash;that's a
+young lady under my protection,
+gentlemen; and I must beg you to
+change the conversation."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! you're a lucky fellow!
+The old fool mustn't be allowed to
+keep such beauty to himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," returned the
+vicomte, also in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Lucky!" said De Bouillon&mdash;"yes,
+gentlemen, I am lucky. If you knew
+all, you would think so, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>"She loves you, then, old simpleton?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think she does&mdash;I know she
+does&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"May we not ask the honour of
+being presented?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some other time, gentlemen&mdash;not
+now&mdash;she's not here&mdash;she's gone out
+for a walk."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible, my dear lord; we must
+have met her as we came up stairs."</p>
+
+<p>"She has a headache&mdash;she's gone
+to lie down for a few minutes," said
+the marquis, getting more and more
+anxious to keep Louise from the intrusion
+of his visitors.</p>
+
+<p>"I have an excellent cure for headaches
+of all kinds," exclaimed the
+baron, and proceeded towards the
+bed-room door. The Marquis de
+Bouillon, however, put himself between;
+but the duke and vicomte
+pulled him aside, and the baron began
+to rat-tat on the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Come forth, madam!" he began,
+"we are dying for a sight of your
+angelic charms. De Bouillon begs
+you to honour us with your presence.
+Hark, she's coming!" he added, and
+drew back as he heard the bolt withdrawn
+on the other side.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay where you are! don't come
+out!" shouted De Bouillon, still in the
+hands of his friends. "I charge you,
+don't move a step!" But his injunctions
+were vain; the door opened, and,
+sailing majestically into the room,
+drest out in hoop and furbelow, and
+waving her fan affectedly before her
+face, appeared Miss Lucretia Smith&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Did you visit to see me, gentlemen?
+I'm always delighted to see
+any one as is civil enough to give us
+a forenoon call."</p>
+
+<p>The French nobles, however, felt
+their ardour damped to an extraordinary
+degree, and replied by a series
+of the most respectful salaams.</p>
+
+<p>"Profound veneration," "deepest
+reverence," and other expressions of
+the same kind, were muttered by each
+of the visiters; and in a short time
+they succeeded, in spite of Miss Lucretia's
+reiterated invitations, in bowing
+themselves out of the room. They
+were accompanied by the marquis to
+their carriages, while Miss Smith was
+gazing after them, astonished, more
+than pleased, at the wonderful politeness
+of their manner. Louise slipt
+out of the bed-room, and slapt her
+astonished aunt upon the shoulder&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You've done it, aunt!&mdash;you've
+done it now! A word from you recalls
+these foreigners to their senses."</p>
+
+<p>"It gives me a high opinion," replied
+Miss Smith, "of them French.
+They stand in perfect awe of dignity
+and virtue."</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<p>Great were the discussions, all that
+day, among the English party in the
+hotel&mdash;the father concealing his disappointment
+at the behaviour of his
+fellow nobles, under an exaggerated
+admiration of rank, and all its attributes;
+Louise professing to chime in
+with her father's ideas, for the pleasant
+purpose of vexing Cecil Hope;
+Mr Cocker still persuading himself
+the Frenchmanship of his old master
+was a little bit of acting that would end
+as soon as the curtain fell; and Miss
+Lucretia devising means of making
+up for her failures with so many
+curates, by catching a veritable duke.
+With the next morning new occupations
+began. The marquis, dressed
+in the fantastic apparel of a French
+courtier, exchanged compliments with
+his daughter, who was also magnificently
+attired, to do honour to the
+occasion. Mr Hope tried in vain to
+get her to sink from the lofty style
+she assumed, and had strong thoughts
+of setting off for Hertfordshire, and
+marrying a farmer's daughter out of
+revenge. The father was so carried
+away by family pride, and the daughter
+enjoyed the change in her rank so
+heartily, that there seemed no room
+in the heart of either for so prosaic a
+being as a plain English squire. And
+yet, every now and then, there gleamed
+from the corner of Louise's eye, or
+stole out in a merry tone of her voice,
+the old familiar feeling, so that he
+could not altogether give way to
+despair, but waited in patience what
+the chapter of accidents might bring.
+At one o'clock the marquis set off
+for the town-hall, where he was to go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+through the ceremony of reclaiming
+his father's sword, and have the blot
+on the scutcheon formally removed;
+after which he was to entertain the
+town authorities, and the neighbouring
+nobility, at dinner; the evening
+to conclude with a ball, in the preparation
+for which the ladies were to
+be left at home. Mr Hope accompanied
+him to the door of the town-hall,&mdash;but
+there he professed to find
+his feelings overpowered, and declined
+to witness the ceremony that, he said,
+broke the connexion which had existed
+so long between the names of
+Hope and Bullion; but, ere he could
+return to the hotel, several things
+had occurred that had a material influence
+on his prospects, and these we
+must now proceed to relate. Miss
+Lucretia Smith continued her oratory
+in the ears of her devoted niece after
+the gentlemen had gone, the burden
+thereof consisting, principally, in a
+comparison between the nobles of
+France and the shopocracy of London,&mdash;till
+that young lady betook
+herself to the bedroom window already
+mentioned, to watch for Cecil's return.
+She had not been long at her watch-post,
+when a carriage, with the blinds
+drawn up, and escorted by seven or
+eight armed men, with masks on
+their faces, pulled up at the door. Of
+this she took no particular notice, but
+kept looking attentively down the
+street. But, a minute or two after
+the closed carriage drove under the
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">porte cochère</i>, a young gentleman
+was ushered into the presence of Miss
+Smith, and was, by that young lady,
+received with the highest <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">empressement</i>
+possible. She had only had
+time to improve her toilette by putting
+on Louise's shawl and bonnet,
+which happened to be lying on a
+chair; and, in spite of the shortness
+of the view she had had of him the
+day before, she immediately recognised
+him as one of her brother's
+visiters, the Baron Beauvilliers.</p>
+
+<p>"Permit me, madam," he said, in
+very good English, "to apologise for
+my intrusion, but I have the authority
+of my friend De Bouillon to consider
+myself here at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir, you are certainly the
+politest nation on the face of the earth,
+you French&mdash;that I must say; but I
+may trust, I hope, to the honour of a
+gent like you? You won't be rude to
+an unoffended female? for there ain't
+a soul in the 'ouse that could give me
+the least assistance."</p>
+
+<p>The baron bowed in a very assuring
+manner, and, taking a seat beside her,
+"May I make bold, madam, to ask
+who the tawdry silly-looking young
+person is who resides under De Bouillon's
+protection?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir&mdash;under Mr Bull&mdash;I mean,
+under the marquee's protection? I
+don't understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly as I suspected. I guessed,
+from the dignity of your appearance,
+that such an infamous proceeding was
+entirely unknown to you. Command
+my services, madam, in any way you
+can make them available. Let me
+deliver you from the scandal of being
+in the same house with a person of
+that description."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir!" replied Miss Smith,
+"you are certainly most obliging.
+When we are a little better acquainted
+perhaps&mdash;in a few days, or even in
+one&mdash;I shall be happy to accept your
+offer; but, la! what will my brother-in-law
+say if I accept a gentleman's
+offer at minute's notice?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Smith accompanied this speech
+with various blushes and pauses, betokening
+the extent of her modest
+reluctance; but the baron either did
+not perceive the mistake she had made,
+or did not think it worth while to
+notice it.</p>
+
+<p>"I will convey the destroyer of
+your peace away from your sight.
+Show me only the room she is in.
+And consider, madam, that you will
+make me the proudest of men by allowing
+me to be your knight and champion
+on this occasion."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, sir, I can't say at present
+where the gipsy can be. Brother-in-law
+has been very sly; but if I can
+possibly ferret her out, won't I send
+her on her travels? Wait but a
+minute, sir: I'll come to you the
+moment she can be found."</p>
+
+<p>But the baron determined to accompany
+her in her search, and together
+they left the room, two active members
+of the Society for the Suppression
+of Vice. Louise had heard the noise
+of voices, without distinguishing or
+attending to what was said, but a low
+and hurried tap at the door now attracted
+her notice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Miss Louise&mdash;ma'am&mdash;for heaven's
+sake, come out!" said the voice of Mr
+Cocker through the key-hole; "for
+here's a whole regiment of them
+French, and they wants to run away
+with <small>YOU</small>."</p>
+
+<p>"With me, Cocker!" exclaimed
+Louise, coming into the parlour.
+"What is it you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"What I say, miss&mdash;and your
+aunt is as bad as any on 'em.
+She's searching the house, at this
+moment, to give you tip into their
+hands. She can't refuse nothing to
+them noblesse, as she calls 'em. The
+gentleman has gone down to the court-yard
+to see that nobody escapes, and
+here we are, like mice in a trap."</p>
+
+<p>"Go for Cecil, Cocker; leave me
+to myself," said Louise&mdash;her features
+dilating into tiger-like beauty, with
+rage and self-confidence. "Go, I tell
+you&mdash;you'll find him returning from
+the town-hall&mdash;and bid him lose not
+a moment in coming to my help."
+She waved Mr Cocker impatiently
+from her, and returned for a moment
+into the bed-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, hist! I beg you will be
+quick!" exclaimed the baron, entering
+the parlour; "I can't wait much longer.
+What a detestable old fool it is!" he
+went on, in a lower voice; "she might
+have found the girl long ere this.
+"Well, well, have you found her?" he
+continued, addressing Louise, who
+issued from the bed-room in some of
+the apparel of her aunt, and assuming as
+nearly as she could the airs and graces
+of that individual. "Tell me, madam,
+where she is."</p>
+
+<p>"La! sir, how is one to find out
+these things in a moment&mdash;besides,
+they ain't quite proper subjects for a
+young lady to be concerned with,"
+replied Louise, keeping her bashful
+cheek from the sight of the baron with
+her enormous fan.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, madam, point with that
+lovely finger of yours, and I shall make
+the discovery myself."</p>
+
+<p>Louise pointed, as required, to the
+gallery, along which, at that moment,
+her quick eye caught the step of Miss
+Lucretia; and the baron, going to the
+door, gave directions to his attendants
+to seize the lady, and carry her without
+loss of time to the Parc d'Amour,
+a hotel on the outskirts of Tours. He
+then closed the door, and listened&mdash;no
+less than did Louise&mdash;to the execution
+of his commands.</p>
+
+<p>"There, madam," he said, as the
+scuffle of seizure and a very faint
+scream were heard, "they've got her!
+Your pure presence shall never more
+be polluted by her society. A naughty
+man old De Bouillon, and unaccustomed
+to the strict morality of France.
+Adieu!"</p>
+
+<p>"Adieu, sir!" said Louise; but there
+was a tone in her voice, or something
+in her manner, that called the attention
+of her visitor. He went up to
+her, laid his hand upon the fan, and
+revealed before him, beautiful from
+alarm and indignation, was the face
+of Louise de Bouillon! "So, madam!
+this was an excellent device, but I
+have more assistance at hand. Ho!
+Pierre! François!" he began to call.
+"I have another carriage in the yard&mdash;you
+sha'nt escape me so."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, sir!" exclaimed Louise,
+and placed herself between him and
+the door. "These are not the arts of
+wooing we are used to in England. I
+expected more softness and persuasion."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, madam, 'tis only the shortness
+of the opportunity that prevents
+me from making a thousand protestations.
+But, after all, what is the use
+of them? Ho! François!"</p>
+
+<p>As he said this, he approached nearer
+to Louise, and even laid his hand upon
+her arm. But with the quickness of
+lightning, she made a dart at the
+diamond-covered hilt of her assailant's
+sword, and pulling it from the sheath,
+stood with the glittering point within
+an inch of the Frenchman's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Back, back!" she cried, "or you
+are a dead man&mdash;or frog&mdash;or monkey&mdash;or
+whatever you are!"</p>
+
+<p>Each of these names was accompanied
+with a step in advance; and
+there was too savage a lustre in her
+look to allow the unfortunate baron
+to doubt for a moment that his life
+was in the highest peril.</p>
+
+<p>"Madam," he expostulated, "do be
+careful&mdash;'tis sharp as a needle."</p>
+
+<p>"Back, back!" she continued, advancing
+with each word upon his retreating
+steps&mdash;"you thread-paper&mdash;you
+doll-at-a-fair&mdash;you stuffed cockatoo&mdash;back,
+back!" And on arriving
+at the bed-room door, she gave
+a prodigiously powerful lunge in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+advance, and drove her victim fairly
+into the room, and, with an exclamation
+of pride and triumph, locked him
+in. But, exhausted with the excitement,
+she had only time to lay
+the sword on the table, wave the key
+three times round her head in sign of
+victory, and fall fainting into the
+arms of Cecil Hope, who at that moment
+rushed into the room.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<p>The ceremony in the town-hall
+passed off with the greatest <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">éclât</i>;
+and the dinner was probably thought
+the finest part of the day's entertainment
+by all but the newly re-established
+noble himself. Flushed with
+the glories of the proceeding, and also
+with the wine he had swallowed to
+his own health and happiness, he
+sallied forth with his friends of the
+preceding day&mdash;except, of course, the
+Baron Beauvilliers&mdash;and, as he himself
+expressed it, was awake for anything,
+up to any lark.</p>
+
+<p>"A lark, says my lord?" inquired
+the Duke de Vieuxchateau.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," replied the marquis, "if
+it's as big as a turkey, all the better.
+That champaign is excellent tipple,
+and would be cheap at eighty-four
+shillings per dozen."</p>
+
+<p>The French nobles did not quite
+understand their companion's phraseology,
+but were quite willing to join
+him in any extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" cried one;
+"shall we break open the jail?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said De Bouillon: "hang it!
+that's a serious matter. But I'll tell
+you what, I've no objection to knock
+down a charley."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! let's go to <em>Rouge et Noir</em>."</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, boys!" at last exclaimed
+the Vicomte de Lanoy, "I'll tell
+you what we shall do,&mdash;Beauvilliers
+told me that, while we were all engaged
+at the dinner, he was going to
+seize a beautiful creature, and carry
+her off to the Parc d'Amour."</p>
+
+<p>"Wrong, decidedly wrong!" said
+De Bouillon at this proposition.
+"Who is she?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the companion, you understand,
+of an old twaddling fool, who
+has no right to so much beauty.
+Beauvilliers did not tell me his name,
+but 'tis only one of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bourgeoisie</i>,
+and we surely have a right to do as
+we like with <em>them</em>."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes! of course," replied De
+Bouillon, "I did not think of that.
+What then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sir, we shall play as good
+a trick on Beauvilliers as he designed
+for the ancient gentleman. Let's get
+there before him, and carry her from
+him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Agreed, agreed!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I must declare off," said
+the marquis. "'Tis a bad business
+altogether, and this would make it
+worse."</p>
+
+<p>"But who is to carry the lady?"
+inquired the duke, without attending
+to the scruples of his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Toss for it," suggested the vicomte.
+A louis was thrown into the
+air. "Heads! heads!" cried the
+nobleman. "Tails!" said De Bouillon.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis tails!" exclaimed the vicomte.
+"Marquis, the chance is
+yours&mdash;you've won."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! have I?" replied the unwilling
+favourite of fortune; "I've
+won, have I?"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't seem overpleased with
+your good luck," said the duke; "give
+me your chance, and I shall know
+how to make better use of it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, gentlemen, I'll manage this
+affair myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then!&mdash;<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vive la joie!</i>"&mdash;and
+with great joviality they pursued
+their way to the Parc d'Amour.</p>
+
+<p>But they had been preceded in their
+journey to that hostelry by Louise,
+attended by Cecil Hope and Mr
+Cocker. By the administration of a
+douceur to the waiter, they obtained
+an <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">entrée</i> to the apartment designed
+for the baron and his prey, and had
+scarcely time to ensconce themselves
+behind the window-curtain, when
+Miss Lucretia was escorted into the
+room. There were no symptoms of
+any violent resistance to her captors
+having been offered, and she took her
+seat on the sofa without any perceptible
+alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, them's curious people, them
+French!" she soliloquised when the
+men had left her. "If that 'ere baron
+fell in love with a body, couldn't he
+say so without all that rigmarole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+about Mr Bullion's behaviour, and
+pulling a body nearly to pieces?
+I'm sure if he had axed me in a civil
+way, I wouldn't have said no. But,
+lawkins! here he comes."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, she enveloped herself in
+Louise's shawl, and pulled Louise's
+bonnet farther on her face, and prepared
+to enact the part of an offended,
+yet not altogether unforgiving beauty.
+But the door, on being slowly opened,
+presented, not the countenance of the
+baron, but the anxious face of Mr
+Bullion himself. The three French
+nobles pushed him forward. "Go
+on," they said; "make the best use of
+your eloquence. We will watch here,
+and guard the door against Beauvilliers
+himself."</p>
+
+<p>The marquis, now thoroughly
+sobered, slowly advanced: "If I
+can save this poor creature from the
+insolence of those <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">roués</i>, it will be
+well worth the suffering it has cost.
+Trust to me, madam," he said, in a
+very gentle voice, to the lady: "I
+will not suffer you to be insulted while
+I live. Come with me, madam, and
+you shall not be interrupted by ever
+a French profligate alive." On looking
+closely at the still silent lady on
+the sofa, he was startled at recognising
+a dress with which he was well
+acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of heaven!" he said,
+"I adjure you to tell me who you are.
+Are you&mdash;is it possible&mdash;can you be
+my Louise!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr Bullion," replied Miss
+Lucretia, lifting up the veil, and turning
+round to the trembling old man.
+"And I must say I'm considerably
+surprised to find you in a situation
+like this."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, madam&mdash;yourself&mdash;how
+came you here?"</p>
+
+<p>"A young gentleman&mdash;nobleman,
+I should say&mdash;ran off with me here,
+and I expected him every minute
+when you came in."</p>
+
+<p>"And Louise?" inquired the father,
+in an agitated voice&mdash;"when did you
+leave her? Oh! my folly to let her
+a moment out of my sight!&mdash;to reject
+Cecil Hope!&mdash;to bedizen myself in
+this ridiculous fashion! Where, oh
+where is Louise?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here, sir," exclaimed that lady,
+coming forward from behind the window-curtain.</p>
+
+<p>"And safe? Ah! but I need not
+ask. I see two honest Englishmen
+by your side."</p>
+
+<p>"And one of them, sir, says he'll
+never leave it," said Louise.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop a moment," replied the marquis.
+"Ho! gentlemen, come in."</p>
+
+<p>At his request his companions entered
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," said the marquis,
+"when I determined to reclaim my
+father's sword, I expected to find it
+bright as Bayard's, and unstained with
+infamy or dishonour. When I wished
+to resume my title, I hoped to find it
+a sign of the heroic virtues of my
+ancestors, but not a cloak for falsehood
+and vice. I warn you, sirs,
+your proceedings will be fatal to your
+order, and to your country. For myself,
+I care not for this sword,"&mdash;he
+threw it on the ground&mdash;"this filagree
+I despise,"&mdash;he took off his star and
+ribbon&mdash;"and I advise you to leave
+this chamber as fast as you can find
+it convenient."</p>
+
+<p>The French nobles obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Cocker! off with all this
+silk and satin; get me my gaiters
+and flaxen wig; and, please Heaven,
+one week will see us in the little room
+above the warehouse."</p>
+
+<p>"Preparing, sir, to move into Hertfordshire?"
+inquired Louise, leaning
+on Cecil's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, my child; and, in remembrance
+of this adventure, we shall
+hang up among the pictures in the
+hall,</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">The Sword of Honour</span>."
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>It must be allowed that a perusal
+of Scottish history betrays more anomalies
+than are to be found in the
+character of almost any other people.
+It is not without reason that our
+southern neighbours complain of the
+difficulty of thoroughly understanding
+our national idiosyncrasy. At one
+time we appear to be the most peaceable
+race upon the surface of the
+earth&mdash;quiet, patient, and enduring;
+stubborn, perhaps, if interfered with,
+but, if let alone, in no way anxious
+to pick a quarrel. Take us in another
+mood, and gunpowder is not more
+inflammable. We are ready to go
+to the death, for a cause about which
+an Englishman would not trouble
+himself; and amongst ourselves, we
+divide into factions, debate, squabble,
+and fight with an inveteracy far more
+than commensurate with the importance
+of the quarrel. Sometimes we
+seem to have no romance; at other
+times we are perfect Quixotes. The
+amalgamated blood of the Saxon
+and the Celt seems, even in its union,
+to display the characteristics of either
+race. We rush into extremes: one
+day we appear over-cautious, and on
+the next, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">perfervidum ingenium
+Scotorum</i> prevails.</p>
+
+<p>If these remarks be true as applied
+to the present times, they become
+still more conspicuous when we
+regard the troublous days of our
+ancestors. At one era, as in the reign
+of David I., we find the Scottish
+nation engaged, heart and soul, in
+one peculiar phase of religious excitement.
+Cathedrals and abbeys are
+starting up in every town. All that
+infant art can do&mdash;and yet, why call
+it infant, since, in architecture at least,
+it has never reached a higher maturity?&mdash;is
+lavished upon the structure
+of our fanes. Melrose, and Jedburgh,
+and Holyrood, and a hundred more
+magnificent edifices, rise up like exhalations
+throughout a poor and
+barren country; the people are proud
+in their faith, and perhaps even
+prouder in the actual splendour of
+their altars. A few centuries roll by,
+and we find the same nation deliberately
+undoing and demolishing the
+works of their forefathers. Hewn
+stone and carved cornices, tracery,
+mullions, and buttresses, have now
+become abominations in their sight.
+Not only must the relics of the saints
+be scattered to the winds of heaven,
+and their images ground into dust,
+but every church in which these were
+deposited or displayed, must be dismantled
+as the receptacle of pollution.
+The hammer swings again, but not
+with the same pious purpose as of
+yore. Once it was used to build;
+now it is heaved to destroy. Aisle
+and archway echo to the thunder of
+its strokes, and, amidst a roar of iconoclastic
+wrath, the venerable edifice
+goes down. Another short lapse of
+time, and we are lamenting the violence
+of the past, and striving to prop,
+patch up, and rebuild what little remnant
+has been spared of the older
+works of devotion.</p>
+
+<p>The same anomalies will be found
+if we turn from the ecclesiastical to
+the political picture. Sometimes
+there is a spirit of loyalty manifested,
+for which it would be difficult to find
+a parallel. The whole nation gathers
+round the person of James IV.; and
+earl and yeoman, lord and peasant,
+chief and vassal, lay down their lives
+at Flodden for their king. His successor
+James V., in no respect unworthy
+of his crown, dies of a broken
+heart, deserted by his peers and their
+retainers. The unfortunate Mary,
+welcomed to her country with acclamation,
+is made the victim of the
+basest intrigues, and forced to seek
+shelter, and find death in the dominions
+of her treacherous enemy.
+The divine right, in its widest meaning
+and acceptation, is formally recognised
+by the Scottish estates as the
+attribute of James VII.; three years
+afterwards, a new convention is
+prompt to recognise an alien. Half
+a century further on, we are found
+offering the gage of battle to England
+in support of the exiled family.</p>
+
+<p>This singular variety of mood, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+which the foregoing are a few instances,
+is no doubt partly attributable
+to the peculiar relationship which
+existed between the crown and the
+principal nobility. The latter were
+not cousins by courtesy only&mdash;they
+were intimately connected with the
+royal family, and some of them were
+near the succession. Hence arose
+jealousy amongst themselves, a system
+of feud and intrigue, which was
+perpetuated for centuries, and a constant
+effort, on the part of one or other
+of the conflicting magnates, to gain
+possession and keep custody of the
+royal person, whenever minority or
+weakness appeared to favour the
+attempt. But we cannot help thinking,
+that the disposition of the people
+ought also to be taken into account.
+Fierce when thwarted, and with a
+memory keenly retentive of injury,
+the Scotsman is in reality a much
+more impulsive being than his southern
+neighbour. His sense of justice
+and order is not so strongly developed,
+but his passion glows with a fire all
+the more intense because to outward
+appearance it is smothered. His
+ideas of social duty are different from
+those of the Englishman. Kindred
+is a closer tie&mdash;identity of name and
+family is a bond of singular union.
+Clanship, in the broad acceptation of
+the word, has died out for all practical
+purposes; chieftainship is still a recognised
+and a living principle. The
+feudal times, though gone, have left
+their traces on the national character.
+Little as baronial sway, too often
+tantamount to sheer oppression, can
+have contributed towards the happiness
+of the people, we still recur to
+the history of these troublous days
+with a relish and fondness which can
+hardly be explained, save through
+some undefined and subtle sympathy of
+inheritance. Though the objects for
+which they contended are now mere
+phantoms of speculation we yet continue
+to feel and to speak as if we were
+partisans of the cause of our ancestors,
+and to contest old points with as much
+ardour as though they were new ones
+of living interest to ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>We have been led into this strain of
+thought by the perusal of a work,
+strictly authentic as a history, and yet
+as absorbing in interest as the most
+coloured and glowing romance. Sir
+William Kirkaldy of Grange, the
+subject of these Memoirs, played a
+most conspicuous part in the long and
+intricate struggles which convulsed
+Scotland, from the death of James V.
+until the latter part of the reign of
+Queen Mary. Foremost in battle
+and in council, we find his name prominently
+connected with every leading
+event of the period, and his influence
+and example held in higher estimation
+than those of noblemen who were
+greatly his superiors in rank, following,
+and fortune. In fact, Kirkaldy
+achieved, by his own talent and indomitable
+valour, a higher reputation,
+and exercised, for a time, a greater influence
+over the destinies of the nation,
+than was ever before possessed by a
+private Scottish gentleman, with the
+glorious exception of Wallace. In an
+age when the sword was the sole
+arbiter of public contest and of private
+quarrel, it was a proud distinction to
+be reputed, not only at home but
+abroad&mdash;not only by the voice of Scotland,
+but by that of England and
+France&mdash;the best and bravest soldier,
+and the most accomplished cavalier
+of his time. Mixed up in the pages
+of general history, too often turbidly
+and incoherently written, the Knight
+of Grange may not be estimated, in
+the scale of importance, at the level
+of such personages as the subtle Moray,
+or the vindictive and treacherous
+Morton: viewed as all individual,
+through the medium of these truthful
+and most fascinating memoirs, he will
+be found at least their equal as a
+leader and a politician, and far their
+superior as a generous and heroic man.</p>
+
+<p>His father, Sir James Kirkaldy,
+was a person of no mean family or
+reputation. He occupied, for a considerable
+time, the office of Lord High
+Treasurer of Scotland, and, according
+to our author&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Enjoyed, in a very high degree, the
+favour and confidence of King James V.;
+and though innumerable efforts were
+made by his mortal foe Cardinal Beatoun,
+and others, to bring him into disgrace as
+a promoter of the Reformation, they all
+proved ineffectual, and the wary old baron
+maintained his influence to the last."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Old Sir James seems to have been
+one of those individuals with whom it
+is neither safe nor pleasant to differ
+in opinion. According to his brother-in-law,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+Sir James Melville of Halhill,
+he was "a stoute man, who always
+offered, by single combate, and at point
+of the sword, to maintain whatever he
+said;" a testimonial which, we observe,
+has been most fitly selected as
+the motto of this book, the son having
+been quite as much addicted to the
+wager of battle as the father; nor,
+though a strenuous supporter of the
+Reformation, does he appear to have
+imbibed much of that meekness which
+is inculcated by holy writ. He was
+not the sort of man whom John Bright
+would have selected to second a motion
+at a Peace Congress; indeed, the
+mere sight of him would have caused
+the voice of Elihu Burritt to subside
+into a quaver of dismay. Cardinal
+Beatoun, that proud and licentious
+prelate, to whose tragical end we shall
+presently have occasion to advert,
+was the personal and bitter enemy
+of the Treasurer, as he was of every
+other independent Scotsman who would
+not truckle to his power. But James
+V., though at times too facile, would
+not allow himself to be persuaded
+into so dangerous an act as countenancing
+prosecutions for heresy
+against any of his martial subjects;
+and, so long as he lived, the over-weening
+bigotry and arrogance of the
+priesthood were held in check. But
+other troubles brought the good king
+to an untimely end. James had
+mortally offended some of his turbulent
+nobles, by causing the authority
+of the law to be vindicated
+without respect to rank or person.
+He had deservedly won for himself
+the title of King of the Commons;
+and was, in fact, even in that
+early age, bent upon a thorough reform
+of the abuses of the feudal system.
+But he had proud, jealous, and
+stubborn men to deal with. They
+saw, not without apprehension for
+their own fate, that title and birth
+were no longer accepted as palliatives
+of sedition and crime; that the inroads,
+disturbances, and harryings
+which they and their fathers had
+practised, were now regarded with
+detestation by the crown, and threatened
+with merited punishment. Some
+strong but necessary examples made
+them quail for their future supremacy,
+and discontent soon ripened
+into something like absolute treason.
+Add to this, that for a long time the
+nobility of Scotland had fixed a covetous
+eye upon the great possessions
+of the church. In no country
+of Europe, considering its extent
+and comparative wealth, was
+the church better endowed than in
+Scotland; and the endeavours of the
+monks, who, with all their faults,
+were not blind to the advantages derivable
+from the arts of peace, had
+greatly raised their property in point
+of value. The confiscations which
+had taken place in Protestantised
+England, whereof Woburn Abbey
+may be cited as a notable example,
+had aroused to the fullest extent
+the cupidity of the rapacious
+nobles. They longed to see the day
+when, unsupported by the regal
+power, the church lands in Scotland
+could be annexed by each iron-handed
+baron to his own domain; when, at
+the head of their armed and dissolute
+jackmen, they could oust the feeble
+possessors of the soil from the heritages
+they had so long enjoyed as a
+corporation, and enrich themselves by
+plundering the consecrated stores of
+the abbeys. These were the feelings
+and desires which led most of them
+to lend a willing ear to the preaching
+of the fathers of the Reformation.
+They were desirous, not only of lessening
+the royal authority, but of
+transferring the whole property of the
+clergy to themselves; and this double
+object led to a combination which
+resulted in the passive defeat of the
+Scottish army at Solway Moss.</p>
+
+<p>Poor King James could not bear
+up against the shock of this shameful
+desertion. Mr Tytler thus describes
+his latter moments:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"When in this state, intelligence was
+brought him that his queen had given
+birth to a daughter. At another time
+it would have been happy news; but
+now, it seemed to the poor monarch
+the last drop of bitterness which was
+reserved for him. Both his sons were
+dead. Had this child been a boy, a ray
+of hope, he seemed to feel, might yet have
+visited his heart; he received the messenger
+and was informed of that event without
+welcome or almost recognition; but
+wandering back in his thoughts to the
+time when the daughter of Bruce brought
+to his ancestor the dowry of the kingdom,
+observed with melancholy emphasis,
+'It came with a lass, and it will pass with
+a lass.' A few of his most favoured
+friends and counsellers stood around his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+couch; the monarch stretched out his
+hand for them to kiss; and regarding
+them for some moments with a look of
+great sweetness and placidity, turned
+himself upon the pillow and expired. He
+died 13th December 1542, in the thirty-first
+year of his age, and the twenty-ninth
+of his reign; leaving an only daughter,
+Mary, an infant of six days old, who
+succeeded to the crown."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Amongst those who stood around
+that memorable deathbed were the
+Lord High Treasurer, young William
+Kirkaldy his son, and Cardinal Beatoun.
+There was peace for a moment
+over the body of the anointed dead!</p>
+
+<p>But even the death of a king makes
+a light impression on this busy and
+intriguing world. The struggle for
+mastery now commenced in right earnest&mdash;for
+the only wall which had
+hitherto separated the contending factions
+of the nobility and the clergy
+had given way. Beatoun and Arran
+were both candidates for the regency,
+which the latter succeeded in gaining;
+and, after a temporary alienation, these
+two combined against an influence
+which began to show itself in a threatening
+form. Henry VIII. of England
+considered this an excellent opportunity
+for carrying out those designs
+against the independence of the northern
+country, which had been entertained
+by several of his predecessors; and
+for that purpose he proposed to negotiate
+a marriage between his son
+Edward and the Princess Mary. Such
+an alliance was of course decidedly
+opposed to the views of the Catholic
+party in Scotland, and, moreover, was
+calculated to excite the utmost jealousy
+of the Scottish people, who well understood
+the true but recondite motive of
+the proposal. So long as Beatoun,
+whose interest was identified with
+that of France, existed, Henry was
+fully aware that his scheme never could
+be carried into execution; and accordingly,
+with that entire want of
+principle which he exhibited on every
+occasion, he took advantage of their
+position to tamper with the Scottish
+barons who had been made prisoners
+at Solway Moss. In this he so far
+succeeded, that a regular conspiracy
+was entered into for the destruction of
+the cardinal, and only defeated by his
+extreme sagacity and caution. It
+will be seen hereafter that the cardinal
+did not fall a victim to this dastardly
+English plot, but to private
+revenge, no doubt augmented and inflamed
+by the consideration of his
+arrogance and cruelty.</p>
+
+<p>Beatoun, one of the most able and
+also dissolute men of his day, was a
+younger son of the Laird of Balfour&mdash;yet
+had, notwithstanding every disadvantage,
+contrived very early to attain
+his high position. He was hated, not
+only by the nobility, but by the lesser
+barons, from whose own ranks he had
+risen, on account of his intolerable
+pride, his rapacity, and the unscrupulous
+manner in which he chose to exercise
+his power. Among the barons of
+Fife, always a disunited and wrangling
+county, he had few adherents:
+and with the Kirkaldys, and their relatives,
+the Melvilles, he had an especial
+quarrel. Shortly after the death
+of James, the Treasurer was dismissed
+from his office, an affront which the
+"stoute man" was not likely to forget;
+and his son, then a mere youth, seems
+to have participated in his feelings.
+But the cruelty of Beatoun was at
+least the nominal cause which led to
+his destruction. Wishart, the famous
+Reforming preacher, had fallen into
+the hands of the cardinal, and was
+confined in his castle of St Andrews,
+of which our author gives us the following
+faithful sketch:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"On the rocky shore, to the northward
+of the venerable city of St Andrews,
+stand the ruins of the ancient Episcopal
+palace, in other years the residence of the
+primates of Scotland. Those weatherbeaten
+remains, now pointed out to visitors
+by the ciceroni of the place, present
+only the fragments of an edifice erected
+by Archbishop Hamilton, the successor of
+Cardinal Beatoun, and are somewhat in
+the style of an antique Scottish manor-house;
+but very different was the aspect
+of that vast bastille which had the proud
+cardinal for lord, and contained within
+its massive walls all the appurtenances
+requisite for ecclesiastical tyranny, epicurean
+luxury, lordly grandeur, and military
+defence&mdash;at once a fortress, a monastery,
+an inquisition, and a palace.</p>
+
+<p>"The sea-mews and cormorants screaming
+among the wave-beaten rocks and
+bare walls now crumbling on that bleak
+promontory, and echoing only to drenching
+surf, as it rolls up the rough shelving
+shore, impart a peculiarly desolate effect
+to the grassy ruins, worn with the blasts
+of the German Ocean, gray with the
+storms of winter, and the damp mists of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+March and April&mdash;an effect that is greatly
+increased by the venerable aspect of the
+dark and old ecclesiastical city to the
+southward, decaying, deserted, isolated,
+and forgotten, with its magnificent cathedral,
+once one of the finest gothic structures
+in the world, but now, shattered by
+the hands of man and time, passing rapidly
+away. Of the grand spire which arose
+from the cross, and of its five lofty towers,
+little more than the foundations can now
+be traced, while a wilderness of ruins on
+every hand attest the departed splendours
+of St Andrews."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>George Wishart, the unhappy
+preacher, was burned before the Castle
+on the 28th March 1545, under circumstances
+of peculiar barbarity. We
+refer to the book for a proper description
+of the death-scene of the Martyr,
+whose sufferings were calmly witnessed
+by the ruthless and implacable
+Cardinal. But the avenger
+of blood was at hand, in the person
+of Norman Leslie, Master of
+Rothes. This young man, who was
+of a most fiery and intractable spirit,
+had some personal dispute with
+the cardinal, whom he accused of
+having attempted to defraud him of
+an estate. High words followed, and
+Norman rode off in wrath to the house
+of his uncle, John Leslie of Parkhill,
+a moody and determined Reformer,
+who had already vowed bloody vengeance
+for the execution of the unfortunate
+Wishart. Finding him apt for
+any enterprise, Norman instantly
+despatched messengers to the Kirkaldys
+of Grange, the Melvilles of Raith
+and Carnbee, and to Carmichael of
+Kilmadie, desiring them to meet for
+an enterprise of great weight and importance;
+and the summons having
+been responded to, these few men
+determined to rid the country of one
+whom they considered a murderer and
+an oppressor.</p>
+
+<p>The manner in which this act of
+terrible retribution was executed is
+too well known to the student of history
+to require repetition. Suffice it to
+say that, by a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coup-de-main</i>, sixteen
+armed men made themselves masters
+of the castle of St Andrews, overpowered
+and dispersed the retainers
+of the cardinal, and quenched the
+existence of that haughty prelate in
+his blood. William Kirkaldy was not
+the slayer, but, as an accomplice, he
+must bear whatever load of odium is
+cast upon the perpetrators of the deed.
+We cannot help thinking that our
+author exhibits an unnecessary degree
+of horror in this instance. Far be it
+from us to palliate bloodshed, in any
+age or under any provocation: neither
+do we agree with John Knox, that
+the extermination of Beatoun was a
+"godly fact." But we doubt whether
+it can be called a murder. In the
+first place, old Kirkaldy knew, on the
+authority of James V., that a list of
+three hundred and sixty names, including
+his own and those of his most
+immediate friends, had been made out
+by the cardinal, as a catalogue of
+victims who were to be burned for
+heresy. This contemplated atrocity,
+far worse than the massacre of St
+Bartholomew, might not, indeed, have
+been carried into effect, even on account
+of its magnitude; but the mere
+knowledge that it had been planned,
+was enough to justify the Kirkaldys,
+and those marked out for impeachment,
+in considering Beatoun as their
+mortal foe. That the cardinal never
+departed from his bloody design, is
+apparent from the fact, that, after his
+death, a paper was found in his repositories,
+ordaining that "Norman Leslie,
+sheriff of Fife, John Leslie, father's
+brother to Norman, the Lairds of
+Grange, <em>elder and younger</em>, Sir James
+Learmonth of Dairsie, and the Laird
+of Raith, should either have been slain
+or else taken." The law at that period
+could afford no security against such
+a design, so that Beatoun's assassination
+may have been an act of necessary
+self-defence, which it would be
+extremely difficult to blame. As to
+the sacrilege, we cannot regard that
+as an aggravation. If a prelate of the
+Roman Church, like Beatoun, chose
+to make himself notorious to the world
+by the number and scandal of his profligacies;
+if, with a carnality and disregard
+of appearances not often exhibited
+by laymen, he turned his palace
+into a seraglio; and if his mistress
+was actually surprised, at the time of
+the attack, in the act of escaping from
+his bedchamber,&mdash;great allowance
+must be made for the obtuseness of
+the men who could not understand
+the relevancy of the plea of priesthood
+which he offered, in order that his
+holy calling might shield him from
+secular consequences. But further, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+the fate of Wishart to go for nothing?
+Setting the natural influences of
+bigotry aside, and with every consideration
+for the zeal which could
+hurry even so good a man as Sir
+Thomas More to express, in words
+at least, a desire to see the faggot
+and the stake in full operation&mdash;what
+shall we say to the individual
+who could calmly issue his
+infernal orders, and, in the full pomp
+of ecclesiastical vanity, become a
+pleased spectator of the sufferings of
+a human being, undergoing the most
+hideous of all imaginable deaths?
+Truly this, that the brute deserved to
+die in return; and that we, at all
+events, shall not stigmatise those who
+killed him as guilty of murder. Poor
+old Sharpe was murdered, if ever man
+was, in a hideous and atrocious manner;
+but as for Beatoun, he deserved
+to die, and his death was invested
+with a sort of judicial sanction, having
+been perpetrated in presence of
+the sheriff of the bounds.</p>
+
+<p>The tidings of this act of vengeance
+spread, not only through Scotland,
+but through Europe, like wildfire.
+According as men differed in religious
+faith, they spoke of it either with
+horror or exultation. Even the most
+moderate of the reforming party were
+slow to blame the deed which freed
+them from a bloody persecutor; and
+Sir David Lindesay of the Mount, the
+witty and satirical scholar, did not
+characterise it more severely than as
+expressed in the following verses:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"As for the cardinal, I grant<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">He was the man we well might want;<br /></span>
+<span class="i5">God will forgive it soon.<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">But of a truth, the sooth to say,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Although the loon be well away,<br /></span>
+<span class="i5">The deed was <em>foully done</em>."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">Meanwhile the conspirators had conceived
+the daring scheme of holding
+the castle of St Andrews against all
+comers, and of setting the authority
+of the regent at defiance. They calculated
+upon receiving support from
+England, in case France thought fit
+to interfere; and perhaps they imagined
+that a steady resistance on their
+part might excite general insurrection
+in Scotland. Besides this,
+they had retained in custody the son
+and heir of the Regent Arran, whom
+they had found in the castle, and who
+was a valuable hostage in their hands.
+The force they could command was
+not great. Amongst others, John
+Knox joined them with his three
+pupils; several Fife barons espoused
+their cause; and altogether they mustered
+about one hundred and fifty
+armed men. This was a small body,
+but the defences of the place were
+more than usually complete, and they
+were well munimented with artillery.
+Accordingly, though formally summoned,
+they peremptorily refused to
+surrender.</p>
+
+<p>John Knox, when he entered the
+castle, was probably under the impression
+that he was joining a company
+of men, serious in their deportment,
+rigid in their conversation, and
+self-denying in their habits. If so,
+he must very soon have discovered
+his mistake. The young Reforming
+gentry were not one whit more scrupulous
+than their Catholic coevals:
+Norman Leslie, though brave as steel,
+was a thorough-paced desperado; and,
+from the account given by our author
+of the doings at St Andrews, it may
+easily be understood how uncongenial
+such quarters must have been to the
+stern and ascetic Reformer.</p>
+
+<p>Arran had probably no intention of
+pushing matters to extremity, though
+compelled, for appearance' sake, to
+invest the fortress. After a siege of
+three weeks it remained unreduced;
+and a pestilence which broke out in
+the town of St Andrews, afforded the
+regent a pretext for agreeing to an
+armistice. Hitherto the conspirators
+had received the countenance and support
+of Henry VIII., who remitted
+them large sums from time to time,
+and promised even more active assistance.
+But this never arrived. Death
+at last put a stop to the bereavements
+of this unconscionable widower; and
+thereupon the French court despatched
+a fleet of one-and-twenty
+vessels of war, under the command of
+Leon Strozzio&mdash;a famous Florentine
+noble, who had risen in the Order of
+the Hospital to the rank of Prior of
+Capua&mdash;for the purpose of reducing
+the stubborn stronghold of heresy.
+Strozzio's name was so well known as
+that of a most skilful commander and
+tactician, and the weight of the ordnance
+he brought with him was so
+great, that the besieged had no hope
+of escaping this time; yet, on being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+summoned, they replied, with the most
+undaunted bravery, that they would
+defend the castle against the united
+powers of Scotland, England, and
+France. With such resolute characters
+as these, it was no use to parley
+further; and the Prior accordingly
+set about his task with a dexterity
+which put to shame the feeble tactics
+of Arran.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"By sea and land the siege was pressed
+with great fury. From the ramparts of
+the Abbey Church, from the college, and
+other places in the adjoining streets, the
+French and Scottish cannoneers maintained
+a perpetual cannonade upon the
+castle. Those soldiers who manned the
+steeples and St Salvador's tower occupied
+such an elevation, that, by depressing
+their cannon, they shot down into the
+inner quadrangle of the castle, the pavement
+of which could be seen dabbled
+with the blood of the garrison; and, to
+aggravate the increasing distress of the
+latter, the pestilence found its way among
+them&mdash;many died, and all were dismayed.
+Walter Melville, one of their bravest
+leaders, fell deadly sick; while watching,
+warding, and scanty fare, were rapidly
+wearing out the rest; and John Knox
+dinned continually in their ears, that their
+present perils were the just reward of
+their former corrupt lives and licentiousness,
+and reliance on England rather than
+Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>"'For the first twenty days of this siege,'
+said he, 'ye prospered bravely: but
+when ye triumphed at your victory, I
+lamented, and ever said that ye saw not
+what I saw. When ye boasted of the
+thickness of your walls, I said they would
+be but as egg-shells: when ye vaunted,
+England will rescue us&mdash;I said, ye shall
+not see it; but ye shall be delivered into
+your enemies' hands, and carried afar off
+into a strange country.'</p>
+
+<p>"This gloomy prophesying was but cold
+comfort for those whom his precepts and
+exhortations had urged to rebellion, to
+outlawry, and to bloodshed; but their
+affairs were fast approaching a crisis."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>If John Knox showed little judgment
+in adopting this tone of vaticination,
+he is, at all events, entitled to
+some credit for his courage&mdash;since
+Norman Leslie possessed a temper
+which it was rather dangerous to
+aggravate, and must sometimes have
+been sorely tempted to toss the querulous
+Reformer into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>The garrison finally surrendered to
+Leon Strozzio, but not until battlement
+and wall had been breached,
+and an escalade rendered practicable.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoners, including William
+Kirkaldy, were conveyed to France,
+and there subjected to treatment
+which varied according to their station.
+Those of knightly rank were
+incarcerated in separate fortresses;
+the remainder were chained to oars
+in the galleys on the Loire. John
+Knox was one of those who were forced
+to undergo this ignominious punishment;
+and we quite agree with our
+author in holding that, "it is not probable,
+that the lash of the tax-master
+increased his goodwill towards
+popery."</p>
+
+<p>William Kirkaldy was shut up in
+the great castle of Mont Saint Michel,
+along with Norman Leslie, his uncle
+of Parkhill, and Peter Carmichael of
+Kilmadie. But, however strong the
+fortress, it was imprudent in their
+gaolers to lodge four such fiery spirits
+together. They resolved to break
+prison; and did so, having, by an ingenious
+ruse, succeeded in overpowering
+the garrison, and, after some vicissitudes
+and wanderings, made good
+their escape to England.</p>
+
+<p>After this event there is a blank of
+some years, during which we hear
+little of Kirkaldy. It is, however, an
+important period in northern history,
+for it includes the battle of Pinkie,
+the removal of the child, Queen Mary,
+to France, and her betrothment to the
+Dauphin. Kirkaldy seems not to
+have arrived in England until the
+death of Edward VI., when the Romanist
+party attained a temporary
+ascendency. We next find him in
+the service of Henry II. of France,
+engaged in the wars between that
+monarch and the Emperor Charles V.
+In these campaigns, says our author,
+by his bravery and conduct, he soon
+attained that eminent distinction and
+reputation, as a skilful and gallant
+soldier, which ceased only with his life.</p>
+
+<p>Kirkaldy was not the only member
+of the stout garrison of St Andrews
+who found employment in the French
+service. Singularly enough, Norman
+Leslie, the head of the conspirators,
+had also a command, and was in high
+favour with the famous Constable
+Anne de Montmorencie. His death,
+which occurred the day before the
+battle of Renti, is thus graphically<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+recounted in the Memoirs, and is a
+picture worth preserving:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The day before the battle, the constable,
+perceiving by the man&oelig;uvres of
+the Spanish troops that Charles meant to
+take possession of certain heights, which
+sloped abruptly down to the camp or
+bivouac of the French, sent up Leslie's
+Scottish lances and other horsemen to
+skirmish with these Imperialists, and
+drive them back. Melville, his fellow-soldier,
+thus describes him:&mdash;In view of
+the whole French army, the Master of
+Rothes, 'with thirty Scotsmen, rode up
+the hill upon a fair gray gelding. He
+had, above his coat of black velvet, his
+coat of armour, with two broad white
+crosses, one before and the other behind,
+with sleeves of mail, and a red bonnet
+upon his head, whereby he was seen and
+known afar off by the constable, the Duke
+d'Enghien, and the Prince of Condé.'
+His party was diminished to seven by the
+time he came within lance-length of the
+Imperialists, who were sixty in number;
+but he burst upon them with the force of
+a thunderbolt, escaping the fire of their
+hand-culverins, which they discharged
+incessantly against him. He struck five
+from their saddles with his long lance,
+before it broke into splinters; then, drawing
+his sword, he rushed again and again
+among them, with the heedless bravery
+for which he had ever been distinguished.
+At the critical moment of this unequal
+contest, of seven Scottish knights against
+sixty Spaniards, a troop of Imperial spearmen
+were hastily riding along the hill to
+join in the encounter. By this time
+Leslie had received several bullets in his
+person; and, finding himself unable to
+continue the conflict longer, he dashed
+spurs into his horse, galloped back to the
+constable, and fell, faint and exhausted,
+from his saddle, with the blood pouring
+through his burnished armour on the
+turf.</p>
+
+<p>"By the king's desire he was immediately
+borne to the royal tent, where
+the Duke d'Enghien and Prince Louis of
+Condé remarked to Henry, that 'Hector
+of Troy had not behaved more valiantly
+than Norman Leslie.'</p>
+
+<p>"So highly did that brave prince value
+Norman Leslie, and so greatly did he deplore
+his death, that all the survivors of his
+Scottish troop of lances were, under
+Crichton of Brunstane, sent back to their
+own country, laden with rewards and
+honours; and, by his influence, such as
+were exiles were restored by the regent
+to their estates and possessions, as a recompense
+for their valour on the frontiers
+of Flanders."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Kirkaldy seems to have remained
+in France until the unfortunate death
+of Henry II., who was accidentally
+killed in a tournament. The estimation
+in which he was held, after his
+achievements in the wars of Picardy,
+may be learned from the following
+contemporary testimony:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I heard Henry II.," Melville
+states, "point unto him and say&mdash;'Yonder
+is one of the most valiant
+men of our age.'" And the same
+writer mentions "that the proud old
+Montmorencie, the great constable of
+France, treated the exiled Kirkaldy
+with such deference that he never
+addressed him with his head covered."
+This was high tribute, when paid to
+a soldier then under thirty years of
+age.</p>
+
+<p>Ten years after he had been conveyed
+a prisoner from St Andrews
+on board the French galley, Kirkaldy
+returned to Scotland, but not to repose
+under the laurels he had already won.
+Soon after this we find him married,
+in possession, through the death of
+his father, of his ancestral estates,
+the intimate friend of Maitland of
+Lethington and of Lord James, afterwards
+the Regent Moray, and a
+stanch supporter of the Lords of the
+Congregation. This period furnishes
+to us one of the most melancholy
+chapters of Scottish history. Mary
+of Guise, the queen-regent, on the one
+hand, was resolute to put down
+the growing heresy; on the other,
+the landed nobility were determined to
+overthrow the Catholic church. Knox,
+who had by this time returned from
+France, and other Reformed preachers,
+did their utmost to fan the flame;
+and the result was that melancholy
+work of incendiarism and ruin, which
+men of all parties must bitterly deplore.
+Then came the French auxiliaries
+under D'Oisel, wasting the
+land, ravaging the estates of the
+Protestants, and burning their houses
+and villages; a savage mode of warfare,
+from which Kirkaldy suffered
+much&mdash;Fife having been pillaged
+from one end to the other&mdash;but for
+which he exacted an ample vengeance.
+The details of this partisan warfare
+are given with much minuteness, but
+great spirit, by the chronicler; and it
+did not cease until the death of Mary
+of Guise.</p>
+
+<p>A new victim was now to be offered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+to the distempered spirit of the age:
+on the 19th August 1561, the young
+Queen Mary arrived at Leith. She
+was then in the nineteenth year of
+her age, and endowed with all that
+surpassing loveliness which was at
+once her dower and her misfortune.
+Her arrival was dreaded by the
+preachers, who detested the school in
+which she had been educated, and the
+influence she might be enabled to exercise;
+but the great mass of the people
+hailed her coming with acclamations
+of unfeigned delight:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Despite the efforts of these dark-browed
+Reformers, agitated by the
+memory of her good and gallant father,&mdash;the
+king of the poor&mdash;by that of her
+thirteen years' absence from them, and
+stirred by that inborn spirit of loyalty
+which the Scots possessed in so intense
+a degree, the people received their beautiful
+queen with the utmost enthusiasm,
+and outvied each other in her praise.</p>
+
+<p>"Her mother's dying advice to secure
+the support of the Protestants, and to
+cultivate the friendship of their leaders,
+particularly Maitland of Lethington and
+'Kirkaldy of Grange, whom the Constable
+de Montmorencie had named the
+first soldier in Europe,' had been faithfully
+conveyed to Mary in France by the
+handsome young Count de Martigues, the
+Sieur de la Brosse, the Bishop of Amiens,
+and others, who had witnessed the last
+moments of that dearly-loved mother in
+the castle of Edinburgh; and Mary
+treasured that advice in her heart&mdash;but
+it availed her not."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Hurried on by her evil destiny, and
+persecuted by intrigues which had
+their origin in the fertile brain of
+Elizabeth, Mary determined to bestow
+her hand upon Darnley, a weak,
+dissolute, and foolish boy, whose only
+recommendations were his birth and
+his personal beauty. Such a marriage
+never could, under any circumstances,
+have proved a happy one.
+At that juncture it was peculiarly
+unfortunate, as it roused the jealousy
+of the house of Hamilton against that
+of Lennox; and was further bitterly
+opposed by Moray, a cold, calculating,
+selfish man, who concealed, under an
+appearance of zeal for the Protestant
+faith, the most restless, unnatural,
+and insatiable ambition. Talents he
+did possess, and of no ordinary kind:
+above all, he was gifted with the
+faculty of imposing upon men more
+open and honourable than himself.
+Knox was a mere tool in his hands:
+Kirkaldy of Grange regarded him as
+a pattern of wisdom. For years, this
+straightforward soldier surrendered
+his judgment to the hypocrite, and,
+unfortunately, did not detect his mistake
+until the Queen was involved in
+a mesh from which extrication was
+impossible. Moray's first attempt at
+rebellion proved an arrant failure:
+the people refused to join his standard,
+and he, with the other leading insurgents,
+was compelled to seek refuge
+in England.</p>
+
+<p>All might have gone well but for
+the folly of the idiot Darnley. No
+long period of domestic intercourse
+was requisite to convince the unfortunate
+Queen that she had thrown
+away her affections, and bestowed her
+hand upon an individual totally incapable
+of appreciating the one, and
+utterly unworthy of the other. Darnley
+was a low-minded, fickle, and
+imperious fool&mdash;vicious as a colt, capricious
+as a monkey, and stubborn
+as an Andalusian mule. Instead of
+showing the slightest gratitude to his
+wife and mistress, for the preference
+which had raised him from obscurity
+to a position for which kings were
+suitors, he repaid the vast boon by a
+series of petty and unmanly persecutions.
+He aimed to be not only
+prince-consort, but master; and because
+this was denied him, he threw
+himself precipitately into the counsels
+of the enemies of Mary. It was not
+difficult to sow the seeds of jealousy
+in a mind so well prepared to receive
+them; and Riccio, the Italian secretary,
+was marked out by Ruthven
+and Morton, the secret adherents of
+Moray, as the victim. Even this
+scheme, though backed by Darnley,
+might have miscarried, had not Mary
+been driven into an act which roused,
+while it almost justified, the worst
+fears of the Protestant party in Scotland.
+This was her adhesion to the
+celebrated Roman Catholic League,
+arising from a coalition which had
+been concluded between France,
+Spain, and the Emperor, for the destruction
+of the Protestant cause in
+Europe. "It was," says Tytler, "a
+design worthy of the dark and unscrupulous
+politicians by whom it had
+been planned&mdash;Catherine of Medicis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+and the Duke of Alva. In the summer
+of the preceding year, the queen-dowager
+of France and Alva had met
+at Bayonne, during a progress in
+which she conducted her youthful son
+and sovereign, Charles IX., through
+the southern provinces of his kingdom;
+and there, whilst the court was
+dissolved in pleasure, those secret
+conferences were held which issued in
+the resolution that toleration must be
+at an end, and that the only safety
+for the Roman Catholic faith was the
+extermination of its enemies." To
+this document, Mary, at the instigation
+of Riccio, who was in the interest
+of Rome, and who really possessed
+considerable influence with his mistress,
+affixed her signature. The bond
+was abortive for its ostensible purposes,
+but it was the death-warrant
+of the Italian secretary, and ultimately
+of the Queen.</p>
+
+<p>It is not our province to usurp the
+functions of the historian, and therefore
+we pass willingly over that intricate
+portion of history which ends with
+the murder of Darnley. It was notoriously
+the work of Bothwell, but not
+his alone, for Lethington, Huntly,
+and Argyle, were also deeply implicated.
+Bothwell now stands forward as a
+prominent character of the age. He
+was a bold, reckless, desperate adventurer,
+with little to recommend him
+save personal daring, and a fidelity to
+his mistress which hitherto had remained
+unshaken. Lethington, in all
+probability, merely regarded him as
+an instrument, but Bothwell had a
+higher aim. With daring ambition,
+he aimed at the possession of the person
+of Mary, and actually achieved
+his purpose.</p>
+
+<p>This unhappy and most unequal
+union roused the ire of the Scottish
+nobles. Even such of them as, intimidated
+by the reckless character of
+Bothwell, had sworn to defend him if
+impeached for the slaughter, and had
+recommended him as a fitting match
+for Mary, now took up arms, under the
+pretext that he had violently abducted
+their sovereign. We fear it cannot be
+asserted with truth that much violence
+was used. Poor Queen Mary had
+found, by bitter experience, that she
+could hardly depend upon one of her
+principal subjects. Darnley, Moray,
+Morton, Lethington, and Arran, each
+had betrayed her in turn; everywhere
+her steps were surrounded by a
+net of the blackest treachery: not one
+true heart seemed left to beat with
+loyalty for its Queen. Elizabeth, with
+fiendish malice, was goading on her
+subjects to rebellion. The Queen of
+England had determined to ruin the
+power of her sister monarch; the
+elderly withered spinster detested the
+young and blooming mother. Why,
+then, should it be matter of great
+marvel to those who know the acuteness
+of female sensibility, if, in the
+hour of desertion and desolation, Mary
+should have allowed the weakness of
+the woman to overcome the pride of
+the sovereign, and should have opposed
+but feeble resistance to the advances
+of the only man who hitherto had
+remained stanch to her cause, and
+whose arm seemed strong enough to
+insure her personal protection? It is
+not the first time that a daring villain
+has been taken for a hero by a distressed
+and persecuted woman.</p>
+
+<p>But Bothwell had no friends. The
+whole of the nobles were against him;
+and the Commons, studiously taught
+to believe that Mary was a consenting
+party to Darnley's death, were hostile
+to their Queen. Kirkaldy, at the instance
+of Moray, came over from his
+patrimonial estates to join the confederates,
+and his first feat in arms was
+an attack on Borthwick Castle, from
+which Bothwell and the Queen escaped
+with the utmost difficulty. Then
+came the action, if such it can be
+called, of Carberry Hill, when Bothwell
+challenged his accusers to single
+combat&mdash;a defiance which was accepted
+by Lord Lindesay of the Byres, but
+prevented from being brought to the
+test of combat by the voluntary
+submission of the Queen. Seeing that
+her forces were utterly inadequate to
+oppose those of the assembled nobles,
+she sent for Sir William Kirkaldy of
+Grange, as a knight in whose honour
+she could thoroughly confide, and,
+after a long interview, agreed to pass
+over to the troops of the confederates,
+provided they would again acknowledge
+and obey her as their sovereign.
+This being promised, she took her last
+leave of Bothwell, and her first step
+on the road which ultimately brought
+her to Lochleven.</p>
+
+<p>We must refer our readers to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+volume for the spirited account of
+these events, and of the expedition
+undertaken by Kirkaldy in
+pursuit of Bothwell, his narrow escapes,
+and sea-fights among the
+shores of Shetland, and the capture
+of the fugitive's vessel on the coast of
+Norway. Neither will our space permit
+us to dwell upon the particulars
+of the battle of Langside, that last
+action hazarded and lost by the adherents
+of Queen Mary, just after her
+escape from Lochleven, and before
+she quitted the Scottish soil for ever.
+But for the tactics of Kirkaldy, the
+issue of that fight might have been different;
+and deeply is it to be regretted
+that, before that time, the eyes of the
+Knight of Grange had not been opened
+to the perfidy of Moray, whom he
+loved too trustingly, and served far too
+well. It was only after Mary was in
+the power of Elizabeth that he knew
+how much she had been betrayed.</p>
+
+<p>Under the regency of Moray, Kirkaldy
+held the post of governor of the
+castle of Edinburgh, and retained it
+until the fortress went down before the
+battery of the English cannon.</p>
+
+<p>He was also elected Lord Provost
+of Edinburgh&mdash;a dignity which, before
+that time, had been held by the
+highest nobles of the land, but which
+has since deteriorated under the influence
+of the Union, and bungled acts
+of corporation. He was in this position
+when he seems first to have perceived
+that the queen had been made
+the victim of a deep-laid plot of
+treachery&mdash;that Moray was the arch-conspirator&mdash;and
+that he, along with
+other men, who wished well both to
+their country and their sovereign, had
+been used as instruments for his own
+advancement by the false and unscrupulous
+statesman. The arrest of
+Chatelherault and of Lord Herries,
+both of them declared partisans of
+Mary, and their committal to the
+castle of Edinburgh, a measure against
+which Kirkaldy remonstrated, was the
+earliest act which aroused his suspicions:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Upon this, Mr John Wood, a pious
+friend of the regent's, observed to Kirkaldy,
+in the true spirit of his party,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'I marvel, sir, that you are offended
+at these two being committed to ward; for
+how shall <em>we</em>, who are the defenders of
+my lord regent, get rewards but by the
+ruin of such men?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ha!' rejoined Kirkaldy sternly, 'is
+that your holiness? I see naught among
+ye but envy, greed, and ambition, whereby
+ye will wreck a good regent and ruin
+the realm!'&mdash;a retort which made him
+many enemies among the train of
+Moray."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>But another event, which occurred
+soon afterwards, left no doubt in the
+mind of Kirkaldy as to the nature of
+Moray's policy. Maitland of Lethington,
+unquestionably the ablest Scottish
+diplomatist of his time, but unstable
+and shifting, as diplomatists often are,
+had seen cause to adopt very different
+views from those which he formerly
+professed. Whilst Mary was in power,
+he had too often thrown the weight of
+his influence and council against her:
+no sooner was she a fugitive and
+prisoner, than his loyalty appeared to
+revive. It is impossible now to say
+whether he was touched with remorse;
+whether, on reflection, he became convinced
+that he had not acted the part
+of a patriotic Scotsman; or whether
+he was merely led, through excitement,
+to launch himself into a new sea
+of political intrigue. This, at least, is
+certain, that he applied himself, heart
+and soul, to baffle the machinations
+of Elizabeth, and to deliver the
+unhappy Mary from the toils in
+which she was involved. It was
+Lethington who conceived the project
+of restoring Mary to liberty, by bringing
+about a marriage between her and
+the Duke of Norfolk; and the knowledge
+of his zeal on that occasion incensed
+Elizabeth to the utmost. That
+vindictive queen, who had always
+found Moray most ready to obey her
+wishes, opened a negotiation with him
+for the destruction of his former friend;
+and the regent, not daring to thwart
+her, took measures to have Maitland
+charged, through a third party, of
+direct participation in the death of
+Darnley, whereupon his arrest followed.</p>
+
+<p>Kirkaldy, who loved Maitland, would
+not allow this man&oelig;uvre to pass unnoticed.
+He remonstrated with the
+regent for taking such a step; but
+Moray coldly informed him, that it was
+out of his power to save Lethington
+from prison. The blunt soldier, on
+receiving this reply, sent back a message,
+demanding that the same charge
+should be preferred against the Earl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+of Morton and Archibald Douglas;
+and he did more&mdash;for, Maitland having
+been detained a prisoner in the town
+of Edinburgh, under custody of Lord
+Home, Kirkaldy despatched at night
+a party of the garrison, and, by means
+of a counterfeited order, got possession
+of the statesman's person, and
+brought him to the castle, where
+Chatelherault and Herries were already
+residing as guests. Next morning,
+to the consternation of Moray, a
+trumpeter appeared at the cross, demanding,
+in name of Kirkaldy, that
+process for regicide should instantly
+be commenced against Morton and
+Douglas; and, says our author,&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Remembering the precepts of the stout
+old knight his father, who always offered
+'the single combate' in maintenance of
+his assertions, he offered himself, body
+for body, to fight Douglas on foot or
+horseback; while his prisoner, the Lord
+Herries, sent, as a peer of the realm, a
+similar cartel to the Earl of Morton.
+The challenges bore, 'that they were in
+the council, and consequently art and
+part in the king's murder.'</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In vain did Moray try to wheedle
+Kirkaldy from his stronghold&mdash;in vain
+did the revengeful Morton lay plots
+and bribe assassins. The castle of
+Edinburgh had become the rallying
+point for those who loved their queen.
+An attempt was made to oust Kirkaldy
+from the provostship; but the
+stout burghers, proud of their martial
+head, turned a deaf ear to the insidious
+suggestions of the regent. Yet
+still the banner of King James floated
+upon the walls of the castle, nor was the
+authority of Mary again proclaimed by
+sound of trumpet until after the shot
+of the injured Bothwellhaugh struck
+down the false and dangerous Moray
+in the street of Linlithgow. Then
+the whole faction of Chatelherault,
+the whole race of Hamilton, rose in
+arms, and prepared to place themselves
+under the guidance of Sir William
+Kirkaldy. The following is, we
+think, a noble trait in the character of
+the man:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The latter mourned deeply the untimely
+fate of Moray: they had been old
+comrades in the field, stanch friends in
+many a rough political broil; and though
+they had quarrelled of late, he had too
+much of the frankness of his profession
+to maintain hostility to the dead, and so
+came to see him laid in his last resting-place.
+Eight lords bore the body up St
+Anthony's lofty aisle, in the great cathedral
+of St Giles; Kirkaldy preceded it,
+bearing the paternal banner of Moray
+with the royal arms; the Laird of Cleish,
+who bore the coat of armour, walked
+beside him. Knox prayed solemnly and
+earnestly as the body was lowered into
+the dust; a splendid tomb was erected
+over his remains, and long marked the
+spot where they lay."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Lennox succeeded Moray as regent
+of Scotland, but no salute from the
+guns of the grim old fortress of Edinburgh
+greeted his inauguration.
+Henceforward Kirkaldy had no common
+cause with the confederates.
+Maitland had revealed to him the
+whole hidden machinery of treason,
+the scandalous complexity of intrigues,
+by which he had been made a dupe.
+He now saw that neither religion nor
+patriotism, but simply selfishness and
+ambition, had actuated the nobles in
+rebelling against their lawful sovereign,
+and that those very acts which
+they fixed upon as apologies for their
+treason, were in fact the direct consequences
+of their own deliberate
+guilt. If any further corroboration
+of their baseness had been required in
+order to satisfy the mind of Kirkaldy,
+it was afforded by Morton, who, notwithstanding
+the defiance so lately
+hurled at him from the castle, solicited,
+with a meanness and audacity almost
+incredible, the assistance of the governor
+to drive Lennox out of the kingdom,
+and procure his own acknowledgement
+as regent instead. It is
+needless to say that his application
+was refused with scorn. Kirkaldy
+now began to doubt the sincerity of
+Knox, who, although with no selfish
+motive, had been deeply implicated in
+the cruel plots of the time; some
+sharp correspondence took place, and
+the veteran Reformer was pleased to
+denounce his former pupil from the
+pulpit.</p>
+
+<p>Edinburgh now was made to suffer
+the inconveniences to which every city
+threatened with a siege is exposed.
+The burghers began to grumble
+against their provost, who, on one
+occasion, sent a party to rescue a
+prisoner from the Tolbooth, and who
+always preferred the character of
+military governor to that of civic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+magistrate. Knox thundered at him
+every Sabbath, and doubtless contributed
+largely to increase the differences
+between him and the uneasy
+citizens. The later might well be
+pardoned for their apprehensions.
+Not only were they commanded by
+the castle guns, but Kirkaldy, as if
+to show them what they might expect
+in ease of difference of political sentiment,&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Hoisted cannon to the summit of St
+Giles's lofty spire, which rises in the
+middle of the central hill on which the
+city stands, and commands a view of it
+in every direction. He placed the artillery
+on the stone bartizan beneath the
+flying arches of the imperial crown that
+surmounts the tower, and thus turned
+the cathedral into a garrison, to the
+great annoyance of Knox and the citizens.
+The latter were also compelled, at their
+own expense, to maintain the hundred
+harquebussiers of Captain Melville, who
+were billeted in the Castlehill Street, for
+the queen's service; and thus, amid
+preparations for war, closed the year
+1570."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We may fairly suppose, that the
+cannon of the governor were more
+obnoxious than a modern annuity-tax
+can possibly be; yet no citizen seemed
+desirous of coming forward as a candidate
+for the crown of martyrdom.
+The bailies very quietly and very
+properly succumbed to the provost.</p>
+
+<p>It must be acknowledged that
+Edinburgh was, in those days, no
+pleasant place of residence.</p>
+
+<p>Next, to the alarm of the citizens,
+came a mock fight and the roar of
+cannon, intended to accustom the
+garrison to siege and war, which
+latter calamity speedily commenced
+in earnest. No possible precaution
+was omitted by Kirkaldy,
+whose situation was eminently critical;
+and he had received a terrible
+warning. On the last day of truce,
+the strong castle of Dumbarton was
+taken by surprise by a party under
+Captain Crawford of Jordanhill. Lord
+Fleming was fortunate enough to
+effect his escape, but Hamilton, archbishop
+of St Andrews, was made prisoner,
+and immediately hanged by
+Lennox over Stirling bridge. An
+archbishopric never was a comfortable
+tenure in Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>Lennox and Morton now drew
+together. The former from Linlithgow,
+and the latter from Dalkeith,
+advanced against the city, then occupied
+by the Hamiltons: skirmishes
+went on under the walls and on the
+Boroughmuir, and the unfortunate
+citizens were nearly driven to distraction.
+The following dispositions
+of Provost Kirkaldy were by no means
+calculated to restore a feeling of confidence,
+or to better the prospects of
+trade:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"He loop-holed the spacious vaults of
+the great cathedral, for the purpose of
+sweeping with musketry its steep church-yard
+to the south, the broad Lawnmarket
+to the west, and High Street to the eastward;
+while his cannon from the spire
+commanded the long line of street called
+the Canongate&mdash;even to the battlements
+of the palace porch. He seized the ports
+of the city, placed guards of his soldiers
+upon them, and retained the keys in his
+own hands. He ordered a rampart and
+ditch to be formed at the Butter Tron,
+for the additional defence of the castle;
+and another for the same purpose at the
+head of the West Bow, a steep and winding
+street of most picturesque aspect.
