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diff --git a/old/44183-0.txt b/old/44183-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b51ceb9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44183-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9866 @@ +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 sà ndal, 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 Sudà n." 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-Sudà n. 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 phÅ“nix 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 + manÅ“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:--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 manÅ“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 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: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/8/44183/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/44183-0.zip b/old/44183-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26ccce3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44183-0.zip diff --git a/old/44183-8.txt b/old/44183-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae6d5b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44183-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9868 @@ +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 *** + +***** This file should be named 44183-8.txt or 44183-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/8/44183/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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—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 & 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. JANUARY, 1849. <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 /> +—————<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"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<p class="center b15">BLACKWOOD'S<br /> + +EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</p> + +<p class="center space-above"> +<span class="smcap">No.</span> CCCXCIX. JANUARY, 1849. <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—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—<span class="smcap">The Year of +Revolutions</span>,—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.</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—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—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<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,—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,—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.</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—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, <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:—</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 fœdera 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—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."<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—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—<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—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:—</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."—<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—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,<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—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?—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—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>—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—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—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—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.</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—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,—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.</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:—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—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.</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—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—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—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—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.<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—industry disappeared—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—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—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—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—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.</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—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<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—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:—"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—"<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—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.<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:—</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—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—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—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—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?—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."</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,—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—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.</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—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<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—'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!"</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—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, <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—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—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." <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—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—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—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—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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +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 <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—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—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<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, &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 <em>subvention</em>, +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 <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—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 "<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.—CHAPTER XXXIX.</h3> + +<p>And my father pushed aside his books.</p> + +<p>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.</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—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 <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—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—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 <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—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!</p> + +<p>My uncle nodded, and growled indistinctly; +my father—</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—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!"</p> + +<p>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 <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,—</p> + +<p>"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."</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—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?"</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—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, yes! I have been so +wretched. But I am better now—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—strengthen me. I have +kept my honour yet—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—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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</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"—</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—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?—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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</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—</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +course that becomes an English gentleman—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!"—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—"</p> + +<p>"You will go in alone, of course: +I will wait for you—"</p> + +<p>"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.</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—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—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—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!"</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>.—Humph! What's all +this! (<em>In an under tone</em>)—Am I going +to be taken in?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span>.—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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trevanion</span>.—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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span>—(<em>smiling faintly</em>.)—No, +indeed—that is not it! I have +nothing to complain of—nothing I +could wish altered—could I stay.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trevanion</span> (<em>examining me thoughtfully</em>.)—And +does your father approve +of your leaving me thus?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pisistratus</span>—Yes, fully.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trevanion</span> (<em>musing a moment</em>.)—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!"</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—"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—<em>here</em>—(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—still—"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; no! worse—"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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—"</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—fools! And you have made +love to my daughter!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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—"</p> + +<p>"Believe me, sir, I never—"</p> + +<p>"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—<em>statesman</em>! This +station has gradually opened into its +natural result—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—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?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</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—your life—have, +taught me;—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,—"Nature gives +you here the soother;"—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—to +women for consolation. And +the thousand weaknesses and regrets—the +sharp sands of the minutiæ that +make up <em>sorrow</em>—all these, which +I could have betrayed to no <em>man</em>—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.</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—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.</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—"a valuable beast—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,—"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."</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,—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."</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—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.</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,—"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!"</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—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—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.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16">—'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—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—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.'<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—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 <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—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—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.</p> + +<p>My uncle looked over it—<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—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—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—<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—</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—Episcopalian, Presbyterian, +Baptist, Pædobaptist, Independent, +Quaker, Unitarian, Philosopher, +Freethinker—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—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 <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—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—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.</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—a +malady that is described as 'an internal +apparatus of torture;' and who +does, by his heroism, more than <em>bear</em> +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!"</p> + +<p>"After all, then, my father was +not so wrong—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—"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—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—'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—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<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—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—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,—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!—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—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—such +immense eyes!—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—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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</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—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!—all!—who are +all?"</p> + +<p>"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."</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—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—"</p> + +<p>Vivian interrupted me hastily—</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—</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—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?"</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—left of your own accord—a +situation that seemed more enjoyable, +I should think, than rooms in a +college;—left—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—<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—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.</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—"Francis Vivian."</p> + +<p>"A good name, and a Cornish," +said my father. "Some derive it +from the Romans—Vivianus; others +from a Celtic word, which means"—</p> + +<p>"Vivian!" interrupted Roland—"Vivian!—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—"poor +Colonel Vivian. So the young +man is going to his father. I have no +doubt it is the same. Ah!"—</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—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.</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—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—"I have not complained—have +I, sir?—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—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,—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—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."</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 sà ndal, +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 +Sudà n." 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 <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—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<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,—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—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!)—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—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 +<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—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.—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<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:—"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."</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—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—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, &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>—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—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<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—hue billab</i>,' (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.</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—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<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—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.</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—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.</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—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-Sudà n. 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,—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—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.<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—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,</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"—<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—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.