+His soldiers pillaged the house of the
+regent, whose movables and valuables
+they carried off; he broke into the Tolbooth
+and council-chamber, drove forth
+the scribes and councillors, and finally
+deposed the whole bench of magistrates,
+installing in the civic chair the daring
+chief of Fermhirst, (who had now become
+the husband of his daughter Janet, a
+young girl barely sixteen;) while a council
+composed of his mosstrooping vassals,
+clad in their iron jacks, steel caps, calivers,
+and two-handed whingers, officiated
+as bailies, in lieu of the douce, paunchy,
+and well-fed burgesses of the Craims and
+Luckenbooths."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The Blue Blanket of Edinburgh&mdash;that
+banner which, according to tradition,
+waved victoriously on the ramparts
+of Acre&mdash;had fallen into singular
+custody! John Knox again fled, for
+in truth his life was in danger. Kirkaldy,
+notwithstanding their differences,
+exerted his authority to the
+utmost to protect him, but the Hamiltons
+detested his very name; and one
+night a bullet fired through his window,
+was taken as a significant hint
+that his absence from the metropolis
+would be convenient. Scandal, even
+in those times, was rife in Edinburgh;
+for we are told that&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"John Low, a carrier of letters to St
+Andrews, being in the 'Castell of Edinburgh,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+the Ladie Home would neids
+threip in his face, that Johne Knox was
+banist the toune, because in his yard he
+had raisit some <em>sanctis</em>, amangis whome
+their came up the devill with hornes,
+which when his servant Richart saw he
+ran wud, and so deid.'"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is hardly credible, but it is a
+fact, that a meeting of the Estates of
+Scotland, called by Lennox, was held
+in Edinburgh at this very juncture.
+Kirkaldy occupied the upper part of
+the town, whilst the lower was in the
+hands of the regent, protected, or
+rather covered, by a battery which
+Morton had erected upon the "Doo
+Craig," that bluff black precipice to
+the south of the Calton Hill. The
+meeting, however, was a short one.
+"Mons Meg" and her marrows
+belched forth fire and shot upon the
+town, and the scared representatives
+fled, in terror of the falling ruins. A
+sortie from the castle was made, and
+the place of assembly burned.</p>
+
+<p>Kirkaldy now summoned and actually
+held a parliament, in name of
+Queen Mary, in Edinburgh. The
+possession of the Regalia gave this
+assembly a show of legality at least
+equivalent to that pertaining to its
+rival, the <em>Black Parliament</em>, which
+was then sitting at Stirling.</p>
+
+<p>We must refer to the work itself
+for the details of the martial exploits
+which followed. So very vividly and
+picturesquely are the scenes described,
+that, in reading of them, the images
+arise to our mind with that distinctness
+which constitutes the principal
+charm of the splendid romances of
+Scott. We accompany, with the
+deepest personal interest, the gallant
+Captain Melville and his harquebussiers,
+on his expedition to dislodge
+grim Morton from his Lion's
+Den at Dalkeith&mdash;we follow fiery
+Claud Hamilton in his attack upon
+the Black Parliament at Stirling,
+when Lennox met his death, and
+Morton, driven by the flames from
+his burning mansion, surrendered his
+sword to Buccleugh&mdash;and, amidst the
+din and uproar of the Douglas wars,
+we hear the cannon on the bastion of
+Edinburgh castle battering to ruin
+the gray towers of Merchiston.</p>
+
+<p>The career of Kirkaldy was rapidly
+drawing towards its close. During
+the life of Mar, who succeeded Lennox
+in the regency, the brave governor
+succeeded in maintaining possession
+not only of the castle, but of the city
+of Edinburgh, in spite of all opposition.
+But Morton, the next
+regent, was a still more formidable
+foe. The hatred between this man
+and Kirkaldy was mutual, and it was
+of the most deadly kind. And no
+wonder. Morton, as profligate as
+cruel, had seduced the fair and false
+Helen Leslie, wife of Sir James
+Kirkaldy, the gallant brother of the
+governor, and thereby inflicted the
+worst wound on the honour of an
+ancient family. A more awful story
+than the betrayal of her husband, and
+the seizure of his castle of Blackness,
+through the treachery of this wretched
+woman, is not to be found in modern
+history. Tarpeia alone is her rival
+in infamy, and the end of both was
+the same. The virulence of hereditary
+feud is a marked feature in our
+Scottish annals; but no sentiment of
+the kind could have kindled such a
+flame of enmity as burned between
+Morton and Kirkaldy. From the
+hour when the former obtained the
+regency, the war became one of extermination.</p>
+
+<p>Morton, it must be owned, showed
+much diplomatic skill in his arrangements.
+His first step was to negotiate
+separately with the country party
+of the loyalists, so as to detach them
+from Kirkaldy; and in this he perfectly
+succeeded. The leading nobles,
+Huntley and Argyle, were wearied with
+the war; Chatelherault, whom we
+have already known as Arran, was
+broken down by age and infirmities;
+and even those who had been the
+keenest partisans of the queen, Herries
+and Seton, were not disinclined to
+transfer their allegiance to her son.
+The treaty of Perth left Kirkaldy with
+no other adherents save Lord Home,
+the Melvilles, Maitland, and his garrison.
+The city had revolted, and
+was now under the provostship of
+fierce old Lord Lindesay of the Byres,
+who was determined to humble his
+predecessor. Save the castle rock of
+Edinburgh, and the hardy band that
+held it, all Scotland had submitted to
+Morton.</p>
+
+<p>Killigrew, the English ambassador,
+advised him to yield. "No!" replied
+Kirkaldy. "Though my friends have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+forsaken me, and the city of Edinburgh
+hath done so too, yet I will
+defend this castle to the last!" The
+man whom Moray thought a tool, had
+expanded to the bulk of a hero.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, English engineers were
+occupied in estimating the capabilities
+of the castle as a place of defence.
+They reported that, with sufficient
+artillery, it might be reduced in twenty
+days; and, accordingly, Morton determined
+to besiege it so soon as
+the period of truce agreed on by
+the treaty of Perth should expire.
+Kirkaldy was not less resolute to
+maintain it.</p>
+
+<p>At six o'clock, on the morning of
+1st January 1573, a warning gun from
+the castle announced that the treaty
+had expired, and the standard of the
+Queen was unfurled on the highest
+tower, amidst the acclamations of the
+garrison. Four-and-twenty hours previously,
+Kirkaldy had issued a proclamation,
+warning all loyal subjects
+of the Queen to depart forthwith from
+the city; and terrible indeed was the
+situation of those who neglected that
+seasonable warning. Morton began
+the attack; and it was answered by
+an incessant discharge from the batteries
+upon the town.</p>
+
+<p>Civil war had assumed its worst
+form. By day the cannon thundered;
+at night the garrison made sorties,
+and fired the city: all was wrack and
+ruin. Morton, bursting with fury,
+found that, unassisted, he could not
+conquer Grange.</p>
+
+<p>English aid was asked from, and
+given by, the unscrupulous Elizabeth.
+Drury, who had helped Morton in his
+dishonourable treason at Restalrig,
+marched into Scotland with the English
+standard displayed, bringing with
+him fifteen hundred harquebussiers,
+one hundred and fifty pikemen, and a
+numerous troop of gentlemen volunteers;
+while the train of cannon and
+baggage came round by sea to Leith,
+where a fleet of English ships cruised,
+to cut off all succour from the Continent.</p>
+
+<p>The English summons to surrender
+was treated by Kirkaldy with scorn.
+Up went a scarlet banner, significant
+of death and defiance, on the great
+tower of King David. Indomitable,
+as in the days of his early youth,
+when the confederates of St Andrews
+defied the universe in arms, the Scottish
+champion looked calmly from his
+rock on the preparations for the terrible
+assault.</p>
+
+<p>Five batteries were erected around
+the castle, but not with impunity.
+The cannon of Kirkaldy mowed down
+the pioneers when engaged in their
+trenching operations; and it was not
+until Trinity Sunday, the 17th of May,
+that the besiegers opened their fire.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"At two o'clock in the afternoon, the
+five batteries opened a simultaneous discharge
+upon the walls of the castle.
+Bravely and briskly its cannoneers replied
+to them, and deep-mouthed Mons
+Meg, with her vast bullets of black whin,
+the thundering carthouns, basilisks, serpents,
+and culverins, amid fire and smoke,
+belched their missiles from the old gray
+towers, showering balls of iron, lead, and
+stone at the batteries; while the incessant
+ringing of several thousand harquebusses,
+calivers, and wheel-lock petronels,
+added to the din of the double cannonade.
+From the calibre of the great Mons Meg,
+which yet frowns <i lang="no" xml:lang="no">en barbe</i> over the ramparts,
+one may easily imagine the dismay
+her enormous bullets must have caused
+in the trenches so far below her.</p>
+
+<p>"For ten days the furious cannonade
+continued, on both sides, without a moment's
+cessation. On the 19th, three
+towers were demolished, and enormous
+gaps appeared in the curtain walls; many
+of the castle guns were dismounted, and
+destroyed by the falling of the ancient
+masonry: a shot struck one of the largest
+culverins fairly on the muzzle, shattering
+it to pieces, and scattering the splinters
+around those who stood near. A very
+heavy battery was discharged against King
+David's Tower, a great square bastel-house,
+the walls of which were dark with
+the lapse of four centuries. On the 23d,
+a great gap had been beaten in its northern
+side, revealing the arched hall within;
+and as the vast old tower, with its cannon,
+its steel-clad defenders, and the red flag
+of defiance still waving above its machicolated
+bartizan, sank with a mighty crash
+to shapeless ruin, the wild shriek raised
+by the females in the castle, and the roar
+of the masonry rolling like thunder down
+the perpendicular rocks, were distinctly
+heard at the distant English camp."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>One hundred and fifty men constituted
+the whole force which Kirkaldy
+could muster when he commenced his
+desperate defence. Ten times that
+number would scarcely have sufficed to
+maintain an adequate resistance; but
+high heroic valour in the face of death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+is insensible to any odds. After a
+vigorous resistance, the besiegers succeeded
+in gaining possession of the
+Spur or blockhouse&mdash;an outer work
+which was constructed between the
+fortress and the town; but an attempt
+to scale the rock on the west side
+utterly failed.</p>
+
+<p>The blockade had for some time
+been so strict, that the garrison began
+to suffer from want of provisions; but
+their sorest privation was the loss of
+water. Although there are large and
+deep wells in the Castle of Edinburgh,
+a remarkable peculiarity renders them
+useless in the time of siege. To this
+day, whenever the cannon are fired,
+the water deserts the wells, oozing
+out of some fissures at the bottom of
+the rock. There is, however, a lower
+spring on the north side, called St
+Margaret's Well, and from this the
+garrison for a time obtained a scanty
+supply. Under cloud of night a soldier
+was let down by a rope from the
+fortifications, and in this manner the
+wholesome element was drawn. This
+circumstance became known to the
+besiegers; and they, with diabolical
+cruelty, had recourse to the expedient
+of poisoning the well, and permitted
+the nocturnal visitor to draw the
+deadly liquid without molestation.
+The consequences, of course, were
+fearful. Many expired in great agony;
+and those whose strength enabled
+them to throw off the more active
+effects of the poison, were so enfeebled
+that they could hardly work the heavy
+cannon, or support the fatigue of
+watching day and night upon the battlements.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Maddened by the miseries they underwent,
+and rendered desperate by all
+hopes of escape from torture and death
+being utterly cut off, a frenzy seized the
+soldiers; they broke into a dangerous
+mutiny, and threatened to hang Lethington
+over the walls, as being the primary
+cause of all these dangers, from the great
+influence he exercised over Kirkaldy,
+their governor. But even now, when
+amid the sick, the dying, and the dead,
+and the mutinous&mdash;surrounded by crumbling
+ramparts and dismounted cannon,
+among which the shot of the besiegers
+were rebounding every instant&mdash;with the
+lives, honour, and safety of his wife, his
+brother, and numerous brave and faithful
+friends depending on his efforts and
+example, the heart of the brave governor
+appears never to have quailed even for
+an instant!"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>At length, as further resistance was
+useless, and as certain movements on
+the part of the enemy indicated their
+intention of proceeding to storm the
+castle by the breach which had been
+effected on the eastern side, Kirkaldy
+requested an interview with his old
+fellow-soldier Drury, the Marshal of
+Berwick. This being acceded to, the
+governor and his uncle, "Sir Robert
+Melville of Murdocairnie, were lowered
+over the ruins by cords, as there was
+no other mode of egress, the flight of
+forty steps being completely buried in
+the same ruin which had choked up
+the archways, and hidden both gates
+and portcullis. The Castlehill, at
+that time, says Melville of Kilrenny,
+in his Diary, was covered with stones,
+'rinning like a sandie bray;' but behind
+the breaches were the men-at-arms
+drawn up in firm array, with
+their pikes and helmets gleaming in
+the setting sun."</p>
+
+<p>Kirkaldy's requests were not unreasonable.
+He asked to have
+security for the lives and property of
+those in the garrison, to have leave
+for Lord Home and Maitland of
+Lethington to retire to England, and,
+for himself, permission to live unmolested
+at the estate in Fife. Drury
+might have consented, but Morton
+was obdurate. The thought of having
+his enemy unconditionally in his
+hands, and the prospect of a revenge
+delicious to his savage and unrelenting
+nature, made him deaf to all applications;
+and the only terms he would
+grant were these,&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"That if the soldiers marched forth
+without their armour, and submitted to
+his clemency, he would grant them their
+lives; but there were ten persons who
+must yield <em>unconditionally</em> to him, and
+whose fate he would leave to the decision
+of their umpire, Elizabeth. The unfortunate
+exceptions were&mdash;the governor,
+Sir James Kirkaldy, Lethington, Alexander
+Lord Home, the Bishop of Dunkeld,
+Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie,
+Logan of Restalrig, Alexander Crichton
+of Drylaw, Pitarrow the constable, and
+Patrick Wishart.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Kirkaldy returned to the castle, resolved
+to die in the breach, but by
+this time the mutiny had begun.
+The soldiers insisted upon a surrender<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+even more clamorously than before,
+and several of them took the opportunity
+of clambering over the ruins and
+deserting. It would have been madness
+under such circumstances to hold
+out; yet still Kirkaldy, jealous of his
+country's honour, could not brook the
+idea of handing over the citadel of
+Scotland's metropolis to the English.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Therefore, when compelled to adopt
+the expedient (which is supposed to have
+originated in Lethington's fertile brain)
+of admitting a party of the besiegers
+within the outworks, or at least close to
+the walls, he sent privately in the night
+a message to Hume and Jordanhill, to
+march their Scottish companies between
+the English batteries and the fortress,
+lest the old bands of Drury should have
+the honour of entering first."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Next morning he came forth, and
+surrendered his sword to Drury, who
+gave him the most solemn assurances
+that he should be restored to his
+estates and liberty at the intercession
+of the Queen of England, and that all
+his adherents should be pardoned.</p>
+
+<p>Drury, probably, was in earnest,
+but he had either overstepped his commission,
+or misinterpreted the mind
+of his mistress. Morton had most
+basely handed over to Elizabeth the
+person of the fugitive Earl of Northumberland,
+whom she hurried to
+the block, nor could she well refuse
+to the Scottish regent a similar favour
+in return. Morton asked for the disposal
+of the prisoners, and the gift
+was readily granted.</p>
+
+<p>Three of them were to die: for these
+there was no mercy. One, William,
+Maitland of Lethington, disappointed
+the executioner by swallowing poison,
+a draught more potent than that
+drawn from the well of St. Margaret.
+The vengeance of Morton long kept
+his body from the decencies of the
+grave. Of the two Kirkaldys, one
+was the rival of the regent, who had
+foully wronged the other, and, therefore,
+their doom was sealed.</p>
+
+<p>One hundred barons and gentlemen
+of rank and fortune, kinsmen to the
+gallant Kirkaldy, offered, in exchange
+for his life, to bind themselves by
+bond of manrent, as vassals to the
+house of Morton for ever: money,
+jewels, lands, were tendered to the
+regent; but all in vain. Nothing
+could induce him to depart from his
+revenge. Nor were others wanting
+to urge on the execution. The Reformed
+preachers, remembering the
+dying message of Knox, were clamorous
+for the realisation of the prophecy
+through his death; the burghers,
+who had suffered so much from his
+obstinate defence, shouted for his execution;
+only stout old Lord Lindesay,
+fierce as he was, had the magnanimity
+to plead on behalf of the unfortunate
+soldier.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the scaffold and the
+doom. Those who are conversant
+with Scottish history cannot but be
+impressed with the remarkable resemblance
+between the last closing
+scene of Kirkaldy, as related in this
+work, and that of Montrose, which
+was exhibited on the same spot, in
+another and a later age.</p>
+
+<p>So died this remarkable man, the
+last of Queen Mary's adherents. If,
+in the course of his career, we can
+trace out some inconsistencies, it is
+but fair to his memory to reflect how
+early he was thrown upon the troubled
+ocean of politics, and how difficult it
+must have been, in such an age of
+conflicting opinions and desperate intrigue,
+to maintain a tangible principle.
+Kirkaldy seems to have
+selected Moray as his guide&mdash;not penetrating
+certainly, at the time, the
+selfish disposition of the man. But
+the instant he perceived that his own
+aggrandisement, and not the welfare
+of Scotland, was the object of the designing
+Earl, Grange drew off from
+his side, and valorously upheld the
+cause of his injured and exiled sovereign.</p>
+
+<p>We now take leave of a work
+which, we are convinced, will prove of
+deep and thrilling interest to every
+Scotsman. It is seldom indeed that we
+find history so written&mdash;in a style
+at once vigorous, perspicuous, and
+picturesque. The author's heart is
+thoroughly with his subject; and he
+exhibits, ever and anon, flashes of
+the old Scottish spirit, which we are
+glad to believe has not decayed from
+the land.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><em>Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh.</em></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Nulla magna civitas diu quiescere potest si foris hostem non habet, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">domi
+invenit</i>&mdash;ut prævalida corpora ab extremis causis tuta videntur, sed suis ipsa viribas
+onerantur. Tantum, nimirum, ex publicis malis sentimus, quantum ad res privatas
+pertmet; nec in eis quicquam aerius, quam pecuniæ damnun, stimulat."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Livy</span>,
+xxx. 44.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Darwin</span>, <cite>Botanic Garden</cite>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "Thirty-five miles below the surface of the earth, the central heat is everywhere
+so great, that granite itself is held in fusion."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Humboldt</span>, <cite>Cosmos</cite>, i. 273.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Lucan</span>, i. 1-6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Macaulay</span>'s <cite>History of England</cite>, vol. ii. p. 669.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Louis Blanc</span>, <cite>Histoire de Dix Ans de Louis Philippe</cite>, iii. 321, <em>et seq.</em></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Macaulay</span>'s <cite>History</cite>, i. 1-2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Observe, <em>for a time</em>! We shall see anon what the price of sugar will be when
+the English colonies are destroyed and the slave plantations have the monopoly of
+the market in their hands.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "Cromwell supplied the void made by his conquering sword, by pouring in
+numerous colonies of the Anglo-Saxon blood and of the Calvinistic faith. Strange to
+say, under that iron rule the conquered country began to wear an outward face of
+prosperity. Districts, which had recently been as wild as those where the first white
+settlers of Connecticut were contending with the Red Men, <em>were in a few years transformed
+into the likeness of Kent and Norfolk</em>. New buildings, roads, and plantations
+were everywhere begun. The rent of estates rose fast: and some of the English
+landowners began to complain that they were met in every market by the products
+of Ireland, and to clamour for protecting laws."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Macaulay's</span> <cite>History</cite>, i., 130.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <cite>A Campaign in the Kabylie.</cite> By <span class="smcap">Dawson Borrer</span>, F.R.G.S., &amp;c. London, 1848.
+</p>
+<p>
+<cite>La Kabylie.</cite> Par un Colon. Paris, 1846.
+</p>
+<p>
+<cite>La Captivité du Trompette Escoffier.</cite> Par <span class="smcap">Ernest Alby</span>. 2 vols. Brussels, 1848.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> The Moors smoke the leaves of hemp instead of tobacco. This <em>keef</em>, as it is
+called, easily intoxicates, and renders the head giddy. Abd-el-Kader forbade the use
+of it, and if one of his soldiers was caught smoking keef, he received the bastinado.
+<cite>Captivité d'Escoffier</cite>, vol. i. p. 221.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "General Lamoricière habitually carries a stick. This has procured him, from
+the Arabs, the name of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Père-au-bâton</i>, (the father with the stick:) <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bour-à-boi</i>. One
+of his orderly officers, my friend and comrade Captain Bentzman, gives <i>Araouah</i> as
+the proper orthography of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bour-à-boi</i>. We have followed Escoffier's pronunciation."&mdash;<cite>Captivité
+d'Escoffier</cite>, vol. i. p. 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Cicero's joke on a senator who was the son of a tailor&mdash;"Thou hast touched the
+thing sharply;" (or with a needle&mdash;<em>acu</em>.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Rubruquis</span>, sect. xii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <cite>Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des Weissen Nil</cite>, (1840-1841,) von <span class="smcap">Ferdinand
+Werne</span>. Mit einem Vorwort von <span class="smcap">Carl Ritter</span>. Berlin, 1848.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <cite>Annals of the Artists of Spain.</cite> By <span class="smcap">William Stirling</span>, M. A. 3 vols. London:
+Ollivier.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> All these portraits were destroyed by fire in the reign of Philip III.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> He died the year following.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <cite>The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History, Affinities, and Osteology of the Dodo,
+Solitaire, and other Extinct Birds of the Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon.</cite>
+By H. E. <span class="smcap">Strickland</span>, M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean Society,
+&amp;c., and A. G. <span class="smcap">Melville</span>, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. One vol., royal quarto: London,
+1848.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The scientific value of these remnants, Mr Strickland informs us, has been lately
+much increased by skilful dissection. Dr Acland, the lecturer in anatomy, has
+divided the skin of the cranium down the mesial line, and, by removing it from the
+left side, the entire osteological structure of this extraordinary skull is exposed to
+view, while on the other side the external covering remains undisturbed. The solitary
+foot was formerly covered by decomposed integuments, and presented few external
+characters. These have been removed by Dr Kidd, the professor of medicine,
+who has made an interesting preparation of both the osseous and tendinous structures.&mdash;See
+<cite>The Dodo and its Kindred</cite>, p. 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The collection of the Dukes of Schleswig was removed about the year 1720, by
+Frederic IV., from Gottorf to Copenhagen, where it is now incorporated with the
+Royal "Kunstkammer" of that northern capital.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> In regard to the figures by which it is illustrated, we beg to call attention very
+specially to Plates VIII. and IX., as the most beautiful examples of the lithographic
+art, applied to natural history, which we have yet seen executed in this country.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> The companions of Vasco de Gama had, at an earlier period, applied the name
+of <em>Solitaires</em> to certain birds found in an island near the Cape of Good Hope; but
+these must not be confounded with those of the Didine group above referred to. They
+were, in fact, penguins, and their wings were somewhat vaguely compared to those of
+bats, by reason of the peculiar scaly or undeveloped state of the feathers in these
+birds. Dr Hamel has shown that the term <em>Solitaires</em>, as employed by the Portuguese
+sailors, was a corruption of <i>sotilicairos</i>, an alleged Hottentot word, of which we do
+not profess to know the meaning, being rather rusted in that tongue. We know, however,
+that penguins are particularly gregarious, and, therefore, by no means solitary,
+although they may be extremely <i>sotilicairious</i> for anything we can say to the contrary.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <cite>Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of Grange, Knight</cite>, &amp;c. &amp;c. <span class="smcap">Wm.
+Blackwood &amp; Sons</span>, Edinburgh and London.</p></div></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="tn"><h3>Transcriber's note:</h3>
+
+<p>Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as
+printed.</p>
+
+<p>Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
+the missing quote should be placed.</p>
+
+<p>The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
+transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>
+
+<p>The transcriber has supplied footnote anchors for the following footnotes:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Page 20: Footnote 10 <cite>A Campaign in the Kabylie.</cite> By <span class="smcap">Dawson Borrer</span>, F.R.G.S., &amp;c. London, 1848.</p>
+
+<p>Page 47: Footnote 15 <cite>Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des Weissen Nil</cite>, (1840-1841,) von <span class="smcap">Ferdinand
+Werne</span>. Mit einem Vorwort von <span class="smcap">Carl Ritter</span>. Berlin, 1848.
+<cite>La Kabylie.</cite> Par un Colon. Paris, 1846.</p>
+
+<p><cite>La Captivité du Trompette Escoffier.</cite> Par <span class="smcap">Ernest Alby</span>. 2 vols. Brussels, 1848."</p>
+
+<p>Page 63: Footnote 16 <cite>Annals of the Artists of Spain.</cite>  By <span class="smcap">William Stirling</span>, M. A. 3 vols. London:
+Ollivier.</p>
+
+<p>Page 81: Footnote 19 <cite>The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History, Affinities, and Osteology of the Dodo,
+Solitaire, and other Extinct Birds of the Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon.</cite>
+By H. E. <span class="smcap">Strickland</span>, M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean Society,
+&amp;c., and A. G. <span class="smcap">Melville</span>, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. . One vol., royal quarto: London,
+1848.</p>
+
+<p>Page 112: Footnote 24 <cite>Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of Grange, Knight, &amp;c. &amp;c.</cite> <span class="smcap">Wm.
+Blackwood &amp;Sons</span>, Edinburgh and London.</p></blockquote>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+65, No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65,
+No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 14, 2013 [EBook #44183]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Library of Early Journals.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+Text enclosed by equal signs is Greek transliteration (=kydei gaio=).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+
+
+
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  Edinburgh
+
+  MAGAZINE.
+
+  VOL. LXV.
+
+  JANUARY--JUNE, 1849.
+
+  [Illustration: Buchanan]
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH;
+
+  AND
+
+  37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  1849.
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+  NO. CCCXCIX.      JANUARY, 1849.      VOL. LXV.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS,                    1
+
+  FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS,           20
+
+  THE CAXTONS. PART IX.,                     33
+
+  THE WHITE NILE,                            47
+
+  ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN,                  63
+
+  THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED,                  81
+
+  THE SWORD OF HONOUR: A TALE OF 1787,       98
+
+  MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE,            112
+
+
+  EDINBURGH:
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
+  AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._
+
+  SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
+
+  PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE
+
+  NO. CCCXCIX.        JANUARY, 1849.           VOL. LXV.
+
+
+
+
+THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS.
+
+
+"No great state," says Hannibal, "can long remain quiet: if it
+ceases to have enemies abroad, it will find them at home--as
+powerful bodies resist all external attacks, but are wasted away
+by their own internal strength."[1] What a commentary on the
+words of the Carthaginian hero does the last year--THE YEAR OF
+REVOLUTIONS,--afford! What enthusiasm has it witnessed, what
+efforts engendered, what illusions dispelled, what misery produced!
+How bitterly have nations, as well as individuals, within its
+short bounds, learned wisdom by suffering--how many lessons has
+experience taught--how much agony has wickedness brought in its
+train. Among the foremost in all the periods of history, this
+memorable year will ever stand forth, a subject of undying interest
+to succeeding generations, a lasting beacon to mankind amidst the
+folly or insanity of future times. To it the young and the ardent
+will for ever turn, for the most singular scenes of social strife,
+the most thrilling incidents of private suffering: to it the aged
+will point as the most striking warning of the desperate effects of
+general delusion, the most unanswerable demonstration of the moral
+government of the world.
+
+  [1] "Nulla magna civitas diu quiescere potest si foris hostem non
+  habet, _domi invenit_--ut praevalida corpora ab extremis causis tuta
+  videntur, sed suis ipsa viribas onerantur. Tantum, nimirum, ex
+  publicis malis sentimus, quantum ad res privatas pertmet; nec in eis
+  quicquam aerius, quam pecuniae damnun, stimulat."--LIVY, xxx. 44.
+
+That God will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children was
+proclaimed to the Israelites amidst the thunders of Mount Sinai,
+and has been felt by every succeeding generation of men. But
+it is not now upon the third or the fourth generation that the
+punishment of transgression falls--it is felt in its full bitterness
+by the transgressors themselves. The extension of knowledge, the
+diffusion of education, the art of printing, the increased rapidity
+of travelling, the long duration of peace in consequence of the
+exhaustion of former wars, have so accelerated the march of events,
+that what was slowly effected in former times, daring several
+successive generations, by the gradual development of national
+passions, is now at once brought to maturity by the fervent spirit
+which is generally awakened, and the vehement passions which are
+everywhere brought into action.
+
+Everything now goes on at the gallop. There is a railway speed in
+the stirring of the mind, not less than in the movement of the
+bodies of men. The social and political passions have acquired
+such intensity, and been so widely diffused, that their inevitable
+results are almost immediately produced. The period of seed-time and
+harvest has become as short in political as it is in agricultural
+labour. A single year brings its appropriate fruits to maturity in
+the moral as in the physical world. Eighty years elapsed in Rome
+from the time when the political passions were first stirred by
+Tiberius Gracchus, before its unruly citizens were finally subdued
+by the art, or decimated by the cruelty of Octavius. England
+underwent six years of civil war and suffering, before the ambition
+and madness of the Long Parliament were expelled by the purge of
+Pride, or crushed by the sword of Cromwell: twelve years elapsed
+between the convocation of the States-general in 1789, and the
+extinction of the license of the French Revolution by the arm of
+Napoleon. But, on this occasion, in one year, all, in the meantime
+at least, has been accomplished. Ere the leaves, which unfolded
+in spring amidst the overthrow of thrones, and the transports of
+revolutionists over the world, had fallen in autumn, the passions
+which had convulsed mankind were crushed for the time, and the
+triumphs of democracy were arrested. A terrible reaction had set in;
+experience of suffering had done its work; and swift as the shades
+of night before the rays of the ascending sun, had disappeared
+the ferment of revolution before the aroused indignation of the
+uncorrupted part of mankind. The same passions may again arise; the
+same delusions again spread, as sin springs up afresh in successive
+generations of men; but we know the result. They will, like the ways
+of the unrighteous, be again crushed.
+
+So rapid was the succession of revolutions, when the tempest
+assailed the world last spring, that no human power seemed capable
+of arresting it; and the thoughtful looked on in mournful and
+impotent silence, as they would have done on the decay of nature
+or the ruin of the world. The Pope began the career of innovation:
+decrees of change issued from the Vatican; and men beheld with
+amazement the prodigy of the Supreme Pontiff--the head of the
+unchangeable Church--standing forth as the leader of political
+reform. Naples quickly caught the flame: a Sicilian revolution
+threatened to sever one-half of their dominions from the Neapolitan
+Bourbon; and internal revolt seemed to render his authority merely
+nominal in his own metropolis. Paris, the cradle in every age of
+new ideas, and the centre of revolutionary action, next felt the
+shock: a reform banquet was prepared as the signal for assembling
+the democratic forces; the national guard, as usual, failed at the
+decisive moment: the King of the Barricades quailed before the
+power which had created him; the Orleans dynasty was overthrown,
+and France delivered over to the dreams of the Socialists and the
+ferocity of the Red Republicans. Prussia soon shared the madness:
+the population of Berlin, all trained to arms, according to the
+custom of that country, rose against the government; the king had
+not energy enough to permit his faithful troops to act with the
+vigour requisite to uphold the throne against such assailants, and
+the monarchy of Frederick the Great was overthrown. Austria, even,
+could not withstand the contagion: neither its proud nobility, nor
+its light-hearted sensual people, nor its colossal army, nor its
+centuries of glory, could maintain the throne in its moment of
+peril. The Emperor was weak, the citizens of Vienna were infatuated;
+and an insurrection, headed by the boys at the university and the
+haberdashers' apprentices in the streets, overturned the imperial
+government, and drove the Emperor to seek refuge in the Tyrol. All
+Germany caught the flame: the dreams of a few hot-headed enthusiasts
+and professors seemed to prevail alike over the dictates of wisdom
+and the lessons of experience; and, amidst the transports of
+millions the chimera or German unity seemed about to be realised by
+the sacrifice of all its means of independence. The balance of power
+in Europe appeared irrevocably destroyed by the breaking up of its
+central and most important powers,--and England, in the midst of the
+general ruin, seemed rocking to its foundation. The Chartists were
+in raptures, the Irish rebels in ecstasy: threatening meetings were
+held in every town in Great Britain; armed clubs were organised in
+the whole south and west of Ireland; revolution was openly talked of
+in both islands, and the close of harvest announced as the time when
+the British empire was to be broken up, and Anglian and Hibernian
+republics established, in close alliance with the great parent
+democracy in France. Amidst such extraordinary and unprecedented
+convulsions, it was with difficulty that a few courageous or
+far-seeing minds preserved their equilibrium; and even those who
+were least disposed to despair of the fortunes of the species, could
+see no end to the succession of disasters with which the world
+was menaced but in a great exertion of the renovating powers of
+nature, similar to that predicted, in a similar catastrophe, for the
+material world, by the imagination of the poet.
+
+    "Roll on, ye stars! exult in youthful prime,
+     Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time!
+     Near and more near your beaming cars approach,
+     And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach.
+     Flowers of the sky! ye, too, to Fate must yield,
+     Frail as your silken sisters of the field;
+     Star after star, from heaven's high arch shall rush,
+     Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush;
+     Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall,
+     And Dark, and Night, and Chaos, mingle all;
+     Till, o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,
+     Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,
+     Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
+     And soars and shines, another and the same."[2]
+
+  [2] DARWIN, _Botanic Garden_.
+
+But the destiny of man, not less than that of the material world,
+is balanced action and reaction, not restoration from ruin. Order
+is preserved in a way which the imagination of the poet could
+not have conceived. Even in the brief space which has elapsed
+since the convulsions began in Italy in January last, the reality
+and ceaseless action of the preserving laws of nature have been
+demonstrated. The balance is preserved in social life by contending
+passions and interests, as in the physical world by opposite
+forces, under circumstances when, to all human appearance, remedy
+is impossible and hope extinguished. The orbit of nations is traced
+out by the Wisdom of Providence not less clearly than that of the
+planets; there are centripetal and centrifugal forces in the moral
+as well as in the material world. As much as the vehement passions,
+the selfish desires, the inexperienced zeal, the expanding energy,
+the rapacious indigence, the mingled virtues and vices of man, lead
+at stated periods to the explosions of revolution,--do the desire
+of tranquillity, the interests of property, the horror at cruelty,
+the lessons of experience, the force of religion, the bitterness of
+suffering, reinduce the desire of order, and restore the influence
+of its organ, government. If we contemplate the awful force of the
+expansive powers which, issuing from the great mass of central heat,
+find vent in the fiery channels of the volcano, and have so often
+rent asunder the solid crust of the earth, we may well tremble to
+think that we stand suspended, as it were, over such an abyss,
+and that at no great distance beneath our feet the elements of
+universal conflagration are to be found.[3] But, strong as are the
+expansive powers of nature, the coercive are still stronger. The
+ocean exists to bridle with its weight the fiery gulf; the arch of
+the earth has been solidly constructed by its Divine architect; and
+the only traces we now discover, in most parts of this globe, of
+the yet raging war of the elements, are the twisted strata, which
+mark, as it were, the former writhings of matter in the terrible
+grasp of its tormentors, or the splintered pinnacles of mountains,
+which add beauty to the landscape, or the smiling plains, which
+bring happiness to the abodes of man. It is the same in the moral
+world. Action and reaction are the law of mind as well as matter,
+and the equilibrium of social life is preserved by the opposite
+tendency of the interests which are brought into collision, and
+the counter-acting force of the passions which are successively
+awakened by the very convulsions which seem to menace society with
+dissolution.
+
+  [3] "Thirty-five miles below the surface of the earth, the central
+  heat is everywhere so great, that granite itself is held in
+  fusion."--HUMBOLDT, _Cosmos_, i. 273.
+
+A year has not elapsed since the revolutionary earthquake began to
+heave in Italy, since the volcano burst forth in Paris; and how
+marvellous is the change which already has taken place in the state
+of Europe! The star of Austria, at first defeated, and apparently
+about to be extinguished in Italy, is again in the ascendant.
+Refluent from the Mincio to the Ticino, her armies have again
+entered Milan,--the revolutionary usurpation of Charles Emanuel has
+been checked almost as soon as it commenced; and the revolutionary
+rabble of Lombardy and Tuscany has fled, as it was wont, before
+the bayonets of Germany. Radetzky has extinguished revolution in
+northern Italy. If it still lingers in the south of the peninsula,
+it is only because the strange and tortuous policy of France and
+England has interfered to arrest the victorious arms of Naples
+on the Sicilian shores. Paris has been the theatre of a dreadful
+struggle, blood has flowed in torrents in its streets, slaughter
+unheard-of stained its pavements, but order has in the end prevailed
+over anarchy. A dynasty has been subverted, but the Red Republicans
+have been defeated, more generals have perished in a conflict of
+three days than at Waterloo; but the Faubourg St Antoine has been
+subdued, the socialists have been overthrown, the state of siege
+has been proclaimed; and, amidst universal suffering, anguish, and
+woe, with three hundred thousand persons out of employment in Paris,
+and a deficit of L20,000,000 in the income of the year, the dreams
+of equality have disappeared in the reality of military despotism.
+It is immaterial whether the head of the government is called a
+president, a dictator, or an emperor--whether the civic crown is
+worn by a Napoleon or a Cavaignac--in either case the ascendant of
+the army is established, and France, after a brief struggle for a
+constitutional monarchy, has terminated, like ancient Rome, in an
+elective military despotism.
+
+Frankfort has been disgraced by frightful atrocities. The chief seat
+of German unity and freedom has been stained by cruelties which
+find a parallel only in the inhuman usages of the American savages;
+but the terrible lesson has not been read in vain. It produced a
+reaction over the world; it opened the eyes of men to the real
+tendency and abominable iniquity of the votaries of revolution in
+Germany; and to the sufferings of the martyrs of revolutionary
+tortures on the banks of the Maine, the subsequent overthrow of
+anarchy in Vienna and Berlin is in a great degree to be ascribed.
+They roused the vacillating cabinets of Austria and Prussia--they
+sharpened the swords of Windischgratz and Jellachich--they nerved
+the souls and strengthened the arms of Brandenberg and Wrangel--they
+awakened anew the chord of honour and loyalty in the Fatherland.
+The national airs have been again heard in Berlin; Vienna has been
+regained after a desperate conflict; the state of siege has been
+proclaimed in both capitals; and order re-established in both
+monarchies, amidst an amount of private suffering and general
+misery--the necessary result of revolutions--which absolutely
+sickens the heart to contemplate. England has emerged comparatively
+unscathed from the strife; her time-honoured institutions have
+been preserved, her monarchy saved amidst the crash of nations.
+Queen Victoria is still upon the throne; our mixed constitution
+is intact; the dreams of the Chartists have been dispelled; the
+rebellion of the Irish rendered ridiculous; the loyalty of the
+great body of the people in Great Britain made manifest. The period
+of immediate danger is over; for the attack of the populace is
+like the spring of a wild beast--if the first onset fails, the
+savage animal slinks away into its den. General suffering indeed
+prevails, industry languishes, credit is all but destroyed, a woful
+deficiency of exports has taken place--but that is the inevitable
+result of popular commotions; and we are suffering, in part at
+least, under the effects of the insanity of nations less free and
+more inexperienced than ourselves. Though last, not least in the
+political lessons of this marvellous year, the papal government
+has been subverted--a second Rienzi has appeared in Rome; and the
+Supreme Pontiff, _who began the movement_, now a fugitive from his
+dominions, has exhibited a memorable warning to future ages, of the
+peril of commencing reforms in high places, and the impossibility
+of reconciling the Roman Catholic religion with political
+innovation.
+
+But let it not be imagined that, because the immediate danger is
+over, and because military power has, after a fierce struggle,
+prevailed in the principal capitals of Europe, that therefore the
+ultimate peril is past, and that men have only to sit down, under
+the shadow of their fig-tree, to cultivate the arts and enjoy the
+blessings of peace. Such is not the destiny of man in any, least of
+all in a revolutionary age. We are rather on the verge of an era
+similar to that deplored by the poet:--
+
+    "Bella per Emathios plusquam civilia campos,
+     Jusque datum sceleri canimus, populumque potentem
+     In sua victrici conversum viscera dextra;
+     Cognatasque acies; et rupto foedera regni
+     Certatum totis concussi viribus orbis,
+     In commune nefas."[4]
+
+  [4] LUCAN, i. 1-6.
+
+Who can tell the immeasurable extent of misery and wretchedness,
+of destruction of property among the rich, and ruin of industry
+among the poor, that must take place before the fierce passions,
+now so generally awakened, are allayed--before the visions of a
+virtuous republic by Lamartine, or the dreams of communism by
+Louis Blanc and Ledru-Rollin, or the insane ideas of the Frankfort
+enthusiasts have ceased to move mankind? The fire they have let
+loose will burn fiercely for centuries; it will alter the destiny
+of nations for ages; it will neither be quenched, like ordinary
+flames, by water, nor subdued, like the Greek fire, by vinegar:
+blood alone will extinguish its fury. The coming convulsions may
+well be prefigured from the past, as they have been recently drawn
+by the hand of a master:--"All around us, the world is convulsed
+by the agonies of great nations; governments which lately seemed
+likely to stand during ages, have been on a sudden shaken and
+overthrown. The proudest capitals of western Europe have streamed
+with civil blood. All evil passions--the thirst of gain and the
+thirst of vengeance--the antipathy of class to class, of race to
+race--have broken loose from the control of divine and human laws.
+Fear and anxiety have clouded the faces, and depressed the hearts
+of millions; trade has been suspended, and industry paralysed;
+the rich have become poor, and the poor poorer. Doctrines hostile
+to all sciences, to all arts, to all industry, to all domestic
+charity--doctrines which, if carried into effect, would in thirty
+years undo all that thirty centuries have done for mankind, and
+would make the fairest provinces of France or Germany as savage
+as Guiana or Patagonia--have been avowed from the tribune, and
+defended by the sword. Europe has been threatened with subjugation
+by barbarians, compared with whom the barbarians who marched under
+Attila or Alboin were enlightened and humane. The truest friends of
+the people have with deep sorrow owned, that interests more precious
+than any political privileges were in jeopardy, and that it might be
+necessary to sacrifice even liberty to save civilisation."[5]
+
+  [5] MACAULAY's _History of England_, vol. ii. p. 669.
+
+It is now just a year since Mr Cobden announced, to an admiring
+and believing audience at Manchester, that the age of warfare
+had ceased; that the contests of nations had passed, like the
+age of the mastodon and the mammoth; that the steam-engine had
+caused the arms to drop from her hands, and the interests of free
+trade extinguished the rivalries of nations; and that nothing now
+remained but to sell our ships of war, disband our troops, cut
+twenty millions off our taxation, and set ourselves unanimously to
+the great work of cheapening everything, and underselling foreign
+competitors in the market of the world. Scarcely were the words
+spoken, when conflicts more dire, battles more bloody, dissensions
+more inextinguishable than had ever arisen from the rivalry of
+kings, or the ambition of ministers, broke out in almost every
+country of Europe. The social supplanted the national passions.
+Within the bosom of society itself, the volcano had burst forth. It
+was no longer general that was matched against general, as in the
+wars of Marlborough, nor nation that rose up against nation, as in
+those of Napoleon. The desire of robbery, the love of dominion, the
+lust of conquest, the passion for plunder, were directed to domestic
+acquisitions. Human iniquity reappeared in worse, because less
+suspected and more delusive colours. Robbery assumed the guise of
+philanthropy; spoliation was attempted, under colour of law; plunder
+was systematically set about, by means of legislative enactments.
+Revolution resumed its old policy--that of rousing the passions by
+the language of virtue, and directing them to the purposes of vice.
+The original devil was expelled; but straightway he returned with
+seven other devils, and the last state of the man was worse than the
+first. Society was armed against itself; the devastating passions
+burned in its own bosom; class rose against class, race against
+race, interest against interest. Capital fancied its interest was
+to be promoted by grinding down labour; labour, that its rights
+extended to the spoliation of capital. A more attractive object
+than the reduction of a city, or the conquest of a province, was
+presented to indigent cupidity. Easier conquests than over rival
+industry were anticipated by moneyed selfishness. The spoliation of
+the rich at their own door--the division of the property of which
+they were jealous, became the dream of popular ambition; the beating
+down of their own labourers by free-trade, the forcible reduction
+of prices by a contraction of the currency--the great object of the
+commercial aristocracy. War reassumed its pristine ferocity. In the
+nineteenth century, the ruthless maxim--_Vae victis!_ became the
+war-cry on both sides in the terrible civil war which burst forth in
+an age of general philanthropy. It may be conceived what passions
+must have been awakened, what terrors inspired, what indignation
+aroused by such projects. But though we have seen the commencement
+of the _era of social conflicts_, is there any man now alive who is
+likely to see its end?
+
+Experience has now completely demonstrated the wisdom of the Allied
+powers, who placed the lawful monarchs of France on the throne in
+1815, and the enormous error of the liberal party in France, which
+conspired with the republicans to overthrow the Bourbon dynasty in
+1830. That fatal step has bequeathed a host of evils to Europe: it
+has loosened the authority of government in all countries; it has
+put the very existence of freedom in peril by the enormity of the
+calamities which it has brought in its train. All parties in France
+are now agreed that the period of the Restoration was the happiest,
+and the least corrupted, that has been known since the first
+Revolution. The republicans of the present day tell us, with a sigh,
+that the average budgets of the three last years of Charles X. were
+900,000,000 francs, (L36,000,000;) that the expenditure was raised
+by Louis Philippe at once to 1500,000,000 francs, (L60,000,000;)
+and that under the Republic it will exceed 1800,000,000 francs,
+(L72,000,000.) There can be no doubt of the fact; and there can
+be as little, that if the Red Republicans had succeeded in the
+insurrection of June last, the annual expenditure would have
+increased to L100,000,000--or rather, a universal spoliation of
+property would have ensued. Louis Blanc has given the world, in
+his powerful historical work, a graphic picture of the universal
+corruption, selfishness, and immorality, in public and private
+life, which pervaded France during the reign of Louis Philippe.[6]
+Though drawn by the hand of a partisan, there can be no doubt that
+the picture is too faithful in most of its details, and exhibits
+an awful proof of the effects of a successful revolution. But the
+misery which Louis Blanc has so ably depicted, the corruptions he
+has brought to light, under the revolutionary monarchy, have been
+multiplied fourfold by those which have prevailed during the last
+year in the republic established by Louis Blanc, himself!
+
+  [6] LOUIS BLANC, _Histoire de Dix Ans de Louis Philippe_, iii. 321,
+  _et seq._
+
+Paris, ever since the suppression of the great insurrection in
+June last, has been in such a state, that it is the most utter
+mockery to call it freedom. In truth, it is nothing but the most
+unmitigated military despotism. A huge statue of liberty is placed
+in the National Assembly; but at every six paces bayonets are to be
+seen, to remind the bystanders of the rule of the sword. "Liberte,
+Egalite, Fraternite," meet the eye at every turn in the streets; but
+the Champs Elysees, the Place de Greve, the Carrousel, and Place
+Vendome, are crowded with soldiers; and the Champ de Mars is white
+with tents, to cover part of the 40,000 regular troops which form
+the ordinary garrison of Paris. Universal freedom of discussion has
+been proclaimed by the constitution; but dozens of journals have
+been suppressed by the authority of the dictator; and imprisonment
+notoriously hangs over the head of every one who indulges in the
+freedom of discussion, which in England and America is universal.
+The state of siege has been raised, after having continued four
+months; but the military preparations for _another siege_ continue
+with unabated vigour on both sides. The constitution has been
+adopted by a great majority in the Assembly; but the forts are all
+armed, and prepared to rain down the tempest of death on the devoted
+city. Universal suffrage is established; but menacing crowds are in
+the streets, threatening any one who votes against their favourite
+candidates. The Faubourg St Antoine, during the late election, was
+in a frightful state of agitation; infantry, cavalry, and artillery,
+were traversing the streets in all directions; and conflicts not
+less bloody than those of June last were anticipated in the struggle
+for the presidency, and prevented only by the presence of _ninety
+thousand soldiers_ in the capital: a force greater than that
+which fought on either side at Austerlitz or Jena. It is evident
+that republican institutions, in such a state of society, are a
+mere name; and that supreme despotic power is really invested in
+France, as in ancient Rome under the emperors, in the nominee of a
+victorious body of soldiery. The Praetorian guards will dispose of
+the French as they did of the Roman diadem; and ere long, gratuities
+to the troops will perhaps be the passport to power in Paris, as
+they were in the Eternal City.
+
+Nor have the social evils, which in France have followed in the
+wake of successful revolution, been less deplorable than the entire
+destruction of the rights of freemen and security of property which
+has ensued. To show that this statement is not overcharged, we
+extract from a noted liberal journal of Paris, _La Reforme_, of
+November 17, 1848, the following statement:--
+
+     "Property, manufactures, and commerce are utterly destroyed in
+     Paris. Of the population of that great city, the capital of
+     France, there are 300,000 individuals wanting the necessaries
+     of life. One half at least of those earned from 3f. to 5f. a
+     day previous to the revolution, and occupied a number of houses
+     in the faubourgs. The proprietors of those houses receiving no
+     rent, and having taxes and other charges to pay, are reduced
+     to nearly as deep distress as their tenants. In the centre of
+     Paris, the same distress exists under another form. The large
+     and sumptuous apartments of the fashionable quarters were
+     occupied before the revolution by wealthy proprietors, or by
+     persons holding lucrative employments in the public offices,
+     or by extensive manufacturers, but nearly all those have
+     disappeared, and the few who remain have insisted upon such a
+     reduction of rent that the proprietor does not receive one-half
+     of the amount to which he is entitled. Should a proprietor of
+     house property endeavour to raise a sum of money by a first
+     mortgage, to defray his most urgent expenses, he finds it
+     impossible to do so, even at a most exorbitant rate of interest.
+     Those who possess ready money refuse to part with it, either
+     through fear, or because they expect to purchase house property
+     when it must be sold at 50 per cent less than the value."--_La
+     Reforme_, November 17, 1848.
+
+It is certainly a most remarkable thing, in the history of the
+aberrations of the human mind, that a system of policy which has
+produced, and is producing, such disastrous results--and, above
+all, which is inflicting such deadly and irreparable wounds on
+the interests of the poor, and the cause of freedom throughout
+the world--should have been, during the last eighteen years, the
+object of unceasing eulogy by the liberal party on both sides of the
+Channel; and that the present disastrous state of affairs, both in
+this country and on the Continent, is nothing more than the natural
+and inevitable result of the principles that party has everywhere
+laboured to establish. The revolution of 1830 was hailed with
+enthusiasm in this country by the whole liberal party: the Irish are
+not more enamoured now of the revolution of 1848, than the Whigs
+were, eighteen years ago, of that of 1830. The liberal government
+of England did all in their power to spread far and wide the
+glorious example. Flanders was attacked--an English fleet and French
+army besieged Antwerp; and, by a coalition of the two powers, a
+revolutionary throne was established in Belgium, and the king of the
+Netherlands prevented from re-establishing the kingdom guaranteed
+to him by all the powers of Europe. The Quadruple Alliance was
+formed to revolutionise Spain and Portugal; a sanguinary civil
+war was nourished for long in both kingdoms; and at length, after
+years of frightful warfare, the legitimate monarch, and legal order
+of succession, were set aside in both countries; queens were put
+on the thrones of both instead of kings, and England enjoyed the
+satisfaction, for the diffusion of her revolutionary propagandism,
+of destroying the securities provided for the liberties of Europe by
+the treaty of Utrecht, and preparing a Spanish princess for the hand
+of a Bourbon prince.
+
+Not content with this memorable and politic step, and even after
+the recent disasters of France were actually before their eyes, our
+rulers were so enamoured of revolutions, that they could not refrain
+from encouraging it in every _small_ state within their reach.
+Lord Palmerston counseled the Pope, in a too celebrated letter, to
+plunge into the career which has terminated so fatally for himself
+and for Italy. Admiral Parker long prevented the Neapolitan force
+from embarking for Sicily, to do there what Lord Hardinge was nearly
+at the same time sent to do in Ireland. We beheld the Imperial
+standards with complacency driven behind the Mincio; but no sooner
+did Radetzky disperse the revolutionary army, and advance to Milan,
+than British and French diplomacy interfered to arrest his march,
+and save their revolutionary protege, the King of Piedmont, from the
+chastisement which his perfidious attack on Austria in the moment of
+her distress merited. The Ministerial journals are never weary of
+referring to the revolutions on the Continent as the cause of all
+the distress which has prevailed in England, since they broke out
+in last spring: they forget that it was England herself which first
+unfurled the standard of revolution, and that, if we are suffering
+under its effects, it is under the effects of our own measures and
+policy.
+
+Strange and unaccountable as this perverted and diseased state
+of opinion, in a large part of the people of this country,
+undoubtedly is, it is easily explained when the state of society,
+and the channel into which political contests have run, are taken
+into consideration. In truth, our present errors are the direct
+consequence of our former wisdom; our present weakness, of our
+former strength; our present misery, of our former prosperity.
+
+In the feudal ages, and over the whole Asiatic world at the present
+time, the contests of parties are carried on for _individuals_. No
+change of national policy, or of the system of internal government,
+is contemplated on either side. It is for one prince or another
+prince, for one sultaun or another sultaun, that men draw their
+swords. "Under which King, Bezonian?--speak or die!" is there
+the watch-word of all civil conflict. It was the same in this
+country during the feudal ages, and down to a very recent period.
+No man in the civil wars between Stephen and Henry II., or of the
+Plantagenet princes, or in the wars of the Roses, contemplated or
+desired any change of government or policy in the conflict in which
+they were engaged. The one party struck for the Red, the other for
+the White Rose. Great civil and social interests were at issue in
+the conflict; but the people cared little or nothing for these.
+The contest between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians was a great
+feud between two clans which divided the state; and the attachment
+to their chiefs was the blind devotion of the Highlanders to the
+Pretender.
+
+The Reformation, which first brought the dearest objects of thought
+and interest home to all classes, made a great change in this
+respect, and substituted in large proportion general questions for
+the adherence to particular men, or fidelity to particular families.
+Still, however, the old and natural instinct of the human race to
+attach themselves to men, not things, continued, in a great degree,
+to influence the minds of the people, and as many buckled on their
+armour for the man as the cause. The old Cavaliers, who periled
+life and lands in defence of Charles I., were as much influenced
+by attachment to the dignified monarch, who is immortalised in the
+canvass of Vandyke, as by the feelings of hereditary loyalty; and
+the iron bands which overthrew their ranks at Marston Moor, were as
+devoted to Cromwell as the tenth legion to Caesar, or the Old Guard
+to Napoleon. In truth, such individual influences are so strongly
+founded in human nature, that they will continue to the end of the
+world, from whatever cause a contest may have arisen, as soon as
+it has continued for a certain time, and will always stand forth
+in prominent importance when a social has turned into a military
+conflict, and the perils and animosities of war have endeared their
+leaders to the soldiers on either side. The Vendeans soon became
+devoted to Henri Larochjaquelein, the Republicans to Napoleon;
+and in our own times, the great social conflict of the nineteenth
+century has been determined by the fidelity of the Austrian
+soldiers to Radetzky, of the French to Cavaignac, of the German to
+Windischgratz.
+
+But in the British empire, for a century past, it has been
+thoroughly understood, by men of sense of all parties, that a change
+of dynasty is out of the question, and that there is no reform worth
+contending for in the state, which is not to be effected by the
+means which the constitution itself has provided. This conviction,
+long impressed upon the nation, and interwoven as it were with the
+very framework of the British mind, having come to coincide with the
+passions incident to party divisions in a free state, has in process
+of time produced the strange and tortuous policy which, for above a
+quarter of a century, has now been followed in this country by the
+government, and lauded to the skies by the whole liberal party on
+the Continent. Deprived of the watchwords of men, the parties have
+come to assume those of things. Organic or social change have become
+the war-cry of faction, instead of change of dynasty. The nation is
+no longer drenched with blood by armies fighting for the Red or the
+White Rose, by parties striving for the mastery between the Stuart
+and Hanover families, but it was not less thoroughly divided by
+the cry of "The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill,"
+at one time, and that of "Free-trade and cheap corn" at another.
+Social change, alterations of policy, have thus come to be the great
+objects which divide the nation; and, as it is ever the policy of
+Opposition to represent the conduct of Government as erroneous,
+it follows, as a necessary consequence, that the main efforts of
+the party opposed to administration always have been, since the
+suppression of the Rebellion in 1745, to effect, when in opposition,
+a change in general opinion, and, when in power, to carry that
+change into effect by a change of policy. The old law of nature
+is still in operation. Action and reaction rule mankind; and in
+the efforts of parties mutually to supplant each other in power, a
+foundation is laid for an entire change of policy at stated periods,
+and an alteration, as great as from night to day, in the opinions
+and policy of the ruling party in the same state at different times.
+
+The old policy of England--that policy under which, in the words
+of Macaulay, "The authority of law and the security of property
+were found to be compatible with a liberty of discussion and
+of individual action never known before; under which form, the
+auspicious union of order and freedom, sprang a prosperity of which
+the annals of human affairs had furnished no example; under which
+our country, from a state of ignominious vassalage, rapidly rose to
+the place of umpire among European powers; under which her opulence
+and martial glory grew together; under which, by wise and resolute
+good faith, was gradually established a public credit, fruitful
+of marvels which, to the statesmen of any former age, would have
+appeared incredible; under which a gigantic commerce gave birth to
+a maritime power, compared with which every other maritime power,
+ancient or modern, sinks into insignificance; under which Scotland,
+after ages of enmity, was at length united to England, not mere by
+legal bonds, but by indissoluble ties of interest and affection;
+under which, in America, the British colonies rapidly became far
+mightier and wealthier than the realms which Cortes and Pizarro
+added to the dominions of Charles V.; under which, in Asia, British
+adventurers founded an empire not less splendid, and more durable,
+than that of Alexander,"[7]--was not the policy of any particular
+party or section of the community, and thence its long duration and
+unexampled success.
+
+  [7] MACAULAY's _History_, i. 1-2.
+
+It was not introduced--it grew. Like the old constitution, of which
+it was the emanation, it arose from the wants and necessities of
+all classes of men during a long series of ages. It was first
+proclaimed in energetic terms by the vigour of Cromwell; the cry of
+the national representatives for markets to native industry, of the
+merchants, for protection to their ships, produced the Navigation
+Laws, and laid the foundation of the colonial empire of England.
+Amidst all his _insouciance_ and folly in the drawing-room of the
+Duchess of Portsmouth, and the boudoirs of the Duchess of Cleveland,
+it was steadily pursued by Charles II. James II. did not lose sight
+of this same system, amidst all his infatuation and cruelty; when
+directing the campaign of Jeffreys in the west, he was as steadily
+bent on upholding and extending the navy as when, amidst the
+thunders of war, he combated de Ruyter and van Tromp on the coast
+of Holland. William III., Anne, and the Georges, pursued the same
+system. It directed the policy of Somers and Godolphin; it ruled the
+diplomacy of Walpole and Chatham; it guided the measures of Bute
+and North; it directed the genius of Pitt and Fox. It was for it
+that Marlborough conquered, and Wolfe fell; that Blake combated, and
+Hawke destroyed; that Nelson launched the thunderbolt of war, and
+Wellington carried the British standard to Madrid and Paris.
+
+It was the peculiar structure of the English constitution, during
+this century and a half of prosperity and glory, that produced so
+remarkable a uniformity in the objects of the national policy. These
+objects were pursued alike by the Republicans and the Royalists; by
+the Roundheads and the Cavaliers; by the Whigs, during the seventy
+years of their rule that followed the Revolution, and the Tories,
+during the sixty years that succeeded the accession of George III.
+The policy was that of _protection to all the national interests,
+whether landed, commercial, colonial, or manufacturing_. Under this
+system they all grew and prospered, _alike and abreast_, in the
+marvellous manner which the pencil of Macaulay has sketched in the
+opening of his History. It was hard to say whether agriculture,
+manufactures, colonies, or shipping throve and prospered most
+during that unique period. The world had never seen anything like
+it before: it is doubtful if it will ever see anything like it
+again. Under its shelter, the various interests of the empire were
+knit together in so close a manner, that they not only all grew
+and prospered together, but it was universally felt that their
+interests were entirely dependent on each other. The toast "The
+plough, the loom, and the sail," was drunk with as much enthusiasm
+in the farmers' club as in the merchant's saloon. As varied as the
+interests with which they were charged, the policy of government was
+yet perfectly steady in following out one principle--the protection
+of the _productive classes_, whether by land or water, whether at
+home or abroad.
+
+The legislature represented and embodied all these interests, and
+carried out this policy. It gave them a stability and consistency
+which had never been seen in the world before. Nominally the
+representatives of certain towns and counties in the British
+islands, the House of Commons gradually became really the
+representatives of the varied interests of the whole British empire.
+The nomination boroughs afforded an inlet alike to native talent
+and foreign interests. Gatton and Old Sarum, or similar close
+boroughs, afforded an entrance to the legislature, not only to the
+genius of Pitt and Fox, of Burke and Sheridan, but to the wealth
+of Jamaica, the rising energy of Canada, the aged civilisation of
+Hindostan. Experienced protection reconciled all interests to a
+government under which all prospered; mutual dependence made all
+sensible of the necessity of common unanimity. The statute-book
+and national treaties, from the Revolution in 1688 to the close
+of the war with Napoleon in 1815, exhibit the most decisive proof
+of the working of these varied, but not conflicting interests, in
+the national councils. If you contemplate the general protection
+afforded to agriculture and the landed interest, you would imagine
+the House of Commons had been entirely composed of squires. If you
+examine the innumerable enactments, fiscal and prohibitory, for the
+protection of manufactures, you would suppose it had been entirely
+under the government of manufacturers. If you contemplate the steady
+protection invariably given to the mercantile navy, you would
+suppose it had been chiefly directed by shipowners. If you cast your
+eyes on the protection constantly given by discriminating fiscal
+duties to colonial industry, and the vast efforts made, both by sea
+and land, in the field and in the cabinet, to encourage and extend
+our colonial dependencies, you would conclude, not only that they
+were represented, but that their representatives had a majority in
+the legislature.
+
+The reason of this prodigy was, that all interests had, in the
+course of ages, and the silent effects of time, worked their
+way into the legislature, and all enjoyed in fair proportion a
+reasonable influence on government. Human wisdom could no more _ab
+ante_ have framed such a system, than it could have framed the
+British constitution. By accident, or rather the good providence
+of God, it grew up from the wants of men during a series of
+generations; and its effects appeared in this, that--except in the
+cases of the American war, where unfortunate circumstances produced
+a departure from the system; of the Irish Celts, whom it seems
+impracticable to amalgamate with Saxon institutions; and of the
+Scottish Highlanders, whom chivalrous honour for a short period
+alienated from the established government--unanimity unprecedented
+during the whole period pervaded the British empire. All foreign
+colonies were desirous to be admitted into the great protecting
+confederacy; the French and Dutch planters in secret prayed for
+the defeat of their defenders when the standard of St George
+approached their shores. The Hindoos, with heroic constancy, alike
+in prosperous and adverse fortune, maintained their fidelity: Canada
+stood firm during the most dangerous crisis of our history; and the
+flame of loyalty burned as steadily on the banks of the St Lawrence,
+on the mountains of Jamaica, and on the shores of the Ganges, as in
+the crowded emporiums of London, or the smiling fields of Yorkshire.
+
+But there is a limit imposed by nature to all earthly things.
+The growth of empires is restrained, after they have reached a
+certain stature, by laws as certain as those which arrest that of
+individuals. If a state does not find the causes of its ruin in
+foreign disaster, it will inevitably find it in internal opinion.
+This arises so naturally and evidently from the constitution of the
+human mind, that it may be regarded as a fixed law of nature in all
+countries where intellectual activity has been called forth, and
+as one of the most powerful agents in the government, by supreme
+Wisdom, of human affairs. This principle is to be found in the
+tendency of _original_ thought to differ from the current opinion
+with which it is surrounded, and of party ambition to decry the
+system of those by whom it is excluded from power.
+
+Universally it will be found that the greatest exertions of human
+intellect have been made in _direct opposition_ to the current of
+general opinion; and that public thought in one age is in general
+but the echo of solitary meditation in that which has preceded
+it. Illustrations of this crowd on the reflecting mind from every
+period of history. The instances of Luther standing forth alone to
+shake down, Samson-like, the pillar of the corrupted Romish faith;
+of Bacon's opening, amid all the despotism of the Aristotelian
+philosophy, his inductive philosophy; of Galileo maintaining the
+motion of the earth even when surrounded by the terrors of the
+Italian Inquisition; of Copernicus asserting the true system of
+the heavens in opposition to the belief of two thousand years;
+of Malthus bringing forward the paradox of the danger of human
+increase in opposition to the previous general opinion of mankind;
+of Voltaire combating alone the giant power of the Roman Catholic
+hierarchy; of Rousseau running a course against the whole ideas
+of his age--will immediately occur to every reader. Many of these
+great men adopted erroneous opinions, and, in consequence, did as
+much evil to their own or the next age as others did good; but they
+were all characterised by one mark. Their opinions were _original_,
+and directly adverse to public opinion around them. The close of
+the nineteenth century was no exception to the general principle.
+Following out those doctrines of freedom from restraint of every
+kind, which in France had arisen from the natural resistance of
+men to the numerous fetters of the monarchy, and which had been
+brought forward by Turgot and the Economists, in the boudoirs of
+Madame Pompadour and the coteries of Paris,--Adam Smith broached the
+principle of Free Trade, with the exceptions of grain and shipping.
+The first he excepted, because it was essential to national
+subsistence; the second, because it was the pillar of national
+defence. The new philosophy was ardently embraced by the liberal
+party, who, chagrined by long exclusion from office, were rejoiced
+to find a tangible and plausible ground whereon to attack the whole
+existing system of government. From them it gradually extended to
+nearly all the ardent part of the community, ever eager to embrace
+doctrines at variance with previous and vulgar belief, and not yet
+enlightened by experience as to the effect of the new system. It was
+soon discovered that for a century and a half we had been proceeding
+on false principles. The whole policy of government since the days
+of Cromwell had been erroneous; in politics, in social government,
+in diplomacy, in the colonies, in war, in peace, at home and abroad,
+we had been running blindfold to destruction. True, we had become
+great, and glorious, and free under this abominable system; true, it
+had been accompanied by a growth of national strength, and an amount
+of national happiness, unparalleled in any former age or country;
+but that was all by accident. Philosophy had marked it with the
+sign of reprobation--prosperity had poured upon us by chance in the
+midst of universal misgovernment. By all the rules of calculation
+we should have been destroyed, though, strange to say, no symptoms
+of destruction had yet appeared amongst us. According to every
+principle of philosophy, the patient should long ago have been dead
+of the mortal disease under which he laboured: the only provoking
+thing was, that he was still walking about in robust and florid
+health.
+
+Circumstances occurred at the same time, early in this century,
+which had the most powerful effect in exasperating the Opposition
+party throughout the country, and inducing them to embrace,
+universally and ardently, the new philosophy, which condemned in
+such unmeasured terms the whole system of government pursued by
+their antagonists. For half a century, since the long dominion of
+the Whigs was terminated in 1761 by George III., the Tories had
+been, with the exception of a few months, constantly in office.
+Though their system of government in religion, in social affairs,
+in foreign relations, was nothing but a continuation of that which
+the Whigs had introduced, and according to which the government had
+been conducted from 1688 to 1760, yet, in the ardour of their zeal
+for the overthrow of their adversaries, the liberal party embraced
+on every point the opposite side. The descendants of Lord Russel
+became the advocates of Roman Catholic emancipation; the followers
+of Marlborough and Godolphin, the partisans of submission to France;
+the successors of Walpole and Chatham, the advocates of free trade
+and colonial neglect. These feelings, embraced from the influence of
+a determination to find fault with government in every particular,
+were worked up to the highest pitch by the glorious result of the
+war with France, and the apparently interminable lease of power
+acquired by their adversaries from the overthrow of Napoleon. That
+memorable event, so opposite to that which they had all so long
+in public predicted, so entirely the reverse of that which many
+had in secret wished, produced a profound impression on the Whig
+party. Their feelings were only the more acute, that, amidst the
+tumult of national exultation, they were forced to suppress them,
+and to wear the countenance of satisfaction, when the bitterness of
+disappointment was in their hearts. To the extreme asperity of these
+feelings, and the universal twist which they gave to the minds of
+the whole liberal party in Great Britain, the subsequent general
+change in their political principles is to be ascribed; and, in the
+practical application of these principles, the real cause of our
+present distressed condition is to be found.
+
+While one set of causes thus prepared, in the triumph of
+Conservative and protective principles, the strongest possible
+reaction against them, and prognosticated, at no distant period,
+their general banishment from popular thought, another, and a
+not less powerful set, flowing from the same cause, gave these
+principles the means of acquiring a political supremacy, and ruling
+the government of the state. The old policy of England, it has
+been already observed, for a hundred and fifty years, had been to
+take care of the producers, and let the consumers take care of
+themselves. Such had been the effects of this protective policy,
+that, before the close of the Revolutionary war, during which it
+received its full development, the producing classes, both in town
+and country, had become so rich and powerful, that it was easy
+to see they would ere long give a preponderance to urban over
+rural industry. The vast flood of agricultural riches poured for
+expenditure into towns; that of the manufacturers and merchants
+seldom left it. The great manufacturing and mercantile places,
+during a century, had advanced in population tenfold, in wealth
+thirty-fold. The result of this change was very curious, and in
+the highest degree important. Under the _shadow of protection_ to
+industry in all its branches, riches, both in town and country, had
+increased so prodigiously, that the holders of it had _acquired
+a preponderance over the classes in the state yet engaged in the
+toilsome and hazardous work of production_. The owners of realised
+capital had become so numerous and weighty, from the beneficial
+effects of the protective system under which the country had so long
+flourished, that they formed an important _class apart, which began
+to look to its separate interests_. The consumers had become so
+numerous and affluent, that they were enabled to bid defiance to the
+producers. The maxim became prevalent, "Take care of the consumer,
+and let the producer take care of himself." Thence the clamour for
+free trade. Having passed the labour of production, during which
+they, or their fathers, had strenuously supported the protective
+principles, by which they were making their money, the next thing
+was to support the opposite principles, by which the value of the
+_made money might be augmented_. This was to be done by free trade
+and a contracted currency. Having made millions by protection, the
+object now was to add a half to every million by raising its value.
+The way to do this seemed to be by cheapening the price of every
+other article, and raising the price of money: in other words, the
+system of cheapening everything without reference to its effect on
+the interests of production.
+
+Parliamentary reform, for which the Whigs, disappointed by long
+exclusion from office, laboured strenuously, in conjunction with
+the commercial and moneyed classes, enriched by protection, gave
+them the means of carrying both objects into execution, because
+it made two-thirds of the House of Commons the representatives of
+burghs. The cry of cheap bread was seductive to all classes in
+towns:--to the employer, because it opened the prospect of reducing
+the price of labour, and to the operative, because it presents that
+of lowering that of provisions. To these two objects, accordingly,
+of raising the value of money and lowering the remuneration of
+industry, the Reform parliament, the organ of the moneyed interest
+and consuming classes, has, through all the changes of party, been
+perfectly steady. It is no wonder it has been so, for it was the
+first-born of those interests. Twenty years before the cry for
+reform convulsed the nation--in 1810--the Bullion Committee brought
+forward the principle of a metallic, and, consequently, a contracted
+currency; and they recommended its adoption in the very crisis of
+the war, when Wellington lay at Torres Vedras, and when the monetary
+crisis to which it must have led would have made us a province of
+France. Reform was the consequence of the change in the currency,
+not its cause. The whole time from 1819 to 1831, with the exception
+of 1824 and 1825, was one uninterrupted period of suffering. Such
+was the misery it produced that the minds of men were prepared
+for any change. A chaos of unanimity was produced by a chaos of
+suffering.
+
+Thus, by a singular and most interesting chain of causes and
+effects, it was the triumph of Conservative and protective
+principles in the latter years of the war, and the entire
+demonstration thus afforded of their justice and expedience,
+which was the immediate cause of their subsequent abandonment,
+and all the misery which has thence arisen, and with which we
+are still everywhere surrounded. For it at once turned all the
+intellectual energies of the great liberal party to oppose, in
+every particular, the system by which their opponents had been
+glorified, and concentrated all the energies of the now powerful
+moneyed classes to swell, by a change of policy, the fortunes on
+which their consequence depended, and which had arisen from the
+long prevalence of the opposite system. For such is the tendency to
+action and reaction, in all vigorous and intellectual communities,
+that truth itself is for long no security against their occurrence.
+On the contrary, so vehement are the passions excited by a great
+and lasting triumph of one party, even though in the right, that
+the victory of truth, whether in politics or religion, is often
+the immediate cause of the subsequent triumph of error. The great
+Roman Catholic reaction against the Reformation, which Ranke has so
+clearly elucidated, and Macaulay has so powerfully illustrated, has
+its exact counterpart in the great political reaction of the Whig
+party, of which Macaulay is himself the brightest ornament.
+
+That this is the true explanation of the strange and tortuous
+policy, both in domestic and foreign affairs, under which the
+nation has so long suffered, is apparent on the slightest survey of
+political affairs in the last and present century.
+
+The old principle of the English constitution, which had worked
+itself into existence, or grown up from the necessities of men,
+during a long course of years, was, that the whole _interests_ of
+the state should be represented, and that the House of Commons
+was the assembly in which the representatives of all those varied
+interests were to be found. For the admission of these varied
+interests, a varied system of electoral qualifications, admitting
+all interests, noble, mercantile, industrial, popular, landed, and
+colonial, was indispensable. In the old House of Commons, all these
+classes found a place for their representatives, and thence the
+commercial protection it afforded to industry. According to the new
+system, a vast majority of seats was to be allotted to _one class
+only_, the householders and shopkeepers of towns. That class was the
+moneyed and consuming class; and thence the whole subsequent course
+of British policy, which has been to sacrifice everything to their
+interests.
+
+The old maxim of government, alike with Whigs and Tories, was, that
+native industry of all sorts, and especially agricultural industry,
+was to be protected, and that foreign competition was to be admitted
+only in so far as was not inconsistent with this primary object.
+The new philosophy taught, and the modern liberals carried into
+execution, a different principle. They went on the maxim that the
+interests of the consumers alone were to be considered: that to
+cheapen everything was the great object; and that it mattered not
+how severely the producers of articles suffered, provided those
+who purchased them were enabled to do so at a reduced rate. This
+policy, long lauded in abstract writings and reviews, was at length
+carried into execution by Sir R. Peel, by the tariff of 1842 and
+the free-trade measures of 1846.
+
+To protect and extend our colonial dependencies was the great object
+of British policy, alike with Whigs and Tories, from the time of
+Cromwell to the fall of Napoleon. In them, it was thought our
+manufacturers would find a lasting and rapidly increasing market for
+their produce, which would, in the end, enable us equally to defy
+the hostility, and withstand the rivalry of foreign states. The new
+school held that this was an antiquated prejudice: that colonies
+were a burden rather than a blessing to the mother country: that the
+independence of America was the greatest blessing that ever befell
+Great Britain; and that, provided we could buy colonial produce a
+little cheaper, it signified nothing though our colonies perished by
+the want of remuneration for their industry, or were led to revolt
+from exasperation at the cruel and unnatural conduct of the mother
+country.
+
+The navy was regarded by all our statesmen, without exception, from
+Cromwell to Pitt, as the main security of the British empire; its
+bulwark in war; the bridge which united its far-distant provinces
+during peace. To feed it with skilled seamen, the Navigation
+Laws were upheld even by Adam Smith and the first free-traders,
+as the wisest enactments which were to be found in the British
+statute-book. But here, too, it was discovered that our ancestors
+had been in error: the system under which had flourished for two
+centuries the greatest naval power that ever existed, was found to
+have been an entire mistake; and provided freights could be had ten
+per cent cheaper, it was of no consequence though the fleets of
+France and Russia blockaded the Thames and Mersey, and two-thirds of
+our trade was carried on in foreign bottoms.
+
+To provide a CURRENCY equal to the wants of the nation, and
+capable of growth in proportion to the amount of their numbers
+and transactions, was one main object of the old policy of Great
+Britain. Thence the establishment of banks in such numbers in
+every part of the empire during the eighteenth century, and the
+introduction of the suspension of the obligation to pay in gold in
+1797, when the necessities of war had drained nearly all that part
+of the currency out of the country, and it was evident that, unless
+a substitute for it in sufficient quantities was provided, the
+nation itself, and all the individuals in it, would speedily become
+bankrupt. The marvels of British finance from that time till 1815,
+which excited the deserved astonishment of the whole world, had no
+effect in convincing the impassioned opponents of Mr Pitt, that
+this was the true system adapted for that or any similar crisis. On
+the contrary, it left no doubt in their minds that it was entirely
+wrong. The whole philosophers and liberal school of politicians
+discovered that the very opposite was the right principle; that
+gold, the most variable in price and evanescent, because the
+most desired and portable of earthly things, was the only safe
+foundation for a currency; that paper was worthless and perilous,
+unless in so far as it could be instantly converted into that
+incomparable metal; and that, consequently, the more the precious
+metals were withdrawn from the country, by the necessities of war
+or the effects of adverse exchanges, the more the paper circulation
+should be contracted. If the last sovereign went out, they held
+it clear the last note should be drawn in. The new system was
+brought into practice by Sir R. Peel, by the acts of 1844 and 1845,
+simultaneously with a vast importation of grain under the free-trade
+system--and we know the consequence. We were speedily near our last
+sovereign and last note also.
+
+To establish a sinking fund, which should secure to the nation
+during peace the means of discharging the debt contracted amidst
+the necessities of war, was one of the greatest objects of the old
+English policy, which was supported with equal earnestness by Mr
+Pitt and Mr Fox, by Mr Addington and Lord Henry Petty. So steadily
+was this admirable system adhered to through all the dangers
+and necessities of the war, that we had a clear sinking fund of
+L15,000,000 a-year, when the contest terminated in 1815, which, if
+kept up at that amount, from the indirect taxes from which it was
+levied during peace, would, beyond all question, as the loans had
+ceased, have discharged the whole debt by the year 1845. But the
+liberals soon discovered that this was the greatest of all errors:
+it was all a delusion; the mathematical demonstration, on which it
+was founded, was a fallacy; and the only wisdom was to repeal the
+indirect taxes, from which the sinking fund was maintained, and
+leave posterity to dispose of the debt as they best could, without
+any fund for its discharge. This system was gradually carried into
+effect by the successive repeal of the indirect taxes by different
+administrations; until at length, after thirty-three years of peace,
+we have, instead of the surplus of fifteen millions bequeathed to us
+by the war, an average _deficit_ of fifteen hundred thousand pounds;
+and the debt, after the longest peace recorded in British history,
+has undergone scarcely any diminution.
+
+Indirect taxation was the main basis of the British finance in
+old times--equally when directed by the Whigs as the Tories.
+Direct taxes were a last and painful resource, to be reserved for
+a period during war, when it had become absolutely unavoidable.
+So efficacious was this system proved to be by the event, when
+acting on a nation enjoying protected industry, and an adequate and
+irremovable currency, that, before the end of the war, L72,000,000
+was, amidst universal prosperity, with ease raised from eighteen
+millions of people in Great Britain and Ireland. This astonishing
+result, unparalleled in the previous history of the world, had no
+influence in convincing the modern liberals that the system which
+produced it was right. On the contrary, it left no doubt in their
+minds that it was entirely wrong. They introduced the opposite
+system: in twenty-five years, they repealed L40,000,000 of indirect
+taxes; and they reintroduced the income tax as a permanent burden
+during peace. We see the result. The sinking fund has disappeared;
+the income tax is fixed about our necks; a deficit of from a million
+and a half to two millions annually incurred; and it is now more
+difficult to extract fifty-two millions annually from twenty-nine
+millions of souls, than, at the close of the war, it was to raise
+seventy-two millions from eighteen millions of inhabitants.
+
+To discourage revolution, both abroad and at home, and enable
+industry, in peace and tranquillity, to reap the fruits of its
+toil, was the grand object of the great contest which Pitt's wisdom
+bequeathed to his successors, and Wellington's arm brought to a
+glorious termination. This, however, was ere long discovered to be
+the greatest error of all. England, it was found out, had a decided
+interest in promoting the cause of revolution all over the world.
+So enamoured did we soon become of the propagandist mania, that we
+pursued it in direct opposition to our planned national interests,
+and with the entire abrogation of our whole previous policy, for
+which we had engaged in the greatest and most costly wars, alike
+under Whig and Tory administrations. We supported revolutions in
+the South American states, though thereby we reduced to a half of
+its former amount the supply of the precious metals throughout the
+globe; and, in consequence, increased immensely the embarrassment
+which a contracted paper currency had brought upon the nation:
+we supported revolution in Belgium, though thereby we brought
+the tricolor standard down to Antwerp, and surrendered to French
+influence the barrier fortresses won by the victories of Marlborough
+and Wellington: we supported it during four years of carnage and
+atrocity in Spain, though thereby we undid the work of our own
+hands, in the treaty of Utrecht, surrendered the whole objects
+gained by the War of the Succession, and placed the female line upon
+the throne, as if to invite the French princes to come and carry off
+the glittering prize: we supported revolutions in Sicily and Italy,
+though thereby we gave such a blow to our export trade, that it sank
+L1,400,000 in the single month of last May, and above L5,000,000 in
+the course of the year 1848.
+
+To abolish the slave trade was one of the objects which Whigs and
+Tories had most at heart in the latter years of the old system;
+and in that great and glorious contest Mr Pitt, Mr Fox, and Mr
+Wilberforce stood side by side. But this object, so important
+in its results, so interesting to humanity from its tendency to
+alleviate human suffering, ere long yielded to the enlightened
+views of modern liberals. It was discovered that it was much more
+important to cheapen sugar _for a time_[8] than to rescue the
+African race from perdition. Free trade in sugar was introduced,
+although it was demonstrated, and, indeed, confessed, that the
+effect of it would be to ruin all the free-labour colonies,
+and throw the supply of the world into the hands of the slave
+states. Provided, for a few years, you succeeded in reducing the
+average retail price of sugar a penny a pound, it was deemed of
+no consequence though we extinguished the growth of free-labour
+sugar--destroyed colonies in which a hundred millions of British
+capital were invested, and doubled the slave trade in extent, and
+quadrupled it in horror, throughout the globe.
+
+  [8] Observe, _for a time_! We shall see anon what the price of
+  sugar will be when the English colonies are destroyed and the slave
+  plantations have the monopoly of the market in their hands.
+
+It had been the constant policy of the British government, under all
+administrations, for above a century and a half, to endeavour to
+reclaim the Irish population by introducing among them colonies of
+English who might teach them industry, and Protestant missionaries
+who might reclaim them from barbarism. The Irish landlords and
+boroughs were the outposts of civilisation among a race of savages;
+the Irish Church the station of Christianity amidst the darkness
+of Romish slavery. So effectual was this system, and so perfectly
+adapted to the character of the Celtic race--capable of great
+things when led by others, but utterly unfit for self-government,
+and incapable of improvement when left to itself,--that even in
+the ruthless hands of Cromwell, yet reeking with the slaughter of
+stormed cities, it soon spread a degree of prosperity through the
+country then unknown, and rarely if ever since equalled in that
+ill-starred land.[9] But the experience of the utter futility of
+all attempts, during a century and a half, to leave the native
+Irish Celts to themselves or their own direction, had no effect
+whatever in convincing our modern liberals that they were incapable
+of self-direction, and would only be ruined by Saxon institutions.
+On the contrary, it left no doubt in their minds that the absence
+of self-government was the sole cause of the wretchedness of the
+country, and that nothing was wanting but an entire participation in
+the privileges of British subjects, to render them as industrious,
+prosperous, and loyal as the yeomen of Kent or Surrey. In pursuance
+of those principles, Catholic Emancipation was granted: the Whigs
+had effected one revolution in 1688, by coalescing with the whole
+Tories to exclude the Catholics from the government; they brought
+about another revolution, in 1829, by coalescing with a section
+of the Tories to bring them in. In furtherance of the new system,
+so plausible in theory, so dangerous in practice, of extending to
+all men, of all races, and in all stages of political advancement,
+the same privileges, the liberals successively gave the Irish
+the command of their boroughs, the abridgment of the Protestant
+Church, and the abolition of tithes as a burden on the tenant.
+They encouraged agitation, allowed treason to be openly spoken in
+every part of the country, and winked at monster meetings, till
+the community was wellnigh thrown into convulsions. Meanwhile,
+agriculture was neglected--industry disappeared--capital was
+scared away. The land was run out, and became unfit for anything
+but lazy-beds of potatoes. The people became agitators, not
+cultivators: they were always running about to meetings--not
+frequenting fairs. The potato-blight fell on a country thus prepared
+for ruin, and the unparalleled misery of 1847, and the rebellion of
+1848, were the consequence.
+
+  [9] "Cromwell supplied the void made by his conquering sword,
+  by pouring in numerous colonies of the Anglo-Saxon blood and of
+  the Calvinistic faith. Strange to say, under that iron rule the
+  conquered country began to wear an outward face of prosperity.
+  Districts, which had recently been as wild as those where the
+  first white settlers of Connecticut were contending with the
+  Red Men, _were in a few years transformed into the likeness of
+  Kent and Norfolk_. New buildings, roads, and plantations were
+  everywhere begun. The rent of estates rose fast: and some of the
+  English landowners began to complain that they were met in every
+  market by the products of Ireland, and to clamour for protecting
+  laws."--MACAULAY'S _History_, i., 130.
+
+It would be easy to carry these illustrations farther, and to trace
+the working of the principles we have mentioned through the whole
+modern system of government in Great Britain. Enough has been
+said to show that the system is neither founded on the principles
+contended for by the old Whigs, nor on any appreciation of, or
+attention to, the national interests, or the dictates of experience
+in any respect. It has arisen entirely from a blind desire of
+change, and an opposition to the old system of government, whether
+of Whig or Tory origin, and a selfish thirst for aggrandisement on
+the part of the moneyed and commercial classes, whom that system
+had elevated to riches and power. Experience was not disregarded
+by this school of politicians; on the contrary, it was sedulously
+attended to, its lessons carefully marked. But it was considered
+as a beacon to be avoided, not a light to be followed. Against its
+conclusions the whole weight of declamation and shafts of irony
+were directed. It had been the _cri de guerre_ of their enemies,
+the standard of Mr Pitt's policy; therefore the opposite system
+was to be inscribed on their banners. It was the ruling principle
+of their political opponents; and, worst of all, it was the system
+which, though it had raised the country to power and greatness, had
+for twenty years excluded themselves from power. Thence the modern
+system, under which the nation has suffered, and is suffering, such
+incalculable misfortunes. It has been said, by an enlightened Whig
+of the old school, that "this age appears to be one in which _every
+conceivable folly_ must be believed and _reduced to practice_ before
+it is abandoned." It is really so; and the reason is, it is an age
+in which the former system of government, founded on experience and
+brought about by necessity, has been supplanted by one based on a
+systematic and invariable determination to change the old system in
+every particular. The liberals, whether factious or moneyed, of the
+new school, flattered themselves they were making great advances in
+political science, when they were merely yielding to the same spirit
+which made the Calvinists stand up when they prayed, because all
+the world before them had knelt down, and sit still during psalms,
+because the Roman Catholics had stood up.
+
+But truth is great, and will prevail; experience is its test,
+and is perpetually contradicting the theories of man. The year
+1848 has been no exception to the maxims of Tacitus and Burke.
+Dreadful indeed in suffering, appalling in form, are the lessons
+which it has read to mankind! Ten months have not elapsed, since,
+by a well-concerted urban tumult, seconded by the treachery of
+the national guard, the throne of the Barricades was overturned
+in France--and what do we already see on the continent of Europe?
+Vienna petitioning for a _continuation_ of the state of siege, as
+the only security against the tyranny of democracy: Berlin hailing
+with rapture the dissolution of the Assembly, and reappearance
+of the king in the capital: Milan restored to the sway of the
+Austrians: France seeking, in the _quasi_ imperial crown of Prince
+Louis Napoleon, with 90,000 soldiers in its capital, a refuge from
+the insupportable evils of a democratic republic. The year 1848 has
+added another to the numerous proofs which history affords, that
+popular convulsions, from whatever cause arising, can terminate
+only in the rule of the sword; but it has taught two other lessons
+of incalculable importance to the present and future tranquillity
+of mankind. These are, that soldiers who in civil convulsions
+fraternise with the insurgents, and violate their oaths, are the
+_worst enemies_ of the people, for they inevitably induce a military
+despotism, which extinguishes all hopes of freedom. The other is,
+that the institution of a national guard is in troubled times of all
+others the most absurd; and that, to put arms into the hands of the
+people, when warmed by revolutionary passions, is only to light the
+torch of civil discord with your own hand, and hand over the country
+to anarchy, ruin, and slavery.
+
+Nor has the year been less fruitful of civil premonitions or lessons
+of the last importance to the future tranquillity and prosperity of
+Great Britain. Numerous popular delusions have been dispelled during
+that period. The dreams of Irish independence have been broken;
+English Chartism has been crushed. The revolutionists see that the
+people of Great Britain are not disposed to yield their property
+to the spoiler, their throats to the murderer, their homes to the
+incendiary. Free trade and a fettered currency have brought forth
+their natural fruits--national embarrassment, general suffering,
+popular misery. One half of the wealth of our manufacturing towns
+has been destroyed since the new system began. Two years of free
+trade and a contracted currency have undone nearly all that twenty
+years of protection and a sufficient currency had done. The great
+mercantile class have suffered so dreadfully under the effect of
+their own measures, that their power for good or for evil has
+been essentially abridged. The colossus which, for a quarter of a
+century, has bestrode the nation, has been shaken by the earthquake
+which itself had prepared. Abroad and at home, in peace and in
+war, delusion has brought forth suffering. The year of revolutions
+has been the NINTH OF THERMIDOR, OF LIBERAL PRINCIPLES, for it has
+brought them to the test of experience.
+
+
+
+
+FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS.
+
+
+The extraordinary deficiency recently exhibited by a great
+Continental nation in two qualities eminently prized by
+Englishmen--in common consistency, namely, and in common sense--has
+cast into the shade all previous shortcomings of the kind, making
+them appear remote and trivial. A people of serfs, ruled for
+centuries with an iron rod, pillaged for their masters' profit,
+and lashed at the slightest murmur, were excusable if, on sudden
+emancipation from such galling thraldom, their joyful gambols
+exceeded the limits prescribed by public decorum, and by a due
+regard to their own future prosperity. They might be forgiven
+for dancing round maypoles, and dreaming of social perfection.
+It would not be wonderful if they had difficulty in immediately
+replacing their expelled tyrants by a capable and stable government,
+and if their brief exhilaration were succeeded by a period of
+disorganisation and weakness. Such allowances cannot be made for the
+mad capers of republican France. The deliverance is inadequate to
+account for the ensuing delirium. The grievances swept away by the
+February revolution, and which patience, prudence, and moderation,
+could not have failed ultimately to remove--as thoroughly, if less
+rapidly--were not so terrible as to justify lunacy upon redress.
+Nevertheless, since then, the absurdities committed by France, or
+at least by Paris, are scarcely explicable save on the supposition
+of temporary aberration of intellect. Unimaginative persons have
+difficulty in realising the panorama of events, alternately
+sanguinary and grotesque, lamentable and ludicrous, spread over the
+last ten months. Europe--the portion of it, that is to say, which
+has not been bitten by the same rabid and mischievous demon--has
+looked on, in utter astonishment, at the painful spectacle of a
+leader of its civilisation galloping, with Folly on its crupper,
+after mad theories and empty names, and riding down, in the furious
+chase, its own prosperity and respectability.
+
+We repeat, then, that these great follies of to-day eclipse the
+minor ones of yesterday. When we see France destroying, in a few
+weeks, her commerce and her credit, and doing herself more harm
+than as many years will repair, we overlook the fact, that for
+upwards of fifteen years she has annually squandered from three
+to five millions sterling upon an unproductive colony in North
+Africa. France used not to be petty in her wars, or paltry in her
+enterprises. If she was sometimes quarrelsome and aggressive,
+she was wont at least to fasten on foes worthy of her power and
+resources. Since 1830 she has derogated in this particular. A
+complication of causes--the most prominent being the vanity
+characteristic of the nation, the crooked policy of the sovereign,
+and the morbid love of fighting bequeathed by the warlike period of
+the Empire--has kept France engaged in a costly and discreditable
+contest, whose most triumphant results could be but inglorious,
+and in which she has decimated her best troops, and deteriorated
+her ancient fame, whilst pursuing, with unworthy ferocity and
+ruthlessness, a feeble and inoffensive foe. This is no partial or
+malicious view of the character of the Algerine war. Deliberately,
+and after due reflection, we repeat, that France has gravely
+compromised in Africa her reputation as a chivalrous and clement
+nation, and that she no longer can claim--as once she was wont to
+do--to be as humane in victory as she is valiant in the fight. For
+proof of this we need seek no further than in the speeches and
+despatches of French generals, of men who themselves have served
+and commanded in Africa. We will judge France by the voices of her
+own sons, of those she has selected as worthiest to govern her
+half-conquered colony, and to marshal her legions against a handful
+of Arabs. More than one of these officers testify, voluntarily or
+unwittingly, to the barbarity of the system pursued in Africa. What
+said General Castellane, in his well-known speech in the Chamber
+of Peers, on the 4th July 1845? "We have reduced the country by an
+arsenal of axes and phosphorus matches. The trees were cut down,
+the crops were burned, and soon the mastery was obtained of a
+population reduced to famine and despair." And elsewhere in the same
+speech: "Few soldiers perish by the hand of the enemy in this war--a
+sort of _man-hunt_ on a large scale, in which the Arabs, ignorant
+of European tactics, having no cannon-balls to exchange against
+ours, do not fight with equal arms." Monsieur A. Desjobert, long a
+deputy for the department of the Lower Seine, is the author of a
+volume, and of several pamphlets, upon the Algerine question. In the
+most recent of these we find the following remarkable note:--"In
+February 1837, General Bugeaud said to the Arabs, 'You shall not
+plough, you shall not sow, nor lead your cattle to the pasture,
+without our permission.' Later, he gives the following definition
+of a razzia: 'A sudden irruption, having for its object to surprise
+the tribes, in order to kill the men, and to carry off the women,
+children, and cattle.' In 1844, he completes this theory, by saying
+to the Kabyles, 'I will penetrate into your mountains, I will burn
+your villages and your crops, I will cut down your fruit-trees.'
+(Proclamation of the 30th March.) In 1846, rendering an account of
+his operations against Abd-el-Kader, he says to the authorities of
+Algiers, 'The power of Abd-el-Kader consists in the resources of
+the tribes; hence, to ruin his power, we must first ruin the Arabs;
+therefore have we burned much, destroyed much.' (From the _Akhbar_
+newspaper of February 1846.)" These are significant passages in the
+mouth of a general-in-chief. Presently, when we come to details,
+we shall show they were not thrown away upon his subordinates.
+The extermination of the Arabs was always the real aim of Marshal
+Bugeaud; he took little pains to cloak his system, and is too
+great a blunderer to have succeeded, had he taken more. A man of
+greater presumption than capacity, his audacity, obstinacy, and
+unscrupulousness knew no bounds. Before this African _man-hunt_, as
+M. Castellane calls it, he was unknown, except as the Duchess de
+Berry's jailer, as the slayer of poor Dulong, and as a turbulent
+debater, whose noisy declamation, and occasional offences against
+the French language, were a standing joke with the newspapers. A
+few years elapse, and we find him opposing his stubborn will to
+that of Soult, then minister at war, and successfully thwarting
+Napoleon's old lieutenant. This he was enabled to do mainly by the
+position he had made himself in Africa. He had ridden into power and
+importance on the shoulders of the persecuted Arabs, by a system of
+razzias and village-burning, of wholesale slaughter and relentless
+oppression. Brighter far were the laurels gathered by the lieutenant
+of the Empire, than those plucked by Louis Philippe's marshal
+amidst the ashes of Bedouin douars and the corpses of miserable
+Mussulmans, slain in defence of their scanty birthright, of their
+tents, their flocks, and the free range of the desert. Poor was
+the defence they could make against their skilful and disciplined
+invaders; slight the loss they could inflict in requital of the
+heavy one they suffered. Again we are obliged to M. Desjobert for
+statistics, gathered from reports to the Commission of Credits, and
+from Marshal Bugeaud's own bulletins. From these we learn that the
+loss in battle of the French armies, during the first ten years
+of the occupation of Algeria, was an average of one hundred and
+forty men per annum. In the four following years, eight hundred
+and eighty-five men perished. The capture of Constantine cost one
+hundred men, the much-vaunted affair of the Smala _nine_, the battle
+of Isly TWENTY-SEVEN! We well remember, for we chanced to be in
+Paris at the time, the stir produced in that excitable capital by
+the battle of Isly. No one, unacquainted with the facts, would have
+doubted that the victory was over a most valiant and formidable
+foe. People's mouths were filled with this revival of the military
+glories of Gaul. Newspapers and picture-shops, poets and painters,
+combined to celebrate the exploit and sound the victors' praise.
+One engraving _de circonstance_, we remember, represented a sturdy
+French foot-soldier, trampling, like Gulliver, a host of Lilliputian
+Moors, and carrying a score of them over his shoulder, spitted
+on his bayonet. "Out of my way!" was the inscription beneath the
+print--"_Les Francais seront toujours les Francais._" Horace
+Vernet, colourist, by special appointment, to the African campaign,
+pictorial chronicler of the heroic feats of the house militant of
+Orleans, prepared his best brushes, and stretched his broadest
+canvass, to immortalise the marshal and his men. After a few days,
+two dingy tents and an enormous umbrella were exhibited in the
+gardens of the Tuileries; these were trophies of the fight--the
+private property of Mohammed-Abderrhaman, the vanquished prince of
+Morocco, the real merit of whose conquerors was about as great as
+that of an active tiger who gloriously scatters a numerous flock
+of sheep. From one of several books relating to Algeria, now upon
+our table, we will take a French officer's account of the affair of
+Isly. The story of Escoffier, a trumpeter who generously resigned
+his horse to his dismounted captain, himself falling into the hands
+of the Arabs, whose prisoner he remained for about eighteen months,
+is told by M. Alby, an officer of the African army. Although a
+little vivid in the colouring, and comprising two or three very
+tough "yarns,"--due, we apprehend, to the imagination of trumpeter
+or author--its historical portion professes to be, and probably is,
+correct; and, at any rate, there can be no reason for suspecting
+the writer of depreciating his countrymen's achievements, and
+understating their merits. The account of the battle, or rather of
+the chase, for fighting there was none, is given by a deserter from
+the Spahis, who, after the defeat of the Moors, joined Abd-el-Kader.
+The Emir and his Arabs took no part in the affair.[10]
+
+  [10] _A Campaign in the Kabylie._ By DAWSON BORRER, F.R.G.S., &c.
+  London, 1848.
+
+  _La Kabylie._ Par un Colon. Paris, 1846.
+
+  _La Captivite du Trompette Escoffier._ Par ERNEST ALBY. 2 vols.
+  Brussels, 1848.
+
+"I deserted, with several of my comrades, during the night-march
+stolen by the French upon the Moors. We sought the emperor's son
+in his camp, and informed him of the movement making by the French
+column. The emperor's son had our horses taken away, and gave orders
+not to lose sight of us. Then he said to us:--
+
+"'Let them come, those dogs of Christians; they are but thirteen
+thousand strong, and we a hundred and sixty thousand: we will
+receive them well.'
+
+"The day was well advanced before the Moors perceived the French.
+Then the emperor's son ordered his horsemen to mount and advance.
+The French marched in a square. They unmasked their artillery, and
+the guns sent their deadly charge of grape into the ranks of the
+Moors, who immediately took to flight, and the French had nothing to
+do but to sabre them."
+
+"The Moors," says M. Alby, "had fine horses and good sabres; but
+their muskets were bad; and the men, softened by centuries of peace
+and prosperity, smoking keef[11] and eating copiously, might be
+expected to run, as they did, at the first cannon-shot."
+
+  [11] The Moors smoke the leaves of hemp instead of tobacco. This
+  _keef_, as it is called, easily intoxicates, and renders the
+  head giddy. Abd-el-Kader forbade the use of it, and if one of
+  his soldiers was caught smoking keef, he received the bastinado.
+  _Captivite d'Escoffier_, vol. i. p. 221.
+
+It is hard to understand how the loss of the French should have
+amounted to even the twenty-seven men at which it is stated in their
+general's bulletin. Did M. Bugeaud, unwilling to admit the facility
+of his triumph, slay the score and seven with his goosequill? But
+if the victory was easily won, on the other hand, it was largely
+rewarded. For having driven before him, by the very first volley
+from his guns, a horde of overfed barbarians, enervated by sloth
+and narcotics, and total strangers to the tactics of civilised
+warfare, the marshal was created a duke! Shade of Napoleon! whether
+proudly lingering within the trophy-clad walls of the Invalides,
+or passing in spectral review the dead of Austerlitz and Borodino,
+suspend your lonely walk, curb your shadowy charger, and contemplate
+this pitiable spectacle! You, too, gave dukedoms, and lavished even
+crowns, but you gave them for services worth the naming. Ney and the
+Moskwa, Massena and Essling, Lannes and Montebello, are words that
+bear the coupling, and grace a coronet. The names of the places,
+although all three recall brilliant victories, are far less glorious
+in their associations than the names of the men. But Bugeaud and
+Isly! What can we say of them? Truly, thus much--they, too, are
+worthy of each other.
+
+When reviewing, about two years ago, Captain Kennedy's narrative of
+travel and adventure in Algeria, we regretted he did not speak out
+about the mode of carrying on the war, and about the prospects of
+Algerine colonisation; and we hinted a suspicion that the amenities
+of French military hospitality, largely extended to a British
+fellow-soldier, had induced him, if not exactly to cloak, at least
+to shun laying bare, the errors and mishaps of his entertainers.
+We cannot make the same complaint of the very pretty book, rich in
+vignettes and cream-colour, entitled, _A Campaign in the Kabylie_.
+Mr Borrer, whom the Cockneys, contemptuous of terminations, will
+assuredly confound with his great gipsy cotemporary, George Borrow
+of the Bible, has, like Captain Kennedy, dipped his spoon in French
+messes. He has ridden with their regiments, and sat at their board,
+and been quartered with their officers, and received kindness and
+good treatment on all hands; and therefore any thing that could
+be construed into malicious comment would come with an ill grace
+from his pen. But it were exaggerated delicacy to abstain from
+stating facts, and these he gives in all their nakedness; generally,
+however, allowing them to speak for themselves, and adding little
+in the way of remark or opinion. In pursuance of this system, he
+relates the most horrible instances of outrage and cruelty with a
+matter-of-fact coolness, and an absence alike of blame and sympathy,
+that may give an unfavourable notion of his heart, to those who do
+not accept our lenient interpretation of his cold-blooded style. The
+traits he sets down, and which are no more than will be found in
+many French narratives, despatches, and bulletins, show how well the
+Franco-African army carry out the merciful maxims of Bugeaud.
+
+Mr Borrer, a geographer and antiquary, passed seventeen months in
+Algeria; and during his residence there, in May 1846, a column of
+eight thousand French troops, commanded by the Duke of Isly in
+person, marched against the Kabyles, "that mysterious, bare-headed,
+leathern-aproned race, whose chief accomplishment was said to
+be that of being 'crack-shots,' their chief art that of neatly
+roasting their prisoners alive, and their chief virtue that of
+loving their homes." It may interest the reader to hear a rather
+more explicit account of this singular people, who dwell in the
+mountains that traverse Algeria from Tunis to Morocco--an irregular
+domain, whose limits it is difficult exactly to define in words.
+The Kabyles are, in fact, the highlanders of North Africa, and they
+hold themselves aloof from the Arabs and Europeans that surround
+them. Concerning them, we find some diversity in the statements
+of Mr Borrer, and of an anonymous Colonist, twelve years resident
+at Bougie, whose pamphlet is before us. Of the two, the Frenchman
+gives them the best character, but both agree as to their industry
+and intelligence, their frugality and skill in agriculture. They
+are not nomadic like the Arabs, but live in villages, till the
+land, and tend flocks. Dwelling in the mountains, they have few
+horses, and fight chiefly on foot. Divided into many tribes, they
+are constantly quarreling and fighting amongst themselves, but
+they forget their feuds and quickly unite to repel a foreign foe.
+"Predisposed by his character," says the Colonist, "to draw near
+to civilisation, the Kabyle attaches himself sincerely to the
+civilised man when circumstances establish a friendly connexion
+between them. He is still inclined to certain vices inherent in
+the savage: but of all the Africans, he is the best disposed to
+live in friendship and harmony with us, which he will do when
+he shall find himself in permanent contact with the European
+population." This is not the general opinion, and it differs widely
+from that expressed by Mr Borrer. But the Colonist had his own
+views, perhaps his own interests, to further. He wrote some months
+previous to the expedition which Mr Borrer accompanied, and which
+was then not likely to take place, and he strongly advocated its
+propriety--admitting, however, that public opinion in France was
+greatly opposed to a military incursion into Kabylia. Himself
+established at Bougie, of course in some description of commerce,
+the necessity of roads connecting the coast and the interior was to
+him quite evident. A good many of his countrymen, whose personal
+benefit was not so likely to be promoted by causeway-cutting in
+Algeria, strongly deprecated any sort of road-making that was likely
+to bring on war with the Kabyles. France began to think she was
+paying too dear for her whistle. She looked back to the early days
+of the Orleans dynasty, when Marshal Clausel promised to found a
+rich and powerful colony with only 10,000 men. She glanced at the
+pages of the _Moniteur_ of 1837, and there she found words uttered
+by the great Bugeaud in the Chamber of Deputies. "Forty-five
+thousand men and one good campaign," said the white-headed
+warrior, as the Arabs call him, "and in six months the country
+is pacified, and you may reduce the army to twenty thousand men,
+to be paid by imposts levied on the colony, consequently costing
+France nothing." Words, and nothing more--mere wind; the greatest
+_bosh_ that ever was uttered, even by Bugeaud, who is proverbial
+for dealing largely in that flatulent commodity. Nine years passed
+away, and the Commission of the Budget "deplored a situation which
+compelled France to maintain an army of more than 100,000 men upon
+that African territory." (Report of M. Bignon of the 15th April
+1846, p. 237.) Bugeaud himself had mightily changed his tone, and
+declared that, to keep Algiers, as large an army would be essential
+as had been required to conquer it. Lamoriciere, a great authority
+in such matters, confirmed the opinion of his senior. Monsieur
+Desjobert, and a variety of pamphleteers and newspaper writers,
+attacked, with argument, ridicule, and statistics, the party known
+as the _Algerophiles_, who made light of difficulties, scoffed
+at expense, and predicted the prosperity and splendour of French
+Africa. Algeria, according to them, was to become the brightest
+gem in the citizen-crown of France. These sanguine gentlemen were
+met with facts and figures. During 1846, said the anti-Algerines,
+your precious colony will have cost France 125,000,000 of francs.
+And they proved it in black and white. There was little chance
+of the expense being less in following years. Then came the loss
+of men. In 1840, said M. Desjobert, giving chapter and verse for
+his statements, 9567 men perished in the African hospitals, out
+of an effective army of 63,000. Add those invalids who died in
+French hospitals, or in their homes, from the results of African
+campaigning, and the total loss is moderately stated at 11,000 men,
+or more than one-sixth of the whole force employed. Out of these,
+only 227 died in action. The thing seemed hopeless and endless.
+What do we get for our money? was the cry. What is our compensation
+for the decimation of our young men? France can better employ her
+sons, than in sending them to perish by African fevers. What do we
+gain by all this expenditure of gold and blood?--The unreasonable
+mortals! Had they not gained a Duke of Isly and a Moorish pavilion?
+M. Desjobert surely forgets these inestimable acquisitions when he
+asks and answers the question--"What remains of all our victories? A
+thousand bulletins, and Horace Vernet's big pictures."
+
+"How many times," says the same writer, "has not the subjection of
+the Arabs been proclaimed! In 1844, General Bugeaud gains the battle
+of Isly. Are the Arabs subdued?
+
+"When the Arabs appear before the judges who dispose of life and
+death, they confess their faith, and proclaim their hatred of us;
+and when we are simple enough to tell them that some of their race
+are devoted to us, they reply, 'Those lie to you, through fear, or
+for their own interest; and as often as a scheriff shall come whom
+they believe able to conquer you, they will follow him, even into
+the streets of Algiers.' (Examination of Bou Maza's brother, 12th
+November 1845.) Thus spoke the chief. The common Arab had already
+said to the Christian, "If my head and thine were boiled in the same
+vessel, my broth would separate itself from thy broth."
+
+This was discouraging to those who had dreamed of the taming of the
+Arab; and the more sanguinary mooted ideas of extermination. Such a
+project, clearly written down, and printed, and placed on Parisian
+breakfast tables, might be startling; in Algeria it had long been
+put in practice. What said General Duvivier in his _Solution de
+la Question d'Algerie_, p. 285? "For eleven years they have razed
+buildings, burned crops, destroyed trees, massacred men, women,
+and children, with a still-increasing fury." We have already shown
+that this work of extermination was not carried on with perfect
+impunity. Here is further confirmation of the fact. "Every Arab
+killed," says M. Leblanc de Prebois, another officer, who wrote on
+the Algerian war, and wrote from personal experience, "costs us the
+death of thirty-three men, and 150,000 francs." Supposing a vast
+deal of exaggeration in this statement, the balance still remains
+ugly against the French, for whom there is evidently very little
+difference between catching an Arab and catching a Tartar. Whilst
+upon the subject of extermination, Mr Borrer gives an opinion more
+decidedly unfavourable to his French friends than is expressed in
+any other part of his book. His estimate of Kabyle virtues differs
+considerably, it will be observed, from that of the Colonist, and of
+the two is much nearest the truth.
+
+"The abominable vices and debaucheries of the Kabyle race, the
+inhuman barbarities they are continually guilty of towards such
+as may be cast by tempest, or other misfortune, upon their rugged
+shores; the atrocious cruelties and refined tortures they, in common
+with the Arab, delight in exercising upon any such enemies as may
+be so unhappy as to fall alive into their hands, must render the
+hearts of those acquainted with this people perfectly callous as
+to what misfortunes may befall them or their country; and many
+may think that, as far as the advancement of civilisation is
+concerned, the wiping off of the Kabyle and Arab races of Northern
+Africa from the face of the earth, would be the greatest boon to
+humanity. Though, however, they may be fraught with all the vices
+of the Canaanitish tribes of old, yet the command, 'Go ye after
+him through the city and smite; let not your eye spare, neither
+have ye pity; slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little
+children, and women,' is not justifiably issued at the pleasure of
+man; and we can but lament to see a great and gallant nation engaged
+in a warfare exasperating both parties to indulge in sanguinary
+atrocities,--atrocities to be attributed on one side to the
+barbarous and savage state of those having recourse to them; but on
+the other, proceeding only from a thirst for retaliation and bloody
+revenge, unworthy of those enjoying a high position as a civilised
+people. War is, as we all know, ever productive of horrors: but such
+horrors may be greatly restrained and diminished by the exertions
+and example of those in command."
+
+The hoary-headed hero of Isly is not the man to make the exertion,
+or set the example. At the beginning of 1847, rumours of a projected
+inroad amongst the Kabyles caused uneasiness and dissatisfaction
+in Algeria, when such a movement was highly unpopular, as likely
+to lead to a long and expensive war. The "Commission of Credits,"
+a board appointed by the French Chamber for the particular
+investigation and regulation of Algerine affairs, applied to the
+minister of war to know if the rumours were well founded. The
+minister confessed they were; adding, however, that the expedition
+would be quite peaceable; but at the same time laying before the
+commission letters from Bugeaud, "expressing regret that force of
+arms was not to be resorted to more than was absolutely necessary,
+the submission of the aborigines being never certain _until powder
+had spoken_." The marshal evidently "felt like fighting." The
+Commission protested; the minister rebuked them, bidding them mind
+their credits, and not meddle with the royal prerogative. Thus
+unjustly snubbed--for they certainly were minding their credits,
+by opposing increase of expenditure--the Commission were mute, one
+of the members merely observing, by way of a last shot, that it
+was easier to refuse to listen than to reply satisfactorily. In
+France, public opinion, the Chamber of Deputies, and Marshal Soult,
+had, on various occasions, declared against attacking the Kabyles.
+"Nevertheless, a proclamation was issued by Marshal Bugeaud to
+the inhabitants of the Kabylie, to warn them that the French army
+was upon the point of entering their territory, 'to cleanse it of
+those adventurers who there preached the war against France.' The
+proclamation then went on to state, that the marshal had no desire
+to fight with them, or to devastate their property; but that, if
+there were amongst them any who wished for war, they would find
+him ready to accept it." If a hard-favoured stranger, armed with a
+horsewhip, walked uninvited into M. Bugeaud's private residence,
+loudly proclaiming he would thrash nobody unless provoked, the
+marshal would be likely to resist the intrusion. The Kabyles,
+doubtless, thought his advance into their territory an equally
+unjustifiable proceeding. As to the pretext of "the adventurers who
+preached war," it was unfounded and ridiculous. Such propagandists
+have never been listened to in Kabylia. "The voice of the Emir
+Abd-el-Kader himself," says the Colonist, "would not obtain a
+hearing. Did he not go in person, in 1839, when preparing to break
+his treaty of peace with us, and preach the holy war? Did he not
+traverse the valley of the Souman, from one end to the other,
+to recruit combatants? And what did he obtain from the Kabyles?
+Hospitality for a few days, coupled with the formal invitation to
+evacuate the country as soon as possible. Did he succeed better
+when he lately again tried to raise Kabylia against us?" Mr Borrer
+confirms this. Marshal Bugeaud himself had said in the Chamber of
+Deputies, "The Kabyles are neither aggressive nor hostile; they
+defend themselves vigorously when intruded upon, but they do not
+attack." The marshal, whose whole public life has been full of
+contradictions, was the first to intrude upon them, although but
+a very few years had elapsed since he said in a pamphlet, "The
+Kabyles are numerous and very warlike; they have villages, and their
+agriculture is sedentary; already there is too little land to supply
+their wants; there is no room, therefore, for Europeans in the
+mountains of Kabylia, and they would cut a very poor figure there."
+This last prophetic sentence was realised by M. Bugeaud himself, who
+certainly made no very brilliant appearance when, forgetting his
+former theory, he hazarded himself in May 1847, at the head of eight
+thousand men, and with Mr Borrer in his train, amongst the hardy
+mountaineers of Kabylia.
+
+Hereabouts Mr Borrer quotes, in French, the statement of a member of
+the Commission already referred to. It is worth extracting, as fully
+confirming our conviction that the conduct of France in Algeria
+has been throughout characterised by an utter want of judgment and
+justice. "The native towns have been invaded, ruined, sacked, by
+our administration, more even than by our arms. In time of peace,
+a great number of private estates have been ravaged and destroyed.
+A multitude of title-deeds delivered to us for verification have
+never been restored. Even in the environs of Algiers, fertile
+lands have been taken from the Arabs and given to Europeans, who,
+unable or unwilling to cultivate their new possessions, have
+farmed them out to their former owners, who have thus become the
+mere stewards of the inheritance of their fathers. Elsewhere,
+tribes, or fractions of tribes, not hostile to us, but who, on the
+contrary, had fought for us, have been driven from their territory.
+Conditions have been accepted from them, and not kept--indemnities
+promised, and never paid--until we have compromised our honour even
+more than their interests." Such a statement, proceeding from a
+Frenchman--from one, too, delegated by his government, to examine
+the state of the colony--is quite conclusive as to administrative
+proceedings in Algeria. It would be superfluous and impertinent to
+add another line of evidence. A comment may be appropriate. "Is it
+not Montesquieu," says Mr Borrer, "in his _Esprit des Lois_, who
+observes--'The right of conquest, though a necessary and legitimate
+right, is an unhappy one, bequeathing to the conqueror a heavy debt
+to humanity, only to be acquitted by repairing, as far as possible,
+those evils of which he has been the cause'?--and Montesquieu was a
+wise man, and a Frenchman!"
+
+Dismissing this branch of the subject, let us see how the Duke
+of Isly made "the powder speak" in Kabylia, and try our hand
+at a rough sketch, taking the loan of Mr Borrer's colours. A
+strong body of French troops--the 8000 have been increased, since
+departure, by several battalions and some spahis--are encamped in
+a rich valley, cutting down the unripe wheat for the use of their
+horses, whilst, from the surrounding heights, the Kabyles gloomily
+watch the unscrupulous foragers. "Now 'soft-winged evening,'" as
+Mr Dawson Borrer poetically expresses himself, "hovers o'er the
+scene, chasing from woodlands and sand-rock heights the gilded
+tints of the setting sun." In other words, it gets dark--and shots
+are heard. The natives, vexed at the liberties taken with their
+crops, harass the outposts. Their bad powder and overloaded guns
+have no chance against French muskets. "In the name of the Prophet,
+HEADS!" Bugeaud the Merciful pays for them ten francs a-piece. Four
+are presented to him before breakfast. The premium is to make the
+soldiers alert against horse-stealers. Ten francs being a little
+fortune to a French soldier, whose pay in hard cash is two or three
+farthings a-day, Mr Borrer suspects the heads are sometimes taken
+from shoulders where they have a right to remain. An Arab is always
+an Arab, whether a horse-stealer or a mere idler. But no matter--a
+few more or less. Day returns; the column marches; the Kabyles
+show little of the intrepidity, in defence of their hearths and
+altars, attributed to them by M. Bugeaud and others. Their horsemen
+fly before a platoon of French cavalry; the infantry limit their
+offensive operations to cowardly long shots at the rear-guard. Four
+venerable elders bring two yoked oxen in token of submission. In
+general, the inhabitants have disappeared. Their deserted towns
+appear, in the distance, by no means inferior to many French and
+Italian villages. The marshal will not permit exploring parties
+for fear of ambuscade. Night arrives, and passes without incident
+of note. At three in the morning, the camp is aroused by hideous
+yells. A sentinel has fired at a horse-thief and broken his leg,
+and now, mindful of the ten francs, tries to cut off the head of
+the wounded man, who objects and screams. A bayonet-thrust stops
+his mouth, and the _bill on Bugeaud_ is duly severed. The next day
+is passed in skirmishing with the Beni-Abbez, the most numerous
+tribe of the valley of the Souman, but not a very warlike one--so
+says the Colonist; and, indeed, they offer but slight resistance,
+although they, or some other tribes, make a firm and determined
+attack upon the French outposts in the course of that night. There
+is more smoke than bloodshed; but the Kabyles show considerable
+pluck, burn a prodigious number of cartridges, and make no doubt
+they have nearly "rubbed out" the Christians; in which particular
+they are rather mistaken--the French, not choosing to leave their
+camp, having quietly lain down, and allowed the Berber lead to fly
+over them. At last the assailants' ammunition runs low, and they
+retire, leaving a sprinkling of dead. Mr Borrer quotes the Koran.
+"'Those of our brothers who fall in defence of the true faith,
+are not dead, but live invisible, receiving their nourriture from
+the hand of the Most High,' says the Prophet." _Nourriture_ is
+not quite English, at least with that orthography; but no matter
+for Mr Borrer's Gallicisms, which are many. We rush with him into
+the Kabyle fire. Here he sits, halted amongst the olive-trees,
+philosophically lighting his pipe, the bullets whistling about his
+ears, whilst he admires the _sang froid_ of a pretty _vivandiere_,
+seated astride upon her horse, and jesting at the danger. The column
+advances--the Kabyles retreat, fighting, pursued by the French
+shells, which they hold in particular horror, and call the howitzer
+the _twice-firing cannon_. The object of the advance is to destroy
+the towns and villages of the Beni-Abbez, the night-attack upon his
+bivouac affording the marshal a pretext. The villages are surrounded
+with stiff walls of stones and mud, crowned with strong thorny
+fences, and having hedges of prickly pear growing at their base; and
+the gaunt burnoosed warriors make good fight through loop-holes and
+from the terraces of their houses. But resistance is soon overcome,
+and the narrow streets are crowded with Frenchmen, ravishing,
+massacring, plundering; no regard to sex or age; outrage for every
+woman--the edge of the sword for all.
+
+"Upon the floor of one of the chambers lay a little girl of twelve
+or fourteen years of age, weltering in gore, and in the agonies of
+death: an accursed ruffian thrust his bayonet into her. God will
+requite him.... When the soldiers had ransacked the dwellings, and
+smashed to atoms all they could not carry off, or did not think
+worth seizing as spoil, they heaped the remnants and the mattings
+together and fired them. As I was hastily traversing the streets
+to regain the outside of the village, disgusted with the horrors I
+witnessed, flames burst forth on all sides, and torrents of fire
+came swiftly gliding down the thoroughfares, for the flames had
+gained the oil. An instant I turned--the fearful doom of the poor
+concealed child and the decrepid mother flashing on my mind. It was
+too late.... The unfortunate Kabyle child was doubtless consumed
+with her aged parent. How many others may have shared her fate!"
+
+At noon, the atmosphere is laden with smoke arising from the
+numerous burning villages. From one spot nine may be counted,
+wrapped in flames. There is merry-making in the French camp.
+Innumerable goatskins, full of milk, butter, figs, and flour, are
+produced and opened. Some are consumed; more are squandered and
+strewn upon the ground. Let the Kabyle dogs starve! Have they not
+audaciously levelled their long guns at the white-headed warrior
+and his followers, who asked nothing but submission, free passage
+through the country, corn-fields for their horses, and the fat
+of the land for themselves? But stay--there is still a town to
+take, the last, the strongest, the refuge of the women and of the
+aged. Its defence is resolute, but at last it falls. "Ravished,
+murdered, burnt, hardly a child escaped to tell the tale. A few of
+the women fled to the ravines around the village; but troops swept
+the brushwood; and the stripped and mangled bodies of females might
+there be seen.... One vast sheet of flame crowned the height, which
+an hour or two before was ornamented with an extensive and opulent
+village, crowded with inhabitants. It seemed to have been the very
+emporium of commerce of the Beni-Abbez; fabrics of gunpowder, of
+arms, of haiks, burnooses, and different stuffs, were there. The
+streets boasted of numerous shops of workers in silver, workers in
+cord, venders of silk, &c." All this the soldiers pillaged, or the
+fire devoured; then the insatiable flames gained the corn and olive
+trees, and converted a smiling and prosperous district into a black
+and barren waste. Bugeaud looked on and pronounced it good, and
+his men declared the country "well cleaned out," and vaunted their
+deeds of rapine and violence. "I heard two ruffians relating, with
+great gusto, how many young girls had been burned in one house,
+after being abused by their brutal comrades and themselves." Out
+of consideration for his readers, Mr Borrer says, he writes down
+but the least shocking of the crimes and atrocities he that day
+witnessed. We have no inclination to transcribe a tithe of the
+horrors he records, and at sight of which, he assures us, the blood
+of many a gallant French officer boiled in his veins. He mentions
+no attempt on the part of these compassionate officers to curb the
+ferocity of their men, who had not the excuse of previous severe
+sufferings, of a long and obstinate resistance, and of the loss of
+many of their comrades, to allege in extenuation of their savage
+violence. History teaches us that, in certain circumstances, as,
+for instance, after protracted sieges, great exposure, and a long
+and bloody fight, soldiers of all nations are liable to forget
+discipline, and, maddened by fury, by suffering and excitement, to
+despise the admonitions and reprimands of the chiefs--nay, even
+to turn their weapons against those whom for years they have been
+accustomed to respect and implicitly obey. But there is no such
+excuse in the instance before us. A pleasant military promenade
+through a rich country, fine weather, abundant rations, and just
+enough skirmishing to give zest to the whole affair, whose fighting
+part was exceeding brief, as might be expected, when French bayonets
+and artillery were opposed to the clumsy guns and irregular tactics
+of the Beni-Abbez--we find nothing in this picture to extenuate
+the horrible cruelties enacted by the conquerors after their
+easily achieved victory. Their whole loss, according to their
+marshal's bulletin, amounted to fifty-seven killed and wounded.
+This included the loss in the night-attack on the camp. In fact,
+it was mere child's play for the disciplined French soldiery; and
+Mr Borrer virtually admits this, by applying to the affair General
+Castellane's expression of a _man-hunt_. He then, with no good
+grace, endeavours to find an excuse for his campaigning comrades.
+"The ranks of the French army in Africa are composed, in great
+measure, of the very scum of France." They have condemned regiments
+in Africa, certainly; the Foreign Legion are reckless and reprobate
+enough; we dare say the Zouaves, a mixed corps of wild Frenchmen and
+tamed Arabs, are neither tender nor scrupulous; but these form a
+very small portion of the hundred thousand French troops in Africa,
+and there is little picking and choosing amongst the line regiments,
+who take their turn of service pretty regularly, neither is there
+reason for considering the men who go to Algeria to be greater
+scamps than those who remain in France. So this will not do, Mr
+Borrer: try another tack. "The only sort of excuse for the horrors
+committed by the soldiery in Algeria, is their untamed passions,
+and the fire added to their natural ferocity by the atrocious
+cruelties so often committed by the Arabs upon their comrades in
+arms, who have been so unhappy as to fall into their power." This
+is more plausible, although it is a query who began the system of
+murderous reprisals. Arab treatment of prisoners is not mild. On the
+evening of the 1st June, some men straggled from the French bivouac,
+and were captured. "It was said that from one of the outposts the
+Kabyles were seen busily engaged, in roasting their victims before
+a large fire upon a neighbouring slope; but whether this was a fact
+or not, I never learned." It was possibly true. Escoffier tells
+us how one of his fellow-prisoners, a Jew named Wolf, who fell
+into the hands of Moorish shepherds, was thrown upon a blazing
+pile of faggots; and although we suspect the brave trumpeter, or
+his historian, of occasional exaggeration, there are grounds for
+crediting the authenticity of this statement. As to Mr Borrer, he
+guarantees nothing but what he sees with his own eyes, the camp
+being, he says, full of _blagueurs_, or tellers of white lies. The
+inventions of these mendacious gentry are not always as innocent
+as he appears to think them. Imaginary cruelties, attributed to
+an enemy, are very apt to impose upon credulous soldiers, and to
+stimulate them to unnecessary bloodshed, and to acts of lawless
+revenge. Many a village has been burned, and many an inoffensive
+peasant sabred, on the strength of such lying fabrications. In
+Africa especially, where the _lex talionis_ seems fully recognised,
+and its enforcement confided to the first straggler who chooses to
+fire a house or stick an Arab, the _blagueurs_ should be handed
+over, in our opinion, to summary punishment. On the advance of the
+French column, a soldier or two, straying from the bivouac to bathe
+or fish, had here and there been shot by the lurking Kabyles. On its
+return, "I was somewhat surprised," Mr Borrer remarks, "to observe,
+in the wake of the column, flames bursting forth from the gourbies
+(villages) left in our rear. It was well known that the tribe upon
+whose territory we were riding had submitted, and that their sheikh
+was even riding at the head of the column." None could explain the
+firing of the villages. The sheikh, indignant at the treachery of
+the French, set spurs to his mare, and was off like the wind. The
+conflagration was traced to soldiers of the rear-guard, desirous
+to revenge their comrades, picked off on the previous march. We
+are not told that the crime was brought home to the perpetrators,
+or visited upon them. If it was, Mr Borrer makes no mention of the
+fact, but passes on, as if the burning of a few villages were a
+trifle scarce worth notice. How were the Kabyles to distinguish
+between the acts of the private soldier and of the epauleted
+chief? Their submission had just been accepted, and friendly words
+spoken to them: their sheikh rode beside the gray-haired leader
+of the Christians, and marked the apparent subordination of the
+white-faced soldiery. Suddenly a gross violation occurred of the
+amicable understanding so recently come to. How persuade them that
+the submissive and disciplined soldiers they saw around them would
+venture such breach of faith without the sanction or connivance of
+their commander? The offence is that of an insignificant sentinel,
+but the dirt falls upon the beard of Bugeaud; and confidence in the
+promises of the lying European is thoroughly and for ever destroyed.
+
+A colony, whose mode of acquisition and of government, up to the
+present time, reflects so little credit upon French arms and
+administrators, ought certainly to yield pecuniary results or
+advantages of some kind, which, in a mercenary point of view, might
+balance the account. France surely did not place her reputation
+for humanity and justice in the hands of Marshal Bugeaud and of
+others of his stamp, without anticipating some sort of compensation
+for its probable deterioration. Such expectations have hitherto
+been wholly unfulfilled; and we really see little chance of their
+probable or speedy realisation. The colony is as unpromising, as
+the colonists are inapt to improve it. The fact is, the work of
+colonisation has not begun. The French are utterly at a loss how to
+set about it. All kinds of systems have been proposed. Bugeaud has
+had his--that of military colonisation, which he maintained, with
+characteristic stubbornness, in the teeth of public opinion, of the
+French government, of common sense, and even of possibility. He
+proposed to take, during ten years, one hundred and twenty thousand
+recruits from the conscription, and to settle them in Africa, with
+their wives. He estimated the expense of this scheme at twelve
+millions sterling. His opponents stated its probable cost at four
+times that sum. Whichever estimate was correct, it is not worth
+while examining the plan, which for a moment was entertained by a
+government commission, but has since been completely abandoned.
+It presupposes an extraordinary and arbitrary stretch of power
+on the part of the government that should adopt such a system
+of compulsory colonisation. We are surprised to find Mr Borrer
+inclined to favour the exploded plan. General Lamoriciere (the
+terrible _Bour-a-boi_ of the Arabs,[12]) proposed to give premiums
+to agriculturists settling in Algeria, at the rate of twenty-five
+per cent of their expenses of clearing, irrigation, construction,
+and plantation. But M. Lamoriciere--a very practical man indeed,
+with his sabre in his fist, and at the head of his Zouaves--is a
+shallow theorist in matters of colonisation. The staff of surveyors,
+valuers, and referees essential to carry out his project, would
+alone have been a heavy additional charge on the unprofitable
+colony. "M. Lamoriciere," says M. Desjobert, "was one of the warmest
+advocates of the occupation of Bougie," (a seaport of Kabylie,)
+"and partly directed, in 1833, that fatal expedition." (Fatal, M.
+Desjobert means, by reason of its subsequent cost in men and money.
+The town was taken by a small force on the 29th September 1833.)
+"The soldiers were then told that their mission was agricultural
+rather than military, that they would have to handle the pick and
+the spade more frequently than the musket. The unfortunates have
+certainly handled pick and spade; but it was to dig in that immense
+cemetery which, each day, swallows up their comrades. Already,
+in 1836, General d'Erlon, ex-governor of Algiers, demanded the
+evacuation of Bougie, which had devoured, in three years, three
+thousand men and seven millions of francs." The demand was not
+complied with, and Bougie has continued to consume more than its
+quota of the six thousand men at which M. Desjobert estimates the
+average annual loss, by disease alone, of the African army. Bougie
+has not flourished under the tricolor. In former times a city of
+great riches and importance, it still contained several thousand
+inhabitants when taken by the French. At the period of Mr Borrer's
+visit, it reckoned a population of five hundred, exclusive of the
+garrison of twelve hundred men. To return, however, to the systems
+of colonisation. When the generals had had their say, it was the
+turn of the commissions; the commission of Africa, that of the
+Chamber of Deputies, &c. There was no lack of projects; but none of
+them answered. The colonial policy of the Orleans government was
+eminently short-sighted. This is strikingly shown in Mr Borrer's
+14th chapter, "A Word upon the Colony." Of the fertile plain
+of the Metidja, containing about a million and a half acres of
+arable and pasture land, a very small portion is cultivated. The
+French found a garden; they have made a desert. "Before the French
+occupation, vast tracts which now lie waste, sacrificed to palmetta
+and squills, were cultivated by the Arabs, who grew far more corn
+than was required for their own consumption; whereas now, they grow
+barely sufficient: the consequence of which is, that the price of
+corn is enormous in Algeria at present." Land is cheap enough, but
+labour is dear, because the necessaries of life are so. Instead of
+making Algiers a free port, protection to French manufactures is
+the order of the day, and this has driven Arab commerce to Tunis
+and Morocco. Rivalry with England--the feverish desire for colonies
+and for the supremacy of the seas--must unquestionably be ranked
+amongst the motives of the tenacious retention of such an expensive
+possession as Algeria. And now the odious English cottons are
+an obstacle to the prosperity of the colony. To sell a few more
+bales of French calicoes and crates of French hardware, the wise
+men at Paris put an effectual check upon the progress of African
+agriculture. Here, if anywhere, free-trade might be introduced
+with advantage; in common necessaries, at any rate, and for a few
+years, till the country became peopled, and the colonists had
+overcome the first difficulties of their position. It would make
+very little difference to Rouen and Lyons, whilst to the settlers
+it would practically work more good than would have been done them
+by M. Lamoriciere's _subvention_, supposing this to have been
+adopted, and that the heavily-taxed agriculturist of France--in
+many parts of which country land pays but two and a half or three
+per cent--had consented to pay additional imposts for the benefit
+of the agriculturist of Algeria. In the beginning, the notion of
+the French government was, that its new conquest would colonise
+itself unassisted; that there would be a natural and steady flow
+of emigrants from the mother country. In any case this expectation
+would probably have proved fallacious--at least it would never have
+been realised to the extent anticipated; but the small encouragement
+given to such emigration, rendered it utterly abortive. The
+"stream" of settlers proved a mere dribble. Security and justice,
+Mr Thiers said, were all that France owed her colony. Even these
+two things were not obtained, in the full sense of the words. The
+centralisation system weighed upon Algeria. Everything was referred
+to Paris. Hence interminable correspondence, and delays innumerable.
+In the year 1846, Mr Borrer says, twenty-four thousand despatches
+were received by the civil administration from the chief _bureau_
+in the French capital, in exchange for twenty-eight thousand sent.
+Instead of imparting all possible celerity to the administrative
+forms requisite to the establishment of emigrants, these must
+often wait a year or more before they are put in possession of
+the land granted. Meanwhile they expend their resources, and are
+enervated by idleness and disease. The climate of North Africa
+is ill-adapted to French constitutions. M. Desjobert has already
+told us the average loss of the army, and General Duvivier, in
+his _Solution de la Question d'Algerie_, fully corroborated his
+statements. "A man," said the general, "whose constitution is not
+in harmony with the climate of Africa, never adapts himself to it;
+he suffers, wastes away, and dies. The expression, that a mass of
+men who have been for some time in Africa have become inured to
+the climate, is inexact. They have not become inured to it; they
+have been _decimated by death_. _The climate is a great sieve,
+which allows a rapid passage to everything that is not of a certain
+force._" Supposing 100,000 men sent from France to Algeria for six
+years' service. At the end of that time, their loss by disease
+alone, at the rate of six per cent--proved by M. Desjobert to be
+the annual average--would amount to upwards of 30,000, or to more
+than three-tenths of the whole. The emigrants fare no better.
+"They look for milk and honey," says Borrer: "they find palmetta
+and disease. The villages scattered about the Sahel or Massif of
+Algiers (a high ground at the back of the city, forming a rampart
+between the Metidja and the Mediterranean) are, with one or two
+exceptions, a type of desolation. Perched upon the most arid spots,
+distant from water, the poor tenants lie sweltering between sun
+and sirocco." A Mississippi swamp must be as eligible "squatting"
+ground as this--Arabs instead of alligators, and the Algerine fever
+in place of Yellow Jack. "At the gates of Algiers, in the villages
+of the Sahel," said the "_Algerie_" newspaper of the 22d December
+1845, "the colonists desert, driven away by hunger. If any remain,
+it is because they have no strength to move. In the plain of the
+Metidja, the misery and desolation are greater still. At Fondouck,
+in the last five months, 120 persons have died, out of a population
+of 280." The reporter to the Commission of the French budget of 1837
+(Monsieur Bignon) admitted that "the results of the colonisation are
+almost negative." He could not obtain, he said, an estimate of the
+agricultural population. At the same period, an Algiers newspaper
+(_La France Algerienne_) estimated the European agriculturists at
+7000, two-thirds of whom were mere market-gardeners.
+
+  [12] "General Lamoriciere habitually carries a stick. This has
+  procured him, from the Arabs, the name of the _Pere-au-baton_, (the
+  father with the stick:) _Bour-a-boi_. One of his orderly officers,
+  my friend and comrade Captain Bentzman, gives _Araouah_ as the
+  proper orthography of _Bour-a-boi_. We have followed Escoffier's
+  pronunciation."--_Captivite d'Escoffier_, vol. i. p. 30.
+
+It is unnecessary to multiply proofs; and we will here conclude this
+imperfect sketch of Franco-African colonisation, of its crimes, its
+errors, and its cost, by extracting a rather remarkable passage
+from a writer we have more than once referred to, and who, although
+perhaps disposed to view things in Algeria upon the black side, is
+yet deserving of credit, as well by his position as by reason of his
+painstaking research and, so far as we have verified them, accurate
+statistics.
+
+"The colonists cannot deny," says Monsieur Desjobert in his _Algerie
+en_ 1846, "and they admit:
+
+"1º. That Europe alone maintains the 200,000 Europeans in Algeria.
+In 1846 we are compelled to repeat what General Bernard, minister
+of war, said in 1838: 'Algeria resembles a naked rock, which it is
+necessary to supply with everything, except air and water.'
+
+"2º. That so long as we remain in this precarious situation, a naval
+war, by interrupting the communications, would compromise the safety
+of our army. In 1846 we repeat M. Thiers' words, uttered in 1837:
+'If war surprises you in the state of indecision in which you are, I
+say that the disgraceful evacuation of Africa will be inevitable.'
+
+"M. Thiers did not speak the whole truth when he talked of
+evacuation. In such an extremity, evacuation would be impossible.
+Our army would perish of misery, and its remnant would fall into the
+hands of the enemy."
+
+Another enemy than the Arabs is here evidently pointed at; that
+possible foe is now a friend to France, and we trust will long
+remain so. But on many accounts the sentences we have just quoted
+are significant, as proceeding from the pen of a French deputy. They
+need no comment, and we shall offer none. We wait with interest to
+see if France's African colony prospers better under the Republic of
+1848 than it did under the Monarchy of 1830.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAXTONS.
+
+
+PART IX.--CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+And my father pushed aside his books.
+
+O young reader, whoever thou art,--or reader, at least, who hast
+been young,--canst thou not remember some time when, with thy wild
+troubles and sorrows as yet borne in secret, thou hast come back
+from that hard, stern world which opens on thee when thou puttest
+thy foot out of the threshold of home--come back to the four quiet
+walls, wherein thine elders sit in peace--and seen, with a sort of
+sad amaze, how calm and undisturbed all is there? That generation
+which has gone before thee in the path of the passions--the
+generation of thy parents--(not so many years, perchance, remote
+from thine own)--how immovably far off, in its still repose, it
+seems from thy turbulent youth! It has in it a stillness as of a
+classic age, antique as the statues of the Greeks. That tranquil
+monotony of routine into which those lives that preceded thee have
+merged--the occupations that they have found sufficing for their
+happiness, by the fireside--in the armchair and corner appropriated
+to each--how strangely they contrast thine own feverish excitement!
+And they make room for thee, and bid thee welcome, and then resettle
+to their hushed pursuits, as if nothing had happened! Nothing had
+happened! while in thy heart, perhaps, the whole world seems to have
+shot from its axis, all the elements to be at war! And you sit down,
+crushed by that quiet happiness which you can share no more, and
+smile mechanically, and look into the fire; and, ten to one, you say
+nothing till the time comes for bed, and you take up your candle,
+and creep miserably to your lonely room.
+
+Now, if in a stage coach in the depth of winter, when three
+passengers are warm and snug, a fourth, all besnowed and frozen,
+descends from the outside and takes place amongst them, straightway
+all the three passengers shift their places, uneasily pull up their
+cloak collars, re-arrange their "comforters," feel indignantly
+a sensible loss of caloric--the intruder has at least made a
+sensation. But if you had all the snows of the Grampians in your
+heart, you might enter unnoticed: take care not to tread on the
+toes of your opposite neighbour, and not a soul is disturbed, not a
+"comforter" stirs an inch! I had not slept a wink, I had not even
+laid down all that night--the night in which I had said farewell
+to Fanny Trevanion--and the next morning, when the sun rose, I
+wandered out--where I know not. I have a dim recollection of long,
+gray, solitary streets--of the river, that seemed flowing in dull
+silence, away, far away, into some invisible eternity--trees and
+turf, and the gay voices of children. I must have gone from one end
+of the great Babel to the other: but my memory only became clear
+and distinct when I knocked, somewhere before noon, at the door of
+my father's house, and, passing heavily up the stairs, came into
+the drawing-room, which was the rendezvous of the little family;
+for, since we had been in London, my father had ceased to have his
+study apart, and contented himself with what he called "a corner"--a
+corner wide enough to contain two tables and a dumb waiter, with
+chairs _a discretion_ all littered with books. On the opposite side
+of this capacious corner sat my uncle, now nearly convalescent, and
+he was jotting down, in his stiff military hand, certain figures in
+a little red account-book--for you know already that my uncle Roland
+was, in his expenses, the most methodical of men.
+
+My father's face was more benign than usual, for, before him lay a
+proof--the first proof of his first work--his one work--the Great
+Book! Yes! it had positively found a press. And the first proof of
+your first work--ask any author what _that_ is! My mother was out,
+with the faithful Mrs Primmins, shopping or marketing no doubt;
+so, while the brothers were thus engaged, it was natural that my
+entrance should not make as much noise as if it had been a bomb,
+or a singer, or a clap of thunder, or the last "great novel of
+the season," or anything else that made a noise in those days. For
+what makes a noise now? Now, when the most astonishing thing of all
+is in our easy familiarity with things astounding--when we say,
+listlessly, "Another revolution at Paris," or, "By the bye, there
+is the deuce to do at Vienna!"--when De Joinville is catching fish
+in the ponds at Claremont, and you hardly turn back to look at
+Metternich on the pier at Brighton!
+
+My uncle nodded, and growled indistinctly; my father--
+
+"Put aside his books; you have told us that already."
+
+Sir, you are very much mistaken, he did not put aside his books, for
+he was not engaged in them--he was reading his proof. And he smiled,
+and pointed to it (the proof I mean) pathetically, and with a kind
+of humour, as much as to say--"What can you expect, Pisistratus?--my
+new baby! in short clothes--or long primer, which is all the same
+thing!"