</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:—"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—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—"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."</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—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—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,<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—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.</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—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—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."</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—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>—from the poetic chisel +of Marochetti, and stands now in the +great square of Turin, the very impersonation +of chivalry, horse and +hero alike—����������� �����������.</p> + +<p>The magnificent Florentine contributed +"the matchless marble crucifix +behind the prior's seat in the +choir," of which Mr Stirling says—"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—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.</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"—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.</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,—a +muscle, singed and charred, of St +Laurence—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—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—</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."—(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—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.</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—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.</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—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.)</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—albeit grace-conferring—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."—(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—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."</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—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:—"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."—(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—"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.</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."—(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.</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—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,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> solemn words—"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—"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 ���������� 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—possibly St Francis—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."—(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)</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."—(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,—"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.</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—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.</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:—</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>—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."—(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—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<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—" 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!</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—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—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—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—</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—for +example, that noted but now scarce +instructor of our early youth, the +<cite>Three Hundred Animals</cite>—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.</p> + +<p>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<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—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.</p> + +<p>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 "<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—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,—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 (<em>B. priscus</em>)—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 phœnix +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—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:—</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."—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:—</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—apparently not +published until 1648—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:—</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—</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:—</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."—(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—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—<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:—</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—"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,—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:—</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,' &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, <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:—"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:—</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."—(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—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.</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—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:—</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—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.</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,—"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, &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'œuvre</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, +&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."—<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—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,—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—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."—(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,—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."—(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,—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."—<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:—</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—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 <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—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."</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>, &c., which its well-developed +back-toe and claw would enable it +to seize, and hold with a firm gripe."—<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:—</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,—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,—a colossal, brevipennate, frugivorous +pigeon."—(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,—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.)</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,—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:—</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."—(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:—</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."—(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:—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>1. "<em>Solitaires.</em>—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,—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.</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>, &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."—(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—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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<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—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.</p> + +<p>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 <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—ch—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,—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,—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?—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.</p> + +<p>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,<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,—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."</p> + +<p>"Papa is rather flighty—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—<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—I +have not forgot it—not quite—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!—'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,—a most learned, lofty, +reverend—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—</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—I mean—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—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>—<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,—did you doubt +it, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Why, sir,—in fact—since you insist +on an answer—"</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,—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,—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."</p> + +<p>"I know sir,—and if I have never +sufficiently thanked you for your +care—"</p> + +<p>"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.</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?"—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—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—</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Miss Louise—mademoiselle, I +ought to say," said Mr Bullion, "I +have communicated certain facts to +Cecil Hope."</p> + +<p>"Which he doesn't believe—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?—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?"</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!—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?—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—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—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—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<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—"</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—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.</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?—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,—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—the Baron Beauvilliers—the +Marquis de Croissy—for myself, +I'm Duc de Vieuxchateau."</p> + +<p>"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."</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—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—the—serfs, I suppose, +they are—who hold the plough and +manage the land—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—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—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—who was it?—come!"</p> + +<p>"Why, that,—oh, that,—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—"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—I know she +does—"</p> + +<p>"May we not ask the honour of +being presented?"</p> + +<p>"Some other time, gentlemen—not +now—she's not here—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—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—</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—</p> + +<p>"You've done it, aunt!—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—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,—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 +<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—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—under Mr Bull—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—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?"</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—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 <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—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—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.</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—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—no +less than did Louise—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—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—or frog—or monkey—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—'tis sharp as a needle."</p> + +<p>"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<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—except, of course, the +Baron Beauvilliers—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,—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—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!—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vive la joie!</i>"—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—is it possible—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—yourself—how +came you here?"</p> + +<p>"A young gentleman—nobleman, +I should say—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—"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?"</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,"—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."</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—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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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—</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:—</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—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—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:—</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—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—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,—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—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:—</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—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<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—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—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—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:—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"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.</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:—</p> + +<p>"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.</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—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.</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:—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"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.</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—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—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<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—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—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:—</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,—</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!'—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 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +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,—</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—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:—</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,—</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:—</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—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—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—</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—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.</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—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—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!"</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,—</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—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—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—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>—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."—<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."—<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."—<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., &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."—<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—"Thou hast touched the +thing sharply;" (or with a needle—<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, +&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.—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>, &c. &c. <span class="smcap">Wm. +Blackwood & 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., &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, +&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, &c. &c.</cite> <span class="smcap">Wm. +Blackwood &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 *** + +***** This file should be named 44183-h.htm or 44183-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/8/44183/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 *** + +***** This file should be named 44183.txt or 44183.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/8/44183/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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