+
+I took a chair between the two, and looked first at one, then at
+the other, and--heaven forgive me!--I felt a rebellious, ungrateful
+spite against both. The bitterness of my soul must have been deep
+indeed to have overflowed in that direction, but it did. The grief
+of youth is an abominable egotist, and that is the truth. I got up
+from the chair, and walked towards the window; it was open, and
+outside the window was Mrs Primmins' canary, in its cage. London
+air had agreed with it, and it was singing lustily. Now, when the
+canary saw me standing opposite to its cage, and regarding it
+seriously, and, I have no doubt, with a very sombre aspect, the
+creature stopped short, and hung its head on one side, looking at
+me obliquely and suspiciously. Finding that I did it no harm, it
+began to hazard a few broken notes, timidly and interrogatively, as
+it were, pausing between each; and at length, as I made no reply,
+it evidently thought it had solved the doubt, and ascertained that
+I was more to be pitied than feared--for it stole gradually into
+so soft and silvery a strain that, I verily believe, it did it on
+purpose to comfort me!--me, its old friend, whom it had unjustly
+suspected. Never did any music touch me so home as did that long,
+plaintive cadence. And when the bird ceased, it perched itself close
+to the bars of the cage, and looked at me steadily with its bright
+intelligent eyes. I felt mine water, and I turned back and stood
+in the centre of the room, irresolute what to do, where to go. My
+father had done with the proof, and was deep in his folios. Roland
+had clasped his red account book, restored it to his pocket, wiped
+his pen carefully, and now watched me from under his great beetle
+brows. Suddenly he rose, and, stamping on the hearth with his cork
+leg, exclaimed, "Look up from those cursed books, brother Austin!
+What is there in that lad's face? Construe _that_, if you can!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+And my father pushed aside his books, and rose hastily. He took off
+his spectacles, and rubbed them mechanically, but he said nothing;
+and my uncle, staring at him for a moment, in surprise at his
+silence, burst out,--
+
+"Oh! I see--he has been getting into some scrape, and you are angry!
+Fie! young blood will have its way, Austin--it will. I don't blame
+that--it is only when--come here, Sisty! Zounds! man, come here."
+
+My father gently brushed off the captain's hand, and, advancing
+towards me, opened his arms. The next moment I was sobbing on his
+breast.
+
+"But what is the matter?" cried Captain Roland, "will nobody
+say what is the matter? Money, I suppose--money, you confounded
+extravagant young dog. Luckily you have got an uncle who has more
+than he knows what to do with. How much?--fifty?--a hundred? two
+hundred? How can I write the cheque, if you'll not speak?"
+
+"Hush, brother! it is no money you can give that will set this
+right. My poor boy! have I guessed truly? Did I guess truly the
+other evening, when--"
+
+"Yes, sir, yes! I have been so wretched. But I am better now--I can
+tell you all."
+
+My uncle moved slowly towards the door: his fine sense of delicacy
+made him think that even he was out of place in the confidence
+between son and father.
+
+"No, uncle," I said, holding out my hand to him, "stay; you too can
+advise me--strengthen me. I have kept my honour yet--help me to keep
+it still."
+
+At the sound of the word honour Captain Roland stood mute, and
+raised his head quickly.
+
+So I told all--incoherently enough at first, but clearly and
+manfully as I went on. Now I know that it is not the custom of
+lovers to confide in fathers and uncles. Judging by those mirrors
+of life, plays and novels, they choose better;--valets and
+chambermaids, and friends whom they have picked up in the street,
+as I had picked up poor Francis Vivian--to these they make clean
+breasts of their troubles. But fathers and uncles--to them they are
+close, impregnable, "buttoned to the chin." The Caxtons were an
+eccentric family, and never did anything like other people. When I
+had ended, I lifted my eyes, and said pleadingly, "Now, tell me, is
+there no hope--none?"
+
+"Why should there be none?" cried Captain Roland hastily--"the De
+Caxtons are as good a family as the Trevanions; and as for yourself,
+all I will say is, that the young lady might choose worse for her
+own happiness."
+
+I wrung my uncles hand, and turned to my father in anxious fear--for
+I knew that, in spite of his secluded habits, few men ever formed
+a sounder judgment on worldly matters, when he was fairly drawn to
+look at them. A thing wonderful is that plain wisdom which scholars
+and poets often have for others, though they rarely deign to use it
+for themselves. And how on earth do they get at it? I looked at my
+father, and the vague hope Roland had excited fell as I looked.
+
+"Brother," said he slowly, and shaking his head, "the world, which
+gives codes and laws to those who live in it, does not care much for
+a pedigree, unless it goes with a title-deed to estates."
+
+"Trevanion was not richer than Pisistratus when he married Lady
+Ellinor," said my uncle.
+
+"True; but Lady Ellinor was not then an heiress, and her father
+viewed these matters as no other peer in England perhaps would.
+As for Trevanion himself, I dare say he has no prejudices about
+station, but he is strong in common sense. He values himself on
+being a practical man. It would be folly to talk to him of love, and
+the affections of youth. He would see in the son of Austin Caxton,
+living on the interest of some fifteen or sixteen thousand pounds,
+such a match for his daughter as no prudent man in his position
+could approve. And as for Lady Ellinor"--
+
+"She owes us much, Austin!" exclaimed Roland, his face darkening.
+
+"Lady Ellinor is now what, if we had known her better, she promised
+always to be--the ambitious, brilliant, scheming woman of the world.
+Is it not so, Pisistratus?"
+
+I said nothing. I felt too much.
+
+"And does the girl like you?--but I think it is clear she does!"
+exclaimed Roland. "Fate--fate; it has been a fatal family to us!
+Zounds, Austin, it was your fault. Why did you let him go there?"
+
+"My son is now a man--at least in heart, if not in years--can man
+be shut from danger and trial? They found me in the old parsonage,
+brother!" said my father mildly.
+
+My uncle walked, or rather stumped, three times up and down the
+room; and he then stopped short, folded his arms, and came to a
+decision--
+
+"If the girl likes you, your duty is doubly clear--you can't take
+advantage of it. You have done right to leave the house, for the
+temptation might be too strong."
+
+"But what excuse shall I make to Mr Trevanion?" said I feebly--"what
+story can I invent? So careless as he is while he trusts, so
+penetrating if he once suspects, he will see through all my
+subterfuges, and--and--"
+
+"It is as plain as a pike-staff," said my uncle abruptly--"and
+there need be no subterfuge in the matter. 'I must leave you, Mr
+Trevanion.' 'Why?' says he. 'Don't ask me.' He insists. 'Well then,
+sir, if you must know, I love your daughter. I have nothing--she
+is a great heiress. You will not approve of that love, and
+therefore I leave you!' That is the course that becomes an English
+gentleman--eh, Austin?"
+
+"You are never wrong when your instincts speak, Roland," said my
+father. "Can you say this, Pisistratus, or shall I say it for you?"
+
+"Let him say it himself," said Roland; "and let him judge himself of
+the answer. He is young, he is clever, he may make a figure in the
+world. Trevanion _may_ answer, 'Win the lady after you have won the
+laurel, like the knights of old.' At all events, you will hear the
+worst."
+
+"I will go," said I, firmly; and I took my hat, and left the room.
+As I was passing the landing-place, a light step stole down the
+upper flight of stairs, and a little hand seized my own. I turned
+quickly, and met the full, dark, seriously sweet eyes of my cousin
+Blanche.
+
+"Don't go away yet, Sisty," said she coaxingly. "I have been waiting
+for you, for I heard your voice, and did not like to come in and
+disturb you."
+
+"And why did you wait for me, my little Blanche?"
+
+"Why! only to see you. But your eyes are red. Oh, cousin!"--and,
+before I was aware of her childish impulse, she had sprung to my
+neck and kissed me. Now Blanche was not like most children, and
+was very sparing of her caresses. So it was out of the deeps of
+a kind heart that that kiss came. I returned it without a word;
+and, putting her down gently, ran down the stairs, and was in the
+streets. But I had not got far before I heard my father's voice; and
+he came up, and, hooking his arm into mine, said, "Are there not
+two of us that suffer?--let us be together!" I pressed his arm, and
+we walked on in silence. But when we were near Trevanion's house,
+I said hesitatingly, "Would it not be better, sir, that I went in
+alone. If there is to be an explanation between Mr Trevanion and
+myself, would it not seem as if your presence implied either a
+request to him that would lower us both, or a doubt of me that--"
+
+"You will go in alone, of course: I will wait for you--"
+
+"Not in the streets--oh no, father," cried I, touched inexpressibly.
+For all this was so unlike my father's habits, that I felt remorse
+to have so communicated my young griefs to the calm dignity of his
+serene life.
+
+"My son, you do not know how I love you. I have only known it myself
+lately. Look you, I am living in you now, my first-born; not in my
+other son--the great book: I must have my way. Go in; that is the
+door, is it not?"
+
+I pressed my father's hand, and I felt then, that, while that hand
+could reply to mine, even the loss of Fanny Trevanion could not
+leave the world a blank. How much we have before us in life, while
+we retain our parents! How much to strive and to hope for! What a
+motive in the conquest of our sorrow--that they may not sorrow with
+us!
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+I entered Trevanion's study. It was an hour in which he was rarely
+at home, but I had not thought of that; and I saw without surprise
+that, contrary to his custom, he was in his armchair, reading one of
+his favourite classic authors, instead of being in some committee
+room of the House of Commons.
+
+"A pretty fellow you are," said he, looking up, "to leave me
+all the morning, without rhyme or reason. And my committee is
+postponed--chairman ill--people who get ill should not go into the
+House of Commons. So here I am, looking into Propertius: Parr is
+right; not so elegant a writer as Tibullus. But what the deuce are
+you about?--why don't you sit down? Humph! you look grave--you have
+something to say,--say it!"
+
+And, putting down Propertius, the acute, sharp face of Trevanion
+instantly became earnest and attentive.
+
+"My dear Mr Trevanion," said I, with as much steadiness as I could
+assume, "you have been most kind to me; and, out of my own family,
+there is no man I love and respect more."
+
+TREVANION.--Humph! What's all this! (_In an under tone_)--Am I going
+to be taken in?
+
+PISISTRATUS.--Do not think me ungrateful, then, when I say I come to
+resign my office--to leave the house where I have been so happy.
+
+TREVANION.--Leave the house!--Pooh!--I have overtasked you. I
+will be more merciful in future. You must forgive a political
+economist--it is the fault of my sect to look upon men as machines.
+
+PISISTRATUS--(_smiling faintly_.)--No, indeed--that is not it! I
+have nothing to complain of--nothing I could wish altered--could I
+stay.
+
+TREVANION (_examining me thoughtfully_.)--And does your father
+approve of your leaving me thus?
+
+PISISTRATUS--Yes, fully.
+
+TREVANION (_musing a moment_.)--I see, he would send you to the
+University, make you a book-worm like himself: pooh! that will not
+do--you will never become wholly a man of books,--it is not in you.
+Young man, though I may seem careless, I read characters, when I
+please it, pretty quickly. You do wrong to leave me; you are made
+for the great world--I can open to you a high career. I wish to do
+so! Lady Ellinor wishes it--nay, insists on it--for your father's
+sake as well as yours. I never ask a favour from ministers, and I
+never will. But (here Trevanion rose suddenly, and, with an erect
+mien and a quick gesture of his arm, he added)--but a minister
+himself can dispose as he pleases of his patronage. Look you, it
+is a secret yet, and I trust to your honour. But, before the year
+is out, I must be in the cabinet. Stay with me, I guarantee your
+fortunes--three months ago I would not have said that. By-and-by
+I will open parliament for you--you are not of age yet--work till
+then. And now sit down and write my letters--a sad arrear!"
+
+"My dear, dear Mr Trevanion!" said I, so affected that I could
+scarcely speak, and seizing his hand, which I pressed between
+both mine--"I dare not thank you--I cannot! But you don't know my
+heart--it is not ambition. No! if I could but stay here on the same
+terms for ever--_here_--(looking ruefully on that spot where Fanny
+had stood the night before,) but it is impossible! If you knew all,
+you would be the first to bid me go!"
+
+"You are in debt," said the man of the world, coldly. "Bad, very
+bad--still--"
+
+"No, sir; no! worse--"
+
+"Hardly possible to be worse, young man--hardly! But, just as you
+will; you leave me, and will not say why. Good-by. Why do you
+linger? shake hands, and go!"
+
+"I cannot leave you thus: I--I--sir, the truth shall out. I am rash
+and mad enough not to see Miss Trevanion without forgetting that I
+am poor, and--"
+
+"Ha!" interrupted Trevanion softly, and growing pale, "this is a
+misfortune indeed! And I, who talked of reading characters! Truly,
+truly, we would-be practical men are fools--fools! And you have made
+love to my daughter!"
+
+"Sir! Mr Trevanion! I--no--never, never so base! In your house,
+trusted by you,--how could you think it? I dared, it may be, to
+love--at all events, to feel that I could not be insensible to a
+temptation too strong for me. But to say it to your daughter--to ask
+love in return--I would as soon have broken open your desk! Frankly
+I tell you my folly: it is a folly, not a disgrace."
+
+Trevanion came up to me abruptly, as I leant against the book-case,
+and, grasping my hand with a cordial kindness, said,--"Pardon me!
+You have behaved as your father's son should--I envy him such a son!
+Now, listen to me--I cannot give you my daughter--"
+
+"Believe me, sir, I never--"
+
+"Tut, listen! I cannot give you my daughter. I say nothing of
+inequality--all gentlemen are equal; and if not, all impertinent
+affectation of superiority, in such a case, would come ill from
+one who owes his own fortune to his wife! But, as it is, I have a
+stake in the world, won not by fortune only, but the labour of a
+life, the suppression of half my nature--the drudging, squaring,
+taming down--all that made the glory and joy of my youth--to be
+that hard matter-of-fact thing which the English world expect in
+a--_statesman_! This station has gradually opened into its natural
+result--power! I tell you I shall soon have high office in the
+administration: I hope to render great services to England--for we
+English politicians, whatever the mob and the press say of us, are
+not selfish placehunters. I refused office, as high as I look for
+now, ten years ago. We believe in our opinions, and we hail the
+power that may carry them into effect. In this cabinet I shall have
+enemies. Oh, don't think we leave jealousy behind us, at the doors
+of Downing Street! I shall be one of a minority. I know well what
+must happen: like all men in power, I must strengthen myself by
+other heads and hands than my own. My daughter should bring to me
+the alliance of that house in England which is most necessary to me.
+My life falls to the ground, like a house of cards, if I waste--I
+do not say on you, but on men of ten times your fortune (whatever
+that be,)--the means of strength which are at my disposal in the
+hand of Fanny Trevanion. To this end I have looked; but to this end
+her mother has schemed--for these household matters are within a
+man's hopes, but belong to a woman's policy. So much for us. But
+for you, my dear, and frank, and high-souled young friend--for you,
+if I were not Fanny's father--if I were your nearest relation, and
+Fanny could be had for the asking, with all her princely dower, (for
+it is princely,)--for you I should say, fly from a load upon the
+heart, on the genius, the energy, the pride, and the spirit, which
+not one man in ten thousand can bear; fly from the curse of owing
+every thing to a wife!--it is a reversal of all natural position, it
+is a blow to all the manhood within us. You know not what it is: I
+do! My wife's fortune came not till after marriage--so far, so well;
+it saved my reputation from the charge of fortune-hunting. But, I
+tell you fairly, that if it had never come at all, I should be a
+prouder, and a greater, and a happier man than I have ever been,
+or ever can be, with all its advantages; it has been a millstone
+round my neck. And yet Ellinor has never breathed a word that could
+wound my pride. Would her daughter be as forbearing? Much as I love
+Fanny, I doubt if she has the great heart of her mother. You look
+incredulous;--naturally. Oh, you think I shall sacrifice my child's
+happiness to a politician's ambition! Folly of youth! Fanny would be
+wretched with you. She might not think so now; she would five years
+hence! Fanny will make an admirable duchess, countess, great lady;
+but wife to a man who owes all to her!--no, no, don't dream it! I
+shall not sacrifice her happiness, depend on it. I speak plainly, as
+man to man--man of the world to a man just entering it--but still
+man to man! What say you?"
+
+"I will think over all you tell me. I know that you are speaking to
+me most generously--as a father would. Now let me go, and may God
+keep you and yours!"
+
+"Go--I return your blessing--go! I don't insult you now with offers
+of service; but, remember, you have a right to command them--in all
+ways, in all times. Stop!--take this comfort away with you--a sorry
+comfort now, a great one hereafter. In a position that might have
+moved anger, scorn, pity, you have made a barren-hearted man honour
+and admire you. You, a boy, have made me, with my gray hairs, think
+better of the whole world: tell your father that."
+
+I closed the door, and stole out softly--softly. But when I got into
+the hall, Fanny suddenly opened the door of the breakfast parlour,
+and seemed, by her look, her gesture, to invite me in. Her face was
+very pale, and there were traces of tears on the heavy lids.
+
+I stood still a moment, and my heart beat violently. I then muttered
+something inarticulately, and, bowing low, hastened to the door.
+
+I thought, but my ears might deceive me, that I heard my name
+pronounced; but fortunately the tall porter started from his
+newspaper and his leather chair, and the entrance stood open. I
+joined my father.
+
+"It is all over," said I, with a resolute smile. "And now, my
+dear father, I feel how grateful I should be for all that your
+lessons--your life--have, taught me;--for, believe me, I am not
+unhappy."
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+We came back to my father's house, and on the stairs we met my
+mother, whom Roland's grave looks, and her Austin's strange absence,
+had alarmed. My father quietly led the way to a little room, which
+my mother had appropriated to Blanche and herself; and then, placing
+my hand in that which had helped his own steps from the stony path,
+down the quiet vales of life, he said to me,--"Nature gives you here
+the soother;"--and, so saying, he left the room.
+
+And it was true, O my mother! that in thy simple loving breast
+nature did place the deep wells of comfort! We come to men for
+philosophy--to women for consolation. And the thousand weaknesses
+and regrets--the sharp sands of the minutiae that make up
+_sorrow_--all these, which I could have betrayed to no _man_--not
+even to him, the dearest and tenderest of all men--I showed without
+shame to thee! And thy tears, that fell on my cheek, had the balm
+of Araby; and my heart, at length, lay lulled and soothed under thy
+moist gentle eyes.
+
+I made an effort, and joined the little circle at dinner; and
+I felt grateful that no violent attempt was made to raise my
+spirits--nothing but affection, more subdued, and soft, and
+tranquil. Even little Blanche, as if by the intuition of sympathy,
+ceased her babble, and seemed to hush her footstep as she crept
+to my side. But after dinner, when we had reassembled in the
+drawing-room, and the lights shone bright, and the curtains were
+let down--and only the quick roll of some passing wheels reminded
+us that there was a world without--my father began to talk. He had
+laid aside all his work; the younger, but less perishable child was
+forgotten,--and my father began to talk.
+
+"It is," said he musingly, "a well-known thing, that particular
+drugs or herbs suit the body according to its particular diseases.
+When we are ill, we don't open our medicinechest at random, and take
+out any powder or phial that comes to hand. The skilful doctor is he
+who adjusts the dose to the malady."
+
+"Of that there can be no doubt," quoth Captain Roland. "I remember
+a notable instance of the justice of what you say. When I was in
+Spain, both my horse and I fell ill at the same time; a dose was
+sent for each; and, by some infernal mistake, I swallowed the
+horse's physic, and the horse, poor thing, swallowed mine!"
+
+"And what was the result?" asked my father.
+
+"The horse died!", answered Roland mournfully--"a valuable
+beast--bright bay, with a star!"
+
+"And you?"
+
+"Why, the doctor said it ought to have killed me; but it took a
+great deal more than a paltry bottle of physic to kill a man in my
+regiment."
+
+"Nevertheless, we arrive at the same conclusion," pursued my
+father,--"I with my theory, you with your experience,--that the
+physic we take must not be chosen hap-hazard; and that a mistake
+in the bottle may kill a horse. But when we come to the medicine
+for the mind, how little do we think of the golden rule which
+common-sense applies to the body."
+
+"Anon," said the Captain, "what medicine is there for the mind?
+Shakspeare has said something on that subject, which, if I recollect
+right, implies that there is no ministering to a mind diseased."
+
+"I think not, brother; he only said physic (meaning boluses and
+black draughts) would not do it. And Shakspeare was the last man
+to find fault with his own art; for, verily, he has been a great
+physician to the mind."
+
+"Ah! I take you now, brother,--books again! So you think that,
+when a man breaks his heart, or loses his fortune, or his
+daughter--(Blanche, child, come here)--that you have only to clap
+a plaster of print on the sore place, and all is well. I wish you
+would find me such a cure."
+
+"Will you try it?"
+
+"If it is not Greek," said my uncle.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+MY FATHER'S CROTCHET ON THE HYGEIENIC CHEMISTRY OF BOOKS.
+
+"If," said my father--and here his hand was deep in his
+waistcoat--"if we accept the authority of Diodorus, as to the
+inscription on the great Egyptian library--and I don't see why
+Diodorus should not be as near the mark as any one else?" added my
+father interrogatively, turning round.
+
+My mother thought herself the person addressed, and nodded her
+gracious assent to the authority of Diodorus. His opinion thus
+fortified, my father continued,--"If, I say, we accept the authority
+of Diodorus, the inscription on the Egyptian library was--'The
+Medicine of the Mind.' Now, that phrase has become notoriously trite
+and hackneyed, and people repeat vaguely that books are the medicine
+of the mind. Yes; but to apply the medicine is the thing!"
+
+"So you have told us at least twice before, brother," quoth the
+Captain, bluffly. "And what Diodorus has to do with it, I know no
+more than the man of the moon."
+
+"I shall never get on at this rate," said my father, in a tone
+between reproach and entreaty.
+
+"Be good children, Roland and Blanche both," said my mother,
+stopping from her work, and holding up her needle threateningly--and
+indeed inflicting a slight puncture upon the Captain's shoulder.
+
+"Rem _acu_ tetigisti, my dear," said my father, borrowing Cicero's
+pun on the occasion.[13] "And now we shall go upon velvet. I say,
+then, that books, taken indiscriminately, are no cure to the
+diseases and afflictions of the mind. There is a world of science
+necessary in the taking them. I have known some people in great
+sorrow fly to a novel, or the last light book in fashion. One
+might as well take a rose-draught for the plague! Light reading
+does not do when the heart is really heavy. I am told that Goethe,
+when he lost his son, took to study a science that was new to
+him. Ah! Goethe was a physician who knew what he was about. In a
+great grief like that, you cannot tickle and divert the mind; you
+must wrench it away, abstract, absorb--bury it in an abyss, hurry
+it into a labyrinth. Therefore, for the irremediable sorrows of
+middle life and old age, I recommend a strict chronic, course of
+science and hard reasoning--Counter-irritation. Bring the brain to
+act upon the heart! If science is too much against the grain, (for
+we have not all got mathematical heads,) something in the reach
+of the humblest understanding, but sufficiently searching to the
+highest--a new language--Greek, Arabic, Scandinavian, Chinese, or
+Welch! For the loss of fortune, the dose should be applied less
+directly to the understanding.--I would administer something elegant
+and cordial. For as the heart is crushed and lacerated by a loss in
+the affections, so it is rather the head that aches and suffers by
+the loss of money. Here we find the higher class of poets a very
+valuable remedy. For observe, that poets of the grander and more
+comprehensive kind of genius have in them two separate men, quite
+distinct from each other--the imaginative man, and the practical,
+circumstantial man; and it is the happy mixture of these that suits
+diseases of the mind, half imaginative and half practical. There
+is Homer, now lost with the gods, now at home with the homeliest,
+the very 'poet of circumstance,' as Gray has finely called him; and
+yet with imagination enough to seduce and coax the dullest into
+forgetting, for a while, that little spot on his desk which his
+banker's book can cover. There is Virgil, far below him, indeed.
+
+  [13] Cicero's joke on a senator who was the son of a tailor--"Thou
+  hast touched the thing sharply;" (or with a needle--_acu_.)
+
+                    --'Virgil the wise,
+    Whose verse walks highest, but not flies.'
+
+as Cowley expresses it. But Virgil still has genius enough to
+be two men--to lead you into the fields, not only to listen to
+the pastoral reed, and to hear the bees hum, but to note how you
+can make the most of the glebe and the vineyard. There is Horace,
+charming man of the world, who will condole with you feelingly
+on the loss of your fortune, and by no means undervalue the good
+things of this life; but who will yet show you that a man may be
+happy with a _vile modicum_, or _parva rura_. There is Shakspeare,
+who, above all poets, is the mysterious dual of hard sense and
+empyreal fancy--and a great many more, whom I need not name; but
+who, if you take to them gently and quietly, will not, like your
+mere philosopher, your unreasonable stoic, tell you that you have
+lost nothing; but who will insensibly steal you out of this world,
+with its losses and crosses, and slip you into another world, before
+you know where you are!--a world where you are just as welcome,
+though you carry no more earth of your lost acres with you than
+covers the sole of your shoe. Then, for hypochondria and satiety,
+what is better than a brisk alterative course of travels--especially
+early, out of the way, marvellous, legendary travels! How they
+freshen up the spirits! How they take you out of the humdrum yawning
+state you are in. See, with Herodotus, young Greece spring up into
+life; or note with him how already the wondrous old Orient world
+is crumbling into giant decay; or go with Carpini and Rubruquis to
+Tartary, meet 'the carts of Zagathai laden with houses, and think
+that a great city is travelling towards you.'[14] Gaze on that
+vast wild empire of the Tartar, where the descendants of Jenghis
+'multiply and disperse over the immense waste desert, which is as
+boundless as the ocean.' Sail with the early northern discoverers,
+and penetrate to the heart of winter, among sea-serpents and bears,
+and tusked morses, with the faces of men. Then, what think you of
+Columbus, and the stern soul of Cortes, and the kingdom of Mexico,
+and the strange gold city of the Peruvians, with that audacious
+brute Pizarro? and the Polynesians, just for all the world like
+the ancient Britons? and the American Indians, and the South-Sea
+Islanders? how petulant, and young, and adventurous, and frisky your
+hypochondriac must get upon a regimen like that! Then, for that
+vice of the mind which I call sectarianism--not in the religious
+sense of the word, but little, narrow prejudices, that make you
+hate your next-door neighbour, because he has his eggs roasted
+when you have yours boiled; and gossiping and prying into people's
+affairs, and back-biting, and thinking heaven and earth are coming
+together, if some broom touch a cobweb that you have let grow over
+the window-sill of your brains--what like a large and generous,
+mildly aperient (I beg your pardon, my dear) course of history! How
+it clears away all the fumes of the head!--better than the hellebore
+with which the old leeches of the middle ages purged the cerebellum.
+There, amidst all that great whirl and _sturmbad_ (storm-bath), as
+the Germans say, of kingdoms and empires, and races and ages, how
+your mind enlarges beyond that little, feverish animosity to John
+Styles; or that unfortunate prepossession of yours, that all the
+world is interested in your grievances against Tom Stokes and his
+wife!
+
+  [14] RUBRUQUIS, sect. xii.
+
+"I can only touch, you see, on a few ingredients in this magnificent
+pharmacy--its resources are boundless, but require the nicest
+discretion. I remember to have cured a disconsolate widower, who
+obstinately refused every other medicament, by a strict course of
+geology. I dipped him deep into gneiss and mica schist. Amidst the
+first strata, I suffered the watery action to expend itself upon
+cooling crystallised masses; and, by the time I had got him into
+the tertiary period, amongst the transition chalks of Maestricht,
+and the conchiferous marls of Gosau, he was ready for a new wife.
+Kitty, my dear! it is no laughing matter. I made no less notable
+a cure of a young scholar at Cambridge, who was meant for the
+church, when he suddenly caught a cold fit of freethinking, with
+great shiverings, from wading over his depth in Spinosa. None of
+the divines, whom I first tried, did him the least good in that
+state; so I turned over a new leaf, and doctored him gently upon the
+chapters of faith in Abraham Tucker's book, (you should read, it,
+Sisty;) then I threw in strong doses of Fichte; after that I put him
+on the Scotch metaphysicians, with plunge baths into certain German
+transcendentalists; and having convinced him that faith is not an
+unphilosophical state of mind, and that he might believe without
+compromising his understanding--for he was mightily conceited on
+that score--I threw in my divines, which he was now fit to digest;
+and his theological constitution, since then, has become so robust,
+that he has eaten up two livings and a deanery! In fact, I have
+a plan for a library that, instead of heading its compartments,
+'Philology, Natural Science, Poetry,' &c., one shall head them
+according to the diseases for which they are severally good, bodily
+and mental--up from a dire calamity, or the pangs of the gout, down
+to a fit of the spleen, or a slight catarrh; for which last your
+light reading comes in with a whey posset and barley-water. But,"
+continued my father more gravely, "when some one sorrow, that is
+yet reparable, gets hold of your mind like a monomania--when you
+think, because heaven has denied you this or that, on which you had
+set your heart, that all your life must be a blank--oh, then diet
+yourself well on biography--the biography of good and great men.
+See how little a space one sorrow really makes in life. See scarce
+a page, perhaps, given to some grief similar to your own; and how
+triumphantly the life sails on, beyond it! You thought the wing was
+broken!--Tut-tut--it was but a bruised feather! See what life leaves
+behind it, when all is, done!--a summary of positive facts far out
+of the region of sorrow and suffering, linking themselves with the
+being of the world. Yes, biography is the medicine here! Roland, you
+said you would try my prescription--here it is,"--and my father took
+up a book, and reached it to the Captain.
+
+My uncle looked over it--_Life of the Reverend Robert Hall_.
+"Brother, he was a Dissenter, and, thank heaven, I am a
+church-and-state man, back and bone!"
+
+"Robert Hall was a brave man, and a true soldier under the great
+commander," said my father artfully.
+
+The Captain mechanically carried his forefinger to his forehead in
+military fashion, and saluted the book respectfully.
+
+"I have another copy for you, Pisistratus--that is mine which I have
+lent Roland. This, which I bought for you to-day, you will keep."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said I listlessly, not seeing what great good the
+_Life of Robert Hall_ could do me, or why the same medicine should
+suit the old weatherbeaten uncle, and the nephew yet in his teens.
+
+"I have said nothing," resumed my father, slightly bowing his broad
+temples, "of the Book of Books, for that is the _lignum vitae_, the
+cardinal medicine for all. These are but the subsidiaries: for,
+as you may remember, my dear Kitty, that I have said before--we
+can never keep the system quite right unless we place just in the
+centre of the great ganglionic system, whence the nerves carry its
+influence gently and smoothly through the whole frame--THE SAFFRON
+BAG!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+After breakfast the next morning, I took my hat to go out, when my
+father, looking at me, and seeing by my countenance that I had not
+slept, said gently--
+
+"My dear Pisistratus, you have not tried my medicine yet."
+
+"What medicine, sir?"
+
+"Robert Hall."
+
+"No, indeed, not yet," said I, smiling.
+
+"Do so, my son, before you go out; depend on it, you will enjoy your
+walk more."
+
+I confess that it was, with some reluctance I obeyed. I went back to
+my own room, and sate resolutely down to my task. Are there any of
+you, my readers, who have not read the _Life of Robert Hall_? If so,
+in the words of the great Captain Cuttle, "When found, make a note
+of it." Never mind what your theological opinion is--Episcopalian,
+Presbyterian, Baptist, Paedobaptist, Independent, Quaker, Unitarian,
+Philosopher, Freethinker--send for Robert Hall! Yea, if there exist
+yet on earth descendants of the arch-heresies, which made such a
+noise in their day--men who believe with Saturnians that the world
+was made by seven angels; or with Basilides, that there are as many
+heavens as there are days in the year; or with the Nicolaitanes,
+that men ought to have their wives in common, (plenty of that sect
+still, especially in the Red Republic;) or with their successors,
+the Gnostics, who believed in Jaldaboath; or with the Carpacratians,
+that the world was made by the devil; or with the Cerinthians, and
+Ebionites, and Nazarites, (which last discovered that the name of
+Noah's wife was Ouria, and that she set the ark on fire;) or with
+the Valentinians, who taught that there were thirty AEones, ages, or
+worlds, born out of Profundity, (Bathos,) male, and Silence, female;
+or with the Marcites, Colarbasii, and Heracleonites, (who still
+kept up that bother about AEones, Mr Profundity, and Mrs Silence;)
+or with the Ophites, who are said to have worshipped the serpent;
+or the Cainites, who ingeniously found out a reason for honouring
+Judas, because he foresaw what good would come to men by betraying
+our Saviour; or with the Sethites, who made Seth a part of the
+Divine substance; or with the Archonticks, Ascothyptae, Cerdonians,
+Marcionites, the disciples of Apelles, and Severus, (the last was
+a teetotaller, and said wine was begot by Satan!) or of Tatian,
+who thought all the descendants of Adam were irretrievably damned
+except themselves, (some of those Tatiani are certainly extant!) or
+the Cataphrygians, who were also called Tascodragitae, because they
+thrust their forefingers up their nostrils to show their devotion;
+or the Pepuzians, Quintilians, and Artotyrites; or--but no matter.
+If I go through all the follies of men in search of the truth, I
+shall never get to the end of my chapter, or back to Robert Hall:
+whatever, then, thou art, orthodox or heterodox, send for the _Life
+of Robert Hall_. It is the life of a man that it does good to
+manhood itself to contemplate.
+
+I had finished the biography, which is not long, and was musing over
+it, when I heard the Captain's cork-leg upon the stairs. I opened
+the door for him, and he entered, book in hand, as I, also book in
+hand, stood ready to receive him.
+
+"Well, sir," said Roland, seating himself, "has the prescription
+done you any good?"
+
+"Yes, uncle--great."
+
+"And me too. By Jupiter, Sisty, that same Hall was a fine fellow! I
+wonder if the medicine has gone through the same channels in both?
+Tell me, first, how it has affected you."
+
+"_Imprimis_, then, my dear uncle, I fancy that a book like this must
+do good to all who live in the world in the ordinary manner, by
+admitting us into a circle of life of which I suspect we think but
+little. Here is a man connecting himself directly with a heavenly
+purpose, and cultivating considerable faculties to that one end;
+seeking to accomplish his soul as far as he can, that he may do
+most good on earth, and take a higher existence up to heaven; a man
+intent upon a sublime and spiritual duty: in short, living as it
+were in it, and so filled with the consciousness of immortality,
+and so strong in the link between God and man, that, without any
+affected stoicism, without being insensible to pain--rather,
+perhaps, from a nervous temperament, acutely feeling it--he yet
+has a happiness wholly independent of it. It is impossible not to
+be thrilled with an admiration that elevates while it awes you, in
+reading that solemn 'Dedication of himself to God.' This offering of
+'soul and body, time, health, reputation, talents,' to the divine
+and invisible Principle of Good, calls us suddenly to contemplate
+the selfishness of our own views and hopes, and awakens us from the
+egotism that exacts all and resigns nothing.
+
+"But this book has mostly struck upon the chord in my own heart,
+in that characteristic which my father indicated as belonging to
+all biography. Here is a life of remarkable _fulness_, great study,
+great thought, and great action; and yet," said I, colouring,
+"how small a place those feelings, which have tyrannised over me,
+and made all else seem blank and void, hold in that life. It is
+not as if the man were a cold and hard ascetic; it is easy to see
+in him not only remarkable tenderness and warm affections, but
+strong self-will, and the passion of all vigorous natures. Yes, I
+understand better now what existence in a true man should be."
+
+"All that is very well said," quoth the Captain, "but it did not
+strike me. What I have seen in this book is courage. Here is a
+poor creature rolling on the carpet with agony; from childhood to
+death tortured by a mysterious incurable malady--a malady that is
+described as 'an internal apparatus of torture;' and who does, by
+his heroism, more than _bear_ it--he puts it out of power to affect
+him; and though (here is the passage) 'his appointment by day and by
+night was incessant pain, yet high enjoyment was, notwithstanding,
+the law of his existence.' Robert Hall reads me a lesson--me, an old
+soldier, who thought myself above taking lessons--in courage, at
+least. And, as I came to that passage when, in the sharp paroxysms
+before death, he says, 'I have not complained, have I, sir?--and
+I won't complain,'--when I came to that passage I started up, and
+cried, 'Roland de Caxton, thou hast been a coward! and, an thou
+hadst had thy deserts, thou hadst been cashiered, broken, and
+drummed out of the regiment long ago!"
+
+"After all, then, my father was not so wrong--he placed his guns
+right, and fired a good shot."
+
+"He must have been from 6 deg. to 9 deg. above the crest of the parapet,"
+said my uncle, thoughtfully--"which, I take it, is the best
+elevation, both for shot and shells, in enfilading a work."
+
+"What say you, then, Captain? up with our knapsacks, and on with the
+march!"
+
+"Right about--face!" cried my uncle, as erect as a column.
+
+"No looking back, if we can help it."
+
+"Full in the front of the enemy--'Up, guards, and at 'em!'"
+
+"'England expects every man to do his duty!"'
+
+"Cypress or laurel!" cried my uncle, waving the book over his head.
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+I went out--and to see Francis Vivian; for, on leaving Mr Trevanion,
+I was not without anxiety for my new friend's future provision.
+But Vivian was from home, and I strolled from his lodgings, into
+the suburbs on the other side of the river, and began to meditate
+seriously on the best course now to pursue. In quitting my present
+occupations, I resigned prospects far more brilliant, and fortunes
+far more rapid than I could ever hope to realise in any other
+entrance into life. But I felt the necessity, if I desired to keep
+steadfast to that more healthful frame of mind I had obtained,
+of some manly and continuous labour--some earnest employment.
+My thoughts flew back to the university; and the quiet of its
+cloisters--which, until I had been blinded by the glare of the
+London world, and grief had somewhat dulled the edge of my quick
+desires and hopes, had seemed to me cheerless and unaltering--took
+an inviting aspect. They presented what I needed most--a new scene,
+a new arena, a partial return into boyhood; repose for passions
+prematurely raised; activity for the reasoning powers in fresh
+directions. I had not lost my time in London: I had kept up, if not
+studies purely classical, at least the habits of application; I had
+sharpened my general comprehension, and augmented my resources.
+Accordingly, when I returned home, I resolved to speak to my father.
+But I found he had forestalled me; and, on entering, my mother drew
+me up stairs into her room, with a smile kindled by my smile, and
+told me that she and her Austin had been thinking that it was best
+that I should leave London as soon as possible; that my father
+found he could now dispense with the library of the Museum for some
+months; that the time for which they had taken their lodgings would
+be up in a few days; that the summer was far advanced, town odious,
+the country beautiful--in a word, we were to go home. There I could
+prepare myself for Cambridge, till the long vacation was over; and,
+my mother added hesitatingly, and with a prefatory caution to
+spare my health, that my father, whose income could ill afford the
+requisite allowance to me, counted on my soon lightening his burden,
+by getting a scholarship. I felt how much provident kindness there
+was in all this--even in that hint of a scholarship, which was meant
+to rouse my faculties, and spur me, by affectionate incentives, to a
+new ambition. I was not less delighted than grateful.
+
+"But poor Roland," said I, "and little Blanche--will they come with
+us?"
+
+"I fear not," said my mother, "for Roland is anxious to get back to
+his tower; and, in a day or two, he will be well enough to move."
+
+"Do you not think, my dear mother, that, somehow or other, this lost
+son of his had something to do with his illness,--that the illness
+was as much mental as physical?"
+
+"I have no doubt of it, Sisty. What a sad, bad heart that young man
+must have!"
+
+"My uncle seems to have abandoned all hope of finding him in London;
+otherwise, ill as he has been, I am sure we could not have kept him
+at home. So he goes back to the old tower. Poor man, he must be dull
+enough there!--we must contrive to pay him a visit. Does Blanche
+ever speak of her brother?"
+
+"No, for it seems they were not brought up much together--at all
+events, she does not remember him. How lovely she is! Her mother
+must surely have been very handsome."
+
+"She is a pretty child, certainly, though in a strange style of
+beauty--such immense eyes!--and affectionate, and loves Roland as
+she ought."
+
+And here the conversation dropped.
+
+Our plans being thus decided, it was necessary that I should lose no
+time in seeing Vivian, and making some arrangement for the future.
+His manner had lost so much of its abruptness, that I thought I
+could venture to recommend him personally to Trevanion; and I knew,
+after what had passed, that Trevanion would make a point to oblige
+me. I resolved to consult my father about it. As yet I had either
+never forced, or never made the opportunity to talk to my father
+on the subject, he had been so occupied; and, if he had proposed
+to see my new friend, what answer could I have made, in the teeth
+of Vivian's cynic objections? However, as we were now going away,
+that last consideration ceased to be of importance; and, for the
+first, the student had not yet entirely settled back to his books. I
+therefore watched the time when my father walked down to the Museum,
+and, slipping my arm in his, I told him, briefly and rapidly, as
+we went along, how I had formed this strange acquaintance, and how
+I was now situated. The story did not interest my father quite as
+much as I expected, and he did not understand all the complexities
+of Vivian's character--how could he?--for he answered briefly, "I
+should think that, for a young man, apparently without a sixpence,
+and whose education seems so imperfect, any resource in Trevanion
+must be most temporary and uncertain. Speak to your uncle Jack--he
+can find him some place, I have no doubt--perhaps a readership in
+a printer's office, or a reporter's place on some journal, if he
+is fit for it. But if you want to steady him, let it be something
+regular."
+
+Therewith my father dismissed the matter, and vanished through the
+gates of the Museum.--Readership to a printer, reportership on a
+journal, for a young gentleman with the high notions and arrogant
+vanity of Francis Vivian--his ambition already soaring far beyond
+kid gloves and a cabriolet! The idea was hopeless; and, perplexed
+and doubtful, I took my way to Vivian's lodgings. I found him at
+home, and unemployed, standing by his window, with folded arms, and
+in a state of such reverie that he was not aware of my entrance till
+I had touched him on the shoulder.
+
+"Ha!" said he then, with one of his short, quick, impatient sighs,
+"I thought you had given me up, and forgotten me--but you look pale
+and harassed. I could almost think you had grown thinner within the
+last few days."
+
+"Oh! never mind me, Vivian: I have come to speak of yourself.
+I have left Trevanion; it is settled that I should go to the
+university--and we all quit town in a few days."
+
+"In a few days!--all!--who are all?"
+
+"My family--father, mother, uncle cousin, and myself. But, my dear
+fellow, now let us think seriously what is best to be done for you?
+I can present you to Trevanion."
+
+"Ha!"
+
+"But Trevanion is a hard, though an excellent man; and, moreover, as
+he is always changing the subjects that engross him, in a month or
+so, he may have nothing to give you. You said you would work--will
+you consent not to complain if the work cannot be done in kid
+gloves? Young men who have risen high in the world have begun, it
+is well known, as reporters to the press. It is a situation of
+respectability, and in request, and not easy to obtain, I fancy; but
+still--"
+
+Vivian interrupted me hastily--
+
+"Thank you a thousand times! but what you say confirms a resolution
+I had taken before you came. I shall make it up with my family, and
+return home."
+
+"Oh! I am so really glad. How wise in you!"
+
+Vivian turned away his head abruptly--
+
+"Your pictures of family life and domestic peace, you see," he said,
+"seduced me more than you thought. When do you leave town?"
+
+"Why, I believe, early next week."
+
+"So soon!" said Vivian, thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps I may ask you
+yet to introduce me to Mr Trevanion; for--who knows?--my family and
+I may fall out again. But I will consider. I think I have heard you
+say that this Trevanion is a very old friend of your father's, or
+uncle's?"
+
+"He, or rather Lady Ellinor, is an old friend of both."
+
+"And therefore would listen to your recommendations of me. But
+perhaps I may not need them. So you have left--left of your own
+accord--a situation that seemed more enjoyable, I should think, than
+rooms in a college;--left--why did you leave?"
+
+And Vivian fixed his bright eyes, full and piercingly, on mine.
+
+"It was only for a time, for a trial, that I was there," said I,
+evasively: "out at nurse, as it were, till the Alma Mater opened her
+arms--_alma_ indeed she ought to be to my father's son."
+
+Vivian looked unsatisfied with my explanation, but did not question
+me farther. He himself was the first to turn the conversation, and
+he did this with more affectionate cordiality than was common to
+him. He inquired into our general plans, into the probabilities of
+our return to town, and drew from me a description of our rural
+Tusculum. He was quiet and subdued; and once or twice I thought
+there was a moisture in those luminous eyes. We parted with more
+of the unreserve and fondness of youthful friendship--at least on
+my part, and seemingly on his--than had yet endeared our singular
+intimacy; for the cement of cordial attachment had been wanting to
+an intercourse in which one party refused all confidence, and the
+other mingled distrust and fear with keen interest and compassionate
+admiration.
+
+That evening, before lights were brought in, my father, turning to
+me, abruptly asked if I had seen my friend, and what he was about to
+do?
+
+"He thinks of returning to his family," said I.
+
+Roland, who had seemed dozing, winced uneasily.
+
+"Who returns to his family?" asked the Captain.
+
+"Why, you must know," said my father, "that Sisty has fished up
+a friend of whom he can give no account that would satisfy a
+policeman, and whose fortunes he thinks himself under the necessity
+of protecting. You are very lucky that he has not picked your
+pockets, Sisty; but I daresay he has? What's his name?"
+
+"Vivian," said I--"Francis Vivian."
+
+"A good name, and a Cornish," said my father. "Some derive it from
+the Romans--Vivianus; others from a Celtic word, which means"--
+
+"Vivian!" interrupted Roland--"Vivian!--I wonder if it be the son of
+Colonel Vivian?"
+
+"He is certainly a gentleman's son," said I; "but he never told me
+what his family and connexions were."
+
+"Vivian," repeated my uncle--"poor Colonel Vivian. So the young man
+is going to his father. I have no doubt it is the same. Ah!"--
+
+"What do you know of Colonel Vivian, or his son?" said I. "Pray,
+tell me, I am so interested in this young man."
+
+"I know nothing of either, except by gossip," said my uncle,
+moodily. "I did hear that Colonel Vivian, an excellent officer,
+and honourable man, had been in--in--(Roland's voice faltered)--in
+great grief about his son, whom, a mere boy, he had prevented from
+some improper marriage, and who had run away and left him--it was
+supposed for America. The story affected me at the time," added my
+uncle, trying to speak calmly.
+
+We were all silent, for we felt why Roland was so disturbed, and why
+Colonel Vivian's grief should have touched him home. Similarity in
+affliction makes us brothers even to the unknown.
+
+"You say he is going home to his family--I am heartily glad of it!"
+said the envying old soldier, gallantly.
+
+The lights came in then, and, two minutes after, uncle Roland and I
+were nestled close to each other, side by side; and I was reading
+over his shoulder, and his finger was silently resting on that
+passage that had so struck him--"I have not complained--have I,
+sir?--and I won't complain!"
+
+
+
+
+THE WHITE NILE.[15]
+
+  [15] _Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des Weissen Nil_,
+  (1840-1841,) von FERDINAND WERNE. Mit einem Vorwort von CARL RITTER.
+  Berlin, 1848.
+
+
+Fifty years since, the book before us would have earned for its
+author the sneers of critics and the reputation of a Munchausen:
+at the present more tolerant and more enlightened day, it not only
+obtains credit, but excites well-merited admiration of the writer's
+enterprise, energy, and perseverance. "The rich contents and great
+originality of the following work," says Professor Carl Ritter,
+in his preface to Mr Werne's narrative, "will escape no one who
+bestows a glance, however hasty, upon its pages. It gives vivid and
+life-like pictures of tribes and territories previously unvisited,
+and is welcome as a most acceptable addition to our literature of
+travel, often so monotonous." We quite coincide with the learned
+professor, whose laudatory and long-winded sentences we have thus
+freely rendered. His friend, Mr Ferdinand Werne, has made good
+use of his opportunities, and has produced a very interesting and
+praiseworthy book.
+
+It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remind the reader, that the
+river Nile is formed of two confluent streams, the Blue and the
+White, whose junction is in South Nubia, between 15 deg. and 16 deg. of
+North Latitude. The source of the Blue Nile was ascertained by
+Bruce, and by subsequent travellers, to be in the mountains of
+Abyssinia; but the course of the other branch, which is by far the
+longest, had been followed, until very lately, only as far south
+as 10 deg. or 11 deg. N. L. Even now the river has not been traced to its
+origin, although Mr Werne and his companions penetrated to 4 deg. N.
+L. Further they could not go, owing to the rapid subsidence of the
+waters. The expedition had been delayed six weeks by the culpable
+dilatoriness of one of its members; and this was fatal to the
+realisation of its object.
+
+We can conceive few things more exciting than such a voyage as Mr
+Werne has accomplished and recorded. Starting from the outposts of
+civilisation, he sailed into the very heart of Africa, up a stream
+whose upper waters were then for the first time furrowed by vessels
+larger than a savage's canoe--a stream of such gigantic proportions,
+that its width, at a thousand miles from the sea, gave it the
+aspect of a lake rather than of a river. The brute creation were in
+proportion with the magnitude of the water-course. The hippopotamus
+reared his huge snout above the surface, and wallowed in the gullies
+that on either hand run down to the stream; enormous crocodiles
+gaped along the shore; elephants played in herds upon the pastures;
+the tall giraffe amongst the lofty palms; snakes thick as trees lay
+coiled in the slimy swamps; and ant-hills, ten feet high, towered
+above the rushes. Along the thickly-peopled banks hordes of savages
+showed themselves, gazing in wonder at the strange ships, and making
+ambiguous gestures, variously construed by the adventurers as
+signs of friendship or hostility. Alternately sailing and towing,
+as the wind served or not; constantly in sight of natives, but
+rarely communicating with them; often cut off for days from land by
+interminable fields of tangled weeds,--the expedition pursued its
+course through innumerable perils, guaranteed from most of them by
+the liquid rampart on which it floated. Lions looked hungry, and
+savages shook their spears, but neither showed a disposition to swim
+off and board the flotilla.
+
+The cause of science has countless obligations to the cupidity of
+potentates and adventurers. May it not be part of the scheme of
+Providence, that gold is placed in the most remote and barbarous
+regions, as a magnet to draw thither the children of civilisation?
+The expedition shared in by Mr Werne is an argument in favour
+of the hypothesis. It originated in appetite for lucre, not in
+thirst for knowledge. Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt, finding the
+lands within his control unable to meet his lavish expenditure and
+constant cry for gold, projected working mines supposed to exist
+in the districts of Kordovan and Fazogl. At heavy cost he procured
+Austrian miners from Trieste, a portion of whom proceeded in 1836
+to the land of promise, to open those veins of gold whence it was
+reported the old Venetian ducats had been extracted. Already, in
+imagination, the viceroy beheld an ingot-laden fleet sailing merrily
+down the Nile. He was disappointed in his glowing expectations.
+Russegger, the German chief of the expedition, pocketed the pay of
+a Bey, ate and drank in conformity with his rank, rambled about the
+country, and wrote a book for the amusement and Information of his
+countrymen. Then he demanded thirty thousand dollars to begin the
+works. An Italian, who had accompanied him, offered to do it for
+less; mistrust and disputes arose, and at last their employer would
+rely on neither of them, but resolved to go and see for himself.
+This was in the autumn of 1838; and it might well be that the old
+fox was not sorry to get out of the way of certain diplomatic
+personages at Alexandria, and thus to postpone for a while his reply
+to troublesome inquiries and demands.
+
+"It was on the 15th October 1838," Mr Werne says, "that I--for some
+time past an anchorite in the wilderness by Tura, and just returned
+from a hunt in the ruins of Memphis--saw, from the left shore of
+the Nile, the Abu Dagn, (Father of the Beard,) as Mohammed Ali was
+designated to me by a Fellah standing by, steam past in his yacht,
+in the direction of those regions to which I would then so gladly
+have proceeded. Already in Alexandria I had gathered, over a glass
+of wine, from frigate-captain Achmet, (a Swiss, named Baumgartner,)
+the secret plan of the expedition to the White Stream, (Bach'r el
+Abiat,) and I had made every effort to obtain leave to join it,
+but in vain, because, as a Christian, my discretion was not to be
+depended upon."
+
+The Swiss, whom some odd caprice of fate, here unexplained, had
+converted into an Egyptian naval captain, and to whom the scientific
+duties of the expedition were confided, died in the following
+spring, and his place was taken by Captain Selim. Mr Werne and his
+brother, who had long ardently desired to accompany one of these
+expeditions up the Nile, were greatly discouraged at this change,
+which they looked upon as destructive to their hopes. At the town
+of Chartum, at the confluence of the White and Blue streams, they
+witnessed, in the month of November 1839, the departure of the first
+flotilla; and, although sick and weak, from the effects of the
+climate, their hearts were wrung with regret at being left behind.
+This expedition got no further than 6 deg. 35' N. L.; although, either
+from mistakes in their astronomical reckoning or wishing to give
+themselves more importance, and not anticipating that others would
+soon follow to check their statements, they pretended to have gone
+three degrees further south. But Mehemet Ali, not satisfied with the
+result of their voyage, immediately ordered a second expedition to
+be fitted out. Mr Werne, who is a most adventurous person, had been
+for several months in the Taka country, in a district previously
+untrodden by Europeans, with an army commanded by Achmet Bascha,
+governor-general of Sudan, who was operating against some rebellious
+tribes. Here news reached him of the projected expedition; and, to
+his great joy, he obtained from Achmet permission to accompany it in
+the quality of passenger. His brother, then body-physician to the
+Bascha, could not be spared, by reason of the great mortality in the
+camp.
+
+At Chartum the waters were high, the wind was favourable, and all
+was ready for a start early in October, but for the non-appearance
+of two French engineers, who lingered six weeks in Korusko, under
+one pretext or other, but in reality, M. Werne affirms, because
+one of them, Arnaud by name, who has since written an account of
+the expedition, was desirous to prolong the receipt of his pay
+as _bimbaschi_, or major, which rank he temporarily held in the
+Egyptian service. At last he and his companion, Sabatier, arrived:
+on the 23rd November 1840 a start was made; and, on that day Mr
+Werne began a journal, regularly kept, and most minute in its
+details, which he continued till the 22d April 1841, the date of
+his return to Chartum. He commences by stating the composition
+of the expedition. "It consists of four dahabies from Kahira,
+(vessels with two masts and with cabins, about a hundred feet
+long, and twelve to fifteen broad,) each with two cannon; three
+dahabies from Chartum, one of which has also two guns; then two
+kaias, one-masted vessels, to carry goods, and a sandal, or skiff,
+for intercommunication; the crews are composed of two hundred and
+fifty soldiers, (Negroes, Egyptians, and Surians,) and a hundred
+and twenty sailors and boatmen from Alexandria, Nubia, and the
+land of Sudan." Soliman Kaschef (a Circassian of considerable
+energy and courage, who, like Mr Werne himself, was protected by
+Achmet Bascha) commanded the troops. Captain Selim had charge of
+the ships, and a sort of general direction of the expedition, of
+which, however, Soliman was the virtual chief; the second captain
+was Feizulla Effendi of Constantinople; the other officers were
+two Kurds, a Russian, an Albanian, and a Persian. Of Europeans,
+there were the two Frenchmen, already mentioned, as engineers; a
+third, named Thibaut, as collector; and Mr Werne, as an independent
+passenger at his own charges. The ships were to follow each other
+in two lines, one led by Soliman, the other by Selim; but this
+order of sailing was abandoned the very first day; and so, indeed,
+was nearly all order of every kind. Each man sailed his bark as he
+pleased, without nautical skill or unity of movement; and, as to
+one general and energetic supervision of the whole flotilla and
+its progress, no one dreamed of such a thing. Mr Werne indulged in
+gloomy reflections as to the probable results of an enterprise, at
+whose very outset such want of zeal and discipline was displayed.
+It does not appear to have struck him that not the least of his
+dangers upon the strange voyage he had so eagerly undertaken, was
+from his shipmates, many of them bigoted Mahometans and reckless,
+ferocious fellows, ready with the knife, and who would have thought
+little of burthening their conscience with so small a matter as a
+Christian's blood. He is evidently a cool, courageous man, prompt
+in action; and his knowledge of the slavish, treacherous character
+of the people he had to deal with, doubtless taught him the best
+line of conduct to pursue with them. This, as appears from various
+passages of his journal, was the rough and ready style--a blow
+for the slightest impertinence, and his arms, which he well knew
+how to use, always at hand. He did not scruple to interfere when
+he saw cruelty or oppression practised, and soon he made himself
+respected, if not feared, by all on board; so much so, that
+Feizulla, the captain of the vessel in which he sailed, a drunken
+old Turk, who passed his time in drinking spirits and mending his
+own clothes, appointed him his _locum tenens_ during his occasional
+absences on shore. During his five months' voyage, Mr Werne had
+a fine opportunity of studying the peculiarities of the different
+nations with individuals of which he sailed; and, although his long
+residence in Africa and the East had made him regard such matters
+with comparative indifference, the occasional glimpses he gives
+of Turkish and Egyptian habits are amongst the most interesting
+passages in his book. Already, on the third day of the voyage, the
+expiration of the Rhamadan, or fasting month, and the setting in
+of the little feast of Bairam, gave rise to a singular scene. The
+flotilla was passing through the country governed by Achmet Bascha,
+in which Soliman was a man of great importance. By his desire, a
+herd of oxen and a large flock of sheep were driven down to the
+shore, for the use of the expedition. The preference was for the
+mutton, the beef in those regions being usually tough and coarse,
+and consequently despised by the Turks. "This quality of the meat
+is owing to the nature of the fodder, the tender grass and herbs of
+our marsh-lands and pastures being here unknown--and to the climate,
+which hardens the animal texture, a fact perceived by the surgeon
+when operating upon the human body. Our Arabs, who, like the Greeks
+and Jews, born butchers and flayers, know no mercy with beasts or
+men, fell upon the unfortunate animals, hamstrung them in all haste,
+to obviate any chance of resumption of the gift, and the hecatomb
+sank upon the ground, pitiful to behold. During the flaying and
+quartering, every man tried to secrete a sippet of meat, cutting it
+off by stealth, or stealing it from the back of the bearers. These
+coveted morsels were stuck upon skewers, broiled at the nearest
+watch-fire, and ravenously devoured, to prepare the stomach for
+the approaching banquet. Although they know how to cook the liver
+excellently well, upon this occasion they preferred eating it raw,
+cut up in a wooden dish, and with the gall of the slaughtered beast
+poured over it. Thus prepared, and eaten with salt and pepper, it
+has much the flavour of a good raw beefsteak." The celebration of
+the Bairam was a scene of gluttony and gross revelry. Arrack was
+served out instead of the customary ration of coffee; and many a
+Mussulman drank more than did him good, or than the Prophet's law
+allows. In the night, Captain Feizulla tumbled out of bed; and,
+having spoiled his subordinates by over-indulgence, not one of
+them stirred to his assistance. Mr Werne picked him up, found him
+in an epileptic fit, and learned, with no great pleasure, Feizulla
+being his cabin-mate, that the thirsty skipper was subject to such
+attacks. He foresaw a comfortless voyage on board the narrow bark,
+and with such queer companions; but the daily increasing interest of
+the scenery and surrounding objects again distracted his thoughts
+from considerations of personal ease. He had greater difficulty
+in reconciling himself to the negligence and indolence of his
+associates. So long as food was abundant and work scanty, all went
+well enough; but when liquor ran low, and the flesh-pots of Egypt
+were empty, grumbling began, and the thoughts of the majority were
+fixed upon a speedy return. Their chiefs set them a poor example.
+Soliman Kaschef lay in bed till an hour after sunrise, and the
+signal to sail could not be given till he awoke; and Feizulla, when
+his and Mr Werne's stock of brandy was out, passed one half his
+time in distilling spirits from stale dates, and the other moiety
+in getting intoxicated on the turbid extract thus obtained. Then
+the officers had female slaves on board; and there was a licensed
+jester, Abu Haschis, who supplied the expedition with buffoonery
+and ribaldry; and the most odious practices prevailed amongst the
+crews; for further details concerning all which matters we refer the
+curious to Mr Werne himself. A more singularly composed expedition
+was perhaps never fitted out, nor one less adapted effectually to
+perform the services required of it. Cleanliness and sobriety, so
+incumbent upon men cooped up in small craft, in a climate teeming
+with pestilence and vermin, were little regarded; and subordination
+and vigilance, essential to safety amidst the perils of an unknown
+navigation, and in the close vicinity of hostile savages, were
+utterly neglected,--at first to the great uneasiness of Mr Werne.
+But after a while, seeing no chance of amendment, and having no
+power to rebuke or correct deficiencies, he repeated the eternal
+_Allah Kerim!_ (God is merciful) of his fatalist shipmates, and
+slept soundly, when the musquitos permitted, under the good guard of
+Providence.
+
+On the 29th November, the expedition passed the limit of
+Turco-Egyptian domination. The land it had now reached paid no
+tribute. "All slaves," was the reply of Turks and Arabs to Mr
+Werne's inquiry who the inhabitants were. "I could not help
+laughing, and proving to them, to their great vexation, that these
+men were free, and much less slaves than themselves; that before
+making slaves of them, they must first make them prisoners, a
+process for which they had no particular fancy,--admitting, with
+much _naivete_, that the 'slaves' hereabout were both numerous
+and brave. This contemptuously spoken _Kulo Abit_, (All slaves,)
+is about equivalent to the 'barbarian' of the ancients--the same
+classical word the modern Greeks have learned out of foreign
+school-books."
+
+"The trees and branches preventing our vessels from lying alongside
+the bank, I had myself carried through the water, to examine the
+country and get some shooting. But I could not make up my mind to
+use my gun, the only animals to aim at being large, long-tailed,
+silver-gray apes. I had shot one on a former occasion, and the brute
+had greatly excited my compassion by his resemblance to a human
+being, and by his piteous gestures. M. Arnaud, on the contrary, took
+particular pleasure in making the repeated observation that, on the
+approach of death, the gums of these beasts turn white, like those
+of a dying man. They live in families of several hundreds together,
+and their territory is very circumscribed, even in the forest, as
+I myself subsequently ascertained. Although fearful of water, and
+swimming unwillingly, they always fled to the branches overhanging
+the river, and not unfrequently fell in. When this occurred, their
+first care on emerging was to wipe the water from their faces and
+ears. However imminent their danger, only when this operation was
+completed did they again climb the trees. Such a monkey republic
+is really a droll enough sight; its members alternately fighting
+and caressing each other, combing and vermin-hunting, stealing and
+boxing each other's ears, and, in the midst of all these important
+occupations, running down every moment to drink, but contenting
+themselves with a single draught, for fear of becoming a mouthful
+for the watchful crocodile. The tame monkeys on board our vessels
+turned restless at sight of the joyous vagabond life of their
+brethren in the bush. First-lieutenant Hussein Aga, of Kurdistan,
+lay alongside us, and was in raptures with his monkey, shouting over
+to me: '_Schuf! el nauti taib!_' (See! the clever sailor!)--meaning
+his pet ape, which ran about the rigging like mad, hanging on by
+the ropes, and looking over the bulwarks into the water; until at
+last he jumped on the back of a sailor who was wading on shore with
+dirty linen to wash, and thence made a spring upon land to visit
+his relations, compared to whom, however, he was a mere dwarf.
+Overboard went the long Kurd, with his gun, to shoot the deserter;
+but doubtless the little seaman, in his capacity of Turkish slave,
+and on account of his diminutive figure, met a bad reception, for
+Hussein was no sooner under the trees than his monkey dropped upon
+his head. He came to visit me afterwards, brought his 'nauti taib'
+with him, and told me, what I had often heard before, how apes were
+formerly men, whom God had cursed. It really is written in the Koran
+that God and the prophet David had turned into monkeys the Jews who
+did not keep the Sabbath holy. Therefore a good Moslem will seldom
+kill or injure a monkey. Emin Bey of Fazogl was an exception to this
+rule. Sitting at table with an Italian, and about to thrust into
+his mouth a fragment of roast meat, his monkey snatched it from
+between his thumb and fingers. Whereupon the Bey quietly ordered
+the robber's hand to be cut off, which was instantly done. The poor
+monkey came to his cruel master and showed him, with his peculiarly
+doleful whine, the stump of his fore-paw. The Bey gave orders to
+kill him, but the Italian begged him as a gift. Soon afterwards
+the foolish brute came into my possession, and, on my journey back
+to Egypt, contributed almost as much to cheer me, as did the filial
+attentions of my freed man Hagar, whom my brother had received as a
+present, and had bequeathed to me. My servants would not believe but
+that the monkey was a transformed _gabir_, or caravan guide, since
+even in the desert he was always in front and upon the right road,
+availing himself of every rock and hillock to look about him, until
+the birds of prey again drove him under the camels, to complain
+to me with his 'Oehm-oehm;' which was also his custom when he had
+been beaten in my absence by the servants, whose merissa (a sort of
+spirit) he would steal and drink till he could neither go nor stand."
+
+During this halt, and whilst rambling along the bank, picking up
+river-oysters and tracing the monstrous footsteps of hippopotami,
+Mr Werne nearly walked into the jaws of the largest crocodile he
+had ever seen. His Turkish servant, Sale, who attended him on such
+occasions and carried his rifle, was not at hand, and he was glad
+to beat a retreat, discharging one of his barrels, both of which
+were laden with shot only, in the monster's face. On being scolded
+for his absence, Sale very coolly replied, that it was not safe so
+near shore; for that several times it had occurred to him, whilst
+gazing up in the trees at the birds and monkeys, to find himself,
+on a sudden, face to face with a crocodile, which stared at him
+like a ghost, (Scheitan, Satan,) and which he dared not shoot, lest
+he should slay his own father. Amongst the numerous Mahommedan
+superstitions, there is a common belief in the transformation,
+by witches and sorcerers, of men into beasts, especially into
+crocodiles and hippopotami.
+
+"Towards evening, cartridges were served out and muskets loaded,
+for we were now in a hostile country. The powder-magazine stood
+open, and lighted pipes passed to and fro over the hatchway. _Allah
+Kerim!_ I do my best to rouse my captain from his indolence, by
+drawing constant comparisons with the English sea-service; then I
+fall asleep myself whilst the powder is being distributed, and,
+waking early in the morning, find the magazine still open, and the
+sentry, whose duty it is to give an alarm should the water in the
+hold increase overmuch, fast asleep, with his tobacco-pipe in his
+hand and his musket in his lap. Feizulla Capitan begged me not to
+report the poor devil." This being a fair specimen of the prudence
+and discipline observed during the whole voyage, it is really
+surprising that Mr Werne ever returned to write its history, and
+that his corpse--drowned, blown up, or with a knife between the
+ribs--has not long since been resolved into the elements through
+the medium of a Nile crocodile. The next day the merciful Feizulla,
+whose kindness must have sprung from a fellow-feeling, got mad-drunk
+at a merry-making on an island, and had to be brought by force on
+board his ship. He seemed disposed to "run amuck;" grasped at sabre
+and pistols, and put his people in fear of their lives, until Mr
+Werne seized him neck and heels, threw him on his bed, and held
+him there whilst he struggled himself weary and fell asleep. The
+ship's company were loud in praise and admiration of Mr Werne, who,
+however, was not quite easy as to the possible results of his bold
+interference. "Only yesterday, I incurred the hatred of the roughest
+of our Egyptian sailors, as he sat with another at the hand-mill,
+and repeatedly applied to his companion the word _Nasrani_,
+(Christian,) using it as a term of insult, until the whole crew
+came and looked down into the cabin where I sat, and laughed--the
+captain not being on board at the time. At last I lost my patience,
+jumped up, and dealt the fellow a severe blow with my fist. In his
+fanatical horror at being struck by a Christian, he tried to throw
+himself overboard, and vowed revenge, which my servants told me.
+Now, whilst Feizulla Capitan lies senseless, I see from my bed this
+tall sailor leave the fore-part of the ship and approach our cabin,
+his comrades following him with their eyes. From a fanatic, who
+might put his own construction upon my recent friendly constraint
+of Captain Feizulla, and might convert it into a pretext, I had
+everything to apprehend. But he paused at the door, apologised, and
+thanked me for not having reported him to his commander. He then
+kissed my right hand, whilst in my left I held a pistol concealed
+under the blanket."
+
+Dangers, annoyances, and squabbles did not prevent Mr Werne
+from writing up his log, and making minute observations of
+the surrounding scenery. This was of ever-varying character.
+Thickly-wooded banks were succeeded by a sea of grass, its
+monotony unvaried by a single bush. Then came a crowd of islands,
+composed of water-plants, knit together by creepers and parasites,
+and alternately anchored to the shore, or floating slowly down
+the stream, whose sluggish current was often imperceptible. The
+extraordinary freshness and luxuriance of the vegetable creation
+in that region of combined heat and moisture, excited Mr Werne's
+enthusiastic admiration. At times he saw himself surrounded by a
+vast tapestry of flowers, waving for miles in every direction, and
+of countless varieties of tint and form. Upon land were bowers
+and hills of blossom, groves of dark mimosa and gold-gleaming
+tamarind; upon the water and swamps, interminable carpets of lilac
+convolvulus, water-lilies, flowering-reeds, and red, blue, and white
+lotus. The ambak tree, with its large yellow flowers and acacia-like
+leaf, rose fifteen feet and more above the surface of the water out
+of which it grew. This singular plant, a sort of link between the
+forest-tree and the reed of the marshes, has its root in the bed of
+the Nile, with which it each year rises, surpassing it in swiftness
+of growth. Its stem is of a soft spungy nature, more like the pith
+of a tree than like wood, but having, nevertheless, a pith of its
+own. The lotus was one of the most striking features in these scenes
+of floral magnificence; its brilliant white flower, which opens as
+the sun rises, and closes when it sets, beaming, like a double lily,
+in the shade it prefers. Mr Werne made the interesting observation,
+that this beautiful flower, where it had not some kind of shelter,
+closed when the sun approached the zenith, as though unable to
+endure the too ardent rays of the luminary that called it into life.
+Details of this kind, and fragments of eloquent description of the
+gorgeous scenery of the Nile banks, occur frequently in the earlier
+part of the "Expedition," during which there was little intercourse
+with the natives, who were either hostile, uninteresting, or
+concealed. Amongst other reasons for not remaining long near shore,
+and especially for not anchoring there at night, was the torture the
+voyagers experienced from gnats, camel-flies, and small wasps, which
+not only forbade sleep, but rendered it almost impossible to eat and
+drink. To escape this worse than Egyptian plague, the vessels lay in
+the middle of the river, which, for some time after their departure,
+was often three or four miles across. When the breeze was fresh,
+there was some relief from insect persecution, but a lull made the
+attacks insupportable. Doubtless a European complexion encouraged
+these. Our German lifts up his voice in agony and malediction.
+
+"The 10th December.--A dead calm all night. Gnats!!! No use creeping
+under the bed-clothes, at risk of stifling with heat, compelled as
+one is by their penetrating sting to go to bed dressed. Leave only a
+little hole to breathe at, and in they pour, attacking lips, nose,
+and ears, and forcing themselves into the throat--thus provoking a
+cough which is torture, since, at each inspiration, a fresh swarm
+finds its way into the gullet. They penetrate to the most sensitive
+part of the body, creeping in, like ants, at the smallest aperture.
+In the morning my bed contained thousands of the small demons which
+I had crushed and smothered by the perpetual rolling about of my
+martyred body. As I had forgotten to bring a musquito net from
+Chartum, there was nothing for it but submission. Neither had I
+thought of providing myself with leather gloves, unbearable in that
+hot climate, but which here, upon the Nile, would have been by far
+the lesser evil, since I was compelled to have a servant opposite to
+me at supper-time, waving a huge fan so close under my nose, that it
+was necessary to watch my opportunity to get the food to my mouth.
+One could not smoke one's pipe in peace, even though keeping one's
+hands wrapped in a woollen burnous, for the vermin stung through
+this, and crept up under it from the ground. The black and coloured
+men on board were equally ill-treated; and all night long the word
+'_Bauda_' resounded through the ship, with an accompaniment of
+curses and flapping of cloths. The _bauda_ resemble our long-legged
+gnats, but have a longer proboscis, with which they bore through a
+triple fold of strong linen. Their head is blue, their back tawny,
+and their legs are covered with white specks like small pearls,
+Another sort has short, strong legs, a thick brown body, a red
+head, and posteriors of varying hues." These parti-coloured and
+persevering bloodsuckers caused boils by the severity of their
+sting, and so exhausted the sailors by depriving them of sleep,
+that the ships could hardly be worked. Bitterly and frequently does
+Mr Werne recur to his sufferings from their ruthless attacks. At
+last a strange auxiliary came to his relief. On Christmas-day he
+writes:--"For the last two nights we have been greatly disturbed by
+the gnats, but a small cat, which I have not yet seen by daylight,
+seems to find particular pleasure in licking my face, pulling my
+beard, and purring continually, thus keeping off the insects.
+Generally the cats in Bellet-Sudan are of a very wild and fierce
+nature, which seems the result of their indifferent treatment by the
+inhabitants. They walk into the poultry-houses and carry off the
+strongest fowls, but care little for rats and mice. The Barabras,
+especially those of Dongola, often eat them; not so the Arabs,
+who spare them persecution--the cat having been one of Mahomet's
+favourite animals--but who, at the same time, hold them unclean."
+
+There is assuredly no river in the world whose banks, for so great
+a distance, are so thickly peopled as those of the Nile. Day after
+day the expedition passed an unbroken succession of populous
+villages, until Mr Werne wondered whence the inhabitants drew
+their nourishment, and a sapient officer from Kurdistan opined the
+Schilluks to be a greater nation than the French. But what people,
+and what habitations! The former scarce a degree above the brute,
+the latter resembling dog-kennels, or more frequently thatched
+bee-hives, with a round hole in the side, through which the inmates
+creep. Stark-naked, these savages lay in the high grass, whose
+seed forms part of their food, and gibbered and beckoned to the
+passing Turks, who, for the most part, disregarded their gestures
+of amity and invitation, shrewdly suspecting that their intentions
+were treacherous and their lances hidden in the herbage. Wild rice,
+fruits, and seeds, are eaten by these tribes, (the Schilluks,
+Dinkas, and others,) who have also herds of cattle--oxen, sheep, and
+goats, and who do not despise a hippopotamus chop or a crocodile
+cutlet. Where the land is unproductive, fish is the chief article
+of food. They have no horses or camels, and when they steal one of
+these animals from the Turks, they do not kill it, probably not
+liking its flesh, but they put out its eyes as a punishment for
+having brought the enemy into their country. In one hour Mr Werne
+counted seventeen villages, large or small; and Soliman Kaschef
+assured him the Schilluks numbered two millions of souls, although
+it is hard to say how he obtained the census. The _Bando_ or king,
+although dwelling only two or three leagues from the river, did
+not show himself. He mistrusted the Turks, and all night the great
+war-drum was heard to beat. His savage majesty was quite right to be
+on his guard. "I am well persuaded," says Mr Werne, "that if Soliman
+Kaschef had once got the dreaded Bando of the Schilluks on board,
+he would have sailed away with him. I read that in his face when
+he was told the Bando would not appear. And gladly as I would have
+seen this negro sovereign, I rejoiced that his caution frustrated
+the projected shameful treachery. He had no particular grounds for
+welcoming the Musselmans, those sworn foes of his people. Shortly
+before our departure, he had sent three ambassadors to Chartum, to
+put him on a friendly footing with the Turks, and so to check the
+marauding expeditions of his Arab neighbours, of Soliman Kaschef
+amongst the rest. The three Schilluks, who could not speak Arabic,
+were treated in the Divan with customary contempt as _Abit_,
+(slaves) and were handed over like common men to the care of Sheikh
+el Bellet of Chartum. The Sheikh, who receives no pay, and performs
+the duties of his office out of fear rather than for the sake of the
+honour, showed them such excellent hospitality, that they came to
+us Franks and begged a few piastres to buy bread and spirits." On
+Mr Werne's representations to the Effendi, or chief man at Chartum,
+dresses of honour (the customary presents) were prepared for them,
+but they departed stealthily by night; and their master, the Bando,
+was very indignant on learning the treatment they had received.
+
+A vast green meadow, a sort of elephant pasture, separates the
+Schilluks from their neighbours the Jengaehs, concerning whom Mr
+Werne obtained some particulars from a Tschauss or sergeant,
+named Marian of Mount Habila, the son of the Mak or King of the
+mountains of Nuba. His father had been vanquished and murdered by
+the Turks, and he had been made a slave. This sergeant-prince was
+of middle height, with a black tatooed countenance, and with ten
+holes in each ear, out of which his captors had taken the gold
+rings. He was a sensible, well-behaved man, and had been thirteen
+years in the service, but was hopeless of promotion, having none to
+recommend him. Besides this man, there were two Dinkas and a Jengaeh
+on board; but from them it was impossible to extract information
+with respect to the manners and usages of their countrymen.
+They held it treachery to divulge such particulars. Many of the
+soldiers and sailors composing the expedition being natives of the
+countries through which it sailed, apprehensions of desertion were
+entertained, and partially realised. On the 30th December, whilst
+passing through the friendly land of the Keks, everybody slept on
+shore, and in the night sixteen men on guard deserted. They were
+from the distant country of Nuba, (a district of Nubia,) which it
+seemed scarcely possible they should ever reach, with their scanty
+store of ammunition, and exposed to the assaults of hunger, thirst,
+and hostile tribes. Hussein Aga went after them with fifty ferocious
+Egyptians, likely to show little mercy to the runaways, with whom,
+however, they could not come up. And suddenly the drums beat to call
+all hands on board, for there was a report that all the negroes
+were planning escape. During this halt Mr Werne made ornithological
+observations, ascertaining, amongst other things, the species of
+certain white birds, which he had observed sitting impudently upon
+the backs of the elephants, picking the vermin from their thick
+hides, as crows do in Europe from the backs of pigs. The elephants
+evidently disapproved the operation, and lashed with their trunks
+at their tormentors, who then flew away, but instantly returned to
+recommence what Mr Werne calls their "dry fishing." These birds
+proved to be small herons. Shortly before this, a large pelican
+had been shot, and its crop was found to contain twenty-four fresh
+fish, the size of herrings. Its gluttony had caused its death, the
+weight it carried impeding its flight. Prodigious swarms of birds
+and water-fowl find their nourishment in the White Stream, and upon
+its swampy banks. In some places the trees were white with their
+excrements, whose accumulation destroyed vegetable life. There is no
+lack of nourishment for the feathered tribes--water and earth are
+prolific of vermin. Millions of glow-worms glimmer in the rushes,
+the air resounds with the shrill cry of myriads of grasshoppers,
+and with the croaking of countless frogs. But for the birds, which
+act as scavengers and vermin-destroyers, those shores would be
+uninhabitable. The scorching sun fecundates the sluggish waters
+and rank fat marsh, causing a never-ceasing birth of reptiles and
+insects. Monstrous fish and snakes of all sizes abound. Concerning
+the latter, the Arabs have strange superstitions. They consider them
+in some sort supernatural beings, having a king, Shach Maran by
+name, who is supposed to dwell in Turkish Kurdistan, not far from
+Adana, where two villages are exempted from tribute on condition of
+supplying the snakes with milk. Abdul-Elliab, a Kurd officer of the
+expedition, had himself offered the milk-sacrifice to the snakes;
+and he swore that he had seen their king, or at any rate one of his
+_Wokils_, or vicegerents, of whom his serpentine majesty has many.
+He had no sooner poured his milky offering into one of the marble
+basins nature has there hollowed out, than a great snake, with long
+hair upon its head, stepped out of a hole in the rocks and drank.
+It then retired, without, as in some other instances, speaking to
+the sacrificer, a taciturnity contritely attributed by the latter
+to his not having yet entirely abjured strong drinks. Two other
+Kurds vouched for the truth of this statement, adding, that the
+_Maran_ had a human face, for that otherwise he could not speak,
+and that he never showed himself except to a sultan or to a very
+holy man. To the latter character the said Abdul-Elliab had great
+pretensions, and his bigotry, hypocrisy, and constant quotations
+from the Koran procured him from his irreverent shipmates, from Mr
+Werne amongst the number, the nickname of the _Paradise-Stormer_,
+it being manifest that he reckoned on taking by assault the blessed
+abode promised by Mahomet to the faithful. Pending his admission to
+the society of the houris, he solaced himself with that of a young
+female slave, who often experienced cruel treatment at the hands of
+her saintly master. Having one day committed the heinous offence of
+preparing _merissa_, a strong drink made from corn, for part of the
+crew, the Kurd, formerly, according to his own admission, a stanch
+toper, beat her with a thong as she knelt half-naked upon the deck.
+"As he did not attend to my calls from the cabin," says Mr Werne,
+"but continued striking her so furiously as to cut the skin and
+draw streams of blood, I jumped out, and pulled him backwards, so
+that his legs flew up in the air. He sprang to his feet, retreated
+to the bulwark of the ship, drew his sabre, and shouted, with a
+menacing countenance, 'Effendi!' instead of calling me Kawagi,
+which signifies a merchant, and is the usual title for a Frank. I
+had no sooner returned to the cabin than he seized his slave to
+throw her overboard, whereupon I caught up my double-barrel and
+levelled at him, calling out, '_Ana oedrup!_' (I fire.) Thereupon
+he let the girl go, and with a pallid countenance protested she was
+his property, and he could do as he liked with her. Subsequently
+he complained of me to the commandant, who, knowing his malicious
+and hypocritical character, sent him on board the skiff, to the
+great delight of the whole flotilla. On our return to Chartum,
+he was cringing enough to ask my pardon, and to want to kiss my
+hand, (although he was then a captain) because he saw that the
+Bascha distinguished me. A few days previously to this squabble,
+I had gained the affection and confidence of our black soldiers,
+one of whom, a Tokruri or pilgrim from Darfur, had quarrelled with
+an Arab, and wounded him with his knife. He jumped overboard to
+drown himself, and, being unable to swim, had nearly accomplished
+his object, when he drifted to our ship and was lifted on board.
+They wanted to make him stand on his head, but I had him laid
+horizontally upon his side, and began to rub him with a woollen
+cloth, but at first could get no one to help me because he was an
+_Abit_, a slave, until I threatened the captain he should be made
+to pay the Bascha for the loss of his soldier. After long-continued
+rubbing, the Tokruri gave signs of life, and they raised him into
+a sitting posture, whilst his head still hung down. One of the
+soldiers, who, as a Faki, pretended to be a sort of awaker of the
+dead, seized him from behind under the arms, lifted him, and let him
+fall thrice violently upon his hinder end, shouting in his ear at
+the same time passages from the Koran, to which the Tokruri at last
+replied by similar quotations. The superstition of these people is
+so gross, that they believe such a pilgrim may be completely and
+thoroughly drowned, and yet retain power to float to any part of the
+shore he pleases, and, once on dry land, to resume his vitality."
+
+A credulous traveller would have been misled by some of the strange
+fables put forward, with great plausibility, by these Arabs and
+other semi-savages, who have, moreover, a strong tendency to
+exaggerate, and who, perceiving the avidity with which Mr Werne
+investigated the animal and vegetable world around him, and his
+desire for rare and curious specimens, occasionally got up a lie
+for his benefit. Although kept awake many nights by the merciless
+midges, his zeal for science would not suffer him to sleep in the
+day, because he had no one he could trust to note the windings of
+the river. One sultry noon, however, when the Arab rowers were
+lazily impelling the craft against unfavourable breezes, and the
+stream was straight for a long distance ahead, he indulged in a
+siesta, during which visions of a happy German home hovered above
+his pillow. On awaking, bathed in perspiration, to the dismal
+realities of the pestilential Bach'r el Abiat, of incessant gnats
+and barbarian society, his Arab companions had a yarn cut and dried
+for him. During my sleep they had seen a swimming-bird as large as
+a young camel, with a straight beak like a pelican, but without a
+crop; they had not shot it for fear of awaking me, and because they
+had no doubt of meeting with some more of these unknown birds. No
+others appeared, and Mr Werne noted the camel-bird as an Egyptian
+lie, not as a natural curiosity.
+
+A month's sail carried the expedition into the land of the Keks,
+a numerous, but not a very prosperous tribe. Their _tokuls_ or
+huts were entirely of straw, walls as well as roof. The men were
+quite naked, and of a bluish-gray colour, from the slime of the
+Nile, with which they smear themselves as a protection against the
+gnats. "There was something melancholy in the way in which those
+poor creatures raised their hands above their heads, and let them
+slowly fall, by manner of greeting. They had ivory rings upon their
+arms, and one of them turned towards his hut, as if inviting us
+in. Another stood apart, lifted his arms, and danced round in a
+circle. A Dinka on board, who is acquainted with their language,
+said they wanted us to give them durra, (a sort of corn,) and
+that their cows were far away and would not return till evening.
+This Dinka positively asserted, as did also Marian, that the Keks
+kill no animal, but live entirely on grain and milk. I could not
+ascertain, with certainty, whether this respect for brute life
+extended itself to game and fish, but it is universally affirmed
+that they eat cattle that die a natural death. This is done to some
+extent in the land of Sudan, although not by the genuine Arabs:
+it is against the Koran to eat a beast even that has been slain
+by a bullet, unless its throat has been cut whilst it yet lived,
+to let the prohibited blood escape. At Chartum I saw, one morning
+early, two dead camels lying on a public square; men cut off great
+pieces to roast, and the dogs looked on longingly. I myself, with
+Dr Fischer and Pruner, helped to consume, in Kahira, a roasted
+fragment of Clot Bey's beautiful giraffe, which had eaten too much
+white clover. The meat was very tender, and of tolerably fine grain.
+The tongue was quite a delicacy. On the other hand, I never could
+stomach the coarse-grained flesh of camels, even of the young ones."
+Africa is the land of strong stomachs. The Arabs, when on short
+rations, eat locusts; and some of the negro tribes devour the fruit
+of the elephant-tree, an abominable species of pumpkin, coveted by
+elephants, but rejected even by Arabs, and which Mr Werne found
+wholly impracticable, although his general rule was to try all the
+productions of the country. His gastronomical experiments are often
+connected with curious details of the animals upon which he tried
+his teeth. On the 12th January, whilst suffering from an attack of
+Nile-fever, which left him scarcely strength enough to post up his
+journal, he heard a shot, and was informed that Soliman Kaschef had
+killed with a single bullet a large crocodile, as it lay basking on
+a sandy promontory of the bank. The Circassian made a present of the
+skin to M. Arnaud, an excellent excuse for an hour's pause, that
+the Frenchman might get possession of the scaly trophy. Upon such
+trifling pretexts was the valuable time of the expedition frittered
+away. "Having enough of other meat at that moment, the people
+neglected cutting off the tail for food. My servants, however, who
+knew that I had already tasted that sort of meat at Chartum, and
+that at Taka I had eaten part of a snake, prepared for me by a
+dervish, brought me a slice of the crocodile. Even had I been in
+health, I could not have touched it, on account of the strong smell
+of musk it exhaled; but, ill as I was, they were obliged to throw
+it overboard immediately. When first I was in crocodile countries,
+it was incomprehensible to me how the boatmen scented from afar
+the presence of these creatures; but on my journey from Kahira to
+Sennaar, when they offered me in Korusko a young one for sale, I
+found my own olfactories had become very sensitive to the peculiar
+odour. When we entered the Blue Stream, I could smell the crocodiles
+six hundred paces off, before I had seen them. The glands,
+containing a secretion resembling musk, are situated in the hinder
+part of the animal, as in the civet cats of Bellet Sudan, which are
+kept in cages for the collection of the perfume."
+
+As the travellers ascended the river, their intercourse with the
+natives became much more frequent, inasmuch as these, more remote
+from Egyptian aggression, had less ground for mistrustful and
+hostile feelings. Captain Selim had a stock of coloured shirts,
+and an immense bale of beads, with which he might have purchased
+the cattle, villages, goods and chattels, and even the bodies, of
+an entire tribe, had he been so disposed. The value attached by
+the savages of the White Stream to the most worthless objects of
+European manufacture, enabled Mr Werne to obtain, in exchange for
+a few glass beads, a large collection of their arms, ornaments,
+household utensils, &c., now to be seen in the Royal Museum at
+Berlin. The stolid simplicity of the natives of those regions
+exceeds belief. One can hardly make up one's mind to consider them
+as men. Even as the _ambak_ seems the link between useful timber
+and worthless rushes, so does the Kek appear to partake as much
+of brute as of human nature. He has at least as much affinity
+with the big gray ape, whose dying agonies excited Mr Werne's
+compassion at the commencement of his voyage, as with the civilised
+and intellectual man who describes their strange appearance and
+manners. A Kek, who had been sleeping in the ashes of a fire, a
+common practice with that tribe, was found standing upon the shore
+by some of the crew, who brought him on board Selim's vessel.
+"Bending his body forward in an awkward ape-like manner, intended
+perhaps to express submission, he approached the cabin, and, on
+finding himself near it, dropped upon his knees and crept forward
+upon them, uttering, in his gibberish, repeated exclamations of
+greeting and wonderment. He had numerous holes through the rims
+of his ears, which contained, however, no other ornament than one
+little bar. They threw strings of beads over his neck, and there
+was no end to his joy; he jumped and rolled upon the deck, kissed
+the planks, doubled himself up, extended his hands over all our
+heads, as if blessing us, and then began to sing. He was an angular,
+high-shouldered figure, about thirty years of age. His attitude
+and gestures were very constrained, which arose, perhaps, from the
+novelty of his situation; his back was bent, big head hung forward,
+his long legs, almost calf-less, were as if broken at the knees; in
+his whole person, in short, he resembled an orang-outang. He was
+perfectly naked, and his sole ornaments consisted of leathern rings
+upon the right arm. How low a grade of humanity is this! The poor
+natural touches one with his childish joy, in which he is assuredly
+happier than any of us. By the help of the Dinka interpreter, he is
+instructed to tell his countrymen they have no reason to retreat
+before such _honest_ people as those who man the flotilla. Kneeling,
+jumping, creeping, kissing the ground, he is then led away by the
+hand like a child, and would assuredly take all he has seen for a
+dream, but for the beads he bears with him." Many of these tribes
+are composed of men of gigantic stature. On the 7th January, Mr
+Werne, being on shore, would have measured some of the taller
+savages, but they objected. He then gave his servants long reeds
+and bade them stand beside the natives, thus ascertaining their
+average height to be from six to seven Rhenish feet. The Egyptians
+and Europeans looked like pigmies beside them. The women were in
+proportion with the men. Mr Werne tells of one lady who looked clear
+away over his head, although he describes himself as above the
+middle height.
+
+At this date, (7th January) the flotilla reached a large lake, or
+inlet of the river, near to which a host of elephants grazed, and
+a multitude of light-brown antelopes stood still and stared at the
+intruders. The sight of the antelopes, which were of a species
+called _ariel_, whose flesh is particularly well-flavoured, was
+too much for Soliman Kaschef to resist. There was no wind; he gave
+orders to cease towing, and went on shore to shoot his supper. The
+antelopes retreated when the ships grated against the bank; and as
+the rush-jungle was by no means safe, beasts of prey being wont to
+hide there to catch the antelopes as they go to water at sunset,
+a few soldiers were sent forward to clear the way. Nevertheless,
+"on our return from the chase, during which not a single shot
+was fired, we lost two _baltaschi_, (carpenters or sappers,) and
+all our signals were insufficient to bring them back. They were
+Egyptians, steady fellows, and most unlikely to desert; but their
+comrades did not trouble themselves to look for them, shrugged their
+shoulders, and supposed they had been devoured by the _assad_ or
+the _nimr_--the lion or tiger. The word _nimr_ is here improperly
+applied, there being no tigers in Africa, but it is the general term
+for panthers and leopards." Here, at four-and-twenty degrees of
+latitude south of Alexandria, this extraordinary river was nearly
+four hundred paces wide. Mr Werne speculates on the origin of this
+astonishing water-course, and doubts the possibility that the
+springs of the White Stream supply the innumerable lakes and creeks,
+and the immense tracts of marsh contiguous to it; that, too, under
+an African sun, which acts as a powerful and constant pump upon the
+immense liquid surface. When he started on his voyage, the annual
+rains had long terminated. What tremendous springs those must be,
+that could keep this vast watery territory full and overflowing!
+Then the sluggishness of the current is another puzzle. Were the
+Nile _one_ stream, Mr Werne observes--referring, of course, to the
+White Nile--it must flow faster than it does. And he concludes
+it to have tributaries, which, owing to the level nature of the
+ground, and to the resistance of the main stream, stagnate to a
+certain extent, rising and falling with the river, and contributing
+powerfully to its nourishment. But the notion of exploring all
+these watery intricacies with a flotilla of heavy-sailing barges,
+manned by lazy Turks and Arabs, and commanded by men who care more
+for getting drunk on arrack and going a-birding, than for the great
+results activity and intelligence might obtain, is essentially
+absurd. The proper squadron to explore the Bach'r el Abiat, through
+the continued windings, and up the numerous inlets depicted in
+Mr Mahlmann's map, is one consisting of three small steamers,
+drawing very little water, with steady well-disciplined English
+crews, accustomed to hot climates, and commanded by experienced and
+scientific officers. With the strongest interest should we watch
+the departure and anticipate the return of such an expedition as
+this. "Much might be done by a steam-boat," says Mr Werne; who then
+enumerates the obstacles to its employment. To bring it over the
+cataracts of the Nile, (below the junction of the Blue and White
+Streams,) it would be necessary to take the paddles entirely out,
+that it might be dragged up with ropes, like a sailing vessel.
+Or else it might be built at Chartum, but for the want of proper
+wood; the sunt-tree timber, although very strong, being exceedingly
+brittle and ill-adapted for ship-building. The greatest difficulty
+would be the fuel--the establishment and guard of coal stores; and
+as to burning charcoal, although the lower portion of the White
+Stream has forests enough, they are wanting on its middle and
+upper banks; to say nothing of the loss of time in felling and
+preparing the wood, of the danger of attacks from natives, &c., &c.
+If some of these difficulties are really formidable, others, on
+the contrary, might easily be overcome, and none are insuperable.
+Mr Werne hardly makes sufficient allowance for the difference
+between Soliman Kaschef and a European naval officer, who would
+turn to profit the hours and days the gallant Circassian spent in
+antelope-shooting, in laughing at Abu Haschis the jester, and in a
+sort of travelling seraglio he had arranged in his inner cabin, a
+dark nook with closely-shut jalousies, that served as prison to an
+unfortunate slave-girl, who lay all day upon a carpet, with scarcely
+space to turn herself, guarded by a eunuch. Not a glimpse of the
+country did the poor thing obtain during the whole of the voyage;
+and, even veiled, she was forbidden to go on deck. Besides these
+oriental relaxations, an occasional practical joke beguiled for the
+commodore the tedium of the voyage. Feizulla, the tailor-captain,
+whose strange passion for thimble and thread made him frequently
+neglect his nautical duties, chanced one day to bring to before his
+superior gave the signal. "Soliman Kaschef had no sooner observed
+this than he fired a couple of shots at Feizulla Capitan, so
+that I myself, standing before the cabin door, heard the bullets
+whistle. Feizulla, did not stir, although both he and the sailors
+in the rigging afterwards affirmed that the balls went within a
+hand's-breadth of his head: he merely said, '_Malesch--hue billab_,'
+(It is nothing--he jests;) and he shot twice in return, pointing
+the gun in the opposite direction, that Soliman might understand
+he took the friendly greeting as a Turkish joke, and that he, as a
+bad shot, dared not level at him." Soliman, on the other hand, was
+far too good a shot for such a sharp jest to be pleasant. The Turks
+account themselves the best marksmen and horsemen in the world, and
+are never weary of vaunting their prowess. Mr Werne says he saw an
+Arnaut of Soliman's shoot a running hare with a single ball, which
+entered in the animal's rear, and came out in front. And it was a
+common practice, during the voyage, to bring down the fruit from
+lofty trees by cutting the twigs with bullets. All these pastimes,
+however retarded the progress of the expedition. The wind was
+frequently light or unfavourable, and the lazy Africans made little
+way with the towing rope. Then a convenient place would often tempt
+to a premature halt; and, notwithstanding Soliman's sharp practice
+with poor Feizulla, if a leading member of the party felt lazily
+disposed, inclined for a hunting-party, or for a visit to a negro
+village, he seldom had much difficulty in bringing the flotilla to
+an anchor. In a straight line from north to south, the expedition
+traversed, between its departure from Chartum and its return
+thither, about sixteen hundred miles. It is difficult to calculate
+the distance gone over; and probably Mr Werne himself would be
+puzzled exactly to estimate it; but adding 20 per cent for windings,
+obliquities, and digressions, (a very liberal allowance,) we get a
+total of nearly two thousand miles, accomplished in five months,
+including stoppages, being at the very moderate rate of about 13
+miles a day. And this, we must remember, was on no rapid stream, but
+up a river, whose current, rarely faster than one mile in an hour,
+was more frequently only half a mile, and sometimes was so feeble
+that it could not be ascertained. The result is not surprising,
+bearing in mind the quality of ships, crews, and commanders: but
+write "British" for "Egyptians," and the tale would be rather
+different.
+
+The upshot of this ill-conducted expedition was its arrival in the
+kingdom of Bari, whose capital city, Pelenja, is situated in 4 deg. N.
+L., and which is inhabited by an exceedingly numerous nation of tall
+and powerful build; the men six and a-half to seven French feet in
+height--equal to seven and seven and a-half English feet--athletic,
+well-proportioned, and, although black, with nothing of the usual
+negro character in their features. The men go naked, with the
+exception of sandals and ornaments; the woman wear leathern aprons.
+They cultivate tobacco and different kinds of grain: from the
+iron found in their mountains they manufacture weapons and other
+implements, and barter them with other tribes. They breed cattle
+and poultry, and are addicted to the chase. About fifteen hundred
+of these blacks came down to the shore, armed to the teeth--a sight
+that inspired the Turks with some uneasiness, although they had
+several of their chiefs on board the flotilla, besides which, the
+frank cordiality and good-humoured intelligent countenances of the
+men of Bari forbade the idea of hostile aggression. "It had been
+a fine opportunity for a painter or sculptor to delineate these
+colossal figures, admirably proportioned, no fat, all muscle, and
+magnificently limbed. None of them have beards, and it would seem
+they use a cosmetic to extirpate them. Captain Selim, whose chin
+was smooth-shaven, pleased them far better than the long-bearded
+Soliman Kaschef; and when the latter showed them his breast,
+covered with a fell of hair, they exhibited a sort of disgust,
+as at something more appropriate to a beast than to a man." Like
+most of the tribes on the banks of the White Nile, they extract
+the four lower incisors, a custom for which Mr Werne is greatly
+puzzled to account, and concerning which he hazards many ingenious
+conjectures. Amongst the ape-like Keks and Dinkas, he fancied it to
+originate in a desire to distinguish themselves from the beasts of
+the field--to which they in so many respects assimilate; but he was
+shaken in this opinion, on finding the practice to prevail amongst
+the intelligent Bari, who need no such mark to establish their
+difference from the brute creation. The Dinkas on board confirmed
+his first hypothesis, saying that the teeth are taken out that they
+may not resemble the jackass--which in many other respects they
+certainly do. The Turks take it to be a rite equivalent to Mahomedan
+circumcision, or to Christian baptism. The Arabs have a much more
+extravagant supposition, which we refrain from stating, the more so
+as Mr Werne discredits it. He suggests the possibility of its being
+an act of incorporation in a great Ethiopian nation, divided into
+many tribes. The operation is performed at the age of puberty; it is
+unaccompanied by any particular ceremonies; and women as well as men
+undergo it. Its motive still remains a matter of doubt to Mr Werne.
+
+Before Lakono, sultan of the Bari, and his favourite sultana Ischok,
+an ordinary-looking lady with two leathern aprons and a shaven head,
+came on board Selim's vessel, the Turks made repeated attempts to
+obtain information from some of the Sheiks concerning the gold
+mines, whose discovery was the main object of the expedition. A
+sensible sort of negro, one Lombe, replied to their questions, and
+extinguished their hopes. There was not even copper, he said, in the
+land of the Bari, although it was brought thither from a remoter
+country, and Lakono had several specimens of it in his treasury. On
+a gold bar being shown to him, he took it for copper, whence it was
+inferred that the two metals were blended in the specimens possessed
+by the sultan, and that the mountains of the copper country also
+yielded the more precious ore. This country, however, lay many days'
+journey distant from the Nile, and, had it even bordered on the
+river, there would have been no possibility of reaching it. At a
+very short distance above Palenja, the expedition encountered a bar
+of rocks thrown across the stream. And although Mr Werne hints the
+possibility of having tried the passage, the Turks were sick of the
+voyage and were heartily glad to turn back. At the period of the
+floods the river rises eighteen feet; and there then could be no
+difficulty in surmounting the barrier. Now the waters were falling
+fast. The six weeks lost by Arnaud's fault were again bitterly
+deplored by the adventurous German--the only one of the party
+who really desired to proceed. Twenty days sooner, and the rocks
+could neither have hindered an advance nor afforded pretext for a
+retreat. To Mr Werne's proposal, that they should wait two months
+where they were, when the setting in of the rains would obviate
+the difficulty, a deaf ear was turned--an insufficient stock of
+provisions was objected; and although the flotilla had been stored
+for a ten months' voyage, and had then been little more than two
+months absent from Chartum, the wastefulness that had prevailed gave
+some validity to the objection. One-and-twenty guns were fired, as
+a farewell salute to the beautiful country Mr Werne would so gladly
+have explored, and which, he is fully convinced, contains so much of
+interest; and the sluggish Egyptian barks retraced their course down
+stream.
+
+It is proper here to note a shrewd conjecture of Mr Werne's,
+that above the point reached by himself and his companions, the
+difficulties of ascending the river would greatly and rapidly
+increase. The bed becomes rocky, and the Bach'r el Abiat, assuming
+in some measure the character of a mountain stream, augments the
+rapidity of its current: so much so, that Mr Werne insists on the
+necessity of a strong north wind, believing that towing, however
+willingly and vigorously attempted, would be found unavailing. This
+is another strong argument in favour of employing steamboats.
+
+Although the narrative of the homeward voyage is by no means
+uninteresting, and contains details of the river's course valuable
+to the geographer and to the future explorer, it has not the
+attraction of the up-stream narrative. The freshness is worn off;
+the waters sink, and the writer's spirits seem disposed to follow
+their example; there is all the difference between attack and
+retreat--between a cheerful and hopeful advance, and a retrograde
+movement before the work is half done. But, vexed as an enthusiastic
+and intrepid man might naturally feel at seeing his hopes frustrated
+by the indolent indifference of his companions, Mr Werne could
+hardly deem his five months thrown away. We are quite sure those
+who read his book will be of opinion that the time was most
+industriously and profitably employed.
+
+A sorrowful welcome awaited our traveller, after his painful and
+fatiguing voyage. There dwelt at Chartum a renegade physician, a
+Palermitan named Pasquali, whose Turkish name was Soliman Effendi,
+and who was notorious as a poisoner, and for the unscrupulous
+promptness with which he removed persons in the slightest degree
+unpleasing to himself or to his patron Achmet Bascha. In Arabia, it
+was currently believed, he had once poisoned thirty-three soldiers,
+with the sole view of bringing odium upon the physician and
+apothecary, two Frenchmen, who attended them. In Chartum he was well
+known to have committed various murders.
+
+"Although this man," says Mr Werne, "was most friendly and sociable
+with me, I had everything to fear from him on account of my brother,
+by whom the Bascha had declared his intention of replacing him in
+the post of medical inspector of Bellet-Sudan. It was therefore in
+the most solemn earnest that I threatened him with death, if upon
+my return I found my brother dead, and learned that they had come
+at all in contact. '_Dio guarde, che affronto!_' was his reply;
+and he quietly drank off his glass of rum, the same affront having
+already been offered him in the Bascha's divan; the reference being
+naturally to the poisonings laid to his charge in Arabia and here."
+
+At Chartum Mr Werne found his brother alive, but on the eleventh
+day after his return he died in his arms. The renegade had had no
+occasion to employ his venomous drugs; the work had been done as
+surely by the fatal influence of the noxious climate.
+
+
+
+
+ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN.
+
+
+The accomplishments brought back by our grandfathers from the
+Continent to grace the drawing-rooms of May Fair, or enliven the
+solitudes of Yorkshire, were a favourite subject for satirists, some
+"sixty years since." Admitting the descriptions to be correct, it
+must be remembered that the grand tour had become at once monotonous
+and deleterious,--from Calais to Paris, from Paris to Geneva,
+from Geneva to Milan, from Milan to Florence, thence to Rome, and
+thence to Naples, the English "my lord," with his bear-leader,
+was conducted with regularity, if not with speed; and the same
+course of sights and society was prescribed for, and taken by,
+generation after generation of Oxonians and Cantabs. Then, again,
+the Middle Ages, with their countless graceful vestiges, their
+magnificent architecture, which even archaic Evelyn thought and
+called "barbarous," their chivalrous customs, religious observances,
+rude yet picturesque arts, and fanciful literature, were literally
+blotted out from the note-book of the English tourist. Whatever
+was classical or modern, that was worthy of regard; but whatever
+belonged to "Europe's middle night," _that_ the descendants of
+Saxon thanes or Norman knights disdained even to look at. Even had
+there been no Pyrenees to cross, or no Bay of Biscay to encounter,
+so Gothic a country as Spain was not likely to attract to its
+dusky sierras, frequent monasteries, and mediaeval towns, the fine
+gentlemen and Mohawks of those enlightened days; nor need we be
+surprised that the natural beauties of that romantic land--its
+weird mountains, primaeval forests, and fertile plains, fragrant
+with orange groves, and bright with flowers of every hue, unknown
+to English gardens--remained unexplored by the countrymen of Gray
+and Goldsmith, who have put on record their marked disapprobation
+of Nature in her wildest and most sublime mood. Thus, then, it was
+that, with rare exceptions, the pleasant land of Spain was a sealed
+book to Englishmen, until the Great Captain rivalled and eclipsed
+the feats and triumphs of the Black Prince in every province of the
+Peninsula, and enabled guardsmen and hussars to admire the treasures
+of Spanish art in many a church and convent unspoiled by French
+rapacity. Nor may we deny our obligations to Gallic plunderers.
+Many a noble picture that now delights the eyes of thousands,
+exalts and purifies the taste of youthful painters, and sends,
+on the purple wings of European fame, the name of its Castilian,
+or Valencian, or Andalusian creator down the stream of time, but
+for Soult or Sebastiani, might still have continued to waste its
+sweetness on desert air. Thenceforward, in spite of brigands and
+captain-generals, rival constitutions and contending princes, have
+adventurous Englishmen been found to delight in rambling, like
+Inglis, in the footsteps of Don Quixote,--emulating the deeds of
+Peterborough, like Ranelagh and Henningsen, or throwing themselves
+into the actual life, and studying the historic manners of Spain,
+like Carnarvon and Ford. Still, though soldier and statesman,
+philosopher and litterateur, had put forth their best powers in
+writing of the country that so worthily interested them, a void was
+ever left for some new comer to fill; and right well, in his three
+handsome, elaborate, and most agreeable volumes, has Mr Stirling
+filled that void. Not one of the goodly band of Spanish painters now
+lacks a "sacred poet" to inscribe his name in the temple of fame.
+With indefatigable research, most discriminating taste, and happiest
+success, has Mr Stirling pursued and completed his pleasant labour
+of love, and presented to the world "Annals of the Artists of Spain"
+worthy--can we say more?--of recording the triumphs of El Mudo and
+El Greco, Murillo and Velasquez.[16]
+
+  [16] _Annals of the Artists of Spain._ By WILLIAM STIRLING, M. A. 3
+  vols. London: Ollivier.
+
+At least a century and a half before Holbein was limning the burly
+frame and gorgeous dress of bluff King Hal, and creating at once
+a school and an appreciation of art in England, were the early
+painters of Spain enriching their magnificent cathedrals, and
+religious houses, with pictures displaying as correct a knowledge
+of art, and as rich a tone of colour, as the works of that great
+master. There is something singular and mysterious in the contrast
+afforded by the early history of painting in the two countries.
+While in poetry, in painting on glass, in science, in manufactures,
+in architecture, England appears to have kept pace with other
+countries, in painting and in sculpture she appears always to
+have lagged far behind. Gower, Chaucer, Friar Bacon, William of
+Wyckham, Waynfleete, the unknown builders of ten thousand churches
+and convents, the manufacturers of the glass that still charms our
+eyes, and baffles the rivalry of our Willements and Wailes, at York
+and elsewhere--the illuminators of the missals and religious books,
+whose delicate fancy and lustrous tints are even now teaching our
+highborn ladies that long-forgotten art--yielded the palm to none of
+their brethren in Europe; but where and who were our contemporaneous
+painters and sculptors? In the luxurious and graceful court of
+Edward IV., who represented that art which Dello and Juan de Castro,
+under royal and ecclesiastical patronage, had carried to such
+perfection in Spain? That no English painters of any note flourished
+at that time, is evident from the silence of all historical
+documents; nor does it appear that foreign artists were induced, by
+the hope of gain or fame, to instruct our countrymen in the art to
+which the discoveries of the Van Eycks had imparted such a lustre.
+It is true that the desolating Wars of the Roses left scant time and
+means to the sovereigns and nobility of England for fostering the
+arts of peace; but still great progress was being made in nearly
+all those arts, save those of which we speak; and, if we remember
+rightly, Mr Pugin assigns the triumph of English architecture to
+this troublous epoch. Nor, although Juan I., Pedro the Cruel, and
+Juan II., were admirers and patrons of painting, was it to royal or
+noble favour that Spanish art owed its chiefest obligations. The
+church--which, after the great iconoclastic struggle of the eighth
+century, had steadily acted on the Horatian maxim,
+
+    "Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures,
+     Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus"--
+
+in Spain embraced the young and diffident art with an ardour
+and a munificence which, in its palmiest and most prosperous days,
+that art never forgot, and was never wearied of requiting. Was it so
+in England? and do we owe our lack of ancient English pictures to
+the reforming zeal of our iconoclastic reformers? Did the religious
+pictures of our Rincons, our Nunez, and our Borgonas, share the
+fate of the libraries that were ruthlessly destroyed by the
+ignorant myrmidons of royal rapacity? If so, it is almost certain
+that the records which bewail and denounce the fate of books and
+manuscripts, would not pass over the destruction of pictures; while
+it is still more certain that the monarch and his courtiers would
+have appropriated to themselves the pictured saints, no less than
+the holy vessels, of monastery and convent. It cannot, therefore,
+be said that the English Reformation deprived our national school
+of painting of its most munificent patrons, and most ennobling and
+purest subjects, in the destruction of the monasteries, and the
+spoliation of churches. That the Church of England, had she remained
+unreformed, might, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have
+emulated her Spanish or Italian sister in her patronage of, and
+beneficial influence upon, the arts of painting and sculpture, it
+is needless either to deny or assert; we fear there is no room for
+contending that, since the Reformation, she has in any way fostered,
+guided, or exalted either of those religious arts.
+
+In Spain, on the contrary, as Mr Stirling well points out, it was
+under the august shadow of the church that painting first raised her
+head, gained her first triumphs, executed her most glorious works,
+and is even now prolonging her miserable existence.
+
+The venerable cathedral of Toledo was, in effect, the cradle of
+Spanish painting. Founded in 1226 by St Ferdinand, it remained,
+to quote Mr Stirling's words, "for four hundred years a nucleus
+and gathering-place for genius, where artists swarmed and
+laboured like bees, and where splendid prelates--the popes of
+the Peninsula--lavished their princely revenues to make fair and
+glorious the temple of God intrusted to their care." Here Dolfin
+introduced, in 1418, painting on glass; here the brothers Rodrigues
+displayed their forceful skill as sculptors, in figures which
+still surmount the great portal of that magnificent cathedral;
+and here Rincon, the first Spanish painter who quitted the stiff
+mediaeval style, loved best to execute his graceful works. Nor
+when, with the house of Austria, the genius of Spanish art quitted
+the Bourbon-governed land, did the custodians of this august
+temple forget to stimulate and reward the detestable conceits, and
+burlesque sublimities, of such artists as the depraved taste of the
+eighteenth century delighted to honour. Thus, in 1721, Narciso Tome
+erected at the back of the choir an immense marble altar-piece,
+called the Trasparente, by order of Archbishop Diego de Astorgo,
+for which he received two hundred thousand ducats; and thus, fifty
+years later, Bayeu and Maella were employed to paint in fresco
+the cloisters that had once gloried in the venerable paintings of
+Juan de Borgona. At Toledo, then, under the auspices of the great
+Castilian queen, Isabella, may be said to have risen the Castilian
+school of art. The other great schools of Spanish painting were
+those of Andalusia, of Valencia, and that of Arragon and Catalonia;
+but, for the mass of English readers, the main interest lies in the
+two first, the schools that produced or acquired El Mudo and El
+Greco, Velasquez and Murillo. The works of the two last-mentioned
+artists are now so well known, and so highly appreciated in England,
+that we are tempted to postpone for the present any notice of that
+most delightful part of Sir Stirling's book which treats of them,
+and invite our readers to trace the course of art in that stern old
+city to which we have already referred, Toledo.
+
+Before the grave had closed upon the cold remains of Rincon, Juan de
+Borgona had proved himself worthy of wielding the Castilian pencil,
+and, under the patronage of the great Toledan archbishop, Ximenes de
+Cisneros, produced works which still adorn the winter chapter-room
+of that cathedral. These are interesting not only as specimens of
+art, but as manifestations of the religious =ethos= of Spain at the
+commencement of the sixteenth century: let Mr Stirling describe one
+of the most remarkable of these early paintings:--"The lower end of
+the finely-proportioned, but badly-lighted room, is occupied by the
+'Last Judgment,' a large and remarkable composition. Immediately
+beneath the figure of our Lord, a hideous fiend, in the shape of a
+boar, roots a fair and reluctant woman out of her grave with his
+snout, as if she were a trufle, twining his tusks in her long amber
+locks. To the left are drawn up in a line a party of the wicked,
+each figure being the incarnation of a sin, of which the name is
+written on a label above in Gothic, letters, as 'Soberbia,' and the
+like. On their shoulders sit little malicious imps, in the likeness
+of monkeys, and round their lower limbs, flames climb and curl.
+The forms of the good and faithful, on the right, display far less
+vigour of fancy." So the good characters in modern works of fiction
+are more feebly drawn, and excite less interest, than the Rob Roys
+and Dirk Hattericks, the Conrads and the Manfreds. Nor was Toledo at
+this time wanting in the sister art of sculpture: while the Rincons,
+and Berruguete, and Borgona, were enriching the cathedral with their
+pictures and their frescoes, Vigarny was elaborating the famous high
+altar of marble, and the stalls on the epistle side. In concluding
+his notice of Vigarny, "the first great Castilian sculptor," Mr
+Stirling gives a sketch of the style of sculpture popular in Spain.
+Like nearly all the "Cosas d'Espana," it is peculiar, and owes
+its peculiarity to the same cause that has impressed so marked a
+character on Spanish painting and Spanish pharmacopeia--religion.
+
+Let not the English lover of the fine arts, invited to view the
+masterpieces of Spanish sculpture, imagine that his eyes are to be
+feasted on the nude, though hardly indecent forms of Venuses and
+Apollos, Ganymedes and Andromedas.
+
+Beautiful, and breathing, and full of imagination, indeed, those
+Spanish statues are--"idols," as our author generally terms
+them; but the idolatry they represent or evoke is heavenly, not
+earthly--spiritual, not sensuous. Chiselled out of a block of cedar
+or lime-wood, with the most reverential care, the image of the
+Queen of Heaven enjoyed the most exquisite and delicate services of
+the rival sister arts, and, "copied from the loveliest models, was
+presented to her adorers sweetly smiling, and gloriously apparelled
+in clothing of wrought gold." But we doubt whether any Englishman
+who has not seen can understand the marvellous beauty of these
+painted wooden images. Thus Berruguete, who combined both arts in
+perfection, executed in 1539 the archbishop's throne at Toledo,
+"over which hovers an airy and graceful figure, carved in dark
+walnut, representing our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
+remarkable for its fine and floating drapery."
+
+Continuing our list of Toledan artists, "whose whole lives and
+labours lay within the shadow of that great Toledan church, whose
+genius was spent in its service, and whose names were hardly known
+beyond its walls," (vol. i. p. 150,) we come to T. Comontes, who,
+among other works for that munificent Alma Mater, executed from
+the designs of Vigarny the retablo (reredos) for the chapel "de
+los Reyes Nuevos," in 1533. It was at Toledo that El Mudo, the
+Spanish Titian, died, and at Toledo that Blas del Prado was born.
+When in 1593 the Emperor of Morocco asked that the best painter
+of Spain might be sent to his court, Philip II. appointed Blas
+del Prado to fulfil the Mussulman's artistic desires: previous to
+this, the chapter of Toledo had named him their second painter, and
+he had painted a large altar-piece, and other pictures, for their
+cathedral. But perhaps the Toledan annals of art contain no loftier
+name than that of El Greco. Domemis Theotocopuli, who, born, it is
+surmised, at Venice in 1548, is found in 1577 painting at Toledo,
+for the cathedral, his famous picture of The Parting of our Lord's
+Garment, on which he bestowed the labour of a decade, and of which
+we give Mr Stirling's picturesque description.
+
+"The august figure of the Saviour, arrayed in a red robe, occupies
+the centre of the canvass; the head, with its long dark locks, is
+superb; and the noble and beautiful countenance seems to mourn for
+the madness of them who 'knew not what they did;' his right arm
+is folded on his bosom, seemingly unconscious of the rope which
+encircles his wrist, and is violently dragged downwards by two
+executioners in front. Around and behind him appears a throng of
+priests and warriors, amongst whom the Greek himself figures as the
+centurion, in black armour. In drawing and composition, this picture
+is truly admirable, and the colouring is, on the whole, rich and
+effective--although it is here and there laid on in that spotted
+streaky manner, which afterwards became the great and prominent
+defect of El Greco's style."
+
+Summoned from the cathedral to the court, El Greco painted, by
+royal command, a large altar-piece, for the church at the Escurial,
+on the martyrdom of St Maurice; "little less extravagant and
+atrocious," says our lively author, "than the massacre it recorded."
+Neither king nor court painters could praise this performance, and
+the effect of his failure at the Escurial appears to have been
+his return to Toledo. Here, in 1584, he painted, by order of the
+Archbishop Quiroga, "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz," a picture
+then and now esteemed as his master-piece, and still to be seen
+in the church of Santo Tome. Warm is the encomium, and eloquently
+expressed, which Mr Stirling bestows upon this gem of Toledan art.
+"The artist, or lover of art, who has once beheld it, will never,
+as he rambles among the winding streets of the ancient city, pass
+the pretty brick belfry of that church--full of horse-shoe niches
+and Moorish reticulations,--without turning aside to gaze upon
+its superb picture once more. It hangs to your left, on the wall
+opposite to the high altar. Gonzalo Ruiz, Count of Orgaz, head of
+a house famous in romance, rebuilt the fabric of the church, and
+was in all respects so religious and gracious a grandee, that,
+when he was buried in 1323, within these very walls, St Stephen and
+St Augustine came down from heaven, and laid his body in the tomb
+with their own holy hands--an incident which forms the subject of
+the picture. St Stephen, a dark-haired youth of noble countenance,
+and St Augustine, a hoary old man wearing a mitre, both of them
+arrayed in rich pontifical vestments of golden tissue, support the
+dead Count in their arms, and gently lower him into the grave,
+shrouded like a baron of Roslin 'in his iron panoply.' Nothing can
+be finer than the execution and the contrast of these three heads;
+never was the image of the peaceful death of 'the just man' more
+happily conveyed, than in the placid face and powerless form of
+the warrior: nor did Giorgione or Titian ever excel the splendid
+colouring of his black armour, rich with gold damascening. To the
+right of the picture, behind St Stephen, kneels a fair boy in a
+dark dress, perhaps the son of the Count; beyond rises the stately
+form of a gray friar; to the left, near St Augustine, stand two
+priests in gorgeous vestments, holding, the one a book, and the
+other a taper. Behind this principal group appear the noble company
+of mourners, hidalgos and old Christians all, with olive faces and
+beards of formal cut, looking on with true Castilian gravity and
+phlegm, as if the transaction were an every-day occurrence. As they
+were mostly portraits, perhaps some of the originals did actually
+stand, a few years later, with the like awe in their hearts and
+calm on their cheeks, in the royal presence-chamber, when the news
+came to court that the proud Armada of Spain had been vanquished by
+the galleys of Howard, and cast away on the rocks of the Hebrides."
+We make no apology for thus freely quoting from Mr Stirling's
+pages his description of this picture; the extract brings vividly
+before our readers at once the merits of the old Toledan painter,
+and his accomplished biographer and critic. After embellishing his
+adopted city, not only with pictures such as this, but with works of
+sculpture and architecture, and vindicating his graceful profession
+from the unsparing exactions of the tax-gatherers--a class who
+appear to have waged an unrelenting though intermittent war against
+the fine arts in Spain--he died there at a green old age in 1625,
+and was buried in the church of St Bartoleme. Even the painters
+most employed at the munificent and art-loving court of the second
+and third Philips, found time to paint for the venerable cathedral.
+Thus, in 1615, Vincencio Carducho, the Florentine, painted, with
+Eugenio Caxes, a series of frescoes in the chapel of the Sagrario;
+and thus Eugenio Caxes, leaving the works at the Pardo and Madrid,
+painted for the cathedral of Toledo the Adoration of the Magi, and
+other independent pictures.
+
+Meanwhile the school of El Greco was producing worthy fruit; from
+it, in the infancy of the seventeenth century, came forth Luis
+Tristan, an artist even now almost unknown in London and Edinburgh,
+but whose style Velasquez did not disdain to imitate, and whose
+praises he was never tired of sounding. "Born, bred, and sped"
+in Toledo, or its neighbourhood, as Morales was emphatically the
+painter of Badajoz, so may Tristan be termed the painter of Toledo.
+No foreign graces, no classical models, adorned or vitiated his
+stern Spanish style; yet, in his portrait of Archbishop Sandoval,
+he is said by Mr Stirling to have united the elaborate execution
+of Sanchez Coello with much of the spirit of Titian. And of him is
+the pleasant story recorded, that having, while yet a stripling,
+painted for the Jeronymite convent at Toledo a Last Supper, for
+which he asked two hundred ducats, and being denied payment by the
+frugal friars, he appealed with them to the arbitration of his old
+master, El Greco, who, having viewed the picture, called the young
+painter a rogue and a novice, for asking only two for a painting
+worth five hundred ducats. In the same Toledan church that contains
+the ashes of his great master, lies the Murcian Pedro Orrente,
+called by our author "the Bassano, or the Roos--the great sheep and
+cattle master of Spain:" he too was employed by the art-encouraging
+chapter, and the cathedral possessed several of his finest pictures.
+But with Tristan and Orrente the glories of Toledan art paled and
+waned; and, trusting that our readers have not been uninterested
+in following our brief sketch of the remarkable men who for four
+hundred years rendered this quaint old Gothic city famous for its
+artistic splendours, we retrace our steps, halting and perplexed
+among so many pleasant ways, blooming flowers, and brilliant bowers,
+to the magnificent, albeit gloomy Escurial, where Philip II lavished
+the wealth of his mighty empire in calling forth the most vigorous
+energies of Spanish and of foreign art.
+
+For more than thirty years did the astonished shepherds of the
+Guadaramas watch the mysterious pile growing under scaffolding alive
+with armies of workmen; and often, while the cares of the Old World
+and the New--to say nothing of that other World, which was seldom
+out of Philip's thoughts, and to which his cruel fanaticism hurried
+so many wretches before their time--might be supposed to demand
+his attention at Madrid, were they privileged to see their mighty
+monarch perched on a lofty ledge of rock, for hours, intently gazing
+upon the rising walls and towers which were to redeem his vow to St
+Laurence at the battle of Saint Quentin, and to hand down, through
+all Spanish time, the name and fame of the royal and religious
+founder. On the 23d of April 1563, the first stone of this Cyclopean
+palace was laid, under the direction of Bautiste di Toledo, at
+whose death, in 1567, the work was continued by Juan de Herrera,
+and finally perfected by Leoni (as to the interior decorations) in
+1597. Built in the quaint unshapely form of St Laurence's gridiron,
+the Escurial is doubtless open to much severe criticism; but the
+marvellous grandeur, the stern beauty, and the characteristic
+effect of the gigantic pile, must for ever enchant the eyes of all
+beholders, who are not doomed by perverse fate to look through the
+green spectacles of gentle dulness. But it is not our purpose to
+describe the Escurial; we only wish to bring before our readers the
+names and merits of a few of the Spanish artists, who found among
+its gloomy corridors or sumptuous halls niches in the temple of
+fame, and in its saturnine founder the most gracious and munificent
+of patrons. Suffice it, then, to say of the palace-convent, in Mr
+Stirling's graceful words, that "Italy was ransacked for pictures
+and statues, models and designs; the mountains of Sicily and
+Sardinia for jaspers and agates; and every sierra of Spain furnished
+its contribution of marble. Madrid, Florence, and Milan supplied
+the sculptures of the altars; Guadalajara and Cuenca, gratings
+and balconies; Saragossa the gates of brass; Toledo and the Low
+Countries, lamps, candelabra, and bells; the New World, the finer
+woods; and the Indies, both East and West, the gold and gems of the
+custodia, and the five hundred reliquaries. The tapestries were
+wrought in Flemish looms; and, for the sacerdotal vestments, there
+was scarce a nunnery in the empire, from the rich and noble orders
+of Brabant and Lombardy to the poor sisterhoods of the Apulian
+highlands, but sent an offering of needlework to the honoured
+fathers of the Escurial."
+
+We could wish to exclude from our paper all notice of the foreign
+artists, whose genius assisted in decorating the new wonder of the
+world; but how omit from any Escurialian or Philippian catalogue
+the names of Titian and Cellini, Cambiaso and Tibaldi? For seven
+long years did the great Venetian labour at his famous Last Supper,
+painted for, and placed in the refectory; and countless portraits
+by his fame-dealing pencil graced the halls and galleries of the
+Palatian convents. In addition to these, the Pardo boasted eleven of
+his portraits; among them, one of the hero Duke Emmanuel Philibert
+of Savoy, who has received a second grant of renown--let us hope
+a more lasting one[17]--from the poetic chisel of Marochetti, and
+stands now in the great square of Turin, the very impersonation of
+chivalry, horse and hero alike--=kydei gaion=.
+
+  [17] All these portraits were destroyed by fire in the reign of
+  Philip III.
+
+The magnificent Florentine contributed "the matchless marble
+crucifix behind the prior's seat in the choir," of which Mr Stirling
+says--"Never was marble shaped into a sublimer image of the great
+sacrifice for man's atonement." Luca Cambiaso, the Genoese, painted
+the Martyrdom of St Laurence for the high altar of the church--a
+picture that must have been regarded, from its subject and position,
+as the first of all the Escurial's religious pictures,--besides the
+vault of the choir, and two great frescoes for the grand staircase.
+
+Pellegrino Tibaldi, a native of the Milanese, came at Philip's
+request to the Escurial in 1586. He, too, painted a Martyrdom of
+Saint Laurence for the high altar, but apparently with no better
+success than his immediate predecessor, Zuccaro, whose work his
+was to replace. But the ceiling of the library was Tibaldi's field
+of fame; on it he painted a fresco 194 feet long by 30 wide,
+which still speaks to his skill in composition and brilliancy in
+colouring. Philip rewarded him with a Milanese marquisate and one
+hundred thousand crowns.
+
+Morales, the first great devotional painter of Castile, on whom his
+admiring countrymen bestowed the soubriquet of "divine"--with more
+propriety, it must be confessed, than their descendants have shown
+in conferring it upon Arguelles--contributed but one picture to
+the court, and none to the Escurial; but in Alonzo Sanchez Coello,
+born at Benifayro, in Valencia, we find a famous native artist
+decorating the superb walls of the new palace. While at Madrid he
+was lodged in the Treasury, a building which communicated with the
+palace by a door, of which the King kept a key; and often would the
+royal Maecenas slip thus, unobserved by the artist, into his studio.
+Emperors and popes, kings and queens, princes and princesses, were
+alike his friends and subjects; but we are now only concerned
+to relate that, in 1582, he painted "five altar-pieces for the
+Escurial, each containing a pair of saints." Far more of interest,
+however, attaches itself to the name and memory of Juan Fernandez
+Navarete, "whose genius was no less remarkable than his infirmities,
+and whose name--El Mudo, the dumb painter--is as familiar to Europe
+as his works are unknown," (vol. i. p. 250.) Born at Logrono in
+1526, he went in his youth to Italy. Here he attracted the notice
+of Don Luis Manrique, grand-almoner to Philip, who procured him
+an invitation to Madrid. He was immediately set to work for the
+Escurial; and in 1571 four pictures, the Assumption of the Virgin,
+the Martyrdom of St James the Great, St Philip, and a Repenting St
+Jerome, were hung in the sacristy of the convent, and brought him
+five hundred ducats. In 1576 he painted, for the reception-hall of
+the convent, a large picture representing Abraham receiving the
+three Angels. "This picture," says Father Andres Ximenes, quoted
+by Mr Stirling, (vol. i. p. 255) "so appropriate to the place it
+fills, though the first of the master's works that usually meets
+the eye, might, for its excellence, be viewed the last, and is well
+worth coming many a league to see." An agreement, bearing date the
+same year, between the painter and the prior, by which the former
+covenanted to paint thirty-two large pictures for the side altars,
+is preserved by Cean Bermudez; but El Mudo unfortunately died when
+only eight of the series had been painted. On the 28th of March 1579
+this excellent and remarkable painter died in the 53d year of his
+age. A few years later, Juan Gomez painted from a design of Tibaldi
+a large picture of St Ursula, which replaced one of Cambiaso's least
+satisfactory Escurialian performances.
+
+While acres of wall and ceiling were being thus painted in fresco,
+or covered by large and fine pictures, the Escurial gave a ready
+home to the most minute of the fine arts: illuminators of missals,
+and painters of miniatures, embroiderers of vestments, and designers
+of altar-cloths, found their labours appreciated, and their
+genius called forth, no less than their more aspiring compeers.
+Fray Andrez de Leon, and Fray Martin de Palencia, enriched the
+Escurial with exquisite specimens of their skill in the arts of
+miniature-painting and illuminating; and under the direction of Fray
+Lorenzo di Monserrate, and Diego Rutiner, the conventual school of
+embroidery produced frontals and dalmatics, copes, chasubles, and
+altar-cloths, of rarest beauty and happiest designs. The goldsmiths
+and silversmiths, too, lacked not encouragement in this greatest
+of temples. Curious was the skill, and cunning the hand, which
+fashioned the tower of gold and jasper to contain the Escurial's
+holiest relique,--a muscle, singed and charred, of St Laurence--and
+no doubt that skill was nobly rewarded.
+
+In 1598, clasping to his breast the veil of Our Lady of Monserrat,
+in a little alcove hard by the church of the Escurial, died its
+grim, magnificent founder. He had witnessed the completion of his
+gigantic designs: palace and convent, there it stood--a monument
+alike of his piety and his pride, and a proof of the grandeur and
+resources of the mighty empire over which he ruled. But he appears
+to have thought with the poet--
+
+    "Weighed in the balance, hero-dust
+      Is vile as mortal clay;"
+
+for he built no stately mausoleum, merely a common vault, to
+receive the imperial dead. This omission, in 1617, Philip III.
+undertook to supply; and Giovanni Battista Crescenzi, an Italian,
+was selected as the architect. For thirty-four years did he and his
+successors labour at this royal necropolis, which when finished
+"became, under the name of the Pantheon, the most splendid chamber
+of the Escurial."--(Vol. i. p. 412.)
+
+Mr Stirling's second volume opens with a graphic account of the
+decay of Spanish power under Philip IV., and an equally graphic
+description of this, the chief architectural triumph of his long
+inglorious reign. The Pantheon was "an octagonal chamber 113 feet
+in circumference, and 38 feet in height, from the pavement to the
+centre of the domed vault. Each of its eight sides, excepting the
+two which are occupied by its entrance, and the altar, contain
+four niches and four marble urns; the walls, Corinthian pilasters,
+cornices and dome, are formed of the finest marbles of Toledo and
+Biscay, Tortosa and Genoa; and the bases, capitals, scrolls, and
+other ornaments, are of gilt bronze. Placed beneath the presbytery
+of the church, and approached by the long descent of a stately
+marble staircase, this hall of royal tombs, gleaming with gold and
+polished jasper, seems a creation of Eastern romance.... Hither
+Philip IV. would come, when melancholy--the fatal taint of his blood
+was strong upon him--to hear mass, and meditate on death, sitting in
+the niche which was shortly to receive his bones." Yet this was the
+monarch whose quick eye detected the early genius of Velasquez, and
+who bore the palm as a patron from all the princes of his house, and
+all the sovereigns of Europe. Well did the great painter repay the
+discriminating friendship of the king, and so long as Spanish art
+endures, will the features of Philip IV. be known in every European
+country; and his fair hair, melancholy mien, impassive countenance
+and cold eyes, reveal to all time the hereditary characteristics of
+the phlegmatic house of Austria.
+
+Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez was born at Seville in 1599.
+Here he entered the school of Herrera the Elder, a dashing painter,
+and a violent man, who was for ever losing alike his temper and
+his scholars. Velasquez soon left his turbulent rule for the
+gentler instruction of Francisco Pacheco. In his studio the young
+artist worked diligently, while he took lessons at the same time
+of a yet more finished artist--nature; the nature of bright,
+sunny, graceful Andalusia. Thus, while Velasquez cannot be called
+a self-taught painter, he retained to the last that freedom from
+mannerism, and that gay fidelity to nature, which so often--not in
+his case--compensate for a departure from the highest rules and
+requirements of art.
+
+While he was thus studying and painting the flowers and the fruits,
+the damsels and the beggars, of sunny Seville, there arrived in that
+beautiful city a collection of Italian and Spanish pictures. These
+exercised no small influence on the taste and style of the young
+artist; but, true to his country, and with the happy inspiration
+of genius, it was to Luis Tristan of Toledo, rather than to any
+foreign master, that he directed his chief attention; and hence the
+future chief of the Castilian school was enabled to combine with its
+merits the excellencies of both the other great divisions of Spanish
+art. At the end of five years spent in this manner, he married
+Pacheco's daughter, who witnessed all his forty years' labours and
+successes, and closed his dying eyes. At the age of twenty-three,
+Velasquez, anxious to enlarge his acquaintance with the masterpieces
+of other schools, went to Madrid; but after spending a few months
+there, and at the Escurial, he returned to Seville--soon, however,
+to be recalled at the bidding of the great minister and Maecenas,
+Olivarez. Now, in 1623, set in the tide of favour and of fame, which
+henceforward was not to flag or ebb till the great painter lay
+stretched, out of its reach, on the cold bank of death. During this
+summer he painted the noble portrait of the king on horseback, which
+was exhibited by royal order in front of the church of San Felipe,
+and which caused the all-powerful Count-duke to exclaim, that until
+now his majesty had never been painted. Charmed and delighted with
+the picture and the painter, Philip declared no other artist should
+in future paint his royal face; and Mr Stirling maliciously adds
+that "this resolution he kept far more religiously than his marriage
+vows, for he appears to have departed from it during the life-time
+of his chosen artist, in favour only of Rubens and Crayer." (Vol.
+ii. p. 592.) On the 31st of October 1623, Velasquez was formally
+appointed painter in ordinary to the king, and in 1626 was provided
+with apartments in the Treasury. To this period Mr Stirling assigns
+his best likeness of the equestrian monarch, of which he says--"Far
+more pleasing than any other representation of the man, it is also
+one of the finest portraits in the world. The king is in the glow
+of youth and health, and in the full enjoyment of his fine horse,
+and the breeze blowing freshly from the distant hills; he wears dark
+armour, over which flutters a crimson scarf; a hat with black plumes
+covers his head, and his right hand grasps a truncheon."--(P. 595.)
+
+In 1628, Velasquez had the pleasure of showing Rubens, who had come
+to Madrid as envoy from the Low Countries, the galleries of that
+city, and the wonders of the Escurial; and, following the advice
+of that mighty master, he visited Italy the next year. On that
+painter-producing soil, his steps were first turned to the city of
+Titian; but the sun of art was going down over the quays and palaces
+of once glorious Venice, and, hurrying through Ferrara and Bologna,
+the eager pilgrim soon reached Rome. In this metropolis of religion,
+learning, and art, the young Spaniard spent many a pleasant and
+profitable month: nor, while feasting his eyes and storing his
+memory with "its thousand forms of beauty and delight," did he allow
+his pencil a perfect holiday. The Forge of Vulcan and Joseph's Coat
+were painted in the Eternal City. After a few weeks at Naples, he
+returned to Madrid in the spring of 1631. Portrait-painting for his
+royal patron, who would visit his studio every day, and sit there
+long hours, seems to have been now his main occupation; and now
+was he able to requite the friendly aid he had received from the
+Count-duke of Olivarez, whose image remains reflected on the stream
+of time, not after the hideous caricature of Le Sage, but as limned
+by the truthful--albeit grace-conferring--pencil of Velasquez.
+
+In 1639, leaving king and courtiers, lords and ladies, and soaring
+above the earth on which he had made his step so sure, Velasquez
+aspired to the grandest theme of poet, moralist, or painter, and
+nobly did his genius justify the flight. His Crucifixion is one
+of the sublimest representations conceived by the intellect, and
+portrayed by the hand of man, of that stupendous event. "Unrelieved
+by the usual dim landscape, or lowering clouds, the cross in this
+picture has no footing upon earth, but is placed on a plain dark
+ground, like an ivory carving on its velvet pall. Never was that
+great agony more powerfully depicted. The head of our Lord drops
+on his right shoulder, over which falls a mass of dark hair, while
+drops of blood trickle from his thorn-pierced brows. The anatomy of
+the naked body and limbs is executed with as much precision as in
+Cellini's marble, which may have served Velasquez as a model; and
+the linen cloth wrapped about the loins, and even the fir-wood of
+the cross, display his accurate attention to the smallest details of
+a great subject."--(Vol. ii. p. 619.) This masterpiece now hangs in
+the Royal Gallery of Spain at Madrid.
+
+The all-powerful Olivarez underwent, in 1643, the fate of most
+favourites, and experienced the doom denounced by the great English
+satirist on "power too great to keep, or to resign." He had declared
+his intention of making one Julianillo, an illegitimate child of no
+one exactly knew who, his heir; had married him to the daughter of
+the Constable of Castile, decked him with titles and honours, and
+proposed to make him governor of the heir-apparent. The pencil of
+Velasquez was employed to hand down to posterity the features of
+this low-born cause of his great patron's downfall, and the portrait
+of the ex-ballad singer in the streets of Madrid now graces the
+collection of Bridgewater House. The disgrace of Olivarez served to
+test the fine character of Velasquez, who not only sorrowed over his
+patron's misfortunes, but had the courage to visit the disgraced
+statesman in his retirement.
+
+The triumphal entrance of Philip IV. into Lerida, the surrender of
+Breda, and portraits of the royal family, exercised the invention
+and pencil of Velasquez till the year 1648, when he was sent by
+the king on a roving mission into Italy--not to teach the puzzled
+sovereigns the mysterious privileges of self-government, but to
+collect such works of art as his fine taste might think worthy of
+transportation to Madrid. Landing at Genoa, he found himself in
+presence of a troop of Vandyck's gallant nobles: hence he went to
+Milan, Padua, and Venice. At the latter city he purchased for his
+royal master two or three pictures of Tintoret's, and the Venus and
+Adonis of Paul Veronese. But Rome, as in his previous visit, was the
+chief object of his pilgrimage. Innocent X. welcomed him gladly,
+and commanded him to paint, not only his own coarse features, but
+the more delicate ones of Donna Olympia, his "sister-in-law and
+mistress." So, at least, says our author; for the sake of religion
+and human nature, we hope he is mistaken. For more than a year did
+Velasquez sojourn in Rome, purchasing works of art, and enjoying
+the society of Bernini and Nicolas Poussin, Pietro da Cortona and
+Algardi. "It would be pleasing, were it possible, to draw aside
+the dark curtain of centuries, and follow him into the palaces and
+studios--to see him standing by while Claude painted, or Algardi
+modelled, (enjoying the hospitalities of Bentivoglio, perhaps in
+that fair hall glorious with Guido's recent fresco of Aurora)--or
+mingling in the group that accompanied Poussin in his evening walks
+on the terrace of Trinita de Monte."--(Vol. ii. p. 643.) Meanwhile
+the king was impatiently waiting his return, and at last insisted
+upon its being no further delayed; so in 1651 the soil of Spain was
+once more trod by her greatest painter. Five years later, Velasquez
+produced his extraordinary picture, Las Meninas--the Maids of
+Honour, extraordinary alike in the composition, and in the skill
+displayed by the painter in overcoming its many difficulties. Dwarfs
+and maids of honour, hounds and children, lords and ladies, pictures
+and furniture, are all introduced into this remarkable picture, with
+such success as to make many judges pronounce it to be Velasquez's
+masterpiece, and Luca Giordano to christen it "the theology of
+painting."
+
+The Escurial, from whose galleries and cloisters we have been thus
+lured by the greater glory of Velasquez, in 1656 demanded his
+presence to arrange a large collection of pictures, forty-one of
+which came from the dispersed and abused collection of the only
+real lover of the fine arts who has sat on England's throne--that
+martyr-monarch whom the pencil of Vandyck, and the pens of Lovelace,
+Montrose, and Clarendon, have immortalised, though their swords
+and counsels failed to preserve his life and crown. In 1659 the
+cross of Santiago was formally conferred on this "king of painters,
+and painter of kings;" and on St Prosper's day, in the Church of
+the Carbonera, he was installed knight of that illustrious order,
+the noblest grandees of Spain assisting at the solemn ceremonial.
+The famous meeting on the Isle of Pheasants, so full of historic
+interest, between the crowns and courts of Spain and France,
+to celebrate the nuptials of Louis XIV. and Maria Theresa, was
+destined to acquire an additional though melancholy fame, as the
+last appearance of the great painter in public, and the possible
+proximate cause of his death. To him, as aposentador-mayor, were
+confided all the decorations and arrangements of this costly and
+fatiguing pageant: he was also to find lodging on the road for
+the king and the court; and some idea of the magnitude of his
+official cares may be derived from the fact, that three thousand
+five hundred mules, eighty-two horses, seventy coaches, and seventy
+baggage-waggons, formed the train that followed the monarch out of
+Madrid. On the 28th of June the court returned to Madrid, and on the
+6th of August its inimitable painter expired.
+
+The merits of Velasquez are now generally appreciated in England;
+and the popular voice would, we think, ratify the enthusiastic yet
+sober dictum of Wilkie, "In painting an intelligent portrait he
+is nearly unrivalled." Yet we have seen how he could rise to the
+highest subject of mortal imagination in the Crucifixion; and the
+one solitary naked Venus, which Spanish art in four hundred years
+produced, is his. Mr Stirling, though he mentions this picture
+in the body of his book, assigns it no place in his valuable and
+laboriously compiled catalogue, probably because he was unable to
+trace its later adventures. Brought to England in 1814, and sold
+for L500 to Mr Morritt, it still remains the gem of the library
+at Rokeby. Long may the Spanish queen of love preside over the
+beautiful bowers of that now classic retreat! We sum up our notice
+of Velasquez in Mr Stirling's words:--"No artist ever followed
+nature with more catholic fidelity; his cavaliers are as natural
+as his boors; he neither refined the vulgar, nor vulgarised
+the refined.... We know the persons of Philip IV. and Olivarez
+as familiarly as if we had paced the avenues of the Pardo with
+Digby and Howell, and perhaps we think more favourably of their
+characters. In the portraits of the monarch and the minister,
+
+    'The bounding steeds they pompously bestride,
+    Share with their lords the pleasure and the pride,'
+
+and enable us to judge of the Cordovese horse of that day, as
+accurately as if we had lived with the horse-breeding Carthusians of
+the Betis. And this painter of kings and horses has been compared,
+as a painter of landscapes, to Claude; as a painter of low life,
+to Teniers: his fruit-pieces equal those of Sanchez Cotan or Van
+Kessel; his poultry might contest the prize with the fowls of
+Hondekooter on their own dunghill; and his dogs might do battle with
+the dogs of Sneyders."--(Vol. ii. p. 686.)
+
+While Velasquez, at the height of his glory, was painting his
+magnificent Crucifixion, a young lad was displaying hasty sketches
+and immature daubs to the venders of old clothes, pots, and
+vegetables, the gipsies and mendicant friars that frequented the
+Feria, or weekly fair held in the market-place of All Saints, in
+the beautiful and religious city of Seville. This was Bartoleme
+Estevan Murillo, who, having studied for some time under Juan
+del Castillo, on that master's removal to Cadiz in 1640, betook
+himself to this popular resource of all needy Sevillian painters.
+Struck, however, by the great improvement which travel had wrought
+in the style of Pedro de Moya, who revisited Seville in 1642, the
+young painter scraped up money sufficient to carry him to Madrid,
+and, as he hoped, to Rome. But the kindness of Velasquez provided
+him a lodging in his own house, and opened the galleries of the
+Alcazar and the Escurial to his view. Here he pursued his studies
+unremittingly, and, as he thought, with a success that excused the
+trouble and expense of an Italian pilgrimage. Returning, therefore,
+in 1645 to Seville, he commenced that career which led him, among
+the painters of Spain, to European renown, second only to that of
+Velasquez. The Franciscans of his native city have the credit of
+first employing his young genius, and the eleven large pictures
+with which he adorned their convent-walls at once established his
+reputation and success. These were painted in what is technically
+called his first or cold style; this was changed before 1650 into
+his second, or warm style, which in its turn yielded to his last,
+or vapoury style. So warm, indeed, had his colouring become, that
+a Spanish critic, in the nervous phraseology of Spain, declared
+his flesh-tints were now painted with blood and milk. In this style
+did he paint for the chapter The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, in
+which the ladies of Seville admired and envied the roundness of a
+ministering maiden's naked arm; and a large picture of St Anthony
+of Padua, which still adorns the walls of the cathedral baptistery.
+Of this famous gem some curious stories are told: Don Fernando
+Farfan, for instance, relates that birds had been seen attempting
+to perch upon some lilies in a vase by the side of the kneeling
+saint; and Monsieur Viardot (_Musees d'Espagne_, p. 146) informs us
+that a reverend canon, who showed him the picture, recounted how
+that, in 1813, the Duke of Wellington offered to purchase it for as
+many gold onzas as would cover its surface; while, in 1843, Captain
+Widdrington was assured that a lord had expressed his readiness
+to give L40,000 for the bird-deluding picture. The belief in the
+gullibility of travellers is truly remarkable and wide-spread; thus,
+at Genoa, in 1839, our excellent cicerone gratified us with the
+information, that, sixteen years before, the English Duke Balfour
+had in vain offered L1600 for Canova's beautiful basso-relievo of
+the Virgin Clasping the Corpse of our Saviour, which graces the
+ugly church of the poor-house in that superb city. In 1658, Murillo
+laboured to establish a public academy of art; and, in spite of the
+jealousies and contentions of rival artists, on the 1st of January
+1660, he witnessed its inauguration. The rules were few and simple;
+but the declaration to be signed by each member on admission would
+rather astonish the directors of the Royal Academy in London. We
+would recommend it to the consideration of those Protestant divines
+who are so anxious to devise a new test of heresy in the Church
+of England: thus it ran--"Praised be the most holy sacrament, and
+the pure conception of Our Lady." Nothing, perhaps, can show more
+strongly the immense influence religion exercised on art in Spain
+than the second clause of this declaration. It was the favourite
+dogma of Seville: for hundreds of years sermons were preached, books
+were written, pictures painted, legends recorded in honour of Our
+Lady's spotless conception; and round many a picture by Cano, or
+Vargas, or Joanes, is yet to be read the magic words that had power
+to electrify a populace,--"Sin Pecado Concebida." The institution
+thus commenced flourished for many years, and answered the generous
+expectations of its illustrious founder.
+
+The attention of the pious Don Miguel Manara de Leca, the
+"benevolent Howard" of Seville, was attracted about 1661 to the
+pitiable state of the brotherhood of the holy charity, and its
+hospital of San Jorge: he resolved to restore it to its pristine
+glory and usefulness; and, persevering against all discouragements
+and difficulties, in less than twenty years, at an expense of
+half-a-million of ducats, he accomplished his pious design. For the
+restored church Murillo painted eleven pictures, of which eight,
+according to Mr Stirling, are the finest works of the master.
+Five of these were carried off by plundering Soult, but "the two
+colossal compositions of Moses, and the Loaves and Fishes, still
+hang beneath the cornices whence springs the dome of the church,
+"like ripe oranges on the bough where they originally budded." Long
+may they cover their native "walls, and enrich, as well as adorn,
+the institution of Manara! In the picture of the great miracle of
+the Jewish dispensation, the Hebrew prophet stands beside the rock
+in Horeb, with hands pressed together, and uplifted eyes, thanking
+the Almighty for the stream which has just gushed forth at the
+stroke of his mysterious rod.... As a composition, this wonderful
+picture can hardly be surpassed. The rock, a huge, isolated, brown
+crag, much resembles in form, size, and colour, that which is still
+pointed out as the rock of Moses, by the Greek monks of the convent
+of St Catherine, in the real wilderness of Horeb. It forms the
+central object, rising to the top of the canvass, and dividing it
+into two unequal portions. In front of the rock, the eye at once
+singles out the erect figure of the prophet standing forward from
+the throng; and the lofty emotion of that great leader, looking with
+gratitude to heaven, is finely contrasted with the downward regards
+of the multitude, forgetful of the Giver in the anticipation or
+the enjoyment of the gift. Each head and figure is an elaborate
+study; each countenance has a distinctive character, and even of
+the sixteen vessels brought to the spring, no two are alike in
+form."--(Vol. ii. p. 859.) But Cean Bermudez, who enjoyed the
+privilege of seeing all these eight masterpieces hanging together
+in their own sacred home, preferred The Prodigal's Return, and St
+Elizabeth of Hungary--with whose touching history the eloquent
+pens of the Count Montalembert and Mr A. Phillipps have made us
+familiar--to all the rest.
+
+The Franciscan convent, without the city walls, was yet more
+fortunate than the hospital of Manara, for it possessed upwards
+of twenty of this religious painter's works. Now, not one remains
+to dignify the ruined halls and deserted cloisters of that once
+magnificent convent: but seventeen of these pictures are preserved
+in the Seville Museum; among them Murillo's own favourite--that
+which he used to call "his own picture"--the charity of St Thomas
+of Villanueva. In 1678, Murillo painted three pictures for the
+Hospital de los Venerables, two of which, the Mystery of the
+Immaculate Conception, and St Peter Weeping, were placed in the
+chapel. "The third adorned the refectory, and presented to the
+gaze of the Venerables, during their repasts, the blessed Virgin
+enthroned on clouds, with her divine Babe, who, from a basket borne
+by angels, bestowed bread on three aged priests." These were nearly
+his last works; for the art he so loved was now about to destroy her
+favourite son: he was mounting a scaffolding to paint the higher
+parts of a great altar-piece for the Capuchin church at Cadiz,
+representing the espousals of St Catherine, when he stumbled, and
+ruptured himself so severely, as to die of the injury. On the 3d of
+April 1682, he expired in the arms of his old and faithful friend,
+Don Justino Neve, and was buried in the parish church of St. Cruz, a
+stone slab with his name, a skeleton and "Vive moriturus," marking
+the spot--until the "Vandal" French destroyed the last resting-place
+of that great painter, whose works they so unscrupulously
+appropriated. Was the last Lord of Petworth aware of this short
+epitaph, when he caused to be inscribed on the beautiful memorial to
+his ancestors which adorns St Thomas's Chapel in Petworth Church,
+the prophetic,[18] solemn words--"Mortuis moriturus?"
+
+  [18] He died the year following.
+
+We have ranked Murillo next to Velasquez: doubtless there are many
+in England who would demur to this classification; and we own there
+are charms in the style of the great religious painter, which it
+would be vain to look for in any other master. In tenderness of
+devotion, and a certain soft sublimity, his religious pictures are
+unmatched; while in colouring, Cean Bermudez most justly says--"All
+the peculiar beauties of the school of Andalusia--its happy use of
+red and brown tints, the local colours of the region, its skill in
+the management of drapery, its distant prospects of bare sierras
+and smiling vales, its clouds, light and diaphanous as in nature,
+its flowers and transparent waters, and its harmonious depth and
+richness of tone--are to be found in full perfection in the works of
+Murillo."--(Vol. ii. p. 903.) Mr Stirling draws a distinction, and
+we think with reason, between the favourite Virgin of the Immaculate
+Conception and the other Virgins of Murillo: the =ethos= of the
+former is far more elevated and spiritualised than that of any
+of the latter class; but, even in his most ordinary and mundane
+delineation of the sinless Mary, how sweet, and pure, and holy, as
+well as beautiful, does our Lord's mother appear! But perhaps it
+is as a painter of children that Murillo is most appreciated in
+England; nor can we wonder that such should be the case, when we
+remember what the pictures are which have thus impressed Murillo
+on the English mind. The St John Baptist with the Lamb, in the
+National Gallery; Lord Westminster's picture of the same subject;
+the Baroness de Rothschild's gem at Gunnersbury, Our Lord, the Good
+Shepherd, as a Child: Lord Wemyss's hardly inferior repetition of
+it; the picture of our Lord as a child, holding in his hands the
+crown of thorns, in the College at Glasgow; with the other pictures,
+in private collections, of our Lord and St John as children, have
+naturally made Murillo to be regarded in England as emphatically
+the painter of children: and how exquisite is his conception of the
+Divine Babe and His saintly precursor! what a sublime consciousness
+of power, what an expression of boundless love, are seen in the face
+of Him who was yet
+
+                    "a little child,
+      Taught by degrees to pray
+    By father dear, and mother mild,
+      Instructed day by day."
+
+The religious school of Spanish painting reached its acme in
+Murillo; and, at the risk of being accounted heterodox, we must,
+in summing up his merits, express our difference from Mr Stirling
+in one respect, and decline to rank the great Sevillian after any
+of the Italian masters. Few of Murillo's drawings are known to be
+in existence. Mr Stirling gives a list of such as he has been able
+to discover, nearly all of which are at the Louvre. We believe,
+in addition to those possessed by the British Museum and Mr Ford,
+there are two in the collection at Belvoir Castle: one, a Virgin
+and Child; the other, an old man--possibly St Francis--receiving a
+flower from a naked child.
+
+After Velasquez and Murillo, it may seem almost impertinent to talk
+of the merits of other Spanish painters; yet Zurbaran and Cano,
+Ribera and Coello, demand at least a passing notice. Francisco
+de Zurbaran, often called the Caravaggio of Spain, was born in
+Estremadura in 1598. His father, observing his turn for painting,
+sent him to the school of Roelas, at Seville. Here, for nearly a
+quarter of a century, he continued painting for the magnificent
+cathedral, and the churches and religious houses of that fair city.
+About 1625, he painted, for the college of St Thomas Aquinas,
+an altar-piece, regarded by all judges as the finest of all his
+works. It represents the angelic doctor ascending into the heavens,
+where, on clouds of glory, the blessed Trinity and the Virgin wait
+to receive him; below, in mid air, sit the four doctors of the
+Church; and on the ground are kneeling the Emperor Charles V.,
+with the founder of the college, Archbishop Diego de Deza, and a
+train of ecclesiastics. Mr Stirling says of this singular picture,
+"The colouring throughout is rich and effective, and worthy the
+school of Roelas; the heads are all of them admirable studies;
+the draperies of the doctors and ecclesiastics are magnificent
+in breadth and amplitude of fold; the imperial mantle is painted
+with Venetian splendour; and the street view, receding in the
+centre of the canvass, is admirable for its atmospheric depth and
+distance."--(Vol. ii. p. 770.) In 1650, Philip IV. invited him to
+Madrid, and commanded him to paint ten pictures, representing the
+labours of Hercules, for a room at Buen-retiro. Almost numberless
+were the productions of his facile pencil, which, however, chiefly
+delighted to represent, the legends of the Carthusian cloister,
+and portray the gloomy features and sombre vestments of monks and
+friars; yet those who have seen his picture of the Virgin with the
+Infant Saviour and St John, at Stafford House, will agree with Mr
+Stirling that, "unrivalled in such subjects of dark fanaticism,
+Zurbaran could also do ample justice to the purest and most lovely
+of sacred themes."--(Vol. 11. p. 775)
+
+Alonzo Cano, born at Grenada in 1601, was, like Mrs Malaprop's
+Cerberus, "three gentlemen in one;" that is, he was a great painter,
+a great sculptor, and a great architect. As a painter, his powers
+are shown in his full-length picture of the Blessed Virgin, with
+the infant Saviour asleep on her knees, now in the Queen of Spain's
+gallery; in six large works, representing passages in the life
+of Mary Magdalene, which still adorn the great brick church of
+Getafe, a small village near Madrid; and in his famous picture of
+Our Lady of Belem, in the cathedral of Seville. Mr Stirling gives a
+beautifully-executed print of this last Madonna, which, "in serene,
+celestial beauty, is excelled by no image of the Blessed Virgin ever
+devised in Spain."--(P. 803.)
+
+Cano was, perhaps, even greater in sculpture than in painting;
+and so fond of the former art, that, when wearied of pencil and
+brush, he would call for his chisel, and work at a statue by way
+of rest to his hands. On one of these occasions, a pupil venturing
+to remark, that to substitute a mallet for a pencil was an odd sort
+of repose, was silenced by Cano's philosophical reply,--"Blockhead,
+don't you perceive that to create form and relief on a flat surface
+is a greater labour than to fashion one shape into another?" An
+image of the Blessed Virgin in the parish church at Lebrija, and
+another in the sacristy of the Grenada cathedral, are said to
+be triumphs of Spanish painted statuary.--(Vol. iii., p. 805)
+After a life of strange vicissitudes, in the course of which, on
+suspicion of having murdered his wife, he underwent the examination
+by torture, he died, honoured and beloved for his magnificent
+charities, and religious hatred of the Jews, in his native city, on
+the 3d of October 1667.
+
+The old Valencian town of Xativa claims the honour of producing
+Jose de Ribera, el Spagnoletto; but though Spain gave him birth,
+Italy gave him instruction, wealth, fame; and although in style he
+is thoroughly Spanish, we feel some difficulty in writing of him as
+belonging wholly to the Spanish school of art, so completely Italian
+was he by nurture, long residence, and in his death.
+
+Bred up in squalid penury, he appears to have looked upon the world
+as not his friend, and in his subsequent good fortunes to have
+revelled in describing with ghastly minuteness, and repulsive force,
+all "the worst ills that flesh is heir to." We well recollect the
+horror with which we gazed spell-bound on a series of his horrors
+in the Louvre--faugh! At Gosford House are a series of Franciscan
+monks, such as only a Spanish cloister could contain, painted with
+an evident fidelity to nature, and the minutest details of dress
+that is almost offensive--even the black dirt under the unwashed
+thumb nail is carefully represented by his odiously-accurate and
+powerful pencil.
+
+    "Non ragioniam di lor
+     Ma guada e passa."
+
+Had the bold buccaneers of the seventeenth century required the
+services of a painter to perpetuate the memory of their inventive
+brutality, and inconceivable atrocities, they would have found in El
+Spagnoletto an artist capable of delineating the agonies of their
+victims, and by taste and disposition not indisposed to their way of
+life. Yet in his own peculiar line he was unequalled, and his merits
+as a painter will always be recognised by every judge of art. He
+died at Naples, the scene of his triumphs, in 1656.
+
+The name of Claudio Coello is associated with the Escurial, and
+should have been introduced into the sketch we were giving of its
+artists, when the mighty reputation of Velasquez and Murillo broke
+in upon our order. He was born at Madrid about the middle of the
+seventeenth century, and studied in the school of the younger Rigi.
+In 1686 he succeeded Herrera as painter in ordinary to Charles
+II. This monarch had erected an altar in the great sacristy of
+the Escurial, to the miraculous bleeding wafer known as the Santa
+Forma; and on the death of its designer, Rigi, Coello was called
+upon to paint a picture that should serve as a veil for the host. On
+a canvass six yards high, by three wide, he executed an excellent
+work, representing the king and his court adoring the miraculous
+wafer, which is held aloft by the prior. This picture established
+his reputation, and in 1691 the chapter of Toledo, still the great
+patrons of art, appointed him painter to their cathedral. Coello was
+a most careful and painstaking painter, and his pictures, says our
+author, (vol. iii., p. 1018) "with much of Cano's grace of drawing,
+have also somewhat of the rich tones of Murillo, and the magical
+effect of Velasquez." He died, it is said, of disappointment at the
+success of his foreign rival, Luca Giordano, in 1693.
+
+With Charles II. passed away the Spanish sceptre from the house of
+Austria, nor, according to Mr Stirling, would the Genius of Painting
+remain to welcome the intrusive Bourbons:--
+
+    Old times were changed, old manners gone,
+    A stranger filled the Philips' throne;
+    And art, neglected and oppressed,
+    Wished to be with them, and at rest.
+
+But we must say that Mr Stirling, in his honest indignation against
+France and Frenchmen, has exaggerated the demerits of the Bourbon
+kings. Spanish art had been steadily declining for years before
+they, with ill-omened feet, crossed the Pyrenees. It was no Bourbon
+prince that brought Luca da Presto from Naples to teach the painters
+of Spain "how to be content with their faults, and get rid of their
+scruples;" and if the schools of Castile and Andalusia had ceased
+to produce such artists as those whose praises Mr Stirling has so
+worthily recorded, it appears scant justice to lay the blame on the
+new royal family. _Pictor nascitur, non fit_--no, not even by the
+wielders of the Spanish sceptre. In a desire to patronise art, and
+in munificence towards its possessors, Philip V., Ferdinand VI.,
+and Charles III., fell little short of their Hapsburg predecessors,
+but they had no longer the same material to work upon. The post
+which Titian had filled could find no worthier holder under Charles
+III., than Rafael Mengs, whom not only ignorant Bourbons, but the
+_conoscenti_ of Europe regarded as the mighty Venetian's equal;
+and Philip V. not only invited Hovasse, Vanloo, Procaccini, and
+other foreign artists to his court, but added the famous collection
+of marbles belonging to Christina of Sweden to those acquired by
+Velasquez, at an expense of twelve thousand doubloons. To him, also,
+is due the completion of the palace of Aranjuez, and the design
+of La Granja; nor, when fire destroyed the Alcazar, did Philip V.
+spare his diminished treasures, in raising up on its time-hallowed
+site a palace which, in Mr Stirling's own words, "in spite of its
+narrowed proportions, is still one of the largest and most imposing
+in Europe."--(Vol. iii., p. 1163.)
+
+Ferdinand VI. built, at the enormous expense of nineteen millions
+of reals the convent of nuns of the order of St Vincent de Sales,
+and employed in its decoration all the artistic talent that Spain
+then could boast of. Nor can he be blamed if that was but little;
+for if royal patronage can produce painters of merit, this monarch,
+by endowing the Academy of St Ferdinand with large revenues, and
+housing it in a palace, would have revived the glories of Spanish
+art.
+
+His successor, Charles III., an artist of some repute himself,
+sincerely loved and generously fostered the arts. While King of the
+Two Sicilies, he had dragged into the light of day the long-lost
+wonders of Herculaneum and Pompeii; and when called to the throne
+of Spain and the Indies, he manifested his sense of the obligations
+due from royalty to art, by conferring fresh privileges on the
+Academy of St Ferdinand, and founding two new academies, one in
+Valencia, the other in Mexico. If Mengs and Tiepolo, and other
+mediocrities, were the best living painters his patronage could
+discover, it is evident from his ultra-protectionist decree against
+the exportation of Murillo's, pictures, that he fully appreciated
+the works of the mighty dead; and, had his spirit animated Spanish
+officials, many a masterpiece that now mournfully, and without
+meaning, graces the Hermitage at St Petersburg, or the Louvre at
+Paris, would still be hanging over the altar, or adorning the
+refectory for which it was painted, at Seville or Toledo. Even
+Charles IV., "the drivelling tool of Godoy," was a collector of
+pictures, and founder of an academy. In his disastrous reign
+flourished Francisco Goya y Lucientes, the last Spanish painter who
+has obtained a niche in the Temple of Fame. Though portraits and
+caricatures were his forte, in that venerable museum of all that is
+beautiful in Spanish Art--the cathedral at Toledo--is to be seen a
+fine religious production of his pencil, representing the Betrayal
+of our Lord. But he loved painting at, better than for the church;
+and those who have examined and wondered at the grotesque satirical
+carvings of the stalls in the cathedral at Manchester, will be
+able to form some idea of Goya's anti-monkish caricatures. Not
+Lord Mark Kerr, when giving the rein to his exuberant fancy, ever
+devised more ludicrous or repulsive "monsters" than this strange
+successor to the religious painters of orthodox Spain. But when
+the vice, and intrigues, and imbecility of the royal knives and
+fools, whom his ready graver had exposed to popular ridicule, had
+yielded to the unsupportable tyranny of French invaders, the same
+indignant spirit that hurried the water-carriers of Madrid into
+unavailing conflict with the troops of Murat, guided his caustic
+hand against the fierce oppressors of his country; and, while
+Gilray was exciting the angry contempt of all true John Bulls at
+the impudence of the little Corsican upstart, Goya was appealing
+to his countrymen's bitter experience of the tender mercies of the
+French invaders. He died at Bordeaux in 1828. Mr Stirling closes his
+labours with a graceful tribute to those of Cean Bermudez, "the able
+and indefatigable historian of Spanish art, to whose rich harvest of
+valuable materials I have ventured to add the fruit of my own humble
+gleanings--" a deserved tribute, and most handsomely rendered. But,
+before we dismiss this pleasant theme of Spanish art, we would add
+one artist more to the catalogue of Spanish painters--albeit, that
+artist is a Bourbon!
+
+Near the little town of Azpeitia, in Biscay, stands the magnificent
+college of the Jesuits, built on the birth-place of Ignatius Loyola.
+Here, in a low room at the top of the building, are shown a piece
+of the bed in which he died, and his autograph; and here among its
+cool corridors and ever-playing fountains, in 1839, was living the
+royal painter--the Infante Don Sebastian. A strange spectacle,
+truly, did that religious house present in the summer of 1839:
+wild Biscayan soldiers and dejected Jesuits, red boynas and black
+cowls, muskets and crucifixes, oaths and benedictions, crossed and
+mingled with each other in picturesque, though profane disorder;
+and here, released from the cares of his military command, and free
+to follow the bent of his disposition, the ex-commander-in-chief
+of the Carlist forces was quietly painting altar-pieces, and
+dashing off caricatures. In the circular church which, of exquisite
+proportions, forms the centre of the vast pile, and is beautiful
+with fawn-coloured marble and gold, hung a large and well-painted
+picture of his production; and those who are curious in such matters
+may see a worse specimen of his royal highness's skill in Pietro
+di Cortona's church of St Luke at Rome. On one side of the altar
+is Canova's beautiful statue of Religion preaching; on the other
+the Spanish prince's large picture of the Crucifixion; but, alas!
+it must be owned that the inspiration which guided Velasquez to
+his conception of that sublime subject was denied to the royal
+amateur. In the academy of St Luke, adjoining the church, is a
+well-executed bust of Canova, by the Spanish sculptor Alvarez. We
+suspect that, like Goya, the Infante would do better to stick to
+caricature, in which branch of art many a pleasant story is told of
+his proficiency. Seated on a rocky plateau, which, if commanding
+a view of Bilbao and its defenders, was also exposed to their
+fire, 'tis said the royal artist would amuse himself and his staff
+with drawing the uneasy movements, and disturbed countenances, of
+some unfortunate London reporters, who, attached to the Carlist
+headquarters, were invited by the commander-in-chief to attend his
+person, and enjoy the perilous honour of his company. Be this,
+however, as it may, we think we have vindicated the claim of one
+living Bourbon prince to be admitted into the roll of Spanish
+painters in the next edition of the _Annals_.
+
+In these tumultuous days, when
+
+  "Royal heads are haunted like a maukin,"
+
+over half the Continent, and even in steady England grave
+merchants and wealthy tradesmen are counselling together on how
+little their sovereign can be clothed and fed, and all things are
+being brought to the vulgar test of _L. s. d._, it is pleasant to
+turn to the artistic annals of a once mighty empire like Spain, and
+see how uniformly, for more than five hundred years, its monarchs
+have been the patrons, always munificent, generally discriminating,
+of the fine arts--how, from the days of Isabella the Catholic, to
+those of Isabella the Innocent, the Spanish sceptre has courted,
+not disdained, the companionship of the pencil and the chisel.
+Mr Stirling has enriched his pages with many an amusing anecdote
+illustrative of this royal love of art, and suggestive, alas! of
+the painful reflection, that the future annalist of the artists of
+England will find great difficulty in scraping together half-a-dozen
+stories of a similar kind. With the one striking exception of
+Charles I., we know not who among our sovereigns can be compared,
+as a patron of art, to any of the Spanish sovereigns, from Charles
+V. of the Austrian to Charles III. of the Bourbon race. Lord Hervey
+has made notorious George II's ignorance and dislike of art. Among
+the many noble and kingly qualities of his grandson, we fear a
+love and appreciation of art may not be reckoned; and although, in
+his intercourse with men of genius, George IV. was gracious and
+generous, what can be said in favour of his taste and discernment?
+The previous life of William IV., the mature age at which he
+ascended the throne, and the troublous character of his reign,
+explain why art received but slight countenance from the court of
+the frank and noble-hearted Sailor Prince; but we turn with hope to
+the future. The recent proceedings in the Court of Chancery have
+made public a fact, already known to many, that her Majesty wields
+with skilful hand a graceful graver, and the Christmas plays acted
+at Windsor are a satisfactory proof that English art and genius are
+not exiled from England's palaces. The professors, then, of that art
+which Velasquez and Rubens, Murillo and Vandyck practised, shall yet
+see that the Crown of England is not only in ancient legal phrase,
+"the Fountain of Honour," but that it loves to direct its grateful
+streams in their honoured direction. Free was the intercourse,
+unfettered the conversation, independent the relations, between
+Titian and Charles V., Velasquez and Philip IV.; let us hope that
+Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, will yet witness a revival
+of those palmy days of English art, when Inigo Jones, and Vandyck,
+and Cowley, Waller, and Ben Jonson, shed a lustre on the art-loving
+court of England!
+
+The extracts we have given from Mr Stirling's work will have
+sufficiently shown the scope of the _Annals_, and the spirit and
+style in which they are written. There is no tedious, inflexible,
+though often unmanageable leading idea, or theory of art, running
+through these lively volumes. In the introduction, whatever is to
+be said on the philosophy of Spanish art is carefully collected,
+and the reader is thenceforward left at liberty to carry on the
+conclusions of the introduction with him in his perusal of the
+_Annals_, or to drop them at the threshold. We would, however,
+strongly recommend all who desire to appreciate Spanish art, never
+to forget that she owes all her beauty and inspiration to Spanish
+nature and Spanish religion. Remember this, O holyday tourist along
+the Andalusian coast, or more adventurous explorer of Castile and
+Estremadura, and you will not be disappointed with her productions.
+Mr Stirling has not contented himself with doing ample justice to
+the great painters, and slurring over the comparatively unknown
+artists, whose merits are in advance of their fame, but has embraced
+in his careful view the long line of Spanish artists who have
+flourished or faded in the course of nearly eight hundred years; and
+he has accomplished this difficult task, not in the plodding spirit
+of a Dryasdust, or with the curt dulness of a catalogue-monger,
+but with the discriminating good taste of an accomplished English
+gentleman, and in a style at once racy and rhetorical. There are
+whole pages in the _Annals_ as full of picturesque beauty as the
+scenes or events they describe, and of melody, as an Andalusian
+summer's eve; indeed, the vigorous fancy and genial humour of
+the author have, on some few occasions, led him to stray from
+those strict rules of =aidos=, which we are old-fashioned enough
+to wish always observed. But where the charms and merits are so
+great, and so many, and the defects so few and so small, we may
+safely leave the discovery of the latter to the critical reader, and
+satisfy our conscience by expressing a hope that, when Mr Stirling
+next appears in the character of author--a period not remote, we
+sincerely trust--he will have discarded those few scentless flowers
+from his literary garden, and present us with a bouquet--
+
+    "Full of sweet buds and roses,
+     A box where sweets compacted lie."
+
+But if he never again put pen to paper, in these annals of the
+artists of Spain he has given to the reading public a work which,
+for utility of design, patience of research, and grace of language,
+merits and has won the highest honours of authorship.
+
+
+
+
+THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED.[19]
+
+  [19] _The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History, Affinities, and
+  Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other Extinct Birds of the
+  Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon._ By H. E. STRICKLAND,
+  M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean Society, &c., and
+  A. G. MELVILLE, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. One vol., royal quarto:
+  London, 1848.
+
+
+What was the Dodo? When was the Dodo? Where is the Dodo? are all
+questions, the first more especially, which it is fully more easy
+to ask than answer. Whoever has looked through books on natural
+history--for example, that noted but now scarce instructor of our
+early youth, the _Three Hundred Animals_--must have observed a
+somewhat ungainly creature, with a huge curved bill, a shortish
+neck, scarcely any wings, a plumy tuft upon the back--considerably
+on the off-side, though pretending to be a tail,--and a very
+shapeless body, extraordinarily large and round about the hinder
+end. This anomalous animal being covered with feathers, and having,
+in addition to the other attributes above referred to, only two
+legs, has been, we think justly, regarded as a bird, and has
+accordingly been named the Dodo. But why it should be so named
+is another of the many mysterious questions, which require to be
+considered in the history of this unaccountable creature. No one
+alleges, nor can we conceive it possible, that it claims kindred
+with either of the only two human beings we ever heard of who
+bore the name: "And after him (Adino the Eznite) was Eleazar the
+son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David,
+when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together
+to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away." Our only other
+human Dodo belonged to the fair sex, and was the mother of the
+famous Zoroaster, who flourished in the days of Darius Hystaspes,
+and brought back the Persians to their ancient fire-worship, from
+the adoration of the twinkling stars. The name appears to have
+been dropped by both families, as if they were somewhat ashamed of
+it; and we feel assured that of such of our readers as admit that
+Zoroaster must have had a mother of some sort, very few really
+remember now-a-days that her name was Dodo. There were no baptismal
+registers in those times; or, if such existed, they were doubtless
+consumed in the "great fire"--a sort of periodical, it may be
+providential, mode of shortening the record, which seems to occur
+from time to time in all civilised countries.
+
+But while the creature in question,--we mean the feathered
+biped--has been continuously presented to view in those "vain
+repetitions" which unfortunately form the mass of our information in
+all would-be popular works on natural history, we had actually long
+been at a stand-still in relation to its essential attributes--the
+few competent authorities who had given out their opinion upon this,
+as many thought, stereotyped absurdity, being so disagreed among
+themselves as to make confusion worse confounded. The case, indeed,
+seemed desperate; and had it not been that we always entertained a
+particular regard for old Clusius, (of whom by-and-by,) and could
+not get over the fact that a Dodo's head existed in the Ashmolean
+Museum, Oxford, and a Dodo's foot in the British Museum, London,
+we would willingly have indulged the thought that the entire Dodo
+was itself a dream. But, shaking off the cowardly indolence which
+would seek to shirk the investigation of so great a question, let us
+now inquire into a piece of ornithological biography, which seemed
+so singularly to combine the familiar with the fabulous. Thanks
+to an accomplished and persevering naturalist of our own day--one
+of the most successful and assiduous inquirers of the younger
+generation--we have now all the facts, and most of the fancies,
+laid before us in a splendid royal quarto volume, just published,
+with numerous plates, devoted to the history and illustration of
+the "Dodo and its Kindred." It was, in truth, the latter term that
+cheered our heart, and led us again towards a subject which had
+previously produced the greatest despondency; for we had always,
+though most erroneously, fancied that the great misformed lout of
+our _Three Hundred Animals_ was all alone in the wide world, unable
+to provide for himself, (and so, fortunately, without a family,)
+and had never, in truth, had either predecessors or posterity. Mr
+Strickland, however, has brought together the _disjecta membra_ of
+a family group, showing not only fathers and mothers, sisters and
+brothers, but cousins, and kindred of all degrees. Their sedate and
+somewhat sedentary mode of life is probably to be accounted for,
+not so much by their early habits as their latter end. Their legs
+are short, their wings scarcely existant, but they are prodigiously
+large and heavy in the hinder-quarters; and organs of flight would
+have been but a vain thing for safety, as they could not, in such
+wooded countries as these creatures inhabited, have been made
+commensurate with the uplifting of such solid bulk, placed so far
+behind that centre of gravity where other wings are worked. We can
+now sit down in Mr Strickland's company, to discuss the subject, not
+only tranquilly, but with a degree of cheerfulness which we have not
+felt for many a day: thanks to his kindly consideration of the Dodo
+and "its kindred."
+
+The geographical reader will remember that to the eastward of the
+great, and to ourselves nearly unknown, island of Madagascar, there
+lies a small group of islands of volcanic origin, which, though not
+exactly contiguous among themselves, are yet nearer to each other
+than to the greater island just named, and which is interposed
+between them and the coast of Southern Africa. They are named
+Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius, or the Isle of France. There is
+proof that not fewer than four distinct species of large-bodied,
+short-winged birds, of the Dodo type, were their inhabitants in
+comparatively recent times, and have now become utterly extinct. We
+say utterly, because neither proof nor vestige of their existence
+elsewhere has been at any time afforded; and the comparatively
+small extent, and now peopled state of the islands in question,
+(where they are no longer known,) make the continuous and unobserved
+existence of these birds, so conspicuous in size and slow of foot,
+impossible.
+
+Now, it is this recent and total extinction which renders the
+subject one of more than ordinary interest. Death is an admitted
+law of nature, in respect to the _individuals_ of all species.
+Geology, "dragging at each remove a lengthened chain" has shown how,
+at different and distant eras, innumerable tribes have perished
+and been supplanted, or at least replaced, by other groups of
+species, entire races, better fitted for the great climatic and
+other physical changes, which our earth's surface has undergone
+from time to time. How these changes were brought about, many,
+with more or less success, (generally less,) have tried to say.
+Organic remains--that is, the fossilised remnants of ancient
+species--sometimes indicate a long continuance of existence,
+generation after generation living in tranquillity, and finally
+sinking in a quiet grave; while other examples show a sudden and
+violent death, in tortuous and excited action, as if they had been
+almost instantaneously overwhelmed and destroyed by some great
+catastrophe.
+
+Several local extinctions of elsewhere existing species are known
+to naturalists--such as those of the beaver, the bear, and the
+wolf, which no longer occur in Great Britain, though historically
+known, as well as organically proved by recent remains, to have
+lived and died among us. Their extinction was slow and gradual,
+and resulted entirely from the inroads which the human race--that
+is, the increase of population, and the progress of agriculture
+and commerce--necessarily made upon their numbers, which thus
+became "_few_ by degrees, and beautifully less." The beaver might
+have carried on business well enough, in his own quiet way,
+although frequently incommoded by the love of peltry on the part
+of a hat-wearing people; but it is clear that no man with a small
+family, and a few respectable farm-servants, could either permit
+a large and hungry wolf to be continually peeping at midnight
+through the key-hole of the nursery, or allow a brawny bruin to
+snuff too frequently under the kitchen door, (after having hugged
+the watch-dog to death,) when the serving-maids were at supper. The
+extirpation, then, of at least two of those quondam British species
+became a work of necessity and mercy, and might have been tolerated
+even on a Sunday between sermons--especially as naturalists have it
+still in their power to study the habits of similar wild beasts, by
+no means yet extinct, in the neighbouring countries of France and
+Germany.
+
+But the death of the Dodo and its kindred is a more affecting fact,
+as involving the extinction of an entire race, root and branch, and
+proving that death is a law of the _species_, as well as of the
+individuals which compose it,--although the life of the one is so
+much more prolonged than that of the other that we can seldom obtain
+any positive proof of its extinction, except by the observance of
+geological eras. Certain other still existing species, well known
+to naturalists, may be said to be, as it were, just hovering on
+the brink of destruction. One of the largest and most remarkable
+of herbivorous animals--a species of wild cattle, the aurochs
+or European bison (_B. priscus_)--exists now only in the forest
+of Bialowicksa, from whence the Emperor of Russia has recently
+transmitted a living pair to the Zoological Society of London.
+Several kinds of birds are also evidently on their last legs. For
+example, a singular species of parrot, (_Nestor productus_,) with
+the termination of the upper mandible much attenuated, peculiar to
+Phipps's Island, near Norfolk Island, has recently ceased to exist
+there in the wild state, and is now known as a living species only
+from a few surviving specimens kept in cages, and which refuse to
+breed. The burrowing parrot from New Zealand is already on the road
+to ruin; and more than one species of that singular and wingless
+bird, called _Apteryx_, also from the last-named island, may be
+placed in the same category. Even in our own country, if the landed
+proprietors were to yield to the clamour of the Anti-Game-Law
+League, the red grouse or moor-game might cease to be, as they occur
+nowhere else on the known earth save in Britain and the Emerald Isle.
+
+The geographical distribution of animals, in general, has been
+made conformable to laws which we cannot fathom. A mysterious
+relationship exists between certain organic structures and those
+districts of the earth's surface which they inhabit. Certain
+extensive groups, in both the animal and vegetable kingdom,
+are found to be restricted to particular continents, and their
+neighbouring islands. Of some the distribution is very extensive,
+while others are totally unknown except within a limited space, such
+as some solitary isle,
+
+  "Placed far amid the melancholy main."
+
+     "In the present state of science," says Mr Strickland, "we must
+     be content to admit the existence of this law, without being
+     able to enunciate its preamble. It does _not_ imply that organic
+     distribution depends on soil and climate; for we often find a
+     perfect identity of these conditions in opposite hemispheres,
+     and in remote continents, whose faunae and florae are almost
+     wholly diverse. It does not imply that allied but distinct
+     organisms have been adduced, by generation or spontaneous
+     development, from the same original stock; for (to pass over
+     other objections) we find detached volcanic islets, which have
+     been ejected from beneath the ocean, (such as the Galapagos,
+     for instance,) inhabited by terrestrial forms allied to those
+     of the nearest continent, though hundreds of miles distant, and
+     evidently never connected with them. But this fact may indicate
+     that the Creator, in forming new organisms to discharge the
+     functions required from time to time by the ever vacillating
+     balance of nature, has thought fit to preserve the regularity
+     of the system by modifying the types of structure already
+     established in the adjacent localities, rather than to proceed
+     _per saltum_ by introducing forms of more foreign aspect."
+
+In conformity with this relation between geographical distribution
+and organic structure, it has been ascertained that a small portion
+of the indigenous animals and plants of the islands of Rodriguez,
+Bourbon, and the Isle of France, are either allied to or identical
+with the productions of continental Africa, a larger portion with
+those of Madagascar, while certain species are altogether peculiar
+to the insular group above named.
+
+     "And as these three islands form a detached cluster, as compared
+     to other lands, so do we find in them a peculiar group of birds,
+     specifically different in each island, yet allied together in
+     their general characters, and remarkably isolated from any
+     known forms in other parts of the world. These birds were of
+     large size and grotesque proportions, the wings too short and
+     feeble for flight, the plumage loose and decomposed, and the
+     general aspect suggestive of gigantic immaturity. Their history
+     is as remarkable as their origin. About two centuries ago,
+     their native isles were first colonised by man, by whom these
+     strange creatures were speedily exterminated. So rapid and so
+     complete was their extinction, that the vague descriptions given
+     of them by early navigators were long regarded as fabulous or
+     exaggerated; and these birds, almost contemporaries of our
+     great-grandfathers, became associated in the minds of many
+     persons with the griffin and the phoenix of mythological
+     antiquity."
+
+The aim and object of Mr Strickland's work is to vindicate the
+honesty of the rude voyagers of the seventeenth century; to collect
+together the scattered evidence regarding the Dodo and its kindred;
+to describe and depict the few anatomical fragments which are still
+extant of those lost species; to invite scientific travellers to
+further and more minute research; and to infer, from the authentic
+data, now in hand, the probable rank and position of these creatures
+in the scale of nature. We think he has achieved his object very
+admirably, and has produced one of the best and most interesting
+monographs with which it is our fortune to be acquainted.
+
+So far as we can see, the extension of man's more immediate
+influence and agency is the sole cause of the disappearance of
+species in modern times--at least we have no proof that any of these
+species have perished by what can be called a catastrophe: this is
+well exemplified by what we now know of the Dodo and its kindred.
+
+The islands of Mauritius and Bourbon were discovered in the
+sixteenth century, (authorities differ as to the precise period,
+which they vary from 1502 to 1545,) by Pedro Mascaregnas, a
+Portuguese, who named the latter after himself; while he called
+the former Cerne, a term applied by Pliny to an island in another
+quarter. Of this Cerne nothing definite was ascertained till the
+year 1598, when the Dutch, under Jacob Cornelius Neck, finding it
+uninhabited, took possession, and changed its name to Mauritius. In
+the narrative of the voyage, of which there are several accounts in
+different tongues, we find the following notice:--
+
+     "This island, besides being very fertile in terrestrial
+     products, feeds vast numbers of birds, such as turtle-doves,
+     which occur in such plenty that three of our men sometimes
+     captured one hundred and fifty in half a day, and might easily
+     have taken more by hand, or killed them with sticks, if we
+     had not been overloaded with the burden of them. Grey parrots
+     are also common there, and other birds, besides a large kind
+     bigger than our swans, with large heads, half of which is
+     covered with skin like a hood. These birds want wings, in
+     place of which are three or four thickish feathers. The tail
+     consists of a few slender curved feathers of a gray colour. We
+     called them _Walckvogel_, for this reason, that, the longer
+     they were boiled, the tougher and more uneatable they became.
+     Their stomachs, however, and breasts, were easy to masticate.
+     Another reason for the name was that we had an abundance of
+     turtle-doves, of a much sweeter and more agreeable flavour."--De
+     Bry's _India Orientalis_, (1601,) pars v. p. 7.
+
+These walckvogel were the birds soon afterwards called Dodos. The
+description given by Clusius, in his _Exotica_, (1605,) is chiefly
+taken from one of the published accounts of Van Neck's voyage, but
+he adds the following notice, as from personal observation:--
+
+     "After I had written down the history of this bird as well
+     as I could, I happened to see in the house of Peter Pauwius,
+     Professor of Medicine in the University of Leyden, a leg cut off
+     at the knee, and recently brought from the Mauritius. It was
+     not very long, but rather exceeded four inches from the knee
+     to the bend of the foot. Its thickness, however, was great,
+     being nearly four inches in circumference; and it was covered
+     with numerous scales, which in front were wider and yellow, but
+     smaller and dusky behind. The upper part of the toes was also
+     furnished with single broad scales, while the lower part was
+     wholly callous. The toes were rather short for so thick a leg:
+     the claws were all thick, hard, black, less than an inch long;
+     but the claw of the hind toe was longer than the rest, and
+     exceeded an inch."
+
+A Dutch navigator, Heemskerk, remained nearly three months in the
+Mauritius, on his homeward voyage in 1602; and in a published
+journal kept by Reyer Cornelisz, we read of _Wallichvogels_, and
+a variety of other game. One of Heemskerk's captains, Willem van
+West-Zanen by name, also left a journal--apparently not published
+until 1648--at which time it was edited in an enlarged form by H.
+Soeteboom. We there find repeated mention of _Dod-aarsen_ or Dodos;
+and the sailors seem to have actually revelled in these birds,
+without suffering from surfeit or nausea like Van Neck's crew. As
+this tract is very rare, and has never appeared in an English form,
+we shall avail ourselves of Mr Strickland's translation of a few
+passages bearing on the subject in question:--
+
+     "The sailors went out every day to hunt for birds and other
+     game, such as they could find on land, while they became less
+     active with their nets, hooks, and other fishing-tackle. No
+     quadrupeds occur there except cats, though our countrymen have
+     subsequently introduced goats and swine. The herons were less
+     tame than the other birds, and were difficult to procure,
+     owing to their flying amongst the thick branches of the trees.
+     They also caught birds which some name _Dod-aarsen_, others
+     _Dronten_. When Jacob Van Neck was here, these birds were called
+     _Wallich-vogels_, because even a long boiling would scarcely
+     make them tender, but they remained tough and hard, with the
+     exception of the breast and belly, which were very good; and
+     also because, from the abundance of turtle-doves which the men
+     procured, they became disgusted with dodos. The figure of these
+     birds is given in the accompanying plate: they have great heads,
+     with hoods thereon; they are without wings or tail, and have
+     only little winglets on their sides, and four or five feathers
+     behind, more elevated than the rest; they have beaks and feet,
+     and commonly, in the stomach, a stone the size of a fist....
+
+     "The dodos, with their round sterns, (for they were well
+     fattened,) were also obliged to turn tail; everything that could
+     move was in a bustle; and the fish, which had lived in peace for
+     many a year, were pursued into the deepest water-pools....
+
+     "On the 25th July, William and his sailors brought some dodos,
+     which were very fat; the whole crew made an ample meal from
+     three or four of them, and a portion remained over.... They
+     sent on board smoked fish, salted dodos, land-tortoises, and
+     other game, which supply was very acceptable. They were busy
+     for some days bringing provisions to the ship. On the 4th of
+     August, William's men brought fifty large birds on board the
+     _Bruyn-Vis_; among them were twenty-four or twenty-five dodos,
+     so large and heavy, that they could not eat any two of them for
+     dinner, and all that remained over was salted.
+
+     "Another day, Hoogeven (William's supercargo) set out from the
+     tent with four seamen, provided with sticks, nets, muskets, and
+     other necessaries for hunting. They climbed up mountain and
+     hill, roamed through forest and valley, and, during the three
+     days that they were out, they captured another half-hundred
+     of birds, including a matter of twenty dodos, all which they
+     brought on board and salted. Thus were they, and the other crews
+     in the fleet, occupied in fowling and fishing."
+
+In regard to the appellations of these birds, it is not altogether
+easy to determine the precise date at which the synonymous term
+_Dodars_, from which our name of Dodo is by some derived, was
+introduced. It seems first to occur in the journal of Willem van
+West-Zanen; but that journal, though written in 1603, appears to
+have remained unpublished till 1648, and the name may have been
+an interpolation by his editor, Soeteboom. Matelief's Journal,
+also, which makes mention of _Dodaersen_, otherwise _Dronten_, was
+written in 1606, and Van der Hagen's in 1607; but Mr Strickland has
+been unable to find an edition of either work of earlier date than
+1646, and so the occurrence of these words may be likewise due to
+the officiousness of editors. Perhaps the earliest use of the word
+Dodars may date from the publication of Verhuffen's voyage, (1613,)
+where, however, it occurs under the corrupt form of _Totersten_.
+There seems little doubt that the name of Dodo is derived from
+the Dutch root, _Dodoor_, which signifies _sluggard_, and is
+appropriate to the leisurely gait and heavy aspect of the creatures
+in question. Dodars is probably a homely or familiar phrase among
+Dutch sailors, and may be regarded as more expressive than elegant.
+Our own Sir Thomas Herbert was the first to use the name of Dodo
+in its modern form, and he tells us that it is a Portuguese word.
+_Doudo_, in that language, certainly signifies "foolish," or
+"simple," and might have been well applied to the unwary habits
+and defenceless condition of these almost wingless and totally
+inexperienced species; but, as none of the Portuguese voyagers seem
+to have mentioned the Dodo by any name whatever, nor even to have
+visited the Mauritius, after their first discovery of the island by
+Pedro Mascaregnas already named, it appears far more probable that
+Dodars is a genuine Dutch term, altered, and it may be amended, by
+Sir Thomas Herbert, to suit his own philological fancies.
+
+The Dutch, indeed, seem to have been inspired with a genuine love
+of Dodos, and never allowed even the cooing of the delicately
+tender turtle-doves to prevent their laying in an ample store of
+the more solid, if less sentimental species. Thus, Van der Hagen,
+who commanded two ships which remained for some weeks at the
+Mauritius in 1607, not only feasted his crews on great abundance of
+"tortoises, _dodars_, gray parroquets, and other game," but salted
+large quantities, for consumption during the voyage. Verhuffen
+touched at the same island in 1611, and it is in his narrative
+(published at Frankfort in 1613) that Dodos are called _Totersten_.
+He describes them as having--
+
+     "A skin like a monk's cowl on the head, and no wings; but, in
+     place of them, about five or six yellow feathers: likewise, in
+     place of a tail, are four or five crested feathers. In colour
+     they are gray; men call them _Totersten_ or _Walckvoegel_;
+     they occur there in great plenty, insomuch that the Dutch
+     daily caught and ate many of them. For not only these, but in
+     general all the birds there, are so tame that they killed the
+     turtle-doves, as well as the other wild pigeons and parrots,
+     with sticks, and caught them by the hand. They also captured the
+     totersten or walckvoegel with their hands; but were obliged to
+     take good care that these birds did not bite them on the arms or
+     legs with their beaks, which are very strong, thick, and hooked;
+     for they are wont to bite desperately hard."
+
+We are glad to be informed, by the above, of this attempt at
+independence, or something at least approaching to the defensive
+system. It forms an additional title, on the part of the Dodo, to be
+regarded, at all events by the Dutch _cuisiniers_, as "_une piece de
+resistance_."
+
+Sir Thomas Herbert, already named, visited the Mauritius in 1627,
+and found it still uninhabited by man. In his _Relation of some
+yeares' Travaile_, which, for the amusement of his later years, he
+seems to have repeatedly rewritten for various editions, extending
+from 1634 to 1677, he both figures and describes our fat friend. His
+narration is as follows:--
+
+     "The dodo, a bird the Dutch call walckvoegel or dod-eersen:
+     her body is round and fat, which occasions the slow pace, or
+     that her corpulencie; and so great as few of them weigh less
+     than fifty pound; meat it is with some, but better to the eye
+     than stomach, such as only a strong appetite can vanquish; but
+     otherwise, through its oyliness, it cannot chuse but quickly
+     cloy and nauseate the stomach, being indeed more pleasurable to
+     look than feed upon. It is of a melancholy visage, as sensible
+     of nature's injury in framing so massie a body to be directed
+     by complimental wings, such indeed as are unable to hoise her
+     from the ground, serving only to rank her amongst birds. Her
+     head is variously drest; for one half is hooded with down of a
+     dark colour, the other half naked, and of a white hue, as if
+     lawn were drawn over it; her bill hooks and bends downwards; the
+     thrill or breathing-place is in the midst, from which part to
+     the end the colour is of a light green, mixt with pale yellow;
+     her eyes are round and bright, and instead of feathers has a
+     most fine down; her train (like to a China beard) is no more
+     than three or four short feathers; her leggs are thick and
+     black; her talons great; her stomach fiery, so that as she can
+     easily digest stones; in that and shape not a little resembling
+     the ostrich."--(P. 383.)
+
+Francois Cauche, an account of whose voyage, made in 1638, is
+published in the _Relations Veritables et Curieuses de l'Isle de
+Madagascar_, (Paris, 1651) states that he saw in the Mauritius birds
+called Oiseaux de Nazaret, larger than a swan, covered with black
+down, with crested feathers on the rump, "as many in number as the
+bird is years old." In place of wings there are some black curved
+feathers, without webs. The cry is like that of a gosling.
+
+     "They only lay one egg, which is white, the _size of a halfpenny
+     roll_; by the side of which they place a white stone, of the
+     dimensions of a hen's egg. They lay on grass, which they
+     collect, and make their nests in the forests; if one kills the
+     young one, a gray stone is found in the gizzard. We call them
+     Oiseaux de Nazaret. The fat is excellent to give ease to the
+     muscles and nerves."
+
+Here let us pause a moment, to consider what was the probable size
+of a halfpenny roll in the year 1638. How many vast and various
+elements must be taken to account in calculating the dimensions
+of that "_pain d'un sol!_" Macculloch, Cobden, Joseph Hume, come
+over and help us in this our hour of _knead_! Was corn high or
+low? were wages up or down? were bakers honest or dishonest? was
+there a fixed measure of quantity for these our matutinal baps? Did
+town-councils regulate their weight and quality, or was conscience
+left controller, from the quartern loaf downwards to the smallest
+form assumed by yeast and flour?
+
+  "Tell me where was fancy bread?"
+
+Does no one know precisely what was the size of a halfpenny roll in
+the year 1638? In that case, we shall not mention the dimensions of
+the Dodo's egg.
+
+There is no doubt that the bird recorded by Cauche was the true
+Dodo, although it is probable that he either described it from
+memory, or confused it with the descriptions then current of the
+cassowary. Thus he adds that the legs were of considerable length,
+that it had only three toes, and no tongue--characters (with the
+exception of the last, inapplicable, of course, to either kind)
+which truly indicate the latter species. This name of "bird of
+Nazareth" has, moreover, given rise to a false or phantom species,
+called _Didus Nazarenus_ in systematic works, and is supposed to
+have been derived from the small island or sandbank of Nazareth, to
+the north-east of Madagascar. Now Dr Hamel has recently rendered it
+probable that no such island or sandbank is in existence, and so we
+need not seek for its inhabitants: at all events, there is no such
+bird as the Nazarene Dodo--_Didus Nazarenus_.
+
+The next piece of evidence regarding the Dodo is highly interesting
+and important, as it shows that, at least in one instance, this
+extraordinary bird was transported alive to Europe, and exhibited in
+our own country. In a manuscript preserved in the British Museum,
+Sir Hamon Lestrange, the father of the more celebrated Sir Roger,
+in a commentary on Brown's _Vulgar Errors_, and _apropos_ of the
+ostrich, records as follows:--
+
+     "About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a
+     strange fowle hong out upon a cloth, and myselfe, with one or
+     two more then in company, went in to see it. It was kept in a
+     chamber, and was a great fowle somewhat bigger than the largest
+     turkey-cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker,
+     and of a more erect shape; coloured before like the breast of a
+     young cock fesan, and, on the back, of dunn or deare coulour.
+     The keeper called it a Dodo; and in the end of a chimney in
+     the chamber there lay a heape of large pebble stones, whereof
+     hee gave it many in our sight, some as bigg as nutmegs, and
+     the keeper told us she eats them, (conducing to digestion);
+     and though I remember not how farr the keeper was questioned
+     therein, yet I am confident that afterwards shee cast them all
+     againe."
+
+It is curious that no confirmation can be obtained of this
+exhibition from contemporary authorities. The period was prolific
+in pamphlets and broadsides, but political excitement probably
+engrossed the minds of the majority, and rendered them careless
+of the wonders of nature. Yet the individual in question may in
+all likelihood be traced down to the present day, and portions of
+it seen and handled by the existing generation. In Tradescant's
+catalogue of his "_Collection of Rarities preserved at South
+Lambeth, near London_," 1656, we find an entry--"Dodar from the
+island Mauritius; it is not able to flie, being so big." It is
+enumerated under the head of "Whole birds;" and Willughby, whose
+_Ornithologia_ appeared in 1676, says of the Dodo, "Exuvias hujusce
+avis vidimus in museo Tradescantiano." The same specimen is
+alluded to by Llhwyd in 1684, and by Hyde in 1700,--having passed,
+meanwhile, into the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, with the rest of
+the Tradescantian collection. As Tradescant was the most noted
+collector of things natural in his day, and there were few, if
+any, to enter into competition with him, it may be well supposed
+that such a _rara avis_ as a living Dodo would attract his close
+attention, and that it would, in all probability, find its way into
+his cabinet on its decease. It may, therefore, be inferred that the
+same individual which was exhibited in London, and described by
+Lestrange in 1638, is that recorded as a stuffed specimen in the
+catalogue of Tradescant's Museum, (1656,) and bequeathed by him,
+with his other curiosities, to Elias Ashmole, the munificent founder
+of the still existing museum at Oxford.
+
+The considerate reader will not unnaturally ask, Where is now that
+last of Dodos? and echo answers, Where? Alas! it was destroyed, "by
+order of the Visitors," in 1755. The following is the evidence of
+that destruction, as given by Mr J. S. Duncan in the 3d volume of
+the _Zoological Journal_, p. 559:--
+
+     "In the Ashmolean Catalogue, made by Ed. Llhwyd, musei
+     procustos, 1684, (Plott being then keeper,) the entry of the
+     bird is 'No. 29, Gallus gallinaceus peregrinus Clusii,' &c. In a
+     catalogue made subsequently to 1755, it is stated, 'The numbers
+     from 5 to 46, being decayed, were ordered to be removed at a
+     meeting of the majority of the Visitors, Jan. 8, 1755.' Among
+     these, of course, was included the Dodo, its number being 29.
+     This is further shown by a new catalogue, completed in 1756, in
+     which the order of the Visitors is recorded as follows:--'Illa
+     quibus nullus in margine assignatur numerus, a Musaeo subducta
+     sunt cimelia, annuentibus Vice-Cancellario aliisque Curatoribus
+     ad ea lustranda convocatis, die Januarii 8vo, A.D. 1755.' The
+     Dodo is one of those which are here without the number."
+
+By some lucky accident, however, a small portion of "this last
+descendant of an ancient race," as Mr Strickland terms it, escaped
+the clutches of the destroyers. "The head and one of the feet were
+saved from the flames, and are still preserved in the Ashmolean
+Museum."[20]
+
+  [20] The scientific value of these remnants, Mr Strickland informs
+  us, has been lately much increased by skilful dissection. Dr Acland,
+  the lecturer in anatomy, has divided the skin of the cranium down
+  the mesial line, and, by removing it from the left side, the entire
+  osteological structure of this extraordinary skull is exposed
+  to view, while on the other side the external covering remains
+  undisturbed. The solitary foot was formerly covered by decomposed
+  integuments, and presented few external characters. These have
+  been removed by Dr Kidd, the professor of medicine, who has made
+  an interesting preparation of both the osseous and tendinous
+  structures.--See _The Dodo and its Kindred_, p. 33.
+
+Let us now retrace our steps, for the sake of taking up, very
+briefly, the history of the other known remnants of this now
+extinct species. Among the printed books of the Ashmolean Museum,
+there is a small tract, of which the second edition (the first is
+without date) is entitled, "A Catalogue of many natural rarities,
+with great industry, cost, and thirty years' travel in foreign
+countries, collected by Robert Hubert, _alias_ Forges, gent. and
+sworn servant to his majesty; and daily to be seen at the place
+formerly called the Music House, near the west end of St Paul's
+Church," 12mo, London, 1665. At page 11 is the following entry:--"A
+legge of a Dodo, a great heavy bird that cannot fly: it is a bird
+of the Maurcius island." This specimen is supposed to be that which
+afterwards passed into the possession of the Royal Society, is
+recorded in their catalogue of _Natural and Artificial Curiosities_,
+published by Grew in 1681, and is now in the British Museum. It is
+somewhat larger than the Ashmolean foot, and, from its excellent
+state of preservation, finely exhibits the external characters of
+the toes and tarsus.
+
+In Olearus's catalogue of the museum at Gottorf, (the seat of the
+Dukes of Schleswig, and recently a less easy one than we have known
+it,) of which the first edition was published in 1666, there is the
+following notice of a Dodo's head:--
+
+     "No. 5 is the head of a foreign bird, which Clusius names
+     _Gallus peregrinus_, Mirenberg _Cygnus cucullatus_, and the
+     Dutch walghvoegel, from the disgust which they are said to have
+     taken to its hard flesh. The Dutch seem to have first discovered
+     this bird in the island of Mauritius; and it is stated to have
+     no wings, but in place of them two winglets, like the emeu and
+     the penguins."--(P. 25.)
+
+This specimen, after having been disregarded, if not forgotten,
+for nearly two centuries, was lately re-discovered, by Professor
+C. Reinhardt, amongst a mass of ancient rubbish, and is now in the
+public museum of Copenhagen, where it was examined by Mr Strickland
+two years ago.[21] The integumentary portions have been all removed,
+but it exhibits the same osteological characters as the Oxford head,
+though less perfect, the base of the occiput being absent. It is of
+somewhat smaller size.
+
+  [21] The collection of the Dukes of Schleswig was removed about the
+  year 1720, by Frederic IV., from Gottorf to Copenhagen, where it
+  is now incorporated with the Royal "Kunstkammer" of that northern
+  capital.
+
+The remnants now noticed--three heads and two feet--are the only
+ascertained existing portions of the famous Dodo; a bird which,
+as we have seen in the preceding extracts, might have been well
+enough known to such of our great great-grandfathers as were in the
+sea-faring line.
+
+But when did the last Dodo die? We cannot answer that question
+articulately, as to the very year, still less as to the season, or
+time of day--and we believe that no intimations of the event were
+sent to the kindred; but we do not hesitate to state our belief
+that that affecting occurrence or bereavement took place some time
+subsequent to the summer of 1681, and prior to 1693. The latest
+evidence of the existence of Dodos in the Mauritius is contained
+in a manuscript of the British Museum, entitled "A coppey of Mr
+Benj. Harry's Journall when he was chief mate of the Shippe Berkley
+Castle, Captn. Wm. Talbot commander, on voyage to the Coste and Bay,
+1679, which voyage they wintered at the Maurrisshes." On the return
+from India, being unable to weather the Cape of Good Hope, they
+determined to make for "the Marushes," the 4th June 1681. They saw
+the land on the 3d July, and on the 11th they began to build huts,
+and with much labour spread out their cargo to dry:--
+
+     "Now, having a little respitt, I will make a little description
+     of the island, first of its producks, then of its parts; ffirst,
+     of winged and feathered ffowle, the less passant are _Dodos,
+     whose fflesh is very hard_, a small sort of Gees, reasonably
+     good Teele, Cuckoes, Pasca fflemingos, Turtle Doves, large
+     Batts, many small birds which are good.... Heer are many wild
+     hoggs and land-turtle which are very good, other small creators
+     on the Land, as Scorpions and Musketoes, these in small numbers,
+     Batts and ffleys a multitude, Munkeys of various sorts."
+
+After this all historical evidence of the existence of the Dodo
+ceases, although we cannot doubt that they continued for yet a
+few years. The Dutch first colonised the Mauritius in 1644. The
+island is not above forty miles in length; and although, when first
+discovered, it was found clothed with dense forests of palms, and
+various other trees--among whose columnar stems and leafy umbrage
+the native creatures might find a safe abode, with food and
+shelter--how speedily would not the improvident rapacity of hungry
+colonists, or of reckless fresh-flesh-bereaved mariners, diminish
+the numbers of a large and heavy-bodied bird, of powerless wing
+and slow of foot, and useful, moreover, in the way of culinary
+consumption. Mr Strickland is of opinion that their destruction
+would be further hastened, or might be mainly caused, by the dogs,
+cats, and swine which accompany man in his migrations, and become
+themselves emancipated in the forests. All these creatures are more
+or less carnivorous, and are fond of eggs and young birds; and as
+the Dodo is said to have hatched only one egg at a time, a single
+savage mouthful might suffice to destroy the hope of a family for
+many a day.
+
+That the destruction of Dodos was completed by 1693, Mr Strickland
+thinks may be inferred from the narrative of Leguat, who, in
+that year, remained several months in the Mauritius, and, while
+enumerating its animal productions at considerable length, makes no
+mention whatever of the bird in question. He adds,--"L'isle etait
+autrefois toute remplie d'oyes et de canards sauvages; de poules
+d'eau, de gelinottes, de tortues de mer et de terre, _mais tout cela
+est devenue fort rare_." And, while referring to the "hogs of the
+China kind," he states that these beasts do a great deal of damage,
+by devouring all the young animals they can catch. It is thus
+sufficiently evident that civilisation was making aggressive inroads
+on the natural state of the Mauritius even in 1693.
+
+The Dutch evacuated the island in 1712, and were succeeded by the
+French, who colonised it under the name of Isle de France; and this
+change in the population no doubt accounts for the almost entire
+absence of any traditionary knowledge of this remarkable bird among
+the later inhabitants. Baron Grant lived in the Mauritius for twenty
+years from 1740; and his son, who compiled his papers into a history
+of the island, states that no trace of such a bird was to be found
+at that time. In the _Observations sur la Physique_ for the year
+1778, there is a negative notice, by M. Morel, of the Dodo and its
+kindred. "Ces oiseaux, si bien decrits dans le tome 2 de l'Histoire
+des Oiseaux de M. le Comte de Buffon, n'ont jamais ete vus aux Isles
+de France, &c., depuis plus de 60 ans que ces parages sont habites
+et visites par des colonies Francoises. Les plus anciens habitans
+assurent tous que ces oiseaux monstrueux leur ont toujours ete
+inconnus." M. Bory St Vincent, who visited the Mauritius and Bourbon
+in 1801, and has given us an account of the physical features of
+those islands in his "Voyage," assures us (vol. ii. p. 306) that he
+instituted all possible inquiries regarding the Dodo (or Dronte) and
+its kindred, without being able to pick up the slightest information
+on the subject; and although he advertised "une grande recompense a
+qui pourrait lui donner la moindre indice de l'ancienne existence
+de cet oiseau, un silence universel a prouve que le souvenir meme
+du Dronte etait perdu parmi les creoles." De Blainville informs us,
+(_Nouv. Ann. Mus._ iv. 31,) that the subject was discussed at a
+public dinner at the Mauritius in 1816, where were present several
+persons from seventy to ninety years of age, none of whom had any
+knowledge of any Dodo, either from recollection or tradition.
+Finally, Mr J. V. Thompson, who resided for some years in Mauritius
+prior to 1816, states, (_Mag. of Nat. Hist._, ii. 443,) that no more
+traces could then be found of the Dodo than of the truth of the tale
+of Paul and Virginia.
+
+But the historical evidence already adduced, as to the former
+existence of this bird, is confirmed in a very interesting manner
+by what may be called the pictorial proof. Besides the rude
+delineations given by the earlier voyagers, there are several old
+oil-paintings of the Dodo still extant, by skilful artists, who had
+no other object in view than to represent with accuracy the forms
+before them. These paintings are five in number, whereof one is
+anonymous; three bear the name of Roland Savery, an eminent Dutch
+animal-painter of the early portion of the seventeenth century, and
+one is by John Savery, Roland's nephew.
+
+The first of these is the best known, and is that from which the
+figure of the Dodo, in all modern compilations of ornithology,
+has been copied. It once belonged to George Edwards, who, in his
+work on birds, (vi. 294,) tells us, that "the original picture was
+drawn in Holland _from the living bird_, brought from St Maurice's
+island in the East Indies, in the early times of the discovery of
+the Indies by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. It was the property
+of the late Sir H. Sloane to the time of his death, and afterwards
+becoming my property. I deposited it in the British Museum as a
+great curiosity. The above history of the picture I had from Sir H.
+Sloane, and the late Dr Mortimer, secretary to the Royal Society."
+It is still preserved in the place to which Edwards had consigned
+it, and may be seen in the bird gallery, along with the actual foot
+already mentioned. Although without name or date, the similarity
+both of design and execution, leads to the conclusion that it was by
+one or other of the Saverys. It may be seen engraved in the _Penny
+Cyclopaedia_, in illustration of Mr Broderip's article _Dodo_ in that
+work.
+
+The second painting, one of Roland Savery's, is in the royal
+collection at the Hague, and may be regarded as a _chef-d'oeuvre_.
+It represents Orpheus charming the creation, and we there behold the
+Dodo spell-bound with his other mute companions. All the ordinary
+creatures there shown are depicted with the greatest truthfulness;
+and why should the artist, delighting, as he seems to have done, in
+tracing the most delicate features of familiar nature, have marred
+the beautiful consistency of his design by introducing a feigned,
+or even an exaggerated representation? We may here adduce the
+invaluable evidence of Professor Owen.
+
+     "While at the Hague, in the summer of 1838, I was much struck
+     with the minuteness and accuracy with which the exotic species
+     of animals had been painted by Savery and Breughel, in such
+     subjects as Orpheus charming the Beasts, &c., in which scope
+     was allowed for grouping together a great variety of animals.
+     Understanding that the celebrated menagerie of Prince Maurice
+     had afforded the living models to these artists, I sat down
+     one day before Savery's Orpheus and the Beasts, to make a list
+     of the species, which the picture sufficiently evinced that
+     the artist had had the opportunity to study alive. Judge of my
+     surprise and pleasure in detecting, in a dark corner of the
+     picture, (which is badly hung between two windows,) the _Dodo_,
+     beautifully finished, showing for example, though but three
+     inches long, the auricular circle of feathers, the scutation
+     of the tarsi, and the loose structure of the caudal plumes. In
+     the number and proportions of the toes, and in general form, it
+     accords with Edwards' oil-painting in the British Museum; and I
+     conclude that the miniature must have been copied from the study
+     of a living bird, which, it is most probable, formed part of
+     the Mauritian menagerie. The bird is standing in profile with a
+     lizard at its feet."--_Penny Cyclopaedia_, xxiii. p. 143.
+
+Mr Strickland, in 1845, made a search through the Royal Gallery of
+Berlin, which was known to contain several of Savery's pictures.
+Among them, we are happy to say that he found one representing
+the Dodo, with numerous other animals, "in Paradise!" It was very
+conformable with the figure last mentioned; but what renders this,
+our third portrait, of peculiar interest, is, that it affords
+a date--the words "Roelandt Savery fe. 1626," being inscribed
+on one corner. As the artist was born in 1576, he must have
+been twenty-three years old when Van Neck's expedition returned
+to Holland; and as we are told by De Bry, in reference to the
+Mauritius, that "aliae ibidem aves visae sunt, quas walkvogel Batavi
+nominarunt, et _unam secum in Hollandiam importarunt_," it is quite
+possible that the portrait of this individual may have been taken at
+the time, and afterwards recopied, both by himself and his nephew,
+in their later pictures. Professor Owen leans to the belief that
+Prince Maurice's collection afforded the living prototype,--an
+opinion so far strengthened by Edwards's tradition, that the
+painting in the British Museum was drawn in Holland from a "living
+bird." Either view is preferable to Dr Hamel's suggestion, that
+Savery's representation was taken from the Dodo exhibited in London,
+as that individual was seen alive by Sir Hamon Lestrange in 1638,
+and must therefore (by no means a likely occurrence) have lived, in
+the event supposed, at least twelve years in captivity.
+
+Very recently Dr J. J. de Tchudi, the well-known Peruvian traveller,
+transmitted to Mr Strickland an exact copy of another figure of
+the Dodo, which forms part of a picture in the imperial collection
+of the Belvedere at Vienna--by no means a safe location, in these
+tempestuous times, for the treasures of either art or nature. But we
+trust that Prince Windischgratz and the hanging committee will now
+see that all is right, and that General Bem has not been allowed to
+carry off this drawing of the Dodo in his carpet-bag. It is dated
+1628.
+
+     "There are two circumstances," says Mr Strickland, "which give
+     an especial interest to this painting. First, the novelty of
+     attitude in the Dodo, exhibiting an activity of character which
+     corroborates the supposition that the artist had living model
+     before him, and contrasting strongly with the aspect of passive
+     stolidity in the other pictures. And, secondly, the Dodo is
+     represented as watching, apparently with hungry looks, the
+     merry wriggling of an eel in the water! Are we hence to infer
+     that the Dodo fed upon eels? The advocates of the Raptorial
+     affinities of the Dodo, of whom we shall soon speak, will
+     doubtless reply in the affirmative; but, as I hope shortly
+     to demonstrate that it belongs to a family of birds all the
+     other members of which are frugivorous, I can only regard the
+     introduction of the eel as a pictorial license. In this, as
+     in all his other paintings, Savery brought into juxtaposition
+     animals from all countries, without regarding geographical
+     distribution. His delineations of birds and beasts were
+     wonderfully exact, but his knowledge of natural history probably
+     went no further; and although the Dodo is certainly _looking at_
+     the eel, yet we have no proof that he is going to _eat_ it. The
+     mere collocation of animals in an artistic composition, cannot
+     be accepted as evidence against the positive truths revealed by
+     comparative anatomy."--(P. 30.)
+
+The fifth and last old painting of the Dodo, is that now in the
+Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and presented to it by Mr Darby in 1813.
+Nothing is known of its previous history. It is the work of John
+Savery, the nephew of Roland, and is dated 1651. Its most peculiar
+character is the colossal scale on which it has been designed,--the
+Dodo of this canvass standing about three feet and a half in height.
+
+     "It is difficult," observes our author, "to assign a motive to
+     the artist for thus magnifying an object already sufficiently
+     uncouth in appearance. Were it not for the discrepancy of
+     dates, I should have conjectured that this was the identical
+     "picture of a strange fowle hong out upon a cloth," which
+     attracted the notice of Sir Hamon Lestrange and his friends, as
+     they "walked London streets" in 1638; the delineations used by
+     showmen being in general more remarkable for attractiveness than
+     veracity."--(P. 31.)
+
+We have now exhibited the leading facts which establish both the
+existence and extinction of this extraordinary bird: the existence,
+proved by the recorded testimony of the earlier navigators, the few
+but peculiar portions of structure which still remain among us, and
+the _vera effigies_ handed down by artists coeval with the period in
+which the Dodo lived: the non-existence, deduced from the general
+progress of events, and the absence of all knowledge of the species
+since the close of the seventeenth century, although the natural
+productions of the Mauritius are, in other respects, much better
+known to us now than then. Why any particular creature should have
+been so formed as to be unable to resist the progress of _humanity_,
+and should in consequence have died, it is not for us to say. "There
+are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our
+philosophy;" and of this we may feel assured, that if, as we doubt
+not, the Dodo is extinct, then it has served its end, whatever that
+might be.
+
+There is nothing imperfect in the productions of nature, although
+there are many organisms in which certain forms and faculties are
+less developed than in others. There are certainly, in particular
+groups, such things as rudimentary organs, which belong, as it were,
+not so much to the individual species, as to the general system
+which prevails in the larger and more comprehensive class to which
+such species belong; and in the majority of which these organs
+fulfil a frequent and obvious function, and so are very properly
+regarded as indispensable to the wellbeing of such as use them.
+But there are many examples in animal life which indicate that
+particular parts of structure remain, in certain species, for ever
+in an undeveloped state. In respect to teeth, for instance, the
+Greenland whale may be regarded as a _permanent suckling_; for that
+huge creature having no occasion for these organs, they never pierce
+the gums, although in early life they are distinctly traceable in
+the dental groove of the jaws. So the Dodo was a kind of _permanent
+nestling_, covered with down instead of feathers, and with wings
+and tail (the oars and rudder of all aerial voyagers) so short and
+feeble as to be altogether inefficient for the purposes of flight.
+Why should such things be? We cannot say. Can any one say why they
+should not be? The question is both wide and deep, and they are
+most likely to plunge into it who can neither dive nor swim. We
+agree with Mr Strickland, that these apparently anomalous facts
+are, in reality, indications of laws which the great Creator has
+been pleased to form and follow in the construction of organised
+beings,--inscriptions in an unknown hieroglyphic, which we may rest
+assured must have a meaning, but of which we have as yet scarcely
+learned the alphabet. "There appear, however, reasonable grounds for
+believing that the Creator has assigned to each class of animals a
+definite type or structure, from which He has never departed, even
+in the most exceptional or eccentric modifications of form."
+
+As to the true position of the Dodo in systematic ornithology,
+various opinions have been emitted by various men. The majority seem
+to have placed it in the great Rasorial or Gallinaceous order, as a
+component part of the family _Struthionidae_, or ostrich tribe.
+
+     "The bird in question," says Mr Vigors, "from every account
+     which we have of its economy, and from the appearance of
+     its head and foot, is decidedly gallinaceous; and, from the
+     insufficiency of its wings for the purposes of flight, it may
+     with equal certainty be pronounced to be of the _Struthious_
+     structure. But the foot has a strong hind-toe, and, with the
+     exception of its being more robust, in which character it still
+     adheres to the Struthionidae, it corresponds to the Linnaean genus
+     _Crax_, that commences the succeeding family. The bird thus
+     becomes osculant, and forms a strong point of junction between
+     those two contiguous groups."--_Linn. Trans._ xiv. 484.
+
+M. de Blainville (in _Nouv. Ann. du Mus._ iv. 24,) contests this
+opinion by various arguments, which we cannot here report, and
+concludes that the Dodo is a raptorial bird, allied to the vultures.
+Mr Broderip, in his article before referred to, sums up the
+discussion as follows:--
+
+     "If the picture in the British Museum, and the cut in Bontius,
+     be faithful representations of a creature then living, to make
+     such a bird of prey--a vulture, in the ordinary acceptation
+     of the term--would be to set all the usual laws of adaptation
+     at defiance. A vulture without wings! How was it to be fed?
+     And not only without wings, but necessarily slow and heavy in
+     progression on its clumsy feet. The _Vulturidae_ are, as we
+     know, among the most active agents for removing the decomposing
+     animal remains in tropical and inter-tropical climates, and they
+     are provided with a prodigal development of wing, to waft them
+     speedily to the spot tainted by the corrupt incumbrance. But no
+     such powers of wing would be required by a bird appointed to
+     clear away the decaying and decomposing masses of a luxuriant
+     tropical vegetation--a kind of vulture for vegetable impurities,
+     so to speak--and such an office would not be by any means
+     inconsistent with comparative slowness of pedestrian motion."
+
+Professor Owen, doubtless one of our greatest authorities, inclines
+towards an affinity with the vultures, and considers the Dodo as an
+extremely modified form of the raptorial order.
+
+     "Devoid of the power of flight, it could have had small chance
+     of obtaining food by preying upon the members of its own class;
+     and, if it did not exclusively subsist on dead and decaying
+     organised matter, it most probably restricted its attacks to
+     the class of reptiles, and to the littoral fishes, _Crustacea_,
+     &c., which its well-developed back-toe and claw would enable it
+     to seize, and hold with a firm gripe."--_Transactions of the
+     Zoological Society_, iii. p. 331.
+
+We confess that, setting aside various other unconformable features
+in the structure of the Dodo, the fact, testified by various
+authorities, of its swallowing stones, and having stones in its
+gizzard, for the mechanical triturition of its food, (a peculiarity
+unknown among the raptorial order,) is sufficient to bar the
+above view, supported though it be by the opinion of our most
+distinguished living anatomist.
+
+In a recent memoir by Professor J. F. Brandt (of which an abstract
+is given in the _Bulletin de la Class. Phys. de l'Acad. Imp. de St
+Petersburg_, vol. viii. No. 3) we have the following statement:--
+
+     "The Dodo, a bird provided with divided toes and cursorial feet,
+     is best classed in the order of the Waders, among which it
+     appears, from its many peculiarities, (most of which, however,
+     are quite referable to forms in this order,) to be an anomalous
+     link connecting several groups,--a link which, for the reasons
+     above given, inclines towards the ostriches, and especially also
+     towards the pigeons."
+
+We doubt the direct affinity to any species of the grallatorial
+order, an order which contains the cursorial or swift-running birds,
+very dissimilar in their prevailing habits to anything we know of
+the sluggish and sedentary Dodo. Professor Brandt may be regarded
+as having mistaken analogy for affinity; and, in Mr Strickland's
+opinion, he has in this instance wandered from the true method
+of investigation, in his anxiety to discover a link connecting
+dissevered groups.
+
+What then is, or rather was, the Dodo? The majority of inquirers
+have no doubt been influenced, though unconsciously, by its colossal
+size, and have consequently sought its actual analogies only among
+such huge species as the ostrich, the vulture, and the albatross.
+But the range in each order is often enormous, as, for example,
+between the _Falco caerulescens_, or finch falcon of Bengal, an
+accipitrine bird not bigger than a sparrow, and an eagle of the
+largest size; or between the swallow-like stormy petrel and the
+gigantic pelican of the wilderness. It appears that Professor J.
+T. Rheinhardt of Copenhagen, who rediscovered the cranium of the
+Gottorf Museum, was the first to indicate the direct relationship of
+the Dodo to the _pigeons_. He has recently been engaged in a voyage
+round the world, but it is known that, before he left Copenhagen in
+1845, he had called the attention of his correspondents, both in
+Sweden and Denmark, to "the striking affinity which exists between
+this extinct bird and the pigeons, especially the Trerons." The
+Columbine view is that taken up, and so admirably illustrated, by
+Mr Strickland, the most recent as well as the best biographer of
+the Dodo. He refers to the great strength and curvature of bill
+exhibited by several groups of the tropical fruit-eating pigeons,
+and adds:
+
+     "If we now regard the Dodo as an extreme modification, not of
+     the vultures, but of those vulture-like frugivorous pigeons,
+     we shall, I think, class it in a group whose characters are
+     far more consistent with what we know of its structure and
+     habits. There is no _a priori_ reason why a pigeon should not
+     be so modified, in conformity with external circumstances,
+     as to be incapable of flight, just as we see a grallatorial
+     bird modified into an ostrich, and a diver into a penguin. Now
+     we are told that Mauritius, an island forty miles in length,
+     and about one hundred miles from the nearest land, was, when
+     discovered, clothed with dense forests of palms and various
+     other trees. A bird adapted to feed on the fruits produced by
+     these forests would, in that equable climate, have no occasion
+     to migrate to distant lands; it would revel in the perpetual
+     luxuries of tropical vegetation, and would have but little need
+     of locomotion. Why then should it have the means of flying? Such
+     a bird might wander from tree to tree, tearing with its powerful
+     beak the fruits which strewed the ground, and digesting their
+     stony kernels with its powerful gizzard, enjoying tranquillity
+     and abundance, until the arrival of man destroyed the balance
+     of animal life, and put a term to its existence. Such, in my
+     opinion, was the Dodo,--a colossal, brevipennate, frugivorous
+     pigeon."--(P. 40.)
+
+For the various osteological and other details by which the
+Columbine character of the Dodo is maintained, and as we think
+established, we must refer our readers to Mr Strickland's
+volume,[22] where those parts of the subject are very skilfully
+worked out by his able coadjutor, Dr Melville.
+
+  [22] In regard to the figures by which it is illustrated, we beg
+  to call attention very specially to Plates VIII. and IX., as the
+  most beautiful examples of the lithographic art, applied to natural
+  history, which we have yet seen executed in this country.
+
+We shall now proceed to notice certain other extinct species
+which form the dead relations of the Dodo, just as the pigeons
+continue to represent the tribe from which they have departed. The
+island Rodriguez, placed about three hundred miles eastward of the
+Mauritius, though not more than fifteen miles long by six broad,
+possessed in modern times a peculiar bird, also without effective
+wings, and in several other respects resembling the Dodo. It was
+named _Solitaire_ by the early voyagers, and forms the species
+_Didus solitarius_ of systematic writers. The small island in
+question seems to have remained in a desert and unpeopled state
+until 1691, when a party of French Protestant refugees settled
+upon it, and remained for a couple of years. The Solitaire is thus
+described by their commander, Francois Leguat, who (in his _Voyage
+et Avantures_, 1708) has given us an interesting account both of
+his own doings in general, and of this species in particular.
+
+     "Of all the birds in the island, the most remarkable is that
+     which goes by the name of the _Solitary_, because it is very
+     seldom seen in company, though there are abundance of them. The
+     feathers of the male are of a brown-gray colour, the feet and
+     beak are like a turkey's, but a little more crooked. They have
+     scarce any tail, but their hind part, covered with feathers,
+     is roundish like the crupper of a horse: they are taller
+     than turkeys; their neck is straight, and a little longer in
+     proportion than a turkey's, when it lifts up its head. Its eye
+     is black and lively, and its head without comb or cap. They
+     never fly; their wings are too little to support the weight of
+     their bodies; they serve only to beat themselves, and to flutter
+     when they call one another. They will whirl about for twenty or
+     thirty times together on the same side, during the space of four
+     or five minutes. The motion of their wings makes then a noise
+     very much like that of a rattle, and one may hear it two hundred
+     paces off. The bone of their wing grows greater towards the
+     extremity, and forms a little round mass under the feathers, as
+     big as a musket-ball. That and its beak are the chief defence of
+     this bird. 'Tis very hard to catch it in the woods, but easier
+     in open places, because we run faster than they, and sometimes
+     we approach them without much trouble. From March to September
+     they are extremely fat, and taste admirably well, especially
+     while they are young; some of the males weigh forty-five pounds.
+
+     "The females" continues our enamoured author, "are wonderfully
+     beautiful, some fair, some brown,--I call them fair, because
+     they are of the colour of fair hair. They have a sort of peak
+     like a widow's upon their beak, which is of a dun colour. No
+     one feather is straggling from the other all over their bodies,
+     they being very careful to adjust themselves, and make them all
+     even with their beaks. The feathers on their thighs are round
+     like shells at the end, and, being there very thick, have an
+     agreeable effect. They have two risings on their crops, and the
+     feathers are whiter there than the rest, which lively represents
+     the fair neck of a beautiful woman. They walk with so much
+     stateliness and good grace, that one cannot help admiring and
+     loving them; by which means their fine mien often saves their
+     lives. Though these birds will sometimes very familiarly come
+     up near enough to one, when we do not run after them, yet they
+     will never grow tame. As soon as they are caught they shed
+     tears without crying, and refuse all manner of meat till they
+     die."--(P. 71.)
+
+Their natural food is the fruit of a species of plantain. When these
+birds are about to build, they select a clean place, and then gather
+together a quantity of palm-leaves, which they heap up about a foot
+and a half high, and there they sit. They never lay but one egg,
+which greatly exceeds that of a goose. Some days after the young
+one has left the nest, a company of thirty or forty grown-up birds
+brings another young one to it; and the new-fledged bird, with its
+father and mother, joining with the band, they all march away to
+some by-place.
+
+     "We frequently followed them," says Leguat, "and found that
+     afterwards the old ones went each their way alone, or in
+     couples, and left the two young ones together, and this we
+     called a _marriage_. This particularity has something in it
+     which looks a little fabulous; nevertheless what I say is
+     sincere truth, and what I have more than once observed with care
+     and pleasure."
+
+Leguat gives a figure of this singular bird, which in his plate has
+somewhat of the air and aspect of a Christmas goose, although, of
+course, it wants the web-feet. Its neck and legs are proportionally
+longer than those parts of the Dodo, and give it more of a
+_struthious_ appearance: but the existing osteological evidence is
+sufficient to show that it was closely allied to that bird, and
+shared with it in some peculiar affinities to the pigeon tribe. It
+is curious that, although Rodriguez is a British settlement, we
+have scarcely any information regarding it beyond what is to be
+found in the work last quoted, and all that we have since learned
+of the Solitary is that it has become extinct. Of late years Mr
+Telfair made inquiries of one of the colonists, who assured him
+that no such bird now existed on the island; and the same negative
+result was obtained by Mr Higgins, a Liverpool gentleman, who, after
+suffering shipwreck on Rodriguez, resided there for a couple of
+months. As far back as 1789, some bones incrusted by a stalagmite,
+and erroneously supposed to belong to the Dodo, were found in a cave
+in Rodriguez by a M. Labistour. They afterwards found their way to
+Paris, where they may still be seen. We are informed (_Proceedings
+of the Zoological Society_, Part I. p. 31) that Col. Dawkins
+recently visited these caverns, and dug without finding any thing
+but a small bone. But M. Eudes succeeded in disinterring various
+bones, among others those of a large species of bird no longer found
+alive upon the island. He adds that the Dutch, who first landed at
+Rodriguez, left cats there to destroy the rats, which annoyed them.
+These cats are now so numerous as to prove very destructive to the
+poultry, and he thinks it probable that these feline wanderers
+may have extirpated the bird in question, by devouring the young
+ones as soon as they were hatched,--a destruction which may have
+been effected even before the island became inhabited by the human
+race. Be that as it may, Mr Telfair sent collections of the bones
+to this country, one of which may be seen in the museum of the
+Andersonian Institution, Glasgow. Mr Strickland mourns over the loss
+or disappearance of those transmitted to the Zoological Society
+of London. We have been informed within these few days that, like
+the head of the Danish Dodo, they have been rediscovered, lying
+in a stable or other outhouse, in the vicinity of the museum of
+that Society. Both the Glasgow specimens, and those in Paris, have
+been carefully examined and compared by Mr Strickland, and their
+Columbine characters are minutely described by his skilful and
+accurate coadjutor, Dr Melville, in the second portion of his work.
+Mr S. very properly regards certain peculiarities, alluded to by
+Leguat, such as the feeding on dates or plantains, as confirmatory
+of his view of the natural affinities already mentioned.
+
+So much for the Solitaire of Rodriguez and its affinities.[23]
+A singular fact, however, remains to be yet attended to in this
+insular group. The volcanic island of Bourbon seems also to have
+contained _brevi-pennate_ birds, whose inability to fly has likewise
+led to their extinction. This island, which lies about a hundred
+miles south-west of Mauritius, was discovered contemporaneously by
+Pedro de Mascaregnas, in the sixteenth century. The earliest notice
+which concerns our present inquiry, is by Captain Castleton, who
+visited Bourbon in 1613. In the narrative, as given by Purchas, we
+read as follows:--
+
+     "There is store of land-fowl, both small and great, plentie of
+     doves, great parrats, and suchlike, and a great fowl of the
+     bignesse of a turkie, very fat, and so short-winged that they
+     cannot flie, beeing white, and in a manner tame; and so are all
+     other fowles, as having not been troubled nor feared with shot.
+     Our men did beat them down with sticks and stones."--(Ed. 1625,
+     vol. i. p. 331.)
+
+  [23] The companions of Vasco de Gama had, at an earlier period,
+  applied the name of _Solitaires_ to certain birds found in an
+  island near the Cape of Good Hope; but these must not be confounded
+  with those of the Didine group above referred to. They were, in
+  fact, penguins, and their wings were somewhat vaguely compared
+  to those of bats, by reason of the peculiar scaly or undeveloped
+  state of the feathers in these birds. Dr Hamel has shown that the
+  term _Solitaires_, as employed by the Portuguese sailors, was a
+  corruption of _sotilicairos_, an alleged Hottentot word, of which
+  we do not profess to know the meaning, being rather rusted in that
+  tongue. We know, however, that penguins are particularly gregarious,
+  and, therefore, by no means solitary, although they may be extremely
+  _sotilicairious_ for anything we can say to the contrary.
+
+Bontekoe van Hoorn, a Dutch voyager, spent twenty-one days in
+Bourbon in 1618, and found the island to abound in pigeons, parrots,
+and other species, among which "there were also _Dod-eersen_, which
+have small wings; and so far from being able to fly, they were so
+fat that they could scarcely walk, and when they tried to run, they
+dragged their under side along the ground." There is no reason to
+suppose that these birds were actual Dodos, of the existence of
+which in Bourbon there is not the slightest proof. That Bontekoe's
+account was compiled from recollection rather than from any journal
+written at the time, is almost certain from this tragical fact,
+that his ship was afterwards blown up, and he himself was the sole
+survivor. There is no likelihood that he preserved his papers any
+more than his portmanteau, and he no doubt wrote from remembrance of
+a large _brevipennate_ bird, whose indolent and unfearing tameness
+rendered it an easy prey. Knowing that a bird of a somewhat similar
+nature inhabited the neighbouring island, he took it for the same,
+and called it Dodo, by a corresponding term.
+
+A Frenchman of the name of Carre visited Bourbon in 1668, and in his
+_Voyages des Indes Orientales_, he states as follows:--
+
+     "I have seen a kind of bird which I have not found elsewhere; it
+     is that which the inhabitants call the _oiseau solitaire_, for
+     in fact it loves solitude, and only frequents the most secluded
+     places. One never sees two or more of them together, they are
+     always alone. It is not unlike a turkey, were it not that its
+     legs are longer. The beauty of its plumage is delightful to
+     behold. The flesh is exquisite; it forms one of the best dishes
+     in this country, and might form a dainty at our tables. We
+     wished to keep two of these birds to send to France and present
+     them to his Majesty, but, as soon as they were on board ship,
+     they died of melancholy, having refused to eat or drink."--(Vol.
+     i. p. 12.)
+
+Almost immediately after M. Carre's visit, a French colony was sent
+from Madagascar to Bourbon, under the superintendence of M. de la
+Haye. A certain Sieur D. B. (for this is all that is known of his
+name or designation) was one of the party, and has left a narrative
+of the expedition in an unpublished journal, acquired by Mr Telfair,
+and presented by him to the Zoological Society of London. Besides
+confirming the accounts given by preceding writers, this unknown
+author affords a conclusive proof that a second species of the
+same group inhabited the Island of Bourbon. We are indebted to Mr
+Strickland for the original passages and the following translation:--
+
+     1. "_Solitaires._--These birds are so called because they always
+     go alone. They are the size of a large goose, and are white,
+     with the tips of the wings and the tail black. The tail-feathers
+     resemble those of an ostrich; the neck is long, and the beak
+     is like that of a woodcock, but larger; the legs and feet like
+     those of turkeys."
+
+     2. "_Oiseaux bleus_, the size of _Solitaires_, have the plumage
+     wholly blue, the beak and feet red, resembling the feet of a
+     hen. They do not fly, but they run extremely fast, so that a dog
+     can hardly overtake them; they are very good eating."
+
+There is proof that one or other of these singular and now unknown
+birds existed in Bourbon, at least till toward the middle of the
+last century. M. Billiard, who resided there between 1817 and 1820,
+states (in his _Voyages aux Colonies Orientales_) that, at the time
+of the first colonisation of the island, "the woods were filled with
+birds which were not alarmed at the approach of man. Among them was
+the _Dodo_ or _Solitaire_, which was pursued on foot: they were
+still to be seen in the time of M. de la Bourdonnaye, who sent a
+specimen, as a curiosity, to one of the directors of the company."
+As the gentleman last named was governor of the Isles of France and
+Bourbon from 1735 to 1746, these birds, Mr Strickland observes,
+_must_ have survived to the former, and _may_ have continued to the
+latter date at least. But when M. Bory St Vincent made a careful
+survey of the island in 1801, no such species were to be found. The
+description of the bill and plumage shows that they were not genuine
+Dodos, but merely entitled to be classed among their kindred. Not a
+vestige of their remains is in the hands of naturalists, either in
+this or any other country.
+
+We have now finished, under Mr Strickland's guidance, our exposition
+of this curious group. The restriction, at any time, of such large
+birds to islands of so small a size, is certainly singular. We
+cannot, however, say what peculiar and unknown geological changes
+these islands may have undergone, by which their extent has been
+diminished, or their inter-connexion destroyed. Volcanic groups,
+such as those in question, are no doubt generally of less ancient
+origin than most others; but it is by no means unlikely that these
+islands of Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius, may once have formed
+a united group, or much more expanded mass of terra firma than they
+now exhibit; and that, by their partial submergence and separation,
+the dominions of the Dodo and its kindred have, like those of many
+other heavy chieftains of high degree, been greatly diminished and
+laid low. But into this question of ancient boundaries we cannot now
+enter.
+
+How pleasant, on some resplendent summer evening, in such a
+delicious clime as that of the Mauritius, the sun slowly sinking
+amid a gorgeous blaze of light, and gilding in green and gold the
+spreading summits of the towering palms,--the murmuring sea sending
+its refreshing vesper-breathings through all the "pillared shades"
+which stretch along that glittering shore,--how pleasant, we say,
+for wearied man to sit in leafy umbrage, and sup on Dodos and their
+kindred! Alas! we shall never see such days again.
+
+Dr Hamel, as native of a northern country, is fond of animal food,
+and has his senses, naturally sharp enough, so whetted thereby, that
+he becomes "sagacious of his _quarry_ from afar." He judiciously
+observes, in his recent memoir, (_Der Dodo_, &c.,) that in Leguat's
+map the place is accurately indicated where the common kitchen of
+the settlers stood, and where the great tree grew under which they
+used to sit, on a bench, to take their meals. Both tree and bench
+are marked upon the map. "At these two spots," says Dr Hamel, "it is
+probable that the bones of a complete skeleton of Leguat's solitaire
+might be collected; those of the head and feet on the site of the
+kitchen, and the sternum and other bones on that of the tree."
+
+     "I feel confident," says Mr Strickland, "that if active
+     naturalists would make a series of excavations in the alluvial
+     deposits, in the beds of streams, and amid the ruins of old
+     institutions in Mauritius, Bourbon, and Rodriguez, he would
+     speedily discover the remains of the dodo, the two 'solitaires,'
+     or the 'oiseau bleu.' But I would especially direct attention
+     to the caves with which these volcanic islands abound. The
+     chief agents in the destruction of the brevipennate birds were
+     probably the runaway negroes, who for many years infested
+     the primeval forests of these islands, and inhabited the
+     caverns, where they would doubtless leave the scattered bones
+     of the animals on which they fed. Here, then, may we more
+     especially hope to find the osseous remains of these remarkable
+     animals."--(P. 61.)
+
+
+
+
+THE SWORD OF HONOUR.
+
+A TALE OF 1787.
+
+
+Any old directory of the latter half of the last century will still
+show, to the curious in such matters, the address of Messrs. Hope
+and Bullion, merchants and general dealers at No. 4, in a certain
+high and narrow street in the city of London. Not that this, in
+itself, is a very valuable part of history; but to those who look
+up at the dirty windows of the house as it now stands, and compare
+the narrow pavement and cit-like appearance of the whole locality
+with the splendours of Oxford Square or Stanhope Place, where the
+business occupant of the premises has now his residence, it will be
+a subject of doubt, if not of unbelief, that Mr Bullion--who dwelt
+in the upper portions of the building--was as happy, and nearly as
+proud, as his successor at the present time. Yet so it is; and,
+without making invidious comparisons with the distinguished-looking
+lady who does the honours of the mansion in Oxford Square--her
+father was a sugar baker, and lived in a magnificent country house
+at Mussel hill. I will venture to state, that Mr Bullion had great
+reason to be satisfied with the manners and appearance of the young
+person who presided at his festive board. Such a rich laugh, and
+such a sweet voice, were heard in no other house in the town. And
+as to her face and figure, the only dispute among painters and
+sculptors was, whether the ever-varying expression of her features
+did not constitute her the true property of the Reynoldses and
+Romneys,--or the ever-exquisite moulding of her shape did not bring
+her within the province of the severer art. At the same time it must
+be confessed, that the subject of these disputes took no interest
+either in brush or chisel. A bright, happy, clever creature--but no
+judge of sciences and arts--was Louise Bullion. Books she had read
+a few, and music she had studied a little; yet, with her slender
+knowledge of the circulating library, she talked more pleasantly
+than Madame de Stael, and sang so sweetly, so naturally, and so
+truly, that Mrs Billington was a fool to her. She was a parlour
+Jenny Lind. But Mrs Billington was not the only person who was a
+fool to her. Oh no!--that sort of insanity was epidemic, and seized
+on all that came near her. Even Mr Cocker the book-keeper--a little
+man of upwards of fifty, who was so simple, and knew so little of
+anything but arithmetic, that he always considered himself, and was
+considered by the people, a boy just getting on in his teens--even
+Mr Cocker was a fool to her too. For when he was invited to tea,
+and had his cups sweetened by her hand, and his whole heart turned,
+by some of her pathetic ballads, into something so soft and oily
+that it must have been just like one of the muffins she laid on his
+plate, he used to go away with a very confused idea of cube roots,
+and get into the most extraordinary puzzles in the rule of three.
+Miss Louise, he said, would never go out of his head; whereas she
+had never once got into it, having established her quarters very
+comfortably in another place a little lower down, just inside of
+the brass buttons on his left breast; and yet the poor old fellow
+went down to his grave without the remotest suspicion that he had
+ever been in love. The people used to say that his perplexities, on
+those occasions, were principally remarkable after supper--for an
+invitation to tea, in those hospitable times, included an afterpiece
+in the shape of some roaring hot dishes, and various bowls of a
+stout and jovial beverage, whose place, I beg to say, is poorly
+supplied by any conceivable quantity of negus and jellies! Yes,
+the people used to say that Cocker's difficulties in calculation
+arose from other causes than his admiration of Miss Louise and her
+songs; but this was a calumny--and, in fact, any few extra glasses
+he took were for the express purpose of clearing his head, after it
+had got bewildered by her smiles and music; and therefore how could
+they possibly be the cause of his bewilderment? I repeat that Mr
+Cocker was afflicted by the universal disease, and would have died
+with the greatest happiness to give her a moment's satisfaction.
+And so would all the clerks, except one, who was very short-sighted
+and remarkably deaf, and who was afterwards tried on suspicion of
+having poisoned his wife; and so would her aunt, Miss Lucretia
+Smith, though her kindness was so wonderfully disguised that the
+whole world would have been justified in considering it harshness
+and ill-nature. It was only her way of bestowing it--as if you were
+to pour out sugar from a vinegar cruet; and a good old, fussy,
+scolding, grumbling, advising, tormenting, and very loving lady was
+Miss Lucretia Smith--very loving, I say, not only of her niece, and
+her brother-in-law, but of anybody that would agree to be loved.
+Traditions existed that, in her youth, she had been a tremendous
+creature for enthusiasms and romances; that she had flirted with all
+the officers of the city militia, from the colonel downwards, and
+with all the Lord Mayors' chaplains for an infinite series of years;
+and that, though nothing came of all her praiseworthy efforts, time
+had had a strengthening instead of a weakening effect on all these
+passages--till now, in her fifty-third year, she actually believed
+she had been in love with them all, and on the point of marriage
+with more than half.
+
+And this constituted the whole of Mr Bullion's establishment--at
+least all his establishment which was regularly on the books;
+but there was a young man so constantly in the house--so much at
+home there--so welcome when he came, so wondered at when he staid
+away--in short, so much one of the family, that I will only say, if
+he was not considered a member of it, he ought to have been. For
+what, I pray you, constitutes membership, if intimacy, kindness,
+perpetual presence, and filial and fraternal affection--filial to
+the old man, fraternal to the young lady--do not constitute it?
+You might have sworn till doomsday, but Mr Cecil Hope would never
+have believed that his home was anywhere but at No. 4. Nay, when,
+by some accident, he found himself for a day in a very pretty, very
+tasteful, and very spacious house he had in Hertfordshire, with
+a ring-fence of fourteen hundred acres round it, he felt quite
+disconsolate, and as if he were in a strange place. The estate
+had been bought, the house had been built--as the money had been
+acquired, by his father, who was no less a person than the senior
+partner in the firm of Hope and Bullion, but had withdrawn his
+capital from the trade, laid it out in land, superintended the
+erection of his mansion, pined for his mercantile activities, and
+died in three years of having nothing to do. So Cecil was rich
+and unencumbered; he was also as handsome as the Apollo, who,
+they say, would be a very vulgar-looking fellow if he dressed
+like a Christian; and he (not the Apollo, but Cecil Hope) was
+four-and-twenty years of age, five feet eleven in height, and
+as pleasant a fellow as it is possible to conceive. So you may
+guess whether or not he was in love with Louise. Of course he
+was,--haven't I said he was a young man of some sense, and for whom
+I have a regard? He adored her. And now you will, perhaps, be asking
+if the admiration was returned--and that is one of the occasions on
+which an impertinent reader has a great advantage over the best and
+cunningest of authors. They can ask such impudent questions,--which
+they would not dare to do unless under the protection and in the
+sanctuary, as it were, of print, and look so amazingly knowing while
+pausing for a reply, that I have no patience with the fellows at
+all; and, in answer to their demand whether Louise returned the
+love of Cecil Hope, I will only say this--I will see them hanged
+first, before I gratify their curiosity. Indeed, how could I hold
+up my head in any decent society again, if I were to commit such
+a breach of confidence as that? Imagine me confessing that she
+looked always fifty times happier in his presence than when he was
+away--imagine me confessing that her heart beat many thumps quicker
+when anybody mentioned his name--imagine me, I say, confessing
+all this, and fifty things more, and then calling myself a man of
+honour and discretion! No: I say again I will see the reader hanged
+first, before I will answer his insolent question; so let that be
+an understood thing between us, that I will never reveal any secret
+with which a young lady is kind enough to intrust me.
+
+And this, I think, is a catalogue of all the household above the
+good old warehouse. Ah! no,--there is the excellent Mr Bullion
+himself. He is now sixty; he has white hair, a noble, even a
+_distingue_ figure: look into any page of any fashionable novel of
+any year, for an explanation of what that means. On the present
+occasion, you would perhaps conclude that the long-backed,
+wide-tailed blue coat, the low-flapped waistcoat, tight-fitting
+knee-br--ch--s, white cotton stockings in-doors, long gaiters out,
+with bright-buckled square-toed shoes, may be a little inconsistent
+with the epithet _distingue_. But this is a vulgar error, and
+would argue that nobody could look _distingue_ without lace and
+brocade. Now, only imagine Mr Bullion in a court-dress, with a
+silk bag floating over his shoulder, to tie up long tresses which
+have disappeared from his head for many years; a diamond-hilted
+rapier that probably has no blade, and all the other portions of
+that graceful and easy style of habiliment,--dress him in this way,
+and look at him bowing gracefully by means of his three-cornered
+hat, and you will surely grant he would be a _distingue_ figure
+then,--and why not in his blue coat and smalls?
+
+But _distingue_-looking men, even in court-dresses, may be great
+rascals, and even considerable fools. Then was Mr Bullion a
+rascal?--no. A fool?--no. In short, he was one of the best of men,
+and could have been recognised during his life, if any one had
+described him in the words of his epitaph.
+
+Well,--we must get on. Day after day, for several months before
+the date we have got to, a sort of mystery seemed to grow deeper
+and deeper on the benevolent features of the father of Louise.
+Something--nobody could tell what--had lifted him out of his
+ordinary self. He dropt dark hints of some great change that was
+shortly to take place in the position of the family: he even
+took many opportunities of lecturing Cecil Hope on the miseries
+of ill-assorted marriages, particularly where the lady was of a
+family immeasurably superior to the man's. Miss Smith thought he was
+going to be made Lord Mayor; Cecil Hope supposed he was about to be
+appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer; and Louise thought he was
+growing silly, and took no notice of all the airs he put on, and the
+depreciatory observations he made on the rank of a country squire.
+As to Mr Cocker, he was already fully persuaded that his master was
+the greatest man in the world, and, if he had started for king,
+would have voted him to the throne without a moment's hesitation.
+At last the origin of all these proceedings on the part of Mr
+Bullion began to be suspected. A little dark man, with the brightest
+possible eyes, shrouded in a great cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat
+carefully drawn over his brows, and just showing to the affrighted
+maid who opened the door the aforesaid eyes, fixed on her with such
+an expression of inquiry that they fully supplied the difficulty
+he experienced in asking for Mr Bullion in words,--for he was a
+foreigner, not much gifted with the graces of English pronunciation.
+This little dark and inquisitive man came to the house two or
+three times a-week, and spent several hours in close consultation
+with Mr Bullion. On emerging from these councils, it was easy to
+see, by that gentleman's countenance, whether the affair, whatever
+it was, was in a prosperous condition or not. Sometimes he came
+into the supper-room gloomy and silent, sometimes tripping in
+like a sexagenarian Taglioni, and humming a French song,--for his
+knowledge of that language was extraordinary,--and his whole idea
+of a daughter's education seemed to be, to make her acquire the
+true Parisian accent, and to read Moliere and Corneille. So Louise,
+to gratify the whim of her father, had made herself perfect in
+the language, and could have entered into a correspondence with
+Madame de Sevigne without a single false concord, or a mistake in
+spelling. Who could this little man be, who had such influence
+on her father's spirits? They watched him, but could see nothing
+but the dark cloak and slouched hat, which disappeared down some
+side street, and would have puzzled one of the detective police to
+keep them in view. Her thoughts rested almost constantly on this
+subject. Even at church--for they were regular church-goers, and
+very decided Protestants, as far as their religious feelings could
+be shown in hating the devil and the Pope--she used to watch her
+father's face, but could read nothing there but a quiet devotion
+during the prayers, and an amiable condescension while listening to
+the sermon. Rustlings of papers as the little visitor slipt along
+the passage, revealed the fact that there were various documents
+required in their consultations; and on one particular occasion,
+after an interview of unusual duration, Mr Bullion accompanied his
+mysterious guest to the door, and was overheard, by the conclave
+who were assembled in the little parlour for supper, very warm in
+his protestations of obligation for the trouble he had taken, and
+concluding with these remarkable words--"Assure his Excellency of
+my highest consideration, and that I shall not lose a moment in
+throwing myself at the feet of the King." Louise looked at Cecil on
+hearing these words; and as Cecil would probably have been looking
+at Louise, whether he had heard these words or not, their eyes
+met with an expression of great bewilderment and surprise,--the
+said bewilderment being by no means diminished when his visitor
+replied--"His Excellency kisses your hands, and I leave your
+Lordship in the holy keeping of the saints."
+
+"Papa is rather flighty--don't you think so, Cecil?" said Louise.
+
+"Both mad," answered that gentleman with a shake of the head.
+
+"Mr Bullion is going to be Lord Mayor," said Miss Lucretia, with
+a vivid remembrance of the flirtations and grandeurs of the
+Mansion-house.
+
+Mr Cocker said nothing aloud, and was sorely puzzled for a long
+time, but ended with a confused notion, derived principally from the
+protection of the saints, that his patron was likely to be Pope.
+All, however, sank into a gaping silence of anticipation, when
+Mr Bullion, after shutting the door, as soon as his visitor had
+departed, began to whistle Malbrook, and came into the supper-room.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"Enjoy yourselves, _mes enfants_," said the old gentleman; "I have
+not kept you waiting, I hope. Miss Smith, I kiss your hand--_ma
+fille, embrassemoi_."
+
+"What's the matter with you, papa?" replied the young lady, and not
+complying with the request; "you speak as if you were a foreigner.
+Have you forgotten your mother-tongue?"
+
+And certainly it was not difficult to perceive that there was an
+unusual tone assumed by Mr Bullion, with the slightest possible
+broken English admitted into his language.
+
+"My mother-tongue?" said the senior. "Bah! 'tis not the time yet--I
+have not forgot it--not quite--but kiss me, Louise."
+
+"Well, since you speak like a Christian, I won't refuse; but do be a
+good, kind, communicative old man, and tell us what has kept you so
+long. Do tell us who that hideous man is."
+
+"Hideous, my dear!--'tis plain you never saw him."
+
+"He's like the bravo of Venice," said Louise; "isn't he, Cecil?"
+
+"He's more like Guy Faux," said the gentleman appealed to.
+
+"He's like a gipsy fortune-teller," continued Miss Smith.
+
+"Uncommon like a 'ousebreaker," chimed in Mr Cocker: "I never see
+such a rascally-looking countenance."
+
+"Are you aware, all this time, that you are giving these
+descriptions of a friend of mine,--a most learned, lofty,
+reverend--but, pshaw! what nonsense it is, getting angry with folks
+like you. Eagles should fight with eagles."
+
+But the lofty assumptions of Mr Bullion made no impression on his
+audience. One word, however, had stuck in the tympanum of Miss
+Smith's ear, and was beating a tremendous tattoo in her heart--
+
+"Reverend, did you say, brother-in-law. If that little man is
+reverend, mark my words. I know very well what he's after. If we're
+not all spirited off to the Disquisition in Spain, I wish I may
+never be marr--I mean--saved."
+
+"Nonsense, aunt," said Louise. "You're not going to turn Dissenter,
+father?"
+
+"Better that than be a Papist, anyhow," sulked out Lucretia.
+
+"Miss Smith," said Mr Bullion, "have the kindness, madam, to make
+no observation on what I do, or what friends I visit or receive in
+this house. If the gentleman who has now left me were a Mahommedan,
+he should be sacred from your impertinent remarks. Give me another
+potato, and hold your tongue."
+
+"To you, Mr Hope," continued the senior, "and to you, Mr Cocker,
+and to you, Miss Lucretia, who are unmixed plebeians from your
+remotest known ancestry, it may appear surprising that a man so
+willingly undertakes the onerous duties entailed on him by his lofty
+extraction, as to surrender the peace and contentment which he feels
+to be the fitter accompaniments of your humble yet comfortable
+position. For my daughter and me far other things are in store--we
+sit on the mountain-top exposed to the tempest, though glorified by
+the sunshine, and look without regret to the contemptible safety
+and inglorious ease of the inhabitants of the vale. Take a glass of
+wine, Mr Cocker. I shall always look on you with favour."
+
+Mr Cocker took the glass as ordered, and supposed his patron was
+repeating a passage out of Enfield's _Speaker_. "Fine language,
+sir, very fine language, indeed! particular that about sunshine on
+the mountains. A remarkable clever man, Mr Enfield; and I can say
+Ossian's Address to the Sun myself."
+
+But in the mean time Louisa walked round the table, and laid hold of
+her father's hand, and putting her finger on his pulse, looked with
+a face full of wisdom, while she counted the beats; and giving a
+satisfied shake of the head, resumed her seat.
+
+"A day or two's quiet will do, without a strait waistcoat," she
+said; "but I will certainly tell the porter never to admit that
+slouch-faced muffled-up impostor, who puts such nonsense into his
+head."
+
+But at this moment a violent pull at the bell startled them all.
+When the door was opened a voice was heard in the hall which said,
+"Pour un instant, Monseigneur;" whereupon Mr Bullion started up,
+and replying, "Oui, mon pere," hurried out of the room, and left his
+party in more blank amazement than before.
+
+The surmises, the exclamations, the whispers and suspicions that
+passed from one to the other, it is needless to record; it will
+suffice to say that, after an animated conversation with the
+mysterious visitor, Mr Bullion once more joined the circle and said,
+"You will be ready, all of you, to start for France to-morrow. I
+have business of importance that calls for my presence in Tours. Say
+not a word, but obey."
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+So, in a week, they were all comfortably settled in a hotel at Tours.
+
+Mr Bullion was sitting in the parlour, apparently in deep and
+pleasant contemplation; for the corners of his mouth were
+involuntarily turned up, and he inspected the calf of his leg with
+self-satisfied admiration. Mr Cocker was on a chair in the corner,
+probably multiplying the squares in the table-cover by the flowers
+in the paper.
+
+"How do you like France, Mr Cocker?" said Mr Bullion.
+
+"Not at all, sir; the folks has no sense; and no wonder we always
+wallop them by sea or land."
+
+"Hem! Must I remind you, sir, that this is _my_ country; that the
+French are my countrymen; and that you by no means wallop them
+either by sea or land."
+
+"_You_ French! _you_ Frenchman!" replied Mr Cocker; "that _is_
+a joke! Bullion ain't altogether a French name, I think? No,
+no; it smells of the bank; _it_ does. You ain't one of the
+_parlevous_--_you_ ain't, that's certain."
+
+"How often have I to order you, sir, not to doubt my word?" said Mr
+Bullion; and emphacised his speech with a form of expression that is
+generally considered a clencher.
+
+"There! there!" cried Cocker, triumphant; "I told you so. Is there
+ever a Frenchman could swear like that? They ain't Christians enough
+to give such a jolly hearty curse as yourn; so you see, sir, it's no
+go to pass yourself off for a _Mounseer_."
+
+"Leave the room, sir, and send Mr Hope to me at once!"
+
+Cocker obeyed, puzzled more and more at the fancy his master was
+possessed with to deny his country.
+
+"It would, perhaps, have been wiser," thought Mr Bullion, "to
+have left the plebeian fools at home till everything was formally
+completed; but still, nothing, I suppose, would have satisfied them
+but the evidence of their own eyes."
+
+"Mr Hope," he said, as that young gentleman entered the room, "sit
+down beside me; nay, no ceremony, I shall always treat you with
+condescension and regard."
+
+"You are very good, sir."
+
+"I am, sir; and I trust your conduct will continue such as to
+justify me in remaining so. You may have observed, Mr Hope, a change
+in my manner for some time past. You can't have been fool enough,
+like Miss Smith and Mr Cocker, to doubt the reality of the fact I
+stated, namely, that I am French by birth,--did you doubt it, sir?"
+
+"Why, sir,--in fact--since you insist on an answer--"
+
+"I see you did. Well, sir, I pity and pardon you. I will tell you
+the whole tale, and then you will see that some alteration must take
+place in our respective positions. In the neighbourhood of this
+good city of Tours I was born. My father was chief of the younger
+branch of one of the noblest houses in France,--the De Bouillons
+of Chateau d'Or. He was wild, gay, thoughtless, and fell into
+disgrace at court. He was imprisoned in the Bastille; his estates
+confiscated; his name expunged from the book of nobility; and he
+died poor, forgotten, and blackened in name and fame. I was fifteen
+at the time. I took my father's sword into the Town Hall; I gave
+it in solemn charge to the authorities, and vowed that when I had
+succeeded in wiping off the blot from my father's name, and getting
+it restored to its former rank, I would reclaim it at their hands,
+and assume the state and dignity to which my birth entitled me. I
+went to England; your father, my good Cecil, took me by the hand:
+porter, clerk, partner, friend,--I rose through all the gradations
+of the office; and when he died, he left me the highest trust he
+could repose in anyone,--the guardianship of his son."
+
+"I know sir,--and if I have never sufficiently thanked you for your
+care--"
+
+"Not that--no, no--I'm satisfied, my dear boy--and Louise--the
+Lady Louise I must now call her--change of rank--duties of lofty
+sphere--former friends--ill arranged engagements--" continued the
+new-formed magnate in confusion, blurting out unconnected words,
+that showed the train of his thoughts without expressing them
+distinctly; while Mr Hope sat in amazement at what he had heard, but
+no longer doubting the reality of what was said.
+
+"Well, sir?" he inquired.
+
+"I changed my name with my country, though retaining as much of the
+sound of it as I could; and Louis Bullion was a complete disguise
+for the expatriated Marquis de Bouillon de Chateau d'Or. I married
+Miss Smith, and lost her shortly after Louise's birth. For years
+I have been in treaty with the French ambassador through his
+almoner, the Abbe, whose visits you thought so mysterious. At last
+I succeeded, and to-morrow I claim my father's sword, resume the
+hereditary titles of my house, and take my honoured place among the
+peers and paladins of France."
+
+"And have you informed Louise?"--inquired Cecil.
+
+"Lady Louise," interrupted Mr Bullion.
+
+"Of this change in her position?"
+
+"Why, my dear Cecil, to tell you truth--it's not an easy matter to
+get her to understand my meaning. Yesterday I attempted to explain
+the thing, exactly as I have done to you; but instead of taking it
+seriously, she began with one of her provoking chuckles, and chucked
+me under the chin, and called me Marquy-darky. In fact, I wish the
+explanation to come from you."
+
+"I feel myself very unfit for the task," said the young man, who
+foresaw that this altered situation might interfere with certain
+plans of his own. "I hope you will excuse me; you can tell her the
+whole affair yourself, for here she comes."
+
+And the young lady accordingly made her appearance. After looking at
+them for some time--
+
+"What are you all so doleful about?" she began. "Has papa bitten
+you too, Cecil? Pray don't be a duke--it makes people so very
+ridiculous."
+
+"Miss Louise--mademoiselle, I ought to say," said Mr Bullion, "I
+have communicated certain facts to Cecil Hope."
+
+"Which he doesn't believe--do you, Cecil?" interposed the daughter.
+
+"He does believe them, and I beg you will believe them too. They are
+simply, that I am a nobleman of the highest rank, and you are my
+right honourable daughter."
+
+"Oh, indeed! and how was our cousin Spain when you heard from
+Madrid?--our uncle Austria, was he quite well?--was George of
+England recovered of the gout?--and above all, how was uncle Smith,
+the shipowner of Wapping?"
+
+"Girl! you will drive me mad," replied the Marquis, "with your
+Smiths and Wappings. I tell you, what I have said is really the
+case, and to-morrow you will see the inauguration with your own
+eyes. Meantime, I must dress, to receive a deputation of the
+nobility of the province, who come to congratulate me on my arrival."
+
+"Oh, what's this I hear," exclaimed Miss Smith, rushing into the
+room, "are you a real marquis, Mr Bullion?"
+
+"Yes, madam, I have that honour."
+
+"And does the marriage with my sister stand good?"
+
+"To be sure, madam."
+
+"Then, I'm very glad of it. Oh how delightful!--to be my Lord this,
+my Lady that. I am always devoted to the aristockicy; and now, only
+to think I am one of them myself."
+
+"How can you be so foolish, aunt?--I'm ashamed of you," said Louise;
+"what terrible things you were telling me, an hour ago, of the
+wickedness of the nobility?"
+
+"Miss Smith, though she does not express herself in very correct
+language, has more sensible ideas on this subject than you," said
+the marquis, looking severely at his daughter, who was looking, from
+time to time, with a malicious smile at the woe-begone countenance
+of Cecil Hope. "Remember, madam, who it is you are," continued the
+senior.
+
+"La, papa! don't talk such nonsense," replied the irreverent
+daughter. "Do you think I am eighteen years of age, and don't know
+perfectly well who and what I am?"
+
+"Three of your ancestors, madam, were Constables of France."
+
+"That's nothing to boast of," returned Louise; "no, not if they had
+been inspectors of police."
+
+"You are incorrigible, girl, and have not sense enough to have a
+proper feeling of family pride."
+
+"Haven't I? Am I not proud of all the stories uncle David tells
+us of his courage, when he was mate of an Indiaman? and aunt
+Jenkison--don't you remember, sir, how she dined with us at
+Christmas, and had to walk in pattens through the snow, and tumbled
+in Cheapside?"
+
+A laugh began to form itself round the eyes of the French magnate,
+which made his countenance uncommonly like what it used to be when
+it was that of an English merchant. Louise saw her success, and
+proceeded.
+
+"And how you said, when the poor old lady was brought home in a
+chair, that it was the punch that did it?"
+
+"He, he! and so it was. Didn't I caution her, all the time, that it
+was old Jamaica rum?" broke out the father; but checked himself, as
+if he were guilty of some indecorum.
+
+"And don't you remember how we all attended the launch of uncle
+Peter's ship, the Hope's Return? Ah, they were happy days, father!
+weren't they?"
+
+"No, madam; no--vulgar, miserable days: forget them as quick as you
+can. I tell you, when you resume your proper sphere, every eye will
+be turned to your beauty: nobles will be dying at your feet."
+
+"I trust not, sir," hurriedly burst in Mr Hope. "I don't see what
+right any nobles will have to be dying at Louise's feet."
+
+"Don't you, sir?" said Louise. "Indeed! I beg to tell you, that as
+many as choose shall die at my feet. I'll trouble you, Mr Hope,
+not to interfere with the taste of any nobleman who has a fancy to
+so queer a place for his death-bed." But while she said this, she
+tapped him so playfully with her little white hand, and looked at
+him so kindly with her beautiful blue eyes, that the young gentleman
+seemed greatly reassured; and in a few minutes, as if tired of the
+conversation, betook himself to the other room.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Suddenly a great noise was heard in the street, and interrupted the
+lectures of father and aunt on the dignity of position and the pride
+of birth. Miss Lucretia and Louise ran to the window, and saw a
+cavalcade of carriages, with outriders, and footmen on the rumble,
+and all the stately accompaniments of the old-fashioned family
+coach, which, after a slow progress along the causeway, stopped at
+the hotel door.
+
+"My friends! my noble friends!" exclaimed the marquis; "and I in
+this miserable dress!"
+
+"The noble men! the salts of the earth!" equally exclaimed Miss
+Smith; "and I in my morning gownd!"
+
+Saying this, she hastily fled into her bed-room, which, according to
+the fashion of French houses, opened on the sitting-room, and left
+the father and Louise alone.
+
+The father certainly was in no fitting costume for the dignity
+of his new character. He was dressed according to the fashion of
+the respectable London trader of his time--a very fitting figure
+for 'Change, but not appropriate to the Marquis de Bouillon de
+Chateau d'Or. Nor, in fact, was his disposition much more fitted
+for his exalted position than his clothes. To all intents and
+purposes, he was a true John Bull: proud of his efforts to attain
+wealth--proud of his success--proud of the freedom of his adopted
+land--and, in his secret heart, thinking an English merchant
+several hundred degrees superior in usefulness and worth to all the
+marquises that ever lived on the smiles of the Grand Monarque. The
+struggle, therefore, that went on within him was the most ludicrous
+possible. To his family and friends he presented that phase of his
+individuality that set his nobility in front; to the French nobles,
+on the other hand, he was inclined to show only so much of himself
+as presented the man of bills and invoices; and in both conditions,
+by a wonderful process of reasoning, in which we are all adepts,
+considered himself raised above the individuals he addressed.
+
+"Did they see you at the window?" he said, in some trepidation,
+while the visitors were descending from their coaches.
+
+"To be sure," replied Louise; "and impudent-looking men they were."
+
+"Ah! that's a pity. Do, for heaven's sake, my dear, just slip in
+beside your aunt. They are a very gay polite people, the nobles of
+France--"
+
+"Well; and what then?"
+
+"And they might take ways of showing it, we are not used to in
+England. Do hide yourself, my dear--there, that's a good girl."
+And just as he had succeeded in pushing her into the bedroom, and
+begged her to lock herself in, the landlord of the hotel ushered
+four or five noblemen into the apartment, as visitors to the
+Marquis de Bouillon. The eldest of the strangers--about forty years
+old--bespangled with jewels, and ornamented with two or three stars
+and ribbons, looked with some surprise on the plainly drest and
+citizen-mannered man, who came forward to welcome them.
+
+"We came to pay our compliments to my lord the Marquis de Bouillon
+de Chateau d'Or."
+
+"And very glad he is to see you, gentlemen," said their host.
+
+"You?--impossible! He speaks with an English accent."
+
+"An impostor!" replied another of the nobles, to whom the last
+sentence had been addressed in a whisper."
+
+"I am, indeed,--and truly glad to make your acquaintance, I assure
+you."
+
+"Well," resumed the Frenchman, "let me present to you the Viscount
+de Lanoy--the Baron Beauvilliers--the Marquis de Croissy--for
+myself, I'm Duc de Vieuxchateau."
+
+"Sit down, gentlemen--I beg," said De Bouillon, after bowing to the
+personages named. "A charming place this Tours, and I'm very glad to
+see you--fine weather, gentlemen."
+
+"I trust you have come with the intention of residing among us. Your
+estates, I conclude, are restored along with your titles."
+
+"No, gentlemen, they're not. But we may manage to buy some of them
+back again. How's land here?"
+
+"Land?" inquired the duke, rather bewildered with the question.
+
+"Yes--how is it, as to rent? How much an acre?"
+
+"'Pon my word, I don't know. When I want money I tell the steward,
+and the people--the--serfs, I suppose, they are--who hold the plough
+and manage the land--give him some, and he brings it to me."
+
+"Oh! but you don't know how many years' purchase it's worth?"
+
+To this there was no answer--statistics, at that time, not being a
+favourite study in France.
+
+"But, marquis," inquired another, "hasn't the King restored you your
+manorial rights--your _droits de seigneur_?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then what's the use of land without them?" was the very pertinent
+rejoinder.
+
+"What are they, sir?" inquired the marquis.
+
+"Why, if a tenant of yours has a pretty daughter," said one.
+
+"Or a wife," said another.
+
+"Or even a niece," said a third.
+
+"Well, sir, what then? I don't take."
+
+"Oh, you're a wag, marquis!" replied the duke. "Didn't I see, as we
+stopt before your window, a countenance radiant with beauty?"
+
+"Eyes like stars," chimed in another.
+
+"Cheeks like roses. Aha! Monsieur le Marquis--who was it?--come!"
+
+"Why, that,--oh, that,--that's a young lady under my protection,
+gentlemen; and I must beg you to change the conversation."
+
+"Indeed! you're a lucky fellow! The old fool mustn't be allowed to
+keep such beauty to himself."
+
+"Certainly not," returned the vicomte, also in a whisper.
+
+"Lucky!" said De Bouillon--"yes, gentlemen, I am lucky. If you knew
+all, you would think so, I'm sure."
+
+"She loves you, then, old simpleton?"
+
+"I think she does--I know she does--"
+
+"May we not ask the honour of being presented?"
+
+"Some other time, gentlemen--not now--she's not here--she's gone out
+for a walk."
+
+"Impossible, my dear lord; we must have met her as we came up
+stairs."
+
+"She has a headache--she's gone to lie down for a few minutes," said
+the marquis, getting more and more anxious to keep Louise from the
+intrusion of his visitors.
+
+"I have an excellent cure for headaches of all kinds," exclaimed
+the baron, and proceeded towards the bed-room door. The Marquis de
+Bouillon, however, put himself between; but the duke and vicomte
+pulled him aside, and the baron began to rat-tat on the door.
+
+"Come forth, madam!" he began, "we are dying for a sight of your
+angelic charms. De Bouillon begs you to honour us with your
+presence. Hark, she's coming!" he added, and drew back as he heard
+the bolt withdrawn on the other side.
+
+"Stay where you are! don't come out!" shouted De Bouillon, still in
+the hands of his friends. "I charge you, don't move a step!" But his
+injunctions were vain; the door opened, and, sailing majestically
+into the room, drest out in hoop and furbelow, and waving her fan
+affectedly before her face, appeared Miss Lucretia Smith--
+
+"Did you visit to see me, gentlemen? I'm always delighted to see any
+one as is civil enough to give us a forenoon call."
+
+The French nobles, however, felt their ardour damped to an
+extraordinary degree, and replied by a series of the most respectful
+salaams.
+
+"Profound veneration," "deepest reverence," and other expressions
+of the same kind, were muttered by each of the visiters; and in a
+short time they succeeded, in spite of Miss Lucretia's reiterated
+invitations, in bowing themselves out of the room. They were
+accompanied by the marquis to their carriages, while Miss Smith was
+gazing after them, astonished, more than pleased, at the wonderful
+politeness of their manner. Louise slipt out of the bed-room, and
+slapt her astonished aunt upon the shoulder--
+
+"You've done it, aunt!--you've done it now! A word from you recalls
+these foreigners to their senses."
+
+"It gives me a high opinion," replied Miss Smith, "of them French.
+They stand in perfect awe of dignity and virtue."
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Great were the discussions, all that day, among the English party in
+the hotel--the father concealing his disappointment at the behaviour
+of his fellow nobles, under an exaggerated admiration of rank, and
+all its attributes; Louise professing to chime in with her father's
+ideas, for the pleasant purpose of vexing Cecil Hope; Mr Cocker
+still persuading himself the Frenchmanship of his old master was a
+little bit of acting that would end as soon as the curtain fell; and
+Miss Lucretia devising means of making up for her failures with so
+many curates, by catching a veritable duke. With the next morning
+new occupations began. The marquis, dressed in the fantastic apparel
+of a French courtier, exchanged compliments with his daughter,
+who was also magnificently attired, to do honour to the occasion.
+Mr Hope tried in vain to get her to sink from the lofty style she
+assumed, and had strong thoughts of setting off for Hertfordshire,
+and marrying a farmer's daughter out of revenge. The father was so
+carried away by family pride, and the daughter enjoyed the change
+in her rank so heartily, that there seemed no room in the heart
+of either for so prosaic a being as a plain English squire. And
+yet, every now and then, there gleamed from the corner of Louise's
+eye, or stole out in a merry tone of her voice, the old familiar
+feeling, so that he could not altogether give way to despair, but
+waited in patience what the chapter of accidents might bring. At
+one o'clock the marquis set off for the town-hall, where he was to
+go through the ceremony of reclaiming his father's sword, and have
+the blot on the scutcheon formally removed; after which he was to
+entertain the town authorities, and the neighbouring nobility, at
+dinner; the evening to conclude with a ball, in the preparation for
+which the ladies were to be left at home. Mr Hope accompanied him
+to the door of the town-hall,--but there he professed to find his
+feelings overpowered, and declined to witness the ceremony that,
+he said, broke the connexion which had existed so long between the
+names of Hope and Bullion; but, ere he could return to the hotel,
+several things had occurred that had a material influence on his
+prospects, and these we must now proceed to relate. Miss Lucretia
+Smith continued her oratory in the ears of her devoted niece after
+the gentlemen had gone, the burden thereof consisting, principally,
+in a comparison between the nobles of France and the shopocracy
+of London,--till that young lady betook herself to the bedroom
+window already mentioned, to watch for Cecil's return. She had
+not been long at her watch-post, when a carriage, with the blinds
+drawn up, and escorted by seven or eight armed men, with masks on
+their faces, pulled up at the door. Of this she took no particular
+notice, but kept looking attentively down the street. But, a minute
+or two after the closed carriage drove under the _porte cochere_,
+a young gentleman was ushered into the presence of Miss Smith, and
+was, by that young lady, received with the highest _empressement_
+possible. She had only had time to improve her toilette by putting
+on Louise's shawl and bonnet, which happened to be lying on a chair;
+and, in spite of the shortness of the view she had had of him the
+day before, she immediately recognised him as one of her brother's
+visiters, the Baron Beauvilliers.
+
+"Permit me, madam," he said, in very good English, "to apologise for
+my intrusion, but I have the authority of my friend De Bouillon to
+consider myself here at home."
+
+"Oh, sir, you are certainly the politest nation on the face of the
+earth, you French--that I must say; but I may trust, I hope, to
+the honour of a gent like you? You won't be rude to an unoffended
+female? for there ain't a soul in the 'ouse that could give me the
+least assistance."
+
+The baron bowed in a very assuring manner, and, taking a seat beside
+her, "May I make bold, madam, to ask who the tawdry silly-looking
+young person is who resides under De Bouillon's protection?"
+
+"Sir--under Mr Bull--I mean, under the marquee's protection? I don't
+understand you."
+
+"Exactly as I suspected. I guessed, from the dignity of your
+appearance, that such an infamous proceeding was entirely unknown
+to you. Command my services, madam, in any way you can make them
+available. Let me deliver you from the scandal of being in the same
+house with a person of that description."
+
+"Oh, sir!" replied Miss Smith, "you are certainly most obliging.
+When we are a little better acquainted perhaps--in a few days,
+or even in one--I shall be happy to accept your offer; but, la!
+what will my brother-in-law say if I accept a gentleman's offer at
+minute's notice?"
+
+Miss Smith accompanied this speech with various blushes and pauses,
+betokening the extent of her modest reluctance; but the baron either
+did not perceive the mistake she had made, or did not think it worth
+while to notice it.
+
+"I will convey the destroyer of your peace away from your sight.
+Show me only the room she is in. And consider, madam, that you will
+make me the proudest of men by allowing me to be your knight and
+champion on this occasion."
+
+"Really, sir, I can't say at present where the gipsy can be.
+Brother-in-law has been very sly; but if I can possibly ferret her
+out, won't I send her on her travels? Wait but a minute, sir: I'll
+come to you the moment she can be found."
+
+But the baron determined to accompany her in her search, and
+together they left the room, two active members of the Society for
+the Suppression of Vice. Louise had heard the noise of voices,
+without distinguishing or attending to what was said, but a low and
+hurried tap at the door now attracted her notice.
+
+"Miss Louise--ma'am--for heaven's sake, come out!" said the voice of
+Mr Cocker through the key-hole; "for here's a whole regiment of them
+French, and they wants to run away with YOU."
+
+"With me, Cocker!" exclaimed Louise, coming into the parlour. "What
+is it you mean?"
+
+"What I say, miss--and your aunt is as bad as any on 'em. She's
+searching the house, at this moment, to give you tip into their
+hands. She can't refuse nothing to them noblesse, as she calls 'em.
+The gentleman has gone down to the court-yard to see that nobody
+escapes, and here we are, like mice in a trap."
+
+"Go for Cecil, Cocker; leave me to myself," said Louise--her
+features dilating into tiger-like beauty, with rage and
+self-confidence. "Go, I tell you--you'll find him returning from the
+town-hall--and bid him lose not a moment in coming to my help." She
+waved Mr Cocker impatiently from her, and returned for a moment into
+the bed-room.
+
+"Madam, hist! I beg you will be quick!" exclaimed the baron,
+entering the parlour; "I can't wait much longer. What a detestable
+old fool it is!" he went on, in a lower voice; "she might have
+found the girl long ere this. "Well, well, have you found her?" he
+continued, addressing Louise, who issued from the bed-room in some
+of the apparel of her aunt, and assuming as nearly as she could the
+airs and graces of that individual. "Tell me, madam, where she is."
+
+"La! sir, how is one to find out these things in a moment--besides,
+they ain't quite proper subjects for a young lady to be concerned
+with," replied Louise, keeping her bashful cheek from the sight of
+the baron with her enormous fan.
+
+"Then, madam, point with that lovely finger of yours, and I shall
+make the discovery myself."
+
+Louise pointed, as required, to the gallery, along which, at that
+moment, her quick eye caught the step of Miss Lucretia; and the
+baron, going to the door, gave directions to his attendants to seize
+the lady, and carry her without loss of time to the Parc d'Amour,
+a hotel on the outskirts of Tours. He then closed the door, and
+listened--no less than did Louise--to the execution of his commands.
+
+"There, madam," he said, as the scuffle of seizure and a very faint
+scream were heard, "they've got her! Your pure presence shall never
+more be polluted by her society. A naughty man old De Bouillon, and
+unaccustomed to the strict morality of France. Adieu!"
+
+"Adieu, sir!" said Louise; but there was a tone in her voice, or
+something in her manner, that called the attention of her visitor.
+He went up to her, laid his hand upon the fan, and revealed before
+him, beautiful from alarm and indignation, was the face of Louise de
+Bouillon! "So, madam! this was an excellent device, but I have more
+assistance at hand. Ho! Pierre! Francois!" he began to call. "I have
+another carriage in the yard--you sha'nt escape me so."
+
+"Stop, sir!" exclaimed Louise, and placed herself between him and
+the door. "These are not the arts of wooing we are used to in
+England. I expected more softness and persuasion."
+
+"Alas, madam, 'tis only the shortness of the opportunity that
+prevents me from making a thousand protestations. But, after all,
+what is the use of them? Ho! Francois!"
+
+As he said this, he approached nearer to Louise, and even laid his
+hand upon her arm. But with the quickness of lightning, she made
+a dart at the diamond-covered hilt of her assailant's sword, and
+pulling it from the sheath, stood with the glittering point within
+an inch of the Frenchman's eyes.
+
+"Back, back!" she cried, "or you are a dead man--or frog--or
+monkey--or whatever you are!"
+
+Each of these names was accompanied with a step in advance; and
+there was too savage a lustre in her look to allow the unfortunate
+baron to doubt for a moment that his life was in the highest peril.
+
+"Madam," he expostulated, "do be careful--'tis sharp as a needle."
+
+"Back, back!" she continued, advancing with each word upon his
+retreating steps--"you thread-paper--you doll-at-a-fair--you stuffed
+cockatoo--back, back!" And on arriving at the bed-room door, she
+gave a prodigiously powerful lunge in advance, and drove her victim
+fairly into the room, and, with an exclamation of pride and triumph,
+locked him in. But, exhausted with the excitement, she had only time
+to lay the sword on the table, wave the key three times round her
+head in sign of victory, and fall fainting into the arms of Cecil
+Hope, who at that moment rushed into the room.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The ceremony in the town-hall passed off with the greatest _eclat_;
+and the dinner was probably thought the finest part of the day's
+entertainment by all but the newly re-established noble himself.
+Flushed with the glories of the proceeding, and also with the wine
+he had swallowed to his own health and happiness, he sallied forth
+with his friends of the preceding day--except, of course, the
+Baron Beauvilliers--and, as he himself expressed it, was awake for
+anything, up to any lark.
+
+"A lark, says my lord?" inquired the Duke de Vieuxchateau.
+
+"Ay," replied the marquis, "if it's as big as a turkey, all the
+better. That champaign is excellent tipple, and would be cheap at
+eighty-four shillings per dozen."
+
+The French nobles did not quite understand their companion's
+phraseology, but were quite willing to join him in any extravagance.
+
+"What shall we do?" cried one; "shall we break open the jail?"
+
+"No," said De Bouillon: "hang it! that's a serious matter. But I'll
+tell you what, I've no objection to knock down a charley."
+
+"No, no! let's go to _Rouge et Noir_."
+
+"Boys, boys!" at last exclaimed the Vicomte de Lanoy, "I'll tell
+you what we shall do,--Beauvilliers told me that, while we were all
+engaged at the dinner, he was going to seize a beautiful creature,
+and carry her off to the Parc d'Amour."
+
+"Wrong, decidedly wrong!" said De Bouillon at this proposition. "Who
+is she?"
+
+"Why, the companion, you understand, of an old twaddling fool, who
+has no right to so much beauty. Beauvilliers did not tell me his
+name, but 'tis only one of the _bourgeoisie_, and we surely have a
+right to do as we like with _them_."
+
+"Ah yes! of course," replied De Bouillon, "I did not think of that.
+What then?"
+
+"Why, sir, we shall play as good a trick on Beauvilliers as he
+designed for the ancient gentleman. Let's get there before him, and
+carry her from him!"
+
+"Agreed, agreed!"
+
+"No, no, I must declare off," said the marquis. "'Tis a bad business
+altogether, and this would make it worse."
+
+"But who is to carry the lady?" inquired the duke, without attending
+to the scruples of his friend.
+
+"Toss for it," suggested the vicomte. A louis was thrown into the
+air. "Heads! heads!" cried the nobleman. "Tails!" said De Bouillon.
+
+"'Tis tails!" exclaimed the vicomte. "Marquis, the chance is
+yours--you've won."
+
+"Oh! have I?" replied the unwilling favourite of fortune; "I've won,
+have I?"
+
+"You don't seem overpleased with your good luck," said the duke;
+"give me your chance, and I shall know how to make better use of it."
+
+"No, gentlemen, I'll manage this affair myself."
+
+"Come on, then!--_vive la joie!_"--and with great joviality they
+pursued their way to the Parc d'Amour.
+
+But they had been preceded in their journey to that hostelry by
+Louise, attended by Cecil Hope and Mr Cocker. By the administration
+of a douceur to the waiter, they obtained an _entree_ to the
+apartment designed for the baron and his prey, and had scarcely time
+to ensconce themselves behind the window-curtain, when Miss Lucretia
+was escorted into the room. There were no symptoms of any violent
+resistance to her captors having been offered, and she took her seat
+on the sofa without any perceptible alarm.
+
+"Well, them's curious people, them French!" she soliloquised when
+the men had left her. "If that 'ere baron fell in love with a body,
+couldn't he say so without all that rigmarole about Mr Bullion's
+behaviour, and pulling a body nearly to pieces? I'm sure if he had
+axed me in a civil way, I wouldn't have said no. But, lawkins! here
+he comes."
+
+So saying, she enveloped herself in Louise's shawl, and pulled
+Louise's bonnet farther on her face, and prepared to enact the part
+of an offended, yet not altogether unforgiving beauty. But the
+door, on being slowly opened, presented, not the countenance of the
+baron, but the anxious face of Mr Bullion himself. The three French
+nobles pushed him forward. "Go on," they said; "make the best use
+of your eloquence. We will watch here, and guard the door against
+Beauvilliers himself."
+
+The marquis, now thoroughly sobered, slowly advanced: "If I can save
+this poor creature from the insolence of those _roues_, it will be
+well worth the suffering it has cost. Trust to me, madam," he said,
+in a very gentle voice, to the lady: "I will not suffer you to be
+insulted while I live. Come with me, madam, and you shall not be
+interrupted by ever a French profligate alive." On looking closely
+at the still silent lady on the sofa, he was startled at recognising
+a dress with which he was well acquainted.
+
+"In the name of heaven!" he said, "I adjure you to tell me who you
+are. Are you--is it possible--can you be my Louise!"
+
+"No, Mr Bullion," replied Miss Lucretia, lifting up the veil,
+and turning round to the trembling old man. "And I must say I'm
+considerably surprised to find you in a situation like this."
+
+"And you, madam--yourself--how came you here?"
+
+"A young gentleman--nobleman, I should say--ran off with me here,
+and I expected him every minute when you came in."
+
+"And Louise?" inquired the father, in an agitated voice--"when did
+you leave her? Oh! my folly to let her a moment out of my sight!--to
+reject Cecil Hope!--to bedizen myself in this ridiculous fashion!
+Where, oh where is Louise?"
+
+"Here, sir," exclaimed that lady, coming forward from behind the
+window-curtain.
+
+"And safe? Ah! but I need not ask. I see two honest Englishmen by
+your side."
+
+"And one of them, sir, says he'll never leave it," said Louise.
+
+"Stop a moment," replied the marquis. "Ho! gentlemen, come in."
+
+At his request his companions entered the room.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the marquis, "when I determined to reclaim my
+father's sword, I expected to find it bright as Bayard's, and
+unstained with infamy or dishonour. When I wished to resume my
+title, I hoped to find it a sign of the heroic virtues of my
+ancestors, but not a cloak for falsehood and vice. I warn you,
+sirs, your proceedings will be fatal to your order, and to your
+country. For myself, I care not for this sword,"--he threw it on
+the ground--"this filagree I despise,"--he took off his star and
+ribbon--"and I advise you to leave this chamber as fast as you can
+find it convenient."
+
+The French nobles obeyed.
+
+"Here, Cocker! off with all this silk and satin; get me my gaiters
+and flaxen wig; and, please Heaven, one week will see us in the
+little room above the warehouse."
+
+"Preparing, sir, to move into Hertfordshire?" inquired Louise,
+leaning on Cecil's arm.
+
+"Ay, my child; and, in remembrance of this adventure, we shall hang
+up among the pictures in the hall,
+
+  THE SWORD OF HONOUR."
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE.[24]
+
+  [24] _Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of Grange, Knight_,
+  &c. &c. WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London.
+
+
+It must be allowed that a perusal of Scottish history betrays more
+anomalies than are to be found in the character of almost any other
+people. It is not without reason that our southern neighbours
+complain of the difficulty of thoroughly understanding our national
+idiosyncrasy. At one time we appear to be the most peaceable race
+upon the surface of the earth--quiet, patient, and enduring;
+stubborn, perhaps, if interfered with, but, if let alone, in no way
+anxious to pick a quarrel. Take us in another mood, and gunpowder is
+not more inflammable. We are ready to go to the death, for a cause
+about which an Englishman would not trouble himself; and amongst
+ourselves, we divide into factions, debate, squabble, and fight with
+an inveteracy far more than commensurate with the importance of the
+quarrel. Sometimes we seem to have no romance; at other times we are
+perfect Quixotes. The amalgamated blood of the Saxon and the Celt
+seems, even in its union, to display the characteristics of either
+race. We rush into extremes: one day we appear over-cautious, and on
+the next, the _perfervidum ingenium Scotorum_ prevails.
+
+If these remarks be true as applied to the present times, they
+become still more conspicuous when we regard the troublous days of
+our ancestors. At one era, as in the reign of David I., we find
+the Scottish nation engaged, heart and soul, in one peculiar phase
+of religious excitement. Cathedrals and abbeys are starting up in
+every town. All that infant art can do--and yet, why call it infant,
+since, in architecture at least, it has never reached a higher
+maturity?--is lavished upon the structure of our fanes. Melrose, and
+Jedburgh, and Holyrood, and a hundred more magnificent edifices,
+rise up like exhalations throughout a poor and barren country; the
+people are proud in their faith, and perhaps even prouder in the
+actual splendour of their altars. A few centuries roll by, and we
+find the same nation deliberately undoing and demolishing the works
+of their forefathers. Hewn stone and carved cornices, tracery,
+mullions, and buttresses, have now become abominations in their
+sight. Not only must the relics of the saints be scattered to the
+winds of heaven, and their images ground into dust, but every church
+in which these were deposited or displayed, must be dismantled as
+the receptacle of pollution. The hammer swings again, but not with
+the same pious purpose as of yore. Once it was used to build; now
+it is heaved to destroy. Aisle and archway echo to the thunder of
+its strokes, and, amidst a roar of iconoclastic wrath, the venerable
+edifice goes down. Another short lapse of time, and we are lamenting
+the violence of the past, and striving to prop, patch up, and
+rebuild what little remnant has been spared of the older works of
+devotion.
+
+The same anomalies will be found if we turn from the ecclesiastical
+to the political picture. Sometimes there is a spirit of loyalty
+manifested, for which it would be difficult to find a parallel. The
+whole nation gathers round the person of James IV.; and earl and
+yeoman, lord and peasant, chief and vassal, lay down their lives
+at Flodden for their king. His successor James V., in no respect
+unworthy of his crown, dies of a broken heart, deserted by his peers
+and their retainers. The unfortunate Mary, welcomed to her country
+with acclamation, is made the victim of the basest intrigues, and
+forced to seek shelter, and find death in the dominions of her
+treacherous enemy. The divine right, in its widest meaning and
+acceptation, is formally recognised by the Scottish estates as the
+attribute of James VII.; three years afterwards, a new convention
+is prompt to recognise an alien. Half a century further on, we are
+found offering the gage of battle to England in support of the
+exiled family.
+
+This singular variety of mood, of which the foregoing are a
+few instances, is no doubt partly attributable to the peculiar
+relationship which existed between the crown and the principal
+nobility. The latter were not cousins by courtesy only--they were
+intimately connected with the royal family, and some of them were
+near the succession. Hence arose jealousy amongst themselves, a
+system of feud and intrigue, which was perpetuated for centuries,
+and a constant effort, on the part of one or other of the
+conflicting magnates, to gain possession and keep custody of the
+royal person, whenever minority or weakness appeared to favour the
+attempt. But we cannot help thinking, that the disposition of the
+people ought also to be taken into account. Fierce when thwarted,
+and with a memory keenly retentive of injury, the Scotsman is in
+reality a much more impulsive being than his southern neighbour. His
+sense of justice and order is not so strongly developed, but his
+passion glows with a fire all the more intense because to outward
+appearance it is smothered. His ideas of social duty are different
+from those of the Englishman. Kindred is a closer tie--identity of
+name and family is a bond of singular union. Clanship, in the broad
+acceptation of the word, has died out for all practical purposes;
+chieftainship is still a recognised and a living principle. The
+feudal times, though gone, have left their traces on the national
+character. Little as baronial sway, too often tantamount to sheer
+oppression, can have contributed towards the happiness of the
+people, we still recur to the history of these troublous days with a
+relish and fondness which can hardly be explained, save through some
+undefined and subtle sympathy of inheritance. Though the objects for
+which they contended are now mere phantoms of speculation we yet
+continue to feel and to speak as if we were partisans of the cause
+of our ancestors, and to contest old points with as much ardour as
+though they were new ones of living interest to ourselves.
+
+We have been led into this strain of thought by the perusal of a
+work, strictly authentic as a history, and yet as absorbing in
+interest as the most coloured and glowing romance. Sir William
+Kirkaldy of Grange, the subject of these Memoirs, played a most
+conspicuous part in the long and intricate struggles which convulsed
+Scotland, from the death of James V. until the latter part of the
+reign of Queen Mary. Foremost in battle and in council, we find his
+name prominently connected with every leading event of the period,
+and his influence and example held in higher estimation than those
+of noblemen who were greatly his superiors in rank, following,
+and fortune. In fact, Kirkaldy achieved, by his own talent and
+indomitable valour, a higher reputation, and exercised, for a time,
+a greater influence over the destinies of the nation, than was ever
+before possessed by a private Scottish gentleman, with the glorious
+exception of Wallace. In an age when the sword was the sole arbiter
+of public contest and of private quarrel, it was a proud distinction
+to be reputed, not only at home but abroad--not only by the voice of
+Scotland, but by that of England and France--the best and bravest
+soldier, and the most accomplished cavalier of his time. Mixed up in
+the pages of general history, too often turbidly and incoherently
+written, the Knight of Grange may not be estimated, in the scale of
+importance, at the level of such personages as the subtle Moray, or
+the vindictive and treacherous Morton: viewed as all individual,
+through the medium of these truthful and most fascinating memoirs,
+he will be found at least their equal as a leader and a politician,
+and far their superior as a generous and heroic man.
+
+His father, Sir James Kirkaldy, was a person of no mean family or
+reputation. He occupied, for a considerable time, the office of Lord
+High Treasurer of Scotland, and, according to our author--
+
+     "Enjoyed, in a very high degree, the favour and confidence of
+     King James V.; and though innumerable efforts were made by his
+     mortal foe Cardinal Beatoun, and others, to bring him into
+     disgrace as a promoter of the Reformation, they all proved
+     ineffectual, and the wary old baron maintained his influence to
+     the last."
+
+Old Sir James seems to have been one of those individuals with whom
+it is neither safe nor pleasant to differ in opinion. According
+to his brother-in-law, Sir James Melville of Halhill, he was "a
+stoute man, who always offered, by single combate, and at point of
+the sword, to maintain whatever he said;" a testimonial which, we
+observe, has been most fitly selected as the motto of this book, the
+son having been quite as much addicted to the wager of battle as the
+father; nor, though a strenuous supporter of the Reformation, does
+he appear to have imbibed much of that meekness which is inculcated
+by holy writ. He was not the sort of man whom John Bright would have
+selected to second a motion at a Peace Congress; indeed, the mere
+sight of him would have caused the voice of Elihu Burritt to subside
+into a quaver of dismay. Cardinal Beatoun, that proud and licentious
+prelate, to whose tragical end we shall presently have occasion to
+advert, was the personal and bitter enemy of the Treasurer, as he
+was of every other independent Scotsman who would not truckle to his
+power. But James V., though at times too facile, would not allow
+himself to be persuaded into so dangerous an act as countenancing
+prosecutions for heresy against any of his martial subjects; and,
+so long as he lived, the over-weening bigotry and arrogance of
+the priesthood were held in check. But other troubles brought the
+good king to an untimely end. James had mortally offended some of
+his turbulent nobles, by causing the authority of the law to be
+vindicated without respect to rank or person. He had deservedly won
+for himself the title of King of the Commons; and was, in fact, even
+in that early age, bent upon a thorough reform of the abuses of
+the feudal system. But he had proud, jealous, and stubborn men to
+deal with. They saw, not without apprehension for their own fate,
+that title and birth were no longer accepted as palliatives of
+sedition and crime; that the inroads, disturbances, and harryings
+which they and their fathers had practised, were now regarded with
+detestation by the crown, and threatened with merited punishment.
+Some strong but necessary examples made them quail for their future
+supremacy, and discontent soon ripened into something like absolute
+treason. Add to this, that for a long time the nobility of Scotland
+had fixed a covetous eye upon the great possessions of the church.
+In no country of Europe, considering its extent and comparative
+wealth, was the church better endowed than in Scotland; and the
+endeavours of the monks, who, with all their faults, were not blind
+to the advantages derivable from the arts of peace, had greatly
+raised their property in point of value. The confiscations which
+had taken place in Protestantised England, whereof Woburn Abbey may
+be cited as a notable example, had aroused to the fullest extent
+the cupidity of the rapacious nobles. They longed to see the day
+when, unsupported by the regal power, the church lands in Scotland
+could be annexed by each iron-handed baron to his own domain; when,
+at the head of their armed and dissolute jackmen, they could oust
+the feeble possessors of the soil from the heritages they had so
+long enjoyed as a corporation, and enrich themselves by plundering
+the consecrated stores of the abbeys. These were the feelings
+and desires which led most of them to lend a willing ear to the
+preaching of the fathers of the Reformation. They were desirous, not
+only of lessening the royal authority, but of transferring the whole
+property of the clergy to themselves; and this double object led to
+a combination which resulted in the passive defeat of the Scottish
+army at Solway Moss.
+
+Poor King James could not bear up against the shock of this shameful
+desertion. Mr Tytler thus describes his latter moments:--
+
+     "When in this state, intelligence was brought him that his queen
+     had given birth to a daughter. At another time it would have
+     been happy news; but now, it seemed to the poor monarch the
+     last drop of bitterness which was reserved for him. Both his
+     sons were dead. Had this child been a boy, a ray of hope, he
+     seemed to feel, might yet have visited his heart; he received
+     the messenger and was informed of that event without welcome
+     or almost recognition; but wandering back in his thoughts to
+     the time when the daughter of Bruce brought to his ancestor
+     the dowry of the kingdom, observed with melancholy emphasis,
+     'It came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass.' A few of
+     his most favoured friends and counsellers stood around his
+     couch; the monarch stretched out his hand for them to kiss; and
+     regarding them for some moments with a look of great sweetness
+     and placidity, turned himself upon the pillow and expired. He
+     died 13th December 1542, in the thirty-first year of his age,
+     and the twenty-ninth of his reign; leaving an only daughter,
+     Mary, an infant of six days old, who succeeded to the crown."
+
+Amongst those who stood around that memorable deathbed were the
+Lord High Treasurer, young William Kirkaldy his son, and Cardinal
+Beatoun. There was peace for a moment over the body of the anointed
+dead!
+
+But even the death of a king makes a light impression on this busy
+and intriguing world. The struggle for mastery now commenced in
+right earnest--for the only wall which had hitherto separated the
+contending factions of the nobility and the clergy had given way.
+Beatoun and Arran were both candidates for the regency, which the
+latter succeeded in gaining; and, after a temporary alienation,
+these two combined against an influence which began to show itself
+in a threatening form. Henry VIII. of England considered this an
+excellent opportunity for carrying out those designs against the
+independence of the northern country, which had been entertained
+by several of his predecessors; and for that purpose he proposed
+to negotiate a marriage between his son Edward and the Princess
+Mary. Such an alliance was of course decidedly opposed to the views
+of the Catholic party in Scotland, and, moreover, was calculated
+to excite the utmost jealousy of the Scottish people, who well
+understood the true but recondite motive of the proposal. So long as
+Beatoun, whose interest was identified with that of France, existed,
+Henry was fully aware that his scheme never could be carried into
+execution; and accordingly, with that entire want of principle which
+he exhibited on every occasion, he took advantage of their position
+to tamper with the Scottish barons who had been made prisoners at
+Solway Moss. In this he so far succeeded, that a regular conspiracy
+was entered into for the destruction of the cardinal, and only
+defeated by his extreme sagacity and caution. It will be seen
+hereafter that the cardinal did not fall a victim to this dastardly
+English plot, but to private revenge, no doubt augmented and
+inflamed by the consideration of his arrogance and cruelty.
+
+Beatoun, one of the most able and also dissolute men of his day,
+was a younger son of the Laird of Balfour--yet had, notwithstanding
+every disadvantage, contrived very early to attain his high
+position. He was hated, not only by the nobility, but by the
+lesser barons, from whose own ranks he had risen, on account of
+his intolerable pride, his rapacity, and the unscrupulous manner
+in which he chose to exercise his power. Among the barons of Fife,
+always a disunited and wrangling county, he had few adherents: and
+with the Kirkaldys, and their relatives, the Melvilles, he had an
+especial quarrel. Shortly after the death of James, the Treasurer
+was dismissed from his office, an affront which the "stoute man"
+was not likely to forget; and his son, then a mere youth, seems to
+have participated in his feelings. But the cruelty of Beatoun was
+at least the nominal cause which led to his destruction. Wishart,
+the famous Reforming preacher, had fallen into the hands of the
+cardinal, and was confined in his castle of St Andrews, of which our
+author gives us the following faithful sketch:--
+
+     "On the rocky shore, to the northward of the venerable city of
+     St Andrews, stand the ruins of the ancient Episcopal palace, in
+     other years the residence of the primates of Scotland. Those
+     weatherbeaten remains, now pointed out to visitors by the
+     ciceroni of the place, present only the fragments of an edifice
+     erected by Archbishop Hamilton, the successor of Cardinal
+     Beatoun, and are somewhat in the style of an antique Scottish
+     manor-house; but very different was the aspect of that vast
+     bastille which had the proud cardinal for lord, and contained
+     within its massive walls all the appurtenances requisite for
+     ecclesiastical tyranny, epicurean luxury, lordly grandeur,
+     and military defence--at once a fortress, a monastery, an
+     inquisition, and a palace.
+
+     "The sea-mews and cormorants screaming among the wave-beaten
+     rocks and bare walls now crumbling on that bleak promontory,
+     and echoing only to drenching surf, as it rolls up the rough
+     shelving shore, impart a peculiarly desolate effect to the
+     grassy ruins, worn with the blasts of the German Ocean, gray
+     with the storms of winter, and the damp mists of March and
+     April--an effect that is greatly increased by the venerable
+     aspect of the dark and old ecclesiastical city to the southward,
+     decaying, deserted, isolated, and forgotten, with its
+     magnificent cathedral, once one of the finest gothic structures
+     in the world, but now, shattered by the hands of man and time,
+     passing rapidly away. Of the grand spire which arose from the
+     cross, and of its five lofty towers, little more than the
+     foundations can now be traced, while a wilderness of ruins on
+     every hand attest the departed splendours of St Andrews."
+
+George Wishart, the unhappy preacher, was burned before the Castle
+on the 28th March 1545, under circumstances of peculiar barbarity.
+We refer to the book for a proper description of the death-scene of
+the Martyr, whose sufferings were calmly witnessed by the ruthless
+and implacable Cardinal. But the avenger of blood was at hand, in
+the person of Norman Leslie, Master of Rothes. This young man,
+who was of a most fiery and intractable spirit, had some personal
+dispute with the cardinal, whom he accused of having attempted to
+defraud him of an estate. High words followed, and Norman rode off
+in wrath to the house of his uncle, John Leslie of Parkhill, a moody
+and determined Reformer, who had already vowed bloody vengeance for
+the execution of the unfortunate Wishart. Finding him apt for any
+enterprise, Norman instantly despatched messengers to the Kirkaldys
+of Grange, the Melvilles of Raith and Carnbee, and to Carmichael of
+Kilmadie, desiring them to meet for an enterprise of great weight
+and importance; and the summons having been responded to, these few
+men determined to rid the country of one whom they considered a
+murderer and an oppressor.
+
+The manner in which this act of terrible retribution was executed
+is too well known to the student of history to require repetition.
+Suffice it to say that, by a _coup-de-main_, sixteen armed men made
+themselves masters of the castle of St Andrews, overpowered and
+dispersed the retainers of the cardinal, and quenched the existence
+of that haughty prelate in his blood. William Kirkaldy was not the
+slayer, but, as an accomplice, he must bear whatever load of odium
+is cast upon the perpetrators of the deed. We cannot help thinking
+that our author exhibits an unnecessary degree of horror in this
+instance. Far be it from us to palliate bloodshed, in any age or
+under any provocation: neither do we agree with John Knox, that the
+extermination of Beatoun was a "godly fact." But we doubt whether it
+can be called a murder. In the first place, old Kirkaldy knew, on
+the authority of James V., that a list of three hundred and sixty
+names, including his own and those of his most immediate friends,
+had been made out by the cardinal, as a catalogue of victims who
+were to be burned for heresy. This contemplated atrocity, far worse
+than the massacre of St Bartholomew, might not, indeed, have been
+carried into effect, even on account of its magnitude; but the
+mere knowledge that it had been planned, was enough to justify the
+Kirkaldys, and those marked out for impeachment, in considering
+Beatoun as their mortal foe. That the cardinal never departed from
+his bloody design, is apparent from the fact, that, after his death,
+a paper was found in his repositories, ordaining that "Norman
+Leslie, sheriff of Fife, John Leslie, father's brother to Norman,
+the Lairds of Grange, _elder and younger_, Sir James Learmonth of
+Dairsie, and the Laird of Raith, should either have been slain or
+else taken." The law at that period could afford no security against
+such a design, so that Beatoun's assassination may have been an act
+of necessary self-defence, which it would be extremely difficult to
+blame. As to the sacrilege, we cannot regard that as an aggravation.
+If a prelate of the Roman Church, like Beatoun, chose to make
+himself notorious to the world by the number and scandal of his
+profligacies; if, with a carnality and disregard of appearances not
+often exhibited by laymen, he turned his palace into a seraglio; and
+if his mistress was actually surprised, at the time of the attack,
+in the act of escaping from his bedchamber,--great allowance must
+be made for the obtuseness of the men who could not understand the
+relevancy of the plea of priesthood which he offered, in order that
+his holy calling might shield him from secular consequences. But
+further, is the fate of Wishart to go for nothing? Setting the
+natural influences of bigotry aside, and with every consideration
+for the zeal which could hurry even so good a man as Sir Thomas More
+to express, in words at least, a desire to see the faggot and the
+stake in full operation--what shall we say to the individual who
+could calmly issue his infernal orders, and, in the full pomp of
+ecclesiastical vanity, become a pleased spectator of the sufferings
+of a human being, undergoing the most hideous of all imaginable
+deaths? Truly this, that the brute deserved to die in return; and
+that we, at all events, shall not stigmatise those who killed him as
+guilty of murder. Poor old Sharpe was murdered, if ever man was, in
+a hideous and atrocious manner; but as for Beatoun, he deserved to
+die, and his death was invested with a sort of judicial sanction,
+having been perpetrated in presence of the sheriff of the bounds.
+
+The tidings of this act of vengeance spread, not only through
+Scotland, but through Europe, like wildfire. According as men
+differed in religious faith, they spoke of it either with horror or
+exultation. Even the most moderate of the reforming party were slow
+to blame the deed which freed them from a bloody persecutor; and Sir
+David Lindesay of the Mount, the witty and satirical scholar, did
+not characterise it more severely than as expressed in the following
+verses:--
+
+    "As for the cardinal, I grant
+     He was the man we well might want;
+         God will forgive it soon.
+     But of a truth, the sooth to say,
+     Although the loon be well away,
+         The deed was _foully done_."
+
+Meanwhile the conspirators had conceived the daring scheme of
+holding the castle of St Andrews against all comers, and of setting
+the authority of the regent at defiance. They calculated upon
+receiving support from England, in case France thought fit to
+interfere; and perhaps they imagined that a steady resistance on
+their part might excite general insurrection in Scotland. Besides
+this, they had retained in custody the son and heir of the Regent
+Arran, whom they had found in the castle, and who was a valuable
+hostage in their hands. The force they could command was not great.
+Amongst others, John Knox joined them with his three pupils; several
+Fife barons espoused their cause; and altogether they mustered
+about one hundred and fifty armed men. This was a small body, but
+the defences of the place were more than usually complete, and they
+were well munimented with artillery. Accordingly, though formally
+summoned, they peremptorily refused to surrender.
+
+John Knox, when he entered the castle, was probably under the
+impression that he was joining a company of men, serious in their
+deportment, rigid in their conversation, and self-denying in their
+habits. If so, he must very soon have discovered his mistake. The
+young Reforming gentry were not one whit more scrupulous than
+their Catholic coevals: Norman Leslie, though brave as steel, was
+a thorough-paced desperado; and, from the account given by our
+author of the doings at St Andrews, it may easily be understood how
+uncongenial such quarters must have been to the stern and ascetic
+Reformer.
+
+Arran had probably no intention of pushing matters to extremity,
+though compelled, for appearance' sake, to invest the fortress.
+After a siege of three weeks it remained unreduced; and a pestilence
+which broke out in the town of St Andrews, afforded the regent a
+pretext for agreeing to an armistice. Hitherto the conspirators had
+received the countenance and support of Henry VIII., who remitted
+them large sums from time to time, and promised even more active
+assistance. But this never arrived. Death at last put a stop to
+the bereavements of this unconscionable widower; and thereupon the
+French court despatched a fleet of one-and-twenty vessels of war,
+under the command of Leon Strozzio--a famous Florentine noble,
+who had risen in the Order of the Hospital to the rank of Prior
+of Capua--for the purpose of reducing the stubborn stronghold of
+heresy. Strozzio's name was so well known as that of a most skilful
+commander and tactician, and the weight of the ordnance he brought
+with him was so great, that the besieged had no hope of escaping
+this time; yet, on being summoned, they replied, with the most
+undaunted bravery, that they would defend the castle against the
+united powers of Scotland, England, and France. With such resolute
+characters as these, it was no use to parley further; and the Prior
+accordingly set about his task with a dexterity which put to shame
+the feeble tactics of Arran.
+
+     "By sea and land the siege was pressed with great fury. From the
+     ramparts of the Abbey Church, from the college, and other places
+     in the adjoining streets, the French and Scottish cannoneers
+     maintained a perpetual cannonade upon the castle. Those soldiers
+     who manned the steeples and St Salvador's tower occupied such
+     an elevation, that, by depressing their cannon, they shot down
+     into the inner quadrangle of the castle, the pavement of which
+     could be seen dabbled with the blood of the garrison; and, to
+     aggravate the increasing distress of the latter, the pestilence
+     found its way among them--many died, and all were dismayed.
+     Walter Melville, one of their bravest leaders, fell deadly sick;
+     while watching, warding, and scanty fare, were rapidly wearing
+     out the rest; and John Knox dinned continually in their ears,
+     that their present perils were the just reward of their former
+     corrupt lives and licentiousness, and reliance on England rather
+     than Heaven.
+
+     "'For the first twenty days of this siege,' said he, 'ye
+     prospered bravely: but when ye triumphed at your victory, I
+     lamented, and ever said that ye saw not what I saw. When ye
+     boasted of the thickness of your walls, I said they would be
+     but as egg-shells: when ye vaunted, England will rescue us--I
+     said, ye shall not see it; but ye shall be delivered into your
+     enemies' hands, and carried afar off into a strange country.'
+
+     "This gloomy prophesying was but cold comfort for those whom his
+     precepts and exhortations had urged to rebellion, to outlawry,
+     and to bloodshed; but their affairs were fast approaching a
+     crisis."
+
+If John Knox showed little judgment in adopting this tone of
+vaticination, he is, at all events, entitled to some credit for his
+courage--since Norman Leslie possessed a temper which it was rather
+dangerous to aggravate, and must sometimes have been sorely tempted
+to toss the querulous Reformer into the sea.
+
+The garrison finally surrendered to Leon Strozzio, but not until
+battlement and wall had been breached, and an escalade rendered
+practicable.
+
+The prisoners, including William Kirkaldy, were conveyed to France,
+and there subjected to treatment which varied according to their
+station. Those of knightly rank were incarcerated in separate
+fortresses; the remainder were chained to oars in the galleys on
+the Loire. John Knox was one of those who were forced to undergo
+this ignominious punishment; and we quite agree with our author in
+holding that, "it is not probable, that the lash of the tax-master
+increased his goodwill towards popery."
+
+William Kirkaldy was shut up in the great castle of Mont Saint
+Michel, along with Norman Leslie, his uncle of Parkhill, and Peter
+Carmichael of Kilmadie. But, however strong the fortress, it
+was imprudent in their gaolers to lodge four such fiery spirits
+together. They resolved to break prison; and did so, having, by an
+ingenious ruse, succeeded in overpowering the garrison, and, after
+some vicissitudes and wanderings, made good their escape to England.
+
+After this event there is a blank of some years, during which we
+hear little of Kirkaldy. It is, however, an important period in
+northern history, for it includes the battle of Pinkie, the removal
+of the child, Queen Mary, to France, and her betrothment to the
+Dauphin. Kirkaldy seems not to have arrived in England until the
+death of Edward VI., when the Romanist party attained a temporary
+ascendency. We next find him in the service of Henry II. of France,
+engaged in the wars between that monarch and the Emperor Charles V.
+In these campaigns, says our author, by his bravery and conduct, he
+soon attained that eminent distinction and reputation, as a skilful
+and gallant soldier, which ceased only with his life.
+
+Kirkaldy was not the only member of the stout garrison of St Andrews
+who found employment in the French service. Singularly enough,
+Norman Leslie, the head of the conspirators, had also a command, and
+was in high favour with the famous Constable Anne de Montmorencie.
+His death, which occurred the day before the battle of Renti, is
+thus graphically recounted in the Memoirs, and is a picture worth
+preserving:--
+
+     "The day before the battle, the constable, perceiving by the
+     manoeuvres of the Spanish troops that Charles meant to take
+     possession of certain heights, which sloped abruptly down to
+     the camp or bivouac of the French, sent up Leslie's Scottish
+     lances and other horsemen to skirmish with these Imperialists,
+     and drive them back. Melville, his fellow-soldier, thus
+     describes him:--In view of the whole French army, the Master
+     of Rothes, 'with thirty Scotsmen, rode up the hill upon a fair
+     gray gelding. He had, above his coat of black velvet, his coat
+     of armour, with two broad white crosses, one before and the
+     other behind, with sleeves of mail, and a red bonnet upon his
+     head, whereby he was seen and known afar off by the constable,
+     the Duke d'Enghien, and the Prince of Conde.' His party was
+     diminished to seven by the time he came within lance-length of
+     the Imperialists, who were sixty in number; but he burst upon
+     them with the force of a thunderbolt, escaping the fire of their
+     hand-culverins, which they discharged incessantly against him.
+     He struck five from their saddles with his long lance, before it
+     broke into splinters; then, drawing his sword, he rushed again
+     and again among them, with the heedless bravery for which he had
+     ever been distinguished. At the critical moment of this unequal
+     contest, of seven Scottish knights against sixty Spaniards, a
+     troop of Imperial spearmen were hastily riding along the hill to
+     join in the encounter. By this time Leslie had received several
+     bullets in his person; and, finding himself unable to continue
+     the conflict longer, he dashed spurs into his horse, galloped
+     back to the constable, and fell, faint and exhausted, from his
+     saddle, with the blood pouring through his burnished armour on
+     the turf.
+
+     "By the king's desire he was immediately borne to the royal
+     tent, where the Duke d'Enghien and Prince Louis of Conde
+     remarked to Henry, that 'Hector of Troy had not behaved more
+     valiantly than Norman Leslie.'
+
+     "So highly did that brave prince value Norman Leslie, and so
+     greatly did he deplore his death, that all the survivors of his
+     Scottish troop of lances were, under Crichton of Brunstane,
+     sent back to their own country, laden with rewards and honours;
+     and, by his influence, such as were exiles were restored by the
+     regent to their estates and possessions, as a recompense for
+     their valour on the frontiers of Flanders."
+
+Kirkaldy seems to have remained in France until the unfortunate
+death of Henry II., who was accidentally killed in a tournament.
+The estimation in which he was held, after his achievements in the
+wars of Picardy, may be learned from the following contemporary
+testimony:--
+
+"I heard Henry II.," Melville states, "point unto him and
+say--'Yonder is one of the most valiant men of our age.'" And the
+same writer mentions "that the proud old Montmorencie, the great
+constable of France, treated the exiled Kirkaldy with such deference
+that he never addressed him with his head covered." This was high
+tribute, when paid to a soldier then under thirty years of age.
+
+Ten years after he had been conveyed a prisoner from St Andrews on
+board the French galley, Kirkaldy returned to Scotland, but not to
+repose under the laurels he had already won. Soon after this we find
+him married, in possession, through the death of his father, of his
+ancestral estates, the intimate friend of Maitland of Lethington and
+of Lord James, afterwards the Regent Moray, and a stanch supporter
+of the Lords of the Congregation. This period furnishes to us one
+of the most melancholy chapters of Scottish history. Mary of Guise,
+the queen-regent, on the one hand, was resolute to put down the
+growing heresy; on the other, the landed nobility were determined to
+overthrow the Catholic church. Knox, who had by this time returned
+from France, and other Reformed preachers, did their utmost to fan
+the flame; and the result was that melancholy work of incendiarism
+and ruin, which men of all parties must bitterly deplore. Then came
+the French auxiliaries under D'Oisel, wasting the land, ravaging the
+estates of the Protestants, and burning their houses and villages;
+a savage mode of warfare, from which Kirkaldy suffered much--Fife
+having been pillaged from one end to the other--but for which he
+exacted an ample vengeance. The details of this partisan warfare are
+given with much minuteness, but great spirit, by the chronicler; and
+it did not cease until the death of Mary of Guise.
+
+A new victim was now to be offered to the distempered spirit of the
+age: on the 19th August 1561, the young Queen Mary arrived at Leith.
+She was then in the nineteenth year of her age, and endowed with
+all that surpassing loveliness which was at once her dower and her
+misfortune. Her arrival was dreaded by the preachers, who detested
+the school in which she had been educated, and the influence she
+might be enabled to exercise; but the great mass of the people
+hailed her coming with acclamations of unfeigned delight:--
+
+     "Despite the efforts of these dark-browed Reformers, agitated
+     by the memory of her good and gallant father,--the king of
+     the poor--by that of her thirteen years' absence from them,
+     and stirred by that inborn spirit of loyalty which the Scots
+     possessed in so intense a degree, the people received their
+     beautiful queen with the utmost enthusiasm, and outvied each
+     other in her praise.
+
+     "Her mother's dying advice to secure the support of the
+     Protestants, and to cultivate the friendship of their leaders,
+     particularly Maitland of Lethington and 'Kirkaldy of Grange,
+     whom the Constable de Montmorencie had named the first soldier
+     in Europe,' had been faithfully conveyed to Mary in France by
+     the handsome young Count de Martigues, the Sieur de la Brosse,
+     the Bishop of Amiens, and others, who had witnessed the last
+     moments of that dearly-loved mother in the castle of Edinburgh;
+     and Mary treasured that advice in her heart--but it availed her
+     not."
+
+Hurried on by her evil destiny, and persecuted by intrigues which
+had their origin in the fertile brain of Elizabeth, Mary determined
+to bestow her hand upon Darnley, a weak, dissolute, and foolish
+boy, whose only recommendations were his birth and his personal
+beauty. Such a marriage never could, under any circumstances, have
+proved a happy one. At that juncture it was peculiarly unfortunate,
+as it roused the jealousy of the house of Hamilton against that
+of Lennox; and was further bitterly opposed by Moray, a cold,
+calculating, selfish man, who concealed, under an appearance of
+zeal for the Protestant faith, the most restless, unnatural, and
+insatiable ambition. Talents he did possess, and of no ordinary
+kind: above all, he was gifted with the faculty of imposing upon men
+more open and honourable than himself. Knox was a mere tool in his
+hands: Kirkaldy of Grange regarded him as a pattern of wisdom. For
+years, this straightforward soldier surrendered his judgment to the
+hypocrite, and, unfortunately, did not detect his mistake until the
+Queen was involved in a mesh from which extrication was impossible.
+Moray's first attempt at rebellion proved an arrant failure: the
+people refused to join his standard, and he, with the other leading
+insurgents, was compelled to seek refuge in England.
+
+All might have gone well but for the folly of the idiot Darnley.
+No long period of domestic intercourse was requisite to convince
+the unfortunate Queen that she had thrown away her affections,
+and bestowed her hand upon an individual totally incapable of
+appreciating the one, and utterly unworthy of the other. Darnley
+was a low-minded, fickle, and imperious fool--vicious as a colt,
+capricious as a monkey, and stubborn as an Andalusian mule. Instead
+of showing the slightest gratitude to his wife and mistress, for
+the preference which had raised him from obscurity to a position
+for which kings were suitors, he repaid the vast boon by a series
+of petty and unmanly persecutions. He aimed to be not only
+prince-consort, but master; and because this was denied him, he
+threw himself precipitately into the counsels of the enemies of
+Mary. It was not difficult to sow the seeds of jealousy in a mind so
+well prepared to receive them; and Riccio, the Italian secretary,
+was marked out by Ruthven and Morton, the secret adherents of
+Moray, as the victim. Even this scheme, though backed by Darnley,
+might have miscarried, had not Mary been driven into an act which
+roused, while it almost justified, the worst fears of the Protestant
+party in Scotland. This was her adhesion to the celebrated Roman
+Catholic League, arising from a coalition which had been concluded
+between France, Spain, and the Emperor, for the destruction of
+the Protestant cause in Europe. "It was," says Tytler, "a design
+worthy of the dark and unscrupulous politicians by whom it had been
+planned--Catherine of Medicis and the Duke of Alva. In the summer
+of the preceding year, the queen-dowager of France and Alva had met
+at Bayonne, during a progress in which she conducted her youthful
+son and sovereign, Charles IX., through the southern provinces of
+his kingdom; and there, whilst the court was dissolved in pleasure,
+those secret conferences were held which issued in the resolution
+that toleration must be at an end, and that the only safety for
+the Roman Catholic faith was the extermination of its enemies." To
+this document, Mary, at the instigation of Riccio, who was in the
+interest of Rome, and who really possessed considerable influence
+with his mistress, affixed her signature. The bond was abortive for
+its ostensible purposes, but it was the death-warrant of the Italian
+secretary, and ultimately of the Queen.
+
+It is not our province to usurp the functions of the historian, and
+therefore we pass willingly over that intricate portion of history
+which ends with the murder of Darnley. It was notoriously the
+work of Bothwell, but not his alone, for Lethington, Huntly, and
+Argyle, were also deeply implicated. Bothwell now stands forward
+as a prominent character of the age. He was a bold, reckless,
+desperate adventurer, with little to recommend him save personal
+daring, and a fidelity to his mistress which hitherto had remained
+unshaken. Lethington, in all probability, merely regarded him as an
+instrument, but Bothwell had a higher aim. With daring ambition, he
+aimed at the possession of the person of Mary, and actually achieved
+his purpose.
+
+This unhappy and most unequal union roused the ire of the Scottish
+nobles. Even such of them as, intimidated by the reckless character
+of Bothwell, had sworn to defend him if impeached for the slaughter,
+and had recommended him as a fitting match for Mary, now took
+up arms, under the pretext that he had violently abducted their
+sovereign. We fear it cannot be asserted with truth that much
+violence was used. Poor Queen Mary had found, by bitter experience,
+that she could hardly depend upon one of her principal subjects.
+Darnley, Moray, Morton, Lethington, and Arran, each had betrayed
+her in turn; everywhere her steps were surrounded by a net of the
+blackest treachery: not one true heart seemed left to beat with
+loyalty for its Queen. Elizabeth, with fiendish malice, was goading
+on her subjects to rebellion. The Queen of England had determined to
+ruin the power of her sister monarch; the elderly withered spinster
+detested the young and blooming mother. Why, then, should it be
+matter of great marvel to those who know the acuteness of female
+sensibility, if, in the hour of desertion and desolation, Mary
+should have allowed the weakness of the woman to overcome the pride
+of the sovereign, and should have opposed but feeble resistance to
+the advances of the only man who hitherto had remained stanch to her
+cause, and whose arm seemed strong enough to insure her personal
+protection? It is not the first time that a daring villain has been
+taken for a hero by a distressed and persecuted woman.
+
+But Bothwell had no friends. The whole of the nobles were against
+him; and the Commons, studiously taught to believe that Mary was a
+consenting party to Darnley's death, were hostile to their Queen.
+Kirkaldy, at the instance of Moray, came over from his patrimonial
+estates to join the confederates, and his first feat in arms was
+an attack on Borthwick Castle, from which Bothwell and the Queen
+escaped with the utmost difficulty. Then came the action, if such
+it can be called, of Carberry Hill, when Bothwell challenged his
+accusers to single combat--a defiance which was accepted by Lord
+Lindesay of the Byres, but prevented from being brought to the test
+of combat by the voluntary submission of the Queen. Seeing that her
+forces were utterly inadequate to oppose those of the assembled
+nobles, she sent for Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange, as a knight
+in whose honour she could thoroughly confide, and, after a long
+interview, agreed to pass over to the troops of the confederates,
+provided they would again acknowledge and obey her as their
+sovereign. This being promised, she took her last leave of Bothwell,
+and her first step on the road which ultimately brought her to
+Lochleven.
+
+We must refer our readers to the volume for the spirited account
+of these events, and of the expedition undertaken by Kirkaldy in
+pursuit of Bothwell, his narrow escapes, and sea-fights among the
+shores of Shetland, and the capture of the fugitive's vessel on the
+coast of Norway. Neither will our space permit us to dwell upon the
+particulars of the battle of Langside, that last action hazarded
+and lost by the adherents of Queen Mary, just after her escape from
+Lochleven, and before she quitted the Scottish soil for ever. But
+for the tactics of Kirkaldy, the issue of that fight might have been
+different; and deeply is it to be regretted that, before that time,
+the eyes of the Knight of Grange had not been opened to the perfidy
+of Moray, whom he loved too trustingly, and served far too well. It
+was only after Mary was in the power of Elizabeth that he knew how
+much she had been betrayed.
+
+Under the regency of Moray, Kirkaldy held the post of governor of
+the castle of Edinburgh, and retained it until the fortress went
+down before the battery of the English cannon.
+
+He was also elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh--a dignity which,
+before that time, had been held by the highest nobles of the
+land, but which has since deteriorated under the influence of the
+Union, and bungled acts of corporation. He was in this position
+when he seems first to have perceived that the queen had been made
+the victim of a deep-laid plot of treachery--that Moray was the
+arch-conspirator--and that he, along with other men, who wished
+well both to their country and their sovereign, had been used as
+instruments for his own advancement by the false and unscrupulous
+statesman. The arrest of Chatelherault and of Lord Herries, both of
+them declared partisans of Mary, and their committal to the castle
+of Edinburgh, a measure against which Kirkaldy remonstrated, was the
+earliest act which aroused his suspicions:--
+
+     "Upon this, Mr John Wood, a pious friend of the regent's,
+     observed to Kirkaldy, in the true spirit of his party,--
+
+     "'I marvel, sir, that you are offended at these two being
+     committed to ward; for how shall _we_, who are the defenders of
+     my lord regent, get rewards but by the ruin of such men?'
+
+     "'Ha!' rejoined Kirkaldy sternly, 'is that your holiness? I see
+     naught among ye but envy, greed, and ambition, whereby ye will
+     wreck a good regent and ruin the realm!'--a retort which made
+     him many enemies among the train of Moray."
+
+But another event, which occurred soon afterwards, left no doubt in
+the mind of Kirkaldy as to the nature of Moray's policy. Maitland of
+Lethington, unquestionably the ablest Scottish diplomatist of his
+time, but unstable and shifting, as diplomatists often are, had seen
+cause to adopt very different views from those which he formerly
+professed. Whilst Mary was in power, he had too often thrown the
+weight of his influence and council against her: no sooner was
+she a fugitive and prisoner, than his loyalty appeared to revive.
+It is impossible now to say whether he was touched with remorse;
+whether, on reflection, he became convinced that he had not acted
+the part of a patriotic Scotsman; or whether he was merely led,
+through excitement, to launch himself into a new sea of political
+intrigue. This, at least, is certain, that he applied himself, heart
+and soul, to baffle the machinations of Elizabeth, and to deliver
+the unhappy Mary from the toils in which she was involved. It was
+Lethington who conceived the project of restoring Mary to liberty,
+by bringing about a marriage between her and the Duke of Norfolk;
+and the knowledge of his zeal on that occasion incensed Elizabeth
+to the utmost. That vindictive queen, who had always found Moray
+most ready to obey her wishes, opened a negotiation with him for
+the destruction of his former friend; and the regent, not daring to
+thwart her, took measures to have Maitland charged, through a third
+party, of direct participation in the death of Darnley, whereupon
+his arrest followed.
+
+Kirkaldy, who loved Maitland, would not allow this manoeuvre to
+pass unnoticed. He remonstrated with the regent for taking such a
+step; but Moray coldly informed him, that it was out of his power to
+save Lethington from prison. The blunt soldier, on receiving this
+reply, sent back a message, demanding that the same charge should
+be preferred against the Earl of Morton and Archibald Douglas; and
+he did more--for, Maitland having been detained a prisoner in the
+town of Edinburgh, under custody of Lord Home, Kirkaldy despatched
+at night a party of the garrison, and, by means of a counterfeited
+order, got possession of the statesman's person, and brought him to
+the castle, where Chatelherault and Herries were already residing
+as guests. Next morning, to the consternation of Moray, a trumpeter
+appeared at the cross, demanding, in name of Kirkaldy, that process
+for regicide should instantly be commenced against Morton and
+Douglas; and, says our author,--
+
+     "Remembering the precepts of the stout old knight his father,
+     who always offered 'the single combate' in maintenance of his
+     assertions, he offered himself, body for body, to fight Douglas
+     on foot or horseback; while his prisoner, the Lord Herries,
+     sent, as a peer of the realm, a similar cartel to the Earl of
+     Morton. The challenges bore, 'that they were in the council, and
+     consequently art and part in the king's murder.'
+
+In vain did Moray try to wheedle Kirkaldy from his stronghold--in
+vain did the revengeful Morton lay plots and bribe assassins. The
+castle of Edinburgh had become the rallying point for those who
+loved their queen. An attempt was made to oust Kirkaldy from the
+provostship; but the stout burghers, proud of their martial head,
+turned a deaf ear to the insidious suggestions of the regent. Yet
+still the banner of King James floated upon the walls of the castle,
+nor was the authority of Mary again proclaimed by sound of trumpet
+until after the shot of the injured Bothwellhaugh struck down the
+false and dangerous Moray in the street of Linlithgow. Then the
+whole faction of Chatelherault, the whole race of Hamilton, rose in
+arms, and prepared to place themselves under the guidance of Sir
+William Kirkaldy. The following is, we think, a noble trait in the
+character of the man:--
+
+     "The latter mourned deeply the untimely fate of Moray: they
+     had been old comrades in the field, stanch friends in many a
+     rough political broil; and though they had quarrelled of late,
+     he had too much of the frankness of his profession to maintain
+     hostility to the dead, and so came to see him laid in his last
+     resting-place. Eight lords bore the body up St Anthony's lofty
+     aisle, in the great cathedral of St Giles; Kirkaldy preceded it,
+     bearing the paternal banner of Moray with the royal arms; the
+     Laird of Cleish, who bore the coat of armour, walked beside him.
+     Knox prayed solemnly and earnestly as the body was lowered into
+     the dust; a splendid tomb was erected over his remains, and long
+     marked the spot where they lay."
+
+Lennox succeeded Moray as regent of Scotland, but no salute
+from the guns of the grim old fortress of Edinburgh greeted his
+inauguration. Henceforward Kirkaldy had no common cause with
+the confederates. Maitland had revealed to him the whole hidden
+machinery of treason, the scandalous complexity of intrigues, by
+which he had been made a dupe. He now saw that neither religion nor
+patriotism, but simply selfishness and ambition, had actuated the
+nobles in rebelling against their lawful sovereign, and that those
+very acts which they fixed upon as apologies for their treason,
+were in fact the direct consequences of their own deliberate guilt.
+If any further corroboration of their baseness had been required
+in order to satisfy the mind of Kirkaldy, it was afforded by
+Morton, who, notwithstanding the defiance so lately hurled at him
+from the castle, solicited, with a meanness and audacity almost
+incredible, the assistance of the governor to drive Lennox out of
+the kingdom, and procure his own acknowledgement as regent instead.
+It is needless to say that his application was refused with scorn.
+Kirkaldy now began to doubt the sincerity of Knox, who, although
+with no selfish motive, had been deeply implicated in the cruel
+plots of the time; some sharp correspondence took place, and the
+veteran Reformer was pleased to denounce his former pupil from the
+pulpit.
+
+Edinburgh now was made to suffer the inconveniences to which every
+city threatened with a siege is exposed. The burghers began to
+grumble against their provost, who, on one occasion, sent a party to
+rescue a prisoner from the Tolbooth, and who always preferred the
+character of military governor to that of civic magistrate. Knox
+thundered at him every Sabbath, and doubtless contributed largely
+to increase the differences between him and the uneasy citizens.
+The later might well be pardoned for their apprehensions. Not only
+were they commanded by the castle guns, but Kirkaldy, as if to show
+them what they might expect in ease of difference of political
+sentiment,--
+
+     "Hoisted cannon to the summit of St Giles's lofty spire, which
+     rises in the middle of the central hill on which the city
+     stands, and commands a view of it in every direction. He placed
+     the artillery on the stone bartizan beneath the flying arches
+     of the imperial crown that surmounts the tower, and thus turned
+     the cathedral into a garrison, to the great annoyance of Knox
+     and the citizens. The latter were also compelled, at their own
+     expense, to maintain the hundred harquebussiers of Captain
+     Melville, who were billeted in the Castlehill Street, for the
+     queen's service; and thus, amid preparations for war, closed the
+     year 1570."
+
+We may fairly suppose, that the cannon of the governor were more
+obnoxious than a modern annuity-tax can possibly be; yet no citizen
+seemed desirous of coming forward as a candidate for the crown of
+martyrdom. The bailies very quietly and very properly succumbed to
+the provost.
+
+It must be acknowledged that Edinburgh was, in those days, no
+pleasant place of residence.
+
+Next, to the alarm of the citizens, came a mock fight and the roar
+of cannon, intended to accustom the garrison to siege and war,
+which latter calamity speedily commenced in earnest. No possible
+precaution was omitted by Kirkaldy, whose situation was eminently
+critical; and he had received a terrible warning. On the last day
+of truce, the strong castle of Dumbarton was taken by surprise by
+a party under Captain Crawford of Jordanhill. Lord Fleming was
+fortunate enough to effect his escape, but Hamilton, archbishop of
+St Andrews, was made prisoner, and immediately hanged by Lennox over
+Stirling bridge. An archbishopric never was a comfortable tenure in
+Scotland.
+
+Lennox and Morton now drew together. The former from Linlithgow, and
+the latter from Dalkeith, advanced against the city, then occupied
+by the Hamiltons: skirmishes went on under the walls and on the
+Boroughmuir, and the unfortunate citizens were nearly driven to
+distraction. The following dispositions of Provost Kirkaldy were by
+no means calculated to restore a feeling of confidence, or to better
+the prospects of trade:--
+
+     "He loop-holed the spacious vaults of the great cathedral, for
+     the purpose of sweeping with musketry its steep church-yard to
+     the south, the broad Lawnmarket to the west, and High Street to
+     the eastward; while his cannon from the spire commanded the long
+     line of street called the Canongate--even to the battlements of
+     the palace porch. He seized the ports of the city, placed guards
+     of his soldiers upon them, and retained the keys in his own
+     hands. He ordered a rampart and ditch to be formed at the Butter
+     Tron, for the additional defence of the castle; and another
+     for the same purpose at the head of the West Bow, a steep and
+     winding street of most picturesque aspect. His soldiers pillaged
+     the house of the regent, whose movables and valuables they
+     carried off; he broke into the Tolbooth and council-chamber,
+     drove forth the scribes and councillors, and finally deposed
+     the whole bench of magistrates, installing in the civic chair
+     the daring chief of Fermhirst, (who had now become the husband
+     of his daughter Janet, a young girl barely sixteen;) while a
+     council composed of his mosstrooping vassals, clad in their iron
+     jacks, steel caps, calivers, and two-handed whingers, officiated
+     as bailies, in lieu of the douce, paunchy, and well-fed
+     burgesses of the Craims and Luckenbooths."
+
+The Blue Blanket of Edinburgh--that banner which, according to
+tradition, waved victoriously on the ramparts of Acre--had fallen
+into singular custody! John Knox again fled, for in truth his life
+was in danger. Kirkaldy, notwithstanding their differences, exerted
+his authority to the utmost to protect him, but the Hamiltons
+detested his very name; and one night a bullet fired through his
+window, was taken as a significant hint that his absence from the
+metropolis would be convenient. Scandal, even in those times, was
+rife in Edinburgh; for we are told that--
+
+     "John Low, a carrier of letters to St Andrews, being in the
+     'Castell of Edinburgh, the Ladie Home would neids threip in his
+     face, that Johne Knox was banist the toune, because in his yard
+     he had raisit some _sanctis_, amangis whome their came up the
+     devill with hornes, which when his servant Richart saw he ran
+     wud, and so deid.'"
+
+It is hardly credible, but it is a fact, that a meeting of the
+Estates of Scotland, called by Lennox, was held in Edinburgh at
+this very juncture. Kirkaldy occupied the upper part of the town,
+whilst the lower was in the hands of the regent, protected, or
+rather covered, by a battery which Morton had erected upon the
+"Doo Craig," that bluff black precipice to the south of the Calton
+Hill. The meeting, however, was a short one. "Mons Meg" and her
+marrows belched forth fire and shot upon the town, and the scared
+representatives fled, in terror of the falling ruins. A sortie from
+the castle was made, and the place of assembly burned.
+
+Kirkaldy now summoned and actually held a parliament, in name of
+Queen Mary, in Edinburgh. The possession of the Regalia gave this
+assembly a show of legality at least equivalent to that pertaining
+to its rival, the _Black Parliament_, which was then sitting at
+Stirling.
+
+We must refer to the work itself for the details of the martial
+exploits which followed. So very vividly and picturesquely are the
+scenes described, that, in reading of them, the images arise to
+our mind with that distinctness which constitutes the principal
+charm of the splendid romances of Scott. We accompany, with the
+deepest personal interest, the gallant Captain Melville and his
+harquebussiers, on his expedition to dislodge grim Morton from
+his Lion's Den at Dalkeith--we follow fiery Claud Hamilton in his
+attack upon the Black Parliament at Stirling, when Lennox met his
+death, and Morton, driven by the flames from his burning mansion,
+surrendered his sword to Buccleugh--and, amidst the din and uproar
+of the Douglas wars, we hear the cannon on the bastion of Edinburgh
+castle battering to ruin the gray towers of Merchiston.
+
+The career of Kirkaldy was rapidly drawing towards its close.
+During the life of Mar, who succeeded Lennox in the regency, the
+brave governor succeeded in maintaining possession not only of the
+castle, but of the city of Edinburgh, in spite of all opposition.
+But Morton, the next regent, was a still more formidable foe. The
+hatred between this man and Kirkaldy was mutual, and it was of the
+most deadly kind. And no wonder. Morton, as profligate as cruel, had
+seduced the fair and false Helen Leslie, wife of Sir James Kirkaldy,
+the gallant brother of the governor, and thereby inflicted the
+worst wound on the honour of an ancient family. A more awful story
+than the betrayal of her husband, and the seizure of his castle of
+Blackness, through the treachery of this wretched woman, is not to
+be found in modern history. Tarpeia alone is her rival in infamy,
+and the end of both was the same. The virulence of hereditary feud
+is a marked feature in our Scottish annals; but no sentiment of the
+kind could have kindled such a flame of enmity as burned between
+Morton and Kirkaldy. From the hour when the former obtained the
+regency, the war became one of extermination.
+
+Morton, it must be owned, showed much diplomatic skill in his
+arrangements. His first step was to negotiate separately with the
+country party of the loyalists, so as to detach them from Kirkaldy;
+and in this he perfectly succeeded. The leading nobles, Huntley
+and Argyle, were wearied with the war; Chatelherault, whom we have
+already known as Arran, was broken down by age and infirmities; and
+even those who had been the keenest partisans of the queen, Herries
+and Seton, were not disinclined to transfer their allegiance to
+her son. The treaty of Perth left Kirkaldy with no other adherents
+save Lord Home, the Melvilles, Maitland, and his garrison. The city
+had revolted, and was now under the provostship of fierce old Lord
+Lindesay of the Byres, who was determined to humble his predecessor.
+Save the castle rock of Edinburgh, and the hardy band that held it,
+all Scotland had submitted to Morton.
+
+Killigrew, the English ambassador, advised him to yield. "No!"
+replied Kirkaldy. "Though my friends have forsaken me, and the city
+of Edinburgh hath done so too, yet I will defend this castle to the
+last!" The man whom Moray thought a tool, had expanded to the bulk
+of a hero.
+
+Meantime, English engineers were occupied in estimating the
+capabilities of the castle as a place of defence. They reported
+that, with sufficient artillery, it might be reduced in twenty days;
+and, accordingly, Morton determined to besiege it so soon as the
+period of truce agreed on by the treaty of Perth should expire.
+Kirkaldy was not less resolute to maintain it.
+
+At six o'clock, on the morning of 1st January 1573, a warning gun
+from the castle announced that the treaty had expired, and the
+standard of the Queen was unfurled on the highest tower, amidst the
+acclamations of the garrison. Four-and-twenty hours previously,
+Kirkaldy had issued a proclamation, warning all loyal subjects of
+the Queen to depart forthwith from the city; and terrible indeed was
+the situation of those who neglected that seasonable warning. Morton
+began the attack; and it was answered by an incessant discharge from
+the batteries upon the town.
+
+Civil war had assumed its worst form. By day the cannon thundered;
+at night the garrison made sorties, and fired the city: all was
+wrack and ruin. Morton, bursting with fury, found that, unassisted,
+he could not conquer Grange.
+
+English aid was asked from, and given by, the unscrupulous
+Elizabeth. Drury, who had helped Morton in his dishonourable treason
+at Restalrig, marched into Scotland with the English standard
+displayed, bringing with him fifteen hundred harquebussiers, one
+hundred and fifty pikemen, and a numerous troop of gentlemen
+volunteers; while the train of cannon and baggage came round by sea
+to Leith, where a fleet of English ships cruised, to cut off all
+succour from the Continent.
+
+The English summons to surrender was treated by Kirkaldy with scorn.
+Up went a scarlet banner, significant of death and defiance, on
+the great tower of King David. Indomitable, as in the days of his
+early youth, when the confederates of St Andrews defied the universe
+in arms, the Scottish champion looked calmly from his rock on the
+preparations for the terrible assault.
+
+Five batteries were erected around the castle, but not with
+impunity. The cannon of Kirkaldy mowed down the pioneers when
+engaged in their trenching operations; and it was not until Trinity
+Sunday, the 17th of May, that the besiegers opened their fire.
+
+     "At two o'clock in the afternoon, the five batteries opened a
+     simultaneous discharge upon the walls of the castle. Bravely
+     and briskly its cannoneers replied to them, and deep-mouthed
+     Mons Meg, with her vast bullets of black whin, the thundering
+     carthouns, basilisks, serpents, and culverins, amid fire
+     and smoke, belched their missiles from the old gray towers,
+     showering balls of iron, lead, and stone at the batteries;
+     while the incessant ringing of several thousand harquebusses,
+     calivers, and wheel-lock petronels, added to the din of the
+     double cannonade. From the calibre of the great Mons Meg, which
+     yet frowns _en barbe_ over the ramparts, one may easily imagine
+     the dismay her enormous bullets must have caused in the trenches
+     so far below her.
+
+     "For ten days the furious cannonade continued, on both sides,
+     without a moment's cessation. On the 19th, three towers were
+     demolished, and enormous gaps appeared in the curtain walls;
+     many of the castle guns were dismounted, and destroyed by the
+     falling of the ancient masonry: a shot struck one of the largest
+     culverins fairly on the muzzle, shattering it to pieces, and
+     scattering the splinters around those who stood near. A very
+     heavy battery was discharged against King David's Tower, a great
+     square bastel-house, the walls of which were dark with the lapse
+     of four centuries. On the 23d, a great gap had been beaten in
+     its northern side, revealing the arched hall within; and as the
+     vast old tower, with its cannon, its steel-clad defenders, and
+     the red flag of defiance still waving above its machicolated
+     bartizan, sank with a mighty crash to shapeless ruin, the wild
+     shriek raised by the females in the castle, and the roar of the
+     masonry rolling like thunder down the perpendicular rocks, were
+     distinctly heard at the distant English camp."
+
+One hundred and fifty men constituted the whole force which Kirkaldy
+could muster when he commenced his desperate defence. Ten times
+that number would scarcely have sufficed to maintain an adequate
+resistance; but high heroic valour in the face of death is
+insensible to any odds. After a vigorous resistance, the besiegers
+succeeded in gaining possession of the Spur or blockhouse--an outer
+work which was constructed between the fortress and the town; but an
+attempt to scale the rock on the west side utterly failed.
+
+The blockade had for some time been so strict, that the garrison
+began to suffer from want of provisions; but their sorest privation
+was the loss of water. Although there are large and deep wells in
+the Castle of Edinburgh, a remarkable peculiarity renders them
+useless in the time of siege. To this day, whenever the cannon are
+fired, the water deserts the wells, oozing out of some fissures at
+the bottom of the rock. There is, however, a lower spring on the
+north side, called St Margaret's Well, and from this the garrison
+for a time obtained a scanty supply. Under cloud of night a soldier
+was let down by a rope from the fortifications, and in this manner
+the wholesome element was drawn. This circumstance became known to
+the besiegers; and they, with diabolical cruelty, had recourse to
+the expedient of poisoning the well, and permitted the nocturnal
+visitor to draw the deadly liquid without molestation. The
+consequences, of course, were fearful. Many expired in great agony;
+and those whose strength enabled them to throw off the more active
+effects of the poison, were so enfeebled that they could hardly work
+the heavy cannon, or support the fatigue of watching day and night
+upon the battlements.
+
+     "Maddened by the miseries they underwent, and rendered desperate
+     by all hopes of escape from torture and death being utterly cut
+     off, a frenzy seized the soldiers; they broke into a dangerous
+     mutiny, and threatened to hang Lethington over the walls, as
+     being the primary cause of all these dangers, from the great
+     influence he exercised over Kirkaldy, their governor. But
+     even now, when amid the sick, the dying, and the dead, and
+     the mutinous--surrounded by crumbling ramparts and dismounted
+     cannon, among which the shot of the besiegers were rebounding
+     every instant--with the lives, honour, and safety of his wife,
+     his brother, and numerous brave and faithful friends depending
+     on his efforts and example, the heart of the brave governor
+     appears never to have quailed even for an instant!"
+
+At length, as further resistance was useless, and as certain
+movements on the part of the enemy indicated their intention of
+proceeding to storm the castle by the breach which had been effected
+on the eastern side, Kirkaldy requested an interview with his old
+fellow-soldier Drury, the Marshal of Berwick. This being acceded to,
+the governor and his uncle, "Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie,
+were lowered over the ruins by cords, as there was no other mode
+of egress, the flight of forty steps being completely buried in
+the same ruin which had choked up the archways, and hidden both
+gates and portcullis. The Castlehill, at that time, says Melville
+of Kilrenny, in his Diary, was covered with stones, 'rinning like a
+sandie bray;' but behind the breaches were the men-at-arms drawn up
+in firm array, with their pikes and helmets gleaming in the setting
+sun."
+
+Kirkaldy's requests were not unreasonable. He asked to have security
+for the lives and property of those in the garrison, to have leave
+for Lord Home and Maitland of Lethington to retire to England, and,
+for himself, permission to live unmolested at the estate in Fife.
+Drury might have consented, but Morton was obdurate. The thought of
+having his enemy unconditionally in his hands, and the prospect of
+a revenge delicious to his savage and unrelenting nature, made him
+deaf to all applications; and the only terms he would grant were
+these,--
+
+     "That if the soldiers marched forth without their armour, and
+     submitted to his clemency, he would grant them their lives; but
+     there were ten persons who must yield _unconditionally_ to him,
+     and whose fate he would leave to the decision of their umpire,
+     Elizabeth. The unfortunate exceptions were--the governor, Sir
+     James Kirkaldy, Lethington, Alexander Lord Home, the Bishop
+     of Dunkeld, Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie, Logan of
+     Restalrig, Alexander Crichton of Drylaw, Pitarrow the constable,
+     and Patrick Wishart.
+
+Kirkaldy returned to the castle, resolved to die in the breach, but
+by this time the mutiny had begun. The soldiers insisted upon a
+surrender even more clamorously than before, and several of them
+took the opportunity of clambering over the ruins and deserting. It
+would have been madness under such circumstances to hold out; yet
+still Kirkaldy, jealous of his country's honour, could not brook the
+idea of handing over the citadel of Scotland's metropolis to the
+English.
+
+     "Therefore, when compelled to adopt the expedient (which is
+     supposed to have originated in Lethington's fertile brain) of
+     admitting a party of the besiegers within the outworks, or
+     at least close to the walls, he sent privately in the night
+     a message to Hume and Jordanhill, to march their Scottish
+     companies between the English batteries and the fortress, lest
+     the old bands of Drury should have the honour of entering first."
+
+Next morning he came forth, and surrendered his sword to Drury, who
+gave him the most solemn assurances that he should be restored to
+his estates and liberty at the intercession of the Queen of England,
+and that all his adherents should be pardoned.
+
+Drury, probably, was in earnest, but he had either overstepped his
+commission, or misinterpreted the mind of his mistress. Morton had
+most basely handed over to Elizabeth the person of the fugitive Earl
+of Northumberland, whom she hurried to the block, nor could she well
+refuse to the Scottish regent a similar favour in return. Morton
+asked for the disposal of the prisoners, and the gift was readily
+granted.
+
+Three of them were to die: for these there was no mercy. One,
+William, Maitland of Lethington, disappointed the executioner by
+swallowing poison, a draught more potent than that drawn from the
+well of St. Margaret. The vengeance of Morton long kept his body
+from the decencies of the grave. Of the two Kirkaldys, one was
+the rival of the regent, who had foully wronged the other, and,
+therefore, their doom was sealed.
+
+One hundred barons and gentlemen of rank and fortune, kinsmen to
+the gallant Kirkaldy, offered, in exchange for his life, to bind
+themselves by bond of manrent, as vassals to the house of Morton
+for ever: money, jewels, lands, were tendered to the regent; but
+all in vain. Nothing could induce him to depart from his revenge.
+Nor were others wanting to urge on the execution. The Reformed
+preachers, remembering the dying message of Knox, were clamorous for
+the realisation of the prophecy through his death; the burghers, who
+had suffered so much from his obstinate defence, shouted for his
+execution; only stout old Lord Lindesay, fierce as he was, had the
+magnanimity to plead on behalf of the unfortunate soldier.
+
+Then came the scaffold and the doom. Those who are conversant
+with Scottish history cannot but be impressed with the remarkable
+resemblance between the last closing scene of Kirkaldy, as related
+in this work, and that of Montrose, which was exhibited on the same
+spot, in another and a later age.
+
+So died this remarkable man, the last of Queen Mary's adherents. If,
+in the course of his career, we can trace out some inconsistencies,
+it is but fair to his memory to reflect how early he was thrown upon
+the troubled ocean of politics, and how difficult it must have been,
+in such an age of conflicting opinions and desperate intrigue, to
+maintain a tangible principle. Kirkaldy seems to have selected Moray
+as his guide--not penetrating certainly, at the time, the selfish
+disposition of the man. But the instant he perceived that his own
+aggrandisement, and not the welfare of Scotland, was the object of
+the designing Earl, Grange drew off from his side, and valorously
+upheld the cause of his injured and exiled sovereign.
+
+We now take leave of a work which, we are convinced, will prove of
+deep and thrilling interest to every Scotsman. It is seldom indeed
+that we find history so written--in a style at once vigorous,
+perspicuous, and picturesque. The author's heart is thoroughly with
+his subject; and he exhibits, ever and anon, flashes of the old
+Scottish spirit, which we are glad to believe has not decayed from
+the land.
+
+
+_Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as
+printed.
+
+Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
+the missing quote should be placed.
+
+The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
+transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
+
+The transcriber has supplied footnote anchors for the following
+footnotes:
+
+Page 20: Footnote 10 _A Campaign in the Kabylie._ By DAWSON BORRER,
+F.R.G.S., &c. London, 1848.
+
+Page 47: Footnote 15 _Expedition zur Entdeckung der Quellen des
+Weissen Nil_, (1840-1841,) von FERDINAND WERNE. Mit einem Vorwort
+von CARL RITTER. Berlin, 1848. _La Kabylie._ Par un Colon. Paris,
+1846.
+
+_La Captivite du Trompette Escoffier._ Par ERNEST ALBY. 2 vols.
+Brussels, 1848."
+
+Page 63: Footnote 16 _Annals of the Artists of Spain._ By WILLIAM
+STIRLING, M. A. 3 vols. London: Ollivier.
+
+Page 81: Footnote 19 _The Dodo and its Kindred; or, the History,
+Affinities, and Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other Extinct
+Birds of the Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon._ By H.
+E. STRICKLAND, M.A. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., President of the Ashmolean
+Society, &c., and A. G. MELVILLE, M.D., Edinburgh, M.R.C. . One
+vol., royal quarto: London, 1848.
+
+Page 112: Footnote 24 _Memoirs and Adventures of Sir Wm. Kirkaldy of
+Grange, Knight, &c. &c._ WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, Edinburgh and London.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+65, No. 399, January 1849, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JAN 1849 ***
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